The teachings of the historical, and Gnostic, Jesus are shown in parallel columns with those of the Buddha, Krishna, and Lao Tzu. The mystical aspects of Jesus’ teachings are compared to those of teachers from three other world religions.

Read this book online here

Exiled from Vietnam over thirty years ago, Thich Nhat Hanh has become known as a healer of the heart, a monk who shows us how the everyday world can both enrich and endanger our spiritual lives. In Going Home he shows us the relationship between Buddha and Jesus by presenting a conversation between the two. In this unique way we learn how such concepts as resurrection and mindfulness converge. The brotherhood between Jesus and Buddha can teach us to “practice in such a way that Buddha is born every moment of our daily life, that Jesus Christ is born every moment of our daily life.”

Read this book online here

Read this book online here

I shared earlier that I would give more detail about what the Lord’s Prayer teaches about breathing prayer. I did find a good website that indirectly supports what I wanted to share:

www.thenazareneway.com/lords_prayer.htm

The site has a translation directly from the Aramaic and includes some alternate translations. One challenge with translating from the Aramaic is that a passage can several simultaneous meanings that are different from each other and are not only equally valid, but all are meant to be understood helping each other give a larger sense of meaning. English usually has only one meaning at a time. Thus, when Jesus says, “The Kingdom of Heaven is within you, among you, and in your midst.” All these meanings are meant at the same time. In this sense, all the different translations complement each other and help each other to bring out the deeper meaning of the prayer.

What I find interesting is that this translator also sees Abwoon as connected with both divinity and breathing (“O Thou, from whom the breath of life comes,”).

When a person connects “Ah” with the inhale and “bwoon” on the exhale, feeling divine energy coming in (prana) and allowing the energy to move inside us on the exhale (letting go, surrendering), then a person will eventually feel “light energy” or sacred energy (d’bwachmaja).

Later on, it will be felt in unity with our being (Nethkadasch schmach). It will not feel outside us.

Then we step in trust of this energy supporting us as we move through our day (Te te malkuthach).

We then feel the energy that surrounds us and fills us as the cosmos infusing the manifest world of our daily lives (Nehwe tzevjanach aikana d’bwaschmaja af b’arha).

We learn to trust this energy to take care of all our needs, spiritual, mental, emotional, and even physical (Hawvlan lachma d’sunkanan jaomana).

We take all meetings with others, whether they take place in prayer or in the manifest world, as sacred meetings, where we learn to forgive everyone so that we may be forgiven (Waschboklan chauben wachtahen aikna daf chnan schcwoken l’chaijaben). We take everything that happens to us as a manifestation of karma coming to an end and completing itself. Seeing that what we sowed in the past and even past lifetimes has come up to be released, that how I treated others has been visited upon me in the form of someone now taking the role that I once had. This is the key karma burning process, the place where we need to “turn the other cheek”, “bless those who curse us”, “pray for those who persecute us”, “resist not evil” and “love our enemies”.

When this part of the process arises, we are tempted to forget and get angry with the other person, to feel like a victim of injustice, rather than see that karma is balancing out and completing itself. When we fall into this interpretation, then we replant the karma seed and require another event to manifest to release it. So Jesus asks us to pray to keep on track, to see that this is what is going on, and to see that our purpose is to forgive everyone in order to end karma and release the fullness of love into our world (Wela tachlan l’nesjuna ela patzan min bischa). In other words to take in the right timing of this present moment being perfect for our ascension process (Metol dilachie malkutha wahaila wateschbuchta l’ahlam almin). This is based on seeing the whole universe is unfolding perfectly (the kingdom, power, and glory). This prayer is then sealed with our intent, commitment, faith, and trust (almin).

The key thing is that we will be tempted to react to someone, rather than take them as part of our process of forgiving and releasing him or her with us. We need to stay in this purpose and see that this is the way that the world is healed and reclaimed into the divine domain or kingdom of heaven.

Understood this way, Jesus demonstrates this prayer on the cross and through his resurrection. He forgives everyone who tortures him and falsely accuses him even before they finish sinning. He stays in trust of the Divine orchestrating this event and stays in the sacred breath (Saint Paul, “The same breath that raised Christ from the dead”). If we retaliate, then we are not yet worthy of divine power. Only an unconditionally loving mind and heart, which does not give in to temptation (random negative thoughts) can handle the power level that can raise the dead. Imagine if every negative thought we had was so powerful that we can harm people just by thinking ill of them and that our inner conscience is dampening our inner power in order to protect us from unleashing this intensity of karma into our lives. When events arise to tempt us into being negative, we can give into them or rise above them.

Understood in this way, this prayer solves all our problems and even heals our past by seeing all events as karma completions and then retrusting the energy to give us what we need now, and then to evolve us into the next stage in our growth as sentient beings. It fits in with what the Buddha taught, though with a focus on forgiveness and karma burning.

Taken from: http://amritayana.blogspot.com/2009/10/lords-prayer.html#comment-form

Martin Palmer

For over 30 years I have been profoundly interested in the faiths, cultures, history and philosophies of ancient China. Most especially, I have been intrigued by that strange phenomenon, ancient Christianity in China. When I mention this deep interest, the most common response is a puzzled look and the question “What ancient Christianity?” Chinese Christianity dates from early in the Seventh Century, but it has been a closely kept secret, both for China and for Christianity. The tradition, as it developed, drew upon not only Christian imagery and philosophy, but also the wisdom of Daoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism. The texts that survive are few, but fascinating.  My colleagues and I, in recent years, entered, through them, the conceptual world of these early Chinese Christians. Most marvelous of all, hidden in plain sight in China’s heart, we discovered the earliest monastery—adorned with the earliest Christian artwork—that still survives.

The Discovery of a Treasure
The place was not far from where, if legend can be believed, Lao Tzu wrote the Dao De Ching. In an incident straight out of a fairytale, it was an aged seller of amulets who was the instrument of revelation. My colleagues and I had come to Lou Guan Tai, the site of the greatest official Daoist temple. I believed that the earliest Christian church in China was located nearby.

West of the main temple, we saw a perilously leaning seven-storey pagoda. We asked an old woman, a vendor of amulets, sitting nearby what religion it represented. “It is Buddhist,” she replied. As we turned away disappointed, she added, “But it wasn’t always Buddhist.”

Our hopes were aroused until she continued, “It used to be Daoist,” she told us. Crestfallen, we again prepared to leave. With impeccable timing, she again prevented us from departing.

It doesn’t really belong to either of them, though,” the old woman confided. “It was built by five monks who came from the West and believed in one God.”

To explore further, we climbed the steep hill into which the site had been cut. We scrambled to the top—and were welcomed by another aged lady, a Buddhist nun who informed us that she was 115 years old.

We searched for proof that the pagoda had once been Christian. No evidence offered itself. Only when I climbed still higher did I discover that we had found what we had sought. Daoist, Confucian, and Buddhist temples, almost without exception, run north-south. This terrace, cut to hold the temple, ran east-west: the cosmic alignment for Christian churches.

Why So Much Noise?
“Why so much noise?” the Buddhist nun asked as I ran down the hill shouting the news. I explained my conviction that we stood on an ancient Christian site, then worried that I had offended her when she drew herself up to her full height of five feet. “Well, of course it is!” she informed us.” This was the greatest Christian monastery in China. We all know that!”

We were told that local people remembered the five monks who had come from the West and the building that they had made. Memory lost to the wider world for over a millennium had persisted here.

We were saying our farewells when the old nun turned to me. “You want to pray, don’t you?” she asked. “Go ahead, then. They will all hear you.”

I prayed on ground sanctified by Christian and Buddhist supplications. We know only a little about how they prayed, these spiritual ancestors of China. One Tang Dynasty painting shows Christians with hands raised in simple devotion. Another shows a saint—or perhaps Jesus himself—in the Buddhist mudra (pose) associated with teaching. I know how I prayed that day. I prayed weeping.

The Chinese Madonna
Discoveries followed, once excavation had begun. Within the center of the mountain was a cave, and in the cave was the lower portion of a statue. The design of the mountain and the cave were classical Chinese. The figure was not.

The Orthodox Church bases its representations of Christ’s birth on the Book of James, which recounts that Mary gave birth alone, in a mountain cave. The figure in the cave echoed thousands of Orthodox depictions of the Nativity. A woman, semi-reclining, gazes at the child she holds. She is Mary. Outlined in the dirt was the shape of a child. The earliest known Christian statue in China was composed of Orthodox iconography surrounded by Chinese art. The second statue seems to represent a favorite prophet of the Church of the East, Jonah.

Architecturally and historically, these were important discoveries. Even more important, perhaps, is the spiritual discovery of The Jesus Sutras.

The Jesus Sutras
On its publication, my book translating these Sutras aroused great interest. The Christianity revealed in the texts emerges in a form unknown to most of us. In showing what the past has been, these writings suggested what the future could be. An ancient faith revealed a way of believing  ideal for those who live today.

My colleagues and I found classics brought to China by the first official Church mission in 635 CE, texts not extant only in Chinese. We found Persian books retelling the life of Jesus; documents from the Subcontinent exploring the fusion of Greek and Indian Buddhist traditions; evidence of religious dialogue among Christians and Hindus and Jains; even a fragment of a text from the ancient Church of Tibet. The insight into Greek, Persian, Zoroastrian, Buddhist and shamanic cultures was remarkable. So was the ability of the Church to fuse Christian teachings and images with wisdom and symbolism from other traditions.

The Jade-Faced One
In the Sutras, Jesus is called “the Jade-Faced One,” because, for the Daoists, jade is the stone of immortality. In the Sutras, the doctrine of original sin has no place. Creation is innately good.  Concepts of dharma and reincarnation are explored. There is even feminism. The Sutra of the Teachings of the World-Honored One explains that Eve’s sin in Eden is fully expiated by the women who are the first to see the evidence of the risen Christ, saying:
As the first woman caused the lies of humanity, so it was women who first told the truth about what had happened, to show all that the Messiah forgave women and wished them to be treated properly in the future. (Ch 5:32)
The early Chinese Church taught that not only feminine nature, but all human nature is in harmony with Nature itself. The Stone Sutra explains that, as in Daoist philosophy, the whole of creation is intrinsically good. Only when humans allow the goodness that is their birthright to be invaded by foolishness, greed, envy and pride do they become inharmonious with the rest of creation. “Original sin”—the doctrine that “in Adam’s fall/ we sinned all”—is not mentioned.

Sino-Syriac Inscription courtesy Kirschner Museum at Stanford Correspondence Project

“These Teachings are Inexhaustible”

Instead of a viewpoint that sees all of humanity laboring under a curse, the early Chinese Church found much in Daoist teachings that reflected its more loving beliefs.
All of you should chant this day and night,
Because it brings back clear seeing,
And each of you will return to your own original nature,
Your ultimately true beingness,
Free from all falsehood and illusion.
And you will see these teachings are inexhaustible.

If you really follow the Sutras, imagine how easy this could be!
“Following the Sutras,” in Seventh-Century China, meant opening to the possibilities exemplified by Jesus. It meant peeling off layers of ignorance and greed to reveal the glory that is our truth, not crushing any inherited wickedness.

The Gentle Stone
It is not only in teachings on The Fall that the Chinese Church is so wonderfully different from what we might expect. The Stone Sutra’s version of the Ten Commandments echoes Buddhism in forbidding the taking of any life (even animal) and Confucian thought in encouraging the veneration of parents. In fact, the Decalogue itself becomes interwoven with the Sermon on the Mount, as the passage below suggests.
The first covenant of God is that anything that exists and does evil will be punished, especially if they do not respect the elderly.

The tenth covenant is only to offer to God that which is yours to give.

There are even a few “extras.”
If a poor person begs for money, give generously. If you have no money, have the courtesy to explain why you can only give a little help.

If someone is seriously ill or handicapped do not mock, because this is the result of karma and not to be ridiculed.
The Four Essential Laws of Christian Dharma
Good counsel is not all that the Sutras offer. The following passage illustrates how far beyond Judaic tradition the Chinese Christians ranged.
Now, what are the Four Essential Laws of the Dharma?
The first is no wanting. If your heart is obsessed with something,
It manifests in all kinds of distorted ways.
Distorted thoughts are the root of negative behavior . . .

The second is no doing.  Don’t put on a mask and pretend to be what you’re not . . .
The effort needed to hold a direction is abandoned,
And there is simply action and reaction.
So walk the Way of No Action.

The third is no piousness. And what that means
Is not wanting to have your good deeds broadcast to the nation.
Do what’s right to bring people to the truth
But not for your own reputation’s sake.
So anyone who teaches the Triumphant Law,
Practicing the Way of Light to bring life to the truth,
Will know Peace and Happiness in company.
But don’t talk it away. This is the Way of No Virtue.

The fourth is no absolute. Don’t try to control everything,
Don’t take sides in arguments about right and wrong.
Treat everyone equally, and live from day to day.
It’s like a clear mirror that reflects everything anyway:
Green or yellow or in any combination-
It shows everything, as well as the smallest of details.
What does the mirror do? It reflects without judgment.
“To Move, You Need Light to See By”
Such ancient teachings resonate for contemporary people. The Sutra of Returning to your Original Nature offers words from the living Jesus that speak across the ages.
Then He spoke to the assembled crowd and said:
This Sutra is profound and unimaginable.
All the gods and gurus agree on this, and acknowledge
This Way that is the essences of connection and return.
To move you need light to see by — this teaching provides it
Just as the sun slants out, so you can see what is in front of you,
This Sutra offers understanding, and by its light
You can know the Way of Peace and Happiness in your heart.

If anyone wants to share these teachings with friends or family
Of course they can. Honor them, sing and pray together —
And this will bless you and your family into the next generation.
Every generation is united in this communion —
From goodness in past lives, people come to this religion
And through the faith they have they find Happiness.
It’s like the spring rain that refreshes everything —
If you have roots, you will flourish in its coming.
Ch.3 :12 – 19.
The discovery of a site so long hidden is wonderful. Finding art that so beautifully fuses Chinese and non-Chinese traditions is deeply satisfying and instructive. Knowing more about the forms that surrounded the early Church in China contributes much to our human heritage.

The spiritual teachings once imparted within these forms contribute even more. The Jesus Sutras urge respect, kindness, gentleness, and receptivity. To understand them is to peer into an almost-forgotten distant past. To understand them is to light a path to a possible future. Contemplating  “The Jade-Faced One” and the Church built around him in China may allow a model of Christianity that is not only ancient but well-fitted for contemporary life, a revelation not only of what has passed away, but of what can come to be.

***
Reprinted from “The Jesus Sutras: an Ancient Message for a Post-Modernist Future,” Elixir: Consciousness, Conscience and Culture, No. 1, Autumn 2005, abridged with permission of the author.

Taken from: http://www.sevenpillarshouse.org/index.php/article/the_jesus_sutras_an_ancient_message_for_a_post_modernist_future/

INTRODUCTION
Judging from the Nestorian Documents in Chinese, the first Christians in
T’ang China saw themselves as bearers of a religious message they claimed
to be universal. At the same time, they realized it carries with it the
vocabulary and symbolism, which are in many respects alien to the
Chinese. They proceeded therefore to explain and communicate their
message to the people they found on the Eastern end of the Silk Route by
making bold attempts in using the common currency of the T’ang society.
The synthetic feature of the T’ang Nestorianism had been the studies of
scholars for many years1. Some condemned Nestorianism outright as a
syncretism that deviated from the Catholic doctrine and treated the
Nestorians with contempt2. However, there were others who heralded
their efforts in inter-faiths exchanges and held it as a model for modern
inter-religious dialogues3.

The term syncretism has had different meanings in the history of
religions, depending on one’s viewpoint. In Western ideological disputes,
syncretism was generally regarded as a betrayal of principles or as an
attempt to secure unity at the expense of the truth. The syncretistic thinker
was seen as a suspicious character, like a double agent, whose loyalty and
commitment were absolutely questionable. They were charged by critics
for incorporating other beliefs and practices to the extent of ignoring any
inconsistencies which prevailed4.
However, the term syncretism was derived from a historic incident in
which the citizens of Crete overcame internal disputes and were bonded
together to face a common enemy. In such a paradigm, views were not
reconciled in an arbitrary or irrational way, but for the purpose of survival.
As such, religious syncretism is seen not as arbitrary or irrational, but as
serving a religious purpose. Syncretism in this sense assumes a firm
foundation for religious authority. It is not simply a random mixing of
elements into an idiosyncratic whole, but the incorporation of various
elements into a home tradition. It tends to be highly selective in the
process; a selection based on the particular religious needs and interests of
the syncretistic thinkers and the historical and cultural contexts against
which they emerged. Thus, syncretism requires that borrowed elements be
reconciled, and be accommodated into the worldview and doctrines of the
home tradition5 . In his observations of religious syncretism for ritual
practices in the context of Buddhist religion in Tuva, Piatigorsky sees it as
a situation whereby elements of two or more religions were being
consciously chosen by those who used them for their own ends6. In this
respect, syncretistic thinkers are not the usual ecumenical diplomats
seeking peace among competing traditions; they are religious persons who
seek to respond to new religious differences and needs.

IMPACT OF THE T’ANG SECULAR AND RELIGIOUS CONTEXTS
The Nestorians arrived in China at a time most favourable for the
propagation of foreign religions. Before AD 635, many merchants of
Persian origin lived in Chang-an and undoubtedly, there were some
Nestorians among them. When their numbers increased, Bishop Alopen
led a mission which arrived in the capital city of T’ang China to serve the
Nestorian community there. Alopen and his team were warmly received by
the T’ang court. They were granted permission to translate their sutras and
teach its doctrine. Imperial patronage which began with Emperor T’aitsung
was reported by Ching-cheng and continued by Gao-tsung, X’uantsung,
Su-tsung, Dai-tsung and De-tsung. 7 There were also influential
families and army chiefs who were adherents of Nestorianism and
provided huge support to its advancement in the T’sang society8. Apart
from the attacks and persecutions during the Shen-li and Hsien-t’ien eras
by the Buddhists and the Taoists, the Nestorians had enjoyed almost two
centuries of political favor at T’ang court. This placed the Nestorians on a
different footing with the successive Christian encounters.

Also when Alopen arrived in Chang-an, the Buddhists, having
competed with Taoism and Confucianism for followers in the T’ang
society, already had five centuries of successive growth in China. The
complex religious scene of the T’ang society; with Buddhism, Taoism and
Confucianism dominating the religious scene for centuries, meant that the
Nestorians did not come to China when it was a philosophical and
spiritual vacuum. Thus, encounters between Nestorianism and these local
religions were expected. Successful methods and experiences in other
religions, particularly that of Buddhism, had proven to be of great use to
the Nestorians as they communicated with people in the T’ang society.
Furthermore, the competition for patronage from the Imperial house or
influential families also left its marks on the T’ang Nestorianism. But it was in the area of language that the T’ang society had a great impact on the
synthetic outlook on Nestorianism9.

The best place to account for linguistic impact on the Nestorianism is
in their documents in Chinese. We have the Alopen Documents10 and the
Ching-cheng Documents11; all written after the arrival of Alopen at Chang-an
in AD635, and within a time span of two centuries. On top of these is the
famous Xi’an Stele12, with its inscription composed by Ching-ching at
around AD 780. These materials provide us with good written evidences
of the efforts made by the Nestorians to advance their communication of
the Christian message to the T’ang Chinese. The Nestorians also designed
their own symbol to communicate the Christian message to the Chinese.
They have boldly made use of the Chinese symbols of the dragon, the
white clouds and the lotus, in designing a new logo to present the
Nestorian message of the Gospel of the Cross and the Messiah. This
paper takes the Nestorian symbol as an example, to demonstrate their
knowledge and understanding of the common currency of the T’ang society as
well as their boldness to use them for their own ends.

THE CHOICE OF THE CHINESE SYMBOLS
The Xi’an Stele was originally erected in AD 781, in the Nestorian
Monastery at the I-ning Ward in Hsian-fu, and remained there ever since
until it was recovered in AD 1623. It is ten feet by three and a half feet
wide and a little under a foot thick. The head of the Stele consists of an
immense pearl between two Chinese lungs over twenty feet long. In the
centre of the figurehead right under the pearl is the apex of a triangle, which forms a canopy over nine Chinese characters arranged vertically in
three lines forming the title of the Stele, which reads ‘Ta-ch’in Ching-chao
Liu-shing Chung-kuo Pi’. Upon taking a closer look at the roof shape of
the title on the Stele, one is struck by the design of the unique symbolic
signs of the cross, the cloud, the lotus and two branches of a tree. The
cross symbol undoubtedly shows that the Stele itself is a Christian
monument, but beneath the cross is the white cloud—a characteristic
symbol for the Taoist, and a lotus flower—the characteristic emblem of
the Buddhist (see fig.1)13.

The first impression of the symbolic presentation was that of a design,
used to denote that ‘the three religions are one’. Under this symbolic
heading are the texts, stating the purpose and content for the erection of
the monument, in Chinese and Syriac. It is stated in Chinese that this is a
monument commemorating the propagation of the Ta’chin Luminous
Religion in the Middle Kingdom. It also stated in Syriac, “my lord
Yazedbouzid, the Presbyter and Chorepiscopus of Khumdan, city of the
King, who is the son of the late Presbyter Milis from Balkh, city of
Tahounstan, erected this stone monument in which the Law of our
Saviour was written and that our forefathers preached to the Rulers of
China” 14 . These words show clearly what the Ta-ch’in Ching-chao
represents, and that the purpose of the monument is to declare the Law of
the Messiah. Hence, the unique symbol designed by the Nestorian was not
to denote that the three religions are one, but rather to propagate the
unique message of the cross of the Messiah.

The choice and use of the lotus flower together with the cross,
continued to be the dominant symbol on the inscription of tomb-stones
and relics during the T’ang and the Song periods. Figures 2 and 3 are
pictures of the Ch’uan-chou crosses dated back to the Song period15 ;
whereas figure 4 is the restoration of the remain of a wall painting found
in Kan-su Tuan-hwan Cave in 1908, presently housed in the British
Museum16. The painting depicts a Syriac Nestorian priest, bearing three
crosses—one on the headdress, one on the chest collar with the third on his left hand’s staff simultaneously holding out the symbol of a lotus finger
in his right hand!
The Nestorians in the Yuan Dynasty continued to use the symbol of
the lung with the cross in their witness to the Chinese. The Yuan Dynasty
Stele, which commemorated the founding of a Nestorian Monastery in the
year AD1383, uses the symbols of the cross, guarded by four lungs. The
inscription on the Yuan Stele states that this stone marks the site of the
Monastery of the Cross17. The choice of the symbol of the cloud seems to
have diminished after the T’ang period.
Can we justify the choice and use of these Chinese symbols of the lung
and the lotus together with the cross of Christ Jesus? This essay seeks to
survey the meanings and usage of the symbols of the lotus and the lung in
the T’ang contexts so as to examine the approach and choice of these
symbols used by the Nestorians in their Chinese documents. Hence
confirming the model for religious encounter used by the Nestorians in
their approach to communicate with people in the T’ang society.

THE CHINESE LUNG
The symbol of dragon is widely used in cultures of the East and the West.
In the West, there were the Cosmic dragon, the Greek dragon, the Egyptian
dragon and the Classical dragon18. With very few exceptions, the dragons of
the West were monstrous, evil, earthbound and hideous. They were cavedwelling,
fire-breathing and destructive creatures. Most Western dragon
stories are significantly based on the Bible. They are seen as a form of the
devil himself or as a symbol of destruction both spiritual and physical19.
However, the Chinese lung is almost exclusively benevolent; which
differentiates them from the Western dragons to the extent that it may be
more adequate to consider them as different symbols rather than as the
same symbol interpreted differently20.

The symbol of the Chinese lung has taken different shades of meanings
over the many centuries of China’s cultural history and continues to be a
subject of much debates by the scholars. This essay will deal with three
major usage of the symbol of lung by the T’ang period.
Firstly, the lung as an auspicious spiritual creature. The Chinese folklore
regards the lung as one of the four divine creatures21 that were thought to
be beneficent creatures. The t’ien-lung protects and supports the many
layers of heavens. The shen-lung controls the rain, wind and weather to
benefit earthly agriculture. The t’sang-lung mounts guard on the treasures
hidden in the earth. The lungs were also seen as vehicles for the saints and
the sages to ascend into heavens22. Thus, by the T’ang and the Song
periods, most Chinese see the appearances of these lungs as sign of
auspicious good omen for them and their community.

Secondly, the lung represented a totem, which binds the same tribe and
community together as a unit. Lung as a totem started very early in Chinese
cultural history. As one of the many primitive beliefs, the lung was used to
name the particular tribal community; or taken to be an ancestor by
members of the community and become the symbol of that community.
The Lung as a totem led to other developments. Two of most important
developments were that it should become a religious lung to be worshipped
as a god; as well as a political lung with the status of an emperor. This
second development has grew from strength to strength and became a
norm after the Han Dynasty right through the T’ang and the Song
periods 23 . Thus, the Chinese see lung as a symbol for their race
representing the descendents of the Yean-huang and called themselves
lung-de-quan-ren—the lineage of the dragon. The emperors as sons of the
lung, become the defenders and providers of their subjects. The totem as
the ancestor’s symbol or as tribal protector, however, has become an
object of worship for some in the Chinese communities.

The third usage is that, lung is used as a symbol for life and vitality. This
is a popular view for many generations of literati in the Chinese society.
The author witnessed a discussion by a group of Confucian scholars;
emphasizing lung as symbol of creativity, which is the spirit of the T’ang’s and the Song’s Confucianism. They take the symbol of the lung as a
combination of the various symbolic parts of different domestic animals
to form a powerful sign for creativity. Thus, the horns are those of a deer;
the head is that of a horse; the body is that of the snake; and the claws are
those of the rooster. These parts represent the life-force, creativity and
vitality of various animals. One could judge the age of a deer by the
growth of its horn. An experienced farmer could tell the age of a horse by
looking at its teeth. Similarly, the craws reveal the youth of the rooster;
while the snake enters a new phase of growth by shading its skin. Many
Confucian scholars love the symbol of lung for it represents human vitality
and creativity. Since the Nestorians had enjoyed successive Imperial
patronage at the T’ang court as well as in their direct encounters with the
T’ang literati. The choice and use of the symbol lung is conceivable.

In the Chung-a-han-ching27, the twenty second chapters Ching-pai-Lianhuayu
speaks of the different colored lotus, grown in the water and out of
water, yet untouched by water. Buddhism used the notion of “the lotus
grows in a world full of changes, yet it is untainted or defiled by the
world.” Then, the Mahayana Pure-land Buddhism based its teaching on
the Great Lotus-king; taking it as the manifestation of the fa-jie-zhen-ru—-the
buddha-nature in all thing. The Buddhist zhen-ru is not seen as isolated from
the secular world; but it is in the world and yet not defiled by the world.
Hence, ‘the lotus coming out of the muddy pool and yet not tainted by the muddy water’ has become the emblem of Buddhism28. Again, the text continues to stress that the self-blossoming nature of the lotus is taken up by Buddhism to represent the dhama-nature, permeating in the sentient beings, for those
who take the right path and are able to attest to it. The picture of the lotus
blossom, offering itself totally, for the bees to freely absorb honey, is
analogous to the fa-jie-zhen-ru giving itself to the boddhisattvas.
However, besides these Buddhist images of the symbol lotus, the
Confucians also made a strong claim and use of the symbol of the lotus,
for their own purpose. The great late T’ang/early Song Confucian master
Chou-tun-yi shared his passion for the lotus in his famous poem Ai-lianshou29.
In it, he affirmed the common usage of the symbol—out of the
muddy pool and yet untainted, that is, purity. However, he applied the
notion of chong-tong-wai-tzi to it, to express the way of a jun-tzi, thus
claiming the lotus as uniquely Confucian. Chou-tun-yi had boldly led the
Neo-Confucian tradition to claim the use of the lotus by keeping the
common usage shared by the Buddhists, and incorporating the
Confucian’s idea of chong-tong-wai-tzi to the symbol30.

THE NESTORIAN MODEL OF RELIGIOUS ENCOUNTER
The Nestorian arrived in China when Buddhism was at its zenith, with
several emperors as ardent Buddhists. It was quite natural that they took
up matters addressed by the Buddhists, and tried to interpret things from
the Buddhists’ perspective; and adopt Buddhist methods in translating.

THE SYMBOL OF THE LOTUS FLOWER
The lotus is of unique importance in Chinese symbolism due to Buddhist
influence. In fact, the Buddhists have claimed the symbol of lotus from
Brahmaism. There were references to the many-fold coloured lotus in
ancient India. These are the green, the white, the red and the yellow lotus.
The lotus flowers were linked to the creation of the universe in
Brahmaism. Visnu, the maker of the great waters, produced a golden lotus
from its navel side, on which sat the Brahma King. The Brahma King
further gave birth to eight princes who then created the earth, the heaven,
the human race and other myriad creatures24. But as a tradition critical of
Brahmaism, especially on the notion of existence by creation; Buddhism
did not place great emphasis on the lotus at the early stage. However,
when the symbol of the lotus gained popularity among the masses,
Buddhism started to embrace the symbol of the lotus. The lotus comes
out of the mire but is not itself sullied and also, it is inwardly empty. The
symbol of the lotus was used in the Buddhist texts25, and has since become
the characteristic emblem of Buddhism26.

Nestorian Scriptures. Buddhist mode of thought was after all the major
currency of the day; and the methods and approaches developed throughout
the centuries in translating foreign religious ideas into the T’ang Chinese
were well established by the Buddhists. There was the straightforward
borrowing of terms and ideas in great quantity from Taoism at the early
stage; a method called ke-yi31. Later, translators like Kumarajiva and Tao-an,
had worked hard for the emancipation of Buddhist ideas from Taoism32.
The Chinese Buddhists in the late fourth and early fifth centuries
developed the upaya method in the rhetorical structure of Madhyamika
works, where unfavourable ideas were presented in a favorable way in
essays33. Such works would seem Taoist to the Taoists and Buddhist to
those who understand and gain aesthetic pleasure from them34. Some
literati applied the ‘nei’ and ‘wai’ approach in their writings, when one, who
is basically a Buddhist yet appears to be Confucian 35 . Others simply
employed the skilful writing technique in order to survive amidst
undesirable circumstances.

The Nestorians took up these matters and methods which had been the
norms of the Buddhists and used them for their own ends. This is evident
in their writings and the use of the Chinese symbols to introduce the
Messiah to their readers. The belief of the Triune God, the Person and
work of the Messiah, the Holy Spirit, the fallen human nature and the
Salvation…. are evident in the Chinese Nestorian Documents36.
The symbol of the lotus flower has been chosen to introduce the
Gospel of the Cross of Jesus Christ. Chou-Tun-yi led Song Neo-
Confucians to claim the use of the lotus, by keeping the common ground
and applying the Neo-Confucian’s idea of chong-tong-wai-tzi to the symbol;
claiming the symbol of lotus to be uniquely theirs. Ching-cheng tried to do
the same in the 8th century, about two centuries before Chou-Tun-yi.
It is evident that the Scholars in T’ang society knew clearly that the
Nestorians were preaching a new message, as the eminent monk Yuanchao
of the Tsi-ming Temple commented: “…. A Buddhist monastery and
a temple of Ta-ch’in differ in customs and in their religious practices,
Ching-ching should preach the teaching of the Messiah and the Buddhist
monk must make known the message of Buddhist Sutra….. Truth and
error are not the same, just like the Ching River and the Wei River are not
alike….”37 Yuan-chao saw clearly the uniqueness of the Nestorian message
and the Ching-ching missionary position38.

With the re-discovery of the Ta-Ch’in pagoda39, a few miles from the
great Taoist Center—Lou Guan Tai, it reveals the most favourable status
of the Nestorians at the T’ang court. Lou Guan Tai was the site declared
as the Imperial Ancestral Temple by AD630. It was alleged to be the site
where Lao Zi wrote his book of Tao Te Ching, before he left the county
through the Pass for the West eventually. The fact that the Nestorians
were granted the permission to build a ‘Church building’ right at the
doorstep of the Taoist’s sacred centre, shows that the Nestorians must
have gained great favour at the Imperial Court and made much inroads
into the T’ang higher society.

MAKING CHRISTIANITY CHINESE
Foster made a very perceptive observation more than half a century ago in
his comparison of the work of the Nestorians and that of Justin Martyr and Clement of Alexandria. He says, “Not only was this missionary
(Ching-cheng) endeavouring to make Chinese people Christian he
laboured also to make Christianity, in a worthy sense, Chinese.
Underneath the strange terminology are quotations from the Bible and
ideas, which came from the great Fathers of the Christian Church.
Borrowing from non-Christian sources is but the eastern counterpart of
the debt owed by the Church in the West to Greek philosophy”40. The
Nestorians were not pluralists who practised the belief of universalism, but
rather, theirs is the model of particularism; a new synthesis of exclusivism and
inclusivism. For them, the Gospel of the Cross of Jesus Christ is the normal
and preferred path to God, as the Cross takes the central position in the
design of the Nestorian symbol. But they also believed in natural
revelation; that all revelations of truth come from Christ—the Word
which created all things. They affirmed that there are ‘connects’ as well as
‘disconnects’ between Christianity and other religions. To the Nestorians,
any religion that grasps the truth through natural revelation by the
Universal Christ, can also be connected with the truth given through
special revelation. However, the special revelation of the Historical
Jesus—the Word that became flesh, is uniquely Christian.

There are good reasons for the decline of Nestorianism in China: the
over-dependence on Imperial favour; their negligence of the people in the
market place; the over use of Buddhist and Taoist terms etc… However,
the Nestorians had demonstrated how they advanced the communication
of their message to the T’ang literati. Although they bore a synthetic outlook
which had led to their condemnation by critics as deviating from the
Catholic doctrine, and the Nestorians were being treated with contempt as
syncretists. However, they were the true syncretists in the sense of the
word. They have indeed taken courage to communicate the message of the
Cross of Christ Jesus to the upper class of the T’ang society.

Taken from: http://www.ttc.edu.sg/csca/CS/2003-Aug/LAU.pdf

Something remarkable happened when evangelists for two great religions crossed paths more than 1,000 years ago: they got along
By Philip Jenkins
December 14, 2008

WAS THE BUDDHA a demon?

While few mainline Christians would put the matter in such confrontational terms, any religion claiming exclusive access to truth has real difficulties reconciling other great faiths into its cosmic scheme. Most Christian churches hold that Jesus alone is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and many also feel an obligation to carry that message to the world’s unbelievers. But this creates a fundamental conflict with the followers of famous spiritual figures like Mohammed or Buddha, who preached radically different messages. Drawing on a strict interpretation of the Bible, some Christians see these rival faiths as not merely false, but as deliberate traps set by the forces of evil.

Being intolerant of other religions – consigning them to hell, in fact – may be bad enough in its own right, but it increasingly has real-world consequences. As trade and technology shrink the globe, so different religions come into ever-closer contact with one another, and the results can be bloody: witness the apocalyptic assaults in Mumbai. In such a world, teaching different faiths to acknowledge one another’s claims, to live peaceably together side by side, stops being a matter of good manners and becomes a prerequisite for human survival.

Over the past 30 years, the Roman Catholic Church has faced repeated battles over this question of Christ’s uniqueness, and has cracked down on thinkers who have made daring efforts to accommodate other world religions. While the Christian dialogue with Islam has attracted

most of the headlines, it is the encounters with Hinduism and especially Buddhism that have stirred the most controversy within the church. Sri Lankan theologians Aloysius Pieris and Tissa Balasuriya have had many run-ins with Vatican critics, and, more recently, the battle has come to American shores. Last year, the Vatican ordered an investigation of Georgetown University’s Peter Phan, a Jesuit theologian whose main sin, in official eyes, has been to treat the Buddhism of his Vietnamese homeland as a parallel path to salvation.

Following the ideas of Pope Benedict XVI, though, the church refuses to give up its fundamental belief in the unique role of Christ. In a widely publicized open letter to Italian politician Marcello Pera, Pope Benedict declared that “an inter-religious dialogue in the strict sense of the term is not possible.” By all means, he said, we should hold conversations with other cultures, but not in a way that acknowledges other religions as equally valid. While the Vatican does not of course see the Buddha as a demon, it does fear the prospect of syncretism, the dilution of Christian truth in an unholy mixture with other faiths.

Beyond doubt, this view places Benedict in a strong tradition of Christianity as it has developed in Europe since Roman times. But there is another, ancient tradition, which suggests a very different course. Europe’s is not the only version of the Christian faith, nor is it necessarily the oldest heir of the ancient church. For more than 1,000 years, other quite separate branches of the church established thriving communities across Asia, and in their sheer numbers, these churches were comparable to anything Europe could muster at the time. These Christian bodies traced their ancestry back not through Rome, but directly to the original Jesus movement of ancient Palestine. They moved across India, Central Asia, and China, showing no hesitation to share – and learn from – the other great religions of the East.

Just how far these Christians were prepared to go is suggested by a startling symbol that appeared on memorials and stone carvings in both southern India and coastal China during the early Middle Ages. We can easily see that the image depicts a cross, but it takes a moment to realize that the base of the picture – the root from which the cross is growing – is a lotus flower, the symbol of Buddhist enlightenment.

In modern times, most mainstream churches would condemn such an amalgam as a betrayal of the Christian faith, an example of multiculturalism run wild. Yet concerns about syncretism did not bother these early Asian Christians, who called themselves Nasraye, Nazarenes, like Jesus’s earliest followers. They were comfortable associating themselves with the other great monastic and mystical religion of the time, and moreover, they believed that both lotus and cross carried similar messages about the quest for light and salvation. If these Nazarenes could find meaning in the lotus-cross, then why can’t modern Catholics, or other inheritors of the faith Jesus inspired?

Many Christians are coming to terms with just how thoroughly so many of their fundamental assumptions will have to be rethought as their faith today becomes a global religion. Even modern church leaders who know how rapidly the church is expanding in the global South tend to see European values and traditions as the indispensable norm, in matters of liturgy and theology as much as music and architecture.

Yet the reality is that Christianity has from its earliest days been an intercontinental faith, as firmly established in Asia and Africa as in Europe itself. When we broaden our scope to look at the faith that by 800 or so stretched from Ireland to Korea, we see the many different ways in which Christians interacted with other believers, in encounters that reshaped both sides. At their best, these meetings allowed the traditions not just to exchange ideas but to intertwine in productive and enriching ways, in an awe-inspiring chapter of Christian history that the Western churches have all but forgotten.

To understand this story, we need to reconfigure our mental maps. When we think of the growth of Christianity, we think above all of Europe. We visualize a movement growing west from Palestine and Syria and spreading into Greece and Italy, and gradually into northern regions. Europe is still the center of the Catholic Church, of course, but it was also the birthplace of the Protestant denominations that split from it. For most of us, even speaking of the “Eastern Church” refers to another group of Europeans, namely to the Orthodox believers who stem from the eastern parts of the continent. English Catholic thinker Hilaire Belloc once proclaimed that “Europe is the Faith; and the Faith is Europe.”

But in the early centuries other Christians expanded east into Asia and south into Africa, and those other churches survived for the first 1,200 years or so of Christian history. Far from being fringe sects, these forgotten churches were firmly rooted in the oldest traditions of the apostolic church. Throughout their history, these Nazarenes used Syriac, which is close to Jesus’ own language of Aramaic, and they followed Yeshua, not Jesus. No other church – not Roman Catholics, not Eastern Orthodox – has a stronger claim to a direct inheritance from the earliest Jesus movement.

The most stunningly successful of these eastern Christian bodies was the Church of the East, often called the Nestorian church. While the Western churches were expanding their influence within the framework of the Roman Empire, the Syriac-speaking churches colonized the vast Persian kingdom that ruled from Syria to Pakistan and the borders of China. From their bases in Mesopotamia – modern Iraq – Nestorian Christians carried out their vast missionary efforts along the Silk Route that crossed Central Asia. By the eighth century, the Church of the East had an extensive structure across most of central Asia and China, and in southern India. The church had senior clergy – metropolitans – in Samarkand and Bokhara, in Herat in Afghanistan. A bishop had his seat in Chang’an, the imperial capital of China, which was then the world’s greatest superpower.

When Nestorian Christians were pressing across Central Asia during the sixth and seventh centuries, they met the missionaries and saints of an equally confident and expansionist religion: Mahayana Buddhism. Buddhists too wanted to take their saving message to the world, and launched great missions from India’s monasteries and temples. In this diverse world, Buddhist and Christian monasteries were likely to stand side by side, as neighbors and even, sometimes, as collaborators. Some historians believe that Nestorian missionaries influenced the religious practices of the Buddhist religion then developing in Tibet. Monks spoke to monks.

In presenting their faith, Christians naturally used the cultural forms that would be familiar to Asians. They told their stories in the forms of sutras, verse patterns already made famous by Buddhist missionaries and teachers. A stunning collection of Jesus Sutras was found in caves at Dunhuang, in northwest China. Some Nestorian writings draw heavily on Buddhist ideas, as they translate prayers and Christian services in ways that would make sense to Asian readers. In some texts, the Christian phrase “angels and archangels and hosts of heaven” is translated into the language of buddhas and devas.

One story in particular suggests an almost shocking degree of collaboration between the faiths. In 782, the Indian Buddhist missionary Prajna arrived in Chang’an, bearing rich treasures of sutras and other scriptures. Unfortunately, these were written in Indian languages. He consulted the local Nestorian bishop, Adam, who had already translated parts of the Bible into Chinese. Together, Buddhist and Christian scholars worked amiably together for some years to translate seven copious volumes of Buddhist wisdom. Probably, Adam did this as much from intellectual curiosity as from ecumenical good will, and we can only guess about the conversations that would have ensued: Do you really care more about relieving suffering than atoning for sin? And your monks meditate like ours do?

These efforts bore fruit far beyond China. Other residents of Chang’an at this very time included Japanese monks, who took these very translations back with them to their homeland. In Japan, these works became the founding texts of the great Buddhist schools of the Middle Ages. All the famous movements of later Japanese history, including Zen, can be traced to one of those ancient schools and, ultimately – incredibly – to the work of a Christian bishop.

By the 12th century, flourishing churches in China and southern India were using the lotus-cross. The lotus is a superbly beautiful flower that grows out of muck and slime. No symbol could better represent the rise of the soul from the material, the victory of enlightenment over ignorance, desire, and attachment. For 2,000 years, Buddhist artists have used the lotus to convey these messages in countless paintings and sculptures. The Christian cross, meanwhile, teaches a comparable lesson, of divine victory over sin and injustice, of the defeat of the world. Somewhere in Asia, Yeshua’s forgotten followers made the daring decision to integrate the two emblems, which still today forces us to think about the parallels between the kinds of liberation and redemption offered by each faith.

Christianity, for much of its history, was just as much an Asian religion as Buddhism. Asia’s Christian churches survived for more than a millennium, and not until the 10th century, halfway through Christian history, did the number of Christians in Europe exceed that in Asia.

What ultimately obliterated the Asian Christians were the Mongol invasions, which spread across Central Asia and the Middle East from the 1220s onward. From the late 13th century, too, the world entered a terrifying era of climate change, of global cooling, which severely cut food supplies and contributed to mass famine. The collapse of trade and commerce crippled cities, leaving the world much poorer and more vulnerable. Intolerant nationalism wiped out Christian communities in China, while a surging militant Islam destroyed the churches of Central Asia.

But awareness of this deep Christian history contributes powerfully to understanding the future of the religion, as much as its past. For long centuries, Asian Christians kept up neighborly relations with other faiths, which they saw not as deadly rivals but as fellow travelers on the road to enlightenment. Their worldview differed enormously from the norms that developed in Europe.

To take one example, we are used to the idea of Christianity operating as the official religion of powerful states, which were only too willing to impose a particular orthodoxy upon their subjects. Yet when we look at the African and Asian experience, we find millions of Christians whose normal experience was as minorities or even majorities within nations dominated by some other religion. Struggling to win hearts and minds, leading churches had no option but to frame the Christian message in the context of non-European intellectual traditions. Christian thinkers did present their message in the categories of Buddhism – and Taoism, and Confucianism – and there is no reason why they could not do so again. When modern scholars like Peter Phan try to place Christianity in an Asian and Buddhist context, they are resuming a task begun at least 1,500 years ago.

Perhaps, in fact, we are looking at our history upside down. Some day, future historians might look at the last few hundred years of Euro-American dominance within Christianity and regard it as an unnatural interlude in a much longer story of fruitful interchange between the great religions.

Consider the story told by Timothy, a patriarch of the Nestorian church. Around 800, he engaged in a famous debate with the Muslim caliph in Baghdad, a discussion marked by reason and civility on both sides. Imagine, Timothy said, that we are all in a dark house, and someone throws a precious pearl in the midst of a pile of ordinary stones. Everyone scrabbles for the pearl, and some think they’ve found it, but nobody can be sure until day breaks.

In the same way, he said, the pearl of true faith and wisdom had fallen into the darkness of this transitory world; each faith believed that it alone had found the pearl. Yet all he could claim – and all the caliph could say in response – was that some faiths thought they had enough evidence to prove that they were indeed holding the real pearl, but the final truth would not be known in this world.

Knowing other faiths firsthand grants believers an enviable sophistication, founded on humility. We could do a lot worse than to learn from what we sometimes call the Dark Ages.

Philip Jenkins is Edwin Erle Sparks professor of the humanities at Penn State University. He is author of “The Lost History of Christianity: The Thousand-Year Golden Age of the Church in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia — and How It Died,” published last month.

Taken from: http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2008/12/14/when_jesus_met_buddha/?page=full

In the Buddhist gospels.. we see that.. after obtaining enlightenment..

To quote.. “The Buddha went in search of a better system…”

Also.. we find the same idea is central to the Bible’s teachings.. that the words of Jesus will.. in the future.. bring the ideas of the rulers of this existing system to nothing.. and will establish a new.. better system.. in its place.

The first point to consider is that both religious masters.. Buddha and Christ had an agenda to change the way the world thinks in the future.. and to establish a superior system to the one we presently have. This is the goal that drives both of their teachings.. yet.. to date.. their wisdom is still being rejected by the mainstream elements of the world we live in. This is the reason that our system remains corrupted and bad.

Central to this new system is the unfailing belief in Loving kindness..

Below are some of the Buddha’s quotes for evidence.. that.. both Jesus and the Buddha wanted to establish the same core values at the heart of their new system…

THE SPIRIT OF LOVING KINDNESS

“GREATER THAN ALL RELIGIOUS ACCOMPLISHMENTS IS LOVING KINDNESS”

“As the light of the moon is sixteen times stronger than the light of all the stars, so loving kindness is sixteen times more efficacious in liberating the heart than all other religious accomplishments taken together.”

“By the practice of loving kindness I have attained liberation of heart, and thus I am assured that I shall never return in renewed births. I have even now attained Nirvana.”

“Gifts are great, the founding of viharas is meritorious,
mediations and religious exercises pacify the heart,
comprehension of the truth leads to Nirvana, but greater than all is loving kindness.”

Notice the associations with words like “kingdom”.. and “throne”.. such words symbolize that Righteousness is of the highest importance. Notice also how values like.. Love.. Justice.. Truth and Peace are all connected values. These values often group together to show how they all relate to one another. This further validated their importance.

THE SPIRIT OF RIGHTEOUSNESS

“THE KINGDOM OF RIGHTEOUSNESS WITH ITS THRONE OF TRUTH”

“The throne of truth is righteousness; and love and justice and good-will are its ornaments.” [10]

“Righteousness is the place in which truth dwells, and here in the hearts of mankind aspiring after the realization of righteousness, there is ample space for a rich and ever richer revelation of the truth.”

“Truly, the Blessed One has founded the kingdom of righteousness. The Blessed One has moved the earth; he has set the wheel of Truth rolling, The kingdom of Truth will be preached upon earth; it will spread; and righteousness, good-will, and peace will reign among mankind.”

“Be like unto brothers; one in love, one in holiness,
and one in your zeal for the truth.” [3]

“Spread the truth and preach the doctrine in all quarters of the world, so that in the end all living creatures will be citizens
of the kingdom of righteousness.” [4]

“The Tathagata is like unto a powerful king
who rules his kingdom with righteousness,”

In the Bible we see exactly the same..

“Righteousness and judgment are the established place of your throne; Loving-kindness and trueness themselves come in before your face.”
Psalms 89:14

THE SPIRIT OF JUSTICE

“KEEP TO THE PATH OF JUSTICE & RIGHTEOUSNESS”

“Swerve not from the path of justice and righteousness
and thou wilt outshine the royal glory of queens on the throne.”

“Learn to distinguish between Self and Truth. Self is the cause of selfishness and the source of evil; truth cleaves to no self; it is universal and leads to justice and righteousness.”

“He whose intentions are righteousness and justice,
will meet with no failure, but be successful in his enterprises
and his success will endure.”

And in the Bible success is also prophesied..

“Look! My servant whom I chose, my beloved, whom my soul approved! I WILL PUT MY SPIRIT UPON HIM, and what JUSTICE is he will make clear to the nations. No bruised reed will he crush, and no smoldering flaxen wick will he extinguish, until he sends out JUSTICE with success.”

Matthew 12:18

THE SPIRIT OF WISDOM

“WISDOM SHOULD BE CENTRAL TO ALL RELIGIOUS TEACHINGS”

“To acquire this state of mind, wisdom is the one thing needful.
To neglect wisdom will lead to failure in life. The teachings of all religions should centre here, for without wisdom there is no reason.”

“True wisdom can be acquired by practice only.
Practise the truth that your brother is the same as you.
Walk in the noble path of righteousness and thou wilt understand that while there is death in self, there is immortality in truth.” [67]

“The wisdom of the Tathagata is the sun of the mind.”

By comparison the Bible says..

“And I shall fill him with the Spirit of God in Wisdom and in understanding and in knowledge and in every kind of craftsmanship, And he proceeded to fill him with the Spirit of God in Wisdom, in understanding and in knowledge and in every sort of craftsmanship.”

Exodus 31:3

THE SPIRIT OF PEACE

“RELIGIOUS WISDOM BRINGS PEACE FOREVER”

“Religious wisdom lifts a man above the pleasures and pains of the world and gives him peace everlasting.”

“May thy country enjoy peace and prosperity, and may wisdom be shed upon thy rule like the brightness of the noon day sun.
May thy royal power be strong and may righteousness be the sceptre in thine hand.”

“And when the enemy is overcome, the Dharma-raja,
the great king of truth, will bestow upon all his disciples
the most precious crown which jewel brings perfect enlightenment, supreme wisdom, and undisturbed peace.”

Jesus also brings us the promise of a never ending peace..

“For there has been a child born to us, there has been a son given to us; and the princely rule will come to be upon his shoulder. And his name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. To the abundance of the princely rule and to Peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom IN ORDER TO ESTABLISH IT FIRMLY and to sustain it by means of Justice and by means of Righteousness, from now on and to time indefinite.”

Isaiah 9:6

THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH

“RELIGIOUS TRUTH IS THE HIGHEST TREASURE OF ALL

“He who seeks religious truth, which is the highest treasure of all,
must leave behind all that can concern him or draw away his attention, and must be bent upon that one goal alone.”

“Buddha, O Blessed One,
O Holy One, O Perfect One,
thou hast revealed the truth,
and the truth has appeared upon earth
and the kingdom of truth has been founded.
I now desire to found the kingdom of truth upon earth,
to give light to those who are enshrouded in darkness
and to open the gate of deathlessness.” [4]

“Trust in truth, ye that love the truth,
for the kingdom of righteousness is founded upon earth.
The darkness of error is dispelled by the light of truth.”

While the Bible says..

“And if you will certainly swear, ‘As God is alive in truth, in justice and in righteousness!’ then in him the nations will actually bless themselves, and in him they will boast about themselves.”
Jeremiah 4:2

THE SPIRIT OF FREEDOM

“RELIGIOUS TEACHING HAS ONLY ONE FLAVOUR – EMACIPATION”

“The king of the law has come forth to rescue from bondage all the poor, the miserable, the helpless.”

The Buddha found no satisfaction in these teachings. He replied: “People are in bondage, because they have not yet removed the idea of the ego. As the great ocean has only one taste, the taste of salt, so my doctrine has only one flavour, the flavour of emancipation.”

FREEDOM IN THE BIBLE

“The spirit of the Sovereign Lord God is upon me, for the reason that God has anointed me to tell good news to the meek ones. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to those taken captive and the wide opening of the eyes even to the prisoners;”
Isaiah 61:1

An enduring episode in the annals of Christian art is the ‘Last Supper’ of Jesus Christ. This was the final meal he had prior to his crucifixion. However, before partaking of the food, Jesus rose from the table, took off his outer garments and tied a towel around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin, and began to wash the feet of his twelve disciples sitting around him. Intrigued and bashful at the same time, one of them exclaimed: ‘You, Lord, washing my feet?’ The Great One answered: ‘ At present you do not understand what I am doing, but one day you will.’

After washing their feet, he put on his garment and sat down again. Addressing them he said: ‘Do you understand what I have done for you? You call me master and lord, and rightly so, because that is what I am. If I then, your lord and master, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example: you are to do as I have done for you.’

Yes, the Great Christ himself knelt on the hard floor, and with his graceful hands, cleansed the feet of each and every of his disciple. This inspiring parable gives us a significant insight into Christ’s humility and the essentially of his message:

“He who wants to be great must become the smallest of all.” (Mark 9.35).

Buddha was born into a royal family amongst rich and extravagant circumstances. Yet he gave it up all and became a monk, subsisting on the charity of others. Thus from the highest material station he graduated himself to the humblest and lowliest worldly state possible. Hence says Christ at another place in the Bible: “Whosoever exalts himself shall be abased; and he that humbles himself shall be exalted.” (Luke 18:9-14).

As a relevant aside it should be observed that the symbolic washing of the disciple’s feet also signifies that by sacrificing himself at the cross, Jesus has in a sense washed away the sins of all humanity.

Jesus Christ and Buddha, born in two different traditions separated by large geographical distances, nevertheless share common characteristics, which is not surprising since they are but both manifested expressions of the universal human yearning for mystical harmony with the rhythms of nature. According to Robert Elinor, ‘Buddha and Christ are but local inflections of a universal archetype: the Cosmic Person imaging wholeness.’ Beneath the perceived differences underlying these two visionaries, there are subtle unifying attributes which are amply exemplified in the life they led and the message they spread.

An important idea in this context is the belief shared by both in the natural cosmic law of cause and effect, popularly known as ‘karma.’ Christ says for example:

‘Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. If you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive earthly men their trespasses neither will your Father forget your trespasses. Therefore all things whatsoever you would like that men should do to you, do them; for this is the law and the prophets.’ And of course the popular quote:

“You shall love your neighbor as yourselves.” (Mark 12: 31)

The Buddha reiterates whatever Christ puts forward and elaborates:

‘Hard it is to understand: By giving away our food, we get more strength; by bestowing clothing on others, we gain more beauty; by founding abodes of purity and truth, we acquire great treasures. The charitable man has found the path of liberation. He is like the man who plants a sapling securing thereby the shade, the flowers and the fruit in future years. Even so is the result of charity, even so is the joy of him who helps those that are in need of assistance; even so is the great nirvana.’

Since they both embodied universal human aspirations and their ultimate realization, it was but natural that the art they inspired too would develop motifs which would elaborate similar principles, though the metaphors deployed would vary, being dependent upon local contexts.

Rather bewilderingly for the interested reader, the first verses of the New Testament are merely a long list of names. Now the New Testament is the sacred scripture from which much of our information about the life and deeds of Christ are derived. Thus this lengthy array of names is bound to have some spiritual import too. It does. These names enumerate the ancestors of Joseph, Christ’s earthly father. Significantly, one of the names mentioned is that of David, the second and greatest king of Israel (famous for his victory over the giant Goliath). Thus is Jesus proved to belong to a line of kings. We have already noted Buddha’s royal antecedents.

This typical characteristic presented both a challenge and opening to artists. Here was an abstract attribute (divinity) reduced to an earthly metaphor (kingliness), and thus was presented a solution to the difficult task of representing simultaneously their twin nature: fully human and fully divine. The question only remained of developing visual formulae that would convey eloquently the dual personalities of these exalted beings. Both traditions went about it differently:
Gossaert. The Adoration of the Kings, c. 1510
Gossaert. The Adoration of the Kings, c. 1510

According to Christian legend, towards the end of one hard December in Palestine, a Jewish carpenter and his pregnant wife traveled from Nazareth to Bethlehem to be taxed by the bureaucrats of Imperial Rome. There was no room for them at the inn, so they lodged in a stable, where the young woman, weary after the long journey, gave birth to a son. Alerted by angels. Shepherds hurried down from the hills to see the baby. Three kings guided by a star, came from the east to offer him gifts. The shepherds signify the Jewish people while the three kings are differently colored: black, brown and white, representing Africa, Asia, and Europe respectively.

The essence being that not only the people of Israel rather rulers from all over the world came to venerate the infant Christ. That he was glorified thus by kings representing the majority of humanity reconfirmed his own status as the king of kings, or ruler of the world. Of related interest here are the individual offerings made by the three kings. These were namely:

a). Gold: Symbolic of Christ’s earthy kingship.
b). Frankincense: This incense is used in worship and hence is a metaphor for his divine status.
c). Myrrh: A resin used in the embalming of the dead, thus predicting Christ’s imminent and unnatural death.

Here it needs to be observed that the identification of the three visitors as kings is a later modification in Christian art as the Bible itself does not specify their royalty, rather only mentions them as ‘wise men from the east.’ But more importantly when they came, they asked for the ‘newborn King of the Jews.’ (Matthew 1:2)

Crowned Buddha

The Buddhist aesthetic too was faced with a similar dilemma, namely the simultaneous depiction of humanity and divinity. But rather than take the Christian route of narrative theology transformed into verbal metaphors, the art of Buddhism presents a hard-hitting picture of the Buddha himself bejeweled and crowned as a king would be.

But if only things were so simple. This leaves the issue of divinity wide open and also a logical basis needs to be given to the representation. Both are resolved in a single and graceful stroke of artistic ingenuity. The answer lies in the gesture Buddha makes with his hands (mudra), the thumb and index finger of both hands touching at their tips to form a circle. This circle represents a wheel, and herein lies the key to the whole symbolism. In Sanskrit, the word for wheel is ‘chakra,’ and in ancient times the title of Chakravartin or ‘wheel turner’ was conferred upon a powerful and mighty ruler. The idea being that as the chariot of majestic and warrior king rolls along, all impediments on his path get crushed and no obstacle can stand in his way, expanding his empire endlessly. Similarly is Buddha glorified as a Chakravartin, the circle which his fingers make signifying the wheel, visualized as the wheel of dharma. The wheel’s swift motion serves as an apt metaphor for the rapid spiritual conquest wrought by the teachings of the Buddha.

Not to be interpreted in a literal sense, Buddha and Christ are of course not sovereigns over material kingdoms, but rather cosmic emperors, ruling the spirit rather than the body. Verily does say Christ: ‘My kingdom is not of this world.’ (John 18:36)
Humanity – Their Common Religion:
Jean Beraud. Christ in the House of the Pharisee, 1891
Jean Beraud. Christ in the House of the Pharisee, 1891

One of the prominent Jews of the city once invited Jesus for dinner. Jesus arrived and took his place at the table. Just then, a woman with a bad reputation in town entered. In her hands was an alabaster jar containing an ointment.

And she stood at his feet behind him weeping, and she began to wash his feet with her tears, and wipe them with her hair, and she kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment.

Now when the host saw this he said to himself, if this man was a prophet he would have known who and what sort of woman this is that is touching him: for she is a sinner.

Jesus (as if reading his thoughts) said to him, Simon I have something to say to you.

There was a creditor who had two debtors: one owed five hundred pounds and the other fifty. And when they had nothing to pay, he freely forgave them both. Tell me, therefore, which of them will love him most?

The host answered, I suppose that he to whom he forgave most.

And he said, You have judged rightly.

And he turned to the woman, and said to Simon, Do you see this woman? I entered your house, and you gave me no water for my feet. But she has washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head.

You gave me no kiss: but since the time I came in this woman has not ceased to kiss my feet.

You did not anoint my head with oil: but this woman has anointed my feet with ointment.

Wherefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven. For she loved much. But he to whom little is forgiven, loves little.

This tale from the Bible illustrates Jesus’ all embracing forgiveness. In Christ’s kingdom of heaven there is mercy for all. Thus said Buddha: ‘No sin is so great that a person cannot be purified of it. Imagine that you had murdered several Buddhas; you could still be purified.’ (Dhammapada 295)
Father, forgive them, for they not what they do.
“Father, forgive them, for they not what they do.”
Francisco De Zurbaran c. 1632-4

Yes. A person can be great enough to forgive even his own murderers, as Christ said when he was hung on the cross:

‘Father, forgive them, for they not what they do.’ (Luke 23: 34)

It is well established that both these luminaries evolved out of the latent reaction against centuries of blind ritualism that plagued the local communities. The original meaning and symbolic structure of the rituals had been lost and what remained was exploitation and subjugation of the masses by the priestly class. Not surprisingly thus, Buddha and Christ offer refreshing insights into religious behavior. Christ says for example:

When you pray, don’t pray like the hypocrites; for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by others.

Enter your closet, shut the door, and pray to your father in secret; and your father who sees you in secret shall reward you openly.

And when you pray, use not vain repetitions, as the hypocrites do; for they think that they will be heard for their much speaking. Therefore do not be like them. (Matthew 6:5-8)

Dull repetition of sacred verses does nothing to remove rust on the soul. (Buddha in the Dhammapada 240).

In a beautiful simplification Christ also elaborates upon the sup eriority of brotherhood of man over mere ritualism:

If you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has anything against you, leave there your gift before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. (Matthew 5: 23-24)
Views on Charity:

Many people appear to be generous, but in fact are trying to gain advantage for themselves. (Dhammapada 249).

Take heed that you do not give alms making it a show. When you give alms, do not sound a trumpet. But rather when you give alms, let your left hand not know what your right hand does. Your alms be in secret and your Father who sees it in secret shall reward you openly. (Matthew 6: 1-4)
On Being Non Judgmental:

It is easy to see the fault of others, but much harder to see your own faults. You can point out other people’s faults as easily as pointing out chaff blowing in the wind. But you are liable to conceal your own faults as cunning gambler conceals his dice. (Dhammapada 252)

Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged; and with what measure you give, it shall be measured to you. And why behold the speck that is in your brother’s eye but do not consider the log that is in your own eye? How will you say to your brother, Let me pull the speck out of your eye, when you are blind to the log in your own eye. First pull the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. (Matthew 7: 1-5)
And also:

You have heard that it has been said, You shall love your neighbor, and hate your enemy. But I say to you , Love your enemies, bless those that curse you, Do good to those that hate you, and pray for those who despitefully use you, and persecute you. That you may be the children of your Father who is in heaven: For he makes his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, And sends rain on the just and on the unjust. (Matthew 5: 43-45)

Right he is. Who are we to make judgment on what is right or wrong? They are both twin aspects of the same reality manifested on the earth by the divine powers above.
The World NavelThe Cross and the Tree:

It is well known that Buddha attained enlightenment under a tree. In popular parlance it is known as the bodhi tree or ‘tree of knowledge.’ It is not without significance that Buddha found grace under a tree. The tree, with its annual renewal of foliage, reminds us of life’s continuity and suggests that Buddha was that day reborn (spiritually), as each of us will be on our own day of resurrection (Unless a man is born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God (John 3: 3)).

According to legend, the denuded tree on which Christ hung was made from the wood of Eden’s Tree of Knowledge. It is through ascending this tree of knowledge that an ordinary human can transcend all that is material and mundane in life, gaining the heights of heaven. Thus by ending his life at the cross, the great Christ in a sense infused us with the promise of a new, spiritually enlightened life. Thus was the tree of knowledge transformed into the ‘tree of life.’

Tree of Life

The tree of life is a common feature of salvation mythology and is said to be standing at the axis of the cosmos. It is the place where divine energies pour into the world, where humanity encounters the absolute, and becomes more fully itself. Buddha and Christ, as incarnations of god, are themselves the navel or axis of the world, the umbilical point through which the energies of eternity break into time. More than a physical point, it is a psychological state which enables us to see the world and ourselves in perfect balance. Without this psychological stability and this correct orientation, enlightenment is not possible. The tree of life grows throughout the world as the principal symbol of cosmic centering and regeneration. Continually reborn through its seed at the world axis, its root thrust down through the earth to the underworld, its trunk rises through the world, where it grasps everything in its immeasurable arms, and its crown glances heaven.

Tree of Life

Indeed, the cross is a cosmic symbol, its vertical and horizontal lines spanning the universe. According to Rutherford: ‘The cross of Christ on which he was extended, points, in the length of it, to heaven and earth, reconciling them together; and in the breadth of it, to former and following ages, as being equally salvation to both.’ It is the heavenly ladder, the only ladder high enough to touch heaven’s threshold.

A beautiful thing about the cross is that its center of gravity is not at its exact center, but upwards where the stake and the crossbeam meet. In simple terms it symbolizes the tendency to remove the center of man and his faith from the earth and to “elevate” it into the spiritual sphere.

In a mystical dissertation on the notion of cosmic wholeness, Jesus describes himself as a tree:

Christ Crucified on the Vine, about 1435.German,
Christ Crucified on the Vine, about 1435.German,
Middle Rhineland Plaster, Painted, diameter: 21.6 cm.

I am the true vine and my father is the gardener. Every branch of mine that does not bear fruit he takes away; and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, to make it clean and bear even more fruit. You have already been made clean by the teaching I have given you. Dwell in me, as I dwell in you. A branch cannot bear fruit by itself, but can only bear fruit if it is united with the vine. In the same way you cannot bear fruit unless you are united with me. (John 15: 1-4)

Heaven is god’s throne and earth his footstool (Isaiah 66:1), and Christ, suspended on the cross, is the connecting link.

Indeed, just as Buddha gained enlightenment by conquering the five senses, Christ, pinned in five places (the two hands, the two feet, and the head crowned with thorns), nails down the five senses.

Conclusion:

Christ and Buddha, two manifestations of divinity, showed us that true salvation lies only on the path of humanity and compassion towards all. Indeed, through their humanity they are both related to us, and through their divinity, to god.

Taken from: http://www.exoticindiaart.com/article/buddhaandchrist