Jesus and Buddha 耶稣和佛陀

One of my professors who taught me Religious Dialogue and Religious Pluralism at Assumption University had this question to ask me when I was working on the works of Wilfred Cantwell-Smith. “When Jesus says in John 14:6 that ‘I am the way, and the truth and the life. No one comes to Father except through me,’ How can this be interpreted by those who lived so many years before Jesus Christ? Are they now not at God’s place in Heaven?” This question deserves our undivided attention. Before we answer this question, let us take a look at some interesting parallel sayings of Buddha and Jesus, remembering that Buddha lived about 500 years before Jesus Christ.

我在易三仓大学教我宗教对话和宗教多元主义的一位教授在我研究威尔弗雷德坎特威尔 - 史密斯的作品时问了我这个问题。 “当耶稣在约翰福音 14 章 6 节说‘我就是道路、真理和生命。除非通过我，没有人可以到父那里去’，那些活在耶稣基督之前这么多年的人如何解释这一点？他们现在不在上帝在天堂的地方？”这个问题值得我们全神贯注。在回答这个问题之前，让我们先看看佛陀和耶稣的一些有趣的平行说法，记住佛陀生活在耶稣基督之前大约 500 年。

Quotes from the Book “Jesus and Buddha : The Parallel Sayings” Edited by Marcus Borg and Ray Riegert, 1997. 马库斯·博格和雷·里格特编辑的《耶稣与佛陀：平行谚语》一书的引述，1997 年。

Buddha： “The faults of others are easier to see than one’s own.” 佛：“别人的过失比自己的过失更容易看清。”

Jesus： “Why do you see the splinter in someone else’s eye and never notice the log in your own?” 耶稣：“为什么你看到别人眼中的刺，却从不注意自己眼中的木头？”

Buddha: “The avaricious do not go to heaven, the foolish do not extol charity. The wise one, however, rejoicing in charity, becomes thereby happy in the beyond.” 佛曰：“贪者不上天，愚者不颂布。智者乐于布施，从而乐于彼岸。”

Jesus: “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.” 耶稣：“如果你想成为完美的人，就去变卖你的财产，把钱分给穷人，你就会在天上有财宝。”

Before we proceed further, let us pause a while to watch this BBC video: Jesus - a Buddhist Monk? (BBC Documentary) https://youtu.be/xY0Ib3aPG6Y. The accounts of Jesus’ death and resurrection, the very heart of the Christian faith, have found to be written some 200 years after Jesus’ died on the cross. Many Professors of Religious Studies such as Prof. Paula Fredricksen of the University of Boston and Prof. Elaine Pagels of Princeton, di question whether Jesus could die on the cross in so short a period as six days. Watch and listen to the stories of Christ’s death by others like Religious Historian Peter Stamford, Richard Andrews, the co-author of ‘The Tomb of God’, and Prof. Steve Mason of York University in Toronto and Samuel Butler, a 19th Century English writer. There are also the tales by the other Christians like the Cathers and the Knights Templars that are worth listening to.

在我们继续之前，让我们停下来看看这个 BBC 视频：耶稣 - 一个佛教僧侣？ （BBC 纪录片）https://youtu.be/xY0Ib3aPG6Y。耶稣的死和复活的记载，基督教信仰的核心，被发现是在耶稣死在十字架上大约 200 年后写成的。许多宗教研究教授，如波士顿大学的保拉·弗雷德里克森教授和普林斯顿大学的伊莱恩·佩格尔斯教授，都质疑耶稣是否能在短短的六天内死在十字架上。观看和聆听其他人讲述基督之死的故事，例如宗教历史学家彼得·斯坦福德、《上帝之墓》的合著者理查德·安德鲁斯、多伦多约克大学的史蒂夫·梅森教授和 19 世纪英国人塞缪尔·巴特勒作家。还有其他基督徒的故事，如凯瑟斯和圣殿骑士团，值得一听。

Buddha: “Consider others as yourself.” 佛陀：“把别人当作自己。”

Jesus: “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” 耶稣：“要别人怎样对待你，你就怎样对待他们。”

Buddha: “Let us live most happily, possessing nothing; let us feed on joy, like radiant gods.” 佛陀：“让我们活得最快乐，一无所有；让我们以快乐为食，像光明的神。”

Jesus: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.” 耶稣：“你们贫穷的人有福了，因为神的国是你们的。”

Buddha: “If anyone should give you a blow with his hand, with a stick, or with a knife, you should abandon any desires and utter no evil words.” 佛曰：“若有人用手、棍、刀打你，你应舍弃一切欲念，不说恶言。”

Jesus: “If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also.” 耶稣：“若有人打你的脸颊，也要把另一侧的脸颊递给他。”

Readers’ Five Stars Ratings (1): Jason. I have often been struck on how similar all the Salvationist religions seem to be. It is unfortunate that most of the world chooses to ignore the similarities and instead wishes to hate each other based on doctrinal differences. This little book is a nice reminder of how the moral and ethical systems of all major world religions run sort of parallel to each other when compared. 我经常被所有救世主宗教的相似程度所震惊。不幸的是，世界上大多数人选择忽视相似之处，而是希望基于教义差异而相互仇恨。这本小书很好地提醒人们，在比较时，世界上所有主要宗教的道德和伦理体系如何相互平行。

It does not matter if you are studying mystical Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism or Christianity - they all point to the same Truth. That is, the untalkable, unthinkable Beingness that everything comes from and is a part of God a Oneness of everything. It makes no difference if these sayings actually came from a real person with the title of Buddha or not. 不管你是在研究神秘的印度教、佛教、犹太教还是基督教——它们都指向同一个真理。也就是说，不可言说的、不可想象的存在性，一切都来自于上帝，是上帝的一部分，是万物的一体性。这些话是不是真的出自佛号的真人，都没有区别。

Readers’ Five-Star Ratings (2): Trey Nowell. If you read the quotes here and the introduction to each chapter, you will be amazed with how far ahead of the time their knowledge was beyond others, and if they existed today, it would still be far beyond. I would encourage anyone to read this book and see how much both had to offer, where both were movement initiators of their time …. so many parallels.

如果你阅读这里的引文和每章的介绍，你会惊讶于他们的知识超前于其他人，如果他们今天存在，它仍然会远远超出。我会鼓励任何人阅读这本书，看看两者都提供了多少，两者都是他们那个时代的运动发起者......这么多相似之处。

Readers’ Five-Star Ratings (3): Michael. Buddha predates Jesus by half a millennia, but it’s pretty astonishing how many of their teachings, and the stories told about them, are so similar. I guess it makes sense, right? Two human beings living in antiquity would have the same sort of stuff to draw on: the natural world, metaphors using agricultural tropes, and — most important of al l- human behaviour. Even 2,500 year ago, the rich dominated the poor, violence caused terrible suffering, people struggled with the ‘right’ way to live, and people got sick, died, and otherwise … did the same things as us.

佛陀比耶稣早半个千年，但令人惊讶的是，他们的教义和讲述的关于他们的故事如此相似。我想这是有道理的，对吧？生活在古代的两个人会有同样的东西可以借鉴：自然世界、使用农业比喻的隐喻，以及——最重要的——人类行为。甚至在 2500 年前，富人支配穷人，暴力造成可怕的痛苦，人们挣扎于“正确”的生活方式，人们生病、死亡等等……和我们做了同样的事情。

当然，佛陀的洞察力并不依赖于上帝，而耶稣则依赖于上帝。有——或者在我看来——与耶稣有关的超自然增生比佛陀多得多。佛陀是国王的儿子，耶稣是被征服土地上的穷人所生。基督教是根据耶稣死而复生的信念来预测的，它启动了某种形而上学的算法，通过他的痛苦处理你的罪，然后变成救赎。与佛陀没有那么多。

Buddha, of course, did not depend on god for his insights, while Jesus did. There are — or so it seems to me — many more supernatural accretions associated with Jesus than Buddha. Buddha was the son of a king, Jesus was a poor man born to poor people in a conquered land. Christianity is predicted on the belief that Jesus died and returned to life, initiating some kind of metaphysical algorithm where your sin is processed through his suffering, and is changed into salvation. Not so much with Buddha.

Almost everything we know about Jesus is from the Bible. The four new testament gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John tell us a great deal about the events surrounding His conception and birth. They also provide a lot of details about His ministry in Palestine, and His trial, crucifixion and resurrection, all of which occurred during the last three years of His life. However, they tell us very little about the years in between. There’s a short account in the gospel of Matthew which tells of how the Holy Family travelled into Egypt shortly after the birth of Jesus. Although the bible doesn’t provide a description of that journey, the details have been preserved in the traditions of the Coptic Christian church and a video account of that journey can be found via this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNWLD… In 1894, a Russian explorer named Nicholas Notovich published a controversial book which claimed that during a journey through the Himalayas, he had visited a Buddhist monastery where he had been shown sacred manuscripts which revealed that Jesus had travelled and preached in India, Tibet and Persia before his ministry in Palestine. This film tells that story of that extraordinary discovery and gives an account of what those manuscripts revealed about Jesus’ journey through those countries.

我们对耶稣的了解几乎都来自圣经。马太、马可、路加和约翰的四本新约福音书向我们讲述了许多有关他受孕和出生的事件。他们还提供了很多关于他在巴勒斯坦的事工，以及他的审判、钉十字架和复活的细节，所有这些都发生在他生命的最后三年。然而，他们几乎没有告诉我们这中间的几年。马太福音中有一个简短的记载，讲述了耶稣出生后不久，圣家是如何进入埃及的。虽然圣经没有提供这段旅程的描述，但科普特基督教会的传统中保留了细节，可以通过以下链接找到这段旅程的视频：https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=PNWLD... 1894 年，一位名叫 Nicholas Notovich 的俄罗斯探险家出版了一本有争议的书，声称在穿越喜马拉雅山的旅途中，他参观了一座佛教寺院，在那里他看到了一些神圣的手稿，这些手稿揭示了耶稣已经旅行过在他在巴勒斯坦传道之前，他曾在印度、西藏和波斯传道。这部电影讲述了那个非凡发现的故事，并讲述了这些手稿揭示了耶稣穿越这些国家的旅程。

Watch another interesting video https://youtu.be/TEvomvO8cb0 about the unrecorded years of Jesus’ life - from the age of 12 to the age of 30.

观看另一个有趣的视频 https://youtu.be/TEvomvO8cb0 关于耶稣生命中未记录的岁月 - 从 12 岁到 30 岁。

If we study Chinese history, the Chinese written civilisation dated back to the Zhou Dynasty from 1045 BCE to 221 BCE.
It was The Duke of Zhou who introduced ethics into religious thinking with the doctrine of the Mandate of Heaven around 1045 BCE.

如果我们研究中国历史，中国的文字文明可以追溯到公元前 1045 年至公元前 221 年的周朝。 公元前 1045 年左右，周公用天命学说将伦理引入宗教思想。

The final point to be made for all Christians is this: It is a folly to preach the gospel as the only way to God. This kind of exclusivity of religion has been frown upon in all modern diverse societies of “inclusiveness” and religious tolerance. To introduce Christ to those who believe in other faiths like Buddhism or Islam, it is best for Christians to show to them the love of Christ within our hearts. Show them that we care for them and read up on the common areas of similarity between our Christian faith and their faiths before uttering any word from the Holy Bible.

对所有基督徒来说的最后一点是：将福音作为通向上帝的唯一途径是愚蠢的。这种宗教的排他性在所有具有“包容性”和宗教宽容的现代多元社会中都遭到了反对。为了向信仰佛教或伊斯兰教等其他信仰的人介绍基督，基督徒最好向他们展示我们心中对基督的爱。在说出圣经中的任何词之前，向他们表明我们关心他们并阅读我们的基督教信仰与他们的信仰之间的共同点。

Buddhism’s concept of the Four Noble Truths and the Islamic concept of the Five Pillars have to be read and well understood before we talk about religion and Christian to a Buddhist or a Muslim.

对所有朋友的最后是：将福音通向上帝的途径是接球的。这种宗教的一点他性在所有具有“包容性”和包容性的现代社会中都发生了反对。向宗教信仰或伊斯兰教等其他信仰的人介绍基督，心里对他们最好向他们展示基督的爱。在预言圣经中的任何词，他们向我们辩护我们关心他们并阅读我们的基督教信仰与他们的激荡之间的共同点。