Worship the 
Buddha
Christianity
and Buddhism
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This
lecture has dealt with a comparative study of Christianity and Buddhism
from different
angles and with varying
approaches. We have considered Christianity from a point of
view which
nobody seems to consider any
longer. This has been done in the interest
of correctness and impartiality.
Now to sumarize we may that the whole talk given today falls under five
broad categories:
(1)
The founders of all religions in the world were born to help man to
achieve perfection of
which he is in need.
(2)
All religious scriptures are written in a two fold language; the language
of common people
and the language of Dhamma.
If we fail to interpret the scriptures in terms of the Dhamma -
language, different religions will
seem to oppose each other and we will be unable to establish a lasting
harmony among them. If the language of Dhamma is not
interpreted comprehensively and
intelligibly some may feel dissatisfied
with their own religion and embrace another, or may abandon
religion entirely.
In addition, if points which belong exclusively to the language of Dhamma,
are
mistakenly interspersed with language
of the common people, they lose their practical implications.
(3) Broodmindedness
is an essential factor which cannot be dispensed with while making
com-
parative studies of religions with
a view towards good results for the world at large. For example
there should be an agreement on
such points; that there is a preacher of Dhamma (truth) from God
to be found among all peoples of
different nationalities speaking different language; that people today
study their religions in a manner which can be characterized as climbing
a tree starting from
the top or putting the cart before
the horse and thereby are lost in the jungle of scriptures; that the
criterion of right interpretation
of any doctrinal point should be its usefulness for the common good
of people in the world; that there
should be a terminology of technical religious terms common to
all religions so that people may
study religion easily and quickly.
(4) While comparing Christianity with Buddha-Dhamma it
must be acknowldged that each
religion has both its outer form
and inner essence. In order to be fair we should
compare the outer forms of one religion with the outer forms of the other,
likewise the inner essence with inner
essence and not otherwise.
The word religion should be defined as "a system to observation
and practice which binds man to the highest thing, call it what
you will God or Nirvana. In the New
Testament there are many points
in agreement with Buddhism or the Tripitaka which account for
the Buddhist attitude towards Christianity;
namely that the latter is a religion of action and of self
help based on wisdom, and
not a religion based on mere faith as is generally understood.
This fact
can be proved practically by showing
that if Christianity were a religion categorically based on faith
or belief, without any other significant
characteristic, Jesus Christ would not have laid special stress on
action or practice of the commandments which is found everywhere in his
teaching; and
again he would not have stressed
in his last words, ----and teach them to observe all that I have
commanded you......
(5) Therefore both the religions are religions of action
-to be done by
oneself, and of the fruit to be reaped from within oneself
and by oneself. It will be possible to
achieve the desired harmony, if one lives up to Dhamma,
or to put it in Christian terms, "if one
follows the will of God". In
this way both religions are in agreement in all respects, this point will
be further explained in the talk of tomorrow.
END
of
FIRST LECTURE
(dealing with mutual understanding of each others religion)
THOMPSON MEMORIAL
LECTURE
fifth Series
CHRISTIANITY AND
BUDDHISM
BY
THE VENERABLE BHIKKHU
BUDDHADASA INDAPANNO
( Second lecture)
FATHER, SON
HOLY SPIRIT
.........................
Members of the
Faculty, Students, and Guests of the Seminary:
In this second lecture comparing Buddhism and Christianity we will consider
the Father, the
Son and the Holy Spirit.
The word Father as we use it refers to God as the Creator, the Preserver
and the Destroyer of the world.
We will consider these terms both from the point of view of con-
ventional language (the language
of common man) and religious language (the language of Dhamma or
Dharmic Language ).
"GOD"
IN ITS GENERAL MEANING
From
the distant past long before they received Buddhism until the present day.
Thai Buddhists
have had a god.
This must be understood clearly before we can make any further comparisons.
The word "Phrachao"
is truly Thai and refers to something which one feers and must beseech
or
flatter, an instinct among all
thinking beings. Before
receiving Brahmanism the Thai people believed in some kind of "God"
in terms of spirits or divine beings as do all unsettled peoples.
When they met with Brahmanism in
the present land of the Thai they took over Indian dulture in-
cluding Indian gods such as Siva
and Vishnu. During some periods, the Brahmins taught
that the
kings were incarnations of God.
When the Kings died shrines were built for them to dwell in as
Diving Beings.
The word "Phrachao" began to be used for the King.
This was the origin of the
first person pronoun "Khaphrachao"
or the abbreviated form "khapachao". When the time came
and the Thai people received Buddhism
as their religion the trend towards Brahmanic thinking resulted in glorifying
each King as a Buddha. This was something like deification
in the sense of
Brahmanism.
So the first person pronoun "Khaphraputtachao" (Khaphrabuddhachao)
came into use which in its abbreviated form is also "khapachao".
Thus the very use of first person pro-
noun in Thai gives evidence of
belief in a god which might be in the form of man, be a divine being
higher than man, might refer to
what is ultimately the highest of all, or might refer to some power
which is so far uncomprehnded.
The meaning would depend on the level of education, dulture,
or the way
it was intended to use the word.
But the real meaning in all cases is the same, that is, the highest
which one must fear or beseech as we have already said.
A child will have one kind of god and
an adult another, a well-educated man another, each according
to the concept that will satisfy him,
or according to his education. Therefore,
that which is called "God": is neither strange nor new to
Thai people.
And even though there may be novel elements introduced in order to win
their hearts, yet their feeling about God and their interpretations of
God remain the same as before.
When the words God or Jehovah or the Lord Jesus are introduced to the Thai
people who already have a God of their own, they, therefore, do not become
particularly interested. So other
means are introduced in order to arounse their interest
in the new religion, such as education, medi-
cine, or help in making a living.
This is why some people become interested and are glad to receive
some benefit from it but they also feel themselves to be up-to date, for
it gives prestige and fits in with western culture which they think to
be more advanced. Yet the word "Phrachao" for
such people still has its old meaning and only the name
has been changed. Such people
know God only in the sense of "person" according to convantional
language. They do not yet know God
in the true sense of the word. They do not know that
God is neither a person, nor mind, nor
a spirit. They do not know
that is the religious language God means Dhamma or the power of
Dhamma which is self -existent according to Nature.
As long as man still holds that God is a
person, as we think of "person" in conventional language
so long will man not know the real God, and so long will
there be disagreement, clashes and con-
flicts. This kind of God will be increasingly
denied by the intellectual and it will not be very long
before educated people of future generations will have
eliminated God from their hearts altogether.
Even now those who are educated, though they may use
the word God occasionally, they use it mostly from habit only.
It comes out in times of war or in important affairs.
Even in laboratories
the name of God may be used when a scientist fails to
prove something further, or finds results or
problems that he cannot explain because the cause are
noy known. Such a God is only a God of
the lips, a word out of habit in the form of exclamation,
but no true God. This type of God can be
found in every religion and in every language.
To believe in ghosts, in spirits angels, fortune, fate,
and so on, is the manifold appearance of belief
in this kind of God, or we minght say that these things turn into God for
such people. If this situation continues, then that which
is called God will
have less and less real meaning and in the end there
will be nothing left but superstitious beliefs and
practices. This is the problem
of people who hold to the concept of God as a person in the con-
ventional sense of the word.
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( October, 10, 2007)
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