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Buddhism and Christianism Often the following situation takes place. One of the Old Ones comes to Earth as a Master, and persuades a group of people to become Chosen. The Chosen try to persuade others to become Chosen, and to stop being self-serving which the opposite of Chosen is. They advocate altering the current system of corruption. They want to change the status-quo.
Those in power who benefit from the status-quo are against this. The establishment persecutes and tries to destroy the small group of Chosen people. Sometimes they succeed. Other times, the group of Chosen people gains more members. As they gain more members, the small group becomes larger.
As it gets larger, it becomes more powerful. Eventually, they are in power, and they don't want to change that situation. They care more about maintaining their power than they do about what they were originally about. They take advantage of the weak in order to maintain their power. They become the establishment. They are no longer Chosen.
Because of this, the Old Ones place a new Master on Earth who starts a new small group of Chosen people. The new small group of Chosen people tries to change the status-quo which benefits the establishment which now includes the old group of Chosen people who are no longer Chosen. There are four ways a group of Chosen can end. They can be destroyed by the establishment, like the Gnostics and the Branch Dravidians.
They can become the establishment, like the Egyptians, Jews, Christians, Muslims, Knights Templars, and Mormons. They can persevere and remain Chosen, and try to convince others to become Chosen, like the Buddhists, Freemasons, and the Aetherius Society. They can achieve perfection and thus leave their human bodies immediately, like the Atlanteans and Heaven's Gate. The fourth Master was Buddha. In the 5 th Century B. C. , he preached oneness with nature and the Cosmos, and compassion, exactly what you have to accept in order to become Chosen.
The fifth Master was Plato. In the 4 th Century B. C. , he taught people about the Old Ones in a way that they could understand. When he refers to the perfect forms, he's referring to the Old Ones, and the souls of the Chosen.
The sixth Master was Jesus. By this time, Judaism had become so corrupt; it was no longer a path to truth, so the Old Ones had to provide a new path. When people speak of Jesus as being both God and Man, they are referring to the fact that he was a human body containing the soul of an Old One. When they say he rose from the dead, they mean that after his mortal body died; his soul left the body, and returned to an Old One body.
The establishment, the Jews and the Romans, felt so threatened by this that they killed him and persecuted Christians. Very soon, there will be an End of the World. The Earth as we know it will be destroyed. All humans will be killed.
The souls of the Chosen will be placed in Old One bodies. The souls of those not chosen will cease to exist. The Earth will be made into a paradise where all living things live in harmony. The Chosen alive at the time of the destruction will live in paradise on Earth for eternity. This might sound callous to those not Chosen but if those people were allowed in the world afterward, they would continue to take advantage of others for self-gain, and it would be the same world we have now, and it would not be a paradise.
The Old Ones are compassionate in that they are trying to encourage as many people as possible to do what they have to do to become Chosen. Another act of compassion is that they are taking a few people not good enough to be Chosen, but who do possess the potential to become Chosen, and relocating them to another planet in the galaxy. They " ve taken these people primarily from the Bermuda Triangle, so that's the truth behind the myth. The great pyramid of Snefru at Giza is part of the machine that will be used to destroy the world.
There are narrow shafts in pyramid leading from the king and queen's chambers, and that point to certain stars in the sky. Scientists haven't figured out what could be the purpose of the shafts. From these shafts will shoot demolition beams that will encircle the Earth and destroy it. Remember that Jesus said, "Do not think I have come to bring peace. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. " (Mathew 10: 34) Could the path of Jesus' disciples also be the path to enlightenment? My feeling is that the real resurrection of Jesus, does not rely on whether he rose from the dead or not.
I would think that the real resurrection occurs when Christians receive the teachings of Jesus within their hearts and minds. When a Christian really and truly receives the teachings of Jesus in ones heart and mind, then Jesus truly comes alive. From a Buddhist perspective, isnt that the real meaning of resurrection? In the same manner, for Buddhists, when we receive the Buddhas teachings in our hearts and minds, then the Buddha comes alive for us. Shakyamuni is not just a great teacher that lived over 2500 years ago, but is a living teacher in a spiritual sense for us today. Shinran Shonin lived over 700 years ago, but when Shin Buddhists sincerely follow the path of the Nembutsu, Shinran Shonin comes alive for us today.
Of course the Buddha and Shinran do not literally come alive or come back from the dead, but their teachings, their way of life of the Dharma, comes alive for us today. Buddhism is not as concerned with historical fact as it is concerned with religious truth. Historical fact stands at one point in time. Christopher Columbus discovered America in 1492.
America became independent on July 4, 1776. Religious truth, however, stands beyond time. While Shakyamuni Buddha lived and died as a human being in history, the truth that he attained is a timeless, eternal truth. What is significant for Buddhists is not to simply celebrate the historical events of the Buddhas life like his birth or entrance into Nirvana, but that the Buddha come alive for us in our life here and now. If Christianity focuses on the historical event of Jesus rising from the dead, then it stands on one event in time. If instead it focuses on Christians receiving the teachings of Jesus in their hearts, then it becomes a religion that stands beyond time.
Thich Nhat Hanh, a well-known Buddhist Monk and prolific writer of Buddhist books writes, Redemption and resurrection are neither words nor objects of belief. They are our daily practice. Humanity 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. -- From Going Home. Thich Nhat Hanh has even written a book titled, Living Buddha, Living Christ in which he discusses his appreciation of both Jesus and Shakyamuni Buddha, and how they must become living teachers for us today. When we understand and practice deeply the life and teachings of Buddha or the life and teachings of Jesus, we penetrate the door and enter the abode of the living Buddha and the living Christ, and life eternal presents itself to us. In the book Living Buddha, Living Christ, Thich Nhat Hanh relates that he came to have an appreciation of Jesus and Christianity not by reading the bible, but by meeting kind and wonderful Christians.
Through these Christians, he came to respect and admires the life and teachings of Jesus. In the same manner, people who do not know anything about Buddhism, or who have never been exposed to Buddhism can come to know Shakyamuni Buddha through how we live as Buddhists. For Thich Nhat Hanh, the life eternal, is not an everlasting life in heaven which occurs after death. Life eternal means to transcend life and death, to stand beyond time. It is what is expressed as immeasurable life in Shin Buddhism. Amida Buddha is immeasurable life and immeasurable light.
Namuamidabutsu means, I open my heart and mind to immeasurable light and immeasurable life. Through the Nembutsu, through receiving the truth of Namuamidabutsu in our hearts and minds, we become life eternal, we transcend life and death. Why should we attempt to transcend life and death? Why should we try to stand beyond time? Because to do so means our fear and apprehension of death is gone. It means that our life is fulfilled, whether we live to be 9 or 90.
It means that we can truly be one in our hearts with the loved ones we have lost, whether it was last year or fifty years ago. It means that we have the peace of mind to someday leave our loved ones behind when our time too has come. Who is there that would not want to transcend life and death? The similarities between Buddha and Jesus... Both Buddha and Jesus were baptized in the presence of the "spirit" of G -- d. (De Bunsen, p. 45; Matthew 3: 16. ) Both went to their temples at the age of twelve, where they are said to have astonished all with their wisdom. (Ibid. , p. 37; Luke 2: 41 -- 48. ) Both supposedly fasted in solitude for a long time: Buddha for forty -- seven days and Jesus for forty. (Arthur Lillie, Buddha and Early Buddhism (London, 1881), p. 100, Matthew 4: 2. ) At the conclusion of their fasts, they both wandered to a fig tree. (Hans Joachim Schoeps, An Intelligent Person's Guide to the Religions of Mankind (London, 1967), p. 167; Matthew 21: 18 -- 19. ) Both were about the same age when they began their public ministry: "When he [Buddha] went again to the garden he saw a monk who was calm, tranquil, self -- possessed, serene, and dignified. The prince, determined to become such a monk, was led to make the great renunciation.
At the time he was twenty -- nine years of age... ." (Encyclopedia Americana (New York: Rand McNally and Co. , 1963), vol. 4, p. 672. ) "Jesus, when he began his ministry, was about thirty years of age" (Luke 3: 23). Both were tempted by the "devil" at the beginning of their ministry: To Buddha, he said: "Go not forth to adopt a religious life but return to your kingdom, and in seven days you shall become emperor of the world, riding over the four continents. " (Moncure D. Conway, The Sacred Anthology (London, 1874), p. 173. ) To Jesus, he said: "All these [kingdoms of the world] I will give you, if you fall down and worship me" (Matthew 4: 9). Buddha answered the "devil": "Get you away from me. " (De Bunsen, p. 38) Jesus responded: .".. begone, Satan!" (Matthew 4: 10). Both experienced the "supernatural" after the "devil" left: For Buddha: "The skies rained flowers, and delicious odors prevailed [in] the air. " (Ibid. ) For Jesus: "angels came and ministered to him" (Matthew 4: 11).
The multitudes required a sign from both in order that they might believe. (Muller, Science, p. 27; Matthew 16: 1. ) Both strove to establish a kingdom of heaven on earth. (Beal, p. x; Matthew 4: 17. ) Buddha "represented himself as a mere link in a long chain of enlightened teachers. " (Muller, Science, p. 140. ) Jesus said: "Think not that I have come to abolish the law, and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfill them" (Matthew 5: 17). According to the Somadeva (a Buddhist holy book), a Buddhist ascetic's eye once offended him, so he plucked it out and cast it away. (Ibid. , p. 245) Jesus said: "If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out, and throw it away; " (Matthew 5: 29). "Buddha taught that the motive of all our actions should be pity or love of our neighbor. " (Ibid. , p. 249) Jesus taught: .".. love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you" (Matthew 5: 44). Buddha said: "Hide your good deeds, and confess before the world the sins you have committed. " (Ibid. , p. 28) Jesus said: "Beware of practicing your piety before men to be seen by them; " (Matthew 6: 1) and "Therefore confess your sins one to another, and pray one for another, that you may be healed... " (James 5: 16). Both are said to have known the thoughts of others: "By directing his mind to the thoughts of others, [Buddha] can know the thoughts of all beings. " (R.
Spence Hardy, The Legends and Theories of the Buddhists Compared with History and Science (London, 1866), p. 181. ) "But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said: 'Why do you think evil in your hearts?' (Matthew 9: 4). Bibliography: The Gospel of Mathew, (Luke, John, and the book of James) The Origin of All Religious Worship (New Orleans, 1872) p. 366; (Moncure D. Conway, The Sacred Anthology (London, 1874), p. 173. ) (R. Spence Hardy, The Legends and Theories of the Buddhists Compared with History and Science (London, 1866), p. 181. ) Muller, Science, p 140 Arthur Lillie, Buddha and Early Buddhism (London, 1881), p. 100 Buddhist holy book Hans Joachim Schoeps, an Intelligent Person's Guide to the Religions of Mankind (London, 1967 New York: Rand McNally and Co. , 1963), vol. 4, p. 672 De Bunsen, p. 45
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Research essay sample on Thich Nhat Status Quo
