I’m not religious, but I live in a religious world.
A couple of years ago I was at my cousin’s birthday sit-down dinner, seated next to one of her friends from a well known, established, Christian church. He seemed nice enough, and he and I chatted a little before somehow getting onto something somewhat philosophical. Whatever the topic of conversation was, it seemed appropriate for me to mention how Buddha was talking about compassion for—and acceptance of—others, a few years before Jesus was credited with similar revolutionary ideas. My cousin’s friend looked horrified and abruptly ended our banter, but not before pointing out there was no way to prove Buddha ever existed, and that he didn’t believe the tubby one did.
With hindsight, I guess I should have asked him for J.C.’s birth certificate.
Because, in the final analysis we were both talking about characters we’ve heard about, not people we have met—or even seen photographs of. Did Buddha inspire Jesus? I wasn’t there, so anything I say is just heresy—sorry—hearsay.
On an early draft of my novel, The Last Great Day, I prefaced the prose with this quote attributed to ‘The Buddha’:
Three things will not long remain hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth.
Eventually I decided not to include it, as I imagined some people (like my cousin’s friend) might not be able to see past the mere mention of an alternative spiritual mentor/guide/deity. And, I think they might enjoy—and get a lot out of—a story about a man who learns to value the truth over blindly following another man’s dogma.
Anyway, just as I can’t be sure what J.C. said, I can never know for sure exactly what wisdom The Buddha offered up, after seeing the light under the Bodhi tree. But I like the sentiment.
The truth can not be long hidden.
Elyse
/ January 10, 2012What a thoughtful piece. As a fellow non-religious person, I find alternative philosophies fascinating — Buddhism in particular. I’ve worked with a handful of Buddhists over the years and wish I could choose to join them in their beliefs. I may be wrong, but I don’t think Buddha and his followers have inspired any wars, for example.
Thanks for visiting my blog. I will be back here for more.
B.G. Mitchell
/ January 11, 2012Thanks Elyse.
Like all systems of belief some folk who identify themselves as Buddhists seem more into the ‘system’ (and associated paraphernalia: shaved head; robes et al) than the practice.
But then there are other Buddhists, or Buddhism inspired people I’ve met who never parade their spirituality but go about their business of being kind, accepting of all faults (their own or those perceived to be in others) and expressing love without drawing attention to themselves or any deity.
I agree with you—I don’t know of any wars fought to impose Buddhism ideals on others. And the Buddhists I’ve met would never take arms to spread love.
Bron
/ March 8, 2012Ideas travel. It’s perfectly reasonably to assume that Buddhist ideas travelled to the Middle East around 2000 years ago, whereupon a chap by the name of Jesus might have heard those ideas and liked them so much. After all, he was a long-haired, sandal-wearing hippy…
;-)
B.G. Mitchell
/ May 8, 2012One of my fav Jesus facts is how he didn’t write one word of that bestseller he gets all (okay, ‘so much’ of) the credit for; some people call them apostles, others know them by their vocation: ghostwriters :)