Jesus as Bodhisattva

On this Christmas Day, 2015, I was inspired to revisit elements of a Buddhist interpretation of Jesus which I generated 35 years ago, shortly after my religious conversion experience.

[susanliu]

Yup, 🎄️JESUS still has been our HolyFriend and Teacher.

🖼️Beautiful ~ Wonderful
Namo ~ Amituoful

[rayshepard]

Good morning my dear Dharma friend.

This is, in my small stature opinion, one of your most profound videos ( and you have given us many).

Strange happenstance; this ties into a study I was recently "inspired" to begin on the triple bodies of a Buddha. Believe me; its not one I would have chosen off the too of my head. Yet the conclusions I forsee relative to our lives and the true ultimate manifest nature of our identity actually with what you speak of here.

Well...I may not have been well spoken in this, but I am at current standing a Bombu ... a raggamuffin ... depending solely upon Amida's Grace and Kwan Yin's companionship to make to my ultimate goal. Buddhahood!!!!

Nàmó Āmítuó fó
Gassho
Ray

[Jsvenen]

Thank you sir for this video. As a Jew (originally from NY) with my own experiences in the Bible Belt and with Buddhism and meditation, I have found your authentic Dharma.

[brightbite]

Interesting conclusions! I truly believe that deep down... each of us.. regardless of thoughts, actions or beliefs... wants the same thing... to be re assimilated into the Divine.

[brianreeves]

Thank you for being a spiritual friend.

[pinkfloydguy]

Someone mentioned this video on Reddit today.

I’m fascinated, particularly because I myself felt an urge to reinterpret Jesus’ teachings as a Buddhist. I think that somehow many Buddhists in the Western world see Jesus (and maybe Mary as well) as a deity of our ancestors, and we want to connect with our ancestors because they are worthy of gratitude for causing us to be able to be born in this human condition. My altar has Jesus and Mary standing on either side of Amida Buddha, and I invite my ancestors to pray with me when I recite nembutsu. I think Mary may have been an emanation of Quan Yin.

I would really love to know if you have, or would consider, sharing a pdf of your writings with others online? I would like to read it during my home worship sometimes 🙏

Thank you for your channel, I’m excited to watch more of it! It’s a great gift to humanity and I hope it stays in the data cloud of Earth for a long time!

Namu Amida Butsu 🙏🙏🙏

[hankkuya]

A little bit of everything makes a better tasteful soup. All Intentions can be measured, soft and gentle or hard and ridged. It it said”when the wind comes, the bamboo would rustle. When the wind stops, the bamboo would not retain the rustling sound." It goes on saying. "The geese fly over the cold pond. When the geese pass, the pond would not keep their image". It concludes: "For a matured man, his heart will rise to the event happening. And his heart will go quiet when the event is over." Greatly I enjoy your channel.

[danielhopkins]

It can be no coincidence that the name JOSAPHAT in the Christian tale of BARLAAM AND JOSAPHAT, who, say all textual critics, was based on the BODHISATTVA, preserves the original Sanskrit rendering of Prakrit BOSAT, which is, say philologists, etymologically equivalent to JOSEPH/ AESOP/ HOTEP/ ASOV/ ASEPH/ ETHIOP. It should also be remembered that when Alexander the Macedon was in the Ghandara region he met the tribe of JOSEPH near the Western stronghold of the Buddhist LICCHAVIS, or the NICCHABIS, or the NISIBIS of Syria that the Egyptian SHESHONK ( SISAC) brought to India under the SHISUNAGA empire (1000 b.c. not 300 b.c.)

[rubensoto]

Dear John, may I make some remarks to your comparison between Jesus as Mesiah, and Shakyamuni as Buddha? Of course, there are similarities, but also differences being so more important than those ones. Firstly, Gnostic Gospels such as "The sayings of Thomas, the Twin", "Gospel according to Thomas", "Gospel according to Philip", "Judas' Gospel", "Pistis and Sophia", etc., should be taken into serious consideration when bridges between Shakyamuni Buddha and Ieshua ben Ioseph are being set up. "The Gospel according to Saint John" resembles so much to a Gnostic Gospel. Edward Conze translated "jñana" for gnosis referring to "prajñaparamita". Some Fathers of the Church, both Greek as Latin ones, taught that Hell isn't for ever and ever, and even the Devil and demons, together with all damned ones will be safe by faith in Jesus. The main Alexandrian Greek Fathers were supporters to this tenet of christian faith and dogma. Saint Clement of Alexandria was the first to mention in his "Stromata", that there were Indians who worshipped Buddha as a God. Maybe he met them in the cosmopolitan Alexandria. Of course, the Church Bishops and Popes condemned such a belief as heresy till recently 20th Century. Giovanni Papini wrote a book entitled somehow "The Devil", which was prohibited by the Vatican Church. Therein it's found a history and interpretation of how and why The Church still today holds on to the Hell Eternity dogma. It's a delightful reading!
Jesus maybe was influenced by Indian religious masters in Egypt; we don't know for sure what was of his way of life ranging from his thirteen to thirty years old. The Holy Family took refuge into the Jew community at Alexandria. Philo of Alexandria was contemporary to Jesus. Anyway, Jesus, the Gallilee, took up the Jewish paradigm of salvation, making himself the Passover sacrificing Lamp of God. His resurrection doesn't fit to the karma and rebirth teaching of Buddhism. If He taught there being an eternal and unchangeable soul, this is at variance with Bodhisattva and Buddha Yanas. "Agape" as "caritas", or charity, as pity, compassion, renders more accurately its meaningful intent than love (Rome is Love written backwards in latin: ROMA/AMOR). But the Church seems to prefer the ambivalent word "love" rather than charity, pity: "Kyrie, eleipson!": "Lord, have pity on me!" Jesus used to state some utturances contradicting one with another, leaving his listeners at awe and wonder. The "Lotus Sutra" Shakyamuni Buddha is being called Father, Teacher, and Sovereign, but never God Creator! There is "tathagatagarbha" into Gods' nature, like in us, but that one isn't divine, being at the same time above any divine nature, or deity. Some learned catholic scholars and theologians have tried to set parallels between Buddha and Messiah, in order to convert buddhist believers into christian ones. Firstly, they used to identify Trimurti Brahman as Trinity God Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. This is their very special skillful means. Vedantism used to reduced Shakyamuni Buddha into a goodwilling reformer to a historical corrupted brahmanism. Likewise those theologians do! Zen is the favourite one to Jesuits.
Secondly, there has been a lot of talk of Jesus as a Bodhisattva, or Buddha; but not the other way round. Once I heard a chinese buddhist teacher summing up into a nutshell that comparison issue, saying that Buddhas and Bodhisattvas are wise teachers, experienced guides; but the monotheist religions' God is a master owner of slaves, or a king, or monarch, to be obeyed by his loyal subjects. As for me, I think of christianity as a skillful means to approach monotheist believers to buddhism. "Counterfeited dharma" is called in the "Lotus Sutra", and it's still recommended by Shakyamuni Buddha as a skillful means of His therein!!! Amidism habors best every one of those christian practitioners attracted to the Buddha-Dharma!!!
Namu Amida Butsu!!!

[juliawagner]

I JUST wanted to hear Spiritual Materialism! (this came up on my playlist) I have the book, but couldn't remember the author. WONDERFUL text that I recommend to others and feel it's a good time to refresh myself with as well. Becoming attached then losing that attachment to knowledge is a cycle that I'm noticing climaxes every few years for me. Thank you to ALL protective forces, and especially the ordinary human beings who are doing the best they can. May I share a passage from Jesus translated from Aramaic from the book Prayers of the Cosmos? This is the translation of "Love thy neighbor". "Draw a breath of compassion for the one mysteriously drawn to live near you. Love that friend as you love the self that dwells within-the subconscious that sometimes fells separate and intruding."

[jasonbass]

When they say light they meant light visibly emitted

[SeaJay_Oceans]

Bodhi Yeshua Buddha Messiah Christ. Complete Wholeness, Transcendent Universal Truth. No more myths. No more gods. No more delusions. Loving Kindness & Mindful Mercy. Happiness and Healing, good health and joyful bliss for All.

[xaviermhm]

Hello again. I have been practicing pure land for about a year and a half but have recently dipped my toes into Christianity as well. I enjoy both and they have both offered me a lot of peace and joy. But in terms of deep faith and empirical experience I am torn, I can't seem to find the confirmation I need from either. I chant the nembutsu or om mani padme hum some days, and the next I will be drawn to praying to Jesus. I implore either deity to show me the truth and help me decide but I have yet to find that truth. How would you suggest going about this? From a Pure Land perspective can I practice a multi faith way of life? One of the issues I have with Christianity is it's implicit superiority over other religions, though I believe this is more a social thing than hardline requirement. Thank you, Namo Amida Butsu, and God Bless

[MrZenGuitarist]

Hi and thanks for your thoughts on this subject. I believe - the same as you seem to believe, that all religions are, or at least were from the beginning (which can still be found as long as you only look deep enough) very similar. So similar in fact that I believe in the old expression that "all religions are just different paths to the same goal". (Even though this point has been more and more obscured as the time has gone by, by "schismism" and more fundamentalist religious leaders - not to mention the instances when religious believes have been "hijacked" for political reasons, or by different sick individuals in order to further their own egoistic needs and wants.)
Anyway I was brought up as in an atheist household (or perhaps agnostic...not really sure, since in my family religion was and still is considered as a private matter, where religious believes or disbelieves simply doesn't matter, at all.) Either way and hardly surprising I've been and still is an agnostic.
But, since my early 20's I started to suffer from panic-attacks, and in my early 30's I - with the help of my therapist - discovered Buddhist meditation. Which I really saw helped me controlling my anxiety, and after between 1-2 years of practice helped me to completely get rid of it! :-) Sadly though - I can not say the same about the chronic depression that I have been suffering from for about 15 years now....which is only getting worse by the year.
But, I still have hope that it at least one day will be able to at least improve - so I'm still trying to find, buy and study as many books on Buddhism, and especially Buddhist practice and meditation as possible!
Therefore - I humbly ask you for any tip on books on Buddhist practice/meditation(s), or any which you think might be able to help me.
Sinc. Mathias