I grew up Catholic and now find a great joy in practising Buddhism. So, I think this puts me in a fairly good position to compare the two (at least in my own way). Now, I 'm not a scalar in either of the religions but I have a laymen understanding of both. Since this is directed to laypersons I think it will at least make an interesting read.
Do you Believe in Buddha?
Christianity has core beliefs that would be true for every branch of Christianity so does Buddhism. I think most people think that worshiping Buddha as some kind of god or demigod is a part of that. This simply is not true. There are small branches of Buddhist that do treat him like a god but that is the exception.
Buddhism at its core is about The Four Noble Truths and The Noble Eightfold Path. They are lists of what Buddha found to be true and how to live a good life and end suffering. There are also the 3 Jewels: Buddha, The Dharma, The Sangha.
Statues of Buddha are not for worship like one would worship a god [1]. They are symbols meant for practice, inspiration and artistic expression and some times decoration. It's just like a crucifix. Even when Jesus is on the cross it is not that you are worshiping the wood or metal. When you bow your head you are bowing to Jesus not the cross.
If you want to ask a person if they are Buddhist ask them “Do you practice Buddhism?” This is the most accurate way to ask because it is not entirely about believing in Buddha. You can believe in God and sill practice Buddhism. “Do you believe in Buddha?” is like asking “Do you believe in the Pope” It's not quite a matter of belief.
Will God get angry at me for finding an interest In Buddhism?
Obviously I don't think so. Buddha teaches that anger is an emotion of the ignorant. It is very unlikely that God gets angry at anything at all. It's just not the nature of an all knowing being. God wants you to know him and be with his glory. That does not mean he wants you to be uneducated about the world. It doesn't mean you can't find beauty in a religion that is not Christian.
I believe it was C.S. Lewis who made the argument that the similarities other religions have to Christianity was because God had influenced all religions. That being the case It would be understandable to find things of interest in other religions.
Isn't Buddha just like a knock off Jesus?
Well there are some similarities between the two:
- Their good kind nature
- They were both teachers
- Had followings
- Head figures of religions
Siddhārtha Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism is just one of many Buddhas. Were Jesus will come to earth only one more time a Buddha can show up at any time (because people become a Buddha). Furthermore Zen teaches that we all have Buddha nature and we just have to realize it. My point being that Buddha is a very important person but he was a person who realized his full potential, he is not a god. Jesus was God from day-one and died for our sins.
Okay, but Buddhism is sill evil right?
That is for you to decide. Many Buddhists are atheist and Buddhism in a whole does not worry about God. Then again gymnasiums do not worry about God either. It's up to an individual person to to make their mind up about what they believe and how they will live. A gym is not about God it's about having a healthy body. Both an atheist and a theist can go there and benefit from it. Some people will over do it some will not do it enough
What about the afterlife?
The Bible and Buddhist text state some strange unbelievable things that make it hard to be a rational person and religious simultaneously. I don't take things like miracles and heavenly mythology literally. I don't see the point in believing Buddha walk right after he was born and flowers were left where he stepped [2] or that Jesus physically assented to heaven on a cloud [3]. It is silly to believe these things literally, they are metaphors. It helps you remember the stories and communicates to you on an emotional level. If you take out the miracles in both the morals still remain. Witch suggests that belief in the supernatural is not essential to the teachings.
Great stories teach us using emotion and symbolism. I love the movie Finding Nemo but I don't have to believe fish and other animals can talk English for it to effect how I live my life. If a story makes you laugh or cry or whatever, then that is real. Nemo is real, just not the kind of real we expect. Thought is the only reality.
My point being I don't no about the afterlife. Buddhism and Christianity have different afterlives but I don't care because it's something I can't know until I know. I just want to be a good person and Buddhism helps me do that. If I have to suspend my disbelief then I will. If that works for me then I don't see a problem with it.
I will end this post with a quote from The Dali Lama [4] that I find to perfectly describe Buddhism and Christianity very well.
“My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness.”[5]
References
Note: I'm not sure if it was the 13th or 14th Dali Lama because no Dali Lama was born on 1935 [4,5]
[1] http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/dharmadata/fdd35.htm
[2] http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/buddhism/lifebuddha/2lbud.htm
[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ascension_of_Jesus#Biblical_accounts
[4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalai_Lama#List_of_Dalai_Lamas
[5] http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/d/dalai_lama.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhism
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