Can I follow both Christianity and Buddhism?

[brooks]

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6562843-without-buddha-i-could-not-be-a-christian

This my be of some help,I found it very helpful with understanding the truth or should I say enlighten your inner peace.

[NickJ]

Didnt the Buddha say he didnt want to be worshipped but to have people emulate his actions?????

[rockyysdt]

Didnt the Buddha say he didnt want to be worshipped but to have people emulate his actions?????

Hi Nick.

The first misunderstanding people have of the Buddha is that he is some kind of God.

This leads them into believing Buddhism is a religion and that the Buddha must be worshiped as one worships God.

The Buddha wasn't looking for worship.

Anyone seeking worshiped is ego centric.

The ego is a construct.

We are all capable of Awakening just as the Buddha taught.

The difference between us and the Buddha is simply that he not only awakened, but he also developed the path/practice required.

Buddhist don't worship the Buddha, they deeply respect him.

Coming back to the issue of following both Christianity and Buddhism.

The Buddha clarified the situation using Brahma as an example.

At the time of the Buddha Brahmanism was a mainstream religion and to be re born into the house of Brahman was as high as you could aim.

The Buddha didn't confirm nor deny the existence of Brahma, but taught that even he was subject to Samsara, in one of the higher relms.

There as 31 realms of Samsara and we recycle between these endlessly due to the effects of kharma and re birth.

The ultimate aim of Buddhist practice is to escape Samsara into the state of Nibbana.

Once this awakening occurs one becomes free of the bonds of re birth and suffering.

Samsara falls away to Nirvana (Nibbana).

This suggests that if a Christian God exists, he is also in a state of Samsara, albeit a higher relm.

The end game of Buddhism is to break the cycle of re birth/suffering (Samsara) and Awaken (Nibbana).

Monks and other Christians use the practice of meditation which unlocks greater levels of awareness.

Their experience is colored by their beliefs.

Unless their beliefs eventually fall away they will reach a plateau and fail to Awaken.

I hope this indirectly answers the question.

[IMA_FARANG]

Buddhism contains no prohibition stopping you from also holding other beliefs.

In fact, one of the early people who brought the knowledge of Buddhism to the Western European followers was in fact a practicing ordained Catholic Jesuit monk.

He practiced both his Buddhism and his Catholic faith at the same time.

I am sure Buddha won't stop you from praying to Jesus and God if you want to, and I certainly hope God won't be angry.... but most Buddhists don't "pray to" Buddha although they may respect him for his teachings

After all Buddha never claimed to be anything but a human being.

He was not a God and never clamed to be.

Note: do a yahoo or goggle search on the name Thomas Merton.

[Rhys]

so be it....

[willyumiii]

I asked the same question of an old Buddhist monk once.

He replied that most Christians try to be good people and there is no reason they could not be Buddhist too!

Being raised a Catholic, I was told that if I even considered following another religion other than catholicism, I would burn in hell forever!! ( but bring as many people to the Catholic church as I could! )

Can you guess what path I decided to try and follow since then?

[aronp1]

You're wanting to follow something that's not real AND follow something that is?

Ummm christianity was invented by a Roman Cesar and he had the Jews write the bible.

Go to YouTube and type in Zeitgeist in the search window. I just hope you can handle the truth.

[connda]

I have only read the Title of your thread.

My answer? Yes you can, and without a problem.

PM me if you would like to understand?

[Goosood]

I have only read the Title of your thread.

My answer? Yes you can, and without a problem.

PM me if you would like to understand?

I want to understand too. Myself I am not religious by the way.

But Christianity believes in a creator God. Buddhism does not.

Christianity believes that after dead you wait in your grave till the return of Christ and the good people rise from the death and are send to heaven when that moment comes. There is no rebirth concept in Christianity.

Christianity believes in only one heaven, not 26.

I think you need to drop some of Buddhism's concepts to make it compatible. Or create your own branche of Christianity to make it compatible.

[zeichen]

"

I want to understand too. Myself I am not religious by the way.

But Christianity believes in a creator God. Buddhism does not.

Christianity believes that after dead you wait in your grave till the return of Christ and the good people rise from the death and are send to heaven when that moment comes. There is no rebirth concept in Christianity.

Christianity believes in only one heaven, not 26.

I think you need to drop some of Buddhism's concepts to make it compatible. Or create your own branche of Christianity to make it compatible."

A lot of the beliefs that define Buddhism as a religion are cultural and many based on Hinduism and not integral with the actual 8 fold path.

You don't have to worship Buddha to be a Buddhist. You can believe in God and Jesus and follow the 8 fold path. Bowing and praying before Buddha Statues is ritual and thus would not be practiced by a devout Christian.

Most of the Buddhist rituals in general could not be followed. However those rituals weren't practiced by Buddha himself either so I would gather that a devout Christian who follows the teachings in the Bible still could follow the Dharma and still go to Heaven.

"You're wanting to follow something that's not real AND follow something that is?
Ummm christianity was invented by a Roman Cesar and he had the Jews write the bible."

And the religion based on Buddha's teachings didn't formalize until 100 years after his death. Buddha walked at birth and took 7 steps but how do we know this as everyone that was there died before he even became the Buddha? Also your very simplified version of how Christianity spread isn't quite accurate but your bias is.

[smiles793]

Jesus was a Buddhist.. so I'm sure you can be too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xY0Ib3aPG6Y

if the link doesn't work google BBC Jesus was a Buddhist youtube

[Goosood]

You don't have to worship Buddha to be a Buddhist. You can believe in God and Jesus and follow the 8 fold path.

But the goal of that 8 fold path is escaping rebirth, entering Nirvana.

If you believe in God, Jesus, you believe in the resurrection and in being death maybe for a very very long time before that happens.

So how is that compatible?

By the way how many Buddhists in history have followed the 8 fold path? How many Thais do that now? Meditation is very important in that path. What percentage of Buddhists who have ever lived have reached Enlightenment? 0.00001% ?

What percentage of the Thai population is realy privately busy following this 8 fold path? Most just give some food to monks and go to Temple few times a year. Buy an amulet, do some spirit workshop. That is all their Buddhism consists of. They are not busy with an 8 fold path. Is your experience different? You see the majority of Thais busy with following the 8 fold path? Seriously trying to reach Enlightenment?

[zeichen]

"But the goal of that 8 fold path is escaping rebirth, entering Nirvana.

Actually I don't think that is the goal for most people. I don't believe that all people really want to be enlightened or reach Nirvana. I think most people want to follow the 8 fold path in the easiest way possible. I think for most people following the faith as long as it doesn't interfere with their material life is their goal. There are many people that live a very pure but secular life and follow the path very closely. I know quite a few older Thais that are very conscientious on what they say and what they do. We all try to be the best people we can be and some of us are concerned how we treat others, what we say, what we do, how we do it and why we do it, but many others don't.

"If you believe in God, Jesus, you believe in the resurrection and in being death maybe for a very very long time before that happens. So how is that compatible?"

Because that is a cultural understanding of afterlife. Why do Buddhists believe in Reincarnation? Because that is the reference point they started with from Hinduism.

Religions are born from a common understanding which relates to their cultural beliefs. Christianity has changed drastically and has always had to adapt its understanding to accommodate different cultures. In Southern Europe Christ was always depicted as a passionate being, tears, anguish and suffering during the crucifixion but in Northern Europe he was a stoic figure tortured but felt no pain. Even the holidays were changed to accommodate the different rituals that already existed.

What if you replace the concept of Nirvana with Heaven. With the concept of rebirth with the concept of afterlife. Also if you think about reincarnation since there are nearly 100000x the number of people on the planet, where did all the souls come from? 10k years ago there were less than 1 million people on the planet now billions, are we 1/1000 of a soul?

Sorry but Christians don't believe that they will be resurrected. They believe that they will ascend to heaven with the father.

I am a Christian have been most of my life, but I don't actually believe in Immaculate Conception nor do I believe that Christ was resurrected 3 days later. I don't believe in magic. I don't think that I need to to believe in the teachings of the bible.

I don't believe that someone can be a fundamentalist and be both. But there are many liberal Christians that meditate and lice very similar to what the Buddha taught.

Can you go to Heaven and Nirvana, can you be resurrected and reincarnated? NO but what if they are just different understandings of the same thing. Different cultural concepts to explain in human understanding of the divine. Really if you think about it, all religions are trying to explain divinity which is flawless and pure in language that is flawed. How can we exactly describe the unknown without a frame of reference. We use our cultural understanding.

I one with some people having a potluck and a french couple made crepes. An American friend of mine asked what it was, and I said it is a very thin and light pancake. The french couple was so offended "It is not a pancake, it is a crepe". But to someone who has never had a crepe how does that help them understand what it is. I was using a reference that the American could understand and relate to.

Religion is no different. We are attempting to understand something in rational terms with the imprecision of language that is undefinable.

How can you really understand what enlightenment is unless you have already achieved it. How do you know what love is until you have actually been in love. How do you know what a parent feels to their child until you have done it. These are all things that we try to explain and we think we understand them but we really do not.

[Goosood]

Also if you think about reincarnation since there are nearly 100000x the number of people on the planet, where did all the souls come from? 10k years ago there were less than 1 million people on the planet now billions, are we 1/1000 of a soul?

Thanks for your reply. I understand what you try to say.

I have an answer to the question above. It comes from the book I am reading (Peter Harvey, Introduction to Buddhism).

I paraphrase: Thats why in Buddhism there is the concept of many rebirth realms (26 heavens, an animal realm, a hell realm, the human realm). The total number of 'souls' (Buddhism doesn't have a soul btw, but you know what I mean) remains the same. So if there are now more humans than 1000 years ago it must mean there are now less 'souls' in the other realms. Maybe there are now 2 billion animals less (not so hard to grasp, because even the tiniest creatures like insects are also part of the rebirth cycle, only plants/trees aren't).

So that is the answer a traditional Buddhist would give as answer to your question.

[zeichen]

"Maybe there are now 2 billion animals less (not so hard to grasp, because even the tiniest creatures like insects are also part of the rebirth cycle, only plants/trees aren't).

So that is the answer a traditional Buddhist would give as answer to your question."

That is a cop out because no one is keeping an accurate census on all living things. What if there are more animals, insects and scientifically bacteria are living things also. So throughout the world there is actually more life today not just humans.

[Goosood]

"Maybe there are now 2 billion animals less (not so hard to grasp, because even the tiniest creatures like insects are also part of the rebirth cycle, only plants/trees aren't).

So that is the answer a traditional Buddhist would give as answer to your question."

That is a cop out because no one is keeping an accurate census on all living things. What if there are more animals, insects and scientifically bacteria are living things also. So throughout the world there is actually more life today not just humans.

I know. I don't believe in this concept of course too. I only gave the 'official' Buddhist answer to your question as I found it in the book I referred too. The book explicitly mentioned this as the Buddhist answer to the question.

[faraday]

Only just seen this thread....

I was brought up as a Catholic a very long time ago, & was not taught anything about other Faiths.

For whatever reason, I was guided towards Buddhism over 10 years ago.

I endevour to live my life well, to 'do as I would be done by' & to be respectful of all living things.

Jesus is not God, & neither was Buddha. So, in my opinion you (I) can pray to both.

[Goosood]

Jesus is not God, & neither was Buddha. So, in my opinion you (I) can pray to both.

But officially you can not pray to Buddha. He is not listening. Buddhists monks do not pray to Buddha! They pay respect to him, but do not pray to him, don't ask him for favours or so.

And if Jesus is not God, but was human what do you mean when you say "pray to Jesus" ? Has he been reborn in one of the 26 Buddhist heaven realms and listens to prayers?

Can you pray to all other humans who once lived good lives and are now death?

[nidieunimaitre]

The opening post was clearly written by a "follower", a person who has the urge to follow.

He is - of course - free to follow whoever and whatever.

If some aspects of christianity or buddhism don't suit him, he can ignore those aspects, and "choose his own path".

I am sure he can find a way to combine christianity and buddhism with communism, capitalism, nationalism, consumerism, you name it.

Now if he choose to follow his own mind, now that would be a lot more difficult.

Thinking, making choices, being critical towards others AND oneself....... too much of a challenge I am afraid.

[MAJIC]

Why not? one is a Religeon, and the other is a Philosophy !

[nidieunimaitre]

Why not? one is a Religeon, and the other is a Philosophy !

Have you ever tried to tell this to a Thai?

[faraday]

Jesus is not God, & neither was Buddha. So, in my opinion you (I) can pray to both.

But officially you can not pray to Buddha. He is not listening. Buddhists monks do not pray to Buddha! They pay respect to him, but do not pray to him, don't ask him for favours or so.

And if Jesus is not God, but was human what do you mean when you say "pray to Jesus" ? Has he been reborn in one of the 26 Buddhist heaven realms and listens to prayers?

Can you pray to all other humans who once lived good lives and are now death?

Jesus was the son of God. Buddhists pray to Buddha.

Do you understand what prayer is?

Are you asking me those questions because you truly don't know the answers, or are you playing the 'devils advocate'?

[zeichen]

"Jesus is not God,"

And you claim to be a Catholic? Perhaps you fell asleep during bible study. Father, Son and Holy Ghost, the Trinity is God. They are all rolled up into one. Jesus was born a man but after resurrection he ascended to heaven where he is a part of the holy trinity. So yes, he is worshiped and prayed to by most Christians. I pray directly to God myself but I am a very rare Christian.

Magic wrote

"

Why not? one is a Religion, and the other is a Philosophy !"

Please define the difference to you. I don't think the majority of people that are Buddhists would agree with you.

Here is 1 of 4 different definitions from Websters.

"an organized system of beliefs, ceremonies, and rules used to worship a god or a group of gods". Perhaps you think that Buddhism cannot be placed there because of the words worship god or gods?

But since Buddha himself is the Reincarnate of a Hindu God, and most people pray to Buddha as a Divine being. I still think this satisfies the God requirement you place on the term religion.

To me Religion is the described faith, beliefs, practices (rituals) practiced by people to find spiritual guidance to understanding our role in the universe, afterlife and to explain why we exist.

Buddhism is definitely a religion. Perhaps if you look up in an encyclopedia for national religion you might see "Buddhism" listed. It doesn't read national philosophy. I find people who call it a Philosophy are typically westerners.

There are many that study it academically and quite a few Philosophy majors that call themselves Buddhists. But to me they are academics and not practitioners.

[faraday]

"Jesus is not God,"

And you claim to be a Catholic? Perhaps you fell asleep during bible study. Father, Son and Holy Ghost, the Trinity is God. They are all rolled up into one. Jesus was born a man but after resurrection he ascended to heaven where he is a part of the holy trinity. So yes, he is worshiped and prayed to by most Christians. I pray directly to God myself but I am a very rare Christian.

Never claimed to be a Catholic, just said I was brought up as one.

There is, & has been for a long time, a debate as to whether Jesus of Nazareth was God. See: John 14:28 & etc.

I have no wish to get into a Bible quoting discussion though.

Have you ever studied Philosophy - do you know what it actually is?

When you pray to God, who or what are you praying to?

[rockyysdt]

"But the goal of that 8 fold path is escaping rebirth, entering Nirvana.

Actually I don't think that is the goal for most people. I don't believe that all people really want to be enlightened or reach Nirvana. I think most people want to follow the 8 fold path in the easiest way possible. I think for most people following the faith as long as it doesn't interfere with their material life is their goal. There are many people that live a very pure but secular life and follow the path very closely. I know quite a few older Thais that are very conscientious on what they say and what they do. We all try to be the best people we can be and some of us are concerned how we treat others, what we say, what we do, how we do it and why we do it, but many others don't.

"If you believe in God, Jesus, you believe in the resurrection and in being death maybe for a very very long time before that happens. So how is that compatible?"

Because that is a cultural understanding of afterlife. Why do Buddhists believe in Reincarnation? Because that is the reference point they started with from Hinduism.

Religions are born from a common understanding which relates to their cultural beliefs. Christianity has changed drastically and has always had to adapt its understanding to accommodate different cultures. In Southern Europe Christ was always depicted as a passionate being, tears, anguish and suffering during the crucifixion but in Northern Europe he was a stoic figure tortured but felt no pain. Even the holidays were changed to accommodate the different rituals that already existed.

What if you replace the concept of Nirvana with Heaven. With the concept of rebirth with the concept of afterlife. Also if you think about reincarnation since there are nearly 100000x the number of people on the planet, where did all the souls come from? 10k years ago there were less than 1 million people on the planet now billions, are we 1/1000 of a soul?

Sorry but Christians don't believe that they will be resurrected. They believe that they will ascend to heaven with the father.

I am a Christian have been most of my life, but I don't actually believe in Immaculate Conception nor do I believe that Christ was resurrected 3 days later. I don't believe in magic. I don't think that I need to to believe in the teachings of the bible.

I don't believe that someone can be a fundamentalist and be both. But there are many liberal Christians that meditate and lice very similar to what the Buddha taught.

Can you go to Heaven and Nirvana, can you be resurrected and reincarnated? NO but what if they are just different understandings of the same thing. Different cultural concepts to explain in human understanding of the divine. Really if you think about it, all religions are trying to explain divinity which is flawless and pure in language that is flawed. How can we exactly describe the unknown without a frame of reference. We use our cultural understanding.

I one with some people having a potluck and a french couple made crepes. An American friend of mine asked what it was, and I said it is a very thin and light pancake. The french couple was so offended "It is not a pancake, it is a crepe". But to someone who has never had a crepe how does that help them understand what it is. I was using a reference that the American could understand and relate to.

Religion is no different. We are attempting to understand something in rational terms with the imprecision of language that is undefinable.

How can you really understand what enlightenment is unless you have already achieved it. How do you know what love is until you have actually been in love. How do you know what a parent feels to their child until you have done it. These are all things that we try to explain and we think we understand them but we really do not.

One thing that repeats is variations of the word "believe".

Belief and fact are not necessarily synonmous.

In fact beliefs are often quite the opposite.

People go through life attached to beliefs whether they arwe true or not..

The Buddha gave the knowledge with which one could deepen their awareness.

Awareness of body, of thought, of feelings, and of the outside world.

With with such skills as awareness and concentration one has the tools to expereince what actually is rather than be ruled by belief.

The knowledge to have self experience of reality.

With religions, take your pick.

There are dozens.

We usually choose one and allow it to rule our lives.

Learning to become aware and ever deepening levels and honing ones concentration is a big difference to others who said, "believe in me and upon your death I will give you immortality in my kingdom".

With one we are given the tools to experience for ourselves what actually is, whilst the other is based on pure belief.

One requires great personal effort over a long period with no guarantees in this life, whilst the other simply requires belief and abandonment (yield, accept, pass over ones control).

One speaks of the timeless/deathless and the unconditioned, whilst the alters with the passage of time and appears impermanent and conditioned (the creators increasing awareness over time yielded to new ways).

[zeichen]

"The Buddha gave the knowledge with which one could deepen their awareness.

Awareness of body, of thought, of feelings, and of the outside world."

The flaw in that argument is simple. How do we know that he actually achieved enlightenment or reached Nirvana? Because we have faith.

"We usually choose one and allow it to rule our lives."

"

With one we are given the tools to experience for ourselves what actually is, whilst the other is based on pure belief."

sorry but every religion gives tools or practices to bring peace to one's self.

"Learning to become aware and ever deepening levels and honing ones concentration is a big difference to others who said, "believe in me and upon your death I will give you immortality in my kingdom"."

Really, so those that follow the principles of Buddhism and dedicate their live's to the Buddha's teachings aren't doing it to achieve enlightenment and reach Nirvana?

Buddhism is no different. Japanese Monks used Buddhist ideology to incite the Japanese to world domination in WW2. There are a couple of very good books about the monks involvement in spreading Buddhism to condone their involvement in WW2.

"Have you ever studied Philosophy - do you know what it actually is?"

Apparently you don't because it actually means love of wisdom or modernly translated as thinking.

Not all Philosophies are religions but all religions are based on philosophies.

Marxism is a Philosophy, but Buddhism is definitely a religion.

When people practice the teachings and idealogies set forth from the Philosophy as a way to understand the universe and find their way in the world, then it becomes a religion.

Scientology is now a religion but it started out as a manuscript of Hubbard's Philosophies.

[faraday]

"Have you ever studied Philosophy - do you know what it actually is?"

Apparently you don't because it actually means love of wisdom or modernly translated as thinking.

It appears that you may not.

Philosophy is considerably more than just that; although I'll permit you some credit for your approximation.

[zeichen]

You didn't define the difference between the two. you didn't state anything. You didn't add anything, you just interject small snips and jabs. Which by definition makes you a troll.

Look up the Greek word. Means Love of Wisdom fact. But you go ahead and cast aspersions at my intellect or knowledge all day long. But since you don't dare to define or defend your ignorance, then you really have nothing to add.

The funny thing is that you can study Philosophy all day long and get 6 PhD's in it but doesn't make you a philosopher.

I write a very detailed response and all you can do is pick one simple statement that isn't really the point of the post.

[canuckamuck]

"Have you ever studied Philosophy - do you know what it actually is?"

Apparently you don't because it actually means love of wisdom or modernly translated as thinking.

It appears that you may not.

Philosophy is considerably more than just that; although I'll permit you some credit for your approximation.

I like his definition, what is yours?

[faraday]

"Have you ever studied Philosophy - do you know what it actually is?"

Apparently you don't because it actually means love of wisdom or modernly translated as thinking.

It appears that you may not.

Philosophy is considerably more than just that; although I'll permit you some credit for your approximation.

I like his definition, what is yours?

While I would agree that Philosophy is about thinking, that oversimplifies it. There are many different kinds of 'thinking'; Critical, Reflective, Reflective & etc.

I guess an easy reply would be that it's about asking questions, to which there is no definate conclusion or answer. But trying to bring clarity to them.

A reasonable definition is something like:

"Do Horses like Cows?