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turtlepi1
Joined: 15 Jun 2004
Location: Abu Dhabi, UAE
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 Posted: Mon Dec 20, 2004 7:39 pm Post subject: Was Jesus a Buddhist? |
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So whether you are Christian or not, one would have to agree (Well, maybe..see link below) that some dude named Jesus was running around and that someone felt it was important to document his life.
Miracles, misinterpretations, exaggerations, whatever...
But if you look at the Old Testament and the New Testament the messages are quite different.
At the time of Jesus there was a lot of "cultural contamination" occurring. Does anyone think that it is possible that the teachings of Jesus were influenced by Eastern religions/philosophies?
(Retorting my own assertion about the existence of some dude named Jesus.)
http://pages.ca.inter.net/~oblio/review1.htm |
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fondasoape
Joined: 02 Dec 2004
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| Posted: Mon Dec 20, 2004 7:48 pm Post subject: |
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Jesus was not a revolutionary. He was not a Buddhist. He was a second-string rabbi whose dogpoo ideas were digested and regurgitated by St. Paul.
His legacy seems most to resemble a sidewalk landmine made of 50% dogpoo, 30% rotten fish, and 20% saltpetre. |
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Daechidong Waygookin
Joined: 22 Nov 2004
Location: No Longer on Dave's. Ive quit.
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| Posted: Mon Dec 20, 2004 8:23 pm Post subject: |
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| fondasoape wrote: |
Jesus was not a revolutionary. He was not a Buddhist. He was a second-string rabbi whose dogpoo ideas were digested and regurgitated by St. Paul.
His legacy seems most to resemble a sidewalk landmine made of 50% dogpoo, 30% rotten fish, and 20% saltpetre. |
Pathetic troll. |
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shakuhachi
Joined: 08 Feb 2003
Location: Sydney
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| Posted: Mon Dec 20, 2004 8:25 pm Post subject: |
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| fondasoape wrote: |
Jesus was not a revolutionary. He was not a Buddhist. He was a second-string rabbi whose dogpoo ideas were digested and regurgitated by St. Paul.
His legacy seems most to resemble a sidewalk landmine made of 50% dogpoo, 30% rotten fish, and 20% saltpetre. |
Yes, very offensive. Mods, please delete that post. |
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dogbert
Joined: 29 Jan 2003
Location: Killbox 90210
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| Posted: Mon Dec 20, 2004 8:44 pm Post subject: |
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| Better yet, put it in with the "Mel Gibson's Passion" thread. |
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kylehawkins2000
Joined: 08 Apr 2003
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| Posted: Mon Dec 20, 2004 8:46 pm Post subject: |
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there are startling similarities between the teachings of Buddha and the teachings of jesus. The 'Golden Rule' for example, or the proverb about being born with nothing and dying the same way (=materialism is to be disdained).
I think that most of the major religions (Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism) share striking similarities. It makes me wonder if the Muslims could be correct in asserting that all major world religions are simply varying forms of the same religion (or at least worshipping the same diety under different names and circumstances).
Any students of Comparitive religion out there that would like to shed some further light on these ideas? |
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bucheon bum
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Mon Dec 20, 2004 8:46 pm Post subject: |
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| Daechidong Waygookin wrote: |
| fondasoape wrote: |
Jesus was not a revolutionary. He was not a Buddhist. He was a second-string rabbi whose dogpoo ideas were digested and regurgitated by St. Paul.
His legacy seems most to resemble a sidewalk landmine made of 50% dogpoo, 30% rotten fish, and 20% saltpetre. |
Pathetic troll. |
i found it quite amusing myself. |
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turtlepi1
Joined: 15 Jun 2004
Location: Abu Dhabi, UAE
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| Posted: Mon Dec 20, 2004 9:44 pm Post subject: |
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I raised the question in a paper I was writing in my religious studies course last year. (Comparitive religions)
There is quite a bit of literature on the subject from Eastern scholars. I guess some of them must be reputable. 
It was the area of research for my prof.
The reason I was thinking about it was a few weeks ago I was in Busan and I met a high ranking member of the Buddhist faith (Business man not a monk....) Anyway he was asserting that all of the religions (major Monotheistic) of the world stem from the same belief/root...buddhism, Christianity, Islam...BUT he believes the New Testiment is the diverging point that creates the conflicts we see between religious believers today.
I just thought it was a rather interesting belief as I would say that (as little as I really know) the New Testiment teachings are more humanistic than the Old Testiment. (and I guess I have more reading to do about Buddhism.) |
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igotthisguitar
Joined: 08 Apr 2003
Location: South Korea (Permanent Vacation)
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| Posted: Tue Dec 21, 2004 6:48 am Post subject: |
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Great discussion thread !!!
Based on my research i believe, yes, he was very much influenced by Buddhist philosophy. The influence this had on his "NEW" convenant reform may have in fact largely contributed to the Sanhedrin demanding he be silenced.
Where was he during the "Missing Years" ( i.e. between the ages of 12-30 ???
Travelling most likely, studying, learning healing arts, YOGA ... India, Kashmir etc. The notion he was ignorant of Buddhism or e.g. PLATO & the Greeks i find most doubtful. He was among other things a Philosopher King wasn't he ???
Any of the Gospel passages suggest reincarnation or non-duality ??? Personally, i've long felt this. Makes me somewhat of an unorthodox believer but ... so what ??? 
Alexandria in Egypt had Buddhists since Ashoka sent them in the 2nd century B.C. They are also said to have met with the Essenes during this time. The Pharisees, Saducees & ... the Essenes ( of which John the Baptist the cousin of Christ was a member ).
Some have even gone so far as to speculate Christ was Buddha reborn.
For anyone who's interested, by all means try & read : Jesus Lived in India - Holger Kersten.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=jesus+buddhism
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=jesus+india+buddhism
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=jesus+india+buddhism+history
http://www.heartlandsangha.org/parallel-sayings.html
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=jesus+buddha+parallel+sayings+teachings |
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casey's moon
Joined: 14 Sep 2004
Location: Daejeon
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| Posted: Tue Dec 21, 2004 7:32 am Post subject: |
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| shakuhachi wrote: |
| fondasoape wrote: |
Jesus was not a revolutionary. He was not a Buddhist. He was a second-string rabbi whose dogpoo ideas were digested and regurgitated by St. Paul.
His legacy seems most to resemble a sidewalk landmine made of 50% dogpoo, 30% rotten fish, and 20% saltpetre. |
Yes, very offensive. Mods, please delete that post. |
That's hilarious coming from you. I'm going to assume you meant it to be funny.
As for the OP -- interesting theory.
Turtle, have you read Life of Pi? Just curious what someone with your background would have thought of it. (sorry for the digression, but it's a little related to the topic at hand) |
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fondasoape
Joined: 02 Dec 2004
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| Posted: Tue Dec 21, 2004 3:15 pm Post subject: |
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Sorry to disappoint, but my negative take on J and xtianity were not intended to be a troll--I believe and stand behind what I wrote.
Religion is mass psychosis... a shared hallucination... a confused response to overloaded dopamine receptors.
Christianity is a particularly nasty brand of this self-delusion because of its wonderfully bloody history, its hypocrisy and its insistence on turning all nonbelievers into converts by any means necessary.
Finally -- if anyone seriously thinks that any genuinely Buddhist teaching is found in the new testament, they should post the chapter and verse. It may be nice to believe 'Jesus was a Buddhist', but he was no more a Buddhist than Martin Luther was. |
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The Man known as The Man
Joined: 29 Mar 2003
Location: 3 cheers for Ted Haggard oh yeah!
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| Posted: Tue Dec 21, 2004 3:36 pm Post subject: |
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| no |
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R. S. Refugee
Joined: 29 Sep 2004
Location: Shangra La, ROK
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| Posted: Wed Dec 22, 2004 3:08 am Post subject: |
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| igotthisguitar wrote: |
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Here's a different take on what Jesus would have looked like.
 
In recent portrayals by Caucasian Christian artists, Yeshua ben Nazereth (a.k.a. Jesus Christ) has typically been shown with a light skin, a long "Presbyterian" nose, very long hair, and a height probably in excess of six feet. The face of Jim Caviezel, who plays Jesus in the movie "The Passion of the Christ," is similar to many modern-day images of Jesus. He is shown in the right picture above. Carlos F. Cardoza-Orlandi, associate professor of world Christianity at Columbia Theological Seminary in Atlanta, GA, commented: "While Western imagery is dominant, in other parts of the world he is often shown as black, Arab or Hispanic." 3 However, these have been based on pure speculation by the artists.
Starting with the assumption that Jesus resembled a typical peasant from 1st century CE Palestine, Richard Neave, a medical artist retired from the University of Manchester in England, and a team of researchers "started with an Israeli skull dating back to the 1st century. They then used computer programs, clay, simulated skin and their knowledge about the Jewish people of the time to determine the shape of the face, and color of eyes and skin." 2 Mike Fillon followed the research and wrote an article about the portrait in "Popular Mechanics" magazine. 3 He said during a CNN interview that: "There are very strong rabbinical laws in Israel that you cannot tamper with a skull or any bones, so they needed to reconstruct the skull. Using a cat scan, which is very common in hospitals, they were able to recreate the skull precisely and make a cast of it. Then they put small wooden pegs, based on anthropological data, to figure out what the muscle structure and the skin would look like, and so they layered that on using clay-like substances." 4
The result is shown in the left portrait above: a person with abroad peasant's face, dark olive skin, short curly hair and a prominent nose. His height would have been on the order of 5' 1"; he would have weighed about 110 pounds. Alison Galloway, professor of anthropology at the University of California in Santa Cruz , said that: "This [portrait] is probably a lot closer to the truth than the work of many great masters."
Jean Claude Gragard, used the left image in his documentary "Son of God," which was broadcast by the British Broadcasting Commission in 2001. He said: "Using archaeological and anatomical science rather than artistic interpretation makes this the most accurate likeness ever created. It isn't the face of Jesus, because we're not working with the skull of Jesus, but it is the departure point for considering what Jesus would have looked like." They guessed at the length of Jesus' hair on the basis of the reference by Paul that "If a man has long hair, it is a disgrace to him." They speculate that Paul would not have written this if Jesus Christ had had long hair?
Mike Fillon told CNN that "There is no way that we are saying this is the skull of Jesus...Christians believe...that Jesus' entire body was resurrected, so there would never be any bones or skull or DNA evidence of Jesus. Plus, his ministry was very, very short. So it would be hard to find a lot of evidence." Some liberal theologians assume that Jesus was not resurrected. They assume that the Romans threw his body on a garbage heap to be eaten by scavengers. This was a near-universal practice for the victims of execution. Either way, the chances of finding any evidence is essentially nil. |
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fondasoape
Joined: 02 Dec 2004
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| Posted: Wed Dec 22, 2004 4:18 am Post subject: |
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| R. S. Refugee wrote: |
Starting with the assumption that Jesus resembled a typical peasant from 1st century CE Palestine, Richard Neave, a medical artist retired from the University of Manchester in England, and a team of researchers "started with an Israeli skull dating back to the 1st century. They then used computer programs, clay, simulated skin and their knowledge about the Jewish people of the time to determine the shape of the face, and color of eyes and skin."
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Woody Allen, Rodney Dangerfield, Jerry Seinfeld and John Stewart are all 20th/21st century Jewish comedians, and their skulls are amazingly similar.....
| R. S. Refugee wrote: |
They guessed at the length of Jesus' hair on the basis of the reference by Paul that "If a man has long hair, it is a disgrace to him." They speculate that Paul would not have written this if Jesus Christ had had long hair?
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Back on this planet, Paul did not meet Jesus, except in hallucinations.
| R. S. Refugee wrote: |
Christians believe...that Jesus' entire body was resurrected, so there would never be any bones or skull or DNA evidence of Jesus.
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Christians believe it, therefore it must have happened. Okaaaaay!
ACCEPT IT, PEOPLE:
| R. S. Refugee wrote: |
Jesus was not resurrected.
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R. S. Refugee
Joined: 29 Sep 2004
Location: Shangra La, ROK
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| Posted: Wed Dec 22, 2004 11:20 am Post subject: |
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| fondasoape wrote: |
Back on this planet, Paul did not meet Jesus, except in hallucinations.
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Might we guess that he got some fairly accurate descriptions of him though?
ACCEPT IT, PEOPLE:
| R. S. Refugee wrote: |
Jesus was not resurrected.
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fondasoape, with you ability to unabashedly misquote people, I wonder if you're considered a career in politics? One would think that you would at least have the decency and the knowledge of English grammar (you're an ESL teacher?) to use an ellipsis to begin a sentence fragment, when the fragment was not the beginning of the sentence quoted.
The sentence fragment that you quoted as though it were a complete sentence (ignorance or malevolance?) was:
"Some liberal theologians assume that Jesus was not resurrected. "
Are you trying to get me labeled an ideologue by our literalist Christian friends? 
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR |
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