With respect, did Jesus teach Buddhism to the Jews?

There are universal truths in all religions. One of my biggest joys in this life is finding these parallels, finding the common ground we all share regardless of our faiths, traditions, practices. I prefer to focus on the similarities we humans have, instead of the things that divide us ;)

Here are some examples of some similarities of the teachings of Jesus and Shakyamuni Buddha I've noticed:

- Buddha told us to help, not harm, and subdue your mind. Jesus said do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Jesus also said that before you attempt to remove the splinter from your neighbor's eye, first remove the beam from your own eye. This alludes to meditation.

-The Buddha taught equanimity: love the stranger, the friend, and the enemy all the same. Jesus also taught this in the parable of the Good Samaritan ;)

-the Buddha taught that we should not judge, for we do not know the karma of others; only a Buddha knows this. Jesus taught the same thing, that only God was qualified to judge.

These are just a few I can quickly come up with off the top of my head. I can't get too technical, as I am in the process of moving and my copy of the Bible is in my new home now.

I might add that a lot of people, particualrly many Buddhists I've known/know, believe that Jesus was a bodhisattva, Maitreya, the bodhisattva of universal love, who is the next Buddha to be ;)

Though you will get a lot of knee-jerk "no" answers, you are not the first one to consider this.

It is unlikely that Jesus got all the way to India in the missing 20 years, but it is possible. Trade did exist indirectly between the nations.

It is more likely that the knowledge MEME of the Golden Rule is near to universal for all great teachers seeking peace.

ADD: There are even some Indian traditions that Jesus visited there.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_in_India...

This is however unlikely. It is more likely that his family traveled to Ethiopia (for real) or Egypt for a time if they traveled at all.

<jodie> is right, there is a comedy fiction book called Lamb that covers the road trip to India idea. Fantastic book.

Also, as <cher> mentioned, the teaching of the Golden Rule were already popularized in Judaism by Hillel the Elder and others long before Jesus. Other teachings of Buddhism, however, are absent from Jesus' teaching and Judaism.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillel_the_Elder

You have aspects totally wrong Lord Buddha Siddhartha was the fourth Buddha to reveal the Dhamma Not the first

In the Tibetan Tradition Which is not Buddhism

When a High ranking Lama dies There is a search to find his successor Apart from Pratyeka Buddhas There hasn't been a Buddha in the world for almost 2600 years

There are many similarities Between Christianity and Buddhism That is true but there is no firm evidence that proves Lord Jesus ever went to India Tibet Japan or anywhere else for that matter There are stories along the whole route from Palestine to India of a Jesus type figure Who lived at that time There are graves in India and Japan that are reputed to be His but no firm proof

There was a community of Buddhist Monks at Alexandria at The time of Lord Jesus but again No proof He ever visited them

It is claimed the pyramids were a place of initiation but it all speculation at the end of the day

What does it really matter If Lord Jesus copied from Lord Buddha Or Lord Buddha copied from Lord Jesus If either Tradition can help a person hack it out of here Lets not knock it

Even Universalists deny this proposition, but I don't think your reasoning is "far fetched" at all.

I love this question because it raises a few hackles, but we don't need to be afraid to get a little uncomfortable sometimes.

There are so many statements from the Bible that could be interpreted in a very non-dualistic sort of way.

We all know how the Bible was put together, Jesus didn't go around handing Bibles out.

When people check out the gnostic gospels from the first and second century, they see that there were many perspectives of what Jesus was trying to teach the people.

The fact remains. The truth is one.

I don't know if Jesus went east, but Buddhists were definitely in Egypt in the first century.

Even if Jesus never met a Buddhist, he had to have had the right Karma to be who he was.

I think Jesus was enlightened and Christianity is a perversion of his message.

The teachings of Buddha & Jesus have similar "values" that both gave hope to the hopeless. However, the fundamental difference between both philosophies is that Jesus spoke about faith in God the father as very important whereas Buddha, although recognizing the existence of the divine, preached not to think about it so much as it was way to mysterious to fully understand.

Many have speculated that Jesus, during the time of his "missing years" between his childhood up until he began his ministry at the supposed age of 30, travelled to the far east. Personally, I think that Jesus worked as a labourer (carpenter as the bible states but that is still debated because the original Greek writings use a general term like labourer) rebuilding the city walls of Sephorris, a city about one hour walk away from Nazareth. First century historian Josephus wrote that Herod Antipas had the walls rebuilt after the Romans destroyed them during a small revolt when his father King Herod died. Sephorris was a hellenistic city & maybe what Jesus witnessed there made him search out new meaning to his life & wound up with John the Baptist at the river Jordan. This of course is speculation on my part but I think this is closer to fact than Jesus in the far east learning about Buddha.

There is no evidence outside the Bible Jesus existed and a plethora of evidence that he was a composite character created in order to make people servants of the Roman administration.

Thousands of pages of material exist from Jerusalem from the time of Jesus until more than a hundred years after his death but none of the material mentions a person that could have been Jesus.

All of the miracles which Jesus allegedly performed were also from other material.

Had a messenger arrived from a God there would not be any reason to falsify other material such as Josephus, "Histories" etc.

The only knowledge students of early Christianity can prove is that the early so called Christians were liars, thief and power hungry individuals who burned and killed for the sake of power; no Jesus, no Buddhist teachings.

I hear this all the time, that Jesus taught some Buddhism. Yet, I see no Buddhism in Christianity or Jesus's teachings. He didn't teach philosphies of life that were any different than already in Judaism.

- Don't do unto others what is distasteful to you, is from Hillel, a famous Jewish sage from before Jesus & love your neighbor is from Deut.

- Not to judge others before yourself is from Judaism all over the place. We still consider things to be between a person & God & not for others to judge.

- Mediation was already part of Judaism in the way prayer is done. Also mediation is part of Kabbalah.

- Compassion, & working to improve the world, starting with yourself, are central to Judaism.

- Jesus didn't bring classic Buddhist ideas of recarnation, or good & evil being both part of the balance needed in the world, nor nirvana as the way out. Instead he brought his body & blood as salvation.

Jesus did bring totally foreign & contradictory to Judaism theologies. That's why he was the start of a new religion, & has nothing to do with Judaism.

If you get your information about Judaism from Jewish sources rather than the Christian canon, you'll see that you don't need to travel so far to see where Jesus got his best material.

What came after Jesus, however, turned the Jewish understanding of a compassion that is based on what is just and right into one that is based on hierarchy and reward.

That's a far cry from Buddhism.

Did Jesus Know Buddha

the subject concerns of 'suffering' (consistent with the Buddha) and 'sin' (consistent with Jesus) are nowhere close to an analogous. The Buddha pronounced that existence comprises the factor of suffering, it is brought about by utilizing attachments which don't make sense ---- regularly, you could discern those are attachments to administration and income, all of which become airy and could-o-the-wisp. they're illusory, and can't be friendly. for this reason our suffering. yet, the Buddha did no longer instruct on the existence or non-existence of a God or Gods --- he only does not %. that up. He made sparkling that grew to become into no longer the concern he grew to become into addressing. He grew to become into VERY sparkling that he grew to become into no longer a god. Jesus reported that he and the daddy (God) have been One ---- and, he pronounced that guy's suffering grew to become into with the aid of separation from God via sin. thought in him grew to become into, as he pronounced, a vogue to return to a call that suffering. So, please notice ----- in lots of techniques, Jesus and the Buddha addressed very countless issues.