Parallel Sayings of Buddha and Jesus

I don't hear it discussed often, but I don't think this is a co-incidence.

I think Jesus found Buddhism (probably in India) and thought the folks back home could use a dose of this stuff. (Of course, selling it as the latest update to the home religion was always going to be more successful.)

Maybe in the future the more extreme religious folk will truly realise what high esteem these guys (jesus, buddha etc) are often held in by even the most extremely non religious. United under the banner of 'ideas' rather than divided under the banner of 'dogma'. I'm still reading the quotes, thanks for posting them.

Indeed Ashers, as a hardcore atheist, I'm often seen as a hypocrite for using the words attributed to Jesus in support of an argument.

The way I see it, just because he wasn't what Christians like to imagine he was....doesn't mean he never said anything worthwhile. On the contrary, he brought his part of the world a lot closer to humanism than it previously was.

It's a safe assumtion that Hey-Zeus was speakin' Aramaic--and even if he was speaking some form of Hebrew, he certainly was not speaking Hindi, which it is safe to assume was the language used by Siddartha Gautama. I frankly don't believe that either of them said the same things. I have no doubt, however, that those who wish to make this seem significant find it easy to allege that they said the same things.

Setanta, you'll know a lot more about this than I. Is there any possibility that Jesus travelled in India?...I've seen theories to suggest it, and it would explain much .....??

I have no good reason to believe the boy even existed, never mind whether or not he traveled in India. However, it certainly would have been possible, albeit rather difficult. As he was a speaker of Aramaic, he would have had the opportunity to travel overland to the Hindu Kush, from whence he might have reached India--not a safe route though--the Afghans were in the business of killing outsiders long before the times when Hey-Zeus is alleged to have lived.

(Edit: I sometimes forget that some things are not immediately obvious to others. Aramaic merchants travelled from the middle east all over Eurasia to the east, reaching as far as China, and spread confessional Judaism along the way--the Jews to whom Marco Polo refers had learned their religion from Aramaic merchants more than a thousand years earlier. However, prior to the time of the Tatar invasion of India late in the 13th century, getting from those overland routes to the Hind would have been extremely difficult, and very dangerous. The mountain range which separates the drainage of the Oxus River from that of the Indus River is known as the Hindu Kush [sometimes alleged to mean the Killer of Hindus]. Between the time of Alexander III of Macedon [unjustifiably known as Alexander the Great] in the fourth century BCE and the invasion of Timur--usually called Tamerlane by Europeans--in the late 14th century CE, it was very uncommon for people to cross the Hindu Kush into the Hind. India was so named by the Europeans, the Hind is just as reasonable a name. Prior to European colonization, the Pesians commonly referred to all inhabitants of the Hind as Hindus, without regard for or reference to whether or not they were Hindus religiously, or Buddhists.)

There was some ocean-going trade with India, which was a source for precious stones much in demand among wealthy Romans. That would have been rather chancey, though--i doubt that you could just have waltzed up and told them boys "Hey, i wanna go to the Hind, please, please, pretty please."

Had he reached the Hind, he would not have spoken Hindi, and they would not have spoken Aramaic. There would have had to have been some time taken to learn the local lingo.

The basic philosophical message, however, is the same--that "heaven" is to be found within. The message of Siddhartha Gautama seems not to have been too perverted over time, although fantastic and ridiculous stories about him began to be circulated immediately. Same for Hey-Zeus, and additionally, the notion of an established, hierarchical religious structure was added almost immediately by Paul.

So many of the basic, underlying principles of self-awareness and "self-realization" which are common to both philosophies were already imagined by the monotheists among the Aryan tribes who became the Persians, and from whom the Hebrews probably got their notions about monotheism. At very nearly the same time as Siddhartha Gautama lived, the Jews came back from the Babylonian captivity, and undertook a very serious revision of their scriptures. Although i consider that the basic philosophy of both is so simplistic, and in many respects "obvious" that there is no reason to assume a common source, it is nevertheless possible that a common source suggested these ideas to both cultures. We don't really know that the ideas were necessarily original to either man.

Thanks, Ashers. The words seem to me very peaceful and wise and I thought I would just post them for anyone interested.

It is certainly striking to me that some ideas are common when the two persons (Buddha and Jesus) lived in different periods and places. I have noticed a certain similarity not only in religions, but also in ancient philosophies. Here are similarities on the Golden Rule.

http://www.unification.net/ws/theme015.htm

I have often wondered whether ideas were exchanged through the Silk Road. What common language would people have spoken in order to understand each other just to trade?

Eorl, absolutely. It's a real travesty that we have ideas, then we place too much emphasis on the originators of ideas (see the Zen saying about "killing" the buddha if you meet him on the road) and then we place more barriers called religions and elevate these ideas to the point of no return which further alienate people from the ideas themselves. The great thing about figures like the Buddha and Jesus is simply that they are well known avenues of access to, in my eyes, positive ideas.

By the way, didn't the Buddha base a lot of his ideas on Jainism? I thought his teachers were at least in part Jainists (?) but he eventually rejected Jainism due to the extreme asceticism. If I remember correctly the main prophet of Jainism is mentioned in Buddhist texts as being enlightened. I know someone who is interested in Jainism hence my saying this but I could be wrong about the above. I'm sure Asherman has mentioned Jainism in the past too, maybe there are some cool posts lying around somewhere.

We don't know much about Jesus' early life do we? Is it possible/likely he was given some kind of a "spiritual" education as a young man too? I don't think guys like him are purely self taught too often, seems more likely to me that rather than Jesus travelling himself, good ideas being as they are, find a way to mix and become part of some discourse between spiritual teachers/learners of the time, with these ideas being passed on to Jesus himself at later dates.

Cello, no problem, I hope you post more wise words that cross the religious barriers in the future if you happen upon them, it's appreciated. I bet there a plenty of others here who enjoy looking at religious/spiritual ideas across the board too.

The origin of the Jains and life of Siddhartha Gautama were roughly contemporaneous (i.e., sixth century BCE), so it would be difficult to say who influenced whom, if in fact, either influenced the other. It is entirely possible that both had a common source for their beliefs. (However, given the disputed dates for the life of Siddhartha Gautama, it is most likely that the Jains were established before he lived--which is not evidence of anything more than coincidence. Proximity in either time or space is not evidence of influence.)

As for the "silk road," it did not exist in the lifetimes of either Siddhartha Gautama nor of Joshuah of Nazareth. However, as i pointed out in my previous post, Aramaic traders traveled as far across Asia as China, and what became known as the "silk road" followed the same path, roughly, as that used by the Aramaic merchants. Over much of that route, Aramaic would have been the lingua franca. As i also pointed out, direct communication with the Hind (India) by land was almost unknown, due to the difficulty and the danger. What commerce there was between the Roman world and the Hind was sea-borne.

From the point of view of "meditational experience" I have little doubt that some parallelism may exist, but I'm struggling to a significant amount in the given reference.

By the way, Ashers, the most likely historically known spiritual community from which the alleged Jesus could have taken his ideas would have been the Essenes. This is especially probable given their insistence on strict adherence to the law, which is mirrored in so much of the alleged teaching of the putative Jesus. If, however, he was at some time an Essene, he would have been considered an outcast, as the Essenes rejected contemporary society and social interaction, and required secrecy if their members. One important aspect of Essene philosophy (and a caution, there may have been more than one Essene group) was a messianic component. What we know of the Essenes comes mostly from Flavius Josephus, but also from an earlier Jewish philosopher, Philo, whose accounts do not materially differ from those of Josephus. Pliny also mentions them, which suggests that they were widely known by the first century of the current era, because he was not known to ever have traveled in the middle east. The Essenes were on the wane by the first century, however. Many scholars (but by no means all) believe that the Dead Sea scrolls were produced by an Essene community.

Well, Setanta, it was a "similarity" of thought between you and me. While you posted your post, I was typing mine (it took long because I was thinking slowly), so I did not see yours until mine was posted. Just imagine me reading all those "answers" to my questions.

Now I hear Aramaic being mentioned all the time, whose language is that and what would be the modern language of it now?

You said the Silk Road did not exist at that time? I would have thought it did because I read that silk was very liked by the Romans.

Setanta, thanks for the extra historical input, it's very interesting. I've never heard of the Essenes before, I'll go look them up.

A little bit read-up on the Silk Road. Seemed to be it was quite old.

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

It is a very real possibility that the wisdom of the Buddha and the wisdom of Jesus were attained separately. There is nothing to suggest that Jesus learned of Buddhism or of the (already at his time) historical figure Siddharta.
These truths expressed by both men are accsessible to all humans. They are encoded in our very being, and to "hear" them one only needs to quiet his mind.

For instance, I know from experience that the best way to disarm cruelty is with kindness. And if you hate those who hate you, then you are merely justifying their hatred. These are all simple truths, and it does not take great intelligence to see them. Only time and patience.

I totally agree with you, Cyracuz. When I was reading ancient philosophies, there are certain themes/ideas that are expressed more or less the same, but in different words, by different philosophers. It is hard to say what are the specific similarities, but it is a general feeling I get from reading. This made me think that human brains may be made more or less the same.

To me, it does not really matter who thought "it" first, all these persons are long gone. What remains for us is their legacy of ideas to humanity. This is a very interesting book I read:

Socrates, Buddha, Confucius, Jesus: From The Great Philosophers, Volume I, by Karl Jaspers.

It gives a condensed version of the philosophies/religions of these four persons who "put their stamp on humanity". A good starter book if one does not have much time to read.

The Buddha didn't read his way to his truths. He just sat down and waited for them. Under a tree. Just sitting.

That is the quickest way to attain these wisdoms. To just sit. Not by reading or otherwise actively seeking. You don't need to seek it. It's already there. You just need to listen to it.
Sit and don't speak. And when you get bored you have encountered your first barrier towards this wisdom.