The Birth Stories Of Christ And Buddha - Research Paper Example

full The Birth Stories of Christ and Buddha (similarities and differences) 06 August Introduction There are certain persons who went on to influence world events to such a large and profound extent their influence extended beyond their lifetimes. People who influence human events in various areas such as politics, science, philosophy, and religion are just examples of these people whose thoughts garnered for them significant numbers of followers even to the millions of people decades and centuries after their passing on to eternal life. Two such great personalities are Jesus Christ of Nazareth and Gautama Buddha of Nepal whose teachings on matters affecting life and death had created worldwide religions affecting billions of people. It may be said these two great historical figures were destined for great things in life at the time of their birth and whose early lives provided their followers with a model for living. Although both of them are technically Asians, there are also significant differences in their life stories. This paper discusses how the birth stories of these two persons presaged their destinies as the founders of two great world religions based on auspicious beginnings in birth and early life. Discussion Jesus Christ was believed born some two thousand years ago in the little and obscure town of Bethlehem which was located in the Roman provice of Judea in ancient Syria or what is now known today as Palestine after it was split from Syria after the defeat of the Ottoman (Turkish) empire in World War I. Jesus had no family name and the Christ as used in context means the “chosen or anointed one” because Christians believed that He is God incarnated in the form of a human body who led a brief but meaningful life on Earth. Biblical scholars and academicians think He was a historical figure who was born to poor parents in a manger. Siddharta Gautama was born around 563 B.C.E. (or before current era) in a remote region of the mountainous country of Nepal to a rajah or local chieftain. The word rajah is the Sanskrit equivalent of the word “king” and so the young Gautama led a life of luxury and also of extravagance and earthly pleasures before he got enlightened at the age of 30 years old. He was born in the locality called Kapilvastu of ancient Nepal as proved by archaeological sites. He died around 483 B.C.E. possibly from some form of food poisoning due to lead content so he predated Christ by half a millennium. He became known as Buddha or “awakened one.” Similarities – both Jesus Christ and Gautama Buddha surprisingly share some kind of unusual similarities regarding their birth stories. These similarities are discussed below: a. The two of them are both Asians with Jesus Christ born in Bethlehem of Palestine and Gautama Buddha born in Kapilvastu of Nepal. Although distances and centuries apart, the two of them influenced the course of human history by founding two great religions which are two of the largest religions today in terms of global following. They were both born under the influence of a foreign power wherein Christ was born in Judea under the Roman Empire and Gautama Buddha was born in Nepal under the influence of the Sanskrit empire of India. Both are said to have somehow suffered under the oppression of a foreign power in their lifetime. b. The mothers of Jessus Christ (Mary) and that of Gautama Buddha (a local princess named Maha Maya) each had a strange dream about their impending pregnancies. Mary had a dream being visited by an angel who announced to her she would carry a child who will be a future God who will save mankind from sin (McNally 91). The mother of Buddha also had a strange dream of being visited by a white elephant with six tusks which soon entered her right side to make her pregnant with the Buddha later on. In both cases, the pregnancies were not in a way the usual pregnancy achieved through human sexual union but under strange or weird or even miraculous circumstances and these two pregnancies were similar in their strangeness. c. Momentous events preceded their births which in the case of Jesus Christ was the appearance of a big and brilliant star (some historians say it was a comet) in the sky and also how the Three Kings (Magi) found their way to the humble manger in Bethlehem. Gautama Buddha was also born under auspicious cricumstances in which learned men and known sages were invited by his royal father to determine or divine his future all of whom were united in their opinion of the newborn baby becoming either a great king or a holy man (Rank 39). The three kings in Bethlehem were actually wise men also like the ones who visited the great Buddha on his birth and naming ceremony. Both baby boys were visited and accorded respect by wise and learned men as a show of obeisance and acknowledgment of their great future. d. The location of their births were quite similar; Jesus Christ was born in a manger which was not supposed to be an ideal birthing place for a future king while Gautama Buddha was born outside a palace as his mother was travelling back to her homeland (her fathers kingdom) to give birth but instead give birth while on the road, under a big sal or banyan tree. This means their births were quite dangerous to their mothers with no attendant or midwife. Differences – there are also significant differences in the life stories of Jesus Christ and Gautama Buddha which may have influenced the course of their religious teachings. The differences are further discussed below for the reader to have some idea of the significance: a. Mother May of Jesus Christ survived the birth of her child Jesus while the mother of Buddha died while giving birth to him. The Holy Family had arrived at an inn during night after an ardous trip fleeing from persecution and so the birth was not as risky because the birth was inside a dwelling compared to the birth of Buddha when his mother was still on the road and exposed to the elements. This might be the reason why Maha Maya died (some say after giving birth while some historians claim she died a week later from childbirth complications). This difference (one survived and the other died) has a crucial bearing later as they grew up. b. Because Mother Mary survived the childbirth, she was able to guide the young and curious little Jesus Christ through a life of goodness and kindness without even once being involved in any kind of earthly life wrongdoing. This was not the case of Gautama Buddha who in his adolescent and young adult life led a life of wealth, extravagance, luxury, and also of debauchery or earthly pleasures of wine and women. The young Gautama was engaged in an excessive consumption and indulgence of sensual pleasures and he gave all these up only in his thirties as he must have gotten tired of temporary and fleeting pleasures (Johnson 25). c. Jesus Christ lived a poor life as a young child and adolescent because his father Joseph was just an ordinary carpenter while the prince Gautama Buddha lived in a palace with all its luxuries and extravagance such that he himself got exhausted with all these pleasures. In the story of Jesus Christ, he forswore all material things in life and made the conscious or deliberate decision to live a life of poverty and humility (Griffith 28) because he knew early in his life he was destined for a work of proselytizing the unbelievers and pagans at the time. In contrast, Buddha realized his mission in life only much later when he saw an extremely old man and became worried about his own fate when he himself will grow old someday. Conclusion Jesus Christ preached a gospel of love and brotherhood in order to gain entry to the Heavens through a life of sacrifice, denial, and re-connection with God the Father while the Gautama Buddha preached his teachings based on the so-called “Four Signs” to attain a level of enlightenment that is free from material or bodily desires. Both preached the twin virtues of humility and renunciation of all material things in order to attain eternal bliss in the next life. Christ promised redemption through atonement while Buddha pledged release from material torment through a series of rituals to suppress karma to achieve happiness in life without the pain of an earthly existence. Both advised to help the SOW (strangers, orphans, and widows). Works Cited Griffith, Jimmy. The Identity of Jesus Christ: Locked in the Liberty of Christ. Salem, MA, USA: Xulon Press, 2007. Print. Johnson, Dale. Release the Hero Within. Raleigh, NC, USA: Lulu, 2004. Print. McNally, Terrence J. What Every Catholic Should Know About Mary: Dogmas, Doctrines, and Devotions. Bloomington, IN, USA: Xlibris Corporation, 2009. Print. Rank, Otto. The Myth of the Birth of the Hero: A Psychological Exploration of Myth. Baltimore, MD, USA: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004. Print. Due: August 06, 2014 @2:43 p.m. Read More