Who do you say I am?” Jesus asked his Jewish disciples. Peter responded with a Jewish answer: “You are the Messiah” (Matt. 16:15-16). Given the plurality of religions in the United States today, it is perhaps inevitable that other religions, even those not historically connected to Christianity, would recognize the pivotal nature of Jesus of Nazareth for Christian faith and human history and comment on his life and times. “Who do Buddhists think Jesus was?”
Dalai Lama is most arguably, the most famous Buddhist in the world, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists. So his book, The Good Heart: A Buddhist Perspective on the Teachings of Jesus, is where I draw his view of Jesus. The Dalai Lama claims his reverence for Jesus stems from his understanding of Jesus as a fully enlightened human being, a bodhisattva. He is very humble about his attempts to understand Jesus and his words.” The Dalai Lama understands Jesus as a great teacher who taught humanity how to have a good heart.
For him, someone who is passionate commitments about the religious life and advocates to his disciples and others a common humanity grounded in compassion and love, an unshakable openness to life and people, sacrificial love to end suffering has good heartedness. He has advocated to many Buddhist monks and clergy to read the teachings of Jesus. They can learn good heartedness from Jesus.
Thich Nhat Hanh presents a different vision of Jesus in Living Buddha, Living Christ. He too likes Jesus. He likes him very much indeed, and does not hesitate to tell readers, especially Christian readers, why. Yet his is a very different approach to Jesus from the one taken by the Dalai Lama.
Nhat Hanh is interested in emphasizing the activist side of Jesus’ ministry, and that interest emerges in the descriptions he gives of how Buddhism, true Buddhism, and Christianity, true Christianity, relate to one another. He uses his philosophy-of-religion approach to demonstrate how congruent Buddhism and Christianity are on this point, and how congruent the life and teachings of Jesus and the life and teachings of Gautama are when it comes to their core messages: “I do not think there is that much difference between Christians and Buddhists.”
First, Nhat Hanh is more interested in right understanding than in the good heart. By all accounts, mind you, Nhat Hanh has a good heart and endorses others’ good hearts. reflectiveness of the Beatitudes. Jesus represents nonviolence in action. He writes,
Nonviolence does not mean no action. Nonviolence meant we act with love and compassion.
He explains Christianity to Christians: “Jesus taught a gospel of nonviolence. Is the church today practicing the same by its presence and behavior?”
Three elements of the socially engaged Christ:
Awareness or mindfulness: Jesus meditates and prays, and this make him more aware of his present surroundings and people around.
Identification and Understanding human suffering: Through prayer and mindfulness, Jesus becomes aware of suffering; he identifies in solidarity with human suffering and pain.
Action to relieve suffering: The final step of mindful awareness and compassion, is action to relieve the pain and sufferings of others.
Let me finish how Buddhists see Jesus. There are more Buddhist monks and clergy who have read the four gospels about Jesus than Christian clergy have read about the Buddha. May be if we did we could establish a profound conversation with Buddhists, become faithful friends, and cooperate to end suffering in the world.
Hindus:
Shaunaka Rishi Das is Hindu scholar and Director of Hindu Studies at the Oxford University Center on Hinduism. He tells this story:
I’ve an Indian friend who, when he was seven ,moved with his family from India to England, where he was enrolled at a new school. On his first day he was asked to speak to the class about a saint from his Hindu tradition. Enthusiastically he began to tell the story of the saint called Ishu, who was born in a cowshed, was visited by three holy men, performed many amazing miracles, walked on water and spoke a wonderful sermon on a mountain. http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/hinduism/beliefs/jesus_1.shtml
He observes astutely, more than Christians that Jesus Christ was not a Christian but Jewish. Believe or not if you did a survey of Christians in the pew or in the classroom that they will tell you Jesus, Mary his mother, and the disciples were Christian. The word Christian was not coined until a 100 years after the death of Jesus.
For Hindus, Jesus is a sadhu, a holy man, a sage or saint. He represents the essence of God on earth. Hindus look at Jesus’ teaching and behaviors. He is humble, in control of his senses and his mind, compassionate, and non-violent. Jesus teaches humanity about universal love of God and human beings.
Shaunake Rishi Das writes how Jesus influenced his own spiritual journey.
I read such passages as Luke 5: “forsake all and follow me”. I remember distinctly, as a 14 year old, developing my own understanding of what that meant. I had formed a sense of mission and vocation by reading the Bible, seeing that the love of God should be shared with others. The greatest commandment – to love the Lord our God with all our heart, all our words and all our deeds, and love our neighbour as ourselves – struck me as an instruction, as a plea and, actually, as a necessity. Considering how to do to that, how to forsake all and follow God out of love, has provided me my greatest challenge in life. Ibid.
He became a follower of Krishna and a better Hindu because of Jesus but venerates Jesus as aSaint, a manifestation of God on earth. He wonders if Jesus went to Belfast Ireland whether Protestants or Catholics would allow him in their churches unless he identified him as Protestant or Catholic.
Another Hindu teacher, perhaps the greatest teacher of non-violence in the 20th century is Mahatma Gandhi He understood Jesus. These are his words:
What does Jesus mean to me? To me. He was one of the greatest teachers humanity has ever had….Is all the grandeur of his teaching and of his doctrine to be forbidden to me? I cannot believe so. My interpretation of Jesus…is that Jesus in his own life is the key to the nearness of God; that he expressed, as no other could, the spirit and will of God. (Ellsberg)
If Jesus were here today, he would bless me people who have never heard of him. He was an example of loving one’s neighbor as oneself, promoting the good and welfare of people, and living love among the people.
Finally, I want to introduce you to the Muslim Jesus that appears in the Qur’an. He is mentioned in stories over 300 times and his mother Mary is the only woman mentioned in the Qur’an and remains a model for Muslim of a courageous and loving mother. Now Christians will find their stories of Jesus in gospel quite different than the Muslim Jesus. For example , the night Jesus is born (not in a stable) but in the middle of the desert, He is able to talk from the first moment. Jesus is the next greatest Muslim prophet. He turns clay birds into real birds as child. But the Romans try to crucify him, and God takes him directly into heaven. Humanity is not saved by Jesus’ death and resurrection as Christians claim but submission to God.
Jesus is a strong example of what moral and obedient human being can be. He has only three possessions: a robe, a bowl for water, and a comb to comb his hair. Muslims can perceive Jesus as a word of God, not the Son of God because Muslims believe that Jesus nor any person can image God who is pure Spirit. He is understood as a great prophet who will come at the end of time to fight the final battle against evil as the end of the world comes. While we Christians and Muslims have different views of Jesus, we also share Jesus. See The Muslim Jesus on youtube.
Hans Kung a theologian gave a talk at Santa Clara University about 10 years ago. He said, ”There is no peace in the world until there is peace among religions.”
I receive criticism in emails for my openness to other religions by conservative and fundamentalist Christians. They fall into an easy trap of demonize what they do not understand or take the time to have conversations with their neighbors who practice a different faith tradition. We do not have the luxury to be in opposition but to find common ground between religions if we as humans are going to deal with greatest crisis of the 21st century. Climate change will impact all, no matter what religion you belong.
When Jesus says in John’s Gospel that “I am the way,” I do not use exclusively to separate Christians from non-Christians. I understand his saying inclusively by remembering the above and Jesus can be a bridge for common values between religions. We need to find common bridges, and my suggestion this morning is that we use Jesus as a bridge to understanding other peoples of faith because they too have reverence for Jesus even though their understandings may expand our own or make us uncomfortable.
Can we afford the time to fight between ourselves and not make peace among religions while all life is threatened by the climate changes effect human recklessness and profit?