FOUNDER
SIDDHARTHA GAUTAMA, 600 BC (time of Ezekiel)
Hindu, left rich family & son for monastery, very humble & religious, concerned for humanity
Protest against rigid life & caste system of Hinduism
Strong in Ceylon, Thailand, Tibet, India, China & Japan
NAME
Siddhartha Gautama called BUDDHA (“enlightened one”) because of quest for and finding of Nirvana
AUTHORITY
Buddhism: clear, firm rules (Hinduism: hard, vague teaching)
VEDAS (Hindu book) no help in finding way of salvation
TRIPATAKA (“Three Branches of Wisdom”) is its holy book (sermons, rules for priests, doctrines)
Some written by Buddha, others by later writers
VIEW of GOD
No personal god, but deify Buddha (he never claimed to be God, just searching for God)
After death followers said he was God manifested in the flesh (as we say of Jesus)
Panthiestic (god in all nature); Polythiestic – many gods (one for every person)
Atheistic – deny existence of creator or any being superior to man and the world (god limited to nature)
VIEW of the TRINITY
Own version of the Trinity:
BUDDHA: god overall
VISHNU: god, revealed self 10 times (giant turtle, Guatama Buddha, Rama, Krishna, etc.)
SHIVA: same as Caananite god of fertility
VIEW of CHRIST
Good teacher, less important than Buddha (not God in any way)
VIEW of the HOLY SPIRIT
Disbelieve
VIEW of SIN
Anything which hinders man’s progress – up to man to overcome sin
VIEW of SALVATION
NOT from sin (no forgiveness, redemption, etc.)
Live life of self-denial to rid self of suffering (life = suffering)
Suffering comes from selfish desiring, eliminate suffering by eliminating cravings, thus self-denial
Karma – escape cycles of endless reincarnation, absorption into passionless, painless & impersonal state of existence – Nirvana
VIEW of HEAVEN & HELL
No hell or heaven – search is for Nirvana (painless, passionless, impersonal state of existence)
Buddha: “I never tried to solve the question of eternity. My message is to show man the way of escaping the suffering of life, not to describe what he would find once he had been liberated.”