07-23-2006, 08:35 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->http://www.truthbeknown.com/origins4.htm
<b>Buddha</b>
Although most people think of Buddha as being one person who lived around 500 B.C.E., like Jesus the character commonly portrayed as Buddha can also be demonstrated to be a compilation of godmen, legends and sayings of various holy men both preceding and succeeding the period attributed to the Buddha.37
The Buddha character has the following in common with the Christ figure:38
  * Buddha was born of the virgin Maya, who was considered the "Queen of Heaven."38a
  * He was of royal descent.
  * He crushed a serpent's head.
<b>Â Â * Sakyamuni Buddha had 12 disciples.38b</b>
  * He performed miracles and wonders, healed the sick, fed 500 men from a "small basket of cakes," and walked on water.38c
  * He abolished idolatry, was a "sower of the word," and preached "the establishment of a kingdom of righteousness."38d
  * He taught chastity, temperance, tolerance, compassion, love, and the equality of all.
  * He was transfigured on a mount.
  * Sakya Buddha was crucified in a sin-atonement, suffered for three days in hell, and was resurrected.38e
  * He ascended to Nirvana or "heaven."
  * Buddha was considered the "Good Shepherd"39, the "Carpenter"40, the "Infinite and Everlasting."40a
  * He was called the "Savior of the World" and the "Light of the World."
Regarding the Buddhist influence on the gospel story, in 2003 Buddhist and Sanskrit scholar Dr. Christian Lindtner wrote the following:
"The Sanskrit manuscripts prove without a shadow of doubt:
<b>
"Everything that Jesus says or does was already said or done by the Buddha.</b>
<b>
"Jesus, therefore, is a mere literary fiction.</b>
  * "The Last Supper was the Last Supper of the Buddha.
  * <b>"Baptism in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit was baptism in the name of the Buddha, the Dharma and the Samgha.</b>
<b>Â Â * "All the miracles performed by Jesus had already been performed by the Buddha.</b>
  * <b>"The twelve disciples of Jesus were, in fact, the twelve disciples of the Buddha.</b>
  * "It was king Gautama--not Jesus--who was crucified.
  * "It was Tathâgata--not Jesus--who was resurrected....
  * "There is nothing in the Gospels, no person, no event, that cannot be traced back to cognate persons, events or circumstances in the Buddhist gospels.
  * "...Jesus is a Buddha disguised as a new Jewish legislator, teacher, Messiah and king of Israel.
"The Gospels, forming the foundation of Christianity, are, therefore, typical Buddhist literature, fiction, designed for missionaries whose language was Greek.40b"
Concerning the "crucifixion" of Buddha, as related in a Buddhist text dating to the <b>first century BCE (Samghabhedavastu/ Mahâparinirvâna sûtra), </b>Ken Humphreys states:
"In this story of 'Gautama, a holy man' our hero is wrongfully condemned to die on the cross for murdering the courtesan Bhadra. Gautama is impaled on a cross, and his mentor Krishna Dvapayana visits him and enters into a long dialogue, at the end of which Gautama dies at the place of skulls after engendering two offspring - the progenitors of the Ikshavaku Dynasty."
Humphreys further relates that <b>"the dead Buddha is burned and it is the smoke of his corpse which rises - the true 'resurrection.'"</b>
According to Dr. Burkhard Scherer, a "classical Philologist, Indologist and Lecturer in Religious Studies (Buddhist and Hindu Studies)" at Canterbury Christ Church University, the fact that there is "massive" Buddhist influence in the gospels has long been well known among the elite scholars. Says Dr. Scherer:
"...<b>it is very important to draw attention on the fact that there is (massive) Buddhist influence in the Gospels....</b>
"Since more than hundred years Buddhist influence in the Gospels has been known and acknowledged by scholars from both sides. Just recently, Duncan McDerret published his excellent The Bible and the Buddhist (Sardini, Bornato [Italy] 2001). With McDerret, I am convinced that there are many Buddhist narratives in the Gospels.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<b>Buddha</b>
Although most people think of Buddha as being one person who lived around 500 B.C.E., like Jesus the character commonly portrayed as Buddha can also be demonstrated to be a compilation of godmen, legends and sayings of various holy men both preceding and succeeding the period attributed to the Buddha.37
The Buddha character has the following in common with the Christ figure:38
  * Buddha was born of the virgin Maya, who was considered the "Queen of Heaven."38a
  * He was of royal descent.
  * He crushed a serpent's head.
<b>Â Â * Sakyamuni Buddha had 12 disciples.38b</b>
  * He performed miracles and wonders, healed the sick, fed 500 men from a "small basket of cakes," and walked on water.38c
  * He abolished idolatry, was a "sower of the word," and preached "the establishment of a kingdom of righteousness."38d
  * He taught chastity, temperance, tolerance, compassion, love, and the equality of all.
  * He was transfigured on a mount.
  * Sakya Buddha was crucified in a sin-atonement, suffered for three days in hell, and was resurrected.38e
  * He ascended to Nirvana or "heaven."
  * Buddha was considered the "Good Shepherd"39, the "Carpenter"40, the "Infinite and Everlasting."40a
  * He was called the "Savior of the World" and the "Light of the World."
Regarding the Buddhist influence on the gospel story, in 2003 Buddhist and Sanskrit scholar Dr. Christian Lindtner wrote the following:
"The Sanskrit manuscripts prove without a shadow of doubt:
<b>
"Everything that Jesus says or does was already said or done by the Buddha.</b>
<b>
"Jesus, therefore, is a mere literary fiction.</b>
  * "The Last Supper was the Last Supper of the Buddha.
  * <b>"Baptism in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit was baptism in the name of the Buddha, the Dharma and the Samgha.</b>
<b>Â Â * "All the miracles performed by Jesus had already been performed by the Buddha.</b>
  * <b>"The twelve disciples of Jesus were, in fact, the twelve disciples of the Buddha.</b>
  * "It was king Gautama--not Jesus--who was crucified.
  * "It was Tathâgata--not Jesus--who was resurrected....
  * "There is nothing in the Gospels, no person, no event, that cannot be traced back to cognate persons, events or circumstances in the Buddhist gospels.
  * "...Jesus is a Buddha disguised as a new Jewish legislator, teacher, Messiah and king of Israel.
"The Gospels, forming the foundation of Christianity, are, therefore, typical Buddhist literature, fiction, designed for missionaries whose language was Greek.40b"
Concerning the "crucifixion" of Buddha, as related in a Buddhist text dating to the <b>first century BCE (Samghabhedavastu/ Mahâparinirvâna sûtra), </b>Ken Humphreys states:
"In this story of 'Gautama, a holy man' our hero is wrongfully condemned to die on the cross for murdering the courtesan Bhadra. Gautama is impaled on a cross, and his mentor Krishna Dvapayana visits him and enters into a long dialogue, at the end of which Gautama dies at the place of skulls after engendering two offspring - the progenitors of the Ikshavaku Dynasty."
Humphreys further relates that <b>"the dead Buddha is burned and it is the smoke of his corpse which rises - the true 'resurrection.'"</b>
According to Dr. Burkhard Scherer, a "classical Philologist, Indologist and Lecturer in Religious Studies (Buddhist and Hindu Studies)" at Canterbury Christ Church University, the fact that there is "massive" Buddhist influence in the gospels has long been well known among the elite scholars. Says Dr. Scherer:
"...<b>it is very important to draw attention on the fact that there is (massive) Buddhist influence in the Gospels....</b>
"Since more than hundred years Buddhist influence in the Gospels has been known and acknowledged by scholars from both sides. Just recently, Duncan McDerret published his excellent The Bible and the Buddhist (Sardini, Bornato [Italy] 2001). With McDerret, I am convinced that there are many Buddhist narratives in the Gospels.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->