My friend Marcus and I have been discussing Christianity and Buddhism and whether or not it’s possible to cross them and make a kind of hybrid-spirituality. Some have done this in the past, and even some famous Catholic monks (Thomas Merton) combined the teachings to some extent. Many contemplatives find great similarities between the traditions. In fact, this is what’s drawn me into Catholicism. Some of you may not know my interest in this, but it’s been on and off for about two years. I became interested after hearing an interview with Father Thomas Keating, who’s a contemplative monk. He teaches the Centering Prayer, which comes from the early church fathers. It’s a form of meditation. You empty the mind and enter into communion with God, spending time in the presence of God. It’s not too different from Zen meditation, except that you’re focused on God and attempting to deepen your relationship with Him.
I didn’t realize the extremely rich tapestry of devotion and practices that are in the Catholic and Orthodox traditions. The protestants have largely ignored these ancient traditions for various reasons. It’s this learning that peaked my interest. Christianity is unfathomably deep. It’s nothing like the caricature that we so often see in popular culture and which most of us acquired over our lifetime.
Now that I’ve briefly explained my background and interest in Christianity, I wanted to talk about some serious problems I see with mixing Christianity and Buddhism. This may take too much space and time, so for now I’ll simply highlight what I consider the major issues. And when I speak of Buddhism, I’m referncing the Pali Canon, which is closest to what the Buddha probably said.
- The biblical God entered the actual history of human beings. Our purpose is to turn to and love Him; to soley rely upon Him. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Poor in spirit means relying upon God or Jesus. Contast this with the total self-power of Buddhism. Buddha taught complete self-reliance. You don’t even rely upon the Buddha. You rely upon the dhamma which teaches total self-mastery.
- The fundamental worldviews could not be more different. In Christianity, God loves us and wants us to turn to Him. Family and relationships are central to Christianity. Love is central. Faith, Hope, and Charity are the pillars of Christianity. God created the world and “it was good.” In Buddhism the world arose through ignorance and clinging. There is no beginning to the world nor is there a creator. If there’s a creator, he’s not important. In fact, in one sutta, Buddha claimed to have become the creator God (Brahma) for millions of years through his good karma. In Buddhism there’s no soul. How could you have two more different worldviews? They are utterly and completely opposed to each other.
- The end goal of the two religions are quite different. For Christians it’s love and surrender to the Creator. Some Christians (the mystics) say the final goal is unity with the Lord. For Buddha, since the world was utterly corrupt, a “house on fire,” a kind of hellish existence, one’s goal should be escape. In the end there is no unity with anything in Buddhism. There’s the clear-seeing that what “I” is an impermanent composite, arising and seemingly concrete like a cloud and disappearing like a cloud. There’s no self or soul. When this is clearly and totally seen AND when one ends their clinging to everything — even clinging or desire for existence or non-existence! – then one attains the goal of never coming back to any of the six realms of existence. (It’s called extinction, but Buddhists are adamant that Buddha didn’t teach this. He didn’t spell it out in those terms, but that’s what it is.) Is it just me or are these two utterly different goals?
There are more differences, but I will leave it there for now.
In conclusion, it’s merely slopping and wishful thinking to believe both to be true. Moreover, I don’t think someone will go deep into what either tradition has to offer by trying to straddle both. How could one? Both traditions in themselves have so much to offer. There are more than enough practices in each respective tradition to keep an aspirant busy for many lifetimes. Christians and Buddhists need to learn to mine their traditions more carefully rather than picking and choosing according to their personal fancies.
