Sermon for November 20th (Buddhism)

Today is the third and final week that we will be focusing on how our faith differs from the faith of others.  For some of you, this series may have been very interesting, informative and a welcome change from the normal sermons I give.  But for others, you might be wondering, “Why are we bothering to do this in the first place?”  As I’ve said for the last couple of weeks, I want you to have a basic knowledge of another person’s faith so that you might be respectful in your conversations, but also, so that you might be able to share your faith with credibility. 

                But there’s another reason.  Today, I’m introducing you to Buddhism, but while many of you won’t ever meet a Buddhist, perhaps today’s message can still strengthen your faith.  It’s amazing how many little aspects of the Buddhist faith have crept into Christian society and muddied the waters.  We don’t think that these little additions matter, but if we don’t ever notice the subtle differences, we can eventually find ourselves more Buddhist than Christian.  Learning about other faiths can strengthen your own faith when you realize where the boundary lines are so that you can be more faithful to Jesus.

                Buddhism is the 4^th largest religion in the world.  It came out of the tradition of Hinduism and, therefore, shares some characteristics, but it began very much as a reaction against Hinduism.  Therefore, Buddhists are very different from Hindus in most respects.  It began with one man named Siddhartha Gautama around 560 BC who grew up a privileged life as the son of a king near Nepal.  As the story goes, Gautama was intentionally sheltered from the world by his father who wanted him to be a great world leader; however, when Gautama witnessed the suffering of this world accidentally by seeing old age, death, disease and an ascetic monk, he renounced his life of ease and began his search for truth.

                Having only known a life where he received everything he could possibly need and then some, Gautama tried to live the opposite.  He ate practically nothing, secluded himself from all other people and denied himself every form of pleasure for six years.  As his story continues, he was meditating under a Bodhi tree when he finally experienced enlightenment.  From that point on, he tried to follow what he called: The Middle Way.  Not a life of self-indulgence and not a life of self-denial (for he had tried both), but he sought to keep his life balanced so as to do the most good for the most people.   

He became an extremely popular figure in India and many people came to ask him questions.  In Huston Smith’s World Religions book he writes the following dialogue, “Are you a god?” they asked.  “No.”  “An angel?”  “No.”  “A saint?”  “No.”  “Then what are you?”  Buddha answered, “I am awake.”  From then on he would be known as the Buddha or “enlightened one” from the word “Budh” meaning both to wake up and to know.  The Buddha explains that he had a choice to make after his enlightenment.  The rational choice, and biggest temptation, was to leave this world and enter Nirvana where all the trappings of this world extinguish and there is only bliss.  Instead, the Buddha chose to share what he had learned with the world.  The Buddha died at the age of 80.

                The Buddha never claimed he was god and rejected the idea of there being either one God or many gods and, yet, he is revered in a way that can feel very god-like to those of us looking from the outside in.  One question I know I have had in the past was about those little Buddha statues you see in the Chinese restaurants for instance.  The little fat Buddha-belly shrine looking things.  What about them?  In the World Religions 101 book I referred to last week, it explains that these images “serve as a reminder of the possibility of enlightenment.”  That little fat dude exemplifies the bliss and contentment of nirvana.

               

                Buddhism has entered into America in a more subtle way than many other faiths.  There aren’t any obvious Buddhist churches or Buddhist evangelists knocking door to door so it often seems on the periphery of our lives.  Aspects of it will show up in a magazine talking about meditation or on a news release about pacifism, but seldom do I ever hear of Christians becoming Buddhist converts; instead,  it seems that people often pick and choose one or two aspects of Buddhism that sound similar to Christian thought and just integrate them in easily.  Or, they just get confused about what they exactly believe such as when my confirmation kids get resurrection and reincarnation mixed up. 

                The Buddha and Jesus taught similar morals which is a place of connection for conversations between the faiths.  Jesus had compassion on the people around him because they were like a sheep without a shepherd and took human form to serve the world and be its Savior.  Similarly, the Buddha, rather than experience Nirvana, sought to teach others and had compassion on his countryman no matter what class they were in.  They both taught people not to worry, that self-denial could bring a better life and that loving others had important spiritual consequences.  It’s easy to agree with a Buddhist about how to live one’s life.  However, most similarities stop there.   

                Buddhism isn’t like most other religions; in fact, it is so different that some people have tried to categorize it as more atheism than religion.  Therefore, the normal topics of God, Grace, Jesus, Judgment Salvation don’t quite work.  To put it simply, in Buddhism there is no personal God, Jesus is not God, there is no salvation through grace and there is no final judgment.  And yet, it is amazing how many Buddhist concepts have crept into Christianity as if they were two peas in a pod.  In the first chapter of Romans, Saint Paul says, that God’s people when claiming to be wise, “exchanged the truth of God for a lie”.  I want you to ask yourself this question today: have you exchanged the truth of your Christian faith for something that sounds good, but is actually not Christian at all? 

                Let’s start with a simple example: reincarnation and its close relative, karma.  Reincarnation is a concept that actually is shared between Hinduism and Buddhism that speaks of the religious philosophy of death and life.  According to the philosophy of reincarnation, nothing is permanent, everything is always in the process of change.  Life is a circle, just like Mufasa told Simba in the Lion King movie.  Everyone has multiple past lives (none of which you could remember unless you were enlightened) and when you die, you will be reborn into another form whether it be human, animal, plant or substance based on your actions, thoughts and feelings in this life.  For instance, if as a human, you live like a pig, perhaps in your next life, you will actually be a pig.  That’s simplistic of course, but that’s the idea. 

                What you become in your next life is influenced by karma.  Sir Isaac Newton argued that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.  Karma takes this to the metaphysical level saying, if you give to others, eventually, you will receive from others (although it may not be in this lifetime).  Karma is a way that Buddhists explain the issue of suffering and “luck” in this world.  It helps to explains the inequality of people in this world: why do some live in relative luxury and health while other people always have bad things happen to them.  However, it is important to recognize that karma is not the ONLY thing that affects us—we do have personal responsibility as well.  However, you must take responsibility for what you have done in your past lives as well, if that makes sense.

                Now, I don’t think many of you are Buddhists here today, but I bet that many of you talk about “good karma” or “bad karma” or wonder about your “past lives” as if those concepts are easily synthesized into Christianity.  The problem is that they are not.  In contrast to the circle of life, Jesus said, “I have come to make all things new!”  History is not a circle, but a line leading up to Jesus.  That was old this is new.  When you are saved by faith alone, you were old and now you are new.  You were created for a purpose and when you die you will not be reborn to this earth, but resurrected to live with Jesus Christ forever.  There is and will be only one you who God created as his child.

                Why is there suffering then?  A Buddhist would say it is due to one’s karmic debt.  Christians would say something different.  While Buddhists seek to avoid suffering by filling one’s life with good karma, Christians understand that suffering can only be removed by Jesus Christ’s death (and suffering) on the Christ as a ransom for us.  The suffering we experience in our lives can lead to our repentance (when it is caused by our sin), but suffering can even be redemptive in that it can strengthen our faith.  St. Paul writes in Philippians, “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings . . . .”  God says in Isaiah, “I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster, I, the Lord, do all these things.”  The concept of karma takes the authority away from God to create blessings or suffering and places it as our responsibility instead.  Karma sounds good, but it is not Christian. 

In Buddhism, as I said before, there is no God to have a relationship with because, after you die, you simply migrate back to earth in another form.  In contrast, Jesus says this, “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”  You may not have focused on this before, but today, I want you to understand that, as a Christian, you believe that the author of heaven and earth wants to be with you when you die.  He cares for you, he loves you, he sent his son Jesus to die for you so that he might have  a personal relationship with you.  This concept is foreign to Buddhists.

                Furthermore, there is no hell in Buddhism.  Hell is not a place after death, it is a condition of life, “The wise man makes his own heaven while the foolish man creates his own hell here and hereafter.”   On the other hand, Jesus talked to his disciples about a time when the Son of Man would separate the sheep from the goats, “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”  Lots of faiths don’t believe in hell including Jehovah’s Witnesses, Buddhists and even Jews.  But a belief in hell is central to a full Christian understanding.  Hell isn’t a fun topic to talk about, but it’s written about in the Bible and for a good reason, I believe.  If there was no such thing as death, you wouldn’t truly appreciate life.  Without a concept of hell, you cannot truly have a concept of what heaven will be like.  Without understanding God’s wrath and judgment, his grace and salvation mean very little.  Believing that God’s wants a personal relationship with you is important, but so is the realization that hell is a place without that relationship—that’s what makes it so horrible. 

                Buddhism has entered into our society in many places that you may not realize.  I want you to consider how many self-help books there are in the world.  Have many paths to self-discovery or heightened awareness that you have read in a magazine or on the internet.  When I was in college getting my Masters in Double Bass before Seminary, I was trying to be a better husband, a better double bass player and a better man.  So what did I do?  Well, I went to the bookstore of course.  I got a book on Meditation and began doing that two times a day.  I joined a yoga class at school and tried to become more mindful.  I read Depak Chopra’s “Seven Spiritual Laws to Success.”  In a very real way, I had accepted the basic Buddhist premise that my goal in life should be to become “awake” or “enlightened” through my own efforts.

The hidden lie that most Christians miss, like I did, was that at the core of this seeking for self-discovery is the belief that you don’t need God to improve.  You only need yourself.  Rather than being called on to trust in God and look to Him for guidance, you are encouraged to trust in yourself.  Many Christians attempt to combine their faith and with these paths to self-discovery at first, but as you become more and more involved in these practices, you realize that, finally, they started as and still are spiritual disciplines from other faiths.  Many people who practice yoga, for instance, have little recognition that the poses they express were created as personifications of various Hindu gods and that yoga was a way for followers to become closer to these gods.  Yoga means “to yoke”.  As another example, Transcendental Meditation, the form of Meditation most widely known today, is not prayer.  Meditation is an attempt to become mindful of all things and awaken one’s own source of energy and happiness within, while prayer is a conversation between you and God, seeking blessings or guidance or strength from an external source of power and love.

Am I saying that you should throw away your mommy and me yoga videos and stop closing your eyes to rest your mind?  No.  But be aware of the boundaries between your faith and where these practices can lead to.  Especially be cautious if you meditate more than you pray or if you skip church to go to your yoga class.  They are not the same thing.

We’ve spent three weeks studying other faiths: The LDS church, Islam and now Buddhism.  But whoever you talk to, I pray that you will share your faith in a kind but honest way.  Perhaps, by knowing the differences between these different faiths, you can better articulate your beliefs and share the gospel of Jesus Christ.  I pray that over these last several weeks, you have learned something new about what other people believe, but as I said at the beginning, I also hope that you have learned something important about what you believe. 

What have we learned?  In contrast to the Mormon church, we know that you are sinners with no hope of becoming anything else on your own.  Thankfully, God loves sinners, like you!  In contrast to Islam, you know that God is primarily a God of love, not of simply justice.  We also learned that without Jesus Christ truly being God and without his gift of salvation, you’d never find peace with God.  Finally, in contrast to Buddhism, you have learned that life is not a circle and that there is such a thing as eternal punishment and eternal life.  You hope for the day when you will see this God face to face in a personal relationship.  You don’t have to trust your own efforts at self-awareness, but trust his divine promises.    “In your hearts, revere Christ as Lord.  Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.  But do this with gentleness and respect.”  Amen.