It's no but because Christians believe in, and worship, God whereas Buddhists deny the existence of a creator God and follow Buddha's teachings. They don't worship him. You may be mistaking the show of respect for Buddha for worship.Originally Posted by UltimatePanda
No because in Christianity God said worship no other gods except me and if you are Buddhist you worship Buddha hence : no.
I really doubt either God or Buddha cares as long as you're a moral (as opposed to amoral) and ethical person, compassionate, self-effacing, giving.
"The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its' own reason for existing." ~ Albert Einstein
"Remember, no matter where you go, there you are." Buckaroo Bonzai "Some people say I done alright for a girl." Melanie Safka
In terms of being a good person - you're probably right. There's merit in that. Unfortunately for Buddhists, more is needed to overcome ignorence. It requires the pursuit of the path.
can a vegetarian be a carnivore?
can a liberal be a fascist?
*rolls eyes*
some babies simply cant help being stillborn.
There are various Christian sects. There may be various Buddhist sects, for all I know.
I wonder if it is possible to be a member of all the Christian sects at the same time? Or all the Buddhist sects (assuming there is more than one)?
I suspect it is not possible, based on personal experience within my own family, to be a Lutheran and a Catholic at the same time. It would be difficult to attend both a Catholic mass and a Lutheran service each Sunday. This leads me to suspect it is not possible to be a Christian (generically) and a Buddhist (generically) at the same time.
If nothing else, there is not enough time to practice both effectively.
From my experience there are different views as to what Buddhism is. There is a traditional view of Buddhism that includes dogma about resurrection as a physical phenomenon and having the possibility of being ressurected as animals. If I am correct in saying that, it would be clear that this sort of Buddhism would be incompatible with Christian dogma, which doesn't say that people's souls return to earth and says that only humans have souls. However, there is a less supernatural Buddhism, a more modern take maybe, that focuses on meditation, living a good life, and not being a slave to worldly posessions. If I'm correct in saying that, that would be in accord with Christianity. But there would also be no need to label one's self in that case as a Buddhist since Christ already taught those things, minus the meditation of course. But then again, Christian prayer can be viewed as a form of meditation.
The aspects of Buddhism that you describe are not older and newer versions of Buddhism, but have always been part of Buddhism.
Reincarnation - rather than resurrection, (which is a term more appropriate to Christianity) - is part of the Buddha's teachings.
It includes reincarnation as animals, hungry ghosts and hell beings - (negative rebirths), and also humans, demi-gods and gods, (positive rebirths). All reincarnations are unfortunate in the sense of being subject to birth, ageing, sickness and death, but the human one is seen as the most positive, offering the best chance of following the Buddha's path which enables a person to become a Buddha. The prescence of a soul is also denied in Buddhism.
Meditation was taught by the Buddha, as was non-attachment to worldy possessions and ideas. A moral life is laid out in the precepts for becoming a Buddhist.
As for Christ already teaching the moral life, I'm afraid the Buddha predated Christ by 500 hundred years or so.
You are correct to say that there are different Buddhist traditions which reflect the country and cultures into which the teachings came. The teachings are quite consistent, but different schools have different emphases, often involving the type of meditation they practice.
You obviously know more than I do. I do know that Buddha pre-dated Christ though. I only said that Christ had those teachings to make the point that if those are the elements of Buddhism that would compel a Christian to call him or herself a Buddhist, it wouldn't really be necessary.
Since you may know, I'll ask. Since the Buddhists deny the presence of a soul, when someone is reborn into another form how do they refer to the essence that gets carried over? How does that concept differ from that of a soul?
Sorry I misunderstood your meaning about Christ's teachings.
The classical analogy used is that a flame from a candle lights a second candle. The first candle is blown out, and the second is left. It was caused by the energy from the first flame, but is not the same.
I think the implication is that a being, by their actions in this and other lives, cause a rebirth to take place, but it is not a simple case of Me being reborn in another body.
In fact the implication is that personality and all the mental factors developed in a life dissipate with death. This is not easy to accept on the face of it, but one of the purposes of meditation is to deepen ones awareness of your mind and what is actually a transient element in it.
A beginner may practice meditation on the breath and "watch" thoughts arising and passing in their minds. The knowledge of this undermines the notion that we are a logically thinking, focused being who are in control of all our faculties throuh the force of our personalities. This is the impression we get until we stop and watch. It's like the effect of a film - it all seems joined up, but is in reality a series of fragments moulded into our perceived reality.
Regarding what happens after death is likely a place where someone would have to choose between Buddhism or Christianity.
I'm sure you have heard of near-death experiences. How does Buddhism make sense out of these out-of-body if not actual post-death experiences?
I was under the impression that the central tenet of Buddhism is the nonexistence of self. This seems completely incongruous to Christian belief.
I will try to speak for Christianity. The idea of a "self" in Christianity is one that is connected to the trinity (father, son and holy ghost). The self or the believer carries out the will of God as best one can even if it means sacrificing your own will. For example, God's will maybe such that he "asks" a person to server another (feed the homeless) when this person would rather be home in bed reading.
I can't say from personal experience - I'm happy to say - and Buddhism is quite logical and scientific in that sense.
Tibetan Buddhist teachings talk about an intermediate life with a "Bardo" body - a kind of spirit body. This is a short term, intermediate body before the being is drawn to their next life. It's possibly linked to that.
There are also Buddhist practices that train the mind to control dreams for the purposes of meditation. Perhaps it's something to with that - in an untrained spontaneous sense.
I agree
I think it would be justified to be a Buddhist and a Christian if you considered Buddhism as a philosophy. In reality, it's only a systematic code of ethics because they worship no deity. I think of it as a way to grow closer to God because the 4 Noble Truths is really His goal: to end sin & suffering. You have to remember that God's actions are only a reaction to the suffering we have caused others, so if we eliminate the initial suffering then we please God. It's simple.
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