More Mushrooms than "Messiahs"

Christianity has little to do with Rabbi Jesus
Wisdom Quarterly (INVESTIGATION)
Why do Christians preach the Dharma? Why do Jews love Tibetan Buddhism, yoga?

Why does Wisdom Quarterly delve into "Christian" ideas, myths, and traditions? The reason is that Christianity is an amalgam of faiths from ancient India and the Near East. Therefore, the amazing thing we aim to communicate is that what passes as Christianity isn't really "Christian."

There are entire bodies of Vedic, Sumerian, Egyptian, and Ethno-mycological literature -- which Catholicism in particular has shamelessly appropriated and reinterpreted -- that explain the odd artifacts of a religion attributed a gentle rabbi who was merely used as a cover story. (See video).

The Christian religion is not about Christ's life. It should be, it would be nice if it were (with his Zen parables and Tibetan Buddhist training), but it is not.

The earliest Christian forefathers were keeping alive psychedelic references and trans-shamanic lore of much older traditions -- like Moses and his tribe surviving on manna in the desert.

• VIDEO: The real meaning of "manna" revealed

Buddhism, particularly messianic Mahayana (waiting for the return of the Maitreya / Messiah) and Vajrayana in northern India-Ladakh-Tibet, apparently fed Jewish spiritual thinking long before Christianity was composed and forced on the world through Roman and European conquest (hegemony).

The wisdom of the East is referred to time and again as, for example, in the story of the Three Wise Men. There were, according to the Bible, Three Wise Men from the East who came to give gifts to the star-child (devaputra or "son of god," lowercase because "god" here simply indicates deva). This is astrotheology, not history.

Holger Kersten (Jesus Lived in India, Chp. 4, Penguin Books India) explains that the "wise men" were Buddhist monks. This is not to say that the story is of a single human event. It is clearly an astrotheological reference to annual celestial cycles. But the human version echoes the theme of Tibetan Buddhist monks searching for a Tulku in the West among the Essenes.

The Essenes of Judea, yogis and eaters of manna, were an ancient Buddhistic-monastic community among Jews. Their spiritual and hygienic practices were unprecedented in the history of Judaism but were common in India.

It's remarkable where one finds confirmation for so many disparate ideas covered in the pages of Wisdom Quarterly!

Jesus was not the Christos (John Marco Allegro, The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross)

For here we have a story of entheogenic mushrooms (Amanita muscaria), the gateway to shaman visions used by countless spiritual traditions, revealing the real history behind the construction of Judeo-Christian symbolism and mythology. (In this case, not naming the mushroom but anthropomorphizing it with stories of a religious teacher is mythologizing).

Buddhists and Muslims seem more in touch with the original human Jesus, St. Issa (Isa in Arabic) than the Jewish-Roman Paul. Why?

Paul was encoding a psychedelic religion and its practices in a syncretic amalgam or collection of faiths that would sweep the world. Originally, it had more to do with mushrooms than messiahs.

People were simply re-fed a pot of gumbo their indigenous beliefs all contributed to. This explains why the Vatican grounds contain such an inexplicable mishmash of exotic artifacts and symbols. There are Greek and Greco-Indian as well as Theravada-Therapeutae and Gnostic mystic elements for a start. The Vatican itself was built over on an enormous temple-complex dedicated to Mithra. Most of what is said about Jesus today was first said about Mithra.

Mithraism was Roman astrotheology (the stars forming the basis of religion) before renaming and reinterpreting things in "Christian" terms. The word "catholic," after all, simply means "universal." And the plan worked, making this Roman mishmash the largest religion in the world. Catholicism was the Roman Empire's way of conquering the world after failing to conquer it by war.

So the religions of the world have a lot to talk about with one another, a great deal to share, and a much to be friends about.

• For instance, Wisdom Quarterly's research strongly indicates that Sakka, King of the [Tavatimsa world and Catumaharajika] Devas, is none other than archangel St. Michael (who cast demons/asuras out of lower celestial world).

Jesus (and Mithra) may be the ideal "savior" (bodhisattva) for Christians. But ancient Jews knew he was not the "messiah" they were awaiting, from stories of Maitreya they picked up from the East. Moreover, he is certainly not the Buddha "Maitreya."

Jesus as Messiah?
Rabbi Simmons (ask.com)
Q: Why did the majority of the Jewish world reject Jesus as the Messiah, and why did the first Christians accept Jesus as the Messiah?
A: It is important to understand why Jews don't believe in Jesus. The purpose is not to disparage other religions, but rather to clarify the Jewish position. The more data that's available, the better informed choices people can make about their spiritual path. Jews do not accept Jesus as the messiah because: More>>

• Do Jews have a Jesus problem?
• Review: The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross

PHOTOS: Rabbi Jesus (forward.com), the Buddha and Christ (consciouslivingfoundation.org), Maitreya Buddha statue from Gandhara (Norton Simon Museum of Art), Mithra stone relief (wikipedia.org)

"Sacred Mushroom and the Cross" (video)

Opinion and explanation: The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross (Travis Jay Christofil)

The myth of Jesus Christ was to encompass all gods and all mythologies -- Pagan, Jewish...Buddhist.

Buddhist Therapeutae (Theravada)

Wisdom Quarterly Wikipedia edit (Therapeutae)

The similarities between Therapeutae tradition and Buddhist monasticism, which was established several centuries earlier, combined with Indian evidence of Buddhist missionary activity to the Mediterranean region around 250 BCE (the Edicts of Ashoka), have been pointed out (Ref).

Buddhism spread due to King Ashoka (260-218 BCE) according to the Edicts of Ashoka

Linguist Zacharias P. Thundy suggests that the word "Therapeutae" is simply the Hellenization of the Indian (Pali language) word for traditional Buddhists, Theravada.[Ref]

Egypt had intense trade and cultural contacts with India during this period, as described in the 1st century CE Periplus of the Erythraean Sea.

• Buddhist influences on Christianity

Astro-theology: Worship of Space
Jordan Maxwell (jordanmaxwell.com)
The Judeo-Christian Bible tells a wonderful story. It is, in fact, often referred to as "The Greatest Story Ever Told." And so it is! Here's why:

In the Christian Bible's New Testament, a provocative and most serious challenge is laid on the whole of Christianity.

"[I]f Christ be not risen, then our preaching is in vain, and your faith is also in vain. Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God. And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins" (I Cor 15:14, 15, 17).

In the New Testament there is a warning given to all who would build a house. Namely, before you lay the foundation, find out what the foundation itself will rest on -- solid rock, or sand? The reason is obvious. Said another way, "We need to stand under the foundation to get a true under-standing."

THE FOUNDATIONS
Let's closely examine the original, conceptual foundations of the faith and then decide "if Christ be not risen." In order to do that, we must go back, not 2,000 years to the birth of Christ, but 8,000 to 10,000 years to the birth of modern man.

For when one seeks to establish foundations, one must begin at the beginning. Many thousands of years ago in what we refer to as the the "primordial world" of the ancients, human life was a far different experience. Retelling an ancient story>>

• VIDEO: Jordan Maxwell on Astrotheology

Crossing the Christian-Buddhist Divide

Editorial Staff (Wisdom Quarterly)

Lisa Simpson isn't the only one who figured it out. My heart says so, and ancient Buddhist texts do too. I could have called this "Bridging the Buddhist-Christian Divide." After all, I was never very religious but always spiritual.

What did Lisa figure out? I need not abandon my parent's religion or family traditions to practice Buddhism. Like most people I feel alienated, and I'm not interested in what the Church says. (It's not just the gay child molestation by celibate priests and the cover ups.) I love my Christian friends, and they love me, and Buddhism is fine with anyone who wants to practice, so what's the problem?

People never really understand the religion they're born into until they see it from another perspective. It happened to Jesus, who went from Judaism to his own kind of Buddhism. Christianity and Catholicism never made sense or meant much until I studied Hinduism and Buddhism in college.

Old Catholicism is a mishmash, as if the Vatican cherry-picked its holidays, traditions, and customs from the mystical East. Not just monasticism and doctrine, the Holy See was built upon a Zoroastrian temple complex devoted to Mithra. It was converted to Rome's new way of ruling its vast empire -- turning "Jesus" into an instrument of conquest and European identity.

The Catholic Church boldly proclaims itself as the Holy Roman Empire, the world's longest standing and most successful corporation. That's great. But I don't want to be part of the hegemony. I'd rather serve alongside Mother Teresa's nuns in India. Protestants may not be as bad, but fundamentalists are worse.

I love Buddhism! Christianity is inspiring and uplifting -- the mission of a humble shepherd who teaches in parables because it's too dangerous and too threatening to the Roman Empire to try to teach (save people) directly.

The Buddha taught in parables but lots of other ways as well. Jesus certainly knew about Buddhism. He followed the example not only of Shakyamuni Buddha, but also of India's ancient yogis, lamas, and Himalayan masters. He probably was told and believed he was Maitreya (the second coming), which could have given him a messianic complex.

• On April 15th I will mourn capitalism.
• On Halloween I will eat candy, dress up, and party -- without being a hedonist, witch, or Pagan.
• On Thanksgiving I will eat stuffed Tofu Byrd and lots of pie. (Maybe I am a hedonist).
• On Christmas I will give and receive gifts, especially from my Japanese friends who never sign the card "Santa" but always "Duncan Royale Hoteiosho."
• Every week I will do yoga at the gym.
• Everyday I will meditate with Buddha/Jesus and Kwan Yin/Mother Mary in mind.

Why? Because I'm an American! But more than that, I'm a citizen of the world. Now if a new Inquisition breaks out, fundamentalists may have something to say about it. But I'm comforted that Theravadan-Jewish-Buddhists (known as the Therapeutae-Essenes) were in ancient Egypt where Christ probably first came into contact with Buddhism:

"These Therapeutae were known under the name of the Essenes, or 'healers,' and they had their origin in Egypt. It was there that the Essenes principally dwelt for over 200 years before the time of Jesus. Their centre was Alexandria, site of the world’s theological university, where the wisdom of the time was focused in those days, and where there was the greatest library in the ancient world" (firstnewtestament).

• Earliest Christians were Buddhists: Therapeutae Essenes
• Did Christianity plagiarize Mithraism?
• Hitchens brothers take opposite sides in God debate
  Famed atheist Christopher Hitchens and his lesser known atheist-turned-Christian brother Peter Hitchens debated Tuesday over whether a civilization can survive without God. Christopher, the elder of the two, argued that civilization can survive without God and noted that millions of people in modern societies today are living in a post-religious society. He began his talk by discussing the word “Christendom,” or the Christian world, which has since disappeared.

America

• Pres. Obama is related to Sarah Palin (and Dick Cheney)
• Dollar falls to 15-year low against yen (gold jumps)
• Americans suffer from costly "soft addictions"
• Reasons to dump Apple's iPhone

Atheism

• Atheists set up "Religion-Free" fund for Haiti relief
• New Campaign: "Pray for an Atheist" in April
• Dawkins, Hitchens want Pope arrested during U.K. visit
• Former atheist: Christianity really does make sense
• Hitchens certain he won't turn to God while still lucid

Buddhist Sources of Christianity

Reviewed by N. S. Chandramouli (edited, originally in The Times of India)

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Did Buddhism influence early Christianity?
Long before the word "missionary" came to be synonymous with Christianity, Buddhist monks [had been sent out by the Buddha and] were traveling across Asia, spreading their master's teachings along the Silk Route from Khotan in the East to Antioch in the West.

Indeed, many scholars hold that the religious traditions of the Silk Route regions, including the Levant, were significantly influenced by the Buddha's philosophy of compassion, his vision of Dharma (Pali, Dhamma), the eternal law that sustains the cosmos and manifests itself among humans as the moral law.

Against this historical backdrop. some scholars have posed an interesting question: Were the teachings of Jesus the Nazarene a continuation, in Palestine, of the philosophy that Siddhartha Gautama had taught beside the Ganges River 500 years earlier? In their book The Original Jesus (Element Books, Shaftesbury, 1995), Elmar R. Gruber, an eminent psychologist, and Holger Kersten, a specialist in religious history and author of the best-selling Jesus Lived in India, offer compelling evidence of extensive Buddhist influence on the life and teachings of Jesus.

Arguing that 2,000 years of Church history have hidden the real historical Jesus, the authors promise to peel away the varnish and uncover him. Very little is known about Jesus' early years -- in those years, Gruber and Kersten claim, Jesus was brought up by the Therapeutae [Theravada], teachers of the Buddhist Theravada school who were then living in the Bible lands. The Therapeutae had been sent by the Mauryan emperor Asoka on an embassy to Ptolemy II, king of Egypt, in 250 B.C.

On arriving in Alexandria -- Egypt's Hellenistic capital and a flourishing intellectual center -- the Therapeutae established themselves as a community. In his tract De Vita Contemplativa ["The Contemplative Life"] Philo Judaeus, a contemporary of Jesus, described the Therapeutae as recluses devoted to poverty, celibacy, good deeds, and compassion: such a religious brotherhood had no precedent in the Jewish world.

The eminent linguist Zacharias P. Thundy observes that the word "Therapeutae" is itself of Buddhist origin, being a Hellenization of the Pali word "Theravada."

Clearly, these Alexandrian Buddhists practised the Buddha's precept that his bhikshus ["recluses"] should minister both to soul and body: Buddhist thought does not divorce physical balance from the quest for enlightenment. Gruber and Kersten suggest that Jesus's spiritual development, begun under the Therapeutae, was continued by the Essenes. The Dutch researcher Ernest de Bunsen theorized that Buddhist ideas were introduced to the Essenes by Jews living abroad, and that they later influenced the shaping of Christian dogma.

Holger Kersten believes that the "original Jesus" was a Buddhist. In his book The Original Jesus, Kersten argues that the sayings and teachings of Jesus have little relation to Judaism but are strongly connected to Buddhist teachings. Kersten also wrote a book exploring Jesus' links to India, strongly connecting this with Jesus' survival off the cross and the Shroud of Turin in The Jesus Conspiracy. (See tombofjesus.com).

The word "Essene" may derive from the Aramaic Yssyn, "healer": like the Therapeutae, the Essenes believed that holy conduct and the powers of healing belonged together. Close, striking parallels exist between the early Buddhist texts and what Bible scholars term the "Q" material -- the sayings of Jesus as recorded in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. "Q" is shorthand for Quelle, the German for "source": Matthew and Luke are believed to have taken this material from the oldest corpus of Jesus' aphorisms in circulation among his followers.

The Buddha's most celebrated dictum is: "Hostility is never conquered by hostility in this world; hostility is conquered by love alone. This is an eternal law." Again, he says: "Surmount hatred by not hating, surmount evil with good; surmount greed through generosity, surmount lies with truth; speak what is true, do not succumb to anger, give when you are asked." Compare this with Jesus's advice in the New Testament: "... love your enemies, do good and without expecting anything in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be children of God" [Brahma-putra, i.e., reborn into the realm of "Brahma's Ministers"].

Again, Jesus's aphorism about how one ignores the beam in one's own eye while carping about the splinter in another's is in accord with the Buddha's observation, in the Dhammapada, that "the faults of others are more easily seen than one's own, but seeing one's own failings is difficult. The failings of others are winnowed like chaff in the wind, but one conceals one's own faults, like a cheating gambler."

Jesus's call to his close disciples [the trainees known as the Apostles] to break all ties expressed in such injunctions as "Leave the dead to bury their dead" and "No one who puts his hand to the plough and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God" accords with the Buddha's prescription to the bhikshus: "Those who aspire are ever striving; they do not stay in one place. Like swans leaving a lake, they move from house to house. The only source of refuge for those who do not accumulate possessions and are careful about what they eat is unconditional freedom, knowing as they do the void of transience. Their way is difficult to follow like that of birds in the sky."

Jesus's statement, "He who wishes to follow me must know himself and bear my yoke," has a parallel in the Dhammapada: "When a mendicant [bhikshu], though still young, yokes himself to the Buddha's teachings, the world is illuminated like the moon freed of clouds."

Gruber and Kersten assert that the Church emphasized the duty of self-denial so as to consolidate its position of power by depriving the mass of believers of spiritual responsibility. The authors feel that such a Church, founded on power, had no use for those who took personal responsibility for their spiritual advancement. [This suggests that while Theravada Buddhism was in keeping with the Buddha's revolutionary message of striving for personal freedom, the popular Mahayana was conservative and in keeping with the powers that be. Jesus, like Theravada, preached a radical doctrine; however, "Christianity," Roman Catholicism in particular, taught a message that served empires far better than it served its original message.]

By contrast, Jesus had valued the acceptance of self-knowledge as a means to promote responsibility for one's own life, actions, and thinking. Like the Buddha, Jesus opposed the priests and theologians who barred the way to self-knowledge, to maintain their influence: "The Pharisees and the Scribes took the keys of knowledge and they hid them. Neither did they enter, nor did they allow those who wished to enter. But you become prudent as serpents [nagas, "royal dragons," human overlords], and innocent as doves."

Gerber and Kersten have made a valiant effort to prove that the historical Jesus lived the life of a Buddhist and taught Buddhist ideals to his disciples. Their work follows in the footsteps of the Oxford New Testament scholar' Barnett Hillman Streeter, who established as early as the 1930s that the moral teaching of the Buddha has a remarkable resemblance to the Sermon on the Mount."

And although it has not produced sufficient proof to clinch the issue, The Original Jesus may stimulate people towards fresh exploration. Whatever the Pauline theologians may contend, the Buddhist influence on early Christianity can no longer he denied.

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Original article appearing May 1, 1997 in The Times of India was titled "Did Buddhism influence early Christianity?" (See jesusisbuddha.com).

The youth generation sees no problem reconciling Buddhism and Christianity, two culturally-distinct but philosophically-similar religious traditions (LeShengLiu.com).

Rather than a scholarly study, Thich Nhat Hanh has taken a compassionate approach by inventing a conversation. This syncretic approach highlights the similarities in sentiment between the supposedly two great traditions, which are in fact rooted in the Mahayana school of ancient India. His book became a national bestseller.

"Exiled from Vietnam over thirty years ago, Thich Nhat Hanh has become known as a healer of the heart, a monk who shows us how the everyday world can both enrich and endanger our spiritual lives. In Going Home he shows us the relationship between Buddha and Jesus by presenting a conversation between the two" (Penguin Books).

• Storehouse of mounting evidence: "Buddhism and Christianity"