Young Jesus (known in Buddhism as Saint Issa) in India and Tibet
Does curel, bloody black magic animal sacrifice really undergird all of modern Christianity?
.
The Church knew, buried truth
In 1887, Russian Christian war correspondent Nicolas Notovitch claimed that while traveling through the Himalayas with other Russian, he was thrown from a horse and broke his leg.
The others left him to recover over the winter at a Tibetan Buddhist monastery known as Hemis Gompa in Ladakh (now part of India), he was shown written documentation called the "Life of Saint Issa, Best of the Sons of Men" (Isa being the Arabic name of Jesus in Islam) by the Buddhist abbot [30][31][32].
Notovitch's story, with a translated text of the "Life of Saint Issa," was published upon his return to the West in French in 1894 as La vie inconnue de Jesus Christ (Unknown Life of Jesus Christ) [5][32].
According to the Buddhist scrolls, Jesus (Issa) abandoned Jerusalem, Palestine/Israel, at the age of 13 and set out towards India, "intending to improve and perfect himself in the divine understanding and to studying the laws [the Dharma or Doctrine] of the great Buddha."
He crossed Punjab and reached Puri Jagannath, where he studied the Brahmin priests' Vedas (sacred text, lit. "Knowledge Books").
He spent six years in Puri and Rajgir (the famous Buddhist city Rajagriha, site of Vultures' Peak and Venuvana/Veluvana Vihara), near Nalanda (site of the world's first university, a Buddhist monastic learning center in India), an ancient seat of Brahminical/Vedic learning.
Then Issa/Jesus/Yeshua went up into the Himalayas and spent time in Tibetan lamaseries, studying Buddhism [30], and continued on through Persia (the Aryan Land of Iran), and returned to Jerusalem at the age of 29.
Notovitch's writings were immediately controversial, and German scholar Max Müller stated that either the Buddhist lamas at the lamasery had deceived Notovitch (or played a joke on him), or he had fabricated the evidence [30][33][34].
Müller then wrote to the Buddhist monastery at Hemis, and the [replacement] head lama replied that there had been no Western visitor at the monastery in the past 15 years and there were no documents related to Notovitch's story [35].
J. Archibald Douglas then visited Hemis Gompa and interviewed the [new] head lama, who stated that Notovitch had never been there [35].
Indologist Leopold von Schroeder called Notovitch's story a "big fat lie" [36]. Wilhelm Schneemelcher states that Notovich's accounts were soon exposed as fabrications and that to date no one has even had a glimpse at the manuscripts Notovitch claims to have had [5] [which is untrue since Swami Abhedananda traveled to Hemis and was allowed to see, touch, and confirm their existence].
Notovich defended himself by responding to these attacks and claims [37]. However, once his story was reexamined by historians – some even questioning his existence – they claimed Notovitch confessed to having fabricated the evidence [36].
American scholar Bart D. Ehrman states that, "Today there is not a single recognized scholar on the planet who has any doubts about the matter [other than German scholar Holger Kersten and his colleague German Indologist Gunter Gronbold, author of Jesus in Indien]. The entire story was invented by Notovitch, who earned a good deal of money and a substantial amount of notoriety for his hoax" [38].
However, others deny this. Notovich never accepted any accusations against him – that his account was a forgery or any such thing.
Although not impressed with his story, Sir Francis Younghusband recalls meeting Nicolas Notovitch near Skardu not long before Notovitch visited Hemis monastery [39].
In 1922, the President of the Vedanta Society of New York between 1897 and 1921 and the author of several books Swami Abhedananda went to the Himalayas on foot and reached Tibet, where he studied Buddhist philosophy and Tibetan Buddhism.
He traveled to Hemis Gompa and allegedly found the manuscript Notovitch claimed and translated, which was a Tibetan translation of the original scrolls written in the exclusively Buddhist language Pali.
One of the lamas said that it was a copy and that the original was in a monastery at Marbour near the Tibetan capital of Lhasa.
After Abhedananda's death in 1939, one of his disciples inquired about the documents at the Hemis Gompa but was told that they had disappeared [40][41] [which is to say moved for safety so that Westerners would not come kill everyone and steal them to hide the truth in accord with their sectarian religious views]. More
(Primeval Archives) The Buddha ("Awakened One") and the Gnostic Jesus ("Anointed One") were teaching the same escape route they somehow both knew. Who took it from whom?
Answer
*Irony* Well, clearly Buddhism, which existed five or six centuries before Jesus was born, must have stolen the idea from Christianity by somehow finding a way to time travel centuries into the future, seeing how popular Christianism would get then absconding like a time bandit with Gnostic papyri under his arm back to South and Central Asia (India and Afghanistan). Wait, is there time travel yet? When will that arrive?
So Jesus Christ must have heard the teaching, seen the Buddha's finger pointing at the path (as preserved in the Buddha-Dharma and the Sangha, the Teachings of the Buddha and the monastic institution the Buddha set up to preserve and practice those Teachings so that the world would never be bereft of path or enlightened disciples, who are the unexcelled source of merit for the world).
Primeval Archives does such a great job presenting the case then falls on his A.I. face by claiming that all the evidence that Jesus spent the missing 18 years of his life between the time he was a teen then a teacher traveling to India, Tibet, and the mystic East. All the evidence in the world wouldn't convince someone who has already made up his or her or their mind.
Is there evidence? Because if there is, then the question answers itself about who borrowed from whom. The BBC says that Jesus was a Buddhist monk during a part of those "missing years," which did not really go missing at all, but rather were buried and erased by the institution. Churches, councils, Vatican, clerical organizations, they never heard it, just as they ignore the Apocrypha, a wondrous source of Christian and pre-Christian knowledge. The lost Gnostic Gospels cannot now be ignored, nor could the parallels between what may spiritual traditions seem to be trying to say in their own way.
Nicolas Notovitch, Russian Christian, found written documentation of Jesus (St. Issa) in Tibetan monastery Hemis Gompa, Ladakh
He returned to West, was met with shock and doubt. Then someone claimed to go ask at the monastery, which denied knowing anything about a book documenting Jesus (St. Issa) training there then returning to Palestine (ancient Israel) before getting in trouble again, getting crucified, cut down and released by bribed Roman guards, and returning to India to live out his life till the age of 80 in Kashmir, where he is buried in the Jewish style
Indian Swami Abhedananda heard about this, traveled to Ladakh, was shown the book (because he was not a Westerner who would steal it like others were likely to do), corroborating all that Notovitch had claimed
Truth is truth, and no one is owner of it. What the Buddha, the Awakened One, realized he shared with the world like an openhanded teacher. Jesus may have had a much smaller circle of special disciples (Apostles), but he certainly tried to tell people of his visions, realizations, and setting forth a way of following in his footsteps. It's a terrible pity the official Church took that, stripped it of its vital call for real gnosis (direct personal experience, shamanic realization, seeing to believe) and replaced it was a pitiful shell of obedience to authority, mindless learning by rote, and blind faith.
We are responsible for our own actions, which is our karma (deeds). We reap what we sow, which is to say we harvest what we plant. As is said in Buddhism, "No one saves us but ourselves; no one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path; buddhas [awakened teachers] only point the way."
Primeval Archives (video); BBC (documentary); Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Pat Macpherson, Wisdom Quarterly COMMENTARY
How to Be a Yogi, including a chapter titled: "Was Christ a Yogi?"
(Swami Abhedananda) The title’s introductory chapter describes the true province of religion in India and the full significance of the word "spirituality" as it is understood there.
Next follows a comprehensive definition of the term "yoga," with short chapters on each of the five paths to which it is applied and their respective practices.
An exhaustive exposition of the Science of Breathing (ecstatic breathwork or pranayama) and its bearing on the highest spiritual development (samadhi) shows the fundamental physiological principles on which the whole training of Yoga is based.
The concluding chapter, under the title "Was Christ a Yogi?" makes plain the direct relation existing between the lofty teachings of Vedanta (the best of the Vedas) and the religious faiths of the West.
Map of Jesus's eastern travels (Summit University Press)
The "Lost" Years
Ancient scrolls reveal that Jesus spent seventeen years in India and Tibet
From age thirteen to age twenty-nine, he was both a student and teacher of Buddhist and Hindu holy men
The story of his journey from Jerusalem to Benares was recorded by Brahman historians
Today they still know him and love him as St. Issa, their messiah [Maitreya] "buddha" [or more correctly speaking, a Mahayana tradition "bodhisattva"]
In 1894 Nicolas Notovitch published a book called The Unknown Life of Christ. He was a Russian scholar and doctor who journeyed extensively throughout Afghanistan, India, and Tibet. Notovitch journeyed through the passes of Bolan, over the Punjab, down into the arid and rocky land of Ladakh, into the majestic Valley of Kashmir in the Himalayas. During one of his jouneys he was visiting Leh, the capital of Ladakh, near the Buddhist convent of Himis (a.k.a., HemisGompa). He had an accident breaking his leg. This gave him the unscheduled opportunity to stay awhile at the Himis convent.
While he was at Himis, Notovitch learned that there existed ancient records of the life of Jesus Christ. In the course of his visit at the great convent, he located a Tibetan translation of the legend and carefully noted in his carnetde voyage over two hundred verses from a curious document known as "The Life of St. Issa."
He was shown two large, yellowed volumes containing the biography of "St. Issa." Notovitch enlisted a member of his party to translate the Tibetan volumes while he carefully noted each verse in the back pages of his journal.
When he returned to the Western world, there was much controversy as to the authenticity of the document. He was accused of creating a hoax and was ridiculed as an impostor. In his defense he encouraged a scientific expedition to prove the original Tibetan documents existed.
One of his skeptics was Swami Abhedananda. Abhedananda journeyed into the arctic region of the Himalayas, determined to find a copy of the Himis manuscript or to expose the fraud. His book of travels, entitled Kashmir O Tibetti, tells of a visit to the HimisGonpa and includes a Bengali translation of 224 verses that is essentially the same as the Notovitch text. Abhedananda was thereby convinced of the authenticity of the Issa legend.
In 1925, another Russian named Nicholas Roerich arrived at Himis. Roerich was a philosopher and a distinguished scientist. He apparently saw the same documents as Notovitch and Abhedananda. He recorded in his own travel diary the same legend of St. Issa. Speaking of Issa, Roerich quotes legends which have the estimated antiquity of many centuries.
...He passed his time in several ancient cities of India such as Benares (ancient Varanasi and Kashi). All loved him because Issa dwelt in peace with Vaishas and Shudras [low class "laborers" and "outcasts"] whom he instructed and helped. But the Brahmins and Kshatriyas [upper class "priests" and "nobles"] told him that Brahma [the Hindu creator god] forbade those to approach who were created out of his womb and feet. The Vaishas were allowed to listen to the Vedas [holy texts] only on holidays, and the Shudras were forbidden not only to be present at the reading of the Vedas, but could not even look at them.
Issa said that man had filled the temples with his abominations. In order to pay homage to metals and stones, man sacrificed his fellows in whom dwells a spark of the Supreme Spirit. Man demeans those who labor by the sweat of their brows, in order to gain the good will of the sluggard [i.e., pampered Brahmin priest] who sits at the lavishly set board. But they who deprive their brothers of the common blessing shall be themselves stripped of it.
Vaishas and Shudras were struck with astonishment and asked what they could perform. Issa bade them:
"Worship not the idols.
Do not consider yourself first.
Do not humiliate your neighbor.
Help the poor.
Sustain the feeble.
Do evil to no one.
Do not covet that which you do not possess and which is possessed by others."
Many, learning of such words, decided to kill Issa. But Issa, forewarned, departed from this place [i.e., India] by night. Afterward, Issa went into Nepal and into the Himalayan mountains ....
Jesus as a youth in the Himalayas (painting, J. Michael Spooner)
"Well, perform for us a miracle!" demanded the servitors of the Temple. Then Issa replied to them: "Miracles made their appearance from the very day when the world was created. He who cannot behold them is deprived of the greatest gift of life. But woe to you, enemies of men, woe unto you, if you await that He should attest his power by miracle."
Issa taught that men should not strive to behold the Eternal Spirit with one's own eyes but to feel it with the heart, and to become a pure and worthy soul....
"Not only shall you not make human offerings, but you must not slaughter animals, because all is given for the use of man.
Do not steal the goods of others, because that would be usurpation from your near one.
Do not cheat, that you may in turn not be cheated...."
"Beware, ye, who divert men from the true path and who fill the people with superstitions and prejudices, who blind the vision of the seeing ones, and who preach subservience to material things. "...
Then Pilate, ruler of Jerusalem, gave orders to lay hands upon the preacher Issa and to deliver him to the judges without, however, arousing the displeasure of the people.
But Issa taught:
"Do not seek straight paths in darkness, possessed by fear.
But gather force and support each other.
He who supports his neighbor strengthens himself.
"I tried to revive the laws of Moses in the hearts of the people.
And I say unto you that you do not understand their true meaning because they do not teach revenge but forgiveness. But the meaning of these laws is distorted."
Then the ruler sent to Issa his disguised servants that they should watch his actions and report to him about his words to the people.
"Thou just man, "said the disguised servant of the ruler of Jerusalem approaching Issa, "Teach us, should we fulfill the will of Caesar or await the approaching deliverance?"
But Issa, recognizing the disguised servants, said, "I did not foretell unto you that you would be delivered from Caesar. But I said that the soul which was immersed in sin would be delivered from sin."
At this time, an old woman approached the crowd, but was pushed back. Then Issa said:
"Reverence Woman, mother of the universe,"
for in her lies the truth of creation.
She is the foundation of all that is good and beautiful.
She is the source of life and death.
Upon her depends the existence of man, because she is the sustenance of his labors.
She gives birth to you in travail, she watches over your growth.
Bless her.
Honor her.
Defend her.
Love your wives and honor them, because tomorrow they shall be mothers, and later-progenitors of a whole race.
Their love ennobles man, soothes the embittered heart, and tames the beast.
Wife and mother -- they are the adornments of the universe."
"As light divides itself from darkness, so does woman possess the gift to divide in man good intent from the thought of evil.
Your best thoughts must belong to Woman.
Gather from them your moral strength, which you must possess to sustain your near ones.
Do not humiliate her, for therein you will humiliate yourselves.
And all which you will do to mother, to wife, to widow or to another woman in sorrow -- that shall you also do for the Spirit."
So taught Issa. But the ruler Pilate ordered one of his servants to make accusation against him.
Said Issa: "Not far hence is the time when by the Highest Will the people will become purified and united into one family."
And then turning to the ruler, he said, "Why demean thy dignity and teach thy subordinates to live in deceit when even without this thou couldst also have had the means of accusing an innocent one?"
From another version of the legend, Roerich quotes fragments of thought and evidence of the miraculous.
Near Lhasa [Tibet] was a temple of teaching with a wealth of manuscripts. Jesus was to acquaint himself with them. Meng-ste, a great sage of all the East, was in this temple.
Finally, Jesus reached a mountain pass. And in the chief city of Ladakh, Leh, he was joyously accepted by monks and people of the lower class.... And Jesus taught in the monasteries and in the bazaars (market places); wherever the simple people gathered -- there he taught.
Not far from this place lived a woman whose son had died, and she brought him to Jesus. And in the presence of a multitude, Jesus laid his hand on the child, and the child rose healed. And many brought their children, and Jesus laid his hands upon them, healing them.
Among the Ladakhis, Jesus passed many days, teaching them. And they loved him, and when the time of his departure came they sorrowed as children.
Wisdom Quarterly: What is Divalior as you say, Deepavali?
Swami Adrishananda: It is afive-day Festival of Lights that begins today, a grand celebration in India. As the days wane, cultures around the world celebrate light. The promise that spring will return after winter, that light and the Sun will triumph over dark and the cold. We are ringing in the good and the bright. Pagans and Christians in Europe deck the halls with boughs of holly, tinsel strips, vigil-candles...
WQ: So it is about renewal and holding hope in our hearts?
SA: In practice this pooja (observance) is all about the new, a new heart. Everyone wears new clothes and sings bhajans like on New Year's, "May old acquaintance be forgot..." [Listen: Auld Lang Syne]. Things are forgiven and one looks forward through the darkness in search of new light. Fresh garments, fresh thoughts, it's a new start. This is the meaning.
WQ: Tapas Yogi Nandhi says "higher consciousness" is taking place. He explains that in the past, masters like Maharishi Mahesh Yogi declared that when a tipping point or critical mass of the population meditate, humanity steps into the threshold of higher awareness, intellect, and peace. We gain stillness of mind (samadhi), the first objective of meditation, and that tranquility allows what he calls "the streaming Source energy."
SA: That is quite true. The eight-limbs of yoga, asht-anga or Raja Yoga, is Patanjali's formulation, like the earlier Buddha Gautama's formulation. Lord Buddha was a Hindu...
WQ: Not really, brahmana. There was no "Hinduism" at that time.
SA: His father the king followed the Vedas, India's scriptures, and the customs like Deepavali!
WQ: Those are the customs of the brahmins (temple priests who worship Brahma), not the shramans (spiritual wanderers who seek direct and self-reliant experience of the highest truths). They both aspire to become "noble," not by birth like caste-loving brahmins, but by karma, by their deeds in this life, like caste-rejecting shramans or shamans.
SA: But his father the king...
WQ: ...followed what his brahmin advisers and ministers advised, that's true. But he was a kshatriya (warrior caste noble). Many Indians say the Buddha was a Hindu as if there was no difference between Shankara's systematization of the Vedas, Puranas, Vedanta, and Patanjali's yoga sutras and the Buddha's message. But there are many points of difference. Was Mahavira [the founder of Jainism, who lived at the time of the Buddha, many centuries before Shankara) a Hindu?
SA: He is honored by Hindus as well, like Lord Buddha.
WQ: That's wonderful. But both the Buddha and Mahavira and the other "heretics" as well, rejected the Vedas as ultimate authority. It would be like Jesus...
SA: Who?
WQ: Issa.
SA: O, Christ.
WQ: Yes, it would be like Saint Issa rejecting Jewish scripture and writing a New Testament.
SA: They did! Christ was a Hindu.
WQ: Was Moses a Hindu? Well, then, we're all Hindus because India has such an ancient pre-India spiritual tradition. The Buddha didn't come to certify the Vedas or to say they are nonsense. They are very valuable. But that is not his message. The Buddha had something to say beyond that. And Lord Issa had something new to say. The Buddha and Marhavira became shramanas, like shamans. They taught their disciples, male and female, high caste and low caste, the way to attaining spiritual perfection in this life, not by being reborn as brahmins first.
WQ: Probably, everyone in India does. Not formally, Buddhists do not do it as a "Buddhist thing."But the Jains do do it as a Jain thing.
SA: Christ does, and the Christians call it Christmas. Christ lived in India and took that back to Jerusalem.
WQ: But the ancient Jews had a festival of lights, Channukah.
SA: That's Deepavali! Jews lived in India, in Jammu & Kashmir, and according to Swami Abhedananda came to study with the Buddhists.
In honor of feminine energy Yogi Nandhi honors Narayani, wife of Vishnu
WQ: Why do you call it Deepavali and not Divali? SA: The same. Dipa is light. This is in honor of Maha Laxmi (Great Lakshmi), the goddess and Lord Vishnu's consort. [Hinduism explains the Buddha as simply having been an incarnation of the triune God Vishnu.] WQ: What about Radha, the divine feminine? SA: The same. Laxmi represents Radha also and all the goddesses (devis).
WQ: Tapas Yogi Nandhi quotes Mahatma Gandhi: "The human voice can never reach the distance that is covered by the still small voice of conscience."And he says that still small voice of conscience in unison is very strong, with scientific backing. It enables minds/hearts to meditate, practice Raja or Royal Yoga, Reiki, Tai Chi, karate, labyrinth walking, contemplative practices to help us remember that we are really spiritual having a physical experience.
SA: Yes, he's right. All is one, and all traditions say to practice non-harming, ahimsa.
WQ: So it's everyday in every practice, but do you have a special celebration? SA: Yes, today, in the foothills of the San Gabriel Valley. And I will be chanting Lord Buddha's mantra Gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi svaha. WQ: Actually that's not... SA: Not what? WQ: ...not a bad idea. We're all ONE on Divali.Avalokiteshvara would be glad to hear it, and there's one personage we can agree on. SA: Namaste.
(Brian Oblivion) 12/19/11. The interesting bit begins at Minute 38. This BBC 4 documentary examines the question, "Did Jesus die?" It looks at many ideas around this question until Minute 25, when this examination of ideas takes a very logical and grounded turn with surprising conclusions that demonstrate that the Three Wise Men were Tibetan Buddhist monks who sought and found Jesus/Yeshua/Issa (as a tulku) and came back for him about the time of puberty. At that time, they traveled to the Buddhist monastery known as Hemis Gompa in India, traveling with Jewish merchants who regularly crossed between the two regions. After being trained in that Buddhist monastery or lamasery (gompa), Jesus spread the Buddhist philosophy, survived the crucifixion (through bribery and complicity of corrupt Roman guards), and escaped back to Kashmir, Afghanistan, where he died an old man at the age of 80 and was buried at his marked grave. The monastery housed written records of all this, as discovered by Westerner Nicolas Notovitch and made known to a skeptical world. Their presence was verified and corroborated by Swami Abhedananda.
The Sermon on the Mount is very good as a sutra (spiritual discourse, sermon). It may be understood in Buddhist terms. However, the opening sentence (Line 1) defies comprehension. Who are "the poor in spirit," the followers of Christs/Christians? They are "the poor," but they have spirit (spiritus, Holy Ghost, paraclete).
Line 3 seems to be a blessing he is imparting, assuring followers that he will comfort them later (when they inherit the results of their karma (phala and vipaka) for the good deeds done here.
Line 5's "meek" would seem to be the humble, the awakened (who are free of the delusion of ego and are therefore not proud as arrogant and defiant humans tend to be, the kind and compassionate. But as they "inherit the earth," which is to say are reborn on this lowly human plane rather than one of the lowly celestial/space/heavenly worlds (sagga), the meek would seem to be those did not have heart and the courageousness to stand up for what is right.
Line 7 indicates that those who are courageous and stand up for what is right (righteousness) will find their reward or fortunate outcome as a result of this skillful karma (beneficial deed) because they will see fulfillment of it: Skillful karma (merit) will beget welcome results.
Line 10 is even more clear in teaching the Buddha's message of karma, which elsewhere Jesus explains as "You reap what you sow," which is to say we will harvest what we have planted in terms of karmic seeds. Like begets like. Good begets good.
Line 12 is a clear declaration that those who gain purity of heart as a result are reborn in a heavenly place (and in accordance with some Christian schools as in all Buddhist schools, there are many heavens or levels of heaven (sagga), among the 31 Planes of Existence beings find themselves reborn in). There are countless worlds, but they have been classified into 31 major groupings or planes. For example, we are in the human plane. But that does not mean earth. Earth is but one place humans/humanoids exist throughout a world system (cakkavala).
Line 14 is perhaps the most interesting. The karma of being a "peacemaker" will result in a particularly good outcome, rebirth among the devas (shining ones, light beings, angels, deities, godlings). That is called becoming a devaputra, literally a "son of God," but figuratively refers to being "reborn among devas," which includes females in the Sensual Sphere heavens, at least up to Seventh Heaven. Above that, the brahmas (more radiant devas) do not have sexual dimorphism and therefore are neither male nor female).
Line 16 similarly assures followers/practitioners of Christ's doctrine will be pleased for the hardships endured in the name of what is right. Standing up for what is right is not easy, but that kind of karma (action) comes with very pleasant results (fruit and resultants). These are not literally "rewards" meted out by anyone but natural consequences of the Law of Karma, the regularity in the universe to produce results in accordance with types of intentional-actions. The result of following this advice will be rebirth in a heaven for some duration.
NOTE: Consulting a Protestant Christian to explain some words and passages, we were made aware of a book on Vedanta (Hinduism's "Best of the Vedas") that goes line by line, agreeing with Christ: The Sermon on the Mount According to Vedanta by Swami Prabhavananda.
In Buddhist terms this is relatively good but not worthy of pursuing. It is far better to pursue the end of rebirth and therefore the end of all suffering (nirvana). But most beings are not interested in that. They far prefer exhaustible rewards. Reborn in a heaven, one experiences the pleasant fruits of one's actions. But the unskillful deeds have not been exhausted, excused, expunged, extirpated or anything else. They are still there to be experienced. So one falls from that lofty height onto this or lower planes and experiences much suffering on account of the. The idea that "sin is forgiven" in the sense of eliminated is completely mistaken.
Indeed, a God may look the other way on bad deeds of the past while recognizing and approving of good deeds. But both sets of deeds have not gone away. They cannot be made to go away by magic. Only by awakening/enlightenment do deeds cease to control us for long. While we linger on in this world or another, they certainly will keep affecting us for good and ill, for a pleasant and unpleasant abiding. But be that as it may -- with Christianity being quite like Hinduism in its promise of "eternal" rewards in heaven -- what Jesus has here is an excellent message, not the "liberal talking points" Evangelical Christians are accusing the American Protestant Church of promoting for the sake of a temporal leader named Trump.
Blessings: The Buddha's Sermon on the Mount (Mangala Sutra)
Jesus Christ (Saint Issa) was a Buddhist monk, claims the BBC. He traveled to India
Now when the night was far spent, a certain deity [deva, light being, angel, lit. a "shining one"] whose surpassing splendor illuminated the entire grove, came into the presence of the Buddha.
Drawing near, the deity saluted him and stood respectfully to one side. Standing there, he addressed the Buddha in verse:
"Many deities and humans, yearning after the good, have pondered blessings [4]. Tell me, what are the greatest blessings?"
[The Buddha replied:]
"To not associate with the foolish [5] but to associate with the wise; to honor those worthy of honor — this is the greatest blessing.
"To reside in a suitable location [6], to have done meritorious deeds [skillful karma, profitable actions] in the past and to set oneself on the right course [7] — this is the greatest blessing.
"To have acquired much learning, to be skillful in some craft [8], well-trained in discipline [9], and to be of good speech [10] — this is the greatest blessing.
"To support mother and father, to cherish spouse and children, and to be engaged in a peaceful occupation* — this is the greatest blessing.
*Peaceful occupation: "Right livelihood" (sammā-ājīva): abstaining from a means of self-support that brings harm to others, such as the weapons trade, dealing in living beings (trafficking, slavery, exploitation), intoxicating drinks, poisons; slaughtering animals, fishing, soldiering, deceit, treachery, soothsaying, trickery, usury, and so on.
"To be generous in giving, to be righteous in conduct [11], to assist one's relatives, and to be blameless in deeds — this is the greatest blessing.
"To loathe the doing of harm and to abstain from it, to refrain from intoxicants [12], and to be steadfast in virtue — this is the greatest blessing.
"To be respectful [13], humble, contented, and grateful; to listen to the Dhamma [Teaching] on suitable occasions [14] — this is the greatest blessing.
"To be patient and trainable, to associate with monastics, and to have spiritual discussions on suitable occasions — this is the greatest blessing.
"A mind unruffled by the vagaries of fortune [16], from sorrow freed, from defilements cleansed, from fear liberated [17] — this is the greatest blessing.
*Eight vicissitudes of life, otherwise known as the Eight Worldly Winds or Conditions: (1) loss and (2) gain, (3) fame and (4) shame, (5) praise and (6) blame, (7) misery and (8) happiness (the attha loka dhamma that oppose sweet contentment).
"Those who thus abide ever remain invincible, in happiness established. These are the greatest blessings" [18].
NOTES (derived mainly from the ancient Buddhist Commentaries)
On second thought, get a sword.
1.
This sutra appears in the Sutta Nipata (v.258ff) and in the Khuddakapatha. See Maha-mangala Jataka (No. 453). For a detailed explanation, see Life's Highest Blessing by Dr. R. L. Soni, Wheel No. 254/256 (bps.lk).
2.
Anathapindika: an epithet that literally means "One who gives alms to the helpless." His name was Sudatta, a very rich and prominent merchant/banker from Savatthi. After he became a Buddhist and attained the first stage of enlightenment as a layperson, he purchased a grove belonging to Prince Jeta to establish a Buddhist monastery (vihara) on the land, which was subsequently called Jetavana ("Jeta's Grove"). It was in this monastery that the Buddha observed most of his Rains Retreat (Vas) periods (the annual three months' period of not wandering but remaining in one monastery, beginning on the full moon of July). Many are the sutras delivered and many the incidents connected with the Buddha's life at Jeta's Grove. He ministered to a sick monk who was neglected by his companions, advising them: "Whoever, monks, would wait upon me, let him wait upon the sick." It was here that the Buddha poignantly taught that all things are radically impermanent, by asking a grief-stricken young mother named Kisagotami who carried around her dead child, to fetch some mustard seed from a home where no one had ever died.
3.
Identified with modern Sahet-Mahet, near Balrampur.
4.
According to the Commentary, mangala means that which is conducive to happiness and prosperity.
5.
This refers not only to the stupid and uncultured, but also includes the wicked in thought, word, or deed.
6.
Any place where monks, nuns, and lay men and women continually reside, where the pious are bent on the performance of the ten meritorious deeds, and where the Dharma exists as a living practice.
7.
Making the right resolve (intention) for abandoning immorality for virtue, doubt for faith, and selfish self-interest for sharing and generosity.
8.
The harmless crafts or occupations of a householder are those by which no living being is injured and nothing unrighteous done; this includes the crafts of left-home monastics, such as stitching robes, etc.
9.
Vinaya is the Monastic Code of Discipline in thought, word, and deed. The Commentary speaks of two kinds of discipline, that of householders, which is abstaining from the ten unskillful actions (akusala-kammapatha) and that of monastics, which refers to the non-transgression of the offences enumerated in the Patimokkha (the Code of Monastic Rules) or the "fourfold moral purity" (catu-parisuddhi-sila).
10.
Good speech that is opportune, truthful, friendly, profitable, and spoken with thoughts of loving-kindness.
11.
Righteous conduct is the observance of the ten skillful actions (kusala-kammapatha) in thought, word, and deed: freeing the mind of greed (lust), hatred (aversion), and delusion (wrong views); avoiding speech that is untruthful, slanderous, abusive, or frivolous; and abstaining from all acts of killing, stealing, and sexual misconduct (defined as celibacy for monastics and avoiding the ten forbidden partners for laypeople).
12.
Total abstinence from alcohol and intoxicating drugs that occasion heedlessness.
13.
Towards monastics (and also other religieux), teachers, parents, elders, superiors, etc.
14.
For instance, when one is harassed by unskillful/unwholesome thoughts.
15.
Self-restraint (tapo): the suppression of lust and hate by the guarding of the senses; the suppression of laziness by rousing energy.
16. Loka-dhamma, i.e., conditions necessarily connected with the world; there are eight of them: gain and loss, honor and dishonor, praise and blame, pain and joy.
17.
Each of these three expressions refers to the mind of a full enlightened person (arahant): asoka (sorrowless), viraja (stainless), i.e., free of passion (lust), aversion (hatred), and ignorance (delusion), khema (security from the bonds of sense desires or kama, rebirth (bhava), wrong views (ditthi), and ignorance (avijja).
According to Western Buddhist monk Ven. Nyanatiloka, these 37 or 38 mangalāni ("blessings" or "beneficial things"), include avoiding fools, associating with the wise, honoring those worthy of honor, and so on (Khp.pp.2f). They are actions that lead to welcome results.
The Commentary (KhpA.vii.; SNA.i.300) explains that at the time this discourse was preached, there was a discussion across the whole of this world (Jambudīpa) trying to decide what was and wasn't a mangala.
The devas ("angels") heard this discussion and debated among themselves until the matter spread to the highest brahma world.
Then Sakka, King of the Devas (Buddhism's Archangel Michael figure) suggested that a devaputta ("one reborn among the devas") should visit the Buddha on earth and ask him about the matter.
In the Sutta Nipāta (SN., pp. 46f) this discourse is called Mahāmangala ("Great Blessings"). It is one of the sutras at the preaching of which countless devas were present and countless beings realized the Truth (SNA.i.174; BuA.243; AA.i.57,320).
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