Jesus and Buddha as Brothers

[xidaijena]

Posted by shaberon (here)
Tripitaka are collections of Buddhist scriptures.

Buddhism has always operated on a handshake basis with Eastern Christianity. However it is important to understand that there is no such thing as western Christianity, or, rather, it is considered the devil. In the current conflict, both the Russian Christians and Muslims have said they are fighting:

Satan

i. e. the Catholic and British religions that have attacked them for centuries.

So although there are probably similarities between original Jesus and Buddhism--it is to be found in Orthodox theology, not that of Aquinas and others. Jesus never said anything about god, a fifth-century Gothic word; he spoke of Abba or "Father". Avalokiteshvara achieved liberation by meditating on Primordial Sound. Many Buddhist and Hindu teachings focus on this Sound, but I am not sure about it in Christianity.

Originally I would say the two were similar, but it is the mentality of Crusades that has brought too many problems.

Thanks for your reply, dear shaberon.
Yes, agree with part of your reply.
For the story of Satan and Buddha, Guide Xuefeng also mentioned it in Lifechanyuan values, here it is:

"
4. Celestials Creating Human

Xuefeng


In order to demonstrate its power,under the permission of the Greatest Creator, 4.5 billion years ago, Jesus led hundreds of millions celestials start the “project” of creating solar system,??they first created the earth,then the sun and other planets in the solar system. They made very careful calculation and design on the size, position, rotary speed of the sun and the earth. After that, Jesus sent near one hundred million celestials come to the earth with the identity of intelligent beings, they started large scale of creation on the earth; the water, air, and most green vegetation and grazing animals are the creations of those celestials, microbes were self-created as the result of water and photosynthesis. This process, from beginning to the end, lasted for nearly 2.3 billion years.

Before animals were created, there was no moon. When the first group of animals were created, celestials found that if they left earth, animals could not survive without ebb and flow, wind,cloud, rain and snow. Therefore, they built two big smelters at places not far from where is now Cairo, Egypt and the Atlantis (it is now located at the bottom of the Atlantic ocean), and made many airships (UFO) using the special smelted metals. And sent the animals they created to everywhere on the earth. At the mean time, they used these airships to transport smelted metals to a “space station”.??They then created a huge hollow ball with a rough surface, silver and reflecting. This huge ball is the moon we refer to today. One billion years ago, the night on the earth was very bright. Later, because the dust from universe continuously dropped on the moon,it was no longer as bright as before.

The UFOs we occasionally saw are not from outer space, they are from the center of the moon, which is a huge warehouse. It stores many “tools” which had been used by celestials; UFO is also one of the “tools”. There is a door on the moon; it can be opened at anytime. There is a giant “palace” under the mysterious Bermuda Triangle; that is the temporary “lodge” for the visiting celestials. Celestials can remotely control UFOs in the warehouse of the moon to monitor the earth according to their needs.

The earth of two hundred millions years ago was very beautiful and prosperous. The place where Sahara Desert currently is located had many green mountains and a dense growth of green trees, birds were twittering, flowers were blossoming, it was once the most beautiful places for green plants and animals. Celestials used to love singing, dancing and playing on the earth, and they were so enjoying it and almost forgot their home.

Unfortunately, the happy scene didn’t last long. The happiness of celestials provoked the anger of Satan. In order to show that he had superior power, he sent another group of Buddhas to the earth two hundred and fifty million years ago, and started to create flies, mosquitoes, bugs, rats, scorpions, centipedes, snakes and predators in large scale to let these animals fight with the creations of celestials. Moreover, they even appeared in the form of dinosaur, destroyed the plants and animals all over the world out of jealousy.

This inharmonious situation made the Greatest Creator very sad.??At about one hundred and thirty million years ago, he destroyed all dinosaurs by applying one kind of plague, and put all their souls in the prison of “The Cathode Black Hole”.??Unfortunately, there were a pair of smart dinosaur hid under the bottom of East China Sea and were able to survive, they kept dormant under water for nearly one hundred million years.

In about 1,600,000 years ago, in order not to let the earth become idle, the Greatest Creator designed a life structure himself, which is the draft version of current humans. He then gave the “design paper” to Jesus and let him to implement. The helpers of Jesus, celestials, started to make new lives according to this design. In order to receive the energy of the Greatest Creator sending from the universe, also to accumulate energy for creating this special new life and speed up the process, they built many laboratories in the place where now is Egypt. These “laboratories” are exactly the well-known pyramids of Egypt. Because of the lack of experience and some steps were missed, the first lives they made were monkeys, and then after were apes, of course, this wouldn’t please the Greatest Creator, so they continued testing and making. The first group of human they successfully made are the black men in Africa, and the second group are native Indians in America, the third are the white men in Europe, Egypt and North Africa. When they finished producing three groups of human, they started to evacuate, and in order to avoid Satan creating difficulties again, they destroyed everything around the Pyramids before they left, which is also why Sahara is a desert today.

But, where do most people in Middle East come from except Egyptian?
They are the descendants of Adam and Eve as what says in Bible, they were created by another god. This god knew that his “rival” started to create humans on earth. He created a secret garden of “Eden” in about 7,000 years ago at Jerusalem, and made Adam and Eve, after they were created, he destroyed the“Eden” to avoid the attention of his “rival”.

This is why Cain was afraid that “everyone that findeth me shall slay me”. Who was he afraid of? The humans created by another god.

This is why his god still protected him even Cain killed his brother. (whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold)
So today’s conflicts between Israelite and Palestinian are actually the conflicts between brothers and are family affairs.

And let’s now talk about East Asian and Southeast Asian, they were not created by any god at all, they were the embodiments of dinosaur. At about 7500 years ago, when the pair of dinosaur knew that celestials created human on the earth, they sneaked from the sea, and changed into human form, started to propagate along the Yellow River, and the descendants gradually spread all over Asia. One of the groups went upwards, crossed the Pamirs to India; they want to mingle with the descendants of Adam and Eve to avoid the punishment of the Greatest Creator again.

This is why Chinese people always say, “China is the hometown of dragon, and Chinese are the descendants of dragon.”

This is also why Buddhism originated from India, but blossomed in East Asia and Southeast Asia.??Why it didn’t become popular in India?

The ancestors of Sakyamuniwent to India from Yellow River, when they arrived at India, they found that their consciousness was not compatible with that of the descendants of Adam and Eve, and had to find new home. Because in their subconsciousness, there’s a very deep call, that is to “go home”, which home? The “Elysium” before they came to earth.

Sakyamuni found he came from Elysium after his enlightenment. Although he had a blurry picture of his home, he still remembered something. Once this subconsciouness was awaken, he decided to be engaged in the cause of preaching to other descendants; and shifted the focus to the East led by of his subconsciousness. That’s also why Bodhidharma came to China to preach Buddhism.

Because Indian people were designed by a different creator, they were reluctant to accept the theory of Buddhism because of the absence of the memory in their subconsciousness.??That’s also why although Buddhists had made great efforts, it still failed in India. However, in East and Southeast Asia, people had the instinct sense of the existence of other dimensional spaces, it is quite easy for them to resonate with the theory of Buddhism. Once they accept it, it is rooted and lingers in their mind.

The state “vague and intangible”which Taoism pursues and the “Elysium world” Buddhism pursues are something rooted in the subconsciousness of the yellow race, they feel and believe the existence of the space that is hard to explain. In fact, the space where the ellow race yearning for is the place where the dinosaur had lived in “Ten-thousandyear world” and “Elysium world”. Therefore, even after ten million years, the message is still embedded in the genetic structure of the yellow men.

East and Southeast Asian tend to cultivate “Buhhda” and “Celestial”, it is driven by their inner voice. Although some people accept the theory of Bible, it is not an acceptance out of their heart, but a rational act. People of other races are very easy to believe in God, but quite reluctant to accept Buddhism and Taoism, some people might believe in Buddhism and Taoism, but it is just a blind pursuit of mysterious phenomena, they are impossible to reach the state of “resonance of soul”.

Then, what is the truth of the Great Flood in Noah’s time?

First, I want to explain something: before the Great Flood, human beings had been through extinction already. The humans created 16,000,000 years ago were very strong and tall,they were cruel and very aggressive, they maltreated animals and were very greedy, they didn’t even respect the Greatest Creator, not to mention gods and buddhas.??The city of Maya, ancient Egypt and Atlantis were their activity centers. They had the power of god, buhhda and celestial but were lack of their virtue, they always went to “Ten-thousand year world” and “Elysium world” to make troubles, and did whatever they wanted to do, which had become a big threat to the order of the universe. Finally, the Greatest Creator had to order some gods destroy the city of Maya, ancient Egypt and Atlantis in one night, only left some weak and less intelligent humans on the earth to continue the propagation of the human species.

In order to comfort these men, the Greatest Creator created another planet which is even more beautiful, 960 light year from the earth, it is the “Thousand-year world”. The Greatest Creator told these people, if they behave well and don’t make trouble, they would be able to go to “Thousand-year world” to enjoy happier life after death.??However, these humans started to forget the warning when the population grew to large numbers and its civilization advanced; they began to ignore the Greatest Creator and thought he was nothing special!

At about 4700 years ago, humans on the earth thought that they were able to manage the earth themselves without the help of the Greatest Creator and gods. They ignored their teachings, and insisted their own will. Their pursuit of physical and material comfort far exceeded the pursuit of spiritual growth, which had caused moral degeneracy and the advancement of brute; it strongly destroyed the harmonious atmosphere of the earth. Moreover,the two gods managing the earth had different ethics, thus fought with each other, which made the Greatest Creator so angry that he turned around the earth’s dip angle, huge storms poured down; it lasted for forty days and nights, and drowned most humans and animals, the evil act of humans were then curbed.

But after the Great Flood, Noah’s family were not the only men survived, there were survivors all over the world. This can be verified in many Chinese historical records; the story of “Dayu flood control” is a hard fact. There is also detailed narration in the legends of the Indian tribe Mandan, North Dakota, America.

This is the outline of the origin of human beings."


The Buddhas are the incarnations of dragon and the followers of Satan.
This is also why in this era, we, Chinese chanyuan members start the mission to build New Oasis for Life Communities from China to all the world.
We just pay off our debts and realise our dream to go back to heaven.

[xidaijena]

Posted by Patient (here)
I do not have any considerable training or schooling in any religions. But I share many of the beliefs of a higher power and different good sayings have stuck with me such as "do unto others as they would do to you".

It is interesting that when you do a search online to find the meaning of religion, you can see that there are many many different (but similar) ideas for the definition of religion.

It looks to me like defining religion(s) is what has caused many of the differences from one religion to another. Strip them all down to the basic elements and we will find them all practically the same.

Humanity needs to find a way to drop the walls that have been built by other people defining things to the point where that simple thing has become so distorted that we have lost sight of the root value.

Thanks for sharing this wise opinion, dear Patient. You are right.
Here is an article written by Xuefeng on Religion and the Greatest Creator, you can have a read.

"38、宗教与上帝

Religion and the Greatest Creator

Xuefeng


首先，我们要弄清楚什么是宗教。

First, we must know what religion is.

宗教是人类认识神佛、信仰神佛、崇拜神佛、追随神佛的一种精神和心理活动。

Religion is a spiritual and psychological activity through which man gets to know, believe in, worship, and follow god and Buddha.

严格地讲，只有基督教和佛教才是真正的宗教，伊斯兰教和天主教虽然也是宗教，但由于过多地用行政干涉了世俗事务，所以伊斯兰教和天主教就不能算是纯粹的宗教。印度教虽然早于佛教，实际上只能看成是佛教的一个源头， 锡克教是印度虔信派和伊斯兰教苏菲派的混合衍生物，其内容都可以在佛教经典和《古兰经》中找到，所以他并没有独立的思想体系。中国的道教主要讲天人合一、天人感应、没有一套关于神的理论，所以它只能看成是人类的一 种社会活动，并不是认识神佛、信仰神佛、崇拜神佛、追随神佛的一种精神和心理活动。日本的神道教是佛教和道教的混合衍生物，也没有什么新的内容和体系。耶稣教、新教、东正教等是基督教的分支，也没有独立的思想体系 。原始宗教主要是对鬼神、祖先、图腾、偶像的一种崇拜，没有一套完整的对神的认识，所以也只能看成是人们的一种社会活动，无法上升到宗教的高度。古代埃及宗教、古代巴比伦宗教、中国殷周时期崇拜天帝的宗教、腓尼基 宗教、赫悌宗教、吠陀宗教、古代伊朗宗教等基本上是原始宗教的进化，主要崇拜的是自然物或自然力，对神没有一个完美的认识，所以只能是一种社会活动，无法成为纯粹的精神和心理活动。琐罗亚斯德教（中国史称拜火教） 、有自己独立的对神的认识，后来被基督教、佛教吸收，其精髓可以在基督教和佛教经典中找到。摩尼教（中国称为明教）的“二宗三际论”的精髓也可以在基督教和佛教经典中找到，也无法把它看成是一个独立完善的体系。婆 罗门教实质就是吠陀教，是古代印度的一种宗教，它的神主要是人格化了自然现象，其“三道四生”说已被释迦牟尼纠正和发扬光大。整个印度教源源流长，内容庞杂，但没有一套清晰的思想和路线，给人一种迷惘、无所适从的 感觉，所以不能称为宗教。耆那教有悠久的历史，有一套独立的理论体系，它的精髓已被佛教容纳，糟粕部分已被科学推翻，无法再作为一个宗教继续生存下去。

Strictly speaking, only Christianity and Buddhism can be called real religions. Although Islamism and Catholicism are also practiced as religions, they have interfered too much in secular affairs. So Islamism and Catholicism cannot be counted as pure religion. Hinduism was formed earlier than Buddhism, but actually it can only be regarded as a source for Buddhism. Derived from the blending of Bhakti and the sufi orders of Islamism, Sikhism has no independent ideological system since its content can be found in Buddhist sutras and in the Qur’an. China’s Taoism mainly preaches the unity of heaven and man and the telepathy between heaven and man. Without a system of theory about god, Taoism can not be regarded as a spiritual and psychological activity through which man gets to know, believe in, worship, and follow god and Buddha but a social activity of mankind. Derived from the blending of Buddhism and Taoism, Japan’s Shintoism also has no new content and system. Protestantism and Orthodox Church are branches of Christianity, so they do not have independent ideological system. Primitive religions can not be regarded as a religion but only a social activity because they are mainly a worship of ghosts and gods, ancestors, totems, and idols and do not have an integrate understanding of god. Ancient Egyptian religion, ancient Babylonian religion, the worship of Celestial Ruler Supreme God in China’s Yin and Zhou dynasties, Phoenician religion, Hinduism religion, Vedic religion, and ancient Iranian religion—all these have basically evolved from primitive religion, they mainly worship natural objects or natural force, and they do not have a perfect perception of god. Therefore they can only be a social activity and cannot become pure spiritual and psychological activity. Having its own independent understanding of god, Zoroastrianism (called fire-worship religion in China’s history) was later absorbed by Christianity and Buddhism, its essences still visible in the Christian and Buddhist classics. The essence of Manicheism (called Zoroastrianism in China) can also be found in Christian and Buddhist classics, thus manicheism also has no independent and perfect system. Brahmanism is actually Vedic religion in essence. A religion of ancient India, Brahmanism has gods in the form of personified natural phenomena. Its theory of three paths and four lives has been modified and carried forward by Sakyamuni. Hinduism has a long history and a numerous and jumbled content, but it does not have a clear thinking and path and renders a perplexed feeling, so it cannot be regarded as a religion. Jainism has a long history and an independent theoretical system, but its essence has been incorporated into Buddhism and the drosses parts have been overthrown by science, and thus it cannot survive as a religion.

犹太教严格来讲，不是神教，而是上帝教，它的经典主要是基督教《圣经》的“旧约”部分，但作为上帝教，它不完美，无法回答有关上帝特征的起码问题，让人无法信服。

Strictly speaking, Judaism is not the religion of god but the religion of the Greatest Creator. Its scriptures are mainly the Old Testament of the Bible. But it is not perfect as a religion of the Greatest Creator, because it cannot answer the basic questions concerning the characteristics of the Greatest Creator, and thus is not convincing.

奎师那知觉运动虽然追求的是灵性层面上对神的知觉和爱，但它把上帝和神混为一谈，且其领袖也不承认奎师那知觉运动是宗教，他认为是一种科学运动，这就把科学和宗教也混为一谈了，所以我们只能把它看成是古代印度先哲 智慧在现阶段的一种显现，无法上升为宗教。

Although pursuing the consciousness and love of god in the level of spiritual nature, Kirtan and the Bhakti movement has confused the Greatest Creator with god. And its leader does not consider Krishna Consciousness Movement a religion, but only regards it as a movement of science, thus confusing science with religion. Therefore, the movement can only be regarded as reflection of the wisdom of ancient Indian sages and cannot be considered a religion.

前几年盛行的法轮功是灵性被压抑的普通大众对真善忍的一种哲学意义上的追求，法轮功的书籍中对神佛没有明确的认识，对空间的概念也是含混迷茫的，所以也只能看成是一种群众性的社会活动，也无法上升到宗 教的高度。

Falun Gong that prevailed in the last few years was a philosophical pursuit of truth, kindness and endurance by the common people with a pent-up spiritual nature. Falun Gong had no clear understanding of god and Buddha, and its concept of space was also perplexing. Therefore, it can only be counted as a mass social activity and is not a religion.

其他的一些小宗教团体是部分人的情感和精神空虚导致的一种想摆脱寂寞和孤独，寻求团体认可或安慰的盲目精神情感追求，就象一群人闲着无聊，聚到一起聊天解闷一样，不可能成为一种宗教。

In other small religious groups, small numbers of people suffering emotional and spiritual emptiness engage in a blind spiritual and emotional pursuit to get rid of loneliness, and seek group identity or comfort, just like a crowd of people getting together to chat and divert their humdrum which cannot be counted as religions.

将来的宗教只能剩下基督教和佛教，其余的将会随着科学的发展和人类的进步逐渐衰亡。

In the future Christianity and Buddhism will be the only religions remaining, and the rest will gradually perish with the development of science and the progress of mankind.

基督教和佛教是两个相对独立而又相对完整的宗教，也是两个相互矛盾的宗教，但宗教作为一种社会现象，必然要随着时间的推移而最终消失，将来必然会“万教归一”。

Christianity and Buddhism are two relatively independent and complete religions as wellas two contradictory religions. However, as a social phenomenon, religion will ultimately perish with the passage of time and in the future the great variety of religions will be unified as one single religion.

“万教”如何“归一”？

How do the different religions unify as a whole?

我们首先看人类历史上出现过的宗教，出现之初，教徒们坚定地认为自己的宗教是唯一可以永恒存在的真理教，其余的都是邪教，都是异端邪说，但随着时代的发展，人类的进步，尤其是科学的昌明，那些宗教不得不一个一个地 退出历史的舞台，那么，基督教和佛教能永世长存吗？

Let’s take a look at the religions that have appeared in history. At the beginning of each religion, all its followers were firmly convinced that their religion was the only true religion that would exist forever and other religions were all evil cults and heresies. However, with the development of the times, the progress of mankind, and especially the flourishing of science, those religions have all faded out from the stage of history. Then, can Christianity and Buddhism exist forever?

我们不得不请出上帝来回答这个问题。

We have to ask the Greatest Creator to answer this question.

上帝能创造出两个相互矛盾的宗教吗？如果这个问题不好回答，那么我们不如直接问：“宗教是上帝创造的吗？”

Can the Greatest Creator create two mutually contradicting religions? If this question is not easy to answer, we might as well ask directly, “Was religion created by the Greatest Creator?”

如果回答是，那么历史上宗教的消亡和各宗教之间的相互矛盾只能证明上帝思维的混乱无序。但我们认识到的上帝可不是这样的。

If the answer is yes, then the disappearance of religions and the mutual contradictions between different religions can only prove the disorganized thinking of the Greatest Creator. But this is not the case for the Greatest Creator we meant

如果回答不是，那么就说明基督教和佛教也不是上帝的宗教。

If the answer is no, this shows that Christianity and Buddhism are not the religion of the Greatest Creator.

既然宗教不是上帝创造的，那么我们可以说是人创造的，或是神创造的，或是佛创造的。

If religion is not created by the Greatest Creator, then who maight it be, man，god, or Buddha?

不论是人、是神、是佛创造的，如果相互矛盾，如果不能回答人提出的所有问题，如果不能解释有关宇宙自然和生命的一切现象、这个宗教就无法继续引导人类，那么，无论教徒们感情上如何不能接受现实，这个宗教的结局必然 是衰亡。

No matter whether it is created by man, god, or Buddha or how difficult it is for its followers to accept the reality, the religion will finally die out if it cannot answer all the questions raised by man and cannot explain all the phenomena of the nature and life of the universe, because this religion can no longer guide man.

宗教出现之初是进步的，是推动人类历史发展的，但若我们抱着某些教条不放，用两千年前的教义来指导今天人们的现实活动，反而将会阻碍我们灵性的发展，就象人类历史上出现过的朝代，刚建立之时，它极大地推动了社会生 产力的发展，促进了社会的进步，但随着时间的推移，那些原来进步的东西就成了落后的、妨碍社会发展的枷锁，其结果就象马克思分析的，当某一上层建筑不适应其经济基础，生产关系不适合其生产力发展的时候，这个上层建 筑和生产关系必然要被淘汰，必然要被更加先进的上层建筑和生产关系取而代之。

Religion was progressive at the time of its emergence and had pushed forward the development of human history. However, if we stick to some old-fashioned doctrines and guide today’s activities with the teachings of two thousand years ago, the development of our spiritual nature will only be hindered. In the same way the dynasties in history had all propelled the development of social productivity and facilitated social progress at the time when they were established, but with the passage of time what were originally progressive became the backward fetters hindering social development. Just like Marx’s analysis, when certain superstructure is no longer adaptable to its economic foundation and the production relations are no longer suitable to the development of productivity, such superstructure and production relation is bound to be eliminated and superseded by more advanced superstructure and production relation.

科学为什么能常胜不败，其原因在于科学是不断发展的，如果爱因斯坦抱着牛顿力学不放，他就发展不出相对论，如果认为相对论是放之四海而皆准的理论，量子力学就难以产生。

Why can science always prevail? The reason is that science is continually developing. If Einstein dogmatically stuck to Newton’s mechanics, he would not be able to develop the theory of relativity. If later scientists held the theory of relativity as universally true, then it would be difficult for the birth of quantum mechanics.

数学史上的发展也证明，只有发展，才有前途。从自然数、正数、负数、整数、分数、无理数、有理数、虚数、复数不断探索前进，才创造出一座辉煌的数学宫殿，如果我们仍抱着自然数，否定其它数的存在，不思探索，想用自 然数解决一切问题，人类恐怕仍旧在蛮荒和愚昧中在洞穴和树枝上过着艰难的日子。

The development in the history of mathematics also has demonstrated that the future lies only in development. A glorious palace of mathematics has been created only with the continuous exploration stretching from natural number, positive number, negative number, whole number, fraction, irrational number, rational number, imaginary number, and complex number. If we only stick to natural number and deny the existence of other numbers, and if we do not engage in thinking and attempts to solve all problems with natural numbers, then humankind must be still leading a rough existence in the caves and branches and groping its way in the wilderness and ignorance.

难道我们还要怀疑“万教归一”这个宗教发展的大趋势吗？

Shall we doubt the megatrend of the unification of all religions?

我们必须不断探索前进，我们有必要对“万教归一”提前进行预测。

We should continue our exploration and predict in advance the unification of all religions.

“万教归一”不是所有的宗教都归化为一个宗教，也再不是认识神、信仰神、崇拜神、追随神的一种精神和心理活动，而将成为对上帝的一种敬畏和歌颂。宇宙中只有一个上帝，但却有无数的神，上帝不是神，神也不是上帝，崇 拜神只能扰乱人们的视线，只有崇拜上帝，我们才有明确的前进方向。

The unification of all religions is not to transform all religions into one religion, and is no longer a psychological and spiritual activity to understand, believe in, worship, and follow god, but a reverence for and praise of the Greatest Creator. There is only one Greatest Creator in the universe but there are countless gods. The greatest Creator is not god and neither is god the Greatest Creator. Worship god will only distract people’s visions, and only by worshipping the Greatest Creator can we have a definite goal of progress.

“万教归一”是人性的解放，决不是再给人类套上一个又一个精神和心灵的枷锁；是让人们自由自在地享受生活，而不是把人们束缚在一个教堂或寺院中去做那么多的烦琐仪式。

Instead of imposing one after another spiritual and psychological shackles on mankind, the unification of all religions is the liberation of human nature, enabling man to enjoy life freely. Thus man will not be forced to go through complicated and tedious rituals at churches or temples.

“万教归一”是人人平等，而不是设立更多的教皇教主神父牧师主持方丈阿訇来左右人们的生活言行。

Instead of establishing more papacies, hierarches, priests, pastors, emcees, abbots, and imams to influence people’s life and actions, “Unification of all religions” means equality between men.

“万教归一”没有固定的“经书”和“教义”，却要发扬光大人类的一切智慧成果。

“Unification of all religions” has no fixed “sutras and scriptures” and “tenets” but it will carry on and promote all fruits of man’s wisdom.

“万教归一”再没有教徒一说，人人都是教徒，人人又都不是教徒，所有的人都是上帝的子民，而不是那个神或佛的子民。

In “Unification of all religions” there will be no followers. It can be said that everyone is a follower and no one is a follower. All people are the subjects of the Greatest Creator rather than the subjects of any god or Buddha.

总之，“万教归一”才是真正上帝的“宗教”。

In a word, “Unification of religions” is the real “religion” of the Greatest Creator.

说是宗教，但实质却不是宗教。

It is regarded as a religion but is not a religion in essence.

基督教和佛教真会退出历史舞台吗？

Will Christianity and Buddhism really fade out from the stage of history?

现在世界上有许多人在热心传教，精神可佳，我希望所有的人都参与宗教活动。但每一个传教的人，你必须弄清楚你所传的宗教的实质，你必须回答有关神或佛的一切问题，如果你摸棱两可，含糊其词，自己都搞不清楚，自己都 稀里糊涂，你有可能会把经念歪。每一个参与宗教活动的人，必须要不断地提问题，要问为什么？为什么？为什么？

In today’s world there are many enthusiastic missionaries, which is a commendable phenomenon. I hope all people will participate in the religious activities. But as a missionary you should understand the essence of the religion that you are preaching. You should answer all the questions related to god or Buddha. You may do a poor job in preaching if you yourself feel muddleheaded. Everyone engaging in religious activities should always raise questions as why? Why? Why?

曾经有一对年迈的基督教徒，热心地给我来传教，他们已经传了40年了，对《圣经》几乎能背诵下来，没想到碰上我这么个“愣头青”，提出了一系列的问题，包括伊甸园中的那棵智慧树是谁栽的，栽它的目的是什么等问题， 局面被我弄的非常尴尬，我本想从他们那儿获得许多有关《圣经》的知识，其结果伤害了两位老人家的感情，到今天都觉得过意不去。

Once an old Christians couple preached me enthusiastically. They had been doing this for 40 years and could almost recite the whole bible. They never expected to meet such an “inquisitive” person like me who rasied a lot of questions. Who planted the tree of wisdom in the Garden of Eden? Why was it planted? I had landed them in the most embarrassing situation. I had originally intended to obtain a lot of knowledge about the Bible, but ended in hurting the two old people. I still feel sorry for them even today.

就我个人的浅见来说，今日地球上宣传《圣经》最成功的是“耶和华见证人”，他们是一批智慧、善良、诚恳的人群，如果全世界的人都成为“耶和华见证人”，人间就是天堂的初级雏形，他们出版的《警醒》和《了望台》两种 杂志，那是包罗万象的智慧丛书。但世界上没有完美的人，也没有完美的组织和宗教。我曾经问我的“耶和华见证人”《圣经》老师，亚当和夏娃是人类的共同祖先吗？回答是：“是。”我又问：“也是非洲黑人的祖先吗？”老 师就不知道如何回答。因为如果回答“是”，就证明了达尔文进化论的正确，白人可以变成黑人，黑人也可以变成白人，这就无形中否定了上帝创造人类的学说。如果回答“不是”，那就是说亚当夏娃不是人类的共同祖先，这就 无形中否定了《圣经》的真理性。

As far as I know, the most successful preacher of the Bible today is Jehovah’s Witnesses, a group of wise, kind, and sincere people. If all the people in the whole world all becomeJehovah’s Witnesses, the human world will take the initial form of the paradise. The two magazines “Vigilance” and “Lookout” are inclusive book series of wisdom. But there is no perfect man in the world, nor is there perfect organization and religion. I once asked my Bible teacher who is a Jehovah’s Witness, “Are Eva and Adam the common ancestors for all men?” The answer is positive. I asked again, “Are they also the ancestors of the black people of Africa?” My teacher faltered here. If the answer is “Yes”, it proves that Darwin’s theory of evolution is correct and that white people can become black people and vice versa, which virtually has negated the theory of the creation of man by the Greatest Creator. If the answer is no, it means that Adam and Eva are not the common ancestors of mankind, which has virtually negated the verity of the Bible.

基督教是这样，那么佛教呢？

It is so with Christianity. Then how about Buddhism?

当今世界上，有一位全球佛教界闻名的法师和一位华人皆知的居士，可以说是博览佛教经典的人，我仔细阅读了他们的书籍或讲义，深感他们灵性的高超和才华的出众，他们对佛教的传播是功德无量的。但再好的宝石也有瑕疵， 有瑕疵并不能说明宝石不珍贵，只有人造宝石和玻璃才不会有瑕疵。

In modern world there is a famous Buddhist master and a lay Buddhist well-known among overseas Chinese. They are well-read in Buddhist sutras. I have read their books or teaching materials. I have felt their profound spiritual nature and outstanding talents. They have made immeasurable contribution to the diffusion of Buddhism. But even the best gem is not flawless. That a gem has flaws does not mean it is not precious. Only artificial gem and glass would be free of blemish.

就是对佛法有如此高深认识的人，同时也在传播愚昧的知识。举例来讲，一个说，蚊子只要不叮在脸上，而是叮在其它的地方，就应该让它吃个饱，千万不能把蚊子打死，因为打死蚊子就是杀生。另一位非常怜惜蟑螂，对厨房的 蟑螂是任其横冲直撞，不加干涉，有一次，吃饭桌上爬上来两只蟑螂，也不忍赶走。

Even people with such profound knowledge of Buddhism are also spreading fatuity. For example, one says that as long as a mosquito is not biting on the face but on other places, we should let it suck until it is full, and we should not kill it because that is killing of life. Another one takes pity on cockroaches. He will let cockroaches go on the rampage in his kitchen. He would do nothing to interfere. Once, two cockroaches even crawled on his table, and even then he still felt reluctant to drive them away.

这种对生命的爱护和慈悲是值得提倡的，问题是，这是不是佛讲的仁慈？

This care and mercy for life is something that we should learn from. The problem is, is this the kind of mercy advocated by Buddha?

佛讲“众生平等”，什么是“众生”？佛释迦牟尼在《金刚经》中告诉须菩提：“诸菩萨，摩诃萨，应如是降伏其心。所有一切众生之类，若卵生，若胎生，若湿生，若化生，若有色，若无色，若有想，若无想，若非有想，若非 无想。我皆令入无余涅磐而灭度之。”这就明确地告诉我们，不仅人类、动植物、昆虫、微生物、细菌等是生命，而且山石田土、风云雨雪等也是生命；不仅有形的看得见的物体是生命，而且人的视觉看不见的东西也是生命；不 仅有思维意识的东西是生命，而且没有思维意识的东西也是生命。在生命的意义上“众生平等”，我们应该对一切生命体现出怜悯爱惜之心，不能随意杀生，这应该是佛讲的仁慈的真正含义。

Buddhism preaches “equality between all living creatures”. What is the definition of all living creatures? Buddha Sakyamuni tells Subhuti in Diamond Sutra, “all Bodhisattvas and Mahasattvas should subdue their minds as follows:

“All living beings born from eggs, wombs, humidity or by transformation

“with or without form,

“either thoughtful or thoughtless,

“and neither thoughtful nor thoughtless

“are all led by me to the final nirvana for the extinction of reincarnation

“Although immeasurable, uncountable and unlimitable numbers of living beings are thus led to (the final nirvana for) the extinction of reincarnation,”

His teachings tell us in definite terms that man, animals and plants, insects, microorganism, and bacteria are all living creatures. Mountains, rocks, fields, and soils, wind, clouds, rain, and snow are all living creatures. Not only tangible and visible objects are living creatures, even things invisible to man are also living creatures. Not only things capable of thinking are living creatures, objects with no thinking and consciousness are also living creatures. “All living creatures are equal”. We should have mercy and care for all living creatures. We should not abuse killing, and this should be the real signification of mercy preached by Buddha.

但是，仁慈是有原则的，是相互的，仁慈必须基于互不妨害的基础上，无原则的仁慈实际上就走向了愚昧。

However, there are principles for mercy, and mercy is mutual. The prerequisite for mercy should not violate with each other. Unprincipled mercy only leads to fatuity.

蚊子，它们应该有自己的食物和活动领域，它们不应该来“吃人”，来骚扰人类，它们在水塘中生活时，我们没有必要去伤害它们，但它们超出自己的生存领域，来吃人，就走向了邪恶，对邪恶的东西难道我们还要 讲仁慈吗？

Mosquitoes should have their own food and territory of activity. They should not suck man’s blood and harass man. When they live in the ponds we need not hurt them. But if they go beyond their area of existence and suck man’s blood, then they are on the way to wickedness. Should we show our mercy even for those wicked things?

蟑螂，它们是昆虫，昆虫应该在昆虫的领地上生活，厨房是人类活动的地方，不是你蟑螂们恣意妄为的处所，如果我们不加约束，那么，老鼠、苍蝇、跳蚤、臭虫、蜈蚣、蚰蜒、眼镜蛇等都来，我们如何对待？

Cockroaches are insects, and insects should live in insects’ territory. Kitchens are areas of activity for man, and cockroaches should not do what they want here. If we throw the reins to cockroaches then what shall we do if rats, flies, fleas, bugs, centipedes, house centipedes, and cobras all pour into the kitchens?

如果无原则地讲仁慈，那么，庄稼地里大量地长出杂草，农民们如何办？草也是一个生命，如果按照法师和居士的观点，农民们只能让其恣意蔓延，但结果呢？人类就将没有饭吃。

If we preach unprincipled mercy, what shall farmers do with the weeds overgrowing in the crop fields? Weeds are also life, if we let them overspread the fields according to the Buddhist master and the lay Buddhist, what will the results be? People will have nothing to live on.

如果无原则地讲仁慈，那么，人身上有了伤口如何处理？每一个伤口处，有大量的细菌在生存，如果我们抹药或包扎，势必会杀死那些细菌，难道眼看着伤口溃烂化脓？

If we advocate unprincipled mercy, how do we deal with the wounds? There are a large number of bacteria at the wound, and we will certainly kill those bacteria if we smear drugs or bind up the wound. Should we let the wound rankle and putrefy for the sake of the bacteria?

卧室里蜘蛛拉了一个网，如何处理？如果毁掉，那不就是对蜘蛛的残忍吗？如果不毁掉，难道眼睁睁地看着苍蝇、蚊子、飞蛾被网网住，让蜘蛛吞吃吗？

What should we do with the spider’s web in the bedroom? If we destroy the web, we are being cruel to the spider; but if we do not, should we watch the flies, mosquitoes, and moths ensnared by the web and eaten by the spider?

每一颗植物种子，都是一个个活生生的生命，我们是把一粒粒麦子这些生命磨成面粉吃呢，还是不吃？

Every plant is a life, shall we or shall we not grind the life of wheat grains into flower for food?

每一杯水里，有几万个细菌在生活，我们是喝呢，还是不喝？

In each cup of water there are tens of thousands of bacteria. Shall we drink or shall we not drink?

我们走路时，每一脚迈出去，每一脚踩下去，都会在脚下杀死十万生灵，难道我们不走路了？

Shall we move our steps or shall we not move our steps, since we will trample on tens of thousands of living beings in each step.

难道孙悟空三打白骨精打错了？

Has the Monkey King unjustly killed the Lady White Bone?

所有的警察都应该解散，都回家抱孩子去？

Shall all the police be disbanded and sent home to take care of their children?

难怪凡是佛教盛行的地区卫生环境比较脏乱，原来是为了保护生命。

No wonder that the areas where Buddhism flourishes have poorer hygienic conditions, since they are dedicated to protect lives.

难怪佛教国家的人们都知道明哲保身，不敢，也不愿对周围邪恶的东西加以制止，任其横行于世，原来是都有一颗“仁慈”的心。

No wonder people in a Buddhist country tend to be worldly wise for personal safety. They dare not and are unwilling to stand out and hold out the evil things, and the evil things will just run amuck. The reason is that they all have a “mercy” heart.


宗教的宗旨首先应该是解放人，把束缚人性的枷锁打烂，让人活得更愉快、更自由、更幸福，而不是再额外增加许多枷锁，条条框框越多，越远离神佛的教诲。

Instead of adding more shackles, the tenet of religion is to liberate man, destroy the shackles of human nature, and make people enjoy a more pleasant, freer and happier life. The more rules and regulations, the further away we are from the edifications of god and Buddha.

宗教似乎总与愚昧有点瓜葛，上帝并没有创立宗教，宗教是人类的情感反映。

Religion is somewhat connected with fatuity. The Greatest Creator has not created religion; religion is the emotional response of man.

“万教归一”后，上帝就将直接管理人类，而耶稣、释迦牟尼、穆罕默德、老子不仅不会被人忘记，他们的智慧反而将得到发扬光大。

After the unification of all religions, the Greatest Creator will exercise direct administration of mankind. Jesus, Sakyamuni, Mohammed, and Lao Tzu will not be forgotten; instead their wisdom will be further glorified.



I like Jesus and Buddha. Jesus teaches me how to love the Greatest Creator first and then love others as myself. Buddha teaches me about the law of Karma. From the law of Karma, I can be careful about my words and deeds, and know that all things happen on me are not accidental and have a certain reason. When knowing Love and Karma, I can deal with my family affairs and job more peacefully.

[Catechism]

“I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”

― Mahatma Gandhi

[xidaijena]

Posted by Catechism (here)
“I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”

― Mahatma Gandhi

Indeed. We think Buddhists are better Christians.

[Catechism]

Posted by xidaijena (here)

Posted by Catechism (here)
“I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”

― Mahatma Gandhi

Indeed. We think Buddhists are better Christians.

I will drink to that

[xidaijena]

Posted by Catechism (here)

Posted by xidaijena (here)

Posted by Catechism (here)
“I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”

― Mahatma Gandhi

Indeed. We think Buddhists are better Christians.

I will drink to that

Cheers~