Buddhist Christianity by Ross Thompson

Author:Ross Thompson
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978 1 84694 336 2
Publisher: John Hunt Publishing

What is needed in Buddhism is enlightenment, neither crucifixion nor resurrection. A resurrection is dramatic and human enough, but there is still the odor of the body in it. In enlightenment there are heavenliness and a genuine sense of transcendence. Things of earth go through renovation and a refreshing transformation. A new sun rises above the horizon and the whole universe is revealed. (1957, p.132-3)

Jesus as a Radical Bodhisattva?

But we have seen that there are many exceptions to the rule that nobody can benefit from another’s karma, notably the notion of the Bodhisattva. The Bodhisattva is both an ordinary human contributing to the salvation of the universe, and a savior figure bringing grace as it were from beyond. So could Jesus – who for Christians is both human and divine – be regarded in Buddhist terms as a radical form of Bodhisattva, who not only transfers his merit to us, but absorbs in his own sufferings the effects of our bad karma? After all, the Bodhisattva’s transfer of merit involves remaining in the world of suffering for the sake of other beings.

This idea is not new. The Dalai Lama himself has suggested that Buddhists might regard Jesus as a Bodhisattva. And Rita Gross, a convert from a strict form of Christianity to Buddhism, writes, “Jesus seems more like a Bodhisattva than like a Buddha to me. This is because of his willingness to suffer on behalf of others and the extent to which... he puts the well-being of others before his own comfort,” (Gross and Muck, 1999, p.46-7). Of course both Christians and Buddhists might not like this comparison. For orthodox Christians, Jesus’ death and resurrection has saved the entire universe from the effect of sin, but for Buddhists the notion of a Bodhisattva who had already by his sufferings resolved the bad karmic effects of the entire universe would wreak moral havoc. Freed from the consequences of bad actions, we could live in total irresponsibility. While the notion of a salvation that works without the unhappy notion of an angry and offended God would be welcome to Buddhists, the burden of seeking enlightenment would be lifted from the shoulders of the individual to an unacceptable degree.

However, we have just called into question the sturdy individualism behind this criticism, and argued that liberation is inevitably a corporate struggle. And once Christ is seen as a Bodhisattva, taking to himself bad karma for which he is not individually responsible, the struggle with evil becomes corporate. It is a struggle carried by the community of those committed to sharing his death in order to share also his life with the whole world (2 Cor. 4.11).

That much, I think, a Mahayana Buddhist might not quarrel with. It might remain a matter for personal decision whether to join this (Christian) community of corporate struggle, or to pursue the struggle for liberation in a more traditionally Buddhist way. The offensive aspects of Anselm’s atonement theory – the angry God who demands ‘satisfaction’ for insults against

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