| Budda Book Review Essay, Research Paper
Book Review: Living Buddha, Living Christ
Living Buddha, Living Christ by Thich Nhat Hanh is a
book that converges the ideas of Christianity and Buddhism.
I chose to analyze this book because I am Christian, and in
class I have observed similarities and differences between
the two religions. Growing up Catholic I did not always
agree with what I was taught or how I was supposed to look
at Jesus and God. I always had a guilty conscience, because
I am a sinner and Jesus died for me, and all other sinners.
There is pressure put on Catholics to live this high
standard that God has set for them to be allowed into
Heaven. Catholicism is a very strict and rigid religion.
Everything is carved in stone, cut and dry, black and white,
and no questions are to be asked. If one lives life as a
sinner and does not seek forgiveness he or she will be
rejected at the gates of Heaven and sent directly to Hell.
If one commits a sin he or she is to fear God s punishment,
and when something goes wrong God is punishing. The
perspective I have taken on life in the Catholic view is
that life is one s way of repaying Christ/God for their
sacrifice and gift of an undeserved life. Live life purely
for Him and not yourself.
I have stepped away from the Catholic church to attend
a Non-denominational Christian church. Here, I have been
able to grow spiritually more than I did growing up
Catholic. Within this church I feel more accepted because
it is more open to the perspectives of God and life. In
church it is recognized that some people do struggle and
question God, His actions, and His existence. Going to
Catholic church there was never any room for questions or
thought. Everything was laid down and if a person did not
believe or understand the Catholic way then he or she was
wrong in everything they did and was an insult to God. From
going to Christian church I have realized that life is a
gift from God and that He wants everyone to live in comfort
and contentment. His teachings simply show His followers
the way to enter His Kingdom through life. I have found in
Buddhism that through practicing mindfulness throughout
daily life one can enter the state of Nirvana. I do not
believe that the Kingdom of God and Nirvana are the same,
but I do believe that through Nirvana one can touch and gain
a better appreciation for God s Kingdom.
Living Buddha, Living Christ is an attempt to reinvent
Christian ideas in a Buddhist perspective. This book brings
together the ideas and teachings of two of the most
influential figures of history, Christ and Buddha. They
have both influenced the way billions of people around the
world live their lives. Throughout the book Hahn reawakens
the reader s understanding of Christianity and Buddhism in
order to show a connection between them. He emphasizes that
people need to be open to other religions, see their
commonalties, and not be close minded. People kill and
are killed because they cling too tightly to their own
beliefs and ideologies. When we believe that ours is the
only faith that contains the truth, violence and suffering
will surely be the result (2). This explains the
persecution of the Jews and the holy wars that are going on
right now. These people fight almost out of pure pride of
belonging to their own religion. They forget the teachings
of peace and compassion that are present in all religions.
Thich Nhat Hanh writes this book on the belief that Jesus
and Buddha s teachings agree. He says, when you are a
truly happy Christian, you are also a Buddhist. And vice
versa (197). I do not agree with the extremity of Hahn s
idea of Christianity and Buddhism being so closely the same.
I believe the two religions do have similarities and have
some common ground, but I do not believe that one is a
precise reinterpretation of the other.
First, Thich Nhat Hahn associates Mindfulness and the
Holy Spirit. The Buddhist definition of Mindfulness is
being awake to the mind; not just thinking but being
conscious of thinking; not just having thoughts but being
aware of the thoughts. Buddhists believe that the mind is
reality. Mindfulness is the awareness of the impermanent
and conditioned nature of reality. The Holy Spirit is the
energy of God that is present in everyday life. The Holy
Trinity is simply a metaphor for God. The Father, the Son,
and the Holy Spirit are ways to explain God perceptually.
The Father is the perpetual God which no one can see. The
Son, is Christ, who lived life on earth as God. The Son is
God on earth. The Holy Spirit is the energy that resonates
from Christ and God that is within everyone and everything
in the world.
Thich Nhat Hahn discusses that the similarity between
Mindfulness and the Holy Spirit is that both are healing
powers. When you have mindfulness, you have love and
understanding, you see more deeply, and you can heal the
wounds in your own mind (14). In the Bible when someone
physically touches Christ he or she is healed of whatever
ailments. Christ as a healer is an example of the
manifestation of the Holy Spirit with in Him. I do not
agree with the similarities of the healing powers of
Mindfulness and the Holy Spirit. Mindfulness is the ability
of one to clear their mind of whatever havoc is causing
them pain. Mindfulness leads to possible Nirvana, taking
one away from the perceptual world. The Holy Spirit is not
an ability to heal; the Holy Spirit is the energy of God
which resides in everything. Jesus is God, who is the Holy
Spirit. If Jesus, God, and the Holy Spirit are one how can
a person be the Holy Spirit? People can be Mindful, but
they can not be the Holy Spirit. Mindfulness does not set
people apart from a higher being. Christians recognize God
and Christ as the Lord. The energy of the Holy Spirit is
with in everyone to help them find a means of healing or
salvation on their own. The Holy Spirit does not directly
heal so therefore, the Holy Spirit is not simply a healing
agent.
I do feel though that Mindfulness can be used to
understand and seek the Holy Spirit as long as it is not
used to leave the perceptual world to hide in Nirvana.
Mindfulness is a way to become aware that selfhood is an
illusion. According to Nhat Hahn, mindfulness reveals the
conditioned nature of people s lives, thoughts, perceptions
and actions. Then by recognizing the conditioned world, one
is able to leave it in order to walk peacefully with in it.
I see it plain and simply as losing your head. The mind
becomes empty and far away. The world is what it is,
chaos, life itself is filled with stress, turbulence,
illness and, unhappiness. Mindfulness does not get rid of
or change the perceptual world, it simply allows one to get
away for awhile. In comparison to Mindfulness, the Holy
Spirit gives people a crutch to lean on and the energy to
transform when they need help. The Holy Spirit does not
offer a place to hide, but rather a way of facing the world
and dealing with it.
Next, Thich Nhat Hanh associates Nirvana with the
Kingdom of God. Buddhists and Christians know that Nirvana
or the Kingdom of God is within our hearts. Buddhist sutras
speak of Buddha nature as the seed of enlightenment that is
already in everyone s consciousness. The Gospels speak of
the Kingdom of God as a mustard seed planted in the soil of
consciousness (167). The Gospels are an emphasis of the
growth of God s kingdom from such a minute origin. How can
Nirvana be compared to the Kingdom of God, when Nirvana is
simply a state of consciousness? Nirvana is an enlightened
state of consciousness where one feels no struggles. The
Kingdom of God is everything physical, psychological,
tangible, and intangible, the perceptual world we live in
today, and the Heaven or Hell we will live in tomorrow. God
is the Creator of all, Heaven and Earth. He and His
creations are not a mere state of mind.
Also, Hanh tends to place people on the same level as
Jesus. We are of the same reality as Jesus. This may
sound heretical to many Christians, but I believe that
theologians who say we are not have to reconsider this.
Jesus is not only our Lord, but he is also our Father, our
Teacher, our Brother, and our Self (44). If Jesus is our
self, then he can not be our Lord because we would be one in
the same. In order to have a Lord or God there has to be a
follower or a believer. Christ or the Holy Spirit resides
within everyone and everything, but everyone and everything
is not God. God is the Creator and therefore, He is only a
part of everything. Many Buddhists are atheists and do not
believe in an everlasting God. This is why Hanh does not
recognize that people are not Jesus and can not become
Jesus. Hanh has overly merged the concept of mindfulness
and becoming mindful with recognizing the Holy
Spirit/Jesus/the Father as simply God.
Overall, in Living Buddha, Living Christ, Thich Nhat
Hanh attempts to connect the religions of Buddhism and
Christianity. I find Buddhism to be extremely contradictory
in its concepts and teachings and an easy way out of
life/reality. I agree with Hahn that people should not be
close minded about other religions, because I believe that
aspects of one religion can supplement another religion.
For example, the concept of Mindfulness in the Buddhist
tradition can be applied to Christianity in a way of just
touching and appreciating life and the world. What I
disagree with is that Mindfulness and the Holy Spirit are
the same. The Holy Spirit is God s energy within everyone
and everything that perpetuates people s lives and the world
around them. Next, Hanh tries to associate Nirvana with the
Kingdom of God. The two are incomparable simply because
Nirvana is more of a state of mind, while the Kingdom of God
encompasses the world and everything in it, whether it be
physical or psychological. Nirvana is a way of almost
attempting to escape God s Kingdom. Finally, Thich Nhat
Hanh writes that Jesus is within ourselves and that many are
just too blind and ignorant to recognize Him. I believe
that everyone is God s child, and that people are a part of
Him, because He is the Creator. It is not possible that
people can become Jesus or exactly like Jesus because then,
there would be no Lord or God. Living Buddha, Living Christ
is an attempt to converge the ideas of Christianity and
Buddhism. The two may supplement each other s concepts, but
their concepts are clearly not the same. As a Christian,
this book has opened my eyes to the likenesses and
differences of Buddhism to Christianity. By learning about
Buddhism in perspective to Christianity I have been able to
reaffirm my beliefs in the Christian Faith.
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