| Buddhism |
Christianity |
| Those who, relying upon themselves only, shall not look for assistance to any one besides themselves, it is they who shall reach the topmost height.[1] |
“Thus says the Lord, ‘Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind and makes flesh his strength, and whose heart turns away from the Lord'” (Jeremiah 17:5). |
| By this ye shall know that a man is not my disciple–that he tries to work a miracle.[2] |
“But many of the multitude believed in Him; and they were saying, ‘When the Christ shall come, He will not perform more signs than those which this man has, will He?'” (John 7:31). |
| “One thing I teach,” said Buddha: “suffering and the end of suffering….It is just ill and the ceasing of ill that I proclaim.”[3] |
“But to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing; so that also at the revelation of His glory, you may rejoice with exultation. Therefore, let those also who suffer according to the will of God entrust their souls to a faithful Creator in doing what is right” (1 Peter 4:13, 19). |
| The self we think to be true and important is pure illusion, and a lie that is the cause of a large proportion of human suffering.[4] |
“And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” “Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being” (Genesis 1:27; 2:7). |
| Perhaps the greatest difference between Buddhism and Christianity is that Buddhism very explicitly does not require an act of faith.[5] |
“And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6). |
| There is no permanent self in Buddhism. In fact, nothing is permanent.[6] |
“Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom and Thy dominion endures throughout all generations.” “But Thou, O Lord, dost abide forever” (Psalm 145:13; 102:12a) |
| Do not believe in that which you have yourselves imagined, thinking that a god has inspired it.[7] |
“All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). |
| According to Buddhism the universe evolved, but it did not evolve out of nothingness; it evolved out of the dispersed matter of a previous universe, and when this universe is dissolved, its dispersed matter–or, its residual energy which is continually renewing itself–will in time give rise to another universe in the same way. The process is therefore cyclical and continuous. The universe is composed of millions of millions of world-systems like our solar system, each with its various planes of existence.”[8] |
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” “By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible” (Genesis 1:1; Hebrews 11:3). |
