Was Buddha a bad person?

[AxisofOddity]

My friend's argument about him was that Buddha came from a non-Christian/Jewish area and that he was someone who developed philosophy for the suffering.

I normally can't agree with my friend's words because it seems unlikely that a person claiming to reincarnate and return to this world on his own was good.

My friend claims she's still Christian. Is it still possible that she is while believing Buddha was good?

 

[Dicy mind]

Hi. Actually no one is good except God. And no one can pay the dept of his own sins nor any one else's no matter how good life he has lived because all have sinned and fall short in the glory of God. This was only possible to Jesus who lived a perfect life according to the will of our heavenly Father and He was able to overcome death.

I hope this helps. Tell me if you need verse references from the Bible.

God bless.

 

[Onlythingavailable]

Mark 10:18:
18And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.


I believe everyone is a sinner, and our only way to receive forgiveness is through Jesus Christ. I also believe that if Buddha never got a chance to accept Christ in his life on earth, God will somehow still give him one.

I think that whether or not your friend is a Christian is more dependent on her belief in God and Jesus than on what she thinks of Buddha.

 

[cuji]

Why don't you read some Buddhist books and find out for your self rather than be fed biased opinions by others?

I read a Buddhist book and its great,its not like the Bible or anything but it's a great book nonetheless.

The Tibetan book of Living and Dying by Sogyal Rinpoche is a book written from a very compassionate view,i don't agree with it all but i don't agree with a lot of things. Buddhisms not a religion,nor am i a Buddhist,I'm a Christian but to dismiss anything on the word of a few people let alone strangers over the net is just foolish.

 

[swill8295]

My friend's argument about him was that Buddha came from a non-Christian/Jewish area and that he was someone who developed philosophy for the suffering.

I normally can't agree with my friend's words because it seems unlikely that a person claiming to reincarnate and return to this world on his own was good.

My friend claims she's still Christian. Is it still possible that she is while believing Buddha was good?

1 John 2:18-27

Warning Against Antichrists

18Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour. 19They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.

20But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth.[d] 21I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth. 22Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the antichrist—he denies the Father and the Son. 23No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.
24See that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. 25And this is what he promised us—even eternal life. 26I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray. 27As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him.

Colossians 2:8

See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.

James 3:13-18

Two Kinds of Wisdom

13Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. 14But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. 15Such "wisdom" does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. 16For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.
17But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. 18Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness.

 

[Solidlyhere]

Was the Buddha a bad man?

Many people in history were good people.
In America we respect many Americans as wonderful people.
Presidents like Washington and Lincoln.
Inventors like Thomas Edison.
A pilot like Charles Lindburg.

So, were they also bad people?
Well, certainly no one is perfect.

Whatever else the Buddha did in his Life, his last 49 years were spent teaching people to Love others, and Love themselves.
He taught to respect each Human Being, and respect nature, and the World.

When a person has inner peace, he can Love his Life.
He can treat others well, because his Peace is solid.

Jesus taught a different message than Buddha: Love God deeply, and Love others as much as I Love myself.
Jesus Christ provided us the Way into Inner Peace -- Love God deeply.
When I am feeling Love in my heart, the whole World is beautiful.
So, I spent time each day specifically devoted to Love God.
This gives me few minutes of deep Love, and re-charges my Love batteries.
Afterwards -- for a few minutes -- the World is a little brighter, more hopeful.

A Buddhist uses Meditation to achieve a similar thing.
Each person is a piece of God, including him.
So he works at giving Love to himself, at the level a Christian could feel to God.

The important thing is to Love.
Jesus says: "Love God, Love others." . . . I am an "other" too.
Feeling Love for some of each day is a good thing.
Like the Beatles said: "All you need is Love."
A little bit goes a long way.

The Buddha certainly obeyed the 10 Commandments.
This isn't because he was Jewish, but because he treated everyone with respect.

So, depending on the exact definition of "bad," I would say that the Buddha was not a bad man.

 

[heron]

From what I know of Buddha, he did not claim deity or incarnation. He simply valued and pursued enlightenment. It was certian groups of followers that elevated him to a higher, more supernatural level.

It seems that modern-day western devotees of Buddhism don't see him (Siddhartha Gautama )as a deity, where some traditional groups do... or see a Buddha as a watchful guide.

Some religions speak of many Buddhas (meaning "awakened").

The thing that's tricky for us to grasp, is that we tend to think of all religions as claiming one god, or a handful of gods...where in Budhhism, dieties don't seem to be supreme.

-unclear sentence omitted-

 

[Robinsegg]

1. Can a person be mistaken about someone being a good person and still be a Christian? Yes. Just because we're mistaken about someone else's character or spiritual position does not impact our relationship with Christ.

2. Could Buddha have gone to Heaven? There's an in-house debate about that one. I believe that God will reveal Himself to anyone really searching for Truth (He's revealed in nature, in space, etc.) Could Buddha have been searching for Truth enough to find God? Perhaps.

Rachel

 

[Sketcher]

The danger we fall into when we start calling these people "good" is that on some level, we start to buy into works-based salvation and salvation apart from Jesus Christ. This is not Christianity. Bhudda did not worship God, and he taught false doctrines. Bhudda didn't get any more or any less of a shot than a heathen thief, murderer, swindler, or rapist from his country. Whether they were all "spirits in prison" or not, I won't know until I meet the Lord.

The Buddha certainly obeyed the 10 Commandments.
This isn't because he was Jewish, but because he treated everyone with respect.

You sure about that?

"I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me."

 

[AxionEsti]

I see nothing wrong with studying about a person's life, history and the like. Worshipping Buddha is another matter.

heron: I take offense at your last paragraph. If you have never lost a member of your family, or friend, then I guess you will never understand that the Church is whole, and that God is a God of the living, not the dead.

 

[silentpoet]

I think Buddha had good intentions. And you know which road is paved with good intentions. In so much as his teachings do lead people away from Jesus, I can't call them good. I think it is likely that buddha is in hell.

 

[heron]

heron: I take offense at your last paragraph. If you have never lost a member of your family, or friend, then I guess you will never understand that the Church is whole, and that God is a God of the living, not the dead.

I am confused by this sentence, and will gladly remove what I said... but please clarify, especially "the church is whole." I have lost plenty of family members.

My reason for stating it was not to insult anyone's beliefs (and I realize any and all could find offense somewhere in there), but to try to analyze how millions of people through the ages could get the idea of powers in praying to multiple buddhas/dieties.

I am a Christian, but know that people of many religions have experienced supernatural power -- good and bad -- through minor beings. I don't see these supernatural beings with power as completely predictable, or even well-meaning. Many reports and legends show beings that work against humans, or trick them into trust.

Christianity explains them as demons that we need to understand and take authority over. Christianity also speaks of angels of course, but also cherubim, seraphim, the devil, familiar spirits, and maybe more that got lumped together in translations. I think that when people see these powers at work, they decide to fear or at least recognize their influence on people's lives. The same entities always exist, no matter what people call them.

In the case of Buddha, he searched for enlightenment and wanted to convey his findings to others. When he died, people wanted more... and I think that spirits walked right in to the situation, to offer more... possibly to make it seem as though Buddha was still with them in spirit form.

I am not trying to be right, or presenting a fully educated angle of the story. I'm just addressing the "claiming to reincarnate" in the OP.

 

[Elijah2]

Don't get in discussions with others, particularly Christians who have no foundation in HIS WORD, on other gods or religions, because it will cause nothing but grief.

Now there is only one Almighty God, and HE is our Lord Jesus Christ.

Now Buddha is buried and in that grave is bones.

Now our Lord Jesus Christ has no grave and there are no bones. So why get involved with those sorts of discussion, particularly with a person who is claiming to be a Christian as you say.

Don't go down that track. Keep your focus on HIM and fight a good fight of faith.

 

[heron]

Don't get in discussions with others, particularly Christians who have no foundation in HIS WORD, on other gods or religions, because it will cause nothing but grief.

Yeah, it gets to be a battle of who is righter.

A way you could approach discussions... Siddhartha Gautama was a respected teacher, philosopher, seeker of wisdom, leader against injustice, who had studied under other teachers -- similarly to Plato, Oprah, MLKing, King Solomon, John Locke, the apostle Paul, and Mother Theresa.

We don't worship the people, but learn from their messages.

People read their teachings with respect, and learn from them. A person doesn't have to follow a religion in order to appreciate or gain a little from one and a little from another.

Buddha fasted to the point of ematiation, and then a revelation spilled out, of how to handle poverty. Similar things happen to Christians when they fast and pray. He sought an answer and persevered. We can respect his determination to defend people and his decision to take action.

I believe that God continually intervenes in all areas of the world, trying to show people ways to prevent injustices and oppression of the poor. Who knows if God might have even been the one to intervene when Siddhartha had his eureka moment.

People always have a tendency to worship the deliverer of the message instead of the Source. Some Christians "worship" humans now, in following favorite teachers, whose words they never question.

 

[malckiah]

Hello friend, i will try to make this short and sweet...
To answer your question there are two perspectives....man's and God's.

To a person who lived around buddha they probably percieved him as good.

But in a godly perspective....buddha is like the guy who drives up to your kid on his way home from school with a big smile and kind voice and says....Would you like some candy?
The end result for following buddha is death and hell.....buddha exalted himself to a status of god...then spread a false belief based on his own opinions and thoughts.....Do you think that's good......i do not!

I would strongly advice against the idea of reading and learning about him as you may start to take on some of the ideas as reality or fact. Indeed some things will seem to make sense to your mind, but they are indeed false.
As The Bible says, beinnocent concerning what is evil, but wise concerning what is good.

If you look at the original greek this was written in.....it is saying to stay away from evil all together.

 

[AxisofOddity]

Thank you. I read through this thread and realized the point some of you guys made: "Buddha tried to raise himself to the level or esteem of God".

In my gut I knew Buddha was wrong. I'm glad I have the affirmation.

 

[iannassah]

"They provoked Him to jealousy with foreign gods;​

With abominations they provoked Him to anger.
They sacrificed to demons,
not to God,
To gods they did not know,
To new gods, new arrivals
That your fathers did not fear."
Dueteronomy 32:16 & 17​

Isn't buddha a 'god" in some other countries?
According to this verse wouldn't he be considered a demon?
i've never heard of a demon being good....​

 

[ephraimanesti]

My friend's argument about him was that Buddha came from a non-Christian/Jewish area and that he was someone who developed philosophy for the suffering.

I normally can't agree with my friend's words because it seems unlikely that a person claiming to reincarnate and return to this world on his own was good.

My friend claims she's still Christian. Is it still possible that she is while believing Buddha was good?

MY FRIEND,

The Buddha was the third greatest teacher the world has ever known.

However, he was not the Son of God and the Savior of the world.

This does not make him "bad"--just incomplete.

A BOND-SLAVE OF CHRIST,
ephraim

 

[Solidlyhere]

The Buddha taught people to Love, and respect.

This is pretty good stuff.

Just because his Afterlife teaching is different than Christianity, doesn't take away from what his Mission was: Teach others to have greater Compassion and respect for people, and live a humble Life.

Please let's NOT turn this Thread into Buddha-bashing.
The OP is: Is this person a bad man.
He lived 500 years before Jesus Christ.
He taught people to pray, and to meditate ... to find inner peace.

Some of his teachings are certainly NOT Christian, but he taught people to live a peaceful Life.

I am not about to become a Buddhist, but I have met a few Buddhists (and one long-time friend), and they seem to be humble and non-confrontative . . . definitely low-maintenance.

I feel sorry that every non-Christian hasn't seen-the-Light.
But I am happy that at least these people aren't society's Drug Addicts, bank robbers and child molesters.

I wish that some of my Christian friends could learn to be a little more humble and kind.

 

[Robinsegg]

Maybe I didn't answer the OP directly.
Was Buddha a good person?
I didn't know him. What I know of him would suggest that he was a positive person who positively effected his culture. I don't know of any untoward actions he made or any specifically negative impacts he had on his society. However, I've not researched him well.

Rachel