Cross Cultural Understanding Part 1

Non-Buddhist don't really understand what's going on inside Buddhist cultures, Buddhist families and Buddhist lives. Most Buddhists also don't really know what Christianity or the Bible is all about. They sometimes perceive each other as enemies, which is simply not the case~ What I intend write in the following is to emphasize are the many largely unrecognized similarities between Buddhism and Christianity, which serve as a bridge for cross-cultural understanding. Thai terms be used here, and their definition or explanation will be stated.

Firstly, we should start with a famous word/term which Buddhist love to say; karma. Karma will follow people from their past life of sins and Buddhists' belief that karma always follow them. It will follow them forever until somehow it is paid for. Thai Buddhists called it as wain gum or the revenge of the karma. To free yourself from karma, the monk may advise you to meditate, then sadau kro. Sadau kro requires performance of a good deed that usually involves buying something; eg. buying birds or eels and releasing them. This probably descended from the Old Testament practice (from the Bible) of releasing the scapegoat into wilderness (Lev:16:22) and releasing a clean bird dipped in blood into the open field (Lev:14:6). The Old Testament practice predated Buddha by 3000years, and was codified by the time of Moses 1000 years before Buddha. Southeast Asia, doesn't have native goats, they substituted the Biblical practice with other things; like pigs, chicken, eels, or even flower.If you are unable to sadau kro, then become a nun/monk to pay off your sins. What Christian believed in is, God has sent His One and ONLY son to die for us. Jesus was crucified, bared our sins and His blood washes off our sins.

Karma is always retributive. The self-blame, the fear of karmic revenge, the hopelessness of never being set free from a curse, all add stress and uncertainty to a Buddhist life. Please do not think that a typical Buddhist is living in harmony with nature or floating on a cloud of peace. The doctrine of karma does not usually produce compassion, but condemnation. A sincere Buddhists will try to purify themselves of their own karma and keep all 227 laws of Buddha (for men) and 311 laws for women. This produces even more condemnation when they realize the cannot do it. However, This doesn't mean that Buddhist will not need to hear the Gospel that Christians have to share with them. This is because Buddhism is a set of practices, not a set of answers. Buddhism does not answer the questions of the origin of the universe, the origin of demons, the origin of mankind, the beginning or ending of karma. It merely states that karma comes from our inward lusts, but it doesn't tell us why we have them. The issue of a "First Cause" is completely ignored! But the Bible tells them all. So please do refer to your Christian friends for all the blank answers. The Biblical account will fill gap that Buddhism leaves wide open.

Thank you for your patience to read this article...More of such articles will be written and summarized from the book from Buddha to Jesus   by Steve Cioccolanti. Next article will be related to misunderstandings about Buddhism and Christianity, the concept "Luck" and "First Cause".