Buddhist and Christian Parallels - Rene Salm

Buddhist and Christian Parallels

Compiled from the Earliest Scriptures

by

Ren¨¦ Salm

---------?¡°You shall love your neighbor as yourself.?¡±

Mt 19:19

As a mother at the risk of her life

Watches over her own child, her only child,

So let one cultivate a loving heart

Towards all beings.

Sn 149

---------? 2004 Ren¨¦ Salm

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Buddhist and Christian Parallels

Compiled by

Ren¨¦ Salm

Buddhist citations of the D?gha, Majjhima, and Samyutta Nik?yas are from The Teachings of the Buddha

(Wisdom Publications, Boston, 1987, 1995, 2000); citations of the Anguttara and Khuddaka Nik?yas are

from the Pali Text Society editions (London, 1932-48).

Canonical Biblical citations are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible.

Noncanonical citations are from New Testament Apocrypha, ed. W. Schneemelcher (Louisville, 1990)

__________

?¡°Future historians will consider the meeting of Buddhism and Christianity at their deepest levels

as the most important single event of this century.?¡±

-- Arnold Toynbee (ca. 1960)

?¡°The sacred books of the early Buddhists have preserved for us the sole record of the only religious

movement in the world?¡¯s history which bears any close resemblance to early Christianity.?¡±

-- T.W. Rhys Davids

Preface

Thirty years ago, as a young American college graduate, I first read in the Buddhist scriptures and felt

the grandeur and thrill of these writings at once strange yet strangely familiar. Persons and places bore

curious names, references were mystifying, and even the English translations were unidiomatic, stilted,

and abstruse. However, a sublime cadence resonated through those verses, unassuming and unhurried, as

limpid and refreshing as a cool mountain stream.

For the next twenty years it was my joy to rest beside this stream, reading in the Buddhist scriptures

twice daily, the first thing in the morning and the last at night. Thus, my days seemed secured between

two powerful supports. Eventually, twenty volumes of Buddhist scriptures lay closed on the shelf,

annotated with comments, references, and parallels to the Christian scriptures.

Over the years, it has become clear to me?¡ªas it has to some others?¡ªthat, like two paths to one

summit, both the Christian and the Buddhist traditions announce fulfillment through love, renunciation,

effort, meekness, and purity. The two scriptural traditions radiate the same brilliance, bestow the same

refreshment, and resonate with the same eternal cadence.

?¡°Let those who have ears to hear, listen!?¡± said the Christ. ?¡°I proclaim a teaching,?¡± said the Buddha,

?¡°that is thoroughly beneficial?¡ªin its beginning, in its middle, and in its ending.?¡± It is my hope that this

work may help us hear this beneficial teaching, that we might refresh ourselves in this stream of Truth so

eloquently proclaimed by these two great Revealers.

Ren¨¦ Salm

January 2004

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Buddhist and Christian Parallels

Compiled by

Ren¨¦ Salm

Contents

Foreward by Lindsay Falvey, PhD.

Introduction

1. On Love

2. On Giving

3. On Service

4. The Peacemaker

5. Contrary Laws

6. The Two Paths

7. The Difficult Way

8. Not of the World

9. ?¡°The Kingdom of God is Within You?¡±

10. Life Unseen

11. On Renunciation

12. The True Conquest

13. Satisfied with Little

14. On Poverty

15. On Homelessness

16. The Emptiness of Wealth

17. On Riches

18. On Ostentation

19. On Empty Learning

20. The Rain Falls On All

21. The Commandments

22. On Adultery

23. On Stealing

24. On Killing

25. On Lying

26. Honoring One?¡¯s Parents

27. Karma, or The Golden Rule

28. On Defilement

29. Inner Cleansing

30. Poor and Good Soil

31. Seed/Tree and Fruit

32. Hidden Made Manifest

33. Physical and Spiritual Injury

34. True Relatives

35. On Works

36. Finding Fault in Others

37. Offending the Innocent

38. On Anger

39. The Spiritually Dead

40. On Repentance

41. On Meekness

42. The Holy Sufferer

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Buddhist and Christian Parallels

Compiled by

Ren¨¦ Salm

43. On Watchfulness

44. On Speech

45. On Succinct Speech

46. Entrapment with Words

47. The Sending of the Disciples

48. The Companion

49. Parables of Accomplishment

50. A Haven of Rest

51. Spiritual Perception

52. Let Your Light Shine

53. With All One?¡¯s Being

54. On Perfection

55. The Passer-by

56. The Truth Will Make You Free

57. The Beneficial Teaching

Appendix: The Way

Index of citations

Abbreviations

Christian citations:

Jn

Gospel of John

Lk

Gospel of Luke

Mk

Gospel of Mark

Mt

Gospel of Matthew

POxy Papyrus Oxyrhynchus

Th

Gospel of Thomas

Buddhist citations:

A

Anguttara Nik?ya

D

D?gha Nik?ya

Dh

Dhammapada

DhC Chinese Dhammapada

It

Itivuttaka

M

Majjhima Nik?ya

S

Samyutta Nik?ya

ThG Therag?th?

Ud

Ud?na

Uv

Ud?navarga

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Buddhist and Christian Parallels

Compiled by

Ren¨¦ Salm

Foreword

Rarely are we offered the considered insights of a fellow searcher expressed in the spiritual

language of the great traditions. This is what we are offered here¡ªinsights of essential truths

expressed in two ancient cultural forms. One form, the Christian gospels, is familiar at varying

levels of consciousness to most of us in the West; the other is the scriptures of Buddhism, the

fastest growing religion in the West.

In presenting sections of scriptures from Buddhism and Christianity that exhibit similar or

the same intent, Ren¨¦ Salm is offering us the most special gift of spiritual guidance. He has

?¡®tested these in his own experience?¡¯ as the Buddha taught, rather than accepting common or

cultural interpretations simply because they have been handed down by elders. The Parallels are

not simply scriptures that have the same literal meaning, though they may in many cases, but are

Ren¨¦¡¯s own experience of a unified essence.

We may understand the compilation as a fulfillment of A.N. Whitehead¡¯s observation that...

The Buddha gave his doctrine to enlighten the world: Christ gave his life. It is for Christians to

discern the doctrine. Perhaps in the end the most valuable part of the doctrine of the Buddha is

its interpretation of his life. But we may also understand it as more; for the expansion of

Buddhism in the West has brought with it cultural accretions that are no more consistent with the

Buddha¡¯s teachings than teachings of a post-mortem geographical heaven are consistent with

Jesus¡¯ insights. Thus Ren¨¦ is a guide not only to those of us who find spiritual encouragement in

such parallels, but also to both Buddhist and Christian practitioners who struggle to reconcile

their own inner feelings with their tradition?¡¯s dogma.

The humble presentation of The Parallels eschews the usual exegetical approach.

Occasional footnotes assist with some original meanings, but it is chapter headings and their

sequence that provide the primary cue to the spiritual meanings that Ren¨¦ has seen. From these

two factors alone, one might attempt a sequential guide to truth; but Ren¨¦ has understood that we

must each experience the essence ourselves rather than read other¡¯s distillations, and I therefore

offer nothing more beyond gratitude for his act of loving-kindness.

Appended to the collation is ?¡®The Way,?¡¯ Ren¨¦¡¯s personal summary of his steps along the

path. I am particularly pleased that he agreed to include this as a further guide of the way that has

been indicated by true prophets across traditions and ages. To ponder The Parallels is to open

ourselves to that Way, our own Way¡ªso, may we all take our own first steps and so allow our

own Way to become ever clearer.

Lindsay Falvey

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