Thoughts on Judaism and Buddhism

 I recently tangentially posted on Buddhism and Judaism and Micha made an important comment:

"Take Buddhism, strip out the pre-Buddhist deities.

One now has a religion that claims to have no god, but rather talks about everything being illusion and instead there is a single unifying Buddha nature.

Open the Tanya, and compare to the Alter Rebbe's take on yeish meiAyin (capital "a" intentional). -- I originally threw a lehavdil in there, but how do I say "compare" and "lehavdil" in the same sentence?

For that matter, is a memutzah hamechubar all that different than a buddha?

I'm not saying that L since "Atzmus" actually is Buddhism. However, it's hard to see how one can be Torah and the other altogether avodah zarah.

-micha"

In response, I point out that Eastern religions are generally hard for Westerners to understand and get their heads around. This is because they are not theologically defined, in words, concepts and books, but are rather experiential, with meditation as the tool of this experience. One either knows and understands or not. For someone not brought up within the experiential framework of Buddhism, it will always remain an enigma. With that said, we must remember that, as R. Arye Kaplan used to say, Judaism is also an Eastern religion. If not for its encounter with the Greco-Roman world, would Judiasm possess a well-worked out rational theology, or would it have remained an intensely personal and national religion that one is either brought up in and "gets", or not?

Yes, Zen speaks of Buddha consciousness or Buddha reality, but it is something that is known through experiencing it in meditaton. Attempting to compare it to any Jewish concept is ultimately misleading because words and inner states do not speak the same language.

Finally, even if there were similar or shared concepts in both religions, bringing them together commits the sin of syncretism. I am certain that the Jewish worshippers of Baal also had a way in which their worship of Baal could be joined seamlessly, at least in their own mind,  with their Jewish commitments. The bottom line is that seeking for Truth in Buddhism violates many central Jewish beliefs, such as centrality of Torah, Election of Israel, and primacy of Jewish historical and communal experience over individual advancement and salvation.

Comments

[Micha]

To my mind, the prior difference is that they speak of a property of all of existence, that they say isn't really an adjective but the only real reality -- Buddha Nature.

We speak of a Creator Who has a Purpose in "Mind".

I referred to this distinction when I open about Buddhism claiming to have no god. I should have made it more explicit.

However, I think it's logically prior to the pragmatic difference (nafqa mina), but explains it. In Buddhism one is seeking the hidden, in Judaism one is fulfilling the purpose of creation.

And yet still, is that distinction really sufficient to define one as idolatry (I really mean the broader category of avodah zara) and one as a proper path to Torah? It would appear to me that halachically, Buddhism would fall under belief in a cause of creation that has no purpose, which is actually sufficient for complying to the covenent with Noah. (Assuming that compliance is meaningful without doing it for the sake of compliance. What the Rambam would call "the Wise of the Nations" as opposed to the "Pious of the Nations".)

As for Jewish Theology... Noachides are expected to believe. Okay, the specificity of what they have to believe is far broader, but still... To me that argues that we believe it's possible to "get it" without absorbing the right world-view culturally.

RML, have a great Shabbos!
-micha

[avakesh]

These are perceptive comments...but...Buddhism does not have a boundary around its ideas; the Buddha nature is expressed and represented as well in idols as in the absence of idols. There is no concept of exclusivity, of One G-d as opposed to the many facets of the Divine. For this reason it is functionaly and essentially an idolatrous religion.

[Yehonasan]

"For they bow down to hevel and rik" (from the Aleinu)
This must refer to Buddhists...
That is, they bow down to emptiness, the void.

[Nalliah Thayabharan]

Nepal born Buddha’s mother Maha Maya was Jewish. She belongs to the lost tribe that went up the Himalayas. Maya is a Hebrew name. During Buddha’s era, Jews are referred as Juthaka Bamuns. Bamuna means middle class or Upper class. During Buddha's funeral his nephews lit the fire for the cremation. Buddha's nephews had family name Lichavi and which is a Jewish name. Buddha's cousin was Davidath which is a Jewish name very similar to nowadays "Deviduff". Buddha’s family is a tribe by the name Astecs.
The influence of Buddhism is profoundly changing the worship at several synagogues. Some Jews meditate before prayer services and Buddhist practices can open spiritual doors to enhance Jewish tradition. Judaism and Buddhism are not complementary ideologies that always fit snugly inside one another since Jews believe in God, and Buddhists believe in no God.
- Nalliah Thayabharan