As a whole, Buddhism has little directly to say about Jesus Christ. It does acknowledge what most men do: that He was a great person. For the most part, however, His Gospel teachings are largely ignored and a more convenient Jesus is accepted: one who, along with the Buddha, smiles serenely. On the other hand, there is a sense in which Buddhism explicitly rejects Jesus Christ. After all, if no "person" exists, then no "personal savior" exists either. So what is there to save? The central message of Christianity (John 3:16) is thus dismissed as remnants of beclouded consciousness.

This explicit rejection of the biblical Jesus is to be expected, for He rejects what Buddhism accepts. The biblical Jesus stresses repentance before God (Matt. 4:17). He believes in a loving, infinite, personal Creator who makes moral demands upon and judges His creatures (Luke 12:5). He denies the possibility of self-perfection and refers to Himself alone as the Savior of the world (Matt. 20:28; 26:28; John 6:29, 47; 14:6). He is God’s unique and only Son (John 3:16,18), and the creator God is His personal Father (John 14:5-6). Spiritual enlightenment and salvation come only by Him (John 14:6) because He is "the true light" of the world (John 1:9; 8:12; 12:46). It is impossible that these could come through Buddha and his philosophy, or through Bodhisattvas and their sacrifice of remaining in the world, or through any other self-achieving method (cf. Matt. 19:24-26). Jesus Christ utterly rejects polytheism and paganism (e.g., Matt. 6:7; 22:37; Luke 4:8). His worldview is thoroughly based on moral absolutes, and it is by His moral standards that all creatures, heavenly and earthly, will be judged and required to give an account (Luke 10:19-20; John 5:22-29; Col. 1:16-18; 1 Cor. 6:3). Jesus accepted the permanency (Matt. 25:46) and utility of suffering in this life (Heb. 2:10; 5:8-9); indeed, it is by Jesus’ suffering alone that the world is redeemed and through which (in part) God sanctifies His people (Phil. 3:10; 1 Pet. 2:21, 24; 3:18; 4:1).

Although ecumenically minded people would find it difficult to accept, the Jesus Christ of history is not merely un-Buddhist but anti-Buddhist. If we could bring Jesus and Buddha together for a discussion, neither Jesus nor Gautama would find the other’s worldview acceptable. According to Christ, Buddha would certainly not have been spiritually enlightened—far from it. His rejection of a creator God would classify him as a pagan unbeliever, however adept he was at philosophical speculation. Jesus would view Gautama as in need of salvation as much as everyone else. Conversely, Buddha would have no need for Christ as Savior, for Buddha taught total, unswerving self-reliance: "Rely upon yourself: do not depend on anyone else." Compare this with Jeremiah 17:5: "Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind and makes flesh his strength and whose heart turns away from the Lord." Thus, in discussing Buddhism’s appeal to modem people, Stephen Neill correctly observes that this appeal is based squarely upon prideful self-sufficiency:

Whereas Theravada views the Buddha as an enlightened man (more enlightened, no doubt, than the biblical Christ, but still a man), Mahayana places Buddha on the level of a divine being who rivals Christ in his deity, although still falling far short of the biblical concept.

The Mahayana text Matrceta Satapancasatkastotra I, 2-4 states of Buddha: "To go to him for refuge, to praise and to honor him, to abide in his religion, that is fit for those with sense. The only Protector, he is without faults or their residues; The all-knowing, he has all the virtues, and that without fail. For even the spiteful cannot find with any justice any fault in the Lord—in his thought, words or deeds."² The Lotus Sutra (Saddharmapundarika) says of him: "He thus becomes the Saviour of the world with its Gods" (XXIV, 17).³

And in the area of miraculous we find another disagreement with Christian faith: "It may be fairly said that Buddhism is not a miraculous religion in the sense that none of its central doctrines depend on miracles."⁴ By contrast how many Christological themes or doctrines depend upon the miraculous? To name just several: messianic prophecy (Psa. 22; Isa. 9:6); the incarnation (Phil. 2); the virgin birth (Matt. 1:25); Christ’s miracles as proof of his Messiahship (Matt. 8:15-17); the miracles associated with the crucifixion (Matt. 27:50-53); the resurrection (Luke 24:36-39); the ascension (Acts 1:9-10); and the second coming (Matt. 24).

Clearly, Buddha and Jesus are not just a little bit short of being friends! The suffering and exaltation of Jesus Christ is hardly equivalent to the serene peacefulness of the Buddha entering nirvana. Jesus came to save the world, not himself (John 12:27). Indeed, Jesus said, "Whoever wants to save his life will lose it" (Matt. 16:25). He obeyed and glorified the very God whom Buddha so contentedly and forcefully rejected (John 17:4).

4 Sir Charles Eliot, Hinduism and Buddhism, Vol. 1 (New York: Barnes and Noble, Inc. 1971), p. 325