Questions to Master Deshimaru

Question

What is the difference between the Passion of Christ and the Compassion of Buddha?

Answer

Christ opposed the government of his day. A true man of religion should oppose bad policy. He sacrifices himself for others. If Christ had not been crucified Christianity would not have developed; that's why the Cross is important. Afterward, the apostles spread and organized his teaching and cultivated a spirit of compassion in regard to his cruel death. Christ's death created the force of their mission. For Christ and for Buddha, universal love is important. Compassion means love and understanding of the other's mind: if someone is suffering one must feel "sympathy" with that person. Most people are envious, though, which is the opposite of compassion. If somebody is happy or successful we are happy with him; if he is sad, so are we. At bottom, passion and compassion are not different. Buddha was old, he felt compassion; Christ was young and what he lived was a passion. Christ had less experience of life; that is the only difference. When you read the Bible it is all very moral. When young people read the sutras they find many contradictions in them because they include so many things, left side, right side. Christ is beauty, purity, emotion; the moralizing side of Christianity is very tough, very strong. In Buddhism it is, too, hut in the end all illusions become satori. Buddha had many experiences, palace life, lots of women, then six years of mortification. In the end he was half dead. Under the Bodhi tree he was tempted and harassed by all kinds of inner demons. When there was nothing left of him but the skin on his bones Sujata took care of him and gave him milk every day; thanks to this woman, little by little, Buddha recovered his love for real life, his body returned to its normal condition and his mind too: satori. Balance is important. Too much pleasure and too much self-denial are both bad. After experiencing true life and true freedom he founded Buddhism, and Buddhism did not agree with the traditional religions, which were too ascetic or moralistic in those days. The kai, the precepts, came later; and when Hinayana Buddhism became too formalistic Mahayana Buddhism created a new wisdom, which also became too deeply entrenched in traditions in the end. Religions must always be alive, they must not create categories that make the brain narrow and complicated. Religion is not science, it does not need categories.