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The Buddha Did Not Exist, According to Buddhism
Did you know that, according to the teaching of Buddhism, the Buddha (“the Enlightened One”) did not and does not exist?
“According to Buddhism … the Buddha does not exist because … nothing exists.” (Donald S. Lopez, Jr.,From Stone to Flesh: A Short History of the Buddha [Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2013], 220).
Why do Buddhists teach that the Buddha did not exist? According to the Buddhist teaching of anatman, “not-Self … the soul or any form of self or personal identity is an illusion.” You are just a bunch of sense impressions made up of groupings called skandhas. So, according to Buddhism, you are not reading this right now, because you are not real. Your family is also not real. Even Siddhartha Gautama—the Buddha—did not exist, if Buddhism is true. He was just an illusion, like you.
Not all Buddhists ascribe Divine attributes to the Buddha, but many do. Those who do so are worshipping someone who, according to their own religion, does not exist. Christians agree with Buddhists on this point–the divine Buddha does not exist, but for Christians, that the Buddha does not exist seems like a very, very good reason not to ascribe worship to him. That Buddhist meditation is harmful, not helpful would also seem like a significant problem for Buddhism.
The affirmation above is not that information about the historical Buddha is very scarce and unreliable. That is also true. The affirmation above is that, if one grants, for the sake of argument, that Buddhism is true–which it is not–then the Buddha did not exist. Buddhists also do not exist.
To many readers of this blog, the idea that Buddhism teaches that the Buddha did not exist seems almost unbelievable. I wanted to confirm that this is accurate, so I spoke to a Buddhist scholar who teaches Buddhist studies at a prestigious institution (I sought such confirmation for most of the material in The Buddha and the Christ, in addition to seeking to cite sources properly and so on). This significant Buddhist scholar confirmed the accuracy of this information. The Buddha did not exist, according to Buddhism.
You can find out more in my study The Buddha and the Christ: Their Persons and Teachings Compared. (Note: I have updated this pamphlet relatively recently, so if you are using it for evangelism in your church, please make sure you are utilizing the latest version.)
However, just like (according to Buddhism) the Buddha does not exist, you do not exist, either, and you are not reading this right now. Neither does this blog post exist. I will therefore stop writing it right now, especially since I don’t exist, either, according to Buddhism.
–TDR
Evangelistic / Apologetic Pamphlet for Buddhists on Buddhism
Since there are many Buddhists in the San Francisco Bay Area, and not a great deal of literature available to reach them with the gospel of Jesus Christ, I have written an evangelistic pamphlet for Buddhists. You can view it at the link below:
The Buddha and the Christ:
Their Teachings Compared
Because Buddhism does not consider the sovereign, Almighty God important for its religious system, the presentation of the gospel is designed to be especially God-centered, explaining the work of the Trinity to reconcile sinners. It also seeks to assume that someone has no preexisting knowledge of the BIble or of Christianity, as is the case with great numbers of Buddhists.
Both the persons of Buddha and of the Lord Jesus Christ and their respective teachings are compared. The evidence overwhelmingly favors Christ, to the detriment of Buddhism.
If your church does not already have something to evangelize Buddhists, let me encourage you to add it to the resources available on your tract or pamphlet rack. An easy link to keep in mind with many different resources for the various world religions and groups in Christianity is also available here.
Learn when Buddha lived; how much we know about what he did and taught; the evidence, or lack thereof, for the truth of Buddhist Scriptures; the preservation, or lack thereof, of Buddhist Scriptures; the evidence, or lack thereof, for the many teachings of Buddhism; and how these compare to the evidence for the Bible and for the Lord Jesus Christ as the crucified and risen Lord.
–TDR
Eastern / Buddhist Meditation Harms You, Psychologists Agree
In our world today people often assume that meditation, as practiced by Buddhists or other advocates of Eastern religion, is healthy and beneficial. Areas of society where Christian religion are excluded are often open to Eastern meditation, although it is just as religious–albeit a different (and false) religion.
Eastern meditation is diametrically opposed to the godly and Biblical practice of meditation. Eastern meditation involves emptying the mind, while Biblical meditation, commanded in Joshua 1:8, Psalm 1, and many other texts, is a crucial part of the Christian life that involves carefully and actively employing the mind to carefully ponder God and His Word for the purpose of living for God’s glory. Eastern meditation, evaluated by Scripture, opens one up to the influence of demons.
Scripture is sufficient to teach that Eastern meditation is evil and harmful. However, even secular psychologists are now issuing many warnings, warnings that do not get sufficient public notice. Modern psychology itself is unbiblical, dangerous, and has way too much pseudoscience, but it is nevertheless interesting that, for example, Cheetah House, which is affiliated with organizations such as Harvard Medical School, Brown University’s Mindfulness Center, Tufts University, the UK’s National Health Service, has published a list of 59 health dangers from practicing Eastern meditation, as well as compiling an extensive bibliography of peer-reviewed studies discussing the dangers of Eastern meditative techniques. To quote from my pamphlet “The Buddha and the Christ: Their Teachings Compared:
[A] shockingly high percentage of “regular meditators experience negative effects,” and among people who meditated only one time nearly 10% “experienced impaired functioning,” while “nearly 60%” of those who “experienced negative effects … were meditation teachers. Some even required inpatient hospitalization. … People’s demons come out and play[.]” (Christ Lyford, “Is Meditation as Safe as We Think? The Risks We Don’t Talk About.” Psychotherapy Networker 46:1 [January/February 2022] 11-13.)
Many people become Buddhists because of the alleged benefits of Buddhist meditation, rather than because careful study indicates that what Buddha said is actually true. The reality is that what the Buddha taught is not true, and Eastern meditation is harmful, as proven by Scripture and validated by science.
–TDR
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