Theism in Buddhism and Christianity
Two great masters Buddha and Jesus. One fetched the title ‘atheist’ (Buddha) and the other ‘theist’ (Jesus). They were dialectically integral but pedagogically critical due to which one got the ‘privilege’ of being the founder of a ‘theistic’ way (Christianity) and the other had to face the ‘ignominy’ of being the founder an ‘atheistic’ way (Buddhism). Both started as ‘Way’. Christianity was initially known as ‘The Way’. Finally both got relegated into a religion. Christianity giving predominant importance to the orthodox dimension of religiosity and Buddhism giving vitality to the orthopraxis realm of religiosity. What is required is to bring the orthodoxy and orthopraxy dimensions together to break the cocoon of religion and reclaim the fragrance of the Way. This is an attempt to bring together the thoughts of either master on theism. Buddha and Jesus There has always been an argument that Buddha rejected the notion of God and so he was even calle...