Light or enlightenment?
Who is Jesus? part 86 – John 8:12-20
In World War II, there was a blackout. Air Raid Precautions (ARP) wardens were civilians who protected the public from enemy air raids. Bomber pilots were able to see even small amounts of light from over a large area. Light bears witness to itself.
12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” 13 So the Pharisees said to him, “You are bearing witness about yourself; your testimony is not true.” 14 Jesus answered, “Even if I do bear witness about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going. 15 You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one. 16 Yet even if I do judge, my judgement is true, for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father[a] who sent me. 17 In your Law it is written that the testimony of two people is true. 18 I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me.” 19 They said to him therefore, “Where is your Father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.” 20 These words he spoke in the treasury, as he taught in the temple; but no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.
John 8:12-20 ESVUK
Jesus saying, “I am the light of the world,” means that Jesus brings enlightenment. Have you ever heard that? I have, and it worries me. It takes the focus off Jesus as being God in the flesh on earth, and makes him just another teacher. It also reminds me of someone who claimed to have found the path to enlightenment hundreds of years before Jesus, the Buddha.
Buddhist author Thich Nhat Hanh says that his “personal shrine” contains images of both Buddha and Jesus, whom he deems spiritual brothers, both worthy of veneration.
Artem Boytsov, a spiritual teacher at http://www.true-freedom.org, says, “From a Buddhist perspective, Jesus was probably an enlightened Boddhisatva. He was in a state of consciousness which is nowadays often referred to as ‘loving awareness.’ He was overfilled with love, joy, and unconditional acceptance. As well as compassion for other suffering beings. Boddhisatvas know the Buddha, but they are not full Buddhas yet.”
New Testament theologian and Christian author Marcus Borg suggested that Jesus and the Buddha arrived at the same profound spiritual wisdom and ultimate goal. You will find similar views to Borg from Richard Rohr of the Centre for Action and Contemplation.
The Buddha admitted that he was just a man who discovered a path to enlightenment. Is Jesus just the same? Having immersed myself in the Gospel of John for the last three years, I see that Jesus in John’s Gospel is not someone who has achieved enlightenment. He is the God of creation who has come to live in a human body. Jesus does not teach the way to enlightenment; Jesus is enlightenment: Jesus is the light of the world.
Not that there is not a place to mention our similarities, in interfaith dialogue it is good to remind ourselves that people of faith have more in common with each other than we do with the atheist and agnostic people who look more like us than they do. But we don’t say that all religions are the same, we use what we agree on as a starting point into our differences. More than once a Muslim and Hindu colleage has helped me answer questions from an atheist supervisor.
The Buddha’s way of enlightenment is so that others may reach the same enlightenment. Jesus never claims that we will reach his level, but the “in me” passages of the Gospels and the “in Christ” teachings of Paul is not about being in the same physical location, but by being attached to him like a root to a tree,
Buddhist say what you need to do to gain enlightenment, Christians say that Jesus Christ himself has done everything.
Spiritual liberation
Which brings me to the two views of spiritual liberation.
Jesus:
According to Jesus, salvation is found in Him alone: “The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” (Luke 19:10 ESVUK).
Jesus viewed Himself as the only way to restore fellowship with the heavenly Father: “All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” (Matt. 11:27, compare with John 14:6).
Jesus also claimed to be God in human form, as we will see later in this chapter, Johm 8:58.
So Jesus calls on people to follow him and to trust him for forgiveness of sins and eternal life.
Jesus demonstrated that he was the Messiah through the wisdom of his teaching, his fulfillment of Hebrew prophecy, the unparalleled power of His miracles, his authority over the demonic world, his sacrificial death on the cross, and his own resurrection from being dead.
Buddha:
Buddha taught that spiritual deliverance was found by letting go of desire and the quest to satisfy the nonexistent soul, and by detaching oneself from impermanent things. This teaching is the Third Noble Truth.
The Fourth Noble Truth is that salvation is achieved through effort, which Buddha called “the eightfold path.” It requires wisdom (right understanding and thought), ethical conduct (right speech, action, and livelihood), and mental discipline (right effort, awareness, and meditation).
Those who succeed leave the realm of karma and rebirth and attain nirvana, which is the blowing out of the human personality in a state that supposedly cannot be described in words.
Buddha did not claim to bestow this state upon others, he simply pointed toward it. He never claimed to be God moreover; nor did he raise the dead, heal the sick, or cast out demons. At age 80, he died.
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