Engaging Buddhism on its strongest version

Buddhism is non theistic in its earliest (Theravada) form. The Four Noble Truths: life involves dukkha (suffering, unsatisfactoriness); the cause of dukkha is tanha (craving); cessation of craving leads to cessation of dukkha; the Eightfold Path is the way. The metaphysical framework: anatta (no permanent self), anicca (impermanence), dependent origination.

The substantive points of disagreement with Christianity. The diagnosis of the human problem. Buddhism: the root problem is craving. Christianity: the root problem is broken relation with God and others (sin, understood relationally). The diagnoses overlap, but they differ in what suffering is for. On Buddhism, suffering is to be transcended by detachment from particular goods. On Christianity, particular goods (family, love, embodiment, history) are real goods to be redeemed, not illusions to be released.

The reality of the self. Anatta holds that the self is a flux of aggregates; Christianity holds that the self is a real, unified, embodied moral agent who will be resurrected, not dissolved. The Christian claim is that moral phenomena (responsibility, identity over time, the unity of experience) are real all the way down.

The status of love. Buddhist compassion (karuna, metta) is universal and equanimous. Christian love (agape) includes universal benevolence but also irreducibly particular love. Jesus loved John specifically, Mary specifically, Lazarus specifically; he wept at Lazarus's tomb. The Christian claim is that particular love is closer to the structure of ultimate reality than equanimous detachment is.

Historical evidence weight: the earliest Buddhist texts are roughly four centuries after the Buddha's death; the earliest Christian creed is within five years of the crucifixion. This is not by itself decisive but it matters for evidential weight.

Aloysius Pieris, Paul Williams, and others have engaged Christian Buddhist dialogue at length. The site engages on specific substantive questions, not on the worth of Buddhist contemplative achievement.

Reading

• Aloysius Pieris, An Asian Theology of Liberation, 1988.
• Paul Williams, The Unexpected Way: On Converting from Buddhism to Catholicism, 2002.
• Keith Yandell and Harold Netland, Buddhism: A Christian Exploration and Appraisal, 2009.