Buddhism & Christianity meet...

My Agora friend posted a good paper on The Cross and the Lotus: A Dialogue on Sufferings.
I cut and paste my comment for him here.

Wow, well done Jack! This is a quality presentation. In my primary school, Buddhism was a compulsory subject. We were given the original teaching of Siddharta Gautama, not the evolved ones. For a period of time I was quite attracted by the teaching, and by the moral example of my Buddhist teacher who became a monk later on. But I was quite confused by all the different versions of Buddhism I saw in my family (mixed with ancestor worships) and my Buddhist friends who pass on different stuffs. From your presentation, I have a deeper appreciation of those teaching I received in the past and clearer understanding of its development. We can definitely learn more on this topic since it is a top-growing religion/system of thought now.

In my understanding, Buddhism concept of the essence of life is sufferings. The purpose is to get out of this wheel of reincarnation by mortifying all your desires. That is why ascetism is encouraged as a higher way of life to reach Nirvana faster.

Christianity has a far higher and balanced view of life, in that we acknowledge both the beauty and the darkness of the world. We are taught self-denial, not to kill our desires, but to sanctify them. We are to detach ourselves from the world, but unlike Buddhism where 'nothingness' is bliss, we are to attach unto Christ, where all our thoughts and emotions finally find their rest and Home.

I think, philosophies of the world can give some concepts of ideals but when it come to practice we are all perplexed in contraditions. Christianity on the other hand, presents to us not an abstract ideal, but a Man, in flesh and blood and bone, the unity of the ideal and the real.