SUMMARY
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A Comparative Analysis of Buddhism and Christianity（Part II）
- With a Focus on the Concepts of "Unattachment" in Buddhism
And "Renunciation" in Christianity Masanobu JOFUKU
The traditional approach to comparative religious studies has been to focus on direct comparisons of the
religious doctrines of each religion. However, it is the opinion of the author that the true nature of a religion
is expressed through the state of mind and virtues which the religion holds as ideals in terms of religious
faith and practice. Based on this understanding, the author wrote part I of "A Comparative Analysis of
Buddhism and Christianity," which compared the concepts of "unattachment" and "renunciation." This
paper (Part II) evaluates how Buddha and Jesus approached issues regarding“the founder of the religion and
the religious organization “ and “God and Buddha." In addition, Eckhart' s philosophy of “renunciation"
is evaluated as part of the overall comparison of Christianity and Buddhism.
First, according to Kasahara (a historian of religious thought, also referred to in Part I of this paper), Jesus
did not think of himself as Christ or the founder of a religion. In addition, he suggests that due to the
misunderstandings of his disciples, Jesus wanted to free himself from the religious organization that he had
created. It is also thought that Jesus did not actually have any intention of acting as the ruler of his religious
organization. In the same way, Buddha clearly stated that he was not the leader of the monks/nuns, and that
he had never felt that the monks/nuns were reliant on him. Therefore, if one accepts Kasahara' s theory that
Jesus did not have the intention of acting as the leader of his religious organization, then we can see that
Jesus and Buddha were similar in that neither of them had the concept that they should stand at their head of
their religious organizations.
Next, regarding "God and Buddha," Kasahara notes that Eckhart has written that one must achieve
renunciation from God in order to come in contact with God. However, on this point it is not clear how Jesus
felt. Now, according to Buddhist thought it is essential to eliminate all attachments. This was most strongly
expressed by Rinzai, who stated that "if you meet the Buddha, kill him; if you meet a patriarch, kill him."
This of course does not literally mean "to kill." The concept being expressed is that one must not be attached
to even the Buddha and the patriarchs, who are usually the subject of religious faith and worship. In this
case, the word "kill" means to "eliminate psychological attachment."
Next, in Eckhart' s work, he describes "abegescheidenheit" ("renunciation") as the ultimate virtue. A
comparison of his "renunciation" and the Buddhist idea of "unattachment" shows that they are at least highly
similar concepts, if not the exact same thing. In addition, it is also understood that many of Eckhart' s ideas,
such as his analysis of the rebirth of suffering, are extremely similar to the teachings of Buddha.
As described above, there are strong similarities between the renunciation that Kasahara has found in Jesus'
way of life, the philosophy of renunciation as espoused by Eckhart, and the Buddhist concepts of
unattachment and sunya. These similarities exist on a philosophical level as a form of religious virtue, as
well as actual religious practice.
Therefore, if one accepts Eckhart' s concept of renunciation, then while there may be differences in their
history and the subjects of their faith, one can see that Buddhism and Christianity share similar ideals in
terms of religious life, the path of salvation, religious practices, and the religious way of life. In addition, we
find that these two religious place an emphasis on the same religious virtues. These findings indicate that
Buddhism and Christianity share a common foundation in terms of their approach to religious practices and
faith. Their approach to religious practices and the virtues, which they value, can be summarized with the
word "unattachment" and "renunciation."