A Ramble About Buddha's Choice

Around twenty six hundred years ago there was a prince in India named Gautama Siddharta. His father gave him everything anyone could ever want, and was careful to keep anyone who appeared old or sick away from him, so as to keep the knowledge of sickness and death a secret from him. He was married, wealthy, and powerful. And then within a very short amount of time it all fell apart as he met someone old, someone sick, and finally saw a dead body. He then had to come to grips with the fundamental truth of humanity which his father had tried so hard to keep from him: suffering. Gautama then wrestled with the problem and felt compassion, not only for himself, but for everyone else who had to experience suffering. It drove him to the point where he could no longer stay in the palace, but because he wanted to find the solution so desperately for everyone, he left. He left his wealth, his power, his father, and his young wife and newborn son, the latter doing so in tears, but still he left because he knew they would experience suffering too.

There is another account in "The Gospel of Buddha" which talks about a choice which Gautama Siddharta made when he reached enlightenment and became the "Buddha". The tempter, Mara (for all intents Satan in Hindu theology), came to him and said, "thou hast attained the highest bliss and it is time for thee to enter the final Nirvana." After this, Brahma (for all intents the equivalent of God in Hindu theology), also spoke to him and implored him not to enter Nirvana yet, but to go and preach his dharma to as many as will listen to bring them enlightenment and salvation as well. Out of compassion for everyone else, Gautama spent the next fifty or sixty years preaching and living his dharma until he died in his eighties. The philosophy and the religion he founded survives to this day, some twenty-six hundred years later.

The Buddha's choice was to place other people above himself even at the risk of his own salvation and enlightenment. In both instances he could have chosen his own personal comfort and safety. He could have stayed safe and secure, or he could have gone on to the final Nirvana and have chosen to avoid the suffering which naturally comes with life and interaction with other people. He could have, but he didn't. He saw that other people were suffering in their ignorance and fear, sickness and sorrow, and knowing that he had an answer to raise them above it he chose to work for their best interests instead of his own.

The Buddha's choice is one which we are all faced with. Do we look out for our own interests, or do we sacrifice our own interests and even run the risk of sacrificing our own salvation and enlightenment so that others can be saved and enlightened?

Jesus Christ gave us, as those who profess to follow Him, the example to follow. There were so many times when He could have remained safe, and He chose not to. He didn't have to heal people on the sabbath, but compassion drove Him to do so. He didn't have to go to the cross, but compassion drove Him to do so. In everything He did He placed what was best for others above Himself, even if it wasn't what they thought was best for themselves. The people of Judea wanted to make Him a king by force one time, He got out of there in a hurry because it wasn't what was best.

Sacred Scripture teaches that we are to deny ourselves, dying to ourselves daily. That we are to love one another as Christ loved us. This means even to the point where we would give not only our physical lives for the other person, but if necessary our own hearts, minds, and souls because this is what Jesus Christ did for us just by incarnating into a human being and emptying Himself. He poured Himself out as a sacrifice long before He ever went to the cross physically.

There is a tendency among Christians which runs contrary to the teaching and practice of Jesus Christ. We tend to want to close ourselves off from those having problems, especially if those same problems are difficult or ongoing. We get to a point where we feel like we're doing ok spiritually and we don't want to be dragged down by someone else's suffering. So we distance ourselves from that person so that we don't have to suffer with them. We want to remain spiritually in tune and don't want someone else's negativity interrupting that.

What we fail to see when this happens is that when we turn our back on each other, we are no longer spiritually in tune. We are following some other path and not the path of Jesus Christ. It is some other voice telling us, "don't worry about those other people, you've made it, you've done it, now it's time to rest and go on to your final Nirvana." This voice has nothing to do with God, who pleads with us in Jesus Christ to go out and preach the gospel (using words if necessary as St. Francis of Assisi said). He tells us to go and "disciple the nations", bring everyone the teaching of enlightenment in Jesus Christ, and when a brother is suffering to "bear and share one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ."

The practice and teaching of Jesus Christ is compassion, and where this is no longer present, neither is He.

Twenty six hundred years ago, a Hindu prince who had no understanding of the God of Israel made a choice to have compassion and give up his own immediate salvation for the sake of all those who were suffering. Six hundred years later the God of Israel walked the earth as man and gave up everything for the sake of all mankind who was suffering. Are we, who profess to follow the latter, going to then ignore the suffering of our brothers and sisters; or are we going to take the hard road, follow the path of Jesus Christ and make the Buddha's choice?