When Jesus Gets to Buddha: A Brief Commentary on The Man From Earth

Ambrose 2022-03-21 09:01:32

Several friends have recommended a 2007 movie "The Man From Earth". I watched it and thought it was a very imaginative and interesting work. The climax is the 14,000-year-old protagonist John Oldman deciphering that he is Jesus, having studied with the Buddha. 500 years later came to Israel to preach the Hebrew version of the Buddha's teachings.

In the movie, a bunch of Harvard professors couldn't find the flaw, and there was a Christian who was going crazy about such "blasphemy". This is the funniest part of the movie, but also the most flawed part. I think that a really knowledgeable Harvard professor of history, religion is naturally recognizable, it's just a movie gimmick. In fact, although some of Jesus' teachings are "Love your neighbor as yourself, and exhort others to do good" (as in the Gospel of Matthew, "If someone hits you on the right cheek, turn your left cheek to him") in form It is similar to Buddhism (such as "forbearance" in film and television works), but the essence of the two religious schools is very different. The fictional "Jesus was once a student of Buddha" in the movie is difficult to establish.

The core teaching of the Buddha is not to be kind to others and advocate Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, but to help people realize the reality of life. The so-called "Buddha" means "enlightened, awakened person". What did the Buddha realize? He said that everything in the universe, including material, spiritual, and human physical and mental phenomena, is not eternal, but impermanent. Every moment, the "fine particles Kalapa" that make up these substances and spirits are constantly rising, passing away, rising, passing away... Including "space, time, me" and so on, all the things we think are solid are actually "Empty" means no self-nature. But people are obsessed with "constancy, eternity, me, mine", and this contradiction inevitably produces "suffering". The Buddha's purpose was to help people understand the suffering of life and teach the way to end suffering. And those five precepts, eight precepts, and Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance are just auxiliary means on this path of cultivation. Although they are necessary, they are not the core, nor are they original of the Buddha.

Assuming that such a person from the cave of immortality did indeed seek advice from Shakyamuni Buddha, history would most likely be rewritten. First, his immortality is in direct contradiction to the Buddha's core theory of impermanence. Therefore, either Prince Siddhartha gave up his theory and could not become a Buddha; or this John Oldman could not accept the Buddha's teaching and set up a new door, and he could not be excited to introduce the Buddha's thoughts to Israel. Second, the teachings of Jesus historically did not inherit or borrow from the ideas of Buddha. Even if the "heaven" in Jesus' mouth is understood as the good in the heart, Jesus' teaching still inherits many Jewish concepts, such as praying to God, asking, and believing (as in "Ask and it will be given to you" in the Gospel of Matthew; Seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you.”), there will be judgments in the future, and so on. These two points are completely different from the Buddha's thinking - the Buddha's teaching is that practice depends on your own efforts, and no one else can replace you. Do not worship anyone, including the Buddha himself. Don't take anyone's word for it, experience it yourself.

Historically, Christianity, Judaism, Islam, etc. all originated from the Semitic civilization, and along with the dissemination, it mixed the cultural ideas of the Sumerian civilization in the Mesopotamia, ancient Greece, ancient Rome, and ancient Egypt along the Mediterranean coast. The other Hinduism and Buddhism originated from the Indo-European culture. These two civilizations have very different fundamental understandings of the world and the universe. For example, the Semitic civilization believes that history develops in a straight line, so there will be doomsday at the end; while the Indo-European culture believes that the universe and life are reincarnated.

Mixing up Buddha and Jesus just through the superficial "persuade people to do good" is a big flaw in John Oldman's story. Of course, as a movie entertainment, I still like the interesting concept of it. In addition, its dissection of the essence of Christianity is to the point:

The Old Testament sells fear and guilt. The New Testament is a good code of ethics, but the message is never practiced.

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Extended Reading

The Man from Earth quotes

  • Dr. Will Gruber: If I shot you John, you're immortal? Would you survive this?

    John Oldman: I never said I was immortal, just old. I might die. And then you could wonder the rest of your incarcerated life what you shot...

  • Dr. Will Gruber: We will die, you will live. Will you come to my funeral, John.

    Sandy: You've gone too far, John didn't ask to be what he is.

    Dr. Will Gruber: And we did not ask to hear about it...