Buddha and Islam

[manaal]

I hope this doesn't offend any Buddhists out there.

My grandfather told me once that Lord Buddha must have been a Prophet of Allah, just like Jesus, Moses, David (PBUT) and Muhammad (SAW). His reason is that Lord Buddha's teachings which pre-date Islam, are similar to Islam.
My mum on the other hand says "no" he can't be as all known Prophets of Islam (PBUT) werebased in Middle-eastern countries. (Iraq, Egypt, Arabia etc.), while Lord Buddha lived in India.

In support of my garndfather's beleif I have these:

*The Buddhist teaching of "Pancha Seela - These are 5 principles of Buddha. I'm not sure of the order but Lord Buddha explicitly preached that people should avoid the follwing evils:
- killing innocent beings
- stealing
- sexual misconduct
- lying
- intoxication.

*Lord Buddha also commanded his people not to worship statues, trees or monuments.

*Look at this picture:

Lord Buddha's sleeping position is similar to the one recommended by Prophet Muahmmad.

But there are many teachings of Lord Buddha that are different to Islam, just as there are differences between the teachings of Jesus and David (PBUT) to Islam.

All are welcome to comment.

[Abdul Fattah]

First of, with all respect toward your mother, her argument is flawed. There isn't a nation in history that didn't have a messanger. there's been hundredth thousands prophets. The only problem is, we only have certainty over those mentioned in the Qur'an. And since Muhammed was teh seal of prophethood, and Allah has perfected our religion trough him, it's dangerous to start mixing in teh teachings of other assumed prophets.
1. We are not 100% sure that certain people were prophets
2. We do not know if the message given to other prophets were aplicable for the whole of mankind or just for the specific people in that era.
3. We do not know to what extend messages of alleged prophets have been altered through time.

[IbnAbdulHakim]

:salamext:

careful sis really stop callin him lord bhudda inshaAllah and stik to da bhudda :thumbs_up !! And lets jus stick the maybe label on him coz wivout Quran and Sunnah we cant determine anything... but maybe coz there was like 120,000 prophets and i heard soooooooo many stories about prophets not even mentioned in the quran or the sahih... dunno its all stories wiv maybe labels on em!

:wasalamex:

[manaal]

:salamext:

careful sis really stop callin him lord bhudda inshaAllah and stik to da bhudda :thumbs_up !! And lets jus stick the maybe label on him coz wivout Quran and Sunnah we cant determine anything... but maybe coz there was like 120,000 prophets and i heard soooooooo many stories about prophets not even mentioned in the quran or the sahih... dunno its all stories wiv maybe labels on em!

:wasalamex:

That's what I meant.. maybe he was, maybe he wasn't, but he was like one. I used the term "Lord" cos Buddhists often get offended when we don't use that pre-fix.
Just like to know what ya'll think.

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[IbnAbdulHakim]

That's what I meant.. maybe he was, maybe he wasn't, but he was like one. I used the term "Lord" cos Buddhists often get offended when we don't use that pre-fix.
Just like to know what ya'll think.

:salamext:

lol i see, well its really a big mayb... im sure no scholar wud determine him to be a prophet coz theres no authentic proof...

:wasalamex:

[Trumble]

I hope this doesn't offend any Buddhists out there.

My grandfather told me once that Lord Buddha must have been a Prophet of Allah, just like Jesus, Moses, David (PBUT) and Muhammad (SAW). His reason is that Lord Buddha's teachings which pre-date Islam, are similar to Islam.

It doesn't remotely offend me, but it's wrong. The teachings may be similar in many ways, but they have a very different purpose.

Both religions, and all the other "great" religions too, teach/preach pretty much the same things regarding the way we should live and get along with each other. Not killing, not stealing, not telling lies, refraining from sexual misconduct,etc, etc. The reason they all teach them, and why the religions have survived so long is that those teachings are the BEST way to live - I'm sure we would all agree with that.

In Islam, such teachings are followed because they are believed to be God's will. In Buddhism, though, such teachings are the means to an end, that end being not God's will (some schools believe in "gods" of some sort, but all are common to the same universal process of cause and effect as men), but the method of ending suffering, craving and dissatisfaction, and hence escaping samsara, the cycle of re-birth. They involve not the perpetuation of the individual personality or ego, through the means of an after-life or similar, but its total annihilation.

[firdaw]

Buhdda was a good guy, but if he were muslim i bet all the indians would have followed his ways, but right now most of them worship him, so thats really wrong

[Ibn Abi Ahmed]

:sl:

How does it affect our faith in Islam if he was or was not a Prophet?

No offense, but instead of thinking up these kind of possibilities, its better for us to spend our time on something that is more useful for us because at the end of the day, it wont matter to us if Buddha was a Prophet or not because it isnt bennefiting our Iman and Islam.

:w:

[manaal]

:sl:

How does it affect our faith in Islam if he was or was not a Prophet?

No offense, but instead of thinking up these kind of possibilities, its better for us to spend our time on something that is more useful for us because at the end of the day, it wont matter to us if Buddha was a Prophet or not because it isnt bennefiting our Iman and Islam.

:w:

Yes, what you say is true. Just thought it would be an interesting discussion.
My dad, while being a good Mu'meen is very interested in the teachings of Buddhism as he has many Buddhists freinds.

Buddhism preaches peace, love towards all humanity, and freedom from worldly lusts & greed. Its a philosophy we all can learn good lessons from. (according to Buddhists, it is not a "religion" but a philosophy - no concept of hell or heaven)

We as Muslims should realise that Islam too preaches us to be peaceful people, not to harm others unncessarily and not to love this world as there is something better waiting for us in the hereafter.

Have you ever heard of a Buddhist terrorist group? I haven't. Correct me if i'm wrong though. But there are many so called "islamic" terrorists groups who create violence in the name of Islam, which is totally against the teachings of Prophet Muhammad.

Btw, there is a concept of life after death in Buddhism too, but its very different from ours: they talk about rebirth on earth as sorrts of a punishment for loving worldly comforts too much.

[Abdul-Raouf]

All islamic prophets weared dress........ But Buddha was in Nirvana ... is it????

[manaal]

All islamic prophets weared dress........ But Buddha was in Nirvana ... is it????

What do you mean? Buddha's dress looked something like the male ihraam except its yellow.

[Abdul-Raouf]

thats a new statue man......... Do you remember the thousands year old statues which were in Afganistan that were destroyed by Taliban.......

[manaal]

What about them? The Bamian ones right?

[manaal]

OMG, are the naked?
But the ancient Thai and Sri Lankan ones are all robed.

[Trumble]

Btw, there is a concept of life after death in Buddhism too, but its very different from ours: they talk about rebirth on earth as sorrts of a punishment for loving worldly comforts too much.

No. That would imply the existence of something or someone doing the punishing. Rebirth is not a 'punishment', but the inevitable result of cause and effect. As I said before, the aim of Buddhism is not to 'achieve' such rebirth, or any such "life after death", but to extinguish the ego-personality so completely so that no "causes" remain and therefore that the "effect" of rebirth cannot occur.


BTW, the Bamian statues clearly showed the Buddha robed in traditional fashion. Were it not for the usual restrictions here I'd post a photo, but I'm sure you can Google one up yourselves.

What you might be thinking of is this;

At that time, the most priceless artifact, a 2,000-year-old seated bodhisattva, made of baked clay, enraged several Taliban clerics because it was mostly naked. In Buddhism, bodhisattvas are people of great spiritual awareness who help others reach enlightenment.

The Taliban apparently slapped the statue around the head and shoulders, causing museum workers to buy a glass case to protect it.

"It is one of the most beautiful, ethereal Buddha statues," Carla Grissmann, who did an inventory of the Kabul Museum collection, has said. "It was in superb condition."

Source: Islamfortoday.com The article gives a good idea of the extent of the mindless Taliban vandalism at this time, and the views of other Afghans.

[Umar001]

Buhdda was a good guy, but if he were muslim i bet all the indians would have followed his ways, but right now most of them worship him, so thats really wrong

Lol what about Jesus then?

[noshaba]

im sure if he ws a prophet this would be known to us and his statues would not have been made like mentioned in ur pic
:sl:

[Umar001]

im sure if he ws a prophet this would be known to us and his statues would not have been made like mentioned in ur pic
:sl:

Erm, why would it be known to us? G-d only related stories OF SUM prophets, I believe there is a Hadeeth which says something like thousands of prophets have been sent!

And I dont get what you mean, if he was a prophet peop[le wouldnt have statues of Him?

I dont know where you live, but do you believe Jesus is a prophet? and have you seen the statues of Jesus in churches? Theres a HUGE BIG ONE IN BRAZIL, does that mean he aint a prophet?

[north_malaysian]

there is a possibility tha Buddha is a prophet of Allah.

[Abdul-Raouf]

Do anyone know which was the oldest jesus statue.......?

[Abdul-Raouf]

Some group Christians dont believe in photos or statues.... and they dont encourage watching television... like muslims...... Who are those group?

[north_malaysian]

Do anyone know which was the oldest jesus statue.......?

???

[north_malaysian]

Some group Christians dont believe in photos or statues.... and they dont encourage watching television... like muslims...... Who are those group?

Still ?????

[Abdul-Raouf]

Hello IsaAbdullah reply me........

[Umar001]

Do anyone know which was the oldest jesus statue.......?

This questions???

Or

This?

Some group Christians dont believe in photos or statues.... and they dont encourage watching television... like muslims...... Who are those group?

I dont know the eldest statue.
I have read that at the start some people were against such things, statues and pictures because of their jewish background type of thing. Which prohibits this.

I dont know what those groups are, personally, I have been back in africa, and they are more towards that, Christians there do postrate sometimes, and also they have churches with no pictures no decorations, very simple, maybe a cross.

[duskiness]

Some group Christians dont believe in photos or statues.... and they dont encourage watching television... like muslims...... Who are those group?

Amish don't use electricity (so this includes TV and camra)
more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amish#Modern_technology
n.

[Abdul-Raouf]

Seems Buddha didnot have any beard....... But all the prophets had !!

[------]

Allahu Alim

[manaal]

Some group Christians dont believe in photos or statues.... and they dont encourage watching television... like muslims...... Who are those group?

Pentacost I think

[Fishman]

Seems Buddha didnot have any beard....... But all the prophets had !!

:sl:
Buddha may have had a beard, but because so many of the religious leaders in India didn't, his followers may have depicted him without one. It's kind of like the blonde-haired, blue-eyed icons of Jesus (PBUH) that Christians used to make. And those pictures don't depict Jesus with a beard anyway.
:w:

[north_malaysian]

Seems Buddha didnot have any beard....... But all the prophets had !!

How did u know that all Prophets have beard?