Here are a shitload of quotations comparing Jesus, Buddha and Socrates, with how I understand them written after each one. I swear I am not trying to take anything out of context, but yeah, I'm a little biased.
Five of Jesus' best quotes:
1: “You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? (Matthew 5:43-47 )
This one sounds good, but it's long, so let's break it down:
a) Don't follow the law, love your enemies. Can do!
b) Asking God to help your enemies is the proper way to do things. That just feels empty. I'd feel greater satisfaction if I did the helping, not God.
c) God rewards and punishes the good and the bad evenly. So, what's the difference? If neither way has the upper hand, why are there commandments?
d) I thought we were supposed to love our enemies. Why is Jesus bad-mouthing corrupt tax collectors? Is that showing love for a common enemy?
e) So if you're kind to people that aren't your friends, you are better than anybody else? That just feels kinda wrong to me.
2: “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today. (Matthew 6:34)
Wow, deep. Why do I feel like I've heard it before, though...
3: “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:36-40)
Loving God is the most important law, but loving your neighbor as yourself is just as important. Huh? Which one was the most important one again?
4: “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my message in these adulterous and sinful days, the Son of Man will be ashamed of that person when he returns in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” (Mark 8:34-38)
Basically, devote your life to Jesus or you are damned. Pretty wordy way of saying that.
5: “And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. (Luke 11:9-10)
If you stay devoted to something, you'll be successful. Can't argue with that. Good one!
Five of Buddha's best quotes:
1: “All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think we become.”
So, we are responsible for creating ourselves. Maybe the best thing to believe in is ourselves? Sounds plausible.
2: “Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.”
I knew I heard this quote before! Buddha said it first, remember. Old philosophy, and Buddha says it better.
3: “Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.”
So I need to discover peace through my own reasoning, because being told what peace is doesn't help as much sense as discovering it through contemplation? Deep.
4: “In the sky, there is no distinction of east and west; people create distinctions out of their own minds and then believe them to be true.”
So there is no right direction to follow, there are many, and you have to pick which direction that you wish to follow through your own reasoning? Talk about free will!
5: "Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.”
Wait a minute. I don't have to believe a spiritual teacher unless his teachings make sense to me? Wow! I'm tossing my Bible right now!
Five of Socrates' Best quotes:
1: "The hottest love has the coldest end."
Hmm...so mad passionate affection for anything will lead to a dissatisfying result? I better keep my passion in check! (Especially my spiritual passion.)
2: "Whenever, therefore, people are deceived and form opinions wide of the truth, it is clear that the error has slid into their minds through the medium."
Hmm...so if I believe something far-fetched, I've made an obvious error? I guess it's up to me to know what is closer to being the truth, and stay away from far-fetched ideas.
3: "One thing only I know, and that is that I know nothing."
So no one has discovered any kind of truths? Maybe there is more "belief" in human existence than "knowledge?"
4: "I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think."
Knowledge doesn't come from a teacher, it comes from one's self. Sounds a little Buddha-ish, doesn't it?
5: "The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance."
Good comes from searching for the truth, not staying bubbled up in a cloud of intellectual (and spiritual) limitations.
Well, they are all pretty impressive quotes, but if you compare them to each other, Buddha and Socrates focus on growth of knowledge and understanding, whereas Jesus focuses on faith and obedience. There are exceptions. I'll admit that Jesus did say some good stuff. But a great deal of his teachings are about faith in someone else to teach you things, whereas Buddha and Socrates encourage you to have faith in yourself to discover things. To me, Buddha and Socrates are the wiser, for I'd rather be involved with discovering myself, then discovering someone else. But as I've said before, Jesus wasn't all bad.
Five of Jesus' best quotes:
1: “You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? (Matthew 5:43-47 )
This one sounds good, but it's long, so let's break it down:
a) Don't follow the law, love your enemies. Can do!
b) Asking God to help your enemies is the proper way to do things. That just feels empty. I'd feel greater satisfaction if I did the helping, not God.
c) God rewards and punishes the good and the bad evenly. So, what's the difference? If neither way has the upper hand, why are there commandments?
d) I thought we were supposed to love our enemies. Why is Jesus bad-mouthing corrupt tax collectors? Is that showing love for a common enemy?
e) So if you're kind to people that aren't your friends, you are better than anybody else? That just feels kinda wrong to me.
2: “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today. (Matthew 6:34)
Wow, deep. Why do I feel like I've heard it before, though...
3: “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:36-40)
Loving God is the most important law, but loving your neighbor as yourself is just as important. Huh? Which one was the most important one again?
4: “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my message in these adulterous and sinful days, the Son of Man will be ashamed of that person when he returns in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” (Mark 8:34-38)
Basically, devote your life to Jesus or you are damned. Pretty wordy way of saying that.
5: “And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. (Luke 11:9-10)
If you stay devoted to something, you'll be successful. Can't argue with that. Good one!
Five of Buddha's best quotes:
1: “All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think we become.”
So, we are responsible for creating ourselves. Maybe the best thing to believe in is ourselves? Sounds plausible.
2: “Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.”
I knew I heard this quote before! Buddha said it first, remember. Old philosophy, and Buddha says it better.
3: “Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.”
So I need to discover peace through my own reasoning, because being told what peace is doesn't help as much sense as discovering it through contemplation? Deep.
4: “In the sky, there is no distinction of east and west; people create distinctions out of their own minds and then believe them to be true.”
So there is no right direction to follow, there are many, and you have to pick which direction that you wish to follow through your own reasoning? Talk about free will!
5: "Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.”
Wait a minute. I don't have to believe a spiritual teacher unless his teachings make sense to me? Wow! I'm tossing my Bible right now!
Five of Socrates' Best quotes:
1: "The hottest love has the coldest end."
Hmm...so mad passionate affection for anything will lead to a dissatisfying result? I better keep my passion in check! (Especially my spiritual passion.)
2: "Whenever, therefore, people are deceived and form opinions wide of the truth, it is clear that the error has slid into their minds through the medium."
Hmm...so if I believe something far-fetched, I've made an obvious error? I guess it's up to me to know what is closer to being the truth, and stay away from far-fetched ideas.
3: "One thing only I know, and that is that I know nothing."
So no one has discovered any kind of truths? Maybe there is more "belief" in human existence than "knowledge?"
4: "I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think."
Knowledge doesn't come from a teacher, it comes from one's self. Sounds a little Buddha-ish, doesn't it?
5: "The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance."
Good comes from searching for the truth, not staying bubbled up in a cloud of intellectual (and spiritual) limitations.
Well, they are all pretty impressive quotes, but if you compare them to each other, Buddha and Socrates focus on growth of knowledge and understanding, whereas Jesus focuses on faith and obedience. There are exceptions. I'll admit that Jesus did say some good stuff. But a great deal of his teachings are about faith in someone else to teach you things, whereas Buddha and Socrates encourage you to have faith in yourself to discover things. To me, Buddha and Socrates are the wiser, for I'd rather be involved with discovering myself, then discovering someone else. But as I've said before, Jesus wasn't all bad.
"Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.”
- Buddha
"Anyone wanting to believe Jesus lived and walked as a real live human being must do so despite the evidence, not because of it."
- Dennis McKinsey
- Buddha
"Anyone wanting to believe Jesus lived and walked as a real live human being must do so despite the evidence, not because of it."
- Dennis McKinsey
