A Comparison Between Jesus the Christ and Gautama the Buddha

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A comparison between Jesus the Christ and Gautama the Buddha Just as Jesus in Christianity, Gautama the Buddha plays an essential role in preaching the doctrines of Buddhism. People may see them both as great teachers that guide them to do good and avoid evil. However, despite the similarity of their roles as teachers, Jesus and Buddha are two distinct figures with essentially different importance. The greatest significance of Gautama the Buddha is about his teaching. Buddha was just an ordinary human that achieved enlightenment and preached his understandings. Jesus, however, plays a much more important role as a redeemer in Christian theology, who paid His life as ransom for human’s sin. Jesus is the most important and only living proof of God’s unconditional love. In this paper, I offer a detailed comparison of Jesus the Christ and Gautama the Buddha, focusing on the problem of suffering. To be more specific, I compare these two figures from following perspectives: the life experience of both, how do they understand the why there exists suffering and how to get rid of it; what is the final goal of life; what is the historic significance of each; the how they see themselves; as well as how their teachings complement each other. The life stories of Jesus and Buddha were quite different. Gautama the Buddha was born to a royal family in India. Because his parents did not want him to renounce to his family, they spoiled him so much that he was not aware of the dark side of life at all. He was married to a pretty princess and had a lovely son. He had a perfect life and everything one could ever wanted. However, when one day he witnessed the suffering of other people, he could no longer find happiness in anything. He then renounced the kingdom to search for truth of life. He followed great teachers and practiced harsh living. After years of practicing and meditation,

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