some Buddhists are organized
I talked to an interesting man at a recent wedding. He was educated in England up to doctorate level. He had studied Buddhism for over twenty years and was involved in its development in Singapore to some extent. He summed up Buddha’s main concern as focused on man’s suffering and its cause. The cause of suffering in Buddha’s view, according to him, is desire. Desire causes the world’s suffering. Therefore, reduce and eliminate desire and you will reduce or eliminate suffering.
I listened to him talk about the state of Buddhism in Singapore, which I told him was statistically growing at a higher rate than Christianity in the decade of 1990s. But he felt Christianity had spread wider and farther because it was highly organized and well marketed. He said Buddhism was far from being so well organized.
Later, I shared with him that we Christians do not see desire as the root of suffering but rather the Fall of man and its aftermath on the universe. And that the only way to redeem the world was for Jesus Christ to sacrifice himself to atone for man’s disobedience.
There was no time to talk about the Bible’s view of desire. That would have been fun. Or to talk about what distinguished Christianity from other religions: that salvation was not achieved by good deeds, but by by depending on what Jesus Christ did for us when he died and rose again. What a big difference this was. People have found this hard to accept, a salvation to be received as a gift, with us unable to deserve or earn it.
Anyway, interestingly I just saw this van parked nearby and could not resist taking these photos because they tell a story. Some of the Buddhist groups have upgraded themselves and seemed to have taken a page from the church’s organization and marketing.
9 comments August 3rd, 2008
