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Christianity and Buddhism


Although analogies have been drawn between Buddhism and Christianity, there are differences between the two religions beginning with monotheism's place at the core of Christianity, and Buddhism's orientation towards non-theism (the lack of relevancy of the existence of a creator deity) which runs counter to teachings about God in Christianity; and extending to the importance of grace in Christianity against the rejection of interference with karma in Theravada Buddhism, etc. Another difference between the two traditions is the Christian belief in the centrality of the crucifixion of Jesus as a single event that some believe acts as the atonement of sins, and its direct contrast to Buddhist teachings.

Though some early Christians were aware of Buddhism, which was practiced in both the Greek and Roman Empires in the pre-Christian period, the majority of modern Christian scholarship has roundly rejected any historical basis for the travels of Jesus to India or Tibet or direct influences between the teachings of Christianity in the West and Buddhism, and has seen the attempts at parallel symbolism as cases of parallelomania which exaggerate resemblances. However, in the East syncretism between Nestorian Christianity and Buddhism was widespread along the Silk Road in Antiquity and the Middle Ages, and was especially pronounced in the medieval Church of the East in China, as evidenced by the Jesus Sutras.

The history of Buddhism goes back to what is now Bodh Gaya, India almost six centuries before Christianity, making it one of the oldest religions still practiced.


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