Religion gives basic and fundamental sources to find out the essence of all existences, the origin of the world, ultimate truth and the right values we should pursue as human beings, so that not only the attitude toward life of an individual but the culture and the values of a society are under the influence of religion.
Today Buddhism and Christianity are the two major religions in korea and having a strong influence on korean society and culture but the doctrines and the rites of them look so different from each other. Therefore It is natural that to analyse and compare of the two religions is one of the most important research subject to do.
There is a big difference that Buddhism takes self-discipline to reach ultimate wisdom while Christianity is a monotheistic religion which emphasizes salvation by the only god. In point of practicing religious ideals to the actual world Buddhism shows compassion for all creatures with being spiritually awakened while Christianity gives unconditional love.
Despite those fundamental differences, they have many similarities.
For example, there are numerous meaning accords and similar expressions in the two scriptures. Judging from the historical and cultural facts such as the time difference of establishing Buddhism and Christianity.
The culural interaction due to Alexander the Great`s invasion to the east and King Asoka`s active missionary works etc, we can easily deduce that Buddhism cannot but affect Christianity in many aspects.
Renowned historian and writer Will Durant indicated that King Asoka dispatched Buddhist missions to all regions of India, Ceylon, Syria, Egypt, and Greece, and he also presumed that they had given a fairy good influence on being created Christian Ethics. In their books, a large number of western scholars insist that Christianity had a direct influence from Buddhism. The contents of the New Testament are strikingly similar to those of Lotus Sutra, so that some scholar insist that Jesus was reincarnated from Buddha.
Human beings want answers for life and death and the nature and the soul. And we have a common property to rely on the absolute and omnipotent due to our limitation as humans. that is why we need God.
There are two major streams in religions, one is that God`s sayings are the truth and the other is that truth can be gained through spiritual awakening by oneself.
The religion that emphasizes the only God`s sayings is Christianity in the West while for Buddhism in the East, spiritual awakening is important than anything else. Christianity theistic but Buddhism is atheistic in a word.
If religion must have a God(Gods) as a ultimate reality, in Buddhism yeon-gi-beop(The law of causality) and gong(the primal emptiness) that are absolute rules are Gods.
It is natural that Christian faith which is absolutely relying on the god is so different from Buddhist faith which is deifying truth itself in the basic world-views and the important doctrines. However difference between the two religions is the difference which contains common factors.
The fact that the doctrines of Christianity and those of Buddhism correspond to each other such as reincarnation and resurrection, karma and original sin, repentance and deliverance and heaven and nirvana also means that the basic structure of the two religions is the very same.
The pluralistic era is also the age of integration paradoxically. Religion is no exception. integration of religion needs a full understanding from religious and cultural history and culture-analystic approach not the theological doctrines.
Though it may be derived from the properties of religion, I want to find out in this paper if the reason of those similarities of the two religions lies in the objective fact that the Bible has borrowed some significant ideas from the Buddhist scriptures.
Nowadays the fact that the two religions are very similar in many ways is not just some scholar`s theories but has turned out to be the common sense of a modern educated-man. But it doesn`t mean buddhism wins a victory over Christianity or Christianity is inferior religion to Buddhism.
On the contrary if we find out some common ground in the two religion as a basis for the same root that common ground can contribute to more positive religious meetings in a most important turning point in religious history. Christianity and Buddhism, the east and the west and all religious experiences lead to the very same if we go deep in essence.
Man`s journey to find out the answers for the questions about the ultimate appears to take so different ways but meets always at one point in the end like abhidharma`s four elements, earth, water, fire, and air are fully consistent with Aristotle`s four elements. It is expected that what is acquired through religions becomes as one in the near futere.