So, here’s the scoop: Not only can Jesus do what Buddha cannot do—as I observed in my last blog—but, as I’ve discovered in something of a treasure hunt these last few months in Southeast Asia, Jesus came to do what Buddha said he’d do.
World Racers are always advised to expect the unexpected. But I never would have guessed that the World Race would make me into a detective. In September a single conversation with a Cambodian believer set me on an adventure, an investigation of an ancient mystery, in which clue after clue pointed to the conclusion that Siddhartha Gautama, founder of the Buddhist religion, prophesied powerfully about the coming of Jesus Christ.
What I’m about to share with you is one of the most powerful and surprising things I’ve ever learned. And, as far as I can tell, it is little known in the English-speaking world or on Google, because it’s been collecting dust in Cambodian monasteries for centuries. So you’re about to hear some highly classified information!
My adventure began in September when Bunna, the Cambodian brother I mentioned, told me that Buddha foretold the arrival of a figure named Si-A-Meetrey (meaning “High One who Brings Peace”) who would come and save the world. Bunna was fond of using this prophecy as a tool in evangelistic messages. In the course of the next few weeks Providence led me to unlikely encounters with a Cambodian pastor, a Thai ministry partner, and Buddhist monks in two countries. I stumbled upon just the right books and saw just the right paintings and walked into just the right temple. And after the dust settled, here is what I learned.
What follows is an excerpt from among Buddha’s last words. It was discovered in a temple in Cambodia in the middle of the twentieth century.
“When Buddha was traveling in this life, an old Brahman priest [i.e., an ancient Hindu priest] dressed in white came to ask Buddha, ‘How can a human or a priest follow all the commandments and escape from all his sins?’ Buddha replied, ‘Even if you gave alms to the poor, donated gifts to the monks, kept all the commandments…even up to 99 million, even if you lifted your hands to the sky to worship and offered yourself as a burnt offering, and prayed five times a day, still you cannot save yourself from your sins….It is not even good enough to get close to the gates of Heaven’” (Steve Cioccolanti, From Buddha to Jesus, p. 154).
“Buddha continued, ‘I myself have left all my princely inheritance, abandoned lust and become a monk. I esteem my good deeds are not a few. I hold onto the eight commandments, even up to 100,000. If I could do this and give away everything I have for ten lives, yet I still cannot get over one of my sins’” (p. 156).
“The Brahman pressed on, ‘If this be the case, what must I do to get over all my sins?’ Buddha told him, ‘Let all of you do a good deed and seek for another Holy One who will come and save the world. He will rescue you in the near future.’ The Brahman asked, ‘This Holy One who will come and rescue the world in the near future, what does he look like?’” (p. 157).
“Buddha replied, ‘The Holy One who will rescue the world in the near future will have scars in His hands and scars in His feet like the shape of a gongjak [a sharp cutting wheel with jagged edges, an ancient weapon (p. 158, fn. 115)]. In His side, there is a stab wound. His forehead is full of blemishes and scars. The Holy Person will be like a golden vessel, a very large one, that will carry you across the cycle of suffering until you pass over to Heavenly Nippan [Thai for Nirvana]’” (p. 158).
Buddha continued: “Do not pursue the old way, you will certainly not escape. Turn from your old ways, and you will have a new spirit that shines like a lightning bug come down from Heaven above and dwelling in your hearts. And you will be given victory over all your enemies, whether they come against you from four directions or eight directions. Nobody will by any means harm you and when you die, you will not come back to this world again” (p. 159).
Evidently, Siddhartha Gautama Buddha stated in no unclear terms that one cannot be saved from sin and suffering by one’s good deeds; rather, Buddha said, his disciples should wait for a Holy One—Si-A-Meetrey—whose hands, feet, forehead, and side would be marred. Does that sound at all like the Jesus of Nazareth to you?
Let all of this distill in your mind for a moment. Buddha said what now?
But that’s not all. From various sources, I pieced together some of the other things Buddha said about Si-A-Meetrey that eerily resemble what Scripture teaches about the first and second comings of Christ:
- Only Si-A-Meetrey could save people from death and raise the dead (compare John 5:25).
- Si-A-Meetrey’s path was narrow, and few would follow Him (cf. Matthew 7:13).
- Buddha stated, “He is the Lord of Mercies. His name shall be called King of Kings, the Lord of Lords. He is all knowing, all wise. He knows all that is in the human heart. He is Lord of all the angels and of all humans. No one is greater than He” (Sutrapridot 3:107; cf. Revelation 19:16).
- There is some evidence that the original Buddhist scriptures indicated that Si-A-Meetrey would come 500 years after Buddha—which is precisely when Jesus appeared on history’s scene. (One wonders where Buddha got his information. Was it God-given revelation? Or is it possible that Buddha had some correspondence with the prophet Daniel, who predicted the time of Christ’s coming and who would have been governor over the very region in which Buddha was studying?)
- Before Si-A-Meetrey came, Buddha predicted, there would be terrible times on the earth. Evil spirits would come and inhabit people, and they would kill each other (compare Revelation 6:4; 9:21).
- After He came, everything in the world, down to the very elements, would burn in fire (cf. 2 Peter 3:10). One monk in Thailand with whom we conversed painted the picture vividly: “The Last Buddha will attain enlightenment, and then the sun will burn up everything on earth, and the earth will be reborn again” (cf. Revelation 19-21).
- In His day, men would live to the age of 800 (cf. Isaiah 65:20; Revelation 20:4).
- In places of worship, you will sometimes find a depiction of the five Enlightened Ones of Buddhist lore. In a prominent position, and distinct from the rest, you cannot miss Si-A-Meetrey, with a flame of fire over his head, signifying His superior power. Right before we left Cambodia, I crossed paths with this picture hanging on the wall of our hostel. Si-A-Meetrey is seated top-center.
The parallels are a bit staggering, aren’t they? This discovery, if indeed true to fact, leaves all of us with some haunting questions. First, what does it imply about religious pluralism—the view that all religions are more or less equally valid? If Buddha himself, the founder of a major world religion, pointed away from himself to Jesus, what does that say about the supremacy of Christ? Second, what does it imply about how God speaks in cultures that have not yet received the Gospel? Without denying that God revealed Himself in a very unique way to Israel, is it possible that God has left no culture without a testimony to Himself? Is it possible that, although not a prophet in the fully orbed sense of the term, Buddha was like the Moses of the East, delivering to people a law that they couldn’t keep, and pointing them to a Savior who was yet to come? I leave these questions in your lap.
I confess, in closing, that I have no indisputable proof that Buddha ever uttered these words. I have not seen the manuscripts with my own eyes nor do I know how reliable they are. And it could be that I am drawing from sources that have exaggerated the parallels. (Feel free to study the limited literature for yourself.)
But from what I do know, these scriptures were translated with Buddhist consent. One afternoon while we were in Chiang Mai, Thailand, a monk invited Allison and I to walk with him to a nearby temple. On the face of it, it was no extraordinary temple. But as it turned out, this temple—Wat Prai Sing—was the very temple in which the Buddhist Scriptures I cited above were authenticated and approved for translation. (This is the kind of thing that happens on the World Race sometimes!)
So, my friend, suppose for a moment that Buddha really did anticipate the arrival of Jesus Christ. How does that change your view of Christianity? Of Buddha? Of reality as you understand it?
I’ll tell you one thing: this treasure hunt has not left me unchanged. It makes me stand all the more in awe of the Lord Jesus Christ.
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Sources(1) Steve Cioccolanti, From Buddha to Jesus
(2) Moses Sumallseth (Cambodian Pastor), “Good News For You”
(3) Edward Short, Presenting the Gospel to Buddhists (online) (4) Jefferson David Tant, Buddha and Christ (online)
