Jesus Christ and Siddharta Gautama were two different men from two different worlds. Siddharta came from the east, where there was belief in one unity rather than one god. Jesus came from a world that believed only in one deity. Yet these two men have such similarities. The way the grew up, the way they attained their enlightenment, and their teachings. Could it be that these two men were different, yet the same? The reason they had to be different was because of the people they were delivering their message to. Their message was the same though. It was about getting people to let go of the falseness in this world. The way to the truth may have been different, but it is still one truth.
Both these men came in a time where the activities of their religion were being questioned. Before Jesus came, Judaism was in a time of turmoil.
Stained glass at St John the Baptist's Anglican Ch...
Gautama Buddha
tibet - gautama buddhaThey were ruled by Romans, who taxed them excessively in an attempt to make them more Roman and Greek like. There was also much division within the Jewish religion. The Saduccees were predominately the priests. They made the important religious and political decisions. They were a very conservative group. They rejected the idea of a Messiah, and thought that the Jewish people should live in coexistence with the Romans. The Pharisees were the rabbis and scribes. They accepted the idea of a Messiah and rejected Roman rule. The Zealots accepted that the Messiah was coming and the world was going to end. They believed that the way to await the Messiah was to take up arms and begin the fight against the Romans. The Essences expected the Messiah, but they said that people must turn their backs on the world and pray until the Messiah arrived. This group...