Jesus, the Buddha, and Life Beyond the Ego-Ep 199 | Julia Marie

Episode Focus: Exploring the Parallels Between Jesus and the Buddha
Theme: Spiritual awakening, the heart and mind connection, and the essence of compassion

Episode Overview

In this enlightening episode of Evolving Humans, host Julia Marie invites listeners to delve into the intriguing question: Are Jesus the Christ and the Buddha conveying the same universal truths despite their diverse backgrounds and teachings? This episode offers a comparative exploration of two of history's most profound spiritual figures, highlighting their unique messages while uncovering the common threads that connect them.

Julia begins by examining the contrasting lives of Jesus and the Buddha—one born into poverty and the other into wealth, yet both embarking on a journey of profound spiritual discovery. She reflects on Siddhartha's quest for understanding suffering and the path to enlightenment, juxtaposing it with Jesus' teachings of love, compassion, and the Kingdom of God. Throughout the discussion, Julia emphasizes the essence of Christ consciousness and Buddha nature, illustrating how both concepts point towards a deeper understanding of our human experience.

Listeners will be encouraged to consider how these two philosophies converge and diverge, particularly in their approaches to compassion, ego, and the nature of reality. Julia provides a reflective exercise to help individuals identify their own tendencies toward heart-centered or mind-centered practices, fostering a greater awareness of their spiritual journey.

Key Themes & Highlights

✨ Contrasting Lives, Common Messages

• Exploring the unique backgrounds of Jesus and the Buddha
• Identifying shared themes of compassion and awakening

✨ Heart vs. Mind: Different Paths to Awakening

• Understanding Christ consciousness as a heart-centered approach
• Exploring Buddha nature as a pathway to mental clarity and transcendence

✨ Reflection Exercise

• Guided self-reflection to identify personal tendencies toward heart or mind
• Encouragement to cultivate balance between emotional warmth and mental clarity

✨ Weekly Experiment

• Practical suggestions for integrating heart and mind practices into daily life
• Encouraging listeners to explore both approaches for a more holistic awakening

Many thanks to Pixabay's Relaxing Time for Relaxing Music Pt 1-141198 for the music bed for this episode.

Transcript

Julia Marie (00:00): 

There are many pathways to enlightenment, and we have been exploring the path of Christ consciousness from many different perspectives. Today, I want to pose this question. Are Jesus the Christ and the Buddha actually saying the same thing despite the different points of view? Welcome to Evolving Humans. I'm your host, Julia Marie. If you've ever sensed there's more to you and to reality than what you've been taught, this show is for you. We explore consciousness in a grounded, practical way, how human awareness is changing, what ideas like Christ consciousness or past lives really point to, and how all of that connects to the choices you make every day. No dogma, no jargon. Just honest, down-to-earth conversations to help you live from a deeper knowing as we walk this path of awareness together. 

Let's examine the lives of two very different people who lived in different centuries and in different parts of the world. One was born into poverty, the other into a wealthy family, one transcended this world, and the other immersed himself in it. Yet, both represent a universal principle, a pattern of awakening that shows up in various traditions. We include the Hindu idea of the avatar, the Sufi beloved, and the Bodha Satfa idea by reference here. But the focus today is on the comparison and contrast between Jesus the Christ and the Buddha. Two very different voices from two very different worlds, yet both point in a similar direction, away from a small, defensive, ego-centered life and towards a larger, freer way of being. On the one hand, Jesus and the Buddha are not saying the same thing in different words. They come from different religious imaginations. They answer different questions, and they offer very different stories about what is ultimately real. 

On the other hand, when you look at the transformation they both describe in actual human lives, for example, the loosening of ego and the flowering of compassion, the shift from outer religion to inner transformation, we can see a common theme running through both. 

Before we dive into their message, let's look at their lives. Before he was the Buddha, he was a young man born to a wealthy family in India in around the fifth century before the birth of Christ. His name was Sadartha, and a seer had predicted the boy would grow up to experience the ultimate self-awakening and become a great spiritual teacher. His father wasn't having any of that, so he kept Sedartha occupied within the family's palaces, insulated from any suffering or ugliness that might spark spiritual questions within him. The culture was dominated by the Vedic religion, ritual sacrifices, a strong priestly class and a rigid caste system. 

Despite his father's efforts, young Sadartha grew curious about the wider world. And while out on trips through the city around the palace, he witnessed much suffering. And not long after this, Sedortha decided to embark on a spiritual quest. He left the palace in the dead of night, cut off his hair, and exchanged his fine robes for the simple garments worn by a passing stranger. He wanted to answer for himself a simple question. Why do we suffer? Why is human life, no matter how comfortable, marked by loss, sickness, aging, and death? And more importantly, is there a path out of that cycle? 

He had many experiences with different teachers, and he kept searching even when he wasn't certain exactly what it was he was looking for. In many ways, our seeking is like his seeking. That is, if we're courageous enough to admit we're not yet satisfied or that something is missing in our lives, and we're not going to stop until we find a resolution to our spiritual angst. So Dartha kept searching even after he'd mastered the most rigorous meditation practices of his day. He was looking for a way out of suffering that would be transformative and lasting, and he wanted that way to be a path anyone could take. Eventually, he discovered what has become known as the middle way. The path that lies between the extremes of indulgence and aestheticism. One day, he vowed to sit beneath the shade of a body tree and not move until he attained enlightenment. 

This strong intention eventually led to his attainment of the state we call enlightenment. Buddha went on to teach after his awakening. He spent the next 45 years sharing with anyone who would ask about the middle way, the eightfold path, and the four noble truths. He did not turn anyone away. After his passing, a community was established that has carried these teachings forward for over 2,500 years. In this tradition, Buddha is not seen as a savior to be prayed to. He left behind teachings that will allow any person who practices them to liberate themselves from the prison of this material world. 

We do not escape aging and death, but we can make full use of this life and learn to accept death when it comes with grace. Five centuries after Sadartha's death, another messenger appeared. Jesus of Nazareth had a very different beginning. His birth was foretold centuries before he was born. The ancient Hebrew writings prophesied about the arrival of a Messiah who would lead his people to freedom. Unlike Sedartha, Jesus was born into poverty. His people lived under Roman occupation, carrying centuries of hope that God would liberate them and establish what Jesus called the kingdom of God. 

It's interesting to note there's only one story in the Bible about his childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood, and that's when he was 12 years old. His parents traveled from their home in Nazareth to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover. Mary and Joseph head home mistakingly leaving Jesus behind. They return to look for him, and after three days, they find him in the temple talking to the religious teachers. When Mary, his mother challenges him about his absence, he responded with, "Did you not know I had to be in my father's house?" This was the first indication he was aware of his own divinity. When Jesus is around 28 years old, he's baptized by John the Baptist who acknowledged Jesus as the greater teacher he'd been talking about. Jesus began to teach and gathered his disciples around him. He also performed miracles such as turning water into wine at a wedding feast, walking on water, healing the sick, even raising the dead, and he used simple stories known as parables to teach deep spiritual truth. 

He eventually antagonized the religious leaders of his time and they began to challenge him. Eventually, they plot to kill him. While in Jerusalem for the annual Passover festival, Jesus is arrested and dragged before Jewish and Roman authorities and charged with blasphemy. They demand the death penalty. Jesus is crucified on Friday and his body is laid in a tomb. When his followers go to retrieve it on Sunday, the body is gone. They're told Jesus has risen from the dead. He then appears to his disciples and more than 500 followers over the next six weeks. Then, from the peak of the Mount of Olives, Jesus ascends into heaven in front of his followers and disappears from view. 

Jesus' message was one of paradox. We are both human and divine, he taught. The kingdom lies within us. When we come to know ourselves, then we will realize that we are also human and divine. Christ consciousness is another term for the idea that we are to embrace both aspects of ourselves. Our flawed humanity, yes, but also our luminous divinity. We must learn to recognize God as both an imminent, which means an intrinsic or inherent part of something, as well as a transcendent force. Inside the Christian tradition, there are hints everywhere that Christ is bigger than Jesus of Nazareth. We can see that the language of logos or the word is cosmic in inference. It's before creation. And through it, all things are made. More contemporary writers speak about this too. Richard Roar uses the phrase the universal Christ to name the presence of Christ in everything created. 

Spoke of the cosmic Christ as the point toward which evolution is moving. When we say Christ's consciousness in that sense then, we are talking about human awareness waking up too and aligning with that larger pattern. Jesus' message speaks to the union of opposites, a sacred marriage between the heart and mind, the male and female, the light and dark. Essentially, all duality is unified. This state of mystical unification has a different quality from other spiritual experiences and we'll explore that next. We've all heard the expression Buddha nature. It's far more likely to hear this phrase than the term Christ consciousness. Sometimes these two terms are used synonymously as though they're interchangeable. On an absolute level, they do point to the same truth, that we are far more than our physical body, but is there a difference? In Buddhism, the teaching of Buddha nature is the idea that every being already carries at their core, the capacity for awakening, and that awakening is for everyone, not just a certain few. 

Buddha nature is a kind of original clarity or purity of mind which can be obscured by confusion, greed, fear, and ignorance, but it can never be destroyed. Both Christ and the Buddha speak of an aspect of our makeup that is eternal and indestructible. It is both an intrinsic part of the world, yet also transcends it. They both represent a consciousness that is awake, deeply compassionate, willing to suffer with and for others, and committed to healing the whole, not just the individual. Two different stories, but a remarkably similar pattern of awakened, selfless love. I shared their life stories earlier, and now let's distill these two stories down to their essence. Buddha is about peace, serenity, silence, stillness, meditation. Jesus evokes pain, suffering, torture, faith, ascension. 

When seen in this light, we can detect a clear difference, and yet, despite this contrast, both are pointing to something that lies beyond the individual ego self. Christ's consciousness speaks about the awakening of the heart and the integration of opposites. The union of spirit and flesh, inner and outer, light and dark. His message is non-dualistic and unifying. Buddha nature on the other hand refers to the awakening of the mind. Instead of integration, Buddha nature is about transcending desire and ego attachment and the discovery of primordial consciousness. Thus, we can clearly see there are at least two types of deeper awakening present in the spiritual journey. Heart awakening or Christ consciousness and mind awakening, Buddha nature. One form of awakening comes through love, devotion, courage and surrender exemplified by Jesus. And the other form of awakening comes through establishing mental clarity, detachment, and mindfulness as the Buddha demonstrated for us. 

Christ's consciousness is the path of the heart. It is a yin or imminent path. Buddha nature is the path of the mind or mindfulness. It is a yang or transcendent path. And here's the beautiful thing. Both can work together or independently of each other. I would propose that in today's evolutionary cycle, many seekers are incorporating aspects from both teachings into their spiritual journeys. 

Jesus is imminence or presence. He is God here in flesh, in relationship. Buddha is transcendence, freedom from suffering, seeing through illusion, resting in what is beyond the material. It's not that Jesus has no mind or that the Buddha has no heart. They are both whole and complete, but the emphasis and the imagery are different. Each offers a path of transformation, so let's take them as two complimentary aspects of awakening. Jesus is a symbol of divine love entering the human condition and a heart that feels deeply and breaks open for others. Buddha is a symbol of waking up from ignorance and illusion and a mind that sees clearly through human craving and grasping. 

Both are concerned with the end of suffering, liberation from egoic contraction, and the flowering of compassion. They just emphasize different routes to that place. Jesus teaches through stories of relationship. The prodigal son, for example, lost yet forgiven when he returns home. He doesn't just say love. Jesus embodies it. He touches lepers, eats without casts, weeps at a friend's grave, and prays for his executioners. Awakening from the Jesus perspective is relational. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and your neighbor as yourself. What does this mean? You cannot separate your consciousness from how you treat other people. Jesus also constantly reminds us that God is everywhere, is with and within us. God is hidden in the neighbor next door, the hungry person you pass on the street, the prisoner. 

From this perspective, Christ's consciousness is the sense that the divine is pulsing through this moment. Every moment, through your body, your relationships, your work. Psychologically, this is heart-centered awakening. It is vulnerability, softness, and a willingness to be wounded, but not as a doormat, rather as a path to deeper love. The Buddha's story on the other hand centers around the question of why do we suffer and is there a way out? Buddha nature encourages one to notice craving, aversion, and ignorance, and to watch how the mind constructs a sense of eye around our life experiences. We're urged to see that everything is impermanent and ultimately not me or mine. In other words, I am not my experience. 

Meditation trains the attention of the mind to observe thoughts, feelings, and sensations, to see their arising and passing and to loosen our grip of identification with these things. Buddha awakening is often described as nirvana, which is the extinguishing of the fires of greed, hatred, and illusion. It's a kind of transcendence, not in the sense of leaving the world, but in the sense of no longer being enslaved by its push and its pull. The emphasis is on equanimity, non-attachment, and a spaciousness that doesn't cling, even to pleasant experiences or to spiritual views. Buddhism can sound very mental, but its end game is compassion. Once you see that the self you are protecting is a kind of mental construction, there's more room for empathy. So if Jesus leads with heart and then calls the mind into that love, the Buddha leads with clear mind and lets its compassion naturally flow from that clarity. 

We must ask ourselves, where do these two philosophies converge and where are there some differences in flavor? Both diagnose a problem. Jesus speaks of sin, blindness, and a hardness of heart. The Buddha speaks of ignorance, craving, and aversion. Both invite transformation. Jesus advocates, a change of mind and heart through being born again. Buddha exemplifies awakening from the illusion so that one can see reality for what it is. Both also have compassion as the end result. Jesus' message is about love of God, one's neighbor, and even one's enemy. Buddha exemplifies boundless loving kindness and a compassion for all beings. There are some subtle differences that need to be acknowledged, however. The emphasis of each is different, for example. Jesus emphasizes the heart. Buddha, the mind. Jesus focuses presence. In other words, God is with us, is all around us, and expresses through us. Buddhas focuses transcendence. 

In other words, it's a release from identification with the passing phenomena of this world, and an encouragement to rest in the eternal. Jesus is about the story, his story of incarnation, betrayal, death, and resurrection. Buddha offers an invitation to a kind of inner science and gives seekers the structure of the four noble truths and the eightfold path. Generally speaking, some of us are drawn more to the Jesus model of a relational, devotional, embodied, emotional practice, while others are drawn more to the Buddha model of a contemplative, analytic, calm, and insight-driven practice. 

Now, here's an insight for you. Neither is truly complete without the other. Now, what do I mean by that? Heart without mind can become sentimental and boundaryless. Mind without heart can become cold or detached. As part of this new format, here's a brief guided self-reflection that will help you identify which direction you lean. As always, if you're driving or doing something active, you're encouraged to pause here and come back when you can safely close your eyes. Now that you are in a comfortable, quiet, safe place, let's begin. First, take a few moments to settle in and focus your attention on your breath as it moves in and out. 

As you breathe in, breathe deep into your belly and as you exhale, just allow any tension to leave your body. Feel the weight of your body being supported. Feel your feet on the floor. Continue to breathe and feel yourself relaxing. Letting go of the tension of the day. As you relax into your seat, bring to mind a time when your heart felt very alive and soft. Maybe you were moved by someone's suffering, or you felt deep gratitude or love, or you forgave someone, or someone forgave you. Let yourself reenter that memory just enough to feel its tone. 

Notice what happened in your body. Did your chest feel warm? Did your shoulders soften? Did you perhaps feel a welling up of tears? Now, to yourself, quietly name the core quality of that moment in time. Perhaps it was tenderness or mercy, a sense of belonging, or unconditional love. Now bring to mind a time when your mind felt very clear and steady, maybe during meditation, or in a moment when you suddenly saw a pattern in your life, or when you were able to stay calm in a situation that would normally trigger you. Notice what that felt like. 

Perhaps there's a coolness or a sense of spaciousness around your thoughts, or less need to react. Name the core quality here. Perhaps it's clarity or equanimity. Spaciousness, or non-attachment. Now, gently ask yourself, which of these feels more familiar or natural to me right now? The soft relational heart space? Or the clear, spacious mind space? There is no right answer here. Just notice your responses. Then ask yourself which side might be my growth opportunity right now. If you're heavily heart forward, perhaps you're being invited into more clarity and healthy detachment. If you're more mind-forward, maybe you're being invited into more vulnerability and relational warmth. This is your opportunity to hold both, the Jesus heart and the Buddha mind, as if they were and are like two wings of the same bird. 

Now take a breath in and exhale slowly. Turn your attention back to your breath, becoming more aware of it, moving in and out of your body. Mindful now of your body's position in the chair, your feet, on the floor. Continue to breathe as you bring your awareness back to your normal waking state, more and more present with each breath you take. Begin to shift your body in your chair, wiggle your fingers and toes, and whenever you're ready, open your eyes. And take a few moments to write some notes in your journal about this experience. Today, we looked at Jesus and the Buddha as two great mirrors of awakening. Jesus represents the path of the heart and presence. God with us in the flesh, in our tears, residing within the least of us. 

Mudah represents the path of mind and transcendence, of seeing clearly, letting go, and resting in what cannot be grasped by our limited mind. Both point towards a consciousness that is less bound by ego, freer from fear and clinging to the familiar, and more capable of real compassion. One last thing. Here's a simple weekly experiment you can play with if you choose. Contemplate this question. Where am I more at home right now? Heart or mind? Presence or transcendence? And what might it look like to cultivate the other approach? If you lean heart first, maybe try taking three minutes once a day to simply pay attention to your breath or your thoughts without trying to fix anything. Allow the Buddha quality of clear seeing to have a little more room in your awareness. If you lean mind first, then intentionally do one small act of warmth or vulnerability every day. 

Perhaps it's sharing a word of appreciation, an honest I'm sorry, or a moment of shared feeling with someone. Let the Jesus quality of tender, compassionate love. Step to the forefront. You don't have to become a perfect blend of both. Just notice how your own awakening path might be asking for both. A clear mind and a soft heart. Transcendence and presence. The Buddha and the Christ. In quiet relationship inside of you. 

Well, that's our time for today. If you found value in this episode, please share it with two other people so that together we can bring more light to this world. Thank you for continuing to support evolving humans. If you need guidance about a current life situation, could use some energy healing or want to reconnect with friends and loved ones in spirit. Please go to my website at juliamarie.us and click the book now button on the homepage. As we come to the end of this series on Christ's consciousness, I invite you to share what you want to learn more about. Hit the leave me a text link at the top of the show notes and tell me what aspect of consciousness you'd like me to explore next or drop a comment below this episode on the YouTube's channel at Evolving Humans with Julia Marie. Until next time, remember that you are the light this world so desperately needs. 

So shine that light. Diamond bright.