The story of the buddha compared to that of Christ?

[14carat]

Just kind of throwing this subject out there, as a practicing Buddhist and with no disrespect but, although it is very easy to find not only solace and wisdom of the teachings of the Buddha but, a great peace and true happiness in the application of Buddhist thought, it dosen't take much investigation to see the many ways in which the story of the Buddha jibes  with that of Christ, Dionysus, mythra, and even in some ways to Quetzalcoatl.
For example...     

Both Buddha and Jesus were baptized in the presence of the "spirit" of G--d. (De Bunsen, p. 45; Matthew 3:16.)
    Both went to their temples at the age of twelve, where they are said to have astonished all with their wisdom. (Ibid., p. 37; Luke 2:41--48.)
    When Buddha died: "The coverings of [his] body unrolled themselves, and the lid of his coffin was opened by supernatural powers." (De Bunsen, p. 49.)
    Buddha answered the "devil": "Get you away from me." (De Bunsen, p.38) Jesus responded: "...begone, Satan!" (Matthew 4:10). Both experienced the "supernatural" after the "devil" left: For Buddha: "The skies rained flowers, and delicious odors prevailed [in] the air." (Ibid.) For Jesus: "angels came and ministered to him" (Matthew 4:11).
Source http://www.tektonics.org/copycat/buddha01.html
I suppose my question is...
Is it fair to say that these are misconceptions from the western translation of the vedic story of Shakyamuni Buddha, or is this story of Buddha among many Buddhas not important to applied Buddhism as defined as those who seek awakening.

[catmoon]

Sounds to me like someone could use a Bunsen burner.


The idea that Buddha was baptized in the spirit of God runs into some difficulty when you consider he flatly denied the existence of God. Either Buddha was right, in which case the baptism is impossible, or he was wrong, in which case it is highly unlikely God would confer this baptism upon him, what with Buddha being an outspoken atheist and all.

The idea that both went to temples and taught, amazing those assembled there, runs into a lot of problems too. Buddha did not take up any kind of religious life until he was nearly thirty, and in fact was deliberately kept ignorant of religion and of the ills of the world by his family.

The quote about the funeral coverings and the coffin seem pretty odd in light of the fact that Buddha was cremated, not buried.

I think the wisest course is to investigate Mr. De Bunsen's credentials.

[catmoon]

I poked around a little bit and found that Ernest/Ernst de Bunsen is a rather hard fellow to pin down. He just wasn't very famous I suppose. Nonetheless, I did find a reference in the Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archaeology. It seems he presented a paper before the society in 1881, the year following the publication of the book quoted above.

His thesis had to do with dating schemes for the book of Judges. He presented his thesis, which was promptly shot to bits in the after-lecture discussion by a couple of members who pointed out glaring contradictions between his ideas and well established facts.

History has forgotten him, and with good reason, too.

If I have the geneaolgy right, his son was Sir Maurice de Bunsen, who did rather better, with a long and distinguished career in the British diplomatic service.

[catmoon]

I found some more stuff. It seems that that OP has appeared on any number of Buddhist boards lately, and does not accurately represent the statements of Mr. de Bunsen in his book very well at all. So the OP basically presents a seriously garbled version of the mad ravings of a quaint old Victorian loon.

It turns out an absolutely devastating critique of the OP has already been done, in great detail, by people who are real scholars and have obviously done considerable homework on the subject. It's an entertaining read and can be viewed here: http://www.tektonics.org/copycat/buddha01.html

But I warn ya, after seeing how posts like the OP come into being, you may never trust anything you read on the internet again.

[catmoon]

And in an pants-peeingly funny twist of irony, it turns out the the link I posted above is the very same page the OP used for the source of his material. Congratulations to 14karat, who has elevated the art of quoting out of context to a new level!

[Blue Garuda]

Looking from the other end of the tale, it's up there with Jesus visiting (Tibet/Nepal/India) and basically taking Buddhism back home and adding a heavy seasoning of God and some miracle powers.

As we know from the works of the esteemed scholar Lobsang Rampa, the Tibetan Masters possessed these miracle powers, so the story is most plausible.  LOL