Buddha Knew of Jesus Christ

Death to Life Testimony of a Buddhist Monk
Did Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha) Know of Jesus Christ?
By Patricia P. Ono Nakama

According to (Pew Research Center, 2012), there are approximately 488 million Buddhists worldwide. 1

Siddhartha Gautama was a spiritual teacher from ancient India and the historical founder of Buddhism. The time of his birth and death is uncertain; most modern historians date his lifetime from 563 BC to 483 BC, though some have suggested a date about a century later than this. (en.wikipedia.org)

PAT ONO NAKAMA: Buddhism is unlike any other religion. Buddhists do not believe in gods. They believe in kindness and life after death. They believe if you live a good life, you will have a better life in the next life and it will build up good Karma (feelings, atmosphere, aura). This principle is similar to Christianity with the GOLDEN RULE defining our human relationships — Jesus said, “Treat people the same way you want them to treat you. Be merciful (responsive, compassionate, tender) just as your [heavenly] Father is merciful†(Luke 6:31, 36 AMP).

SIDDHARTHA GAUTAMA (BUDDHA) vs. JESUS OF NAZARETH

Siddhartha Gautama is the historical founder of BUDDHISM. Most historians date his lifetime from 563 BC to 483 BC. (en.wikipedia.org) which means he died at 80 years old.

Jesus of Nazareth was a human baby whose birth and death are heralded throughout biblical history (Matthew 1:18-25 Complete Jewish Bible).

Many historians have calculated that Jesus Christ was born between March 9 and May 4, in the year 5 BC. But, confirmation by Astronomer Chester Craig’s date of Jesus’ birth is September 11, 3 B.C.2 In HUMPHREYS & WADDINGTON Jewish Calendar,3 the crucifixion of Jesus was on 3 April AD 33. Jesus was 36 years old when he was crucified.

This means Buddha lived almost 500 years before the birth of Jesus Christ.

After a silence of 400 years between the books of the Old Testament, / Matthew, a disciple of Jesus, begins the books of the New Testament with the record of the Genealogy of Jesus

the Messiah, the son (descendant) of David, the descendant of Abraham…through fourteen generations. This is followed by fourteen more generations from the Babylonian deportation (exile) to the Messiah, a grand total of twenty-eight generations.

This is the Bible record of the … Conception and Birth of Jesus [Matthew 1:18-25].

¹⁸Here is how the birth of Jesus, the Messiah, took place. When his mother Mary
was engaged to Joseph, before they were married, she was found to be pregnant
from the Holy Spirit and Fire (Ruach HaKodesh). ¹⁹Her husband-to-be, Joseph,
was a man who did what was right; so, he made plans to break the engagement
quietly, rather than put her to public shame. ²⁰ But while he was thinking about
this, an angel of the LORD (Adonai) appeared to him in a dream and said,
“Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home with you as your wife;
for what has been conceived in her is from the (Ruach HaKodesh). ²¹ She will give
birth to a son, and you are to name him Jesus (Yeshua), [which means
‘Adonai saves,’] because he will save his people from their sins.â€
²² All this happened in order to fulfill what Adonai had said through the prophet,
²³ “The virgin will conceive and bear a son,
and they will call him ‘Immanu El.â€[a] (The name means, “God is with us.â€)
²⁴ When Joseph awoke he did what the angel of Adonai had told him to do — he
took Mary home to be his wife, ²⁵ but he (Joseph) did not have sexual relations
with her (Mary) until she had given birth to a son, and he (Joseph) named him
Jesus (Yeshua) (Matthew 1:18-25 CJB).
Footnotes: a. Matthew 1:23; Isaiah 7:14.

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A PROPHECY OF BUDDHA

Once a year, the Buddhist monks at the Wat Prasingh temple in Chiang Mai, Thailand, release in Thai language, a section of the Buddhist scripture. These are translated over that year from the Sanskrit scriptures held in the temple.

HISTORY OF LORD BUDDHA, SECTION 13

The following text is from the History of Lord Buddha, Section 13: “Lord Buddha Answers the Problem of the Celestial Being.â€

Once a celestial being (human being) came to Lord Buddha and asked him, “How should a man and the celestial beings observe the precepts in order to be saved from sin?â€

Buddha answered him, “Even if you keep the Five Precepts, the Eightfold Path… the 227 laws… even if you offer yourself as a sacrifice or meditate five times a day, you may not be saved. Even if you did all this every day, the amount of merit you would gain would only be equivalent to one hair of the head of a baby in the womb….. You wouldn’t be able to enter the gate of heaven at all.â€

The celestial being then asked, “Then, what should we do to be saved?†Buddha answered him, “Man’s sin and karma (iniquities) are very

weighty, heavier than the sky, thicker than the earth….

Then the celestial being asked him, “If that is so, what should we do?†Buddha answered, “You should look for another god who will come and

help you in the future, that is the Phra Sri Ariya Mettrai (Lord of Mercy). The celestial being asked him, “This god who is to come, what kind of

person will he be?â€

Buddha said, “This is what the coming god will be like—in the palms of his hands and the soles of his feet there will be circular marks, and in his side will be the scars from having been pierced. This god will be a large golden boatwho will take you from your suffering to true nirvana. Don’t desire to look for the old path, or you will find no release. Change your old heart attitude, and get a heart whose light, as bright as fireflies, shines down from above into your hearts. Then you will have victory over your enemies on four sides, on eight sides. If anyone tries to harm you, they will not succeed. If you die, you will not return again to this world.

HOW CAN I BE SAVED FROM SIN?

Once a celestial being came to Lord Buddha and asked him, “How should a man and the celestial beings observe the precepts in order to be saved from sin?â€

FIVE PRECEPTS….

Buddha answered him, “Even if you keep the Five Precepts, the Eightfold Path… the 227 laws… even if you offer yourself as a sacrifice or meditate five times a day, you may not be saved. Even if you did all this every day, the amount of merit you would gain would only be equivalent to one hair of the head of a baby in the womb…. You wouldn’t be able to enter the gate of heaven at all.â€

The celestial being then asked, “Then, what should we do to be saved?â€

Buddha answered him, “Man’s sin and karma (iniquities) are very weighty, heavier than the sky, thicker than the earth….

Then the celestial being asked him, “If that is so, what should we do?â€

LOOK FOR ANOTHER GOD IN THE FUTURE

Buddha answered, “You should look for another god who will come and help you in the future, that is the Phra Sri Ariya Mettrai (Lord of Mercy).

WHAT KIND OF PERSON WILL THIS GOD BE?

The celestial being asked him, “This god who is to come, what kind of person will he be?â€

Buddha said, “This is what the coming god will be like—in the palms of his hands and the soles of his feet there will be circular marks, and in his side will be the scars from having been pierced.

This god will be a large golden boat who will take you from your suffering to true

nirvana. Don’t desire to look for the old path, or you will find no release. Change your old heart attitude, and get a heart whose light, as bright as fireflies, shines down from above into your hearts. Then you will have victory over your enemies on four sides, on eight sides. If anyone tries to harm you, they will not succeed. If you die, you will not return again to this world.†(end quote)

QUESTION: If Buddha himself advised a man seeking for the pathway to heaven to look for the “Lord of Mercy,†why hasn’t this truth been shared with the 488 million Buddhists in the world?

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Here is the Testimony of Athet Pyan Shinthaw Paulu (Jul 14, 2005) a Buddhist monk living in Burma.

Athet Pyon Shinthaw Paulu: My Early Years

Hello! My name is Athet Pyan Shinthaw Paulu. I am from the country of Myanmar. I would like to share with you my testimony of what happened to me, but first let me give you some brief background information about my life as a young person.

I was born in 1958 in the town of Bogale, on the Irrawaddy Delta area of southern Myanmar [which was formerly called Burma]. My parents, who were devout Buddhists, like most people in Myanmar, named me Thitpin [which means ‘tree’ in English]. Our lives were very simple where I grew up. At the age of 13, I left school and started working on a fishing boat. We caught fish and sometimes also shrimp from the numerous rivers and streams in the Irrawaddy area. At the age of 16 I became the leader of the boat. At this time I lived in Upper Ma-in-mah-la-gyon Island [which means ‘Beautiful Woman Island’ in English]. This place is about 100 miles southwest of Yangon [Rangoon], our nation’s capitol city.

One day, when I was 17, we caught a large number of fish in our nets. Because of the many fish, a large crocodile was attracted to us. It followed our boat and tried to attack us. We were terrified so we frantically rowed our boats toward the riverbank as fast as we could. The crocodile followed us and smashed our boat with its tail. Although no one died in this incident, the attack greatly affected my life. I no longer wanted to fish. Our small boat sank because of the crocodile attack. We had to go home to our village that night on a passenger boat.

Not long after, my employers transferred my father to Yangon [Rangoon] City At the age of 18 I was sent to a Buddhist monastery to be a novice monk. Most parents in Myanmar try to send their son into a Buddhist monastery, at least for a time, as it is considered a great honor to have a son serve in this way. We have been observing this custom for many hundreds of years.

A Zealous Disciple of Buddha

When I turned 19 years and 3 months old (in 1977), I became a normal monk. The senior monk at my monastery gave me a new Buddhist name, which is the custom in our country. I was now called U Nata Pannita Ashinthuriya. When we become a monk we no longer use

the name given to us at birth by our parents. The name of the monastery I lived at is called Mandalay Kyaikasan Kyaing. The senior monk’s name was called U Zadila Kyar Ni Kan Sayadaw [U Zadila is his title]. He was the most famous Buddhist monk in all of Myanmar at the time. Everyone knew who he was. He was widely honored by the people and respected as a great teacher. I say he “was” because in 1983 he suddenly died when he was involved in a fatal car accident. His death shocked everyone. At the time I had been a monk for six years.

I tried hard to be the best monk I could and to follow all the precepts of Buddhism. At one stage I moved to a cemetery where I lived and meditated continually. Some monks who really want to know the truths of Buddha do things like I did. Some move deep into the forests where they live a life of self-denial and poverty. I sought to deny my selfish thoughts and desires, to escape from sickness and suffering and to break free from the cycle of this world. At the cemetery I was not afraid of ghosts. I tried to attain such inner peace and self-realization that even when a mosquito landed on my arm I would let it bite me instead of brushing it off!

For years I strived to be the best monk I could and not to harm any living being. I studied the holy Buddhist teachings just like all my forefathers had done before me. My life proceeded as a monk until I got very, very sick. I was in Mandalay at the time and had to be taken to the hospital for treatment. The doctors did some tests on me and told me I had both Yellow Fever and malaria at the same time! After about one month in the hospital I was getting worse. The doctors told me there was no chance forme to recover and discharged me to make arrangements to die.

This is a brief description of my past. I would now like to tell you some of the remarkable things that happened to me after this time…

A Vision that Changed My Life Forever

After I was discharged from the hospital I went back to the monastery where other monks cared for me. I grew weaker and weaker and was lapsing into unconsciousness. I learned later that I actually died for three days. My body decayed and stunk of death, and my heart stopped beating. My body was prepared for cremation and was put through traditional Buddhist purification rites.
Although I faded away in my body I remember my mind and spirit were fully alert. I was in a very, very powerful storm. A tremendous wind flattened the whole landscape until there were no trees or anything else standing, just a flat plain. I walked very fast along this plain for some time. There were no other people anywhere, I was all alone. After some time I crossed a river. On the other side of the river I saw a terrible, terrible lake of fire. In Buddhism we do not have a concept of a place like this. At first I was confused and didn’t know it was hell until I saw Yama, the king of hell [Yama is the name ascribed to the King of Hell in numerous cultures throughout Asia]. His face looked like the face of a lion, his body was like a lion, but his legs were like a naga [serpent spirit]. He had a number of horns on his head. Hisface was very fierce, and I was extremely afraid. Trembling, I asked him his name. He replied,

“I am the king of hell, the Destroyer.”

The Terrible, Terrible Lake Of Fire

The king of hell told me to look into the lake of fire. I looked and I saw the saffron colored robes that Buddhist monks wear in Myanmar. I looked closer and saw the shaven head of a man. When I looked at the man’s face I saw it was U Zadila Kyar Ni Kan Sayadaw [the famous monk who had died in a car accident in 1983]. I asked the king of hell why my former leader was confined to this lake of torment. I said, “Why is he in this lake of fire? He was a very good teacher. He even had a teaching tape called ‘Are You a Man or a Dog?’ which had helped thousands of people understand that their worth as humans is far greater than the animals.” The king of hell replied, “Yes, he was a good teacher but he did not believe in Jesus Christ. That’s why he is in hell.”

I was told to look at another person who was in the fire. I saw a man with very long hair wrapped on the left hand side of his head. He was also wearing a robe. I asked the king of hell, “Who is this man?” He replied, “This is the one you worship: Gautama [Buddha].” I was very disturbed to see Gautama in hell. I protested, “Gautama had good ethnics and good moral character, why is he suffering in this lake of fire?” The king of hell answered me, “It doesn’t matter how good he was. He is in this place because he did not believe in the Eternal God.”

I then saw another man who looked like he was wearing a soldier’s uniform. He had a large wound on his chest. I asked, “Who is this man?” The king of hell said, “This is Aung San, the revolutionary leader of Myanmar.” I was told, “Aung San is here because he persecuted and killed Christians, but mostly because he didn’t believe in Jesus Christ.” In Myanmar the people have a common saying, “Soldiers never die, they live on.” I was told that the legions of hell have a saying, “Soldiers never die, but they go to hell forever.”

I looked and saw another man in the lake of fire. He was a very tall man and he was dressed in military armor. He was also holding a sword and a shield. This man had a wound on his forehead. This man was taller than any person I have ever seen. He was six times the length between a man’s elbow and the tips of his fingers when he stretches his arm out straight, plus one span of a man’s fingers when he spreads out his hand. The king of hell said, “This man’s name is Goliath. He is in hell because he blasphemed the Eternal God and His servant David.”

I was confused because I didn’t know who either Goliath or David were. The king of hell said, “Goliath is recorded in the Christian Bible. You don’t know him now, but when you become a Christian, you will know who he is.”

I was then taken to a place where I saw both rich and poor people preparing to eat their evening meals. I asked, “Who cooked the food for these people?” The king of hell replied, “The poor have to prepare their own food, but the rich people get others to cook for them.” When the food had been prepared for the rich people they sat down to eat. As soon as they started a thick smoke came up. The rich people ate as fast as they could to ease their consciences. They were struggling to breath because of the smoke. They had to eat fast because they were fearful of losing their money. Their money is their god.

Another king of hell then came to me. I also saw a being whose job is to stoke the fires beneath the lake of fire, to keep it hot. This being asked me, “Are you going into the lake of fire too?” I replied, “No! I am only here to observe!” The appearance of this creature stoking the fire was very terrifying. He had ten horns on his head and a spear in his hand that had

seven sharp blades coming from the end. The creature told me, “You are right. You came here just to observe. I cannot find your name here.” He said, “You must now go back the way you came.” He pointed me toward the desolate plain that I had first walked along before I came to the lake of fire.

The Road of Decision

I walked a long time, until I was bleeding. I was hot and in great pain. Finally, after walking for about three hours I came to a wide road. I walked along this road for some time until I came to a fork. One road, going off to the left, was wide. A smaller road went off to the right hand side. There was a signpost at the fork saying that the road to the left was for those who do not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. The smaller road to the right was for believers in Jesus.

I was interested to see where the larger road led so I started down it. There were two men walking about 300 yards ahead of me. I tried to catch up with them so I could walk with them but no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t catch them up, so I turned around and went back to the fork in the road. I continued to watch these two men as they walked down the road away from me. When they reached the end of the road they were suddenly stabbed. These two men cried out in great pain! I also cried out when I saw what happened to them! I realized the bigger road ended in great danger for those who traveled down it.

Looking into Heaven

I started walking down the believers’ road instead. After traveling for about one hour the surface of the road turned to pure gold. It was so pure that when I looked down I could see my own reflection perfectly. I then saw a man standing in front of me. He was wearing a white robe. I also heard beautiful singing. Oh, it was so beautiful and pure! It was much better and more meaningful than the worship we have in churches here on the earth. The man in the white robe asked me to walk with him. I asked him, “What is your name?” but he did not answer. After I asked his name six times the man answered, “I am the one who holds the key to Heaven. Heaven is a very, very beautiful place. You cannot go there now but if you follow Jesus Christ, you can go there after your life has finished on the earth.” The man’s name was Peter.

Peter then asked me to sit down and he showed me a place to the north. Peter said, “Look to the north and see God create man.” I saw the Eternal God from a distance. God spoke to an angel, “Let us make man.” The angel pleaded with God and said, “Please don’t make man. He will do wrong and will grieve you.” [In Burmese literally: “He will make you lose face.”]. But God created a man anyway. God blew on the man and the man came to life. He gave him the name “Adam”. [Note: Buddhists do not believe in the Creation of the world or of man, so this experience had a significant impact on the monk].

Sent Back with a New Name

Then Peter said, “Now get up and go back to where you came from. Speak to the people who worship Buddha and who worship idols. Tell them they must go to hell if they don’t change. Those who build temples and idols will also have to go to hell. Those who give offerings to the monks to earn merit for themselves will go to hell. All those who pray to the

monks and call them ‘Pra’ [respectful title for monks] will go to hell. Those who chant and ‘give life’ to idols will go to hell. All those who don’t believe in Jesus Christ will go to hell.” Peter told me to go back to the earth and testify about the things I had seen. He also said, “You must speak in your new name. From now on, you are to be called Athet Pyan Shinthaw Paulu [“Paul who Came Back to Life.”].

I didn’t want to go back. I wanted to go to heaven. Angels opened a book. First they looked for my childhood name (Thitpin) in the book, but they could not find it. They then looked for the name I had been given when he entered the Buddhist monk hood (U Nata Pannita Ashinthuriya) but it wasn’t written in the book either. Then Peter said, “Your name is not written here, you must return and testify about Jesus to the Buddhist people.”

I walked back along the gold road. Again, I heard beautiful singing, the kind of which I have never heard before or since. Peter walked with me until the time I returned to the earth. He showed me a ladder that reached down from the heaven to the sky. The ladder didn’t reach to the earth, but stopped in mid-air. On the ladder I saw many angels, some going up to heaven and some going down the ladder. They were very busy. I asked Peter, “Who are they?” Peter answered, “They are messengers of God. They are reporting to heaven the names of all those who believe in Jesus Christ and the names of those who don’t believe.”

Peter then told me it was time to go back.

It is a Ghost!

The next thing I was aware of was the sound of weeping. I heard my own mother cry out, “My son, why did you leave us now?” I also heard many other people weeping. I realized I was lying in a box. I started to move.

My mother and father started shouting, “He is alive! He is alive!” Other people who were farther away did not believe my parents. I then placed my hands on the sides of the box and sat upright. Many people were struck with terror. They cried out, “It is a ghost!” and ran away as fast as their legs could carry them.

Those who remained were speechless and trembling. I noticed I was sitting in smelly liquid and body fluids, enough to fill about three and a half cups. This was liquid that had come out of my stomach and my insides while my body was lying in the coffin. This is why people knew I had indeed been dead. Inside the coffin there was a type of plastic sheet fixed to the wood. This sheet is placed there to retain a corpse’s liquids, because many dead bodies release much fluid like mine did.

I learned later that I was just moments away from being cremated in the flames. In Myanmar people are placed in a coffin, the lid is then nailed shut, and the whole coffin is burned. When I came back to life my mother and father were being allowed to look at my body for the very last time. Moments later the lid of my coffin would have been nailed shut and I would have been cremated!

I immediately started to explain the things I had seen and heard. People were astonished. I told them about the men I had seen in the lake of fire, and told them that only the Christians know the truth, that our forefathers and us have been deceived for thousands of years! I

told them everything we believe is a lie. The people were astonished because they knew what kind of a monk I had been and how zealous I had been for the teachings of Buddha.

In Myanmar when a person dies their name and age is written on the side of the coffin. When a monk dies, the monk’s name, age and the number of years he has served as a monk are written on the side of the coffin. I had already been recorded as dead but as you can see, now I am alive!

Epilogue

Since ‘Paul who came back to life’ experienced the above story he has remained a faithful witness to the Lord Jesus Christ. Burmese pastors have told us that he had led hundreds of other monks to faith in Christ. His testimony is obviously very uncompromising. Because of that, his message has offended many people who cannot accept there is only one Way to Heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ. Despite great opposition, his experiences were so real to him that he has not wavered. After many years in the Buddhist monkhood, as a strict follower of Buddhist teachings, he immediately proclaimed the Gospel of Christ following his resurrection and exhorted other monks to forsake all false gods and follow Jesus Christ with all their hearts. Before the time of his sickness and death he had no exposure to Christianity at all. Everything he learned during those three days in the grave was new to his mind.

In a bid to get his message out to as many people as possible, this modern-day Lazarus began distributing audio and video cassette tapes with his story on them. The police and Buddhist authorities in Myanmar have done their utmost to gather these tapes up and destroy them. The testimony you have just read has been translated form one of those cassette tapes. We are told it is now quite dangerous for citizens of Myanmar to be in possession of these tapes.

His fearless testimony has landed him in prison at least once, where the authorities failed in their bid to silence him. Upon his release he continued to testify of the things he saw and heard. His current whereabouts are uncertain. One Burmese informant told us he is prison and may have been killed, while another informant was told he is now released from prison and is continuing his ministry.

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PAT ONO NAKAMA: Paulu has fearlessly and boldly told his story at great personal cost, including imprisonment. He has been scorned by his relatives, friends and colleagues, and faced death threats for his unwillingness to compromise his message. What motivated this man to be willing to risk everything? Whether we believe him or not, his story is surely worth listening to and considered.

“Ask, and it shall be given you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it shall be opened unto you.â€

The following prayer is a guaranteed to reach into the Throne Room of GOD in the Kingdom of Heaven. Let us pray.

LORD JESUS CHRIST AND FATHER GOD (ADONAI)…

You know my heart. Please forgive me if I am disrespectful, but I just really want to know the Truth. As a Buddhist, I want to become a citizen of Your Kingdom of Heaven at the end of my earthly life. Will you please shine Your Light down into my heart. Open my spiritual eyes and ears, so I will see and know The Truth?

Your son, Jesus Christ has the marks on his feet and hands (from the crucifixion nails) that Buddha talked about. His side was pierced with a spear while he hung on the cross. Is THIS Jesus Christ Your SON? — “…who was born of a virgin, came to earth in the flesh, died on the cross and rose (was resurrected) from the grave three days later. This same Jesus who IS GOD and now sits in heaven on the right hand of the Father, THIS Jesus is my Lord and Master.â€4 Your Son? Jesus promised that the “Truth would set me free.“ Help me, Lord, to receive the Truth as you know it. Please. In Jesus name I pray, amen.

The End.