the cross and lotus

8/9/2019 The Cross and Lotus

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The Cross and Lotus

An Introductory History of Christianity in a Buddhist Context

By James Carlton Stephens

Tempers ran high along the Silk Road for generations betweenmerchants, mercenaries and monks, who spent weeks trekkingalongside camels through the desert sands at night avoidingmarauders and the blistering mid day sun. Refreshing stops at adesert Oasis for several days to a week at a time provided ampleopportunity for a religious debate for these road scholars whotraded social gossip as readily as silk and gold.

At times the raging wind blew the swirling sand across the greatdunes until the normal trail was no longer visible. Hamid, theexperienced Bedouin trader sensing the futility of further travelerected his two room gutba effortlessly in what seemed but amoment. It was an inbred ritual of survival that generations hadcarried out. Once the tent was secured, he placed an interior lighton the tents center pole signifying his tribes belief that Allah is thelight of the heavens and earth (Surah 24, Ayah 35). Kneelingtowards Mecca he intently rolled out the niche carpet in the alcoveof the gutba designed for Muslim prayers, bowed and thanked Allah

for refuge from the storm. The incessant pelting sand bred adrowsy rest among the remaining exhausted pilgrims.

As early evening approached, the winds died down and the camparose to a sweet aroma of black coffee, served as a symbol of theBedouin belief that any guest is a guest of God. After Hamid drankthe El Heif (first cup), to assure the guests of its purity, Hamidsguests each poured a small portion into each of their cups from thebriki into the second cup, the El Keif on cue. After their meal, somestale dates were passed around the circle for dessert. Hamid was

not only a capable cook, but a skillful captain on the sea of sandwho had mastered the art of survival, stellar navigation and out ofnecessity several trade languages. It wasnt long until, the Nestorianand Buddhist merchant were having an intense one-on-onediscussion about their faith.

Its just a myth, a legend. Think about it. Giant hooded snakesshielding the Prince from the rain! Ridiculous.

The Buddhist merchant retorted, No. It really happened. He wasalive and born in Nepal.


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Okay, so he lived, but wheres the historical evidence? theNestorian challenged.

Its obvious you dont have a clue about Indias culture and howreligious teachings are passed on. What does it matter what your

books say! Your Jesus never wrote any books. He just talked like ourbeloved Buddha. Some of his disciples memorized many of his talksthey were so brilliant, proudly retorted the Merchant from Ladakh.

After listening to the discourse for an hour, the dark skinned Indianmerchant sitting in the shadows sarcastically said, Why resuscitatefrom a well-deserved oblivion the pestilent views of the Buddha?Buddhism is but a stray dog of our high religion of Brahmanism.Buddha broke ranks and brought shame to his royal family and lefthis father like a spoiled goat! Now Ganesh, Krishna, and Shiva theyare gods worth worshipping!

Hamid, recognizing his authority on the desert piped in with his ownopinion, hoping to keep the debate somewhat civil. Out in thedesert, we fight the elements of wind, and sand, and the blazing sunby day and the freezing temperatures at night. I dont much care forworshipping a carved stone of an elephant to save me from theperils of a sand storm. He skillfully turned the discussion back to theNestorian. I dont think that Jesu was crucified. In fact, his namehere is Mani and he is said to have appeared and preached to manyin Ladakh and Kashmir. He is a great prophet, may Allah be

praised.

His Ahmadiyyan Muslim friend broke in, No Hamid. Mani was adisciple of Jesu. Jesu spent his years studying magic in ourmountains and returned to the Holy Land to call his disciples. TheRomans didnt kill him. He was taken off the cross after a few hoursand survived. I heard he was seen in Kashmir where he finally diedafter many years.

A Chinese merchant trading in herbal medicines, thinking about theHindus attack said, You have in your tradition many avatars. Some

say Buddha was but a reincarnation of Krishna. We believe that theBuddha was a reincarnation of our great philosopher Lao Tse. So,you see it doesnt much matter does it? See how you argue overvain disputes that are but a vapor? What does heaven matter whenwe can not even get along among ourselves?

Hamids presence had a way of making itself known as he rose tohis feet, the primitive fire in his eyes dancing to a different tuneknowing the way of the deserts Silk Road. Without heavens starsto guide us, we would burn in the hell of the deserts dunes. Allah be

praised. It is now time for a few hours rest. We break camp at twoso we can travel in the cool of the night. Stone silence replaced the


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intense debate overheard by the ancient audience of stars lightingthe Silk Road.

Centuries later, Kenneth Scott Latourette, the dean of American

historians, posed a question which those from a New Age orBuddhist background might have postulated, Would Christianityhave been different had the original impulse appeared in someother cultural areain India or China? His answer was,Undoubtedly.

As I have meditated on the expansion of Christianity, I havewondered why the Holy Spirit initially barred the Apostle Paulsdesire to propagate the Gospel in Asia. You may recall that as theirteam passed through the Phrygian and Galatian region they wereforbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia (Acts 16:6).Many historians have said that the order by which the Gospel hasprimarily been propagated has been the same route the sun travels,from East to West. However, some others contend that arrived inAsia prior to .. And yet even within the Hellenistic world, the earlyChurch encountered the syncretistic milieu from differing stances,not unlike our contemporary experience of Christian mission amongBuddhists. To understand the future, one must understand thehistorical and religious circumstances leading to our present age.While Christianity has traveled from West to East.has hasBuddhism prospered and what have been the intersections of the

two faiths?

Latourette emphasized,

In church circles a widespread distrust of pagan philosophy andliterature existedOn the other hand, many teachers were ardentstudents of ancient philosophy and sought to present their faith inphilosophical guise. Notable among these were Clement ofAlexandria and Origen (Latourette 1970 Vol. 1:253).

Cross & Lotus in China

Samuel Moffatt posed the question, How Old is ChineseChristianity?

When the Jesuits reached China I the sixteenth century they founda colony of Jews in Kaifeng, but no Christians. Perhaps the reports ofancient missions to China were nothing but wishful thinking, thoughsome remembered the vanished Franciscan missions to the Mongolsin the thirteenth century, others believed Marco Polos reports ofChristians in Kublai Khans China, and a few accepted the unlikely

references to a mission of St. Thomas from India to China. But if


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Christians had indeed been in China before the Jesuits, there wasnothing left to show for it.

Then came a dramatic discovery. In 1623, workmen digging not farfrom what is now Hsian (Xian), the ancient Tang-dynasty capitalChangan, uncovered a great stone more than nine feet high andthree and a third feet wide of black granular limestone, beautifullyinscribed in Chinese characters beneath a design at the topcentering around a cross rising from a lotus blossom. Largecharacters under the cross proclaimed it to be A MonumentCommemorating the Propagation of the Ta-chin (Syrian) LuminousReligion in China (ta chin ching jyan liao tung jung guo bei). It wasa monument erected in 781 telling of the arrival of a Nestorianmissionary in the Chinese capital in 635.

the cross and lotus

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