A group of Buddhist monks has set out on a journey from Fort Worth, Texas all the way to Washington, D.C. And today we're taking a closer look at what it means and why it matters. All this and more are coming up right now on the Clear View Today Show. You're listening to Clearview Today with Dr. Abadan Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ.
I'm Ryan Hill. I'm John Galantis, and welcome to the Clearview Today studio. We got another great conversation for you guys today with our host, Dr. Abadan Shah. And if you're listening for the very first time today, we want to say welcome.
Let you know who's talking to you. Dr. Shah is a PhD in New Testament textual criticism, professor at Carolina University, author, full-time pastor, and the host of today's show, Dr. Shah. Welcome.
It's good to be here. Amen. Good to see you. Looking forward to today's conversation. That's going to be fun.
It's on people's minds. And it's time for us to talk about it. Yep, that's right. The Walk of Peace is in full swing, has been for some time. I didn't realize this thing actually started last year in December.
But people have been lining up the streets. In October. Oh, October. Oh, wow. See, I just read a thing about something that happened in December.
So it's been going for quite some time now. But the monks are in North Carolina. They've been in North Carolina for, what, a week or so now? Maybe a couple of weeks? I think so.
And so they just passed through Lewisburg. And people have been lining the streets. They've been itching to take part in this journey. And that does include Christians. Yeah.
Yeah. Or.
Some are Christian, some I'm not sure if they are not. But people have put out videos and maybe a little post on Facebook. Just to say whether they agree with it or not. And so. We received a lot of questions, and I was hoping last week to cover this, but then the winter snowstorm came and all this was happening.
So I said, you know, maybe let's hold off one more week and then we can cover this. That's right. They're not going to get through North Carolina just this week. They'll still be here. Yeah.
So I think they're now, I think, towards Virginia now, if I'm not wrong. I think you're right. And so I think it's a great time for us to talk because if you were part of that. A group that were enthralled by them or were praying to them or through them or asking them to pray for you. You need to listen to this show.
That's right. To understand who and what it is that you're dealing with that you're entertaining. Yeah, because these were not Christian monks. If you think about like monks up in some sort of Catholic monastery up in the mountains, these are not that. These are Buddhist monks.
And Dr. Chud, do you want to kind of tell us what that means, why it's important? Yeah. Absolutely.
So when we're talking about Buddhism, where I grew up in India, that's the country from where Buddha came.
Now, of course, it was not a country with the boundaries that we have today. It was a little different. But Buddha was an Indian prince. whose father sort of kept him protected from the outside world. Protected him from suffering and sorrow and death and things like that.
So the long story goes that. Buddha was not known as Buddha when he was a little boy. Buddha means enlightenment or. Kind of like This knowledge that has come in. That's buddhi, is knowledge, enlightenment.
So he was really Siddharth. That was his name. Go Darth, yeah. He was a prince. and his father protected him.
From seeing any suffering, any sorrow, any death in the world. And then one day he sort of ventures out, goes out there. This is like the 6th to 5th century BC.
So if we were to. compare that to biblical history or world history, it would probably be I would say around the time of the Babylonian exile.
Okay, so before so before Jesus, Buddhism's already there. Right, but keep in mind, when we say before Jesus, and I'm sure you agree with me on that, we're talking about Jesus' earthly ministry. Right, of course. Jesus was there in the Old Testament. He has always been there.
He's the one who made the heavens and the earth. He's the one who comes as the angel of the Lord.
So. When people say this is before Jesus, well Before the incarnation. But Jesus was there prior to that. Right.
So, fifth, sixth century BC. Maybe the time of uh the prophet Jeremiah. That's about the time period we're talking about. World history, we're looking at the time when. Prior to the time of Alexander the Great.
So we're talking about a couple hundred years prior to him, so maybe even prior to.
Socrates.
Okay, that's about the time period that Um Buddha was born. Yeah, you're going to five, six hundred years BC. And so. One day he decides to venture out And as he goes out with his charioteer, uh he was exposed to four sites. One was an old man and a sick man, and a funeral procession.
And the fourth sight was a Hindu sadhu who seemed very peaceful.
Now, where I grew up, we saw these sadhus, and most of the time they were scammers. They were evil people, I mean, pedophiles in many situations. They were not good people. But he sees the sadhu. And so he decided to become one of them.
left his wife and son. This was known as a great renunciation. And he goes out there when searching for the truth and even try to scourge himself. That's what people do. You know, in even in Islam, it is a thing of scourging yourself in among Shiites.
It's kind of beating yourself, kind of. Punishing yourself. For Being bad. And finally but of course this is he was a Hindu finally at age thirty five he sat under a people tree to meditate, and all night he fought against the evil tempter Mara, And as a result, he experienced enlightenment and the path to end. Suffering.
And what is this enlightenment? The path begins with four noble truths. Existence is suffering. Yeah. Wow.
That's known as dukkha. Exists. I mean, I could have told him that. Job says that. Job lived.
Uh I would say Close to 1400 years before Buddha, and he already said that a man who is born of a woman is. A few days and full of trouble.
So nothing new there. Yeah. The second is suffering is caused by desire. Desire is tanhai or tanha is desire. Liberation, this is where the word nirvana comes in, liberation from suffering and desire is possible.
Nirvana is possible. And then there is the eightfold. Path is the way to escape.
So what is the eighthfold? Path A right view. Right thought, right speech, right action, right living, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration.
So, a bunch of rights. Right.
Just do just do all these things, right? And then that's it. Yeah, basically.
Sounds easy enough. Basically, there are morality, concentration, and wisdom. That's what all this is based on. Morality means don't be a bad person. Concentrate means be mindful.
That's why Buddhism says a lot about be mindful. You need to be mindful. You need to be in the moment. Think. You know, that's what they're saying.
I mean, I. Try to do that all the time. Yeah, sure. Like, I don't need a religious. Yeah, some of us ADHDs are usually like, huh, what?
Squirrel? Yeah. Buddhism said, don't do that. No, no, don't go for the squirrel.
So these are the tenets of. Buddhism. Buddha Was he a a Hindu? Did he pursue Hinduism?
Well, we gotta be careful how we describe somebody as Hindu. Much of what we know today as Hinduism has been sort of formali formalized much later.
Okay.
So it was Indian religions.
Okay, so he saw this sadhu seemingly at peace with himself and with the world, and he was like, I want that.
So he didn't necessarily devote himself to a religion at that point. He's just like, I'm seeking what he's got. I mean, his thinking was rooted in Hinduism, Jainism, and other ancient religions in Southeast Asia at the time. Hinduism, Jainism. and other religions of the time.
So again, it's it's very hard for people to understand that, that when we think India, we think Hindus. Right.
Majority Hindus, then Muslims, and then you know, here are uh s uh kind of a Point zero something Christians. And that's true, but Hinduism back then was not. The same thing for Hinduism today.
So This is where he got his Understanding. And there was a lot of focus on suffering, meditation, and following wise teachers.
Now this kind of movement was growing at the time in the world. This fifth, sixth century BC time period, that's when you have. you know, Socrates and others talking about the meaning of life. Those kind of things.
So, this was sort of happening at the time. And in a sense, I would say Buddha was sort of a product of his time.
So, he comes up with this Eightfold Path to Enlightenment, which is basically all the things in life that you do, just do them right, just do them correctly. Right.
And people, I'm guessing at the time, because to me, I know that's an oversimplification, but it also seems like, yeah, who wouldn't say that? But people really caught on to this and felt like it was true wisdom. And there were a lot of battles and wars going on. I mean, just keep in mind, this is the time period of the Babylonian captivity, right? This is right before this Chaldean nation that became known as.
Babylon, this is the Neo-Babylonian Empire, was on the march and it was. you know, bloodshed and killing and all that.
So also in the Indian subcontinent, there was a lot of battles that were taking place, wars that were happening.
So people were just tired. More and more bloodshed, more and more Battles and our children are going to die, and more bad is going to happen.
So they were. The time was prime. For Satan to sow the seed of You know, karma. Karma. Karma, we say, what karma?
Karma. Karma. I always find it. Karma. It's funny when Westerners pronounce Indian names and designations.
It's like, what was that? Can I have some gulab Jamun?
Okay.
Oh, my. Oh, my. Yeah, that's. Yeah, you can pronounce it like that. Yeah, I like the tick of Marsala.
I hope you can. That's how my mom would probably say it. The tick of Marsala. The goal. Was in all of this karma was to progress through reincarnation to nirvana.
Keep coming back, keep coming back until one day You're set free. Unlike Buddhism, unlike Hinduism, which focuses on coming back in the next life. Buddhism focuses on the continuation of pure karma from one life to another.
So you come back but the pure karma goes from one life to another. And there there are Yeah. We talk about Buddha, but there are many Buddhas. Buddha is, again, enlightened one. It's a title.
Okay, their common teachings together are the Buddha Vachana. Or the word of the Buddha. Vachna is word, saying.
So This is the essence of the eternal Dharma or teaching. When you mentioned earlier religion. When you mentioned earlier that Hinduism back then is not the same Hinduism of today, can we say the same thing about Buddhism? Like, would you say that these monks who are walking through the United States right now believe the the same Buddhism as was back then. Again, there are three kinds of Buddhism.
The first one is known as Theravada. And I'll explain what that means. The second one is Mahayana, and the third one is Tibetan Buddhism. Theravada Buddhism is kind of, it means the way of the elders. Theravada is Way of the Elders.
It claims to be the earliest and the closest to the early Buddhist community. You find this kind of Buddhism in places like Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia.
So, here where you have Burma, Thailand, Laos, and Kampuchea, which was at one time known as Cambodia. Right? This is where you find this.
Now, I know some of y'all who are listening or watching are saying, what does that have to do with those wonderful people in these. saffron or or orange or whatever color. Uh robes walking through the winter. Uh well, they are the terawara. Buddhists.
And they're not just any Theravada Buddhist, they are the Theravada Buddhists. who are from Vietnam. Mm. Not every one, one of those monks are Vietnamese. You can look at them and see one of them.
You can see it's sort of African American or. or has you know that ethnicity so you go it's like wait a minute that's Somebody's different in there.
So yeah, but you can choose to be. Part of this movement, this Theravada Buddhism. That came to Vietnam not too long ago. I would say maybe. 70, 80 years ago.
Okay.
So recent. Recent, yeah. Vietnam, I mean, you know, the conflict in Vietnam that happened. Right.
It's been in the news.
So, yeah, Buddhism came through there, but it did not take hold like it did in Sri Lanka. Uh Sri Lanka is like a Stronghold of Theravada Buddhism. And then Burma, Thailand, Laos, Kampuchea. It also spread their hundreds of years ago. But Vietnam, it came recently.
These monks are from the Theravada Buddhism. that came to Vietnam, but there Their base is in Fort Worth, Texas. And and the thing there is They are building a big temple. There. It's on the news.
You can you can Google it. And this temple Is $150 million project. Wow. It's on the same land. uh they're going to really expand it, really make it big.
What is their goal? Their goal, get ready for this, is to preserve and propagate Buddhism firmly for the future. That's what they're trying to do. Because when they build this This temple But lots of stupas and statues. I mean, it's it's a very, very big project.
Tons and tons of statues and all that stuff. By the way, the reason I know so much about it is because I grew up About 45 minutes away from the Ajanta Caves. I think you all have seen the videos that I filmed there. The Ajanta Caves was built by the Theravada Buddhists. in India.
Right.
Okay.
Wow. That's what they want in Fort Worth, Texas.
Something that will outlast them, something that will firmly establish Buddhism. in America.
Now I want to read for you what what their website says. And all that I'm telling you, it's online. This is not something that I'm creating. Yeah, you can go look it up. We can link it in the show notes.
My knowledge of Buddhism, that's my study over the years. But on their own website, it says right here, the United States is a multiracial country with an advanced culture, respect for human rights, and religious freedom. and has the best spirit of preserving and promoting spiritual Historical Values in the World. Over the long history of propagating Buddhism from east to west. the Venerable Mahasangha must have also recognized the strong development of Dhamma in the West today as a remarkable milestone of Buddhism.
So, what is their goal? The group in Fort Worth? The group that is walking now. It is to firmly establish Buddhism in the years ahead.
So, this is not just a march for peace. I love peace. I mean, you know, the angels, when they came to the shepherds, they said, you know, glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace, goodwill toward men. That can also be translated. Glory to God in the highest and on earth.
Peace toward men of good will. Means if you are a person of goodwill, then peace to you. Means if you want something good. Long-lasting, beautiful. Peace to you.
That can also be translated like that.
So, when you see somebody say, Hey, I want peace.
Okay, great. I want peace too. Yeah, there you go. Mission accomplished. But I don't think this is just a march for peace.
This is a fundraiser. Yeah, this is a fundraiser to establish a Buddhist temple in Fort Worth and thereby establishing and cementing Buddhism in America. Right.
This is. to get the approval of all those who are standing On the roadside and filming them, and some of them kneeling and praying. By the way, you know. I don't know if you all know that, but Buddhism is atheism. This religion needs.
needs a base in America. is going to be that base. That's what they're working towards.
So, for anybody who's listening to this, I mean, obviously, our main listenership is Christian. But let's say there's atheists, there's agnostics that listen to this and go, yeah, sure, every religion should have the right to establish themselves in America. Why not? But for Christians who are listening to this and they're thinking, well, I mean, yeah, shouldn't they be free to do that? What's the big deal?
What is your message to them? I mean, I would say this nation was founded on Judeo-Christian values.
Okay, there's a reason why Buddhism is not no longer India is the base for Buddhism. It didn't work, it doesn't work. How long can he go in this world? And fight for peace and wisdom and concentration and try to live the good life and all that stuff, but you don't believe in God. Mm-hmm.
That's Romans chapter 1 happening there. Although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were they thankful.
So, when you're thanking, who are you thanking? Right.
Ha ha ha ha ha. That is very, very, very destructive. to our American society. That's why we believe we are one nation under God. That's why we say in God we trust.
All those things are important.
Now of course, there are people who may believe in different gods, but at least there is that common ground that we believe in God. Right.
Now, then I can go one step further and say, now, let's get a little bit more specific. Our founding fathers were not just worshiping any God, they were looking to the Judeo-Christian God. The God of the Bible.
Now, of course, there are denominations there. Uh and those kind of things.
Well, we can come to that later. But at least they were coming from this source, not just no God or any God. Do you think it's do you think it's purposeful that the base is so is in Fort Worth, Texas? Because Texas is an extremely Christian evangelical state, I would say, right? Like i there's there's lots and lots of Christian population in the world.
Yeah, and also lots and lots of ethnicities there, too. And so, I mean, right there, they say that the United States is a multiracial country with an advanced culture, respect for human rights. You know why? Because of the Judeo-Christian Foundation. Exactly right.
That's why. They have that.
Now, something else they're trying to do at this Tammasatiyah, this place. Uh the teachings of By the way. There are lots and lots and lots of ridings. If you think about Christianity, we got what, 66 books, at least a Protestant canon, right? 39 in the old, 27 in the new, add them up, 66.
If you go to Roman Catholic, Or Eastern Orthodox, then the number kinda grows because they they include some of the apocryphal books of the Old Testament. M uh Islam has their Quran, okay. Um, and then Sikhs have their holy books.
So so there are there are books out there that people claim to be their holy book. When it comes to Buddhism. Hey. You don't have enough lifetimes. Enough years in your lifetime to just read through.
All their writings, which means this: Buddha didn't write those things, right? There's a way of the elders, especially the Theravada Buddhism.
So, if I can give some information here. The Polycanon.
Okay, which has uh um the uh tripitika which is three baskets Tripitika is like three baskets containing Buddha's teachings. monastic codes, and philosophical analysis. Buddha didn't write all this. But what what this temple wants to do, and I'm kind of going back to their Um Cite here These teachings will be engraved in Romanized Pali, That was the language there, not Hindi. But Pali was the language in that area.
It's a language, sort of a dead language now. In Pali and English, on more than 3,000 stone slabs and inscribed. Um uh uh uh in in other languages so that people can come and kind of meditate and walk around in them. That's what it is. And so Um These teachings, these philosophical analyses and moral or monastic codes, they were passed down orally.
and finally penned 400 years later. and agreed upon five hundred years After that, can they still be added to today? Like, if I, for some reason, became a Buddhist elder, could I add to that? I'm sure that some of these things can seep in. I got you.
So, much, much larger than the Bible, like 11 times larger than the Bible. Wow. And so, you know. That that's what Theravada Buddhist writings are all about. 11 times more than the Bible.
Are you expected to read it? I mean, there's no way they cannot do it. It's just there. It's there. How can you even remember?
I mean, of course, maybe you can read it, but. How can you even remember? Here's the problem. Here's why it's so important that we talk about this. And I so appreciate Dr.
Shaw, you taking an episode to devote to this. This isn't just, you believe differently than me. This isn't just, hey, we have differences and let's all bring them to the table and get along and hold hands. No, there's a very real danger, not just for our generation, but for our kids and for our grandkids. Yeah, as nice and as sweet and as kind and as peace-loving monks may be, at the end of the day, if you buy into their, if you buy into their way of thinking, it is going to take you away from God.
And I mean, I'm sorry, like Dr. Shah said, we want to be nice to everybody. We want to show peace and love and respect to everyone, but it's not worth my kids' eternity. It's not worth my grandkids' eternity. And so think of all the people in Fort Worth, Texas, who this giant Buddhist temple is going up and we're helping to fundraise, we're helping to pay for.
Think of all the people it's going to actively be taking away from Christ. I mean, we think, like Christianity, you have to give your life to Jesus Christ to be saved. You need to pray and ask Jesus to forgive you of your sins, thank him for dying on the cross for you, rising from the grave.
Okay, that's. how we do it. Muslims will have their Shahada. to say, you know um There is no other God but Allah and Muhammad is his prophet. That's a shahada.
You have to say that. In Buddhism, There is not a thing you have to do.
So, just what y'all are doing out there on the side of the road and accepting the blessing of these monks, or giving them the blessing, or God bless you, or take the rose, or give me the bracelet. You're accepting this kind of thing. Do you think there's a danger of, like, like in a like in genuinely, because it's mostly like they're going from Fort Worth, Texas to Washington. It's mostly through the South, through the Bible Belt. Do you think there's a significant danger of Southern evangelicals like buying into this?
Or do you think it's more just, hey, you're being passive and allowing this to happen? I think Southern evangelicals may have more sense than that. I think these are the nominal Christians. Like Christians in name. Christians in name.
Or they are Christians. I'm not saying they're not Christians, the ones who are standing by there, but you're being very ignorant. And you said, well, no, I'm just trying to be nice. you can be nice without Compromising. I'm not compromising.
Read the Bible what it says. If someone doesn't come in the name of Jesus Christ, don't open your door to them. Right.
Isn't that the Bible? It talks about that. And so if they don't believe there's a God, then they don't believe in Jesus. Yeah. You know.
So Why will you accept someone who doesn't believe that Jesus is fully God? That's right. Because that's what they believe. Mm-hmm. There's a huge difference between us and them.
you know, and and the Buddhist religious books and the Bible. We believe in a God who wants to know us. Buddhism There's no personal God. History is linear. They believe history is cyclical.
It just goes in circles. Man's problem is sin. They believe man's problem is suffering. Salvation is from above. They believe salvation is inside.
Ultimate goal is to have a relationship, a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Their ultimate goal is nirvana. It all happened on a tree, and they believe it all happened under a tree. I'm getting this from a scholar who did a great job with this. There's a day appointed for judgment.
There is no judgment in Buddhism. Nothing. Just keep living your life, do the best you can, keep coming back. We believe there's a life after death. There's eternal life.
There is no life after death. We're told to shine the light of Jesus. And Buddhism says be lamps to yourself. Uh Without Christianity, this is the biggest one. Without Christianity, there without Christ, there is no Christianity.
You can still have Buddhism without Buddha.
So Okay. Where do you stand? Yeah. I hope you will wake up and realize If you don't know the truth and share the truth and teach your children the truth, your kids and grandkids may go down this path. It's a path of Destruction is a path of Hell.
Yeah, that's right. Guys, make sure you join us next time. Same time, same place. We're going to be diving into another great topic here on the Clearview Today show. Thanks again to our sponsor for supporting today's episode.
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