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Buddha: The Solomon of India
Was Solomon a significant source of Buddha's inspiration? Consider these facts:
- Solomon lived 400 years earlier. The Bible states, "Men of all nations came to listen to Solomon's wisdom, sent by all the kings of the world, who had heard of his wisdom."1 India was almost certainly one of those nations.
- Buddha's first book, a collection of 423 proverbs, is filled with hundreds of proverbs quite similar to Solomon's.
- Virtually all of the key emphases of Buddha were prominent themes in Solomon's writings, including peace, tolerance, the illusory nature of this world, pervasive suffering in this world, meditation, overcoming ignorance with wisdom and understanding, enlightenment, monks (priests) and secular ethics.
- Every one of the 12 key elements of Buddhism (the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Noble Path) was also expressed, in great detail, in Solomon's writings. The main exceptions to this are due to specific beliefs of Hinduism (reincarnation and vegetarianism) that clearly differ from Judaism.
- Solomon's ways of the "righteous" coincide with Buddha's "right" ways of thinking and acting.
- An ideal that Solomon fulfilled early in his reign is clearly described in one of Buddha's proverbs, even though that ideal was highly undesirable, according to Buddha's own teachings.
- The core and bulk of Buddhism can be nearly replicated by following a four step process: a) begin with Solomon's writings, excluding references to God, b) assume reincarnation, c) renounce the world and d) retreat within to insulate yourself from suffering.
- Today a third of all Western Buddhist leaders have a Jewish background.
- Buddha's Five Moral Precepts closely parallel the last five of the Ten Commandments of Moses, a prominent foundation of Judaism.
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