Lausanne World Pulse – Interfaith Interface with Buddhists

By Chandler H. Im
January / February 2010

Buddhism runs deep in my family’s religious history. My father was born in a Buddhist family, my mother was born in a Buddhist family. In fact, both of my parents’ families’ ancestors were Buddhists for generations. One of my ancestors on my father’s side was Samyongdang, a well-known sixteenth-century Buddhist monk in Korean history. When I was born, my parents were not Christian; they became Christ-followers in the 1970s (and I in 1982). During my childhood in South Korea, I sometimes went on school field trips to various religious sites such as Buddhist temples. Seeing Buddhist monks in gray robes on the streets of Seoul was a common sight.

For the goal of mutual understanding and enrichment, and also for the sake of evangelism, we need to listen to and learn from the teachings of Buddhism.

For over a millennium, Korea has been a multi-religious nation, teeming with world religions such as Shamanism, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Christianity. Currently, about one-third of the Korean population is Christian and one-third Buddhist. Christians’ interfaith interface with followers of other religions is both a challenge and an opportunity for Christians in Korea. Likewise, in North America, Europe, and other continents, world religions endeavor for their survival and expansion in the twenty-first century. Interfaith interface is one of the most challenging themes in global Christian movements.

As Lesslie Newbigin explains, one reason for Christians’ need to engage in interfaith interaction is to be “obedient to [the missionary] call of Christ.”¹ To Michael Barnes, “the motivation for mission” is “responding to the gift of God’s love” by sharing it with others.² Stephen Neill also echoes the same sentiment:” If we affirm that Christianity is true…we are faced by the painful issue of the intolerance of truth” [by not sharing the gospel with others].³

Attitudes do matter when one engages in inter-religious interaction with people of different faiths. John Stott lists four “marks” of attitude needed in interfaith interface: authenticity, humility, integrity, and sensitivity.⁴ I strongly concur with Newbigin’s claim that until one has felt in one’s soul the dynamic power and influence of a great religion, one has not heard or understood the message of it.⁵

Thus, for the goal of mutual understanding and enrichment, and also for the sake of evangelism, we need to take time to listen to and learn from the teachings of Buddhism.

The Buddha’s Life
Buddha was born around 560 B.C. in Kapilavastu, a borderland squeezed between India and Nepal. Buddha is not a proper name, but a title of honor meaning “the enlightened one.” His personal name was Siddhartha Gotama. Siddhartha was a prince of a small Indian kingdom. His mother, Maya, died immediately after giving birth to him. A famous fortune-teller told his father that Siddhartha would either unite all the Indian states or become a humanity-saving saint.

As a ruler, the father rather wanted his son to succeed him. However, after seeing the disabled, the sick, the dead, and a yogi, the prince left the palace, leaving behind his noble status, his wealth, his beautiful wife, and his newborn son, Rahula.

Dr. Chandler H. Im is director of Ethnic Ministries at the Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College. He also serves as director of the Ethnic America Network and is adjunct professor of missions at Faith Evangelical Seminary (Tacoma, Washington, USA).