A Victory Over Death!

NAMO TASSA BHAGAVATO ARAHATO SAMMASAMBUDDHASSA
NAMO TASSA BHAGAVATO ARAHATO SAMMASAMBUDDHASSA
NAMO TASSA BHAGAVATO ARAHATO SAMMASAMBUDDHASSA
Translation:May veneration be presented to the exalted one who is a Buddha and has achieved enlightenment by himself rightiously.


I have received comments about this article stating that I have taken Biblical scripture "out of context". This makes me laugh! Compare this article to any "Victory Over Death" type of article with a typical Christian perspective and you will see that I give much more complete scripture from the First Book Of Corinthians than anyone! I don't just allude to certain verses, I give them in their entirety. Any italics that I use emphasize the context. It says what it says, OK! This is the standard response from those who simply don't like hearing or reading something that goes contrary to their current beliefs. Either you have the courage to expand the perimeter's of your spiritual knowledge or you don't. Don't believe me? Do not take my word for it! Hit the web and compare! You will see that what I say is true! It is a sad thing that most Christians that I know will never have the guts to do just that! I wish them the very spiritual best!


A Victory Over Death
By
Bhikkhu aggacitto

All scripture quoted is either from the King James Version of the Christian Bible Or the Pali Canon Version of the Tipataka , the oldest known extant writing from the oraltradition of what the Venerable Gotama (Buddha) taught as Dhamma (teaching).

The other day I was having a conversation with a man who was eating an ice cream cone on the street, and he told me; “ Well my savior Jesus was raised from the dead after three days and “conquered death” where’s yours?” “I’ll tell you where… up in smoke!” “It was Jesus who achieved victory over death not the Buddha!” He then proceeded to lick the melted chocolate ice cream off of the silver cross that he was wearing. I have seen many similar things written and I believe this would be a fine time to have a discussion on the topic of just what conquering death means to both the Christian and the Buddhist.You see, the conquering of death to the Buddhist does not mean that a deity that we worship has been raised or has raised him/herself from the grave and that by believing in that deity as our spiritual savior we gain absolution for our moral misdeeds. Furthermore, as some of my Christian friends have pointed out, according to the Bible, the resurrection of Jesus was possibly a spiritual one: 1 Cor.15: 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised. 1 Cor. 15: 41 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory. 1 Cor.15: 42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body.15:44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body there is also a spiritual body. 15:45 So also it is written,” The first man Adam became a living soul. The last Adam became a life giving spirit. However most Christians with good overall scriptural justification, will contend that the resurrection of Jesus was a physical one. For this one need only look at: John: 20:27: Then saith he to Thomas, reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless but believing.

Now lets look at the four different gospel stories regarding the story of the resurrection:

1.Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James go to the tomb and find guards and boulder which move after earthquake. One flying angel on the boulder tells what happened.
Matt.28

2.Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Salome go to the tomb, find no guards or boulder and one young man in the tomb tells what happened. But women told no one.
Mark 16

3.Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, Joanna, and some other women go to the tomb, and two men in the tomb tell what happened.
Luke 24

4.Mary goes to the tomb to find nothing, she then tells the disciples that someone stole the body so they go back and again find nothing. The disciples then leave and Jesus appears to tell Mary what happened.
John 20

I have been told that the resurrection of Jesus is one of the most if not the most important event in human history, so.....
why couldn't the four apostle's who wrote the four gospels get such an important story straight?

I've heard Christian's say... "The stories are complementary"!
Complementary?
How could the other three apostles not remember such a thing, or not think that a FLYING ANGEL OF GOD as something relevant to at least mention?
Contemporary scholars regard it as the earliest of the canonical gospels (c 70)1, so how reasonable is it that the apostle Mark forgot about a flying angel of God, or simply did not think it worthy to mention along with Luke and John who did the same as well?


Were not talking about a fender bender of a car accident where one person might say that the car that sped off was light blue but someone else might say no, it was dark blue.....
No, what we are talking about here is a FLYING ANGEL OF GOD for cripes sake!!!

So was it one man in the tomb or two?

As well there is a discrepancy between stories regarding whether Mary Magdalene went by herself of with others and if others , the different stories here seem to disagree on just whom and how many she went with. In John's version of events Mary goes alone.

Complementary do they say?

Would it be correct to say, that either the Bible is the unerring word of an unerring perfect God who inspired the writers of the Bible to write what was written or not ?

To put it simply, there are those of us who need something to believe in and who naturally are only looking for that when they seek to convince others of the same thing that they have chosen to believe.

I believe that it takes more courage, but that there are those of us who are true spiritual seekers and as such are willing to ask the hard questions and seriously consider the hard answers, whether it's what we have come to believe so far or not.
Should our ego decide our spiritual fate? Not where I'm standing!

If we choose our belief based on faith alone then one person's faith becomes just as valid as any one else's."My chocolate milk tastes better to me than your soy milk"...If that is the case then how can anyone reasonably suggest that they would be better off with their belief as opposed to anyone else's?

O.K. Let's assume that there was a physical resurrection.
Just for the conversation's sake.......Let's do that.......


A physical resurrection. Let us take a good look at what this really means now shall we?A good place to that would be the Digha Nikaya sutta #22 of the Pali Canon Tipataka: The Maha- satipatthana sutta (The Great Frames of Reference.) …….

(4)“Furthermore…just as if a sack with openings at both ends were full of various kinds of grain-wheat, rice, mung beans, kidney beans, sesame seeds, husked rice-and a man with good eyesight, pouring it out were to reflect ‘This is wheat. This is rice. These are Mung beans. These are kidney beans. These are sesame seeds. This is husked rice,’ in the same way, monks, a monk reflects on this very body from the soles of the feet on up, from the crown of the head on down, surrounded by skin and full of various unclean things: In this body there are head hairs, body hairs, nails, teeth, skin, flesh, tendons, bones, bone marrow, kidneys, heart, liver, pleura, spleen, lungs, large intestines, small intestines, gorge, feces, bile, phlegm, pus, blood, sweat, fat, tears, skin-oil, saliva, mucus, fluid in the joints, urine.” – Venerable Gotama (Buddha)This is what the physical “victory over death” regarding the physical resurrection of Jesus represents.

According to Luke 24:51 all indications would suggest that all of this was taken with Jesus as he left for heaven…. “And it came to pass, when he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven”.However, whatever the crucifixion and resurrection might mean otherwise to some, regarding a “victory over death” this can only indicate a personal victory over death, and not one for the rest of humanity. Why? Let us take another look at the book of 1Cor.15: 23: But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ’s at his coming.15: 24:then comes the end. When he hands over the kingdom to the God and father, when he has abolished all rule and all authority and power.15: 25:For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.15:26: “The last enemy that will be destroyed is death.” It is true that in the First Book Of Corinthians Ch.15:54, Paul quotes Isaiah 25:8: “Death has been swallowed up in victory” but lets look at this a bit closer shall we?1Cor.15:51: “Behold, I shew you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall be changed, 15:52: In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye at the last trump for the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed.”1Cor.15:53: “For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.”1Cor.15:54: “So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruptible and this mortal shall have put on immortality then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory.” After this further on then we have 1Cor.15:57: “But thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through the lord Jesus Christ.” Paul also quotes the prophet Hosea 13:14 at 1Cor.15:55 as Hosea seems to taunt death: “O death where is your victory O grave where is your sting?” Ha! Ha! Ha! Yeah that’s right! So where is that “bad ass” sting O Mac Daddy Death? Ha! Ha! Whew hue he he! Ha! Ha! Ha! … OPPS! Wait a minute! According to Paul, This is supposed to happen after the return of Jesus and the resurrection of humanity….. someday. Let us all make a careful note here of the fact that according to the First Book Of Corinthians unless Jesus has returned and has since won his “victory over death”, which would also mean of course that we have all missed that all important news flash, the victory being spoken about has yet someday to occur! When Christian evangelists discuss the victory over death topic and the First Book Of Corinthians this is what they are usually sure to ignore! I can understand how many may choose not to believe this…Fine! Check it out for yourself! There are those of course who will say “It does not matter, I believe I will go to paradise someday because I believe in Jesus, and that now is my victory over death!”Although people certainly have a right to believe whatever they wish, too bad for such that the First book of Corinthians Ch.15 would not seem to agree!Once we can acknowledge this, we can better understand the fact that the victory having yet to be won means that there is still an active spiritual war in progress.Think about it…can any of us who still live in this world today seriously doubt that fact?In case anyone is interested, The First Book of Corinthians was written by the apostle Paul at Ephesus, an ancient Greek city on the West coast Anatolia Greece, between 53-57 C.E.So just how can anyone regarding the presumed resurrection of Jesus, talk of a “victory over death”, when the disciple Paul discussing the second coming and return of Jesus tells us that the last enemy that will be destroyed is death? Does the Christian not read their own scripture?

If there is a distinction between victory over death and death being destroyed then what of 1 Cor.15:51-54? Has the last trumpet sounded? Have the dead been raised? How spiritually mature for the Christian to have such empathetic joy for what would seem the personal accomplishment of their savior! And what an accomplishment! From all present scriptural indications we can presume that Jesus is still wearing this physical body and all that goes with it after having been raised from the grave more than two thousand years ago! Thankfully, according to 1Cor.15: 42 -15:44 we can look forward to the Christian paradise as being something more than a 144,000 strong population of heavenly zombies, having been freshly brought forth from the grave. Remember that 1 Cor.15: 52 puts it pretty simply for them: in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. Their resurrection is (thankfully) the spiritual kind.


The Buddhist understanding of ………“Victory Over Death”


Before I get started with this I would like to point out a distinction between the Christian and Buddhist approach for “salvation”, something I believe to be very critical in such a discussion.Where as Christianity seeks to be subject to a God of whatever name might be to their choosing,to be rewarded or reprimanded as such said God deems desirable, Buddhism seeks to provoke by way of a methodical process one t wards a spiritual progression which culminates in one sharing consciousness and actual being with what is termed in monotheistic terms, “God”.“Samsara” and “Nibbana” are not a place but a process and cessation of that process.The whole purpose of Venerable Gotama’s teaching is what is referred to as “Nibbana”in Pali.(Sanskrit: Nirvana). Nibbana is often misinterpreted as some sort of “celestial suicide”, because the word is used in application to the extinguishment of fire. Actually because fire was thought to be in a state of “entrapment” when it burned, the “extinguishment” was actually considered a form of “unbinding”. The Venerable Gotama gives a very good illustrative example of this in

Samutarra Nikaya 12.64:

“Just as if there were a roofed house or a roofed hall having windows on the North, The South, or the East. When the sun rises, and a ray has entered by way of the window, where does it land?”
“On the Western wall lord.”
“And if there is no Western wall, where does it land?”
“On the ground, lord.”“And if there is no ground, where does it land?”
“ On the water lord.”“And if there is no water, where does it land?”
“It does not land, lord.”Notice that it does not say that with no place to land, the sunray ceases to exist.When the sunray “lands” in this analogy you have birth in “Samsara”, not a “place” really but a process of being identified or “binded” by ones circumstances as a consciousness of “this” or “that”.When you have such birth or becoming in the process of samsara it is because the consciousness has now become limited by its circumstance caused by attachment and grasping and is now defined by wherever it has “landed.”A true and lasting“ Victory over death”, is to therefore avoid this process.Lets look at Majjhima Nikaya # 72:“ Even so, Vaccha, any physical form by which one describing the Tathagata ( Pali:“One who has gone forth” a term used to describe a Buddha) would describe him:that the Tathagata has abandoned, its root destroyed… not destined for future arising (samsara).Freed from the classification of form (Samsara), ‘reappears’ does not apply. ‘does not reappear’ doesn’t apply. ‘both does and does not reappear’ doesn’t apply. ‘neither reappears nor does not reappear doesn’t apply.”In the Digha Nikaya sutta #22 The Maha – satipatthana Sutta The Venerable Gotama gives the formula for the methodical process as a sort of “road map- vehicle” approach with Vapassana as the roadmap and Jhana (concentration) meditation as the vehicle.

There are those who might say “ Well that’s a nice theory but what about the here and now?”The Anguttara Nikaya 3.55 has something for those who wonder about something more immediate...“Overwhelmed by desire anger and confusion one aims at ones own ruin, others ruin, at theruin of both, and one suffers much mental pain and frustration…If however, desire anger and confusion are eliminated, than one aims neither at ones own ruin,nor at others ruin, nor at the ruining of both, and one suffers neither any mental pain nor any frustration at all! Hence is Nibbana realizable right here and now, in this very lifetime, immediate, inviting, intriguing, and intelligible to each intelligence!Exactly in so far as anyone has made real the complete ceasing of all greed, hate and confusion,just in so far, to exactly that very degree- is Nibbana realizable, right here and now in this very life, immediate, inviting, instant, interesting and intelligible to each and every intelligent being.” If the issue of being born into the process of Samsara is resolved… then the issue of “victory over death” from that process has been well dealt with also.

There are those who might find topics such as mindfulness, meditation, contemplation etc., justa bit of hard work! Why do the hard work to find their own infinite potential for spiritual development when they can just take the name of some sort of deity (weather its officially called that or not) who presumably has risen from the grave as their Lord and savior, or perhaps if they “summit their will” to a name given to represent the “Lord of the universe” who we must as well summit to we are told, or else be punished and tortured for all of eternity for not doing so etcetera, etcetera…I exhort all to engage and embrace the challenge of learning new things and discovering their spiritual potential while still on this planet in their current physical form. What a truly precious opportunity we all have.There are those who say: “If I can’t see it, feel it, hear it, smell it or touch it… it doesn’t exist.”with all due respect to their approach, perhaps they have forgotten that science never would havemade much progress past the chiseling of the first wheel if they didn’t create tools like the magnifying glass, the microscope or the x ray machine to allow them to comprehend things that they would not normally otherwise be capable of comprehending.This is why meditation for the discovery of the spiritual self can be likened to a spiritual microscope. This is why it is such a useful tool for ones spiritual salvation, capable of unlocking ones own infinite spiritual potential. A victory over death … I am thankful that the Venerable Gotama (Buddha) both achieved that victory and showed others the path to do so as well.

After all, a spiritual victory by its own nature should concern that of the spiritual, termed by the First Book Of Corinthians the ‘imperishable’ not the ‘perishable’.

May you all be blessed with the best of all things spiritual.

Bhikkhu aggacitto


1. Harris, Stephen L., Understanding the Bible. Palo Alto: Mayfield. 1985.


If anyone would like to contact me regarding this article or anything else my e mail address is: rev.aggacitto7@gmail.com