📖 Madhehebu Potofu na Dini za Ulimwengu — Sehemu ya 7: Dini za Mashariki — Uhindu na Ubudha📖 Cults & World Religions — Unit 7: Eastern Religions — Hinduism and Buddhism

Msingi: Matendo 17:24-28; Waebrania 9:27; Yohana 14:6; Waefeso 2:8-9 (SUV)Anchor: Acts 17:24-28; Hebrews 9:27; John 14:6; Ephesians 2:8-9 (NKJV)

Neno Kabla HatujaanzaA Word Before We Begin

Tunapofika kwenye Uhindu na Ubudha, tunaacha nyuma makundi yanayodai jina la Kristo na kumpotosha, na tunakabiliana na jambo lililo mbali zaidi: dini mbili kuu za Mashariki, njia tofauti kabisa za kumwona Mungu, ulimwengu, na nafsi. Hapa tofauti na Injili ni ya kina zaidi kuliko katika sehemu yoyote iliyotangulia. Imani hizi hazitoi Muumba binafsi, bali Ukamilifu Mkuu usio wa kibinafsi au kutokuwepo kwa mungu kabisa; hazitoi nafsi ya kudumu, bali nafsi inayopaswa kuyeyushwa au kutambuliwa kuwa si halisi; wala hazitoi wokovu wa bure, bali ukombolewaji unaopatikana kwa juhudi za mtu mwenyewe katika maisha mengi, akiwa amefungwa na karma kwenye gurudumu la kuzaliwa upya tena na tena. Mengi ndani yake ni ya kale, ya kina, na ya dhati — na hakuna hata moja linaloweza kuokoa. Tutaeleza kila moja kwa haki, kwa maneno yake yenyewe, kisha tutalipima kwa Neno la Mungu, ambalo linajibu shauku yao ya ndani kabisa vizuri kuliko wanavyojua: pumziko wanalolitafuta katika maisha elfu, Kristo analitoa bure kwa wote wanaomjia.With Hinduism and Buddhism we leave behind the groups that claim the name of Christ and distort Him, and face something further off: two of the great religions of the East, wholly different ways of seeing God, the world, and the self. Here the contrast with the gospel runs deeper than in any unit before. These faiths offer no personal Creator, but an impersonal Absolute or no god at all; no lasting soul, but a self to be dissolved or seen through; and no free salvation, but a release earned by one's own effort across many lifetimes, bound to the wheel of rebirth by karma. Much in them is ancient, subtle, and sincere — and none of it can save. We will state each fairly, in its own terms, and then test it by the Word of God, which answers their deepest longing better than they know: for the rest they seek across a thousand lives, Christ gives freely to all who come.

Ulimwengu Tofauti: Mfumo wa PamojaA Different World: The Shared Framework

Ingawa Uhindu na Ubudha zinatofautiana katika mengi, zinashiriki picha moja ya ulimwengu ambayo lazima tuielewe kabla ya kuipima. Katika picha hii, ulimwengu unaoonekana si ule uhalisia imara ulioumbwa na Mungu wa kitabu cha Mwanzo, bali ni kitu duni zaidi: kinachopita, na kwa shule nyingi ni udanganyifu (maya) unaofunika kilicho cha kweli. Wakati si mstari wenye mwanzo na lengo, bali ni gurudumu kubwa linalozunguka katika vipindi visivyo na mwisho. Na mtu binafsi amenaswa kwenye gurudumu hilo, akiwa amefungwa na karma — sheria ambayo kwayo matendo ya mtu huunda maisha yake yajayo — ili azaliwe na kufa na kuzaliwa tena, maisha baada ya maisha, katika mzunguko mrefu uitwao samsara. Tatizo kubwa, katika mfumo huu, si dhambi dhidi ya Mungu mtakatifu, bali ni kufungwa katika mzunguko huu, na kutojua hali halisi ya mtu; na tumaini kubwa ni kuachiliwa, yaani kuepuka gurudumu hatimaye. Dini zote mbili zinatoa njia ya kuepuka. Lakini lazima tuulize kama picha yenyewe ni ya kweli, na kama njia ya kuepuka inayotolewa inaweza kuokoa.Though Hinduism and Buddhism differ in much, they share a picture of the world that we must understand before we test it. In this picture, the visible world is not the solid, God-made reality of Genesis but something less: passing, and for many schools an illusion (maya) that veils the true. Time is not a line with a beginning and a goal but a vast wheel, turning through endless ages. And the individual is caught on that wheel, bound by karma — the law by which one's deeds shape one's next life — to be born and to die and to be born again, life after life, in the long round called samsara. The great problem, in this framework, is not sin against a holy God but bondage to this cycle, and ignorance of one's true condition; and the great hope is release, to escape the wheel at last. Both religions offer a way of escape. But we must ask whether the picture itself is true, and whether the escape it offers can save.

Uhindu: Wahindu Wanafundisha Nini, kwa Maneno Yao WenyeweHinduism: What Hindus Teach, in Their Own Terms

Uhindu si kanisa moja bali ni familia kubwa ya imani na desturi, ya zamani kuliko historia iliyoandikwa na yenye aina nyingi zisizo na mwisho. Katika kiini chake cha kifalsafa kuna Brahman, uhalisia mmoja wa mwisho ulio nyuma ya vitu vyote, ambao mara nyingi hufikiriwa kama Ukamilifu Mkuu usio wa kibinafsi. Miungu mingi ya Uhindu, maelfu ya miungu yake, inaeleweka na wengi kama nyuso au maonyesho ya uhalisia huo mmoja. Nafsi ya mtu binafsi, atman, inashikiliwa katika mafundisho yake ya juu kabisa kuwa ni kitu kimoja na Brahman — kweli inayoelezwa katika maneno maarufu tat tvam asi, "wewe ndiwe hicho": lengo ni kuamka na kutambua kwamba nafsi ya ndani kabisa ya mtu ni, na imekuwa daima, ile ya kimungu. Kutoka katika utumwa wa karma na kuzaliwa upya, nafsi hutafuta moksha, ukombolewaji, yaani kuachiliwa kwa nafsi ndani ya Ukamilifu Mkuu, unaotafutwa katika maisha mengi kwa njia ya maarifa, kwa njia ya matendo, au kwa ibada ya upendo (bhakti) kwa mungu aliyechaguliwa. Sambamba na falsafa hii kuna mto wenye joto wa ibada ya kibinafsi, maombi, na kuabudu hekaluni na nyumbani. Kwa Yesu, kwa kawaida Uhindu ni mkarimu, na kwa sababu hiyo hasa unapotosha: unafurahi kumkaribisha kama avatar mmoja — mwalimu mmoja aliyeelimika au ushukaji mmoja wa uungu — kati ya wengi, na hivyo kumheshimu kwa kumfanya kuwa mdogo kuliko alivyo.Hinduism is not one church but a vast family of beliefs and practices, older than history and endlessly varied. At its philosophical heart lies Brahman, the one ultimate reality behind all things, often conceived as an impersonal Absolute. The many gods of Hinduism, its thousands of deities, are understood by many as faces or expressions of that one reality. The individual self, the atman, is held in its highest teaching to be identical with Brahman — a truth captured in the famous words tat tvam asi, "you are that": the goal is to awaken to the fact that one's deepest self is, and always was, the divine. From the bondage of karma and rebirth the soul seeks moksha, liberation, the release of the self into the Absolute, pursued across many lifetimes through knowledge, through the path of works, or through loving devotion (bhakti) to a chosen god. Alongside this philosophy runs a warm river of personal devotion, prayer, and worship at temple and home. Toward Jesus, Hinduism is characteristically generous, and precisely for that reason misleading: it is glad to welcome Him as one avatar — one enlightened teacher or descent of the divine — among many, and so to honor Him by making Him less than He is.

Ubudha: Wabudha Wanafundisha Nini, kwa Maneno Yao WenyeweBuddhism: What Buddhists Teach, in Their Own Terms

Ubudha ulianza karne ishirini na tano hivi zilizopita kwa Siddhartha Gautama, ambaye alijulikana kama Buddha, "aliyeamka," na ambaye alifundisha njia ya kuepuka mateso. Mafundisho yake yamekusanywa katika Kweli Nne Tukufu: kwamba maisha yamejaa mateso (dukkha) kabisa; kwamba mateso hutokana na tamaa na kushikamana na vitu; kwamba mateso huisha tamaa inapozimwa; na kwamba njia ya kuizima ni Njia ya Hatua Nane ya ufahamu sahihi, nia sahihi, usemi sahihi, tendo sahihi, riziki sahihi, juhudi sahihi, uangalifu sahihi, na utulivu wa akili sahihi. Jambo la kushangaza ni kwamba Buddha hakuwaelekeza wafuasi wake kwa Mungu Muumba; swali la Mungu aliliweka kando kama lisilo na msaada, na Ubudha wa asili, kwa maana hii, hauna imani katika Mungu (non-theistic). Alifundisha kwamba hakuna kabisa nafsi au roho ya kudumu: mtu ni kifurushi kinachopita cha hali zinazobadilika, na imani katika "mimi" wa kudumu yenyewe ni udanganyifu — fundisho linaloitwa anatta, "kutokuwepo kwa nafsi." Akiwa bado amefungwa na karma kwenye mzunguko wa kuzaliwa upya, mfuasi hutafuta nirvana, kuzimwa kwa mwali wa tamaa na wa nafsi, mwisho wa mateso na kuachiliwa kutoka katika mzunguko, kunakofikiwa kwa juhudi za mtu mwenyewe katika njia hiyo. Hapa pia Yesu anaweza kusifiwa kama mwalimu au kiumbe aliyeelimika, lakini hapokelewi kama Mwokozi alivyo.Buddhism began some twenty-five centuries ago with Siddhartha Gautama, who became known as the Buddha, the "awakened one," and who taught a way to escape suffering. His teaching is gathered in the Four Noble Truths: that life is marked through and through by suffering (dukkha); that suffering arises from craving and attachment; that suffering ends when craving is extinguished; and that the way to extinguish it is the Eightfold Path of right understanding, intention, speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness, and concentration. Strikingly, the Buddha did not point his followers to a creator God; the question of God he set aside as unhelpful, and original Buddhism is, in this sense, non-theistic. He taught that there is no permanent self or soul at all: the person is a passing bundle of changing states, and the belief in an abiding "I" is itself an illusion — a teaching called anatta, "no-self." Bound still by karma to the round of rebirth, the follower seeks nirvana, the blowing-out of the flame of craving and of the self, the end of suffering and release from the cycle, reached by one's own effort along the path. Here too Jesus may be admired as a teacher or an enlightened being, but not received as the Savior He is.

Kupima Mzizi (1): Mungu Tofauti na Nafsi TofautiTesting the Root (1): A Different God and a Different Self

Tunaleta mitazamo hii ya ulimwengu kwenye vipimo vile vile tulivyotumia tangu mwanzo, na tunakuta kwamba inatofautiana na Maandiko katika kiwango cha ndani kabisa — katika mtazamo wake juu ya Mungu na juu ya nafsi. Kwanza, Mungu. Dhidi ya fundisho kwamba vyote hatimaye ni kitu kimoja, au kwamba hakuna Mungu wa kuzungumziwa, Maandiko yanatangaza Mungu mmoja aliye binafsi na aliye Muumba, aliye tofauti na ulimwengu aliouumba: "Hapo mwanzo Mungu aliziumba mbingu na nchi" (Mwanzo 1:1); "Mimi ni BWANA, wala hapana mwingine; zaidi yangu mimi hapana Mungu" (Isaya 45:5). Paulo aliwaambia wanafalsafa wa Athene waziwazi: "Mungu aliyeumba ulimwengu na vitu vyote vilivyomo... hakai katika hekalu zilizojengwa kwa mikono... kwa maana yeye ndiye anayewapa wote uhai, na pumzi, na vitu vyote" (Matendo 17:24-25). Ulimwengu si Mungu, na Mungu si ulimwengu; Yeye ndiye Muumba wake, aliye binafsi na aliye karibu, lakini ni tofauti na uumbaji wake. Pili, nafsi. Dhidi ya fundisho kwamba nafsi ni udanganyifu wa kutambuliwa, au tone la kupotea katika bahari ya Ukamilifu Mkuu, Maandiko yanafundisha kwamba kila mtu ni nafsi halisi na ya kipekee, aliyeumbwa kwa sura ya Mungu (Mwanzo 1:27), ambaye hayeyuki bali anasimama mbele ya Muumba wake na anaishi milele. Na Kristo ambaye dini hizi zingependa kumweka katika safu zao kama mwalimu mmoja kati ya wengi, kwa kweli ni Mwana wa pekee: "Naye Neno alifanyika mwili" (Yohana 1:14); "katika yeye unakaa utimilifu wote wa Mungu, kwa jinsi ya kimwili" (Wakolosai 2:9); "Mimi ndimi njia, na kweli, na uzima; mtu haji kwa Baba, ila kwa njia ya mimi" (Yohana 14:6).We bring these worldviews to the same tests we have used all along, and we find that they differ from Scripture at the deepest level — in their view of God and of the self. First, God. Against the teaching that all is finally one, or that there is no God to speak of, Scripture proclaims one God who is personal and who is the Creator, distinct from the world He has made: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" (Genesis 1:1); "I am the LORD, and there is no other; there is no God besides Me" (Isaiah 45:5). Paul said it plainly to the philosophers of Athens: "God, who made the world and everything in it... does not dwell in temples made with hands... since He gives to all life, breath, and all things" (Acts 17:24-25). The world is not God, and God is not the world; He is its Maker, personal and near, yet other than His creation. Second, the self. Against the teaching that the self is an illusion to be seen through, or a drop to be lost in the ocean of the Absolute, Scripture teaches that each person is a real and distinct soul, made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27), who does not dissolve but stands before his Maker and lives forever. And the Christ these religions would fold into their ranks as one teacher among many is, in truth, the unique Son: "the Word became flesh" (John 1:14); "in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily" (Colossians 2:9); "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me" (John 14:6).

Kupima Mzizi (2): Wokovu TofautiTesting the Root (2): A Different Salvation

Kipimo cha pili ni wokovu, na hapa tofauti ni ya kina vilevile. Katika dini zote mbili, kuachiliwa kunapatikana na nafsi yenyewe, kwa maarifa, nidhamu, na matendo, katika maisha mengi: ni ngazi inayopandwa kwa juhudi za mtu mwenyewe, aina safi kabisa ya kujitafutia haki kwa matendo. Lakini Maandiko yanasema kwamba hakuna mtu anayepanda hadi kwa Mungu; Mungu hushuka kwetu kwa neema. "Kwa maana mmeokolewa kwa neema, kwa njia ya imani; ambayo hiyo haikutokana na nafsi zenu, ni kipawa cha Mungu; wala si kwa matendo, mtu awaye yote asije akajisifu" (Waefeso 2:8-9); alituokoa "si kwa matendo ya haki tuliyoyatenda sisi, bali kwa rehema yake" (Tito 3:5). Na gurudumu lisilo na mwisho la kuzaliwa upya si kweli juu ya maisha yetu: "watu wanawekewa kufa mara moja, na baada ya kufa hukumu" (Waebrania 9:27) — maisha moja, kisha tunasimama mbele za Mungu, si kurudi bila mwisho ili kujaribu tena. Wala lengo si kupotea kwa nafsi, iwe kwa kumezwa ndani ya Ukamilifu Mkuu au kwa kuzimwa kwa nirvana. Tumaini la Kikristo ni ufufuo, na uzima wa milele, wa kibinafsi, wenye ufahamu — kumjua na kujulikana, milele, na Mungu anayetupenda: "Na uzima wa milele ndio huu, Wakujue wewe, Mungu wa pekee wa kweli, na Yesu Kristo uliyemtuma" (Yohana 17:3). Wokovu unaopatikana kwa juhudi za nafsi na unaoishia katika kupotea kwa nafsi ni kinyume kabisa cha kipawa cha bure kinachotutunza, tukiwa sisi wenyewe, milele pamoja na Mungu.The second test is salvation, and here the difference is just as deep. In both religions, release is won by the self, through knowledge, discipline, and works, across many lifetimes: it is a ladder climbed by one's own effort, the purest form of works-righteousness. But Scripture says that no one climbs to God; God comes down to us in grace. "By grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9); He saved us "not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy" (Titus 3:5). And the endless wheel of rebirth is not the truth about our lives: "it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment" (Hebrews 9:27) — one life, and then we stand before God, not an endless return to try again. Nor is the goal the loss of the self, whether by absorption into the Absolute or by the extinguishing of nirvana. The Christian hope is resurrection, and eternal, personal, conscious life — to know and be known, forever, by a God who loves us: "this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent" (John 17:3). A salvation earned by the self and ending in the loss of the self is the very opposite of the free gift that keeps us, as ourselves, forever with God.

Kwa Nini Hii Ni Njia Nyingine, Si Njia IleWhy This Is Another Way, Not the Way

Tunapaswa kuwa wazi kuhusu aina ya jambo tunalosema. Uhindu na Ubudha si kama Mashahidi wa Yehova au Wamormoni (Kanisa la Yesu Kristo la Watakatifu wa Siku za Mwisho), makundi yanayodai Kristo na kumpotosha; ni njia tofauti kabisa, zenye mengi ndani yake yaliyo ya hekima, ya nidhamu, na ya dhati. Tunaweza kuheshimu shauku yao ya kuachiliwa, uzito wao wa kimaadili, uvumilivu wao na amani yao. Lakini Maandiko hayaturuhusu kusema kwamba njia zote zinaelekea nyumbani. Yesu alisema, "Mimi ndimi njia" — njia ile, si njia mojawapo; na mitume walihubiri kwamba "hapana jina jingine chini ya mbingu walilopewa wanadamu litupasalo sisi kuokolewa kwalo" (Matendo 4:12). Udhati hauwezi kuifanya njia ya uongo kuwa ya kweli, na hekima juu ya mambo mengi haiwezi kutoa lile jambo moja linalohitajika. Hata dini hizi ziwe tajiri kiasi gani, haziwezi kufanya kile ambacho Kristo peke yake anaweza kufanya: kubeba dhambi yetu, kushinda mauti yetu, na kutuleta kwa Mungu. Kuna Mwokozi mmoja, naye anatosha.We should be clear about the kind of thing we are saying. Hinduism and Buddhism are not, like the Jehovah's Witnesses or the Latter-day Saints, groups that claim Christ and distort Him; they are different ways altogether, with much in them that is wise, disciplined, and sincere. We can honor their longing for release, their moral seriousness, their patience and their peace. But Scripture will not let us say that all roads lead home. Jesus said, "I am the way" — the way, not a way; and the apostles preached that "there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). Sincerity cannot make a false path true, and wisdom about many things cannot supply the one thing needful. However rich these religions are, they cannot do what only Christ can do: bear our sin, conquer our death, and bring us to God. There is one Savior, and He is enough.

Buddha na KristoThe Buddha and the Christ

Inafaa kuwaweka hawa wawili kando kwa kando, kwa maana tofauti ni ya kina kama ilivyo ya kugusa moyo. Mwana mfalme kijana Siddhartha, akiwa amesumbuliwa na kuona ugonjwa, uzee, na kifo, aliacha jumba lake la kifalme, mke wake, na mwanawe mchanga ili atafute njia ya kuepuka mateso; na njia aliyoipata ilikuwa kujitenga — kulegeza kila tamaa na kila kushikamana hadi moto wa tamaa, na hatimaye nafsi yenyewe, uzimike. Ni njia ya kuondoka mbali na mateso, na mbali na ulimwengu. Sasa mtazame Kristo. Hakukimbia mateso ya ulimwengu; alishuka ndani yake. Hakuacha jumba la kifalme bali mbingu, na hakuja kuepuka maumivu bali kuyabeba, "mtu wa huzuni nyingi, ajuaye sikitiko" (Isaya 53:3), aliyelia kaburini na kutoka jasho la damu bustanini. Ambapo Buddha alitafuta kumaliza mateso kwa kumaliza tamaa, Kristo alikomesha utawala wake kwa kuteseka Yeye mwenyewe, kwa upendo, kwa ajili yetu. Mmoja anatufundisha kutotamani chochote, ili kisiwepo chochote kinachoweza kutujeruhi; Yule Mwingine alijeruhiwa kwa ajili yetu, ili tuwe na kila kitu ndani yake. Ubudha unatoa kuepuka nafsi; Kristo anatoa nafsi iliyokombolewa, iliyofufuliwa, na inayopendwa milele.It is worth setting the two side by side, for the contrast is as deep as it is tender. The young prince Siddhartha, troubled by the sight of sickness, old age, and death, left his palace, his wife, and his infant son to seek a way of escape from suffering; and the way he found was detachment — to loosen every desire and attachment until the fire of craving, and at last the self, is extinguished. It is a path away from suffering, and away from the world. Now look at Christ. He did not flee the world's suffering; He came down into it. He left not a palace but heaven, and came not to escape pain but to bear it, "a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief" (Isaiah 53:3), who wept at a grave and sweat blood in a garden. Where the Buddha sought to end suffering by ending desire, Christ ended its reign by suffering Himself, in love, for us. The one teaches us to want nothing, so that nothing can wound us; the Other was wounded for us, that we might have everything in Him. Buddhism offers escape from the self; Christ offers the self redeemed, and raised, and loved forever.

Lengo la UkomboziA Redemptive Aim

Na hapa Injili inakutana na shauku ya ndani kabisa ya Mashariki. Kwa uchovu wa kujitahidi bila mwisho, maisha baada ya maisha, bila uhakika wowote wa kufikia lengo, Yesu anasema: "Njooni kwangu, ninyi nyote msumbukao na wenye kulemewa na mizigo, nami nitawapumzisha" (Mathayo 11:28). Pumziko ambalo maisha elfu ya juhudi yasingeweza kamwe kulipata, Yeye analitoa bure, kwa sababu Yeye amekwisha kufanya kazi hiyo. Kwa hofu ya kujipoteza katika utupu au katika Ukamilifu Mkuu, Yeye hatoi kutoweka bali uzima wa milele, na si kuepuka kwa upweke bali upendo wa Mungu aliye binafsi anayetuita kuwa wake. Hatuji kwa Mhindu au kwa Mbudha ili kuondoa kilicho chema katika shauku yao, bali ili kuitosheleza ndani ya Kristo. Tunasikiliza hamu yao ya amani na ya kuachiliwa; tunawaheshimu kama jirani zetu; na tunawaelekeza, kwa uvumilivu, kwa maombi, na kwa Biblia iliyo wazi, kwa Yule ambaye Yeye mwenyewe ndiye Njia, na anayewapa pumziko wote wanaomjia.And here the gospel meets the deepest longing of the East. To the weariness of endless striving, life after life, with no assurance of ever reaching the goal, Jesus says: "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28). The rest that a thousand lifetimes of effort could never earn, He gives freely, because He has done the work. To the fear of losing oneself in the void or the Absolute, He offers not extinction but everlasting life, and not a solitary escape but the love of a personal God who calls us His own. We do not come to the Hindu or the Buddhist to take away what is good in their longing, but to satisfy it in Christ. We listen to their desire for peace and release; we honor them as our neighbors; and we point them, with patience, with prayer, and with an open Bible, to the One who is Himself the Way, and who gives rest to all who come.

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