13 Differences Between Buddhism and Christianity

Buddhism began in the 6th to 5th centuries BC on the border between modern India and Nepal. It was founded by Siddhartha Gautama, who was born a prince. At the age of 29, Gautama left his wife and son to seek deeper religious understanding. At the age of 35, he experienced spiritual enlightenment and spent the rest of his life as a religious leader, leading a movement of monks and nuns who spread his teaching known as Dhamma. Now this leader was called by his followers as Lord with the title of the Buddha, meaning the awakened one, and thus how everybody calls him Buddha from now on.

Today, in the U.S., approximately 1.2 million adults identify as Buddhists, with California having the largest Buddhist population. So what are the main differences between this system of belief vs Christianity? Here are the main key distinctions.

13 Key Differences Between Buddhism and Christianity

1. Is there a God?

Buddhism teaches that there is no Creator God, although there are many divine beings or gods. However, Christianity teaches that there is a Creator God. In fact, the Bible says, “The fool has said in his heart there is no God” (Proverbs 14:1).

2. What is Reality?

In Buddhism, reality is suffering. Christianity teaches that reality is God’s good creation (Gen 1:31). While Buddhists believe suffering can be overcome through our own effort, Christians believe that suffering is the result of sin, and only through Jesus can it be resolved (Rom 8:22).

3. What Are the Causes of Suffering?

Buddhism teaches that suffering is caused by impermanence, karma, and attachment. Attachment of any kind ultimately results in suffering and needs to be relinquished. Buddhism teaches that non-attachment is the path to escape suffering and achieve the state called Nirvana. Christianity on the other hand, teaches that suffering is caused by sin—both others’ and our own—and that attachment to God’s creation is good because it’s God’s gift to humanity (Rom 5:12).

4. What is the Solution to Suffering?

In Buddhism, eliminating desire leads to Nirvana, a state free from suffering. However, the precise nature of Nirvana is not clear. Christians believe God, that through the work of Jesus Christ on the cross and through the ongoing presence of Jesus and the Holy Spirit among the community of believers, Christ is taking away the suffering of the world, and one day, God will entirely remove all suffering and create the new heavens and new earth, in which there will be no suffering (Rev 21:4).

5. What Makes Something Good or Bad?

Buddhism bases goodness on right intentions, while Christianity teaches that goodness is defined by God’s commandments. The Bible teaches that good is what aligns with God, who Himself is good, and God’s commandments are always also good (Jm 4:17). Good is therefore independent of human intentions. Likewise, bad is just that which contradicts God’s nature and God’s commandments. Human intentions do not make bad actions into good actions.

6. What is Unchanging?

Buddhism says the universe is constantly changing. However, Christianity teaches that God remains the same, always.

Buddhism also teaches that existence is conditioned by many changing factors and that only Nirvana is independent of changing conditions. However, we see that the Bible says that God, who exists independently of changing conditions, is changeless—not Nirvana or those who have attained Nirvana (Heb 13:8).

7. Who Am I?

Buddhism teaches that the self is an illusion, while Christianity teaches that your existence is very real and that you will exist forever in a resurrected body, in either the new heavens and the new earth or the lake of fire (2 Cor 5:10).

8. Did I Have a Past Life?

Buddhism says that you have undergone millions of births and rebirths in the past and will undergo millions—even hundreds of millions—of cycles of birth and rebirth in the future. The Bible says that only God exists forever (Heb 9:27). People have only one chance at life. It is now. You don’t get another reincarnation to do better or to improve yourself.

9. I’m Basically a Good Person, Right?

Buddhism says that the human mind is fundamentally bright and pure, and through proper effort and mental development, a person can achieve a higher state. The Bible says that humans are fundamentally sinful. All have sinned (Rom 3:23).

There is none righteous, and our best deeds are as filthy rags before God (Is 64:6). Through the blood of Jesus Christ, a person’s past sins can be forgiven, and the person immediately begins a new life as a holy one or a child of God.

10. Do I Need to Be “Born Again” To Go To Heaven?

Buddhism says that birth leads only to death; Nirvana is for the unborn. But the Bible says that being born again leads to eternal life. Heaven is for those who are twice-born (Jn 3:33).

11. What Happens After I Die?

Buddhism says that you are reborn into one of six basic levels of existence: human, animal, a hungry ghost, a hell being, a titan (like a quasi-bad super being), and the last level is a god (a good super being), with numerous levels of god existence.

On the other hand, the Bible says that after you die, you don’t come back as anything else, but rather go to either heaven or to hell (Mt 25:46).

12. Why Am I Here?

Buddhism says that the universe has no inherent purpose. You must give yourself that purpose, namely achieving enlightenment, which is extinguishing desire and escaping from the cycle of rebirth to achieve Nirvana. Though nobody really knows exactly what this Nirvana is.

The Bible says that God has a purpose for your individual life and that you can come to know God and discover His purpose when you know Him (Jer 29:11).

13. What Should I Do with My Life?

Buddhism says that you have to seek enlightenment to end samsara (the cycle of birth and death and rebirth), which is called Nirvana. Along the way, you should generate some positive merit, which you can either keep or transfer to your past ancestors, pass on to hungry ghosts to help them be reborn better, or transfer to a god so that god can help you or other living beings.

The Bible says that we should all love God with all our being and love our neighbor as ourselves (Mt 22:37-39). We should repent of all our sins and submit to Jesus as our Lord and Savior, trusting only in His finished work on the cross to gain eternal salvation. That salvation does not begin when we die; it starts here, through forgiveness of sins.

Read: 11 Ways Islam and Christianity Are Different