to Christians traveling to traditionally non-Christian countries, there is a new trend of
non-Christian "missionaries" from the East traveling to the west in order to convert
people to any one of the various Eastern Religions. Perhaps no single one of these new
"Eastern" missionaries has been more active than the Dalai Lama.
crowds in the West. Two of his books have become best sellers: Ethics for a New
Millennium and The Art of Happiness.
common destination. As such, the Dalai Lama is seen as just another spiritual leader like
Pope John Paul II or Billy Graham. In reality, the message of Buddhism in general and
the Dalai Lama in particular reflects a completely different worldview than Christianity.
These competing worldviews are accompanied by different approaches to ethics. In this
paper, I intend to compare and contrast the way the Buddhist and Christian worldviews
differ at one specific point, eschatology, and will then suggest ethical implications of
these eschatological differences.
I. Limitations and Justification for this Approach
description in an occasional paper such as this of the various nuances in belief reflected
by specific groups. Therefore, the first limitation of this paper is that I intend to speak of
Christianity and Buddhism as general systems of belief while avoiding, as much as is
possible, an in-depth discussion of differences between various groups within each.
Buddhism expresses itself through three dominant schools of thought: Theravada,
Mahayana, and Vajrayana (also known as Mantrayana) Buddhism.
simply Kundun (The Presence).
holding to any extreme views, especially to those of eternalism and nihilism." The Dalai Lama, The Four
Noble Truths (London: Thorsons, 1997), 154.