Jesus and the Buddha: How Did They Die?

Both Jesus and the Buddha anticipated their deaths and then died. What can we learn from these two deaths about the respective religions they founded? And, since everybody values the alleviation of suffering, regardless of their religion, how do these two founders’ deaths compare when it comes to combatting this-worldly suffering?

The Buddha Anticipates His Death

After determining that it would be the compassionate thing to teach others what he himself had discovered,[1] Gautama proceeded to teach the “Dharma” (the Buddhist path). His reputation as an “incomparable teacher” of enlightenment continued to spread,[2] until he had spoken to “many hundreds” of assemblies.[3] He was able to convert kings[4] and outcastes alike.[5] He continued his itinerant ministry of teaching into old age.

The day came when Ananda, one of Gautama’s foremost disciples, noticed and commented to Gautama that “the Blessed One’s complexion is no longer so clear and bright; his limbs are flabby and wrinkled; his back, bent forward.”[6] Gautama ministered until his eightieth year, when he finally told Ananda, “Now I am frail, Ananda, old, aged, far gone in years. This is my eightieth year, and my life is spent. Even as an old cart, Ananda, is held together with much difficulty, so the body of the Tathagata is kept going only with supports.”[7] He predicted that, at the end of three months, he would enter nirvana and “utterly pass away.”

Now, at one point about this time, Gautama hinted to Ananda that a Buddha can actually remain on the earth for as long as the particular eon endures. His intention was to hint that, if Ananda would entreat Gautama to remain, he would indeed do so. Yet Ananda did not get the hint. So Gautama rebuked him, “Herein have you failed, inasmuch as you were unable to grasp the plain suggestion.” Now, Gautama would be leaving them far earlier than was necessary. But this was more Ananda’s failure against his fellows, and not against Gautama himself, who had already “renounce[ed] his will to live on.”[8] It was set: at the end of three months, Gautama would enter nirvana.

“Now I am frail, Ananda, old, aged, far gone in years. This is my eightieth year, and my life is spent.”

Jesus Anticipates His Death

Unlike Gautama, Jesus did not minister into old age, nor did he intend to. Especially the Synoptic Gospels record Jesus’ predictions of his coming death in Jerusalem. H. F. Bayer explains, “Like birth pangs signaling a delivery, they point to Jesus’ inescapable mission awaiting him in Jerusalem.”[9] Having prepared his disciples by explicitly and repeatedly predicting what was coming (Matthew 16:21-23; 17:22-23; 20:17-19; Mark 8:31; 9:31; 10:32-34; Luke 9:21-22; 9:44; 18:31-33; John 2:19-22), Jesus resolutely “set his face to go to Jerusalem,” because it was “when the days drew near for him to be taken up” (Luke 9:51, ESV).

Jesus also predicted his blood would be “poured out for many” (Mark 14:24, ESV) and, similar to Jonah, he would “be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matthew 12:40, ESV). He even told a parable about a vineyard owner whose son went to check on the hired hands only to be killed by them: “When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he was speaking about them” (Matthew 21:45, ESV).

Jesus knew what was coming, but it is not as though he were trying to prevent it. In fact, according to Jesus, it was all part of the predetermined plan. As he said to those arresting him, “Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs to capture me? Day after day I sat in the temple teaching, and you did not seize me. But all this has taken place that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled” (Matthew 26:55-56a, ESV).

“Day after day I sat in the temple teaching, and you did not seize me. But all this has taken place that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.”

What contrast do we see between Jesus and the Buddha in terms of how they anticipated their deaths? Gautama’s agenda was to minister peacefully until nirvana at an old age, while Jesus’ was to minister purposefully toward execution at a young age. After all, Jesus had said that “the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45, ESV).

Let’s now describe Gautama’s and Jesus’ deaths. Their deaths being almost incomparable in their level of intensity, we will ask what this tells us about the example they set when it comes to combatting suffering.

The Buddha’s Death

After predicting his imminent entrance into nirvana, Gautama ate a meal that gave him dysentery and sharp pains. Yet, we are told, he “endured them mindfully, clearly comprehending and unperturbed.”[10] He had Ananda prepare a couch for him between two trees where he lay down. Tree blossoms and flowers from the sky rained down upon him while voices sang from the heavens. All the deities gathered to watch, for which Gautama had to ask one monk to move aside so they could see. Gautama gave Ananda instructions to care for his body after death and construct a stupa as a memorial as one would do for a universal monarch.

When Ananda began to weep, Gautama corrected him, “Enough, Ananda! Do not grieve, do not lament! For have I not taught from the very beginning that with all that is dear and beloved there must be change, separation, and severance?”[11] One final convert was made of a renunciate named Subhadda who was able to converse with Gautama in his final hours. Gautama then gave Ananda some final instructions concerning abolishing the lesser rules and instructing the monks to chastise an arrogant monk named Channa. Channa had been Gautama’s charioteer for the celebrated “four visions,” eventually joining the sangha but becoming overbearingly prideful because of his close association with Gautama.[12]

Gautama ended a brief final lesson with the famous last words, “Strive with earnestness!” Then, after cycling through the appropriate meditations, he “passed away.” We are told there were earthquakes below and thunders above and weeping deities declaring the event’s significance. Gautama’s body was cremated, and the bones dispersed among various groups who had played a role in his life. Each promised to construct a stupa over their particular relic.[13]

“Gautama ended a brief final lesson with the famous last words, ‘Strive with earnestness!'”

Jesus’ Death

Jesus was betrayed by a disciple and arrested on a Thursday night (Mark 14:43). A trial that night condemned him of blasphemy, after which they beat him and spat on him (Mark 14:64-65). The next morning, the Sanhedrin rubber-stamped the previous night’s decision (Mark 15:1). They marched him to Pilate, governor of Judea (Luke 23:1), who sent him to Herod Antipas, the tetrarch of Galilee (Luke 23:7), who, after his soldiers mocked him, sent him back to Pilate (Luke 23:11).

No one quite knew what to do with this man whom the religious authorities accused of blasphemy yet the political authorities saw as innocent. Pilate had him scourged, but this did nothing to appease the crowd that kept shouting, “Crucify him!” (Mark 15:14-15). After twisting together a crown of thorns for his head, they pretended to hail him as the king, all the while clubbing his head with a reed and spitting on him (Mark 15:17-19).

Finally, they marched him outside Jerusalem where they crucified him (Mark 15:22). As he hung there, the guards gambled for his clothing (Mark 15:24), and the religious leaders laughed at his helplessness (Mark 15:31). He responded by asking his Father to forgive them (Luke 23:34) and assuring a fellow crucifixion victim that they would be together in paradise (Luke 23:43). Six hours later, as the end came, he cried out, “It is finished” (John 19:30), and finally, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” (Luke 23:46, ESV). As he breathed his last, we are told that an earthquake occurred (Matthew 27:51) which split the temple’s curtain, that symbol of God and man’s separation, in two (Matthew 27:51; Mark 15:38; Luke 23:45).

“Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!”

Tranquility VS Agony

Gautama cannot be blamed for the comparative tranquility of his death. After all, it is not that peaceful deaths are undesirable; ultimately, that is what everybody would prefer. Even Jesus asked his Father, “If it is possible, let this cup pass from me” (Matthew 26:39, ESV). Yet does this contrast suggest anything about Gautama’s and Jesus’ example as it relates to this-worldly suffering?

The intensity of suffering tells us that Jesus was willing to undergo whatever it took, no matter how extreme, to restore humanity. Although Gautama might have been willing to suffer in these ways (and indeed we are given tales of previous lives in which he did suffer agonizing deaths), the tranquility of Gautama’s death does not allow us to say that he was, in fact, willing. Gautama exemplified a tranquil death, while Jesus exemplified the ultimate sacrifice.

Again, there is nothing dishonorable about the way Gautama met his end. It is just that, as it relates to combatting this-worldly suffering, the way Jesus died exemplifies an extraordinary level of commitment. He bled for his cause. He did not merely die in such a way as to set an equanimous example for people; rather, he died for people. And since, as we have seen, Jesus’ cause incorporates the combatting of this-worldly suffering, those that take Jesus as paradigm logically have a more determined motivation to do whatever it takes for such a cause than do the disciples of Gautama.

[1] “Ayacana Sutta: The Request (SN 6.1),” translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu, Access to Insight, 1997, https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn06/sn06.001.than.html (accessed December 9, 2014).

[2] “Salayyaka Sutta: (Brahmans) of Sala (MN 41),” translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu, Access to Insight, 2011, https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.041.than.html (accessed December 13, 2014).

[3] “Maha-sihanada Sutta: The Great Discourse on the Lion’s Roar (MN 12),” translated from the Pali by Nanamoli Thera and Bhikkhu Bodhi, Access to Insight, 1994, https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.012.ntbb.html (accessed December 9, 2014).

[4] “Pabbatopama Sutta: The Simile of the Mountains (SN 3.25),” translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu, Access to Insight, 1997, https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn03/sn03.025.than.html (accessed December 13, 2014).

[5] “Sunita the Outcaste (Thag 12.2),” translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu, Access to Insight, 1994, https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/thag/thag.12.02.than.html (accessed December 13, 2014).

[6] “Jara Sutta: Old Age (SN 48.41),” translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu, Access to Insight, 1998, https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn48/sn48.041.than.html (accessed December 13, 2014).

[7] “Maha-Parinibbana Sutta: Last Days of the Buddha (DN 16),” translated from the Pali by Sister Vajira and Francis Story, Access to Insight, 1998, https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/dn/dn.16.1-6.vaji.html.

[8] “Maha-Parinibbana Sutta: Last Days of the Buddha (DN 16).”

[9] Hans F. Bayer, “Predictions of Jesus’ Passion and Resurrection,” in Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels, edited by Joel B. Green, Scot McKnight, and I. Howard Marshall (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1992), 630.

[10] “Maha-Parinibbana Sutta: Last Days of the Buddha (DN 16).”

[11] “Maha-Parinibbana Sutta: Last Days of the Buddha (DN 16).”

[12] Robert E. Buswell and Donald S. Lopez, The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2014), 175-176.

[13] “Maha-Parinibbana Sutta: Last Days of the Buddha (DN 16).”

Excerpted from Daniel McCoy, Buddhism or Christianity: Which Is Better for the World (Moral Apologetics Press, 2021).