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My Engagements With World Religions: Buddhism Part I

My Engagements With World Religions: Buddhism Part I

Last updated on: February 12, 2026 at 2:03 pm by Henry Karlson

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My Engagements With World Religions: Buddhism Part I 2026-02-12T14:03:02-05:00 Henry Karlson

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Vmenkov: Tibetan Mongolian Buddhist Cultural Center, Indiana / Wikimedia Commons

It took me longer than I wish it had for me to properly engage Buddhism. In my readings from Christian sources, I had been taught to consider Buddhism as almost being some kind of anti-religion, one which not only questioned and deconstructed Hinduism and their gods, but all religious traditions. I was also told it was nihilistic due to the way Nirvana was interpreted in the West (it is not). Both of these representations left me rather uninterested in exploring Buddhism in much detail. Nonetheless, I should have known better not to trust the caricatures of Buddhism given by many Western thinkers, including Christian apologists, because I was given a very basic presentation of a its teachings in High School. This is because, while I was there, I took an elective class, “Critical Thinking,” which taught me rudimentary elements of logic and philosophy, including religious philosophy and metaphysics. After our introductory section on logic, we started reading texts on diverse topics. Our reading of Hume has had a lifelong impact on me and my thought processes (even though I disagreed with Hume’s extreme skepticism, I believe there is much value in the way he went about expressing it). Eventually, a few class sessions were devoted to Buddhism, and they were taught from a neutral-positive, and not a hostile, perspective. The teacher explained his interest in Buddhism came from his experiences in the Korean War. He gave a simple overview of some of the most basic elements of Buddhist thought, like the Four Noble Truths, and used them to discuss some of the philosophical questions Buddhism raised. Sadly, what we learned did not leave enough of an impression on me for me to desire to explore Buddhism further.

It was because I was living in Bloomington, Indiana, the home of Indiana University, that would lead me to reevaluate Buddhism. The town was the home of the Dalai Lama’s brother; he brought with him many Tibetans into the community, among which were monks who built a rather influential monastery and culture center in the town. When I was an undergraduate, I remember hearing about many celebrities visiting the city to spend time with the monks, such as Melissa Mathison (and her husband at the time, Harrison Ford). But it was all in the periphery for me. The biggest impact it had on me at the time was that I almost met Harrison Ford, as he was visiting stores in town I went to a few minutes after I left, but I was not interested in why he and his wife were there. It was only later that I would find out his wife was working on Kundun.

Throughout my undergraduate degree studies, I never once interacted or engaged the Tibetan community. It was only later, when I moved back in town to work at the University, that I was ready to learn about Buddhism. The summer I went to Egypt, the Dalai Lama made a public appearance in the town – indeed, it happened soon after my return. While I did not go to his lecture, I took notice of it, and became interested in the fact that his brother not only lived in the town, but owned a restaurant, leading me with a desire to visit it. I enjoyed the food and started going to the restaurant often; the place sold Buddhist memorabilia and books, and after looking at them a few times, I decided it was time to learn more about Buddhism. I bought the Dalai Lama’s The Buddhism of Tibet, read it, and became quite fascinated by it, for it really gave me a different vision of Buddhism than I had at that time. I could already see the claims about nihilism were false. I then watched Kundun, Seven Years in Tibet, and Little Buddha, and through them, with my reading of the Dalai Lama’s book, my understanding of Buddhism, especially Tibetan Buddhism, changed.

After that, I started reading a great deal of Buddhist literature, starting with the Long and Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha (using the versions of them which came from the Theravāda or Pali canon). The introductions in those texts, as well as the texts themselves, fascinated me; they helped me gain a better understanding of Nirvana, and the reasons why the Western approach to it was deficient at best, and often, outright wrong. Yes, it was possible for some to interpret it in a nihilistic fashion, and Buddhism itself recognized that was always a danger, but it was also something Buddhists constantly resisted and considered it a grave error (which is why, in their debates, Buddhist monks and nuns would often try to show the position of their opponent led to nihilism, and if that was proven, it was used to show their opponent was wrong). I saw the conversations concerning the self, God, the afterlife, and the like, all reflected the types of questions and modes of engagement I found in Christian apophatic theology. I came to see that, as the monastic traditions of Buddhism were like those found within Christian monasticism, indeed, it was likely that Buddhist monasticism had at least an indirect (if not direct) influence on the development of monasticism in Christianity (due to the presence of Buddhists in Alexandria and other important cities, thanks especially to the missionaries sent out during the time of Ashoka). I read many of the classic texts coming from Tibetan and Mahāyāna Buddhism, as well as commentaries on them. I initially focused on the works of Nāgārjuna and the various Mahayana Sutras. However, due in part to my interest in Tibetan Buddhism, I was drawn to the works attributed to Maitreya (starting with the Uttaratantra Shastra with Commentary, which was just released in a new translation at the time). I considered it ironic, and more than a little humorous, that I found the Uttaratantra Shastra as being one of the best, and most important, Buddhist works I had read at the time because, back when I was an evangelical, I had been told that the antichrist would likely present himself as Maitreya. I saw its discussion of Buddha Nature transform my vision of Buddhism even more, and with it, saw it not only had parallels in Christian thought, but the depth of the thought in Buddhism could and should be adapted to complement those parallels. I started quoting Maitreya in some of the things I would write, in part, because I found it amusing that I would ever end up doing so, but also because I took the text seriously. I did what I could do to read all the texts attributed to him, especially in the Tibetan tradition. This is what introduced me to the wider world of Yogācāra Buddhism because the texts, though attributed to Maitreya, were said to be written down by Asaṅga, even as some of the foundational commentaries on them were written by him and used to establish his system of thought ( Yogācāra Buddhism). I wanted not only to read all five texts Tibetan Buddhism said Maitreya had written, but also, the writings of Asaṅga and, with Asaṅga, his brother Vasubandhu. Eventually, their works, and Yogācāra Buddhism, became my central focus when I studied Buddhism, even as I continued to use what I read and learned in my own theological reflections. This is not to say Yogācāra was the only thing I studied, as I was interested in exploring all varieties of Buddhism and its schools of thought, however, I found it best to focus on a three schools of thought: Theravāda and its canon, Yogācāra, and Zen.

While I was doing all of this, I was also researching and learning about the ways Christians had engaged Buddhism throughout the centuries. I learned how St. Clement of Alexandria offered our earliest known description of the Buddha from a Christian source, and he provided a rather positive vision of Buddha, calling him a holy man. I also discovered that the legend of the Buddha, and his life, had, over time, become the basis of a story of a Christian saint known as Josaphat. While some, upon learning that, try to distance themselves from Josaphat, denying he was real, and so denying he was a saint, I took the opposite approach and saw it as a sign of the Holy Spirit that Siddhartha could be seen as a pre-Christian pagan saint. I bought a statue of the Buddha, telling people that I did so because of the way his holiness can and should be recognized. I explained that, once we recognized this, that he was a pre-Christian saint, like other pre-Christian gentile saints, the wisdom tradition which emerged from him is something Christians can and should explore. And this was exactly what I wanted to do when I went into grad school.

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N.B.: While I read comments to moderate them, I rarely respond to them. If I don’t respond to your comment directly, don’t assume I am unthankful for it. I appreciate it. But I want readers to feel free to ask questions, and hopefully, dialogue with each other. I have shared what I wanted to say, though some responses will get a brief reply by me, or, if I find it interesting and something I can engage fully, as the foundation for another post. I have had many posts inspired or improved upon thanks to my readers.

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