Ground Report

Shakyamuni, who eventually became the lord Buddha, was born a prince in India about 500 years prior to the coming of Jesus. He was very much disturbed as to how could human being be saved after having seen all the human miseries such as sins, hatred, murders, curses and vices, diseases and deaths. He left his prince hood and wandered through India in search for a relief of these sufferings. He went through several self efforts to attain a cure including self denial and torture with no avail. In his continuing humanly search for internal peace, he claimed he attained a sudden spiritual enlightenment by certain invisible power from above. He started to preach his new found truth for many that is known of today as Buddhist teaching. In his final written word named Ramaka Buddhist Doctrines (佛說羅摩伽經 Namada sutra in Korean), he said: "When Jesus comes, my Tao (way) will be like a lamp without oil” or “荷時椰蔬來 吾道 無油之燈也”.

However, his posterity somehow distorted the core teachings of Shakyamuni and exploited them into setting up a religion. Buddhists in Korea have apparently been teaching that Jesus went to India 2000 years ago, received the teachings of Buddha, and went back to give rise to Christianity. However, if this was true, there should be the teaching of Shakyamuni in the Bible. But the truth is there is no evidence of any Buddhist teaching in the entire book of the word of God.

In the Korean Buddhist teachings, there are the books of Chunsoo (千手經), the Keumkang (金剛經), the Prajna-para-mita (般若心經), the Avatamska (華嚴經), Tripitaka (大藏經) and Ramaka Buddhist Doctrines (佛說羅摩伽經: Namada). In the Namada which is known as the last teaching of lord Buddha, he prophesized the coming of Jesus (椰蔬) in about 500 years later. Namada teaching (38:8) recorded that his doctrines would all be useless when Jesus comes. The verse that is known as the last verse in all the books of Shkyamuni is stated, "When Jesus comes, and my Tao (way) will be like a lamp without oil. "荷時椰蔬來 吾道 無油之燈也

It means that "when Jesus (椰蔬) comes, my spiritual enlightenment will become useless like a lamp without oil." It is his statement in his last sermon at the very last moment of his life. It means Shakyamuni was fully aware that his teachings should cease when Jesus comes. For Jesus alone are the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6). Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by whom we must be saved, Acts 4:12.

This same Buddhist prophecy about Jesus is also found in Japanese Buddhist scriptures of Daisho Shinsoo Tripitaka. This copy, in fact, is the original of the Korean Namada sutra version. It was translated by the renowned Japanese Buddhist priest Sung-gyun of Chin Kingdom from the India Sanskrit and Bali scriptures, and were compared, edited against the Chinese text, and circulated among temple scholars for final approval before printing.

“When Jesus comes, my Tao (way) will be like a lamp without oil” is not just another saying but an actual scripture found in many versions of Buddhist teaching including the firsthand copies of Sanskrit and Bali.