With this post we conclude the exchange of questions and answers that followed Hazrat Inayat Khan’s lecture on the deeper side of life delivered while sailing to New York in December, 1925. The first post in the series may be found here. It is evident that his listeners wished to find ways to resolve the apparent differences between religions, and in his answers Hazrat Inayat endeavours to show that the differences are really only in appearance, that in essence religion is one.

Q.: Buddhism teaches reincarnation. Would it be possible to find a common ground between Buddhism and Christianity?

A.: The common ground on the dogma of reincarnation is rather a difficult one. The reason is that the message of Jesus Christ was given to the children of Beni Israel, to those prepared to understand God as the king, the master of the day of judgment, as the one who was all justice and all power. And the message which Buddha gave was to the people of India, who were more metaphysical and scientific. The simple people of India had their gods and goddesses and their religion, and they were satisfied with it, but the intellectual class was not satisfied with the gods and goddesses alone, and with the religion of devotion. They were scientific, logical; they had their own philosophies. Buddha’s mission, therefore, was to make the people of India understand, beyond what religious devotion can teach. Therefore, he did not give the essential wisdom in the form of religion, but in the form of philosophy.

The common belief was of reincarnation. It spared the master very much by not attacking that particular belief, but by building on that belief a wonderful structure. Some Buddhists today, whose insight is great, ask, “Why did Buddha give this theory? Why did he not give the reason for it?” I was very interested in San Francisco, where a Buddhist came to see me. He was a great preacher of Buddhism in Japan. There was another man who had read many Buddhist books. I was eagerly waiting to hear from this Buddhist priest, but he did not think it necessary to speak. In order to make him speak I said I would so much like to know the Buddhist teaching about reincarnation. The one who had read many books, this man said, “It is reincarnation which is the principal thing in Buddhist religion, that one is born again, and so it goes on, and that is what constitutes karma. That is action.” But I was eager to hear from the priest. After this man had finished his explanation, I again requested the Buddhist preacher if this is right. And he said in his gentle way of speaking, he said, “What this gentleman has said is his belief.” He said no more.

The words of the great teachers are as the notes of the piano. Some notes are of a lower octave, some are higher. In order to play all octaves, so it is necessary to play the higher notes and the lower notes also. If one were to ask about reincarnation, the answer is ‘yes’ and ‘no’. Why? Because in both answers there is a meaning, both answers are true. When you look at life as one life, then you do not divide persons as separate entities. Then you cannot say that this person has incarnated as another. If there is the same spirit, it is the same one who is all, and each one is nothing. Either you look at life in that way, or you look at life by noticing each person as a separate entity. Naturally we say, as everything has to be something, after it is destroyed it must exist, it has an existence in some form. The destruction or death is only a change. Something cannot be nothing. If it is nothing to our eyes, it is because we do not see. Everything must exist in some form or other. Therefore, the theory of reincarnation teaches that there is nothing which will be nothing, that everything will be something, must be something.

But then the other conception is that, if the source is one, the goal is one, then all that we see is phenomena, as long as we do not see deeply. When once we see deeply, then no longer shall we distinguish separate entities; then one sees one life, one being. Then there is no reason to think about reincarnation. Then the same thought of Buddha was the teaching of Jesus Christ, only given to Hindus in another form. The religion of the master was the same, whether he was called Buddha or Christ.