Proem

In 1970 His Holiness Pope Paul VI visited the Philippines. It was the first visit of a Pope in the Philippines. Later on, Pope John II also visited the Philippines.

On November 11-18, 2006 another holy person will visit the Philippines. The visitor will be the 17th Gyalwa Karmapa Trinley Thaye Dorje. He is the equivalent of the Pope of the Tibetan Buddhism. He is still 23 years old. Like the Pope the 17th Karmapa will come to Manila to pray for unity in diversity, peace, and harmony for prosperity.

Christianity, Hinduism, and Buddhism

Christianity believes in God, especially the trinity of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Hinduism believes in God Brahma, which is similar to the Christian concept of God, the Father. Christians believe that the "Godness" of the Father manifested only in His son Jesus Christ. Hinduism accepts the Brahma's "Godness" can be manifested anywhere and in anything.

Buddhism does not have a concept of God similar to Christianity. In Buddhism, God is the Ultimate Unity (Bisaya: bugtak), which you will join if you achieve Nirvana.

Reincarnation

Hinduism believes in reincarnation. Man is born, reborn, and reborn again and again until he attains holiness worthy to be in heaven. To be in heaven all a Christian would do is believe in Jesus Christ as his God and savior.

Christianity has only a vague reference to reincarnation. Jesus Christ said, "Except a man be born again he could not enter the Kingdom of Heaven." However, the accepted method in Christianity to be born again is to be baptized.

Buddhism is a religion that diverged from Hinduism. It also believes in reincarnation. The great difference is that in Buddhism it is possible to go to heaven in a single lifetime.

What you need is to attain Nirvana or the extinguishing of all desires through meditation. Siddhartha Gautama achieved it and he became a Buddha or the "Enlightened One."

However, in the belief of Tibetan Buddhism there were supposed to be master who were capable to attain Nirvana but had to forego it and reincarnate because they have to reach others the "Dharma" or Buddha's teaching how to do it. One such master was the Tibetan and first Karmapa Gampopa (year 1079-1135) and founder of the Karma Kagyu branch of Buddhism. Since then he had been reincarnating into different persons.

The 17th Karmapa

The 16th Kyalwa Karmapa was Rangjung Rekpe Dorje. He was born in 1924. He died on November 5, 1981. His followers believed that he would reincarnate. The problem is how to recognize the reincarnated Karmapa.

On May 6, 1983 the 17th Karmapa was born. He was recognized as such only on March 17, 1994 by the SHARMAPA or the person tasked to do the identification by some test and indications. The child was already 11 years old when he was recognized and since then he became the 17th Karmapa Trinley Thaye Dorje. He is already 23 years old and has traveled to many places in the world but it will be his first time in Manila on November 11 to 18, 2006.

Dharma and Karma

Dharma refers to the teachings of Buddha about suffering and how to end it. Karma refers to the effect on our minds and bodies of all our thoughts and intentional actions.

It is practically the law of cause and effect.

Buddhism must have reached Bohol before the arrival of the Spaniards because we already have the Bisayan words equivalent to Dharma and Karma. We have bugnà for Dharma and gábà for Karma. Good deeds are supposed to bring good Karma while bad deeds will bring bad Karma. So there is supposed to be a good gabà and bad gabà. The old Bisayan dictionaries seem to indicate that it is so. However, nowadays we only associate gabà to bad Karma. Maybe it became so because the Christianity brought by the Spaniards emphasized on the punishment in hell (Bisayan: sulad). But think about it, we do not seem to find anything wrong with the seemingly contradictory slogan "Love God, Fear God." Upon deeper analysis it seems to be the very essence of gabà.

You may not believe it, but our folk Christianity have so many similarities with Buddhism.

For those who are interested about the visit of the 17th Karmapa here are the contact numbers: 02-5242041 to 42; 02-7821157 or e-mail address,

nedobodhicenter@yahoo.com