Puhua, did he rise from the dead?

A 9th Century monk named Puhua, also called Puko, and best known by his Japanese name, Fuke, was a Chinese Buddhist monk. His exploits are told in an account called the Record of Linji from China as well as Kyotaku Denki Kokuji Kai from Japan. According to many Buddhist sources I checked (and admittedly not an abundant amount) the later account seems to have been greatly exaggerated, when it came to Puhua. There seems to have been other accounts of Puhua’s life, passed down in legends, stories, and other such things, but Linji’s account is recognized as the most authoritative.

The account by Linji, who was a contemporary of Puhua, survives to us and we have a translation of it by Ruth Fuller Sasaki, in a 2009 edition published by the University of Hawai'i Press. Matter of fact, all the information for this particular article comes from this edition and would encourage the reader to consult (as a free PDF of the book is available on-line). For brevity sake, any quotation from this book will be marked by page number only. So why all the fuss about Fuke? The supposed parallels between Puhua's end and Christ's.

I became aware of Puhua recently in any internet interaction with an atheist blogger. His question to me was, “if you believe Jesus rose from the dead, why not Puhua?” Understandably I had to do some Google searching for who Puhua even was. I came across a few resources that all kept pointing me to the book (translation) by Sasaki as the source of information for Puhua’s life. I took time to read all I could about Puhua (which covers about 20 pages of a book of almost 500 pages). I’m thankful for Sasaki’s scholarship and translation. She also made it very accessible with indexes, definitions, and explanations of terms. I would encourage anyone curious about the parallels of Jesus and Puhua, which I will demonstrate to be very little, to read for yourself.

WHY ARE PUHAU AND JESUS DIFFERENT?

1st Puhua who?

Yeah, until this point I had NEVER heard of Puhua, or Linji for that matter. This is not a claim that because I had never heard of them, thus they are not relevant. My point simply is this, a figure as prominent as Jesus is not to be swept away so easily (though a claim could be made for Mohamed as well). Had you heard of Puhua before this article? Doesn’t that point to something? Ask anyone on the street, about Jesus and Puhua, I would venture to say Jesus wins (as being someone they know about) 99-1, maybe higher.

2nd Linji’s account is more about him than Puhua

Linji’s record is a collection of stories about monks and Zen masters of Buddhism in his travels and encounters. Linji is the main character of his record, most definitely not Puhua. Why is this significant? There is at least four biographies of Jesus: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. A quick skimming of any of the accounts of these surviving contemporaries leaves one with the impression that Jesus was the main character of their accounts. Even though Linji gives us some sense of Puhua’s character, teachings, and life, there is no comparison of depth that the Gospel writers delve into about Jesus.

3rd Puhua never claims to be God (or a god)

There is no indication, not a single instance, which Puhua is shown to be or described to be a god in Linji’s account. Jesus is a unique figure in human history, not that His claim for divinity was. No Jesus’ claim was unique in His claim and evidence that He was so. Many an emperor, king, and pharaoh claimed divinity for themselves, yet none rose again after death, as Jesus did. This is not the essence of the argument here, though. Simply, Puhua can be shown to be many things, but Linji never intends for us to believe he was God.

4th Puhua’s ‘resurrection’ is not like Jesus’

I’ll let you read for yourself;

“One day Puhua went about the streets asking people he met for a one-piece gown. They all offered him one, but Puhua declined them all. Linji had the steward of the temple buy a coffin, and when Puhua came back the master said, “I’ve fixed up a one-piece gown for you.”

Puhua put the coffin on his shoulders and went around the streets call-ing out, “Linji fixed me up a one-piece gown. I’m going to the East Gate to depart this life.” All the townspeople scrambled after him to watch.

“No, not today,” said Puhua, “but tomorrow I’ll go to the South Gate to depart this life.”

After he had done the same thing for three days no one believed him anymore. On the fourth day not a single person followed him to watch. He went outside the town walls all by himself, got into the coffin, and asked a passerby to nail it up. The news immediately got about. The townspeople all came scrambling; upon opening the coffin, they saw he had vanished, body and all. Only the sound of his bell could be heard in the sky, receding away: tinkle... tinkle... tinkle....” (311)

For our atheist friend to claim that Puhua’s and Jesus’ resurrections were similar is stretching it, at the least. As you can see Puhua died either by suffocation or some other means, not crucifixion (which my atheist friends wasn’t claiming). That Puhua’s body was not found is never explained and the sound of a ringing bell equals Jesus’ appearance to as many as 500, seems a wild assertion.

While I enjoyed the challenge, I think Puhua’s life doesn’t match up at all to Jesus. I’m not at all convinced that Puhua rose from the dead, though I’ve heard an unknown bell ring often, maybe Puhua is trying to reach me to let me know he is alive. It can be a goose chase of sorts but the point is the same, there is no other figure in human history that can be shown to have made claims of divinity, died for mankind’s sins, and rose again, for our justification, Romans 4:25 (NLT) “He was handed over to die because of our sins, and he was raised to life to make us right with God.”

#Puhua #Jesus #evidence #resurrection