1. Introduction
Every religion offers not only a path to salvation or liberation but also a theory of knowledge — how truth is known, verified, and lived. Christianity and Buddhism approach this question from two fundamentally different epistemological directions:
- Christianity grounds truth in divine revelation — God discloses reality through Scripture, creation, and ultimately in the person of Christ.
- Buddhism grounds truth in experiential realisation — reality is understood through direct insight and mindfulness rather than external revelation.
Despite this divergence, both traditions affirm that true knowledge transforms the knower. In both, truth is not merely propositional but existential — to know the truth is to become changed by it.
2. The Christian Understanding of Truth
2.1. Revelation as the Source of Knowledge
In Christianity, revelation (apokalypsis) means God’s self-disclosure to humanity. Because God is transcendent, divine truth cannot be discovered by human reason alone; it must be revealed. As Paul writes:
“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard… God has revealed to us through the Spirit.” (1 Cor. 2:9–10)
Revelation occurs through:
- General revelation — God’s presence in creation and conscience (Ps. 19:1; Rom. 1:20).
- Special revelation — God’s self-communication through Scripture, prophecy, and ultimately Jesus Christ, “the Word made flesh” (John 1:14).
Hence, knowledge of ultimate truth depends on divine initiative, not human speculation.
2.2. Faith and Reason
Christian theology holds that faith and reason are complementary, not contradictory. Faith (pistis) involves trust grounded in conviction, not blind belief. Augustine and Aquinas both affirmed that reason prepares the way for faith, but revelation completes it: “I believe in order to understand” (Anselm, Proslogion).
Knowledge of God thus combines intellectual assent and relational trust. Truth is not abstract doctrine but communion with the living God. As Jesus declares,
“I am the way, the truth, and the life.” (John 14:6)
Truth is therefore personal and incarnate — not merely something to grasp but Someone to encounter.
2.3. The Role of the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit plays a vital epistemological role as the teacher and interpreter of truth (John 14:26). Without spiritual illumination, divine truth remains veiled. Knowledge in Christianity is thus graced, not earned; understanding flows from spiritual openness rather than intellectual mastery.
This pneumatological dimension distinguishes Christian knowing as participatory — the believer shares in divine life, not just divine information. Hence, theology becomes a form of spiritual knowledge (gnosis) rather than detached observation.
3. The Buddhist Understanding of Truth
3.1. The Nature of Truth (Dhamma/Dharma)
In Buddhism, truth (Dhamma) refers both to the Buddha’s teaching and to the way things actually are. The Buddha claimed no divine revelation; rather, he discovered truth through enlightenment. As he said,
“Whether Buddhas arise or not, this Dhamma remains the same.” (Anguttara Nikāya 3.136)
This implies that truth is impersonal, universal, and timeless — not dependent on divine will or historical revelation but on insight into the structure of reality.
The Dhamma is self-evident to those who see clearly: it can be realised, not received. Thus, Buddhism is empirical and pragmatic — truth must be experienced, not believed.
3.2. The Threefold Division of Truth
The Buddhist tradition distinguishes between:
- Conventional truth (sammuti-sacca) — everyday, relative descriptions (e.g., “I,” “person,” “life”).
- Ultimate truth (paramattha-sacca) — insight into the true nature of phenomena (impermanence, non-self, dependent origination).
Enlightenment (bodhi) is the direct realisation of ultimate truth, beyond conceptual thought. This corresponds to a form of non-dual awareness, in which subject–object distinctions dissolve.
Thus, knowledge in Buddhism is experiential and transformative, achieved through meditative insight (vipassanā), not intellectual speculation or faith in authority.
3.3. Enlightenment as Knowing and Being
The term bodhi literally means “awakening.” It is both epistemic and existential — a state of knowing that ends ignorance (avijjā). The enlightened one sees things “as they are” (yathābhūtaṃ).
Ignorance in Buddhism is not moral rebellion but cognitive distortion. Therefore, liberation comes through right understanding (sammā-diṭṭhi) — the first step of the Eightfold Path. Wisdom (paññā) is the supreme virtue, cultivated through mindfulness and meditative awareness.
This process leads not to belief but to insightful seeing (vipassanā-ñāṇa), an experiential knowledge that dissolves illusion and produces compassion.
4. Comparative Framework: Revelation and Realisation
| Aspect | Christianity | Buddhism |
|---|---|---|
| Source of Truth | Divine revelation from God | Experiential realisation through meditation |
| Mode of Knowing | Faith illuminated by grace | Direct insight and mindfulness |
| Object of Knowledge | Personal God; divine will | Dharma; impersonal law of reality |
| Role of Reason | Subordinate to revelation; harmonised by faith | Analytical tool for investigating phenomena |
| Goal of Knowledge | Union with God; truth as relationship | Enlightenment; truth as realisation |
| Obstacles | Sin, pride, spiritual blindness | Ignorance, craving, delusion |
| Verification of Truth | Conformity to Scripture and revelation | Direct experience; tested by practice |
| Ultimate Knowledge | Knowledge of God | Knowledge as awakening |
Both systems reject mere intellectualism. Truth is transformative, not abstract. Christianity speaks of illumination by the Spirit; Buddhism speaks of awakening of wisdom. The first is received; the second is realised. Yet both require humility, discipline, and moral purification.
5. The Relationship Between Truth and Morality
Both faiths link knowledge with ethical transformation:
- In Christianity, “faith without works is dead” (James 2:26). True knowledge of God manifests in love and obedience.
- In Buddhism, wisdom and compassion are inseparable: insight without ethical conduct is incomplete.
Hence, both reject the separation of knowing and living. To know truth authentically is to embody it.
6. Philosophical Reflections
6.1. The Nature of Epistemic Authority
Christianity locates authority in divine revelation preserved through Scripture and tradition. Truth is absolute because grounded in God’s being.
Buddhism locates authority in direct experience and pragmatic verification — “Ehipassiko” (“Come and see”) is the Buddha’s invitation to test the Dhamma personally.
Thus, Christianity is theocentric (God reveals truth); Buddhism is phenomenological (truth is seen through insight). Both claim universality, but from opposite directions: Christianity from divine objectivity, Buddhism from human realisation.
6.2. The Limits of Language
Both recognise that ultimate truth transcends words.
- Christianity: God’s mystery surpasses human comprehension (Rom. 11:33).
- Buddhism: Nirvāṇa is “beyond thought and expression” (Udāna 8:1).
Language points toward truth but cannot contain it; silence becomes a mode of knowing in both mysticism and meditation.
6.3. The Transformative End of Knowing
In both traditions, the goal of knowledge is transformation:
- The Christian becomes “renewed in the mind” (Rom. 12:2) and conformed to Christ.
- The Buddhist attains bodhi — release from ignorance and rebirth.
In each case, to know is to be changed — the intellect serves the heart’s awakening.
7. Conclusion
Christianity and Buddhism present two grand epistemologies of transcendence.
- Christianity sees truth as revealed by God, accessible through faith and grace, culminating in personal communion with divine reality.
- Buddhism sees truth as realised by insight, accessible through disciplined awareness, culminating in enlightenment beyond duality.
Both affirm that ignorance blinds and that illumination liberates. Both insist that genuine knowledge is moral, relational, and transformative.
One receives truth as gift; the other awakens to it as discovery. Yet both describe the same movement — from darkness to light, from illusion to reality, from self-centredness to compassion.
The next study, Part 12: “Community, Worship, and the Path of Discipleship,” will explore how each faith expresses and sustains truth communally — through the Church and Sangha, worship, ritual, and shared spiritual discipline.
References
- The Holy Bible (NIV 2011). London: Hodder & Stoughton.
- Anselm (1998) Proslogion, trans. Davies, B. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Augustine (1998) Confessions, trans. Chadwick, H. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Gethin, R. (1998) The Foundations of Buddhism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Rahula, W. (1978) What the Buddha Taught. Rev. edn. London: Gordon Fraser.
- Smart, N. (1998) The World’s Religions: Old Traditions and Modern Transformations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Wright, N. T. (2012) Simply Christian: Why Christianity Makes Sense. London: SPCK.
- Williams, P. (2009) Mahayana Buddhism: The Doctrinal Foundations. 2nd edn. London: Routledge.