# Perplexing similarity between Jesus and Buddha ? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 7, 2002, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perplexing-similarity-between-jesus-and-buddha/141173 "2002-12-07T19:41:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![andy\_fl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/49beb7/32.png) [@andy\_fl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andy_fl)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2002, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perplexing-similarity-between-jesus-and-buddha/141173/1 "2002-12-07T19:41:01Z")
Okay, I’ve seen many pictures of Jesus, Buddha, Hindu Gods, Sikh Gods, etc. Now in many of these pics, the figure in question (Buddha/Jesus/Mary …) is shown to have an aura, that is like a light on/behing there head. Someone explained to me that people in earlier times used to be able to “see” people’s aura, and this is something we have lost over time. I find that hard to believe. I know that the brain produces EM radiation, but don’t think it produces any visible rad. or that people can see EM radiation from the brains. So my questions are : a\> Is there any scientific evidence to show that the brain can generate enough EM radiation for other people to see ? b\> Is there any scientific evidence that shows that the spectral range of detection (near IR to near UV spread) for humans have decreased or changed over centuries ? c\> Assuming that the Aura theory is false, What is the explanation that people living continents apart chose to depict Aura in their God(s) ? Please - this is a GQ and request to keep religious beliefs out of this and limit to scientific evidence. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2002, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perplexing-similarity-between-jesus-and-buddha/141173/2 "2002-12-07T19:59:54Z")
> [@](#): > > people living continents apart chose to depict Aura in their God(s) Er, first you’d have to prove that people living “continents apart” portrayed their gods with auras or halos. All the religions that you mentioned–Christianity (as considered as a sect of Judaism), Buddhism, Hinduism, and Sikhism–are in fact from the same continent, being Asia, or as close as no-nevermind. ---
**Author:** ![BioHazard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3bc359/32.png) [@BioHazard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BioHazard)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2002, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perplexing-similarity-between-jesus-and-buddha/141173/3 "2002-12-07T20:03:58Z")
I saw on TV that the Aura = holy thing comes from a trick of the light under certain circumstances. You look at your shadow on the ground and you can see an aura around your head. If you look at anyone else’s shadow under the same circumstances, you will not see the aura. The aura in pictures was most likely borrowed from other religion’s art, similar to the way that the look of devils and and angels were borrowed. ---
**Author:** ![Stupendous\_man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a8b319/32.png) [@Stupendous\_man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stupendous_man)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2002, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perplexing-similarity-between-jesus-and-buddha/141173/4 "2002-12-07T20:11:17Z")
Auras? See here: [http://www.skepdic.com/auras.html](http://www.skepdic.com/auras.html) ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2002, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perplexing-similarity-between-jesus-and-buddha/141173/5 "2002-12-07T20:20:44Z")
> [@](#): > > Halo…in art, radiant circle or disk surrounding the head of a holy person, a representation of spiritual character through the symbolism of light. In Hellenistic and Roman art the sun-god Helios and Roman emperors often appear with a crown of rays. Because of its pagan origin, the form was avoided in Early Christian art, but a simple circular nimbus was adopted by Christian emperors for their official portraits. From the middle of the 4th century, Christ was also shown with this imperial attribute, as was his symbol, the Lamb of God, from the end of the 4th century… > > The halo is also found in Buddhist art of India, appearing from the late 3rd century AD. It is believed that the motif was brought to the East by Greek invaders. – from the article “halo (art)” in the _Encyclopedia Britannica_ ---
**Author:** ![andy\_fl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/49beb7/32.png) [@andy\_fl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andy_fl)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2002, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perplexing-similarity-between-jesus-and-buddha/141173/6 "2002-12-07T20:32:47Z")
Thank you for those answers. That explains it quite well. Now to the other part - Is there any evidence that human’s spectral cognisance has decreased over the ages ? ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2002, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perplexing-similarity-between-jesus-and-buddha/141173/7 "2002-12-07T20:34:25Z")
Not so much a trick of light as a trick of your eyes – Any time you focus on a dark object with a bright background, the parts of your retina receiving bright light become desensitized. If you remain fixated on the object, as your eye or the object moves slightly, parts of the bright background will become visible around the edges of the object, where the retina has been not been desensitized. This makes it appear as the object is giving off light of its own. This effect is very likely to come into play when someone is listening to a particularly engaging speaker, and their attention is undivided. ---
**Author:** ![andy\_fl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/49beb7/32.png) [@andy\_fl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andy_fl)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2002, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perplexing-similarity-between-jesus-and-buddha/141173/8 "2002-12-07T20:52:51Z")
My question was not on the intensity of the light but rather the frequency/wavelenght of it. Like is the range of spectra we can detect decreased or increased over time ? ---
**Author:** ![BioHazard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3bc359/32.png) [@BioHazard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BioHazard)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2002, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perplexing-similarity-between-jesus-and-buddha/141173/9 "2002-12-07T21:02:52Z")
Some South American Native culture have stone carvings of gods with a halo around their head. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2002, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perplexing-similarity-between-jesus-and-buddha/141173/10 "2002-12-08T00:29:58Z")
**Cecil Adams** on [Who decided saints have halos?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_040.html) > [@](#): > > The halo (also called a nimbus) has been around since the time of the Greeks and Romans, and was incorporated into Christian art sometime in the fourth century AD. > … > The Buddhists of India, finally, picked up the halo from Greek invaders in the third century AD. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2002, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perplexing-similarity-between-jesus-and-buddha/141173/11 "2002-12-08T02:52:06Z")
The halo image originated in Greco-Roman iconography from Sun God symbology. The halo imitated the corona of the sun. Later it made its way into Christian and Far Eastern imagery. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2002, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perplexing-similarity-between-jesus-and-buddha/141173/12 "2002-12-08T03:32:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by BioHazard \* > \*\*Some South American Native culture have stone carvings of gods with a halo around their head. \*\* Cite, please. ---
**Author:** ![Wikkit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c0e974/32.png) [@Wikkit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wikkit)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2002, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perplexing-similarity-between-jesus-and-buddha/141173/13 "2002-12-08T04:58:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by andy\_fl \* > \*\*My question was not on the intensity of the light but rather the frequency/wavelenght of it. Like is the range of spectra we can detect decreased or increased over time ? \*\* The only EM radiation a person’s head would radiate that’s anywhere near the visible band would be IR, and that would be dependant on the temperature of the person. Maybe Jesus was a hothead. Seriously, though, I’ve never seen any evidence that our eyesight has moved away from the infrared. The ability to see IR would have huge evolutionary benefits, and it couldn’t just disappear in the last thousand years. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2002, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perplexing-similarity-between-jesus-and-buddha/141173/14 "2002-12-08T05:04:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by andy\_fl \* > \*\*My question was not on the intensity of the light but rather the frequency/wavelenght of it. Like is the range of spectra we can detect decreased or increased over time ? \*\* In the _ **BOOK** _ _ **The Serpent and the Rainbow** _ by Wade Davis (not to be confused with the movie of the same name), he mentioned that navigators in the 16th Century (I’m going from memory here, so I could be a bit off) used Venus to guide them during the daytime. He says that Venus should still be visible to us during the daylight hours, but it’s not. He doesn’t think that our ability to see Venus has changed (though with air pollution, it might be a factor) merely that we’ve stopped training our eyes to see it. I don’t think that anyone’s ever seen an aura around a person, but if you’ve ever been around someone who’s very charismatic, you notice that they seem to have a presence larger than themselves. The aura image (though it may have been inspired by sun-god imagery), is more likely an attempt to capture the physicality of a charismatic person than a representation of something someone actually _saw_. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2002, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perplexing-similarity-between-jesus-and-buddha/141173/15 "2002-12-08T05:15:05Z")
This whole discussion makes [this picture very disturbing.](http://web.acsalaska.net/~fmurtley/bushhalo.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2002, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perplexing-similarity-between-jesus-and-buddha/141173/16 "2002-12-08T05:28:28Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Tuckerfan_ > > In the BOOK The Serpent and the Rainbow by Wade Davis (not to be confused with the movie of the same name), he mentioned that navigators in the 16th Century (I’m going from memory here, so I could be a bit off) used Venus to guide them during the daytime. He says that Venus should still be visible to us during the daylight hours, but it’s not. He doesn’t think that our ability to see Venus has changed (though with air pollution, it might be a factor) merely that we’ve stopped training our eyes to see it. Interestingly enough, Jesus is refererred to as the “Morning Star” (Venus) in _Revelation_. > [@](#): > > The aura image (though it may have been inspired by sun-god imagery), is more likely an attempt to capture the physicality of a charismatic person than a representation of something someone actually saw. I agree with this. I didn’t mean to imply that Jesus was being identified as a Sun God, only that Sun Gods had the first halos. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2002, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perplexing-similarity-between-jesus-and-buddha/141173/17 "2002-12-08T05:41:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Diogenes the Cynic \* > \*\*Interestingly enough, Jesus is refererred to as the “Morning Star” (Venus) in _Revelation_. Whoa! Considering that at one time Satan was linked to the morning star, that’s kind of odd. > [@](#): > > I agree with this. I didn’t mean to imply that Jesus was being identified as a Sun God, only that Sun Gods had the first halos. \*\* Actually, I only mentioned the whole thing about sun gods in my post to avoid someone saying, “Ya idjit! We’ve already decided that it was inspired from sun god imagery!” I do have, however, a book which makes the claim (and rather well documented, too, I might add) that much of what we know of Jesus was borrowed from various sun gods. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2002, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perplexing-similarity-between-jesus-and-buddha/141173/18 "2002-12-08T05:55:58Z")
> [@](#): > > I do have, however, a book which makes the claim (and rather well documented, too, I might add) that much of what we know of Jesus was borrowed from various sun gods. Ah, yes, Mithra, Sol Invictus, the winter solstice. I’m very familiar with all of it. We actually had a thread about it in GD a little while ago. It caused some pretty heated debate. Fundies don’t like those comparisons much. Personally, I think there are way too many similarities between Christian mythology and pre-Christian Greco-Roman mystery cults for it to be a coincidence, but there are definitely people on this board (Libertarian, for one) who take umbrage with that implication. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2002, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perplexing-similarity-between-jesus-and-buddha/141173/19 "2002-12-08T11:00:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Diogenes the Cynic \* > \*\*Interestingly enough, Jesus is refererred to as the “Morning Star” (Venus) in _Revelation_. > \*\* Cite? I’ve always known yer old pal Satan to be the morning star and God/Jesus to be the sun that outshines him/it. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2002, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perplexing-similarity-between-jesus-and-buddha/141173/20 "2002-12-08T11:23:11Z")
> [@](#): > > I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star. – [Revelation 22:16](http://bible.gospelcom.net/cgi-bin/bible?passage=REV+22:16&language=english&version=NIV&showfn=on&showxref=on) Actually, the “Satan=‘Morning Star’” (or “Lucifer”) verse, [Isaiah 14:12](http://bible.gospelcom.net/cgi-bin/bible?passage=ISA+14:12&language=english&version=NIV&showfn=on&showxref=on), was more likely originally a reference to the human king of Babylon than to a fallen archangel and supernatural personification of evil. (See the [entire chapter](http://bible.gospelcom.net/cgi-bin/bible?passage=ISA+14&language=english&version=NIV&showfn=on&showxref=on) for context: “On the day the LORD gives you relief from suffering and turmoil and cruel bondage, you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon…How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations!”) However, the “star falling from heaven = fallen archangel being cast down” interpretation seems to have become popular early enough to have influenced several New Testament references (including [Luke 10:18](http://bible.gospelcom.net/cgi-bin/bible?passage=luke+10%3A18&NIV_version=yes&language=english)). [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perplexing-similarity-between-jesus-and-buddha/141173.md?page=2)