Creation and Dependent Origination

Comparing the Bible's Creation with Buddhism's Dependent Origination (緣起). Exploring both traditions' insights on the beginning of the world and the interdependence of existence.

The Beginning of the World

Bible

בְּרֵאשִׁית בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים אֵת הַשָּׁמַיִם וְאֵת הָאָרֶץ

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”

Sutra

此有故彼有，此生故彼生；此無故彼無，此滅故彼滅

“When this exists, that comes to be. With the arising of this, that arises. When this does not exist, that does not come to be. With the cessation of this, that ceases.”

Comparison

The creationism of Genesis presents a 'ground of otherness' — a transcendent Creator who precedes the world and provides the basis for existence. The law of dependent origination presents a 'web of mutual dependence' — beings arise by taking one another as conditions. These two views may appear to oppose each other, but they agree in that neither treats existence as self-evident or self-sufficient. Whether depending on the Creator God or on the web of dependent origination, no being can exist alone.

The Interconnection of All Things

Bible

καὶ αὐτός ἐστιν πρὸ πάντων καὶ τὰ πάντα ἐν αὐτῷ συνέστηκεν

“And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”

Sutra

一中一切，一切中一，一即一切，一切即一

“In one is all; in all is one. One is all; all is one.”

Comparison

Colossians' declaration that 'all things hold together in Christ' and the Avatamsaka Sutra's insight that 'in one is all, in all is one' speak of the world's unity in different ways. In Christianity, the unity of all things is given through Christ, a transcendent person; in Huayan Buddhism, unity is expressed as an immanent web in which phenomena infinitely reflect one another. Both traditions emphasize that the world is not a collection of isolated fragments but a deeply connected whole.

The Source of Existence

Bible

πάντα δι' αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο, καὶ χωρὶς αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο οὐδὲ ἕν ὃ γέγονεν

“All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.”

Sutra

諸法空相，不生不滅，不垢不淨，不增不減

“The empty nature of all dharmas is: neither arising nor ceasing, neither defiled nor pure, neither increasing nor decreasing.”

Comparison

The Logos of John and the emptiness (空) of the Heart Sutra are two ways of pointing to the deepest source of existence. The Logos is the principle of a personal Creator's Word that actively calls beings into existence, while emptiness is the principle that deconstructs all fixed essentiality to reveal the true nature of existence. Both concepts refuse to treat the visible phenomenal world as self-sufficient, and both point to a deeper dimension beyond or within phenomena.