Reason 7 of 10
Be your own refuge? No one can save themselves.
The Buddha told his followers to be their own island, their own refuge, and said no one can purify another. The Bible says we cannot cleanse ourselves, and that God saved us, not because of our works, but by his mercy.
Self-reliance in the Pali discourses
When the Buddha was old and ill, he told Ananda to live as his own island and refuge, with the teaching as his island and refuge, and no other. The Dhammapada says evil is done by oneself and purity is reached by oneself; no one can purify another. The Buddhas, it says, only show the way; you must do the work.
The famous simile of the raft makes the same point: the teaching is a raft you build and paddle with your own hands and feet, and then leave behind.
So Ānanda, live as your own island, your own refuge, with no other refuge. Let the teaching be your island and your refuge, with no other refuge.
Digha Nikaya 16:2.26.1, The Great Discourse on the Buddha’s Extinguishment (tr. Bhikkhu Sujato) · context
“Mendicants, be your own island, your own refuge, with no other refuge. Let the teaching be your island and your refuge, with no other refuge.
Samyutta Nikaya 22.43:1.2, Be Your Own Island (tr. Bhikkhu Sujato) · context
For it is by oneself that evil’s done, one is corrupted by oneself. It’s by oneself that evil’s not done, one is purified by oneself. Purity and impurity are personal matters, no one can purify another.
Dhammapada 165, 12. The Self (tr. Bhikkhu Sujato) · context
You yourselves must do the work, the Realized Ones just show the way. Meditators practicing absorption are released from Māra’s bonds.
Dhammapada 276, 20. The Path (tr. Bhikkhu Sujato) · context
‘Why don’t I gather grass, sticks, branches, and leaves and make a raft? Riding on the raft, and paddling with my hands and feet, I can safely reach the far shore.’ And so they’d do exactly that.
Majjhima Nikaya 22:13.11-13.12, The Simile of the Cobra (tr. Bhikkhu Sujato) · context
Why the path is too steep
The Bible's verdict on human nature is not that we lack technique, but that we cannot change our own hearts, any more than a leopard can change its spots. Even our best efforts are mixed with pride. A salvation that depends on our own effort over countless lifetimes is not good news for anyone who has looked honestly at themselves.
Many Buddhists sense this. That is one reason Pure Land Buddhism, which relies on the power of Amida Buddha rather than one's own effort, became one of the largest forms of Buddhism in East Asia.
23Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? Then may you also do good, who are accustomed to do evil.
Jeremiah 13:23 (WEB) · context
10As it is written, “There is no one righteous; no, not one. 11There is no one who understands. There is no one who seeks after God. 12They have all turned away. They have together become unprofitable. There is no one who does good, no, not so much as one.”
Romans 3:10-12 (WEB) · context
18For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwells no good thing. For desire is present with me, but I don’t find it doing that which is good. 19For the good which I desire, I don’t do; but the evil which I don’t desire, that I practice.
Romans 7:18-19 (WEB) · context
6For we have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteousness is like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
Isaiah 64:6 (WEB) · context
Rescued, not instructed
Jesus did not come to show us how to cross the river by ourselves. He came to carry us across. He said he came to seek and to save the lost, and that he is the way, not a guide to it. Salvation is the gift of God, received by trusting him.
10For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost.”
Luke 19:10 (WEB) · context
6Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me.
John 14:6 (WEB) · context
4But when the kindness of God our Savior and his love toward mankind appeared, 5not by works of righteousness which we did ourselves, but according to his mercy, he saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, 6whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior; 7that being justified by his grace, we might be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
Titus 3:4-7 (WEB) · context
8for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9not of works, that no one would boast.
Ephesians 2:8-9 (WEB) · context
Other Buddhist texts
Shinran, Tannisho (sayings recorded by his disciple Yuien), chapter 3 Summary, not a quotation
Teaches that if even good people are born in the Pure Land, how much more evil people, because birth depends wholly on Amida's power, not on our own effort.
What Buddhists answer
Buddhists answer that self-reliance means not depending on rituals, priests or gods, and that the path is gradual and supported by the community, the teacher and the teaching itself. Pure Land and some Tibetan schools stress help from Buddhas and bodhisattvas.
Why that answer falls short
Taking refuge in a teaching is still taking refuge in a method that you must carry out. The question is whether a sinner can carry it out. The Bible says no, and offers a person to take refuge in instead: God himself, who is a refuge for all who trust him.
Sources
- Earliest source Digha Nikaya 16 (Mahaparinibbana Sutta) 2.26; Samyutta Nikaya 22.43; Dhammapada 165, 276; Majjhima Nikaya 22. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0), SuttaCentral.
- Dennis Hirota (tr.), Tannisho: A Primer (Kyoto: Ryukoku University, 1982).