ABSTRACT
The crucifixion is the climax of all suffering. What is needed in Buddhism is enlightenment, neither crucifixion nor resurrection. In enlightenment, there are heavenliness and a genuine sense of transcendence. The crucifixion in fact has a double sense: one individualistic and the other humanistic. In the first sense it symbolises the destruction of the individual ego, while in the second it stands for the doctrine of vicarious atonement whereby all our sins are atoned for by making Christ die for them. Christ carries his suffering to the end of his earthly life whereas Buddha puts an end to it while living and afterward goes on preaching the gospel of enlightenment until he quietly passes away under the twin Sala trees. Buddhists also speak much about suffering and its climax is the Buddha serenely sitting under the Bodhi tree by the river Niranjana.
