Was Buddha smarter than Muhammed?

[brainbomb]

Would Buddha have been more all knowing than Muhammed?
And what about Jesus. Would Jesus know more about life than Buddha?

[Octavious]

Intriguing... You equate being smart to knowing stuff? One would imagine that Muhammed was more knowing as, being born later, there was more stuff to know.

[Ernst_Brenner]

Buddha was the only one of them that really understood nothingness. And if you don't understand nothingness, what can you really say you understand?

[learnedSloth]

Would Buddha have been more all knowing than Muhammed?
And what about Jesus. Would Jesus know more about life than Buddha?

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. -- John 14:6

Intriguing... You equate being smart to knowing stuff? One would imagine that Muhammed was more knowing as, being born later, there was more stuff to know.

He was illiterate so I guess that even Siddhartha Gautama knew more than he did.

Buddha was the only one of them that really understood nothingness. And if you don't understand nothingness, what can you really say you understand?

Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. -- Hebrews 11:3

[Esquire Bertissimmo]

Jesus had a book claiming he was all-knowing—is that the same as evidence he was "smarter"?

We had this conversation in the past (maybe Brainbomb is out of ideas) and one point that stuck with me is that Jesus died fairly young at 33. Mohammed made it to 63. Buddha is thought to have lived to 80. There's a quality v. quantity argument to be made, but a 33 year old would presumably be more ignorant about what "life" means if "life" includes the experience of growing old. Likewise, Mohammed and Buddha both had children while Jesus did not—the experience of raising kids seems like an importance aspect of "life".

[Esquire Bertissimmo]

He was illiterate so I guess that even Siddhartha Gautama knew more than he did.

The man led an empire and dictated the Qur’an to his scribes. Literacy might really not be the right metric for knowledgeableness/smartness, especially in that time. Many highly influential leaders and oral poets in that era were not literate but were considered highly wise, eloquent, and knowledgeable.

[brainbomb]

Depending on if you believe in varying degrees of ominipotence if you consider all three to be prophets of their designated dogma, its hard to argue one prophet is more omnipotent than another

[Esquire Bertissimmo]

Likewise, Mohammed and Buddha both had children while Jesus did not—the experience of raising kids seems like an importance aspect of "life".

Now that I'm thinking about it—did Jesus die a virgin?

I guess it would be weird if God instantiated himself as his own son and then went to pound town. And presumably God's infinite knowledge about all things, including intimacy, got passed onto Jesus in some form (if the mystical aspects of these stories are taken literally).

[Ozborne]

Depending on if you believe in varying degrees of ominipotence if you consider all three to be prophets of their designated dogma, its hard to argue one prophet is more omnipotent than another

"Varying degrees of omnipotence"???
How do you define the word "omnipotence"?
In your definition, is there a possibility for "degrees"?
Just curious.

[Esquire Bertissimmo]

Depending on if you believe in varying degrees of ominipotence if you consider all three to be prophets of their designated dogma, its hard to argue one prophet is more omnipotent than another

"Varying degrees of omnipotence"???
How do you define the word "omnipotence"?
In your definition, is there a possibility for "degrees"?
Just curious.

Jesus literally was God, but (depending on one's faith tradition) he may or may not have voluntarily limited his omnipotence while in human form.

Muhammed had the Truth revealed to him by God, and so he knew things no other human could, but he himself was not omnipotent.

Buddha was not omnipotent, but he was enlightened, which led to profound wisdom about many of the things that matter most.

[Jamiet99uk]

You're all looking at this the wrong way.

Buddha, Muhammad, and Jesus are all depicted wearing quite simple robes, as a sign of their humility. Buddha, however, is frequently depicted as also wearing jewellery, usually large gold earrings, sometimes also necklaces. Never too ostentatious, always relatively tasteful.

Jesus and Muhammad are very rarely, if ever, depicted wearing any sort of bling.

Therefore by this standard, we can conclude that Buddha was the smartest.

[Octavious]

I've heard it said by people who know these things that when Jesus met the Roman Governor of Judea he refused to wear a suit. Not smart.

[brainbomb]

Depending on if you believe in varying degrees of ominipotence if you consider all three to be prophets of their designated dogma, its hard to argue one prophet is more omnipotent than another

"Varying degrees of omnipotence"???
How do you define the word "omnipotence"?
In your definition, is there a possibility for "degrees"?
Just curious.

It was supposed to be both an ironic and absurd concept. Obviously I do not believe any of them were fully or even partially omnipotent. Because such an idea would make life pointless

[brainbomb]

Major mitchell is omnipotent

[DoubtingThomas]

Fun to think about is their upbringing.

Jesus's upbringing as far as we know based on the Bible wasn't that great. He was born in a stable. Buddha, on the other hand, was a prince and he gave up everything to reach enlightenment. Muhammed wasn't born too rich. I believe he came an orphan when he was young. (His dad died when he wasn't even born yet, and his mom died when he was like 7?), and later on he became a merchant. He had trouble marrying, but he ended up marrying a much older woman that was wealthy, and this helped him greatly in terms of becoming a more successful businessman.

I am not saying that the poorer you are, or the less well off you are, that makes you more 'wise' or 'smarter'. I will say it's likely that Buddha living in a sheltered environment since his youth, where as Jesus and Muhammed had to climb from the bottom, puts things to a perspective more.

I think it's actually rather admirable that Buddha was a literal prince, but he came to a realization and founded a desire to search for 'enlightenment' not too often that someone of a high social class gives up everything they have to become a philosopher of some sort.

Another thing to note, is that Buddha experienced both social classes. High and low. Jesus experienced a lower class, but never truly reached a higher class of life. Muhammed, you could argue that he experienced lower class and middle class. However, his ambition of climbing the social ladder probably was most likely incentivized by his personal gain.

One more thing to note, as someone mentioned above. Jesus died at 33, Muhammed died at 62, Buddha probably much older. Muhammed only started becoming a religious figure at the age of 43, a decade after Jesus died.

Perhaps it took Muhammed much longer than the other 2 to reach the stage of enlightenment or religious peak.

Maybe one can say Jesus was a prodigy, Buddha experienced the search of experience deeper and for longer, and Muhammed was most successful in terms of leading a militaristic and political state.

Muhammed probably 'knew' more because he was born later, however it is also much more difficult to become as influential and admired as Jesus and Buddha did during their generation. Jesus is older than the creation of paper, Muhammed is about 500 years younger.

Julius Caesar is older than Jesus by about 100 years. and Buddha is older than Julius Caesar by about 500 years.

Maybe considering all these factors, you could say in terms of pure religious and/or philosophical intelligence, Buddha may have the most wisdom, followed by Jesus and Muhammed. But Muhammed had the most secular success and intelligence.