Product Description

Academy Award winner Ben Kingsley reads Nobel Peace Prize nominee Thich Nhat Hanh's inspiring masterpiece.

"When you are a truly happy Christian, you are also a Buddhist. And vice versa."
-- Thich Nhat Hanh

Buddha and Christ, perhaps the two most pivotal figures in the history of humankind, each left behind a legacy of teachings and practices that have shaped the lives of billions of people over the course of two millenia. If they were to meet on the road today, what would each think of the other's spiritual views and practices?

The bestselling author of Peace is Every Step, and one of the most beloved Buddhist teachers in the West, Vietnamese monk Thich Nhat Hanh has been part of a decades-long dialogue between the two greatest living contemplative traditions, and brings to Christianity an appreciation of its beauty that could be conveyed only by an outsider. In a lucid, meditative prose, he explores the crossroads of compassion and holiness at which the two traditions meet, and reawakens our understanding of both. "On the altar in my hermitage," he says, "are images of Buddha and Jesus, and I touch both of them as my spiritual ancestors."

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #196190 in Books
• Published on: 1997-09-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

Amazon.com
If you have always assumed that Christianity and Buddhism are as far apart philosophically as their respective founders were geographically, you may be in for a bit of a surprise. In this national bestseller, Zen monk and social activist Thich Nhat Hanh draws parallels between these two traditions that have them walking, hand in hand, down the same path to salvation. In Christianity, he finds mindfulness in the Holy Spirit as an agent of healing. In Buddhism, he finds unqualified love in the form of compassion for all living things. And in both he finds an emphasis on living practice and community spirit.

The thread that binds the book is the same theme that draws many Christians toward Buddhism: mindfulness. Through anecdotes, scripture references, and teachings from both traditions, Nhat Hanh points out that mindfulness is an integral part of all religious practice and teaches us how to cultivate it in our own lives. Nhat Hanh has no desire to downplay the venerable theological and ritual teachings that distinguish Buddhism and Christianity, but he does cause one to consider that beyond the letter of doctrine lies a unity of truth.

From Library Journal
In this popular work Hahn, a Vietnamese Zen monk, offers some parallels between Eastern and Western spiritual practice in an accessible style that will please general readers.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From AudioFile
Drawing on Christian theology, as well as his own Buddhist beliefs, this bestselling author and beloved monk examines the qualities of compassion and holiness, and eloquently shows that they're integral parts of both traditions. Ben Kingsley reads with class. His British accent is never overbearing or intrusive. He's in command of the text all the way. No doubt his Academy Award-winning role as Gandhi prepared him well for the Indian terms and phrases. P.B.J. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Customer Reviews

Misunderstands Christianity
I must disagree with the majority of the reviewers here. Thich Nhat Hanh, as great a man as he may be, does not seem to have a sufficient grasp of Christianity to justify this book. One immediate problem is that, although the author always refers to Christianity, he always describes Catholicism and not Protestantism (e.g., his religious vocabulary is thoroughly Catholic). Another problem is that, although he tries to be tolerant and open towards Christianity, he inevitably comes across as condescending in dismissing those parts of Christianity that don't fit with his open, inter-faith attitude (for instance, the Christian belief that Christ is the savior of the entire world, not just of Christians). The type of Christianity that he finds amiable is, in fact, liberal Catholicism, which represents only a minority of Christians worldwide. Lastly, I think that mostly he tries to appropriate Christianity into a Buddhist framework, in effect Buddhizing it, which as a Christian I find offensive (and I imagine many Buddhists would be offended if I tried to appropriate and Christianize Buddhism). Reading his book, I did not recognize my own religion in it, which seems like a very serious problem.

True inter-religious unity comes from people honestly and openly disclosing themselves and sharing their agreements and disagreements, not by trying to appropriate each other's religions or reshaping the other's religion into a more pleasing form.

Nothing Can Be By Itself Alone
This refers to the 1995 Hardcover version.

When I first saw the title of this book, I knew it was one I wanted to read. If you are open-minded, it really does not matter what your beliefs are in order to get something out of this book. There are places where the book is weak but I like it enough that I give copies as gifts. The basic idea being presented here is that one needs to walk the walk, not talk the talk. The teachings of Buddha and Christ are the vehicle used for the delivery of the message but, even if you believe in neither, when you get right down to it, he is simply talking about goodness and tolerance. He does not dwell on the existence of God but prefers to concentrate on the [Holy] Spirit. Through your actions, the Spirit of Christ or Buddha is manifest. I find the repeated crutch of mindfulness problematic. If you are only mindful of this, that, or the other, all will be well. That is a nice platitude but, frankly, not very realistic. It seems to be nothing more than a, perhaps, transcendent meditation. But, overall, the message is one of love. Understanding and love are values that transcend all dogma.

A Vietnamese Buddhist calls westerners back to Christ
While this book may serve as an introduction to Buddhism for Christians, its strongest message is directed at western Buddhists. Nobel Peace Prize nominee Thich Nhat Hanh urges them to go back to their spiritual roots - to their Christian or Jewish traditions - and find there the message of the Buddha. "Buddhism," the Vietnamese Zen monk reminds us "is made of non-Buddhist elements. Buddhism has no separate self. When you are a happy Christian, you are also a Buddhist. And vice versa."

This pithy volume on Christ and the Buddha is not an exhaustive, academic comparison of these great spiritual teachers or their respective religions. It is instead a collection of mediations on their commonalities in spirit, practice and tradition. Topics include prayer and meditation, the spiritual community, ethical living, cultivating love and compassion, and perhaps most centrally practicing tolerance, without which communication across traditions remains problematic

Such interfaith dialog is possible, Thich Nhat Hanh believes, because fundamentally there is not much difference between Buddhism and Christianity. If we accept that God and nirvana are words beyond concept, "then even [this] one notion (God/nirvana) is enough to block access to the ultimate..." Truth, he notes, has no boundaries. "Our differences may be mostly differences in emphasis."

Lest anyone take his words as license to proselytize, Thich Nhat Hanh observes that many of the problems in the world today are caused from a lack of rootedness, from people having been cut off from their traditions and their cultures. To relieve their suffering, he argues that rather than encouraging such people to adopt our own theology, we must help them return to their own tradition.

And as he advises, so he teaches, asking western Buddhists to reexamine their Christian and Jewish traditions, to find there the values they went in search of among the cultures of Asia. "...many people," Thich Nhat Hanh knows, "need to go away before they realize they do not need to go anywhere."

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