Product Description

Jesus and Buddha were separated by five hundred years, three thousand miles, and two drastically different cultures. Yet this TP edition of the highly acclaimed hardback juxtaposes passages from the New Testament and ancient Buddhist scriptures to illuminate the striking similarity between their lives, deeds, and teachings.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #124398 in Books
• Published on: 1999-01-12
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 272 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781569751695
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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Review
The often violent history of Christianity may lead us to forget that Jesus's original teachings promoted peace and turning the other cheek, passive resistance rather than armed insurrection. Marcus Borg, a Christian and Jesus scholar, focuses on this basic aspect of Christianity by selecting a range of quotations from the Gospels and pairing them with parallel sayings by the Buddha. For example, whereas Jesus said, 'Blessed are the poor, for yours is the kingdom of God,' Buddha said, 'Let us live most happily, possessing nothing; let us feed on joy, like the radiant gods.' It is surprising, to a reader familiar only with the Bible, to find how similar the words of the two religious leaders actually are. The main part of the book is taken up entirely by quotations, a pair to each large page, divided into sections such as 'Inner Life' and 'Temptation', each with a brief introduction. Beautiful, peaceful photographic illustrations stand alongside the text, most of them in full colour, on elegantly designed pages. In a long, detailed preface, Marcus Borg gives a history of the origins of both Christianity and Buddhism and a summary of their beliefs. He makes it clear that the similarities in each pair of quotations are not contrived or by chance by drawing out parallel themes in the two religions. Both emphasize imagery of 'the way' or 'the path'; both see death as a step on a spiritual journey, not as the end. This is in many ways an odd book, scholarly in its introduction but with a spiritual simplicity in the main body of the text. Nevertheless, many readers will treasure it. (Kirkus UK)

Customer Reviews

Similar but different true, but it may help build tolerance.
I doubt that "Jesus and Buddha: The Parallel Sayings" will convert many Christians to Buddhism or Buddhists to Christianity. I hope that it will help to build tolerance between the two religions, which is what I believe is the author's intent. "Jesus and Buddha: The Parallel Sayings" shows that there are many similarities between the teachings of Jesus and Buddha. Both were great spokesmen for compassion and nonviolence. However, by focusing on the similarities between the teachings of Jesus and Buddha, this book might be somewhat naïve about the differences between Christianity and Buddhism. A couple of reviewers have pointed to "John 14:6 'I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except by me.'" The reviewers appear to be using the inherent intolerance of this teaching as a selling point for Christianity. For me it was the intolerance of such biblical scriptures that drove me away from Christianity, the religion that I was raised with and that I once strongly believed in. I could not reconcile how such teachings can be of a loving or just god so I eventually reached the point where I could no longer believe in or worship that god. I then gradually started searching for another belief system. Because of both the similarities AND the differences, Buddhism had a naturally strong appeal to me. Buddha's teachings against attachment, even to his own teachings, are especially appealing to me. Perhaps Jesus was actually speaking against attachments to biblical scriptures when he said "I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except by me." Perhaps he was saying that only his words were the true words of God and telling his followers not to allow them selves to become attached to biblical scriptures that preceded him or may follow him (i.e.: some have argued that Paul was a corruptor of Jesus' teachings). Unfortunately, if that is what Jesus meant, many Christians do the opposite. They attach to biblical scriptures that allow them to chastise the sins of others and let go of Jesus' teachings. This is especially true of his teachings that interfere with worldly profits, egos or vengeance (i.e.: "that which has Caesar on it belongs to Caesar", "it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to enter the gates of heaven", "remove the log from your eye before pointing out the splinter in your neighbors", "let he who is without sin cast the first stone", "if someone strikes you, turn the other cheek", etc.). Regardless of how Jesus may have meant "I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except by me", it is most often used as a teaching of intolerance toward other belief systems. Books like "Jesus and Buddha: The Parallel Sayings", "Living Buddha, Living Christ", "Spiritual Advice For Buddhists And Christians" and "The Good Heart: A Buddhist Perspective on the Teachings of Jesus" might help build tolerance between the two religions. That is why I am giving "Jesus and Buddha: The Parallel Sayings" five stars. Unfortunately, such books cannot change the inherent intolerance of some biblical scriptures. That makes the task of these books much more difficult.

lots of open space for interpretation
This book was one to which I was looking for great amounts of information and comparative studies between the sayings of Jesus and the Buddha. What I received was a beatiful little book with one verse or set of verses from the Christian scripture on one page and a verse from a sutra on the opposite page......that's it!!! No scholarly discussion, no commentary, no historical information.....nothing else but the two "versions" of the same saying. This reads more like a Hazelton daily meditation book than an academic comparison between the sayings of [perhaps] two of the greatest, most influential, and well known prophets of recorded history (the other being Muhammad). This is a cute little book to keep in the bathroom or on your bed-side table. It is NOT an academic or scholarly comparison of the Parellal Sayings of Jesus and the Buddha. 1 star for cuteness, 1 star for context, no stars for scholarship.

This book is an open-minded observation
I truly enjoyed this book. It kind of saddens me to read all the negative reviews about it, because they have only come from Christians who think that this book is supposed to reveal some kind of universal "truth". All this book is trying to do is relate to people how the two religions are so similar in what they are trying to attain, and what their key figures taught and said.
All this stuff about Christianity having the true God is nonsense, because it shows an ignorance of Buddhism. Buddha never once concerned himself with metaphysical matters, and none of Buddhism confuses itself with the invisible world that we cannot prove beyond earthly concepts. That's not to say that Buddhists don't believe in God. It's just a practical religion that says that you can end suffering, and the dependence on something else (like a belief structure and doctrines) in order to do so will never truly end your suffering. It's food for thought, and this book for me was the perfect gateway into this intellectual freedom. That's what's great about this book, the words and concepts are there, but feeling and message are up to the reader. It certainly does a good job of bridging a gap between two misunderstood faiths.