Jesus & Buddha

Jesus & Buddha – The Parallel Sayings

Edited by Marcus Borg

Introduced by Jack Kornfield

Published by Ulysses Press

This is a beautiful coffee table book and a great conversation starter. Editor Marcus Borg, Author of books such as The Heart of Christianity and Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time, has taken much care in collecting and juxtaposing the sayings of these iconic religious figures. The book is organized into sections similar to the seminal Buddhist text The Dhammapada such as Compassion, Wisdom, and Salvation each with a short introduction by Borg.  

The Parallel Sayings is introduced by world renowned author and meditation guru Jack Kornfield. In his introduction Jack shares with us why a dialogue such as this is so important.

“What matters is not the scholarly or intellectual differences between Buddhism and Christianity, but that they both offer us direct teachings, instructions, practices, ways to conduct our lives and free our hearts,” says Kornfield. “If we could read, listen to, take to heart and enact even one verse of these teachings, it would have the power to illuminate our hearts, free us from confusion and transform our lives.”

Jesus and Buddha are spiritual brothers. Their message of compassion, humility and non-violence is common to all major religions. Like Jesus, the Buddha was a trouble maker, an outcast and rule breaker. He offered discipleship to the lowest caste members of Indian society, the Shudra (laborers) and Chandala (handlers of the dead). Like Jesus he ministered to women, people of other faiths, merchants and sinners. They both renounced material wealth and comfort to take up the nomadic life of the traveling prophet, walking the countryside sharing their message.

According to Borg, "They taught that what is inside a person matters, not his or her outward appearance, and they punctuated their beliefs with actions, revolutionizing the religions of their day." He goes on to say, "Both created religions that minimized class distinctions and eliminated animal sacrifice."

While I do not believe that either Jesus or the Buddha set out to "create" new religions, their teachings have inspired people for more than 2000 years.

This is a lovely book to have beside your bed, to read as a morning or night time meditation, as a jumping off point for journal writing or as I mentioned earlier, just a great conversation starter.

Namaste