Jesus and Buddha

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)