Monday, March 7, 2011

JESUS AND THE BUDDHA

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Edited from the preface to Jesus and Buddha -
The Parallel Sayings
by Marcus Borg
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 I have sometimes said that if the Buddha
and Jesus were to meet, neither would try to convert the other - not because they would regard such an effort as hopeless, but because they would recognize one another.
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 Jesus and the Buddha were teachers of wisdom.
Wisdom is not just about moral behavior, but about the "center," the place from which moral perception and moral behavior flow.
Jesus and the Buddha were teachers of a world-subverting wisdom that undermined and challenged conventional ways of seeing and being in their time and in every time. Their subversive wisdom was also an alternative wisdom: they taught a way or path of transformation.
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 They both were teachers of the way less traveled.
What Jesus and the Buddha said about "the way"
is remarkably similar.
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 Published in 1997, Jesus and Buddha -
The Parallel Sayings
is an excellent text for comparisons between the teachings of these two religious paths. The similarities are amazing.
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Do to others as you would have them do to you.
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Luke 6:31
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 Consider others as yourself.
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Dhammpada 10:1
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Do not store up for yourselves treasures
on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal.
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Matthew 6:19-20
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Let the wise man do righteousness:
A treasure that others can not share, where no thief can steal; a treasure which does not pass away.
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Khuddakapatha 8:9
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The kingdom of heaven is like treasure
hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
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Matthew 13:44
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 If by giving up limited pleasures
one sees far-reaching happiness, the wise one leaves aside limited pleasures, looking to far-reaching happiness.
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Dhammmapada 21:1
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Truly I tell you, if you have faith the size
of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain,
"Move from here to there," and it will move,
and nothing will be impossible for you.
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Matthew 17:20
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A monk who is skilled in concentration can
cut the Himalayas in two.
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Anguttara Nikaya 6:24
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