Jesus and Buddha Parallel Sayings by Marcus Borg

Book Review

This is a book which compares the parallel sayings of Jesus and Buddha.

The juxtaposition of their teaching makes clear that Jesus and Buddha shared many characteristics (such as mystic, tradition reformer, wisdom teacher). It is also clear that they used similar teaching methods and professed many similar truths.

Borg mentions the speculation that Jesus may have been exposed to Buddhist teachings during his unreported adult years, but stresses that there is no historical evidence of this. He concludes that both were divinely inspired and arrived at their wisdom independently from their respective traditions.

The book is a quick read. It is 150 pages. The majority of these simply compares without commentary a single teaching of Jesus with the parallel teaching of Buddha.