There is an old Zen koan or riddle that asks, "If you meet the Buddha on the road, what should you do?" A variety of answers have been offered to that question over the centuries, the most radical and best known of which is: "Kill him!" Odd or outrageous as that response sounds, given the principles of Buddhism, it makes perfect sense -- in a Zen sort of way. But I pose to you a rather different question: "If Jesus met the Buddha on the road, what would he do?"

              That question is a timely one, for three books have appeared recently with that very theme. The first is Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh’s Living Buddha, Living Christ, which draws parallels between the spirits and teachings of the two masters. The second book, published just last year, is Jesus and Buddha: The Parallel Sayings, by renowned New Testament Scholar Marcus Borg, which, after a short introductory essay, merely juxtaposes similar sayings of the two spiritual Masters. The third is The Good Heart: A Buddhist Perspective on the Teachings of Jesus by The Dalai Lama. These three books follow in the tradition of Two Masters, One Message: The Lives and Teachings of Gautama and Jesus, published twenty years ago by Canadian religion professor Roy C. Amore and documenting a century of scholarly recognition of the incredible parallels between the careers and messages of Jesus and the Buddha.

             The parallels begin as the stories themselves do. After incredibly long existences prior to their ultimate incarnations, both Jesus and the Buddha were born of royal blood lines and of ritually pure and chaste women (Mary and Maya), who had conceived miraculously following heavenly nocturnal visitations and then gave birth while on a journey. Those births were celebrated by celestial beings and accompanied by unusual astronomical activity, and drew wise men from afar to behold both infants and bestow them with precious gifts. Within a week of each birth, an old seer beheld the infant at a naming ceremony, and predicted great things for him. Only one canonical story is told about the childhood of each Master, and in both cases, it is of a young boy showing amazing knowledge beyond his years.

             The events in the adult lives of Jesus and the Buddha likewise show many similarities. Both began their ministries at about age 30 with dramatic breaks from their respective communities, families, and lives up to that point, immediately followed by a period of self-denial and fasting in which each was tempted by a devil to abandon the spiritual path for worldly things. Both men then took on the role of itinerant spiritual master and teacher, living off the hospitality of the villagers they visited, and sometimes associating with the disreputable. Both attracted large crowds of hearers and followers, but formed a smaller group of close disciples that itself included an inner circle. Both Masters lived moderately -- unlike their more ascetic, self-denying spiritual contemporaries -- and both therefore drew harsh criticism for living too comfortably. Both commended living simply and traveling light to their disciples, and commissioned them to spread their messages with missionary zeal. Both reportedly walked on water, and each helped a disciple to do so through concentration or faith; and in both cases the disciple started to sink until assisted by the Master. Both reportedly worked miracles of multiplying food, each healed a blind man with moisture from his own body and calmed a dangerous and threatening storm. Each experienced a bodily transfiguration that made him appear supernaturally radiant. Both asked for and received a drink of water from a ritually unclean woman at a well; and both forgave and redeemed a thief. Both had a disciple who was a slow learner, and who was later named the leader of the community that would carry on the Master’s work. Each had a disciple who plotted death against him.

             The intentions of both Masters appear similar. Both worked within a prevailing religious tradition and challenged and broke its rituals and rules. Yet, neither appears to have been consciously founding a new religion, both instead being intent on renewing the religious and spiritual climate of their day. Nevertheless, both laid the foundation for a spiritual revolution upon which an independent religion would be built after his death. Neither wrote any scripture. All we know about both Masters, therefore, was what was said about them and remembered on their lips, then written down much later, much of which consists of pithy sayings and miraculous doings.

             The messages of Jesus and the Buddha show astounding similarities. Both were teachers, not just of ethics, but of a spiritual Wisdom that turned the attention of their audiences within themselves. Both taught in indirect and sometimes puzzling ways, including parables, metaphors, similes, and other comparisons. "Way" or "Path" imagery was important in the teaching of both, as were "Sight" and "Light." Neither attempted to make the spiritual path sound easy: both said that their followers must give up security and worldly things and break family ties. Both told their disciples to lay up spiritual treasures that would be safe from theft, rather than transitory material ones. Both told their followers to become as children.. Both commended returning hatred with love, anger with kindness, aggression with non-violence, and stinginess with generosity. Both denounced adultery and judgmentalism, counseled contentment with what one has, and told their disciples not to be anxious about food, clothing, or shelter. Both specifically used sermon illustrations involving birds, flowers, and trees, and the sowing of seeds. Both told a story about a rich man with a prodigal son. Both delivered a memorable sermon from a high place.

             Finally, the two met similar ends. Both reportedly died while consciously and symbolically absorbing the evils of the world into themselves, thus sparing those around them much misery, and both instructed their followers to forgive the persons responsible for their deaths. The deaths of both were cosmic events, accompanied by earthquakes. In dying, both reportedly conquered death; thus a symbol of the death of each subsequently took on a positive meaning and became emblematic for the religion that he inspired. Both men were venerated as gods after their deaths.

              There are differences in the life stories and teachings of the two men, of course, as you would expect of individuals living in different cultures, and particularly in different religious and theological milieus. But these contextual differences really serve to make the many similarities all the more striking.

             Whatever the reasons for the parallels (still a matter of much speculation and debate), they suggest an answer to our initial question. What would Jesus do if he met the Buddha on the road? First, he would recognize him as a spiritual brother or partner with much in common, including a message and a mission. Second, they would celebrate that commonality and minimize the rest. Third, they would learn from each other whatever they could. And finally, should we happen along, they would encourage us to join and follow them -- both of them -- on a single Way, one with no fork in the Path, a Road that leads within.

             Marcus Borg relates the story of his experience of being in Viet Nam during our war there, not fighting Communism, but studying Buddhism. He tells of visiting a monastery in the Mekong Delta, built on an island by a man of peace known simply as "The Coconut Monk." He recalls being surprised to find, on a hill at one end of the island, two enormous 50-foot statues -- one of the standing Buddha and one of Jesus, the two standing, embracing each other, and smiling. "While helicopter gunships flew overhead and the war raged around us," he says, "Buddha and Jesus stood there like brothers, expressing compassion and healing for all who would follow in their way." That, it seems to me, is what would happen if Jesus met the Buddha on the road.

              Thich Nhat Hanh, the Vietnamese Zen monk who has been living in exile in France ever since that same war, says that on his personal altar he has statues of the Buddha and Jesus. "...every time I light incense," he says, "I touch both of them as my spiritual ancestors." "When we are still," he says, "looking deeply, and touching the source of our true wisdom, we touch the living Buddha and the living Christ in ourselves and in each person we meet." What could better describe what New Thought Christianity is all about than "touching the living Christ in ourselves and each person we meet"? And, if beholding and touching the Buddha as well as the Christ in our imaginations can help us to that goal of touching our inner divinity, what a good thing to do!