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Originally Posted by Og  I should expand. Ashoka the great sent buddhist missionaries into the west in about 300bc. The expansion of the roman silk road allowed for unprecidented mixtures of cultures and alexander's conquest into the east further drove the cultural mixing.
Jesus is just the most obvious focal point for the hybridization of these two cultures. |
Yeah, I agree with you. For example, Jesus quotes "Love thy neighbour".
The Buddha himself , in the Lalitavastras, states, " The way you respond to your neighbour is the way your neighbour will respond to you. If you treat him with hatred , he will treat you with hatred. If you treat him with love , he will treat you with love. Therefore always love your neighbour."
It should be mentioned that the term 'neighbour' is clearly used by the Buddha.
Another similarity of Jesus with the Buddha is that both had stated that one should reciprocate evil or injury with good and love.
As Swami Vivekananda said, Jesus ,Buddha and LaoTse are the only prophets in the world who have stated that one should reciprocate evil or injury with love and good.
This above teaching of Jesus is far removed from the ' eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth' teaching of Judaism , in which he was born .
The teachings of chastity and renunciation too by Christ , is not found in Judaism, but are found in Buddhism and Hinduism.
Also , Jesus's teaching of " I and my Father are one " is similar to the Upanishadic teachings of monism or pantheism. An example of this is the verse in the Upanishads ," Aham Brahmasmi ", which means " I am He".
There are much more of these striking similarities in the books I have mentioned that are more than mere coincidences.