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It is generally assumed that Buddhism and Christianity evolved independently with little or no cross-influences in the first centuries of their development. However, some parallels between Christianity and Buddhism have been noted by scholars. The study of these parallels revolve around:

1. Perceived similarities between the teachings of Buddhism and Christianity and
2. Perceived similarities between the spiritual intent and practices of Buddhism and Christianity.

Given these perceived similarities between core principles of the two religions, many have been moved to ask whether the parallels are simply coincidence or whether there was a direct or indirect influence of Buddhism on early Christianity. One area of study has been the possibility of interactions between Buddhism and pre-Christian religious belief and philosophical thought such as the Greeks and Jews. In addition, there has been speculation regarding interactions between Buddhism and early Christianity.

Historical Interactions

Mauryan Proselytizing

Elmar R. Gruber, an eminent psychologist, and Holger Kersten, a specialist in religious history argue that Buddhism had a substantial influence on the life and teachings of Jesus.

Arguing that 2,000 years of Church history have hidden the real historical Jesus, the authors promise to peel away the varnish and uncover him. Very little is known about the time between Jesus' childhood and the beginning of his ministry as recorded in the New Testament. Gruber and Kersten claim that Jesus was brought up by the Therapeutae, teachers of the Buddhist Theravada school then living in the Bible lands. The Therapeutae had been sent by the Mauryan emperor Ashoka on an embassy to Ptolemy II, king of Egypt, in 250 BC.

Some of the Edicts of Ashoka inscriptions describe the efforts made by Ashoka to propagate the Buddhist faith throughout the major Seleucid kingdoms found throughout the Middle East and Egypt. The Edicts identify the names and location of the main Greek monarchs of the time, and they are claimed as recipients of Buddhist proselytism: Antiochus II Theos of the Seleucid Kingdom (261–246 BCE), Ptolemy II Philadelphos of Egypt (285–247 BCE), Antigonus Gonatas of Macedonia (276–239 BCE), Magas of Cyrene (288–258 BCE), and Alexander II of Epirus (272–255 BCE).

"The conquest by Dharma has been won here, on the borders, and even six hundred yojanas (5,400-9,600 km) away, where the Greek king Antiochos rules, beyond there where the four kings named Ptolemy, Antigonos, Magas and Alexander rule, likewise in the south among the Cholas, the Pandyas, and as far as Tamraparni (Sri Lanka)." (Edicts of Ashoka, 13th Rock Edict, S. Dhammika).

Although the philosophical systems of Buddhism and Christianity have evolved in rather different ways, the moral precepts advocated by Buddhism from the time of Ashoka through his edicts as well as the Pali Canon share some similarities with the Christian moral precepts developed more than two centuries later:

• respect for life
• respect for the weak and disenfranchised
• rejection of violence
• confession
• emphasis on charity and good deeds.

Kersten contrasts the "bloodthirsty and vengeful deity" of the Old Testament's Semitic tribes with the "totally different God" who has illuminated "the philosophy behind Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, as relayed by Matthew's Gospel":

"Where did Jesus learn the precepts he proclaimed in the Sermon on the Mount?" ... "No other religion of the eastern Mediterranean area lays claim to the magnanimously loving Grace preached by Jesus".

Ashoka's pillars give us some of the earliest Buddhist ideas written in stone:

"Dhamma is good, but what constitutes Dhamma? (It includes) little evil, much good, kindness, generosity, truthfulness and purity." Pilar Edict Nb2 (S. Dhammika)

"And noble deeds of Dhamma and the practice of Dhamma consist of having kindness, generosity, truthfulness, purity, gentleness and goodness increase among the people." Rock Pilar Nb7 (S. Dhammika)

The administrative structures formed by Buddhists are also very similar:

• monasticism and communal living for spiritual adherents which adhered to principals of practicing poverty and chastity.
• early Christian Councils reminiscent in organization to the Buddhist councils.
• missionaries and missions which were first organized and established by Buddhists, all predate the early Christian organizations in the same areas where Christianity was first established (Antioch, etc.).

One theory is that these similarities may indicate the propagation of Buddhist ideals into the Western World, with the Greeks acting as intermediaries and religious syncretists.

"Scholars have often considered the possibility that Buddhism influenced the early development of Christianity. They have drawn attention to many parallels concerning the births, lives, doctrines, and deaths of the Buddha and Jesus" (Bentley, "Old World Encounters").

Buddhist influences on the Greco-Roman world

The interaction between Hellenistic Greece and Buddhism started when Alexander the Great conquered Asia Minor and Central Asia in 334 BCE, crossing the Indus and Jhelum rivers, and going as far as the Beas, thus establishing direct contact with India, the birthplace of Buddhism.

Alexander founded several cities in his new territories in the areas of the Oxus and Bactria, and Greek settlements further extended to the Khyber Pass, Gandhara (see Taxila) and the Punjab. These regions correspond to a unique geographical passageway between the Himalayas and the Hindu Kush mountains, through which most of the interaction between India and Central Asia took place, generating intense cultural exchange and trade.

Following Alexander's death on June 10, 323 BCE, the Diadochoi (successors) founded their own kingdoms in Asia Minor and Central Asia. General Seleucus set up the Seleucid Kingdom, which extended as far as India. Later, the Eastern part of the Seleucid Kingdom broke away to form the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom (3rd–2nd century BCE), followed by the Indo-Greek Kingdom (2nd–1st century BCE), and later the Kushan Empire (1st–3rd century CE).

The interaction of Greek and Buddhist cultures operated over several centuries until it ended in the 5th century CE with the invasions of the White Huns, and later the expansion of Islam.

Influences of Buddhism on the life of Jesus

It has been asserted that the story of the birth of the Buddha was well known in the West, and possibly influenced the story of the birth of Jesus. Saint Jerome (4th century CE) mentions the birth of the Buddha, who he says "was born from the side of a virgin". Also a fragment of Archelaos of Carrha (278 CE) mentions the Buddha's virgin-birth.

The story of the birth of the Buddha was also known: a fragment of Archelaos of Carrha (278 CE) mentions the Buddha's virgin-birth, and Saint Jerome (4th century CE) mentions the birth of the Buddha, who he says "was born from the side of a virgin". Queen Maya came to bear the Buddha after receiving a prophetic dream in which she foresaw the descent of the Bodhisattva (Buddha-to-be) from the Tuṣita heaven into her womb. This story has some parallels with the story of Jesus being conceived in connection with the visitation of the Holy Spirit to the Virgin Mary.

Christian awareness of Buddhism

Some knowledge of Buddhism existed quite early in the West.

In the 2nd century CE, the Christian dogmatist Clement of Alexandria recognized Bactrian Buddhists (Sramanas) and Indian Gymnosophists for their influence on Greek thought:

"Thus philosophy, a thing of the highest utility, flourished in antiquity among the barbarians, shedding its light over the nations. And afterwards it came to Greece. First in its ranks were the prophets of the Egyptians; and the Chaldeans among the Assyrians; and the Druids among the Gauls; and the Sramanas among the Bactrians ("Σαρμαναίοι Βάκτρων"); and the philosophers of the Celts; and the Magi of the Persians, who foretold the Saviour's birth, and came into the land of Judaea guided by a star. The Indian gymnosophists are also in the number, and the other barbarian philosophers. And of these there are two classes, some of them called Sramanas ("Σαρμάναι"), and others Brahmins (Βραφμαναι)." Clement of Alexandria "The Stromata, or Miscellanies" Book I, Chapter XV

About the Buddha, Clement wrote:

"Among the Indians are those philosophers also who follow the precepts of Boutta, whom they honour as a god on account of his extraordinary sanctity."

— Clement of Alexandria, Stromata (Miscellanies), Book I, Chapter XV

In the 2nd century CE, Origen stated that Buddhists co-existed with Druids in pre-Christian Britain:

"The island (Britain) has long been predisposed to it (Christianity) through the doctrines of the Druids and Buddhists, who had already inculcated the doctrine of the unity of the Godhead"

— Origen, Commentary on Ezekiel

Origen himself seems to have been a proponent of the doctrine of rebirth and reincarnation The doctrines of Origen were rejected by a narrow margin at the First Council of Nicaea in 325.

Early 3rd-4th century Christian writers such as Hippolytus and Epiphanius write about a Scythianus, who visited India around 50 AD from where he brought "the doctrine of the Two Principles". According to these writers, Scythianus' pupil Terebinthus presented himself as a “Buddha” ("he called himself Buddas" Cyril of Jerusalem).

In the 3rd century, the Syrian writer and Christian Gnostic theologian Bar Daisan described his exchanges with the religious missions of holy men from India (Greek: Σαρμαναίοι, Sramanas), passing through Syria on their way to Elagabalus or another Severan dynasty Roman Emperor. His accounts were quoted by Porphyry (De abstin., iv, 17 ) and Stobaeus (Eccles., iii, 56, 141).

Such exchanges suggest that Buddhism may have had some influence on early Christianity: "Scholars have often considered the possibility that Buddhism influenced the early development of Christianity. They have drawn attention to many parallels concerning the births, lives, doctrines, and deaths of the Buddha and Jesus" (Bentley, "Old World Encounters").

Indirect influence of Buddhism via Manichaeism

Finally, from the 3rd century to the 12th century, some Gnostic religions such as Manichaeism, which combined Christian, Hebrew and Buddhist influences (Mani, the founder of the religion, resided for some time in Kushan lands), spread throughout the Old World, to Gaul and Great Britain in the West, and to China in the East. Some leading Christian theologians such as Augustine of Hippo were Manichaeans before converting to orthodox Christianity.

Terebinthus went to Palestine and Judaea where he met the Apostles ("becoming known and condemned" Isaia), and ultimately settled in Babylon, where he transmitted his teachings to Mani, thereby creating the foundation of what could be called Persian syncretic Buddhism, Manicheism. There is some evidence that Buddhist thought had major influence on the teachings of Mani:

In the story of the Death of Mani :

It was a day of pain

and a time of sorrow

when the messenger of light

entered death

when he entered complete Nirvana"

Following Mani's travels to the Kushan Empire (several religious paintings in Bamiyan are attributed to him) at the beginning of his proselytizing career, various Buddhist influences seem to have permeated Manichaeism:

Buddhist influences were significant in the formation of Mani's religious thought. The transmigration of souls became a Manichaean belief, and the quadripartite structure of the Manichaean community, divided between male and female monks (the "elect") and lay followers (the "hearers") who supported them, appears to be based on that of the Buddhist sangha. (Richard Foltz, "Religions of the Silk Road")

Manichaeism spread with extraordinary rapidity throughout both the east and west. It reached Rome through the apostle Psattiq by AD 280, who was also in Egypt in 244 and 251. The faith was flourishing in the Fayum area of Egypt in 290. Manichaean monasteries existed in Rome in 312 during the time of the Christian Pope Miltiades. By 354, Hilary of Poitiers wrote that the Manichaean faith was a significant force in southern France.

Also, in the Great Song of Mani (13th-14th century) Mani is many times referred to as Buddha Mani.

One of the founding fathers of western Christianity, Augustine of Hippo was originally a Manichean.

Barlaam and Josaphat

The Greek legend of "Barlaam and Ioasaph", sometimes mistakenly attributed to the 7th century John of Damascus but actually written by the Georgian monk Euthymios in the 11th century, was ultimately derived, through a variety of intermediate versions (Arabic and Georgian) from the life story of the Buddha. The king-turned-monk Ioasaph (Georgian Iodasaph, Arabic Yūdhasaf or Būdhasaf) ultimately derives his name from the Sanskrit Bodhisattva, the name used in Buddhist accounts for Gautama before he became a Buddha. Barlaam and Ioasaph were placed in the Greek calendar of saints on 26 August, and in the West they were canonized (as "Barlaam and Josaphat") in the Roman Martyrology on the date of 27 November.

The story was translated into Hebrew in the Middle Ages as "Ben-Hamelekh Vehanazir" ("The Prince and the Nazirite"), and is widely read by Jews to this day.

The Sanskrit word bodhisattva is translated as nazir and in Hebrew means: ("One who abstains"); and is generally a word used for monks. Jesus too is referred throughout the Greek New Testament as a Nazarene who talks about a life of poverty and celibacy, something different than the vows of the original vow of Nazirs in Numbers 6:1-21.

Claims that Jesus traveled to India

In her book "The Lost Years of Jesus: Documentary Evidence of Jesus' 17-Year Journey to the East", Elizabeth Clare Prophet asserts that Buddhist manuscripts provide evidence that Jesus traveled to India, Nepal, Ladakh and Tibet.

Parallel Sayings

One approach has used the theologically derived Q document of the possible original words of Jesus as a basis of comparison with the supposed earliest words of the Buddha. The process is useful insofar as it highlights direct parallels in words, albeit in modern languages. Other studies of parallels include learned analyses, most of them recent although some date back to the time of the early Church, which may have suppressed historical linkages between the ancient Middle-East/Greece and India.

sources:

Dating of Texts

One of the sources of controversy in the parallel teachings has been the dating of the texts, both Buddhist and Christian. Buddhist teachings and missionaries are obviously older, however, Buddhism began with a long tradition of oral teachings which were finally put down in writing in Sri Lanka during the reign of King Vaṭṭagamiṇi (70 B.C.E.)The Ti-pitaka rendered into writing for first time at Aloka-vihara, Matale, Sri Lanka: The Fourth Buddhist Council according to Theravada tradition held in Sri Lanka. Before the scriptures were put into writing, several Buddhist councils were held in order to reach an agreement on what constituted the official canon:

"There is every reason to believe that the Pitakas now present in Ceylon are substantially identical with the books of the Southern Canon, as settled at the Council of Patna about the year 250 B.C. As no works would have been received into the Canon which were not then believed to be very old, the Pitakas may be approximately placed in the fourth century B.C., and parts of them possibly reach back very nearly, if not quite, to the time of Gautama (Buddha) himself." (Rhys Davids, Buddhism: Being a Sketch of the Life and Teachings of Gautama, the Buddha (London, 1894), p. 10)

The oral teachings were important as the poorest and disenfranchised were not literate, in fact, most of ancient society was illiterate and the most effective way for the teachings to be proclaimed was orally or through preaching, and so the preacher tradition begins with Buddha and the missions. The exhortation "Open are the doors to the Deathless to those with ears is literal, and is similarly expressed in the Jesus story, "This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears." (Luke 4:21) The life story of the Buddha was already being translated into Chinese around 70 A.D.:

"We know that the Fo-pen-hing was translated into Chinese from Sanskrit (the ancient language of Hinduism) as early as the eleventh year of the reign of - Wing-ping (Ming-ti) of the Hans Dynasty, i.e., 69 or 70 A.D. We may, therefore, safely suppose that the original work was in circulation in India for some time before this date." (Samuel Beal, The Romantic Legends of Sakya Buddha from the Chinese Sanskrit (London, 1875), p. vi.)

A similar problem occurs in dating the Christian Gospels. The Gospels for a while, circulated in oral traditions:

All early gospels have a common background. They come from an age when traditions about Jesus had not yet been fixed. Most these traditions, in fact, were still being circulated orally. In the “unwritten tradition,” various narratives about Jesus were being recounted along with parables and teachings attributed to him (Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 3.9.11). The oral traditions were so abundant that, as one ancient writer put it, “if every one of them were written down, I suppose the world itself could not contain the books that would be written” (John 21:25). (Andrew Bernhard)

However, a general consensus as to the timeline of putting those scriptures down in writing has been reached by most scholars trying to date the Gospels:

All parts of all early gospels were likely written after the death of Jesus (ca. 30 C.E.), but before Irenaeus created a broad consensus that only four individual gospels could be regarded as authoritative scripture (ca. 180 C.E.). The period for the writing of the early gospels might reasonably be narrowed to something like 60-150 C.E...(Ibid)

Buddhist teachings, in particular the Pali Canon, were circulating around the world, both orally, from the time of Emperor Ashoka's missions around the world (Second Century B.C.), and written (from the time of King Vattagamini), earlier than their Christian counterparts.

Aramaic and Greek Missions

The consensus among scholars is that Jesus spoke Aramaic and knew Hebrew.

Moreover, Jesus’ disciples were all Aramaic-speaking Jews, and the tradition as they and others handed it down was doubtless in that tongue -- as we have noted, the various surviving tags of Aramaic, such as Abba, effathá, talithá kumi, clearly indicate this. (ibid, Frederick C. Grant)

Many Buddhist teachings were circulating in both Greek and Aramaic languages at the time of Jesus. In the western most part of Ashoka's empire, Edict 13, had been translated into both Greek and Aramaic. Many of the kings after Ashoka in the northwest of India were of Greek descent and strongly Buddhist, such as Menander or King Milinda.

Thus, it is possible that Jesus and his disciples may have been aware of and influenced by Buddhist teachings.

Nazir for Buddha?

The word Buddha or Bodhisatva is not once used in the New Testament. This point is not missed altogether by scholars of comparative religions.

The followers of the Buddha in Alexandria during the decades either side of Jesus' birth, if there were any, certainly did not call themselves Buddhists. Instead, they probably would have used the name adopted by their brothers in India: the followers of the Dharma (the Universal Law and the teaching of Buddha). In Greek, the word Dharma may be translated as Logos...The most sacred authority in Buddhism is the trinity represented by Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. Christian theology has the Holy Trinity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, of whom the Son, the second Person, is equated with the Logos (that is to say the Dharma), and the third Person, the Holy Spirit, is active in the community of the faithful (the Sangha).

Another possible explanation for this might be found in the more well known history of the spread of Buddhism in China. In China, early Buddhist missionaries explained Buddhist ideas using Taoist terminology. Many Chinese held Buddhism to be a kind of Taoism of the foreigner and so not in conflict as they shared many of the same ideas.

A similar integration or intermingling of Buddhist teachings generally happened in many of the different lands where missionaries were sent, including Tibet with the Bon traditions and in Japan with Shinto traditions.

In the middle eastern regions where Christianity began such as Antioch, many of the kingdoms were ruled by a small minority of Greco-Seleucid rulers with subjects of a Jewish majority. Jewish terminology and myths to explain Buddhist metaphysical ideas might have been utilized by Buddhist missionaries.

According to Epiphanius of Constantia (Salamis), the Essenes were also called Nazarene – Nazarenos or Nazoraios

Evidence of such a possibility presents itself in the Greek legend of "Barlaam and Ioasaph". The Hebrew translation of this text in the Middle Ages, is called "Ben-Hamelekh Vehanazir" ("The Prince and the Nazirite") or the "Prince and the Nazirite". The Sanskrit word bodhisatva is completely replaced with the word "Nazir" and in Hebrew means: ("One who abstains"); and generally became a word used for monks by the Middle Ages. Jesus too is referred throughout the Greek New Testament as a Nazarene and a celibate who tells his disciples to leave all material things behind if they want to be his disciple in several places in the New Testament. This was something entirely different from the Judaic tradition mentioned in Numbers 6:1-21.

Gerber and Kersten have made a valiant effort to prove that the historical Jesus lived the life of a Buddhist and taught Buddhist ideals to his disciples; their work follows in the footsteps of the Oxford New Testament scholar' Barnett Hillman Streeter, who established as early as the 1930s that the, moral teaching of the Buddha has four remarkable resemblance to the Sermon on the Mount."

Religious symbolism

The use of rosaries spread from India to Europe during the Crusades through the Islamic versions.

When the Catholic missionary Francis Xavier started preaching to the Japanese, he used the word Dainichi to inculturate the notion of the Christian God. However, when he learnt that the Japanese used Dainichi for the Buddha Vairocana, he changed to use Deusu from Portuguese and Latin Deus, avoiding confusion of Christianity and Shingon Buddhism.

Prayer with both the palms touching one another is called the "Anjali Mudra" in Indian spiritual traditions, and is a common greeting and prayer posture in all Indian spiritual traditions, including Buddhism, but is absent in Jewish traditions, whose scriptures mention raised or clasped hands. However, we find this prayer position found in Christian art from the Middle Ages, considered a common prayer posture of Christianity

In literature

H.G. Wells in his Outline of History draws strong parallels between the essential message of both Buddha and Jesus main:love thy neignbor, and how that message was distorted by followers and the priesthood. Durant in his The Story of Philosophy suggests that Jesus-Buddha is the feminine ideology, Nietzsche the masculine and Plato-Socrates somewhere in between. Paul Carus' 1894 The Gospel of Buddha was modeled on the New Testament and told the story of Buddha through parables.

Scholars on the Parallels

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"With the remarkable exception of the death of Jesus on the cross, and of the doctrine of atonement by vicarious suffering, which is absolutely excluded by Buddhism, the most ancient of the Buddhistic records known to us contain statements about the life and the doctrines of Gautama Buddha which correspond in a remarkable manner, and impossibly by mere chance, with the traditions recorded in the Gospels about the life and doctrines of Jesus Christ...." (Ernest De Bunsen, The Angel Messiah of Buddhists, Essenes and Christians (London, 1880), p. 50.)

"Lamaism with its shaven priests, its bells and rosaries, its images and holy water, its popes and bishops, its abbots and monks of many grades, its processions and feast days, its confessional and purgatory, and its worship of the double Virgin, so strongly resembles Romanism that the first Catholic missionaries thought it must be an imitation by the devil of the religion of Christ." The Encyclopedia Britannica.

"These points of agreement with the Gospel narrative arouse curiosity and require explanation. If we could prove that they were unknown in the East for some centuries after Christ, the explanation would be easy. But all the evidence we have gone to prove the contrary...." (Samuel Beal, pp. viii-ix.)

"Between the language of The Buddha and his disciples, and the language of Christ and his apostles, there are strange coincidences. Even some Buddhist legends and parables sound as if taken from the New Testament, though we know that many of them existed before the beginning of the Christian era." (Max Muller, Introduction to the Science of Religion (London, 1873), p. 243)

"Approximately five centuries older than Christianity, by the time of the birth of Christ, Buddhism had already spread through much of India and Ceylon and had penetrated into Central Asia and China." (Kenneth Scott Latourette, A History of Christianity (New York, 1975), p. 274.)

"The miraculous births of Buddha, his life and instructions, contain a great number of the moral and dogmatic truths professed in Christianity." (M. L'Abbe Huc, Christianity in China, Tartary, and Thibet (London, 1857), p. 327.)

...nothing now remains for the honest man to do but acknowledge the truth, which is that the history of Jesus of Nazareth as related in the books of the New Testament, is simply a copy of that of Buddha, with a mixture of mythology borrowed from other nations." (T.W. Doane, "Bible Myths" (New York, 1882), p. 286)

"There are many moral precepts equally commanded and enforced in common by both creeds. It will not be rash to assert that most of the moral truths prescribed in the gospel are to be met with in the Buddhistic scriptures." Paul Ambroise Bigandet, the Catholic Bishop of Ramatha

"In reading the particulars of the life of Buddha it is impossible not to feel reminded of many circumstances relating to our Savior's life as sketched by the evangelists. It may be said in favor of Buddhism that no philosophic-religious system has ever upheld to an equal degree the notions of a savior and deliverer, and the necessity of his mission for procuring the salvation of man." Catholic Bishop Bigandet

"He requires humility, disregard of worldly wealth, patience and resignation in adversity, love to enemies ... non-resistance to evil, confession of sins and conversion." Bishop Jean Paul Hilaire

References

1. Gruber, Elmar and Kersten, Holger. (1995). The Original Jesus. Shaftesbury: Element Books.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
2. Holger Kersten, Jesus Lived in India. His Unknown Life Before and After the Crucifixion, Element, Reprint 1999.
3. The Buddhism Omnibus. Oxford University Press. 2004. ISBN 0-19-566898-7.
4. Jerome-Against-Jovinianus, 815, Online Viewing: http://www.patriarchywebsite.com/bib-patriarchy/Jerome-Against-Jovinianus.txt
5. Latin Sources: Archelaus (Bishop of Cascar in Mesopotamia, d. about 278): Acta Disputationis cum Manete Haeresiarcha; first written in Syriac, and so far belonging to the Oriental Christian Sources (Comp. Jerome, de Vir. Ill. 72), but extant only in a Latin translation, which seems to have been made from the Greek, edited by Zacagni (Rome, 1698), and Routh (in Reliquiae Sacrae, vol. V. 3-206); Eng. transl. in Clark's Ante-Nicene Library (vol. XX. 272-419). .
6. Donald A. Mackenzie, Buddhism in pre-Christian Britain, p. 42.
7. "Is it not rational that souls should be introduced into bodies in accordance with their merits and previous deeds, and that those who have used their bodies in doing the utmost possible good should have a right to bodies endowed with qualities superior to the bodies of others?" "The soul, which is immaterial and invisible in its nature, exists in no material place without having a body suited to the nature of that place; accordingly, it at one time puts off one body, which is necessary before, but which is no longer adequate in its changed state, and it exchanges it for a second." (Origen, Contra Celsum, also discussed in De Principiis.)
8. Catechetical Lecture 6 CONCERNING THE UNITY OF GOD. ON THE ARTICLE, I BELIEVE IN ONE GOD. ALSO CONCERNING HERESIES.ISAIAH xlv. 16, 17. (Sept.)
9. According to the Gnostic Bible by Willis Barnstone, here is one of many authenticating references proving the centrality of Buddhism in Mani's formulation of Gnosticism
10. Prophet, Elizabeth Clare. The Lost Years of Jesus: Documentary Evidence of Jesus' 17-Year Journey to the East. p. 468. ISBN 0-916766-87-X.
11. this is also found in Dhammapada verse 398, the word used in Pali: ukkhittapaligham, Sanskrit: utksiptaparikham
12. The Greek word used is "stauros," which does not mean cross, but rather stake. Was he crucified on a cross, or an individual stake?A: The cross was never used in early Christianity. The closest was the symbol "chi rho." It was understood that the "stauros" was a stake. The embellishment of the cross came later, and the crucifix after that. FAQ Bible Study New Testament (No. 58) (Edition 1.1 20000630-20011206) http://www.ccg.org/English/s/p058.html
13. *Elmar R. Gruber & Holger Kersten. The Original Jesus: The Buddhist Sources of Christianity
14. Suns of God: Krishna, Buddha and Christ Unveiled, Acharya S.
15. Jesus and Buddha: The Parallel Sayings (Seastone Series) (Paperback) by Marcus J. Borg (Editor), Ray Riegert (Editor), Jack Kornfield (Introduction)
16. Blavatsky Collected Writings Volume 14 introduction by Boris DeZirkoff Excerpt- http://www.blavatsky.net/blavatsky/bcw/vol14/mystery-about-buddha.htm
17. Holger Kersten, Jesus Lived in India. His Unknown Life Before and After the Crucifixion, Element, Reprint 1999
18. Holger Kersten, 'Buddhist Thought in the Teachings of Jesus'
19. http://www.buddhistdoor.com/bdoor/archive/nutshell/teach40.htm
20. http://www.palikanon.com/english/timetable.htm
21. Andrew Bernhard "Dating Early Christian Gospels" Journal of Biblical Studies 1:4 2001
22. Thomas, Edward J. The Life of Buddha, as Legend and History. Routledge & Kegan Paul: London, 1975
23. Skilton, Andrew. A Concise History of Buddhism. Windhorse Publications: Birmingham, United Kingdom, 1994. Reprinted by Barnes & Noble
24. The Earliest Gospel by Frederick C. Grant http://www.religion-online.org/showchapter.asp?title=1940&C=1761
25. see Greco-Buddhism
26. ibid, Kersten
27. The Cambridge History of China, Vol.1, (The Ch'in and Han Empires, 221 B.C.-A.D. 220) ISBN 0-521-24327-0 hardback
28. (ibid, Kersten)
29. Title : Did Buddhism influence early Christianity? Author : N. S. Chandramouli Publication : The Times of India Date : May 1, 1997
30. Crooke, William (1904). Things Indian: Being Discursive Notes on Various Subjects Connected with India. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. Retrieved 2007-01-14.
31. Sansom, Sir George Bailey (1943). Japan: A Short Cultural History. New York: D. Appleton-Century company. Retrieved 2007-01-14. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help); line feed character in |publisher= at position 20 (help)
32. Ciaravino, Helene. How to Pray. Garden City Park, NY: Square One.
33. Ibid

Reference: Lindsay Falvey (2002) The Buddha’s Gospel: A Buddhist Interpretation of Jesus’ Words. Institute for International Development Fund, Adelaide. 108pp.http://www.iid/publications/buddhasgospel.pdf

Further reading

• Blavatsky, H. P. Isis Unveiled (1877)
• J. Duncan M. Derrett. The Bible and the Buddhists. Sardini 2000. ISBN 88-7506-174-2
• Richard Garbe: Indien und das Christentum
• Elmar R. Gruber & Holger Kersten. The Original Jesus: The Buddhist Sources of Christianity.
• Streeter, Burnett H., The Buddha and The Christ, an Exploration of the Meaning of the Universe and of the Purpose of Human Life, Macmillan and Co., London, 1932.
• Allegro, John, The Mystery of the Dead Sea Scrolls Revised, Grammercy Publishing Co., New York, 1981 (first published Penguin Books, 1956).
• Amore, Roy C., Two Masters, One Message, The Lives and the Teachings of Gautama and Jesus, Parthenon Press, Nashville, 1978.
• de Silva, Lynn, A., The Problem of the Self in Buddhism and Christianity, Macmillan Press, London, 1979. -Reincarnation in Buddhist and Christian Thought, 1968.
• Haring, Hermann & Metz, Johann-Baptist, eds., Reincarnation or Resurrection?, SCM Press, Maryknoll, 1993.
• Head, Joseph, & Cranston, S.L., eds., Reincarnation An East-West Anthology (Including quotations from the world's religions & from over 400 western thinkers), Julian Press, New York, 1961.
• Howe, Quincy, Jr., Reincarnation for the Christian, Westminster Press, Philadelphia, 1974.
• Johnston, William, S.J., Christian Zen, Harper & Row, 1971. ISBN 0823218015
• Leaney, A.R.C., ed., A Guide to the Scrolls, Nottinham Studies on the Qumran Discoveries, SCM Book Club, Naperville, Ill., 1958.
• Lefebure, Leo D., The Buddha and the Christ, Explorations in Buddhist and Christian Dialogue (Faith Meets Faith Series), Orbis Books, Maryknoll, New York, 1993.
• Lillie, Arthur, Buddhism in Christendom or Jesus, the Essene, Unity Book Service, New Delhi, 1984 (first published in 1887). *India in Primitive Christianity, Kegan House Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., 1909.
• Lopez, Donald S. & Rockefeller, Steven C., eds., The Christ and the Bodhisattva, State University of New York, 1987. Phan, *Peter, ed., Christianity and the Wider Ecumenism, Paragon House, New York, 1990.
• Pye, Michael & Morgan, Robert, eds., The Cardinal Meaning, Essays in Comparative Hermeneutics: Buddhism and Christianity, *Mouton & Co., Netherlands, 1973.
• Radhakrishnan, S., Eastern Religions in Western Thought, Oxford University Press, 1939.
• Siegmund, Georg, Buddhism and Christianity, A Preface to Dialogue, Sister Mary Frances McCarthy, trans., University of Alabama Press, 1968.
• Smart, Ninian, Buddhism and Christianity: Rivals and Allies, Macmillan, London, 1993.
• Tambyah, Isaac T., A Comparative Study of Hinduism, Buddhism and Christianity, Indian Book Gallery, Delhi, 1983 (first edition 1925).
• Walker, Susan, Speaking of Silence: Christians and Buddhists on the Contemplative Way, Paulist Press, 1987. ISBN 0-8091-2880-2.
• Yu, Chai-shin, Early Buddhism and Christianity, A comparative Study of the Founders' Authority, the Community, and the Discipline, Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, 1981.

External links

• Similarities and differences 1
• Similarities and differences 2
• Christianity as explained by Buddhism

• Christian interfaith and secular relations
• Comparative Buddhism
• Religious comparison