Rating: 
Summary: The Truth will set you free!
Review: 4 years ago I was reading this book on a train, on the way to my job in NYC. I had been experimenting with different faiths, Hinduism, Wicca, Tantra...etc.... I was empty, hungover, wanting the Truth....I read this book...and I have to say... it was my first experience with the teachings of Christ vs. the observations of Buddah...it was a turning point in my life.....because Jesus Christ gave me life...and totally showed the POWER of HIS WORDS..."I AM the Truth the Way and the Life No man comes to the Father but by Me" The Word the Buddah could not utter......not trying to put anyone down...but if you are deciding on Faith's...and you've come down to Buddishm and Christianity...read this book...and take it to heart value...and then decide which faith is True:) and which God is true....if reading just for poetic value??....make it personal.
Rating:
Summary: The Truth will set you free!
Review: 4 years ago I was reading this book on a train, on the way to my job in NYC. I had been experimenting with different faiths, Hinduism, Wicca, Tantra...etc.... I was empty, hungover, wanting the Truth....I read this book...and I have to say... it was my first experience with the teachings of Christ vs. the observations of Buddah...it was a turning point in my life.....because Jesus Christ gave me life...and totally showed the POWER of HIS WORDS..."I AM the Truth the Way and the Life No man comes to the Father but by Me" The Word the Buddah could not utter......not trying to put anyone down...but if you are deciding on Faith's...and you've come down to Buddishm and Christianity...read this book...and take it to heart value...and then decide which faith is True:) and which God is true....if reading just for poetic value??....make it personal.
Rating: 
Summary: A much needed book
Review: This is a very important book, showing us that all religions are alike underneath the skin. I love this book b/c it shows how similar Jesus's and Buddha's thoughts are. We need books like this to help bring people of all the world's religions together.
Rating:
Summary: Similar but different true, but it may help build tolerance.
Review: I doubt that "Jesus and Buddha: The Parallel Sayings" will convert many Christians to Buddhism or Buddhists to Christianity. I hope that it will help to build tolerance between the two religions, which is what I believe is the author's intent. "Jesus and Buddha: The Parallel Sayings" shows that there are many similarities between the teachings of Jesus and Buddha. Both were great spokesmen for compassion and nonviolence. However, by focusing on the similarities between the teachings of Jesus and Buddha, this book might be somewhat naïve about the differences between Christianity and Buddhism. A couple of reviewers have pointed to "John 14:6 'I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except by me.'" The reviewers appear to be using the inherent intolerance of this teaching as a selling point for Christianity. For me it was the intolerance of such biblical scriptures that drove me away from Christianity, the religion that I was raised with and that I once strongly believed in. I could not reconcile how such teachings can be of a loving or just god so I eventually reached the point where I could no longer believe in or worship that god. I then gradually started searching for another belief system. Because of both the similarities AND the differences, Buddhism had a naturally strong appeal to me. Buddha's teachings against attachment, even to his own teachings, are especially appealing to me. Perhaps Jesus was actually speaking against attachments to biblical scriptures when he said "I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except by me." Perhaps he was saying that only his words were the true words of God and telling his followers not to allow them selves to become attached to biblical scriptures that preceded him or may follow him (i.e.: some have argued that Paul was a corruptor of Jesus' teachings). Unfortunately, if that is what Jesus meant, many Christians do the opposite. They attach to biblical scriptures that allow them to chastise the sins of others and let go of Jesus' teachings. This is especially true of his teachings that interfere with worldly profits, egos or vengeance (i.e.: "that which has Caesar on it belongs to Caesar", "it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to enter the gates of heaven", "remove the log from your eye before pointing out the splinter in your neighbors", "let he who is without sin cast the first stone", "if someone strikes you, turn the other cheek", etc.). Regardless of how Jesus may have meant "I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except by me", it is most often used as a teaching of intolerance toward other belief systems. Books like "Jesus and Buddha: The Parallel Sayings", "Living Buddha, Living Christ", "Spiritual Advice For Buddhists And Christians" and "The Good Heart: A Buddhist Perspective on the Teachings of Jesus" might help build tolerance between the two religions. That is why I am giving "Jesus and Buddha: The Parallel Sayings" five stars. Unfortunately, such books cannot change the inherent intolerance of some biblical scriptures. That makes the task of these books much more difficult.
Rating:
Summary: This book is an open-minded observation
Review: I truly enjoyed this book. It kind of saddens me to read all the negative reviews about it, because they have only come from Christians who think that this book is supposed to reveal some kind of universal "truth". All this book is trying to do is relate to people how the two religions are so similar in what they are trying to attain, and what their key figures taught and said.
All this stuff about Christianity having the true God is nonsense, because it shows an ignorance of Buddhism. Buddha never once concerned himself with metaphysical matters, and none of Buddhism confuses itself with the invisible world that we cannot prove beyond earthly concepts. That's not to say that Buddhists don't believe in God. It's just a practical religion that says that you can end suffering, and the dependence on something else (like a belief structure and doctrines) in order to do so will never truly end your suffering. It's food for thought, and this book for me was the perfect gateway into this intellectual freedom. That's what's great about this book, the words and concepts are there, but feeling and message are up to the reader. It certainly does a good job of bridging a gap between two misunderstood faiths.
Rating: 
Summary: A little Jesus, a little Buddha, a lot of whitespace
Review: I'm afraid I have to agree with the reader from Phoenix. There's just too much whitespace in this book. If "its profundity is in its silence," then maybe I should have gotten an even *more* profound book - one with *all* the pages entirely blank. (Or maybe saved my money and gotten no book at all.) At any rate, this book is not at all a scholarly comparison of Jesus and the Buddha. All the nice interaction via which the "parallel sayings mutually inform each other, broadening and deepening the message of each," is contributed entirely by the reader. Which isn't necessarily *bad*, I suppose, but there's precious little reason to buy *this particular book* to accomplish that.
Rating:
Summary: Handy but Mediocre
Review: If you are seeking a great academic comparison of the Buddha and the Christ, look elsewhere. If you are seeking devotional material, this book will disappoint you. If, however, you are interested in a beginner's reference guide outlining a few of the parallel teachings of Buddhism and Christianity, you might be interested in this book. Oddly enough, the Introduction and Editor's Preface are at least as stimulating as the text itself. If you decide to read this book, you may wish to pay particular attention to those first few pages.
Rating:
Summary: Handy but Mediocre
Review: If you are seeking a great academic comparison of the Buddha and the Christ, look elsewhere. If you are seeking devotional material, this book will disappoint you. If, however, you are interested in a beginner's reference guide outlining a few of the parallel teachings of Buddhism and Christianity, you might be interested in this book. Oddly enough, the Introduction and Editor's Preface are at least as stimulating as the text itself. If you decide to read this book, you may wish to pay particular attention to those first few pages.
Rating:
Summary: Buddha 5, Jesus 1
Review: It's a shame that such a wonderful little book has an average rating due to the Phoenix-types who need "more words and less white." If you are turned-off by Christianity because of the Bible's "excess food and unnecessary baggage," this book really gets to the point. You may even discover that universal truth, which most Christians seem to think that the Bible has cornered the market on, is much more eloquently described outside the narrow little world of scripture-based "scholarly discussion" and "commentary."
Rating:
Summary: Buddha 5, Jesus 1
Review: It's a shame that such a wonderful little book has an average rating due to the Phoenix-types who need "more words and less white." If you are turned-off by Christianity because of the Bible's "excess food and unnecessary baggage," this book really gets to the point. You may even discover that universal truth, which most Christians seem to think that the Bible has cornered the market on, is much more eloquently described outside the narrow little world of scripture-based "scholarly discussion" and "commentary."
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