There have been occasions when I have been told that "Jesus is the Son of God and the Buddha was just a man, therefore, the Buddha is a false prophet."

Okay, I respect everybody's freedom to voice their a course in miracles  . I also know how views and opinions are formed, and why they become so entrenched. We are, after all, merely a product of our experiences, environment, heritage, culture, intelligence, upbringing, education... and in Buddhism, our past lives and karma!

However, if I remain silent in this matter, my silence might be mistakenly construed as agreement, and that would be disingenuous. So here is my opinion, for what it is worth.

First of all, the benefits of meditation, which is the primary Buddhist practice, are slowly unfolding across America. Stress reduction, mental health, physical healing - these are how meditation in main stream America is developing. Any knowledge of the deeper aspects of meditation, or the spiritual development, has so far been swept under the rug. Most people view meditation to be little more than an inexpensive, do it yourself therapy.

In a Christian nation, this is to be expected, but regardless, I would like to point out the miracles of meditation - for example; being able to walk on water!

History has recorded little about Christ's life. What is known relies on a few letters from a few, perhaps only one, legitimate disciple, and this happened at least 60 or more years after Christ's death! More astonishingly, part of what is allegedly known covered only a period of a few months to no more than 3 years of Christ's life depending on what disciple you believe. Where was he for the other 30 or so years?

Buddhist monks had been traveling through Jerusalem on trade routes long before Christ was born. They influenced the area. They also meditated, and one of the common powers of meditation mentioned in the ancient Buddhist scriptures is the power to walk on water! Also, the power to heal, the attitude of compassion and forgiveness, and the idea of a "sangha" of monks, or a group of disciples living together and wandering about the countryside - all Buddhist.

Other than a mention of Christ's birth (a birth fable copied very closely from The Buddha's birth fable) Christ disappeared!

L. Michael White - Professor of Classics and Director of the Religious Studies Program University of Texas at Austin, says:

"From a historical perspective what we really know about the life of Jesus is very, very limited depending on which gospel you read. His actual career may be something less then one year and maybe even as little as only a few months, whereas in John's Gospel his career is nearly three years long. So there are these kinds of historical discrepancies among the gospels themselves. They range from the way his birth occurred to the actual day on which he was executed and even to the kinds of teachings and miracles that he performs throughout his career. As a result we begin to see that the gospels themselves are not as useable as historical information as we might have hoped.

Did Christ really live? Probably, but as Marshall J. Gauvin claims:

"What, then, is the evidence that Jesus Christ lived in this world as a man? The authorities relied upon to prove the reality of Christ are the four Gospels of the New Testament--Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. These Gospels, and these alone, tell the story of his life. Now we know absolutely nothing of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, apart from what is said of them in the Gospels. Moreover, the Gospels themselves do not claim to have been written by these men. They are not called "The Gospel of Matthew," or "The Gospel of Mark," but "The Gospel According to Matthew," "The Gospel According to Mark," "The Gospel According to Luke," and "The Gospel According to John." No human being knows who wrote a single line in one of these Gospels. No human being knows when they were written, or where."