Product Description

Academy Award winner Ben Kingsley reads Nobel Peace Prize nominee Thich Nhat Hanh's inspiring masterpiece.

"When you are a truly happy Christian, you are also a Buddhist. And vice versa."
-- Thich Nhat Hanh

Buddha and Christ, perhaps the two most pivotal figures in the history of humankind, each left behind a legacy of teachings and practices that have shaped the lives of billions of people over the course of two millenia. If they were to meet on the road today, what would each think of the other's spiritual views and practices?

The bestselling author of Peace is Every Step, and one of the most beloved Buddhist teachers in the West, Vietnamese monk Thich Nhat Hanh has been part of a decades-long dialogue between the two greatest living contemplative traditions, and brings to Christianity an appreciation of its beauty that could be conveyed only by an outsider. In a lucid, meditative prose, he explores the crossroads of compassion and holiness at which the two traditions meet, and reawakens our understanding of both. "On the altar in my hermitage," he says, "are images of Buddha and Jesus, and I touch both of them as my spiritual ancestors."

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #87730 in Books
• Published on: 1997-09-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 1 pages

From Amazon.com
If you have always assumed that Christianity and Buddhism are as far apart philosophically as their respective founders were geographically, you may be in for a bit of a surprise. In this national bestseller, Zen monk and social activist Thich Nhat Hanh draws parallels between these two traditions that have them walking, hand in hand, down the same path to salvation. In Christianity, he finds mindfulness in the Holy Spirit as an agent of healing. In Buddhism, he finds unqualified love in the form of compassion for all living things. And in both he finds an emphasis on living practice and community spirit.

The thread that binds the book is the same theme that draws many Christians toward Buddhism: mindfulness. Through anecdotes, scripture references, and teachings from both traditions, Nhat Hanh points out that mindfulness is an integral part of all religious practice and teaches us how to cultivate it in our own lives. Nhat Hanh has no desire to downplay the venerable theological and ritual teachings that distinguish Buddhism and Christianity, but he does cause one to consider that beyond the letter of doctrine lies a unity of truth.

From Library Journal
In this popular work Hahn, a Vietnamese Zen monk, offers some parallels between Eastern and Western spiritual practice in an accessible style that will please general readers.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From AudioFile
Drawing on Christian theology, as well as his own Buddhist beliefs, this bestselling author and beloved monk examines the qualities of compassion and holiness, and eloquently shows that they're integral parts of both traditions. Ben Kingsley reads with class. His British accent is never overbearing or intrusive. He's in command of the text all the way. No doubt his Academy Award-winning role as Gandhi prepared him well for the Indian terms and phrases. P.B.J. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine