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Where are the Tibetan Buddhist suicide bombers? Sam Harris, lecture New York Society for Ethical Culture 2005
The story of Jesus wasn’t quite as unique as you might have thought. That the Hindu God Krishna also had a miraculous birth and was also attended by angels and shepherds. And that like Jesus the Buddha also performed miracles, walking on water and feeding the five hundred. Robert Beckford, The Hidden Story of Jesus, Channel 4 2007
Could Jesus have travelled to India and encountered the teachings of Buddha? Mysteries of the Bible s3e10: The Lost Years of Jesus, A&E 1996
Some scholars find striking similarities between Jesus and Buddha. ibid.
In 1887 Notovitch, a Russian journalist, travelled to Hemis, an isolated Buddhist monastery high in the Himalayan mountains of northern India. In his book The Unknown Life of Jesus Christ Notovitch claims that there he was shown secret manuscripts which detailed the life of a wandering prophet named Esa. ibid.
Did Jesus travel to England? And does the cup from the last supper – the Holy Grail – hold the key which could unlock the secrets of his missing years? ibid.
Did Jesus spend his lost years in the wilderness with a fanatically religious apocalyptic sect? ibid.
If Jesus were involved in revolution, this could explain why a gap exists in our knowledge of his life. ibid.
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, 1873
The later teachings and miracles of Jesus have uncanny parallels with the teachings and miracles of the Buddha. Did Jesus Die? BBC 2007
Esa came to India at the age of 14 where he learned the laws of Buddhism before returning to Israel at the age of 29. ibid.
This shit works out: she’s a Buddhist. The Sopranos s2e3: Toodle Fucking-Oo, Tony to Carmela at breakfast, HBO 2000
Infernal Affairs trilogy: Thanks to the Buddha my life has been spared! Mou Gaan Dou [Infernal Affairs] 2002 starring Tony Leung & Andy Lau & Shawn Yue & Anthony Wong & Eric Tsang & Chapman To & Gordon Lam & Kelly Chen & Sammi Cheng et al, directors Andrew Lau & Alan Mak, Hon Sam to young gangstas
Buddhism has a theory of conservation of consciousness that is comparable to the scientific principle of the conservation of energy. And that is you can do all kinds of things to energy; one thing you can’t do to energy is make it become nothing. And you can do all kinds of things to consciousness: it too is one of the core elements of the universe. You can’t destroy space, you can’t destroy energy and you can’t destroy consciousness. Dr Alan Wallace, author Contemplative Science
Buddha: the Enlightened one. His ideas about God were so radical that for some they are indistinguishable from atheism. The Buddha didn’t deny the existence of the gods, he just thought they were irrelevant to the problem of humanity trapped on the wheel of life. Professor Robert Winston, The Story of God, BBC 2005
Buddhism is very fashionable these days. Rab C Nesbitt: Bug, Ella, BBC 1999
He who is able to realise the Truth within his own mind
Has sown the seed of Buddhahood. Hui-neng, Platform Scripture
It is fitting to consider what is impermanent, painful, and subject to change as, ‘This is mine, this am I, this is my self.’ Pali Tipitaka
1) Refraining from taking life; 2) Refraining from taking what is not given; 3) Refraining from incontinence; 4) Refraining from falsehood; 5) Refraining from strong drink, intoxicants, and liquor, which are occasions of carelessness. ibid.
I directed my mind to the knowledge of the extinction of the outflows. I understand it as it really is: This is suffering, this its arising, this its stopping, this the course leading to its stopping. ibid.
All conditioned things are of a nature to decay. ibid.
It is called Nirvana because of the getting rid of craving. ibid.
In brief, the given aggregates of attachment are suffering. ibid.
What we are today comes from our thoughts of yesterday, and our present thoughts build our life of tomorrow: our life is the creation of our mind. ibid.
For hate is not conquered by hate: hate is conquered by love. This is a law eternal. ibid.
The greatest of victories is the victory over oneself. ibid.
I see no other single hindrance such as this hindrance of ignorance, obstructed by which mankind for a long long time runs on and circles on. ibid.
The person who is searching for his own happiness should pull out the dart that he has stuck in himself, the arrow-head of grieving, of desiring, of despair. ibid.
Where there is no perception, appellation, conception, or conventional expression, there one speaks of ‘perfect wisdom’. Mahayana Buddhist texts, Perfect Wisdom in 8,000 lines
Foolish common people do not understand that what is seen is merely their own mind. ibid.
Universally Good is present in all lands
Sitting on a jewelled lotus throne, beheld by all;
He manifests all psychic powers
And is able to enter infinite mediations. ibid.
Mantras and Tantras, meditation and concentration
They are all a cause of self-deception.
Do not defile in contemplation thought that is pure in its own nature,
But abide in the bliss of yourself and cease those torments. Sraha Dohakosha v23
Seekers of the way. In Buddhism no effort is necessary. All one has to do is to do nothing except to move his bowels, urinate, put on his clothing, eat his meals, and lie down if he is tired. The stupid will laugh at him, but the wise will understand. I-Hsuan, recorded conversations
Kill anything that you happen on. Kill the Buddha if you happen to meet him … Kill your parents, or relatives if you happen to meet them. Only then can you be free, not bound by material things, and absolutely free and at ease. ibid.
He lived in India 2,500 years ago. Echoes of his world still remain. The Buddha: the Indian sage whose story inspired one of the world’s great religions, Buddhism, the fourth largest religion in the world. David Grubin, The Buddha, PBS 2010
29 years old, profoundly troubled, Siddhartha was determined to comprehend the nature of suffering. He resolved to leave the palace. ibid.
Why do human beings suffer? Was there any escape? ibid.
The path to enlightenment lay along the middle way, the Buddha taught. Dave Grubin, The Buddha II
The problem, Buddha taught, is desire. ibid.
Caste was irrelevant to the Buddha. So were priestly rituals to preserve the universe. His teachings focused on the universe within. ibid.
Bliss, Nirvana, the Buddha taught, could be found in a fleeting moment through the practice of meditation. ibid.
The mind is as restless as a monkey, the Buddha taught. ibid.
Violence, the Buddha taught, always leads to more violence. ibid.
Buddhism flourished in India for 1,500 years. ibid.
Everybody, every human being wants happiness. And Buddha, he acts like teacher. You are your own master. Future, everything, depends on your own shoulder. Buddha’s responsibility is just to show the path, that’s all. The Dalai Lama
Some 300,000,000 followers around the world. John McCarthy, The Art of Faith: Buddhism, Sky 2010
Great Stupa at Sanchi ... Cave Temples at Ellora ... Longmen Caves at Luoyang, China ... Puning Temple at Chengde, China ... Temples of Angkor, Cambodia ... Todai-Ji, Japan. ibid.
Buddhism arrived in China during the first century C.E. ibid.