Christ Way, Buddha Way: Jesus as Wisdom Teacher and a Zen Perspective on His Teachings

Putting aside what you think you know about Christianity and Christ's teachings, and reading the gospels again as if for the first time, Jesus emerges as a profound wisdom teacher, whose teachings had a lot in common with those of Buddha. This book explores Christ's teachings on non-duality and his guidance on how to reach unity, oneness with God through what he called metanoia (going beyond, meta, thought, noia) through kenoisis (self-emptying). What emerges is a strong connection between Christ's teachings and Buddhism that reveals Jesus was clearly familiar with Buddhist teachings. By viewing Christ's teachings through the lens of Zen, common themes emerge that enable the author to recreate what Christ called "The Way." Christ's Way is reconstructed as a practical guide to waking up to your true self, to your Christ Nature, just as the mystics and Zen masters have described. The author reviews what we know about Buddhism in the middle east at the time of Christ, the influence of Greek philosophy on Christ's teachings and the long history of Greek Buddhists that pre-dates Christ. He also considers The Gospel of Thomas as being a rich source of Christ's teachings, the earliest version of which may pre-date the gospels or the writings of Paul. This book explores the deep truths of Christ teachings, hidden in plain sight, showing how when misconceptions about his teachings are removed what emerges is a whole new view of Christianity for the 21st Century: Christ as wisdom teacher, Christ as a teacher of non-dual awareness, and as a guide to living fully in the present moment.