Customer Reviews: Read 64 more reviews...
 Gentle yet Genuine October 22, 2008
Deals solidly with the core tenets of two faiths and why Christ can credibly provide the real answer.
He brings in the the role of a young lady to tangible express the case of dispute in point. It was genttle and yet geniune engagement with an ending well refined to its logical conclusion.
 the MOST marvellous load of RUBBISH ever written!!! September 13, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
well, i am a buddhist by heart and have followed the teachings of buddhism since i was born. i am a 27 years old asian guy, Singaporean. I am very happy for who and what i am today, because I sincerely believe that it was buddhism which has made me grow positively. I've learnt to treat all human beings with respect, REGARDLESS of their religions or their races, i learn to love everything on earth, nature, animals, and most importantly, the loved ones in our life like our friends and family. Having gratitude in life is the most wonderful feeling one can ever felt on this earth, because everything will be so beautiful no matter how we looked at them. Right? ALL BECAUSE I EMBRACED BUDDHISM. But, Christian friends around me has been trying to change me and my faith, challenging my beliefs with loads of Christianity stories, making me at one time quarrelled with all of them! And one friend passed me this book, and after reading it, i was happy! WHY IS THAT SO? because this book has proven me right! all these believers are only concerned about converting you into Christians without learning to even appreciate you as a wonderful human being by NOT LOOKING AT THE DIFFERENCES between buddhists and christians..... Ok, Mr Ravi Zacharias, you have written the MOST marvellous load of RUBBISH in this world with this book, I sincerely hope you can do a more respected and detailed research towards Buddhism before trying to MISLEAD the world with this RUBBISH..... thanks.
This book changed my life. One of my favorites September 7, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
When i was practicing Buddhism and other eastern philosophy, i found this book. It displays a imagined dialog between Jesus and Buddha. Both offer their way to Priya, a girl that was born into life of prostitution, in Thailand.
So Priya asks both many questions, and both figures give very different answers.
Though Buddha offered salvation through looking within. Jesus offered himself as the way to be set free.
Some might not agree or believe in Jesus's way, about believing and living for him, and then after physical death, spending eternity with him, who claims to be the son of God.
Buddha would of warned against relying in Jesus , citing that to him, Jesus was only a man, and if he were indeed God, that even a God was imprisoned by sense pleasures and was on the wheel of continual suffering ,and there by cant offer much assistance in the form of salvation or liberation. Sinse, in theory, God is conditioned and a sentient being must not attach to the conditioned, the temporary, for it only brings more suffering and further imprisonment to the cycle of suffering, in his view.
My conclusion, as a Buddhist, and understanding what i did of Christianity and the Bible, was that Jesus was everlasting, he rose from the dead, since he is God and God , in my view, being the author of the laws of time and space and the entire natural order, can interveen and make things happen.
Buddha's world view was absent of a creator, he thought it was fantasy probubly, but i dont think God is a fantasy, i think its likly there is a grand architect of the universe, a supreme intelligence that jumped started life and keeps everything moving. And if the Bible is true that this God is eternal, then my reliance of this higher power would be a wise move, since He isnt conditioned. That was my understand.
So having trust in Jesus was not an un-skillful move. but actually solved the problem of the wheel of suffering, in my eyes. That suffering wont be erased in this life, but is used as a way to strengthen and mature and bring one closer to their creator.
And with this, i followed Jesus.
I believe Buddhism doesnt necessarily have to be void of God or a higher power. Understanding that God can be a reality to an idividual, and it doesnt have to be fantasy. To them, this could be as real as the nose on their face, but even more so sense it isnt subject to decay and old age, remembering that this God is above time and space, not being subject to the very laws he put into place. Everlasting.
Even the Dhali Lama noted that Buddhism will go where ever the truth leads, and if the future shows reason to believe that a creator indeed exists, which mainy think they have great compelling evidense, that Buddhism should adapt and evolve.
This is an honest policy. But as Buddhists, are we really ready to follow where ever the truth takes us? I dont know.
But as for me, as i followed Prince Siddharthas own instruction....following truth where ever it goes....it took me to Jesus Christ.
This is me though. You may differ in how you took this book. But it fairly shows the differences between the two people. Its also somewhat of a humorous and witty book. Painting a picture for us as the two and priya sail atop the water.
The author actually used to be a high caste Hindu , and is now a Doctor and Christian Apologist. He is very intelligent and found out about Jesus himself, in turn having some backlash by the commnity and family he was in, but he followed the truth where it led also i think.
He comes from the east, and is well read and crediable source for debate or insight into eastern religion. Which he interviewed various monks for the making of this book.
He actually wrote this based on while he was in Thailand, and imagined how a conversion between Jesus And Buddha would carry out.
Even if you are not Christian. Or not Buddhist, and just interested in these two as historical figures, its still interesting to see how they would possibly answer certain questions and offer their own solutions to problems the girl presents to them, concerning life, death, morality,spirituality and so on.
Very interesting. Whether or not one will agree on the conclusion in the book. I personally agree with the conclusion, but if you dont, it doesnt matter, becouse in the end, Buddha still has is final say for the girl, presenting his middle way, and Christ gives his way to freedom from what he calls sin.
Interesting read none the less. I recommend it. It had a big affect on me becouse it opened my eyes to somethings many years ago, while i was in the midst of my study of buddhist and other eastern teaching.
Bad, Bad, Bad August 29, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
If I could give this book no stars I would. It did neither Christianity nor Buddhism justice, as if Christ or Buddha would ever be reduced to some sort of competition to "save" a prostitute. I was very disappointed with this book. Although this book was written biased toward Christianity, it was obvious that Ravi Zacharias doesn't have a thorough knowledge of either Buddhism or Christianity. It was an interesting idea-horribly executed. If you are interested in knowing more about Buddhism or similarities and differences between Christianity and Buddhism read Thich nhat Hanh or books by HH the Dalai Lama.
 Impressive! July 24, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I am impressed with Dr. Zacharias' work on two fronts. His love and deep understanding of his Christian faith shines through and is truly inspiring. Equally impressive is his confusion of many key Buddhist concepts. The Buddha likened his teachings to a finger pointing at the moon and cautioned not to confuse the finger with the moon. It is apparent that the Buddha's finger has been thoroughly put in its place, but I wonder what has become of the moon? The Buddha also compared his teachings to a dangerous snake, and that if they are not handled correctly they may cause harm rather than help. Telling a person close to death and in great suffering that her life is an illusion and that it his her fault is an example of using the teachings to cause harm.
I am not going to create a point by point defense of Buddhism, nor a critique of Christianity. The Buddha taught that in order to understand his teachings, one needed to try them out and decide. Please note the key is to try the practices, not to grasp them with the intellect. All concepts in Buddhism are practices to open the mind. Once the mind is open, those concepts need to be let go of, too.
I give the book two stars because of its misrepresentation, but also because it is thought-provoking and written with respect.
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