Brief Description

"I find myself agreeing with Thich Nhat Hanh at nearly every significant turn of Living Buddha, Living Christ. His book presents an opportune moment to deepen our understanding."-- Elaine Pagels

"Thich Nhat Hanh's words entered me like a Zen koan: Speak to me of the unspeakable. Speak to me of God! His words offer us the challenge to come alive, truly alive."-- Brother David Steindl-Rast, O.S.B.

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 millennia.

Thich Nhat Hanh has been part of a decades-long dialogue between these two great living contemplative traditions. Thich Nhat Hanh witnessed persecution of Buddhists under the Catholic governments of South Vietnam. He was also befriended by Christian leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr., and Thomas Merton. It was these friends who introduced him to the deepest truths of Christianity.

In Living Buddha, Living Christ, Nhat Hanh sets out for the first time, his understanding of Jesus Christ and the inspiration he finds in the Gospels. With a lightness of touch only an outsider can bring, Thich Nhat Hanh depicts the joyful, contemplative heart at the center of the Christian tradition. Thich Nhat Hanh responds to the Pope's recent remarks on Buddhism while laying out his own hopeful vision of the common purpose shared by these two great world religions. From Riverhead Books.

Sample Chapter

The Kingdom of God is also said to be like a treasure that someone finds and hides in a field. Then, in his joy, he sells all he has and buys that field. If you are capable of touching that treasure, you know that nothing can be compared to it. It is the source of true joy, true peace, and true happiness. Once you have touched it, you realize that all the things you have considered to be conditions for your happiness are nothing. They may even be obstacles for your own happiness, and you can get rid of them without regret. We are all looking for the conditions of our own happiness, and we know what things have made us suffer. But we have not yet seen or touched the treasure of happiness. hen we touch it, even once, we know that we have the capacity of letting go of everything else.

That treasure of happiness, the Kingdom of Heaven, may be called the ultimate dimension of reality. When you see only waves, you might miss the water. But if you are mindful, you will be able to touch the water within waves as well. Once you are capable of touching the water, you will not mind the coming and going of the waves. You are no longer concerned about the birth and death of the wave. You are no longer afraid. You are no longer upset about the beginning or the end of the wave, or that the wave is higher or lower, more or less beautiful. You are capable of letting these ideas go because you have already touched the water.