Religion
In reply to the discussion: 10 Reasons to believe Jesus Preached Islam [View all]vlyons
(10,252 posts)Assuming that there was a historical Buddha, of course. The Great emperor Ashoka spread Buddhism throughout Northern India, The Himalayas, and throughout Pakistan and Afghanistan. When Alexander the Great made it to Ghandahar (modern day Kandahar in Afghanistan), he left several Greek philosophers. Alexander opened the Silk road to Greece and the Mediteranean. Hinayana Buddhism influenced the Greek stoics. By the time of Jesus, Mahayana Buddhism had been spread throughout the countries accessible via the silk road. So it is entirely possible that Jesus could have had contact with altruistic philosophy in his youth. His father, Joseph, was a "carpenter, who probably found work building the city and port of Caesarea for Herod the Greek. So it is entirely possible that Buddhist ideas and philosophies were circulating in the Levant in Jesus' time.
Hinayana Buddhism is concerned with liberation from suffering by developing personal virtue and self control over thought, speech, and actions. Mahayana Buddhism is concerned with altruistic actions for the benefit of others, compassion for the sufferings of ohers, patience, and tolerance.
Behaving virtuously and generating compassion for others is not the exclusive domain of any one particular religion or belief system. Many many people throughout history have concluded that altruistic behavior ultimately benefits themselves and benefits the family, the local community, and the tribe/nation.
I consider Jesus to have been a great Boddhisattva. I don't think that he was a divine being, who resurrected after death and defyed gravity and flew up to heaven. Mohammed didn't defy gravity either.