This is an excerpt from Buddhas Sermon at Benares, who preached to his listeners about The Middle Path. This Middle Path states that neither the life of the ascetic nor the life of the hedonist would lead to true bliss, but instead a life of balance and freedom of desire would. The message that Siddhartha GuatamaBuddhas name before enlightenmentwanted to spread to the world during the 1 st century CE was one that was concurrent with another spreading religion: that of Christianity. Jesus, Judaisms Messiah and founder of Christianity, taught a similar message of faith, compassion, and humility to his disciples. The key to the success of both religions lay in an egalitarian approach and an easy message that appealed to the masses. So what if Jesus had been listening to Buddhas Sermon at Benares? Perhaps his response would have been one of concurrence. The entirety of the Sermon warns against the futility of asceticism (a practice that the Buddha had been exposed to for six years) and materialism, because neither path can reach Nirvana. He goes on to say, Self- mortification does not cleanse the man who is not free from delusionsHe who tries to light a fire with rotten wood will fail. This means that a persons thoughts are just as important as a persons actions. Jesus in his own time faced the opposition of the Pharisees, a sect of high-ranking, religious Jews. Jesus warned against the Pharisees who were more focused on the letter of the law and excluding other Jews who were not as wealthy or educated. Although Jesus approach was less focused on eliminating desire and more about loving your neighbor, both Buddhism and Christianity preach messages of hope, moderation, and positivity. You mustbe perfect just as your heavenly Father is perfect. I think the Buddha would have agreed with this sentiment as well. This perfection is not one of physical fitness or education, but a spiritual perfection where faith and love supersede all other things., and are the guiding forces in your life. This is how anyone can achieve Heaven, and is a similar sentiment to the Eightfold Path (The Middle Path) that led Buddha to Enlightenment. Both Jesus and Buddha preached a message of thoughts equating actions. There is no holy action if there is no holy thought behind it. Jesus in his sermon on the mount says that if a man looks at another woman lustfully he has already sinned even if he didnt touch her. Why? Because the desire is there. So Buddha teaches that the thoughts behind your actions are just as important as your actions. Although their methods differ and each preacher puts emphasis on different aspects, both have a similar message and would probably have great philosophical conversations over tea if they had met. Because I was raised in a Christian environment, I feel as though reading this chapter drove home a lot of points that I grew up on. Reading secular material on my religion gives an interesting perspective and the focus on different aspects of the religion than Im used to. One example that challenged my view on Christianity was the fact that no historical record of Jesus had been made until the late 1 st century, and nothing of his life had been written down until forty years after his death. This murky origin throws shade on some things and makes me question whether or not Jesus even existed, or what facts are exaggerations and what are actually facts. Another example that clarified things for me was the explanation of the Four Noble Truths and The Eightfold Path. I didnt know much about Buddhism before this class, and I didnt realize how similar Buddhism and Christianity are when compared and contrasted in the chapter. I think that focusing on the commonalities that we share as a human race are more important than the differences that most of us tend to get caught up in.