The Tomb of Jesus — Page 49
49 his neighbour and as he illustrated it in his own willingness to die for love of others, these are contribution of Jesus to the salvation of the world; and all these ideas are distinctly Buddhist rather than Jewish. . . . . . ". The extraordinary resemblances in the life thought and doctrines of Jesus to the life and teachings of Buddha which we have noticed above, demands an explanation. In an attempt to provide an explanation, some have advanced the theory that there was contact between India and. Palestine prior to the time of Jesus and that. Buddhism was prevalent in the holy land in his day. The protagonists of this theory assert that. Jesus borrowed all about his religion from. Buddhism prevailing in Palestine at that time and promulgated it in his own name. In other words,. Jesus was but a pupil of Buddha and Christianity was but the second edition of Buddhism. . Likewise, according to the proponents of this theory the Gospel writers inserted in their books the extant stories about Buddha and Buddhism in the name of Jesus and his religion. Hence the parallels between the two systems. . This theory has been thoroughly exploded by numerous authorities. Two eminent scholars express themselves on the subject thus: