Living Buddha, Living Christ

When you are a truly happy Christian, you are also a Buddhist. And vice versa." -- Thich Nhat Hanh 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 millenia. If they were to meet on the road today, what would each think of the other's spiritual views and practices? The bestselling author of "Peace is Every Step, " and one of the most beloved Buddhist teachers in the West, Vietnamese monk Thich Nhat Hanh has been part of a decades-long dialogue between the two greatest living contemplative traditions, and brings to Christianity an appreciation of its beauty that could be conveyed only by an outsider. In a lucid, meditative prose, he explores the crossroads of compassion and holiness at which the two traditions meet, and reawakens our understanding of both. "On the altar in my hermitage, " he says, "are images of Buddha and Jesus, and I touch both of them as my spiritual ancestors.