Over and over again in the New Testament and ancient Buddhist scriptures, one can discover that the lives, deeds and teachings of Jesus and Buddha are strikingly similar. The correspondences in their life stories begin even before they are born. In the Gospel of Luke, the Angel Gabriel acts as God's messenger, proclaiming that Mary will bear a child "who will be called the Son of the Most High." Buddha's birth, according to the 2nd century BC Digha Nikaya, is attended by devas (beings in the god realm) who say to Queen Maya, "Rejoice, a mighty son has been born to you." Each is born while the mother is on a journey, and neither birth occurs in a house. Heralds are present on both occasions, and they do very similar things, singing praises and…show more content… Whether speaking of love, material wealth, temptation or salvation, they were two masters with one message. It shouldn't be surprising, then, that the philosophies they developed drew them into parallel experiences during their adult years. Neither began his spiritual quest until he was about thirty years old, but both soon encountered trouble with the ruling aristocracy. They both taught that what is inside a person matters, not his or her outward appearance, and they punctuated their beliefs with actions, revolutionizing the religions of their day. Gautama helped to reform Brahmanical rituals harmful to people and animals; Jesus attacked many temple traditions. Both created religions that minimized class distinctions and eliminated animal sacrifice. Most striking of all the parallel between Jesus and Buddha are those dealing with love. Both teachers invoked the Golden Rule of treating others as you want them to treat you. Many of Jesus' most famous saying -- turning the other cheek, loving your enemies, and the idea that one who lives by the sword will die by it -- are mirrored in the words of the Buddha. The moral teachings of the Buddha have a remarkable resemblance to the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus' words from the Mount represent his most important teachings, just as the Dhammapada, which closely parallels the Sermon, is the central book in