I want to write briefly of two parallel statements − teaching stories − about the centrality of love in Christianity and Buddhism.
In Luke 10:25-37 Jesus was asked by a lawyer, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" In reply, Jesus asked his questioner to tell him "what is written in the law," the great commandment of Judaeo-Christian faith. The lawyer responded, " You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself." Jesus replied, "You have answered right; do this and you will live." [Italics added.]
The lawyer then asked, "And who is my neighbor?" Instead of offering a short reply, Jesus told a short narrative, a teaching story that has become known as The Parable of the Good Samaritan:
“A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’
"Which of these three do you think," Jesus then asked, "proved neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?" His questioner replied, "The one who showed mercy upon him." And Jesus said, "Go and do likewise."
Focus for a moment on the last phrase of the great commandment: "[love] your neighbor as yourself." In the parable, the neighbor is manifestly the Samaritan: loving, kind, compassionate, generous. If that is Jesus's definition of neighbor−his answer to how to respond to the suffering of others− how should we understand the commandment to love your neighbor as yourself? He may have been speaking of a presumption of self-love common in many cultures. Surely Jesus did not mean that love should flow only to those possessed of the gifted qualities of heart and spirit expressed by the Samaritan in his parable. We know the importance Jesus attached to loving one's enemies: "love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who mistreat you and persecute you." (Matthew 5:44) They too, then, must be our neighbors. How to reconcile the two views of neighbor? If, at heart, we love ourselves and would be loved by others, The Golden Rule emerges: Do to others−all others−what you would want them to do to you. (Luke 6:31).
Here is a similar (and less radical) passage from the literature of Buddhism:
A man who had learned that the Buddha believed in the principle of great love which commands us to return good to anyone who does evil to us, came and cursed at him and struck him. The Buddha was silent.
When the man had finished abusing him, the Buddha asked him, "Son, if a man refuses to accept a present that is given to him, to whom would it belong?" The man replied, "It would belong to the person who offered it."
"My son," said the Buddha, "you have cursed me and struck me, but I refused to accept it. You must keep it for yourself. It will become a source of great misery and pain to you. As the echo belongs to the sounds which made it, and the shadow to the object creating the shadow, so misery belongs to the person who makes it." The man did not reply, and the Buddha continued. "A wicked man who tries to harm a good man is like a person who looks up and spits at heaven. The spit doesn't reach heaven, but falls back on the spitter."