Jesus was a Buddha and Gautama was a Christ. Both of these enlightened masters were speaking from the same Ultimate Reality. And yet, within the teachings of Christianity, there seems to be such a narrow teaching – that Jesus is the only way.
It seems that much of the conflict between Christianity and other religions stems from a couple of sayings attributed to Jesus. What if we just got the translation wrong, or they were not fully understood when they were spoken?
Certainly, one of the most repeated is quoted in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” And following that (and in Christians eyes makes it clear that Jesus is the only way), “No man cometh unto the Father but by Me.”
This statement can be looked at from a higher vision, from an unlimiting consciousness rather than the common narrow interpretation. Rather than “I am the way,” we could say “I AM is the Way, I AM is the truth and the Life.” What a difference is made by just adding ‘is.’ Looked at in this light, it is easier to understand the statement of Jesus in John 8:58, “I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am.” In fact, it is the only way that the sentence makes sense. I AM is the ultimate subject, first person singular, which each of us is at our very core. It is this “I AM” that we have to return to in order to reach the Father.
-purushottama
This is from the collection of stories, essays, poems and insights that is compiled to form the book From Lemurs to Lamas: Confessions of a Bodhisattva. Order the book Here.
Franklin Merrell-Wolff addresses this issue in chapter seven of his Philosophy of Consciousness Without an Object. The chapter is titled Jesus and the Way which can be seen here.
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