The Unknown Life of Jesus Christ Book

I am very surprised that I even read this book but I'm glad that I did. A workmate handed me this book after we had a conversation about whether Jesus existed or not. I am even surprised that I am writing about this! I grew up in a Methodist household in the Deep South and have been so worn out with the whole Jesus thing. I usually shut down when someone mentions the name.

I've been practicing yoga for the past 7 years; and I've practiced Buddhist meditation for the past 5 years and attended quite a few dharma talks. During my studies of the Yoga Sutras and Buddhist texts, I naturally started to draw the parallel between Jesus' later teachings and these Far East spiritual philosophies.

Prophet outlines the different discoverers of the Pali and Tibetan ancient texts on Jesus (or Issa) in the Far East. She has three different translations of the text in her book. The voice of the book is that of a detective...so intentions, motives, questions are posed to go deeper into the topic. That provides a decently inquisitive voice, but the book lags a bit in spite of the author's zealous tone.

I gave this book 2 stars because I finished the book thinking -- so now what -- and feeling like some questions are unanswered. Why is this information so stubbornly refuted in the US and the West? If it is true, what do we do with this information? And, what does this information really mean?

These Pali versus reveal that Jesus was a healer and an embodiment of healing light. He urged humanity to honor women. He urged humanity to come into union with the Supreme - or the Great Spirit - or the Source - or whatever you wish to call it. He taught that this yoking, union, or connection is available to anyone who seeks it. It's interesting that those who are not getting this type of knowledge (which I believe is suppressed) from Judaism or Christianity are seeking these answers in yoga and Buddhism...

Lastly, even though the Far East has accounts of Jesus (Issa), I still believe Jesus is a mythological character. It does not surprise me that information such as that recorded in Pali, spread all over Eurasia on the Silk Route. I believe it was the story that spread, not the actual person.

Christianity is largely based on Egyptian mythology. It could be that the Far East encountered these teachings (Issa) and integrated them, evolved them, or rejected them (as the Pali scrolls note...that is, if it is true that they really exit).

Overall, interesting -- however, I was anxious to get through it and be done with it.