A Buddhist response to a Christians book on Buddhism

This is an interesting book by a Thai Buddhist who became a Christian and then wrote a book from his perspective critiquing Buddhism and teaching Christians how they can better reach Buddhists. I found the book helpful but Cioccolanti pushes some non-evangelical views which are unhelpful and distracting from the book's main purpose. You can find a more thorough review by a more experienced missionary here. What was interesting though was a comment left by a Buddhist on Karl's blog which gives a Buddhist perspective on the book and Christianity.

"Hi Everyone,
I’m a practising Buddhist but I do learn from the Bible.

All I can say about this book is that I think the author has very superficial understanding of the religion.

I think it’s quite silly of him to go around converting Buddhist to Christians because it is such a waste of time. Considering the fact that there are so many countries living below the poverty line, I feel that Buddhist are the least of his concern. Just look at Mother Theresa. She didn’t go around converting people. All she did was to help people regardless of all religions.

I think the author is very sly, as he got a number of reviews that were quite positive. However, if u look at it carefully, the reviewers are all Christians… Of course, they do not know what’s going on. If a Buddhist said that it is a good book about Buddha, then it will be a true review. Unfortunately it is not..

Sometimes, I think that because of all these “definition” it separates people and that is the cause of all the problems in the world. I have realized long ago that one has to be objective, learn from ALL religions, pick out the best and apply it to one’s own life.

After reading the scriptures and text from both religions, I think that Buddha is more defined. He will define what he says. But he’ll always say that one must practise because words cannot describe the experience that he has experienced.

I think the Jesus’s teaching are more cryptic and more open to interpretation. So one needs to let go of his ego in order to receive his teachings. I could go on for days but I think that’s all for now.

I suggest to all not to take his book so literally. I think there’s a very good book (although it’s not suitable for beginners) titled: In Buddha’s Words edited by Bhikkhu Bodhi. I’ve read this book and I think it’s great.

I think one has to have a certain depth to comment about the different aspects of religion. Unfortuantely, the author doesn't have any depth at all. One must understand that one will only see what he wants to see. So, unless your background is clear, you will not be able to see the truth about things."

This is very typical of how Buddhists view Christianity and why it is so hard for Buddhists to become Christians. They find no issue with taking the good bits out of all religions and believe that Buddhism is superior to Christianity.