the way, the truth, the life

"The Gospels, revealingly, tell us little of Jesus's spiritual formation and concentrate mostly on his words and actions. The Buddha story, by comparison, places most of its emphasis on how Sidhartha came to enlightenment - the process (which anyone can follow, even today, in principle) - while the particular details of his subsequent teachings and wanderings are often barely mentioned. Even non-Christians may know some of Jesus's words, while typical Buddhists may know hardly any of Buddha's specific discourses. Buddha is a precedent more than a prophet; and where Jesus came to earth as the way, the truth, and the life, the Buddha came to suggest that the way is up to us, the "truth" is often impermanent, and the light comes and goes, comes and goes, until we have found something changeless within." - p.101

The Open Road: The Global Journey of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, Pico Iyer