That trick with the loaves and the fishies would have been of great use to Rome's armys
Imagine being able to feed an army of 5,000 with such small provisions......
Surely if someone could do these things, it would have been front page news........
Caesar would have had him dragged back to Rome to be exploited the same way Rome exploited any other resource under its dominion.
The miracle of the loaves and fishers reminded me of parallels between the Buddha and Jesus.
Not my work but it makes for interesting reading if you have the time.
Jesus and Buddha have some interesting similarities:
1. Both Buddha and Jesus were baptized in the presence of
the "spirit" of G--d. (De Bunsen, p. 45; Matthew 3:16.)
2. Both went to their temples at the age of twelve, where they are
said to have astonished all with their wisdom. (Ibid., p. 37; Luke
2:41--48.)
3. Both supposedly fasted in solitude for a long time: Buddha for
forty--seven days and Jesus for forty. (Arthur Lillie, Buddha and
Early Buddhism (London, 1881), p. 100, Matthew 4:2.)
4. At the conclusion of their fasts, they both wandered to a fig
tree. (Hans Joachim Schoeps, An Intelligent Person's Guide to the
Religions of Mankind (London, 1967), p. 167; Matthew 21:18--19.)
5. Both were about the same age when they began their public
ministry:
* "When he [Buddha] went again to the garden he saw a monk who was
calm, tranquil, self--possessed, serene, and dignified. The prince,
determined to become such a monk, was led to make the great
renunciation. At the time he was twenty--nine years of age...".
(Encyclopedia Americana (New York: Rand McNally and Co., 1963), vol.
4, p. 672.)
* "Jesus, when he began his ministry, was about thirty years of
age" (Luke 3:23).
6. Both were tempted by the "devil" at the beginning of their
ministry:
* To Buddha, he said: "Go not forth to adopt a religious life but
return to your kingdom, and in seven days you shall become emperor of
the world, riding over the four continents." (Moncure D. Conway, The
Sacred Anthology (London, 1874), p. 173.)
* To Jesus, he said: "All these [kingdoms of the world] I will give
you, if you fall down and worship me" (Matthew 4:9).
7. Buddha answered the "devil": "Get you away from me." (De Bunsen,
p.38)
* Jesus responded: "...begone, Satan!" (Matthew 4:10).
8. Both experienced the "supernatural" after the "devil" left:
* For Buddha: "The skies rained flowers, and delicious odors
prevailed [in] the air." (Ibid.)
* For Jesus: "angels came and ministered to him" (Matthew 4:11).
9. The multitudes required a sign from both in order that they
might believe. (Muller, Science, p. 27; Matthew 16:1.)
10. Both strove to establish a kingdom of heaven on earth. (Beal,
p. x; Matthew 4:17.)
* Buddha "represented himself as a mere link in a long chain of
enlightened teachers." (Muller, Science, p. 140.)
11. Jesus said: "Think not that I have come to abolish the law, and
the prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfill them"
(Matthew 5:17).
12. According to the Somadeva (a Buddhist holy book), a Buddhist
ascetic's eye once offended him, so he plucked it out and cast it
away. (Ibid., p. 245)
* Jesus said: "If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out,
and throw it away;" (Matthew 5:29).
13. "Buddha taught that the motive of all our actions should be
pity or love of our neighbor." (Ibid., p. 249)
* Jesus taught: "...love your enemies and pray for those who
persecute you" (Matthew 5:44).
14. Buddha said: "Hide your good deeds, and confess before the
world the sins you have committed." (Ibid., p.28)
* Jesus said: "Beware of practicing your piety before men to be
seen by them;" (Matthew 6:1) and "Therefore confess your sins one to
another, and pray one for another, that you may be healed..." (James
5:16).
15. Both are said to have known the thoughts of others:
* "By directing his mind to the thoughts of others, [Buddha] can
know the thoughts of all beings." (R. Spence Hardy, The Legends and
Theories of the Buddhists Compared with History and Science (London,
1866), p. 181.)
* "But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said: `Why do you think evil
in your hearts?' " (Matthew 9:4).
16. After "healing" a man born blind, Buddha said: "The disease of
this man originates in his sinful actions in former times." (Prof.
Max Muller, ed., Sacred Books of the East (Oxford: Clarendon Press,
1879--1910), vol. 21, p. 129f.)
* "As [Jesus] passed by, he saw a man blind from his birth. And his
disciples said to him: `Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents,
that he was born blind?' " (John 9:1--2).
17. Both were itinerant preachers with a close group of trustees
within a larger group of disciples. (James Hastings, ed.,
Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics (New York: Edinburgh T. & T.
Clark, 1918), vol. 6, p. 883; Matthew 26:20.)
18. Both demanded that their disciples renounce all worldly
possessions. (Hardy, Monachism, p. 6; Luke 14:33.)
* "The number of the disciples rapidly increased, and Gautama sent
forth his monks on missionary tours hither and thither, bidding them
wander everywhere, preaching the doctrine, and teaching men to order
their lives with self--restraint, simplicity, and charity."
(Hastings, vol. 6, p.883)
* "And [Jesus] called to him the twelve [apostles], and began to
send them out two by two.So they went out and preached that men
should repent" (Mark 6:7, 12).
19. Both had a disciple who "walked" on water:
* To convert skeptical villagers, Buddha showed them his disciple
walking across a river without sinking. (Lillie, p. 140)
* "He said: `Come.' So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the
water and came to Jesus, but when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and
beginning to sink he cried out: `Lord, save me!' " (Matthew 14:29--
30).
20. "One day Ananda, the disciple of Buddha, after a long walk in
the country, meets with Matangi, a woman of the low caste of the
Kandalas, near a well, and asks her for some water. She tells him
what she is, and that she must not come near him. But he replies: `My
sister, I ask not for your caste or your family, I ask only for a
drought of water. She afterwards became a disciple of Buddha."
(Muller, Science, p. 243)
* "There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her:
`Give me a drink.' For his disciples had gone away into the city to
buy food. The Samaritan woman said to him: `How is it that you, a
Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?' For Jews have no
dealings with Samaritans" (John 4:7--9).
21. Each repeated a question three times:
* "The Buddha next addressed the bhikkhus and requested them three
times to ask him if they had any doubt or question that they wished
clarified, but they all remained silent." (Encyclopedia Britannica
(New York: William and Helen Benton, 1974), vol. 2, p. 373.)
* "[Jesus] said to him the third time: `Simon, son of John, do you
love me?' Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time:
`Do you love me?'" (John 21:17).
22. Both received similar receptions:
* "The people swept the pathway, the gods strewed flowers on the
pathway and branches of the coral tree, the men bore branches of all
manner of trees, and the Bodhisattva Sumedha spread his garments in
the mire, [and] men and gods shouted: `All hail.' " (Hardy, Legends,
p.134)
* "And they brought the colt to Jesus, and threw their garments on
it; and he sat on it. And many spread their garments on the road, and
others spread leafy branches which they had cut from the fields"
(Mark 11:7--8).
23. Both had an archival:
* "[Buddha's] chief rival was Devadatta, a cousin of the Buddha,
who is represented as being jealous of his influence and popularity,
and as repeatedly seeking to compass his death." (Hastings, vol. 6,
p.883)
* "While [Jesus] was still speaking, Judas came, one of the twelve,
and with him a great crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief
priests and the elders of the people. Now the betrayer had given them
a sign, saying: `The one I shall kiss is the man; seize him!' And he
came up to Jesus at once, and said: `Hail, Master!' And he kissed
him" (Matthew 26:47--49).
24. Before his death, Buddha said to his disciple: "Ananda, when I
am gone, you must not think there is no Buddha; the discourses I have
delivered, and the precepts I have enjoined, must be my successors,
or representatives, and be to you as Buddha." (Hardy, Eastern
Monachism (London, 1860), p. 230.)
* Before his "ascension," Jesus said to his disciples: "Go,
therefore, and make disciples of all nations, teaching them to
observe all that I have commanded you; and, lo, I am with you always,
to the close of the age" (Matthew 28:19--20).
25. When Buddha died: "The coverings of [his] body unrolled
themselves, and the lid of his coffin was opened by supernatural
powers." (De Bunsen, p. 49.)
* When Jesus died: "And behold, there was a great earthquake; for
an angel of the L--rd descended from heaven and came and rolled back
the stone, and sat upon it" (Matthew 28:2).
26. "In the year 217 B.C. Buddhist missionaries were imprisoned for
preaching; but an angel, genie or spirit came and opened the prison
door, and liberated them." (Thomas Thornton, A History of China from
the Earliest Records to the Treaty with Great Britain in 1842
(London, 1844), vol. 1, p. 341.)
* "They arrested the apostles and put them in the common prison.
But at night an angel of the L--rd opened the prison doors and
brought them out" (Acts 5:18--19).
27. Both men's disciples are said to have been miracle workers.
(Maria L. Child, The Progress of Religious Ideas Through Successive
Ages (New York, 1855)vol. 1, p. 229, Acts 3:6--8.)
I will say that the name given to the "devil" by Buddha would have been Mara (मार) but the basic concept is the same more or less. In fact depending on the inflection when the word is said or written it can mean around 16 different things but all have more or less the same negative concept such as hindrance, killing, destroying, evil one etc.
The root of the word is "Ma" which is also the root for the Sanskrit word "Maya" (माया) which more or less means illusion.
You can see the similarity's in the Sanskrit I have included.
lots of sharp things flying around in this thread.
