“Are you sure?” I asked. “I thought there was a story in Buddhist literature that parallels the Prodigal Son parable.” “Well, they’re similar to the degree that they both involve sons who rebelled and left home, then later saw the error of their ways and came back. But the Buddhist story ends quite differently — the son has to work off his misdeeds.” “How?” “He ends up toiling for twenty-five years, hauling dung. So that provides a stark contrast between the God of grace and a religion where people have to work their way to nirvana.”