Temple Square

I was at Temple Square with my very Buddhist wife, who has been trying to learn more and more about Mormonism. This interest has spawned from the examples of the LDS church she has seen and been around. The brothers and sisters she had met have greatly influenced her, and I've tried to be an example for her since we got married. But, she has never been exposed to anything related to Protestantism, Christianity, and Mormonism, so our progress has been kind of slow. Trying to get a Buddhist to understand the tenants and doctrines of Mormonism requires starting at the base level. My wife had no basic understanding of the principles of the Bible, God, and whatnot. So, I am surprised sometimes when she asks a question that I assume she would know. I mean, at Temple Square, we were in the North Visitor's Center, looking at a 3-D rendering of Jerusalem. 

And the following conversation took place (In Korean):

Wife:  Jason, what is this?

Me: It is Jerusalem.

Wife: Why is it here?

Me: Because Jesus lived here.

Wife: He lives here still to this day?

Me: (taking a moment to think) No. He died in about 33 A.D.

Wife: Was there only one Jesus?

The conversation went on about how Jesus died, his place in Heaven, and whatnot; and, what struck me was that my wife had been viewing Jesus as Buddha the entire time, thinking that there were many Jesuses everywhere in the world and throughout history. I mean, there is the Medicine Buddha:

Korea is full of temples that have three Buddhas sitting next to each other:

There are halls of ten thousand Buddhas; because, as I was told by a Buddhist Monk, "Ten Thousand Buddhas are much more helpful than one Buddha."

And, a fat Buddha:

There are hundreds of types of Buddha around. I even went to a Buddhist temple that had the Medicine Buddha, the Sri-Lankan Buddha, the Chinese Buddha, and one more Buddha (I can't remember which one, exactly), all in different rooms for the believer to choose from. So, when my wife first heard about Jesus, it would have probably been natural for her to assume that there would be many Jesuses like there are many Buddha. And, I, when I first started learning about Buddhism, assumed there was only one Buddha like there is only one Jesus. We both has assumptions about the other religion and we both didn't think that it would have been different. 

When I told her that there was one Jesus, the story of Jesus started to make much more sense to her and all the paintings in the North Visitor's Center started to come into focus. There has always been only one Jesus. And, now, we are back on the path to getting her baptized.