Unless the Buddhist friend in question is explicitly critizing Christianity, I see no need why you would have to verbally “defend” your faith in Jesus and even then, we are always to respond in love. Entering a discussion with a member of another religion with the in-built anticipation that you will have to “defend the faith” from the word go; seems to be the wrong approach to dialogue altogether, in my opinion. Its like a siege-mentality which will achieve very little.
My advice: Learn, learn, learn. Read the Tipitaka (ie start with the Dhammapada), if the person is Mahayana you might want to familiarize yourself with some suttas such as the “Lotus Sutra”. Penetrate the Buddhist faith and genuinely seach for and expect to find the secret presence of the Holy Spirit.
Buddhism is an ancient and venerable religious tradition which must be paid due reverence as a result, for its time-tested and profound wisdom and practices. It is complex, deep and multifaceted.
Then, have a heartfelt dialogue of the spirit in which the two of you mutually search for truths shared by both of your faith traditions and when differences surface, discuss them in a mature and respectful manner, so as to enable you both to have a more developed understanding of your respective religions and hopefully grow as spiritual seekers. This is called Dialogue and Proclamation. Allow the Buddhist to explain and put forth his understanding of his faith and why he is a Buddhist and you do the same with your Catholicism. As Blessed Ramon Llull explain with regards to Muslim-Christian dialogue in the Central Middle Ages:
“…Let Christians who are well schooled and proficient in the Arabic language go to Tunis to demonstrate the truth of their faith and let Muslims who are well schooled come to the kingdom of Sicily to discuss their faith with Christian scholars. By acting in this way, maybe, there can be peace between Christians and Muslims, when in the whole world the situation will take effect that neither Christians want to destroy Muslims nor Muslims want to destroy Christians…”
***- Blessed Ramon Llull (1232 – ca. 1315), Catholic mystic, philosopher,
logician and Franciscan missionary ***
Its not a one-way street but a two-way street. Both of you should have the opportunity to demonstrate why you regard your religion to be the “truth” - ie why it elucidates your own understanding of reality. And both of you should respect the similarities and the differences which you will uncover in this discussion. It is, after all, the 21st century - and I’m embarressed to say that Blessed Ramon Llull, living in the so-called “Dark Ages”, seems to have a better developed conception of interreligious discussion than some modern Christians (ie Evangelical Protestants, some Trads etc.).
The Vatican produced a document on interfaith dialogue in 1991, explaining how a Catholic is to dialogue with people from other faiths withoiut trying to actively convert them, yet also spreading the Good News. I quoted excerpts from it in this thread:
forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=635067
A good excerpt:
“…the Council has openly acknowledged the presence of positive values not only in the religious life of individual believers of other religious traditions, but also in the religious traditions to which they belong. It attributed these values to the active presence of God through his Word, pointing also to the universal action of the Spirit: “Without doubt,” Ad Gentes affirms, “the Holy Spirit was at work in the world before Christ was glorified” (No. 4)…”
- Dialogue and Proclamation, PONTIFICAL COUNCIL FOR INTER-RELIGIOUS DIALOGUE, 1991
I would suggest that you read the Vatican document in full.
Just my two cents
- Didn’t even know that one existed.