Full Awareness of the Lord’s Prayer: part 3
The Our Father and the Full Awareness of Breathing are singular prayers
So He said to them, “When you pray, say: Our Father who art in heaven . . . ” ~Jesus of Nazareth (Luke 11)
Tools for liberation
As fully enlightened beings, Christ and the Buddha have led many followers down the path to enlightenment, continuing to do so to this day. How so? By giving their followers one primary tool for liberation: a prayer.

Centrality of each prayer to the teacher’s teaching
Jesus taught just one prayer during his entire ministry. When his disciples asked him how they should pray, he said “Pray like this:”
Our Father who art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us,
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil. (Matthew 6:9–13)
The Buddha taught that one prayer was central to his entire teaching. One day, Ananda, the Buddha’s personal attendant and disciple, asked the Buddha: “Venerable sir, is there one thing which, when developed and cultivated, fulfills true knowledge and liberation?” (In the Buddha’s Words 290–91)

The Buddha’s answer? “There is, Ananda, one thing which, when developed and cultivated . . . fulfills true knowledge and liberation. . . . Concentration by mindfulness of breathing.” (In the Buddha’s Words 290–91)
What simplicity and power — all teaching about ultimate reality reduced to a single tool! This is the mark of a great teacher, a fully enlightened human. Both Jesus and the Buddha made a single prayer central to their teaching: the Lord’s Prayer (Jesus) and the Full Awareness of Breathing (the Buddha).
Relationship of the central prayer to the primary teaching tool
Jesus and the Buddha both began their teaching with the path to enlightenment. The Buddha called it the Noble Eightfold Path. Jesus didn’t give the path a name as far as we know, but his version of it has come to be known as the Beatitudes.
The Noble Eightfold Path and the Beatitudes are methods for achieving liberation. They are not dogmas or doctrines. The Lord’s Prayer and the Full Awareness of Breathing are tools for practicing the methods of liberation. Meditating on the tools — using them as prayers — is the way to practice.
Equal ends mean equal means
And since both prayers lead to enlightenment, then both prayers are equal in at least one sense. They are both means to enlightenment. Pray!
“There is, Ananda, one thing which, when developed and cultivated . . . fulfills true knowledge and liberation. . . . Concentration by mindfulness of breathing.” ~Buddha

