Dear Brian,

I am afraid not so. Although, the Buddha taught out of compassion
(unconditional love), nibbana is not a physical location where there
is an archangel guarding the gates to determine whether you have met
the criteria to enter. Nibbana is a state which only one who have
reached it can truly experience it, but there are of course many
books that try to explain it. The Buddhist experience and knowledge
is far much beyond the scope that the Christian doctrine can grasp.
This is a philosophical difference.

Buddhists do not practise to earn Buddha's compassion to reach
nibbana, Christians practise to earn God's grace to enter heaven. The
relationship between Buddha and Buddhists is teacher and students,
while that of God and Christians is master and servants. This is a
theological difference. In fact, without the concept of creation in
Hinduism, Taoism or Judaism, Buddhism is not even a theology.

metta,
Yong Peng

--- In Pali@yahoogroups.com, Brian Tawney wrote:
The Buddha came into the world to teach how nibbana might be
attained, but nibbana must still be earned through individual effort
in the form of correct practice. Is this what is called "compassion"?