In this podcast episode, we explore two remarkably similar, yet theologically opposite, stories: the Christian Parable of the Prodigal Son and the Buddhist Parable of the Lost Son from the Lotus Sūtra. Both feature a son who leaves his wealthy father, falls into hardship, and eventually returns. However, as this episode discusses, the core problem and its solution in each story are fundamentally different. We begin by examining the Christian parable from the Gospel of Luke, where the son's willful rebellion and sin are met with the father's immediate, unconditional grace and forgiveness. The discussion then moves to the Buddhist parable, where the son's issue is not sin but a deep-seated ignorance of his own identity and worth. His father, representing the Buddha, devises a patient, multi-decade plan of "skillful means" to gradually help the son realize his inherent Buddha-nature. This podcast concludes with a direct comparison, analyzing how these narratives define the human condition as a problem of either sin or ignorance, and the path to homecoming as one of either divine grace or cultivated self-realization.