Via Adiaphora:

“[W. H.] Auden was delighted to read [Joseph] Campbell on the hero in 1946. In 1953 Campbell lectured at Smith and said that Jesus and the Buddha were the same in effect: they were both attacked by spears, but in the Buddha’s case, the spears turned into flowers. And Auden shouted from the back of the room, ‘ON GOOD FRIDAY THE SPEARS WERE REAL.’”