The two Christian saints who are the Buddha
Recorded: Sept. 8, 2026, 3:08 p.m.
| Original | Summarized |
The two Christian saints who are secretly the Buddha – Signore Galilei Skip to content Signore Galilei Blog MoreNew? Start here!All postsAboutBooksOther works The two Christian saints who are secretly the Buddha Let me tell you the story of saints Barlaam and Josaphat of India. A king named Abenner, who persecutes Christians, hears from his court astrologers that his son will attain great power and rule over India. But one astrologer predicts that the prince will instead become a great holy man – a Christian. Alarmed, Abenner has the young prince Josaphat isolated from external contact and sees that Josaphat is pampered, with servants attending to his every need. The story of Barlaam and Josaphat first shows up in the Christian tradition in the 10th century, in Georgia as the Balavariani. It seems to have been derived from an Arabic version, the Book of Bilawhar and Budhasaf. The name “Budhasaf” in turn comes from the Persian version “Bodisav”, and thence from the Sanskrit “Bodhisattva”. Somewhere over the successive retellings, the Buddha’s story morphed into a Christian one. All this tells me that there’s something about our relationship with the divine and the sacred that transcends individual eras and places. A place or a festival or a story that appeals to our common senses of awe or morality or wisdom can reach people of any faith tradition. Perhaps they’ll interpret it through their own lens, of course. But in the end, isn’t that all we have? 1 The Balavariani (Barlaam and Josaphat), a Buddhist Tale from the Christian East. David Marshall Lang, translator. 1966. Via Archive.org https://archive.org/details/LangBalavariani 2 https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2026/11/19/100292-saints-barlaam-the-monk-and-prince-ioasaph-of-india 3 https://docs.filologi.no/barlaam.pdf 4 https://www.philology.no/barlaam 5 https://web.archive.org/web/20190408161730/https://www.nationalgeographic.org/media/dia-de-los-muertos/ 6 The Jesus sutras. Martin Palmer, 2001. https://archive.org/details/jesussutrasredis00palm/page/n9/mode/2up Share this: Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) signoregalilei Leave a ReplyCancel reply ←How to find an eclipse around another planet
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The story of the Christian saints Barlaam and Josaphat of India presents a parallel structure with the narrative of the Gautama Buddha, suggesting a deep interconnectedness in the perception of the divine across religious traditions. The core narrative involves a king named Abenner who faces a prediction from astrologers regarding his son’s fate. While some predict great power, others foresee Josaphat becoming a great holy man and a Christian. Alarmed by this, Abenner isolates the prince, but Josaphat eventually encounters suffering and is introduced to Christianity through the hermit Barlaam. Despite his father's efforts, Josaphat embraces the Christian faith, and later, after Abenner also converts, Josaphat retreats to the desert to become a monk. This narrative mirrors elements of the Buddha’s story, reflecting a shared trajectory concerning spiritual seeking and transformation. This specific tale entered the Christian tradition in the 10th century in Georgia as the Balavariani. The lineage of this story reveals complex historical influence, appearing in various forms through different linguistic and cultural intermediaries. It appears to have been derived from an Arabic version known as the Book of Bilawhar and Budhasaf, which is linked to the Persian version Bodisav, ultimately stemming from the Sanskrit term Bodhisattva. Through successive retellings, the Buddha’s story was transformed into a Christian narrative. The story was subsequently embraced by various Christian churches, with references noted in older versions of martyrology within the Roman Catholic Church and various Orthodox traditions. Further dissemination occurred through translations reaching as far as Iceland and eastward to Asia, exemplified by a Japanese translation made by Jesuit missionaries in 1591. Western historians have recognized the similarities between the Barlaam and Josaphat story and the life of the Buddha for centuries, citing its mention even in early printed editions of Marco Polo’s travels from 1446. However, it was only in the mid-nineteenth century that this derivation from the Buddha was generally acknowledged by scholars. This historical observation underscores a broader principle: world religions have consistently influenced one another throughout their contact. The text further elaborates that religious and cultural monuments often serve as holy sites for local populations even as specific faiths shift, illustrating Christianity's capacity to absorb other traditions, such as the combination of Indigenous and Spanish festivals into the Day of the Dead. Conversely, concepts from Christianity have also been integrated into other faiths, such as the so-called Jesus Sutras from the seventh century, which reinterpret Christian teachings from a Taoist and Buddhist perspective. Ultimately, this interaction suggests that the human relationship with the divine and the sacred transcends specific eras and geographical locations. A story or concept that appeals to fundamental human sentiments of awe, morality, or wisdom can resonate across diverse faith traditions, even if each group interprets it through its own distinct lens. |