The Buddha of Christendom

A Review of The Legend of Barlaam and Josaphat

Bibliographic Data

ID20311342
AuthorsPhilip C Almond (0000-0002-3172-1981, The University of Queensland, corresponding author), Philip Almond
Year1987
Volume23
Issue3
Pages391-406
Publication date1987-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueReligious Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0034-4125 • E-ISSN: 1469-901X
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0034412500018941
OpenAlexW2133558463
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited13

Through the Manichaeans, the Islamic world, and the Christian East, the story of the Buddha became known to the Christian West. If the teachings of the Buddha reached the West in an attenuated form, his life and the ascetic ideal which it symbolized were a positive force in the spiritual life of Christendom. It is one of the vicissitudes of history for which Christianity and Buddhism can both feel grateful. For the Legend of Barlaam and Josaphat demonstrates powerfully the intimate connections between these two traditions to the extent that they both pursue the spiritual life and the ascetic ideal. As Max Müller has aptly put it Whatever we may think of the sanctity of saints, let those who doubt the right of Buddha to a place among them read the story of his life as it is told in the Buddhist canon. If he lived the life which is there described, few saints have a better claim to the title than Buddha; and no one either in the Greek or in the Roman Church need be ashamed of having paid to Buddha's memory the honour that was intended for St Josaphat, the prince, the hermit, and the saint

Art · Art history · Asceticism · Buddhism · Christianity · Epistemology · Gautama Buddha · Ideal (ethics) · Legend · Literature · SAINT · Theology · Eurasian Exchange Networks · Historical, Religious, and Philosophical Studies · Indian and Buddhist Studies · Philosophy · Religious studies

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