Budda who went to the West....(became St. Josaphat)

Chosun Ilbo ^ | 06/24/05 | Lee Han-soo

[TigerLikesRooster]

/begin my translation

 

Budda who went to the West....

 

"Not as a religion, but as a legend, spreading from Persia to Greece to Spain"
Institute for East-West Cultural Exchange: "revered as a saint in the Middle Age"

Lee Han-soo hslee@chosun.com 

Date : 2005.06.24

Buddha went to the East as well as to the West, according to a new research. The life and teaching of Buddha born in India spread to China and Korea, eventually to Japan, while it spawned Tibetan Buddhism in the North. It was established as a 'religion' in the East. It spread to many S.E. Asian countries in the South, giving birth to Hyana Buddhism. However, It spread to the West as a 'legend.'

The Institute for East-West Cultural Exchange(head of research group: Lee Jong-hwa, Professor of Myong-ji University) analyzed both Arabic and European literatures in the Middle Age, and argues that 'Buddha legend' spread from Persia to Georgia(Gruzhia) to Greece, and finally to Spain. Buddha was revered as a Christian saint in Medieval Europe. Kim Hun, a lecturer in Seoul National University, who took part in the research published the result in June-July issue of 'Anticus', a humanity-oriented magazine.

The original 'Buddha' or 'Bodhisatta' in Sanskrit, turned up as 'Bodisav' in 6-7th century Manichean literature in Ancient Persian, which in turn appeared as Budahsaf in 8th-century Arabic literature, which turned into 'Iodasaph' in 10th-century Georgian literature. In 11th-century Greek literature, it showed up as a Christian monk 'Ioasaph,' which finally became the Christian saint 'Josaphat' in Spain. The research team suspects that the name of the father of Jesus, 'Ioseph,' is also related to Buddha. 

In the 'Legend of Barlaam and Prince Ioasaph,' the life story of Prince Ioasaph is the exact copy of Buddha's life. The legend is set in India. Born in a royal palace, Prince Ioasaph came across the blind, the sick and the old, awakened to realize the suffering of birth-aging-sickness-death and the emptiness of existence. Just like Budda, he also embarked for the journey of ascetic life and pilgrimage. The only difference is that he met his mentor Barlaam and converted to Christianity.  

This legend spread to Spain in 15-16th century, and was translated into 'Barlaam and Josaphat.' In this story, Josaphat was revered as a saint(St. Josaphat,) who defended Christianity after a religious struggle against his father, King Abenner.

The picture of 'Barlaam and Ioasaph' in a Greek manuscript, 'Mt. Atos, Aviron(?) Monastery No. 463,' which probably dates back to 12th century.  It shows the scene where he(Ioasaph) announce he abdicates his throne and start a life of monk.

/end my translation

[TigerLikesRooster]

An interesting news.

[TigerLikesRooster]

Ping!

[wideawake]

The research team suspects that the name of the father of Jesus, 'Ioseph,' is also related to Buddha.

That claim is preposterous on its face.

[TigerLikesRooster]

Re #3

Yeah, they might have stretched it too far.

[ßuddaßudd]

I went no such place!

[roylene]

Is is probably the most preposterous story I have ever read.
It is to bad they did not include that fact that Buddha abandon his wife and children to find his personal enlightenment .. so much for a committed life.

[TigerLikesRooster]

Re #5

Yes, you did. You have a partial amnesia.:-)

[DarkSavant]

It is to bad they did not include that fact that Buddha abandon his wife and children to find his personal enlightenment .. so much for a committed life

Some christian saints did the same, especially the hermits.

[FormerLib]

Seems as if they got the simple facts about the Saint wrong as well.

St. Josaphat was born in Lithuania about 1580 into a Catholic family and early promoted Catholic unity in a country divided between Orthodox and Catholic. He entered the Byzantine monastery of Holy Trinity in Vilna in 1604 and was elected Catholic archbishop of Polotsk in 1614. While clinging firmly to unity with Rome, he firmly opposed those Latins who saw unity only in Latin terms and would suppress Byzantine traditions in the name of Catholic unity. He firmly opposed the Latinization of his people and made enemies and severe critics among the Latin clergy of Poland.

Politically, the Catholic and Orthodox clergy were rivals in Lithuania, and the archbishopric of Polotsk was one of the contested sees. An Orthodox archbishop of Polotsk was appointed, and Josaphat was accused of taking office invalidly. Many of his Byzantine Catholics were won over to allegiance to Orthodoxy. Even the king of Poland wavered in his support of Josaphat, especially when Polish bishops accused him of betraying his faith by not Latinizing his diocese.

[roylene]

hermits?

[FormerLib]

Pause to note that there can be more than one Saint by that name.

[ßuddaßudd]

I admit nothing, deny everything and will counter with false accusations if needed. just kidding

[ClearCase_guy]

I'm going to wait for Tom Cruise to tell me if this is something I should believe.

[TigerLikesRooster]

Re #9

So maybe it ended in Greece. An improved version is being formed here. We can hone this one to perfection.:-) I like that.

[TigerLikesRooster]

Re #11

In that case, maybe I spoke too soon in the reply #14.:-)

[FormerLib]

As I suspected, the Lithuanian shared the name with another.

Considering the history of the Mar Thoma Christians in India, I have to wonder if there's anything other than a linguistic similarity in the names to tie this to Buddha.

[catonsville]

"Some Christian saints did the same,especially the hermits"

Christian theologian, Augustine, abandoned his lover and their child – although, unlike Augustine, the Buddha left his family in comfort and safety.

[TigerLikesRooster]

RE #16

That could be your next research project. Let me know if you take it up and finish it.:-)

[wideawake]

Couple of other facts:

(1) The Greek text of "Barlaam and Josaphat" - composed by the learned monk St. John Damascene - consists, in large part, of Josaphat and Barlaam arguing in favor of Christianity to King Abenner.

The speeches of these two are basically a verbatim transcription of the Apologion of Aristides, a Greek Christian who argued on behalf of Christianity to Emperor Hadrian in 126. This discovery has been common scholarly knowledge for a century.

(2) Therefore, some suspect that "Barlaam and Josaphat" was written by the Damascene as a conscious literary ploy, creating a text meant to be used to missionize Buddhists.

This makes sense, since it uses the tropes of the life of the Buddha to point to someone higher - Christ.

The argument is made that if the story originally came from Buddhists and was not deliberately constructed by the Damascene, why would the Buddha figure be portrayed as subordinate to Christ?

One thing is certain - the Josaphat story as it was known in the Middle Ages is traceable entirely to the Damascene's text.

We do not know where he got the idea to transform Aristides' Apologion into a hagiographical narrative, but we know exactly where medieval Christians got the story.

[DarkSavant]

There were several people in the early days od christainity when many would wander into the desert to live in absolute solitude. As it turns out, they end up getting a bunch of followers who just won't leave them alone and a monastery is set up. One such prominent person did leave his wife and kids(with or without their permission I don't know). Anyways, I'll try to find the guy and get the bio(saw it on a doc once, it's a little sketchy.)