Barlaam and Josaphat: A Christian Tale of the Buddha

by Gui de Cambrai

  And so things remained there, as between a text and its gloss, and a great gap requires great caution. But the holy church would take her share even from among the king’s councilors who despised her and sacrificed to ancient idols. One of these men was noble, wealthy, and very handsome. He denounced the king’s sins and left his service, abandoning his land, his household, his domain, and his wealth. He exchanged all the king’s marks of favor for the life of a hermit. The king loved this councilor above all men, but his vassal did not care for the world and left it behind, to purify himself of his sins and worship the Lord who dwells on high.

  When the king heard about the man’s departure, he was sorely tried. He lamented the loss of his good friend, and his heart was filled with hatred for the Christians and the life they led. King Avenir wished to avenge his anger, so he sent messengers to the Christians’ hermitage, instructing them to search everywhere until they found the vassal who had abandoned the king. The messengers found the man and brought him back to court. He came without a wealthy entourage: he appeared impoverished, but he was rich inside. The king said to him, “What a state you are in! What happened to your wealth and wisdom? Where are your honor and prowess? You were a lord, and now you are a serf. See what kind of master you serve! The man who would keep his servant in such misery is a bad overlord. What are you thinking? Your pride and your honor have turned to shame! Nature has been denied! You have forgotten what is right and you fight against nature, for it is a sin to have no pity for your children! You have forgotten the name of your father, and you do not remember your children or their mother. They are your flesh! They are your limbs! Why have you done this? Explain it to me! Alas, what an evil time this is. Your thoughts are secret and your intentions harsh—why would you exchange wealth for poverty?”

  When the man of God understood what the pagan king wanted from him, he responded willingly and joyfully. He said to him carefully, “If you wish to listen to reason, you must banish two enemies at your court.”

  The king responded, “Ha, foolish man! You who were once my dear friend, speak to me and show me my enemies.”

  “King, listen and understand,” the man responded humbly. “The enemies I describe are anger and greed. Whoever seeks to understand with his heart must renounce these two things, for anger overcomes and destroys a man, and greed shames him. Sire, these two are your enemies. But if you will listen to a friend’s advice, replace anger and greed with wisdom and justice. Then you will be able to devote yourself to learning what is good. Reason uses the understanding of wisdom and justice to bring those who have strayed into the right path.”

  “I will listen to you, do not fear,” the king answered. “Teach me where you first learned this foolishness.”

  The hermit was quick to reply. “Reason and rectitude have taught me that it is futile to love this dying world,” he said. “Happiness that will quickly end offers poor pleasure. This world is inconstant, and the man who devotes himself most fervently to it suffers the greatest loss and destruction. The more he attains, the more he desires; he lives in pain and he will dwell in loss. When I was young, I heard it said that everyone should despise the world, and that is wise advice. The man who seeks God must renounce the world and should not spend his time seeking wealth or possessions. He must place his hope in the sovereign good that is God on high, he who descended to this world for our sakes. He lived and died for us and saved us with his death. He was willing to come down here for us (and his divinity was not lessened because he came to earth to seek and redeem us). Our Lord became our servant when he accepted martyrdom on the cross for our sakes. Because of the sin of the apple bite, our Lord took the form of a man to save us, and all those made in his form are redeemed by his death. Your lord, the devil, sought to martyr our Lord, but he was vanquished by the cross. God in his glory defeated him, and God’s victory revealed that his human form covered a divine nature.

  “King, now listen and understand, for I do not fear your threats. God is against you, for whoever hates God will never have a share in his inheritance, in which all good things will be given and received. You are not good, and for this reason you are separated from God, who made you in his image. Do you think you are equal to your Creator? You are a creature, and you do not recognize who created you! Serve your Creator. He may well reward you, for he is a merciful Lord, but you must submit yourself to his service. King, become both a king and a servant. You will earn a great realm and uphold a just kingdom. Neither pride nor evil should hinder anyone who seeks such a realm. This world is but darkness and shadows. False belief blinds the pagans, and their pleasures cover them in shadow. It is a serious wager to give up everything and receive nothing in return.

  “King, I left you and your love because of your false belief. God is my Lord and my Father, my companion and my brother. He is my Lord because I am his servant and will serve him all my days. He is my Father because he created me and formed me in his image. He is my companion because he was tempted, but his power and his divinity protected him from sin, for to sin is contrary to him. He is my brother because he became a man. If he will help me in my present plight, I will fear no threat. I care nothing for you, your empire, your vassals, your prowess, your sovereignty, or your crown, for you should know that it all comes from him.”

  The king was furious. He would have threatened his vassal harshly but for the promise he had made him. “Oh wretched man,” said the king, “my oath protects you. I would take revenge for your slander if my faith did not restrain me. I will suffer your insults in order to keep my promise. You have poisoned me with your base and foolish words. Rise and leave this place, for I am no longer your friend! If I find you again, you will pay dearly for your foolish claims!” The man departed sad and full of regret that he had not been martyred. The king remained in his court and angrily commanded his people to kill the Christians. Never before had the Christians been so cruelly persecuted by King Avenir.

  King Avenir’s son is born

  While King Avenir was foolishly following a path he thought would lead to honor, a son of great beauty was born to him, and the king held him most dear. Nature took great pains in forming the child, and a more beautiful boy could not be found in any land. His countenance foretold his destiny and prefigured the flower that would grow from the seed. King Avenir named his son Josaphat and wished to demonstrate his happiness at the boy’s birth. He prayed with thanks to all his gods, but he was foolish and deluded. He did not acknowledge the Creator to whom he should have offered his gratitude, for the devil caused him not to believe.

  The king organized great festivities to celebrate the birth of his son, and he sacrificed many bulls, cows, and other animals to appease his gods. All the people of India came to the celebration, because they feared the king, and all who came made sacrifices. The king received his people with great honor, thanking them for the sacrifices they offered and giving them many gifts.

  Astronomers well versed in the arts of magic and deception attended the celebration—there were fifty-five of them, I believe. By the king’s order, each foretold the future of the newborn Josaphat. Many said that he would be brave and wise, and that he would surpass all other kings in wealth, power, rank, and valor. One astronomer knew more than the others and saw Josaphat’s future more clearly. “Sire, I will not lie,” he said to the king. “I will tell you truthfully what I saw: the son you have from your wife will never care about your kingdom. He will seek a higher realm, and he will be the lord of a better land. If the stars do not lie, he will become one of the people we call Christians.” The king was sad and worried by this prophecy, but the joy of his son’s birth made him forget his sorrow.

  Later, when the king had thought further about the astronomer’s prediction, he had a palace built a short distance outside the city. It was constructed with great skill, and the king had all its rooms richly decorated. He spared no expense, and the palace he built was most beautiful. He was concerned abo
ut his son and believed he could change the boy’s destiny. The child grew and became handsome—soon he was a young man. When he reached an age of understanding, his father had him taken to the rooms prepared for him in the palace. The king’s plan was evil. He sent the boy’s household with him, and he locked young men of his son’s age inside, giving them firm instructions. “Hide all of life’s ills from him, and do not let him know that all things in the world must die,” the king commanded. “Do not let him see any sadness, infirmity, death, old age, or poverty. He should believe that there is nothing but pleasure in the world. Let him see only joy and happiness. Do not wound his sensibility with anything that causes anger, and keep him from hearing anything at all about this Lord of the Christians. If one of his guards becomes ill, be sure that he is immediately taken from the palace so the prince does not see him. Replace the guard with a handsome, healthy, and valiant man, so the child does not see or understand that there are such things as wounds or infirmities in the world.”

  The king arranged the pleasures of the palace to convince his son that there was nothing in the world beyond what he could see. He thought he could deceive the child in this way. To protect his son, the king issued a decree commanding that there should no longer be any Christians in his lands. The king swore that any who remained would die a painful death.

  The story recounts that there was a rich and noble count in Avenir’s court who believed in the Christian God, but he concealed his belief because he feared the king. Envious men spoke against him constantly, because of his faith and valor, for evil and pride cannot tolerate wisdom and rectitude. These slanderers often spoke to the king, accusing men and denouncing those who would defend them. (No one should attack a man who seeks to defend the true faith.)

  One day the king went to hunt in the forest, and I believe he took with him more than two thousand men to share his pleasure, including the count who believed in God. The king enjoyed the pursuit of pleasure, but he began to think about the count and the accusations against him, and he did not know what to believe.

  While the king hunted in the forest with his great company of men, the count who had cast his lot with God went in a different direction. He knew the woods well and he rode alone, far from the others, because he sought solitude. As he rode, he looked ahead and saw a gravely wounded man. A wild animal had eaten one of his feet. The wounded man saw the count, who did not stop, and called loudly to ask him to take mercy and to carry him home since he could not walk there. “My noble lord,” he called, “carry me away from here and you will earn a great reward.” The wounded man’s plea touched the count’s heart and lightened his sadness. Because he pitied the man, and because it was right, he agreed to carry him to his house. It was fortunate for the wounded man that his home was nearby and his pain would soon be relieved.

  “Tell me,” the count said, “and do not lie, what profit can come to me from this service?”

  The wounded man replied, “I am a learned man, a doctor of words. No man was ever as accomplished as I am, nor as well trained to counsel others on how to avoid evil.” When the count heard what the wounded man said, he did not give it much weight. He took the man to his house and gave him provisions.

  The men who were eager to betray the count told the king that he was a Christian. (No good man ever lived without causing envy.) They accused him repeatedly and warned the king that the Christians took courage from the fact that this man who shared their religion was close to the king.

  “They try to bring down your religion with their cunning. Noble king, mete out justice on them! If you will trust us, we can tell you how to test him. Say to him, ‘Friend, I know that I have done wrong. I sinned against the Christians when I had them driven out of my country. Now I will be baptized. If you will counsel me, I will leave this religion.’ Then you will know for certain whether we are right.”

  The king did not see the treachery in this advice, nor did he understand the intention hidden behind its logic. He called the count aside and repeated the words scripted by those who had no desire for the good. “My friend,” said the king, “I have loved you greatly, and so it is right that I tell you all my thoughts and plans. I have done evil things to the Christians, and yet their faith seems righteous to me. I believe I was foolish to persecute and destroy them. Now I repent, for our gods are worthless compared to the God of the Christians. This world is full of vanity and evil: the Christians’ lives are more peaceful than ours. By converting I will prove that whoever would abandon worldly pleasures can rejoice, for renown is worth nothing, as is my kingdom and its glory. I can gain no greater glory than baptism. Now counsel me with your wisdom!”

  The count did not perceive the deception, and he responded simply as a man of good faith. “King, one thing surprises me: where have you found such resolve? It is laudable to do good deeds, and everyone should learn to recognize what is good. The things that seem good in this life are filled with evil and folly. This world will soon pass away, and everything begun here will come to an end. The world began from nothing, and it will return to nothing. God made all things in the beginning, and everything was made as he commanded. Beginning without beginning, end without end! Whoever has discernment should understand the precept that God has neither end nor beginning. All things began in him and all will finish in him. Without him nothing we see has any value. Leave your gods and believe in the Creator of the world and everything it holds! This life is filled with sadness, and any happiness found here soon fades and comes to an end. All the world and its pleasures are fleeting.

  “The faith of Christians is certain and firm. They put all their hope in God, and they know with certainty that God prepares a reward for them according to their acts. This temporal life promises a man something he cannot have, for in the end he must die. That death is not honorable and its sorrow is eternal. King, be wise. Direct your will and deepen your desire to receive such a great reward.”

  The king was angry when he heard the count’s response, but he said nothing. The count was perceptive and wise, and he recognized the king’s disappointment. He saw that his lord’s heart was troubled, and he left the court pondering how he could make peace with the king, for he greatly feared his anger. He spent the whole night in thought, and then he remembered the man who had said he was a doctor of words. He sent for him and asked for his advice—he had great need of counsel.

  The count told the word doctor everything: how the king had tested him and how he had replied. He said the king had avoided answering, but he recognized the king’s anger and perceived his own peril. The word doctor understood that the count was in danger from the king. The count asked for his help and offered him a generous reward in exchange for good counsel. “Sire,” the man replied, “listen to me. Tonsure your head and exchange your clothes for a hair shirt, then go to the king. When he asks why you have come, tell him, ‘I have renounced the world out of love for you. I will leave this world, as you suggested yesterday, for your sake. I will do all you ask. I have come here prepared to follow you.’”

  The count was pleased by this advice, and he did exactly as the word doctor suggested. When he arrived at court, the king was taken aback by his appearance, and when he heard his friend’s words, he perceived his honesty and true love, and his earlier doubts were removed. He saw the count’s sincerity and judged that the accusations of his disloyalty were false. The king absolved his friend of suspicion and honored him, to show his favor. But his anger toward the Christians in his land grew, and his war against them became more violent.

  One day King Avenir went hunting and saw two Christian monks. He had them seized and asked why they had come into his land. “You deceivers of men,” said the king, “what brings you into my realm? Do you not fear the proclamations that were cried, warning that if you were found in my lands, you would be killed? Do you wish to remain here?”

  “Sire, no, we do not wish to stay. We were only going to buy food. We left y
our lands in accordance with your ban, but we came back here to seek provisions.”

  The king replied, “You made a bad choice. Do you fear hunger more than death? Anyone who fears death seeks only to escape it.”

  “King, you do not know how strongly one should fear death,” they replied. “Only those who are saved can escape the death that takes us all. We have left the pleasures of the world because they kill the soul along with the body. We do not believe there is any escape from death, and good men who live as we do are glorified when they die. We do not fear death, for we know that whoever lives in goodness does not truly die but passes to a great reward.”

  The king replied, “Listen to me. You lie! If you do not fear death, why did you flee from my threats? Unless I take mercy on you, death has now found you, since you did not stay away.”

  “King, we do not fear your threats of death, nor do we recognize your laws, but out of pity for you we will leave your lands so your sins will not multiply. However, we are not afraid to die.”

  The king was very angry and had them burned immediately. He commanded that any Christian man or woman remaining in his lands should be executed.

  Josaphat leaves his palace

  While the king was persecuting Christians, his son was locked away in his palace. He spent his days more wisely than his father did, strengthening his heart with knowledge. All who saw him marveled at his learning. He cultivated his body and his soul, but he cared more for his soul than for his body. The king marveled at his son’s beauty and wisdom, and he forbade his men to tell Josaphat anything about sadness or death. But human nature cannot be hidden, especially from a child so gifted with wisdom and discernment. Josaphat understood that his father did not want anyone to speak to him about the things of this life. He wondered about the reason for the interdiction and often asked himself, “Why has my father, the king, done this? He does not want anyone to teach me, and I do not know why.” The youth often sought to understand his father’s decision to isolate him in his retreat, and he always concluded that his father would do nothing that was not for his good. Then he began to consider whether he should ask his father why he had him guarded so closely in his palace and why he lived with so few people. He resolved to do it, then he reconsidered. “My father would not have hidden it from me if he wanted me to know,” he thought. Instead, he chose one of his servants and opened his heart to him, asking why and to what end his father had isolated him in the palace. “Good friend,” said Josaphat, “if you wish to keep my friendship, tell me why I am locked in this prison.”