Barlaam and Josaphat: A Christian Tale of the Buddha

by Gui de Cambrai

  “‘I do not know why I should help you,” his friend responded. ‘It is true that I used to love you, but I do not love you any longer. I am weary of your friendship. I have made many other friends and their company is more honest than yours. I am happy with them now and must go to join them. Because I used to love you, I will give you some old clothing, but I will not give you anything else or help you in any other way. I can be of little service to you.’

  “The steward was saddened by this response. He went to his other friend and humbly asked for his help. He asked his friend to take pity on him in return for all he had done for him. ‘I must defend myself to the king, because of the crimes I committed for your sake,’ the steward explained. ‘I have put myself at risk for you many times! Now help me, I beg you, so I may remain in the king’s good graces.’

  “His friend responded, ‘I cannot listen now. I am busy with other business. Go away and return later, for I have other things to attend to here.’

  “When the steward heard his friend’s excuse, he thought he had lost everything. He left, sad and filled with sorrow, and did not know where to turn since his two friends had failed him. He could not expect his third friend to help him when the first two would not. The steward was afraid. He sought counsel everywhere, and when he found none, he despaired. Finally he went to the third friend, to see whether he could hope for any help from him. He went with his head bowed in sorrow and his face turned away. Sad and anxious, the steward approached his friend. He asked him humbly for forgiveness and bowed before him without pride. His friend welcomed him and received him graciously. He put his arms around his neck and promised that he would use whatever influence he had to help him. ‘Friend,’ he said, ‘you have shown me little love. However, I will do what I can to reconcile you with the king, if he will receive me. I will go before you, and the king will have to arrest me before he can seize you. If the king does not arrest me, I will not allow any harm to come to you. Do not lose hope, for you can trust me. I will go before the court for you. Have confidence in me. I will protect you. I will act as a fortress to keep out your enemies and defend you against them.’

  “The steward marveled that his friend had received him so well and promised to do as much for him. He remembered his own actions and regretted that he had done so little for this friend. ‘I did so much for the others,’ he thought, ‘and they did not care about me at all. I received no help from them. They would not give me anything, and they left me to suffer. I am surprised that this man for whom I did nothing is willing to sacrifice himself and everything he possesses for my sake. He gave me more than I asked for, and he has proven himself a true friend.’”

  The king’s son marveled at the wise man’s story and asked Barlaam to tell him its meaning.

  Barlaam said, “I will explain. Do you know who the first friend is? He represents wealth. Man spends his entire life trying to accumulate wealth, even though it is fatal to him. He runs many risks in order to gain wealth and power, but no matter how hard he works or how rich and powerful he becomes, when his soul leaves his body, his prestige and influence die with him. His heirs will quickly claim his possessions and all he has earned will be of little worth to him. His heirs will not care about his reputation—they will barely remember him. Of all the things he has acquired, he will keep only a shroud, and when he rots in his sepulchre, neither his wealth nor his power will matter.

  “I will tell you about the other friend. A man may be proud when he is rich and powerful in this world and has a wife and children and many friends. But when death takes him, those who shared his company will go with him to his gravesite, and their only act of love will be to bury him. Afterward they will return to their own affairs, and they will not want anything more to do with him.

  “The third friend represents the good deeds of the Christian. The steward did little for this friend, but he willingly offered to help the steward. He risked himself to save him, and he was a good friend when the steward was in danger from his enemies. The other friends failed the steward in his time of need, but the third friend helped him and saved him from the punishment promised by the King who made the world and will judge it.

  “These are the three friends a man finds in the world,” Barlaam continued. “Two of them kill and condemn him, but the goodness of the third redeems him. Two lead him to sorrow. The third earns him the love of the King he betrayed. The third friend remains with him and reconciles him with the Lord, who is full of mercy. Shun the first two friends, and take good care of the third, for whoever neglects the first two and serves the third will save his soul.”

  “Master, I wish to put all the pleasures of the world behind me,” Josaphat responded. “Give me more examples of how to resist them. Show me all you know so that through your teaching I can know the sovereign King who made the whole world and rules it.”

  Barlaam teaches Josaphat to store his treasure in heaven

  “Listen, then,” Barlaam said, “and I will tell you another story that should offer a warning to all. There once was a city, the most beautiful and richest in the land. It was the custom of the nobles there to name a foreigner as king, and they always chose a man who did not know their laws. Each year they chose a king only to replace him the next one. This man served as their ruler for a year, and during that year he could make whatever declarations and laws he wished. The citizens did whatever he asked, until the end of the year. Just when he was most confident in his reign and thought himself safe inside the city walls, the citizens came to him, stripped him naked, and took the kingdom away from him. They dragged him through the city in great shame, then exiled him to an isolated island in the sea. He lived on the island ever after, poor and without succor. He suffered hunger, exposure, poverty, and sorrow without hope of relief, and he paid dearly for the crown he had enjoyed.

  “During this time they elected a wise man to be king, and he tricked them. He accepted the crown and agreed to govern the city. He was not happy about his election and sought to understand the city’s customs. He was troubled and wondered what had become of the kings who had reigned before him. He made inquiries, and a wise man told him of the kingdom’s custom. He learned that the city’s nobles exiled their king every year and chose another, and that when the king had reigned for one year, they shamed and tortured him, and then sent him into exile. This king understood that he would be lost if he did not find some way to avoid the shame and pain he would suffer at the end of his reign. He cared little for the kingdom, and he regretted that he had become its king. He found the honor dishonorable, because it would bring him shame. ‘It is a cursed power that leads to such a shameful end,’ the king thought.

  “He pondered his situation and came to a decision. He had the doors of his treasury opened secretly, and he removed quantities of silver and gold, rich cloth, and all manner of precious stones and sent them to the island where he would be exiled when he lost his throne. He consigned them to faithful men who swore an oath of loyalty to him, and he provisioned the island well. When his reign ended, the citizens seized his crown and sent him to the island. They treated him just as they had treated all the others. But this man had prepared ahead of time. He arrived on the island and found the wealth and the treasure—the precious stones and the silver and the gold—that had been sent there on his orders. He would have great abundance forever.

  “The foolish kings who had come before him were imprudent. They did not see that the agreement begun so well would end so badly, and they finished their reigns helpless and impoverished. They were sent to the island of the lost and dwelled forever in need. They never had joy or pleasure again, and they lived in great sorrow. But this last king acted prudently. His wise thoughts and his good heart led him to prepare a rich retreat where he enjoyed happiness and honor forever.

  “The city in this story can help you understand this world,” Barlaam said. “The citizens are like the devils. They are the constables of this world an
d elevate us like kings with wealth and worldly power. But later we are dishonored, for while the body pursues and takes pleasure in the riches and abundance of this life, death cuts short its reign. When a man loses his life, the citizens come and find him empty, vain, naked, and impoverished, and then they give him his just reward. They exile him to an isolated island, and the place they send him is hell. They send him into danger and exile his soul. The good king wished to learn the truth and came to understand the customs of the world. Through good instruction, he found the path of good faith and became its lord and king.

  “The councilors who taught him are like the preachers who exhort us to leave behind this world where serfs would be lords. They are like me. I have shown you both joy and sorrow. You will have joy if you know how to win it, and you will have sorrow, even in the little time you remain in the world. Your thoughts are your treasure and you can draw the fine gold of your salvation from them. Friend, put your riches in the place where you will have most need of them.

  “When I lived in the world, I loved it very much, but then I understood that my happiness was a dangerous illusion. I understood that whoever lives fully in this life receives a poor reward. I saw that the man who had the most still remained poor and sorrowful: he was impoverished in his wealth and powerless in his might. He found no happiness in his possessions, and he was beggared in his wealth, lost in his own path, sorrowful and sad in his joy. I saw that his good health was in fact infirmity, his truth a lie, and his great estate impoverished. He was dead while he lived. Such is the world and its fruits, which always end in death.

  “I was in the world for a long time, as I have told you,” Barlaam continued. “I saw its privileges and its glory, its power and its fame, its cruelty and its splendor, its sovereignty and its valor. I rejected it all, for it will all perish. I saw that everyone dies and that they are nothing once they are dead. I also saw that the devil makes new friends frequently. He makes one man a king and the other a count, but to the third he brings great shame. He makes one man poor and the other rich, the third generous and the fourth miserly. Worldly wealth is acquired through hard work, and when a man is rich he has more cares because he fears the loss of his wealth, and if he loses it, he sorrows. The devil works against those who use reason to understand the world. He takes many forms and provokes us in many ways. He makes the foolish man appear wise and the wise man appear foolish.

  “If your desire is to love the world, you should ignore my sermon and wait to receive the crown from your father, who is deranged by his power and ever more lost. Friend, consider the end of this world—all men will die, both highborn and low. That is their certain fate. Whoever loves the world remains loyal to its pleasures. Evil misleads him and he acts against what is right. For this reason, I beg and beseech you to reject the pleasures of the world and its vanities—they will deceive you. Nothing lasts and everything returns to nothing. Purify your wisdom and your knowledge. Take your treasure and your wealth and send them where you will be forever in joy. If you wish to be with God on high in heavenly glory, you must seek him with your whole heart.”

  Josaphat said, “Tell me again how I can send my treasure there. Show me and make me wise.”

  “I will tell you,” said Barlaam. “Open your treasury and give generously to the poor. You can find happiness in relieving their poverty. Be merciful and charitable, and give to whoever asks. Be noble and kind. Be a good father to orphans and help them as though they were your brothers. The poor are the messengers through whom you may send your wealth to the island if you would seek heavenly joy.”

  Josaphat learns about reason and will

  “Is this religion you teach newly established, or did the apostles preach it before through signs?”

  “Good friend,” Barlaam replied, “It would be wrong to teach a false belief. What I tell you is not new. I repeat and renew what God preached and showed us through parables.

  “I will tell you about a rich man who came to ask God what he could do to earn divine glory through his faith. God told him, ‘Give your wealth to the poor, for you must become poor if you wish to enter my kingdom.’ The rich man did not do what God instructed. He kept his wealth and his sin was multiplied. I tell you this directly: a camel can no more pass through the eye of a needle than a rich man can enter paradise. This is the commandment that Jesus Christ taught to all, and whoever will not heed it condemns himself. The saints understood it and had it proclaimed to all. Some follow this commandment by suffering martyrdom. Others flee the world to live as hermits and repent, each according to his own conscience. This is the sovereign commandment that God announces to all people: to withdraw from this vain world in order to seek understanding and do good deeds. Only through great effort is anyone saved while living in the world, and whoever will deprive himself of this world will be a king and lord in the other. This is the true philosophy. Those who understand this other life leave evil and do good. This commandment is most ancient, and it has been followed from the first generation.”

  “Good master, tell me how this can be,” said Josaphat. “If the commandment was truly made so long ago, then everyone should follow it in good faith, or so I believe.”

  The holy man replied, “Many men have followed this commandment, but many rejected it when they saw that the rewards were so long deferred. The first faith has been lost by many, for they will not look to the future. All are called by the same voice. Some say, ‘Lord, I am coming,’ and others pull back. Some do good, others do evil, and those who are the most disloyal believe that they have found a better faith and that their religion is better. All men are free to act according to reason. They can do wrong when they wish, and when they wish, they can leave what is wrong behind. They have the power to embrace the world or to leave it, according to their own will. They can do good or abandon it. They can repent or they can sin.”

  “Show me more clearly where such freedom comes from and why man has it,” said Josaphat.

  “I will show you through logic,” Barlaam responded. “The freedom to judge is given to all men, for man has reason through his soul, and he deliberates using reason. First he uses his reason to identify choices, and then, through deliberation, he chooses. He has a scale in his thoughts, and he weighs his thoughts in order to choose among them. His will is free and it is in his power to choose what he desires, no matter how much his thoughts distract him. Whatever is in his thoughts directs his desires, for good or for evil. His desires advise him, and he is ready to do whatever they counsel. But in fact one desire is always more urgent than another. Desires are diverse, and so are their strengths, and their strength affects how badly a man wants something.

  “If you want to understand this better, consider the veins of the earth. A spring that issues from high in the mountains gives pleasing sweet water. Water also comes from below the earth. One water is sweet and the other bitter. One is clear and the other cloudy. Similarly, thoughts are sorted by reason. One is clear and the other cloudy. One is good and the other bad. One is from above, another is from below, and others from deeper still. But thoughts come and go among the desires. From the many thoughts a man may have, a thousand desires are born. Desires are not equal, but a man uses reason to weigh his choices and choose which he will pursue.”

  “Master,” said the king’s son, “please tell me: are you all alone or are there others who preach as you do?”

  “Friend, I do not know of any in your country,” Barlaam answered. “Your father drove them out, and he martyred many of them, for he does not care about God. What I tell you is taken from the holy scriptures—the prophets foretold these things, the apostles taught them, the Gospels showed them to me, and I have recounted them to you. Throughout the world there are many Christians who follow this life, and there are many good preachers, priests, and pastors who know what I have taught you. I came to you—I do not hide it—with the intention of teaching you what I know, for you were in great need.”<
br />
  “Now tell me, brother, why have I never heard my father speak of these commandments, if they were told to other people?”

  “He has heard them, but he did not understand them, because hatred and fear fill his heart and blind him. He gives himself over completely to evil.”

  “Good friend, I wish he had learned and understood enough that good might come to him.”

  Barlaam said, “I will tell you what you should do. You must look to God’s mercy, for he can save him. If you put everything into his hands, good friend, in your faith you can become a father to your father. You will cause your father to be reborn if you can convince him to believe.

  “I will tell you a story I once heard about a king. He was noble, from a great lineage, and he was very brave. He was a good man, generous to his people, and very wise, but he did not believe in God. He had a councilor whom he loved and cherished. This man was wise and valiant, and he believed in God. It weighed on him that his lord was so misguided, and he would have corrected him, but his fear held him back. He was afraid that if he spoke about God, his lord would be angry and condemn him. He did not wish to lose the king’s love because of his faith. He was wise and waited for the time and the place to reason with him and show him the truth. If he had not feared the king’s anger, he would have already debated with him in good faith.