Barlaam and Josaphat: A Christian Tale of the Buddha

by Gui de Cambrai

  Nachor spoke reasonably and did not seek to quarrel. He demonstrated his learning before the king and his people by refuting the Greeks. He showed that they should not believe in the deity of Venus: “This Adonis, her lover, do you not know how he died? I will tell you the truth, for I know it well. It is true that he was a very good hunter. (The story would be too long if I were to tell you how he came to her and then what happened to him, so I will tell you only a part.) One day Adonis went hunting with his dogs (this pagan was wise and knew the forest well). He was very tired when he came upon a great boar, and it attacked him. Adonis understood that he would die if he could not defend himself, but he had not expected danger and was unarmed. The boar charged, struck him in the groin, and killed him. Venus despaired at his death. She cries for him still and will continue to mourn as long as the world endures.

  “King, consider my words, and acknowledge that the Greeks have been defeated. They have responded poorly and their claims are found false. I have proven to you that they speak falsehoods. They betray themselves, for they would have you believe things that can be disproved by logic. They make gods out of licentious men and thieves. We know that we should not believe in these gods or serve them, nor should we worship or cherish them. We should not do anything for them if they sin against God.

  “Good king, my lord, you have heard what the Greeks had to say,” Nachor continued. “You have heard the Chaldeans, and now you will hear the Egyptians, and you will see how well they speak and with what reasoning they will try to defend their faith. Listen well to how they will try to prove their religion before me. You will hear the disputation and you will judge whether they are able to use reason to prove that they are right. If they wish to speak before I do, I would first tell them that their belief is just as bad as those we have already heard about, and according to God, we hold it to be false. But if none dares to come forward, then I will speak to show reason through logic and without dispute. You are the king and you will judge who will have the upper hand.”

  Ptolemy was born in Egypt, and it grieved him to see Nachor disdain his religion, so he spoke up loudly. He marveled that the king never said a word and that he did not show anger either before or after Nachor spoke. Ptolemy himself was angry that the king did not say anything.

  This Ptolemy of whom I speak was the most learned man in the world in physics and astronomy. I do not lie when I tell you that he was the son of that Ptolemy who killed his lord Pompey. Caesar had exiled Pompey and led a great war against him. Pompey fled and came to Ptolemy, who was his vassal and held his fief from him.1 He came to Ptolemy for protection, but Ptolemy saw his lord was weak and vulnerable, and he betrayed and killed him because he wanted to serve Caesar and do his will. He cut off Pompey’s head and presented it to Caesar. “My lord,” he said, “I come to tell you that I have ended your war. Let peace be my reward. I have earned your love by killing my lord for you.” “I am truly sad that it is so,” said Caesar. “I will give you your reward according to the words of your own song: you are an enemy to us all since you have killed your lord. I could not trust you if you would kill your lord without hesitation. You have earned not love but death.” He had him seized immediately and beheaded in front of his people. This is the kind of love and reward that traitors should receive.

  The Ptolemy who stood before the king was the son of that Ptolemy executed by Caesar for the murder of his lord. He was a wise cleric, very learned and respected. He was a noble man from a great lineage and spoke well in his own language. (His speech would have been faultless if there had been any truth in what he said.) “I don’t know who you are,” said Ptolemy, “but you are too rash. The Egyptians have a better religion than any I see here. You are foolish, and I am dismayed that you would contradict us in this way. Our religion cannot be denied, and you cannot dispute it, for there is no lie in it.”

  Nachor responded courteously: “You speak reasonably, and I regret that you have fallen into such error, for I see you are a wise and handsome man and appear to come from a noble family. But attend to my words if you would understand my argument that the Egyptians are foolish and know little about what is good.

  “They lack good sense when they make Isis their goddess. This Isis about whom I speak took her brother Osiris as her husband. They had a son named Horus, who was a handsome young man and looked like his father. Typhon killed Osiris, who was his brother, and Horus took vengeance for it—he avenged his father and uncle against his uncle.

  “This is good material for gods!” Nachor exclaimed. “Everyone should believe in them! Their divinity is good and true! King Avenir, for God’s sake, their foolishness is obvious. Do not believe the Egyptians, for they lie openly to you. Their belief is clearly wrong—we really should not even listen to them. They make a sheep into a god, and a bull and a heifer, a crocodile and a pig. They make gods of an eagle and a hawk. Against all reason they make a cat into a god, and a wolf, a dog, or a dragon. Since there is no logic in any of that, let them understand according to reason that they cannot defend their gods, because their powers are too weak.” The Egyptians, the Greeks, and the Chaldeans heard that he had argued well against them.

  “I marvel at one thing,” Nachor continued. “That devils persuade them to make gods out of murderers and traitors! The books of philosophers and poets have revealed the falsity of their belief. The books about their faith that have been translated have not revived it. King, consider reason now, since I have put the question to rest: the ancient authorities tell us that the gods are of one nature, but since one of their gods can kill another, the nature of these gods is divided. When one is condemned by the other, the gods’ will is divided since they do not share a common desire, and they do not care about what is right since they act against nature. The stories that preserve their memory are fictions. Physics and astronomy show them to be wrong, and these gods’ divinity is proved only by allegory. I will show you more, if you will hear it, King. You know that the Egyptians, the Greeks, and the Chaldeans do not believe in the Creator, nor do they know him as Lord. Now let us consider how the Jews believe.

  “When God liberated them from Egypt, he held them dear. They had lived as wretched slaves in the service of Pharaoh. God parted the sea and they passed through. The water never touched them, but those who pursued them were drowned when the sea closed again. Moses, their master, announced their salvation to them, but they did not heed him and betrayed themselves through their lack of faith. The scriptures tell us that Moses wrote the law in Sinai. The Jews did not understand it, and their belief was wrong.

  “Prophets announced the coming of our Lord, according to their religion. My lord, good king, listen to me. He was born among them, but they did not recognize their Lord. He took flesh and blood in the virgin Saint Mary, and she never had the company of a man. This is the truth: her virginity was not damaged or destroyed, corrupted or violated. She was a virgin before and a virgin afterward, she remained a virgin then and is one now. Despite her virginity, by truth, miracle, reason, and power, our Lord became human in her and was born among us through this miracle. He willingly suffered death: they put him on a cross like a thief, and he accepted it in order to redeem us. Then, by his commandment, on the third day he was resurrected. For forty days he spoke with his disciples, and each day he showed them how they should preach his Holy Name. After forty days they saw our Lord raised into heaven. The apostles went throughout the world and preached the sacraments of Christianity, and for this reason they are called Christians. One of them, I believe, came to preach in this country and announced the holy law that Christians hold in faith.2

  “They followed the truth, and those who follow it today will be great lords in paradise forever. Christians have a true belief, for they know God truly and they believe in him. This makes them true Christians. They are bound by truth, and there is no untruth in them. Their religion does not mislead them, for they believe in the light that illuminates the whole world. If
you consider it carefully, you will see that I do not deceive you with my words. Christians are in the right path, but misbelief leads the Saracens and the pagans astray and sets them against the Christians, who speak truly of God. They are of God, they come from God, and they belong to God. They dwell with him today and forever.

  “I do not speak lightly. Do not believe me, believe the scriptures. They bear witness to these truths. I do not tell lies, but everything these men say to you is false. Beware of their lies. Your clerics do not draw on the testimony of an ancient book, and they are so ignorant that they speak as though they were inebriated. I believe they will keep quiet now. Their responses have failed, and you would be wrong not to have them burned or hanged. You should take vengeance on them when they abandon their Creator and promote the idea that there are other gods and other religions. Take care, my lord king, to see if they can prove it by reason according to the words of our lesson.”

  Nachor heeds his own words

  Nachor spoke very well, and King Avenir listened to him carefully. The king was pained and angry, but Josaphat was most happy. The king’s clerics all kept quiet. None of them responded to Nachor, and that was how it should be: no man should speak against reason and right, for reason confounds those who offer unreason, and whoever is guided by reason can easily overcome those who speak against it. Whatever speeches and debate, whatever great pride and unreason the king’s clerics brought to the defense of a false belief, they could not have convinced anyone.

  The king’s son rejoiced when he saw that his side was defended so well by an enemy who did not know God. He heard a true judgment spoken by a mouth that did not know reason. Nachor’s arguments confounded his companions. He shared their lack of belief, but he judged them in his arguments. He was against them even though he shared their religion, and he spoke so well for the Christian religion that everyone took him for a Christian. The king was speechless: he dared not show his anger to Nachor since he had instructed him to argue well for the Christians, and he had repeated his instructions before the entire assembly. But the king had meant something else; he did not anticipate that things would turn out as they had. He was certain that Nachor would let himself be vanquished in the dispute, but he defended himself with logic and proofs, like a good cleric, and he vanquished all the others.

  The disputation was lengthy, and they heard arguments until evening. The king wanted to restart the debate in the morning, and so he ended the proceedings and they all separated for the night. Josaphat said to the king, “Sire, you have held a good trial today, and your side has been bested. It is fitting that your clerics go with you and that my master accompany me. We will go to my palace to consider how we will respond to further arguments. This is reasonable, I believe, and if you wish it otherwise, you will have to impose your force, and that would not be appropriate. Sire, I have chosen the good side, and you should not use force here if you do not want to undo reason. A king who gives himself over to unreason will be judged to have forfeited his crown.”

  The king understood the justice of his son’s advice and marveled at his wisdom. His intelligence exceeded his age, for his astute understanding did not reflect his youth. The king agreed to all he asked, and he regretted that Josaphat believed in the Creator. He truly believed that Josaphat was wrong, but he himself erred more foolishly than his son. King Avenir was sorry that his rhetoricians had not defended their faith. He thought that Nachor would convert his son, and so he agreed to accompany the clerics who despite reason refused to believe. Nachor went with Josaphat.

  The prince went joyfully to his palace. He was happy because Nachor had won the day—he had confounded the pagans who could not respond to his reasoning. He called Nachor aside. “I know that you are not the Barlaam who preached the Christian life to me,” he said. “You are the astronomer Nachor. I am very angry that you would try to trick me into mistaking a wolf for a lamb in plain daylight. It would have been a serious offense to deceive me, but it has gone well for us today, since although you are foolish and ignorant, you spoke with great learning to gain the advantage in the disputation. Do not hide it, Nachor! You are a wise councilor, but your great intelligence does you no good. It remains in shadow, even though it glimpses the light of day. Your intelligence is dead and lodges in a dead man, for you die when you do not believe. Is the religion you have defended today not a good one?

  “Your coins are worthless because they were not well struck, and by your coins I mean your intelligence: it has not been cast in the right mint. You see what is right, but from a distance. Your view is troubled, and if your sight were informed by your intelligence, rectitude would be restored. But you refuse to see what you understand. Rectitude rightly teaches that clerics should be like knights. A cleric must be good at learning, just as the knight must be able to defend himself. The cleric must perceive deception and use debate to defend himself and do battle, but against whom? Against the lords of hell. No one will ever be so well covered with armor that the devil’s sword cannot pierce his thoughts. A man’s thoughts are his only protection, and they must be strong enough to defend him against the devil, who attacks constantly.

  “Nachor, the Lord you defended today teaches you. You have vanquished yourself in your victory, and if your heart does not learn from it, you will have lost the victory you earned. You won but you have also lost if you do not repent. Consider your thoughts: you knowingly kill yourself, and yet you know very well whom you serve! You serve evil and yet you recognize the good. Your works go against your intentions. If you know good and you do evil, your works work against you. How can you refuse the truth? You know the good, you wish to lodge it in yourself, but your works make you a liar. You speak the truth but you lie in your works. Your sin is obvious when you do not act according to what you know.

  “Friend, you are truly learned, but your works do not reflect your knowledge. I find your tongue sterile, for your heart goes against your words, and you continue to refuse what your heart commands. You abandon your heart and then you destroy it when you allow it to be ruled by evil. Sin is born in your heart and betrays you. Do you know what the peasant says in his book of proverbs? ‘The worker is known by his works.’ Your works show who you are, and I find you to be an evil man. Evil possesses you if you do not tear it out by the root that has taken hold in your heart. Friend, examine your thoughts and use your intelligence to seek the truth, for your time is short. You cannot decide the time of your death, and you are wrong to kill yourself through sin. Your repentance will be heavy, for you do not sin out of ignorance: you know very well that you do wrong. Your intelligence betrays you, and if your heart does not repent of the folly you have undertaken, the judgment will be harsh. Give God thanks for your victory today and put yourself in his glory since he taught you to speak so well. Good friend, God formed you carefully in his image and today he spoke the truth through your lips. Make a place for him in your heart since he has come to you! Acknowledge him, since your Lord has come to lead you out of error. Believe in your Lord and you will do a good thing! Nachor, you know that the pagan clerics have no truth in them—you have shown it today.

  “Now listen to what I say to you: I brought you here for two reasons. First, because if you had gone with the king, I believe he would have caused trouble for you, since today you spoke the truth against his will. And second, because I will reward you for speaking so well for me today before the king. But now hear what the reward is: if you will follow the counsel of your own reason and intelligence, you can enter the path of salvation. Nachor, you have understood that it is not right to hold to other beliefs and other faiths. We should believe only in the Creator who divided night from day. You know that you will not remain long in this world. You are not so strong that you will live longer than others. And if you cling to the world, you know that you cannot live longer than it does, and friend, the world will end. When your body dies, the world will end for you. You sin more gravely than others, for you understand th
at the world comes and goes, and you know how we should live in it and how we should believe. I see that you knowingly believe what is wrong. You believe in false gods, with full awareness of your error. Your works judge your belief.”

  Nachor sighed piteously when he heard the king’s son describe his error with such compassion. “Sire,” he said, “I know that at Judgment Day I will hear my sentence. I know with certainty that there is only one God who made the world. The holy scriptures taught it to me, and this knowledge lights my heart. I know that we should cease bad practices as quickly as possible. I love God with all my heart. The scriptures and my own reason have shown me that I should not serve any other. I will serve him, for I believe in him.”

  The king’s son rejoiced to see Nachor enter the right path in response to his exhortation. He encouraged him gently: “Friend, have good faith, for it is a sin to lose hope. As soon as you ask for forgiveness, you will have it—I promise you. Your crown will be prepared for you if your heart devotes itself wholly to the service of our Lord. If you win his love, your repentance will be light. There was never a sinner so disloyal that when he prayed sincerely to God and served him well, God did not love him. Nachor, do not be afraid. Abandon your error and your folly. Depend on God, hold him as your guarantor, and do all that he commands. Put yourself in his hands.”

  Nachor responded, “I will do it. I will not refuse to believe any longer, and I will serve my Creator night and day with all my heart. You should take care for your own faith, because the king is greatly burdened by it and seeks ways to bring you back to his religion. Take care that betrayal does not steal your reward. On your advice, I will go away and devote myself to caring for my soul. I will not see the king again.”

  Josaphat wept with happiness. He embraced Nachor and encouraged him gently, and he commended him tearfully to God. Nachor left; he asked for nothing more. His courage was strong and he went to the hermitage that he desired ardently to attain. He traveled until he came upon a hermit. Nachor fell at his feet, recounted the events of his life, and asked for forgiveness. He made a sincere confession, and then he was baptized, for the hermit he found was a priest and was happy to baptize him and keep him as his companion in repentance. Nachor served God well for as long as he lived and his soul was saved.