Barlaam and Josaphat: A Christian Tale of the Buddha

by Gui de Cambrai

  “Beautiful lady, this distresses me. Your offer is hard to accept. I would like to save your soul, but I must tend to my own, and it would not be good for me if I were to lose God by joining my body with yours. If I were lost for your sake, then my reward would be of little value. I will not defile my life for such a base union.”

  “What do you mean?” she exclaimed. “Are Christians defiled when they take women as wives? I believe I am wiser than you in this matter. Whoever combines marriage and religion certainly will be saved as long as he holds to both in a holy way. I am not so confused that I have forgotten the book that describes your religion. I know that marriage is a good thing when the spouses are loyal.

  “Marriage is a good and reasonable law,” the young woman continued. “God himself commanded it, and he joined together the very first man and woman. (But according to Christian belief, first he made them, then he joined them together.) From two he made one, and the scriptures forbid that any man should separate those whom God has joined together. Man and wife are united as companions and should not be parted. Marriage is a form of faithfulness, and any nobleman who is not married should seek to wed. A noble household is better kept when a good woman abides in it. A good wife is to be prized, and she should be exalted and loved more than any treasure. Just as a precious stone is set in gold, so a lady dwells in her household as long as she is of good repute. Saint Paul himself confirms that I do not lie when I say that it is much better for a man to marry than for his body to burn forever.”

  “By God, this is true,” said Josaphat. “According to the scriptures, it is much wiser to marry than to burn in lust, but whoever wishes to remain chaste should avoid marriage. Whatever does not hinder me will help me.

  “Dear sister and friend, are you so rash as to wish that for your well-being my virginity should be lost? I would have to find your idea presumptuous if I believed you so impertinent. You speak with malicious intent, not loyalty. I must refuse the marriage you propose because it is full of dishonor, and if it is dishonorable, there is no faithfulness in it.”

  “Your argument is confused,” the lady answered. “You know that no man would find dishonor in this marriage. I am a pagan and the daughter of a king, and I will become a Christian for you if you will take me. You would be doubly charitable if you would make me, a pagan, into a true Christian. If you do not do it, then I am most unfortunate, for you will damn my soul. Sire, you are my damnation, but you could be my salvation if you wished to save me. You should consider this more carefully. My offer is good, and you cannot find any motivation for it that is not reasoned and right. For God’s sake, I beg you, become my husband! You will redeem the inheritance I have lost if you will marry me.

  “I have shown you many reasons why you should do as I ask,” she continued. “The scriptures say that Saint Peter took a wife, and he was not damned for it. The holy prophets took wives and taught us to marry. I have never heard of any prohibition against marriage. What kind of man are you? You are not a true Christian if you renounce the laws of our fathers and God’s religion. I will receive baptism and be saved if you wish it. By faith! You could do nothing better than to save a soul that is damned. Let me be saved by you today!”

  “Sweet lady, I wonder where you have received such advice. Can you not be baptized without lusting after me? Your heart is not moved by belief if you seek to bargain for what will please you. Receive Christianity, keep your virginity, and your pardon will be all the greater for it.

  “Your beauty moves me, and I swear to you that if I ever took a wife, I would take only you. But your request is disloyal. You would receive baptism by corrupting your body and my own.”

  “By faith, you delay too long and the new day is coming,” the lady replied. “I believe your thoughts are elsewhere—you play a different kind of game. Cursed be your body and your beauty! You are a liar and you choose your pleasure where you will. Good Lord, what chastity! What a splendid young man! What joy for his friends when such a fortunate man was born! I do not lie when I say that his birth brought honor to his father, but he chooses chastity because he is taken by another kind of love that shames his family. A good couple is formed only by male and female, and when the masculine companion in a couple becomes feminine, he goes against nature and denies the woman her rights. A male who becomes female is not a man.”2

  “By God! Dear young lady, your words are not becoming. You wrongly accuse me of a great shame, and I know why. If I did your will, you would show your pleasure, but women always try to shame those who do not wish to do what they ask. Their slandering tongues are sharper than a razor and more pointed than a needle. There is no need for accusations or disputes. I will not take a wife and I will not spread seed to grow in any earth.

  “Beautiful lady, I do not care for fighting with women. They grumble and complain, and they heap blame on the goodness of others. You have failed at this joust, and I would have made a bad showing if I had been defeated by you. Dear sister and friend, there is nothing more to say. Leave this battle and go seek what you want somewhere else. You want to challenge me with your debates and insults, but I have no desire for it—my heart looks elsewhere.”

  “Noble lord, for God’s sake, have mercy on me!” the young woman begged. “Do not take revenge on me in this way. Since you will not have me as wife, grant me another favor. Let my soul be saved in this way: take my body a single time—I do not ask for more. Through this one time I will gain all I want to win. The king will give me back my land, and I will become a Christian. If you sleep with me just once I will be saved.”

  Josaphat responded, “Ah, dear friend, your body is unfortunate to have such a flighty heart. Your heart should save your body, but it corrupts it. You mortgage your honor to cultivate your shame! You are willing to seek your own humiliation. If I granted your desire, no crown, land, or wealth, no dominion, power, or promise of inheritance would compensate for the virginity that would be so shamefully lost. If you believed, you would become a Christian, but for as long as you are a pagan, you will not be loved by God. Since you have God in your thoughts and you promise to believe in him if I do your will, why do you put your body at risk? You should purchase your baptism, but you would sell it for pleasure!

  “I have vowed my chastity to God, and I will not break my vow. Your family standard is still clean and true, and you should not stain it. If you protect it, anyone who tries to taint it with shame will waste his time. If you understand the scriptures, your standard will be dyed with the good. For God’s sake, listen to what I tell you, for I chastise you for your own good! If you keep your chastity, much good could come to you from it.”

  “For God’s sake, good sire, listen to this,” the lady replied. “King Avenir sent me here to honor and serve you, and to give my body to you. I wagered more than he asked. He told me that if I shared my body with you, he would give me back my land, and I offered to do even more for you: I offered to become a Christian. My Christianity would be your salvation, for if I were saved by you, you would have done a good deed and the reward would belong to you alone. But you are a harsh Christian.” With these words she sighed and wept.

  Josaphat looked at her and felt pity, and he also feared that he might sin. The sight of the lady was very moving, and he was torn between two choices. If he did not do as she asked, he thought he would wrong God, and if he did what she wanted, he feared angering him. The devil excited him and made him want to take the lady. He wanted to do it but he resisted. The weeping lady begged him with all her might to take her side. Pity drew him, but he did not understand that sin entwined with pity.

  He rose abruptly and went into another room. He knelt in prayer to God and his Holy Name. He asked for counsel, for he had great need of it. He fell asleep while praying, and Saint Michael took his soul and carried it into paradise. The young man was comforted to see its great pleasures, but his delight was cut short when Saint Michael showed him hell and the enduri
ng sorrow and great torments inflicted there on those disloyal to God. Saint Michael also showed him the treacherous betrayal that his father had plotted, following the advice of Theonas, and Josaphat marveled at it. Then he woke and shuddered from the fear that assailed him. He was greatly dismayed, but God calmed him. The king’s son rose quickly and began to pray immediately. He begged God for forgiveness and asked that he free him from temptation. His head began to ache and hurt badly. He lay back down.

  Theonas confronts Josaphat

  Josaphat was ill, and when the king learned of it, he came quickly to his palace. “Good son,” he said to him gently, “I regret that you are ill, and I have never been more concerned.”

  “Father, you caused this illness when you tried to betray me,” Josaphat replied. “I would never wrong you in this way. You sent temptations to seduce me, but God showed me your treason and protected me from it so that I was not deceived. Father, you were disloyal and when you sought to harm me, you did wrong to yourself. Why do you have no pity for me, your son and friend? You are my father, but I have lost faith in you. I am most unfortunate.

  “Father, let me go away with my master, for I do not wish to stay with you any longer. I care nothing for your empire, and I will never want to rule it. I do not care about your cities, nor do I desire your crown. I want to go to a hermitage and lead a more difficult life, for I have too many pleasures here. Let me go, by your mercy! If you keep me here in such distress, I will die of sadness. Let me go, I beg you. Let me go or I will die! Death is close and holds me by the heart. Nothing holds me here any longer.”

  King Avenir was afraid and sorrowed for his son. He went back to his palace and sent for Theonas to come right away. The king cried tenderly for his son and complained to his advisor. “I did everything you asked, but to no avail. Your plan failed, and my son has fallen seriously ill. Now I do not know what advice to believe. I thought the plan was a good one, but we have failed.”

  Theonas said, “Listen to me. Send for your son to come here before me, or rather let us go to him there since he is so sick with sorrow that he will be unable to come to your palace.”

  “Master,” said the king, “let us go.” King Avenir rose and led Theonas to his son.

  Now I know that Josaphat expected an argument, even if he did not yet know its subject. The king sent Theonas before him, hiding his anxiety. Theonas admonished Josaphat loudly and berated him repeatedly. “Friend,” he said, “what are you thinking? Explain to us what you want! You have angered our gods, and if you would be king and reign over this country, you should follow your father’s advice and embrace them. Now you have lost all your friends.”

  “No, friend, I have not lost them—I have regained them,” Josaphat answered. “If keeping these friends would cause me to be damned, then I would do a great wrong. I speak the truth openly: God is my King, God is my Lord, and I do not wish for any other empire.”

  Theonas said, “But listen to me, friend. You speak very foolishly. Do you know who gave you life and who gave you to your father so that you would be his heir? I will tell you, for it is true: the gods gave you life. But you have challenged their authority. Your foolish thoughts and your mistaken belief have cost you the love of the gods and your father’s love as well.”

  “Oh, you shepherd of lies!” the king’s son responded. “What an evil diversion you create, and it will lead only to wrong. Your aged face and your white hair reveal that you have lived a corrupt life. I believe you must be descended from the giants who built the Tower of Babel. (It did not please God, and he showed them his displeasure, for they all died in the end.) Why do you mock Jesus Christ? Be assured that he would not permit it if he wanted to punish you for it. This clemency should give you hope, but you do not understand. It will all become clear to you on Judgment Day.

  “Wretched man, what do you believe in? Acknowledge God and his strength, and understand that he made you. Do not worship the creation—worship the Creator and make him your Lord! You have to purchase your gods, and you cannot hide that they were made and shaped by a man who gave them whatever form he wished to look upon. If you know how to listen to reason, admit that when a man makes his god, the man was made before the idol was created. A man who makes gods is an important man indeed! I find you very ignorant if you believe in a carved thing that was forged by man’s art. It is only a thing, a carving in wood or stone. Even if the carving were noble and beautiful, it would still have no tongue or spirit, no mouth for speaking, and no heart for feeling. It is a phantom and a vain thing. No matter how much you serve your gods, there is nothing in them but what they are made of. The one who carved them is their father, and the god is less than the man since the man engendered his lord.

  “Ah, Theonas! You are foolish if you believe this. There is no reason in this religion, and I do not accept your advice. You are a wise and learned man, and I marvel that your heart is so confused. I will never serve your gods, and I will never believe in them. I will believe in my Creator and serve him night and day, for he healed all my wounds with the blood he shed on the cross. Instead of sacrificing some beast, I will sacrifice myself to him. I will not fail to make an offering, for I will sacrifice my entire body to him.

  “God became a serf, for to take human form is to become enslaved. Human life will always be servitude because it will never be without pain. Our Lord took the form of a serf and he suffered martyrdom. He was resurrected on the third day, and now we wait for the Creator to come and judge the world.

  “God is everywhere, just as he is in heaven above. This is what we believe. He is in every place and he is one. We believe that he cannot be divided and no place can enclose him. I will give you an example so that you may understand. (These demonstrations are necessary.) Do you see the sun? Its rays spread across the country into many places. It shines on a dunghill just as it shines on a church. The church does not lose its light because the sun shines on the dunghill—the sun reaches everywhere and illuminates everything. The sun is not any weaker or stronger because it shines everywhere, nor is there less light in it. So I say truly that God is in all things and in all places without any lessening of his sovereignty, as the scriptures tell us.

  “God has two natures: one is divine and the other human, for on the cross he suffered the pain of death as a man. This is not a lie, and you should believe it. He did not die as God but as a man, and he was resurrected as God. He broke open the gates of hell, as the scriptures tell us, and through his commandment he freed those who waited for him there. He redeemed our sinful nature when he took our form and ascended to heaven, where the angels welcomed him. Whoever does not believe this is wrong. You should believe in such a good God who has done so much for us. He commands obedience and requires continence. He teaches forgiveness, peace, and faith and asks us to follow his commandments. People should keep his laws, but they stray from the right path.

  “Look at yourself: what gave you life when you were made out of base matter?” asked Josaphat, turning to his father. “Oh cruel king, listen to reason! You set your heart to follow your desires. If you will not reconsider your false beliefs, remember what you are made of and how you were given shape in the womb of your mother. If you knew who made you and what he needed to form you, you would come join yourself to God, who joined himself to you when he took your form.

  “You live in sorrow, and it will not end. You will die in sorrow and your flesh will be a pasture for worms. Your heart is perverse when you will not exchange the devil for everlasting life! Your heart and body will be damned to unending pain. Acknowledge the legacy the devil leaves you: a prison full of pain, darkness, shadow, and innumerable sorrows! Oh, fool, leave this misguided path and come to the Creator who will give you the stole of immortality and the joy of paradise, and you will rejoice in them all your days!”

  “None of this is true,” Theonas said. “The life you describe is not as good as you would have us believe. Your people are po
or priests. They are rude peasants from lowborn families. They have no learning, whereas wise and noble clerics study and teach our faith. Kings and counts follow our religion, and it has been taught for many years. If it was wrong, it would not have lasted so long. Many people follow it now because it holds so much reason and learning. Our religion is not false, and yours is full of lies. How could your people speak the truth when they have no power?”

  “By God,” Josaphat responded, “now Theonas speaks like a fool and does not follow reason. If our religion had been translated into philosophy, the arts of astronomy, grammar, physics, or rhetoric by clerics, and if it had been promoted by kings, then it would have been shaped by human ability. Our faith has a different form, for it was spread by humble people who exchanged their low station for courtly service to God. Our religion is good and beautiful, and it reigns over all other religions. The strength of God is demonstrated when modest people prove it.

  “Now our religion grows and rises, as yours loses its value. It is a great honor to rise high, but the one who rises should anticipate a descent so he is not harmed when he falls. If the ascent is pleasant and easy, take care in descending, for while rising one should take care to ensure that the descent will not be harmful.1 Fools climb stairs without anticipating the descent, for in the descent one sees how high one has climbed. The ascent of a false religion is not remarkable. It does not really rise. In fact, it falls because of the wrongdoing of those who promote it. This ascent should not be trusted, for as a false religion rises, it goes further backward than forward.

  “Our religion merits belief because the scriptures that bear witness to it are entirely true and report God’s words. God made our religion for us. Why did he make it for us? To save us. No craftsman could make it better, and a richer work was never made from such base material. But the creation that does not acknowledge its creator is foolish, and Theonas does not remember the Creator who made him! He goes against reason when he makes a god of his own creation.