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Buddhist-Christian Parallels have been noted across the ages by scholars but are now being more widely appreciated as individuals search accessible Buddhist scriptures in ancient and modern languages. The field takes three forms:

1. parallel teachings of Buddhism and Christianity in words that appear similar and in some cases appear to share a common origin
2. parallel sayings of the Buddha and Jesus
3. general parallels between the spiritual intent and practices of Buddhism and Christianity

The three categories overlap and are seldom presented separately, although one approach has used the theologically derived Q document of the, possibly, original words of Jesus as a basis of comparison with the supposed earliest words of the Buddha. The process is useful insofar as it highlights direct parallels in words, albeit in modern languages as neither the original words of Jesus or the Buddha were written down at the time nor were the first scriptures in the languages they probably spoke. Other studies of parallels include learned analyses, most of them recent although some date back to the time of the early Church, which seems to have suppressed historical linkages between the ancient Middle-East/Greece and India.

Historical Interactions

More archeological findings and discovery of early Christian and Gnostic writings indicate Buddhist missionary presence and influence in spiritual traditions of the middle east in all Greek lands as early as 260 BCE, during the reign of Emperor Ashoka all the way to the founding and spreading of Manicheism around 200 AD. Buddhist presence and influence in the region can no longer be denied.

Some of the Edicts of Ashoka inscriptions describe the efforts made by Ashoka to propagate the Buddhist faith throughout the major Seleucid kingdoms found throughout the middle east and Egypt. The Edicts identify the names and location of the main Greek monarchs of the time, and they are claimed as recipients of Buddhist proselytism: Antiochus II Theos of the Seleucid Kingdom (261–246 BCE), Ptolemy II Philadelphos of Egypt (285–247 BCE), Antigonus Gonatas of Macedonia (276–239 BCE), Magas of Cyrene (288–258 BCE), and Alexander II of Epirus (272–255 BCE).

"The conquest by Dharma has been won here, on the borders, and even six hundred yojanas (5,400-9,600 km) away, where the Greek king Antiochos rules, beyond there where the four kings named Ptolemy, Antigonos, Magas and Alexander rule, likewise in the south among the Cholas, the Pandyas, and as far as Tamraparni (Sri Lanka)." (Edicts of Ashoka, 13th Rock Edict, S. Dhammika).

Although the philosophical systems of Buddhism and Christianity have evolved in rather different ways with Buddhism adhering to a more cognitive and psychological approach and Christianity with a theistic approach, the moral precepts advocated by Buddhism from the time of Ashoka through his edicts as well as the Pali Canon do have some similarities with the Christian moral precepts developed more than two centuries later:

• respect for life
• respect for the weak and disenfranchised
• rejection of violence
• confession
• emphasis on charity and good deeds.

"Dhamma is good, but what constitutes Dhamma? (It includes) little evil, much good, kindness, generosity, truthfulness and purity." Pilar Edict Nb2 (S. Dhammika)

"And noble deeds of Dhamma and the practice of Dhamma consist of having kindness, generosity, truthfulness, purity, gentleness and goodness increase among the people." Rock Pilar Nb7 (S. Dhammika)

The administrative structures formed by Buddhists are also very similar:

• monasticism and communal living for spiritual adherents which adhered to principals of practicing poverty and chastity.
• early Christian Councils reminiscent in organization to the Buddhist councils.
• missionaries and missions which were first organized and established by Buddhists, all predate the early Christian organizations in the same areas where Christianity was first established (Antioch, etc.).

One theory is that these similarities may indicate the propagation of Buddhist ideals into the Western World, with the Greeks acting as intermediaries and religious syncretists.

"Scholars have often considered the possibility that Buddhism influenced the early development of Christianity. They have drawn attention to many parallels concerning the births, lives, doctrines, and deaths of the Buddha and Jesus" (Bentley, "Old World Encounters").

The story of the birth of the Buddha was well known in the West, and possibly influenced the story of the birth of Jesus: Saint Jerome (4th century CE) mentions the birth of the Buddha, who he says "was born from the side of a virgin". Also a fragment of Archelaos of Carrha (278 CE) mentions the Buddha's virgin-birth.

Early 3rd-4th century Christian writers such as Hippolytus and Epiphanius write about a Scythianus, who visited India around 50 AD from where he brought "the doctrine of the Two Principles". According to these writers, Scythianus' pupil Terebinthus presented himself as a “Buddha” ("he called himself Buddas" Cyril of Jerusalem). Terebinthus went to Palestine and Judaea where he met the Apostles ("becoming known and condemned" Isaia), and ultimately settled in Babylon, where he transmitted his teachings to Mani, thereby creating the foundation of what could be called Persian syncretic Buddhism, Manicheism. We find evidence that Buddhist thought had major influence on the teachings of Mani:

In the story of the Death of Mani :

It was a day of pain

and a time of sorrow

when the messenger of light

entered death

when he entered complete Nirvana"

Following Mani's travels to the Kushan Empire (several religious paintings in Bamiyan are attributed to him) at the beginning of his proselytizing career, various Buddhist influences seem to have permeated Manichaeism:

Buddhist influences were significant in the formation of Mani's religious thought. The transmigration of souls became a Manichaean belief, and the quadripartite structure of the Manichaean community, divided between male and female monks (the "elect") and lay followers (the "hearers") who supported them, appears to be based on that of the Buddhist sangha. (Richard Foltz, "Religions of the Silk Road")

Manichaeism spread with extraordinary rapidity throughout both the east and west. It reached Rome through the apostle Psattiq by AD 280, who was also in Egypt in 244 and 251. The faith was flourishing in the Fayum area of Egypt in 290. Manichaean monasteries existed in Rome in 312 during the time of the Christian Pope Miltiades. By 354, Hilary of Poitiers wrote that the Manichaean faith was a significant force in southern France.

Also, in the Great Song of Mani (13th-14th century) Mani is many times referred to as Buddha Mani.

One of the founding fathers of western Christianity, Augustine of Hippo was originally a Manichean.

In the 2nd century CE, the Christian dogmatist Clement of Alexandria recognized Bactrian Buddhists (Sramanas) and Indian Gymnosophists for their influence on Greek thought:

"Thus philosophy, a thing of the highest utility, flourished in antiquity among the barbarians, shedding its light over the nations. And afterwards it came to Greece. First in its ranks were the prophets of the Egyptians; and the Chaldeans among the Assyrians; and the Druids among the Gauls; and the Sramanas among the Bactrians ("Σαρμαναίοι Βάκτρων"); and the philosophers of the Celts; and the Magi of the Persians, who foretold the Saviour's birth, and came into the land of Judaea guided by a star. The Indian gymnosophists are also in the number, and the other barbarian philosophers. And of these there are two classes, some of them called Sramanas ("Σαρμάναι"), and others Brahmins (Βραφμαναι)." Clement of Alexandria "The Stromata, or Miscellanies" Book I, Chapter XV

The main Greek cities of the Middle-East happen to have played a key role in the development of Christianity, such as Antioch and especially Alexandria, and “it was later in this very place that some of the most active centers of Christianity were established” (Robert Linssen, “Zen living”).

The Greek legend of "Barlaam and Ioasaph", sometimes mistakenly attributed to the 7th century John of Damascus but actually written by the Georgian monk Euthymios in the 11th century, was ultimately derived, through a variety of intermediate versions (Arabic and Georgian) from the life story of the Buddha. The king-turned-monk Ioasaph (Georgian Iodasaph, Arabic Yūdhasaf or Būdhasaf) ultimately derives his name from the Sanskrit Bodhisattva, the name used in Buddhist accounts for Gautama before he became a Buddha. Barlaam and Ioasaph were placed in the Greek calendar of saints on 26 August, and in the West they were canonized (as "Barlaam and Josaphat") in the Roman Martyrology on the date of 27 November.

The story was translated into Hebrew in the Middle Ages as "Ben-Hamelekh Vehanazir" ("The Prince and the Nazirite"), and is widely read by Jews to this day.

The Sanskrit word bodhisattva is translated as nazir and in Hebrew means: ("One who abstains"); and is generally a word used for monks. Jesus too is referred throughout the Greek New Testament as a Nazarene who talks about a life of poverty and celibacy, something different than the vows of the original vow of Nazirs in Numbers 6:1-21.

Parallel Sayings

Dating of Texts

One of the sources of controversy in the parallel teachings has been the dating of the texts, both Buddhist and Christian. Buddhist teachings and missionaries are obviously older, however, Buddhism began with a long tradition of oral teachings which were finally put down in writing in Sri Lanka during the reign of King Vaṭṭagamiṇi (70 B.C.E.)The Ti-pitaka rendered into writing for first time at Aloka-vihara, Matale, Sri Lanka: The Fourth Buddhist Council according to Theravada tradition held in Sri Lanka. Before the scriptures were put into writing, several Buddhist councils were held in order to reach an agreement on what constituted the official canon:

"There is every reason to believe that the Pitakas now present in Ceylon are substantially identical with the books of the Southern Canon, as settled at the Council of Patna about the year 250 B.C. As no works would have been received into the Canon which were not then believed to be very old, the Pitakas may be approximately placed in the fourth century B.C., and parts of them possibly reach back very nearly, if not quite, to the time of Gautama (Buddha) himself." (Rhys Davids, Buddhism: Being a Sketch of the Life and Teachings of Gautama, the Buddha (London, 1894), p. 10)

The oral teachings were important as the poorest and disenfranchised were not literate, in fact, most of ancient society was illiterate and the most effective way for the teachings to be proclaimed was orally or through preaching, and so the preacher tradition begins with Buddha and the missions. The exortation "Open are the doors to the Deathless to those with ears is literal, and is similarly expressed in the Jesus story, "This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears." (Luke 4:21) The life story of the Buddha was already being translated into Chinese around 70 A.D.:

"We know that the Fo-pen-hing was translated into Chinese from Sanskrit (the ancient language of Hinduism) as early as the eleventh year of the reign of - Wing-ping (Ming-ti) of the Hans Dynasty, i.e., 69 or 70 A.D. We may, therefore, safely suppose that the original work was in circulation in India for some time before this date." (Samuel Beal, The Romantic Legends of Sakya Buddha from the Chinese Sanskrit (London, 1875), p. vi.)

A similar problem occurs in dating the Christian Gospels. The Gospels for a while, circulated in oral traditions:

All early gospels have a common background. They come from an age when traditions about Jesus had not yet been fixed. Most these traditions, in fact, were still being circulated orally. In the “unwritten tradition,” various narratives about Jesus were being recounted along with parables and teachings attributed to him (Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 3.9.11). The oral traditions were so abundant that, as one ancient writer put it, “if every one of them were written down, I suppose the world itself could not contain the books that would be written” (John 21:25).(Andrew Bernhard)

However, a general concensus as to the timeline of putting those scriptures down in writing has been reached by most scholars trying to date the Gospels:

All parts of all early gospels were likely written after the death of Jesus (ca. 30 C.E.), but before Irenaeus created a broad consensus that only four individual gospels could be regarded as authoritative scripture (ca. 180 C.E.). The period for the writing of the early gospels might reasonably be narrowed to something like 60-150 C.E...(Ibid)

We can safely assume that Buddhist teachings were circulating around the world, both orally, from the time of Emperor Ashoka's missions around the world (Second Century B.C.), and written (from the time of King Vattagamini), earlier than their Christian counterparts.

Aramaic and Greek Missions

We might also assume that many Buddhist teachings were circulating in both Greek and Aramaic languages. In the western most part of Ashoka's empire, Edict 13, was in both Greek and Aramaic

Many of the kings after Ashoka in the northwest of India were of Greek descent and strongly Buddhist, such as Menander or King Milinda.

Many scholars debate as to what language Jesus and the apostles spoke in. Many have so far concluded that Jesus spoke Aramaic and knew Hebrew.

Moreover, Jesus’ disciples were all Aramaic-speaking Jews, and the tradition as they and others handed it down was doubtless in that tongue -- as we have noted, the various surviving tags of Aramaic, such as Abba, effathá, talithá kumi, clearly indicate this.(ibid, Frederick C. Grant)

Nazir for Buddha?

The word Buddha or Bodhisatva is not once used in the New Testament. This point is not missed altogether by scholars of comparative religions.

One of the possible explanations for this might be found in the more well known history of the spread of Buddhism in China. In China, early Buddhist missionaries explained Buddhist ideas using Taoist terminology. Many Chinese held Buddhism to be a kind of Taoism of the foreigner and so not in conflict as they shared many of the same ideas.

A similar integration or intermingling of Buddhist teachings generally happened in many of the different lands where missionaries were sent, including Tibet with the Bon traditions and in Japan with Shinto traditions.

In the middle eastern regions where Christianity began such as Antioch, many of the kingdoms were ruled by a small minority of Greco-Seleucid rulers with subjects of a Jewish majority. Jewish terminology and myths to explain Buddhist metaphysical ideas might have been utilized by Buddhist missionaries.

Evidence of such a possibility presents itself in the Greek legend of "Barlaam and Ioasaph". The Hebrew translation of this text in the middle ages, is called "Ben-Hamelekh Vehanazir" ("The Prince and the Nazirite") or the "Prince and the Nazirite". The Sanskrit word bodhisatva is completely replaced with the word "Nazir" and in Hebrew means: ("One who abstains"); and generally became a word used for monks by the middle ages. Jesus too is referred throughout the Greek New Testament as a Nazarene and a celibate who tells his disciples to leave all material things behind if they want to be his disciple in several places in the New Testament. This was something entirely different from the Judaic tradition mentioned in Numbers 6:1-21.

Gerber and Kersten have made a valiant effort to prove that the historical Jesus lived the life of a Buddhist and taught Buddhist ideals to his disciples; their work follows in the footsteps of the Oxford New Testament scholar' Barnett Hillman Streeter, who established as early as the 1930s that the ,moral teaching of the Buddha has four remarkable resemblance to the Sermon on the Mount."

Scholars on the Parallels

"With the remarkable exception of the death of Jesus on the cross, and of the doctrine of atonement by vicarious suffering, which is absolutely excluded by Buddhism, the most ancient of the Buddhistic records known to us contain statements about the life and the doctrines of Gautama Buddha which correspond in a remarkable manner, and impossibly by mere chance, with the traditions recorded in the Gospels about the life and doctrines of Jesus Christ...." (Ernest De Bunsen, The Angel Messiah of Buddhists, Essenes and Christians (London, 1880), p. 50.)

"Lamaisnu with its shaven priests, its bells and rosaries, its images and holy water, its popes and bishops, its abbots and monks of many grades, its processions and feast days, its confessional and purgatory, and its worship of the double Virgin, so strongly resembles Romanism that the first Catholic missionaries thought it must be an imitation by the devil of the religion of Christ." The Encyclopedia Britannica.

"These points of agreement with the Gospel narrative arouse curiosity and require explanation. If we could prove that they were unknown in the East for some centuries after Christ, the explanation would be easy. But all the evidence we have gone to prove the contrary...." (Samuel Beal, pp. viii-ix.)

"Between the language of The Buddha and his disciples, and the language of Christ and his apostles, there are strange coincidences. Even some Buddhist legends and parables sound as if taken from the New Testament, though we know that many of them existed before the beginning of the Christian era." (Max Muller, Introduction to the Science of Religion (London, 1873), p. 243)

"Approximately five centuries older than Christianity, by the time of the birth of Christ, Buddhism had already spread through much of India and Ceylon and had penetrated into Central Asia and China." (Kenneth Scott Latourette, A History of Christianity (New York, 1975), p. 274.)

"The miraculous births of Buddha, his life and instructions, contain a great number of the moral and dogmatic truths professed in Christianity." (M. L'Abbe Huc, Christianity in China, Tartary, and Thibet (London, 1857), p. 327.)

...nothing now remains for the honest man to do but acknowledge the truth, which is that the history of Jesus of Nazareth as related in the books of the New Testament, is simply a copy of that of Buddha, with a mixture of mythology borrowed from other nations." (T.W. Doane, "Bible Myths" (New York, 1882), p. 286)

"In reading the particulars of the life of Buddha it is impossible not to feel reminded of many circumstances relating to our Savior's life as sketched by the evangelists. It may be said in favor of Buddhism that no philosophic-religious system has ever upheld to an equal degree the notions of a savior and deliverer, and the necessity of his mission for procuring the salvation of man." Catholic Bishop Bigandet

"He requires humility, disregard of worldly wealth, patience and resignation in adversity, love to enemies ... non-resistance to evil, confession of sins and conversion." Bishop Jean Paul Hilaire

"There are many moral precepts equally commanded and enforced in common by both creeds. It will not be rash to assert that most of the moral truths prescribed in the gospel are to be met with in the Buddhistic scriptures." Paul Ambroise Bigandet, the Catholic Bishop of Ramatha

References

1. Catechetical Lecture 6 CONCERNING THE UNITY OF GOD. ON THE ARTICLE, I BELIEVE IN ONE GOD. ALSO CONCERNING HERESIES.ISAIAH xlv. 16, 17. (Sept.)
2. According to the Gnostic Bible by Willis Barnstone, here is one of many authenticating references proving the centrality of Buddhism in Mani's formulation of Gnosticism
3. this is also found in Dhammapada verse 398, the word used in Pali: ukkhittapaligham, Sanskrit: utksiptaparikham
4. The Greek word used is "stauros," which does not mean cross, but rather stake. Was he crucified on a cross, or an individual stake?A: The cross was never used in early Christianity. The closest was the symbol "chi rho." It was understood that the "stauros" was a stake. The embellishment of the cross came later, and the crucifix after that. FAQ Bible Study New Testament (No. 58)(Edition 1.1 20000630-20011206) http://www.ccg.org/English/s/p058.html
5. http://www.buddhistdoor.com/bdoor/archive/nutshell/teach40.htm
6. http://www.palikanon.com/english/timetable.htm
7. http://journalofbiblicalstudies.org/Issue4/Articles/dating_early_christian_gospels.htm
8. see Greco-Buddhism
9. The Earliest Gospel by Frederick C. Grant http://www.religion-online.org/showchapter.asp?title=1940&C=1761
10. The Cambridge History of China, Vol.1, (The Ch'in and Han Empires, 221 B.C.-A.D. 220) ISBN 0-521-24327-0 hardback
11. Title : Did Buddhism influence early Christianity? Author : N. S. Chandramouli Publication : The Times of India Date : May 1, 1997

Reference: Lindsay Falvey (2002) The Buddha’s Gospel: A Buddhist Interpretation of Jesus’ Words. Institute for International Development Fund, Adelaide. 108pp.http://www.iid/publications/buddhasgospel.pdf

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