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SO far we have identified and extracted a possibly historical person of Hebrew origin out of Greek and Roman debris where he had been buried.
The name “Jesus” is an English one derived from Greek “Iesous” while his real name has been found to be Yahoshua the Nazarene. The closest English equivalence of Yahoshua is “Joshua.” Greeks and Romans changed Yahoshua’s real name to a mythical “Iesous” and is connected to the solar mythology. This was allegedly to destroy Yahoshua’s Hebraic historicity.
What do you make of “B” whose textual record of life and teachings is a mirror image and likeness of those of “A” who lived earlier or was an older myth and legend?
Decent conclusions may be each or all of the following 1) the record of “B” is an invented fiction by some scribes based on “A”; 2) “B” may have historically existed but his narrative is based on a combination of his own and that of “A”; and 3) the purported narrative about “B” is an allegory about a humanised perennial truth expressing what John Dryden called representing “a just and lively image of human nature…for the delight and instruction of (hu)mankind” under a thick layer of debris.
“Between the language of the Buddha and his disciples, and the language of (scriptural Jesus) 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.” – a German scholar, Friederich Max Muller, “Introduction to the Science of Religion” (1873), p. 243 of the 1978 edition.
“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 (scriptural Jesus).” – Ernst De Bunsen, “The Angel Messiah of Buddhists, Essenes and Christians” (1880), p. 50.
“The history of (scriptural Jesus), as related in the books of the (Christian Greek Scriptures), is simply a copy of that of Buddha, with a mixture of mythology borrowed from other nations.” – Thomas William Doane, “Bible Myths and Their Parallels in Other Religions” (1882), p. 286 of the 1971 edition.
“Miraculous” conception
A real or mythical person called Siddhatha Gautama, the Buddha, is assumed to have been born and lived in Northern India and is claimed to have been born in 550 BCE and died in 483 BCE).
Almost five hundred years later, an alleged historical person called “Iesous, the Christos” (Jesus, the Christ) is assumed to have been born 4 BCE. – G. de Purucker, “The Story of Jesus” (1938) www.theosophy-nw.org/theosnw/world/christ/xt-jesus.htm
Siddhatha Gautama, the Buddha, was allegedly born out of miraculous conception. This is the same miraculous conception of Buddha that was the same as that of the narrative of scriptural Jesus.
The scriptural Jesus’ birth narrative is a reflection of the miraculous conception of solar mythical figures of Heru/Horus in ancient Egypt, Krishna and Buddha of India, Dionysus and Arcas of Greece, and Mithra of Persia. This common thread of miraculous conception of the Divine with a woman and a predicted future role are common features of the solar figures, hierophants, avatars and sages in each civilisation.
Since truth is taught in progressive levels, “miraculous” conception was an occurrence to be known by those people who are worthy of the character, adequately prepared and voluntarily willing. “Miracle” was “meipo” in Greek and it means “a wonder, something remarkable, but not a violation of natural law.”
Scribes and compilers of various religious texts employed great artistry, ingenuity and innovativeness to communicate the perennial truths.
The texts were written using literary principles, human imagination and borrowing (acculturation and assimilation) of earlier myths and legends to explain universal phenomena and natural laws.
Vision and mandate
A reformist Siddhatha Gautama sought to be enlightened and to teach others when Hinduism was said to have been at its worst decadence under a corrupt and hypocritical priesthood conspiring to keep people in a state of ignorance. He exhorted his followers to discover and actualise the goodness within rather than seek organisational loyalty.
Among many simplified teachings, he taught the “Five Precepts”: 1) Respect for life, 2) Respect for others’ property, 3) Avoidance of sexual misconduct, 4) Respect for honesty and 5) Respect for a clear mind.
Similarly, a reformist Yahoshua the Nazarene came onto the scene as an initiate of the secrets of ancient wisdom and took upon himself to confront the entrenched corruption and hypocrisy of the Judaic temple priestly class.
“The Pharisees and the Scribes took the keys of knowledge and they hid them. Neither did they enter, nor did they allow those who wished to enter. But you become prudent as serpents, and innocent as doves.” (Matthew 23:13, Luke 11:52 and Gnostic Gospel of Thomas #102).
Transformative mission
Buddha was of a “revolutionary message of striving for personal freedom” and liberty. Similarly the scriptural Jesus preached a radical message that promoted self-knowledge and valued “the acceptance of self-knowledge as a means to promote responsibility for one’s own life, actions, and thinking.”
The Christian authorities deliberately distorted and falsified this kind of message and used debris to bury the transformative teachings of ancient wisdom exemplified by the assumed historical life of Yahoshua the Nazarene.
How is it done? The Christian authorities intensely demand groveling and emphasise the duty of unquestioning and uncritical acceptance of human constructed doctrines and dogmas so as to consolidate their power over people by depriving them of individual responsibility.
Christianity is validated by domination, compliance and submission, while at the same time frowning at curiosity. Literalist Christianity eschews those who discover and actualise their own human grand faculties or powers of reasoning, discernment and causation by exhorting against “know thyself.”
Humanity is a spark of divinity or an embodied manifestation of the impersonal but wrongly humanised universal life force (Genesis 1:27, 2:7, Psalm 82:6 and John 5:42; 10:34-35).
Next week, more examples of textual adoption of Buddha’s life and teachings imported into Christian Greek Scriptures.
References:
Elmar R. Gruber and Holger Kersten, “The Original Jesus: The Buddhist Sources of Christianity” (1995),
- S. Chandramouli, “Buddhist Sources of Christianity” (The Times of India, August 2008).
For feedback email, [email protected] or Twitter @shingaiRndoro. A gallery of previous articles is available at www.sundaymail.co.zw/author/shingairukwata.
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