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| Josaphat preaching to his followers. |
The legend of Barlaam and Josaphat has a surprising history. An English Golden Legend version can be found here (link). However, it is quite awkward to read. I am rewriting and simplifying it (with some artistic license) into more modern English and will post it below, then I will discuss the legend some more. (Note, this does not contain all of the points included in the original version; I have deleted some tangential passages for brevity.)
King Avennir of India persecuted
christian men, especially monks. One day, one of the kings friends,
Barlaam secretly converted to Christianity and later left the palace
to become a monk, which angered the king. The king had him searched
out, 'seek him through every desert,' and brought before him. When
the king saw him in old clothes and lean from hunger, when he had
previously abounded in riches, the king called him a fool and said,
“why have you changed your honor into villany?” In response
Barlaam said, "if I tell you my reason will you put aside your
enemies?" The king demanded to know who his enemies were and Barlaam
said anger and craving because they obscure the truth and do not
allow one to determine prudence and equity. The king said, “let it
be as you say” and Barlaam said “fools despise the way things are,
as if the truth did not exist, do not understand what things will
becomes, and will not 'use the sweetness of them' and learn the
truth of things that are false. Then he showed the king 'many things
of the mystery of the incarnation.' The king said, “if I had not
promised you at the beginning that I would put away anger from my
counsel, I would throw you into a fire. Run away from me so that I
never see you again.” So Barlaam left the king with a great burden
because he was not made a martyr.
Then a son was born to the king that he named
Josaphat. The king assembled a great company of people to sacrifice
to his gods for his son's birth and 55 astronomers to predict the son's
future. The astronomers said that he would be rich and powerful, but
the wisest astronomer said "your son will not remain in your realm but
will be in another realm that is much better and he will be of the
christian religion." Doubt filled the king when he heard this and he
had a palace built away from the city for his son to live in and only staffed it with young people. The king commanded them not to
speak of death, or old age, or sickness, or poverty, or anything that
may cause a burden. Instead they were to speak to him of joyous
things so that he would be filled with gladness and not dwell on
the future. And, if any of the servants became sick, they were
to immediately be taken away and replaced.
As the king's son grew older he began
to wonder why his father had secluded him. He demanded that one of
the servants tell him why he was raised this way and said that he had
become very sad to be locked away. When the servant told this to Josaphat's
father, the king was full of sorrow and arranged horses and joyful
fellowship to accompany, and protect, him for travel out of the palace.
However, Josaphat met a leper and a blind man. He was shocked and
asked his servants what was wrong with them. They said that this is
suffering that comes to people. He asked if these sorrows come to
all people and they said no. Then he asked if it is known which men
will suffer in this way and they said no one can know what will
happen in their future. This knowledge created anguish for Josaphat.
Another time he found an old man without cheer, that had lost his
teeth, and was bent with age. Again he asked what had happened to
this man and was told him that he had lived a long time. Josaphat
asked what would come in the end and he was told about death and that
it came to all people. Then he asked, “after how many years does
death come?” and was told in 80 or 100 years. Josaphat dwelled on
these things and it caused him a great deal of worry, but he pretended
to be glad in order to continue learning about the world.
Even though Barlaam lived in the desert
of Sennar he learned about what had become of the king's son.
Barlaam dressed as a merchant and traveled to the palace. He told
the palace guard's that he had a precious stone to sell that restores
sight to blind men, speech to the dumb, and wisdom to fools. The
chief guard told him to first show them the stone and prove that it
had these powers, then he could see the king's son. Barlaam said the
stone was only for Josaphat and demanded that he be taken to him.
The guards spoke with Josaphat and he saw Barlaam at once and showed
him in with great honor. Barlaam said to Josaphat, “you have done
well, for you did not take heed of my smallness and appearance but
you acted like the king who met with poor men and sprang out of his
chair to the poor men's feet and then embraced them. Then the king's
barons spoke of how the king had acted shamefully and insulted his
own majesty. The king heard of this and took four chests and had two of them covered in
gold and filled them with filth and bones. Then he had the other two
chests covered in pitch and filled them with precious gem stones.
Then he called in his barons and asked them which of the chests were
the most precious, and the barons replied that the chests guilt in
gold were of the greatest value, so the king opened them and a great
stench came out. Then he closed them and opened the chests covered
in pitch to reveal that they contained gems. The king said,
“these chests are like the poor men I met and honored, they wear
rags yet they are full of virtue, but you barons do not consider what
is within when you judge.”
Then Barlaam taught Josaphat about the creation of the world, of the day of judgment, the rewards of good and evil and the folly of worshiping idols. As an example he told a story about a hunter that captured a little bird and when he was about to kill the bird it said: “Why would it help you to kill me? I am too small for a meal, but if you let me go I will teach you three wisdoms that will profit you greatly if you keep them.” In surprise the hunter agreed. Then the bird said: "Never try to take things you cannot have. Do not sorrow for lost things that cannot be recovered. Do not believe in things that are impossible. If you follow this advice you will do well.” So he let the bird go as he had promised. Then the bird flew up into the air laughing at him and said: “Ha! Wretched man. You have lost a great treasure today! I have swallowed a precious jewel that is now in my stomach and is larger than an ostrich egg!” Then the hunter was angry and tried to capture the bird again by saying: “Come to my house and I will show you all the human's secrets, and give you anything you might need, and afterward I'll let you go honorably.” Then the bird said: “Now I know you are a fool because you have not learned from the knowledge I gave you. You are sad to have lost me when I can not be recaptured. You are trying to take me when you can not fly after me. Furthermore, you believe I contain a precious stone that is larger than my body.” Likewise fools trust in idols, because they worship that which they have created themselves.
Then Barlaam began to discuss the fallacies of the world and the delights and vanities thereof. As another example he said: “People desire corporal delights and their souls die of hunger. It is like a man that, because he is running from a unicorn, he falls into a pit and, while falling, catches hold of a branch part way down; however, two mice, one white and the other black, are gnawing on the root of the tree. He sees a horrible dragon at the bottom of the pit casting fire, and the dragon is ready to devour him. The heads of four serpents emerge from the sides of the pit. The man then lifts his eyes and spies a little honey in the boughs of the tree; he forgets the peril he is in and focuses entirely on the sweetness of the drops of honey. The unicorn is death that always pursues man. The pit is the world full of wickedness. The tree is the life of man and the mice are time that eats away at the tree. The four serpents are the four elements that corrupt the body. The dragon is hell, which desires to devour all creatures. The honey in the boughs of the tree is the false sweetness of the world, which deceives man so that he takes no heed of the peril he is in.
Then Barlaam baptized the king's son and returned to the desert. After many years Josaphat spent two years wandering the desert searching for Barlaam. At last he found a cave in the earth and said “father bless me” at the door. Barlaam heard his voice, went out and embraced him. Josaphat dwelled there for many years in penance and when Barlaam had finished his days he rested in peace about the year of our Lord four hundred and eighty. Josaphat left his realm at the age of 25 and led the life of a hermit for 35 years full of virtues. He was buried by the body of Barlaam. When the king Barachius heard of this, he came unto the place with a great company. God has shown many miracles at the tomb of these two men.
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Parts of this legend will be eerily familiar to many readers. One of the steps in the path that led me to stumble upon this legend is the following picture by the 17th century Friesland copper engraver Bolswert (ca.1585-1633).
The similarity to the allegory of the pit in the forest told to Dhritarashtra by Vidura in the Mahabharata (link) jumped out at me when I saw this. (I actually happened to mention this allegory in a blog post back in January when our van broke down. I prefer to see it differently, when life is full of frustration and intractable worry what should you do⸮; reach out and taste the honey with elan.) Yet the engraving is from Europe and several details were different so I looked up more about what it was based on. Here are some other versions that were cast in terms of a man in a tree being gnawed by mice with the beasts all below. The next one is from a 15th century Yorkshire manuscript in the British Library, London.
And this one is from the Speculum Maius, the compilation of all the knowledge of the European Middle Ages.
Above, Barlaam the monk is speaking to prince Josaphat about the pit allegory. Apparently, an element of Hindu religion made it from a 4th century BC Sanskrit epic to a Medieval European christian legend--in remarkable detail, right down to the black and white mice. But this is not the only remarkable part of this legend. You may have already noticed something else in the story.
This has touched on two of the modern world's major religions, Christianity and Hinduism. Let's include another one. According to tradition, Siddhartha Gautama Buddha who founded Buddhism, was the son of an Indian king. He had a naming ceremony on the fifth day after his birth and eight Brahmins were invited to tell his future. They all said he would either be a great king or a great spiritual leader; however one of the men also said that he would become a Buddha. His father tried to shield Siddhartha from from human suffering as he was being raised in a palace. At the age of 29 he left the palace and came across an old man. His charioteer explained to him that all men grew old. Then he came upon a sick man, a corpse, ... which depressed him. So one night he snuck away from the palace to become an ascetic and learn how to overcome human suffering... I am glossing over many details but the similarity between the life of Buddha and the life of Josaphat should be obvious. One of Buddha's teachers was even a hermit named Alara Kalama, which, when you say it out loud, bears some sound similarity to Barlaam. By the way, while Buddha was working toward enlightenment he was sometimes called a Bodhisattva, a wise-being.
Speaking of names, Josaphat can be Iosaphat in Latin, which was Ioasaph in Greek in the 11th century, and Iodasaph in Georgian in the 10th century. Before entering Europe the story was copied from an 8th century Arabic text where Budhasaf became Yudasaf from an error in transcription. (The initial b, بـ , is similar to an initial y, يـ , with only an extra dot.) Budhasaf was Bodisav in earlier Persian version of the story, which is obviously from the Sanskrit Bodhisattva. (link)
So not only did a Hindu allegory make it into Christian legends of the Middle Ages; Buddhism had an influence in the same legend, and Buddha himself was even venerated as a Saint.
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