Amazing Salvation: The Buddhist Encounter with Christianity in the Early Centuries CE

Abstract

This study explores several correlated cases of parallels between Buddhist and Christian texts. These parallels feature certain salvific miracles, some of which involve healing the disabled, the sick touching the holy one’s garment, or the holy one’s arrival accompanied by the leveling of hills and valleys. Such similarities between Buddhist and Christian texts can be explained in terms of borrowings on the following grounds: (1) These concepts of “salvation” have an important Judeo-Christian background but do not fit into the contexts of early Buddhism. (2) All the relevant passages from Buddhist literature postdate their counterparts in the Book of Isaiah, the Gospels, and Acts. (3) Cumulative evidence indicates that Christianity spread to NorthWest India and Central Asia during the first four centuries CE. (4) Almost all the relevant Buddhist passages came from these regions during the same period. (5) The relevant Buddhist passages are mostly from Mahāyāna sutras and texts under Mahāyāna influence. (6) Mahāyāna Buddhism flourished in the said regions during the said period. (7) The eclectic Buddhists, mainly Mahāyānists and those with Mahāyāna inclinations, were susceptible to other religions, including Hinduism and Christianity. Keywords: Mahāyāna, Avadāna, Bible, Christianity, Gandhāra, Bactria, Kushan