Barlaam and Josaphat: A Christian Tale of the Buddha (21 page)

My lords, you who hear this story, for the love of God, repent as this man repented!
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If you are enemies of our Lord, you will not understand the works and life of Josaphat. Great barons and noble lords, you hold many castles, towers, and cities, but you have not thought on this. You wear rich silken clothes, but you do not consider how little joy and how few good things there are in this world! However high- or lowborn a man may be, he is unfortunate to enter the world. Why are evildoers even born? Why are there Christians who violate their baptism? Ha! It is unfortunate that the wretched have ever been born, for they will be grievously damned at the Day of Judgment, when they go before God to receive what they have earned. My lords, what excuse will they give? None at all, I believe, for they have produced neither flower nor fruit. What offering do they think they will bring?

The world is corrupt and full of evil. No one keeps his faith. But what faith would that be? By God, it is true: faith is lost, for betrayal and felony have cast her out from the world. Today the priests of the holy church are priests of evil. They treasure their possessions and are full of simony. They are infidels and sodomites, and they abandon nature's reason and laws to violate the holy scriptures. Popes, legates, archbishops, and prelates have left rectitude so far behind that faith no longer dares to chastise them. Kingdoms decline and everything in the world comes to an end. The world does not simply become worse, it is made worse by clerics—not a single monk can be found who speaks the truth without lies, even in the order of Clairvaux. Ah, clergy, how base you have become! You never tire of evil, but you are too tired to do good—no worth can be found in you. Rome, how little you are feared! What has become of your great power, feared throughout the world? You should sorrow to see yourself vanquished by money and abandoned by rectitude. You are like a prostitute who offers pleasure in exchange for a belt or a ring. You have become the capital site of betrayal, when you were once the capital of Christianity, and the Christians have left you. Your first sin was that you began to sell the sacrament and the body of God. We have to guard against you, for you would make us into new Judases. God our Lord laments that you sell him as Judas did, and you hang him on the cross again.

Remember the proverb: when the head is in pain, all the limbs must suffer. You can see this clearly: the head is hurt, for you are the head. You were once the head of the holy church, but you have brought her so low that now you rule over evil. You are the dame of the simoniacs. The holy church has been corrupted and your words and deeds make the Church into a synagogue.
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Blame falls on you, for money rules the church.

You make your sorrowing wife a concubine when you put her body up for sale.
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You have stolen her chastity, and she is sold a thousand times every day. You make your wife into a whore, since you let anyone handle her for money. You have a hard and base heart, and you will pay dearly for your betrayal, for your sins are known by the One from whom they cannot be hidden. You wish to blind him, for you fear he will see your acts. Ah, my lord cleric, you should be ashamed when you hear this account! Your sin is base and ugly, and our Lord knows that you make your good and beautiful spouse into an adulteress. You make the lady into a servant, and you turn away from what is right when you understand the holy scriptures but do not follow them. Your evil deceptions cause Christians to perish. Holy church has become a merchant, and priests will sing two sequences in a single mass out of greed for the offering they will receive. They sell the sacrament and think they hide their sin, but God sees it all and will take vengeance.

Oh Kings and Counts, I come back to you! The failing world is your responsibility, and you should share the blame I have just put on the clerics, for much of the evil and destruction that confounds the world comes from you. You should carry the sword to defend the holy church and her lands, but you have brought her low and have no care to raise her up. You place your interest in other things, and you tolerate the sale of the church, for you have a share in it. You take fraudulent payments to deprive another of his rights. You covet wealth and you follow your own unreasonable desires. Wealth is your lord, and you do not dare to deny him anything he asks (this brings you down), be it right or wrong. You bring undeserved suffering to those you should help and counsel. We see how happy it makes you to use your power to steal from the poor. Your palaces and your rooms remain empty and dim because you shun the company of honor and chivalry. Traitors and gossips are your ministers, and you gather with them in front of the fire. You are impoverished when you choose their hearth and chamber, since the vaulted ceilings and paneling, like the footmen who guard the door and keep it closed, are all turned to evil uses.

Evil and perverse lords, look at your works and see how impoverished they are, for you live in sin! God gave you many opportunities and you have refused them all! Evil barons, see how you are deceived. Our Lord has given you many signs of salvation. When he allowed himself to be sold again, he showed you a sign that you should have heeded. He let his city be taken along with the holy cross on which he was hung in order to lead us to salvation.
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In the beginning, some of you took up the cross to save God's city, but you did not succeed. You fought badly and lost God and his love. The command that you should go to Damascus and conquer the pagans has been issued.
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What will you do with your cross? You should have taken it to the Holy Sepulchre a long time ago, but you loved your own country too much. The pleasures and delights of the world overwhelm you, and you reject the path that promises you the highest joy! You are consumed by the sin that holds you hostage. You cannot separate yourselves from your wrongdoing. You are full of evil and there is no courtliness in you. You are greedy for gain and have no desire to give. You lead a cruel battle when you destroy the poor with unjust taxes.

How did you lose his love, since you vowed to serve him by taking the cross? You became his enemy by doing the very thing that should have made you his friend. The devil seduced you and gave you the desire to take the cross so he could make you sin more than before. You have neglected your arms because of it, and your sin increases. My lords, you disregard your promise and seek a shameful delay. Your way is in peril. Wise men sorrow because of it, but the worst will fall on princes who are devoted to evil, sin, and disloyalty. They have shamed the poor. They amass gold and silver for I know not what purpose. This is a sin that destroys them. They say that they will depart, but these are only words, for they would rather stay than leave. They delight in wealth, and their evil deeds earn more every day, but they do not remember the cross. Nor do they remember their voyage, and they forget their pilgrimage because of their sins. In the end they will be shamed if they do not go. But what does it matter to them? They do not care, I believe, for they wish only to return. They do not go for the sake of their Lord but only so that people will not speak badly of them.

The world is full of dishonor: there is no prince or lord who does not do evil. All the most noble men are disloyal. Betrayal is now the custom, and all men follow it. There is only evil in the world and all who live there dwell in evil. They are greedy and envious, full of evil and foolishness. Disloyalty has entered into the belly of the holy church. Goodness has been corrupted, and no matter what they claim, there is not a single one who can or will do what God asks. Belief has turned to unbelief, and the Christians are less faithful than the pagans.

This world is lost. The nobles are deaf and mute, and they condemn themselves. There are so many evils in the world that I do not know what to say about them. You cannot find a single worthy man in a thousand.

This world is dying. It is full of evil and poison, since people are poisoned when they live in it so foolishly. Sin is now common to all, and no one hides it. They follow folly in word and deed, and they cling to the world. No sin is criminal anymore, no one recognizes his crime, and all refuse to repent—they are all evil traitors. Nature has lost her rights, for sons betray fathers, daughters do not honor their mothers, brothers lie to sisters. You will not find a loyal husband or wife in all the land. Now they are all adulterers, women as well as men. Now it is a marvel to find a wise man—I believe that you will not find a single one from here to Rome. It is the same for women. A faithful wife is slandered with gossip and her virtue destroyed through envious lies. If any honor remains in the world today, it is held by the vavasors, who act more nobly than the lords.
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They are faithful companions and speak well to people. They govern themselves well and nobly, and hold their bodies dearer than their clothes or shoes. Each one of them lives according to his means and more nobly than the kings or counts who shame this world. The vavasors would be even more worthy if they were a little less like wolves devouring poor people. But they cannot help it, since they must take what they spend honorably wherever they find it.

I have described the vavasors because I was with one of them, and he was good company and lived a pure life. He never indulged his body with food or drink, and he gave many alms while he was in this world. No knight was considered more worthy: he was praised for his dignity and intelligence, and his company was greatly prized. I do not want to dwell on him so long that I seem to gossip, but I do not know any knight who knew so well how to distribute honors, to whom he should give and from whom he should take, nor do I know any knight who was more loyal.
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Every day I heard him say, “My lord is brave.” He defended his lord often, for people speak badly of counts and barons (but if they have done wrong, then there is good reason for it). He was raised up more often than he was brought low. He was not perfectly endowed with goodness, but compared to others, in truth, he should be praised. He was from a high lineage, and his lady is brave and wise, without pride or excess. Her noble upbringing is manifest in her conduct. I have undertaken this work for him, and I am close to the end. My lord, Gilles de Marquais, will be named in it after his death and for as long as Christianity will endure, along with his wife, Marie, who by her good works took vows to God our Lord. Those who hear this story will pray to the Creator, he who was hung on the cross for us, that he will have mercy on their souls and on the soul of the one who labored to compose this story, that he give us all a good life and take us into his company!

Now I have told you about my labor, about the lady and the lord for whom I write, and about the evil and cruel world where men do not acknowledge God: they leave him to keep company with the devil. The world has turned to great shame. My lords, hear the story I tell about Avenir and Josaphat.

Josaphat was in the wilderness, praising and serving God, and he was often at prayer because he sought forgiveness. He rejected the world and its pleasures; he fled and left it behind. He did not care for the world. In fact, he hated it, for he knew that whoever would serve God with love should reject it with all his heart.

He mourned for Barlaam and lay often on his tomb. He missed his master, and he lamented and wept for him. He ate and drank very little, and lived in great discomfort. He prayed without ceasing, near Barlaam's tomb. He was both joyful and angry. He should have been happy, but he was both angry because he had lost his master and happy because he knew that Barlaam had gone to experience the joy his heart longed for. Josaphat was happy that Barlaam would wear a crown. A crown? Yes, in paradise where God crowns his friends. This crown is beautiful and good, and there is no such crown in this world here below, where riches are nothing compared to those in heaven.

Josaphat lived happily in the wilderness, waiting for his reward. He was content to do penance, for he feared the judgment and the pains of hell. He was sorry that his life continued because he longed to reach the great joy that God saves for his friends. The wise men who dwelled nearby came often to comfort and encourage him. They told him not to mourn Barlaam's death, because it had been time for him to die. Josaphat never stopped serving God and praying to him.

I could not tell you all the ways he martyred his body, but I can tell you his age: he was twenty-four years old when he left his kingdom to conquer heaven. He spent thirty-five years as a good hermit, far from the world and its pleasures. Then he left this life and was taken to heaven.

Josaphat did not spend his days in vain. He held to his strong purpose until he died. He refrained from sin and desired the good so strongly that he never slowed or tired. He did many praiseworthy things, saved many souls from the devil, and set an example for us all. Then he entered the path from which none returns and was taken to the kingdom of God, whom he loved greatly. Let Holy God be praised, when such a noble and highborn man lives so wisely that sin cannot move him. Privileged men and women should be attentive to their souls and not use their power to do wrong. They should do nothing that would cause them shame or harm.

God sent a hermit to come and provide the death rituals. He prepared Josaphat's body and put him in the earth with Barlaam, for they had been companions in the search for God. They were laid side by side. Then God sent the hermit into India to bring the news of Josaphat's death to King Barachie. The king hastened to the grave with a great company of people. Barachie wept from sorrow and pity; he loved Josaphat, who had crowned him and given him his kingdom.

The sepulcher was opened, and they looked inside and recognized Barlaam and Josaphat. The two lords had become healthy and whole; their bodies had a sweet odor and were not at all corrupted.
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They looked as though they had been put in the tomb that very day. The king had the bodies carried back to his country, accompanied by lighted candles and the smoke of incense, as was proper. Many people came to meet them. Many remembered Josaphat as the amiable and familiar man he was, and they received him with more joy than can be recounted. They put the bodies in the church Josaphat himself had built for the honor of God the Creator. Sick people came to the tomb from far and near, and they went away healed. Many of the pagans who were still in the land came because of the miracles they heard about. By the grace of God, many were converted and baptized in the name of the One whose honor, name, and empire will never fail. He will endure longer than my story, and he will judge both the living and the dead on Judgment Day.

AMEN. Here ends the story of Barlaam and Josaphat.