Barlaam and Josaphat: A Christian Tale of the Buddha (6 page)

“You must reject idols, for our Lord hates idolatry above all things,” Barlaam said to Josaphat. “The man who abandons his Creator is like a servant who leaves his lord. He turns from wisdom to folly, and his life is ruined.

“I will tell you a parable I heard a long time ago. It is about those who worship and venerate idols and sacrifice to them. They are like the archer who captured a nightingale. The archer drew his knife to kill the bird, and the nightingale spoke to him. ‘You will gain little from my death, and it would be wrong for you to kill me when you could never be satisfied by eating me,' said the bird. ‘Good friend, consider this: You wish to kill me, but I will not fill your belly. Yet if you free me, I will give you three secrets, and you will profit greatly if you follow their lessons.' The man was astonished and freed the bird immediately. He asked it to tell him the three secrets. ‘Listen well,' said the bird. ‘Do not seek to take anything you cannot have. Do not regret a loss that cannot be recovered. And do not believe anything that is not believable. Learn these three lessons and keep them in your heart. Good things will come to you if you hold to them, for there is great wisdom in them, I assure you.'

“The archer marveled to hear the bird speak so well. He untied it and let it go, and the nightingale flew away. The bird was happy to escape and rejoiced in its freedom. Nonetheless, it tested the archer to see whether he had learned the three lessons. ‘Archer,' it said, ‘you took bad advice and made a foolish mistake. You lost a great treasure today, for I have a precious pearl larger than an ostrich's egg in my body. I gained my life through your loss.'

“The archer did not understand that the bird was testing him, and he was filled with regret. He spoke sweetly to the bird and asked it to come back to him. He promised to treat it well and welcome it with honor into his home. The nightingale understood the reason for the man's persuasive words, and it took him for a fool. ‘For God's sake, friend,' said the bird, ‘you have made a great error. You did not understand my lessons and now you have been deceived by my test. I told you never to regret losing something you could not recover. I see you follow this advice badly. I taught you another thing. I instructed you not to cast your net after something that cannot be taken. I see you err in this as well, for if you cannot fly after me in the air, then your skill, your nets, and your words will not help you catch me again. I told you a third rule (but you did not understand me), that you should not believe anything unbelievable. My archer friend, you tried to seize me because you thought I had a precious stone in my stomach. But I lied to you, and what I said could not be true because such a stone would be bigger than my entire body. Only a fool listens and does not use his intelligence to understand what reason makes clear.'

“A man is foolish to worship and serve gods he has made with his own hands,” Barlaam continued. “The more he gives them, the more he loses. Do not believe that these are gods. They cannot hear or see, nor can they help anyone in need. There is nothing in them but the gold that foolish men take out of their vaults and shape into whatever gods they wish to serve. They make their gods according to their own will, and then they destroy them whenever they wish. They create their own lords and then take the creation for a creator. They invent their own religion and they despise the holy faith. They persecute and kill those who would teach them that God made them and can unmake them. The devil incites them to make idols, and he rules their vain thoughts. Take care that you are not led into this path. Believe in our Lord who suffered on the cross to redeem us. He is the God we should love and fear, and he is the God we should worship and serve with pleasure. He is God the Father, and he is our Lord and Creator. He is three persons joined in One, one God in a Holy Trinity. This God sent me to you. Worship him and believe in him. Be baptized, and you will surely be saved. If you are not baptized, you will be damned.

“Consider what you will do. The pleasures of the world are fleeting and quickly lost. They kill the soul and destroy the body. And when men are condemned at the final judgment, pleasure will be a poor adornment. No flesh is so sweetly nourished or so richly dressed that it will not rot from the filth of its corruption. No matter how noble or distinguished its lineage or how great its wealth, none will wish to look upon it. And there is worse: the soul will find its body again at the Day of Judgment, but if the body has sinned, the soul will be betrayed and will remain in hell. If the soul has acted wisely, it will be saved and have joy forever. For this reason, I urge you to serve God faithfully in your heart. Do not be afraid to confirm your belief. If you believe what is good, good will come to you, and God will remain with you and help you in everything you undertake. If you serve him wholeheartedly and undertake your works with a good heart, he will help you succeed, for everything begins and ends in him.”

“Master,” said the king's son, “I believe what you say, with all my heart. Before you came here I hated my father's gods, and now I know that there is nothing but deceit in them. Now I hate them more than ever, and I know that nothing will ever persuade me to love them again.

“I will say more, good master: I will be the servant of our Lord God, my Father and Creator. I am ready to be baptized and serve God with all my power. But I wish to know if I need more than belief and baptism to be saved. Master, if you know of something else I need, do not hide it from me!”

“I am pleased to instruct you,” said the hermit. “After baptism, you must strive not to sin. Act according to your faith and you will do well, for faith is nothing without works. Ensure that your life is pure and protect your faith so it is not lost through your actions. Do you know what could destroy you and wound your soul? Adultery, along with fornication and lust, impiety, anger, discord, hopelessness, homicide, avarice, evil intentions, pleasure, and dissent. All these things destroy the soul. Here are the fruits of the soul, according to what I know: peace, patience, love, joy, faith and humility, goodness, charity, repentance, wisdom, gentleness, pity, and knowledge. These are the fruits that bring the soul to glory.

“Whoever gives his heart to God and does good works will surely be saved. Be generous and kind. Be ready to do all good things. Devote your soul and your body to God. God is merciful and asks only that your whole heart be devoted to him. This life is fleeting—do not think about tomorrow, but put everything into good belief in God and his providence. If he provides for you, you will not be discouraged. Love God and serve him. Believe in him and love your neighbor as you love yourself. These are the two commandments that the prophets preach and that faith requires. If you follow these two laws, you will come to God.”

“Now I understand,” Josaphat responded, “but tell me again about one thing. If my unworthiness causes me to err and I sin, must I lose all hope? Can I lose the good because of a bad act?”

“Friend, because of our weakness the Savior of the world took human form in the Virgin and suffered and died for us. We are weak creatures joined to a base flesh. Everything fails, everything falls, and everything declines. But God gave us a remedy to counter our base nature, for repentance cleanses all the sins of the world. No one can ever do so much evil that he cannot come to God, for God is full of mercy. Never will anyone so corrupt his body that God, who is merciful, will not immediately pardon him if he prays sincerely for forgiveness. No one should ever fall into despair because of a sin. Despair itself is a sin that God does not love, and he laments when we do not trust in his pity and believe that he will forgive our sins.

“The Gospels do not lie, and they give us a brief but clear parable to demonstrate this. A shepherd had taken one hundred sheep to graze in the wilderness, and one became lost from the others. The shepherd left the rest of the sheep and went to seek the lost one. He searched until he found it and carried it back on his shoulders to put it with the others. The Gospels tell us that he rejoiced in the recovery of the lost sheep and he sent for his neighbors and his friends to celebrate its return.

“The shepherd is God, who descended to earth to seek us. The sheep is the sinner who comes to God through repentance. When he is found, God will carry him to dwell among the righteous. The story of Saint Peter also teaches us this lesson, and I will recount it to you. He renounced our Lord Jesus Christ on the night of his passion, but through confession and tears of contrition, Saint Peter's sin was washed away, and God pardoned him at the very hour he cried and repented of his sin. This is why I tell you that tears of repentance will make your conscience pure.”

Josaphat said, “If I am able to reconcile with my Lord for my earlier life, I do not wish to anger him further by sinning again.”

“I must correct you,” Barlaam interrupted, “for I see you taking on a difficult task. No one can douse a fire without leaving some smoke. What are you saying? That you will continue to enjoy a life of ease and the pleasures of the world while still avoiding sin? I do not think this is possible (our ancestors could not do it). God tells us in his scriptures that no man can serve two masters. If he loves one, he will hate the other, and no good will come of it. If a man has two lords, he will hold one dear and he will have to abandon the other. Whoever wishes to serve God must hate the world or he will be unable to devote himself to him.”

“Whoever seeks to love God with all his heart must abandon the world and choose pleasures greater than the pleasures of this world. Some become martyrs to serve God. They suffer torments in their flesh and stanch the flow of their sins with their blood. Others go into the wilderness to suffer and steward the gold their Lord has entrusted to them. These men leave people behind. They exchange lead for silver, and silver for gold, and they amass a treasure. They leave worldly pleasures and dwell deep in the wilderness. They live on herbs and roots and suffer the cold and the heat, but they do not heed these things, for they seek to heal their souls, and the harsh life they lead delivers them from mortal sins. Their lives show that it is foolish to have hope in the world. Do not doubt it. Whoever listens to the judgments of this world should live in fear, for his love of the world and its delights will destroy him. Whoever makes his belly his god and seeks only its welfare leaves his soul to die of hunger. He has exchanged gold for lead, and he is like the man who fled the unicorn.

“The man ran, crying out in fear—he did not dare turn to face the unicorn. Then he fell into a deep pit. A beautiful tree grew beside it, and its branches were strong and laden with the most tempting fruit that had ever existed. The man grasped the tree as he fell into the pit and its large branches supported him. He looked down into the pit and saw a terrifying sight. A huge hungry dragon loomed below him with its mouth open—it would be most perilous to fall. The man was trapped between the two dangers. If he fell, the dragon would swallow him, but if he left the shelter of the tree, he would find the unicorn waiting for him, and he could lose his life. Then he saw two small animals come to the foot of the tree to forage and eat. He noted their appearance: one was black and the other white. He despaired then, because dangers threatened him from three directions.

“Then he looked up in the tree and saw its sweet fruit, and the sweetness tempted his lips. He could see by its color that the fruit must be very ripe, and the sweetness of fruit pleases and nourishes men. The man wanted the fruit badly, and he picked it to taste its sweetness. His fear changed to pleasure as he gathered the fruit. The sweet fruit made him forget his fear, and he did not want to leave the tree. He bit into the fruit, and the more he ate, the longer he wanted to stay there. The flavor was pleasing to him, but he died of hunger while eating it. The closer he was to the fruit, the more he desired it. The fruit was so sweet that the more he ate, the less he tasted its sweetness, and the less sweetness he tasted, the more fruit he ate. The place was dangerous. Yet the man was so hungry for the fruit that he lost his fear, and the sweetness of the fruit made him forget the danger. The little animals gnawed at the tree until they chewed through its roots. Then the tree fell because it could not stand once it lost its roots. The man fell and the dragon ate him.

“I have recounted this parable to you, but I have not yet explained it,” Barlaam continued. “The unicorn represents death, which constantly pursues the body. Do you know what the deep pit is? Good friend, it is the world, where we would live in fear if we recognized the danger of the dragon that lay below and wanted to grasp the man in the tree. The dragon represents hell, which takes sinners. The tree is our life. It is continuously gnawed by the two animals in the pit—one is the day, the other is the night. The fruit hanging from the tree represents the delights of the world, and the sweetness that comes from the fruit represents the devil, who entices men with sweetness and makes them sin. Learn this well: there is nothing in the world as sweet as sin to those who grow accustomed to it. Once desire is ignited, it is difficult to refrain from sin, and it takes great effort to resist gathering and eating the fruit when it appears so sweet and desirable. While man forgets himself eating the sweet fruit, the beasts gnaw away at his life, and he is dead before he even notices the threat. When his soul leaves his body and the dragon's maw takes him, he understands that his gluttony for the sweetness of the fruit has led to great suffering. I tell you that this fruit is filled with poison. The sweetness represents the sin that poisons the fruit. Whoever takes such fruit eats his own death.”

Josaphat was pleased to learn the meaning of the story. He asked Barlaam to tell him other parables, for he was eager to hear stories that would teach him how to shun the world and its pleasures. “Master,” he said, “tell me more!”

Barlaam said, “I will tell you a story about a king and his steward. The king loved the steward and gave him authority over a large part of his country. The steward accepted the land and managed it for his lord. He had three friends, two of whom he loved and cherished. He shared his wealth with them and made them great lords in his land. He did whatever he could for them. He was less generous with the third friend, who was an intimate of the king. The steward feared him more than he loved him. However, if he had known that one day this friend would intercede with the king on his behalf, he would have loved him better.

“The steward did not wish to lose the affection of the first two friends, and he compromised himself to show his love for them. He broke many vows for their sakes and lied for them frequently. He did not keep faith with his neighbors or his lord, and he wronged many people and had many put to death. He loved and cherished the two men so much that they should have returned his love—they should have been his friends.

“One day the king summoned the steward for a reckoning. The steward had managed the king's land for a long time, and the king wished him to account for how and where he had used the country's wealth. The steward was surprised and troubled, for he feared he had been betrayed. Then he thought of a way he could defend himself. He would ask his three friends for help.

“He went to the first friend and humbly asked for his aid. He needed his friend's support urgently, he explained, for he had to render an accounting before the king. ‘Good friend, tell me how I can explain my actions so that I do not incur blame. I have wronged my lord greatly, for I do not know what I have done with his land and its wealth, and now he wants them back. I will lose my lord's love because I sold his land for you. I have given you everything I owned, to make you wealthy. I have put all my silver and all my gold into your treasury, and everything I own is under your control. Now I need your help—do not withhold your support from me, for you know that one should respond to a friend in need. Help me now, I beg you!'

“‘I do not know why I should help you,” his friend responded. ‘It is true that I used to love you, but I do not love you any longer. I am weary of your friendship. I have made many other friends and their company is more honest than yours. I am happy with them now and must go to join them. Because I used to love you, I will give you some old clothing, but I will not give you anything else or help you in any other way. I can be of little service to you.'

“The steward was saddened by this response. He went to his other friend and humbly asked for his help. He asked his friend to take pity on him in return for all he had done for him. ‘I must defend myself to the king, because of the crimes I committed for your sake,' the steward explained. ‘I have put myself at risk for you many times! Now help me, I beg you, so I may remain in the king's good graces.'

“His friend responded, ‘I cannot listen now. I am busy with other business. Go away and return later, for I have other things to attend to here.'

“When the steward heard his friend's excuse, he thought he had lost everything. He left, sad and filled with sorrow, and did not know where to turn since his two friends had failed him. He could not expect his third friend to help him when the first two would not. The steward was afraid. He sought counsel everywhere, and when he found none, he despaired. Finally he went to the third friend, to see whether he could hope for any help from him. He went with his head bowed in sorrow and his face turned away. Sad and anxious, the steward approached his friend. He asked him humbly for forgiveness and bowed before him without pride. His friend welcomed him and received him graciously. He put his arms around his neck and promised that he would use whatever influence he had to help him. ‘Friend,' he said, ‘you have shown me little love. However, I will do what I can to reconcile you with the king, if he will receive me. I will go before you, and the king will have to arrest me before he can seize you. If the king does not arrest me, I will not allow any harm to come to you. Do not lose hope, for you can trust me. I will go before the court for you. Have confidence in me. I will protect you. I will act as a fortress to keep out your enemies and defend you against them.'

“The steward marveled that his friend had received him so well and promised to do as much for him. He remembered his own actions and regretted that he had done so little for this friend. ‘I did so much for the others,' he thought, ‘and they did not care about me at all. I received no help from them. They would not give me anything, and they left me to suffer. I am surprised that this man for whom I did nothing is willing to sacrifice himself and everything he possesses for my sake. He gave me more than I asked for, and he has proven himself a true friend.'”

The king's son marveled at the wise man's story and asked Barlaam to tell him its meaning.

Barlaam said, “I will explain. Do you know who the first friend is? He represents wealth. Man spends his entire life trying to accumulate wealth, even though it is fatal to him. He runs many risks in order to gain wealth and power, but no matter how hard he works or how rich and powerful he becomes, when his soul leaves his body, his prestige and influence die with him. His heirs will quickly claim his possessions and all he has earned will be of little worth to him. His heirs will not care about his reputation—they will barely remember him. Of all the things he has acquired, he will keep only a shroud, and when he rots in his sepulchre, neither his wealth nor his power will matter.

“I will tell you about the other friend. A man may be proud when he is rich and powerful in this world and has a wife and children and many friends. But when death takes him, those who shared his company will go with him to his gravesite, and their only act of love will be to bury him. Afterward they will return to their own affairs, and they will not want anything more to do with him.

“The third friend represents the good deeds of the Christian. The steward did little for this friend, but he willingly offered to help the steward. He risked himself to save him, and he was a good friend when the steward was in danger from his enemies. The other friends failed the steward in his time of need, but the third friend helped him and saved him from the punishment promised by the King who made the world and will judge it.

“These are the three friends a man finds in the world,” Barlaam continued. “Two of them kill and condemn him, but the goodness of the third redeems him. Two lead him to sorrow. The third earns him the love of the King he betrayed. The third friend remains with him and reconciles him with the Lord, who is full of mercy. Shun the first two friends, and take good care of the third, for whoever neglects the first two and serves the third will save his soul.”

“Master, I wish to put all the pleasures of the world behind me,” Josaphat responded. “Give me more examples of how to resist them. Show me all you know so that through your teaching I can know the sovereign King who made the whole world and rules it.”