Tumah
Veteran Member
Well, the reason I baulk at letting this theory bite the dust , is because the similarities do not seem to stop at mere moral codes and ethical injunctions.
Not only does it not limit to morality, it is also pervasive through the biography of both the men.
To strictly follow chronology , I would request you to examine the birth of Jesus and Buddha first. I dont want to take too much at a time
Compare the names of the mothers-- Queen Maya and Ma(r)ya.[FONT="]
Mâyâ was later regarded as a virgin[/FONT] and King Suddhodhana as a stepfather, just like Joseph.
Both of them are visited by celestial beings (an angel and a white elephant who foretells the birth of the savior )
Buddha is born while his mother is in a travel, under a tree. Jesus is also born while in travel.
Buddha emits a dazzling light and Jesus elicits a blue star.
Buddha receives homage from Gandharvas and Devas in the Sky. Jesus gets homage from angels in the sky.
Buddha is called son of God (devaputra), descended from Brahma. Jesus also claims lineage from "Abraham".Compare the names "Abraham" and "Brahma"
Both are thus of royal descent. Jesus is called son of David and Buddha is of the great Ishkavu dynasty
Wise men gather in both cases.
In a text called Nidhanakatha, a noble woman says of the Budhda "[FONT="]Verily, that mother is blessed, who has given birth to a man like this one"[/FONT].
Luke 11.27 talks of a woman who praises Mary --"[FONT="]Blessed is the womb, that bare thee and the paps which thou hast suckled."[/FONT]
Of course, there are differences like Maya dying seven days later . But I do think all the above are too protruding from the coincidental.
I think the nae similarity is more coincidental than anything. Marry is the English of Miriam, which doesn't sound quite the same as Maya.
Also, I don't think comparing Jesus' lineage to Abraham with Buddha from Brahma makes sense. The NT doesn't start until way after Genesis. It would make a lot more sense if Genesis was already mentioning Jesus. The way you have it, you're really just singling out a name that sounds similar from a long list of ancestors.
But other than that, I think the similarities are uncanny and definitely raise a question in my eyes. That the NT authors lifted stories from other religions is clear, I think. Whether they got some ideas from Buddhism, or whether Buddhism and other Roman theology stemmed from similar sources, I think there is definitely something here.