Was Jesus based off the Buddha from India? Many people believe Jesus did not exist and was plagiarized from early legends like that of Buddha. They claim that
- Buddha was born on December 25th of the Virgin Maya
- His birth was attended by Wiseman and a star of announcement
- He was pronounced ruler of the world
- His life was threatened by a king who wanted to destroy him
- He was a royal lineage
- He taught in a temple at age 12
- He crushed the Serpent’s head and was tempted by an evil demon Mara
- He was baptized in water with the Spirit of God present
- He was a miracle worker and even fed 500 men from a small basket of cakes
- He abolished idolatry
- His followers were obligated to renounce the world and live in poverty
- He glowed during a Transfiguration on a mountain
- He died on a cross according to some traditions
- His tomb was supernaturally opened where he ascended bodily to Nirvana
- He is said to return in the latter days to return the world to order and judge the dead.
So if all these things were true, then one could potentially assert Jesus was a copy of Buddha but there are several problems with these assertions. Before we go through these, we first need to note the first biography of Buddha was not written until the second century AD. So any source of Buddha’s legend already post-dates Jesus. Obviously the legend of Buddha is older than this but if one is going to assert Christians stole the legend of Buddha to craft Jesus, they need concrete evidence, not rely on sources that post-date Jesus. Because if there was actually borrowing going on, Christians can just assert it goes in the opposite direction, that the legend of Buddha was changed over time.
- Now Buddha was never said to be born on December 25th but the eighth day of the fourth lunar month.
- His mother was named Maya but so what? There is no evidence the name Mary comes from this. Scholars know Mary comes from the earlier Hebrew name Miriam.
- Buddha was not born of a virgin. The later Christian author Jerome said this was true but he is not the most reliable source for the Legend of Buddha. Scholar Edward Thomas said “The oldest account of Buddha’s ancestry appears to presuppose nothing abnormal about his birth and merely speaks of him being well born – both on his mother’s and father’s side – of seven generations. According to the later legends, he is born not as other human beings but in the same way as a universal King, he descends from the Tusita heaven by his own choice, and with this his father is not concerned. This is not properly a virgin birth but it may be called pathogenetic, that is Suddhodana was on his progenitor.
- I could find no mention of a star or angels. There were wise men as advisors to Buddha’s father but he was a wealthy King so he would have had them at his disposal.
- This next one (i.e. He was pronounced ruler of the world) is not true at all. The closest one can find is at his birth, it was said he would have the option of becoming a great ruler or a spiritual leader.
- This next one (i.e. His life was threatened by a king who wanted to destroy him) is also not true. What the legend actually says is Buddha was prophesied to leave the palace and become a holy man so his father tried to prevent that from ever happening. And Buddha had to later escape.
- Buddha was of royal lineage but this is too vague to form a parallel.
- There is no mention of Buddha ever teaching in the temple at age 12. The second century biography only suggests the young Buddha was able to learn very quickly.
- The New Testament never says Jesus crushed the head of a snake. It was later Christian authors who drew this parallel with Genesis 3 and it was a 12th century Hindu scholar who said Buddha slew a snake.
- Buddha was tempted by the demon Mara but it doesn’t compare to the temptation of Jesus. There was no mention of bread, being thrown off a temple or being offered all the kingdoms of the world.
- There is no source where Buddha was said to be baptized and no mention he fed 500 from a basket of cakes and being a miracle worker as far to general to form any parallel.
- It has not been said that Jesus abolished idolatry but preached against it. Either way, I can find no reference that Buddha did this either. Buddha’s followers were called and renounced the world and lived in poverty but Christians were not called to live in poverty in the New Testament. Jesus called people of many different walks of life and there is no evidence all Christians are supposed to be poor. Yes, some are given that calling but not all.
- There’s no evidence of a Transfiguration on a mount. Buddha was just set to glow because of his enlightenment.
- There is no tradition that says Buddha died on a cross or was buried in the tomb. Nirvana is not a place one ascends to but a state of being.
- A late Chinese document says Buddha opened his coffin to speak but then closed it again.
- Buddha is not set to return. There will be a future enlightened Buddha but that will be a different person entirely. So once again like with the other legends, we can easily point out there is no evidence Jesus was just a myth based on Buddha.