an example of christian theft of concepts

jul 7th

this is not a new discovery, it has been well known that st. josaphat = bodisattva, but the koreans seem to have done a more thorough study of the process of linguistic change.

in a similar manner, christians are slowly 'capturing' hindu texts as well. for instance, they claim that prajapati and isa in ancient hindu texts refer to jesus. never mind that they are several thousand years older than the alleged birth of the alleged jesus. (one basis of claim, isa sounds so much like yesu, they must be the same). they will retort that they foreshadow jesus, much as muslims claim that all other religions were just beta tests of the true religion islam.

the christian capture of others' ideas is rather like the microsoft way of 'embrace, extend, exterminate' of new ideas. in both cases, it points to a certain vacuity of thought, perhaps a lack of creativity, certainly a tendency to piracy.

since so few hindus now know sanskrit, diligent jesuits and other christians who have learned sanskrit make up these translations (and that of course has been happening since colonial times when max muller intended that his translation of the vedas -- and this is in his own words in a letter to his wife paraphrased -- would strike at the roots of hinduism and destroy it). baffled hindus believe these so-called translations which are actually misinterpretations. the stalinists have always misused these misinterpretations to support their misbegotten ideas about class structure..

now you know why it has been important for the missionaries and marxists and macaulayites to kill off sanskrit. for it is the basis of indic culture, hindu as well as buddhist/jain. and 'The First Prime Minister of India' (Trademark) collaborated -- wittingly or more likely unwittingly -- in this endeavor. incidentally he was also the one who allowed fundamentalist christian preachers free access to the hill states of the northeast, with the result that they have been fully christianized in 50 years.

forwarded by a friend.

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Academicians Claim Buddha Turned Into European Saint

By Kim Ki-tae
Staff Reporter

Greek drawings estimated to be from the 12th century show Ioasaph
teaching Christianity to the public. A group of researchers claim the
European saint is a derivation of the Buddha. Courtesy of Antiquus

The ancient tale of Gautama Siddhartha, the founder of Buddhism,
spread from his homeland to Europe, where he became a Christian saint
with the name of ``Iosaphat."
That's the conclusion of a group of Korean researchers who have
conducted a multi-linguistic study of the westward spread of the story
of the Buddha.

``It is apparent that the name Iosaphat originates from Buddha,'' Paik
Seung-wook, a lecturer of Spanish at Seoul National University said.

According to Paik, while the Buddha's tale spread westbound, his name
``Buddha'' or ``Bodhisatta'' in Sanskrit, changed gradually in
accordance with various linguistic backgrounds with similar accounts
of the tale.

For example, it changed to ``Bodisav'' in Persian texts in the sixth
or seventh century, ``Budhasaf or Yudasaf'' in an eighth-century
Arabic document and ``Iodasaph'' in Georgia in the 10th century.

The name in turn was adapted to ``Ioasaph'' in Greece in the 11th
century, and ``Iosaphat'' or ``Josaphat'' in Latin since then.

``The gradual change of the name shows the westward spread of the tale
from Nepal (where the Buddha was born) to Persia, the Middle East,
Greece and Europe,'' Paik said.

Paik is a member of a project research team undertaking a study of the
literary interchange between the East and the West. The Korean
Research Foundation is sponsoring the study, and the study results
were published in the June-July edition of the bimonthly ``Antiquus.''

As it spread, the tale adapted different versions according to various
religious backdrops. In the Greek account, a hero Ioasaph, a prince in
India, one day witnessed blind, sick and old people on the streets
outside of the palace. The scenes shocked the innocent prince and led
him to contemplate the agony and emptiness of life. One day, a
Christian monk named Barlaam visited the anguished prince and taught
him the religion. Enlightened, Ioasaph abandoned his secular values
and led an ascetic life until his death. This account has a striking
similarity to that of the Buddha's tale.

In Europe, the story spread to most regions, especially since the 11th
century, and the tale's hero has been acclaimed as the champion of
Christianity, not Buddhism.

``There are slight differences in accounts in different texts. For
example, in an Arabic account, the prince married a woman, but in a
Greek text, he overcomes temptation from female figures,'' Paik said.

According to Paik, there have been previous studies in Britain and
Germany on the cultural transmission of Buddha's tale to Europe, but
he said this study is the first time scholars approached the subject
in a comprehensive and multi-linguistic way.

``The research covered eight languages _ Sanskrit, Georgian, Arab,
Turkish, Persian, Greek, Latin and Spanish. Our team studied the
original text in six languages, and the other two in English,'' Paik
said.

http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/culture/200507/kt2005070420024111680.htm