Introduction
“…Scholars, for over two hundred years, have been pointing out the influence of Buddhism on the origins of Christianity, but Christian theologians have, in the main, been indifferent to a serious study of this relationship. Such a study would require that they acquire a deep historical knowledge of Buddhism and a mastery of the languages of Pali, Sanskrit, Tibetan and Chinese among others.
“…Jesus and his disciples are allegorical, non-historical characters mixed together with historical characters (such as Pilate and some Temple priests)… Even the story of the ‘Outcaste Woman at the Well’ is a fictitious meta-narrative, though involving the, perhaps, historical persons of the Buddha and his ‘beloved’ disciple Ananda—if indeed they are historical!...
“…Jesus was an allegorical figure modeled on the founder of Buddhism and his fifth century BCE style of preaching: that of the homeless wandering monk….
“If the four canonical Gospels are studied from this perspective, evidence may emerge that the evangelists were, indeed, Indian—or persons trained in India or by Indians.”
Dr. Michael Lockwood, Buddhism’s Relation to Christianity (64-65, 196, 255)
“Eventually, scholars will have to concede—in my opinion—that the ‘Jesus’ of the gospels is a purely fictitious figure, like Hercules.”
Dr. Christian Lindtner, “Comparative Gospels Studies in Review”
In the field of Christian-origins studies runs a persistent subcurrent that raises up the subject of comparative religion and mythology. This enduring thread has been part of what is called “mythicism,” the work of the “Mythicist School,” which represents part of what is called the “History of Religions School” as well. The research and scholarship in this subject are substantial, dating back hundreds to thousands of years, depending on the figures or groups being studied.
The discipline of mythicism or mythicist school has produced some interesting and often outstanding scholarship, which was begun centuries ago but which has enjoyed a resurgence in the past couple of decades. In specific, the history of religions school included mythicist scholarship which focused on the origins of Christianity from the perspective that “Jesus Christ” as found in the New Testament ranks as a mythical figure. Now we can add to this important body of scholarship the anthology Buddhism’s Relation to Christianity by Dr. Michael Lockwood, a professor of philosophy for 32 years in India.
Buddhism’s Relation to Christianity is divided into nine sections, providing comparisons between Buddhist and Christian doctrines, traditions and rituals. The book highlights ancient artifacts and texts—primary sources—that provide evidence of parallels between the two religions, including not only the doctrines but also the sayings, deeds and other “biographical” details concerning the religions’ purported founders. Taken together, the evidence provided by Lockwood is very suggestive, if not conclusive, that one of these religions influenced the other, directly or indirectly. As Lockwood (4) remarks, “There are many parallels between Buddhist doctrine and Christian doctrine.”
The nine sections of the book comprise discussions of the following:
  1. Examples of scholarship on Buddhist and Christian parallels;
  2. Buddhist sculpture paralleling Christian gospel episodes;
  3. Buddhist inscriptions with parallels to Christian doctrines;
  4. Buddha’s remake as a Christian saint, Josaphat;
  5. Buddhist parables with parallels to Christian parables;
  6. Parallels between the purported sayings of Buddha and Christ;
  7. Priority of Buddhist innovations over similar Christian doctrines;
  8. The historicity of Jesus; and
  9. Theories vis-à-vis Buddhist, Judaic and Egyptian origins of Christian doctrines and traditions.
The first section of Lockwood’s book lists several works from 1828 to 2009 that explore the similarities between Buddhism and Christianity, including studies by Arthur Schopenhauer, Max Müller, Richard Garbe, Zacharias Thundy, Elmar Gruber and Holger Kersten, Christian Lindtner and yours truly, D.M. Murdock. There are many more such works, in English and other languages such as German, a fact not lost on Lockwood, who incorporates important European scholarship at several points.