The story of St. Josaphat--a prince who gave up his wealth to follow Jesus--was told throughout medieval Europe, but it was not until the 19th century that scholars noticed certain parallels between that tale and the life of the Buddha. Both figures rejected material comforts to pursue spiritual truth, acquired followers and were revered for the examples they set for living in the face of inevitable suffering.
The tales diverge in several ways: there is scant evidence of a "historical" Josaphat; the saint's father is often portrayed as his adversary in a way the Buddha's family is not; Josaphat is a follower of Christ and an adherent of Christ's teachings, while the Buddha is portrayed as a divine teacher himself. Yet the close parallels in the two figures' lives have encouraged scholarly investigation. In Search of the Christian Buddha maps the journey of the Buddha's tale from its roots in India and Persia through the eyes of the Jewish, Muslim and Christian authors who reinterpreted the story through the lens of their respective faiths. As the Buddha's life morphs into saintly devotion, similarities and differences between the foundational faiths arise, complicating subjects as diverse as the meaning of death, the place of women and the problem of desire.
A joint effort of University of Michigan professors Donald S. Lopez Jr. and Peggy McCracken, In Search of the Christian Buddha offers the rigor of scholarly analysis without the obfuscation of academic language. The various versions of the Buddha/Josaphat myth are beautifully told and their intersections revealed with luminous clarity. --Dani Alexis Ryskamp, blogger at The Book Cricket