(Nancy): fully divine and fully human

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Hello again, Nancy!

At 05:33 PM 2/19/98 -0500, Greg, Nancy, and James Todd wrote:

>>Hello, Nancy!

>>

>>At 08:59 PM 2/18/98 -0500, Greg, Nancy, and James Todd wrote:

>>

>>--snip--

>>NANCY

>>>.... Jesus, unique?  Heck, even Buddha's disciples could walk on water:

>>>"One of the stories told by Buddhist missionaries, who were in Syria and

>>>Egypt as early as the second century B.C., similarly concerns the power of

>>>faith granted to a disciple of Buddha: A disciple who wanted

>>>

>>>'to visit Buddha one evening . . . found that the ferry boat was missing

>>>from the bank of the river Aciravati. In faithful trust in Buddha he stepped

>>>onto the water and went as if on dry land to the very middle of the stream.

>>>Then he came out of his contented meditation on Buddha in which he had lost

>>>himself, and saw the waves and was frightened, and his feet began to sink.

>>>But he forced himself to become wrapt in his meditation again and by its

>>>power he reached the far bank safely and reached his master.'" [Randal

>>>Helms, _Gospel Fictions_, p. 81

>>>

>>>Sounds a lot like MT 14:28-33, doesn't it.

>>

>>

>>CREA

>>    And if you're ever pressed for a source, tell them it's from the

>>Jaataka, #190, found in volume ii, 111-113 (Pali Text Society edition).

>>That's my only gripe with Helms' work -- not enough references!

>>

>

>NANCY

>Oh, Joseph, I was so hoping you would post the source of this story. Helms

>cites a secondary source (a book by Bultmann, I think - I don't feel like

>checking), so the primary source is not identified. I normally avoid such

>sources like the plague, but Helms seems to be pretty reliable, so I went

>ahead and posted the material. Your knowledge of Buddhism is invaluable to

>this list. Thanks.



CREA
    You are, of course, entirely welcome.  What puzzles me is why you didn't
simply e-mail me earlier and ask for a source.  After all, it only took a
couple of minutes to locate the appropriate reference volume and then verify
its material against the canonical text.

    One thing about Helms' text that bothers me is that I am unable to
locate any documentation (outside of Buddhist references from Sri Lanka to
Ashoka Maurya sending delegations of monks to various kings of the
Greco-roman world around 250 BCE, but these lack confirmation that they ever
arrived) for his assertion that there were "...Buddhist missionaries in
Syria and Egypt as early as the second century B.C.".  The earliest
reference to "Buddha" or "Buddhism" (as opposed to passing mention of Indian
ascetics in such works as the _INDIKA_ of Megasthenes) that I am familiar
with seems to be in the _Stromata_ of Clement of Alexandria.


With Mettaa,

Joseph Crea
<Joseph.Crea@worldnet.att.net>

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