ABSTRACT
Trade relations had early brought the Arabs into contact with peoples who professed the Buddhist faith. In the first phases of Islam, the Muslim conquerors overran many territories which were or had been dominated by Buddhism. Parallels have also been drawn between the sufi and the Buddhist ideals of renunciation and self-abnegation. As in Buddhism the adept rises step by step along eight stages of the noble way towards the annihilation of the individual personality. A feature of all the Arabic versions is the strictly limited extent to which they have been coloured by Islamic doctrine. The precise nature of the ascetic faith to which the Budhasaf/Bodhisattva prince is called is left vague, being referred to as ‘the true religion’ or by some such general designation. The system of universal fellowship preached by the Brothers of Purity certainly has revolutionary and incendiary aspects, though it is not clear whether they constituted a regular political organization.
