154 erik seldeslachts
salvation, although like Bodhisattvas they may postpone it by volun-
tary committing sin. By faith, the intuitive grasping of the teaching of
the gospel, the elect among the believers, may, like Buddhist Arhats
or highest ranking monks, arrive at a state of serene blessedness and
charity for all beings, without passions and desires. They all ascend to
the region of the “not-being God”, a sort of nirva.
Other central concepts of Basilides are, nally, Ignorance, which is
reminiscent of avijj in Buddhism, and Formlessness or the blind mate-
rial world, which is comparable to the S khya concept of prak ti or
nature unperceived by consciousness.
It may be that the correspondences of Basilides’ notions with Indian
ones are accidental, or even that they are natural. The origin of sin
was a central question in every form of gnosis and the belief in trans-
migration was fairly widespread in Antiquity. But the evil consequences
of all actions were normally not the basis of Greek philosophies. And
it is strange that a Christian professes a fully developed doctrine of
reincarnation combined with the law of causality as it is otherwise
only found in Indian religions.^108 Moreover, Basilides was not the only
one spreading such ideas, but he seems to have been part of a real
current within the Church. This current was vehemently attacked by
Origen (ca. 185–254 AD), the founder of systematic Christian theol-
ogy, who was later considered heretical, among other things because
of his extreme asceticism.^109
Origen was a student of Clemens of Alexandria (ca. 150–215 AD),^110
who was himself fairly well acquainted with Indian thought and is
the rst Western author to mention the Buddha—as Bouttas.^111 The
voiceless geminate of this form may betray an Iranian (cf. Persian but
“idol”)^112 intermediary. Bouttas is worshipped by his followers, as if he
were a god. Elsewhere, Clemens informs us that certain Indians—called
Semnoí— worship a pyramid under which the bones of a God are
kept,^113 apparently a reference to stpas. Jains also built stpas, however,
and the fact that the Semnoí wander about naked, seems indeed to
refer to Jains, unless it was just the standard way in which the Ancients
(^108) Kennedy 1902, pp. 392–394.
(^109) Benz 1951; Sedlar 1980, p. 200.
(^110) Benz 1951, pp. 185–192.
(^111) Clemens Alexandrinus, Stromata, 1.15.71.6; cf. Benz 1951, pp. 183–184.
(^112) Cf. Bailey 1931.
(^113) Stromata 3.6.60.3–4; cf. Benz 1951, p. 182.