希臘有巴蘭與約沙法（Barlaam and Josaphat）的傳說，故事裏約沙法本為王子，後來出家，隨僧人巴蘭修行。一般認為聖約沙法的傳說其實是釋迦牟尼的生平故事，經過阿拉伯文及格魯吉亞文翻譯而來。這傳說常被認為是7世紀大馬士革的聖約翰所書，但最早的紀錄出於11世紀格魯吉亞僧侶阿索斯的尤錫米烏斯（英语：Euthymius of Athos）的敍述。而約沙法這個名字(格魯吉亞語：Iodasaph，亞拉伯語：Yūdhasaf 或 Būdhasaf)和梵文中菩薩（Bodhisattva）的讀音接近。
1816年佐治·史坦利·法伯（英语：George Stanley Faber）在其著作偶像崇拜起源的歷史證據（The Origin of Pagan Idolatry Ascertained from Historical Testimony）指出關於耶穌和釋迦牟尼的描述極為相似，認為這可能不是偶然。[23]
比較宗教及東方研究學者馬斯·梅勒在1883年在其著作印度：它告訴我們甚麼（India: What it Can Teach Us）指出「佛教和基督教有許多巧合地相似，是我們無法否認的。而佛教比基督教早至少四百多年存在。非常希望有人能夠透過歷史的證據證明佛教影響了早期基督教。我一生都在追尋這樣的渠道，至今我仍沒有找到。」
1897年，萊比錫大學的魯道夫·舍伊道（英语：Rudolf Seydel）教授在著作「佛教傳說與耶穌生平」（The Buddha Legend and the Life of Jesus）指出佛經與聖經有五十多處相似之處。在此之後，1918年耶魯大學梵文及比較哲學教授愛德華·豪本勤（英语：Edward Washburn Hopkins）甚至認為耶穌的生平、試練、神跡、寓言以至弟子都是來自佛教的傳說。[24] 比較近期的研究有歷史學家杰瑞·本德利（英语：Jerry H. Bentley） 的著作「舊世界的文化交融」（1993年）[25]、意大利撒丁島鄧肯·麥德列（Duncan McDerret）的著作「聖經與佛教徒」(2001)、奕波星（英语：Iqbal Singh）的著作「佛教總論：佛陀的構成、法句經與宗教哲學」（2004年）[26] 認為基督教受到佛教影響。
坎特伯利基督教大學宗教研究學者博哈特·舒瑞爾（Burkhard Scherer）的網頁 Jesus is Buddha[27] 引用2007年佛教研究博士基斯·連特納（Christian Lindtner）的研究比較了巴利文和梵文的佛經以及希臘文的聖經之間的相似性。有反對者認為相似的原因只是因為希臘文和梵文是同一語系的語言。
語言學家撒查利亞斯·芬地（Zacharias P. Thundy）認為特拉普提（英语：Therapeutae）（Therapeutae）其實是巴利文上座部佛教（Theravada）的希臘文翻譯。特拉普提派的寺院禁慾苦行的修行方式和佛教很相似，所以芬地認為他們其實就是阿育王派往西方的佛教使節，而他們直接影響了早期天主教的構成。[30] 但除了名字和修行方法的相似性，暫時並無考古證據支持這種說法。
艾爾瑪·告魯伯（Elmar R. Gruber）及宗教歷史學家荷爾格·克爾斯頓（Holger Kersten）認為耶穌可能曾經像特拉普提派那樣修行，因此學習了佛教教義。[31] 他們引用牛津的新約研究者巴納特·史特拉特（Barnett Hillman Streeter）亦指耶穌的山上寶訓和佛教教義有相似之處。[32]
耶穌在童年到成年講道之間有許多年並沒有任何記載，被人稱為耶穌行成謎的歲月（英语：Lost years of Jesus），有人甚至推測耶穌有機會到了印度或西藏。1887年一名俄羅斯的情報員尼古拉斯·諾多維奇（英语：Nicolas Notovitch）曾去過印度北部拉達克的一個藏傳佛教寺廟（Hemis Monastery），並聲稱在佛寺裏看到關於聖伊薩事跡的手稿（Saint Issa，耶穌名字的阿拉伯譯音）。他將之翻譯為法文La vie inconnue de Jesus Christ並在1894年出版，該書隨即被翻譯為英文、德文、西班牙文及意大利文。
"The Silk Road city of Marv (Grk. Margiana), situated in the eastern part of the Parthian Empire, became a major Buddhist center" Foltz, "Religions of the Silk Road", p47
Cyril of Jerusalem, Sixth Catechetical Lecture Chapter 22-24
"22. There was in Egypt one Scythianus, a Saracen by birth, having nothing in common either with Judaism or with Christianity. This man, who dwelt at Alexandria and imitated the life of Aristotle, composed four books, one called a Gospel which had not the acts of Christ, but the mere name only, and one other called the book of Chapters, and a third of Mysteries, and a fourth, which they circulate now, the Treasure. This man had a disciple, Terebinthus by name. But when Scythianus purposed to come into Judaea, and make havoc of the land, the Lord smote him with a deadly disease, and stayed the pestilence.
23. But Terebinthus, his disciple in this wicked error, inherited his money and books and heresy, and came to Palestine, and becoming known and condemned in Judaea he resolved to pass into Persia: but lest he should be recognised there also by his name he changed it and called himself Buddas. However, he found adversaries there also in the priests of Mithras: and being confuted in the discussion of many arguments and controversies, and at last hard pressed, he took refuge with a certain widow. Then having gone up on the housetop, and summoned the daemons of the air, whom the Manichees to this day invoke over their abominable ceremony of the fig, he was smitten of God, and cast down from the housetop, and expired: and so the second beast was cut off.
24. The books, however, which were the records of his impiety, remained; and both these and his money the widow inherited. And having neither kinsman nor any other friend, she determined to buy with the money a boy named Cubricus: him she adopted and educated as a son in the learning of the Persians, and thus sharpened an evil weapon against mankind. So Cubricus, the vile slave, grew up in the midst of philosophers, and on the death of the widow inherited both the books and the money. Then, lest the name of slavery might be a reproach, instead of Cubricus he called himself Manes, which in the language of the Persians signifies discourse. For as he thought himself something of a disputant, he surnamed himself Manes, as it were an excellent master of discourse. But though he contrived for himself an honourable title according to the language of the Persians, yet the providence of God caused him to become a self-accuser even against his will, that through thinking to honour himself in Persia, he might proclaim himself among the Greeks by name a maniac." Catholic Encyclopedia (Public Domain, quoted in [1] （页面存档备份，存于互联网档案馆）)
Tweed, Thomas. The American Encounter With Buddhism, 1844-1912: Victorian Culture and the Limits of Dissent. University of North Carolina Press. 2000: 280. ISBN 0807849065.
Hinduism and Buddhism, An Historical Sketch, Vol 3. Charles Eliot
20 of 22: Egypt was a most religious country, but it does not appear that asceticism, celibacy or meditation formed part of its older religious life, and their appearance in Hellenistic times may be due to a wave of Asiatic
influence starting originally from India. [3] （页面存档备份，存于互联网档案馆）
Andre Grabar mentions Buddhist iconography of the birth of the Buddha as a possible source for the Christian depiction of the birth of Jesus Christ. Andre Grabar, p129
Latin Sources: Archelaus (Bishop of Cascar in Mesopotamia, d. about 278): Acta Disputationis cum Manete Haeresiarcha; first written in Syriac, and so far belonging to the Oriental Christian Sources (Comp. Jerome, de Vir. Ill. 72), but extant only in a Latin translation, which seems to have been made from the Greek, edited by Zacagni (Rome, 1698), and Routh (in Reliquiae Sacrae, vol. V. 3-206); Eng. transl. in Clark's Ante-Nicene Library (vol. XX. 272-419). [Am. ed. vol. VI. p. 173 sq.].
What is particularly disconcerting here is the disconnect between expectation and reality: We know from Chinese translations that large numbers of Mahayana sutras were being composed in the period between the beginning of the common era and the fifth century. But outside of texts, at least in India, at exactly the same period, very different — in fact seemingly older — ideas and aspirations appear to be motivating actual behavior, and old and established Hinayana groups appear to be the only ones that are patronized and supported., Macmillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism, 2004, page 494
Beverley, James A., Hollywood's Idol （页面存档备份，存于互联网档案馆）, Christianity Today, "Jesus Christ also lived previous lives", he said. "So, you see, he reached a high state, either as a Bodhisattva, or an enlightened person, through Buddhist practice or something like that", Retrieved April 20, 2007
Allegro, John, The Mystery of the Dead Sea Scrolls Revised, Grammercy Publishing Co., New York, 1981 (first published Penguin Books, 1956).
Amore, Roy C., Two Masters, One Message, The Lives and the Teachings of Gautama and Jesus, Parthenon Press, Nashville, 1978.
Blavatsky, H. P. Isis Unveiled (1877)
de Silva, Lynn, A., The Problem of the Self in Buddhism and Christianity, Macmillan Press, London, 1979. -Reincarnation in Buddhist and Christian Thought, 1968.
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Haring, Hermann & Metz, Johann-Baptist, eds., Reincarnation or Resurrection?, SCM Press, Maryknoll, 1993.
Head, Joseph, & Cranston, S.L., eds., Reincarnation An East-West Anthology (Including quotations from the world's religions & from over 400 western thinkers), Julian Press, New York, 1961.
Howe, Quincy, Jr., Reincarnation for the Christian, Westminster Press, Philadelphia, 1974.
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Leaney, A.R.C., ed., A Guide to the Scrolls, Nottinham Studies on the Qumran Discoveries, SCM Book Club, Naperville, Ill., 1958.
Lefebure, Leo D., The Buddha and the Christ, Explorations in Buddhist and Christian Dialogue (Faith Meets Faith Series), Orbis Books, Maryknoll, New York, 1993.
Lillie, Arthur, Buddhism in Christendom or Jesus, the Essene, Unity Book Service, New Delhi, 1984 (first published in 1887). *India in Primitive Christianity, Kegan House Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., 1909.
Lopez, Donald S. & Rockefeller, Steven C., eds., The Christ and the Bodhisattva, State University of New York, 1987. Phan, *Peter, ed., Christianity and the Wider Ecumenism, Paragon House, New York, 1990.
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Radhakrishnan, S., Eastern Religions in Western Thought, Oxford University Press, 1939.
Siegmund, Georg, Buddhism and Christianity, A Preface to Dialogue, Sister Mary Frances McCarthy, trans., University of Alabama Press, 1968.
Smart, Ninian, Buddhism and Christianity: Rivals and Allies, Macmillan, London, 1993.
Streeter, Burnett H., The Buddha and The Christ, an Exploration of the Meaning of the Universe and of the Purpose of Human Life, Macmillan and Co., London, 1932.
Tweed, Thomas. The American Encounter With Buddhism, 1844-1912 : Victorian Culture & the Limits of Dissent. University of North Carolina Press.
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Walker, Susan, Speaking of Silence: Christians and Buddhists on the Contemplative Way, Paulist Press, 1987. ISBN 0-8091-2880-2.
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