Nicolas Notovich, The Unknown Life of Jesus Christ

Nicolas Notovich was a Russian journalist who traveled through India, Persia, Afghanistan and Tibet. He became a confidant of Buddhist monks who told him about Issa. In Islam, Jesus is called Issa. According to the Buddhists, Jesus was temporarily admitted to a monastery to gain wisdom. Notovich’s book is considered controversial. NB! This article is written from the personal view of the author and may contain information that is not scientifically substantiated and/or in line with the general view.

The Bible says nothing about Jesus’ life between the ages of 12 and 30. Could it be that he was traveling to India, Pakistan, Tibet and Persia? Ancient Buddhist texts have been found that describe a journey through these countries and they would answer the question of how Jesus’ missing years were filled.

Monastery in Himis

After visiting a festival in Tibet, Notovich started talking to a monk who told him about the Buddhist Issa. He is said to have preached Buddhism in India, Persia and Israel. Issa was murdered by pagans whose descendants would interpret his preachings in their own way to exercise power over people. He had a conversation with this Buddhist that was cut short because he was called by his fellow monks. The monk excused himself and left. Notovich was preparing to leave the town called Himis to cross the mountains on horseback. The next day he mounted his horse and climbed the mountains surrounding Himis. His horse stumbled and Notovich fell. He was forced to return to Himis and was nursed by the monks. During this time he was given writings to read about Issa’s actions. He translated these writings into English and published them in his book The Unknown Life of Jesus Christ in 1890.

Title page of book Notovich

Similarities and differences

Notovich has translated 14 texts from Pali, a language in Tibet. The texts were not contained in one book but were spread across several books in which events from outside India were recounted. Notovich says that he put all the fragments presented to him by Tibetan monks in chronological order and divided them into 14 chapters. In terms of content, there are many similarities with the Bible, but there are also striking differences.

Moses the son of Pharaoh

In the early Buddhist texts, Moses is described as a son of a pharaoh, and not as a Hebrew as stated in the Bible. The sons of Pharaohs also become Pharaohs themselves. Moses was impressed by the Israelites in Egypt. They had to do slave labor, were not allowed to sleep under a roof, but never denied their God. Moses, the son of Pharaoh, angered his father by converting to the same faith as the Israelites. His father became so angry that he issued an order that the Israelites should be tortured more than before. Then the seven plagues began in Egypt. The Egyptian population was decimated (but a large part of the Israelites were spared, probably because they were not allowed to sleep in houses because many houses collapsed.) Moses told his father that the God of the Israelites was intervening. Pharaoh told Moses to leave the land with the Israelites to rule over them in another city. The part in brackets in this paragraph was not in the text but is an interpretation of the author of this article.

Thutmose the first, is this man with the staff Moses? / Source: KR Lepsius, Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)

Moses = Thutmose

At exactly the same time that Moses lived, Pharaoh Thuthmose was in power. Some suggest that Moses was Thuthmose. Notovich doesn’t do that. He only sees the difference between the Buddhist text and the Biblical text. He explains the difference by reasoning that the Buddhists had known writing for much longer and recorded historical events. It is a tradition in India and surrounding countries to recount everything a traveler has seen and heard. People were very interested in events outside India. Like Moses, Jesus would be a descendant in the line of King David, (who was therefore Pharaoh Amenenhotep I). It should be said that Notovich says nothing about a possible pharaohship of Moses or King David. It’s just that the Buddhist text itself implies this. Could it be that the Bible, which has been translated and transcribed many times, was accidentally changed or deliberately mutilated in translation to such an extent that the Hebrews and the Egyptians were the same people and this should be regarded as a veiled fact of world history?

Jesus among the Brahmins

The texts describe the life of Jesus that he would have led after leaving the Middle East. First of all, at the age of 14, he apprenticed with the Sindh in India. Then he goes to the Brahmins. India was and is a society divided into multiple layers, castes. Jesus taught everyone, regardless of social position, the teachings from the Holy Book, as can be read in the Buddhist texts that Notovich translated. He tells the Brahmins who live in the highest caste socially that they do not understand their own texts. Their ideas of the Trinity, God, and the caste system that is condoned by their sacred texts are not correct, according to Jesus. According to Jesus, no one has the right to deprive others of their rights. We are all equal in God’s eyes. The Brahmins are initially impressed by Jesus’ insights. He stays among the Brahmins for a total of 6 years. Eventually he hears from someone that fighters from the priestly caste are targeting him and Jesus flees to Tibet. This story has similarities with his later experiences in Israel, although here he escapes the hands of those in power.

Jesus on an ancient mural / Source: Nesusvet, Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)

Jesus in Persia

After visiting various monasteries in Tibet, Jesus went to Persia. At the time he was there, Zoroastrianism was adhered to . That is a teaching that tells about the battle between light and dark, good and evil. Jesus notes that it is a sin in itself to divide the world. He comes up with all kinds of arguments in which he points out to people that their faith has degenerated into idolatry. He later did the same in Israel. Those in power in Persia are also afraid that his insights will lead to the people no longer listening to the priests. Jesus says, among other things, that he is not preaching a new God, but that God has always existed and that priests have used his teachings to exercise power over people. He says that God created the star we call the sun, but that is no reason to worship the star as a false God, even though it provides warmth, food and life. The Magi were in power in Persia. They took Jesus outside the walls of the city, and the book records that they hoped he would be attacked by wild animals. He was no longer welcome and then left, without incident.

Jesus back in Israel

Finally, Jesus arrives in Israel. This chapter of his life is also described in Buddhist texts. He becomes very popular among the population. The priests are also impressed by his knowledge. Only Pilate is not. Pilate is the one who, according to the Bible, is responsible for the trial of Jesus. The Buddhist text contains all kinds of beautiful things that are not in the Bible. One of them is that a temple is not built of stone by people but is in your heart. The heart is the true temple of God. Jesus says that hearts must be made pure and undefiled so that they may be matured to attain divine wisdom. When you act out of devotion and love, not out of self-gain and selfishness, you will purify the heart and become partakers of divine wisdom. He told the Israelites that he wanted to restore the laws of Moses, which had been ignored for a long time, to people’s hearts. The laws do not teach revenge, only forgiveness. The secrets of nature are in divine hands for all the world has become manifest in the bosom of the divine thought. When you pray to God, be like little children who do not consider the past or the future, for God is the lord of time.

Jesus about women

When in a large group of people a woman moves forward and is pushed away by a man, Jesus says: Respect women for in them we see the mother of the universe and all truth about divine creation comes through her. And: be submissive to the woman. Her love ennobles the man and softens his hard heart, tames the wild beast and turns it into a lamb. These beautiful texts cannot be found in the Bible. Then the popularity of Jesus became too much for Pilate and he crucified him, a punishment often used in those days. That story is the same in the Bible and the Buddhist text translated by Notovich.