Prophets of the East: The Ilkhanid Historian Rashīd al-Dīn on the Buddha, Laozi and Confucius and the Question of his Chinese Sources (Part 1)

Abstract

The Ilkhanid vizier and historian Rashīd al-Dīn’s section on China (the History of China) in his world history, the Jāmiʿ al-tawārīkh, is the first Persian history of the Chinese world. Among other information on China, this text includes accounts of the lives and deeds of the founders of the three major religious and philosophical schools of China: Buddha, Laozi and Confucius. These are probably the first discussions of Laozi and Confucius in the Islamicate world. This paper focuses on Rashīd al-Dīn’s life of Buddha in his History of China. Reading these excerpts against the background of Chinese sources, striking similarities can be found between Rashīd al-Dīn’s account and the narratives of Buddhist ‘universal histories’ of the early Yuan period, belonging to the historiographical production of the Chan school.