Buddhism in al-Fihrist of Ibn al-Nadīm

This study analyzes the records related to Buddhism in Ibn al-Nadīm's al-Fihrist and examines how Muslims in the 10th century perceived Buddhism. Al-Fihrist is a list of Arabic literature, consisting of a total of ten chapters(maqāla) and Ibn al-Nadīm recorded what he had seen and heard about Buddhism in Chapter nine. He described the character of Buddhists positively. However, he used the two terms for Buddha and Bodhisattva without distinction. He also introduced several claims about the Buddha's religious status, but did not clearly state his position on the Buddha from the Islamic perspective. Although his record mentions existence of many Buddhas, it lacks doctrinal explanation on the concept of multiple Buddhas. Also, Buddhists’ customs and statues of Buddha are described in relatively detail, but there are some parts that are confused with Hindu culture. Therefore, it seems that Muslims at that time showed some interest in external aspects of Buddhism such as Buddhist character, customs, and statues, but lacked a doctrinal understanding of Buddhism.