Unknown Life of Jesus

Controversial since it was first published in 18----, Nicolas Notovitch's The Unknown Life of Jesus Christ relates that Jesus Christ spent the years of his life unaccounted for in the Bible from the age of 13 to 29 studying with Buddhists and others in India and Asia. In this memoir, Notovitch writes that it was his goal to take an "extended journey through the Orient...to study the customs and habits of the inhabitants of India." On the way to Leh, the capital of Ladak, he visited a Buddhist monastery near Mulbek, close to the Wakha River. Here a Lama told him that Jesus, whom the Buddhists called "Issa," had visited the region and that there were manuscripts documenting this in the Lhasa archives in Tibet. He was told copies of these documents existed also in some of the larger monasteries elsewhere. Intrigued, Notovitch determined to delay his return to Europe with the hope of viewing these documents himself. On his way to Leh, the capital of Ladak, Notovitch found himself laid up at the Hemis Monastery with a broken leg. During his stay, he was under the care of Buddhist monks whom he befriended. He eventually convinced one of the monks to read from these documents and, as an interpreter translated, Notovitch made notes. Much of what Notovitch recorded supports and amplifies the Jesus the West is familiar with. For instance, Jesus is said to have angered the monks over his teachings that humans, regardless of caste, are equal. Yet, an expanded view of Jesus' teachings, more in line with the texts known as the Gnostic Gospels, is presented. An example of this is the Tibetan manuscripts' record of Jesus preaching that within each person "dwells a part of the spirit of the Most High."