Voltaire's Understanding of Buddhism

While Voltaire's interest in religious expressions beyond the boundaries of Christianity has been the object of numerous studies, his reflections on Buddhism have attracted little interest so far. Buddhism is nonetheless the object of numerous observations made by Voltaire, from his 1756 Essai sur les moeurs et l'esprit des nations to the Lettres chinoises of 1776. This article appraises the content and limits of Voltaire's comprehension of Buddhist ethics and metaphysics and retraces the evolving role played by the description of this foreign creed in his rhetorical war against Christianity.