Greco-Buddhism, sometimes
spelt Graeco-Buddhism, refers to the cultural
syncretism between Hellenistic culture and Buddhism, which developed between the 4th century
BCE and the 5th century CE in the area covered by modern Afghanistan
, Pakistan
and
north-western border regions of modern India
namely
western portions of Jammu and Kashmir
. It was a cultural consequence of a long
chain of interactions begun by Greek forays into India from the
time of
Alexander the Great,
carried further by the establishment of
Indo-Greek rule in the area for some centuries,
and extended during flourishing of the Hellenized empire of the
Kushans. Greco-Buddhism influenced the
artistic, and perhaps the spiritual framework, developments of
Buddhism, particularly
Mahayana
Buddhism,
founded in
India, which represents one of the two main branches of
Buddhism.
The Buddhist religious system was then
adopted in Central and Northeastern Asia, from the 1st century CE,
ultimately spreading to China
, Korea
and Japan
.
Historical outline
The
interaction between Hellenistic
Greece and Buddhism started when Alexander the Great conquered the
Achaemenid Empire and further
regions of Central Asia in 334 BCE,
crossing the Indus
and Jhelum rivers, and going as far
as the Beas, thus establishing direct
contact with India
, the
birthplace of Buddhism.
Alexander
founded several cities in his new territories in the areas of the
Oxus
and Bactria, and Greek
settlements further extended to the Khyber Pass
, Gandhara (see Taxila
) and the
Punjab. These regions
correspond to a unique geographical passageway between the Himalayas
and the Hindu Kush
mountains, through which most of the interaction
between India and Central Asia took place, generating intense
cultural exchange and trade.
Following
Alexander's death on June 10, 323 BCE, the
Diadochoi (successors) founded
their own kingdoms in Asia
Minor
and Central
Asia. General
Seleucus
set up the
Seleucid Kingdom, which
extended as far as India. Later, the Eastern part of the Seleucid
Kingdom broke away to form the
Greco-Bactrian Kingdom (
3rd–2nd century BCE), followed by the
Indo-Greek Kingdom (
2nd–1st century BCE), and later the
Kushan Empire (1st–3rd century CE).
The interaction of Greek and Buddhist cultures operated over
several centuries until it ended in the 5th century CE with the
invasions of the
White Huns, and later
the expansion of
Islam.
Religious interactions
The length of the Greek presence in Central Asia and northern India
provided opportunities for interaction, not only on the artistic,
but also on the religious plane.
Alexander the Great in Bactria and India (331–325 BCE)
When Alexander conquered the
Bactrian and
Gandharan regions, these areas may already
have been under
Buddhist or
Jainist influence. According to a legend preserved
in
Pali, the language of the
Theravada canon, two
merchant brothers from Bactria, named Tapassu and
Bhallika, visited the Buddha and became his disciples. They then
returned to Bactria and built temples to the Buddha (Foltz).
In 326 BCE, Alexander invaded India.
King Ambhi, ruler of Taxila
, surrendered
his city, a notable center of Buddhist faith, to Alexander.
Alexander fought an epic battle against
Porus, a ruler of a region in the
Punjab in the
Battle of Hydaspes in 326 BC.
Several philosophers, such as
Pyrrho,
Anaxarchus and
Onesicritus, are said to have been selected by
Alexander to accompany him in his eastern campaigns. During the 18
months they were in India, they were able to interact with Indian
ascetics, generally described as
Gymnosophists ("naked philosophers").
Pyrrho (360-270 BCE), returned to Greece and became
the first
Skeptic and the founder of the
school named
Pyrrhonism. The Greek
biographer
Diogenes Laertius
explained that Pyrrho's equanimity and detachment from the world
were acquired in India. Few of his sayings are directly known, but
they are clearly reminiscent of eastern, possibly Buddhist,
thought:
- "Nothing really exists, but human life is governed by
convention"
- "Nothing is in itself more this than that" (Diogenes Laertius IX.61)
Another of these philosophers,
Onesicritus, a
Cynic, is
said by
Strabo to have learnt in India the
following precepts:
- "That nothing that happens to a man is bad or good,
opinions being merely dreams"
- "That the best philosophy [is] that which liberates the
mind from [both] pleasure and grief" (Strabo, XV.I.65)
These contacts initiated the first direct interactions between
Greek and Indian philosophy, which were to continue and expand for
several more centuries.
The Mauryan empire (322–183 BCE)
The Indian emperor
Chandragupta,
founder of the
Mauryan dynasty,
re-conquered around 322 BCE the northwest Indian territory that had
been lost to
Alexander the
Great. However, contacts were kept with his Greek neighbours in
the
Seleucid Empire.
Seleucid king
Seleucus I
came to a marital agreement as part of a peace treaty, and several
Greeks, such as the historian
Megasthenes, resided at the Mauryan court.
Chandragupta's grandson
Ashoka converted to
the Buddhist faith and became a great proselytizer in the line of
the traditional Pali canon of Theravada Buddhism, insisting on
non-violence to humans and animals (
ahimsa),
and general precepts regulating the life of lay people.
According to the
Edicts of Ashoka,
set in stone, some of them written in Greek, he sent Buddhist
emissaries to the Greek lands in Asia and as far as the
Mediterranean. The edicts name each of the rulers of the
Hellenic world at the time:
- "The conquest by Dharma has been won
here, on the borders, and even six hundred yojanas (4,000 miles)
away, where the Greek king Antiochos (Antiyoga) rules, and beyond
there where the four kings named Ptolemy (Turamaya), Antigonos (Antikini), Magas (Maka) and Alexander (Alikasu[n]dara) rule,
likewise in the south among the Cholas, the
Pandyas, and as far as Tamraparni." (Rock Edict Nb.13).
Ashoka also claims he converted to Buddhism Greek populations
within his realm:
- "Here in the king's domain among the Greeks, the Kambojas, the Nabhakas, the Nabhapamkits, the
Bhojas, the Pitinikas, the Andhras and the Palidas, everywhere
people are following Beloved-of-the-Gods' instructions in Dharma." Rock Edict
Nb13 (S. Dhammika).
Finally, some of the emissaries of Ashoka, such as the famous
Dharmaraksita, are described in
Pali sources as leading Greek ("
Yona") Buddhist monks, active in Buddhist proselytism
(the
Mahavamsa, XII).
See also: Greco-Buddhist monasticism.
The Greek presence in Bactria (325 to 125 BCE)
Alexander
had established in Bactria several cities (Ai-Khanoum, Begram
) and an
administration that were to last more than two centuries under the
Seleucids and the Greco-Bactrians, all the time in direct
contact with Indian territory. The Greeks sent ambassadors
to the court of the
Mauryan empire,
such as the historian
Megasthenes under
Chandragupta Maurya, and later
Deimakos under his son
Bindusara, who reported extensively on the
civilization of the Indians. Megasthenes sent detailed reports on
Indian religions, which were circulated and quoted throughout the
Classical world for centuries:
- "Megasthenes makes a different division of the
philosophers, saying that they are of two kinds, one of which he
calls the Brachmanes, and the other the
Sarmanes..." Strabo XV. 1. 58-60
The
Greco-Bactrians maintained a
strong Hellenistic culture at the door of India during the rule of
the
Mauryan empire in India, as
exemplified by the archaeological site of
Ai-Khanoum. When the Mauryan empire was toppled
by the
Sungas around 180 BCE, the
Greco-Bactrians expanded into India, where they established the
Indo-Greek kingdom, under which Buddhism
was able to flourish.
The Indo-Greek kingdom and Buddhism (180 BCE –10 CE)
The
Greco-Bactrians conquered parts of
northern India
from 180
BCE, whence they are known as the Indo-Greeks. They controlled various
areas of the northern Indian territory until 10 CE.
Buddhism prospered under the Indo-Greek kings, and it has been
suggested that their invasion of India was intended to protect the
Buddhist faith from the religious persecutions of the new Indian
dynasty of the
Sungas (185–73 BCE) which had
overthrown the
Mauryans.
Coinage
The coins
of the Indo-Greek king Menander (reigned 160 to 135 BCE), found from
Afghanistan
to central India
, bear the
inscription "Saviour King Menander" in Greek on the front.
Several Indo-Greek kings after Menander, such as
Zoilos I,
Strato I,
Heliokles II,
Theophilos,
Peukolaos,
Menander II and
Archebios display on their coins the title of
"Maharajasa Dharmika" (lit. "King of the
Dharma") in the
Prakrit
language and in the
Kharoshthi
script.
Some of the coins of
Menander I and
Menander II incorporate the Buddhist
symbol of the eight-spoked wheel, associated with the Greek symbols
of victory, either the palm of victory, or the victory wreath
handed over by the goddess
Nike.
According to the
Milinda Pañha, at the
end of his reign Menander I became a Buddhist
arhat, a fact also echoed by
Plutarch, who explains that his relics were shared
and enshrined.
The ubiquitous symbol of the elephant in Indo-Greek coinage may
also have been associated with Buddhism, as suggested by the
parallel between coins of
Antialcidas
and
Menander II, where the elephant in
the coins of Antialcidas holds the same relationship to Zeus and
Nike as the Buddhist wheel on the coins of Menander II. When the
zoroastrian Indo-Parthians invaded northern India in the
1st century CE, they adopted a large part of the symbolism of
Indo-Greek coinage, but refrained from ever using the elephant,
suggesting that its meaning was not merely geographical.
Finally, after the reign of Menander I, several Indo-Greek rulers,
such as
Amyntas,
King
Nicias,
Peukolaos,
Hermaeus,
Hippostratos and
Menander II, depicted themselves or their Greek
deities forming with the right hand a benediction gesture identical
to the Buddhist vitarka
mudra (thumb and index
joined together, with other fingers extended), which in Buddhism
signifies the transmission of Buddha's teaching.
Cities
According
to Ptolemy, Greek cities were founded by the
Greco-Bactrians in northern Pakistan
. Menander established his capital in Sagala
, today's
Sialkot
in Punjab, one of the
centers of the blossoming Buddhist culture (Milinda Panha, Chap. I).
A large Greek city
built by Demetrius and
rebuilt by Menander has been excavated at
the archaeological site of Sirkap near
Taxila
, where
Buddhist stupas were standing side-by-side
with Hindu and Greek
temples, indicating religious tolerance and
syncretism.
Scriptures
Evidence of direct religious interaction between Greek and Buddhist
thought during the period include the
Milinda Panha, a Buddhist discourse in the
platonic style, held between king
Menander and the Buddhist monk
Nagasena.
Also the
Mahavamsa (Chap.
XXIX) records that
during Menander's reign, "a Greek ("Yona")
Buddhist head monk" named Mahadharmaraksita (literally translated as
'Great Teacher/Preserver of the Dharma') led 30,000 Buddhist monks
from "the Greek city of Alexandria" (possibly
Alexandria-of-the-Caucasus, around 150 km north of today's
Kabul
in Afghanistan), to Sri Lanka
for the dedication of a stupa,
indicating that Buddhism flourished in Menander's territory and
that Greeks took a very active part in it.
Several Buddhist dedications by Greeks in India are recorded, such
as that of the Greek
meridarch (civil
governor of a province) named
Theodorus, describing in
Kharoshthi how he enshrined relics of the Buddha.
The inscriptions were found on a vase inside a stupa, dated to the
reign of Menander or one his successors in the 1st century BCE
(Tarn, p391):
- "Theudorena meridarkhena pratithavida ime sarira sakamunisa
bhagavato bahu-jana-stitiye":
- "The meridarch Theodorus has enshrined relics of Lord Shakyamuni, for the welfare of the mass of the
people"
- (Swāt relic vase inscription of the Meridarkh Theodoros)
This inscription represents one of the first known mention of the
Buddha as a deity, using the Indian
bhakti
word
Bhagavat ("Lord", "All-embracing
personal deity"), suggesting the emergence of
Mahayana doctrines in
Buddhism.
Finally, Buddhist tradition recognizes Menander as one of the great
benefactors of the faith, together with
Asoka
and
Kanishka.
Buddhist manuscripts in cursive Greek have been found in
Afghanistan, praising various Buddhas and including mentions of the
Mahayana
Lokesvara-raja Buddha
(λωγοασφαροραζοβοδδο). These manuscripts have been dated later than
the 2nd century CE. (Nicholas Sims-Williams, "A Bactrian Buddhist
Manuscript").
Some elements of the
Mahayana movement may
have begun around the 1st century BCE in northwestern India, at the
time and place of these interactions. According to most scholars,
the main sutras of Mahayana were written after 100 BCE, when
sectarian conflicts arose among
Nikaya
Buddhist sects regarding the humanity or super-humanity of the
Buddha and questions of
metaphysical
essentialism, on which Greek thought
may have had some influence: "It may have been a Greek-influenced
and Greek-carried form of Buddhism that passed north and east along
the Silk Road".
The Kushan empire (1st–3rd century CE)
The
Kushans, one of the five tribes of the
Yuezhi confederation settled in Bactria since around
125 BCE when they displaced the Greco-Bactrians, invaded the
northern parts of Pakistan and India from around 1 CE.
By that time they had already been in contact with Greek culture
and the Indo-Greek kingdoms for more than a century. They used the
Greek script to write their language, as exemplified by their
coins and their adoption of the
Greek alphabet. The absorption of Greek
historical and mythological culture is suggested by Kushan
sculptures representing
Dionysiac scenes or
even the story of the
Trojan horse and
it is probable that Greek communities remained under Kushan
rule.
The
Kushan king Kanishka, who honored Zoroastrian, Greek
and Brahmanic deities as well as the Buddha and was famous
for his religious syncretism, convened the Fourth Buddhist Council around 100 CE in
Kashmir
in order to redact the Sarvastivadin canon. Some of Kanishka's
coins bear the earliest representations of the Buddha on a coin
(around 120 CE), in Hellenistic style and with the word "Boddo" in
Greek script .
Kanishka also had the original Gandhari vernacular, or
Prakrit, Mahayana Buddhist texts translated into the
high literary language of
Sanskrit, "a
turning point in the evolution of the Buddhist literary canon"
(Foltz, Religions on the
Silk Road)
The "
Kanishka casket", dated to the
first year of
Kanishka's reign in 127 CE,
was signed by a Greek artist named
Agesilas, who oversaw
work at Kanishka's
stupas (caitya), confirming
the direct involvement of Greeks with Buddhist realizations at such
a late date.
The new syncretic form of Buddhism expanded fully into
Eastern Asia soon after these events.
The
Kushan monk Lokaksema visited the Han Chinese court at Loyang
in 178 CE,
and worked there for ten years to make the first known translations
of Mahayana texts into Chinese. The new faith later
spread into Korea
and Japan
, and was
itself at the origin of Zen.
Artistic influences
Numerous works of
Greco-Buddhist
art display the intermixing of Greek and Buddhist influences,
around such creation centers as
Gandhara.
The subject matter of Gandharan art was definitely Buddhist, while
most motifs were of
Western Asiatic
or
Hellenistic origin.
The anthropomorphic representation of the Buddha
Although there is still some debate, the first
anthropomorphic representations of the
Buddha himself are often considered a
result of the Greco-Buddhist interaction. Before this innovation,
Buddhist art was "
aniconic": the Buddha
was only represented through his symbols (an empty
throne, the
Bodhi tree, the
Buddha's footprints, the
Dharma wheel).
This reluctance towards anthropomorphic representations of the
Buddha, and the sophisticated development of aniconic symbols to
avoid it (even in narrative scenes where other human figures would
appear), seem to be connected to one of the Buddha’s sayings,
reported in the
Digha
Nikaya, that discouraged representations of himself after the
extinction of his body.
Probably not feeling bound by these restrictions, and because of
"their cult of form, the Greeks were the first to attempt a
sculptural representation of the Buddha".
In many parts of the
Ancient World, the Greeks did develop syncretic divinities, that could become a common
religious focus for populations with different traditions: a
well-known example is the syncretic God Sarapis, introduced by Ptolemy I in Egypt
, which
combined aspects of Greek and Egyptian Gods. In India as
well, it was only natural for the Greeks to create a single common
divinity by combining the image of a Greek God-King (The Sun-God
Apollo, or possibly the deified founder of
the
Indo-Greek Kingdom,
Demetrius), with the traditional
attributes of the
Buddha.
Many of
the stylistic elements in the representations of the Buddha point
to Greek influence: the Greco-Roman
toga-like wavy robe covering both shoulders
(more exactly, its lighter version, the Greek himation), the contrapposto stance of the upright figures
(see: 1st–2nd century Gandhara standing Buddhas), the stylicized
Mediterranean
curly hair and topknot (ushnisha) apparently derived from the style of the
Belvedere Apollo (330 BCE), and the
measured quality of the faces, all rendered with strong artistic
realism (See: Greek art). A large quantity of
sculptures combining Buddhist and purely
Hellenistic styles and
iconography were
excavated at the
Gandharan site of
Hadda.The 'curly hair' of Buddha is described in the
famous list of
32
external characteristics of a Great Being (mahapurusa) that we
find all along the Buddhist sutras. The curly hair, with the curls
turning to the right is first described in the Pali canon; we find
the same description in e.g. the "Dasasahasrika
Prajnaparamita".
Greek artists were most probably the authors of these early
representations of the Buddha, in particular the standing statues,
which display "a realistic treatment of the folds and on some even
a hint of modelled volume that characterizes the best Greek work.
This is
Classical or Hellenistic Greek, not archaizing Greek transmitted by
Persia
or Bactria, nor distinctively Roman".
The Greek stylistic influence on the representation of the Buddha,
through its idealistic realism, also permitted a very accessible,
understandable and attractive visualization of the ultimate state
of
enlightenment described by Buddhism,
allowing it reach a wider audience: "One of the distinguishing
features of the Gandharan school of art that emerged in north-west
India is that it has been clearly influenced by the naturalism of
the Classical Greek style. Thus, while these images still convey
the inner peace that results from putting the Buddha's doctrine
into practice, they also give us an impression of people who walked
and talked, etc. and slept much as we do. I feel this is very
important. These figures are inspiring because they do not only
depict the goal, but also the sense that people like us can achieve
it if we try" (His Holiness The 14th Dalai Lama)
During
the following centuries, this anthropomorphic representation of the
Buddha defined the canon of Buddhist art, but progressively evolved
to incorporate more Indian
and Asian elements.
A Hellenized Buddhist pantheon
Several other Buddhist deities may have been influenced by Greek
gods. For example,
Herakles with a
lion-skin (the protector deity of
Demetrius I) "served as an artistic
model for
Vajrapani, a protector of the
Buddha" (Foltz, "Religions and the Silk Road") (See).
In Japan
, this
expression further translated into the wrath-filled and muscular
Niō guardian gods of the Buddha, standing today
at the entrance of many Buddhist temples.
According to Katsumi Tanabe, professor at Chūō University, Japan
(in "Alexander the Great. East-West cultural contact from Greece to
Japan"), besides Vajrapani, Greek influence also appears in several
other gods of the
Mahayana pantheon, such
as the Japanese Wind God
Fujin inspired from
the Greek
Boreas through the Greco-Buddhist
Wardo, or the mother deity
Hariti inspired by
Tyche.
In addition, forms such as
garland-bearing
cherubs,
vine scrolls, and such semi-human creatures as the
centaur and
triton, are part of the repertory of
Hellenistic art introduced by Greco-Roman artists in the service of
the Kushan court.
See also: Buddhist
art
Greco-Buddhism and the rise of the Mahayana
The
geographical, cultural and historical context of the rise of
Mahayana Buddhism during the 1st century BCE in northwestern
India
, all point to intense multi-cultural influences:
"Key formative influences on the early development of the Mahayana and Pure Land
movements, which became so much part of East
Asian civilization, are to be
sought in Buddhism's earlier encounters along the Silk Road" (Foltz, Religions on the Silk
Road). As Mahayana Buddhism
emerged, it received "influences from popular Hindu devotional
cults (bhakti), Persian
and Greco-Roman
theologies which filtered into India from the northwest" (Tom
Lowenstein, p63).
Conceptual influences
Mahayana is an inclusive faith
characterized by the adoption of new texts, in addition to the
traditional
Pali canon, and a shift in
the understanding of Buddhism. It goes beyond the traditional
Theravada ideal of the release from
suffering (
dukkha) and personal enlightenment
of the
arhats, to elevate the
Buddha to a God-like status, and to create a
pantheon of quasi-divine
Bodhisattvas
devoting themselves to personal excellence, ultimate knowledge and
the salvation of humanity. These concepts, together with the
sophisticated philosophical system of the Mahayana faith, may have
been influenced by the interaction of Greek and Buddhist
thought:
The Buddha as an idealized man-god
The Buddha was elevated to a man-god status, represented in
idealized human form: "One might regard the classical influence as
including the general idea of representing a man-god in this purely
human form, which was of course well familiar in the West, and it
is very likely that the example of westerners' treatment of their
gods was indeed an important factor in the innovation... The
Buddha, the man-god, is in many ways far more like a Greek god than
any other eastern deity, no less for the narrative cycle of his
story and appearance of his standing figure than for his
humanity".
The supra-mundane understanding of the Buddha and Bodhisattvas may
have been a consequence of the Greek’s tendency to deify their
rulers in the wake of Alexander’s reign: "The god-
king concept brought by Alexander (...) may have fed
into the developing
bodhisattva concept,
which involved the portrayal of the Buddha in Gandharan art with
the face of the
sun god,
Apollo" (McEvilley, "The Shape of Ancient
Thought").
The Bodhisattva as a Universal ideal of excellence
Lamotte (1954) controversially suggests (though countered by Conze
(1973) and others) that Greek influence was present in the
definition of the Bodhisattva ideal in the oldest Mahayana text,
the "Perfection of Wisdom" or
prajñā
pāramitā literature, that developed between the 1st
century BCE and the 1st century CE. These texts in particular
redefine Buddhism around the universal Bodhisattva ideal, and its
six central virtues of generosity, morality, patience, effort,
meditation and, first and foremost,
wisdom.
Philosophical influences
The close association between Greeks and Buddhism probably led to
exchanges on the philosophical plane as well. Many of the early
Mahayana theories of reality and knowledge can be related to Greek
philosophical schools of thought. Mahayana Buddhism has been
described as the "form of Buddhism which (regardless of how
Hinduized its later forms became) seems to have originated in the
Greco-Buddhist communities of India, through a conflation of the
Greek
Democritean-
Sophistic-
Skeptical tradition with the
rudimentary and unformalized empirical and skeptical elements
already present in early Buddhism" (McEvilly, "The Shape of Ancient
Thought", p503).
- In the Prajnaparamita, the
rejection of the reality of passing phenomena as "empty, false and
fleeting" can also be found in Greek Pyrrhonism.
- The perception of ultimate reality was, for the Cynics as well as for the Madhyamakas and Zen teachers after them, only
accessible through a non-conceptual and non-verbal approach (Greek
Phronesis), which alone allowed to get rid
of ordinary conceptions.
- The mental attitude of equanimity and dispassionate outlook in
front of events was also characteristic of the Cynics and Stoics, who called it
"Apatheia"
- Nagarjuna's dialectic developed in the Madhyamaka can be paralleled to the Greek
dialectical tradition.
Cynicism, Madhyamaka and Zen
Numerous parallels exist between the Greek philosophy of the
Cynics and, several centuries later, the
Buddhist philosophy of the
Madhyamika and
Zen. The Cynics denied the relevancy of human
conventions and opinions (described as
typhos, literally
"smoke" or "mist", a metaphor for "illusion" or "error"), including
verbal expressions, in favor of the raw experience of reality. They
stressed the independence from externals to achieve happiness
("Happiness is not pleasure, for which we need external, but
virtue, which is complete without external" 3rd epistole of
Crates). Similarly the
Prajnaparamita, precursor of the
Madhyamika, explained that all things are like
foam, or bubbles, "empty, false, and fleeting", and that "only the
negation of all views can lead to enlightenment" (Nāgārjuna, MK
XIII.8). In order to evade the world of illusion, the Cynics
recommended the discipline and struggle ("askēsis kai machē") of
philosophy, the practice of "autarkia" (self-rule), and a lifestyle
exemplified by
Diogenes, which,
like Buddhist monks, renounced earthly possessions. These
conceptions, in combination with the idea of "philanthropia"
(universal loving kindness, of which
Crates, the student of Diogenes, was the
best proponent), are strikingly reminiscent of Buddhist
Prajna (wisdom) and
Karuna (compassion).
Greco-Persian cosmological influences
A popular figure in Greco-Buddhist art, the future Buddha
Maitreya, has sometimes been linked to the Iranian
yazata (
Zoroastrian divinity)
Miθra who was also adopted as a figure in a
Greco-Roman syncretistic cult under the name of
Mithras. Maitreya is the fifth Buddha of the present
world-age, who will appear at some undefined future epoch.
According to Foltz, he "echoes the qualities of the
Zoroastrian Saoshyant and the Christian
Messiah". However, in character and function, Maitreya does not
much resemble either Mitra, Miθra or Mithras; his name is more
obviously derived from the Sanskrit
maitrī "kindliness",
equivalent to
Pali mettā; the
Pali (and probably older) form of his name, Metteyya, does not
closely resemble the name Miθra.
The Buddha
Amitābha (literally meaning
"infinite radiance") with his paradisiacal "
Pure Land" in the West, according to Foltz, "seems
to be understood as the Iranian god of light, equated with the
sun". This view is however not in accordance with the view taken of
Amitābha by present-day Pure Land Buddhists, in which Amitābha is
neither "equated with the sun" nor, strictly speaking, a god.
Gandharan proselytism
Buddhist monks from the region of
Gandhara,
where Greco-Buddhism was most influential, played a key role in the
development and the transmission of Buddhist ideas in the direction
of northern Asia.

- Kushan monks, such as Lokaksema (c. 178 CE), travelled to the Chinese capital of
Loyang
, where they
became the first translators of Mahayana Buddhist scriptures into
Chinese. Central Asian and East Asian Buddhist monks appear
to have maintained strong exchanges until around the 10th century,
as indicated by frescos from the Tarim Basin.
- Two half-brothers from Gandhara,
Asanga and Vasubandhu (4th century), created the Yogacara or "Mind-only" school of Mahayana
Buddhism, which through one of its major texts, the Lankavatara Sutra, became a founding block
of Mahayana, and particularly Zen, philosophy.
- In
485 CE, according to the Chinese historic treatise Liang Shu, five monks from Gandhara travelled to
the country of Fusang ("The country of the
extreme East" beyond the sea, probably eastern Japan
, although
some historians suggest the American Continent), where they
introduced Buddhism:
- "Fusang is located to
the east of China, 20,000 li (1,500 kilometers) east of the
state of Da Han (itself east of the state of Wa
in modern Kyūshū
, Japan
).
(...) In
former times, the people of Fusang knew nothing of the Buddhist
religion, but in the second year of Da Ming of the Song dynasty (485 CE), five monks from Kipin
(Kabul
region of
Gandhara) travelled by ship to Fusang. They propagated
Buddhist doctrine, circulated scriptures and drawings, and advised
the people to relinquish worldly attachments. As a results the
customs of Fusang changed"
(Ch:"扶桑在大漢國東二萬餘里,地在中國之東(...)其俗舊無佛法,宋大明二年,罽賓國嘗有比丘五人游行至其國,流通佛法,經像,教令出家,風
俗遂改.", Liang Shu, 7th century CE).
- Bodhidharma, the founder of Chán-Buddhism which later became Zen, is described as a Central
Asian Buddhist monk in the first Chinese references to him (Yan
Xuan-Zhi, 547 CE), although later Chinese traditions describe him
as coming from South India.
Intellectual influences in Asia
Through
art and religion, the influence of Greco-Buddhism on the cultural
make-up of East Asian countries,
especially China
, Korea
and Japan
, may have
extended further into the intellectual area.
At the same time as
Greco-Buddhist
art and Mahayana schools of thought such as
Dhyana were transmitted to East Asia, central
concepts of Hellenic culture such as
virtue,
excellence or
quality may have
been adopted by the cultures of Korea and Japan after a long
diffusion among the Hellenized cities of
Central Asia, to become a key part of their
warrior and work
ethics.
Greco-Buddhism and the West
In the direction of the
West, the
Greco-Buddhist syncretism may also have had some formative
influence on the religions of the
Mediterranean Basin.
Exchanges
Intense westward physical exchange at that time along the Silk Road
is confirmed by the Roman craze for
silk from
the 1st century BCE to the point that the
Senate issued, in vain, several edicts to
prohibit the wearing of silk, on economic and moral grounds. This
is attested by at least three significant authors:
The aforementioned Strabo and
Plutarch (c.
45–125 CE) wrote about king
Menander,
confirming that information was circulating throughout the
Hellenistic world.
Religious influences
Buddhism and Christianity
Although the philosophical systems of Buddhism and Christianity
have evolved in rather different ways, the moral precepts advocated
by Buddhism from the time of Ashoka through his edicts do have some
similarities with the Christian moral precepts developed more than
two centuries later: respect for life, respect for the weak,
rejection of violence, pardon to sinners, tolerance.
One theory is that these similarities may indicate the propagation
of Buddhist ideals into the Western World, with the Greeks acting
as intermediaries and religious syncretists.
- "Scholars have often considered the possibility that Buddhism
influenced the early development of Christianity. They have drawn
attention to many parallels concerning the births, lives,
doctrines, and deaths of the Buddha and Jesus" (Bentley, "Old World
Encounters").
The story of the birth of the Buddha was well known in the West,
and possibly influenced the story of the birth of Jesus:
Saint Jerome (4th century CE) mentions the birth of
the Buddha, who he says "was born from the side of a virgin". Also
a fragment of
Archelaos of
Carrha (278 CE) mentions the Buddha's virgin-birth.
Early 3rd-4th century Christian writers such as
Hippolytus and
Epiphanius write about a
Scythianus, who visited India around 50 AD from
where he brought "the doctrine of the Two Principles". According to
these writers, Scythianus' pupil Terebinthus presented himself as a
"Buddha" ("he called himself Buddas"
Cyril of Jerusalem). Terebinthus went to
Palestine and
Judaea
where he met the Apostles ("becoming known and condemned" Isaia),
and ultimately settled in Babylon, where he transmitted his
teachings to
Mani, thereby creating
the foundation of what could be called Persian syncretic Buddhism,
Manicheism. One of the greatest thinkers
and saints of western Christianity,
Augustine of Hippo was originally a
Manichean.
In the 2nd century CE, the Christian dogmatist
Clement of Alexandria recognized
Bactrian Buddhists (Sramanas) and Indian Gymnosophists for their
influence on Greek thought:
- "Thus philosophy, a thing of the highest utility,
flourished in antiquity among the barbarians, shedding its light
over the nations. And afterwards it came to Greece. First in its ranks were the prophets
of the Egyptians; and the Chaldeans among the Assyrians; and the Druids among the Gauls; and the
Sramanas among the Bactrians ("Σαρμαναίοι Βάκτρων"); and the
philosophers of the Celts; and the Magi of the Persians, who
foretold the Saviour's birth, and came into the land of Judaea
guided by a
star. The Indian
gymnosophists are also in the number, and the other barbarian
philosophers. And of these there are two classes, some of
them called Sramanas ("Σαρμάναι"), and others Brahmins ("Βραφμαναι")." (Clement of
Alexandria "The Stromata, or Miscellanies").
The main
Greek cities of the Middle-East happen to have played a key role in
the development of Christianity, such as Antioch
and especially Alexandria
, and "it was later in this very place that some of
the most active centers of Christianity were established" (Robert Linssen, "Zen living").
See also
References
- Religions and the Silk Road by Richard C. Foltz (St.
Martin's Press, 1999) ISBN 0-312-23338-8
- The Diffusion of Classical Art in Antiquity by John
Boardman (Princeton University Press, 1994) ISBN 0-691-03680-2
- The Shape of Ancient Thought. Comparative studies
in Greek and Indian Philosophies by Thomas McEvilley (Allworth Press and the
School of Visual Arts, 2002) ISBN 1-58115-203-5
- Old World Encounters: Cross-cultural contacts and exchanges
in pre-modern times by Jerry H.Bentley (Oxford University
Press, 1993) ISBN 0-19-507639-7
- Alexander the Great: East-West Cultural contacts from
Greece to Japan (NHK and Tokyo National Museum, 2003)
- Living Zen by Robert Linssen (Grove Press New York,
1958) ISBN 0-8021-3136-0
- Echoes of Alexander the Great: Silk route portraits from
Gandhara by Marian Wenzel, with a foreword by the Dalai Lama
(Eklisa Anstalt, 2000) ISBN 1-58886-014-0
- The Edicts of King Asoka: An English Rendering by Ven.
S. Dhammika (The Wheel Publication No. 386/387) ISBN
955-24-0104-6
- Mahayana Buddhism, The Doctrinal Foundations, Paul
Williams, Routledge, ISBN 0-415-02537-0
- The Greeks in Bactria and India, W.W. Tarn, South Asia
Books, ISBN 81-215-0220-9
Notes
External links