So if this is misplaced, my apologies in advance.
When Ashoka sent his missionaries far and wide, one place he sent them to was Greece.
I'm wondering (out loud) if any Gnostic Pseudepigrapha contains any overt Buddhist ideas.
I know by the middle ages there were fairy tales from the Buddhist countries in Byzantium, but I want to know if there are any *proven* links to say Desert Monasticism or Neoplatonism for example. I think Gnosticism would be easier to prove, as it has a known link (Persia) that could have Indian cultural influence.
I think there is archaeological evidence of Buddhist cemeteries in Alexandria, if my memory serves me correct.
Its interesting that Menander is featured in the Tipitika, but somehow this serious philosophy that would naturally appeal to a Greek aristocrat would NOT wind up imported back to Hellas.
Buddhism in Ancient Greece
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Manopubbangama
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Re: Buddhism in Ancient Greece
Even though we wish to see the kingdoms resulting from the prematurely aborted campaign of Alexander the Great as 'Greek', they were so only in the sense of a very, very tiny minority of a ruling class.
Purely due to geographical distance they were precluded from influencing European thought, the whole of the Persian cultural sphere sitting between them (this Pantheon seemed wildly more preferable to Greeks, Egyptians and Romans at least).
Time-wise, the time of the Indo-Greek kingdoms falls into the hard push from Rome towards Asia Minor, an influence surpassing anything coming from the other direction.
This is not to mean, that Indian philosophy was unknown back in Europe, only that very little specifics and hard facts were known. Illuminating might be a Wikipedia article on the Gymnosophists, which also features quotes about 'Sramanas'. It is not entirely clear, if they describe Vedic Brahmins, Jains or Buddhists, but they show clearly that the concept of Indian ascetics was established knowledge.
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gymnosophists
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greco-Bud ... n_the_West
And for those who like a more scientific text:
- Halkias, Georgios T - When the Greeks Converted the Buddha: Asymmetrical Transfers of Knowledge in Indo-Greek Cultures
Purely due to geographical distance they were precluded from influencing European thought, the whole of the Persian cultural sphere sitting between them (this Pantheon seemed wildly more preferable to Greeks, Egyptians and Romans at least).
Time-wise, the time of the Indo-Greek kingdoms falls into the hard push from Rome towards Asia Minor, an influence surpassing anything coming from the other direction.
This is not to mean, that Indian philosophy was unknown back in Europe, only that very little specifics and hard facts were known. Illuminating might be a Wikipedia article on the Gymnosophists, which also features quotes about 'Sramanas'. It is not entirely clear, if they describe Vedic Brahmins, Jains or Buddhists, but they show clearly that the concept of Indian ascetics was established knowledge.
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gymnosophists
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greco-Bud ... n_the_West
And for those who like a more scientific text:
- Halkias, Georgios T - When the Greeks Converted the Buddha: Asymmetrical Transfers of Knowledge in Indo-Greek Cultures
The teaching is a lake with shores of ethics, unclouded, praised by the fine to the good.
There the knowledgeable go to bathe, and cross to the far shore without getting wet.
[SN 7.21]
There the knowledgeable go to bathe, and cross to the far shore without getting wet.
[SN 7.21]