Greco-Buddhism

Gautama Buddha in Greco-Buddhist style, 1st–2nd

century AD, Gandhara (modern eastern Afghanistan).

Greco-Buddhism, or Graeco-Buddhism,
is the cultural syncretism between
Hellenistic culture and Buddhism, which
developed between the 4th century BC
and the 5th century AD in Bactria and the
Indian subcontinent. It was a cultural
consequence of a long chain of
interactions begun by Greek forays into
India from the time of Alexander the
Great. The Macedonian satraps were
then conquered by the Mauryan Empire,
under the reign of Chandragupta Maurya.
The Mauryan Emperor Ashoka would
convert to Buddhism and spread the
religious philosophy throughout his
domain, as recorded in the Edicts of
Ashoka. Following the collapse of the
Mauryan Empire, Greco-Buddhism
continued to flourish under the Greco-
Bactrian Kingdom, Indo-Greek Kingdoms,
and Kushan Empire. Buddhism was
adopted in Central and Northeastern Asia
from the 1st century AD, ultimately
spreading to China, Korea, Japan, Siberia,
and Vietnam.

Historical outline

Indo-Greek territory.[1][2][3]

The introduction of Hellenistic Greece

started when Alexander the Great
conquered the Achaemenid Empire and
further regions of Central Asia in 334 BC.
Alexander would then venture into
Punjab (land of five rivers), which was
conquered by Darius the Great before
him. Alexander crossed the Indus and
Jhelum River when defeating Porus and
appointing him as a satrap following the
Battle of the Hydaspes. Alexander's army
would mutiny and retreat along the Beas
River when confronted by the Nanda
Empire, thus wouldn't conquer Punjab
entirely.

Alexander founded several cities in his

new territories in the areas of the Amu
Darya and Bactria, and Greek settlements
further extended to the Khyber Pass,
Gandhara (see Taxila), and the Punjab.
Following Alexander's death on June 10,
323 BC, the Diadochi or "successors"
founded their own kingdoms. General
Seleucus set up the Seleucid Empire in
Anatolia and Central Asia and extended
as far as India.

The Mauryan Empire, founded by

Chandragupta Maurya, would first
conquer the Nanda Empire.
Chandragupta would then defeat the
Seleucid Empire during the Seleucid-
Mauryan War. This resulted in the
transfer of the Macedonian satraps in the
Indus Valley and Gandhara to the
Mauryan Empire. Furthermore, a
marriage alliance was enacted which
granted Seleucus's daughter as
Chandragupta's wife for diplomatic
relations. The conflict additionally led to
the transfer of 500 war elephants to the
Seleucid Empire from the Mauryan
Empire, presumably as expenses of lives
lost and damages sustained.

The Mauryan Emperor Ashoka

established the largest Indian empire.
Following the destructive Kalinga War,
Ashoka converted to Buddhism.
Abandoning an expansionist adgenda,
Ashoka would adopt humanitarian
reformation in place. [4] As ascribed in
the Edicts of Ashoka, the Emperor spread
Dharma as Buddhism throughout his
empire. Ashoka claims to have converted
many, including the Greek populations
within his realm to Buddhism:

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.[5]
The decline and overthrow of the
Mauryans by the Shunga Empire, and of
the revolt of Bactria in the Seleucid
Empire led to the formation of the Greco-
Bactrian Kingdom (250–125 BC). The
Greco-Bactrians were followed by the
Indo-Greek Kingdom (180 BC – AD 10).
Even though the region was conquered
by the Indo-Scythians and the Kushan
Empire (1st–3rd centuries AD),
Buddhism continued to thrive.

Buddhism in India was a major religion

for centuries until a major Hindu revival
from around the 5th century, with
remaining strongholds such as Bengal
largely ended during the Islamic
invasions of India.

Cultural interaction
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 BC)
 

"Victory coin" of Alexander the Great, minted in

Babylon c. 322 BC, following his campaigns in India.
Obverse: Alexander being crowned by Nike.
Reverse: Alexander attacking King Porus on his

elephant.
Silver. British Museum.

When Alexander invaded Bactria and

Gandhara, these areas may already have
been under Sramanic influence, likely
Buddhist and Jain. According to a legend
preserved in the Pali Canon, two
merchant brothers from Kamsabhoga in
Bactria, Tapassu and Bhallika, visited
Gautama Buddha and became his
disciples. The legend states that they
then returned home and spread the
Buddha's teaching.[6]

In 326 BC, Alexander conquered the

Northern region of India. King Ambhi of
Taxila, known as Taxiles, surrendered his
city, a notable Buddhist center, to
Alexander. Alexander fought an epic
battle against King Porus of Pauravas in
the Punjab, at the Battle of the Hydaspes
in 326 BC.
Mauryan empire (322–
183 BC)

The Indian emperor Chandragupta

Maurya, founder of the Maurya Empire,
reconquered around 322 BC the
northwest Indian territory that had been
lost to Alexander the Great. However,
contacts were kept with his Greco-Iranian
neighbours in the Seleucid Empire.
Emperor Seleucus I Nicator came to a
marital agreement as part of a peace
treaty,[7] and several Greeks, such as the
historian Megasthenes, resided at the
Mauryan court.
 

The Hellenistic Pataliputra capital, discovered in

Pataliputra, capital of the Maurya Empire, dated to

the 3rd century BC.

Chandragupta's grandson Ashoka

embraced 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[8]
and some in Aramaic, the official
language of the Achaemenids, 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
Hellenistic period:

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.[9]

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.[5]

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[10]),
founding the eponymous
Dharmaguptaka school of Buddhism.[11]

Greek presence in Bactria

(325–125 BC)

The Greco-Bactrian city of Ai-Khanoum (c. 300–

145 BC) was located at the doorstep of India.

Alexander had established in Bactria

several cities (Ai-Khanoum, Bagram) and
an administration that were to last more
than two centuries under the Seleucid
Empire and the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom,
all the time in direct contact with Indian
territory. The Greeks sent ambassadors
to the court of the Maurya Empire, such
as the historian Megasthenes under
Chandragupta Maurya, and later
Deimachus 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:[12]

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[13]

The Greco-Bactrians maintained a strong

Hellenistic culture at the door of India
during the rule of the Maurya Empire in
India, as exemplified by the
archaeological site of Ai-Khanoum. When
the Maurya Empire was toppled by the
Shunga Empire around 180 BC, the
Greco-Bactrians expanded into India,
where they established the Indo-Greek
Kingdom, under which Buddhism was
able to flourish.
Indo-Greek Kingdom and
Buddhism (180 BC – AD 10)

Greek Gods and the "Wheel of the Law" or

Dharmachakra: Left: Zeus holding Nike, who hands a
victory wreath over a Dharmachakra (coin of
Menander II). Right: Divinity wearing chlamys and
petasus pushing a Dharmachakra, with legend "He
who sets in motion the Wheel of the Law" (Tillya
Tepe Buddhist coin).

The Greco-Bactrians conquered parts of

North India from 180 BC, whence they
are known as the Indo-Greeks. They
controlled various areas of the northern
Indian territory until AD 10.

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 Shungas
(185–73 BC), who had overthrown the
Mauryans. Zarmanochegas was a
śramana (possibly, but not necessarily a
Buddhist) who, according to ancient
historians such as Strabo, Cassius Dio
and Nicolaus of Damascus traveled to
Antioch and Athens while Augustus (died
AD 14) was ruling the Roman
Empire.[14][15]
Coinage

The coins of the Indo-Greek king

Menander I (reigned 160–135 BC), 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 Archebius
display on their coins the title
"Maharajasa Dharmika" (lit. "King of the
Dharma") in Prakrit written in Kharoshthi.

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,[16] a fact also
echoed by Plutarch, who explains that his
relics were shared and enshrined.[17]

A coin of Menander I (r.160–135 BC) with a

dharmacakra and a palm.

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-
Parthian Kingdom invaded North India in
the 1st century AD, 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.
 

Vitarka Mudra gestures on Indo-Greek coinage. Top:

Divinities Tyche and Zeus. Bottom: Depiction of the
Indo-Greek kings Nicias and Menander II.

Finally, after the reign of Menander I,

several Indo-Greek rulers, such as
Amyntas Nikator, 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 India. Menander established his
capital in Sagala (modern Sialkot, Punjab,
Pakistan) one of the centers of the
blossoming Buddhist culture.[18] 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
Pañha or "Questions of Menander", a Pali-
language discourse in the Platonic style
held between Menander I and the
Buddhist monk Nagasena.

According to the Mahavamsa, the Ruwanwelisaya in

 g , y
Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka, was dedicated by a 30,000-
strong Yona delegation from Alexandria on the
Caucasus around 130 BC.

The Mahavamsa, chapter 29, records that

during Menander's reign, a Greek thera
(elder monk) named Mahadharmaraksita
led 30,000 Buddhist monks from "the
Greek city of Alexandria" (possibly
Alexandria on the Caucasus, around 150
kilometres (93 mi) 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.[19]
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 Kharosthi 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 of his
successors in the 1st century BC.[20]
Finally, Buddhist tradition recognizes
Menander as one of the great
benefactors of the faith, together with
Ashoka and Kanishka the Great.

Buddhist manuscripts in cursive Greek

have been found in Afghanistan, praising
various Buddhas and including mentions
of the Mahayana figure of "Lokesvararaja
Buddha" (λωγοασφαροραζοβοδδο).
These manuscripts have been dated later
than the 2nd century AD.[21]

Kushan empire (1st–3rd

century AD)

The Kushan Empire, one of the five tribes

of the Yuezhi, settled in Bactria around
125 BC, displacing the Greco-Bactrians
and invading the northern parts of
Pakistan and India from around AD 1. 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.

Hellenistic culture in the Indian subcontinent: Greek

clothes, amphoras, wine and music. Detail from
Chakhil-i-Ghoundi Stupa, Hadda, Gandhara, 1st
century AD.

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
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), in
Hellenistic style and with the word
"Boddo" in Greek script.

Kanishka also had the original Gandhari

Prakrit Mahāyāna sūtras translated into
Sanskrit, "a turning point in the evolution
of the Buddhist literary canon"[22]

The Kanishka casket, dated to the first

year of Kanishka's reign in 127, was
signed by a Greek artist named Agesilas,
who oversaw work at Kanishka's stupas
(cetiya), confirming the direct
involvement of Greeks with Buddhist
realizations at such a late date.
Philosophical influences
Several philosophers, including Pyrrho,
Anaxarchus and Onesicritus, are said to
have accompanied Alexander 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 returned to Greece and founded

Pyrrhonism, the first Western school of
skepticism. The Greek biographer
Diogenes Laërtius explained that Pyrrho's
equanimity and detachment from the
world were acquired in India.[23] Pyrrho
was directly influenced by Buddhism in
developing his philosophy, which is
based on Pyrrho's interpretation of the
Buddhist Three marks of existence.[24]

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".[13]

The philosopher Hegesias of Cyrene,

from the city of Cyrene where Magas of
Cyrene ruled, is thought by some to have
been influenced by the teachings of
Ashoka's Buddhist missionaries.[25]

Artistic influences
Numerous works of Greco-Buddhist art
display the intermixing of Greek and
Buddhist influences in such creation
centers as Gandhara. The subject matter
of Gandharan art was definitely Buddhist,
while most motifs were of Western
Asiatic or Hellenistic origin.

Anthropomorphic
representation of the Buddha
 

An aniconic representation of Mara's assault on the

Buddha, 2nd century AD, Amaravathi village, Guntur
district, India.

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, Buddha footprints, the
Dharmachakra).

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.[26]

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".[27] 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 Serapis, introduced by
Ptolemy I Soter in Egypt, who 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 (Apollo, or possibly the
deified founder of the Indo-Greek
Kingdom, Demetrius I of Bactria), with
the traditional physical characteristics of
the Buddha.
  

Standing Buddha, Gandhara, 1st century AD.

 

Herculean depiction of Vajrapani (right), as the

protector of the Buddha, 2nd century AD Gandhara,
British Museum.

Many of the stylistic elements in the

representations of the Buddha point to
Greek influence: himation, the
contrapposto stance of the upright
figures, such as tje 1st–2nd century
Gandhara standing Buddhas, the stylized
curly hair and ushnisha apparently
derived from the style of the Apollo
Belvedere (330 BC) and the measured
quality of the faces, all rendered with
strong artistic realism. A large quantity of
sculptures combining Buddhist and
purely Hellenistic styles and iconography
were excavated at the modern site of
Hadda, Afghanistan. The curly hair of
Buddha is described in the famous list of
the physical characteristics of the
Buddha in the Buddhist sutras. The hair
with curls turning to the right is first
described in the Pāli canon; we find the
same description in the
Dāsāṣṭasāhasrikā prajñāpāramitā.

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."[28]

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 to 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.

— 14th Dalai Lama[29]

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.

Hellenized Buddhist pantheon

Several other Buddhist deities may have

been influenced by Greek gods. For
example, Heracles with a lion-skin, the
protector deity of Demetrius I of Bactria,
"served as an artistic model for
Vajrapani, a protector of the Buddha"[30]
(See[31]). 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.
 

A Buddhist coin of Kanishka I, with legend ΒΟΔΔΟ

"Boddo" (=the Buddha) in Greek script on the
reverse.

According to Katsumi Tanabe, professor

at Chūō University, Japan, besides
Vajrapani, Greek influence also appears
in several other gods of the Mahayana
pantheon such as the Japanese Fūjin,
inspired from the Greek divinity Boreas
through the Greco-Buddhist Wardo, or the
mother deity Hariti inspired by Tyche.[32]

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.

Exchanges
Gandharan proselytism in the
East

Blue-eyed Central Asian monk teaching East-Asian

Blue eyed Central Asian monk teaching East Asian
monk. A fresco from the Bezeklik Thousand Buddha
Caves, dated to the 9th or 10th century (Kara-Khoja
Kingdom).

Greek monks played a direct role in the

upper hierarchy of Buddhism, and in its
early dissemination. During the rule
(165–135 BC) of the Greco-Bactrian King
Menander I (Pali: "Milinda"),
Mahadharmaraksita (literally translated
as 'Great Teacher/Preserver of the
Dharma') was "a Greek (Pali: Yona, lit.
Ionian) Buddhist head monk," according
to the Mahavamsa (Chap. XXIX), who led
30,000 Buddhist monks from "the Greek
city of Alasandra" (Alexandria of the
Caucasus, around 150 km north of
today's Kabul in Afghanistan), to Sri
Lanka for the dedication of the Great
Stupa in Anuradhapura. Dharmaraksita
(Sanskrit), or Dhammarakkhita (Pali)
(translation: Protected by the Dharma),
was one of the missionaries sent by the
Mauryan emperor Ashoka to proselytize
the Buddhist faith. He is described as
being a Greek (Pali: "Yona", lit. "Ionian") in
the Mahavamsa, and his activities are
indicative of the strength of the
Hellenistic Greek involvement during the
formative centuries of Buddhism. Indeed,
Menander I was famously converted to
Buddhism by Nagasena, who was a
student of the Greek Buddhist monk
Dharmaraksita. Menander is said to have
reached enlightenment as an arhat under
Nagasena's guidance and is recorded as
a great patron of Buddhism. The dialogue
of the Greek king Menander I (Pali
"Milinda") with the monk Nagasena
comprises the Pali Buddhist work known
as the Milinda Panha.

Buddhist monks from the region of

Gandhara in Afghanistan, where Greco-
Buddhism was most influential, later
played a key role in the development and
the transmission of Buddhist ideas in the
direction of northern Asia. Greco-
Buddhist Kushan monks such as
Lokaksema (c. AD 178) travelled to the
Chinese capital of Loyang, where they
became the first translators of Buddhist
scriptures into Chinese.[33] Central Asian
and East Asian Buddhist monks appear
to have maintained strong exchanges
until around the 10th century, as
indicated by the Bezeklik Thousand
Buddha Caves frescos from the Tarim
Basin. In legend too Bodhidharma, the
founder of Chán-Buddhism, which later
became Zen, and the legendary originator
of the physical training of the Shaolin
monks that led to the creation of Shaolin
Kung Fu, is described as a Buddhist
monk from Central Asia in the first
Chinese references to him (Yan Xuan-Zhi
in 547).[34] Throughout Buddhist art,
Bodhidharma is depicted as a rather ill-
tempered, profusely bearded and wide-
eyed barbarian, and he is referred as "The
Blue-Eyed Barbarian" (碧眼胡; Bìyǎn hú) in
Chinese Chan texts.[35] In 485 AD,
according to the 7th century 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), where they introduced Buddhism:

"Fusang is located to the east

of China, 20,000 li [1,500 km]
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 [AD 485], 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 result the
customs of Fusang changed."
(Chinese: "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.")

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.

Greco-Buddhism in the West

 

Kandahar Bilingual Rock Inscription (Greek and

Aramaic) 3rd century BC by Indian Buddhist King
Ashoka. This edict advocates the adoption of
"godliness" using the Greek term Eusebeia for
Dharma. Kabul Museum.

Intense westward physical exchange at

that time along the Silk Road is
confirmed by the Roman craze for silk
from the 1st century BC 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 authors: Strabo
(64/63 BC – c. AD 24), Seneca the
Younger (c. 3 BC – AD 65), and Pliny the
Elder (AD 23–79). The aforementioned
Strabo and Plutarch (c. 45–125) also
wrote about Indo-Greek Buddhist king
Menander, confirming that information
about the Indo-Greek Buddhists was
circulating throughout the Hellenistic
world.

Zarmanochegas (Zarmarus)
(Ζαρμανοχηγὰς) was a monk of the
Sramana tradition (possibly, but not
necessarily a Buddhist) who, according
to ancient historians such as Strabo and
Dio Cassius, met Nicholas of Damascus
in Antioch while Augustus (died AD 14)
was ruling the Roman Empire, and shortly
thereafter proceeded to Athens where he
burnt himself to death.[14][15] His story
and tomb in Athens were well-known
over a century later. Plutarch (died
AD 120) in his Life of Alexander, after
discussing the self-immolation of
Calanus of India (Kalanos) witnessed by
Alexander writes: "The same thing was
done long after by another Indian who
came with Caesar to Athens, where they
still show you 'the Indian's Monument,'"[36]
referring to Zarmanochegas' tomb in
Roman Athens.
Another century later the Christian
church father Clement of Alexandria
(died 215) mentioned Buddha by name in
his Stromata (Bk I, Ch XV): "The Indian
gymnosophists are also in the number,
and the other barbarian philosophers.
And of these there are two classes, some
of them called Sarmanæ and others
Brahmins. And those of the Sarmanæ
who are called "Hylobii" neither inhabit
cities, nor have roofs over them, but are
clothed in the bark of trees, feed on nuts,
and drink water in their hands. Like those
called Encratites in the present day, they
know not marriage nor begetting of
children. Some, too, of the Indians obey
the precepts of Buddha (Βούττα) whom,
on account of his extraordinary sanctity,
they have raised to divine honours."[37]

Buddhist gravestones from the

Ptolemaic period have also been found in
Alexandria in Egypt, decorated with
depictions of the Dharma wheel.[38] The
presence of Buddhists in Alexandria at
this time is important, since "It was later
in this very place that some of the most
active centers of Christianity were
established".[39] The pre-Christian
monastic order of the Therapeutae is
possibly a deformation of the Pāli word
"Theravāda,"[40] a form of Buddhism, and
the movement may have "almost entirely
drawn (its) inspiration from the teaching
and practices of Buddhist asceticism".[41]
They may even have been descendants
of Asoka's emissaries to the West.[42]

Buddhism and Christianity

Queen Māyā's white elephant dream, and the

conception of the Buddha. Gandhara, 2nd–3rd
century AD.

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.[43]

"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 AD) mentions
the birth of the Buddha, who he says
"was born from the side of a virgin,"[44]
and the influential early Christian church
father Clement of Alexandria (died AD
215) mentioned Buddha (Βούττα) in his
Stromata (Bk I, Ch XV).[37] The legend of
Christian saints Barlaam and Josaphat
draws on the life of the Buddha.[45]

See also
Greco-Bactrian Kingdom
Gandharan Buddhism
Indo-Greek Kingdom
Greco-Buddhist Art
Religions of the Indo-Greeks
Buddhas of Bamyan
Kushan Empire
Mathura
Pyrrho

Notes
1. Davies, Cuthbert Collin (1959). An
Historical Atlas of the Indian Peninsula.
Oxford University Press.
2. Narain, A.K. (1976). The Coin Types of
the Indo-Greek Kings, 256-54 B.C. Ares.
ISBN 0-89005-109-7.
3. Hans Erich Stier, Ernst Kirsten,
Ekkehard Aner. Grosser Atlas zur
Weltgeschichte: Vorzeit. Altertum.
Mittelalter. Neuzeit. Georg Westermann
Verlag 1978, ISBN 3-14-100919-8.
4. The Contribution of the Emperor Asoka
Maurya to the Development of the
Humanitarian Ideal in Warfare 30-04-1995
Article, International Review of the Red
Cross, No. 305, by Gerald Draper
5. Rock Edict Nb13 (S. Dhammika)
6. Foltz, Religions of the Silk Road, p. 43
7. "The whole region from Phrygia to the
Indus was subject to Seleucus. He
crossed the Indus and waged war with
Sandrocottus [Chandragupta], king of the
Indians, who dwelt on the banks of that
stream, until they came to an
understanding with each other and
contracted a marriage relationship. Some
of these exploits were performed before
the death of Antigonus and some
afterward." Appian History of Rome, The
Syrian Wars 55
8. For an English translation of the Greek
edicts: Religions and Trade: Religious
Formation, Transformation and Cross-
Cultural Exchange between East and
West . BRILL. 2 December 2013. pp. 65–.
ISBN 978-90-04-25530-2.
9. Rock Edict Nb.13, Full text of the Edicts
of Ashoka. See Rock Edict 13 Archived
2013-10-28 at the Wayback Machine.
10. "Chapter XII" . 20 October 2014.
11. "Abstract Sujato: Sects &
Sectarianism" . www.congress-on-
buddhist-women.org.
12. Surviving fragments of
Megasthenes:Full text
13. Strabo, XV.I.65: "Strabo XV.1" .
Perseus.tufts.edu. Retrieved 2010-09-01.
14. Strabo, xv, 1, on the immolation of the
Sramana in Athens (Paragraph 73) .
15. Dio Cassius, liv, 9 .
16. Extract of the Milinda Panha: "And
afterwards, taking delight in the wisdom
of the Elder, he handed over his kingdom
to his son, and abandoning the household
life for the houseless state, grew great in
insight, and himself attained to
Arahatship!" (The Questions of King
Milinda, Translation by T. W. Rhys Davids,
1890)
17. Plutarch on Menander: "But when one
Menander, who had reigned graciously
over the Bactrians, died afterwards in the
camp, the cities indeed by common
consent celebrated his funerals; but
coming to a contest about his relics, they
were difficultly at last brought to this
agreement, that his ashes being
distributed, everyone should carry away
an equal share, and they should all erect
monuments to him." (Plutarch, "Political
Precepts" Praec. reip. ger. 28, 6) p147–
148 Full text
18. Milinda Panha, Chap. I
19. Thomas McEvilley (7 February 2012).
The Shape of Ancient Thought:
Comparative Studies in Greek and Indian
Philosophies . Constable & Robinson.
pp. 558–. ISBN 978-1-58115-933-2.
20. Tarn, William Woodthorpe (24 June
2010). The Greeks in Bactria and India .
Cambridge University Press. p. 391.
ISBN 978-1-108-00941-6.
21. Nicholas Sims-Williams, "A Bactrian
Buddhist Manuscript"
22. Foltz, Religions of the Silk Road, p. 45
23. "He would withdraw from the world
and live in solitude, rarely showing himself
to his relatives; this is because he had
heard an Indian reproach Anaxarchus,
telling him that he would never be able to
teach others what is good while he
himself danced attendance on kings in
their court. He would maintain the same
composure at all times." (Diogenes
Laertius, IX.63 on Pyrrhon)
24. Beckwith, Christopher I. (2015). Greek
Buddha: Pyrrho's Encounter with Early
Buddhism in Central Asia (PDF). Princeton
University Press. p. 28.
ISBN 9781400866328.
25. "The philosopher Hegesias of Cyrene
(nicknamed Peisithanatos, "The advocate
of death") was a contemporary of Magas
and was probably influenced by the
teachings of the Buddhist missionaries to
Cyrene and Alexandria. His influence was
such that he was ultimately prohibited
from teaching." Jean-Marie Lafont, Inalco
in "Les Dossiers d'Archéologie", No254,
p.78
26. "Due to the statement of the Master in
the Dighanikaya disfavouring his
representation in human form after the
extinction of body, reluctance prevailed
for some time". Also "Hinayanis opposed
image worship of the Master due to
canonical restrictions". R.C. Sharma, in
"The Art of Mathura, India", Tokyo National
Museum 2002, p.11
27. Linssen, "Zen Living"
28. Boardman
29. 14th Dalai Lama, foreword to "Echoes
of Alexander the Great", 2000.
30. Foltz, Religions of the Silk Road, p. 44
31. Images of the Herakles-influenced
Vajrapani: Image 1 , Image 2 Archived
2004-03-13 at the Wayback Machine.
32. Katsumi Tanabe, Alexander the Great:
East-West Cultural Contact from Greece
to Japan (Tokyo: NHK Puromōshon and
Tokyo National Museum, 2003).
33. Foltz, Richard, Religions of the Silk
Road, Palgrave Macmillan, 2nd edition,
2010, p. 46 ISBN 978-0-230-62125-1
34. Broughton, Jeffrey L. (1999), The
Bodhidharma Anthology: The Earliest
Records of Zen, Berkeley: University of
California Press, ISBN 0-520-21972-4. pp.
54-55.
35. Soothill, William Edward; Hodous,
Lewis (1995), A Dictionary of Chinese
Buddhist Terms, London:
RoutledgeCurzon
https://web.archive.org/web/2014030318
2232/http://buddhistinformatics.ddbc.edu
.tw/glossaries/files/soothill-
hodous.ddbc.pdf
36. Plutarch. 'Life of Alexander' in The
Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans.
(trans John Dryden and revised Arthur
Hugh Clough) The Modern Library
(Random House Inc). New York.p850
37. Clement of Alexandria Stromata. BkI,
Ch XV
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf02.vi.i
v.i.xv.html (Accessed 19 Dec 2012)
38. Tarn, The Greeks in Bactria and India
39. Robert Linssen, Zen living
40. According to the linguist Zacharias P.
Thundy
41. "Zen living", Robert Linssen
42. "The Original Jesus" (Element Books,
Shaftesbury, 1995), Elmar R Gruber,
Holger Kersten
43. "Certain Indian notions may have
made their way westward into the
budding Christianity of the Mediterranean
world through the channels of the Greek
diaspora." Foltz, Religions of the Silk Road,
p. 44
44. McEvilley, p391
45. John Walbridge The Wisdom of the
Mystic East: Suhrawardī and Platonic
Orientalism Page 129 – 2001 "The form
Būdhīsaf is the original, as shown by
Sogdian form Pwtysfi and the early New
Persian form Bwdysf. ... On the Christian
versions see A. S. Geden, Encyclopaedia
of Religion and Ethics, s.v. "Josaphat,
Barlaam and," and M. P. Alfaric, ..."

References
Vassiliades, Demetrios Th. 2016.
Greeks and Buddhism. Athens, Indo-
Hellenic Society for Culture &
Development ELINEPA.
Alexander the Great: East-West Cultural
Contacts from Greece to Japan. Tokyo:
NHK Puromōshon and Tokyo National
Museum, 2003.
Baums, Stefan. 2012. “Catalog and
Revised Texts and Translations of
Gandharan Reliquary Inscriptions.” In:
David Jongeward, Elizabeth Errington,
Richard Salomon and Stefan Baums,
Gandharan Buddhist Reliquaries, p. 204,
Seattle: Early Buddhist Manuscripts
Project (Gandharan Studies, Volume
1).
Baums, Stefan, and Andrew Glass.
2002– . Catalog of Gāndhārī Texts , no.
CKI 32
Jerry H. Bentley. Old World Encounters:
Cross-cultural Contacts and Exchanges
in Pre-modern Times. Oxford–NY:
Oxford University Press, 1993. ISBN 0-
19-507639-7
John Boardman. The Diffusion of
Classical Art in Antiquity. Princeton, NJ:
Princeton University Press, 1994.
ISBN 0-691-03680-2
Shravasti Dhammika, trans. The Edicts
of King Asoka: An English Rendering.
Kandy, Sri Lanka: Buddhist Publication
Society, 1993. ISBN 955-24-0104-6
Richard Foltz. Religions of the Silk
Road, 2nd edition, New York: Palgrave
Macmillan, 2010 ISBN 978-0-230-
62125-1
Georgios T. Halkias, “When the Greeks
Converted the Buddha: Asymmetrical
Transfers of Knowledge in Indo-Greek
Cultures ”, in Trade and Religions:
Religious Formation, Transformation
and Cross-Cultural Exchange between
East and West, ed. Volker Rabens.
Leiden: Brill, 2013, p. 65–115.
Robert Linssen. Living Zen. NY: Grove
Press, 1958. ISBN 0-8021-3136-0
Lowenstein, Tom (1996). The vision of
the Buddha. Duncan Baird Publishers.
ISBN 1-903296-91-9.
Thomas McEvilley. The Shape of
Ancient Thought: Comparative Studies
in Greek and Indian Philosophies. NY:
Allworth Press and the School of
Visual Arts, 2002. ISBN 1-58115-203-5
William Woodthorpe Tarn. The Greeks
in Bactria and India. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1951,
ISBN 81-215-0220-9
Marian Wenzel. Echoes of Alexander
the Great: Silk Route Portraits from
Gandhara, foreword by the Dalai Lama.
Eklisa Anstalt, 2000. ISBN 1-58886-
014-0
Paul Williams. Mahāyāna Buddhism:
the Doctrinal Foundations. London–NY:
 Routledge, 1989. ISBN 0-415-02537-0

External links
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UNESCO: Threatened Greco-Buddhist

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Alexander the Great: East-West
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Interim period: Mathura as the
Vaishnava-Buddhist seat of culture and
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