Hellenistic Buddhism

[Faeelin]

Reading Plato's dialogues of Socrates, I was struck by some of the similarities to Buddhism. Now, there was some contact with india in the hellenistic age anyway, but how could we get buddhism to be a viable religion in the Hellenistic/Roman world?

[Paul Spring]

IIRC there actually was a "Kingdom of Bactria" in parts of modern-day Afghanistan and Pakistan that was ruled by Greeks descended from soldiers in Alexander's army. At least one of these Greek-descended kings became a prominent supporter of Buddhism, and had coins made with Buddhist sayings written both in Greek and in one or more local languages. Still, the Greco-Bactrians were too isolated from the rest of the Hellenistic world to have very much of this spread.

Have the Seleucids, who controlled those parts of Alexander's empire from modern day Iraq east to modern-day Pakistan, manage to hold the eastern part of their empire (including Bactria) together longer. Through the Seleucids, Buddhism makes its way into the rest of the Hellenistic world. By the first century BCE, it has a significant presence in the eastern Mediterranean. Along the way it will almost certainly be considerably altered from its original Indian form, but the same thing happened in OTL when Buddhism became a popular faith in China, Korea, and Japan.

[Hendryk]

Indeed, contact between the Greeks and Buddhists took place in Bactria (present-day Afghanistan), in the wake of Alexander's conquests. So it would not take a big POD for Buddhist missionaries to follow the Greeks back West to the Mediterranean region. My suggestion is this: have Alexander live longer, giving him time to consolidate his empire and take stock of its cultural diversity. He was famous for his curiosity regarding local religions and liked to visit temples of various faiths, so with a longer life expectancy it's fairly likely he would come across Buddhism, which at that time was already a vibrant religion (remember King Ashoka in India). So, Alexander lives into his 50s or even 60s and brings a bunch of Buddhist scholars back to Greece with him to see what his late teacher Aristotle's friends will make of their fascinating theories. Here's a possible timeline:
329 BC: Alexander enters Bactria (as in OTL).
322 BC: Alex is introduced to Buddhist scholars by a local retainer.
317 BC: At Alex's invitation, a group of Buddhists join his court in Susa, Persia. First Buddhist temple opens, some contact with local Zoroastrians, not all of it friendly.
312 BC: Alex travels back to his native Macedonia and then Greece; while in Athens, he introduces the Buddhists to the philosophers at the Lykaeum, Aristotle's school. Various debates take place on the nature of reality, the human soul, etc. Both parties find the encounter interesting, though on many issues they can only agree to disagree.
309 BC: After 3 years in Greece, the Bactrians return home. They come back in 307 BC in greater numbers.
306 BC: First Buddhist temple opens in Greece. Originally intended for the Bactrian scholars and their retainers, in soon begins to attract some curious Greeks.
305 BC: Euphronion of Megara is the first official Greek convert to Buddhism. Becomes a missionary among his fellow Greeks; tours the Greek cities of the Mediterranean as far West as Massilia (present-day Marseilles) and preaches the Word of the Awakened One until his death in 271 BC. Several of his disciples pursue his work. One of them, Katachras of Syracuse, opens the first Buddhist temple in Rome in 253 BC.
291 BC: Death of Alexander.
250 BC: Greek converts number about 20,000. Another 3,000 are Persians, Assyrians and the odd Carthaginian. A Jewish trader who had converted is tried for apostasy by the Sanhedrin and executed in 248 BC.
231 BC: A Buddhist monastery/university opens in Athens to avoid sending scholars all the way to Balkh or even Bodh Gaya to perfect their learning. Within a century the Pharmakon, as it becomes known, is the third largest repository of Buddhist scripture in Eurasia.
100 BC: Some 25% of the people living in the Hellenistic kingdoms have converted to Buddhism, but coexistence with the rest of the population is peaceful, as Buddhists admit the existence of gods and do not condemn their worship (in fact, many nominal Buddhists remain close to paganism, and many pagans share some ideas with Buddhism).
80-30 BC: Despite official persecution, Buddhism becomes secretely practiced by a growing minority of Jews.
17 a.D.: A charismatic young Jew, Yeshua of Nazareth, disappointed by his forefathers' religion, converts to Buddhism.

[Tom_B]

The points to consider is what are the differences between Platonism and Buddhism. I see them being Platonism emphasized a higher form of abstract thought while Buddhism wanted to get to NoThought Nonduality. Platonism believed in the Self but the dominant strain of Buddhist philosophy rejected the Self and saw only a collection of Skandas. Lastly the One which Platonists saw at the center of everything was viewed a Positive albeit impersonal Entity and Buddhists reviewed the Absoute as a Void. To form a true composite philosophy these differences would need resolution.

[DominusNovus]

17 a.D.: A charismatic young Jew, Yeshua of Nazareth, disappointed by his forefathers' religion, converts to Buddhism.

Agh. Ya had to, didn't ya? :rolleyes:

[Hendryk]

Agh. Ya had to, didn't ya? :rolleyes:

Well, yes, but I didn't just throw in that tidbit for provocation's sake. In the century between 50 BC and 50 a.D. or so Judaism was undergoing a major cultural crisis. In OTL, that crisis was the catalyst for the birth of Christianity. But if you factor in the arrival in the Near East of a Buddhism, which was already a salvation religion in its own right (so much so that certain fringe historians have speculated on the exposure of young Jesus to elements of Buddhism), it would make sense for a number of Jews to turn to it, though it would probably remain a minority. I'm sure the Essenians would have been curious about Buddhism, especially the Theravada strand with its emphasis on monastic life as a prerequisite for Awakening.
However, the dominant strand West of the Indus would be Mahayana, which obviously would be influenced to some extent by contact with the Zoroastrians in Persia and Greek philosophy further West. Notwithstanding the debates with Aristotelians and Platonists, I think the most promising cross-influencing would be with the Stoics, whose basic tenets mirror Buddhism's in several ways. Out of these contacts may emerge yet other strands and schools.

[atreides]

IIRC there actually was a "Kingdom of Bactria" in parts of modern-day Afghanistan and Pakistan that was ruled by Greeks descended from soldiers in Alexander's army. At least one of these Greek-descended kings became a prominent supporter of Buddhism,

I think that king was Menandros, and is referred to in buddhism as Milinda, the main character of the Milinda Pahña, a dialog between the king and a Buddhist sage that results in the conversion of the Greek king to Buddhism.

But I wonder if the adoption of Buddhism by a sizable minority in Greece would influence the development of science later on, and how?