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Western Buddhism
Most grand of all, however, are the Bodistes complexes. In Amida. Such complexes are known there, and in the rest of the Kaukasos, by many names; Darbihara, Darbizachar, Bichara. The Bichara of Amida is known across Asia as the grandest of them all, having survived two attempts in Asia to purge the Bodistai, and indeed remained intact after both occasions. There are twelve bikus houses, and the oldest is said, by the Bodistai of Amida, to have been founded by the great king Bumemitra, grandson of the conqueror Agnemitra. All of these bikus houses draw their shrines and dwellings off a single great courtyard, and the sights within are concealed from the outside by a great door for a part of the day. I did make notice that this was generally the coldest parts of the day, particularly the night, and thought it comforting that even a bikus might find cold discomforting. I was permitted to stay in one of the bikus houses overnight, and was treated as a most welcome guest. This was the bikus house that, it is said, was founded by the Gimi king Moga after his recognition of the Boda. It is indeed unusual, in my experience, for the interior of a bikus house to be so richly decorated, in bright yellows, blues, and reds. As is the case with all grand buildings in the Kaukasos there is a ceiling window, through which light permeates the courtyard of this bikus house, and the rim of the window is decorated with golden illustrations of animals, which the bikuses did warn me caught the light at awkward angles across parts of the day. I enjoyed the same foods as the monks at dinner time, whereupon I was served a rice dish of the kind that all associate with the Bodistai. However, this dish included badenka, and lemon, and tasted as though it had been cooked in wine. I was most confused by this until I found out from a merchant of Amida that there is a kind of grape juice that is given or sold to the Bodistai in the Kaukasos to be used for cooking in imitation of wine. The rice dish was most exquisite, and the Bodistai cooks of the Kaukasos are more subtle than those of their western enclaves I deem, particularly with their spices. There were also the leaves of strawberries with dali wheat and herbs, and the most delightful candied lemon. They do not know the making of plakenta here but had heard of the practice among the western Bodistai, and were most curious to see what I knew of such things.
The next day was when I visited the stopai of Amida. They are almost beyond count, as though the stopai that are in the west were infertile compared to their cousins further east. I have since found out that such plenteous stopai in such a small area is an ancient practice long fallen out of fashion among the Bodistai, which accords well with what the bikuses told me, that is that the stopai are mostly refoundations of those from the Imerian era. Those of the Kaukasos have a particular style, that is where the sloped body of the stopa is surmounted by a conical peak, sometimes surrounded by smaller such peaks on the lower reaches of the mound. The oldest are not particularly large or tall, the youngest are enormous creations of stone. Then there is the temple of Amida itself; the chambers extend ontwards from its central vault like the spokes of a wheel, which each chamber having its own conical dome, and then above the vault is a great round dome. Like many temples of the Bodistai most of the temple’s decoration is primarily rendered in stonework and inscription, lacking in precious materials or paintings, but upon entering I noted one of the eight chambers contained remnants of aged walls which illustrated scenes from the beliefs of the Bodistai, and I wonder if in a different time the Bodistai were less austere with their sacred spaces. The interior of the temple felt cavernous and unworldly, as a temple ought, with each of the eight chambers having a tall roof, and the central vault being extended aloft by the hollowed out interior of the dome that I had seen from the exterior. In the centre of that vaulted space was the statue of the Boda that one expects in all of their temples, and there I gave offerings and wellwishes to him. The bikuses were beginning one of their laughing prayers and I took my leave at that time, wishing them well, and avoided turning my back to the statue for some steps before going on my way. I am not, as I have said many times, a follower of the Boda or Bodistai, but in his own country it does well to respect the Boda, as the Bodistai that dwell among the Hellenes themselves respect the gods and sophoi in our homeland.
To the king, my lord: your servant, Mitrdata. Good health to the king!
Having arrived at Mariba on the 16th, and speaking with the King Anmar, I am ready to report on the piety of Arabestana and its general wellbeing. I find that the wihara are particularly healthy and respected in the following regions- Muscat, Haxar, Divva, and Mariba itself. However, the wihara at Divva has been damaged by an earthquake, and repairs are still underway. I am told that the local governor only reluctantly released the men and funds to repair it, and only after other local governors threatened to report him to yourself, the King of Kings. In general those who dwell in cities and the fertile parts of Arabestan are most receptive of Budda, especially in those areas where the priests have established friendly relationships with the priests of the Arab gods, or where they have been able to alleviate some amount of poverty. However, whilst they are not entirely unfriendly towards Budda, the Arabs of the deep desert remain at arm’s length, and some associate the acknowledgement of Budda with the civilized cultures that they are generally unfriendly with. Those who are more receptive are still leery, because they continue to find the customs associated with the Budda strange, but this will change in time. Pilgrimage from those Arabs who have become devout is increasing, and the revenues generated from this are being collected without corruption.
As for the general state of Arabestana there is a good opinion as to the peace which the king and his esteemed fathers have established over the land. Many of the Arabs have themselves made far more profits from the trade in incense than ever before, and I might recommend that perhaps taxes be raised to prevent the undue clumping of wealth and coinage in Arabia. What causes discontent, of a sort, are affairs involving Axum and Mudraya. Previously Arab kings had enjoyed friendly relations with Axum but now, at this present time, the King of Axum is hostile to the king, my lord, for he fears the strength of your navy and the idea that the King might launch an expedition to conquer his kingdom. He tries as best as possible to cut off the lands of the king my lord from trade to the south and west, and to some degree succeeds. Mudraya says nothing outwardly unfriendly to King Anmar or to the king, my lord, but King Anmar is aware of attempts by agents of Mudraya to induce disorder in Arabestana. They believe that they can make war upon the Hadadu but only if the king, my lord, has his attention turned elsewhere.
Should I send word to the King of the Hadadu my lord? Should King Anmar receive instructions as to Axum and Mudraya? Does the king wish for punitive measures on Axum or Mudraya?
All garrisons and forts in Arabestana are reporting that things are well, the commander at Haxar in parcticular wishes me to send his eternal thanks for the reinforcements that were sent to him, just in case his own arrive after my message to you does by some unforseen chance. Things in Arabestan are prosperous and peaceful, you may be glad.
THE SOPHOI BY KADMODOROS (88 CE)
THE SOPHOI OF ASIA
It was a central conceit of my ancestors that the Hellenes were the only civilized people, bar the Aigyptoi, in the world. It was after much hardship that we discovered that much of the Asian world thought of us as the uncivilized barbaroi knocking at the door of the peaceful world, the warrior savages good for fighting and little else. Both had much to learn from one another, it emerged, and both would find themselves changed. The Hellenes as in the days of Solon and Khilon are gone, though their wisdom remains with us, or even as in the days of Herodotos and Xenokritos. We are one, we are many, and we are together. We must also look to wisdom from abroad, in particular from Aigyptos and Asia, if the Hellenes are to continue their long-delayed rise that has, at last, come about, and we must acknowledge the Asian wisdom that has already changed our people so much.
One of the Sophoi of ancient times who was not a Hellene was Kadmos, born Phoenician royalty but founder of Thebes and first king of that city, who also founded all of its temples. An incarnation of the Gods’ will, he slayed the dragon of the waters at Thebes, and wore the panoply of Hephaistos which marked him out as the instrument of the gods. He defended the Hellenes in ancient times from the demons that threatened to overrun it. Not least of all, he brought the divine art of writing to the Hellenes from the Phoenicians, through which we render law, no longer as in the most ancient times carried on by word of mouth, and also carry on our stories of the gods, and our sophoi.
Another sophos of Asia was Bodda, who lived in India many centuries ago. It is he who first developed the school which bears his name, the school that teaches men that through ataraxia is a root to contentment and piety, and the first to desire his teachings be spread among all men. It is from his wisdom that we come to understand what a sophos is, and their place in the religious heritage of the Hellenes, that humankind is eternally blessed with the sophoi elevated by the gods, and the very best of them achieve ataraxia through their piety and devotion to the Hellenes and to all men. We must acknowledge Bodda to have been a sophos, for he is foremost among those Asians that we acknowledge as wise, even though devotion towards Bodda and his school is not common in Hellas. We need not built stopai and temples in his name to respect his wisdom.
There is also Zoroastres, the great illuminator, who understood that the universe was a struggle between the forces of goodness and the forces of evil, and that all mankind should strive towards affecting the outcome of this conflict. It is from Zoroastres, an ancient Persian, that we gain meaning to our worship of the Gods beyond simple piety and fellowship, the brotherhood of humans who worship the Gods are a stand against the encroachment of demons who would drive the universe towards destruction. From him we began to truly understand how to value the Gods, and it is from Zoroastres and Bodda together that we realise that this knowledge must be extended towards as many as possible in the great, uncivilized wastes of Europa. The Istros river is a great road through which knowledge of humanity’s role in saving mankind must travel, touching the lives of the unilluminated, teaching them to understand their Gods as their protectors and, through devotion to them, their liberators.
Of all of the myriad interpretations of Buddhism that emerged in the antique world there are none so strange as that of the Orphics who converted to the ways of the Buddha. It is said that it was introduced to them by a tax collector, not long after the collapse of the Amavadatid state and soon after the formation of the Hellenic Symmachia, who himself was a Buddhist, and who had gone among their communities to talk with them about the teachings of the Buddha. This tax collector was named Eusebios, and names of such formulation (eus- prefixed compounds) were indeed common among the small communities of Hellenic Buddhistry. The sources that discuss such things indicate that Eusebios successfully convinced a number of the Hellenic Orphic communities to venerate and carry on the Buddha’s teachings, by virtue of their many seeming similarities to their own principles and because of the eminent wisdom in what he had said on various matters. But this was only a number, not all, and a sizeable (if lesser) number had a more angry reaction to this attempt at conversion, stating that Buddha was clearly a demon who attempted to take the devout away from a true understanding of the universe and piety. A number of these conservative Orphics would end up departing to Italia, where the Hellenic communities remained mostly untouched by the influence of any of Buddha’s followers. They came to join the remaining Pythagorean communities, and were probably an influence in the Second Pythagorean Revolution which broke out less than forty years later, which resulted in harsh measures from the Tinians and Hellenes alike.
Orphic Buddhistes, meanwhile, were unalike all other Buddhistes in that at first they eschewed the Bihara, as they were called in the Kaukasos in imitation of the Indic Vihara, in favour of extremely decentralised complexes of austere housing amidst their sacred groves and forests. However, they are also the only Buddhistry community of the Hellenes in that time who had the wherewithal to construct a temple to Buddha, which they built at Dion because of the relics to Orpheus that lay nearby, and because it was his mythical place of death. It was said that nobody knew which was more curious, a Buddistric temple in Dion or the Orphics actually venturing forth from their small communities. The temple was far more akin to a Hellenic temple than those Buddistric temples of much of Asia, with the stopai (from Indic Stupa) being more akin to Hellenic stelai and statue-work, being described as ringed with statues and architectural illustrations of humans, but these were also foreign enough even for a Hellas that had seen both Akhaimenid and Amavadatid rule to be immediate curiosities. Some regarded them as an unacceptable foreign incursion, others as a harmless waste of money, others still as a sign of Hellenic integration into Asia, which was rapidly being equated with tolerance of the teachings of Buddha. Many Hellenes gave the temple respect, if not patronage or adoration, but the Makedonians in particular eventually became taken with it. The influence of Orphic Buddhistry on what became Makedonianist religion was quite profound, and a belief in reincarnation was first inculcated in Makedonia by the Orphic Buddhistes.
The Orphic Buddhistes were not well known in the rest of Asia in those early days, apart from in the area of the Kaukasos around Kolkhis, where they had frequent intercourse with the Buddhistes of that region. However, this would change after the First Buddhistry Purge in Asia by the first of the Skythian dynasty, as they were known to the Hellenes and the western Mediterranean, or as they were known in the rest of Asia the Gimi dynasty. After this purge the more enlightened and tolerant king Moga came to the throne, who immediately set about restoring the Buddhistes in view of the cosmic order. He invited the Orphic Buddhistes, who had been made known to him, to come and aid in the rebuilding of Buddistry in those parts of Asia that his forerunners had put to sack. Thus was the Hellenic mode of Buddhistry placed into the heart of Asia, and influenced its subsequent appearance greatly. Orphic Buddhistry as it existed in this time came to an end in the next few centuries; its western outposts in Hellas morphed into what is known to us as Makedonianism, and its eastern members in Asia came to create a new mode of Buddistry there that then absorbed them. Makedonianism has not always been accepted as a mode of Buddhistry but, in my time, is accepted by the Asian Buddhistes as part of their community. The Hellenic influenced Buddistry that grew up in Asia has proven an unbreakable connection between Hellenes and Buddhistry, for though there are still few Buddhistes in Hellas there are many Buddhistes in Asia that are Hellenes or the descendants of Hellenes. This connection has withstood another purge of Buddhistry in the meantime.
Μηδίζω! THE WORLD OF ACHAEMENID HELLAS
CHAPTER 4:BAGAHA or THEOI
EXTRACTS FROM EXPLORATION OF KAUKASOS (1430 CE)
OLD AMIDA
There before me lay one of the great capitals of the antique world, the capital of Asia’s great Imerian dynasty, and a holy city of the Bodistai. An observer is immediately made aware of the richness of its surroundings- it is in this district that the river Tigris first starts to promote fertility on the surrounding banks, and it is a fecund land covered in diverse croppage. Wheat, dates, honey, zardaloi are all grown here in abundance. It is said that the district of Amida has never known a famine in its history. Its green wealth and copper mines are the constant in the history of Amida’s prosperity. But the grandeur of Amida is well in excess of even this material prosperity. Gone are the days when Amida was the Pillar of the World, Queen of Cities, but if this is Amida in her dotage then what a city she must have been in her young days! Even know she houses three hundred thousand persons. Grand palaces, called tachar by the locals, litter the city, associated both with the modern rulers of the city (in these present days it is the Amidna) and Amida’s rich and powerful. The houses even of the ordinary citizens are of beautiful stone, though not all are well kept by their owners. The city’s markets are a sea of colour and heady mixture of spices, and are the source of many of the spices to be found in our homeland, though I discovered that the rich men of the city are disdainful towards this market, associating it with immorality and vanity.CHAPTER 4:BAGAHA or THEOI
EXTRACTS FROM EXPLORATION OF KAUKASOS (1430 CE)
OLD AMIDA
Most grand of all, however, are the Bodistes complexes. In Amida. Such complexes are known there, and in the rest of the Kaukasos, by many names; Darbihara, Darbizachar, Bichara. The Bichara of Amida is known across Asia as the grandest of them all, having survived two attempts in Asia to purge the Bodistai, and indeed remained intact after both occasions. There are twelve bikus houses, and the oldest is said, by the Bodistai of Amida, to have been founded by the great king Bumemitra, grandson of the conqueror Agnemitra. All of these bikus houses draw their shrines and dwellings off a single great courtyard, and the sights within are concealed from the outside by a great door for a part of the day. I did make notice that this was generally the coldest parts of the day, particularly the night, and thought it comforting that even a bikus might find cold discomforting. I was permitted to stay in one of the bikus houses overnight, and was treated as a most welcome guest. This was the bikus house that, it is said, was founded by the Gimi king Moga after his recognition of the Boda. It is indeed unusual, in my experience, for the interior of a bikus house to be so richly decorated, in bright yellows, blues, and reds. As is the case with all grand buildings in the Kaukasos there is a ceiling window, through which light permeates the courtyard of this bikus house, and the rim of the window is decorated with golden illustrations of animals, which the bikuses did warn me caught the light at awkward angles across parts of the day. I enjoyed the same foods as the monks at dinner time, whereupon I was served a rice dish of the kind that all associate with the Bodistai. However, this dish included badenka, and lemon, and tasted as though it had been cooked in wine. I was most confused by this until I found out from a merchant of Amida that there is a kind of grape juice that is given or sold to the Bodistai in the Kaukasos to be used for cooking in imitation of wine. The rice dish was most exquisite, and the Bodistai cooks of the Kaukasos are more subtle than those of their western enclaves I deem, particularly with their spices. There were also the leaves of strawberries with dali wheat and herbs, and the most delightful candied lemon. They do not know the making of plakenta here but had heard of the practice among the western Bodistai, and were most curious to see what I knew of such things.
The next day was when I visited the stopai of Amida. They are almost beyond count, as though the stopai that are in the west were infertile compared to their cousins further east. I have since found out that such plenteous stopai in such a small area is an ancient practice long fallen out of fashion among the Bodistai, which accords well with what the bikuses told me, that is that the stopai are mostly refoundations of those from the Imerian era. Those of the Kaukasos have a particular style, that is where the sloped body of the stopa is surmounted by a conical peak, sometimes surrounded by smaller such peaks on the lower reaches of the mound. The oldest are not particularly large or tall, the youngest are enormous creations of stone. Then there is the temple of Amida itself; the chambers extend ontwards from its central vault like the spokes of a wheel, which each chamber having its own conical dome, and then above the vault is a great round dome. Like many temples of the Bodistai most of the temple’s decoration is primarily rendered in stonework and inscription, lacking in precious materials or paintings, but upon entering I noted one of the eight chambers contained remnants of aged walls which illustrated scenes from the beliefs of the Bodistai, and I wonder if in a different time the Bodistai were less austere with their sacred spaces. The interior of the temple felt cavernous and unworldly, as a temple ought, with each of the eight chambers having a tall roof, and the central vault being extended aloft by the hollowed out interior of the dome that I had seen from the exterior. In the centre of that vaulted space was the statue of the Boda that one expects in all of their temples, and there I gave offerings and wellwishes to him. The bikuses were beginning one of their laughing prayers and I took my leave at that time, wishing them well, and avoided turning my back to the statue for some steps before going on my way. I am not, as I have said many times, a follower of the Boda or Bodistai, but in his own country it does well to respect the Boda, as the Bodistai that dwell among the Hellenes themselves respect the gods and sophoi in our homeland.
THE REPORT OF MITRDATA ON ARABESTANA (c. 200 BCE)
To the king, my lord: your servant, Mitrdata. Good health to the king!
Having arrived at Mariba on the 16th, and speaking with the King Anmar, I am ready to report on the piety of Arabestana and its general wellbeing. I find that the wihara are particularly healthy and respected in the following regions- Muscat, Haxar, Divva, and Mariba itself. However, the wihara at Divva has been damaged by an earthquake, and repairs are still underway. I am told that the local governor only reluctantly released the men and funds to repair it, and only after other local governors threatened to report him to yourself, the King of Kings. In general those who dwell in cities and the fertile parts of Arabestan are most receptive of Budda, especially in those areas where the priests have established friendly relationships with the priests of the Arab gods, or where they have been able to alleviate some amount of poverty. However, whilst they are not entirely unfriendly towards Budda, the Arabs of the deep desert remain at arm’s length, and some associate the acknowledgement of Budda with the civilized cultures that they are generally unfriendly with. Those who are more receptive are still leery, because they continue to find the customs associated with the Budda strange, but this will change in time. Pilgrimage from those Arabs who have become devout is increasing, and the revenues generated from this are being collected without corruption.
As for the general state of Arabestana there is a good opinion as to the peace which the king and his esteemed fathers have established over the land. Many of the Arabs have themselves made far more profits from the trade in incense than ever before, and I might recommend that perhaps taxes be raised to prevent the undue clumping of wealth and coinage in Arabia. What causes discontent, of a sort, are affairs involving Axum and Mudraya. Previously Arab kings had enjoyed friendly relations with Axum but now, at this present time, the King of Axum is hostile to the king, my lord, for he fears the strength of your navy and the idea that the King might launch an expedition to conquer his kingdom. He tries as best as possible to cut off the lands of the king my lord from trade to the south and west, and to some degree succeeds. Mudraya says nothing outwardly unfriendly to King Anmar or to the king, my lord, but King Anmar is aware of attempts by agents of Mudraya to induce disorder in Arabestana. They believe that they can make war upon the Hadadu but only if the king, my lord, has his attention turned elsewhere.
Should I send word to the King of the Hadadu my lord? Should King Anmar receive instructions as to Axum and Mudraya? Does the king wish for punitive measures on Axum or Mudraya?
All garrisons and forts in Arabestana are reporting that things are well, the commander at Haxar in parcticular wishes me to send his eternal thanks for the reinforcements that were sent to him, just in case his own arrive after my message to you does by some unforseen chance. Things in Arabestan are prosperous and peaceful, you may be glad.
THE SOPHOI BY KADMODOROS (88 CE)
THE SOPHOI OF ASIA
It was a central conceit of my ancestors that the Hellenes were the only civilized people, bar the Aigyptoi, in the world. It was after much hardship that we discovered that much of the Asian world thought of us as the uncivilized barbaroi knocking at the door of the peaceful world, the warrior savages good for fighting and little else. Both had much to learn from one another, it emerged, and both would find themselves changed. The Hellenes as in the days of Solon and Khilon are gone, though their wisdom remains with us, or even as in the days of Herodotos and Xenokritos. We are one, we are many, and we are together. We must also look to wisdom from abroad, in particular from Aigyptos and Asia, if the Hellenes are to continue their long-delayed rise that has, at last, come about, and we must acknowledge the Asian wisdom that has already changed our people so much.
One of the Sophoi of ancient times who was not a Hellene was Kadmos, born Phoenician royalty but founder of Thebes and first king of that city, who also founded all of its temples. An incarnation of the Gods’ will, he slayed the dragon of the waters at Thebes, and wore the panoply of Hephaistos which marked him out as the instrument of the gods. He defended the Hellenes in ancient times from the demons that threatened to overrun it. Not least of all, he brought the divine art of writing to the Hellenes from the Phoenicians, through which we render law, no longer as in the most ancient times carried on by word of mouth, and also carry on our stories of the gods, and our sophoi.
Another sophos of Asia was Bodda, who lived in India many centuries ago. It is he who first developed the school which bears his name, the school that teaches men that through ataraxia is a root to contentment and piety, and the first to desire his teachings be spread among all men. It is from his wisdom that we come to understand what a sophos is, and their place in the religious heritage of the Hellenes, that humankind is eternally blessed with the sophoi elevated by the gods, and the very best of them achieve ataraxia through their piety and devotion to the Hellenes and to all men. We must acknowledge Bodda to have been a sophos, for he is foremost among those Asians that we acknowledge as wise, even though devotion towards Bodda and his school is not common in Hellas. We need not built stopai and temples in his name to respect his wisdom.
There is also Zoroastres, the great illuminator, who understood that the universe was a struggle between the forces of goodness and the forces of evil, and that all mankind should strive towards affecting the outcome of this conflict. It is from Zoroastres, an ancient Persian, that we gain meaning to our worship of the Gods beyond simple piety and fellowship, the brotherhood of humans who worship the Gods are a stand against the encroachment of demons who would drive the universe towards destruction. From him we began to truly understand how to value the Gods, and it is from Zoroastres and Bodda together that we realise that this knowledge must be extended towards as many as possible in the great, uncivilized wastes of Europa. The Istros river is a great road through which knowledge of humanity’s role in saving mankind must travel, touching the lives of the unilluminated, teaching them to understand their Gods as their protectors and, through devotion to them, their liberators.
EXTRACTS FROM THE STORY OF THE BUDDHA (1655 CE)
ORPHIC BUDDHISM
ORPHIC BUDDHISM
Of all of the myriad interpretations of Buddhism that emerged in the antique world there are none so strange as that of the Orphics who converted to the ways of the Buddha. It is said that it was introduced to them by a tax collector, not long after the collapse of the Amavadatid state and soon after the formation of the Hellenic Symmachia, who himself was a Buddhist, and who had gone among their communities to talk with them about the teachings of the Buddha. This tax collector was named Eusebios, and names of such formulation (eus- prefixed compounds) were indeed common among the small communities of Hellenic Buddhistry. The sources that discuss such things indicate that Eusebios successfully convinced a number of the Hellenic Orphic communities to venerate and carry on the Buddha’s teachings, by virtue of their many seeming similarities to their own principles and because of the eminent wisdom in what he had said on various matters. But this was only a number, not all, and a sizeable (if lesser) number had a more angry reaction to this attempt at conversion, stating that Buddha was clearly a demon who attempted to take the devout away from a true understanding of the universe and piety. A number of these conservative Orphics would end up departing to Italia, where the Hellenic communities remained mostly untouched by the influence of any of Buddha’s followers. They came to join the remaining Pythagorean communities, and were probably an influence in the Second Pythagorean Revolution which broke out less than forty years later, which resulted in harsh measures from the Tinians and Hellenes alike.
Orphic Buddhistes, meanwhile, were unalike all other Buddhistes in that at first they eschewed the Bihara, as they were called in the Kaukasos in imitation of the Indic Vihara, in favour of extremely decentralised complexes of austere housing amidst their sacred groves and forests. However, they are also the only Buddhistry community of the Hellenes in that time who had the wherewithal to construct a temple to Buddha, which they built at Dion because of the relics to Orpheus that lay nearby, and because it was his mythical place of death. It was said that nobody knew which was more curious, a Buddistric temple in Dion or the Orphics actually venturing forth from their small communities. The temple was far more akin to a Hellenic temple than those Buddistric temples of much of Asia, with the stopai (from Indic Stupa) being more akin to Hellenic stelai and statue-work, being described as ringed with statues and architectural illustrations of humans, but these were also foreign enough even for a Hellas that had seen both Akhaimenid and Amavadatid rule to be immediate curiosities. Some regarded them as an unacceptable foreign incursion, others as a harmless waste of money, others still as a sign of Hellenic integration into Asia, which was rapidly being equated with tolerance of the teachings of Buddha. Many Hellenes gave the temple respect, if not patronage or adoration, but the Makedonians in particular eventually became taken with it. The influence of Orphic Buddhistry on what became Makedonianist religion was quite profound, and a belief in reincarnation was first inculcated in Makedonia by the Orphic Buddhistes.
The Orphic Buddhistes were not well known in the rest of Asia in those early days, apart from in the area of the Kaukasos around Kolkhis, where they had frequent intercourse with the Buddhistes of that region. However, this would change after the First Buddhistry Purge in Asia by the first of the Skythian dynasty, as they were known to the Hellenes and the western Mediterranean, or as they were known in the rest of Asia the Gimi dynasty. After this purge the more enlightened and tolerant king Moga came to the throne, who immediately set about restoring the Buddhistes in view of the cosmic order. He invited the Orphic Buddhistes, who had been made known to him, to come and aid in the rebuilding of Buddistry in those parts of Asia that his forerunners had put to sack. Thus was the Hellenic mode of Buddhistry placed into the heart of Asia, and influenced its subsequent appearance greatly. Orphic Buddhistry as it existed in this time came to an end in the next few centuries; its western outposts in Hellas morphed into what is known to us as Makedonianism, and its eastern members in Asia came to create a new mode of Buddistry there that then absorbed them. Makedonianism has not always been accepted as a mode of Buddhistry but, in my time, is accepted by the Asian Buddhistes as part of their community. The Hellenic influenced Buddistry that grew up in Asia has proven an unbreakable connection between Hellenes and Buddhistry, for though there are still few Buddhistes in Hellas there are many Buddhistes in Asia that are Hellenes or the descendants of Hellenes. This connection has withstood another purge of Buddhistry in the meantime.
- Daeres
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