Okay, before we continue discussing Scipio's journey on the path to becoming a sage....
Northern Italy, 130 BC
Panaetius had remained in constant contact with Sophocles, who continued to preach in Rhodes. Apparently Sophocles had sent out a series of converts to spread the word of the Buddha across the Middle Sea, from Massalia to Ephesus, and that had included a group to visit Cisalpine Gaul. [1]
The Greek he’d chosen to establish a temple in Cremona was known as Cleon of Seleucia, who had evidently been some sort of craftsman in the city.
The journey to the temple had been leisurely enough, but Panaetius had trouble finding the site of the temple. When he visited Cremona, he eventually discovered that the temple, surprisingly, was outside the city, and that the Buddhists there only came to the city to preach. Apparently the city’s council had been strongly opposed to them building a temple in the town, out of fear of Greek customs. Panaetius had attempted to point out that the Buddhists were not in fact Greek, but from further east, which only worsened the magistrate’s view of them. He had eventually discovered, however, that they did in fact buy land along the Padus [3], and had built a temple there.
When Panaetius rode up to the lands the Buddhists had bought, he grunted. He saw a couple of buildings, including one the Rod of Asclepius. The temple itself was fairly busy, with, Panaetius noticed, quite a few women. “Excuse me,” he called out, “but is this the temple of the Followers of the Enlightened One?”
“No,” said one of the women, who looked old enough to have seen Hannibal, “this is the temple of Baal. We’re here for the sacrifices and orgies.” At Panaetius’s look, the woman snapped. “Of course it’s the Temple of the Buddha! Why else would we have that?”
The woman gestured with her thumb at a painting of a man in saffron robes over the door to another of the buildings. “Oh,” said Panaetius sheepishly. “My thanks.” He pointed at a strange contraption in the Padus. “What’s that?”
The woman gave Panaetius an odd look. “You’re not from around these parts, are you? It’s a waterwheel. The priest says it’s a symbol of the wheel of dharma. I use it to grind my flour.” With that, the woman walked off, leaving Panaetius sitting on his horse and feeling more confused than ever.
Panaetius walked inside the temple, and beheld the scenes from the life of the Buddha painted on the walls. His gaze sharpened when he saw one of the scenes, which portrayed Buddha on the night before his enlightenment. He was being attacked by the Hades, but stood firm beneath an olive tree while Heracles fought to protect him.
Panaetius didn’t even know where to begin pointing out what was wrong with that, but his thoughts were interrupted.
“May the blessings of the three jewels be upon you,” said a voice from behind Panaetius. Panaetius turned around to see a man with a shaved head and a yellow robe. “Welcome to the Sangha of Cremona. I am Aniketos of Bactra.”
Panaetius bowed. “Greetings,” he said. “I am Panaetius of Rhodes.” He waited for the monk to recognize him.
However, the monk did not. “Of course,” he said, smiling genially. “You are a merchant who is passing through, and sought to hear of the Buddha?”
Panaetius blinked. “No,” he said. “I am a friend of Sophocles. I hope you’ve heard of him at least.”
“Oh!” replied the monk. “Of course. Come with me, and I will fetch Cleon.”
They walked inside the temple and into a room, where they found Cleon standing writing a letter. “Greetings to you,” he said absentmindedly.
Aniketos cleared his throat. “Cleon, we have a guest. A friend of Sophocles has journeyed here to see us, from Rome.”
Cleon quickly put the parchment down. “Why didn’t you say so? Come, sit,” he gestured to Panaetius. “But you must be tired,” he said. “Aniketos, please bring our guest a drink.”
Aniketos returned with two cups of watered wine. “Technically, as monks we should not consume alcohol,” said Cleon, “but it was decided that an exception should be made for monks who could find nothing else to drink. Furthermore,” said Cleon, “the Buddha told his followers to eat what was offered to them; why should the same not apply to drinks [4]”.
“Ah,” said Panaetius. He found that a bit hard to believe. “And here I thought it had to do with a love of wine,” he muttered under his breath.
“What was that?” asked Cleon.
“I was just wondering what was that contraption I saw outside,” said Panaetius. “Scooping up the water.”
“Oh,” replied Cleon, “that’s just a water wheel. I’m an engineer, you know, so I’ve seen things like them in the east. But I thought it’d be a good idea to build one here for a couple of reasons. First,” he said, “I thought it was a good illustration of the wheel of dharma.”
Panaetius raised an eyebrow. “Err, why?”
“Because,” said Cleon, “what happens in the wheel of dharma? The soul is continuously reborn and goes from one body to another. Yet many asked me where the new souls came from, and the wheel helps explain it. Where does the water continuously come from? The river? Where does it go? To the sea. Yet from the sea it returns to the river by rain, does it not? So in the same way the soul returns to a body.”
“Furthermore,” continued Cleon, “the wheel itself is of great importance. The circular shape represents the rounds of existence and transmigration, and the hub at the center represents the realization of nirvana. The eight spokes of the wheel represent the Noble Eightfold Path, which must be followed to lead one to nirvana, and the sharp edges cut through ignorance.”
”It is,” said Cleon quite smugly, “quite eloquent, is it not?”
“There’s another reason, though,” said Panaetius. “What was it?”
Cleon looked down in his cup for a moment. “Well, you see, since we were expelled from Cremona we needed something to encourage people to come here. I was an engineer before I learned the way of the dharma, you know,” said Cleon. “It occurred to me that we could use one of these things, and it would cost less than a slave driven mill because we don’t have to feed the slaves. So we use the profits from that to pay for the supplies of the temple, and the hospital we run.”
There was an awkward silence. At last, Panaetius said, “I, ah, see. I take it one of you runs the hospital?”
“Oh yes,” replied Cleon, who was anxious to change the subject. “Aniketos even knews a few Hindoi treatments, having learned his trade in the east. It’s gathered him quite the following, although several of the physicians in Cremona aren’t happy with him.”
Panaetius snorted. He’d had enough experience with physicians to be unsurprised by the news. “Bah,” he said. “Too many of them care about their gold instead of their patients. Let them complain.”
Cleon smiled. “Exactly. Come, let me take you for a tour around the temple.”
They walked into the temple, and walked in front of an image of the Buddha. “Wait a minute,” said Panaetius. “Why do you give offerings to him?” As a Greek, of course, Panaetius had no problem with the idea of mortals becoming gods, but it still struck him as curious. “As the Buddha, he has no need of material goods after achieving enlightenment.
“True enough,” replied Cleon. “But the offerings are used by the temple, the same as offerings to a god. But they earn karma, because they are acts of compassion and proper conduct.”
The tour of the small temple continued, and Panaetius continued discussing the teachings of the Enlightened One with Cleon. Before he left the next day, Panaetius asked Cleon a simple question.
“Tell me again, if you would, about the empty circle.”
“Of course,” said Cleon. “It is the representation of nirvana, and the nothingness. When you understand how the empty circle may represent nothing, you will begin to understand nirvana.”
[1] I'm still debating just how far the Buddhists have spread by this point. Judging by the spread of Christianity, I should think by 120 BC they could plausibly have some converts in most major ports in the Mediterranean.
Do people think that'd be enough to survive if something cut off the land route to India?
[2] The Stoic Buddhists have an… odd view of Bodisvhattas, often viewing them as men and women who are “prefect and truly wise”. They show compassion towards their fellow men by teaching them how to live a proper life, so that they may avoid the trap of reincarnation.
Five talents to whoever guesses who the first Bodisvhatta of the Stoic Buddhists is.
[3] The Po.
[4] Well, this is true for the Theravada Buddhists, anyway. The Mahayana were generally vegetarians.