"Greek Buddha: Early Buddhism in Central Asia"

Christopher I. Beckwith, 2/28/17; Dhr. Seven, Pat Macpherson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Greek Buddha: Pyrrho's Encounter...in Central Asia

Greek Buddha: Pyrrho's Encounter with Early Buddhism in Central Asia explores Buddhism in Afghanistan, Gandhara, Central Asia.

It's about a Greek philosopher's encounters with Buddhism in Central Asia, which influenced Western philosophy. Pyrrho of Elis went with Alexander the Great to Central Asia and further east to India during the Greek invasion and conquest of the Persian Empire in 334–324 BCE.

There he met with early Buddhist masters. Greek Buddha shows how their Early Buddhism shaped the philosophy of Pyrrho, the famous founder of Pyrrhonian skepticism in ancient Greece.

Author Christopher I. Beckwith traces the origins of a major tradition in Western philosophy to ancient Gandhara (Bactria, modern Afghanistan/Pakistan), a country in Central Asia and the northwestern frontier of India.

• Questions of the Greek King Menander: Milinda Panha

The Buddha in Greco-Buddhist art of ancient Gandhara

He systematically examines the teachings and practices of Pyrrho and of Early Buddhism, including those preserved in testimonies by and about Pyrrho, in the report on Indian philosophy two decades later by the Seleucid ambassador Megasthenes, in the first-person edicts by the Indian King Devanampriya Priyadarsi, referring to a popular variety of the Dharma in the early 3rd century BCE, and in Taoist echoes of Siddhartha or Shakyamuni (Scythia-Muni), Gautama Buddha's Dharma in Warring States China.

Beckwith demonstrates how the teachings of Pyrrho agree closely with those of the Buddha Shakyamuni, "The Scythian Sage."

In the process he identifies eight distinct philosophical schools in ancient northwestern India and Central Asia, including Early Zoroastrianism, Early Brahmanism, and several forms of Early Buddhism.

He then shows the influence that Pyrrho's brand of skepticism had on the evolution of Western thought, first in antiquity, and later, during the Enlightenment, on the great philosopher and self-proclaimed Pyrrhonian David Hume.

Greek Buddha demonstrates that through Pyrrho, Early Buddhist thought had a major impact on Western philosophy. More

• Dr. Pal was right: The Buddha grew up in Bamiyan
• The Shakyians were called Scythians by ancient Greeks