Where was the Buddha born? (letter)

Maya, Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Ashley Wells, Seth Auberon, and CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly; Ranajit Pal (ranajitpal.com, lumkap.org.uk); Ajahn Brahm (video); E.P. Vining

The first human representations of the Buddha in Gandhara (Buddhaskulptur.de)

Birth of the Buddha-to-be (the Bodhisattva) Prince Siddhartha, Peshawar, Gandhara.

.

Devas, Buddha, Maya Devi, maid, Lumbini

In response to our exploration of who the Buddha's family was and where they came from on the post Shakyans were Scythians (Greco-Buddhist art), Ritesh Kumar Gupt writes in to explain the common view propagated by India with the help of its Muslim neighbors:

"Don't confuse Shakyans with Shakas. Shakyans were a very ancient kshatriya [warrior-caste] community of India (around 6th century BC) who lived in Tarai region of Nepal while Scythians came in a very later phase and got settled in Western India."

Gandhara-style (gatesofvienna)

Thank you, Gupt, but this is exactly our point. We refer you to the work of Dr. Ranajit Pal (ranajitpal.com) to explain that the Shakyas (Shakas, Sakkas, Sakyas, Sakkas, Sakas) were NOT from Nepal and that the Terai has very little Buddhist history (see below).

On the other hand, to the west -- as far as modern Iran down to Seistan Baluchistan province, where the modern Muslim countries of Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran converge -- there is a concealed history of Buddhism.

Afghan and Chinese Buddhist in America?

That history extends far to the north having traveled their from Afghanistan -- as far to the northwest as Ukraine and Kalmykia (Europe), north to Siberia (Russia), northeast to Mongolia, east to China.

Afghan Buddhist missionaries even made it to America, an astounding fact people cannot get their heads around. (See Edward P. Vining's An Inglorious Columbus from 1885). But this is how it was.

(PPH) Part I: Ven. Brahm on little known history of Buddhism west of India

Gandhara texts (gardendigest.com)

The Buddha's disciples and message made it to the Middle East and Europe and influenced the development of Coptic Christianity and the Vatican form (e.g., see Ajahn Brahm on early Buddhism in India, ancient Greece, and ancient Egypt, the Therapeutae and Part II on the tie in to Buddhism's direct influence on Jesus in Egypt and India). But all of this is unknown history outside of the world of scholars, except that it can be seen as implicit in the texts and be pieced together. This is what we are doing at Wisdom Quarterly. We are not presenting standard history twisted to India's advantage, ignoring the contributions of what is now the Muslim world. We are revealing it.

Part III: Ajhan Brahm (Pagoda Phat Hue/Buddhasweg.eu) on the Christian Father Origen,

whose teacher was Munias Sakka (the Muni, Sage, of the Sakka, the Shayas = Shakyamuni)

Buddha from Central Asia

Muslim countries do not want it known, and India by default gets credit it does not deserve. It did not create the Buddha. The Buddha was not from "India," as there was no "India" at the time, and more than that, he came from far to the west of anything that could really be called "India." This is what the mounting evidence shows us.

He was a foreigner, a prince, likely a Scythian (a word Greeks and others used to describe the nomadic tribes of Central Asia).

Afghan Indo-Pakistan (thaimangoes)

But ancient archeology is surfacing to show the truth. Indeed, Indo-Scythia may have eventually come to include Nepal's Terai and the Indian state of Bihar, where the ascetic Siddhartha traveled and found enlightenment in an area now known as Bodh[i] Gaya, "Enlightenment Grove."

Gupt, here is a small excerpt from Dr. Pal's maverick research and attempt to reveal real Buddhist history distorted by fraud and political considerations. Our goal, like his, is to get to the truth, to a story that makes sense, to reveal the unknown.
 

New Vistas in Early History of Buddhism

RanajitPal.com lightly edited by Wisdom Quarterly

Non-Jonesian Indology (amazon)

Buddhism literally throbs with the history and geography of India. The relics from Sanchi, Ajanta, Bharhut, Amaravati, Gandhara, Thotlakonda, and Mathura link India with early Buddhism. The Indian tradition of tolerance and moderation goes beyond 6th century B.C., and primitive Buddhism can be traced in the Harappan era, but Buddhist history is a queer mix of facts and fiction that baffles the discerning reader.

The poet Goethe wrote: "Wer den Dichter will verstehen. Muss in Dichters Lande gehen." "If you want to understand a poet, you must go to the poet's land." Indeed, in order to understand Gautama Buddha one has to go to his true land which was Afghanistan not Nepal.

The startling recent discovery of a 6th century B.C. Buddhist site at Mes Aynak in Logar province of Afghanistan, 35 km south-east of Kabul has dramatic repercussions on Buddhist history. Mes Aynak is one of the greatest Buddhist sites in the world.

 

[Great unearthed stupa (Buddhist reliquary mound) at Mes Aynak, Afghanistan.]

.

The Dreadful Nepalese Forgeries

Nepal is a beautiful country [under direct Indian influence], but Gautama Buddha of Nepal is a nauseating fraud.

Nothing in the art, archaeology, history, or literature of early Nepal has the faintest hint of Buddhism. 

 

Jonesian scholars such as R. Thapar and A.K. Narain affirm that Gotama [the Pali spelling of the Sanskrit Gautama] was from the Nepal area, but this is denied by archaeology. C. Humphreys points to the stark ground reality:

"The Lumbini gardens, where Gotama was born, lie in the difficult Nepal Terai, and Kusinara, where the Buddha passed away, has little to show."

In contrast to gullible historians such as A.K. Narain, the renowned Belgian scholar E. Conze also flatly dismisses the fanciful text-based accounts:

"To the modern historian, Buddhism is a phenomenon which must exasperate [one] at every point and we can only say in extenuation that this religion was not founded for the benefit of the historians. Not only is there an almost complete absence of hard facts about its history in India; not only is the date, authorship and geographical provenance of the overwhelming majority of the documents almost entirely unknown...."

The way out of the chaos is shown by the British scholar T.A. Phelps, whose painstaking study has exposed the dreadful forgeries of A. Führer, who moved pillars and faked inscriptions and relics to falsely locate Lumbini [the garden park where Prince Siddhartha, the Buddha-to-be, was born].

Nepal has no ancient Buddhist relics. Vincent Smith vehemently protested against the fabrications of Dr. Führer. Gotama was a prince, but after he was abandoned in the wilderness of the Terai [Nepal] by the rogue Führer, his history went to pieces.

...................

Indo-Scythian Buddha in the art of ancient Afghanistan and Pakistan (Gandhara).

Look, you can tell he's Indian!

Of course, Gupt, you may not care about these details like Dr. Pal, but we do because we're Westerners with Western historical roots. Nonetheless, we hope you care as much about the truth as we and Dr. Pal do wherever the chips may fall or whoever gets upset.

There is no topic we cover that so disturbs Nepalis and Indians as this one. Yet, no one sends us complaint letters with an opposing Muslim or Sufi (mystical Islam) position. On the contrary, people from Afghanistan (site of Kapilavastu, one of the three Shakyan capitals where the Buddha-to-be grew up) and Pakistan (site of the once glorious Indus Valley Civilization) want to know the history of their land even if the politicians do not want it known.

Finally, Gupt we ask you to read Non-Jonesian Indology and Alexander on the real origins of the Buddha by Dr. Ranajit Pal, which concerns the history of India. It offers a new perspective on the subject of how Buddhism arose. It is a must read for those interested in Buddhism, the history of Nepal, India, German and British Colonial historians, and Alexander the Great. Or there's something to read right now that will clear this matter up instantly: 

Lumbini on Trial: The Untold Story

Lumkap.org.uk

The present location of Lumbini (the site of the Buddha’s birth) in Nepal is a colossal fraud that began in 1896 and has been carefully fostered ever since. The details of its discovery disclose a sorry tale of deception and intrigue told here for the first time.
1. Introduction

2. Fuhrer’s Early Years
3. The Nigliva Discovery 
4. The Lumbini Discovery 
5. The Lumbini Pillar Inscription 
6. The Location of The Lumbini Pillar 
7. The Mayadevi Temple 
8. The Piprahwa Discoveries 
9. Tilaurakot 
10. The Kapilavastu of the Chinese Pilgrims 
11. Will the Real Kapilavastu Please Stand Up?
12. Lumbini 
13. The Rama Stupa 
14. From Rama to Kusinara 
15. Kusinara
16. Postcript17. References
18. Illustrations
  

(Wiki) Bonshō are large bells found in Buddhist temples throughout Japan, used to summon the monks to prayer and to demarcate periods of time. Rather than containing a clapper, bonshō (example at Ryōan-ji pictured) are struck from the outside, using either a hand-held mallet or a beam suspended on ropes. The bells are usually made from bronze, typically augmented and ornamented with bosses, raised bands, and inscriptions. The earliest appearance of these bells in Japan dates to around 600 CE, although the general design is of much earlier Chinese origin. Their penetrating and pervasive tone carries over considerable distances, which led to their use as signals, timekeepers, and alarms. The sound is thought to have supernatural properties; it is believed, for example, that it can be heard in the underworld. Their spiritual significance means that they play an important role in Buddhist ceremonies, particularly the New Year and Bon festivals. Throughout Japanese history a number of these bells have become associated with stories and legends, both fictional, such as the Benkei Bell of Mii-dera, and historical, such as the bell of Hōkō-ji. In modern times, bonshō have become symbols of world peace. (Full article...)

Who were the Shakyans? (Pali canon)

G.P. Malalasekera (palikanon.com); Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

The Buddha, Afghanistan, Indo-Greco Gandhara art, Bactria (Boonlieng/flickr.com)

The Buddha's final nirvana, Scythian-Gandhara art, stone relief (wiki)

The Buddha's family, the Shakyas, were the Sakkas of Sakastan, the Indo-Scythians of Central Asia, the Sakae of the north. His family was a successful tribe around Afghanistan (WQ).

.

Maitreya will be a Scythian

The Shakyas were a [Scythian] tribe in to the north and west of India, to which the Buddha belonged.

[One of] their capital[s] was Kapilavatthu [along the Himalayan foothills, not under Everest in Nepal but to the west in the Hindu Kush, closer to K2. In ancient times, the entire range was referred to as the Himavanta.]

Mention is also made of other Sākyan [Scythian] settlements, for example, Cātumā, Khomadussa, Sāmagāma, Devadaha, Sīlavatī, Nagaraka, Medatalumpa, Sakkhara, and Ulumpa. Within the Shākyan tribe there were probably several clans (gottā).

The Buddha himself belonged to the Gautama-gotta. It has been suggested (e.g., Thomas, op. cit., 22) that this was a Brahmin clan, claiming descent from the ancient isi Gautama. The evidence for this suggestion is, however, very meager. Nowhere do we find the Shākyans calling themselves Brahmins.

Buddha, Gandhara (Durham Museum)

On the other hand, we find various clans claiming a share of the Buddha's relics on the grounds that they, like the Buddha, were khattiyas, Sanskrit kshatriyas, "warrior" caste nobles (DN.ii.165).

It is stated that the Shākyans [wild Scythians] were a haughty [proud, rougher, more barbaric and insolent compared to the cosmopolitan] people [to the east living less nomadic lives] (Vin.ii.183; D.i.90; J.i.88; DhA.iii.163).

Hiouen Thsang, however, found them obliging and gentle in manners (Beal, op. cit., ii.14).

  

Shakyans were rich: gold Bimaran Casket for the Buddha's relics (British Museum/wiki)

 
When their former Prince Siddhartha, now "the Buddha" after his enlightenment, first visited them, they refused to honor him on account of his youth (35). The Buddha then performed a marvel and taught them the Vessantara Jātaka, and thereby subdued their pride.

They were evidently fond of sports -- as continues to be the case in Central Asia, which delights in archery and equestrian skills. Mention is made of a special school of archery conducted by a Shākyan [Scythian] family called Vedhaññā (D.iii.117; DA.iii.905). When Prince Siddhartha Gautama was ready to marry at 16, no fellow Shākyan [Scythian] family, tribe, or clan would consent until he demonstrated his proficiency in sport (J.i.58).

Greco-Bactrian Kingdom map of "India," ancient empires of Asia 200 BCE (wiki)

  

The Shākyans evidently had no king. Theirs was a republican form of government -- as miraculously continues to this day in traditional Afghan culture (being an amalgamation of post-Scythian tribes like the Hazara, Pashtun, Tajik, Uzbek, Kazakh, and other Central Asians -- probably with a leader, elected from time to time at what we would today call a "grand assembly" (Afghan loya jirga).

 

Ven. Nagasena, King Menander I, Bactria

The Buddha's father, "King" Suddhodana, say with a capital at Bamiyan and elsewhere (Kabul, Mes Aynak), would have been just such a tribal elder or chieftain.

The administration and judicial affairs of the clan (gotta) were discussed in their Santhāgāra, or Hall of Truth, at Kapilavatthu. (See, e.g., DN.i.91). The Shākyans had a similar Hall of Truth at Cātumā (MN.i.457). The Mallas of Kusinārā also had a santhāgāra (DN.ii.164) as did the Licchavis of Vesāli (Vin.i.233; M.i.228). All of the clans possessed their own territory (janapada), which grew and shrank with their warring and negotiations.

Modern loya jirga, Afghanistan (AP/BBC)

The Shākyans were very jealous of the purity of their race; they belonged to the ādicca-gotta (ādiccā nāma gottena, Sākiyā nāma jātiyā, SN. vs.423) and claimed descent from Okkāka...  More

• The ancient "Aryan" (Iranian) ruling tribes, who are hypothesized to have spoken Proto-Indo-Iranian, came down in intermittent waves from Central Asia and Afghanistan. They practiced a sort of jirga-system with two types of councils -- simite and sabhā. The simite (summit) comprised elders and tribal chiefs. The ruler (elected leader) also joined sessions of the simite. Sabhā was a sort of rural council. It was used over time for the selection of rulers and headmen and the airing of matters of principle. From the time of the great Kushan ruler Kanishka to the 1970s, there were sixteen national loya jirgas and hundreds of smaller ones. The institution, which is centuries old, is a similar idea to the Islamic "shura," or consultative assembly (BBC).

The Buddha was born in the Stans (video)

 Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Crystal Quintero, Wisdom Quarterly; Simon Reeve (BBC World)

Curly black hair, blue eyes, fair golden skin -- the Buddha's features are not uncommon in Central Asia, such as Afghanistan, Iran (Aryan-land), Gandhara, Scythia, Sakastan... (WQ)

Prince Siddhartha grew up, renounced, and traveled east to India (Sharon Cummings)

(BBC World/Simon Reeve) "Meet the Stans" Parts 1 and 2
.

Hazaras replaced Shakyas in Bamiyan

India did not have anthropomorphic representations of the Buddha or the many Vedic and Indus Valley Civilization "gods" (devas, brahmas) until Buddhists outside of India -- in Hellenized Afghanistan, Gandhara, and Central Asia (Bactria, Sogdia, Scythia up to the outskirts of Ukraine and a sizable portion of Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, etc.) -- made the first images.

This led to a flood of such representations with the Indian pantheon being represented as they never had before.

Islam is the only major religion to keep this restriction common to all world religions in force; no images of the prophet Mohammed are permissible.

Real Kapilavastu of "Shakya-stan"

We are shown ancient Buddha figures from the area and told, "Oh, look how quaint!" These are later fanciful creations influenced by the ancient Greek style, another people making the Buddha in their own likeness."

But the fact is that these statues, art called the Gandhara style, are the FIRST representations of the Buddha, not later syncretic creations. It is no coincidence that the largest Buddha statues in the world were built in Afghanistan of all places, not because "Buddhism eventually reached that far north."

 

Smaller Bamiyan Buddha, 1977 (wiki)

It was there from the beginning. The Shakyans knew their Great Hero, and he came back for them, and many Shakyans became not only Buddhists but monastics living in grand monastic complexes. Rather than honoring Prince Siddhartha as their future king (rightful heir to his father Suddhodana) or returning prince, he was honored as a great sage (muni), known to the world as Shakyamuni.
 

Indeed, Prince Siddhartha traveled east to India to meditate and find a teacher, a teaching, and enlightenment. And he chose India to set rolling the Dharma he rediscovered without a teacher seven years before returning to teach and inspire the Shakyan clan to join his wandering ascetic (shramana) spiritual movement. Why would the people of ancient Central Asia create such representations and massive stone figures before India?
 

It is because they were honoring their scion, their hometown hero, the Prince Siddhartha Gautama the Shakya (Sakka, Sakya). Where? The Land of the Shakyas, "Shakya-stan" or Sakkastan -- of which Kapilavastu was the capital city -- was in modern Afghanistan, Central Asia, possibly extending through other stans and a part of Pakistan/West Kashmir and the province of Badakhsan. There is no way it was in Nepal or India, which Dr. Pal reveals as an archeological "fraud" (ranajitpal.com).
 

"Meet the Stans"

Great Indus Valley Civilization

The 'stan suffix simply means country, independent nation, or semi-autonomous region. Some of them relevant to ancient Buddhism are (though most if not all are majority Muslim) are part of the former Russian empire, new and old countries once within the old USSR: the "stans." The British and Americans prevented Russian ambitions for the remaining and most important formerly-Buddhist lands: Afghanistan, Seistan-Baluchistan (between Iran, Pakistan, and Afgahnistan), according to maverick historian Dr. Ranajit Pal.
 

Indo-Greco Boddo/Buddha coin (as.miami.edu)

But also formerly Russian Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and so on according to Dr. Alexander Berzin (The Berzin Archives).
 

Wisdom Quarterly suggests that ancient Scythia or "Sakastan" was the actual country (janapada) the Buddha's family the Shakyans (Sakkas, see Sakka Sutra) controlled from their capital of Kapilavastu (somewhere in the vicinity of Bamiyan, Kabul, Mes Aynak) in modern Afghanistan. 
 

The information derived from the ancient Buddhist texts to paint a picture of the 16 major lands/stans, the Maha Janapadas, includes modern Afghanistan in the vicinity of Kamboja and Gandhara but extending much farther west than scholars dreamed. The "Aryan Invasion" theories, inspired by Europeans, are mistaken to think invaders came down from Europe when migrations and influence was coming from Iraq/Iranians, the original "Ariyans" and the stans. The Kambojas, for example, are described as a warrior (Eurasian nomadic) tribe from the west, just like the Shakyas can be categorized.
 

Buddhism existed in all these lands long before Islam existed anywhere in the world. Central Asia is a strange cultural crossroads of East and West, and the only indigenous Buddhist country in Europe is nearby Kalmykia.

"Meet the Stans"!

(BBC World/Simon Reeves) "Meet the Stans" Parts 2 and 3
 

The stans around Kazakhstan (OCHA)

Simon Reeve travels through Central Asia in this four-part BBC TV series, shown on BBC2, BBC World, and by broadcasters internationally.
 

The adventure took Simon from the far north-west of Kazakhstan, by the Russian border, east to the Chinese border, south through Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to the edge of Afghanistan, and west to Uzbekistan and the legendary Silk Road cities of Samarkand and Bukhara.
 

The Guardian said it was "a thrilling postcard from the edge." The Times said, "Simon Reeve's journey through Kazakhstan is a first-class Boys Own adventure on film and illuminating too. I can't imagine anyone switching off who stays for the first five minutes."
 

Massive Buddhist burial mound (stupa) reliquary the Buddha called for to use for buddhas and world-monarchs (chakravartins) to inspire and uplift people (chennaimuseum.org).

 
SIMON REEVE is an adventurer, TV presenter, and New York Times bestselling author with a passion for travel, current affairs, history, conservation, and the environment. He has been around the world three times for the BBC series Equator, Tropic of Capricorn, and Tropic of Cancer, and has travelled extensively in more than 100 countries. Simon's last journey around the Tropic of Cancer enthralled millions and was described by The Times of London as: "a real gem...Reeve is in a class of his own." Readers of a leading travel magazine voted it their favorite TV series. Simon, who is an ambassador for the nature conservation organization WWF, has been awarded a One World Broadcasting Trust award for an "outstanding contribution to greater world understanding." His books include Tropic of Capricorn (published by BBC Books), and The New Jackals: Ramzi Yousef, Osama bin Laden and the Future of Terrorism, which warned of a new age of apocalyptic terrorism and was the first in the world on bin Laden and al Qaeda. Originally published in 1998 it has been a New York Times bestseller. Simon has contributed to other studies into organized crime, terrorism, biological warfare, and political corruption. His book One Day in September: the Story of the 1972 Munich Olympics Massacre was published in 2000. The film of the same name, narrated by the actor Michael Douglas, won an Oscar for best feature documentary. More information on Reeve's journeys, and see more of Simon's films, at www.simonreeve.co.uk or at www.youtube.com/shootandscribble.

The First Images of the Buddha (photos)

Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly; Editorial (dawn.com, 6-27-14); Wiki

The first anthropomorphic representations of the Buddha were Gandhara art (Boonlieng)

Priceless Buddhist treasures were intercepted while being smuggled out of Pakistan, part of Pashtun Afghanistan, in the region of ancient Gandhara, India (BigStory.AP org)

  

[Breaking the] Fasting Buddha

Kashmir on the Pakistan side (Vivek Aryan)

(Dawn) Truly is it said, reality is stranger than fiction -- especially here in Pakistan. Since 1894, when it was donated upon being discovered, the Gandhara-era statue of the "Fasting Buddha" has been considered the jewel of the Lahore Museum.

Museum Maitreya Buddha

Images of it adorn postcards and newsreels, and proud [Muslim] citizens make it a point to take visitors to see it as an indication that whatever else the country may be, a cultural wasteland it is not.

This statue, priceless in terms of historical significance, has for a long time had a crack on the left arm. Investigations by this paper [dawn.com], upon receiving a tip-off, have confirmed an unbelievable story:

Back in April, 2012, the crack widened while being cleaned and the statue was given over to the museum laboratory’s tender ministrations. But instead of the scientific, delicate, and professional handling that an artifact of this stature demands, an attempt was made to fix it by applying the common adhesive epoxy, which remains [shockingly] evident on the statue’s surface and has caused irreparable harm.

Where in the world is Pakistan? It only came into existence in 1947 after the colonial British Partition of India. Along with Afghanistan, it was formerly Gandhara, India. Then the U.S. started meddling; now we bomb it secretly.

 

One of the priceless Afghan treasures of Mes Aynak

The trail of destruction isn’t hard to trace, given the standards at the moment: The current lab technician worked earlier as a driver and gallery attendant, while the lab "conservationist" used to be a peon.
 
What can be made of this but the utter disregard Pakistanis tend to show towards history and culture? This is hardly the only example of this mindset. It turns out that 2012 was an inauspicious year for Gandhara-era [Buddhist] artifacts. That summer, the police intercepted a large consignment of such relics that had apparently been about to be smuggled out of the country [see photo of looted Buddhist art above].

Gandhara is full of earliest Buddhist treasures

But during the recovery process, the police ended up damaging many of them, unprepared perhaps for their weight and certainly unmindful of their value. In the case of the Lahore Museum, the qualified chemist employed at the lab was retired in 2009. No replacement has been found. This is unsurprising, given the importance attached to archaeology and history in the country.

Afghan Buddhist monastery statue 700 AD (Greco-Buddhist art of Gandhara)

• The Greco-Indian art of ancient Gandhara:

First Buddhas, Gandhara

(Wiki) Greco-Buddhist art is the artistic manifestation of Greco-Buddhism, a cultural syncretism between the Classical Greek culture and Buddhism, which developed over a period of close to 1000 years in Central Asia, between the conquests of Alexander the Great in the 4th century BC, and the destructive Islamic conquests of the 7th century AD. Greco-Buddhist art is characterized by the strong idealistic realism and sensuous description of Hellenistic art and the FIRST representations of the Buddha in human form...

Future Buddha Maitreya, Gandhara-style, Greco-Indian Buddhist fusion art of Afghanistan, Pakistan, ancient India, San Francisco Asian Art Museum (Boonlieng/flickr.com)

 
Ancient Greece (in India and Persia)

Kushan Maitreya, Greco-India

Bactria was under direct Greek control for more than two centuries from the conquests of Alexander the Great in 332 BC to the end of the Greco-Bactrian kingdom around 125 BC. The art of Bactria was almost perfectly Hellenistic as shown by the archaeological remains of Greco-Bactrian cities such as Alexandria on the Oxus (Ai-Khanoum), or the numismatic art of the Greco-Bactrian kings, often considered as the best of the Hellenistic world, and including the largest silver and gold coins ever minted by the Greeks.
 
When Buddhism expanded in Central Asia from the 1st century AD, Bactria saw the results of the Greco-Buddhist syncretism arrive on its territory from India, and a new blend of sculptural representation remained until the Islamic invasions.
 
The most striking of these realizations are the Buddhas of Bamiyan. They tend to vary between the 5th and the 9th century AD. Their style is strongly inspired by Hellenistic culture. More

Western China

"Heroic gesture of the Bodhisattva," the Buddha-to-be, 6th-7th century terracotta, Tumshuq (Xinjiang) where the Chinese empire extended from the Far East into Central Asia, the Land of Buddhism and the Buddha (wiki).

 

[WISDOM QUARTERLY EDITORIAL: Buddhism made it to ancient "Greece," the Hellenistic world as a vast empire encroaching into India and Persia, before it ever arrived in China. It co-originated in Afghanistan (the Buddha's likely birthplace according to Dr. Ranajit Pal) and "India" (the Kingdom of Magadha to be specific as there was no unified India at that time), where the Buddha had traveled to establish the Teaching and the first monastic Community, which was soon augmented by many Shakyan princes and princesses, relatives of the Buddha from the area of Gandhara, Afghanistan, Indo-Pakistan, Taxila (Takkashila), Indo-Iran, and lands (the modern "stans") likely under the influence of the capital of Kapilavastu, the Buddha's hometown, the kingdom he would have inherited somewhere between modern Bamiyan and Kabul, once a fabulously rich and cosmopolitan crossroads on the Silk Route.]

• BUST: The original representation of the Buddha in gray schist, currently dated to 2nd-3rd century CE showing Hellenistic influences characteristic of the Gandhara art of Afghanistan and Northwest Pakistan (British Museum/Britannica.com)

Maitreya in USA (Boonlieng)

The art of the Tarim Basin, also called Serindian art, is the art that developed from the 2nd through the 11th century AD in Serindia or Xinjiang, the extreme western region of China that forms part of Central Asia. It derives from the art of the Gandhara and clearly combines Indian traditions with Greek and Roman influences.
 
Buddhist missionaries travelling on the Silk Road introduced this art, along with Buddhism itself, into Serindia, where it mixed with Chinese and Persian influences.

• A military operation in North Waziristan, Pakistan, kills more than 300 militants
• Militants capture Iraq's largest oil refinery and the country's border crossings with Jordan and Syria
• The last of Syria's declared chemical weapons are shipped out for destruction
• Felipe VI becomes the King of Spain
• Cyclone Joy led gov't of Queensland, Australia