Did the Buddha exist? (City of Dhamma)

Isaline B. Horner (trans.), Milindapanha or "Questions of King Milinda" from The Blessed One’s City of Dhamma (Buddhist Publication Society); Dhr. Seven, Ven. Aloka (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

In the Greek king's court, Bactria (NW India)

King Milinda [ancient Greek King Menander I] approached Venerable Nagasena, greeted him, and sat down at a respectful distance.

King Milinda, anxious to know, hear, remember, see the light of knowledge, break down the lack of knowledge, to find the light of knowledge, to expel the darkness of ignorance, aroused extreme steadfastness and zeal and mindfulness and clear comprehension, and spoke to Ven. Nagasena:

“Revered Nagasena, have you ever seen the Buddha?”

“No, sire.”

“But have your teachers ever seen the Buddha?”

“No, sire.”

“Revered Nagasena, if you have never seen the Buddha, and if your teachers have never seen the Buddha, well then, revered Nagasena, there is no Buddha; the Buddha is not manifested here.”

“But, sire, did those former noble warriors exist who were the forerunners of your noble warrior dynasty?”

“Yes, revered sir; what doubt is there?”

“Have you, sire, ever seen the former noble warriors?”

“No, revered sir.”

“But have those who have instructed you, sire — priests, generals, judges, chief councilors — have these ever seen the former noble warriors?”

Translator Isaline B. Horner

“No, revered sir.”

“But if you, sire, have not seen the former noble warriors and if your instructors have not seen the former noble warriors, where are the former noble warriors?”

“Revered Nagasena, articles of use enjoyed by the former noble warriors are to be seen, that is to say, the white sunshade, the turban, the shoes, the yak-tail fan, the treasure of the sword of state, and the couches of great price. By these we can know and can believe that the former noble warriors existed.”

“Even so, sire, we may also know and believe in this Blessed One. There is this reason according to which we may know and believe that there was this Blessed One. What is the reason? There are, sire, articles of use enjoyed by that Blessed One who knows and sees, the Arhat, the Perfectly Enlightened One, that is to say, the [37 Requisites of Enlightenment]:

1. Four Foundations of Mindfulness
2. Four Right Efforts
3. Four Bases of Psychic Power
4. Five Spiritual Faculties
5. Five Powers
6. Seven Factors of Enlightenment
7. Noble Eightfold Path [1].

By these the world with its devas knows and believes that there was this Blessed One. For this reason, sire, for this cause, because of this methodical reasoning, because of this inference it should be known that there was this Blessed One.”

“Revered Nagasena, make a simile.”

The Blessed One, Gandhara, Central Asia

“As sire, a city-architect, when he wants to build a city, first looks about for a district that is level, not elevated, not low-lying, free from gravel and stone, secure, irreproachable and delightful, and then when he has made level there what was not level and has had it cleared of stumps of trees and thorns, he might build a city there. It would be fine and regular, well planned, the moats and encircling walls dug deep, the city gates, the watch-towers and the ramparts strong, the crossroads, squares, junctions and the places where three or four roads meet numerous, the main-roads clean, level and even, the bazaar shops well laid out, the city full of parks, pleasances, lakes, lotus pools and wells, adorned with a wide variety of shrines to devas, the whole free from defects. When that city was fully developed, he might go away to another district. Then after a time that city might become rich and prosperous, well stocked with food, secure, successful, happy, without adversity, without accident, crowded with all kinds of people. When these people had seen the city, new, well laid out, without a defect, irreproachable, delightful, they would know by inference: ‘Clever indeed is that city-architect who was the builder of the city.’

“Even so, sire, that Blessed One is without an equal, equal to the unequaled, equal to the matchless ones, unique, incomparable, boundless, immeasurable, of unmeasured special qualities, attained to perfection in special qualities, of infinite steadfastness, infinite incandescence, infinite energy, infinite power, gone to perfection in the powers of a Buddha; having overthrown Mara and his army, burst asunder the net of false views, made ignorance to be cast out and knowledge arise, borne aloft the torch of Dharma; and having attained omniscience, unvanquished and victorious in the battle, he built the City of Dharma.

“In the Blessed One’s City of Dharma the encircling walls are virtue, the moats are conscience, the ramparts over the city gates are knowledge, the watch-towers are energy, the pillars are confidence (conviction), the doorkeepers are mindfulness, the cross roads are the sutras, the places where three or four roads meet is the Higher Doctrine (Abhidhamma), the law-court is the Monastic Discipline (Vinaya), the streetway is the foundations of mindfulness. And in that streetway of the foundations of mindfulness such shops as these are offering goods for sale, that is to say, a flower shop, a perfume shop, a fruit shop, an antidote shop, a medicine shop, a nectar shop, a jewel shop, and a general shop.”

“Revered Nagasena, what is the flower shop of the Buddha, the Blessed One?”

Ancient Buddhist Scrolls from Gandhara (Salomon)

“There are, sire, certain kinds of objective supports for meditation that have been pointed out by that Blessed One who knows and sees, the Arhat, the Perfectly Enlightened One, that is to say, the perception of impermanence, the perception of non-self [the impersonal nature of all things], the perception of the foul, the perception of peril, the perception of abandonment, the perception of dispassion, the perception of cessation, the perception of not delighting in anything in the world, the perception of the impermanence of all formations, mindfulness of breathing; the [sobering] perception of a swollen corpse, the perception of a discolored corpse, the perception of a decomposing corpse, the perception of an oozing corpse, the perception of a corpse gnawed by animals, the perception of a corpse with bones scattered, the perception of a corpse hacked up and scattered, the perception of a corpse still bleeding, the perception of a worm-infested corpse, the perception of a skeleton; the perception of loving-kindness, the perception of compassion, the perception of sympathetic joy, the perception of equanimity; mindfulness of death; mindfulness occupied with the body [2].

“Whoever is anxious to get free from old age and death chooses one of these objective supports for meditation and, with this objective support for meditation, one is freed from lust, freed from hatred, freed from delusion, freed from pride, freed from wrong views; one crosses over samsara [the endless round of rebirth], stems the stream of craving, cleanses away the threefold stain; and when one has abandoned all the defilements and has entered the City of Nirvana that is stainless, dustless, pure, fair, birthless, ageless, deathless, blissful, cooled, and without fear, one sets free one's mind in arhatship [full enlightenment]. This sire, is called the Blessed One’s flower shop.”

“Revered Nagasena, what is the perfume shop of the Buddha, the Blessed One?”

“There are, sire, certain kinds of virtue that have been pointed out by that Blessed One. Anointed with the perfume of this virtue, the Blessed One’s offspring make fragrant and pervade the world with the devas with the perfume of virtue, and they breathe it forth and fill the quarters and the intermediate points and the following winds and the head-winds with it, and when they have suffused the world, they stand firm. And what, sire, are these various kinds of virtue? The morality of going for guidance (sarana), the Five Precepts, the Eight Precepts, and the Ten Precepts, the morality of restraint by the Path to Freedom (Patimokkha) as included in the Five Recitations [3]. This, sire, is called the Blessed One’s perfume shop.”

“Revered Nagasena, what is the fruit shop of the Buddha, the Blessed One?”

“Fruits, sire, have been pointed out by the Blessed One, that is to say, the fruit of stream-entry, the fruit of once-returning, the fruit of nonreturning, the fruit of arhatship, the attainment of the fruit of emptiness, the attainment of the fruit of the signless, the attainment of the fruit of the undirected [4]. Whatever fruit anyone wishes for, one, giving the price of the transaction, buys the fruit one prefers.”

“Revered Nagasena, what is the antidote shop of the Buddha, the Blessed One?”

“Antidotes, sire, have been pointed out by the Blessed One. By means of these antidotes the Blessed One sets free the world with the devas from the poison of the defilements. And what are these antidotes? These Four Noble Truths have been pointed out by the Blessed One, sire, that is to say, the

1. noble truth of suffering [disappointment, unsatisfactoriness],
2. the noble truth of the arising of suffering,
3. the noble truth of the cessation of suffering,
4. the noble truth of the way leading to the cessation of suffering.

Those who therein are longing for profound knowledge and hear the Dharma of the Four [Ennobling] Truths, they are set free from rebirth, aging, and death, from sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief, and despair. This sire, is called the Blessed One’s antidote shop.”

“Revered Nagasena, what is the medicine shop of the Buddha, the Blessed One?”

“Medicines, sire, have been pointed out by the Blessed One. By means of these medicines the Blessed One cures devas and humans, that is to say, the

• Four Foundations of Mindfulness
• Four Right Efforts
• Four Bases of Psychic Power
• Five Spiritual Faculties
• Five Powers
• Seven Factors of Enlightenment
• Noble Eightfold Path.

By means of these medicines the Blessed One purges people of wrong views, of wrong aspiration, of wrong speech, of wrong action, of wrong mode of livelihood, of wrong endeavor, of wrong mindfulness, and of wrong concentration; he has an emetic given for the vomiting up of lust, hatred, delusion, pride, false view, doubt, agitation, lethargy and drowsiness, shamelessness and lack of fear of wrongdoing; he has an emetic for the vomiting up of all the defilements. This, sire, is called the Blessed One’s medicine shop.”

“Revered Nagasena, what is the nectar shop of the Buddha, the Blessed One?” More

The Path to Enlightenment (sutra)

Isaline B. Horner (trans. and see also Olendzki), "A Question (Solved by) Inference" (excerpt) (Milinda Panha 5) edited by Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Crystal Quintero, Wisdom Quarterly

Two Buddhist novices revere the Buddha with candles, Burma (Notjustnut/flickr).

.

King Milinda on ancient Greek coin

Then [the ancient Greek] King Milinda [the Pali name of history's King Menander I] approached the Buddhist sage Venerable Nagasena [from Kashmir], greeted him, and sat down at a respectful distance.

King Milinda, anxious to know, anxious to hear, anxious to remember, anxious to see the light of knowledge, anxious to break down the lack of knowledge, anxious to find the light of knowledge, anxious to expel the darkness of ignorance, aroused extreme steadfastness and zeal and mindfulness and clear comprehension, then spoke thus to Ven. Nagasena:

"Revered Nagasena, have you ever seen the Buddha?"

"No, sire."

"But have your teachers ever seen the Buddha?"

"No, sire."

"Revered Nagasena, if you have never seen the Buddha, and if your teachers have never seen the Buddha then, revered Nagasena, there is no Buddha; the Buddha is not manifested here."

"But, sire, did those former noble warriors [members of the kshatriya caste] exist who were the forerunners of your noble warrior dynasty?"

 

"Yes, revered sir. What doubt is there?"

 

"Have you, sire, ever seen the former noble warriors?"

"No, revered sir."

"But have those who have instructed you, sire -- chaplains [Brahmin priests], generals, judges, chief counselors -- have these ever seen the former noble warriors?"

"No, revered sir."

"But if you, sire, have not seen the former noble warriors and if your instructors have not seen the former noble warriors, where are the former noble warriors?"

 

"Revered Nagasena, articles of use enjoyed by the former noble warriors are to be seen, such as the white sunshade, the turban, the shoes, the yak-tail fan, the treasure of the sword of state, and the couches of great price. By these we can know and can believe that the former noble warriors existed."

 

"Even so, sire, we may also know and believe in this Blessed One. There is this reason according to which we may know and believe that there was this Blessed One. What is the reason?

"There are, sire, articles of use enjoyed by that Blessed One who knows and sees, the Arhat, the Supremely Enlightened One, which is to say [the 37 Requisites of Enlightenment]:

1. the Four Foundations of Mindfulness
2. the Four Right Efforts
3. the Four Bases of Psychic Power
4. the Five Spiritual Faculties
5. the Five Powers
6. the Seven Factors of Enlightenment
7. the Noble Eightfold Path.

"By these the world with its devas knows and believes that there was this Blessed One. For this reason, sire, for this cause, because of this method, because of this inference it should be known that there was this Blessed One."

"Revered Nagasena, make a simile."

Greek King Milinda (Menander I) meets with Buddhist monks to ask questions (W)

.

"As sire, a city-architect, when he wants to build a city, first looks about for a district that is level, not elevated, not low-lying, free from gravel and stone, secure, irreproachable and delightful, and then when he has made level there what was not level and has had it cleared of stumps of trees and thorns, he might build a city there.

"It would be fine and regular, well planned, the moats and encircling walls dug deep, the city gates, the watch-towers and the ramparts strong, the crossroads, squares, junctions and the places where three or four roads meet numerous, the main-roads clean, level and even, the bazaar shops well laid out, the city full of parks, gardens, lakes, lotus pools and wells, adorned with a wide variety of shrines to devas, the whole free from defects.

"When that city was fully developed, he might go away to another district. Then after a time that city might become rich and prosperous, well stocked with food, secure, successful, happy, without adversity, without accident, crowded with all kinds of people. When these people had seen the city, new, well laid out, without a defect, irreproachable, delightful, they would know by inference: 'Clever indeed is that city-architect who was the builder of the city.'

 

"Even so, sire, that Blessed One is without equal, equal to the unequaled, equal to the matchless ones, unique, incomparable, boundless, immeasurable, of unmeasured special qualities, attained to perfection in special qualities, of infinite steadfastness, infinite incandescence, infinite energy, infinite power, gone to perfection in the powers of a buddha; having overthrown Mara and his army, burst asunder the net of false views, made ignorance to be cast out and knowledge arise, borne aloft the torch of Dharma; and having attained omniscience, unvanquished and victorious in the battle, he built the City of Dharma.

 

The Buddha's teachings are very interesting and deep (Anek Suwannaphoom/flickr).

.

"In the Blessed One's City of Dharma the encircling walls are morality, the moats are conscience, the ramparts over the city gates are knowledge, the watch-towers are energy, the pillars are confidence (faith), the door-keepers are mindfulness, the crossroads are the sutras, the places where three or four roads meet is the 'Higher Doctrine' (Abhidharma), the law court is the "Code of Monastic Discipline" (Vinaya), the streetway is the foundation of mindfulness.

"And in that streetway of the [Four] Foundations of Mindfulness such shops as these are offering goods for sale:

• a flower shop
• a perfume shop
• a fruit shop
• an antidote shop
• a medicine shop
• a nectar shop
• a jewel shop
• a general shop."

"Revered Nagasena, what is the flower shop of the Buddha, the Blessed One?"

 

"There are, sire, certain kinds of objective supports for meditation that have been pointed out by that Blessed One who knows and sees, the Arhat, the Supremely Enlightened One:

"[There is] the perception of impermanence, the perception of non-self, the perception of the foul, the perception of peril, the perception of abandonment, the perception of dispassion, the perception of cessation, the perception of not delighting in anything in the world, the perception of the impermanence of all formations, mindfulness of breathing;

"[Furthermore, for the sake of liberating one from conceit and clinging to the body] the perception of a swollen corpse, the perception of a discolored corpse, the perception of a decomposing corpse, the perception of a fissured corpse, the perception of a corpse gnawed by animals, the perception of a corpse with bones scattered, the perception of a corpse hacked up and scattered, the perception of a corpse still bleeding, the perception of a worm-infested corpse, the perception of a skeleton;

"[Furthermore, for the sake of emancipating one from all limits] the perception of loving-kindness, the perception of compassion, the perception of sympathetic joy, the perception of equanimity;

"Furthermore, for the sake of freeing one from attachment to this illusion of safety and security in our present state] mindfulness of death; mindfulness regarding the body.

• It is interesting to note that no attempt is made here to drag in the systematized Theravada schema of the 40 meditation subjects (used in the Path of Purification or Visuddhi-Magga and the Commentaries).

Intro to Buddhism (Shalu Sharma)

"Whoever is anxious to gain freedom from old age and death chooses one of these objective supports for meditation and, with this objective support for meditation, one is freed from lust, freed from hatred, freed from delusion, freed from pride, freed from false views.

"One crosses over the Wheel of Life and Death (samsara, which is often compared to a perilous sea or flood), stems the stream of craving, cleanses away the threefold stain; and when one has abandoned all defilements and has entered the City of Nirvana that is stainless, dustless, pure, fair, birthless, ageless, deathless, blissful, cooled, and without fear, one sets free one's mind in enlightenment (arhatship). This sire, is called the Blessed One's flower shop."

 

"Revered Nagasena, what is the perfume shop of the Buddha, the Blessed One?" More

The Buddha, The Vegan, and You: Part 1: Meat, Myself and Irony

The author, a student and practitioner of Buddhism for 19 years, shares how he changed his eating habits, improved his health, and lost weight by using various meditation practices. These meditation techniques, in conjunction with research, helped him to curb cravings and attachment to SAD, the “standard American diet.” What's it was like going from a heavy intake of animal products to a vegan diet? This book explores the role of eating meat, dairy, fish, and eggs in relation to the Five Precepts on ethical behavior as well as myths and stories non-vegan and non-vegetarian Buddhists tell themselves sanctioning them to eat as they always have.

The World Rulers (Buddhist "chakravartins")

Seth Auberon, Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly; G.P. Malalasekera; John Kelly

Asia 200 BC showing outlines of "great footholds of clans" (maha-janapadas) and empires (consolidated lands), like the Greco-Bactria Kingdom in Indo-Greek Afghan Gandhara.

Afghan (Gandharan) Buddhist monks with Greek King Menander (Milinda), Bactria (WHP)

 

Chakra at center of Indian flag

The special name given in Buddhist texts to a world ruler or monarch is cakka-vatti. It means "Turner of the Wheel," the Wheel (cakka, chakra) being the well known Indian symbol of empire. 

More than 1,000 sons are his; his dominions extend throughout the Earth to its ocean bounds (sāgarapariyantam) [a reference either to space and the planet in the Milky Way ocean or to the subcontinent of India bounded by seas]; and [the ruler's empire] is established not by the scourge nor by the sword, but by righteousness...

 

...When the world monarch is about to die, the Wheel slips down from its place and sinks down slightly. When the king sees this he leaves the household life, and retires into homelessness, to taste the joys of contemplation [meditation], having handed over the kingdom to his eldest son. At the king's death, the Elephant, the Horse and the Gem return to where they came from, the Woman loses her beauty, the Treasurer his divine vision, and the Adviser his efficiency (DA.ii.635).

 

Golden Buddha (Boddo) coin (miami.edu)

The world monarchs (cakka-vattis) are rare in the world, born in ages/aeons (kalpas) in which buddhas do not arise (SA.iii.131).

The Cakkavattisīhanāda Sutta gives the names of seven who succeeded one another. In the case of each of them, the Wheel (cakka, chakra) disappeared. But when his successor practiced the noble (ariyan) duty of a world monarch, honoring the Dharma and following it to perfection, the Wheel reappeared.

In the case of the seventh, his virtues gradually disappeared through forgetfulness; crime spread among his subjects, and the Wheel vanished forever. More

King Milinda questions Ven. Nagasena

John Kelly (trans.) Milindapañha or "Questions of King Milinda" (excerpts)

The metallic Milinda/Menander I coin

The Milinda-pañha, the 18th book of the Khuddaka Nikaya (Burmese version of the Pali canon), consists of seven parts (see further on).

The conclusion states that it contains 262 questions, but the editions available today only contain 236. Although not included as a canonical text in the traditions of all the Theravada countries, this work is much revered throughout and is one of the most popular and authoritative Buddhist works in Pali [a uniquely Buddhist language very similar to Sanskrit].
 
Composed around the beginning of the common era and of unknown authorship, it is set up as a compilation of questions posed by King Milinda [Greek King Menander I] to a revered senior monk named Ven. Nagasena.

Nagasena answers the king's many questions

Milinda is identified by scholars with considerable confidence as the Greek King Menander of Bactria, a dominion founded by Alexander the Great.

The area corresponds with much of present day Afghanistan. King Menander's realm would have included Gandhara, where Buddhism was flourishing at that time.
 
What is most interesting about the Milindapañha is that it is the product of the encounter of two great civilizations -- Hellenistic Greece and Buddhist India [which in ancient times included all of modern Pakistan and parts of Afghanistan, which is what Gandhara was]. So it is of continuing relevance as the Wisdom of the East meets the modern Western world.

• [NOTE: It is more likely that Buddhism co-arose in Afghanistan because the Buddha was from there. The evidence for this is more archeological than anything. Afghanistan contains the earliest anthropomorphic depictions of the Buddha, the largest Buddha figures, the richest and most massive temple complexes, such as the incomprehensible finds at 2,600-year-old Mes Aynak near the modern capital of Kabul. Buddhism is currently thought to be 2,600-years old. Is it reasonable to believe that the first year the Buddha began teaching in India, someone thought to found a massive temple with monastic residences?]

King Milinda poses questions about dilemmas raised by Buddhist philosophy that we might well ask today. And Ven. Nagasena's responses are full of wisdom, wit, and helpful analogies. More

• Other translations from I.B. Horner and Andrew Olendzki
  

Buddhism in ancient Greece (King Milinda)

Amber Larson and Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly, "The Questions of King Milinda" [Menander] (Miln), Milindapañha (as.miami.edu/phi/bio/Buddha/Milinda)

Ancient Greek influence expanded to ancient India's northwestern frontier (Indo-Greeks)

Greek King Menander I (Milinda) engages Ven. Nagasena on the Dharma in Bactria

 

Gold Greek Buddha coin (as.miami.edu)

Because of his Greek (Western) heritage, the king of Bactria asks many questions that occur to Westerners today, which makes this work particularly valuable to modern readers. These are not normally raised in an Indian (Eastern) context.

As a consequence of the conquest of the Persian empire, the Greeks gained control of Bactria -- modern Afghanistan -- together with northern India. The local Greek rulers managed to establish their independence from the Seleucid Empire, which first held control over the area. 

 

Greek rule of Bactria continued until about 165 BC when the Shakas destroyed the Bactrian kingdom. Greeks continued to rule, however, in southern Afghanistan and northwestern India (Gandhara) for another 150 years. The most important of these kings was Menander I, known as "Milinda" in Buddhist sources, who ruled about 115-90 BC. Buddhism had reached the area [due to early converts in the Shakya clan, the Buddha's extended family, which was likely from this wealthy frontier area along the Silk Road even as the Buddha taught far to the east in India (Afghanistan has Buddhist art and architecture such as monastic complexes and statues as old as Buddhism, such as Mes Aynak)]. In addition, missionaries [were sent out by the Buddha] and later by the Mauryan Emperor Ashoka more than a century earlier.

Buddhists in ancient Greece

Afghan Buddhist artifact from Mes Aynak, Afghanistan. This archaeological site is set to be destroyed by Chinese miners eager to extract mineral deposits (Jay Price/Getty Images/TheGuardian co uk)

  

Why did Ven. Nagasena go to Bactria? In the land of the Bactrian Greeks there was a city called Sagala, a great center of trade. Rivers and hills beautified it, delightful landscapes surrounded it, and it possessed many parks, gardens, woods, lakes, and lotus-ponds. Its king was Milinda, a man who was learned, experienced, intelligent, and competent. At the proper times he carefully observed all of the appropriate Brahminical rites with regard to things past, future, and present. As a disputant he was hard to assail, hard to overcome, and he was recognized as a prominent sectarian teacher.

 

One day a large company of enlightened disciples (arhats) of the Buddha living in a well-protected area in the Himalayas sent a messenger to Ven. Nagasena, who was then residing at Ashoka Park in Patna, asking him to come, as they wished to see him. Nagasena immediately complied by vanishing and miraculously appearing before them.

 

The arhats said to him: "That King Milinda, Nagasena, constantly harasses the Sangha (monastic order) with questions and counter-questions, with arguments and counter-arguments. Please go, Nagasena, and quench him!" 

 

"Save Mes Aynak" demonstration, UCLA/Westwood Federal Building, summer 2013 (WQ)

  

Nagasena replied: "Never mind one king, this King Milinda! If all of the kings of India would come to me with their questions, I could well dispose of them, and they would be no more trouble after that! You may go to Sagala without any fear whatsoever!" The elders (theras) went to Sagala, lighting up the city with their saffron robes, which shone like lamps, and bringing with them the fresh breeze of the sacred mountains.

 

Ven. Nagasena stayed at Sankheyya Hermitage together with a great number of monastics. King Milinda, accompanied by a large retinue of Greeks, went to him, greeted him in a friendly and courteous manner, and sat respectfully to one side. Nagasena returned these kind greetings, and his courtesy pleased the king's heart.

The king said, "Ven. Nagasena, will you converse with me?"

"Your majesty, if you will converse with me as the wise converse, I will, but if you converse with me as kings converse, I will not."

"Ven. Nagasena, how do the wise converse?"

"Your majesty, when the wise converse, whether they become entangled by their opponents’ arguments or extricate themselves, whether they or their opponents are convicted of error, whether their own superiority or that of their opponents’ is established, nothing in all this can make them angry. Thus, your majesty, do the wise converse."

"And how, venerable, do kings converse?"

"Your majesty, when kings converse, they advance a proposition, and whoever opposes it, they order that person’s punishment, saying, ‘Punish this person!’ Thus, your majesty, do kings converse."

"Venerable, I will converse as the wise converse, not as kings do. Let your worship converse in all confidence. Let your worship converse as unrestrainedly as if with another monastic, novice, lay disciple, or a keeper of the monastery grounds. Be unafraid!"

"Very well, your majesty," said the elder in assent. More

Greco-Buddhism

Greco-Buddhism, sometimes spelled Græco-Buddhism, is the cultural syncretism between the culture of Classical Greece and Buddhism, which developed over a period of close to 800 years in Central Asia in the area corresponding to modern-day Afghanistan and Pakistan, between the 4th century BC and the 5th century AD.

.

Greco-Buddhism influenced the artistic (and, possibly, conceptual) development of Buddhism, and in particular Mahayana Buddhism, before it was adopted by Central and Northeastern Asia from the 1st century AD, ultimately spreading to China, Korea and Japan.

History

General area of Greco-Buddhism, and boundaries of the Kushan empire at its greatest extent around 150 AD.

The interaction between Hellenistic Greece and Buddhism started when Alexander the Great conquered Asia Minor and Central Asia in 334 BC, going as far as the Indus, thus establishing direct contact with India, the birthplace of Buddhism.

Alexander founded several cities in his new territories in the areas of the Oxus and Bactria, and Greek settlements further extended to the Khyber Pass, Gandhara (see Taxila), and the Punjab. These regions correspond to a unique geographical passageway between the Himalayas and the Hindu Kush mountains, through which most of the interaction between India and Central Asia took place, generating intense cultural exchange and trade.

Following Alexander's death on June 10, 323 BC, his Diadochi (generals) founded their own kingdoms in Asia Minor and Central Asia. General Seleucus set up the Seleucid Kingdom, which extended as far as India. Later, the Eastern part of the Seleucid Kingdom broke away to form the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom (3rd–2nd century BC), followed by the Indo-Greek Kingdom (2nd–1st century BC), and later still by the Kushan Empire (1st–3rd century AD).

The interaction of Greek and Buddhist cultures operated over several centuries until it ended in the 5th century AD with the invasions of the White Huns, and later the expansion of Islam. More>>