On Wednesday 18 May 2005 19:14, Stephen Hodge wrote:

> Edward Cherlin wrote:
> >The scholars accompanying Alexander's army in India in 326
> > BCE encountered Hindus, Jains (including the sky-clad
> > gymnosophists), and Buddhists, and reported back to Greece.
>
> Though somewhat later, one should also remember that there
> were definitely Buddhist followers and monks in ancient
> Alexandria -- St Clement [fl 150-216CE] (and possibly Origen)
> met some of the Buddhist monks ("followers of Bouda") and
> invited them to his lectures.

This idea is strongly disputed. None of the Christian Church
Fathers reported anything about Buddhism beyond what Megasthenes
reported in the Indica.

> Origen's (and Plotinus')
> teacher was a certain Egyptian (?) called Ammonius Sakkas --
> the second part of his name suggest to some that he was a
> Buddhist. Also, a surprising number of small religious etc
> objects of Indian origin

or supposed to be such, on slender evidence

> have also been found in Graeco-Roman
> period Egyptian sites, though this is seldom mentioned in any
> books on Egyptology -- the sort of things that would have
> been personal possessions rather than Indian export items.

Some of these items bear images of 8-spoked wheels, which
suggests the dhammacakka. There is no record of what the users
meant by them.

> There is also a theory, a little dubious perhaps, that the
> mysterious ascetic and monastic Theraputae mentioned by Philo
> were in fact Theravadins (perhaps derived from *Theraputta)
> rather than a branch of the Essenes as commonly assumed.
> Whether this is too far-fetched or not, it is certain that
> Buddhism would have been known in Alexandria -- during the 2nd
> century CE, over 200 merchant ships per year were making the
> journey from the Egyptian end of the Red Sea to India. Who
> knows, the great Alexandrian Library may even have had a
> Tipitaka set !
>
> Best wishes,
> Stephen Hodge

This is all very suggestive, but not very convincing.
--
Edward Cherlin
Generalist & activist--Linux, languages, literacy and more
"A knot! Oh, do let me help to undo it!"
--Alice in Wonderland
http://cherlin.blogspot.com