There was little known about the East in Greek and Roman times, and what was written contained much fantastic material. But I don't think it can all be dismissed. I've studied this for some time from both the Christian and the Buddhist viewpoints, and have found that there were some interesting and historically-documented contacts, as well as doctrinal resemblances between groups, etc. I need to work this up more seriously some day, and hope to. For now, I offer this post, which is a selection of material. I ignore nebulous connections such as possible Pythagorean and Orphic connections with India. We must first deal with the conquests of Alexander the Great, the missionaries sent by Asoka in III BCE, and ongoing trade routes, each of which created lasting impressions in the West. Some points to be considered follow.

-- About 400 BCE, Ctesias was a Greek physician held prisoner by the Persian court. He wrote 'Indica' in Greek (only fragments have survived), but he never visited India. This is our earliest Western writing about India.
-- 323 BCE, Alexander the Great conquers NW India. In his entourage was Pyrrho of Elis, who upon returning home founded the influential (and much maligned) Greek philosophical school of skepticism. There are close connections between Pyrrho's thought and Indian logic. As A. Frenkian writes, "Pyrrho's total abstention from assertion uses that typically Indian mode of argument, the so-called quadrilemma... We must not say about any one thing (1) that it is, or (2) that it is not, or (3) that it is and is not, or (4) that it neither is nor is not." (We are of course familiar with this formula from the Buddhist scriptures.) Pyrrho's thought survives through his pupils. One scholar (E. Flintoff) writes that "what is most stiking [in comparing Buddhist and Pyrrhonian thought] is that in both philosophies antinomial argument is used to produce a transformation inside human consciousness in which the world as usually experienced is suddenly seen as somehow unreal, as what the Indians would call *maya*. A cessation of all conceptualization (Gk: epokhe) takes place which leads on to a cessation of all speech (aphasia) which leads in turn to a cessation of all troubledness (ataraxia, nirvana, moksa)." Pyrrhonism had great influence on Platonism.

-- Ca. 300 BCE. Megathenes was sent as Greek (Seleucid) ambassador to the founder of the Mauryan dynasty, Chandragupta. He may have spent as much as ten years in India, and wrote "Indica," which survives in quotes and a short recension (by Photius).

-- Ca. 250 BCE. The Buddhist king Asoka Maurya erects pillars throughout his kingdom and sends missionaries to foreign parts, as much as "six hundred yoyanas away [ = 4,200 miles] where the Greek king Antiochos rules, beyond there where the four kings named Ptolemy, Antigonos, Magas and Alexander rule." (Rock Edict 13). The king of Egypt who received Buddhist missionaries would have been Ptolemy II Philadelphus (d. 246 BCE), or possibly Ptolemy III Euergetes (d. 221). Ptolemy II is known to have sent embassies to India. His capital, Alexandria, served as the main trade and export center. Like his father (who was himself a scholar-general and built the famous library), Ptolemy II made the city a leading center of the arts and sciences. H. Heinen writes that he "displayed a vivid interest in Greek as well as in Egyptian religion, paid visits to the sanctuaries in the countryside, and spent large sums erecting temples... Throughout the whole Mediterranean world the King acquired a reputation for being a generous patron of poets and scholars... The age of Ptolemy II coincided with the apex of Hellenistic civilization; its vigour and glamour were a result of the still fresh forces of Greek leadership in the eastern Mediterranean... A prudent and enlightened ruler, [Ptolemy II] found his strength in dipolmatic ability and his satisfaction in a vast curiosity of mind."

-- Ca. 117 BCE. Ptolemy VIII sponsors the first completed sea voyage to India via the Red Sea and Indian Ocean, beginning Egypt's interest in the spice trade.

-- 31 BCE. Zarmaros, a Brahmin priest, caused general astonishment by publicly burning himself to death in an Athens square. Emperor Augustus was present, having just been initiated (with Zarmaros) into the Eleusinian mysteries. It is possible that Zarmaros was acting as an ambassador to the Roman emperor from king "Poros" of India. According to Philostratus, the brahmin's contempt for death impelled Apollonius of Tyana to travel to India in I CE.

-- Ca. 40 CE. Philo, the wealthy Jewish philosopher from Alexandria, writes: "Among the Indians there is the class of the gymnosophists (naked philosophers) who, in addition to natural philosophy, take great pains in the study of moral science also and thus make their whole existence a sort of lesson in virtue." He continues about Calanus, an Indian gymnosophist from the days of Alexander the Great. Philo is also our only source of information about the Therapeutae. This group of peaceful renunciants left their possessions to their children and lived in a monastic setting near Alexandria. Both males and females were admitted, but lived separately. They considered wealth a great waste of time, wished to be free from all influence of passion, and served "a living God who is superior to the good, more simple than the one, and more ancient than the unit." They spent their time in meditation, seeking out the "secret meaning of nature." Philo's own writings also reflect these ideas. He also wrote extensively about the Essenes, who have much in common with the Therapeuts.



-- Ca. 80 CE. Josephus, the Jewish general, writes of the Indian contempt for death (see Zarmaros, above): in a final speech at Masada (Wars 7.8.7), the rebel leader Eleazar successfully exhorts the hopelessly besieged Jews to commit mass suicide.



-- Ca. 50 CE? The Apostle Thomas is reputed to have gone to India where he was martyred.

This appears to be an influence from West to East, but it also reflects an underlying complementarity of views, for Thomasine theology is gnostic (salvation through enlightenment) and encratite (control of the passions), whereas Pauline theology is neither. The Thomas Christians of Kerala today claim to go back to Thomas, though they have become more mainstream in their doctrines.



-- Ca. 150 CE. Pantaenus goes to India, according to Eusebius (Hist. 5.10). He finds that the gospel had already been preached in India, returns to Alexandria, founds the famous Catechetical School, and becomes Clement of Alexandria's teacher.



-- Ca. 200 CE. Clement of Alexandria alludes to India several times in his writings. He writes: "There are two classes, some of them called Sarmanae and others called Brahmins. And those of the Sarmanae who are called Hylobii neither inhabit cities, nor have roofs over them, but are clothed in the bark of trees, feed on nuts, and drink water in their hands. Like those called Encratites in the present day, they know not marriage nor begetting of children." [Strom. 1.71.5] ("Hylobii" < Gk. hylobios, "living in the woods," is a literal translation of Skt. vaanaprastha, the forest-dweller- the third of four Hindu life-stages/ashramas, before sannyaasa). In another place, Clement distinguishes between Brahmins and "holy men" who "go naked throughout their entire life. They seek for the truth, and predict the future, and reverence a certain pyramid under which, they think, lie the bones of a certain god." The 'pyramid' must be a garbled reference to the stupa under which lie holy relics.



-- Ca. 220 CE. Bardaisan (Bardesanes) of Edessa in Syria distinguishes between Brahmins and "Samanaeans," and is the first to give a rough description that is probably of the Buddhist upasampadaa. He tells us that a candidate for entry to the order goes to the village or city leaders and makes a declaration to give up all his property. After having his body shaved, he receives a robe and, leaving his wife and children, joins the community. "They live outside the city, passing the day in discussion about sacred matters. They have temples and sacred precincts where appointed stewards receive from the king the necessaries of life for the community. The provision is of rice and bread, fruit and vegetables... They are all unmarried and without property." If this is a description of Buddhism, it shows an established dependence of the order on civic patronage, with special places, appointed stewards, and royal support.



I think this is enough for one post. If someone has other information, I would be interested, and if anyone wants references, please don't hesitate to let me know.



In metta,

Rene

rjs@...


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