The Ancient Greeks Who Converted to Buddhism

AV
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Greece is very far away from the heartland of early Buddhism in India and parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan. But thanks to Alexander the Great, Hellenistic and Buddhist cultures came into contact in the 4th century BCE, creating a cultural synthesis known as Greco-Buddhism. 00:00 A Greco-Bactrian Buddhist Inscription 1:41 The Hellenistic “Far East” 4:10 Pyrrho: A Buddhist for Greece? 7:42 Ashoka and his Dharma Conquest 10:23 King Menander: The Most Famous Greek Buddhist 13:26 Greco-Buddhist Art of Gandhara 15:23 Syncretism? 16:44 Nebula! Indie creators being awesome

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I think @Vensonata mentioned once that during the Alexander’s conquest, they found out there were already greeks who were buddhists there. :slight_smile:

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You might also find Ajahn Sona’s documentary about Ancient Greeks, Persians, and Buddhism to be interesting.

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Thanks for the link, SAT! I watched it and learned some things. I like Ajahn Sona.

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Around the 5 min mark, he mentions “naked sages”, which sounds like maybe Jain ascetics or other samanas? Who knows, interesting stuff though.