lpetrich

I've seen some claims that Buddhist monks had traveled into the Hellenistic world and perhaps also the Roman Empire, but where's the evidence of their doing so?

In Afghanistan, there was a Greco-Buddhist flowering after Alexander the Great's conquests, but I don't know of Buddhists getting any further westward. If they ever did, then they never set up anything close to a permanent presence.

In fact, the first awareness of the Buddha west of Afghanistan was likely the centuries-later story of St. Josaphat (see Barlaam and Josaphat), whose biography closely parallels the Buddha's, and whose name is likely Joseph + Bodhisattva (someone very enlightened).


The main "evidence" I've seen offered is doctrinal similarities, like with Gnosticism and the Gospel of Thomas. However, I think that such similarities are likely convergence.

Consider that some of the Church of Scientology's teachings seem like a science-fictional version of Gnosticism (Yaldabaoth = Xenu, etc.), but it is unlikely that its founder, L. Ron Hubbard, had been very familiar with Gnosticism when he invented Scientology. However, some Scientologists cite Gnostic texts as "proof" that Scientology is compatble with Xianity. For more, scroll down to "Gnosticism" in this page on Scientology.

And also consider that the Orphics of Greece, who were apparently around well before Alexander the Great. They had converged on Hinduism and Buddhism in believing in reincarnation and in trying to escape the cycle of rebirths. They believed that one's actions affect how one will be reborn, and if one will escape rebirth in the material world, which is much like the Hindu and Buddhist doctrine of karma (literally, "action"). However, Orphism is apparently home-grown; its mythology is essentially the familiar Olympian mythology with Orphic interpretations added on. Thus, one's body is one's Titan part and one's soul is one's Dionysus part.


Some philosophers were strongly influenced by Orphism, like Pythagoras and Plato, who were both pre-Alexander.

Pythagoras believed in reincarnation, and Xenophanes made fun of him for doing so: "Once, they say, he was passing by when a dog was being ill-treated. 'Stop,' he said, 'don't hit it! It is the soul of a friend! I knew it when I heard its voice.'"

Plato talked about reincarnation and karma in his dialogue Timaeus; Bertrand Russell summarized: "Cowardly or unrighteous men will, in the next life, be women. Innocent light-minded men, who think that astronomy can be learnt by looking at the stars without knowledge of mathematics, will become birds; those who have no philosophy will become wild land-animals; the very stupidest will become fishes."


Are there any explicit Buddhist doctrines mentioned?

Like the Four Noble Truths:

1. Life is suffering.
2. Suffering is caused by craving.
3. Stop craving, and you will stop suffering.
4. Follow the Eightfold Path to do that.

Or the Eightfold Path:

1. Right view
2. Right intention
3. Right speech
4. Right action
5. Right livelihood
6. Right effort
7. Right mindfulness
8. Right concentration

Or The Five Precepts:

1. Do not kill any living thing.
2. Do not take what is not given to you.
3. Do not commit sexual misconduct.
4. Do not speak falsely.
5. Do not consume intoxicants.

Or even Buddhist names like "Buddha" (Bouddos, Bouthos, ...)?

Toto

This is a perennial topic here. Check the second link in particular for historic evidence:

Influence of Buddhism on Christianity

Is Christianity Western Buddhism?

Was Jesus Buddhist?

mountainman

Although not expressly Buddhist, perhaps
the following is relevant to some of these
claims, who might not readily distinguish
between Buddhism and the older Indian
traditions.

Porphyry (233-305) on the Sramanas

Porphyry extensively describes the habits of the Sramanas (whom he calls Samanaeans) in his "On abstinence from animal food" Book IV [5]. He says his information was obtained from "the Babylonian Bardesanes, who lived in the times of our fathers, and was familiar with those Indians who, together with Damadamis, were sent to Caesar":

"For the polity of the Indians being distributed into many parts, there is one tribe among them of men divinely wise, whom the Greeks are accustomed to call Gymnosophists. But of these there are two sects, over one of which the Brahmins preside, but over the other the Samanaeans. The race of the Brahmins, however, receive divine wisdom of this kind by succession, in the same manner as the priesthood. But the Samanaeans are elected, and consist of those who wish to possess divine knowledge." Porphyry "On abstinence from animal food" Book IV

"All the Brahmins originate from one stock; for all of them are derived from one father and one mother. But the Samanaeans are not the offspring of one family, being, as we have said, collected from every nation of Indians..."Porphyry "On abstinence from animal food" Book IV

On entering the order: "The Samanaeans are, as we have said, elected. When, however, any one is desirous of being enrolled in their order, he proceeds to the rulers of the city; but abandons the city or village that he inhabited, and the wealth and all the other property that he possessed. Having likewise the superfluities of his body cut off, he receives a garment, and departs to the Samanaeans, but does not return either to his wife or children, if he happens to have any, nor does he pay any attention to them, or think that they at all pertain to him. And, with respect to his children indeed, the king provides what is necessary for them, and the relatives provide for the wife. And such is the life of the Samanaeans. But they live out of the city, and spend the whole day in conversation pertaining to divinity. They have also houses and temples, built by the king". Porphyry "On abstinence from animal food" Book IV

On life and death: "They are so disposed with respect to death, that they unwillingly endure the whole time of the present life, as a certain servitude to nature, and therefore they hasten to liberate their souls from the bodies [with which they are connected]. Hence, frequently, when they are seen to be well, and are neither oppressed, nor driven to desperation by any evil, they depart from life."

--- Porphyry "On abstinence from animal food",
--- Book IV.

BALDUCCI

http://buddhistfaith.tripod.com/gospel/

lpetrich

I will concede that there was some knowledge of Buddhism in the Roman Empire. Clement of Alexandria tells us that
from Stromata (Miscellanies), Bk 1, Chap. 15

But does anyone ever mention anything more specific than that, like the Four Noble Truths or the Eightfold Path?

And Therapeutae = Theravada is nothing but a pun. "Theravada" is the Pali version of the name; a Buddhist monk might instead have used the Sanskrit version, "Sthaviravada". And "Therapeutae" has a rather transparent derivation in Greek from therapeuein, "to serve, administer treatment", which is where we get "therapeutic" from. The -tae is the plural of -tes, a common Greek agent-noun suffix (like English -er).

rob117

Greeks and Indians had been in direct contact with one another since at least the 6th century BC (when the Persians ruled parts of both India and the Greek world). That the Greeks had some knowledge of Indian traditions is a given. "Indian philosophers" were famous in Aristotle's day (4th century BC), and the Edicts of Ashoka (3rd century BC) state that the Mauryan emperor sent Buddhist missionaries as far west as the Seleucid court. I haven't heard of Buddhists establishing a permanent presence in the Roman world though.

lpetrich

One of the claimed links is the similarities in biography between the Buddha and Jesus Christ. But I don't find their biographical similarities all that great; where they are similar fits Lord Raglan's Mythic Hero profile fairly well. The two are also described as fulfilling prophecies despite efforts to thwart that fulfillment, something that could be added to Lord Raglan's profile.