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Anyone interested in Stoicism should have a read about Buddhism, especially the Theravada branch. There are quite interesting parallels to be drawn.

by ue_ 10y ago

douche 10y ago
Have any concrete connections between the two been drawn? The timeline generally works out that Greeks from Alexander's armies could have been exposed to Buddhists in some of his eastern campaigns.
- mbrock 10y ago
  I've heard Thomas McEvilley mentioned as a good source for the link between pre-Socratic philosophy and India. https://www.amazon.com/The-Shape-Ancient-Thought-Philosophies/dp/1581152035/ https://www.amazon.com/The-Shape-Ancient-Thought-Philosophie...
- adrianratnapala 10y ago
  The idea that your own happiness or suffering is created by your reaction to events rather than the events themselves is utterly Buddhist. But I wouldn't say that Buddhism was some Indian equivalent of Stocism. I also read about Epicurianism or even Cynisym and say "hey, that idea is totally the Buddhist, POV". I suspect the same can be done for other Indian schools. Sages of the axial age from around the old world discovered many similar good ideas, and people later built philosophical schools around them combining things in different ways. This is why I don't think there was much idea transfer between India and the West. They simply had the same good ideas. (But I am sure the Greek Buddhists of Ghandhara had a field day with the parallels. I wish we had written records of their ideas, to go with their art.)
- qntty 10y ago
  >The interaction between Hellenistic Greece and Buddhism started when Alexander the Great conquered the Achaemenid Empire and further regions of Central Asia in 334 BC, crossing the Indus and then the Jhelum River after the Battle of the Hydaspes and going as far as the Beas, thus establishing direct contact with India. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greco-Buddhism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greco-Buddhism And Zeno of Citium, who founded stoicism, was born in 334 BC. So some influence is possible.

Anyone interested in Stoicism should have a read about Buddhism, especially the Theravada branch. There are quite interesting parallels to be drawn.

by ue_ 10y ago

Anyone interested in Stoicism should have a read about Buddhism, especially the Theravada branch. There are quite interesting parallels to be drawn.

douche 10y ago

Have any concrete connections between the two been drawn? The timeline generally works out that Greeks from Alexander's armies could have been exposed to Buddhists in some of his eastern campaigns.

mbrock 10y ago
I've heard Thomas McEvilley mentioned as a good source for the link between pre-Socratic philosophy and India. https://www.amazon.com/The-Shape-Ancient-Thought-Philosophies/dp/1581152035/ https://www.amazon.com/The-Shape-Ancient-Thought-Philosophie...
adrianratnapala 10y ago
The idea that your own happiness or suffering is created by your reaction to events rather than the events themselves is utterly Buddhist. But I wouldn't say that Buddhism was some Indian equivalent of Stocism. I also read about Epicurianism or even Cynisym and say "hey, that idea is totally the Buddhist, POV". I suspect the same can be done for other Indian schools. Sages of the axial age from around the old world discovered many similar good ideas, and people later built philosophical schools around them combining things in different ways. This is why I don't think there was much idea transfer between India and the West. They simply had the same good ideas. (But I am sure the Greek Buddhists of Ghandhara had a field day with the parallels. I wish we had written records of their ideas, to go with their art.)
qntty 10y ago
>The interaction between Hellenistic Greece and Buddhism started when Alexander the Great conquered the Achaemenid Empire and further regions of Central Asia in 334 BC, crossing the Indus and then the Jhelum River after the Battle of the Hydaspes and going as far as the Beas, thus establishing direct contact with India. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greco-Buddhism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greco-Buddhism And Zeno of Citium, who founded stoicism, was born in 334 BC. So some influence is possible.