Did the Greek Philosophers Study Buddhism?

What Happens when East meets West? Exploring the History of Cultural and Philosophical Exchange between Ancient Greece and Ancient India.
In last part of the series we discussed Indian and Greek Pantheism. This week we take a look at some points of historical and conceptual contact between these two great civilizations.
Key words: Buddhist influences on Pyrrhonism, Greek influence on Indian thought. Three Marks of Existence, Deconstructing Personhood, Epoché, Ataraxia and Nirvana, Undifferentiated Nature, Two Truths Doctrine, Dependent Origination, Tetralemma and Catuṣkoṭi Logic. Scepticism, Pyrrho, Pyrrhonism and Nāgārjuna, Madhyamaka, Mahayana, Buddhism.
00:00 Intro
03:12 Eastern or Western?
04:59 Pythagoras
06:24 Clearchus
07:21 Hegesias of Cyrene
08:08 Alexander the Great
08:46 Onesicritus
09:36 Gymnosophist, Kalanos, Dandamis
14:06 Anaxarchus
15:12 Pyrrho and Nāgārjuna, Pyrrhonism and Buddhism
32:43 Sources and Rebuttal
33:59 Closing Quote
34:26 Summary and Conclusion
#East&West #Buddhism #Greeks
“The records of caravan and maritime routes are like the philosophical skeleton of history, the trails of oral discourses moving through communities - of texts copied from texts, and what they reveal is not a structure of parallel straight lines - one labelled Greece and other Persia another India - but a tangled web in which an element in one culture often leads to elements in others.”
- Thomas McEvilley on The Shape of Ancient Thought
Sources:
Christopher I. Beckwith, Greek Buddha: Pyrrho's Encounter with Early Buddhism in Central Asia, 2015.
Adrian Kuzminski, Pyrrhonism: How the Ancient Greeks Reinvented Buddhism, 2008.
Thomas McEvilley, The Shape of Ancient Thought: Comparative Studies in Greek and Indian Philosophies, 2002.
Everard Flintoff, “Pyrrho and India,” Phronesis 25: 88-108, 1980.
Adrian Kuzminski, Pyrrhonism and the Mādhyamaka, Philosophy East and West 57 (4):482-511, 2007.
Thomas McEvilley, Pyrrhonism and Mādhyamika, Philosophy East and West 32(1):3-35, 1982.
Richard Stoneman, The Legends of Alexander the Great, 2012.
Gurtej Jassar, The Interactions of Greek and non-Greek Populations in Bactria-Sogdiana during the Hellenistic Period, 1997.
Rebuttals:
Neither Scythian nor Greek: A Response to Beckwith's Greek Buddha and Kuzminski's "Early Buddhism Reconsidered," Charles Goodman, Philosophy East and West, Vol. 68, No. 3, July 2018, pp. 984-1006
Early Pyrrhonism as a Sect of Buddhism? A Case Study in The Methodology of Comparative Philosophy, Monte Ransome Johnson and Brett Shults, Comparative Philosophy, Vol. 9, No. 2 (2018): 1-40
Greek Buddha: Pyrrho’s Encounter with Early Buddhism in Central Asia, Review by Stephen Batchelor, 2016, pp. 195-215.
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[@jm2145]

I recently came across the history of the Greco-Bactrian and Indo-Greek kingdoms - as a long time buddhist I was truly impressed and awestruck. I had learned of Schopenhauer's influence from buddhism, and also that of Hume, but this takes it back to the time of Greece. I really appreciate you providing the academic approach with both sides represented; I am eager to read the rebuttals. I recently bought Beckwith's book and now you introduced me to McEvilley - which looks daunting but incredibly interesting! Thank you

[@Che_Guna]

Menander I Soter sometimes called Menander the Great was a Greco-Bactrian and later Indo-Greek King (reigned c. 165/155[6] -130 BC) who administered a large territory in the Northwestern regions of the Indian Subcontinent and Central Asia. Menander is noted for having become a patron and convert to Greco-Buddhism and he is widely regarded as the greatest of the Indo-Greek kings.

[@dontbelieveinez]

i recognised Buddhist teachings (annicca, anatman, & pratītyasamutpāda) in Hume's personal identity theory immediately upon learning it; the similarities between 'eastern' and 'western' philosophies truly are endless

[@ahmedh.3357]

This is great. Not only do you make this accessible, but you did a great job of outlining the similarities with Buddhism while still remaining balanced!

[@SeekersofUnity]

Thank you my friend 🙏🏼☺️

[@justinbirkholz7814]

Very interesting. This is certainly something I will need to study further. I always saw the similarities but was not aware that there was an actual transmission of ideas. I'll be very interested to see the opposing argument.

[@pardeepparkash398]

Excellent, thought provoking.

[@jonathanbergius2402]

Dear John, Thank you for a well researched lecture - I thoroughly enjoyed your presentation and found it helpful. All the best

[@SeekersofUnity]

Thank you Jonathan, Glad you appreciated and found it helpful. Thank you for the feedback. Much appreciated. Yours, Zevi

[@daltsu3498]

Incredibly enlightening! Thank you!

[@SeekersofUnity]

You’re most welcome Dal Tsu. Thank you 🙏🏻

[@andrewlee7797]

For an early Buddhist example of the tetralemma have a look at MN 63, the Shorter Discourse to Malunkyaputta. The ideas of emptiness (suññata) and dependent origination (paticcasamuppada) are both ideas discussed by the Buddha himself, see SN 12.2 and MN 122 respectively. They act as the basis for Nagarjuna's doctrine of the two truths, but preceded his writing.

[@Luizam55]

I've only watched like a third way through cause I'm much too tired right now but I've saved it to the "watch later" list because this is very interesting! I'm a history major studying in Brazil with a great interest in linguistics and how different languages render different ways of thinking and how that connects with culture and this is definitely worth listening to. Subscribed!

[@SeekersofUnity]

Thanks Luiza. So glad you’re enjoying the video and finding it helpful and interesting.

[@Swangorapofficial]

Thanks this went along well with reading the Handbook of Logic History series.

[@SeekersofUnity]

You’re most welcome. Glad it was a helpful companion.

[@johnadams5245]

extremely interesting, thank you

[@BarbarraBay]

@19:32 well articulated, which accurately represents Buddhism (property vs property holder) and also represents my previous objection to your ideas about Adiaphora . Thank you for your video, which has lots of good information in it, despite its many tenuous correlations.

[@SeekersofUnity]

Thank you Barbarra. Thank you for being you and that you for your erudite, astute and loving corrections.

[@21stCenturyDub]

Quality. Beautiful library too.

[@SeekersofUnity]

Thank you 🙏🏼

[@joachim847]

Thanks Zevi! 🤗

[@SeekersofUnity]

You’re very welcome Joachim.

[@sethbaranoff6247]

Good stuff. Thank you.

[@SeekersofUnity]

Thank you Seth. Thanks for coming. Feel free to share it with some friends :)

[@sethbaranoff6247]

Your Library - 4 -My Mountains - Your Call@@SeekersofUnity

[@yf1177]

Fantastic analysis! I detect some Stoic ideas at around 25:00.

[@shadazmi5402]

I love where you are going with your channel. Having said that, this is a fairly large and information laden video. I am not sure I follow every bit. It would be great if you make a series on such similarities, by looking into the various similarities between the various schools of thoughts in each video, a sort of breakdown of this video, so that we as audience can also follow and benefit from your impressive arsenal of knowledge.

[@SeekersofUnity]

Hi Shad, Thank you so much. We do hope to continue making many more video’s exploring all these wonderful and fascinating philosophical and mystical traditions and what unites them. The party is just getting started ;) (If it helps, try rewatching the video at 0.75 speed) Much love, Seekers

[@sirguy7364]

Spin around, like a whirling dervish, clockwise (yin in the southern hemisphere/yang in the northern hemisphere) or counterclockwise (yang in the southern hemisphere/yin in the northern hemisphere). Chant any of these mantras 3 times each while facing east, west, south(in the northern hemisphere) or north(in the southern hemisphere): "iao", "iaueh", "ieoah", "aum", and "om". Sleep with your head placed east, west, south(in the northern hemisphere) or north(in the southern hemisphere). Play music tuned to fibonacci sound frequencies: 1(256hz), 3(384hz), 5(320hz), 13(416hz), 21(336hz), 34(544hz), 55(440hz), 89(356hz), 144(288hz), 7(448hz), 33(528hz), 54(432hz), 88(352hz).

[@johnadams5245]

agreed, its a bit dense for the laymen

[@SeekersofUnity]

My bad 🙈

[@johnadams5245]

@@SeekersofUnity phenomenal subject matter though mister, bravo. i always had suspicion of jesus getting his turn the other cheek from hindu/buddhist theology/philosophy when he learned growing up eye for an eye. im an ex buddhist monk in the thai mahanikaya tradition, and i've spoked to many monks who harbour similar sentiments, like how many of the parables of jesus are borrowed word for word from the sramana/samana traditions of vedic hindiusm and its offshoot/cult buddhism. thank you for extremely thought provoking subject that has a possibility to crack, if not shatter the pauline christianity as we know it today

[@Jeff05Hardy]

great video

[@SeekersofUnity]

😋 that was quick 😘

[@Jeff05Hardy]

@@SeekersofUnity notifications on XD

[@hcct]

Did you see that they found an ancient Buddha statue in Alexandria? The Smithsonian did a great article on it!

[@rkmh9342]

335th to like! Thank you for all the work and effort you pour into these lectures! I remember how much more i learned teaching than as a student. i asked many questions about the Pyrrhonists going through undergrad and the profs hated talking about them. It is unlikely that my profs had your work ethic and motivation to take the time to learn enough about them to teach us. Or they just hated the ideas and did not want to do their job. Either way, i am glad i have found fruitful instruction. Much love!

[@peretzk]

Is there anyway that you could provide links to download the books or articles that you mention in your lectures?

[@SeekersofUnity]

Hi Peretz. The easiest way to get pdf’s of any of the sources mentioned would be to copy-paste the titles (posted in the video’s description) and pop them into libgen.is (for books) or sci-hub... for articles. You should find whatever you’re searching for 90% of the time.

[@Asanga987]

Thank you so much, i was looking for this study of ancient india thought with greek thought . I studied westen philosophy in which greek thought are fascinating only recently i studied ancient buddhist thought which is non religious and never taught in any syllabus. I found you synthesis very good and interesting for further study.

[@SeekersofUnity]

You’re most welcome Bharath. I’m glad you found it helpful ☺️🙏🏼

[@SCzxjk]

Buddhism has been and is spiritual not religious

[@arturhashmi6281]

@@SCzxjk it is very reductionist and infact western point of view, buddhism for thousands of years teached multiple religious practices

[@aditya-rt4zb]

Once Sri Aurobindo was asked whether the ideas of platonism was inspired by Indian ideas according to his views He said that though some ideas might have travelled west through Pythagoras and others but ideas of platonism looks intuitive and independent in its very nature -source vikipedia on Sri aurbindo

[@SeekersofUnity]

Thank you for sharing that 🙏🏼

[@aditya-rt4zb]

@@SeekersofUnity Can you make a comparison video between indian concept of Atman and the greek's know thyself

[@SeekersofUnity]

Hmm, interesting. Thank you for the suggestion. I’ll add it to my list of video ideas. Thank you.

[@GabrielYuriTheNinja]

This is a very beautiful video and i'm glad i watched it. Stumbled on this channel by accident as someone shared this video in a group about Neoplatonism on facebook. Your knowledge about buddhism made me happy, as it seens that you genuinely studied it with an open heart and williness to understand it. I'm looking foward to watch more of you. Cheers from Brazil!

[@SeekersofUnity]

Hey Gabriel. So glad you stumbled upon us. Yes, we aim to approach all wisdom and mystical traditions with an open mind and open heart to see what there is to learn for our lives today and to find what unites these great traditions and sages. Thank you for joining us. Looking forward to seeking together with you.

[@GabrielYuriTheNinja]

@@SeekersofUnity You take suggestions? I always read about how Schopenhauer and Nietzsche had limited understanding about Buddhism and Hinduism and that many of their views and critics were based on mistunderstandings of the Dharma, i think you might be very well suited to speak about that!

[@SeekersofUnity]

Ya, we're all about suggestions. We've yet to discuss Nietzsche but we did do a conversation some time back about Schopenhauer and Buddhism. Check it out: kzbin.info/www/bejne/aZutfK2mg6qlaMU Was Schopenhauer a Buddhist?

[@GabrielYuriTheNinja]

​@@SeekersofUnity I definitely will! My best wishes for you and your channel!

[@SeekersofUnity]

Thank you brother. Enjoy and Keep Seeking.

[@daniel3231995]

how do u discuss greece w/o including the philosopher-king tripartite?

[@narasimhaprabhu8487]

Nice video. Luckily this old philosophy and wisdom is still practiced and live in India. These ideas have origin in Vedanta. The famous word yoga used now is most miss understood. As per vedanta, mind is the one which hinders us from realising the our true nature within, the god. Yoga is a practice involving selfless sacrifice to still the mind from all desires to unite our soul with the nature our body. This stage is called Nirvana. A person who had realised this will see all persons as equal. Good and bad don't exist for him and he is not scared of death since it's a phenomenon for a body. Om!

[@naveenM.]

Truth is absolute, those who touch it, speak it, and if it is absolute, it must be Universal, therefore, it is also wise to be open to the fact that Buddha realized Truth, and so did others, hence why, it is all connected as One Truth that many have spoken, albeit in various methods, but the meaning is all the same.

[@peretzk]

How do you search to assemble your sources of information on any given topic?

[@SeekersofUnity]

I just stick my nose around a little and see where the discussion is at, what’s been said, who’s being quoted, and rely on a little critical thinking and intuitive sense to see what seems reputable, authoritative, interesting and worth taking into consideration. Some of the great tools out there that i use to get some good research leads are google scholar, iep.utm.edu, stanford.edu, wikipedia, and chatting with some well knowledgeable friends. And then just taking it from there and having some fun with it.

[@saraswati999]

I asked my philosophy professor a while back if Greeks had contact with Buddhism because i found the philosophy so similar to Buddhism , he replied no there was no contact , I found it just bizzare i do believe people had contact there is no way they were unaware of India and the philosophies there and learned from one another ( I do not know why the western scholars and even eastern scholars do not investigate it further or resist the ideas that people exchanged their wisdoms ) , I mean we do that today we learn from one another. Thank you for the podcast

[@jackjhmc820]

Check out new book about to be published called. Crossing the Stream, Leaving the Cave: Buddhist-Platonist inquiry if u are interested.

[@peretzk]

I would like to suggest that possibly you might speak at length about an individual mystic or philosopher ,or a comparison between two persons.

[@SeekersofUnity]

Thank you for the suggestion. I’m planning an upcoming video dedicated entirely to Spinoza’s Pantheism, and in this video here from 15:12-32:43 is essentially a comparison between Pyrrho and Nāgārjuna, Pyrrhonism and Madhyamaka Buddhism.

[@aaronjoshualunn]

Thanks

[@SeekersofUnity]

Thank you kindly. That’s very generous of you.

[@aaronjoshualunn]

​@@SeekersofUnityMy pleasure. And thank you so much for your enlightening podcasts.

[@ProselyteofYah]

I'm curious over whether Greco-Buddhism later lead to 1st-2nd century A.D Gnosticism. Are there any potential connections there?

[@alohm]

Catuṣkoṭi (Sanskrit; Devanagari: चतुष्कोटि, Tibetan: མུ་བཞི, Wylie: mu bzhi, Sinhalese:චතුස්කෝටිකය) refers to logical argument(s) of a 'suite of four discrete functions' or 'an indivisible quaternity' that has multiple applications and has been important in the Indian logic and the Buddhist logico-epistemological traditions, particularly those of the Madhyamaka school. In particular, the catuṣkoṭi is a "four-cornered" system of argumentation that involves the systematic examination of each of the 4 possibilities of a proposition, P: P; that is being. not P; that is not being. P and not P; that is being and that is not being. not (P or not P); that is neither not being nor is that being.

[@xXKillaBGXx]

Buddha was part of the Greek pantheon in Bactria.

[@pintsotshering940]

I won't disagree if someone says that the Greek philosophers of that time studied Buddhism. There are many evidences that ancient Greeks had trade relations with ancient India and obviously some cultural exchange. There are books like indica written by Greek scholar to prove it

[@sherabjamtsho5862]

Nagarjuna's Madhyamaka is said to be based on heart sutra that is a dialogue between Avaloketeshvara and Shariputra in the presence of Lord Buddha Sakyamuni where they talk about the the truth of no self or phenomena. The heart sutra talks about the quardrant you showed of nature of things not being existence, not existence, not neither and not either. If you understand the concepts, all the concepts of the two truths i.e. relative being subjective and absolute being non extreme view, and dependent arising ( meaning relative again in essence), three marks of existence , all relate to each other and talk about same thing but in different angle based on our own ignorant view. I will be surprised if Nagarjuna borrowed his idea from the greek philosophers because Nagarjuna is elaborating Buddha's teaching.

[@jamesstevenson7725]

True. Greek philosophy was no where near any Buddhist philosopy

[@gravewalker34]

World is very small. We started at some place and dispersed around the world. Racial theories of Colonial times shaped the modern psychie. I give u example how small our world is. Rig vedic priests mention Druhyu and Bhrigu as their rival priestly class. Linguistically word Druhiyu is cognate with Druids and this word is found is balto slavic languages as meaning a friend. But it means enemy, rebel, liar and demon in old indo-iranian texts and languages. Just one can word explains their ancient antogonizing relationship. And Vedic priests were called Angiras and in greek a cognate word is found called Angelos which has good positive connotation. So the memories of these people are preserved in the languages themselves.

[@Che_Guna]

🙏

[@SuperChaiyanan]

Greek and Buddhasana met when King Menander The representative of Greek thought meets Phra Nak Sen, the representative of the Buddhist thought.

[@MegaMayday16]

hey do you know something about your ancestors till 400 years ago. i have moroccan origin and cant help but always think that you remind me of some moroccan faces i have seen :D would be interesting to know if you have links to north africa

[@arturhashmi6281]

He is sephardic Jew if Im not wrong, so he has Semitic origins, it is not surprising that some Moroccans which are generaly Semitic people would have similiar appearances

[@MegaMayday16]

@@arturhashmi6281 yes sefardic Jews from Spain were living in Morocco as well. Many Jewish communities in Morocco trace their origin from Spain. That's why his look is typical for Moroccan Jews as well

[@Zelvital]

I wonder if some of the primordial similarities between 'Eastern' and 'Western' thought comes from very early migrations of people. An obvious choice for this would be the Indo-Europeans, which linguistics prove spread from Northwest Europe to Western India. That could place some of these similarities as much as 6,000 years old or older!

[@SeekersofUnity]

Yes, your hunch is good. Check out Thomas McEvilley’s The Shape of Ancient Thought where he develops and substantiates that theory at length.

[@DipayanPyne94]

Zelvital, I think you are mistaken about one thing. If I am not mistaken, the Indo-Europeans, as per many studies, seem to have migrated from a place somewhere around modern day Iran. There were 2 migrations. One populated Europe. The other populated the Indian subcontinent. I don't think you can say that they migrated from 'Northwest Europe', coz the Indo-Europeans migrated from the same place to 2 different places, according to some of those studies.

[@extratropicalcyclone8567]

@@DipayanPyne94 they originate from eastern Europe not northwestern Europe or iran but the caucasus hunter gatherer which contributed 45%of their genetics to proto indo europeans did come from northwestern iran and south caucasus region

[@DipayanPyne94]

@@extratropicalcyclone8567 Well, I don't know about that. Maybe true. Maybe not. I think the Entire Issue has not been settled yet. Why ? Coz these studies often involve lots of assumptions. Do they give us evidence as overwhelming as say, the roundness of the Earth ? Nope. But yeah, am not saying that they are wrong. More studies needed ...

[@bennettbullock9690]

It's hard not to see Ancient Greece as a fringe of a civilizational continuum that extended Eastwards through Mesopotamia, India, and China, and Southwards into Egypt. The foot-forward pose of most Greek sculpture derives from Egypt, the fascination with mathematics derives from Near Easter astronomy, the historical tradition began in Ionia, adjacent to history-keeping civilizations of Lydia and Persia. And it is hard not to attribute the abstractions of Plato to similar ideas in Zoroastrianism. Greeks themselves would attribute their ideas to these civilizations - the first line of Plato's Republic states that he is going to the multi-cultural port of Piraeus. Where this idea gets lost is among many Classicists themselves. When I studied Classics, I would hear professors making comments such as, we cannot prove a cultural connection, it doesn't matter, we must study the text in the parameters of the text, the Greeks actually didn't know what they were talking about when they attributed their ideas from outside Greece, they were simply trying to give new ideas a false veneer of antiquity. I have no idea where this bias comes from - perhaps from the days when Classics was seen as the core of Western humanities, with all the "us vs. them" attitudes that came with it. Or perhaps it came from the philological tradition, which did not posit any intercultural connection unless there was a direct textual link. So, cultural imitation doesn't count. For example, if the Egyptians developed their hieroglyphic script by imitating cuneiform, there is no connection because we cannot link cuneiform directly to hieroglyphics. We should also remember that we only have a tiny fraction of all the Greek books that were written, and we only know many of the "bestellers" from garbled quotations in other works. I don't buy it. In Greece, Judea, India, and China, within a period of 300 years, there was a flourescence of abstract thought. Indians abstracted the ideas of the Vedas into Vedanta Hinduism and Buddhism, the Hebrews began to see their God as a universal lord of the universe rather than a tribal patron, Confucius and Laozi began to look for deeper meaning in the rituals and literature of the Zhou dynasty, and Greeks had thinkers like Thales onward. These civilizations all talked to their neighbors through trade and perhaps prostelytism, and we cannot rule out the possibility of those conversations simply because no one bothered to carve them in stone.

[@anastasiamoreyne9467]

When Alexander the Great went to India he found Greeks already living there …the Ionians

[@invokingvajras]

For future reference, anicca is pronounced "a-ni-cha." Hold the "ch" since it's a double consonant.

[@SeekersofUnity]

Thank you 🙏🏼

[@kathleenhensley5951]

I think it was bit over my head, but interesting. Thank you. I've always thought that Christian Gnosticism was influenced by Alexander's adventures in India and the trade routes for silk and spices. I am somewhat surprised I was mostly right because for me, it was a guess. I like Buddhism but I realized it couldn't be my path because to follow a path it had to be truly part of your soul at a deep level.

[@SeekersofUnity]

You're most welcome Kathleen, glad it was meaningful for you. Sorry if it was a bit too difficult .

[@kathleenhensley5951]

@@SeekersofUnity No harm done. I need to be challenged.

[@yf1177]

Is there any evidence that Jewish/Christian ideas were directly influenced by Hinduism and Buddhism? Or at least via Greek exposure to these Eastern philosophies?

[@valentinius62]

Archeology and genetics now show a connection between Europe and Asia that goes back thousands of years into pre-history. Seems that that our standard version of history goes back to the 19th Century and early 20th Century...and just kinda got stuck there. I wonder how many of these ancient ideas were virtually buried by the priestly classes of various cultures, only to be discussed in private? Strange that the homeland of Siddartha has only a remaining vestige of the religion that others built around him. That would be like finding Islam thriving in modern southeast Asia, but hardly any Muslims in the Middle East.

[@theisheep2676]

Pls don't try and push Eurocentric theories by saying that indian culture comes from europeans or that buddha was a European.

[@valentinius62]

@@theisheep2676 Oh yeah, you're right. Sanskrit has nothing to do with Europe. 🙄

[@theisheep2676]

@@valentinius62 Sanskrit is similar to European languages but that’s all

[@valentinius62]

@@theisheep2676 LOL. I believe that is what they call "gaslighting". I think it's cool knowing that our ancestors knew each other, while you on the other hand view it as some kind of threat to your perceived identity. As for the Buddha, he could have been Antarctican or Martian. The genes of his body during life matter little. If you don't get that, then you don't understand what he was saying.

[@theisheep2676]

@@valentinius62 no. I see the pushing of the aryan invasion theory as an attempt by Eurocentric racial supremacists as a way of white washing the history of India by saying that the rich culture of the subcontinent comes from Europe. We all came from Africa at one point. So saying we knew each other is simply silly

[@user-Void-Star]

Sunyata

[@LAILA-2816]

Zevi I heard that moshiach is coming to redeem everyone and not only jews? Can you talk about this please...there is also a concept of maiterya from eastern traditions who is also a redeemer for all.

[@SeekersofUnity]

Thank you for the suggestion. That’s a fascinating concept which we’ll have to talk about.

[@zevilover3591]

What does that actually mean?🤔

[@xXKillaBGXx]

Bodhidharma was from Southern India, not Central Asia.

[@BarbarraBay]

While "I", "me" & "mine" are certainly the source of suffering (dukkha), the word "dukkha" does not have the same meaning in all contexts. "I", "me" & "mine" is unrelated to dukkha as one of three marks.

[@sirguy7364]

Spin around, like a whirling dervish, clockwise (yin in the southern hemisphere/yang in the northern hemisphere) or counterclockwise (yang in the southern hemisphere/yin in the northern hemisphere). Chant any of these mantras 3 times each while facing east, west, south(in the northern hemisphere) or north(in the southern hemisphere): "iao", "iaueh", "ieoah", "aum", and "om". Sleep with your head placed east, west, south(in the northern hemisphere) or north(in the southern hemisphere). Play music tuned to fibonacci sound frequencies: 1(256hz), 3(384hz), 5(320hz), 13(416hz), 21(336hz), 34(544hz), 55(440hz), 89(356hz), 144(288hz), 7(448hz), 33(528hz), 54(432hz), 88(352hz).

[@BarbarraBay]

Anicca = A + Ni + Cha. Astathmeta ( 'not measurable'; 'unstable') does not mean dukkha (unsatisfactoriness). Dukkha simply refers to in the incapacity of an impermanent (anicca) thing to bring permanent or reliable happiness. In short, 'dukkha' means 'unpleasurable' and is something "measureable".

[@SeekersofUnity]

Mispronunciation is the dis-graceful mark of the autodidact. Thank you for the correction. You’re right, the definition that we’ve relied upon here is atypical and more suited to early Buddhism than later Buddhism, based upon the work of the philologist, Professor Christopher Beckwith: ...although the sense of duḥkha in Normative Buddhism is traditionally given as 'suffering', that and similar interpretations are highly unlikely for Early Buddhism. Significantly, Monier-Williams himself doubts the usual explanation of duḥkha and presents an alternative one immediately after it, namely: duḥ-stha “'standing badly,’ unsteady, disquieted (lit. and fig.); uneasy", and so on. This form is also attested, and makes much better sense as the opposite of the Rig Veda sense of sukha, which Monier-Williams gives in full as “(said to be fr. 5. su + 3. kha , and to mean originally 'having a good axle-hole'; possibly a Prakrit form of su-stha37 q.v.; cf. duḥkha) running swiftly or easily (only applied to cars or chariots, superl[ative] sukhátama), easy".... The most important point here is that duḥ + stha literally means 'dis-/ bad- + stand-’, that is, 'badly standing, unsteady' and is therefore virtually identical to the literal meaning of Greek astathmēta, from a- + sta- 'not- + stand', both evidently meaning 'unstable'. This strongly suggests that Pyrrho’s middle term is in origin a simple calque. Beckwith, Christopher I. (2015). Greek Buddha: Pyrrho's Encounter with Early Buddhism in Central Asia, p. 30. Thank you Wikipedia :)

[@uprightwalkingape3483]

@ 11:00 serious misunderstanding. Calanos wasn’t Brahmin. There is absolutely no reference from any ancient writer about his faith. There is no Hindu rituals mentioned that could indirectly point in this direction. 2nd early Greeks didn’t enter India. There was no concept of India in Alexander times. They didn’t mention river Satluj, means Persian satrap Hindosh (Greek Indos) ended at Beas. It must be clear to listeners to properly immerse in 2600 years old world. Cultural India stretched between River Beas to Oxus what Michael Witzel called greater Punjab in modern terms. This area was dominated by malech and Aryan. Hindu story starts few centuries after amalgamation of Greeks, Persian and Punjabi gymnosophism

[@arturhashmi6281]

Terms Indos and Hinduš were well known in Greece and Persia fro long time before Alexander. Herodotus also generalised the term "Indian" from the people of lower Indus basin, to all the people living to the east of Persia, even though he had no knowledge of the geography of the land. During Alexander's conquest, Indía in Koine Greek denoted the region beyond the Indus. Alexander's companions were aware of at least India up to the Ganges delta. Later, Megasthenes definitivly included in India the southern peninsula as well. I think I understand what you mean. When Macedonians during the time of Alexander said "India", they did not obviously mean what we do today, but saying that there was no concept of India in that time, is not true in my opinion.

[@uprightwalkingape3483]

@@arturhashmi6281 absolutely not. Pure speculation. Lower Indus was called Sattagadia, upper Indus was Gandhara. If this dubious notion is true that all subcontinent was known as India then why have three names in Indus basin. Only middle part today’s Punjab was India. Which later was used for much bigger area. Herodotus didn’t mention anywhere that India was outside Punjab. He gave geographical location that it ended at desert. Better get your facts right. You are mixing 1000 years of history

[@peterjeffers2284]

Great googly moogly, man...how much reading have you done in your lifetime??

[@SeekersofUnity]

😂😂😋 A fair bit i guess

[@urgenlama7302]

Nagarjuna was not just an ordinary monk but also a alchemist, doctor and a siddha. There were mention of both human and non human who received teachings from Lord Buddha .Todays scholars thinks that there is nothing like realization or state of Nirvana , there are many things that modern world has to explore about Buddhism yet.

[@BarbarraBay]

I have never read the Buddha taught impermanence (anicca) includes a constant cycle of 'birth' & 'death'. The words 'birth' & 'death' refers to the idea a "self" is imagined to be born & dies & this was not used in relation to anicca; apart from birth & death being impermanent. In other words, birth & death do not characterize impermanence. It is impermanence that is a characteristic of birth & death. The word 'birth' does not mean 'arising' and the word 'death' does not mean 'passing'. "Birth" means "I was/am born" and "death" means "I will die".

[@SeekersofUnity]

Thank you. Point taken.

[@mrkanenas]

Its like saying: did Jesus Chris had iphone?

[@SeekersofUnity]

Turns out Buddhism’s been around for a while.

[@geirkarlsen7329]

Interesting.. Did the Greek copy Eastern Buddhist thinking and did the Buddhists copy Greek philosophy? Did this get answered here? ;)

[@LameBushido]

Sorry for the offtopic comment but I hear a bit of Australian in your accent?

[@SeekersofUnity]

You heard right 😉

[@LameBushido]

@@SeekersofUnity Shalom from Sydney. May God guide us to the right path.

[@BarbarraBay]

Adiaphora is not anatta. Anatta simply says there is no ego or self in anything. It does not say there are no differentiable things. The Buddha differentiated things, such as earth, wind, fire, water, body, feelings, perceptions, mental formations, consciousness, good, harmful, etc, and said all of these different things are anatta.

[@non-standardproletarian3356]

Buddha differentiated phenomena, but not as independent 'things.' This would constitute metaphysical over-reach uncharacteristic of the earliest texts (ex: 'Sabba Sutta' or 'The All'). That which arises becomes an 'object' in the sense that 'it' is...well...sensed, and thus a 'matter' to us. Here the Greek 'pragmata' and 'dharma' can be translations of one another: that they are 'matters to attend' which arise for us. The earliest suttas were patently non-metaphysical. Adiaphora works as a translation of anatta in terms of phenomenal, immanent, life. I've never experienced, sensed, anything independent, for this very sensing reveals the opposite: relationality, thus no independence. How would we perceive an independent thing? Thus, it seems, only if we assume a non-falsifiable metaphysical, thus purely a mental construction, can we assert independent 'things.' This was in neither the Buddha nor the Pyrrhonism I've read.

[@BarbarraBay]

@@non-standardproletarian3356 sABBA sUTTA is for crazy people

[@arturhashmi6281]

@@BarbarraBay why? Please tell what do you mean by that?

[@BarbarraBay]

@17:15 this attempted correlation is far to superficial, particularly given the philosophy of Nagarjuna is not accepted by most Buddhists. Adiaphora & Anepikrita need to be clarified but, on face value, they are the total opposite of the Buddha's view. The Buddha taught things follow "fixed law" (ṭhitāva sā dhātu dhammaṭṭhitatā dhammaniyāmatā).

[@SeekersofUnity]

We take Nāgārjuna not to be representational of all of Buddhism, but certainly, at the very least, of Madhyamaka Buddhism. He’s also not to be taken lightly, the man who is considered one of most influential of all Buddhist philosophers, the man who received the honorific moniker “the second Buddha.” Please do correct us if we’re wrong, we love to learn from our mistakes. As to the question of the fixed vs flux issue. Both of these tendencies seem present and co-existence, which seems to make sense to us, as reality manifests both fixedness and fluxness. We chose here, for purposes of comparison to highlight the flux, anicca side of things.

[@user-Void-Star]

There are more Mahayana Buddhist than hinayana Buddhist so your ' most ' Buddhist is invalid. And it's not totally opposite of Buddha teachings Buddha gave second wheel in vulture peck mountain so Nagarjuna is based on second wheel of the Dharma which Buddha give in vulture peck.

[@Infiniteemptiness]

Indo Greek Mauryan? Maauryan are Indians especially ashoka he was son of Indian father and Indian mother

[@layaslavin6858]

Breaking down those boundaries like a G 😉

[@SeekersofUnity]

😉🙏🏼😘

[@thomasgeorge3241]

All form of religions activities should be banned from public debate on KZbin. It will create hatred between people's of different beliefs.

[@Dhammaghos]

Not hindu sages, he studied under buddhist monks. These was nothing like hindu during those times.

[@Ragnar638]

From whom did buddha learn?

[@Dhammaghos]

@@Ragnar638 you tell.

[@sidhantkamble5191]

​@@Ragnar638before siddhart buddha there 28 buddha..

[@JesusSavesSouls]

The Buddha had blue eyes, so he was not Indian, meaning even Buddhism itself came from external western (Middle Eastern) origins

[@travelpasstime9868]

No brother Greeks learned from ancient Venice religion Which now is called Hinduism Just read

[@JesusSavesSouls]

@@travelpasstime9868 Venice is a Western European region, I.e white with blue eyes

[@abhijeetgaikwad1253]

@@travelpasstime9868 Buddhist are not Hindu

[@abhijeetgaikwad1253]

Brown & Blue eyes are Satraps Greeco.

[@alexandros7597]

Have you got a link on that Topic!? Thxx...

[@BarbarraBay]

Israel did not exist during these times. What existed was Judea. While Ecclesiastes is low grade philosophy, it is suspiciously a low grade attempt at Buddhism. @13:25 appears to trivialize Dandamis.

[@SeekersofUnity]

We stand corrected re. Judea and Israel. Thank You. We think Ecclesiastes belongs to the “Wisdom Tradition.” Judging it by the standards of another literary genre might be akin to saying that cheese is low grade ice cream, and a suspiciously low grade attempt at vanilla cake. We most definitely did not attempt to trivialize Dandamis, but merely to humorously contemporize him. We apologize if our attempt came across distastefully. We have nothing but respect for Dandamis, along with all the great philosophers of our collective past. We hope to be inspired and moved to be better people by their wisdom and example.

[@terrytzaneros8007]

Geography Geography Geography determines.

[@vampirethespiderbatgod9740]

No Greek Philosophers didn't study Buddhism. They studied Vedic Hinduism. Buddhism wasn't at the time.

[@SeekersofUnity]

Buddhism dates back to c.5th century BCE. Aristotle, for example lived in the 3rd century BCE. (Which is later than the 5th BCE because we count down to the millennium in BCE years.)

[@alok9307]

@@costan4097 these hindus will not accept bro!😂

[@Infiniteemptiness]

Buddhism itself born out of samkhya Hinduism as Buddha's teacher was from Samkhya school and all Indian schools shared similar philosophies, theology, logic and reasoning so it doesn't matter as we saw there's interaction with both Brahman and buddhist

[@alexandros7597]

Do you have any Link on that!? Or Book... Thxx...

[@vampirethespiderbatgod9740]

@@alok9307 I wish you didn't assume that way.