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Greek Influence On Buddhism

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To What Extent Was There An Aniconic Period In Buddhism History, And Did Greek Influence The Creation Of Anthropomorphic Buddha Image The Greco-Buddhism theory proposed by Alfred Foucher suggested that Greece colonised India, the Greek Hellenistic culture was also imported into India and made some significant influences on Indian traditional culture. Due to the lack of an anthropomorphic Buddha image before Greek invasion in 323 B.C. and the first of anthropomorphic Buddha image being created during Indo-Greek period as an Apollo like Buddha hence he suggested that to a great extent the creation of anthropomorphic Buddha was very likely to be under the influence of Greek Hellenistic culture. However this argument comes with one condition that …show more content…
Vedism, as the formation basis of Buddhism, was largely worshiped by the population who lived in Southern Asia area before the creation of Buddhism, and it had a very aniconic nature which considered the highest gods as ultimately transcendent and formless (Puzak, 2012), and hence it was extremely likely that Buddhism inherited some of the Vedist aniconic ideologies. In the early day of Buddhism, holy books were written by followers of the first Buddha and they recorded the teaching and lifestyle of Buddha, and it was very likely that the followers still held the old Vedism aniconic ideology when they wrote the book. In the Buddhist holy book “Jaiminiya Upanishad Brahmana” the aniconism ideology in Buddhism is clearly shown in which the book which described Buddha as not human merely but of Universal form, and this idea in Buddhism has changed during time but it is still similar to the Vedist …show more content…
The theory of the Buddhist aniconism period has proven the relationship between Greek Hellenism and Buddhism in a fair extent as it is provided the foundation for Greek influence theory. In order to stronger this bond, the art analysises of Greek Hellensim and Buddhist stcultures will provide more detail evidences to support the Greco-Buddhism theory.
Alfred Foucher argued that because on the one hand, that the Buddha, in early Indian art, before the first century A. D., is never represented in human form but only by symbols; and, on the other hand, that the Graeco-Buddhist or Tndo- Hellenistic art of Gandhira in the period immediately following presents us with an innumerable series of anthropomorphic images (Coomaraswamy, 1927), and considering that when Buddha made its first appearance in India, the religion which he had founded was already four hundred years old: even so it msut had required the contact of the civilisation, and the influence of the art, of Hellenism. (A. FOUCHER,

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