Greeks and Buddhism

This book examines the inter-cultural contacts that took place between Greeks and Buddhism over the course of approximately two thousand and five hundred years and played an extremely prominent and dynamic role in consolidation of the ecumenical spirit in the Buddhist and European thought. It is based on the author’s previous essays, enriched and expanded with recent data derived from historical records, popular beliefs and traveling impressions. It includes the early historical contacts ¬ from the time of the Buddha up to the rise of the Graeco-Buddhist art, the impact of Buddhism on the Hellenistic Middle East and the formation of the Christian monasticism, and the works of Lafcadio Hearn, Marco Pallis and Nikos Kazantzakis who made the Japanese, the Tibetan-Indian and the Chinese Buddhism known to the Western world. Its objective is to highlight how the ecumenical religions of Buddhism and Christianity were formed by drawing timeless values from the rich Greek and Indian traditions. On this basis, we hope that the book will be useful to scholars and students of world religions and civilizations.