- [David] Hello historians and welcome to
South Central Asia circa 280
BCE.
We're looking at two empires
that occupied some of the same area.
We've got the Mauryan Empire here.
You can see that this is the expansion that took place
under Ashoka around
250
BCE.
The Mauryan Empire encompasses the Indus River Valley.
This is today what is Pakistan.
Over here, we've got this region that is known as Gandara
which is actually we think what the name Kandahar
in Afghanistan comes from today.
What we've got here is this
intersection between two empires.
We've got the Seleucid Empire over here in orange.
These are, remember the remnants,
this is one of three remnants
of the empire of Alexander the Great.
His general, Seleucus, took this part of Asia Minor,
stretching into Central Asia.
This is the extent of that empire around 280 BCE.
What happens in 250 BCE is that a satrapy of
the Seleucid Empire called Bactria
secedes.
It fights a war of independence
to establish itself as its own kingdom.
This is what we call the Greco-Bactrian kingdom.
This is around 250 BCE.
It names itself Bactria, after the great city of Bactra
which gives it name to Afghanistan's Balkh province
and up here on the northeast,
you can see the city of Fergana
which is today in Uzbekistan.
If you remember from the article about the Silk Road,
this is the very same Fergana
where the Han Chinese first encountered
those heavenly horses that sweated blood.
What I wanna talk about is the culture of this
purple region of Greco-Bactria
because for many hundreds of years,
this region had been passed back and forth between
Indian powers
and Macedonian powers.
It has Hellenic influences
and it also has Indian influences.
That means we're gonna be talking about something called
cultural syncretism.
Let me put that down right here in the middle of China.
Cultural
syncretism.
What syncretism is is a
mixing of cultural objects.
That's really it.
It's the mixture of cultures and ideas and faiths.
Follow me over here
because I am interested in talking about
the influence that Greek culture had
on Buddhism and vice versa.
These are two
representations of the Buddha from around the same time,
and in fact, from around the same region,
the region of Gandara near modern-day Kandahar.
So, within the kingdom of Bactria that we saw.
Sandwiched between Hellenic influences
and Indian influences.
Both of these works are from the 1st Century CE.
But let's talk about this footprint
because this was a pretty common way to depict the Buddha
prior to the 1st Century CE.
We see, this is what's called an aniconic representation.
This represent a footprint of the Buddha.
You can see here some of
the themes of Hinduism and Buddhism,
so we've got this dharmachakra wheel
in the center of the sole.
We've got
triratnas
here
near the heel.
We've got, as you can see them very faintly,
little swastikas
near the metatarsals yonder.
And these are all Buddhist or Hindu symbols
that approach depicting the Buddha but do not actually
put the Buddha into any kind of
human physical representation.
It's more about what the Buddha has left behind
so that human beings can follow in his footsteps.
But around the same time in the same region we see this.
This is a statue.
This is the standing Gandara Buddha.
This again dates from the 1st Century CE
from the same region
of Bactria.
But you can see this is the Buddha wearing
Greek clothing.
This is a Greek chiton and that's a himation.
These are forms of Greek dress
and the Buddha is being depicted in a Greek style.
This is very similar to the other sculpture
that we're seeing coming out of
Hellenistic cultures at the same time.
And so what we see when we see this Gandara Buddha,
the standing Buddha,
we have the combination of Buddhist faith
or Buddhist philosophy combining
with Greek cultural aesthetics.
Indeed, Buddhism was practiced in this region
for many hundreds of years.
Since if you recall, let's go back to the map,
because you're recall that Fergana and Bactria
and all of these cities throughout Central Asia,
Kandahar is back down here,
are on the Silk Road
that connect
the world of what's called as the west shore to China.
Through Fergana and through Bactria,
you could get to the great centers of India.
You can get to Pataliputra and Suvarnagiri
and have access to the sea routes
of trade.
Many historians believed that it is
through the cities of the Greco-Bactrian kingdom that
Buddhism made its way along the Silk Road to the various
oasis cities
of Central Asia,
and from then on,
into China.
We see syncretism
whenever cultures combine with one another.
And it is said that when Alexander the Great
came to the head waters of the Indus River Valley,
remember this is in upper Pakistan,
he brought many philosophers with him
to meet with the great thinkers
of the Hindu ascetic tradition.
These, the Greeks called the Gymnosophists,
which means the naked thinkers because these men
were so devoted to the practice of philosophy
that they fasted and they wore
either no or very little clothing
because they felt that it got in the way
of their pursuit of knowledge and wisdom.
And if you make a study of Greek philosophy,
you will see the impact that these Indian thinkers
had on Greek philosophy during this period as well.
Let's talk about some other examples of syncretism.
This right here is the Nestorian Stele
or rather this is a rubbing of the Nestorian Stele.
This is a giant limestone block
that was erected in 781 in Chang'an,
the imperial capital of the Tang Empire in China.
Celebrating 150 years of Nestorian Christianity.
If you look very closely,
you can see this little cross up here.
There you go.
There's your Nestorian cross, see right there.
You can see all these Chinese text that
symbolizes the important connection
of the Church of the East to Tang China.
What's interesting about this stone monument
is the way in which Christianity is described within it.
In order to proselytize to a Chinese population,
Nestorian Christianity
adapted its approach
to suit
the mores of the people that lived there.
In this text,
Christ is described in
Daoist and Buddhist terms.
Let me read you a little bit of the translation.
"A virgin gave birth to the holy one in Syria.
"A bright star announced the felicitous event
"and Persians observing the splendor
"came to present tribute.
"The ancient dispensation is declared
"by the 24 holy men was then fulfilled.
"And he laid down great principles
"for the government and families and kingdoms."
They're talking about the messiah here.
"He established the new religion of the
"silent operation of the pure spirit of the Triune.
"He rendered virtue subservient to direct faith.
"He fixed the extent of the eight boundaries."
Now, we're getting into some concepts
from Mahayana Buddhism.
"Thus completing the truth and freeing it from dross.
"He opened the gate of the three constant principles."
Again, these are Buddhist concepts.
The impermanence, suffering, and non-self.
"Introducing life and destroying death.
"He suspended the bright sun to invade
"the chambers of darkness,
"and the falsehood of the devil were thereupon defeated.
"He set in motion the vessel of mercy
"by which to ascend to the bright mansions.
"Whereupon rational beings were then released,
"having thus completed the manifestation of his power,
"in clear day he ascended to his true station."
You can see the way that
Buddhist thought
is being used
to contextualize Christianity,
and really, that's what syncretism is all about.
It's about taking a new idea,
this thing,
and putting it in line with this stuff,
the eight boundaries, the constant principles,
freeing the truth from dross.
What these Nestorian missionaries were attempting to do
was take these Christian principles and recast them
in a
Buddhist or Daoist light.
Taking something and recasting it to fit the context
of a new situation.
You can learn anything.
David out.