Description
Book SynopsisTrade Review"The book offers a new and refreshing approach. It repeatedly calls for more work in various fields, and it should be hoped that scholars do not shy away from taking up the many challenges it raises."--Matthew Neale, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies "Beckwith weaves into Greek Buddha long-standing questions about the origins of Buddhism, contact between Buddhism and ancient Greeks following the incursion of Alexander the Great into Central Asia in the fourth century BCE, and the nature of ethical knowledge... This is excellent scholarship, and Beckwith presents his thesis with skill, insight, and scholarly probity."--Choice
Table of ContentsPreface vii Acknowledgements xv On Transcription, Transliteration, and Texts xix Abbreviations xxi Prologue: Scythian Philosophy: Pyrrho, the Persian Empire, and India 1 Chapter 1 Pyrrho's Thought: Beyond Humanity 22 Chapter 2 No Differentiations: The Earliest Attested Forms of Buddhism 61 Chapter 3 Jade Yoga and Heavenly Dharma: Buddhist Thought in Classical Age China and India 110 Chapter 4 Greek Enlightenment: What the Buddha, Pyrrho, and Hume Argue Against 138 Epilogue: Pyrrho's Teacher: The Buddha and His Awakening 160 Appendix A The Classical Testimonies of Pyrrho's Thought 180 Appendix B Are Pyrrhonism and Buddhism Both Greek in Origin? 218 Appendix C On the Early Indian Inscriptions 226 Endnotes 251 References 257 Index 269
