Friday 20th of August 2004, 13:24
Hellenonipponism
Momus wrote a very interesting entry touching upon the affinities between the Greek and Japanese cultures, with Greco-Buddhism as a starting point. It appears that the the lineage of Zen can be traced back to the Hellenistic kingdom of Bactria. I think Christina will appreciate this when she comes out of her intensive (and near silent) meditation practice at the end of the month.
Comments
Wow. Very interesting.
ideas…do they belong to nations? does plato belong to greece? does buddhism belong to the east? or do they belong to whoever wants to study them?
If the history of Buddhism via Bactria were picked up by a typical Greek (the sort of Greek who asked to burn my hinomaru flag at the GRE vs JPN baseball game) the headline would be “Zen Buddhism a Greek Invention!” I don’t care much for authority and origin. But I do enjoy the results of syncretism.
On the other hand, I recall that in his first year at Harvard Raphael succesfully argued that, as a Greek, he enjoys a more privileged connection to Plato than his African American TA.