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Cassius Dio [20] and Plutarch [21] cite the same story. Historian Jerry H. Bentley (1993) notes "the possibility that Buddhism influenced the early development of Christianity" and that scholars "have drawn attention to many parallels concerning the births, lives, doctrines, and deaths of the Buddha and Jesus". [22]
Early depictions of Christ (left, Asia Minor, Roman period), and the Buddha (Greco-Buddhist art of Gandhara). Suggestions have been made that Buddhism may have influenced early Christianity. [1] Buddhist missionaries, sent by Emperor Ashoka of India to Sri Lanka, Syria, Egypt and Greece, may have helped prepare for the ethics of Christ.
A statue of Siddartha Gautama preaching. Since the arrival of Christian missionaries in India in the 1st century (traces of Christians in Kerala from 1st-century Saint Thomas Christians), followed by the arrival of Buddhism in Western Europe in the 4th and 5th centuries, similarities have been perceived between the practices of Buddhism and Christianity.
One of the Marco Polo manuscripts notes the remarkable similarity between the tale of "Sakyamuni Burkham" (the name that Polo uses for the Buddha) and St. Josaphat, apparently unaware of the origins of the Josaphat story. [8] Two Middle High German versions were produced: one, the "Laubacher Barlaam", by Bishop Otto II of Freising and another ...
The image, in the chapter on India in Hutchison's Story of the Nations, depicting Ajātasattu visiting the Buddha to assuage his guilt. Buddhist expansion, from Buddhist heartland in northern India (dark orange) starting 5th century BC, to Buddhist majority realm (orange), and historical extent of Buddhism influences (yellow).
The Buddha's tribe of origin, the Shakyas, seems to have had non-Vedic religious practices which persist in Buddhism, such as the veneration of trees and sacred groves, and the worship of tree spirits (yakkhas) and serpent beings (nagas). They also seem to have built burial mounds called stupas. [87]
Dharmacakra, symbol of the Dharma, the Buddha's teaching of the path to enlightenment. Buddhism (Pali and Sanskrit: बौद्ध धर्म Buddha Dharma) is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha, "the awakened one".
The chief motif of this story, and the most distinctive feature of Buddhist myth, is the Buddha's renunciation: leaving his home and family for a spiritual quest. Alongside this central myth, the traditions contain large numbers of smaller stories, which are usually supposed to convey an ethical or Buddhist teaching.