ANSWERS: 3
  • As far as I know, all Greek philosophies were fundamentally dualistic (i.e. they divided reality up into separate domains or elements and considered them to be permanently and absolutely separate). This is contrary to the basic approach of Buddhism, which sees all things as inter-related or interconnected with the whole. So that would mean none of the Greek philosophies got it right, from a Buddhist perspective.
  • We know almost nothing about Thales of Miletus. Later generations told many anecdotes about this wise man, but it is difficult to verify the reliability of these stories. What seems certain, however, is that he predicted the solar eclipse of 28 May 585, which was remembered because the Lydian king Alyattes and the Median leader Cyaxares were fighting a battle on that day. Another reliable bit of information is that he did geometrical research, which enabled him to measure the pyramids. However, his most important contribution to European civilization is his attempt to give rational explanations for physical phenomena. Behind the phenomena was not a catalogue of deities, but one single, first principle. Although his identification of this principle with water is rather unfortunate, his idea to look for deeper causes was the true beginning of philosophy and science. Thales died after 547
  • 1) "Heraclitus shares two fundamental doctrines with 'the early schools of Buddhism-that fire is the primary element and that all things are momentary and pass away. It seems almost too great a coincidence to imagine that two such striking and radical doctrines should have arisen independently in two places at about the same time." "Even the metaphors in which this conception is clothed are the stock Hindu and Buddhist metaphors-the wheel of life in the Upanisads appears as the "sorrowful weary wheel" of Orpheus. It has been remarked that the aim of Orphism, the realization by man of his identity with God,would have appeared blasphemous insolence to a sixth-century Athenian." Source and further information: http://www.rationalvedanta.net/node/84 "In dealing with pre-Socratic thought, we constantly find ourselves in an atmosphere more akin to that of the Orient than to that of the West. As the late professor F. H. Smith pointed out, the apeiron of Anaximander is almost exactly the Hindu nirvikalpa, the nameless and formless, called Aditi, the unlimited, in the .Rg Veda. Moreover,this Aditi which is nirvi-kalpa, is ordered by the immanent .Rta or dharma, just as in Anaximander an immanent dike ensures that all things shall eventually return to the apeirron whence they came: "From which all things take their rise, and by necessity they are destroyed into these; for all things render just atonement to one another for their injustice according to the due ordering of time."" Source and further information: "Hinduism and Buddhism in Greek Philosophy - Prof. A.N. Marlow" http://ccbs.ntu.edu.tw/FULLTEXT/JR-PHIL/marlow.htm 2) "Greco-Buddhism, sometimes spelt Graeco-Buddhism, refers to the cultural syncretism between Hellenistic culture and Buddhism, which developed between the 4th century BCE and the 5th century CE in the area covered by modern Afghanistan, Pakistan and north-western border regions of modern India namely western portions of Jammu and Kashmir. It was a cultural consequence of a long chain of interactions begun by Greek forays into India from the time of Alexander the Great, carried further by the establishment of Indo-Greek rule in the area for some centuries, and extended during flourishing of the Hellenized empire of the Kushans. Greco-Buddhism influenced the artistic, and perhaps the spiritual framework, developments of Buddhism, particularly Mahayana Buddhism, founded in India, which represents one of the two main branches of Buddhism." Source and further information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greco-Buddhism 3) "Does anyone else think these stoic quotes are remarkably similar to Buddhist philosophy? "Freedom is secured not by the fulfilling of one's desires, but by the removal of desire." (iv.1.175) Epictetus "Man is disturbed not by things, but by the views he takes of them." (Ench. 5) Epictetus" Source and further information: http://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=317206 4) "The very striking analogies in Greek philosophy, most especially in Parmenides" Source and further information: "Buddhism Its History and Literature By T. W. Rhys Davids" http://books.google.com/books?id=MmSbGCYmPEgC&pg=PA23&lpg=PA23&dq=greek+philosophy+is+most+similar+to+Buddhism&source=bl&ots=5D6yNi3eFv&sig=cwX86JpfQHWcSXDe6D8U4ec9PEc&hl=en&ei=nACoStHWL9aM_AaUhtEV&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=10#v=onepage&q=&f=false

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