Episode Notes

Dr. Christopher Beckwith Joins us to discuss his book “Greek Buddha: Pyrrho's Encounter with Early Buddhism” which examines links between very early Buddhism and the philosophy of Pyrrho, an ancient Greek philosopher who accompanied Alexander the Great on his Indian campaign. We also discuss the role of Scythians and Prince Gautama’s lineage, Zoroastrianism and it’s involvement in a rethink of the Buddha’s rebellion against Brahmanism - and much much more that will leave you questioning everything you thought about this time period, and Buddhism itself as a philosophical movement.

Book Links (Authors Page): https://www.amazon.com.au/Christopher-I-Beckwith/e/B001HPSGMG/ref=dp_byline_cont_pop_book_1

Christopher I. Beckwith is an American philologist and distinguished professor in the Department of Central Eurasian Studies at Indiana University

Dr. Beckwith has taught at IU for 45 years, in which time he has developed 48 distinct courses. He is one of the most prolific and versatile researchers in the field of Central Eurasian studies. Beckwith is renowned for revolutionary scholarship that reshapes understanding of how, why and when the Central Eurasian steppe peoples from Eastern Europe to East Asia influenced the development of knowledge, religious beliefs and societies, not only within their homeland but in the neighboring peripheral cultures of Europe, the Middle East, South Asia, and East Asia as well. His research focuses on the history of ancient and medieval Central Eurasia and the cultures of the peripheral peoples, as well as the linguistics of Aramaic, Chinese, Japanese, Koguryo, Old Tibetan, Scythian, Turkic, and other languages. He has been named a MacArthur Fellow, a Guggenheim Fellow, a Fulbright-Hays Fellow, and a Japan Foundation fellow and has had numerous visiting appointments around the United States and the world. He has authored 12 books and over 60 articles.

Time Stamps:

00:01 SOFCast introduction 02:35 Start of podcast 03:48 Chris Talks about how he came to study Central Asia in General 12:00 What inspired Chris to write Greek Buddha 14:00 Sextus Empiricus and Classical Skepticism - the Pyrrhonic connection 15:15 New Book “Scythian Empire” 21:00 Who was Pyrrho of Elis? 22:18 Was it only early Buddhism Pyrrho interacted with? 24:35 Similarities between Skepticism and Pyrrhonism? 30:45 Pragmata 31:55 Impermanence 42:50 The Significance of the Buddha - Pyrrho - Sextus Empiricus connection & problem of Criterion 48:50 A French connection? 54:00 Types of downstream Western Thought? 57:00 Which was first? Brahmanism before Buddhism ? Zoroastrianism before buddhism? 01:07:10 The Rig Veda was NOT Brahmanism 01:12:00 Flipping the Traditional Narrative 01:16:00 Talk about Chronology of the Buddhist Texts 01:20:00 Did Scythians have a class structure? 01:24:00 Persians and Scythians as Zoroastrian 01:32:00 Q&A Section: What are some of the still extant influences of Indo-Greek Buddhism on Buddhism Today? 01:43:00 Similarities between Daoism and Buddhism? Was Lao Tzu actually the Historical Buddha? 01:48:00 Book Coming Up: “The Scythian Empire”

Book Links (Authors Page): https://www.amazon.com.au/Christopher-I-Beckwith/e/B001HPSGMG/ref=dp_byline_cont_pop_book_1

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