How Did Buddhism Influence Greek Architecture
HELLENISTIC INFLUENCE ON BUDDHIST SCULPTURE
The great Buddha statue at Bodhgaya in India stands 80 feet tall and is the first of its kind ever built in India. Its construction was completed in 1989 and was consecrated by the 14th Dalai Lama. Pilgrims come from all over the world to see the monument. It was constructed under the slogan “spread Buddha’s rays to the whole world.” What many visitors, pilgrims, and tourists alike probably do not realize is that “the Buddha” at Bodhgaya owes many of its traits to Greek influence; in fact, that a statute was erected to portray the Buddha in human form at all was a contribution by the Greeks over a thousand years ago.
The figure of the Buddha originates from the Greco-Buddhist era of central and …show more content…
I really had absolutely no preconceived notions of Buddhism beyond the statute of Buddha and what ive seen in movies. As for Alexander the great, ive learned alittle about him and the Macedonian culture in western civilization courses.
In the sculptures from hadda I definitely see a Hellenistic influence, the buddah statues look more like Greek gods than what ive come to associate with Buddhism, it seems as though the initial influx of Greek influence almost drowned out most of the traditional artistic representations of anything Buddhist. I feel that Buddhism wouldn’t be as widespread of a religion without the Greeks influencing the artistic representations as well as transporting the Buddhist philosophies around the known world. Its possible that the Greek artistic influence wasn’t well accepted because it did go against the fundamental principles of Buddhism, but after a few generations the culture was so transformed by outside influence that after a few generations no real knowledge of anything but the Greek influenced Buddhist culture existed any longer. It is strange to look at a statue of the Buddha now and see the still evident impact of the ancient
The great Buddha statue at Bodhgaya in India stands 80 feet tall and is the first of its kind ever built in India. Its construction was completed in 1989 and was consecrated by the 14th Dalai Lama. Pilgrims come from all over the world to see the monument. It was constructed under the slogan “spread Buddha’s rays to the whole world.” What many visitors, pilgrims, and tourists alike probably do not realize is that “the Buddha” at Bodhgaya owes many of its traits to Greek influence; in fact, that a statute was erected to portray the Buddha in human form at all was a contribution by the Greeks over a thousand years ago.
The figure of the Buddha originates from the Greco-Buddhist era of central and …show more content…
I really had absolutely no preconceived notions of Buddhism beyond the statute of Buddha and what ive seen in movies. As for Alexander the great, ive learned alittle about him and the Macedonian culture in western civilization courses.
In the sculptures from hadda I definitely see a Hellenistic influence, the buddah statues look more like Greek gods than what ive come to associate with Buddhism, it seems as though the initial influx of Greek influence almost drowned out most of the traditional artistic representations of anything Buddhist. I feel that Buddhism wouldn’t be as widespread of a religion without the Greeks influencing the artistic representations as well as transporting the Buddhist philosophies around the known world. Its possible that the Greek artistic influence wasn’t well accepted because it did go against the fundamental principles of Buddhism, but after a few generations the culture was so transformed by outside influence that after a few generations no real knowledge of anything but the Greek influenced Buddhist culture existed any longer. It is strange to look at a statue of the Buddha now and see the still evident impact of the ancient