Did Buddhism Influence Gnosticism?

[Sunstone]

Did Buddhism influence Gnosticism? If so, to what extent or in what ways?

http://www.snant.com/fp/archives/gnosticism-and-buddhism-syncretism-waiting-to-happen/#comments

http://www.palmtreegarden.org/forum/viewtopic.php?id=766

 

[Halcyon]

I don't know to be honest, i used to think so. But when i look at the possible influence of Plato and Stoicism, i reckon Gnosticism could have popped up independantly.

It's possible Buddhism influenced early Gnostics, i'd like to think so as i love Buddhism too, but how can we ever know?

 

[lilithu]

I don't know to be honest, i used to think so. But when i look at the possible influence of Plato and Stoicism, i reckon Gnosticism could have popped up independantly.

It's possible Buddhism influenced early Gnostics, i'd like to think so as i love Buddhism too, but how can we ever know?

Yeah, when I read the Gospel of Thomas there are teachings in there that seem very Buddhist/Taoist to me. But then I think that what we're talking about is a mystical tradition, and my own bias is that mystics from all the various traditions have tapped into a common Source and that is why their teachings bear such similarities.

 

[Halcyon]

Yeah, when I read the Gospel of Thomas there are teachings in there that seem very Buddhist/Taoist to me. But then I think that what we're talking about is a mystical tradition, and my own bias is that mystics from all the various traditions have tapped into a common Source and that is why their teachings bear such similarities.

I'd like to think so. There does seem to be a striking similarity in the mystical aspects of all religions, when you strip away all the mythical and dogmatic coverings.

Maybe all religions naturally progress towards mysticism, and like evolution, when the new mystical faith separates, the rest of the religion often carries on in a form similar to the original, until the next split and the next ad infinitum.

 

[SimonMagus]

I too, have had interests in Buddhism and Eastern philosophy like Taoism. I think we can honestly say that the varieties of the Gnostics were influenced by Graeco-Roman philosophy, literature, and the Western branches of mysticism, rather than from the East, but the West may have been inspired to develope their own forms of mysticism from contact with the East.

 

[lilithu]

Maybe all religions naturally progress towards mysticism, and like evolution, when the new mystical faith separates, the rest of the religion often carries on in a form similar to the original, until the next split and the next ad infinitum.

Or maybe all religions start as someone's mystical experience which then gets overlaid with myth and dogma as it gets passed on in successive retellings, and with adherents arguing over fine points that can't be discerned via normal rational discourse anyway, and so they split, etc.

So Jesus had an experience of the Divine, and now we've got dozens of different sects of Christianity. And the Buddha had an experience of the Divine (tho he wouldn't call it that), and now we've got dozens of different sects of Buddhism. etc.

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

Did Buddhism influence Gnosticism?

I suspect that Mazdaism was more influential.

 

[Sunstone]

Yeah, when I read the Gospel of Thomas there are teachings in there that seem very Buddhist/Taoist to me. But then I think that what we're talking about is a mystical tradition, and my own bias is that mystics from all the various traditions have tapped into a common Source and that is why their teachings bear such similarities.

I agree with the notion that there is likely a common source for mysticism. As a consequence, it can be very difficult to say whether one tradition has influenced another or whether both traditions have simply sprung from this common source.

 

[Buttons*]

probably

 

[Quiddity]

Yeah, when I read the Gospel of Thomas there are teachings in there that seem very Buddhist/Taoist to me. But then I think that what we're talking about is a mystical tradition, and my own bias is that mystics from all the various traditions have tapped into a common Source and that is why their teachings bear such similarities.

That is certainly how I have perceived it as well.

 

[allogenes]

It depends on what you mean by "Buddhism" and "Gnosticism." Historically, there were contacts between the Roman Empire and Buddhists in Afghanistan and possibly India, so we can never really be certain.

Manichaeism, however, a tradition considered Gnostic by many, revered Gautama Buddha equally with Jesus Christ (and Mani, their founder). Though this didn't occur until a few centuries after the Classical Gnostics of Alexandria, it's evidence enough that they have influenced one another in the years since.

I think a more valuable and pertinent question might be "*Will* Buddhism influence Gnosticism?" and vice-versa. I think they will influence one another, as many Buddhists I know are fond of Gnostic ideas, and most Gnostics also utilize Buddhist practice and theory.