3D Paganism – Philosophy Matters

"The Temptation of Saint Anthony" by van Craesbeeck (1650)

It all started when I had an argument with my partner. Something about it (perhaps being accused of living in an escapist's dream-world) dragged me into an intensely vicious depression. Like the Romans who overturned their altars and attacked the Lares when their beloved Germanicus died, I turned my back on the household Gods, who I felt had failed to protect me and my familia, despite years of almost daily offerings at my household shrine. I did not resort to violence, but I let my shrine fall into dusty disuse.

At around the same time I was reading Cicero's The Nature of the Gods, which is essentially a book on philosophy, as I did so I recognised how hollow my spiritual life had become – I performed daily rituals so to request that the Gods grant me my worldly desires; my spiritual focus was on maintaining a household shrine and reading books about ancient Rome. There was no cultivation of the spirit, no attempt at self-improvement, no focus on the attainment of wisdom, no pursuit of deep truths. I held a mirror up to my spirit and saw a person steeped in the art of pleasant diversion, but not content, and apparently vulnerable to mental ill health. Marcus Aurelius said it well when he said: 

"those who fail to pay careful attention to the motions of their own souls are bound to be in a wretched state [Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 2.8]."

I recalled happier days and their associated characteristics – in those days I sought constantly to commit not a single unwholesome action; to cultivate a wealth of virtue, to tame my mind. For this was the teaching of the Buddhas (Dhammapada, verse 183). I drank no wine or whisky, I was uncompromisingly truthful, I tried to meditate, I recited mantras, I prayed to Green Tara the Bodhisattva to help me to be a more compassionate and wiser being, I lived with purpose (on the downside my home was infested with cockroaches, as I abided by the five precepts of traditional Buddhism and thus refused to kill them). Somehow I had the sense that Mercury, about whom I had recently read a great deal and whom I have sometimes thought of as a kind of ancestor guardian, was guiding me towards a well which offered a deeper spiritual life than that which I had been drinking from and which was leaving me so thirsty and so vulnerable to the wiles of Mara (a deity of the Buddhist pantheon associated with illusory temptations).

Something else that made me think of Buddhism was my recent reading up on Stoicism. Obviously I knew something of it before, but now as I tried to understand it a little better the similarities to Buddhism struck me deeply. For example the following descriptions of Stoicism could be applied almost equally well to Buddhism:

"Stoicism is a … philosophy … which teaches the development of self-control and fortitude as a means of overcoming destructive emotions in order to develop clear judgment and inner calm and the ultimate goal of freedom from suffering … Stoicism is not just a set of beliefs or ethical claims, however, but rather a way of life, involving constant practice and training, and incorporating … contemplation of death, and a kind of meditation aimed at training one's attention to remain in the present moment [philosophybasics.com]."

"Stoic ethics taught freedom from passion by following reason and cultivating apatheia [ie, detachment] … But the Stoics did not seek to extinguish emotions, only to avoid emotional troubles by developing clear judgment [mlahanas.de]."

"The Stoics did, in fact, hold that emotions like fear or envy (or impassioned sexual attachments, or passionate love of anything whatsoever) either were, or arose from, false judgments and that the sage – a person who had attained moral and intellectual perfection – would not undergo them [plato.stanford.edu]."

Statue which may be Athena/Minerva,
Goddess of Wisdom, 
Ghandara, 2nd century CE

Consider also these Stoic quotations compared to passages from the Buddhist canon: 

• "Freedom is secured not by the fulfilling of men's desires, but by the removal of desire [Epictetus]" to "The craving of one given to heedless living grows like a creeper ... Whoever is overcome by this wretched and sticky craving, his sorrows grow like grass after the rains. But whoever overcomes this wretched craving, so difficult to overcome, from him sorrows fall away like water from a lotus leaf [Dhammapada, verse 334-336].”
• "Men are disturbed not by things that happen, but by their opinion of the things that happen [Epictetus]" and "If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it [Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 8.47, see also 11.18]" to "All that we are is the result of our thoughts; it is founded on our thoughts and made up of our thoughts. With our thoughts we make the world [Dhammapada, verse 1].”
• "... the mind which is free from passions is a citadel [Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 8.48]"  to "Just as rain breaks through an ill-thatched house, so passion penetrates an undeveloped mind. Just as rain does not break through a well-thatched house, so passion never penetrates a well-developed mind [Dhammapada, verses 11-14]."

Now consider that the time period when Stoicism was forming (mid 3rd century BCE) was the very same time when one of the greatest “wheel turning” monarchs of all time, Ashoka, sent proselytising Buddhist emissaries to the neighbouring Greco-Bactrian kingdom and possibly to Greece. Consider that one of the most important texts in the Buddhist (Pali) canon includes the Questions of King Milinda – a record of philosophical dialogue between a Buddhist monk and the Greek king Menander in the 2nd century BCE; consider that the influence of Greco-Roman art is abundantly evident in the art of Ghandara – one of the greatest Buddhist kingdoms of all time – when she was at her height (1st-5th century CE). Consider that links between India and the Roman Empire in the 1st century were well established enough for St Thomas to go to India (at a time when Buddhism was flourishing there) and preach the gospel of Christ, and that the 2nd-3rd century Christian theologian Clement of Alexandria wrote of Buddhism, as did St Jerome in the 4th century. Consider all this and then consider that just as cultural borrowings from ancient Greece and Rome were evident in Buddhist Afghanistan and Pakistan, it is not just possible, it is probable, that there was a cultural exchange in the other direction. Clearly Buddhism was not widely practiced in Greece or Rome but the chances that Buddhist ideas trickled into the region, especially through cities, such as Alexandria, that were trading hubs, are good. Some of the similarities of Stoicism and the core teachings of Buddhism are strong enough that, particularly when we consider that these philosophies were contemporaneous, one may well have influenced the evolution of the other. Furthermore, the exchange of ideas could have been mutual. 

Buddha, Ghandara, 2nd century CE

Thus we see that while on first glance a marriage between Roman Paganism and Buddhism may seem eccentric, in fact, they are not such an odd coupling. To expand on this subject: in ancient times south Asia was the geographic region most strongly associated with Buddhism – both post-Alexander Greek dynasticism and Roman trade in south Asia meant that the links between these worlds were not weak. We also know that the Buddha was a descendant of the Indo-European tribes, and thus linked by ancestry with the dominant (Indo-European) tribes of Europe. Then we see that much Buddhist iconography in our own time is partly heir to Greco-Roman cultural influence as it played out in the important Buddhist kingdom of Ghandara – the toga wearing Buddha that most of us are used to seeing today is more indebted to Greco-Roman art than is popularly appreciated. Then we compare Stoicism, the most important philosophical school of the Greco-Roman world, with Buddhist doctrine and acknowledge the similarities between the two (though certainly not in all respects, for example, Stoic physics, namely the belief in the universe as a pantheistic God, is not consistent with Buddhist doctrine, however, interestingly, it does resemble the Hindu concept of Brahma as the ultimate reality and supreme and singular Godhead. Note also that while Buddhist karma and Stoic determinism are similar they are certainly not identical concepts). When we do all these things Buddhism suddenly seems so much less foreign to Roman Paganism than one would at first glance admit. Not least because embracing Buddhism as a philosophy is consistent with the syncretic cultural approach of the Religio Romana, for there is nothing in the Buddha’s teachings that precludes Roman Paganism – although, notably, Buddhism denies that the Gods are immortal, for all things are impermanent, including Gods. However, I have never believed that the Gods were immortal, though very long living (eg, as the sun is long lasting, so is Apollo), so this concept is nothing new to me.

Furthermore, and as I have pointed out in an earlier post, Buddhism expressly affirms the existence of the Gods and the honour and respect they deserve. Consider these passages from the Dhammapada:

Buddha, Ghandara, 1st century CE

"By heedfulness [or mindfulness/maintaining self discipline through an attentive state] did Indra [God of the sky, thus Jupiter] become the overlord of the Gods. Heedfulness is ever praised, and heedlessness ever despised [verse 30]." 

"Faint is the fragrance of tagara [a fragrant herb] and sandalwood, but excellent is the fragrance of the virtuous, wafting even amongst the Gods [verse 56]." 

"Those wise ones who are devoted to meditation and who delight in the calm of renunciation [of sensual pleasures and moral defilements] – such mindful ones, Supreme Buddhas, even the Gods hold dear [verse 181]." 

"Speak the truth; yield not to anger; when asked, give even if you only have a little. By these three means can one reach the presence of the Gods [verse 224]."

The Buddha also told a lay disciple (ie, not a monk or nun): 

"With the wealth acquired by energetic striving ... righteous wealth righteously gained, the noble disciple undertakes four worthy deeds … [the third of which is to make] five kinds of offerings: to relatives, guests, ancestors, the king, and the devas [ie, Gods]. This is the third case of wealth gone to good use [Discourses from the Pali Canon at 126-127]."

So, with my spirits buoyed by philosophy, by which I mean the teachings of the Buddha (who I consider by far the best of all philosophers), I have reconstructed my altar and reassessed my daily ritual. No longer do I incorporate a prayer which pleads the fulfillment of my desires. Rather I seek to honour the Gods, as before, but to improve the mind as I do it; my prayer (and ritual) has been changed as follows. I suspect the Stoic philosophers of Greece and Rome would not have disapproved:

"Be well revered Vesta, may your flames protect this family and may they light the path to wisdom. 

I light this incense in reverence of all wise and compassionate divine beings, Janus foremost, may you be well and may you look favourably on the house of [my surname].

This water is offered with good will to all local spirits, may you be well and may you look favourably on the house of [my surname]. 

This fruit is offered with good will to the spirits of this household, may you be well and may you look favourably on the house of [my surname].  

To any divine beings who are listening, thank you for your blessings if they be so, and may they be so. 

As this room is improved by the scent of this incense, so too is peace of mind improved by virtuous conduct. 

As this water is clear and calm so too is the mind when it is unstirred by passions. 

Like this fruit which grew from a seed, so too do actions have consequences."

Further online reading:

• buddhanet.net  (A Basic Buddhism Guide: 5 Minute Introduction)
• sites.asiasociety.org (on Ghandara)
• iranicaonline.org (on Ghandara)
• buddhistchannel.tv (on Ghandara)
• gandharan-archives.blogspot.com.au (on Ghandara)
• lovelygandhara.wordpress.com (on Ghandara)

Written by M' Sentia Figula (aka Freki), find me at neo polytheist