Notable example now destroyed:
Greco-Buddhist art
11–18 of 18 posts
Re: Greco-Buddhist art
#12Earlier quoted context omitted.
> IR isn't a calling, it's a sentence Policy (of which IR is a subset) is a calling (ie. job). If you don't have an academic or professional background in the spaces you are discussing about, you're just noise (which I am increasingly becoming) > So was Han, so was Tang. Basically all the good periods. That's a very rose tinted view of a past without modern healthcare, with rampant feudalism and slavery, and an extre…
It is pompous to suggest that only 'academics' and 'professionals' have insight. One does not "discuss about", one "discusses". Those periods of ancient Chinese history most celebrated for their cultural and technical achievements are generally agreed upon by scholars, I simply provided the most referenced subset. By your logic, anything pre-modern is horrific. I would tend to side more with the inverse perspective.…
They don’t have a monopoly on insight but they do have one on career prospects in the field unfortunately.
(You can always cheat your way in if you have fuck-you money though, so hedge fund managers always get a say too.)
Re: Greco-Buddhist art
#13Earlier quoted context omitted.
At a guess: China doesn't like any suggestion of border regions being independent in history, although they most obviously were. Case in point, early 20th century Xinjiang coin in the British Museum coin gallery cast in Uyghur without any Chinese whatsoever.
Yep. All the Serindia exhibits were moved into a Chinese specific corner without any mention that they were from the Mogao Caves (fairly obvious with the Sodgian and Gandharan styles, and the fact that I've seen them labeled as such in various textbooks), yet only labeled as "Gansu, China" without any mention of the Silk Road, Tarim Basin, and Greco-Buddhist art. Also, I'd be hesitant to call these "Uyghur". The Turk…
China doesn't like to acknowledge that Gandhara wasn't historically part of China?
Re: Greco-Buddhist art
#14[deleted]
Re: Greco-Buddhist art
#15When I was in undergrad, there was this theory that Buddhism had inspired Christianity.
Basically, it was something like this: Ashoka the Great sent missionaries in every direction. The most influential are the ones who permeated Southeast Asia. But the ones who traveled west ended up first in the Near East/Jewish world and later in the Greek world and there's maybe a translation that the term "Theravada" became Hellenized as "Therapudae."
And so the idea is that Buddhist monks introduced this asceticism tradition throughout the early Western world and that descendants of this tradition led to Jesus (among others) who preached similar values but from a Jewish framework/pantheon instead of the Vedic tradition.
Maybe a stretch, I haven't studied in an academic setting in a decade, but this reminded me of that idea. Thanks for sharing.
Re: Greco-Buddhist art
#16Notable example now destroyed: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhas_of_Bamiyan
I found this incredibly sad at the time.-
Re: Greco-Buddhist art
#17When I was in undergrad, there was this theory that Buddhism had inspired Christianity. Basically, it was something like this: Ashoka the Great sent missionaries in every direction. The most influential are the ones who permeated Southeast Asia. But the ones who traveled west ended up first in the Near East/Jewish world and later in the Greek world and there's maybe a translation that the term "Theravada" became Hell…
Happy to share. Found it intriguing (came from a recent thread - also great - on "connected" cultures and Egypt).-
Thanks for your comment.-
PS: The entire connection you mention with the Judeo-christian tradition and Buddhism is great ...Re: Greco-Buddhist art
#18Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yep. All the Serindia exhibits were moved into a Chinese specific corner without any mention that they were from the Mogao Caves (fairly obvious with the Sodgian and Gandharan styles, and the fact that I've seen them labeled as such in various textbooks), yet only labeled as "Gansu, China" without any mention of the Silk Road, Tarim Basin, and Greco-Buddhist art. Also, I'd be hesitant to call these "Uyghur". The Turk…
China doesn't like to acknowledge that Gandhara wasn't historically part of China?
Yes, correct. Any suggestion that western regions of what is now claimed as modern Xinjiang were not "an inalienable part of China" since the ~Han dynasty is melodramatically proclaimed as deeply offensive.