Buddhism in Armenia
Some scholars have identified An Shigao, China's earliest Buddhist translator, as the second-century Parthian prince Parthamasiris, who was appointed client king of Armenia by Roman Emperor Trajan in 113 AD.
[b] An early indirect link of Armenia with Buddhism[8] is the medieval Christian legend of Barlaam and Josaphat (Հովասափ եւ Բարաղամ, Yovasap‘ ew Barałam), which is inspired by the life of Buddha.
[12] James R. Russell suggests that the Middle Armenian folk ballad of prince Aslan, recorded in modern times, assimilated aspects of the life of the Buddha, transmitted through the Christianized tale of Barlaam and Josaphat.
[13] In the context of the 13th century Armenian-Mongol alliance, King Hethum I of Armenian Cilicia travelled to the court of Möngke Khan in Karakorum in 1254–55, which was chronicled by Kirakos Gandzaketsi.
[16] John Andrew Boyle noted that Kirakos offered fewer details about Buddhism than his contemporary William of Rubruck, but he "anticipates Polo in supplying the names" of the historical and the future Buddha, Śākyamuni and Maitreya.
[36] The monastery likely contained at least ten clerics[37] (initially likely from Uighur communities),[38] had two monumental sculptures of Śākyamuni and Maitreya, and "functioned as an active center of Buddhism.
"[40] Dickran Kouymjian located Buddhist elements in the 1286 manuscript of The Lectionary of Prince Het‘um, commissioned by later king Hethum II.
[43] In the Gospels of 1587, Hakob Jughayetsi portraited God, Christ, and the Virgin Mary in a style Vrej Nersessian wrote "could easily be taken for an image of Buddha, and the similarity cannot be accidental.
"[44] He, like Sirarpie Der Nersessian, suggests that Hakob drew inspiration from objects bearing an image of Buddha brought by Julfa merchants from Asia.
Ghazaros Aghayan spoke highly of Edwin Arnold's The Light of Asia and began translating it from Russian in 1894, though he left the work incomplete and unpublished.
[60][61] In 1895, during his time at Leipzig University, Hakob Manandian authored a brief article on Buddhism and Brahmanism and their influence on 19th century European philosophy.
[62] Avetik Isahakyan wrote that he had been obsessed with Buddha (and had been at times been a Tolstoyan, Nietzschean, a social democrat, anarchist) in his quest to liberate humanity from suffering.
[67] In the Ottoman Empire, Khosrov Keshishian authored a critical study on Buddhism in 1900,[68] and Meroujan Barsamian wrote a poem titled "Buddha's Tears" in 1907.
[79] Among Armenians, conversions to non-Christian religions remain uncommon, but Alexander Agadjanian has noted that certain individuals "may choose to convert to Buddhism, the Baháʼí Faith or any blend of the New Age.
In 2012 the Yerevan Municipality tentatively proposed the construction of a tourist attraction near Dalma Garden Mall that would include a church, a mosque, a synagogue, and a Buddhist temple.
[104][105] During his first visit to the U.S. in 1979, the Dalai Lama met in New York, among other religious leaders, with Archbishop Torkom Manoogian, primate of the Eastern Diocese of the Armenian Church in America.
