Greco-Buddhist monasticism

Finally, the council also reported on the proselytizing efforts of Ashoka, who sought to expand the Buddhist faith throughout Asia and as far as the Mediterranean Basin.

These Greek missionaries appear in the list of the "elders" (Pali: "thera") sent far and wide by Emperor Ashoka: Dhammarakkhita (Dharmaraksita in Sanskrit), was the Yona (Lit.

The country of Aparantaka has been identified as the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, and comprises Northern Gujarat, Kathiawar, Kachch, and Sindh, the area where Greek communities were probably concentrated.

Dharmarashita is said to have preached the Aggikkhandopama Sutta, so that 37,000 people were converted in Aparantaka and that thousands of men and women entered the Order (Mahavimsa XII).

According to the Milinda Panha (I 32-35), the monk Nagasena, who famously dialogued with the Greek king Menander I to convert him to Buddhism, was a student of Dharmaraksita, and he reached enlightenment as an arhat under his guidance.

A documented example of the influence of a Greek Buddhist monk is found in the Mahavamsa again: During the time of Menander I, the Yona (Ionian) Mahadhammarakkhita (Sanskrit: Mahadharmaraksita) is said to have come from “Alasandra” (thought to be Alexandria of the Caucasus, the city founded by Alexander the Great, near today’s Kabul) with 30,000 monks for the foundation ceremony of the Maha Thupa ("Great stupa") at Anuradhapura in Sri Lanka, during the 2nd century BCE.