Buddhism and Early Iranian Culture

The Scythians, a nomadic people who spoke an Iranian language, had been in the steppes north of the Black Sea, in what is now southern Russia, since the second half of the eighth century BCE. Scythian culture had many common features found among most of the later nomadic Cen­tral Asian peoples and therefore is a good example of the steppe cultures Buddhism encountered. They fought on horse­back, most often not in open bat­tle, and pre­fer­red to harass their foes when they were asleep or eating. When losing a bat­tle, they would flee rather than stay and be killed. They sacri­ficed sheep, horses and enemies. 

The Scythians made drinking cups out of the skulls of their slain ene­mies and hung their scalps from their bridle-reins. Such imagery is reminiscent of the stan­dard depiction of the fierce protec­tress Palden Lhamo in Indo-Tibetan-Mongolian Bud­dhist iconography. The Bud­dhist tradition itself explains that many eques­trian pro­tectors in Tibet and Mongolia have a Cen­tral Asian origin. In depicting protecting figures with noma­dic motifs, the Buddhists skillfully appealed to these peoples.

The Scythians made oaths by having both parties spill some of their blood in a cup and then drink of it. Buddhist tantric figures are often depicted as drinking blood from a skullcup, symbolizing their oath to use a blissful awareness for realiz­ing voidness. Although one cannot suggest a Scythian origin for this Indian tantric motif, still the nomadic peoples who many centuries later encoun­tered such images could relate to them easily.

The Scythians mourn­ed their dead by self-flagella­tion, cutting their faces and pull­ing out their hair. Although this does not have any later Buddhist counterpart, one is remind­ed of the Shia Muslim cus­tom in later Iran of often extreme self-flagel­lation of the head, chest and shoulders during the holy days of Muharram in remem­brance of the mar­tyrdom of Husayn.

The Aryan people, with their pre-Vedic religion, were from the Indo-Iranian tribes located, around 1500 BCE, probably in the area of Af­ghanis­tan, eastern Iran and southern West Turki­stan. The early religion of Iran was of these Aryan tribes before they split into Iranian and Indian parts. It shared a common basis with the Vedas. There was a belief in many gods, a cult of fire and the ceremonial drink­ing of the juice of the intox­icating, perhaps psychoac­tive, plant called haoma in Iran and soma in India, or the sacr­ificial offer­ing of it into the sacred fire. The gods included Mithra (Skt. Mitra) as the ruler of jus­tice, Varuna as a priestly ruler, Indra as a god of war, Zurvan as a god of time and Anahita as a goddess of society. 

Mithraism

Mithra, and to a lesser extent Zurvan, became the main gods worship­ped by the Medes in northwestern Iran. The Median King­dom (728–559 BCE) had much interaction with the nomadic Scythians to its north, who migrated into its domain in the mid-seventh century. The Scythians were expelled a half cen­tury later, but the military campaigns left their mark on the Median religion, Mithraism.

Mithra, as a pre-Zoro­astrian god of justice associated with the sun, was also con­sidered a god of contracts and bonds among men and, by exten­sion, eventually a god of male comrad­ery, soldiers and war. Creation of the universe came from Mithra’s sacrificing a white bull, the various parts of which became various aspects of the universe. Mithra’s cloak became the heavens with the stars and planets, the body of the bull metamorphized into the moon, its tail into grain, its blood into wine and its semen into all liv­ing beings. From light came darkness and a strug­gle of “good “against “evil.” The most import­ant ceremony, then, in Mithraism with its Magi priests was the ritual sacri­fice of a bull, symboli­zing as well the offering of haoma. In the Indian Vedas, creation was from the sacrifice of a primal giant, the parts of whose body also became the parts of the universe.

The Medians were conquered by Cyrus II the Great, who founded the Achaeme­nid Dynasty (559–330 BCE). Shakyamuni Bud­dha was contemporaneous with the early Achaemenids, while Zoroaster lived slightly earlier, in northeastern Iran and present-day northern Afghanistan around 600 BCE.

Cyrus the Great came from the southwest Iranian area of Elam, which had had much contact with Babylon. Some Russian scholars pos­tulate that Shenrab Miwo, the founder of the Tibe­tan Bon reli­gion, came from Elam at the time of Cyrus. This is based on linguistic evidence. The first syl­lables of Olmo Lungrig, Shenrab’s birth­place in Tazig, can be corre­lated with Elam, and several city names on Bon maps of the area around Olmo Lungrig are similar to the names of anci­ent Near Eastern cities of this time.

During the Achaemenid Period, the Magi priests continued to wield great power, although with the growing influence of Zoroastrianism, the bull sacri­fice was curbed. During the Hel­lenic period of the Seleucid Dynasty that fol­lowed (330–171 BCE), the western Iranians maintained their devotion to Mith­ra. But in the more Greek influenced areas, there was not so much worship of this god of the rival Persians. During the Parthian Arsacid Dynasty (171 BCE – 226 CE), which saw the flourish­ing of Parthian Buddhism, Mithraism as well as Zoroas­trianism were tolerated.

Although the Parthians mostly fought against the Roman Em­pire, there were occasionally times of peaceful contact. Dur­ing one such period, around 136 CE, Mithraism started to be­come popular in the Roman world. It became a reli­gion of sol­diers, emphasi­zing loyalty to the emperor, and spread to Bri­tain, the Rhine, the Danube and the Euphrates regions. Its crea­tion theo­ries were melded with ideas from Plato’s Ti­maeus, so that men’s souls were viewed as descending from the heav­ens. When they crossed the seven sphe­res of the seven planets, they took on their vices, such as desire from the influence of Venus, and then were caught in the human body. 

The aim of the religi­on be­came to lib­erate the soul from the body and have it reas­cend thro­ugh these seven spheres to the eternal, unchang­ing realm of the fixed stars. The devo­tees would have secret gath­erings in cave sanctuaries, men only, and undergo a series of seven initiations symbolizing the seven-step process of purif­ication and liberation.

Mith­raism lost Roman imperial favor in 312 CE, but ex­erted a strong influence on Manichaeis­m, an Iranian religion that came to flourish throughout Centr­al Asia. It also influ­enced the neo-Platon­ic mystery religi­ons which became the source for the various cults of the Knights Templa­r, dif­ferent secret bro­ther­hoods, modern-day Freemasons and so on. 

Basic Beliefs of Zoroastrianism

Zoroastrianism, founded by Zoroaster in present-day north­eastern Iran and northern Afghanistan around 600 BCE, empha­sizes one god within the context of a basic dual­ism. An inver­sion of terms took place, so that the ahura (Skt. asu­ra, anti-gods) became the gods, and the daeva (Skt. deva, gods) became the forces of evil. This is the source of the English word “de­vil.” Zoroaster was a priest of the ahura known as “Mazda,” the wise, and he wor­shipped him as the main god, Ahura Mazda, also known as Or­mazd. Ahura Mazda is a god of truth, light and good. He is opposed by Ahriman, the chief of the daevas, associated with lies, darkness and evil. 

The religion emphasizes ethics. Zoroaster condemned animal sacri­fice, found in Vedic and Mithraic practice, but allowed the old hoama cult in a modified form, with offer­ings of hoa­ma and other substan­ces into a sacred fire. It is not correct to say that Zoroastria­ns worship fire. They revere fire as a sym­bol of truth.

Both Ahura Mazda and Ahriman are seen as eternal. Ahura Mazda created the world as a giant battleground for good against evil. When Ahriman attacked, the Primal Bull was kill­ed and creation of the universe ensued. Various parts of the bull became aspects of the world, much as in Mithraism. Man is seen as a microcosm of this entire process of good against evil, truth against lies. There is belief in an immor­tal soul. After death, the soul is judged and goes to either heaven or hell, much as in early Vedic thought, without asser­t­ing rein­carnation.

There are four heavens in Zoroastrianism. The highest is called the Heaven of Boundless Light. It is presided over by Ahura Mazda, who is filled with great radiance and glory. If one recites the formula ahuna vairya, Ahura Mazda will lead one’s soul after death to his heaven of light.

In the Mahayana Buddhist Sukhāvatīvyūha Sūtra, Amitabha is the Buddha of Boundless Light. If one recites the formula of his name, one can be reborn in his Sukhavati Pure Land, where every­thing is conducive for becoming a Buddha quickly in order to help others as soon as possible. 

The Sukhāvatīvyūha Sūtra appeared in India in the early second century CE, when Zoroastrian­ism was flourishing throughout the Par­thian Empire of Iran and was well tolerated by its neighbor, the Kushan Dynasty of north­west India. The ap­pearance of Amita­bha’s Pure Land teach­ings in India at this time and its rapid spread through Centr­al Asia and into China is another example of Buddhist skillful means. With parallel ideas present in Zoroas­trianism, the times were con­ducive for this aspect of Buddha’s teachings to become widespread.

Messianic Teachings

Zoroastrianism speaks of saviors to come in the fu­ture. In the end, there will be a huge battle between the forces of good and evil, with each soldier of Ahura Mazda being pitted again­st and defeating a corresponding sol­dier of dark­ness. After the victory of light, the original state of peace will be restored, and there will be great happiness for three thou­sand years. The dead will arise for a final reward or punish­ment. Fire will burn those who were evil, the hells will be seal­ed and Ahriman will be rendered powerless. 

The Zoroastrian idea of an apocalyptic battle with a mes­siah influenced the Biblical religions and also is reflected in the Buddhist Kālacakra Tantra. The earliest presentation of a mes­siah in the Biblical religions is in Juda­ism, during the post-Babylonian exile period from the second cen­tury BCE to the second century CE. At the end of this perio­d, the idea emerg­ed that the coming of the mes­siah will be preceded by a catas­trophic battle between the forces of Satan and God. 

In early Christianity, Jesus was identified as the Messiah. But then a “second coming” of Jesus was asserted with a final judgment. The millenary move­ments within Christianity assert that Christ will rule for a thousand years in a heavenly king­dom on earth after his return. In Islam, Mahdi will be the messiah who will restore the true religion for a very short period before the end of the world. 

The Kālacakra Tantra description of a future war has sev­eral features resembling the Zoroastrian presentation. Each side will have corresponding forces pitted against each other. At the con­clusion of the war, there will be a return to a Gol­den Age, which will last 1,800 years. However, there is no apoca­lyptic vision of the end of all strug­gles. A war and Golden Age of 1,800 years will follow consecutively in each of the other eleven continents of this universe. Nor is there any idea of the dead ari­sing for a final ju­dgment as in Zoroastri­anism and the three Biblical religions. The Buddhist vision of a future war also has many ele­ments in common with the Hindu version found in the Viṣṇu Purāṇa. These will be dis­cussed below. 

Although Buddhism presents a fu­ture Buddha Maitreya, he is quite different from a Zoroastrian or Biblical messiah. There will be a thousand Bud­dhas in this world age who will start universal religions. Shakyamuni was the fourth, Maitreya will be the fifth. Buddhas come when the times are conducive and people are receptive to their teachings. The process is cycli­cal, and even more Bud­dhas will come in other world ages and to other universes.

As with the other earlier Iranian religions, purification is very important in Zoroastrianism. This is not done through fasting and celibacy, which were em­phasized later in Christianity and Manichaeism. Meat is eaten, and it is every­one’s duty to procreate. Instead, there is ritual ablu­tion, confession and feed­ing the sacred fire, which is kept eternally by the priests and shown occasio­nally to the populace. As later in Islam, prayers are to be offe­red five times a day. 

In addi­tion, to main­tain purity and over­come evil within, one must avoid all con­tact with dead bodies and the forces of death and decay. For this reason, so as not to pollute the earth and, through the earth, oneself and humankind, corpses are brought to a Tower of Silence, arranged inside with three separate circles for the bodies of men, women and children. The flesh is fed to the vultures, and the bones are thrown into a central well.

In Tibetan culture, corpses are cut into small pieces and fed to the vultures. There is no tower, and the purpose of the ritual is different from that in Zoroastri­an­ism. It is done to practice generosity through the giving away of one’s body to help other beings. The Tibetan custom is akin to what is found in the description of the funeral grounds in Indian Bud­dhist tantric texts. The early Tibetan kings, even after the intro­duction of Buddhism into Tibet, were buried together with animal sacrifices according to the Bon ritual. The Hindus cremate the dead. Cremation is essential since, according to Vedic thought, the sacred fire is the vehicle for carrying the souls of the dead to the heavens. Fire, although revered in Zoroastrianism, never took on this funerary role.

Other purification ritua­ls in Zoroastrianism involve the participation of dogs, for instance the cere­moni­al touching of a dog’s left ear. There is also the custom of having a dog view a corpse five times a day for three days before bringing it to a Tower of Silence. The dog should be one with its eye­brow fur a dif­ferent color from that around its eyes so as to give the illu­sion of having four eyes.

Although Zoroastrianism was probably established to a cer­tain degree by the time of the Achae­menid ruler Xerxes I in the early fifth century BCE, it did not fully flourish until the Sasanid period (22­4–651 CE). 

The Sasanid Dynasty, which replaced the Par­thian Asarcid, was an extremely nationalistic Persian em­pire. It extended from Syria to Indi­a, in­clu­d­ing all the former Kus­han territor­ies of Sogdia, Bactria, Gandha­ra, the Indus Valley and even Kashgar, though not Khota­n. Although Zoroastri­anism was insti­tutiona­lized as the state religion, Buddhism con­tinued in those areas of the empire where it had prev­iously flourished. In general, however, the Sasanids were rather intolerant, although during their period Manichaeism and Nestorian Chris­tianity emerged. 

During this dynasty, the Zoroastrian dualism between Ahura Mazda and Ahri­man was made less severe, with both being viewed as emanations of Zur­van, an original prin­ciple of infinite time. Zurvan had been a god much wor­shipped in Mithra­ism. Zur­vanism, however, was declared heretical in the mid-sixth cen­tury CE.

After the Arab conquest of Iran in 651 CE and the intro­duction of Islam, persecution of Zoroastrians began. They settled mostly in southeastern Iran. In the tenth century, many went to western India, where their religion became known as the Parsi faith. 

“Kalachakra” means “cycles of time.” In its commentarial tradition, “time” is taken to be the situation beyond time, namely the primordial clear light subtlest mind. “Time,” as this subtlest mind, is the origin of all appearances, both the uncontrollably recurring ones of sam­sara that arise out of ignorance, and the pure appearances of nirvana. The cycles are these pure and impure ap­pear­ances created by “time.” It is difficult to ascertain whether this Buddhist usage of the word “time” is a skillful means for ad­dressing people familiar with the Iranian ideas of Zurvanism. But there is a curious parallel.

One should not, however, think that in the Kalachakra teachings samsara and nirvana form a dualism like one finds in Iranian religions. Even though Kalachakra speaks of a war in the future between the armies of Shambhala and the barbaric forces, in which each side is matched, one for one, against each other, parallel to the Zoroastrian description of the apocalyptic war, still this is not the same as an Iranian dualism. One must understand the symbolism involved and the philosophical basis.

The Kālacakra Tantra does not state that it is presenting views that derive from Iranian religions. Indian Hindu ele­ments are far more prominent. It speaks, for instance, about how and why Bud­dha teaches the Vedas. The Tibetan com­menta­ri­al liter­ature ex­plains that Bud­dha needs to teach the Vedas to non-Buddhist extremists be­cause these people do not know the deep­est inten­tions of the words of their own clas­sics. By showing these people the Buddhist principles of cause and effect and so on, through the gateway of the terms and con­cepts found in their own religious classics, Buddha can gradu­ally lead them to the deeper insights of voidness and reality that will bring them to liberation and enlightenment. 

Showing non-Buddhists an alternative symbolic interpreta­tion of their own religious teachings is a self-avowed skillful method used by the Buddhists. They are not claiming that the original non-Buddhist teachers had the Buddhist in­terpre­tation as the deepest meaning they intended to convey. But, as the Kalachakra commentaries explain, it is necessary to humble the pride and arrogance of some people who hold strongly to certain views that are ultimately harmful to the general pub­lic welfare.

The Kalachakra literature appeared in India at the time of the threat of the Turkic Muslim inva­sions, when the society was deeply divided. The commentaries explain that if intrac­table people who would not heed this threat can be shown an alternative interpreta­tion of their own teachings, for in­stance of the Vedic-derived reli­gions, they will develop doubts about their views. In this way they can be led to a more productive outlook that will allow peo­ple to unite in face of an invasion. But, as the commen­tary explains, the aim is not to cause non-Buddhists to give up their customs and relig­ions. Rather it is to move them to ex­amine their own dishar­monious behav­ior to see if it really is in accord with their own Vedic ethical teachings.

If the presence of so many Hindu terms and concepts in the Kālacakra Tantra can be understood in this way, the same explanation can account for the seemingly Iranian elements. The predict­ed war against the barbaric forces, for instance, is explained as a battle within each person. The barbaric forces are those of one’s negative potentials, destructive actions, dis­turbing attitudes and confusion. The leaders of the Shambhala army are the deep awareness that sees reality and the forces of love and compassion. It is not that there is an eternal duality of good versus evil. But rather, since confusion does not have a stable foundation rooted in verifiable reality, it can be overcome by insight and clarity of mind. 

The future war is not to be taken only symbolically, since there defi­nitely is a danger of external historical threats. Never­the­less, one must see that the deepest intention of this Iran­ian-sounding war of dualism is to describe the spiritual path of the highest class of tantra. The war itself is but a minor aspect of the Kalachakra teachings. 

Furthermore, the hero and details of the war are presented in terms found in the Hindu literature of the period. The Viṣṇu Purāṇa describes the ten incarnations of Vishnu. The tenth is Kalki, who will come from his home city of Sham­bhala on a white horse, with a flaming sword in his hand, and over­come the forces of evil. In this way, he will restore the Golden Age.

In the Kālacakra Tantra, Shambhala is a land to the north ruled by a succession of twenty-five kings whose title is Kalki, the Holder of the Castes. In the future, at the time of the twenty-fifth Kalki, Rudrachakrin, there will be a battle against the barbaric forces. Rudrachakrin, on a stone horse, will defeat the barbarian leader, Mahdi, the messiah of Islam, who will also ride a horse. The barbarian leader on his horse symbolizes des­truc­tive ac­tions riding on ignorance. The Kalki hero symbo­lizes the blissful deep awareness of voidness aris­ing simul­taneously with each moment of the clear light sub­tlest mind. Although the symbolism of his riding on a horse of indestruc­tible stone is not given, one can interpo­late from other Bud­dhist tantra texts that this might symbo­lize the subtlest mind riding on the sub­tlest energy-winds. 

Thus, Kalachakra does not simply speak in terms of Iranian themes, but also echoes stories found in popular Hinduism. The aim is to make the Buddhist teachings accessible and intelli­gible to the culture of its times. And when Buddhism was first spreading through Central Asia, the culture was a blend of Iranian and Indian elements.