No! That's from Pyrrhus of Epirus, one of the greatest Greek warlords, who was a bit younger. He was something else, Pyrrhus. His story is coming up next month...
I'm the author of "Pyrrho's Way: The Ancient Greek Version of Buddhism." I think your article has several errors in your section about Pyrrho.
* I know of no sources that claim that Pyrrho tried to reconcile Greek philosophy "with a new Orientalizing deism." That sounds like what the Stoics were doing, not the Pyrrhonists. With regard to religion we have few clues about what Pyrrho's intentions were, but it would appear that he tried to insulate traditional Greek religion from the corrosive effects of philosophy.
* While it's true that Pyrrho was a priest at the Temple of Zeus at Olympia, his role in Alexander's court was as a Democritean philosopher.
* The ultimate source for your use of "apatheia" is Christopher I Beckwith, who thinks there was a transcription error. The record we have is "aphasia" not "apatheia." "Aphasia" means "no assertion" or "speechlessness." I have anecdotal reports from contemporary people who have taken up Pyrrhonism that they experienced aphasia.
* It's worth noting that Pyrrho introduced the term "ataraxia" into Greek philosophy. Its prior usage referred to the ideal mental state for soldiers entering battle.
* Pyrrho brought a lot more than just a few "primitive notions of Buddhism" into Greek philosophy. From key Buddhist philosophical concepts he created a version of Buddhism that largely anticipated that of Nagarjuna hundreds of years later.
* I know of no sources for the claim that Pyrrho practiced a primitive form of yoga that involved not moving. There is a source that Socrates practiced this.
Good points all. In fact, I will update the text to incorporate some. Regarding point 1, the idea here would be that Pyrrho is the first Greek philosopher to present an idea of deity as something so distant as to be incomprehensible, a typically Asian view that is expressed as omnipotence in Judaism and, especially, Islam, and great detachment in all Chinese religions. Point 3, you're right, refers to my reliance on Beckwith for that bit. About point 5, what I mean is that Pyrrho, who lived at the starting point of Buddhist philosophy and theology, could not present a highly evolved view of Buddhism, since that hadn't been created yet. So, "primitive" as "early," not as "crude."
We have little information about Pyrrho's religious views, but his philosophy so little interfered with them that he was promoted to high priest after he returned to Greece and started promoting Pyrrhonism.
As for distant, incomprehensible deities, I suggest looking to the earlier Greek philosophers Xenophanes and Protagoras.
Pyrrho came after the Buddha. The Buddha taught for 45 years. Generally the period of the Buddha and right after him is called "early Buddhism." It is "early Buddhism" that Pyrrho was exposed to.
Incidentally, all of the ideas necessary for Pyrrhonism already existed in Greek thought prior to Pyrrho. It's not new ideas that Pyrrho got from Buddhism but a new assembly of those ideas.
neo-Pyrrhonist discussion can be found at https://www.facebook.com/groups/Pyrrhonism
This FB group is adminned by Doug Bates
https://pyrrhonism.medium.com/
Christopher Beckwith reckons Pyrrho is more Buddhist influenced that is commonly ascribe for the last few thousand years, See his Greek Buddha...
I have a review up of Beckwith's more recent book on The Scythians at https://whyweshould.substack.com/p/christopher-i-beckwiths-the-scythian
Is Pyrrho's name the source of the term "phyrric"? (As in "phyrric victory".)
No! That's from Pyrrhus of Epirus, one of the greatest Greek warlords, who was a bit younger. He was something else, Pyrrhus. His story is coming up next month...
Thank you.
I'm the author of "Pyrrho's Way: The Ancient Greek Version of Buddhism." I think your article has several errors in your section about Pyrrho.
* I know of no sources that claim that Pyrrho tried to reconcile Greek philosophy "with a new Orientalizing deism." That sounds like what the Stoics were doing, not the Pyrrhonists. With regard to religion we have few clues about what Pyrrho's intentions were, but it would appear that he tried to insulate traditional Greek religion from the corrosive effects of philosophy.
* While it's true that Pyrrho was a priest at the Temple of Zeus at Olympia, his role in Alexander's court was as a Democritean philosopher.
* The ultimate source for your use of "apatheia" is Christopher I Beckwith, who thinks there was a transcription error. The record we have is "aphasia" not "apatheia." "Aphasia" means "no assertion" or "speechlessness." I have anecdotal reports from contemporary people who have taken up Pyrrhonism that they experienced aphasia.
* It's worth noting that Pyrrho introduced the term "ataraxia" into Greek philosophy. Its prior usage referred to the ideal mental state for soldiers entering battle.
* Pyrrho brought a lot more than just a few "primitive notions of Buddhism" into Greek philosophy. From key Buddhist philosophical concepts he created a version of Buddhism that largely anticipated that of Nagarjuna hundreds of years later.
* I know of no sources for the claim that Pyrrho practiced a primitive form of yoga that involved not moving. There is a source that Socrates practiced this.
Good points all. In fact, I will update the text to incorporate some. Regarding point 1, the idea here would be that Pyrrho is the first Greek philosopher to present an idea of deity as something so distant as to be incomprehensible, a typically Asian view that is expressed as omnipotence in Judaism and, especially, Islam, and great detachment in all Chinese religions. Point 3, you're right, refers to my reliance on Beckwith for that bit. About point 5, what I mean is that Pyrrho, who lived at the starting point of Buddhist philosophy and theology, could not present a highly evolved view of Buddhism, since that hadn't been created yet. So, "primitive" as "early," not as "crude."
We have little information about Pyrrho's religious views, but his philosophy so little interfered with them that he was promoted to high priest after he returned to Greece and started promoting Pyrrhonism.
As for distant, incomprehensible deities, I suggest looking to the earlier Greek philosophers Xenophanes and Protagoras.
Pyrrho came after the Buddha. The Buddha taught for 45 years. Generally the period of the Buddha and right after him is called "early Buddhism." It is "early Buddhism" that Pyrrho was exposed to.
Incidentally, all of the ideas necessary for Pyrrhonism already existed in Greek thought prior to Pyrrho. It's not new ideas that Pyrrho got from Buddhism but a new assembly of those ideas.