[Buddha-l] Rice & Dragons

[Jo]

On Behalf Of Dan Lusthaus
Sent: Friday, April 13, 2012 4:09 PM


>But - aren't the South-Eastern rice-eating  dragons more friendly than 
>those  monopolistic wheat dependent  Abrahamic gods of the West?
> Artur

Artur, you are mixing apples and oranges (or malevolent and friendly
dragons). First, as Joanna pointed out, Buddhism DID spread and take hold in
what today we call Afghanistan, the other -stans, Iran, Baghdad, and even
(according to archaeology) Turkey -- not to mention Tibet, Mongolia, etc. 
The reason the "northwest" expansion of Buddhism is relatively forgotten
today -- and it occurred for nearly 10 centuries, not an insignificant
period of time -- is the advent of Islam, which eliminated it from the scene
(right up to the Taliban putting some finishing touches on Bamiyan). 
Peshawar, now best known as terrorist central in Pakistan, used to be called
Purushapur, and was the birthplace of Asanga and Vasubandhu, amongst others.

So the "rice" fantasy is a red herring.

That leaves the question of whether dragons get meaner the further west one
goes, and the answer is, not really. There are unfriendly dragons (=
serpents with and without legs) in both east and west -- just as the nagas
can become protectors of Buddhas and prajnaparamita sutras, the great
serpent encircled Osiris to preserve him; then there is the caduceus -
symbol of healing; As for Abrahamic imagery, Moses defeats the Pharoah's
magicians by turning his staff into a serpent that devours their serpents. 
Todays children's cartoons are full of friendly dragons (not to mention
Peter, Paul and Mary's "Puff"). None of that has anything to do with
Buddhism.

If you are looking for reasons that Buddhism was eliminated from its
comfortable, long-standing establishment in central and western asia, look
to Islam, not dragons.

Dan 
________________________

Thanks Dan for presenting further points. 
Apparently, over the centuries, there manifested many different kinds of
dragons across the great Asian continent and its peninsulas. 
An argument might be made that the dragon figure began in Neolithic
China........and travelled all over the rest of the then world. However, I'm
not sure that's accurate--need to spend much time on reviewing sources, and
no time is available.

Joanna