Buddhism as Iranian heresy?

[dean_anderson at SACARI.ORG]

Thanks for the replies!

No, I don't think I got it out of context although he does just drop it as
an aside in the middle of a paragraph. It surprised me because Mallory tends
to usually adhere rather closely to mainstream opinions. Since the book is
not intended for a purely scholarly audience, there is unfortunately no
reference as to why he says this. I'll have to look up the Boyce reference.

I could certainly see how there might have been Iranian influence in later
Buddhism as it travelled out of NW India into Central Asia but this would be
so much later that there wouldn't be any relation between Zakyamuni and the
Sakas. In any case, I can't see anything in early Buddhism that can't be
attributed to the Indian milieu of its birth.

Now this has me doubting Mallory. Buddhism is not my designated field of
obsession.  Just to confirm what he says: is it generally accepted that
Buddhism left India via the NW and entered Central Asia and from there to
the Tarim basin and that the Chinese got it from that direction?

Dean Anderson