In the age of king "Asoka", the expansion of Buddhism reached Arabic countries. Does anybody know what those countries are called now?
Can anyone provide details about what happened to those places / Temples ?
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1See also Buddhism in the Middle East – ChrisW Oct 31 '15 at 10:53
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1Very interesting question. Thanks for asking it. – Oct 31 '15 at 17:49
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1Thank you.I got a good answer from "ChrisW" but a lot is still out there,like what happened to those places. @Lanka – Theravada Oct 31 '15 at 19:31
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Wikipedia's Ashoka article includes this map:
Its western border is the Seleucid empire which appears to be where modern-day Iran is (note that Iran I think might be ethnically Persian rather than Arabian).
It also includes modern-day countries like Pakistan and Afghanistan (which are Islamic but not exactly Arabic).
This map is labelled "Buddhist proselytism at the time of king Ashoka (260–218 BCE)":
It shows Buddhist proselytism reaching (beyond the Maurya empire) to Alexandria (which is in modern-day Egypt), and Antioch (modern Turkey).
This may not be "expansion of Buddhism" though, it's more like "envoys from the Buddhist empire".
ChrisW
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I agree, very nice. Good to see some historic background and thorough research. – Oct 31 '15 at 17:49