Abstract

Under the influence of the mysterious Ammonius Saccas, Plotinus conceived a desire to learn Persian and Indian philosophy firsthand. This led him to a romantic participation in the emperor Gordian's ill-fated Persian expedition. He managed to escape to Antioch and two years later began teaching in Rome.1 It is unlikely he was vouchsafed any contact with Hinduism or Buddhism,2 but the parallels between his thought and especially Buddhist philosophy are striking. The parallels with Buddhism are closer than with Hinduism since Buddhism worked with three rather than two levels or substructures of reality,3 yet the Hindu connection has been more frequently explored by Neoplatonist scholars than the Buddhist.4...