Surprised at the notion, I did a search on CHF and wasn’t surprised that what threads did mention Mithra (and there weren’t many) were dealing with the possibility of Jesus having preached in Tibet and the chestnuts of Jesus cum Mithra (And as we approach that magic time of year for them both to be born, fellow Mithraists are gritting their teeth for the annual comparisons by newbies. Did you know that Mithra had twelve followers...
lol) That aside, I understand that Vedic Mitra could have reached as far as Japan, but I can’t see the Roman Mithra having extended much further than the Imperium Romanum.My interest in Mithra is centered on Roman Britain and my knowledge toward the East, as I have come to appreciate, is seriously lacking.
I contacted Matthew, offering to post a thread and see if we hit upon anything.
Have at it!
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I have checked through the posts and I do not see any references
to evidence that Roman Mithraism reached Japan or China. I've been
following this list for over a year or so...did I miss it? The forum
discussion mentioned Roman coins in China and I found something about
lost Roman soldiers of Crassus, but no archeological evidence of the
Mithras cult in China or Japan. The Mithraic group in Japan
( Pattie here...inserting linkage... http://home2.highway..._of_Mithra.html and http://homepage2.nif...n_Theology.html and finally http://home2.highway...at/magimenu.htm ) seems to
be a synthesis of Persian and Roman Mithraism and Buddhism, but do
not give any concrete information to support their claim that
Mithras reached Japan. There are references to "Miroku", the
Japanese name for Maitreya, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maitreya )
but this doesn't really have anything to
do with Roman or Persian Mithraism.
Maitreya has similar characteristics to Mitra etymologically,
but developed separately from the Mithra of Persia and Mithras of
Rome as specific to Buddhism. The similarities in characteristics is
interesting though.
"Vairocana" is the Solar Buddha and the wiki article says that
the word does have its origin in Sanskrit from the Rig Veda itself
and "has the connotation to mean a brilliant, luminous sun". In
Japanese, Vairocana is called "Dainichi". "Dai" meaning "great"
and "nichi" meaning "day" or "sun". Actually, "taiyo" means sun but
it depends on the kanji used and in this case the combination of
characters for "Dainichi" apparently means "great sun". Dainichi is
the Buddha venerated by the Shingon sect which was founded by a
Japanese monk in the 9th century who learned tantric teachings in
Tibet and brought it back to Japan. So, no Roman or Persian Mithraic
connection there. The Solar Buddha of Tibet was probably derived
from India (since Bon was originally the native religion of Tibet,
not Buddhism), but it would have been a school that developed from
Sankrit origin and not Avestan.
The Japanese Mithraic group claims that Mithraism came over to
Japan from China via Korea, through "Shugendo". Ironically, I have
some knowledge of Shugendo and it is a slim possibility because the
Shugenja were wandering practitioners that in the beginning picked up
whatever religious influences were around like: Taoism, Buddhism, and
Shinto. But, Shugendo began in Japan as syncretism of all the
religious elements present at the time, not Korea or China. I admit
though that I have never seen any traces of Roman or Persian
Mithraism in Shugendo in my experience, though they do have esoteric
practices which are still secret. Unfortunately, as I understand it,
the Shugenja were forced to integrate into the Buddhist sects of
Shingon and Tendai by the warlords who wanted to keep an eye on them,
which altered the original form of "wandering monks" and perhaps lost
its Mithraic elements, if there were any. It appears to me that this
Japanese group most likely equates Mithra and Maitreya and claims
that Mithraism entered Japan that way.
I would like to believe that Roman or Persian Mithraism reached
Japan but I don't see it so far. If it did reach the east, then it
would likely be in India or the Himalayan region from ancient Persian
influences. Manichaeism reached China, but so far I have not seen
anything to support that Mithraism did. I think that it would be
more likely that Mitra began as the Kshtrya Ishta-Deva which
developed into two branches of Sankrit and Avestan schools that kept
developing independently of each other, which is how we probably have
Mithra, Vairocana and Maitreya.
It is also interesting to note that there is a Greco-Buddhist
body of artwork that was around at the same time as the Persian and
Roman Mithraic cults, but Buddhism operated independently. The
largest icons of the solar Buddha Vairocana were destroyed by muslims
in Afghanistan in 2001, not long before we overthrew the Taliban
(http://en.wikipedia....dhas_of_Bamiyan). What a
coincidence. It makes me wonder what else has been
destroyed...perhaps the Mithraic links that I'm looking for...
Of course, if anyone knows something of a real link of Mithraism in
China or Japan, then please let me know.
Thanks for reading this mini-novel! =D
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I promised to forward anything of note to Matthew, so please keep in mind that I will be cutting and pasting to him, though not the Mithra list in general. If you feel strongly about me sharing, you have but to say as much and he's outta luck.
Thanks, from us both.
)
