[Buddha-l] Pure Land

[Steven Rhodes]

Dear Richard,

I was told in a medieval history class long ago, but have never seen it 
in print, that Dec. 25 was in fact the winter solstice in the old Roman 
calendar, and that the Christians chose this day for  "Christmas" to 
keep their adherents from being tempted to go to the local Mithraeum on 
the same day.  Perhaps others on the list have seen this theory in print 
(?).

Steven Rhodes


Richard Hayes wrote:

>On Wed, 2007-07-11 at 07:34 -0700, Gary Gach wrote:
>
>  
>
>>Seems to me as if resemblances between Pure Land and what's now known as
>>Christianity may not be accidental, but rather due to Buddhists hearing
>>about followers of Jesus during travels along the Silk Route.
>>    
>>
>
>That seems possible, but what I would consider more likely is that the
>cult of Amitabha and the cult of Jesus have a common ancestral influence
>in the cult of Mithra, which was prominent in Persia and in the
>Hellenistic world at about the time that the Jesus cult evolved and that
>the Amitabha cult evolved.
>
>According to one theory that I have read about, the Jesus cult borrowed
>several important elements from the cult of Mithra. For example,
>December 25 was the birthdate of Mithra, and the most prominent symbol
>of Mithraism was the cross. Some Hellenists have claimed that it was an
>accident of history that Christianity nudged out Mithraism as the cult
>of choice in the 3rd or 4th century of what eventually came to be called
>the Christian era.
>
>  
>