[Cronos]

The progress of Buddhism from India to China seems pretty well documented as having taken place during Emperor Ashoka's reign (ruler of most of the Indian continent around 350 B.C.) who converted to Buddhism and went on a proselyting spree -- his empire converted to the Emperor's religion and the Emperor sent missionaries to China and the Orient and to the west -- Gandhara and converted the Greeks there to Buddhism. Another strange fact I just read was that the rulers of parts of Afghanistant until the Arab era had quite a bit of Greek blood in them, so the present-day Afghanis may be a fraction GReek.

[blam]

"Another strange fact I just read was that the rulers of parts of Afghanistant until the Arab era had quite a bit of Greek blood in them, so the present-day Afghanis may be a fraction GReek."

I tend to agree with this too.

I suspect Buddahism travelled out of northern Indian-Pakistan down the proto-Silk Road into China in about 100-200BC by the Tocharians into the Han occupied regions.

[blam]

This picture is contained in Victor Mair's book, The Tarim Mummies

Above: This 900 AD painting from the caves at the Buddhist monastery at Bezeklik, Turfnan, Central Asia, depicts Tocharian worthies donating trays of moneybags to a Buddhist saint. Note the light hair and blue eyes of the Tocharian on the right, the last remnants of the Indo-European invaders of China.

[swarthyguy]

Greek blood

The Greeks intermingled and there are stories about Afghani tribes made up of Alexander's army who settled in Afghanistan.

There is a tribe called the Nuranis, IIRC, far north Afghanistan, only converted to Islam early in the 20th Century who seem to have quite a lot of Greek influence in their culture.

They were the inspiration for Kipling's the Man who would be King and their veneration of Sikander and Greek symbols.