Jason Reza Jorjani, PhD, is a philosopher and author of Prometheus and Atlas, World State of Emergency, Lovers of Sophia, Novel Folklore: The Blind Owl of Sadegh Hedayat, and Iranian Leviathan: A Monumental History of Mithra’s Abode.

Here he presents a narrative concerning the possible Scythian/Iranian origin of Buddhism. He points out that the appelation “Sakamuni” is a likely reference to Gautama’s Scythian origins. His bold hypothesis suggests that Gautama is one and the same with Lao Tzu, the ostensible founder of Taoism. Further Jorjani suggests that Gautama may have also been the magus, Gaumata, who briefly ruled the Achaemenid Persian empire. Fundamentally, he sees Buddhism as a refutation of Zoroastrian thought.

New Thinking Allowed host, Jeffrey Mishlove, PhD, hosted and co-produced the original Thinking Allowed public television series. He is a past vice-president of the Association for Humanistic Psychology; and is the recipient of the Pathfinder Award from that Association for his contributions to the field of human consciousness exploration.

(Recorded on July 5, 2019)

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