Dharmic Middle East

[aware of emptiness]

What POD could lead to Dharmic religion/world-view philosophy spreading Westward to Iran, Mesopotamia, and towards the eastern Mediterranean, and actually gaining a foothold? What would be the consequences of this on world history.

I think the farthest west that Buddhism spread was to Iran and Central Asia, but was again pushed out by Islam. I think there's also like a Hindu minority in Iran or something.

So if either Hinduism, Buddhism, perhaps even a syncretric eastern/monotheism-style faith like Sihkism manage to survive or even thrive at the expense of (or alongside) the Abrahamic faiths, what would the world be like?

 

[Fire God]

What POD could lead to Dharmic religion/world-view philosophy spreading Westward to Iran, Mesopotamia, and towards the eastern Mediterranean, and actually gaining a foothold? What would be the consequences of this on world history.

My guess is anything in the Hellenistic Age. Otherwise, the Answers for Milinda thread might give you ideas. I think it has to do with a more contact between Asia and Europe, not to mention a possible exposure to Buddhism in the Hellenistic World.

I think the farthest west that Buddhism spread was to Iran and Central Asia, but was again pushed out by Islam. I think there's also like a Hindu minority in Iran or something.

True, but the farthest west the religion spread ever would have to be where the Buddhist Turkic peoples known as the Oirats settled in the 1600s, along the western Caspian Sea. Today they are known as the Kalmyks.