ABSTRACT
In his Vita Plotini, Porphyry tells us that, at the age of twenty-seven, Plotinus was seized by a passion for philosophy. Plotinus searched long for a teacher until he nally met Ammonius in Alexandria:
From that day he stayed continually with Ammonius and acquired so complete a training in philosophy that he became eager to make acquaintance with the Persian philosophical discipline and that prevailing among the Indians. As the Emperor Gordian was preparing to march against the Persians, he joined the army and went on the expedition; he was already in his thirty-ninth year, for he had stayed studying with Ammonius for eleven complete years. When Gordian was killed in Mesopotamia Plotinus escaped with di culty and came safe to Antioch. (Porphyry, Plot. 3.14-23)2
Scholars have long wished to investigate the relationship between Plotinus and the Indian system of thought, but such research was limited to historical research or philosophical speculation.3 us far, no speci c Indian text has been suggested where such a “system” – one that bears the closest resemblance to Plotinian thought – could be found.4
