Buddhism

[anvi]

Clement of Alexandria seems to be familiar with some history of the missions of Buddhism in his Stromata.  Buddhist monks appear to have been present in Alexandria by around the third century CE.  There has also been scholarly speculation that the halos that appear over the heads of bodhisattvas in Asian Buddhist artwork may have resulted from some Christian influence.  But nothing very specific is known about any of this.

BTW, with the exception of some of its texts and traditions, Buddhists generally reject notions of soul or spirit entirely.  That having been said, the ultimate goal of praxis for Buddhists is to escape the rebirth cycle entirely. But this results in extinguishing (nirvāṇa) of a karmic heritage, and not in eternal paradise.  Still for most Buddhists, this goal is considered a long, long way off, and very few are thought to achieve it in any given generation.  So, Buddhists spend much of their time trying to build moral merit through deeds and various kinds of Buddhist devotions, and much less time in meditation practices than is often thought.