Guest guest Posted October 5, 2009 Report Share Posted October 5, 2009 Dear All, The following writeup is from: http://thaimangoes.blogspot.com/ Love and regards,Sreenadh====================================Gautama Buddha was a Scythian (Saka) who lived in Greater Gandhara in the 4th century BCE. THE HYPOTHESIS The accumulation of data is of course a necessary first step and includes the deriving of fresh data from new sources, but an advance in knowledge is dependent on using the data to present new formulations. Romila Thapar Seated Buddha (Flickr photo)Pakistan or Afghanistan, ancient region of GandharaMap of Greater Gandhara (Click to enlarge to see the high density of stupas in Ancient Gandhara) The thesis of this blog is that Gautama Buddha was an Indo-Scythian who lived sometime in the 5th to 4th centuries BCE in the Greater Gandhara region, not in the Nepal Terai as is generally believed. The Indian name for Scythians is Saka (or Sakya); hence Buddha is also known as Sakamuni (or Sakyamuni), the sage of the Sakas. When the center of power of the Mauryan empire shifted east, the story of the Buddhaâ€"which had been transmitted orally for centuriesâ€"was written down and relocated to the Indo-Gangetic plains. But the Sakyans still retained the memory of the sage as one of their own. That is why we find that moreâ€"and earlierâ€"sculpture and architecture made in the service of Buddhism has been found in Greater Gandhara than in any other part of ancient South Asia, and the earliest anthropomorphic images of the Buddha show distincly Aryan features. And that is why the Sakas were most ardent in spreading Buddhism along the silk road into Central Asia, eventually to invigorate the air of China and Japan.Dr. Ranajit Pal has pointed out that many famous cities in modern India had older counterparts in Iran-Baluchistan (parts of ancient Greater India) and that Sir William Jones' contention that Patna in eastern India was Megasthenes' Palibothra (Pataliputra) was a fatal error that has no archaeological basis. Dr. Pal claims that Jones' view that the crucial state of Magadha was Bihar is baseless. The first epigraphic mention of Magadha is an Asokan edict in faraway Bairat and there is no warrant for an ancient Magadha in Bihar. Magan in west-Baluchistan must have been the early Magadha. [Fatal errors indeed because they misled Sir Alexander Cunningham into mislocating Buddhist sites.] Dr. Pal has also pointed out that had the Buddhist canon been formulated at Gaya, Varanasi or Nalanda we would have had manuscripts from these places. But all the documents come from ancient Gandhara. This cannot be accidental, he says.Anyway, I'm running ahead of myself; just wanted to give credit to Dr. Pal. His website: A New Non-Jonesian History of the World. I have drawn on the contributions made by earlier scholars and researchers in support of my conclusions; where I have done so, I have cited the sources. Of course the opinions expressed or conclusions reached here are tentative. In fact, I shall be satisfied if they are regarded as worthy of serious consideration and lead to discussion. เขียนโà¸"ย Thai Mangoes ที่ 6:47 หลังเที่ยง 0 ความคิà¸"เห็น ป้ายà¸à¸³à¸à¸±à¸š: Gautama Buddha the real story Indo-Scythian Greater Gandhara Nepal Terai Saka Sakya Sakamuni Sakyamuni sage of the Sakas Mauryan empire Birth of the Buddha Trees and Buddha WHO WERE THE SAKAS? "Behold, he shall come up like clouds,And his chariots like a whirlwind.His horses are swifter than eagles.Woe to us, for we are plundered!" Thus prophesized Jeremiah of Judea around 627 BCE (Jeremiah, iv, 13). In about 625 BCE the horsemen known to the Assyrians as Iskhuzai and Greeks as Skythos or Skutai (Scythian) invaded Syria and Judea and would press as far south as Egypt.(Guive Mirfendereski). Scythian nobleman and his wife on the Central Asian steppes (National Geographic)The Scythians were a nomadic Central Asian steppe people; branches of these people migrated south into Persia and India (where they are called Sakas), and west into the Black Sea area. Herodotus was the first to write a detailed history about them; many of his observations have been proven as reliable by recent archaeological findings. Modern scholars have written extensively about them; according to A History of Russia, Central Asia, and Mongolia, by David Christian:The diagonostic features of 'Scythic' culture were:1. the adoption of iron metallurgy;2. the use of akinakes, a short sword, of specific design and systematic development;3. the customary conservative use of artistic motifs, particularly the stag and the animal combat, all of which are combined with4. the customary nomadic life and a patriachal, little centralized social organization;5. the use of improved compound bows;6. the widespread use of bronze cauldrons;7. the making of 'deer stones' (olenniye kamni); and perhaps, most important of all8. the appearance for the first time in the steppes, of complex horse harness, which suggests a qualitative improvement in techniques of riding. 515 BCE: Saka was the Persian name for the Scythians. In 515 BCE they occupied the western Asian steppes (red circle), northwest of Greater Gandhara (light blue circle). Buddha was born between the periods shown in this and the following map [i.e. between 515-301 BCE], somewhere in or near the red or blue circles. Click to enlarge maps which are taken from Penguin Atlas of Ancient History(copyright infringement not intended). 301 BCE: Sakas still in western Asian steppes and the Mauryan empire (blue circle) had arisen in Gandhara and further east in India proper. 220 BCE: Sakas (not shown) and Mauryans still in the same place as they were in 301 BCE. 192 BCE: Sakas still in western Asian steppes but Mauryans fade from Gandhara at this time. 145 BCE: The Sakas are still on the west Asian steppes but begin to be pressured by the Yuezhi (green circle); the Indo-Greek kingdom of Menander (of Milindapanha fame) is established in Gandhara (blue circle).74 BCE: The Sakas, driven southeast into Gandhara by the Yuezhi (Kushans), finally establish their kingdom in Gandhara. The Indo-Greek kingdoms collapse. 44 BCE: The Sakas are still in Gandhara; eventually they are driven by other steppe peoples east into India proper. By the first century CE the Indo-Scythians, or Sakas, controlled a large chunk of territory in North-West India and what is now Pakistan and Afghanistan. เขียนโà¸"ย Thai Mangoes ที่ 6:46 หลังเที่ยง 0 ความคิà¸"เห็น ป้ายà¸à¸³à¸à¸±à¸š: Buddha was a Scythian Saka Persian Scythians Asian steppes Greater Gandhara Buddha Mauryan empire Indo-Greek kingdom Menander Milindapanha Yuezhi WAS BUDDHA A SCYTHIAN? Seated mustachioed BuddhaPakistan or Afghanistan, ancient region of Gandhara, 1st-2nd century CE. Since the 19th century certain Buddhologists have speculated that Buddha was a member of the Scythian steppe nomads, some of whom had been encroaching since the mid first millennium BCE into the Gandhara region, becoming sedentary in the process, eventually reaching northwest India and founding an empire there in the first century BCE.The Digha Nikaya [DN 1.90-95] tells a story of Buddha's people, the Sakyas/Scythians, as being 'foreign.' They are described by Ambattha as "fierce, rough spoken, violent, wanderers (sometimes incorrectly mistranslated as menials; but 'wanderers' is perhaps a slight on their nomadic past). They do not respect Brahmins, nor pay homage to them." Upon visiting Kapilavatthu, hometown of the Sakyas, Ambatta explains them as those who "sat upon high seats in meeting halls, engaging in laughing, rough playing, poking each other with fists and fingers and paid no regard to [Ambattha]." In referring to Buddha, the "Scythian-sage" (Sakyamuni), he [DN 3.144] "has blue eyes." See here. Relief panel with the Dipankara Jataka (Megha and the Buddha Dipankara)Pakistan, Swat Valley, c. 2nd century CE.As the relief panel and Buddha image above show, Gandharan artists were still representing Buddha (present and previous buddhas) as Aryans well into the Common Era.These are some observations to support my contention:1. Buddha was of the ksatriya caste; foreign invaders were always coopted into this caste by the Brahmins;2. Buddha rejected the caste system;3. Buddhism introduced animal motifs to India derived from the steppe peoples: the stag or deer, symbol of Buddha's first sermon in the deer park; the horse--Buddha rode out of his father's palace as a renunciate on his horse Chandaka, which was immediately taken to heaven; the Scythian eagle and lion griffins used as motifs at Barhut and Sanchi stupas, etc;Relief panel with the Buddha's first sermonPakistan, ancient region of Gandhara, c. 2nd century CE.4. The cremation of bodies and the erection of burial mounds, or stupas (topes), previously unknown in India. 5. The Buddhist ideal of the cakravartin, or wheel-turning monarch, to which kings aspired, a concept borrowed from the steppe peoples who must have been quite familiar with wheels and wagons;6. One of the 32 marks of the mahapurusha, or great man (Buddha was one), was that he had blue eyes. Herodotus wrote: "The Budini [a Scythian tribe] are a great and numerous nation, with very blue eyes and red hair."1. From The Indian Saint; or, Buddha and Buddhism: A Sketch, Historical and Critical, by Charles D. B. Mills, 1874: [samuel] Beal [translator of Buddhist Records of the Western World from ancient Chinese], however, advances the opinion that [buddha] was of Scythian descent. A branch or clan of this race, he thinks, may have penetrated Northern India, as another did Assyria about this time, and Buddha was born of this blood, a descendant of Chakravarttins or Wheel Kings, i.e., universal monarchs. Sakya's directions as to the funeral obsequies to be observed after his death, the cremation of the body, and the subsequent erection of mounds, or topes, in such numbers over India,--all, he deems, indicate a foreign parentage for this saint... But this of the directions is very probably a subsequent invention; it certainly comports little with his known character, and especially with the light esteem, almost the contempt, in which he is represented to have held the body. The weight of the evidence seems altogether in favor of the view that he was of the Aryan race and family of the Sakyas. I don't agree with Mills' last part where he states that Buddha held the body in light esteem. In fact, Buddha had a very high opinion of himself and always wanted to be treated in a special way.2. From The Indian empire: its people, history, and products By William Wilson Hunter (published 19th century):There are indications that a branch of the Scythian hordes, who overran Asia about 625 B.C., made its way to Patala on the Indus, the site selected by Alexander in 325 B.C. as his place of arms in that delta, and long the capital of Sindh under the name of Haidarabad. One portion of these Patala Scythians seems to have moved westwards by the Persian Gulf to Assyria; another section is supposed to have found its way northeast into the Gangetic valley, and branched off into the Sakyas of Kapilavastu, among whom the Buddha was born. During the two hundred years before the Christian era, the Scythic movements come a little more clearly into sight, and in the first century after Christ those movements culminate in a great Indian sovereignty. About 126 B.C., the Tartar tribe of Su are said to have conquered the Greek dynasty of Bactria, and the Graeco-Bactrian settlements in the Punjab were overthrown by the Tue-Chi [Yuezhi]. The football-field-size burial mound that Scythians made with sandstone from nearby cliffs which were the forerunner of Buddhist stupas. Above is Arzhan-2 in Tuva's Valley of the Tsars (National Geographic, copyright infringement unintended) Archaeologists found undisturbed wooden vault with two skeletons and 44 pounds of gold (2). They also found rare remnants of clothing (3), a horse grave (4), but nothing at (1) where kings were usually buried.Two centuries later, we touch solid ground in the dynasty whose chief representative, Kanishka, held the Fourth Buddhist Council, circ. 40 A.D., and became the royal founder of Northern Buddhism. But long anterior to the alleged Tue-Chi settlements in the Punjab, tribes of Scythic origin had found their way into India, and had left traces of non-Aryan origin upon Indian civilization. The sovereignty of Kanishka in the first century A.D. was not an isolated effort, but the ripened fruit of a series of ethnical movements.Coin of Kanishka, Pakistan, region of ancient Gandhara, c130 CE. Reverse, Hindu deity; Kanisha also struck coins with Buddha on the reverse (below) where Boddo is clearly stamped. Certain scholars believe that even before the time of the Buddha, there are relics of Scythic origin in the religion of India. It has been suggested that the Asvamedha, or Great Horse Sacrifice, in some of its developments at any rate, was based upon Scythic ideas. 'It was in effect,' writes Mr. Edward Thomas, 'a martial challenge, which consisted in letting the victim who was to crown the imperial triumph at the year's end, go free to wander at will over the face of the earth; its sponsor being bound to follow its hoofs, and to conquer or conciliate' the chiefs through whose territories it passed. Such a prototype seems to him to shadow forth the life of the Central Asian communities of the horseman class, 'among whom a captured steed had so frequently to be traced from camp to camp, and surrendered or fought for at last.' The curious connection between the Horse Sacrifice and the Man Sacrifice of the pre-Buddhistic religion of India has often been noticed. That connection has been explained from the Indian point of view, by the substitution theory of a horse for a human victim. Workers unearth the remains of 14 sacrificed horses; a measure of wealth on Earth and in the hereafter, horses were the mainstays in many Scythian graves. This herd is modest--Scythian graves elsewhere have been found with hundreds of horses (National Geographic). Whatever significance may attach to this rite, it is certain that with the advent of Buddhism, Scythic influences made themselves felt in India. Indeed, it has been attempted to establish a Scythic origin for Buddha himself. One of his earliest appearances in the literature of the Christian Church is as Buddha the Scythian. It is argued that by no mere accident did the Fathers trace the Manichaean doctrine to Scythianus, whose disciple, Terebinthus, took the name Buddha. As already stated, the form of abjuration of the Manichaean heresy mentions [buddha and the Scythian or Sakya], seemingly, says Weber, a separation of Buddha Sakya-muni into two. The Indian Buddhists of the Southern school would dwell lightly on, or pass over altogether, a non-Aryan origin for the founder of their faith. We have seen how the legend of Buddha in their hands assimilated itself into the old epic type of the Aryan hero. But a Scythic origin would be congenial to the Northern school of Buddhism: to the school which was consolidated by the Scythic monarch Kanishka, and which supplied a religion during more than ten centuries to Scythic tribes of Central Asia.3. From Earth to Heaven The Royal Animal-Shaped Weights of the Burmese Empire by Donald and Joan Gear: The invasions of the Greeks, Sakas, Parthians and Kushans into the Bactria and north India regions between the 1st century BCE and 2nd century CE led to one of the most creative periods in the history of India’s art. Another important influence was that of the Romans from about the 1st century BCE to the 4th century CE. In Ordos, bronzes with animal decoration continued until about the 5th or 6th century CE. This region is sometimes referred to as the last stand of animal art. At some time before the 2nd century BCE the Yueh-chieh [Yuezhi] in present day Kansu, not far from Ordos then at its peak of abundant production, must have contacted the Sakas of near Lake Balkash and acquired knowledge of its stag art, which, in modified form, could have been transmitted south through Szechwan to the semi-nomadic tribes of Yunnan. The Yueh-chieh subsequently drove out the Sakas (about 160 BCE) who then moved into northwest India (Gandhara) while the Yueh-chieh became the Kushans at the west end of the Tarmin basin. The Saka retained some of their animal art but the Yueh-chieh abandoned theirs. The region from the Black Sea to Mongolia, including Central Asia, from before the 8th century BCE was occupied by nomadic steppe tribes many culturally and probably ethnically related to the East Iranians (i.e. they were Indo-Aryans). Many belonged to the Saka group. Those occupying the region north of the Black Sea were named Scythians by the 8th century BCE Greeks, those west of the Altai mountains were called Saka by the pre-6th century BCE Persians and those east of the mountains, for convenience today, are called Saka-Siberian. On the northwest borders of China and in the Tarim basin region before the 2nd century BCE were the Yueh-chieh, also probably an Indo-Aryan people related to the Sakas. They were driven along with the Sakas by the Hsiung-Nu, a Turki people. The Indo-Aryans of about 2000 BCE and the Saka group are the most important of the steppe nomads to this work. Firstly, this is because the Indo-Aryan peoples of 2000 BCE brought to India in the Vedic religion basic concepts held by the steppe nomads which, together with Indian animism, led to Hinduism and Buddhism. Secondly, it is because tribes of, or related to the Saka group repeatedly invaded India from 2000 BCE onwards, so spreading their culture from the kingdoms and republics they established in India and thus leading to the flowering of stone architectural animal art in India from about the 2nd century BCE. The Saka influence on animal art appears to have flowed round both sides of the Tibet plateau and converged on southeast Asia. This flow of art and people may have led to the foundation of the first Burmese kingdom, Tagaung. The Yueh-chieh were driven away from their homeland by the Hsiung-Nu about the 2nd century BCE; part of the tribe moved south towards Burma and part moved west to the northern marches of India, changing their name to Kushan as they did so. There, for about five centuries, they became a great influence on the development of Mahayanist Buddhism and overland trade from the Persian to the Chinese borders. During their migration they drove a part of the Sakas before them and these settled in west India before temporarily extending their sway to the east of India south of the Kushans. The persistence of the word ‘Saka’ in various forms in India and Burma is noteworthy. Sakka is another name of Indra, the Indo-Aryan and Hindu god. Saka is the name of the group of tribes of which the Scythians were one. The Sakas, ‘people of the stag,’ are associated with the animal symbols of the chakravartin (universal ‘wheel-turning’ sovereign). Gautama Buddha was the Sakyamuni, the sage of the Sakyas. Lion capital of the pillar erected by Asoka at Sarnath. Mauryan, c250 BCE. Chunar sandstone, H 2.5m. (Archaeological Museum, Sarnath) The lion is among the figurines created by the people of the Indus valley civilizations about 2000 BCE, though it does not become a frequently used motif, at least in durable material, until it was adopted by the Buddhists about the 3rd century BCE when it looks distinctly west Asian or perhaps Persian. The adoption of the lion motif instead of the tiger may have been because the Buddhists needed a royal symbol without the ferocious or steppe nomad association of the tiger, the emblem of the warrior caste into which Gautama Buddha was born. The stone-shafted pillars of India, usually referred to as Asokan pillars, can be separated into two age groups: pre-3rd century BCE and later. The early pillars bear, or bore, on their tops copper gilt images of the lion, the bull, and the elephant. Of these the lion image is by far the most frequent. It is also the youngest, replacing the bull and elephant images. It occurs in the region formerly occupied by the republican, warlike Licchavis and later by the Nandas. In style the images show the influence of the Anatolian Hittites (20th century-8th century BCE), as do those of the south Chinese lions of the 2nd century BCEâ€"6th century CE. The Indian lion representation gradually changed its form, partly because most of the sculptors probably had never seen a lion, which was rare in India compared with west Asia and which today exists only in west India, and partly because it was intended to represent the broadcasting of a spiritual image. By the 11th century CE its shape had become unrealistic, humanoid, and subsequently became increasingly so. Left: Gold stag headdress pin; the deer became an important Buddhist icon (First Sermon in deer park)Stags appear to be particularly important in the art and myths of Central Asia, the steppes and Siberia from 1500 BCE and earlier. The stag was especially used by the Altaian Saka people. It was one of the three main animals represented in their art, the others being the horse and the tiger. In the Indus valley civilizations of about 2000 BCE stag-horns were emplaced on composite creations. Portrayals show that Agni was horned. Agni was one of the chief gods of the Aryan invasion from the steppes of about 1000 BCE. Stag representations are not found again until the last two centuries BCE but then seem to be replaced mainly by ruminants with unbranched horns or does. The two thousand five hundred-year-old Pazyryk rug, found in 1949 on the steppes of Mongolia in a Scythian prince’s tomb, already displays all the symbols later to be associated with Buddhism: the lotus blossoms, solar symbols, stags, horses, and eagle and lion griffins.Except in the Upper Punjab, the deer was not worshipped in India. The Punjabi worship was derived from the Sakas, ‘the people of the stag,’ from near Lake Balkash, who ruled various parts of northern India from about the 1st century BCE to the 4th century CE. The horned lion or lion-griffin reached the Indus valley about 2000 BCE. The griffin was utilized by Alexander the Great and he may have introduced or reintroduced it to India about 325 BCE. Certainly two griffins of about 3rd century BCE occur at Patna. Lion-griffins and eagle griffins were employed in the sculpting on the Indian Buddhist temples of the 2nd to 1st century BCE, the motifs possibly having been introduced by the Scythians (Saka) invaders. The griffin and the lion-griffin motifs were distributed by the steppe nomads on the artifacts manufactured in western Asia, just as they transmitted artifacts and motifs from the Orient. The Scythians of east Asia adapted these motifs to their own requirements before the 7th century BCE. It is likely that the lion-griffin had reached the Altai, Siberia and China well before 1000 BCE. The Scythians preferred combat scenes with griffins as the aggressors and they themselves became especially associated with the griffin by the western world, which in fact made the association Scythia-griffin-gold because at that time, the Altai and adjacent regions produced much of the world’s gold. Lion-griffin figurines were present in Bactria in the 4th century BCE at a time when colonies of Greeks were working for the Scythians. In the 3rd-1st century lion-griffins were being made at Pazyryk in the Altai. The Neolithic religions of the Eurasian agriculturalists appear to have been characterized by a belief in earth gods, i.e. those of the earth as a whole, of the soil and of the underworld. This belief is expressed most obviously in the forms of earth mounds, sometimes capped by stones, megaliths, dolmens, menhirs, small stone pyramids and other structures. Such occur in Central Asia, Tibet, Mongolia, Assam, Orissa, Southeast Asia, etc. Later the belief was expressed in the form of pillars in India, Yunnan and Vietnam, as stupas in much of the same region and, in Southeast Asia, as temples intended to represent mountains, e.g. many Khmer temples. The natural, or man-made, elevations seems to have been regarded as a substitute for the body of the local earth god (and later for the tribe itself symbolized through the ancestors of the rulers) within which was concentrated the power of the deity, a capping stone often serving to concentrate the power still more effectively. Celestial gods formed part of the cosmology but were less important than the earth gods. A link between the two kinds of god was often made by the use of a pillar or tree on or near the mound, but the elevation itself, especially if high, may have served as the link. Horse sacrifices, practiced by the Mongols, Turko-Tartars, Indo-European peoples and others, were always offered to the god of the sun and sky. The horse, especially a white one, symbolized the sun. In the Altai it was the function of the shaman, in a trance, to accompany the soul of a sacrificed horse on its celestial journey and also to offer horseflesh to the ancestors. Horse sacrifices and horse burials formed part of the burial rites of these peoples throughout the entire region, the best known being those of the Indo-Aryan Scythians, Sakas and other invaders of India. These rites and sun worship continued among the Mongols until after the 14th century CE, while Tartar chiefs continued to present thousands of white horses to the Chinese emperor until after the 18th century CE. In ancient India and elsewhere, long hair on shamans, such as the Ari favored, symbolized the snakes that appeared on the costumes and in the beliefs of the Central Asian shamans. The snake played an important role in Central Asian and Siberian mythology and on the shaman’s costume. The Indo-Aryans of about 1500 BCE, the Scythians of pre-8th century BCE and the Sakas of the same stock about 2nd century BCE all invaded India. They drank intoxicants like the Ari and took narcotics (soma, haoma) to attain ecstasy. The Sakas had ancestor cults. In Hindu-Buddhist cosmogony there are 33 gods who reside on the summit of Mount Meru, among whom Indra (Sakka) is king. In Central Asia the people of the Altai mountains have a belief in 33 heavens. In the 7th century BCE Saka-Siberian burial site of Tuva, just east of the Altai mountains, the chief’s tomb comprises a large central mound surrounded by a stone wall 44 meters away. The annulus so-formed is separated into sections by 32 radial spokes built of stones bearing incised depictions of horses. This is a temple of the sun. The number of 32 appears also as that of the number of bodily marks of the chakravartin. There seems to be good reason to think that the 32 fiefdoms of the chakravartin are derived from the solar cult of the Indo-Aryans and reached Burma through the Sakas. The Aryan invasion of Persia and India of about 2000 BCE introduced the Vedic religion. The descendants of the Aryans and the Saka/Scythians (sun and snake worshippers) became allies perhaps before 700 BCE, the Sakas becoming known as ‘the serpent’ or naga race, while the naga itself became one of the most important associates of the Brahmanic, Hindu and Buddhist pantheons. According to the Indian Puranas, Gautama Buddha originated from the solar race of Iskshvahu and at the commencement of his ascetic life, he was protected by the naga king. Tombs of Gautama’s own Sakya tribe, excavated in the 19th century, each contained an effigy of a naga.Naga king and his consort--Cave Temples, Ajanta, Maharashtra This is one of the several pieces of evidence linking Gautama Buddha with the steppe nomads. Vedism and indigenous animism merged to form Hinduism about the middle of the 1st millennium BCE, about the same time as Buddhism emerged. In the section entitled ‘Trade’ the voyages of the allied Sakas and Indo-Aryans as traders are mentioned and it is these which may have given rise to some of the Hindu legends, such as the ‘Churning of the Oceans,’ and the association of the naga with water. Beginning not later than the 2nd century BCE and increasing during the 1st and 3rd centuries CE, Buddhism spread to Central Asia under the dominant influence of the fervently Buddhist and-commercially-conscious Kushans (the former Yueh-chieh), whose empire stretched from north India to Bactria and from the Parthian empire of Persia on the west that of the Chinese Han empire on the east. Eastern Persia and much of Afghanistan also adopted Buddhism, parts remaining until after the Moslem invasion. In the shaman’s ecstatic techniques throughout central and north Asia, the number seven plays an important role, one which is due ultimately to influences from Babylon. On his costume, a Yurak shaman may have seven balls representing the seven celestial maidens. There are also the common beliefs in seven or nine each of celestial and infernal levels, though rarely, up to 33 occur. In his rites the Altaic shaman climbs a tree or a post notched with seven or nine steps to symbolize his ascent to the most powerful one. The seven steps are similar to the Buddha’s seven steps mentioned below, a concept derived from Buddhism’s parent, Brahmanism. In legend Buddha could walk immediately after his birth. He took seven steps in the direction of each of the cardinal points and claimed possession of the world. Seven days after Guatama Buddha’s birth his mother died. After Buddha’s enlightenment he meditated for three periods each of seven days. After these he was wrapped in seven coils of the serpent king, Mucalinda, and endured continuous rain for seven days. Seven also symbolizes the horse, one of the seven treasures of the chakravartin. เขียนโà¸"ย Thai Mangoes ที่ 6:46 หลังเที่ยง 0 ความคิà¸"เห็น ป้ายà¸à¸³à¸à¸±à¸š: Scythian Patala Alexander Sakyas Kapilavastu Buddha Kanishka Northern Buddhism Horse Sacrifice Sakas Kushans Yuezhi Gautama Buddha Sakyamuni Tuva horse sacrifice chakravartin naga Pazyryk rug griffins WAS BUDDHA HISTORICAL? Either the tripitaka is just an ordinary book written by mortals, or it isn’t; either Buddha was divine, or he was not. If the tripitaka was an ordinary book, and Buddha an ordinary man, the basic doctrine of Buddhism is false and the history of Buddhist theology is the history of bookish men parsing collective delusion… Paraphrasing Sam Harrison ChristianityMost Buddhologists concede that Gautama Buddha was a historical person, someone of flesh and blood who trod this earth, in the Ganges Plain in North India in the fifth-fourth century BCE. Unfortunately, there is no evidence to corroborate this view; as in all matters regarding religion, we have to take it on faith. If we compare him with Alexander the Great, for example, who flourished at roughly the same time, we have so much more evidence for the latter, who founded several cities bearing his name, fought and won numerous battles, conquered a huge empire, contemporary historians wrote about him, coins exist which bear his image, his generals divided up his empire among themselves and claimed to be his heirs, and so forth.In the case of Buddha, we have none of these things. Even his supposedly bodily relics, when examined, turn out to be non-human bones or teeth. What we do have are stories written down many centuries after he was supposed to have flourished by disciples who were supposedly writing stories that had been handed down orally for centuries. The claim is made that Buddha was a prince, but historians say he couldn't have been because his father wasn't a king, the country he ruled being a republic; so obviously later disciples, or the people who were promoting Buddhism, embellished the story. Thus when Buddha comes to renunciate the household life, his sacrifice is seen as not merely the giving up of house and home, but the renunciation of palace and kingdom, and forfeiting the certainty of becoming a cakravartin king, or great wheel-turning monarch.The story of his birth is so miraculous that it leaves little room for any facts to be gleaned from it: his mother dreamed she was impregnated by a white elephant, thus joining the ranks of virgin mothers of gods; she gave birth to Buddha from her right side, and not through the birth canal, thus saving him the embarrassment of having to travel down the same tube every other mere mortal does. Even Christianity doesn't make any such claim for Jesus and Mary. Buddha is able to walk and talk as soon as he's born, proclaiming that this would be his last rebirth and that he is the greatest being in the universe, and so on. So far, none of this can actually be said to have occured. The Buddhist canons were written down centuries after the Buddha died and the details of his birth, wanderings, enlightenment, first sermon, and death, were associated with specific locations in an attempt to give Buddha more credence as a historical person. Perhaps this was done at Asoka's bidding; Constantine was to do much the same with Christianity and Jesus, for the same reasons, to unify and control a vast empire. Perhaps Buddha was a made-up, or composite, character, and his story was much embellished when it came to be written down. Just as much of the Buddhist canon is supposed to have been spoken by Buddha, which seems highly improbable, so whoever compiled the canons also threw in a history of Buddha, made up as they went along, as it were. เขียนโà¸"ย Thai Mangoes ที่ 6:46 หลังเที่ยง 0 ความคิà¸"เห็น ป้ายà¸à¸³à¸à¸±à¸š: Was Buddha historical Did Buddha exist virgin mothers of gods Mahamaya Maya Mary and Jesus Previous Buddhas Under construction เขียนโà¸"ย Thai Mangoes ที่ 6:46 หลังเที่ยง 0 ความคิà¸"เห็น BUDDHA AS A BUSINESSMAN This is an interesting talk by Professor Gregory Schopen, chair of the UCLA Department of Asian Languages and Cultures and an authority on ancient Indian Buddhism, who has been separating Buddhist fact from fiction for the past 30 years. In this UCLA Faculty Research Lecture, Schopen explores the Buddha as an astute businessman, economist and lawyer. Watch it here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GeZGFvbDzo & feature=PlayList & p=BD2A8757677C6C0E & index=0As a skeptic who doubts a historical Buddha ever walked this earth, I applaud Schopen for pointing out that Buddha, or at least the religion he was supposed to have founded, was extremely concerned with sacred as well as profane matters.This is really not surprising because a monastery was often big business in the community. For example, Hwui Li, Xuanzang's disciple who visited India in the 7th century CE, gives a vivid picture of the Buddhist university at Nalanda. He says, “The Sangharamas [monasteries] of India are counted by myriads… The priests belonging to the convent, or strangers (residing therein) always reach the number of 10,000…"The king of the country respects and honors the priests, and has remitted the revenues of about 100 villages for the endowment of the convent. Two hundred householders in the villages, day by day, contribute several hundred piculs (133 1/8 lbs.) of ordinary rice, and several hundred catties (160 lbs.) in weight of butter and milk. Hence the students here, being so abundantly supplied, do not require to ask for the four requisites (clothes, food, bedding, medicine). This is the source of the perfection of their studies, to which they have arrived."Another Chinese traveler, I-tsing, who also visited India in the 7th century CE, gives a detailed account of the arrangement of affairs of a deceased monk. He describes that it was the duty of other monks to see whether the deceased had left any debts or whether he had left any will or if anybody had nursed him during his illness. When they found anything like this, they, according to the law, distributed the deceased’s property.The Chinese traveler refers to a list of things which are distributable and which are not distributable. He says, “Land, houses, shops, bed-gear, wooden-seats, and iron or copper implements are not distributable; earthen utensils i.e., bowls, smaller bowls, lundikas (pitchers) for drinking and for cleansing water, oil-pots and water-basins are distributable, the rest are not.Wooden and bamboo implements, leather bedding, shaving things, male and female servants; food, corn, lands and houses are all to be made the property of the priests assembling from every quarter. Among these, things which are movable are to be kept in storehouses and to be used by the assembly. Lands, houses, villages, gardens, buildings, which are immovable, become also the property of the assembly.If there remain clothes or anything wearable, whether cloaks, bathing-shirts, dyed or undyed, or waterproofs, pots, slippers, or shoes, they are to be distributed on the spot to the priests then assembled… Quadrupeds, elephants, horses, mules, asses for riding are to be offered to the Royal Household. Bulls and sheep should not be distributed, but belong to the whole assembly.Such goods as helmets, coats of arms, etc., are also to be sent to the Royal Household… Paints of good quality such as yellow, vermillion, azure, blue, green are sent to the temple to be used for coloring images and the ornaments around… medical substances are to be divided into two portions, one being devoted to pious objects (Dhammika), the other to the priests’ own use (Sanghika). The former portion is spent in copying the scriptures and in building or decorating the ‘Lion Seat.’ The other portion is distributed to the priests who are present… The scriptures and… their commentaries should not be parted with, but be kept in a library to be read by the members of the order. Non-Buddhistic books are to be sold and (the money acquired) should be distributed among priests then resident… Gold, silver, wrought or unwrought goods, shells, and coins are divided into three portions, for the Buddha, for Religion (Dharma) and for the priesthood (Sangha). The portion for the Buddha is spent in repairing the temple, stupas that contain holy hair or nails, and other ruins. The portion belonging to Religion is used for copying the scriptures and building or decorating the ‘Lion Seat.’ Another portion belonging to the Assembly is distributed to the resident priests.†[From Buddhism in India as described by the Chinese Pilgrims AD 399-689 Kanai Lal Hazra]From this we can infer that Buddhist monks then, as now--though they may have renounced the household life--were not above acquiring a good deal of property in their life time. Some things never change. So it is quite obvious that the Buddhist Sangha (Clergy) had to be quite savvy about money matters or, as Schopen puts it, 'Buddha was a businessman.' เขียนโà¸"ย Thai Mangoes ที่ 6:46 หลังเที่ยง 0 ความคิà¸"เห็น ป้ายà¸à¸³à¸à¸±à¸š: Gregory Schopen UCLA Department Asian Languages Cultures Indian Buddhism businessman economist lawyer endowment of convent Nalanda Xuanzang I-tsing Hwui Li deceased monks monastery BUDDHISM IN THE GLOBAL AGE OF TECHNOLOGY An interesting talk by a distinguished scholar of Buddhism, Lewis Lancaster, who founded the Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative to use the latest computer technology to map the spread of various strands of Buddhism from the distant past to the present. Series: "Burke Lectureship on Religion & Society". เขียนโà¸"ย Thai Mangoes ที่ 6:45 หลังเที่ยง 0 ความคิà¸"เห็น ป้ายà¸à¸³à¸à¸±à¸š: Lewis Lancaster Buddhism Global Age of Technology Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative บทความที่เà¸à¹ˆà¸²à¸à¸§à¹ˆà¸² สมัครสมาชิà¸: บทความ (Atom)==================================== Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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