Was the Buddha born in Afghanistan? (movie)

Ashley Wells, Dhr. Seven, CC Liu, Amber Larson, Wisdom Quarterly; READER LETTER

Mes Aynak, Afghanistan Budhhas (Andy Miller/businesstoday.intoday.in)

An unnamed reader writes that s/he agrees with the hypothesis set forth by Dr. Ranajit Pal (ranajitpal.com). The theory states that the Buddha was born in the Sistan-Baluchistan region [formerly the northern border/frontier of India, now Pakistan and Afghanistan] overlapping Iran's southeastern border area in Afghanistan. 

 

The Buddha has always been addressed as Sakyamuni ["Sage of the Sakya tribe"], and in ancient times Sistan-Baluchistan was called Sakastan.

 

Equestrian Scythians were archers (wiki)

The Sakas [Sakyas?] were a Scythian tribe spread all over the ancient Gandhara region.

 

Moreover, the Buddha has always been described as having blue eyes, which is a common feature in the people of that area even today.

 

(ZB/Foundation) "The Legend of Buddha" With spectacular animation and engaging narration, this presentation of the life of the Buddha follows the journey of the Enlightened One from a fun-filled childhood to the difficult quest for attaining nirvana. (PentaMedia Graphics Ltd. hired 70 key animators and 300 others to create it using about 450,000 drawings of the Buddha were made to create the film, which covers nearly all aspects of his life).

 

Save Mes Aynak, UCLA/Fed Bldg, demo (WQ)

Buddhism began to be obliterated from the Gandhara region starting from the 7th century A.D. and was dealt the final blow by the Mongol invaders, who conducted a genocide in that area.

• The Gandhāran texts

The world's oldest Buddha statues, dating back to 600 B.C., have been found on the outskirts of the capital of Kabul [Kapil? Kapilavastu] in and around Mes Aynak, Afghanistan. 

 

Filmmaker Brock (btkomon@gmail)

Mes Aynak ("Copper Well") was the world's oldest known copper mine dating from 3000 B.C. The copper and other precious reserves found at this site have been valued at 100 billion U.S. dollars. 

 

A Chinese company has secured the mining rights from Afghanistan, and there is concern about the threatened complete destruction of the site (as Wisdom Quarterly has covered in various articles exploreing the Buddha's real birthplace, such as one asking the question, Where was the Buddha really born?)

This message was received in response to The Buddha was born in Nepal... when angry Anoop Thapa Xhettri wrote "do a little research before writing such rubbish and false..."

SAVE MES AYNAK (WQ)