The Eurasian eagle huntress (photos)

Amber Larson and Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly; William Kremer (BBC World Service)

Golden eagle and falconer Ashol Pan Central Asia (Asher Svidensky/BBC News Magazine)

Moon Goddess Artemis

"I am named of olde by Men, Artemis and Cerridwen..." (The Book of Shadows, Lady Sheba).
 
Even before the ancient Greeks recognized her as Artemis -- Goddess of the Moon, Archery, the Hunt, Katniss to Hollywood, and Diana to the Romans -- the devi (female deva) appeared to inspire others.

Homer in the Illiad (xxi 470 f.) calls her "Artemis of the wildland, Mistress of Animals." Here she is celebrated by Bjork and appearing today:

The mythological arrows are no accident

Most children, Asher Svidensky says, are a little intimidated by golden eagles.

Kazakh boys in western Mongolia, however, start learning to use the huge birds to hunt for foxes and hares at the age of 13, when the eagles sit heavily on their undeveloped arms. 

Ashol Pan is a good girl and huntress.

Buddhism in Kazakhstan refers to forms of Buddhism especially prevalent along the Silk Road in Central Asia. Its history is closely related to the Silk Road transmission of Buddhism during the first millennium CE. A number of Early Buddhist schools were historically prevalent throughout Central Asia. Three major phases of missionary activities are associated with these chronological sects: Dharmaguptaka, Sarvāstivāda, and Mūlasarvāstivāda. The Dharmaguptaka made more efforts than any other sect to spread Buddhism beyond India and Afghanistan, to areas such as Iran (Ariyan-land), other parts of Central Asia [at one time dominated by the ancient Greeks], and China, and they had great success in doing so... More

• The Golden Girl: 13-year-old is only female trained in traditional Kazakh art of golden eagle hunting

Map of Kazakhstan (upper left) and Mongolia

Svidensky, a photographer and travel writer, shot five boys learning the skill as well as the girl, Ashol-Pan. 

"To see her with the eagle was amazing," he recalls. "She was a lot more comfortable with it, a lot more powerful with it and a lot more at ease with it."

Kazakhs have good childhoods (HS-A)

The Kazakhs (Central Asia) of the Altai mountain range in western Mongolia are the only people who hunt with golden eagles, and today there are around 400 practicing falconers. Ashol-Pan, the daughter of a particularly celebrated hunter, may well be the country's only apprentice huntress. More

Eagle (garuda), pony (named Kanthaka?), and Kazakh falconer Ashol Pan (dailymail.co.uk)

A pony and a wandering, nomadic religion (shramanic Buddhism) for Ashol Pan (BBC)

Note the Uggs and harmony between human and animal realms (Asher Svidensky)

There are no such things as unicorns...except for this one and others like it. They have been bred back into existence by careful animal husbandry (dianapeterfreund.com).

Hunger Games III: "Divergent"

Take a teen angst trip all over again, this time with Shailene Woodley (as Tris Prior) instead of Jen Lawrence. Also starring Kate Winslet and Theo James as the mysterious Four.

The Silk Road (Natural History Museum)

Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Wisdom Quarterly; Natural History Museum (nhm.org)

Exploring the Silk Road

Tour the Silk Road (nhm.org)

Take a journey exploring the traded goods and ideas of the world’s cultural superhighway -- one that took Buddhism out of India (Gandhara and Magadha) into Central Asia (Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, the other 'Stans), ancient Greece (Bactria/Persia, Sogdiana, and the greater empire), and finally into China. Join the Natural History Museum for the Traveling the Silk Road Lecture Series to experience the sights, sounds, and tastes of the ancient route! More

• 

  Old Buddhism in Uzbekistan, new Googoosha

  Bactria - Ancient History Encyclopedia
• The Sogdians in China: A Short History
• Sogdiana - Ancient History Encyclopedia
• BBC: Popstar President Googoosha a.ka. Gulnara Karimova: Corruption in Uzbekistan (Central Asia's largest country, near Afghanistan)
• Monks' Footsteps: Uzbek Buddhist monuments
• USA/NSA "collected 200 million texts per day"
• Actress sues over French Pres. Hollande's "affair"
• Taliban [CIA] to return to power [to keep Afghan War going]
• UN confronts Vatican on its child molestation

Historical Sketch of Buddhism in Western Asia

(BerzinArchives.com) Historically, Buddhism was found in all five former Soviet Central Asian Republics that constitute West Turkistan: Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan [and, of course, Afghanistan, which the former USSR failed to conquer]. It initially spread in the first century BCE from Gandhara (Indo-Pakistan) and Afghanistan to the kingdoms of Bactria and Parthia [The remains of two Parthian Buddhist monuments each have been found in Turkmenistan at Mary (Merv) and near Ashkabat; Buddhist caves have also been found near Ashkabat]. Turkmenistan and northeastern Iran constituted the kingdom of Parthia; while southern Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and northern Afghanistan constituted the kingdom of Bactria [The remains of Bactrian Buddhist monasteries have been found near Termez in southern Uzbekistan at Kara Tepe, Fayas Tepe and Dalverzin Tepe, and the remains of a reliquary at Zormala and of Buddhist wall murals at Balalyk Tepe, both in the Surkhan Darya region. Remains of a Buddhist monastery have been excavated at Ajina Tepe in southern Tajikistan.]

COMEDY: "Saturnalia" by Jimmy Dore (audio)

Wisdom Quarterly; Jimmy Dore (jimmydorecomedy.com), Wikipedia edit

Greco-Roman: Ruins of Temple of Saturn (eight columns to the far right), with three columns from the Temple of Vespasian and Titus (left) and the Arch of Septimius Severus (center)

• AUDIO: The Jimmy Dore Show (12-27-13)
• True origins of Xmas: Pagan  "Saturnalia"  orgy

In Roman mythology, Saturn was an agricultural deity who was said to have reigned over the world in the Golden Age, when humans enjoyed the spontaneous bounty of the earth without labor in a state of social egalitarianism. 

 

The sexual revelries of Saturnalia (held around the winter solstice and the famous date of Dec. 25th) were supposed to reflect the conditions of the lost mythical age, not all of them desirable. The Greek equivalent was the Kronia, an Athenian festival held in honor of Cronus (Greek Kronos. More

 

In the most classic and well known version of Greek mythology, Cronus or Kronos (Greek Κρόνος) -- not to be confused with Chronos (the personification of time) -- was the leader and the youngest of the first generation of Titans (Buddhist asuras), divine (deva) descendants of Gaia (Mother Earth or Bhūmi), and Uranus, the sky (space). He overthrew his father and ruled during the mythological Golden Age, until he was overthrown by his own son Zeus and imprisoned in Tartarus. 

All Civilizations (and Self) Must Fall (video)

Dhr. Seven and Amber Larson, Wisdom Quarterly

(B1) The seafaring Aegean civilization (a general term for the Bronze Age civilizations of Greece around the Aegean Sea, the Minoan, Mycenaean or Crete, the Cyclades, and the Greek mainland) destroyed ancient Egypt. Crete is associated with the Minoan civilization from the Early Bronze Age around 1200 BCE.

One facet of the universe, along with being ultimately impersonal and disappointing, is that it is impermanent. This radical flux, or constant state of change, leads to a wearing away of larger structures, such as entire human civilizations. They may last thousands of years, but that is of course only in the sense of continuity. They, in fact, do not last two consecutive days. This is the ever present change or flux the Buddha refers to as anicca. 

The ancient Greek and Egyptian civilizations fused at Thonis-Heracleion (Hilti)

 

Insight into this is liberating when it leads to dispassion and letting go, accompanied by the realization that it is in a sense unreal as well. All formations (compounded things, composites, constructions, fabrications) are unreal. What is true for the micro is true for the macro. The Buddha focused on psychological phenomena, on what we regard as "self," those things we feel closest to and identify with. On a grander scale and much more obvious to our investigations is the fact that large things fall apart, dissolve, crumble away. If we cannot accept that this happens to the greatest of humans, the most glorious "gods" (brahmas and devas in space), the loftiest of plans, it will be very hard to accept the fact that -- and this is verifiable through vipassana -- it is true of I, me, and mine.

Monuments in Egypt are far older than ancient Egypt. They actually go back 10,000+ years, but to say so and show the evidence is to step into the realm of "forbidden" archeology.

 

(AW) "The True Story of Troy" documentary: It's the site of history's most legendary war and the Western world's oldest "adventure" story. According to myth it began with a rigged beauty contest and ended with a giant wooden Trojan horse unleashing utter destruction. Now archaeologists and literary detectives and military analysts are uncovering evidence suggesting the war was really waged. From archaeological trenches at ancient Troy and the citadel fortress of King Agamemnon from Homer to Hollywood, we search for Troy.

 

Khmer King Yayavarmann VII, Bayon temple, Angkor Wat, Cambodia (platonkohphoto/flickr)

  

End of Khmer Rouge (Hanumann/flickr)

When Buddhism ultimately says there is "no soul" (anatta) it is not aligning with materialistic science and its annihilationist view of the afterlife -- that we all die and it ends here in a pile of ashes. 

When Buddhism conventionally says there is a "soul" (atta), it is not aligning with Abrahamic religions and their eternalist view of the afterlife -- that we all die and it continues from here because an imperishable part of us goes on to one more rebirth in heaven or hell.

Who am I? Five Aggregates

Ultimately, that amalgamation of heaps of (1) form (the four primary material elements) and the four primary components of mentality), (2) feeling, (3) perception, (4) mental formations, and (5) consciousness we call body and mind, the "soul" or "self" is ultimately not what it seems.

 

Some of the treasures recovered from the Greco-Egyptian civilization (Franck Goddio)

  

These are opposite views, so how could the Buddha not side with either? That's a logical fallacy surely? It may seem like a paradox or sophistry. But we can rest assured that it is neither. When we realize for ourselves the reality we, too, can get to sounding like mystic or Zen koan writer. It really is not this way, and it really is not the other way either. Indeed, there is no self (ultimately speaking), and there are countless rebirths. We do not die at death...except that we are dying at every single moment, and physical death is one of those moments, too. There is continuity. But what "continues" or seems to continue is not the exact same thing, is not some imperishable "soul" as Hindus, Jains, and the Abrahamic faiths maintain. 

Khmer (Cambodian) Empire may have come to Olmec Mesoamerica

Buddha, Ladakh, Likir Gompa (Ifphotos/flickr)

Buddhism is unique in this assertion -- that there is no ego, no personality, nothing to cling to. Letting go is NOT possible by an act of will. Only liberating-insight can bring it about. Fortunately, it is also possible to gain an intellectual grasp of the Teaching, the Dharma, but a mere intellectual grasp will never do to reach enlightenment. 

We must know-and-see, that is, directly experience the truth. And the truth will set us free from the illusion we currently feel so utterly trapped by. Only insight into the truth can do it, and for mindfulness of body, sensations, mind, and phenomena to produce liberating-insight, we need a great deal of calm, serenity, tranquility.

If we are motivated by disappointment (dukkha), suffering, a strong desire to escape, this craving may do more to ultimately obstruct us just as it helped get us very far along the Path. We need not "want" the truth to be true. The truth is true regardless. And if the heart/mind is calm, absorbed, purified by concentration and applies these four kinds of intensive mindfulness, it will produce insight. One of the most amazing things the Buddha ever said occurs in the discourse on the Four Foundations of Mindfulness. It ends with the Buddha guaranteeing that whosoever practices correctly according to these instructions for seven years...not even seven years but just seven days will surely break through to the truth, will surely gain at least one of the stages of enlightenment and thereby make an end to all suffering.

The stories banned from the Bible (video)

Pfc. Sandoval, Ashley Wells, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly

(ReligionHistory) "Banned from the Bible" examines the forbidden stories in ancient gospels, how they were rediscovered, and what they might mean to the world today.
 

The new Republican Jesus

When Jesus was a boy, did he kill another child? Was Mary Magdalene a "prostitute" -- or an apostle? Did Cain commit incest? Will there be an apocalypse, or is this the JudeoChristian God's trick to scare us?

The answers to these questions aren't found in the Bible as we know it, but they exist in scriptures banned when powerful leaders deemed them unacceptable for reasons more political than religious. "Banned From the Bible" reveals some of these alternative tales and examines why they were "too hot for Christianity."

• VIDEO: "The Lost Gospels" (Biblical Mysteries Explained)

Married rabbi with wife Mary

The Life of Adam and Eve, The Book of Enoch, The Book of Jubilees, The Infancy Gospel of Thomas, The Gospel of Mary, The Apocalypse of Peter... these are just a few of the books that were intentionally left out of the official Christian Bible. 

 

The reasons for their exclusion provide astonishing insight into the concerns of Church leaders and scholars responsible for spreading the Christian faith (and the hegemony of Greco-Roman "Western" empires) around the world. It is an illuminating look at early Christian religious history.

 

(BBC) The truth is stranger than fiction. Inconvenient facts make

sense to solve a great mystery. Was Jesus once a Buddhist monk?

When Jesus was African/Middle Easterner (W)

One hundred and fifty years after the birth of St. Issa (Jesus), a man named Marcion (of Sinope) decided that a Greek or Christian Bible was needed to replace the Jewish or Hebrew Bible. Church leaders opposed Marcion's banning of the Hebrew books, but they did agree that Christianity would benefit from having a "Bible" of its own, a New Testament.

 

Jewish rebel deified as Greek god, son of Zeus

After Emperor Constantine the Great converted to Christianity in the 4th century, a serious effort was made to compile a Christian Bible, one that included both the Hebrew scriptures (Old Testament) and emerging Christian manuscripts (New Testament). It took another 40 years before a final list of New Testament books was officially canonized by the church. Many of the most popular were excluded. Upon examination today, many of these writings attempt to resolve inconsistencies and questions raised from reading the Bible.

American Hegemony and Power

Growing by invasion and force

The Monroe Doctrine is a policy of the United States introduced in1823 that stated that further efforts by European nations to colonize land or interfere with states in North or South America would be viewed as acts of aggression, requiring U.S. intervention. At the same time, the doctrine noted that the USA would neither interfere with existing European colonies nor meddle in the internal concerns of European countries. The doctrine was issued at a time when nearly all Latin American colonies of Spain and Portugal had achieved or were at the point of gaining independence from the Portuguese Empire and Spanish Empire. Peru consolidated their independence in 1824, and Bolivia would become independent in 1825, leaving only Cuba and Puerto Rico [now under de facto American control with Guantanamo and semi-statehood] under Spanish rule. The US, working in agreement with Britain, wanted to guarantee that no European power would move in. It was the USA's time to colonize the world (beginning, it seems, with Mexico and the Philippines).

(The Onion) Satirical look at things that should make the mainstream news

Occupy Movements live on (occupytogether.org)

Buddhism in ancient Greece (King Milinda)

Amber Larson and Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly, "The Questions of King Milinda" [Menander] (Miln), Milindapañha (as.miami.edu/phi/bio/Buddha/Milinda)

Ancient Greek influence expanded to ancient India's northwestern frontier (Indo-Greeks)

Greek King Menander I (Milinda) engages Ven. Nagasena on the Dharma in Bactria

 

Gold Greek Buddha coin (as.miami.edu)

Because of his Greek (Western) heritage, the king of Bactria asks many questions that occur to Westerners today, which makes this work particularly valuable to modern readers. These are not normally raised in an Indian (Eastern) context.

As a consequence of the conquest of the Persian empire, the Greeks gained control of Bactria -- modern Afghanistan -- together with northern India. The local Greek rulers managed to establish their independence from the Seleucid Empire, which first held control over the area. 

 

Greek rule of Bactria continued until about 165 BC when the Shakas destroyed the Bactrian kingdom. Greeks continued to rule, however, in southern Afghanistan and northwestern India (Gandhara) for another 150 years. The most important of these kings was Menander I, known as "Milinda" in Buddhist sources, who ruled about 115-90 BC. Buddhism had reached the area [due to early converts in the Shakya clan, the Buddha's extended family, which was likely from this wealthy frontier area along the Silk Road even as the Buddha taught far to the east in India (Afghanistan has Buddhist art and architecture such as monastic complexes and statues as old as Buddhism, such as Mes Aynak)]. In addition, missionaries [were sent out by the Buddha] and later by the Mauryan Emperor Ashoka more than a century earlier.

Buddhists in ancient Greece

Afghan Buddhist artifact from Mes Aynak, Afghanistan. This archaeological site is set to be destroyed by Chinese miners eager to extract mineral deposits (Jay Price/Getty Images/TheGuardian co uk)

  

Why did Ven. Nagasena go to Bactria? In the land of the Bactrian Greeks there was a city called Sagala, a great center of trade. Rivers and hills beautified it, delightful landscapes surrounded it, and it possessed many parks, gardens, woods, lakes, and lotus-ponds. Its king was Milinda, a man who was learned, experienced, intelligent, and competent. At the proper times he carefully observed all of the appropriate Brahminical rites with regard to things past, future, and present. As a disputant he was hard to assail, hard to overcome, and he was recognized as a prominent sectarian teacher.

 

One day a large company of enlightened disciples (arhats) of the Buddha living in a well-protected area in the Himalayas sent a messenger to Ven. Nagasena, who was then residing at Ashoka Park in Patna, asking him to come, as they wished to see him. Nagasena immediately complied by vanishing and miraculously appearing before them.

 

The arhats said to him: "That King Milinda, Nagasena, constantly harasses the Sangha (monastic order) with questions and counter-questions, with arguments and counter-arguments. Please go, Nagasena, and quench him!" 

 

"Save Mes Aynak" demonstration, UCLA/Westwood Federal Building, summer 2013 (WQ)

  

Nagasena replied: "Never mind one king, this King Milinda! If all of the kings of India would come to me with their questions, I could well dispose of them, and they would be no more trouble after that! You may go to Sagala without any fear whatsoever!" The elders (theras) went to Sagala, lighting up the city with their saffron robes, which shone like lamps, and bringing with them the fresh breeze of the sacred mountains.

 

Ven. Nagasena stayed at Sankheyya Hermitage together with a great number of monastics. King Milinda, accompanied by a large retinue of Greeks, went to him, greeted him in a friendly and courteous manner, and sat respectfully to one side. Nagasena returned these kind greetings, and his courtesy pleased the king's heart.

The king said, "Ven. Nagasena, will you converse with me?"

"Your majesty, if you will converse with me as the wise converse, I will, but if you converse with me as kings converse, I will not."

"Ven. Nagasena, how do the wise converse?"

"Your majesty, when the wise converse, whether they become entangled by their opponents’ arguments or extricate themselves, whether they or their opponents are convicted of error, whether their own superiority or that of their opponents’ is established, nothing in all this can make them angry. Thus, your majesty, do the wise converse."

"And how, venerable, do kings converse?"

"Your majesty, when kings converse, they advance a proposition, and whoever opposes it, they order that person’s punishment, saying, ‘Punish this person!’ Thus, your majesty, do kings converse."

"Venerable, I will converse as the wise converse, not as kings do. Let your worship converse in all confidence. Let your worship converse as unrestrainedly as if with another monastic, novice, lay disciple, or a keeper of the monastery grounds. Be unafraid!"

"Very well, your majesty," said the elder in assent. More