The rock-cut temples of Buddhism

Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly

Bezeklik ancient Buddhist rock-cut temple monastery complex (chinatouronline.com)

Tiger's Nest Buddhist Monastery perched on cliff, Bhutan (MichaelFoleyPhotography/flickr)

Rock-cut Buddha, Luoyang Shaolin Temple, taken during the "Kung Fu and Buddhism Tour by Cycle" through China in 2013 (Great-wall-hikers/flickr.com)

 

Kwan Yin, Yungang (G-W-H)

It is characteristic of Buddhism that temples were built by carving them directly into mountains out of bare stone -- a feature known as rock-cut architecture, particularly in ancient India.
 

This was accomplished in some advanced way that cannot be explained today, for it was a time when there were presumably no lasers, power drills, grinders, sanders, or diamond-tipped chisels.
 

Mountain-sized Buddhas, Bamiyan

The first were in Afghanistan beginning at the time of the Buddha. His family was apparently living in the area, the northwestern frontier of greater "India" (Bharat) beyond Gandhara.

There are stunning examples in the spectacular Afghan archeological sites of Bamiyan and Mes Aynak, the jaw-dropping caves of Ellora and Sanchi in Buddhist India, and China's Bezeklik and Yungang grottoes.... Of course, one cannot lose sight of the official "largest" Buddhist sites in Borobudur, Java, Indonesia and the rock-cut marvels of the Cambodian jungles at Angkor Wat and "lost medieval cities" (livescience.com) such as Mahendraparvata discovered in 2013. We are assured by the enlightened and psychic Buddhist master Ven. Jumnien that more such stone sites remain in the jungle to be found.

Giant and Buddhist missionaries Datong, Yungang Grottoes (Great-wall-hikers/flickr.com)

Magnificent rock-cut architectural finds: stupa at Mes Aynak, Afghanistan (ranajitpal.com)

"Copper Well" (Mes Aynak), Afghanistan mineral mine treasures (AP)

 

World's largest Buddhas, Bamiyan, Afghanistan

The real Kapilavastu, the Buddha's hometown, was close to modern Kabul (Kapil). For the ancient country's capital, seat of the Shakyan janapada (the "foothold" of the Shakya clan's territory) may have been Bamiyan, a site famed not only for rock-cut caves and monastic dwellings but also the most massive Buddha statues in the world.

Bojjannakonda cave (Adityamadhav83/AP)

It was rich because it was on the Silk Road between India to the east and Central Asia to the west. Right from its inception Buddhism traveled the route west into ancient Greece and onto China. It is said that one of the first things the newly enlightened Buddha did was send out 60 enlightened missionaries in all directions; they were wandering ascetics spreading the "good news" of liberation from all suffering.
 

Cliffside Bamiyan Valley, Afghanistan, overlooking adobe "pueblos" in the distance (wiki)

 

Much of desert western China features magnificent rock-cut Buddhist architecture which is little known today. Islam supplanted the Dharma and obscured its Buddhist past. Much of the architecture is now in a part of the Great Walled Empire (China), known as the restive Uighur Autonomous Region. Like Buddhist Tibetans from the Tibetan Autonomous Region, Muslim Uygurs want nothing to do with colonial communist/capitalist Han Buddhist Chinese rule.

Buried treasures at Mes Aynak (Andy Miller)

At 2,600 years, the oldest Buddhist temple complex yet discovered and largest -- with a central area of one square mile -- is at Mes Aynak ("Copper Well"). 

However, most of it is still underground as an archeological site never to be excavated if China (through its Chinese Metallurgy Company) has its way. China will be the next empire to invade Afghanistan, according to Afghans, after the ancient Greeks with Alexander, the British, the Soviets, and the Americans.

• Scientific research in "forbidden archeology" suggests that technologically advanced tools were in the possession of someone as explained by Micheal Cremo, David Hatcher Childress, and others.

Buddha Grottoes, China (Great-wall-hikers)

While characteristic of Buddhist sites, rock-cut technology did not remain exclusive to the East, having made its way to Petra and widely practiced in Cappadocia, (Anatolia, Asia Minor) Turkey, particularly in the soft stone of Derinkuyu. But no other religious movement did so much to generate and exploit this practice -- we would guess with help from above, namely, the akasha deva loka (space deva world).

Buddhism spread from Afghanistan
Dazzling new finds from Mes Aynak and Tepe Naranj near Kabul

Ranajit Pal, Ph.D. (ranajitpal.com)

Mes Aynak vihara, Trapusa (Brent E. Huffman)

"The discoveries cover more than 1,000 hectares and have unearthed [Buddhist] temples, monasteries, and about 1,000 statues, which cannot be compared with finds from any location in Nepal.

Smaller Buddha, Bamiyan

"The site is about 20 km from the Indian border (pre-partition) and was probably within ancient ‘India.’ The RigVeda names many rivers and tribes of Afghanistan, which shows that it was a part of Vedic India.

"The new discoveries unmistakably indicate that Buddhism spread from Afghanistan and northwest India, not eastern India or Nepal. The discoveries at Bamiyan, Mes Aynak, and [Greco-Buddhist] Hadda highlight the primacy of Afghanistan and Gandhara in early Buddhist history."

• Incredible Tepe Narenj, Afghanistan

Gold-covered statues of "Copper Well" (Mes Aynak) archeological site, Afghanistan

The Ghost Dance (Native American Buddhism)

Hendon Harris, Wisdom Quarterly, Xochitl, CC Liu, Ashley Wells (eds.)

Native Americans are the indigenouss people of what is now the USA (thedqtimes.com)

Lama in ritual costume and American bison mask performs ghost dance at Taer Monastery in Xining, NW China, Qinghai Province, Feb. 5, 2012. The ghost dance is performed across Tibetan regions to ward off disasters and bring luck and fortune (Zhang Hongxiang/Xinhua).

  

Tibetan ritual, California (Sacramento Bee)

There is a link between the Native American "Ghost Dance" (Nanissáanah), which so frightened the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) in the late 19th century, and the Tibetan Buddhist Ghost Dance tradition troubling China today.

The basis for the Native American Ghost Dance, the sacred circle dance, is a traditional ritual used by many Native Americans since prehistoric times.
 

Lakota chief (PRIR, 1899/W)

A new form was first practiced among the Nevada Paiute in 1889. The practice swept throughout much of the Western United States, quickly reaching areas of California and Oklahoma.
 
Psychologist Michael Katz, in his book Tibetan Dream Yoga, writes: "The last known enactments of the Ghost Dance were held in the 1950s among the Shoshoni. A contemporary Native American leader, Mary Thunder, upon seeing the [Tibetan] Vajra Dance performed, commented on the similarity of the two dances."

 

The Ghost Dance is a spiritual ritual to regain the tribe's pre-invasion life (thedqtimes.com).

 
When the Tibetan Ghost Dance was performed at Taer Monastery, Chinese media reported, "The ghost dance is performed across Tibetan regions to ward off disasters and bring luck and fortune."
  

Buffalo in Tibet? (Eadweard Muybridge)

"According to the prophet [of peace] Jack Wilson (Wovoka)'s teachings [which prophesied a peaceful end to white expansion, while preaching goals of clean, honest living and cross-cultural cooperation by Native Americans], proper practice of the dance would reunite the living with the spirits of the dead and bring peace, prosperity, and unity to native peoples throughout the region" (James Mooney, The Ghost Dance Religion and Wounded Knee, NY: Dover Publications, 1896).

It is characterized by a revival of many traditional beliefs and by the fervent expectation that a time of perpetual bliss was immanent (thedqtimes.com).

 

White postmortem photography (GG)

The call to return to the Ghost Dance was a call... [to the Native people, to the First Nations, to resist British colonial imperialism, American expansionism, displacement, and genocide. The same holds true when Tibetan Buddhist dancers perform the same ritual, frightening Chinese officials who in Tibet are the imperial forces, expansionists, and perpetrators of displacement and a cultural genocide.]

No dance means war (Siege of New Ulm)

The Sioux variation on the Ghost Dance tended towards millenarianism, an innovation that distinguished the Sioux interpretation from Jack Wilson's original teachings. The Caddo Nation still practices the Ghost Dance today (Phil Cross, "Caddo Songs and Dances," Caddo Legacy from Caddo People).

Moonlight Dance: Early "Indians" of India
Ashley Wells (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly, Wikipedia edit

When the Moon appears over the hills...

Thabal Chongba is a popular ManipuriIndian folk dance associated with the Yaoshang festival. Manipuri Indians, or Meiteis, are the majority ethnic group of Manipur, India; they are made up of seven clans, who trace their written history back to 33 AD).

 

They know our dances in ancient India? (SW)

The literal meaning of thabal is "moonlight," and chongba means "dance" or "leap," thus "dancing in the moonlight" (Encyclopaedia of Indian Tribes, Shyam Singh Shashi, Anmol Publications, 1997). Traditionally conservative parents in Manipur, India, did not allow their daughters to go out and meet young men without their consent. Thabal Chongba therefore provided the only chance for girls to meet and talk to boys (Grapevine). In earlier times, this dance was performed in the moonlight accompanied by folk songs. The music is rhythmic beating of drums accompanied by other instruments....
 

We need Native boy dancers (Hans Thoma)

As soon as the Moon rises over the hills, the flute, the drums, and the cymbals start pouring out music. The boys and girls in a circle clutch each other's hands with rhythms of music slow and fast, high and low, upbeat and down. If the number is great, they may form two or three rows so everyone can participate. More

 

"Native Chineseans" - Tibetans post-Chinese invasion, Potala Pueblo Palace, Lhasa (WQ)

• A Tongva Native American Garden (and Tibet)
• The Ghost Dead of early white Americans
• White Tombstone Weirdness (goregrish.com)
• The Buddhist University of the West (California)
• Ecological Permaculture Design at Living Mandala
• Daytime Practices of Dream Yoga (Reality Sandwich)
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• Dream Yoga and the Practice of Natural Light (Chogyal Namkhai Norbu)
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