U.S. bombing Buddhist Laos (video)

Pfc. Sandoval, Ashley Wells, Wisdom Quarterly; Amy Goodman, Nermeen Shaikh

Laotian Theravada Buddhist devotion, Luang Prabang, Laos (William Day/flickr.com)

 

Fifty years ago this month, the United States began raining down bombs on Laos [a landlocked Theravada Buddhist nation in Southeast Asia near Vietnam, China, Thailand, Burma, and Cambodia], in what would become the largest bombing campaign in history.

From June 1964 to March 1973, the United States dropped at least two million tons of bombs on the small, landlocked southeast Asian country. That is the equivalent of one planeload every eight minutes, 24 hours a day, for nine years -- more than was dropped on Germany and Japan during World War II.
 

40 years after secret U.S. war in Laos, millions of bomblets (seen here) keep killing

 
This part of the deadly legacy of the U.S. War on Vietnam lives on: In a sense the bombing continues today because of unexploded cluster bombs (scattering bomblets), which had about a 30 percent failure rate when they were thrown from American planes over large swaths of Laos.

Experts estimate that Laos today is littered with as many as 80 million "bombies" or bomblets -- baseball-sized bombs designed into cluster bombs to scatter on impact to kill long after the initial bombing.

Since the initial bombing stopped four decades ago, tens of thousands of people have been injured, maimed, and killed as a result. Democracy Now! is joined by Karen Coates and Jerry Redfern, co-authors of Eternal Harvest: The Legacy of American Bombs in Laos (eternalharvestthebook.com).
 

The full Democracy Now! episode, June 25, 2014

• The man who co-wrote MLK’s "Beyond Vietnam" speech 
• SPECIAL: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in his own words 
• Oliver Stone on 50th anniversary of JFK assassination and the "Untold History of the United States"
• VIDEO: Jeremy Scahill and Noam Chomsky on secret U.S. "Dirty Wars" from Yemen to Pakistan to Laos

• IRAQ: Maliki calls unity gov’t calls a "Coup" against Iraq 
• U.S. flies spy planes over Iraq; Syria bombs Sunni targets
• U.S. talks Iraq crisis with NATO allies
• Republican Sen. Cochran defeats Tea Party challenger after appeal to black voters
• Rangel claims victory in New York primary
• Federal Court rules "No-Fly" List unconstitutional!
• Obama admin warns of deportation of thousands of kids
• Assange attorneys petition Sweden to drop arrest warrant
• Palestinian prisoners end mass hunger strike
• Witnesses: Militants kidnap dozens in Nigeria
• Connecticut removes transsexual teen from adult prison

"The Untold History of the U.S." (video)"

Pfc. Sandoval, Pat Macpherson, Wisdom Quarterly; Oliver Stone, Showtime, RT.com

(Episode 3: "The Bomb") "The Untold History of the United States"

Narrated by Oliver Stone, this series of one-hour episodes features human events that at the time went un- or under- reported, yet they crucially shaped the United States' unique and complex history of, what Dr. Martin Luther King was to call, "The greatest purveyor of violence in the world," namely the United States. In a recent poll more than 60% of people worldwide view the USA as the greatest source of terrorism and violence. Might the CIA be responsible for this reputation, or are the Obama, Bush-Cheney, and Nixon administrations largely responsible for it?

(RT/MOX News) "I've always regarded the CIA as a 

criminal organization" - Oliver Stone

• Pacifica Free Speech Radio: Oliver Stone Pack (book, DVD)
  
• VIDEO: I think it's embarrassing" - WikiLeaks' Julian Assange responds to Obama's big NSA Reforms speech

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

Secret underground worlds (video)

Pat Macpherson, Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly; David Wilcock, Giorgio Tsoukalos, David Hatcher Childress (C2C), Linda Moulton Howe... (History.com)

(History Channel) documentary: ANCIENT MAN MADE TUNNELS: Underground Civilizations

Buddhist stone carved caves of Ellora, India

The first stop is Turkey's underground city of Derinkkuyu in Cappadocia. Then onto the origins of U.S. DUMBS (Deep Underground Military Bases) in the American Southwest (and elsewhere), built by aliens and once inhabited by various Puebloan and other Native peoples or "Indians." See Minute 9:45 for the Native Americans and civilizations in the Southwestern United States: Navajo, Zuni, Pueblo, Hopi, and Apache tribes. These First Nations people all share a common creation "myth" of emerging from the ground rather than coming across the Bering Straits and down from Alaska as modern anthropologist try to explain. By their own account, they got help from the "Snake People" (nagas) and "Ant People" -- subterranean humanoid dwellers.

• Right beneath our feet: the reality of underground bases
• VIDEO: Lost Cities: Archeological Cover ups like the Egyptian-Buddhist caves of the Grand Canyon, USA (David Hatcher Childress)
• Lost Cities and Ancient Mysteries of the Southwest
• Was the carved "installation" in the Grand Canyon a Buddhist temple? -- Discovered by American anthropologists and buried by the Smithsonian
• A look inside the storybook architecture unique to L.A.

Burma sends military to protect precious rock

Seth Auberon, Pfc. Sandoval, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly;Saw Yan Naing (irrawaddy.org), "Hpakant Jade Stone Estimated at 50 Tons," Feb. 20, 2014

Myanmar's "Golden Rock," Kyaiktiyo Pagoda, Mon State, Burma (hjuengst/flickr.com)

 

Thai cave temple, Wat Umong (Decha Thapanya)

RANGOON, Burma - A massive precious jade stone recently discovered near a village in Kachin State’s Hpakant region is believed to weigh 50+ tons.

But with half the rock yet to be unearthed, its exact mass remains unknown.

 

After visiting the discovery site and sizing up the raw jade stone in Wai Ka Village amid tight security, local jade merchant U Cho said initial reports of its size were likely underestimated.

• 

  Jade boulders still buried (The Irrawaddy)

  [Prior to becoming a military dictatorship and, along with England, part of the inspiration for George Orwell's dystopian Nineteen Eighty-Four, Burma was the richest country in Southeast Asia. (Orwell was born in British India but stationed in Burma during his military service. See Shooting an Elephant). It is still a tremendous source of raw resources fought over by the USA and China, both aspiring to strip the land and its corrupt military dictatorship/false front democratically elected parliament to enrich themselves. Dictator and head of the ruling military junta, Gen. Than Shwe took a backseat while still pulling the levers of political control, as former U.S. Sec'y of State, and potential future presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton cut deals and helped put pressure on the junta to give opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi a seat in parliament.]

“We estimate that the stone might be bigger,” he told The Irrawaddy. “What we had heard [that the stone was thought to weigh about 20 tons] was because the body of the stone is still buried in the ground. But we don’t know how much it will be worth.”

 

Jade stone used for life-sized Buddha (R-E)

Government troops were deployed this week to guard the area where the jade stone is located. As a result, local small-scale jade miners have been completely barred from s[caveng]ing for jade in the surrounding area.

The jade [boulder], described by locals as being “as big as a Mitsubishi Pajero truck,” was found by a small-scale miner, Aung Naing Win, on Feb. 9th in Hpakant Township. The region, west of the Kachin State capital Myitkyina, is known for possessing some of the world’s best jade.

 

Theravada novices on alms (Hilde Juengst)

Contacted by The Irrawaddy on Wednesday, a staffer at the state-owned Myanmar Gems Enterprise in [the new Burmese capital and secretive military headquarters] Naypyidaw (WSJ video) said she was not allowed to comment on the jade stone discovery in Hpakant. Asked for contact details for an individual authorized to speak to the media, the staffer said she was not at liberty to provide that information.

 

The Myanmar Gems Enterprise operates under Burma’s Ministry of Mines.

 

Small-scale miners in the region operate unlicensed, and thus have no legal claim to jade that they discover. Most of them deal in the black market trade. More

(This World Rocks) Burma with its massive golden, jewel-encrusted Shwedagon Pagoda (housing the Buddha's first relics, a few hairs given to merchants shortly after the great enlightenment and decision to teach, according to legend), a testament to the country's wealth.

• Dalai Lama tweets Chinese about Tibet
• Sexy NPR reporter marries her father figure

Alchemy Conference 2013

Wisdom Quarterly; AlchemyEvent.com

(AlchemyEvent.com)