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

Closer to "God" high in Georgia

Ashley Wells, Wisdom Quarterly; Yasmine Hafiz (Huffington Post Religion, 9-19-13)

Katskhi Pillar, high in Georgia, with its one-man hermitage (Amos Chapple)

(Maboroshi Productions) Early documentary trailer about the monk who now lives atop a 140 foot rock pillar in the central Imereti region, Georgia. He is the first to try in 600 years. Research will culminate in a short documentary out soon.

One of the men helped by Qavtaradze

The Eastern Orthodox Christian monk Maxime Qavtaradze is literally close to the heavens [space, the akasha deva loka]. The 59-year-old monastic lives atop a limestone pillar in the Eastern European Republic of Georgia.

He has to scale a 131-foot ladder in order to leave or return to his lofty home, reports CNN, the CIA/MIC's trusty American "news" outlet. Photographer Amos Chapple ascended the cliff to document his life there.

 

The Katskhi Pillar (wiki) has long been venerated as a "holy" place by locals in the area, although it has been uninhabited since about the 1400s. In 1944, when climbers ascended it, after centuries, of isolation, they found the ruins of a church and the 600-year-old bones of the last "stylite" who lived there.

(Paul Brian) "This.is.Georgia!" (comedy/documentary) follows the experiences of a volunteer English teacher in a small-town in the Republic of Georgia looking at the traditions, character, and quirks of rural communities in this small and proud nation where medieval meets modern and the hilarious exists side-by-side with the humbling. Nothing ever goes the way you expect in Georgia, but there's always more adventure (and alcohol) around the corner.

Waiting for the space saviors to return

The stylite tradition is believed to have begun in 423 when St. Simeon the Elder climbed a pillar in Syria in order to avoid worldly temptations. But the practice has since fallen out of favor. Nevertheless, Qavtaradze is a modern devotee.

 

Qavtaradze on ladder to heaven

Although isolated, he is not a total solitary yogi-hermit. He comes down once or twice a week to counsel the troubled young men who come to the monastery below for his help. After all, he was once one of them. He may now live at the top of the world, but Qavtaradze found his vocation when he was the lowest he had ever been -- doing time in prison after he "drank, sold drugs, everything" as a young man. But it's okay, for as we at Wisdom Quarterly say:

 

"Every saint has a past, every sinner a future."

  

He took monastic vows in 1993 and has been working to rebuild the monastery complex, chapel, and hermitage for the last 15 years, according to the makers of "The Stylite," a documentary about Qavtaradze and his community.

Yasmine Hafiz

Yasmine Hafiz, editorial fellow for The Huffington Post's Religion desk, holds a B.A. from Yale Univ., and co-authored The American Muslim Teenager's Handbook. Hafiz is a former State Dept. intern and a founding member of the Arizona Youth Interfaith Movement. She was a 2008 Presidential Scholar and has extensive public speaking experience regarding religion in America.

• Maxime: Meet the monk who lives a life of virtual solitude 
• A pillar with a view: Monk lives above it all (Yahoo!) 
• Georgian monk to mount Katskhi Pillar as a Stylite