Greek Buddhism (video)

Opensourcebuddhism.org, Wisdom Quarterly
(Open Source Buddhism) Mike Watters through Professor Rev. Dr. James Kenneth Powell II

Buddhism was a beloved Greek/Bactrian/Scythian tradition influencing the Dharma and toga-sporting depictions of the Buddha as East met West in Alexander's expansive Indo-Greek empire, which encompassed parts of northwest frontier India (Gandhara, Afghanistan, Indus River valley).

This detailed study of the intriguing interactions of the ancient Greeks, Indians, and Buddhists as greater Greece became a major conduit of communication.

Greek Skeptics and Stoics were greatly influenced by their connections with Buddhism, but not the Cynics. Diogenes was certainly a Buddhist man in the West. The contrast between his view and that of Socrates and Plato is well articulated. He is far more in agreement with the Buddha than the others.

Watters' chronicle of the origins and development of the Alexandrian then Ashokan civilizations is concise yet replete with details. The travels of the two Greek Dharmaraksitas is a fascinating revelation following Greco-Buddhism to Sri Lanka.

The study of King Menander (Milinda) pushes home how Buddhism took root in Central Asia and the philosopher-monk Nagasena's arguments in Greek court were historically pivotal.

The Shakyans (Scythians) of Central Asia

Wisdom Quarterly

The birth of Siddhartha, the future Buddha, from Peshawar, Gandhara (now Pakistan)

The Buddha who is called the Sage of the Sakyas (Sakyamuni) grew up in Central Asia, on the northwestern frontier of India, in modern Afghanistan. He was a member of the noble, royal, or warrior caste (kshtriya) in the ancient Indian system.

The Sakyan territory (maha-janapada) had its capital in Kapilavastu, Siddhartha's hometown, near modern Bamiyan. While he was born away from home in a garden park named Lumbini on the way to his mother's parent's home, possibly in or near modern Iran (a word deriving from Aryan, which the Buddha called himself).

Dr. Ranajit Pal speculates that the real Lumbini garden, the Buddha's birthplace, was in Sistan-Baluchistan, in modern disputed territory where Iran, Pakistan (called ancient Gandhara), and Afghanistan meet. Who were the Sakyans? Might they be the Sakas of Western and Middle Eastern history?

The Sakas or Sakyas?
Wikipedia.org (Sakas)

The Saka (Old Iranian Sakā, Latinized Sacae; Greek Σάκαι; Sanskrit शक [śaka]; Chinese 塞; Old Chinese *sək) were a Scythian tribe or group of tribes.

Greek and Latin texts suggest that the term Scythians referred to a much more widespread grouping of Central Asian peoples.[1][2]

Kings (kshtriyas) with dragons (nagas) associated with royalty in India -- gold artifacts of the Sakas of Indo-Greek/Persian Bactria, at the site of Tillia tepe.

Classical accounts

Accounts of the Indo-Scythian wars often assume that the Scythian protagonists were a single tribe called the Saka (Sakai or Sakas). But in earlier Greek and Latin texts the term Scythians referred to a much more widespread grouping of Central Asian peoples.

"Scythia" was a generic term loosely applied to a vast area of Central Asia spanning numerous groups and diverse ethnicities. Ptolemy writes that Skuthia was not only "within the Imaos" (the Himalayas) and "beyond the Imaos" (north of the Himalayas). He also speaks of a separate "land of the Sakais" within Scythia.[3] He notes that the Komedes inhabited "the entire mountainous land of the Sakas."

The Romans recognized both Saceans (Sacae) and Scyths (Scythae).

Indo-Scythians
Indo-Scythians is a term used to refer to Sakas who migrated into Bactria, Sogdiana, Arachosia, Gandhara, Kashmir, Punjab, Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Rajasthan, from the middle of the 2nd century BCE to the 4th century CE.

• "Golden prince," a buried skeleton of uncertain sex found wearing 4,000 gold artifacts, dressed in the cataphract-style Eurasian parade armor of a Saka royal from the Issyk kurgan, now emblematic of Kazakhstan (the country just north of Afghanistan)
  

Indian historians see the actual beginning of the Saka Era from 79 AD, after the Kushans conquered the Indo-Parthians and spilled over to the east. The Sakas were once again ousted by the Kushan and forced to wander further into central India.

In Rajasthan they came into the Hindu warrior caste of the Kshatriyas and were assimilated and were now feared nomadic warriors and rulers, for which Rajasthan was long famous.

Under the so-called Kshatriya kings the Shaka Ujjayini ruled from parts of northwest India and presented, for example, under Rudradaman I (r. about 130-150), a competition to the Satavahana dynasty. They were initially dependent on the Kushan. The Kshatriya kingdom was apparently after 397 conquered by king Chandragupta II (reigned 375-413/15).

Some South-Asian Sakas includes the Abhira, Nagbanshi, Andhra, Bala, Gurjjara.^[1][2] More

Giant Underwater Cities of India (video)

Gay Marriage, Pandakas, and Kinnars

Wisdom Quarterly (ANALYSIS)

Philadelphia woman flies the gay-pride rainbow flag at a Washington, D.C., march for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender rights in 2000. Created in San Francisco in 1978, the flag grew in popularity after the murder of Harvey Milk (time.com).

How we as Americans will handle the ancient experience of having a third or mixed gender in society will show the world. But we have much to learn. There is nothing new about it. While there are many stories of how odd self expression is ostracized, stories of their acceptance and integration are buried.

On this ancient land, the indigenous people had a tradition called the berdache. Males who felt like women trapped in a female body (or presumably vice versa) were adopted into the female role and married off to a male. That male was not regarded as gay or a berdache for marrying a man because that biological male was now socially accepted as a female in the tribe.

Much to our Puritanical consternation as Westerners and some deep gender bias, which may be biologically-rooted or completely socially-constructed, this offends us. Gender-bending is unsettling enough if we ourselves are not bisexual, pansexual, omnisexual, or questioning. But role reversal and flipping categories contrary to our birth-nature can be shocking.

In Buddhism as in Western science, gender may be fluid but biological sex is fixed. Long before the language of DNA and XX/XY chromosomes, Buddhist psychology understood that derived materiality had a sex/gender component. There is an element that determines one's biological sex at conception.

Apparently, due to karma, many things can cross wires after that. In gestation, before birth, hormones may not trigger sex stereotypical features, impulses, or reflexes. Men in India who displayed aberrant tendencies (cross-dressing, non-normative role displays, transsexuality) were labelled pandakas ("perverts," "eunuchs," "odd fellows"). We misunderstand this to mean our definition of "homosexual." But neither then nor now does this characterization fit.

It's not about homosexual, bisexual, or pansexual desires. It's about not feeling right. Rather than accepting our karmic inheritance -- which may seem very unfair (and who regards results of past actions as "fair" in subsequent lives?) -- we struggle against it. It often makes us miserable and society, being discomfited, can be very antagonistic.

The solution is not that everyone be bisexual. It is enough that people be accepting. No one needs to be gay, but it seems we do need to be fair and kind to one another. Is reserving marriage for some and not others "fair" or "kind"?

Gays (however we wish to define it, from LGBTQ to "freaks and weirdos") have been gay no matter what society has done to them. And the aberrant behavior, drug addiction, and acting out seem to be more a reaction to poor and unfair treatment forcing secrecy than anything inherent in gender-malleable expressions.

Molestation is post-conception. It can confuse many things -- sexuality, gender roles, rage, codependency, PTSD, and so on. Molestation and nonsexual childhood trauma is the great secret of our Puritanical culture from Europe to England to America. There is a taboo to ever talk about it or its lasting aftereffects. If it expresses itself as gender-aberrant behavior, it is squashed and secreted away as indicative of the unspeakable (molestation).

Although it seems that there is much more sexual molestation going on now than in the past (within families, not by strangers), it must not have been uncommon in the past. It often leads to promiscuity, shutting down, suicide, and flamboyant parades and displays.

Kinnar (pandakas) protesting for civil rights, Islamabad (wikipedia.org)

Pandakas in India

What does Buddhism have to teach us? The Buddha was not against gays. While they were not allowed to become monastics, which entails celibacy, there was no reason in the world they could not become Buddhists or members of the real Sangha. (The "real"community is the Noble Sangha, those who have entered upon the stages of enlightenment even as lay followers).

Murderers (Angulimala), vain and sexually promiscuous individuals (various ancient noble nuns come to mind, such as one of the Buddha's chief disciples, Ven. Uppalavanna), lepers (Suppabuddha), slaves and outcasts, prostitutes (Ambapali) -- the Path is open to all, and everyone is capable of attaining something unless so serious a karma absolutely frustrates their attainment. But even so, anyone is able to make a great deal of merit by practicing.

What Buddhist Psychology (Abhidharma or "Higher Teachings") has to say about the determination of biological sex -- or sexual dimorphism as a quality of the material particles that make up the body -- is fascinating but probably boring. It is explained as a characteristic of "derived materiality."

An examination of it needs more expert guidance than studying biology. It is on par with particle physics. The only living expert we are aware of, and with whom we have discussed these issues, is Ven. Pa Auk Sayadaw. But he is far more interested in leading meditators to see it directly for themselves than to speak of it in abstract or hypothetical terms. So if one seeks him out, be prepared to practice virtue, sit, attain absorption, and be ready to practice insight-meditation -- in that order.

His teaching students -- Sayalay (Ayya) Susila (Malaysia), Ven. Dhammadipa (Czechoslovakia), Tina Rasmussen and Stephen Snyder (California), Shaila Catherine (California) -- might respond to inquiries regarding. But they, too, are certain to prefer speaking to sincere spiritual seekers rather than theoreticians and speculators.

There were pandakas ("pansexuals," "perverts") in the past. There are pandakas today. The sexism that existed before the Buddha and reasserted itself in the male-dominated Sangha (who subordinated Buddhist nuns after the Buddha's passing but early enough to have made it seem as if the Buddha was on board and actually started that subordination by setting up extra rules, garudhammas, for bhikkhunis).

This gives Buddhism a black eye it does not deserve. Originally, the Dharma was not sexist. It was radically progressive in India. But the backdrop of oppression was not overcome. Males and females were segregated, and this segregation intensified in the Buddha's two Monastic Orders (male and female). Pandakas were not allowed because the goal of monasticism is to overcome sensual craving. And the promiscuity pandakas are infamous for meant people would not believe they could contain their impulses even to a normative human degree, which is hard enough.

Not only pandakas, many groups are not allowed to become fully ordained monastics in Buddhism. For example, certain diseases prevent one, even harmless and non-transmissible ones like vitiligo. So Michael Jackson would not have been able to become a fully ordained Buddhist monk -- even if his other aberrant behaviors (with drugs, with children, with flamboyant displays) would not have prevented him.

Wisdom Quarterly was talking to someone in India -- thanks to US corporations making so much use of customer care call centers. The operator had never heard the word "pandaka" and had no idea there was an annual Pandaka Parade in India. That is, until a description of this word was given. Then, perfectly familiar with that, yelled out, "Oh, you mean kinnar!"

Kinnar, as in kinnaras (garudas), the mysterious avian-hybrids of Indian mythology incorporated into Buddhist cosmology. Griffins, angels, serpent-hating-eagles, beautiful bird headed people capable of flight (in massive garuda aircraft).

The kinnar are of India and South Asia (hijra) are the kathoey of Buddhist Thailand.

Flighty "Fairies"

Wisdom Quarterly edit of Kinnar

In the culture of South Asia, hijras (in Islam a word related to flight and migration, Hindi: हिजड़ा, chakka in Kannada, khusra in Punjabi, kojja in Telugu are physiological males who have feminine gender identity, women's clothing, and adopt other feminine gender roles.

Hijras have a long recorded history in the Indian subcontinent, which was formerly Buddhist and now has a massive Muslim population (of over 100 million) from the Mughal Empire period onwards. This history features a number of well-known roles within subcontinental cultures, part gender-liminal, part spiritual, and part survival.

In South Asia, many hijras live in well-defined, organized, all-hijra communities, led by a guru or chief.[1][2] These communities have sustained themselves over generations by "adopting" young boys who are rejected by or who flee their family of origin (due to molestation, abuse, or rejection).[3] Many work as prostitutes for survival.[4]

The word hijra is Urdu, derived from the Arabic root hjr, has the sense of flying away, migrating, or "leaving one's tribe"[5]. It has been borrowed into Hindi, the dominant language of India.

The Indian usage has traditionally been translated into English as "eunuch" or "hermaphrodite," where "the irregularity of the male genitalia is central to the definition."[6] However, in general hijras are born with typically male physiology, only a few having been born with male intersex variations.[7]

Historically, ceremonial initiation into the hijra community is rumored to have involved removal of a boy's penis, testicles, and scrotum, without anesthetic, at or around puberty. However, according to the Mumbai (Bombay) health organization The Humsafar Trust, only eight percent of hijra visiting their clinic are nirwaan (castrated).

Since the late 20th century, some hijra activists and Western non-government organizations (NGOs) have been lobbying for official recognition of the hijra as a kind of "third sex" or "third gender," which is neither man nor woman.[8]

• Wikipedia: "Third Gender"

Buddha's relics on rare display in Sri Lanka

LankaNewspapers.com, IANS, and APP, June 20, 2011 edited by Wisdom Quarterly
Reclining Buddha passing into final nirvana (parinirvana) prior to cremation and disbursal of the relics, Thai megalith, Ayutthaya, Thailand (Marty Windle/Flickr)

Millions of Sri Lankan devotees pay homage to sacred Buddhist relics from Pakistan

Millions of Sri Lankan Buddhist devotees paid homage to sacred relics of the Buddha from Pakistan [until recently an ancient part of India called Gandhara alongside Afghanistan, formerly the Indian frontier region where Siddhartha was likely born and raised] during a 17-day exhibition of the sacred relics in Sri Lanka.

These sacred relics were sent by the Government of Pakistan at the special request of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, during the visit of President Asif Ali Zardari to Sri Lanka.

In addition to the millions of Buddhist devotees, the president, the prime minister, speaker of the Sri Lankan Parliament, several parliamentarians, and other prominent personalities paid homage to the sacred relics.

Sacred cremation relics of the Buddha on exhibition (IANS)

The sacred relics were taken back to Pakistan on Monday after the conclusion of the exhibition, according to a message received here from Colombo. They included the cremation remnants of the Buddha, the Kanishka relic casket from Shah-Ji-Ki-Dehri (pictured below), a stone reliquary in the shape of a stupa (Buddhist burial mound), and a golden casket.

The exhibition of the sacred relics was declared open by the Sri Lankan president on June 4 at Maligakanda Temple in the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo, where the sacred relics were on display from June 5-9, 2011. Over 300,000 people paid homage to these relics daily.

They were were then taken to the Gangaramaya Temple, Hunupitiya, where they went on public exhibition from June 10-12, when over 350,000 devotees visited them daily.

On June 13, the relics were taken to Tissamaharama Temple, Hambantota, to mark the celebration of Poson (June full moon day observance) on June 15. The sacred relics remained there for three days and were visited by over a million devotees.

On June 17, the relics were brought back to Colombo to Mahamewna Asapuwa in Malabe. From June 17-19 they were kept in the inner chamber of the newly constructed stupa [pagoda] to sanctify and confer blessings on the new stupa. As a lasting testimony to this blessed event, the stupa was named the “Blessed Gautama Dharma-King Reliquary” (Siri Gauthama Dharmarajika Stupa).

Afterwards the sacred relics were exhibited at Mahamewuna Asapuwa, Malabe until June 19. The exhibition of the relics in Sri Lanka has further strengthened the deep rooted cultural relations between the two friendly nations. It marked the 2600th year since the Buddha's attainment of enlightenment.

Buddhism left a rich and monumental legacy on the art and architecture of modern Pakistan [ancient Gandhara]. Despite the vagaries of the centuries, the Gandhara region preserved a lot of the heritage in craft and art. Much of this legacy is still visible [although being bombed and ruined by American military forces engaged in a destabilizing war of aggression using drone aircraft and secret raids] in Pakistan.

• [NOTE: "Pakistan" was, of course, only created a few decades ago when the departing British rulers and colonists partitioned it from India to ensure that the newly independent countries would remain divided, conquerable, and easily manipulated from a distance even as they relinquished legitimate control of this geo-politically sensitive region. Kashmir, Afghanistan, China, Iran, Tajikistan, India, Bangladesh and other provinces such as Sikkim and Nagaland have been in turmoil ever since.]
  

The Gandhara Civilization was the center of spiritual influence and also the cradle of world-famous Gandhara culture, art, and learning. It was from this center that a unique sculptural art originated, which influenced the ancient Greek statuary [although it is generally thought Greek art influenced Gandhara Buddhist art, often showing the Buddha with Westernized features, flowing robes akin to togas, and royal markings].

Today Gandhara sculptures occupy a prominent place in the museums of America [Norton Simon, Getty, etc.], England, France, Germany, Japan, Korea, China, India, and [of course] Afghanistan, together with many private collections the world over, as well as a vast collection in the museums of Pakistan.

Afghanistan's wealth is hidden underground

(NPR) There's close to a $1 trillion waiting to be unearthed beneath the rocky soil of Afghanistan.

[Moreover, there are invaluable spiritual and historical Buddhist treasures waiting to be unearthed -- since this may have been the birthplace of Siddhartha, who became the Buddha, who was born in Lumbini, in Baluchistan [where Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan meet] and grew up in Kapilavastu, thought to be near the largest Buddha statues in the world prior to Taliban demolition, Bamiyan.]

The massive deposits of iron, copper, gold, and lithium [and rare earths detected by Chinese firms and crucial to the manufacture of computers, cell phones, and other advanced technology to say nothing of their burgeoning trade in heroin, a resource exploited by military forces, ours and theirs] could potentially turn the troubled nation's economy around.

"Afghanistan, with certainty I can say, in 20 years is going to be a mining country," Paul Brinkley, head of a Pentagon group called the Task Force for Business Stability Operations, tells NPR's Rachel Martin. "That is going to happen."

He sees these untapped natural resources as a means for Afghanistan to build a stronger economy.

Brinkley, who has been doing this kind of work since 2006, is stepping down from his post later this month. But he's adamant this project is only starting to scratch the surface.

"This is a resource the Afghans are beginning to understand offers them a future," he says.

Business In A War Zone
To Brinkley, Afghanistan's mineral deposits are the country's chance at having a core indigenous source of wealth. But he knows it's not as simple as just getting those minerals out of the ground.

Brinkley says that in order to properly develop the mining industry, "creation has to take place of business practices."

In the past, Afghanistan has seen lots money come into the country through illicit industries like opium production. He notes minerals can't be smuggled in the same way drugs can, so Afghans will need to engage in legal business transactions and build working relationships to make this work. More

Pentagon: No rush for U.S. troops to leave Afghanistan

Afghan forces in spotlight as U.S. debates role

Afghanistan

Man searches for 2600-yr-old Buddha spirit

Buddhist heritage sites are found throughout greater India, from modern Iran to Bangladesh

Lone man searches for 2,600-yr-old Buddha spirit in north Indian ruins
Sanjay Sharma, Times of India, Wisdom Quarterly, and TheBuddhistForum.com

CHANDIGARH, India - A rural Hindu boy found peace sitting in Buddhist ruins around historically important Yamunanagar, his hometown, when he felt low pursuing his engineering degree from Kurukshetra University.

Siddhartha Gauri, 35, just like the historical Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, found hope thinking of reviving dilapidated structures around his town.

The Buddha traveled throughout the north interacting with brahmins and others, which later influenced the development of Hinduism (systematized by Adi Shankara).

Prince Siddhartha, who became the Buddha at 35, was on a spiritual quest that started when he first noticed or was deeply struck by the uncommon sight of death, disease, and old age in his charmed life. The Buddha found answers to his quest 2,600 years ago on this very day [May 17, 2011, the full-moon day of the Indian month of Vesak].

While collecting pictures of such sites, an idea occurred to Siddhartha Gauri -- making a documentary to capture the plight of the historically important sites. It took three years but he succeeded in making a 22 minute documentary: "Dhammashetra -- The Lost Land of Buddha."

As he started researching on the ruins, he found too many of them across the country, mostly in Haryana.

Gauri was, however, shocked to know that nothing much was happening in terms of conserving Buddhism's heritage, which is so important for world peace, tourism, as well as the diplomatic and economic ties of India with the rest of the world, particularly China and Japan and neighboring Buddhist countries.

Despite his film being shown on Doordarshan International, he launched a website thebuddhistform.com to attract the attention of the world towards the plight of Buddhism's heritage in India.

The Buddhism that developed in ancient India spread to ancient Greece before moving to China and north Asia, leaving behind imprints of Mahayana that went on to influence Christianity and Western ideals like democracy.

The website is attracting 100,000 visitors a month, mostly from America and Russia, both of which have significant Buddhist populations (indigenous Buddhists as well as new adherents).

His efforts to draw the attention of the Indian government brought him disappointment as nothing tangible has happened on the ground.

Gauri, however, started getting recognition from the international community. In April, he had a meeting with Magsaysay Award winner Sri Lankan Gandhian Dr. A.T. Ariyaratne to save the Buddhist heritage of North India.

The "Buddhist circuit" in ancient Magadha, Northern India

Barely managing so far by borrowing funds from family and friends, the Yamunanagar City youth is planning to visit Buddhist countries to drum up support for his cause. the first international screening of his film was held in Sri Lanka in April. He was invited to the island nation's celebrations of the 2,600th anniversary of the Buddha's enlightenment (Buddha Jayanthi).

"My name and my work on stupas [alabaster Buddhist burial mounds and reliquaries] have almost made me a Buddhist in the eyes of the world despite retaining my Hindu belief close to my heart," Gauri told The Times of India.

Gauri has already written letters to all 700 MPs to preserve India's Buddhist heritage in their areas. And he has sent 21,000 signatures to India's president for saving stupas.

Whether there is a controversy on Chaneti Stupa being spoilled during conservation work or villagers demanding the return of the Ashokan pillar from Delhi back to Topra village, Gauri is on the forefront.

Talking to The Times of India, Gauri said one of the biggest challenges for his campaign came when he found out that the Indian state of Jammu & Kashmir has a large number of Kushan period remains. It was from here that Buddhism went to Bamiyan in Afghanistan [where the Buddha may have grown up, the real Kapilavastu, the Kingdom of the Shakyas].

But one courageous Kashmiri Muslim, Siraj-ud-din Salam, of the Kashmir Humanity Foundation has stood by him. Together they launched a signature campaign in Kashmir to save the Buddha.

Foremost in Wisdom (the Nun Khema)

Hellmuth Hecker (Buddhist Women at the Time of the Buddha) Wisdom Quarterly update

(-William/Flickr.com)

The Buddha had two foremost female disciples, the nuns Khema and Uppalavanna, just as there were two foremost disciples in the Order of Monks, namely Sariputta and Moggallana.

The name Khema means well-settled or composed or security. It is a synonym for nirvana. The nun Khema belonged to a royal family from the land of Magadha, India, where the Buddha resided as he spread the Dharma.

When she was of marriageable age, young Khema became one of the chief consorts of King Bimbisara, the ruler of Magadha. As beautiful as her appearance was her life as a princess-in-waiting. King Bimbisara was a great supporter devoted to the Buddha and his message.

When Khema heard about the Buddha from her husband, she became interested. But she was reluctant to become involved with his teaching: She felt that the Dharma of an ascetic teacher might run counter to her life of indulgence in sense-pleasures.

The king, however, knew how he could influence her to listen to the teaching. He described at length the harmony, peace, and beauty of the Buddhist monastery in the Bamboo Grove, where the Buddha frequently resided as he toured the country on foot. She loved beauty, harmony, and peace and was therefore persuaded to visit.

Decked out in her royal splendor, she went to the monastery. The Enlightened One spoke to her and explained the law of impermanence of all conditioned beauty. She penetrated this sutra fully. And still dressed in royal garments, she attained enlightenment.

Just like the Buddhist monk Mahakappina -- a former king -- she likewise became liberated through the power of [her previous karma ripening as] the Buddha spoke. She realized the Truth still dressed in the garments of a lay person.



With her husband's consent, she joined the Order of Nuns. Such an attainment, like lightning, is only possible when the seed of wisdom has long been ripening and virtue is fully matured.

An ordinary person hearing Khema's story marvels at the wonder of the sudden attainment. But it was not the strength of what the Buddha said alone; Khema's attainment had a great deal to do with her own karma (actions).

A supremely enlightened buddha sees beyond appearances. This woman did not come to full liberation accidentally. Rather, it came about like this.

In former times whenever a buddha appeared in the world, then-Khema also appeared nearby, or so it has been said in the texts. Due to her inner attraction towards the highest Truth (dharma or "unchanging Truth" the Dharma, or doctrine, points towards), she always came to birth wherever the bearer and proclaimer of such Truth lived.

It is said that innumerable ages ago she had sold her beautiful hair to give alms to the Buddha Padumuttara. During the time of the Buddha Vipassi, which was 91 aeons ago, she had been a teacher of Dharma. Further it is told, that during the three buddhas of our present and very fortunate aeon prior to the historical Buddha Gautama, Khema (in former lives) was a lay disciple who gained happiness by building abbeys for the community of Buddhist monastics.



While most living beings mill about heavenly or hellish realms during the life of a buddha, Khema always gravitated to the source of wisdom by her inner affinity to such teachings. When there was no supremely enlightened buddha appearing in the world, which is most of the time, she was reborn at the time of non-teaching (pacceka) buddhas or bodhisattvas (beings striving for supreme enlightenment).

In one birth she was the wife of the Bodhisat (the future Buddha), who always exhorted his peaceful family in this way:

According to what you have got, give alms;
Observe the lunar observance days and keep the precepts pure;
Dwell upon the thought of death being mindful of your mortal state.
For in the case of beings death is certain, life is uncertain;
All composite things are transitory and subject to decay.
Therefore, be heedful of your ways day and night.

(theglobalintelligencer.com)

One day Khema's only son was suddenly killed by the bite of a poisonous snake, yet she was able to keep total equanimity:

Death of a Loved One

Uncalled he hither came, without leave departed, too;
Even as he came, he went. What cause is here for woe?
No friend's lament can touch the ashes of the dead:
Why should I grieve? He fares the way he had to tread.
Though I should fast and weep, how would it profit me?
My kith and kin, alas, would more unhappy be.
No friend's lament can touch the ashes of the dead:
Why should I grieve? He fares the way he had to tread.
— Buddhist Birth Tale (Jataka) 354

Another time -- so it is told -- she was she daughter-in-law of the Bodhisat (Jataka 397), many times a great empress who dreamed of receiving teachings from the Bodhisat, and then actually was taught by him (Jatakas 501, 502, 534). It is further recounted that as a queen she was always the wife of the future Sariputra (the Buddha's chief male disciple, "foremost in wisdom"), who said about her:

Of equal status is the wife,
Deferential, speaking only loving words,
With children, beauty, fame, garlanded,
She always listens to my words.
— Jatakas 502, 534

This husband in former lives was a righteous king, who upheld the ten royal virtues: generosity, morality, renunciation, truthfulness, gentleness, patience, amity, harmlessness, humility, and justice. Because of these virtues the king lived in happiness and bliss. Khema, too, lived in accordance with these precepts. (Jataka 534)

It was only because Khema had purified her heart and perfected it in these virtues in many past lives that she was now mature enough to immediately benefit from the Buddha's instruction. She had such pure and tranquil emotions that she could accept the ultimate Truth in the twinkling of an eye.

[The reason she did not realize the Truth much earlier was that she had wished to be a foremost disciple for a future buddha, which delayed her own attainment of liberation as she developed the perfection (paramis) to make this possible.]

Nearly unknown, the Buddha praised Khema as the Buddhist nun "foremost in wisdom."

Official "Buddha Day 2600" Song (Sri Lanka)

Famous moments in the life of the Buddha with official Sinhalese song

SRI LANKA 2011 - This year's Vesak Full-Moon Observance Day marks the 2600th year of the Buddha attaining enlightenment. Sri Lanka has made arrangements to commemorate the event as a country safeguarding the Buddha-Dharma and a nation built on those principles. The government and the Buddha Dispensation Ministry have taken the initiative of building a virtuous society, bringing together Buddhists as well as followers of other religions.

How Sri Lanka commemorates the Buddha Day Festival (Sambuddathva Jayanthi)

BBC: Jesus was a Buddhist monk (video)

BBC documentary: "Did Jesus Die?"

(NJ) "Did Jesus Die" is a BBC documentary that examines the question the life of a man who has become the most famous figure in history. It looks at ideas around the question until minute 0:25. The examination of ideas takes a logical and grounded turn with surprising conclusions that demonstrate: The three wise men were Buddhist monks who found Jesus (considered a tulku or incarnation of a bodhisattva aiming to become the Messiah/Maitreya or buddha to come). They came back for him around puberty. After being trained in a Buddhist monastery (likely to be Hemis Gompa in Ladakh, India, near Tibet). He spread Buddhist philosophy, survived crucifixion (with the help of apostles and bribed Roman soldiers particularly the one who lanced him and prevented him from drowning in his own bodily fluids), and escaped Israel to the ancient Jewish enclave of Kashmir, Afghanistan where he died and was entombed as a respected sage (St. Issa) at the age of 80 (the same age the Buddha passed into final nirvana).

The Buddha's Last Disciple

Mahaparinibbana Sutra ("Great Final Passing Discourse")

KUSHINAGAR, ancient India - The Buddha had decided to enter nirvana (without-remainder) near a podunk town. Ananda, who was already distraught, could hardly believe it. But the Buddha explained that in the distant past the area had been a significant site for previous buddhas. Moreover, it was in territory no kingdom could outright claim to the exclusion and consternation of others. Before passing, the Buddha answered one final question.

Last Days of the Buddha

Sister Vajira & Francis Story (DN 16) edited by Wisdom Quarterly

51. Now at that time a wandering ascetic named Subhadda was dwelling at Kusinara. And Subhadda the wandering ascetic heard it said: "Today in the third watch of the night, the final passing (parinirvana) of the ascetic Gautama will take place."

52. And the thought arose in him: "I have heard it said by old and venerable wandering ascetics, teachers of teachers, that the arising of Wayfarers (tathagathas), Liberated Ones (arhants), Fully Enlightened Teachers (buddhas) is rare in the world. Yet this very day, in the last watch of the night, the final passing of the ascetic Gautama will take place. Now there is in me a doubt. But to this extent I have faith in the ascetic Gautama -- that he could so teach me the Dharma so as to remove that doubt."

53. Then the wandering ascetic Subhadda went to the Sal tree grove, the pleasure park of the Mallas, and drew near to the [sad and preoccupied] Ven. Ananda, and told him his thought, saying: "Friend Ananda, it would be good if I could be allowed into the presence of the ascetic Gautama."

54. But Ven. Ananda answered him, saying: "Enough, friend Subhadda! Do not trouble the Wayfarer. The Blessed One is weary."

55-56. Yet a second and a third time the wandering ascetic Subhadda made his request, and a second and a third time Ven. Ananda refused him.

57. The Buddha heard the talk between them, and he called Ven. Ananda and said: "Stop, Ananda! Do not refuse Subhadda. Ananda, Subhadda may be allowed into the presence of the Wayfarer. For whatever he will ask me, he will ask for the sake of knowledge, not as an offense. And the answer I give him he will readily understand."

When the Buddha was passing from the danger of samsara to the blissful peace of nirvana with devas and the Sangha on hand

58. Then Ven. Ananda said to the wandering ascetic Subhadda: "Go then, friend Subhadda, the Blessed One gives you leave."

59. The wandering ascetic Subhadda approached the Buddha, saluted him courteously, and having exchanged with him pleasant and civil greetings, he seated himself respectfully at one side, saying: "There are, Ven. Gautama, wandering ascetics and brahmin priests who are heads of great companies of disciples, who have large retinues, who are leaders of schools, well known and renowned, held in high esteem by the multitude, such the teachers

• Purana Kassapa
• Makkhali Gosala
• Ajita Kesakambali
• Pakudha Kaccayana
• Sañjaya Belatthaputta
• Nigantha Nataputta [Mahavira, the founder of Jainism].

Have all of these attained realization, as each of them would have it believed, or has none of them, or is it that some have attained realization and others not?"

60. "Enough, Subhadda! Let it be as it may, whether all of them have attained realization, as each of them would have it believed, or whether none of them has, or whether some have attained realization and others not. I will teach you the Dharma, Subhadda; listen and heed it well, and I will speak."

"So be it, venerable sir."

The Buddha's Lion's Roar
61. And the Buddha spoke, saying: "In whatsoever teaching (dharma) and discipline, Subhadda, there is not found the Noble Eightfold Path, neither is there found a true wandering ascetic of the first, second, third, or fourth degree of enlightenment (saintliness).

But in whatsoever dharma and discipline there is found the Noble Eightfold Path, there is found a true ascetic of the first, second, third, and fourth degrees of saintliness.

Now in this Dharma and Discipline, Subhadda, is found the Noble Eightfold Path. And in it alone are also found true ascetics of the first, second, third, and fourth degrees of enlightenment.

Devoid of true ascetics are the systems of other teachers. But if, Subhadda, the recluses live rightly, the world will not be destitute of saints.

62. "In age but 29 was I, Subhadda,
When I renounced the world to seek the Good;
Fifty-one years have passed since then, Subhadda,
And in all that time a wanderer have I been
In the domain of virtue and of truth,
And except therein, there is no saint
(of the first degree).

Siddhartha renouncing the world at age 29 with his charioteer Channa and his beloved white stallion Kanthaka on the outskirts of the Shakyan territory (ancient northwest Indian frontier).

"And there is none of the second degree, nor of the third degree, nor of the fourth degree of saintliness. Devoid of true ascetics are the systems of other teachers. But if, Subhadda, the recluses live rightly, the world will not be destitute of saints."

63. When this was said, the wandering ascetic Subhadda spoke to the Buddha, saying: "Excellent, O venerable sir, most excellent, O venerable sir! It is as if, venerable sir, one were to set upright what had been overthrown, or to reveal what had been hidden, or to show the path to one who had gone astray, or to light a lamp in the darkness so that those with eyes might see -- even so has the Blessed One set forth the Dharma in many ways [suggesting he must have said more than is recorded here]. And so, O venerable sir, I go for guidance (sarana) to the Blessed One, the Dharma, and the Community of wandering ascetics. May I receive from the Blessed One admission to the Community and also the higher ordination."

64. "Whoever, Subhadda, having been formerly a follower of another creed (dharma or teaching), wishes to receive admission and higher ordination in this Dharma and Discipline, remains on probation for a period of four months. At the end of those four months, if the recluses are satisfied with him, they grant him admission and higher ordination as a recluse. Yet in this matter I recognize differences among people."

65. "I... will remain on probation for a period of four years. And at the end of those four years, if the recluses are satisfied with me, let them grant me admission and higher ordination as a recluse."

66. But the Buddha called Ven. Ananda and said to him: "Ananda, let Subhadda be given admission into the Community." Ven. Ananda replied: "So be it, venerable sir."

67. Then the wandering ascetic Subhadda said to Ven. Ananda: "It is a gain to you, friend Ananda, a blessing, that in the presence of the Buddha himself you have received the sprinkling of ordination as a disciple."

68. So it came about that the wandering ascetic Subhadda, in the presence of the Buddha, received admission and higher ordination. And from the time of his ordination Ven. Subhadda remained alone, secluded, heedful, ardent, and resolute [determined to reach the ultimate goal].

And before long he attained to the goal for which a worthy person goes forth rightly from the household life into homelessness, the supreme goal of the monastic life. And having by himself realized it with higher knowledge, he dwelt in it. He knew, "Destroyed is birth; the higher life is fulfilled; nothing more is to be done, and beyond this nothing more remains." Ven. Subhadda became yet another among the saints, the last disciple liberated by the Buddha himself. More