Lost Buddhist Kingdom, Afghanistan (video)

Alliance for the Restoration of Cultural Heritage, ARCHinternational.org); Dan Rather Reports; Buddhaghosha (youtube.com); SMA; Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Wisdom Quarterly

The Buddha Shakyamuni

The Buddha was born to the west in Afghanistan (ranajitpal.com), not Nepal, not India, not Ukraine. Archeological evidence of this, apart from textual support to be found in the sutras, is surfacing. The oldest known Buddhist texts yet discovered, the Gandharan scrolls, are from this area, not India, not Nepal. Not only are the world's largest Buddhist statues also found in this faraway frontier land (Bamiyan), once a great hub on the Silk Route, an entire lost Buddhist kingdom (Mes Aynak) has been discovered and has yet to be excavated.

The Buddhist "kingdom" or 10,000 acre Buddhist temple-complex and city has been known about since the 1960s. But political and religious pressure has meant that not much attention has been drawn to it. Afghanistan and most of Central Asia from the Indian border to Iran and up to Ukraine is now aligned with Islam.

Gandharan Buddhist texts (gardendigest.com)

India, a largely Hindu country with a significant Muslim minority of over 100 million, has even less interest in Buddhism's real history being revealed. But Nepal, which is completely under the influence of its neighbor India that surrounds it on all accessible sides, has the most to lose as it claims the world heritage sites of Lumbini and Kapilavastu. But politics will fall by the wayside, and the truth will eventually be known that the Buddha was a Scythian, a Shakyian from Central Asia, who lived in three seasonal capitals.

The remnants of Kapilavastu, the Buddha's hometown according to Dr. Pal, Bamiyan.

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Gandhara-style Buddhist statuary, Lahore Museum

Certainly Bamiyan (where the CIA and ISI's "Taliban" destroyed priceless statues) was one, and Mes Aynak (seen here) and Kabul (the present capital, whose name echoes Kapil) seem to have been the other two. Dan Rather investigates because of controversial Chinese mining interests threatening to destroy the 10,000 acre archeological site, the largest Buddhist temple complex in the world. Is the Communist officially atheist Chinese government, steeped in capitalist greed, not interested in preserving its Buddhist history? Not at all as officials prefer the money and political prestige to be bought on the rare earth and precious metal markets. There is gold, lithium and other minerals (for batteries, cell phones, and computers), copper and more to be had! What is Buddhist archeology compared to that?

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Campaign to save Mes Aynak, Afghanistan (ARCHinternational.org/mes_aynak)

Gilded Buddha statues with looted heads excavated at Mes Aynak (AP/Afghan Treasures)

• Central Asia: Great Reclining Buddha of Tajikistan (originalworldtravel.com)