The Lost Buddhas of Afghanistan (video)

David Adams, From Afghanistan: In Search of the Lost Buddhas, littledotstudios.com via TRACKS documentary; Dhr. Seven and Amber Larson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

"The Monks of the Mines" lived in the Buddha's homeland, now Afghanistan (natgeo.org).

.

The most militant Islamic state on earth was once a peace-loving Buddhist land -- birthplace of the Buddha according to Dr. Pal, ancient Gandhara surrounding proto-India (Indus Valley Civilization) Harappa and Mohenjo-daro.

"Vallys plundered by Genghis Khan," the Mongolian, include Buddhist Bamiyan.

.

This is the big Bamiyan Buddha with caves.

The Bamiyan Valley is north of Kabul (possibly the site of ancient Kapilavastu, one of three seasonal capitals in the Scythian/Shakyian territories where Prince Siddhartha grew up.

There in one of three former seasonal capitals (the third possibly being Mes Aynak) stand the two largest statues of the Buddha on the planet. (A third and larger reclining Buddha, 1,000 feet long, is buried nearby).

They were carved long, long ago according to Madame Blavatsky, and re-purposed for Buddhist use in the third century or earlier.

A third Buddha in Kakrak.

David Adams was the last Westerner to exhaustively film them before they were blown up by the CIA and its co-invention, with the ISI (Pakistan's own CIA), the Taliban, in 2001.

Afghanistan is not so much a "country" -- even in ancient times not really a maha-janapada or "great foothold of the clan" -- as a series of shifting borders.

It's a vast place with no easily definable physical or civil boundaries, a place where war is an everyday fact of life, a place where more children will learn to use a gun than go to school.

Drawing of two massive Buddhas in Bamiyan

About 1.5 million have been killed during the past 20 years of twin invaders, the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. Perhaps another 4 million have fled for their lives, after a catastrophic U.S. genocide.

Every major road has been torn apart by American tank treads. Almost every major building left standing has been blown full of holes.

Content licensed from David Adams Films. Any queries, contact realstories@littledotstudios.com. From Afghanistan: In Search of the Lost Buddhas with David Adams (facebook.com/TRACKSTravelChannel). TRACKS publishes unique, untold, and unexpected stories from across the world every week. Any queries, contact owned-enquiries@littledotstudios.com.