The Lost Buddhas of Afghanistan (video)

David Adams (Discovery 1999/Dharma Docs, 2017); Dhr. Seven, A. Larson, Wisdom Quarterly

The Lost Buddhas of Bamiyan, Afghanistan

By good fortune this photo-journalist David Adams' documentary, produced as part of the "Journeys to the Ends of the Earth" series for the Discovery Channel in 1999, turned out to be historic:

Big Buddha, Bamiyan Valley

It was filmed a few years before the destruction of the Bamiyan statues [by the CIA-ISI creation "the Taliban] and the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan using 9/11 as a pretext when Bush, Rumsfeld, Cheney, and Powell bamboozled the country and the world into a world that continues today.]

This is some of the last footage of the earliest Buddhist statues in the world and their surroundings in the Bamiyan Valley before their destruction. There must be much more footage in the hands of the makers of the film than shown here, which may one day be released for its historical value.

Kakrak, Bamiyan Valley

Before reaching Bamiyan, however, the man at the center of the film, photo-journalist David Adams, the photo-journalist at the center of the film, travels through a dangerous and unyielding country, starting from the ancient and current capital Kabul, making detours around the country to eventually reach Bamiyan just a few hundred kilometers north of Kabul.

Along the way viewers see the destruction of this turbulent country, which various empires (USA, USSR, UK, Kushan, Indian/Ashokan, Mongolian/Genghis Khan, Pakistani, Persian/Iranian, Scythian when it was the home of the historical Buddha called Kapilavastu, Greco-Buddhist Bactrian, Gandharan, et al.) have for centuries kept at war.

This film is as much about Afghanistan at present as it is about hinting at its glorious past, which perhaps only adds to its pathos.

"Persepolis" or Persepolis? (video)

Eds., Wisdom Quarterly; Marjane Satrapi ("Persepolis"); Discovery.com "Persepolis"

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Ancient Persia

The remnants of a great empire

One of the most impressive settlements in the ancient world, Persepolis was destroyed and burned by invader Alexander the Great in 330 BCE. It lay forgotten for over 2,000 years. This documentary travels to modern Iran to bring Persepolis back to life and investigate the complexities of the Persian Empire that was responsible for creating this astonishing city.

The Spread of Buddhism from its origins in Afghanistan (Gandhara) and India (Magadha) to Iran, where two counter-movements arose in Zoroastrianism (Asuras, Parsis) and Islam (Muslims, Sufis) that then rolled into India and Buddhist strongholds in East and Far East Asia.

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"Persepolis," Iran

WATCH FREE: FULL FILM NOW

Religion is mostly a horrible thing. "Persepolis" is the poignant story of a young girl in Iran during the Islamic Revolution.
 
It is through the eyes of precocious and outspoken 9-year-old Marjane that we see a people's hopes dashed as fundamentalists take power -- fomented by the West who is enriched in the process of creating a terrorist dictatorship to rob the resources of a nation -- forcing the veil on women and imprisoning thousands.

 

Ancient India used to include modern Iran

Clever and fearless, Majrane outsmarts the "social guardians" and discovers punk rock, ABBA (pop), and Iron Maiden (heavy metal). Yet, when her uncle is senselessly executed and as bombs fall around in the capital of Tehran during the Iran-Iraq war, the daily fear that permeates life in Iran is palpable.

As she gets older, Marjane's boldness causes her parents to worry over her continued safety. So at age 14, they make the difficult decision to send her abroad to school in Austria. Vulnerable and alone in a strange Western land, she endures the typical ordeals of a teenager.

Map of Buddhist Central Asia and India

In addition, Marjane has to combat being equated with the religious fundamentalism and extremism she fled her country to escape. Over time, she gains acceptance, and even experiences love. But after high school she finds herself alone and horribly homesick.

Though it means putting on the veil and living in a tyrannical/hypocritical society, Marjane decides to return to Iran to be close to her family.
 

Like Buddhist Asokan Edict: Cyrus Cylinder

After a difficult period of adjustment, she enters art school and marries, all the while continuing to speak out against the hypocrisy she witnesses. At age 24, she realizes that while she is deeply Iranian, she cannot live in Iran.

She then makes the heartbreaking decision to leave her homeland for France, optimistic about her future, shaped indelibly by her past.
 

(LY)  Discovery: Did the oldest civilization on Earth exist in Persia?

Persepolis' Marjane Satrapi's new film "The Voices"

• IRAN: People of the Flames, Zoroastrians

• Ancient Civilizations
• Persian City of Giants Found!
• Ancient Man Made Tunnels: Underground Civilizations
• Dwarka, India - 12,000-y.o. City of Krishna Found
• Ancient Pyramids in the Antarctic Explained
• India: Oldest, Most Advanced, Continuous Civilization?
• 12,000-y.o. Göbekli Tepe: National Geographic
• David Childress and James Tyberonn: Ancient Civilization Mysteries 2013

"BRAINWASHED" (TV show)

Tom Silver and the Discovery Channel; Seven and Amber Dorrian, Wisdom Quarterly

(DSC.discovery.com/Curiosity) Are we truly in command of our own minds? To find out, a group of leading experts and researchers embark on an audacious experiment to see if ordinary people can be brainwashed and turned into assassins: Such unwitting killers are colloquially called "Manchurian Candidates." Curiosity investigates. Watch on Oct. 28, 9:00 pm (TV-14, 60 mins) and again on Oct. 29, 12:00 am. Wait. Can people really be hypnotized -- but what about against their will?

(Hypnosis Hypnosis)

• AUDIO: Boost kids' math brain power using electroshock?
• Why do some make better brainwash targets than others?
• How does brainwashing work on a person?
• Who is at risk to become an alcoholic?
• Was Patty Hearst brainwashed?
• VIDEO: Cure years of depression in 30 seconds

Emotion Replacement Therapy (ERT)

Buddha Boy returns to meditating

Ram Bahadur Bomjon heads back to woods
Himalayan News Service (June 7, 2011), expanded by Wisdom Quarterly

Buddha Boy in the forest on a platform for meditation and sermons (eTapasvi.com)

PATHLAIYA, Nepal - Wrapping up a two-week sermon session in Ratanpuri Jungle, Bara District, Southern Nepal, "Buddha Boy" (now Ven. Palden Dorje who practices tapas or austerities), according to his supporters organized into the Bodhi Shrawan Dharma Association.

Sermon sessions in the jungles of Nepal to visitors

Ram Bahadur Bamjon, who is said to have meditated for six years without food and water, returned to Halkhoriya yesterday to continue meditating.

He had once said his meditation session would last six years -- the same amount of time it took Siddhartha to reach supreme enlightenment from the time he learned meditative absorption from his first teacher, the yogi Alara Kalama, to the time he struck out on his own without teacher or companion and achieved his aim under the Bodhi tree.

Buddha Boys blesses Western visitor in the forests of Nepal (eTapasvi.com). English translation of his speech (video)

Even after the completion of six years, Buddha Boy said at Ratanpuri on May 20 that he will continue his meditating.

• Buddha Boy: The Boy With Divine Powers (Discovery)
• Expanding from Micro to Macro Mind
• Counter-intuitive news from Steve Quayle

(See more photos at eTapasvi.com)

Nepal's Buddha Boy (Discovery Channel video)

(BuddhaBoyVideos) Five-part documentary on Nepal's "Buddha Boy"about Ram Bahadur Bomjon who has been meditating for years without food or water. He is thought by many to be a bodhisattva, being reborn to become a supremely enlightened buddha with the capacity to teach and establish a dispensation. Therefore, there are throngs of followers seeking to encourage him, bask in his boundless compassion and goodness, and the rarity of such a feat. Meditation in the vicinity of his forest must be more fruitful and inspired (were it not for the hullabaloo created by the sort of devotional pandemonium that runs contrary to what he is trying to accomplish).

17 New Pyramids found in Egypt (video)

The mysterious pyramids of Egypt are much older than reported. And it seems clear they were not planned and implemented by and for human motives (sbwestfordk12.us).

• BBC VIDEO: Pyramids found by infrared satellite
  

An infrared satellite survey of Egypt has revealed 17 lost pyramids and thousands of ancient tombs and other structures (Image: Courtesy of the Univ. of Alabama at Birmingham)

Seventeen lost pyramids and thousands of ancient tombs and other structures have been revealed in an infrared satellite survey of Egypt.

University of Alabama at Birmingham Egyptologist Sarah Parcak and colleagues used NASA and commercial satellites orbiting 430 miles above Egypt to show mud-brick structures under the surface. The stunning findings include more than 1,000 tombs and 3,100 settlements.

"This hints at the possibilities of discoveries to come," Parcak was quoted as saying by her university. "I am excited for my generation and the generations to come. There is enough to be excavated for 50 generations to come."

Preliminary excavations by a French team have confirmed the presence of at least two possible pyramids. The findings at Saqqara (Sakkara) could be one of the most important sites in Egypt.

The work will be profiled in the BBC documentary "Egypt's Lost Cities," airing Monday on the BBC. The documentary will also be broadcast on the Discovery Channel in the U.S. More

God's Wife Edited Out of the Bible - Almost

Jennifer Viegas

God's wife, Asherah, was a powerful fertility goddess, according to a theologian.

• Would finding E.T. change our view of God?
• God, also known as Yahweh, had a wife named Asherah, according to a British theologian.
• Amulets, figurines, inscriptions, and ancient texts, including the Bible, reveal Asherah's once prominent standing.
• Asherah's connection to Yahweh, according to Stavrakopoulou, is spelled out in both the Bible and an 8th century B.C. inscription on pottery found in the Sinai desert at a site called Kuntillet Ajrud.

God had a wife, Asherah, whom the Book of Kings suggests was worshiped alongside Yahweh in his temple in Israel, according to an Oxford scholar. In 1967, Raphael Patai was the first historian to mention that the ancient Israelites worshiped both Yahweh and Asherah.

God's consort, Goddess of the Sea, mother of Baal, this Asherah figurine was discovered in Nahariyeh, Israel. King Mannasseh introduced Israel to her worship (2 Kings 21). The Hebrew word is often translated as "groves" in KJV (abu.nb.ca).

The theory has gained new prominence due to the research of Francesca Stavrakopoulou, who began her work at Oxford and is now a senior lecturer in the Department of Theology and Religion at the University of Exeter. Information presented in Stavrakopoulou's books, lectures and journal papers has become the basis of a three-part documentary series, now airing in Europe, where she discusses the Yahweh-Asherah connection.

"You might know him as Yahweh, Allah, or God. But on this fact, Jews, Muslims, and Christians, the people of the great Abrahamic religions, are agreed: There is only one of Him," writes Stavrakopoulou in a statement released to the British media. "He is a solitary figure, a single, universal creator, not one God among many... or so we like to believe."

"After years of research specializing in the history and religion of Israel, however, I have come to a colorful and what could seem, to some, uncomfortable conclusion that God had a wife," she added.

Abrahamic religions violently turned on their Goddess (northernway.org)

Stavrakopoulou bases her theory on ancient texts, amulets, and figurines unearthed primarily in the ancient Canaanite coastal city called Ugarit, now modern-day Syria. All of these artifacts reveal that Asherah was a powerful fertility goddess.

Asherah's connection to Yahweh, according to Stavrakopoulou, is spelled out in both the Bible and an 8th century B.C. inscription on pottery found in the Sinai desert at a site called Kuntillet Ajrud.

"The inscription is a petition for a blessing," she shares. "Crucially, the inscription asks for a blessing from 'Yahweh and his Asherah.' Here was evidence that presented Yahweh and Asherah as a divine pair. And now a handful of similar inscriptions have since been found, all of which help to strengthen the case that the God of the Bible once had a wife."

Also significant, Stavrakopoulou believes, "is the Bible's admission that the goddess Asherah was worshiped in Yahweh's Temple in Jerusalem. In the Book of Kings, we're told that a statue of Asherah was housed in the temple and that female temple personnel wove ritual textiles for her." More>>

• Jesus's Great Grandmother found
• Why are religious people happier?
• Did da Vinci use his shadow to create Last Supper?
• Belief in God increases with Gov't instability

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BUDDHA BOY 2010 (Discovery Channel)

Buddha Boy (Ram Bahadur Bomjon or Palden Dorje) is a Nepalese teenager whose remarkable path parallels the life of Siddhartha Gautama, who meditated until he reached buddhahood. This documentary establishes that Buddha Boy is indeed meditating 24 hours a day without any food or water, a medical impossibility. The camera keeps rolling nonstop for four days, the amount of time it takes a human to die of dehydration.

Discovery Channel documentary: "The Boy With Divine Powers" (5 part series)

The meditating teenager was seen sweating and shifting during that time but continued his endeavor unabated. The cameras were absent when Buddha Boy spontaneously burst into flames as claimed by 59 eye witnesses. The flames, possibly a result of a Tibetan meditation practice known as tumo, did not consume him. They came from him. Amateur footage of at least part of the event show him standing and somewhat distressed by the heat.

• 2010: Buddha Boy beats up locals?

"LIFE" (Discovery Channel)

(Discovery Networks) Coming this Sunday (March 21, 2010) -- the next chapter of "LIFE" on Earth begins. An 11-part series narrated by Oprah Winfrey, it's all new on Discovery! In Buddhist cosmology, the Animal Realm – or the potential for our rebirth in an animal womb (Pali, tiracchāna-yoni, Tibetan, dud.'gro) – comprises the entire animal kingdom where individuals are capable of feeling suffering, from the smallest microbe or insect to the largest elephant or whale.

• See the making of "LIFE" behind the scenes videos

Religious Cult Leaders (Discovery)

What qualifies one to be a "cult" leader? What does one need to have -- the gift of gab, charisma, vaulting ambition? Watch and find out if you have what it takes. See what made these evil cult leaders so famous.

• Discovery Channel documentaries: dsc.discovery.com

Buddha Boy in Brief

Early coverage when nes of Buddha Boy's amazing feat spread around the world

This Discovery Channel documentary entitled "The Boy With Divine Powers" was shot by a crew able to film the Buddha Boy continuously for 96 hours. The crew filmed day and night, during which he observed a total fast, abstaining from all human food and drink.

Discovery Channel: in-depth examination of the worldwide "Buddha Boy" sensation

Whether devas fed him deva-sustenance through his pores, as legend suggests was offered to the historical Buddha (MN 36:27), is a matter of metaphysical speculation. However, according to scientists in this documentary, an average person will die of kidney failure after 96 hours of not drinking any fluids. Buddha Boy exhibited none of the classic signs of physical deterioration associated with dehydration. Upon closer inspection, the film crew around the tree could find no hidden water pipes or food stashes.

Look Up: Chemtrails (Discovery Channel)

CHEMTRAILS Exposed on Discovery Channel (LINK)

Kill Your TV?

(turnoffyourtv.com)

Question: Is TV harmful? Answer: It can be. It's all in how one uses it. Here are some better viewing options when television begins to seem like a weapon of mass distraction.

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• Alternative viewing: Abraham-Hicks.com (videos)

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Penguin mystery solved
Zoologists have long wondered where penguins go during their long spells away from land. Answer

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Man's laugh is no joke
His squeal has made him a Web sen-sation — amusing or annoying? Decide for yourself

• Hear baby's contagious giggle
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emvee?

Buddha Boy Documentary (1)

Discovery Channel

NEPAL -- This is a documentary on Ram Bahadur Bomjon, "Buddha Boy," a teenager who has been meditating for three years without food or water. Also known as Tapaswi Palden Dorje, he is thought by many to be the rebirth of an exalted being. Who? He is a bodhisattva -- someone bent on full-enlightenment and aiming for buddhahood. It is a mistake and a misnomer to consider him the "reincarnation" of the historical "Buddha" (Shakyamuni). A buddha no longer undergoes rebirth, having overcome all defilements. The meaning of buddhahood is uprooting all delusion, aversion, and greed. The practical upshot of accomplishing this is that one no longer undergoes rebirth of any kind. It should also be noted that Buddha Boy does not fit the canonical profile of the future buddha, Maitreya.

• paldendorje.com

Buddha Boy Documentary (2)

Discovery Channel

NEPAL -- A documentary on Ram Bahadur Bomjon ("Buddha Boy") who has been meditating for three years without food or water. Ram is known by many as a bodhisattva (someone who bent on full enlightenment and aiming for buddhahood). It is a misnomer and a mistake to think Ram is a "reincarnation" of the historical Buddha (Shakyamuni). A buddha is not reborn, but rather has destroyed the delusion, aversion, and greed that lead beings to continued rebirth.

Buddha Boy Documentary (3)

Discover Channel

NEPAL -- A documentary on Ram Bahadur Bomjon ("Buddha Boy") who has been meditating for three years without food or water. Ram Bahadur Bamjan is known by many as a reincarnation of a bodhisattva (a being bent on full enlightenment, aiming for buddhahood). It is a misnomer and a mistake to think he is the historical Buddha (Shakyamuni). A buddha no longer undergoes rebirth, but rather has broken through the delusion, greed, and aversion that bind beings to continued rebirth.

Buddha Boy Documentary (4)

Discovery Channel

NEPAL -- This is a documentary on Ram Bahadur Bomjon, "Buddha Boy," a teenager who has been meditating for three years without food or water. Also known as Tapaswi Palden Dorje, he is thought by many to be the rebirth of an exalted being. Who? He is a bodhisattva -- someone bent on full-enlightenment, a person aiming for buddhahood. It is a misnomer and a mistake to consider him the "reincarnation" of the historical "Buddha" (Shakyamuni). A buddha no longer undergoes rebirth, having overcome all defilements. The meaning of buddhahood is uprooting all delusion, aversion, and greed. The practical upshot is that one will no longer undergo rebirth of any kind. It should also be noted that Buddha Boy does not fit the canonical profile of the future buddha, Maitreya.

• paldendorje.com

Buddha Boy Documentary (5)

Discovery Channel

NEPAL -- A documentary on Ram Bahadur Bomjon ("Buddha Boy") who has been meditating for three years without food or water. Ram is known by many as a bodhisattva (someone who bent on full enlightenment and aiming for buddhahood). It is a misnomer and a mistake to think Ram is a "reincarnation" of the historical Buddha (Shakyamuni). A buddha is not reborn, but rather has destroyed the delusion, aversion, and greed that lead beings to continued rebirth.

The First Time Machine (Discovery Channel)

Clip from the Discovery Channel documentary "The First Time Machine"

Recently reports of a laser array experiment to create temperatures much hotter than the sun were reported. Such an expensive experiment makes little sense -- until this physics principle is understood (see minute 1:30). Light bends time. It does so better than motion. And with the help of lasers...

High-Intensity Lasers that Curve
Researchers defy the laws of physics by making a laser beam bend

• (Scientific American, April 10, 2009)

Ultra-intense lasers hold much promise for improving scientific tools such as laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS), and deepening researchers' under-standing of atomic, molecular, optical, and plasma physics. The enormous intensity of these lasers (attributed to the brief but powerful pulses of energy they emit), however, makes it difficult for scientists to fully characterize and understand them.

Researchers at the University of Arizona in Tucson (U.A.) and the University of Central Florida in Orlando (U.C.F.) report in Science this week that they have found a way to bend a high-intensity pulsed laser beam, a breakthrough they are hoping will help them better understand how ultra-intense laser pulses travel through the air and find potential new uses for the technology.

"People expect lasers to do certain things, like propagate in a straight line," says lead researcher Pavel Polynkin, an associate research professor at U.A.'s College of Optical Sciences. "The fact that a laser beam actually curves is quite unusual." More>>

World's Largest Laser Ready to Fire

• WAtoday.com.au (March 31, 2009)

Artist's rendering shows a National Ignition Facility (NIF) target pellet inside a hohlraum capsule with laser beams entering through openings on either end. Photo: Lawrence Livermore Nationa Security, LLC, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and the Department of Energy.

After more than a decade of work and $US3.5 billion ($AU5.2 billion), US engineers have completed the world's most powerful laser, capable of simulating the energy force of a hydrogen bomb and the sun itself.

The US Energy Department will announce today that it has officially certified the National Ignition Facility at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, clearing the way for a series of experiments over the next year that eventually is hoped will mimic the heat and pressure found at the centre of the sun.

The facility, the size of a football field, comprises of 192 separate laser beams, each travelling 300m in a one-thousandth of a second to converge simultaneously on a target the size of a pencil eraser.

While the NIF laser is expected to be used for a wide range of high-energy and high-density physics experiments, its primary purpose is to help government physicists... More>>