Mexico's Maya: Tikal pyramid, Guatemala

Inglorious Columbus: Buddhist

Tikal (\tee-call\) is the modern name for the ruins of an ancient city likely to have been called Yax Mutal [2], found in a rainforest in the Central American nation Guatemala [3], which is right next to Mesoamerican Mexico.

It is one of the largest archeological sites and urban centers of the pre-Columbian (before Columbus) Maya civilization.

It is located in the archeological region of the Petén Basin in what is now northern Guatemala. Situated in the department of El Petén, the site is part of Guatemala's Tikal National Park that in 1979 was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site [4].

• Amazing facts: The Maya country of Guatemala may have derived its name from the Buddha Gautama, a mala being a rosary, and Maya being his mother's name. How? The Chinese discovered the Americas (the west coast of which they named Fusang) long before Columbus found the Carribean or the Conquistadors invaded what to them and the Vatican was the "New" World. It is discussed in Rick Fields' How the Swans Came to the Lake: A Narrative History of Buddhism in America. Moreover, missionary Buddhism arrived on these shores before missionary Christianity tormented and forced conversions of the Indigenous people to imperial Catholicism.

Mexico City Buddhist Centre

Mexico City Buddhist Center opened in 1993 in La Roma part of town

(Free Buddhist Audio) A Buddhist Centre for La Roma Mexico, new center opened in 2002, reported July 15, 2010: Upekshamati introduces the new Mexico City Buddhist Centre. Part of Newsreel 23, released in Autumn 2002.

An Inglorious Columbus (Edward Vining)

Tikal was the capital of a conquest state that became one of the most powerful kingdoms of the ancient Maya [5].

Though monumental architecture at the site dates as far back as the 4th century BCE, Tikal reached its apogee during the Classic Period, circa 200 to 900.

During this time, the city dominated much of the Maya region politically, economically, and militarily, while interacting with areas throughout [adjacent] Mesoamerica [to the north] such as the great metropolis of Teotihuacan in the distant Valley of Mexico.

• Guatemala–Mexico relations

There is evidence that one of Tikal's great ruling dynasties was founded by [proto-Mexican or Aztec] conquerors from Teotihuacan in the 4th century AD.

Following the end of the Late Classic Period, no new major monuments were built at Tikal and there is evidence that elite palaces were burned.

These events were coupled with a gradual population decline, culminating with the site's abandonment by the end of the 10th century.

Tikal is the best understood of any of the large lowland Maya cities, with a long dynastic ruler list, the discovery of the tombs of many of the rulers on this list and the investigation of their monuments, temples, and palaces [6]. More

Better than Mexico's Chichen Itza in the Yucatan?

• Crystal Quintero, the Mexican Buddhist, Dhr. Seven, Pfc. Sandoval (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly Wikipedia edit Tikal

Mayan Empire twice as large as thought

Bright Insight, Feb. 6, 2018; Xochitl, Crystal Quintero (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Hidden extent of ancient Mayan civilization discovered in the jungle

Lost ancient human civilization in the Americas was two to three times larger than previously thought? The implications of this find are incredible. For it shows just how much we do not know about our past. The recent discovery of a massive hidden Maya civilization in the jungles of Guatemala next to Mexico have left scientists' minds blown.

• Help support Jimmy Bright Insight on his mission to expose the truth via Patreon: patreon.com/BrightInsight

Buddha dies; Swine Sacrificed out of FEAR

Egypt will slaughter all its pigs out of fear of swine flu (AP).

The Buddha's last meal from which he became sick and passed away was at the house of Cunda, the blacksmith's son (buddhist-elibrary.org).

Non-vegetarian Buddhists don't avoid pork. But maybe they should. While historically in dispute, pork killed the Buddha. The dispute centers around the name of the dish offered to him -- "pig's delight" (sukara maddava) -- which could also refer to mushroom (truffles).

Neither seems suitable as "food." However, wandering mendicants do not have the luxury of choosing what they are offered. It is said that the Buddha well knew what the consequences of this meal would be. He asked the donor to only serve it to him and to bury the rest. The entire episode, coming well before the Buddha's final passing, is preserved in the Maha Parinibbana Sutta (D.II,127) of the Digha Nikaya (the "Great Final Passing Discourse of the Collection of Lengthy Discourses").

• BuddhismAtoZ.com: Last Meal
• Wisdom-Books.com: Buddha's Last Days

The following story illustrates a great Buddhist truth. All wrongdoing (harmful karma) has only four sources, four motivations, four roots: delusion, greed, aversion, and fear.

Egypt to Slaughter all of its Pigs out of Fear

Health worker sprays chemicals to disinfect local pig farm in Cairo, 4/27/09. Authorities will kill about 350,000 pigs (AP/Mohammed Ahmed).

CAIRO – Egypt began killing the roughly 300,000 pigs in the country today as a precau-tionary measure against the spread of swine flu -- even though no cases have been reported here yet, the Health Ministry said.

The move immediately provoked resistance from pig farmers. At one large pig farming center just north of Cairo, farmers refused to cooperate with Health Ministry workers, who came to slaughter the animals. And the workers left without carrying out the government order.

"It has been decided to immediately start slaughtering all the pigs in Egypt using the full capacity of the country's slaughterhouses," Health Minister Hatem el-Gabaly told reporters after a Cabinet meeting with President Hosni Mubarak.

Egypt's overwhelmingly Muslim population does not eat pork due to religious restrictions. But the animals are raised and consumed by the Christian minority, which some estimates put at 10 percent of the population. More>>