Aryans: Zoroastrians of Iran (video)

Iranian goddess from Austria Maria Orsic

Aryan Bible (Avesta): The 16 Sacred Lands of the Aryans | OBELISK TV

(OBELISK TV) Jan. 1, 2025: The Aryan Bible story is a captivating journey into the heart of ancient [Iranian and Near Eastern] history and mythology, exploring the sacred [Zoroastrian] scripture of the Aryan people — the Avesta, known as the "Aryan Bible."

This epic narrative unveils the creation of 16 divine lands by the supreme god Ahura Mazda [possibly an Asura titan in Buddhist cosmology], a testament to light, truth, and harmony.

The Indus Valley Civilization disappeared

However, this perfection is challenged by the destructive force of Angra Mainyu [Mara Devaputra], the embodiment of chaos and darkness, whose counter-creations bring plagues, winters, and turmoil to these lands.

• [The Buddha, in "The Story of the Lineage" as translated by Thomas William Rhys Davids (Pali Text Society), speaks of his descent from "Aryans," the solar race, which came to mean "nobles" in two senses. First, they were "warriors," not exactly kshatriyas (ruling class, master race) in the Vedic caste system sense and, second, came to mean "enlightened" or arya. Hitler's Propaganda Minister Goebbels appropriated this ancient mythology and repurposed it for Nazi ends, ruining the swastika, the legendary race of enlightened beings, and the belief in a world monarch or chakravartin ruler, making these things racist, elitist, white supremacist, and hateful. India, Tibet, and much of the Buddhist sphere still remembers the goodness in these things without the racist Western cultural baggage of modern interpretations and misusages.]

As the story unfolds, we follow the migrations of the Aryan people across vast regions of the ancient world — from the fertile steppes of modern Ukraine to the mountains of Iran, the lush valleys of India, and the crossroads of Central Asia [the Saka/Scythian land of the Buddha].

Each land reflects not only divine creation but also the resilience and ingenuity of the Aryans as they navigate environmental hardships, cultural fusion, and spiritual evolution.

(Robert Sepehr) Aryan Bloodlines of Ancient Babylon

The Aryan Bible [like the Vedas of the Indus Valley Civilization and proto-India] introduces us to a rich pantheon of gods and goddesses like Mithra [like Buddhist Maitreya], the god of covenants and light; Anahita, the goddess of waters and fertility; and Spenta Armaiti, the spirit of devotion and earth.

These deities embody the values of truth, resilience, and harmony that guided the Aryans in their quest for survival and unity.

Beyond its mythological depth, this story resonates with timeless themes of unity, hope, and the human spirit. It reminds us that the Aryan legacy lives on in the languages, traditions, and people scattered across Iran [Iranian = Aryian], Europe, Afghanistan, Kurdistan, Northern India, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan [all formerly Buddhist countries along the Silk Road].

The tale envisions a future where these descendants rediscover their shared roots, forge peace, and defeat the forces of division, building a world of light, prosperity, and harmony.

Join us as we delve into the Aryan Bible Story, a powerful [Zoroastrian] tale of creation, migration, and the enduring human spirit.

• Obelisk TV, 1/1/25; Robert Sepehr, 8/30/20; Pat Macpherson, Dhr. Seven, Sheldon S. (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Saving Mes Aynak: Buddhist Afghanistan (film)

Brent E. Huffman (YouTube); Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Saving Mes Aynak (doc)

(YouTube Movies & TV) SAVING MES AYNAK (buy or rent) follows Afghan archeologist Qadir Temori as he races against time to save a 5,000-year-old archaeological site in Afghanistan [and 2,600-year-old Buddhist monastic complex] from imminent demolition by Chinese miners. A Chinese state-owned mining company is closing in on the ancient site, eager to harvest $100 billion dollars' worth of copper [and rare earth minerals] buried directly beneath the archeological ruins [built near gold, which was used in the decoration of Buddha statues, jewelry, and ornaments].

Only 10% of Mes Aynak [which is at least one square mile of buildings] has ever been excavated, though, and some believe future discoveries at the site have the potential to redefine the history of Buddhist Afghanistan and the earliest history of Buddhism itself. China is investing nearly three billion dollars in Afghanistan's untapped copper reserve, the second largest in the world worth an estimated $100 billion.

Save Buddhist Afghanistan

The cash-strapped government of Afghanistan signed away the rights to this deposit with little oversight [as the American military and the CIA in league with Pakistan's version of the CIA (the ISI) were pulverizing the ancient nation]. The Chinese government-owned company plans to mine the copper using an open-pit method, the cheapest, most environmentally destructive style of mining. By doing so, the archeological site, as well as the entire mountain range, will be completely demolished.

SAVING MES AYNAK examines the conflict between cultural preservation and economic opportunity through the lens of the Afghan archaeologists and local villagers who work and live near Mes Aynak. Qadir Temori and his fellow Afghan archaeologists face what seems an impossible battle against the Chinese, the Taliban and local politics to save their cultural heritage from likely erasure.

Actor: Qadir Temori. Director: Brent E. Huffman. Genre: Documentary. Provider: Quiver. Rating: Unrated. Release date: 2016. Total running time: 58:03. Audio: English. Subtitles: English.

Buddhism in Aryan-Persian IRAN (map)

IranicaOnline.org; Amber Larson and Dhr. Seven, Pat Macpherson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Persian inscriptions link Babylonian king to Siddhartha the Buddha (ancient-origins.net)

Ajina Tepe Buddhist Monastery, 7th-8th centuries, Vakhsh valley, southern Tajikistan, 1 km north of ruins of early medieval town of Chorgul Tepe (religioussitesalongthesilkroad.weebly.com).

Iranian Buddhism: Map shows movement of Buddhism from Saka (Shakyan) Gandhara, the Buddha's country, further west to modern "Middle East" to pre-Islamic Iran (Persia), Sogdia, Kushan Empire, Bactria, Afghanistan, Balkh, Khorasan, India, China, Sakastan, Central Asia (transoxiana.org).

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Iran and Afghanistan (Haldar)

Archeological and architectural monuments of Central Asia, which includes now-Muslim formerly-Buddhist Iran, are mentioned in reports from the 18th and early 19th centuries by European and Russian travelers, merchants, and diplomats.

The Russian Orientalist P. I. Lerkh, who accompanied a minor diplomatic mission, even undertook small-scale excavations. Major archaeological work began, however, only after the Russian conquest of the region, at first it was done by amateurs, especially military officers.

The first professional archaeologist to work in the region was N. I. Veselovskiĭ of the University of St. Petersburg. He undertook minor excavations at several sites in the Tashkent oasis, Farḡāna and, on a larger scale, in Afrāsīāb (q.v.), the site of ancient Samarkand.

Seven trenches were dug in different parts of the city, and a plan of the site was prepared.

Ajina Tepe preservation, Tajikistan.

From the extensive finds the site was dated as “going back to the Greek period” [see Greco-Buddhism]; in fact, it has a much longer history.

At almost the same time, General A. V. Komarov cut a huge trench through the northern mound at Anaw (q.v.) in southern Turkmenistan....

During the first half of the second millennium B.C.E. [before the common era] the primitive agrarian tribes of southern Turkmenistan started migrating eastwards, to northern Afghanistan, southern Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan.

This map accompanies surrounding text and shows many Buddhist sites in Central Asia.

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Camel, Iran (twitter.com/eranudturan)

Since the ecological conditions of Tajikistan were not favorable for irrigation agriculture, the migrants turned to pasturing [like the Shakyans/Scythians]. Living in close contact with the local steppe tribes, they adopted many aspects of their way of life and burial rites.

In southern Uzbekistan the migrants preserved their way of life, founding fortified settlements like Sapalï Tepe [tell or mound], or large settlements like Jarkutan with a “palace,” a temple, and a large necropolis.

During the second half of the second millennium B.C.E. some steppe tribes started migrating south, entering the zone of primitive agriculture. Many scholars connect this movement with the migration of the Indo-Aryans and the settling of proto-Iranians in Central Asia....

Archeology of the nomadic tribes

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Ajina Tepe reclinging Buddha (RSATSR)

Information obtained from ancient Persian, Greek, Chinese, Syrian, Armenian, Arabic, and other sources -- as well as from the Iranian epic and from linguistic material -- show clearly the important role played by Central Asian nomads in the history of the region and its adjacent territories, in terms of both ethnogenesis and culture.

Buddhism in Iran (M. Vaziri)

The archeology of the nomads explores mainly their kurgans [burial mounds, ancient-stupas]. Kurgans of the Saka [Shakyan/Scythian] tribes, dating from the seventh to third centuries B.C.E., can be found in the Semirech’e region (also known as the Yeti Su, “Seven Rivers”), the Aral region, in Fergana, and so on.

The burials were usually single, sometimes dual, rarely collective. In the Pamir region, the corpse was often buried in a flexed position. The form and structure of burial sites varied. Most often they consisted of a pit covered with beams, on top of which was piled a rounded mound or erected a circle of stones. The “royal kurgans”... More

• Modern-day Ajina Tepe ruins of Medieval Buddhist Monastery: Sarigharama (IranicaOnline.org)

Oldest Buddhist texts come from Afghanistan

Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Wisdom Quarterly Wikipedia edit birch bark manuscript

Birch bark manuscripts are documents written on pieces of the inner layer of birch bark, which was commonly used for writing before the advent of mass production paper.

Evidence of birch bark for writing goes back many centuries in various cultures.

The oldest dated birch bark manuscripts are numerous Gandhāran Buddhist texts from approximately the 1st century CE, believed to have originated in Afghanistan, likely by the Dharmaguptaka sect.
 

Translations of the texts, mostly in Kharoṣṭhī, have produced the earliest known versions of significant Buddhist scriptures, including a Dhammapada, sutras of the Buddha that include the Rhinoceros Sutra, Avadanas, and [commentarial] Abhidharma texts.

• The Buddha was born in Afghanistan (RanajitPal.com)

Sanskrit birch bark manuscripts written with Brahmi script have been dated to the first few centuries CE. Several early Sanskrit writers such as Kālidāsa (circa 4th century CE), Sushruta (c. 3rd century CE), and Varāhamihira (6th century CE) mention the use of birch bark for manuscripts.

The bark of Betula utilis (Himalayan Birch) is still used today in India and Nepal for writing sacred mantras.

 

 
Gandhāran Buddhist manuscripts

Buddhist manuscripts written in the Gāndhārī language of Gandhara (northwest Indian frontier) are likely the oldest extant Indic texts, dating to approximately the 1st century CE.

The birch bark texts were stored in clay jars and acquired by the British Library in 1994.

They were written in Kharoṣṭhī and believed to be originally from Buddhist Afghanistan due to similar birch bark manuscripts that were discovered in eastern Afghanistan.^[1] 

Since 1994, a similar collection of Gāndhārī texts from the same era, called the Senior Collection, has also surfaced.^[2]

The British Library birch bark manuscripts were in the form of scrolls, which were very fragile and already damaged. They were five to nine inches wide and consisted of 12 to 18 inch long overlapping rolls that had been glued together to form longer scrolls.

A thread sewn through the edges also helped hold them together. (They were kept in baskets, or pitakas, which gave rise to the collection of Buddhist texts collectively referred to as the Tripitaka or "Three Baskets," the discourses or sutras, the Disciplinary Code or Vinaya, and the "Higher Teachings" or Abhidharma).

Buddhist Pakistan, stupa stamp

The script was written in black ink. The manuscripts were written on both sides of the scrolls, beginning at the top on one side, continuing with the scroll turned over and upside down, so that the text concluded at the top and back of the scroll. The longest intact scroll from the British Library collection is 84 inches long.^[1]

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Street scene, Taxila, A.D. 260

The texts were likely compiled by the Dharmaguptaka sect and probably "represent a random but reasonably representative fraction of what was probably a much larger set of texts preserved in the library of a monastery of the Dharmaguptaka sect in Nagarāhāra," according to leading scholar Richard Salomon.^[3] 

The collection includes a variety of known commentaries and sutras, including a Dhammapada, discourses of the Buddha that include the Rhinoceros Sutra, Avadānas, and Abhidharma texts.^[4]

The condition of the scrolls indicates that they were already in poor condition and fragments by the time they were stored in the clay jars. Scholars concluded that the fragmented scrolls were given a ritual interment, much like Jewish texts stored in a genizah.^[1]

  
Sanskrit and Brāhmī manuscripts

Himalayan birch bark has been used for centuries in India for writing scriptures and texts in various scripts.

Its use was especially prevalent in historical Kashmir.

Use of bark as paper has been mentioned by early Sanskrit writers. In Kashmir, early scholars recounted that all of their books were written on Himalayan birch bark until the 16th century.^[5]

A fragment of a birch bark scroll in Sanskrit, using Brāhmī script, was part of the British Library Gandhara scroll collection. It is presumed to be from North India, dating to sometime during the first few centuries CE.^[6] 

Birch bark manuscripts in Brāhmī script were discovered in an ancient Buddhist monastery in Jaulian, near Taxila (Takkasila, the ancient capital of Gandhara) in the Punjab in Pakistan, dated to the 5th century CE.^[7]

Jaulian silver Buddhist reliquary, with gold contents (British Museum/wiki)

 

Bower Manuscript on birch bark (c. 450 CE)

The Bakhshali manuscript consists of 70 birch bark fragments written in Sanskrit and Prakrit [Pali-Sanskrit hybrid language], using Śāradā script.

Based on the language and content, it is estimated to be from the 2nd to 3rd century CE. The text discusses various mathematical techniques.^[8][9]

 

A large collection of birch bark scrolls were discovered in Afghanistan during the civil war in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, possible from the Bamiyan Caves [at the foothills of the Himalayan range known as the Hindu Kush next to the world's largest Buddha statues].

The approximately 3,000 scroll fragments are in Sanskrit or Buddhist Sanskrit, using Brāhmī script, and date to a period from the 2nd to 8th century CE.^[6] More
 

FOOTNOTES

1. Salomon, Richard (April 1, 1997). "A preliminary survey of some early Buddhist manuscripts recently acquired by the British Library". The Journal of the American Oriental Society (American Oriental Society).
2. Richard Salomon; Andrew Glass (2000). A Gāndhārī Version of the Rhinoceros Sūtra: British Library Kharoṣṭhī Fragment 5B. University of Washington Press. p. xi.
3. Richard Salomon. Ancient Buddhist Scrolls from Gandhāra: The British Library Kharosthī Fragments, with contributions by Raymond Allchin and Mark Barnard. Seattle: University of Washington Press; London: The British Library, 1999. pg 181
4. Salomon, Richard (1999). Ancient Buddhist Scrolls from Gandhāra. Seattle: University of Washington Press.
5. Müller, Friedrich Max (1881). Selected essays on language, mythology and religion, Volume 2. Longmans, Green, and Co. pp. 335–336fn.
6. Patrick Olivelle (13 July 2006). Between the Empires: Society in India 300 Bce to 400 Ce. Oxford University Press. pp. 356–7.
7. Kurt A. Behrendt (2003). Handbuch Der Orientalistik: India. The Buddhist architecture of Gandhāra. BRILL. pp. 35–36.
8. John Newsome Crossley, Anthony Wah-Cheung Lun, Kangshen Shen, Shen Kangsheng (1999). The Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art: Companion and Commentary. Oxford Univ. Press.

9. "The Bakhshali Manuscript". Treasures of the Bodleian. Univ. of Oxford Bodleian Library.

• Buddhist pilgrimage to Afghanistan...
• Mes Aynak
• Buddhas of Bamiyan, Afghanistan
• Buddhism in Iran 
• Buddhism in Pakistan 

Amazing religious diversity of the Middle East

Seth Auberon, Sheldon S., Pat Macpherson, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly; Host Mitch Jeserich, KPFK.org, Los Angeles, Jan. 29, 2015 (from L&P, KPFA.org, Berkeley)

Who knew? I had no idea! We're taught Arab Muslims fighting Zionist Jews and that's all.

Heirs to the Kingdom: Journeys Into the Disappearing Religions of the Middle East

• PLAY NOW or download here: Archive.KPFK.org
• L&P - Thurs, 29 Jan 2015 10:00:40 -0800
• Chris Hedges, Earth At Risk Conference, Jan. 29, 2015, 10:00 am 
• PLAY AUDIO on computer's media player
• AUDIO: download (MP3, 10.28 MB)

Other Religions of the Middle East

Despite its reputation for religious intolerance, the geopolitical Middle East has long sheltered many distinctive and strange Christian-like faiths beyond Islam:

One religion regards the Greek prophets (like Pythagoras) as incarnations of God, another reveres the angel Lucifer in the form of a peacock, and yet another believes that their followers are reincarnated beings who have existed in various forms for thousands of years [just as Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism still teach and as Christianity used to teach].

These religions represent the last vestiges of the magnificent civilizations in ancient history: Persia, Babylon, Egypt in the time of the Pharaohs [and even going back to the first known civilization in Sumer or Sumeria]. Their followers have learned how to survive foreign attacks and the perils of assimilation [with Islam, Christianity, or Judaism]. But today, with the Middle East in turmoil, they face greater challenges than ever before.

In Heirs to Forgotten Kingdoms, former diplomat Gerard Russell ventures to the distant, nearly impassable regions where these mysterious religions still cling to survival. He lives alongside the

• Mandaeans and Ezidis (Yazidis) of Iraq
• Zoroastrians of Iran
• Copts of Egypt, and others. 

Who knew, Russell Brand?

He learns their histories, participates in their secret rituals, and comes to understand the current threats to their long surviving communities. Historically a tolerant faith, Islam has, since the early 20th century, witnessed the rise of militant, extremist sects (such as the CIA-funded Saudi Arabian aberration known as Wahhabism).

This development, along with the rippling effects of Western invasion, now pose existential threats to these minority faiths. And as more and more of their youth flee to the capitalist West in search of dreams of greater personal freedoms and money making prospects, these religions face the dire possibility of complete extinction after surviving against all odds.

Drawing on his extensive travels and archival research, Russell provides an essential record of the past, present, and perilous future of these remarkable religions. More

U.S. Slavery and Capitalism

Michael Slate, Michael Slate Show, Archive.KPFK.org (Pacifica Los Angeles, Jan. 30, 2015)

Cornell Univ. Prof. Edward E. Baptist is the author of The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism.

Few realize that bankers financed the purchase of expensive slaves for the picking of cotton for sale on the world market. This prompted the dehumanizing treatment of African-Americans chattel (property) slaves by racist European Christians living in the relatively new USA still expanding west and wiping out the indigenous Native Americans. LISTEN: (Jan. 30, 2015, 10:00 am, Archive.KPFK.org).

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The Buddha prevents relatives from fighting

Crystal Quintero, Dhr. Seven, Ashley Wells, Wisdom Quarterly; photographer Inkid (flickr)

Presiding Buddha Image: Pra Buddha Attharos Preventing Relatives from Fighting mudra (posture)
Once there was a great shortage of whater in the small river that ran between two small [Indo-Scythian] kingdoms [in Shakyaland/Sakastan].

The people in the kingdoms were both relatives of the Lord Buddha [members of the Shakya Clan]. But they were going to fight over the water.

The Lord Buddha knew that if he did not [intervene and] prevent them, there was going to be great bloodshed.

So he came and wisely asked, "Which means more to you, water or relatives?" The Lord Buddha's question made the people realize that it is foolish to be fighting over the water.

The Lord Buddha's statement and posture holding his right hand up not only prevents his relatives from fighting but also signifies peace to the world. [The relatives relented at first, but due to their karma, they returned. They relented again. But they returned yet again and the Buddha realized he could not prevent them. It did not end well for the relatives. Sometimes even a Buddha cannot prevent what living beings are intent on.]

The gold accented Jade Buddha and dragons, Bangkok, Thailand (Inkid/flickr.com)

  

Kaludayin Thera: Crossing the Rohini River

Excerpt by Andrew Olendzki (trans.), Theragatha 10.1

The Buddha prevents a war between hostile neighbors, his relatives, as explained above.

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Translator's note: These verses are said to have been uttered by Udayin (nicknamed Kala Udayin or "Dark Udayin"). He was the son of King Suddhodhana's chief minister and is said to have been the childhood companion of Prince Siddhartha, who became the Buddha Gautama. Soon after the Buddha's great awakening (maha bodhi), his father King Suddhodana sent several messengers to ask him to return home.

Each one, upon hearing the Enlightened One's teaching, apparently joined his movement to gain enlightenment themselves and gave up the king's mission. Finally King Suddhodhana sends Kaludayin, who agrees to the mission on condition that he can become a follower of the Buddha upon getting him to return home for a visit.

 
The Rohini river runs through the heart of the Buddha's homeland [Indo-Scythia, Central Asia, west of Gandhara], marking the border between the lands of the Shakyas and the Koliyas (his father's and mother's families, respectively).

Crossing the L.A. River (latimes.com)

Since the verses are uttered in Rajagaha (modern Rajgir), well to the southeast of Shakya-land, a returning journey would face the traveler westward. One commentary says that Kaludayin went on for 60 stanzas of this beautiful nature poetry before asking the Buddha to return. But we only have the first few of these. The language is rich and evocative of spring sights and smells. It is composed in a meter of eleven syllables per line.
 
The Buddha does indeed go home soon after his great enlightenment, where he picks up a number of male and female family members to join his monastic order. These include his half-brother (Nanda), several cousins (Ananda, Anuruddha, and Devadatta), and his son (Rahula). Eventually his wife (Princess Bimba, known more widely as Yasodhara, Rahulamata, and Bhaddhakaccana), the step-mother who raised him (Queen Maha Pajapati), and many other [Indo-Scythian] Shakyas also went on to become nuns and monks.
 

Crimson now, sir, are the trees of the forest,

Having shed their foliage, they're eager to fruit,

(Their flowers are) blazing forth like brilliant flames, —

It is a luscious time of year, Great Hero.

The blossoming trees, so pleasing to the mind,

Spread their fragrance in every direction,

Surrendering their leaves and longing for fruit; —

The time has come to depart from here, Hero.

It is neither too cold, nor again too hot,

The season is pleasant, suited for travel.

My lord, let the Shakyas and Koliyas see you —

Facing westward and crossing the Rohini.

Tsunami creature

(AlaiNet) During the Japanese tsunami a strange creature was caught on camera. Real footage shows massive onslaught of water then a creature (possibly a giant white slithering cat or macaque monkey) leaps onto a roof.

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  (Sara/LA Shambhala, Nov. 17, 2014) For more than three decades, Ven. Pema Chödrön has been teaching and writing about Buddhist principles as a American Buddhist nun in the Tibetan tradition. View a conversation between Pema Chödrön and Oprah from Super Soul Sunday: “How to Let Go and Accept Change.”