Showing posts with label far east. Show all posts
Showing posts with label far east. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 20, 2026

Native Americans are Asians in the USA?

VIDEO: Native Americans reclaim American history ー NHK WORLD-JAPAN NEWS
Native Americans reclaiming historyーNHK WORLD-JAPAN NEWS
American Progress (John Gast painting of devi Columbia, personifying the USA
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Columbia (Paul Stahr)
NHK WORLD-JAPAN(NHK WORLD-JAPAN) Oct. 17, 2026: As the United States of America [formerly Columbia, as in its capital, which is a "district of Columbia" or D.C.] celebrates its 250th anniversary, some Americans -- Indigenous and otherwise -- are calling for recognition of the country’s real history, including the contributions of Indigenous (Native, First Nations, Beringian, Siberian?) people.

More news from NHK WORLD-JAPAN at 3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/news. Subscribe: @nhkworldjapan

Monday, October 12, 2026

Was holy Moses a Black Egyptian?

Moses was a Black man from Northern Africa, modern Egypt | Bible Art
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Epic Black Moses parting the Red Sea
Yesterday, Sunday, I heard a joke by a white Christian at church: "What's not in the Bible that everyone assumes there is?"

"Ummm, blankety blank?" I guessed.

"No," she said, "white people."

We laughed as my mind scanned for even one exception. So I joked, "But what about blue-eyed, chestnut haired, pale Nordic Jesus?"

"Exactly," she laughed even louder. It's a very liberal church with enlightened parishioners who do not succumb to racism, sexism, and biases so prevalent in American culture.
Moses the Black (Alchetron)
(Funny Olde World) MSN, July 20, 2026: Was Moses, the henotheistic patriarch Ashkenazi Jews claim as their own, actually an Egyptian (mixed race Asiatic)? The theory that won't go away: Could the biblical story of Moses have roots in ancient Egyptian (Kmt, Kemetic) history? This documentary explores one of the most debated historical theories linking Pharaoh Akhenaten, early monotheism (which was actually a form of henotheism), and the origins of the Exodus tradition. Source


Jesus, like Judas, had to be a Jew
The more I thought about it, I could not think of a single white person in all those pages, even the much larger Apocrypha (the many books the Councils threw out of the Bible). But we have been lied to for so long, brainwashed with European art, ignoring the Russian icons of Eastern Orthodox Christianity, all of which accurately represent biblical figures as dark black.

Notovitch crucified for discovery
If I were a Christian following a Gnostic (pre-whitewash) Jesus, the first two things I would read would be the real whole Bible only preserved in the ancient Ethiopian Bible and all the material labeled "the Apocrypha" to get the real story. Then I would follow that up with Russian Christian scholar Nicolas Notovitch's discovery of a wealth of written documented material on the whereabouts of Jesus (Y'shua, Isa, Saint Issa) during the "lost years."

We don't want to know where He was
Those years were not "lost" at all but rather purposely excluded by Councils that did not want to admit the non-Pauline Christianity shares a great deal with other religions such as ancient Buddhism, Vedic Hinduism, Zoroastrianism (Parsis), Judaism (Essenes, Gnostics, Samaritans, etc.), Jainism, and all the scattered material appropriated by the Vatican (formerly a site completely dedicated to the worship of Mithras, not Jesus, until Caesar's Messiah was instituted as the state religion of Rome to control the disparate peoples of the growing empire).

There are few whiter people in all the world than the blond, blue-eyed Nordic Russians (modern post-USSR "Russia" being composed of about 92 ethnicities, many of them Asian and non-Nordic). But in the USA, we are led to believe that a "White Russian" is some kind of exception, so much so that a famous drink takes for granted that that would be odd. Nearly all Russians are very light and most definitively white.

So that Russians of all people would keep the authentic original historical Jesus Black (Northern African) along with all the Apostles and the few females remaining in the Bible, that has to say something positive for Eastern Orthodoxy.

Non-Messiah Jesus was a white Jew like us!
But there's also the Coptic (Egyptian) Church, the Greek Orthodox, all three holding on to truths Western Protestantism and Roman Catholicism have long sought to hide for social control of populations so that, far from freeing anyone as Jesus and Mary Magdelene intended, Christianity is used to oppress, enslave, forcibly convert, and utterly neuter. HOW?

Trump, you are what Italians call a gavone. - Cool
Next to no Christian in the West uses Christianity to gain knowledge and vision (gnosis) as Jesus taught and intended for his followers. Instead, they all repeat a slogan, a magic formula, and state-sponsored propaganda: Just believe in this, and you will be free when you die." That's the whole of Christianity today. Even the founder of the Christian publication Watchtower and Ambassador College in Pasadena, California, realized it. No one follows Christ or his instructions. They do the opposite. They do what the Devil would have them do, and what's that? Spend all day and night singing the praises of Jesus' name and never bothering to learn or follow any of the instructions.

That's my white husband they all worship.
Roman Catholicism didn't get to be the largest religion in the world today by teaching anyone anything worthwhile. It did it by spreading "faith" and the exaltation of "faith," and don't question anything, and don't do anything. Just obey blindly and keep the faith. And repeat this message often to induct more blind followers. We'll worry about what Jesus wants us to do to get into heaven later when we're in heaven already, having led a bad life but being forgiven and "redeemed" by the faith the Emperor, Pharaoh, prime minister, and president told us to follow like sheep looking for a Good Shepherd.

Ever wonder about the skin color of Moses, the legendary biblical figure who supposedly led the Israelites (or was that Canaanites) out of the country of Egypt in Africa?

Despite Moses' role in the Old Testament, the Bible remains curiously silent on Moses' physical appearance. This has led to centuries of debate, artistic European re-interpretations, and even modern misconceptions promoting a Nordic Moses as if such a thing were possible.

Let's uncover the uncomfortable truth behind this enduring question.

Venerated in Jewish temples, Eastern Orthodox churches, Roman Catholic churches, Eastern Catholic churches, Anglican Communion Oriental Orthodox churches, Lutheran churches, and Russian Orthodox Christian churches [as a Black man].

Major shrine: Paromeos Monastery, Scetes, Egypt, Africa.

Feast day: August 28 (West), July 1 = Paoni 24 (East)

Similar people: Macarius of Egypt, Poemen, Martin Luther, Murad Bey More

Friday, October 2, 2026

'The Gateless Gate' and Satori: Alan Watts

(Official Alan Watts Archive) Alan Watts: Don't be afraid of NOTHING | nothingness

The enso is the Zen zero or circle symbol
The Gateless Gate
(Mandarin Chinese 無門關, Wúménguān, Japanese 無門関, Mumonkan), sometimes translated as The Gateless Barrier, is a collection of 48 Chan (Zen) koans ("public cases" popularly but mistakenly thought of as insoluble riddles).

It was compiled in the early 13th century by the Chinese Master Wumen Huikai (無門慧開, Japanese Mumon Ekai, 1183–1260) during the Song Dynasty.

The title has a double meaning and may also be understood as Wumen's Barrier because Wumen's name, which literally means "no gate," is the title's first two characters.

Then I knew intuitively, innately by instinct!
Wumen's preface indicates that the volume was published in 1228. Each koan is accompanied by a commentary and verse by Wumen.

A classic edition includes a 49th case composed by Anwan in 1246. Wuliang Zongshou also supplemented the volume with a verse of four stanzas composed in 1230 about the three barriers of Chan Master Huanglong Huinan.

Since the Southern Song Dynasty, the Chinese Buddhist canon has not included The Gateless Gate, but Wumen's disciples brought the work to Japan, where it has been reprinted many times.

It is collected in volume 48 of the Taishō Tripiṭaka [1]. Along with the Blue Cliff Record and the oral tradition of Hakuin Ekaku, The Gateless Gate is a central work much used in Rinzai Zen School practice.

Five of the koans in the work concern the sayings and doings of Zhaozhou; four concern Ummon. The common theme of the koans and Wumen's comments is the inquiry and introspection of dualistic conceptualization. (See Mahayana-Hinduism's nondualism or Advaita Vedanta).


Awakening
  • Satori (Japanese 悟り) is a Japanese Zen Buddhist term for "awakening," "comprehension," "understanding" [1], or "insight" (an epiphany, a sudden moment of "clear-seeing" or vipassana, liberating insight). The word derives from the Japanese verb satoru [2, 3]. In the Zen Buddhist tradition, satori refers to a deep experience of kenshō [4, 5], "seeing into one's true nature" [that true nature being the Three Marks of Existence that lead to enlightenment/bodhi in Theravada Buddhist terms]. Ken means "seeing," shō means "nature" or "essence" [4]. Satori and kenshō are commonly translated as "enlightenment," a word that is also used to translate bodhi, prajñā ("wisdom"), and Buddhahood. More
To suddenly see clearly into the nature of things
Each koan epitomizes one or more of the polarities of consciousness that act like an obstacle or wall to the insight.

The student is challenged to transcend the polarity that the koan represents and demonstrate or show that transcendence to the Zen teacher.

Structure and contents
The text was originally prepared by Wumen as a record of his teaching during a monastic training period held at Longxiang Temple (now Jiangxin Temple in Wenzhou) in the summer of 1228.

Wumen selected the 48 koans and commented on and added a verse for each koan. As was customary in China at the time, an edition might have additions of text inserted by a subsequent owner or publisher.

The best-known version of the text is from the Japanese woodblock edition made from the 1246 manuscript edition that contains the following sections. More

Saturday, January 24, 2026

Why is Russia so doggone BIG? (video)


Why is Russia so darn BIG?
(Johnny Harris) March 24, 2021: The story of moving east and just...not stopping.

Korea in Asia is beautiful and close by

Ways to support: Patreon (johnnyharris). Custom presets and LUTs: https://store.dftba.com/products/john... Where to find JH: Instagram (johnny.harris), Tiktok (johnny.harris), Facebook (johnnyharrisvox). Iz's (Johnny’s wife’s) channel (iz-harris). How Johnny makes videos: Tom Fox makes his music. Work with him here: https://tfbeats.com/. He makes maps using this AE Plugin: aescripts.com/geolayers/?aff=77. All the gear he uses: izharris.com/gear-guide. His courses: Learn a language (brighttrip.com/course/language). Visual storytelling: https://www.brighttrip.com/courses/vi...

SPONSOR: The first 1,000 people to use this link will get a free trial of Skillshare premium membership: skl.sh/johnnyharris03211. 

ABOUT: Johnny Harris is a filmmaker and journalist. He is currently based in Washington, DC, reporting on interesting trends and stories domestically and around the world. His visual style blends motion graphics with cinematic videography to create content that explains complex issues in relatable ways. He holds a B.A. in international relations from Brigham Young University and an M.A. in international peace and conflict resolution from American University. Press: NYTimes: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/09/op... NYTimes: https://www.nytimes.com/video/opinion... Vox Borders: • Inside Hong Kong’s cage homes Finding Founders: https://findingfounders.co/episodes/j... NPR Planet Money: https://www.npr.org/transcripts/10721...

Soviet Union, empire, Russia, Central Asia, Far East, Vlad Putin, Czar, communist regime, capitalism, European, country, size, largest, Canada, Moscow, Mongols, Turkey, Korea, China

Monday, December 29, 2025

Biz on sidewalks of Buddhist Vietnam?


(Beyond Borders) Search for the legacy of Thích Nhất Hạnh aka Thay? Is Vietnam the most sinful [post-American War] Buddhist country? What nobody tells travelers to this part of Asia south of China. Visit Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Da Nang, and Hạ Long Bay.

China's great empire before religion


(Audio Point) How ancient China survived without a single holy book. Can a human society survive Freedom from Religion?
A woman was able to rise to supreme power?
Empress Dowager Cixi (1835–1908) was a Manchu noblewoman of the Yehe Nara Clan who had de facto but periodical control of the Chinese government in the late Qing Dynasty as empress dowager and regent for almost 50 years, from 1861 until her passing in 1908. Selected as a concubine of the Xianfeng Emperor in her adolescence, she gave birth to a son, Zaichun, in 1856. After the Xianfeng Emperor's passing in 1861, his 5-year-old son became the Tongzhi Emperor, and Cixi assumed the role of co-empress dowager alongside Xianfeng's widow, Empress Dowager Ci'an. Empress Cixi ousted a group of regents appointed by the late emperor and assumed the regency along with Ci'an. Cixi then consolidated control over the dynasty when she installed her nephew as the Guangxu Emperor at the death of the Tongzhi Emperor in 1875. Ci'an continued as co-regent until her death in 1881. More

Saturday, December 13, 2025

Russia is BIG and full of native Asians


There are Asian Russians, Russian Asians?

What it's like being Asian Russian in 2025 and why you've never heard about us 🤨
(Chimka Travels) Dec. 2, 2025: Most people think all Russians look Slavic…until they meet me or others like me. I’m an Asian Russian, specifically a Buryat-Mongolian. My video about Asian Russians blew up with over 10 million views. So in this episode, I’m finally explaining: 💬

  • Who Asian Russians actually are 🌏
  • Why you’ve never seen us in Western (or Russian) media 📍
  • Where we live inside Russia 💬
  • Why English language creates confusion (“Russian,” one word = two meanings) 🏔️
  • The Indigenous peoples of Siberia and the Far East 🇲🇳
  • My Buryat-Mongol identity
  • And comments like, “We got Chinese Russians before GTA6.”
By the end of this video, viewers will understand a part of Russia almost nobody talks about.
  • 00:00 Introduction
  • 01:37 Who are Asian Russians?
  • 02:34 Russian federal subjects
  • 03:23 Identity: Russian or Buryat?
  • 03:45 Why people get confused
  • 04:18 Why they’ve never heard of Asian Russians
  • 04:37 Buryat-Mongolian or Buryat?
  • 05:36 Erasure of the “-Mongolian” part during USSR phase
  • 06:29 Why I don’t look Russian
  • 06:50 Why I started talking about this
  • 07:18 Taiwan’s “Russian Girl” stereotype — storytime
  • 08:56 Future content and upcoming Mongolia vlogs
  • 09:25 Ending and goodbye
Follow me: 👉 Instagram: chimka_travel 👉 TikTok: chimka_travels ❤️Support: paypal.me/Chimkas, coff.ee/chimka_travel 📩 For business inquiries: chimka.travel@gmail.com #AsianRussian #Asian #Russian #Russia #Sakha #Yakut# Yakutia# Buryat# Buryatia #BuryatMongol #Indigenous

Why is Russia so darn BIG?
(Johnny Harris) March 24, 2021: The story of moving east and just...not stopping.
  • (Eli from Russia) Former USSR (Soviet Union) Russia's hidden gem in Far East: the Kuril Islands
Ways to support: Patreon (johnnyharris). Custom presets and LUTs: https://store.dftba.com/products/john... Where to find JH: Instagram (johnny.harris), Tiktok (johnny.harris), Facebook (johnnyharrisvox). Iz's (Johnny’s wife’s) channel (iz-harris). How Johnny makes videos: Tom Fox makes his music. Work with him here: https://tfbeats.com/. He makes maps using this AE Plugin: aescripts.com/geolayers/?aff=77. All the gear he uses: izharris.com/gear-guide. His courses: Learn a language (brighttrip.com/course/language). Visual storytelling: https://www.brighttrip.com/courses/vi...

SPONSOR: The first 1,000 people to use this link will get a free trial of Skillshare premium membership: skl.sh/johnnyharris03211. 

ABOUT: Johnny Harris is a filmmaker and journalist. He is currently based in Washington, DC, reporting on interesting trends and stories domestically and around the world. His visual style blends motion graphics with cinematic videography to create content that explains complex issues in relatable ways. He holds a B.A. in international relations from Brigham Young University and an M.A. in international peace and conflict resolution from American University. Press: NYTimes: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/09/op... NYTimes: https://www.nytimes.com/video/opinion... Vox Borders: • Inside Hong Kong’s cage homes Finding Founders: https://findingfounders.co/episodes/j... NPR Planet Money: https://www.npr.org/transcripts/10721...

Soviet Union, empire, Russia, Central Asia, Far East, Vlad Putin, Czar, communist regime, capitalism, European, country, size, largest, Alaska, Canada, Arctic Circle, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Ukraine, Mongolia, Turkey, Korea, China
  • Eli from Russia, Dec. 13, 2025; Johnny Harris, March 24, 2021; Guzel; Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven, Pat Macpherson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Monday, November 24, 2025

Redhead visits Russian Pacific island


Russia's most disputed region in the Pacific: Sakhalin Island
(Eli from Russia) Nov. 22, 2025: SAKHALIN. This is the biggest island of Russia – Sakhalin. Throughout centuries the island has passed hands many times between the Soviet Union (USSR) and Japan (Nippon), yet a formal peace treaty has still never been signed.

Join me as we explore the island’s Japanese heritage, meet a unique community of Korean Russians, and dive into the rich untamed nature of Sakhalin.

Time codes for this video:
  • 00:00 Arrival in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk
  • 03:50 Russian Koreans: history, culture...and fight!
  • 07:55 Visiting an abandoned Japanese lighthouse
  • 11:40 Exploring hidden bays of the island
  • 13:30 Russians love Celentano!
  • 14:20 Tanti auguri! Birthday in the Far East of Russia
  • 18:07 Giant Kamchatka crab for birthday party
📌learn.lingopie.com/elinafromrussia... - Master a new foreign language while watching TV shows on Lingopie 📍 elinabakunova.com - Check out my projects here. 🔸 What can be found on my channel? 👉🏻 Life in different republics and regions of Russia 👉🏻 Discovering ethnic groups of Russia 👉🏻 Russian culture explained (with facts that won't be found on Google).

• RUSSIAN CULTURE EXPLAINED 👉🏻 off-the-beaten-path places and raw adventures in Russia, ex-Soviet countries and elsewhere 📍 Life in the capital of Russia's Far East | Unforgettable experience on Kamchatka Peninsula • Life in the World's COLDEST CITY: How to stay healthy in Buddhist Yakutsk, Russia?

📸 Instagram.com/elibakunova... - More content about Russia, traveling, and my daily life 🤍 elifromrussia has  more content, one-on-one connections, and to support my channel through Patreon.

Wednesday, November 12, 2025

To the edge: Magadan (Eli from Russia)

(Eli from Russia) Nov. 8, 2025: Russia's region with darkest history: Magadan, Russian Far East


Welcome to the Mari El Republic of Russia. The Mari are Finno-Ugric people, one of the most ancient peoples of Central Russia. For centuries, the Mari have preserved their original pagan religion and, in this regard, they can be considered the last true pagans in Europe.

Monday, November 3, 2025

Dharma Realms: Buddhist Art Across Asia


ACCOMPANYING BOOK: Realms of the Dharma: Buddhist Art Across Asia
Realms of the Dharma (LACMA book)
There's a hardcover book, released July 1, 2025, by Editors Tushara Bindu Gude and Stephen Little and a foreword by Michael Govan. It has 5 out of 5 stars with one (1) rating.

It is a remarkable selection of pan-Asian Buddhist art, showcasing the history and diversity of Buddhist schools with examples across sculptures, textiles, reliquaries, manuscripts, and more.
Buddhist Tibet (LACMA)
Published with LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art), this gloriously illustrated celebration of Buddhist art addresses the development of Buddhism and its visual language over a period of nearly 2,000 years, as the Teaching (Dharma) traveled across Asia and was embraced by diverse cultures.

Realms of the Dharma brings together more than 200 works of Buddhist art from India, mainland and island Southeast Asia, the Himalayas, Central Asia, and East Asia.

Buddhist Japan (LACMA)
The book is divided into seven chapters, beginning with an introduction to Buddhism and Buddhist art, followed by chapters on South Asia, Southeast Asia, Nepal and Tibet, China, Korea, and Japan.

The artworks, all from the collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), offer a broad perspective on the birth of Buddhism in South Asia and its spread throughout the Asian continent over centuries.


The Buddha's tooth relic (srarira) in China
The artworks include a stunning and diverse range of Buddhas, stupas and reliquaries, religious manuscripts, paintings, and sculptures depicting various Buddhist deities, portraits of Buddhist masters, and other ritual objects.

The remarkably successful expansion of Buddhism was in part due to the ability of its principles to be adapted to and assimilated within a range of preexisting belief systems [usually some form of shamanism, animism, or some form of spirit appeasement].

Gorgeously illustrated with over 250 color reproductions of these exemplary artworks and religious objects, this book celebrates that achievement. More

Sunday, November 2, 2025

Realms of the Dharma: LACMA exhibit



Realms of the Dharma: Buddhist Art Across Asia
Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) 
LACMA has an excellent permanent collection.
"Realms of the Dharma: Buddhist Art Across Asia" presents an international survey of Buddhism and Buddhist art, beginning with the religion’s origins in India and following its spread through mainland and island Southeast Asia (Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Indonesia), the Himalayas (Kashmir, Nepal, and Tibet), and East Asia (China, Korea, and Japan).


Incorporating 180 masterpieces of pan-Asian Buddhist art, the exhibition introduces key concepts of Buddhist thought and practice viewed through the prism of rare and extraordinarily beautiful Buddhist sculptures, paintings, and ritual objects.

Drawn from LACMA’s permanent collection, with several significant loans from private collections, the exhibition explores:
  • the life of the historical Buddha,
  • the role of the bodhisattva or Buddhist savior,
  • Buddhist cosmology,
  • and such key concepts as Dharma, karma, nirvana, mantra, mudra, and mandala.
The show focuses on art associated with such key phases of Buddhism as Theravada (early monastic Buddhism), Mahayana (the “Great Vehicle” populism), Vajrayana (the “Diamond Vehicle”—tantric or esoteric Buddhism), and Chan (Zen).


While closed on the Day of the Dead, the exhibit reopens along with the museum on Nov. 2, 2025, and continues until July 12, 2026. Ticket purchase necessary. Discounted for members.

Saturday, September 27, 2025

Greco-Buddhism in Hellenistic Far East



BOOK: Greco-Buddhist Relations in the Hellenistic Far East
Dr. Olga Kubica, University of Wroclaw
Author Dr. Olga Kubica has 4.4 out of 5 stars with four ratings. This book provides the first comprehensive and interdisciplinary view of the relationship between the Greeks and Buddhist communities in ancient Bactria and Northwest India [Scythian Gandhara, now Afghanistan and Pakistan], from the conquests of Alexander the Great to the fall of the Indo-Greek kingdom circa 10 AD.

Greco-Buddhist Relations...
The main thesis is the assumption that, despite the presence of mutual relationships and interactions between the Greeks and Buddhist inhabitants of the Hellenistic Far East, the phenomenon known conventionally as "Greco-Buddhism" never truly occurred.

The individual chapters of this book provide an analysis of the main sources for Greco-Buddhist relations, mainly textual, but also archeological [excavated sites] and numismatic [coinage].
Who are the Hazara people?
The methods of philological and historical research are used in combination with postcolonial approaches to the study of the Greeks in India, drawing from sociological research on ethnicity and intercultural relations.

It is a rich source of information for anyone interested in Greco-Buddhist relations and is a great starting point for further research in this area.

This volume (1st edition) is a valuable resource for students and scholars working on the Greco-Bactrian and Indo-Greek kingdoms, both classicists and those working on early Indian history, as well as those working on cultural exchange in the Hellenistic world. More