Boy Buddha found on Australian beach

EssaNews.com, Jan. 11, 2024; CC Liu, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Shark Bay’s natural wonders that turn one snap happy | So Perth

The baby boy Buddha (actually Bodhisattva) being ceremonially bathed on Vesak

Boy Buddha on Bimaran

What is a baby boy Buddha? It should not be confused with the Buddha Boy (Ram Bahadur Bomjon) now steeped in the quagmire of controversy. It is a figurine, usually ceramic and golden, of Prince Siddhartha Gautama just after he was born, raising his finger, speaking a declaration of his impending great enlightenment and final rebirth, and taking seven steps as the earth quakes, surrounded by devas and his mother's female attendants. It is used in a popular bathing ceremony usually performed during Mahayana Buddha Day and Theravada Vesak celebrations.

Buddha from the beach, two friends find $100K Ming Dynasty artifact in Australia

The statuette is worth a fortune. Images source: © YouTube ABA 10:47 AM EST, Jan. 11, 2024

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Shark Bay’s Monkey Mia Reserve dolphins

[Buy a metal detector, and hit the beach. There's no telling what treasures abound.] In 2018, Leon Dechamps and Shayne Thomson visited Shark Bay's coast in Australia.

Equipped with a metal detector, they serendipitously discovered a small Buddha figure, oblivious to the fact that they had unearthed a genuine treasure.

Vesak (Buddha Jayanti) is Buddhist Xmas

• [WHAT IS IT? The figurine represents the baby Bodhisattva, Prince Siddhartha before he became the Buddha Gautama, celebrating his birth in Lumbini garden as his mother, Maya Devi (iconically represented as a salabhanjika), gave birth standing up holding the branch of a sal tree, and it was twin sal trees the Buddha chose to lie down between when he passed into final nirvana, a statue commonly used in bathing ceremonies, commemorating how when he was born, the sky devas rained down to rinse him off, a ritual that is performed every Vesak, the thrice blessed day of his birth, great awakening, and reclining into final nirvana. Although it might be tempting to think Theravada Buddhism is just trying to be efficient by lumping all three events into one celebration day, the ancient texts say these three occurrences took place on the same month (Vaisakha) under the full moon.]
• Mahayana Buddhism does not recognize Buddhism, instead dividing the three events of the Buddha's life into three events (birth, awakening, passing): Buddha Day, Bodhi Day, and Parinirvana Day.
• The Buddhist Society of Western Australia (BSWA) with British Thai Theravada Abbot Ajahn Brahm
• Monkey Mia dolphins (not only sharks) | Australia's Coral Coast (australiascoralcoast.com)

Beachside fortune

The red and white sand beaches of the coast Shark Bay, Western Australia | Roadtrippers

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I wish I were on a beach all alone meditating.

Following five years and numerous expert analyses, it was determined that the Buddha figure hailing from the beach of the Indian Ocean has its origins in China from the Ming Dynasty period.

The petite Buddha statue made from bronze dates most likely back to the 15th century. A specialist in Asian art validated that the item could fetch a price of up to $100,000.

"I was astounded when I discovered it was from the Ming Dynasty. This makes it the oldest Chinese artifact in Australian history," Dechamps stated on the Antiques Roadshow program.

Baby Buddha (Bodhisattva) being bathed

• Around the Buddhist world (such as Maui, Hawaii, USA) the community celebrates Vesak Day. Vesak celebrates the birthday, enlightenment day, and final nirvana day of the Buddha (Shakyamuni), all three events having happened on the full moon of the ancient Indian month of Vaisakha. In addition to guided sitting meditation and Dharma talks, there is usually a bathing ceremony of the baby Buddha and a joyful vegetarian meal. In the Chinese Mahayana Buddhist tradition, April 8 of each year is "Buddha Day," which celebrates the birth of Gautama Buddha.

Western Australia Marine Park is full of sharks

Upon discovering the figure, the friends endeavored to uncover how it ended up on the beach. Various services and institutions were consulted, including the Maritime Museum of Western Australia, the ambassador in China, antique dealers, art historians, various Chinese associations, and independent archaeologists.

The statue likely arrived in Australia in the 15th century during Admiral Zheng He's global voyages, which included the Indian Ocean basin.

Another theory posits that it was brought to Australia by Chinese traders in the 19th century. Similar statues were fairly popular and were crafted to commemorate the Buddha's birthdays [Vesak].

Great white sharks of Australia love the Bay

According to Australian law, the statue belongs to the finders. The figure is flawed, missing several elements, which were possibly deliberately removed and replaced with a more prestigious material such as ivory.

No other Chinese or Ming Dynasty-related items were discovered on the beach. However, Dechamps and Thompson are hopeful that they will find the missing portions of the Buddha statue in the future [and will likely spend $100,001 or die doing so because something else must be on that beach after six centuries]. More

• Australian beaches littered with cocaine; concerned police call for vigilant residents [to keep the sharks away from this human treasure]

Asia Unveiled: A visit to Buddhist Sri Lanka

This video plays fast and loose with the facts. For example, No. 20 states that the Na tree, or Ceylon Ironwood, was the tree under which THE Buddha attained enlightenment. That is completely wrong and an egregious error because the actual tree under which Siddhartha the Buddha Gautama awakened under a tree that lives on the island, known as the Bodhi tree -- at least a cutting of the original tree from Bihar (proto-India). That tree is destroyed, but its direct ancestor lives on: Mesua ferrea.

Four earlier buddhas had as their enlightenment tree the Na tree, but not THE Buddha, the Buddha of our time, the historical Shakyamuni. Visiting his tree is a tree because it is enormous and hallowed and the oldest historically attested tree in the world: Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi Tree

Climate chaos: Super Cyclone Amphan

NEWS9 Live, India; DW News; May 20, 2020; CC Liu, Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Cyclone Amphan: Top 10 most destructive visuals caught on camera

Super-cyclone Amphan has claimed over 10 lives so far and lakhs (100s of thousands) of people have been evacuated. Take a look at some of the dreaded scenes which were witnessed due to the furious cyclone.

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NEWS9 is widely known to be the undisputed leader and most trusted source of news and information in Karnataka, India. Today, NEWS9 is the fastest growing digital news platform on the subcontinent. NEWS9 brings thought-provoking stories from across the world on topics ranging from politics, finance, Bollywood, and sport to latest trends on social media, lifestyle, tech, and wellness. Watch in your hut on your mobile. That's NEWS9.

American killed by uncontacted tribe

Associated Press (ap.org via mail.com); Editors, Wisdom Quarterly

Paradise Almost Lost to white Christian invaders, would-be colonialists, and imperial God

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"A case of misdirected adventure:" American killed by tribe

No one said spreading hegemony was easy.

NEW DELHI, India - The first time American Christian missionary John Allen Chau made it to the remote North Sentinel Island in the Indian Ocean, he came bearing gifts that included [disease and imperial domination] a football and fish.

He "interacted" with some of the tribesmen until they became angry and [told him to go away in no uncertain terms when they] shot an arrow at him.

Map of North Sentinel Island, India

The isolated tribe survive by hunting, fishing, and collecting wild plants. They are known for repelling anyone who comes near their sacred island with bows and arrows and spears.

The arrow did not harm the Christian missionary but struck a book Chau was carrying. The 26-year-old "adventurer"/trespasser and Christian missionary swam back to a boat of fishermen which was waiting at a safe distance.

Christian missionaries (AP)

That night, he wrote about his missionary activities and "adventures" and left his notes with the fishermen. He returned to the island the next day, November 16.

What happened then isn't known, but on the morning of the following day, the fishermen watched from the boat as the tribe dragged the missionary's body along the beach [as a sign to others to stay away].

Dependera Pathak, director-general of police on India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands, said Wednesday that the seven fishermen have been arrested for helping the American reach North Sentinel Island. Visits to the island are heavily restricted by the Indian government.

Good thing First Nations people were "nice."

Officials were working with anthropologists to recover the body. "It was a case of misdirected adventure," Pathak said. Chau was apparently shot and killed by arrows, but the cause of death can't be confirmed until his body is recovered, Pathak told the Associated Press.

In an Instagram post, his family said it was mourning him as a "beloved son, brother, uncle, and best friend to us." The family also said it forgave his killers and called for the release of those who assisted him in his quest to reach the island. More

• Latest: Police go to island to investigate US man's death

Out of Africa...into India's Andamans (video)

Arida Aspins; Native Americans; Xochitl, Ashley Wells, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly

The Andaman Islands lie off the eastern coast of mainland India (worldisbeautiful.net).

Andaman Islands below Burma, SE Asia

The uncontacted tribes of the Andaman Islands, known as the Jarawa, Great Andamanese, Onge, and Sentinelese are believed to have lived in their Indian Ocean home for up to 55,000 years, just like the aboriginal blacks in the United States. They are now vastly outnumbered by several hundred thousand East Indians or Dravidians, who have settled on the islands in recent decades. More

The first Americans were aboriginal BLACKS, not Indians or Asians

Buddhist artifacts in Maldives destroyed

OnIslam.net; Wisdom Quarterly

Few realize that the diving paradise known as the Maldives, most of which is at or close to sea level and doomed to destruction as the planet warms due to manmade and natural causes, used to be Buddhist.

  
Now some entity or agency has brought about a coup and is trying to create international outrage by destroying priceless Buddhist art and history. What kind Company or clandestine service would do such a thing? Surely not the CIA, who created the Taliban to make war for the military-industrial complex possible in Afghanistan. So we do not know who it was, but we do know it was not the CIA.

• VIDEO: Formerly Buddhist Maldives in turmoil
• Buddhism in the Maldives

The Maldives are sinking

MALE, Maldive Islands - The destruction of several historical priceless Buddhist artifacts exhibited at the Maldives National Museum has alarmed Maldivians, provoking warnings of a possible rise of Islamic extremism and Taliban-style intolerance in the holiday paradise.

"They have effectively erased all evidence of our Buddhist past," a senior museum official, who asked for anonymity, told Agence France Presse (AFP) on Sunday, February 12, at the now shuttered building in the capital Male.

 

"We lost all our 12th century statues. They were made of coral stone and limestone. They are very brittle and there is no way we can restore them," he explained.

Last Tuesday, Maldives' first democratically-elected president Mohamed Nasheed resigned following three weeks of protests that were joined by a police mutiny.

During the coup that ousted President Nasheed, scenes of violence resulted in the wanton destruction of historical treasures.

The destruction occurred when a handful of men stormed the Chinese-built museum and destroyed its display of priceless artifacts from the nation's pre-Islamic era.

The incident echoed the 2001 destruction of the Bamiyan Buddha statues in Afghanistan by the Taliban, damaging the nation's image. More 

 

Why is someone destroying Maldivian statues?

The Buddhist Blog

Similar to the [CIA-created] Taliban’s destruction of priceless Buddhist and historic artifacts in 2001, an Islamic extremist group has vandalized and destroyed precious Buddhist and Hindu statues in the Maldives. This kind of destruction is derived from extremist beliefs, which are almost always rooted in fear of anything different. Any extreme (whether liberal or conservative) is dangerous because when we believe that we alone are good, then we're more likely to justify intolerance, destruction, and killing. Destroying an ancient statue is tragic, but statues crumble with time anyway. Intolerance, however, quickly destroys happiness, lives, families, countries, and planets. More

• Muslim Maldives president quits after mutiny
• Maldivians rally for Islamic law
• Maldives slams UN on adultery penalty
• Maldives bows to protests, bans spas
• Afghanistan reclaims history piece by piece

"Poson" at Los Angeles Buddhist Vihara

Lanka.com; Wisdom Quarterly; Los Angeles Buddhist Vihara

 

Poson full moon observance day is a festival celebrated on the Buddhist island of Sri Lanka.

It marks the  arrival of Buddhism in the 3rd century BCE. It is therefore of great historical and religious significance to the island's majority Sinhalese Buddhists, if less important to the nation's many Tamil Hindu, Indian and Maldivian Muslims, British and Portuguese Christians, and a tiny marginalized minority of indigenous aborigines, the Veddas.

 

The full moon day of June commemorates the arrival of an enlightened emissary from India, the arhat son of Emperor Asoka. Over 2,000 years ago Arhat Mahinda converted Sri Lanka's King Devanampiyatissa to Buddhism.

The center of celebrations is Mihintale, the ancient monastic complex where the royal missionary monk along with his enlightened sister gave a sermon to the island's ruler. Anuradhapura, the ancient capital, is also a place where large crowds of pilgrims converge. Mass religious observances and illuminated pageants are part of the celebrations.

For the island's Buddhists, this sacred day is second only to Vesak. Long lines of devotees dressed in white climb the many steps to the top of Mihintale stone outcropping -- a kind of Plymouth Rock (Mihinthalaya) -- first to the temple then to the pagodas (dagabas) adorned in the nearby hills. The top of the rock is where Arhat Mahinda delivered his initial discourses.
  

This area is called the cradle of Buddhism in Sri Lanka. With the establishment of a monastic order (Sangha) all the elements of a civilized society began to emerge: the art of writing, art, architecture, canals, reservoirs, song and dance forms, literature, all with royal patronage.

  

[Oh wait, all of these "civilizing" elements were here before. But the Sinhalese trace their dominant culture to the civilizing influence of the Dharma's appearance on the island; they even trace their genes back to northern and northwestern India so as to make them Buddhist-Buddhists and somewhat nationalist in character, which has been quite harmful to the other inhabitants of the island.]

Many religious activities are organized during Poson such as virtue (sila) campaigns, Bodhi tree rituals, dana-salas (freely donated food and refreshments), devotional songs, parades, and lanterns.

  
Many temple fill with Eight Precept devotees and pilgrims from all over the island to mark the event. The devout are clad in pure white -- just as in the Buddha's day -- with no adornments like make up on their way to temple. There they spend the next 24 hours actually practicing the Dharma in quiet contemplation or meditation.

   

Meanwhile, the rest of the village gathers on temple grounds after sunset to participate in less spiritual activities -- like reading sacred books, listening to saffron-clad monastics recite sutras (bhana), relate ancient stories from the Buddha's past lives (jatakas), or chant protections (parittas).

  

During the Poson Festival the selling of alcohol and animal flesh is usually prohibited, and slaughterhouses are closed. Emperor Asoka made such decrees in ancient India (Bharat) as well after becoming a Buddhist. More

Asian Earthquake and Tsunami

Wisdom Quarterly

Tsunami strikes Ao Nang, Thailand (en.wikipedia.org)

Recent earthquakes in the area have stirred up memories of the great megathrust quakes that set off a devastating tsunami with reverberations around the world.

Then -- the great Christmas disaster of December 26th, 2004 -- as now we report that these are man made tragedies.

HAARP and experimentation with new physics equipment that is not well understood draws on massive amounts of energy (as explained by Stuart Swerdlow) that gets released in uncontrolled ways.



What is behind the string of massive quakes that come out of nowhere, slip along new faults, and promote the nonexplanation of there being a "rim of fire"?

• Earthquakes strike, where next?
  

They are no accidents but not necessarily conspiratorial events. They seem to be incidental and still man made, the consequence of the military-industrial complex's secret advancements. They do not answer to ordinary governments; they tell those governments what's what. So expect the disasters to continue and worsen.

This was the worst slip-strike quake in history by far. They have never been known to get this big. Such geological events are very useful as tools to inspire fear and control populations. David Icke pointed out in his "rap" song: Set up a problem to implement a desired solution. It is no real response, but a planned way of instituting new draconian policies without resistance or people even being aware that they are being enslaved.

When was the great tsunami that killed so many people in traditionally Buddhist (now increasingly Muslim and Christian) parts of the world such as (Aceh) Indonesia, the island of Sri Lanka, India (Tamil Nadu), and Thailand?

• Fukushima, Japan one year later
  
• Japanese earthquake, tsunami, nuclear disaster
  

We turn to the all-knowing book for answers. The 2004 quake hit on Dec. 26th, 2004 at 0:58:53 (UTC). It had a 9.1-9.3 magnitude, which represents an enormous range concealed by the odd exponential way we measure earthquakes. It went to a depth, or originated there, of 19 miles (30 km), originating under the sea in the subduction zone. It caused an estimated 230,210-280,000 deaths making it the sixth deadliest earthquake in history.

The 2004 Indian Ocean quake that led to the Asian tsunami was an undersea megathrust earthquake that occurred on Sunday, Dec. 26, 2004 with an epicenter off the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. The quake itself is known by the scientific community as the Sumatra-Andaman earthquake.



The resulting tsunami with three giant waves is given various names, including the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, South Asian tsunami, Indonesian tsunami, and Boxing Day tsunami, but somehow not the Christmas Disaster or, as Wisdom Quarterly prefers, just the Asian tsunami.

The earthquake was caused by subduction and triggered a series of devastating tsunamis along the coasts of most landmasses bordering the Indian Ocean, killing over 230,000 people in 14countries, and inundating coastal communities with waves up to 98 feet (30 m) high. It was one of the deadliest disasters ever recorded. Indonesia was the hardest-hit country, followed by Sri Lanka, India, and Thailand, making it the third largest earthquake ever recorded on a seismograph.

The earthquake had the longest duration of faulting ever observed, between 8.3 and 10 minutes. It caused the entire planet to vibrate as much as 0.4 inches (1 cm) and triggered other earthquakes as far away as Alaska. Its epicenter was between Simeulue and mainland Indonesia. The plight of the affected people and countries prompted a worldwide humanitarian response. In all, the worldwide community donated more than US $14 billion in humanitarian aid. More

Formerly Buddhist Maldives in turmoil (video)

Wisdom Quarterly; ABC News "Around the World" with Christiane Amanpour

The remarkable documentary "The Island President," which takes a closer look at the life of Nasheed, comes to theaters on March 28, 2012.

MALE, Maldives - There was once a set of idyllic Buddhist islands. One day a ship wrecked on its sandy bars. Aboard the ship was a Muslim saint who converted the islanders to Islam. This is the story of the formerly Buddhist Maldives, off the southern coast of India, west of Sri Lanka.

• The Maldive (Lakshadweep) Islands are the tops of a vast submarine mountain range in the Indian Ocean that form a terrestrial ecoregion. The atolls of Maldives encompass a territory spread over roughly 35,000 square miles (90,000 sq km), making it one of the world's most geographically dispersed countries. Its population of 328,536 (2012) inhabits 200 of its 1,192 islands. It is the smallest Asian country in both population and land area with an average ground level of 4 feet 11 inches (1.5 m) above sea level, it is the planet's lowest country. As the country with the lowest natural highest point in the world, at 7 feet 10 inches (2.4 m), its forecast inundation is of great concern.

Fast forward hundreds of years and climate chaos is raising sea levels (whether caused by human activity, solar flares, the dawn of a new age, galactic realignments, Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth," the wrath of extraterrestrials, or whatever).


Who cares about the Maldives? Billabong surfer-model Catherine Clark's ghostwriters!

With an average height of four feet, the Maldives is most at risk from changes in water levels due to the melting poles. Meanwhile, we keep polluting the air. We keep tossing plastic into the ocean, leaking oil, wiping out fish stocks, and disregarding the rest of the world.

But it all comes back to us eventually. Ousted and exiled President Mohamed Nasheed speaks exclusively to Christiane Amanpour on Around the World. He did not step down. He claims he was deposed, forced to resign. What happens in the microcosm of the Maldives impacts the rest of the world.

Christiane Amanpour's exclusive interview with deposed President Nasheed

Pres. Nasheed became the first democratically elected president of the Maldives in 2008. These islands are known more for their diving and ritzy resorts than for their religious history or culture.

(Tourists are kept far from the people so as not to despoil uncorrupted native traditions). After the coup, Nasheed is hiding on the nearby island nation of Buddhist Sri Lanka, which has a considerable Indian Muslim, Tamil Hindu, British Christian, and Portuguese Catholic presence.

"Democracy is at stake," Nasheed believes. "What happens in the Maldives happens in the Middle East always two or three years later." More

The Buddha under the Sea (photos)

Seven for Wisdom Quarterly; diver/photographer Robert Scales; Bhikkhu Bodhi

Statues of the Buddha photographed during a dive at an undersea temple, near Pemuteran, Bali (Robert Scales/Flickr.com)

TEMPLE GARDEN, Bali - At one time Theravada Buddhism extended throughout Indonesia, which has now become Muslim with the exception of Bali, which is largely Hindu and Buddhist.

There among the island wonders, not far from Permuteran, is a spectacular set of ruins -- Buddhas under the sea.

Sea Rovers Dive Centre describes the site: This spooky location consists of a small temple complex starting at 30 meters and works its way back to the temple wall. Statues of the Buddha, the elephant-headed Hindu deity Ganesha, and sea turtles abound behind an ornate Balinese gateway.

Behind the central statue is an interesting little bommie with Buddha heads covered in cleaning shrimps. Up the wall and in the crevices behind one can find electric clams sparking away. At 15 meters one comes to an area of plinths and statue heads sitting in communion.

But no Buddhist discussion of worlds under the sea would be complete without making reference to a strange thing the Buddha's foremost disciple in exercising psychic powers, Maha Moggallana, once said.

In the Middle Length Discourses (MN 50, as translated by Bhikkhu Bodhi) human-hybrids (mermaids) are described as living in a luxurious underwater world:

In the middle of the ocean
There are mansions aeon-lasting,
Sapphire-shining, fiery-gleaming
With a clear translucent lustre,
Where iridescent sea-nymphs dance
In complex, intricate rhythms

Great Moggallana knew this to be true from direct psychic experience. In a previous life he reports having had he says, "My body had the same form as a human body, but my head had the form of a fish's head."

Buddhist cosmology is replete with humanoid creatures, terrestrial and extraterrestrial. The Buddha inherited a rich Indian cosmology which he adapted. Was this simply pedagogical (used to teach) or was it an accurate description of our hidden cosmos?

Devas ("shining ones" of many kinds from light beings to angelic aliens to elemental spirits and fairies), nagas (reptilian hybrids), asuras (rapacious titans), yakkhas (ogres), garudas (avian hybrids), kumbhandas (trolls, gnomes), petas (wretched phantoms), and others.

More importantly, there is a great "flood" that sweeps us away unawares, an ocean that overtakes us, a deluge that threatens to drown us in a pool of suffering: samsara.

• Happy Buddha (Jakarta, Indonesia)
  
• Beautiful Buddha (Sukhothai, Thailand)
  

Damsel in Distress: Who pays?

Rescued teen sailor to sail again

ADELAIDE, Australia (AP) – The first day California teen adventurer Abby Sunderland was stranded in the Southern Ocean, Australia's rescue agency chartered a jet to fly over the area where her emergency beacon was activated. The 11-hour flight cost an estimated 110,000 Australian dollars (US $94,500). The second day, after locating her, the agency sent another plane to coordinate her pickup by ships racing toward her damaged and drifting yacht. The Australian military also deployed two Orion aircraft to wait on an Indian Ocean island in case an airdrop or further assistance was needed. An Orion costs about AU$30,000 an hour to operate. More>>

Video: Dad defends teen sailor's solo effort

Teen alive and safe drifting in Indian Ocean

Abby Sunderland, a 16-year-old sailor on a round-the-world journey was adrift in the frigid southern Indian Ocean as rescue boats headed toward her yacht, damaged by 30-foot waves. VIDEO

• STORY: Rescue effort for teen going around the world
• UPDATE: Teen alive and safe aboard damaged boat
• Boats head to teen sailor drifting in Indian Ocean

Earth: Rising sea swallows Indian island

Disputed isle in Bay of Bengal disappears into sea
NEW DELHI – For nearly 30 years, India and Bangladesh have argued over control of a tiny rock island in the Bay of Bengal. Now rising sea levels have resolved the dispute for them: the island's gone. New Moore Island in the Sunderbans has been completely submerged, said ocean-ographer Sugata Hazra, a professor at Jadavpur University in Calcutta. Its disappearance has been confirm-ed by satellite imagery and sea patrols, he said. "What these two countries could not achieve from years of talking, has been resolved by global warming," said Hazra. Scientists at the School of Oceanographic Studies at the university have noted an alarming increase in the rate at which sea levels have risen over the past decade in the Bay of Bengal.

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(Shine) Earlier in the week talkling about the habits of happy people, many mentioned the small pleasures enjoyed that are worth more than anything money can buy, like walking on the beach and...

Huge Earthquake hits Indian Ocean

USGS: huge earthquake hits

What is the cause of seismic activity in the southern hemisphere? Theories range from underground testing to the attempted use of UFO technology. Stewart Swerdlow flatly states the latter was responsible for the great Tsunami. Now activity is picking up again.

• Tsunami feared from quake off India
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