A monumental complex built by the Maya of Mesoamerica (Tabasco, Mexico) an estimated 3,000 years ago was modeled on a map of the cosmos (universe), new fieldwork has revealed.
A detailed survey of the Aguada Fénix site reveals that not only was the monument significantly larger than initial surveys suggested – laid out in the shape of a cross with axes measuring 5.6 and 4.7 miles (9 and 7.5 kilometers) – but it was also designed as a cosmogram, a kind of Buddhist mandala, an architecture symbolizing the cosmos (Buddhist cosmology, Earthly realms).
What will I wear when I visit? (Crystal Q)
What's even more remarkable about the structure is that the site contains none of the trappings of social inequality, such as elite residences or sculptures of rulers.
This strongly implies that egalitarian cultures were capable of monumental building works without the application of coercive force through a stratified social hierarchy ruled by a king or queen.
Before now, the Maya site of Seibal was thought to be the oldest ceremonial center, dating back to around 950 BCE
Related: 'Bad Omen': Ancient pyramid in Mexico collapses
Aguada Fénix greenstone object likely depicts a crocodile (Inomata et al., Sci. Adv., 2025).
The Maya cosmos mapped out on Earth?
The discovery of Aguada Fénix by way of LiDAR surveys, in the Mexican state of Tabasco near the Gulf of Mexico, was fascinating for a number of reasons.
The first was its size; it was the largest Maya site ever found, even going by the more modest initial estimate of 1.4 kilometers along its longest axis. And it wasn't hidden in the forest, as so many lost Mesoamerican (Mexican), Central American, and South American structures are.
(NOVA PBS Official) Premiered Jan. 28, 2026: New evidence sheds light on the remarkable life – and mysterious collapse – of the ancient Buddhist/Hindu jungle city (150+ square miles in size like Denver).
Uncover the lost secrets of a once-mighty empire. The massive capital City of Angkor [aka Yaśodharapura, City of Yasovarman I (or Yasodhara?), with more than one million inhabitants in ancient times], the seat of the great Khmer Empire in Southeast Asia for 500 years, was once the biggest city in the world.
For centuries, this incredible civilization flourished, building the largest religious monument on Earth, Angkor Wat (one square kilometer wat "Angkor Temple"), and mastering urban engineering in a challenging landscape. But then it was mysteriously abandoned, swallowed by the jungle.
Now, cutting-edge technology and new discoveries are finally revealing how this astounding empire rose to global prominence – and what likely led to its devastating collapse.
Follow a scientific detective story that is challenging everything we thought we knew about this ancient Buddhist-Hindu metropolis.
CHAPTERS
Angkor Wat (globetrottergirls.com)
00:00 Introduction
04:03 True size of Angkor Wat revealed by LiDAR
15:45 Engineering a massive temple on a flood plain
Wheel of Time is a documentary film about Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhism by German Director Werner Herzog. The title refers to the Kalachakrasand mandala that provides a recurring image for the film [1].
CONTENT
The film documents the two Kalachakra initiations of 2002, presided over by the 14th Dalai Lama. The first, in Bodhgaya ("Enlightenment Grove"), India, was disrupted by the Dalai Lama's illness. Later that same year, the event was held again, this time without disruption, in Graz, Austria.
The film's first location is the Bodhgaya, the site of the Mahabodhi ("Great Enlightenment") Temple and the Bodhi ("Enlightenment") tree.
Director Herzog then turns to the pilgrimage at [synthetic] Mount Kailash, after which the film focuses on the second gathering in Graz.
In the beginning, in the dreamtime, it might have been that Brahma (the creator god of the Vedas and Hinduism) uttered a word, a sound, an aspirated aum or OM. Or maybe it made this sentence: Let there be light. And that sound was Brahma, the supreme, the alpha and the OMega, the A and the alph'. That's not what happened in the Agganna Sutta, the Buddhist account of "Genesis," the discourse on beginnings, which begins with light. That's because that sutra only deals with life on the origin of life on Planet Earth, not the universe. Here Gaia.com looks into the sacred sound at the beginning of form or what is now called the study of cymatics:
A machine to 'see' sounds (resonant vibrations)?
What if we could suddenly "see" sounds?
Vibration underpins all matter in the Universe.
The CymaScope is the first scientific instrument that can provide an analog image of sound and vibration. The once invisible world of sound is revealed in a myriad of [sacred] geometric patterns. When the microscope and telescope were invented, they opened vistas into realms that were not even suspected to exist.
Sound has been invisible throughout history, except in graphic depictions of conventional acoustics instrumentation.
Now, with the development of the CymaScope instrument, the omnipresent, unexplored realms of sound and vibration are made visible for scientific study and artistic appreciation. (Source: CymaScope via sunnylanblog.wordpress.com)
An amazing Buddhist spectacle unfolded at the World Peace Gathering in a fancy hotel across from Disneyland in downtown Anaheim on Easter Sunday, April 20, 2025. From 4:00 to 9:00 pm floors of the Anaheim Convention Center were transformed into a kind of Mahayana Buddhist Pure Land, with 300 monastics from all traditions and countries in the Southland and 1,700 or so lay participants.
We filed into a color filled hall in the diagonal, our bodies forming a mandala (sacred geometrical pattern in the Mahayana/Vedic Hindu sense) for a kind of Catholic-style repentance ceremony, inviting peace and countless light beings (devas, brahmas, bodhisattvas, mahasattvas, and buddhas).
No photography or video footage was allowed by participants, though there were official cameras on the perimeter and some people couldn't help but pull out their cellphones for a quick snap or two. However, here is old footage of this event from 2013 and 2018 before it evolved into the spectacle we experienced for Earth Day 2025.
World Peace Gathering 2013: Mandala Ceremony (2 of 4)
(CompaSS) Jan. 6, 2014: This Mandala Ceremony was held on Dec. 22nd, 2013, at the Long Beach Convention Center during Compassionate Service Society's 5th Annual World Peace Gathering. Approximately 1,500 people attended this mandala.
What happened in 2025?
Wisdom Quarterly 2025
It started off as a normal convention of Buddhists at a convention center in OC. But it became profound with Vedic/Brahminical magic -- mantras and mudras, intentions and emotions. It made an impression.
First, everything was color coded. There are Sanskrit letter, bija mantras or "seed sounds" we were uttering once in formation. When 1,700 get in a room with 300 monastics, whatever happens is bound to be special.
There is the Soka Gakkai Buddhist cult, and they have that chant for material manifestation that may encourage greed in the name of "spirituality." One could understand how nice it might be to chant a repetitive set of meaningful sounds one doesn't know the meaning of. Somethings are only meant to be vibrational utterances, not sensible concepts. But there were translations, too. It was not mindless.
One would have wished to be videotaping the goings on so the outside world could see it. Once, at the Lu Mountain Chan Monastery in Rosemead, San Gabriel Valley, Los Angeles County, California, there was the ordinary sermon by Chan Master, as he had us call him. Then a short meditation. Then a great vegan meal of homemade Vietnamese delicacies by elderly expert cooks in the temple kitchen. Then socializing and talking, people hanging around and eventually dispersing.
Wanting to get some real meditation in, something silent and unguided, free of visualizations and interruptions, I went into the empty meditation hall and took a seat. To my surprise, people came back in dressed in robes, the same people from the morning sit. But there was no special occasion announced.
They began to chant and do hand movements (mudras) with a secret book they had, turning the pages. It went on and on. I remained still and silent, going unnoticed. That was their mistake, which they tried to play off when I began to ask questions afterward. I had seen the secret ceremony, the ritual Hindu-influenced Mahayana practices that really aided their Chan ("Zen") and samadhi, surrounded by countless alleged sariras (sacred relic beads and crematory remains). This was like that, and it may go on in every Vietnamese Zen temple in the county. The OC is full of them, particularly in the small city of Westminster.
I picked up a color diagram explaining the five elemental colors (white at the perimeter, yellow, blue, red, green, and white at the center). There is a siddham or character that looks like a four (4) in Japanese/Chinese script interpreting Sanskrit. A Vietnamese speaker is needed to decipher the explanation: Quan he giua pham tru ca the va tap the khi tu tap phap Lien Hoa Thu Nhan va Mandala Lien Hoa, which may not make sense without the diacritical marks.
The magic spells (mantras)
A color booklet with pictures of lotuses titled So tay Lien Hoa Bo Tat ("Lotus Bodhisattva Handbook"), Ban Cap Nhat 2025, on the cover also came to hand.
The Compassionate Service Society hosts the World Peace Gathering and Peace Mandala on [Hitler's birthday and International Weed Day 4:20] April 20th, 2025, with the goal of bringing comfort and empathy to those suffering. How?
The practice of inner peace unfolds kindness and compassion (metta and karuna) in every heart that participates. California Buddhist monks and nuns are joining in the:
Participation brings about grace and faith (blessings and confidence) to the community and solace to the untold suffering the world is currently witnessing. Help us bring blessings to ALL.
In Mahayana Buddhism, the term Ishvara is used as part of the compound Avalokiteśvara ("lord who hears the cries of the world"), the name of a bodhisattva revered for his compassion (who transformed into Goddess Kwan Yin). When referring to the divine feminine, particularly in Shaktism, Ishvari is often used. More
Hidden along the Taldy River in Central Kazakhstan’s Karaganda region, this monument, known as the Pyramid of Karazhartas(Begazy Dandybai Mausolea)sheds light on a civilization that once thrived in the Late Bronze Age.
The Begazy-Dandibay culture, which built this structure, flourished in central Kazakhstan during this period.
These semi-sedentary people mastered metallurgy and relied on animal husbandry. Their ability to trade metals across Eurasia fueled economic prosperity and gave rise to a powerful aristocratic class.
Historians and archeologists leading the excavation believe the pyramid was a mausoleum for one of these elite figures.
Thought instruments: Monks, why do you say mantras and draw mandalas so much?
Ancient Aliens: Indecipherable Alien Codes (sky devas traveling in vimanas)
Turn the speaker on and see how well we drew it.
(HISTORY) Ancient Aliens is counting down ten of the most intriguing and mysterious symbols and codes found across the planet that just might contain proof of otherworldly extraterrestrial contact. See more in this scene from Season 20, Episode 5, "The Top Ten Alien Codes."
Lost Worlds investigates the very latest archeological finds at three remote and hugely significant sites: Cambodian Buddhist-Hindu Angkor Wat, Greek-Trojan Troy, and Iranian-Persian Persepolis.
Lost Worlds travels to each site and, using top notch computer graphics, creates lavish reenactments, displaying the latest archeological evidence and bringing them to stunning visual life.
From the 900-year-old remains of Angkor Wat in the Cambodian jungle, the staggering "City of the God Kings" (deva-rajas) is recreated.
From Project Troia in Northwest Turkey, the location of the biggest archeological expedition ever mounted, the Lost City is stunningly visualized.
And finally from the City of Persepolis, the great Persian Empire is brought to life.
Three months of History Hit access for US$ 3 using code "timeline" (http://bit.ly/TimelineSubscribe). Content licensed from Digital Rights Group (DRG). Produced by Darlow Smithson Productions. From the original documentary, Angkor Wat, City of the God Kings. For any enquiries, please contact: owned-enquiries@littledotstudios.com.
In an amazing break from standard practice, which is to not discuss topics regular host George Noory has been told to say away from, Richard Syrett dared to discuss the unspeakable: NASA and government-funded deception regarding our world, space programs, and our place in the universe by journeying into this massively taboo topic.
Of course, sadly, it was not a real debate or a talk with Eric Dubay, who is perhaps the best person to debate the science on this topic.
It was really a discussion about what the Bible says and what whoever wrote the Bible believed was the shape of this world, this sky, its firmament, and the limits of the seas girded by a massive ice wall we call Antarctica, which is a ring, and an artic which is a point at the center of the circle of the portion of the earth we're told about.
Buddhist mandalas depict disc and four quarters
It was amazing that what Skiba described was pre-existing water on earth and in the sky and a being or beings who "inscribed" a circle in a square as if someone chiseled a mandala into the frozen ocean and the water melted. The ancient Vedic, Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain conceptions of the shape of the world we live in match in general and differ in a few details.
Moreover, all cultures from Native Americans to the Norse had the same sort of view on the matter, as if shamans and rishis were seeing the same general thing and describing it in their own language according to things their cultures would readily understand.
Climb a building, look for hundreds of miles.
The subject of the flat earth is a "taboo" topic that’s trending high on Google and YouTube, but why?
[Could it be because deceptions by NASA and .gov organizations have so many holes in it, and the verifiable science on the side of the earth being a flat plane not a ball planet is mounting? Observations contradicting the story we are all taught and forced to learn and documented for centuries.]
Christian, moviemaker, flat earth researcher Rob Skiba joins Coast to Coast AM Guest-Host Richard Syrett (Twitter) to discuss why this subject is quite viable for surprisingly verifiable reasons with biblical passages -- in addition to many other nonChristian religious sources with similar cosmologies and cosmographies -- that state that the earth is indeed a plane.More + AUDIO
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