The 'Bones of the Buddha' found (PBS)

Secrets of the Dead: Bones of the Buddha (full documentary of Willy Peppe's find, HD)

• The Buddha did not have a "tomb" but rather various stupa mound sites that served as repositories of his cremation ashes and relics divided among the major rulers of his day.

Bones of the Buddha (S12, E6) premiered July 23, 2013 (NR) The mystery surrounding the bones [actually the cremation remains and relics or Śarīra] of the Buddha dates back more than 100 years ago, when British colonial estate manager William Peppe set his workers to the task of digging up a mysterious "hill" (actually an ancient, buried stupa) in Northern India. Peppe had no idea what they would find a little more than 20 feet below the surface. They unearthed an astonishing discovery: a huge stone coffer, containing five reliquary jars (urns) and more than 1,000 separate jewels and gold and silver ornaments.

(TSOL) Ritual cremations with stupas for chakravartins or buddhas do not leave piles of bones

Gandharan Buddhist (Greco-Buddhist) art

PBS is dedicating a full evening to the Buddha [in the summer of 2013], anchored by an intriguing new Secrets of the Dead episode called "Bones of the Buddha."

This documentary presents a convincing collection of evidence that suggests an amateur archeologist discovered a portion [1/8th] of the historical Buddha’s sacred relics more than a century ago.

Bones of the Buddha first aired Tuesday, July 23, 2013, 10:00-11:00 pm (ET) on PBS (check local listings).

Preceding Bones of the Buddha is a rebroadcast of The Buddha, acclaimed filmmaker David Grubin’s documentary about a royal [Central Asian] prince who fled the opulence of the palace more than 2,500 years ago.

Journeying on his quest for enlightenment for six years, he witnessed human suffering for the first time and had a great awakening, that eventually led to the establishing of a new religion, Buddhism.

American Buddhist Richard Gere narrates the two-hour film airing Tuesday July 23, 2023, 8:00-10:00 pm (ET) on PBS (check local listings).

The mystery surrounding the bones (cremation remains) of the Buddha dates back more than 100 years ago, when British colonial estate manager William (Willie) Peppe and his workers began digging at a mysterious hill in Northern India.

• The Piprahwa Gems: A Four Generation Story of Custodianship | Sotheby's Maison, Hong Kong | Sotheby’s

Burned bone fragments survived cremation?

Peppe had no idea what they would find just a little more than 20 feet below ground.  They unearthed a stupa that contained an astonishing discovery: a huge stone coffer, containing five reliquary jars full of

• more than 1,000 separate jewels
• carved semi-precious stones
• gold and silver treasures
• ash and bone fragments.

One of the jars bore a Sanskrit inscription which, when translated, stated the jar contained the remains of the historical Buddha himself.

Doubt and rumors of forgery have overshadowed this remarkable find, dividing Buddhist scholars for more than 100 years. Many believe the whole thing could be an elaborate hoax. Others insist the burial mound on Peppe’s estate is one of the final resting places of the leader of one of the world’s great religions, a [Scythian, Indo-Sakan] sage who died attained final-nirvana and passed away nearly 2,600 years ago.

For doubters, suspicion focuses on a key figure from the time, disgraced forgerer German archeologist Dr. Anton Führer.

Renowned historian Charles Allen sets out to solve this extraordinary mystery once and for all.  Is the little-known monument in Northern India really the Buddha’s burial mound enshrining his relics in a coffer tomb? Is this find genuine?  And if it is, who created it and when?

Allen begins his journey in England at the home of Neil Peppe, the grandson of William Peppe. From there he travels 4,000 miles to Birdpore House in India, built by the Peppe family in the 1840s.

Precious artifacts (Bones of the Buddha | PBS)

The mysterious hill known as Piprahwa where the tomb was found sits on the northern edge of the Birdpore estate.

Allen traces Peppe’s steps to authenticate the find, uncovering how the discovery became shrouded in scandal and where the Piprahwa ashes and bones reside today.

• Behind the Scenes GALLERY | Bones of the Buddha | PBS

Photo of Brahmi script inscription (PBS)

But is the inscription on the jar stating “these are the relics of the Buddha – the Lord [Bhagwan]” genuine?

Allen meets with Prof. Harry Falk at Germany’s oldest institute of Indology, the world’s leading authority on ancient Indian languages, to authenticate the ancient Brahmi script.

Though Falk’s findings may finally clear William Peppe’s name and resolve the mystery surrounding his find, Allen must still unravel who built the mound and buried the remains of the Buddha with a treasure of artifacts 2,600 year ago.

• Gandhāran Buddhist texts: The Schøyen Collection includes fragments of canonical sutras, Abhidharma, Vinaya, and Mahāyāna texts, most manuscripts written in Brahmi (Indic) scripts, while a small portion is written in Gandhāri/Kharoṣṭhī script.

Bones of the Buddha is an Icon Films Production for THIRTEEN in association with WNET, ARTE France, and National Geographic Channels. Executive producer for Icon Films is Harry Marshall. Executive in charge for WNET is Stephen Segaller. Executive producer for WNET is Steve Burns.  Coordinating producer for WNET is Stephanie Carter.

• Bones of the Buddha | Episode | Secrets of the Dead | PBS

On my way to Mandalay: Buddhist Burma (video)

Seth Auberon, CC Liu, Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly; Ben the Man (text); Erikssc; Visbeek

Samantha in Pagan/Bagan, Burma, land of Buddhist shrines and temples (Visbeek/flickr.com)

(Erikssc) A tour of the three most popular tourist destinations in Burma: Bagan (Pagan), Inle Lake, Yangon (Rangoon) for those curious about this newly opened Theravada Buddhist country.

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Mahamuni, Shwedagon Pagoda (1marco1polo)

Bagan, formerly "Pagan," is an ancient Burmese city from the 9th-13th centuries.

It was once the capital of Burma and is currently one of the Southeast Asian country’s main spiritual tourist attractions for adventure travelers.

It was formerly the capital of the Pagan Kingdom, where Theravada Buddhism was and continues to be the main religious tradition in this part of Burma, next to Thailand, China, and Laos.
 

The area, now known as the "Bagan Archaeological Zone," occupies an impressive 26-square-mile area. Marco Polo described Bagan as one of the finest sights in the world. Despite centuries of neglect, looting, erosion, regular earthquakes, not to mention shoddy restoration efforts, this temple-studded plain remains a remarkably impressive and unforgettable vision:

Bagan’s kings commissioned more than 4,000 Buddhist shrines and temples. On a visit to Shwesandaw Pagoda, a Buddhist temple complex that contains a series of five terraces, topped by a cylindrical reliquary (stupa), which has a jewel-studded umbrella. The pagoda was built by King Anawrahta in 1057.
 

During visits to Bagan, bicycles can be rented that allow one to ride up alongside any Buddhist temple. As Bagan’s most famous sunset-viewing spot, Shwesandaw Pagoda is a graceful white pyramid-style pagoda with steps leading past the terraces to the circular stupa on top, with 360-degree views.

It’s located roughly midway between Thatbyinnyu and Dhammayangyi temples. The temple allows a view of the 4,000 shrines and temples scattered across the sacred plain. The Dhammayangyi in the center is a very large square, a single-story pyramidal temple with six monumental ascending exterior terraces.

Oriented toward the east, the Dhammayangyi's brickwork is finely crafted -- perhaps the finest in Bagan. More

Trip to Burma? Six years ago, art student Veronika Scott accepted a challenge from her college professor: Design something to "fill a need" in the US, even on Detroit streets (CNN).

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Obama abolishes last major restrictions on US travel to Cuba

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Pres. Obama sent an unmistakable message to Americans ahead of his historic trip to Havana: "Cuba is open for business." Punching fresh holes in the generations-old U.S. embargo, Obama's administration removed the last meaningful restrictions on travel, putting a Cuba vacation within reach for millions of Americans over the coming years. The sweeping changes also clear a path for Cuban athletes to one day play Major League Baseball and other professional sports.

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Sacred SEX in Muslim-Buddhist Indonesia

Maya, Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly; Rebecca Henschke, Marco Werman, The World (PRI)

Sacred practices enhance intimacy (in-to-me-see), union with  partner (Tantric Yoga).

Java, Indonesia's Borobudur is the world's largest Buddhist temple (TrevThompson/flickr)

Colorful Muslim girls visit the massive infidel shrine of Indonesia's history (TrevThompson)

Next let's visit sexy Gunung Kemukus? Asian Muslim tourists at Borobudur (TrevThompson)

 

Elizabeth Gilbert's salvation

"Eat, pray, love" the American Elizabeth Gilbert famously advised.

She had just come back to the U.S. from Hedonistic-Catholic Italy and Hindu-Buddhist India and Bali (Indonesia).

But Islam now dominates the massive island nation. Its remaining traditionally Theravadan Buddhists will gladly tell anyone about it from Southern California (visit: Facebook, DhammaCakraTra.org).

In Indonesia, people seek "salvation" at shrine to anonymous sex

Housewife Fitri has come up to the mountain for a good Friday night out. She hooked up with Ishlam, who is here to improve the fortunes of his small business (Rebecca Henschke).

 

Sex, okay. Sexual misconduct, not okay.

(PRI) Every 35 days, Muslims from across Indonesia flock to a hilltop Islamic shrine in central Java. They come to find blessings and good fortune -- through a ritual that involves adulterous sex.
 
When they arrive at the shrine, known as ["the ritual of the hill"] Gunung Kemukus, they offer prayers and flowers at a sacred grave. Then, they find a stranger for anonymous sex.

• Question: Didn't this "sacred [sex work]" happen in ancient Greece? In Corinth, Delphi, in Athens and even Sparta, with The Oracle (the living Goddess Pythia, like the virgin Kumari of Nepal) and the temple priestesses, who were the Greek-version of Geishas called Hetairai? The Old World knew how to live better than our Puritanical shame and guilt about sex allows us to live now in a world saturated with porn.

Undress Me (Susan Gilman)

When I arrive there, darkness is starting to shroud the hillside. By candlelight, people are sitting on mats around sacred dewadaru trees.

• [These are not the American deodara/Asian devadaru trees, both of which are favored haunts of woodland fairies or dryads called devas in Buddhism and Hinduism, a Sanskrit word (cognate Latin deus, dīvus, Spanish dios, French dieu, Proto-Indo-European deiwos), a term at the root of our English diva, deity, and divinity].

Siddhartha and deva-like maras under Bo tree

And they are sitting amidst the twisting roots of massive fig trees [like the Buddha sat under a sacred fig, Ficus religiosa or peepal, that became the Bodhi tree]. There are lots of women standing by themselves and lots of men in groups.

Pak Slamat is one of the men. He is balding, has a moustache, wears a leather jacket and glasses, and is reading from the Koran [Muslim Bible]. He's married, but hasn't told his wife he is here because she wouldn't let him come. [Ehem.] She thinks he has gone somewhere to pray [but he's really here to eat and love or just love].

 

Buddhist monastic follows Siddhartha's steps

"In all the rooms around here there are couples," he says. "They are small-business people, and, if you ask them, they say it works -- that before business was slow and now it's good. This is the work of Allah, through our traditional ways. I am keen to do the ritual; it's just a matter of finding someone who wants the same thing."

• Sacred Buddhist sex? Tantra, Tantric Yoga, Tantric sex, and Tantrikas, (not clothes). Why not dance instead?
• The marvels of Buddhist Sewu Temple, Java
• Tracing the Buddhist path (The Jakarta Post)
• Burmese Buddhists, Muslims brawl in Indonesia

AUDIO (The World)

Echoes of the celestial devis, or Apsaras (Indonesian Bidadari) Angkor Wat (Andreadaddi)

  

History of infidelity

Pilgrims on stairway to "heaven" (Ali Lutfi)

Like tens of thousands of others, Slamat has come to be blessed in a ritual that dates back hundreds of years.

 

The ritual's origin is a legend about a young royal, Prince Pangeran Samodro, who was raised in the court of Demak, a Muslim sultanate on Java’s north coast. He fell in love with his stepmother, Nyai Ontrowulan. The two ran off to Gunung Kemukus [this hill, with stairs leading to the shrine], where they were discovered by soldiers from Demak and slain. Their bodies are supposedly in a grave at the shrine.

• The Swinger's Guide to Islam (The Global Mail)
• Is swinging "sexual misconduct" in Buddhism?

Ancient romance on walls

According to some versions of the story, the couple didn't finish having sex before they were discovered, so the ritual sex completes their union.

 

In another version, the ritual helps minimize the shame of their act by offering a more shameful act to [to compare it with? After all, no one brings a stepparent, taking instead an anonymous partner]. Regardless, many believe that coming to Gunung Kemukus provides a blessing that can boost one's fortune -- an incentive that seems to have special appeal for needy workers, like bus drivers, farmers, or small-market traders.

 

I'd do it, I'd totally do it! How much? lol

Ibu Winda is a grandmother in her early 60s and is dressed in a gold jacket with flowers, a short mini-skirt, and leather jacket. For makeup, she wears bright red lipstick and has powdered her face.

She runs a small food stall in her hometown and has been coming here for ten years. "Ever since I have come here, business has been good and life has been easier," she says. "Praise be to Allah."

 

I love both of you; that's why it tears me apart! Borobudur (TrevThompson/flickr.com)

 

At 10:00 pm, it's very dark, and the area around the grave is full of older people -- some women with headscarves [hijabs like they used to wear in the Islamic Republic of Iran], others with barely any clothes on, and a lot of middle-aged men in leather jackets.

Lois, my leather jacket is too tight (Family Guy)

[All this talk of leather must be a reference to a ritualized sexual fetish object picked up from the decadent West.] Everyone is starting to pair up now underneath the trees.

 

Sexy figurines of Borobudur

This ritual [is Islam but] isn't Islam as most would recognize it. It is a mix of Islam with earlier Hindu, Buddhist, and traditional [animistic] beliefs -- something that is typical in Indonesia, and especially Java.

 

"Indonesia is amazing because whatever religion comes into Indonesia, it changes its color," says Kunijoro Soeparno, a professor of sociology who’s been researching these traditions for decades. 

 

Into me see, see into me. Now it's your turn.

"The Islam is not just Islam like it is in Arab countries. Hinduism is different here to what it is in India. Buddhism is different from China. The Catholic Church is different from in Rome," he says. [It's just like Gilbert said -- Rome, India, Buddhist Asia -- all of the ingredients to eat, pray (ecstatically meditate), and love!] More

The most amazing thing about jungle Borobudur is not its massive size or pyramids, but its many "Time Travel Bells" (stupas, Die Glocke) with Buddhas inside at dawn (TrevThompson).

 

Buddhism in Indonesia
CC Liu, Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly (Wikipedia edit)

Buddhist monastics on path under a sacred Bodhi tree, Sewu Temple, Indonesia (TJP)

 

Buddhist Borobudur, Indonesia (TrevThompson)

Hinduism and [Hindu-saturated] Mahayana Buddhism arrived in Indonesia from India [where Indo, or Indra (Sakra) was a prominent Buddhist deity, one important to the Sailendra] in the 4th and 5th century, as trade with India intensified under the south Indian Pallava dynasty [Guide to the Temples of Java (Indonesia), Approach Guides, David Raezer and Jennifer Raezer].

 

From the 7th century, the powerful Srivijaya naval kingdom flourished as a result of trade and the influences of Hinduism and Buddhism that were imported with it (Indonesia: Peoples and History, Jean Gelman Taylor,  2003, Yale University Press; M.C. Ricklefs, A History of Modern Indonesia since c.1300, 2nd Ed., 1991, MacMillan).

From earthquakey Aceh in the west to Papau (not New Guinea) in the east (wiki)

Between the 8th and 10th centuries, the agricultural Buddhist Sailendra and Hindu Mataram dynasties thrived and declined in inland Java, leaving grand religious monuments such as Sailendra's Borobudur and Mataram's Prambanan. The Hindu Majapahit kingdom was founded in eastern Java in the late 13th century, and under Gajah Mada, its influence stretched over much of Indonesia [Peter Lewis, "The Next Great Empire," Futures 14 (1): 47–61, 1982].

Sewu, 2nd only to Borobudur (will-on-board)

Although Muslim traders first traveled through Southeast Asia early in the Islamic era, the earliest evidence of Islamized populations in Indonesia dates to the 13th century in northern Sumatra (Ricklefs, 1991, pp. 3-14). Other Indonesian areas gradually adopted Islam, and it was the dominant religion in Java and Sumatra by the end of the 16th century... More

Sacred Chinese site plans $118 million IPO

CC Liu, Ashley Wells, Wisdom Quarterly

(Bloomberg Businessweek) The managers of Putuo Mountain, a Buddhist shrine where worshippers go to pray for healthy children, want to raise 750 million yuan ($118 million) in an initial public offering, China Daily reported today... 

  

Plans for the offering by one of China’s four main Buddhist mountains come as China’s State Administration for Religious Affairs has criticized local governments for seeking to turn a profit off religious sites. More

• Religious sites face capital temptation
• (China Daily) Plans by local authorities to list famous Buddhist mountains on the country's equity markets are triggering a backlash regarding the commercialization of holy sites.

Lowest of sacred mountains (english.cri.cn)

Putuo Shan is one of the islands of the Zhoushan Archipelago, Ningbo, eastern China, which is comprised of 1,390 islands. The total area of Putuo Mountain is 12.93 square kilometers. It is one of China’s four great Buddhist Mountains. Putuo Mountain is the first group of national key places of interest, generally called [Chinese or Pureland] Buddhist Heaven on the sea and the Holy Land on the South Sea. It is a Five-A tourist destination in China. The immortal mountains [wrapped] in clouds and [surrounded by] waters offer travelers a feeling of mystery and sanctity. Putuo Mountain is a famous Kwan-Yin ceremonial center in China...

  

Monks go on 500-mile journey on their knees to Putuo

Mahayana monks making their way to Kwan Yin

A pair of Buddhist monks are to make a 500-mile journey on their knees to the religion's holiest shrines in China. Masters Zhiyuan and Hanliang will spend two months crawling to 99 temples on their way to the Putuo Mountains in eastern China until they reach a statue of Kwan Yin, the Buddhist goddess (bodhisattva) of mercy.... "They will crawl, and then every third step they will stop and bow as a sign of respect to the goddess," explained one.

Kashmir’s Hindus/Muslims Dispute Shrine

Hindu pilgrims traveled by pony last month to the remote Amarnath shrine, a site linked to the god Shiva, in a Himalayan cave in Kashmir (Jaipal Singh/European Pressphoto Agency)

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By Somini Sengupta (New York Times, 8/8/08)

NEW DELHI — A dispute over 98 acres of land high in the Himalayas has ignited violent protests in Indian-controlled Kashmir for more than a month and pitted the Hindu and Muslim halves of the province against each other. A police officer fired tear gas in Jammu on July 25 to quell a violent protest of a government reversal on a land transfer. The Indian Army has sent thousands of soldiers to quell the disturbances, and the government is scrambling to ensure that it does not aggravate Hindu-Muslim tensions throughout India.

• Read entire article

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