Kyrgyzstan Buddhist temple reopens (video)

Ruins of ancient temple to open in Kyrgyzstan (rferl.org); Dhr. Seven (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly

Kyrgyzstan to reopen ancient Buddhist temple to the public (Buddhistdoor Global)

Ruins of ancient Buddhist temple set to open in Kyrgyzstan (rferl.org)

Where did Buddhism begin?

Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly

The Buddha (Gandhara Greco-Buddhist art)

Where did Silk Road Buddhism come from? Gandhara or what is now Afghanistan (the home of the Buddha and his extended family, the Indo-Sakas/Scythians known as the Shakyas) or proto-India (Bihar and Magadha, before the formation of modern "India" under Emperor Ashoka, or China, after Buddhism traveled from there and spread out from there?

Dr. Ranajit Pal (ranajitpal.com) would agree that while Buddhism began in what is now India, it co-arose in the Buddha's homeland, what we could call "Shakya Land," around the three seasonal capitals of Kapilavastu (Kabul/Kapil), Bamiyan, and Mes Aynak, all in modern Afghanistan, Central Asia.

History of Buddhism in West Turkistan

Afghanistan, after all, has the largest and some of the oldest Buddhist statues in the world, and the Buddha visited it seven years after his great awakening, returning to his people, many of whom then ordained and either followed him back East or stayed and formed large monastic communities for nuns and monks, practicing in accordance with the Doctrine the Buddha was establishing all around the Gangetic plain and foothills of the Himalayas.

Maybe this is how it went: Silk Road expansion

He was not from Nepal, not a Hindu, not a member of the formal caste system but a "warrior" and therefore labelled a kshatriya in accordance with the Brahmin priests and their Vedas ("Knowledge Books") and view of the four varnas or categories of social obligations (duty, dharma) one is necessarily born into, with the Brahmins placing themselves on top. 

But the administrators, the warrior-nobles or Aryans reckoned themselves in accordance with this imposed system, in the vicinity of the remains of the once great Indus Valley Civilization. Gandhara in Indo-Pakistan (with Taxila or Takkasila as its capital) is ancient even by that time, according to Buddhist sources (Jāt. 96).

• Who were the Scythians? Where is Scythia?
• Kurgan hypothesis (the people of the stupas)
• Buddhism in Central Asia (The Stans/USSR)
• History of Buddhism in West Turkistan
• Kyrgyzstan | Silk Roads Program (unesco.org)
• Buddhist Kyrgyzstan Monastery (Great Patron)
• PHOTOS: Stone Buddhist Stupa, hollow cavity
• There's a hollow, echoing stupa in Kushinagar/Kusinara (Gorakhpur, India).

Tash Rabat: Kyrgyzstan Buddhist Monastery?

Kyrgyzstan Buddhist Monastery (The Great Patron of Buddhism | Facebook)

Fortunately, some stupas or kurgans are hollowed out early temple prototypes (Kyrgyzstan)

Maitreyas (Metteyyas) teach.

Tash Rabat is a well-preserved 15th century stone caravanserai in At Bashy District, Naryn Province, Kyrgyzstan. It is located at an altitude of 3,200 meters (10,500 feet).

Research: As early as 1888, Russian traveler Dr. Nicolay Lvovich Zeland suggested that it was originally a Nestorian or Buddhist monastery.

Research undertaken at the end of the 1970s and beginning of the 1980s by the Institute of History of the Kyrgyz Academy of Sciences [mistakenly*] concluded that Tash Rabat was originally built as a Nestorian monastery in the 10th century, although no Christian artifacts were ever found during excavations. More

*Later it was determined to be a Buddhist monastery as all inscriptions, artifacts, and references were found to be Buddhist in nature.

This was further supported by the fact that its inhabitants were Buddhist during the period of its construction (Khudyakov, Ju. (2009). Таш Рабат - Караван-сарай или замок [Tash Rabat - caravanserai or temple]. Priroda (in Russian). Russian Academy of Sciences (6): 55. Retrieved 2 May 2014). 

COMMENTARY

Jesus in India (Holger Kersten)

[Its hollowed stupa and Mongolian-style compound, with yurts to weather the Central Asian snow and grassland, certainly appears more Buddhist than later Christian traditions influenced by Buddhist monasticism. It might have been both, built up for both purposes, as Russian Christian Nicolas Notovitch found at Hemis Gompa in his travels through Buddhist Tibet/India, Ladakh, where Jesus (Christ) of Nazareth had stayed and trained. See more at Jesus in India and in particular the works of Holger Kersten.]

Tash Rabat is a medieval Buddhist caravanserai in Kyrgyzstan (Central-Asia.Guide)