After decades of war brought on by empires (British, Russian, American, Chinese) and negative media coverage (US propaganda), most adventure travelers wouldn’t even dream of coming here.
But today, I [a Lithuanian from the EU] set out to show a different side of this country – the beauty, the hospitality, and the raw reality of life in Afghanistan today.
Riding my motorcycle from Kabul to the legendary Bamiyan Valley and the pristine waters of Band-e Amir Lakes, I’ll ride through breathtaking landscapes, ancient history, and powerful human encounters.
(Historian Dr. Ranajit Pal)
Along the way, I meet a beekeeper who shares his honey, almonds, and hospitality, explore the ruins of the ancient and massive Bamiyan Buddhas destroyed by the [CIA-ISI's] Taliban, share food with families living in caves Buddhist monastics carved out and occupied around the time of the Buddha and for centuries thereafter, and witness the extreme poverty that 40 years of war has left behind.
The award-winning film Saving Mes Aynak follows Afghan archeologist Qadir Temori as he races against time to save this 5,000-year-old Buddhist archeological site in Afghanistan from imminent demolition [by Chinese industrialists who want to extract gold and rare earth minerals].
Saving Mes Aynak, from the producers of Life Itself and The Interrupters, examines the conflict between ancient cultural preservation and new economic opportunity, through the lens of the Afghan archeologists and local villagers who live and work near Mes Aynak.
They face a nearly impossible battle against the communist Chinese, the Islamic Taliban, and local politics to save their Buddhist culture and heritage from permanent erasure.
But we can help.
The Buddha was born in Afghanistan, according to Dr. Ranajit Pal, which at that time was a part of ancient Gandhara, and the oldest Buddhist texts are from there: Gandhāran Buddhist texts. This is why the largest unexcavated Buddhist temple is in Afghanistan, why the oldest Buddhist texts are from here, and why the largest Buddha statues were built here (including the most massive one in the world, a buried reclining Buddha in the lion's pose under Bamiyan). The Shakyians, from which we derive the name Shakyamuni, are the ancient Indo-Sakas.
[UPDATE: Sakka,Kwan Yin, MahaBrahma, and/or Prajnaparamita Devi seem to have intervened and raised the human supply of rare earth minerals, which means the price was brought down, which stopped the Chinese government in its tracks. It already built train tracks to the site to begin extracting the country's mineral resources, but it does not seem feasible (profitable) now to do so. Other sources of these formerly rare minerals were found on the seabed by Russian and other prospectors. That seems to have made things safe...until everyone needs a second cellphone and more electronics, which are dependent on these elements. So take care of your devices and use them longer, extending their usefulness and lifespan even though Apple Corporation and others want planned obsolescence.]
For the past few years, the effort of American Director (and Northwestern University Professor) Brent E. Huffman, through Saving Mes Aynak, has played a vital role in delaying the demolition of this historical treasure.
Mes Aynak: 1 sq. mile Buddhist temple complex
But again time may be quickly running out. A state-owned Chinese mining company still has immediate plans to destroy Mes Aynak and mine it for precious minerals, and it could happen AT ANY MOMENT.
Now, the only way for Mes Aynak to be saved is if the Afghan government (that sold off the mineral rights in a desperate attempt to earn foreign currency) intervenes, halts mining, and officially petitions to UNESCO to make Mes Aynak a World Heritage Site.
Only the Afghan government can approach UNESCO.
Through the film Saving Mes Aynak, the major goal is to raise mass awareness of the impending demolition, creating an international movement to put pressure on the mining company, the Afghanistan government, and UNESCO to make Mes Aynak a World Heritage Site.
This is the ONLY WAY to #SAVEMESAYNAK.
The more funds raised, the more people will see the film and know the beauty and importance of Mes Aynak, and the greater the chance of Mes Aynak being saved.
To do this, the focal point of the campaign is #SaveMesAynak Day, July 1st, a global event when supporters everywhere stream the film and stand in unity together to save Mes Aynak.
Through social media, plans are to use this day to spark worldwide conversation, action, and protest. After that, an ambitious outreach effort will be mounted through the film to reach as many people as can be reached.
The more awareness that can be raised, the larger the pressure that can be put on the Afghan government to stop the demolition and to formally petition UNESCO instead. This way, we can all ensure Mes Aynak's safety for future generations. #savemesaynak
Hey, UNESCO, declare it a World Heritage Site
Afghan Buddhist treasures are priceless.
[Look, we're working on it:] ...a number of achievements, especially related to the enhancement of the joint Ministry of Information and Culture (MoIC)-Ministry of Mines and Petroleum (MoMP) discussions about the Mes Aynak case. During a round of renegotiation between the MoMP and the Mining Company, it was suggested to implement an underground mining method, at least for the Central Aynak Deposit, to allow for in-situ conservation. This exploration of an integrated approach from the side of the MoMP, a tremendous step forward, led to the organization of the Mes Aynak Symposium (July 2019). The aim was to provide the government with a complete understanding of the relationship between mining and cultural resources in Mes Aynak and to examining the available options to reconcile them before approving a mining plan... unesco.org/en...afghanistan-heritage
Zawia: Zaman Buddhas of Bamiyan Shamama | زمان بت شمامه بامیان
(ZAWIA) Renegade Indian historian Dr. Ranajit Pal, Ph.D., has determined that Bamiyan town is one of the three seasonal capitals that comprise "Kapilavastu," the hometown of the historical Buddha Gautama, formerly Prince Siddhartha the Sage of the Scythians/Shakyians (Shakyamuni). He grew up here in the foothills of the Himalayas, in a part of the Himalayan range known as the Hindu Kush, far from Nepal and India but linked geographically. The prince renounced his life of luxury, here in wealthy but far off place along the Silk Road. He traveled East on a spiritual quest and arrived in the Kingdom of Magadha. (There was no "India" yet, which would come centuries later under the rule of Buddhist Emperor Ashoka, who united many kingdoms and republics to form or re-form Great "Bharat," India, as a nation that included Pakistan and part of Afghanistan (ancient Gandhara), which may have been a country previously at the time of the Indus Valley Civilization, 5-10,000 years before the present, when Brahmin priests treasured the Vedas, the ancient Knowledge Books, and shaped a society to their advantage. The Buddha, Mahavira (founder of Jainism) and other separatists were part of the "wandering ascetic" or shramana (shaman) movement, seeking direct experience of the Truth and teaching a Doctrine and Discipline (Dhamma-Vinaya) open to all regardless of caste or sex. So Mahavira accepted female wandering ascetics (sadhvis, sramaneris, and bhikkhunis) and then the Buddha did, and there were other dharmas that did not survive to the present, like the teachings of Makkhali Gosala. But the Old Vedic Religion was eventually claimed by Hinduism, which came centuries later as it was organized and systematized by Sri Shankara and others trying to make a fully "Indian" religion apart from outsiders and foreigners like the Buddha, who was a Scythian (as the Greeks called them) or Saka, as they are still known from the Northwestern frontier, which includes the strange and rare out of the way land now known as Afghanistan.
Evidence of Afghanistan's ancient Buddhist past (not some later territory conquered by the Silk Road spread of Buddhism) rests on such strange facts that Afghanistan is home to the largest unexcavated Buddhist temple complex (Mes Aynak), larger than Borobudur, Java, Indonesia and its pyramid temple topped by bell stupas (possible mimics of time machine technology rediscovered by the Germans and their WWII Die GlockeET technology), the most ancient Buddhist writings (Gandhāran Buddhist texts), stupa (Buddhist burial mound) treasures found in Tillya Tepe and in neighboring Tajikistan's Ajina Tepe, and the most extensive rock hewn structures and art (like the world's oldest oil painting in Bamiyan), which spread throughout the Stans and into what is now India at its famous cave monastery complexes like Barabar and others, which seem to be miracles of advanced technology built by celestial devas ("shining ones") or works of magical feats (siddhis) wielded by powerful adepts and meditators. The Buddhist marvels at Sanchi are hard to explain as ordinary architecture planned by humans alone.
It can also boast the largest Buddha statues in the world, with the largest still untouched, a reclining Buddha buried somewhere in Bamiyan not too far from the massive standing Buddhas that were destroyed by the CIA and ISI and their creation the "Taliban," whose ranks were filled in by released Islamist prisoners from neighboring countries fomented into a war against the West and Western imperialism, taught an extreme brand of Islam known as Wahhabism, which seems like the creation of CIA cubicle workers in Virginia or elsewhere rather than any kind of grassroots movement. The Buddhas of Bamiyan were detonated in public to create outrage and raise support for an American invasion of "Russia's Vietnam." Afghanistan was and remains "a land where empires go to die," England, Russia (USSR), and China's next. The CIA, Pentagon, and American forces (NSA, NSC, and other alphabet agencies we never hear about in the mainstream press) wanted to invade -- to create an oil pipeline, to secure the DNA of redhaired Nephilim cannibal giants for transhuman super soldiers, to recover time well vimana technology, to control a geopolitical Middle East from the best vantage point, to frustrate the Russian Empire's ambitions, to slow China down (with the CIA recruiting Tibet in its fight, compromising the Dalai Lama to become an asset, training and arming his close relatives in Colorado in exchange for favors and publicity), to help India and intervene by playing up both sides of a long-simmering conflict between archrivals Pakistan and India (a single country that was only divided at Partition in 1947, when the British ensured the ruination of the world as they exited by their "divide and conquer" tactics, much as they ruined and ensured misery for Palestine/Israel); in fact, so much of the world's troubles today can be laid squarely at the feet of the British and their Anglo-Afghan wars and the "Great Game" intrigue against other superpowers, with the USA just being the latest, greatest spear tip for those old United Kingdom/British ambitions to rule the world, which seem rooted in their Germanic and ancient Roman mentality to conduct endless war and banking and imperial religion to rule the world one way or another.
Zawia - Zaman Buddhas of Bamiyan Shamama | زمان بت شمامه بامیان
Welcome, everyone, to Zawia’s channel. Hope everyone enjoys these videos. Please make sure to like, subscribe, and share this channel with others. Much love, and thank you, all. #Bamiyan #Buddha #ZAWIA
What is the best way to live nowadays? It seems a big house in the country, with a farm and river (with water rights) running through it in some unpolluted idyll might be best. Maybe in the Angeles National Forest like Teri said.
Life in another state would be counter-progress, unless a great meditation teacher was on hand to advise our practice.
Are we neo-hippies or outcaste misfits?
If we pull in the modules, scattered in the woods around a central meeting house for meals and group meditations, what could be better? Visit Wat Metta near San Diego to see a great setup utterly bereft of a good teacher to lead it.
The Dharma guards those who guard it.
If the caves of Europe do not work out, it may be best to lease land along the river above Los Angeles. A group of Buddhists already tried it, but disuse, neglect, and teenage vandalism brought it to ruin. It is right next to the ranger station and parking lot at the entrance to the Azusa route to Crystal Lake. It is below the dam, which could give way at any moment. So that's a consideration.
Nature protects those who protect it.
We were driving in search of the massive new Hindu temple complex or ashram in Chino, California, just east of Los Angeles County.
We turned right instead of left and found a massive Thai Theravada Buddhist temple with a giant stupa that the city was disallowing as a structure. There were food booths for a festival or alms round for many monks set up. But the strangest thing was in the back, there was a small shack dedicated to local Native Americans dispossessed of the region. Why? Buddhists care.
They care more than the locals who took the unceded land and turned it into tract housing and a real estate boom.
We tried to ask the abbot about it, but he didn't understand our questions. We were in awe that it was there. He thought we thought it was odd. We haven't been able to find the place since. It's up a hill on a big street not far from the 60 Freeway. Since few people seem to know about the other giant Thai temple near La Puente, just off of Valley Blvd., it's no surprise. Wat Metta is also Thai Theravada.
If we build an actual abbey or vihara (temple complex) it will either be Burmese Theravada or Afghan-American Early Buddhism, the first in the country. Why? A few Burmese have rediscovered the historical Buddha's teaching and can teach it. Moreover, the Buddha was from Gandhara (not beautiful Nepal), modern Bamiyan, Kabul (Kapilavastu), and Mes Aynak Afghanistan, and the oldest Buddhist writings are from there, which is mind-blowing.
The greatest teacher of humans
The Gandhāran Buddhist texts are the oldest Buddhist manuscripts yet discovered, dating from about the 1st century BCE to 3rd century CE, having been found in the northwestern outskirts of the Indian subcontinent [1, 2, 3]. They represent the literature of Gandharan Buddhism from present-day northwestern Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan (ancient Gandhara) and are written in Gāndhārī. They were sold to European and Japanese institutions and individuals and are currently being recovered and studied by several universities.
What might we carve into the limestone?
It might cost lots of money to fulfill the dream, and we're reminded of how one Indian guru, possibly Sri Ravi Shankar or some such, handled that. Asked by his disciples, "But, Guru, where are we going to get the money to build an ashram?"
The guru answered, "From wherever it is now." That sounds like the Law of Attraction, which Hicks-Abraham says we are always living in accordance with whether we know it or not.
(DW Documentary)
DW is a German public broadcast service. August 15, 2021, marked a turning point for formerly Buddhist Afghanistan [ancient Gandhara of the Scythians/Shakyians, birthplace of the Buddha, according to Dr. Ranajit Pal], which was once an oddly cosmopolitan, progressive, Westernized country on the hippie circuit.
That was the day of the final withdrawal of Western troops who illegally invaded on the slightest pretext, milking the incidents of 9/11 as preemptive justification to commit war crimes while all the world watches and does nothing in the world court.
It’s also when the "Taliban" [which was created by the CIA and ISI, Pakistan's secret spying service, like the U.S. set up the Mujahedeen to fight the former USSR] entered Kabul [an echo of Kapil or Kapilvastu, one of the three seasonal capitals where the future-Buddha grew up].
G.W. signs "Patriot Act" to spy on US
Protest movements were crushed. Twenty years of hope and effort gone in one fell swoop. After the 9/11 staged event the United States' ensuing "war" on a tactic, its never-ending "War on Terrorism" declared by Co-Presidents Dick Cheney and George W. Bush, Afghanistan had changed.
Now, the Taliban are back in charge and the country has slipped back into the past. As the undisputed rulers of the country, the Taliban satisfy their thirst for revenge and behave as "victors" over the U.S. [with many new weapons left behind for them on purpose], the "greatest military power" in the world.
In the Afghan style of the "palaces" the Buddha grew up in, monasteries were built for the "Monks of the Mines," as temple sites like Mes Aynak were built near gold mines for statues.
.
Exquisite piece of Afghan-Gandhara Buddhist art
Their goals can be summed up in a few words: Restoration of the "Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan" and the introduction of "genuine Sharia law."
The new Taliban leaders continue to rely on international donors. As a result, they are trying not to offend them too openly. But they are tightening the noose.
Saving Mes Aynak(B. Huffman)
The few protest movements that have started have been nipped in the bud. Reprisals are handled discreetly. Civil society, which has been abandoned by the West and no longer receives financial resources, is helpless in the face of the new circumstances.
Twenty years of hopes and efforts have been dashed. What do the Taliban want for their country? "The future is in [the Abrahamic God] Allah's hands," says the new refugee minister, Chalil Hakkani, on whom the U.S. has meanwhile placed a five-million-dollar bounty [so he can be murdered as we keep our hands clean].
UCLA demo to save Mes Aynak, Afghanistan
Patrick de Saint-Exupéry and Pedro Brito da Fonseca toured Afghanistan in 2021 before, during, and after the arrival of the Taliban. This film documents what they saw.
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