The Greek Buddha (Pyrrho of Elis)

(Pierrot)

• Pyrrho of Elis
• Greco-Buddhism
• Greco-Buddhist art

End Times: Monsters Beyond the Wall?

(Jonathan Pageau - Clips) The symbolism of Gog and Magog: The Monsters Beyond the Wall | Richard Rohlin and Jonathan Pageau.

Banned from Antarctica, behind the Ice Wall - amazing footage - a must watch - Eric Dubay

Can you make your own spiritual path?

Things that think they have their own being are non-being: interdependence

Is there a spiritual battle of principalities?

Can Christian Western thinking/thinkers find a way forward?

Why was Jesus (the Anointed One) never depicted as clean shaven? (Religion for Breakfast)

• VIDEO: Why Jesus [the Nazarene] was never depicted as clean-shaven | Religion for Breakfast/MSN

Ancient Greeks converted to Buddhism

• Moment of Zen: Wonders of Kashmir, India

(Religion for Breakfast) Greece is very far away from the heartland of Early Buddhism in proto-India and parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan (ancient Gandhara). But thanks to Alexander the Great, Hellenistic and Buddhist cultures came into contact (and fusion) in the 4th century BCE, creating a cultural synthesis known as Greco-Buddhism.

• 00:00 A Greco-Bactrian Buddhist Inscription
• 1:41 The Hellenistic "Far East"
• 4:10 Pyrrho: A Buddhist for Greece?
• 7:42 Ashoka and his Dharma Conquest
• 10:23 King Menander [King Milinda]: The Most Famous Greek Buddhist
• 13:26 Greco-Buddhist Art of Gandhara
• 15:23 Syncretism?
• 16:44 [Sponsor:] Nebula!

Indie creators being awesome Thumbnail art by @hotcyder Select imagery/video supplied by Getty Images and Reuters

Telephone Invention Day (comedy)

Now, if I could just figure out a way to get rid of this darn wire (actor portraying Bell in 1926)

"Who this?" Alexander Graham Bell places a phonecall from NY to Chicago in 1892.

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Telephone 1.0 by Gary Gulman. Sept. 29, 2016: What is a traditional phone to a modern mobile cellphone? The Orchard Enterprises Telephone 1.0 (Live). It's About Time ℗ 2015 Virtual Comedy Network, LLC Released on: 2016-09-30.

This day in history

My cellphone has an app to make voice calls

(UPI) Today is March 7th. On this date in history: In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell was granted a patent for the telephone.

[Bell may not have invented all of the components of the phone or even be the one who came up with the idea, but he is the one who gets all the credit for being the first to get a patent for a two-way transmitter-receiver that now rules our lives due to corporations like Apple and its line of iPhones. Who invented the radio? An Italian man named Gugli' Marconi. got the patent, so we say it was him. Who invented flying? Not the Wright brothers, but they get the glory. How about natural selection and the theory of evolution? If anyone answers Charles Darwin, meet Alfred Russel Wallace.]

When was the first WIRELESS phone invented?

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  It was invented in 1909 by American inventor William Dubilier (and, no, it was not a BlackBerry nor a walkie-talkie like in WW I).
• It was a new radio-powered device: #343 - Technical world magazine v.17 (1912) | HathiTrust Digital Library
• William Dubilier unveils an astonishing new "wireless telephone" to fairgoers at Seattle's Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition on June 21, 1909 (HistoryLink.org)

Wireless phone made in 1909 by William Dubilier

In 1918, Finland signed a peace treaty with Germany shortly after declaring independence from Russia.

Mistakes were made, Hitler might now admit.

In 1936, Adolf Hitler ordered Nazi troops into the Rhineland, violating the Treaty of Versailles.

In 1945, the U.S. 1st Army crossed the Rhine at Remagen, Germany after capturing the strategically important Ludendorff Bridge (also known as the Bridge at Remagen). World War II in Europe ended two months later.

In 1965, hundreds of civil rights marchers trying to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, USA, were turned back by state troopers and sheriff's deputies, who beat and injured dozens of people in what became known as "Bloody Sunday." Marchers voluntarily turned around on a ceremonial walk to the bridge two days later and, on March 21, with protection by federal and National Guard troops, the main Selma-to-Montgomery march began.

In 1984, the U.S. Senate confirmed William Wilson as the first U.S. ambassador to the Vatican [the independent country called the Holy See in the center of Rome, the capital of the current Holy Roman Empire known as the worldwide Catholic Church] in 117 years.

In 1985, "We Are the World," a song composed by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie and recorded by a series of high-profile music stars was released worldwide with the goal of generating funds for the USA for Africa charity. The song and related promotions eventually raised about $63 million.

In 2010, Kathryn Bigelow became the first woman to win an Academy Award for best director for her film The Hurt Locker.

CIA: We owe much to Hitler and the Nazis

In 2013, the U.S. Senate confirmed John Brennan as director of the CIA.

In 2017, Malta's iconic Azure Window, a natural rock arch, collapsed into the sea during a storm.

In 2024, Sweden became the 32nd member of NATO after a longstanding policy of nonalignment.

Lost Greek-Buddhists of Alexander

1st human representation of the Buddha: Gandhara

The LOST Greek Buddhists: The Untold Story of Alexander's Monks

(Buddha's Wisdom) 🗡️ When Greek Warriors Became Buddhist Monks: History's Greatest Plot Twist. In 326 BCE, Alexander's unstoppable army met something their swords couldn't conquer -- the wisdom of naked monks (Gymnosophists). Greek warriors laid down their weapons to follow the Buddha's path, sparking one of history's most fascinating cultural fusions.

Discover how fierce Greek soldiers became peaceful Buddhist monks, why they created the world's first Buddha statues, and what happened when Greek philosophy met Buddhist enlightenment.

From lost kingdoms to hidden [Central Asian] monasteries, uncover the epic story that changed both East and West forever.

🗡️MAJOR REVEALS

• The warrior who dropped his sword and changed history
• The Greek king who chose enlightenment over empire
• Recently discovered scrolls that reveal ancient secrets
• The stunning truth about the Buddha's familiar face
• New evidence of undiscovered monasteries

🎯 KEY MOMENTS

• 0:00 Introduction
• 2:03 Warriors Meet Wisdom
• 6:38 The Naked Truth
• 9:18 Kingdom of Two World
• 13:08 The Face of Buddha
• 17:10 The Lost Scrolls
• 23:05 Legacy of the Lost Monks
• 17:59 Conclusion

Support this channel: Buy us a coffee ☕: buymeacoffee.com/buddhaswisdom. Join in as archaeology meets adventure in this untold tale of warriors, wisdom, and one of history's greatest transformations. #Buddhism #History #AncientGreece #Philosophy #Archaeology

• Scythian Prince Siddhartha, the Buddha, was from Gandhara
• Greco-Buddhist art: fusion of East and West
• Gandhara grave culture (Pakistan, Afghanistan, India)
• Partition of India led to creation of Pakistan (formerly part of Northwest India, with Afghanistan in Central Asia or Indo-Sakastan, as its neighbor)

• Buddha's Wisdom, 11/19/24; Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven, Pat Macpherson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Science on Afterlife (Neil deGrasse Tyson)

What happens when we die? | Neil deGrasse Tyson and Larry King

(TUkEk.art) Nov. 24, 2022. Neil deGrasse Tyson and Larry King discuss life, death, and the possibility of life after death (rebirth, reincarnation, and an afterlife). Artist-Creator: #Tukek.art. Subscribe. #tukekart #tukek #ArtSavesTheWorld #life #lifeafter #lifeafterdeath #philosophy #christianity #buddhism #heaven #larrykingnow #larryking #neildegrassetyson #spirituality #afterlife #death #thanksgiving #thanksgivingcelebration #thanksgiving2022

Dr. Eben Alexander, MD, on reincarnation and past lives

(Larry King) March 16, 2018. Neurosurgeon Dr. Eben Alexander explains how he says reincarnation works and why we usually can’t remember our past lives. SUBSCRIBE to Larry King's YouTube Channel: bit.ly/131HuYM, facebook.com/OraTV, facebook.com/LarryKing. #LarryKingNow

Mass incarceration: Michelle Alexander (audio)

David Remnick (New Yorker), Kai Wright (WNYC); Ashley Wells, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly

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The U.S. has the highest rate of incarceration in the world; although the country makes up about five per cent of the global population, it has created nearly a quarter of the world’s prisoners.

David Remnick is joined by WNYC’s Kai Wright, the host of the podcast “The United States of Anxiety,” to talk about mass incarceration and the beginning of a movement against it.

Remnick also talks with Prof. Michelle Alexander, whose book The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness (2010), which was a best-seller for nearly five years, identified how mass incarceration policies have been a disaster for communities of color.

White League and KKK in common cause to bring back slavery and the Good Old Days

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The poet and public defender Reginald Dwayne Betts, who was formerly incarcerated, reads from his book Felon. And we follow a man who returns home from prison to find a changed world. More

In 2010 Michelle Alexander’s bestselling book spelled out how mass incarceration harms communities of color and the country. Assessing its impact she looks forward and back with David Remnick.

Traveling the Silk Road: Uzbekistan (video)

On the Silk Road to Uzbekistan, passing through Buddhist Bamiyan, Afghanistan by camel

The people, history, and culture of Uzbekistan

What animal could survive the Silk Road?

(Traveling the Silk Road, DW Documentary) With its magical buildings, fascinating landscapes, and friendly people, Uzbekistan has a lot to offer. It is a country caught between rich traditions and modernity.

Wild equestrian games, fairytale palaces, and hospitable people proud of their magnificent culture --all of this is encountered by those traveling through Uzbekistan along the Silk Road.

The Central Asian country borders Kazakhstan to the north and Afghanistan to the south. The journey begins in Samarkand, one of Central Asia’s oldest cities.

For centuries cities like Samarkand, Bukhara (Boukhara, Buddha?), and Khiva provided the necessary infrastructure for caravans on the Silk Road, allowing merchants to trade goods and providing accommodation for them and their animals.

Many buildings survive to underline the splendor and wealth that trade once generated. Samarkand is  one of the world’s oldest cities, with three outstanding Koran schools, known as madrasas, on Registan Square. It is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

• The Buddha's family, the Shakyas/Scythians, were settled nomads, Sakas (Saccans), an equestrian peoples, extended family tribes. And young Prince Siddhartha Gautama (Shakya clan) had a prized white pony named Kanthaka, and was skilled in horse riding, archery, and sports. They were a "proud" people, the Buddha later explained, war-like and guarding their territory, accruing their riches due to the Silk Road in a far off hinterland that would seem to be in the middle of nowhere (Afghanistan according to Dr. Ranajit Pal).

(FTD Facts) 10 Surprising facts about Uzbekistan

In the Boysun Region in the Hissar Mountains the ancient, and none-too-gentle riding game known as kopkari is held at Nowruz, the traditional New Year festival. More than 100 horsemen try to pick up the body of a dead goat (as is played in Afghanistan, an apparent forebear of British and American pigskin games like rugby, soccer, and football) from the ground and to escape with this from all the others.

In 1380 the Uzbek folk hero Amir Timur (Tamerlane) had the gigantic Ak Sarav, "White Palace," built in Shahrisabz, the town of his birth. It had a thousand rooms adorned with gemstones.

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• The people, history and culture of Uzbekistan Traveling the Silk Road ¦ DW Documentary

Exciting, powerful, and informative – DW Documentary is always close to current affairs and international events. Our eclectic mix of award-winning films and reports take you straight to the heart of the story. Dive into different cultures, journey across distant lands, and discover the inner workings of modern-day life.

• DW Documentary (German PBS); Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Forgotten Aryan tribes of India (video)

Benoy Behl, March 28, 2013; Pat Macpherson, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Here are some forgotten Aryan tribes excerpted from Spectacular India (Number 5). In remote parts of Ladakh, Buddhist India, with its capital of Leh being the closest thing to a Tibetan city surviving after the Chinese invasion, destruction, and occupation of Lhasa. This ancient culture survives to this day in relative isolation. A film by culture historian Benoy K. Behl.

Buddhist Lit of Ancient Gandhara (book)

Author Richard Salomon (amazon.com); Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Gandhara, the northwest frontier of proto-India: the Buddha's homeland, Scythia/Saka.

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The Buddhist Literature of Ancient Gandhara: An Introduction with Selected Translations (Classics of Indian Buddhism) is a valuable contribution to the study of early Buddhist texts.

Discover the fascinating history of a long-hidden Buddhist culture at a historic crossroads along the Silk Road.

In the years following Macedon's Alexander the Great’s conquest of the East, a series of empires rose up along the Silk Road.

In what is now Northern Pakistan (Northwestern India prior to 1948), the civilizations in the region called Gandhara became increasingly important centers for the development of Buddhism.

They reached their apex under King Kanishka of the Kusanas in the second century CE. Gandhara has long been known for its Greek-Indian synthesis in architecture and statuary.

Upper left: Gandhara, Scythia, Saka

But until about 20 years ago, almost nothing was known about its literature. The insights provided by manuscripts unearthed over the last few decades show that Gandhara was indeed a vital link in the early development of Buddhism.

It was instrumental in both the transmission of Buddhism to China and the rise of the Mahayana (a syncretic Hindu-Buddhist) tradition.

The Buddhist Literature of Ancient Gandhara surveys what we know about Gandhara and its Buddhism. It also provides translations of a dozen different short texts, from similes and rebirth stories to treatises on time and reality. More

Buddhism in Pakistan

Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly Wiki edit

Gandhara Buddha 2nd/3rd cent.(christies.com)

Buddhism in Pakistan took root some 2,300 years ago under the Mauryan Emperor Ashoka, who Nehru called “greater than any king or emperor.”

Buddhism has a long history in the present history of Pakistan -- over time being part of areas within Bactria, the Indo-Greek Kingdom, the Kushan Empire, Ancient India with the Maurya Empire of Ashoka, the Pala Empire, the Punjab region, and the Indus River Valley cultures -- areas now within the present day nation of Pakistan.

Buddhist scholar Kumāralabdha of Taxila was comparable to Aryadeva, Aśvaghoṣa, and Nagarjuna. More

• Ranajit Pal on the real Kapilavastu, Shakya Land

Parallel universes and time travel (video)

Slapped Ham (video); Seth Auberon, Pfc. Sandoval (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Time Travelers Claim They've Visited Parallel Universes

From U.S. Project Pegasus time travel participant Andrew D. Basiago, who was placed in an elevator-like device to move to specific coordinates using technology developed by Nikola Tesla, traveling back in time to witness Pres. Lincoln's Gettysburg address, assassination, and to Mars -- to the discovery of parallel universes, Slapped Ham looks at time travel and people who claim to have slipped into parallel universes.

• 10. Miriam Golding, 9. Carol Chase McElheney, 8. Andrew D. Basiago, 7. Dr. Eben Alexander MD, 6. The Man from Taured (Berhodrick Jenansfer?), 5. Lerina Garcia, 4. Pedro Ramirez (Spain), 3. Four Girls in the Nevada Desert, 2. Swedish Hakan Nordkvist, 1. Frances Peterson
• The Man Without A Country (ancient-origins.net)

Subscribe. More. Patreon. Merch: shop.spreadshirt.com. Top 10 on slappedham.com. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram. Most popular Top 10. MUSIC: "Echoes of Time" V2 by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (creativecommons.org) Source: incompetech.com/music/royalty-... Artist: incompetech.com.

Forbidden Secret of Mystery Schools (video)

Dr. S. Monteith via Abel Danger; Seth Auberon, Pat Macpherson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

The Forbidden Secret revealed by Dr. Stanley Monteith

Dr. Stanley Monteith delivers a mindblowing lecture, "The Forbidden Secret." It reveals the source of the power for the elites. It has been utilized by sages, adepts, witch doctors, shamans, priests, prophets, wise men, diviners, and mediums down through the ages.

• The Tap

Secret societies have existed since the dawn of civilization, and they exist today. What is their purpose? Adepts claim they possess secret knowledge that provides fame, power, and prosperity. Is it true?

Why are some people fabulously wealthy, while most people struggle to make a living? Why do half the people in the world live in abject poverty? Where does the secret knowledge come from? They will make one world, with one ruler, one monetary system, and one religion.

Indo-Greeks: What happened to the settlers?

Masaman; Dhr. Seven, Pat Macpherson, CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

What happened to the Greek settlers in Ancient India?

Central Asia begins on left of map beyond modern Pakistan, formerly the NW frontier of "India," loosely affiliated kingdoms before Buddhist Emperor Asoka reunited them.

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The Buddha in Greco-Buddhist art

Greeks settled in Ancient India and Pakistan (which was only partitioned from India in 1948) in the area at least 2,000 years ago. One great Greek settlement was Bactria, Central Asia, where the Buddha was raised and lived as the Saka/Scythian Prince Siddhartha Gautama for the first 29 years of his life. Let's look at the history of the former area of Alexander the Great, the Macedonian Empire under Alexandros III of Macedon. Where are the Indo-Greeks and their descendants today, Aryan invaders? Eurasian migrants? Iranians/Aryians? A Greek ruler in Bactria, King Milinda (Menander I), was very interested in Buddhism and often entertained a great Buddhist monk, Ven. Nagasena, which produced The Questions of King Milinda, a famous Greco-Buddhist work from around Gandhara/Bactria.

Area that became Greco-Bactrian Kingdom was formerly the Buddha's Scythia/Shakya Land

Suspect walked off job hours before Colorado Walmart attack

3 killed in Colorado Walmart shooting; suspect sought
Utah slaying suspect to also face CO murder charges
Police in Colorado want murder charge against Utah suspect

Muslims in NJ city fear another backlash after latest attack

How Buddhism influenced ancient Greeks

Christopher I. Beckwith, Greek Buddha; Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Wisdom Quarterly

Gandhara art: the first human representations of the Buddha were Greco-Buddhist.

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Greek Buddha (Beckwith/amazon.co.uk)

Pyrrho of Elis went with Alexander the Great to Central Asia and India during the Greek invasion and conquest of the Persian Empire in 334-324 BC.

There he met with early Buddhist masters. The book Greek Buddha: Pyrrho's Encounter with Early Buddhism in Central Asia shows how their early Buddhism shaped the philosophy of Pyrrho, the famous founder of Pyrrhonian skepticism in ancient Greece.

Author Christopher I. Beckwith traces the origins of a major tradition in Western philosophy to Gandhara, a country in Central Asia between Buddhist Afghanistan [likely the country of the Buddha's birth] and northwestern India.

Empires of the Silk Road (C. I. Beckwith)

Beckwith systematically examines the teachings and practices of Pyrrho and of early Buddhism, including those preserved in testimonies by and about Pyrrho.

These are found in the report on Indian philosophy two decades later by the Seleucid ambassador Megasthenes, in the first-person edicts by the Indian King Devanampriya Priyadarsi referring to a popular variety of the Dharma in the early 3rd century BC and in Taoist echoes of Siddhartha Gautama's Dharma in Warring States China.

The future Buddha Maitreya dressed as a Central Asian king, Ladakh, Himalayas (wiki)

 

Central Asian Origins of Science

Beckwith demonstrates how the teachings of Pyrrho agree closely with those of the Buddha Shakyamuni, "the Scythian Sage" -- the Sage (muni) of the Shakya clan (Shakyians = Scythians, Sakas).

In the process, Beckwith identifies eight distinct philosophical schools in ancient northwestern India and Central Asia, including early Zoroastrianism (the pre-Christian teachings of Zarathustra), early Brahmanism (the Vedic spiritual inheritance and books of knowledge of the Brahmin priestly caste), and several forms of early Buddhism.

Nagarjuna

He then shows the influence that Pyrrho's brand of skepticism had on the evolution of Western thought, first in Antiquity, and later during the Enlightenment, on the great philosopher and self-proclaimed Pyrrhonian, David Hume.

Greek Buddha demonstrates that through Pyrrho, early Buddhist thought had a major impact on Western philosophy. More

NW India (right), Gandhara (now in Pakistan), Kapilavastu (Kabul/Bamiyan), Afghanistan

• Pyrrhonism: How the Ancient Greeks Reinvented Buddhism (Adrian Kuzminski)
• Empires of the Silk Road: A History of Central Eurasia from the Bronze Age to the Present (Beckwith)
• The Foundations of Buddhism (Gethin)
• Nagarjuna's Middle Way (Classics of  Indian Buddhism) by Mark Siderits
• Warriors of the Cloisters: The Central Asian Origins of Science in the Medieval World

What if an ancient Greek philosopher traveled to India with Alexander the Great and became a monastic practitioner who taught Buddhism to the Greeks? Greek Buddha offers dramatic new evidence of the true character of early Buddhism and the foundations of Western philosophy still impacting us today. Do the claims stack up? (wiseattention.org)

• Buddhism in the West (reviews)
• VIDEO: Seeking the Buddha in History