*The larger Buddhist temple complex, which is said to be at least one square mile large, is Mes Aynak, Afghanistan (ancient Gandhara). Afghanistan has the world's largest Buddha statues (the largest, a reclining figure, still hidden for its protection) because that's where the Buddha is from (Saka/Shakya/Scythia, not Nepal and not India, which did not even exist as a country or empire until centuries later when Buddhist Emperor Ashoka united disparate kingdoms and various janapadasor clan territories). It may well hold an even larger temple. Mes Aynak remains unexcavated and undiscovered due to American imperialism in its prolonged war of plunder followed by Chinese business interests attempting to raze the ancient archeological site for its store of rare earth minerals, gold, and copper.
Gunung Padang: Indonesia’s terraced pyramid and the lost civilization
(Business Hook) Sept. 12, 2025: Gunung Padang, located in formerly Buddhist (now predominantly Muslim) Java, Indonesia, is an ancient megalithic site that has sparked significant debate among archeologists and geologists.
Initially discovered in 1914 and rediscovered in 1979, the pyramid site contains massive stone blocks arranged in terraces, suggesting a complex structure.
(Refugio Tv) Fortress of the Three Guardians, Indonesia?
In 2011, further exploration revealed evidence of human-made layers beneath the surface, dating back up to 28,000 years, far earlier than known civilizations like the Sumerians and Egyptians.
The discovery of advanced construction techniques, ancient artifacts, and possibly mystical properties challenges existing historical narratives and raises questions about the origins of human civilization, making Gunung Padang a key site in rewriting history.
How this content was made: auto-dubbed audio tracks for some languages were automatically generated. Learn more
A team of scientists has unearthed a concealed city beneath the ocean, potentially offering the first solid evidence of the mythical lost world.
Excavations revealed a Homo erectusskull, believed to be 140,000 years old, along with over 6,000 fossils from 36 species, such as Komodo dragons and elephants, in the Madura StraitoffIndonesia.
Reported by the Daily Mail, these remnants were entombed under sediment in an area that was once part of Sundaland (Malesia), a massive Southeast Asian land bridge.
Hidden city built 140,000 years ago discovered at bottom of ocean (Osheen Yadav, May 24, 2025) Buried beneath the sea off the coast of Indonesia, scientists have made a groundbreaking discovery that could rewrite the story of human origins. The skull of Homo erectus, an ancient human ancestor, was discovered over 140,000 years after it was first buried, preserved beneath layers of silt and sand in the Madura Strait between the islands of Java [site of the world's largest excavated Buddhist temple known as Borobudur] and Madura. Experts say the site may be the first physical evidence of the lost world, a prehistoric landmass known as Sundaland that once connected Southeast Asia in a vast tropical plain. More: Daily Mail Online
Marks on some of the animal bones suggest early human hunting practices. The discoveries provide a window into the behaviors of our ancestors and their responses to shifting environments. More:
LEMURIA was a continent proposed in 1864 by zoologist Philip Sclater, theorized to have sunk beneath the Indian Ocean. It was later appropriated by occultists in supposed accounts of human origins. The theory was discredited with the discovery of plate tectonics and continental drift in the 20th century [1]. The hypothesis was proposed as an explanation for the presence of lemur fossils on Madagascar and the Indian subcontinent but not in continental Africa or the Middle East. Biologist Ernst Haeckel's suggestion in 1870 that Lemuria could be the ancestral home of humans caused the hypothesis to move beyond the scope of geology and zoogeography, ensuring its popularity outside of the framework of the scientific community. More
(Liam Richards) BOROBUDUR TEMPLE. He went on an epic journey to film this, so sit back, relax, and enjoy the virtual adventure as we explore Borobudur Buddhist Temple like it's never been seen before.
El Mirador ("The Viewpoint or Lookout") is the biggest pyramid in the world, according to Mel Gibson who heard it from archeologist Richard Hansen. Yet, we are told Mexico's Cholula Pyramid is the world's largest -- larger than the famous ones on the Giza Plateau in Egypt, or the many in Sudan (formerly Nubia along the Nile River) known as the Nubian pyramids, or the 200 or more in China, or all the ones we're not told about in Alaska, Antarctica, Mars, the Moon, and all over the planet, like the new one recently discovered in Peru at Caral Supe. Of course, larger ones may exist in Bosnia or Indonesia (Gunung Padang), one being mirrored by the world's largest excavated Buddhist temple in the world, Borobudur in Java, which is likely smaller than the colossal Mes Aynak in formerly Buddhist Afghanistanwith stupas but no pyramids yet, even though one pyramidal stupa was recently discovered in Central Asia. Interestingly, according to American Rick Fields in A Narrative History of Buddhism in America, the country next to Mexico called Guatemala is named after Gautama the Buddha. Buddhist missionaries reached the Americas before Columbus and Christianity, as demonstrated in American Edward P. Vining's 1895 classicAn Inglorious Columbus, which makes the connection to Afghanistan and Afghan Buddhist missionaries along with Chinese pilgrim Hwui Shen.That the country should be so advanced -- like the stone temples all through the jungles of Buddhist Cambodia (Angkor Wat, Siem Reap, etc.) -- is not entirely without explanation.
We all "know" the world's largest pyramid is in Cairo, Egypt, at Giza. But that's wrong, and no one says that but popular. The world's largest officially recognized pyramid (not tallest but largest) is a massive structure that size of a small mountain in Cholula, Mexico, at the ruins of a Mesoamerican archeological site the Spanish Catholics tried to bury it, literally. It is so massive that to hide it, they threw mud and dirt all over it and built a Catholic church on top. Oddly, the same thing was done by Muslims as Islam conquered Java, Indonesia, and could not believe the advanced architecture of a massive Buddhist pyramid now called the Borobudur Buddhist temple. It is the size of a hill. Unable to replicate it, move it, or destroy it even though it used no mortar but was fitted together with precisely cut stone blocks, Islamic conquerors simply buried it in mud and soil. It remained lost until centuries later a British surveyor inspected the site and realized that that hill should not be there. He climbed it, dug a bit, and found the magnificent structure. It was excavated and stands as the largest Buddhist temple in the world. (It pales in comparison to the square mile of the unexcavated Mes Aynak Buddhist temple complex in ancient Gandhara, modern Afghanistan, that is a gold and copper mine full of rare earth minerals and leased by the Chinese who would have razed it for its mineral treasures had it not been that metal prices tanked on the world market before it could begin its destruction. The USA left Afghanistan so devastated that it is understandable that Muslim Afghanistan, the poorest country in the world at the time, accepted much-needed foreign currency and capital infrastructure investments. The Chinese built a town and a railroad at Mes Aynak for the resource extraction, and now they are only waiting for the world to need more cell phones and electronics to drive the price up. Apparently, Russia or some industrial concern discovered pellets of rare earth minerals littering the nearby seafloor. But Indonesia boasts a much larger and older pyramid, one the size of a mountain. It is disputed, in spite of the cut stones littering the area, with geologists and archeologists speculating that it has to be a natural formation because, who could have built such an ancient and massive structure. But there it is.
It may be comparable in size and age to the discovery in Bosnia with its Pyramid of the Sun and Moon and other, like Mexico's undisputed grand boulevard of pyramidal temples in Mesoamerica.
Megalithic structures found all over Amazon jungle – Key to unlocking forgotten civilization
(FactFile) Sept. 27, 2024: Graham Hancock, what's going on? What is this? There was a Younger Dryas, okay. What does that mean? The Amazon rainforest and jungle and adjacent forests are all over Mesoamerica, Central America, and who knows how far down into South America they reach. The Americas are full of archeological wonders.
It parallels the Buddhist world all around Angkor, Cambodia, in Siem Reap, with Angkor Wat and new sites constantly surfacing thanks to LiDAR, with many more hiding. And look at neighboring Borobudur in Java, Indonesia, Laos, Thailand, Burma (Pagan, Bagan), Sri Lanka, and now Central Asia (Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and the other -stans with their stupas, tumuli, kurgans, burial mound culture).
We have to get ready to throw out everything we thought we knew about the Amazon jungle. It turns out it’s not just a jungle. It’s hiding something much bigger. (Traces of a world culture?)
We’re talking ancient megalithic structures deep in the heart of the rainforest that are flipping our understanding of history upside down. Could this be the key to unlocking just how advanced ancient cultures truly were? They traveled, they knew each other, they were in communication with extraterrestrials from space, under the sea, and in the Earth. And we have been lied to by all our governments about it.
There's a black pyramid in Alaska, and the U.S. government stays quiet or denies it even as some blow the whistle and say it's absolutely there. Why are there pyramids all over the world and on Mars and maybe even the moon? #factfile
Akasha devas are the "shining ones" from the celestial worlds, the heavens, who from time to time visit humans, who note their grace, elegance, and orderliness. What do they say when they visit humans? They are able to communicate directly and telepathically, by mimicking human languages, and by archetypes and dance. Some ships or vimanas pulse lights, colors, shapes, and frequencies to send their messages down. Bali, Indonesia, retains a Hindu dance tradition from India (kathak), which seems to be the stylized body language and interpretive dancing of female devas (devis) and apsarasdepicted on the bas relief walls of Borobudur, the largest excavated Buddhist temple in the world as well as the ornate Angkor Wat in the jungles of Buddhist Cambodia. - Wisdom Quarterly
Legong Semarandhana in Balerung stage, Peliatan
(Bernard Marchal) Marchal is an amateur videographer and a simple tourist. His channel has no commercial purpose. He often travels to Indonesia, in particular to the Hindu island of Bali.
As he is passionate about video and Balinese culture (Hindu ceremonies, traditional dances, and music), he often films events and shows he attends. It is his way of recording memories of his stays and, more importantly, making known the rich culture of the island.
Legong Semarandhana on Balerung stage, Peliatan, Tirta Sari. Dancers: Aan Devita and Nitha Suwitri. Recorded Nov. 23, 2018.
This dance was filmed on the Balerung stage, in the small town of Peliatan (near Ubud, Bali), where world famous Balinese dances and gamelan music began.
Indeed, the first international tour of Balinese artists in the US and Europe in 1952 brought together a group from Peliatan led by A. A. Gede Mandera.
Since that time, Peliatan has remained one of the historic centers of Balinese dance and music. Two groups of the famous 1952 troupe are Tirta Sari and Gunung Sari, which give shows for visitors every week. Tirta Sari on the Balerung stage on Friday evenings and Gunung Sari on Saturdays.
Many of the best dancers in Bali learn their art in Peliatan. Legong Semarandana is a dance that developed in Balinese royal courts.
The narration refers to a long Javanese Hindu poem, a myth about the origins of love and passion between humans, embodied by the couple in love: Semara, the god (deva) of love, and Ratih, the moon goddess, interpreted by two twin dancers who perform a choreography symbolizing their harmony.
Lord Shiva then intervenes, furious to have had his meditation disturbed by the couple [because what god wouldn't be furious to be disturbed by humans and their behavior on earth].
Semara tries in vain to pierce him with arrows [like Cupid is said to do in Western mythology]. Lord Shiva, who takes on the appearance of the terrible Rangda, curses the desire that forces him to create the mortal world and intends to reduce the two lovers to ashes.
Apologies for any inaccuracies in the story summary and thanks in advance to anyone who can correct or complete the explanation.
Circumambulation of world's largest excavated Buddhist temple: Borobudur, Indonesia
Gunung Panang Pyramid in Java, Indonesia, is volcano size with unexplained hewn rocks.
Indonesia has a tribe that keeps its dead around.
Officially, the largest pyramid in the world is in Cholula in ancient Mesoamerica near Mexico City, not in Egypt. The actual largest may be in Bosnia, but officials have not recognized it as anything more than a mountain shaped like a pyramid, despite its cave/tunnel system and artifacts allegedly found in the area.
Another largest/oldest contender is in formerly Buddhist Indonesia. Like Mexico, it is massive. Like Bosnia, it is the size of a mountain and very old. Science would previously not acknowledge Indonesia. Now it does, with a twist: Archeologists say it was not built by humans.
Indonesia is home to the "world's largest Buddhist temple," Borobudur, on the island of Java. The pyramidal structure was built without mortar like Egyptian pyramids, as if mimicking the smoldering volcano visible behind it.
The world's oldest pyramid was built 25,000 years ago, but it was not created by humans. [This is said to be about the time Egypt's great Sphinx was built based on visible watermarks at its base.]
Djoser Step Pyramid, Egypt was thought oldest.
While Guinness World Records officially lists the Djoser Step Pyramid in Egypt as the world’s oldest pyramid (around 2,630 BC), a paper published in October claimed a layer of Indonesia's Gunung Padang Pyramid in Java was constructed as far back as 25,000 BC -- though there has since been doubts as to whether the structure was actually human-made.
Population density of Java by subdistrict as of 2022, with major urban areas (Twotwofourtysix)
Are these massive stones hewn or natural?
In research led by Danny Hilman Natawidjaja of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, and published in the journal Archaeological Prospection, the academics write that “the pyramid’s core consists of meticulously sculpted massive andesite lava” and that the “oldest construction” element of the pyramid “likely originated as a natural lava hill before being sculpted and then architecturally enveloped.”
They write: “This study sheds light on advanced masonry skills dating back to the last glacial period. This finding challenges the conventional belief that human civilisation and the development of advanced construction techniques emerged only…with the advent of agriculture approximately 11,000 years ago.
Gobekli Tepe: Genesis of the Gods
“Evidence from Gunung Padang [in Java] and other sites, such as Gobekli Tepe [in Turkey], suggests that advanced construction practices were already present when agriculture had, perhaps, not yet been invented.”
The academics also claim that the builders “must have possessed remarkable masonry capabilities.” but one UK archaeologist has rubbished the paper, saying he is “surprised [it] was published as is.”
Flint Dibble, from UK's Cardiff University, told the journal Nature that there is no clear evidence to suggest the buried layers were built by humans. More
Liam O'Dell, Indy 100 via MSN, Aug. 6, 2024, "'World’s oldest pyramid' built 25,000 years ago was not made by humans, archaeologists claim"; Pat Macpherson, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
Gwendolyn, there's something most extraordinary about this one. - I know it! - Yeah, be good.
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Who can fathom another's greatness?
Ajahn Jumnien Silaseetho (Jamnian Seelasetho) is a charismatic Thai Buddhist monk -- happy, wise, and playful. He teaches with limitless energy and boundless love and compassion. [He is not like any attained monk you are likely to have met.]
He teaches many different Buddhist insight meditation methods (vipassana), all of which direct the practitioner back to clear seeing and understanding the impersonal processes of mind and body.
They are in flux, ever changing, unsatisfactory, and empty of self (ego or personality to cling to).
He encourages those who practice toward awakening to continuously explore the presence of craving and aversion in the heart/mind.
Sacred Ven. Jumnien amulet
He tells us every situation is an opportunity to practice “steering ourselves back to the Middle Path.”
A living meditation practice, one in which the development of insight pervades every aspect of our life rather than just the hours devoted to formal meditation, is a “lifelong process of constant observation and continuous investigation.”
ABOUT: Jamnian.org (reference site) is created with the auspicious blessings of Luang Por Jamnian to serve as a central hub for communicating Luang Por’s teachings and activities as he teaches around the world.
COMMENTARY: We realize our utter powerlessness to convince anyone that Ajahn Jumnien is special, different, perhaps unique in the world -- not only awakened but possessing things people no longer possess. What could that be? In times past, people could be fully awakened. (Fully is not supremely; they are different. The awakening of a disciple is not equal to that of either a silent-buddha or teaching-buddha. What Ajahn has is full awakening with powers no longer prevalent on this plane.
On top of that he has the most miraculous power there is, one the Buddha possessed, "the power of instruction."
He is able to teach the Dharma, to bring about an awakening in others. His candor is extraordinary. His disguise is his silliness, going about like a shaman in the world with so much weight of tchotchkes and magical amulets on him that no one is able to take him seriously as anything but a monk who is too happy, laughs too much. But, oh, if one can listen to what he is really saying, about the extraordinary and ordinary, the magical and mundane, who would believe? See him.
Who says so? Wisdom Quarterly says so, and long before us Jack Kornfield (jackkornfield.com) says so in Living Buddhist Masters. But who could believe that either he or we actually met incredible beings of such skill in Dhamma?
Who was the architect in Taiwan who thought of Mahabodhi Temples and a pyramid?
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Balloons really fly over Bagan as best way to see
The most memorable time to see the ancient site of Bagan is at sunrise or sunset, when the ancient peaks of this sprawling temple complex (filled with many Buddhist monuments, temples, and a thousand+ stupas) are illuminated by a soft glow.
They can best be seen in the morning by hot air balloon, but we rented a bike and drove around from ancient ruin to ruin to well-kept temple, at least one of which was like a European castle made of stone.
This living archeological site, which sits on the fertile plains of the Irrawaddy River delta, is composed of more than 1,000 red-brick temples, pagodas, palaces, and Buddhist monasteries, which were built between 1057 and 1287 AD.
Sadly in 2016, a magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck the site, and 185 of the buildings were damaged, with restoration work continuing to this day. It was the Pagan (\puh-gone\ not \pay-gan\) Empire, circa 1210.
[The reason there are so many is that the Burmese Theravada Buddhists learned that they could make merit by building a Buddhist monastery or monument. So they competed with one another so that ever villager of means began construction to ensure the future with good karma.]
Proof the ETs planned and built these structures: the presence of vast amounts of liquid mercury under a Chinese Buddhist tomb site, the Mexican pyramid site at Teotihuacan (40 miles from modern Mexico City), and at least one ancient Egyptian pyramid. Ancient humans mined and moved super toxic mercury for its value in energy production?
The wonders of Angkor in Cambodia, once the world's largest city
Cambodian (Khmer) Theravada Buddhist monks still use the grand monastery (Angkor Wat)
The walls, levels, peaks, and geometry represent the Buddhist universe with its many worlds
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Buddhist Angkor (Khmer language អង្គរ, lit. "Capital City"), also known as Yasodhara-pura (Khmer យសោធរបុរៈ, Sanskrit यशोधरपुर) [1, 2], was the capital city of the Khmer Empire in the Cambodian jungle.
The city and empire flourished from approximately the 9th to the 15th centuries. The city center houses the great temple-monastery Angkor Wat, one of Cambodia's most popular tourist attractions.
These walls represent the four quarters of the sky (akasha) and the heavens (sagga) above.
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The geometric arrangement is visible to the godlings (devas)
The name Angkor is derived from nokor (នគរ), a Khmer word meaning "kingdom," which in turn derived from Sanskrit nagara (नगर), meaning "city" [3].
The Angkorian period began in AD 802, when the Khmer Hindu monarch Jayavarman II declared himself a "universal monarch" (chakravartin) and "god-king" (deva-raja, melding church and state like the Dalai Lama system once did in Tibet before China overthrew it) and lasted until the late 14th century, first falling under Ayutthayan suzerainty in 1351.
A Khmer rebellion against Siamese (Thai) authority resulted in the 1431 sacking of Angkor by Ayutthaya, causing its population to migrate south to Longvek.
The alternate name, Yasodharapura, was derived from the name of the foster mother of Lord Krishna in Hinduism [which is also the name of Prince Siddhartha's wife before he became the Buddha].
Hinduism -- which had swallowed and melded itself with Buddhism by this time -- was the largest religion in the ancient Khmer Empire, and many temples were constructed by Khmer kings dedicated to Hindu deities, including Angkor Wat. More: Angkor
This tiered motif represents a hierarchical arrangement of heavens (deva lokas)
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The great pyramid temple of Java, Indonesia: Borobudur, the largest excavated site
This Buddhist-Hindu masterpiece is the largest excavated Buddhist temple in the world. There is a larger temple complex underground in Mes Aynak, Afghanistan (ancient Gandhara) but that may stay underground due to the US war on Afghanistan's economy and chance of recovery, leaving it wholly dependent on outside investors from China.
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From the Buddhist empires of Indonesia (Java), India, Burma, Cambodia to the Greek kingdoms Buddhist Bactria and Europe to Africa (Egypt), to China, to Mexico and the Mayan sites of modern Mesoamerica and the Indigenous dwellings of the Americas, these breathtaking ruins offer a fascinating insight into how some of the world’s oldest cultures lived. Here are 30 ancient sites that any history lover should visit at least once in their lifetime.
The Buddhist-Hindu temple above, with Buddhas in bells atop it, is called Borobudur, Java, Indonesia (Adel Newman/Shutterstock). One would be hard-pressed to find a more stunning sight than sunrise over Buddhist Borobudur (with the exception of the larger sites of formerly Buddhist Afghanistan or ancient Gandhara), with Mount Merapi rising up in the background. This impressive structure, located in Central Java, is the world’s largest (excavated) Buddhist temple. It was built between AD 778 and 850, under the Shailendra dynasty. (It needed to be excavated because invading Muslims could neither explain how Buddhists and Hindus built it nor could they tear it down, so they buried it in mud, and it was forgotten for many years. Then one day a British surveyor arrived with a map, looked around, and said, "That mountain does not belong there." He climbed it, dug into it, and rediscovered it for all humanity. It was cleansed of the caked mud and plants, revealing wonders that can hardly be explained today. It is so level and all made of stone without mortar or cement. How? Even with a laser level, it would be an impressive feat to build it now.] It’s thought that the ancient kingdom was used for only two centuries before volcanic activity from Merapi, between AD 928 and 1006, led Buddhist monks to abandon the sacred site. Today, it’s best visited with a guide, who can be hired for about 50,000 Indonesian rupees (US$3.22).
We are lied to. Much is kept from us. Which country has the most pyramids? No, not Egypt. Not Mexico. It is Syria. (Who even knew there were any there? If there are 167 Egyptian pyramids, there are about 220 ancient Syrian ones. Yet, we do not remember ever being shown even one of them).
The latest discovery of a Buddhist pyramid (square stupa) is in Central Asia, near Afghanistan.
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The largest pyramid in the world? Egypt? No, not even close. The largest is in Cholula, Mexico. But there are likely larger ones in Bosnia and Indonesia, super ancient sites the size of mountains. We are not allowed to believe in those. They certainly look like pyramids from a distance. Closer up it is not as clear. They are so old they have crumbled and are overgrown. But at least in Bosnia, there is a tunnel system underneath, just as we find in Cholula, Mexico, and Egypt.
Modern Buddhist Taiwan has built the latest Buddhist pyramid with a giant Buddha behind.
Borobudur, Indonesia, in the mist, topped by many small hollow stupas with Buddhas inside.
These are the archeological remains of a mountain-sized pyramid in Indonesia.
Science is having a hard time accepting that the ancients could have built something this big.
Because Buddhist missionaries arrived in Mexico and California, the pyramids here suggest a connection to other empires and even distant ancient Egyptians who built in the Grand Canyon.
There was once a single worldwide culture connecting most if not all human groups.
The alignments and perfection of Borobudur cannot be explained, and no mortar was used.
The Borobudur site has a map of all its many surprises as it was laid out like an Angkor Wat.
Giant Amitabha Buddha overlooking pyramid
The grand architecture of the layout is only visible from sky-vehicles (vimanas)
This is an overview of the latest discovery, a square (yantra, mandala) pyramid (Newsweek)
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