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

Jewish Brit exposes America (Borat)

(Amazon Prime Video UK & IE) The very best of Borat's pranks | Prime Video

(JoBlo Movie Clips) Borat Pamela Anderson scene, Hollywood

(The Clean Laugh Club) Ricky Gervais: Truth about Epstein's Island, Hawking

The 'Dark' Side of Theravada Buddhism

(Radici Exposition)

Sasana Flag – Int'l Buddhist Flag in Burma (Buddhism in Myanmar/Wikipedia)

.

COMMENTARY

Wisdom Quarterly editors

What the Buddha Never Taught

The "dark" side of Theravada first came to light for us in reading Tim Ward's What the Buddha Never Taught. The problem then was the behavior of Buddhist "novices" (monks-in-training) in Thailand, which is a cultural custom to ordain before being considered ready for marriage in the wildly popular and largely Theravada Buddhist country.

Ward reports that as a samanera (white clad follower of eight or ten precepts), one Westerner had reported that a novice pleasured himself while staring over this sleeping person. We were shocked and mortified that such a thing could happen or be allowed to happen, but this is not the act of a male intending to be a monk until enlightenment or for the rest of his life. These hormonal boys are sent to the monastery for "temporary ordination" as young as 7 and may stay a few days or one rainy season (Rains Retreat). That's how it could happen.

Now, imagine the horror that men (20 and older) who take monastic vows live as wolves among the faithful givers of alms, taking advantage of the generosity of Buddhist supporters but having no aim of enlightenment or even keeping the monastic precepts recited in the patimokkha. That is a shame and a pity and directly the fault of a monastic sangha ("spiritual community") that does not enforce the rules or disciplinary procedures the historical Buddha laid down for the long life of the sangha and the Dhamma (the Teaching that leads to enlightenment in this very life).

The larger problem nowadays is even worse than that and is the real source of widespread corruption, homosexuality, crime, and hypocrisy in the sanghas of the Theravada countries. And that is that so few males want to enter the monastic life for genuine and sincere reasons that these societies have found workarounds: send in males who have no interest in practice but who need support and are willing to at least pretend to be well-behaved monks, teachers, and examples to the rest of society.

This problem has also appeared in Catholic countries all over the world, with overwhelming corruption, sinfulness, and public disaffection. It may be worse in Catholicism, which used to allow its priests to get married until the Vatican found it far more PROFITABLE to ban clergy marriages, which were directing donations to the children of clergy members as inheritance. When the practice of clergy marrying was BANNED, priests just broke the new rule the way they had always been breaking the rule against chastity (avowed celibacy), doing it in secret with child victims, fellow homosexuals, or visiting housewives. It has been more or less an open secret for centuries. So "secret" is it that corruption and homosexuality among cardinals and bishops -- who are priests with more responsibilities -- sets the example for younger "seminarians," which is what s*men-loaded cadets at the Catholic training schools call themselves and what they are called by other fellow gay-active trainees.

A wonderful book exposing the wholesale policy, not aberration, of these practices was published in Italian and has been translated into English. South Park mocked it in a wonderful episode about a good priest from the town going to Rome and finding out it's the norm. It's like that saying about police officers. "Nine out of ten officers make the other one look bad." In other words, the majority of hypocrites make the precious few sincere ones look bad. And the few good ones give cover and respectability to the many wolves in sheep's clothing. But this is not about Catholic corruption, or corruption among Jews, Evangelical Protestants, Western Hare Krishna devotees, or anybody else. This is about the dark and disgusting side of Theravada monastics.

A recent bust of many Sri Lankan novices and monks bringing potent cannabis into Sri Lanka through the international airport has not yet been resolves. Were they simply duped into acting as "mules" (carrying the pot in secret trap doors in their suitcases to benefit the donor who sent them on holiday to Thailand to pick up the massive shipment), or were they in on it and partaking of the intoxicant?

How can a common monk become a "saint"?

The solution is clear but not simple. The sangha as a united body needs to reinstitute the existing procedures on the books for expelling "defeated" monks and wayward "ascetics" for the good of the Buddha's dispensation (Śāsana) and the long life of the uncorrupted Dhamma (Dharma) in the world. It is not so important that one man falls due to greed, hatred/fear, or delusion and becomes a hypocrite, one taking advantage of a monastic career. What is important is that such hypocrites end up taking the whole sangha and eventually the whole Dhamma (Buddhist Teaching) in the world. The Monastic Disciplinary Rules exist in the Vinaya Pitaka, which is one of three massive collections of works on the three distinct divisions of the Pali canon (conventional sutras, monastic discipline, and the Doctrine in ultimate terms: Suttas, Vinaya, Abhidhamma).

• 

  There is still time to be upstanding.

  There comes a time... the Yellow-Necks, "monks" who do not live by the rules but who at least study and learn the Dhamma without much putting it into practice. Are we arrived at that time?
• “In future times, Ānanda, there will be members of this clan who are ‘yellow-necks,’ immoral, of evil character. People will give gifts to those immoral persons for the sake of the Sangha. Even then, I say, an offering made to the Sangha is incalculable, immeasurable. And I say that in no way is a gift to a person individually ever more fruitful than an offering made to the Sangha [as a whole]” (Dakkhiṇāvibhaṅga Sutta, MN 142) dhammawheel.com
• The disparaging term "yellow-necks" comes from, in the future, those defeated (parajika) "monks" wearing not full robes but a yellow, orange, red, or saffron scrap of a robe around their neck or wrist to signify their status as members of the sangha.

[FREE eBook] The Buddhist Monastic Code, Volumes I & II (Thanissaro/AudioBuddha)

.

The monastic rules have also been translated into English by the American monk in the Thai Forest Tradition Thanissaro Bhikkhu, an abbot near San Diego, California (watmetta.org).

I tried. You can't please everybody all the time.

Ven. Thanissaro is a cantankerous old monk whom, we were told in Thailand, was driven out of Thailand and back to America due to monastic politics. It seems he served his ailing teacher, who might have left him, a farang ("foreigner"), in charge, but the local Thai monks waiting their turn to ascend in the monastery weren't going to stand for that. This may have made him bitter, but he has suffered from malaria for so long that it is difficult to discern the roots eating at this prodigious but hopelessly idiosyncratic translator of Thai and Pali. But his voice is nice, like a pilot for the big airlines, and people not in the know seem to like his warped take on things. We recommend Bhikkhu Bodhi for classic, well-rounded, and well-supported translations. Tan Jeff is nice enough to explain himself sometimes, but he is sorely lacking in providing the Pali term he is aberrantly translating into his own misleading glossary of terms. Please do better, sir, but thank you for all your work. We have known young men who tried to be monastics at Wat Metta who, finding the abbot insufferable, have left to better pastures, usually the idyllic Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery.

• Buddhism in Cambodia
• Buddhism in Thailand
• Buddhism in Burma/Myanmar
• Buddhism in Sri Lanka
• Buddhism in Laos
• Buddhism in Southeast Asia
• Buddhist Monastic Code (Vinaya)
• Basic Monastic Precepts (Pāṭimokkha)
• All Buddhist rules for monks in English translation: The Buddhist Monastic Code, Volumes I and II | eBook (dhammatalks.org)
• The Dark Side of Albert Einstein (MSN)
• What the Buddha Never Taught: A 'Behind the Robes' Account of Life in a Thai Forest Monastery by Tim Ward

Maybe porn will make me rich? Met Gala '26

The 2026 Met Gala was messy... (Tea Spill)

(TheGamerFromMars) The tragic life of porn star Adriana Chechik who broke her back

The hottest man in porn...is not this guy, accused sex criminal Ron Jeremy

Porn in the USA

HOW PORN BECAME THE AMERICAN DREAM (Moon)  April 29, 2026: Dark Documentaries. Quit porn today with QUITTR and use code MOON (quittrapp.onelink.me)

Fashion: the end of Kylie Jenner

She's becoming the worst Kardashian with no ideas

KUKAI: Zen documentary FREE in LA

• Kukai: Six FREE screenings in SoCal, beginning Friday, April 10, 2026, 7:00 PM | (Dharma Buddhist Meditation on Meetup)

KŪKAI is a visually stunning documentary that brings to the screen the remarkable story of Kūkai, one of the most influential figures in Japanese cultural history. In 804 AD, he traveled from Japan to Tang China in search of knowledge, beginning a journey that would leave a lasting mark on art, learning, and cultural life across East Asia.

• FREE TICKETS: Register now: “KŪKAI” Exclusive Screening Tour 2026 (U.S.)
• “KŪKAI” Exclusive Screening Tour | Los Angeles, USA Tickets, Saturday, April 11  •  2:30 PM - 5:30 PM | Eventbrite

REVIEW: No. This is the worst kind of hagiography. We saw it in Beverly Hills on Sunday as part of its pre-release screening. It is as faith-based as it gets, and Japan is already infamous for its uber faith (bhakti) path Nichiren Buddhism. In the struggle between tariki and jiriki, it goes over the top that magic, mantra, and mumbo-jumbo are the path. It's not the Path the historical Buddha taught, and anyone could see that with the slightest amount of study. Faith (saddha, confidence, conviction) is an important step in walking the Path, but blind faith or an overdependence on some other force in the universe being invoked to come save us, it's not what the Buddha taught. It seems the antithesis of his message to a suffering world. The Dharma (Dhamma) is all about taking a good look at reality and our responsibility for ourselves. We're in this mess, we're keeping ourselves in this mess, and we have to make the effort (with help) to awaken ourselves. This is not a do-it-yourself project, but it is certainly not a Brahminical tantric secret of hocus pocus and everything working out. There were six "heretical" teachers and popular pernicious wrong views at the time of the historical Buddha. And he taught the Net of All-Embracing Views (Brahmajala Sutta) to counter those wrong views and bring about right view, the first factor or limb of the Ennobling Eightfold Path. What's wrong with this movie? What's right with it? Create a mechanical looking lead who never speaks, use a thundering "God voice" in classical Chinese with untranslated Sanskrit terms when they could easily be shown in English in parentheses, leave females out of 99% of the story, only including them as a footnote of grateful praying sycophants. Use AI to make the whole historical tale seem like a bad, one-sided fiction.

'Melania' FLOPS, posters vandalized across LA

Melania Trump doc ads vandalized, forcing reroute of buses | FOX 11 Los Angeles

INDECLINE (via Storyful) vandals depict Melania defecating on American flag

(Hysteria) Trashing Melania Trump's new stupid molester Ratner doc

(Rebel HQ) Melania movie FLOPS at box offices, humiliating Trumps

(but Dictator Don got bribed by Amazon's Jeff Bezos through his wife)

(Abby Desk) Trump reacts as Australia mocks Melania's stupid propaganda

(The Daily Show) Desi Lydic: Melania's $40 million docu-bribe movie premieres and Dems make ICE demands

• Melania Trump movie ads vandalized, humiliating her
• Me Too Movement villain Brett Ratner directed this mess
• Melania Trump is the producer of her own "documentary"
• 'Melania' documentary premiere BANS press (Variety)
• Melania movie ticket presales sluggish | Kansas City Star
• Big-budget 'Melania' doc premieres with splashy rollout [at the new Kennedy Trump Center] (NPR)

I'll sell you my Eastern European girlfriend, Don. - Did you two bang? - Did I, no, no, she's pure.

But you're dead, right, Epstein? - No, no, I faked my suicide and am back on my Pedo Island.

I feel so ugly compared to rich pro Melania

He is so disgusting and stupid.

(pale blue wave) I stopped her in the park, and what she told me broke my heart. So I photographed her portrait.

If "ugly" is a feeling (emotion), is beauty? Is self-confidence beautiful and doubt revolting? Personality is incomprehensibly important so that even dwarves, Elephant Men, Beasts, and other hideous creatures are beautiful to some Beauties out there. Beauty is only skin deep. And deep inside the skin are very lovely things -- charming, comely, funny, rich! What is anyone after other than being loved, loving, feeling protected and comforted, understood and accommodated?

(The Damage Report) Melania rocked as CREW members spills film details

beauty, sadness, loneliness, photography, park, parable of touching a woman, dating, heartbreak, marriage, the four bases of popularity

• UPDATED; Desi Lydic, The Daily Show, Jan. 29, 2026; FOX 11 Los Angeles; Sheldon S., Pfc. Sandoval, CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Thanks, Rob Reiner: 'This Is Spinal Tap' (film)

This is Spinal Tap (1984) Trailer #1 | Movieclips Classic Trailers

Dalai Lama in Wisconsin: Kalachakra

14th Dalai Lama praying in pavilion, closing Kalachakra mandala (Verizon Center, D.C.)

The 14th Dalai Lama comes to Wisconsin to perform the ancient Kalachakra ritual.

The Dalai Lama's Gift

Tantric Dakini deity

(Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive) A hidden ritual. A sacred promise. A transmission into a buddha's transcendent compassionate wisdom. A corn field transformed.

In 1980, HH the Dalai Lama received a humble request from a revered Tibetan monk in America: Perform the Kalachakra initiation—a powerful tantric ritual never before held outside of India or Tibet—in the heart of rural Wisconsin.

 

What followed was nothing short of miraculous. In just a few months, the lama's devoted students overcame local resistance, built a temple from the ground up, and transformed a Midwestern cornfield into a site of ancient wisdom and spiritual awakening, attracting over 1,000 spiritual seekers from around the world.

Captured on film then locked away in Smithsonian vaults for over 40 years, this long-lost footage resurfaces to reveal a story of transformation to buddhahood, and a moment when time, space, and a sacred initiation converged in the unlikeliest of places.

This story of the 1981 Kalachakra is told through the voices of distinguished scholars and the initiates who participated in the 1981 Kalachakra and through personal interviews of the Dalai Lama, filmed in 1981, throughout the preparation and the event.

The Dalai Lama’s Gift is a cinematic meditation on faith, legacy, and the power of one sacred encounter to ripple across generations.

For more information, please explore DalaiLamaGift.org. We invite all to support this project at spiritualpaths.net/donate.

2O24 | US | English | 76 minutes. DIRECTOR/PRODUCER Ed Bastian. Co-PRODUCER  Sharpa Tulku, Catherine Wyler, Jennifer Beman. EDITOR/WRITER Jennifer Beman. MUSIC: Nawang Khechog, Three Dog Night, Daniel Moore. ART AND ANIMATION: Pema Namdol Thaye.

ABOUT: Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive. Bringing the teachings of Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche and the "Kalachakra - Wheel of Time" transmission. Visit at LamaYeshe.com.

• Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive, Nov. 29, 2025; CC Liu, Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Wisdom of Happiness: Dalai Lama (film)

OFFICIAL TRAILER | WISDOM OF HAPPINESS

CIA, it's time for world peace

(Abramorama) The WISDOM OF HAPPINESS shows us a timeless truth: happiness is still possible, even in the midst of chaos and uncertainty. This powerful message of hope is delivered as a personal audience with one of the greatest living thinkers, Nobel Peace Prize winner Tenzin Gyatso, known to billions around the world as the 14th Dalai Lama.

From Executive Producers Richard Gere and Oren Moverman, the film premieres its North American theater tour in 2025. Learn more and sign up to receive updates: wisdomofhappinessfilm.com.

Dalai Lama shares advice for finding happiness in the 21st century in new documentary

(NPR) NPR's Leila Fadel speaks (7-minute listen) with American Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhist actor and activist Richard Gere about the new documentary Wisdom of Happiness in which the current Dalai Lama offers solutions to the 21st century's hurdles to happiness.

• wisdomofhappinessfilm.com
• Abramorama; Richard Gere, Leila Fadel, Morning Edition, Mike Morgan (photo), Movie Interviews (NPR.org), Nov. 26, 2025; CC Liu, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

US funds Israel's genocide: IDF confessions

The Israelis waiting to "settle" Gaza after ethnic cleansing

Austrian police raid house of man who dared to

leak Israeli ambassador's genocide comments

The "most moral army in the world" makes homophobic propaganda via Middle Eastern graffiti

• [Zionist Jewish] Israeli soldiers speak out on [their murderous] killings of Gaza civilians | The Guardian
• (Owen Jones) Israeli soldiers CONFESS their sickening, genocidal war crimes on British TV documentary

Israeli soldiers CONFESS sickening crimes

(Owen Jones) Nov. 11, 2025: The IDF confesses to intentional genocide, no matter how much politicians lie to cover it up or American Jews cry, "We're victims of antisemitism!" Support OJ's expand challenge to the broken mainstream media here owenjones84 or ko-fi.com/owenjones.

Blood for soil, Europeans will own this land.

(The Young Turks) Ana Kasparian talks about "terrorists" we, the USA, are in bed with. Murderer Zionist Jews of the IDF have been saying it, admitting it, confessing it, for a long time at: breakingthesilence.org.il. Genocidal intent? Check. Genocidal acts? Check? Ethnic cleansing? Check? Funded by the USA/CIA, Pentagon, European nations? Check, check, check.

• "Mosquito protocol" - IDF (Jewish Israeli soldiers) used "human shields" while lying and saying the other side was doing it, forcing "agents" to help them kill civilian noncombatants
• "Hannibal Directive" - Jews killing Jews to promote war and win for the side of the State of Israel, funded by the USA and Western powers
• "Zionist" - A person, Jewish or Christian, who wants genocide if that's what it takes to steal the "holy land" for European Jewry and strip it from the indigenous Palestinians, Muslims, Ultra-Orthodox Jews, Christians, and other Semites who long inhabited the area.

Israeli soldiers' slogan: "There are no innocents in Gaza"

It's our Jewish right to kill them

(The Young Turks) Nov. 11, 2025: "Israeli soldiers have described a [Jewish] free-for-all [murder spree] in Gaza and a breakdown in norms and legal constraints [restraints], with [Palestinian] civilians killed at the whim of individual [Zionist Jewish] officers, according to testimony in a TV documentary.

“If you want to shoot without restraint, you can,” Daniel, the commander of an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) tank unit, says in Breaking Ranks: Inside Israel’s War, due to be broadcast in the UK on ITV on Monday evening." More: theguardian.com/world/202...

• Israeli soldier's explosive tell-all: "Palestinians are right to resist" (Abby Martin's Empire Files)

TYT calls itself "the largest online progressive news show in the world" at least the largest one hosted by Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian. LIVE weekdays 6:00-8:00 pm ET. http://youtube.com/theyoungturks/live.

Membership protects TYT's independence from corporate ownership and allows TYT to provide free live shows that speak truth to power for people around the world.

TYT is the largest online news network in the country. It presents news, context, and analysis. It has dozens of on-air hosts [that used to include Jimmy Dore before he got too hot to handle and had to be Russell Branded] on half a dozen major channels on almost all the platforms. TYT also has a live 24-hour news channel that features all its shows. The Young Turks is the flagship show of the TYY Network. The Young Turks is the longest running daily show in internet history. It is about to celebrate its 20th anniversary as a digital native show. It is also the first ever YouTube partner channel. So TYT are the original YouTubers. On the network, TYT does things a little differently than other places. It presents the news first, with all of the facts and context, which is a rarity in commentary-heavy online shows. It then gives analysis and perspective, which is rare in traditional news. TYT commentary and perspective are almost always on the left, but it has an enormous range of opinions on its network. Hosts are allowed to think and say whatever they like [except for Jimmy Dore]. Perspectives usually range from the far left to the center of the political spectrum.