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| You're kidding me! Who knew? |
Even in this age of satellite mapping and global positioning, there remain "
lost worlds" where few [modern] humans tread and where species of animals unrecognized by science live.
Kerinci Seblat National Park in
West Sumatra [Indonesia] is one such place. The size of a small country, its dim, steamy interior has never been explored properly. Last month I returned to these jungles for the fourth time to track an elusive and, as yet, unrecorded species of ape known to the locals as
the orang pendek or "short man."
This year's expedition [2011] was the largest of its kind ever to visit the area. It consisted of two teams. The first -- made up of Adam Davies (expedition leader at the
Centre for Fortean Zoology,
CFZ), Dave Archer, Andrew Sanderson, and me -- would concentrate on the highland jungles around Lake Gunung Tujuh. The second team -- consisting of Dr. Chris Clark, Lisa Malam, Rebecca Lang, Mike Williams, Jon McGowan, and Tim De Frel -- would have their base in the "garden" area, the more open, semi-cultivated land that abuts onto the true forest.
According to local reports, the creature has been sighted here on a number of occasions when it comes down to raid crops such as sugar cane.
More
The Buddha and the Bigfoot
G.P. Malalasekera, encyclopedic Dictionary of Pali Proper Names (palikanon.com) edited by Dhr. Seven and Amber Larson, Wisdom Quarterly
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| The Buddha deals with a yeti (yakkha) "ogre" named Alavaka who abducts human females, eats humans (with king's permission), terrorizes the area, and is highly intelligent exhibiting supernormal human faculties we have lost. |
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| Yakkha, Yama, Mara: ogres and death |
Ālavaka: The king of
Ālavi (named Ālavaka) was in the habit of holding a weekly hunt to keep his army fit. One day while hunting, the quarry escaped from where the king lay in wait and, according to custom, it became the king's duty to capture it. Therefore, he followed the small animal for three leagues, killed it, cut it in half, and carried it in a pingo.
On his way back he passed under a large banyan tree that was the abode of the
Yakkha (Yeti) Ālavaka. That ogre had been granted permission by the king of the
yakkhas that allowed him to eat (cannibalize) anybody who came within the shadow of the tree. So he seized the king, but was wily and made a better deal: He agreed to release the king of Alavi if the king would promise to exchange his life for his subjects' lives: at regular intervals he was to provide the ogre with an unwitting human victim and a bowl of food (SnA.i.217ff).
What is a "yakkha"? A class of beings generally described as "non-human" (amanussā). They are mentioned along with fairies (devas), demons (rakkhasas), dānavas, messenger-angels/lowly devas (gandhabbas), avians (kinnaras), and mahoragas (nāgas) (e.g., J.v.420). In other lists (e.g., PvA. 45, 55) they range immediately above the shapeshifting "hungry ghosts" (petas); in fact, some of the happier petas are called yakkhas. Elsewhere (e.g., A.ii.38) they rank, in progressive order, between humans (manussā) and gandhabbā (deva messengers). They are of many different kinds: spirits, ogres, dryads, ghosts, spooks. In the early records, yakkha, like nāgā, as an appellative and was anything but depreciative. So not only is Sakka, who is king of the devas of the two worlds immediately above Earth, referred to in this way (M.i.252; J.iv.4; DA.i.264), but even the Buddha is spoken of as a yakkha in poetic diction (M.i.386). Many devas, such as Kakudha, are also addressed in this way (S.i.54).
The king of Alavi, with the help of the mayor of the town (Nagaraguttika) and his ministers, was able to keep his promise for some time. First he would send criminals to the tree, and the ogre would tear them apart. The ogre's power was such that at the very sight of him men's bodies became as soft as butter presumably with terror as they fainted. But soon there were no criminals left, and each household was forced to sacrifice a child.
Then women, about to bring forth children, began to leave the king's capital. Twelve years passed in this way until the only child left was the king's own son, Alavaka Kumāra. When the king learned of this, he ordered his son the prince to be dressed in all his royal splendor and taken to the ogre. The Buddha, with his Eye of Compassion, saw what was going to happen and went to the ogre's abode.
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Alavaka was away at
a meeting of ogres in the Himalayas (Mt. Himavā, the Land of Snow). His assistant,
Gadrabha, admitted the Buddha, after warning him of the ogre's savage nature. The Buddha went in and sat down on Alavaka's throne while Gadrabha went to Himavā to announce to his master the Buddha's arrival.
While the Buddha was there, teaching the Dharma to Alavaka's women, two other ogres,
Sātāgira and
Hemavata, passing through the air [by dimensional transition or sky vehicle is not stated] on their way to the assembly in Himavā, became aware of the Buddha's presence by their inability to fly over him. [Were they exercising supernormal power of levitation, teleportation, or did the Buddha disrupt the field so that
vimanas, spacecraft, could not operate due to his emanations?] They descended to Alavaka's "palace" [chamber near or under or atop the banyan tree, also named Alavaka], and respectfully bowed before resuming on their journey.
When Alavaka heard from Gadrabha and again from Sātāgira and Hemavata of the Buddha's visit, he was greatly incensed and uttering aloud his name, he hurried to his abode. There with all the various supernatural powers he could command he tried to dislodge the Buddha from his seat. But he was could not succeed even when using his special weapon, the
dussāvudha. It was of no avail against the Buddha.
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| No evidence is good enough, not even bodies -- but perhaps tested, verified DNA? |
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Then, approaching the Awakened One, Alavaka asked him to leave his house, which the Buddha did. He then summoned the Buddha back, and he returned. Three times this happened, and three times the Buddha did as he was asked, possibly figuring that compliance to a brute was the best way to soften his wrath. But the fourth time the Buddha left, he refused to return.
Then clever Alavaka expressed his desire to ask the Buddha some questions, threatening that if he did not answer correctly he would invade him, twist his mind, and toss him bodily to the other shore (other side of the sea). The Buddha was undaunted and informed the ogre that he did not perceive anyone in this world with its
maras (killers, demons) and
devas (fairies, light beings), its kings and gods (
brahmas), who could follow through on those threats. Nevertheless, the Buddha agreed to answer the ogre's questions. They are listed in a famous sutra (
Ālavaka Sutra), and Alavaka is also mentioned in the
Atānātiya Sutra as a follower of the Buddha).
The Buddha answered to Alavaka's satisfaction. And as a result the ogre, being a kind of human, gained stream entry (
sotāpanna), the first stage of enlightenment (SnA.i.239). Note: If he were a subhuman "demon," as the word
yakkha, yaksha, and
rakshasa is often translated, particularly in Hinduism and Tibetan Buddhism, this would not have been possible.
At dawn, King Alavaka's men brought Prince Alavaka-Kumara to the ogre as a sacrifice to preserve the king's life. Hearing the ogre's shouts of joy at the close of the Buddha's enlightening sermon, they marveled. When they announced to the
Yakkha Alavaka that they had brought their customary offering and on top of that handed him the child, he was much abashed in the Buddha's presence.
Alavaka gave the prince to the Buddha, who blessed him and gave him back to the king's messengers. The boy, having passed from the ogre's hands to those of the Buddha, and from there to the king's men, thereafter became known as Hatthaka Alavaka (SnA.i.239-40).
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| "India" was different in the past. |
When the king and the citizens heard that the ogre had become a follower of the Buddha, they built for him a special abode near that of the extraterrestrial
King Vessavana (Kuvera, one of the Four Great Sky Kings of the cardinal directions), who rules over the
yakkhas, . [Note: Native Americans often report an association between UFOs and Sasquatches, e.g., a story of a Bigfoot stepping out of a a small moon that landed on Earth, an ET craft dropping off a Sasquatch for whatever reason, whether this is a "prison planet," as some say, or as an experiment.]
And the good people of Alavi provided the
Yakkha Alavaka with a stream gifts of flowers, perfumes, and so on for his use. The story of Alavaka, of which this only a summary, is given in full in SnA.i.217-40 and in SA.i.244-59. It is also given in brief in AA.i.211-12 with some difference in details.
Bigfoot researcher surrounded by Sasquatch family
(Bigfoot Evidence) Episode of "Call Out": Invermere, British Columbia - Canadian field researcher Todd Standing goes missing while searching to document the existence of Bigfoot in and around Kootenay National Park.
Where is Alavaka?
Alavaka's abode was 30
leagues (league="the distance one could normally walk in an hour") from Sāvatthi, and the Buddha covered the entire journey in one day (SnA.i.220). The abode was near a banyan tree and on or in the ground (
bhummattham) well protected with walls and so on and covered on the top by a metal net, like a cart enclosed on all sides.
It was three leagues in extent, and over it lay the road to Himavā by air (SnA.i.222). Ascetics [possibly levitating over the area], having seen the glittering palace, often came down to find out what it was. The
Yakkha Alavaka would ask them questions regarding their doctrine (
dharma), and when they could not answer he would assume a subtle form and, entering their hearts, would drive them mad (SnA.i.228). This was the threat he made to the Buddha about "perverting his mind" if he could not answer his questions correctly.
The
Yakkha Alavaka shouted his name before starting from Himavā to vanquish the Buddha. He stood with his left foot on Manosilātala and his right on Kelāsakūta. His shout was heard throughout
Jambudīpa (lit. "Rose Apple Land," India) and was one of the four shouts mentioned in tradition as having travelled so far (SnA.i.223; for the others see
Punnaka,
Vissakamma, and
Kusā).
Alavaka had a special [likely extraterrestrial] weapon, the
dussāvudha, one of the four most powerful in all the world, comparable to these extraterrestrial rulers:
It had the power, if it were thrown into the sky, of stopping rain for a dozen years and if cast on the earth of destroying all trees and crops for a like period. If hurled into the sea it would dry up all the water, and it could shatter
Sineru (Mt. Sumeru, with its seven mountain ranges, a transit vortex extending up into space) into pieces. It was made of cloth and is described as a
vatthāvudha, and it was worn as a part of the
Yakkha Alavaka's upper garment (
uttariya).
There are three salient features in the story of Alavaka that link it closely to the large circle of stories grouped by Prof.Watanabe (J.P.T.S.1909-10, pp.240ff) under the title of
Kalmāsapāda stories:
- (1) The man-eating yakkha;
- (2) the captured king saving himself by a promise to provide the yakkha with offerings, and the sanctity or inviolability of that promise; and
- (3) the conversion of the yakkha.
The conversion of Alavaka is considered one of the chief incidents of the Buddha's life (e.g., J.iv.180; vi.329; Mhv.xxx.84). Alavaka's name appears in the
Atānātiya Sutta, among the
yakkhas to whom followers of the Buddha should appeal for protection in time of need (D.iii.205). (See also
Alavaka Sutta).
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