Thursday, December 6, 2012

Kingdom of Shambhala: Architecture, Clothing, Diet, Medicine

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"The highest elite of the country of Shambhala is formed by the priests. The monks wear white, speak Sanskrit, and are all initiated into the mysteries of the Kalachakra Tantra. The majority of them are considered enlightened...... a “white clothed one”, who is generally accepted to be Mani, the founder the Manichaeism......More specific are the white robes which the monks in the kingdom of Shambhala wear. White was the cult color of the Manichaean priestly caste and is not a normal color for clothing in Buddhism......"....http://www.trimondi.de/SDLE/Part-1-10.htm

"The commentary on the Kalachakra-tantra [probably the first commentary on the Kalachakra-tantra by Chandrabhadra, the king of Shambhala and the first recipient of this teaching] says: One should not buy meat, nor should one offer animals in sacrifice to the gods and ancestral spirits. For the Buddha never allowed "marked meat" to be eaten. And by "marked meat" he meat the flesh of animals that have been killed and purchased for food, as well as animals marked for sacrifice.".....http://www.shabkar.org/scripture/tantras/commentary_kalachakratantra.htm

Amrita.....In the Vedas, or Vedic scriptures, Soma is portrayed as sacred and as a god (deva). The god is the plant and the drink; there is no difference. The plant is the god and the drink is the god and the plant is the drink — they are all three the same. Soma is similar to Greek ambrosia (cognate to amrita); it is what the gods drink, and what made them deities. Indra and Agni are known for drinking massive amounts of Soma. Mortals also drink it, giving access to the divine. The Rigveda (8.48.3, tr. Griffith) states...We have drunk Soma and become immortal; we have attained the light....

The houses in the villages of Shambhala are two storied. The people have fine bodies and appearances and they are very wealthy. The men of Shambhala wear caps, and white or red cotton clothes. Women wear white or blue garments pleated and patterned with beautiful designs." (John R. Newman....1985)

The Arab geographers Yaqubi and Moqaddasi (9th and 10th centuries) depict Balkh as it was under Samanid rule, whe Bukhara was the center of power. A large and prosperous city of mud brick some three square miles in area, it held perhaps 200,000 persons. It was surrounded by mud-brick walls pierced by seven gates. ......

"House-dwellings and associated artifacts: Stein, in excavating many towns of the ancient Khotanese, preferred to dig out the more deeply buried structures, as the sands protected them and their contents from the elements as well as looters. Houses and temples were built of sun-dried bricks and clay, due to the lack of stone in the Khotan region. Wooden beams and poles incorporated into the walls and roofs for support were often the first remains found sticking out of desert sands.".....http://www.athenapub.com/9khotan1.htm

Adobe is a natural building material made from sand, clay, water, and some kind of fibrous or organic material (sticks, straw, and/or manure), which the builders shape into bricks (using frames) and dry in the sun. Adobe buildings are similar to cob and mudbrick buildings. Adobe structures are extremely durable, and account for some of the oldest existing buildings in the world. Buildings made of sun-dried earth are common in West Asia, North Africa, West Africa,South America, southwestern North America, Spain, Eastern Europe....Adobe had been in use by indigenous peoples of the Americas in the Southwestern United States, Mesoamerica, and the Andean region of South America for several thousand years, although often substantial amounts of stone are used in the walls of Pueblo buildings. Adobe brickmaking was used in Spain starting by the Late Bronze Age and Iron Age, from the eighth century B.C. on.

"A glimpse into ancient Persian cosmology is the royal city of Echbatana (Hamadan, Agbatana, Ekbatana)[50E 32N] built in 800 BC by King Deioces (Daiukku) of the Medes...Seven concentric circles within walls, each higher than the preceding wall as one passed toward the center hill where the palace (KALA, CAHLA) of the Emperor stood. The 7th and highest wall was painted gold (sun)...the 6th was painted silver (moon)...the 5th wall was painted orange...the fourth was painted blue...the third was painted red...the second black...and the outermost wall was painted white. Orange was the fiery morning 'asman', blue the noonday 'asman', red for the evening asman. The array of colors chosen for the encircling walls of the royal city was similar to that of the robe of warriorhood and sovereignty described in the Denkart." (Leroy Campbell: 1968...pg 97)..

The Diet of Shambhala......Chogyam Trungpa stressed the importance of the Shambhala Diet...."NYIDA: The vegetarian diet of Shambhala. Nyi stands for yellow and green foods, primarily vegetables and fruits, and da for white foods such as milk, yogurt, cheese and tofu......enjoy as your provision only yogurt, milk, white butter, cheese, fresh vegetables, raw fish and white rice. You should refrain from garlic, onions, fat and other meats."

Ephedra is a type of plant that ancient Zorastrians used to create a ritual drink that allowed them to hallucinate and get closer to God. It may well be that the tube was used in some pre- Zorastrial ritual involving ephedra. Ephedra has medicinal factors.

ANAU....."We've been looking at some of these large desert oasis sites in part of the Kara Kum Desert of Turkmenistan which cover an area of 100 miles long by some 50 miles wide. This is an area that is simply dotted with archaeological sites. We call this an 'ancient oasis.' It would have been an area watered in the past with irrigation canals and would have been a lush agricultural oasis where farming would have produced an abundance of wheat and barley. Today it's sandy. The sites are almost gone. It takes excavation to reveal the plans of these buildings. Once the buildings are excavated, we see they are unlike any other area that we have previously worked in Mesopotamia or Iran. These buildings tend to be in the 300 to 500 foot length on each side, often having many series of walls that enclose them surrounded by the fields, the agricultural fields. It's almost like a building complex with dozens and dozens of rooms inside them. Quite unusual and apparently quite an organized society."...Fredrik Talmage Hiebert, Ph.D., Prof. of Anthropology, Univ. of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology and Assistant Curator of Near Eastern Archaeology, Philadelphpia, Pennsylvania

There is a ritual in ancient Persian Zorastrianism that we think would have an early form in the desert oases that would involve leaving the bodies out to return to nature.

Rig Veda.....Cattle are one of the important animals, and several hymns refer to ten thousand and more cattle.[6] Rig Veda 7.95.2. and other verses (e.g. 8.21.18) also mention that the Sarasvati region poured milk and clarified butter (ghee), indicating that cattle were herded in this region. RV 6.28 is called Cows. Text 3 speaks about safety of cows.......In the Rig Veda, the cows figure frequently as symbols of wealth, and also in comparison with river goddesses, e.g. in 3.33.1 cd,

Kalachakra....As for the behavior of the Lalos, whatever country in the world they are in, they have asura aspects or proclivities or are of that family, the party of Maara. Dwelling on having power and violent action, without kindness toward sentient beings is the Lalo form or way....The people in those countries, personally kill camels, horses, and cattle and eat their flesh together with the blood with little cooking, mostly raw, as their only food;

Haoma is the Avestan language name of a plant and its divinity, both of which play a role in Zoroastrian doctrine and in later Persian culture and mythology....Sacred haoma has its origins in Indo-Iranian religion and is the cognate of Vedic soma.Both Avestan haoma and Sanskrit soma derived from proto-Indo-Iranian sauma....Parsi-Zoroastrians use a variant of Ephedra, usually Ephedra procera, imported from the Hari River valley in Afghanistan.

For the most part, Zoroastrianism does not have a notion of reincarnation, at least not until the final renovation of the world. Followers of Ilm-e-Kshnoom in India believe in reincarnation and practice vegetarianism, two principles unknown to Orthodox Zoroastrianism.

Beckwith, Christopher..."The Introduction of Greek Medicine into Tibet in the 7th Century"...Journal of the American Oriental Society #99... (1979)

HAOMA/SOMA...."The ancient Indo-Iranians act of worship often involved the preparation, purification, and the offering of a sacred plant.(Iranian:Haoma) (Indian:Soma). It was mixed with water, milk, and other ingredients and offered as a libation to the gods. Thereafter it was drunk by the participants. See Hymns of Nook 9 of the Rig Veda. The color of the drink was golden." (Acta Iranica: 1985..pg 699)..."Haoma was widely used by warrior and poet as well as priest and seer, playing a part in their lives not unlike that of mead among the ancient Teutonic peoples." (Boyce: 1982...pg 147)...

Siberian shamans use the fly-agaric mushroom in their rituals. (Acta: 1985..pg 700)...

GOLDEN DRINK..." The Golden Drink (gSer-skyems) is the Celestial drink according to which wine is presented to Kings as a substitute for nectar." (Hoffman: 1975..pg 109)..."the yul lha is invited to take a seat and consume his offerings. These consist of the first part of the nourishment (zas phud), bsangs, and gser skyems." (Blondeau: 1996..pg 125)....(ambrosia) (bdud stsi)( sk: amrita)..."Aqua vitae"..."The ancient Indo-Iranians act of worship often involved the preparation, purification, and the offering of a sacred plant, Iranian Haoma, Indian Soma. It was mixed with water or milk and other ingredients and offered as a libation to the gods. Therafter it was drunk. It is a color of golden or yellow. See Book 9 of the Rig Veda." (Acta: 1985..pg 699)..."The Sapa Incans poured a libation to the Sun God from a golden vase before the procession to the Coricancha Temple." (Hawkes: 1962..pg 133)...

SOMA...."a popular drink in the land of the Indo-Iranians...the HUM plant of the Parsis is said to turn sour after a few days...the moons rays and the shoots of the Soma plant....."Oh King Soma..come here...descend!"..."This Soma is pressed for you O Mitra"....the ambrosia is ready in the sky...a piece of gold is tied in a garment and dipped into the oblation...Soma was in the third sky, a leaf w3as cut off, that became the parna. The Parna is holy power. Parna wood is royalty...Butter is brilliance. Soma is splendour. Curd is strength...(Keith: 1967)...

Gonur as the "capital" of the complex in Margiana throughout the Bronze Age. The palace of North Gonur measures 150 metres by 140 metres, the temple at Togolok 140 metres by 100 metres, the fort at Kelleli 3 125 metres by 125 metres, and the house of a local ruler at Adji Kui 25 metres by 25 metres. Each of these formidable structures has been extensively excavated. While they all have impressive fortification walls, gates, and buttresses, it is not always clear why one structure is identified as a temple and another as a palace.Mallory points out that the BMAC fortified settlements such as Gonur and Togolok resemble the QALA , the type of fort known in this region in the historical period. They may be circular or rectangular and have up to three encircling walls. Within the forts are residential quarters, workshops and temples.

MUD-BRICK.......Shibam, which is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, owes its fame to its distinct architecture.The houses of Shibam are all made out of mud brick and about 500 of them are tower houses, which rise 5 to 11 stories high, with each floor having one or two rooms. While Shibam has been in existence for an estimated 1,700 years, most of the city's houses originate from the 16th century. Many, though, have been rebuilt numerous times in the last few centuries. Shibam is often called "the oldest skyscraper city in the world" or "the Manhattan of the desert", and is one of the oldest and best examples of urban planning based on the principle of vertical construction.The city has some of the tallest mud buildings in the world, with some of them over 30 meters (100 feet) high, thus being early high-rise apartment buildings. In order to protect the buildings from rain and erosion, the walls must be routinely maintained by applying fresh layers of mud. The nearby town of Tarim contains the tallest structure in the Wadi Hadhramaut valley, the mudbrick minaret of the Al-Mihdhar mosque. It stands at a height of approximately 53 meters (175 feet.)

"Ashoka taught and persuaded his people to love and respect all living things. According to Dr. Munshi, "he insisted on the recognition of the sanctity of all human life".The unnecessary slaughter or mutilation of animals was immediately abolished. Wildlife became protected by the king's law against sport hunting and branding. Limited hunting was permitted for consumption reasons but the overwhelming majority of Indians chose by their own free will to become vegetarians."....http://www.csuchico.edu/~cheinz/syllabi/asst001/spring98/Ashoka.htm

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Email....okarresearch@gmail.com

John Hopkins.....Northern New Mexico….December 2012

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