Yum Chenmo & Shenlha Okar

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The Four Transcendent Lords (bde gshegs gtso bo bzhi)....
1. Yingkyi Yum Chenmo (dbyings kyi yum chen mo).........aka: Satrig Ersang, Lhamo (sa trig er sangs, lha mo: Goddess)....Great Mother of Wisdom, Yum Chenmo......
2. Lhachen Shen lha Okar (lha chen g.shen lha 'od dkar, Lha chen)...
3. Sid pa Sangpo Bumtri (srid pa sangs po 'bum khri)...
4. Tonpa Shenrab Miwo (ston pa g.shen rab mi bo)....
These four are also known as: Lhamo, Lhachen, Sidpa and Shenrab (lha mo, lha chen, srid pa, g.shen rab)......http://www.himalayanart.org

gShen-lha od-dkar......."In Tibetan Bon-religion, the god of the 'white light' who forms with the goddess Yum-chen-mo the primeval pair of gods. All the other gods are their descendants. In Lamaism he is the god of wisdom........In Tibet Prajnaparamita is known as Yum Chenmo or the “Great Mother” and features prominently in the Chod dharma system created by one of the most well known yoginis Machik Labdron (approx. 1055-1150 AD) who is considered to be an emanation of Yum Chenmo.....Jerome Edou quotes Machik's biography in his book Machig Labdron and the foundations of Chod with this description of Yum Chenmo given to Machik Labdron by the Bodhisattva Tara Herself to explain why she manifests in an anthropomorphic manner: "The Primodial Mother, Yum Chenmo, is the ultimate nature of all phenomenon, emptiness, suchness [Skt. Dharmata], free from the two veils. She is the pure essence of the sphere of emptiness, the insight on non-self. She is the matrix that gives birth to all the Buddhas of the three times. However, to give beings the opportunity to accumulate spirtual merits, she manifests as an object of veneration."....by Micha F. Lindemans.....…..http://www.pantheon.org/articles/s/shen-lha_od-dkar.html

"Satrig Ersang, ས་ཏྲིག་ཨེར་སངས། The Mother of Space, Supreme Deity of the Bön religion of Tibet, also called Yum Chen Mo, Great Goddess, and Byams-Ma ("The Mother of Tender Compassion").".....

"In the Bön religion, Sipe Gyalmo, the Queen of the World, is the most wrathful manifestation of the peaceful Goddess, Sherab Chamma – Loving Mother of Wisdom, who is the principal meditational form of Satrig Ersang of the Four Transcendent Lords. Sherab Chamma, also called in Tibetan language “Thugje Chamma”, (the loving mother of compassion) is considered in the Bön tradition to be the Gyalyum (rgyal yum), the Mother of all Buddhas. She embodies the perfection of wisdom. In the Buddhist tradition of India Chamma is called Prajnaparamita or Tara, the ‘saviouress.'” ...https://journeyingtothegoddess.wordpress.com/2012/04/18/

Mantra Video on Youtube..........https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRgXItEe5bw

"Satrig Ersang.......(Tibetan: sa trig er sangs): the principal female deity of the Bon Religion. Satrig Ersang ranks with the highest of Bon Deities/Gods being included as one of the four Transcendent Lords and named first among them. She is typically only depicted in the company of the Four Transcendent Lords and together they form a set of paintings, sculptural figures or murals that are generally found in each and every Bon temple or shrine. In paintings she is commonly surrounded by the two hundred and fifty sanggye (enlightened ones) .... all female. Each of the four Transcendent Lords is surrounded by a similar group making a total of 1000 sanggye of the Bon Tradition. In the West this assembly of 1000 has often been mistaken for the 1000 Buddhas of the aeon according to the Buddhist -Mahayana Tradition........Description: Peaceful in appearance, female and beautiful, Satrig Ersang has one face and two hands. Typically she has the two hands held at the heart holding the stems of two flowers supporting a yungdrung on the right side and a mirror on the left above the shoulders. The two legs are in a tight cross legged posture. Sherab Chamma is another form of Satrig Ersang and can be thought of as an activity manifestation of Satrig Ersang where she takes on the roles of a meditational deityy, a deity of healing such as Yeshe Walmo, and in her most horrific of appearances as Sipai Gyalmo ... the principal protector of the Bon Religion......".....http://www.scribd.com/doc/205934311/Satig-Ersang-Bon-Deity#scribd

"Yum Chenmo/Prajnaparamita/The Great Mother......Yum Chenmo, or Prajnaparamita in Sanskrit meaning Transcendent Perfection of Wisdom. She is depicted in feminine form because it is this perfect wisdom which gives birth to all of the Buddhas, as well as the bodhisattvas, those who are striving for enlightenment to benefit all beings. Yum Chenmo represents the union of primordial wisdom and the skillful means of compassion......Prajnaparamita is often personified as a bodhisattvadevi (female bodhisattva). Artifacts from Nalanda depict the Prajnaparamita personified as a goddess. .....

"Shenlha Ökar...... (Wylie: gshen lha 'od dkar) or Shiwa Ökar (Wylie: zhi ba 'od dkar) is the most important deity in the Yungdrung Bon tradition of Tibet. He is counted among the "Four Transcendent Lords" (Wylie: bde bar gshegs pa) along with Satrig Ersang (Sherab Chamma), Sangpo Bumtri, and Tonpa Shenrab Miwoche.......Shenlha Ökar means "wisdom gshen of white light;" the variant Shiwa Okar means "peaceful white light." The Bon term gShen can mean "priest or shaman" or possibly in this case "deity who is a priest." In some accounts he is considered the sambhogakāya form of Tonpa Shenrab Miwoche, the founder of Bon (the nirmāṇakāya aspect). In other accounts, he is visited by Shenrab Miwoche when Miwoche is in a prior incarnation known as Salwa. Additionally, some categorize him as "corresponding exactly to the Buddhist category of dharmakāya."......Shenlha Okar is said to have created the world with the help of nine brother gods or nine cosmic gods (See: The Golden Dot text by Chogyam Trungpa)..... (Wylie: srid pa'i lha) who appear as war gods or drala (Wylie: dgra bla). He is also considered a god of compassion with many parallels to Avalokiteśvara and also with Amitābha....Shenlha Okar is depicted with a white body "like the essence of crystal," ".....https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shenlha_Okar

"Sherab Chamma, the Wisdom Loving Mother, is the embodiment of loving compassion......Yum Chen Sherab Chamma (The Great Wisdom Loving Mother) is known as the Mother of all Enlightened Ones and source of all love and Compassion.......All Bön deities come from Chamma, she is the compassionate and wise mother of all. Chamma is the feminine counterpart to Shenlha Odkar. Her body is also “dzo ku,” the body of perfection. Chamma is available to everyone for comfort, guidance and healing as she has the power to dispel all obstacles such as fear, sickness, sadness or negative impact of demonic forces. She is thereby able to prolong life. Chamma holds a mirror in her left hand. This mirror represents the purity of Chamma heart as reflected in a perfect understanding of the karma and suffering of all beings. The vase in her right hand contains the essence of the potential hopes, dreams and accomplishments of all who are committed to Chamma. Her throne is supported, like Shenlha Odkar, by two snow lions representing her supremacy over all life."......http://kwling.org/bon/dieties/

"BÖN DEITIES.......Enlightened beings are often depicted as deities, although they are not seen as gods (lha), who are still within the samsaric cycle of existence, but rather as fully enlightened buddhas. They may appear in either peaceful form or in wrathful forms, and are the focus of deity yoga meditation practice and invocations for protection......
THE FOUR SUGATAS.......Within the Bön tradition, there are Four Principal Sugatas (Conqueror Buddhas), referred to as the Four Peaceful Deities:
1. Sangpo Bumtri: the Creator Dharmakaya Deity
2. Sherab Chamma: the mother of all Buddhas. She embodies the perfection of wisdom and love. She is also known as Satrig Ersang, her Zhang Zhung name.....Yum Chen Sherab Chamma (The Great Wisdom Loving Mother) is known as the Mother of all Enlightened Ones and source of all love and Compassion......All Bön deities come from Chamma, she is the compassionate and wise mother of all. Chamma is the feminine counterpart to Shenlha Odkar. Her body is also “dzo ku,” the body of perfection. Chamma is available to everyone for comfort, guidance and healing as she has the power to dispel all obstacles such as fear, sickness, sadness or negative impact of demonic forces. She is thereby able to prolong life. Chamma holds a mirror in her left hand. This mirror represents the purity of Chamma heart as reflected in a perfect understanding of the karma and suffering of all beings. The vase in her right hand contains the essence of the potential hopes, dreams and accomplishments of all who are committed to Chamma. Her throne is supported, like Shenlha Odkar, by two snow lions representing her supremacy over all life..
3. Shenlha Okar: the God of Compassion, a Sambhogakaya emanation of Sangpo Bumtri’s love in the world working within Lord Tonpa Shenrab.....the Deity (lha) is Shenlha Odkar....the deity of Supreme Compassion. Out of his compassion the Bon teachings and practices have grown to assist all sentient beings on the path to liberation. He is the master teacher of all teachers and teaching has become his primary activity. Odkar means ‘white light’ and his body of light is pearlescent, the body of perfection (dzog ku). Shenlha Odkar is always dressed in elaborate, ceremonial robes with his hands in the meditation mudra. He sits on a throne supported by two snow lions, which represent Shenlha Odkar’s supremacy over all life forms.
4. Tonpa Shenrab Miwoche (Lord Buddha Tonpa): the Nirmanakaya Buddha and World Teacher.
http://bonsociety.com/?page_id=93

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Email....okarresearch@gmail.com

June 2015

John Hopkins....Northern New Mexico

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King Yeshe-Ö (c. 959 - 1040 AD) & Kapisa/Od'iana

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Yeshe-Ö (c. 959 - 1040)......Yeshe-od....Yeshe O’d..... (birth name, Khor-re; spiritual names: Jangchub Yeshe-Ö, Byang Chub Ye shes' Od, Lha Bla Ma, Hla Lama Yeshe O, Lalama Yixiwo, bKra shis mgon; also Dharmaraja, meaning Noble King, Yeshe Wo) was the first notable lama-king in Tibet...... Yeshe-Ö was a monk-king born Khor-re, he is better known as Lhachen Yeshe-Ö, his spiritual name. .... He was the second king in the succession of the Kingdom of Guge in the southwestern Tibetan Plateau. The extent of the kingdom was roughly equivalent to the area of the Kingdom Zhangzhung that had existed until the 7th century..... Yeshe-Ö abdicated the throne c. 975 to become a lama. In classical Tibetan historiography, the restoration of an organized and monastic tradition of Tibetan Buddhism is attributed to Yeshe-Ö. He built Tholing Monastery in 997 when Tholing (Chinese: Zanda) was the capital of Guge. Yeshe-Ö' sponsored noviciates, including the great translator Rinchen Zangpo."

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"While Langdarma persecuted Buddhism in Tibet, his grandson, King Yeshe-Ö, who ruled the Guge Kingdom in the 10th century with Tholing as its capital, was responsible for the second revival or "second diffusion" of Buddhism in Tibet; the reign of the Guge Kingdom was known more for the revival of Buddhism than for its conquests. He built Tholing Monastery in his capital city in the 997 AD along with two other temples built around the same time, Tabo Monastery in the Spiti Valley of Northeast India and Khochar Monastery (south of Purang); both these monasteries are functional.".....Swenson, Karen (19 March 2000). "Echoes of a Fallen Kingdom".

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"Of the twenty-one individuals he sent to Kashmir to study Sanskrit, only two survived to return from the arduous journey to inform him of the great master Atisha.....One of these students later became The Great Translator Rinchen Zangpo who, through his scholarly excellence and dharma dedication together with the king’s support, helped effect what is known as the Second Great Transmission of Buddhism..... It spanned the late 10th to 12th centuries C.E.".....https://artistfulbrightindia.wordpress.com/2013/11/17/the-golden-gift-of-yeshe-od/

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"Purang-Guge kingdom was a small Western Himalayan kingdom which was founded and flourished in the 10th century. It covered parts of remote western Tibet and northern Ladakh....The original capital was at Burang (Wylie: spu hreng) but was moved to Tholing in the Sutlej canyon southwest of Mount Kailash. It was divided into smaller kingdoms around the year 1100 CE..... Tholing, at 12,400 feet (3,800 m), the last town before Tsaparang in the kingdom of Guge was then its capital, (163 miles from Darchen). It was founded by the great-grandson of Langdarma, who was assassinated, leading to the collapse of the Tibetan Empire....Buddhist monuments at both Tsaparang and Tholing are now mostly in ruins except for a few statues and scores of murals in good condition, painted in the western Tibetan style."..........Swenson, Karen (19 March 2000). "Echoes of a Fallen Kingdom".

"Tholing Monastery (or Toling, mtho lding dgon pa མཐོ་ལྡིང་དགོན་པ) (Tuolin si 托林寺) is the oldest monastery (or gompa) in the Ngari Prefecture of western Tibet. It is situated in Tholing (Zanda), Zanda County, near the Indian border of Ladakh. It was built in 997 AD by Yeshe-Ö, the second King of the Guge Kingdom. In Tibetan language 'Tholing' means "hovering in the sky forever" .... Chorten of King Yeshe Ö (Tholing (Zhada)......in Tholing (Zanda), Zanda County, near the Indian border of Ladakh. It was built in 997 AD by Yeshe-Ö, the second King of the Guge Kingdom....The temple is reported to have been reconstructed after it had been demolished by the Chinese."

".....about 1580 AD Buddhaguptanatha locates Urgyan in Ghazni, in modern Afghanistan, which is in contrast with the traditional location of Urgyan in the Swat area. Here, Taranatha gives a detailed description of the country and Dumasthira, the focal location of the magic dakini women:.....[Dumasthira]… is surrounded by mountains, valleys and dense forests and it sits in the midst of all of them. Going from east to west directly, it measures about two days’ journey and from south to north is about four days. Dumasthira is the only city in Urgyan. It’s the size of a small Indian city......There are four ways that lead out of the central area and the outer lands of Urgyan are also very extensive. It is in Muslim control, and even today, in the central part, there is not the slightest vestige of the order of Buddhist monks any longer. There are, however, groups of fully renunciate yogis, upasakas [lay people] and tirthikas [Jainas], as well as the Muslims there......It appears that most of the women of this town are of the dakini family and that they are fully accomplished in their spiritual practice. They are powerful in their exercise of mantras and they know how to both help and hinder with them. They are skilled in adopting various physical forms and they have the ability to work with the mystic gaze.....They displayed various magical abilities involving birds and my master, Buddhaguptanatha, saw these miracles with his very own eyes and he told me of them. He said that previously when he was in Upper Hor [Muslim territories]… he was fully protected by the mantras that he had received from those dakinis in Urgyan, as well as by his own physical powers. Urgyan is surrounded to the east, the south and the west by three large lakes. When he… crossed over the pass he came into the Hor Mleccha land of Balkh [northern central area of modern Afghanistan]......"Buddhaguptanatha and the Late Survival of the Siddha Tradition in India D Templeman

"Yeshe-Ö (c. 959 - 1040) (birth name, Khor-re; spiritual names: Jangchub Yeshe-Ö, Byang Chub Ye shes' Od, Lha Bla Ma, Hla Lama Yeshe O, Lalama Yixiwo, bKra shis mgon; also Dharmaraja, meaning Noble King) was the first notable lama-king in Tibet. Yeshe-Ö was a monk-king in western Tibet. Born Khor-re, he is better known as Lhachen Yeshe-Ö, his spiritual name. He was the second king in the succession of the kingdom of Guge in the southwestern Tibetan Plateau. The extent of the kingdom was roughly equivalent to the area of the kingdom Zhangzhung that had existed until the 7th century. Yeshe-Ö abdicated the throne c. 975 to become a lama. In classical Tibetan historiography, the restoration of an organized and monastic tradition of Tibetan Buddhism is attributed to Yeshe-Ö. He built Tholing Monastery in 997 when Tholing (Chinese: Zanda) was the capital of Guge. Yeshe-Ö' sponsored noviciates, including the great translator Rinchen Zangpo."......Powers, John; Templeman, David (18 May 2012). Historical Dictionary of Tibet. Scarecrow Press.

Atisha's Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment........By Geshe Sonam Rinchen

Shangri-La: A Practical Guide to the Himalayan Dream.......By Michael Buckley

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Email....okarresearch@gmail.com

June 2015

John Hopkins....Northern New Mexico

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Yeshe kyi spyan, Buddha Wisdom Eyes and Miksang

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"On virtually every stupa, which is a shrine of Buddhism, in Nepal, there are giant pairs of eyes staring out from the four sides of the main tower.......These are Buddha Eyes (also known as Wisdom Eyes), and they look out in the four directions to symbolize the omniscience (all-seeing) of a Buddha. The Buddha eyes are so prevalent throughout the country that they have become a symbol of Nepal itself......Between the Buddha's eyes where the nose would be is a curly symbol that looks like question mark. This is the Nepali character for the number 1, which symbolizes unity of all the things as well as the one way to reach enlightenment—through the Buddha's teachings. Above this is a third eye, symbolizing the all-seeing wisdom of the Buddha.".......Swayambunath Stupa, Kathmandu - Sacred Destinations

"The earliest written record of the Swayambunath Stupa's existence is a 5th-century stone inscription, but scholars believe there was probably a shrine here as early as the 1st century. Even before that, it is likely that animist rites took place on this hill. Swayambunath is one of Nepal's oldest Buddhist temples and it has an ancient atmosphere, especially when one approaches on foot with the pilgrims."...http://www.sacred-destinations.com/nepal/kathmandu-swayambhunath-stupa

Number one....ek (A-kh) .... १ .... एक ...... Ek

Ancient buddhism stupa with buddha eyes in gyantse tibet.

"Miksang is a Tibetan word meaning "good eye." It represents a form of contemplative photography based on the Dharma Art teachings of Chögyam Trungpa, in which the eye is in synchronisation with the contemplative mind. The result of this particular perception of the world, combined with photography, produces a peculiar and open way of seeing the world. ".....Midal, Fabrice (2004) Chögyam Trungpa: His Life and Vision

"Dzi bead (Tib. གཟི།; pronounced "zee"; alternative spelling: gzi) is a type of stone bead of uncertain origin worn as part of a necklace and sometimes as a bracelet. In several Asian cultures, including that of Tibet, the bead is considered to provide positive spiritual benefit. These beads are generally prized as protective amulets ......The number of "eyes," circular designs on the Dzi stones, is considered significant. The symbolic meaning of these beads is based on the number and arrangement of the dots. The highest number of eyes on ancient dzi is twelve....Dzi stones made their first appearance between 2000 and 1000 BC.....a few hundred thousand were supposedly brought back by Tibetan soldiers from Persia or ancient Tajikistan during a raid. The malicious effect of the “evil eye” was taken very seriously by these people. Dzi were considered to counteract the evil eye. The artisans who made the dzi created amulets with “eyes” on them as a “fight fire with fire” form of protection."....https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dzi_bead

An ancient goat eye bead from a site in Warad-Sin, Iraq. This ancient Mesopotamian bead is very similar to the Luk Mik beads used by Tibetans. Beads like these are also found in Afghanistan and Bactria.

"Five eyes.....The five kinds of vision, or literally “five eyes” (Skt. pañcacakṣu; Tib. chen nga; Wyl. spyan lnga) are:
Māṃsacakṣu.....the eye of flesh (Skt. māṃsacakṣu; Wyl. sha’i spyan), which refers to an eye faculty developed through the force of one’s merit, having the ability to see all forms, gross or subtle, from one hundred leagues through to the limits of the three thousand-fold universe;
Divyacakṣu.... the divine eye (Skt. divyacakṣu; Wyl. lha’i spyan), which is the effortless ability to see the births and deaths of all beings and is a result of the practice of meditation in past lives... From a human perspective, devas share the characteristic of being invisible to the physical human eye. The presence of a deva can be detected by those humans who have opened the divyacaksu (Pali: dibbacakkhu),
Prajñācakṣu.....the wisdom eye (Skt. prajñācakṣu; Wyl. shes rab kyi spyan), which sees the truth of dharmata;
Dharmacakṣu.....the Dharma eye (Skt. dharmacakṣu; Wyl. chos kyi spyan), which is the knowledge of the Dharma of scripture (or transmission) and realization, and of the faculties of noble beings who possess this Dharma;
Buddhacakṣu.....the Buddha eye (Skt. buddhacakṣu; Wyl. ye shes kyi spyan), which is the primordial wisdom (yeshé) that sees all aspects of everything that can be known.... ability to the appearance and the natural purity of phenomenon at the same time.........ye shes kyi spyan.......the eye of wisdom [RY].......spyan lnga, eye of wisdom [JV].........wisdom eyes [RY] .
.......http://www.rigpawiki.org

"...the five eyes; five levels of vision/ clairvoyance: the physical eye, divine eye, the eye of knowledge, the Dharma eye, and the buddha eye. [TRS 56-2] expl; the five eyes, ཤའི་སྤྱན་ལྷའི་སྤྱན་ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་སྤྱན་ཆོས་ཀྱི་སྤྱན་སངས་རྒྱས་ཀྱི་སྤྱན་ "......http://dictionary.thlib.org

"From the heart to the eyes there is a connecting vessel-path (maidao). It is the most secret duct (ji mimi guan) like crystal whose name is Kati. ...This Crystal Duct is a vessel-path linking the heart to the eyes and is qualified as li ..., "a principle absolutely free from any error".......the Far-reaching Water Lamp is a vessel that from the navel wheel passes through the heart and opens into the eyes. From the back of the brain it divides into two branches which look like wild ox horns (below the brain it becomes a single root). ...The smooth and luminous tip of this horn-like branch is the pupil; it is "like the light on the surface of clear water allowing light to move and reflecting objects; this is why it is called Vessel of the Far-reaching Water Lamp ... ." It is at the same time a synonym of the Crystal Duct, the "principle" which links the four following vessels (Ch. qimai ...) :
(1) Kati—The Great Golden Vessel (Ch. gadi／jiadi da jinmai ..., Tib. ka ti gser gyi rtsa chen) located inside the central channel and linking this channel to the center of the heart;
(2) The White Silk Thread Vessel (Ch. baisixian mai ..., Tib. dar dkar skud pa) enclosed in the Kati Vessel and going through the Brahmå Cavity (Ch. fanxue ..., Tib. tshang bu). This is the path for the practice of transferring consciousness (Ch. powa ..., kaiding fa ..., Tib. ’pho ba);
(3) The Subtly Coiled Vessel (Ch. xixuan mai ..., Tib. phra la ’dril ba) located inside the four wheels of navel, heart, throat, and sinciput;
(4) The Crystal Duct Vessel (Ch. jingguan mai ..., Tib. shel sbug can), a synonym of the Vessel of the Far-reaching Water Lamp, is the channel which links the heart to the eyes and supports the manifestations of countless luminous spheres and bright strands (Ch. wushu mingdian lianxi guangming ...).
....."rDzogs-chen in China".......rDzogs-chen is Bon........Monica Esposito : "rDzogs-chen in China : from Chan to "Tibetan Tantrism"". In :- E’COLE FRANC,AISE D’EXTRE^ME-ORIENT, E’TUDES THE’MATIQUES 22 = Monica Esposito (editrix) : Images of Tibet in the 19th and 20th Centuries. 2 Voll., continuously paginated. Paris, 2008. pp. 473-548 (in 2nd Vol.). ......http://texts.00.gs/rDzogs-Chen_in_China.htm

Four lamps (Wyl. sgron ma bzhi) — terms related to the path of tögal
the far-reaching water lamp (rgyang zhags chu'i sgron ma)
the lamp of the basic space of awareness (rig pa dbyings kyi sgron ma)
the lamp of empty spheres (thig le stong pa'i sgron ma)
the lamp of naturally arising wisdom (shes rab rang byung gi sgron ma)
http://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Four_lamps

"Ajna (Sanskrit: आज्ञा, IAST: Ājñā, English: "command") or third-eye chakra is the sixth primary chakra according to Hindu tradition......Ajna is white in color, with two white petals. Inside the pericarp is the Shakti Hakini. It is depicted with a white moon, six faces, and six arms holding a book, a skull, a drum, and a rosary, while making the gestures associated with granting boons and dispelling fears. The downward pointing triangle above her contains a moon-white lingum. In some systems the deity Ardhanarishvara, a hermaphrodite form of Shiva-Shakti, symbolising the primordial duality of subject and object, resides within the lingum. Above that triangle is another smaller triangle containing the bija mantra, Aum......Bija or Seed mantra: The seed syllable is Aum, or "Pranava Om," the supreme sound."....https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajna

"The Eye Of Horus is an Egyptian symbol of protection, royal power and good health. Horus was the ancient Egyptian sky god who was usually depicted as a falcon, and his right eye was associated with the Sun God RA who ruled in all parts of the created world: The Sky, The Earth and The Underworld.....The Egyptians worshipped the Sun as the sun was seen as the ruler of all of creation. RA is always shown with a sacred sun disk on his head which represents enlightenment and connection to Divine Intelligence."

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Email....okarresearch@gmail.com

June 2015

John Hopkins....Northern New Mexico

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The White Turban & Historical Shambhala

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".....During the ceremony men and women should clothe themselves in white and wind a white cloth around their head......"......A turban is a type of headwear that is made by cloth winding...... Turbans have often been worn by nobility, regardless of religious background.....White turbans are generally a symbol of peace and purity......https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turban

"The Indian images of the Buddha represent him with short locks, for, according to Buddhist tradition, Gautama, after his flight from the palace, drew forth his sword and cut off his long hair. In the Mahdvastu it is written that the hair was caught by the gods and carried to the Trayastrimsa heavens, where it was worshipped as a sacred relic. According to some accounts, they carried away his turban as well. The Gandhara school never portrayed the Buddha, however, with short locks, but depicted the event by his taking off his turban and ear-rings. The short locks, following tradition, should curl from left to right and were represented by the Indian artists in the shape of sea-shells.".........The Gods of Northern Buddhism: Their History and Iconography..... Alice Getty - 1964

"The Buddhas of the Gandhara sculptures show strong Hellenic influence. The features are Grecian. The hair, long and wavy, is caught up in a knot in place of the protuberance of the skull of the Indian images..... The firna is sometimes omitted, and the lobes of the ears are somewhat elongated by the weight of the ear-rings which he wore during his youth, but not to the abnormal extent characteristic of the Indian school. In the early images there is no moustache, but later statues have a slight moustache which one also sees in Japan and in China. In fact the Gandhara images of the Buddha may have both a moustache and, when in the ascetic form of Gautama, a beard. The right arm and shoulder are never bare, but are covered by the monastic garment draped in the Grecian fashion over the left shoulder.".....The Gods of Northern Buddhism: Their History and Iconography..... Alice Getty - 1964

HEAD OF BODHISATTVA WITH A TURBAN GANDHÂRA ( 2 Nd - 5 Th. Cent.) .....If there exists an original art amongst all of them, it would have to be that of Gandhâra: born of the union of the Greek and Indian cultures between the 1st and the 7th century AD, it would develop in a geographic triangle which today corresponds to the part of Afghanistan situated to the North of the Kabul (aka: Sita) River, .....http://www.galeriegolconda.com/en/products/head-of-bodhisattva-with-turban-gandhara-2nd-5th-cent/

"In the course of Xuanzang’s 16 year travels, he characterizes each kingdom, describing the length and breadth of the kingdom, the size of the capital, tells us about the soil, products, climate, describes the inhabitants, their clothes, style of writing, money government, kings, codes of law along with his purely Buddhist concerns….he carefully notes the characteristics of the people, their education, customs, products, dress…..those of the higher altitudes dressed in wool….those of the temperate valleys dressed in cotton…..

"The people of Uddiyana, according to Huen Tsiang, were gentle, soft and effeminate. In our imagination he conjures a scene of healthy, tanned people, mostly clothed in pure white cotton. The men have white turbans, the women soft flowing saris, also white. These are a gentle, happy people, rarely endangered by war or calamity. They are a society appreciative of fine culture, and they are all, reported Huen Tsiang, great lovers of learning.

"....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 origins of the turban are uncertain. Early Persians in modern Iran and Phrygians in modern Turkey wore a conical cap (Phrygian cap) encircled by bands of cloth, which historians have suggested was developed to become the modern turban, but other theories suggest it was first widely worn in Egypt. An early attestation for knowledge of the turban is found in the Roman author Ovid's Metamorphoses, dating to the 1st century BC. Ovid recounts the myth that Midas king of the Phrygians, an Indo-European people of central Turkey, wore a royal purple turban to cover his donkey ears.....A style of turban called a phakeolis continued to be worn in that region by soldiers of the Byzantine army in the period 400-600, as well as by Byzantine civilians as depicted in Greek frescoes from the 10th century in the province of Cappadocia in modern Turkey, where it was still worn by their Greek-speaking descendants in the early 20th century. The Islamic prophet, Muhammad, who lived 570-632, is believed to have worn a turban in white, the most holy colour. Many Muslim men choose to wear green, because it represents paradise, especially among followers of Sufism. In parts of North Africa, where blue is common, the shade of a turban can signify the tribe of the wearer."......https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turban

"In India, the turban is referred to as a pagri......There are several styles, which are specific to the wearer's region or religion, and they vary in shape, size and colour. The pagri is a symbol of honour and respect everywhere it is worn. It is a common practice to honour important guests by offering them one to wear......Colours are often chosen to suit the occasion or circumstance: for example saffron, associated with valour or sacrifice (martyrdom), is worn during rallies; white, associated with peace, is worn by elders; and pink, associated with spring, is worn during that season or for marriage ceremonies......Traditionally, the royal elite of India, especially in Northern India, use to wear a long pagri which was also a symbol of nobility, honour and respect.".....https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turban

‘The Eye of the Tiger’, was mounted by Cartier in a turban aigrette for the the Jam Ranjitsinhji or Maharajah Ranjitsinhji Jam of Nawanagar in 1934.

"Turbans are part of the national dress in Afghanistan. They are used more widely than elsewhere in the Muslim world, and are worn in a wide range of styles and colors. In the country's southeast, turbans are wrapped loosely and largely, whereas in Kabul the garment tends to be smaller and tighter. In traditional Afghan society, a related piece of extra cloth called a patu serves practical purposes, such as for wrapping oneself against the cold, to sit on, to tie up an animal or to carry water in the cap. Different ethnic groups in Afghanistan wear different lungees with different patterns, way of styling it, fabric, stripes, lengths and colouration. Some styles are, however, nationwide. The styles extend and overlap into western Pakistan.".....https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turban

"The Pakol......flat, woolen, rolled-up hat is nowadays one of the undisputed symbols of Afghanistan. But how such a humble garment, stemming from the remotest corners of the Hindu Kush mountains, made it to international appreciation on par with lavish silky chapans and majestic four-meter-long lungis, remains somewhat of a mystery......labels like “Nuristani hat” or “Chitrali hat”, would come closer to the historical truth"......Looking at Hellenistic coins, statues or frescoes found from Italy to India, hats similar to pakols were a relatively common sight on the heads of Macedonians. Pictures of the ancient headgear called kausia bear in fact a striking resemblance to the modern pakol, most likely rendering the pakol a legacy of Alexander the Great in the 4th century BC..... the pakol firmly established in the whole of Nuristan, although the westernmost valley of Ramgal still shows a mix of pakols and small white turbans similar to those then used by the inhabitants of neighboring Panjshir.....https://www.afghanistan-analysts.org

Image of a Jashan with over 300 priests in attendance.....In the Zoroastrian faith a Jashan ceremony is a celebration.........The priests, when in prayer, wear snow-white vestments; for Zoroastrians, white is the color of purity and holiness.

"The characteristic costume of the Parsees is loose and flowing, very picturesque in appearance, and admirably adapted to the climate in which he lives. The head is covered with a turban, or a cap of a fashion peculiar to the Parsees; it is made of stiff material, something like the European hat, without any rim, and has an angle from the top of the forehead backwards. It would not be respectful to uncover in presence of an equal, much less of a superior. The colour is chocolate or maroon, except with the priests, who wear a white turban."....

Rembrandt, "Portrait of the Artist" (c.1665)....a floppy white turban, the headgear Rembrandt sports in several of his self-portraits from the 1660s.

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Email....okarresearch@gmail.com

June 2015

John Hopkins....Northern New Mexico

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Ancient Yonā & the White Clad Yonakā Buddhists

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"Yona or Yonaka: The Yonaka or Yona country was visited, according to the Dīpavaṁsa and Mahāvaṁsa (Chap. XII) by the Thera Mahārakkhita......According to the Sāsanavaṁsa (p. 12) the Yonakaraṭṭha is the country of the Yavana or Yona people......The Rock Edicts V and XIII of Asoka mention the Yonas as a subject people, forming a frontier district of Asoka’s Empire. The exact situation of the Yonaka country is difficult to be determined.....According to the Mahāvaṁsa, its chief city was Alasanda identified with Alexandria near Kabul in the Paropanisadae country (Mahāvaṁsa, tr., p. 194; Trenckner, Milindapañho, p. 82).".....Geography of Early Buddhism.....http://www.ancient-buddhist-texts.net/Reference/Geography-of-Early-Buddhism/02-Northern-India.htm

"Yonā, Yavanā, Yonakā:.........a country and its people, probably the Pāli equivalent for Ionians, the Bactrian Greeks. The Yonas are mentioned along with the Kambojas in Rock Edicts v. and xii of Buddhist Emperor Asoka as a subject people, forming a frontier district of his empire. The country was converted by the Thera Mahārakkhita, who was sent there after the Third Council (Mhv.xii.5; Dpv.viii.9; Sp.i.67)......In the time of Milinda the capital of the Yona country was Sāgala (Mil.1). It is said (Mhv.xxix.39) that at the foundation ceremony of the "Great Reliquary Shrine (Mahā Stūpa), 30,000 monastics, under Yona Mahādhammarakkhita, came from Alasandā (Alexandria) in the Yona country. Alasandā was evidently the headquarters of the Buddhist monastics at that time. Alasandā is generally identified (see, e.g., Geiger, Mhv. Trs. 194, n.3) with the Alexandria founded by the Macedonian king (Alexander) in the country of the Paropanisadae near Kābul, Afghanistan........http://www.palikanon.com/english/pali_names/y/yonaa.htm

""Mahārakkhita Thera. He went after the Third Council to the Yona country, and there preached the Kālakārama Sutta. One hundred and seventy thousand people adopted the Buddha's faith and ten thousand entered the Order. Mhv.xii.5, 39; Dpv.viii.9; Sp.i.64, 67'.....Yona: A country and its people. The name is probably the Pāli equivalent for Ionians, the Baktrian Greeks. .....from the time of Kassapa Buddha the Yonakas went about clad in white robes, because of the memory of the religion which was once prevalent there.."....http://www.palikanon.com/english/pali_names/maha/maharakkhita.htm

"The Third Buddhist council was convened in about 250 BC.....supposedly under the patronage of Emperor Asoka."

"Kālaka Sutta......Preached by the Buddha at Kālakārāma in Sāketa when he visited the city at the request of Cūla-Subhaddā (AA.ii.482f)......The Tathāgata knows and comprehends whatsoever is seen, heard, comprised, attained, searched into, etc., in the whole world, but he is not subject to it (A.ii.24f).......This sutta is sometimes referred to as the Kālakārāma Sutta (E.g., ThagA.i.284). It is said that at the conclusion of the Kālakārāma Sutta the earth trembled, as though bearing witness to the Buddha's statement (DA.i.130-1)......It was this sutta which helped Mahārakkhita to convert the country of the Yonakas.".......(Sp.i.67; Mhv.xii.39; Mbv.114; Dpv.viii.9).

"In the Assalāyana Sutra (M.ii.149), Yona and Kamboja are mentioned as places in which there were only two castes/classes of people, masters and slaves, and the master could become a slave and vice versa. The Commentary (MA.ii.784) explains this by saying that supposing a Brahmin goes there and dies, his children might consort with slaves, in which case their children would be slaves. In later times, the name Yavanā or Yonā seems to have included all westerners living in India and especially those of Arabian origin (Cv.Trs.ii.87, n.1). Yonaka statues, holding lamps, were among the decorations used by the Sākiyans of Kapilavatthu, the Buddha's family clan in one of their capitals [likely Bamiyan, Afghanistan] (MA.ii.575). The language of the Yavanas is classed with the Milakkhabhāsā (e.g., DA.i.276; VibhA.388).....http://www.palikanon.com/english/pali_names/y/yonaa.htm

"The Anguttara Commentary (AA.i.51) records that from the time of Kassapa Buddha the Yonakas went about clad in white robes because of the memory of the pre-Shakyamuni Buddhist religion which was once prevalent there. The followers of the historical Gautama Buddha also wore white."......http://wisdomquarterly.blogspot.com/2015/01/the-buddha-and-racism-in-old-india-sutra_21.html

"Kassapa Buddha (Pāli), known as Kāśyapa in Sanskrit, is one of the ancient Buddhas whose biography is chronicled in chapter 24 of the Buddhavamsa, one of the books of the Pāli Canon....According to Theravāda Buddhist tradition, Kassapa is the third of the five Buddhas of the present kalpa.....
Kakusandha (the first Buddha of the bhadrakalpa)
Koṇāgamana (the second Buddha of the bhadrakalpa)
Kassapa (the third Buddha of the bhadrakalpa)
Gautama (the fourth and present Buddha of the bhadrakalpa)
Maitreya (the fifth and future Buddha of the bhadrakalpa)

"Kamboja.....Kambojaka, Kambojā......One of the sixteen Mahajanapadas which, with Gandhara, belonged, not to the Majjhimadesa but, evidently, to the Uttarapatha (A.i.213; iv.252, 256, 260). It is often mentioned as the famous birthplace of horses (assanam ayatanam) (E.g., DA.i.124; AA.i.399; Vsm.332; also J.iv.464). In the Kunala Jataka (J.v.445) we are told that the Kambojas caught their horses by means of moss (jalajata), and the scholiast (J.v.446) explains at length how this was done. They sprinkled the moss with honey and left it in the horses drinking place; from there, by means of honey sprinkled on the grass, the horses were led to an enclosure."....http://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/kamboja/index.html

"The Kamboja–Dvaravati Route is the name given in old Jataka literature to an ancient land trade route that was an important branch of the Silk Road during antiquity and the early medieval era. It connected the Kamboja Kingdom in today's Afghanistan and Tajikstan via Pakistan to Dvārakā and other major ports in Gujarat, India, permitting goods from Afghanistan and China to be exported by sea to southern India, Sri Lanka, the Middle East and Ancient Greece and Rome. The road was the second most important ancient caravan route linking India with the nations of the northwest."....Buddhist Dictionary of Pali Proper Names, Vol I, 1960, G. P. Malalasekera,

"The country was evidently on one of the great caravan routes, and there was a road direct from Dvaraka to Kamboja (Pv.p.23)......According to Asokas Rock Edict, No. XIII. (Shabhazgarhi Text), Kamboja was among the countries visited by Asokas missionaries. The country referred to is probably on the banks of the Kabul river (Mookerji: Asoka, 168, n.1)."....http://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/kamboja/index.html

"Discourse on the White-Clad Disciple:..... the Buddha addressed Shariputra, saying, “Shariputra, if lay students of the Buddha, those who wear white robes, study and practice the Five Mindfulness Trainings and the Four Contemplations, they will realize without hardship the capacity to abide happily in the present moment......http://www.pvfhk.org/index.php/en/studies-practices/39-sutras-a-discourses/162-discourse-on-the-white-clad-disciple

"In the Kalachakra text's list of Prophets we find mention of the "White-Clad One", probably referring to Mani. ....

"......the Ionians are renowned for their love of philosophy, art, democracy, and pleasure - Ionian traits that were most famously expressed by the Athenians."

"Just as the mighty river Ganges flows down into the great ocean, even so Milinda the king, (reigning) in the city of Sāgala in the country (of the Yonakas) , the pre- eminent of all countries, repaired to venerable Nāgasena, the Elder....recorded in this book, entitled, “Questions of King Mil-inda”.......There is, in the country of Yonakas, a prominent city called Sāgala which is a (great trading centre) place where goods of trade and commerce of the people of Sāgala are distributed or disposed of. This city is graced with rivers, streams, and hills that traverse it, and many delightful quarters spread over its Landscape. It is also replied with parks, gardens, groves, lakes, reservoirs, and ponds. It is also full of delights associated with rivers, with mountains, and with a wooded country. It is a city planned and built by persons gifted with knowledge andexperience. No enemy can destroy or ravage this city....all of them having been overpowered and put out of the way. It is provided with various turreted watch towers, and battlemented city gates which are sophisticated and massive. The gates have exceedingly strong barriers which turn on equally strong pivots. In the centre of the city there is a palace protected by a deep moat, and white crenellated walls enclosing it. .....It has also a royal marketplace teaming with a vest and varied kind of valuable goods which are being exposed for sale in imposing and elegant arrays. This city is also graceful at all times with various Halls of Bounty (arms halls) and is also adorned with hundreds of thousands of magnificent buildings and regal mansions which are as supreme and transcending as the summit of the Himalaya Mountains....."http://www.shanyoma.org/yoma/Questions-of-King-Milinda.pdf

"It is stated in the Sāsanavaṁsa (P.T.S. 49) that in the 235th year of the Mahāparinibbāna of the Buddha, Mahārakkhita thera went to the Yonaka Province and established the Buddha’s sāsana in Kamboja and other places. The Kambojas are mentioned in the Rock Edicts V and XIII of Asoka......They occupied roughly the province round about Rajaori, or ancient Rājapura, including the Hazārā district of the North western Frontier Province.".......http://www.ancient-buddhist-texts.net/Reference/Geography-of-Early-Buddhism/02-Northern-India.htm

"Alasanda: The Mahāvaṁsa (Geiger’s tr., p. 194) refers to the town of Alasanda which was the chief city of the Yona territory. Geiger identifies Alasanda with the town of Alexandria founded by Alexander near Kabul in the Paropanisadae country."..........http://www.ancient-buddhist-texts.net/Reference/Geography-of-Early-Buddhism/02-Northern-India.htm

"Sāgala: In the Milindapañho we are told that King Milinda (Menander), a powerful Graeco-Bactrian King, ruling over the Madda country with Sāgala as his capital became a convert to Buddhism (S.B.E.,Vol. XXXV, p. 6). "......http://www.ancient-buddhist-texts.net/Reference/Geography-of-Early-Buddhism/02-Northern-India.htm

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Email....okarresearch@gmail.com

June 2015

John Hopkins....Northern New Mexico

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Balkh & Bactria: From Gautama Buddha (c. 563-483 BC) to Kujula Kadphises (30–80 AD)

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Gautama Buddha (c. 563-483 BC)

Alexander the Great & Roxana (Raoxshna; Persian: روشنک‎, "luminous beauty")....Roxane, was a Bactrian princess and a wife of Alexander the Great. She was born c. 343 BC....Roxana was the daughter of a minor Bactrian baron named Oxyartes of Balkh in Bactria (around modern-day Balkh province of Afghanistan), and married Alexander the Great in 327 BC....at a young age, after he visited the fortress of Sogdian Rock......Alexander spent several years in Bactria 'because it was so beautiful'......Balkh was captured by Alexander the Great about 330 BC."

Ashoka Maurya (304–232 BCE).....an Indian emperor of the Maurya Dynasty who reigned over a realm that stretched from the Hindu Kush mountains in the west to Bengal in the East....

The Indo-Greek Kingdom or Graeco-Indian Kingdom was a Hellenistic kingdom covering various parts of the northwest regions of the Indian subcontinent (modern Afghanistan, Pakistan and North Western India) during the last two centuries BC, and was ruled by more than 30 kings......
Demetrius I (reigned c. 200–170 BC) Son of Euthydemus I. Greco-Bactrian king, and conqueror of India.
Menander I (reigned c. 150–125 BC). Legendary for the size of his Kingdom, and his support of the Buddhist faith.

Kujula Kadphises (30–80 AD)...a Kushan prince who united the Yuezhi confederation during the 1st century CE, and became the first Kushan emperor.

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"Balkh, also called Vazīrābād, village in northern Afghanistan that was formerly Bactra, the capital of ancient Bactria. It lies 14 miles west of the city of Mazār-e Sharīf and is situated along the Balkh River. A settlement existed at the site as early as 500 bc, and the town was captured by Alexander the Great about 330 bc. Thereafter it was the capital of the Greek satrapy of Bactria. In succeeding centuries the city fell to various nomadic invaders, including the Turks and Kushāns, until it was decisively taken by the Arabs in the 8th century. Balkh then became the capital of Khorāsān; it enlarged greatly in size until under the ʿAbbāsids and Sāmānids its fame as a capital and centre of learning earned it the title of “mother of cities.” Balkh was completely destroyed by the Mongols under Genghis Khan in 1220 AD.".... http://www.britannica.com/place/Balkh

"Gautama Buddha, ( born 563- 480 BC.....died 483- 400 BC).....also known as Siddhārtha Gautama, Shakyamuni, or simply the Buddha, was a sage on whose teachings Buddhism was founded. He is believed to have lived and taught mostly in eastern India sometime between the sixth and fourth centuries BC......The word Buddha means "awakened one" or "the enlightened one".......Various collections of teachings attributed to him were passed down by oral tradition and first committed to writing about 400 years later."

"Trapusa and Bahalika (alternatively Bhallika) are attributed to be the first two lay disciples of the Buddha. The first account of Trapusa and Bahalika appears in the Vinaya section of the Tripiṭaka where they offer the Buddha his first meal after enlightenment, take refuge in the Dharma (while the Sangha was still not established), and become the Buddha's first disciples...... Xuanzang (602 – 664 AD) says that Buddhism was bought to Central Asia by Trapusa and Bahalika (referring to Balkh) two merchants who offered food to the Buddha after his enlightenment......Xuanzang recounts, having become his first disciples Trapusa and Bahalika wished his leave to return home, they asked the Buddha for something by which they could remember and honour him in his absence. The Buddha gave them eight of his hairs as relics. They made golden caskets for the relics and took them to their own city (Balkh) where they enshrined them in a stupa by the city gate (Nava Vihara).....Xuanzang recounts that theirs was the first ever Buddhist Stupa to be made and that the Buddha had first to instruct them how to erect it by folding his three robes into squares piling them up and then topping them off with his inverted bowl."..... Relics of the Buddha By John S. Strong

"Greco-Buddhism, sometimes spelled Graeco-Buddhism, refers to the cultural syncretism between Hellenistic culture and Buddhism, which developed between the 4th century BCE and the 5th century CE in Bactria and the Indian subcontinent, corresponding to the territories of modern day Afghanistan, India, and Pakistan. It was a cultural consequence of a long chain of interactions begun by Greek forays into India from the time of Alexander the Great, carried further by the establishment of the Indo-Greek Kingdom and extended during the flourishing of the Hellenized Kushan Empire. Greco-Buddhism influenced the artistic, and perhaps the spiritual development of Buddhism, particularly Mahayana Buddhism".....Greek as well as Iranian influences appear to have shaped the evolution of Mahayana images (and perhaps thought as well)". Foltz, Richard, Religions of the Silk Road, Palgrave Macmillan, 2nd edition, 2010, p. 46

"Balkh, also called Vazīrābād, in northern Afghanistan that was captured by Alexander the Great about 330 BC."

"Ashoka Maurya (Sanskrit: अशोक मौर्य; 304–232 BCE), commonly known as Ashoka and also as Ashoka the Great, was an Indian emperor of the Maurya Dynasty who ruled almost all of the Indian subcontinent from circa 269 BC to 232 BC. One of India's greatest emperors, Ashoka reigned over a realm that stretched from the Hindu Kush mountains in the west to Bengal in the East....

"The Indo-Greek Kingdom or Graeco-Indian Kingdom was a Hellenistic kingdom covering various parts of the northwest regions of the Indian subcontinent (modern Afghanistan, Pakistan and North Western India) during the last two centuries BC, and was ruled by more than 30 kings....The kingdom was founded when the Graeco-Bactrian king Demetrius invaded the subcontinent early in the 2nd century BC.....During the two centuries of their rule, the Indo-Greek kings combined the Greek and Indian languages and symbols, as seen on their coins, and blended Hindu, Buddhist and ancient Greek religious practices, as seen in the archaeological remains of their cities and in the indications of their support of Buddhism, pointing to a rich fusion of Indian and Hellenistic influences. The diffusion of Indo-Greek culture had consequences which are still felt today, particularly through the influence of Greco-Buddhist art......The Indo-Greeks ultimately disappeared as a political entity around 10 AD following the invasions of the Indo-Scythians.".....https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-Greek_Kingdom

"Yonā, Yavanā, Yonakā:.........a country and its people, probably the Pāli equivalent for Ionians, the Bactrian Greeks. The Yonas are mentioned along with the Kambojas in Rock Edicts v. and xii of Buddhist Emperor Asoka as a subject people, forming a frontier district of his empire. The country was converted by the Thera Mahārakkhita, who was sent there after the Third Council (Mhv.xii.5; Dpv.viii.9; Sp.i.67)......In the time of Milinda the capital of the Yona country was Sāgala (Mil.1). It is said (Mhv.xxix.39) that at the foundation ceremony of the "Great Reliquary Shrine (Mahā Stūpa), 30,000 monastics, under Yona Mahādhammarakkhita, came from Alasandā (Alexandria) in the Yona country. Alasandā was evidently the headquarters of the Buddhist monastics at that time. Alasandā is generally identified (see, e.g., Geiger, Mhv. Trs. 194, n.3) with the Alexandria founded by the Macedonian king (Alexander) in the country of the Paropanisadae near Kābul, Afghanistan........In the Assalāyana Sutra (M.ii.149), Yona and Kamboja are mentioned as places in which there were only two castes/classes of people, masters and slaves, and the master could become a slave and vice versa. The Commentary (MA.ii.784) explains this by saying that supposing a Brahmin goes there and dies, his children might consort with slaves, in which case their children would be slaves. In later times, the name Yavanā or Yonā seems to have included all westerners living in India and especially those of Arabian origin (Cv.Trs.ii.87, n.1). Yonaka statues, holding lamps, were among the decorations used by the Sākiyans of Kapilavatthu, the Buddha's family clan in one of their capitals [likely Bamiyan, Afghanistan] (MA.ii.575). The language of the Yavanas is classed with the Milakkhabhāsā (e.g., DA.i.276; VibhA.388).......The Anguttara Commentary (AA.i.51) records that from the time of Kassapa Buddha the Yonakas went about clad in white robes because of the memory of the pre-Shakyamuni Buddhist religion which was once prevalent there. The followers of the historical Gautama Buddha also wore white."......http://wisdomquarterly.blogspot.com/2015/01/the-buddha-and-racism-in-old-india-sutra_21.html

Gautama Buddha in Greco-Buddhist style, 1st-2nd c. AD, Gandhara (modern eastern Afghanistan).

"The Bactrians spoke Bactrian, a northeastern Iranian language, descended from Avestan, and most closely related to extinct Khwarezmian, modern Yaghnobi, and Ossetian. Bactrian went extinct, replaced by southeastern Iranian languages such as Pashto, Yidgha, Munji, and Ishkashmi. The Encyclopaedia Iranica states: Bactrian thus occupies an intermediary position between Pashto and Yidgha-Munji on the one hand, Sogdian, Choresmian, and Parthian on the other: it is thus in its natural and rightful place in Bactria.".........http://wisdomquarterly.blogspot.com/2015/01/the-buddha-and-racism-in-old-india-sutra_21.html

"Kujula Kadphises, reigned (30–80 AD) (Kushan language: Κοζουλου Καδφιζου, also Κοζολα Καδαφες, Pali: Kujula Kasasa, Ancient Chinese:丘就卻, Qiujiuque) was a Kushan prince who united the Yuezhi confederation during the 1st century CE, and became the first Kushan emperor. According to the Rabatak inscription, he was the grandfather of the great Kushan king Kanishka I.".....https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kujula_Kadphises

"The rise of Kujula Kadphises is described in the Chinese historical chronicle, the Hou Hanshu: 'More than a hundred years later, the prince [xihou] of Guishuang, named Qiujiuque [Kujula Kadphises], attacked and exterminated the four other xihou. He established himself as king, and his dynasty was called that of the Guishuang [Kushan] King. He invaded Anxi [Indo-Parthia], and took the Gaofu [Kabul] region. He also defeated the whole of the kingdoms of Puda [Paktiya] and Jibin [Kapisha and Gandhara]. Qiujiuque [Kujula Kadphises] was more than eighty years old when he died."......Hill, John E. (2009). Through the Jade Gate to Rome: A Study of the Silk Routes during the Later Han Dynasty, First to Second Centuries CE

"The Kushan Empire (Bactrian: Κυϸανο, Kushano; Sanskrit: कुषाण राजवंश Kuṣāṇ Rājavaṃśa; BHS: Guṣāṇa-vaṃśa; Parthian: Kušan-xšaθr) was an empire originally formed in the early 1st century CE under Kujula Kadphises in the territories of the former Greco-Bactrian Kingdom around the Oxus River. Later it was based around ancient Kapisa (present Bagram), Afghanistan, and then today's Peshawar, Pakistan...... The Kushans spread from the Kabul River (Sita River) Valley to also encompass much of the Indo-Greek Kingdom, from which they took their first official language (Greek), Bactrian alphabet, Greco-Buddhist religion, coinage system, and art. They absorbed the Central Asian tribes that had previously conquered parts of the northern central Iranian Plateau once ruled by the Parthians, and reached their peak under the Buddhist emperor Kanishka the Great (127–151 AD), whose realm stretched from Turfan in the Tarim Basin to Pataliputra on the Gangetic Plain......The Kushans were one of five branches of the Yuezhi confederation, a possibly Iranian or Tocharian, Indo-European nomadic people who had migrated from the Tarim Basin and settled in ancient Bactria. Their official language, the Iranian Bactrian language, is closely related to the modern Afghan languages.".....https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kushan_Empire

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Email....okarresearch@gmail.com

June 2015

John Hopkins....Northern New Mexico

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Balawaristan (Bala Waristan) & Dardistan

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"Balawaristan.....Bala.war. i-san....... (Urdu:بلاورستان) .....is an historical name of Gilgit-Baltistan that has regained some prevalence in recent years. The archaic English spelling for the name was Boloristan, and its first known documented usage is in Chinese sources from the 8th century AD......Gilgit-Baltistan includes Gilgit, Skardu, Hunza, Ishkoman Puniyal and Yasin (see Districts of Gilgit-Baltistan). The regions of Baltistan, and Ladakh (including Kargil) are also considered to be a part of Balawaristan by nationalist parties of Gilgit, and sometimes Chitral is as well......The people of this region have historically been referred to as Balawars (or highlanders), which is said to have come from the term 'Bala', which means high, a reference to the high-altitudes prevalent in this area......

Balkh was known by the Persian 'Sham-i-Bala', loosely translated as "Elevated Candle"....Elevated/raised/divine/high is Persian 'Bala' and 'Sham' is Persian candle/light/sun

Click on the map to enlarge

"Dardistan (Perso-Arabic: داردستان) is a term coined by Gottlieb William Leitner for the northern Pakistan, Kashmir and parts of north-eastern Afghanistan. It is inhabited by Dards speaking Dardic languages. Dardistān, region inhabited by the so-called Dard peoples in the north of Pakistan and northern Kashmir. It includes Chitrāl, the upper reaches of the Panjkora River, the Kohistān (highland) of Swāt, and the upper portions of the Gilgit Agency. Mentioned by the classical historians Pliny the Elder, Ptolemy, and Herodotus, the Dards (Daradae, Daradrae, or Derdae) are said to be people of Aryan origin who ascended the Indus Valley from the Punjab plains, reaching as far north as Chitrāl. They were converted to Islām in the 14th century and speak three distinct dialects of Gilgit, Khowari, Burushaskī, and Shina, employing the Persian script in writing.......Herodotus (III. 102-105) is the first author who refers to the country of Dards, placing it between Kashmir and Afghanistan. It also has reference in Mahabharata where it mentions the tribute of the ant-gold pipilika brought by the nations of the north to one of the Pandu sons, king Yudhisthira......The Dards are also the Darada of the Sanskrit writers. The Darada and Himavanta were the regions to which Buddha sent his missionaries."........http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dardistan

"Baloristan (Gilgit-Chitral) is the name of a region of Gilgit–Baltistan, Pakistan. It borders the Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to the west, Afghanistan and China to the north and Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir to the east, leading to the frozen wastes of the Siachen glacier.....In history books, the area is also known as Baloristan or Dardistan. Prof Ahmed Hasan Dani, in his book, History of Northern Areas of Pakistan (1994) writes that the area was collectively called Baloristan by Chinese and other Central Asian historians."......http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baloristan

"The Deosai National Park is located in Skardu Gilgit-Baltistan province, in northern Pakistan. Deosai is accessible from Skardu District in the north and the Astore District in the west. The plateau is located at the boundary of the Karakorum and the western Himalayas. Deosai is a tourist attraction and lot of tourists who visit Baltistan go to Deosai as well. Deosai Plateau which is the second highest plateau in the world after the Chang Tang in Tibet......In Urdu language Deosai Urdu "دیوسای٘" means 'the land of Giants'. In local Balti language, Deosai is called Ghbyarsa,"غبیارسا" (Balti "དབྱར་ས"།) meaning ‘summer's place’. Balti people gave the name because Deosai is only accessible during Summer."

"Herodotus......Research by the French ethnologist Michel Peissel makes a claim that the story of 'Gold-digging ants' reported by the Greek historian Herodotus, who lived in the 5th century BC, was founded on the golden Himalayan Marmot of the Deosai plateau and the habit of local tribes such as the Minaro to collect the gold dust excavated from their burrows.".....Peissel, Michel. "The Ants' Gold: The Discovery of the Greek El Dorado in the Himalayas". Collins, 1984

"Herodotus, The Histories 3.102-.......Besides these, there are Indians of another tribe, who border on the city of Caspatyrus, and the country of Pactyica; these people dwell northward of all the rest of the Indians, and follow nearly the same mode of life as the Bactrians. They are more warlike than any of the other tribes, and from them the men are sent forth who go to procure the gold. For it is in this part of India that the sandy desert lies. Here, in this desert, there live amid the sand great ants, in size somewhat less than dogs, but bigger than foxes. The Persian king has a number of them, which have been caught by the hunters in the land whereof we are speaking. Those ants make their dwellings under ground, and like the Greek ants, which they very much resemble in shape, throw up sand heaps as they burrow. Now the sand which they throw up is full of gold. ".......http://www.livius.org/he-hg/herodotus/hist06.htm

"Baltistan lies in the extreme north of the Indian subcontinent, bordering the towering Himalaya Mountains. It is a disputed province straddling the uneasy cease-fire line separating the armies of India and Pakistan......It is in this territory few bother to visit that the "ants" revealed themselves to Peissel on the Dansar plain....."Whereas many people thought they'd found it, nobody was ever able to back their claims or locate it," said Peissel......Baltistan's Minaro people, an archaic group whose origins are not entirely clear to academics, directed Peissel to the Dansar plain."...... http://www.terrierman.com/goldenant.htm

"The documentary film series Land of the Tiger, in episode 5 - the "Mountains of the Gods", features the plants and animals of Deosai. Karakoram Heli skying 2013 by Walkabout Films. Documentary movie "Deosai the last sanctuary"

Shamshaal Valley...https://www.flickr.com/photos/clicks_by_xain/12102154084/

"Herodotus and Megasthenes only succeed in confounding their readers concerning the location of the country of gold-digging ants and the Derdai or, as Leitner classified them, the Dards. Neither gives us any telling detail of this strange land. Meanwhile, we have the geographer Ptolemy introducing yet another name relevant to this discussion. With reference to the various tribes inhabiting the mountainous country between the Jaxartes River (Syr Darya of Uzbekistan) and the Himalayas, he mentions, besides the Daradarai, one group called Byltai. In the two thousand years since Ptolemy, the name of the Balti people has not changed at all. "......http://odysseuslahori.blogspot.com/2014/03/Baltistan.html

"Little P’o-liu included Gilgit and the country westward as far as Chitral, while Great P’o-liu was Baltistan. That is, in medieval times the generic name for the tract of mountain country stretching from Baltistan to Chitral along the right bank of the Sindhu River on the south and the Pamir region on the north was Po-lu-lo, P’o-liu or Bolor........Sometime between the years 670 and 690 the Tibetans, who had already been in possession of Ladakh for a long time, also took control of Bolor. Slowly they expanded westward to occupy Gilgit and Yasin valley in order to eventually maintain a large military presence as far away as Wakhan. It was not until 747 that the Chinese were able to rout them from this country. But in the fifty or so years that the Tibetans held it, they appear to have considerably altered the ethnography of Great Bolor through inter-marriages with the original population. The result, a curious mix of Aryan and Tibetan blood found in Baltistan, prompted an early 20th century anthropologist to label this country ‘a living anthropological museum.’.......It was during this period of Tibetan occupation that the language of Baltistan changed from the original Indo-European Shina to Balti, an archaic form of Tibetan, that one today hears in the country.".......http://odysseuslahori.blogspot.com/2014/03/Baltistan.html

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Email....okarresearch@gmail.com

June 2015

John Hopkins....Northern New Mexico

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