Vesak 2549 – 2005
A new light on ancient Middle East religio-politics through literary and
archaeological evidence
Buddhism in ancient Israel and Arabia
by A.D.T.E. Perera
The Buddha Statue in Khurul Monastery in southern Russia.
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(Formerly, Associate Editor, Encyclopaedia of Buddhism, Government of
Sri Lanka, publication, Research Associate Professor, Department of
Philosophy, University of New Mexico, USA, Guest Research Fellow,
Department of Disarmament and Development, UNO, New York)
The publication of a research paper recently, written by the great
scholar Most Ven. (Dr.) Paravahera Pannananda Nayaka Thera, the
Chancellor of the Ruhunu University of Sri Lanka, has caused waves of
speculation on the ocean of historical research. The learned Thera has
identified pre-Islamic Arabia as the possible location of the hometown
of a Great Buddhist Monk named Punna Thera who was a disciple of
Sakyamuni Buddha.
Ven. (Dr.) Pannananda Nayaka Thera has taken steps further by
identifying the Sacred City "Mecca" in Arabia, as the place where an
original Buddhist Shrine was built at the behest of Ven. Punna Thera
while the Buddha was alive. According to the thesis of Ven. (Dr.)
Pannananda Nayaka Thera there were four Buddhist monasteries caused to
have been built by the Buddha's pupil Ven. Punna Thera and all those
four temples were sanctified by the Buddha Himself who had arrived in
aerial cars from India to far West Arabia. The aerial cars were provided
by the King of Gods, Sakra.
Until the publication of this learned paper, based on original
Buddhist texts and their commentaries, no one seems to have ever
ventured to give thought to such a possibility, that Buddhism had been
established in a West-Asian region which was the meeting point of East
West cultures in the old world, the entrepot as it were, as far back as
the 6th century B.C. while Gautama Buddha was still living.
Other than sporadic references and short essays on Buddhist
missionaries that went to West Asian cities, several centuries after the
passing away of the Buddha, there was no major research done on this
subject of Buddha's teachings beyond the Indian sub-continent during the
very lifetime of the Buddha.
Although mighty civilisations and empires arose in this region of
Babylonians, Assyrians, Egyptians, Myceneans, Cretans, Athenians,
Persians, Hittite, Mittanni, that have left indomitable marks of their
grand cultures, historians were only satisfied with on the spot
investigations and locating this entire network of pre-Christian
kingdoms as an agglomeration with constant warfare with one another and
not as one that had potential to communicate and build contact with the
regions and kingdoms outside their own theatre.
References to merchants, caravan traders, kings and courtiers and men
in search of learning trekking dangerous desert terrain from East to
West and vice-versa are found in ample in early Buddhist texts and
related narrative literature like the Jataka Stories. But these were not
taken seriously by the historians or archaeologists to investigate
possible historical sites and their survivals.
Such behaviour on the part of academies was not unusual because the
early scholars who wrote and edited Buddhist books were mostly Europeans
who would not have given thought to establish the cultural
communication, the Eastern World had had with the people outside their
kingdoms during such a hoary antiquity when the forefather of Europeans
were living under sub-cultural conditions.
The great barriers of communication caused by terror-striking deserts
like Taklamakan and Gobi and huge snow capped mountains like the
Himalayas and the freezing weather patterns coupled with ferocious
nomadic people wielding broad swords and riding on fast moving ponies
who inhabited these regions were all witnessed by the pioneer Western
scholars like Sir Auriel Stein, Paul Pelliot, Albert Grunweddel, Ludwig
Bachhofer, E.J. Rapson, Helmuth Von Glasenapp, Le Gocq, Guesseppe Tucci
and many others who travelled in Asia in search of literary and cultural
survivals of great Eastern civilisations. Their first impression would
have been very likely, "that other than conquering armies of ferocious
nomadic tribes like Arabs, Scythians, Yeuh Chihs, Hepthalites or Hunas,
Tocharians, Tartars and Mongals, no other sensible people would ever
have dared to cross these terrible barriers in search of better
pastures. Hence, "the meeting of cultural conscious people, learned men,
monks and eremites in search of divine wisdom, Truth or Sat (hence
Sathnyasi Sannyasi) who preferred seclusion more than vain glory
adventures was a remote possibility," would have been the conclusion of
the historian and the research scholar of decades gone by.
The Holy Bible relates how the ruthless armies of war-lords have
devastated these regions and taken captive thousands of POWs, as slaves.
The history of Egyptian Pharaoes, Sumarians, Assyrians, Babylonians,
Hittites, Greeks, Medians, Cretans, Achaemenids, was one that has
recorded intermittent warfare and ruthless carnage spelled by those
jingoistic bellicose rulers on their dependant, less powerful neighbours.
One might say such a background would never have encouraged visits or
religious leaders and men of learning to cross the boundaries of their
own native lands and enter alient territory, and those references to
visits of men in quest of learning and religious wisdom from far away
lands were mere fanciful stories concocted by pious monks to enhance the
importance of their own sects, creeds and religious schools.
However, a major breakthrough has now been made by the scholar Thera
mentioned above, who has marshalled his facts gleaned from authentic
sources of early Buddhist literature.
Being a student of archaeology myself, I have had that discipline
moulded under that polymath late Professor Senerath Paranavitana, when
he was my Guru as the first professor of Archaeology at Peradeniya
University. I had the good occasion to do some major research in
religious archaeology while being an Associate Editor of the
Encyclopaedia of Buddhism when the late Professor G.P. Malalasekera of
international flame was its Editor-in-Chief in the late sixties and
early seventies and later with yet another luminary, the late Professor
A.L. Basham during my stay at the Australian National University, in
Canberra.
While tracing possible survivals of Buddhism's expansion from its
birthplace, the Middle India, I was fortunate enough to trace a few
localities outside India, towards Far West and beyond the Northern
barrier of Himalayan terrain where flourishing cultures of Buddhist
Kingdoms had sprung up during pre-Christian centuries.
However, I was rather hesitant to locate any of those pre-Christian
Buddhist Kingdoms that existed on the great Northern Highway, the
cponymous "Uttrapatha", (the "Silk Route" as some writers name it)
during the very life-time of the Buddha.
With bare facilities at my disposal and with guess work,
possibilities, probabilities, and plausibilities, I launched upon my
initial archaeological research. Later my views were placed before the
readers and students through the Encyclopaedia of Buddhism and other
research papers addressed before a couple of International Academic
Conference Seminars.
However, with the publication of the essay on "Buddhism in Arabia
before Islam", by the learned Thera, my interests were again kindled and
I was compelled to make further research into those localities where I
have done preliminary research some time ago and had given up half-way,
because I felt that it would be a waste of time to construct and revive
lost and forgotten cultures without substantial evidence, especially
literary and archaeological.
The present research study is an assay to marshal whatever evidence
at my disposal, collected over the past many years to reweave a broken
fabric is it were, whereby I would be able to present a picture of that
past golden age during which our Lord Gautama Buddha lived and
tirelessly served the mankind for 44 years to save the sentient beings
from "universal suffering" (Dukkha) by expounding The One and The Only
Way "The Nobel Eightfold Path" (Ariya Attangika Magga).
Scientific discipline that one acquires through modern learning
alone, does not help one to get a correct perspective of the deeds,
contributions and behaviour of those great men who lived in the past.
When people failed to understand the behaviour of such great men, they
were scoffed off, rediculed and condemned as mystics, fanatics,
magicians, and the like. Jesus Christ was crucified, as a rebellious
traitor, Corpenicus and Gallileo were condemned to death by the Catholic
Church of Rome, Socrates was poisoned, Zorastrar was murdered, Mahatma
Gandhi was shot dead. Several attempts on the life of Gautama Buddha
were recorded. Buddha's greatest disciple Ven. Maha Moggallana Thera was
beaten to death (mistaken identity, the texts say, but who knows).
As far as Buddha's teachings are concerned, the philosophy and the
doctrine, it is the consensus of a large number of scholars of the
present and the past century, that what the Buddha taught was unique.
Teachings of no other founder of a religion on this planet earth can be
said similar or identical, let alone superior to the Buddha's "Dhamma"
or teaching. This Dhamma which is better called Saddharma is now
enshrined in the copious volumes known as the Tripitaka.
A former Oxford Don and Vice President of India, the late Professor
Sarvapalli Radhakrishan while praising the Buddha's teachings, tried to
identify Buddha's Dharma as an off shoot of the Vedic tradition or
Vedanta, but subsequent scholars have found such theorising is not far
from being partial. Both oriental and Western scholars more or less
agree that Buddha's teachings are 'unique' and incomparable to any
philosophy of East or West, and the "Path" (Maga) laid down by the
Buddha for the liberation of mankind was unheard of before in any other
religious system. Why should mankind need salvation from an inconsistent
existence, embroiled in impermanance (Annicca), causing pain and
unsatisfactoriness (Dukkha), and without any cogent reason to accept the
presence of an enteral soul (Anatta)? That salvation or perfect
liberation should not be shrouded in mystic terms, ascribed to an
unknown unseen, divine being, the creator god.
It is because of this specific reason that men of great learning,
philosophers, kings, courtiers and people of all walks of life, of all
ranks of the society e.g. bankers, princes, princesses, courtesans,
military men, highwaymen, uncouth demonic characters, robbers, beggars,
scavengers and the like all had gone and surrendered before the Bhagavat
Gautama Buddha, The Supreme Saviour and sought refuge in Him, His dhamma
and His Noble Disciples, the eremite Ariya Sangha, by uttering the
solemn stanza: "Buddham Saranam Gacchami". It was the Buddha who showed
for the first time in the history of mankind that one should surrender
before the incomparable Guru, His teachings and His Noble Disciples.
Thus the phrase "Saranam Gacchami" (surrender) entered into the
religious vocabulary of the Buddhists.
Buddhists in every Buddhist country, worship the Buddha not as a
great divine, supernatural, esoteric. Being, but as a Great being far,
far, above all the mighty unseen ontological divine beings.
The Buddha was thus considered
During His lifetime, the Buddha had manifested all the psychic
excellences and powers that are unmatched by any of the supernormal
powers of those great beings including the misconceived divine being of
Creation as was known at that time by the name Brahma or Maha Brahma.
The Buddha had scaled the length and breadth of the uninhabited
regions as well as the inhabited regions of this planet earth. His three
visits to Sri Lanka although some do consider such references as
mythical and fabulous, are only a bare fraction of the lands the great
Buddha had traversed using both His physical composure and enormous
psychic powers.
The above short prolegomenon I am constrained to add to this present
essay, on "Buddhism - 'a great civilising factor - "in Arabia and
surrounding West Asian regions," because without which the reader would
find it somewhat a thrust upon him unprepared and unexpectedly.
**************
Coming back to the "latest theory' the Buddhism was introduced to
Arabia during the very lifetime of the Buddha", we now embark upon to
present before the scholarly world our own investigations made over a
period of more than two decades. Our researches have yielded some
fascinating data that we are fortunate enough to have struck upon.
These information we hope will enable us to further substantiate the
thesis of the learned Thera Venerable (Dr.) Paravahera Pannananda, that
"Buddhism was the Religion of Arabia before Islam" that brought a great
civilising effect on those people who were worse than the lost sheep in
a desert wilderness.
"Had Buddhism been introduced to Arabia several centuries (at least
five or six centuries) prior to the Christian era, why don't we get any
traces of its remains either in the form of religious literature or
archaeological survivals?" would be the logical question one would
raise.
Again one may ask, "had the Great Buddha been such a supra - human or
a hyper - human Being, His visit and stay in this part of the world
would have made an indelible impression on the minds of the people of
these regions. Therefore what are the survivals of such an impressive
effective impact?"
Through our investigations we are now in a position to bring out a
substantial amount of information that throw light on the hidden history
of the spread of Buddhism not only in Arabia but in many other kingdoms
in West-Asia as well, during pre-Christian centuries.
The Buddhist texts refer to many instances of foreigners from distant
lands coming to worship the Buddha, having heard of His presence 'that a
Great Being who calls Himself, the Buddha has appeared in the world' and
residing in Middle India (Magadha Kingdom). The story of Punna Thera is
one such episode in which the main characters, Punna Thera and his
brother were caravan traders from Sunaparanta.
According to textual reference, the very first lay disciples of
Gautama Buddha, even before the Buddha established His Bhikkhu community
namely the Sangha (also called the Buddhaputtras or sons of the Buddha)
were also two caravan leaders who came from Uttrapatha (the Great
Northern Highway) in their trading missions. They were known by their
names Tapassu and Bhalluka. Buddhist texts refer to them as the first
two lay followers of the Buddha, who surrendered before the Buddha and
His Doctrine (who sought refuge in the Buddha and the Dhamma). The Pali
phrase "Buddham Saranam Gacchami, Dhammam Saranam Gacchami" was first
uttered by those two trader brothers who offered to the Buddha a regal
repast full of "mead and pop-corn (fried grain). This type of food must
have been a common food item, if not the staple diet, among the West
Asians and those people who lived in the peripheral regions where corn
and barley are grown as staple food.
Holy Bible says that John, the Baptist was in the habit of eating
'locusts dipped in honey'. The Bible translators of medieval times at
King James behest must have mistaken an early Greek or
The home country of the two caravan leaders Tapassu and Bhalluka who
were the Buddha's first lay disciples has been located at "Balkh', a
city in ancient Bactria and north of present day Afghanistan, through
which ran the famous Great Northern Highway, "Uttarapatha".
The Buddhist Jataka tales have many references to such caravan
leaders who had braved the hazards of highwaymen-ridden dangerous desert
tracks and arrived in Jambhudveepa (India).
Amongst those nomadic desert dwelling plundering tribal people,
notorious were the Beduin Arabs. They were known for their cruelty,
harsh behaviour, plundering and killing their victims to earn a living.
The navigator who sailed across the Red Sea and kept his anonymous
record of 'The Periplus of the Erythean Sea", narrates in no ambiguous
terms the ferocious nature of those tribes who inhabited mainland and
literal Arabia. He advises all sailors to avoid dealing with these
nomadic uncouth Beduin Arab tribes of desert posts.
*****************
The story of Punna Thera as related in early Buddhist texts is
exactly a reminder of those ferocious tribes in the Western regions (Aparanta).
But Punna Thera, a well disciplined disciple of Gautama Buddha, knew
that he could handle those uncouth people who were His kinsmen.
Ven. Punna Thera who settled with his own following of monks at
Sunaparanta, having caused to be built - four temples at the following
sites: Ambahatta Pabbata, Samudragiri Vihara (a temple near the sea)
where there was a magnetic rock engirting a stone platform used as a
promenade for monks meditation practice.
The first Shrine built for Punna Thera was named Ambahatta Pabbata by
the Pali scribes of Buddhist texts. The name suggests that it was either
a rock-cut shrine or a temple built on a natural eminence (Amba or Amra
Pabbata eminence).
I dare to identify this shrine Ambahatta or Ambatta of the early
Buddhist texts with the pre-Islamic shrine Amrah on the Northern end of
the Dead Sea.
A modern historian describes this shrine as follows: "Qusayr Amrah"
meaning the little castle of "Amrah" stands on the edge of a wadi in the
desert of the Northern end of Dead Sea. Here too among the remains of
ancient monuments is a structure with a hemispherical dome, resembling a
Buddhist Stupa (tope).
The second temple built for Punna Thera was named Samudragiri Vihara
which had a magnetic stone promenade within a stone enclosure. But the
great noise of the sea prevented Ven. Punna Thera from engaging in his
much desired meditation.
I identify this temple site with the famous 'Temple of Jerusalem'
where a magnetic rock is located. In Hebrew or Aramanic language Sela
(which takes the form Patra in Latin or Greek?) refers to a stone or
rock. Sela is also traceable to Indo-European origin. In Pali or
Sanskrit, Sela-Saila are synonyms for rock, stone, mountain.
I am constrained to identify the Temple site at Jerusalem, the Holy
of the Holiest of Christendom, as the exact location of the ancient
Buddhist monastery Samudragiri Vihara built for Punna Thera, within
close proximity to the sea. This might have been an ancient Judaic
religious site where a Jewish temple complex dedicated to Jehowah, the
great sacrificial god, existed, and later appropriated by those who were
converted by Punna Thera to the peaceful non-sacri-ficial religion of
the Buddha. This was exactly the case in regard to many early Buddhist
religious sites and shrines. This was the case in ancient pre-Christian
era Sri Lanka and also in India.
According to the Buddhist texts, the noisy waves of the sea close to
this shrine, Ven. Punna Thera had tamed using his psychic (Iddhi)
powers.
Buddhist textual references mention that Punna Thera through his
psychic powers caused the noisy sea to be calm (dead as it were). Hence
the subsequent name 'Dead Sea' as mentioned above in this essay. Earlier
it was known as the 'Sea of Arabah'.
A similar fete has later been attributed to Jesus also or Jesus
Himself had performed a similar fete six hundred years later through his
own psychic powers (Iddhi or Iddhi bala in Buddhism).
The third temple was Matulagiri where the noise of birds troubled
Punna Thera's meditation and finally Ven. Punna Thera left for the
fourth temple built for him by his rich caravan trader brother and that
was named Makulakarama. This fourth temple is the one which the learned
Ven. (Dr.) Pannananda Thera identified as the present 'Mecca' shrine in
mainland Arabia.
At Sunaparanta, Ven. Punna Thera got down red-sandal wood to build a
hall for the Buddha (Candana sala) Red Cedar was used by Biblical Kings
of Jerusalem David, Solomon etc., also, for the construction of temples.
This was an ancient architectural practice in this part of modern
Israel, the pre-islamic State of Arabah where flourished the Nabatean
Kingdoms.
According to the story in the early Buddhist texts, the Samudragiri
Temple was quite close to the sea, but today Jerusalem stands about
fifteen (15) miles away from the Dead sea as the crow flies.
Those who may disagree with my proposed identification might pose the
question "How can a temple lying 15 miles away from the Dead Sea cause
obstruction to its indwellers on account of the great noise of the sea?
Surely, the Buddhist texts refer to an incident that had taken place
more than 2,500 years ago.
In places where inland seas or lakes, that are fed by rivers, the
possibility of narrowing the shore region by accumulated silt or the
contraction of the inland sea or lake owing to dry climate was possible.
The great Gobi and Taklamakan deserts in Central Asia were once a large
inland sea according to marine scientists and geologists. The sediment,
brought up over the past centuries by the Great rivers Ganges and
Brahmaputra in East bengal have pushed the sea-shore back several miles
into the Indian Ocean.
Therefore what could have taken place during a long period of 2,500
years at Dead Sea littoral can be easily understood and need not be
emphasized further.
It is quite possible that Jerusalem was at close proximity to the
"Sea of Arabah' as the "Dead Sea" was then known at the time of Punna
Thera (Cir. 6th century B.C.).
Even the name "Jerusalem" can be considered as an early Aramaic form
of 'Samudra Giri', the name of the Buddhist Shrine complex. The term
giri meaning 'rock' can be equalled with the term Sela (later Petra)
referring to 'a rock" among Aramaic or Hebrew speaking people in ancient
sinai-Arabah region. Sala, Saila, Sela (meaning rock or stone), although
taken as an Indo-European phonetic term could have either got into
Aramaic or Hebrew (both of the semitic family) or could have been
borrowed from Semitic to Indo-European.
'Jeru-Salem' if it was an original formation meaning 'rock near sea'
was expressed in Buddhist text as 'Samudra - Giri' when put into early
Indian (Sanskrit or Pali). One has to further investigate whether 'Jeru'
or 'Jericho' (another ancient site near Arabah sea) has any relation to
'Samudra' or sea in ancient Indic phonemes.
Although our explanation is hypothetical, yet the fact remains, that
Jerusalem was an ancient Holy Place where stood at least some of the
items that are referred to in Punna Thera story.
We quote "There was a Sacred Rock (As-Sakhra) at Jerusalem, the place
of pilgrimage for Muslims also. This was the ancient rock which formed
the highest point in the temple area and on which David's altar probably
once stood."
"Muslims believe that this was the precise point from which Mohammed
had made his miraculous ascent to heaven."
"The rock on which apostle of Allah set his foot when he ascended
into heaven. This reference may be a survival of an historic event that
took place in Ven. Punna Thera's time when our Lord Bhagavan Buddha
visited and sanctified the Rock Shine and placed His 'Sacred Foot
Print', on the stone altar or dais there, a practice or an act the
Buddha had done in sanctifying and appropriating such stone "Altar
Shrines" of pre-Buddhist religious cult worshippers even elsewhere.
The Tamkita Manca', the stone dais of Yakkha cult worshippers in Gaya
district in India, is found even up to this date. But it is now
appropriated by Hindus who have converted it to a Hindu shrine and is
known as 'Visnupadam' (foot print of Visnu).
The Great Chronicle of the sinhalese, the Mahavamsa, refers to a
similar incident when the Buddha gifted to the Naga cult worshippers of
ancient Sri Lanka two such stone daises sacred to them (one in Kelaniya
and the other in Nagadeepa in northern Sri Lanka) having first seated on
them and thus having made them sanctified.
Coming back to West-Asia, "Abd-al-Malik (A.D. 685-705) was the
builder of the dome of the rock at Jerusalem".
"Then Abd-al-Malik built above Sakhra a dome and hung it around with
curtains of brocade and he instituted door-keepers for the same, and the
people took the custom of circumambulating the rock, even as they had
paced round the Kabah (in Mecca!) and the usage continued thus all the
days of the dynasty of Ummayads.
The Caliph of Damascus (of Syria, former Aram) of a vast Muslim
empire in the 6th century A.D. thus built a dome above the rock and
installed a practice of circumambulating at Jerusalem. This practice of
worshipping sacred sites or objects, is one that is common to Buddhism
as has been instituted by Buddha Himself. It is known in Buddhist Texts
as 'Pradaksina, that is going round a sacred object or person worthy of
worship, in a clockwise manner for three times.
The third temple built for Punna Thera was known as "Matula Giri",
again a rock-hewn temple as the name suggests. This site was found not
quite proper for the secluded hermit life of a Buddhist eremite of Punna
Thera's bearing, because of the noise made by large flocks of birds.
It is not possible for us to identify any ancient temple site in this
part of Arabia close to "Dead Sea, with this third temple built for
Punna Thera.
However, archaeologists have found several ancient temples of
pre-Islamic Arabia within this locality. At Petra (or ancient Sela) a
city few miles south of the ancient township Punon) referred to above
and identified by us as the birth place of Ven. Punna Thera) are remains
of large rock-cut shrines. Several cave shrines dating back to the
period of the proto-Arabic Nabetean Kingdom of pre-Christian centuries
have also been discovered in and around the Dead Sea.
At Petra (Sela), the chief attraction was a rectangular "black stone'
worshipped as a monument for the god of those ancient people. Further
more the Arab god Allah, Allat, Al-Uzza was worshipped in the kabah and
possibly represented by the famous 'black stone' in that place.
Strangely enough sacred stone altars have been objects of worship in
a far wider area in ancient Asia. Early Buddhist texts refer to these
shrines as cult objects of those peoples of the Non-Aryan (or
Non-Indo-European) stock who considered their chief God as 'Yakkha' (Yaksha).
Those stone altars were named 'Tamkita manca' in ancient Buddhist texts.
In pre-historic, pre-Buddhist Sri Lanka also, such stone altars were
referred to as objects of great religious significance and later
appropriated by Buddhists who converted them as memorials or symbols of
Buddha worship.
Our aim in this research study is not merely to identify possible
sites in ancient Arabia with those referred to in the story of Ven.
Punna Thera, but also to investigate further for more evidence to
substantiate the thesis of the great scholar monk Ven. (Dr.) Pannananda
Maha Thera who alone had made this remarkable research into Buddhist
texts to locate the birth place of Punna Thera in far-West Arabia.
The learned Ven. Pannananda Thera suggests that the fourth temple
named Makulaka Arama built for elder Punna Thera could be possibly the
Islamic Sanctum Santorum, the shrine at Mecca. The name mecca (Mekka)
agrees well with the temple (Arama) by the name Makulaka phonetically.
But the problem lies how to draw a comparison between proper names found
in the Indo-European group with one found in a different linguistic
family, for Arabic being a language of the Semitic group.
However, the fact that the religious dialect of those regions, West
of Hindukush up to the Mediterranean lands during the centuries before
the Christian era was 'Aramaic' and the difference of opinion of
scholars whether Aramaic the 'Lingua-franca' of the region was of
Semitic or Indo-European origin is a matter worth further investigation
and careful scrutiny. Even Jesus Christ preached His sermons in Aramaic.
****************
As we have suggested above, the few centuries in between the date of
the Buddha's Presence in Magadha (Middle India) kingdom and the birth of
Jesus Christ in Israel (ancient Arabah) have seen remarkable historical
episodes in the Kingdoms along which passed the great trunk-route
Uttarapatha, the Northern Highway linking East and West of the then
known civilised world.
Now one may wonder what are the available archaeological evidence of
this region, the north west part of Arabia, to locate possible Buddhist
sites that could be traced back to pre-Islamic or even pre-Christian
period.
Our investigations proved successful with substantial evidence and we
are now able to locate not one but several sites that could reasonably
be related to the period of Punna Thera's habitation in Sunaparanta and
the four monastic establishments or temples built at the request of
Thera Punna.
The very name 'Sunaparanta' has two words combined to give a meaning
- 'a far away country', according to ancient Buddhist texts. That is 'Suna'
and 'Aparanta' which also means, Suna of Aparanta. 'Suna' a locality in
the major region or country of Aparanta. Aparanta according to Buddhist
texts is the habitat of
Aparantakas (a community or race) from a major region called
Aparagoyana which is one of the four great continents according to the
geography of the time of Buddha. It is to the West of Sineru. Sineru is
the hub or centre of the Earth according to the reckoning of ancient
Indian geographers and astronomers.
According to the Buddha's Sermons (Suttas), when the sun rises in
India it is the middle watch of the night in Aparagoyana. The sunset in
Aparagoyana is the midnight in Jambudveepa (India), and sunrise in
Aparagoyana is noon in Jambudveepa, sunset in Pubbavideha and midnight
in Uttarakuru.
When we take into consideration this above explanation in early
Buddhist Texts of the position of the sun in relation to the regions of
Earth, it can be surmised that Pubbavideha is 'Far-East', Uttarakuru is
the land of the 'Americas', and Aparagoyana is the whole of 'Europe'.
These geographical identifications of earth's localities by the
Buddha, and commented upon by the Buddha's disciples of the past, would
have made the Europeans of Mediaveval centuries, reeling with laughter
and those who pronounced such geographical identifications, (that reveal
parts of the Earth having daytime while some other parts in the darkness
of night, thereby suggesting the global shape of the Earth), would have
been condemned to death on stakes and spikes for distorting the minds of
the faithful on the belief in God's great creation (what the Roman
Catholic Church had done to poor Copernicus and Galileo).
The Buddhist texts show how the Great Buddha had rejected over and
over the belief in an "Eternal Being", who is the creator of Earth and
heavenly bodies with all the living beings.
Moreover, this geographical explanation is a clear verdict that the
Buddha had a very scientific view of the planet Earth and considered it
(the Earth) to be a globe around which the light (of the sun) falls in
an anti-clockwise pattern. This factor alone shows the great knowledge
that our Bhagavat Buddha and His Noble Arhan disciples (the Maha Sangha)
had about the Earth and other galaxies including our own 'Milky way'
which was named Mangala Cakkavata. "The Blessed Circular Cosmic Abyss",
which is quite in tune with the modern scientific discoveries made after
the discovery of the telescope in the middle ages. It is because that
the Buddha had a clear view of the luminous stars and planets, the
heavenly bodies in the sky that he scoffed at Charletan astrologers and
prognosticators, and declared 'Kim Karissanti Taraka' (What can the
stars do to humans).
Coming back to Sunaparanta debacle, let us continue to untwine the
tangle by investigating further some survivals of pre-Christian
archaeological data. Suna was a locality of the major region Aparanta
(Hence Sunaparanta). Apranta means 'far-end' (Anta) of the Western
border (Apara), when viewed from Magadha Kingdom in india of the
continent Aparagoyana, the early name for Europe as we can now correctly
conjecture, where only bullock-cart tracks (Goyana) were available and
not great highways like the Uttarapatha and the Daksinapatha opened for
thousands of caravan traffic.
Sunaparanta was apparently the Culdesac or the terminus of the 'Great
Northern Highway' (Uttarapatha, that linked Mongolia, China, Central
Asia, South Russia and the major centres of the then known civilised
world the Kingdoms of Egypt, Assyria, Aram (Syria), Arabia, Babylonia,
Persia etc.
Part of the Aparanta region is also known as the Levant region, an
area of strategic importance for European powers even during Napoleonic
wars. It was in this Levant region, where so much brisk trade took place
with East and West and wars fought to capture its entre port trade.
Beyond this is the great ocean the mediterranean and lands with
difficult narrow paths, cart tracks (Goyana) and not highways Pathas)
until the Romans built such roadways - Via Roma after the Great military
genius Julius Caesar's advance through Gaul to British Isles and
declaring 'Vini-vidi-vici'.
****************
Where was the locality 'Suna' that has become famous or got such an
importance for the Great Buddha to pay a visit and stay there on the
invitation of Arhant Punna Thera (Worthy One). Araha or Arahan is an
epithet of both the Buddha and His Noble disciples.
We have no hesitation in identifying the ancient 'Suna' of Buddhist
texts with the historic 'Sinai' region between Egypt and Israel. 'Sinai'
tract has been the bone of contention between the Arabs and the Jews,
from pre-Christian centuries onwards. In the recent times 'Sinai' area
was captured by the Jews from Egypt during the seven days war Israel
waged with the combined armies of several Moslem States headed by
Muhammed Abdul Nasser of Egypt. It is not etymologically impossible to
compare Suna of Buddhist texts with ancient Biblical Sinai. But to
strengthen our identification we need further evidence.
It is in the Sinai tract the ancient township Punon is located quite
surprisingly yet fortunately helping to strengthen our identification of
Sunaparanta with this part of West Asia. We may surmise that Punon is a
variant form of Punna Thera the name of the Buddha's great disciple who
dared to go back to His motherland despite the warning by the Buddha
that Sunaparanta is a country inhabited by ferocious wicked people, as
is aptly described a few centuries later by the anonymous author of the
"Periplus'.
Great persons are identified by their place of birth or else the
names of great persons are attributed to the place of their birth. This
practice is found even at present.
On this contention, it is not difficult to locate the 'Punnon of
Sinai' as the home town of "Punna of Suna" of the major region Aparanta.
Hence, Punna Thera of Sunaparanta of the ancient Buddhist texts.
A little towards South of Punon is the ancient city of Sela (or Petra
in roman times) which has yielded rock - cut temples, houses, tombs,
religious altars, etc. Sela is a city mentioned in the Old Testament of
the Holy Bible. It was the meeting place of caravan traders from East
and West. To quote from a historian: "The historical city Petra was the
same as Biblical Sela (or Selah) famous for its beautiful rock-hewn
temples, houses, tombs, altars."
The author further states: "The rock-hewn temples remain to attest
the splendour which this place enjoyed when caravans brought in and out
of it, riches of all the East."
Hence the caravan leaders of the like of Punna Thera and his brother,
hailing from Buddha's time would have easily given their family name to
this town, know as Punon or else they got themselves identified with the
town that was their place of birth, as Punna of Suna (or if modernised
Punon of Sinai). Thus, Punna of Suna in the State of Aparanta should no
more be a mystery shrouded with the passage of time.
Now the question can be raised, if Punna and Suna as proper names
could be derived from existing or existed historical sites, why not the
name Paranta or Aparanta?We have found that on the same analogy, even
this is not an impossibility if we consider that the ancient Jewish
Kingdom or locality Arabah of the lager Nabatean Kingdom was just
located in the site where we traced Punon and Sinai.
Even the inland sea around which we have located the temples built
for Punna Thera was first known as the "Sea of Arabah" and later called
the 'Dead Sea'. It was the Nabatean Kingdom of Arabahs and Jews, which
later formed into smaller Arab Kingdoms, during the pre-Christian
centuries and afterwards, when the Nabateans were defeated.
The world 'Arabah' sometimes found as 'Araba' could be traced back to
'Aparanta of early Buddhist texts. It could be surmised that this region
that was originally called 'Aparanta' in the Pali texts had got into
Aramaic or proto-Aramaic, a form like Apara or Abara and had called this
region Apara, a short form of Aparanta which term later formed into
Araba-Arabah through syncope and metathesis. It should also be noted
that according to Bible scholars Aramaic was 'Lingua-franca' of the
whole of West Asia during pre-Christian centuries. Even the Great
Buddhist Emperor Asoka had to issue his rock-edicts in Aramaic and
Brahmi both, when he addressed his people in the north-western part of
India.
That is how we surmise that this area had received the name 'Arabah'
and the adjoining sea also got the name 'Arabah Sea'.
Later, when the Nabatean Kingdom of the Aramaic speaking people who
were dominant in this part, fell to Hebrew speaking Jews (after the
ruthless and devastating conquests by the Assyrians, Babylonians,
Persians, Greeks and Romans), the Arabahs were pushed southwards. These
people begun new kingdoms for themselves of and took the name Araba as
their clan name or ethnic identity in contradistinction to Hebrew
speaking Jews of Israel. We suppose that our view is a very logical
reasoning as to how the Arabs and their country Arabia appeared in the
world (Arabi in Sinhalese).
Therefore we suggest that after the Nabatean rulers, the smaller
kingdoms that were established were referred to as those of the Arabas
and finally when the Jews opposed those Arab Kingdoms, (Where the major
religious cult worship was not centred around Jehowah but round Alaha),
those Arab Kingdoms had to demarcate their own boundaries as distinct
from the Jewish States of Israel - Judea etc. Thus, the constant wars
between Alaha's people and Jehowah's people field the pages of Middle
East history from pre-Christian centuries up-to-date. It is a pity that
Ven. Punna Thera's effort to establish the 'Rule of Righteousness' under
the Kingdom of Arahan Buddha (Buddha Rajyaya or Buddah Ksetraya), turned
to be a battle field of ruthless, bellicose jingoes.
When these Arab Kingdoms were pushed further towards mainland Apranta
(Apara - Araba), it is quite likely that the whole region got the name
Arabia from pre-Christian pre-Islamic times.
If any other acceptable theory to trace the origin of the name
Arabah-Araba-Arabia of those pre-Christian people and their original
homeland around Dead Sea and north Arabia could be brought forward by
any research scholar or historian and if that could be proved
scientifically and logically acceptable, we shall definitely withdraw
our above proposition with due difference to such scholarship.
**************
The possible identification and that also hypothetically of sporadic
sites in West - Asiatic region, alone will not help us to determine that
Buddhism was established in this part of the world during the very
lifetime of the Buddha and prevailed as the religious faith of many
people throughout the pre-Christian centuries.
Therefore we have extended our survey into the field of religious
cults and practices as well as ancient religious literature, art and
architecture also to trace possible clues of Buddhism's penetration in
to this region so that our hypothesis should be confirmed absolutely.
One of the remarkable clues in our investigation to locate Punna
Thera's Ministry in West Asia is the name 'God' for their creator God,
the Divine Father. It is in the Christian Holy Bible only that this word
appears and could be traced back to the time of Jesus Christ, although
Bible translators (into English language) use the word 'God' even with
reference to the pre-Jesus Christ, Supreme Divinity in the Old
Testament.
Prior to the use of the term 'God' in the Holy Bible, as derived from
Greek to English the old Aramaic texts of the Holy scriptures (the
Bible!) known as Peshitta give the name Alaha for God. This is very
intriguing. Even the Holy Quaran has 'Allah' for God which is identical
with Aramaic Alaha, phonetically.
However, nowhere it is explained how this term Alaha-Allah had
entered into pre-Christian and Christian - Muslim religious texts.
Finding the origin of this Aramaic term 'Alaha' and the Arabic or
Islamic term 'Allah' has enable us to solve a major riddle in regard to
the term 'God' which overtook the word Alaha for the supreme Divine
Being in the Christian Bible but had been retained in the Muslim Quaran.
Meanwhile it is also noteworthy that the Jewish term Jehowah (Heb:
Yahaweh) for the "Creator", 'the Divine Being', 'Supreme God' had never
been used by Jesus Christ in the Christian Bible or by Prophet Mohammed
in the Holy Quaran.
Why did they prefer Alaha and allah to the Jewish 'Jehowah', needs
explanation by both Bible and Quaranic scholars, and how these terms
Alaha-Allah for the 'Supreme Creator' came into the 'Holy Scriptures' of
these two major religions, viz. Christianity and Islam also has to be
explained and answered.
The other problem that baffled us in our present quest is the word
'God' which is widely used in almost every theistic religion,
Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Shikh, Parse, Bahai and may be English
translations of the Texts of Judaism when they refer to their Supreme
Divine Being and explain their doctrine in English.
We had to explore to a great extent, to seek and find out a solution
to the mysterious origin of these two words 'Alaha and God'. We inquired
from many reputed scholars and various learned authorities of many
theistic religions. But unfortunately, the answer was an emphatic 'we
don't know', no one could seemingly present a reasonable or acceptable
answer to my inquiry. The final reply of all these learned men was that
the word God is as mysterious and elusive as God himself, and no one
will ever be able to solve this mystery. That was God's wish they all
declare with gusto, and with a sarcastic wink at poor me, as if asking,
"who are you puny fellow to know about the origins of mighty God?
However, being a God loving person, I was not discouraged at all with
such replies, and I continued my search in every available dictionary,
lexicon and encyclopedia, but not trace was there in any of these
publications for the etymological origin of the word 'God' to determine
whether it is from an Indo-European origin of Semitic origin or from any
other linguistic family.
Now, back to "Punna of Suna" (or Punon of Sinai).
Punna Thera, the great disciple of our Buddha had attained the
highest path in Buddha's dispensation. Therefore he was one of the 'Maha
Araha' a great worthy one (also, Arahan or Arahat). Our Bhagavat Buddha
was called 'Bhagava Arahan' as the 'Blessed Worthy One," the sinless
One, in the famous stanza the Buddha taught His disciples to repeat,
instead of seeking divine help and going after unseen divine beings who
are at the same time neither fully sinless or fearless according to
Buddha's judgement.
The word 'Araha' means the 'worthy One' the 'sinless One', an epithet
of the Buddha and also of His great nobble sinless disciples who too
were called 'Araha'.
Incidentally in the Holy Bible (New Testament), Jesus Christ is also
called a sinles person.
Had the Great Elder Punna Thera established Buddha's dispensation
(the Church or Sasana) in this part of Arabia (the "Sinai-Arabah"
region) and had there been several hundreds or thousands of Ven. Punna's
converts to Buddhism, and among them a few hundred had entered the
Buddha's order of monks and had attained the final stage of liberation
called the stage of Araha, surely this word Araha would have been a
household word among the first Buddhist converts in West Asia, the
people of Sinai-Arabah area where we have located Buddhist monasteries
that were established during the very lifetime of our Gautama Buddha.
Therefore we are very happy to declare for the great delectation of
Buddhists all over the world, that the strange word 'Alaha' by which the
old Greek bible or the proto-Greek Aramaic Bible also known as the
Peshitta manuscripts, identified the Glorious One, the Blessed One, The
Supreme One, the God was nothing other than the epithet 'Araha' of our
Buddha which even today millions of Buddhists all over the world in
Buddhist countries especially, chant as a devotional hymn in praise of
the Buddha. It is thus:
"Itipisobhagava - Araham - Samma - Sambuddho,
Vijja Charana Sampanno - Sugato Lokavidu,
Anuttaro - Purisa - Damma - Sarathi Sattha,
Devamanussanam - Buddho - Bhagavathi."
He indeed is the Buddha, the Blessed One, the Sinless One (Araha),
the Supreme Enlightened One (Samma Sambuddho) who is endowed with
knowledge and virtue auspicious, knower of the whole cosmos, a guide
incomparable for the training of individuals, teacher of divine beings
and humans, Enlightened and Holy."
***************
Thus we have solve a major part of the mystery in regard to the
epithet for the Supreme Being, the glorious, sinless Lord, who is Araha
- Alaha - Allah, in Buddhism, Christianity and Islam all.
One may question us how can Araha become Alaha and more so Allah? The
answer is quite simple to linguists and philologists, who are aware of
the linguistic law - Rhotacism - whereby 'R', and 'L' can interchange.
(Refer also, Lambdacism)
Historians of Arabic and Jewish religions have found that Alaha,
Allah and Allat had originated from the Sinai region, which is exactly
the location we have identified with Suna - Aparanata of the Punna story
of early Buddhist texts.
Among the higher gods who were worshipped by Bedouins of the deserts
of North Arabia, the most important was Allah, Allat, Al-Uzza. They were
pre-Islamic gods. Even prophet Mohammed's father bore the name 'Abd-Allah'
or 'Abdullah', meaning a worshipper or servant of Allah. Allah was
worshipped in the Kabah and possibly represented by the famous
blackstone in that place. "Allat" is believed to have been introduced
into Arabia from Syria (ancient Aram) according to inscriptional
evidence."
Let us now turn to the other problem, the most baffling question of
the etymological origin of the word 'God'. We have searched high and
low, to solve the mystery of 'God'. We turned our investigations into
almost every available lexicon, dictionary and encyclopoedia, without
any avail.
No publication that we have surveyed could give us an explanation as
to how the word 'God' originated in the World. Finally we had to give up
all our hopes and prayed to God to help us., "Oh, God lead me from
darkness to light' - "Tamaso majyotir gamaya", and lo, there appeared
the light, "Aloko Udapadi", as the greatest of all Arahat, the Supreme
Buddha declared.
We can now with assurance declare that the word 'God' is derived from
nothing else but the word 'Buddha', "How could that be?" will be the
question of all those God fearing good souls.
Our researches proved that this word "God" is nothing but a
derivative of the word "Buddha" from the secondary formation "Boddo", an
early form, how the ancient Indo-Greeks, (also known as Bactrian
Greeks), Sakas, Parthians, and Kushanas (Yue-Chih) used in their
documents to name the Great Lord, Bhagavat Buddha.
The name "Buddha" with "d" as a dental consonant is quite difficult,
I have observed, for many westerners to pronounce. Even at present, this
happens to be so. In USA and in Australia, during my University lectures
(In these two countries) I have found many Westerners (Europeans)
pronounce the word Buddha always with a cerebral 'd'. When I tried to
correct them in my classroom, it was the most difficult task for them,
to pronounce "Buddha" and sound the dentall 'd'.
They make a jaw breaking effort, yet without success and pronounce,
'Buddha' like 'Buddo' or 'Boddo' ('d' as in 'door' or "do"). sometimes I
got amused but often disappointed, yet I could not help it but had to
tolerate their great difficulty in pronouncing the name 'Buddha'.
However, now I feel happy that I had the good occasion to confront
with such people because this very experience has been a pointer to
solve the most intriguing thing, how the mystery word "GOD" appeared in
the world.
In the coins issued by early Indo-Greeks (also known as
Bactrian-Greeks), Scythians, Sakas and Kushanas of West Asia who were
converted to Buddhism (a few centuries after the Alexandrian conquests
of Persia and other kingdoms of Middle East) have for the first time in
history of Buddhist iconography, the image of Buddha on the obverse side
of their coins. This numismatic evidence is like "God sent" to me, the
only clue to solve the present problem of the etymological origin of
"God".
Through my recollections, how my American and Australian students
pronounced the word "Buddha" during my university lectures, I managed to
trace its roots in the Indo-Greek numismatics. It could be presumed that
the same problem had been encountered by the western people whether they
be Greeks of West-Asians. They too must have pronounced the name
"Buddha" as "Boddo" and inscribed it on the reverse side of their coins.
the best example is the coin issued by the great Kushana Emperor
Kanishka, with a standing image of the Buddha (on the obverse) with the
legend BODDO.
Araha and Allah
I am sure the Bactrian Greeks (or the Indo-Greeks) as they were
called by several scholars, to distinguish them from Selcuicid Greeks)
had not used the dental 'd' in BODDO legend of the coins that was
inscribed on the obverse side. Thus Bhagavat Buddha had been introduced
to West-Asia and Middle East, as a Great Superhuman being worthy of
worship, under the epithet "Boddo" during the first century of the
Christian era and would have possibly replaced the former 'Araha' -Alaha
(Allah) ideal of the original Buddhism (the Theravada ideal as some
scholars would prefer, to distinguish original Buddhism), that the great
monk Ven. Punna established in Sunaparanata (the Sinai-Arabah region),
his homeland, as we have demonstrated already (the West-Asian region).
Thus within a century at least of the Christian era, the Buddha -
Boddo - Bod - God, ideal had been established and had penetrated into
the region of Sinai-Arabah where the Araha - Alaha Allah concept of the
supreme sinless compassionate Lord, was prevailing.
Based on our new discovery, we do not hesitate to declare that the
mystic word 'GOD' has gone into the Holy Scriptures of at least some of
those West Asiatic people (who held Araha - Alaha - Allah as the Supreme
Being) through the linguistic or philological formation of BODDO',
during the first century of the Christian era.
Jews who held "Torah" as their foremost Sacred Holy Scriptures would
not have yielded to those extraneous religious texts or scriptures of
the Buddhist Sects established by Punna Thera, wherein Araha, Alaha or
Allah appeared variantly. This can be clearly seen in the firm stand of
Jews in recognising Jehowah (Yehoweh) as their Divine father, the
Supreme Creator, right throughout from pre-Christian centuries up to
now, and not Alaha or even Allah as it has gone into Aramaic and Arabic
Holy Scriptures, and more so the all loving compassionate Boddo, Bod,
God who they thought would not conform to their ideal of an Eternal
Creator God - Jehowah who does not hesitate to punish those who go
against his commandments and covenents.
There must have been bitter resentment between the two factions,
namely, the priests (or priest - kings) of Jehowah worshippers and the
cave dwelling eremites who rejected the Jewish torah since the days of
Ven. Punna who preached the peaceful doctrine of "Araha Sambuddo" and
the "Kingdom of Righteousness and baptised their newly ordained novice
monks (a custom that is still being continued in Theravada Buddhist
countries), and eschewed circumcision and totally opposed animal
sacrifice and killing in whatever form to appease an unseen divine
being.
It could be surmised that these Araha or Alaha followers were
primarily the Aparantakas or Arabah and later known as Arabs of the
Nabatean kingdoms that prevailed in this region who called their supreme
religious being, their saviour by the name of ARAHA or ALAHA and finally
Allah.
A recent scholar while explaining 'Allah' as principal God of Mecca
says, "He was also worshipped in other places throughout Arabia as is
shown by the occurrence of the name in Sabean, Minean and particularly
Lihyanite inscriptions".
"Allat according to recent study of the complicated inscriptional
evidence is believed to have been introduced to Arabia from Syria".
(ancient Aram) With the rise in power of Jehowah faction of the primary
Jewish tribes who allied with the Alexandrian Greeks and then with the
Imperial Rome, the followers of Alaha of the Arabah kingdom of Nabateans
were persecuted and severely ill-treated, exiled and gradually pushed
out of their original seat of power in Sinai-Arabah region (modern
Palestine) and had to seek safety in mainland Arabia, where they
established as strong opponents of Jehowah worshipping Jews, and also as
their eternal rivals.
Meanwhile many of those innocent, peaceful, cave dwelling eremite
monks would have been tolerated and allowed to stay in their rock-cut
dwellings as long as they would mind their own business without
interfering with the mainstream Jewish religio political strategy.
Thus the Araha - Alaha worshippers, the peace loving original Sinai
people continued to stay in the region with their cave dwelling monks,
later known as Essenes (may be a derivative from Suna-Sinai), performing
their religious rites and obligations based on high ethical order,
morality and righteousness, and safeguarding and promoting the study and
practice of their original Holy Scriptures the "Peshitta", as opposed to
the Jewish Torah.
However, they too would have had to face occasional persecution
according to the whim and fancy of the Jewish priest kings.
Buddhist Greek Kings
Thus the shrines and temples of those original Araha - Alaha
worshippers founded in the vicinity of the Dead-sea would have continued
to function despite the opposition of the jewsih priests at Jerusalem
etc., and their lay followers of Jehowah, until the appearance of Jesus
Christ and John the Baptist who, it is clear through Bibilical
references, had tried to review the declining Alaha (Buddhalogy)
religion that was yet surviving under great pressure with their temples
either destroyed or appropriated by Jehowah followers.
During the same period one can witness that a neo-Buddhalogy was just
emerging in the former Bactrian-Greek satrapies with territorial
expansion of the imperial Kushanas under the great Buddhist Emperor
Kanishka (cir.ist.Century,A.C.)
Bactrian Greek Kings like Minander (of Milindapanha fame) had already
become devout patrons of Buddhism. The rule of emperor Kanishka gave a
great impetus to Buddhism by spreading it in far away territories beyond
his imperial frontiers.
Emperor Kanishka's period was exactly the time Jesus Christ and John
the Baptist were operating in Jerusalem, and propagating the "Good News"
of the "Kingdom or Righteousness" which the Israeli Jews could not have
correctly grasped, and most unfortunately misunderstood to the great
misfortune of John and Jesus Christ.
Jews were hesitant to crush the new movement, a revivalist campaign,
of Jesus Christ at first, may be because of his affiliations with
imperial Kushanas. However they killed John and framed charges against
Jesus, a rebel against Imperial Rome.
The large followers who accepted Jesus' teachings, too must have made
the cunning Jewish priests, at first, hesitant to do any harm to Jesus.
Therefore they tried various strategies to entrap him.
It could be surmised that the "Arahan Buddha" followers were still
holding on to their scriptures the "Peshitta" and the temples in the
vicinity of Jerusalem.
Their presence during the pre-Christian (pre-Jesus) days can be
definitely proved by the re-discovery of the famous "Dead-Sea Scrolls"
in the early fifties of the present century, the scriptures that
belonged to the cave and forest dwelling monks known as Essenes and
written in arachic Aramaic script.
According to the scanty information that was made available to the
scholarly public by those Jewish-Hebrew scholars who jealously guard the
"Dead-Sea Scrolls" for nearly fifty years without publishing them, under
various pretexts, these documents belonged to the monks dwelling in
forest or cave hermitages and were later called Essenes.
The name "Essenes" could very likely be a later Jewish term from an
original name derived from "Suna-Sinai" the homeland, Sunaparanatha
where Ven. Punna established his group of Suna (Sinai) monks as
demonstrated by us above.
The 'Dead-Sea Scrolls" do not refer at all to a higher Divine Being
by the name of Jehowah, unless the recent editors (who jealously guard
these documents) tend to interpolate or smuggle in, the name Jehowah, in
between the lines of these ancient religious scriptures written in
Aramaic.
It is remarkable that without any such evidence at their disposal, as
the newly discovered "Dead Sea Scrolls", some European scholars of the
early decades of the present century have suggested that the "Essenes"
could be an "original forgotten Buddhist Sect."
Although the Jews rejected "the religion of the Araha" (or Alaha),
the Arabs, from the original Arabah stock, were fortunate enough to have
adhered to the great doctrine found in the "Scriptures of Araha" and
preserved by the monks of the Sinai-Arabah region, (the Dead-Sea
region).
That is why the scholars of Islam have found it possible to declare
that the concept of Allah is pre-Mohammed and had possibly derived from
a religious concept got down from Sinai-Arabah area (or Israel-Palestine
of the present day)." This observation confirms our derivation of
Essenes from an original religious community from Sinai.
Most of the pre-Christian and later (appropriated) Islamic temple
sites in Arabia as referred to above, including the famous shrine at
Mecca (which was identified by the great scholar monk Ven. Dr.
Pannananda Mahathera, as the Makulaka monastery of the Buddha's day) has
as the central object of worship a "Sacred stone dais".
The megalithic "Asanaghara" shrines of ancient pre-historic Sri Lanka
and India that were appropriated by the Buddhists later, are a
noteworthy clue which provides the missing link between early (original)
Buddhist temple sites in South Asia and West Asia (middle East).
On the other hand, most of the religious practices of early Christian
religion show that the Christian Church had no approval of Judaism.
Judaic religious practices were anathema to the teaching of Jesus
Christ. Christian religion abhorred massacre of animals for sacrifice,
circumcision, gullible adherence to Sabbath rituals and practices, no
prayers or invocations for Jehowah the Creator, But of course, the
greatest love and devotion to "the most compassionate righteous God, the
Divine Loving Father in the Eternal Heaven" is emphasised.
We wish to present a few more evidence to substantiate our thesis
that the Buddha's religion introduced to West Asia by Ven. Punna
Mahathera, survived as a counter religious force to Judaic Monotheism,
(in the same way original Buddhism played as a counter force to
monotheistic, animal sacrificing Brahmanic Hindu religion in India) for
many more centuries, preserving its originality intact until it was
absorbed and assimilated into the two faiths namely. Christianity
preached by Jesus Christ and Islam preached by Prophet Mohammed, yet
preserving a good portion of Buddha's original Doctrine - "Saddharma"
and early Buddhist religious cults and practices like, circumambulating
sacred objects of worship. erecting domes above shrines to symbolize the
vastness of Buddha nature like the 'vault of the sky' or heavenly
spheres; worshipping the great Buddha symbolically in the sacred seat or
dais, fiery flame; crescent moon to remind the Buddhist Sabbath or Poya
retreat; rejecting anthropomorphic images of the Supreme Buddha who is
ineffable, elevating the Doctrine (Dhamma) on same part with the Great
Divine Lord.
In the teachings of Jesus Christ, there are clear evidence to prove
that He had definitely preached the Buddha's religion. ***
Now that we have produced substantial evidence to prove that they
very name 'God' is a derivative of the name 'Buddha' through the
Bactrian Greek - Saka - Scythian - Kushana word Boddo - Bod, it is
incumbent on us to provide further facts to strengthen our thesis.
Jesus Christ never referred to a Supreme Divine Being by the name of
Jehowah, the ancient Aramaic Peshitta scriptures, through which the
original Jesus teachings as found in the Holy Bible were formulated,
always had Alaha for the Supreme Being.
The Christian Bible that was translated through Greek into English
from original teaching of Jesus in the Aramaic language, had for the
first time the word 'God', the Divine Father.
The metamorphosis of Alaha to God could be clearly observed during
this period of transition from original Peshitta scriptures (or texts)
to Jesus teachings. The reason for this transformation we have amply
demonstrated above.
Jesus never preached on an everlasting, eternal heaven or Hades as is
found in most other theistic religious systems. Jesus categorically
denied such beliefs when He declared "heaven and earth will not last but
my doctrine will last." Jesus emphasised that everything will pass over.
This is in conformity with Buddhism which declared everything is
impermanent (anicca) and the 'Doctrine' of Nibbana the Supreme Bliss is
eternal, Sanatana Dhamma. Jesus said, "my doctrine is not mine."
Jesus, chief disciples were males. Jesus and John both spoke about
the 'son of God', 'Children of God'. This was quite consonant with the
epithet of a noble disciple of the Buddha who is truly a Buddhaputto, a
son of the Buddha, a son of Boddo, (Bod - God).
It was Jesus who emphasised the supreme love, the great compassion,
which is 'Mahakaruna' in the teachings of our Lord Bhagavat Buddha (e.g.
mettanca sabhalokasmin - Manasambhavaye aparimanam).
No divine punishment or wrath or an unseen power, heavenly authority,
is there in the teachings of Jesus Christ. His God (Bod -Boddo - Buddha)
was omnipotent or all powerful, omniscient or all knowing (Sabbannu,
epithet of the Buddha) all love Mahakaruniko Natho Hitaya Sabbapaninam
for the Buddha), all righteous, all just, all merciful, the entire
cosmos (or creation as the Bible translators put it) is under His
command or rule (Lokavidu epithet of the Buddha). He is the universal
monarch and His kingdom or righteousness is Supreme (Buddha Rajjyaya or
Buddha Khetta).
"That kingdom of my father," Jesus emphasised, "is not within this
world" (of sinful craving, hatred and ignorance loha, dosa and moha as
Buddha explained). Jesus stopped the age-old Jewish religious rite of
killing animals for sacrifice (like what the Buddha and his noble
disciples did in India against the Brahmanic Hindu yagas by which
thousands of innocent animals were killed to appease unseen, ferocious,
vindictive imaginary divine beings).
Jesus ridiculed the Jews for their foolish practice of religious
rites and rituals, like gullible adherence to Sabbath and circumcision.
Jesus declared, "Sabbath is for man and man is not for Sabbath," thus
elevating the position of man even above the divine commands which was
in consonance with one of the early Buddhist concepts of understanding
man as 'one who has' an elevated mind (man or mana = mind + ussa =
elevated hence manussa - man).
"Those followers of the kingdom of God are to seek righteousness
above all. This reminds us of the Buddha's admonition - "first establish
in morality" (sile patithaya naro sapanno). "Man is like a God when he
has learned the lessons of mercy," Jesus said, thus bringing God down to
earth.
Sassanian kings of West Asia even issued coins identifying "Buddha as
the Divine Ruler" or God in the present sense. King Peroz I in his coins
engraved the seated image of the Buddha on a throne with the legend, 'Bulda-Yazde'
on it the Buddha's figure is shown with a halo of flames. 'Bulda-Yazde'
means 'Buddha the King' which is very much similar to Islamic expression
'Allah-hu-Akbar', Allah is the ruler. Sinhala Buddhists always address
the Buddha as Budurajan, (Buddha the king).
Jesus abhorred accepting money and property, a rule for Buddhist
monks from the very beginning of Buddhism, which practice had been
strictly adhered to by the Essenes, the cave dwelling eremites of
Jerusalem who lingered for several centuries even after the severe
persecution of 'God's people (Buddho's people), the Buddhists, by the
followers of, Jehowah and the cruel priests of Jerusalem, as the Dead
Sea Scrolls do divulge. Incidentally it is stated in the Holy Bible that
the Jews even hated God, which is a clear proof that God of Jesus Christ
has nothing to do with Jehowah.
Even a bad thought, let alone fornication, is a sin, taught Jesus,
thus reminding the Buddhists of the Buddha's saying, cetanaham bhikkhave
Kammam vadami. Jesus said: "Love thy lord, thy God, through thy whole
heart, whole soul and whole mind. This is exactly a revised version of
the Buddha's admonition to His disciples - 'love me and have faith in me
and my Dhamma, all of you who are directed towards the blissful state of
Svarga - 'heaven' (mayadhamme mayi saddhamattam pemamattam, sabbte sagga
parayanti)
In every sermon of Jesus Christ that has come down to us in the Holy
Bible (may be after so many alterations, deletions and revisions over
many centuries in the past), we can get a glimpse of Buddha's universal
message of Karuna and Pragna, that is loving kindness and cultivation of
insight. Jesus practised meditation and fasting as a good exercise for
pacifying and purifying the mind (Samatha bhavana) before reaching
wisdom and insight (Vidassana bhavana).
Allah-hu-Akbar
As foreseen by the Buddha, in his admonition to Ven. Punna, 'under
violent, inhuman persecution and threats by the followers of Jehowah
(the Jewish priests) of Sinaiparan (Sunaparanta) original Buddhism
established by Punna Thera and his disciples and followers of the
Nabatean kingdom of Arabah (around Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Nazareth) up
to Sinai area, had retreated to mainland Arabia and Syria where they
continued to survive as Arabs (or Beduin Arabs - Buddhist Arabs!), who
build shrines with crowning domes, just like the Buddhist architectural
type found in stupas (dagabas) in honour of their supreme blessed One,
Alaha or Allah (or Allat) who was eventually deified as a merciful
being, the Supreme Lord who is the great divine ruler (Allah-hu Akbar).
If our surmise and explanations can be justified, then it could be
argued that in those Arab states where the Aramaic language prevailed,
the Buddhist scriptures and practices too continued to serve with
occasional changes and growth of extraneous cults and practices. That is
why in every pre-Islamic Arab shrine we get domical structures which
surmount the main temple like in Buddhist stupas. There are also sacred
stone altars, platforms and stone daises that are the main attraction in
those shrines e.g. at Jerusalem, Amrah, Petra, Mecca, etc.
At the beginning these Alaha worshippers were aniconic like original
Theravada Buddhists. But gradually Buddha images and icons of other
divinities and royal patrons were also introduced to embellish the
inside walls and grottos of these Arab religious shrines dedicated to
Alaha (Allah). That is why and how, when prophet Mohammed reached Mecca
and Jerusalem and other early pre-Islamic Arab shrines and sanctuaries
(more than one thousand years after Punna established Buddhism in
Sunaparanta), he found the presence of images which he condemned and
destroyed in his iconoclastic ardour, mistakenly believing that those
were shrines of Jews, the arch-enemies of Arabs.
Yet, we are fortunate to get a few survivals among which are early
representations of the Buddha (in the exact manner how the Buddha images
were carved in early sites of traditional Buddhist countries), crudely
carved, e.g. the stone image of 'Amyado of Shukayamim'. According to a
recent scholar this is 'a complete statuette in the round, carved in
alabaster. The modelling is done with care but the lower part of the
body is quite out of proportion, due no doubt to considering the head as
the most important part. The inscription of the base gives the name of 'Ammyada'
of 'Shukaymim'.
It could be presumed the name 'Shukaymim' of the figure represented
in this statute as given in the archaic inscription carved out at the
bottom, have preserved for posterity the revered name 'Shakyamuni' of
Bhagavat Buddha, how the Lord Buddha is reverently addressed by the
Buddhists in India, Tibet, China, Korea and Far-East as well as in
Theravada countries like Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Kampuchea, Laos,
Vietnam and was also found in the earliest pillar inscription of emperor
Asoka installed at Lumbini.
With no contact with centres of Buddhist learning and culture for
predominant Buddhist kingdoms in Asia, these 'Alaha - Allah' shrines of
mainland Arabia, Middle-East and West Asia continued to exist for
centuries and provided religious ardour to the common folk and rulers as
well. With the passage of time, these temples, their resident monks and
their followers were subject to the influence of local popular cults and
beliefs of various supernatural beings and divinities, thus giving rise
to new syncretistic religions and religious sects.
Thus by the time of Prophet Mohammed (cir 6th century AC), the origin
of the concept of Alaha and Allah, worship was totally forgotten and
shrouded in obscurity, excepting a few surviving early religious cults
and scriptures handed down from generation to generation which preserved
the basic tenets of former Arahat (Arahan) ideal of original Theravada
Buddhism introduced by Ven. Punna, such as a high moral code (Sila),
belief in rebirth in heaven and a final eternal blissful state (devaloka,
brahmaloka and Nibbana), perambulating as a mode of worship (pradaksina),
wearing white clothes to signify religious sanctity (odata vasana),
repeating many names of the Lord in praise of Him (nava arahadi Buduguna),
no anthropomorphic images but aniconic, symbolic representations of the
Lord (like a dais or altar, asana, flame of fire; foot print, dome or
domical roof.)
God from Buddha
The reader of the present essay may now seek an explanation from us
as to why and how the word 'God', if it was derived from 'Buddha' giving
'Buddo-Bod', was used by Jesus Christ and His followers had the Buddha
been worshipped and was known as Araha or Alaha (and later Allah) among
the West Asian countries of Aramaic speaking people including the
communities with whom Jesus had moved. This was exactly a problem that
had baffled us also. The answer to this problem can be found in the
religio-cultural developments in the region under review.
The learned thesis by Ven. Dr. Pannananda Mahathera, quoted above,
has prompted us to survey a wider geographical region from middle India
to West Asia via the then civilised lands like Persia, Syria, Babylonia.
Had we embarked on our investigation on the origin of the word 'God'
without understanding and analysing the political and religious
background of this region, we would not have been able to find any
answer to the problems that we faced.
The period during which Buddha was preaching His 'Saddharma' and
establishing the 'Kingdom of righteousness' or 'Buddha Rajjyaya' (Buddha
Khetta) in the circa sixth century BC had witnessed the emergency of
various kingdoms and their merging into powerful monarchies in and
around India, e.g. China, Achaemenid Persia, Egypt, Syria, Assyria,
Greece, Crete, Babylonia and the Magadha Kingdom of India.
Middle East and West Asia had witnessed the greatest impact of
politico-cultural upheavals of this period, mainly because of the influx
of so many people to these regions through the great international
highway, the eponymous Uttarapatha (Silk Route, as some do call). We
have already referred to this phenomenon. The availability of such an
international trunk-route that served as quick passage for information
also, caused the spread of the news of the birth of such a Great Being,
a Supreme Buddha beyond the farthest corners of the east and the west.
Confucius in China and Greek philosophers were made to know or they
themselves knew the Buddha's birth and appearance on earth. We may guess
that such a person like 'Pilotika' who admired the Buddha so much and
was instrumental in the preaching of the sermon 'Culla Hatthipadopama'
(parable of the small elephant foot-print), was a Greek. Texts say he
was golden hued in complexion. They very name sounds like 'Plato'. We
may suggest that Pilotika was a Greek of the Platonic school or family
in Greece.
It could be demonstrated that the Buddha's teachings had reached a
far wider area than the scholars thought, during His very lifetime. Even
the person Zoroastrar we wish to identify with possible evidence at our
disposal, as an early convert to Buddhism. (See infra p)
However, all that had been done towards the spread and establishment
of the Buddha's 'Saddharma' and His 'kingdom of Righteousness', during
the very lifetime of the Buddha by His Arahat monks and by the Buddha
Himself, had experienced a setback within the very few centuries that
followed the passing away of the Buddha, His Parinibbana.
There were various dissentient schools that wished to establish their
own canon despite the original Theravada canon or 'Tripitaka'. Thus such
schools like Sarvastivadins, Sammityas, Purva and Appra Sailiyas,
Mahasanghikas, Lokottara Vadin who were the precursors of the major
dissentient school of Buddhism, the Mahayana, appeared in India. A few
decades before and after the Christian era saw the Satrapies of
Scythians, Sakasa and Kushanas, consolidating themselves in the former
Indo-Greek (or Bactrian Greek) held territories in the north-western
parts of India and beyond.
The rise of emperor Kanishka, the mighty ruler of the Kushana dynasty
had a great impact on Buddhism, because he patronised the new Mahayana
church of Buddhism whereby the Gautama Buddha was elevated to the
position of an Eternal Cosmocrator or a hyper-human being, eternally
residing in the Cosmic Buddhasksettra, the Sukhavati heaven. In other
words, the Great Buddha had been made an eternal divine being with
innumerable Bodhistattvas (angels) attending upon Him, with the two
primary acolytes Mahasthama and Avalokita (cf. the archangels of
Christianity Michael and Gabriel who are supposed to be on either side
of the God's throne in the heaven).
After a 'Sangayana' a grand Buddhist synod of Mahayana monks held at
Purushapura (modern Peshawar), emperor Kanishka also had acted like his
great predecessor emperor Asoka the Maurya, in patronising Buddhism and
sending missionary monks to disseminate the noble doctrine (Saddharma)
of the Buddha, but unlike in the case of Asokan Buddhist missionary
monks, Kanishka's missionaries had a Mahayana tinge of the concept of
the Buddha. (Some scholars refer to a Buddhist Council held by Kanishka
at Vepulla mountain near Rajagrha and systematising a Mahayana treatise
called the Vepulla Sutra).
Our investigations reveal that Jesus Christ and even his
contemporary, the innocent monk John the Baptist, were born to families
of original Alaha (Araha) school of Buddhism that was prevailing or
surviving in the Israel Arabah region where Ven. Punna Thera's monastic
establishments were set up with Jerusalem as the headquarters.
The constant feuds between Jehowah worshipping Hebrew speaking Jewish
tribes and the Alaha worshipping Aramaic speaking Jewish tribes who
later became Arabs can be gleaned if one were to read carefully the Holy
Bible and relevant scriptures. While the Hebrew speaking Jewish tribes
and their scriptures in the Holy Torah the Aramaic speaking Jewish
tribes had their scriptures compiled in the Holy Peshitta. This is a
historical fact that cannot be disproved however much the Catholic
church may dispute with us.
In the biography of Jesus Christ we can see how He challenged the
Jewish priests who tried to dominate and monopolise the Holy Temple at
Jerusalem and even gone to the extent of chasing the unscrupulous
priests out of the premises of the Holy Sanctuary which must have been
patronised by the Jehowah and Alaha worshippers both.
Aramaic world
By the time Jesus was born in Jerusalem, Buddhism in its stronghold
kingdoms in north-west India had developed into Mahayana under the
patronage of Saka-Kushana monarchs as has been explained above. The
Aramaic speaking territories of pre-Christian centuries received all the
inspiration from those Buddhist kingdoms and moreso when emperor
Kanishka expanded his territories under the Kushana empire.
Hence the change of doctrinal policy of Buddhism in these kingdoms it
was natural for the 'Aramaic world' of West Asia also to receive its
influences and impact.
Therefore it could be easily explained that Jesus Christ also had
become an ardent follower of the new school of Buddhism which had
powerful and rich monastic centres in the Kashmir, Pakistan, Afghanistan
and Central Asian region that was the territory in the heart of the
powerful Kushana empire. This has been proved with evidence through
archaeological discoveries by research scholars, who have found tangible
evidence to prove Jesus' presence in Kashmir which was the part of the
great Buddhist empire of Sakas and Kushanas both, during the first
century before and after the present era.
It could be surmised that Ven. Isa or Jesus the Jew. was sent to
Israel, with the backing and blessings of the powerful Mahayana Buddhist
monks of the Kushana empire who still would have had contacts with Alaha
(Araha) Buddhists in Arabia and Palestine.
Kingdom of righteousness
Evidence at our disposal is strong enough to declare unequivocally
that Jesus was selected as the ideal missionary to spread the
neo-Buddhist doctrine codified after the great Buddhist synod held by
Emperor Kanishka in the same way 'Punna the Jew' was granted permission
to go to the same region five centuries earlier to establish the
'Kingdom of Righteousness' and the 'Good News' of the path to Supreme
Bliss in Eternal Nirvana.
The date of Jesus ministry in Judae region (cir 25-32 AC) tallies
well with the reign of emperor Kanishka according to the latest
reckoning by scholars. Ven. Isa (or Jesus) had put a very bold front
despite Jewish challenges and threats, even though he was aware that he
was operating within the occupied territory of the Imperial Rome and
under ever watchful hawkeyed cruel priests at Jerusalem (as reported in
Dead Sea Scrolls), because Jesus was sure of the support that he could
muster from the equally powerful Buddhist Empire of the Kushanas (See
Bible. Math. 47:53).
While being under arrest, and his supporters led by Peter, tried to
challenge the Roman gladiators, Jesus stopped his men to drive a
doctrinal point, "Those who unsheathe their swords, will get killed by
the very sword," and reminded them of the great compassion (Metta) that
one need cultivate even against the cruel enemies.
Buddhist Empire
But Jesus did not hide the fact, "that if he wishes he can get
thousands of angelic forces from the kingdom of his father to rescue
him, "probably alluding at the powerful armies of the Kushana Emperor
Kanishka who had established the most formidable Buddhist Empire after
Asoka of India and before Kublai Khan of Mongal China.
Jesus, thus took the message of this neo-Buddhism with the Buddha
elevated to the position of an 'Eternal Supreme Divine Ruler' to his
home country the Judea region (former Arabah) where even during Jesus
time, the monastic establishments and shrines would have definitely
flourished under the eremites who lived in cave sanctuaries and followed
saintly hermit lives around the Dead-sea littoral.
Dead-Sea Scrolls
It would be interesting to refer to the hermit monks known as 'Essenes'
who lived in caves and grottoes around the Dead sea region and the
discovery of religious scriptures written on parchments from sanctuaries
near the Dead sea and referred to as 'Dead Sea Scrolls'. After nearly
five centuries of the establishment of Sinai (or Esseni) Buddhist Church
by Ven. Punna Mahathra, it could be presumed that there could have been
a substantial number of followers of the great Alaha, the supreme
compassionate father and his peaceful 'Doctrine of righteousness', even
at the time of Jesus, both within Israel and in Arabia Proper.
The Peshitta
It would not have been impossible for Jesus Christ to gather a large
number of followers to his teachings which are based on the old original
doctrine 'Saddharma' of the Buddha the great Arahan (Alaha), emphasising
compassion and wisdom (metta and Prajna) as found in the Old Aramaic
scriptures, the Peshitta, yet with a new emphasis by Jesus Christ and
his apostles on the concept of the Buddha elevated far above that of
Jehowah, the creator God of Torah. This is clearly reflected in the New
Testament teachings of Jesus Christ.
The new teachings of Jesus must have brought shock waves on
traditional Jews who during the pre-Christian centuries have been
successful in curbing the extraneous Peshitta Scriptures and driving out
the 'Alaha' followers beyond their territories to mainland Arabia,
although they might have tolerated or were compelled to connive at some
of the Suna (Sinai) monks, later called Esenes, who followed Alaha's
Dhamma to remain within their territory as long as they confine
themselves to their cave dwellings and do not interfere with Jewish
mainstream religio-politics with a vibrant monotheistic orientation.
The Jewish opposition to Jesus Christ was so formidable and
unrelenting that the cunning Jewish priests (as was the case with many
priests all over the world) must have obtained political backing of the
Roman governors of the time to castigate Jesus as an apostate and also a
potential usurper who speaks and assures of a 'millennal kingdom of
peace and righteousness'.
Finally Jesus Christ had to pay the penalty on the cross, although
the Roman rulers were hesitant to take responsibility for executing
punishment on Jesus Christ.
Jesus Framed
The final scene of the crucifixion is so dramatically portrayed in
the Holy Bible, that anyone can understand how the vicious and cruel
Jewish priests who framed Jesus, were insisting on nothing less than
death penalty on him, while those who present were looking aghast. One
can easily surmise that not only Judas, but several others too must have
been bribed by the Jewish priests to cause harm to Jesus while he was
under arrest. Jesus's bold front before the Roman governor, shows that
he was not expecting injustice from them. The Roman governor's wavering
attitude to pass judgement on Jesus, also shows that the Roman
authorities too had a certain amount of fear not to antagonise Jesus and
his Alaha, now 'God' followers who can get support from the imperial
Kushanas who had by that time expanded their empire right up to western
border to Imperial Rome.
However unexpected, Jesus was crucified not by the Roman governor's
demand but by the demand of cunning and cruel Jewish priests. The final
words of Jesus Christ on the cross, Eli Eli Lama Sabachhami', is a
mystery phrase to Bible translators who brought such a great person like
Jesus to a very low pedestal and pointed out that Jesus was crying in
agony and seeking divine intervention on his behalf.
Grace of Buddha
Had Jesus, studied Buddhism in India, in a monastery of the Gandhara
empire somewhere in Kashmir, under emperor Kanishka's patronage, he
would never have sought the help of an unseen divine power, but would
have definitely sought the Sublime grace of Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha
(the Tri Ratna) as has been admonished by the Buddha Himself in the
famous Dhajjhagga Sutta.
We shall make the Bible translators enlightened, that what the great
Buddhaputtra (son of God) Jesus uttered on the cross, was nothing but
reminding himself of the great qualities of the Buddha as a means of
consolation and salvation from Sansaric bonds. Therefore we declare that
what Jesus had uttered was nothing but the famous hymn in praise of the
great God, the Supreme God, God of all Gods, Devatideva, Brahmatibrahma.
Buddha (Bodo-God) - 'Itipiso Bhagava Araham Samma Sambuddho etc.'
However Jesus was very weak and emaciated after the severe and painful
trial the Jews meted out to him.
Therefore the feeble words Jesus had uttered, would not have come out
through his lips properly or else, even if at all those words were
properly pronounced, due to the great commotion, the vast crowd in front
of the crucifixion, who were horrified to witness the grisly scene of
such a compassionate person being crucified, could not have understood
him.
Aramaic Bible
Therefore what was left for the Aramaic Bible scribes and their later
translators was a fraction of what Jesus had uttered. The line as it is
now found in the Holy Bible as: 'Eli Eli Lama Sabachtami" can be
compared with 'Araham Sammasambuddho' in original Pali, which would have
gone into Aramaic slightly differently during Jesus' time, and could be
surmised as, stood somewhat like 'Alaham Lamma Samoccham' and gone to
Greek scribes as 'Eli Eli Lama Sabocchami' and had appeared in the
English translations variantly.
If at all there were survivals of pockets of adherents of the
original followers of Buddhism of the Alaha (Araha) school as taught by
the great monk Ven. Punna to the people of Sinai - Arabah (Suna-Apranta)
region, when Jesus appeared in the scene (roughly the same area but
predominated by Jews, when the Arahabs were pushed into Arabia and Syria
by the time Jesus was born) surely they would have got confused with the
new concept of god (or Bod) as the supreme Omniscient Being, a divine
father of great compassion residing in an eternal cosmic realm, (the
Sukkhavati heaven of Mahayana Buddhism) and would have not supported
Jesus fully or acceded to his teachings.
Moreover the Alaha devotees of original Buddhism in Arabah too would
have by this time (nearly five centuries after Ven. Punna's mission to
Sunaparanta of ferocious people) dispersed far and wide owing to the
formidable opposition of Jewish-Jehowah followers and had themselves
settled down firmly in mainland Arabia and Syria and maintained the
(Bedouin) Arab religious identity as a formidable religious fraternity
opposing the Jewish-Jehowah worshippers.
Although the 'Alaha' worshipping Arabs did not approve of the new
theistic 'Boddo' or 'God' doctrine of Jesus, they seem to have tolerated
Jesus because his teachings on 'righteousness and compassion' and final
emancipation in the, 'kingdom of righteousness' tally well with the
teachings of the religion of Great Compassionate Almighty Alaha (Allah),
according to which one could reach a temporary heaven after death
through one's meritorious acts and reach the final blissful eternal
heaven by complete surrender to Alaha (Allah). Undoubtedly Arabs and
Jews both would have accepted Jesus as a messenger of God and Alaha
both. Even today Islam considers Jesus as a messenger of Allah.
Up till recently, the Arab-Jewish religious rivalry, although both
communities trace their origin to the same ethnic stock, was a great
mystery to Islamic and Christian religious historians. I am sure with
our discovery of Alaha-Allah etymology in the original Theravada
Buddhist term Araha which is an epithet of the Buddha and the Peshitta
holy scriptures which preserved the name Alaha with reference to the
great divine father, this problem is now solved considerably if not
conclusively.
Jehowah of Jews
Our thesis is well substantiated by the fact that both Alaha (of the
Peshitta-Aramaic Christian scriptures) and Allah (of the Quranic-Arabic
scriptures) worshippers maintain that their compassionate God is one and
the same, Jesus and Mohammed were messengers of the same compassionate
God, who is the supreme ruler, the divine king of the 'Kingdom of
Righteousness' which is diametrically opposed to the Jehowah (of the
Torah-Hebrew scriptures) of the age-old traditional Jewish religion that
was prevailing in Sinai-Arabah region, centuries before both
Christianity and Islam originated in West Asia.
It could now be easily seen that in the first century AD this region
of Sinai-Arabah (Suna-Apara of early Buddhist texts) of West Asia saw
three different religious fraternities opposing one another and claiming
allegiance to their own Holy Scriptures, namely (1) the Jewish Torah,
(2) Christian Holy Bible (revised by Saul the former arch-enemy of
Christ followers, who was later named Paul) and (3) Pre-Islamic Aramaic
Peshitta Scriptures which later developed into Arabic Surah-Quran after
Prophet Mohammed, the son of Abud-Allah, the servant of Alaha (or Araha).
Even the very word Bible is a mystery word we may say. The Jews do
not have any Holy Scriptures by that name. Western scholars have tried
to trace the name 'Bible' from the Greek word 'biblios' - which means
papyrus bark used as a writing material or parchment paper. If Bible
means a reference to a book only, surely most. If not all, of the books
at that time must have been written on papyrus and the Jews too could
have used the word for their Holy scriptures which too were written and
preserved on papyrus parchments.
Peshitta-Bible-Torah
The original name of the Holy Scriptures of Aramaic speaking Jews
(not Hebrew speaking Jews) and Arabs both, was Peshitta and not Bible or
Torah. Why then the Christian Bible alone was named the Bible had to be
investigated and solved.
This is a great mystery and we hope our recent discoveries will throw
much light on the problem to solve this mystery. The translators of the
original Greek Bible based on old Aramiac Scriptures, (Aramaic was the
language used by Jesus himself, incidentally) state inter-alia. "Had the
Peshitta been made by order of one of the rival churches, the others
would have rejected it. But since all Christians, even the Muslims in
the Middle East, accept and revere the Peshitta text, it proves beyond a
doubt that it was in use many centuries before the division of the
Church."
The above facts show that the Holy scriptures as referred to by the
name Peshitta and accepted as sacred by Arabic speaking Moslems and
Aramaic speaking Jews and others of Middle East had nothing to do with
the Jewish Torah. It is something entirely different and distinct from
the Hebrew Jewish Torah.
It is through our observations, that these Aramaic scriptures were
nothing but "Survivals of the original Buddhist teachings" of the Church
established by Ven. Punna Thera that we can solve the mystery of the
origin of not only Peshitta but also the three different sacred books -
Torah, Peshitta and the Holy Bible.
There is not much problem as to the genesis of the Jewish-Hebrew
Torah. The Holy Bible is of Christian origin after the peaceful mission
of the great personage Jesus Christ. The problem now remains as to the
origin of Peshitta based of the worship of a Supreme Being by the name
of Alaha. If Peshitta was a compilation of Buddhist orientation or
Buddhist doctrinal matters, as we do suggest, it has to be proved.
Peshitta is the Aramaic name for the original Holy Scriptures. We quote:
"This name was given to this ancient and authoritative text to
distinguish it from other Bible translations - around 431-451 A.D.
Further "all Christians, even the Moslems in the Middle East accept
and revere the Peshitta. Peshitta is without dispute even earlier than
the writings of Bar-Dasan who was living in the second century Aramaic
was the mother tongue of Jesus Christ and He preached His gospel in
Aramaic". Paul preached the Christian gospel written in Aramaic. His
epistles were written...when Christianity had spread into Syria and
parts of near East and India. "The word Peshitta means true and original
Doctrine.
If we consider carefully and critically the above remarks about the
Peshitta text (or the original versions of the existing Holy Bible, or
to be more accurate the proto-Bible) much facts can be gleaned to solve
the mystery of the Bible. First and foremost, now we know that it was
respected and revered by the Christians and the Moslems both. It is
quite unlikely that Jesus had preached a new or revised doctrine of the
Jewish religion and wish to identify Torahic Jehowah with the Biblical
God.
The great antipathy of Jews to Jesus Christ shows that His teachings
were not in conformity with their religious ideals and scriptures. On
the other hand if it was an entirely original doctrine of Jesus Christ,
it would not have spread so quickly in such an alien land, in a vast
area at the very first few decades after His death, namely, from Syria
through Middle East to India, as Peshitta authorities record.
Our view, is (which is also the view of recent research scholars who
have found substantial evidence of Jesus' connections with Buddhist
kingdoms of North West India of the period) that Jesus Christ was
preaching the doctrine of the Buddha to those very Semitic communities
who had already become adherents of Alaha (of Peshitta Scriptures), the
great Arahan Buddha, centuries ago with the mission of Ven. Punna to
Sinai-Arabah (Suna-Aparanta) region of the Nabettean monarchs.
Jesus and Mahayana Buddhism
However the teachings of Jesus seems not to be based on the Araha
ideal of original Buddhism. Jesus had seemingly emphasised the new
Buddhist doctrine as found in Mahayana Buddhism revised by Emperor
Kanishka and his immediate predecessors of the Kushana Empire that
spread throughout North-Western India into parts of Central Asia, Far
East and Middle East.
Thus when Jesus emphasised the Buddha as Cosmocrator, the Universal
Compassionate Father, such views would have been anathema to Jews of
Jehowah's religion. On the other hand Jesus' God (Bod-Boddo) of the
Eternal Blissful Heaven (Sukhavati of Mahayana Buddhism) would not have
been easily understood by the original converts to Buddhism (those who
held Alaha-Araha as their great Omniscient Lord), who were by that time
had established in Arabia proper and other neighbouring kingdoms
sporadically.
Saul who changed his name to Paul (later St. Paul) must have been
either an honest and understanding convert to Jesus' teachings of Boddo
(God) as Cosmocrator, or else a cunning Jewish priest who wished to
compromise with the Jews as well as with the Roman Caesars by presenting
the new Christian Theology as an off-shoot of old Jewish religion of
Jehowah worshippers which will not be a great threat to Roman religious
institutions based on age-old thesistic concepts such as Jupiter (Zeus),
Adonis, Venus, Hermes, Bachchus, Eros, et al.
Whatever the case may be, original teachings of Jesus Christ had to
face great challenges and resulted in revisions and alterations, after
several synods and colloquiums held by the Christian church fathers,
before being acceptable to the rulers of Rome and their religious
hierarchy to become one with the "Holy Roman Empire" which proved to be
not so holy.
The very word 'Peshitta' for the Aramaic-Christian or proto-Christian
canon can be traced back to an original Buddhist word for Lord Buddha's
teachings, namely 'Bhashita' which means "What was spoken" or the
'original word', 'Truth' and is also known as 'Buddha Bhashita'.
The word "Peshitta" means "straight, sincere, true that is "the
Original" and given to the ancient authoritative text to distinguish if
from the other Bible revisions and translations.
Persian Empire
Our contention that Buddhism in its original doctrinal form had
spread along the Great Northern Highway, the Uttharapatha to several
other kingdoms and regions outside India, during the very life time of
the Buddha can be further substantiated if we analyse the religion of
Ahura Mazda preached by Zoroaster in the Persian Empire of Achaemenids
(present day Iran).
The God of Zoroaster was "Ahura Mazda". Zoroaster was a contemporary
of Gautama Buddha and was born around 570 B.C. according to ancient
Iranian historiographical chronology.
The word "Ahura Mazda" has very close resemblance to "Arahan Buddha"
which name had already spread beyond Arabia towards the Sinai-Jerusalem
region through Ven. Punna's mission and to the very heart of Achaemenid-Iran
through the very first lay disciples of the Buddha, namely the two
caravan leaders Tapassu and Bhalluka. It had been found that the birth
place of Bhalluka was the township Bhalk a border township on the great
trunk route Uttharapatha, close to or within the then achaemenid Empire.
The great Achaemenid (Persian) emperor Xerxes says: "That Ahura Mazda
made his father Darius the Great, king of kings, while his grandfather
Vishtaspa and great grandfather Rshama were both alive.
Zoroaster can thus be considered as a learned convert, a noble
disciple of the great Ahura Mazda (Arahan Buddha) when Buddha visited
these kingdoms beyond the north-west frontier of India, and preached the
Good Doctrine "Zad Sparam" as found in the Avesta which is nothing but
the "Sad Dharma" the Noble Doctrine of the Buddha.
The Arab historian, Mazudi (A.C. 956), states that king Histaspas's (Vishtaspa,
grandfather of Emperor Xerxes) residence was in the city of Balkh, the
capital of Bactria.
In my article on Balkh (which appeared in the "Encyclopedia of
Buddhism") and ancient site where very early Buddhist monuments have
been discovered, I have referred to the fact that the first two lay
disciples of Lord Buddha namely, Tapassu and Bhalluka the caravan
traders, had hailed from Balkh and had come through the northern high
way (Uttharapatha) to India and met the Buddha. The two brothers became
the first two lay disciples of the Buddha, by surrendering themselves
before the Lord (see supra).
King Vishtaspa could have definitely heard of the Buddha and His "Saddharma"
through such caravan leaders and other travellers. Zoroaster the Iranian
too must have become a noble disciple of the Buddha having listened to
the Buddha and understood His teaching (Saddharma).
Zoroaster a Buddhist
If the very first lay disciples of the Great Buddha were also
Bactrians from Balkh, it is not unlikely that Zoroaster also had met the
Buddha himself like the West Asian Ven. Punna the Arab (or Jew), who was
a caravan leader himself from far away Sinai-Arabah (Suna-Apara).
According to the same historian, "Zoroaster converted Vishtaspa, the
father of Darius the Great and brought the kingdom under Righteousness",
also "the deliverer of the imperilled Empire with great wisdom and
efficiency."
The date of Zoroaster is further confirmed by the Roman historian
Ammianus Marcellinus (cir. 360 A.C.), who says, "about the Magi and holy
rites.... to this science the Bactrian Zoroaster made many contributions
and after him the wise king Hystaspes, the father of Darius,"
...."Therefore it is possible when a date around 570-493 B.C. is
assigned to Zoroaster lends some support."
Incidentally, we may suggest that it could be quite possible that the
three Magi who visited baby Jesus and advised Joseph and Mary to flee
from possible Jewish dangers were either Zoroastrian Buddhist monks of
the original Alaha (Araha) Buddhist group of Zoroaster's founding or
Buddhist monks of Punna's group from Arabia.
However, the above statements further confirm that Zoroaster was a
Bactrian from Balkh, the place of origin of the very first, two lay
disciples (Tapassu and Bhalluka) of our Lord Bhagavat Buddha.
Furthermore it is stated that "Airan-vej' the place where Zoroaster was
born, "was in the direction of Ataropatakan (Azervaijan)."
"Ataropatakan" can easily be identified as an early Iranian term for
the eponymous "Uttarapatha", the Great Northern Highway which ran
through ancient Iran via Balkh in Bactria, in north-western part of
India, and connected Middle India up to Sri Lanka through Dakshinapatha
(Dekkan) the Great Southern Highway.
According to Zoroaster's biography, 'he was taken to Ahura Mazda (Arahan
Buddha) by an arch angel named 'Vohu Manah'. It is likely that Vohu
Manah may have been a great disciple of the Bhagavat Buddha. We may
identify 'Vohu Manah' tentatively with 'Moggalana' the Great Buddha's
chief disciple along with Sariputta.
On the command of Ahura Mazda, Zoroaster went to meet king Vishtasp
(father of the great monarch, emperor Darius) and converted him.
The above passages suggest that Ahura Mazda (Arahan Buddha)
personally instructed Zoroaster at a very friendly level and that
incident was not a mysterious divine intervention as some modern writers
and pundits try to interpret without giving any thought to the
historical background, and the political episodes that took place in the
Achaemenid Imperial Court, and also the unforgettable geographical
factor, the northern Highway' Uttarapatha ("Ataropatakan" in ancient
Persian), that linked northern India and Persia.
Light of Asia
As modern historians' interpretations go Zoroaster's founding of fire
temples does not necessarily mean that the Zoroastrian religionists were
fire-worshippers. They must have definitely lighted oil-lamps, and burnt
incense, joysticks etc., in honour of the Great Compassionate Lord, the
Bhagavat Buddha, the Supreme Light ("The Light of Asia" as Sir Edwin
Arnold said, the flame of fire, the symbol how the Buddha was
aniconically represented in pre-Christian art and sculpture), because
Zoroaster's teachings do not speak of fire-worship, or any invocation or
incantation to a fire-god as the "Agni" cult of Indian Brahmins.
Zoroaster's teachings are nothing but an emphasis on "Great
Righteousness" like in the case of emperor Asoka's conversion to
Buddha's doctrine of "Great Righteousness".
Few religious terms of Zoroaster's teachings as recorded in the Holy
Text "Avesta" can easily help, even a modern day Buddhist layman, to
understand the similarity of these doctrinal terms of Avesta with
original Buddhist Textual terms, as for example, the selections of the
book "Arda Virad" are called 'Zad-Sparam" which can be easily compared
with the Buddha's noble Doctrine "Sad Dharma".
The Holy Text 'Avesta' can be compared with the Buddhist term 'Vastu'
or 'Vattu', e.g. Katha Vattu, and many Sanskrit Buddhist texts with name
ending "Vastu" e.g. Maha Vastu.
The holy hymns or the stanzas of the sacred text Avesta are called 'Gathas'
which is exactly the term used in original Buddhist texts and never
found in contemporary religious texts of India or Vedic of Hindu origin.
The founder as well as expounder of 'Righteousness' (Zad Sparam) in
the imperial court of the great Achaemendids, the revered Guru Zoroaster
was however killed by his rivals, the enemies of the new religion, may
be at the instigation of the cunning Jews as well as greeks, at the
Imperial Court of the Persian monarch, who in subsequent centuries
abetted with the Greek Alexander to spell doom to Persepolis and with
the Roman Governor Herod to kill Jesus Christ.
When Zoroaster was killed, his temples and all his religious
scriptures were put into flames. This shows that the killings of
Zoroaster was an act of religious fanaticism. But the Doctrine of Ahura
Mazda the Supreme Lord, the Great Compassionate Arahan Buddha, as we now
dare to indentfy Him with Ahura Mazda, prevailed in Pesia for nearly 300
years until the last of the Acheamendid emperors Darius II was killed
and his city Persepolis, the metropolis, the metropolis of a universal
emperor who ruled a vast empire from Mediterranean sea up to the
Himalayas in "Righteousness", the pride of whole Asia was totally
destroyed and ruthlessly burnt with all her buildings, religious
scriptures and monks and monasteries by the vicious, bellicose Alexander
the Greek who set forth from Greece having murdered his own father and
mustering only 20,000 (twenty thousand) foot soldiers to meet the
mightly Persian army of 600,000 (six hundred thousand soldiers).
Alexander in hell
In the ancient Iranian (Persian) records, this pathetic story is
mentioned thus: "Alexander had destroyed all priests and learned men and
self destroyed and he fled to hell.
Sir Mortimer Wheeler, the British archaeologist in his 'Flames over
Persepolis' explains well, how the Greeks, possibly with their West
Asian allies among whom were Jews and others in Sinai-Jerusalem region
(who opposed the new religion of Alaha worshippers that was again
spreading fast with the backing of Imperial Achaemendis) had first
destroyed the frontier Satrapies of the Persian Empire like Egypt, Syria
etc., and then gradually penetrated into Persia proper.
In the initial stages of Alexander's campaign against Egypt and
Syria, and Jews would have given him the fullest support to resolve old
scores. The Greeks and Jews who lived within Persia as both prisoners of
war and mercenaries and served in the Persian army and navy too, would
have acted as spies to help the combined forces of Alexander and his
Jewish allies to penetrate deeper into the heart of Persia, without much
difficulty and made a sudden onslaught at Persepolis, like Prince Vijaya
did to Lankapura (the prehistoric capital city of Sri Lanka around 550
B.C.). All these historical episodes prove beyond doubt, one salient
fact, namely, although Buddhism the compassionate teachings of the
Buddha for the establishment of righteousness (Saddharma) through moral
order and mental culture, attracted to it vast crowds and was appealing
to the intellectual community of the day, like the proto-Arabian
Nabetean Kings, Syrian monarchs, emperors like Darius, Xerxes of Persia,
Asoka of India, the Selucid and Bactrian Greek Kings like Minander (of
Milindapanha fame), Kanishka the mighty Scythian-Kushana emperor,
Devanampiyatissa of pre-Christian Sri Lanka, et al, and proved itself to
be a great civilizing factor, yet it also proved to be a disastrous
factor to great Kingdoms and empires to change from traditional jingoism
to peace-making and peace-keeping with their powerful military machines
put into cold-storage.
Buddhist Kingdoms
Miliary men and belicose war-lords, masquerading as peace-makers and
peace-keepers, as in the present day, found easy access to those great
peace loving, peaceful centres of civilization of Buddhist Kingdoms and
also took the opportunity to pay off old scores.
Alexander's conquests were not mere expression of gaining territorial
expansion for the constricted Greek city states. It was also an attempt
to check the tide of a new philosophy or a new moral order for the
world, the "Doctrine of Universal Peace", of the Lord of Peace "Santi
Nayaka", the Buddha Sakyamuni, that was gaining ground and fast
spreading, with the backing of the most powerful empire of the day, the
Achaemenid Empire of Persia, throughout the vast Persian Empire's
Satrapies and the Iands around and across the great northern highway-Uttarapatha-
that linked the East and the West.
Old cults, rituals and practices which encouraged sacrifice of poor
innocent dumb animals rared for killing in thousands on the altars of
imaginary blood thirsty creator gods, priest-creaft thriving on
witch-craft and state-craft both (as in the present day), war machinery,
manufacturing of lethal weapons, war-chariots, arms deals, prisoners of
war taken as quick money at public auctions on slave-trade, war booty
which include children and women, worshipping heroes who unleashed
armies of men trained to kill and destroy while they themselves remained
behind barricades, bunkers and fortresses; false propaganda, nepotism
mystieism and mystics, charlatans, quacks and mountebanks; magicians and
astrologers all had to go "out of commission" with the Buddha's
"Enlightened Doctrine" (Saddharma), based on universal compassion and
supreme wisdom (Karuna and Pragna) well established.
The founding of Righteousness or "Saddharma" (Zadsparam as how
Zoroaster pronounced it in his own Persian tongue), based on
intellectual investigation aimed at correct insight, was anathema to the
followers of Jewish religion and Graeco-Roman theistic religion based on
gods and divinities, ogresses and above all a hierarchy of toady
priests.
Although wise kings and emperors accepted the great compassionate
Buddha and His 'Path of Salvation', and the innocent peace loving common
folk and learned men also wished to follow the doctrine of Salvation
from the misery of existence-Samsara-there were others who could not
afford to lose their interests, their vested interests as it were. They
could not tolerate it all. Had they tolerated, their world would have
collapsed, as Bernard Shaw had said "world exists because of
intolerance.
Cunning Priests
Those comprised especially the priests at whose command the wheel of
politics turned (excepting the saintly, learned, eremite monks) as is
the case in present day politics, and their selfish followers at higher
echelons, who held power through the weapons (like the present day
gun-culture and bomb-culture saviours of mankind), the men who wished to
keep the monopoly of the economic gains, the traders with their
multinational and international network of circulation of goods, with
prices controlled at their whim and fancy, with the backing of a coterie
of money lenders and smiling financiers (exactly like some of the
present day financiers).
Jesus Christ was too honest, cultured, learned and innocent a monk, a
Buddhist monk we shall say without any hesitation, of the Mahayana
denomination as we can prove now, who opposed those rascals openly
without having a correct appraisal of their great power both in the
public and underground carousals as well.
With his psychic powers (dhyanic powers), Jesus cured the sick, and
tamed the ocean and must have thought that he could tame those sinners
and culprits as well. Jesus trusted too much on the power of the
Cosmocrator God (Bod-Boddo-Buddha) the Amitabha Buddha and his millions
of angels (Bodhisattvas) in the Sukhavati heaven. He thought and
expected that they would come to his rescue, against the sinful, satanic
rascals who arrayed against him.
But at the end Jesus had to seek refuge only in the Alaha (Arahan
Buddha) and His Sublime Doctrine (Saddharma). This is well reflected in
the new testament episodes of the Holy Bible. This is the reaction by
the selfish self interested people like the cruel priests at Jerusalem
referred to in the Dead Sea Scrolls, to the early spread of Buddhism in
those great seats of powerful empires and monarchies.
Alaha and Peshitta
The Jehowah followers with the help of theistic Greeks have curbed
and pushed this tide of 'Righteous Kingdom' first established in West
Asia in the Nabetean city states by Ven. Punna Thera. Yet those monks of
Sinai-Arabah who established themselves in Punon, Jerusalem and Dead Sea
littoral, who preserved the Sacred original Scriptures had to retreat to
mainland Arabia and establish their religious centres with Araha (later
become popular as Alaha-Allah) as the Great being, the compassionate
Father and "Peshitta" as their Sacred Scriptures.
The few 'Sinai' monks and their harmless followers who were allowed
to stay behind, ended up as 'Essenes' of Dead Sea Scrolls fame, in the
chapters of west Asian religious history.
However without any contact with the original mainstream Buddhist
Kingdom's in the East, and Arabian religion of Allah-Allah worshippers
had to survive till Jesus Christ appeared and spread the 'Good News'
Gospel of God (Pustaka of Buddo', Pustaka, in Sanskrit meaning 'book'
had probably given 'gospel' in Aramaic, we may suggest.)
In the new gospel of Jesus Christ, the epithet Araha Alaha was
retained but the emphasis was on the great 'Bod' the 'God' (Boddo of
Bactrian, Saka, Kushana emperors) the Eternal Father in his highest
Heaven 'Sukkavati' with millions of angels (or Bodhisattvas) headed by
Michael and Gabriel (Mahakala and Avalokita in Mahayana Buddhism).
The Jews and their followers did not like this novel feature of a
compassionate god who was not ferocious, not jealous or vindictive or
ever ready to punish like their own creator Jehowah.
To crush the revival of neo-Buddhism introduced by the "prince of
peace" Jesus Christ, the Jews conspired with the Roman governors in
Judea and Jerusalem. Jews were successful in crushing this revival of
Alaha (Araha) worshippers. They tortured, humiliated, crucified and
killed their leader Jesus Christ.
They were not hesitant to destroy and appropriate their shrines and
monasteries in Jerusalem area, and chased them away back to hinterland
hide-outs, and mountain caverns and as refugees in Arabia, Syria and
further East where they continued to worship, and revere the great lord
'Araha' as Allah, the 'Supreme Ruler of Righteousness', Allah the king
"Allah-hu-Akbar".
Meanwhile the cunning Jewish priests, the unscrupulous rabbies of the
time, contrived in such a way for Rome to accept 'God' as the supreme
divine lord, while they themselves continued to practise their original
Hebrew scriptures in tact, as Torah of Jehowah, in contradistinction to
the Aramaic Peshitta of Alaha worshippers who now emphasised Alaha in
the new epithet God (or Boddo, or Bod).
It could also be possible, that Rome had tactfully compromised to
accept God through fear of a possible attack or punitive expedition by
the combined forces of the Scythian Tartar confederation of the Buddhist
empire of powerful Kushanas under the mighty emperor Kanishka, or his
subsequent heirs for persecuting their grand missionary Jesus Christ and
his neo Buddhist followers. This had actually happened later when Allah
worshippers rallied under one banner and punished the Holy Roman Empire
and conquered the Eastern part of the empire, took over Constantinople
and called it Istanbul and established the power of Allah as far as
Spain and Portugal and Northern Africa. We may conjecture that the
conquests of Huns under their mighty general Atila and devastating
Europe upto Rome was also an act of retaliation. (Incidentally Huns or
Hephthalities were Buddhist rulers).
Ven. Isa-Jesus
Even the later expeditions of the great Buddhist emperors Kublai Khan
and Jenghis Khan from Mongol China to the West, also can be taken as
revengeful attacks for the harm done to the original Buddhist Churches
of Punna, Zoroaster and later the Mahayana Sect of Ven. Isa or Jesus
Christ. Great Kublai would have received the news of the ruthless
persecutions of Araha (Alah) as well as God-Bod- (Boddo) worshippers,
from itinerant Chinese monks and Arab caravan traders and travellers
like Ibn-Battuta.
Jesus new religion 'Christianity' with the compassionate God the
father at the head, spread with new gusto with Peshitta or Buddha's
spoken word Bhashita revised by the Jew Saul turned Paul, as the
scriptural document of Divine inspiration and later amalgamated with
elements from the Jewish Torah as the Old Testament to suit the Imperial
Rome which declared Christianity its state religion under emperor
Constantine.
Our investigations throw further light on yet another so far unknown
aspect of the 'Alaha - Boddo' (or Arahan-Buddha) episode in West Asia.
That is the introduction of another important attractive Buddhist text
by Jesus Christ with much Mahayana overtones; a product of the Mahayana
revival under emperor Kanishka who was a contemporary of Jesus Christ,
to substantiate his thesis that Alaha of the old Peshitta scriptures was
the same as supreme Buddha (the Amitabha Buddha the resplendent lord),
the Boddo, the eternal ruler of the Cosmos, God.
This was the text known as 'Vepulla Sutta' (or Vaitulya Sutra) which
even tried to play havoc among Theravada Buddhism in Sri Lanka, during
the early Christian centuries.
No one knows how the name Vepulla or Vaitulya was given to this
extreme Mahayana text. According to some authorities Vepulla was the
name given to the Mahayana treatise selected at the Buddhist synod held
at Vepulla mountain near Rajgir in India under the patronage of emperor
Kanisha.
If we analyses the Bible episodes we can glean some evidence to
elarify the problem pertaining to Vepulla as well as the Holy Bible, the
scriptures based of Jesus' teachings.
Vepulla and Bible
It could be argued that an original Mahayana text named Vepulla,
compiled in the Kushana Empire by the monks of the Mahayana denomination
had gone to West Asia through Jesus Christ, or else the teachings of
Jesus Christ based on Mahayana soteriological doctrines and written on
parchment paper had been named 'The Bible' by Jesus and his apostles and
was later brought to Eastern Churches (of Mahayana) where it took the
name of Vepulla from Bible or a similar Aramaic name. (Bible, Bebul,
Bebulla, Vepulla). Whatever the process that took place, the holy text
Bible or Vepulla has all the Mahayana Buddhist affiliations, with the
Buddha elevated to the position of a 'Cosmocrator'.
The spread of Bible as Vepulla or a Mahayana text in ancient Sri
Lanka even during the early Christian centuries can be proved by the
survivals of such Biblical doctrines among early Sinhalese literature,
e.g. pulling a speak out of another's eye before removing a beam in
one's won eye; a wife is a gift of god (Bamba Ketu Hati). Archaeologists
have even discovered a Nestorian Greek Cross from ancient Anuradhapura.
Moreover the arrival of the monk Sanghamita in the 3rd century A.C. to
propagate Vepulla doctrine and getting into the good books of the
Sinhala Monarch at Anuradhapura is also noteworthy. The Mahayana monk
Sangamitta's original hometown is supposed to be in North-West India.
Belief in Jesus second coming is also comparable with the Sinhala
legend of 'Prine Diyasena' (Jayasena, of. Jesu, Jesus) who will descend
from heaven to establish a millennial peaceful rule.
Although Jesus Christ was crucified and killed by the Jews, his Bible
text was acceptable to some Jews (both Hebrew and Aramaic speaking
communities), as new gospel in which God the Supreme Lord appears with
great power and compassion and wisdom, unlike Jehowah of Jewish Torah
who was a jealous god, ever ready to punish ruthlessly the defectors and
the miscreants.
Although the rulers in Syria and Palestine and other West-Asian
kingdoms had condescended to accept the Holy Bible (the original Vepulla
Sutta!) introduced by Jesus Christ, the Alaha oriented Peshitta
scriptures also continued to survive along with the Bible, among those
followers in Arab kingdoms and among the cave dwelling Sinai-monks who
survived in the Dead Sea region as the Essenes. That is why the
translators of the Peshitta (Greek Bible) found that Peshitta scriptures
were acceptable both to Jews and Arabs.
The Arabs of mainland Arabia and of the Sinai-Palestine tract seem to
have maintained strictly the original Peshitta texts, (without any Bible
or Mahayana Vepulla interpretations introduced by Jesus Christ), of the
original Supreme Lord Arahan Buddha as Alaha, Allah.
However with the passage of time, nearly one thousand years after the
first mission of Ven. Punna the Arab Buddhist monk, when Mohammed, the
son of Abdullah (servant of Allah) appeared on the scene, there must
have arisen lot of confusion and misinterpretations as to the 'teachings
of Righteousness', and the "Great Being" who was the originator of
Righteousness; the Supreme Ruler of Compassion (Santinayaka as the
Buddha was called).
Such a development was quite natural for any religious organisation,
to receive extraneous beliefs, cults and practices into one's own fold.
However even up to the time of Mohammed the worship of the Higher
Divinity Allah was prevailing among some Arab tribes. This Great Divine
Being was variously worshipped as Allah, Allat and Al-Uzza.
Abud Allah
Allah was the principal God of Mecca before the birth of Mohammed and
was worshipped even by pagans according to Quaran. Even Mohammed's
father bore the name of Abud-Allah (Abdullah) meaning slave of Allah or
one who has surrendered to Allah.
Abdullah means a person who has surrendered to Allah. We can compare
this practice with the age old Buddhist practice of Surrendering before
the Buddha by taking the solemn vow by uttering 'Buddham saranam
gacchami'. The first two lay disciples of the Buddha from West Asia
(i.e., Balkh in Bactria, modern Afghanistan) were the first to take this
vow according to Buddhist records.
The name Abdullah also suggests that there were practising Alaha
religionists before the founding of Islam by Mohammed. It is quite
obvious that Mohammed's Islam is nothing but a revival of "Alaha's
Doctrine of Righteousness" the Saddharma of the Great Alaha (Arahan
Buddha).
The fact that this Holy and Sacred concept of the name "Allah, Allat"
according to ancient inscriptional evidence seems to have been
introduced into Arabia from Syria and Northern parts of Arabia, also
substantiates our thesis that it had its roots in the original Araha
doctrine of the Buddhist Church in 'Sinai-Arabah' region established by
Thera Punna, during the very life-time of our Lord Bhagavat Buddha.
Moreover ancient Syria is part of the territory 'Sinai Arabah' we
have identified before, as the location where Ven. Punna thera had
carried out his missionary work and established four Buddhist monastic
sanctuaries.
We believe we have marshalled sufficient evidence to prove that the
Buddha was the Great Supra-human being worshipped as Alaha in
pre-Christian West-Asia, which name later changed through linguistic
formations into Allah from the original Buddhist concept Araha, a
synonym of the Great Buddha which means the "Sinless One", the most
worthy Lord, deserving worship and veneration both by the humans as well
as divine beings (Araha Sambuddho Sattadevamanussanam).
Now let us analyses Islamic (Muslim) religious textual passages for
possible survivals of Buddhist concepts and parallel terms.
Surrender to the Buddha
A reputed Islamic Scholar Professor Margoliouth has the following to
say: "The original meaning of the name of Islam" as the title of this
system is obscure, but its official interpretation is devoting the face
(i.e. the person), in its entirety to Allah, the Arabic word for God, "Iddio".
The above statement shows that the Islamic religion is based on
"Surrender to Allah", was a basic tenet in Buddha's teachings and
practised by millions of Buddhists even today when they utter the solemn
hymn or prayer, 'Buddham saranam gachchami' first uttered by the West
Asian caravan leaders Tapassu and Bhalluka from Bactria according to the
history of the Buddhist Church.
The word "Iddio" for God in Islamic tradition is also important as it
is a word found in early Buddhism for great religious men who have
gained higher psychic powers like the Buddha and his noble "Araha"
bhikkhu disciples.
Prophet Mohammed's successor was Ali meaning 'sublime' which can be
compared with the original buddhist term Arya or Ari, by which term
Buddhist monks were addressed, e.g. "Ariya and Ariya Samgha; Ariya
savaka, Ari sangagana", meaning 'venerable', 'noble', 'respectful'.
The fact that Mohammed himself had to face assassination threats and
how Ali and his successors fell victims to assassins, repeatedly, speak
of the ferocious nature of those Jewish Arabic tribes, as has been aptly
portrayed in the story of Thera Punna and also the anti-Alaha factions
of Jehowah followers operating surreptitiously.
The white dress worn like a gown or toga by the Arabs is reminiscent
of the "white dress' Buddha had introduced for His lay disciples. This
was known as 'Odata Vasana' in early Buddhist texts. This traditional
Buddhist laymen's garment would have gone into 'Sinai-Arabah' (Suna-Apara)
region through Punna Thera's lay followers which was the dress of
Buddhist laymen in India as witnessed by Punna Thera himself before The
became a convert to Buddhism. This white garment was variously called 'Odataka;
Odata Vasana; odata vatta' in early Buddhist texts.
The shrines and temples built by pre-Islamic Arab kings and later
appropriated by Mohammed and his followers were exact replicas of the
architectural types of Buddhist monuments with domical super-structures.
The Buddhist stupa or dagaba in India, Sri Lanka, and other early
Buddhist kingdoms proved this fact. Even today every mosque has this
domical roof resembling a Buddhist stupa.
In those early pre-Islamic shrines, there were artistic
representations in sculpture and painting on the inside walls depicting
divine beings and other personages.
A noteworthy discovery is the statue of 'Ammyad Shukaymim' carved out
of alabaster stone in the round. This statue resembles very much a
Buddha image. We have already referred to the inscription on the
pedestal of this statue and compared it with the name of the Buddha
Shakya-Muni. Several other statues like this one in more or less worn
out state have also been discovered from ancient Himyante Kingdom of
South Arabia dating from pre-Christian centuries up to the 6th century
A.C. (cir: 115 B.C.-525 A.C.)
Ahymn to Allah by prophet Mohammed found in the Holy Quaran is an
echo of the famous stanza in praise of Bhagavat Buddha referred to above
(supra.n.39) This verse which Mohammed himself is traditionally reported
to have declared equal in value to two thirds of the Quran. It is
translated as follows:
"He is Allah, one Allah, eternal. He brought not both, nor hath he
been brought forth, co-equal with him there hath never been any one"
Furthermore, there are ninety nine appellations to Allah. This
reminds a Buddhist of the Buddha's nine appellations called "Nava
Arahadi Buduguna".
The chapters of Holy Quaran are called 'Surah' which is quite
identical with the Buddhist term Sutra (Sutta) for chapters or separate
sermons or for the entire Buddhist Sutta Pitaka.
The practice of worship with circumabulation of sacred objects of
shrines in Islam has its origin in early Buddhism in the practice of "Pradaksina".
This practice is said to have revived and re-instituted by Mohammed
himself at such holy places like Sakhra in Jerusalem temple and Kabah
Mecca temple.
The word 'Kabah' the name of the sacred shrine at Mecca reflects an
original Buddhist term in it. That is 'kube' or 'tube' (from Stupa or
thupa) used in every Buddhist country for the Buddhist relic mound (stupa,
Thuap, tope, tepe) from Far-East to Central Asia and South Asia, e.g.
Tope-i-Rustam, Adzina-tepe, Buddhist shrines discovered on the
Silk-Route Uttarapatha.
In the present research study I have ventured to trace historical
evidence based on literary and archaeological data to substantiate
further our original hypothesis, that is, Buddhism was introduced to
Middle-East and West-Asia (Arabia-Persia-Syria-Palestine-Israel, the
Sinai Arabah in ancient documents, etc.) during the very lifetime of the
Buddha.
In our attempt we have discussed only a bare fraction of the immense
wealth of evidence that are at the disposal of the research scholar.
Ours is however a humble attempt without much tools and facilities at
our disposal and resources to further the accumulated knowledge gleaned
from literary and archaeological and also art-historical sources.
We are sure with the opening of traffic for research scholars to
these great seats of ancient cultural and religious wisdom, namely
Arabia, Syrai, Israel, Palestine, Iran, Iraq, Egypt etc. and with the
possession of modern tools of academic research, more light can be
thrown on the hidden aspects of the original seats of establishment of
the "Peaceful Doctrine (Saddharma) of our lord Sakyamuni Buddha the
Boddo, the God and also to further the great and untiring efforts made
by those early apostles of the Buddha hailed from Arabia and West Asia,
the forefathers of the present day Arabs, Jews and the Persians, to
propagate and preserve the 'Good Norm'. the Good News Saddharma, Zad
Sparam of the Buddha for the weal and welfare of the entire humanity.
Dead Sea Scrolls
We wish to add a further note regarding the original site that we
have identified with the story of Punna Thera, that is the region around
the 'Sea of Arabah' or 'Dead Sea' in Palestine where scholars have
yielded some very valuable documentary evidence known as the "Dead Sea
Scrolls" as far back as the early fifties of the present century.
It is very unfortunate that these scrolls, now given the name or
acronym 'MMT' (Miqsat Ma'ase Ha-Torah) are kept in the dark for nearly
half a century from the academic world, by those Jewish-Hebrew academics
into whose hands these valuable religious documents of a sect of ancient
cave dwelling eramites, have finally fallen. MMT critics say that "many
of the mysteries of the MMT are far from solved".
We now suspect and our suspicion is not without justification, that
these ancient documents from Dead-Sea cave temple sites have also
something to do with original Buddhist missionary activities conducted
by the pioneer Jewish, Arab, Buddhist monk, the noble Thera Ven. Punna.
A fascicule of these scrolls termed MMT, edited by Jewish Hebrew
scholars, has caused much disharmony among research scholars. This shows
that there is something 'fishy' about the manner how these documents are
handled and the way how the results of their studies are divulged. Some
even have gone into litigation to rectify the damage caused to
scholarship by those who claim to be the custodians of these so called
MMT or Dead Sea Scrolls.
These ancient documents speak of a leader or teacher of
righteousness, who is the head of the eramites of the Qumron group of
caves. This teacher of the Qumron group was addressing his adversary,
the Wicked priest of Jerusalem.
The editors of these documents say: "we really don't know who is
speaking and who is being addressed".
However we may add those that, who have followed our arguments placed
in this research paper, would not find it difficult to identify who are
the Sectarian MMT and their adversary the wicked priest or priests of
Jerusalem.
Another statement of the modern editors is as follows: "The third
section of the MMT states that, 'we have separated ourselves from the
multitude of the people", but it is uncertain whether this recalls a
separation of the Qumron Sectarians from the mainstream Judaism as
represented by the temple authorities in Jerusalem or some internecine
dispute with the sect itself. It is not even, entirely clear that the
'they' group and the 'You' group are the same."
According to our researches given in the present study the reader
will not find it difficult to identify who these two groups are, the
'they' and the 'you' groups.
We may add emphatically that the 'they' group represents the wicked
Jewish priests of Jerusalem who relentlessly opposed the Peshitta-Alaha
'we' group of the Sinai (Essene) Buddhist patriarchs.
However the modern editors have, got a remarkable guess in regard to
the 'we' sect when they say: 'In some ways they look like Essenes", thus
giving a final approval, as it were to our thesis.
Therefore we take this opportunity to request very kindly from the
Jewish academics and those Israeli authorities who keep the 'Dead Sea
Scrolls' under their safe custody, still as a secret from the world at
large, to release these documents in publications for the benefit of
scholars and students of the world over, who are keen to know the truth
and the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
Conclusion
Because of the remarkable research study of the Maha Thera Ven. Dr.
Paravahara Pannananda, the Chancellor of the Ruhunu University of Sri
Lanka, quoting from original Buddhist texts, 'On the establishment of
the Buddha's peaceful religion in Arabia, "we were enticed to do further
research. All that we have discovered subsequently and presented in this
brief study, are a result of this new light thrown on a so far hidden
aspect of 'West Asian religious history' by the Ven. Maha Thera I am
indeed beholden to him, who is also my Guru and Spiritual Advisor. |