K2, the Savage Mountain That was a nice read Ijaz. Nice article, very heartfelt.

Were Buddhists and Jains Persecuted in Ancient India? DM do we need Rushdie to tell us what most historians would have told us anyway.

The Raj Lives: India In Nepal Re: # 21

That should have this link

http://newsblaze.com/story/20060606064241nnnn.nb/topstory.html

The Raj Lives: India In Nepal Re: # 20

Some people would beg to differ on GP Koirala and his actions

The Raj Lives: India In Nepal Re: # 16

Wasn't he called Ashoka the cruel??

Yes if time permits, I bought a new wok by the way. I'm learning to stir fry.

The Raj Lives: India In Nepal Re: # 13 Posted by Nasah

Nasah sahib
There are no checks and balances for anybody who can whip up communal or economic passions. Most of the checks and balances are usually a tad too late for the victims.

GT, which civilised or uncivlised society has respected the request of the marginalised unless they saw profit in it....??

Race to the Finish Yaar Kulharee
The chinese are the ultimate, none of your indian/pakistani types can compare. They discovered a factory in Southern China manufacturing "Free Tibet" flags. Now that's business as usual man.

Search for Origins of Mahayana Buddhism [RE:#154 Posted by aquaris on December 6, 2007 9:54:54 am
Muslims are not the only culprits, before them Nalanda was destroyed ' TWICE ' , and because of what appears as
" Brahimin " VS " Buddism " skirmishes.]

Really, and you have proof of this. That some Brahmins went along and destroyed Nalanda. Now I'd be the last person to say Brahmins are the best of all peoples. They suffer from the same foibles are anybody else. There is also no doubt that Muslims are not the only culprits.

Nalanda was destroyed first by the Hunas under Mihirakula when it had just begun to be a centre of learning. It was rebuilt by Puragupta(Skandagupta's brother) and Narasimhagupta(Skandagupta's son??) who were Skandagupta's heirs. Skandagupta was the king when the destruction took place.
By the way the University was started by Kumaragupta I who was not a Buddhist.In fact the Gupta monarchs patronised Buddhism but were themselves Vaishnvaites(not sure about this but they were definitely Hindus).

The second time it was destroyed it was done by the Gauda kings from East Bengal. It was rebuilt by the Hindu king Harshavardhana.

The last time was by Khilji. There was nobody to rebuild it because there I guess there was a power vacuum , no kings were interested, and there was less interest in Buddhist philosophy.

There doesn't seem to be any proof of Brahminical incitation to destroy the university.

The truth is probably that under the Guptas Buddhism and Brahmanism flourished. But as time went on and Brahmanism in Central and North India split into Shaiva and Vaishnava sects the ruling monarchs allied with one of those sects and Buddhism did not receive royal patronage any more. Religion to a large extent can only be propped up by patronage, either patrician or plebian. If neither exists it will decline.

Search for Origins of Mahayana Buddhism [RE:#143 Posted by aquaris on December 6, 2007 6:15:20 am]

Right and you don't seem to understand. Selective quotes from Goyal etc on a Pakistani site don't exactly add up to evidence.
Dalistan.org is also undoubtedly unbiased.
You are so smart.
I thought you were HP but I don't think so, he's got brains.

Now where did I mention Muslim in my post?

Search for Origins of Mahayana Buddhism [Re:#139 Aquaris]

I love selective quotings from a web site that has this url
http://www.geocities.com/pak_history/buddhists.html.

Ain't it wonderful how unbiased the world is.

Search for Origins of Mahayana Buddhism I forgot to add Kautilya existed a while before the term muslim as related to a religion landed up.

Search for Origins of Mahayana Buddhism [ RE:#90 Posted by tahmed32 on December 5, 2007 10:38:31 am
mahfari: btw, John Keay in his excellent book A History of India, supports your thesis that it was with the arrival of muslims that we start getting significant written records of indian politics, economy and society. thus, e.g., much of the earlier history of the deccan is gleaned from pottery tablets, stone pillars etc. which were sometimes meaningful as in case of Asoka, but often merely told tall tales about the king that are of no scientific value. he gives the example of one tablet that credits the king as having a light coming out of his big :-).]

Tahmed32 you must really delve deeper than quote selectively. There are written records in India dating back from BCE on philosophy , aesthetics, mathematics, society. What does your book talk about the Lokyata traditions (maligned by both Buddhist and Hindu Vedantists), Samkhya philosophers, people like Abhinavagupta and his treatises on hasya etc.
Or could it be that a lot of those libraries were destroyed in North India for other reasons? Do take your head out of the sand once in a while.

Search for Origins of Mahayana Buddhism #19

The Hinayana school talks of Nirvana for the individual.
Mahayana schools talk of Nirvana for all living beings not just humans. In that sense the individual Mahayana practitioner pledges to some back into the samsara to release all beings.

It seems to me that you say that Mahayana is only for humans and that is not right.

By the way what do you mean by Hinduised sources? Do you suppose the Buddha originated in some country where the predominant form of religious thought was Taoism.
Where do you think the seminal thinking of Buddha originated from? Do you think he was born a Taoist?
Do you think the concept of Hinayana and Mahayana originated in some other country other than India. The Mahayana school originated in South India.

What do you think Pali is ? It is a literary language developed in India patronised by Hindu kings. It is another prakrit language which means vernacular as opposed to Sanskrit.

What are original Buddhist texts? Those written by the Chinese? I suppose they chose to write in Pali because it was their mother tongue.

Do you know what samsara is ?

Since you brought up the original source of Buddhism I suggest you dismiss all discussion of Tibetan, Chinese and Japanese Buddhism. They are all tainted by their local influences just as you use the word "Hinduised".

Search for Origins of Mahayana Buddhism Also to echo DM your interpretation of Nirvana or Hinayana is not quite correct.

Hinayana schools believed in achieving Nirvana which means liberation of the self from the samsara. The Buddha(Siddharta)never claimed to take anybody to Nirvana.

The Mahayana schools believe in effecting the spiritual liberation of all beings from the cycle of reincarnation and rebirth.

Search for Origins of Mahayana Buddhism [Re: # 15Yea the most popular name is Hinayna, but it is also named as Nihayana, and it is also translated as smaller consciousness.]

So Nahayana is a typo.
It's interesting, Hina means left behind or abandoned or low, while Niha means loss or deprived.
In which text is the term Nihayana used?

Search for Origins of Mahayana Buddhism The lesser vehicle in Buddhism is the Hinayana, perhaps Nahayana was typo. Nice pictures.