A statue of a sitting Buddha that made its way from a temple in China to a market in the Netherlands revealed an extraordinary secret — a 1,000-year-old mummified monk. The mummy was discovered inside of a cavity inside the statue after a private buyer took it to an expert for restoration, according to CNN. It’s not clear when the statue was taken out of China. A team of researchers...
Metta (Pali) or Maitri (Sanskrit) means unconditional and unattached loving kindness. It is one of the ten paramitas of the Theravada school of Buddhism, and the first of the four Brahmaviharas. The metta bhavana (cultivation of metta) is a popular form of meditation in Buddhism. The object of metta meditation is to cultivate loving kindness (love without attachment, non-exclusive love) towards...
Mathematics in China emerged independently by the 11th century BC. The Chinese independently developed very large and negative numbers, decimals, a decimal system, a binary system, algebra, geometry, trigonometry. Most scholars believe that Chinese mathematics and the mathematics of the ancient Mediterranean world had developed more or less independently up to the time when the The Nine Chapters...
Laozi (also Lao Tse, Lao-Tzu, Laotze, Lao Zi, Laocius, and other variations) was a philosopher of ancient China and is a central figure in Taoism (also spelled “Daoism”). Laozi literally means “Old Master” and is generally considered an honorific. Laozi is revered as a god in religious forms of Taoism. Taishang Laojun is a title for Laozi in the Taoist religion, which...
For centuries, Kuan Yin has epitomized the great ideal of Mahayana Buddhism in her role as “bodhisattva (Chinese “p’u-sa)–literally “a being of Bodhi, or enlightenment,” who is destined to become a Buddha but has foregone the bliss of Nirvana with a vow to save all children of God. Quan Yin carries the Goddess and Divine Mother aspect of Buddhism. The same...
The I Ching is an ancient Chinese oracle that provides an Oriental philosophical perspective to give insight on situations and problems. “I” means change. “Ching” means book. Therefore I Ching means ‘The Book Of Changes’. The I Ching is both a book and a method of divination that represents one of the first efforts of humans to grasp their relationship to...
The history of China is told in traditional historical records that refer as far back as the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors about 5,000 years ago, supplemented by archaeological records dating to the 16th century BC. China is one of the world’s oldest continuous civilizations. Turtle shells with markings reminiscent of ancient Chinese writing from the Shang Dynasty have been carbon...
The Great Wall of China is a series of fortifications made of stone, brick, tamped earth, wood, and other materials, generally built along an east-to-west line across the historical northern borders of China in part to protect the Chinese Empire or its prototypical states against intrusions by various nomadic groups or military incursions by various warlike peoples or forces. It is included in...
Feng Shui (also known as “geomancy”) is an ancient Chinese art used to promote such things as health, happiness and prosperity. The words literally mean ‘wind’ and ‘water’. Feng Shui, also called the Chinese Art of Placement, is a technique that is thousands of years old for bringing balance to one’s home, business and the land that surrounds them. It...
A Tang Dynasty inscription records that the first cave in the Mogao Grottoes was made in 366 A.D. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) listed the Mogao Grottoes on the World Heritage List in 1987. According to archaeologists, it is the greatest and most consummate repository of Buddhist art in the world. Despite erosion and man-made destruction, the 492...