Buddha Shakyamuni

This section is dedicated to original research, translations and transcriptions and more related to the life, legacy, teachings and students of the Buddha Shakyamuni (The Teacher) and origin of all Buddhist teachings of the three vehicles of Sutra and Tantra.

RETRACING THE FOOTSTEPS OF BUDDHA AND XUANZANG: Walking and mapping by foot the (2000 km) route of Xuanzang on the Indo-Gangetic plains: Interview with Deepak Anand (Dakini Coversations, Ep.9 )

VIBRANT “HEART” OF GLOBAL BUDDHISM, SCENES FROM BODH GAYA 2025: Relics of Buddha and his two main students, meeting Bokar Rinpoche yangsi, Chinese Buddhist tradition gathering under the Bodhi tree, hunger strike protest by local Buddhists, personal artwork offering of new portrait of 17th Karmapa,

SAGA DAWA DUCHEN DAY: Remembering the Buddha’s birth, enlightenment and parinirvana. Buddha’s final meal, student, teaching and passing into paranirvana, and the 19th Century discovery of his stunning bone and jewel relics 

BUDDHA’S HAIR RELIC STUPA AND FIRST “PEACE MISSION” TRIP TO MAHIYANGANAYA, SRI LANKA: Mahiyangayana (flat-land) “hair relic” stupa, the eighteen hair-pin bend road from Kandy, ancient Bodhi tree, and tallest standing Buddha on the island (Sri Lanka Pilgrimage IV) 

A BLOOD-RED LUNAR ECLIPSE OF MAHABODHI “BUDDHA MIRACLE” BLESSINGS: Remembering “Chotrul Duchen” (Buddha’s Miracles), Marpa and Milarepa’s Anniversaries and Hindu festival, Holi (March 14 2025) 

PRICELESS MAGIC IN THE BONES: DIAMONDS IN THE DIRT TO THE CROWN JEWELS OF INDIA, BUDDHA’S RELICS. Background and review of the Buddha’s relics exhibited in the National Museum, New Delhi 

JEWEL RELICS AND BONES OF SHAKYAMUNI: A DEADLY MEAL, FINAL ADVICE AND PASSING AWAY (“Origins of Secret Mantra” (Day 12: Part 2, 2021) by 17th Karmapa)

SAVED BY A WOMAN’S KIND COMPASSION, SEEING THROUGH ‘DIRTY’ APPEARANCES: Bodh Gaya pilgrimag 2023 (I). Sujātā’s food offering to Gautama Buddha after he came down from the Dungeshwari Hill (Mahakala) Caves nearby

THE MOTHER OF ALL TATHĀGATAS: THE SOUND OF ĀH. Vulture’s Peak, its surrounding caves, the place where the Buddha taught the Heart Sūtra and Prajñāpāramitā (Bodh Gaya 2023 pilgrimage: Part II)

The Buddha’s Footprint Mountain (Sri Pada) and Elephant Rock (Athugala) (Sri Lanka Pilgrimage V)

BUDDHA’S HAIR RELIC STUPA AND FIRST ‘PEACE MISSION’ TRIP TO MAHIYANGANAYA, SRI LANKA: Mahiyangayana (flat-land) ‘hair relic’ stupa, the eighteen hair-pin bend road from Kandy, ancient Bodhi tree, and tallest standing Buddha on the island (Sri Lanka Pilgrimage IV)

THE OLDEST BUDDHIST CAVES COMPLEX IN SRI LANKA: Great King Caves of Dambulla (Sri Lanka pilgrimage III)

THE SWEET SACRED TOOTH OF KANDY: Buddha’s tooth relic temple in Kandy, Nàtha Devàla the oldest building and Bodhi Buddha statue (Sri Lanka Pilgrimage II)

THE PLACES BUDDHA VISITED IN SRI LANKA: KELANIYA (Sri Lanka pilgrimage I)

17th Karmapa’s teachings on the life and legacy of the Buddha in his Origin of Secret Mantra teachings (2021-2024)

2024 AN ISLAND OF COMPASSION IN THE MIDDLE OF A RIVER: THE PARINIRVĀṆA OF ĀNANDA: The cause of Ānanda’s passing away ‘in the middle of a river’ levitation, splitting bodily remains into two halves to avoid future conflict (17th Karmapa, Day 8)

THE ‘INHERITORS’ OF THE BUDDHIST TEACHINGS AND THE PARINIRVĀṆA OF FIRST ‘INHERITOR’, MAHĀKAŚYAPA: The first ‘inheritors’ of Early Buddhism after the Buddha’s passing away, and the remarkable parinirvāṇa of Buddha’s ‘legacy-holder’, Mahākāśyapa (17th Karmapa, Day 7)

17th Gyalwang Karmapa’s announcement about his father, Karma Dondrub’s cremation in Tibet, Khenpo Tsultrim Gyatso’s parinirvana ritual, and Je Gampopa commemoration this month (Day 7)

THE RULE OF MAHARAJA KINGS AND THE POLITICAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL DEVELOPMENT OF EARLY BUDDHISM: the sixteen great Kingdoms, the expansion of Magadha, the four main Buddhist pilgrimage sites, and reasons why Buddhist communities divided after Buddha’s parinirvana (17th Karmapa, Day 6)

THE ‘SEEDS’ AND PRACTICE OF ‘SECRET MANTRA’ IN EARLY BUDDHISM: Permitted protection mantras, the Great Peacock King mantra, the different attitudes towards the use of mantras, and the ‘secret’ power of true speech/words (17th Karmapa Summer 2024, Day 5)

THE ‘SECRET’ LUMINOUS-AWARENESS ‘JUICE’ AND VAST QUALITIES OF FULL AWAKENING: The connection between secret mantra and Early Buddhism, the importance of reasoning, wisdom and luminous-awareness, and the permitted and forbidden ‘rigpa’ arts/mantras and their uses (17th Karmapa Summer Teachings 2024, Day Four)

THE IMPORTANCE OF MAGADHA: The Developmental History of the Texts and Languages of Early/Original Buddhism and the ‘baskets’ of Vinaya and Sutra (17th Karmapa’s online Summer teachings 2024, Day One and Two) 2022 THE AMAZING JOURNEY AND LEGACY OF MOTHER OF BUDDHA AND THE FEMALE SANGHA, MAHĀPRAJĀPATĪ: A Buddhist canon textual analysis of how Mahāprajāpatī, step-mother of the Buddha, with the help of Ānanda, became the first fully ordained Buddhist nun along with hundreds of other women, and the challenges Ānanda faced due to his relations with women (17th Karmapa, Day 8, 2022)

‘FLESH AND BLOOD’ EMBODIMENT OF DHARMA AND ‘TREASURY OF MUCH LISTENING’: ANANDA (ALL-JOYFUL) BUDDHA’S BEST AND MAIN ATTENDANT. An Introduction to the life-story of Ananda and his eight special qualities by 17th Karmapa (Day Seven, August 2022)

‘MAGNETISING ALL (WANGDU)’ GREAT CLOUDS OF BLESSINGS SUPPLICATION BY JU MIPHAM RINPOCHE (NEW TRANSLATION) AND ORAL TRANSMISSION BY 17TH KARMAPA

FROM RICHES TO RAGS: THE MAN TO WHOM BUDDHA GAVE HIS OLD ROBES. MAHAKASHYAPA’S LIBERATION-STORY BY 17th KARMAPA (Day Six, 17th Karmapa teachings, August 2022)

AN ACTUAL BEACON OF LIGHT NOT AN IMAGE OF ONE: THE DHARMA AS THE REAL REFUGE AND TEACHER; AND VINAYA AND SECRET MANTRA AND THE THREE SETS OF VOWS (Day Five, 17th Karmapa teachings, August 2022)

A CELIBATE LIFE WITH LITTLE DESIRE FOR WORLDLY PLEASURES: THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MONASTICS AND HOUSEHOLDERS: Origin and development of the Vinaya rules, the eight kinds of precepts, four defeats, the origin and meaning of the Pratimoksha Sutra and comparison between different Vinaya versions and schools (Day Four, 17th Karmapa teaching, August 2022)

FROM WANDERING MENDICANTS TEMPORARILY SHELTERING FROM THE RAIN TO LARGE, AUTONOMOUS MONASTIC COMMUNITIES IN MONASTERIES: Development of monasteries and categories and terminology for Sangha dwellings and members (Day 3, 17th Karmapa (2022)

THREE-MONTH MONSOON MEDITATION AND PUBLICLY DECLARING ONE’S FAULTS: A DIFFICULT, YET SIMPLE LIFESTYLE TO REDUCE GREED, DESIRE AND SELF-CLINGING. Seniority ranking in the sangha, one meal per day, no fixed abode, the three month rains retreat and fortnightly Sojong (confessing faults) (Day 2, 17th Karmapa’s Summer 2022 Teaching)

THOSE WHO ‘APPROACH VIRTUE’ (GENYEN), ‘ADOPT VIRTUE’ (GELONG) AND “ASPIRE FOR VIRTUE TOGETHER’ (GEDUN): THE FORMATION, MEANING AND LIFESTYLE OF THE EARLY BUDDHIST SANGHA (Day 1, 17th Karmapa’s Summer 2022 teaching

CONCISE LIBERATION-STORY OF JE GAMPOPA BY 17th GYALWANG KARMAPA (2022): Influential doctor, Kadampa Masters, Milarepa’s Dream and Unifying Sutra and Tantra

August-September 2021

(DAY 12). BUDDHA THE RADICAL REVOLUTIONARY AND FEMINIST: WHEN ROYALTY BOWED TO LOWER CASTES AND WOMEN BECAME FULLY-ORDAINED SANGHA (by 17th Karmapa)

(DAY 11): ‘CAN’T GET NO SATISFACTION’; FROM PRINCE SIDDHARTHA TO SHAKYAMUNI THE ASCETIC: the early life of Buddha, family lineage, name, locations and practicing austerities in the forest (by 17th Karmapa)

(DAY 10): ‘DO WHATEVER YOU ENJOY’, HERETICS, HEDONISTS, NIHILISTS AND ‘NAKED ASCETICS’ IN INDIA: Sixty-two wrong views, six non-Buddhist teachers, the Charvakas and Jain followers at the time of Buddha

(DAY 9): ‘NO SMOKE WITHOUT FIRE’, INDIAN PHILOSOPHICAL INVESTIGATIONS ON MATTER, MIND, METAPHYSICS, LOGIC AND THE MEANING OF LIFE AND REALITY (by 17th Karmapa)

(DAY 8): THE AGE OF PHILOSOPHY, ARRIVAL OF SUTRAS, DIVINE GEOMETRY AND DEVANAGARI SCRIPT by 17th Karmapa

(DAY 7): IDEAS ON SAMSARA, KARMA, ADVANCED PHILOSOPHY AND INDIAN CASTE: the Upanishads on liberation, two epic Indian poems, Buddha’s clan as ‘friend of the Sun’, rise of the Brahmins and status of women (by 17th Karmapa)

(DAY 6): FROM MANY GODS TO ONE- BRAHMA, PRIMAL SOURCE OF ALL PHENOMENA. Development of Indian Philosophy, the Brahmanas texts, the Upanishads and profound views of the ‘one source’ nature of reality and appearances (by 17th Karmapa)

(DAY 5): VEDIC MAGICAL RITUALS, ACTIVITIES AND MANTRAS: the four Vedas, horse sacrifice, King empowerment, fire pujas, the fourth Veda and their connection to Secret Mantra

(DAY 4): ‘HUMAN NATURE’ AND VEDIC GODS: Fire, intoxicants, money, death and the Vedic ‘dark side’: Demi-Gods, Maras, Flesh-eaters, animal sacrifices (by 17th Karmapa)

(DAY 3) VEDIC HYMNS TO DIVINE MOTHER NATURE: Oral myths, poems and praises to the Gods of Nature and the importance of the Vedas for understanding Buddhist Secret Mantra origins (Origins of Secret Mantra (by 17th Karmapa).

(DAY 2): ARRIVAL OF THE ARYANS, MOTHER OF INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. Ancient Indus Valley civilisation, Aryan migration and language, the indigenous Dravidians and cultural mixing (teaching by 17th Karmapa)

(Day 1) ANCIENT MOTHER OF BUDDHISM: India and