by Harvey Kraft
True Nature of Existence, or Truth of the Reality of All Existence
Uddaka Ramaputta
Underworld
Entombed City (Egyptian)
House of Dust (Sumer)
Naraka (Vedic)
Vara (Zoroastrian)
Universal, as in Truth, Order, Laws,
Harmony, Virtue, or Consciousness expressed in various cultures as,
Arche (Greek)
Arta (Sumer),
Asha (Zoroastrian)
Emet (Hebrew)
Dharma (Upanisad and Buddhist)
Ma’at (Egypt)
Riddum (Akkad)
Rta (Vedism)
Vahyzadâta
Vedism, religion of
Vi-Daeva-datta (aka Videvdat or Vendidad), Zoroastrian Laws of, or Guide to Exorcising Demons
Vishtaspa (aka Hystaspes)
war
Watchers
Watchtower
Xerxes, Emperor of Persia
Yaudishtra or Yadu, Vedic tribe of
Yama and Yami
YHWH
Yoga
Yogi
Yojana
Zagros Mountains
Zarathustra Spitamas, name of
Zoroaster, xxxvi
Zechariah, prophet
Zedekiah, King of Judea
Zodiac
Zoroastrianism, religion of, and scriptures of,
Avesta
Gathas
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Harvey Kraft is an American author, and has been a student of Buddhism for forty-five years. He is a transformational coach and a spiritual archeologist.
His personal quest to unearth the meaning of Buddhist wisdom has been the culmination of a lifetime of research. Mr. Kraft's new biography of Siddhartha Gautama is the culmination of his aspiration to explore the Buddha's visionary scope of existence.
In 1998 he founded the Everlife Foundation and Buddhist Education Center to facilitate research into the mythic language used by Buddhism. This was an independent effort, not representing any particular religious sect of Buddhism.
Later that year, Mr. Kraft lost his 23-year-old daughter, Lani, after a heart transplant operation in a California hospital. To be near her he had moved there from the New York City area, where he had raised his family.
Lani had encouraged her father to write so that people gain a better understanding of Buddhism. Trying to deal with her passing, he embraced her inspiration to follow the path she pointed him in.
Mr. Kraft had a successful career as a business professional. In New York he worked for American Express in a management role before founding an ad agency. In California, he was a marketing strategist and writer. His business contributions have garnered dozens of awards and recognition for his transformational leadership.
Always the balance of his time was spent on digging down into Buddhism.
Initially, from 1998 to 2000, he wrote an e-book titled Secrets of the Lotus Sutra. Next he penned the first draft of what was to become this book. Its working title was "The Cosmology of Buddhism." But Mr. Kraft was not satisfied with it, so he put it aside and launched on a comprehensive twelve-year research effort that led to his development of Spiritual Archeology. Through the worldwide Web he found colleagues in Asia exploring alternative evidence about the life of Siddhartha Gautama. It all finally culminated with a revised manuscript and new title for this book—The Buddha from Babylon: The Lost History and Cosmic Vision of Siddhartha Gautama.
Growing up in New York City, Harvey Kraft attended the Bronx High School of Science, City College of New York, and New York University.
Book website: BuddhaFromBabylon.com
Author website: HarveyKraft.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/buddhascope
Twitter: @BuddhaScope
1 Lumbini on Trial by T.A. Phelps (2008) offers several challenges to the authenticity of Führer’s “discovery” of an Asokan pillar (269 BCE to 232 BCE) that seemed to have been moved, and had an added inscription marking the spot as the Buddha’s birthplace. Führer was exposed for forging documents and selling bogus relics he claimed to be Buddha’s bones and teeth (lumkap.org.uk).
2 The History of Herodotus by George Rawlinson, ed. and tr., vol. 3, Book 4, Chapters 2-36, 46-82. (New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1885); Greek Historian Herodotus wrote a history of the Saka. Links of Saka to Buddhist heritage are in Non-Jonesian Indology and Alexander by Ranajit Pal (Minerva Press India Pvt Ltd, March 15, 2003); the name of the Saka tribe appears in Oswald Szemerenyi’s book, Four Old Iranian Ethnic Names: Scythian - Skudra - Sogdian - Saka (Vienna: Verlag der Oster-reischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1980).
3 ’Sakyamuni’ is a Sanskritised version for the title Sage of the Sakya that occurred first in northwestern Prakrit inscriptions—in a so-called Epigraphical Hybrid Sanskrit. This form arose two or three centuries after King Asoka (d. 232 BCE). Prior to this the term was always written as ’Sakamuni’ (Sage of the Saka) in both Brahmi and Kharosthi inscriptions. (T.A. Phelps).
4 Location of Sakyavati may coincide with Sakastan, the Saka homeland, province of Seistan, Baluchistan.
5 Analysis of Persepolis Seals PFS 79, PFS 796 and PF 250, The Dawn of Religions in Afghanistan-Seistan-Gandhara and the Personal Seals of Gotatna Buddha and Zoroaster by Dr. Ranajit Pal in Mithras Reader: An Academic and Religious Journal of Greek, Roman and Persian Studies. Vol. III, London, 2010, pg. 62.
6 Inscriptions attributed to Persian Emperor Darius the Great (522–486 BCE) written in Cuneiform Script on tablets at Mount Bisutun (aka Behistun) in three different languages: Old Persian, Elamite and Babylonian (a form of Akkadian).
7 Historian dating of Zoroaster’s lifetime varies wildly. The confusion is related to assumptions about the age of the Avestan language used in Zoroastrian literature, and is exacerbated by the wholesale destruction of Zoroastrian literature in a later period. Zoroastrian practitioners have claimed the he lived hundreds, or more than a thousand years, before the Buddha. Greek scholars proposed a lineage of several Zoroaster high priests, although the name Zarathustra Spitamas may or may not have been the first Zoroaster. More than one Zoroaster may have existed if the title was passed on. Archeologist/historian Ernst Herzfield (1879–1948) supported a birth date between 570 to 550 BCE for a Persian Zoroaster (aka Zarathustra Spitamas) who was a contemporary of Gautama. Contemporary historians led by W. B. Henning (1951) argue against Hertzfeld’s interpretations. Henning dated Zoroaster some 50 years earlier to a time before Cyrus. Some claim an original Zoroaster in the 2nd Millenium BCE in lands outside of Persia (such as M. Boyce).
8 Historians Arnold Toynbee, A. T. Olmstead and T. C. Young Jr. doubted Darius’ charge that “Gaumâta” was an imposter. M. A. Dandamayev and R. Pal suggest that Darius had lied in the Bisutun inscription.
9 Zoroaster’s Vi-Daeva-datta (aka Vendidad) is the Guide to Exorcising Demons.
10 Sumerian Mythology: A Study of Spiritual and Literary Achievement in the Third Millenium B.C. by Samuel Noah Kramer, University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia [1944, revised 1961].
11 Tablet of Eridu Genesis (excavated in Nippur) Sumerian cuneiform – est. origin 2150 BCE.
12 Epic of Atra-Hassis (aka Akk. Ziusudra). Note: a similar character in the Epic of Gilgamesh was named Utnapishtim; and another version rendered in the Hebrew Genesis was Noah.
13 Epic of Enki and Ninhursag in Paradise.
14 Note: Dilmun or the Garden of Life within it may be the model for the Garden of Eden (Bible Genesis).
15 Epic of Enki and Ninhursag in Paradise.
16 Innana evolved into the Goddess Ishtar. Venus became her name in Greek mythology.
17 Diagnostic Handbook by Esagil-kin-apli of Borsippa, chief scholar to the Kassite Babylonian king Adad-apla-iddina (1069–1046 BC).
18 Similar to the Sumerian God of Heaven, Anum.
19 Similar to the Sumerian Assembly of Gods, the Annunaki.
20 Reminiscent of the circular Earth
mound at the foot of the Mondial cosmogony’s Cosmic Mountain, Egypt’s creation perpetuated the shamanic view of the physical world.
21 Evocative of Sumerian aspects embodied in Enlil and Enki.
22 Different schools of thought debated the origin of the sun as begotten from the Nile or the Moon (the latter genealogy being similar to the Sumerian celestial genesis of the moon father).
23 Egyptian Hell was the abode of a soul-eating monster, Ammut, charged with devouring sinful Souls. Even the sun had to survive the tests of the cosmic netherworld, the lower Duat.
24 Arnduat – funerary text describing the Sun’s “journey Through the Afterworld.”
25 Epic of Gilgamesh.
26 Equivalent with Akkadian Ishtar.
27 The Hyksos, originating from Canaan, and various other Indo-Aryan peoples, immigrated into and for a time occupied the eastern Nile Delta from the Eleventh to the Seventheenth Dynasty (c. 1800–1560 BCE).
28 Tablets of Gilgamesh.
29 The river ran 1,000 miles (1,609 km) from the Himalayan Mountains to the Arabian Sea parallel with the Indus River. It was home for nearly 2,000 settlements. It dried up by 1900 BCE.
30 The Sun God sends Eight Winds (Whistling, Piercing, Blizzard, Evil, Demon, Ice, Storm, and Sandstorm Winds).
31 This portion of the Epic of Gilgamesh referred to the deluge myth of Nippur and Uruk as an actual event. This Mesopotamian theme was recalled in the Bible Genesis story of Noah and the Ark that landed on the peak of Mt. Ararat (Turkey).
32 The Collection of the Sumerian Temple Hymns, composed by Enheduanna, translated from Cuneiform tablets by A. W. Sjoberg, E. Bergmann, and G. B. Gragg, University of Virginia. Published by J. J. Augustin, Locus Valley, New York, 1969.
33 Pritchard, James B., The Ancient Near East, Vol. I. Princeton University Press, 1958, p. 88.
34 Historical analysts attest the story of Adapa to be from 14th century BCE Babylon, however the original version featuring the deities of Sumer/Akkad may be significantly order.
35 Note: Another mythic version of the rebellion of the Gods against the Titans appeared later in Greek Mythology led by Zeus who was modeled after Marduk. The Greek Gods banished the Titans to the lowest Underworld (Tartarus).
36 Marduk deconstructed the Universe with a Word and then recreated it from recycled God parts. The power to create with a Word was first associated with the God Ptah in ancient Egypt.
37 MUL.APIN catalog designated three stars to each constellation in honor of the Babylonian states of Akkad, Amurru, and Elam.
38 Jupiter was the Roman God derived from the Greek God Zeus, who was modeled after Marduk.
39 The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria, Morris Jastrow, pg. 242.
40 The era of Middle Babylon is in between the first or Old Babylonian Empire and the third or Neo-Babylonian era.
41 The Heavenly Writing: Divination, Horoscopy, and Astronomy in Mesopotamian Culture by Francesca Rochber, p. 230.
42 In the Babylonian legend of Etana, a Sumerian king desperately desired to have a child. After he helped save an eagle from starving, the bird granted his wish to take him up into the sky to find the sacred plant of birth. This led to the birth of his son, Balih.
43 The Epic of Gilgamesh.
44 Myths of Nergal and Ereskigal.
45 The Babylonians claimed that the writing of the Enuma Anu Enlil had started at the dawn of time during the rule of Anum, the God of Heaven, and Enlil, the Sky God and Dispenser of Destinies.
46 MUL.APIN star catalog.
47 King Solomon built the original temple in 957 BCE. The Judean King Jehoash reconstructed it in 835 BCE after the Assyrians sacked it. The Babylonians destroyed it in 586 BCE.
48 When Nebuchadnezzar II formally inaugurated Esagila, he alluded to a former age when the original Tower dedicated to Marduk had been named the “Temple of the Seven Lights of the Earth.“ At the same time he mentioned a nameless king who failed to cap the topmost tier of his ziggurat. Historical analysts believe Nebuchadnezzar referred to the Old Babylonian Ziggurat that literally stood on the same spot in Babylon. But the story of the failed capping may have actually been related to Gilgamesh’s effort to reach heaven by capping the Anu Ziggurat at Uruk. The name Esagila (House of the Raised Head) may have chosen to declare that after nearly 2,000 years Nebuchadnezzar accomplished the goal of reaching the heavens. Biblical analysts have equated the original “Temple of the Seven Lights of the Earth” Ziggurat with the legendary Tower of Babel (Genesis), said to have been located in the Land of Sinar. It may be that Sinar referred to a land where the Moon was worshipped. As Sin was the Moon God of the Akkadians, this reference would establish its location in the ancient kingdom of Sumer/Akkad. While the Judeans were still in exile in Babylon, the last Neo-Babylonian Emperor Nabonidus, a Moon worshipper, restored the Great Ziggurat of Ur (originally built 2600–2400 BCE). It may be that during their exile the biblical story of the fallen Ziggurat of old may have found inspirations in Babylon’s Moon worshippers, Ziggurat ruins, and many spoken languages.
49 Bible: Book of Daniel.
50 Babil was the ancient holy center of the Saka nation. It was probably located in an area that today spans the Seistan-Baluchistan province from Iran to Pakistan, or it could have been as far north as Kabul, Afghanistan. The Saka were a Scythian people with Aryan roots (Wilson, Ariana). Per the Bisutun inscription (6th century BCE) of the Persian Emperor Darius I, the kingdom was called Zasaka (Rawlinson, Mem. p. 1). Babil’s location and history remains elusive.
51 Construction of the Second Temple began in 538 BCE and was completed 23 years later during the reign of Persian Emperor Darius the Great. At that time in Judea the Jewish governor Zerubbabel governed the Persian satrapy (possession).
52 The spirit of the Assyrian god Assur was symbolized with a winged moon disc (similar to the Egyptian Sun disc); the symbol was later adapted by Zoroastrians to include a human head figure.
53 Varuna was the Vedic Moon God.
54 Upanisads, part four of the Brahmanas, is a “Commentary on the Rig Veda.” The Upanisads constituted the secret knowledge, including visions of cosmic scope, explanations, and the observances required of those who acquired divine wisdom.
55 Sanskrit documents discovered in Bactria describe Uttarapatha (Greater Aryana) to encompass an area from the Black Sea [including Yavana (Greece) and Madas (Turkey)] to Central Asia and the Indus, homelands of ancient Elam, Saka, Medes, Bactria, Kamboja and Gandhara (today Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan and India).
56 Inscriptions unearthed at Kuntillet Ajrud, an archeological site in Israel, refer to “YHWH and his ASHERA.“ One in particular states: “To YHWH of Shomron and his Ashera“ (Meshel 2012: 86–101). Shomron (aka Samaria) was the capitol of the original Israel. Ashera appeared as a mother goddess in Akkadian writings as Ashratum or Ashratu, and in Hittite myths as Asserdu. The Akkadians and Hittites influenced the formation of the Assyrian language. Hence, her name is rooted in Assura, the Assyrian word for gods, and she may be a female counterpart of the Assyrian god Assur. Her worship in Israel coincides with the period just before the Assyrians destroyed and banished the Israelites.
57 Excavations at Jiroft (aka Djiroft).
58 Enuma Anu Enlil, the tablets of astral omens from the library of King Assurbanipal (669–626 BCE) at Nineveh.
59 Hebrew Bible (Prophets): Book of Jonah.
60 Cyaxares (pronounced See-Zares) was the first Emperor of the Medes Empire. His reputation was of a fair-minded sovereign able to rule justly over many different cultures. Later the Romans used his name as the root for the title Caesar.
61 The descendents of the ten tribes of Israel in Medes were referred to as Ishkuzai, or Sons of Issac, later to evolve into Ashkenazi. The origins of this name may have been as a derogatory term used in Medes and Babylonia to identify the “strangers in our midst” and in Assyria to denote “enemies of civilization” and “the outcasts.”
62 Marduk-nadin-ahhe (1098–1081 BCE).
> 63 Hebrew Bible (Prophets): Book of Kings II–16:9 and 15:29.
64 Chaldeans appear to be a branch from the Hamite race of Akkad. The Chaldeans inherited from their Sumer/Akkad ancestors a penchant religious systems and the first sciences, especially astronomical charting.
65 Population estimate by Ian Morris: per Social Development, Stanford University, October 2010.
66 Both the Assyrian and Babylonian Empires adopted the popular Aramaic language as the de-facto international bridge language (along with Akkadian). It was an Afro-Asiatic language originating in Aram (Syria). Its root was similar to Hebrew, Phoenician, and Arabic.
67 Judean prophets predicted the punishments of God, foreseeing doom for Israel and Judea and the bitterness of the exiled Hebrew people due to the failure of their leaders, and ultimately retribution upon those who brought destruction upon them, the Assyrians and Babylonians.
68 Hebrew Bible: Book of Daniel, chapter 2.
69 Hebrew Bible: Genesis 10. Noah had three sons depicted as forefathers of all southern peoples, i.e., African origin (Ham), Middle East people, i.e., Semites (Shem), and northern or Eurasian people (Japeth). Among his three sons, Shem, was the father of five sons representing the founders of the five Semite nations: Elam (Elam/ Iran), Assur (Assyria/Iraq), Aram (Aramea/Syria), Lud (Lydia/Turkey), and Arpaxad (Chaldea/Babylonia). Several generations later, from the line of Arpaxad descended Abraham, the founder of the Judaic religion.
70 Linguistic note: Emet in Hebrew appears related to Egyptian Ma’at– both are derived from “death.”
71 Malati J. Shendge, Rangadatta, “The Aryas: Facts Without Fancy and Fiction.”
72 Sramana is a Sanskrit term etymologically originating with issramaNah, a Siberian Tungusic language term meaning “religious exercise“ in reference to the practice of Ural-Altaic shamans (Eurasians) known as Sramana. The term referred to Rishis in the Vedic tradition, as well as the seer-mendicants of Jainism and Buddhism.
73 Classical Greek mythology: Homer’s Illiad and Odyssey, and Hesiod’s Theogony and Works and Days.
74 Use of Greeks herein refers to western Aegean people inclusive of Minoan, Mycenaean, Doric, and Ionian eras.
