Heinrich Dumoulin who has published much work on Zen Buddhism and has served as a professor in Tokyo, argued that when Buddhism was introduced into the West during the 19th century, the rationalist thinkers of Europe thought that they have found their desired philosophy or rationality which was without God, without heaven and hell, without soul. but upon researching Buddhism, it was obvious that Buddhism also included the supernatural (and what they considered irrational) phenomena such as saints and miracles, veneration of images and relics, magic and other forms of what was considered superstition. he argued that in order to truly understand Buddhism one must understand it in the context of its native lands in Asia.
On the other hand Dr Judith Snodgrass argues in her book: Presenting Japanese Buddhism to the West: Orientalism, Occidentalism, and the Columbian Exposition, confronts the widespread view that Asian societies are objectified and filtered through Western thought. in her book she claims that it was the Buddhists who have labored in transforming Buddhism into a modern philosophy.
Stephen Batchelor, an author, teacher and scholar of Buddhism who has practiced Buddhism in Dharamsala and South Korea said of the background to the emergence of Buddhology:

Throughout the course of the 18th century three interconnected factors were gestating that would help give birth to what we know as ‘Buddhism’. These were the emergence of the rationalist Enlightenment, the decline of religious authority and the consolidation of colonialism.

While the coloinial and missionary factor might have given Buddhism and Hinduism a negative image in Europe initially during the 19th century, as a naive philosophy, or in the form of corrupted priesthoods and wild and outlandish beliefs, the rationalism and emerging counter thought to religion in Europe also brought another form of Orientalism. Buddhism was introduced to Europe when the continent was experiencing dramatic social, political and technological changes. relations were conceived between Buddhism and modern science. dharmic ideas such as rebirth were seen as compatible with evolution and the biological vision that Darwin introduced into Europe in the 19th century. Buddhism was used as a force that together with the new biological views could tackle Christianity in Europe.
Buddhism was accommodated to European physics. a recent recycling of this phenomenon might be seen in the popular metaphysical use of quantum mechanics and Buddhism.

when it comes to the media, Holywood has been presenting a Utopian Himalayan existence for decades to Western viewers, and the lamas of Tibet have been presented to the American consumer while fitting a certain image.
while Tibet was once subject to the quest of the Aryan prototype by the Third Reich and Aryan traces were sought after in India’s treasure of Sanskrit, now Tibetan religion and Tibetans themselves became an embodiment of ideals in the face of a Chinese oppressor.
The mystification and idealization of the East in Western thought has taken on a consumerism approach on many levels, the challenges and social problems of societies who practice dhamric religions seem to be detached by the image religions such as Buddhism receive in the West, social problems such as the gender discrimination by Buddhist institutions in Asia, or persecution of minorities seem to be a world apart from the harmony of Shangri-La.
In many ways, popular culture has had different phases in depicting Buddhism and the east, at first in the spirit of European orientalism as primitive, then as intellectual, and later as mystical. these forms of objectifying are in fact draining the human factor out of Buddhists or Hindus and places them in a line of Western consumerism. Eastern religions and societies are having certain aspects of them exposed and moderated into pleasent movements and philosophies in the West, while the human capacity to engage in social or political strife seem to be filtered out. this leaves societies in Asia dehumanized and places eastern religions as a product to shop for in the grand bazaar of religions. this product is robbed of its indigenous elements, and the real life challenges and social dilemmas it experiences throughout Asia.

Venus of Willendorf, female figure, 22,000-21,000 BCE

In the HBO series True Blood, the main antagonist of the second season, a mysterious woman called Maryann who expressed mythological qualities is robbed of a statue by Sam Merlotte, one of the main characters, this statue represents the mother of her beloved god, Dionysus. Maryann interprets Sam’s interest in the statue as a sign that he has a part to play in the return of her god, unfortunately, for Sam, this meant that Maryann deemed him worthy for sacrifice.
the beautiful statue of exquisite qualities is in fact a replica of a real figurine from predynastic Egypt. the figurine is of a bird woman raising her arms upwards, it is from a period called Naqada II in ancient Egyptian history, and is dated to 3500–3200 BCE, about 1000 years before the great Pyramid of Giza was constructed.

Naqada II period figurine, predynastic Egypt.

In the movie Watchmen (2009), in the dramatic and climatic development of the plot, when two of the main protagonists, Rorschach and Nite Owl explore the Pyramid International at Veidt Interprises, among the Egyptian pieces exhibited in the complex, one may draw a special attention. the Palette of Narmer, an ancient art piece, with profound importance in ancient Egyptian history.
this palette describes the ascension into power of King Narmer, who united Upper and Lower Egypt through military conquests. the scholars still debate whether the content of the Palette is mythological or describes actual events in ancient Egypt, specifically the unification of Egypt under King Narmer. in the movie, the owner of the Palette, Ozymandias (the Greek name of Pharaoh Ramesses II), the main antagonist also conspires to unify the world.

Palette of Narmer, 31 century BCE

Jesus and Dionysus:

In order to understand the possibility of religious Hellenic influence on those early Jews who were devoted to Jesus we need to understand how these Jews themselves viewed the religious rites of the pagan gods.
Roman sources from the era tell us that the early Christians refused to worship the pagan gods. we find Pliny the Younger who served as governor of Bithynia under Trajan telling the emperor in a letter (at around 112 CE) about the devotion of these people to Jesus and their refusal to honor the image of the emperor or to take part in pagan rites.
In contrast to the explanation that the supreme position of Jesus in the Christian tradition was born out of pagan influence in the Roman empire, when we examine the Pauline epistles, which were written in the mid first century we see that they express the divine importance of Jesus among Christian Jews even before Paul promoted this devotion. the letters of Paul give us an indication that Jews in the Roman province of Judea expressed this devotion before its possible to dicuss foreign pagan influences on later Christian institutes, such as the churches that Paul established.
The claims that the deification of Jesus was a process that gradually developed lean on the assumption that this happened as the number of gentile Christians increased and was a process that took place in the frame of the geographical regions that were subject to Hellenic religious influence
While Christianity in the second century was mostly practiced by gentiles, it has began in Judea, and was initially practiced by people who were devoted to the Jewish tradition. we need good reasons to consider that these early Jewish Christians were opened to embrace pagan influence which was at odds with their Jewish faith. pagan practices such as applying an apotheosis (deification) to various human figures was frawned upon by Jews.
When we examine the influential figures in the beginning of the Christian movement we see that they were Jews, we have no indication that these people have turned their back on Judaism or that they embraced pagan practices. One of the motives in the letters of Paul in the New Testament is the contrast he makes between the multiple gods of the Roman environment and between the God which everything springs out of. what we see is the strong sentiment that the God of the Christians is not one god out of the polytheistic pantheons, but he is the one true God of a monotheisic faith.
The strong basis against arguments of Hellenic influence over Christianity are thus, that the Christian movement emerged in Judea among Jews, these people expressed devotion to Jesus before this devotion can be attributed to geographical reasons, and a scenario in which the pagan environment in places such as Antioch has made its impression on early Christianity, this devotion among people in Judea who were practicing Jews, also demands an examination of the claims that the deification of Jesus was a result of the gentile conversion into Christianity and the lack of strict monotheistic tradition among these gentiles.

The Southern Oracle, The Neverending Story.

The origin for the winged sphinx is identified with Egypt, and with the fourth dynasty period. the Egyptians, the Phoenicians and the Canaanites depicted winged sphinxes both as males and females. the males had a beard, and the females sometimes had a line of breasts in the lower part of their bodies.
during the late Bronze Age we have depictions of Egyptian pharaohs seated on thrones accompanied by winged sphinxes.
for the most part the Egyptians depicted the sphinx while their wings are lying on their backs, the Phoenicians and the other Canaanites depicted theirs with their wings extended and spread upwards.
It is believed that the winged sphinx arrived to the Phoenicians, Canaanites, and into Syria through the Egyptian occupation in the Levant during the times of the New Kingdom starting with the conquests of the 16th century BCE.
It is possible that the Phoenicians first depicted the sphinxes with their wings extended instead of lying on their back and made the transition into what we read in the Bible about the Cherubim. the Bible tells us that the wings of the Cherubim were extended.
A connection can be seen between the Egyptian winged sphinxes and the Cherubim which appear in the Mercy Seat which was rested upon the Ark of the Covenant found in the tabernacle and later in the first temple at Jerusalem, built by King Solomon according to Biblical tradition.

And thou shalt make a mercy seat of pure gold: two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof.
And thou shalt make two cherubims of gold, of beaten work shalt thou make them, in the two ends of the mercy seat.
And make one cherub on the one end, and the other cherub on the other end: even of the mercy seat shall ye make the cherubims on the two ends thereof.
And the cherubims shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and their faces shall look one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubims be.
And thou shalt put the mercy seat above upon the ark; and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee.
And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel.

~Exodus 25:17-22

A model of the ark, with the Mercy seat and the covering Cherubim resting on top.

Its hard to tell the exact form and shape of the Cherubim, but these verses tell us that they had wings.

In the alleged sarcophagus of the Phoenician king Ahiram from around 1000 BCE, wich was found at the ancient site of Byblos in 1923, the king is depicted seated on a throne with winged sphinxes on both sides, while priests serve him the lotus flower.
At the palace at Megiddo an ivory plaque was discovered and in it the king can be seen seated on a throne with the queen serving him the papyrus flower and a drinking cup- Egyptian elements. on both sides of the king there are winged sphinxes protecting him, lions with human heads.
in 1 Kings, it is written that:

Moreover the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with the best gold.
The throne had six steps, and the top of the throne was round behind: and there were stays on either side on the place of the seat, and two lions stood beside the stays. And twelve lions stood there on the one side and on the other upon the six steps: there was not the like made in any kingdom.

~1 Kings 10:18-20

In excavations which have taken place in Phoenician and Canaanite sites, various finds which depict kings and rulers seated on thrones, flanked by four-legged winged beasts, the bodies of lions, and human heads were discovered. in Egyptian art we know this phenomenon as the sphinx. some scholars see the Mercy Seat as a throne with winged sphinxes which were desinged in the spirit of the thrones from the late bronze age of the Phoenicians and Canaanites.
1 Samuel 4:4 tells us about the God of Israel:

He who sitteth (on) the cherubim

The idea which is found behind this description is depicted well by a king who is seated on a throne and is flanked by cherubim. such as the finds in Megiddo and Byblos which are dated to 1200-800 BCE.

Enuma Elish, the Mesopotamian-Babylonian struggle myth

Enuma Elish relies first and foremost on a cycle of stories in Sumerian which deals with the god Ninurta who overcame the rocks. Ninurta is the rain and the rocks are eroded by the rain. The primary young god is fighting with an external element. Here lies the seed to the story of the Enuma Elish in which Marduk is fighting a demonic force.
Ninurta fights Anzu, a monster who stole the tablets of destiny from Enlil, and which Ninurta needs to return. The one who holds the tablets of destiny is the one who holds the world. Ninurta returns them and is declared the ruler of the world.
These motives are found in the Enuma Elish, where Tiamat is defeated by Marduk.
After the creation of the first gods, the young gods banded together and created ‘noise’ (rigmu). It’s not just any noise, but a type of speech which the gods use to talk among themselves. They create a state which is in opposition to the earlier state of the anti-world. The speech is a dynamic element and it begins to cause things to happen. Tiamat is disturbed by this noise. And does not appreciate the behavior of the young gods. Abzu wishes to calm Tiamat and decides to destroy the younger gods, but Ea, the son of Anu, kills Abzu, and inside Abzu he places his temple. In the waters he places a temple and calls it Absu – Life is the source.
Ea marries inside the Abzu with his mate Damkina, and they give birth to Marduk in there. There is no end to Marduk’s qualities, as the Enuma Elish tells us.
Marduk plays as a baby. He is still an infant, but the titanic gods are angered. He plays with four winds and creates noise. The titanic gods ask Tiamat to avenge her husband and to stop the noise. She marries a new husband and gives him the tablets of destiny and goes into battle. She stands at a head of an army of monsters which she creates.
None of the gods are willing to go against her except Marduk. He is prepared to go into battle against Tiamat under the condition that he would be chosen to be king over the gods and the king of the world (which did not exist at this point). In the gods’ council they choose him and rejoice that he is going into battle against Tiamat. They keep his condition and say, “Marduk is the king”. The gods create toxic and evil winds which Tiamat swallows, causing her to swell. Marduk then fires an arrow, entering her opened mouth and puncturing her innards. Then Marduk steps on Tiamat.
After Tiamat’s death he kills Qingu her new husband and the monsters.
Tiamat, the mother of all living things, has been killed. This creates a paradox. And this is the second part of the story. Outside the chaos, it’s not that order returns, but that the world is created – Tiamat’s defeat means the creation of the world. Tiamat becomes almost literally the mother of all living as she is the matter from which the world was created by Marduk. In the entire epos there is only one metaphor and it is what Marduk is doing with the body; he slices her in half as an oyster. From the body of Tiamat, Marduk creates the sky.
Marduk, above the Abzu, erects a rite to Ea, Anu and Enlil and distributes a territory to each of them, the first to Ea, the second to Anu and the third to Enlil. He divides the sky and in fact creates a calendar. He approaches to create time, and places the heavenly bodies to determine time.
From the eyes of Tiamat, Marduk pours out the rivers Euphrates and Tigris. From her breasts he creates the mountains, from her tail he creates the Dur-An-Ki – the axis of heaven and earth. In the Abzu he builds the center and constructs steps into the sky. Marduk takes the tablets of destiny and the gods recognize him as the head of the pantheon.
Abzu is identified with Babylon, where Dur-An-Ki is found, the center of the world. The meaning of the word Babylon (bab-ili) means “the gate of the gods”. Babylon is the Axis mundi.
The story ends with Marduk as the king of the world.
The Enuma Elish presents a thought which tries to deal with reality and present a simple explanation. It is not a philosophical composition, but there is an epos that comes close to presenting a world view.
The Enuma Elish ends with a hymn to Marduk who defeated Tiamat and became king of the universe. Some say that there are historical reasons behind the story which was written around the first millennium BCE. The statue of Marduk was stolen from Babylon by the Elamites, but was returned by Nebuchadnezzar. The epos was symbolic to the return of Marduk from exile and his rise into the head of the pantheon. The Elamites represent Tiamat, and the Babylonians represent Marduk. The event is explained through mythological and allegorical means. For the Babylonians this epos was their history; the explanation for their existence. Furthermore, it gave Babylon the justification to be the central city of the world.

One of the seven tablets that make up the Enuma Elish (7th century BCE)

Surprising and great finds this season, such as a Byzantine wine press bearing a Greek inscription dedicated ‘to the One and only God’, such a prized architectural find was excavated with a melange of findings from different eras and cultures such as Persian, Hellenistic, Roman, Early Arab/Muslim, Samaritan, Crusaders and Mamluks.

In photos:

-Wadi Dana

-Faynan- an ancient site for mining copper, some say King Solomon mined copper here, later on the Romans and Byzantines minned the place, the Romans sent Christian prisoners to Faynan as a labor force.

-Wadi Ghuweir

- Montreal- the crusaders castle at Shawbak which was built in 1115 by Baldwin I of Jerusalem