Que le bon dieu vous garde... = That the good God be with you...

A remarkable site on Gnostic lineage in all faiths, a unique history that traces its roots along the Silk Road between Mount Carmel and Mount Kailash, a true site dedicated to the study of Philosophical Pluralism...

In the Hindu religion, Brahman is the unchanging, infinite, immanent, and transcendent reality which is the Divine Ground of all matter, energy, time, space, being, and everything beyond in this Universe.


Several mahā-vākyas, or great sayings, indicate what the principle of Brahman is:

prajnānam brahma - "Brahman is knowledge"
ayam ātmā brahma - "The Self (or the Soul) is Brahman "
aham brahmāsmi - "I am Brahman"
tat tvam asi - "Thou art that"
sarvam khalv idam brahma - "All this that we see in the world is Brahman",
sachchidānanda brahma - "Brahman or Brahma is existence, consciousness, and bliss".

Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism
--HarmonyMalaysia.wordpress.com --

MCCBCHST AIMS & OBJECTIVES
Aims

(a) To promote understanding, mutual respect and co-operation between people of different religions.

(b) To study and resolve problems affecting all inter religious relationships.

(c) To make representations regarding religious matters when necessary.

(d) To advance and promote the religious, cultural, educational and social rights and interests of the religious bodies.

Objectives

(a) To uphold and promote the ideas as enunciated in the Rukun Negara.

(b) To promote unity, harmony and understanding amongst people of different religions through conferences, seminars and other channels.

(c) To print, publish and distribute journals, periodicals, leaflets or books that the Executive Committee may consider desirable for the promotion of its objects, with the proviso that, prior approval must be obtained from the competent authority.

Maitreya (Sanskrit) or Metteyya (Pāli) is a future Buddha of this world in Buddhist eschatology. In some Buddhist literature, such as the Amitabha Sutra and the Lotus Sutra, he is referred to as Ajita Bodhisattva.

In Hinduism, Kalki (Devanagari: कल्कि; also rendered by some as Kalkin and Kalaki) is the tenth and final Maha Avatara (great incarnation) of Vishnu who will come to end the present age of darkness and destruction known as Kali Yuga. The name Kalki is often a metaphor for eternity or time.

The Book of Malachi, Elijah's return is prophesied "before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord," making him a harbinger of the Messiah and the eschaton in various faiths that revere the Hebrew Bible. Many Christian denominations include the prophet Elijah in their Old Testament account including the Church of Latter-Day Saints. The Qu'ran sites the accounts of Elijah as a major prophetic step for Gods children.

A Glance At Patani
(from the Patani Malay Human Rights Organization)

The nearly 2 million inhabitants of the presently Southern five Malay speaking provinces of southern Thailand, embraced Islam during the region's changing of ages leaving behind the their former ancient Hindu-Buddhist sphere of Langkasuka empire since the first century AD to form a new nation called 'Malay Kingdom of Patani' during 1350 AD with Islam as new faith

As Islam began to establish under Patani's second king, Patani gradually flourished especially during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. But during its political decline in the eighteenth century, Patani was subdued by Siam (later called Thailand) in 1786 after it had won a war against Burma. Patani became a Siamese tributary state with their state affairs run by an ethnic Thai-Buddhist nation, the ethnic Malays of Patani again flourished their Islamic identity and, until the 19th century, it was well-known as the cradle of Islam in Southeast Asia.

But the situation begun to worsen as Siam incorporated Patani as part of its kingdom 1902, the Patani has since then been relentlessly struggling against Siamese imperialism to the present day. Siam brutalises Patani in all forms, politically, culturally and economically.

Disrespectfully towards the Islamic Malay tolerant way of life of Patani people, Siam forcefully promulgated its colonial policy aiming to assimilate the Patanis and abandon their own origin. From 1921 onwards the Patanis were obliged to attend Siamese schools in learning Thai language and history, culture and kingship. Without doubt, Buddhist influence was part of the campaign. It was unsuccessful though, as no matter how harshly the policies were imposed upon them, the Islamic Malay culture remained at an all-time high among the Patanis. But after 1932, a period in which Siam itself changed from an absolute monarchy system to a constitutional one and Siam was renamed as Thailand, from loosely controlled units to a powerful centralised one, the Patanis were since then victimised even further as the national government became mostly controlled by the military, promoting Thai nationalism, especially after World War II. Due to these situations, a prominent religious leader named Haji Sulong proposed a seven-point self-rule plan to safeguard Patani rights and identity, but the Thais responded to his sincere intention with crushing and killing. This made the Patanis stage uprisings from time to time since 1948 that led to the forming of armed struggle groups in 1960s as a defensive matter.

With suffering in silence on the one hand and preserving Malay Islamic culture on the other, the Patanis continue to fight on. With the end of the cold war and the emergence of the globalisation era during the 1980s and 1990s the Thai elites engaged in immorally political capitalism which was, in fact, what brought a downturn to their nation as can be seen to the present day. The Patanis prefer the sustainable and economical Islamic way of life. This led the Thais to wrongly come to the conclusion that the Patanis were against prosperity. Therefore the new anti Thai sentiment among the Patanis grows gradually and peacefully but are again brutalised by the all-time violent mentality of the Thais.

"I tell you not to resist one who is evil. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other to him as well." Matt. 5:38-42

"Love your enemy and pray for those who misuse you" Matt 5:43-44

satyagraha- unwavering search for truth
ahimsa- avoiding harm of living creatures

Amitabha, also known as Dharmakara

vispassana- insight into the nature of reality

egoism is the key to misery...

East meets West

Hellenism and the Indus

courtesy of -wiki-

Alexander in Afghanistan and India

In 326 BC Alexander the Great conquered the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent as far as the Hyphasis River, and established satrapies as well as several cities, such as Bucephala, until his troops refused to go further east. The Indian satrapies of the Punjab were left to the rule of Porus and Taxiles, who were confirmed again at the Treaty of Triparadisus in 321 BC, and remaining Greek troops in these satrapies were left under the command of general Eudemus. Sometime after 321 Eudemus toppled Taxiles, until he left India in 316 BC. Another general also ruled over the Greek colonies of the Indus: Peithon, son of Agenor, until his departure for Babylon in 316 BC.

In 305 BC, Seleucus I led an army to the Indus, where he encountered Chandragupta. The confrontation ended with a peace treaty, and "an intermarriage agreement" (Epigamia, Greek: Επιγαμια), meaning either a dynastic marriage or an agreement for intermarriage between Indians and Greeks. Accordingly, Seleucus ceded to Chandragupta his northwestern territories, possibly as far as Arachosia and received 500 war elephants (which played a key role in the victory of Seleucus at the Battle of Ipsus):

"The Indians occupy in part some of the countries situated along the Indus, which formerly belonged to the Persians: Alexander deprived the Ariani of them, and established there settlements of his own. But Seleucus Nicator gave them to Sandrocottus in consequence of a marriage contract, and received in return five hundred elephants."

—Strabo 15.2.1(9)

Alexander conquered land in Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, not to mention Iran, Syria, and the Balkans coast. The Seleucids, successor kingdom of Alexanders would go on to rule the area between the Mediterranean Sea and the Eastern Regions of the Indian sub continent. It would then gain Independence from the Persian influenced Seleucid and be run as the Greco-Bactria Kingdom. Finally, the Mauryan empire would invade and begin to form what we know today as modern India, pre-Islamic invasion.

"Yona" is a Pali word used in ancient India to designate Greek speakers. Its equivalent in Sanskrit, Telugu and Tamil is the word "Yavana". "Yona" and Yavana are both transliterations of the Greek word for "Ionians" (Homer Iāones, older *Iāwones), who were probably the first Greeks to be known in the East. In Telugu another word "Yavanika", means drama stage, an invention brought by Hellenistic people. "Yunani", likewise, means medicine from Greeks.

Hadda is a Greco-Buddhist archaeological site located in Afghanistan.

It is difficult to be called a Muslim; if one is truly a Muslim, then he may be called one.
First, let him savor the religion of the Prophet as sweet; then, let his pride of his possessions be scraped away.
Becoming a true Muslim, a disciple of the faith of Mohammed, let him put aside the delusion of death and life.
As he submits to God’s Will, and surrenders to the Creator, he is rid of selfishness and conceit.
And when, O Nanak, he is merciful to all beings, only then shall he be called a Muslim.
Allah is hidden in every heart; reflect upon this in your mind. The One Lord is within both Hindu and Muslim; Kabir proclaims this out loud.
Be kind and compassionate to me, O Creator Lord. Bless me with devotion and meditation, O Lord Creator. Says Nanak, the Guru has rid me of doubt.
The Muslim God Allah and the Hindu God Paarbrahm are one and the same.

To be Muslim is to be kind-hearted, and wash away pollution from within the heart. He does not even approach worldly pleasures; he is pure, like flowers, silk, ghee and the deer-skin.
One who is blessed with the mercy and compassion of the Merciful Lord, is the manliest man among men. He alone is a Shaykh, a preacher, a Haji, and he alone is God’s slave, who is blessed with God’s Grace.
The Creator Lord has Creative Power; the Merciful Lord has Mercy. The Praises and the Love of the Merciful Lord are unfathomable.
Realize the True Hukam, the Command of the Lord, O Nanak; you shall be released from bondage, and carried across.

Sri Guru Granth Sahib

SHALOK, FIRST MEHL