--- In [email protected], off_world_beings <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > One of the assumptions that I was talking > about previously that we have all been spoon fed is that because a > culture is deep inland it must have been be sea-faring inept. This > is unlikely since Tibetans travelled far and wide. Buddhism > naturally spread across Tibet and China for the sole reason that > they were not really distinct and travelled with ease.
They traveled much further than that. There are huge outposts of Tibetan culture in Mongolia and Manchuria and Russia, and evidence that Tibetans once inhabited areas of the Pyrennes. Traveling to spread the dharma is what they *did*. Suggesting that they traveled to North America is certainly not out of the question. The possible link between the Hopis and the Navajos has been suggested by many people, including the Dalai Lama. I don't know whether it has been established or not physically (via DNA tests), but if you knew Tibetan culture that wouldn't even be necessary. They have tales of whole monasteries or villages picking up and "migrating" to another place en masse, via mass reincarnation. There are certainly tales in Tibetan culture that link the Anasazi (the primal tribe that ruled the Southwest, ancestors to all the modern tribes) to Tibet. In one of them, Padmasambhava himself banished the Bon shamans who were trying to stop the spread of Buddhism in Tibet via magic, "sending them across the great water." It could be just a tale. But if you go to Chaco Canyon, what you see is the Tibetan style of architecture, Tibetan designs on the pottery, and jewelry that has the same design and use of precious stones that you would find in Tibet. Go figure. Unc To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
