HSI recovers ancient Buddhist statue in Phoenix that was shipped illegally to U.S. over 50 years ago
Homeland Security Investigations
and last updated 2021-01-06 13:57:55-05
Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) recovered a Buddhist statue in Phoenix that had been shipped illegally to the United States over 50 years ago.
HSI said the investigation for the 9th-century Buddhist statue began in October 2019 that was found to have been purchased abroad.
HSI special agents tracked down the Buddhist statue after it was located at a private home in the Phoenix area. Authorities contacted the current owner who had expressed concerns about owning the statue which she told HSI she had inherited from her family.
Hilltop Buddhist Monastery Uncovered in Eastern India
BIHAR, INDIA
The Times of India reports that a Mahayana Buddhist monastery dated to about the eleventh or twelfth centuries A.D. has been discovered on a hilltop in eastern India. Anil Kumar of Visva Bharati University said the structure featured interconnected cells, wooden doorframes, and lime-plastered floors decorated with red, green, yellow, white, and black paint. The lintel at the entrance to the monastery’s main sacred area depicts two Bodhisattvas known as Manjushri and Avalokiteshvara. Wooden votive tablets recovered at the site each bear the figure of a person that may represent the Buddha. Kumar said some 500 sculptures have also been documented at the site. The name of the monastery, Srimaddharmaviharik aryabhiksusanghasya, was found written in script dated to about the eighth or ninth centuries A.D. on two burnt clay seals, he added. The large number of metal bangles, and the presence of doors on the cell
camera icon COURTESY OF GORDON BALL
He would later explain his motivation for pioneering the ritual walk: “I felt it was time to take not just another hike on Mt. Tam, the guardian peak for the Bay and for the City as I had done so many times but to do it with the intent of circling it, going over it, and doing it with the formality and respect I had seen mountain walks given in Asia.” Starting at Redwood Creek in Muir Woods, the three Beat poets walked clockwise around the mountain, stopping to chant at 10 “stations” notable spots along the route that were selected spontaneously for what the poets considered their special power before closing the loop back at the creek.