“Among the principal ways of thought in ancient times, Buddhism can best claim to be of pure Aryan origin.” [1]
Many would come forward to state that Buddhism is alien from European traditions and races, but nothing could be further from the truth. [2] Julius Evola, in his work The Doctrine of Awakening, made the following point: “there stands the unity of blood and spirit of the white races who created the greatest civilizations both of the East and West, the Iranian and Hindu as well as the ancient Greek and Roman and the Germanic.” [3] Buddhism has the right to refer to itself as Aryan (Indo-European) because the philosophy “reflects in great measure the spirit of common origins…” [4]
Furthermore, it may come as a surprise to learn that the inventor of Far-Eastern martial arts was a white man — Nordic white — and this particular man is “none other than the very essence of the philosophy of the Far East, especially in Japan.” [5] This man is none other than the one behind Zen Buddhism: Bodhidharma, the “Blue-Eyed Barbarian”, or the “Red-Bearded Barbarian.” [6] He is officially regarded as the one who transmitted Chan Buddhism to China, and is remembered as China’s first patriarch.
Buddhism is one of the dominant philosophies all around Asia, from Iran to Indonesia. [7]
Although much Oriental art portrays the Buddha as a person of Mongoloid descent, what people fail to realize is that nations tend to adopt another race’s heroes and often change said heroes’ appearances to suit their own physiognomies. [8] Even so, some art depictions show the Buddha in a “truer fashion.” [9] In the Korean grotto, Sokkuram, there is a depiction of the Buddha, still with Oriental features, but seated in his “usual meditative posture” with his white disciples in a semi-circle behind him. [10] Hence, the Koreans, as late as the eighth century A.D., knew that the Buddha’s original disciples were of European descent. [11]
And according to the Chinese, the propagators of Buddhism came from the “Western Regions”, meaning central Asia and India, including the Kushan Empire (first to third centuries A.D.), “whose emissaries arrived via the Silk Road and ‘contributed vastly’ to propagating Buddhism.” [12]
The names “Blue-Eyed Barbarian” and “Red-Bearded Barbarian” were, in fact, common monikers for monks foreign to Asia who “proselytized Buddhism among the Chinese…” [13] Bezeklik murals from Western China depict the Buddhist monks and merchants with “just such physical features.” [14] The Sage of the Sakas, “Sakyamuni”, is known to have blue eyes. [15] Bodhitara (circa 461-534 AD) was the third son of the southern Indian King named “Incense Arrival”, who was a member of the Ksatriya (the warrior caste). [16] The twenty-seventh patriarch of Buddhism, Prajñātārā, converted Bodhitara to Buddhism. [17] Bodhitara would commit himself to living as an anchorite not long after the death of his father. [18] Changing his name to Bodhidharma, he went to China to preach Buddhism. [19] According to the earliest sources, Bodhidharma arrived in China just by walking there, though other sources state he went by sea, landing in a swan-boat, as depicted in a mural inside of “The Temple of the Pagoda of the Sixth Patriarch’s Hair.” [20] And although he arrived in southern China, his destination was in the north. [21]
To get there, he had to cross the Yangtze River by standing on a single reed, which is an act commemorated in Far-Eastern artwork. [22] After having crossed the Yangtze, he went to the Shaolin Temple, which is known to be the home of martial arts. [23]
Ali Aliabadi, in On Martial Arts, Zen, and the Blue-Eyed, Red-Bearded Barbarian writes:
All books or manuals on this peculiarly “Eastern” art — bar none — should they include its history, attest to the same place of origin and founder, the Shaolin Temple and Bodhidharma. It is remarkable that whites do not know that this most “Oriental” art is in fact white in origin. Orientals, however, do! Bodhidharma’s stay at the Shaolin Temple proved to be quite fruitful. Early on, having noticed that the monks lacked vigor and physical prowess, he introduced stretching and breathing exercises. Out of this initial practice grew eventually the art of fighting with fists, feet, and weapons. Bodhidharma is also believed to be the inventor of tea.
[24] Aliabadi, A. (2012). In On Martial Arts, Zen, and the Blue-Eyed, Red Bearded Barbarian (p. 5). Ostara Publications.
During his time at the Shaolin Temple, Bodhidharma is believed to have migrated up the side of the mountain and spent nine years in meditation. [25] To commemorate the intensity of his meditation, “many artists dedicated artwork, stellae, a gate (with the inscription ‘where meditation leaders to wonder’), and a very large statue of a very un-Chinese looking monk, built in 1997.” [26] Eventually, Bodhidharma’s Chan (Chinese) Buddhism spread throughout China and then to Korea “where Chan became Son, and the Chinese name of Bodhidharma, Damo, became Dalma.” [27]
As Chan or Son Buddhism spread across Asia, it eventually made its way to Japan. [28] And during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, Bohidharma’s fame reached Japan, where he was named Daruma, and his philosophy would be known as Zen Buddhism. [29]
Japan would adopt Zen Buddhism into nearly every aspect of its culture: its gardening, its ceremonial tea-drinking, its architecture, calligraphy, theater, poetry, paintings, flower arrangements, and so forth. [30] Zen Buddhism became the foundation for Japanese martial arts, swordsmanship, and the Japanese code of chivalry: Bushido. [31]
Followers of the Bushido code (the Samurai), including Miyamoto Musashi, were Zen artists. [32] The Samurai had paintings of Bodhidharma on their swords’ hilt guards. [33] Wishing for something desirable also became associated with the cult of Bodhidharma. [34]
While wishing, one eyes of a Bodhidharma head-doll is colored black, and if the wish later came true, the other eye would be colored (the same color).
[35] Aliabadi, A. (2012). In On Martial Arts, Zen, and the Blue-Eyed, Red Bearded Barbarian (p. 8). Ostara Publications.
There were also Bodhdiharma toys “with a Zen adage, bawdy paintings depicting Bodhidharma”, and eggplants and snowmen referred to as “Snow Daruma” that were thought to represent a meditating Bodhidharma. [36] There are also temples, an association, and various markets and festivals the celebrate the man. [37]
Naturally, there is a debate on whether or not the man ever existed and whether or not he accomplished all that is attributed to him. [38] Ali Aliabadi writes:
In the final analysis, even if Bodhidharma was nothing more than a will-o’-the-wisp, a pious wish of Buddhists to justify themselves and give themselves airs, the fact remains that many peoples of the Orient, especially the Japanese, venerate this figure, a white man! It has already come to light among interested whites that the aborigines of the New World are beholden to such mythic figures as Quetzalcoatl, Kukulkan, Kon-Tiki Viracocha, et al.
[39] Aliabadi, A. (2012). In On Martial Arts, Zen, and the Blue-Eyed, Red Bearded Barbarian (p. 9-10). Ostara Publications.
What is especially interesting is that there are scientific findings that show Nordic Caucasian genetic influence and presence in Ancient China, more specifically, around China’s Tarim Basin one-thousand years before East Asian people arrived. [40] If anything, this research only adds possible credence to the legend of Bodhidarma and the claim that the West and the East have this cultural connection.
The research is based on a group of ancient corpses that have been found around the Tarim Basin. [41] The bodies avoided natural decomposition due to “the dry atmosphere and alkaline soils in the Tarim Basin”, thus giving scientists a closer look at the bodies’ physical forms, clothes, tools and burial rituals. [42] Victor Mair, a specialist in ancient corpses, played a significant role in bringing these discoveries to Western scholars in the nineteen-nineties, working tirelessly to get approval from the Chinese Communist Party to take samples out of China for genetic testing. [43]
One expedition succeeded in collecting fifty-two samples, but later on Mair’s hosts changed their minds and only let five of the samples out of China. [44] “I spent six months in Sweden last year doing nothing but genetic research,” he said from his home in the United States of America, where he teaches at the University of Pennsylvania. [45] Mair continues:
My research has shown that in the second millennium BC, the oldest mummies, like the Loulan Beauty, were the earliest settlers in the Tarim Basin. From the evidence available, we have found that during the first one-thousand years after the Loulan Beauty, the only settlers in the Tarim Basin were Caucasoid.
[46] Aliabadi, A. (2012). Scientific Findings Showing a Nordic Genetic Influence and Presence in Ancient China. In On Martial Arts, Zen, and the Blue-Eyed, Red Bearded Barbarian (p. 16). Ostara Publications.
Mair said that East Asian peoples only became appearing in the eastern sections of the Tarim Basin approximately thirty-thousand years ago, while the Uighur peoples arrived after the collapse of the Orkan Uighur Kingdom, based in modern day Mongolia, sometime around the year 842. [47] He stated further:
Modern DNA and ancient DNA show that Uighurs, Kazaks, Krygyzs, the people of Central Asia are all mixed Caucasian and East Asian. The modern and ancient DNA tell the same story.
[48] Aliabadi, A. (2012). Scientific Findings Showing a Nordic Genetic Influence and Presence in Ancient China. In On Martial Arts, Zen, and the Blue-Eyed, Red Bearded Barbarian (p. 16). Ostara Publications.
China has only allowed the genetic studies in recent years, with a 2004 study performed by Jilin University finding that the mummies’ DNA had Europoid genes, thus proving that the earliest settlers of Western China were not the East Asians. [49]
What we have here is an interesting connection between the world of the “white man” (the West) and the world of the Asians in the East. If anything, a case could be made for solidarity and friendship between both worlds. This could only be done if Western civilization ever decided the take up the mantle of traditionalism, or at least, find value in culture separate from modern cosmopolitanism and consumerism, neither of which offer any incentive to reconnect with Aryan roots.
Notes
[1] Dahlke, P. (1913). Buddhismus als Weltanschauung. (English translation, Buddhism and Science, p. 29)
[2] Evola, J. (1996). The Aryan-ness of the Doctrine of Awakening. In The Doctrine of Awakening. (p. 14) Inner Traditions.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Aliabadi, A. (2012). In On Martial Arts, Zen, and the Blue-Eyed, Red Bearded Barbarian (p. 2). Ostara Publications.
[6] Aliabadi, A. (2012). In On Martial Arts, Zen, and the Blue-Eyed, Red Bearded Barbarian (p. 3). Ostara Publications.
[7] Ibid.
[8] Ibid.
[9] Ibid.
[10] Ibid.
[11] Ibid.
[12] Ibid.
[13] Aliabadi, A. (2012). In On Martial Arts, Zen, and the Blue-Eyed, Red Bearded Barbarian (p. 3-4). Ostara Publications.
[14] Aliabadi, A. (2012). In On Martial Arts, Zen, and the Blue-Eyed, Red Bearded Barbarian (p. 4). Ostara Publications.
[15] Ibid.
[16] Ibid.
[17] Ibid.
[18] Ibid.
[19] Ibid.
[20] Aliabadi, A. (2012). In On Martial Arts, Zen, and the Blue-Eyed, Red Bearded Barbarian (p. 4-5). Ostara Publications.
[21] Aliabadi, A. (2012). In On Martial Arts, Zen, and the Blue-Eyed, Red Bearded Barbarian (p. 5). Ostara Publications.
[22] Ibid.
[23] Ibid.
[24] Ibid.
[25] Aliabadi, A. (2012). In On Martial Arts, Zen, and the Blue-Eyed, Red Bearded Barbarian (p. 6). Ostara Publications.
[26] Aliabadi, A. (2012). In On Martial Arts, Zen, and the Blue-Eyed, Red Bearded Barbarian (p. 7). Ostara Publications.
[27] Ibid.
[28] Ibid.
[29] Ibid.
[30] Ibid.
[31] Aliabadi, A. (2012). In On Martial Arts, Zen, and the Blue-Eyed, Red Bearded Barbarian (p. 8). Ostara Publications.
[32] Ibid.
[33] Ibid.
[34] Ibid.
[35] Ibid.
[36] Ibid.
[37] Aliabadi, A. (2012). In On Martial Arts, Zen, and the Blue-Eyed, Red Bearded Barbarian (p. 9). Ostara Publications.
[38] Ibid.
[39] Aliabadi, A. (2012). In On Martial Arts, Zen, and the Blue-Eyed, Red Bearded Barbarian (p. 9-10). Ostara Publications.
[40] Aliabadi, A. (2012). Scientific Findings Showing a Nordic Genetic Influence and Presence in Ancient China. In On Martial Arts, Zen, and the Blue-Eyed, Red Bearded Barbarian (p. 14). Ostara Publications.
[41] Aliabadi, A. (2012). Scientific Findings Showing a Nordic Genetic Influence and Presence in Ancient China. In On Martial Arts, Zen, and the Blue-Eyed, Red Bearded Barbarian (p. 14). Ostara Publications.
[42] Aliabadi, A. (2012). Scientific Findings Showing a Nordic Genetic Influence and Presence in Ancient China. In On Martial Arts, Zen, and the Blue-Eyed, Red Bearded Barbarian (p. 14-16). Ostara Publications.
[43] Aliabadi, A. (2012). Scientific Findings Showing a Nordic Genetic Influence and Presence in Ancient China. In On Martial Arts, Zen, and the Blue-Eyed, Red Bearded Barbarian (p. 16). Ostara Publications.
[44] Ibid.
[45] Ibid.
[46] Ibid.
[47] Ibid.
[48] Ibid.
[49] Ibid.