Buddhism
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How Indians invented the universal religion
Disagreeing with guest Armin Navabi on a podcast, the author argues that universalist, post-tribal religion was not invented by Christianity and the Abrahamic tradition, pointing to Ashoka’s Edict 13 and…
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An Eye transplant and a Pound of Flesh
An article by Bhante Dhammika from a Sri Lankan newspaper on the town of Sibi in Balochistan as the setting of the Sivi Jataka legend, reproduced in full with little…
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Review: The Buddha and the Sahibs and Ashoka—The Search for India’s Lost Emperor
Sunil Koswatta reviews Charles Allen’s two books on how British Orientalists rediscovered Ashoka and the Buddha. It praises Allen’s storytelling and the honest scholars among the sahibs, and dwells on…
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Jack D. rapes the East
On Jack Dorsey’s Vipassana retreat in Myanmar, the author argues that tracking meditation with an Apple Watch and an Oura ring shows Westerners hacking Eastern practice, and misses that one…
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The Pakistani Myth that made us Great-
Prompted by Ambedkar’s account of why Brahmins gave up beef and began worshipping the cow, the author doubts the Indian interest in ancestry testing, notes that genetics suggests caste predates…
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How Buddhism spread in Asia and lessons for the Modern World
Starting from a map of Buddhism’s spread, the author calls it India’s best demonstration of soft power, then speculates on why the Hindi belt produces religions, and argues India would…
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Density of Cows Worldwide
Starting from a map of cow density, the author asks how India became vegetarian, prefers Hindu to Muslim dynasties and Ashoka to Akbar, and argues caste, the greatest faultline after…
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Stolen Loot in British Museum
Sbarrkum asks which artefacts in the UK should be returned, quoting the British Museum’s note on a gilded Tara bodhisattva from Sri Lanka, ‘given’ by Governor Robert Brownrigg, who captured…
