Confucius by Wu Daozi
Of the Tang Dynasty
c520 CONFUCIUS. Chinese sage who edited and annotated the ‘Book of Changes’ or ‘I Ching’, adding his own ‘Commentary on the Decision’. It is this fuller version of the ‘I Ching’ which has come down to modern times. The development of his philosophical speculation is reflected in the works, ‘The Great Learning’ (Ta Hsudh) and the ‘Doctrine of the Mean’ (Chung Yung). Both these works were originally part of the ‘Book of Rites’ (Li Chi). (120). Confucianism is a comparatively modern crystallization of the ancient tradition of the Atlantean Chinese, reformed and restated by Confucius. (212)
Plum blossom – the Eyes of Buddha
c520 GAUTAMA BUDDHA (c563-483) Born Siddhartha Gautama became known as the enlightened one or Buddha. Son of the king of the Sakyas, a people of the warrior caste near the Himalayas and belonging to the Gautama Clan. At 29 years of age he left home and wandered for six years seeking spiritual enlightenment which came to him during meditation beneath a Bo-tree. He then established an order of monks to which was later added an order of nuns based on his new found doctrines. (6) Buddhism will grow into two main divisions:-
1. Mahayanna (Sanskrit) meaning Great Vehicle. This is northern Buddhism prevalent in China and Japan. It will begin about the second century CE as a theistic form of Buddhism and regards Buddha as a deity. This system includes a pantheon of lesser deities known as the Bodhisattvas.
2. Hinayanna (Pali) meaning the Little Vehicle. This is a nontheistic and monastic Buddhism. It advocates a life of seclusion and separation from sensual appeals and temptations. The monks or bhikkus live in monasteries, which are like small colonies. This form of Buddhism flourishes in Sri Lanka (Ceylon) Burma, Thailand and southern India. Its teachings are mainly metaphysical and philosophical. (99)
515 BCE DARIUS (522-486) The Persians under the command of ruler Darius will use the Phoenician alphabet [to write in Arabic] rather than the cuneiform script inherited from Babylon and Sumer. (176) The Persian triad of gods at this time are; Ahura Mazada, Mithra and Anahita. (102)
ZERUBBABE rebuilds a temporary Temple of Jerusalem, under the reign of Darius. [372]
510 TARQUIN the PROUND last king to rule the Roman kingdom before the monarchy is replaced by the Republic regime of annually elected magistrates. (324)
c508 NABURIANNU (GK Naburianos) Babylonian astrologer who establishes the Equinox Points at sidereal 10° of the constellations Aries and Libra. (30) His name may also be spelt NABU-RIMANNU.
Greek statue, impression of Heraclitus
c506 HERACLITUS (c536-476BCE) Greek philosopher, born in Ephesus; he maintained that all things are constantly changing, even the universe as a whole, since only change is real. The orderliness of successive changes or the world’s destiny, is all that remains the same. He believed that there was a hidden connection between everything in the universe. (114) Heraclitus believed that all things were composed of opposites (eg. hot/cold, wet/dry) and these opposing conditions were constantly in strife with one another and which therefore drove a process of perpetual change. But all change was governed by the ‘Logos’, the primary principle of order and intelligibility. (13) Heraclitus associated the ‘Logos’ or original creative word, with the element of fire and he taught that the soul is of the same nature as the aether which in turn is the soul of the universe into which the individual soul returns at the death of the body. (15) Heraclitus’s influence will be seen in the philosophy of Stoicism and in the future 20th century CE style and thought of such philosophers as Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche. (102) Heraclitus gave a symbolic or moral exegesis of the ‘Twelve Labours of Hercules’. (122)
