The Tomb of Jesus Christ

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The Tomb of Jesus Christ
http://www.tombofjesus.com/index.htm

From Mary, webmaster of spinninglobe.net:

I am offering here glimpses of the riches of this website. Its craf ters are devoted to sharing information on the "post-crucifixion life of Jesus Christ." Please go to the real thing, because there you will find far more evidence in support of this historically earth-shaking discovery - namely, that Jesus survived the crucifixion, traveled to India and died there as an old man and is buried in the above tomb (the Roza Bal) in Srinagar, Kashmir - than I have included here. I have visited this tomb twice, and can personally attest to the holiness and yes, fragrance of the atmosphere within this building which houses the mausoleum of Jesus Christ, to which Srinagar residents come often to pray and leave their offerings. I have no axe to grind in offering this information, nor does this webmaker` - only devotion to truth, and to the significance of the life of our Lord.

......
Pictures taken by Mary inside (and outside) the Roza Bal in 1990

From the Tomb of Jesus Christ website:

It is very important to realize, at the outset, that this is a subject that is NOT limited to the "New Age" movement. This site is devoted to serious consideration of the theory [and it is a theory, though evidence appears to be mounting in its favor] that Jesus Christ physically survived the crucifixion as an "ordinary" human being, then traveled eastwards to join Jewish tribes that had been scattered to the northern tier of Afghanistan and also Kashmir, Northern India.

Was it possible to survive a crucifixion? Read the following account from the ancient historian, Flavius Josephus:

"I was sent by Titus Caesar with Ceralius and a thousand riders to a certain town by the name of Thecoa, to find out whether a camp could be set up at this place. On my return I saw many prisoners who had been crucified, and recognized three of them as my former companions. I was inwardly very sad about this and went with tears in my eyes to Titus and told him about them. He at once gave the order that they should be taken down and given the best treatment so they could get better. However two of them died while being attended to by the doctor; the third recovered." (Vita, IV, 75)

After surviving the crucifixion, Jesus Christ arrived in Kashmir, where he took up residence for the remainder of his life. There he ministered to Israelite tribes of the area, continuing to preach. He eventually married a woman named Maryan, who bore him children, and, so the theory states, he died at the age of 120 years. His tomb [see picture of his tomb on our home page] is located in the Mohala Kan Yar district of the capital city of Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir, Northern India, and is called the Roza Bal (Prophet's Tomb). The photograph on the homepage is provided courtesy Holger Kersten. A more current photograph will be added, hopefully, before October, 2000.

Throughout his travels, it is claimed, he assumed the name, Yuz Asaf (Yus Asaph), a name which, some believe, meant, "Jesus the Gatherer," and he is said to be buried in the Roza Bal under that name.

Please understand the following: This site, and the information it contains, is NOT the property of any particular belief or ism or organization, nor is the idea of a post-crucifixion life of Jesus the invention of any ONE individual. From St. Irenaeus (125 A.D. to 202 A.D.) all the way to Dr. Fida Hassnain, a living scholar, there have been many people who have contributed information concerning the idea that Jesus was seen in "Asia" or India long after the crucifixion.

The Q and Jesus the Buddha--The Sources

As proof that Jesus Christ was a student of Buddhism, proponents of the Jesus in India/Jesus as Buddhist theory cite sayings of Buddha which appear to be identical to sayings of Jesus Christ as recorded in the canonical Gospels as well as non-canonical Christian scriptures. This is a large subject, and, as such, we're going to give just some examples of these comparisons. If the reader wishes to delve deeper into this subject, we suggest that you obtain the book, The Original Jesus: The Buddhist Sources of Christianity, and, of course, be sure to follow his references if you wish. The reader will have noted that we do not exclude non-canonical Christian scriptures in our analysis. This is for a simple reason. The majority of the population of the world are non-Christians. As such, we feel that they have the right to examine whatever Christian scripture or document exists. Though official Church authorities have dismissed some of these Christian scriptures as unacceptable, we have to admit, at the risk of appearing biased, that the history of the compilation of the current canonical Gospels does not seem to be one free of doctrinal subjectivity (we're being as polite as we can). Christianity's own scholars--such as the crack scholars of the Jesus Seminar--routinely quote from non-canonical Gospels and include them in their evaluation of the message of Jesus Christ. This shows that they do not necessarily accept the authority of Church fathers in determining exactly which books of Christianity are true or false.

We do not say that the Christian doctrine is false. But we are faced with a dilemma and a reality that we cannot turn away from. Perhaps had these other scriptures, such as the Gospel of Thomas, never been discovered; perhaps had there always existed only one revealed scripture of the Christian experience, then the matter would be simple. But that is not the case. For the Christian who has faith that the Church fathers were inspired by the Holy Ghost to remove certain scriptures and declare them "non-canonical", we respect their right to proclaim any non-canonical references at this site as "false" or somehow flawed. But since, as we stated before, we realize that non-Christians (simply by virtue of their having a different faith and belief-system ) will not view Church fathers as specially guided spiritual men, then we must respect their right to have access, even if only by way of mention, of the non-canonical sources, so that they can make their own decision.

This is brought powerfully home by the discovery amongst Christian scholarship of what is now commonly accepted as a Christian source document called "Q" that dated before the compilation of the canonical Gospels. The label, "Q", comes from the German word, Quelle, which means "source." Christian scholars "found" this document not through archaeological discovery, but by careful scrutiny of the contents of the Gospels that led them to conclude with confidence that the Gospel writers, though they wrote a different times, had worked from some common source. When researchers had been working to determine which of the Gospels was oldest, they made some startling discoveries. First of all, they recognized that it would be impossible to actually track down the real authors of the Gospels through historical research. So, any information would have to be gotten from the Bible itself.

It was noted that Matthew, Mark and Luke were related. They then noted that passages in Matthew and Luke corresponded only when they happen to follow a story that was also located in Mark. This led to the conclusion that Matthew and Luke must have gotten their accounts from Mark, and that Mark was the oldest between the three. On the other hand, Matthew and Luke, which were believed to have been recorded about 95 AD, contain a good number of sayings of Jesus that are not found in Mark. So although Matthew & Luke had Mark as a source, there must have also been some other source available to them which they used to compile and write their Gospels. Christian scholars have labeled this source the Q, and many of them, as well as non-Christian historians and theologians, strongly belief that Q must be the oldest source that circulated amongst Jesus' followers, perhaps even written accounts by Jesus' followers that were written down after the crucifixion. Similarities are also found between canonical sayings of Jesus and sayings found in the non-canonical Gospel of Thomas. [See, The Lost Gospel: The Book of Q and Christian Origins, Element Books, Shaftsbury, 1993]. We presented the above short explanation of the Q to demonstrate that since we do not know what that source document was, we cannot rely only on the canonical Gospels, as there can be no way to verify whether the canonical Gospels contain additions or omissions.

The following are references that compare scriptural [canonical or otherwise] sayings of Jesus Christ to sayings of the Buddha. Since scholars have taken the time to compile the sayings of Jesus Christ that are identical, and discovered that this Q source document exists, rather than cite the various scriptural references where these sayings can be found (whether canonical or otherwise), we will do as these scholars do: use the label Q to mean the sayings of Jesus as found in various Christian source documents that, because they are found in various sources, must have come from the common Q Gospel. Therefore, the right side of the chart below that lists sayings of Jesus has the heading Q rather than, "Matthew," or "Mark" or "Gospel of Thomas," since these are sayings that can be found in more than one Gospel. The left side of the chart will name the Indian scriptural source (Buddhist or otherwise) where a similar saying can be found. This chart is compiled from the discussion of this matter that can be found in Holger Kersten's book, The Original Jesus: The Buddhist Sources of Christianity, pages 117-167, although we have rearranged some of the verses from the order in which Mr. Kersten covered them. The two principal Indian sources will be the Dhammapada and the Undanavarga. Christians and those familiar with the sayings of Jesus will readily recognize many of them.

Indian Scriptural Source (Buddhist or otherwise)

The Q

Judge not the mistakes of others, neither what they do or leave undone, but judge your own deeds, the just and the unjust (GDh 271-272)

Don't judge and you won't be judged. For the standard you use will be the standard used against you.

No matter what a man does, whether his deeds serve virtue or vice, nothing lacks importance. All actions bear a kind of fruit (Ud 9:8).

A good tree does not bear rotten fruit; a rotten tree does not bear good fruit. Are figs gathered from thorns, or grapes from thistles? Every tree is known by its fruit.

O Vasettha, those Brahmins who know the three Vedas are just like a line of blind men tied together where the first sees nothing, the middle man nothing, and the last sees nothing (Tevijja-Sutta, Dighanikaya, 13:15).

Can the blind lead the blind? Won't they both fall into a pit? A student is not better than his teacher. It is enough for a student to be like his teacher.

People must store up reserves of faith since merits cannot be taken away and no one need fear thieves. Happy are the disciples who have gained faith, and happy is the wise man when he meets such a believer (Ud 10:11)

Sell your possessions and give to charity [alms]. Store up treasure for yourselves in a heavenly account, where moths and rust do not consume, and where thieves cannot break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will also be.

To anyone who leaves behind this world without having recognized his own real world, that is of as little use as the Veda he has not studied or some work he has avoided (Brihad-Aranyaka-Upanishad).

Jesus said: He who would know everything, but fails to know himself misses the knowledge of everything.

One way leads to worldly gain and the other to Nirvana. Let the mendicant monk, the Buddha's pupil, seek wisdom, not worldly honors. (Dh 5:16)

No man can serve two masters. Either he hates the one and loves the other, or he is loyal to one and despises the other. You cannot serve God and wealth [mammon]

Better than reigning supreme over the earth, better than ruling heaven, better than dominating all worlds, is the reward of the sotopatti way (DH 13:12)

For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away.

In this world the wise man holds onto faith and wisdom. Those are his greatest treasures; all other riches he pushes aside (Ud 10:9).

Seek after the treasure which does not perish, which endures in the place where no moth comes near to devour, and no worm ravages.

The blind saw and the deaf could hear...The ill were healed. The hunger and thirst of the deprived were stilled. Drunkenness was taken away from the drunken. The made regained reason. The blind could see again, and the deaf hear (Lalitavistara VII).

Jesus said, 'Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind recover their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead raised, and the poor are given good news.

You fool! Of what use are your long locks? Of what use your clothing of hides? Within yourself darkness is at home. Only outwardly you clean yourself (Ud 33:8)

Of what use is your matted hair, O fool! Of what use your clothes made of animal hides? Within yourself is a jungle, but outwardly you adorn yourself (DH 26:12).

Shame on you Pharisees! For you clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are full of greed and incontinence. Foolish Pharisees! Clean the inside and the outside will also be clean. Shame on you Pharisees! for you love the front seats in the assemblies and greetings in the marketplaces. Shame on you! for you are like graves, outwardly beautiful, but full of pollution inside.

The wise man should renounce the way of darkness and follow the way of light (DH 6:12)

Because of that I say this: Whoever is emptied will be filled with light; but whoever is divided will be filled with darkness.

When a mendicant monk, although still young, yokes himself to the Buddha's teachings, the world is illuminated like the moon freed of clouds (DH 25:23)

He who wishes to follow me must know himself and bear my yoke.

Those who aspire are ever striving; they do not stay in one place. Like swans leaving a lake, they move from house to house. The only source of refuge for those who do not accumulate possessions and are careful about what they eat is unconditional freedom, knowing as they do the void of transience. Their way is difficult to follow like that of birds in the sky. (DH 7:2-3) Whosoever has laid aside human ties, leaving behind the powers of attraction of the gods, free of all bonds, that man I call holy (Ud 33:52).

When someone said to him, 'I will follow you wherever you go,' Jesus answered, 'Foxes have dens, and birds of the sky have nests, but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head.' When another said, 'Let me first go and bury my father,' Jesus said, 'Leave the dead to bury their dead.' Yet Another said, 'I will follow you , sir, but first let me say good-bye to my family.' Jesus said to him, 'No one who puts his hand to the plow and then looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.

(Buddha had withdrawn to a forest hut at Kosala in the Himalayas for solitary reflection.) Then Masra, The Evil One, knew the thought that had arisen in the Enlightened One, so he went to the Buddha: 'O Lord, may the Enlightened One reign as King, may the Perfected One reign with justice, without killing or ordering killings, without being oppressive or serving oppression, without suffering from pain or causing pain to others.' The Buddha answered: "What doest though have in mind, O Evil One, that thou speakest thus with me?' Mara responded: 'The Enlightened One, O Lord, has assumed the fourfold might of miracles. If the Enlightened One so wished, he could command the Himalayas, the king of mountains, to become gold, and the mountain would become gold.' The Buddha turned him away: 'What would it help the wise man to own a mountain of gold or silver? Whosoever has recognized the cause of suffering, how should he succumb to desires?' Then replied Mara, the Evil One: 'The Enlightened One knows me, the Perfected One knows me,' and, grieved and discontented, he went away. (Marasamyutta from the Samyuttanikaya II 10).

Then Jesus was led into the wilderness by the spirit for trial by the accuser. He fasted for forty days and was hungry. The accuser said, "If you are the son of God, tell this stone to become bread.' But Jesus answered, 'It is written, 'No one lives by bread alone.' Then the accuser took him to Jerusalem and placed him at the highest point of the temple and said to him, 'If you are the son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, 'He will command his angels to protect you,' and 'They will carry you with their hands so that your foot will not strike a stone.' But Jesus answered him, 'It is written, 'You shall not put the lord your God to the test.' Then the accuser took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor, and said to him, 'All these I will give you if you will do obeisance and reverence me.' But Jesus answered him, 'It is written, 'You shall reverence the lord your God and serve him alone.' Then the accuser left him.


The Garden Tomb in Jerusalem
Mary again:

I do not know whether or not this is actually the tomb in which Jesus was laid after He was taken down from the cross, but it fits the description given in the Gospels, and for me, it is the actual place because of the profound experience I underwent when I visited for the first time early in 1987 on a Sufi tour.
.I had gone down into the tomb and looked at the space inside where the body lay. The palpable holiness of its aura was overwhelming, and for just an eyeblink I knew exactly where He had lain, because I actually SAW His body lying there, ghost-like and still, pillowed against the putty-colored stone of the tomb - and then the image was gone! .. I described my experience in the following poem that burst out of me in a trance-like state in which I was transported back to the time it happened, exactly as though I had been there - although clearly I had never nursed him as a baby, so the image must have been mixed with my mothering of my own children.
The profundity of the sorrow was real, however, and the ecstatic joy of the discovery of the empty tomb! .The Russian words mean "Christ is risen!"

GARDEN TOMB

They have taken away my Lord!
The muezzin sounds on the sunlit air -
Birds twitter on the soughing branches -
Joseph's kindly presence lingers still
in the garden,

But the tomb is empty, once again.
He is not there!
The heart lurches, contracts,
The pain - the loss - once again
Clutches at the inmost depth of my being.

The great stone has been rolled aside
And the stony cradle lies empty
Where they had laid him
Swaddled in linen as so long ago
When I held him at my breast -

Now so still,
His long, bloodied limbs like clay,
Straightened, tenderly wrapped,
The smooth white brow
Now clotted with dark gouts,
The tender flesh so cruelly pierced -

The joy spreads only gradually -
It comes on the in-breath
As the meaning begins only slowly
To work its perennial alchemy
In the sodden mass of the grieving,
Leavening, raising, lightening the heaviness
and the dark.

Sun warms the golden stone.
The darkness of the doorway beckons,
Draws me in with caught breath
And tiptoeing exultation.
I now can dare to come closer -

Yes! O yes. He is truly gone!
Christos voschriyes! Alleluiah!
Only the shadow of his presence remains
Like a sweet odor
Lingering inside.

The bells in churches beyond the wall
Begin their tumult.
Shafts of golden sunlight
Slant downward through the trees.
It is finished!
It is over!
Deo gratias -
Thanks be to God.

.............................December, 1987.
The creators of this marvelous, tender, scholarly website conclude with the following statement:
Who was Jesus Christ? Was he the son of God, as orthodox Christianity teaches? Was he the Prophet-Messiah sent only to the Israelites, as the Nazarene/Ebionite Christians, and perhaps others, believed? Or was he a religious revolutionary intent upon bringing the Kingdom of God down to earth to the people as a personal experience, as the Gnostic Christians believed? Perhaps by the time you finish your journey through the Tomb of Jesus Christ Website, you will have an answer! I would add: I traveled to Puttaparti a few years ago at Christmastime, and spent two weeks in Baghwan Shree Sai Baba's ashram, among thousands of his devotees. Only a few Westerners seem to know about Baba's life, true power and sway over these thousands of Indians, Europeans and (even) Americans! I had been drawn there by the picture of our Lord below of which I had seen a copy and so, needed to know for myself who Sai Baba truly was. I now believe he is exactly who he says he is, and can do equally exactly what the reports of his magical powers all say he can and does!

.......
Sai Baba in Puttaparti, India, and the image of Jesus he gave a devotee. She had asked if Jesus had looked like the image of the Shroud of Turin. This was his answer.
http://www.tombofjesus.com/index.htm
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Indian Scriptural Source (Buddhist or otherwise)	The Q
Judge not the mistakes of others, neither what they do or leave undone, but judge your own deeds, the just and the unjust (GDh 271-272)	Don't judge and you won't be judged. For the standard you use will be the standard used against you.
No matter what a man does, whether his deeds serve virtue or vice, nothing lacks importance. All actions bear a kind of fruit (Ud 9:8).	A good tree does not bear rotten fruit; a rotten tree does not bear good fruit. Are figs gathered from thorns, or grapes from thistles? Every tree is known by its fruit.
O Vasettha, those Brahmins who know the three Vedas are just like a line of blind men tied together where the first sees nothing, the middle man nothing, and the last sees nothing (Tevijja-Sutta, Dighanikaya, 13:15).	Can the blind lead the blind? Won't they both fall into a pit? A student is not better than his teacher. It is enough for a student to be like his teacher.
People must store up reserves of faith since merits cannot be taken away and no one need fear thieves. Happy are the disciples who have gained faith, and happy is the wise man when he meets such a believer (Ud 10:11)	Sell your possessions and give to charity [alms]. Store up treasure for yourselves in a heavenly account, where moths and rust do not consume, and where thieves cannot break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will also be.
To anyone who leaves behind this world without having recognized his own real world, that is of as little use as the Veda he has not studied or some work he has avoided (Brihad-Aranyaka-Upanishad).	Jesus said: He who would know everything, but fails to know himself misses the knowledge of everything.
One way leads to worldly gain and the other to Nirvana. Let the mendicant monk, the Buddha's pupil, seek wisdom, not worldly honors. (Dh 5:16)	No man can serve two masters. Either he hates the one and loves the other, or he is loyal to one and despises the other. You cannot serve God and wealth [mammon]
Better than reigning supreme over the earth, better than ruling heaven, better than dominating all worlds, is the reward of the sotopatti way (DH 13:12)	For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away.
In this world the wise man holds onto faith and wisdom. Those are his greatest treasures; all other riches he pushes aside (Ud 10:9).	Seek after the treasure which does not perish, which endures in the place where no moth comes near to devour, and no worm ravages.
The blind saw and the deaf could hear...The ill were healed. The hunger and thirst of the deprived were stilled. Drunkenness was taken away from the drunken. The made regained reason. The blind could see again, and the deaf hear (Lalitavistara VII).	Jesus said, 'Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind recover their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead raised, and the poor are given good news.
You fool! Of what use are your long locks? Of what use your clothing of hides? Within yourself darkness is at home. Only outwardly you clean yourself (Ud 33:8) Of what use is your matted hair, O fool! Of what use your clothes made of animal hides? Within yourself is a jungle, but outwardly you adorn yourself (DH 26:12).	Shame on you Pharisees! For you clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are full of greed and incontinence. Foolish Pharisees! Clean the inside and the outside will also be clean. Shame on you Pharisees! for you love the front seats in the assemblies and greetings in the marketplaces. Shame on you! for you are like graves, outwardly beautiful, but full of pollution inside.


The wise man should renounce the way of darkness and follow the way of light (DH 6:12)	Because of that I say this: Whoever is emptied will be filled with light; but whoever is divided will be filled with darkness.
When a mendicant monk, although still young, yokes himself to the Buddha's teachings, the world is illuminated like the moon freed of clouds (DH 25:23)	He who wishes to follow me must know himself and bear my yoke.
Those who aspire are ever striving; they do not stay in one place. Like swans leaving a lake, they move from house to house. The only source of refuge for those who do not accumulate possessions and are careful about what they eat is unconditional freedom, knowing as they do the void of transience. Their way is difficult to follow like that of birds in the sky. (DH 7:2-3) Whosoever has laid aside human ties, leaving behind the powers of attraction of the gods, free of all bonds, that man I call holy (Ud 33:52).	When someone said to him, 'I will follow you wherever you go,' Jesus answered, 'Foxes have dens, and birds of the sky have nests, but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head.' When another said, 'Let me first go and bury my father,' Jesus said, 'Leave the dead to bury their dead.' Yet Another said, 'I will follow you , sir, but first let me say good-bye to my family.' Jesus said to him, 'No one who puts his hand to the plow and then looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.
(Buddha had withdrawn to a forest hut at Kosala in the Himalayas for solitary reflection.) Then Masra, The Evil One, knew the thought that had arisen in the Enlightened One, so he went to the Buddha: 'O Lord, may the Enlightened One reign as King, may the Perfected One reign with justice, without killing or ordering killings, without being oppressive or serving oppression, without suffering from pain or causing pain to others.' The Buddha answered: "What doest though have in mind, O Evil One, that thou speakest thus with me?' Mara responded: 'The Enlightened One, O Lord, has assumed the fourfold might of miracles. If the Enlightened One so wished, he could command the Himalayas, the king of mountains, to become gold, and the mountain would become gold.' The Buddha turned him away: 'What would it help the wise man to own a mountain of gold or silver? Whosoever has recognized the cause of suffering, how should he succumb to desires?' Then replied Mara, the Evil One: 'The Enlightened One knows me, the Perfected One knows me,' and, grieved and discontented, he went away. (Marasamyutta from the Samyuttanikaya II 10).	Then Jesus was led into the wilderness by the spirit for trial by the accuser. He fasted for forty days and was hungry. The accuser said, "If you are the son of God, tell this stone to become bread.' But Jesus answered, 'It is written, 'No one lives by bread alone.' Then the accuser took him to Jerusalem and placed him at the highest point of the temple and said to him, 'If you are the son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, 'He will command his angels to protect you,' and 'They will carry you with their hands so that your foot will not strike a stone.' But Jesus answered him, 'It is written, 'You shall not put the lord your God to the test.' Then the accuser took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor, and said to him, 'All these I will give you if you will do obeisance and reverence me.' But Jesus answered him, 'It is written, 'You shall reverence the lord your God and serve him alone.' Then the accuser left him.