The A-to-Z of Lloyd Suh's JESUS IN INDIA: Part 2

Letters J-O

Jerusalem:

Jesus "Eesa" and Buddhism:

Gruber and Kersten (1995) claim that Buddhism had a substantial influence on the life and teachings of Jesus.  They claim that Jesus was influenced by the teachings and practices of Therapeutae, described by the authors as teachers of the Buddhist Theravada school then living in Judaea. They assert that Jesus lived the life of a Buddhist and taught Buddhist ideals to his disciples; their work follows in the footsteps of the Oxford New Testament scholar Barnett Hillman Streeter, who established as early as the 1930s that the moral teaching of the Buddha has four remarkable resemblances to the Sermon on the Mount."

Some scholars believe that Jesus may have been inspired by the Buddhist religion and that the Gospel of Thomas and many Nag Hammadi texts reflect this possible influence. Books such as The Gnostic Gospels and Beyond Belief: the Secret Gospel of Thomas by Elaine Pagels and The Original Jesus by Gruber and Kersten discuss these theories.

The Buddha Dharma Education Association lists on its Buddhanet.net website a Timeline of Tibetan Buddhist History. According to their historians, Buddhism begins to enter Southern Tibet about 150 years after Jesus' Passion, or c200 C.E. Buddhist scriptures begin to influence Northern Tibet several decades later.

Jewish jokes about parents and children:

A couple are nearing their 50^th wedding anniversary. The husband calls his son in a distant city and tells him that they are getting a divorce. “Don’t do that!” shouts the son. “Do nothing until I get there.” The son then calls his sister in yet another city.  She calls her father.  “Don’t get a divorce!” she cries. “Do nothing until I get there.” The old father hangs up and says to mother, “Well, they didn’t come for Pesach and they didn’t come for Rosh Hashana, but I got them to come for our 50^th anniversary.”

A Jewish kid is sent to a Jewish school by his parents. After two weeks he is kicked out for fighting and laziness. So his parents raise the money and send him to a private school. However, after two weeks he is kicked out for fighting and laziness. Having no choice, the parents send the kid to a public school. However, after just one week he is suspended for fighting, lateness and laziness. His parents feel terrible. What to do, what to do! Finally they decide there is only one thing more they can do. So they enroll him in a Catholic school. Weeks go by and the boy is still in school. In fact, he has good grades and the nuns speak well of him. His parents are amazed. They ask the kid, “How is it you got kicked out of Jewish school, out of private school and out of public school but you don’t get kicked out of Catholic school?”  “You should see,” says the kid,  “what they have hanging on the wall.”

"Papa," little Sammy asks his father. "What is the stockmarket?"

"Oh, Sammy," replies the father, "you are much too small to understand!"

"I am NOT too small!  I want to KNOW, now!" Sammy protested.

"Ach, wait a few years, then you will understand better."

"Papa, I don't want to start life poor, like you, selling second-hand clothes.  So... I want to know!" Sammy insisted.

"Alright,," the father gave in. "It's like this.  You buy two chickens.  The two chickens lay eggs.  So... next year you have thirty chickens.  The thirty chickens, they all lay eggs too.  The chickens lay eggs, the eggs turn into chickens.  So, you end up having thousands of chickens.  You see, my son, THIS is the stockmarket. You understand, Sammy?"

"Yes, Papa."

"And then, one day, the sky opens up biiiggggg.  And it rains, it rains like in the days of Noah!  The floods, they come and they take the chickens with them and wash away all the chickens until they drown and you have only two or three chickens left! You understand?"

"Oh, yes, Papa."

"You see, my son, THIS is the stockmarket.  You should have bought DUCKS!!!"

Why was Moses' Jewish Mother so happy?
She not only had fun in bed, but she made a prophet!

You may have heard the old joke about Shirley, the Jewish mother in NYC, who brought her 6 year old boy to the psychoanalyst, who diagnosed: "Nothing much wrong with your son, just a slight Oedipus complex.

Said Shirley the mom... "Oedipus, schmedipus, the important thing is that he loves his mother."

Three Jewish mothers are sitting on a bench in Brent Cross shopping centre talking about (what else?) how much their sons love them.
Sadie says "You know the Chagall painting hanging in my living room? My son, Arnold, bought that for me for my 75th birthday. What a good boy he is and how much he loves his mother."
Minnie says,"You call that love? You know the Mercedes I just got for Mother's Day? That's from my son Bernie. What a doll."
Shirley says "That's nothing. You know my son Stanley? He's in analysis with a psychoanalyst in Harley Street. Five session a week. And what does he talk about? Me."

A Jewish man calls his mother in Florida. “Mom, and how are you."

" Not too good," says the mother. "I've been very weak."

The son says, "Why are you so weak?"

She says, "Because, I haven't eaten in 38 days."

" Mama," the man says, "that's terrible. Why haven't you eaten in 38 days?"

The mother answers, "Because I didn't want my mouth to be filled with food if you should call."

From: http://www.awordinyoureye.com/

Joseph and Jesus:

 

 

Judea & the Romans:

Judea or Judæa was the name of the mountainous southern part of the historic Land of Israel from the 8th century BCE (Assyrian rule) to the 2nd century CE, when Roman Judea was renamed Syria Palaestina following the Jewish Bar Kokhba revolt.  During the time of Jesus, the Jews began to rise against the Romans with greater frequency.  In 66CE an unsuccessful revolt led the destruction of the second temple in 70CE and the murder or enslavement of the majority of the Jewish population.  70 years later, the Jews made a final attempt to regain power in the province and establish the kingdom of Israel in what became known as the Bar Kokhba revolt; however, it was a devastating failure and marked the true beginning of the Jewish diaspora. 

Khmer:

Khmer people are the predominant ethnic group in Cambodia, accounting for approximately 90% of the 14.8 million people in the country. They speak the Khmer language, which is part of the larger Mon–Khmer language family found throughout Southeast Asia. The majority of the Khmer are followers of the Khmer style of Buddhism, a highly syncretic version which blends elements of Theravada Buddhism, Hinduism, animism and ancestor-spirit worship.  Significant populations of Khmers reside in adjacent areas of Thailand (Northern Khmer) and the Mekong Delta region of neighboring Vietnam (Khmer Krom).

King Herod the Great:

Herod (73-4 BCE) was the pro-Roman king of the small Jewish state in the last decades before the Common Era. He started his career as a general, but the Roman statesman Mark Antony recognized him as the Jewish national leader. During a war against the Parthians, Herod was removed from the scene, but the Roman Senate made him king and gave him soldiers to seize the the throne. As 'friend and ally of the Romans' he was not a truly independent king; however, Rome allowed him a domestic policy of his own. Although Herod tried to respect the pious feeling of his subjects, many of them were not content with his rule, which ended in terror. He was succeeded by his sons. 

Herod was also an exceptional turncoat.  After having allied himself with the losing side of Antony & Cleopatra, he convinced Octavian (later Augustus, the first emperor of Rome) of his ability to transfer allegiance and be a beneficial ally.  Herod won himself more territory in Judea and became the sole Roman power in the region after Antony and Cleopatra’s suicides.

With building projects, the expansion of his territories, the establishment of a sound bureaucracy, and the development of economic resources, he did much for his country, at least on a material level. The standing of his country -foreign and at home- was certainly enhanced. However, many of his projects won him the bitter hatred of the orthodox Jews, who disliked Herod's Greek taste - a taste he showed not only in his building projects, but also in several transgressions of the Mosaic Law.

From: http://www.livius.org/he-hg/herodians/herod_the_great01.html

The Lost Years of Jesus

The lost years of Jesus concerns the undocumented timespan between Jesus's childhood and the beginning of his ministry as recorded in the New Testament.

The gospels have accounts of events surrounding Jesus' birth, and the subsequent flight into Egypt to escape the wrath of Herod (Gospel of Matthew 2:13-23). There is a general reference to the settlement of Joseph and Mary, along with the young Jesus, at Nazareth (Matthew 2:23; Gospel of Luke 2:39-40). There also is that isolated account of Joseph, Mary, and Jesus' visit to the city of Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover, when Jesus was twelve years old (Luke 2:41-50).

Following that episode, there is a blank space in the record that covers eighteen years in the life of Christ (from age 12 to 30). Other than the generic allusion that Jesus advanced in wisdom, stature, and in favor with God and man (Luke 2:52), the Bible gives nothing more about Jesus' life during this time span. A common assumption amongst Christians is that Jesus simply lived in Nazareth during that period, but there are various accounts that present other scenarios, including travels to India.

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_years_of_Jesus

Maps:

Map of Religions by Region

Map of Languages by Region

Map of Jesus' Journey in Jesus in India

Jesus' Possible Journey During the Lost Years

Mary Magdalene:

Mary Magdalene was one of Jesus' most celebrated disciples, and the most important woman disciple in the movement of Jesus. Jesus cleansed her of "seven demons, conventionally interpreted as referring to complex illnesses. She became most prominent during his last days, being present at the cross after the male disciples (excepting John the Beloved) had fled, and at his burial. She was the first person to see Jesus after his Resurrection, according to both John 20 and Mark 16:9.

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Magdalene

Mother Mary:

Mary, commonly referred to as "Saint Mary", "Mother Mary", the "Virgin Mary", the "Blessed Virgin Mary", or "Mary, Mother of God", was a Jewish woman of Nazareth in Galilee. She is identified in the New Testament and in the Quran as the mother of Jesus through divine intervention.

The canonical gospels of Matthew and Luke describe Mary as a virgin. Traditionally, Christians believe that she conceived her son miraculously by the agency of the Holy Spirit. Muslims believe that she conceived by the command of God. This took place when she was already betrothed to Saint Joseph and was awaiting the concluding rite of marriage, the formal home-taking ceremony. She married Joseph and accompanied him to Bethlehem, where Jesus was born. In keeping with Jewish custom, the betrothal would have taken place when she was around 12, and the birth of Jesus about a year later.

The New Testament begins its account of Mary's life with the Annunciation, when the archangel Gabriel appeared to her and announced her divine selection to be mother of Jesus. Church tradition and early non-biblical writings state that her parents were an elderly couple, Saint Joachim and Saint Anne. The Bible records Mary's role in key events of the life of Jesus from his conception to his Ascension. Apocryphal writings tell of her subsequent death and bodily assumption into heaven.

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_Mary

Mathura:

Mathura is a city in the North Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is located approximately 50 km north of Agra, and 145 km south-east of Delhi; about 11 kilometers from the town of Vrindavan and 22 kilometers from Govardhan. It is the administrative centre of Mathura District of Uttar Pradesh. During the ancient period, Mathura was an economic hub, located at the junction of important caravan routes.

Merv:

Merv formerly Achaemenid Satrapy of Margiana, and later Alexandria and Antiochia in Margiana was a major oasis-city in Central Asia, on the historical Silk Road, located near today's Mary in Turkmenistan. Several cities have existed on this site, which is significant for the interchange of culture and politics at a site of major strategic value. It is claimed that Merv was briefly the largest city in the world in the 12th century.

Mongols:

Mung Beans:

Mung beans are commonly used in Chinese cuisine as well as in the cuisines of Burma, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Japan, Korea, Philippines, Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, Indonesia, Vietnam, and other parts of Southeast Asia. The starch of mung beans is also extracted from them to make jellies and "transparent" or "cellophane" noodles. Mung batter is used to make crepes named pesarattu in Andhra Pradesh, India.

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mung_beans

Click here to read PART ONE (Letters A-I)

Click here to read PART THREE (Letters P-Z)