Carpe Diem #1379 Rise of Islam along the Silk Road (final episode February 2018; introductory episode March 2018)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at this (delayed) episode of our beloved Carpe Diem Haiku Kai. As I already told you in an earlier post (yesterday "post delayed") I have decided to combine the last episode of February with the first episode of March. Why? Well in March we will read the Quran together, not as a book of religiosity, but as a book of wisdom. And I can say that the Quran is a wonderful book to read, but there are a lot of similarities with for example The Bible and that "triggered" me to create this special month about the Quran.

As I told you in earlier post last month (February) Islam also was spread along the Silk Road. After Buddhism, Islam beacme the religion of this part of the world. Islam, a very young religion that was "born" in the 7th century CE in Mecca.

Islam along the Silk Road:

The Islamic world was expanded into Central Asia during the 8th century, under the Umayyad Caliphate, while its successor the Abbasid Caliphate put a halt to Chinese westward expansion at the Battle of Talas in 751 (near the Talas River in modern-day Kyrgyzstan). However, following the disastrous An Lushan Rebellion (755–763) and the conquest of the Western Regions by the Tibetan Empire, the Tang Empire was unable to reassert its control over Central Asia. Contemporary Tang authors noted how the dynasty had gone into decline after this point. In 848 the Tang Chinese, led by the commander Zhang Yichao, were only able to reclaim the Hexi Corridor and Dunhuang in Gansu from the Tibetans. The Persian Samanid Empire (819–999) centered in Bukhara (Uzbekistan) continued the trade legacy of the Sogdians. The disruptions of trade were curtailed in that part of the world by the end of the 10th century and conquests of Central Asia by the Turkic Islamic Kara-Khanid Khanate, yet Nestorian Christianity, Zoroastrianism, Manichaeism, and Buddhism in Central Asia virtually disappeared.

During the early 13th century Khwarezmia was invaded by the early Mongol Empire. The Mongol ruler Genghis Khan had the once vibrant cities of Bukhara and Samarkand burned to the ground after besieging them.  However, in 1370 Samarkand saw a revival as the capital of the new Timurid Empire. The Turko-Mongol ruler Timur forcefully moved artisans and intellectuals from across Asia to Samarkand, making it one of the most important trade centers and cultural entrepôts of the Islamic world. (Source: Wikipedia)

Somewhere in Mecca ... birthplace of Islam

Now we know a little bit more about how Islam was spread along the Silk Road and how Islam became the religion of Central Asia.

new born
winter has gone
first crocuses bloom

© Chèvrefeuille

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Here starts our new month of CDHK "No human speech can match". This month, March, we will read the Quran, not as a book of religion, but as a book of wisdom. And sometimes I will tell you a little background and sometimes I only will share a verse from the Quran (or several verses) for your inspiration. In this first episode I love to share a nice quote from the Quran (44:51-56) to inspire you:

[...] "As for the righteous, they will be in a secure place. Amidst gardens and springs. Dressed in silk and brocade, facing one another. So it is, and We will wed them to lovely companions. They will call therein for every kind of fruit, in peace and security. Therein they will not taste death, beyond the first death; and He will protect them from the torment of Hell. A favor from your Lord. That is the supreme salvation" [...] (Source: Quran, English translation by Talal Itani)

As I read this verse (Surah 44: Ayah 51-57) than I immediately had a revelation. In this Ayah I see the Holy City, the New Jersalem as is spoken about in the last book of The Bible, Revelations of John.
Or in that first Ayah "Amidst gardens and springs", those that point also to the New Jersulam or to the Garden of Eden? And what do you think of this idea: "We will wed them", isn't that the same what God said?

Paradise

Another thing that came in mind was the following: In Ayah 56 "Therein they will not taste death, beyond the first death; and He will protect them from the torment of Hell" this can point to the Tibetan idea of Bardo as described in the Tibetan Book of Living and Dying. Or maybe to reincarnation?

As you look at these Ayah in this way than you can almost think that the Quran is created from several other religious books and other ancient knowledge. But I think we have to respect the idea that the Quran was given by God to Muhammed the Prophet.

words of beauty
no human speech can match
the song of birds

© Chèvrefeuille

What a wonderful start this was ... I hope you liked the read as much as I did to create it.

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7:00 PM (CET) and will remain open until March 7th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode later on.

Carpe Diem #1378 Finally ... Enlightenment

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at the penultimate episode of this wonderful month in which we explored the ancient trading route renown as "The Silk Road". We have visited wonderful places and we read a wonderful novel about a young Brahman son, Siddhartha, on a quest for enlightenment. In this penultimate episode we will read the end of this story ... a rich spiritual story in which we can find a lot of wonder and knowledge, or to speak with Siddhartha "finding wisdom".
I have read Siddhartha several times and every time again I read new things, new ideas, new knowledge ... and maybe you have read it with me and have found your revelation, your wisdom, but I am quit certain that you all have enjoyed the read, because Siddhartha's story could have been written for us ... haiku poets.

Cover Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse (Sanskrit)

Finally ... Enlightenment:

[...] "Siddhartha," Govinda spoke, "we have become old men. It is unlikely for one of us to see the other again in this incarnation. I see, beloved, that you have found peace. I confess that I haven't found it. Tell me, oh honorable one, one more word, give me something on my way which I can grasp, which I can understand! Give me something to be with me on my path. It is often hard, my path, often dark, Siddhartha."

Siddhartha said nothing and looked at him with the ever unchanged, quiet smile. Govinda stared at his face, with fear, with yearning, suffering, and the eternal search was visible in his look, eternal not-finding.

Siddhartha saw it and smiled.

"Bend down to me!" he whispered quietly in Govinda's ear. "Bend down to me! Like this, even closer! Very close! Kiss my forehead, Govinda!"

Siddhartha (ill. Chinese Encyclopedia of Buddhism)

But while Govinda with astonishment, and yet drawn by great love and expectation, obeyed his words, bent down closely to him and touched his forehead with his lips, something miraculous happened to him. While his thoughts were still dwelling on Siddhartha's wondrous words, while he was still struggling in vain and with reluctance to think away time, to imagine Nirvana and Sansara as one, while even a certain contempt for the words of his friend was fighting in him against an immense love and veneration, this happened to him:

He no longer saw the face of his friend Siddhartha, instead he saw other faces, many, a long sequence, a flowing river of faces, of hundreds, of thousands, which all came and disappeared, and yet all seemed to be there simultaneously, which all constantly changed and renewed themselves, and which were still all Siddhartha. He saw the face of a fish, a carp, with an infinitely painfully opened mouth, the face of a dying fish, with fading eyes—he saw the face of a new-born child, red and full of wrinkles, distorted from crying—he saw the face of a murderer, he saw him plunging a knife into the body of another person—he saw, in the same second, this criminal in bondage, kneeling and his head being chopped off by the executioner with one blow of his sword—he saw the bodies of men and women, naked in positions and cramps of frenzied love—he saw corpses stretched out, motionless, cold, void— he saw the heads of animals, of boars, of crocodiles, of elephants, of bulls, of birds—he saw gods, saw Krishna, saw Agni—he saw all of these figures and faces in a thousand relationships with one another, each one helping the other, loving it, hating it, destroying it, giving re-birth to it, each one was a will to die, a passionately painful confession of transitoriness, and yet none of them died, each one only transformed, was always re-born, received evermore a new face, without any time having passed between the one and the other face—and all of these figures and faces rested, flowed, generated themselves, floated along and merged with each other, and they were all constantly covered by something thin, without individuality of its own, but yet existing, like a thin glass or ice, like a transparent skin, a shell or mold or mask of water, and this mask was smiling, and this mask was Siddhartha's smiling face, which he, Govinda, in this very same moment touched with his lips. And, Govinda saw it like this, this smile of the mask, this smile of oneness above the flowing forms, this smile of simultaneousness above the thousand births and deaths, this smile of Siddhartha was precisely the same, was precisely of the same kind as the quiet, delicate, impenetrable, perhaps benevolent, perhaps mocking, wise, thousand-fold smile of Gotama, the Buddha, as he had seen it himself with great respect a hundred times. Like this, Govinda knew, the perfected ones are smiling.

Enlightenment

Not knowing any more whether time existed, whether the vision had lasted a second or a hundred years, not knowing any more whether there existed a Siddhartha, a Gotama, a me and a you, feeling in his innermost self as if he had been wounded by a divine arrow, the injury of which tasted sweet, being enchanted and dissolved in his innermost self, Govinda still stood for a little while bent over Siddhartha's quiet face, which he had just kissed, which had just been the scene of all manifestations, all transformations, all existence. The face was unchanged, after under its surface the depth of the thousandfoldness had closed up again, he smiled silently, smiled quietly and softly, perhaps very benevolently, perhaps very mockingly, precisely as he used to smile, the exalted one.

Deeply, Govinda bowed; tears he knew nothing of, ran down his old face; like a fire burnt the feeling of the most intimate love, the humblest veneration in his heart. Deeply, he bowed, touching the ground, before him who was sitting motionlessly, whose smile reminded him of everything he had ever loved in his life, what had ever been valuable and holy to him in his life."[...](Source: Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse)

And so ends the story of Siddhartha, finally the young Brahman son has found the goal of his quest ... becoming an enlightened being full of wisdom of all ages, full of the universe, full of love for all and everything on the globe.

Isn't that what we all strive for in this life? Isn't that what we strive for as haiku poets? Being one with all and everything, not only being the poet, but also the reader ... That makes our haiku (or tanka or other Japanese poetry form) awesome ... and full of spirituality and love for nature ... being one!

smiling
everlasting
enlightened

© Chèvrefeuille

I hope you did like this episode. I for sure did ... All parts of Siddhartha I have used this month were taken from the Gutenberg project.

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7:00 PM (CET) and will remain open until March 5th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our last episode, in a way an introductory episode to our next month, later on. For now ... have fun!

Carpe Diem #1377 Buddhism ... found its way along the Silk Road

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

I hope you all have had a wonderful weekend. I can say that my weekend was a weekend of illness, because the flue caught me, but I recovered fast from it. It's not completely gone, but it doesn't make me feel miserable anymore.

This episode I love to tell you a little bit more about "how Buddhism was spread along the Silk Road". I have written about it in a few of the earlier episodes here , but in this episode (wit a little bit help of Wikipedia) I love to tell you a little bit more about it.

By the way that's also the reason why I tried to read Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse together with you. Siddhartha is a wonderful Indian story in which we read how a young Brahman son, Siddhartha, goes on his way to find enlightenment. We already read about his encounter with the Buddha, but we also read about his encounter with the river ... or in other word the "religion" of the ferryman. About that last piece of Siddhartha's journey to enlightenment I will create an episode later this week. And our last episode of this month will be about "how Islam found its way along the Silk Road". That last episode will also be a kind of "pre-scripture" to our new CDHK month.

Buddhism ... found its way along the Silk Road:

The transmission of Buddhism to China via the Silk Road began in the 1st century CE, according to a semi-legendary account of an ambassador sent to the West by the Chinese Emperor Ming (58–75). During this period Buddhism began to spread throughout Southeast, East, and Central Asia. Mahayana, Theravada, and Tibetan Buddhism are the three primary forms of Buddhism that spread across Asia via the Silk Road.

The Buddhist movement was the first large-scale missionary movement in the history of world religions. Chinese missionaries were able to assimilate Buddhism, to an extent, to native Chinese Daoists, which would bring the two beliefs together. Buddha's community of followers, the Sangha, consisted of male and female monks and laity. These people moved through India and beyond to spread the ideas of Buddha. As the number of members within the Sangha increased, it became costly so that only the larger cities were able to afford having the Buddha and his disciples visit. It is believed that under the control of the Kushans, Buddhism was spread to China and other parts of Asia from the middle of the first century to the middle of the third century. Extensive contacts started in the 2nd century, probably as a consequence of the expansion of the Kushan empire into the Chinese territory of the Tarim Basin, due to the missionary efforts of a great number of Buddhist monks to Chinese lands. The first missionaries and translators of Buddhists scriptures into Chinese were either Parthian, Kushan, Sogdian, or Kuchean.

Statue of Buddha giving a sermon

One result of the spread of Buddhism along the Silk Road was displacement and conflict. The Greek Seleucids were exiled to Iran and Central Asia because of a new Iranian dynasty called the Parthians at the beginning of the 2nd century BCE, and as a result the Parthians became the new middle men for trade in a period when the Romans were major customers for silk. Parthian scholars were involved in one of the first ever Buddhist text translations into the Chinese language. Its main trade centre on the Silk Road, the city of Merv, in due course and with the coming of age of Buddhism in China, became a major Buddhist centre by the middle of the 2nd century. Knowledge among people on the silk roads also increased when Emperor Ashoka of the Maurya dynasty (268–239 BCE) converted to Buddhism and raised the religion to official status in his northern Indian empire.

From the 4th century CE onward, Chinese pilgrims also started to travel on the Silk Road to India to get improved access to the original Buddhist scriptures, with Fa-hsien's pilgrimage to India, and later Xuanzang (629–644) and Hyecho, who traveled from Korea to India. The travels of the priest Xuanzang were fictionalized in the 16th century in a fantasy adventure novel called Journey to the West, which told of trials with demons and the aid given by various disciples on the journey.

Journey to the West (illustrated)

There were many different schools of Buddhism travelling on the Silk Road. The Dharmaguptakas and the Sarvastivadins were two of the major Nikaya schools. These were both eventually displaced by the Mahayana, also known as "Great Vehicle". This movement of Buddhism first gained influence in the Khotan region. The Mahayana, which was more of a "pan-Buddhist movement" than a school of Buddhism, appears to have begun in northwestern India or Central Asia. It formed during the 1st century BCE and was small at first, and the origins of this "Greater Vehicle" are not fully clear. Some Mahayana scripts were found in northern Pakistan, but the main texts are still believed to have been composed in Central Asia along the Silk Road. These different schools and movements of Buddhism were a result of the diverse and complex influences and beliefs on the Silk Road. With the rise of Mahayana Buddhism, the initial direction of Buddhist development changed. This form of Buddhism highlighted, as stated by Xinru Liu, "the elusiveness of physical reality, including material wealth." It also stressed getting rid of material desire to a certain point; this was often difficult for followers to understand.

During the 5th and 6th centuries CE, merchants played a large role in the spread of religion, in particular Buddhism. Merchants found the moral and ethical teachings of Buddhism to be an appealing alternative to previous religions. As a result, merchants supported Buddhist monasteries along the Silk Road, and in return the Buddhists gave the merchants somewhere to stay as they traveled from city to city. As a result, merchants spread Buddhism to foreign encounters as they traveled. Merchants also helped to establish diaspora within the communities they encountered, and over time their cultures became based on Buddhism. As a result, these communities became centers of literacy and culture with well-organized marketplaces, lodging, and storage. The voluntary conversion of Chinese ruling elites helped the spread of Buddhism in East Asia and led Buddhism to become widespread in Chinese society. The Silk Road transmission of Buddhism essentially ended around the 7th century with the rise of Islam in Central Asia.

Buddha-Day

Isn't it an awesome story ... Buddhism found its way along the Silk Road and became a worldwide religion. In this tradition several centuries later haiku emerged as a poem inspired on nature with a touch of Zen Buddhism ... does that mean that we, haijin, are in a way Buddhists, maybe that's our deeper source for our haiku ...

merchants trade
not only beautiful goods
believes too

© Chèvrefeuille

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7:00 PM (CET) and will remain open until March 4th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode later on.

Carpe Diem #1374 The Levant

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

First I have to apologize for being this late with publishing our new episode of our journey along the Ancient Silk Road, that renown trade route straight through Asia. As I was doing my research for our yesterday's post I ran into what is known as The Levant. As I read that name I thought it was a kind of warm wind, but it turned out that it was a region in Asia. I was immediately triggered, because I think there are many around that have the same idea about The Levant. So here it is our new episode about The Levant and I hope it will be an interesting episode.

The Levant ... Land of the Morninglight

The Levant is a term in geography that refers to an area in the Middle East which includes the historic areas of Palestine, Israel and Syria. The Levant is bounded by the Taurus Mountains to the north, the Mediterranean Sea to the west, the northern Arabian Desert to the south and Upper Mesopotamia to the east.
The word "Levant" entered the English language in the 16th century, together with the first English merchant adventurers in the region. English ships appeared in the Mediterranean in the 1570s and the English merchant company signed its agreement ("capitulations") with the Grand Turk in 1579.
Today, the word "Levant" is usually used by archaeologists and historians who are talking about the prehistory and the ancient and medieval history of the region, as when discussing the Crusades. The term is also used sometimes to refer to modern or contemporary events, peoples, states, or parts of states in the same region, such as Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and the Palestinian territories.

The Levant has been described as the "crossroads of western Asia, the eastern Mediterranean, and northeast Africa", and the "northwest of the Arabian plate".The populations of the Levant share not only the geographic position, but cuisine, some customs , and a very long history. They are often referred to as Levantines.

The Levant has a rich history

In this "crossroads"- idea we can see that The Levant was part of the Silk Road, so this region was rich and their main goal was trading. The Levant is also a region in which we see Islam as a leading religion. So maybe ... Islam came along the Silk Road too as did Buddhism and Christianity.
What an awesome idea that these religions were spread along the Silk Road ... as a kind of trading ideas and philosophies.

ancient crossroads
buried beneath the desert
raging sandstorms

© Chèvrefeuille

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until February 27th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode, Petra, later on. For now .... have fun!

Carpe Diem #1368 Trading Along The Silk Road

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

We are on a journey along the Silk Road, a renown trading route once established by the Han Dynasty. We have visited several beautiful places along the Northern Silk Road around the Taklamekan Desert, but what was traded along this ancient trade route? That's what we are reading about in this episode.

What was traded along the ancient Silk Road?

Besides silk, the Chinese also exported (sold) teas, salt, sugar, porcelain, and spices. Most of what was traded was expensive luxury goods. This was because it was a long trip and merchants didn't have a lot of room for goods. They imported, or bought, goods like cotton, ivory, wool, gold, and silver.

Goods that were traded along the silk road

The goods carried on the Silk Road moved basically from the East to the West. Judging by the road’s name silk was the main commodity in the list. Thanks to its light weight, compactness, enormous demand and high price it was ideal for trade and long-distance transportation.

At the initial stage of the Silk Road development Chinese received expensive horses and the seeds of lucerne and grapes. The ancient world had cultivated grapevine and made wines from time immemorial. But for Chinese, separated from other civilizations, grapes were a novelty. Moreover, Chinese envoys were very surprised when they found that it was possible to make wine not only from rice but also from berries unknown to them. Later Chinese discovered for themselves other agricultural crops – string beans, onions, cucumbers, carrots, pomegranates, figs etc.

Various woolen goods, carpets, curtains, blankets and rugs, came to China from Central Asia and East Mediterranean. They made huge impression upon Chinese who were unfamiliar with methods wool and flax processing, carpet manufacture and weaving. Highly appreciated in Ancient China were Parthian tapestries and carpets.

Spices

Central Asia exported camels which were very appreciated in China, military equipment, gold and silver, semi-precious stones and glass items. Samarkand made glass was especially valued due to its high quality. It was considered as luxury goods. Other goods were skins, wool, cotton fabrics, gold embroidery, exotic fruits – water-melons, melons and peaches; fat-tailed sheep and hunting dogs, leopards and lions.

From China caravans carried the well-known Chinese china – snow-white vases, bowls, glasses, and dishes with graceful patterns. Only Chinese owned the secret of making the thinnest and resonant porcelain, therefore, it was very expensive in European markets. Bronze ornaments and other products from this metal, ornate bronze mirrors, umbrellas, products from the well-known Chinese varnish, medicines, and perfumery were also popular. Chinese paper, one of the most remarkable inventions of Chinese technical genius, was highly appreciated too. Gold, skins and many other things were exported as well. Merchants also carried tea and rice, woolen and flax fabrics, corals, amber and asbestos. The sacks of merchants were filled with ivory, rhino horns, turtle shells, spices, ceramic and iron items, glaze and cinnamon, ginger, bronze weapons and mirrors.

Chinese porcelain

India was famous for its fabrics, spices and semi-precious stones, dyes, and ivory. Iran – for its silver products. Rome received spices, fragrances, jewels, ivory, and sugar and sent European pictures and luxury goods.

Eastern Europe imported rice, cotton, woolen and silk fabrics from Central Asia and exported considerable volumes of skins, furs, fur animals, bark for skin processing, cattle and slaves to Khoresm. Northern Europe was the source of furs, skins, honey and slaves.

Slaves ... I hadn't thought about that "dark history" of  Europe, and they were sold along the Silk Road. That wonderful trading route that has to bring us inspiration this month has that dark side too and that brings me ... to another kind of Silk Road. That Silk Road you can find on the Dark Web or the Deep Web.

dark times relived
global discussion about racism
silk road reopened

© Chèvrefeuille

Maybe a (to) strong response on this episode, so I have ran through my archives to find a few other verses I created:

spices

along the silk road
perfume of thousand spices
overwhelms me
colorful silken clothes displayed
thin like Chinese porcelain

© Chèvrefeuille

Hm ... I like this tanka, created impromptu, I couldn't find a nice verse in my archives.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until February 19th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode later on. For now ... have fun!

Carpe Diem #1362 Gansu (Northern route)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

I hope you all have had a wonderful weekend and that you all will have new energy for a new week full of the beauty of the ancient Silk Road. This month we are on a journey "Along The Silk Road" and especially we are following the Northern and Southern Route. That means we especially are following the "Silk Road" through China and "around" the Taklamakan Desert. While we are on this journey we are reading a wonderful "esoteric" novel written by Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha, in which we are following a young Brahman son who is on a journey to find himself, his inner peace, to become enlightened. Why are we reading this novel? Well Buddhism entered China along the "Silk Road", so Siddhartha is a nice novel to read while on our journey.

Samanas in the forests

[...] " The first light of day shone into the room. The Brahman saw that Siddhartha was trembling softly in his knees. In Siddhartha's face he saw no trembling, his eyes were fixed on a distant spot. Then his father realized that even now Siddhartha no longer dwelt with him in his home, that he had already left him.
The Father touched Siddhartha's shoulder. "You will," he spoke, "go into the forest and be a Samana. When you'll have found blissfulness in the forest, then come back and teach me to be blissful. If you'll find disappointment, then return and let us once again make offerings to the gods together. Go now and kiss your mother, tell her where you are going to. But for me it is time to go to the river and to perform the first ablution."
He took his hand from the shoulder of his son and went outside. Siddhartha wavered to the side, as he tried to walk. He put his limbs back under control, bowed to his father, and went to his mother to do as his father had said." [...] (Source: Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse)

And so started Siddhartha's journey ... his first step was going to his father to ask his permission to leave his home to become a Samana.
For us there is no need to ask permission to leave the home for our journey along the Silk Road, but we are on our way. Today we arrive at Gansu. Let me tell you a little bit about Gansu in the time of the Silk Road.

Panorama shot Daxia River Valley

In imperial times, Gansu was an important strategic outpost and communications link for the Chinese empire, as the Hexi Corridor runs along the "neck" of the province. Hexi Corridor or Gansu Corridor refers to the historical route in Gansu province of China. As part of the Northern Silk Road running northwest from the bank of the Yellow River, it was the most important route from North China to the Tarim Basin and Central Asia for traders and the military. The corridor is a string of oases along the northern edge of the Tibetan Plateau. To the south is the high and desolate Tibetan Plateau and to the north, the Gobi Desert and the grasslands of Outer Mongolia. At the west end the route splits in three, going either north of the Tian Shan or south on either side of the Tarim Basin. At the east end are mountains around Lanzhou before one reaches the Wei River valley and China proper.

Hexi Corridor

  The Han dynasty extended the Great Wall across this corridor, building the strategic Yumenguan (Jade Gate Pass, near Dunhuang) and Yangguan fort towns along it. Remains of the wall and the towns can be found there. The Ming dynasty built the Jiayuguan outpost in Gansu. To the west of Yumenguan and the Qilian Mountains, at the northwestern end of the province, the Yuezhi, Wusun, and other nomadic tribes dwelt, occasionally figuring in regional imperial Chinese geopolitics.
By the Qingshui treaty, concluded in 823 between the Tibetan Empire and the Tang dynasty, China lost much of western Gansu province for a significant period.
After the fall of the Uyghur Empire, an Uyghur state was established in parts of Gansu that lasted from 848 to 1036 AD. During that time, many of Gansu's residents were converted to Islam.
Along the Silk Road, Gansu was an economically important province, as well as a cultural transmission path. Temples and Buddhist grottoes such as those at Mogao Caves ('Caves of the Thousand Buddhas') and Maijishan Caves contain artistically and historically revealing murals.

Magoa Caves (Caves of the Thousand Buddhas)

Buddhism entered China along the Silk Road. Some say Buddhism came to China by the maritime route, but after scientific researches by several scientists, the over all conclusion was that Buddhism came along the Silk Road.

Did Samanas live along the Silk Road? Maybe at the places were traders stopped, the caravanserais, but I don't know that for sure. Could it be that Siddhartha was along the Silk Road while he was with the Samanas. Personally I think that wasn't possible, but in Siddhartha's later journey we will see a connection with the Silk Road. 

above the valley
hidden in his cave
Buddha meditates
without listening to the traders
beneath his feet

© Chèvrefeuille

Pff ... that wasn't easy. It was for sure not an easy task to create a haiku or tanka inspired on this episode, but I think my tanka fits the episode in a way.

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7:00 PM (CET) and will remain open until February 11th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode, Taklamakan Desert (Northern route), later on. For now .... Be inspired

Carpe Diem #1361 Chang'an (Northern Route)

[...] "After the usual time of the exercise in meditation had passed, Govinda rose. The evening had come, it was time to perform the evening's ablution. He called Siddhartha's name. Siddhartha did not answer. Siddhartha sat there lost in thought, his eyes were rigidly focused towards a very distant target, the tip of his tongue was protruding a little between the teeth, he seemed not to breathe. Thus sat he, wrapped up in contemplation, thinking Om, his soul sent after the Brahman as an arrow." [...]
(Source: Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

After doing my morning excercise, the greeting of the sun, a yoga-salutation, I decided to create this new episode. After my meditation I thought that we are going to follow the Chinese "Silk Road" around the "Taklamakan Desert". The Chinese had a "northern route" and a "southern route" and those "trails" we will follow the upcoming days. We will visit places along those "trails" and I hope to tell you something about those places. Today we will start at Chang'an (nowadays Xi'an) for our first halting place (or caravanserai).

the first day
after salutating the early morning light
birds point the way

© Chèvrefeuille

The northern route started at Chang'an (now called Xi'an), an ancient capital of China that was moved further east during the Later Han to Luoyang. The route was defined around the 1st century BCE when Han Wudi put an end to harassment by nomadic tribes.

The northern route travelled northwest through the Chinese province of Gansu from Shaanxi Province and split into three further routes, two of them following the mountain ranges to the north and south of the Taklamakan Desert to rejoin at Kashgar, and the other going north of the Tian Shan mountains through Turpan, Talgar, and Almaty (in what is now southeast Kazakhstan). The routes split again west of Kashgar, with a southern branch heading down the Alai Valley towards Termez (in modern Uzbekistan) and Balkh (Afghanistan), while the other travelled through Kokand in the Fergana Valley (in present-day eastern Uzbekistan) and then west across the Karakum Desert. Both routes joined the main southern route before reaching ancient Merv, Turkmenistan. Another branch of the northern route turned northwest past the Aral Sea and north of the Caspian Sea, then and on to the Black Sea.

Chang'an Great Wild Goose Pagoda

Along this part of the Silk Road many goods were brought to China for example, dates, saffron powder, sandelwood, glass bottles and myrrh. In return the Chinese brought porcelain and silk brocade back along the Silk Road to the countries of origine of the trading goods as there were India and Persia.

In a way you can see this whole structure of trading trails as the Internet nowadays. Maybe you can say that the Internet is our modern Silk Road, but that's not always very clear, because there has been a time (and maybe it's still so) that the "modern silk road" was used for trading / smuggling drugs and weapons. That kind of "modern silk road" doesn't exist anymore on the easy to "travel" Internet as we use daily. That "modern silk road" is now hidden on the so called "deep web" or "dark web", the criminal part of the Internet. That part of the Internet I am not familiar with and I hope to stay far from that part this month.

Let me tell you a little bit more about Chang'an:

Chang'an was an ancient capital of more than ten dynasties in Chinese history, today known as Xi'an. Chang'an means "Perpetual Peace" in Classical Chinese since it was a capital that was repeatedly used by new Chinese rulers. During the short-lived Xin dynasty, the city was renamed "Constant Peace"; yet after its fall in AD 23, the old name was restored. By the time of the Ming dynasty, a new walled city named Xi'an, meaning "Western Peace", was built at the Sui and Tang Dynasty city's site, which has remained its name to the present day.

Chang'an had been settled since Neolithic times, during which the Yangshao Culture was established in Banpo in the city's suburb. Also in the northern vicinity of the modern Xi'an, Qin Shi Huang of the Qin dynasty held his imperial court, and constructed his massive mausoleum guarded by the famed Terracotta Army.

The Terracotta Army (wikimedia-image)

From its capital at Xianyang, the Qin dynasty ruled a larger area than either of the preceding dynasties. The imperial city of Chang'an during the Han dynasty was located northwest of today's Xi'an. During the Tang dynasty, the area to be known as Chang'an included the area inside the Ming Xi'an fortification, plus some small areas to its east and west, and a major part of its southern suburbs. The Tang Chang'an hence, was 8 times the size of the Ming Xi'an, which was reconstructed upon the premise of the former imperial quarter of the Sui and Tang city. During its heyday, Chang'an was one of the largest and most populous cities in the world. Around AD 750, Chang'an was called a "million people's city".

The Han dynasty, as metioned above, is also the "founder" of the "Silk Road". They created it to open the Chinese borders to the outside world for trading purposes ... Without the establishing of the Silk Road by the Han dynasty, there wouldn't be a "Silk Road".

entering the city
the sweet perfume of spices
mouth watering

© Chèvrefeuille

Nature around Chang'an (painting by unknown Chinese painter)

high above the silk road
pine woods stretch against the mountains
breath taking

© Chèvrefeuille

A wonderful start of this journey Along The Silk Road I think ... I hope I have inspired you to create Japanese poetry and of course hope to see you again tomorrow. For now ... have a nice day full of inspiration.

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7:00 PM (CET) and will remain open until February 8th at noon (CET). I will try to publish oiur new episode, a new weekend meditation, later on.