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A while ago I got a Walimex Pro 8 mm Fisheye lens. Today I took it for a few test shots with my Canon 60D.
The framework of a power pole is one of them.
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Camera: Canon EOS 60D
Focal Length: 8mm Fish-Eye
1/80 sec
ISO: 400
press "L" for the best view
Among the many impacts erosion has on coastal ecosystems are the destruction of soil surface layers, leading to groundwater pollution and to reduction of water resources; degradation of dunes, leading to desertification; reduction of biological diversity; adverse effects on beach dynamics; reduction of sedimentary resources; and disappearance of the sandy littoral lanes that protect agricultural land from the intrusion of seawater, resulting in soil and groundwater salinisation (EEA and UNEP 2006).
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Sketchnote of a really nice study of using a novel metal-organic framework (MOF) to separate acetylene from ethylene. This is typically an energy-intensive process by conventional methods but MOFs offer a new means to do this separation better. This research was published in Science.
Disclaimer: Occasional errors in the content of these notes are mine and may be due to an error I made understanding the paper. Such errors do not reflect the intent of the author(s).
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Evening light coming through the window pane of my room prompted me to take this shot.
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The total population of the Mediterranean countries grew from 276 million in 1970 to 412 million in 2000 (a 1,35% increase per year) and to 466 million in 2010. The population is predicted to reach 529 million by 2025. Four countries account for about 60% of the total population: Turkey (81 million), Egypt (72 million), France (62 million), and Italy (60 million) (Plan Bleu computations based on UNDESA 2011). Overall, more than half the population lives in countries on the southern shores of the Mediterranean, and this proportion is expected to grow to three quarters by 2025 (UNEP/MAP/MED POL 2005). The Mediterranean region’s population is concentrated near the coasts. More than a third live in coastal administrative entities totaling less than 12% of the surface area of the Mediterranean countries. The population of the coastal regions grew from 95 million in 1979 to 143 million in 2000. It could reach 174 million by 2025 (UN/MAP/BP/RAC 2005). The concentration of population in coastal zones is heaviest in the western Mediterranean, the western shore of the Adriatic Sea, the eastern shore of the Aegean-Levantine region, and the Nile Delta. Overall, the concentration of population in the coastal zone is higher in the southern Mediterranean countries. This is also where the variability of the population density in the coastal zone is highest, ranging from more than 1000 people/km2 in the Nile Delta to fewer than 20 people/km2 along parts of coastal Libya.
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Freightliners 66613 heads north out of Wellingborough, whilst passing the recently instated frameworks for OHL, this shot is looking south at Isham (where Harrowden Junction is in the far distance) whilst working to Hope, Earles Sidings on an overcast summer afternoon
The Hastings Jack-in-the-Green festival was revived by local group Mad Jacks Morris Dancers in 1983 and is now one of the biggest annual gatherings of Morris Dancers in the country. The Jack is “released” every year and is central to the festival. The main procession of the Jack takes place on the May Bank Holiday Monday through the streets of Hastings Old Town, starting from the Fisherman's Museum. The Jack is accompanied by Mad Jacks Morris, the Green Bogies, dancers, giants, musicians and various others. The procession ends on the West Hill where Jack is "slain" to "release the spirit of summer"
A Jack in the Green (also Jack in the green, Jack-in-the-green, Jack i' the Green, Jack o' the Green, etc.) is a participant in traditional English May Day parades and other May celebrations, who wears a large, foliage-covered, garland-like framework, usually pyramidal or conical in shape, which covers his body from head to foot. The name is also applied to the garland itself.
May 1st has long been an important part of the annual Calendar. It is the start of summer in these latitudes and as such has always been a day for celebration: the Celts celebrated May Day as Beltane; The Romans dedicated the day to the Goddess Flora and would go to the woods to cut a tree and decorate it with ribbons and flowers, this is the origin of the May Pole. In the 16th and 17th centuries in England people would make garlands of flowers and leaves for the May Day celebration, they became increasingly elaborate. Works Guilds would try to outdo each other, in the late 18th century this became a matter for competition, milkmaids in London carried garlands on their heads with silver objects on them, but the crown had to go to the chimney sweeps. Their garland was so big it covered the entire man. It became known as Jack in the Green.
In Hastings there were at least two groups who paraded a Jack in the Green until about 1889. By the turn of the century the custom was seen no more. The reasons were twofold: the Act which stopped boys climbing chimneys had been passed and these had been the main performers; secondly the Victorians had a different attitude to such customs, the prettification of customs took place, no more the giant maypoles with drunken and promiscuous behaviour, replaced by small poles imported from Germany with happy skipping children around them. The Lord and Lady of the May with their practical joking were replaced by a pretty May Queen. Certainly there was no place for the drunken noisy Jack in the Green.
The custom was revived in Hastings by Mad Jacks Morris Dancers in 1983. We do not say we are following exactly what happened, this is a custom for now, not a fossil. Jack is returned, he is not the property of a small group of dancers, but belongs to us all. Long may he dance!
Further information about the Jack in the Green in Hastings can be obtained by reading the excellent booklet "The Hastings Jack in the Green" written by Keith Leech. Keith, a long time member of Mad Jacks Morris was instrumental in reviving the tradition in Hastings and is a usually seen dressed as a "bogie" or green man, one of Jacks' attendants, during the procession on the May Bank Holiday.
Grand Canyon National Park Historic District: South Rim. The El Tovar Hotel was once described as “the most expensively constructed and appointed log house in America.” The Santa Fe Railroad commissioned its construction in 1902. Charles Whittlesey, a Chicago architect, styled it as a cross between a Swiss chalet and a Norway villa. It is built on concrete and rubble masonry with a wood frame structure hewn of Oregon pine. The first floor has log slabbed siding with corners carefully notched to give it the appearance of solid logs. The interior is supported by a peeled log framework topped with decorative corbels throughout the mezzanine. Originally it was to be named “Bright Angel Tavern.” By the time it was completed on January 14, 1905 it had been renamed El Tovar in honor of Pedro de Tovar, of the Coronado Expedition. The El Tovar cost $250,000 to construct and was considered by many to be the most elegant hotel west of the Mississippi. Electric lights were powered by the hotel’s own coal-fired generator. It had its own greenhouse for fresh fruits and vegetables. A chicken house supplied fresh eggs for hotel guests. Even fresh milk was supplied by its own dairy herd. Inside the El Tovar was a barbershop, solarium, amusement room, club room, large dining room, art, and music rooms. The dining room had large picture windows overlooking the canyon. The porch on the north side probably dates back to the 1950’s when the dining room was enlarged and the cocktail lounge was added. NPS Photo by Michael Quinn. To plan a visit to Grand Canyon National Park: www.nps.gov/grca/index.htm
Leadership framework presented May 2011 by Jim Fisher, Vice-Dean and professor at the Joseph L. Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto.
Or Dover Marine.
Or even Dover Admiralty Pier station.
It has been all of them. But is now Dover Cruise Terminal.
We got news from a friend, Paul, that the station was open on Good Friday, so we went down just after it opened. There were massive queues leading to the Western Docks, and all along Townwall Street leading to the port, was blacked with stationary traffic. A little bit of heading through Market Square, and hoping that the police had kept the roundabout open at the end of York Street, they had, so we were clear to head to the old station.
Although the tracks have been filled in with concrete, the rest of the station is pretty complete and in good order, especially after a major refurbishment last year.
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This was a large, spacious, and impressive station, located within a maze of lines upon a tight triangular junction between the routes from Folkestone and Dover Priory. The origins of the terminus and general railway expansion in the Dover area derive from a need to cope with ever-increasing traffic, both local and boat services. Indeed, many capacity issues upon both SER and LC&DR networks were properly addressed after the formation of the SE&CR. The SER had initially commenced through running to Dover on 7th February 1844, after an eastward extension from Folkestone, which involved taking the railway along the dramatic coastline of Folkestone Warren. This had witnessed the blowing up of sections of chalk cliff with gunpowder, and boring three tunnels:
Martello Tunnel: 532-yards
Abbotscliff Tunnel: 1,942-yards
Shakespeare Tunnel: 1,387-yards
The SER ran into what later became known as ‘’Dover Town’’ station, and between here and Shakespeare Tunnel, the double-track line was elevated upon a wooden framework. The SER’s Town station was a large affair, comprising five tracks entering the terminus from the west, all of which were protected by a large twin-span overall roof. Substantial three-storey-high railway offices backed onto the rear of the platform lines, these being constituted of the customary yellow brick, lined at the edges with stone. Extension beyond the terminus took place in 1860, by means of a single track exiting the rear (east) of the layout, veering southwards onto a stone-built pier head. The latter, known as the ‘’Admiralty Pier’’, carried a double-track and allowed trains to come directly alongside steamer boat services to France. In July of the following year, the LC&DR commenced through running between Victoria and Dover Priory. Also in 1861, after the boring of a 684-yard-long tunnel southwards through the Kentish chalk, from Priory station, the ‘’Chatham’’ line was brought closer to the earlier SER station. The LC&DR opened ‘’Dover Harbour’’ on 1st November 1861, which was a terminus affair comprising two platform faces, separated by three tracks, all of which were protected by a single-span triangular-shaped trainshed. Just like the SER’s Town station, Dover Harbour ceased to be a terminus proper when a single-track was taken beyond the original buffer stops, down to the Admiralty Pier. LC&DR services commenced to the pier on 30th August 1864, where separate platforms were provide for both ‘’Chatham’’ and SER companies. The platforms were arranged in an end-to-end fashion along the same section of track, rather than serving their own separate lines upon the pier. The LC&DR’s southward extension from Dover Harbour formed the second side of what would later become a triangular junction – the SER had created the first southern side of the arrangement, as a result of its initial 1860 opening of the short section of line between Dover Town and Admiralty Pier.
On 15th June 1881, the SER and LC&DR opened the ''Dover & Deal Joint Line'' – a rare example of the frenetic rivals cooperating. To allow the SER direct access to this line from its trunk route via Folkestone, a double-track spur (the ‘’Hawkesbury Street Curve’’) between Dover Harbour station and the Dover Town approaches came into use on the same day – the triangular junction was now complete. The SER was granted running powers over LC&DR metals through Priory station, and a number of local services now bypassed Dover Town. However, to compensate for this, additional platform surfaces were brought into use upon the connecting spur. The area in-between the two sites was already heavily built up, but early maps suggest that demolition in the locale, to accommodate the spur, was surprisingly modest. At the ‘’Chatham’’ end of the spur, signalling was installed by contractors Stevens & Sons.
The formation of the SE&CR Joint Managing Committee on New Years Day 1899 marked the beginning of a new era of railway expansion and improvements on the erstwhile independent networks of the SER and LC&DR. Of prominence during this company’s tenure was the St Johns to Orpington quadrupling works, between 1900 and 1905, which involved physically connecting both Tonbridge Cut-Off and ‘’Chatham’’ main lines in the vicinity of Chislehurst. In the Dover area, alterations began with the closure of the platforms upon the connecting spur between SER and LC&DR lines, in 1903. Subsequently, in 1912, major works began alongside the Admiralty Pier, to create an artificial platform within the water, on which a whole new terminus station was to be built. The latter was to be a spacious affair, dedicated to boat traffic only, and would permit the closure of existing station sites. Creating the platform involved dumping large quantities of chalk into the water immediately east of the Admiralty Pier. As it later transpired, the Admiralty Pier was not demolished, but rather, was absorbed into the new works to become the western side of the sea platform. Construction of the terminus commenced in 1913, and by the outbreak of the Great War in August 1914, the majority of the building work had been completed. A splendid vaulted train shed roof, comprising seven spans of varying widths, had been erected. The station measured 170-feet in width, and at its longest point stretched to 800-feet. The well-covered terminus comprised four 693-foot-long platform faces, arranged in the form of two spacious islands of concrete construction.
Wartime economies saw the closure of the ex-SER Dover Town station in 1914, which was never to reopen, but the retention of the ex-LC&DR Harbour and Priory stations, to which all services were now diverted to. The demise of the Town station was coupled with the closure of the three-road engine shed adjacent to the Hawkesbury Street Curve, and the concentration of the area’s locomotive allocation on the depot at Priory. The withdrawal of boat services on the outbreak of war saw that the semi-complete SE&CR terminus had no passenger traffic to serve. Despite its unfinished state, the station was quickly brought into use on 2nd January 1915 for military traffic, initially in the form of ambulance trains. Although the trainshed was virtually complete by this time, a significant feature still lacking was the marvellous stone façade which now graces the structure’s landward elevation. Completion of building works came after the cessation of war in November 1918, and the first passenger boat trains commenced to the terminus on 18th January 1919, the station being christened ‘’Dover Marine’’.
Attractive single-storey red brick offices, complete with war memorial, were built upon the platform surfaces, and both platform islands and the exit were linked by a lattice footbridge at the northern end of the terminus, located within the trainshed. The incorporation of the SE&CR’s main war memorial here was unusual, for the other large railway companies erected these at their main termini in London. The layout upon the sea platform had grown to an extensive arrangement of tracks, numerous sidings having been brought into use to handle substantial levels of freight traffic during the war period. Dover Marine was controlled by an SE&CR-designed 120-lever signal box positioned to the west of the station, immediately adjacent to the tracks from Priory. The signal box comprised a substantial brick base and was in fact a much larger version of the signal cabin which still exists at Folkestone Harbour, demonstrating traits of those early Saxby & Farmer products. A 455-foot long enclosed glazed footbridge was suspended above the double-track of the former Admiralty Pier, and this took passengers over the complex approaches from the Folkestone direction. A physical connection was also made between this footbridge and the Lord Warden Hotel. The latter was a four-storey colossus, the main section of which was built upon a floor plan of 130-foot by 120-foot. Originally opened in 1851, the hotel was built on a site immediately behind the SER’s Dover Town station.
Locomotive facilities at the site initially comprised just a turntable and cylindrical water tank, located behind the signal box. As previously mentioned, on the closure of Dover Town, the locomotive allocation was concentrated on the existing depot at Priory. However, the inadequacy of the Priory site was emphasised after completion of the SE&CR’s Dover area enlargement works, and a new improvement scheme was soon set in motion after the formation of the Southern Railway. The SR devised a modernisation programme for the Dover area, which included a comprehensive rebuilding of Priory station, the closure of Harbour station, and the building of a new motive power depot. The proposals got underway in 1924, with the confirmation of a 280-foot-long five-road locomotive shed, to be built to the west of Dover Marine, alongside the running lines from Folkestone. As per the construction of the twelve-acre platform for the Marine station, large quantities of chalk were dumped into the sea, beside the former site of the ex-SER’s Dover Town, to reclaim enough land for a spacious complex. The depot came into use during 1928, comprising four eastward-facing dead-end tracks, a single through track, and a sixth line which terminated within an adjacent repair shed. The provision of a 65-foot turntable at the site resulted in the removal of that which resided behind the signal box at Dover Marine, and the water tank there also disappeared. The commissioning of the engine shed, which at 2007 prices cost approximately £7,767,500 to build, allowed the closure of the shed at Priory station, allowing the site there to become part of an enlarged goods yard. Dover Harbour station was subject to closure on 10th July 1927, all local traffic being concentrated at Priory and boat services being served exclusively at Marine station. Other improvements in the Dover area during the SR’s tenure included the rebuilding of the elevated track bed east of Shakespeare Tunnel from wood to concrete, and the laying of coal sidings at the Eastern Docks. Eight freight sidings also came into use alongside the Hawkesbury Street Curve, at Bulwark Street, partially upon the former site of the SER’s Dover Town engine shed. A dock basin for the train ferry, fed by a double-track emanating from the Dover Priory route, came into use during 1936, to the north of the Marine terminus.
Before continuing, it is worth examining one of the out-of-the-ordinary boat trains that served Dover Marine. Initially, the French inaugurated the ‘’Flèche d’Or’’ on 11th September 1926, a prestigious boat train running between Calais and Paris. The ‘’Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits’’ (International Sleeping Car Company) ordered twenty British Pullman vehicles to operate the service: fifteen kitchen cars (Nos. 4001 to 4015) were built by the Birmingham Railway Carriage & Wagon Company, and fifteen parlour cars (Nos. 4016 to 4030) were constructed by the Metropolitan Carriage, Wagon & Finance Company. The luxury vehicles were delivered new in the now renowned Umber and Crème ‘’New Standard’’ Pullman colours of the British fleet, and were operated as pairs, rather than individual carriages. With reference to the latter, this meant that a kitchen car and a parlour car would be semi-permanently coupled into a pair known as a ‘’Couplage’’, or, if you like, ‘’Linkage’’. Initially, the Flèche d’Or service was operated by two trains, each ten vehicles in length. From 1932 onwards, Pullman vehicles were repainted into the standard colours worn by the rest of the Wagon-Lits fleet: a lighter shade of crème appeared in place of the British colour, and the umber lower half became dark blue.
The French’s efforts were matched on the other side of the Channel by an all-Pullman service run by the Southern Railway from Victoria. Colloquially, this was referred to as the ‘’White Pullman’’, because the other Pullman cars on the Eastern Section at that time still wore the crimson lake livery of the SE&CR. Officially, however, the service was called the ‘’Continental Express’’, but it was nevertheless referred to by passengers as the ‘’Golden Arrow’’, the English translation of the French title. This was a sign of things to come, for on 15th May 1929, the SR’s all-Pullman boat train service was re-launched as the ‘’Golden Arrow’’. Significant engineering works occurred on the ex-SER trunk line between Petts Wood Junction and Dover, which involved strengthening bridges to accommodate the heavier engines planned to haul this prestigious service. Maunsell ‘’Lord Nelson’’ 4-6-0 locomotives were selected as the prime motive power, with Urie 4-6-0 ‘’King Arthur’’ engines (later modified by Maunsell) supplementing the fleet.
Much of the time, the outward ‘’Golden Arrow’’ from Victoria was booked to arrive at Folkestone Harbour, but the return portion instead started at Dover Marine, which gave rise to some interesting shunting movements. As mentioned elsewhere on the website, the Folkestone Harbour branch has never had a direct connection with the main line, and access to it can only be made by means of a headshunt manoeuvre. This arrangement was implemented as a safety measure from the outset, since the branch descends at a steep gradient of 1 in 30 to the harbour. Thus, the Pullman service would arrive at Folkestone Junction, and initially terminate in the reception sidings positioned to the east of the station there, where the connection with the Harbour Branch was made. An ex-SE&CR R1 Class 0-6-0 Tank would then attach itself to the rear of the train, whilst the ‘’main line’’ engine was detached, and take the Golden Arrow stock down to Folkestone Harbour. This released the ‘’main line’’ locomotive from the headshunt, and consequently, it ran light along Folkestone Warren, to Dover Marine. At the latter, the engine would be rotated, more often than not by means of the triangular junction between the converging lines from Folkestone, Priory, and Marine stations, rather than on the turntable at Dover shed. After rotation, the locomotive would then head back to Folkestone Junction to collect the empty Pullman stock for the return working, which had previously been banked up the steep Harbour Branch incline by as many as four R1 Tanks. The tank engines would usually bring the train out onto the running lines at the Junction station, allowing the express locomotive to immediately couple to the stock. The Pullman vehicles would then be hauled empty to Dover Marine to form the return working to Victoria. This involved some indignity for the engine because for this empty stock movement, it had to run tender-first.
The declaration of war on Germany on 3rd September 1939 signalled the beginning of harsh times for the Port of Dover, as it became a prime target for bombing raids. Boat trains and steamer services were suspended immediately, and passenger services to the Marine station ceased. The Marine site was again dedicated to military traffic, just as it had been during World War I, and as a consequence, services along the ex-SER route went no further than Folkestone. Indeed, consistent shelling over the Channel, from France, had made the site unsafe to handle any form of passenger traffic, and even the 1928-opened engine shed had to close during the conflict, all engines being stationed at Ashford for the duration. The attractive Marine station suffered damage to the trainshed roof, but thankfully, this was modest enough to deem it practical and worthwhile to repair, normal service at the station resuming after the conflict. Since the advent of World War II, the prominent Lord Warden Hotel had been used as offices; the Marine Department occupied the building from 1952 onwards, by which time it was known as ‘’Southern House’’.
Initially, the British Railways era did not necessarily mean rationalisation for this extensive site, as it did at so many other stations nationwide. Rather, the emphasis was on modernising facilities, to cater for new rail freight boat traffic which, in these pre-Chunnel days, was still important and by no means in decline. Modernisation of the site began in 1953, with the renewal of the five quayside cranes which ran alongside the northern wall of the terminus. This was followed in February 1956 by the approval of the Kent Coast Electrification Scheme. Published within an ‘’Extension of Electrification’’ report of 1957 were the alterations proposed for the Marine station. In early 1959, the station was closed to passengers temporarily to allow modifications to be carried out. These involved the extension of both island platforms westward by 114-feet, beyond the extent of the trainshed, and the installation of canopies above the exposed surfaces. The platform extensions were constituted of prefabricated concrete components, manufactured at Exmouth Junction concrete works; the platform canopies were W-shaped and lacked any form of valance. The latter were virtually enlarged versions of the equally clinical canopies which emerged at the rebuilt Folkestone Central and St Mary Cray stations, and these additions somewhat marred the attractive stone façade of the SE&CR station. Third rail was installed on all platform lines during 1959, as part of the ‘’Chatham’’ line electrification of the scheme’s ‘’Phase 1’’, and these were subsequently energised for the commencement of the full electric timetable via this route on 15th June of that year. An enclosed riveted steel footbridge was also erected across the approach tracks from Dover Priory, linking the main entrance beside the Lord Warden Hotel with the Customs Hall, on the northern perimeter of the Western Docks. Naturally, steam continued to visit the station by means of the ex-SER trunk line from the Folkestone direction until the implementation of a full electric timetable on this route on 18th June 1962. The Golden Arrow had been hauled by E5000 series electric locomotives since 12th June 1961. Colour lights installed at the Marine station during the electrification scheme were of the three-aspect type. Before electrification, the empty stock of arrived services would be shunted out the seaward end of the trainshed, and up along the extent of the old Admiralty Pier, to clear the platform lines. Locomotives would also be required to run-a-round using the Admiralty Pier tracks.
The commencement of electric haulage on the Golden Arrow in the June of 1961 coincided with the demise of Dover engine shed. Hitherto, the depot had the responsibility of servicing the Stewarts Lane-allocated steam locomotives which brought the luxurious train down from Victoria. Closure of the sub-shed at nearby Folkestone Junction also occurred, but the site of Dover MPD was put to new railway use, becoming host to a plethora of goods sidings. Closure of goods sidings at Bulwark Street occurred on 15th August 1966, but Archcliffe Junction – at the Folkestone end of the Hawkesbury Street Curve – remained in existence. In the following decade, major works were planned around the Marine station’s peripheral: in 1973, proposals were put forward for the construction of a roll-on-roll-off vehicle shed, and in 1974, planning of a new hoverport at the Western Docks began. After a consultation period spanning 1975 to 1976 inclusive, the hoverport was formally commissioned for operation on 5th July 1978, and replaced a smaller affair situated in the Eastern Docks. Track rationalisation had also occurred beyond the rear of the trainshed, and the ‘’Golden Arrow’’ had ceased between Victoria and the Channel Ports after a final run on 30th September 1972. Since 1969, the number of Pullman cars in the train had been whittled down to five, and the rest of the formation consisted of Second Class BR Mk 1 vehicles.
On 14th May 1979, Dover Marine station was renamed ‘’Dover Western Docks’’, and on 31st October of the following year, the ‘’Night Ferry’’ London to Paris train made its final run. This had first operated on the evening of 14th October 1936, between London Victoria and Paris Gare du Nord, via Dover Marine and Dunkirk. The service was unique among the boat trains, because the carriage stock travelled across the Channel with the passengers and ran on both British and French railway networks. Indeed, the vehicles were smaller than standard Continental carriage stock, having been specially built to meet the restrictive loading gauge of the British system. The service had been suspended during the war years, the last train running through to Paris over the night of 3rd/4th September 1939. After the cessation of the conflict, the ‘’Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits’’ (CIWL: International Sleeping Car Co.) found itself engaged in a search and rescue mission over the whole of Europe, to find several missing carriages. Stock of both the ‘’Night Ferry’’ and ‘’Orient Express’’ services had been taken over by the Germans, camouflaged and armoured, and subsequently used as army vehicles. The ‘’Night Ferry’’ service was resumed on 14th December 1947, and this was followed ten years later by the addition of a through sleeping car to Brussels. A sleeping car for Basle, Switzerland, was added to the service in 1967, but this lasted just two years.
Over the five years which followed the renaming of the station to ‘’Dover Western Docks’’, truncations of the lines within the trainshed, at their seaward ends, saw a ground level walkway come into use for passengers, behind the new buffer stops (a headshunt did, however, still remain for locomotive-hauled services). The SNCF train ferry continued to handle an abundance of ferry vans, shunted by Class 33/2 locomotives – the latter had been under the auspices of Railfreight Distribution (RfD) since that Business Sector’s formation on 10th October 1988. The ferry itself accommodated a double-track, and to maintain balance on the vessel, wagons on both lines would be loaded and unloaded simultaneously. During 1993, the train ferry shunting duty passed to Class 09 diesels.
Channel Tunnel boring began on 1st December 1987, and in light of this, the British Rail Board produced the dreaded report in 1989: the ‘’Proposed closure of Dover Western Docks Station and Folkestone Harbour branch’’. Passenger boat traffic was now seen as a thing of the past, as the advent of the proposed ‘’Eurostar’’ services through the Chunnel would now cater for this, providing a much faster and efficient service. Some of the freight carried upon the ferries could be transferred for haulage through the Chunnel; certain traffic, however, such as chemicals and inflammables, were not permitted through the tunnel, as they were safety hazards. Handling of these goods would therefore transfer to the Eastern Docks, involving the use of road transport, due to the lack of a rail connection there. During 1992, the headshunt facility at Western Docks station was taken out of use, meaning that locomotive-hauled services had to be shunt released – the latter duty was generally undertaken by a RfD Class 33/2. The fateful day was on Saturday 24th September 1994, when 4 CEP No. 1604 departed with the last advertised public departure to Victoria, scheduled for 21:44. The following day, the closure of the station was marked by the visit of ex-BR Pacific No. 70000 ‘’Britannia’’, with ‘’The Continental Farewell’’ rail tour from London Victoria. This had travelled via Balham, Beckenham Junction, and Tonbridge. The locomotive was masquerading as No. 70014 ‘’Iron Duke’’, which was one of two ‘’Britannias’’ formerly associated with the haulage of the famous ‘’Golden Arrow’’ on the South Eastern Division, between the years of 1952 and 1958 inclusive. At Western Docks, the tour met another ex-Golden Arrow locomotive, but of a more modern era: Type ‘’HA’’ E5000 series No. E5001. This locomotive fronted two tours on the same day, taking the excursion stock from Western Docks to Ashford and back, via Folkestone and Canterbury West.
It was not the total end of Dover Western Docks – yet. Until 19th November 1994, empty stock movements to and from the station continued to be available to passengers, albeit not advertised in the official timetable. Thereafter, the trainshed became a useful facility for stabling electric units for cleaning, until complete closure came with the decommissioning of the SE&CR signal box on 5th July of the following year. The bulldozers finally moved in at the beginning of 1996, but thankfully, since the main building was protected by Listed Status, demolitions only encompassed those additions made in 1959, as part of the Kent Coast Electrification Scheme. Naturally, the tightly curving track, with its famous crossovers, was also lifted, and as part of the works to convert the trainshed into a cruise liner terminal, the gap in-between the island platforms was in-filled, to provide a continuous floor at the same level. All red brick offices upon the platforms were retained, as was the elongated footbridge towards the Lord Warden Hotel. Even the substantial SE&CR signal box remained on site as office accommodation, but unlike the main station structure, this was not a Listed building. Tragically, the signal box met its end in 2000. The train ferry dock basin of 1936 was in-filled, and today its site is host to a sand operation.
The British Rail Board’s original report of 1989 outlined the closure of the Folkestone Harbour branch, but in the midst of the redevelopment at the Western Docks, the renowned steeply graded line continued to enjoy services. Unlike at Dover, where the passenger ferries at Eastern Docks were detached from the railway, Sea Cat sailings continued to operate from the railway pier at Folkestone, even after the opening of the Chunnel. These justified the retention of rail services to the Harbour station, which continued until the transference of the Sea Cat to Ramsgate in 2001.
My buddy Pete built this wooden framework. I had mounted the puzzle onto 3 sections of 1/2" foam board. We attached the framework to the foamboard with double-sided carpet tape and glue. Then he built a frame out of 1/2" X 1-1'2 " MDF, which I had pre-painted black.
Gautama Buddha, also known as Siddhārtha Gautama, Shakyamuni, or simply the Buddha, was a sage on whose teachings Buddhism was founded. He is believed to have lived and taught mostly in northeastern India sometime between the sixth and fourth centuries BCE.
The word Buddha means "awakened one" or "the enlightened one". "Buddha" is also used as a title for the first awakened being in a Yuga era. In most Buddhist traditions, Siddhartha Gautama is regarded as the Supreme Buddha (Pali sammāsambuddha, Sanskrit samyaksaṃbuddha) of the present age. Gautama taught a Middle Way between sensual indulgence and the severe asceticism found in the śramaṇa movement common in his region. He later taught throughout regions of eastern India such as Magadha and Kosala.
Gautama is the primary figure in Buddhism and accounts of his life, discourses, and monastic rules are believed by Buddhists to have been summarized after his death and memorized by his followers. Various collections of teachings attributed to him were passed down by oral tradition and first committed to writing about 400 years later.
CONTENTS
HISTORICAL SIDDHARTA GAUTAMA
Scholars are hesitant to make unqualified claims about the historical facts of the Buddha's life. Most accept that he lived, taught and founded a monastic order during the Mahajanapada era during the reign of Bimbisara, the ruler of the Magadha empire, and died during the early years of the reign of Ajasattu, who was the successor of Bimbisara, thus making him a younger contemporary of Mahavira, the Jain tirthankara. Apart from the Vedic Brahmins, the Buddha's lifetime coincided with the flourishing of other influential śramaṇa schools of thoughts like Ājīvika, Cārvāka, Jainism, and Ajñana. It was also the age of influential thinkers like Mahavira, Pūraṇa Kassapa , Makkhali Gosāla, Ajita Kesakambalī, Pakudha Kaccāyana, and Sañjaya Belaṭṭhaputta, whose viewpoints the Buddha most certainly must have been acquainted with and influenced by. Indeed, Sariputta and Moggallāna, two of the foremost disciples of the Buddha, were formerly the foremost disciples of Sañjaya Belaṭṭhaputta, the skeptic. There is also evidence to suggest that the two masters, Alara Kalama and Uddaka Ramaputta, were indeed historical figures and they most probably taught Buddha two different forms of meditative techniques. While the general sequence of "birth, maturity, renunciation, search, awakening and liberation, teaching, death" is widely accepted, there is less consensus on the veracity of many details contained in traditional biographies.
The times of Gautama's birth and death are uncertain. Most historians in the early 20th century dated his lifetime as circa 563 BCE to 483 BCE. More recently his death is dated later, between 411 and 400 BCE, while at a symposium on this question held in 1988, the majority of those who presented definite opinions gave dates within 20 years either side of 400 BCE for the Buddha's death. These alternative chronologies, however, have not yet been accepted by all historians.
The evidence of the early texts suggests that Siddhārtha Gautama was born into the Shakya clan, a community that was on the periphery, both geographically and culturally, of the northeastern Indian subcontinent in the 5th century BCE. It was either a small republic, in which case his father was an elected chieftain, or an oligarchy, in which case his father was an oligarch. According to the Buddhist tradition, Gautama was born in Lumbini, nowadays in modern-day Nepal, and raised in the Shakya capital of Kapilavastu, which may have been in either present day Tilaurakot, Nepal or Piprahwa, India. He obtained his enlightenment in Bodh Gaya, gave his first sermon in Sarnath, and died in Kushinagar.
No written records about Gautama have been found from his lifetime or some centuries thereafter. One Edict of Asoka, who reigned from circa 269 BCE to 232 BCE, commemorates the Emperor's pilgrimage to the Buddha's birthplace in Lumbini. Another one of his edicts mentions several Dhamma texts, establishing the existence of a written Buddhist tradition at least by the time of the Maurya era and which may be the precursors of the Pāli Canon. The oldest surviving Buddhist manuscripts are the Gandhāran Buddhist texts, reported to have been found in or around Haḍḍa near Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan and now preserved in the British Library. They are written in the Gāndhārī language using the Kharosthi script on twenty-seven birch bark manuscripts and date from the first century BCE to the third century CE.
TRADITIONAL BIOGRAPHIES
BIOGRAPHICAL SOURCES
The sources for the life of Siddhārtha Gautama are a variety of different, and sometimes conflicting, traditional biographies. These include the Buddhacarita, Lalitavistara Sūtra, Mahāvastu, and the Nidānakathā. Of these, the Buddhacarita is the earliest full biography, an epic poem written by the poet Aśvaghoṣa, and dating around the beginning of the 2nd century CE. The Lalitavistara Sūtra is the next oldest biography, a Mahāyāna/Sarvāstivāda biography dating to the 3rd century CE. The Mahāvastu from the Mahāsāṃghika Lokottaravāda tradition is another major biography, composed incrementally until perhaps the 4th century CE. The Dharmaguptaka biography of the Buddha is the most exhaustive, and is entitled the Abhiniṣkramaṇa Sūtra, and various Chinese translations of this date between the 3rd and 6th century CE. The Nidānakathā is from the Theravada tradition in Sri Lanka and was composed in the 5th century by Buddhaghoṣa.
From canonical sources, the Jataka tales, the Mahapadana Sutta (DN 14), and the Achariyabhuta Sutta (MN 123) which include selective accounts that may be older, but are not full biographies. The Jātakas retell previous lives of Gautama as a bodhisattva, and the first collection of these can be dated among the earliest Buddhist texts. The Mahāpadāna Sutta and Achariyabhuta Sutta both recount miraculous events surrounding Gautama's birth, such as the bodhisattva's descent from the Tuṣita Heaven into his mother's womb.
NATURE OF TRADITIONAL DEPICTIONS
In the earliest Buddhists texts, the nikāyas and āgamas, the Buddha is not depicted as possessing omniscience (sabbaññu) nor is he depicted as being an eternal transcendent (lokottara) being. According to Bhikkhu Analayo, ideas of the Buddha's omniscience (along with an increasing tendency to deify him and his biography) are found only later, in the Mahayana sutras and later Pali commentaries or texts such as the Mahāvastu. In the Sandaka Sutta, the Buddha's disciple Ananda outlines an argument against the claims of teachers who say they are all knowing while in the Tevijjavacchagotta Sutta the Buddha himself states that he has never made a claim to being omniscient, instead he claimed to have the "higher knowledges" (abhijñā). The earliest biographical material from the Pali Nikayas focuses on the Buddha's life as a śramaṇa, his search for enlightenment under various teachers such as Alara Kalama and his forty five year career as a teacher.
Traditional biographies of Gautama generally include numerous miracles, omens, and supernatural events. The character of the Buddha in these traditional biographies is often that of a fully transcendent (Skt. lokottara) and perfected being who is unencumbered by the mundane world. In the Mahāvastu, over the course of many lives, Gautama is said to have developed supra-mundane abilities including: a painless birth conceived without intercourse; no need for sleep, food, medicine, or bathing, although engaging in such "in conformity with the world"; omniscience, and the ability to "suppress karma". Nevertheless, some of the more ordinary details of his life have been gathered from these traditional sources. In modern times there has been an attempt to form a secular understanding of Siddhārtha Gautama's life by omitting the traditional supernatural elements of his early biographies.
Andrew Skilton writes that the Buddha was never historically regarded by Buddhist traditions as being merely human:
It is important to stress that, despite modern Theravada teachings to the contrary (often a sop to skeptical Western pupils), he was never seen as being merely human. For instance, he is often described as having the thirty-two major and eighty minor marks or signs of a mahāpuruṣa, "superman"; the Buddha himself denied that he was either a man or a god; and in the Mahāparinibbāna Sutta he states that he could live for an aeon were he asked to do so.The ancient Indians were generally unconcerned with chronologies, being more focused on philosophy. Buddhist texts reflect this tendency, providing a clearer picture of what Gautama may have taught than of the dates of the events in his life. These texts contain descriptions of the culture and daily life of ancient India which can be corroborated from the Jain scriptures, and make the Buddha's time the earliest period in Indian history for which significant accounts exist. British author Karen Armstrong writes that although there is very little information that can be considered historically sound, we can be reasonably confident that Siddhārtha Gautama did exist as a historical figure. Michael Carrithers goes a bit further by stating that the most general outline of "birth, maturity, renunciation, search, awakening and liberation, teaching, death" must be true.
BIOGRAPHY
CONCEPTION AND BIRTH
The Buddhist tradition regards Lumbini, in present-day Nepal to be the birthplace of the Buddha. He grew up in Kapilavastu. The exact site of ancient Kapilavastu is unknown. It may have been either Piprahwa, Uttar Pradesh, present-day India, or Tilaurakot, present-day Nepal. Both places belonged to the Sakya territory, and are located only 15 miles apart from each other.
Gautama was born as a Kshatriya, the son of Śuddhodana, "an elected chief of the Shakya clan", whose capital was Kapilavastu, and who were later annexed by the growing Kingdom of Kosala during the Buddha's lifetime. Gautama was the family name. His mother, Maya (Māyādevī), Suddhodana's wife, was a Koliyan princess. Legend has it that, on the night Siddhartha was conceived, Queen Maya dreamt that a white elephant with six white tusks entered her right side, and ten months later Siddhartha was born. As was the Shakya tradition, when his mother Queen Maya became pregnant, she left Kapilvastu for her father's kingdom to give birth. However, her son is said to have been born on the way, at Lumbini, in a garden beneath a sal tree.
The day of the Buddha's birth is widely celebrated in Theravada countries as Vesak. Buddha's Birthday is called Buddha Purnima in Nepal and India as he is believed to have been born on a full moon day. Various sources hold that the Buddha's mother died at his birth, a few days or seven days later. The infant was given the name Siddhartha (Pāli: Siddhattha), meaning "he who achieves his aim". During the birth celebrations, the hermit seer Asita journeyed from his mountain abode and announced that the child would either become a great king (chakravartin) or a great sadhu. By traditional account, this occurred after Siddhartha placed his feet in Asita's hair and Asita examined the birthmarks. Suddhodana held a naming ceremony on the fifth day, and invited eight Brahmin scholars to read the future. All gave a dual prediction that the baby would either become a great king or a great holy man. Kondañña, the youngest, and later to be the first arhat other than the Buddha, was reputed to be the only one who unequivocally predicted that Siddhartha would become a Buddha.
While later tradition and legend characterized Śuddhodana as a hereditary monarch, the descendant of the Suryavansha (Solar dynasty) of Ikṣvāku (Pāli: Okkāka), many scholars think that Śuddhodana was the elected chief of a tribal confederacy.
Early texts suggest that Gautama was not familiar with the dominant religious teachings of his time until he left on his religious quest, which is said to have been motivated by existential concern for the human condition. The state of the Shakya clan was not a monarchy, and seems to have been structured either as an oligarchy, or as a form of republic. The more egalitarian gana-sangha form of government, as a political alternative to the strongly hierarchical kingdoms, may have influenced the development of the śramanic Jain and Buddhist sanghas, where monarchies tended toward Vedic Brahmanism.
EARLY LIFE AND MARRIAGE
Siddhartha was brought up by his mother's younger sister, Maha Pajapati. By tradition, he is said to have been destined by birth to the life of a prince, and had three palaces (for seasonal occupation) built for him. Although more recent scholarship doubts this status, his father, said to be King Śuddhodana, wishing for his son to be a great king, is said to have shielded him from religious teachings and from knowledge of human suffering.
When he reached the age of 16, his father reputedly arranged his marriage to a cousin of the same age named Yaśodharā (Pāli: Yasodharā). According to the traditional account, she gave birth to a son, named Rāhula. Siddhartha is said to have spent 29 years as a prince in Kapilavastu. Although his father ensured that Siddhartha was provided with everything he could want or need, Buddhist scriptures say that the future Buddha felt that material wealth was not life's ultimate goal.
RENUNCIATION AND ASCETIC LIFE
At the age of 29, the popular biography continues, Siddhartha left his palace to meet his subjects. Despite his father's efforts to hide from him the sick, aged and suffering, Siddhartha was said to have seen an old man. When his charioteer Channa explained to him that all people grew old, the prince went on further trips beyond the palace. On these he encountered a diseased man, a decaying corpse, and an ascetic. These depressed him, and he initially strove to overcome aging, sickness, and death by living the life of an ascetic.
Accompanied by Channa and riding his horse Kanthaka, Gautama quit his palace for the life of a mendicant. It's said that, "the horse's hooves were muffled by the gods" to prevent guards from knowing of his departure.
Gautama initially went to Rajagaha and began his ascetic life by begging for alms in the street. After King Bimbisara's men recognised Siddhartha and the king learned of his quest, Bimbisara offered Siddhartha the throne. Siddhartha rejected the offer, but promised to visit his kingdom of Magadha first, upon attaining enlightenment.
He left Rajagaha and practised under two hermit teachers of yogic meditation. After mastering the teachings of Alara Kalama (Skr. Ārāḍa Kālāma), he was asked by Kalama to succeed him. However, Gautama felt unsatisfied by the practice, and moved on to become a student of yoga with Udaka Ramaputta (Skr. Udraka Rāmaputra). With him he achieved high levels of meditative consciousness, and was again asked to succeed his teacher. But, once more, he was not satisfied, and again moved on.
Siddhartha and a group of five companions led by Kaundinya are then said to have set out to take their austerities even further. They tried to find enlightenment through deprivation of worldly goods, including food, practising self-mortification. After nearly starving himself to death by restricting his food intake to around a leaf or nut per day, he collapsed in a river while bathing and almost drowned. Siddhartha was rescued by a village girl named Sujata and she gave him some payasam (a pudding made from milk and jaggery) after which Siddhartha got back some energy. Siddhartha began to reconsider his path. Then, he remembered a moment in childhood in which he had been watching his father start the season's ploughing. He attained a concentrated and focused state that was blissful and refreshing, the jhāna.
AWAKENING
According to the early Buddhist texts, after realizing that meditative dhyana was the right path to awakening, but that extreme asceticism didn't work, Gautama discovered what Buddhists call the Middle Way - a path of moderation away from the extremes of self-indulgence and self-mortification, or the Noble Eightfold Path, as was identified and described by the Buddha in his first discourse, the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta. In a famous incident, after becoming starved and weakened, he is said to have accepted milk and rice pudding from a village girl named Sujata. Such was his emaciated appearance that she wrongly believed him to be a spirit that had granted her a wish.
Following this incident, Gautama was famously seated under a pipal tree - now known as the Bodhi tree - in Bodh Gaya, India, when he vowed never to arise until he had found the truth. Kaundinya and four other companions, believing that he had abandoned his search and become undisciplined, left. After a reputed 49 days of meditation, at the age of 35, he is said to have attained Enlightenment. According to some traditions, this occurred in approximately the fifth lunar month, while, according to others, it was in the twelfth month. From that time, Gautama was known to his followers as the Buddha or "Awakened One" ("Buddha" is also sometimes translated as "The Enlightened One").
According to Buddhism, at the time of his awakening he realized complete insight into the cause of suffering, and the steps necessary to eliminate it. These discoveries became known as the "Four Noble Truths", which are at the heart of Buddhist teaching. Through mastery of these truths, a state of supreme liberation, or Nirvana, is believed to be possible for any being. The Buddha described Nirvāna as the perfect peace of a mind that's free from ignorance, greed, hatred and other afflictive states, or "defilements" (kilesas). Nirvana is also regarded as the "end of the world", in that no personal identity or boundaries of the mind remain. In such a state, a being is said to possess the Ten Characteristics, belonging to every Buddha.
According to a story in the Āyācana Sutta (Samyutta Nikaya VI.1) - a scripture found in the Pāli and other canons - immediately after his awakening, the Buddha debated whether or not he should teach the Dharma to others. He was concerned that humans were so overpowered by ignorance, greed and hatred that they could never recognise the path, which is subtle, deep and hard to grasp. However, in the story, Brahmā Sahampati convinced him, arguing that at least some will understand it. The Buddha relented, and agreed to teach.
FORMATION OF THE SANGHA
After his awakening, the Buddha met Taphussa and Bhallika — two merchant brothers from the city of Balkh in what is currently Afghanistan - who became his first lay disciples. It is said that each was given hairs from his head, which are now claimed to be enshrined as relics in the Shwe Dagon Temple in Rangoon, Burma. The Buddha intended to visit Asita, and his former teachers, Alara Kalama and Udaka Ramaputta, to explain his findings, but they had already died.
He then travelled to the Deer Park near Varanasi (Benares) in northern India, where he set in motion what Buddhists call the Wheel of Dharma by delivering his first sermon to the five companions with whom he had sought enlightenment. Together with him, they formed the first saṅgha: the company of Buddhist monks.
All five become arahants, and within the first two months, with the conversion of Yasa and fifty four of his friends, the number of such arahants is said to have grown to 60. The conversion of three brothers named Kassapa followed, with their reputed 200, 300 and 500 disciples, respectively. This swelled the sangha to more than 1,000.
TRAVELS AND TEACHING
For the remaining 45 years of his life, the Buddha is said to have traveled in the Gangetic Plain, in what is now Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and southern Nepal, teaching a diverse range of people: from nobles to servants, murderers such as Angulimala, and cannibals such as Alavaka. Although the Buddha's language remains unknown, it's likely that he taught in one or more of a variety of closely related Middle Indo-Aryan dialects, of which Pali may be a standardization.
The sangha traveled through the subcontinent, expounding the dharma. This continued throughout the year, except during the four months of the Vāsanā rainy season when ascetics of all religions rarely traveled. One reason was that it was more difficult to do so without causing harm to animal life. At this time of year, the sangha would retreat to monasteries, public parks or forests, where people would come to them.
The first vassana was spent at Varanasi when the sangha was formed. After this, the Buddha kept a promise to travel to Rajagaha, capital of Magadha, to visit King Bimbisara. During this visit, Sariputta and Maudgalyayana were converted by Assaji, one of the first five disciples, after which they were to become the Buddha's two foremost followers. The Buddha spent the next three seasons at Veluvana Bamboo Grove monastery in Rajagaha, capital of Magadha.
Upon hearing of his son's awakening, Suddhodana sent, over a period, ten delegations to ask him to return to Kapilavastu. On the first nine occasions, the delegates failed to deliver the message, and instead joined the sangha to become arahants. The tenth delegation, led by Kaludayi, a childhood friend of Gautama's (who also became an arahant), however, delivered the message.
Now two years after his awakening, the Buddha agreed to return, and made a two-month journey by foot to Kapilavastu, teaching the dharma as he went. At his return, the royal palace prepared a midday meal, but the sangha was making an alms round in Kapilavastu. Hearing this, Suddhodana approached his son, the Buddha, saying:
"Ours is the warrior lineage of Mahamassata, and not a single warrior has gone seeking alms."
The Buddha is said to have replied:
"That is not the custom of your royal lineage. But it is the custom of my Buddha lineage. Several thousands of Buddhas have gone by seeking alms."
Buddhist texts say that Suddhodana invited the sangha into the palace for the meal, followed by a dharma talk. After this he is said to have become a sotapanna. During the visit, many members of the royal family joined the sangha. The Buddha's cousins Ananda and Anuruddha became two of his five chief disciples. At the age of seven, his son Rahula also joined, and became one of his ten chief disciples. His half-brother Nanda also joined and became an arahant.
Of the Buddha's disciples, Sariputta, Maudgalyayana, Mahakasyapa, Ananda and Anuruddha are believed to have been the five closest to him. His ten foremost disciples were reputedly completed by the quintet of Upali, Subhoti, Rahula, Mahakaccana and Punna.
In the fifth vassana, the Buddha was staying at Mahavana near Vesali when he heard news of the impending death of his father. He is said to have gone to Suddhodana and taught the dharma, after which his father became an arahant.The king's death and cremation was to inspire the creation of an order of nuns. Buddhist texts record that the Buddha was reluctant to ordain women. His foster mother Maha Pajapati, for example, approached him, asking to join the sangha, but he refused. Maha Pajapati, however, was so intent on the path of awakening that she led a group of royal Sakyan and Koliyan ladies, which followed the sangha on a long journey to Rajagaha. In time, after Ananda championed their cause, the Buddha is said to have reconsidered and, five years after the formation of the sangha, agreed to the ordination of women as nuns. He reasoned that males and females had an equal capacity for awakening. But he gave women additional rules (Vinaya) to follow.
MAHAPARINIRVANA
According to the Mahaparinibbana Sutta of the Pali canon, at the age of 80, the Buddha announced that he would soon reach Parinirvana, or the final deathless state, and abandon his earthly body. After this, the Buddha ate his last meal, which he had received as an offering from a blacksmith named Cunda. Falling violently ill, Buddha instructed his attendant Ānanda to convince Cunda that the meal eaten at his place had nothing to do with his passing and that his meal would be a source of the greatest merit as it provided the last meal for a Buddha. Mettanando and Von Hinüber argue that the Buddha died of mesenteric infarction, a symptom of old age, rather than food poisoning. The precise contents of the Buddha's final meal are not clear, due to variant scriptural traditions and ambiguity over the translation of certain significant terms; the Theravada tradition generally believes that the Buddha was offered some kind of pork, while the Mahayana tradition believes that the Buddha consumed some sort of truffle or other mushroom. These may reflect the different traditional views on Buddhist vegetarianism and the precepts for monks and nuns.
Waley suggests that Theravadin's would take suukaramaddava (the contents of the Buddha's last meal), which can translate as pig-soft, to mean soft flesh of a pig. However, he also states that pig-soft could mean "pig's soft-food", that is, after Neumann, a soft food favoured by pigs, assumed to be a truffle. He argues (also after Neumann) that as Pali Buddhism was developed in an area remote to the Buddha's death, the existence of other plants with suukara- (pig) as part of their names and that "(p)lant names tend to be local and dialectical" could easily indicate that suukaramaddava was a type of plant whose local name was unknown to those in the Pali regions. Specifically, local writers knew more about their flora than Theravadin commentator Buddhaghosa who lived hundreds of years and kilometres remote in time and space from the events described. Unaware of an alternate meaning and with no Theravadin prohibition against eating animal flesh, Theravadins would not have questioned the Buddha eating meat and interpreted the term accordingly.
Ananda protested the Buddha's decision to enter Parinirvana in the abandoned jungles of Kuśināra (present-day Kushinagar, India) of the Malla kingdom. The Buddha, however, is said to have reminded Ananda how Kushinara was a land once ruled by a righteous wheel-turning king that resounded with joy:
44. Kusavati, Ananda, resounded unceasingly day and night with ten sounds - the trumpeting of elephants, the neighing of horses, the rattling of chariots, the beating of drums and tabours, music and song, cheers, the clapping of hands, and cries of "Eat, drink, and be merry!"
The Buddha then asked all the attendant Bhikkhus to clarify any doubts or questions they had. They had none. According to Buddhist scriptures, he then finally entered Parinirvana. The Buddha's final words are reported to have been: "All composite things (Saṅkhāra) are perishable. Strive for your own liberation with diligence" (Pali: 'vayadhammā saṅkhārā appamādena sampādethā'). His body was cremated and the relics were placed in monuments or stupas, some of which are believed to have survived until the present. For example, The Temple of the Tooth or "Dalada Maligawa" in Sri Lanka is the place where what some believe to be the relic of the right tooth of Buddha is kept at present.
According to the Pāli historical chronicles of Sri Lanka, the Dīpavaṃsa and Mahāvaṃsa, the coronation of Emperor Aśoka (Pāli: Asoka) is 218 years after the death of the Buddha. According to two textual records in Chinese (十八部論 and 部執異論), the coronation of Emperor Aśoka is 116 years after the death of the Buddha. Therefore, the time of Buddha's passing is either 486 BCE according to Theravāda record or 383 BCE according to Mahayana record. However, the actual date traditionally accepted as the date of the Buddha's death in Theravāda countries is 544 or 545 BCE, because the reign of Emperor Aśoka was traditionally reckoned to be about 60 years earlier than current estimates. In Burmese Buddhist tradition, the date of the Buddha's death is 13 May 544 BCE. whereas in Thai tradition it is 11 March 545 BCE.
At his death, the Buddha is famously believed to have told his disciples to follow no leader. Mahakasyapa was chosen by the sangha to be the chairman of the First Buddhist Council, with the two chief disciples Maudgalyayana and Sariputta having died before the Buddha.
While in the Buddha's days he was addressed by the very respected titles Buddha, Shākyamuni, Shākyasimha, Bhante and Bho, he was known after his parinirvana as Arihant, Bhagavā/Bhagavat/Bhagwān, Mahāvira, Jina/Jinendra, Sāstr, Sugata, and most popularly in scriptures as Tathāgata.
BUDDHA AND VEDAS
Buddha's teachings deny the authority of the Vedas and consequently [at least atheistic] Buddhism is generally viewed as a nāstika school (heterodox, literally "It is not so") from the perspective of orthodox Hinduism.
RELICS
After his death, Buddha's cremation relics were divided amongst 8 royal families and his disciples; centuries later they would be enshrined by King Ashoka into 84,000 stupas. Many supernatural legends surround the history of alleged relics as they accompanied the spread of Buddhism and gave legitimacy to rulers.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
An extensive and colorful physical description of the Buddha has been laid down in scriptures. A kshatriya by birth, he had military training in his upbringing, and by Shakyan tradition was required to pass tests to demonstrate his worthiness as a warrior in order to marry. He had a strong enough body to be noticed by one of the kings and was asked to join his army as a general. He is also believed by Buddhists to have "the 32 Signs of the Great Man".
The Brahmin Sonadanda described him as "handsome, good-looking, and pleasing to the eye, with a most beautiful complexion. He has a godlike form and countenance, he is by no means unattractive." (D, I:115)
"It is wonderful, truly marvellous, how serene is the good Gotama's appearance, how clear and radiant his complexion, just as the golden jujube in autumn is clear and radiant, just as a palm-tree fruit just loosened from the stalk is clear and radiant, just as an adornment of red gold wrought in a crucible by a skilled goldsmith, deftly beaten and laid on a yellow-cloth shines, blazes and glitters, even so, the good Gotama's senses are calmed, his complexion is clear and radiant." (A, I:181)
A disciple named Vakkali, who later became an arahant, was so obsessed by the Buddha's physical presence that the Buddha is said to have felt impelled to tell him to desist, and to have reminded him that he should know the Buddha through the Dhamma and not through physical appearances.
Although there are no extant representations of the Buddha in human form until around the 1st century CE (see Buddhist art), descriptions of the physical characteristics of fully enlightened buddhas are attributed to the Buddha in the Digha Nikaya's Lakkhaṇa Sutta (D, I:142). In addition, the Buddha's physical appearance is described by Yasodhara to their son Rahula upon the Buddha's first post-Enlightenment return to his former princely palace in the non-canonical Pali devotional hymn, Narasīha Gāthā ("The Lion of Men").
Among the 32 main characteristics it is mentioned that Buddha has blue eyes.
NINE VIRTUES
Recollection of nine virtues attributed to the Buddha is a common Buddhist meditation and devotional practice called Buddhānusmṛti. The nine virtues are also among the 40 Buddhist meditation subjects. The nine virtues of the Buddha appear throughout the Tipitaka, and include:
- Buddho – Awakened
- Sammasambuddho – Perfectly self-awakened
- Vijja-carana-sampano – Endowed with higher knowledge and ideal conduct.
- Sugato – Well-gone or Well-spoken.
- Lokavidu – Wise in the knowledge of the many worlds.
- Anuttaro Purisa-damma-sarathi – Unexcelled trainer of untrained people.
- Satthadeva-Manussanam – Teacher of gods and humans.
- Bhagavathi – The Blessed one
- Araham – Worthy of homage. An Arahant is "one with taints destroyed, who has lived the holy life, done what had to be done, laid down the burden, reached the true goal, destroyed the fetters of being, and is completely liberated through final knowledge."
TEACHINGS
TRACING THE OLDEST TEACHINGS
Information of the oldest teachings may be obtained by analysis of the oldest texts. One method to obtain information on the oldest core of Buddhism is to compare the oldest extant versions of the Theravadin Pali Canon and other texts. The reliability of these sources, and the possibility to draw out a core of oldest teachings, is a matter of dispute. According to Vetter, inconsistencies remain, and other methods must be applied to resolve those inconsistencies.
According to Schmithausen, three positions held by scholars of Buddhism can be distinguished:
"Stress on the fundamental homogeneity and substantial authenticity of at least a considerable part of the Nikayic materials;"
"Scepticism with regard to the possibility of retrieving the doctrine of earliest Buddhism;"
"Cautious optimism in this respect."
DHYANA AND INSIGHT
A core problem in the study of early Buddhism is the relation between dhyana and insight. Schmithausen, in his often-cited article On some Aspects of Descriptions or Theories of 'Liberating Insight' and 'Enlightenment' in Early Buddhism notes that the mention of the four noble truths as constituting "liberating insight", which is attained after mastering the Rupa Jhanas, is a later addition to texts such as Majjhima Nikaya 36
CORE TEACHINGS
According to Tilmann Vetter, the core of earliest Buddhism is the practice of dhyāna. Bronkhorst agrees that dhyana was a Buddhist invention, whereas Norman notes that "the Buddha's way to release [...] was by means of meditative practices." Discriminating insight into transiency as a separate path to liberation was a later development.
According to the Mahāsaccakasutta, from the fourth jhana the Buddha gained bodhi. Yet, it is not clear what he was awakened to. "Liberating insight" is a later addition to this text, and reflects a later development and understanding in early Buddhism. The mentioning of the four truths as constituting "liberating insight" introduces a logical problem, since the four truths depict a linear path of practice, the knowledge of which is in itself not depicted as being liberating:
[T]hey do not teach that one is released by knowing the four noble truths, but by practicing the fourth noble truth, the eightfold path, which culminates in right samadhi.
Although "Nibbāna" (Sanskrit: Nirvāna) is the common term for the desired goal of this practice, many other terms can be found throughout the Nikayas, which are not specified.
According to Vetter, the description of the Buddhist path may initially have been as simple as the term "the middle way". In time, this short description was elaborated, resulting in the description of the eightfold path.
According to both Bronkhorst and Anderson, the four truths became a substitution for prajna, or "liberating insight", in the suttas in those texts where "liberating insight" was preceded by the four jhanas. According to Bronkhorst, the four truths may not have been formulated in earliest Buddhism, and did not serve in earliest Buddhism as a description of "liberating insight". Gotama's teachings may have been personal, "adjusted to the need of each person."
The three marks of existence may reflect Upanishadic or other influences. K.R. Norman supposes that these terms were already in use at the Buddha's time, and were familiar to his listeners.
The Brahma-vihara was in origin probably a brahmanic term; but its usage may have been common to the Sramana traditions.
LATER DEVELOPMENTS
In time, "liberating insight" became an essential feature of the Buddhist tradition. The following teachings, which are commonly seen as essential to Buddhism, are later formulations which form part of the explanatory framework of this "liberating insight":
- The Four Noble Truths: that suffering is an ingrained part of existence; that the origin of suffering is craving for sensuality, acquisition of identity, and fear of annihilation; that suffering can be ended; and that following the Noble Eightfold Path is the means to accomplish this;
- The Noble Eightfold Path: right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration;
- Dependent origination: the mind creates suffering as a natural product of a complex process.
OTHER RELIGIONS
Some Hindus regard Gautama as the 9th avatar of Vishnu. The Buddha is also regarded as a prophet by the Ahmadiyya Muslims and a Manifestation of God in the Bahá'í Faith. Some early Chinese Taoist-Buddhists thought the Buddha to be a reincarnation of Lao Tzu.
The Christian Saint Josaphat is based on the Buddha. The name comes from the Sanskrit Bodhisattva via Arabic Būdhasaf and Georgian Iodasaph. The only story in which St. Josaphat appears, Barlaam and Josaphat, is based on the life of the Buddha. Josaphat was included in earlier editions of the Roman Martyrology (feast day 27 November) — though not in the Roman Missal — and in the Eastern Orthodox Church liturgical calendar (26 August).
Disciples of the Cao Đài religion worship the Buddha as a major religious teacher. His image can be found in both their Holy See and on the home altar. He is revealed during communication with Divine Beings as son of their Supreme Being (God the Father) together with other major religious teachers and founders like Jesus, Laozi, and Confucius.
In the ancient Gnostic sect of Manichaeism the Buddha is listed among the prophets who preached the word of God before Mani.
WIKIPEDIA