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Chapter 02
Three Field Trip Reports
Shang people. From the oracles, we see frequent phrases as 'Today we captured 50 Jians.' Certainly, some Shang people were captured by Jian, but not recorded. Also, the Tibetan people were considered to be the descendants of Jian by some scholars in the past. Today, Jian and Tibetan are classified as one race, Jian-Tibetan people. However, we are satisfied with the closeness of Tibetan and Jian. One of the Kings of Shang Dynasty had a name Jian-Chia. There were possible explanations of his name, maybe his mother was a Jian. There were some inter-caste marriage between Shang people and Jian people who lived near each other. Let us consider the life style of the two people. The name Jian has a root in Yion (goat, the animal 'sheep' was transported to Han people from Northwest during Han Dynasty, sheep was called Hu-Yion, and later Mion-Yion), which indicates that the Jian were likely to be goat raising nomads. This observation matches with the later records of Jian people. On the other hand, Shang people were semi-nomadic with settlements. On the religions, both believed shamanism and both used bone-oracles. In fact the ancient Tibetan written language was carved on bones.
Bon Po Religion We are going in detail and trying to learn about Bon Po religion where we hope to find some useful information. We are also studying the relation between Shang and Jian-Tibetan people. There are many Bon Po monasteries in northern India spread from Leh-Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, Nepal, Sikkim up to Bhutan. There is a Bon Po school in Kathmandu which we had visited. A lot of research is going on for Bon Po at international level especially in Italy, Switzerland, Germany and USA. All this research may help us in future. Jain Scriptures Shri Gautam Swami had been to Ashtapad 2600 years ago (after getting permission from Bhagwan Mahavir). He climbed up with the help of sun rays. He stayed overnight and worshiped all twenty-four Tirthankar Pratimaji and he wrote the first two Jag Chintamani (Gatha) verses there. On return, 1503 Tapas were waiting at the base of mountain, as they could not climb. Then there was Kheer Parna story. Taking in consideration all these facts from the scripture, one thinks that Ashtapad existed 2600 years ago and it survived thousands and even lacs of years since Bharat Chakravarti had built it after the Nirvana of Bhagwan Rushabhdev on Ashtapad. One would like to know what happened since then, in the last 2600 years, that has caused it to disappear, as we are not able to locate it in the present time. Two thousand six hundred years is not a long period in terms of history or geography or even civilization. If it could exist from 1st Tirthankar to 24th Tirthankar, then why is it untraceable today? At many places in literature, it is mentioned that Ashtapad is lost (lupt) then why we are trying to locate it? As per scriptures, Ashtapad is located twelve and a half Kosh- yojan north of Ayodhya and is visible from Ayodhya on a clear day from a high point. If this is true, why are we looking for Ashtapad in Kailash region- thousands of miles away from Ayodhya? Another question arisesif this is the Ayodhya? Some people believe that Ashtapad is near Badrinath. What to believe is one's own belief, as there is no concrete evidence today.
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Field Trip I - Summary Report
