Dante: the numbers
Can poet Dante be our guide
to
rediscover
lost links of Buddhism in the West?
Dante in Rome
After his exile from Florence c. 1300 Dante stayed in Rome protected by the Pope. The Pantheon built by Hadrian (125 AD) was designed with the “mystic numbers of Pythagoras”, followed by Dante to write the Divine Comedy.
Dante in Rome protected by the Pope, the Pantheon 125 AD
Purgatory Canto 2 Ostia harbour: Mithras sculpture with meditation codes
Rome Ostia: boat to Purgatory,
Roman emperor Trajan, poet Statius
Christianity, the “Sun over Jerusalem” replaces
the meditation system, “Ganges with the scales”
Dante and poet Virgil will ascend mount Purgatory when a boat arrives from Ostia, the harbour of Rome with 100 souls of the dead on board under guidance of a radiant Celestial Pilot: to symbolically “take them to the other shore”.
The “sun over Jerusalem” (divine grace of God) replaces the meditation system where meditators analyse Causes to see how kamma results in Effects as rebirth; the “scales over the Ganges” represent the meditation system to investigate – the Buddha was described in Pali texts as “the pilot who knows the way to safely cross the ocean of samsara to the other shore of peace, Nibbāna”.
The coded lion sculpture c. 190 AD from Ostia represents the Mysteries of Mithras, introduced by Hadrian, patron of Greek dialectics. Two Roman contemporaries of Hadrian will appear in Purgatory as Christians: emperor Trajan in Canto 10 (Ten Dhammas) and Roman Poet Statius in Canto 20/21 (liberation).
Purgatory Canto 2: the Sun over Jerusalem replaces “Ganges with the scales”
Purgatory Canto 2 Ostia harbour: Mithras sculpture with meditation codes
Dante: “the numbers” in Luni
Northern Italy
Hell 8th Circle Canto 20: Luni, Val Camonica:
“Art thou, too, of the other fools?”
After Rome Dante stayed with new patrons, the Lombard rulers in Luni, originally from Sweden where Runes were used from the 4-5th century to illustrate the meditation system.
Sculptures from Lunigianesi are a faithful rendering in stone of the “light of wisdom” observed with the mind’s eye, the 6th sense: “the bhavanga mind element”.
In Paradise Canto 19 Dante had a vision of a shape in the sky – the “ᛖ” rune named horse, symbol of the Buddha.
Dante mentioned areas that were Christianised, in Hell Canto 20 he mentioned Valcamonica in Northern Italy. Is the antlered giant on a petroglyph the same as the teacher of the Gundestrup Cauldron? Virgil asked Dante, Hell Canto 20:
Are’t thou, too, of the other fools?
Purgatory Canto 20: Are’t thou, too, of the other fools? Image 6th sense “Bhavanga”
Artist’s meditation notes: the 6th sense appears as white light, “bhavanga mind element”
Is the Gundestrup Cauldron teacher the same as the giant antlered man of Valcamonica?
Artist’s image: 6th sense, analysis of Ultimate Mind and Materiality, nāma and rūpa
Norway: Patron Saint Olaf
and the myth of the Frösö Runestone
Thus was the spell to be tied till the day someone came who could read and understand the inscription on the stone.” — Wikipedia Jämtland
Dante described the conquest of Christianity in Europe in Paradise Canto 19, he specifically mentioned Norway. After his death in a bloody battle in Stiklestad (1030 AD) Christian King Olaf II was declared a saint and Patron Saint of Norway in 1165. Modern research revealed that he was cruel and a criminal.
Near Stiklestad in Jämtland Sweden the most northern Runestone ever was erected, the only stone to celebrate Christianity in 1030-1050 after Olaf’s death.
In a local myth two trolls cooked a magic potion in a cauldron.
A black serpent appeared and jumped into the lake.
Was the myth of the Serpent with its feline face, banned to the Lake of Frösö by a preacher, created to discredit and make people fearful of meditation practices?
Frösö runestone: liberation as taught by the Buddha, the teacher “M named horse”
Dante Hell Canto 19: people are dipped in holes like baptismal fonts – metaphor for cauldron of rebirth (Gundestrup Cauldron)
Preacher’s Myth Frösö Runestone: trolls cooked a magic potion, from the cauldron a serpent jumped into the lake banned by a spell
Dante’s vision Paradise Canto 19: the 19th “ᛖ rune named horse”, to follow the teacher
Dante, aware of the meaning of rune no. 19 “ᛖ named horse”, described the use of runes to write votive messages in
Paradise Canto 19 lines 127-133:
“Be seen the Cripple of Jerusalem,
His goodness represented by an I,
While the reverse an M shall represent;
… And to declare how pitiful he is
Shall be his record in contracted letters
Which shall make note of much in little space.“
“Headless giant” Ramsund Sweden
The headless man of Dante’s Canto 28 (teaching of the Buddha) Circle 8 (Eightfold Noble Path)was copied from the Ramsund rune stone in Sweden, combined with Vulcan, the horse as symbol of the teacher (Buddha) and Tree of Life/Wisdom (5 clinging aggregates), the meditator as “hanging man” on a branch: fruit of his own kamma, Cause and Effect.