Ellora Caves Accept Walking Meditations Advocated by Thich Nhat Hanh

Summary: The Ellora Caves afford ample areas for applying appropriate aspects of walking meditations advocated by Thich Nhat Hanh amid the ancient architectural artistry of cave temples in Maharashtra state, western peninsular India.

Depictions of Buddha at Ellora Caves present the great spiritual teacher with a half smile, with a near-closed mouth, which is also an essential component of walking meditations popularized by Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat HanhThich: Nhat Hanh @thichnhathanh, via Facebook Dec. 8, 2019

Thich Nhat Hanh brings walking meditations into Plum Tradition practice and training centers in Australia, Hong Kong, Thailand; California, Mississippi, New York; and France and Germany.

Walking traditions correlate, for conscious contemplation of mindful moments, balanced belly diaphragmatic breathing; half-smiling, near-closed mouths; and steps counted in coordination with incoming and outgoing breaths. Balanced belly diaphragmatic breathing directs atmospheric oxygen through both nostrils, except in alternate-nostril respiration prefatory to yogic meditation, for diffusion into air sacs and blood vessels.

Thich Nhat Hanh explains, in Walking Meditation, that "your breath, your steps, your counting, and your half-smile all blend together in a marvelous balance of mindfulness."

Painted and sculpted figures of Gautama Buddha (from Sanskrit गोतम, "brightness [dispels] darkness" and बुद्ध, "awakened") frequently feature closed or near-closed, half-smiling mouths and half-closed eyed.

The Buddhist grottoes, as Ellora Caves 1 through 12, generally give the Buddhist genitor (624 B.C.E.?-544 B.C.E.?) in cross-legged, padmasana (from Sanskrit पद्मासन, "lotus seat") position. They also have the former Siddhartha (from Sanskrit सिद्धार्थ, "successful") in the pralambapadasana (from Sanskrit प्रलम्ब, "[legs] dangling [European-like on]," पद, "foot" and आसन, "seat") position. Cross-legged sessions imply Sakya Prince Siddhartha Gautama's enlightening, 49-day meditation under a bodhi tree (Ficus religiosa) in order to initiate 45 enlightened years as Gautama Buddha.

Abhayamudra (from Sanskrit अभय, "fearlessness" and मुद्रा, "[right-handed] sign [upright, palms outward]") justifies dangling-legged, pendant (from Latin pendant, "hanging") over cross-legged positions in the Ellora Caves.

Vitarkamudra (from Sanskrit वितर्क, "discussion" and मुद्रा, "sign") teaching gestures, with specifically positioned fingers, like fearless assurances, kindle dangling-legged over cross-legged positions in the Ellora Caves.

Thich Nhat Hanh links Plum Village Tradition sitting meditations to what itinerant artisans and merchants learned by looking upon seated Buddha sculptures in the Ellora Caves. Sitting meditations, and walking meditations around painted, sculpted seated Buddhas, manifest his Noble Eightfold Path's right understanding, thought, speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness and concentration. His numbering the eight nobilities net noteworthy painted, sculpted representations of Gautama Buddha at the neighboring Ajanta Caves, 60 miles (96.56 kilometers) from the Ellora Caves.

Cave temple paintings and sculptures that offer the standing Buddha as observing walking meditations occur perhaps more famously in the Ajanta Caves than the Ellora Caves.

The Ellora Caves, like the Ajanta Caves, present sculpted standing bodhisattva (from Sanskrit बोधि, "perfect knowledge" and सत्त्व, "essence") reincarnations in the process of walking meditations.

The Bamyan valley in central Afghanistan's Hazarajat region, not the Ajanta Caves nor the Ellora Caves, queued world-famous standing Buddhas until their destruction March 2, 2001. The Ajanta Caves retain perhaps the most famous painted, sculpted supine (from Latin supīnus, "lying down backward [with face upward]") Buddha realization that represents reclining meditations. The Plum Village Tradition mindfulness centers of Thich Nhat Hanh support sitting, standing, suping and walking meditations as safely as the Ellora Caves sustain walking meditations.

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization World Heritage Centre tallies of 40-member temple tour maximums turn walking meditations into tackleable tasks at the Ellora Caves.

Ellora Caves offer opportunities for meditative repose and walking in nature; Ellora Caves, Maharashtra, western peninsular India; Saturday, Sep. 1, 2012, 11:39:43: Shreyank Gupta ($rink), CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Depictions of Buddha at Ellora Caves present the great spiritual teacher with a half smile, with a near-closed mouth, which is also an essential component of walking meditations popularized by Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat HanhThich: Nhat Hanh @thichnhathanh, via Facebook Dec. 8, 2019, @ https://www.facebook.com/thichnhathanh/posts/10157041354239635

Ellora Caves offer opportunities for meditative repose and walking in nature; Ellora Caves, Maharashtra, western peninsular India; Saturday, Sep. 1, 2012, 11:39:43: Shreyank Gupta ($rink), CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/shreyankg/7925663462/

For further information:

"About Ellora Caves." Yatra > Monuments of India > Monuments in Aurangabad. Copyrighted 2019.
Available @ https://www.yatra.com/indian-monuments/aurangabad/ellora-caves

Anh-Huong, Nguyen; and Thich Nhat Hanh. 2019. Walking Meditation. Boulder CO: Sounds True.

Barrett, Douglas. "Wall Painting (Second to Sixteenth Century)." Pages 17-48. In: Douglas Barrett and Basil Gray. Paintings of India. Treasures of Asia. Distributed in the United States by The World Publishing Company, Cleveland OH. Geneva, Switzerland: Editions d'Art Albert Skira, 1963.

Berkson, Carmel. Ellora Concept and Style. First Edition, 1992. Second Edition, 2004. New Delhi, India: Abhinav Publications.
Available via Google Books @ https://books.google.com/books/about/Ellora_Concept_and_Style.html?id=tH7KRNqIin4C

Burgess, Jas. (James). Report on the Elura Cave Temples and the Brahmanical and Jain Caves of Western India. The Results of the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Seasons' Operations of the Archaeological Survey 1877-78, 1878-79, 1879-80. Supplementary to the Volume on "The Cave Temples of India." London [UK]: Trübner & Co., 1883.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/in.gov.ignca.1544/page/n5/mode/1up

Cartwright, Mark. 8 March 2016. "Ellora Caves." Ancient History Encyclopedia > Article.
Available @ https://www.ancient.eu/article/874/ellora-caves/

"Cave 19." The Ellora Caves.
Available @ https://elloracaves.org/caves.php?cmd=search&words=&image_ID=&cave_ID=19&plan_floor=1

Cleary, Thomas F. 1993. The Flower Ornament Scripture: A Translation of the Avatamsaka Sutra. Boston MA: Shambhala Publications.

Cook, Sharell. Updated June 3, 2019. "Ajanta and Ellora Caves Essential Travel Guide." TripSavvy > Destinations > India > Maharashtra.
Available @ https://www.tripsavvy.com/ajanta-and-ellora-caves-travel-guide-1539340

Durdin-Robertson, Lawrence. 1976. The Goddesses of India, Tibet, China and Japan. With illustrations by Anna Durdin-Robertson. Huntington Castle, Clonegal, Enniscorthy, Eire: Cesara Publications.
Available @ http://www.fellowshipofisis.com/ldr_india_tibet_china_japan.pdf

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. 7 March 2019. "Ellora Caves." Encyclopædia Britannica > Geography & Travel > Historical Places. Chicago IL: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Available @ https://www.britannica.com/place/Ellora-Caves

"Elapura, aka: Elpāra; 6 Definition(s)." Wisdom Library.
Available @ https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/elapura

"Ellora." Exotic Journeys International > India City Details.
Available @ http://www.ejiusa.com/india_city_details/Ellora.html

"Ellora Caves." Atlas Obscura > Places > Verul, India. Copyrighted 2020.
Available @ https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/ellora-caves

"Ellora Caves." UNESCO > Culture > World Heritage Centre > The List > World Heritage List.
Available @ https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/243/

Fergusson, James; and James Burgess. 1880. The Cave Temples of India. London [United Kingdom]: W.H. Allen @ Co., Trübner & Co. E. Stanford and W. Briggs.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/cavetemplesofind00ferguoft

Huntington, John C.; and Dina Bangdel. "Glossary M-Y." The Circle of Bliss: Buddhist Meditational Art.
Available @ https://huntingtonarchive.org/resources/downloads/COBGlossaryM-Y.pdf

"Interview with Shrikant Ganvir, Pune, January 2016." Sahapedia > Ellora Caves > Buddhist Caves of Ellora. Published 9 November 2016.
Available @ https://www.sahapedia.org/buddhist-caves-of-ellora

Ions, Veronica. 1967. Indian Mythology. London UK: Paul Hamlyn Limited.

Kannal, Deepak. 25 September 2017. "A Riddle Called Ellora." Sahapedia > Overview.
Available @ https://www.sahapedia.org/riddle-called-ellora

Lee, Eva. 17 February 2014. "Ellora Caves: Buddhist, Hindu, and Jain Coexistence." Eva Lee Studio.
Available @ http://www.evaleestudio.com/2014/02/12/ellora-caves-buddhist-hindu-and-jain-coexistence/

Malandra, Geri H. 1993. Unfolding a Mandala: The Buddhist Cave Temples at Ellora. Albany NY: State University of New York Press.
Available via Google Books @ https://books.google.com/books?id=MU44LPu3mbUC

Marriner, Derdriu. 20 March 2020. "Ellora Caves Ally with Ajanta Caves and Thich Nhath Hanh in Indra's Net." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/03/ellora-caves-ally-with-ajanta-caves-and.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 13 March 2020. "Ellora Caves Are Painted, Sculpted Temples Like and Unlike Ajanta Caves." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/03/ellora-caves-are-painted-sculpted.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 6 March 2020. "Ailing Ellora Caves Are Among Ameliorable World Heritage Centre Sites." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/03/ailing-ellora-caves-are-among.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 28 February 2020. "Schneider's Leaf-Nosed Bats Are Artful Annihilators at Ellora Caves." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/02/schneiders-leaf-nosed-bats-are-artful.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 21 February 2020. "Greater Indian False Vampire Bats Are Artful Assassins at Ellora Caves." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/02/greater-indian-false-vampire-bats-are.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 14 February 2020. "Are Grey Junglefowl Avoiding Artful Areas Around Ellora Caves?" Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/02/are-grey-junglefowl-avoiding-artful.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 7 February 2020. "Blue Indian Peafowl No Longer Prettify the Artistic Ellora Caves." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/02/blue-indian-peafowl-no-longer-prettify.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 31 January 2020. "Ellora Caves Sanctuary Gardens Artfully Adjoin Ellora Caves Artistry." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/01/ellora-caves-sanctuary-gardens-artfully.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 24 January 2020. "Ellora Caves Teak Forest Trees Anchor Ellora Caves Rain Gardens." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/01/ellora-caves-teak-forest-trees-anchor.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 17 January 2020. "Ajanta Cave Wall Paintings and Gardens and Bhimbetka Sanctuary Gardens." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/01/ajanta-cave-wall-paintings-and-gardens.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 10 January 2020. "Ajanta Cave Wall Paintings, Ajanta Rain Gardens, Bhimbetka Rain Gardens." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/01/ajanta-cave-wall-paintings-ajanta-rain.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 31 May 2019. "Thich Nhat Hanh, Indra's Net at Bat Nha and Ajanta Cave Wall Paintings." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2019/05/thich-nhat-hanh-indras-net-at-bat-nha.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 5 April 2019. "Thich Nhat Hanh, Tu Hieu Temple Walks and Ajanta Cave Wall Paintings." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2019/04/thich-nhat-hanh-tu-hieu-temple-walks.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 29 March 2019. "Thich Nhat Hanh, Walking Meditations and Ajanta Cave Wall Paintings." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2019/03/thich-nhat-hanh-walking-meditations-and.html

Narayana, Hari. 25 November 2012. "The Ellora Caves - An Introduction." India That Was: A Legacy Unfolded.
Available @ http://indiathatwas.com/2012/11/the-ellora-caves-an-introduction/

Nhat Hanh, Thich. September/October 2009. "Indra's Net." Resurgence Issue 256: Exploring Consciousness.
Available @ https://www.resurgence.org/magazine/issue256-exploring-consciousness.html

Owen, Lisa N. 2012. Carving Devotion in the Jain Caves at Ellora. Leiden, The Netherlands; and Boston MA: Brill.
Available via Google Books @ https://books.google.com/books?id=vHK2WE8xAzYC

Pereira, José. 1977. Monolithic Jinas: The Iconography of the Jain Temples of Ellora. Delhi, Varanasi and Patna, India: Motilal Banarsidass.
Available via Google Books @ https://books.google.com/books/about/Monolithic_Jinas.html?id=LMTgiygj4-oC

Poduval, Jayaram. 21 November 2018. "The Architecture of Ellora Caves." Sahapedia > Article.
Available @ https://www.sahapedia.org/the-architecture-of-ellora-caves

Rawson, Philip. "Eastern Art." Pages 256-299. In: David Piper. The Illustrated History of Art. London, England: Chancellor Press (Bounty Books), 2000.

Revire, Nicolas. 2011. "Some Reconsiderations of Pendant-Legged Buddha Images in the Dvāravatī Artistic Tradition." Bulletin of the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association 31: 37-49.
Available via Academia @ https://www.academia.edu/5735422/Some_Reconsiderations_on_Pendant-Legged_Buddha_Images_in_the_Dv%C4%81ravat%C4%AB_Artistic_Tradition

Singh, Rajesh Kumar. 26 November 2019. "Obituary: Walter M. Spink (Feb 16, 1928 - Nov 24, 2019)." Caves of India > Walter Spink.
Available @ https://cavesofindia.org/2019/11/26/prof-spink/

Spink, Walter M. 1967. Ajanta to Ellora. Mumbai, India: Marg Publications.

Spink, Walter M. 1967. "Ellora's Earliest Phase." Off Print of the Bulletin of the American Academy of Benares 1: 11-22.

Thich Nhat Hanh @thichnhathanh. 26 July 2016. "With normal perception, we see flowers, fruit, teapots, and tables, and we think they exist separately of one another. But when we look more deeply, we see that the fruit is in the flower, and that the flower, the cloud, and the earth are in the fruit." Facebook.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/thichnhathanh/photos/a.136121339634/10154002074329635/

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Available @ https://madhyamaka.com/study/tibetan-sanskrit/

Ellora Caves Ally With Ajanta Caves and Thich Nhat Hanh in Indra's Net

Summary: The Ellora Caves, like the Ajanta Caves, in Maharashtra, west India, anticipate Thich Nhat Hanh in the walking meditations that Indra's net accommodates.

Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh expresses ancient India's Indra's net of infinite interconnectedness as Interbeing, in which, for example, clouds are revealed in flowers: Thich Nhat Hanh @thichnhathanh, via Facebook Feb. 22, 2020

The Ellora Caves, just as the Ajanta Caves 60 miles (96.56 kilometers) away, in Maharashtra state, western peninsular India, affirm Indra's net and Thich Nhat Hanh in actual, architectural, artistic walking meditations.

Indra's net belongs to Indra (from Sanskrit इन्द्र, "raindrop-possessing"), king of the celestials and storm god of the Aryan settlers of northwestern India by 1700 B.C.E. Vedic (from Sanskrit वेद, "knowledge" and Greek -ικός, "pertaining to") hymns, as oldest Hindu religious and Sanskrit literary texts, by 800 B.C.E. configure a spiderweb-like universe. The 2,000-year-old Mahavaipulya Buddhavatamsaka Sutra (from Sanskrit महावैपुल्यबुद्धावतंसकसूत्र, "Flower Garland Scripture") and the 3,000 to 3,200-year-old Atharvaveda (from Sanskrit अथर्ववेद, "priestly knowledge") defer to Indra's net.

Both Vedic texts envision Indra establishing a four-sided, house-like world with corner-posted walls, sunrises as entryway and sunsets as exit, and thatched roof from overcast skies.

Indra's net furnishes one infinite spiderweb that features infinite numbers of infinitely faceted, polished gems that Indra fashioned at focal points where infinite connections fit together.

Each facet, each jewel, each connection in Indra's net generates to, and guards from all other facets, jewels and connections anyone and anything, everyone and everything. Indra's net harvests, helps, hoards and hurls the Interbeing of anyone and anything, everyone and everything in any and all happenings, peoples, places, things and times. Interbeing is the interpretative invention of Thich Nhat Hanh, Vietnamese-born ideator of nine Plum Village Tradition centers that include walking meditations among mindfulness practices and training.

Indra's net joins walking meditations in the ancient Buddhism of the Ajanta Caves and the Ellora Caves and in the modern Buddhism of Thich Nhat Hanh.

Placeful, placeless, timeless, timely Interbeing keys ancient Ajanta Caves and ancient Ellora Caves to ancient and modern walking meditations and Thich Nhat Hanh and vice versa.

Thich Nhat Hanh looks at ancient and modern Interbeing in his article, Indra's Net, for the September/October 2009 issue on Exploring Consciousness in the journal Resurgence. He mentions in the journal's 256th issue that "In Indra's net the one is present in the all, and the all is present in the one." He nestles walking meditations into Plum Village Tradition mindfulness practice and training sessions in Australia, Hong Kong, Thailand; California, Mississippi, New York; and France and Germany.

The Ajanta Caves and the Ellora Caves operated as earlier Theravada (from Sanskrit स्थविरवाद, "elders' doctrine") and later Mahayana (from Sanskrit महायान, "great vehicle") Buddhist centers.

Itinerant artisans, merchants and monks placed the Ajanta Caves and the Ellora Caves, as monastery caverns for permanent and temporary residents, proximitous to subcontinental trade routes.

Resident monks perhaps queued up daily walking meditations for themselves and for itinerant questors of Gautama Buddha (from Sanskrit गोतम, "brightness [dispels] darkness" and बुद्ध, "awakened"). Indra's net of Interbeing revealed the Buddhist founder (624 B.C.E.?-544 B.C.E.?) to contemporary participants in, and witnesses to, 45 years of walking meditations throughout northern India. It suggested him in any ancient walking meditations at the Ajanta Caves and the Ellora Caves respectively 1,300 to 2,300 and 800 to 1,600 years ago.

Indra's net of Interbeing teams ancient Ajanta Caves, ancient Ellora Caves and ancient walking meditations with their modern configurations and Thich Nhat Hanh, and vice versa.

Visitors find Kailasa, largest of Hindu rock-cut temples at Ellora Caves, in a faunal (lower left) and floral setting; Ellora Caves, Maharashtra, western peninsular India; Saturday, Sep. 5, 2009, 11:43:03: Sankarshan Mukhopadhyay (sankarshan), CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh expresses ancient India's Indra's net of infinite interconnectedness as Interbeing, in which, for example, clouds are revealed in flowers: Thich Nhat Hanh @thichnhathanh, via Facebook Feb. 22, 2020, @ https://www.facebook.com/thichnhathanh/photos/a.136121339634/10157246764074635/

Visitors find Kailasa, largest of Hindu rock-cut temples at Ellora Caves, in a faunal (lower left) and floral setting; Ellora Caves, Maharashtra, western peninsular India; Saturday, Sep. 5, 2009, 11:43:03: Sankarshan Mukhopadhyay (sankarshan), CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/runa-sankarshan/3927449297

For further information:

"About Ellora Caves." Yatra > Monuments of India > Monuments in Aurangabad. Copyrighted 2019.
Available @ https://www.yatra.com/indian-monuments/aurangabad/ellora-caves

Anh-Huong, Nguyen; and Thich Nhat Hanh. 2019. Walking Meditation. Boulder CO: Sounds True.

Barrett, Douglas. "Wall Painting (Second to Sixteenth Century)." Pages 17-48. In: Douglas Barrett and Basil Gray. Paintings of India. Treasures of Asia. Distributed in the United States by The World Publishing Company, Cleveland OH. Geneva, Switzerland: Editions d'Art Albert Skira, 1963.

Berkson, Carmel. Ellora Concept and Style. First Edition, 1992. Second Edition, 2004. New Delhi, India: Abhinav Publications.
Available via Google Books @ https://books.google.com/books/about/Ellora_Concept_and_Style.html?id=tH7KRNqIin4C

Burgess, Jas. (James). Report on the Elura Cave Temples and the Brahmanical and Jain Caves of Western India. The Results of the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Seasons' Operations of the Archaeological Survey 1877-78, 1878-79, 1879-80. Supplementary to the Volume on "The Cave Temples of India." London [UK]: Trübner & Co., 1883.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/in.gov.ignca.1544/page/n5/mode/1up

Cartwright, Mark. 8 March 2016. "Ellora Caves." Ancient History Encyclopedia > Article.
Available @ https://www.ancient.eu/article/874/ellora-caves/

"Cave 19." The Ellora Caves.
Available @ https://elloracaves.org/caves.php?cmd=search&words=&image_ID=&cave_ID=19&plan_floor=1

Cleary, Thomas F. 1993. The Flower Ornament Scripture: A Translation of the Avatamsaka Sutra. Boston MA: Shambhala Publications.

Cook, Sharell. Updated June 3, 2019. "Ajanta and Ellora Caves Essential Travel Guide." TripSavvy > Destinations > India > Maharashtra.
Available @ https://www.tripsavvy.com/ajanta-and-ellora-caves-travel-guide-1539340

Durdin-Robertson, Lawrence. 1976. The Goddesses of India, Tibet, China and Japan. With illustrations by Anna Durdin-Robertson. Huntington Castle, Clonegal, Enniscorthy, Eire: Cesara Publications.
Available @ http://www.fellowshipofisis.com/ldr_india_tibet_china_japan.pdf

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. 7 March 2019. "Ellora Caves." Encyclopædia Britannica > Geography & Travel > Historical Places. Chicago IL: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Available @ https://www.britannica.com/place/Ellora-Caves

"Elapura, aka: Elpāra; 6 Definition(s)." Wisdom Library.
Available @ https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/elapura

"Ellora." Exotic Journeys International > India City Details.
Available @ http://www.ejiusa.com/india_city_details/Ellora.html

"Ellora Caves." Atlas Obscura > Places > Verul, India. Copyrighted 2020.
Available @ https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/ellora-caves

"Ellora Caves." UNESCO > Culture > World Heritage Centre > The List > World Heritage List.
Available @ https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/243/

Fergusson, James; and James Burgess. 1880. The Cave Temples of India. London [United Kingdom]: W.H. Allen @ Co., Trübner & Co. E. Stanford and W. Briggs.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/cavetemplesofind00ferguoft

Huntington, John C.; and Dina Bangdel. "Glossary M-Y." The Circle of Bliss: Buddhist Meditational Art.
Available @ https://huntingtonarchive.org/resources/downloads/COBGlossaryM-Y.pdf

"Interview with Shrikant Ganvir, Pune, January 2016." Sahapedia > Ellora Caves > Buddhist Caves of Ellora. Published 9 November 2016.
Available @ https://www.sahapedia.org/buddhist-caves-of-ellora

Ions, Veronica. 1967. Indian Mythology. London UK: Paul Hamlyn Limited.

Kannal, Deepak. 25 September 2017. "A Riddle Called Ellora." Sahapedia > Overview.
Available @ https://www.sahapedia.org/riddle-called-ellora

Lee, Eva. 17 February 2014. "Ellora Caves: Buddhist, Hindu, and Jain Coexistence." Eva Lee Studio.
Available @ http://www.evaleestudio.com/2014/02/12/ellora-caves-buddhist-hindu-and-jain-coexistence/

Malandra, Geri H. 1993. Unfolding a Mandala: The Buddhist Cave Temples at Ellora. Albany NY: State University of New York Press.
Available via Google Books @ https://books.google.com/books?id=MU44LPu3mbUC

Marriner, Derdriu. 13 March 2020. "Ellora Caves Are Painted, Sculpted Temples Like and Unlike Ajanta Caves." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/03/ellora-caves-are-painted-sculpted.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 6 March 2020. "Ailing Ellora Caves Are Among Ameliorable World Heritage Centre Sites." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/03/ailing-ellora-caves-are-among.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 28 February 2020. "Schneider's Leaf-Nosed Bats Are Artful Annihilators at Ellora Caves." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/02/schneiders-leaf-nosed-bats-are-artful.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 21 February 2020. "Greater Indian False Vampire Bats Are Artful Assassins at Ellora Caves." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/02/greater-indian-false-vampire-bats-are.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 14 February 2020. "Are Grey Junglefowl Avoiding Artful Areas Around Ellora Caves?" Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/02/are-grey-junglefowl-avoiding-artful.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 7 February 2020. "Blue Indian Peafowl No Longer Prettify the Artistic Ellora Caves." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/02/blue-indian-peafowl-no-longer-prettify.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 31 January 2020. "Ellora Caves Sanctuary Gardens Artfully Adjoin Ellora Caves Artistry." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/01/ellora-caves-sanctuary-gardens-artfully.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 24 January 2020. "Ellora Caves Teak Forest Trees Anchor Ellora Caves Rain Gardens." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/01/ellora-caves-teak-forest-trees-anchor.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 17 January 2020. "Ajanta Cave Wall Paintings and Gardens and Bhimbetka Sanctuary Gardens." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/01/ajanta-cave-wall-paintings-and-gardens.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 10 January 2020. "Ajanta Cave Wall Paintings, Ajanta Rain Gardens, Bhimbetka Rain Gardens." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/01/ajanta-cave-wall-paintings-ajanta-rain.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 31 May 2019. "Thich Nhat Hanh, Indra's Net at Bat Nha and Ajanta Cave Wall Paintings." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2019/05/thich-nhat-hanh-indras-net-at-bat-nha.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 5 April 2019. "Thich Nhat Hanh, Tu Hieu Temple Walks and Ajanta Cave Wall Paintings." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2019/04/thich-nhat-hanh-tu-hieu-temple-walks.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 29 March 2019. "Thich Nhat Hanh, Walking Meditations and Ajanta Cave Wall Paintings." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2019/03/thich-nhat-hanh-walking-meditations-and.html

Narayana, Hari. 25 November 2012. "The Ellora Caves - An Introduction." India That Was: A Legacy Unfolded.
Available @ http://indiathatwas.com/2012/11/the-ellora-caves-an-introduction/

Nhat Hanh, Thich. September/October 2009. "Indra's Net." Resurgence Issue 256: Exploring Consciousness.
Available @ https://www.resurgence.org/magazine/issue256-exploring-consciousness.html

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Available @ https://www.facebook.com/thichnhathanh/photos/a.136121339634/10157246764074635/

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Thich Nhat Hanh, Blue Cliff Monastery and Ajanta Cave Wall Paintings

Summary: Sitting meditations and walking meditations of Blue Cliff Monastery founder Thich Nhat Hanh adapt to ancient India's Ajanta cave wall paintings.

Blue Cliff Monastery's "beloved three-legged deer": Blue Cliff Monastery @bluecliffmonastery, via Facebook Oct. 3, 2012

The present-moment mindfulness, sitting meditations and walking meditations of Blue Cliff Monastery founder Thich Nhat Hanh allow an accurate appreciation of ancient adherents of central-west India's Ajanta cave wall paintings and sculptures.

Tu Hieu Temple Abbot and Head and Vietnamese peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh brought his Plum Village Tradition of north-central and central-southwest France to New England. He created the Plum Village Tradition with Sweet Potato Community outside Paris in 1975 before congregating everyone and everything into Plum Village outside Bordeaux in 1982. He derived Blue Cliff Monastery from Maple Forest Monastery and Green Mountain Dharma Center, developed by him respectively in November 1997 and April 1998 in Vermont.

The 80-acre (0.32-square-kilometer) vihara (from Sanskrit विहार, "walking [hall]") monastery emerged in May 2007 from the Vermont dharma (from Sanskrit धर्म, "supporter, upholder") center and monastery.

Blue Cliff Monastery features one creek and two ponds of 25 acres (0.10 square kilometers) of cultivated and 65 acres (0.26 square kilometers) of forested lands.

Tu Hieu Temple Abbot and Head and Vietnamese peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh got Plum Village Tradition a Buddhist-friendly (from Sanskrit बुद्ध, "awakened") address, Mindfulness Road. The Ajanta (from Sanskrit अजित, "invincible") Caves harbor 1,300- to 2,300-year-old Ajanta cave wall paintings and sculptures above the Waghora (from Sanskrit व्याघ्र, "tiger") River bend. The 1,968.5-foot- (600-meter-) long, 20,366.43-acre (8,242-hectare) World Heritage Centre site and its 194,412.63-acre (78,676-hectare) buffer zone include a seven-leap waterfall and a teak (Tectona grandis) forest.

Ajanta cave wall paintings and sculptures juggle a moniker for Maitreya (from Sanskrit मैत्रेय, "benevolent") Buddha, successor to Gautama (from Sanskrit गोतम, "light [dispels] darkness") Buddha.

Ajanta cave wall paintings and sculptures within north-central Maharashtra state know United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Centre site status since 1983.

Blue Cliff Monastery of Pine Bush hamlet, Town of Crawford, Orange County, logs Hudson River Valley Heritage Area status with the National Park Service since 1996. Ajanta cave wall paintings and sculptures manifest enlightened, 35- to 80-year-old Gautama Buddha (624?-544 B.C.?) atop lotus pads (Nelumbo nouchali) under a bodhi tree (Ficus religiosa). The Blue Cliff Monastery Great Meditation Hall nets 800 Buddhist monks and nuns and laymen and laywomen practitioners for present-moment mindfulness, sitting meditations and walking meditations.

Stone-sculpted beds in vihara monastery caves occasioned sitting meditations by itinerant artisans and merchants and resident and seasonal monks near Ajanta cave wall paintings and sculptures.

The four-fold Sangha (from Sanskrit संघ, "multitude") of laymen, laywomen, monks and nuns perform outdoor sitting meditations and walking meditations around Blue Cliff Monastery Buddha sculptures.

Perhaps Buddhist nuns and female and male artisans and merchants queued up with Ajanta monks along stone-sculpted pradakshina (from Sanskrit प्रदक्षिण, "to the right turning") aisles. Perhaps they realized present-moment mindfulness and walking meditations around Ajanta cave wall paintings and sculptures near chaitya (from Sanskrit चैत्य, "funereal mound, pedestal, pile") prayer-hall aisles. Blue Cliff Monastery satisfies the Plum Village Tradition of founder Thich Nhat Hanh in structuring present-moment mindfulness, sitting meditations and walking meditations for the four-fold Sangha.

Perhaps feminine-influenced Ajanta cave 2 took in female laity and monastics for present-moment mindfulness, sitting meditations and walking meditations around Ajanta cave wall paintings and sculptures.

Blue Cliff Monastery's Great Togetherness Meditation Hall (lower center): Blue Cliff Monastery @bluecliffmonastery, via Facebook Jan. 28, 2016

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Blue Cliff Monastery's "beloved three-legged deer": Blue Cliff Monastery @bluecliffmonastery, via Facebook Oct. 3, 2012, @ https://www.facebook.com/bluecliffmonastery/photos/a.10151055277770759/10151058674475759/

Blue Cliff Monastery's Great Togetherness Meditation Hall (lower center): Blue Cliff Monastery @bluecliffmonastery, via Facebook Jan. 28, 2016, @ https://www.facebook.com/bluecliffmonastery/photos/a.10151034893585759/10153281202565759/

For further information:

"Ajanta Caves." UNESCO > Culture > World Heritage Centre > The List > World Heritage List.
Available @ http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/242

"Ajanta Caves Vulnerable to Landslides, Says Study." NDTV > India > News > August 6, 2014 15:50 IST.
Available @ https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/ajanta-caves-vulnerable-to-landslides-says-study-616005

Anh-Huong, Nguyen; and Thich Nhat Hanh. 2019. Walking Meditation. Boulder CO: Sounds True.

Bankar, M.V.; and N.P. Bhosle. November-December 2017. "Ethnobotanical Survey of Medicinal Plants in Ajanta Region (MS) India." IOSR Journal of Pharmacy and Biological Sciences Volume 12, Issue 6 Ver. II: 59-64.
Available @ http://www.iosrjournals.org/iosr-jpbs/papers/Vol12-issue6/Version-2/I1206025964.pdf

Barrett, Douglas E.; and Basil Gray. 1963. Painting of India. Geneva, Switzerland: Skira, Treasures of Asia. Distributed in the United States by World Publishing Co., Cleveland OH.

Behl, Benoy K. 2005. The Ajanta Caves: Ancient Paintings of Buddhist India. London UK: Thames & Hudson.

Blue Cliff Monastery @bluecliffmonastery. 3 October 2012. "Added a new photo." Facebook.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/bluecliffmonastery/photos/a.10151055277770759/10151058674475759/

Blue Cliff Monastery @bluecliffmonastery. 3 October 2012. "BCM beloved three-legged deer." Facebook.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/bluecliffmonastery/photos/a.10151055277770759/10151058674435759/

Blue Cliff Monastery @bluecliffmonastery. 28 January 2016. "BCM Quiz! . . . ." Facebook.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/bluecliffmonastery/photos/a.10151034893585759/10153281202565759/

Boyd, Ryan. 14 December 2018. "Sacred Sites: Ajanta Caves." Evolve + Ascend > Ancient Wisdom > Culture > Occult > Sacred Sites.
Available @ http://www.evolveandascend.com/2018/12/14/sacred-sites-ajanta-caves/

Boyle, Alan. 25 November 2013. "Religious Roots of Buddha's Birthplace Traced Back 2,600 Years." NBC News > Science News.
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Burgess, J. (James). 1879. "Notes on the Bauddha Rock-Temples of Ajanta, Their Paintings and Sculptures, and on the Paintings of the Bagh Caves, Modern Bauddha Mythology, &c." Archaeological Society of Western India, no. 9. Bombay, India: Government Central Press.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/archaeologicals01indigoog/

Dalrymple, William. 15 August 2014. "The Ajanta Cave Murals: 'Nothing Less Than the Birth of Indian Art.'" The Guardian > Culture > Art & Design.
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Fergusson, James. 1845. Illustrations of the Rock-Cut Temples of India: Text to Accompany the Folio Volume of Plates. London, England.
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Fergusson, James. 1845. Illustrations of the Rock-Cut Temples of India: Selected From the Best Examples of the Different Series of Caves at Ellora, Ajunta, Cuttack, Salsette, Karli, and Mahavellipore. Drawn on Stone by Mr. T.C. Dibdin, From Sketches Carefully Made on the Spot, With the Assistance of the Camera-Lucida, in the Years 1838-9. London, England: John Weale, M.DCCC.XLV.
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Fergusson, James; and James Burgess. 1880. The Cave Temples of India. London, England: W.H. Allen & Co.
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Fergusson, James; and Robert Gill. 1864. The Rock-Cut Temples of India; Illustrated by Seventy-Four Photographs Taken on the Spot by Major Gill. Described by James Fergusson. London, England: John Murray.
Available via HathiTrust @ https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100206115
Available via Wikisource @ https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Rock-cut_Temples_of_India

Gill, Robert; and James Fergusson. 1864. One Hundred Stereoscopic Illustrations of Architecture and Natural History in Western India. Photographed by Major Gill and described by James Fergusson. London, England: Cundall, Downes & Co.

Gupte, R.S.; and B.D. Mahajan. 1962. Ajanta, Ellora and Aurangabad Caves. Bombay, India: D.B. Taraporevala Sons and Co.

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Marriner, Derdriu. 12 April 2019. “Thich Nhat Hanh, Plum Village Tradition and Ajanta Cave Wall Paintings.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2019/04/thich-nhat-hanh-plum-village-tradition.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 5 April 2019. “Thich Nhat Hanh, Tu Hieu Temple Walks and Ajanta Cave Wall Paintings.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2019/04/thich-nhat-hanh-tu-hieu-temple-walks.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 29 March 2019. "Thich Nhat Hanh, Walking Meditations and Ajanta Cave Wall Paintings." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2019/03/thich-nhat-hanh-walking-meditations-and.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 22 March 2019. “200th Anniversary Year of Ajanta Cave Wall Paintings: Ajanta Cave 13.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2019/03/200th-anniversary-year-of-ajanta-cave_22.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 15 March 2019. “200th Anniversary Year of Ajanta Cave Wall Paintings: Ajanta Cave 12.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2019/03/200th-anniversary-year-of-ajanta-cave.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 8 March 2019. “200th Anniversary Year of Ajanta Cave Wall Paintings: Ajanta Cave 8.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2019/03/200th-anniversary-year-of-ajanta-cave_8.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 1 March 2019. “200th Anniversary Year of Ajanta Cave Wall Paintings: Ajanta Cave 15A/30.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2019/03/200th-anniversary-year-of-ajanta-cave_1.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 22 February 2019. “200th Anniversary Year of Ajanta Cave Wall Paintings: Pithora Wall Art.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2019/02/200th-anniversary-year-of-ajanta-cave.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 15 February 2019. “200th Anniversary Year of Ajanta Cave Wall Paintings: Ajanta Cave 29.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2019/02/200th-anniversary-year-of-ajanta-cave_15.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 8 February 2019. “Ajanta Cave 26 in 200th Anniversary Year of Ajanta Cave Wall Paintings.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2019/02/ajanta-cave-26-in-200th-anniversary.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 1 February 2019. “Ajanta Cave 19 in 200th Anniversary Year of Ajanta Cave Wall Paintings.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2019/02/ajanta-cave-19-in-200th-anniversary.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 25 January 2019. “200th Anniversary Year of Ajanta Cave Wall Paintings in Ajanta Cave 9.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2019/01/200th-anniversary-year-of-ajanta-cave.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 18 January 2019. “Ancient Ajanta Cave Wall Paintings and Inscriptions in Ajanta Cave 10.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2019/01/ancient-ajanta-cave-wall-paintings-and.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 11 January 2019. “Ajanta Cave Wall Paintings Ailing at World Heritage Centre Site.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2019/01/ajanta-cave-wall-paintings-ailing-at.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 4 January 2019. “Accurate, Ancient, Artistic Ajanta Cave Wall Paintings to Buddha.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2019/01/accurate-ancient-artistic-ajanta-cave.html

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Pisani, Ludovico. 6 August 2013. "The Ajanta Cave Paintings." The Global Dispatches > Articles and Culture.
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Saddhatissa, H. 1976. The Life of Buddha. New York NY: Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc.

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Thich Nhat Hanh gems. 29 July 2017. "Walking meditation is practicing meditation while walking. . . . . -- Thich Nhat Hanh Photo: Paul Davis." Facebook.
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Available @ https://web.archive.org/web/20120501151253/http://asi.nic.in/asi_monu_whs_ajanta_caves.asp

Thich Nhat Hanh, Walking Meditations and Ajanta Cave Wall Paintings

Summary: Perhaps walking meditations from Vietnamese peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh best articulate Ajanta cave wall paintings in their 200th anniversary year.

Vietnamese peace activisit Thich Nhat Hanh has familiarized the world with the ancient Buddhist tradition of meditative walking, a practice encouraged by Ajanta Caves' circumambulatory architecture; photo by Paul Davis: Thich Nhat Hanh gems, via Facebook July 29, 2017

Perhaps the most amenable, authentic acquaintance with the Ajanta cave wall paintings in their 200th anniversary year of European access arises in the walking meditations of Vietnamese peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh.

The walking meditations of Vietnamese peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh brings balanced breathing, Buddha half-smiles and mindfulness of the moment together in natural, private, public places. Balanced, belly, diaphragmatic breathing correlates with cultivating a continuous half-smile, air coming into the body coming back out, congruently counted steps and conscious contemplation of surroundings. Vietnamese peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh declares that "Your half-smile will bring calm and delight to your steps and your breath, and help sustain your attention."

The Ajanta cave wall paintings in their 200th anniversary year of European access in Maharashtra state, central-west India, exhibit the Buddha's (from Sanskrit बुद्ध, "awakened") half-smile.

Ajanta cave wall paintings and sculptures figure Sakyan Crown Prince Siddhartha Gautama (from Sanskrit सिद्धार्थ, "successful" and गोतम, "light [dispels] darkness"), with enlightenment, as Gautama Buddha.

Buddha sitting, Buddha standing and Buddha supine respectively give right understanding, thought, speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness and concentration; a walking meditation; and his last breath. Handing his horse Kanthaka to his charioteer Channa heralded six- and 45-year walking meditations as 29- to 35-year-old enlightenment-seeking Siddhartha and 35- to 80-year-old Gautama Buddha. Fifty-one-year walking meditations impelled Siddhartha Gautama from the Koliya, Malla, Marya and Sakya kingdoms southward into the Magadha kingdom and westward into Kalama, Kashi and Koshala.

Enlightenment seekers journey, like Maharashtra monks 1,600 to 2,300 years ago, through conscious, mindful contemplation in the 200th anniversary year of European-accessed Ajanta cave wall paintings.

Buddha's apranihita (from Sanskrit अप्रणिहित, "wishlessness") kindles Vietnamese peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh knowing "we do not put anything ahead of ourselves and run after it."

Walking meditations from Thich Nhat Hanh around Ajanta cave wall paintings laud Buddha "Looking deeply at life as it is in the very here and now." They motivate 1,300- to 1,600-year-old and 2,000- to 2,300-year-old modeling pradakshina (from Sanskrit प्रदक्षिणा, "to the right-turning") aisles and vihara (from Sanskrit विहार, "walking [hall]") caves. Chaitya (from Sanskrit चैत्य, "funeral mound, pedestal, pile") aisles and vihara dormitories nurtured walking meditations around Buddha in 550 bodhisattiva (from Sanskrit बोधिसत्त्व, "enlightened existence") reincarnations.

European-accessed Ajanta cave wall paintings in their 200th anniversary year still offer stone floors where "Your feet touch the Earth. The path is your dear friend."

That "The air is cleanest in the early morning and late evening" prompts Vietnamese peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh performing walking meditations in or near nature.

Semi-cultivated and wild nature respectively qualify as environmental contexts for walking meditations in Thich Nhat Hanh's Plum Village, Thénac, Dordogne, southwestern France, and Ajanta, central-west India. Thich Nhat Hanh recommends walkers "Visualize a tiger walking slowly, and you will find that your steps become as majestic as the steps of a tiger." Ajanta cave wall paintings, bats, boar, deer, gazelles, hares, jackals, jungle-fowl, langurs, leopards, pea-fowl, squirrels and tigers shared the Waghora (from Sanskrit व्याघ्र, "tiger") River bend.

Walking meditations around the Ajanta cave wall paintings and with Vietnamese peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh testify to Buddha's last words, "Strive earnestly to attain perfection."

Vietnamese peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh describes Boddhisattva Padampapani, the Buddhist embodiment of compassion, as bringing "forth a universe of art" by "Holding gracefully a lotus in his hand" ("Padapani" in Call Me By My True Names: The Collected Poems of Thich Nhat Hanh [1999]); half-smile of Bodhisattva Padmapani ("one who holds the lotus") in Ajanta Cave 1; Ajanta Caves, Maharashtra, central-west India; Wednesday, March 8, 2017, 00:53: Photo Dharma from Sadao, Thailand (Anandajoti Bhikkhu), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Vietnamese peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh has familiarized the world with the ancient Buddhist tradition of meditative walking, a practice encouraged by Ajanta Caves' circumambulatory architecture; photo by Paul Davis: Thich Nhat Hanh gems, via Facebook July 29, 2017, @ https://www.facebook.com/319228401438031/photos/a.319236131437258.87388.319228401438031/1867221496638706/

Vietnamese peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh describes Boddhisattva Padampapani, the Buddhist embodiment of compassion, as bringing "forth a universe of art" by "Holding gracefully a lotus in his hand" ("Padapani" in Call Me By My True Names: The Collected Poems of Thich Nhat Hanh [1999]); half-smile of Bodhisattva Padmapani ("one who holds the lotus") in Ajanta Cave 1; Ajanta Caves, Maharashtra, central-west India; Wednesday, March 8, 2017, 00:53: Photo Dharma from Sadao, Thailand (Anandajoti Bhikkhu), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:022_Cave_1,_Padmapani_(33896247830).jpg; Anandajoti Bhikkhu (anandajoti), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/anandajoti/33896247830/

For further information:

"Ajanta Caves." UNESCO > Culture > World Heritage Centre > The List > World Heritage List.
Available @ http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/242

"Ajanta Caves Vulnerable to Landslides, Says Study." NDTV > India > News > August 6, 2014 15:50 IST.
Available @ https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/ajanta-caves-vulnerable-to-landslides-says-study-616005

Anh-Huong, Nguyen; and Thich Nhat Hanh. 2019. Walking Meditation. Boulder CO: Sounds True.

Bankar, M.V.; and N.P. Bhosle. November-December 2017. "Ethnobotanical Survey of Medicinal Plants in Ajanta Region (MS) India." IOSR Journal of Pharmacy and Biological Sciences Volume 12, Issue 6 Ver. II: 59-64.
Available @ http://www.iosrjournals.org/iosr-jpbs/papers/Vol12-issue6/Version-2/I1206025964.pdf

Barrett, Douglas E.; and Basil Gray. 1963. Painting of India. Geneva, Switzerland: Skira, Treasures of Asia. Distributed in the United States by World Publishing Co., Cleveland OH.

Behl, Benoy K. 2005. The Ajanta Caves: Ancient Paintings of Buddhist India. London UK: Thames & Hudson.

Boyd, Ryan. 14 December 2018. "Sacred Sites: Ajanta Caves." Evolve + Ascend > Ancient Wisdom > Culture > Occult > Sacred Sites.
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