Buried Texts and Treasure Finders

[Rajah Manchou]

Joseph Smith claimed to have found a sacred text buried in a hill by an ancient prophet who hid it up to preserve it during a period of social and political upheaval. Seems like a crazy story. But turns out this is a well-documented ancient tradition that goes back to, at the very least, the 2nd century AD.

"Bhutan has a rich heritage of both ‘received teachings’ and ‘revealed teachings’...The revealed teachings consist of terma (གཏེར་མ་) or rediscovered treasures, which started to develop during the ‘renaissance’ of Buddhism that took place in Tibet in the 11th century. Such treasures are primaily texts, but at times included artefacts, medicinal substances, and other materials, all of which were believed to have been initially concealed by Guru Rinpoche and other figures during the 8th and 9th century in order to be revealed at predestined times by predestined individuals.

This skilful technique of religious preservation and regeneration perhaps started as a simple practice of burying texts for safety during troubled times and later recovering them when the socio-political situation stabilized sufficiently to revive their use. A great number of texts and objects may have been buried for safekeeping when the Tibetan empire crumbled in the middle of the 9th century, when widespread state support of Buddhism was lost and political chaos ensued in the face of peasant revolts. Thus, it is likely that many of the early treasure discoveries involved only ordinary human procedures of retrieving the texts or artefacts, although the acts of retrieval may have been accompanied by some religious prayers and rituals.

However, as the practice developed, the treasure culture appears to have gone through an accretive process of sacralization and ritualistic systematization. Over time, it evolved into a complex mystical and transcendental process involving sacred sites in which treasures are hidden, secret codes (བརྡ་ཡིག་), guides (གཏེར་བྱང་), rituals (ཆོ་ག་), miracles (རྫུ་འཕྲུལ་) and, above all, terton (གཏེར་སྟོན་) or treasure discoverers with special connections to Guru Rinpoche and figures of the Yarlung dynastic period of Tibetan history. Consequently, terma revelation was not merely perceived as an ordinary practice of hiding and retrieving things but as a transcendental revelation of religious knowledge and objects using superhuman and prophetic abilities. The treasure culture also expanded in terms of what was discovered. In addition to texts (ཆོས་གཏེར་), religious artefacts, and sacred substances (རྫས་གཏེར་), the treasures also included visionary (དག་སྣང་) and psychic revelations (དགོངས་གཏེར་)." (source)

I've done ALOT of reading on this topic, trying to falsify my hypothesis that there is a relationship whatsoever between the translation process of the Book of Mormon and the treasure text tradition. I haven't been able to do it. The two traditions line up near perfectly and there is substantial textual and historical evidence to support a relationship. I have even talked directly with Tibetan and Bhutanese scholars about it, and they confirm that the two traditions are aligned. I can't explain it, but that's the conclusion I have reached.

Would love to hear your thoughts on this as I think it could mark a significant change in the way Joseph's account is treated in mainstream academics. 

Edited January 3, 2018 by Rajah Manchou

[Rajah Manchou]

I'd like to add. From my experience, many people hear the words Tibet or Bhutan or Asia and assume there could be no possible relationship to the Book of Mormon. That's understandable. But keep in mind that these regions were influenced by Christianity (Church of the East) before they were predominantly Buddhist.

These treasure text traditions date back to a much earlier period, and were possibly derived from a very early form of Christianity that sought exile and preservation of their scriptures and doctrines in the Great Tartary, or Tibet. There is some interesting evidence of this that we can discuss further.

[clarkgoble]

Just out of curiosity, don't the Dead Sea Scrolls themselves show this wasn't that uncommon? Admittedly they were in jars in a cave, but it's a similar principle. Admittedly it was a scribal practice to bury old scrolls no longer usable and it's possible that's what happened there. Also there are indications some of the scrolls weren't old. Likewise the Nag Hammadi library was buried in a sealed jar.

In the ancient near eastern world it appears burying treasures in jars was fairly common. Jars from that era often with coins, jewels or other things are relatively regularly found. 

[Rajah Manchou]

1 hour ago, clarkgoble said:

Just out of curiosity, don't the Dead Sea Scrolls themselves show this wasn't that uncommon? Admittedly they were in jars in a cave, but it's a similar principle. Admittedly it was a scribal practice to bury old scrolls no longer usable and it's possible that's what happened there. Also there are indications some of the scrolls weren't old. Likewise the Nag Hammadi library was buried in a sealed jar.

In the ancient near eastern world it appears burying treasures in jars was fairly common. Jars from that era often with coins, jewels or other things are relatively regularly found. 

IMO, the Dead Sea Scrolls were some of the first examples of burying religious texts to preserve them. What I'm suggesting is that this tradition "appears to have gone through an accretive process of sacralization and ritualistic systematization. Over time, it evolved into a complex mystical and transcendental process involving sacred sites in which treasures (and texts) are hidden"

The treasure text tradition today is extremely complex, and there are a number of requirements that distinguish a treasure text from a regular old book in the ground. What I've found is that the Book of Mormon meets these requirements, and they are of such a complex nature that they cannot be explained as coincidence. 

One example. In the Tibetan tradition, a treasure text is written in a script that can only be unlocked by the finder. The translated letters are revealed one at a time to the mind of the treasure finder and can also appear on the surface of objects, such as rocks. Of course, that is how Joseph Smith described the process...one letter at a time on the surface of a rock.

Another example: Treasure finders are said to require a spiritual consort who is considered to be an indispensable aid to the discovery and decipherment of texts. If the treasure finder does not find the right consort as support/scribe, their discovery might become impossible, difficult, or even threaten the life of the treasure finder. At one point, Joseph was told that before he could retrieve the plates he would need to return with Emma, who's face was shown to him before he met her. If I recall that story correctly. Joseph was finally able to retrieve the plates after Emma had gone with him to the Hill Cumorah.

Another example: The treasure texts are usually locked up and sealed by a spirit or genii of some sort, usually taking the form of a naga or serpent like animal. The spirit becomes the treasure guardian. Compare this to Moroni/Maroni being a guardian of the treasure who, according to some accounts, took the shape of a toad, or glittering salamander...or whatever those accounts are about. Those are beyond belief for me. But in the part of the world where this treasure text tradition originates, Maron or Maroni is the name given to a serpent, and also the name given to a warrior that can preternaturally change shape. That alone seems to demonstrate that there is a non-random relationship between the traditions.

Could go on with examples, but in short, the treasure text traditions of Asia are systematic and far more advanced then a monk unceremoniously hiding a text in a cave or a priest placing some coins in a pot. The Book of Mormon meets the requirements of the tradition, making it part of an already well established lineage of spiritual texts that extend back for centuries, from Iran to India to China to America.

Edited January 3, 2018 by Rajah Manchou

[Mars]

your source link comes back to this page

[Rajah Manchou]

50 minutes ago, Mars said:

your source link comes back to this page

Thanks. I've edited the link. Source is:

Terma and Terton: Revealed Teachings and Their Revealers

COLLECTION	Bhutan Cultural Library
VISIBILITY	Use group defaults
A summary of the terma, or treasure, tradition, and those who reveal them, known as tertons.
AUTHOR	Karma Phuntsho
EDITOR	Ariana Maki
YEAR PUBLISHED	2017

[Mars]

thanks

[hope_for_things]

10 hours ago, Rajah Manchou said:

I've done ALOT of reading on this topic, trying to falsify my hypothesis that there is a relationship whatsoever between the translation process of the Book of Mormon and the treasure text tradition. I haven't been able to do it. The two traditions line up near perfectly and there is substantial textual and historical evidence to support a relationship. I have even talked directly with Tibetan and Bhutanese scholars about it, and they confirm that the two traditions are aligned. I can't explain it, but that's the conclusion I have reached.

I've often wondered at what points did Joseph's treasure digging evolve from just treasure seeking into a religious enterprise.  I think this was gradual, but what elements may have influenced him along the way.  The Luman Walters connection, which I started a thread last year on that subject, I think he may have been a key influencer.  I also think Alvin's death and its impact on Joseph specifically and the family at large was an influencing factor as well.  

[clarkgoble]

9 hours ago, Rajah Manchou said:

IMO, the Dead Sea Scrolls were some of the first examples of burying religious texts to preserve them. What I'm suggesting is that this tradition "appears to have gone through an accretive process of sacralization and ritualistic systematization. Over time, it evolved into a complex mystical and transcendental process involving sacred sites in which treasures (and texts) are hidden"

The treasure text tradition today is extremely complex, and there are a number of requirements that distinguish a treasure text from a regular old book in the ground. What I've found is that the Book of Mormon meets these requirements, and they are of such a complex nature that they cannot be explained as coincidence. 

I confess I just don't see this relative to the Book of Mormon. That is, I don't see the burying as ritualized but more as practical. Now certainly there's an element of writing for a future generation. And there's long been until the modern time a certain mystic nature of writing in general due to that ability to write to the future. But again, that was present in Jewish tradition during the ancient era. It's rather common in the first 5 books of the Old Testament for instance. Certainly by the second temple period the idea of sacred hidden books is fairly ubiquitous. Its of course debatable whether this applies to the pre-exilic period.

I'd be cautious saying the Dead Sea Scrolls are the first examples of this. If we're going full on ritualistic texts, then of course the very early Egyptian practice of burying funeral texts for use by the dead has to be considered. You also have the early Assyrian practice of writing texts on walls of temples or other buildings in rooms not easily read by humans. The typical scholarly assumption is that these were ritualistic and intended for the gods or future kings who might read them after their burial for rebuilding. There's lots of other examples from the broad near east well before the Roman period of conquest.

[Rajah Manchou]

29 minutes ago, clarkgoble said:

I confess I just don't see this relative to the Book of Mormon.

Indeed there is nothing special or unique about burying books, or putting parchments in tombs, or writing on walls. I'm mostly referring to the very specific and numerous nonrandom similarities between how texts are sealed up, preserved, revealed and ultimately translated.

I've tried to understand why most Mormons I've discussed this with don't see the treasure text traditions as being relative to the Book of Mormon. Quite a number of Buddhist and Tibetan scholars have made very specific mentions of the similarities between the treasure text tradition and the Book of Mormon. Some of the leading scholars, like Donald Lopez and Janet Gyatso have discussed it at length.

But Mormons seem to be ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ about it. I'm trying to understand why that is. Is it because it is too far removed from Egyptian and Semitic cultures to be of interest?

Edited January 3, 2018 by Rajah Manchou

[clarkgoble]

47 minutes ago, Rajah Manchou said:

But Mormons seem to be ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ about it. I'm trying to understand why that is. Is it because it is too far removed from Egyptian and Semitic cultures to be of interest?

Primarily. Although I'd include mesoAmerica into that list. The parallels to Asia seem more coincidental unless you buy the Nibley thesis that Asia is significant for the Jaredites.

[Rajah Manchou]

16 minutes ago, clarkgoble said:

Primarily. Although I'd include mesoAmerica into that list. The parallels to Asia seem more coincidental unless you buy the Nibley thesis that Asia is significant for the Jaredites.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Robert F. Smith]

2 hours ago, Rajah Manchou said:

Indeed there is nothing special or unique about burying books, or putting parchments in tombs, or writing on walls. I'm mostly referring to the very specific and numerous nonrandom similarities between how texts are sealed up, preserved, revealed and ultimately translated.

I've tried to understand why most Mormons I've discussed this with don't see the treasure text traditions as being relative [relevant]  to the Book of Mormon. Quite a number of Buddhist and Tibetan scholars have made very specific mentions of the similarities between the treasure text tradition and the Book of Mormon. Some of the leading scholars, like Donald Lopez and Janet Gyatso have discussed it at length.

But Mormons seem to be ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ about it. I'm trying to understand why that is. Is it because it is too far removed from Egyptian and Semitic cultures to be of interest?

Few Mormons know anything about that general subject, which really goes back to high antiquity.  The general concept is one of precious Assyro-Babylonian Tablets of Destiny*; or of Heavenly Plates (Arabic luh); or Mosaic Ten Commandments on two tablets stored in the Holy Ark; Orphic gold plates; and the plates and holy books stored in the cave of Christian Rosenkreutz (Rosicrucian).  It is a worldwide and very ancient phenomenon, usually entailing the call of a prophet during a theophany (as ordered by a Heavenly Council), and typically includes oracular and other artifacts.

*  Geo Widengren, The Ascension of the Apostle and the Heavenly Book (King and Saviour III) (1950).

[pogi]

17 hours ago, Rajah Manchou said:

I can't explain it, but that's the conclusion I have reached.

Rajah, you have a way of finding cultural and historical parallels like no other I have seen.  The parallels you point out are intriguing but what do they mean?  Is there a connection to the Book of Mormon beyond the parallelism?  If so, what is it?  History is full of parallels, types, and foreshadowing.  Is this an example of that?  What does it all mean???  I think you sum up how most people would feel about this, which explains the reaction you are getting from people... "I can't explain it" ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

"History is a gallery of pictures in which there are few originals and many copies" -Alexis de Tocqueville

 

[Rajah Manchou]

1 hour ago, pogi said:

Rajah, you have a way of finding cultural and historical parallels like no other I have seen.  The parallels you point out are intriguing but what do they mean?  Is there a connection to the Book of Mormon beyond the parallelism?  If so, what is it?  History is full of parallels, types, and foreshadowing.  Is this an example of that?  What does it all mean???  I think you sum up how most people would feel about this, which explains the reaction you are getting from people... "I can't explain it" ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

"History is a gallery of pictures in which there are few originals and many copies" -Alexis de Tocqueville

There's another thread running at the same time asking all kinds of questions like "Why did God need to make the translation process so complex?" "Why did Joseph use a seer stone?" "Why did Moroni need to physically bury a set of physical plates?" Why? Why?

Over centuries, the Tibetan tradition developed a complex set of requirements to know whether a book buried in the ground is just a book buried in the ground, or whether it is a genuine scripture. Somehow, the Book of Mormon meets all the requirements. I guess it could mean nothing, just found it interesting, and posted here for discussion.

[Kevin Christensen]

From my "A Model of Mormon Spiritual Experience" essay:

Quote

The last thing one might expect Joseph Smith to have in common with some Eastern mystics might be an interest in seer stones and treasure seeking as a transitional stage in their spiritual development, but here it is. Craig Miller provided the following quote in an intriguing letter in Sunstone.
"In yogic practices, the crystal plays a very important part. In South India there is a particular science called anajan, meaning not known. It consists of different methods of projecting the illuminating superphysical facility through a crystal. . . . When the
illuminating facility is directed towards a person or an object which is missing, it can be immediately known where that person or thing is. Thus, treasures which are buried underground, or objects which are very distant can be directly observed."
This kind of comparison provides a positive context for Joseph Smith‘s involvement with seer stones and money digging (cf. Joseph Smith – History 1:56), making the experience a vital preparation, rather than somehow tainting his mission.

 

http://oneclimbs.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/model_of_experience.pdf

Citing Craig Miller's Sunstone letter quoting. Satyananda Paramahansa, Four Chapters on Freedom, ―A Mystical Joseph Smith, in Sunstone 12/2 (March 1988): 4

FWIW

Kevin Christensen

Canonsburg, PA

[JarMan]

On 1/2/2018 at 10:20 PM, Rajah Manchou said:

Joseph Smith claimed to have found a sacred text buried in a hill by an ancient prophet who hid it up to preserve it during a period of social and political upheaval. Seems like a crazy story. But turns out this is a well-documented ancient tradition that goes back to, at the very least, the 2nd century AD.

"Bhutan has a rich heritage of both ‘received teachings’ and ‘revealed teachings’...The revealed teachings consist of terma (གཏེར་མ་) or rediscovered treasures, which started to develop during the ‘renaissance’ of Buddhism that took place in Tibet in the 11th century. Such treasures are primaily texts, but at times included artefacts, medicinal substances, and other materials, all of which were believed to have been initially concealed by Guru Rinpoche and other figures during the 8th and 9th century in order to be revealed at predestined times by predestined individuals.

This skilful technique of religious preservation and regeneration perhaps started as a simple practice of burying texts for safety during troubled times and later recovering them when the socio-political situation stabilized sufficiently to revive their use. A great number of texts and objects may have been buried for safekeeping when the Tibetan empire crumbled in the middle of the 9th century, when widespread state support of Buddhism was lost and political chaos ensued in the face of peasant revolts. Thus, it is likely that many of the early treasure discoveries involved only ordinary human procedures of retrieving the texts or artefacts, although the acts of retrieval may have been accompanied by some religious prayers and rituals.

However, as the practice developed, the treasure culture appears to have gone through an accretive process of sacralization and ritualistic systematization. Over time, it evolved into a complex mystical and transcendental process involving sacred sites in which treasures are hidden, secret codes (བརྡ་ཡིག་), guides (གཏེར་བྱང་), rituals (ཆོ་ག་), miracles (རྫུ་འཕྲུལ་) and, above all, terton (གཏེར་སྟོན་) or treasure discoverers with special connections to Guru Rinpoche and figures of the Yarlung dynastic period of Tibetan history. Consequently, terma revelation was not merely perceived as an ordinary practice of hiding and retrieving things but as a transcendental revelation of religious knowledge and objects using superhuman and prophetic abilities. The treasure culture also expanded in terms of what was discovered. In addition to texts (ཆོས་གཏེར་), religious artefacts, and sacred substances (རྫས་གཏེར་), the treasures also included visionary (དག་སྣང་) and psychic revelations (དགོངས་གཏེར་)." (source)

I've done ALOT of reading on this topic, trying to falsify my hypothesis that there is a relationship whatsoever between the translation process of the Book of Mormon and the treasure text tradition. I haven't been able to do it. The two traditions line up near perfectly and there is substantial textual and historical evidence to support a relationship. I have even talked directly with Tibetan and Bhutanese scholars about it, and they confirm that the two traditions are aligned. I can't explain it, but that's the conclusion I have reached.

Would love to hear your thoughts on this as I think it could mark a significant change in the way Joseph's account is treated in mainstream academics. 

Are you familiar with the History Channel series called "The Curse of Oak Island"? It's a reality show that follows the efforts of two brothers trying to find buried treasure on a small Island off the coast of Nova Scotia. There is a well-documented history of treasure seeking on this island going back to 1795. There are all kinds of wild theories about what the treasure is. According to the theories, it's either pirate treasure or something much more exotic like the holy grail, ark of the covenant, or Shakespeare's manuscripts, just to name a few. I have been watching it for several seasons and have been quite skeptical that there is any treasure there at all. They keep finding artifacts, but in my mind the artifacts were just remnants of the past search effort over the last 200-plus years. The past two seasons have convinced me there really is something there. They've found 17th Century Spanish coins and just recently they found bits of parchment and leather binding. The parchment and binding were found in test wells about 150 feet deep. But the big shocker was that they found human bone 200 feet deep in one of the test wells. This is deeper than any of the previous searcher tunnels and shafts have been. Carbon dating on the bones showed that they were from the late 17th to early 18th Century. And DNA analysis concluded that one of the individuals was of European descent and the other was of Middle Eastern descent. So clearly there were foreign people at least 200 feet underground on this island about 300 years ago for some purpose. I don't know what the purpose was, but the more I hear about ancient buried treasure the more I think there may be something really valuable on this island.

[Rajah Manchou]

12 hours ago, Kevin Christensen said:

From my "A Model of Mormon Spiritual Experience" essay:

http://oneclimbs.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/model_of_experience.pdf

Citing Craig Miller's Sunstone letter quoting. Satyananda Paramahansa, Four Chapters on Freedom, ―A Mystical Joseph Smith, in Sunstone 12/2 (March 1988): 4

Just finished reading it. That was great. Thanks for sharing.

[Rajah Manchou]

On 1/4/2018 at 1:07 AM, clarkgoble said:

The parallels to Asia seem more coincidental unless you buy the Nibley thesis that Asia is significant for the Jaredites.

Just finished reading Kevin Christiansen's article, and was reminded of this comment while following a reference to Nibley:

"In the time of Jeremiah, or shortly before, a certain Jonadab ben Rechab had led a colony of permanent settlers from Jerusalem into the wilderness, where his descendants survived through all succeeding centuries as the strange and baffling nation of the Rekhabites. What makes them baffling is their Messianic religion, which is so much like primitive Christianity in many ways that it has led some scholars to argue that those people must have been of Christian origin, though the historical evidence for their great antiquity is unquestionable. When one considers that Jonadab’s project was almost contemporary (perhaps slightly prior) to Lehi’s, that his name, ending in –adab, is of a type peculiar to the period and to the Book of Mormon, and that the Book of Mormon specifically states that the Lord had led other people out of Jerusalem beside Lehi, and that the Rekhabite teachings are strangely like those in the Book of Mormon, one is forced to admit at very least the possibility that Lehi’s exodus could have taken place in the manner described, and the certainty that other such migrations actually did take place.”

Acccording to several scholars, these Rechabites were led by God in the 6th century BC to an island/peninsula that IMO bears a striking resemblance to the Book of Mormon. It was called a variation of Comoro, Cumr or Kamara and it was named after a Biblical clan that arrived there around the time of the tower in boats resembling Noah's Ark. the archaeological evidence is clear that a new civilization arrives there in the 6th century BC. I know we've discussed it before with no conclusion, so I'll leave it at that. But I can only guess that Nibley would be deeply curious about this and wouldn't dismiss it so quickly as coincidental. 

Edited January 5, 2018 by Rajah Manchou

[clarkgoble]

That's a fair point. I just tend to be skeptical of diffusionary arguments without compelling evidence. I think they got strongly overplayed during the more structuralist period of academics. It seemed like any parallel was taken to imply either diffusion (such as with Nibley) or common psychological structures (most during the psychoanalytic era including most in the myth-criticism tradition like Joseph Campbell).