1. Palayāloka Sangha
“The Falang Corner”
Talks on Buddhism by Buddy Landry
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2. These talks draw on mainstream historical, linguistic, archeological
and anthropological sources to present a very abbreviated nonmythological account of how the Buddhist religion arose.
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3. Before the Buddha
Part 1: India
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4. I
The Birth of India
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5. • India and Asia were originally
separate land masses.
• India moved north and collided with
Asia some 10 million years ago.
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6. • The Indian plate slipped
under the Asian plate,
which is known as
subduction.
• The Himalaya and Hindu
Kush mountains are an
ongoing result of this
collision.
• The Tibetan Plateau is
being raised by the
underlying Indian Plate.
• A trench formed where
India dipped down under
Eurasia.
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7. • Runoff from the mountains
deposited soil in the lowered area
over geological time.
• The depressions filled, forming
marshlands and later consolidated
into two great rivers with many
tributaries: the Indus and the
Ganges.
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8. • The Ganges runs nearly due
east through northwest India,
Nepal, and Bangladesh to
empty into the Bay of Bengal.
• The Ganges River system is
the cradle of Hindu civilization.
• The Buddha lived, taught, and
died there.

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Khyber#
Pass
Punjab
Region
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Indus
River
• Northwest of the Ganges
Plain and due north of the
Indus river is the Punjab
(“Five Rivers”) region.
• To the west of the Punjab
is the Khyber Pass thru
the Hindu Kush Mountains.
• The Khyber Pass is the
easiest way into India from
Central Asia.
Ganges
River
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10. • Southwest of the Gangetic
Plain is the Aravalli hill
region
• South of the Ganges Plain,
the Vindhya and Satpura
Mountain ranges separate
the Ganges River Valley in
the north and the Deccan in
the south.
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11. #
• The center of India is the
Deccan Plateau, which is
relatively dry, but not a
desert.
• The East and West Ghats
are inland mountain ranges.
• Off the southeast tip of the
east coast is the island of
Sri Lanka (Ceylon).
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12. Next:
#
The Indus Valley Civilization
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