[Buddha-l] Buddhist stupa to be moved from NM Petroglyph Park

[Jo]

Sent: Saturday, September 29, 2012 11:59 PM


On Sep 29, 2012, at 10:41 PM, "Jo" <ugg-5 at spro.net> wrote:

> The record seems to be that it was a guy named Dutton who applied the 
> exotic names, not Powell...but maybe that's an occluded record.

Clarence Dutton was a geologist who accompanied Powell in 1875 on surveys of
the Rocky Mountains and plateau country of Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and
Arizona. He worked in the Grand Canyon in 1882, some thirteen years after
Powell visited it. I was misinformed about Powell having named the features
of the Grand Canyon named after Brahma, Vishnu and Buddha. Powell named
quite a few features of the Grand Canyon, but apparently not the exotic ones
that offend today's Christians so much. The Vishnu schist, for example, was
named by Charles Walcott in the 1880s and the Brahma schist was named by
Campbell and Maxon, as was probably the Rama schist. But those names came
later and were probably named after canyons, spires and buttes named by
Dutton. It was Dutton who named Buddha Temple and Vishnu Temple. We should
make those early geologists patron saints of buddha-l. And the Zionists in
our midst will surely admire Dutton's seminal work in what eventually became
Zion and Bryce national parks in Utah, although Zion did not acquire its
present name until long after Dutton worked there. He would probably have
known it by its original name, Mukuntuweap. 

Richard
_______________________________________________

Thanks for the record details.  I also noticed from one of the GC name lists
that there are many more American Indian language names than otherwise. Lots
of them. That's reassuring since the native Indians were there first. 
Thinking of place names in the Pali texts, I wonder if any of them acquired
names reflecting the Buddha's concerns. "Vulture Peak's" name was a popular
local term wasn't it? 
Joanna

Joanna