Theos-Talk Archives (March 1999 Message tt00324)

In a message dated 3/22/99 11:31:35 PM, you wrote:

<<How is zero A.D. arrived at?  An alignment of planets?>>

A.D. stands for "Anno Domini" or "The Year of Our Lord" referring of course to
Christ's birth.  This was calculated by monks in the early Middle Ages and
stuck as the standard Western dating method in time, though in fact Rome and
other Western nations had used a great variety of calendars.

Modern scholarship, ironically, puts Jesus' birth around 7 B.C., or "Before
Christ."
  
I remember reading somewhere in Theosophical literature that this "last
quarter century effort" thing got started with Tsong-Kha-Pa (a fully Buddha
incarnation) in the last quarter of the 14th century.  Perhaps more hard-core
quote-mongers will be able to supply the exact reference.  I likewise wonder
now if, with the destruction of Tibet as we knew it, this last-quarter century
effort will be altered or abandoned for a new one, given that Buddhism is
hardly able to carry on at all in Tibet, and I doubt it is a very favorable
spiritual climate for any of the Adepts.  Perhaps the entire headquarters of
the Brotherhood had moved (not that it was ever IN Tibet, but allegedly
nearby).

Rich

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