Here is another one of my favourite videos. Before the videos, it was the best selling book!

I read this book decades ago several times and it really ‘made sense’ to me. I loved the book and I loved this documentary based on the book. I remember being in my bedroom laying down on my bed decades back as a kid, and head rested on a double pillow voraciously reading. Mom and dad were out for the afternoon, and I would be on my own to read!! Pure heaven I used to think!!

I read about Buddhism, the Buddhist saints, their writings, mysteries, Bigfoot, UFOs… lazy New Jersey summers of reading. Or in the winter when it would snow, and you are trapped indoors, what’s better than reading? Especially if there was a snowstorm, and NO SCHOOL THAT DAY!!!!! Yes!!! No School! I would read, paint, chant, meditate, memorise mantras! Then read again!

I love the evidence, theories, photos and research that has been put into this incredible video. Although made decades ago, it is still very watchable I feel. I love the many paintings ‘from the bible’ which actually if you look at it carefully really does look like alien crafts. Totally believable. Watch carefully and several times to understand the enormity of the theories propounded.

Tsem Rinpoche

For people unfamiliar, just click on the video itself and watch. Turn up your volume, grab a snack/drink and please enjoy!! Learn! Open your horizons. We are not alone…

Part 1

Or view the video on the server at:
https://video.tsemtulku.com/videos/v20496332NHY45fxF.mp4

Part 2

Or view the video on the server at:
https://video.tsemtulku.com/videos/v20496332NHY45fxE.mp4

Biography of Erich von Däniken

Erich Von Däniken is a writer best known as an ardent proponent of the “Ancient Astronaut” hypothesis of life on Earth. His 40 books have been translated into 32 languages and sold over 63 million copies, bringing the theory of “paleo-contact” between humans and aliens into the mainstream. This theory holds that during the earliest evolutionary periods of humanity, intelligent extra-terrestrial beings visited our planet. Due to contact with these aliens, our paleolithic forefathers were influenced to create culture, technologies and even systems of religions. Staunch proponents even believe that it was in fact these aliens that created some of the world’s oldest and mysterious monuments such as the Moai stone heads of Eastern Island or the Pyramids of Egypt.

Erich Anton Paul von Däniken was born in 1935 in Zofingen, northern Switzerland. His Swiss Roman Catholic upbringing was unremarkable but for the fact that he challenged the Church’s views on Creationism. It was in his school days at Saint-Michel International Catholic School in Fribourg that he developed a keen interest in astronomy and UFOs.

As a boy, Von Däniken spent much of his free time reading about ancient texts and unsolved archaeological mysteries. However, his earliest writings were on his other passion, gastronomy.

The future bestselling author had a somewhat chequered start to adulthood. At 19, he received a four-month suspended sentence for theft. He left Switzerland and lived in Egypt for a time. The mysteries of the ancient Egyptians would come to feature heavily in his future works.

Von Däniken’s first foray into writing about the unexplained came in December 1964. His article, Hatten unsere Vorfahren Besuch aus dem Weltraum? (Did our Ancestors Receive Visitors from Space?) appeared in the German-Canadian periodical Der Nordwesten.

Unfortunately, Von Däniken’s writing career hit a speed-bump. He was involved in an Egyptian jewellery deal that resulted in a nine-month sentence for fraud and embezzlement in Switzerland.

After his release, Von Däniken found work as a hotel manager. He worked on his first book at night after guests had retired. Released in April 1968, it was titled Erinnerungen an die Zukunft (Memories of the Future).

The book was a runaway success but Von Däniken’s legal troubles continued. In November 1968, just as his star as an author was rising, Von Däniken was again convicted of fraud. It was revealed in court that he had falsified records to obtain CH 12,000 in loans over 12 years, ostensibly to fund his research. (Von Däniken had fabricated his referrals but repaid the money in full with the proceeds from the book).

Meanwhile, Erinnerungen an die Zukunft had been translated into English and released as the legendary Chariots of the Gods?, cementing Von Däniken’s place as an international star.

The author’s wobbly life journey continued, though, with another conviction for fraud in February 1970. He was sentenced to three and a half years’ jail but released after serving one year. He wrote his second book, Gods from Outer Space while imprisoned and has kept a clean record since.

Von Däniken’s books have been turned into documentaries that have proven to be just as popular. He collaborated on a 3-part documentary based on his major works in the 1980s. In 1993, he hosted a 25-episode television series that was broadcast on German TV. The series’ high viewership kept it on a regular broadcast schedule twice a month for a whole year.

The MUS television network, ABC, also produced a documentary on Erich Von Däniken’s book and it was broadcast on German TV channel RTL. In 1998, the world’s largest public broadcaster, ARD produced a documentary on Von Däniken. British television station Twenty-Twenty made a biopic on his life in 2001. The program was screened on UK’s Channel 4 and has been telecast around the world since.

It is obvious that Von Däniken’s ideas, though not original, were presented in a way that engaged and fascinated the average person. It is perhaps how he capitalised on – and sensationalised – their findings that most infuriated (and continues to infuriate) the scientific community. They still largely look upon with scorn at the man whose efforts have given their otherwise esoteric research a spotlight in popular culture. Today, Von Däniken remains one of the most sought-after speakers on the UFO and Unexplained Mysteries circuit.

Chariots of the Gods?

Erich Von Däniken’s first book, Chariots of the Gods? is arguably also his most famous. Written originally in Von Däniken’s native German, it was released as Erinnerungen an die Zukunft: Ungelöste Rätsel der Vergangenheit (Memories of the Future: Unsolved Mysteries of the Past) in April 1968.

However, the book went gone through a lengthy gestation as the response from publishers to the first draft was decidedly underwhelming. The manuscript had to be professionally rewritten by Wilhelm Leapfrogged (the pen name of the German screenwriter Wilhelm “Utz” Utermann) before finally getting a print run from the Econ-Verlag publishing house.

Following the phenomenal success of the German version, it was translated into English by Michael Heron and released as Chariots of the Gods?: Was God an Astronaut? in 1969. The book went on to mesmerise generations of readers and inspire intense debate about Man, his origins and the source of his knowledge.

The Evidence

The central premise of Chariots of the Gods? is that ancient civilisations from across the planet have left behind signs of anachronistic technology. Von Däniken pushes the hypothesis that this phenomenon is best and most easily explained by extra-terrestrial contact, where aliens shared their sophisticated knowledge with mankind.

Von Däniken’s views were not new, even when he wrote about them in the ‘60s. They were based on theories postulated by archaeologists and scientists that preceded him using much of the same evidence. This is not surprising – history and archaeology are replete with examples of objects and advancements in technology that seem not to fit their respective times.

Among the most well-known of these are the ancient Egyptian Pyramids, Stonehenge and the Moai of Easter Island. Von Däniken also suggests that the medieval Piri Reis Map depicts the continents of Earth as seen from space and that the shapes made by the Nazca lines of Peru would only serve a purpose as signals to airborne craft.

The second thrust of Von Däniken’s arguments is that some ancient artwork depicts alien beings with whom ancient humans had direct contact. Others show fantastic machines with features and details similar to spacecraft of today.

Many of these artifacts and relics are religious in nature, leading him to conclude that the vastly superior technology of alien visitors led men to assume they were gods. To support this claim, Von Däniken points to the similarities between myths and legends separated by vast expanses of space and time that all speak of visitors from the heavens.

Dogu Figurines – Japan

Dogu statues were common in Japan during the Jomon period (14,000 – 300 BCE). They depict a short and stout figure wearing what Von Däniken interprets as protective goggles and breathing apparatus. In some, the arms do not end in hands but in two pincer-like claws similar to equipment used by modern astronauts to manipulate objects during spacewalks.

Vimana – India

The ancient Hindu text of the Ramayan describes flying machines termed vimana that travelled “at great heights with the aid of quicksilver and a great propulsive wind”. They could “cover vast distances and could travel forwards, upwards and downwards”.

Von Däniken highlights this particular section as being reminiscent of the launch of a spacecraft:

At Rama’s behest the magnificent chariot rose up to a mountain of cloud with a tremendous din…

This description is similar to one found in the other Hindu epic, the Mahabharat:

Bheem flew with his vimana on an enormous ray which was as brilliant as the sun…

Spacecraft – Visoki Decani Monastery, Kosovo

This depiction is from a fresco entitled “The Crucifixion” dating from 1350. It resembles a man inside a spaceship and flying above the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. They are in Kosovo Visoki Decani monastery, placed above the altar.

The church of the monastery was decorated with frescoes in the 14^th century. The fresco appears to depict not one but two aerodynamic flying craft in the skies above the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Within each craft is a man manipulating some controls while flames emerge from the rear of their airborne vehicles.

Mayan Spacecraft – Palenque, Mexico

In the Mayan ruin site of Palenque, there is a Temple of Inscriptions, where the ancient Mayan ruler, Pakal, was buried. On his sarcophagus was engraved a picture of the dead king seated at the controls of a spaceship-like contraption, surrounded by flames.

Perhaps the most compelling existing ancient image of spacecraft is contained within the Mayan ruins at Palenque in Mexico. Within a pyramid named the Temple of Inscriptions sits a monolithic stone slab 3.8 metres long and 2.2 metres wide that weighs over a ton. It covers the tomb of a ruler named Pakal who died in 683 CE.

Von Däniken and other ancient alien researchers believe it shows Pakal sitting at the controls of a spacecraft. A breathing apparatus is at his nose while his hands and one foot manipulate levers. Behind him, outside the craft are flames.

The knowledge of the ancient Mayans, particularly in their understanding of the passage of time, is striking. Could they have obtained their insight through aerial observation from the heavens?

Quimbaya Airplanes – Columbia

The Incan civilisation of South America left behind “ancient aeroplanes”, which are small golden figurines that closely resemble modern jet planes.

The golden “aeroplanes” left behind by the Quimbaya people of Columbia who lived between 1000 and 1500 CE are perhaps the most widespread and the most scientifically-sound examples of ancient technology. Approximately two centimetres in length, they were recovered from royal tombs.

There has always been an intense debate over whether they are replicas of aircraft or of insects. Researchers point out that while the Quimbaya depicted insects accurately, these artefacts are biologically impossible because of the upright tail fins and wings beneath the body – neither exist in nature.

The matter seems to have been resolved in Von Däniken’s favour when accurate models of the relics fitted with jet engines proved to be capable of stable flight, take-off and landing.

Ancient Astronauts – The Alps, Italy

These cryptic drawings known as petroglyphs was discovered in Italy. It appears to show two men wearing helmets with strange weapons.

Valcamonica is an area close to the central Alps in Italy. It is home to over 200,000 images drawn on rocks over 10,000 years ago. While most of the images are of mundane objects and animals, two humanoid figures pictured facing each other seem to represent something else entirely.

They each have been drawn with what seem to be transparent helmets within which their heads are visible. Just as cryptic are the objects that they hold in their hands which seem neither to be the weapons of the time nor anything else we can recognise. Von Däniken and others assert that they are holding advanced weapons.

Ancient Astronaut and others – The Nazca Lines, Peru

The Nazca lines in Peru, South America are known as geoglyphs or “ground drawings” and they are massive. They either run parallel or they form into over 300 different geometric patterns including 70 animal and plant shapes. Perhaps the most endearing and intriguing is an etching of a humanoid figure nicknamed “The Astronaut” as pictured here.

The ancient geoglyphs of Nazca in Peru were created between 500 BCE and 500 CE. The smallest of them are about 370 metres long while the largest are over 1.1 kilometre across. The most common subjects are animals such as the hummingbird, spider, llama, jaguar and monkey and a human, but they also include trees and flowers.

However, the most striking is a figure dubbed “The Astronaut”. It depicts a humanoid figure with a hand raised, perhaps in greeting. No facial features are shown apart from two oversized eyes while the head is distinctly block-shaped. The figure’s feet are also chunky, reminiscent of the shoes worn by astronauts.

For more interesting information:

• More UFO videos from China!!! Very convincing!!!
• Osiris: The Egyptian God of the Underworld
• Stephen Hawking uses latest computer graphics to bring aliens to life
• The “One God” Theory Comes from Greek Mythology
• Unsolved Mysteries – UFO’s & Me…
• World Reknowned Physicist Stephen Hawking on Existence
• The Mysterious Bermuda Triangle
• 10,000-year-old Rock Paintings Depicting Aliens and UFOs
• The Dalai Lama Explains What Extraterrestrial Bodies Look Like
• A Beginning-less Universe?

Please support us so that we can continue to bring you more Dharma:

If you are in the United States, please note that your offerings and contributions are tax deductible. ~ the tsemrinpoche.com blog team