Buddha:

(563-480 BC) Siddharta Gautama, "the Buddha" was a teacher, founder & primary figure of Buddhism; ascetic & sage he lived & taught in E. India between 6th-4th centuries BC; taught a Middle Way between sensual indulgence & the asceticism of the śramaṇa movement common in his region; later taught throughout other regions of eastern India (Magadha & Kosala); recognized by Buddhists as an enlightened teacher who attained full Buddhahood & shared insights to help sentient beings end rebirth & suffering; after his death accounts of his life, discourses & monastic rules were summarized & memorized by his followers; passed down by oral tradition, first recorded about 100 BC.

 

Ceylon:

According to the Mahāvamsa, the original inhabitants of Ceylon were the Yakshas and Nagas.  Ceylon history traditionally starts in 543 BCE with the arrival of Prince Vijaya, a semi-legendary prince who sailed with 700 followers to Ceylon, after being expelled from Vanga Kingdom. He established the Kingdom of Tambapanni & is first of the approximately 189 native monarchs of Sri Lanka described in chronicles such as the Dipavamsa, Mahāvaṃsa, Cūḷavaṃsa, & Rājāvaliya.  Ceylon dynastic history ends in 1815 AD when it became part of the British Empire.

 

“Mahavansa”:

or Great Chronicle, written 6th century AD; epic poem written in the Pali language of the Kings of Ceylon; relates the history of Ceylon from the arrival of Prince Vijaya from India in 543 BC to the reign of Mahasena of Anuradhapura (277–304 A.D); composed by a Buddhist bhikku at the Mahavihara temple in Anuradhapura.

  

Indian man:

one of the inhabitants of the Vedic Indian culture, in Northern India, between 1500 –  600 BC.

[NB Spengler pointedly avoids referencing “man” as a universal concept; instead he references men of a specific culture]

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Egyptian man:

one of the inhabitants of the Egyptian culture, on the Nile valley, between 2900 BC and 1780 BC.

 

Egyptian Culture:* see Endnote <A>

emerged with the Old Kingdom (2900-2400), a contemporary of Sumerian-Akkadian civilisation of Mesopotamia; it survived until the XIII dynasty (1788 BC), ending with the Hyksos invasions.  It centred on the Nile Valley.  Its most famous expressions are its religious architecture, notably the Pyramids & temples. 

 

counterpoise:

a counterbalancing weight; any equal and opposing power or force; the state of being in equilibrium; balance.

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chiseled archives:

reference to the vast number of Egyptian hieroglyphs used for monumental inscriptions, on tombs, pyramids, temple walls & burial chambers.

 

“Ka”:

aspect of Egyptian religion; Egyptians had elaborate beliefs about death & the afterlife. They believed that humans possessed a ka, or life-force, which left the body at the point of death. In life, the ka received its sustenance from food and drink; it was believed that, to endure after death, the ka must continue to receive offerings of food, whose spiritual essence it could still consume.