Oldest person in world from SF turns 117

Pat Macpherson, CC Liu, Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly COMMENTARY; Guinness

World’s oldest person, Maria Branyas Morera, celebrates 117th birthday

A grandmother wishes for her granddaughter long life and happiness of Nowruz (spring)

R to L: Chiyo, Toshiko (her daughter), Shoji (husband), Kiku (mother), Junichi (son) (Guiness)

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Hunzan women in traditional garb, Hunza Valley

March forth (actually March the fourth) always reminds us of G. Marie G's birthday, so to think it is the oldest Maria's birthday is a nice coincidence. Blond Italian Protestants from California like GMG are rare, but she's gone to Florida now, which has many more conservatives among which to fit in. The Valley is no place to be waving flags and supporting El Supremo.

• Who's the most famous person born today? Maria:

Most popular drinks in the world: water and tea

Catholics must live longer, if only because there are more of them than any other religieux, not that anyone trusts Holy Roman Imperial Vatican rule anymore, but on official records and census lists.

The last oldest person in the world was a French nun, with all that clean monastic living, then she died leaving a Spanish woman from San Francisco, now returned to Spain, as the oldest.

It always used to be Japanese Buddhists (like the famous Okinawans) with their island diets and respect for elders. Is the Jewish God showing favoritism? Doesn't sound like him. No, wait, it sounds exactly like him.

Of course, to live longer than anyone else, if that's important, move to a Blue Zone. We have one near Los Angeles in La Mirada.

A better bet would be to travel to Hunza Land in the Himalayas (ancient Buddhist Pakistan in Gandhara, where the Buddha was from, i.e., Bamiyan, now in Afghanistan, according to maverick Indian historian Dr. Ranajit Pal), of course, but would they accept short-lived outsiders? That's the question. If it were that easy, everyone would move there.

The secret is the diet (full of micronutrients, the 72 trace minerals in the water), slow-deep breaths of mountain air, and constant moving around in persistent (not strenuous) exercise of walking up and down.

Siddhartha, 35, as wretched extreme ascetic, blaming
his spiritual bondage on the body and doing penance

Mothering little Prince Siddhartha

• The Buddha lived to the age of 80 but could have kept going to 120 (a kappa or "age," "lifespan"), like his cousin (possibly his older son with the attendant dancing girl Mriga in some Buddhist traditions though not Theravada) Ananda, had he been asked to continue on after his mission to establish the Dharma and fourfold Sangha (spiritual community) was established in the world again after kappas of absence. The key is in the definition of kappa (Sanskrit kalpa, an "aeon" or "age"), which has many meanings, including ordinary lifespan at a given time. That span reduces from a Satya Yuga to the present Kali Yuga, from a golden age of Truth, dwindling down to a dark age of Decadence. When the wandering ascetic Siddhartha adopted the wrong view that the body is to blame, he punished it with extreme austerities, called tapas in yoga, and it got worse. When he found the problem in the mind, he nourished the body and became youthful, vigorous, bright, and beautiful again. Body and mind are interdependent. The body can be a vehicle to enlightenment (awakening) in this very life if we care for it without ruining it by hedonistic indulgences. The Middle Way knows moderation in all things, except mindfulness. The more mindfulness the better.

Hunza Valley water is very clean and mineral rich

For the rest of us, there's still hope if we find "the land of milk and honey," which researcher Dr. Joel Wallach insists is dairy-free. What was called "milk" was really frothy crushed minerals brought down by melting glaciers that grinds up earth in mountain streams. The honey may have been flower nectar with its chromium and other micronutrients intact. These can be found in supplements from criticalhealthnews.com.

• Ultra-processed foods like breakfast cereals and white bread are the cause of American disease, obesity, Type 2 diabetes, greying, and lack of energy; avoid these toxins

What the Buddha drank as a boy in Bamiyan

Did anyone ever ask the Buddha, "What is the cause of longevity?"? They sure did. His answer was clear: karma ("deeds"). Which deeds might those be? Not having killed but preserving and protecting life in the past, when these actions ripen, they endow one with long life. Everyone always asks superannuated quadragenarians, "What's your secret?"

And they always say the same thing: nonsense. They don't know. All they can think to mention are counterintuitive things like smoking and drinking, which we all know shorten life and make it more wretched. But that's why they brag about it, communicating that in spite of doing these things, they have lived this long. We are left to surmise that enjoying life and having a good attitude towards things is more important than the details.

Hunza Valley in the spring looks just like neighboring Bamiyan, the Buddha's hometown

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Karma is the cause. Store up merit.

Having stored up the sort of karma that results in longevity is an even better thing to have because then, without wishing it, one will enjoy health and long life in many future lives. That is because even one act, one deed, has many many results. It comes to fruit exponentially, not unlike a single fruit seed leading to many fruit and many more seeds.

• World’s oldest person, Maria Branyas Morera, celebrates 117th birthday (Guinness World Records)

Today (March 4th) is the 117th birthday of the world’s oldest living person, Maria Branyas Morera, born in 1907 in San Francisco, California, USA, who returned to Spain with her family when she was 8 to settle in Catalonia. She's lived in the region ever since and has resided in the same nursing home for the past 23 years. She became the oldest person on Earth in January 2023, following the death of 118-year-old Lucile Randon (France). More

• Japanese woman made it to 117, too: Oldest person title officially achieved by 117-y.-o. Chiyo Miyako before passing
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