Death pays a visit, leaving ruin

The Temptation of Shakyamuni Buddha by Mara (Exotic India Art)

Evacuation warning in place after new wildfire erupts in West Hills area of Greater Los Angeles

We'll never die. We're not about to fall off this.

It's strange to face death. There Death is, here life be, who will win out? Eventually, Death (Mara) wins almost every time. It's the "almost" that's the key. When does it not win?

The Buddha and the arhats (fully enlightened beings) do not die. It may seem as if they do. They go away. The reason they do not "die" is because death necessarily entails rebirth. Where there is birth, necessarily there is death. With death comes rebirth, with birth comes redeath. This is the cycle of endless suffering known among the Indian religions as samsara.

We die and are reborn, not arhats who no longer cycle.

It is not quite correct to say "endless" because it can be brought to an end, to cessation, and deconstructed. It is just as well to refer to it as endless because it will not be ending by itself. Samsara has no expiration date, no natural completion, no coming to a standstill on its own.

So long as there is fuel, the fire keeps raging. What fuels samsara? Karma (activities) rooted in attachment, aversion, and ignorance (the Three Poisons usually rendered greed, hatred, and delusion or lobha, dosa, and moha). Since each act has the power to produce an exponential number of results (vipaka and phala), it will not be exhausted anytime soon.

This problem of death -- the loss of everything we love and are attached to in our foolishness as if the things we love and cling to were not of a nature to fall away -- was solved by the Buddha. This is the great significance of his great awakening (maha bodhi).

What does it matter to us? Good for him that he overcame all that can harm and upset. But what about us? That's just it! He did not awaken and depart. He awakened and stayed for 45 years, teaching until he established the Dharma (Teaching) and a competent Sangha (a spiritual community of those successfully Taught). Now, what does "successful" mean?

It means that the Buddha and his fully enlightened disciples established a method of teaching that produces more and more enlightened disciples, both humans and devas. The ordinary Monastic Sangha or Spiritual Community of monks and nuns are a great treasure in the world because they study, memorize, and retain the Teaching.

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By their practice of it, as well as that of non-monastic disciples, there is a constant supply of arhats, non-returners, once-returners, and the various kinds of stream-enterers (the most fruitful field of merit) in the world. These four categories or pairs of individuals (counted as those who experience the supramundane paths and fruits or magga-phala) constitute the "noble ones" (Aryan disciples).

The first stage of enlightenment or awakening results in a guarantee of enlightenment within at most seven more rebirths, but the arhat has made an end of all suffering and all further rebirth in this very life.

The Buddha taught his Teaching in a way that an ordinary individual of average intelligence could successfully practice it to the end of suffering in this very life/

Death is coming

It's odd to be reminded that we are but ephemeral phenomena, arising and passing away, hurtling toward destruction. "Not having been, they come to be; once having been, they cease." What does? The Five Aggregates clung to as self. What are those?

They are the constituents of being, called "aggregates" because there are heaps of them, categories of them. There is the feeling group (vedana khandha), the pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral. They are impermanent, unsatisfactory (disappointing), and impersonal.

It's unimaginable that they would be impersonal because they feel like they are the most personal things of all. But mindful observation of them with a mind intensified by the absorptions (jhanas) reveals how ephemeral they are, constantly rising and falling, unable to fulfill, and not at all under our control. They do not belong to us. Feelings feel and belong to feelings. It is, ultimately speaking, feeling that feels, not "us" -- not a me, myself, or I, not a self, soul, ego, personality, being, or atman.

We would never penetrate and accept this until we see it for ourselves with an open and intensified mind. In ignorance, we fear all sorts of things, including wisdom. But wisdom/the Truth has the power to set us free. Who will gain stream entry? Only those who penetrate this ultimate truth -- discerning in all things the Three Facts or Characteristics of All Existence.

Because the ultimate truth is everywhere the same, it can be realized anywhere. But it is much easier to realize in some places over others. The easiest place to realize it is on the human plane (the manussya loka), which extends far beyond the Earth we know.

Massive firestorm in Los Angeles 😱 Project Blue Beam is Live

• Project Blue Beam is live? (Blakwoodz) Jan. 9, 2025: The LA fire has become massively unstable, consuming almost everything in its way. And it totally seems like this whole fire is not natural. It surely looks like everything that's going on is a planned event. Someone very powerful might be in control. The Hollywood Hills are on fire and evacuations are taking place right now. This is beyond control. Winds are widespread. Speculations have been raised, questions about whether this is Project Blue Beam being activated. Is it the mythical Anti-Christ [what Dr. Ammon Hillman calls the "antidote"] before the second coming of Jesus [the kristos or "anointed," who dosed himself by the application of an ointment of medicinal psychedelic-like compounds from poisons]. The question, however, is Why are these things happening mostly in America? Prophecy: 2025 might be the final year of our life. Second channel: @blakwoodz2 All links: linktr.ee/Blakwoodz. Business contact: blakwoodzbusiness@gmail.com

Exciting stories of life and death

I'm from Hollywood to make killing 'n dying cool

The fire raged on the mountain there in the distance. The wind blew it away, up and over the foothills. Who dreamt is could turn back and eat the town? The wind raged, cars exploded, and houses -- homes of real people -- were set ablaze by embers (or directed energy weapons). They would soon be incinerated. One could fight the valiant fight with a fire extinguisher. But it was too late, the flames too far gone, eating the roof, crawling into the walls. Buildings set one next to the other, sharing a wall, they would all come down. No firefighters fought these flames, but looked on overwhelmed. What are they for if not to fight and save buildings, property, people? Who knows? There were overtime wages to collect. A planned catastrophe made to look like just the confluence of natural circumstances, who can prove otherwise? Sure, there were arsonists at play, but were they coordinated, acting alone, part of a conspiracy? Insurers collect premiums but provide no replacement. It's just too big to cover one's worth of premiums. Of course, people were paying for many, many years only to get the shaft when they needed that protection. The government (we the people by another name) will bail them out. The CEOs already made their billions, why not privatize the profits and socialize the costs? It's the disaster-capitalist way. Just ask Naomi Klein. How long will we go on spinning in this spin cycle?

‘It’s like Armageddon’: 10,000+ buildings decimated as LA burns | Stuff

Aren't you tired of the tide?

Samsara is an ocean that pulls us out to sea, where we bounce around, cold, alone, only to drown in a whirlpool. Even if we struggle, join others, and hang in a long time, Death wins by coming on again. Is there no end to it?

Tower of strength takes to the sea

Scours ocean via quay

Same old story: muscle bound and gory

Brand new story: death without glory

Infinite story: so new, so hoary

Build a tower of strength and watch it weaken

Construct high hopes as the brightest beacon

Watch the seagulls eat the trash

You contemptuously ditch

Do you know a seagull?

Do you know a wreck?

Are you tired of the tide?

Are you tired of the tide?

Roll in a rock pool, come let's hide

Do you know a raging wind?

Do you know a seagull?

Do you know a wreck?

Do you know a raging wind?

Are you tired of the tide?

Are you tired of the tide?

Roll in a rock pool, come let's hide

Tower of strength takes to the sea, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh