The Dharma, sutras, and commentarial interpretations of interest to American Buddhists of all traditions with news that not only informs but transforms. Emphasis on meditation, enlightenment, karma, social evolution, and nonharming.
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*Acid was called "LSD-25," referring to a standard dosage of 25 micrograms (mcg, μg) because it is very potent per tab or tablet (blot, dot, drop, etc.). This would make three double tabs about 150 mcg. But ask Riley or see Sidney Cohen (1959), "The therapeutic potential of LSD-25," A Pharmacologic Approach to the Study of the Mind, p. 251–258.
Walking in noble silence, carrying nothing but robes and alms bowls, depending entirely on strangers for food and shelter, these Theravāda monks (bhikkhus) are practicing a 2,600-year-old tradition on modern American highways.
As of January 2026, they're passing through the Carolinas, approaching their destination at the U.S. Capitol on February 13th, 2026.
This is not a protest, not a march, but an ancient Buddhist practice brought into the modern world.
DISCOVER
Why Buddhist monks are walking 2,300 miles in silence while the world keeps fighting
How this pilgrimage traces back to the historical Buddha’s original way of life
The ancient sane ascetic practices (dhutaṅgas) these monks follow (one meal per day, sleeping outdoors, walking barefoot)
How Aloka, their rescue dog, became a viral symbol when he needed surgery in Charlotte, NC
The deeper meaning of dāna (sharing, non-clinging, letting go, generosity) in a divided society
Why this walk matters now as U.S. war, political tension, and global unrest escalate
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🙏 First time here? Buddha’s Wisdom explores timeless Buddhist teachings and their relevance to modern life but in this case makes an exception for an extraordinary current event. This is happening now.
Thay (pronounced "Thai") is Thich Nhat Hanh, here explaining a candle flame. Where will it go?
When we all fall asleep, where do we go?
Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Wisdom Quarterly in reply to the implicit question in Billie Eilish's "Bury a Friend": Where do we all go when we die? Where does a flame go when it dies?
And when the flame goes out, where does it go?
That's a nonsense question.
No, it must go somewhere!
Well, where do you suppose -- up, down, sideways?
Well, no, nothing like that. I don't know where it goes.
It isn't there like you think (assume), so it does not "go" anywhere after it is said to "go out." Failing to gain new fuel (and four other factors, heat, oxygen, wick, and process-of-combustion), it fails to "come back in" for the next moment of its appearance. This sounds strange because it goes against our assumptions, but it's very true: In one instance, all five factors (aggregates) gather and manifest as "flame." Failing to get all five in the next moment, no flame/fire appears. This teaches us that what we call "flame" or "fire" is utterly dependent on supporting conditions (these five aggregates or factors) and without them, it is not. However, if it is utterly dependent, then how can it ever be said to have an independent existence? Ultimately speaking, it cannot. But in normal usage, in conventional speech, of course we say, "The flame came into being and then went out of being after some time." This is nice. This seems true. But it was never ultimately true. So there is no confusion. And maybe no one cares about a flame or fire. But if the same thing could be said of us, me and you the individuals, what then?
How could that ever be said of us? We are here now. And when we die or "go out," we reappear somewhere else -- like in heaven, hell, another human life, or a life in another realm in the 31 Planes of Existence.
Conventionally, this is exactly what happens. Unfortunately, ultimately speaking, it is completely wrong. Not only do "we" not go anywhere, what we are calling "we" is completely dependently arisen. Our being, our existence, completely depends on the Five Aggregates clung to as self.
What, we're flames?
No, flames depend on the five factors I mentioned above. "We" depend on the Five Aggregates clung to as self mentioned in the Heart Sutra: form; feelings, perceptions, mental formations, and process of consciousness, the khandhas or skandhas in Sanskrit.
So there is no reappearance?
Oh, there's reappearance (rebirth) all right, but it isn't the rearising of some unchanging "soul," "self," jiva,gandhabba, "ego," "personality," or "I." We are clinging to what is not ours, and we suffer for it.
Aha! You said "we" suffer for it! Who's the "we" that suffers?!
That "we" is the Five Aggregates clung to as self. "We" are not that. "We" do not control that, in an ultimate sense. In a conventional sense, of course, that's all "we" are, and "we" have a great deal of control to develop calm and insight to breakthrough to wisdom and liberate "ourselves" from this samsaric mess. But that, ultimately speaking, is not really what's happening. And it can be proven. The aggregates can be refined, purified, stilled and be seen for what they are. Then clinging stops. And liberation occurs. It's as if the fearful dream lets go of the dreamer. The monstrous illusion loses its power to deceive and make frightened, suffering victims of the aggregates clinging to the aggregates as if they were "self."
When I first encountered Buddhism in the U.S. in the 1990s, it was all about "insight meditation" (vipassana) with some voices shouting that the value of the jhanas (meditative absorptions) was being mistakenly overlooked as a regular practice.
Years later, I came across BPS Wheel 463 (Buddhist Publication Society),which states that the value of “wise reflection” (yoniso manasikara) was being mistakenly overlooked as a regular practice.
This weekend I decided to go back and take another look at Wise Reflection (BPS Wheel 463) with the amazing benefits provided by suttacentral.net's because of its multiple translations per each discourse (Pali sutta) and translator Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu’s errant translations on dhammatalks.org.
Wisdom Quarterly prefers American scholar-monk Bhikkhu Bodhi's translations in all cases over idiosyncratic and ridiculous Thanissaro Bhikkhu's efforts.
It was a very powerful refresher course (lesson) in the difficulties of translation and the value of reading multiple [English] translations and the value of [the ancient] commentaries.
The translations of yoniso manasikara (not quite those two words as found in the Pali canon) from the Sabbāsava Sutta (MN 2) are diverse!
EXCERPT: Venerable Walpola Rahula (from BPS Wheel 463), in quoting the Buddha, translates yoniso manasikāra as "wise reflection":
“I say that the getting rid of anxieties and troubles [1] is possible for one who knows and sees, not for one who does not know and see. What must one know and see in order to get rid of anxieties and troubles? Wise reflection and unwise reflection... More
All the good girls go to hell, Billie?
When did you join the Illuminati, Pirate? Did Phineas induct you?
What is real? That's the question. Orange County is covered with strange clouds, as is Los Angeles County.
The OC is a crown of sparkling beaches, and one jewel is Dana Point. But it's suddenly overcast and rain is coming out of nowhere (nowhere being chemtrails).
Chemtrails are real?
Documentary filmmaker and activist Matt Landman (actualactivists.com) discusses the sinister motives behind chemtrails and geoengineering.
Through meticulous research and hard scientific evidence, Chemtrails Exposed reveals how powerful global elites, shadowy institutions, and scientific gatekeepers have manipulated the skies above us. Every applicable government agency and most mainstream media outlets claim chemtrails are just a “conspiracy theory.”
They say the lines in the skies are merely harmless “condensation trails” (contrails) that jet aircraft produce with heat high in the atmosphere, not actual emissions that linger for hours as they spread out and form hazy cloud cover.
They say that anyone who asserts that aircraft are spraying us with toxic materials is “crazy.” If this is so,
Why do we see anomalous levels of toxins in rainwater and ambient air samples?
Why are hundreds of scientists and scores of scientific organizations advocating for spraying substances from aircraft and calling it “geoengineering?”
Why is there a world-famous Ph.D. scientist who has, in a long series of peer-reviewed journal articles, made the case for chemtrails and shown detailed evidence of their harmful effects?
Why do we have whistleblowers from the U.S. Air Force and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)?
Why is there is a huge, detailed, chronologically consistent body of evidence supporting the fact that the lines in the sky are part of a global weather modification project with roots going back over 100 years?
Researcher Peter A. Kirby studies chemtrail spraying, a covert program of aerosol geoengineering in our skies. The spraying is related to weather modification and much more.
In 1961, Rear Admiral Luis de Florez advocated making weather control as important in scope as the Manhattan Project, which produced the first atomic bomb, according to Kirby.
Patents show how aerosols put into the atmosphere can be manipulated to modify the weather. Chemtrail spraying is now largely done using remotely flown drones because pilots have become a liability, Kirby asserts.
As evidence for chemtrail spraying, researchers cite massive amounts of barium and aluminum showing up in rainwater samples taken from around the world. Rather than this spraying being used to combat global warming, Kirby asserts there is a more sinister agenda: It is being conducted by a rogue faction of the U.S. military.
For instance, the epic California drought could be caused by chemtrails to bankrupt farmers, at which point monied interests buy up depreciated farmland. But Kirby believes the chemtrail program may be coming to an end due in part to a military incident in October 2013 allegedly involving nuclear devices near Charleston, South Carolina.
In the aftermath of this event, Kirby predicts certain elements will be purged from the military, including those who run the chemtrail program. See Chemtrails Exposed on Activist Post. More
Chemical trails (persistent aerosol dispersants) are being reported all around the planet. This 2004 research was the first to verify what pilots, air traffic controllers, police, Marines, and tanker crews were reporting. Chemtrails Confirmed reveals the scientists who are working on the project, the Congressman who oversaw America's "exotic weapons" project, and details to understand the synthetic toxic clouds in the sky and the project that produces them.
He defines geoengineering as "the manipulation of the Earth's weather," including the weaponization of the weather to create crises for political or economic gain.
Landman argued that such practices have been covertly going on since at least the late 1800s, referencing a 1891 U.S. government patent for producing rainfall.
"People started to notice it about 30 years ago...when the 'grid patterns' [of aerosol dispersal chemtrails] in the sky started to pick up," Landman explains.
He claims NASA has a daily budget of $80 million for its chemtrail program: "There [are] a lot of nefarious action going on...it's all covert," he states, adding that international participation includes organizations like the United Nations and corporations like General Electric.
He also highlights the UK's recent announcement to invest in geoengineering and the recent reports of England's attempts to dim the sun.
Landman stresses these technologies are toxic, with many methods using heavy metals such as barium and aluminum particulates. He suggests the grand agenda here is to create problems that only the authorities can solve.
Traveling around the world and living large
[David Icke has stated this countless times: problem followed by prepared solution.]
"They're creating catastrophes so that they can come in and be the heroes with the solution," Landman says. Despite his concerns, he remains optimistic about the potential for change, stating: "We are winning this war...there is a rising consciousness."
He likens the current situation around chemtrails to the earlier battles against GMOs (genetically modified organisms), suggesting that public awareness can promote societal change.
In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction
From homeless drug addicts to high-functioning workaholics, the continuum of addiction cuts a wide and painful swath through our Western culture.
Blending first-person accounts, riveting case studies, cutting-edge research and passionate argument, In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts takes a panoramic yet highly intimate look at this widespread and perplexing human ailment.
Countering prevailing theories of addiction as being a genetic disease or an individual moral failure, addiction specialist Dr. Gabor Maté, M.D., presents an eloquent case that addiction – all addiction – is in fact a case of human development gone askew.
No substance (not heroin, meth, crack) is addictive. If it were, everyone who took it would become addicted. They do not. We become addicted because we are predisposed by a history of early child trauma. Combined with substances or behaviors, drug use leads to addiction.
Dr. Maté, who for 12 years practiced medicine in Vancouver, Canada’s notorious Downtown Eastside – North America’s most concentrated area of drug use, begins by telling the stories of his patients who, in their destitution and uniformly tragic histories, represent one extreme of the addictive spectrum.
With trademark compassion and unflinching narrative eye, Dr. Maté brings to life their ill-fated and mostly misunderstood struggle for relief or escape -- through substance abuse -- from the pain that has tormented them since childhood.
Dr. Maté shows how the behavioral addictions of society’s more fortunate members – including himself – differ only in degree of severity from the drug habits of his Downtown Eastside patients.
In reality there is only one addiction process, its core objective being the self-soothing of deep-seated fears and discomforts.
Turning to the neurobiological roots of addiction, Dr. Maté presents an astonishing array of scientific evidence showing conclusively that:
Addictive tendencies arise in the parts of our brains governing some of our most basic and life-sustaining needs and functions: incentive and motivation, physical and emotional pain relief, the regulation of stress, and the capacity to feel and receive love;
These brain circuits develop, or don’t develop, largely under the influence of the nurturing environment in early life, and that therefore addiction represents a failure of these crucial systems to mature in the way nature intended; and
The human brain continues to develop new circuitry throughout the lifespan, including well into adulthood, giving new hope for people mired in addictive patterns. Dr. Maté then examines the current mainstream. More
Japanese Zen Buddhist priest Ikkyū (一休宗純, Ikkyū Sōjun) was an iconoclast with an "enlightenment certificate" (inkajo). He was born in 1394 and died in 1481. He was an eccentric, iconoclastic, "crazy wisdom" Japanese Zen Buddhist monk, poet, musician, alcoholic, and womanizer.
He had an impact on the infusion of Japanese art and literature with Zen attitudes and ideals [1]. He is perhaps best known for his radical approach to Zen, which included breaking Buddhist monastic precepts and his stance against celibacy [2, Note 1].
In 1394, Ikkyū was born in a small suburb of Kyoto, Japan. It is generally held that he was the illegitimate child of Emperor Go-Komatsu and a low-ranking court noblewoman [1]. His mother was forced to flee to Saga, where Ikkyū was raised by servants.
At the age of 5, Ikkyū was separated from his mother and placed in a Rinzai Zen temple in Kyoto, Japan called Ankoku-ji, as an acolyte [1, 5].
The temple masters taught Chinese culture and language as part of the curriculum, a method termed Gozan Zen. He was given the name "Shuken" and learned about Chinese poetry, art, and literature. More
Kennewick Man: 'most important' face revealed after 8,500 years (Cicero Moraes).
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Meet the Kennewick Man: Face of "most important" ancient Native American revealed after 8,500 years
Strong and resilient ancestor of current residents
The face of one of the most significant skeletons ever unearthed in North America has been reconstructed for the first time -- more than 8,000 years after the man's death.
The individual, known as the Kennewick Man, was approximately 40 years old when he died during the early Holocene period, which started roughly 11,700 years ago following the conclusion of the last major ice age.
Columbia River, Washington, USA
His remains were discovered along the banks of the Columbia River in 1996, close to Kennewick City in Washington state, from which he derived his name.
The find represented one of the most intact specimens from this era and offers proof of Native American habitation in the region for more than 8,000 years. The skeleton has been pivotal in academic discussions surrounding the earliest inhabitants of the North American continent.
Scientists have now created a reconstruction of his living facial features using his skull, providing insight into the man's history, reports the Express US.
Lead researcher Cicero Moraes described the reconstruction as depicting a "strong and resilient man," whose characteristics reflected "a life marked by continuous physical effort and survival."
He continued: "First, the skull is analyzed using known averages of soft-tissue thickness and anatomical guidelines to position key features such as the eyes, nose, lips, and ears. More
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