Arches across the world revealed

(Project Chronos)

Pyramid theory: it was lasers

Civilizations before cataclysmic flood

New evidence of civilizations THRIVING before the cataclysmic flood

(Gaia) Is there archeological evidence across ancient sites from around the world that suggests civilizations thrived before the flood?

Experts piece together pre-flood history by examining antediluvian (pre-flood) myths alongside astrologically aligned megaliths on different continents.

Connecting data points from before the Great Deluge uncovers new evidence of unfathomable complexes from a mythological time when gods walked the Earth and influenced humanity.

• Ancient South African ruins: 200,000 years BEFORE Egyptian civilization? (Michael Tellinger)

ABOUT: Gaia offers the largest resource of consciousness expanding videos. Answer life's deeper questions and go beyond the mainstream narrative with Gaia— a member-supported media network of truth seekers and believers empowering an evolution of consciousness. Explore over 8,000 ad-free, streaming titles that challenge modern paradigms and allow us to manifest the reality that defines our being. Experience Gaia in English, Spanish, German, or French. It offers original, dubbed, or subtitled content in these languages. Join hundreds of thousands of members in 185 countries in awakening consciousness. #Gaia 8,000+ Films, shows, and classes on Gaia. Start FREE trial: cs-link.gaia.com/4f1gK5g Connect with #Gaia: Visit Gaia website: gaia.com

• Gaia.com, July 18, 2025; Pat Macpherson (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly

Jan. 6th: Trump Treason Day, 3rd anniversary

LA Times; Epoch Times; Pfc. Sandoval, Ashley Wells, Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Don't pee in my mouth and call it lemonade. I will poop in your mouth and call it a milkshake.

Never-before-seen January 6th footage from Los Angeles Times photographer

I was cheated. I wanted to overthrow DC

(Los Angeles Times) Jan. 4, 2022: On January 6th, Los Angeles Times photographer Kent Nishimura was assigned to cover a pro-Trump rally at The Ellipse, just south of the White House.

Former Pres. Trump [now accused of insurrection, a rebellion, which disqualifies him from appearing on ballots across the country and hinders his re-election chances] railed at the rally over what he falsely claimed was a stolen election and urged his supporters to march on the Capitol.

 Let'em go to jail. They're adults, they knew what they were doing, tho they got set up by FBI.

I run this party, Mitch McCuckold. So, giddyup

[He made it seem that's where he was heading, but in fact he went back to his lair to watch the mayhem unfold on TV with his advisor/daughter prompting him to step in and stop the madness, which he ignored because he wanted VP Pence killed and hanged on the hallowed grounds of the capital of what Dr. Rev. MLK Jr. called “the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today.”]

They were prompted to march on the Capitol where the election results were being certified. Nishimura followed them, documenting the attack on the Capitol in real time. As he sent in photos and video of the event, he let his GoPro camera, attached to his helmet, run as long as the battery could last. That footage had never been shown until now.

Rush: I know everything, so I'm rich. RIP

“You know why there’s a Second Amendment?” asked Rush Limbaugh before answering: “In case the government fails to follow the first one.” Something to think about even for those who know Limbaugh to have been a blowhard and a harmful arch conservative who swayed many to the right by fearmongering and fast-talking tautologies.

The Jan 6 Tapes: Exclusive Capitol Hill security footage

(The Epoch Times/The Thinking Conservative) Aug. 10, 2023: The Epoch Times was given access to tens of thousands of hours of U.S. Capitol Police security video of Jan. 6, 2021. Join Epoch TV Host Joshua Philipp and senior investigative reporter Joe Hanneman for a special Aug. 11th report that will lay out their findings.

The dramatic footage helps answer some of the many questions that remain two-and-a-half years after the events of Jan. 6. Use links here to watch The Capitol Hill Tapes on August 11, 2023: thethinkingconservative.com.

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• Rise Up "Deplorables" website: riseupdeplorables.com

No farmers, no food...eat bugs? (Epoch Times)

Epoch Times (nofarmersnofood.com); Pfc. Sandoval, Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Climate change alarmism: Anti-Greta (video)

Greta Thunberg (useful idiot or gov't shill); The Jimmy Dore Show (TJDS); Roman "The Epoch Times Conservative Guy" Balmakov; Eds., Wisdom Quarterly

Dinesh D'Souza takes down Aspergers patient who's a fraud because "Nazis were leftists"?

Inconvenient Truth: 32 Climate Predictions Proven False | Facts Matter

(Facts Matter with Roman Balmakov) Premiered March 30, 2023: Facts Matter with Roman 🧶 Get the SEKUR safe messaging app: ept.ms/3yW0Wul. Episode resources: 🔵 Sekur: ept.ms/3yW0Wul.  🔵 Timeline of Predictions: ept.ms/3M6yC22

12-year-old mocks Greta Thunberg on mass surveillance and smart cities

(The Jimmy Dore Show) Aug. 23, 2023: #TheJimmyDoreShow This past Saturday, the Stop Oxford: No 15 Minute Cities community day of action was held in Oxford, England, in the UK, attracting thousands of protesters. Among the speakers was a 12-year-old girl named “Jasmin,” who quickly went viral for claiming the 15-minute neighborhoods were “soon to become digital ID facial recognition zones.”

Guest Host Craig “Pasta” Jardula, along with Jimmy Dore and Americans’ Comedian Kurt Metzger discuss the newfound prominence of this so-called Anti-Greta Thunberg. Follow Craig “Pasta” Jardula on Twitter: https://twitter.com/yopasta. The Convo Couch’s YouTube channel: theconvocouch Kurt Metzger: twitter.com/kurtmetzger, website: KurtMetzgerComedy.com.

Proof science is wrong: Great Unconformity

ReYOUniverse, July 2, 2023; Sheldon S., CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Where did a billion years of Earth's history go?

(ReYOUniverse) Who knew a quarter of the Earth's geologic history is missing? It's not that we can't find evidence. It's that the evidence doesn't exist, physically.

Grand Canyon has three layers

This is not a joke, not an exaggeration, not a conspiracy. It's a scientific fact. (So much for science). It has an equally mysterious name: The Great Unconformity. Today we learn:

• Where and why did a 14-kilometer layer of soil disappear without a trace across the planet?
• What is the connection between the Grand Canyon [or the even grander Copper Canyon in Mexico] and the mountain ranges in Australia?
• How did the deadliest winter in the history of the planet become the cradle of vibrant life?
• Who turned off Earth's magnetic field 500 million years ago?

We're off to explore the mystery of the grandest event in planetary history, the mystery of the Great Unconformity. #reyouniverse  #ryv_earth

Joe Rogan: Egyptian Sphinx's secrets revealed

Crunch, Joe Rogan; Bright Insight; Pfc. Sandoval, Sheldon S., S. Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

LEAKED secret photos UNDER Great Sphinx of Egypt: Hidden tunnels CONFIRMED

(Bright Insight) Nov. 22, 2021. Here is the first ever photos/videos from under and inside the Great Sphinx of Giza Egypt. 

"Bright Insight" is the channel of Jimmy Corsetti. Help support him in his efforts by supporting him on Venmo @bright_insight or by contributing to his Patreon: patreon.com/BrightInsight. Instagram.com/bright_insight..., TikTok: vm.tiktok.com/ZM8u3XBhL.

Joe Rogan reacts to Secrets of Egypt's Great Sphinx of Giza

(Crunch) Jan. 28, 2023.  #joerogan #sphinx #ancientegypt Today on Crunch, let's see what Joe Rogan and Robert Schoch have to say about the much older age of this colossal figure. One of history's most perplexing mysteries rises from the Sahara Desert in Egypt. Its stone eyes peer out of an animal body-human face, surveying a land of ancient tombs and endless sand. For millennia, it has weathered the ravages of time and witnessed the rise and fall of civilizations. Yet, after all these centuries, the Great Sphinx of Giza remains an enigma. Just when we believe we are about to solve its eternal riddles, the Sphinx reveals another layer of secrecy. One of the biggest mysteries in Ancient Egypt that swirls around this famous structure is when was it built. For years, Egyptologists and archeologists have thought the Great Sphinx of Giza to be about 4,500 years old. However, recent studies have suggested the Sphinx is much older than mainstream archeologists and Egyptologists claim.

DON'T CLICK THIS LINK: bit.ly/3qt8jGx ✅ For more amazing discoveries as well as recent discoveries, subscribe 👉 youtube.com/CrunchScience #archaeology #ancientegypt #joerogan #sphinx

12 Strangest Mysteries of the Egyptian Sphinx

(Inforado) Nov. 4, 2022. The Sphinx of Egypt is one of the most famous ancient sculptures in the world, but how much do you really know about it? In fact, how much does anybody really know about it? There’s far more to the Sphinx than most people imagine, and most probably won’t even realize how much about it we don’t know until we’ve finished watching this video.

Ancient Buddhist site found in India (Ambaran)

Wisdom Quarterly; Venus Upadhayaya (TheEpochTimes.com, March 19, 2013)

Chenab river runs alongside the Ambaran site (Venus Upadhayaya/Epoch Times Staff)

Ambaran masonry, the foundations of buildings (Venus Upadhayaya/Epoch Times Staff)

 

Sign at Ambaran archeological site

The Srinagar Circle of [the] Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) carried out excavations for two seasons between 1999 to 2001 and 2008 to 2010, making it one of the latest Buddhist sites discovered by the ASI.

 

During the excavation, Buddhist a monastic establishment from the period of 1st to 3rd century ACE was unearthed.

A reliquary mound (stupa, pagoda), votive mound, and walls of a monastery were exposed, all built with burnt brick masonry.

  

Among the important antiquities found at the site are a large number of decorative terracotta statuettes, semi-precious stone beads, leaves, and ornaments, terracotta skin-rubber, iron nails, and copper pieces.

 

The most significant Buddhist structure is a Dharma wheel (Dharmachakra) mound unearthed during the scientific clearance work at the site in 2008-10, which exposed the remains of a platform missing its super structure. The structure is the first to be found in Jammu and Kashmir state in the northernmost part of India. More

• Cambodia to conduct live fire drill next week
• UN, Cambodia seek solution to tribunal funding problems

Jesus Christ in Buddhist Kashmir

Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly

KASHMIR, India - What do Christianity, the Jewish Jesus (Issa), and Judeo-Christian myths have to do with Buddhism and ancient Indian lore? 

  

Virgin/Kwan Yin (Great-wall-hikers)

The remarkable similarities between Mahayana Buddhism (heavily influenced by India's Vedic Hinduism), evangelical Christianity (which took much from Mithraism and the Near East), and universalist Catholicism (which, like Mahayana, reveres the goddess Virg Yin as much or more than the founder) are not coincidental. The Greeks (Orthodox Eastern Church), Central Asians (Afghans, those from the 'istans, and from Iran to Kalmykia in Europe, and those in the Far East tell the same story of giants and other beings on the planet. The sacred texts and histories of these various, seemingly unrelated, traditions existed long before the Buddha or Jesus presented teachings that spread widely and had universal appeal. They hint back to a time when the planet was less diverse in its culture and spiritual expression. Sumerian, Egyptian, and Vedic histories reach far back into prehistory.

Is China coming undone? (video)

WantChinaTimes; Rhawn Joseph (BrainMind.com); Philip Short; Wisdom Quarterly
(poedpatriot.com)

Avici ("the waveless" deep, the lowest hell) would sooner freeze over than we would see Chinese democracy. Yet, recently Guns 'n Roses played a series of small Los Angeles shows following their lackluster presentation of Axl's decade-long pet project "Chinese Democracy" at the Forum. Now overnight rumors speak of a possible coup in the People's Republic of China, an officially communist semi-totalitarian capitalist country with the largest population of humans and the largest number of Buddhists on Earth.

• Online rumor mill fills information void in jittery China
• Obama threatens rare earth trade war against China
  
• China to step up patrol near disputed islands
  

Unconfirmed rumors of Beijing coup

Wantchinatimes.com, March 21, 2012
Following the dismissal of Bo Xilai as party chief of Chongqing, rumors of an attempted coup in Beijing have spread throughout the country over the Internet, reports the Hong Kong-based Oriental Daily.

Unconfirmed reports provided by Chinese Internet users have spoken of a power struggle between Premier Wen Jiabao and Zhou Yongkang, head of the party's Central Political and Legislative Committee.

Since Zhou, like Wen a member of the all-powerful Politburo Standing Committee, is considered a protege of former president Jiang Zemin, Netizens claimed that Jiang and his successor, Hu Jintao, have been attacking each other's supporters within the government.

Microblogging ["tweeting" without Twitter] accounts of citizens based in Beijing claim to have seen dozens of military helicopters from Nanyuan airfield patrolling the skies above the capital and PLA tanks on the streets.

One Netizen reported encountering 50 to 60 police officers and anti-riot vehicles near the Dongzhimen area of the city as well as a convoy of trucks carrying PLA soldiers.

A video was uploaded to Sina Weibo showing the army transferring artillery from Shandong province to Beijing by train. Though the reports are still unconfirmed, some Netizens claimed that they heard gunfire on the streets of Beijing on Monday evening.

(Sarastarlight) "Tiananmen Massacre: The Rise & Fall of the 1989 Chinese Student Democracy Movement" is a film by Rhawn Joseph (BrainMind.com) about China's communist government declaring war against its own citizens that immortalized the "Tank Man" whom most Chinese have never heard of. What happened to him?

Netizens have also been speculating who will emerge the winner in the latest political struggle. Although Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao have the support of the military, one Netizen pointed out that Zhou Yongkang controls the People's Armed Police.

Meanwhile an article from The Epoch Times, a media outlet based in New York run by the religious group Falun Gong and persecuted by the Chinese government, said some of the photos posted on Sina Weibo were fakes. A photo of tanks moving in Beijing was said to have actually been taken during celebrations to mark the 60th anniversary of the People's Republic of China in 2009. More

(SLJames) "Mao's Bloody Revolution Revealed" a documentary written by Philip Short and directed by Adrian Maben. What political movement destroyed the public expression of Buddhism in the service of the Chinese state? The empire/nation has 1 billion+ uncounted Buddhists as a result.

2012 and the Kali Yuga (video)

Bruce Fenton* (2012rising.com); edited by Wisdom Quarterly

(LINK) Mayan calendars point at Dec. 21st, 2012, suggesting the end of the world as we know it -- another Dark Age or a new Golden Age? Who was the blue eyed, white haired Kukulcan (asura)? What is the great pyramid at Chichen Itza? When will feathered serpents (nagas) plunge into our hollow Earth?

One of the most interesting calendar coincidences in relation to the Mayan 2012 information is the similarity between the start dates of the last long count cycle of the Mayan system and Hinduism’s Kali Yuga (the cyclical Dark or Decadent Age).

Yugas are vast periods of time, epochs that relate to the Earth's journey around a cosmos' central sun. The four yugas (Satya Yuga, Treta Yuga, Dvapara Yuga, and Kali Yuga) together make up an entire world age (aeon, kalpa) between formation and disintegration events, calculated to be about 4,320,000 years in total duration.

The Hari Krishna movement derived this view of the Kali Yuga from the Vedanta. Why are disparate cultures telling essentially the same tale? It is because extraterrestrial visitors seeded imperial cultures across the globe. But the ancient astronauts are now mythologies of "gods," angels, and demons.

While most Dec. 21, 2012 researchers are aware of the 3114 BCE start date of the current long count cycle, few are aware that the Kali Yuga -- a predicted era of moral decline and spiritual bleakness -- began in the year 3102 BCE.

It is startling that there are only 12 years difference between systems on different sides of the planet. The Brahma Vaivarta Purana Sutra from ancient (Vedic) India depicts a period which has many of the failings visible in our modern society. Such is the backdrop of the spiritual decline in the Kali Yuga.

It is, however, a mistake for people to seek a link between the Mayan 2012 end-date and the closing of the Kali Yuga. Although their starts may be similar, their ends do not. (Although some suggest this is an error).

Buddhism
The Kali Yuga is set to continue for a vast period, at least 432,000 years, well eclipsing the 5126 years of the Mayan long count calendar. Scholars from Eastern philosophies such as Buddhism and from religions such as Brahmanism (Vedic Hinduism), often suggest that ages are many millions of years long, vast kalpas (aeons, of which there are a variety of differing spans).

There is an excellent Buddhist parable that attempts to explain the staggering length of a kalpa. The Buddha said it was hard to say in terms of years, centuries, of millenia but that nevertheless an idea could be conveyed: The vivid description of an aeon is far more effective than a string of numbers.

It can be likened to a mass of flawless marble the size of mythical Mount Meru (Sumeru). And once every a bird whets its beak on top of the mountain with a fine Varanasi cloth. Carrying on in this way, that mountain of stone would sooner be completely worn away and yet a single kalpa would not have elapsed.

It is worth noting that Buddhist philosophy does not tend to hold to the idea that a time of any great universal significance will happen in our near future. Every moment carries the same inherent flaws and their solution is present, even if it is only revealed very rarely by universal teachers (buddhas) who rediscover and make known the Dharma.

The only significant events predicted or prophesied are the ending of vast epochs and the extremely rare and intermittent arising of new buddhas. There have been suggestions in relation to 2012 that the next Buddha (Maitreya) will arise at this time in a Judeo-Christian (Messiah) end of days scenario.

Unfortunately, anyone familiar with Buddhist lore will recognize that it is made clear that fully enlightened teaching buddhas only arise millions of years apart -- not on a regular interval or when needed but after vast stretches of geological time.

(ShiftOfTheAge) "Shift of the Ages" film is an authentic story of the Maya, the Mayan Calendar, 2012, and the turbulent times in which we are living told through living Grand Elder Wandering Wolf, who is also known as Don Alejandro Cirilo Perez Oxlaj. It will be Maya's first official discourse to the world (shiftoftheAges.com),

Buddhism (the Dharma) is prophesied to completely disappear during the Kali Yuga. And during that time it will be virtually impossible for seekers to find any opportunity for spiritual realization (breakthrough to the stages of enlightenment) at all by any system now available.

Only when such utter darkness has shrouded the world will another being become fully realized wholly by unprompted effort and without any guidance to become the next supremely enlightened teacher, the Buddha Maitreya.

The most notable discussion on the Kali Yuga by Buddhist teachers actually refers to how lucky a living being is to be reborn as a human at any time when the Dharma still exists and how much rarer to ever see a buddha or even an enlightened individual (arhat).

To quote the Tibetan teacher Pabongka Rimpoche, “Most important of all through this physical rebirth you are able to achieve the state of Vajradhara [unification of the illusory body and great bliss] within one short lifetime in this degenerate age; otherwise it would take thee countless great aeons to achieve. Thus this rebirth is worth more than one thousand billion precious jewels.” Dec. 21, 2012 may close a cycle... More

• VIDEO: 2012 Solar Storms and DMT
  

*(VajraGuru333) Bruce Fenton introduces 2012Rising.com.

How Many Past Lives Have We Had?

In the Buddha’s Words by Bhikkhu Bodhi edited by Seven for Wisdom Quarterly

Buddha, Thailand (PhotAsia/Flickr.com, Photasia.net)

Without Discoverable Beginnings

(1) Grass and Sticks

The Buddha said: “Disciples, this samsara [literally, "faring on, wandering on" through rebirths] is without discoverable beginning. A first point is not able to be discerned of beings roaming and wandering on [through the cycle of repeated births and deaths] hindered by ignorance and bound by craving.

[The search for such an ultimate beginning is one of the Four Imponderables.* If pondered and pursued it would be useless and lead to derangement. Yet if such a pursuit could succeed, it would nevertheless not lead to dispassion, enlightenment, and liberation from suffering. If it did lead to the end of suffering, the Buddha would have taught it.]

“Suppose, disciples, a man would cut up whatever grass, sticks, branches, and leaves there are in this Jambudipa [the "Rose Apple Land" or Indian subcontinent] and collect them together into a single heap. Having done so, he would put them down, saying for each one: ‘This is my mother, this my mother's mother.’

“The sequence of that man's mothers and grandmothers would not come to an end, yet the grass, sticks, branches, and leaves in this Jambudipa would be used up and exhausted. For what reason? Disciples, it is because this samsara is without discoverable beginning. A first point is not able to be discerned of beings roaming and wandering on hindered by ignorance and bound by craving.

“For such a long time, disciples, you have experienced suffering, anguish, and disaster, and swelled up the cemeteries. It is enough to become disenchanted with all formations, enough to become dispassionate toward them, enough to be liberated from them.” (SN 15:1; II 178)

(2) Balls of Clay

Disciples, this samsara is without discoverable beginning. A first point is not able to be discerned of beings roaming and wandering on hindered by ignorance and bound by craving. Suppose, disciples, a man would reduce this great Earth to balls of clay the size of jujube kernels and put them down, saying [for each one]: ‘This is my father, this my father's father.’ The sequence of that man's fathers and grandfathers would not come to an end, yet this great Earth would be used up and exhausted.

For what reason? Disciples, it is because this samsara is without discoverable beginning. A first point is not able to be discerned of beings roaming and wandering on hindered by ignorance and bound by craving.

For such a long time, disciples, you have experienced suffering, anguish, and disaster, and swelled up the cemeteries. It is enough to become disenchanted with all formations, enough to become dispassionate toward them, enough to be liberated from them."
(SN 15:2; II 179)

(3) The Mountain

A certain monk approached the Buddha, bowed, sat down to one side, and said: "Venerable sir, how long is an aeon?"

"An aeon is long, monk. It is not easy to count it and say it is so many years, or so many hundreds of years, or so many thousands of years, or so many hundreds of thousands of years."

"Then, venerable sir, is it possible to give a simile?"

“It is possible, monk," the Buddha said. "Suppose, monk, there was a great stone mountain a yojana [seven miles] long, a yojana wide, and a yojana high, without cracks or crevices, one solid mass of rock.

At the end of every hundred years a man would stroke it once with a piece of fine silk cloth. That great stone mountain might by his effort be worn away and eliminated, yet one aeon would still not have elapsed! So long is an aeon, monk.

"And of aeons this long, we have wandered through so many aeons, so many hundreds of aeons, so many thousands of aeons, so many hundreds of thousands of aeons. For what reason? It is because, monk, this samsara is without discoverable beginning.... It is enough to be liberated from them." (SN 15:5; II 181-82)

(4) The River Ganges

At Rajagaha, in the Bamboo Grove, the Squirrel's Sanctuary, a certain brahmin approached the Buddha and exchanged greetings with him. When they had concluded their greetings and cordial talk, he sat down to one side and asked: "Master Gotama, how many aeons have elapsed and gone by?"

Ganges at Varanasi, where Buddhism began in the Deer Park at Sarnath

"Brahmin, many aeons have elapsed and gone by. It is not easy to count them and say there are so many aeons, or so many hundreds of aeons, or so many thousands of aeons, or so many hundreds of thousands of aeons."

“But is it possible to give a simile, Master Gotama?”

“It is possible, brahmin,” the Buddha said. “Imagine, brahmin, the grains of sand between the point where the river Ganges originates and the point where it enters the great ocean: It is not easy to count these and say there are so many grains of sand, or so many hundreds of grains, or so many thousands of grains, or so many hundreds of thousands of grains.

“Brahmin, the aeons that have elapsed and gone by are even more numerous than that! It is not easy to count them and say that there are so many aeons, or so many hundreds of aeons, or so many thousands of aeons, or so many hundreds of thousands of aeons.

“For what reason? It is because, brahmin, this samsara is without discoverable beginning. A first point is not able to be discerned of beings roaming and wandering on hindered by ignorance and bound by craving.

“For such a long time, brahmin, you have experienced suffering, anguish, and disaster, and swelled up the cemeteries. It is enough to become disenchanted with all formations, enough to become dispassionate toward them, enough to be liberated from them.” (SN 15:8; II 183-84)

(5) Dog on a Leash

“Monks, this samsara is without discoverable beginning. A first point is not able to be discerned of beings roaming and wandering on hindered by ignorance and bound by craving.

“There comes a time, disciples, when the great ocean dries up and evaporates and no longer exists. But still, I say, there is no making an end of suffering for those beings roaming and wandering on hindered by ignorance and bound by craving.

“There comes a time, disciples, when Mt. Sineru, the king of mountains, burns up and perishes and no longer exists. But still, I say, there is no making an end of suffering for those beings roaming and wandering on hindered by ignorance and bound by craving.

“There comes a time, disciples, when the great Earth burns up and perishes and no longer exists. But still, I say, there is no making an end of suffering for those beings roaming and wandering on hindered by ignorance and bound by craving.

“Suppose, disciples, a dog were tied up on a leash bound to a strong post. It would just keep on running and revolving around that post. So too, the uninstructed ordinary worldling regards

1. form as self...
2. feeling as self...
3. perception as self...
4. volitional formations as self...
5. consciousness as self....

“One just keeps running and revolving around form, around feeling, around perception, around volitional formations, around consciousness [the Five Aggregates of Existence].

“As it keeps on running and revolving around them, it is not freed from form, not freed from feeling, not freed from perception, not freed from volitional formations, not freed from consciousness.

“It is not freed from birth, aging, and death; not freed from sorrow, lamentation, pain, dejection, and despair; not freed from suffering, I say.” (SN 22:99; II 149-50)

*The Four Imponderables
Numerical Discourses of the Buddha (A.IV.7)

These Four Imponderables are not to be pondered (or speculated about). Anyone who persisted in pondering them would come unhinged and experience vexation:

1. The sphere of a buddha's influence (the buddha-range of a buddha, i.e., the range of powers a buddha develops as a result of becoming a supremely enlightened teacher)...
2. The jhana-range of one absorbed in jhana (the range of powers it is possible to develop based on the eight meditative absorptions]...
3. The results (or working out) of karma...
4. The [first cause, moment, purpose, etc., of the] universe...
   

2012 Prophecy (film)

Prophecy behind "2012" film
The new end-of-world movie is based on actual beliefs with a large following. Did Mayans predict apocalypse?

• Find Nostradamus and skeptics
• Watch the "2012" doomsday trailer

Human Potential: like Buddha Boy

Does the Human Body Have Limits?

By Leonardo Vintini (Epoch Times, 7/24-30/08)

RECORD BREAKER: Magician David Blaine broke the world's record for breath-holding earlier this year, but have others far surpassed this feat?

Holding the breath for nearly 20 minutes, or staying awake for 11 days might seem like supernatural records, but what are a human being's actual limits?

Food, water, sleep, and breath are the basic pillars of sustenance for any human life. While other organisms may survive a prolonged absence of these essentials, the survival of humans without these four indispensable factors is, according to science, not possible.

But how long can a human really go without one of these life-sustaining essentials? What is the breaking point? It seems that whenever one tries to find an absolute rule, an exception is soon found.

Exemplary fasting, meditating asceticism

Bigu: Life Without Food
While many observe a period of fasting—either for health or religious reasons—this brief break from food usually does not last long. Some go without eating for a few days or a week and report that the occasional practice can actually promote a healthy vigor, provided that they return to eating again. Others, to mark a political protest, might engage in a hunger strike—abstaining from food to bring attention to an issue.

But as humans near the month mark without food, the body enters starvation mode. As prolonged fasts near two months or more, and the body feeds off itself for substance, death soon results. Lack of water can be fatal to humans in an even shorter period.

Nonetheless, there are ancient records suggesting that humans might have the ability to go without food or water for far longer than we might imagine. According to ancient Chinese cultivation methods, when a monk decided to meditate in a remote mountain or cave, sooner or later he would confront a problem—what to do about food. Living in a cave away from the rest of civilization, he had little to sustain him on his path to enlightenment.

According to oral tradition, in order to resolve the situation of sustenance, monks practiced Bigu (literally translated as "without grain'). Detached from the human world, the monk would miraculously abandon the biological necessity for food and water, although he could continue his practice for decades—a veritable impossibility according to modern biological understandings.

But beyond what the records say of eminent monks who have stayed in meditation for nine or more years, and which modern science may not acknowledge, does there exist any evidence indicating that the human body may possess the capacity to escape the burden of finding sustenance? Beginning in 1926 (a case negated by scientists), a woman named Teresa Neumann managed to go 35 years without eating until her death.

The "Buddha Boy" Nepal's Ram Bahadur Bomjon

More recently, investigators report that in 2005 a young Nepalese Buddhist, Ram Bahadur Bomjon [the famous "Buddha Boy"], sustained his meditation in the shade of a fig tree for more than eight months without consuming food or liquid of any kind. A fence separated the hundreds of followers who stopped to pray and admire the miraculous human. Even the Discovery Channel filmed him day and night for four days to prove the veracity of the case.

Sleep Deprivation
But what can we say about sleep? Is there anyone who has managed to bypass the restorative "escape from consciousness" that all people require once every 24 hours? Some animal species, such as fish or ostriches, possess the capacity to sleep with only one hemisphere of the brain, leaving the other half alert to watch for predators. Later they swap, putting the other half to rest. In this way, they complete their daily sleep cycle.

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Humans [are said by some to] lack such a capability. Usually, one "all nighter" can lead to increased stress and a noticeably slower reaction time; two nights without slumber only increases these effects. But what is the "official" limit of sleep deprivation? During the past century, many have attempted to endure several sleep-free evenings. Enduring hallucinations and short-term memory loss, 17-year-old Randy Gardner managed to stay awake for 11 days in 1963. And although Guinness no longer observes sleep deprivation records, others have strived to break Gardner's feat.

Yet these slumber-free stretches don't compare to 66-year-old Vietnamese farmer Ngoc Thai. Stricken with a fever in 1973, Thai has not been able to return to sleep in the last 35 years, but not for a lack of trying. Medications, folk remedies, and alcohol don't seem to break his sleepless existence. Is Ngoc Thai a medical impossibility? How can the human brain survive without sleep for more than a week?

Every Breath We Take
While organisms such as anaerobic bacteria thrive just fine in an oxygen-deprived environment, humans fare less well. Most people have tried to hold their breath under water—after just a few minutes, the need for air takes over and we are forced to emerge for precious oxygen. Earlier this year, magician David Blaine astounded audiences when he broke the world record for holding one's breath, enduring over 17 oxygen-deprived minutes. But has he reached the human limit?

Some records show that Indian yogis have stayed buried in the earth or immersed in water for several days, defying scientific understandings of molecular oxygenation.

Humans are naturally curious about the body's limits, and individuals who test them inspire awe and wonder. But when examples break far beyond the realm of the possible, the results become difficult to comprehend. [There's also a Western history of monastic asceticism].

When someone appears to sever their dependence of these vital life-giving factors—beyond the well-trained parlor trick—we are forced to examine what might instead sustain the body.