(National Geographic) Superskilled with Eva zu Beck: I trained like a Mongolian horseback warrior for five (5) days [to learn the skills Prince Siddhartha Gautama, who became the Buddha, learned on his white pony Kanthaka and during archery competitions of his day in Gandhara/Scythia/Saka/Shakya Land]
Showing posts with label Kanthaka. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kanthaka. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 23, 2025
Wednesday, December 13, 2023
That time the Buddha said he kills people
Dhr. Seven, Pat Macpherson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly; Ven. Thanissaro (original translation), Kesi Sutta: "To Kesi the Horse Trainer" (AN 4.111 PTS: A ii 111) from accesstoinsight.org
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| The Buddha sits on a skull (ปลอดค่าลิขสิทธิ์) |
"Kesi, trained man that you are, trainer of horses to be tamed, tell me, how do you train a horse to be tamed?"
"Venerable sir, I train a horse to be tamed with gentleness, or [sometimes] with harshness, or with a skillful mix of both gentleness and harshness."
"But, Kesi, what if a horsed to be tamed submits neither to mild training nor to harsh training nor to a skillful mix of both mild and harsh training, what do you do?"
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| I will kill you, you untamable demon-horse! |
"Venerable sir, if a horse to be tamed neither submits to mild training nor to harsh training nor to a skillful mix of both mild and harsh training then I kill it. And, sir, why is that? [I kill it thinking,] 'Do not let this be a disgrace to my lineage of teachers.' But, venerable sir, the Blessed One is the unexcelled trainer of [gods and men, that is, devas and human beings] those to be tamed. How do you train a person to be tamed?"
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| Prince Sid had a famous white pony, Kanthaka |
"Kesi, I train a person to be tamed with gentleness, or [sometimes] with harshness, or with a skillful mix of both gentleness and harshness.
"In training with gentleness [I teach],
- 'Such is skillful bodily conduct [karma]. Such is the result of skillful bodily conduct.
- Such is skillful verbal conduct. Such is the result of skillful verbal conduct.
- Such is skillful mental conduct. Such is the result of skillful mental conduct.
- Such are the shining ones (devas). Such are human beings.'
"In training with harshness [I teach],
- 'Such is unskillful bodily conduct. Such is the result of unskillful bodily conduct.
- Such is unskillful verbal conduct. Such is the result of unskillful verbal conduct.
- Such is unskillful mental conduct. Such is the result of unskillful mental conduct.
- Such is [rebirth in] hell(s).
- Such is [rebirth in] the realm of animals.
- Such is [rebirth in] the realm of hungry ghosts.'
"In using a skillful mix of both gentleness and harshness [I teach],
- 'Such is skillful bodily conduct. Such is the result of skillful bodily conduct.
- Such is unskillful bodily conduct. Such is the result of unskillful bodily conduct.
- Such is skillful verbal conduct. Such is the result of skillful verbal conduct.
- Such is unskillful verbal conduct. Such is the result of unskillful verbal conduct.
- Such is skillful mental conduct. Such is the result of skillful mental conduct.
- Such is unskillful mental conduct. Such is the result of unskillful mental conduct.
- Such is [rebirth among] devas.
- Such is [rebirth among] humans.
- Such is [rebirth among] hellions.
- Such is [rebirth among] animals.
- Such is [rebirth among] hungry ghosts.'"
"But, venerable sir, what if a person to be tamed submits neither to mild training nor to harsh training nor to a skillful mix of mild and harsh training, what do you do?"
"Kesi, if a person to be tamed submits neither to mild training nor to harsh training nor to a skillful mix of both mild and harsh training then I kill the person."
"But, venerable sir, it is improper for the Blessed One to take life! Yet the Blessed One just said, 'I kill the person'!"
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| Venerable sir, teach and guide us to awaken. - This is skillful, this is not. Go practice Dhamma. |
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"Kesi, it is true that it is improper for a Tathagata [Wayfarer, the Buddha referring to himself] to take life. But if a person to be tamed submits neither to mild training nor to harsh training nor to a skillful mix of both mild and harsh training then the Tathagata regards that person as being neither worth speaking to nor admonishing.
- [NOTE: The Buddha never killed nor called for anyone to be literally killed. He did, however, lay down a "higher punishment" (brahma = "supreme" + danda = "rod," a figurative brahmastra). What is it? It is being shunned and ignored by the Sangha (the community of monks and nuns). This is not excommunication because it is not final, only a last resort to try to bring someone to his or her senses and correct a pernicious "wrong view" that person may be holding and acting on. See the case of Channa, the Buddha's charioteer who took care of his horse, Kanthaka. He later became a monk but was very proud of his affiliation with the Buddha as Prince Siddhartha. Indeed, this penalty had the intended effect: Ven. Channa came to his senses and, far from being "killed" was cured of his pride. See Channa Sutta.]
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| Buddha in the Ocean of Blood (Tatiana Basova) |
"Kesi, this is what it means to be 'utterly destroyed in this Doctrine and Discipline' [the Buddha's Teaching and Training] -- when the Tathagata regards one as being neither worth speaking to nor admonishing, and one's noble friends in the pure life regard one as being neither worth speaking to nor admonishing."
"Indeed, venerable sir, one is utterly destroyed [killed] if the Tathagata regards that person as being neither worth speaking to nor admonishing — and even one's noble friends in the pure life regard that person as being neither worth speaking to nor admonishing!
"Magnificent, venerable sir, magnificent! It is just as if one were to set upright what had been overturned, as if to reveal what had been hidden, as if to show the way to one who were lost, as if to carry a lamp into the dark so that those with eyes could see forms!
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| Kesi (Hinduism) is a demon in shape of a horse |
Wednesday, April 25, 2018
Story of the Buddha Off-Broadway (musical)
Lion’s Roar); Amber Larson, Crystal Quintero (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
Off-Broadway musical on the Life of the Buddha
A. Jesse Jiryu Davis and Jennifer Keishin Armstrong* reviewed and photographed “Under the Bodhi Tree” last year for Lion's Roar.
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| Yasodhara (Elaine Cotter) tells Siddhartha (Joshua Grosso) she's pregnant (lionsroar.com) |
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A. Jesse Jiryu Davis and Jennifer Keishin Armstrong* reviewed and photographed “Under the Bodhi Tree” last year for Lion's Roar.
On a Tuesday night [May 2017], an audience of about 50 settled into a small, black box theater less than a block from Broadway.
Over the next two hours, they’d learn about the life of the Buddha the same way patrons of other nearby theaters were getting to know Alexander Hamilton or Sunset Boulevard’s Norma Desmond -- through original, rousing song-and-dance numbers.
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| We'll turn round and round in this insufferable samsara forever until we wake up. |
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Under the Bodhi Tree started as a Korean script written by Jingoo Lee and Julie Song.
It follows Prince Siddhartha from his royal childhood, through his noble [origins] marriage, and eventually on his journey temporarily away from his family and toward enlightenment.
- [NOTE: Siddhartha left to find why we suffer and thus bring all suffering to an end. He came back seven years later with answers and saved his family and many, many others].
The diverse, ten-person cast finished a 12-day run at the Royal Family Performing Arts Space, and producers are hoping to bring the show to festivals and regional theaters throughout America as well as to create a Korean tour.
The production aims to make Prince Siddhartha’s life and teachings accessible to young, modern audiences, with an introduction set in current day featuring characters suffering over everything from pennilessness to lack of likes on Instagram.
As the play moves into
Siddhartha’s time, the future Buddha comes across as timeless.
He wears a simple white cotton and is played by Joshua Grosso with naturalism -- not to mention a killer Broadway voice and a luminous presence.
Many of the other characters are blatantly styled in Rent-like punk and played with a modern edge.
Siddhartha’s childhood sidekick, Channa [who cared for Sid's white pony Kanthaka], wears a pink sweatshirt and moto-style jeans, providing comic relief -- though not all of the audience, many of whom were clutching Korean translation sheets, seemed to get his jokes.
(For instance, “You look like you need some moral support. I’d offer, but my morals are questionable.”) Jordan J. Ford appears as Siddhartha’s snarky tempter, Mara, in a kilt and combat boots.
Those boots would be at home in the current
Tony-darling Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812. One of the cast members wears a Nirvana band T-shirt throughout -- get it?
Even if it doesn’t become the next Jesus Christ Superstar, Under the Bodhi Tree is a delightful way to spend an evening -- and remember why we practice. Source
*REVIEWERS
Jennifer Keishin Armstrong
is the TV columnist for BBC Culture and also writes for several other publications, including The New York Times Book Review, Fast Company, Vulture, and Billboard. She’s the author of the New York Times bestseller Seinfeldia: How the Show About Nothing Changed Everything and a history of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Mary and Lou and Rhoda and Ted. She now lives in Manhattan.
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| Why do we suffer, and how can we end it? |
He wears a simple white cotton and is played by Joshua Grosso with naturalism -- not to mention a killer Broadway voice and a luminous presence.
Many of the other characters are blatantly styled in Rent-like punk and played with a modern edge.
Siddhartha’s childhood sidekick, Channa [who cared for Sid's white pony Kanthaka], wears a pink sweatshirt and moto-style jeans, providing comic relief -- though not all of the audience, many of whom were clutching Korean translation sheets, seemed to get his jokes.
(For instance, “You look like you need some moral support. I’d offer, but my morals are questionable.”) Jordan J. Ford appears as Siddhartha’s snarky tempter, Mara, in a kilt and combat boots.
 |
| Lion's Roar (lionsroar.com) |
Even if it doesn’t become the next Jesus Christ Superstar, Under the Bodhi Tree is a delightful way to spend an evening -- and remember why we practice. Source
*REVIEWERS
Jennifer Keishin Armstrong
is the TV columnist for BBC Culture and also writes for several other publications, including The New York Times Book Review, Fast Company, Vulture, and Billboard. She’s the author of the New York Times bestseller Seinfeldia: How the Show About Nothing Changed Everything and a history of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Mary and Lou and Rhoda and Ted. She now lives in Manhattan.
A. Jesse Jiryu Davis is a programmer and photographer living in New York City. He is a
student of Enkyo Roshi at the Village Zendo. Visit his blog at emptysqua.re.
Tuesday, March 28, 2017
The Buddha's PONY: too beautiful to live
Sarah DiGiulio (HuffPo); G.P. Malalasekera; Ashley Wells, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
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| Prince Siddhartha's white pony was named Kanthaka, as seen in this ancient carving (W). |
Look no further for the secret to that sleeping-baby glow. These babies may have revealed the answer. Snuggle up with man’s best friend. A favorite dog, cat, or piglet will do. Parents, just remember to follow the updated pediatrician recommendations for safe sleep for babies 1-year-old and younger. And don’t let infants and animals snooze together when you’re not there to supervise. More
The Buddha's white pony
G. P. Malalasekera (Dictionary of Pali Names) edited
by Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly
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| The Scythian prince loved his horse. |
The baby Prince Siddhartha -- before he renounced at 29-years-old, traveled East to meditate, and awakened thus becoming "the Buddha" at age 35 -- had a a white pony named Kanthaka. This horse was very devoted. It broke his heart when Prince Siddhartha left.
The horse on which Gautama left his father's palace, accompanied by his
attendant Channa, was the horse Kanthaka.
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| Stone carving of white pony Kanthaka. |
It is said that when he was saddled for the journey, he
realized the importance of the hour and neighed loudly for joy, but the devas ("shining ones")
muffled the sound of his neighing and his footsteps as he galloped
through the streets.
Ordinarily the sound of his neighing and galloping could be
heard throughout the seasonal royal palace in Kapilavatthu [modern Bamiyan, Afghanistan, according to Dr. Ranajit Pal].
He was 18 cubits long [cubit=length between elbow and fingertips] from neck to tail and
proportionately broad and white in color like a clean conch-shell.
In this journey of renunciation, leaving when all were asleep, Channa held on to Kanthaka's tail. The horse had
the strength, had it been necessary, to clear the ramparts of the city, 18 hands high, at a single bound, with the prince and Channa on his back.
Just outside
Kapilavatthu the prince stopped the horse to take one last look at the capital
city. A burial mound (cetiya) was later erected on this spot and called Kanthakanivatta cetiya.
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| Prince Siddhartha renounces worldly life by casting off his finery, jewellery, and long hair. |
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The horse traveled 30 leagues between midnight and the following morning,
as far as the river Anomā. It is said that Kanthaka could travel around the whole realm [wold-system,
cakka-vāla, so perhaps it was an advanced craft or a supernaturally powerful horse] in one night.
With one leap the horse cleared the river, which was
eight fathoms wide [fathom=6 feet]. On arriving on the opposite bank, the Bodhisattva, the Buddha-to-be, gave orders
that Kanthaka should be taken back to Kapilavatthu.
But Kanthaka kept looking
back at the beloved prince, And when the Bodhisattva disappeared from view, the horse died
of a broken heart. And he was immediately reborn in (heavenly) Realm of the Thirty-Three, Tāvatimsa, under the name of
Kanthaka-devaputta (lit. "Kanthaka, son of god," one reborn as offspring of the devas). (J.i.62-5; Mtu.ii.159f., 165, 189, 190; VibhA.34, etc.;
Buddhacarita, v.3, 68; vi.53ff).
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| Prince Siddhartha, who became the Buddha, grew up with a white pony named Kanthaka. |
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| The Buddha, a Scythian, lived on the Silk Route |
The pony Kanthaka had been born on the same day as the Bodhisattva (J.i.54; BuA.106, 234,
etc.) as had the bodhi tree and his cousin/future wife Bimba, aka Yasodhara, which would mean he was 29 when he passed away to be reborn.
In the Heaven of the Thirty-Three he had a magnificent palace of sapphire (veluriya) gems, which the male chief disciple Maha Moggallāna, foremost in psychic powers (counterpart of Ven. Uppalavanna, the chief female disciple, foremost in psychic powers), visited on one of his tours in Tāvatimsa. (Vv.73f;-VVA.311-18; see also
DhA.i.70; iii.195).
Friday, May 23, 2014
Juicy summer Dharma reads
Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven, Crystal Quintero, Wisdom Quarterly (SUMMER READING)
So reading The Aphorisms and Back-Stories (Dhammapada), The Bodhisat Fables (Buddhist Birth Stories that inspired Aesop, according to British scholar and University of London Professor Rhys Davids), or The Lists (more) may do at first, then the stories (sutras, long discourses, and apocryphal texts), then The Analyses (vibhanga), then The Commentaries, The Higher Teachings, but eventually what we need for nourishment is The Synthesis (Bhikkhu Bodhi, Pema Chodron, Ajahn Brahm, Sharon Salzberg, Ayya Khema, Caroline Davids, Joan Halifax, Islaine B. Horner, Ayya Tathaaloka (facebook)...
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| "Peace is within; do not seek it without" - the Buddha (Vinita Jaynt/pinterest.com) |
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| Juicy Dharma reads for the beach over the long Memorial Day weekend (thedailybeast.com) |
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| Young, rich Prince Siddhartha (Buddha-to-be) |
This weekend is the unofficial launch of summer in the U.S.
It would be fun to read some good trash with a half-hundred shades of nonsense and salacious... but that gets old fast.
Where's the substance I want? Where's the long term profit. Cheap thrills are not only not that cheap, they aren't that thrilling.
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| Snakes as sex symbols for Eves? |
We have to wonder if the story of the Bodhisattva, when reborn as Siddhartha in the faraway frontier of ancient India, wasn't a kind of bodice ripper of its time.
Handsome, gallant prince has a harem ("dancing girls and all-female musicians and palace guards"), plays sports like archery and proto-polo (Persian chowgan or some kinder version of buzz kashi or kokspar with an un-taxidermically-treated leather "ball"), rides a white pony horse named Kanthaka, does feats of strength, learns great royal skills from Brahmin tutors, wears flowing gowns of the greatest Kasi fabric, and enjoys more riches than he can comfortably get his head around. Where?
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| Prince Siddhartha in the upper floors of his seasonal palace guarded by women and filled with "dancing" girls and female musicians and a surfeit of luxurious foods and other delights. |
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| Playing with the boys in feats of strength in Central Asia -- proto-polo with a "pigskin" made of lamb, equestrian skill for warriors in need of nomadic endurance (wiki/army.mil) |
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| Indus Valley Civilization and Kapilavast |
Imagine a cosmopolitan crossroads on the Silk Road, travelers and magicians going from the Far East to the West and paradises beyond India and Asia.
Was that the Terai of Nepal? Not likely, but that's what the colonial British books say. Afghanistan is a better candidate, Sanskrit-speaking Gandhara and the remnants of the once great Indus Valley Civilization (romanticized "distant lands" between Egypt and India) and what remained of it. India's influence extended all the way to Iran (which later became Zoroastrian and Sufi-inspired Persia before being overtaken by Islam).
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| Dance, dancing girls, dance! |
Worlds to the west were pre-Christian, pre-Jewish, pre-Abrahamic described in the pejorative as "pagan." Full of shamans, traders, trailblazers, and Sumerian-Egyptian-Arabian-Bedouin post-Babylonians. Life could not have been easy, after the fall of so many great empires and city-states like Harrapa and Mohenjo-Daro.
The Path to Enlightenment, like the course of society as explained by the author-comedian Douglas Adams (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy BBC Radio series), goes through phases or stages of sophistication. How will we survive? How shall we eat? ...What's for lunch?
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| Read (pinterest.com) |
Saturday, July 28, 2012
Buddhist monk competing in Olympics
Wisdom Quarterly
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| "Usain - not every man wants to be the fastest in the world," Durex brags on billboard. |
Ven. Kenki Sato is in London competing in the Olympics. The sport he is competing in is -- not the archery Siddhartha was so good at, which would currently have him being beat by a blind man -- equestrian. Sensei is a Mahayana Buddhist monastic who resides in
Myoshoji Temple, Japan.  |
| "Oh, I get it! That's pretty funny." |
The monastery is located in the mountains near Nagano. His father, Shodo, is the
25th master of the 460-year-old temple and adjacent horse-riding
club. Sensei follows his younger brother Eiken, who not only trained as a
monk but in addition rode at the Beijing Olympics. His 24-year-old sister, Tae, is a five-time
national show-jumping champion.
With his horse -- not named "Kanthaka" like Siddhartha's boyhood pony -- "Boy Toy," the venerable monk is seen on the track. He has won two gold medals in individual and team jumping at the 16th Asian Games in 2010.
With his horse -- not named "Kanthaka" like Siddhartha's boyhood pony -- "Boy Toy," the venerable monk is seen on the track. He has won two gold medals in individual and team jumping at the 16th Asian Games in 2010.
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
If I Had a Pony: "Charlie the Unicorn" (video)
Wisdom Quarterly (post "Burning Man" post)
Burning Man from Space
Burning Man from 373 miles above Earth: A European space satellite took photos of the 2011 Burning Man [Labor Day week] festival in the Nevada desert.
(englishrussia.com)
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Burning Man from Space
Burning Man from 373 miles above Earth: A European space satellite took photos of the 2011 Burning Man [Labor Day week] festival in the Nevada desert.(CSM) Burning Man is a weeklong art and self-expression festival that meets every year around Labor Day. This year, it runs from Aug. 29 to Sept. 5. Attendance was capped at 50,000, and the event sold out in July. This year marks the 25th anniversary... The event began modestly in 1986, when a handful of friends torched an 8-foot (2.4-m) wooden man on a San Francisco beach. More
- Few know that Russia has a similar absolute freedom hippie festival called the Empty Hills (Pustye Kholmy) festival.
(englishrussia.com)Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Dog Yoga? Yes, "Doga"
Downward Facing "Dog" -- Yoga for Pooches
Bringing pets to the yoga studio has benefits for all
Julia Mayes and Hasani Gittens, NBC New York, 9/22/09
Bringing pets to the yoga studio has benefits for all
Julia Mayes and Hasani Gittens, NBC New York, 9/22/09
On the path to enlightenment, yoga studio owner Kari Harendorf has a special guide -- her Husky Charlie. “One day I just brought him to class. And then I thought, if everyone loved having him in class, there's got to be other people who want to bring their dogs to yoga, who want to do yoga with their dogs. 
And that's how the whole movement started,” Harendorf told NBC New York. It’s a movement she calls “Doga” -- that’s Dog + yoga. From Great Danes to Pugs, pooches as partnering with their [human companions] for a combination of meditation, massage, and stretching. “It’s actually a really good thing for her,” said Erin Teague of her Pug. “She's a very anxious dog. She has a lot of nervousness.” More>>
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