'Tibet: Journey of a Nun to Happiness'

Tibet: Journey of a Nun to Happiness | SLICE

(SLICE) TIBET, Himalayas, the Rooftop of the World. The Buddhist nun Ani Rigsang has chosen a nomadic lifestyle in the Land of White Clouds.

Feminine power is divine

On the occasion of International Women's Day, SLICE wanted to portray the quest of a very special and courageous woman, who decided to leave everything behind -- her safe life as a nun in a convent in the city of the capital Lhasa -- to pursue her dream to find a hidden convent on sacred ground [with energy vortices] in Eastern Tibet where they still practice an ancient teaching called the “Yoga of Magic Heat.”

With breathtaking shots, director Hamid Sardar accompanies Ven. Rigsang as she makes her way through Tibet (overtaken by communist China), from snowy mountains to green valleys, from Buddhist monastery to Buddhist monastery.

This is a short extract from the documentary “Tibet, the Path to Wisdom” directed by Hamid Sardar. Produced by DreamCatcherMotionProductions, les gens bien productions, France Télévisions & Ushuaïa TV.

The nuns of Gebchak Abbey

• Rainbow Body in Gebchak Nunnery (Guru Rinpoche Bumo, Jan. 14, 2024) Homage to the accomplished yoginīs of Gebchak Abbey in Eastern Tibet. Nuns give advice on obtaining the rainbow body through the practices of tummö (inner heat generation) and trekchö ("cutting through").
• Video posted for cultural, educational, and spiritual purposes only. All of its contents, visuals, images, audio, and music used belong to their respective owners. May all living beings benefit! See full video: • Tibet, The Path to Wisdom | SLICE from the SLICE documentary "Tibet, the Path to Wisdom" by Hamid Sardar.

ABOUT: TRACKS publishes unique, unexpected, and untold stories from across the world every week. Facebook: trackstravelchannel. Content licensed from Sky Vision. Any queries, please contact: owned-enquiries@littledotstudios.com.

• International Congress on Buddhist Women's Role in the Sangha
• The Buddhist Nuns' Order (Bhikkhunī Sangha)

ABOUT: SLICE wants to fill viewers with curiosity. Accessible to anyone from anywhere at any time, this channel is a weekly dose of short docs about curious facts, discoveries, astounding info, unusual stories that are weird, fun, and instructive. Be smart and have a slice! Subscribe ► @slicedocumentary Follow: 👇 in French: slicefr. Facebook: slicedocs. Instagram: slicedocs.

• Ani Rigsang, Hamid Sardar, SLICE, March 8, 2022; Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Pat Macpherson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Ptolemy's lost manuscript discovered

Pandora Dewan, Newsweek, March 2023; Pat Macpherson (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly

Photo of the recycled manuscript at the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan undergoing imaging to reveal the hidden text (Lumière Technology/Pascal Cotte and Salvatore Apicella)

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Ptolemy's lost manuscript discovered in book found in medieval abbey

Researchers have revealed a hidden manuscript on a recycled piece of parchment, believed to have been written by the Greek mathematician, astronomer, and geographer from the ancient Roman Empire: Claudius Ptolemy [pronounced \tall-lem-mee\].

• Claudius Ptolemy (Greek Πτολεμαῖος, Ptolemaios, Latin Claudius Ptolemaeus, circa 100– circa 170 AD) [2] was a Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist [3], who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importance to later Byzantine, Islamic, and Western European science. The first is the astronomical treatise now known as the Almagest, although it was originally entitled the Mathēmatikē Syntaxis or "Mathematical Treatise," and later known as "The Greatest Treatise." (Wiki)

After years of painstaking work, the team, from the Sorbonne (Paris) and New York Universities, have deciphered the long-lost message detailing the construction and uses of an ancient tool for tracing distances and the stars.

"The pages in the manuscript with the scarcely visible Greek text were discovered back in 1819 by Angelo Mai, but he was unable to read most of the pages," Alexander Jones, one of the lead researchers on the study, told Newsweek.

"[He also] made the situation much worse for subsequent scholars by applying a chemical treatment to the pages that was supposed to bring out the writing but in fact just stained them dark brown."

For centuries, the parchment's contents remained a mystery. "Only a few words had previously been read from them, not enough to make it possible to tell more than it was [describing] something astronomical," Jones said.

In January 2020, the team began analyzing the manuscript in detail, using multispectral imaging techniques to reveal the hidden ink.

"By March 2020, under lockdown and collaborating primarily by email, we were succeeding in reading enough to identify the subject as a kind of armillary instrument — a complex assemblage of nested and mobile metal rings that can be used for astronomical observations and/or calculations — and, tentatively at first, to make the specific identification of it as Ptolemy's lost book on the nine-ringed instrument that he named 'Meteoroscope,'" Jones said.

Ptolemy's Meteoroscope was a tool to calculate heights and distances, often in relation to celestial bodies. It is referenced in several ancient texts, including Ptolemy's own book on mapmaking, the Geography. However, details of its structure and operation were lacking, until now. More:

• Ptolemy's lost manuscript discovered in book found in medieval abbey (msn.com)

Tibet, the Path to Wisdom (woman's journey)

SLICE (YouTube) documentary; Crystal Quintero, CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

The 14th Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso: I am the god-king of this land occupied Tibet/China.

Documentary: Tibet, the path to Wisdom

(SLICE) May 29, 2022. Ani Rigsang has chosen a nomadic lifestyle in the snowy land of white clouds. The Buddhist nun felt confined in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa.

Tibetan Buddhist nun Ani Rigsang (SLICE)

So today she has taken to the road to reconnect with her country’s [wandering ascetic] spiritual traditions, which are now threatened by rapid modernization and the reinforcement of Han Chinese occupation and control over the region.

From snowy mountains to green valleys, from Buddhist monastery (gompa) to monastery, this documentary accompanies Ani Rigsang as she makes her way on foot through Tibet.

The world's largest Buddhist university, with a student body numbering 50,000

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A moving testimony that brings together age-old traditions and legends, this film takes us through stunning landscapes, revealing to us a contrasting Tibet, jostled by modernity and the upheavals of its holy geography.

• Documentary: “Tibet, the path to wisdom”
• Direction: Hamid Sardar Production: DreamCatcherMotionProductions, les gens bien productions for France Télévisions & Ushuaïa TV.
• SLICE wants to satisfy curiosity! Accessible to anyone from anywhere at any time, this channel is a weekly dose of short docs about curious facts, discoveries, astounding info, unusual stories that are weird, fun, and instructive. Be smart, have a slice! Subscribe now ► youtube.com/channel...
• Follow: 👇 In French: youtube.com/c/SLICEFR, facebook.com/slicedocs, instagram.com/slicedocs.

Tash Rabat Temple, Kyrgyzstan (video)

Central-Asia.Guide; Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

This Vajrayana Buddhist statue of Maitreya Buddha may have been the sort used at Tash Rabat

This is what the compound looks like, a Monks of the Mines (NatGeo) walled stupa vihara.

Tash Rabat is a Buddhsit caravanserai determined to be of Buddhist (not Nestorian) origin.

This is the interior of the stupa or burial mound reliquary, hollowed out for use as a temple.

Buddhism left stupas all over Asia, a long tradition coming down from Ukraine/North Asia that the Buddha (or past buddhas) continued and brought down to the Middle Country (Majjhimadesa), which seems to have been Central Asia, and into India, including his birthplace of Gandhara/Afghanistan.

Stupa at Bimaran, where reliquary was excavated. Drawing by Charles Masson (Wiki)

• What is a caravansarai?
• Austere Buddhist monastery (vihara) in Central Asia becomes a travelers' inn?
• Kyrgyzstan destinations - Best Kyrgyz sights and travel destinations (central-asia.guide)
• Visionary maverick Indian historian Dr. Ranajit Pal, Ph.D. led the way to our understanding the real origins of the historical Scythian Buddha Shakyamuni (Siddhartha Gautama), but many other sources indicate that the Sakas are the Shakyians, and they are the Indo-Scythians as th world will one day see and general scholarship will teach.

Queen's funeral. Trouble with new King

Mike MacRae, J. Dore (TJDS); Guardian; Telegraph, 9/19/22; Ashley Wells (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly

Queen Elizabeth II funeral at Westminster Abbey: key moments

(Guardian News) Sept. 19, 2022. The funeral service for Queen Elizabeth II was held at Westminster Abbey and led by Dr. David Hoyle, the dean of Westminster. The sermon was delivered by the archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby.

(Guardian) The UK's new Prime Minister Liz Truss was among the speakers at the queen's funeral service, at which more than 20 world leaders were in attendance. The event ended at noon with a two-minute silence, followed by the national anthem.

#TheQueensFuneral #TheQueen #QueenElizabeth #LizTruss #WorldLeaders #RoyalFamily #UK

Grab the popcorn. Let's watch the whole thing

In Full: Queen Elizabeth II's funeral procession, service, and committal

(The Telegraph) Streamed live on Sept. 19, 2022. The day has finally come after seven decades to say farewell to Queen Elizabeth II at a state funeral she helped plan. Forever Britannia! Long live the Colonies. Britain's longest-serving monarch will be honored with a full state funeral at Westminster Abbey on Monday, Sept. 19, featuring every element of pomp and circumstance with personal touches from her late Royal Majesty and Holy Heir to God's Own Throne. It will be one of the grandest and most complex events on British soil since World War II, with U.S. Prince Joe Biden topping the bill of world leaders flocking in from across the flat surface of the planet. The eyes of the world will be fixated on its capital London, with a telly audience of billions upon billions of people expected in what could be the most-watched live broadcast of ALL time.

Full itinerary:

• 6:30 am: The lying in state ends and Westminster Hall is closed to the public.
• 9:30 am: Join associate editors Camilla Tominey, Gordon Rayner, and Regimental Historian of the Household Cavalry Christopher Joll for live commentary and Royal insights into state funeral proceedings.
• 10:44 am: The coffin will be loaded onto the gun carriage for the short procession to Westminster Abbey, followed on foot by her son King Charles and senior members of the Royal family, arriving at 10:52 am.
• 11:00 am: Funeral service begins.
• 11:55 am: Towards the end of the service, the Last Post will be played followed by a national two-minute silence observed in the Abbey and across the country. A lament played by the Queen’s piper will end the service.
• 12:00 pm: Around midday the coffin will then be placed back on the gun carriage and taken to Wellington Arch in a procession, led by members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, together with NHS workers, officers from the Police Service of Northern Ireland, and the British Armed Forces.
• 3:06 pm: Tthe coffin arrives at Windsor at the Shaw Farm Gate, with the hearse driving slowly up the Long Walk where the public is expected to line the route.
• 4:00 pm: Televised committal ceremony in St. George’s Chapel, Windsor, at the end of which the Lord Chamberlain will break his stick of office over the coffin and it will be lowered into the royal vault, out of view.
• 7:30 pm: A private interment in the King George VI Memorial Chapel, the tiny venue where Queen Elizabeth II's coffin will be reunited with Prince Philip’s coffin, and they will be interred.

Continue reading full article of state funeral details: telegraph.co.uk/royal-fam... Subscribe to The Telegraph with special offer: just £1 for 3 months. Start free trial now: telegraph.co.uk. Latest headlines: telegraph.co.uk. Telegraph.co.uk and YouTube.com/TelegraphTV are websites of The Telegraph, the UK's best-selling quality daily newspaper providing news and analysis on UK and world events, business, sport, lifestyle, and culture.

The Beatles Abbey Road (anniversary)

The Beatles; Urban Pictures UK; Mr. Askew (contributor), Auberon, Crystal, Wisdom Quarterly

Traffic chaos as fans mark 50th anniversary of Beatles' Abbey Road in London

The Beatles, or what's left of them as Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney tour separately, are releasing a 50th anniversary Abbey Road with demo tapes, solos, and alternative versions of songs, plus  remastered originals. It will be out later this year.

(Vinyl Rewind 2016) Review of the Beatles' album Abbey Road. The Vinyl Geek reviews one of the most iconic and beloved albums by the Beatles, the seminal Abbey Road from 1969 on Apple Records.

(Urban Pictures UK, Aug. 8, 2019) Fans from the USA, Canada, New Zealand, and Sweden explain why they had to visit Abbey Road in London for the 50th anniversary of the iconic photo of the Beatles on the 1969 album cover of the same name. For use of this video contact Urban Pictures UK for further information: Portfolio/clippings: muckrack.com/urbanpicturesuk, facebook.com/urbanpicturesuk, twitter.com/Urban_Pictures.

Zen: Doing One's Utmost in Practicing the Way

Roshi Jeff Albrizze (PasaDharma.org), The Bendowa, Dhr. Seven (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly

"He knows not where he's going / For the ocean will decide -- / It's not the DESTINATION... / ...It's the glory of THE RIDE." (Zen Dog/edwardmonkton.com)

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Weekly Zen practice in Pasadena, California is led by Jeff Albrizze.

• American Zen: Free zazen, walking meditation in redwood courtyard, reading and discussion, Thursdays, 7:00-8:30 pm (Neighborhood Unitarian Church). This week continues a short segment of the Bendowa in translations with Q and A.

(Antaiji Antaiji) Mui's Dharma talk on Shobogenzo Zuimonki 1:21, September 19, 2015.

In the Zendo

Dogen taught: Students of the Way, you must be very careful on several levels in giving up worldly sentiment. Give up the world, give up your family, and give up your body and mind. Consider this well.

Even among those who retreat from the world and live secluded in the mountains or forests, there are some who fear that their family, which has continued for many generations, will cease to exist, and who become anxious for their family members or their relatives.

"All men's miseries derive from not being able to sit in a quiet room alone" - Blaise Pascal. Zen Humor: the philosophical felines are at it again (joy-of-cartoon-pictures.com).

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Self and Selflessness (Matthias Giesen)

Although some people depart from home and give up family or property, they have not yet given up their bodies if they think that they should not do anything physically painful and avoid practicing anything which may cause sickness, even though they know it to be the Buddha-Way.
 
Further, even if they carry out hard and painful practices without clinging to their bodily lives, if their minds have not yet entered the Buddha-Way and if they resolve not to act against their own will even if such actions are the Buddha-Way, they have not yet given up their minds.

• VIDEO: American Zen Master and punk rocker Brad Warner: How often should one sit for meditation to make progress?
• Shōbōgenzō: Treasure House of the Eye of the True Teaching
• Dogen: "Your very mind is the Buddha"? (TheZenSite)

The Monk's Mother in Hell (sutra)

Maha Moggallana rescues his ghost mother
Abbess Shiou Ping (Ling Yen Mountain Temple), Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly

Maha Moggallana rescues his mother from the Hungry Ghost Realm (Wisdom Quarterly)

 
The Ullambana Sutra (佛說報恩奉盆經) is a Mahayana work which consists of a brief discourse given by the historical Buddha to one of his chief disciples "foremost in psychic powers," Maha Moggallana (Sanskrit, Maha Maudgalyāyana, Japanese, Mokuren), on the practice of filial piety.

 

In this discourse the Buddha provides instructions for the liberation of his mother, who had been reborn onto an unfortunate plane in the realm of hungry ghosts. The solution offered by the Buddha was to make food offerings to the accomplished monastic Sangha on the 15th day of the seventh month.

 

The Ullambana story in Chinese (WQ)

This practice is the basis of the Japanese Obon ceremony in honor of one's ancestors (relatives extending seven generations back). This Halloween/All Souls Day-like event is still observed widely throughout Japan and in the US among Japanese Buddhists. The sutra, however, like most Mahayana discourses, was probably written several centuries after the Buddha's final nirvana.

• VIDEO: Understanding the Ullambana Sutra, Master YongHua (ChanPureLand.org) in English and Vietnamese
• California Prisoner Hunger Strike 2013 continues
• VIDEO: California to torture/force feed striking prisoners 
• Killing children with chemical weapons in Syria (BBC)

American Buddhist nun: Vegetarian from Afar

(Phathue) Interview with the Buddhist nun Ven. Thubten Chodron at Pagoda Phat Hue ("Buddha's Wisdom") in Frankfurt, Germany -- "Ven. Chodron emphasizes the practical application of Buddha's teachings in our daily lives and is especially skilled at explaining them in ways easily understood and practiced by Westerners. She is well-known for her warm, humorous, and lucid teachings."

• Tibetan Vegetarian dishes
• Vegetarian Awakening in the Himalayas
• The First Tibetan Vegetarian and Vegan Society with HH the Dalai Lama as its Patron-In-Chief

"Interdependence, protecting life, and loving kindness are three of the Buddha's most important teachings… Sentient beings and the environment depend upon each other for survival, and thus it's in the interest of human beings to protect the environment."
- Thubten Chodron (Sravasti Abbey, sravasti.org)

(vitalrecipe.com)

Vegetarian from Afar
Venerables Chodron, Tarpa, Semkye, and Jampel attended a monastic conference about the environment and global warming where we learned that the global meat industry produces more greenhouse gases than all cars, buses, trucks, and planes combined.

The Abbey has been vegetarian since its inception and we thought it would be good to encourage others to be vegetarian as well. We want to inspire and empower each other to make a noticeable difference in the world by doing something quite simple yet important. Thus we’re beginning “Vegetarian From Afar” to inspire others to reduce their meat eating.

To be a part of it, folks make a commitment not to eat meat (including fish and chicken) one day a week. There are many great reasons to participate and here are just a few:

From the viewpoint of compassion:

As sentient beings, animals want to be happy and to be free of suffering just as much as we human beings do. Thus let’s cherish their lives as we cherish our own.

From the viewpoint of global warming and climate change: If everyone went vegetarian just for one day, the U.S. alone would save:

• 100 billion gallons of water, enough to supply all the homes in New England for almost 4 months
• 1.5 billion pounds of crops otherwise fed to livestock, enough to feed the state of New Mexico for more than a year
• 70 million gallons of gas — enough to fuel all the cars of Canada and Mexico combined with plenty to spare
• 3 million acres of land, more than twice the size of Delaware
• 33 tons of antibiotics

"The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization estimates the meat industry generates nearly one-fifth of the man-made greenhouse gas emissions that are accelerating climate change worldwide… far more than transportation" (meatlessmonday.com).

If everyone went vegetarian just for one day, the U.S. would prevent:

• Greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to 1.2 million tons of CO2, as much as produced by all of France
• 3 million tons of soil erosion and $70 million in resulting economic damages
• 4.5 million tons of animal excrement
• Almost 7 tons of ammonia emissions, a major air pollutant

From the viewpoint of health:

Here are the benefits of eating less meat: More>>

• Women more likely to accept climate science
• VIDEO: Teaching, Stages of the Path, Karma
• Sravasti: Dharma programs and outreach

TRAVEL-TEACHING SCHEDULE

• Sept. 25: Walla Walla/Tri-Cities, WA: "Compassion in Action: One Step at a Time," one-day retreat with Ven. Tarpa, 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Contact: Chris Murray, 509-946-7217
• Sept. 25 & 26, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: World Buddhist Conference with Thich Nhat Han, Ven. Chodron, and others
• Oct. 11 - Nov. 22, Spokane, WA: Buddhist Meditation with Vens. Semkye and Jigme, Mondays 6:30 - 8:00 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Church, 4340 W. Fort George Wright Dr. Contact Sara, 509-533-3222.
• Oct. 15 - 26, Singapore: Teachings with Ven. Chodron. Contact FOSA.
• Oct. 25, Buddha Dhamma Mandala Society, "What Do We Do with Desires?" 7:30 p.m.
• Nov. 14 - 22, Mexico: Dharma talks in Cancun and Xalapa & retreat in Jalcomulco with Ven. Chonyi. Details to come. Contact Patricio.
• Nov. 3, Cheney, WA: Eastern Washington University, "What the Buddha Taught and Why It Matters Today," on campus. Public talk with Ven. Chodron, hosted by Women's & Gender Studies Dept. 12:00-1:00 p.m.
• Dec. 28 - January 1: Boulder Creek, CA: Vajrapani Institute. New Year Purification-Vajrasattva Retreat with Ven. Chodron

Inspiration for Monkhood Program

Dharmachari (WQ Buddhism worldwide)

Inspiration for Monkhood Program

DEC. 5-19, 2009

This is a pro-gram for lay men to get a feel for mo-nastic life at the edge of the forest.

• Details and Application Form