Wisdom Quarterly: American Buddhist Journal: anicca

Showing posts with label anicca. Show all posts

Monday, October 12, 2026

If I love, will you stay? 💞 Impermanence

"Gone, Gone, Gone"

(Autumn Kings) I caught a feelin' at the end of the night/ Vision of a god walkin' into the light/ Whisperin' words that I needed to hear:/ Never lose faith while you're livin' in fear

Then it was gone, gone, gone/ Gone, gone, gone/ Gone, gone, gone/ Gone, gone, gone/ Yeow!

Had a premonition at the end of the night/ Vision of a devil tryna swallow the light/ Screamin' so loud, it was all I could hear/ Tellin' me it's better if I disappeared

Then it was gone, gone, gone/ Gone, gone, gone/ Gone, gone, gone/ Gone, gone, gone

Can't make up my mind/ I'm sick of never knowin' my direction/ Lookin' for a sign/ Need more than just the man in my reflection/ It's time for me to take what's mine/ Leave the rest to the great divine/ And find somewhere that I belong/ Before I'm gone!

Can't make up my!/ Can't make up my mind/ Cuz I ain't full of time!/ Can't make up my mind/ I'm sick of never knowing my direction/ Looking for a sign/ Need more than just the man in my reflection/ It's time for me to take what's mine/ Leave the rest to the Great Divine/ And find somewhere that I belong

Can't make up my mind/ I'm sick of never knowing my direction/ Looking for a sign/ Need more than just the man in my reflection/ It's time for me to take what's mine/ Leave the fears of the past behind/ And find somewhere that I belong/ Before I'm gone/ Gone, gone, gone/ Gone, gone, gone/ Gone, gone, gone/ Gone, gone, gone/ La, la, la, la, la, la, la...

Autumn Kings: Canadian rock band that formed in Ontario in 2015, who have since relocated to Detroit, Michigan, USA [2, 3]. The group started as an independent band but signed with Hopeless Records in August 2024 [4], crediting Linkin Park and Metallica as inspiration [15].

Nothing lasts; love it anyway (impermanence)

(Buddha's Wisdom) Can we love something so hard we keep it from changing or love someone without trying to keep it just the way it is? | The Buddha's truth about impermanence

What is "impermanence" in Buddhism?

Look, we'll never grow apart or separate!

Anicca (pronounced /ah-nee-cha/) means "impermanent," "transient," "in constant flux," "changing," "unstable," "perpetually altering," and so on. As an abstract noun (aniccatā), it is "impermanence."

It is one of the Three Universal Characteristics of Existence (ti-lakkhana). In most texts, the two other characteristics (that all things are "disappointing" and "impersonal" or dukkha and anattā) are derived (S.22. 15; Ud.IV. I).

The impermanence of "things" (dhammas, "phenomena") is their arising (appearing), turning (changing), and passing away (vanishing).

It is the restless arising, altering, and disappearing of things that have come to be (arisen, become) then immediately (in the next submoment) changed and in the next submoment scattered, dissolved, been destroyed, passed out of being. All of this is called "becoming."

Then what may rightly be said of all things, of all mental and material phenomena in an ultimately sense -- namely, of cittas and kalapas -- is that, "Not having been, they come to be, but once having been, they cease." This is the radical truth of impermanence from moment to moment, not their eventual decline, which anyone can see. It is because we do not see their radical changeability and their hurtling towards destruction that the mind/heart clings to things or to the appearance of things, falling under the illusion/delusion that they persist from moment to moment. They SEEM to persist! That is because what replaces them (cittas and kalapas, mind-moments and particles) are other mental and physical phenomena that is almost but not quite the same. The new things (the replacements from moment to moment) are not identical. Casual observation makes the mind believe they are, that it is the self-same thing from one moment to the next persisting, carrying on. But it is not.
Flip the pages, and the cartoon shark moves.
For example, to easily illustrate this subtle but vital point, imagine watching a motion cartoon (a moving comic strip reel). How is the illusion of "motion" being achieved? Certainly, the drawing is not moving. But that's what it looks like to the casual observer. A flipbook of cartoon images if being flipped through. If the flipping stops, the illusion (of motion) stops. If the flipping resumes, it is as if the motion resumes. The image itself NEVER moves. The reel or the flipping moves, and because the images are so similar BUT not identical, movement of the images is magically conjured. Now, take two or more consecutive images. Are they all identical or just very similar? They are very similar with a tiny, almost imperceptible difference between them. That miniscule difference causes the illusion of the image's motion when there is flipping or when the reel is spinning at a certain number of frames per second (FPS). But casually shuffling these images in hand (no flipping, no reel), they all look the same, exactly the same. Many frames later in the sequence, one can perceive a difference. Then, training the eye to notice, one can begin to see that they are all just a tiny (barely noticeable) bit different.
Move hundreds of thousands of frames in a reel
Who cares? The more similar the frames, the more the moving cartoon will appear smooth and realistic, whereas the less similar the image-frames will make the movement appear jumpy and artificial. In high-fidelity movies, frame rate is important, moving faster than the eye can perceive it. Slow the rate down, and reality comes into view. Nothing on the screen is actually moving. The illusion is stripped away. Every "movie" has to move at a replacement rate that tricks the eye/brain into not noticing its segmented nature, its constituent nature, its compounded nature, its lack of identity. This frame NEVER becomes that frame, but because the second follows the first, the replacement is accomplished seamlessly.
In just the same way, we never notice that our reality is a bunch of segments, a stream of mind-moments and particles -- incessantly arising, turning, and vanishing so quickly that everything around us gives off the illusion of identity (from moment to moment), continuity (that it is the SAME thing from one moment to the next moment), and the promise that thing (phenomena) there in front of us may (is capable of somehow, someday) fulfilling us, completing us, pleasing us, ultimately satisfying us, enduring and real. But it is neither real nor enduring and has no hope of ever fulfilling us. It is, in other words, impermanent, unsatisfactory, and impersonal, not itself from one moment to the next.
So, again, who cares? One should care because it is by noticing that THIS IS REALITY, and this has always been reality, and that one CAN let go of the painful (the disappointing) by finally noticing that it is impermanent and impersonal, that it is dukkha and anicca, and that ultimately speaking, it is anatta, not-self). This realization leads to waking up, to enlightenment in this very life. This is why the Buddha teaches it -- not as a belief system to have faith in, but rather as a path-of-practice, a way of knowing-and-seeing for each person to personally experience. Why? So that the illusion (maya) will be broken and wisdom (panna, prajna) will arise and that clinging to the painful/disappointing will be let go of.
It's too intellectual! Can we just have a Zen cartoon? What did Bodhidharma say about Zen?

I can't live without you! I need you, must have!

The meaning is that these things (all mental and material constituents) never persist in the same way for one whole moment, but that they are dissolving and vanishing from moment to moment (The Path of Purification, Vis.M. VII, 3).

Impermanence is a fundamental feature of all conditioned things (phenomena), be they material or mental, coarse or subtle, one's own (internal) or another's (external): ALL formations are impermanent (sabbe sankhārā aniccā; MN 35, Dhp. 277).

Wait, a "triangle" is just three lines?
What does "conditioned" mean? It means composed of parts, constituents; has a conditional existence utterly dependent on its parts. For example, what is an equilateral "triangle"? Ultimately, it is a conditioned phenomenon. What is it conditioned on? It is conditioned on three equal-length lines in a particular arrangement. That theoretical (intangible) arrangement is the triangle, and those physical (tangible) lines arranged that way are the triangle. When the conditions or constituents are moved, where does the "triangle" go? It does not "go" anywhere because it was never really (ultimately speaking) there to begin with. What was there then? There was an illusion (in the mind) arising based on causes and conditions being present, utterly dependent on these causes and conditions or supports, ingredients, elements, constituents. Conventionally, we can very rightly say that the whole is greater than the parts, but ultimately this is not actually true. The parts contained the potential for the illusion before we ever saw the illusion.
Again, not to be repetitive, who cares?! The noble ones (those along the stages of enlightenment) care because there are two precious things that result from this realization. One, everything and anything we cling to, if we saw it in its true nature (ti-lakkhana), we could immediately let go of and not be weighed down by or in bondage to it. Say, for example, we were eating rice in a dark cave and loving (and clinging to) it, and someone turned the light on. And we noticed that what we took to be white "rice" was maggots. Could we let go of our "rice" habit, our eating of it, of our clinging to it? Probably. Likely. Two, to what or to whom do we cling to the most in all the world, in all the universe, in all the multiverse? That's right, like it or not, it is to self that we cling. But what is "self" really? There is no self. But there is a persistent illusion of self (of identity, of continuity, even from life to life, transcending death). We don't notice it dying every moment. We don't believe it dies. It's right here. A moment later, it's right her, unchanged!
Unchanged?
Well, mostly unchanged.
That mostly is vital because "it" is a little changed. And like the cartoon frames mentioned above, this tiny change causes the illusion of movement, motion, that it's ANIMATED, alive, real, capable of willful motion. But that, we can now at least conceptually begin to see, is an illusion. "This" (this self) is not what it seems. It's not at all what it seems. Look:
Self (atta, atman, soul, ego, essence, personality, traits, karmic baggage, whatever) is real, conventionally speaking, and what anyone absentmindedly means by "self" was defined by the Buddha, whose purified mind and faculty of perception could directly perceive. What we mean when we say "myself," or when we speak of others and those "selves" is a tacit reference either to that body (form), these feelings (sensations), perceptions, mental formations (such as will, intention, motive), and/or this consciousness. (These five things -- these phenomena, phenomenal processes, one might even say epiphenomenal-, but why get all philosophical -- are called the khandha, or in Sanskrit skandha, the "Five Aggregates clung to as self").
But "I" am a "self" and "I" have them, right?
No. A triangle doesn't have lines. A triangle is the lines. But a line is not a triangle. And another line is not a triangle. And a third line is not a triangle. However, magically (illusorily) when the three lines ||| combine in that certain arrangement, shazam! There's the "triangle," utterly dependent on its causes and conditions. And let's say the "conditions" are the three equal-length lines, and the causes are pushing them into that arrangement. Bam! A "triangle" arose, came into existence, into being, became (always dynamically-becoming, never static-being), appeared out of nowhere. Just so, when these factors (elements, constituents, aggregates) are present, bam! There is what we call a "self."
It's not a theory; it's a practice
But consider what we think (or more correctly assume) what a "self" is and should be and how it should behave and what its nature is. It is something I (the self) control. I will it to be, and it obeys. But this is nonsense. The body (form) is and is of such a nature, "I" didn't make it. And even if I caused it to come into being (the "I" who did that having existed in the past in a past life during which karma was generated and this body just being the karmic resultant), I didn't know what I was doing or how and when it would come to be and in exactly what form or appearance. The body, being material, is of a material nature and follows the laws or regularities of material form. It doesn't listen me, doesn't heed when I bid it to be this way or that. I have almost no control of it. I can "will" to move, and sometimes (but not all the time), it moves; yet sometimes it moves all on its own when I didn't will it to. But I call it mine, say it's me, and really believe, "I" (it, this "self" here is) am the one in charge of it. Form, being material, is ultimately the Four Great Elements, which are not four things so much as they are four general characteristics with about a dozen expressions, so there's no sense in arguing against the old model of physics that we think in our modernity is archaic and silly. It is not silly. It is observably true, if we knew what it meant. See Four Elements Meditation by Pa Auk Sayadaw to find the elements and directly know-and-see them without arguing from a position of ignorance.
Four characteristics of matter
These four elements of form are only mentioned here because the Buddha simply lumped them all together and called them form, but he did not do that for "mind," which is much more understandably and deeply clung to as "self." The remaining four of the Five Aggregates are together called "mind." They go together. They, like the Four Great Elements, are not things so much as they are processes. The process of feeling (many constituent frames, one after another, never identical, in continuity, altered, different from moment to moment, one arising, turning, passing away before another arises, turns, and immediately passes away, like the frames of the cartoon), the process of perceiving, the process of mental-forming, the process of consciousness/knowing. The Buddha details them all to break the clinging to the illusion/delusion that any or all or anything else is "self." I am not my feelings, I am not my perceptions, I am not my mental formations. But you know what, I hot damn am sure MY consciousness! I am that I am, that consciousness itself that wills and knows, that watches and sees, that does and experiences!
This is a powerful delusion, one that no other religion (doctrine or dharma or teaching) can break from. The Buddha can and did break from it. He saw through it, saw and taught others to directly see what "consciousness" is. It is just a stream (sota). A stream of what? A stream of ever-changing cittas (mind-moments) and cetasikas (mental-concomitants). They can be directly perceived by mental purification and mindfulness, as explained in the Four Foundations of Mindfulness Sutra. Then the illusion bursts. I am not consciousness. I can't control consciousness. I cannot say and get it to do what I want, stay awake, know this or that, and so on. I'm deluded to think "this I am." For it doesn't behave any of the way I will or wish to command.

Enough, I can't take it anymore!

That the totality of existence is impermanent is also often stated in terms of the Five Aggregates clung to as self (khandha), the 12 internal (personal) and external (belonging to others) sense bases (āyatana), and so on.

Only nirvana (Pali nibbāna), which is the sole "unconditioned element" and "not a formation" (asankhata), not a composite composed of constituents like everything else, is permanent (nicca, dhuva).

The insight leading to the first stage of enlightenment called stream-entry (sotāpatti), is often expressed in terms of impermanence:

"Whatever is subject to origination [arising] is subject to cessation" (see the Buddha's First Sermon called the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta, S.46. 11).

"Gone Gone Gone"

(David Guetta) Gone Gone Gone ft. Teddy Swims plus Tones and I

In the Buddha's last exhortation, before his parinibbāna (his "final nirvana" without remainder), the Buddha reminded his disciples of the impermanence of all existence as a spur to diligent effort:

"Behold now, meditators, as I exhort: Formations are bound to vanish. Strive diligently!" (vayadhammā sankhārā, appamādena sampādetha, DN 16).

Without the deep insight into the impermanence (changing characteristic) and insubstantiality (impersonal characteristic) of ALL phenomena of existence (i.e., the Five Aggregates clung to as self) there is no attainment of enlightenment and liberation (bodhi and nirvana, awakening and freedom).

Therefore, comprehension of what radical "impermanence" really means, which is something only gained by direct personal meditative experience, heads two lists of insight knowledge.

Seeing things as they are, it's possible to let go

One, "contemplation of impermanence" (aniccānupassanā) is the first of the 18 chief kinds of insight (q.v.) and, two, the "contemplation of arising and vanishing [rise and fall]" (udayabbayānupassanā-ñāna) is the first of the nine kinds of knowledge that lead to the "purification by knowledge and vision [knowing-and-seeing] of the path-progress' (see "purification," visuddhi, VI).

Contemplation of impermanence leads to the "conditionless deliverance" ["signless release"] (animitta-vimokkha).

As herein the faculty of confidence (saddhindriya) is outstanding, one who attains in that way the path of stream-entry (the first stage of enlightenment) is called a "faith-devotee" (saddhānusārī as listed among the "noble ones" or ariya-puggala) and at the seven higher stages is called faith-liberated (saddhā-vimutta). See also "the perception of impermanence" [the direct perceiving of radical impermanence of cittas and kalapas] or anicca-saññā.

For more, see The Three Basic Facts of Existence I: Impermanence (BPS.lk, Wheel Nos. 186/187)
Buddha's Wisdom (video); text by Ven. Nyanatiloka; Autumn Kings; David Guetta; expanded by Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Tuesday, July 14, 2026

All is burning: 'The Fire Sermon' (sutra)

The Buddha's FIRE SERMON: the speech that converted 1,000 wanderers

What is the "all" that is burning?

(Buddha's Wisdom) 🔍 WE’RE BURNING RIGHT NOW — THE BUDDHA’S FIRE SERMON There’s a constant inner heat -- craving, hatred, confusion -- that drives our decisions and drains our peace.

In this guided breakdown of the Buddha’s Fire Sermon (Adittapariyaya Sutta), see exactly what’s burning, why “ALL is burning” became one of Buddhism’s most powerful teachings, and a 5-step method to stop being consumed by it, today.

DISCOVER

How the Buddha converted 1,000 fire-worshippers with a single 20-minute speech
The three psychological fires burning in our chest right now (and why they always find new fuel and never stop)
The hidden follow-up teaching that challenges even clinging to the pursuit of “enlightenment”
The 5-step method that extinguished suffering for 1,000 people simultaneously
What the Buddha taught AFTER the Fire Sermon that made even enlightened beings question everything
Master Buddhist meditation and mindfulness with the Buddha's original Fire Sermon teaching
(Dhamma Talks at Dhammagiri) The greatest miracle of the Buddha (instruction): "The Fire Sermon" | Adittapariyaha Sutta

My house burned (commentary)

(Doug's Dharma) Just as WQ lost homes in Eaton Fire, Doug got burned

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 Scan the Fire
01:19 Find Our Fires — Craving • Rejection • Confusion
02:50 1,000 meditators, same burn — The Kassapa Setup (near Bodh Gaya)
04:11 All is burning — the Buddha’s Fire Sermon (SN 35.28)
07:27 Silence: 1,000 awaken — What liberation felt like
09:20 How to stop burning — the 5-Step Practice
11:01 Beyond the Fire

Subscribe for daily Buddhist wisdom, meditation guides, and ancient teachings for modern spiritual awakening and meditation practices. Join community: Instagram: buddhaswizdom. Facebook: buddhaswizdom. Support the channel: buymeacoffee.com/buddhaswisdom

#Buddhism #FireSermon #Buddha #Mindfulness #Meditation #Enlightenment #Adittapariyaya #ThreePoisons #Craving #LettingGo #InnerPeace #Theravada

SOURCE

Ādittapariyāya Sutta (SN 35.28) - original "Fire Sermon" text

Comment below: What Buddhist fire burns strongest: craving, hatred, or delusion? Practice Buddhist mindfulness together.

Matt, Buddha's Wisdom, "The Fire Sermon," 9/2/25; Doug's Dharma; Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation) (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Monday, May 25, 2026

If life is short, what really matters?

(Buddhism Podcast) If life is so short, what really matters? A Buddhist perspective

Householder happiness? Marriage troubles in American Suburbia (Falsettos)

(JF) FALSETTOS: "I'm Breaking Down" by Barbara Walsh

LYRICS: "I'm Breaking Down"

(Genius) I'd like to be a princess on a throne/ To have a country I can call my own/ And a king who's lusty and requires a fling/ With a female thing/ Great, men will be men/ Let me turn on the gas/ I caught them in the den with Marvin grabbing Whizzer's ass/ Oh sure, I'm sure, he's sure he did his best/ I mean he meant to be what he was not/ The things he was are things which I forgot/ He's a queen I'm a queen/ Where is our crown?/ I'm breaking down/ I'm breaking down/ My life is shitty/ And my kid seems like an idiot to me/ I mean that's sick/ I mean he's great/ It's me who is the matter/ Talking madder/ Than the maddest hatter

If I repeat one more word/ I swear I'll lose my brain/ Oh, what else should I explain?/ Oh, yes, it's true/ I can cry on cue/ But so can you/ I'm breaking down/ I'm breaking down/ Down, down/ You ask me, "Is it fun to cry over nothing?"/ It is, I'm breaking down/ Now let's consider what I might do next/ I hate admitting I've become perplexed/ I'm bereaved/ I've cried, I've shook, I've yelled, I've heaved/ I have been deceived

As enemies go Whizzer is not so bad/ It's just he's so damn happy/ That it makes me so damn mad/ I want to hate him but I really can't/ It's like a nightmare how this all proceeds/ I hope that Whizzer don't fulfill his needs/ "Don't" is wrong/ Sing along!/ What was the noun?/ I'm breaking down/ I'm breaking down/ I'll soon redecorate these stalls/ I'd like some padding on the walls/ And also pills/ I wanna sleep Sure, things'll probably worsen/ But it's not like I'm some healthy person/ I've rethought my talks with Marv/ And one fact does emerge/ Oh, I think I like his shrink/ So that is why I might turn to drink/ I'm on the brink/ Of breaking down/ I'm breaking down/ Down, down/ I only want to love a man who can love me/ Or like me/ Or help me/ Help me!

Marvin was never mine/ He took his meetings in the boys' latrine/ I used to cry/ He'd make a scene/ I'd rather die/ Than dry-clean Marvin's wedding gown/ I'm breaking down/ I'm breaking down/ It's so upsetting when you've found/ That what's rectangular is round/ I mean it stinks/ I mean he's queer/ And me, I'm just a freak/ Who needs it maybe every other week/ I don’t know/ I've rethought the fun we've had/ And one fact does emerge/ I've played the foolish clown/ The almost virgin who sings this dirge/ Is on the verge/ Of breaking down/ I'm breaking down/ Down, down/ The only thing that's breaking up is my family/ The only thing that's breaking up is my family/ But me, I'm breaking Down!

Friday, August 8, 2025

What if we were to really let go?

One of the great problems of life is clinging (upādāna). Among all the things we cling to (that clump and cling to themselves as we imagine we are them), we are inadvertently clinging to suffering (disappointment, dukkha). There is temporary release and bliss through the meditations, the jhanas, but really letting go results from "seeing things as they truly are," which is also called "clear seeing" (vipassana).
Buddhism Podcast, 8/8/25; Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Tuesday, August 5, 2025

The Heart Sutra (translation)

Avalokiteśvara, Padmapani. What is the personification of the Perfection of Wisdom?

The deva Avalokiteśvara

Om! Hail, the Perfection of Wisdom, beautiful and wholesome!

The being bent on supreme enlightenment was moving through the wisdom that has gone beyond, looking down from on high, beholding only five heaps, seeing that in and of themselves they are empty.

Here within this Dharma, O Foremost in Wisdom, FORM is emptiness, and the very emptiness is form.

Emptiness does not differ from form, and form does not differ from emptiness; whatever is form, that is emptiness.

Prajnaparamita of Java

The same is true of FEELINGS, PERCEPTIONS, FORMATIONS, and CONSCIOUSNESS.

Herein, O Foremost in Wisdom, all phenomena bear the mark of emptiness. They are not dual, not produced nor stopped, not defiled nor immaculate, not deficient nor complete.

Therefore, O Foremost in Wisdom, in emptiness, in being impersonal, there is no form nor feeling, nor perception, nor formation, nor consciousness.

Bodhisattva, Dambulla, Sri Lanka

There are no bases -- no eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind; no forms, sounds, smells, tastes, tangibles or objects of mind; no sight-organ element, and so forth, until we come to:

There is no mind-consciousness element; there is no ignorance, no extinction of ignorance, and so forth, until we come to: There is no decay and death, no extinction of decay and death. There is no suffering, no origination, no stopping, no path.

There is no cognition, no attainment, and no nonattainment.

Prajna, Sophia, Goddess of Wisdom

Therefore, O Foremost in Wisdom, it is because of this non-striving to attain that a being bent on supreme enlightenment, through having relied on the Perfection of Wisdom, dwells without thought-coverings. In the absence of thought-coverings, one is not made to tremble.

One has overcome what can upset, and in the end is quenched, having let go, having glimpsed Nirvana.

Tibetan Avalokiteśvara with 11 faces

All who appear as supremely enlightened beings in the three periods of time -- past, present, and future -- fully awake to the utmost, to right and supreme enlightenment because they have relied on the Perfection of Wisdom.

Therefore, one should recognize the Perfection of Wisdom, the Prajnaparamita, as the great mantra, the mantra of great knowledge, the utmost mantra, the unequalled mantra, allayer of all suffering, in truth -- for what could go wrong? By the Prajnaparamita has this mantra been realized. It runs like this:

Gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi svaha!

(Gone, gone, gone beyond, gone altogether beyond, O, what an awakening, all hail!)

This (having seen all conditioned phenomena as impermanent, disappointing, and impersonal) completes the Heart of perfect Wisdom.

Mantra Music: Heart Sutra Prajñāpāramitāhṛdaya in Sanskrit in for Recitation (Buddha Weekly)
Translated by Dhr. Seven, based on the Sanskrit original as translated by Edward Conze (via DharmaNet International), for Wisdom Quarterly

Monday, August 4, 2025

If life is so short, what really matters?

If life is so short, what truly matters? Buddhist wisdom

(Buddhism Podcast) Buddhism Explained. In a world where everything fades—youth, success, even our own identity—what truly matters? This video explores the Buddhist teaching of impermanence (anicca, pronounced /AH-knee-chah/, that everything is in constant flux, hurtling towards destruction) and how it can help us live with clarity, peace, and freedom.

Drawing from the Noble Eightfold Path, the true nature of the self, and the roots of suffering, it offers not just reflection, but a way to live meaningfully—especially in the face of constant change.

00:00 - The One Truth No One Can Escape
03:32 - The Shadow We Mistake for Ourselves
07:46 - Why Letting Go Isn't Loss – It's Freedom
11:15 - The Noble Eightfold Path: Living with Clarity, Not Control
17:25 - What Truly Matters: Freedom from Suffering

#BuddhistWisdom #Impermanence #EndSuffering

Buddhism Podcast, Aug. 3, 2025; Amber Larson and Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Monday, February 24, 2025

'Killing Me Softly' Roberta Flack killed

Should we blame old age for taking celebrities away?

(Quiet Wisdom) Feeling left behind by age? These 5 Buddhist truths will change everything

Who made most influential music in the US?

The headline should maybe read "Roberta Flack killed softly." If one is DOA (dead on arrival) on a hospital gurney, one has been killed by something. Humans don't just die but are killed: knocked out by microbes, murdered by suicide or negligence, undermined by malnutrition from eating gluten in the guise of old age (that strips away intestinal lining, resulting in grey hair and chronic malnourishment), and deficiencies of vital micronutrients like the 65 or more trace minerals needed for life as Dr. Joel Wallach reveals on Coast to Coast AM and criticalhealthnews.com). Though listed as natural causes, what's natural about dying too soon? Humans are meant to live to 120, and that number seems to be growing in the normal fluctuation of the average human lifespan.

Roberta Flack dead at 88

Grammy-winning singer Roberta Cleopatra Flack dies at 88

Roberta Cleopatra Flack, 88, is most famous for her fabulous song "Killing Me Softly." In this case, the killer was His Song. The song is so powerful that Lauryn Hill of the Fugees revived it and slayed a whole new generation with it.

Magic Mountain rollercoaster theme park west of Los Angeles (sixflags.com)

Wonder Woman (amusementparkwarehouse.com)

When I was a child, my mother took me to Magic Mountain, and we rode the tram over everyone. Down in the square Roberta Flack was singing this song (or a cover band was covering it). It seized me, a boy who could not possibly understand what the song was even about. But I did understand the feeling if not the entire context. And I could hear the words, and I wanted to run to it, to be mesmerized.

Fugees - "Killing Me Softly With His Song" (official video)

Flack ready to sing again (AP)

I tugged at my mom's hand to stop the tram and take me there. But there was no doing, no choice but to be carried away to the tram's destination even as the song carried me away. All I wanted to see was who was making these magic sounds and how. Music always affected me much more than it seemed to affect others. Finally, the tram came to its conclusion with the song, and I desperately ran back to the square in search of the stage and the singer. But there was no finding where that had been. I asked my mom for help: Who was it? Where is it? Where do singers sing? She didn't know. No one knew. No one else seems to have taken notice that the most beautiful song in the world had just been sung. An angelic ET lands on Earth, and no one takes any special notice. Who knew she had been alive all this time up until today?

ABC 7 News, 2/24/25; Dhr. Seven, Seth Auberon, Crystal Q., Wisdom Quarterly

Sunday, November 17, 2024

I'd better sit while in the human world

Even Araka knew that much.

"Meditators, once upon a time there was a teacher named Araka [the Bodhisatta himself], a leader free of passion for sensual pleasures.

"He had hundreds, many hundreds, of students, and he taught them the dhamma (truth) in this way: 'Next to nothing, Brahmins, is the life of human beings -- limited, a trifling, of much stress and suffering.