Central Asian Buddha: Female warrior training

(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]

• Buddhism in Mongolia
• Buddhism in Central Asia
  
• Buddhism in Afghanistan
• Buddhas of Bamiyan
• Buddhism in Ukraine

Linda Moulton Howe's Earthfiles: UFOs/UAPs

Linda Moulton Howe, 7/20/23; Pfc. Sandoval, Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

(Earthfiles.com) Rep. Burchett and colleagues hold press conference on upcoming Oversight Committee hearing on UAPs (UFOs)

Final Part 12: Private detective’s encounters with non-human entities

Ancient ET temple in Tikal, Mexico

July 25, 2023: “I think the robed beings are interested in our spiritual development, our evolution, our ability to perceive the world and be able to ascend past the physical container bodies.” - “Joshua Rhinehall,” private investigator, Northwest. Click to subscribe and get instant access to read this report. More

Jesus Revolution; Sin God won't forgive

Pfc. Sandoval, Sheldon S., Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly; TreasureChrist; Jordan Riley

The ONE sin God will NEVER forgive?

(TreasureChrist) March 3, 2023. We were shocked to see what they did. With John MacArthur, Island Boy, Voddie Baucham, Jack Black, Oprah Winfrey, Katy Perry, Bob Dylan, and Marilyn Manson. (1) Thou shalt spread the Truth, and thou shalt maybe (2) win a Bible wrapped in the slaughtered skin of a terrified animal. (Details: • I'm giving away $...).

First we'll ban dancing then we'll ban this hippie love Jesus freak movie

Hate talk/God talk? Jesus Revolution movie should be avoided

(Real Talk with Jordan Riley) March 7, 2023. Three reasons why the movie Jesus Revolution should be avoided are clearly explained in this [hateful] episode of "Real" Talk with Jordan Riley. Many think this is a great movie and think it's causing people to come to Jesus, but is that true? PEOPLE WILL BE SHOCKED to hear the truth about this movie and what it's not telling us. [Preaching fire and brimstone since at least 2022, but Riley does make some good points, doesn't he?] #jesusrevolution #lonniefrisbee #movie

Mind over Matter

Buddha Groove (buddhagroove.com) rewritten by Dhr. Seven, Ashley Wells, Wisdom Quarterly

Zen story: Mind over Matter

A conceited young archer dared a Zen master who was renowned for his archery to a competition.

The youth’s skill was extraordinary. His first arrow hit the target, a distant bull’s eye. His next split the first arrow in two.

“Think you can match that?” he asked the old Zen master with a condescending tone.

Rise above: How to raise mind over matter?

Instead of responding, the elderly Buddhist monk gestured to the young man to follow him higher up the mountain until they arrived at a deep gorge. There an old and unsteady log spanned the chasm in place of a bridge.

The Zen master serenely walked onto the log, then standing at the center of it, took aim at a distant tree, and with a clean movement released his arrow. It flew straight to meet its target.

“Your turn now,” he said to the young man, as he casually stepped back onto the edge of the cliff.

The youth stared down into the gaping chasm and began to tremble uncontrollably. He could not bring himself to place his foot on the unsteady log, much less take aim at anything beyond it.

The master observed, “You have great control over that bow, but as for the mind that wields it...”

• The ego, for which we do so much, is not the way to real skill and power. See through it and awaken to reality. Source

Buddhist Sports Coverage! (WQ)

Dharmachari, Larsen, Eccles, Wells, Chi (WQ)

Wisdom Quarterly investigates. Buddhists, like most people around the world, love sports. It's a natural, human way to gain coordination and social cohesion and cardiovascular health. While some may take it too far in the West, there can be no denying that sporting activities are popular worldwide. When one ordains (particular for Buddhist novices), those advantages continue.



Bhutanese Buddhist monks play volleyball at Rabdey Dratsang in the southeastern district of Samdrup Jongkhar, Bhutan, 9/3/09. Five decades ago, Bhutan -- the last Himalayan Buddhist kingdom -- was a feudal, medieval place with no roads, proper schools, or hospitals and scarcely any contact with the outside world. Today education and healthcare are free and life expectancy has risen to 66 years from less than 40. Rather than GDP, it is unique as a nation in measuring GDH ("gross domestic happiness") as its main indicator of progress (Reuters/Singye Wangchuk).



Few people seem to be aware that Buddhist monks invented chess. Who? When? Where? Chess is a Chinese invention. Modern Chinese are sometimes surprised to realize that modern the game of chess -- as well as agriculture, shipping, astronomical observatories, decimal mathematics, paper money, umbrellas, wheelbarrows, multi-stage rockets, brandy and whiskey, and much more -- all came from China (chineseculture.about.com).

That's not to say that other cultures didn't aid in its development and give it those great medieval game pieces for example. Pastimes are that way, subject to regional embellishment.



A famous sporting tradition from India, which is still practiced vigorously in Tibet, is the sport of debating. Far from an intellectual exercise in calm reasoned argument, it's more oratory and style with inextricable paradoxes and showmanship, stereotype texts and logical hoop jumping. Players (who are all in training) slap their hands together as if to say, "Ha, try to get out of that one!" to which the other player either admits defeat or shoots back: "Ha ha, burn, now let's see you try to wriggle out of that answer!"

Then there's the famous performance art of Tibetan tradition (still extant at Hemis Gompa, Ladakh, in Buddhist northern India) near the Tibetan/Chinese border.

Not only in mountainous regions, but throughout the plains, silk route, frontier lands, and cities, hiking and walkabouts are a favorite undertaking of monastics. The monk Huan Tsang famously went from China by foot throughout the Buddhist world of his time and brought back one of the few written records of what he found. Perhaps engaged in more out of necessity and need of exercise than enjoyment and show, trekking is still widely practiced.

The Buddha often undertook arduous journeysin the company of many monks. He travelled by foot throughout the Middle Country of northeast India.



Equestrian pursuits are still popular in rural areas. Young novices (samaneras, who may look like monks, are only bound by ten precepts, rather than 227 Vinaya rules) are seen here in Laos going horseback for almsround. It's not about galloping and showing off, but more about noble Sakyan (who were from the warrior caste) dignity and good sportsmanship. In areas with few roads and many hazards, the equines can be of great help. Siddhartha Gotama (who became the Buddha) had a horse, a gorgeous white stallion named Kanthaka.

The Sakyan (the name of his extended family or ruling clan) was very much caught up in warrior training activities (not unlike the modern American practices in Shambhala's version of Vajrayana, which try to capture the same sense, bringing "Tibetan mysteries" to these shores). They included archery, feats of strength and bravery, horseback riding, and games of skill performed to win the affection of young women. Siddhartha often bested Devadatta, whose poor sportsmanship is legendary.

With great care, one may sneak up on monastics engaged in sporting activities that do not at first blush appear staid and sedentary. Here novices are seen enjoying the most popular sport in England and Asia, cricket. Most time is spent engaged in spiritual pursuits, it's true, but the body is a vehicle to spirituality, not an obstacle. Meditation is torture without yoga, which makes the body flexible and limber and was originally invented in order to enable and prolong sitting.

There are, of course, martial arts. These sporting diversions were invented in Asia and refined in monasteries throughout China, Japan, and Korea. In medieval times, they were necessary to protect the teachings and lineages. Many monasteries (famously Shaolin) would certainly have been ransacked and ruined had the incumbents not developed the "skillful means" (upaya) to repel, avoid, and outmaneuver attackers.

There's longhorn blowing, cooking, sewing, levitating, water gathering... Believe it or not, there are even "blood sports." These are usually played with young soldiers whose coaches yell instructions from inside parliamentary buildings and paramilitary barracks. The soldiers themselves, well armed and in proper game attire, are almost never hurt.

The lightly clad Buddhist monks, nuns, and novices however are not so lucky. With scores frequently in the 100:nil range, matches are increasingly viewed around the world but growing less fair by the day.



Images (widely available on the Net) are too gruesome to show here, but may be hinted at in this cartoon about a 100-yard dash with live rounds in Burma and Tibet (both prompted by government-sponsored Chinese League opponents).


Fresco at Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet showing men with "nine skills," traditional sports including horseracing, archery, wrestling, carrying stones, tug of war, yak racing, acrobatics, and so on, 17th century (Tibetdaily/China-Hiking.com).

• Sri Lanka cricket promoting religious discrimination?
  Buddhism has nothing to do with the British invented sport of cricket. Further, Buddhism does not plead to God or gods for divine intervention in their favor.... (Daily Mirror).
• Jazz music great Sonny Rollins
  ...though Jazz St. Louis' press program informs of his "legendary sabbaticals," one of which involving the study of Zen Buddhism in Japan and yoga in India... (The Current).

Zen of Blind Art (Seeing Sound)

New scientific discovery: Humans can see sound (story below).

The book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (overview) by Robert Pirsig holds out as one of its central premises that it is possible to flow effortlessly, to become natural and childlike (Zen mind/Beginner's mind) in every action. Zen, in terms of the art of archery, speaks of the possibility of developing enough skill to hit a bulls-eye in the dark.

Is it literally possible to "flow" and "feel" one's way in the dark -- or is it only a metaphor? The following artist (blind from birth) is turning brain science on its head, suggesting that Zen was being literally all along. And a new neuroscience study seems to confirm it.

Turkey's Esref Armagan is a blind painter who does the impossible.

Scientists Say We Can See Sound
Robin Nixon (LiveScience, 8/18/08)

Your brain's visual system can be employed to hear, according to a study of monkeys. Scientists figure this might be one reason blind people develop keen hearing. (Image credit: Dreamstime)

Turning conventional neuroscience on its head, new research suggests the human visual system processes sound and helps us see.

Here are the basics of what was Neuroscience 101: The auditory system records sound, while the visual system focuses on visuals, and never do they meet. Instead, a "higher cognitive" producer, like the brain's superior colliculus, uses these separate inputs to create our cinematic experiences.

The textbook rewrite: The brain can, if it must, directly use sound to see and light to hear. The study was published last week in the journal BMC Neuroscience. More >>

Extra-sensory power?
The discovery is likely un-related to the rare experience of synesthesia, a bizarre condition experienced by a few people who can feel, hear and taste colors. In synesthesia, for example, more complicated sensations combine at later stages of brain processing, so that just the mention of a color, a letter, or a shape can automatically trigger the perception of a certain note.