Is it KARMA or payback?

"Payback" is your act, not karma's results.

Not every bad thing that happens to a person right after doing a bad thing is the karmic-result of THAT bad thing. Things take time to incubate and produce their results (vipaka and phala). It would be very unusual for an act (deed) to be so weighty as to produce an immediate result such as the Beatles would have called "instant karma." In any case, the result of an action is not called "karma." Results are called vipaka (resultants) and phala (fruti). Doing something unpleasant to someone who did you first is called revenge, and it is your unskillful karma. Their karma has not yet ripened to produce its result. Therefore, there is no need to attack people. This will only be harmful to you. They'll get theirs. Trust the impersonal law of causes and effects, of deeds producing appropriate results. It's universal.

KARMA (Sanskrit, Pāli kamma) "intentional action," correctly speaking denotes the wholesome and unwholesome volitions (kusala- and akusala-cetanā) and their concomitant mental factors, causing rebirth and shaping the destiny of beings.

• Cetanā is the intention, motivation, underly motive, the volition behind an action; this is what determines if it skillful, neutral, or unskillful more than the action itself seen objectively. It is the subjective input, which is visible to those who develop spiritual sight (dibba cakkhu).

These karmical volitions (kamma cetanā) become manifest as wholesome or unwholesome actions by body (kāya-kamma), speech (vacī-kamma), mind (mano-kamma).

Thus, the Buddhist term "karma" by no means signifies the RESULTS of actions and certainly not the FATE or DESTINY of beings or whole nations (so-called wholesale or mass-karma), misconceptions which, through the influence of Theosophy, have become widely spread in the West.

"Volition (cetanā), O meditators, is what I call action (cetanāham bhikkhave kammam vadāmi), for through volition one performs the action by body, speech, or mind.

There is karma ("action"), O meditators, that ripens in hell.... Karma that ripens in the animal world.... Karma that ripens in the world of humans.... Karma that ripens in the heavenly worlds....

Threefold, however, is the fruit of karma:

1. ripening during the lifetime (dittha-dhamma-vedanīya-kamma),
2. ripening in the next birth (upapajja-vedanīya-kamma),
3. ripening in subsequent births (aparāpariya-vedanīya kamma)...." (A.VI.63).

The three conditions or roots (mūla) of unwholesome karma (actions) are greed, hatred, and delusion (lobha, dosa, moha).

Those of wholesome karma are:

1. unselfishness (alobha),
2. hatelessness (adosa = mettā, goodwill),
3. nondelusion (amoha = paññā, knowledge).

"Greed, O meditators, is a condition for the arising of [unskillful] karma; hatred is a condition for the arising of karma; delusion is a condition for the arising of karma...." (A.III.112, A.III.34, A.III.147).

"Unwholesome actions are of three kinds: conditioned by:

1. greed,
2. hate,
3. delusion.

"Killing... stealing... sexual misconduct... lying... slandering... rude speech... foolish babble, if practiced, carried on, and frequently cultivated, leads to rebirth in hells, or among animals, or among ghosts" (A.VIII.40). More

Reincarnation: What about MY past life?

(True Lives)

My past lives are me, right? I mean, that's "me" as much as this is, isn't it? How could the answer be that, ultimately speaking, I'm neither those people nor this one if, conventionally speaking, I'm as much that one as this one -- and bear the karma (the weight of deeds done good and ill in the past) of both, of all I have been? Answer? Be here now.

REBIRTH: patisandhi, literally "relinking, reunion," is one of the 14 functions of consciousness (viññāna-kicca). It is a karma-resultant type of consciousness that arises at the moment of conception, that is, with the forming of a new life in a mother's womb.

• REBIRTH: (punabbhava) literally, "re-becoming, again-becoming, rearising, "renewed existence," is a sutra term for "rebirth," which in later literature is mostly referred to as patisandhi.

Immediately afterwards consciousness sinks into the "subconscious stream of existence [becoming]" (bhavanga-sota). It is conditioned. Therefore, ever and ever-again, corresponding states of subconsciousness arise. Thus, it is really rebirth-consciousness that determines the latent character of a person.

"Neither has this (rebirth-) consciousness transmigrated [traveled] from the previous existence to this present existence, nor did it arise without such conditions as karma, karmic-formations, propensity, object, and so on.

That this consciousness has not come from the previous existence to this present existence, yet that it has come into existence by means of causes and conditions included in the previous existence, such as karma and so on, this fact may be illustrated by various things, such as:

• the echo,
• the light of a lamp,
• the impression of a seal,
• the image produced by a mirror
• [the movement of a wave across the ocean].
• [Doesn't a tsunami wave travel, after a massive quake, from Japan to California?]
• [No, never. The influence of it travels, but never does a single drop of water move from there to here. Stare at a wave. It seems to be a moving column of water moving across the ocean. But that is not what it is. What is it? It is one water molecule compressing another next to it and so on and so on. This compression and expansion, in a sense, is the "wave," not any particular drop of water. Strange but true.]

For just as the resounding of the echo is conditioned by a sound and so on and nowhere in the process is there a transmigration of sound has taken place, just so is it with this consciousness.

Furthermore, it is said: "In this continuous process, no sameness and no otherness can be found." For if there were full identity (between the different stages, past and present), then also milk could never turn into curd. And if there were a complete otherness, then curd could never come from milk....

If in the continuity of existence any karma-result [vipaka, phala] takes place, then this karma-result neither belongs to any other being, nor does it come from any other (karma), because absolute sameness and otherness are excluded here" (The Path of Purification, Vis, XVII 164ff).

In The Questions of King Milinda or Milindapahna (Mil.) it is said: "Now, Venerable Nāgasena, the one who is reborn, is that person the same as the one who has died, or is that person another?"

"Neither the same nor another" (Pali na ca so na ca añño).

"Give me an example."

"What do you think, O King: Are you now, as a grown-up, the same as you had been as a young and tender babe?"

"No, Venerable sir. Another person was the young and tender babe, but quite a different person am I now as a grown-up man."...

"...In the first watch of the night, is one lamp burning, and another in the middle watch, and yet another in the last watch of the night?"

"No, Venerable sir. The light during the whole night depends on one and the same lamp.''

"Just so, O King, is the chain of phenomena linked together. One phenomenon arises, another vanishes, yet all are linked together, one after the other, without interruption. In this way, one reaches the final state of consciousness neither as the same person nor as another.'' More: patisandhi

• True Lives (video); Ven. Nyanatiloka, Buddhist Dictionary; Dhr. Seven, Pat Macpherson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

How life on Earth began, according to science

David Nield, ScienceAlert via msn.com, 3/4/24; Skeptic Central, Wisdom Quarterly

In the beginning, the Vesicle Blob. Like it or lump it, but thou shalt not question it (ScienceAlert)

.

We may finally know how the first cells on Earth formed

In the beginning, rebirth ad infinitum.

The story of how life started on Earth [called the Agganna Sutra in Buddhism and Genesis or the Garden of Eden in the Abrahamic faiths] is one that scientists are eager to learn.

Researchers may have uncovered an important detail in the plot of Chapter One: an explanation of how bubbles of fat came to form the membranes of the very first cells.

A key part of the new findings, made by a team from The Scripps Research Institute in California, is that a chemical process called phosphorylation may have happened earlier than previously thought.

This process adds groups of atoms that include phosphorus to a molecule, bringing extra functions with it -- functions that can turn spherical collections of fats called protocells into more advanced versions of themselves, able to be more versatile, stable, and chemically active.

• 

  Diagram of life beginning on Earth

  We howl with laughter at religion for believing in fairytales but bow in solemn obedience to the inerrant utterances of white lab coat-clad priests in their lab-temples doing their lab stuff and coming out with papers about it. The sacred word, peer reviewed by fellow priests, spins a yarn and we all say, "Well, that's the way it has to be because Science don't make no junk." The figurative and metaphorical language a visionary (rishi) like the Buddha, Mahavira, Shankara, Moses, or Mohammed might have used, hah, that's of no use to us. It's fine if we want to throw out ancient written texts for new, but to ignore that Science tries to get away with explaining the universe by saying, "If you allow us just one unexplained miracle, the Big Bang, we can explain everything after that" is pitiful. Then anything observed as happening now is used to say, "This must have been what happened the first time, originating from nothing to everything we see now with no miracle at all and no anything before the something we now live and enjoy." Go on, Science, what else happened?

These protocells are widely thought to have been vital building blocks for biochemistry more than 3.5 billion years ago, perhaps emerging from hot springs under the ocean along the way to the evolution of more complex biological structures.

• 

  WTH? Science claims to know how life started?

  Science observer Lloyd Pye says we have examples of microevolution but not a single example of macroevolution. Along with Michael "The Forbidden Archeologist" Cremo we are getting quite an alternative view to world history and biological origins. Yet, no one notices how Science behaves like storytellers around the campfire, making "reasonable" speculations from data like shamans spinning origin myths based on whatever is at hand to comment on? A vat of skepticism is in order and perhaps an eyeroll. Was it a good idea to trade in one set of priests for another? "God is dead" was a really good slogan if people understood what it meant, so how about we launch, "Data interpreters, get stuffed"? The first laments the loss of a guide, the latter echoes the Who's "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss" lyric. To think we're going to base our lives on what some blanketyblank opines from an ivory tower, as we grovel before the feet of impersonal objectivity and total rationality, unquestioned assumptions and men with mental defilements in charge of what we are allowed to believe? It's untenable.

Ehem, our sacred garments are now blue

"At some point, we all wonder where we came from," says chemist Ramanarayanan Krishnamurthy, from The Scripps Research Institute. "This finding helps us better understand the chemical environments of early Earth so we can uncover the origins of life and how life can evolve on early Earth."

• Scripps Research scientists reveal how first cells could have formed on Earth (Scripps Research)

Krishnamurthy and his colleagues hypothesized that because the process is so widespread in the body's biological functions, phosphorylation ought to have been involved in early stages of protocell formation.

Replicating conditions likely to match Earth's early days in the lab, the team combined chemicals such as fatty acids and glycerol to try and create more complex vesicles -- bubble-like structures similar to protocells that facilitate cellular processes.

With some tweaking of temperature and acidity, the researchers were able to get the chemical reactions they were looking for, proving that phosphorylation may have been at work as protocells developed in the primordial ooze.

• 

  Agganna Sutra and science

  The "Discourse on Beginnings" (Aggañña Sutta, DN 27) is neither satire nor parody, claims author Dr. Sugunasiri, Ph.D., as viewed by Buddhist scholars. Drawing on cosmology, Darwinism, psychology, and linguistics, this sutra paints a historically and scientifically accurate picture of Devolution and Evolution, going beyond the Big Bang. Sentient beings emerge with defilements, such as passion and craving, physically nourished with greater and greater difficulty by devolving plant life. Compatible with Western science, Dr. S, had an insight, a breakthrough in his understanding of this origin myth. What if the "beings" that first came to this earth, the âbhassara brahmas (or "supremos," a class of devas, lit. "shining ones") are understood to be PHOTONS? Why? This is true if we take the term âbhassara in its literal etymological sense of "hither-come-shining-arrow," described as "self-luminous" and "moving through the air" (akasha, "space"), "glorious" (streaming), "feeding on delight," where they remain for a very long time, "mind-made" (spontaneous), floating above and around earth before the appearance of moon and sun, before night and day. However, as accurate as this picture may be, the Buddha’s point is that knowledge of Dhamma overrides it all, explaining the title [of Dr. S's book]. More

"The vesicles were able to transition from a fatty acid environment to a phospholipid environment during our experiments, suggesting a similar chemical environment could have existed four billion years ago," says chemist Sunil Pulletikurti, from The Scripps Research Institute.

The team describes it as a "plausible pathway" for the creation of phospholipids, the more complex type of vesicle membrane. However, there's lots more study to do before we can be sure about how life came to be on Earth, [science's favorite sentence].

Looking back billions of years isn't easy, of course, but scientists continue to make discoveries...

• [Do they, with their time machines or mystic powers? They see something now and project it back, neither understanding what they're seeing nor gaining evidence for what actually happened then.]

[And these "discoveries" are] about what happened right after Earth formed, and it all plays into our investigations into life on other planets, too.

• [Q: Oh, are we now allowed to believe in life on other planets, according to our gatekeepers? A: "It's out there, it just doesn't come here and has never been here in any way whatsoever" is the official word. So obey and repeat this mantra until told otherwise, and never mind those pesky tardigrades on the moon.]

"It's exciting to uncover how early chemistries may have transitioned to allow for life on Earth," says biophysicist Ashok Deniz, from The Scripps Research Institute.

"Our findings also hint at a wealth of intriguing physics that may have played key functional roles along the way to modern cells."

The research has been published in Chem. Source

Epiphany: Christ's birth story Star and Magi

Derek Lambert (MythVision, 12/18/23); Pat Macpherson, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Three Kings Day or Dia de los Magos is a celebration of the Ancient Greek "Epiphany."

• Theophany: birth of a deity
• 47th annual Three Kings Day Parade marches through East Harlem, Manhattan, New York City - ABC7 New York (abc7ny.com)
• MCA Chicago plans special Three Kings Day celebration in partnership with Mexican Consulate, brings art to younger audiences - ABC7 Chicago

They HIDE this about the Christ birth story | MythVision documentary

(MythVision Podcast) Across the globe, 2.3 billion Christians (most of them Catholic) celebrate the birth of Jesus on December 24th, inspired by the tale of wise Persian magi [or Tibetan lamas, wisemen, from the East searching for a tulku] following a star [or a shimmering UFO] to find the Messiah [possibly Maitreya].

Epiphany (Christian holiday) The Three Wise Men, Three Magi, Three Kings Day

• Unknown Years of Jesus: Traveled to India, Russian Christian Nicolas Notovitch revealed after finding written evidence of Jesus' life in a Buddhist monastery called Hemis Gompa
• Aliens and Religion: Where Two Worlds Collide: Assessing the Impact of Discovering Extraterrestrial Intelligence on Religion and Theology

The Star of Bethlehem: A Skeptical View

But what if this cherished story is more myth than fact? Join MythVision as it delves into the mystery of the "Christmas Star." Was it a real astronomical event or a symbolic part of a deeper narrative?

This documentary explores ancient texts, astronomical theories [when astrotheological theories would explain much more], and cultural lore to uncover the truth behind this legendary star.

Get ready to challenge what Christians believe, and discover the hidden layers of this timeless story.

This documentary was written by Dr. Aaron Adair. If it is enjoyable, grab a copy of his book The Star of Bethlehem: A Skeptical View.

Subscribe to second channel @mythvisionTV #MythVision #Christmas #Documentary

Crossing the Wilderness (sutra)

Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Ashley Wells, Bhante Chanda, Wisdom Quarterly; based on Ken and Visakha Kawasaki translation (BPS.lk), Apannaka Jataka (Jataka 1, accesstoinsight.org)

The Buddha and a small fraction of his fathom long aura (Santhosh Kumar/flickr.com)

 
While the Buddha was staying at Jetavana Monastery near Savatthi, the wealthy [multi-millionaire] banker, Anathapindika, went one day to pay his respects. His servants brought masses of flowers, perfume, ghee, oil, nectar, molasses, cloth, and robes.

Anathapindika paid respects to the Buddha, presented the offerings he brought, and sat respectfully to one side. At that time, he was accompanied by a large number of friends who were followers of other teachers. His friends also paid their respects to the Buddha and sat close to the banker.

 

The Buddha (Stud3o Munkey/flickr)

The Buddha's face appeared like a full moon, and his body was surrounded by a radiant aura. Seated on the red stone seat, he was like a young lion roaring with a clear, noble voice as he taught them a discourse full of sweetness and beautiful to the ear.

After hearing the Buddha's teaching, the friends gave up their diverse practices and asked for guidance from the Triple Gem: the Buddha, the Dharma, and the (enlightened) Sangha. After that, they went regularly with Anathapindika to offer flowers and incense and to hear the teaching.

They gave liberally, kept the precepts, and faithfully observed the Lunar (Eight Precept) Observance Day [which falls on the new, full, and half moon days of the month]. Soon after the Buddha left Savatthi to return to Rajagaha. However, these friends abandoned their new confidence in the Triple Gem and reverted to their previous beliefs.

Seven or eight months later, the Buddha returned to Jetavana. Again, Anathapindika brought his friends to visit the Buddha. They paid their respects, but Anathapindika explained that they had forsaken the guidance they had previously sought and had resumed their former practices.

 

The Buddha asked, "Is it true that you have abandoned guidance from the Triple Gem for guidance from other doctrines?" The Buddha's voice was incredibly clear and lucid because throughout myriad aeons he had always spoken truthfully.

 

When the friends heard it, they were unable to conceal the truth. "Yes, Blessed One," they confessed. "It is true."

 

Golden Buddha (travelblog.org)

"Disciples," the Buddha said, "nowhere between the lowest hells below and the highest heavens above, nowhere in all the innumerable worlds that stretch right and left, is there the equal, much less the superior, of a (samma sam) buddha. Incalculable is the excellence which springs from adhering to the precepts and from other virtuous conduct."

Then he declared the virtues of the Triple Gem. "By seeking guidance in the Triple Gem," he told them, "one escapes from rebirth in [four] states of suffering." He further explained that meditation on the Triple Gem leads through the four stages of enlightenment.

 

"In forsaking such guidance as this," he admonished them, "one has certainly gone astray. In the past, too, people who foolishly mistook what was not a guide for a real guide, met with disaster. Actually, they fell prey to harmful spirits (yakkhas) in the wilderness and were utterly destroyed.

In contrast, those who clung to the truth not only survived, but actually prospered in that same wilderness."

Story of the Past

Yakkha, Thailand (Andy Wright/flickr)

Anathapindika raised his clasped hands to his forehead, praised the Buddha, and asked him to tell that story of the past.

"In order to dispel the world's ignorance and to conquer suffering," the Buddha proclaimed, "I practiced the Ten Perfections for countless aeons. Listen carefully, and I will speak."

Having their full attention, the Buddha made clear -- as though he were releasing the full moon obscured by clouds -- what rebirth had concealed from them.

 

Long, long ago, when Brahmadatta was reigning in Benares, the Bodhisatta (future Buddha) was born into a merchant's family and grew up to be a wise trader. At the same time, in the same city, there was another merchant, a very foolish fellow with no common sense.

"Evil" spirit (yakkha) tries to mislead the Bodhisat (appfinder.lisisoft.com)

 
One day it so happened that the two merchants each loaded a large number of carts with costly wares from Benares and prepared to leave in the same direction at exactly the same time. The wise merchant thought:

"If this silly young fool travels with me and if our many carts stay together, it will be too much for the road. Finding wood and water for the workers will be difficult, and there will not be enough grass for the oxen. Either he or I must go first."

 

"Look," he said to the other merchant, "the two of us can't travel together. Would you rather go first or follow after me?"

 

The foolish trader thought, "There will be many advantages if I take the lead. I'll get a road which is not yet cut up. My oxen will have the pick of the grass. My workers will get the choicest wild herbs for curry. The water will be undisturbed. Best of all, I'll be able to fix my own price for bartering my goods." Considering all these advantages, he said, "I will go ahead of you, my friend."

(SKS) Sri Lankan animated version of the Apannaka Jataka in Sinhalese. What is being said? The story of the past (jataka) continues:

The Bodhisatta was pleased to hear this because he saw many advantages in following after. He reasoned:

"Those carts going first will level the road where it is rough, and I'll be able to travel along the road they have already smoothed. Their oxen will graze off the coarse old grass, and mine will pasture on the sweet young growth which will spring up in its place. My workers will find fresh sweet herbs for curry where the old ones have been picked. Where there is no water, the first caravan will have to dig to supply themselves, and we'll be able to drink at the wells they have dug. Haggling over prices is tiresome work. He'll do that work, and I will be able to barter my wares at prices he has already fixed."
 
"Very well, my friend," he said, "please go first."
 
"I will," said the foolish merchant, and he yoked his carts and set out. After a while he came to the outskirts of a wilderness. He filled all of his huge water jars with water before setting out to cross the 60 yojanas [ancient Indian unit of distance, each yojana estimated to be about seven miles] of desert which lay before him.

Crossing the Wilderness in Thai (dmc.tv/pages)

The yakkha (djinn, "demon," genie, shapeshifting ogre) who haunted that wilderness had been watching the caravan.
  
When it had reached the middle, he used his magic power to conjure up a lovely carriage drawn by pure white young bulls.
 
With a retinue of a dozen disguised yakkhas carrying swords and shields, he rode along in his carriage like a mighty lord. His hair and clothes were wet, and he had a wreath of blue lotuses and white water lilies around his head. His attendants also were dripping wet and draped in garlands. Even the bulls' hooves and carriage wheels were muddy.
 
As the wind was blowing from the front, the merchant was riding at the head of his caravan to escape the dust. The yakkha drew his carriage beside the merchant's and greeted him kindly. The merchant returned the greeting and moved his own carriage to one side to allow the carts to pass while he and the disguised yakkha chatted.
 
"We are on our way from Benares, sir," explained the merchant. "I see that your workers are all wet and muddy and that you have lotuses and water lilies. Did it rain while you were on the road? Did you come across pools with lotuses and water lilies?"
 
"What do you mean?" the yakkha exclaimed. "Over there is the dark-green streak of a jungle. Beyond that there is plenty of water. It is always raining there, and there are many lakes with lotuses and water lilies." Then pretending to be interested in the merchant's business, he asked: "What do you have in these carts?"
 
"Expensive merchandise," answered the merchant.
 
"What is in this cart which seems so heavily laden?" the yakkha asked as the last cart rolled by.
 
"That's full of water."
 
"You were wise to carry water with you this far, but there is no need for it now, since water is so plentiful ahead. You could travel much faster and lighter without those heavy jars. You'd be better off breaking them and throwing the water away. Well, good day," the yakkha said suddenly as he turned his carriage. "We must be on our way. We have stopped too long already." He rode away quickly with his workers. As soon as they were out of sight, he turned and made his way back to his own city.
 
The merchant was so foolish that he followed the yakkha's advice. More

  

Third Eye: Pineal Gland, DMT, Vatican Secrets (PoleShift)

Daydreaming: Where do we go? (audio)

Terrence McNally, Dec. 2, 2012 (aWorldThatJustMightWork.com); Wisdom Quarterly

The power of story -- even in Japanese (English below) -- transports us. Where do we go when we go off in our heads full of wonder, or bored, in search of the next story to learn from?

Story taught to monkey, Java (Mararie/flickr)

This week’s show is about story and narrative with Jonathan Gottschall, author of The Storytelling Animal. Although this is not about Obama or politics, Barry  reveals the overwhelming importance of story in our lives:

In a July 2012 interview with Charlie Rose, Obama said that “the mistake” of the early years of his presidency was his failure to be a better storyteller:

 

The Buddha, master storyteller of Jataka Tales

“The mistake of my first couple of years was thinking that this job was just about getting the policy right. And that’s important. But the nature of this office is also to tell a story to the American people that gives them a sense of unity and purpose and optimism, especially during tough times.” If given a second term he says he will “spend more time with the American people, listening to them, but also being in a conversation with them about where do we go as a country?”

The late evolutionary biologist Steven Jay Gould called humans “the primate who tells stories…” And it’s not just Gould. Anthropologists have found societies that have existed for millennia without the wheel, but they’ve never found one that doesn’t tell stories.

 

Siddhartha daydreaming about what it would be like to be free (Nitin_Paul/flickr.com)

 

A World That Just Might Work, the website, leads with: “On the radio, I tell stories of a world that just might work. As a consultant, I help you tell yours.” Building on time as a teacher, two decades in the entertainment industry, and 15 years of radio interviews, I help non-profits, foundations, public agencies, and businesses tell better stories and build better narratives.

 

What does Gottschall have to say about the latest science on the subject? Why is narrative so powerful? What is its evolutionary value? And can what we’re learning help us get even better at tapping its power?

Call for submissions (Inquiring Mind)

Fall 2011 issue of Inquiring Mind

Inquiring Mind (InquiringMind.com) has put out a call for submissions for its Spring 2013 edition. Its theme will be "Poetry and Stories." Anyone interested may send in poetry and story submissions from a Dharmic perspective. There is no need to mention the Buddha or meditation or anything else in particular. The word-limit for stories is 3,000 words. The deadline for submissions is October 1, 2012.

• Send submissions to: Spring2013@inquiringmind.com

20 problems with Obama birth certificate

Wisdom Quarterly

(buzzfeed.com)

We have to be embarrassed when our own government can't forge a document well enough to satisfy even amateur forensic analysts. There are unanswered problems. First, there are 20 problems with the "document" itself, an obviously fabricated electronic image. Second, for a long time the Hawaiian governor claimed there was no birth certificate, that it didn't exist. Suddenly here it is. Third, the Social Security number Obama once used is not one a normal citizen would have been given. Lawyer Orly Taitz, who knew and went to school with Barry, explains:

Orly Taitz Raises a New Issue: Obama’s Social Security Number
Jonathan Weisman (Christian Science Monitor)

Orly Taitz, the California dentist and lawyer who has led efforts to question President Barack Obama's birth place, has moved on to a new [problem] now that the White House has released his long-form birth certificate.

In an interview with Washington Wire, she now says that Mr. Obama once used a Social Security number that was not assigned to him. She [also] claims he graduated from Columbia University in nine months, not two years, as he claims.

“I have to say that this is a step in the right direction,” she said of the release of the birth certificate, “just as the release of the Watergate tapes was a step in right direction by Richard Nixon. And like Richard Nixon, there’s a good chance this will cost him his presidency.”

"The President of the Universe's job is not to wield power, but to distract attention away from it."

Explanation
Wisdom Quarterly (ANALYSIS)
What does it all mean? Barack "Barry Soetoro" Hussein Obama is president of the corporation (US, Inc.), not of the United States as we know it. But as it turns out, allegiance to something other than the country may be the oath taken by other presidents as well. (George Washington was able to levy taxes unconstitutionally by taking a special oath to something other than the sovereign country he was meant to preside over). George Bush and Dick Cheney, the two worst persons ever to hold the office, had no legal right to do so because they were from the same state. But that did not stop them or the (s)election process. It's just nice to know where we stand with presidents rather than being lied to constantly. Obama wants war. Obama wants debt. Obama wants whatever the military-industrial complex wants him to want (more nuclear reactors, more oil dependence, more corporate bailouts, unthinkable man made disasters and the Marshal law that goes with them...). All that Bush-Cheney wanted the (Orwellian) hard way, Obama was installed to give us the easy (Brave New World Huxley) way. The bottom line is, we are not allowed to question because to question something with so many implications makes one a "Birther," a "conspiracy theorist," a "nut." Truth is truth, and truth will out, whatever the truth may be. That the wagons in the mainstream media circle around to protect the lie or that Sarah Palin and Donald Trump are "convinced" and quiet down is no surprise. This is not Right versus Left; this is lifting the veil of why things in our world really happen in spite of the cover stories. Smile. Sometimes it's enough to know. And we are very blessed to know more than people at almost any time in history. Thank goodness the powers that be selected a very genial, handsome, and above all well-spoken "universal president."

Top 20 Conspiracy Theories That Have Already Sprung Up Around President Obama’s Birth Certificate

(Politics Buzz) It didn't take long to find inconsistencies and mysterious anomalies with President Obama's long form birth certificate. And this is only within the first few hours of the document's release. Give the Birthers a few days to come up with some really juicy stuff.

1. The patterned background is too seamless for a document kept in a bound volume [for decades].
2. The “Date Accepted” is four days later than “Date of Birth.”
3. Smudges in box next to name of attendant.
4. M.D. who signed the document conveniently died eight years ago.
5. Two mysterious Xs above “twin” and “triplet.”
6. Unexplained “8991” on document's right side.
7. “41” at to right of document looks suspicious.
8. Birth certificate of someone born at the same hospital a day later has a lower number.
9. There is no official seal.
10. Still says “Certificate of Live Birth.”
11. Instead of “African” under father's race, “Colored” or “Negro” would have been used in 1961.
12. The type for “Caucasian” is too perfect, not possible for a typewriter from 1961.
13. No footprint.
14. No birth weight.
15. Signature of mother and attendant are too similar.
16. Under hour of birth, the “M.” in “P.M.” is a different font.
17. Address for Obama's childhood home is the middle of a highway.
18. Hawaii's Governor until recently claimed there was no birth certificate.
19. Obviously Photoshopped. Layers!
20. We all know his real name is Barry Saetoro [Soetoro] and he changed his name to Barack Obama after visiting Pakistan. More

• All of these theories have been culled from The Smoking Gun's article on the birth certificate and the resulting comments.
• Will poorly forged document stop Birthers? (Christian Science Monitor)
• VIDEO: Problems with the short-form Certificate of Live Birth
• VIDEO: Rightwing G. Gordon Liddy calls Obama "illegal alien"
  

Note on Lifespans

Beings suffer in woeful states and enjoy pleasant worlds in accordance with their karma. Their age-limit differs according to the gravity of the unskillful/skillful deed. Some are short-lived, and some are long-lived.

Queen Mallika, wife of King Pasenadi of Kosala, for instance, suffered in a woeful state for only seven days. On the other hand, Devadatta -- who attempted to kill the Buddha, cause a schism in the Sangha, and encouraged Prince Ajatasattu to kill his father (the stream-enterer King Bimbisara) among other things -- is destined to suffer for an aeon.

At times, earthbound deities live for only seven days."

Reference: A Manual of Abhidhamma (a translation by Ven. Narada of the Abhidhammattha Saṅgaha of Bhadanta Anuruddhācariya (ed. of the original Pāli text) with English transl. and explanatory notes by Nārada Mahā Thera. 5th rev. ed., Kuala Lumpur: Buddhist Missionary Society, 1987.

Lifespan or life term (Pali, kappa) refers to the practical maximum length of life in various worlds under normal circumstances. Whereas it is said that Gautama Buddha could have lived an "aeon" (kappa) if he wished, it makes more sense to understand the term as "normal lifespan" in that instance. He passed away at 85 when, if Ananda had requested him, he could have lived to 120, which was the normal maximum life term at that time. It seems that 120 is still the lifespan in the human world, perhaps having already dropped to 100.

Clearly, this is neither an average nor an absolute ceiling. This being the case, when cosmological detail like lifespans of demigods, high divinities, or denizens of the unfortunate destinations are given, they should be understood as gross generalizations. Individual circumstances vary as discussed above.

Furthermore, the measurement is difficult since lifespans on earth used to be much longer. In Buddhist Birth-Stories: Jataka Tales translated by C.A.F. Rhys Davids (translated from Prof. V. Fausboll's edition of the Pali text by Mrs. Rhys Davids, p. 81 ff.) is "the story of the lineage." It details the lives of previous buddhas, their chief disciples, lifespans, heights, and so on. Surprisingly, since these buddhas appeared aeons (inconceivably long periods) ago in the human world, they were much taller and lived much longer, even 80,000 years.

Therefore, our assumptions about human life are not accurate, and cannot be generally stated, how much less the details of other worlds? Any time spent in a hell of torment (rather than simply the miserable hells) would seem an eternities. The elapsing of an age, epoch, or world-cycle is inconceivable even under normal circumstances, all the more under duress.