KOREAN BUDDHISM began in the 4th century CE during the Three Kingdoms Period. Centuries after Buddhism originated in India, the Mahayana (Hinduism as Buddhism's "Great Vehicle") tradition arrived in China through the Silk Road in the 1st century CE, then entered the Korean peninsula in the 4th century, from where it was transmitted to Japan.
In Korea, it was adopted as the state religion of three constituent polities of the Three Kingdoms Period, first by the Goguryeo (Goryeo) in 372 CE, by the Silla (Gaya) in 528 CE, and by the Baekje in 552 C [1].
Korean Buddhism is distinguished from other forms of Buddhism by its attempt to resolve what its early practitioners saw as inconsistencies within the Mahayana Buddhist traditions that they received from foreign countries. More
Blame aging culture or youth music?
Cultural hegemony: Is white Western culture ruining the lives of South Koreans in the East?
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OMG, we're not gay! We're K-pop boy idols.
K-pop (Korean 케이팝, RR Keipap, an abbreviation of "Korean popular music" [1]) is a form of popular music originating in South Korea [2]. The music genre that the term is used to refer to colloquially emerged in the 1990s as a form of youth subculture, with Korean musicians influenced by Western dance music, rap, hip-hop, R&B, and rock [3, 4, 5]. Today, K-pop commonly refers to the musical output of teen idol acts, chiefly all-girl groups and androgynous boy-bands, who emphasize visual appeal and performance [6] over substance and individual expression.
It's OK to be angry, but keep the hits coming.
They represent a corporate approach to profit making and an illusory bigger-than-life persona and emphasis on PR (public relations). As a music genre, K-pop is characterized by its melodic quality and cultural hybridity [7, 8, 9]. K-pop can trace its origins to "rap dance," a fusion of hip-hop, techno, and rock popularized by the group Seo Taiji and Boys, whose experimentation helped to modernize South Korea's contemporary music scene in the early 1990s [10, 11, 12]. Their popularity with teenagers led the music industry to start to focus on this demographic. More
Japanese Zen Buddhist priest Ikkyū (一休宗純, Ikkyū Sōjun) was an iconoclast with an "enlightenment certificate" (inkajo). He was born in 1394 and died in 1481. He was an eccentric, iconoclastic, "crazy wisdom" Japanese Zen Buddhist monk, poet, musician, alcoholic, and womanizer.
He had an impact on the infusion of Japanese art and literature with Zen attitudes and ideals [1]. He is perhaps best known for his radical approach to Zen, which included breaking Buddhist monastic precepts and his stance against celibacy [2, Note 1].
In 1394, Ikkyū was born in a small suburb of Kyoto, Japan. It is generally held that he was the illegitimate child of Emperor Go-Komatsu and a low-ranking court noblewoman [1]. His mother was forced to flee to Saga, where Ikkyū was raised by servants.
At the age of 5, Ikkyū was separated from his mother and placed in a Rinzai Zen temple in Kyoto, Japan called Ankoku-ji, as an acolyte [1, 5].
The temple masters taught Chinese culture and language as part of the curriculum, a method termed Gozan Zen. He was given the name "Shuken" and learned about Chinese poetry, art, and literature. More
Drukpa Kunley (1455–1529), also known as Kunga Legpai Zangpo, Drukpa Kunleg (Tibetan འབྲུག་པ་ཀུན་ལེགས་, brug pa kun legs), and Kunga Legpa, the Madman of the Dragon Lineage (Tibetan འབྲུག་སྨྱོན་ཀུན་དགའ་ལེགས་པ་, 'brug smyon kun dga' legs pa), was a Tibetan Buddhist lama, missionary, and poet in the Drukpa Kagyu lineage of the [Himalayan Bon sorcery-influenced] Vajrayana Buddhist Mahamudra tradition [1].
He was trained at Ralung Monastery under siddha Pema Lingpa. However, by the age of 25, he had returned his monastic [Vinaya] vows [2] to take a wife, whose name was Tsewang Dzom (tshe dbang 'dzom) [3]. He is often counted among the Nyönpa ("Mad Ones"). He is considered to have been a reincarnation of Saraha [4]. More
The Enlightenment Trap: Obsession, Madness and Death on Diamond Mountain
(Audiobook) Author Scott Carney has 4.3 out of 5 stars (with 137 reviews). The 2023 edition of The Enlightenment Trap includes two new chapters, photography, and updated total revision.
In 2012, 38-year-old Ian Thorson's search for spiritual transcendence ended in tragedy on a remote Arizona mountaintop. His wife, a woman anointed as a goddess by an eccentric Buddhist community, held him in her arms as he slowly died from dehydration and dysentery.
For Scott Carney, a journalist and anthropologist who lived in India for six years, Thorson's death was just the most recent iteration of an unspoken epidemic that connected intensive meditation and mental instability.
The Enlightenment Trap explores how Tibetan Buddhism in the West morphed from its roots in the Himalayan foothills into a fundamentally new American religion. For Thorson, the entry point into this new faith was Geshe Michael Roach, the supreme spiritual leader of Diamond Mountain University.
Carney unravels the cult-like practices of Diamond Mountain to illuminate the uniquely American tendency to mix and match Eastern religious traditions like LEGO pieces. The result is that for some, enlightenment is a synonym for almost god-like powers, and achieving it can become more important than life itself.
Aided by Thorson’s private papers and cutting-edge neurological research, the book reveals the profound impact of intensive meditation on the brain.
Carney exposes stories of miracles and black magic, sexualized rituals and tantric rites from former Diamond Mountain acolytes. The Enlightenment Trap is a gripping work of investigative journalism that reveals how the path to enlightenment can be riddled with danger.
The one and only (Christina Randall) Tiffany Gomas cover up. Now a body-double has stepped forward to say, "I was in my feelings" to utterly dismiss what really happened. "What did you see, Tiffany?" Oh, come on, you guys already know! "No, we don't." I didn't see anything. It was just a figure of speech, you know, like how when you say someone/something is not real? You know? BS. What a better excuse it would have been to claim you spotted Carrot Top in first class. That, at least, would be believable. But as compromised Harvey Levin's TMZ is involved, it's just an insult to say, "Move it along, nothing to see here, it was all a misunderstanding." B to the S.
Candace Owens EXPLOSIVE take on Macron's "wife" will blow minds
(The Jimmy Dore Show)
July 7, 2024: There is something very suspicious going on with French President Emmanuel Macron and his male wife. For as long as Macron has been in politics, rumors and suspicion have swirled around his elderly wife (Mr. Michel Trogneux) and the question of whether she used to be a man, specifically her alleged brother. That’s certainly what online American commentator Candace Owens believes, and she even made a $100,000 bet with Piers Morgan over the issue.
Jimmy Dore and Americans’ Comedian Kurt Metzger talk to Owens about her suspicions as well as her supportive evidence.
Candace Owens on Twitter: twitter.com/realcandaceo.
Candace on YouTube: youtube.com/@RealCandaceO. #TheJimmyDoreShow
The Gods Must Be Crazy is a comedy film written, produced, edited, and directed by Jamie Uys. An international co-production of South Africa and Botswana, it is the first film in the popular The Gods Must Be Crazyseries.
Set in Southern Africa, the film stars Namibian San farmer Nǃxau ǂToma as Xi, a hunter-gatherer of the Kalahari Desert whose tribe discovers a glass Coca-Cola bottle dropped from an airplane.
They believe it to be a gift from their gods. When Xi sets out to return the bottle to the sky gods, his journey becomes intertwined with that of a biologist (Marius Weyers), a newly hired village schoolteacher (Sandra Prinsloo), and a band of guerrilla terrorists.
The Gods Must Be Crazy was released in South Africa in 1980 by Ster-Kinekor and broke several box office records in the country due to its immediate popularity, becoming the most financially successful South African film ever produced up to that time. More
This NEEDS to reach viewers BEFORE tomorrow – Urgent warnings for the FINAL week of April 2025
You have only two moves. What to do?
(Eye of Wisdom) The final week of April 2025 is already stirring with powerful and unpredictable energy! [Just look at Trump and his White House, the current administration and the topsy turvy financial markets.] Multiple cosmic events are converging, and most won’t see the deeper spiritual message behind it all... Researched, scripted, edited, and produced by the Eye of Wisdom team.
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The content used in this video adheres to Creative Commons and/or is sourced from the public domain.
DISCLAIMER: The material provided by Eye of Wisdom is not a clinical/medical service, a replacement for mental health professionals, or an academic resource. The information shared explores our spiritual perspectives and is for educational and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute medical or clinical advice.
Eye of Wisdom, April 25, 2025; Eds., Wisdom Quarterly
Get to know Maria Bamford in nine jokes about beauty standards in L.A., having a workplace nemesis and going to therapy as a child.
Sure, I'll Join Your Cult: A Memoir of Mental Illness and the Quest to Belong Anywhere
Sure, I'll Join Your Cult (Audible Audiobook)
Unabridged. Stand-up comedian and author Maria Bamford narrates her Simon & Schuster publication, which has garnered 4.4 out of 5 stars with 994 ratings. It is a Goodreads Choice
Award nominee.
From “weird, scary, ingenious” (The New York Times) stand-up comedian Maria Bamford, an instant New York Times bestselling, brutally honest, and “laugh-out-loud funny” (Jennette McCurdy, #1 New York Times bestselling author) memoir about show business, mental health, and the comfort of rigid belief systems — from Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People, to Richard Simmons, to 12-step programs.
Maria Bamford is a comedian’s comedian (an outsider among outsiders) and has always fought to find a place to belong. From struggling with an eating disorder as a child of the 1980s, to navigating a career in the arts (and medical debt and psychiatric institutionalization), she has tried just about every method possible to not only be a part of the world, but to want to be a part of it.
In Bamford’s “trademark blend of disarming intimacy and dark whimsy” (Publishers Weekly), Sure, I’ll Join Your Cult brings us on a quest to participate in something. With sincerity and transparency, she recounts every anonymous fellowship she has joined (including but not limited to: Debtors Anonymous, Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous, and Overeaters Anonymous), every hypomanic episode (from worrying about selling out under capitalism to enforcing union rules on her Netflix TV show set to protect her health), and every easy 1-to-3-step recipe for fudge in between.
Packed with “Bamford’s brilliance, relentless humor, and insatiable instinct for survival (Library Journal), this memoir explores what it means to keep going, and to be a member of society (or any group she’s invited to) despite not being very good at it.
In turn, she hopes to transform isolating experiences into comedy that will make you feel less alone (without turning into a cult following). NOTE: Purchase of this title includes accompanying PDF in your Audible Library along with the audio. Sure, I'll Join Your Cult
Maria Bamford, Amazon.com; Comedy Central; Laugh Society; Ashley Wells, Sheldon S. (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
WARNING: Is "Bashar" right? We do not know. Ask Darryl Anka, his channel. As when "Seth" speaks or "Abraham" advises, we ourselves must judge and decide.
What is the way? Shall we follow our bliss, like Abraham-Hicks says of the Law of Attraction? Are we to follow our feelings and heart...maybe our reason and head? Is it the Law of Vibration? What is the way of manifestation?
All asking, none knowing. All talking, none showing. All searching, none finding, traveling roads that go on winding. Channel Darryl Anka seems so passionate and sure.
The experience of our physical reality is mediated by our thoughts and views, our cognitive labels and feeling tone. Our response matters more than the world or universe that provokes us. Life is 51% response to 49% things that happen. Maybe what happens is the result of our previous karma, but what it (the results) will mean is yet to be determined, discerned, designated?
The road opened up before me. The Universe said, "Not this way" but did not seem to say which way then. Who or what was that up to? Might I choose? Did I fail to see the signs? Whither go I? Which way is "right"?
The Dharma knows all. The Buddha articulated a path (of practice) to bring about realization. Is it in line with what Bashar is saying? How about Galactica and Abraham-Hicks? Who can say, who can say when it can be any way?
The simulation seems adaptable. Now what? It's always the now. That means it's ours to choose. But we know not which way this leads or that -- so what to do? What is the guide?
I know, I'll call 888-CALL PSYCHICS and they can tell me for as much as $9.99 a minute or more. There was also that mysterious lady at the palm reading shop at the pier. And there's Aunt Lucy the Slatanic seance meister who listens to Slayer while prognosticating futures. Cash only.
Trump acts cordial with Genocide Joe while Matt "Molester" Gaetz, Tulsi Gabbard, and Hegseth "Fox News" score nominations
(The Daily Show) Nov. 13, 2024: Jordan Klepper tackles Trump's meeting with Biden and the president-elect's newest nominees: Matt Gaetz, Tulsi Gabbard, and Pete Hegseth. Plus, Troy Iwata makes Jordan jealous with his new Secretary of the Interior title. #DailyShow #JordanKlepper #Trump
Trump’s CRAZY cabinet picks, meeting with Biden and pranking Aunt Chippy with driverless car
(Jimmy Kimmel Live) Nov. 13, 2024: The finale of The Golden Bachelorette aired tonight, DJ arrived in DC today for a meeting at the White House with G-Joe, Melania did not meet with First Lady Dr. Jill Biden, Trump is filling up his presidential cabinet quickly with one of the hosts of “Fox and Friends Weekend” Pete Hegseth as secretary of defense, Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence, and accused criminal Matt Gaetz as attorney general (Why? Because they all kiss up to Trump like loyal Nazi generals), and in honor of JK’s birthday Aunt Chippy gets pranked with a driverless car.
Subscribe to get the latest: bit.ly/JKLSubscribe. #Kimmel
Anne Heche was God? That what she says. And you believe her? Well, aren't we ALL? We just don't know it. She found out, kind of like drug addled Kurt Cobain (Nirvana singer and author of the "Lithium" lyrics). You're saying she was crazy, right? Crazy maybe, but that's not to say not God. She was tapping in, like a Monarch agent prepped by trauma as used by our covert agencies. It also happens naturally when in an abusive family with horrific molestation, childhood trauma, and chaos. Did Ellen DeGeneres know about Heche's issues and take advantage of her, or was it all Anne's freewill? Did she die a natural death or suffer some Hollywood Illuminati sacrifice like a Princess Di?
Anne Heche’s demons were far greater than we knew
(Factinate) Sept. 26, 2024: Anne Heche was, by her own admission, Hollywood’s most insane “It Girl.” Sadly, for the victim of Ellen DeGeneres, her on-screen awesomeness never outshined her off-screen antics— right up to her tragic demise. Read the full article: factinate.com/people/anne...
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Is it chance (luck), or is it past karma coming to fruition to influence what happens now? There are many kinds of karma-vipaka (results of karma) and many fruits (phala).
We plant seeds all the time. We should consider what might happen as a result. Sometimes a past karma (the track laid down by a previous deed, a mental impression made by an intention) ripens to frustrate other things coming to fruition. We are spared. It is so complicated that it cannot be known.
Liquid Luck: Good Fortune
What is karma? It is "action" or, more exactly, the "intention" (cetana) behind and motivating a mental, verbal, or physical act, a deed, therefore an "intentional action." We have volitions and impulses to do, and how we conduct ourselves is very important because that choice has the power to produce results now and in the future. Immediately, it may produce a feeling (such as remorse or elation) and later a "fruit" (phala). When have we done deeds? Only in the past. When can we DO deeds? Only now, only in the present moment. We are always choosing to wait or to act or what act. The Buddha pointed out that the underlying motivations guided by nongreed, nonaversion, and nondelusion produce beautiful results, "lucky" (fortunate) results, pleasant and welcome results. We do we want? Luck! When do we want it? All the time! What should we do?
Blah, blah, blah, that's all spiritual, but we don't believe in the spiritual. We want the tangible. If only there were a "science" of luck. Enter Dr. Joseph Gallenberger: How much proof is enough proof? If it were science -- demonstrable, repeatable, tangible results -- we wanted, here we have it. "Luck" not good enough? How about magic? Enter Dean Radin.
Yeah, okay, but what about easy magic for the rest of us non-scientists? Enter Jose Silva, now presented by Vishen Lakhiani (mindvalley.com). If Abraham-Hicks (the council of spirit being calling itself "Abraham" being channeled by Esther Hicks) and when Seth spoke we weren't listening, here's a chance at mind control, control of our own minds that is.
We can make good luck - Dr. J. Gallenberger
If a drop of water is place on the forearm, according to science, statistics, and probability, its path down cannot be known, cannot be predicted. There are too factors influencing it. So consider how many more are operating in our lives. Drop six or seven billion billiard balls on a pool table, all of them banging around, then try to know or predict the path of one of them.
The Conscious Universe
It's not clear if there's freewill -- science says no -- but some measure of will influences our lives. If it didn't, we would be fatalists simply experiencing results all the time and never forming new volitions.
However, even in this case, what are we experiencing the results of? Those things in the past are what give rise to subsequent experiences (allowing for some retrocausation as well). The present moment therefore becomes very important.
Supernormal Science, Yoga, and the Evidence for Extraordinary Psychic Abilities
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What we do now has a tremendous influence even if the results are not seen soon enough for our liking. People in casual speech keep saying the slogan, "Karma's a b*tch" as a handy explanation when they like what's happening to someone else as they get their comeuppance.
"They caught the guy. They're throwing him in prison, a life sentence, throwing away the key. Ha ha ha, karma's a b*tch."
Do such people ever consider what else karma is? Often, it is a blessing, particularly for humans.
Behold the animals. They've got it good, huh? Laying around the living room, eating Smart 'n Fancy snacks and meals, getting pampered, combed, allowed on the bed, given a private door (cut into the door) to come and go as they please. That's happening due to their past and sometimes present karma, as are their looks and pretty marks that make them lovable or unpopular.
And when they get abused by humans, go outside to kill or get killed, attack or get attacked, contract insect infestations or diseases, get threatened by tougher street animals, feral and wild ones, what is all that? That's the life of an animal. It is a miserable thing, yet we praise it saying, "They have it easy" when we at best are talking about a very small subset of creatures, not paying attention to the vast majority of species and individuals. Of all the dogs in the world today, most canines are miserable and short-lived, as with felines and fish and birds and reptiles.
Of all the humans, how are they doing? They have it the best so far as we can see. And if we pay unbiased attention (mindful, not avoiding the unpleasant or being drawn by the pleasant or confused by the neutral), we'll soon see most are not having a good experience.
Buddhism says the human plane is the worst fortunate plane. At the bottom of the human barrel begins the first plane considered the "downfall," the dreaded subhuman worlds. In these worlds, which includes animals, hungry ghosts, spirits, unseen beings of various sorts, and that's not even arriving at the planes that can properly be labeled "hells," where beings, having fallen in, experience the results of their unsavory deeds. It's not the end of the world, far from it. The world keeps going on and on, life after life, year after year, experience after experience.
The act of enslaving living beings is heavy.
So it's good, very good, to insert some skillful deeds (kusala karmas) in there while the getting's good. The getting is good right now on this human plane. It never gets better than now. Why would it be good? Karma's a B. It's good because of another slogan: "Karma: It's everywhere you're going to be." 🙂
Dope Hub (Video 1); Binge Central (Video 2); Explaining Karma: Dhr. Seven, Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Wisdom Quarterly
[Crazy] Milarepa: The mass murderer who became enlightened in Tibetan Buddhism
(Asangoham) July 27, 2024: Milarepa, the Lord of Yogis, is today recognized as one of Tibet’s great masters and an accomplished meditation teacher and practitioner, admired for his tenacity, courage, and discipline. [This is odd given his crimes, which no one disputes, like those of reformed Angulimala.]
He is celebrated as “the most renowned figure in Tibetan culture, the
quintessential Tibetan folk hero.”
However, his life began with considerable hardship. Like this metaphor, his path was a journey of facing and integrating his own demons, transitioning from confusion to awakening.
Initially caught in samsara, the cycle of mundane existence, like we are, he committed to the practice of the Dharma, the way of wisdom.
His story is not that of a saint; on the contrary, it is a deeply human story. It shows us that even a great master has to deal with immense challenges such as loss and revenge.
"Every saint has a past,
every sinner a future."
It narrates the transition from a murderer to one of Tibet’s most famous yogis.
Today's video is about the extraordinary life and teachings of Jetsun Milarepa, Tibet's most revered yogi and poet.
This inspiring story explores the remarkable life of Milarepa, from his tumultuous childhood to his attainment of enlightenment through intense meditation and devotion.
Learn about Milarepa's profound teachings on the nature of reality, the importance of compassion, and the path to achieving spiritual liberation. Delve into his remarkable songs of realization, which have inspired generations of Tibetan Buddhist practitioners.
This video is a must-watch for anyone interested in Tibetan Buddhism, yoga, and Himalayan spirituality. Whether one is a seasoned practitioner or just starting a spiritual journey, Milarepa's life and teachings offer valuable insight and inspiration for living a more meaningful and fulfilling life.
As a young American Buddhist, not knowing that there was more than one Buddhism, I would a converted church building near the Sino-American Center on 6th Street near Chinatown in Downtown LA. It was a Chinese Mahayana church/temple run by nuns, but I didn't know. There were Japanese Soto Zen temples nearby. (This way the state of Buddhism back the Eighties). It was as creepy as a Catholic mass, but nicer things were being said. Eventually, I attended similar services in Maywood (a tiny city in LA County) which bought land and built the massive Hacienda Heights temple (arcgis.com). Through years of struggle, one temple morphed into the other as Maywood realized its dream of building Hsi Lai Temple ("Going West" Monastery and Nunnery). Back in those early days, there was a great master (Ven. Hsing Yun) of which they spoke. He was in Taiwan, touring the world, or at Master Hsuan Hua's City of Ten Thousand Buddhas, which kindly donated some of its rural land for the setting up of a Thai Theravada Buddhist Abbey (wat or vihara) called Abhayagiri Buddhist Monasteryin Redwood Valley, where Americans train to be monks in the Thai Forest Tradition of Ajahn Chah and other Buddhist meditation masters. In one such Buddhist service, I remember a Chinese nun presenting what might have been her thesis or research as a nun. It was a pamphlet all about Milarepa's crimes, showing that he could not have been a Buddhist monk or anyone to look up to given his biography. (This means his misdeeds after ordination disqualified him and meant he was not attained to sainthood/enlightenment, regardless of his popularity among average Tibetans). But that's mainstream Mahayana thinking (which was in line with Theravada monasticism), and Milarepa belongs to Bon-heavy Esoteric Himalayan Buddhism from Tibet, which is a school known as Vajrayana. It aligns itself with the massive Mahayana Buddhist school, but it is distinct in many ways. The indigenous Bon tradition is all about black magic, shamanism, necromancy, and vengeance.
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