First stage of enlightenment: Heart Sutra

(Alan Watts Essential Membership)

(Swapnaloka) The biggest illusion is ME? (Maya, Lila) the Divine Illusion (Advaita Vedanta)

What must Bodhidharma have thought?

I was trying to read the Heart Sutra to chant it in Sanskrit. But it doesn't make any sense translated into English. At least it didn't until Wisdom Quarterly's Dharma editor explained it.* Now it's clear. Now I know why "enlightenment" eludes me. Now I know what to study and put into practice to know-and-see. Thanks, WQ!

• *The Heart Sutra: Buddha's Mother: Perfect Wisdom
• The Heart Sutra over the years (Wisdom Quarterly)

Do "I" even exist, Bhante?

(Buddhism) Do "I" really exist? Concept of anatta (not-self) in Buddhism

Stream-Enterer Sutra

The Scythian Sage: The Buddha

[At Savatthi the Buddha said:] "Meditators, there are these Five Groups clung to as self. What five groups?

1. The body-group clung to as self,
2. the feeling-group,
3. the perception-group,
4. the mental-formation-group,
5. the consciousness-group clung to as self.

"And when, meditators, the noble (Aryan = "enlightened," "awakened") disciple understands as they truly are:

• the arising and the passing away,
• the attractiveness and the danger, and
• the deliverance from the five groups clung to as self,

The Devi (Goddess) Pallas Athena (Klimt)

one is called a noble disciple who is a stream-winner, no longer liable to ever fall into subhuman states of woe [1], assured of full and final enlightenment."

• NOTE: 1. The "stream-winner" (sotapanna) is sure to become fully enlightened (an arahant) within seven rebirths and will not be reborn more than seven more times, and such a person will never again be reborn in any state lower than the human plane.

The beginning of wisdom

(Buddhism in English) Put ego away and humbly ask questions

1. the one "with seven rebirths at the utmost" (sattakkhattu-parama) ["one with only seven further rebirths at the utmost," is one of the three kinds of stream-winners (sotāpannas).
2. the one "passing from one noble family to another" (kolankola),
3. the one "germinating only once more" (eka-bījī, lit. "one seed" or perhaps "at most once more seeded").]

Watts on Hindu/Mahayana 'enlightenment'

Alan Watts reveals the big secret, reality, and LSD (alanwatts.org)

As it is said (e.g., Pug.37-39; A.III.87):

What is the greatest bliss? Seeing release.

(1) "If a person, after the disappearance of the three lower fetters (personality-belief, skeptical doubt, attachment to rites and rituals), see samyojana), has entered the stream [that leads inevitably to nirvana], that person is no longer subject to any rebirth in the lower worlds [anywhere below the human plane], is firmly established, destined to reach full enlightenment. After having passed among celestial beings (deva) and human beings (manussya) only at most seven times more through the Round of Rebirths, one puts an end to all suffering. Such a person is called "one with seven rebirths at the utmost" (sattakkhattu-parama).

I continued to practice to make an end of all ill.

(2) "If a person, after the disappearance of the three fetters.... is destined to reach full enlightenment, that person, after having passed among noble families two or three times through the round of rebirths, makes an end of all suffering. Such a person is called "one passing from one noble family to another" (kolankola).

(3) "If a person, after the disappearance of the three fetters...is destined to full enlightenment, one, after having only once more returned to the human plane, makes an end of all suffering. Such a person is called "one germinating only once more" (eka-bījī).

• See Sotāpatti-Samyutta (S.55)
• See also SN 55.24, Note 7:
• 7. This is an encouraging message for many! Compare it to the end of MN 22 and also the charming image of the newborn calf in MN 34. The Commentary (MA) to MN 22 says such people are termed "lesser stream-winners" (cula-sota-panna). This term is discussed in The Path of Purification (VM XIX, 27). [This term is more fully explained in The Path of Freedom (Vimuttimagga).] The stress laid here on the importance of faith (actually saddha, "confidence," "conviction," the trust sufficient to investigate that precedes personal verification) is interesting in view of later developments such as the Pure Land schools (e.g., Jodo-Shinshu or "Shin-Buddhism" in Japan).
• (SN 22.109 PTS: S iii 160 CDB i 9650)
• Maurice O'Connell Walshe (trans.), Sotapanno Sutta: The Sotapanna, "The Stream-Winner" Pali title based on PTS (Feer) edition; Dhr. Seven (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly

1893 World's Fair was a lie: It was Tartaria

(Lorebreather) AI slop or a reasonable vission? A Tartarian republic by the sea, suggesting there really was a basis for "steampunk" fashion

(Buried Century) Last worker who demolished 1893 World's Fair says they were made of...

• World's Columbian Exposition 1893

(Borrowed Century) Every millionaire in 1890 came from the same 12 families - and none of them existed before 1850

Skull: Native face of 'Kennewick Man'

Kennewick Man: 'most important' face revealed after 8,500 years (Cicero Moraes).

.

Meet the Kennewick Man: Face of "most important" ancient Native American revealed after 8,500 years

Strong and resilient ancestor of current residents

The face of one of the most significant skeletons ever unearthed in North America has been reconstructed for the first time -- more than 8,000 years after the man's death.

The individual, known as the Kennewick Man, was approximately 40 years old when he died during the early Holocene period, which started roughly 11,700 years ago following the conclusion of the last major ice age.

Columbia River, Washington, USA

His remains were discovered along the banks of the Columbia River in 1996, close to Kennewick City in Washington state, from which he derived his name.

• Racism: Trump posts late-night MLK Day message buried on White House website after being slammed
• Incest: Husband and wife find out they're brother and sister - and decide to stay together
• Related: Million-year-old human skull discovered in China (unbranded - Newsworthy)

Map: Where is the Columbia River?

The find represented one of the most intact specimens from this era and offers proof of Native American habitation in the region for more than 8,000 years. The skeleton has been pivotal in academic discussions surrounding the earliest inhabitants of the North American continent.

Scientists have now created a reconstruction of his living facial features using his skull, providing insight into the man's history, reports the Express US.

Chief Joseph, Nez Perce People

Lead researcher Cicero Moraes described the reconstruction as depicting a "strong and resilient man," whose characteristics reflected "a life marked by continuous physical effort and survival."

He continued: "First, the skull is analyzed using known averages of soft-tissue thickness and anatomical guidelines to position key features such as the eyes, nose, lips, and ears. More

Mythic, literary origins of Christianity?

(MythVision TV) The shocking moment a Christian scholar realized "Jesus" was mythic (audio corrected)

• Phenomenology (philosophy)
• World religions