The British Pali Text Society was established in 1881 and gave us some of the very first translations of ancient Theravada Buddhist texts by such renowned and influential scholars as:
who in turn had such a preponderant influence on Wisdom Quarterly: American Buddhist Journalthat, were it not for PTS and BPS, there would be no WQ in the English language.
Why Pali and not Sanskrit?
Pali [Magadhior Magadhi Prakrit, a lingua franca similar to but simpler than Vedic Sanskrit, the exclusive liturgy language of elitist Brahmin priests who adhered to the Old Vedic Religion that preceded Hinduism by thousands of years] is the language of the most complete collection of early Buddhist texts, the Pali canon or Ti-pitaka (the collected Buddhist texts in "Three Baskets" of suttas, vinaya, and abhidhamma), which constitutes "the word of the historical Buddha" as handed down by the tradition of Theravada (the "Teachings of the Enlightened Elders of the Buddha") Buddhism for over 2,000 years.
Since 1881 the Pali Text Society has promoted the study of Pali texts by publishing editions, translations, and other works related to the study of Pali literature.
On the new website one can purchase PTS publications, download many PTS publications for FREE, and find other material and links related to the study of Pali Buddhist texts.
One can also support the Society by becoming a member, getting a 20% discount on all purchases: palitextsociety.org
Born Jeffrey Block (Dec. 10, 1944), now known as Bhikkhu Bodhi [a], is an American Theravada Buddhist scholar-monk, a major inspiration for Wisdom Quarterly: American Buddhist Journal, educated in California, ordained in Sri Lanka, and now teaching in New York and New Jersey.
Long ago at BPS, Bhikkhu Bodhi authorized our Dharma editor to promote his mail order Buddhist course called The Buddha's Teaching: As It Is, a ten-cassette set he recorded in the basement of the Washington Buddhist Vihara with glossary and notes. To reach a wider audience, we took it online with millions of views, our dhamma-dana.
Block was born in Brooklyn, NY, in 1944 to Jewish parents. He grew up in Borough Park, where he attended elementary school P.S. 160 [4] and graduated from New Utrecht High School [5]. He then worked as a door-to-door salesman selling paintbrushes [6].
In 1966, he obtained a B.A. in philosophy from Brooklyn College, where he first encountered Buddhism in books at the bookstore [6]. In 1972, he obtained a doctoral degree (PhD) in philosophy from Claremont Graduate University [7, 8] in Southern California before deciding to move to Asia to ordain as a monk. More
(Oriental Pearl) Premiered Oct. 9, 2025: TOKYO. Is Japan cooked? I (Oriental Pearl) have seen a lot of changes here in the last few years. And things seem to be getting worse.
(Broke But Rich) Feb. 22, 2025: Dive into the dark side of Japan with us as we explore the world of "standing girls" ("sign girls")—infantilized females who wait in public streets to sell themselves. This isn't the typical nightlife scene. Buddhist Japan’s unique culture -- and attitude towards sex (as with the ancient geisha courtesans) -- has created an unexpected environment where this underground trade operates in plain sight. But why does it happen? And what’s the real story behind these women?
What do our Space Brothers and Sisters, the Arcturians, think is the ultimate "meaning" of life? And have they spoken to Alan Watts about that? They are (presumably) older and wiser, and we are but a young race of hybrids on this planet/world. Maybe we should listen to our elders to some extent. We certainly should listen and view gaia.comto open our minds and figure what life is really like. There's a giant cosmos out there, and we know but a fraction. And we know less than that because NASA ("Never A Straight Answer") and similar agencies do almost nothing but lie to us, mislead, deceive, and conceal the truth.
E9: Khazar and Donmeh Jews: The History Not Talked About
(Signal Before Silence) Premiered July 1, 2025: For some reason it isn't showing up on the timeline. In this second part, we dive into the complex origins of "Ashkenaz," examining the Khazar hypothesis and what modern genetic studies actually reveal. It doesn’t stop there. — We explore why Israel denies and has not yet recognized the Armenian Genocide.
00:00 Introduction
00:34 Picking up: The Khazar Empire and Abraham Polak’s historical work
05:14 Eran Elhaik and the complexities of Jewish ancestry in genetic research
07:50 The debated ethnic background of Talaat Pasha
10:32 Jewish communities in Salonika: Context and historical presence
13:31 Why has Israel not officially recognized the Armenian Genocide?
20:18 The Holocaust’s historical uniqueness and commentary on Israeli leadership
26:54 Controversies in Jerusalem’s Armenian Quarter and media representation of history
34:14 The importance of using the term "anti-Semitism" responsibly
36:40 Is the Khazar Empire historical fact or theory? Why some reject it
41:05 Jewish DNA research and the origin of the “Ashkenazi” designation
46:23 Historical connections: Salonika, Donmeh Jews, and Ottoman politics
51:56 Why are unimportant people like the Armenians so targeted?
TOPICS: Khazar conversion to Judaism. Donmeh influence in the late Ottoman Empire. Why Israel avoids recognizing the Armenian Genocide. The politics of “uniqueness” and victimhood. Ashkenazi DNA and linguistic memory, where does it come from?
We humans are full of defilements -- lust, annoyance, delusion (the Three Poisons of the heart/mind). How could ordinary folks ever get free, much less naughty sex workers entangled in all kinds of addiction, ego, hatred, and self-esteem issues? If only the Buddha had taught this world a path of purification.
Thus have I heard. Once the Buddha was staying near Vesālī, in the rich courtesan Ambapālī’s mango grove. There he addressed the meditators, “Meditators!”
“Venerable sir,” they responded, and then he taught them:
“Meditators, four kinds of mindfulness meditation are the path to convergence, for the (self-) purification of beings, to get beyond sorrow and sadness, to make an end of pain and lamenting, to discover the Middle Way, and to realize the bliss of nirvana (cessation). What are the four?
“One meditates observing feelings — keen, alert, and mindful, free of greed and grief regarding the world.
“One meditates observing the mind — keen, alert, and mindful, free of greed and grief regarding the world.
“One meditates observing phenomena — keen, alert, and mindful, free of greed and grief regarding the world.
“Four kinds of mindfulness meditation are the path to convergence, for the purification of beings, to get beyond sorrow and sadness, to make an end of pain and lamenting, to discover the Middle Way, and to realize the bliss of nirvana.”
This is what the Buddha taught. Contented, the meditators rejoiced in his words.
Dhr. Seven (trans.), based on Bhikkhu Sujato (Thig 5.2: Vimalā Therīgāthā), "Vimalā, the Former Courtesan," Therigatha (Verses of the Enlightened Elder Nuns) 5.2
Join Nancy Thames, who for decades has been in contact and in league with extraterrestrial/extradimensional intelligences, as she discloses the truth about it on Coast to Coast on Friday, 10:00 pm to midnight: Coast to Coast.
Or participate in livestreams with her as she delves into the fascinating world of cosmic encounters and spiritual awakening.
Thames is a prominent figure in the realm of alien disclosure. Formerly employed by the Department of Defense (DoD), Nancy Thames’ life took an extraordinary turn as she embarked on a journey…
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A Lifetime of Positive ET Contact, Disclosure
– Nancy Thames
There are many kinds of interdimensional beings all around us all the time
Vril's Maria Orsic was also contacted
ET contactee Nancy Thames (who herself is interdimensional like them) talks with host Richard Syrett.
She is a former Department of Defense (U.S. DOD) employee and lifelong extraterrestrial (space alien) contactee of interdimensional ET beings who shares sixty years of profound experiences interacting with these entities (deva = "shining ones").
Thames asserts that her decades of encounters are not dreams but real interactions where she is a willing participant. She rejects the notion that she has ever been "abducted," instead describing her experiences as beneficial interactions governed by "soul contracts," or agreements made before her reincarnation on Earth.
Thames recounts early memories of being taken aboard crafts by hybrid Greys, noting a deep bond with one particular female Grey.
She distinguishes between different types of extraterrestrials while asserting that all share certain abilities.
"They are really all interdimensional beings," Thames clarifies. Other entities she has interacted with, often referred to as the "Elders," are benevolent and luminescent deva creatures that transcend physical forms.
"We are the only intelligent life"! - Yeah, right! Close your eyes and keep telling yourself that.
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Their spacecrafts are living beings
When discussing their spacecrafts, Thames describes how she once found herself in a vast, sterile environment filled with different alien species.
"It's like you step into a whole new dimension," she says. On board the ship, Thames experienced what she called a kundalini awakening, surges in energy that opened her (chakras and) subconscious potential.
"They [do] that to help us remember our soul history," she reveals, while also mentioning that both she and her son have undergone this kind of awakening.
Thames goes on to explain the purpose of these ET interactions: "They are reaching out to humanity...[because they] want us to raise our frequency," she insists.
According to her, the most effective way to initiate this process is through meditation with intense focus.
"The best thing to do is to meditate with intention," Thames explains.
(March 10, 2024) Recently, American Theravada Buddhist monk Venerable Subhuti has been making more videos rather than written posts. This enables him to put more into each presentation.
Here he shares personal stories along with the Dhamma, the Buddha's precious Teachings.
What can be done with flowers other than giving?
While most may be more interested in hearing about what the monastic life is like over learning the Dhamma, we will still hear about both.
Readers love personal information. This Dhamma talk explores Verse 53 of the Dhammapada and the different aspects of making merit (profitable karma) he thinks most will like.
Wisdom Library (wisdomlib.org) edited by Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly
Dana is sharing, letting go, giving, charity, caring, developing generosity, benefitting others.
It is very good karma (meritorious deeds known as punya) made even better by sharing word of it so that others may rejoice (anumodana) and make the rare good karma of rejoicing in good deeds others have done.
We are misguided in the West, always "hiding our light under a bushel," which is good advice as far as it goes. But it goes too far. We as a culture are not taught to be happy for others, to derive happiness from them being happy. Instead, we're taught to be competitive and selfish and actually to take delight in their lack of success, loss, ruin, and misery.
It's called schadenfreude. a German term imported into English, not because we're all genetically German but because our American culture is. We're very much painted by Germanic and Ashkenazi influences on our religions and ways to interpret and practice them.
In the East, we rejoice! Asians customarily help neighbors do good things. They delight that good things are being done for the whole community, even joining in to grow the good and partake of the merit. Such people spread word of others' good deeds, praising and rejoicing, rejoicing and praising.
DEFINITION
Anumodana (अनुमोदन) means “joy in the joy of others, in sympathy with others' joys.” It represents one of the “seven types of devotional practice” (pūjā), according to Buddhist teachings followed by the Buddhist Newah people in the Kathmandu Valley of Nepal, whose roots can be traced to the Licchavi period, 300-879 CE.
The connection that Vajrayāna (Himalayan Buddhism of Nepal, Tibet, Bhutan, and parts of Kalmykia, Siberia, Mongolia, and Russia) has to the larger Mahāyāna ("Greater Vehicle") is expressed through the saptavidhānottara-pūjā, "the sevenfold supreme offering," a seven-step procedure for setting the intention to become a Buddha (samma-sam-buddha, pacceka-buddha, or personal-buddha called an arhat).
Anumodana (happiness derived from others' giving or other good deeds) refers to cultivating joy because others are joyful or, by having done good, in store for wished for and pleasant results. Big causes of joy are reflecting on the virtues of the buddhas (awakened ones), bodhisattvas (those intent on becoming buddhas), and arhats (fully enlightened ones).
An example of “anumodanā”
Feeding others is giving health and strength.
Someone is practicing to develop good qualities (generosity, virtue, skillfulness in meditation). A spectator rejoices in seeing those acts and congratulates that person, saying: “Good, good, good! Sadhu, sadhu, sadhu! In this impermanent world enveloped with shadows of ignorance, you are strengthening great mind [of bodhi or enlightenment] and are planting merit (puṇya)!’’
Imagine a devoted donor (dāyaka) and a beneficiary (pratigrāhaka) and a third person standing beside them. The third person is joyful at the sight of the good action. One rejoices with them. The other two lose nothing. Such is the characteristic of experiencing joy in others' joy (anumodanā).
Thus, just by having a mind of such joy, happy just because others are happy or doing deeds that will come to fruit as more happiness in the future, a Bodhisattva or practitioner surpasses the ordinary practitioners of the two Vehicles (Mahayana and Theravada).
How much more could be said if one actually practices the qualities over which one is rejoicing? Now there is not just happiness that they are doing good and that future good is coming to them. Now I am happy at the goodness I see and practicing for future happiness that is coming my way, which if I'm lucky others will be happy for. and we will all make more good for being happy.
It's a positive feedback loop by way of which one stores up a great deal of merit. More
I would do date Gerry. wait is it Gary or Jeri? Oh, I'd date him hard, better then these...
Hi, I'm Grandpa Gerry. But you can call me Fabrizzio, the Golden Fox and geriatric lover.
America’s new most eligible bachelor, 72-year-old grandpa
Gerry Turner, is a retired restaurateur who fills his days with pickleball. He’s about to date 22 women, one as young as 61, on national television (WSJ).
(WQ) It's a spectacle that will have bedrooms across the nation's old folks' homes retirement villas roiling with lust and provocative thoughts ("girl porn" romantic ideas sure to make married men groan, regretting they gave up the remote control because the game is on, and the power tools are getting cold in the garage and shed, and the lawn needs mowing, and there's a poker game over at Big Al's, and they're showing ESPN clips at the bar, and and...uh, help, there's got to be more to life than this garbage programming!)
Preview review
OMG, my work is never done.
The critics have seen it, and here's the problem: On the regular youthful version of the show with 20-somethings, if imbalanced young ladies come on and entertain us with their drama and humiliating loss of love after being drummed out, it's easy to imagine them meeting someone new the very next week. There's no reason for them to mope.
But here, in this golden years version, with all the silver foxes coming after the geriatric bachelor, if they're heartbroken, it's really easy to imagine that this was their last chance at true love or any love. They're hitting the wall, and now they're about to hit the ceiling as they get beat out by brighter, craftier, more cunning opponents. Will 60-year-old Nancy, Maria, or Joan win out because of their age...or will a crone rule the roost -- and the pickleball court -- and take the man chicken in hand as she does a man chicken walk in front of the other hens?
VICE, April 12, 2016; Crystal Q., CC Liu, Sheldon S. (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
Inside the strange, psychic world of indigo children
(VICE) The Chosen Ones S1 E4
Gavin Haynes has come from England to America to investigate the secret world of indigo children, a select group of people who believe they were born with "indigo" auras and possess special and supernatural traits and abilities.
Though many of these children have been diagnosed with ADD or ADHD by some healthcare professionals, indigo parents maintain that their children do not have these conditions but are instead running on a different plane unknown to regular people.
Critics say these children are not getting proper mental healthcare.
On his journey for answers, Haynes has his aura photo taken, undergoes a holistic dentistry examination by a mother/daughter Indigo pair, and attends a concert for Indigo rap duo The Underachievers, who are preaching Indigoism as a way of life.
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Since 1881 the Pali Text Society has promoted the study of Pali texts by publishing editions, translations, and other works related to the study of Pali literature.
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