Wisdom Quarterly: American Buddhist Journal: food abundance

Showing posts with label food abundance. Show all posts

Friday, January 16, 2026

Happy Int'l Hot and Spicy Food Day

International Hot and Spicy Food Day

Is "American Chinese food" Chinese food?

VIDEO: Vui's Kitchen on Hot and Spicy Food Day 2026

Favorite: green curry over rice

There is a world of Buddhist vegetarian cuisine. What is so good about vegan and vegetarian Thai and Indian foods, Chinese and Korean? Curry? No, it's that they are spicy and flavorful. But even Chinese food has a hot source call Szechuan. Mexican food (like sauteed fajitas) is the most popular cuisine in the USA. Why? It might have something to do with the spicy, freshness, crispy crunch, and health benefits -- greens, chiles, lemon, peppers, beans, and whole grains (at least in the original indigenous form). Many Buddhist countries, which are renowned for their calm, cool, and collectedness -- sure do offer a lot of spice. It is the characteristic of hot place, particularly tropical ones like Theravada Sri Lanka.

INTERNATIONAL HOT AND SPICY FOOD DAY - January 16, 2026 (National Today)

Better than meat? Plant-based proteins

Chef Gordon Ramsay makes spicy cauliflower vegan dish

5 regions known for ultra-spicy dishes and countries where the heat is much milder (MSN)
CC Liu, Crystal Q., Imogen, Dhr. Seven, Ashley Wells, VEGAN TEST KITCHEN

Wisdom of Permaculture (Garden, CERN)

(Andrew Millison) How to see the hidden patterns of Nature (that's Mother Nature, Buddha Nature not so much)

What in the world is "permaculture"?

Permaculture One: Perennial Agra

The book Permaculture One presents unique strategies for creating a food-producing system specifically suited to our needs, whether we garden in our backyard or engage in full-scale farming. By carefully designing a system around functional relationships between plant and animal species we can create a stable "cultivated ecology" suited to local conditions. This book provides a catalog of 130 trees and plants useful to a permaculture system. More

Permaculture: Design Manual (Mollison)

Permaculture explained

Permaculture is an approach to [sustainable farming] land management and settlement design that adopts arrangements observed in flourishing natural ecosystems. It includes a set of design principles derived using whole-systems thinking.

It applies these principles in fields such as regenerative agriculture, town planning, rewilding, and community resilience.

The term was coined in 1978 by Bill Mollison and David Holmgren, who formulated the concept in opposition to modern industrialized methods, instead adopting a more traditional or "natural" approach to agriculture [1, 2, 3].

Seed to Plate Soil to Sky (Lois Ellen Frank)

We can heal this and go natural. - Really?

Multiple thinkers in the early and mid-20th century explored no-dig gardening, no-till farming, and the concept of "permanent agriculture," which were early inspirations for the field of permaculture [4].

Mollison and Holmgren's work from the 1970s and 1980s led to several books, starting with Permaculture One in 1978, and to the development of the "Permaculture Design Course," which has been one of the main methods of diffusion of permacultural [money-making] ideas [5].

Starting from a focus on land usage in Southern Australia, permaculture has since spread in scope to include other regions and other topics, such as appropriate technology and intentional community (commune) design [6]. More: Permaculture - Wikipedia

But what's reality, really, CERN?

(Julia McCoy) Scientists at CERN discovered a hidden layer beneath reality [samsaric simulation?] -- and it won't disappear. AI can calculate a hidden substrate better than organic human scientists? Are we living in a simulation rather than a base reality?

Saturday, July 12, 2025

Vegan Pool Party Book Release, LA

This is a pool, not the beach, so please consider donning a sarong when not in the water (IV).

.
WHAT HAPPENED?

Plant-based hemp swimwear, (Natasha Tonic)

Guests gathered surrounded by greenery in the hills of Los Angeles near Mulholland Drive, ordering dinner plates for Chef Rawsheed's vegan creations. The DJs arrived to set up, but first Vanessa led us in a yoga class as most people looked on and socialized, eating fresh fruits spread all around and sipping cold drinks.

Hemp bikinis (Natasha Tonic)

The shocking announcement was made after introductions by Paige for Samantha about the goals and aims of Plant Based Treaty. Justine covered the Campaign for Banning the Retail Sale of Animals in L.A. The shock was that Vanessa is moving to the south of France to start a vegan commune (intentional community) around a chateau, where she will then run for mayor and create a vegan city. First she writes a book on fairies, loses her health clinic (ElloraWellness.com) in the Eaton Fire, and decides to uproot and resettle in Europe. But she will travel between here and there and is still leading a tour to the ancient Mayan archeological sites in Mexico in 2025 (after a successful trip to Egypt). Post party we made plans to eat Thai vegan food at THE VEGAN JOINT, 980 S. San Pedro St., DTLA

Invitation design by illustrator and vegan chef Annie Vitality (A. Vandenheuvel)

Vanessa Marsot (Ellora Wellness)

Vanessa Marsot and Annie Vitality launch their new book, Dreams of a Dragonfly, and sign copies of this vegan fantasy story on Saturday, July 12th, poolside in Bel Air, Los Angeles, California. Enjoy mindfulness meditation, Native American land acknowledgement, yoga, vegan food, swimming and splashing, socializing, fun and games, a literary launch, and a summer night under the full moon.

Chef Rawsheed is preparing a special vegan meal, including fresh juice, appetizers, salad, raw and cooked pizzas and desserts (menu subject to change).

🎟️ TICKETS include:

Chef Rawsheed’s enchanted vegan meal (magical dinner) 🦜
Exotic beverages 🐠
FREE yoga class 🧘‍♀️
Donation to Campaign for Banning the Retail Sale of Animals in LA
🎟️ $20 Venmo or @lalawkitty with questions or to get the address. Email: lalawkitty@gmail.com
RSVP: Book Launch Pool Party, Sat, July 12, 2025, 3:00 PM

Free to attend

Sign: "Do not be deceived. You are headed for Hell! [for wearing skimpy swimwear, heathens]"

What is there to eat on this green planet?

No ticket purchase is necessary to attend! However, for magical dinner, individual tickets are only $20. Please note in your RSVP "No Ticket" if planning to opt out of dinner. That way we have an accurate count for supplies.

Time to play in the pool under the Cali sun

FOOD ABUNDANCE: Guests are welcome to bring fruit and vegan snacks and drinks to share. Guests are encouraged to bring a swimsuit, towel, lawn chairs, and outdoor or pool games. Prepare to dance, sing karaoke, swim and play.

Dreams of a Dragonfly

O, Buddha, do dragonflies dream and, if they do, what about?

Dreams of a Dragonfly

SYNOPSIS: What happens when a girl dreams of becoming a fairy so hard that she gets her wish and enters the magical world of animals and learns some of their secrets?

Join her on this fantastical adventure and you, too, could learn their secrets and how to advocate for them. More

CO-HOSTS

Vanessa Marsot, Annie Vitality, Justine Block, Kim Delgado, Paige Parsons Roache in coordination with:

Native Tongva/Kizh land acknowledgement and mindfulness practice with Seven

What should I wear? Seven hot sexy but unnatural vegan bikini pics (collegepill.com)

Illustrator vegan chef Annie Vitality
VEGAN POOL PARTY BOOK RELEASE
Saturday, July 12, 2025, 3:00-11:00 pm
Dinner served 5:00-8:00 pm
(For guests arriving after 8:00 pm, we are unable to guarantee dinner availability)

RSVP FREE: Book Launch Pool Party, Saturday, July 12, 2025, 3:00 PM | Meetup 🐢

10 Spots for Vegan and Gluten-Free Food in Los Angeles 2025 (Veggies Abroad)

What is the "California" lifestyle? - Well, The Graduate comes close.

What time will the monks arrive for the ceremony?

Saturday, May 24, 2025

FREE: Spring Festival Pasadena (5/24)

WHAT HAPPENED?

Flyer for the Village Spring Festival

It was a massive success with more than 2,000 guests. That means it will be back, and this may become its permanent location. It was formerly held biannually in Altadena behind Oh Happy Days Vegan Cafe and Rhythms of the Village by the secret pot shop that got raided. The Aztec Dancers dazzled as did the drum troop. There was a whole healing area with FREE massage, acupuncture, aromatherapy, reiki, yoga, an Aztec sound bath, and spiritual healing tents all in the service of healing the community. It is a very big campus, and the main stage was not the focus. There was a raw vegan chef (Henry Chukwurah of Lawndale at 310-628-8991) and various food trucks spread throughout, with lots of community service agencies and arts and crafts vendors. The dancing was all around the various music acts that followed a long jam by Onochie and Friends. This might be better as a multi-day event that goes deep into the evening like an Asian Night Market.

Altadena Healing Hub: altadenahealinghub.janeapp.com
Winnie Chan Wang (heartcenter.la) did heart centered integrative wellness, which is available every Wednesday night at 7:00 pm (PT) in person and on Zoom. This is a FREE weekly gathering for healing, connection, and transformation. 2801 E. Foothill Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91107 (in the back, down Wenger Alley).

Event details

FREE: Village Spring Festival (Muir High School, Pasadena) HEALING | JOY | UNITY | LET'S DANCE, EAT, AND SHOP TOGETHER.

The annual Spring Festival is back at a new location to support the Altadena, Pasadena, Sierra Madre, Foothills, and San Gabriel Valley community for a day of healing, joy, and unity.

VILLAGE SPRING FESTIVAL
SATURDAY, MAY 24, 2025, 1:00-7:00 PM
JOHN MUIR HIGH SCHOOL
1905 LINCOLN AVE., PASADENA

✨ 50+ unique vendors: Explore a vibrant marketplace full of art, handmade crafts, clothes by local Altadena artisans

✨ Healing workshops

✨ Discover the magic of Rhythms Family Band led by the legendary Baba Onochie Chukwurah. Experience the magic as music, storytelling, and drama as they unite in a captivating performance

✨ Food vendors and food trucks

✨ Live multicultural performances

✨ Download flyer

RSVP FREE:

Monday, March 3, 2025

Last Week Tonight: Mr. Pink doesn't TIP

Tipping: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

WARNING: Obscenity, profanity! Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs | Mr. Pink doesn't tip

Eww!! I would never date Steve Buscemi!

(LastWeekTonight) March 2, 2025: #23 on Trending. Mr. Pink (Steve Buscemi) has a point. Back in the day, T.I.P.S. meant a gratuity or bribe "to insure prompt service." Now it's obligatory, perfunctory, and promoted by women on dates to test men and the demonstrated generosity of their suitors.

("If he ain't tipping her, ya think he's gonna treat you like the princess that you are? Think about it!") Tip on dates, get lucky? Tip really well, and she'll glue herself to you, and the restaurant will welcome you back like a loser in Las Vegas? Quentin-ji explains it so much better in this tightly written, if vulgar, scene from Reservoir Dogs (not to be confused with the glorious Reservation Dogs).

John Oliver discusses tipping, why it’s more complicated and fraught than customers might realize, how we can address some of the issues surrounding it, and whether or not he deserves 25% at the end of this story.

Connect with Last Week Tonight online on its YouTube channel for more almost news as it almost happens, on Facebook like your mom would, on Twitter for news about jokes and jokes about news, or visit official site for all that other stuff at once: hbo.com/lastweektonight

John Oliver, HBO; Ashley Wells, CC Liu, Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Friday, February 28, 2025

Youth Sutra, The Buddha's Diet Plan

Anti-fat propaganda poster, USA, 1942

Want guaranteed weight loss and better health? What if there were a "Royal Buddhist Diet"? Well, there is and it's hard, but it really works.

King Pasenadi of ancient Kosala was very fat.

He waddled around his kingdom, belly swollen, feet sore, short of breath. One day, after eating a bucket of rich, royal food, he found the Buddha and sat beside him, panting like a sweaty mess.

Rich foods are royal. Healthy foods are priceless

The Buddha gently commented, "When one stays mindful, one will know how much one has eaten and what amount is enough. Then all of that person's afflictions will become slender and one will age gently and protect one's life."

A Brahmin youth from the king's retinue was standing nearby. King Pasenadi instructed him to memorize the Buddha's words and recite them whenever the king was about to eat.

As soon as King Pasenadi learned to pay bare attention to his eating -- to savor it and remain aware of chewing and tasting and swallowing it -- he was able to delight in a single cup of rice.

TikTok live from Pasadena (@alyssaantocii)
[So as not to body shame the royal, let's just say he was voluptuous, zoftig, big boned, had a glandular condition, metabolic syndrome, was prediabetic, loved flying his freak flag and doing his own thing, had too much plastic xenoestrogen in his body and brain from the environment, ate too much, and had poor impulse control from early traumatic childhood events that made his regulation of dopamine a challenge.]

Hollywood diet craze: candy (Food Network)
NATIONAL STRAWBERRY DAY (Feb. 27th) adds an extra aphrodisiac to the American "month of love." Devilishly sweet, delightfully low in calories, strawberries (which are not really berries though avocados are) are the perfect food to feel naughty and nice at the same time. Grown both around the U.S. and around the world almost year-round, we’re never far from a supplier of this tasty tongue-tickler to celebrate!
It's also FAT THURSDAY, International Polar Bear Day, Protein Day, Pasty Day, World NGO Day, The Big Breakfast Day, Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day, No Brainer Day, Retro Day, Chili Day, National Toast Day...

What does this Japanese Elly Amai Strawberry from Erewhon cost $19? (Food & Wine)

Going vegan saves the animals and the planet.

In time King Pasenadi became slender and strong, full of energy and beautiful. And as he sat stroking his slender limbs, he said:

"The Buddha has twice shown me compassion -- for my benefit now and for my benefit in the future."

What is this diet regimen called? "Mindful eating." What is "mindfulness"? Let's ask Ven. Analayo:

Fat Chance: Beating the Odds Against Sugar, Processed Food, Obesity, and Disease

The Buddha looks too young

Mahavira: The Buddha was 35

In the Dahara Sutta, SN 3.1, King Pasenadi hints that the Buddha is too young, so young in fact that, compared to other prominent teachers, he must not yet be fully enlightened.

The Buddha explains to the king that there are four things in the world that must not be taken lightly on account of their youth:

a noble,
a snake,
a fire,
a holy person.

It was this discourse (S.i.68f.) that resulted in the conversion of King Pasenadi, which Mahayana refers to as the Kumāradrstānta Sutra (Rockhill: p.49):

Youth Sutra: Too Young?

Ven. Sujato (trans), Dahara Sutta (SN 3.1), suttacentral.net edited by Wisdom Quarterly

Thus have I heard. Once when the Buddha was staying near Sāvatthī in Jeta’s Grove, in Anāthapiṇḍika’s monastery, King Pasenadi of Kosala arrived and exchanged pleasant greetings with him.

When their greetings and polite conversation were over, the king sat respectfully to one side and said to the Buddha: “Does the worthy Gotama claim to have awakened to supreme enlightenment?”

“If anyone should rightly say of someone that he has awakened to supreme enlightenment, it is of me that one should say it. For, great king, I have awakened to supremely perfect enlightenment.”

The king replied, “There are those wandering ascetics and [temple-bound] Brahmin priests who lead a monastic order and spiritual community (sangha) and tutor that community. They are well-known, famous founders of religions (dharmas), deemed enlightened (holy) by many, such as:

Little serpent (naga) can become mighty dragon

“I also asked them whether they claimed to have awakened to supreme and perfect enlightenment, but they made no such claim. So why do you, given that you are so young and only [relatively] recently gone forth [into the left home life of a wandering sannyasin]?”

“Great king, these four should not be looked down upon nor disparaged because they are young:

a noble,
a snake,
a fire,
a mendicant.

“These four should not be looked down upon nor disparaged because they are young.”

That is what the Buddha said. Then the Enlightened One, the Teacher, went on to say [in verse]:

“A person should not despise

a noble of impeccable lineage,

high-born and famous,

just because such a one is young.

For it is possible that that lord of humans,

as a royal heir, will gain the throne.

And in anger will execute a royal punishment

and have one violently beaten.

Hence, avoid such a noble

for the sake of life.

Whether in village or wilderness,

wherever a snake is seen,

one should not look down on it

nor despise it for its youth.

With its rainbow of colors,

a snake of fiery breath slithers along.

It lashes out and bites a fool,

male and female alike.

Hence avoid it

for the sake of life.

A fire devours a huge amount,

a conflagration with a blackened trail.

One should not look down on it

just because it is young.

For once it gets fuel

it will become a huge inferno.

It will lash out and burn a fool,

male and female alike.

Hence avoid it

for the sake of life.

When a forest is burned by fire,

a conflagration with a blackened trail,

shoots will spring up there again,

with the passing of days and nights.

But if a wanderer endowed with virtue

burns you with holy power,

you will have neither sons nor cattle,

nor will your heirs inherit wealth.

Childless and heirless you become,

like a palmyra palm-tree stump.

That is why a wise person,

seeing what is beneficial,

will always treat these four properly:

a snake, a fire,

a famous noble,

and a holy person endowed with ethics.”

When this was said, King Pasenadi of Kosala exclaimed:

I've got my eye on you, Little Fire

“Excellent, sir, excellent! As if one were righting what was overturned, or revealing the hidden, or pointing out the path to one who was lost, or lighting a lamp in the dark so people with eyes could see what is there. Just so the Buddha has made the Teaching clear in many ways. I go for guidance to the Buddha, to the Teaching (Dhamma), and to the [noble] Saṅgha. From this day forward, may the Buddha remember me as a lay follower who has gone for guidance as long as life lasts.”