A "roast" is a form of insult comedy, originating in American humor, in which specific individuals, the guests of honor, are subjected to jokes at their expense, followed by genuine praise and tributes.
The assumption is that the roastee can take the jokes in good humor and not as serious criticism or insult and so avoids offense as the audience vicariously relieves steam and tension by seeing the truth exposed in a nonthreatening manner.
The individual roastee is surrounded by friends, fans, and well-wishers, who can receive some of the same treatment during the evening.
The host of the event is called the roastmaster, since it rhymes with and plays on the term toastmaster.
Anyone mocked in such a way is said to have been "roasted."
There is a parallel tradition in some countries in which the host of formal events, such as award ceremonies and annual dinners, is expected to good-naturedly mock the event's attendees. In some cases, this has caused controversy when the host is seen as being too insulting [1,2] or accurate. More
I did my yoga, and I'm starting to see not-self and that I am One. What's for lunch?
Rites and rituals for samadhi in India
(dakota of earth) India's worst way to reach "enlightenment," usually defined in Hinduism as mere samadhi, which is a stage to understanding not the final goal itself in Buddhism.
I think I'm starting to lose my grip on reality.
When one becomes a "saint" (a NOBLE ONE) in Buddhism, having entered at least the first stage of enlightenment (of seven stages usually condensed and described as four main stages), one is immediately rid of four things.
Of these is the wrong view that clinging to rites and rituals could ever lead to enlightenment (bodhi, awakening to the ultimate truth).
Attachment to rites and rituals (sīlabbata-parāmāso) is one of the subtle fetters binding beings (who are constantly becoming and never actually being) to samsara, the Wheel of Life and Death. Śīla refers to "virtue" or "moral conduct" + vata (bata) to "religious duty, observance, rite, practice, custom" [25] + parāmāsa to "being attached to" or "a contagion" (clinging, upādāna) and has the connotation of "mishandling" the Dhamma[26], Buddha's Teachings. Together sīlabbata-parāmāso translates as "the contagion of [adhering to] mere rule and ritual, the infatuation of good works, the delusion that they suffice" [27] or, more simply, "fall[ing] back on attachment [clinging] to precepts and rules" [28]. Whereas the fetter of "doubt" (vicikiccha) can be seen as pertaining to the dharmas of competing wandering ascetics (samanas) during the time of the Buddha, the fetter regarding clinging to rites and rituals likely refers to some practices of contemporary Brahmanical authorities [29]. More
The former prince Siddhartha Gautama (the future historical Buddha), as a wandering ascetic on a quest for enlightenment, practiced these futile things -- particularly extreme fasting -- for years until he finally stopped blaming the body for the mind's defilements and accepted the blissful meditative absorptions (jhanas) as the real path of purification and path of freedom to seeing things as they really are and thereby finally being able to let go of lust, clinging, attachment, and all that binds us to interminable rebirth and suffering in samsara.
Until then, a person might do any useless thing -- particularly engaging in the extremes of severe austerities and bodily mortifications (tapas, penances, extreme austerities, attempts at purification) to purify oneself or hedonism, debauchery, and excess with the excuse that "anything can be used in the service of liberation, including the very poisons -- alcohol, drugs ("Crazy Wisdom"), sanctified or twisted sexuality (tantric sex), meat eating and cannibalism (as in Aghori holyman practices), fasting and self-starvation (inedia), self-mummification (sokushinbutsu)...
Mikao Usui (1865-1926), commonly Usui Mikao in Japanese, was the founder of Reiki, a form of spiritual energy healing used as an alternative therapy for the treatment of physical, emotional, and mental diseases.
He taught Reiki to over 2,000 people during his lifetime. Eleven of these students continued their training to reach the Shinpiden level, equivalent to the Western third degree or Master level. Early life, family, and education
What is our energetic aura?
He was born in Taniai village (now Miyama cho), Yamagata district, Gifu Prefecture, Japan, now located near present-day Nagoya. His ancestors were the once influential Chiba clan of Hatamoto samurai.
According to the inscription on his memorial, Tsunetane Chiba, a military commander during the end of the Heian period and the start of the Kamakura period (1180-1230), was one of Usui's ancestors.
In 1551, Toshitane Chiba conquered the city Usui and thereafter all family members acquired that name.
Usui was raised as a samurai from childhood, specifically in the martial arts techniques of aiki (合氣術) or "Way of Aiki" = Aikido.
A Shumei member recently told us that three Japanese men all belonged to an organization called Oomoto Kyo ("Great Source"). One went on to develop Reiki, another (Morihei Ueshiba) Aikido, and a third (Mokichi Okada) Jyorei energy healing and Shumei.
Aikido FounderMorihei Ueshiba developed Aikido as a synthesis of his martial studies, philosophy, and religious beliefs. His goal was to create an art that practitioners could use to defend themselves while also protecting their attackers from injury. Aikido is often translated as "the way of unifying (with) life energy" or as "the way of harmonious spirit." According to the founder's philosophy, the primary goal in the practice of aikido is to overcome oneself instead of cultivating violence or aggressiveness against others.
Although there are many stories extant in the United States that Usui earned a doctorate in theology at the theological seminary of the University of Chicago, he never attended, let alone received any degree from the University of Chicago.
Career and activities
There is a universal life force (chi or ki)
As an adult, it is believed that he traveled to several Western countries, including the Americas, Europe, and China as a part of his continued study.
His studies included medicine, history, Buddhism, Christianity, psychology, and Taoism.
It is believed that the aim of Usui's teachings was to provide a method for students to achieve connection with the "universal life force" energy (prana, esoteric energy, holy spirit, spiritus, animating force) that would help them in their self-development.
What sets his teachings apart from other hands-on healing methods is his use of attunement (reiju) to remind students of their spiritual connection.
It seems that all of his students received five principles to live by and those with a further interest in the teachings became dedicated students.
There does not appear to have been a distinction between clients and students in the beginning though this may have changed at some point.
People began coming to Usui Mikao possibly for different purposes -- some for healing and others for the spiritual teachings.
Shugendō is a Japanese mountain ascetic shamanism that incorporates Shinto and Buddhist practices [15].
The roles of Shugendō practitioners include offering religious services such as fortune telling, divination, channeling, prayer, ritual incantations, and exorcism.
Shugendo was often used by family clans to heal disease or avoid misfortune [11].
Claims of Reiki's Christian origins
Hawayo Takata, a Reiki Master under the tutelage of Chujiro Hayashi (林 忠次郎, 1880–1940), lied about Reiki's history of development to make Reiki more appealing to the West [16].
To this end she made a relation of Reiki with Jesus Christ and not with Buddhism.
Buddhist origins of Reiki
She also falsely presented Usui as the dean of a Christian school. While he had obtained the knowledge of Reiki from the Buddhist religious bookThe Tantra of the Lightning Flash, Takata claimed that he had been inspired from the story of Jesus Christ, who had healed with the touch of his hand.
So Usui, it was said, had come to America to learn Reiki. She told this to spread Reiki among Christians, too, believing it would otherwise be extinct.
However, in 1994, the original manuscript was found, which claimed that Reiki had originated from Gautama Buddha, the historical founder of Buddhism [17]. More
The Buddha did not have a "tomb" but rather various stupa mound sites that served as repositories of his cremation ashes and relics divided among the major rulers of his day.
Bones of the Buddha (S12, E6) premiered July 23, 2013 (NR) The mystery surrounding the bones [actually the cremation remains and relics or Śarīra] of the Buddha dates back more than 100 years ago, when British colonial estate manager William Peppe set his workers to the task of digging up a mysterious "hill" (actually an ancient, buried stupa) in Northern India. Peppe had no idea what they would find a little more than 20 feet below the surface. They unearthed an astonishing discovery: a huge stone coffer, containing five reliquary jars (urns) and more than 1,000 separate jewels and gold and silver ornaments.
PBS is dedicating a full evening to the Buddha [in the summer of 2013], anchored by an intriguing new Secrets of the Dead episode called "Bones of the Buddha."
This documentary presents a convincing collection of evidence that suggests an amateur archeologist discovered a portion [1/8th] of the historical Buddha’s sacred relics more than a century ago.
Bones of the Buddha first aired Tuesday, July 23, 2013, 10:00-11:00 pm (ET) on PBS (check local listings).
Preceding Bones of the Buddha is a rebroadcast of The Buddha, acclaimed filmmaker David Grubin’s documentary about a royal [Central Asian] prince who fled the opulence of the palace more than 2,500 years ago.
Journeying on his quest for enlightenment for six years, he witnessed human suffering for the first time and had a great awakening, that eventually led to the establishing of a new religion, Buddhism.
American Buddhist Richard Gere narrates the two-hour film airing Tuesday July 23, 2023, 8:00-10:00 pm (ET) on PBS (check local listings).
The mystery surrounding the bones (cremation remains) of the Buddha dates back more than 100 years ago, when British colonial estate manager William (Willie) Peppe and his workers began digging at a mysterious hill in Northern India.
Peppe had no idea what they would find just a little more than 20 feet below ground. They unearthed a stupa that contained an astonishing discovery: a huge stone coffer, containing five reliquary jars full of
more than 1,000 separate jewels
carved semi-precious stones
gold and silver treasures
ash and bone fragments.
One of the jars bore a Sanskrit inscription which, when translated, stated the jar contained the remains of the historical Buddha himself.
Doubt and rumors of forgery have overshadowed this remarkable find, dividing Buddhist scholars for more than 100 years. Many believe the whole thing could be an elaborate hoax. Others insist the burial mound on Peppe’s estate is one of the final resting places of the leader of one of the world’s great religions, a [Scythian, Indo-Sakan] sage who died attained final-nirvana and passed away nearly 2,600 years ago.
For doubters, suspicion focuses on a key figure from the time, disgraced forgerer German archeologist Dr. Anton Führer.
Renowned historian Charles Allen sets out to solve this extraordinary mystery once and for all. Is the little-known monument in Northern India really the Buddha’s burial mound enshrining his relics in a coffer tomb? Is this find genuine? And if it is, who created it and when?
Allen begins his journey in England at the home of Neil Peppe, the grandson of William Peppe. From there he travels 4,000 miles to Birdpore House in India, built by the Peppe family in the 1840s.
The mysterious hill known as Piprahwa where the tomb was found sits on the northern edge of the Birdpore estate.
Allen traces Peppe’s steps to authenticate the find, uncovering how the discovery became shrouded in scandal and where the Piprahwa ashes and bones reside today.
But is the inscription on the jar stating “these are the relics of the Buddha – the Lord [Bhagwan]” genuine?
Allen meets with Prof. Harry Falk at Germany’s oldest institute of Indology, the world’s leading authority on ancient Indian languages, to authenticate the ancient Brahmi script.
Though Falk’s findings may finally clear William Peppe’s name and resolve the mystery surrounding his find, Allen must still unravel who built the mound and buried the remains of the Buddha with a treasure of artifacts 2,600 year ago.
Bones of the Buddha is an Icon Films Production for THIRTEEN in association with WNET, ARTE France, and National Geographic Channels. Executive producer for Icon Films is Harry Marshall. Executive in charge for WNET is Stephen Segaller. Executive producer for WNET is Steve Burns. Coordinating producer for WNET is Stephanie Carter.
(The Epic History Vibe) Archeologists dug beneath the Buddha's alleged birthplace (Lumbini): This is what they found, Buddhist Emperor Ashoka's pillar (usually topped with a lion capital). Dr. Ranajit Pal convincingly explains that Nepal had next to nothing to do with Buddhism. The Buddha came from Shakya Land (Gandhara, Saka Land, Indo-Scythia, Central Asia, modern Afghanistan, Pakistan, the northwest frontier of India (Maha Bharat, an empire pieced together by King Asoka, centuries after the Buddha lived and taught on the subcontinent that was not a country but territories, maha-janapadas, disputed "footholds of family clans" like the Sakas/Shakyas from Kapilavastu/Kabul, Bamiyan (with the world's oldest and largest Buddhist statues), Tillya Tepe, Mes Aynak, and other sites of Early Buddhism).
Why forger Dr. Fuhrer lied and deceived the world is obvious, for fame and academic advancement. Why India or Buddhists continue to believe and promote his fiction seems to have more to do with politics and foolishness, ignorance about the truth with the Buddha's actual homeland being a little farther to the west in ancient Gandhara, Afghanistan, and places like formerly Buddhist Pakistan that were ransacked and ruined by Muslim invasions during the rise of Islam. Dr. Pal failed to make a sufficiently convincing argument to his colleagues in the fields of history and archeology to settle the question. All he showed was that Dr. Fuhrer was a fraud and many British archeologists were taken in or continue to act as if what Fuhrer asserted were true. See the documentary Bones of Buddha to see what these mistakes have led to with the loss of priceless Buddhist treasures, now sitting in someone's house, under his bed, in England because archeologists say the stupa (Buddhist reliquary mound) they were pulled from during an unscientific excavation (at Piprahwa) probably wasn't one of the eight or nine stupasthe historical Buddha's relics (relics associated with the Buddha) were first deposited, as the ancient texts tell us.
But how could Lord Jesus be in Buddhist India, Tibet, or Ladakh when he was busy trying to save Palestine? Well, you see, children, he wasn't born lord. Young Yeshua had to earn his stripes by ditching the Land of Judea, joining a merchant caravan, and traveling East to India/Tibet, arriving at a Jewish business outpost near Kashmir where others did business and young Jesus was exposed to the Wisdom of the East, meeting Buddhist lamas at Hemis Gompa, a lamasery he would study at for years, meeting Hindu masters and learning about the Vedas and other esoteric knowledge, mastering yoga, the siddhis (supernatural abilities), and realizing his mission was to teach in the Middle East not the Far East. He was already a renowned troublemaker in and around Kashmir, having strong views proclaiming the peace of the Monad (GOD, Brahman, the One True godhead of this universe) and realizing his own divinity as a human, a devaputra among humankind.
Scholar Holger Kersten summarizes the findings of others like Russian Christian Nicolas Notovitch who found definitive documented evidence of where Jesus was for the 18 "lost years" excluded from the official Bible canon and Swami Abhedananda (author of and Why a Hindu Accepts Christ and rejects Churchianity), corroborating Notovitch's claims. This new information aligns with what the Gnostics, Essenes, and Nazarenes taught about a wise teacher who returned from the East a vegan, preaching love and oneness, and the cult mysteries of initiation to realize the death of the ego and the kingdom of GOD here and now, contradicting official church teachings more interested in controlling Romans and other followers than liberating anyone or telling them that they, too, are divine.
That's it! I'm cancelling my subscription to GuruMag. How dare they out me!
Sadhguru sure doesn't know Buddhism
(DhammaPreserve) FAKE Buddha quote? Sadhguru EXPOSED: The Buddha never said that!
Adiyoga (Fan Page) Going to prostitutes while focused on spiritual discourse? [Womanizing while thinking about the Gita?] | [Fraud] Guru | Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev | Adiyoga
Am I the new Shiva?
(Maye Muses) Is [corrupt Godman] Sadhguru a spiritual leader or a dangerous cult figure [organizing murders motivated by greed and megalomania] - GuruMag (The Guru Magazine) expose explained:
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There is a parallel tradition in some countries in which the host of formal events, such as award ceremonies and annual dinners, is expected to good-naturedly mock the event's attendees. In some cases, this has caused controversy when the host is seen as being too insulting [1,2] or accurate. More
