Journey West: real monk behind Monkey King

(Buddha's Wisdom) The real Journey to the West: Xuanzang, the Buddhist monk behind the Monkey King

Journey or Addiction? Harvard's Ram Dass

(After Skool) The Freedom of Being Nobody: Ram Dass

What is root cause of ADDICTION?

(After Skool) Break the Cycle of Addiction: Ram Dass

• Love Serve Remember Foundation (RamDass.org)

The Spiritual Journey

(Baba Ram Dass) The Spiritual Journey: Ram Dass full lecture 1986

Gringos on magic mushrooms in Mexico

2 Gringos Try Magic Mushrooms in Mexico

Medicinal Mother Earth?

San José del Pacifico, Mexico - Kurt Caz and his travel-pal Amir are two self-described gringos who travel up the mountain to the cool climes of Mexico along the Pacific Ocean in search of LEGAL psychedelic "magic mushrooms," the fruiting bodies of the psilocybin mushroom. Is it safe?

(Is anything?) The hero's journey is beset on all sides, like Samuel L. Jackson is fond of saying in Pulp Fiction:

Mayan Ix Chel: Goddess of Moon

"The path of the righteous [seeker] is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil [persons]. Blessed is [one] who in the name of charity and goodwill shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for [that person] is truly [a] brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I [Yaldabaoth] will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy My brothers. And you will know My name is the Lord when I lay My vengeance upon thee."

• The Mayan Mexican Goddess Ixchel

Science: Try Guys Try Magic Mushrooms

(The Try Guys, 2024) Let's try a controlled experiment in mycology.

• Mexico's mushroom shamans - The Psychedelic Experience - Shroomery Message Board
• Stand up comedian Josh Wolf (high on mushrooms comedy act); Kurt Caz and Amir; The Try Guys; Eds., Wisdom Quarterly

Journey Into Buddhism w/ Sharon Stone

Journey Into Buddhism - Prajna Earth | full documentary

Dennis Schwartz Reviews

(PBS America) From PBS, PRAJNA EARTH explores the lost civilization of Angkor in Cambodia, the magnificent Angkor Wat temple, and Bali, Indonesia’s sacred landscapes.

Narrated by Sharon Stone, the trilogy's second film also shares trance dancers in the jungles of Java and the gigantic seven level mandala mountain of Borobudur (the largest excavated Buddhist temple in the world) and is described as “inducing an inner journey” by Asia Society, New York.

14th Dalai Lama endorsed film

Called “eye-opening and essential if you have an interest in Eastern spirituality” by the Boston Globe and an “illuminating meditation” by Variety, these visually stunning documentaries are cinematic pilgrimages to legendary places in Buddhist Southeast Asia and Tibet, including the spiritual wonders of Buddhist Laos, Thailand, Burma (Myanmar), Bali, Cambodia, Java, and Central Tibet (China).

Welcome to PBS America, a channel curated for an international audience from America's Public Broadcasting Service, PBS. This is a factual focused channel including award-winning American history, current affairs, and science.

Sign up to UK broadcast channel weekly highlights at pbsamerica.co.uk. Follow on X @PBSAmerica. Like on Facebook.com/pbsamerica. #buddhism #documentary #asia #religion

• Journey Into Buddhism - Prajna Earth (2006) documentary; Ashley Wells, CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Climbing Mt. Hollywood Sign, Los Angeles

Beloved monument was frequently vandalized by clever artists/activists until a fence went up.

Los Angeles Hamalayas hamming it up for the Hollywood cameras with LA as Katmandu

.

Mt. Lee with antenna peak, sign on upper left

It's odd how similar Los Angeles, the capital of the world, and Kathmandu, the capital of Buddhist Nepal, are. Both are buttressed against a great range snowy.

Behind Los Angeles to the north is Angeles National Forest, and LA County seems to continue behind this great forest, headwaters, and occasionally snowy peaks. Just like the view of the Himalayan range north of Kathmandu, it's not possible to tell which one is Mt. Everest.

Wow, that's Everest from below? No, on the left.

Old timey Hollywood Land sign (circa 1930)

That's odd since, allegedly, it's the tallest mountain in the world. It's actually probably about the fourth or fifth tallest, behind Mt. Sumeru (which may have sunk and become the current tallest) Mt. Mauna Kea, K2 above ancient Gandhara (the Buddha's country Afghanistan-Pakistan), and one that allegedly bulges at the equator to be the tallest when measured from the center of the planet.

List of mountain peaks by prominence. The iconic Hollywood sign rests on the scrub brush slopes of Mt. Lee in Hollywood along Beechwood Canyon, the street the first Theravada Buddhist temple in Los Angeles was set up by the Sri Lankan community (farther south right next to Hollywood Blvd.)

The name of the mountain (Mt. Lee) separating Hollywood from The Valley is not "Mt. H Sign," and Mt. Everest isn't the name of the peak in Nepal. Its actual name is Sagarmatha ("Goddess of the Sky") in Nepal and Qomolangma ("Holy Mother") in Tibet.

Bonkers history of (and treacherous journey to) both sides of the Hollywood sign

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Griffith Park Observatory's clear view of the sign

(Wonderhussy Adventures) Sept. 18, 2024: Welcome to Wonderhussy Adventure #827. Date of adventure: 8/1/24. Wonderhussy's friend Mike Z promised to take het up to the world-famous Hollywood sign — "but wouldn’t you know it, he brought me to the ass end" (rear entrance)!

"Which one's Everest?" #1 question on flight to summit

Website: wonderhussy.com Support: wonderhussy. Help fuel her next trip: paypal.me/wonderhussy or

Griffith Observatory with sign to the northwest

cash.app/$Wonderhussy. Buy her dinner: amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls... Bitcoin link: 3H4kzyPxMEwNGNgntSpCQGDEj6xMADUUYC. Merch: wonderhussy-merchandise.myspr...

Recommended gear: amazon.com/shop/wonderhus... Calendars: createphotocalendars.com... CREDITS: Theme song by Michael Saint-Leon switchyardstudios.com. Hollywoodland sign: Thomas Wolf, www.foto-tw.de, waterandpower.org and hollywoodsign.com, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/..., via Wikimedia Commons Blockbuster Video: Coasterlover1994, CC BY-SA 4.0 creativecommons.org/licenses..., via Wikimedia Commons Neil Diamond at the Greek: Larry Bessel, Los Angeles Times, CC BY 4.0 creativecommons.org/licenses..., via Wikimedia Commons.

Covert Affair - Film Noire by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. creativecommons.org/licenses/... Fluffing a Duck by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. creativecommons.org/licenses... Doh De Oh by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. creativecommons.org/licenses... Fig Leaf Times Two by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. creativecommons.org/licenses... wonder hussy, wonderhussie, wonder hussie, wonder hussey, wonderhussey

Exposition on Karma (American Monk)

Ven. Subhuti (Jeremy Glick), Pa Auk Monastery, Burma; Dhr. Seven (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly

This begets more of this, as we sow so we reap, what comes around goes around, do unto others

.

What is the Pa Auk training?

Planting Wisdom: Reflections on the "Lesser Exposition on Karma Discourse" or "Shorter Analysis of Deeds Sutras" (Cula-kamma-vibhanga Sutta, MN 135) is the name of today's talk by Western Buddhist monastic Bhante Subhuti (AmericanMonk.org).

Ven. Subhuti is a long-time American Theravada Buddhist monk and student of the famous enlightened Burmese Meditation Master Pa Auk Sayadaw. Here he gives a cursory review of a significant sutra with the astounding tale from the Commentary on the rebirth story of Todeyya and Subha, a rich stingy man reborn as a pet dog in his former house, who becomes a close companion of his son.

Todeyya: I was a millionaire, but I was stingy.

The Buddha informs Subha that the dog in a former rebirth was his father, which comes as a massive insult. To prove it, the Buddha asks if his stingy father didn't by any chance leave inheritance money ungiven. He did. He died suddenly without revealing where he kept his treasure, which caused hardship to the family. The Buddha advises him to feed Todeyya the dog a rich meal until he's drowsy and then ask him to go to the treasure. The dog, still stingy, goes to take a nap over the spot her buried the money. This convinces Subha that the Buddha knows what he's talking about and that karma and rebirth are real phenomena. So he becomes a student and practices the Dhamma (Sanskrit Dharma, the Buddha's Teachings on Awakening).

• Meditation - Pa-Auk Tawya (paaukforestmonastery.org)
• Pa-Auk Meditation Centre, Singapore (pamc.org.sg)

Can I meditate in the forest, too?

PaAukForestMonastery.org, edited by Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly

He is named after the monastery

The system of Buddhist meditation taught at Pa-Auk Tawya (Pa Auk Forest Monastery) is based on the instructions by the historical Buddha as found in the Pāli language canon and its commentaries.

The system taught is called the Threefold Training:

1. strict observance of precepts (sīla),
2. developing stillness (samādhi), and
3. as a basis for attaining wisdom (paññā).

It is further subdivided into the Seven Stages of Purification, which provide a step-by-step formula for systematically purifying one’s karma (deeds) of body (physical actions), speech (verbal actions), and mind (mental actions) of defilements in order to realize nirvana in this very lifetime.

Use the breath or Four Elements

In brief, the main practice is to begin with samatha (stilling, tranquilizing, making the mind content and joyous) meditation, which is to develop the meditative absorption called jhānas.

A yogi (Buddhist meditator) is free to choose any of the 40 serenity-meditation subjects as taught by the Buddha. At Pa-Auk Tawya, most yogis develop the absorptions or jhānas using mindfulness-of-breathing (ānāpānassati).

Having developed stillness (samma-samadhi or samatha), a yogi may proceed to practice insight (vipassanā) meditation.

There's also Pa Auk in Georgia

As an alternative, a yogi may omit the development of the absorptions, which a subtle and difficult for many who are not naturally inclined (from past life practice of the jhānas).

One will be taught instead to develop the less powerful "access concentration" with the serenity-meditation subject of Four Elements Meditation, prior to the practice of insight meditation.

In either case, the stillness/concentration attained by a yogi produces the "light of wisdom" or "sign" (nimitta) of progress in practice. More

• Like cures like is the homeopathic saying. Is it true for our actions and their results? Giving little begets getting little. Having chosen an action in response to a situation, I can expect that kind of result from the world for a long time. Just one act of stealing, because it occurred over so many mind-moments (which are laid down like seeds in consciousness), will result in exponentially more of that. A good choice -- giving, being friendly, being possessed of right view -- will result in reaping exponentially more happiness than we've sown. It may seem unfair, but it's "lawful," that is, working out in some rule-bound way, according to universal law, in accordance with the nature of the world. Or else all that we did would come to nothing, mean nothing, and be merely random events happening to us with no rhyme or reason, nothing to learn, nothing to improve, no aha moments when it all makes sense and everything is just as it is supposed to be (given what we chose and did previously). The hope is that we can NOW do something different and begin, eventually, to get pleasant, welcome, wished-for results.

Conspiracy, media, or madness | Truth Illusion

Journeyman Pictures, Dec. 8, 2023: Seth Auberon, CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Conspiracy, mainstream media, or madness | The Truth Illusion (2023) | full film

(Journeyman Pictures) An investigation into how the U.S. is now riven by radically differing views on what is real and what is not. The Truth Illusion looks at how those deepening divisions began and how they have eroded American faith in "authority" – spawning conspiracy theories and creating "alternative realities."

For more info, visit journeyman.tv/film/8445 Like on Facebook: journeymanpictures Follow on Twitter: journeymannews, journeymanvod. Follow us on Instagram: journeymanpictures. Subscribe: subscription... Visit on subreddit: journeymanpictures. Al Jazeera English – Ref. 8445

Secret sex trade in Muslim Iraq, cleric pimps?

Meet the world's most popular porn star - they're from Lebanon | indy100 | indy100

There are real porn actresses who are real Muslims, not just famous Mia Khalifa?

Uncovering Iraq's religious front for child prostitution | Iraq's Secret Sex Trade | full film

What is the real "dragon" males must slay to not go around getting into trouble?

.

(

You did this, Georgie? - I had help, Donny.

Journeyman Pictures) Aug. 25, 2023: This powerful investigation into Shia clerics [may Allah preserve the innocent Sunnis] in some of Iraq's holiest shrines uncovers a network of exploitation of young women and girls, trapped into prostitution and pimped out by a religious elite -- imams.

I helped. Mind your own business, DT

For the first time the clerics' secret sex trade has been captured on camera. Undercover filming and victim testimony reveal how they procure young females for male clients and are prepared to conduct "pleasure marriages" with children.

For more information, visit journeyman.tv/film/7677. Subscribe to Journeyman. Like on Facebook. Follow on Twitter for news and JourneymanVOD Follow on Instagram. Visit subreddit. BBC Arabic: Ref. 7677.

CODE PINK: Women for Peace (for an end to economic militarism and sexist patriarchy)

Iraq: What Bush and Cheney kept secret

Covered-life fashion in NYC (NY Daily News)

Worlds Apart: Parallel Lives (video)

Daughtry, Lzzy Hale, Gal Godot, C. Pine; Dhr. Seven, Kalyani, Wisdom Quarterly; Dhammawood

Figure it out. How hard is it to figure out?

Parallel Lives: You in snow and I in sunshine, you relish flesh and I their lives save, when I was a seeker and you had found less-death.

You spawned children and I still wander, you pair and mate and I their hearts spare, when I was a seeker and you had found the deathless.

Was I to blame for pulling away or for your part how you spoke not and expected things to be plain?

Who, me, understand? "Figure it out, Chief." But I never would. It was all implicit, to be inferred; would I impute or let it unfurl?

Dhammawood Meditation Center of California – Explore and practice the teachings (the Dhamma) of the Buddha to have a happy life (Jurupa Valley, MapQuest)

• Refillable Aluminum Water Bottle with Purified Water | Pathwater – PathWater (drinkpathwater.com)
• Putting an End to Single-Use Plastic Water Bottles | We Are PathWater (drinkpathwater.com)
• Tax Workshop | Businesses, Investors, Traders (Keep your $)
• VIDEO: Man spotted levitating in Switzerland
• People in Switzerland baffled by "floating man" caught on film (msn.com)
• Can you push start a car in reverse? - Car Ownership - AutoTrader
• Woman's Dead Grandmother Has Photo of Alien Hidden in Her Belongings (msn.com)
• Quote by Seneca: “As Lucretius says: 'Thus ever from himself doth...” (goodreads.com)

The Unbearable Lightness of Being a NAZI

Journeyman, 6/7/16; TJDS; Pfc. Sandoval, Sheldon S., Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

We act like Nazis and joined a fraternity in college to prove it. White privilege, Bro.

The Unbearable Lightness of Being a Nazi

(Journeyman Pictures) Happy Nazis (2008): The secret photographs that reveal how Nazi exterminators spent their free time. In January 2007 a photo album marked "Auschwitz: 21 June 1944" was made public. It revealed astonishing clues as to how the Nazi [insect, e.g., louse] extermination team enjoyed a life that they ruthlessly denied their [delousing] victims.

There are real Neo-Nazis in Ukraine's army

"They look almost like normal people. They are devils," says Auschwitz survivor Regina Speigel. The photos were taken at the height of the holocaust and have helped researchers identify key Nazis. Dr Josef Mengele, aka the "Angel of Death," is seen "smiling and laughing at this singalong during the most horrific period of murder in history. It's astonishing" (SBS Australia – Ref. 4134).

NAZI tactics are the norm in American policing in the US of A

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• Life in the World's Most Infamous Concentration Camp
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Chakra Journey with Hemi-Sync®

MonroeInstitute.org; Kelly Ani and Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Chakra Journey with Hemi-Sync®

(Monroe Products - Topic, 10/22/20 Provided to YouTube by Ingrooves Chakra Journey with Hemi-Sync® · ThunderBeat · Hemi Sync Chakra Journey with Hemi-Sync® ℗ 2007 Interstate Industries Inc., dba Hemi-Sync® Released on: 2007-10-01 Composer, Writer: Devera ThunderBeat Auto-generated by YouTube.

Tibet's secret Buddhist temple (video)

David Bickerstaff (NOWNESS, 11/16/15); CC Liu, Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

CIA operative and media creation against China?

Let's go on a visual journey to the fifth Dalai Lama’s private meditation chamber. The current Dalai Lama incarnation, Tenzin Gyatso, is the fourteenth in line, the spiritual and temporal leader (pope-king) of the Yellow Hats, a Tibetan Buddhist sect which holds sway only in Tibet except among the dominant Han Chinese who occupy the country. Read the full feature on NOWNESS: bit.ly/1RYQy9F.

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Solstice: SUMMER begins! (video)

I'm not a ditz, I'm psychic

I, like, predict like things will, like, change in the future? That's my prediction. I also see new things coming. And in the next two years, things will not be the same. Angels (devas) told me.

Solstice New Moon Solar Eclipse June 20th/21st: 3 Things!

Devi says: June 20th/21st will see a major galactic event and zero point reset with the solstice, new moon, and solar eclipse! Are you ready for it? Buy my tee-shirt.

For sale to good home body.

There's a profound energetic opening that's both bringing incredible light to the surface and revealing deep shadows. Light is like that. Learn what this solstice eclipse energy means and how to tune into the new possibilities emerging in this intuitive energy forecast. ✨💜😇 Then for more support managing the energy, check out my eclipse angel activation series at AngelActivation.com. And I'm not a ditz.

From Fear to Fearlessness: Pema Chodron

Pema Chodron, Global Well-Being, 4/3/17; Ananda (DBM), Ashley Wells (ed.) Wisdom Quarterly

The Noble Journey: From Fear to Fearlessness with Pema Chödrön

He's no longer our guru after his sex scandal.

(Global Well-Being) We always have a choice, Pema Chödrön teaches us, so we can let the circumstances of our lives harden us and make us increasingly afraid and resentful OR we can let them soften us and make us kinder.

In this talk, Pema provides the tools to deal with the problems and difficulties that life throws our way. This wisdom is always available to us, she explains, but we usually block it with habitual patterns rooted in fear.

Beyond that fear lies a state of openheartedness and tenderness. This talk is a guide on how to awaken our "basic goodness" or true nature and connect with others, to accept ourselves and others complete with our and their faults and imperfections, and to stay in the present moment by seeing through the strategies of the ego that cause us to resist life as it is. "The more neurosis, the more wisdom."

Pema Chodron

When Things Fall Apart

Beloved Buddhist teacher, author, American nun, and mother, Pema Chodron has inspired millions of people around the world who have been touched by her example and message of practicing peace in these turbulent times. The Pema Chodron Foundation is dedicated to preserving and sharing Pema’s inspiration and teachings in order that they might help us all awaken wisdom and compassion in ourselves and the world around us.

Gampo Abbey

Gampo Abbey is a Western Buddhist monastery in the Shambhala Tibetan-ish tradition in Nova Scotia, Canada. Founded by Guru Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche in 1983, it is a lineage institution of Shambhala and a corporate division of the Shambhala Canada Society.

Under the spiritual direction of Chogyam's son and sex scandal plagued failed Guru Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, the steppe down spiritual head of Shambhala International, Gampo Abbey is guided by Abbot Venerable Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche and principal teacher Acharya Pema Chödrön.

May we all be happy. May we all be well. May we all be safe. May we all live in peace and harmony with each other, ourselves, the earth and all that lives throughout time and space ♡ Namaste, Love, Gratitude, and Respect, Dick ♡

The Global Well-Being Synchronized Meditations Community is dedicated to benefiting the earth, all that lives, and all sentient beings, by organizing synchronized global meditations. Everyone and all traditions are welcome.

"All people are united in our pursuit of happiness and our desire to avoid suffering. This is the source of humanity’s greatest achievements. For that reason, we should begin to think and act on the basis of an identity rooted in the words 'we humans.'” HH the 14th Dalai Lama