Los Angeles Rebellion 25 years later (audio)

Off-Ramp (SCPR, 4-29-17); Pfc. Sandoval, Seth Auberon, Crystal Quintero, Wisdom Quarterly

Some healing, some scars: the LA Riots, 25 years later

Police love to riot rather than to police.

Off-Ramp talks with residents and eyewitnesses about those dark days... Journalist Joe Domanick tells how decades of police brutality -- including hundreds of police murders of blacks and Latinos -- led to the LA Rebellion, an insurrection more than a riots, and he assesses how far the LAPD has come... How former Mayor James Hahn could have been Reginald Denny... Why one young Latina who lived through the rebellion is still happy to call South Los Angeles “home"... and NPR Host Peter Sagal ("Wait Wait Don't Tell Me") tells Off-Ramp about his bizarre chance meeting with Chief Gates as the killing and mayhem began. And an in-depth account is heard from the brutalized man who was reluctantly at the center of the troubles, the late Rodney King. Full episode

The criminal LAPD beating of Rodney King sparked rebellion (AP/mail.com)

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  This is a full-contact sport

  Listen to episode (49:34)
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• LAPD Chief Daryll Gates dies. “Cop’s cop” or cause of ’92 LA riots?
• Rodney King speaks 20 years after the riots
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• Joe Domanick’s ‘Blue’ tackles troubled history of policing in LA and beyond
• R.H. Greene - Los Angeles Year Zero

Illusions, Jobs, 9-to-5 Royalty, Right View

Optical illusions that trick the brain
Experience the full effect of this and seven more optical illusions. How they work (WomansDay.com)

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VIDEO: One year after being laid off
Four Americans reflect on a tough year they've spent soul-searching and looking for employment. Their advice


Secretary by day, royalty by night
A DC-area woman is shocked to learn she's been made a king in Ghana. How she'll rule (washingtonpost.com)

On Right View
Maurice O'Connell Walshe (Kaccayanagotto Sutta, SN 12.15, PTS: S ii 16, CDB i 544)

[Ven. Kaccayana (Ka-cha-yana) is one of the Ten Chief (male) Disciples of the Buddha, deemed "foremost in explaining the Dharma." In the prosperous Indian city of Savatthi, he asked the Buddha:]

"'Right view [1], right view,' it is said, Venerable Sir. In what way is there right view?'"

"The world in general, Kacchayana, inclines to two views, to existence [2] or to non-existence [3]. But for one who, with the highest wisdom, sees the arising of the world as it really is [4] 'non-existence of the world' does not apply. And for one who, with highest wisdom, sees the passing away of the world as it really is, 'existence of the world' does not apply.

"The world in general, Kacchayana, grasps after systems and is imprisoned by dogmas [5]. But one [6] does not go along with that system-grasping, that mental obstinacy and dogmatic bias, does not grasp at it, does not affirm: 'This is my self' [7].

"One knows without doubt or hesitation that whatever arises is merely dukkha ["unsatisfactory," 8], that what passes away is merely dukkha and such knowledge is one's own, not depending on anyone else. This, Kacchayana, is what constitutes right view.

"'Everything exists' [9], this is one extreme [view]. 'Nothing exists,' this is the other extreme. Avoiding both extremes the Tathagata [10] teaches a doctrine of the middle: Conditioned by ignorance are the formations...[as in SN 12.10].

"So there comes about the arising of this entire mass of suffering. But from the complete fading away and cessation of ignorance there comes the cessation of the formations, from the cessation of the formations comes the cessation of consciousness... So there comes about the complete cessation of this entire mass of suffering."

Sarah Swofford reading select passages of the Buddha's profound wisdom

NOTES

1. Right view: (samma ditthi): the first step of the Noble Eightfold Path, lit. "right seeing." It is also rendered "right understanding," but the connotations of this are too exclusively intellectual. The rendering "right views" (plural) is to be rejected, since it is not a matter of holding "views" (opinions) but of "seeing things as they really are."
2. Atthita: "is-ness." The theory of "Eternalism" (sassatavada).
3. Natthita: "is-not-ness." The theory of "Annihilationism" (ucchedavada). All forms of materialism come under this heading. See the discussion in Bhikkhu Bodhi's translation of DN 1, The All-Embracing Net of Views (BPS 1978), pp. 30-33.
4. Yathabhutam: See Note 1.
5. As we might say today, "ideologies" or "-isms."
6. I take this to mean the person who sees "with the highest wisdom" mentioned above. Mrs. Rhys Davids [in her translation] seems to have gone slightly astray here.
7. [Atta me ti:] See SN 3.8, n. 1. Feer's edition of the Sutta Nipata reads here atta na me ti "this is not myself," which would also make sense but is contradicted, not only in SA [the Commentary to SN], but also when the story is repeated at SN 22.90.
8. The usual translation "suffering," always a makeshift rendering, is inappropriate here. Dukkha in Buddhist usage refers to the inherent unsatisfactoriness and general insecurity of all conditioned existence.
9. Sabbam atthi: From the Sanskrit form of this expression, sarvam asti (though used in a slightly different sense) the Sarvastivadin school got its name. They held that dharmas [phenomena] existed in "three times" -- past, present, and future. It was mainly to this early school that the label "Hinayana" ("Lesser Career or Vehicle") was applied and later illegitimately transferred to the Theravada school. (See SN 12.22, n. 1).
10. Tathagata (the Buddha's usual way of referring to himself): Literally, probably either "Thus come" (tatha-agata) or "Thus gone beyond)" (tatha-gata). For other meanings, see Bhikkhu Bodhi's The All-Embracing Net of Views (BPS 1978), pp. 50-53, 331-344.

Americans who lose Jobs become Hermits

Jeanna Bryner (LiveScience.com, 9/1/08)

[It's the opposite in Asia; see below.] Layoffs can turn social butterflies into near hermits who shun such outlets as book clubs and even church groups, finds a new study.

Workers who experienced just one layoff or involuntary loss of a job were 35% less likely to be involved in their communities than their always-employed counterparts, according to the survey that will be published in the September issue of the journal Social Forces.

Reciprocity
The researchers suggest the reason could come down to tit for tat, or an attitude of "you don't scratch my back, why should I scratch yours?" "Social engagement often involves an element of social trust and a sense that things are reciprocal -- that you give some support if you get some support, and you benefit from society if society benefits from you," said lead researcher Jennie Brand, a sociologist at UCLA. "When workers are displaced, the tendency is to feel as though the social contract has been violated, and we found that they are less likely to reciprocate."

Dirt on downsizing
The results were based on data on nearly 4,400 participants in the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study, which has tracked a group of 1957 Wisconsin high school graduates for more than 45 years. Born between 1939 and 1940, the participants are of an American age group that is inclined to participate in community and social groups, the researchers say.

Of the six forms of involvement, youth and community groups experienced the strongest exodus by displaced workers followed by church and church groups, charitable organizations, and leisurely activities. Professional and political groups remained just as popular on average in displaced and non-displaced workers. "Displaced workers may be more likely to keep up with professional groups than other groups because they're trying to make up for lost ground with respect to their careers," Brand said.

Workers who got flung out of their jobs during their peak earning years, between the ages of 35 and 53, were the most likely to withdraw from the social buzz throughout their lives. Employees who got the boot between 53 and 64 years of age, at the tail end of their careers, were just as likely to participate in social and community groups as their non-displaced counterparts.

"Being laid off doesn't appear to be as socially damaging for older workers as younger ones," Brand said. "The shame factor of downsizing your lifestyle just isn't there, because your peers may be downsizing as well and you can play off your displacement as an early retirement even though it may be forced retirement."

Double whammy
The latest findings have considerable ramifications, Brand said. "Whether citizens participate is important for the effective functioning of neighborhoods, schools, communities, and democracies," Brand said. In addition, such withdrawals from society can cause a vicious cycle of unemployment. "If workers withdraw socially after being laid off, then they're experiencing double-jeopardy," Brand said. "They're losing their jobs, and then they're not participating in society, so they're not keeping up with social contacts that might help them find a new job."

• Escape from Corporate America
• Hermits around the World
• Millions of Americans Work well into their 60s
• Survey Reveals Most Satisfying Jobs
• Original Story: People Who Lose Jobs Become Hermits

Asians with good Jobs were Hermits

Richard Barrow (thaibuddhist.com)

Over a one-month period, Barrow documented the life of a newly ordained hermit. The time for Nattawud's ordination as a bhikkhu ("hermit") has come. Most Thai men do this once they come of age. Nattawud isn't actually 20 yet. However, they are, apparently, allowed to also count the time spent in their mother's womb! [This is customary in Asia, so that one is nine months old pospartum.]

Thai men are not considered mature adults until they have become monastics for a period of time. Thai people call them "unripe." Once they have ordained and disrobed, they are called thit. Thai men in government jobs are legally allowed to take a three month leave of absence to ordain as a hermit.

Most do this during [the Rains Retreat (Vas) the monsoon season in Asia used for intensive practice since the bad weather doesn't allow for much else, sometimes called] "Buddhist lent," which starts in July. During Vas or lent people do not wander but stay in their hermitage. As Nattawud's birthday is in July, his family decided to bring the ceremony forward. More >>

• Bangladesh ordinations (Planet Pilgrim)
• Women fully ordaining (Sri Lanka)
• Cool Himalayan ordination (Nepal)
• A mountain of your own (Bhutan)
• Into the hot zone (Burmese ordination)