Dr. Jeffrey Long is a medical doctor specializing in the practice of radiation oncology, using radiation to treat cancer. Long has conducted the world's largest study of Near-Death experiences (NDEs) which includes over 4,000 experiencers.
OUTLINE
00:00 - Scientific evidence of near-death experiences (NDEs)
08:56 - The problem with researching NDEs
20:46 - Near death experience vs. fear death experience
23:19 - Are NDEs religious?
34:54 - Scientific evidence of reincarnation
42:10 - How NDEs change people
47:11 - NDEs give people superpowers
52:58 - DMT vs. NDEs
01:05:19 - Consciousness during cardiac arrest
01:11:09 - Blind people regaining vision during NDE
Juan A. Lozano, APnews.com, 9/20/23; KHOU 11; Eds., Wisdom Quarterly
HOUSTON (AP) — The debate over whether a Black high school student in Texas should be serving in-school suspension for wearing twisted dreadlocks to class intensified this week as the student’s family and his school district both took legal action.
Darryl George, 17, a junior at Barbers Hill High School in Mont Belvieu, has been serving an in-school suspension since Aug. 31st at the Houston-area school.
School officials say his dreadlocks fall below his eyebrows and ear lobes and violate the district’s dress code.
Mr. George’s mother, Darresha George, and the family’s attorney deny the teenager’s hairstyle violates the Barbers Hill Independent School District dress code and have accused the district of violating a new state law that outlaws racial discrimination based on hairstyles.
The new law, the CROWN Act, took effect Sept. 1st, 2023.
On Tuesday, Darresha George and her attorney filed a formal complaint with the Texas Education Agency, alleging that Darryl George was being harassed and mistreated by school district officials over his hair and that his in-school suspension was in violation of the CROWN Act.
On Wednesday, the agency notified Darresha George and her attorney that it will investigate the complaint.
Later Wednesday, the Barbers Hill school district announced it had filed a lawsuit in state district court asking a judge to clarify whether its dress code restrictions limiting student hair length for boys violates the CROWN Act. The lawsuit was filed in Chambers County, located east of Houston. More
OTHER NEWS
A Black student was suspended for his hairstyle. Now his family is suing Texas officials
Activists from community groups, far-left parties, and unions have held marches around France against racism and police brutality
Disgraced Los Angeles City Councilmember Kevin de Leon is entangled in a City Hall racism scandal but resisted Pres. Biden's calls for his resignation said Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2023, that he's running for reelection
MEDICAL NEWS: Staring at breasts makes men live longer, healthier — scientific study
My eyes are up here. - I know. I'm working out.
A study done by German scientist Dr. Karen Weatherby, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, has revealed that lustily gazing with admiration at women’s breasts is healthy and lengthens the lifespan of men.
The study, which was carried out over a period of five years, involved 500 men, half of whom were instructed to stare at women’s breasts in a lustful manner for no less than 10 minutes every day.
I've always been interested in life extension.
The other half were instructed to abstain from doing such.
It concluded that men who stared at breasts, more often, showed lower rates of heart problems, slower resting heart rate, and lower blood pressure, all of which enable a healthy living and long life.
The study said men should stare at breasts for 10 minutes a day to improve the wellness of their hearts and live longer.
Doctor's orders! - That's just men, Dear.
“Just 10 minutes of staring at the charms of a well-endowed female every day is roughly equivalent to a 30-minute aerobics work-out,” the study revealed.
When the two groups of men were tested, men that stared at breasts daily had lower blood pressure, slower resting pulse rates, as well as fewer instances of coronary artery disease.
Glad to see me? Yes, almost put an eye out.
“Sexual excitement gets the heart pumping and improves blood circulation. Gazing at breasts makes men healthier and engaging in this activity a few minutes daily cuts the risk of stroke and heart attack by half.
“We believe that by doing so consistently, the average man can extend his life for four to five years,’’ it added. Source
(The Dr. Gundry Podcast) Superfoods — what's good and what's not? On today's episode, Dr. Gundry helps separate the REAL superfoods from the phonies. He shares the BIGGEST superfood myth, the one super oil most have NEVER heard of, and why some lectin-free foods may still be on the avoid list. Full transcript and show notes: drgundry.com/superfoods-lecture
In Western countries compassionate and environmental vegetarianism is increasing in popularity, and this has led to questions about Buddhist monastics and meat eating.
The question of monks and nuns' eating meat is an old one, which was once explicitly raised by the "renegade monk" Ven. Devadatta (Buddhism's Judas figure, who was the brother of Prince Siddhartha's wife and his cousin, who was a monk for a long time practicing to develop psychic powers rather than wisdom or compassion).
He asked the Buddha to prohibit wandering ascetics from eating fish and flesh of all kinds in a ploy to usurp the Buddha and take over the leadership of the Monastic Community (Sangha).
It was Devadatta's "stricter ascetic" tactic, suggesting he would be a better leader with purer standards. The Buddha had already established a strict rule for both monastics and laypeople about not taking life (see Killing), so he disagreed with Devadatta's ploy.
The Buddha allowed monastics to eat meat and fish [88] except under the following circumstances:
If a monastic sees, hears, or so much as suspects that it has been killed for one, that monastic is forbidden to eat it [89] (M.I,369).
A modern Theravada monk on alms round in England (Ajahn Manapo/Forest Monastery).
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If a monastic is given meat on alms round and has no knowledge about how the animal was murdered [90], that monastic has to "receive it with attentiveness." To receive it does not necessarily mean to eat it. (See the Sekhiya Trainings.)
One should be grateful and recollect that food one is given is what enables one to continue to live the monastic, wandering ascetic, mendicant life, and as a mendicant one is not in a position to choose what one is given.
If one later comes to know the family and they ask about the Dharma, one will be able to explain the precept about not killing. This may cause them to reflect on their attitude toward meat eating.
An individual layperson can choose whether to be a vegan, vegetarian, or whatever. Problems usually arise only when vegetarians try to impose their choice on others. As meal times are normally a family or shared affair, this can create tensions and misunderstandings.
An individual monastic who lives on alms food cannot make such choices. Often the donors are unknown — perhaps not even Buddhist, or just starting to find out about Dharma — and to refuse their generosity may so offend them that they never have anything to do with Dharma again.
Karma: Wish I'd donated pure vegan food!
Finally it comes down to the laypeople who go to the market to buy food to give to monastics [who commit a kind of killing by paying others to kill when buying slaughtered and butchered animals, being complicit in that killing by paying for it].
If they are vegetarian themselves or like to give pure food, then the monastic should receive that food with "appreciation" — especially if it means that fewer animals are being tormented and slaughtered.
Nevertheless, it should not become a political issue where other people are attacked for their behavior.Source
COMMENTARY: Note the strong bias of meat eating monks and scholars who present the Buddhist view on this subject. For it is easier to change anyone's religion than his or her diet. Ask a vegan and get a whole different reading of what the Buddhist Monastic Code says, as one can point to many back stories and examples where vegetarianism was the norm for wandering ascetics, yogis, shamans, Brahmins, and spiritual seekers in the East. Few people, who themselves rarely ate meat, would ever think to give it to renunciants. For there was a time when everyone knew, which is to say it was common knowledge, that flesh does not conduce to dispassion, letting go, and purity. But it is not by diet alone that one would ever gain these three things, which is what Buddhism contributed to ancient Indian spirituality. Diet is a component of a spiritual life, not a be all end all. Practice compassion and wisdom.
Near-death experience (NDE) testimonies come from six survivors who tell their stories of interacting with the afterlife. The Buddha was right: life continues (samsara). This short documentary covers the bases. Death is no obstacle to the working out of karma, good and ill.
The way to get more good and less ill is to water down the ill with more good. For instance, say you have a glass of water and you pour some salt in. Taste it. Salty, yuck! How do we get that salt out? We don't. But no need to worry! There's a workable solution.
We'll dilute it with more clean water, so much clean water that the salt will become small by comparison.
"Good" karma (actions motivated by nongreed, nonhatred, nondelusion) bear fruit as welcome, wished for, pleasant, and charming karmic-results called phala ("fruit") and vipaka ("mental resultants"). Bad karma, not so much.
"Every day, an average of 600 adults in the U.S. will have a near-death experience."
Mm, do we live again after we die? - Sort of.
This doesn't mean there's a real "self," eternal soul, or ego (consciousness, spirit, whatever) that lives forever. Things will be lost here. But karma will carry over.
In an ultimate sense, and only in an ultimate sense, the actor does not bear the results. One person does, and who that person becomes reaps the results. So it doesn't seem fair, but it is operating along very tight karmic rules. It's an impersonal law, so there'll be no rationalizing and explaining things away. Therefore, be careful. It all comes back. All we think, say, and do comes back to us manifold, having grown exponentially.
Is there something you wish you hadn't done? Then do something you'll be glad you did!
Raramuri/Tarahumara Native American Mexican women with baby, Lake Arareco
(Dan Bocchino) Exploring Endurance Running: The Tarahumara Tribe. National History doc
The Tarahumara: Hidden Tribe of Super-athletes Born to Run
Nestled in NW Mexico in the canyons of the Sierra Madre Occidental mountain range (full of pine forests) is a small tribe of indigenous Native American people known as the Tarahumara.
They call themselves the Rarámuri, which loosely translates as "running people," "foot-runner," "swift of foot," or "one who walks well."
Traditional Raramuri male dress
They are known for evading the Spanish colonial Conquistadors in the 16th century and keeping their Copper Canyon cave-dwelling culture alive and secluded.
They are more famous for their long-distance running and their superior health. They are free of the common health problems of "progress" in modern societies. A National Geographic study (November 2008) states:
"When it comes to the Top 10 health risks facing American men, the Tarahumara are practically immortal: Their incidence rate is at or near zero in just about every category, including diabetes, vascular disease, and colorectal cancer...
"Plus, their supernatural invulnerability isn't just limited to their bodies; the Tarahumara have mastered the secret of happiness as well, living as benignly as bodhisattvas in a world free of theft, murder, suicide, and cruelty."
So what is the Tarahumara story, and what can we learn from them? How can we use their Native American history as an example for our own primal living?
For some they may not be an example of what is considered "primal," but rather they are one of the most evolved we can find in the world today. More: liveprimal.com/2009/07/tarahumara...
Thiksey Buddhist Monastery, Ladakh, high in the Himalayas, J&K, India (M. A. Hussain)
Consecrating a new Buddha statue at the Jokhang, July 5, 2017 (Tenzin Choejor/OHHDL)
Reciting prayers, the Jokhang, Leh, Ladkah, J&K, India, July 5, 2017 (Tenzin Choejor/OHHDL)
Greeting well-wishers along road as he arrives at the Jokhang, Leh (Tenzin Choejor/OHHDL)
.
Birthday celebrations and long life offering ceremony
Jokhang Square, the approach to the complex taken by most tourists to Ladakh today (wiki)
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(July 6, 2017) The current Dalai Lama (Tenzin Gyatso, born Lhamo Thondup, July 6, 1935) will be offered a long life offering by the Tibetan community in the regional capital of Leh in Ladakh (Buddhist India), in the state of Jammu & Kashmir, high in the Himalayas bordering Tibet, followed by the official celebrations of his 82nd birthday organized by the Tibetan community in Ladakh and the Ladakh Buddhist Association. The events will be held at the Shewatsel Teaching Ground in the morning starting from 8:00 am. More + PHOTOS
Chinese Mahayana Buddhist altar in Taiwan shows Guan Yin, Amitābha "Buddha" (center), and Mahāsthāmaprāpta Bodhisattva, with swastika and Dharma wheels above and below (Miuki).
Buddha Amitayus (Amida, Amitabha) or "Buddha of Limitless Life" is a Mahayana "Buddha" aspect or [Hindu] deity associated with meditations and mantras for long life.
Amitayus is in Mahayana and its related school Vajrayana considered another form of the Buddha Amitabha.
Tibetan Buddhist Amitayus thangka
The major Mahayana sutras describing Amitayus are the lesser and greater Sukhavativyuha where he teaches beings in thePure Landof Amitabha and in the Amitayurdhyana Sutra. Often both names are used interchangeably.
The more specific sutra on Buddha Amitayus is the Arya Aparamita Ayurgyena Nama Mahayana Sutra or the Great Vehicle Sutra of Unfathomable Exalted Life and Transcendental Wisdom, although it is more like a hymn proclaiming the merits and virtues of Amitayus and giving the long mantra of Amitayus.
Amitayus is usually depicted seated in a meditation posture with a vase (kalasha) in his hands, which contains the elixir of immortality (amrita) and leaves of the ashoka tree. It symbolizes “a long life without the misery (shoka) of disease.”
On top of the vase there is sometimes an alms bowl. When one speak of Amitayus, “Limitless Life” refers to his blessings and virtues, while “Limitless Light” refers to his wisdom as Amitabha Buddha [a figure more popular in Mahayana Buddhism than the historical Buddha Shakyamuni].
The blessings, virtues, and wisdom of Amitayus are said to be limitless and so are his spiritual powers, his attributes, and his teachings....
In Tibetan Buddhism there are three major “Amitayus mantras” used to pray for long life and healing from disastrous diseases like cancer: NAMO RATNA TRA YAYA / OM NAMO BHAGAVATE / APARIMITA AYUR JÑANA / SUPINISH CHITATAYE / JORA JAYA / TATHAGATAYA / ARHATE SAMYAK SAM BUDDHAYA... More
Hellmuth Hecker (trans.) numerical discourse from Anathapindika: The Great Benefactor (AN 5.43) sutra edited by Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Wisdom Quarterly; Marilyn Monroe in 1950s:
The Buddha often spoke of five things people want. Two of them are long life and beauty. Long life is not enough.
We want beauty (health, vitality, youthfulness) for the enjoyment of those years. Here's how to get them.
THE BUDDHA: "O householder [the rich banker Anathapindika], there are five desirable, pleasant, and agreeable things which are rare in the world. What are those five? They are:
long life
beauty
happiness
fame
and (rebirth in) a heaven.
"But, O householder, of these five things, I do not teach that they are obtained by prayer or by vows. If one could obtain them by prayer or vows, who would not do it?
"For a noble disciple, O householder, who wishes to have long life, it is not fitting that such a person should pray for long life or take delight in doing so. Instead, one should follow a path of life that is conducive to longevity. By following such a path one will obtain long life, be it divine or human.
"O householder, for a noble disciple who wishes to have beauty... happiness... fame... (rebirth in) a heaven, it is not fitting that one should pray for them or take delight in doing so.
"One should instead follow a path of life that is conducive to beauty... happiness... fame... (rebirth in) a heaven. By following such a path, one will obtain beauty, happiness, fame, and (rebirth in) a heaven."
Now if only the Buddha (who in his time was not called a "Buddhist" but a Karmavadin, a "Teacher of the Efficacy of Action") had spelled out those paths of action in the same short sutra.
Instead, he explained the actions (karma) that bring about the results and fruits (vipaka and phala) of long life, beauty, happiness, fame, and rebirth in celestial (deva) worlds in many other discourses (such as the Kammavibhangasutras).
For long life it is protecting life -- not killing, harming, or causing others to do so.
For beauty it is abandoning anger* and in its place cultivating friendliness/loving-kindness (metta).
Happiness comes from letting go and instead cultivating contentment, patience/forbearance, wisdom, and mental composure (jhana, samma-samadhi). Great happiness comes from protecting the Five Precepts. Even those who only believe in this world during this one life are taught the Sigalovada Sutra, the "Advice to Householders."
Not everyone wants to live like an ascetic or recluse. Anathapindika (the enlightened multi-millionaire, to whom the previous discourse was given, once asked what advice the Buddha had for those who wanted to have spouses, children, homes, and gold. The Buddha gave advice for a happy worldly life.
Fame is said to be a result of showing respect to those worthy of respect. This is the principal reason, but one can easily imagine that diligence and dedication to an art, craft, or skill (such as scholarship or singing, playing an instrument or discovering something) is also vital. Mindfulness helps with that, as mindfulness helps with everything good.
Buddhist cosmology: 31 Planes of Existence chart
Rebirth in celestial worlds, "heaven" (sagga) -- which is temporary even if the lifespan on those planes lasts aeons and virtual eternities -- comes as a result of keeping the Five, Eight, Ten, or 227 Precepts. A surer way to the Fine-Material Sphere (rupa-loka) heavens rather than the Sensual Sphere (kama-loka) heavens is cultivating the jhanas, the "meditations" or "meditative absorptions."
The 31 Planes of Existence explicitly lists the eight jhanas as the karmic causes of being reborn in those better worlds. There is one more sphere even higher than our sensual and fine-material spheres. And that is the Immaterial Sphere (arupa-loka). Rebirth there comes from the level of mastery of the four higher jhanas.
Basic to all happiness and merit (store of good karma) is giving or generosity (dana), which is founded on letting go, not clinging, not being selfish and self-absorbed. The habit of giving allows us to enjoy things heartily and make more and more good karma as we do.
A chieftain who holds a feast for the people of various villages gains fame and prestige among those people, while accruing merit to have more and more in order to enjoy and give again.
Unfortunately, this also works in reverse. When we are stingy to preserve life or position, we are actually becoming impoverished. We don't enjoy what we have, and we don't give, so we lose out on all that potential good karma. And in the absence of it, we are as if poor already and hurling ourselves toward poverty. Give. Much good comes from it. Let go. Greater good comes from it.
How? One way is by force. A better way might be out of wisdom, out of clear seeing as to what it is. People need it, so compassion can move us. We would like it, so giving is one way to ensure we will get it when we are in need.
Seeing the true nature of things, how things really are with insight, causes us to let go. In ignorance, we are that things are permanent, satisfactory, and personal.
When we see them as they really are, our hand opens, our heart lets go, our mind is liberated. Clinging proves that we do not see the true nature of things, the Three Universal Characteristics of all things that exist.
They are radically impermanent, inherently disappointing (unable and incapable of fulfilling us), and impersonal (not us and not ours). This is very hard to believe, so here is the great American scholar-monk Bhikkhu Bodhi to explain:
(1983DC) Bhikkhu Bodhi explains the "True Nature of Existence" (Talk 3)
*The Buddha explains beauty
Sutra excerpt, Sections 9 and 10, from Ven. Ñanamoli Thera (trans.), "The Shorter Exposition on Karma" (Kammavibhanga Sutta) edited by Wisdom Quarterly (MN 135)
"If instead one comes back to the human state, one is ugly wherever one is reborn. This is the way that leads to ugliness, which is to say, to be furious, angry, ill-disposed, resentful, and to show ill-temper, hate, and surliness.
10. "But here some woman or man is not angry or much given to rage: Even when much is said, one is not furious, angry, ill-disposed, resentful, nor does one show ill-temper, hate, or surliness.
"Due to having undertaken and completed such actions [of self-restraint, forbearance, patience, kindness, compassion, and equanimity redirecting one's expression from anger to its antidote], on the dissolution of the body, after dying, one reappears in a happy destination...
"If instead one comes back to the human state, one is beautiful wherever one is reborn.
"This is the way that leads to beauty, which is to say, not to be angry or given to much rage: Even when much is said, [to be patient, self-restrained, serene, so as] not to be furious, angry, ill-disposed or resentful, or to show ill-temper, hate, or surliness. More
["The personal is political"?] Practicing meatless Monday saves the environment.
Going veg is going green to save the planet
When we reduce our meat intake, we minimize pollution, pharmaceutical use in animals, and water usage because the production of beef requires 1,850
gallons of water, countless antibiotics and chemicals and poisons to cultivate animal feed, while the production of vegetables requires 39 gallons
of water.
Climate Week NYC begins this weekend
When we reduce our meat consumption, we reduce our
carbon footprint -- and make a more significant change by reducing methane output into the environment (most of which comes from the feeding of bad food to cows who are ungulates feeding on fresh greens not grains, cement, other cows and corpses, and artificial feeds) -- because beef production creates 30kg of greenhouse gas
per kg of food. Carrots, potatoes, and rice require .42, .45, and
1.3kg respectively.
Meatless Monday makes a splash at Climate Week NYC events.
An all-vegetarian lunch will be served at The Climate Group’s kick-off
event at the Morgan Library. Marcus Samuelsson, chef-owner of Red Rooster Harlem and
Meatless Monday supporter, has curated the menu for
the prestigious Equator Prize private reception at Lincoln Center for
United Nations dignitaries held prior to the Equator Prize Awards.
Join Meatless Monday at The People’s Climate March in Manhattan starting at 11:30 am, Sunday, September 21 in Central Park. Get details on how to meet our staff at the event and signage to download and print on Meatless Monday’s Climate Week page.
If not attending the march, please share Meatless Monday Climate Week graphics via social media. Participate in the discussion on Twitter with the hashtags
#MFMclimatepledge, #CWNYC, and #MeatlessMonday. Take a
stand by pledging to go meatless on Monday with us at Meatless Monday.
According to United Nations,
“[UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon] has asked [summit] leaders to bring
bold announcements and actions to the summit that will reduce
emissions, strengthen climate resilience, and mobilize political will
for a meaningful legal agreement in 2015.”
Human flesh, cow, pig, or chicken?
The prevailing thought leading up to this summit is “the cost of inaction is greater than the cost of action.”
And it’s a thought that has considerable traction. After all, it’s not
just global leaders and politicians that are rallying around the cause.
Case in point -- The People’s Climate March organizers are expecting more
than a 100,000 participants.
The People’s Climate Website reads, “With our future on the line and the whole world watching,
we’ll take a stand to bend the course of history. We’ll take to the
streets to demand the world we know is within our reach: a world with an
economy that works for people and the planet; a world safe from the
ravages of climate change; a world with good jobs, clean air and water,
and healthy communities.”
We're cows and calves, not beef and veal
Meat Free Monday founder [and former Beatle] Sir Paul McCartney says, “Going meat
free one day a week is a simple way to contribute to a more sustainable
future.
So McCartney and UK leader Greg Barker have also launched a Meat
Free Pledge for Climate Week to help show world leaders that going
meatless on Mondays helps fight climate change.
Special LIVE Broadcast: Democracy Now! is broadcasting live (Sunday 10:30 am-1:30 pm
ET) from the People’s Climate March in New York City, part of a global
mobilization in advance of a U.N. special session on climate change. More
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