Rebirth can't be real! We'd remember!

Maybe reincarnation was real. But, then, why don't we remember all our past lives?!

(The Journey to Awakening) If rebirth is real, why don't we remember our past lives?

Rebirth is real

Narrating Karma and Rebirth (Naomi Appleton)

Punabhava (lit. "again becoming," "rebecoming," "renewed existence") is a sutra term for "rebirth," which in later literature mostly is referred to as patisandhi (defined below).

The attainment of full enlightenment (arahatta), implying the end of all suffering and any further rebirths, is often expressed in the words: Natthi 'dāni punabbhavo, "this is the last birth. Now there is no further renewed becoming" (M. 26; D. 15; Therag. 87, 339; Sn. 502).

The term is often linked with abhinibbatti (re- "arising" or "appearance"). It is said, āyatim punabbhavābhinibbatti: "But how, O Brother, does it come to renewed existence and arising in the future?"

"Because beings, obstructed by ignorance and fettered by craving, find ever fresh delight now here, now there, for this reason there is renewed existence and arising in the future" (MN 43). (See also S.XII. 38).

Abhinibbatti also stands sometimes alone in signifying "rebirth" (e.g., in A. VI, 61; X, 65). Compare how in the second noble truth, the adjective ponobhavika means "leading to renewed existence." (See A. III, 76; Sn. 163, 273, 514, 733; S. VII, 12; X, 3). Source

The relinking consciousness

Karma, Rebirth, and Samsara (BPS.lk)

In detailing the reality of rebirth, the Buddha used the term patisandhi (lit. "relinking" or "reunion") consciousness, which is one of the 14 "functions [in the impersonal process] of consciousness" (viññāna-kicca).

Patisandhi is a karma-resultant type of consciousness that arises at the moment of conception, that is, with the forming of new life in the mother's womb.

Immediately afterwards, this consciousness (citta, "mind moment") sinks into the subconscious stream of existence (bhavanga-sota), where it is conditioned. Thereby, corresponding states of subconsciousness arise. Therefore, it is really this rebirth-consciousness that determines the latent character of a person.

Technically and in an ultimate sense, "neither has this [rebirth-] consciousness transmigrated [traveled] from the previous existence to this present existence, nor did it arise without such conditions as karma, karma-formations (sankhara), propensity, object, and so on.

That this consciousness has not come from the previous existence to this present existence -- has not traveled from one life to another -- yet that it has come into existence by means of causes and conditions included in the previous rebirth such as karma and so on may be illustrated by various similes.

An echo, the light of a lamp, the impression of a seal, [a wave on the ocean, electrons in electrical current], and the image produced by a mirror, all of which are reflections, correspond to causes and conditions without being identical to them.

One does not travel to become the other, though it certainly appears that way. Conventionally speaking, of course, we may even say this is what happens as a shorthand, but closer inspection reveals that that is an illusion, a misunderstanding, or an oversimplification of the process actually taking place.

Just as the resounding of an echo is conditioned by an initial sound and so on, nowhere does a transmigration of sound take place. It is just so with this consciousness.

Furthermore, it is said: "In this continuous process, no sameness and no otherness can be found." For if there were full identity (between the different stages), then milk could never turn into curd, whereas if there were complete otherness, then curd could never come from milk....

If in a continuity of existence [a passing from one life to another] any karmic result takes place, then this karmic result neither belongs to any other being, nor does it come from any other [karma], because absolute sameness and otherness are excluded here (The Path of Purification, VisM, XVII 164ff).

In the Questions of King Menander (Mil.), it is said:

"Now, Venerable Nāgasena, the one who is reborn, is that the same as the one who has died or is that another?"

"Neither the same nor another" (na ca so na ca añño).

"Please give me an example, Ven. Nagasena."

"O, king, how do you see it: are you now, as a grown-up person, the same who you had been as a little young and tender babe?"

"No, venerable sir. Another person was the little young and tender babe, but quite a different person am I now as a grown-up man."...

Edgar Cayce returned as David Wilcock

"Is perhaps in the first watch of the night one [flame of a] lamp burning, another one in the middle watch, and yet another one in the last watch?"

"No, venerable sir. The flame [continuous light] during the whole night depends on one and the same lamp.''

"O, king, it is just so with the chain of phenomena linked together. One phenomenon arises, another vanishes, yet all are linked together [in unbroken continuity], one after the other, without interruption. In this way one reaches the final state of consciousness neither as the same person nor as another person.''

Divisions

According to the nature of their rebirth consciousness, beings are divided into the following three groups:

• 1. ahetu-patisandhika: a "being reborn without root-conditions," is a being whose consciousness at the moment of rebirth was not accompanied by any of the three noble root-conditions (greedlessness, hatelessness, undeludedness. (See mūla, "roots").

That is, selflessness, kindness, intelligence were not present. Such beings are found in the Four Lower Worlds (apāya, the downfall, subhuman planes of existence), in which case the function of rebirth is exercised by the class of consciousness listed in Table I as No. 56.

But if, lacking those good root conditions, such beings are fortunate enough to be reborn as humans in this Sensuous Sphere, they will be crippled, blind, deaf, mentally deficient, and so on. (Rebirth-consciousness = Tab. I, No. 41).

• 2. dvihetu (duhetu)-patisandhika: a "being reborn with only two [noble] root-conditions," namely, greedlessness and hatelessness. (Rebirth-consciousness = Tab. I, Nos. 44, 45, 48, or 49).
• 3. tihetu-patisandhika: a "being reborn with three [noble] root-conditions." Such a being can only be found among human beings (rebirth-consciousness = Tab. I, Nos. 42, 43, 46, or 47) and higher heavenly beings [in worlds superior to the human plane (manussa loka) within any of the three spheres, Sensual, Fine Material, or Immaterial].

On these three types of rebirth, see Atthasālini Tr. 11, 354-379. (Appendix: patisandhika). In the sutras, the terms for "rebirth" are chiefly punabbhava ("renewed existence") and abhinibbatti ("[re]arising," "reappearance") or both combined as punabbhavābhinibbatti. Source

NOTE: In the dictionary's Appendix, we find an additional observation: Patisandhi is chiefly a commentarial term, but it occurs several times in one of the later books of the Sutta Pitaka, the Patisambhidā Magga (Pts.M. I, 11f, 52, 59f.; II, 72f.) The usual term found in the discourses (suttas) of the Pali canon for "rebirth" is punabbhava (defined above).

LITERATURE

• The Path of Purification (Vis.M. XVII, 133f, 164f, 189f, 289f; Vis.M. XIX, 22f)
• Karma and Rebirth by Ven. Nyanatiloka Thera (BPS.lk, Wheel 9).
• The Case for Rebirth by Francis Story (Wheel Nos. 12/13).
• Survival and Karma in Buddhist Perspective by K. N. Jayatilleke (Wheel Nos. 141/143)
• Rebirth Explained by V. F. Gunaratna (Wheel Nos. 167/169)
• Buddhist Dictionary: Manual of Buddhist Terms and Doctrines (by Ven. Nyanatiloka Thera)
• The Journey to Awakening (video); Ven. Nyanatiloka, Manual of Buddhist Terms and Doctrines (palikanon.com) edited by Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly

Man learns every language, even Ape

Greatest hits: I surprise strangers in every language (even Ape)

(Xiaomanyc 小马在纽约) Arieh Smith spent years studying human communication (languages) and weeks secretly studying to communicate with apes in Ape: Bonobos are the closest living relatives of human beings, and he convinced them into thinking he was one of them. Bonobos have learned to use human language, but it is very rare for a human being to effectively communicate with them on their own terms (bonobo vocalizations).

Speaking to apes in Ape

(Ari) They freak when I speak their Ape language

• Support Ape Initiative (apeinitiative.org), a non-profit that is the world’s only bonobo research center, because they are an endangered species. Ape Initiative works with scientists to understand bonobo behavior and ensure their survival in the wild. Donate:
• I learned Ape language, Ape learned ours

I can do it, and I'm sure you can, too.

ABOUT: I'm "Xiaoma" from NYC, real name Arieh Smith. I speak near-native level Mandarin Chinese and a smattering of some other Chinese dialects, enough to be dangerous. I speak Chinese well enough to regularly confuse the native speakers, including my own in-laws. I got fluent in Spanish in my apartment during quarantine. The thing is it didn’t start this way. I was a real language idiot in high school, not failing classes, but it was in one ear, out the other. I took Hebrew, Latin, and Greek classes, but every year I felt like I was learning the same thing over and over again. I kept thinking to myself, I wonder when any of this is going to stick. More

• About the man Arieh Smith (Xiaomanyc)

LEARN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE WITH MY METHOD

Join my newsletter and discover how I pick up new languages quickly (and learn how anyone can do the same): streetsmartlanguages.com.

• 📚 Check out my Street-Smart Language Courses: streetsmartlanguages.com.
• Subscribe to channel: @xiaomanyc. Instagram: xiaomanyc. Facebook: xiaomanyc.
• Epidemic Sound music at my affiliate link: share.epidemicsound.com/xiaomanyc.

Abuse of the Buddhist term "mindfulness"

(Natasha Yehenara) Psychology's corporate takeover of Buddhist mindfulness (sati)

• "Mindfulness" defined by Ven. Analayo Bhikkhu
• The field of psychology appropriated (hijacked) the Buddhist term "mindfulness" (originally sati but now just "awareness" or "paying attention")
• Anyone who thinks it was a commonplace practice in ancient India during the time of the Buddha should look up the Hindu definition of sati, which reveals it used to mean throwing a wife on the pyre when her husband died 😲
• The great work of Jon Kabbat-Zin to help therapists led to the unexpected disconnection of the practice with anything, as if it could be a standalone endeavor
• "Bare attention" is a component of sati, but it must be coupled with dispassionate (unbiased) looking on, free of greed, hatred, and delusion (wanting, aversion, and confusion)
• What is one to be mindful of to advance to insight, realization, and awakening? The Buddha pointed at four things: body, feelings, mind, and mind-objects. What does this mean? Psychology cannot tell us, but the Dhamma can
• Who needs Dhamma when we have a corporate bottom line to advance, productivity to raise, and mental health symptoms to abate?
• Why call it "mindfulness," Psychology? Why not pick a new name for what you've turned this into?

Ego (buddhism podcast) The Buddha didn't teach us only to be "present." He taught us to remember (recollection, memory, bearing in mind, the faculty of sati)

On the road to Berkeley like Benji (The Graduate)

Personally, in college at UC Berkeley many years ago, I took a "Buddhist Psychology" course in the department and was so excited to finally be able to learn what "cognition" meant and what the Buddha had to say about all these psychological things. Our assigned textbook, written by a psychologist, was called Mindfulness. "All right," I thought, "I'm finally going to advance in my practice and being in college is going to help me. Imagine my surprise when, as I read, I did not recognize what was being called "mindfulness." It did not align with all the translated ancient texts I had read and was continuing to read from the Buddhist Publication Society and the Pali Text Society. A few years in the future I would even visit BPS Editor Bhikkhu Bodhi in Kandy, Sri Lanka, to ask him about all this.

The Art and Science of Mindfulness

Not yet having him as a direct resource, except through his translations and BPS newsletter messages, I asked my professor in class about how I was left perplexed by reading our textbook. She looked at me and shrugged, "Of course! This "mindfulness" isn't the Buddha's mindfulness. It is psychology's," she explained. I looked around and many students were nodding their heads in agreement. "There are two mindfulnesses?!" I balked. "There are now" was the implicit answer. "Does Berkeley know about this? Why is this class called Buddhist psychology if all we're going to talk about is Western psychology?" She winked because she was subverting the system and introducing Buddhist ideas back into class, but we had to know that the new mindfulness had been taken, changed, and applied in rigorous scientific ways to the behavioral sciences, therapy, counseling, and the mental health field. Sure, it wasn't the Buddha's mindfulness, but that's because it had to be stripped of all spirituality and/or religiosity to get by the gatekeepers of the university system. What a gyp.

• The Art and Science of Mindfulness: Integrating Mindfulness Into Psychology and the Helping Professions (Shauna L, Shapiro, Linda E. Carlson
• Amazon.com: psychology mindfulness textbooks

Breathwork the Anunnaki Way (21 days)

(Library of Thoth) I tried the Anunnaki's 21-day breathwork protocol, and the results blew my mind

• Memory (neuroplastic) consolidation
• Settling into stillness: samadhi?
• Buddhist Ana-pana-sati (mindfulness of breathing)
• BASIC DISCOURSE: Ānāpānasati Sutta

Yogic Breath Work

Can we do yoga as mindful moving meditation?

Prana-yama (Sanskrit प्राणायाम, prāṇāyāma) is the yogic practice of controlling, retaining, balancing, and working the breath in yoga. It is described in Hindu texts such as the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita. In the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, it is described as one of the eight limbs of yoga ("union" with spirit, breath, the universe's energy). In classical yoga, what we call "the breath" is actually the life energy called prana (chi, qi, holy spirit, wind, pneuma, esoteric energy, Vayu-Vata).

Anunnaki: "royal [divine] offspring"

In later Hatha Yoga texts, it means the complete suspension of breathing [which is something that happens in Buddhism's meditative absorptions (jhanas) four through eight]. Prana-yama practices in modern yoga done just as exercise, such as in Ashtanga (Vinyasa) Yoga, differ radically from those of the Hatha Yoga tradition, often using the breath in synchrony with movements. Pranayama

Great Tartary: Eurasian Tartaria erased

(Erased Century) She remembers being called a "Tartar" - without knowing what it means

(Erased Century) The last child who survived Mud Flood — What she told a photographer in 1879

(The Withheld Record) Every Old World estate had twin mirrors facing each other with a non-Jewish candelabra — What stood between them at night

• What is a candelabra?

(Old World Tartaria) Top 10 Abandoned Tartarian Mansions

Jeff Epstein's niece: Sex Slave Anya Wick

(Shaun Attwood) Epstein's niece exposes ALL from Bill Clinton to Cult of Baal (Jewish Satanists) with [formerly trans] Anya Wick - Podcast 771

• Related to child abuser Walt Disney (bloodline)
• Jewish Satanists: Cult of Baal
• Justin Bieber: Usher, P Diddy...
• Bill Cosby, R Kelly, Pusha T...

Top 100 names inside Epstein Files contain many mega-rich Tech Bros like Peter Thiel, Elon...

• 

  I'm Elon Musk's trans son Vivian

  Gender confused trauma-based transsexuality? Elon Musk was on Pedo Island and his son rejected him and became his trans daughter Vivian Wilson
• What is sex slavery?
• Psychedelics used to perpetuate myth of "Reptilian" shapeshifters (as David Icke talks about openly)
• What happened to this child to make him want to become a her and say they never wanted to have anything to do with Elon Musk anymore?

Other child victims speak up

(Good Morning Britain) 'He told me what he was into' - Epstein survivor
Rina Oh shares her story: Illicit sex acts with kids in foreign countries

• Virginia Thomas Giuffre accuses Rina Oh of sex trafficking children with Epstein, though she says she was more a victim
• British Royalty
• The Kardashians and Kanye West
• Harvey Weinstein
• Molested by Seinfeld's Larry David, after being sex trafficked to him by her mother
• Jewish Larry David's co-star is Curb Your Enthusiasm is Cheryl Hines, wife of fellow Epstein Files name RFK Jr.
• (American anthropologist Michael Harmon, studying the Jivaro tribe in the Amazon, finally consented to taking ayahuasca to understand what the shamans were telling him. He heard "the sound of rushing water" and spoke to Reptilians, who said they were the true gods of this world, presumably hiding and living underground now)

A Wish Fulfilled: Vairochana Rinpoche

What is a tulku in Tibetan Buddhism?

Look, everyone! I'm a tulku!

A tulku (Tibetan སྤྲུལ་སྐུ་, Wylie sprul sku, ZWPY Zhügu, also tülku, trulku) is an individual recognized as the "reincarnation" [human rebirth] of a previous spiritual master (lama), and expected to rearise in a particular location or region after death.

The tulku is a distinctive and significant aspect of Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhism, embodying the concept of "enlightened beings" taking corporeal forms to continue the lineage of specific teachings.

The term "tulku" is a loanword from Tibetan སྤྲུལ་སྐུ (sprul sku), which originally referred to an emperor or ruler taking human form on Earth, signifying a divine incarnation.

Over time, it evolved within Tibetan Buddhism to denote the corporeal existence of certain highly accomplished Buddhist masters whose purpose was to ensure the preservation and transmission of a particular competing lineage.

The tulku system originated in Tibet, particularly associated with the recognition of the second Karmapa in the 13th century. Since then, numerous tulku lineages have been established, with each tulku having a distinctive role in preserving and propagating specific teachings.

Other high-profile examples of tulkus include the fourteen Dalai Lamas, the Panchen Lamas, the Samding Dorje Phagmos, Khyentses, the Zhabdrung Rinpoches, and the Kongtruls.

The process of recognizing tulkus involves a combination of traditional and supernatural methods. When a tulku passes away, a committee of senior lamas convenes to identify the reincarnation.

They may look for signs left by the departed tulku, consult psychic oracles, rely on dreams or visions, and sometimes even observe natural phenomena like rainbows. [Somewhere over the rainbow...]

This process combines mysticism and tradition to pinpoint the successor who will carry forward the teachings of their predecessor. More

UPDATE: Vairochana Rinpoche's message

(Tarayana Foundation)

• The Secret Biography of Vairochana Rinpoche: Gateway to the Dharma Realm
• SLICE: Who is this special child?
• Neten Dorjee, A Wish Fulfilled: After Six Years [tulku Vairochana Rinpoche]; CC Liu, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Science: AI decodes CROW language

(Galaxy Vault) Is a Crow a surprisingly intelligent "avian ape" smaller than a Raven?

Mahakala

Ven. Thanissaro (trans) edited by Wisdom Quarterly (Thag 2.16 PTS: Thag 151-152)

A swarthy woman,

[preparing a corpse for cremation]

crow-like and enormous,

breaking one thigh then the other,

breaking one arm then the other,

cracking open the head

like a claypot of curds,

sits with them heaped up beside her.

Whoever, unknowing,

makes acquisitions,

that fool

returns over and over

to disappointment and suffering.

Discerning,

making no acquisitions,

may I never again lie

with my head cracked open.

Sankicca

Ven. Thanissaro (trans) edited by Wisdom Quarterly (Thag 11.1 PTS: Thag 597-607)

What do you want in the woods, my boy?

You're like a bird [1] exposed to the rain.

Monsoons refresh you.

Seclusion is for those in meditative absorption (jhana).

As monsoon winds drive the clouds during the rainy season,

so thoughts concerning seclusion impel me.

A black crow, making its home in a charnel ground

[of corpses], inspires within me mindfulness

— rooted in dispassion for — the body [2].

One whom others guard not, who do not guard others,

such a monastic who lies down in ease, unconcerned

with sensual passions.

With clear waters and massive boulders,

frequented by monkeys and deer,

covered with moss and water weeds,

such rocky crags refresh me.

I have lived in wildernesses, canyons, and caves,

isolated dwellings frequented by predator and prey,

but never have I known an ignoble, aversive resolve:

"May these beings be destroyed, be slaughtered, fall into pain."

The Teacher has been served by me;

The Awakened One's bidding I have done;

This heavy load I have laid down;

The guide to becoming [3] uprooted.

And the goal for which I set forth from the home life into the left-home life

I have reached: the end of all fetters.

I delight not in death, delight not in living.

I await my time like a worker his wages.

I delight not in death, delight not in living.

I await my time mindful, alert.

NOTES

• 1. Ujjuhaana. The Commentary offers two interpretations for this word. The first is that it is a hill covered with jungle and many streams that tend to overflow during the rainy season. The other is that it is the name of a bird that can stay comfortable even when exposed to cold, wind, and rain. The second alternative has been chosen here. K.R. Norman speculates that the term could be written ujjahaana, in which case it would be the present participle for a verb meaning "abandoned or cast off." However, none of the manuscripts support this speculation.
• 2. In other words, the sight of the crow taking up residence in skulls and other body parts provided a chastening perspective on how the mind takes up residence in the body [for each rebirth in the sensual sphere].
• 3. The guide to becoming [rebirth, relinking, rearising, reappearing, being reborn] is craving.
• See also: Thag 5.8; Thag 14.1; Thag 18.

Reincarnation: What about MY past life?

(True Lives)

My past lives are me, right? I mean, that's "me" as much as this is, isn't it? How could the answer be that, ultimately speaking, I'm neither those people nor this one if, conventionally speaking, I'm as much that one as this one -- and bear the karma (the weight of deeds done good and ill in the past) of both, of all I have been? Answer? Be here now.

REBIRTH: patisandhi, literally "relinking, reunion," is one of the 14 functions of consciousness (viññāna-kicca). It is a karma-resultant type of consciousness that arises at the moment of conception, that is, with the forming of a new life in a mother's womb.

• REBIRTH: (punabbhava) literally, "re-becoming, again-becoming, rearising, "renewed existence," is a sutra term for "rebirth," which in later literature is mostly referred to as patisandhi.

Immediately afterwards consciousness sinks into the "subconscious stream of existence [becoming]" (bhavanga-sota). It is conditioned. Therefore, ever and ever-again, corresponding states of subconsciousness arise. Thus, it is really rebirth-consciousness that determines the latent character of a person.

"Neither has this (rebirth-) consciousness transmigrated [traveled] from the previous existence to this present existence, nor did it arise without such conditions as karma, karmic-formations, propensity, object, and so on.

That this consciousness has not come from the previous existence to this present existence, yet that it has come into existence by means of causes and conditions included in the previous existence, such as karma and so on, this fact may be illustrated by various things, such as:

• the echo,
• the light of a lamp,
• the impression of a seal,
• the image produced by a mirror
• [the movement of a wave across the ocean].
• [Doesn't a tsunami wave travel, after a massive quake, from Japan to California?]
• [No, never. The influence of it travels, but never does a single drop of water move from there to here. Stare at a wave. It seems to be a moving column of water moving across the ocean. But that is not what it is. What is it? It is one water molecule compressing another next to it and so on and so on. This compression and expansion, in a sense, is the "wave," not any particular drop of water. Strange but true.]

For just as the resounding of the echo is conditioned by a sound and so on and nowhere in the process is there a transmigration of sound has taken place, just so is it with this consciousness.

Furthermore, it is said: "In this continuous process, no sameness and no otherness can be found." For if there were full identity (between the different stages, past and present), then also milk could never turn into curd. And if there were a complete otherness, then curd could never come from milk....

If in the continuity of existence any karma-result [vipaka, phala] takes place, then this karma-result neither belongs to any other being, nor does it come from any other (karma), because absolute sameness and otherness are excluded here" (The Path of Purification, Vis, XVII 164ff).

In The Questions of King Milinda or Milindapahna (Mil.) it is said: "Now, Venerable Nāgasena, the one who is reborn, is that person the same as the one who has died, or is that person another?"

"Neither the same nor another" (Pali na ca so na ca añño).

"Give me an example."

"What do you think, O King: Are you now, as a grown-up, the same as you had been as a young and tender babe?"

"No, Venerable sir. Another person was the young and tender babe, but quite a different person am I now as a grown-up man."...

"...In the first watch of the night, is one lamp burning, and another in the middle watch, and yet another in the last watch of the night?"

"No, Venerable sir. The light during the whole night depends on one and the same lamp.''

"Just so, O King, is the chain of phenomena linked together. One phenomenon arises, another vanishes, yet all are linked together, one after the other, without interruption. In this way, one reaches the final state of consciousness neither as the same person nor as another.'' More: patisandhi

• True Lives (video); Ven. Nyanatiloka, Buddhist Dictionary; Dhr. Seven, Pat Macpherson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Serial killer rapist kidnaps the wrong girl

(Unseen) 

I'm white. Why would I do that?

Bobby Joe Long [a] (Oct. 14, 1953–May 23, 2019) was a white rapist and American serial killer. During an eight-month period in 1984, Long abducted, sexually assaulted, and murdered at least ten females in Tampa Bay, Florida. At trial, Long was sentenced to death for one of the murders and given a life sentence for seven others. He was brought to justice by a girl he raped, 17-year-old Lisa McVey, who got back at him. He was sentenced to death in 1986 by the state of Florida for the murder of Michelle Denise Simms. He was executed by lethal injection on May 23, 2019. More: Bobby Joe Long

• WatchMojo.com: 10 People Who Destroyed Their Careers on Camera

Porn recovery: Mia Khalifa (BBC)

"I feel like I've lost all rights to my privacy": Mia Khalifa | The Conversation | BBC News India

(BBC News India) This interview first aired on BBC Hard Talk in Sept. 2019. Born to a conservative Arab family from Lebanon, Mia Khalifa (who is a Catholic Christian and has never been Muslim) attained worldwide fame and notoriety with her brief stint (12 shoots in total) in the porn industry.

In the interview with Stephen Sackur (who is honest enough to admit he himself has watched porn), she opens up about how she thought her participation would be a personal secret, the exploitative nature of the modern porn industry, and how it changed her life for the worse.

The 16-year-old supermodel living in Mumbai's slums (BBC)

Religious and political views

Esteem: I'm beautiful, but I didn't know it.

In 2015, Khalifa stated that she was no longer a practicing Catholic [20]. She has a tattoo of the opening line of the National Anthem of Lebanon in Arabic [1] and a tattoo of the Lebanese Forces Cross, which she said was to "show solidarity with [her] father's political views" following a 2012 bombing.

She told Newsweek that critics have claimed that her tattoos were disgracing Lebanon [18]. Khalifa is an active Twitter user. In 2021, she criticized U.S. military aid to [genocidal] Israel [39] and called Israel an "apartheid state," which sparked backlash online [40].

During the Oct. 7th retribution on Israel [for decades of worsening oppression], Khalifa tweeted, "If you can look at the situation in Palestine and not be on the side of Palestinians, then you are on the wrong side of apartheid and history will show that in time."

In another tweet, she wrote "Can someone please tell the freedom fighters in Palestine to flip their phones and film horizontal" [41][42].

She later said that her comments were not an endorsement of violence and that she intended to highlight the need for Palestinian freedom:

I'm a video podcaster in 2019.

"I just want to make it clear...I specifically said freedom fighters because that's what the Palestinian citizens are...fighting for freedom every day [41].

Following this, capitalist porn corporation Playboy ended its podcasting deal with Khalifa, calling her comments "disgusting and reprehensible" [41][42][43].

Khalifa later tweeted: "I'd say supporting Palestine has lost me business opportunities, but I'm more angry at myself for not checking whether or not I was entering into business with Zionists. My bad"[41]. More

ABOUT: This is the official BBC News India channel. To understand and follow the India story, we hope this will be a home. Here, find stories that move the heart and explainers, interviews, and documentaries on issues that people care about. Don’t expect a 24/7 stream of news; this is not that channel. But look forward to top-quality BBC journalism that will help make sense of what’s happening around the world. Comment on videos and posts because those comments will be read and they will be taken on board. If liking this, also find it on the BBC website 👉🏽https://bbc.in/3XjgjcP Instagram 👉🏽 https://bbc.in/3GNTSVW Facebook 👉🏽 https://bbc.in/3XgMc5M Twitter 👉🏽 https://bbc.in/3XlbAXZ. Subscribe to channel 👉🏽 https://bbc.in/3whmDp3 Thanks for following! #BBCNewsIndia #India

• Mia Khalifa with host Stephen Sackur BBC News India, Dec. 11, 2023; Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Idiocracy: Wisdom is Disappearing

Dr. Robert Lustig figured this out and wrote a book about it (The Hacking of the American Mind: The Science Behind the Corporate Takeover of Our Bodies and Brains), comparing dopamine to serotonin, quick payoff to the slow burn.

"Explores how industry has manipulated our most deep-seated survival instincts."

—David Perlmutter, MD, author, #1 New York Times bestseller, Grain Brain and Brain Maker

The New York Times–bestselling author of Fat Chance reveals the corporate scheme to sell pleasure, driving the international epidemic of addiction, depression, and chronic disease.

The Hacking of the American Mind

While researching the toxic and addictive properties of sugar for his New York Times bestseller Fat Chance, Dr. Robert Lustig made an alarming discovery—our pursuit of happiness is being subverted by a culture of addiction and depression from which we may never recover.

Dopamine is the “reward” neurotransmitter that tells our brains we want more; yet every substance or behavior that releases dopamine in the extreme leads to addiction.

Serotonin is the “contentment” neurotransmitter that tells our brains we don’t need any more; yet its deficiency leads to depression.

Ideally, both are in optimal supply. But dopamine evolved to overwhelm serotonin—because our ancestors were more likely to survive if they were constantly motivated—with the result that constant desire can chemically destroy our ability to feel happiness, while sending us down the slippery slope to addiction.

Extraterrestrial mystery above Cusco found? - What are these ancient handbags?

In the last 40 years, government legislation and subsidies have promoted ever-available temptation (sugar, drugs, social media, porn) combined with constant stress (work, home, money, Internet), with the end result of an unprecedented epidemic of addiction, anxiety, depression, and chronic disease.

And with the advent of neuromarketing, corporate America has successfully imprisoned us in an endless loop of desire and consumption from which there is no obvious escape. More

Smart gal trapped in a Scottish accent

WARNING: Adult themes, vulgarities, sex, porn, masturbation, UK, honest woman's point of view!

Having a Scottish Accent | Power & Chaos

(800 Pound Gorilla Comedy Exports) Dec. 31, 2024: Fern Brady lets us know what it is really like having a Scottish accent.

Expand comedy horizons and discover what the world has to offer with Comedy Exports: the best live comedy crafted, curated, packaged, and delivered right to a screen. No international trade agreements or customs charges required. Show friends how much of a seasoned comedy traveler you have become and subscribe. @comedyexports

Spelling Bee 100 (Monty Python, Ananda)

Mmm, is it S-U-P-E-R-C-A-L-A-F-R-A-G-E-L-I-S-T-I-C-E-X-P-I-A-L-I-D-O-C-I-O-U-S?

(Scripps National Spelling Bee) 2025: 100 YEARS OF THE BEE

Monty Python's Flying Circus competitive mass spectacle sport of Novel Writing (The Final Rip Off)

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A century of spelling keeps going strong

A field of 243 top young spellers will converge on National Harbor, Maryland, from [today] May 27 to May 29, 2025, to compete in a historic Scripps National Spelling Bee.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the iconic American competition, which was first held on June 17, 1925, with just nine participants.

• Bee Week starts today (May 27, 2025) | Scripps National Spelling Bee (spellingbee.com)
• L.A., Orange County students to begin competing in National Spelling Bee

“Reaching 100 years is more than a milestone — it’s a testament to the enduring power of words, learning and the human spirit,” said Corrie Loeffler, executive director of the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

Scripps National Spelling Bee declares first-ever group of co-champions

I always knew I'd do it! Yes! Thanks, Saraswati!

“For a century, this competition has brought people together through eras of profound change — from world wars to the digital age — and still, the Bee continues to inspire excellence, curiosity, and connection. It’s a living piece of American history, and we’re honored to celebrate its legacy.”

This year’s 243 national qualifiers advanced through local and regional bees that took place through the end of March. All rounds of this year’s national competition — preliminaries, quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals — will take place at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center, Maryland.

Monty Python's Flying Circus - "Working Class Playwright"

Highlights of 2025 Scripps National Spelling Bee field

Yes, well, it comes as no surprise really. *Yawn*

The spellers range in age from 8 to 14. Only 53 spellers return from the 2024 field, and 178 spellers – 73% – are competing in their first Scripps National Spelling Bee.

Only one 2024 finalist advanced to the 2025 national competition: Faizan Zaki, who finished second last year behind Bruhat Soma, following his record-breaking spell-off.

Tarini Nandakumar is competing in her fifth consecutive Scripps National Spelling Bee. She was a finalist and finished ninth in 2023.

Navtaj Singh, Micah Sterling and Avinav Prem Anand are competing in their fourth straight national competition. Harini Murali is in her fourth Bee overall, as is Zaki.

There are spellers from all 50 states and the [ruling imperial seat of power known as the] District of Columbia [Columbia being the original name of "America," after the titular goddess who was buried and erased from U.S. history, as if Amerigo Vespucci gave the Americas their name].

Texas has the largest representation with 22 national competitors. California is next with 20, followed by Ohio with 15, and Illinois with 13. Florida and New York have 12 each. There are 13 competitors from outside the 50 United States, representing the Bahamas, Canada, Germany, Ghana, Guam, Kuwait, Nigeria, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. More

Celebrating a 100-year tradition...

2025: 100 YEARS OF THE BEE

(Scripps National Spelling Bee) 2025 - For a century, the Scripps National Spelling Bee has been much more than a competition. It has become a symbol of perseverance, intellect, and community. From its humble beginnings to becoming a cornerstone of American culture, the Bee has empowered millions of students, fostered lifelong friendships, and united communities in the love of language and learning. Through the words we spell, we tell stories — stories of personal triumph, academic achievement, and the diverse fabric of the American experience. As we honor this incredible milestone, we celebrate not just 100 years of history but 100 years of making an impact on generations of learners and the communities they inspire. Join us in commemorating this momentous occasion, as we reflect on the past, celebrate the present, and look forward to an even brighter future.

What is spelling but memory? Memory, like most things, is due to karma: Ananda

Ananda recounting all the suttas, beginning each with, "Thus have I heard." (First Council)

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This is the Middle Way avoiding extremes

Among all the disciples of the Buddha, foremost in memorization was his personal assistant [and possibly one of his sons with a dancing girl named Mriga, according to some traditions, which would make him Ven. Rahula's half-brother] Venerable Ananda.

• [It makes sense that Ananda would also be the Buddha's son but that this would have been suppressed or discarded in most traditions. One shining piece of evidence is when Ven. Rahula (whom the Buddha had ordained at age 7) was 18, he was getting very frisky and overwhelmed by sensual craving, presumably due to hormones at that age and the luxurious life he had left behind in the palace in his former kingdom of Kapilavatthu. He was walking with the Buddha and Ananda, if memory serves, making comments about how at that moment there were in the world only three people with the past karma to become "world monarchs" (cakkavati or chakravartin rulers).

• 

  Ven. Rahula, the Buddha, and Ven. Ananda

  Prince Siddhartha had turned his back on that possibility, forecast by soothsayers when he was a child, much to his father King Suddhodana's delight. Ananda was already a monk for a long time. And there was him. If Rahula disrobed, returned to the palace, and let nature take its course, he could become king of this world. Such talk worried the Buddha, who instructed a monk that -- after 11 years in the robe learning the basics -- Ven. Rahula was now ready to intensively put the Teachings into practice. He did and thereby attained arahantship. If the other person there was Ananda, it would be among these three close relatives that the karma existed to attain to the status of a world-monarch.] Was Ananda the Buddha's son?

Ananda lived one kappa = 120 years

It is only because of Ananda that we have "Buddhism" as we do. When the Buddha passed into final nirvana, having established the Sangha (the Buddhist Monastic Community) and left in place the Noble Sangha (the community of enlightened disciples in any of the four stages of awakening), Ven. Maha Kassapa took it upon himself to begin a religion. He did this by calling together the First Buddhist Council of fully enlightened disciples (theras and, presumably, theris). The texts say 500 arahants (fully enlightened beings) attended, but this number simply means "a large number." It was almost 499, as it were, because Ananda was the most important person to be invited, but he did not qualify to attend. He was needed to recount the suttas (sutras, sermons, narrated teachings, the Buddha's "discourses").

Another monk was put in charge of the Vinaya (Monastic Disciplinary Code rules). But Ananda was only a stream enterer at the first stage of awakening. So he made a strenuous effort to put into practice all that he knew, had heard directly from the Buddha, and committed to memory. It was no use. He failed. This path cannot be accomplished simply by a "sense of urgency" (samvega), which is important to recognize the meaning of the Buddha's last words to be a lamp unto oneself and work out one's own salvation with diligence (to mindfully put into practice the theory of the Teaching in so consistent a manner that one makes an end of all suffering in no long time). Because he tried so hard, Ananda failed. He had slacked off for years, so he never attained arahantship, full realization.

Now the opposite problem was impeding him -- to much efforting, too much strain, too much craving and grasping. He needed santosha ("contentment") to ease his mind so it could blossom. The night before the Council was to meet, he practiced intensive meditation deep into the night. Finally, he recognized his failure with frustration and exhaustion, so he gave up and decided to go to sleep.

Laying off the pressure (surrendering, giving up, letting go of craving it and needing it), he began to lie down. He was going from the extreme of too much to the other extreme of too little, at one moment achieving balance between the two, the Middle Way that avoids extremes of austerity and luxury. He became the only disciple to achieve awakening outside of one of the "four bodily positions" (lying down, sitting, standing, or walking). He attained, because he let go, between sitting and lying down.

He sat right up and experienced the paths-and-fruits of self-realization (magga-phala). He was welcomed into the Council by the other fully enlightened beings and recited all the discourses he had heard over the preceding 25 years as the Buddha's chief assistant. This is why all sutras begin not with "once upon a time" but rather "thus have I heard" (Evam me sutam).

• Buddhist tradition maintains that the disciple Ānanda used the formula for the first time, as a form of personal testimony... [to say that he himself was attesting that this is what the Buddha had said]. Scholars may rightly doubt that this could be true for all sutras, certainly not applying to later apocryphal Mahayana inventions, which have become some of the most famous "sutras" [sutured together sermons with a single throughline or thread] of all, namely, The Heart Sutra, The Diamond Sutra, The Lotus Sutra... More

Nevertheless, it is undisputed that Ananda had a tremendous memory like a spelling bee champion. And one is forced to wondered what it is about India (ancient Maha Bharat, Jambudvipa, Asoka's Empire) that produces to many remarkable memory banks in little boys and girls of Indian origin.

• Is it Goddess Saraswati's doing?
• Is it the clean vegetarian (ahimsa) diet?
• Is it past study of the Vedas (in previous lives) as Brahmins memorizing countless slokas?
• Is it genetically handed down?
• Is it training and the way the Indian system chose to educate its children?
• Is it rich minerals in the soil coming down from the Himalayas nourishing the babies?
• Is it Hinduism (or Islam or Jainism or Sikhism)?
• Is it yogic magic?
• Is it British colonial rule, forcing everyone into a Western model of learning and punishment and stealing Indian and Islamic innovations (in mathematics and sciences, like the invention of "zero" and the Ayurveda or "health sciences") and calling them British?

No, it's not likely this last one, but possibly any of the previous ones.

The Buddha praises Ananda

“The foremost of my monastic disciples who are very learned is Ānanda… with a good memory is Ānanda. ...with an extensive range is Ānanda. ...[foremost] in retention [memory] is Ānanda. ...[foremost] as a personal attendant is Ānanda.” Source: AN 1.219–234: Catuttha Vagga—Ven. Sujato (trans)

• Scripps National Spelling Bee; Monty Python; Ven. Sujata (suttacentral.net); memory and the story of Ananda explained by Dhr. Seven; Ashley Wells, CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly