The Meaning of Life

Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly; Martin Walkyier (Dreamweaver); TheClanDestined

The “Stairway to Nothingness” Dachstein Glacier, Ramsau, Austria is a new bridge and glass platform for visitors to walk ledge 1,300 feet above snow-covered cliffs (Natdesign).

 

Denizens of sylvan places
Hidden from the eyes of Man,
Courtesans with sylph-like graces
Dancing to the pipes of Pan

That echo through the ether,
Notes that soar the wings of Halcyon,
Songs to give our lives the meaning
We lack now that they have gone.
 
Watch the pattern ever-changing
In the tapestry of Fate,
Weft and weave now interlacing
Silken strands that fabricate

A Cloak to fit both King and Beggar,
Those who rule and those that toil,
Equal in the fact that all must pay

Homage to this Mortal Coil!
 
Icy fingers grasping madly
Get a grip upon my throat
Slowly squeeze the life out of me
On my dying words I choke!

 

A frantic prayer in desperation
Cannot hope to make me whole
A moment's lapse of concentration
And the spirits free my soul.
 

Drugs and potions surge within me

Slowly paralyze and kill me
Terrified, I stumble blindly
Into the Unknown.

  

“Bridge to Nothingness,” Dachstein Glacier, Austria (Natdesign)

  
Outside looking in, observing
Feelings that I find unnerving
Dying with my eyes wide open,
Helpless and alone.
 
The Endless Void that lies beyond
With gaping jaws it beckons me
I cast my worldly flesh aside

And plunge into eternity.

Once lighthearted I departed,
On my Quest hope courted me
Now a new love is my true love
And her name is Misery.

 
Eyes as dark as midnight raven's
Gems that filled my mind with awe,
Enthrall my heart, distract me from

Her milk-white hands stained red with gore.

Buddhist "Wheel of Life and Death," Samsara, Bhavacakra (thangka-mandala.com)

 

The fetters that bound me are broken
By words that were best left unspoken
For now I am shackled to sadness
By chains that are tempered with madness.
 
I plummet like a Shooting-star
That shines so bright yet falls so far
Shafts of Moonlight guide me
To the world that waits below.

I seem in need of nothing else
But rope enough to hang myself

Laughing,

Through the gates of Hell I go.
 
Contained within a living shroud,
My life-force fades and dies
This weary heart grows as heavy
As the coins upon my eyes.

The latch has now been lifted
On an never-opened door,
And peering through I see things
As I never have before.

The Hammer and the Anvil meet

In synchronicity they chime
A sound so simple and complete,
It needs no melody or rhyme.

Reforging all that I once was,

They make me into something new
No longer trapped within this world
But transient and passing through

The Valley of the Shadow

Far beyond The Summerland
Like a wild-boar is my valor
Now my life is in these hands
 

That keep the Cauldron seething
Stoke the fires of Destiny
Gently take me and re-shape me
All-wise Smith of sorcery

From the Cup of Happiness,
The Wine of hope I've sipped
Betrayed I taste the bitterness
Of pain upon my lips.

Though I try to drown my sorrows,
They will surely drown me first!
For swallowing my pride
Will not quench this thirst.
 
In the Darkness light has faded
Hope becomes Despair,
Loneliness for a companion
With me everywhere.

 
I wander in confusion,
While the tears that I have cried
Gleam like broken trinkets
You have worn then cast aside.
 
Now hand in hand with Ignorance,
The power-mad run blindly
But Retribution hunts you down
And rest assured he'll find thee.

No curtain can conceal you
For the ghosts of all you slander
Await you at your journey's end
And to them you must answer.

The Poisons born upon your tongue
Will never serve to slight me
For I have dealt with many fools
And suffer their kind lightly.

Just as we sow so shall we reap [reap],

And I my friend have plenty,
So sit ye down and eat your words
Now that your plate is empty.
 
Why do the Mighty view the World
Through sycophantic eyes

Then claim to us they know what's best
From pedestals of pride?

Don't take the views of others
And dismiss them out of hand

For when the pillars crumble,

Tell me who will take command?

  

PHOTO GALLERY: STAIRWAY TO NOTHINGNESS

 

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When Mother Earth saved Siddhartha

TEAM BHUMI DEVA, Wisdom Quarterly, COUNTDOWN CLOCK: -3

(Magical-mushroomz/tumblr.com)

"It will be a long time before the brain knows in detail what the body already perfectly understands."

- (Susan Lowenberg, L.A. Theatre Works, 4-22-12)

(FYN) Tree devi watches Of Monsters and Men (OMAM), Lollapalooza 2012 (Minute 29:19).
 

Siddhartha calling (vam.ac.uk)

Bhumi is the Earth personified. She is Mother Nature, Gaia, Sthavara (immovable like the ground, solidity, support).

BODH GAYA, India - When Siddhartha was striving to discover the path to enlightenment and final liberation, a killer came to him and told him to move: "The place you're sitting in meditation belongs to me," that killer said. "Who or what gives you the right to sit there?" Siddhartha reached out his right hand and called on the Earth to witness (Bhūmiśparṣa mudrā) for his right to pursue enlightenment in a forest grove under the tree of wisdom. The Earth shook. And the ogres, confused, ran away.

"You're gone, gone, gone away. I watched you disappear. All that's left is a ghost of you. Now we're torn, torn, torn apart. There's nothing we can do. Just let me go; we'll meet again soon. Now wait, wait, wait for me. Please hang around. I'll see you when I fall asleep. Hey! Don't listen to a word I say. Hey! The screams all sound the same. Hey! Though the truth may vary, this ship will carry our bodies safe to shore..." More 
 
Invitation to the Devas
Wisdom Quarterly translation (Namakara-siddhi Gatha)

Devi sylph (megamitensei.wikia.com)

From around the galaxies may the devas come.
May they listen to the true teaching of the supreme sage,
Which leads to higher-births and nirvana.

Those on planes of sensuality or fine-form,
On mountain peaks and precipices, in palaces floating in space,
On islands, in countries, and towns,
In groves of trees and thickets, around homes and fields.

Earthbound "angels" (Boticelli's Venus)

And the earth (bhumi)-devas, sylphs, messenger minstrels, and powerful creatures
In water, on the ground, in the wilderness, and nearby:
May they come and listen approvingly
As I recite the word of the excellent sage.

This is the time to listen to the Dharma, venerable ones.
This is the time to listen to the Dharma, venerable ones. 
This is the time to listen to the Dharma, venerable ones.

Asian conception of the beautiful angelic beings from space (tribudragonthai)

 

Do not look long, do not look short.

In the seen, let there be only the seen

In the heard, only the heard

In the otherwise sensed, only the otherwise sensed.

When for you there is just this,

there will be neither here, nor there,

nor going from one to the other.

-The Buddha said to Bahiya of the Bark Cloth (Fast Enlightenment)

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The (mixed) Human Plane

The Human Plane is characterized by a lot of pleasure and very obvious suffering. This balance makes it ideal for gaining enlightenment and liberation.

Liberation (enlightenment) from the Wheel of Rebirth is said in general to be possible only from the Human Plane. It is the lowest world considered a "fortunate" destination.

Earth-bound fairies (bhummattha devas) co-exist in the Human Plane.

The Human Plane is marked by questioning and curiosity. It is also a Realm of Passion (kama-loka, which includes lower celestial worlds and unfortunate subterranean destinations); human beings (Sanskrit, manushyas; Pali, manussa) want to strive, consume, acquire, enjoy, explore.

Here the Dharma is openly available, yet only a few seek it. The rest become caught up in striving, consuming, and acquiring and thereby miss the remarkable opportunity they have by their fortunate rebirth there.

• Large Chart: 31 Planes of Existence (PDF)

This plane features four "islands" (continents). Being live there, sometimes unaware of what beings are doing on the other islands. They are different in appearance and different in mind.

.

As hard as it is for some people to believe, and as impossible as it is for others not to believe, the Human Plane is shared with other beings, both seen (animals) and unseen. These unseen beings are numerous and include ogres (yakkhas), sylphs, mermaids, wood nymphs, fairies (bhummattha-devas in general), elves (kumbhandas), and dryads (rakshasas).

• Listen to discussion of unseen beings in the human world and ways to see them by Graham Hancock (WQ).

It is visited by other beings as well, for example, "angels" (catu maha rajika devas) and contacted by brahmas (divinities), harmed by maras ("killers") and meddled with by titans (asuras) and nagas (dragons) and gandhabbas (sprites) as well as hungry ghosts (petas) and a variety of spirits whose diversity accords with their karma.

Human Plane depicted in the Wheel of Life (Maren Yumi/Flickr, Creative Commons)

DEVAS: radiant beings

Models wearing body painted art by John Vargas from the United States, right, and Jinny Houle from Canada during the 2008 World Body Painting Festival in Daegu, South Korea, Friday, Aug. 29, 2008 (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon).

Devas are "deities, "divinities," or "godlings" -- luminous body entities born as a result of skillful karma. Most of the 31 Planes of Existence are inhabited by different grades of devas. On the human plane, bhumi-devas are "earth angels," "faeries," "sylphs," and "dryads."

They live in, above, or dependent on trees. Judging by artists renditions over many centuries, they are similar to young girls with delicate facial features and waifish (or Rubenesque, pre-Raphaelite) bodies.

They inhabit sylvan locations, ocean depths, mountain ranges, and are often found (or at least worshiped) at the confluence of rivers, waterfalls, places of immense natural beauty, and in "enchanted forests," which is only to say "perceived to be inhabited by supernatural beings."

There are, of course, celestial devas in both the Fine Material World as well as the Immaterial Planes. Like brahmas ("gods"), devas are glorious, radiant, resplendent and marked by signs of beauty. They, however, differ one from the other in terms of radiance, longevity, beauty, influence, powers, wisdom, and fortune. This is because all devas are still bound by karma.

In lower heavenly worlds (deva-lokas), when a being is reborn, it is referred to as a devaputra, literally a "son of god." Of course, it's not necessarily a "son," just a being born among devas, much as one born in this world might be called a "son of man." God (Maha Brahma, or "Great Brahma") has a retinue, and beings reborn into that retinue (i.e., "angels") would be devaputras rather than simple inhabitants of that heavenly realm (devas).

There they inhabit celestial mansions, vimanas (UFO-style platforms that are both home and vehicle) or palaces based on their karma. Female devas (devis) are also known as "celestial nymphs."

Lesser celestial devas have a chief or king known as Sakka. However, it is important to note that none of the named characters in this cosmology are individuals so much as posts or positions occupied (through karma) by individuals. Nor are they unique, but rather features of countless world-systems spreading out in all directions.

It is not difficult to make obvious connections to other world-religions. This view of devas -- living in sport, enjoying powers and beauty but plagued by petty jealousies and exploits -- is in line with Indian, Greek, Roman, Celtic, and Pagan pantheons. (Even monotheistic traditions understand that while there may be one ultimate godhead, God, or source, it has countless expressions).

Finally, since devas are superior to humans in many ways, the Buddha is frequently eferred to as a "teacher of gods and men [i.e., devas and humans]." More devas made spiritual attainments than humans even though only human realms give rise to buddhas.

In light of what is known of devas, and inasmuch as artists have acquainted us with bhumi-devas and lower celestial-devas, the following incarnations may suggest the extraordinary results of karma. (Noting that our bodies are results of our past karma).