Western Tibetan solo monk quits, disrobes

Sera Monastery, Lhasa, Tibet, China 西藏 拉萨 色拉寺

(The Theory of Samsara) CANADA - I'm done. I can't do this anymore! Why I'm giving up my Western Vajrayana Buddhist monastic robes as a lama.

The Bhavacakra is a Tibetan Buddhist depiction of Saṃsāra, the "Wheel of Life and Death" (the "continued wandering on," cycling through endless rebirths in search of unattainable satisfaction and fulfillment through pleasure).

All things are hurtling towards destruction. If they just ended, that might be all right. Sadly, they will renew, and the suffering (dukkha, "disappointment") will continue. Beings in their becoming (bhava) will continue to wandering, not having made an end of suffering in this life, never having glimpsed nirvana (won the stream).

The same applies to Buddhist monastics (monks and nuns) who fail, fall short of the goal, or quit. Westerners will one day learn the wisdom of the East.

Sangha means "spiritual community"

Take care of one another, monks.

One key is that the monastic experience is a collective one, not a solo endeavor. It would be nice to move into a cave and just meditate. But that is not how the Buddha set up this path-of-practice towards enlightenment (bodhi) and liberation (nirvana) in this very life.

So, sadly, another one bites the dust. This fine Western monk realized too late that going it alone was no way to go. Support is crucial. How crucial is it? One day, the Buddha's attendant, the much-beloved Ven. Ananda realized something, and he went to the Buddha to confirm it.

Venerable sir, it seems to me that half the high life [the life of well-conducted monastic in the Buddha's Dharma] is noble friendship, good companions on this path.

"Do not say so, Ananda, do not say so!" the Buddha scolded Ananda.

Ananda was startled. Surely noble friends (kalyana-mitta) are wonderful companions, helpers, inspirers, guides, supporters, and encouragers along this sometimes-arduous path to awakening.

The Buddha continued, "they are not half the path; they are the whole path!" If only someone had told this fine gentleman before he set off alone on so noble a task as carrying on the tradition.

Boy discovers he's a reborn Tibetan monk

(Only Human) The boy who discovers he's a [tulku] reincarnated [Tibetan Buddhist lama] monk

(Lei's Looking Glass) Child prince remembers past life: Karmapa controversy

They should make a movie on this topic

• Little Buddha (1993)
• Unmistaken Child (2008)
• Tulku (film) (2009)

Inside Tibet: The Land of Holy Monks

(Arcadia TV World) Inside Tibet: The Land of Holy Monks | The Roof of the World

• Katok Monastery Festival 🏔️ Timeless Traditions of Tibet

Say om: mystical Tibetan sound bath

(Tibetan Vibrations) Parasympathetic Nervous System Reset (cleanse)

Tibetan healing sounds: soothing

Dear Ama (Tibetan folk music)

(Sound Passport - A Journey Through World Music) Dear Ama | Folk music sings of life on plateau

Tibetan Healing Sounds | Release Stress, Anxiety, Emotional Blockages

Monk in Tashilhunpo pours butter tea

(Sacred Mind and Tranquil Mind) 🌿 Tibetan Healing Sounds is a peaceful soundscape created to help slow down, release everyday stress, and gently let go of emotional tension.

The soothing resonance of Tibetan-inspired sounds creates a calming space where the heart-mind can become quieter, the body can relax, and the whole integrated person can reconnect with a deeper sense of inner peace.

These Tibetan Healing Sounds are suitable for meditation, mindfulness, deep relaxation, yoga, quiet reflection, or winding down before a restful sleep.

Let the peaceful tones create a comforting space to slow down and reconnect with ourselves.

Take a few peaceful moments each day with these Tibetan Healing Sounds and allow the release of stress, calm anxious thoughts, let go, and reconnect with a deeper sense of inner peace.

🌿 Find the videos on the Sacred Mind channel helpful? Remember to press the like button 👍 and subscribe to the channel to support. 🌿 Music from Helios Records: linktr.ee/heliosrecords 🌿

• 

  Tibetan salty yak (water buffalo) butter tea

  FILM: Butter Tea, a new Tibetan short (Losar 2026) From writer and Director Tenzin Tasur and starring Tenzin Phurpatsang and Dhamchoe. In a small Tibetan cafe in Queens, New York City, a cup of [salty yak] butter tea becomes a bridge between generations. Filmed at Ngatso Cafe, Queens, NY. Festival screenings and awards • Official Selection: New York Short Film Festival 2025 (U.S. premiere) • Short Film Competition Audience Award Winner: Tibet Film Festival Zurich 2025 (European premiere). Full film streaming FREE on YouTube starting Feb. 17, 2026, just in time to watch for Losar, the Tibetan New Year. Follow @exiledprophet on Instagram. Visit: tenzintasur.com

The real Tibet [China] today

(Stef Hoffer) Journey Through Tibet (travel documentary)

(1) Important Meeting: 3 Secrets to Reinvent Yourself With Tim Han from Success Insider

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Message from the creator of Sacred Mind

View from the "Rooftop of the World"

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🎶 Keywords: Tibetan sounds, energy healing, deep relaxation, Tibetan singing bowls, healing music, sound meditation, sacred vibrations, spiritual harmony, sleep music, inner peace, anti-stress, anxiety relief, insomnia, yoga, reiki, mindfulness, sound therapy, sonotherapy, heal soul, spirit, Zen, vibrational healing, Tibet, positive energy, energetic cleansing, aura, connection, spiritual awakening, serenity, tranquility, reduce stress, relaxation music, meditation, spiritual healing, relax, heal, meditate. #SacredMind #meditation #tibetanzensounds #healingmusic How this was made: Made with AI sounds or visuals were altered or fully generated. Learn more.

• Sacred Mind and Tranquil Mind, Sept. 23, 2026; Sound Passport - A Journey Through World Music; CC Liu, Dhr. Seven, Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation) (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Blonds, stores, traffic: Life in Russia

What NORMAL, usual Russian neighborhood looks like

Buddhism in Russia (Snelling)

(Arisha in Russia) Buddhism is the third-largest religion in Russia, behind Christianity and Islam. As of 2025, it was practiced by approximately 1.4 million Buddhists, representing about 1.0% of the country’s total population [1].

• In America we misuse the term "White Russian" as if that were the exception, when it is the largest of Russia's 93 ethnicities. Russia is massive and includes many indigenous peoples from Northern Europe to the Arctic Circle.

We have so many Russian ethnicities! (Eli)

Buddhism is considered one of Russia's traditional religions -- with the only indigenously Buddhist region in the world in Kalmykia -- and is legally a part of Russian historical heritage [2]. Russian dictator Vlad Lenin, a disaffected Christian who became a nominal/official communist-atheist, had at least one indigenously Buddhist relative.

I'm very Asian and 100% Russian

Historically, Buddhism was incorporated into Siberia in the early 17th century [3]. Besides the historical monastic traditions of the Buryats, the Kalmyks (Kalmykia being the only majority Buddhist republic in Europe), the Tuvans, and a part of the Evenki people (in Buryatia) [4], Buddhism is now spreading all over Russia, with many young ethnic Russian converts [5, 6].

Ancient Tartaria/Tartary was probably in Russia.

The main form of Buddhism in Russia is Vajrayana, particularly the Gelukpa school of Tibetan Buddhism, to which the Dalai Lama belongs, informally a tradition known as the "Yellow Hats" [6, 7] with other minority Tibetan and non-Tibetan Buddhist schools, such as the Mongolian.

Although Tibetan Buddhism is most often associated with Tibet, it spread into Mongolia. Via Mongolia, Buddhism spread into Siberia before spreading to the rest of Russia.

In the early 20th century, the famous Datsan Gunzechoinei in Saint Petersburg (formerly Leningrad) was the northernmost Buddhist temple in Russia. More

The three or four kinds of Buddhism

(The East Made Simple) Every major school (sect, tradition, yana or "vehicle") of Buddhism explained: What each one actually believes, teaches, and attempts to practice. The division is usually Theravada (10%) keeping as close as possible to the teachings of the historical Buddha (Siddhartha Gautama, Shakyamuni) versus all the others aligning with later interpretations, changes, watering down the message or changing it altogether to build a grand boat that calls itself the "Great Vehicle" or Mahayana (90%). But Vajrayana, a Himalayan (Bhutanese, Nepalese, Tibetan, Mongolian, Russian) school of Esoteric Buddhism, combining many occult Hindu practices (tantra, mantra, yoga, etc.) may also be distinguished or Japanese Zen (a combination of Taoism, Confucianism, Shinto, and Buddhism, but Japan prefers faith-based universalism, Nichiren Shōshū, like most of the rest of the world to pray and receive help from another-power to do all the heavy lifting to deliverance) even though all three are considered Mahayana sects.

• Tariki vs. jiriki: other-power or self-power?

Tantric Sacred Sex, Yoga, Vajrayana?

Tantric sex workshops in the West? (Tantra Archives - Live Love Raw)

(Buddha's Wisdom) What is TANTRA in Buddhism (Vajrayana)? From myth to method

Jambhala in yab yum position (Tantric sex)

Tantric sex is any of a range of practices in Hindu and later Buddhist Tantra that claim to be able to utilize sexual activity in a sacred ritual or yogic context.

Tantric sex is associated with antinomian elements, such as the consumption of alcohol and the offerings of defiled substances like flesh to deities.

Moreover, sexual fluids may be viewed as "power substances" and used for ritual purposes, either externally or internally [1, 2].

The actual terms used in the classical texts to refer to this practice include "Karma-mudrā" (Tibetan ལས་ཀྱི་ཕྱག་རྒྱ las kyi phyag rgya, "action seal") in Buddhist tantras and "Maithuna" (Devanagari मैथुन, "coupling") in Hindu sources.

In Hindu Tantra, Maithuna is the most important of the five makara (five "tantric substances") and constitutes the main part of the Grand Ritual of Tantra variously known as Panchamakara, Panchatattva, and Tattva Chakra.

In Tibetan Esoteric (Vajrayana) Buddhism, Karmamudrā is often an important part of the completion stage of tantric practice.

While there may be some connection between these practices and the Kāma-Shāstra literature (which include the Kāma Sūtra), the two practice traditions are separate methods with separate goals.

As the British Indologist Geoffrey Samuel notes, while the kāma sāstra literature is about the pursuit of sexual pleasure (kāmā), sexual yoga practices are often aimed towards the quest for final spiritual liberation (moksha) [3]. More Tantric sex

• In 1992, Jane Wrightson passed with an Australian rating of R18 (like the American NC-17), the Australian tantric sex film Sacred Sex, which was appealed unsuccessfully to the Film and Video Board of Review by the Society for the Promotion of Community Standards, who viewed her classification as too liberal.

Tibetan monks chant over TROLL bridge

(Mantraon) Superstitious Buddhist monks crossing a dangerous bridge: deep Tibetan chant of Om mani padme hum for calm and nervous system reset with help of internet slop

Trolls and a princess (John Bauer)

A bridge troll is a being in Nordic folklore, including Norse mythology. In Old Norse sources, beings described as "trolls" dwell in isolated areas of mountains, rocks, and caves, live together in small family units, and are rarely helpful to human beings.

In later Scandinavian folklore, trolls became beings in their own right, where they live far from human habitation, are not Christianized and brought to heel (like Zionist Hillary Clinton might like), and are considered dangerous to human beings.

A diagram of trolling, the harmful behavior of Troll Trump

Humans better not mess with us or we're going to attack them online so they can be sad.

Anatomy of an internet troll: examples of trolling on social media (ar.inspiredpencil.com)

• 

  We don't need the internet, but it helps.

  TROLLS IN BUDDHISM: A kumbhāṇḍa (Sanskrit) or kumbhaṇḍa (Pāli) is one of a group of dwarfish, trollish, misshapen spirits among the lesser unseen beings in Buddhist cosmology and mythology [1, 2]. Kumbhāṇḍa was a dialectal form for "gourd." Due to their large scrotums or stomachs, they got their name from the resemblance. Kumbhāṇḍa may be interpreted as "pot-egg" since kumbha ("pot," like the world's largest festival, the Kumbha Mela about a pot/jar that spilled the "nectar of the gods," the amrita or ambrosia of immortality, on a few spots in India) and "egg" (anda). This was a common euphemism for "testicle." Kumbhāṇḍas had testicles "as large as pots" [1]. The terms kumbhāṇḍa (dwarf or troll) and yakṣa (ogre, Sasquatch, female yaksha = yakshi or Yeti) are sometimes used for the same creature. Yakṣa (Pali yakkha) in this case is the more general term and includes a variety of lower woodland or for the most part unseen beings inhabiting wilderness areas. More

Is Trump a troll or a childish trickster who acts like a child to bother others? Get off my bus!

• 

  Disrupting, inflammatory (marketingino.com)

  WHAT KIND OF KARMA? In slang, an internet troll is a person who posts deliberately offensive or provocative messages online [1] (such as on social media, forums, chat rooms, or online video games) or performs similar behaviors offline. The methods and motivations of these subhuman trolls can range from benign to sadistic. These messages can be inflammatory, insincere, digressive [2], extraneous, or off-topic, and may have the intent of provoking others into displaying emotional responses [3], or manipulating others' perceptions, thus acting as a bully or a provocateur. The behavior is typically for the troll's amusement, or to achieve a specific result such as disrupting a rival's online activities or purposefully causing confusion or harm to other people [4]. Trolling behaviors involve tactical aggression to incite emotional responses, which can adversely affect the target's well-being [5]. In this context, the noun and the verb forms of "troll" are frequently associated with internet discourse. Since at least the 2010s, media attention has equated trolling with online harassment. The Courier-Mail and The Today Show have used "troll" to mean "a person who defaces Internet tribute sites with the aim of causing grief to families" [6, 7]. In addition, depictions of trolling have been included in popular fictional works, such as the HBO television program The Newsroom, in which a main character encounters harassing persons online and tries to infiltrate their circles by posting negative sexual comments [8]. More
• Vajrayana Buddhism in Japan, Shingon, and self-mummification: They ate tree bark for 3,000 days then sealed themselves alive

Male and female kumbhandas (trolls)

Depending on the source, their appearance varies greatly; trolls may be ugly and slow-witted or look and behave exactly like human beings, with no particularly grotesque characteristic about them.

In Scandinavian folklore, trolls are sometimes associated with particular landmarks like bridges (sometimes said to have been formed by a troll having been exposed to sunlight).

Trolls are depicted in a variety of media in modern popular culture.

Etymology (word origin)

Jotunn, dwarf, troll, in Scandinavian lore

The Old Norse nouns troll and trǫll are variously defined as "fiend, demon, werewolf, jötunn," like the Middle High German troll, trolle, "fiend."

According to philologist Vladimir Orel, the word is likely borrowed from Old Norse, possibly developed from Proto-Germanic neuter noun *trullan, meaning "to tread, step on" [tromp, stomp, stamp]. The origin of the Proto-Germanic word is unknown [1]. Additionally, the Old Norse verb trylla means "to enchant..." More

Who is the Buddhist Goddess Cundi?

(Buddha's Wisdom) Who is CUNDI? Even Vajrayana Buddhists can't answer

Goddess Cundi in Buddhism

Cundī (Sanskrit, Chinese 準提, Pinyin Zhǔntí, Japanese Juntei, Tibetan ལྷ་མོ་སྐུལ་བྱེད་མ།, Wylie lha mo skul byed ma, THL lha-mo kül-jé-ma) or Cundā (Chinese 羅馬化) is a female Indian Buddhist deity who remains popular in East Asian Buddhism.

In Chinese Mahayana Buddhism, she is associated with the practice of the well-known Cundī dharani, which is performed along with a specific mudra (hand gesture), as well as the use of a circular mirror [1, 2].

She is considered to be able to purify negative karma, provide protection, support spiritual practice that allows one to quickly attain Buddhahood [3].

This deity is also called by various other names and epithets, including:

• 准提菩萨像轴.明代.纸本设色描金.台北故宫博物院藏,
• Cundavajrī,
• Saptakoṭi Buddha-bhagavatī ("The Blessed Buddha of the Seventy Million," 七俱胝佛母),
• "Zhunti Buddha Mother" (Chinese 準提佛母, Zhǔntí Fómǔ),
• Saptakoṭibuddhamatṛ ("Mother of Seventy Million Buddhas," with Sanskrit reconstruction of 佛母 being speculative) [1, 2].

Cundi in the China monumentis 1667

Some depictions of Cundī share many iconographic and symbolic elements with another female Buddhist deity, Prajñāpāramitā Devi [Buddhism's Sophia, the anthropomorphic representation of the "Perfection of Wisdom" as a female deva].

As such, some images of these goddesses are difficult to identify [4, 5]. In Tibetan Buddhism she is known by the name Lhamo Cunda, Chunde, or Cundi ("Lhamo" in Tibetan is devi in Sanskrit, a term of veneration meaning "goddess") [6, 7]. More

Sex: pleasure slavery vs. polyandry in Tibet

Sexual slavery, grooming, and human trafficking in democratic Athens, Greece?

(Bernard) What it's like to be in an arranged marriage to multiple brothers as their "shared wife"?

• polyamory (group sexual relationship)
• polygamy (marrying to more than one)
• polygyny (male with multiple wives)

Pres. Bush: CIA has your back on China, Dolly

Polyandry is a polygamous marital arrangement in which a female has several husbands. In Vajrayana Buddhist Tibet, those husbands are often brothers, which results in "fraternal polyandry."

Concern over which children are fathered by which brother falls on the wife alone. She may or may not say who the father is because she does not want to create conflict in the family or is unsure who the biological father is [1].

Historically the social system compelled marriage within one social class.

We liberated the serfs of oligarcal, imperial Tibet

When the People's Republic of China annexed (invaded, occupied, and destroyed) Tibet, political systems in many regions of the former Empire of Tibet remained unchanged until, between 1959 and 1960, political reforms changed the land ownership and taxation systems [2].

Since 1981, the government of the Tibet Autonomous Region no longer permits new polyandric marriages under family law. It is currently illegal.

Rationale behind polyandry in Tibet

As elucidated further below, the primary reason for polyandrous marriage among Tibetans appears to be economic: to prevent land, herds, and other assets from being divided and/or to increase the amount of labor available to support one single family rather than two or three. More

Sex slaves? A Caravan by Otto Pilny | OilPaintings.com

Sex and pleasure slavery in ancient Greece

(Bernard) Why it sucks to be a Pleasure Slave (in Athens, Ancient Greece)

• If I don't do what my patriarch pimp (Ancient Greek, Πορνοβοσκός, pornoboscos) says, I might have to become an unprotected working street girl (chamaitypai) — and that's going to suck!

Did conditions improve in ancient Rome?

(Para Bellum) What couldn't slave owners do to their slaves in ancient Rome?

Ancient Greek, aphrodisiac, Athens, brothel, colorism, drinking alcohol, entertainers, flesh, forced labor, Geisha, Hellenistic Greece, hostess, labor exploitation, Odyssey, prostitution, rape, selling, sex abuse, sex trafficking, sodomy, child abuse

The 'goal' of Buddhism: Enlightenment

(Buddhism Podcast) What is enlightenment (bodhi)? The ultimate goal of life in Buddhism

• Enlightenment in Buddhism

What could go wrong? Broken "enlightenment"

(Asangoham) The Four Stages of a Broken "Awakening"

Apathy or indifference?

In neurology, abulia (aboulia from Ancient Greek βουλή, meaning not-"will") [1] is a lack of will, volition, initiative, willful-motive. It is a disorder of diminished motivation.

Abulia falls in the middle of the spectrum of diminished motivation, with apathy being milder and akinetic mutism being the most severe [2].

The condition was originally considered to be a disorder of the will [3, 4], as aboulic individuals are unable to act or make decisions independently.

Can everyone become a buddha?

(Natasha Yehenara) If all have "Buddha-nature," can everyone become one?

Their condition may range in severity from subtle to overwhelming. In the case of akinetic mutism, many patients describe that as soon as they "will" or attempt a movement, a "counter-will" or "resistance" [a possessive demonic spirit?] rises up to meet them [5]. More

Compassion with fangs? Buddhist protector

Mom, is this what you call compassion? - Shut the front door, you worthless piece of me!

(Buddha's Wisdom) MAHA KALA: The Buddhist protector who looks like a demon

Mahākāla (Sanskrit महाकाल) is a deity common to Buddhism and Hinduism [1].

In Buddhism, Mahākāla is regarded as a Dharmapāla ("Protector of the Dharma") and a wrathful manifestation of a cosmic or primordial buddha or bodhisattva.

In Hinduism, Mahākāla is a fierce manifestation of the Hindu God Shiva and the consort of the Goddess Mahākālī [1].

Sri Yantra, sacred chakra (Shaktism)

He most prominently appears in the Kalikula sect of Shaktism [2, 3, 4]. Mahākāla appears as a protector deity in the various traditions of Vajrayana Buddhism, like Chinese Esoteric Buddhism, Japanese Shingon, and Tibetan Vajrayana [1] and Bon.

He is known as Dàhēitiān and Daaih'hāktīn (大黑天) in Mandarin and Cantonese, Daeheukcheon (대흑천) in Korean, Đại Hắc Thiên in Vietnamese, and Daikokuten (大黒天) in Japanese. More

• 6-armed Mahakala Buddha Thangka | Hand-Painted Tibetan Art

Six-armed Mahakala to develop Six [of Ten] Perfections