Pope Leo exposes Greater Israel's genocide

Pope Leo takes peace message to Lebanon, target of Israel's 'ceasefire' violations | Reuters

(The Young Turks) PM Bibi Netanyahu EXPOSED violating ceasefire, continuing Nakba genocide

(IHIP News) I've Had It: American Zionist Hurwitz says Jews need more PR

The U.S. mainstream media lies by omission to support Israeli narrative

Jew visits Israel, returns anti-Israel

Tell Congress: Block billions in illegal US weapons to the Israeli military

Not Another Bomb (IfNotNowMovement.org)

Over the past year and a half, the Israeli military has systematically targeted Palestinians in Gaza [many of them civilians, women, and children], killing tens of thousands and displacing millions. Now it’s renewing these assaults, massacring hundreds of Palestinians, putting Israeli hostages in grave danger, and flagrantly undermining the ceasefire. Yet, our government continues to funnel weapons to Israel in violation of U.S. and international law — enabling this genocidal assault, ethnic cleansing, and war crime. Email senators now to demand they vote YES on stopping this deadly flow of weapons.

• Let's make our voice impossible to ignore!
• CODEPINK - Women for Peace
• American | Veterans for Peace
• ‎شرش | Shoresh | שר”ש‎ (@shoresh_us) • IG
• Home - Neturei Karta International
• IDF regrets: breakingthesilence.org.il
• Zionism is racism; criticism not antisemitism

• Jimmy Dore website, home of The Jimmy Dore Show

Israel: Military chief says plans to attack Iran ‘on the table’ if it’s decided

(CNN) Israel preparing to strike Iran's nuclear facilities, intelligence says

(DDN) Jewish Holocaust survivor absolutely DEMOLISHES Israel

“Gaza Genocide is not happening in my name” - Stephen Kapos

‎شرش | Shoresh | שר”ש‎ (@shoresh_us) • Instagram

• JimmyDore.com; DemocracyNow.org, May 22, 2025; MEE (Middle East Eye, ); CNN, May 21, 2025; Double Down News, 2024; Shauna Schwartz, Pfc. Sandoval, Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Thai Buddhist Temple Tour, LA (5/17)

Azusa Thai Buddhist Temple Tour

What used to be rural became suburban: DIMC

Explore the Los Angeles County City of Azusa's history through the historic MacNeil House. Visit the Thai temple and meditation center preserving its cultural heritage.

The Buddhist temple is called the Dhammakaya International Meditation Center (USA), and the tour is:

• Saturday, May 17, 3:00-4:00 pm (PDT)
• Dhammakaya Int'l Meditation Center
• 865 E. Monrovia Place
• Azusa, Los Angeles, California 91702
• By donation.

This exists in Los Angeles, in the United States?

ABOUT: The Azusa Thai Temple Tour lasts one hour. Dhammakaya is a Thai Theravada Buddhist temple and meditation center in Azusa, nestled in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains.

Come immerse in the serene atmosphere of this retreat from the city and explore the preserved 20th century architecture of Old Azusa, back when the city used to be a citrus grove.

The meditation center sits on the property of The MacNeil House, a beautiful historic landmark built in 1932 by Louise Slauson MacNeil, the daughter of Azusa Founder Jonathan Sayre Slauson.

Dhammakaya meditation is a special technique near the navel

Dhammakaya main hall, Azusa, SGV, LA

From this home, Slauson operated the Azusa Foothill Ranch, a citrus farm that was a key regional orange producer from 1910-1946. The building is designed in the Italian Renaissance style with ornate upper roof balustrades.

Quoins on the edge of the building’s adjacent wings mimic stone building techniques that were used in ancient Rome. The multi-paned grille windows in the middle of the mansion are designed in the Colonial Revival style popular in 1932.

In 1947, the Jesuit Order of the Society of Jesus took ownership of the estate and established the Manresa Retreat center on the grounds.

Since 1997, the Dhammakaya International Meditation Center has been honored to play a role in preserving this cultural and historical landmark of Azusa, California.

Secular Peace Point Meditation at DIMC

During the tour, participants will have the opportunity to learn about Dhammakaya's meditation technique, which promotes inner peace and tranquility. Get to experience its relaxing benefits in a short meditation session.

Friendly guides will share fascinating insights into Thai culture and Theravada Buddhism, providing a unique cultural experience.

Stroll through the peaceful gardens and enjoy the tranquil ambiance.

Schedule

• 3:00 pm - Introduction to the history of the Center
• 3:15 pm - Walking tour of the historical MacNeil House building
• 3:25 pm - Visit the main meditation hall, rose garden, retreat grounds
• 3:40 pm - Short meditation session in the MacNeil House Library
• 3:50 pm - Refreshments in the dining hall
• 4:00 pm - Departure to return again soon

Questions? Contact DIMC at (626) 334-2160. For more information, check out website at dimc.info. For secular meditation classes, visit Peace Point Meditation. More: Eventbrite

• Azusa Thai Temple Tour Tickets, Sat, May 17, 2025 at 3:00 PM | Eventbrite; Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven, Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation) (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Dalai Lama, Buddhist pilgrimage India/Nepal

The 14th Dalai Lama goes on a pilgrimage to the Mahabodhi Temple in Bodhgaya, India, in 2023

On the Path of the Buddha: Buddhist Pilgrimage in North India and Nepal

(Phillip Lucas) This educational video follows the path of Buddhist pilgrims from around the world as they visit Lumbini, Nepal, the traditional site thought to be where Prince Siddhartha (the Buddha-to-be) was born.

Then it is on to "Enlightenment Grove" or Bodh Gaya in Bihar (Vihara), India, the site of Prince Siddhartha's great awakening or enlightenment (maha bodhi).

Then it is on to Sarnath, India, the site of the Buddha's first sutra or sermon, where he made five converts of wandering ascetics who previously accompanied him on his spiritual quest.

Then it is on to the ancient royal city of Rajgir, India, the site of Vulture's Peak, the hill where the Buddha delivered several famous sutras.

Then it is on to Vaishali, India, where the Buddha first accepted females into the Buddhist Order of Nuns (Bhikkhuni Sangha).

Finally, it is on to Kushinagar, India, the site of the Buddha's final nirvana, the culmination of his long journey through samsara (the Wheel of Life and Death).

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Lake's 'Buddhist Nuns of Lotus Abbey'

More sacred than Lake Titicaca in the Americas is the biggest lake in all of Tibet and China

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(TRACKS - Travel Documentaries) Explore the mysterious island at the heart of Tibet/China’s largest lake (Qinghai Lake), where very few outsiders have ever been before. Here (at the Holy Mountain at the Heart of the Lake Island, home of Jetsun Tara_(Buddhism), "Mother of all the Buddhas"), the Buddhist nuns of the convent Lotus Abbey reside, devoting their life to meditation -- far from the outside world. Taken from the series "Lakes on the Roof of the World."

• Lake Rakshastal: Yeti (Ogre) Salt Lake
• TRACKS, Jan. 10, 2018; Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Buddhist prophecy: When the Iron Eagle Flies

When the Iron Eagle Flies: Buddhism for the West

We recognize you, Brother. You have returned.

Ayya Khema, with a foreword by the Dalai Lama, has 4.9 out of 5 stars after 16 ratings. When the Iron Eagle Flies: Buddhism for the West is a complete meditation course from one of the West's most beloved Buddhist teachers.

In her usual direct style, German Jew Sri Lanka-trained and attained Buddhist nun Ayya Khema points us toward the Middle Path — a way of simplicity.

The great Ayya Khema, Buddhist nun

Her teachings unfold simply, free of jargon, and are ideal for a contemporary world where our fevered pursuit of pleasure and comfort leaves us "like children playing in a house on fire, refusing to let go of our toys."

This is a practical guide to building meaning through awareness: When the Iron Eagle Flies contains a wealth of exercises and advice to help readers along the path.

A Westerner trained in the East, Ayya Khema grounds her teaching in our ordinary, everyday experiences and gradually shows us how to gain access to liberation and freedom in this life under these conditions.

• When the Iron Eagle Flies: Buddhism for the West

"When the Iron Eagle Flies"?

Nazis had medal eagle, the Iron Cross medal.

What does it mean to say, "An iron eagle will fly"? There's no way an iron eagle can fly -- unless we throw it off a cliff and redefine flying as "falling from the sky."

This ancient Tibetan Buddhist prophecy -- like those of the strangely related (Edward Vining, 1885, Rick Fields, 1992, 2022) ancient Hopi and other Native Americans in the Southwest United States -- states that the Dharma will reach the West when the "iron eagle flies." Of course, what metal bird flies? Airplanes of all kinds, traversing the skies as could be known but not quite understood when the vision was received.

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What did Ayya Khema realize in the tumult?

Ayya Khema, a German Jewish immigrant trained in Sri Lanka under an eminent Theravada Buddhist monk, learned meditation (jhana), and revived the defunct nun's order in the country and the tradition in other allied countries. We owe a great debt to Ayya Khema not only for the revival but for teaching in the West to those hungry for liberation from suffering.

Interestingly, the prophecy is slightly more specific or may be interpreted as such. Karma (deeds with the power to bear subsequent results) is a strange, strange thing. How it will work out is unfathomable. That working out (vipaka, phala) is one of the Four Imponderables, so complex and intricate that it would drive one to madness to repeatedly ponder.

When worlds collide...

Empire Beneath the Ice: How Nazis Won WWII (S. Quayle)

The Nazis have an "iron eagle" on their Iron Cross insignia, as if to represent the conquest of snakes (nagas, dragons, reptilians) by eagles (garudas, suparnas, avians), just as Americans and other Western powers seem to promote.

The dragons (serpents, vipers, dinosaurs, Silurians) may not be ALL bad, but they have certainly been cast as such. The eagle is majestic, but originally the symbol of the USA was a snake on a flag warning, "Don't tread on me."

Of course, now the flag of the country is the pretty and all-inclusive Rainbow, but between these two banners (and after the CSA), it used to be the bloody Stars and Stripes.

An Iron Eagle is now military slang for an American military officer attained to the rank of colonel who will not be promoted to the rank of general, the term referring to the rank insignia a colonel wears, which resembles an eagle.

Ayya Khema, as a German Jew, had to flee the comfort and familiarity of Germany because of WW II, which saw the Nazis come into power. The Nazis, and Ayya Khema could almost certainly not have known this, were very interested in Tibet and esoteric Vajrayana Buddhism, with its deep history of Bon black magic and Vedic Hindu influences. The myths of Aryan supremacy and of a world monarch (chakravartin), converted into racial terms and a role for Fuhrer Hitler by Nazi Propaganda Minister Joe Goebbels.

Smithsonian covers up ancient Egyptians in US

"Burning airlines give you so much more," Brian Eno observed. Of course, he was being facetious, but when iron eagles fly and worlds collide, we can hardly comprehend what would have been otherwise. Karma is just that way. Few know that the Nazis won WWII because we are told the opposite. The U.S. does not admit to admitting Nazis into the U.S. and U.S. military, to set up NASA, the CIA (the new OSI/Gestapo), intercontinental missile programs, nuclear weapons, and top secret UAP/vimana vehicles.

Buddhism for the West (Ven. Khema)

All of that is kept is kept secret from us. So are we working with Draconian reptilians from far away, or the reptilians who have long been here inside the planet? Are we aware of the Hollow Earth civilizations discovered by Admiral Byrd (Operation Highjump, called "Iron Sky" as a distraction and diversion for plausible deniability). A great deal is going on. And, of course, this is all nonsense that no one can seriously believe, no matter how much research bears it out or what whistleblowers have to say.

And this confluence brings us right back around to the arrival of immigrant out of Nazi Germany and into the welcoming arms of Buddhist Asia. Ayya Khema arrived in Sri Lanka, learned meditation, excelled, restarted the Nun's Monastic Community (Bhikkhuni Sangha), and came to the United States and Europe to teach from time to time. She was not the only Jew to ride the war out outside of Germany.

War and peace

Buddhist Dictionary

One of the great early Western monastics and translators of the Buddhist Pali language canon of ancient Buddhist texts was also a Jew, who while in Sri Lanka and India was arrested and sent to an internment camp in Dehra Dun because foreigners from Germany and/or other belligerent countries had to be detained, even if they were monks. He was the great compiler of the Buddhist Dictionary: A Manual of Buddhist Terms and Doctrines, Ven. Nyanatiloka Thera. He wrote of his life in the foothills of the Himalayas at that time and continued to the study the Dhamma (Dharma). This influx of Jewish Germans was a great boon and gives us the wealth of English translations we now enjoy and build upon. This is the story of his life:

• The Life of Nyanatiloka Thera (Buddhist Publication Society)
• Operation Highjump? Operation Mockingbird?
• Ayya Khema; Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven, Pfc. Sandoval, Shauna Scwhartz (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Byron Katie live in Los Angeles (7/11)

There are just four questions. Ask them.

"A Mind at Home with Itself with Byron Katie" is a special single day event at InsightLA.

Visiting teacher Byron Katie will be in Los Angeles on Thursday, July 11, 2024, from 9:00-11:00 am (PT).

Join Byron Katie and learn to question the thoughts that keep us from love and the radiant simplicity of the mind that abides nowhere.

• Register now (suggested donation $50)
• A Mind at Home with Itself with Byron Katie (InsightLA)

In this workshop, Byron Katie will not merely describe the awakened mind, she will support us in experiencing it for ourselves.

Come question the thinking and find the connectedness with ourselves and others, connection we’ve always longed for.

Eckhart Tolle, author of The Power of Now, says this of Byron Katie’s The Work:

“The Work is like a razor-sharp sword that cuts through illusion and enables you to know for yourself the timeless essence of your being.”

Purchase Byron Katie’s book A Mind at Home with Itself at InsightLA’s local bookstore partner Creating Conversations.

Loving What Is (Byron Katie)

ABOUT: Visiting teacher Byron Katie, founder of The Work, has one job: to teach people how to end their own suffering.

As she guides people through this simple but powerful process of inquiry she calls The Work, they find that their stressful beliefs — about themselves, life, and other people — radically shift.

Lives are changed forever based on direct experience just as Byron Katie experienced.

Byron Katie is the female Eckhart Tolle, neither being Buddhist but teaching Buddhist ideas.

• Byron Katie (Wisdom 2.0); insightla.org; Dhr. Seven, Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Jen B. (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Visiting Czech Buddhist abbey Karuna Sevena

M.S. (Karuna Sevena, Oct. 31, 2018); Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Visiting a European Buddhist abbey

Summer, art nouveau (Alfons Mucha)

I walked into the monastic dwelling or ārāma called Karuṇā Sevena in the Czech Republic for the first time in my life a few months ago.

I was injured, chronically tired, sleep deprived, and overwhelmed with obligations and aspirations. I am a mom, a wife, and an entrepreneur.

I'd been involved in many projects which I enjoyed but was overwhelmed with choices and stretched thin on time.

Voluntary work projects were hitting walls. I was disappointed, burnt out, and confused. In other words, I’d say I was an average ambitious person for my age and situation trying to help others in an average developed country. A few days later I left the ārāma.

Map of the Czech Republic, Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia united under Prague (wiki)

The former Czechoslovakia is now the Bohemian Czech Republic next to Germany.

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The first thing I wanted to do was go back to the temple. For it was a place of acceptance,

• where I could be what I am,
• where there seemed to be no expectations,
• where I could give freely and receive freely,
• where I felt genuine cared for and genuinely cared for others,
• where I wasn’t afraid of any hidden agendas.
• where others happily accepted my little contributions.

Northern Czech Republic (Marek Stransky)

I would wake up as if I were in my mom’s arms, happy and safe. My children were welcome, and their noises were welcome, too. There was no need to worry.

When I walked out, I noticed how much my outlook had changed. I was suddenly OK with the chaos of the choices at my disposal. I was OK with my obligations. I was OK with my aspirations.

Historic Prague, UNESCO World Heritage Site

I wasn’t afraid of people’s agendas. I got some sleep. I took care of my injury. I rested. I became more present.

I was more lovingly kind toward my kids. I was more lovingly kind toward my husband. I was there for them. And they noticed it, too. It was subtle, yet it profoundly changed my world.

Czech Venus of Dolni (29-25K BCE)

I am grateful to Bhikkhunī Visuddhi [Buddhist nun "Purification"], who despite her illness was still available for visits. I am grateful for her listening, her advice, and her warm and welcoming presence.

I know I’m just one of many for whom her listening and advice (spiritual guidance) has this kind of influence.

I’ve witnessed others, such as a lady who left her job to help support immigrants stuck in Greece, on the verge of burn out.

Autumn (Alfons Mucha)

In just one meeting with Ven. Visuddhi, she seems to have gotten calmer, more energized, and inspired. It was as if she herself found a new direction. All she needed was Ven. Visuddhi’s presence, patience, and occasional advice.

Ven. Visuddhi lives in the abbey Karuṇā Sevena, which needs repairs so others can continue to receive the benefits of her free and patient giving of herself.

If you are interested in supporting her, follow this website. - M.S.

Sri Lankan monk visits LA (April 25-28)

Volunteer Y (Buddha's 4 Noble Truths), Dhr. Seven, Ashley Wells, Wisdom Quarterly

It's amazing. The volunteer (Y) has organized a few talks by a Sri Lankan monk in the Los Angeles area -- La Puente, Pomona, and Pasadena. Half are in Sinhalese, but the others are in English on the Abhidharma ("Higher Doctrine"), meditation, and general Dharma topics. The flyer has all the information and contacts. All events are FREE. The goal? That all beings learn and apply the Dharma to end suffering.

A visit to Yarchen monastery, Tibet (photos)

Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly; TripAdvisor.com; Chanmelmel (flickr.com)

Panoramic view of the Buddhist Academy in Sêrtar, facing east (Chensiyuan/wiki)

Tibetan nuns Ganden Jangchup, Choeling nunnery (Reuters/dailymail.co.uk)

Yarchen Gar (camp), Tibetan Buddhist monastery, Kham (chanmelmel/flickr.com).

 

Yarchen Gar and Larung Gar, the giant monasteries of Kham

Trip report from Amdo-Kham (tripadvisor.com)

They are not marked on any maps. They are not mentioned in any guidebooks. But they are there. Both Vajrayana Buddhist monasteries are hidden in the eastern Tibetan highlands at an altitude of over 4,000 meters.

Yarchen Gar (Yaqên Orgyän Temple or ཡ་ཆེན་ཨོ་རྒྱན་བསམ་གདན་གླིང་།) and Larung Gar (Larung Ngarig Buddhist Academy) are undoubtedly the world’s largest Buddhist monasteries.

Tibet nuns, Tibet (flickr.com)

Both have 10,000 monks and nuns living year around in self-constructed huts and shacks.

 

They endure temperatures that plummet to -30C in the winter.

It is a shocking example of some people’s willingness to dedicate their lives to Buddhist practice and the study of the Dharma no matter how hostile the surroundings, or earthly forces, are towards the quest for inner harmony and deeper spiritual insight.

 

Must meditate at all costs (The Simpsons).

These monasteries were originally established in 1980 and 1985 as temporary hiding places for religious teachings (gar translates as “camp”). They have steadily grown into amazing illegal communities without official Chinese government approval. PHOTOS

Tibetan sky burial altar, Yarchen Gar monastery, Sichuan, China (chanmelmel/flickr.com)