A short film about the lost years of Jesus (Issa) not explained in the Bible
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Loving-kindness "Prayer"
Metta Bhavana, wording by Dharmachari Seven
May all living beings be well
May all living beings be happy
May all living beings be well and happy
Happiness is coming to them
Happiness is being brought on by them
They are making others happy
They are enjoying a healthy, happy, and prosperous present
Moreover, they are joyfully developing
May all living beings be well
May all living beings be happy
May all living beings be well and happy
Happiness is coming to them
Happiness is being brought on by them
They are making others happy
They are enjoying a healthy, happy, and prosperous present
Moreover, they are joyfully developing
- Forbearance
- Virtue (sila)
- Samadhi and
- Noble wisdom
as they meet and overcome inevitable difficulties, hardships, and setbacks in life.
May all living beings long continue to be well
May all living beings long continue to be happy
May all living beings long continue to be well and happy!
Compassion "Medicine"
Dharmachari Seven (Buddhist advice to a very fearful young woman)
There are only four reasons why you have ever and will ever feel hurt, grief, psychological discomfort, or emotional distress. Only four. Whatever you feel in terms of unhappiness or suffering, it is only because it is rooted in one or some combination of these four. What four?
- Greed (grabbiness, yearning, craving, hankering, and pining)
- Hate (anger, unfriendliness, compassionlessness, resentment)
- Delusion (wrong views, mental distortions, thought aberrations)
- Fear (a kind of Hate, which is both the root of anger and cowardice)
The good thing is that each of these roots has an antidote, a "medicine." Interestingly -- and to get straight to the point of delivering this medicine right where it's needed at this moment -- both anger and Fear are in a way the same thing, because they have the same root.
Now, you see no Hate/anger in you, none that you're aware of anyway, none that you dare let express itself? You're like a fluttering fairy, a waif, a deva, a wispy...well you get the idea. That's not to say there is no Hate, no root of "anger," present. It's there all right! But its manifestation is the more socially acceptable, the more culturally feminine Fear. (Think about it, why are Fear and Hate said to be the same, what's their commonality? Revulsion).
For example, men are taught not to have Fear or certainly never to show it if they do. It's not masculine. So when they see a mouse, filled with revulsion, they attack it. Their revulsion is expressed as Hate (anger, fighting with, and attacking that "disgusting" mouse).
Women, however, are taught not to have Hate or certainly never to show it if they do. So when they see a mouse, filled with revulsion, they jump on a chair (and scream for someone to come help them, or just wait till the mouse goes away, alarmed by the screaming and shrieking). Women may even faint or enter a "fugue state," which is an odd response in the presence of a Fearful thing.
But it makes sense from an evolutionary standpoint (the instinctive and genetically-coded way humans have adapted and survived from the time of cavemen and cavewomen). We have three automatic reactions to Fear: fight, flight, or freeze. Guess which one your body is in the habit of exhibiting?
And wouldn't it be better, more beneficial, not to "react" automatically but to respond purposefully? That way we can be in control of our lives rather than Fear or circumstances being in control.
Seeing a mouse, knowing it only to be a mouse, a cute little critter with precious little whiskers and a dew drop of a nose, cousin-from-the-wrong-side-of-the-tracks of the adorable hamster -- we can choose to tolerate it, shoo it away, give it some food to go outside, buy one of those silent high frequency repellers, spray cat urine scented mist near its cubbyhole, catch and release it in the woods with a mercy trap, or... Did you know there were so many other things you could do instead of fight, flight, or freeze?
Saturday, December 20, 2008
End of the Dollar (the new Amero)
Hal Turner
The future of the US economy is in doubt with an economy-destroying, economy-resuscitating plan: the launch of the "Amero," a new North American currency. (NAFTA had ulterior motives behind it). Watch all your savings evaporate in an instant. Here's what you can do about it.
See Buddhist "end of the world" scenario in previous posts. This is one of the many sociopolitical upheavals in the Kali Yuga ("Age of Decline"). And if one were to end up bone broke, there is still the enduring Dharma to fall back on. So practice now, practice then, and practice in the future until safely in the realm of devas ("shining ones," light-body beings).
Burma in the News
- Burma Arrests 19 North Korean Defectors, Kids Included Fox News - Sat Dec 20
Burmese authorities arrested 19 North Korean defectors in a town near the border with Thailand, a government official said Saturday.
News - Myanmar arrests 19 North Korean defectors: police AFP - Sat Dec 20
- Myanmar authorities have arrested 19 defectors from their ally North Korea and plan to charge them with illegally entering the country, a senior police official said Saturday.
- UN slams N. Korean on rights; Defending regime were China, Cuba, Iran, Burma, Russia, Venezuela, Syria World Tribune - Fri Dec 19
December 19, 2008 - UN slams N. Korean on rights; defending regime were China, Cuba, Iran, Burma, Russia, Venezuela, Syria
EU provides extra 40 million euros in aid to Myanmar AFP - Thu Dec 18
The European Commission on Thursday decided give an extra 40.5 million euros (58.7 million dollars) in aid for two million vulnerable people in Myanmar, notably those affected by cyclone Nargis in May.
Burmese Lawyer Flees, Speaks Out Radio Free Asia - Thu Dec 18
A Burmese lawyer now in exile says authorities tortured evidence out of his clients.
- EU provides 40 million euros in aid to Myanmar Nasdaq - Thu Dec 18
(RTTNews) - The European Commission's Humanitarian Aid department (ECHO) will spend 22 million euros ($31million) in aid for two million vulnerable people in Myanmar, especially those affected by cyclone Nargis in May.
- MYANMAR: Myanmar journalists face intimidation, pressure from junta AsiaMedia - Thu Dec 18
Journalists working in military-ruled Myanmar continue to face intimidation, torture and arrests in reporting on the country's corrupt and brutal regime, despite international calls for more press freedom, a conference on media safety heard Tuesday.
- UN chief criticizes Myanmar and Zimbabwe AP - Wed Dec 17
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon criticized the governments of Myanmar and Zimbabwe Wednesday and said a year of multiple crises has put human rights on trial.
- [ELD] MISSOURI: Mission team will spend Christmas in Sudan / TENNESSEE: Myanmar refugees bring Adven Worldwide Faith News - Fri Dec 19
- AI Bulletin Vol.11 No.24, 19 December 2008 Amnesty International - Sat Dec 20
MORE:
Burma on Yahoo! News
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Kung Fu Monks
National Geographic TV
Inside a Shaolin boot camp
Inside a Shaolin boot camp
Kung fu (literally, "hard work") evolved to become a Mahayana Buddhist monastic discipline. National Geographic TV investigates.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Buddhist History Revolution: Ranajit Pal
Ranajit Pal, Non-Jonesian Indology and Alexander. New Delhi: Minerva Press, 2002. Pp. 268, including 41 black- and-white illustrations. ISBN 81-7662-032-7. US$17.00, UK£11.75. Further Details.
Reviewer: Jan-Mathieu Carbon, Corpus Christi College, Oxford
Self-described as a colloquial "must for the history buff" and a pleonastic "labour of hard work" (back cover), Non-Jonesian Indology and Alexander by Ranajit Pal is indeed both of these things -- a work at once fascinatingly suggestive, pioneering, and provocative, yet frustratingly confused and laborious. The main subject is Alexander's conquest of India, specifically locating Palibothra, the theoretical limit of his march east.
Reviewer: Jan-Mathieu Carbon, Corpus Christi College, Oxford
Self-described as a colloquial "must for the history buff" and a pleonastic "labour of hard work" (back cover), Non-Jonesian Indology and Alexander by Ranajit Pal is indeed both of these things -- a work at once fascinatingly suggestive, pioneering, and provocative, yet frustratingly confused and laborious. The main subject is Alexander's conquest of India, specifically locating Palibothra, the theoretical limit of his march east.
Pal in this book leads his own campaign west against those scholars, particularly Badian and his disciples, who ignore the Sanskrit and Pali sources and try to reconstruct Alexander's eastern campaign using only the Greek and Roman texts.[[1]]
He traces the origin of this methodological problem back to the work of Sir William Jones in the late eighteenth century.[[2]] Few scholars today think in an explicitly "Jonesian" framework, but Pal is right that the usual accounts of Alexander's march are founded on Jones' early premises and detective work.
Pal's hypothesis is that "Megasthenes" Palibothra was not Patna as Jones fancied, but Kahnuj in faraway Magan' (p. 9). In other words, Palibothra was located in what is now south-east Iran, not, as most scholars maintain, in modern eastern India.
As a provocative challenge to current orthodoxy regarding the extent of Alexander's Indian conquest the book is largely successful and will appeal to specialists and students alike. Pal's work is wide-ranging and offers multifarious perspectives on the impact of Alexander's conquests in Indo-Iran. More>>
Anti-Brahmanism
Sakka as "Lord Indra, King of the Gods" in the Rig Veda. Razmanama MS, Akbar School, 1598.
Mantras of Anti-Brahmanism: Colonial Experience of Indian Intellectuals
hinduwisdom.com
"Christianity did not come with tidings of great joy, but with a message of eternal grief. It came with the threat of everlasting torture on its lips. It meant war on earth and perdition hereafter" - A Christmas Sermon 1891.
"Christianity did not come with tidings of great joy, but with a message of eternal grief. It came with the threat of everlasting torture on its lips. It meant war on earth and perdition hereafter" - A Christmas Sermon 1891..
Robert G. Ingersoll (1833-1899) Well known post civil war American political speechmaker and Secular-Humanist. Among his admirers were president James Garfield, poet Walt Whitman, General Ulysses S. Grant, industrialist-philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, inventor Thomas Edison, and Mark Twain.
***
Opposing factions in the Orientalist-Anglicist controversy in the 19th century shared a common understanding of Indian religion and society. Europeans from diverse ideological and religious backgrounds identified the brahmins as priests and Brahmanism as a "religion of the priests." This common understanding derived its consistency from a Christian understanding of religion. Even the writings of Rammohun Roy and Babasaheb Ambedkar, this article suggests, reveal an unconditional acceptance of Europe's conceptualization in a debate over religion that continued into the 20th century.
Anglicists considered India to be corrupt. They believed that its culture was degenerate and its population irrational, retarded, superstitious, and morally depraved. The Orientalists, on the other hand, genuinely sought to understand the foreign culture. Surely, they wanted to bring reform. But they were certain that a transformation could only be successful if it resonated with the mores of the natives. Hence, they studied the Indian culture, learned its local languages, collected and preserved what belonged to its cultural inheritance, and discovered a grand past that presented an India excelling in the political, social, religious, and intellectual domains.
However, we would like to highlight that they turn out to be superficial when it comes to the assessment of the fundamental structure of the Indian society. Unerringly, both identified brahmins as the "priests." They both were convinced that these "priests" had a negative influence on religion and society. Brahmins were held responsible for the creation and sanctification of the caste system, which brought social development to a halt. They accepted as true that this system consisted of a rigid social compartmentalization and that it was created to preserve religious and social privileges of the brahmin caste. They were convinced that the brahmins used their religious authority to dominate those in civil power which explained why the system of hierarchical castes was not contested by those in power as well, and so on.
Anglicists considered India to be corrupt. They believed that its culture was degenerate and its population irrational, retarded, superstitious, and morally depraved. The Orientalists, on the other hand, genuinely sought to understand the foreign culture. Surely, they wanted to bring reform. But they were certain that a transformation could only be successful if it resonated with the mores of the natives. Hence, they studied the Indian culture, learned its local languages, collected and preserved what belonged to its cultural inheritance, and discovered a grand past that presented an India excelling in the political, social, religious, and intellectual domains.
However, we would like to highlight that they turn out to be superficial when it comes to the assessment of the fundamental structure of the Indian society. Unerringly, both identified brahmins as the "priests." They both were convinced that these "priests" had a negative influence on religion and society. Brahmins were held responsible for the creation and sanctification of the caste system, which brought social development to a halt. They accepted as true that this system consisted of a rigid social compartmentalization and that it was created to preserve religious and social privileges of the brahmin caste. They were convinced that the brahmins used their religious authority to dominate those in civil power which explained why the system of hierarchical castes was not contested by those in power as well, and so on.
If there were differences between Orientalists and Anglicists in this regard, they were very shallow. Anglicists found Indian culture and society intrinsically corrupt from the very beginning. Orientalists, however, saw India’s culture as being based on sound principles which steadily degenerated. But the cause of corruption, however, was in both cases the same, that is, "Brahmanism."
In this article, we propose that both the idea of religious degeneration and the role played by the priests in this process are derived from deep seated Christian conceptions of religion. On the one hand, the biblical story of a god-given religion that was subsequently corrupted through the course of time was the general framework that structured the history of Christianity and of all the other so-called religions. On the other hand, because Christianity assigned a primary role to the clergy, religion was an affair of the priests only.
In this article, we propose that both the idea of religious degeneration and the role played by the priests in this process are derived from deep seated Christian conceptions of religion. On the one hand, the biblical story of a god-given religion that was subsequently corrupted through the course of time was the general framework that structured the history of Christianity and of all the other so-called religions. On the other hand, because Christianity assigned a primary role to the clergy, religion was an affair of the priests only.
Consequently, the mechanism of degeneration had to be found in the priesthood: priests became the instruments of the devil and began to transform the original god-given religion. This understanding of religion, we would like to suggest, structured the European quest for the "religious" elsewhere. Brahmins were identified as "priests," who created "brahmanism," which was imposed upon Indian society.
If this suggestion is convincing, the prevalence of Europe’s conceptualization in the modern Indian intellectual’s reflection on his own society is nothing but remarkable. Even though there existed a long tradition of criticism of brahmins and caste in India itself, Rammohun Roy, for example, while criticising contemporary brahmanism vigorously, merely echoed the assessment of the British. Similarly, Babasaheb Ambedkar did the same a century later when he took up its sacerdotal invention of caste along familiar lines. By doing so, both accepted exactly that which Orientalists and Anglicists shared: they ended up criticizing "brahmins" as "priests" and "brahmanism" as a deprived "religion of the priests."
(Source: Mantras of Anti-Brahmanism by Raf Gelders, Willem Derde). Refer to Columbus, the Indians, and Human Progress by Howard Zinn
If this suggestion is convincing, the prevalence of Europe’s conceptualization in the modern Indian intellectual’s reflection on his own society is nothing but remarkable. Even though there existed a long tradition of criticism of brahmins and caste in India itself, Rammohun Roy, for example, while criticising contemporary brahmanism vigorously, merely echoed the assessment of the British. Similarly, Babasaheb Ambedkar did the same a century later when he took up its sacerdotal invention of caste along familiar lines. By doing so, both accepted exactly that which Orientalists and Anglicists shared: they ended up criticizing "brahmins" as "priests" and "brahmanism" as a deprived "religion of the priests."
(Source: Mantras of Anti-Brahmanism by Raf Gelders, Willem Derde). Refer to Columbus, the Indians, and Human Progress by Howard Zinn
- Mirroring: A Glorious Hindu Legacy: Indic influence in Southeast Asia (http://www.hinduwisdom.com/)
Scientists find hole in Earth's magnetic field
View of the Sahara desert in 2003. British and Moroccan scientists have found the remains of two new species of extinct animals in the Saharan desert, describing the find as one of the most important of the past 50 years (AFP/File/Hocine Zaourar).
LOS ANGELES – Recent satellite observations have revealed the largest breach yet seen in the magnetic field that protects Earth from most of the sun's violent blasts, researchers reported Tuesday. The discovery was made last summer by Themis, a fleet of five small NASA satellites.
Scientists have long known that the Earth's magnetic field, which guards against severe space weather, is similar to a drafty old house that sometimes lets in violent eruptions of charged particles from the sun. Such a breach can cause brilliant auroras or disrupt satellite and ground communications.
Observations from Themis show the Earth's magnetic field occasionally develops two cracks, allowing solar wind — a stream of charged particles spewing from the sun at 1 million mph — to penetrate the Earth's upper atmosphere.
Last summer, Themis calculated a layer of solar particles to be at least 4,000 miles thick in the outermost part of the Earth's magnetosphere, the largest tear of the protective shield found so far.
"It was growing rather fast," Themis scientist Marit Oieroset of the University of California, Berkeley told an American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco.
Such breaches are temporary, and the one observed last year lasted about an hour, Oieroset said.
Solar flares are a potential danger to astronauts in orbit but generally are not a risk to people on the surface of the Earth.
The research was funded by NASA and the National Science Foundation.
Scientists initially believed the greatest solar breach occured when the Earth's and sun's magnetic fields are pointed in opposite directions. But data from Themis found the opposite to be true. Twenty times more solar wind passed into the Earth's protective shield when the magnetic fields were aligned, Oieroset said.
The Themis results could have bearing on how scientists predict the severity of solar storms and their effects on power grids, airline, and military communications and satellite signals.
The Themis satellites were launched to find the source of brief powerful geomagnetic disturbances in the Earth's atmosphere.
___
On the Net:
American Geophysical Union: http://www.agu.org/
Themis mission: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/themis/main/index.html
Scientists have long known that the Earth's magnetic field, which guards against severe space weather, is similar to a drafty old house that sometimes lets in violent eruptions of charged particles from the sun. Such a breach can cause brilliant auroras or disrupt satellite and ground communications.
Observations from Themis show the Earth's magnetic field occasionally develops two cracks, allowing solar wind — a stream of charged particles spewing from the sun at 1 million mph — to penetrate the Earth's upper atmosphere.
Last summer, Themis calculated a layer of solar particles to be at least 4,000 miles thick in the outermost part of the Earth's magnetosphere, the largest tear of the protective shield found so far.
"It was growing rather fast," Themis scientist Marit Oieroset of the University of California, Berkeley told an American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco.
Such breaches are temporary, and the one observed last year lasted about an hour, Oieroset said.
Solar flares are a potential danger to astronauts in orbit but generally are not a risk to people on the surface of the Earth.
The research was funded by NASA and the National Science Foundation.
Scientists initially believed the greatest solar breach occured when the Earth's and sun's magnetic fields are pointed in opposite directions. But data from Themis found the opposite to be true. Twenty times more solar wind passed into the Earth's protective shield when the magnetic fields were aligned, Oieroset said.
The Themis results could have bearing on how scientists predict the severity of solar storms and their effects on power grids, airline, and military communications and satellite signals.
The Themis satellites were launched to find the source of brief powerful geomagnetic disturbances in the Earth's atmosphere.
___
On the Net:
American Geophysical Union: http://www.agu.org/
Themis mission: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/themis/main/index.html
Monday, December 15, 2008
The End of the World
There are modern-day prophets and the "prophecies" of the Buddha, which were more a discerning of a natural order of cyclical events. How worlds arise, how they end, and what takes place in between -- while the names and faces may change -- seen for the most part regular. The more things change the more they stay the same. Here the Parowan Prophet makes another failed prediction of the end times.
Prophet Predicts U.S. Will Be Nuked by Christmas
Dec 15, 2008: Riots in the United States will begin before Christmas as a result of Barack Obama winning the presidential election. The old, hard-line Soviet guard will jump on the opportunity and nuke us, killing 100 million people or more. So goes the prophecy of Leland Freeborn of Parowan, Utah, known by a small group of followers as the Parowan Prophet. Los Angeles Times reporter Peter H. King traveled to Freeborn's home to get details.
Freeborn, a survivalist who keeps iodine handy in order to ward off the effects of radiation, admits to issuing inaccurate doomsday prophecies before. It's not an exact science, he allows.
Among the successful predictions Freeborn claims to have made: O.J. Simpson's murder acquittal and Al Gore's winning of the popular vote in 2000, he told King.
King describes Freeborn: "A Mormon of substance, a father of 12, he had crashed his airplane in 1975 and fallen into a three-week coma, during which he went through 'to the other side' and emerged a prophet."
Failed doomsday predictions are nothing new. As LiveScience's Bad Science columnist Ben Radford points out: "There have been thousands of people predicting the imminent end of the world, dating back to at least 2800 B.C. They have all been wrong." Radford has written extensively about people who claim to predict the future. He says the predictions are often rooted in Bible passages, as seems to be the case with Freeborn, or often the source is misunderstood astronomy or plain old schizophrenia.
All that in mind, you can test Freeborn's prophecy at home: Simply see if you're alive come Christmas morning.
If you make it, start getting ready for 2012, when the whole world is expected to end, according to cult leader Wayne Bent, who ought to have a better line on future events, being the son of God and all. But Bent, too, has got it wrong before, currently outliving his last end-of-the-world prognostication by more than a year.
Robert Roy Britt is the Editorial Director of Imaginova. In this column, The Water Cooler, he takes a daily look at what people are talking about in the world of science and beyond. Original Story: 'Parowan Prophet' Predicts U.S. Will Be Nuked by Christmas
End Times: Buddhist Eschatology
Pa Auk Sayadaw (The Workings of Kamma, 2008)
Buddhist view of the End of the World
Inconceivable is the beginning, bhikkhus [i.e., recluses, monastics, disciples], of the round of rebirth [i.e., Samsara]. A first point is not known of ignorance-hindered beings fettered by craving, rushing on and running about [in Samsara].
Then [t]he Buddha explains how, in the future, the world system will come to an end.
THERE WILL COME A TIME, BHIKKHUS
There will come a time, bhikkhus, when the great ocean dries up, evaporates, and is no more.
In the distant future the world will be destroyed in one of three ways: destroying by fire, by water, or by wind. Here, [t]he Buddha describes what happens when the world is destroyed by fire.
First of all, a hundred thousand years beforehand, certain sky-devas ["shining ones," light-beings, "angels," celestial messengers, extraterrestrials] will appear before people with dishevelled hair and pitiful faces, wiping their tears with their hands [reference: Path of Purification]. They will announce the end of the world and urge people to develop the four Divine Abidings (Brahma Viharas):
- loving-kindness (metta)
- compassion (karuna)
- sympathetic joy (mudita)
- equanimity (upekkha)
up to jhana. And they will advise people to look after their parents and to honor their elders.
Most people will take these words to heart and practice loving-kindness towards each other and in other ways accomplish wholesome karma. Those who are able will develop jhana. Those who are unable to develop jhana will, because of their past wholesome karma, be reborn in the deva world be reborn in the deva world: as devas, they will develop jhana. Dependent on ignorance and craving, the karmic potency (kamma satti) of their jhana causes all these beings to be reborn in the Brahma world [celestial worlds superior to deva realms].
Seven Suns megalith in Ireland
After a long period, a great cloud appears and heavy rain falls throughout the hundred thousand million world spheres (koti-sata-sahassa-cakka-vala). People sow crops, but when the crops have grown high enough for an ox to graze, the rain stops. With no more rain, all plants dry up and are no more, and there is soon famine. Human beings die, and also earth devas (bhumma-deva), for they live on flowers and fruits. Owing to their past wholesome karma, they are reborn in the deva world, where they as devas develop jhana. Dependent on ignorance and craving, the karmic potency of their jhana causes them to be reborn in the Brahma world.
After a long period, a great cloud appears and heavy rain falls throughout the hundred thousand million world spheres (koti-sata-sahassa-cakka-vala). People sow crops, but when the crops have grown high enough for an ox to graze, the rain stops. With no more rain, all plants dry up and are no more, and there is soon famine. Human beings die, and also earth devas (bhumma-deva), for they live on flowers and fruits. Owing to their past wholesome karma, they are reborn in the deva world, where they as devas develop jhana. Dependent on ignorance and craving, the karmic potency of their jhana causes them to be reborn in the Brahma world.
According to a law of nature, also the beings in hell escape from hell and are reborn in the human world (VsM.xiii.405). They develop loving-kindness and are reborn in the deva world, where they as devas develop jhana. Dependent on ignorance and craving, the karmic potency of their jhana causes them to be reborn in the Brahma world.
But the beings who were reborn in hell [niraya, the downfall, a set of unfortunate destinations for the maturing of bad karma] as a result of persistent wrong views (niyata-miccha-ditthi, the most serious of the six weighty karmas) do not escape: dependent on ignorance and craving, the karmic potency of their persistent wrong views causes them to be reborn in a world-interstice hell (lok-antarika-niraya): [a perpetually dark "interstitial" plane, the description of which sounds like hyperspace] one of the hells situated in the space between world systems. Thus, even though the world system is coming to an end, the continued rushing on and running about of beings does not come to an end.
The Buddha explains: Not even then, [recluses], is the suffering of ignorance-hindered beings fettered by craving (who rush on and run about) brought to an end, I declare.
After a long period without rain, by the time all beings have been reborn elsewhere, a second sun [A.VII.vii.2, Satta-Suriya-Sutra ("The Seven Suns Discourse")]. And as one sun sets, the other rises, so there is no more telling night from day: the world is continuously scorched by the heat of the two suns. Rivers and streams dry up.
After yet another very long period, a third sun appears, and now also the great rivers dry up...
There will come a time, [recluses], when Sineru, king of mountains, is burned, destroyed, and is no more. Not even then, [recluses], is the suffering of ignorance-hindered beings fettered by craving (who rush on and run about [in Samsara or, literally, "the continued wandering on"]) brought to an end, I declare.
There will come a time, [recluses], when the great earth is burned, destroyed, and is no more. Not even then, [recluses], is the suffering of ignorance-hindered beings fettered by craving (who run on and run about) brought to an end, I declare.
Having explained how beings continue to rush on and run about in the round of rebirth [i.e., Samsara], [t]he Buddha then discusses why they do so.
Animal Realm Grows: Thousand Species
Naga: handout released 12/15/08 by the World Wildlife Fund Greater Mekong Programme shows a Gumprechts green pitviper found in Thailand (AFP/WWF).
More than 1,000 species discovered in Mekong: WWF
BANGKOK (AFP) – The Animal Realm continues to grow in number due to karma and rebirth and in diversity. Scientists have discovered more than 1,000 species in Southeast Asia's Greater Mekong region in the past decade, including a spider as big as a dinner plate, the World Wildlife Fund said Monday.
A rat thought to have become extinct 11 million years ago and a cyanide-laced, shocking pink millipede were among creatures found in what the group called a "biological treasure trove."
The species were all found in the rainforests and wetlands along the Mekong River, which flows through Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, and the southern Chinese province of Yunnan.
"It doesn't get any better than this," Stuart Chapman, director of WWF's Greater Mekong Programme, was quoted as saying in a statement by the group.
"We thought discoveries of this scale were confined to the history books."
The WWF report, "First Contact in the Greater Mekong," said that "between 1997 and 2007, at least 1,068 have been officially described by science as being newly discovered species."
These included the world's largest huntsman spider, with a leg span of 30 centimetres (11.8 inches), and the "startlingly" coloured "dragon millipede," which produces the deadly compound cyanide.
Not all species were found hiding in remote jungles -- the Laotian rock rat, which the study said was thought to be extinct about 11 million years ago, was first encountered by scientists in a local food market in 2005, it said.
One species of pitviper was first noted by scientists after it was found in the rafters of a restaurant at the headquarters of Thailand's Khao Yai national park in 2001.
"This region is like what I read about as a child in the stories of Charles Darwin," said Dr Thomas Ziegler, curator at the Cologne Zoo, who was involved in the research.
"It is a great feeling being in an unexplored area and to document its biodiversity for the first time both enigmatic and beautiful," he said.
The new species highlighted in the report include 519 plants, 279 fish, 88 frogs, 88 spiders, 46 lizards, 22 snakes, 15 mammals, four birds, four turtles, two salamanders, and a toad -- an average of two previously undiscovered species a week for the past 10 years.
The report warned, however, that many of the species could be at risk from development and called for a cross-border agreement between the countries in the Greater Mekong area to protect it.
A rat thought to have become extinct 11 million years ago and a cyanide-laced, shocking pink millipede were among creatures found in what the group called a "biological treasure trove."
The species were all found in the rainforests and wetlands along the Mekong River, which flows through Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, and the southern Chinese province of Yunnan.
"It doesn't get any better than this," Stuart Chapman, director of WWF's Greater Mekong Programme, was quoted as saying in a statement by the group.
"We thought discoveries of this scale were confined to the history books."
The WWF report, "First Contact in the Greater Mekong," said that "between 1997 and 2007, at least 1,068 have been officially described by science as being newly discovered species."
These included the world's largest huntsman spider, with a leg span of 30 centimetres (11.8 inches), and the "startlingly" coloured "dragon millipede," which produces the deadly compound cyanide.
Not all species were found hiding in remote jungles -- the Laotian rock rat, which the study said was thought to be extinct about 11 million years ago, was first encountered by scientists in a local food market in 2005, it said.
One species of pitviper was first noted by scientists after it was found in the rafters of a restaurant at the headquarters of Thailand's Khao Yai national park in 2001.
"This region is like what I read about as a child in the stories of Charles Darwin," said Dr Thomas Ziegler, curator at the Cologne Zoo, who was involved in the research.
"It is a great feeling being in an unexplored area and to document its biodiversity for the first time both enigmatic and beautiful," he said.
The new species highlighted in the report include 519 plants, 279 fish, 88 frogs, 88 spiders, 46 lizards, 22 snakes, 15 mammals, four birds, four turtles, two salamanders, and a toad -- an average of two previously undiscovered species a week for the past 10 years.
The report warned, however, that many of the species could be at risk from development and called for a cross-border agreement between the countries in the Greater Mekong area to protect it.
Most Viewed - Science
Ancient armored amphibian had world's oddest bite Reuters
Seeds of hope: Freezing vaults guard Earth's flora AP
'Parowan Prophet' Predicts U.S. Will Be Nuked by Christmas LiveScience.com
Year's Biggest Full Moon Friday Night SPACE.com
Termite Bite Is Fastest in the World LiveScience.com
Thursday, December 11, 2008
India's Holymen
Meanwhile, elsewhere on the subcontinent:
- India moves to revamp security after Mumbai siege
- Pakistan turns screw on charity linked to Mumbai attacks AFP
- Pakistan vows to comply with U.N. curbs after Mumbai Reuters
- Pakistan acts against one of India's most-wanted Reuters
VIDEO: - Video: 'No evidence' of Pakistan link BBC
Video: 60th anniversary of Human Rights Reuters
Video: Terrorists at Large FOX News
Monday, December 8, 2008
Buddha Boy
Ram Bahadur Bamjan, right, believed to be a bodhisattva ("buddha-to-be") is surrounded by Buddhist monks in the town of Nijgadh, about 100 miles south of Katmandu, Nepal, 11/12/08. Bamjan, 18, has re-emerged from the jungle in southern Nepal, attracting thousands of devotees. After retreating into the jungle for more than a year, he re-emerged on 11/10/08 (AP Photo/Binod Joshi).
Vietnamese-American elected to Congress
Cain Burdeau (AP)
Republican Anh "Joseph" Cao, with his daughter Sophia Cao, 5, and his wife Kate Cao, talks to reporters after church in New Orleans, Sunday, Dec. 7, 2008. Cao defeated Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., for the 2nd Congressional District in Louisiana, making him the first Vietnamese-American in Congress (AP Photo/Cheryl Gerber).
NEW ORLEANS – The first Vietnamese-American elected to Congress took advantage of dissatisfaction with a longtime incumbent dogged by corruption allegations and reflects the changing nature of New Orleans politics since Hurricane Katrina.
Republican immigration attorney Anh "Joseph" Cao defeated Democratic U.S. William Jefferson on Saturday in an election postponed for a month by Hurricane Gustav.
The victory for a 41-year-old child of Vietnam War refugees was greeted with amazement and drew parallels to last year's election of Gov. Bobby Jindal, an Indian-American Republican. More>>
Republican immigration attorney Anh "Joseph" Cao defeated Democratic U.S. William Jefferson on Saturday in an election postponed for a month by Hurricane Gustav.
The victory for a 41-year-old child of Vietnam War refugees was greeted with amazement and drew parallels to last year's election of Gov. Bobby Jindal, an Indian-American Republican. More>>
There might not be a story here were it not for the atrocities committed by American soldiers in the American War (aka "Vietnam War"). And one day WQ will surely cover the "First Iraqi-American Elected to Congress": Blackwater guards indicted in Iraq shooting surrender
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Buddha Boy is Back
Buddha Boy, Ram Bahadur Bamjan, looks on as devotees seek his blessing (AP).
KATMANDU, Nepal – A Nepalese teenager revered by many as a bodhisattva (a "being bent on buddhahood") has returned to the jungle to meditate after emerging for less than two weeks, officials said Saturday.
Ram Bahadur Bamjan, 18, reappeared on Nov. 10 after several months of meditation to bless thousands of his followers, speaking to them on at least two occasions.
He made his last appearance on Friday and then returned to the jungle to meditate, said Biswo Prakash Newpane, a government administrator in the area. It was not clear when he would return again.
His followers lined up near the jungle of Ratanpur, about 100 miles south of Katmandu, to be blessed by Bamjan. He tapped the believers on their forehead but did not speak to them individually.
The followers believe he has been meditating without food and water since he was first spotted in the jungles of southern Nepal in 2005. Believers say he spent months without moving, sitting with his eyes closed beneath a tree.
Buddhism, which has about 325 million followers, teaches that beings (unless fully enlightened) are reborn after death in many forms.
Buddhist scholars would be skeptical of any claim that Bamjan is a reincarnation of Siddhartha Gautama, the historical Buddha, who was born in southwestern Nepal roughly 2,500 years ago.
Rakesh, a Buddhist scholar, told the Associated Press last week that being a "Buddha" means the end of suffering and the end of rebirth since it is the highest level that can be achieved. There can be no "reincarnation" of Buddha, but there can and are many rebirths for a bodhisattva such as Siddhartha Gautama and previous Buddhas.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Come to Cloud Mountain: Retreat
Rasmussen and Snyder will be teaching two retreats in 2009, both at Cloud Mountain Retreat Center in western Washington, between Portland and Seattle.
They will lead a 3-day retreat from July 31 – August 3, and a 2-week retreat from December 27 – January 10 (2010). Many have expressed interest in attending retreats with these accomplished meditators. It is now possible to look over the details at the Cloud Mountain site to possibly participate. Information may also be found at JhanasAdvice.com (go to calendar, scroll down, and click on the retreat date).
There are also a few spaces left for the November 8 one-day intensive, "From First Sit to First Jhana--Navigating the Process of Purification of Mind through the Use of Wise Effort" ($35, pre-registration is required).
Hot Zone Documentary: Online
The Hot Zone Team
PLAY VIDEO
"A World of Conflict," the documentary, is being shown here in its entirety.
In this final chapter of "A World of Conflict," Kevin Sites returns to the U.S. only to confirm what he suspected -- that in the year that he was gone little had changed. Most Americans are still not engaged in learning about the rest of the world. But Sites realizes that for some, the Hot Zone project did succeed in putting a human face on global conflict and perhaps helped them to begin their own journey to greater understanding.
"A World of Conflict" is the documentary about the "Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone" project, in which veteran war correspondent Kevin Sites reported from every major global conflict in one year, in an effort to understand the costs of a world perpetually at war.
One chapter of the documentary is being highlighted each week in chronological order, allowing everyone to see the film in its entirety — exclusively online.
The documentary contains searing, never-before-seen images of combat and its lingering impact on civil society, beginning with the anarchy of Somalia in September 2005 and culminating with the explosive war between Israel and Hezbollah in summer 2006.
The documentary is included with Sites' new book, In the Hot Zone: One Man. One Year. Twenty Wars. (The Harper Perennial paperback original is available now at Amazon.com and at book stores). More>>
"A World of Conflict" is the documentary about the "Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone" project, in which veteran war correspondent Kevin Sites reported from every major global conflict in one year, in an effort to understand the costs of a world perpetually at war.One chapter of the documentary is being highlighted each week in chronological order, allowing everyone to see the film in its entirety — exclusively online.
The documentary contains searing, never-before-seen images of combat and its lingering impact on civil society, beginning with the anarchy of Somalia in September 2005 and culminating with the explosive war between Israel and Hezbollah in summer 2006.
The documentary is included with Sites' new book, In the Hot Zone: One Man. One Year. Twenty Wars. (The Harper Perennial paperback original is available now at Amazon.com and at book stores). More>>
- Conflict in Buddhist and formerly Buddhist lands
Afghanistan
Cambodia
Iran
Iraq
Kashmir
Burma (Myanmar)
Nepal
Sri Lanka
Syria
Vietnam - Hot Zone Watch List
Korean Peninsula
Peru
The Philippines
Thailand
Uzbekistan
Reckless consumption threatens planet (WWF)
Laura MacInnis
Sheep eat the stubble of a failed wheat crop at sunset on a farm near the town of West Wyalong, Australia, October 17, 2007.(Mick Tsikas/Reuters)
GENEVA (Reuters) – The Earth's natural resources are being depleted so quickly that "two planets" would be required to sustain current lifestyles within a generation, the conservation group WWF said on Wednesday.
The Swiss-based WWF, also known as the World Wildlife Fund, said in its latest Living Planet Report that more than three quarters of the world's population lives in countries whose consumption levels are outstripping environmental renewal.
Its Living Planet Report concluded that reckless consumption of "natural capital" was endangering the world's future prosperity, with clear economic impacts including high costs for food, water, and energy.
"If our demands on the planet continue to increase at the same rate, by the mid-2030s we would need the equivalent of two planets to maintain our lifestyles," said WWF International Director-General James Leape.
Jonathan Loh of the Zoological Society of London said the dramatic ecological losses from pollution, deforestation, over-fishing, and land conversion were having serious impacts.
"We are acting ecologically in the same way as financial institutions have been behaving economically -- seeking immediate gratification without due regard for the consequences," Loh said in a statement accompanying the report.
"The consequences of a global ecological crisis are even graver than the current economic meltdown," he said.
The report said the world's global environmental "footprint" or depletion rate now exceeds the planet's capacity to regenerate by 30 percent. On a per-country basis, the United States and China have the largest footprints, the WWF said.
The United States and Australia rank among the five countries with the largest footprints per person, along with the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Denmark.
The lowest five are Bangladesh, Congo, Haiti, Afghanistan, and Malawi, WWF said. Regionally, only non-EU Europe, Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean remain within their "biocapacity."
Emissions from fossil fuels -- which would be targeted under a successor to the Kyoto climate change accord -- were among the top culprits cited by WWF for the big demands on the planet.
The WWF's Leape said world leaders needed to put ecological concerns at the top of their agenda and ensure the environment is factored into all decisions about consumption, development, trade, agriculture and fisheries management.
"If humanity has the will, it has the ways to live within the means of the planet, but we must recognize that the ecological credit crunch will require even bolder action than that now being mustered for the financial crisis," Leape said.
(Editing by Jon Boyle)
The Swiss-based WWF, also known as the World Wildlife Fund, said in its latest Living Planet Report that more than three quarters of the world's population lives in countries whose consumption levels are outstripping environmental renewal.
Its Living Planet Report concluded that reckless consumption of "natural capital" was endangering the world's future prosperity, with clear economic impacts including high costs for food, water, and energy.
"If our demands on the planet continue to increase at the same rate, by the mid-2030s we would need the equivalent of two planets to maintain our lifestyles," said WWF International Director-General James Leape.
Jonathan Loh of the Zoological Society of London said the dramatic ecological losses from pollution, deforestation, over-fishing, and land conversion were having serious impacts.
"We are acting ecologically in the same way as financial institutions have been behaving economically -- seeking immediate gratification without due regard for the consequences," Loh said in a statement accompanying the report.
"The consequences of a global ecological crisis are even graver than the current economic meltdown," he said.
The report said the world's global environmental "footprint" or depletion rate now exceeds the planet's capacity to regenerate by 30 percent. On a per-country basis, the United States and China have the largest footprints, the WWF said.
The United States and Australia rank among the five countries with the largest footprints per person, along with the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Denmark.
The lowest five are Bangladesh, Congo, Haiti, Afghanistan, and Malawi, WWF said. Regionally, only non-EU Europe, Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean remain within their "biocapacity."
Emissions from fossil fuels -- which would be targeted under a successor to the Kyoto climate change accord -- were among the top culprits cited by WWF for the big demands on the planet.
The WWF's Leape said world leaders needed to put ecological concerns at the top of their agenda and ensure the environment is factored into all decisions about consumption, development, trade, agriculture and fisheries management.
"If humanity has the will, it has the ways to live within the means of the planet, but we must recognize that the ecological credit crunch will require even bolder action than that now being mustered for the financial crisis," Leape said.
(Editing by Jon Boyle)
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