Sex Sutra puts iPad in "awkward position"

Cult of Mac.com [with commentary and images by Wisdom Quarterly]

A freak but moist flower
tangles my lungs, knits into my heart,
crawls up my throat
and sucks like octopi on my tongue.
- "The Love Plant," US poet Anne Sexton

A small publishing company called Peter Pauper Press announced an iPad version of a print book called The Little Black Book of Kama Sutra. [Kama refers to "sexual pleasure," not karma, and a sutra is any discourse on a single "thread" or theme].

• Lust, Lust, and even more on Lust

The book is part of a continuing series of “Little Black Books” and “Little Pink Books.” Other titles include The Little Black Book of [how to break the fifth Buddhist precept] and The Little Pink Book of Etiquette.

The Kama Sutra book is very much in line with a growing trend of publishing books as interactive apps instead of as e-books. The only trouble is that the book is sexual in nature [there goes the third precept*] and illustrated with photographs [of alluring positions that will make one wish one had practiced more yoga].

The publisher isn’t even going to try to get it past Apple censors [why is Apple, Inc. going the way of Google? It's because prescribed morality is good for business. And what's good for business will be shoved down consumers' throats]. But instead [the publisher] intends to distribute independently rather than through the iTunes App Store.

The Kama Sutra puts Apple in an awkward position.

The content is really an Indian religious text [on sex and sensual enjoyment because India did not always have the hang ups about sex we and it now do] that predates the fall of the Roman Empire.

For Apple to simply ban such works (note that Apple has not banned, and reportedly will not be given the opportunity to ban, the book) is to risk a thriving black market in content that many may prefer to Apple’s own store or worse, a reputation for having an inferior set of content maps to Google’s Android platform. More>>

[It all comes back to business and labeling users "consumers" until we believe that's all we are and are meant to be. We'll we've got a message for Apple: Love the computers. But, hey Jobs, relax on taking over the world by dominating every infotainment platform that arises, because the tentacles of two rapacious Bill Gates octopusses (octopi) are going to strangle us all. But that's what American-style Capitalism is all about. So on second thought, yeah, ban books, limit iPhones to AT&T, and conquer the e-book experience. It's the "American" way.]

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• Bad Buddhist vs. 1st Precept, vs. 2nd Precept, vs. Breathing

Meditation too hard? Try Parkour! (video)

P. Macpherson and C.C. Liu (Wisdom Quarterly)
(LINK) UrbanFreeflow.com's 100% amazing Parkour jumps, a compilation video

If anyone else finds meditation too hard, raise your hand. It's "boring," some say. It's supposed to be, others foolishly add.

Yoga is great preparation for sitting. It was created by ancient India seers who wanted to be able to sit long enough to enter dhyana (absorption), levels of concentration they generally called samadhi.*

But yoga itself is not moving meditation. It could be if the mind were withdrawn from sense stimuli and could stay on the subtle breath (or meditation object). Tai Chi comes closer to doing that. Yogis and martial artists become perfectly still when touching bliss. But long before full lotus, they do special exercises.

• VIDEO: How to do Parkour

Parkour is an activity with the aim of moving from one point to another as efficiently and quickly as possible, using principally the abilities of the human body.

Samadhi was considered enlightenment and liberation (moksha) from the suffering of continued rebirth, which was nirvana to them. The Buddha clarified Vedic misinterpretations. He explained meditation (for serenity, mindfulness, liberating insight, or the development of powers and abilities) as consisting of many kinds of exercises.

Meditation is the easiest thing in the world and, paradoxically, the hardest. People often delude themselves, fantasizing that they are meditating successfully. It's so simple: Be present and accepting of whatever is, just for this moment, without discursive thinking, analyzing, or holding expectations.

"Be here now" became the American mantra for how to be "Zen" (the Japanese word for dhyana) in the 1960's. When Zen is so easy that it's too hard, the reason someone would take up Parkour (PK) or Tantra (sacred sex) or even entheogens (DMT) will make sense.

• VIDEO: When PK defies physics and reality

*Samādhi is the unification of an appeased (serene) mind; right-concentration is defined by the Buddha as the first four jhanas. Yogi Baba Hari Dass breaks it down: sam (together) + ā (completely) + dhā (to hold) = "to hold [the mind] together completely" or full absorption in one object.

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  Dr. Michio Kaku answers reader questions about physics and futuristic science at Big Think. Post questions in the comments section at: Dr. Kaku’s Universe and check back Wednesdays. Q: Are supermassive black holes at the center of galaxies involved in galactic formation?

"What Would Je$us Buy?" (comedy)

It's Black Friday. "What Would Jesus Buy?" follows Reverend Billy and the Stop Shopping Choir as they go on a cross-county mission to save the holidays from the Shopocalypse -- the end of mankind from consumerism, over-consumption, and the fires of eternal debt! The Shopocalypse is upon us... Who will be $aved?

Rev. Billy of the Church of Stop Shopping on Glenn Beck

(Freedomlost2007) The documentary "What Would Jesus Buy?" follows Rev. Billy and his gospel choir on their cross-country tour, preaching their message in such destinations as the Mall of America, Wal-mart headquarters, Starbucks, and Disneyland. "Democracy Now!" speaks to Rev. Billy and the film's producer Morgan Spurlock ("Super Size Me").

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A New Holiday ("Festivus" for the Rest of Us)

"Seinfeld" a new X-mas without the commercial trappings (Chris Cane, cane.com)

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Tibetan sand symbolizes "impermanence"

Scott Hewitt (The Columbian, Clark County, Washington)

Monks from Drepung Loseling Phukhang Monastery wear orange and red because their culture considers those colors the humblest and least attractive, according to translator Tenzin Sherab of Gresham, Oregon (Zachary Kaufman).

Impermanence? Everyone has enjoyed the paradoxical play of sand castle construction -- focusing with delight and deliberation on a project that is doomed. The point is the process, the reward a sense of satisfaction despite the looming tide of destruction.

Monks donned colorful garb and chanted blessings (Zachary Kaufman).

Imagine spending day after day drawing on ancient designs to create the most stunningly elaborate, spiritually significant sand art on the planet -- then sweeping it up like so much dust when it is finally done.

A group of five Buddhist monks from the Drepung Loseling Phukhang Monastery in southern India has been touring the West Coast since October. And most of their days are spent piecing together, grain by grain, mandalas made of multicolored sand. On Tuesday [Dec. 21, 2010] morning, those monks prayed and chanted in the main room of the Cascade Park Community Library before buckling down on a three-day mandala project.

A mandala is a sacred artwork -- a microcosm of the entire universe -- that takes the shape of an intricately sectioned and subdivided circle-in-a-square. It may include images of deities and buddhas, natural forces and the architecture of the cosmos. Buddhists and Hindus have used mandalas as teaching and meditation tools for thousands of years.

“They are unique and beautiful things, and it’s a rare window into a quite amazing culture,” said Kat Wilson of Vancouver, a student of Tibetan Buddhism for decades and manager of the monks’ tour. It was only beginning in 1989, Wilson added, that Tibetan Buddhist practitioners of sand mandala art started venturing forth to introduce their creations and themselves to the outside world. More>>

How Mindfulness Leads to Enlightenment

Dr. Piyal Walpola (WisdomThroughMindfulness blog) and Wisdom Quarterly
Why did the Buddha call craving (desire) the "cause of suffering"?

The Buddha is sometimes called the "master physician" for prescribing a way to heal suffering. The Four Noble Truths define the problem (suffering), its cause (craving), its cure (nirvana), and the medicine (Noble Eightfold Path).

So what in the world is meant by craving (tanha), the cause of the problem of suffering? The Buddha gave a very profound answer that rarely gets talked about.

In the Four Foundations of Mindfulness discourse (Mahasatipatthana Sutra), the Buddha very clearly states where craving arises and where it can be abandoned.

"Where does craving, when arising, arise? Where, when dwelling, does it dwell? Whatever is delightful and attractive (or endearing and alluring) in the world, that is where craving arises. That is where it dwells.

"What is delightful and attractive in the world? The eye (and ear, nose, tongue, body, mind) is delightful and attractive in the world. That is where craving, when arising, arises. That is where, when dwelling, it dwells.

The same is true of forms, sounds, smells, tastes, tactile sensations, and ideas...

• and the consciousness that arises dependent on the eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind
• and the contact (between consciousness, object, and) ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind
• and the feeling (sensation, which is either pleasant, neutral, or unpleasant) born of contact (between consciousness, object, and) eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind
• and the perception of forms, sounds, smells, tastes, tactile sensations, and ideas
• and the intention (volition, mental formation) regarding forms, sounds, smells, tastes, tactile sensations, and ideas
• and the craving for forms, sounds, smells, tastes, tactile sensations, and ideas
• and the thought (or the applied and sustained attention) directed at forms, sounds, smells, tastes, tactile sensations, and ideas
• and the evaluation (mental proliferation about past, present, and future) of forms, sounds, smells, tastes, tactile sensations, and ideas

is delightful and attractive in the world. That is where this craving, when arising, arises. That is where, when dwelling, it dwells. This is called the "Noble Truth of the Cause of Suffering."

The sense base (eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind) is not fettered (trapped, attached, bonded) to the object it becomes aware of.

The external object (forms, sounds, smells, tastes, tactile sensations, ideas) is not fettered to the sense base.

If the two (base and object) were attached, we would have no chance of escaping this round of suffering.

Craving is the fetter (Figure 1). This is explained in the Kotthita Sutra (discussed in "Why are these two boots tied together?").

We can now examine craving in a Mind Works model. These steps (called the links of Dependent Origination by the Buddha) happen in the mind in relation to the six senses: Craving is present at every step.

The steps are explained in a flow chart (Figure 2*). It includes the six senses showing how they are connected to Dependent Origination to make the process clearer.

The red box showing "craving" in the original Mind Works model is replaced by a large red star to indicate that craving actually applies to all these steps. Subsequent steps, which show where craving arises and dwells, are marked with small red stars.

A more important consideration is finding where craving can be abandoned. Those places are where craving arises and dwells. Please read the passage below.

Where is craving abandoned?
Where, when being abandoned, is craving abandoned? Where, when ceasing, does it cease? Whatever is delightful and attractive in the world, that is where, when being abandoned, craving is abandoned. That is where, when ceasing, it ceases.

And what is delightful and attractive in the world? The sense base (eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind). That is where, when being abandoned, craving is abandoned. That is where, when ceasing, it ceases.

The same is true of external objects (forms, sounds, smells, tastes, tactile sensations, and ideas)...

• and the consciousness that arises dependent on sense base and external object
• and the "contact" (of the three: sense base, external object, and dependent-consciousness)
• and the feeling born of (sense base) contact
• and the perception born of contact (with external objects)
• and the intention (mental formations) for external objects (forms, sounds...ideas)
• and the craving for external objects
• and the thought (or attention) directed at forms
• and the evaluation (mental proliferation) of external objects

All such evaluations are delightful and attractive in the world. That is where, when being abandoned, craving is abandoned. That is where, when ceasing, it ceases. This is called the Noble Truth of the Cessation of Suffering.

Figure 3 shows the possible points of action that may be applied to the new model. The fourfold setting up of mindfulness (catu-satipatthana) means contemplation of the bodily functions, sensations, mind (citta), and mental phenomena (dhammas). This is shown in yellow bubbles (Figure 2), which illustrates the training that enables seeing things clearly.

With wise attention, it is eventually possible to contemplate the Three Marks of Existence -- impermanence, ill, and insubstantiality -- as they reveal themselves in the four foundations. This is the ultimate pathway. Craving can only be completely uprooted by insight meditation.

Craving can be seen clearly at the points of sensory objects, contacts, and the Five Aggregates. This is why insight meditation works on the initial part of the model to eradicate craving. Wise attention is key.

As craving passes into applied and sustained thought and conceptual proliferation (about past, present, future), it will be hard to recognize and deal with (Figure 1).

*The model uses "object" in place of the discourse's form; "intellect" instead of mind; "mental objects" instead of ideas; "applied and sustained thought" instead of thought directed; "mental proliferation" (past, present, future) instead of evaluation.

Feminist "Sex" Debate (video)

• Feminist debate on WikiLeaks: Is it "Rape"?

A Beautiful Princess's Spiritual Journey

Wisdom Quarterly edit: Illustrated Jataka & Other Stories of the Buddha, C.B. Varma

Princess Kalyani, the Buddha's would-be sister-in-law of, decided to become a nun.

Janapada Kalyani ("loveliest in the land") was to become the Buddha's sister-in-law. But when all hopes of her fiance, the Buddha's half-brother Prince Nanda, returning to her withered away, she sat alone in the palace. Gradually the renowned beauty recovered from the trauma of losing both her prince and her hopes of becoming queen.

As far as she could understand, Nanda had left her. He had also left behind the throne and their new palace the day before their wedding to become an ascetic under his slightly older brother, the Buddha.

She had seen Nanda following the Buddha with a retinue of monks toward the monastery after a meal at their family's royal palace. She had called out to him from the balcony to return to her quickly, not knowing that he was only carrying the Buddha's bowl to the gate out of respect with no conscious intention of detaching, abandoning her, breaking off the marriage, or becoming a monk.

But he did not return. And in the course of time, she felt that her entire life was to be a waste. There was nothing very significant for her to pursue in the palace. She therefore decided to also join the Buddhist monastic order (Sangha). She renounced the sensuous home life under the guidance of Maha Pajapati Gotami, the Buddha and Nanda's mother.

Ven. Maha Pajapati was the first Buddhist nun in history, having founded the Order of Buddhist Nuns (Bhikkhuni Sangha) with the help of Ananda by asking the Buddha if women were equal. There is a new debate as to whether or not the Buddha subordinated the status of nuns by instituting eight extra rules for them as a condition of allowing female ordination. There is also doubt about whether he said his choice in doing so would cut by half the life of the Dispensation. It seems much more likely that these things were the products of monks unable to come to terms with the Buddha's progressive stand on women's equality.

Nevertheless, although Janapada Kalyani had outwardly renounced the world, her attachment to her own body and beauty remained intense. She was very proud of her physical charms.

As a result, she did not dare give ear to the Buddha’s discourses, which she felt would only highlight the impermanence of worldly phenomena like good looks.

She never allowed even the thought that her own unsurpassed beauty could some day fade away.

But it eventually happened that while visiting the Buddha with other nuns from the abbey (many of them also former royalty from the Buddha's family) she heard him preach.

The Buddha knew her mind with his psychic ability. He therefore created the mental form of a surpassingly gorgeous woman, who stood fanning him before he started his discourse.

While listening to the sutra, Janapada Kalyani was riveted by this young maiden's stunning beauty. Then as the discourse progressed, she saw the maiden aging, passing the stages of decrepitude with:

• wrinkled skin
• greying hair
• drooping breasts

Moreover, she also witnessed firsthand the change in the people's gaze, which was now no longer lustful and eager but cold and indifferent as they looked at her fanning the Buddha.

The aging continued and worsened until she saw her dead body begin to decompose in a mass of filth.

This startling demonstration filled Kalyani with a sense of spiritual urgency and mindfulness. The Buddha had sped up the inevitable not to distress her, but to impress on her the liberating-truth and the reason for temporarily detaching from everything impermanent.

Finally, detached from the mental bondage of craving for sensuality, she was able to really hear the sermon. It elevated Kalyani to the point of stream entry. This is the first stage of enlightenment, which results from seeing all phenomenal things as: passing, distressing, and utterly depending on supporting conditions for their existence. She realized (not believed) the truth of the impersonal, "empty" nature of things (anatta). And leaving behind desire for all things that rise and fall, she glimpsed nirvana -- the deathless, unsurpassable bliss.

Some time later, on hearing the Buddha deliver the discourse on the process of the body's decomposition (Kayavicchandika Sutra), Janapada Kalyani attained full enlightenment.

SOURCES: Introduction, Glossary, Bibliography. Samyutta Nikaya iv.341; Udana Commentary 170; Jataka 1.394; Majjhima Nikaya i.387; Dhammapada Atthakatha i.105; Theragatha Atthakatha i.318.

• Online: What are the 4 Foundations of Mindfulness?

What Happened to Prince Nanda?
Nanda Sutra, Inspired Utterances (Udana) 3.2, Wisdom Quarterly translation
Thus have I heard. The Buddha was once staying near Savatthi in Jeta's Grove at Anathapindika's monastery. On that occasion young Nanda, his brother, the son of the same father as the Buddha and mothers who were sisters, informed a number of monks:

"Friends, I am discontented with leading the high life" [brahmacariya, the supreme life of celibacy and spiritual exertion]. I am unable to endure it [because of my fiance, the beautiful Janapada Kalyani, waiting for me in the palace]. I will give up the training and return to the low life."

The Buddha's brother preferred Lust

The Nanda Sutra [Udana (Inspired Utterances) 3.2], Wisdom Quarterly translation
Thus have I heard. The Buddha was once staying near Savatthi in the Jeta Grove at Anathapindika's monastery. On that occasion young Ven. Nanda, his brother, the biological son of the Buddha's adoptive mother, informed a number of monks:

"I am discontented with leading the high life [brahmacariya, the supreme, spiritual life as a celibate monastic], friends. I am unable to endure it [because of my fiance waiting in the palace for me, the beautiful Janapada Kalyani]. I will give up the training and return to the low life."

The monks had heard: "It is said Ven. Nanda, the Teacher's brother, is living the high life for the sake of space nymphs [akasha, space or sky, devis; apsaras]. It is said that the Buddha has guaranteed him that he will obtain a large number of pink-footed heavenly beauties."

Then his monastic-friends went about calling him "hireling" and "menial," saying:

"Ven. Nanda is a hireling! Ven. Nanda is a menial. Ven. Nanda is owned! He's living the high life for the sake of nymphs! It is said the Teacher has guaranteed that he will obtain a large number of heavenly pink-footed nymphs for his practice!"

Ven. Nanda was humiliated, ashamed, and dismayed by his friends calling him names and saying he was owned.

So living withdrawn, secluded, resolute, diligent, patient, and persistent, he soon realized here and now through his own direct insight-knowledge that unequalled goal of the high life for the sake of which members of good families rightly go forth from sensual home life into spiritual homeless wandering. And entering into it, he abided in it and knew with certainty:

"Finished is birth, lived is the high life, accomplished is what there was to accomplish, there is now no more of this mass of suffering." Ven. Nanda had become one of the fully enlightened ones.

Then when the night was far advanced, a certain deva of surpassing beauty, illuminating the entire Jeta Grove, approached the Buddha, bowed, and stood to one side.

Standing there respectfully that deva said to the Teacher [of devas and human beings]:

"Ven. Nanda, revered sir, the Venerable's brother, by doing away with the taints [asavas] has realized here and now through his own direct knowledge the taintless deliverance of mind/heart and deliverance by wisdom, and entering into it, he abides in it."

The knowledge also arose in the Buddha: "Nanda, by extirpating the taints, has realized here and now the taintless deliverance of mind and deliverance by wisdom, and entering into it, he abides in it."

When the night had ended Ven. Nanda approached the Buddha, bowed reverentially, sat down to one side, and said to him: "Revered sir, as to the Teacher's guarantee that I will obtain a large number of pink-footed celestial nymphs, I release him from that promise."

"Nanda, comprehending your mind with my mind, I already knew: 'Nanda has realized here and now the taintless deliverance of mind/heart and deliverance by insight-wisdom.' In addition, a deva told me. When, Nanda, your mind was released from the taints no longer grasping and clinging, I was then released from that promise."

Realizing its significance, the Buddha on that occasion announced this inspired utterance:

"That meditator who crosses the mire,
Crushes the thorn of sensual desire
And thereby the 'destruction of delusion' gains
Then is no more perturbed by pleasures and pains."

• Alternative translation: John D. Ireland (Ud 3.2)

Online: 4 Foundations of Mindfulness

U Jotika and U Dhamminda, translators (Buddhanet.net)

The Greater Discourse on Steadfast Mindfulness
• Introduction

• Preamble

I. CONTEMPLATION OF THE BODY (Kayanupassana)
i. Section on In-and-Out Breathing (Anapana Pabba)
ii. Section on Postures (Iriyapatha Pabba)
iii. Section on Clear Comprehension (Sampajanna Pabba)
iv. Section on Contemplation of Impurities (Patikulamanasika Pabba)
v. Section on Contemplation of Elements (Dhatumanasika Pabba)
vi. Section on Nine Stages of Corpses (Navasivathika Pabba)

II. CONTEMPLATION OF FEELINGS (Vedananupassana)

III. CONTEMPLATION OF THE MIND (Cittanupassana)

IV. CONTEMPLATION OF PHENOMENA (Dhammanupassana)
i. Section on Hindrances (Nivarana Pabba)
ii. Section on Aggregates (Khandha Pabba)
iii. Section on Sense Bases (Ayatana Pabba)
iv. Section on Enlightenment Factors (Bojjhanga Pabba)
v. Section on Noble Truths (Sacca Pabba)
- a. Truth of Woe (Dukkhasacca Pabba)
- b. Truth of the Cause of Woe (Samudayasacca Pabba)
- c. Truth of the Cessation of Woe (Nirodhasacca Pabba)
- d. Truth of the Path to Cessation of Woe (Maggasacca Pabba)

• Notes

Are Dolphins Self-Aware (video)

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Merry Solstice! ("Rain" in a change of season)

Wisdom Quarterly

Winter has officially begun in the northern hemisphere on the same day summer starts for the southern side of planet Gaia. But it actually arrived days ago in Los Angeles, which has been experiencing more rain (our equivalent of lowland snow) in these few days than it usually gets in a year.

So the time of the Prophetic Visions, in a rare case of Buddhist dream interpretation (Jataka 77), seems to have arrived with the eclipse of the Moon:

The Reason for Weather Disturbances

"The Sixteen Dreams" (Mahasupina Jataka) derived from Ken & Visakha Kawasaki

"Tell me your tenth dream," the Buddha invited King Pasenadi, who reigned over Kosala. "I saw rice boiling in a pot but not being done," the king explained. "By not getting done I mean that it looked as if the cooking was taking place in three parts: One was wet, another hard and raw, and a third looked perfectly cooked. This was my tenth dream. What does it foretell?"

"This is a dream of future events," the Buddha explained. "In days to come rulers will become unrighteous. The nobles will follow the ruler's example, and so will the intellectuals (brahmins). The townspeople, the merchants, and at last even the farmers will become corrupted. Eventually, everyone in the country [mahajanapada, a tribe's territory or ruling clan's foothold], the sages and even the earthbound-devas [akin to mischevious Greek demigods], will become immoral.

"Even the winds that blow over the realm of such an unrighteous ruler will grow cruel and lawless. Because even the skies and the sky-devas over that land will be disturbed, they will cause drought.

"Rain will never fall on the entire country all at once. It may rain in the upper districts, but in the lower it will not. In one place a heavy downpour will damage the crops, while in another area the crops will wither from drought. The crops sown within a single country -- like the rice in the one pot -- shall have no uniform character" (Jat. 77). More>>

• In a rarity, both lunar eclipse and winter solstice today
• Spiritual lessons on an extraordinary winter solstice

Winter Solstice
Wisdom Quarterly with help from Chiff.com

The winter solstice marks the longest night of the year. (Summer solstice marks the longest day). In the north, the predictably gloomy weather around the winter solstice has been responsible for many symbols, ancient myths, and religious beliefs.

In ancient Rome, the original "Xmas" was a Pagan celebration called the Feast of Saturnalia, in honor of the Roman "god" or "titan" (Buddhist deva or asura) Saturn. In pre-Christian England, the end of December centered around the Pagan Yule log holiday tradition, a special piece of wood blazing to defrost winter's handiwork.

Nowadays, of course, festive corporations have co-opted our natural desire for relief from the winter doldrums (as the triumphant pharmaceutical industry advocated for a DSM entry, S.A.D., that allows it to inflate its obscene profits from the joyous insurance companies when staring at light is known to safely remedy wintertime blues). We are convinced we are meant to be "consumers" who need buy our way to "celebrating" and enjoying Christmas, in honor of the Roman "god" the Sun.

So the West was taken from Kronos to Kristos to Kwanzaa in a modern festival of lights, to overcome the dark, and a lively social feast, to overcome the effects of Mother Nature's dormant season. Even Buddhists in India celebrate a festival of lights, Diwali. And because Buddhists in China have Bodhi Day, we say: Let there be light! Merry Winter Solstice from Wisdom Quarterly to one and all!

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• Seeing science through spiritual lens (Dalai Lama, Smithsonian)
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• Hindu Jesus: A different kind of Christianity

PaGaian Winter Solstice (video)

Seeing science through a spiritual lens

Amy Yee (Special to The Washington Post, Dec. 18, 2010)

MEETING OF MINDS: The Dalai Lama at the opening of "The World of Your Senses," part of an ongoing effort to teach science to Tibetan monks with Smithsonian help (Bryce Johnson).

NEW DELHI - The northern Indian town of Bir was greeted with an unusual sight when Scott Schmidt carried six-foot-long plywood sheets on his head through the streets. Schmidt, who develops exhibits for the Smithsonian, had retrieved the wood from the village carpenter and toted it on his head to the Buddhist institute he was visiting.

"I got impatient," said Schmidt. "I probably broke every rule of how a Westerner is supposed to act in a village in India." Schmidt was helping a group of 30 Tibetan monks plan "The World of Your Senses," a bilingual science exhibition displayed last month in New Delhi at the India Habitat Center, an arts and culture venue in India's capital. More>>

• Indian (Hindu) Jesus: A Different Kind of Christianity
• In a rarity, both lunar eclipse and winter solstice today

Feminist debate on WikiLeaks: Is it "Rape"?

Democracy Now! (Dec. 20, 2010)

Namoi Wolf vs. Jacklyn Friedman: Feminists debate the sexual allegation against Julian Assange

As more details emerge about the sex crimes allegations against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, we host a debate between two feminists: Jaclyn Friedman argues the sexual assault allegations shouldn’t be dismissed just because they’re politically motivated, while Naomi Wolf says by going after Assange, the state is not embracing feminism, it’s "pimping" it. And what about Bradley Manning?

• Naomi Wolf, feminist, social critic, and author of seven books, including The Beauty Myth and The End of America.
• Jaclyn Friedman, executive director of Women, Action & the Media a charter member of CounterQuo, and the editor of the hit anthology Yes Means Yes: Visions of Female Sexual Power and a World Without Rape.

LISTEN, Real Audio, VIDEO Stream, Download MP3, Purchase DVD/CD, WATCH Part II, More…

TRANSCRIPTS

AMY GOODMAN: More details have emerged about the sex crime allegations that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange faces in Sweden. Assange was released on bail from a London prison Thursday, in now under house arrest at a country mansion. His next hearing, set for January 11th, will determine whether he’ll be extradited to Sweden to face allegations of rape and sexual assault.

On Friday, The Guardian newspaper obtained unauthorized access to a Swedish police report that provides the first complete account of the allegations against Assange. According to The Guardian, the allegations are based on a 10-day period in August when Assange was visiting Stockholm, during which he had sexual relations with two women that started out as consensual, but the women say they turned into assaults. The Guardian reports one woman told police that Assange pulled her clothes off and snapped her necklace. Then, she said, he held down her arms and legs and prevented her from grabbing a condom numerous times. After he let go and agreed to wear a condom, she claims, he did something to the condom to rip it. Assange denied the allegations, telling police he did not tear the condom and that the woman had allowed him to sleep in her bed for the following week. The other woman in the case told police Assange had sex with her while she was asleep, without using a condom.

On August 20th, the women went to Stockholm police. They had not decided whether to report Assange’s behavior as a crime, but the prosecutor on duty that night opened an investigation, issued an arrest warrant for Assange. Assange and his supporters have said the case against him is part of a wider conspiracy to discredit him because of his work with WikiLeaks.

Speaking to reporters outside his friend’s mansion in eastern England, where he must live while on bail, Assange said the allegations are part of a smear campaign.

JULIAN ASSANGE: This has been a very successful smear campaign so far, but I think its days are numbered, and people are starting to wonder, is what is claimed really true, and if it is true, where is the evidence? Why has no evidence been provided even to me and my defense attorneys?

AMY GOODMAN: Meanwhile, the lawyer for the two women, Claes Borgström, has denied the allegations against Assange are part of a political conspiracy.

CLAES BORGSTRÖM: Well, I think it’s very, very unfortunate for my two clients that they were molested in some way or another by a person like Julian Assange, because what has happened afterwards is not that they will have a fair chance at this moment, because they are sort of being treated like the perpetrators themselves and they have—there is a conspiracy and all that nonsense. So it’s very, very unfortunate.

AMY GOODMAN: The case against Assange has sparked international controversy, as well as controversy within the feminist community. We’re joined by two women right now. Jaclyn Friedman is executive director of Women, Action, & the Media and the editor of the anthology Yes Means Yes: Visions of Female Sexual Power and a World Without Rape. She’s joining us from Boston. Naomi Wolf is a social critic, author of seven books, including The Beauty Myth, The End of America. She’s joining us here in New York.

We welcome you both to Democracy Now! Jaclyn Friedman, as this information comes out, why don’t you talk about your thoughts on the—we can’t even say charges against Julian Assange, because he has not yet been charged.

JACLYN FRIEDMAN: We can say allegations. Certainly these women are alleging a crime.

What I want to say is that these are—the details, certainly, have become more clear since that unauthorized leak, but we’ve known those basic facts for weeks, that the allegations—in fact, we’ve known them since August, that the allegations were that he held one woman down, that he raped another in her sleep. These allegations have been out there. The Guardian has been reporting them.

Rape is a very serious crime, and it’s also one of the most underreported crimes across the globe. And one of the reasons is because every time the issue comes up in the media, people come out of the woodwork to blame the victims and to minimize the crime. And unfortunately, when we see someone who is a progressive hero, like Assange is, those critics, those people who are doing that minimization and that victim blaming often come from the left, as well as the right. And we’ve seen that across the board. Unfortunately, with—Naomi Wolf has participated in that, as well as Michael Moore, Keith Olbermann, Glenn Beck—of course, plenty of people on the right are participating, as well.

And the result of that is not only that these women are receiving death threats, they are in hiding—one of them has gone to Palestine, because she couldn’t feel safe in Sweden anymore—but the even more important result of that, when we perpetuate rape myths in the media—and this is not just my opinion, this has been documented by social research—is that victims, nameless victims, victims who have been harmed by people who are not famous, become much more reluctant to take their experiences seriously, to report those experiences. The system, the justice system that’s supposed to work for those victims—the cops, the juries, the prosecutors, the judges—they become much more reluctant to take these allegations seriously when they are reported. And men become less likely to identify their own behavior as sexually violent. And the result of all of that is that rapists go free.

And what we know about that is, the majority of rapists are repeat rapists. So, the result of perpetuating these rape myths in the mass media is that we literally are creating more rape in the world. And that’s my main concern about the way these allegations have been discussed so far, is that it’s doing real harm to real women around the world who have nothing to do with this case.

AMY GOODMAN: Naomi Wolf, your response?

NAOMI WOLF: Thank you. Well, Jaclyn, let me say that I’m very, very offended that you’re suggesting that I’m blaming the victim. In fact, it’s because of my 23 years of supporting rape victims, working in rape crisis centers, traveling around the world, to report more than any journalist I know, which, in a way, I’ve been very blessed to have had the chance to do so, from Sierra Leone to Bosnia to Ireland to the United Kingdom, interviewing people who support rape victims and work with the legal system—it’s because of that that I’m raising my voice about these very ambiguous and corrupt allegations.

First of all, let me just correct you. And Jaclyn, these—The Guardian account, which is based on leaked original documents, doesn’t say that he had sex with either of these women without the consent. The reason I’m hearing from rape victims across the world who are emailing me, saying, "I’m a rape victim. Thank you for standing up to put these charges in context," is that this is the only case I’ve ever seen in 23 years of supporting rape victims which is based on multiple instances of consent.

If you read these allegations, he took off Miss A’s clothes too quickly for her comfort. She tried to tell him to slow down, but then, quote, "she allowed him to undress her." This is what the report says. The second woman says she woke to find him having sex with her. When she asked whether he was wearing a condom, he said no. Quote, "According to her statement, she said: 'You better not have HIV.'" He answered, "Of course not." Quote, "She couldn’t be bothered to tell him one more time because she had been going on about the condom all night. She had never had unprotected sex before."

So, if you’re going to treat women as moral adults and if you’re going to take the issue of rape seriously, the person who’s engaging in what he thinks is consensual sex has to be told, "I don’t want this." And again and again and again, these women did not say, "This is not consensual." Assange was shocked when these were brought up as complaints, because he had no idea that this was not a consensual situation. Miss A kept Assange in her home for the next four days and threw a party for him.

So, because I take rape seriously, because I’m aware that in 23 years, you know, in Sweden, which has been criticized by Amnesty International for disregarding rape, for letting rapists go free, because you have a better chance in Sweden, if you’re a rape victim, of, you know, dying in an accident or getting breast cancer than having a serious rape allegation prosecuted or getting any kind of legal hearing, according to Amnesty International’s report "Case Closed"—it’s because of that that I know that these charges are utterly, utterly atypically handled. In 23 years, I’ve never seen any man in any situation this ambiguous, involving this much consent, have any kind of legal process whatsoever. And all over the world, women who have been gang-raped, brutally raped, raped in alleyways, pimped, prostituted, trafficked, you know, their rapists go free.

So, yes, this stinks to me. And yes, it’s about politics, and it’s about the same kind of politics that dragged you, when you were trying to cover a march, you know, violently into legal jeopardy, because really this is about a journalist who has angered the most powerful and increasingly brutal nation on earth, and it’s about all of us who are journalists being dragged into a dangerous situation because of criticism of the government.

AMY GOODMAN: Jaclyn Friedman, your response?

JACLYN FRIEDMAN: Wow. First of all, I’ve also been working with rape survivors for 20 years, and I am one myself. And I can assure you that you do not speak for me or many of us. I, too, have been speaking with rape survivors around the world since this case broke, who have been so hurt and disappointed that someone like you, who understands about the danger of perpetuating myths in the media, would be perpetuating rape myths that hurt all of us. There are so many rape survivors that are up in arms about the way this case has been discussed and the way these women have been disregarded.

NAOMI WOLF: But Jaclyn, Jaclyn, with all due respect—

JACLYN FRIEDMAN: I fully agree—no, no.

NAOMI WOLF:—where did they say no?

JACLYN FRIEDMAN: I did not interrupt you when you were speaking, and I would appreciate—

NAOMI WOLF: I beg your pardon.

JACLYN FRIEDMAN:—if you don’t—I’m going get to that.

NAOMI WOLF: OK.

JACLYN FRIEDMAN: OK. So, I fully agree with you that the zeal, shall we say, with which these charges are being pursued is politically motivated. We have no disagreement on that. That is not an issue here. We are in agreement about that. I bet Amy agrees with us, too.

But if you want to talk about what the women in Sweden want, you should look at their political actions. There is a massive Twitter campaign that the women of Sweden have launched called "Let’s Talk about It." I think that’s right. It’s translated from the Swedish, because they are all—

NAOMI WOLF: That’s fair. Let’s talk about it.

JACLYN FRIEDMAN: I’m talking about it right now. They are coming forward, and they’re saying these things aren’t taken seriously in Sweden, and this is an opportunity to prove that the Swedish government can take these issues seriously. This is an opportunity to set the international bar higher for the way we take seriously rape charges.

Now, let’s talk about those charges. Those women did not consent. If she was consenting, he had no need to hold her down. A woman in her sleep cannot consent to sex. Consent is not a light switch, OK?

NAOMI WOLF: I have to speak to this.

JACLYN FRIEDMAN: Just because you’ve consented to choose one sexual activity, say, taking your clothes off with someone, does not mean you’ve consented to all sexual activities.

AMY GOODMAN: Naomi Wolf?

JACLYN FRIEDMAN: That’s preposterous.

NAOMI WOLF: Yeah, I—

JACLYN FRIEDMAN: If I go home with someone, it’s not consenting to every single thing that might be done to me by the person I’ve gone home with.

NAOMI WOLF: OK.

AMY GOODMAN: Jaclyn, let’s get Naomi Wolf’s—

JACLYN FRIEDMAN: Both women have clearly claimed that they did not consent.

AMY GOODMAN: We need to get—we only have a minute to go. We need to get Naomi’s response.

NAOMI WOLF: Jaclyn, of course I agree with you that consent isn’t a given and that obviously with every sexual act, everyone needs to be sure that everyone is consenting. There is no doubt about that. But I don’t know if you’ve actually read the Guardian report, because again and again and again—

JACLYN FRIEDMAN: I most absolutely have.

NAOMI WOLF: Alright. So, again and again and again, Assange consulted with the women about what they wanted, and they didn’t say no. And to me as a feminist—and this is why I’m hearing from so many rape victims around the world—and of course the issue needs to be discussed more, obviously, but the reason, as a feminist, I am distraught about this miscarriage of justice is that you can’t—you’re not respecting women by casting them as unable to assert what they want, unwilling, you know, to speak about what they wish. The women—

JACLYN FRIEDMAN: Women may be afraid.

NAOMI WOLF: Jaclyn—

JACLYN FRIEDMAN: If she’s been held down by someone, she is afraid.

NAOMI WOLF: But wait, read—

JACLYN FRIEDMAN: She’s in a state of fear.

NAOMI WOLF: Listen to me. Jaclyn—

JACLYN FRIEDMAN: No is not enough. Every sexual person—

AMY GOODMAN: We have 15 seconds.

NAOMI WOLF: OK.

JACLYN FRIEDMAN:—has the responsibility to get affirmative consent from their sexual partner.

NAOMI WOLF: He then consulted with her—

JACLYN FRIEDMAN: Not just no, but affirmative yes.

NAOMI WOLF:—and asked her what she wanted, and she did not say no. She continued to have sex with him. And what I’m saying is—

JACLYN FRIEDMAN: She was afraid. He had held her down. She was in a state of fear. Many, many women—this happens over—you talk to rape survivors. I can’t believe you don’t know this. Many women are in a state of fear and unable—they’re in a panic situation. This is so common as to be laughable. And the reason they don’t take these seriously is because you tell them that.

AMY GOODMAN: Ten seconds. We have 10 seconds. Naomi, you can respond.

JACLYN FRIEDMAN: I travel in the country and the world talking to rape survivors.

NAOMI WOLF: I mean, all I can say is if a man or a woman who’s engaging in a sexual act that they think is consensual never hears "no" and hears "yes, yes, yes—yes, let’s go ahead without a condom; yes, let’s go ahead"—that insults rape victims.

AMY GOODMAN: Naomi Wolf, Jaclyn Friedman, we’ll continue this after the show. Go to democracynow.org. Thanks so much for joining us.

Related

• Part II...Feminists Debate Sexual Allegations against Julian Assange
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• WikiLeaks Cables: Pfizer Targeted Nigerian Attorney General to Undermine Suit over Fatal Drug Tests
• WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange Vows to Resume Whistleblowing After Release from London Jail
• As WikiLeaks’ Assange Freed on Bail, Alleged Military Leaker Bradley Manning Imprisoned under Inhumane Conditions
• "What We Talk About When We Talk About Rape" by Jaclyn Friedman
• "Sweden's Serial Negligence in Prosecuting Rape Further Highlights the Politics Behind Julian Assange's Arrest" by Naomi Wolf

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