The "Higher Teachings" (Abhidharma)

BPS, Guide Through the Abhidhamma (Introduction, edited by Wisdom Quarterly) (Peterpribylla/Flickr.com)

The third collection of the Pali "Triple Basket" is the Abhidharma. It belongs -- at least in the form handed down -- to an earlier period than the other two collections, the discourses (sutras) and monastic disciplinary guidelines (vinaya).

In spite of this, it should in no way be considered a corruption or distortion of the Buddha’s teaching. Rather, it is an attempt to systematize all of the doctrines laid down in the sutras and to elucidate them from a psychological, philosophical, physics, and physiological standpoint.

Just as this Abhidharma collection -- from the oldest Buddhist school, Theravada, preserved in the Pali language -- consists of seven books, so too does the version of the ancient defunct Sarvástiváda (Sabbatthiváda) school, which is preserved five in Chinese. The names of the seven books of both are:

Theravada/Sarvastivada

1. Dhammasanganì/Sangìtipariyáyapáda
2. Vibhanga/Dharmaskandha
3. Dhátukathá/Dhátukáyapáda
4. Puggalapaññatti/Prajñapatipáda
5. Kathávatthu/Vijñánapáda
6. Yamaka/Prakaranapáda
7. Paþþhána/Jñánaprasthána

Judging by the similarity of the names, one would expect the contents of 1, 3, 4, and 7 of either schools to be identical, it is not the case. Vibhanga and Dharmaskandha, however, coincide nearly completely as ascertained by collating both works with A Guide Through the Abhidhamma Pitaka with the help of Prof. Takakusu’s article on the Abhidharma literature of the Sarvástivádins in the Journal of the Pali Text Society, 1904-1905.

Legend holds that the Buddha laid out the Abhidharma, rather than it being a systematic commentarial reworking, in a space world where his mother had been reborn.

Several of the formerly existing so-called Hinayana ("Lesser Vehicle") schools, especially the Sautrántikas, contested the authenticity of the Abhidharma altogether. The complete text of the Pali Abhidharma collection in the Thai (Siamese) edition -- donated by His Majesty the King of Siam comprises 6,297 pages.

And of these only 1,152, or a little more than one-sixth, have been translated into Western languages, namely the Dhammasangani into English by Mrs. Rhys Davids (1900) and into German by Ven. Nyanaponika (1950); the Kathávatthu (1915) into English by Shwe Zan Oung and Mrs. Rhys Davids; the Puggalapaññatti by me into German (1910), and by B.C. Law into English (1924).

A very succinct résumé of all the essential doctrines of the Abhidharma is given in the ingenious little summary called Abhidhammatthasangaha written by Anuruddha, who is believed to have lived not earlier than the 8h century.

In Burma, those wishing to study the Abhidharma are expected to first thoroughly learn by heart and master the meaning of this short epitome. Once one has mastered it, one will have grasped the whole substance of the Abhidharma.

One may look in the Discourse collection, the Abhidhammatthasangaha, and the commentaries in vain for terms and teachings introduced in the Abhidharma. This does not imply any deviation from the canonical Abhidharma's contents.

But it may show the necessity felt of having terms better fitted for the work of summarizing and systematizing. It would be useful to have all of those technical terms not met with in the earliest books collected and arranged chronologically.

Regarding the difference between the sutra collection and Abhidharma collection, it does not really so much concern the subject, but rather its arrangement and treatment. The subject in both collections is practically the same.

Its main difference in treatment, briefly stated, is the fact that in the sutras the doctrines are more or less explained in conventional terms or everyday language (vohara-vacana) understood by anyone. In the Abhidharma, on the other hand, those same doctrines are explained in purely philosophical terms that are true in an absolute or "ultimate" sense (paramattha-vacana).

For example, the sutras often speak of individuals and persons -- "I," "you," and "self," even of the rebirth of a self, and so on as if such so-called individuals really existed. The Abhidharma, however, deals with ultimate realities (paramattha-dhamma) -- psychical and physical phenomena, which alone may be called realities, even if they only exist momentarily, arising and
passing away at every moment.

For in reality, in an absolute sense (paramattha), there does not exist any real, self-dependent, permanent entity, no such thing as a so-called "ego," but only an ever-changing process of conditionally arisen phenomena. So the whole Abhidharma has to do only with the description, analysis, and elucidation of such phenomena.

While these phenomena are treated in the sutras under the Five Aggregates

1. corporeality (body)
   
2. feelings
3. perceptions
4. mental formations
5. consciousness

the Abhidharma (Guide Through the Abhidhamma Pitaka) treats them generally under three rubrics: consciousness, mental concomitants, and materiality (citta, cetasika, and rúpa).

Studying the contents of the seven Abhidharma books requires a previous thorough acquaintance with the fundamental teachings and ethical aims of Buddhism. Only for them will the Abhidharma prove to be of real benefit. More

Wisdom 2.0 Conference (live stream video)

Soren Gordhamer; Wisdom2Summit.com; Google doing Good; Wisdom Quarterly

Watch online and join the founders of Facebook, Twitter, eBay, Paypal, Zynga, and other tech leaders along with Buddhist wisdom-teachers, such as Jack Kornfield (Spirit Rock) and Jon Kabat-Zinn, as well as Eckhart Tolle for Wisdom 2.0 2012.



The focus: to explore how we can live mindfully and wisely and engage the great technologies of our age in ways that benefit us, our society, and our world. We are planning other events as well. Stay in touch about them through our e-newsletter.

- Soren Gordhamer, Founder and author, Wisdom 2.0

WISDOM 2.0 2012

SILICON VALLEY, California - "Wisdom 2.0 is quite possibly the most important gathering of our times," according to Google's Director of Executive Development Rich Fernandez. It is running from Friday to Sunday (Feb. 23-26, 2012) at the Hotel Sofitel in Redwood City and Google Headquarters in Mountain View.

BETH KANTER reports from the scene: It's clear that a conference is going to be a different experience when you walk in and there is harpist playing beautiful meditative music that melts away as the chimes and bells ring to signal it's beginning. Soren welcomes everyone and asks us to be totally present, giving our full attention -- which is becoming rarer at conferences. I decided to have a different experience than live tweeting...

• Soren: Merging Wisdom and Technology
• Livestream video: Wisdom2summit.com

It features amazing Buddhist and New Age speakers including: the sisters McGonigal (neuroscientists and gamers, Jane and Kelly), Zen Roshi Joan Halifax (upaya.org), Dr. Dan Segal (USC), Yogini-activist Seane Corn, Dustin Moskovitz (Facebook cofounder), and Padmasree Warrior (CTO, Cisco Systems).

Wisdom for the Constantly Connected (book)

OpenLibrary.org; Wisdom Quarterly

From going online to learning what it means to OM on Reuters, it was recently reported that we Americans are willing to go longer without friends and sex than we are to be deprived of our addiction to the Internet.

We spend more time on our computers, BlackBerrys, cell phones [mobiles], and iPods than we do with each other or even with ourselves. Using these technologies becomes a compulsive rather than intentional or creative process. Instead of increasing our productivity, multitasking is stressing us out!

Wisdom 2.0 Conference (Huff Po)

In Wisdom 2.0, Soren Gordhamer offers sound guidance to millions of people trying to find balance between using technology and staying human.

Humorous and fun, both editions provide effective, time-tested tools for reducing stress and nurturing creativity in a technology-saturated world.

Media labels "Generation C" (video)

Now.msn.com (money); Wisdom Quarterly

"No Adults Allowed" (on HBO's Mr. Show with Bob and David) and "Jeepers Creepers" (below)

Americans between the ages of 18 and 34 have been labelled with a new public relations and marketing designation.

They will now be known -- and quickly begin to call themselves -- "Generation C." The C is for "connected."



It is yet another label for Generation Y, also marketed to as Millennials, Echo Boomers, Generation Next, and Net Generation.

"I like to occupy and 'riot' then brag about it in texts, twits, and on the facebooks."

The group is being judged, categorized, and reduced to a box by its use of devices that consume media, impersonally socialize, and share experiences more than any other age group, according to the Nielsen corporation.

The theme song for the "Slacker Generation"


Statistics for the "Connected Generation"

Generation C instantly (as soon as the label was invented) makes up 23 percent of the population and represents 39 percent of smartphone users. Connected. Get used to it. You have no choice or say in the matter. The grown ups will decide what to call you and how to market to you.

A previous generation (Gen-Xers Oasis) copied a previous generation (Hippies The Who) with the song "My Generation": "People try to put us down (Talkin'bout my generation!), just because we get around. Things they do look awful cold. I hope I die before I get old."

Epigenetics: Controlling our Health (video)

(NOVA) Once nurture seemed clearly distinct from nature. Now it appears that our diets[, environmental toxins,] and lifestyles can change the expression of our genes. How? By influencing a network of chemical switches within our cells collectively known as the epigenome.

This new understanding may lead us to potent new medical therapies [and manipulated genetic disasters, particularly in the realm of modified foods and deadly pesticides that kill off bees, frogs, and most of us]. Epigenetic cancer therapy, for one, already seems to be yielding promising results.

(LINK) Dr. Joseph Mercola.com interviews Dr. Bruce Lipton, who explains how the New Biology will take us from a world of crisis and illness management to health and self-control.

Epi-genetics means above-genetics. What is beyond, what controls, what gives expression to our genetic codes? (The mind, our beliefs, and external factors do). Genes do not express themselves. They have to be turned on and off, and that is usually not a genetic function or even a necessity. It is environmental interaction, a response.

• Epi-genetics is the study of heritable changes in gene expression or cellular phenotype caused by mechanisms other than changes in the DNA sequence itself. The word is composed of the root -genetics modified by epi- (Greek for "over, above, or outer"). It refers to relevant modifications to the genome that do not involve a change in the genes or nucleotide sequence.

The practical upshot of this, according to Dr. Bruce Lipton and others, is that we control our gene expression and we are not controlled by our genes. Biology is NOT destiny after all.

• Uncovering the biology of belief
  

The range of being "human" (video)

Amber Dorrian, Wisdom Quarterly

VIDEO: Supatra Sasuphan, an 11-year-old Thai girl known as Nat [a Nat in Burma and NW Thailand is a magical kind of nature spirit], has hypertrichosis, Ambras syndrome, a genetic expression of excess hair that Europeans regarded as werewolf-ism (MSNBC.com).

Human genetic diversity is incredible. This DNA can grow horns on our head, tails from our spines, scales on our arms, hair all over, a blue complexion, a heart on the outside, or us into beautiful giants (male). Epigenetics and environmental toxins decides what segments of our genetic instructions build. Apparently human "races," varieties within species, were seeded from off-planet stock.

(KK) Zhang Ruifang, 101, of Linlou village, central China, Henan province, noticed a small lump on her forehead. It grew to six cms, and now a small lump has appeared on the other side. Her son said the horn started as a patch of thick, rough skin.

Genetic Armageddon (SteveQuayle.com)

Some of the most influential ET groups seem to have been the reptilians (dragons), the blues, the Nordics (with their Pleiadian-Scandinavian good gone Nazi-"Aryan" bad), the coppers, the reds and blacks of Egyptian fame, and terrible grays (and yet for all that diversity no "little green men" except maybe leprechauns), but gnomes and fairies are another story.

The Fugates family of Troublesome Creek were as blue as Krishna and other Indian ETs/deities (gma.yahoo.com/ABC News).

The 50+ groups that have visited the planet and left genes behind -- either on purpose in an attempt to save themselves or by their penchant to mate with beautiful humans -- traces are still to be found. Who looks more "alien" than Gingers from the Emerald Isle? More "common" than giants in Europe? More alluring than hybrids of these groups?

Nat (ET, fairie, angel) statue behind Buddha

"Empire," it turns out, is not an impulse of earthlings. It is dictated from above. Red headed giants come, mate with Vikings, and before long on a swift new breed of boats, they are crossing the sea to the Americas. A group lands, hands over some technology for the time (how to build a ship, form an alloy, employ a military maneuver, etc.), and sends out the slave traders.

Many earthbound devas fit the descriptions of traditional European and Greek "fairies."

Many humans are currently being abducted and enslaved off planet, tortured and abused in subterranean cities, and sexually made much of by fellow humans and "others" inspiring them. But no one wanted to face that under Malta or Dulce, with Stewart Swerdlow or Alex Collier, how much the less anywhere else?

Where 50% of genes come from are often worshipped in Asia to day as they have been elsewhere in earlier times, shown here cradled in Shinto arms in Japan as a Westerner looks on in disbelief that they are not embarrassed.

Prophecies of Genetic Manipulation
CoasttoCoastAM.com

According to Hebrew scholar and biblical prophecy expert Douglas Hamp, we are entering an era of genetic manipulation that will set the stage for celestial (space) intervention in human affairs.

Hamp predicts that within the next 10 years a major disclosure event will take place which will convince the public to cooperate with space aliens to participate in the next level of evolution.

But these visitors are actually "demons" rather than benevolent ETs. These particular aliens are using a hybridization program -- mixing human genetics with the Satanic -- in order to create an army to fight Sakka/Thor/Zeus/Jesus who is returning, Hamp postulates. He suggests these hybrids may already reside in underground facilities throughout the US.

Human baby and taller alien greys have already been combined with help of smaller drones.

Hamp correlates such beings with biblical accounts: The Nephilim, or "fallen angels," mated with human females and had hybrid offspring. Some of them were said to be giants (titans, asuras).

Scientific tampering with the genetic code, such as recombinant DNA, may lead to the possibility that people will be offered genetic "enhancements." If we accept them we will be turned into Satanic hybrids, akin to the Christian Bible's "mark of the beast," Hamp speculates.

• Corrupting the Image: Angels, Aliens, Antichrist Revealed
• The Monuments of Mars: A City on the Edge of Forever
  

Burma: a fresh look after 17 years (audio)

Bruce Wallace, The World (PRI, Public Radio International, Feb. 24, 2012)

The World’s Mary Kay Magistad is in Burma (Myanmar) speaks with anchor Lisa Mullins about the changes she is seeing in this ancient Buddhist land. For one thing, now Aung San Suu Kyi t-shirts are available at the airport.

• LISTEN: A fresh look at Burma after 17 years
  
• PRI’s The World vistis Senegal, UK, and Burma
• VIDEO: Burma’s All-Girl Band Me N Ma Girls

Me N Ma Girls is an all-girl group from Burma. The girls conjure up images of the Spice Girls and other female pop singers like Britney Spears with their colorful wigs and dance tunes.

• Watching Changes in Burma with cautious optimism
  

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has announced that Washington will start the process of exchanging ambassadors with Myanmar (Burma) following the release of political prisoners there.

The Saffron Revolution was led by Buddhist monastics protesting totalitarianism that inspired the novel 1984. It was crushed by a corrupt, China-backed regime (robertamsterdam.com).

Burmese Political Prisoners Released

Burma has released the most prominent political dissidents of the country from jail. One of the dissidents released is Mya Aye who had been serving a 65-year jail sentence for speaking out against the Burmese government.

Burma’s Key Dissidents

Most political prisoners in Burma are serving long sentences and are expected to remain in jail.

• Slideshow: Burma’s fearless political prisoners

Photographer and activist James Mackay photographed former political prisoners including prominent activists such as opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

British cartoonist Ronald Searle dies

Anchor Marco Werman talks to British cartoonist Steve Bell about the life and work of British graphic artist Ronald Searle who died at the age of 91. Searle was the author of the St. Trinian’s series and was an illustrator for many news publications.

Syria's M.I.C. in Homs (video)

LiveLeak.com; Wisdom Quarterly

Pres. Al-Assad (L) claims to have no control over his military with Barbara Walters.

HOMS, Syria - President Bashar Al-Assad will not let up. While Damascus is not being bombed, the city of Homs is under relentless bombardment by Syria's police and paramilitary forces.

Syrian soldiers are killing Syrian civilians -- just as all police and soldiers are trained to do. This modern-day suburban combat is what militaries all over the world have been practicing for, not simplyl in the Middle East, for more than a decade.

Why? It is because most "developed" countries are related to the American-British Military-Industrial Complex, which calls for war. The MIC rules the world by monetary means but gladly resorts to imperial force when necessary. The only opposition comes from individuals under attack, and the MIC is only too happy to oblige them by meeting them tit for tat using overwhelming force and draconian measures.

Syria on Fire: Homs Bombardment

Found some good footage of an English reporter embedded with Free Syrian Rebels. Edited out everthing except the pure combat chaos on the ground.

Wounded British photographer pleads for help

Paul Conroy was injured in Homs by the same attack as killed the American reporter and the French photographer his wounds look like they have been well treated.

• Journalists died in Homs

Journalists Marie Colvin and Remi Ochlik killed

Journalists Marie Colvin and Remi Ochlik are killed in Homs. This SOS message from Khaled Abu Salah translates as: “These are the bodies of the American journalist Marie Colvin and this is the French journalist..."

• Horror inside Homs
• Syria, Syrian Army snipers filming themselves on rooftop in Homs
• Homs Massacre, Syria (GRAPHIC)

Massacred Children of Homs, Syria... (GRAPHIC)

This extremely graphic video shows the massacre of children in Homs, Syria. Are video journalists in Syria "spreaders of propaganda"? Are innocent civilians in Homs "Taliban supported"? That is what the Syrian military rulers would like the world to wonder as the world pauses.

Space: distant "water world" discovered

This Buddhist view of other worlds is not speculative nor is it dogmatic; it is personally verifiable for anyone who develops the meditative absorptions (jhanas). It is all "empty" (shunyata) not because it is nonexistent but because it is impersonal and without identity.

Distant water world is confirmed

(BBC) The exoplanet GJ 1214b, just 40 light-years away, is a so-called "Super Earth" -- bigger than our planet but smaller than gas giants such as Jupiter. Observations using the Hubble telescope now seem to confirm that a large fraction of its mass is water. The planet's high temperatures suggest exotic materials might exist there. "GJ 1214b is like no planet we know of," said lead author Zachory Berta, from the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. The planet was discovered in 2009 by ground-based telescopes, orbiting its comparatively cool red-dwarf star... More

(TN) A planet orbiting a nearby red dwarf is the first known water world, while its newly discovered neighbor is the lightest. The planetary system around Gliese 581 boasts four planets. The newly discovered planet "e" (left, foreground) weighs about 1.9 Earths; "b" (nearest the star) weighs 16 Earths; "c" (center) weighs 5 Earths; and "d" (bluish planet farthest from the star) weighs 7 Earths. "D" orbits its star in 66.8 days, while "e" completes an orbit in just 3.2. A planet 20 light years away [was confirmed to] be the first known water world, entirely covered by a deep ocean. The planet, named Gliese 581d, is not a new discovery, but astronomers have now revised its orbit putting it within the "habitable zone" where liquid water could exist on the surface. "It is the only low-mass planet known inside the habitable zone," says Michel Mayor of Geneva Observatory. Mayor and his team used the European Southern Observatory's 3.6-meter telescope in Chile to observe the low-mass star Gliese 581 and a precise spectrometer called HARPS to analyze its light. The results were first announced at the European Week of Astronomy and Space Science meeting in Hatfield, UK, and confirmed in Feb. 2012.

What does Buddhism teach about Space?
Seven Dharmachari and Amber Dorrian, Wisdom Quarterly
The Buddha said there were countless worlds. He classified all of them into 31 "planes" of existence. The first detailed reference to cosmography appears in the Buddha's first sermon (the Turning the Wheel of Dharma sutra), most likely inserted there after the fact:

When the Buddha set in motion the Wheel of Dharma, the Earth devas proclaimed... The Realm of the Four Sky King devas having heard them proclaimed... This utterance was echoed and re-echoed in the upper realms to the Realm of the Thirty-Three, Yama, Contented, Delighting in Others' Creations (Nimmanarati), and Delighting in Creating (Paranimmitavasavatti). The Brahmakayika devas (the "supremely-embodied shining ones"), having heard also repeated:

“The incomparable Wheel of Dharma is turned by the Blessed One at Isipatana, the Deer Sanctuary near Benares, and no recluse [shamana], priest [brahmin], shining one [deva], corrupter [mara], brahma [supremo], or other being in the world can stop it.”

So in a moment, an instant, a flash word of the Turning of the Wheel of Dharma went forth up to the World of Brahma [at the top of the Sensual Sphere]. And the ten-thousandfold world system trembled and quaked and shook. A boundless, sublime radiance, surpassing the glory of devas, appeared on Earth. This happened because the very first student entered the first stage of enlightenment: “Truly Kondañña has understood,” the Buddha announced, “Kondañña has understood.” - Translation based on Ven. Soma Thera

These Sensual Sphere worlds (lokas) might be called realms, spheres, planets, or dimensions. But the overall pattern is simple. As humans we most often concern ourselves with the Human Plane (Manussa Loka) without realizing that it is neither limited to Earth nor to our "generation" (this creation, this evolving genetically manipulated experiment by extraterrestrials, this iteration).

Gaia (the planet Earth) is only one of uncountable habitable planets. Suitable planets are easy to find for space traveling races and terraform. Those beings then worship their "creators" and are helped along to evolve and continue the spatial imperalism off planet spreading genes across the galaxy and universe. Time travel and other manipulations make it easy but mind boggling.

Astronomers have claimed the existence of a new class of planet: a "water-world" with a thick, steamy atmosphere.

Buddhist cosmology is more complex than it first appears. It is taught that there are countless world systems. What is a "world system"? A solar system, a ten-thousandfold planetary system (a galaxy), a cosmos, universe, multiverse?

What is a plane? Many mistakenly believe the answer is straightforward. Life at any time on Earth is stacked and complex; it is almost unrecognizable from one location to the next, one time period to the next, one socioeconomic status to the next.

Human life on Earth now would have to be dark skinned, female, malnourished, uneducated, and desperate clinging to the views of various subcultures. Few of us would recognize that as a description of our human world, but it does statistically describe Earth in 2012. Human life elsewhere in the solar system (yes, the visible nearby planets) and the galaxy is generally much more advanced. But there are ruined worlds (ala Easter Island).

The Great Wastes
The Buddha described unspeakably miserable hells (purgatories, perdition). These worlds are varied and overpopulated. The worst of them is perhaps in hyperspace, an interstitial hell between worlds. (Each "world" is conceived of as a globe or galaxy separated from others with crevices like the ones between the edges of transparent beach balls). There is no light there, and beings feel alone. Ostracized and doomed to isolation, beings suffer greatly there, much as if they were lost in space in a cold dead universe.

Officially the worst world is at the bottom of the Sensual Sphere. It is called Avici., a world (naraka) of unrelenting torment. Other "hells" are incredibly cold or perversely ironic, like Siberia or Alaska, wastelands. All of these general types of places are regarded as a single plane.

Unfortunate Realms
There are less miserable, albeit still quite unfortunate, planes -- manifold ghost realms, super-diversified animal worlds, realms of monsters [shape shifting reptilians (nagas), demons (yakkhas), and titans (asuras)]. All of these co-occupy the Human Plane. Spirits or transparent beings -- of the dead, ghosts, elemental fairies (lesser earthbound devas), dwarfs (kumbandhas), avian hybrids (garudas), and chimeras.

First Fortunate Realm: Human World
Life on Earth is diverse, crowded, miserable, and a rare experience to rejoice over. Given all of the lives one leads and will lead, all of the worlds one will be reborn in (hells and heavens of tremendous duration), all of the planes to be reborn on, human life is extraordinary unusual, in demand and, usually, completely wasted.

For it is only from this world (along with some lower akasha deva planes) that one has the opportunity to reach enlightenment and reach liberation from the otherwise endless round of rebirth called samsara (the "continued wandering on" in search of pleasure and meaning, away from suffering and despair). This is the only plane on which buddhas arise, and the heavens can only look down in amazement.

As part of a simplified description, world systems are all imagined as possessing 31 Planes of Existence, with a Maha Brahma (highest and first born being of the Sensual Sphere, which imagines Itself to be the creator of all), a Sakka (Indra, a Lord of Lords, King of Kings who rules over the first two space planes above the Human Plane), and only rarely a single fully enlightened buddha. These three are not actually beings in the conventional sense but rather stations or positions occupied by different individuals.

• This extraordinary kind of buddha (a samma-sam-buddha) should not be confused with being the only worthy, extraordinary, or spiritual personality in the world. There are many worthy ones (arhats), noble ones (arya, a reference to partially enlightened beings in the human world and in some celestial worlds), non-teaching buddhas (pacceka-buddhas), brahmins (beings ennobled by their actions not by their birth), bodhisattvas (beings striving for enlightenment), good beings enjoying or suffering the results of their karma, and wretched beings suffering or enjoying the results of their karma). No being is all good and no being all bad. It is tempting to say that a buddha or arhat is ALL good, but that denies such a person's past. Indeed, a fully enlightened being has overcome all defilements, overcome rebirth on any kind plane
  

Elsewhere in the universe -- in other clusters, galaxies, zones, or dimensions (whatever a "world system" is) there is a Buddha teaching on a planet, visiting other planets in that world system, aware of buddhas elsewhere. Over time, there are buddhas that arise, but this is usually understood to be measured in geological time in epochs, eras, ages, and aeons on a grand Indian (Vedic) timescale.



The Heavens
The Buddha called all of the planes of existence above the Human Plane akasha deva lokas ("space worlds inhabited by light beings"). Even the miserable planes of warlike titans (asuras) and reptoids (nagas, dragons, feathered serpents) are lumped with planes superior to humans.

The many heavens begin with the lowest world of messengers (gandhabbas, gandharvas), "angels" or space fairies, incredibly beautiful humanoids in space crafts (vimanas, mounts, platforms, UFOs) who visit Earth often on behalf of higher order and more powerful devas ("arch angels"). These long-lived "lords" -- such as those in Tavatimsa or the "World of the Thirty-Three" -- protect this planet from other space beings and value the importance of morality, for they know it to be the path to rebirth among them.

Many of the worlds humans call "heavens" refer to life on advanced planets, but our language is confounded with mythology and hyperbole. Compared to human society, such worlds are paradises. But parts of this terraformed planet are also paradisiacal, made in the image of those biotic celestial worlds.

If we cling to a view of "heaven" as a single, cloudy gated community, we have gone astray. And going astray, it is very easy to stop believing in any such "nonsense."

Today, most humans believe in a transdimensional "heaven" but scoff at the notion that there is life in space on other planets: "UFOs and aliens," we scoff, "hah!" Religion has convinced most of us that "immaterial" worlds of blissful "souls" exist not seeing the danger in careless labeling.

The space worlds of the Sensual Sphere are tangible, material worlds like this one, which is also home to many unseen beings.

• Buddhism's 31 "PLANES" OF EXISTENCE are divided into three "spheres" (lokas) -- the Sensual (13 planes), Fine-Material (14 planes), and Immaterial (four planes).
• Most religions are Sun worship without realizing it

While such beings are normally invisible, they can be made visible by developing the "third eye" or "divine eye" (dibba cakkhu), which seems to refer to the physical base of the pineal gland. Many are born with this ability. But because most of us are not, or lose it after childhood, we are taught to laugh at the possibility of seeing beyond the "visible" light spectrum with the unaided eye.

"Seventh Heaven" is either the highest Sensual Sphere plane (paranimmitavasavatti deva loka) or the lowest Fine-Material Sphere plane (brahma-parisajja deva). It is not an immaterial one, of which four are very real and correspond, as karmic resultants of, the four immaterial absorptions.

DMT visions of the normally unseen world (centraxis.blogspot.com)

• A detailed accounting: Buddhist cosmology
• The 31 Planes of Existence in Buddhism

For more on Buddhist cosmology directly from the oldest sutras, see the Pali Canon's

• Saleyyaka Sutta: The Brahmins of Sala (MN 41);
• Janussonin Sutta: Offerings to the Dead (AN 10-177);
  
• Cula-suññata Sutta: Lesser Discourse on Emptiness (MN 121)

Bradley Manning courts martial begins

Wisdom Quarterly

US war crimes whistle blower Pfc. Bradley Manning, an intelligence analyst for the US Army, formally went on trial today. He is no longer facing capital punishment (death) for revealing otherwise accessible news to WikiLeaks. The military-industrial complex will not rest until Manning has gone insane (which he may already be after more than a year of carefully orchestrated torture in maximum security awaiting trial) and Julian Assange has been retaliated against for embarrassing the military as it prosecutes wars of empire and greed in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere. The secrets WikiLeaks tried to leak were frustrated by the mainstream media, US spying apparatuses (targeting their site with denial of service attacks, sophisticated infiltration, and quasi-legal surveillance tactics), and PayPal/credit card service companies. Moreover, Pres. Obama, Commander and Chief of the US military, has already illegally declared Manning guilty prior to trial.

• Bradley Manning's formal arraignment begins
  
• What did Manning reveal? (codepinkalert.org)
  
• Military legal matters: Courts martial explained

A Brief History (RT.com)

WikiLeaks: public enemy number one?
What began as a formidable journalistic tool in the fight against injustice appears to be turning into an out-of-control machine.

Manning, WikiLeaks making headlines again
The man accused of blowing the whistle on the US war on Afghanistan is 22-year-old Pfc. Bradley Manning. Arrested in Iraq on May 29, he was held in solitary confinement then transferred to Quantico, Virginia.

Bradley Manning: Cruel and unusual punishment?
P.J. Crowley resigned his post as State Department spokesman after he came under fire for his controversial comments regarding Pfc. Manning’s Pentagon mistreatment.

US Diplomat slams treatment of Manning
US Dept. of State Assistant Secretary P.J. Crowley said Manning's treatment at the hands of the Dept. of Defense “is ridiculous and counterproductive and stupid.”
Obama: The anti-transparency president
Candidate Obama pledged to have the most transparent administration in history. President Obama instead abuses his authority to crack down on those who expose government wrongdoing.
Manning stripped naked, left in cell for hours
He was stripped naked and left on the floor of his cell for seven hours, claims his lawyer.
Manning faces more charges, death penalty
US military officially adds 22 new charges, including aiding the enemy.

PayPal cuts off Bradley Manning support group
Online payment service PayPal has allegedly frozen the account of Courage to Resist, an organization dedicated to raising funds in support of US Army Pfc. Bradley Manning.
US Internet freedom hypocrisy
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton calls on world to respect Internet freedom as Justice Department targets WikiLeaks and Julian Assange.
Assange may face death, Manning kept in solitary
WikiLeaks' founder’s extradition hearing in London will determine whether he will be sent to Sweden as Manning sits in solitary confinement.

In Assange limelight Manning almost forgotten
Julian Assange conducts interviews from house in England as Manning sits in solitary confinement on a US military base.
Bradley Manning: American hero or villain?

Public Enemy?