T-Day: Trillion dollar student debt (video)

Pat Macpherson edited by Seven and Ashley Wells, Wisdom Quarterly

Today marks a watershed in the next economic bubble that will rock the American economy. 

Bigger than Google's future bust after its 100 billion dollar valuation, mounting student debt will rock the country and the world worse than the housing crisis because most student debt cannot be defaulted on.

• How much is a trillion dollars? A thousand-billion is a misleading answer because a billion is only a thousand-million. Have a look.

In the absence of a Jubilee of biblical proportions, the future for us will be debt bondage and indentured servitude -- slavery, revolt, and draconian crackdown.

MORE VIDEO: Occupy Movement targets Wells Fargo (MSNBC)

 

Why are foolish "college" commercials proliferating offering job training? It is because they make a great deal of money for fly-by-night schools with very few attending students. The rolls are full, but few complete the training. The few that do do not go on to get jobs.

• FAMILY GUY: Man brags: "My son got into DeVry!" [DeVry is one of many technical institutes, colleges, universities, schools, and training programs that advertise heavily on daytime TV for people at home watching TV in the middle of the day]. His co-worker replies sarcastically: "Ah, good. What'd he have to do, open the door?"

Jobs in what they were trained in are not in demand when they graduate. We foot the bill anyway because the role of these "colleges" is to book applicants, drop outs, and secure them federally-backed student loans they will not be able to repay but cannot default on.

They are often seduced or forced into attending such sketchy "training programs" in order to qualify for unemployment insurance.

Even if they successfully declare bankruptcy anytime in their future, the debt will survive to haunt them.

The "most powerful man in the world," the US president, said he only recently overcame his student debt. And he is a lovable and successful lawyer, senator, drug-abusing closeted bisexual, and top executive, not to mention a grand sell-out to MIC corporate interests of all stripes.

Wouldn't it be great to live in a Judeo-Christian society?
Then we could have a Jubilee every 50 years.

But American-capitalism, a perversion of what the Nazis envisioned. The MIC we back is out to conquer and enslave the world through debt. This is milking labor (the 99%) for the benefit of an elite ruling caste (the war-happy 1%).

(MB) WAR BY OTHER MEANS: montage of a special report by John Pilger.
The IMF (International Monetary Fund) and World Bank are weapons of war.

Occupy Wells Fargo Banking Corporation

Bloomberg via San Francisco Chronicle (SFGate.com)

Wells Fargo & Co. shareholders needed police help to enter today's [April 24, 2012] annual meeting in San Francisco as about 500 [Occupy Wall Street activists] people gathered to protest the bank's lending and foreclosures.

Sounds from the street wafted up to the 15th-floor meeting hall, where Chief Executive Officer John Stumpf was interrupted at least four times by people shouting objections. Earlier, six protesters chained themselves together to block an entrance, and about five to 10 were inside chanting as police cleared paths for attendees at the Merchants Exchange Building in the city's financial district, across from Wells Fargo's headquarters.

Members of Occupy Wall Street are among groups seeking to revive last year's protests against the nation's biggest banks for their role in causing the financial crisis and gaps between the incomes of the nation's richest and poorest citizens. Wells Fargo is the largest provider of U.S. home loans and runs the biggest servicing operation, which handles billings, collections and foreclosures for banks and investors... More
 

Debt cancellation (Jubilee) is the norm

Tim Atwater (JubileeUSA.org)

The Jubilee campaignís origins are linked with the Biblical Year of Jubilee, outlined in Leviticus 25-26, a magnificent and widely ignored text which calls for periodic complete overhaul of the economy.

In the Jubilee, there is release for those enslaved because of debts, a Sabbath rest for land and people, redistribution of lands lost because of debt, and a reordering of prices for land and labor based on proximity to the next Jubilee. 

Leviticus 25 never even explicitly mentions debt -- but the Jubilee is all about debt cancellation, restored community, and freedom from debt bondage. The Jubilee cycle of release builds on the Sabbath Year debt release and rest cycle outlined in Deuteronomy 15 and Exodus 21:2 and 23:10-11, building from an every seventh year rest and release to a super-release in the fiftieth year.

It was no accident that rebels against colonial authority chose a line from Lev. 25:10 "Proclaim liberty throughout all the land, unto all the inhabitants thereof...." as the inscription for their liberty bell. More

• Occupy Wall Street inspires a nation: Freedom
• OccupyOakland.org: Occupy4Prisoners presents...
• Billions for the Bankers: Debt, War, 1% Corruption
• Obama's student loan debt repayment program
• A Jubilee for Student Debt? (LA Progressive.com)

The Scientific Study of Rebirth

Dr. Granville Wardena, Sri Lanka Assoc. for the Advancement of Science; Wisdom Quarterly
Row of Buddhas, Thailand and Laos (Scott MacFarlane/Scottmac2007/Flickr.com)

The prospect of having a scientific theory accepted depends in part on geography. If an idea originated in the East or in a Third World nation, its chance of success is low.

• The Buddha's many past lives - the Jataka Tales
  
• The Baldwin Project of Buddhist Rebirth Tales

And if a scientific theory  goes contrary to the teachings of religions popular in the West, its acceptance becomes extremely difficult even if it originated in the west, as happened to Darwin's theory of evolution and Galileo's heliocentric theory. 

If rebirth is to be discussed from an unbiased scientific point of view, it is necessary first of all to find a way of bypassing these unscientific barriers. This can be done by standard procedures now considered acceptable so as to test the theory of rebirth.

Geremy Hayward has described how one ventures to deal with a new theory. He describes it as a four step scientific process:

1. study the phenomenon
2. formulate theory
3. predict observations
4. look for predicted observations.

Nobel Laureate physicist Richard Feynman describes this process in detail, combining Steps 1 and 2 to form a three step process.

• Does Buddhism believe in "reincarnation"? NO. It runs contrary to an enlightened vision of what really happens. Buddhism teaches "rebirth." Reincarnation seems to be happening. The difference is that rebirth is a continuous stream of discrete moments, impermanent and dissolving, whereas reincarnation assumes an undying entity (atta, self, soul) passing from one lifetime to another. Isn't it just semantics? No, it is a crucial distinction that precludes many needless philosophical problems and misunderstandings.

Rebirth is a very old belief, which a significant portion of the world accepts. Rene Descartes, famous for concluding "I think therefore I am" (when the only conclusion to be drawn was "Thinking is going on therefore thinking is going on") made a statement in 1641. It confirms his belief: "...the extinction of the mind does not follow from the corruption of the body and also to give men the hope of another life after death." Nevertheless 20% of those whose religion shuns the belief accept it anyway.

Rebirth may be defined as the re-embodiment of an immaterial part of a person after a short or a long interval after death, in a new body, wherein it proceeds to lead a new life in the boy more or less unconscious of its past existences but containing some residua of former lives which go to make up its new character or personality. We are, therefore, not born blank slates. We have definite propensities, abilities, deficits, and talents.

THE SCIENTIFIC EXAMINATION

There are two possibilities, rebirth occurs or it does not. We understand the physical part of being human because it falls in the purview of tangible materiality.

We now understand that there is much more than the physical. Materialists cling to the notion that it is all physical. Psychologists, mystics, spiritual persons, and common sense allows for more.

If the body down to the DNA is the hard drive, where is the software? It is immaterial so not anywhere in a sense. Written ideas are not in the writing; they exist independent of it.

Death is the event horizon for the body. There is no return for it after disintegrating. But as for the immaterial, death is no event horizon. It can reappear. There is a chance for return from that scientifically unknown state to a scientifically known one in a new body.

Where is the evidence? There are many lines of evidence to pursue. More

Rebirth: Best Evidence

Stephen Wagner (Paranormal.about.com)

Proof by handwriting comparison between the living and the deceased person s/he claims to have been?

Indian researcher Vikram Raj Singh Chauhan thinks so and has undertaken a study. His findings have been received favorably at the National Conference of Forensic Scientists at Bundelkhand University, Jhansi.

• A 6-year-old Indian boy (Taranjit Singh) claimed since the age of 2 that he had been a person named Satnam Singh, a boy who had lived in another village and had been killed while riding his bike home from school. An investigation verified the many details Taranjit knew of his previous life as Satnam. But the clincher was that their handwriting -- a trait experts know is as distinct as fingerprints -- was virtually identical.

BIRTHMARKS, RECALL, AND MORE

Dr. Ian Stevenson, head of the Department of Psychiatric Medicine at the University of Virginia School of Medicine in Charlottesville, Virginia, is one of the foremost researchers and authors on the subject of "reincarnation" and past lives. In 1993, he wrote a paper entitled "Birthmarks and Birth Defects Corresponding to Wounds on Deceased Persons" as possible physical evidence for past lives.

"Among 895 cases of children who claimed to remember a previous life (or were thought by adults to have had a previous life)," Stevenson writes, "birthmarks and/or birth defects... More

The evidence, of course, does not stop there. It encompasses physical appearance, phobias and nightmares, spontaneous recall and special knowledge (prodigies), past life regression hypnosis, illnesses and physical ailments. All of these lend themselves to scientific investigation.

• POLL: What do you think about evidence?
• Buddhist view on death and rebirth
• Do Buddhists go to heaven?
  The Buddhist contribution to the conception of the afterlife, it turns out, is nirvana. Nirvana is the end of suffering while one is alive and the end of rebirth after passing away. 
  Population growth and Buddhist rebirth 
• Bardo and rebirth in Tibetan Buddhism
  In Tibetan Buddhism, a bardo is an in-between or intermediate state. The word is often used to mean a state between death and rebirth, but it can mean other things... [The problem is, of course, that one has already been reborn into this intermediate state. One is alive, one is continuing, and will usually go from here to a longer-lived state misleadingly spoken of as the "rebirth" proper.]
  What Buddhism teaches about karma and and rebirth The law of karma is a law of cause and effect, or an understanding that every deed produces fruit. The fruits of karma affect our lives and cause rebirth.
• Healing Past Lives through Dreams

  Buddhism, rebirth, and nirvana
• BOOKS: The Angry Buddhist by Seth Greenland 
  The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka

The Dalai Lama and Pope system (video)

Wisdom Quarterly (ANALYSIS)

Tibetan Buddhism -- sometimes referred to as Vajrayana, Lamaism, or Bon (its pre-Buddhist predecessor) -- is unique among schools for melding church and state. But this is nothing for the tradition to be proud of having done.

(GrunionLB) The spiritual leader, or "pope" who stepped down as "god-king," of Tibet made Long Beach (Los Angeles County) the second of three stops in California on his current visit to  the United States. Gazzettes.com sent out a video team to greet "His Holiness" (HHDL XIV) at his first event on Friday, April 20, 2012.

Hitler, who is said to have been Catholic, sent emissaries to welcome this unholy union in search of "Aryan" invading forbears or offspring from when asuras ruled the peripatetic Himalayan lands.

A Brief History of the System

Wisdom Quarterly edit of Wikipedia entry
During 1252, Mongolian Emperor Kublai Khan granted an audience to Drogön Chögyal Phagpa and Karma Pakshi, the second Karmapa of Tibet who, however, sought the patronage of Möngke Khan.

Before his death in 1283, Karma Pakshi wrote a will to protect the established interests of his sect by advising his disciples to locate a boy to inherit the black hat.

• His instructions were based on the premise that the Dharma Buddhism expresses is timeless so in a sense "eternal." In Mahayana Buddhism, of which Vajrayana is a school, the Buddha is more Brhaman than a historical figure. He sends out emanations to complete the missions he has initiated, just as in the Vedic Brahmanism the historical Buddha was born into and worked so hard to set straight. But the views of the brahmin priests won out in India and gave rise to Brahmanism in a new form: "Mahayana" Buddhism. And it is this form of Buddhism that met and melded with the shamanistic/animistic Bon spirituality of the high Himalayas: Tibet, Bhutan, Nepal, Ladakh, Sikkim, and Himalchal Pradesh (a modern northern Indian state).

Karma Pakshi's disciples followed these instructions and located the reborn boy of their master. The event was the beginning of the "teacher-reincarnation system" or tulku myth for the Black-Hat Line of various colored pointy pope-ish hats unique to Tibetan Buddhism.

During the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Yongle bestowed the title "Great Treasure Prince of Dharma," the first of the three Princes of Dharma, upon the Black-Hat Karmapa. Various sects of Tibetan Buddhism responded to the teacher-reincarnation system by creating similar lineages. 

• The Catholic Potala Palace
  

Unification of the Empire
In the 1630s, Tibet became entangled in power struggles between the rising Manchu and various Mongol and Oirat factions. (Rome has had similar problems with its colonies).

Ligden Khan of the Chakhar, retreating from the Manchu, set out to Tibet to destroy the Yellow Hat sect. He died on the way to Qinghai (Koko Nur) in 1634.

His vassal Tsogt Taij continued the fight, even having his own son, Arslan, killed after Arslan changed sides.

Tsogt Taij was defeated and killed by Güshi Khan of the Khoshud in 1637, who would in turn become the overlord of Tibet and act as a "Protector of the Yellow Church" (Rene Grousset, The Empire of the Steppes, New Brunswick 1970, p. 522).

Güshi helped the 5th Dalai Lama to establish himself as the highest political and spiritual authority in Tibet and destroyed any potential rivals (just like a European pope). The time of the 5th Dalai Lama was, however, also believed to be a period of rich cultural development.

"We Have A Pope" (Habemus Papam) trailer

His death was kept secret for 15 years by the regent [a ruler who awaits a king's return] Sanggye Gyatso. This was apparently done so that the great Potala Palace (think Himalayan Vatican) could be finished and to prevent Tibet's neighbors from taking advantage of an interregnum in the succession of the Dalai Lamas (Laird, 2006 pp. 181-182).

The 6th Dalai Lama, Tsangyang Gyatso, was not enthroned until 1697. He enjoyed a lifestyle that included drinking, the company of women, and writing love songs (Karenina Kollmar-Paulenz, Kleine Geschichte Tibets, München 2006, pp. 109-122) -- just like European popes, who from time to time, do not even feign to be "holy" men, just charismatic rulers who wield lots of power.

In 1705, Lobzang Khan of the Khoshud used the sixth Dalai Lama's escapades as excuse to take control of Tibet. The regent was murdered, and the Dalai Lama was sent to Beijing, China. He died on the way, near Koko Nur, ostensibly from illness. (It's corruption and controversy just like a Malachi Martin confessional or sanitized Dan Brown novels about the Vatican).

Lobzang Khan appointed a new Dalai Lama who, however, was not accepted by the Gelugpa school. Kelzang Gyatso was discovered near Koko Nur and became a rival candidate.

The Dzungars invaded Tibet in 1717, deposed, and killed Lobzang Khan's pretender to the position of Dalai Lama. This was widely approved.

• (The Vatican similarities become too obvious to continue mentioning, leaving one simply to wonder, Who came first, Catholic Popes or Tibetan Dalai Lamas? Someone is following someone else's example or, along with the practice of pederastry suggested in Unmistaken Child, is playing out the same human nature seen among child molesting priests, corrupt bishops, and worldly pontiffs)

However, they soon began to loot the holy places of Lhasa [Tibet's Rome], which brought a swift response from Emperor Kangxi in 1718. But his military expedition was annihilated by the Dzungars, not far from Lhasa (Richardson, 1984, pp. 48-49; Stein, 1972, p. 85). More
  
Nicaea to East-West Schism (325–1054)
Wisdom Quarterly edit of Wikipedia entry
The Edict of Milan in 313 granted freedom to all religions in the Roman Empire (Davidson, Ivor, 2005, The Birth of the Church, Monarch, p. 341), beginning the Peace of the Church.

In 325, the First Council of Nicaea condemned Arianism, related to Arius not Aryan, declaring trinitarianism dogmatic.

And in its sixth canon it recognized the special role of the sees of Rome, Alexandria, and Antioch (Canons of the Council of Nicaea).

Great defenders of the [Vedic Brahmin, now Hindu, concept of a] Trinitarian faith included the Popes, especially Pope Liberius, who was exiled to Berea by Constantius II for his Trinitarian faith (Pope Liberius, Catholic Encyclopedia, New Advent, 24 May 2010), Damasus I, and several other bishops (J. Alves, Os Santos de Cada Dia, 10th ed., Paulinas, pp: 296, 696, 736).

In 380 Catholicism was declared the sole "state religion" of the Roman Empire (Theodosian Code XVI.i.2, Medieval Sourcebook: Banning of Other Religions by Paul Halsall, June 1997, Fordham University, retrieved 2007-09-04; Robert Wilken, 2004, "Christianity" in Hitchcock, Susan Tyler; Esposito, John. Geography of Religion. National Geographic Society, p. 286).

While the civil power in the East controlled the church and the bishop of Constantinople, the capital, wielded much power (Franco Gaeta; Pasquale Villani, Corso di Storia, per le scuole medie superiori. Milão. Editora Principato, 1986), in the West the bishops of Rome were able to consolidate the influence and power they already possessed (Ibid.)

After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, barbarian tribes were converted to Arian Christianity or Catholicism (Jacques Le Goff, 2000, Medieval Civilization. Barnes & Noble, p. 14, 21); Clovis I, king of the Franks, was the first important barbarian ruler to convert to Catholicism rather than Arianism, allying himself with the papacy.

Other tribes, such as the Visigoths, later abandoned Arianism in favor of Catholicism (Ibid.) More

• Was Peter (Petra) really the first pope?
• Who was the actual first pope?

Occupy Wall Street: "Fascism" is...

CC Liu and Pfc. Sandoval, Wisdom Quarterly

OLA demonstrators at City Hall in 2011 (Reuters/Jonathan Alcorn via JewishJournal.com)

Zoom in to the red, white, and blue placard: "Fascism: When people have to go to WALL STREET to protest their GOVERNMENT." 

What? It's true. This is how it is as we learned from the Nazis. Hitler's Germany, the most recent grand experiment in fascism was the union of STATE POWER and BUSINESS INTERESTS.

There is no "business" like the business of business, which at its root involves banking. 

Banking seems innocent to us. We naively assume it means nothing more than going down to the local branch and pulling out a $20. That is a nearly insignificant fraction of what "banking" means. Think high finance. Think war. Think political corruption at the highest levels.

Nazi Germany was followed by the UK (the second worst empire in history, just behind the world's current superpower and its unparalleled abuses) and other European and Asian examples.

Think home foreclosures, Economic Assassins, jackals, and Wall Street royalty who form the underbelly of our Military-Industrial Complex. And when you're done thinking, do something.

• Crash Course: How much is a trillion in debt?
• VIDEO: Jane Goodall named [Occupied] Rose Parade Grand Marshal 

Cenk Uygur looks at Occupy Wells Fargo by 99% Power

Occupy the Justice Department:

Happy Birthday, Abu Mumia Jamal!

Sex, Science, and Drama (audio play)

L.A. Theatre Works (The Play's the Thing, KPFK.org)

MP3 Audio: "Completeness" (Part 1 and 2)
A pair of brainy graduate students fall in love while tackling some of science’s biggest unsolved questions. But can their book-smarts help them through the innate uncertainties of romance? Jason Ritter and Mandy Siegfried star in Completeness by Itamar Moses.

 
With Andre Sogliuzzo and Mia Barron. Stage manager: Amanda Allen. Live sound effects by Michael Rhea. Associate producer: Christina Montano. Original music and sound design by Bray Poor. Editing by Wes Dewberry. Recording, mixing, and additional sound design by Mark Holden for the Invisible Studios, West Hollywood. Our director is Stephen Sachs.

• This play is part of L.A. Theatre Works’ Relativity Series featuring science-themed plays. Major funding for the Relativity Series is provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, to enhance public understanding of science and technology in the modern world.

The Relativity Series is an ongoing series featuring science-themed plays. The series currently includes 20 plays on topics from astronomy, physics, and cosmology to the mathematics of code-breaking, the ethics of scientific research, and the invention of television. 

It is generously supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to enhance public understanding of science and technology. The Relativity Series presents science as a thoroughly human endeavor, bringing to life the people and stories behind the research and invention that shapes and changes our world.

• Stream the entire RELATIVITY SERIES

Technical Difficulties

Wisdom Quarterly is experiencing temporary technical difficulties that have been cutting into the number, appearance, and quality of postings. Blogger.com, a subsidiary of the Google Multinational Corporation, recently instituted drastic changes to its editing software. We are back to the Stone Age. And there seems little choice but to try to make sense of these unexpected changes, which rival Facebook's alterations in foolishness and scope. The CIA and Zuckerberg's "social network" has lost the participation of many users and many more fans recently as it moves toward the largest hysterical IPO in history. IXQuick.com and many other superior free search engines -- which do not spy on users -- are cutting into Google. Could Blogger be far behind? Will we return to normal programming momentarily because as Stewie Griffin is fond of quoting Henry Ford, "Whether you think you can or [think you] can't, you're right."

Simpler life of pad and paper (overgrownpath.com)

• Top 10 vegan friendly places to meet and eat 
• Rodney King comes to grips with "The Riot Within"
  In his new memoir, Rodney King explains why he gave his famous "Can we get along?" speech 20 years ago when the Los Angeles riots erupted after police guilty of brutality were acquitted in his videotaped beating. [Two were later convicted in a civil trial.] His lawyers had drafted a far angrier script for him. He also reflects on his life since the trial: "Things have changed for me," he says.
  PHOTOS: Celebrating 4/20 in Los Angeles
  The LA Weekly goes to Venice Beach to see how local and visiting potheads are toking and stroking their egos on Earth Day weekend.
  Serial "teardrop" rapist on the loose in the City of Angels
• 100 koans to ponder (Buddhism.org)
• The New (Buddhist) Lord's Prayer and Mary
• VIDEO: Woman with two vaginas shocks the world

Living in a Surveillance State

DemocracyNow.org, April 20, 2012


In his first television interview since he resigned from the NSA (National Security Agency, one of the USA's most secretive spying agencies) over its domestic surveillance program, William Binney discusses the NSA’s massive power to spy on Americans.

He also explains why the FBI raided his home after he became a whistleblower. Binney was a key source for investigative journalist James Bamford’s recent exposé in Wired Magazine about how the NSA is quietly building the largest spy center in the country in Bluffdale, Utah.

The Utah spy center will contain near-bottomless databases to store all forms of communication collected by the agency, including private emails, cell phone calls, Google searches, and other personal data.

Binney served in the NSA for over 30 years, including a time as technical director of the NSA’s World Geopolitical and Military Analysis Reporting Group. Since retiring from the NSA in 2001, he has warned that the NSA’s data-mining program has become so vast that it could "create an Orwellian state.

• [April 20, 2012] marks the first time Binney has spoken on national television about NSA surveillance. This interview is part of a 4-part special. Watch segments 2, 3, and 4.

Mind Control in the New World Order (video)

UFOTVstudios, NOW ON DVD: David Icke LIVE at The Oxford Union Cat. #U697

David Icke (pronounced ike as in "like") encapsulates our current plight and how humanity can secure its freedom from the hidden hand behind global events.

Tens of millions of people across the globe now turn to David Icke's extraordinary information as the world he has predicted in books and talks is becoming part our daily experience.

We are seeing the pages of George Orwell's famous dystopian novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four, come to life in what can now be called our Big Brother surveillance state.

The Matrix we are sleepwalking through is expanding toward its goal of a global fascist authoritarian planet. "Fascism" is simply the marriage of corporate and government forces most famously seen in Nazi Germany.

Icke has spent decades doing research in more than 45 countries uncovering the cabal of interbreeding bloodlines and exclusionary families. Their agenda, with our help as "little Eichmanns," is for human enslavement.

Their goals and methods of operation and manipulation are all around us if we wake up to them: PR, propaganda, mainstream media complicity, police state abuse, White House collusion, imperialism, and our own unwitting participation.

Once we begin to become aware of what is really happening in our world and why, Icke's presentation is not to be missed. Our freedom and that of our descendents for seven generations depend on it.

AUDIO: News of the World (NPR)

• Israel sounds [false] alarm as Iran engages in nuclear talks: Last weekend's meeting on Iran's controversial nuclear program didn't produce any breakthroughs, but the envoys from six world powers and Iran suggested that the talks in Istanbul began a process that could lead to an eventual compromise. NPR's Lourdes Garcia-Navarro reports that Israel was not happy with the results from Istanbul. 
• Nazi past has French town wary of Far-Right politics: Much of the French presidential campaign has played out on the far right, around the issues of security and crime and immigration. Even Pres. Nicolas Sarkozy has spoken of limiting immigration and deporting foreigners. NPR's Eleanor Beardsley visited a French town still haunted by ghosts of its far-right past.
  
• US campaign finance disclosures mark turning point: We have a new look at the fundraising contest being waged by Pres. BS Obama and Gov. Willard "Mittens" Romney. The Mormon may like to say the pseudo-Muslim president is out of ideas, but Obama's re-election campaign is definitely not out of money.
• World Bank: Strings attached to IMF's new financial firepower: Member countries have pledged $430 billion to add to the International Monetary Fund's crisis-fighting arsenal. The aim is to amass enough resources to handle any further problems coming from the prolonged debt crisis in Europe, but the funds come with a few caveats.
• City is calm, a day after Syria-wide protests: The shelling in the City of Homs has stopped for the moment. A small advance team of United Nations observers are visiting the country. On Friday, thousands turned out for anti-government protesters across Syria. NPR's Kelly McEvers reports that activists say at least 16 people were killed.
  

Buddhism's "Higher Teachings"

Narada Maha Thera, A Manual of Abhidhamma (edited by Wisdom Quarterly)

The Abhidharma, the third part of the Dharma,  deals with Buddhist psychology and physics.

The Dharma is distinguished into three divisions: conventional discourses (sutras), monastic disciplinary guidelines (Vinaya) plus their origin stories, and higher (Abhi-) or ultimate Teachings (Dharma). The following is a tiny glimpse of the wealth of Buddhism's detailed treatises on psychology and physics.

CHAPTER IV: Analysis of Thought-Processes

Five Sense-Door Thought-Process - Introductory

1. Having completed the noble compendium of consciousness and its concomitants (with respect to feelings and so on), I shall briefly describe, in due order, the compendium of (thought) processes [during the] lifetime, according to the planes and individuals, and as they are determined by what (consciousness) precedes and by what follows (1).

 

Note 1: In the preceding chapter states of consciousness and mental concomitants were treated according to feelings, roots, and so on. [Here] the author [Anuruddha] deals with thought processes as they arise through the mind and the five other senses, in accordance with the different kinds of individuals and planes of existence. 

The Pali phrase pubbaparaniyamitam needs explanation. The commentary explains, This citta [mind moment] arises after so many cittas, and so many cittas follow this citta....

Patisandhi here refers to the initial thought-process that occurs at the moment of conception in a new birth. Pavatti refers to all thought-processes that occur during the course of one lifetime. The translation of these two verses appears in the Compendium of Philosophy as follows:

"This further summary of geneses
Of thought now having made, I will go on
To speak concisely, summing up again
Processes of the mind, in birth and life,
By order due, the 'after,' the 'before,'
Distinguishing both person and life-plane" (p. 124).

Thought Processes in the Higher Teachings (Abhidharma)

Note 2: In the compendium of thought-processes six kinds of six classes each should be understood -- namely,

i. six bases,
ii. six doors,
iii. six objects,
iv. six-fold consciousness,
v. six processes (2), and
vi. sixfold presentation of objects (3)

The presentation of objects to the process-freed consciousness is threefold -- namely,

(i) Kamma [karma],
(ii) Kamma sign, and
(iii) Destiny [future birth] sign.

The bases, doors, and objects therein are as described before. The sixfold types of consciousness are eye-, ear-, nose-, tongue-, body-, and mind-consciousness. According to the doors the thought-processes are... More

"The Price of Sex" (movie)

(CIRvideos, LINK) "The Price of Sex" is a feature-length documentary about young Eastern European women who have been drawn into a netherworld of sex-trafficking, forced prostitution, modern slavery, and abuse. Intimate, harrowing and revealing, it is a story told by the young women who were supposed to be silenced by shame, fear, and violence. Photojournalist Mimi Chakarova, who grew up in Bulgaria, takes us on a personal investigative journey, exposing the shadowy world of sex trafficking from Eastern Europe to the Middle East and Western Europe. Filming undercover and gaining extraordinary access, Chakarova illuminates how even though some women escape to tell their stories, sex trafficking thrives.

• priceofsex.org

 AUDIO News (NPR)

• Prostitution's real casualties cren't the Secret Service: I've been curious about a question I haven't heard in the stories about U.S. Secret Service agents misbehaving before President Obama's arrival at the Summit of the Americas in Cartagena, Colombia. Why were world leaders meeting in a place with legalized prostitution anyway?
  

"Siddhartha the Buddha" movie (trailer)

Light of Asia Foundation presents Siddhartha the Buddha (LightofAsiaFoundation)

Imagine a full-length movie about the historical Buddha Gautama also known as Shakyamuni. Imagine it were based on the oldest extant texts. Imagine it were made by Buddhists rather than Hollywood. And there, you've imagined the movie to come, a great story once told of how a human took compassion to new heights by vowing to rediscover the timeless Path that transcends heavens and religions and dogmas to bring about the end of all suffering. It was an epic journey over aeons, traversing the Wheel of Life and Death (samsara), reborn countless times, being reminded again and again of a mission too important to conceive of, too painful to tread at times, too long in the making.

No one saves us but ourselves;

No one can and no one may.

We ourselves must tread the Path;

Buddhas only point the way.

 

Koan: the Monk and his Hoe

Koan Study Group, Book of Equanimity, PasaDharma.org

Case 15: Kyozan Thrusts His Hoe into the Ground

(The Zen master plants his mattock)

PREFACE TO THE ASSEMBLY

To know before a word is spoken is called "the silent utterance."

To not be bright but reveal itself is called "the dark activity."

Place the palms together in front of the three gates and in both hallways they promenade.

Such empathy there is!

Dance in the middle garden and at the back gate a head is moved.

How about that!

MAIN CASE

Attention!

Isan asked Kyozan, "Where did you come from?"

Kyozan replied, "I came from the fields."

Isan asked, "How many were in the fields?"

Kyozan thrust his hoe into the ground and stood with his hands folded on his chest.

Isan then said, "On the Southern Mountain, a great number of people reap thatch."

Kyozan pulled up his hoe and immediately left.

APPRECIATORY VERSE

The old awakened one, with deep feeling, considers his descendents.

But now he's spurred on to uphold his household.

Keep in mind the part about the Southern Mountain:

With it inlaid in bone, engraved on the skin,

Let's show our gratitude together.

COMMENTARY

Wisdom Quarterly
Then Roshi Albrizze led meditators through a subtle and illuminating explanation of Case 15. This koan illustrates that koans are not riddles in search of punchlines. In Zen Buddhism a koan is a paradoxical anecdote used to demonstrate the inadequacy of logical reasoning and to provoke enlightenment or at least satori, that is, an epiphany.

PasaDharma.org hosts free zazen (sitting meditation), kinhin (walking meditation), and koan study Thursday evenings in Pasadena, California. All are welcome. For those wanting to participate at a distance, there is an online forum and MeetUp group.

Sexual abuse in American Zen Buddhism

[Just when you thought it was safe to leave Catholicism... we take our traumatic childhoods and act out somewhere else.] It seems rare to hear of a sexual abuse scandal in the Buddhist world, but [in 2010] there was one brewing for some time now in American Zen circles:

"This article, among other revelations, presents a face of Zen not ordinarily visible to the general public. That is, how well known Zen rōshis and leading Zen figure...

Sharon Salzberg coming to L.A.

Nancy Gilmour (WON); SharonSalzberg.com; InsightLA.org

We highly recommend this Theravada Buddhist teacher. Having spent a day with her last fall at InsightLA in Santa Monica, it is clear how deeply inspiring she and her book, Lovingkindness, are.

Sharon Salzberg Events in May

• Thursday, May 17, 7pm - with Tsoknyi Rinpoche
• Saturday, May 19, 10am-1pm - Compassion
• Sunday, May 20, 9am-5pm - Equanimity

Sharon Salzberg on Compassion

Date: May 19, 2012 (Saturday)

Time: 10:00 am - 1:00 pm

Description: THERE ARE TWO EVENTS, SATURDAY AND A SUNDAY RETREAT, WITH SEPARATE REGISTRATIONS.

The Dalai Lama has stated, "My true religion is kindness." Although sometimes described in our culture as simplistic, weak, or inherently overwhelming, the quality of compassion has an inherent power to transform our worldview from one of fear and isolation to one rooted in clarity, courage and connection. Through discourse, guided meditations and question-and-answer, Sharon Salzberg will explore the strength and happiness of compassion. This workshop is suitable for new and experienced meditators alike.

Location: Crossroads Elementary School, Community Room
1715 Olympic Blvd, Santa Monica, CA 90404

Parking is available at meters on Olympic Blvd, and in non-metered street spaces on 18th, 16th, 14th, and other nearby cross streets. There is also a first-come, first-served small parking lot at the rear of the building, and a few blocks walk away, at the Crossroads Upper School, 22nd and Olympic.  

Directions: See Map 

Contact the teacher Contact by email (expect responses M-F, only)

Level: All Levels

Enrollment Limit: 250 (There are still openings).