Wisdom Quarterly: American Buddhist Journal

Friday, April 26, 2013

SEE FEST (South East European Film Festival)

Amber Dorrian, Wisdom Quarterly; SeeFilmLA.org/SeeFest

Real-life Preta "Ghost Stories" (Joshua P. Warren)

Thursday, April 25, 2013

"When God Was a Girl" (BBC)

Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly; Bettany Hughes (BBC); J.C. Ozer (BogusZen)

Kwan Yin, Goddess of Compassion, Avalokiteshvara (Foxiangcn/flickr.com)

Kwan Yin, Goddess of Compassion

Historian Bettany Hughes visits a world where goddesses (devis) ruled the heavens (akasha-deva-loka) and Earth (Bhumi). She reveals why our ancestors thought of the divine as female -- perhaps revealing why we tend to view spirituality as potent yet feminine (when it must surely be androgenous, combining the best of both potentials).

Nurturing Mother Goddess

Traveling across the Mediterranean and the Near East, Hughes journeys to ever more remote places eventually encountering fearsome goddesses [dakinis, tantrikas, kinnaras, yakshis, garudas, nagis, Hariti, the Taras, etc.] who control life and death.

Her search reaches modern India, where the Goddess is still a powerful force for hundreds of millions of Hindus.

Goddess trinity (srilankaguardian.org)

Immersing herself in the excitement of the Ma Durga Puja (devotional fest honoring Durga, the inaccessible or invincible), our historian experiences reverence for the goddess firsthand, revealing what the Goddess in all her manifestations means to Her devotees.

Pancika and the Buddhist Goddess Hārītī (right), holding a cornucopia, resting their feet on a bag of abundance. 3rd century, Takht-i Bahi, Gandhara, British Museum.

Buddhist archeology: "High Well" (Takht-i-Bahi)

Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly Wikipedia edit Takht-i-Bahi; The Red List (theredlist.fr)

High Well's Stupa Court with its magnificent hilltop views (theredlist.fr)

Takht-i-Bahi (also Takht Bhai) is a Buddhist monastic complex in Indo-Pakistan (ancient Gandhara) dating to the 1st century BCE.

It is regarded by archaeologists as being an excellent representation of the architecture of Buddhist monastic centers from the era. In 1980 it was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The name Takht Bhai (Urdu, تخت بھائی) admits various translations. In Sanskrit, takht means "well," and bhai means "on a high surface." (The world-famous Mes Aynak in adjacent Afghanistan means "Little Copper Well"). So altogether it means "well on a high surface."

But in Persian, which over the much more ancient Sanskrit and proto-Sanskrit of the Indus River Valley Civilization, takht means "throne."

The ruins are located about nine miles (15 km) from Mardan in Pakistan's Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province. The ruins sit near a modern village known by the same name. A small fortified city dating from the same era sits nearby. The surrounding area is famous for sugar cane cultivation.

There are four main areas of the Takht-i-Bahi complex:

The Stupa Court, a cluster of Buddhist burial mounds located in a central courtyard.
The monastic chambers, consisting of individual cells arranged around a courtyard, assembly halls, and a dining area.
A temple complex, consisting of sacred reliquaries similar to the Stupa Court but of later construction.
The tantric monastic complex, which consists of small, dark cells with low openings, which may have been used for certain forms of tantric meditation.

Additional structures on the site may have served as residences for Buddhist nuns and monks or meeting halls or utilized for secular purposes. The buildings on the site are constructed out of local stone using lime and mud as mortar.

History

Indo-Pakistan, former Gandhara, at the Takht-i-Bahi archeological site (theredlist.fr)

The monastic complex likely was founded in the early 1st Century BCE. Despite numerous invasions into the area, High Well's hilltop location seems to have protected it from destruction, unlike many comparable early Buddhist monastic complexes.

It was occupied continuously until the modern era, when charitable funding for the site ended in the absence of a supportive Buddhist community.

Archaeologists divide the history of the complex at High Well into four periods, beginning in the 1st Century BCE. This first era continued until the 2nd Century CE. It is associated with the Kushan King Kanishka, as well as early Parthian and later Kushana king.

The second construction period, which included the creation of the Stupa Court and assembly hall, took place during the 3rd and 4th Centuries CE.

On the ground in High Well looking at meditation rooms (content.lib.washington.edu)

A third construction period, associated with the later Kushan dynasty and the Kidara Kushana rulers, occurred during the 4th and 5th centuries.

The final construction period, which saw the creation of the so-called tantric complex, took place in the 6th and 7th Centuries CE, overseen by invading Hun rulers.

The first modern historical reference to these ruins was made in 1836 by a French officer. The Buddhist remains are in a village named Mazdoorabad. Explorations and excavations on the site began in 1864. It underwent a major restoration in the 1920s.

[By contrast, Afghanistan's massive "Little Copper Well" (Mes Aynak) will scarcely be documented before being annihilated by the Chinese government's mining concern MCC.] More

Buddhist Ruins of Takht-i-Bahi (c. 1c. BC), Pakistan

More sacred sites

George Bush, AmeriKKKan hero?

Wisdom Quarterly; RootsAction.org; NPR.org

War criminal G.W. Bush: "Give him an indictment, not a library" (act.rootsaction.org)

All the MIC's white men, and one half-white one (J. Scott Applewhite/AP/NPR.org)

The Decider mad at VP Dick the Dictator

When Dick "Milhouse" Nixon* shuffled off this mortal coil, the hagiographies began. Newspapers and quick-turnaround weekly news magazines were falling all over themselves to glorify and mis-remember a man who up until then had been America's worst president, so bad that he had been thrown out of office.

Macklemore agrees with Dinah Cancer (of 45 Grave fame) that Dick is not our friend, neither Milhouse nor Cheney, not any Bush, not even the third in the dynasty whom we lovingly refer to as "B.S. (Barry Soetoro) Obama."

Bury the Lies in My Lie-Bury

Lovely Michelle, hubby, Granny, Prescott the Nazi-abetter's boy, Dubya, Laura (npr.org)

*When losers rule the world (MBC)

(NPR) Four presidents praised another member of their exclusive club today at the dedication of the George W. Bush Memorial Library and Museum on the campus of Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas.

It was a sometimes funny, sometimes poignant ceremony where partisan differences were set aside. For his part, the honoree said, "Elected officials must serve a cause greater than themselves, defined by the convictions they hold." His guiding principle, Bush said, was that "the United States of America must strive to expand the reach of freedom [defined not as civil liberties for citizens but as free trade for the military-industrial complex]."

"We stayed true to our convictions," Bush said of his administration [of course, those convictions not being anything at all what the voters had wanted them to be, but never mind what the people wanted; Bush was not running wars not a popularity contest]. He thanked his father, the nation's 41st commander in chief. He "taught me to be a president [and I was president, not Dick Cheney!]," Bush said. "Before that, he showed me how to be a man." More

New Nuremberg trials at the Hague for W., Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, et. al. (Vincent Bugliosi, ESQ) How? Here's how: The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder

Media failures: FBI's false flag (cartoon)

Wisdom Quarterly; Tom Tomorrow (thismodernworld.com); Senator Al Franken

Corporations are NOT people!

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Good News for Nature!

Wisdom Quarterly; PasadenaWeekly.com, April 18, 2013

Natural formation of Buddha in Washington, complete with topknot (Thayne Tuason/flickr)

What every hiker needs to carry at all times

Survivalist Christopher Nyerges

Too many folks these days are getting lost or hurt in their local hills, particularly in Los Angeles. Here is a solution.

We go into nature to enjoy the natural world, perhaps in search of solitude and quiet, to meditate, for renewal. Most of us expect to get back safely. That doesn’t always happen for reasons ranging from unexpected weather, accidents, and unanticipated terrain.

Never go hiking and exploring in the local mountains and deserts without some very basic preparations.

The Self-Sufficient Home

First, whether by car or hoof, do some research. Over-zealousness to get out and about or a desire for spontaneity are usually a hiker's enemies. Slow down. Research the area, look into weather conditions, find out whether there will be water. Are there trails? Do other people go there? Are there great temperature extremes between day and night?

Make a plan and an itinerary. Be sure to tell someone where and when you go and when you intend to return.

If traveling by car carry extra water, as well as a blanket, snacks, some way to make a fire. Have a map of the area handy [realizing that GPS and cell reception will likely be poor to nonexistent]. Be sure to carry road flares and jumper cables, a simple tool kit, which are actually things everyone should carry at all times.

When hiking -- even a short day hike -- there are certain items to always pack. Keep in mind that knowledge and experience are as valuable as any “stuff” one might carry. Carry a bare minimum of one quart of water. On a hot day, that will be used up quickly. More

Author of How to Survive Anywhere, Nyerges does a weekly podcast for Preparedness Radio Network and blogs at ChristopherNyerges.com. Write for a schedule of his classes: School of Self-Reliance, P.O. Box 41834, Eagle Rock, CA 90041

The Original Inhabitants of L.A.

Wisdom Quarterly edit of Wikipedia entry Hahamongna

First the invaders then the settlers then JPL

Hahamongna is a historic Tongva (Los Angeles' original Native American inhabitants, aka Gabrieleño) settlement in the Verdugo Mountains of Southern California, named after the local Tongva band's name, in present-day Pasadena and Glendale in L.A. County.

Hahamog-na - Arroyo Seco

Native land is now home to JPL secrets (SZT)

A well-studied and related location named Hahamog-na is a Tongva village archeological site located in the upper Arroyo Seco just above Devil's Gate in a present day area of Altadena/Pasadena that serves the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). It is in a canyon-valley on the lower slopes at the convergence of the eastern Verdugo Mountains, southern San Gabriel Mountains (Sierra Madre range), and western San Rafael Hills.

Nyerges picks sage in Hahamongna (LAT)

The Hahamog-na site is now within a protected natural area called Hahamongna Watershed Park, a 1,400-acre (5.7 km²) habitat in the northern L.A. foothills blending freshwater marsh wetlands, riparian zones, native oak woodlands, and chaparral elfin forests. The Tongva settlement later became a rancheria as part of the large 1834 Mexican land grant of Rancho San Pascual, issued by Alta California Governor José Figueroa to Juan Maríne and Eulalia Pérez de Guillén Mariné. More

Field of Green

Environmentalist saves Hahamongna Watershed Park

André Coleman

Californian foothills look Himalayan

Hugh Bowles has been fighting to protect Hahamongna Watershed Park since the city [of Pasadena] first decided to hold a mountain bike racing event there in 1996. Back then, Bowles and his contingent of fellow concerned citizens unsuccessfully sued the city to stop the event, but [they] were successful in getting a stipulation that a similar event would never be held in the park. “We didn’t win, but we got that stipulation,” Bowles said. Recently, Bowles won another battle, this time after the city backed away from controversial plans to use a $1-million state grant to build Sycamore Grove Field, a soccer field, in the park. “What they are doing now is redirecting the $1-million grant to spend the money at John Muir High School. They could always find some other avenue to bring it back to Hahamongna, but it seems unlikely. We definitely won on the grant. That is a victory.” Environmentalists like Bowles want the 1,300-acre park -- located between Altadena and Pasadena in the Upper Arroyo Seco ["dry riverbed"], providing access to mountain trails in La Cañada Flintridge and US Forest Service property -- to remain in its natural state. More

Saving Dolphins: Beyond the Water's Edge

John Grula

"That was a close call, Flippy!"

Once in a while, something really cool happens. And when good things occur, we need to recognize, celebrate and reinforce them. The cause for celebration this time? On March 8, all 12 voting members of the California Coastal Commission rejected the US Navy’s plan for an increased use of high-intensity sonar and underwater explosives for training exercises off the coasts of Los Angeles, Orange, and San Diego counties. The reason for the commission’s rejection of the Navy’s plan? The increased use of such sonar and underwater explosions will further threaten the lives of whales and other marine mammals, many of which are already endangered due to whaling and other human activities. The California Coastal Commission was created by a voter initiative in 1972 (Proposition 20), and it was later made permanent by the state Legislature’s adoption of the California Coastal Act of 1976. Citizens at the time were rightfully alarmed that private development was cutting off the public’s access to the 1,100 miles of California’s magnificent coastline, and so they acted. The mission of the Coastal Commission, according to its Web site, is to “Protect, conserve, restore and enhance environmental and human-based resources of the California coast and ocean for environmentally sustainable and prudent use by current and future generations.” More

Below LA's foothills are beautiful beaches like those in Sri Lanka below Himalayas (IFB)

"Denim Day" - Stand Against Sexual Assault

Wisdom Quarterly; Fashion.BroadwayWorld.com; DenimDayUSA.org

Butthead (left) and Beavis don denim on D-Day. Now stand up. (Mike Judge/MTV)

(DenimDayUSA.org)

In the wake of recent rape cases in DENIM DAY in LA and the USA.

Steubenvile, Ohio and San Francisco, California involving teens posting images of the attacks online, people everywhere are invited to take a stand against sexual assault on Wednesday, April 24th, 2013: Participate in

Men and women everywhere wear denim jeans to raise awareness about the preventable catastrophe of sexual violence and to support survivors of sexual assault.

Whenever, free to wear whatever!

Now in its 14th year, Denim Day is organized annually by the Los Angeles-based nonprofit organization Peace Over Violence. The campaign, held each April during Sexual Assault Awareness Month, recalls an Italian court case that sparked international outrage when judges did not convict a rapist because the victim wore jeans. The judges ruled that because the victim was wearing tight jeans, she must have helped her attacker remove them, thus implying consent.

"Once again, this is a chance to make a social statement with your fashion statement," said Patti Giggans, Executive Director of Peace Over Violence. "Stand with us to raise awareness about rape and to support survivors."

With the slogan "There is No Excuse and Never an Invitation to Rape," Denim Day will be marked with events around the US, including rallies on college campuses and military bases.

Additionally, Denim Day in LA and Denim Day NYC will host high-profile events with local elected officials and celebrities in those cities.

Is Lindsay Lohan the friend or foe of progress? (NYDN)

Tenacious D (Jack Black and Kyle Gass) and comic actress Retta (NBC's Parks & Recreation) will be among the headliners at "Distressed," an all-star comedy show on Denim Day at Lexington Social House in Hollywood.

Also in Los Angeles, students in public middle schools and high schools will take part in Denim Day assemblies and events, thanks to district-wide recognition of the campaign.

Register at denimdayusa.org where more than a million supporters from schools, corporations, and gov't agencies have already signed up to wear jeans in solidarity.

The War on Consciousness: Banned TED Talk

Wisdom Quarterly; Graham Hancock (GrahamHancock.com), Michael C. Ruppert; TED

Burmese nat, Buddhist "nature spirit," also known as a bhumi-deva (Swanksalot/flickr.com)

Gap at Minute 28:30 is a song censored due to copyright issues; interview resumes at 31:48.

Michael C. Ruppert (host of The Lifeboat Hour on the Progressive Radio Network) talks to urban shaman and progressive investigator Graham Hancock about the censorship he is facing at the hands of the good folks at TEDx. His recent talk has been banned and removed from the website. Ironically entitled "The War on Consciousness," it is actually a reference to TED's war on the dissemination of this consciousness-raising information.

Rather than anything warlike, Hancock is doing the work of peace by calling attention to natural states of expanded and elevated consciousness, the psychedelic experience, and a global awakening aided by spirit-goddesses (devas) such as the Amazonian entity/deity Ayahuasca.

The Lifeboat Hour is Ruppert's original mix of [overly alliterative] music and madness, laughter and loss, skill and sorrow, community and calamity, [g]love and grief, as well as joviality and joy-in-the-moment. The Lifeboat Hour airs on PRN every Sunday at 9:00 pm ET and 6:00 pm PT.

CollapseNet.com
FromTheWilderness.com

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Reflections on the Ten Perfections

Wisdom Quarterly; American Bhikkhu Bodhi (BodhiMonastery.org), Intro. to "A Treatise on the Paramis from the Commentary to the Cariyapitaka," 2005 (accesstoinsight.org)

Boudanath, "Buddha's eyes," outside Kathmandu, Nepal (Tyson Moktan/flickr.com)

(Aidan McRae Thomson/flickr)

The treatise [on the perfections or paramis] draws upon various sources for its material, both Theravada ["Teaching of the Elders," namely the earliest Enlightened Disciples of the Buddha] and Mahayana ["Great Vehicle," populist interpretation], and thus represents perhaps a unique instance of a classical style Theravada work consciously borrowing from its northern cousin.

In matters of philosophical doctrine, however, the work never deviates from the [older] Theravada perspective. The set of Ten Paramis itself comes from the Buddhavamsa, as does the discussion of the great aspiration (abhinihara) with its eight qualifications.

All of this had become part of the standard Theravada tradition by the time the work was composed and was easily absorbed. Other Pali [language] sources -- the sutras, Jatakas [Birth Tales], later canonical works, the Path of Perfection (Visuddhimagga), etc. -- have all contributed to the overall composition of the treatise.

The basic methodology of the commentaries is evident in the explication of the Ten Paramis by way of the fourfold defining-device of characteristic, function, manifestation, and proximate cause (Section V).

The heritage of the oral traditions of various teachers in later Pali scholasticism is seen in the various views expressed on the three grades of practice for each [perfection] (Section XI), on the correlation of the four foundations with the different stages of the bodhisattva's career (Section XII), and on the classification of time required for the completion of the [perfections] (Section XIV).

Maitreya the Buddha-to-come, Ladakh, India

Perhaps the influence of another [now defunct] early school, the Sarvastivada, lies behind the dyadic treatment of the Six Paramitas (Section XII).

The main Mahayana work utilized by the author is the Bodhisattvabhumi, the fifteenth chapter of the Yogacarabhumi, a voluminous text of the Yogacara school ascribed to Maitreyanatha, the teacher of Asanga.

The Bodhisattvabhumi has contributed to the sections on the practice of the [perfections], particularly the first, on the four shackles to giving, and on the special accomplishments resulting from the [perfections].

The originals, however, have all been divested of their specifically Mahayana features to make them fully compatible with the Theravada perspective.

Mahayana influence may further be discernible in the emphasis on compassion and skillful means [upaya], in the vows to benefit all beings, in the statement that the bodhisattva causes beings "to enter and reach maturity in the three vehicles," etc.

Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka (Cyrille Gibot/flickr)

On points of doctrine, as we mentioned, the work remains well within the bounds of Theravada orthodoxy. Its section on the perfection of wisdom has nothing more in common with the Prajnaparamita [Heart of Wisdom] literature than the core of Buddhist doctrine shared by all schools.

There is nothing about the identity of nirvana and samsara, the triple body of the Buddha [a borrowed Brahminical/Hindu concept], the suchness and sameness of all dharmas, mind-only, the provisional nature of the disciple and pacceka buddha vehicles, or any of the other ideas distinctive of the Mahayana.

Even the mention of emptiness (shunyata) is restricted to the absence of a self or ego-entity and is not carried through to the radical ontology of the [latter day] Mahayana sutras.

The discussion of wisdom [prajna] draws entirely upon the Pali sutras and the [commentarial Path of Purification known as the] Visuddhimagga, only with the stipulation that the bodhisattva must balance wisdom with compassion and skillful means and must postpone his entrance upon the supramundane path until [a person's] requisites of enlightenment are fully mature. More

Who are the "Perfections" for?

Wisdom Quarterly; American Bhikkhu Bodhi (translator), "A Treatise on the Paramis from the Commentary to the Cariyapitaka," 2005 (Wikipedia "Paramis"/AccessToInsight.org)

Massive Buddha tower in Burma, Afghan-style (Sylvain Brajeul/flickr.com)

Swastika: "noble," enlightened (BreenJones)

Bhikkhu Bodhi maintains that in the earliest Buddhist texts, namely the first four sutra collections, those seeking freedom from suffering (nirvana) pursued the Noble Eightfold Path.

But as time went on, a backstory was provided for development of the Buddha through many rebirths; as a result, the Ten Perfections were identified as part of the path for a bodhisattva (one striving for "supreme" enlightenment as a rediscoverer and teacher of the Dharma). Over subsequent centuries, the perfections (pāramīs or paramitas) were seen as being significant for aspirants to both supreme buddhahood and sainthood (arhatship). So Bhikkhu Bodhi summarizes:

"It should be noted that in established Theravāda tradition the pāramīs are not regarded as a discipline peculiar to candidates for Buddhahood alone but as practices which must be fulfilled by all aspirants to enlightenment and deliverance [nirvana], whether as samma-sam-buddhas, paccekabuddhas, or disciples of a buddha.

"What distinguishes the supreme bodhisattva from aspirants in the other two vehicles is the degree to which the pāramīs must be cultivated and the length of time they must be pursued. But the qualities themselves are universal requisites for deliverance, which all must fulfill to at least a minimal degree to merit the fruits of the liberating path." More