Lunar observance or uposatha fasting days -- a regular kind of Buddhist "Lent" -- are times for renewed dedication to practicing the Dharma.
They are observed by lay Theravada Buddhists and monastics throughout the world.
For monks and nuns these are often days of more intensive meditation and reflection. In many monasteries and nunneries physical labor (construction projects, repairs, etc.) is curtailed.
On new moon and full moon days the fortnightly confession of faults and and recitation of the Buddhist Monastic Code (patimokkha, the Rules of Monastic Conduct) takes place.
We've been to the moon, now let's bring it.
Lay Buddhists observe Eight Precepts (Attha Sila) on these weekly observance days, as a support for meditation practice and as a way to re-energize commitment to the Dharma.
Whenever possible, lay people use these days as an opportunity to visit a local Buddhist monastery or temple in order to make special offerings to the Sangha, to listen to the Buddha's Dharma or path of practice, and to actually practice meditation with Dharma companions late into the night. In Asia they go all the way to the morning of the next day.
For those not closely affiliated with a local monastery of abbey, it can simply be an opportunity to step up one's efforts in meditation (the cultivation of calm and insight), while drawing on the invisible support of millions of other practicing Buddhists around the world.
When are the moon's phases?
Every week the moon changes phases. Each month is 28 days. Each year has 13 moonths.
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The calendar of uposatha days is calculated using a complex traditional formula that is loosely based on the lunar calendar, with the result that the dates do not always coincide with the actual astronomical dates. To further complicate matters, each sect within Theravada Buddhism tends to follow a slightly different calendar.
Several full moon uposatha days hold special significance on the Buddhist calendar:
This day, sometimes called "Sangha Day," commemorates the spontaneous assembly of 1,250 arhats in the Buddha's presence. One thousand of those gathered monks had previously achieved full enlightenment on hearing the Buddha deliver "The Fire Sermon."
The remaining 250 were followers of the elder monks and the Buddha's two chief male disciples Ven. Moggallana and Ven. Sariputra (corresponding to his two chief female disciples Ven. Khema and Ven. Uppalavanna).
To mark this auspicious gathering, the Buddha delivered the Ovada-Patimokkha Gatha (see A Chanting Guide), a summary of the main points of the Dharma, which the Buddha gave to the assembly before sending them out to proclaim the Dharma. More
What am I or how I identify? There's a big difference. I don't know what I am, just what I do.
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1 in 6 Gen Z adults are LGBT
Nonbinary Jasper Swartz, 16 (Bonnie Jo Mount)
Jasper Swartz of Takoma Park recently realized that nearly all of their friends are “queer in some way.”
They were 8 years old when same-sex marriage became legal in Maryland, about 12 when they realized they were attracted to girls, and 14 when they came out as "nonbinary," using they/them pronouns. Swartz grew up scrolling through gay memes on Instagram and following transgender influencers on YouTube.
How do I present the data to be pro-LGBT?
They attended a diverse public middle school in Montgomery County, Md., that taught lessons about sexual orientation and gender identity in health class.
“But at that point,” Swartz said, “I was already familiar with the stuff they were teaching.”
Swartz is a member of Generation Z, a group of young Americans that is breaking from binary notions of gender and sexuality — and is far more likely than older generations to identify as something other than heterosexual.
[Swartz is not an adult and therefore was not part of this study. The data is being extrapolated. It applies to Gen Z adults, as they participated, not those under 18. It would seem more applicable to Gen Z youth.]
One in six adults in Generation Z identifies as LGBT, according to survey data released early Wednesday from Gallup, providing some of the most detailed and up-to-date estimates yet on the size and makeup of the nation’s LGBT population.
Gallup’s latest survey data, based on more than 15,000 interviews conducted throughout 2020 with Americans age 18 and older, found that 5.6 percent of U.S. adults identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender, up from 4.5 percent in Gallup’s findings based on 2017 data.
At a time when the majority of Americans support gay rights, more than half a decade after the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage, it’s clear that a growing percentage of the U.S. population identifies as LGBT, Gallup’s researchers said.
What’s less clear is why. Is it because of a real shift in sexual orientation and gender identity, or is it because of a greater willingness among young people to identify as LGBT?
If the latter is true, it’s possible the latest findings are undercounting the actual size of the population, Gallup said. Moreover, the 2020 survey data captures only the oldest segment of Generation Z, those ages 18 to 23. More
The West tries, following in the footsteps of the ancients, like the Greeks.
The ancient Greeks were greatly influenced by Buddhism as the culture of ancient Bharat/India (Greco-Buddhism, Bactria, Sogdiana, Scythia, Gandhara) led to the fusion of East and West.
There's Psychology Today, but what was psychology yesterday? Psyche is the self or soul or spirit, and -logy is "the study of."
"Psychology" now refers almost exclusively to the mind (mano) in a way that leaves the spirit (breath) out of it. But it's still the self, the superficial ego, the enduring personality, the person, this identity or facade we're interested in finding by investigation.
Long before Greek thinkers asked deep questions, Indian sages and the Buddha (who was from Central Asiaaccording to Dr. R. Pal) undertook a study of the self, which is to say the Five Aggregates clung to as "self."
The "mind" base is in the heart, so what is the head?
So lots of meditators are interested in every attempt to get a handle on the ego (which is an illusion), the meaning of life, cognition, perception, emotions, and the ultimate mystery -- consciousness.
CURRENTS: An ongoing series of conversations on contemporary issues: EVENT: An anthropological study of rightwing sentiments and reactionary politics in American-convert Buddhism.
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ONLINE EVENT: “The #BuddhistCultureWars: From Snowflake Sanghas to Alt-Right Buddhism”
Host Karin Meyers with Ann Gleig and Brenna Artinger*
Thursday, February 25th, 2021
5:00-6:30 PM PDT (8:00-9:30 PM EST)
While often associated with a liberal demographic, the online rhetoric of some increasingly conservative Buddhists — such as “snowflakes,” “politically correct,” “postmodern identity,” “cultural Marxism” — demonstrates the presence of rightwing sentiments in populations within American convert-Buddhism.
The speakers' research situates these sentiments largely as a reaction to the development of diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in these communities.
They chart this backlash across a broad rightwing spectrum that spans from “reactionary centrism” — namely, those who say they’re politically neutral but who usually punch Left while sympathizing with the Right (Huertas, 2018) — to the alt-right.
These reactionary rightwing forms of American Buddhism are located in relationship to modern and postmodern forms of global Buddhism. Tickets: $0-$50
*GUEST EXPERTS
Ann Gleig (she/her) is an associate professor of religion and cultural studies at the University of Central Florida. She is the author of American Dharma: Buddhism Beyond Modernity (Yale University Press, 2019)
Brenna Artinger (they/them) is a researcher whose work focuses on exclusion and extremism. They hold a Masters of Philosophy in Buddhist Studies from the University of Oxford and is the president of the Alliance for Bhikkhunis.
Buddhist Currents Conversationsis a monthly series of conversations with scholars in Buddhist Studies and related fields, offering critical perspectives on current social, political, economic, and ecological issues and crises in light of Buddhist history, thought, and practice. The intention of the series is to explore the relevance of Buddhist teachings for our times and to support and inspire socially transformative Buddhist practice. It is hosted by Karin Meyers. For more info, visit: buddhistcurrents.blog.
Magic is mocked in the mainstream media (Disney's Fantasia with magician Mickey Mouse)
Stan Lee Superhumans: Real Telekinesis?
(Guy Bavli, 1/9/14) Guy Bavli is a mind bending "Kinetic Man." Stan Lee had a show, "Superhumans," and one episode featured Guy Bavli, Master of the Mind, whose telekinetic power makes him able to move objects with his mind. This is the demonstration of telekinesis or PK (psychokinesis), the mental or magic power of affecting things with the mind.
Behold! I never claimed to be a magician.
Guy Bavli claims that he has never claimed to have supernatural powers but that Stan Lee's show created a voiceover to make it sound like he did claim that.
He also claims he has never claimed to have any real powers. Instead, he uses lots of techniques he learned and developed over many years to create what others call telekinesis.
What does Guy Bavli call it? He answers by saying that he "believes" in psychology, physiology, intuition, the power of the subconscious, positive thinking, quantum physics, and mind magic [and, one assumes, magnetism].
But all of it is done to entertain, inspire, and motivate [and not to get rich, famous, or notorious].
Learn more about Guy Bavli at Guy Bavli's site about Guy Bavli: masterofthemind.com.
(The Real Life Peter Griffin, 5/19/20) Guest starring Mandy Kitana as The Real Life Lois Griffin, and Anya Winchester as The Real Life Meg Griffin. Video shot and edited by Rob Franzese.
This is a white male country for whites, Swamp!
Are all conservatives all bad? They can't be. Conservatism (particularly Red-State Republicanism) may have its problems -- endemic sexism, racism, regressive views about an ideal past that never really existed, hypocrisy, disaster capitalism, Abrahamic fundamentalism, and what not...
But surely the people, some of the people, are alright, which is not to say Alt-Right. Like what about Jason? He's a Buddhist. And what about all those communism-hating, capitalism-loving Vietnamese-Americans and Chinese in conservative Orange County? They're Buddhists.
I lean to the Right. Who's Jason?
So, not only for humor but in the interest of fairness, debate, critical thinking, doubting, questioning, and building a better worldview about what's real, we're launching a new feature: "The Conservative Buddhist."
A pair of our editors already seem conservative-light, slightly regressive, fiscally if not socially, and overall police-loving, government-distrusting, capitalism-loving, xenophobia-suffering solid guys.
Send complaints, compliments, and personal SUBMISSIONS to the comments section below if YOU would like a voice but feel Wisdom Quarterly as it is is too radical, liberal, progressive, or wishy-washy for your current taste. The question is, What grinds your gears?
[What is "9/11"? September 11th, 2001 is when the Twin Towers were brought down in New York, probably with fore knowledge and the assistance of the U.S. itself, as a pretext for launching many wars of aggression -- to profit the military-industrial complex and corporate war profiteers because "War is a Racket," as General Butler pointed out -- couched in the language of illegal retaliation but made legal by describing these "kinetic operations" as defensive prevention of future attacks, which is to say, the U.S. gets a pass on launching offensive attacks on anyone it deems an "enemy," including U.S. citizens.]
Special Correspondent Adam Pletts reports on the feelings regarding the false flag terror attacks ["dustifications" (Dr. Judy Wood)] on American soil, which he gathered from both groups while embedded with U.S. Marines in Southern Afghanistan.
(Drew Binsky, 4/22/19) There's a negative stereotype Americans (and other nationalities) have against the Middle East/South Asia -- specifically with regard to Muslim Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq. And I was curious to see if it's true the other way around.
Over the last month, I've traveled deeply in these three countries. I interviewed 14 random people on the street asking them, "What are your honest thoughts about America?"
I think all will be surprised by their answers. Truth be told, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraqi Kurdistan have some of the most humble and hospitable people I've ever met. And it's about time we change our perception of these places!
TEXT ME AT: +1 310 349 3854 (and I will respond).
Want exclusive travel advice, need help planning a trip, or want a personalized shoutout? Request a custom video from me on CAMEO: cameo.com/drewbinsky
The Five Hindrances: ill-will with Ven. Sumano (Day 1 of 3)
(Buddhist Insights, live, 2/24/21) In this three-day workshop, Bhante Sumano explores the Five Hindrances, obstructions of the heart/mind that weaken wisdom. We look at identifying the Five Hindrances and dealing with them even before they arise — all to create the right conditions for our meditation and development practice to grow.
Julianne Hough's bizarre “Exorcism” raises a ton of questions!
(1/20) It’s Erin Robinson here with Clevver News and by now, we're all pretty used to the bizarre wellness trends of Hollywood A-listers.
It's "in fact a demon coming out of her butthole"
From Gwenyth Paltrow's Goop products to Kim Kardashian’s vampire blood facial, we've become pretty un-phased by the extreme measures celebs undertake for their health and wellness.
We thought we had seen it all. However, this video of Julianne Alexandra Hough receiving a “somatic energy healing” has proved us all wrong. It left us all with just have one question on our minds: What in the H did I just watch?! It basically broke the Internet. All anyone can talk about is the shrieking, body-contorting, Exorcist-like video.
Butt that’s NOT all. If that weren’t weird enough, the moaning and spasming kept going. People had plenty to say about this eccentricity. Podcast Host Jackie Schimmel, who posted the video, wrote: “Gonna tell my kids this is 'The Exorcist.'”
Comedian Heather McMahan said, “Upon viewing this video for the 45th time, it is in fact a demon coming out of her butthole.”
Possessed? Sure, why not? Lots of us are.
Hough, who was born on July 20, 1988, is an American dancer, actor, singer, and songwriter. In 2007, she joined the cast of ABC's Dancing with the Stars as a professional dancer, winning two seasons with her celebrity partners.
After leaving the show in 2009, she returned in 2014 to serve as a permanent judge. Hough made her acting debut in the 2010 film Burlesque, which was followed by leading roles in Footloose and other films. In 2016, she played Sandy in the live Fox TV production of Grease. She also served as a judge on America's Got Talent for its 2019 season.
(IMDC) The America's Got Talent and Dancing with the Stars star contorted her body and screamed during an exorcism -- a demonstration of “somatic energy healing” by chiropractor and bodyworker Dr. John Amaral at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
They get lodged in here. I release them.
In this shocking video, which was posted to Instagram by The B–Bible podcast Host Jackie Schimmel, Hough, then 31, lays face down on a massage table.
Dr. Amaral then works on her “energy field,” as he explained on The Goop Lab, and then works on her buttocks and rectum, which he did not explain. Was a demon(s) residing in her anus?
The Netflix show The Goop Lab features various alternative treatments and practices and is hosted by Gwyneth Paltrow and Team Goop.
Out, you foul sulfur demon! (Dr. Amaral/Goop)
“The human body has an energy field and we’re processing the world through it,” Amaral said during “The Energy Experience” episode of the show. “The more connected you are energetically, the healthier you will feel.”
Jules Hough and Gywnnie Paltrow respond to the energy healing through contortions and, in Hough’s case, loud moaning.
Dr. Amaral’s website describes the reaction this way: “When John is working on Gwyneth, he’s interacting with her field of energy, and that interaction has a visible reaction in the body.”
The site describes him as “an energy practitioner, author, educator, and founder of the Energy Flow Formula, a somatic energy healing practice.”
“The first time that John worked on me,” Paltrow said on The Goop Lab, “I really just cried.” Hough was given the treatment by Dr. John Amaral, a specialist in energetic bodywork who calmly explained nothing was amiss, just that Hough was experiencing energy moving through her body.
“There’s always a huge dissipation of energy and the feeling of relief, release, freedom,” he said.
“Expression of emotion may happen when the system moves...this woman is like, an incredible dancer, actress, just human being, and she has practiced just allowing things to move through.”
Black Thai Buddhist Tiger Woods, golf legend, has gotten into another car accident. And this one's bad. Will he make a comeback or succumb to his injuries and join his father in the afterlife? To hear the sports channels doing retrospectives on his life, one would think he were already dead . He seems to be okay, his publicist says. Some speculate the accident never happened due to the size of the story and some inconsistencies in early reporting. The world is watching, and the Mandela Effect is still operating. So stay tuned to your mesmerizing TV sets for further "programming." Or kill your TV as soon as possible.
Tiger Woods injured in rollover car crash, undergoing surgery
(NBC News, Feb. 23, 2021) Black Buddhist golf superstar Tiger Woods has been injured in a serious one-person car accident outside Los Angeles, California. Woods has been hospitalized, reportedly with multiple leg and ankle injuries and is undergoing surgery.
(ABC News WNT) Tiger Woods in rollover car wreck
Tiger Woods seriously injured in car crash
(ABC News, Feb. 23, 2021)
Golf legend Tiger Woods was taken to the hospital for surgery after being injured in a single-car crash.
Read more: abcn.ws/3pOTUCo
A female porn director worries that young adults think sex is what they see on screen.
A young man worries that the ubiquity of porn creates unrealistic expectations for everyone.
A porn star performer worries that young viewers might think her videos are instructional.
They all wish people talked about it more.
Millions of people in the United States have watched pornography, due in large part to the internet, cell phones, and free hub sites.
A majority of those people are under 34 years old. They've grown up in a world where online porn is free and, with the rise of "smart" phones that spy on us and track all of our viewing choices, where viewers (and masturbators) can watch whenever — and wherever — they choose.
But while porn may be easy to find, it's still hard — even impossible — to discuss due to shame, even for those with the easiest access to it. And that creates a heap of worries and misconceptions.
"My students are often immersed in it but don't often have an opportunity to... learn about it with tools for critical analysis," says Prof. Shira Tarrant, a teacher at California State University, Long Beach.
NPR is exploring how people talk — or don't talk — about sex and why it matters. Regardless of whether we think it's good or bad, porn is everywhere, and it's shaping the way people, especially youth, think about sex or what sex is "supposed" to be. They are often disappointed, comparing real sex to pornographic depictions. And this leads to issues, lots of issues.
As part of the series, NPR visited a porn set to hear the conversations that happen behind the scenes when it's being filmed. (Listen to the audio story above for more on that).
On set, it's clear that pornography is choreographed "performance" — like a TV show, sport, or staged dance.
But that's not at all obvious for young people, especially those who've never had sex before.
Here are six perspectives on how the fake fantasy of pornography affects our attitudes toward the reality of sex.
The Female Porn Director
Director Jacky St. James
Jacky St. James, 42, writes and directs pornography with hundreds of credits to her name. She has been in the shady business since 2011, when, on a whim, she wrote a script for a porn-writing contest — and won.
When her joke script was made into a film, she was blown away by how professional the process was, and she left her job in online advertising to join the porn industry full time.
St. James says she thinks there's a lot of good that comes from her porn — for example, creating (or trying to create) sex positivity and normalizing a healthy sex life.
But she hates the thought of minors illegally watching her work and recognizes there are many downsides to the easy access many young people — even those over 18 — have to filthy porno these days.
"I think where it [porn] is a disservice is that a lot of people... that are growing up on porn somehow feel that what they're seeing is what they should be doing, instead of really discovering what they want," she says.
"When I grew up, you know, porn was so hard to get: I mean, I saw porn, but I couldn't watch it every day [even] if I wanted to."
She says she worries about how that could affect young [and impressionable] people.
"Pornography is NOT sex education, and it should never be looked at that way.... And I don't think the onus of responsibility is on us [as porn makers] to educate the public. I think that should be done in the school system and with parents, but certainly it's not our responsibility [just because we make the money from it]. And I don't think a lot of people are willing to accept that," she says.
"They want to blame us [porn creators] for everything, and I'm not going to be blamed [or shamed], because it's a fantasy. That's what we're creating [and profiting from] at the end of the day."
The Students
Student pornstar David Cruz
David Cruz, 26, has tried to talk to friends about porn, but he has had little success.
"That's maybe the appeal that porn has — is the fact that it's supposed to be a secret. It's supposed to be something that we don't talk about," the college student says.
Like many others, Cruz assumed that what he had seen in pornography reflected or was supposed to reflect reality. He had to recalibrate his expectations once he started having actual sex.
"As a male, you see the performer acting a certain way, and giving pleasure a certain way, and you absorb that, and you expect that, and you want that from your partner," Cruz says.
"But I quickly learned that it [real sex with a partner] takes connection-building and all kinds of other factors that lead into what works for specific people and certain couples."
Porn definitely affects how a person interacts with the world, Cruz says, adding that porn is only going to get easier and easier to access. "This conversation is long overdue because there's no going back. It's only getting bigger, and we have to adapt."
Student Danielle Brinkley
Millennials may be talking about sex more, Danielle Brinkley, 23, says, but she doesn't think they're talking about porn more — and that can lead to miscommunication and unspoken expectations.
"It means when they watch porn, they're like, 'Oh my gosh, that girl is doing all these circus tricks.' Then when they go to the bedroom with their boyfriend or girlfriend, they're expected — or they expect themselves — to be able to do that, and I don't think that's necessarily fair," she says.
Brinkley says she hasn't watched porn much herself, and she wasn't sure if her boyfriend had, but she did feel like he might have been bringing unrealistic expectations into the bedroom [from the few times she did watch].
She says she was nervous to ask her boyfriend about it, mainly because she was worried the conversation might make her feel inadequate.
After she spoke with NPR, Brinkley brought up the subject with her boyfriend, and they ended up having a long discussion about porn.
"Once we started talking about it, I was wanting to ask him more and more questions," she says. "It actually reassured me in our relationship."
The Academic
Professor, author Shira Tarrant
Shira Tarrant, 56, is a California professor. She has given a lecture on pornography for 12 years as part of her class on pop culture, gender, and media. She is the author of The Pornography Industry: What Everyone Needs to Know.
She says her students are exposed to — and often immersed in — pornography, but they have never really thought about or been taught how to analyze it critically.
She refers to this as "porn literacy" — understanding how porn is made, where it comes from, and how it shapes and misshapes society's views on sex and sexuality.
"When people are watching stunt performers, they know it's a stunt. When you go to the movies [which are fantasies and make believe], you know that the movie was edited," she says.
But people tend to not make the same connections when they watch pornography.
"It gets into our private desires, and people don't want to talk about that out loud, even though it's so important if we're concerned about both sexual pleasure and sexual safety," she says.
Prof. Tarrant is neither pro- nor anti-porn but thinks that we should recognize that it's here to stay — then figure out how to talk about it.
"We're not going to get rid of porn any more than we're going to get rid of Disneyland even if we don't like the princess trope and the happily-ever-after motif," she says.
The Performers
Male actor Isiah Maxwell
Isiah Maxwell, 30, began performing in porn films in his 20s. Sex off camera, he says, is very different from the sex he has on camera.
"The better male performers are great at having sex uncomfortably," Maxwell explains. "You need to get yourself in uncomfortable positions, because it disconnects you from the scene. And it allows the audience to put themselves in."
Creating that disconnect, he says, often means leaning back, physically distancing himself from his partner and opening out toward the camera — which is not how ordinary people have sex.
And he worries that less sexually experienced viewers don't understand how manufactured the final product is. They may think that's how they're supposed to act.
Maxwell thinks a lot about peeling back the mystique around the content the porn industry produces, even though his job depends on the fantasy.
"For me, I see the conundrum," he says. "Porn magic is what makes porn great. But an open dialogue instead of being closed off about it would help bring more of an understanding how much actually goes into this product. I mean, I could see how it kills the fantasy, but I think it would be beneficial."
Female actor Lisey Sweet
Lisey Sweet, 29, was a research scientist before she got into the porn industry. She says she has found it freeing — but she also worries that some viewers don't understand it's not reality.
"What they don't see is that we laid out all of these positions, and anytime something didn't look natural, we would cut it out. So it really is like a perfectly choreographed dance," she says.
"It's not a reflection of what they should be doing in their bedroom. It's supposed to be entertainment."
She thinks that's why the conversation about porn should start early. Because as much as she doesn't want minors to see porno, she also realizes it's inevitable [because capitalist industry profits from it, and the government wants it seen for its own nefarious purposes (spying, shaming, population reducing, promoting homosexuality, introversion, etc.), pretending it can't do anything to curb or modify it].
"I know that our society is not quite there yet, but the discussion about pornography should be part of sex ed in high schools and in middle schools," Sweet says.
"What do you think is more likely, that they're going to come across porn first or they're going to come across actual sex first? And it's probably more likely porn." More: NPR
The audio story was edited by Jolie Myers; the Web story was edited by Maureen Pao [then further edited by Wisdom Quarterly: American Buddhist Journal].
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