Monday, September 27, 2021

When people first arrived in the Americas

Xochitl, Ashley Wells, Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly; KFI; MSN; LiveScience; PS; NS

(Conway Crew, iHeart, 9/27/21) Scientists have determined that fossilized footprints found in New Mexico in 2005 were left between 21,000 and 23,000 years ago -- meaning there were humans in North America several thousand years before experts previously thought. [But science knows that Black/aboriginal people were here 50,000 years ago.] More

These footprints could push back human history in the Americas
(Philip Kiefer, Popular Science via MSN, 9/27/21) A set of footprints buried in the dunes of New Mexico’s White Sands National Park has landed in the middle of an ongoing reevaluation of the human history of the Americas. The prints were left over thousands of years by humans who walked among giant sloths, camels, and mammoths on the grassy shores of a lake 23,000 years ago, as determined by radiocarbon dating of grass seeds found around the footprints. That’s in stark contrast to the conventional hypothesis in archeology, which holds that the first people in the Americas crossed over between 16,000 and 12,000 years ago, when the glaciers still covered North America, and Siberia and interior Alaska were part of the same grassy subcontinent called Beringia. More

Here's how people first arrived in the New World…maybe

(Laura Geggel, LiveScience, 8/9/18) Humans had a population boom around 16,000 years ago as they neared or reached the Americas after traversing the temporary Bering Strait land bridge. Did the first people to inhabit the Americas hug the coast after crossing the Bering Strait or travel farther inland, between two massive ice sheets?

This question has dogged researchers for decades. Now, a review of archeological, geologic, anthropological, and genetic data argues for both, but especially for the latter: It appears that prehistoric humans favored the inland route, although some traveled along the so-called coastal Kelp Highway later on, the new review says. But not everyone is convinced this is the case. Some recent studies have suggested that the coastal route was the preferred path.

That's because inland conditions were far too harsh until the ice sheets receded, which some research suggests did not happen until after the first settlements in America were founded. Incredible journey: The first Americans began their journey in northeast Asia and southern Siberia. Then, between 25,000 and 20,000 years ago, the ancestors of today's Native Americans split off from East Asians, according to the new review. More
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Mary's Mad Monkey: Another case for "Fuzz"

Newsweek via msn.com, 9/27/21; CC Liu, Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
Bonnet Macaque monkeys are mad primates mimicking humans (Jean-Francois Monier/AFP)
Science writer Mary Roach recently released her latest book, Fuzz, about criminal animals and the human head cases who try to enforce our rules on their plane of existence.

(Newsweek) Starting on Sept. 16, 2021, a 5-year-old Bonnet Macaque monkey known to be a general nuisance in the city's Kottigehara, India, neighborhood began menacing school children.

This prompted the local forest department to step in and try to remove the animal, according to Firstpost. The Fuzz are needed because he is violent and insane... More

The real mad monkey was Dr. Mary's Monkey who helped make cancer and other contagious diseases more virulent in humans using animal models in a lab working for the CIA and other agencies.
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Unhappy Hour vs. Happy Hour: Coffee

Ashley Wells, Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly, Monday, September 27, 2021

Put in eight on caffeine, get one to come down
Strange that when on the night shift, I leave when others are coming and arrive when they're going. It's made me notice the sign hanging over the bar on the corner, "Happy Hour!"

When does "Happy Hour" start? After work. And that's where people in the office are headed. That implies that the rest of the time -- the eight hours before it -- are "Unhappy Hour(s)." Where should that sign be hung? At the entrance to the workplace.

What's the drink on the "Happy Hour" banner? It's a martini glass with champagne bubbles.

Boss' saying: "Life begins after coffee"
What's the official drink of work, the drug the boss passes out for free? Coffee (caffeine and many carcinogenic compounds like acrylamides known to the state to cause cancer. The State of California WARNING is presented by Starbucks, so you can't sue and say you didn't know).

Drink up, Dummy. You're making me rich.
The first drug we associate with lowering inhibitions and a lack of restraint, the second with full-inhibition productivity, oppressive restraint by overlord (boss), and in-fighting coworkers.

So to go along to get along, not wanting trouble, fearing a loss of livelihood, I learned to love addictive coffee. It makes me nervous, ditzy, unable to focus without it. Now I buy my own, make it extra strong, lose sleep over it. I'm told I love it. I must love it to drink so much of it without wanting to.
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Shamanic Healing Journey, L.A. (10/1)

Dharma Buddhist Meditation (meetup.com); Xochitl, Dhr. Seven, Ananda, Wisdom Quarterly

In ancient Native American Los Angeles when someone experienced a trauma (a shock or fright), the person would be diagnosed with an asusto. The cure? A grounding. This is done by journeying into Nature, into the resonant field of Mother Earth, the elements, with the help of faerie-spirits (the devas in Buddhism). Volunteer assistants needed to help in ceremony. Attend free in exchange for a personal healing journey. Inquire for details. Dates to align with preferred moon phase. More
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Control of the Mind (Edward Conze)

Edward Conze (trans.), PART 3, Majjhima Nikaya, MN 20, and Papañcasudani (Summary); edited by Dhr. Seven, Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Wisdom Quarterly
.
A full translation of this sutra has been published by the Buddhist Publication Society of Kandy (BPS.lk) as Wheel #21, under the title The Removal of Distracting Thoughts (Vitakka-santhana Sutta) with Commentary and marginal notes translated by Soma Thera.

The Sutra on the Composition of Ideas
Oh, that's much easier then!
[If, while attending to a certain sign, there arise, with reference to it, in the disciple harmful and unwholesome ideas, connected with greed, hatred, or delusion, then the disciple:]

I. should, by means of this sign (cause, occasion) attend to another sign that is more wholesome;

II. or should investigate the peril of these ideas: "Unwholesome truly are these ideas! Blameworthy are these ideas! Of painful result are these ideas!";

III. or should pay no attention to these ideas;

IV. or should attend to the composition of the factors that effect these ideas;

V. or, with teeth clenched and tongue pressed against the gums, should by means of sheer mental effort hold back, crush, and extinguish the (offending) thought.

In doing so these harmful and unwholesome ideas, bound up with greed, hatred, or delusion, will be forsaken and disappear; from their forsaking thought will become inwardly settled and calm, composed, and concentrated. This is called the effort to overcome.

From the Commentary
I. Unwholesome ideas may arise with reference to beings — be they desirable, undesirable, or unconsidered — or to things, such as one's possessions, or things which annoy, like stumps or thorns. The wholesome counter-ideas that drive them out arise from the following practices, which are directly opposed to them:

Greed about beings: Meditation about the repulsiveness of the body.

Greed about things: Attention to their impermanence.

Hate for beings: The development of friendliness.

Hate for things: Attention to the elements: Which of the physical elements composing the thing am I angry with?

Delusion about beings and things:
  1. When one has, in one's general bewilderment, neglected duties to a teacher, one wakes oneself up by doing some tiring work, such as carrying water.
  2. When one has been hazy in attending to the teacher's explanation of the doctrine, one wakes oneself up by doing some tiresome work.
  3. One removes one's doubts by questioning authorities.
  4. At the right time one listens respectfully to the Dharma.
  5. One acquires the skill in distinguishing between correct and faulty conclusions and knows, "This is the reason for that, this is not the reason."
These are the direct and correct antidotes to the faulty ideas.

II. One investigates them with the power of wisdom and rejects them like a snake's carcass.

Mindfulness is always helpful (Pirarro)
III. One should not remember those ideas, not attend to them, but become one who is otherwise engaged. One should be like someone who, not wanting to see a certain sight-object, just closes the eyes; when these ideas arise in the mind, one should take hold of this basic subject of meditation and become engaged in that. It may help one to break the spell of intruding thoughts and to occupy the mind otherwise, if one recites with great faith (confidence) a passage from the sacred texts, or reads out a passage in honor (praise) of the Buddha or Dharma; or one may sort out one's belongings and enumerate them one by one: "These are the scissors," "This is the needle," and so on; or one should do some sewing; or one should do some good work for a given period of time. And after that one should return to one's basic subject of meditation.

IV. One should analyze the conditions for these ideas and ask oneself: "What is their cause, what their condition, what the reason for their having arisen?"

V. One should put forth great vigor, and with a wholesome thought one should hold back an unwholesome one. More
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Korea vs. USA makeup routines (video)


American vs. South Korean (LA vs. Seoul) makeup and skincare routines
(As/Is, 5/1/20) "My eyeshadow exploded..." Hope everyone loves the products, none of which are recommended! Go natural. Go into the kitchen. you wouldn't eat, don't put it on your skin. The skin is more absorbent than the gut. Whatever gets on it is bound to get in it. And the body will suffer for it. Beware of toxic additional products and all the alcohols. BuzzFeed wanted to collect a share of sales by linking to products like a commercial, and we say no way. Shop around. Steer clear of beauty aisles and head to the health food store.
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Friday, September 24, 2021

Buddhist comics, humor, and laughs

Eds., Wisdom Quarterly; Angel City Zen; Leo Cohen; Pinterest; Matt Caron (sivanaspirit.com)
110 Buddhist jokes ideas | yoga funnies, jokes, Buddhism just for laughs (pinterest.com)

“If thou art too busy to laugh, thou are too busy.” - Unknown (Honest Tea bottlecap)

--

Four monks were meditating in the temple when, all of a sudden, the prayer flag started flapping. 

The youngest monk came out of meditation and observed, "The flag is flapping!"

A second more experienced monk corrected him, "No, the wind is flapping."

A third monk observed, "No, you're both wrong. The mind is flapping."

The fourth and eldest monk finally said, "Mouths are flapping."
--

A Zen master told me, “Do the opposite of what I tell you.” So I didn’t.

--

Q: What happens when a Buddhist man becomes totally absorbed with a new electronic gadget?

A: He enters nerdvana.

--

A Buddhist woman phones the monastery and asks the monk, “Can you come to do a blessing for my new house?”

The monk replies: “Sorry, I’m busy.”

“What are you doing? Can I help?”

“I’m doing nothing,” replies the monk.

“Doing nothing is a monk’s core business, and you can’t help me with that.”

The next day the Buddhist woman calls again, “Can you please come to my house for a blessing?”

“Sorry,” says the monk, “I’m busy.”

“What are you doing?”

“I’m doing nothing,” replies the monk.

“But that’s what you were doing yesterday!” says the Buddhist woman.

“That’s correct,” replies the monk, “and I’m not finished yet!” More

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Thursday, September 23, 2021

Three Kinds of Desire (Ajahn Sumedho)

Ajahn Sumedho, Jungyeon Roh (art buddhistinsights.org); Dhr. Seven (ed.) Wisdom Quarterly
The pleasures of the senses drag us through much misery and little satisfaction.

Sumedho (Robert Karr Jackman)
Desire or tanha (lit. "thirst," craving) in Pali is an important thing to understand. What is desire?

Kama tanha (craving for sensual pleasures) is very easy to understand. This kind of desire is wanting sense pleasures through the body or the other senses and always seeking things to excite or please our senses — that is sensual thirst.

We can really contemplate: What is it like when I have desire for pleasure? For example, when I am eating, if I am hungry and the food tastes delicious, I can be aware of wanting to take another bite.

Warm, vegan, gluten-free pizza, yum!
Notice the feeling when tasting something pleasant. Notice wanting more of it. Don’t just believe this; try it out. Let’s not think we know it because it has been that way in the past. Try it out when next eating. Taste something delicious and see what happens: A desire (craving) arises for more. That is kama tanha.

We also contemplate the feeling of wanting to become something. But if there is ignorance then when we are not seeking something delicious to eat or some beautiful music to listen to, we can be caught in a realm of ambition and attainment — the desire to become (bhava tanha).

We get caught in that movement of striving to become happy, seeking to become wealthy; or we might attempt to make our life feel important by endeavoring to make the world right. So note this sense of wanting to become something other than what we are right now.

Listen to the bhava tanha of our life:
  • "I want to practice meditation so I can become free from my pain.
  • I want to become enlightened.
  • I want to become a monk or nun.
  • I want to become enlightened as a lay person.
  • I want to have a spouse and children and a profession.
  • I want to enjoy the sense world without having to give up anything and become an enlightened arahant too."
When we get disillusioned with trying to become something then there is the desire to get rid of things (vibhava tanha). So we contemplate this desire, the craving to get rid of:
  • "I want to get rid of my suffering.
  • I want to get rid of my anger.
  • I’ve got this anger, and I want to get rid of it.
  • I want to get rid of jealousy, fear, and anxiety."


Motherfather, shut up! I want to be rid of...
Notice this as a reflection on vibhava tanha. We are actually contemplating that within ourselves which wants to get rid of things; we are not trying to get rid of vibhava tanha.

We are not taking a stand against the desire to get rid of things, nor are we encouraging that desire. Instead, we are reflecting, "It’s like this; it feels like this to want to get rid of something; I’ve got to conquer my anger; I have to kill the Devil and get rid of my greed — then I will become..."

Hey, what if we calm down and fix it?
We can see from this train of thought that becoming and getting rid of are very much associated.

Bear in mind though that these three categories of kama tanha, bhava tanha, and vibhava tanha are merely convenient ways of contemplating desire. They are not totally separate forms of desire but different aspects of it.

The second insight into the Second Noble Truth is: "Desire should be let go of." This is how letting go comes into our practice.

We have an insight that desire should be let go of, but that insight is not a desire to let go of anything. If we are not very wise and are not really reflecting in our mind, we tend to follow the "I want to get rid of, I want to let go of all my desires" — but this is just another desire.

However, we can reflect upon it; we can see the desire to get rid of, the desire to become, or the desire for sense pleasure. By understanding these three kinds of desire, we can let them go.

The Second Noble Truth does NOT ask us to think, "I have a lot of sensual desires" or "I’m really ambitious. I’m really bhava tanha plus, plus, plus!" or "I’m a real nihilist. I just want out. I’m a real vibhava tanha fanatic. That’s me."

The Second Noble Truth is not that. It is not about identifying with desires in any way; it’s about recognizing desire.

I used to spend a lot of time watching how much of my practice was desire to become something. For example, how much of the good intentions of my meditation practice as a monk was to become liked — how much of my relations with other monks or nuns or with lay people had to do with wanting to be liked and approved of. That is bhava tanha — desire for praise and success.

As a monk, we have this bhava tanha: wanting people to understand everything and to appreciate the Dharma. Even these subtle, almost noble, desires are bhava tanha.

Then there is vibhava tanha (craving for annihilation, nonbeing) in spiritual life, which can be very self-righteous: "I want to get rid of, annihilate, and exterminate these defilements."

I really listened to myself thinking, "I want to get rid of desire. I want to get rid of anger. I don’t want to be frightened or jealous any more. I want to be brave. I want to have joy and gladness in my heart."

This practice of Dharma is not one of hating oneself for having such thoughts but really seeing that these are conditioned into the mind. They are impermanent.

Desire is not what we are, but it is the way we tend to react out of ignorance when we have not understood these Four Noble Truths in their three aspects.

We tend to react like that to everything. These are normal reactions due to ignorance.

But we need not continue to suffer. We are not just hopeless victims of desire. We can allow desire to be the way it is and so begin to let go of it. Desire has power over us and deludes us only as long as we grasp it, believe in it, and react to it. Source
  • To read more, download Ajahn Sumedho’s book The Four Noble Truths for FREE on Buddhanet.net
AUTHOR: Ajahn Sumedho, one of the most senior Western representatives of the Thai Forest Tradition of Theravada Buddhism.
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Lay Buddhist role model Nanda's mother (video)

Ayya Vimalanyani (buddhistinsights.org); Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
"Mother Nature" in 2021 | Madhubani painting, Indian folk art, Madhubani art (pinterest.com)

Role models: Nandamata with Ayya, Pt. 2/4
(Buddhist Insights) In this four-part series, Ayya Vimalanyani explores the lives and practices of four chief lay disciples. Sutra translation by Ven. Sujato (suttacentral.net/an7.53/en/su...). To learn more about Buddhist Insights: linktr.ee/buddhistinsights

SUTRA: Nandamātā
The story of Nandamata (theravadin.org)
(AN 7.53) Thus have I heard. At one time Ven. Sāriputta and Ven. Mahā Moggallāna were wandering ascetics in the Southern Hills with large communities of wandering ascetics following them. At that time the laywoman Veḷukaṇṭakī, Nanda’s mother (Nandamata), rose at dawn and recited the Buddhist verses known as “The Way to the Beyond.” At that time the great King Vessavaṇa was on his way north to south on some business. He heard Nanda’s Mother reciting and stood waiting for her to finish. When her recital was over she fell silent. Then, knowing that she had finished, King Vessavaṇa applauded, saying:

“Good, sister, good!”

“But who might you be, dear?”

“Sister, I am your brother, the great King Vessavaṇa.” More
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FUZZ: Mary Roach on animal crimes (audio)

Mary Roach, Dave Davies (Fresh Air), Lulu Garcia-Navarro, NPR; CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly
Monkey thieves, drunk elephants — Mary Roach reveals weird world of animal "crime"
Macaque monkeys check out camera in Galtaji Temple in Jaipur, India, to decide whether to steal it, break it, or hold it for ransom. They are cheeky (Vishal Bhatnagar/NurPhoto via Getty Images).
Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law
Animals living among us often ignore the rules we try to impose on them. Science writer Mary Roach (Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law) experienced this firsthand when a group of macaque monkeys accosted her in India. "I was kind of asking for it," she admits. "I walked up this trail where I knew there were a lot of macaques, and I walked up holding a bag of bananas." At first, nothing happened. Then Roach saw a monkey pop its head up from behind a boulder, "kind of like the bandits waiting for the stagecoach." Just as that monkey stepped into her path, another monkey darted up behind her and snatched the bag of bananas. "I don't know if they were a team, like 'I'll distract her and you grab the bananas,' or whether they were competing bandits," she says. "But anyway, I got mugged." More

"Monkey selfie" lawsuit ends with settlement between PETA, photog
HOST LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO (Morning Edition Sunday): We all know that nature can be unpredictable, fascinating, sometimes just plain strange. But what happens when wildlife breaks the law? That's what author Mary Roach explores in her new book, Fuzz. It deals with the often bemusing, sometimes grisly world of animal, plant, and human encounters. There are foul-tempered elephants, undeterred seagulls, and bears who just won't stop eating out of restaurant dumpsters no matter what the city's health code says.... I mean, your books delve into the science of subjects people haven't really thought too deeply about -- cadavers, ghosts, the digestive tract. What led you to delve into wildlife

ROACH: Well, I was flailing around in my usual way, looking for a new book idea. I often write about the human body, but I've kind of used that up. There's only so many pieces...that are kind of Roach-able. So got interested in the forensics of wildlife crime, not when animals are the perpetrators, but when the animals are the victims....I was up at this lab in Ashland, Oregon, where this woman has a hair library -- you know, like, five different types of hair from each species, so she can identify, you know, contraband that comes across the border. I got interested in that. She's also the author of a paper on how to tell real versus counterfeit tiger penis, which is sold illegally....I can now tell the difference, can tell you if it's real or fake. More
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Reefer Madness, Hill Clinton, Biden loses it

Mike MacRae, Jimmy Dore (jimmydorecomedy.com); Pfc. Sandoval, S. Auberon, Wisdom Quarterly

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"Cave in the Snow," British nun's travels (film)

Dhr. Seven, Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

(Sivananda Ashram Yoga Retreat Bahamas) This is a full-length talk below is by Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo (aka Diane Perry) from a 2011-2012 Christmas Symposium.


Into the Heart of Life (Jetsunma)
British seeker Diane Perry became a Buddhist while still in her teens. At the age of 20, she traveled to India and became one of the first Westerners to be ordained as a Tibetan Buddhist nun (ani).

The international bestseller Cave in the Snow (above) by Vicki Mackenzie chronicles Ani Palmo's 12 years of seclusion in Lahaul in the Indian Himalayas on the border of Tibet in this small cave near Tayul Monastery.

Reflections on a Mountain Lake
In 2008, the head of the Drukpa Kagyu lineage gave her the rare title of jetsun (female jetsunma, "venerable master").

Deeply concerned with the plight of Buddhist nuns, Jetsunma Tenzin established Dongyu Gatsal Ling Nunnery (tenzinpalmo.com) in India.



WHAT IS SIVANANDA ASHRAM YOGA RETREAT?
The Sivananda Ashram Yoga Retreat provides an immersion experience into the daily practices of a yogic lifestyle. A spiritual sanctuary nestled in the beautiful Bahamas, yoga teachings derived from the deeply-rooted traditions of a renowned yoga lineage are offered. The purpose of these spiritual practices is to help people of all cultures and backgrounds develop inner-peace for a more harmonious world. Established by Swami Vishnudevananda in the name of Master Swami Sivananda, its yoga retreat is a safe and supportive environment for deep and profound learning and inner healing. It presents a balanced approach to yogic living and spiritual study. The daily schedule includes meditation, pranayama (breathing practices), asana (yoga postures), a balanced vegetarian diet, and satsang (spiritual discourse). Yoga Teacher Training Courses and Advanced Yoga Teacher Training Courses are offered throughout the year, as well as many other certification courses, experiential programs, and yoga vacation options. View welcome tour video. Browse program calendar. Sign up for newsletter. More info: sivanandabahamas.org. Aum Shanti, Shanti, Shanti! Om Peace, Peace, Peace!
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