Berkeley campus chaos spurs questions at free-speech bastion
BERKELEY, California - The chaos at the University of California at Berkeley, was shocking: Protesters [agent provocateurs against Trump and by extension Milo] set fires, smashed windows, hurled "explosives" [fireworks] at police, and ultimately achieved their goal of canceling an appearance by right-wing [hate speech advocate and] provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos.
I like Milo. UC Berkeley will pay!
The scene gained worldwide attention not just because of the mayhem but because of where it took place. UC Berkeley is the birthplace of the free-speech movement and has been known for more than a half-century as a bastion of tolerance [even or especially of those with unpopular views, even Nazis and Republicans].
As the university cleaned up Thursday, it struggled with questions about why the violence spun out of control and what has happened to the open-minded Berkeley of the 1960s.
"It was not a proud night for this campus," school spokesman Dan Moguluf said, later adding, "We are proud of our history and legacy as the home of the free speech movement."
Howard Stern says, "Being president is detrimental to Trump's mental health" (cnn.com)
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Officials knew there was a potential for violence and went to "extraordinary lengths" to prepare for the event, Mogulof said in a statement. But school authorities say they believe the instigators were not Berkeley students.
Berkeley was the last stop on Yiannopoulus' college tour, which had sparked protests and sporadic violence around the country. He is a vocal supporter of President Donald Trump and a self-proclaimed internet troll whose comments have been criticized as racist, misogynist, and anti-Muslim. More
Love is in the air: Couple watches sun rise in front of summit of Haleakala
volcano, Maui, Hawaii,1/22/17, one
of the main park attractions despite morning
temps in the 30s (AP).
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Sunrise visitors overload Maui peak, leading to restrictions
High in the beautiful Hawaiian wilderness
HALEAKALA NATIONAL PARK,
Hawaii - Well before dawn each morning, throngs of tourists from
around the world make their way to Maui's tallest peak, a dormant
volcano, to see what Mark Twain called the "sublimest spectacle" he ever
witnessed.
Selfie time on top of the world! (AP)
They drive up a long, winding road through the
clouds to an otherworldly, lava-rock landscape at 10,000 feet. Then they
bundle up and take their place for a dazzling daybreak show.
"Just the
sunrise from the top of the world -- it's pretty remarkable and
incomparable," Julia Grant of Mission British Columbia, Canada, said on a
recent visit after watching the sun peek out from the horizon and
saturate the sky in endless shades of yellow, orange, and red.
Webcam/Multimedia: View Haleakalā crater conditions via summit webcam, videos.
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Crowds gather to wait for Surya/Sol (AP).
Over the past year the sunrise view from atop
Haleakala -- Hawaiian for "House of the Sun" -- has been attracting over 1,000 people a day. The result, officials say, was a logjam of cars
spilling out of the parking lots and onto the road, creating a safety
hazard, and footsteps trampling sensitive habitat.
The view above the clouds (AP)
To address the problem the National Park Service
this week started requiring reservations and limiting the number of
vehicles to the available parking spots, potentially cutting in half the
number of early-morning visitors.
Sunrise
viewing has long been popular at Haleakala, one of the main attractions
at Haleakala National Park, despite morning temperatures that often dip
into the 30s.
Red soil and lava rocks dominate the summit and only a
few hearty plants have adapted to the harsh, high-altitude conditions.
The peak also is home to the nene, the Hawaiian goose, and colonies of
spiders that feast on bugs blown in from the surrounding wilderness. More
A rare and sacred landscape
(NPS.gov) This special place vibrates with stories of ancient [indigenous] and modern
Hawaiian culture and protects the bond between the land and its people.
The park also cares for endangered species, some of which exist nowhere
else. Come visit this special place: renew your spirit amid stark
volcanic landscapes and sub-tropical rain forest with an unforgettable
hike through the island backcountry. More
Andrew Olendzki (trans.), G.P. Malalasekera (Pali Proper Names), edited by Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Wisdom Quarterly, Maha Pajapati (Gotami) Theri: A Mother's Blessing (Therigatha 6.6) (Jerson Yangson) Lavinea Hopkirk as Queen Pajapati, the Buddha's mom ("Siddharta" musical)
What were the Buddha's opinions on women and nuns? Buddhism.about.com explains.
Superwoman: the Buddha's mother, Queen Pajapati as Megan Fox (dailysportz.com)
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TRANSLATOR'S NOTE
The woman said to have composed this poem or gatha was Maha Pajapati, the Buddha's adoptive mother, a queen of the Shakyas. Her younger* sister was Maya Devi, co-wife of his father King Suddhodana.
*Tradition states that Pajapati was the younger sister of Maya. See discussion below.
Pajapati Devi was unable to conceive an heir, and the Buddha's biological mother, Queen Maya, died in childbirth [or seven days after], and Queen Pajapati raised Prince Siddhartha as her own son.
After his enlightenment, when he became the Buddha, Queen Pajapati left the palace, renounced the royal life, and became the first Buddhist nun (bhikkhuni) in history.
The third stanza suggests that her attainments included the recollection of past lives, by which she was able to verify empirically the truth of continual rebirth -- the "flowing [or continued wandering] on" (samsara) from one life to another.
This process, as she mentions, is fueled by craving and by "not understanding." In the second and fourth stanzas, Queen Pajapati declares her attainment of nirvana, final and complete liberation from all suffering, an accomplishment in this very life not the hereafter.
It is remarkable to think that when Queen Maya is remembered in the last stanza, the author has in mind not the icon of motherhood and sacrifice that Maya became in the Buddhist tradition, but a dearly-loved younger sister who died tragically young -- without ever seeing what her son had become.
Mahā Pajāpatī Gotami was an eminent Buddhist nun, an "elder" (therī, a nun who has been ordained for ten or more rains). She was born at Devadaha in the family of Suppabuddha as the younger sister of Queen Mahā Māyā Devi.
Ap.ii.538 says her father was Añjana Sakka [a Shakyan/Scythian] and her mother Sulakkhanā, whereas Mhv.ii.18 says her father was Añjana and her mother Yasodharā.
Dandapāni and Suppabuddha were her brothers (cp. Dpv.xviii.7f.)
At the birth of each sister, interpreters of bodily marks prophesied that their children would be "world monarchs (cakkavattins, chakravartins). The Buddha's father, King Suddhodana, married both sisters, and when Mahāmāyā died, seven days after the birth of the Buddha, Pajāpati looked after the Buddha and nursed him.
She was the mother of Nanda [so in what sense could she not provide the king an heir as mentioned above?], but it is said that she gave her own son to nurses and herself nursed tiny Prince Siddhartha, who later would go on to become the Buddha. The Buddha was at Vesāli when his father King Suddhodana passed away, and Pajāpatī decided to renounce the world. She waited for an opportunity to ask the permission of the Buddha to ordain her.
This seems an odd thing to wait for if such a thing were unheard of. But the fact is another prominent wandering ascetic (shraman), Mahavira the founder of Jainism (known in Buddhism as Nigantha Nathaputta), was already ordaining female ascetics.
Pajāpatī was already a stream enterer (sotāpanna), one who has won the first stage of enlightenment. She attained this eminence when the Buddha first visited his father's palace and preached the Mahādhammapāla Jātaka (DhA.i.97).
Her opportunity came when the Buddha visited Kapilavatthu [Bamiyan, Afghanistan according to Dr. Ranajit Pal] to settle the dispute between the Sākiyans [Scythians] and the Koliyans as to the right to take water from the Rohinī river. When the dispute was settled, the Buddha preached the Kalahavivāda Sutra, and a great number of young Shākiyan men joined the Buddhist Monastic Order.
Their wives, led by Queen Pajāpatī, went to the Buddha and asked to be ordained as nuns. It is said that at first the Buddha was reluctant and refused, and he went on to Vesāli.
That he would consent was certain because it was his goal to fully establish the Dharma (the Teaching that leads to enlightenment) in the world, and "fully" meant having the four kinds of disciples: male and female monastics and male and female lay followers. That is what being a supremely enlightened teaching buddha (sammasambuddha) is about. Furthermore, it is a custom in Asia that one accepts disciples only reluctantly to test their dedication and willingness to undertake this more arduous lifestyle. The Buddha did not preach to convert people and win disciples but only to show the truth. Many wise people then wanted more, which the Buddha made available by setting up the Sangha (Monastic Order) collectively but existing as many small monasteries and nunneries with many wandering ascetics traveling about and residing temporarily at these complexes on their travels. Only later did monastics start taking up permanent residence, but even today wandering is encouraged except for the rainy season (vassa) when monastics stay put for intensive exertion. This is, after all, a wandering ascetic (shaman, shraman) movement, not the old establishment sedentary priest (Brahmin) order.
But Queen Pajāpatī and her companions, undeterred, had barbers to cut off their hair, and donning yellow robes, followed the Buddha to Vesāli on foot. They arrived with wounded feet at the Buddha's monastery and repeated their request. The Buddha again refused, but Ananda interceded on their behalf and their request was granted, subject to eight strict conditions.
For details see Vin.ii.253ff.; also A.iv.274ff. There was some question, which arose later as to the procedure of Pajāpatī's ordination, which was not formal. When the nuns discovered this some of them refused to hold the uposatha with her. But the Buddha declared that he himself had ordained her and that all was in order (DhA.iv.149). Her full ordination (upasampadā) allegedly* consisted in acquiescing in the eight conditions laid down for nuns (Sp.i.242).
The recent scholarship of Ayya Tathaloka reveals that this is a historical falsehood. The fact is the Buddha made no such edict, as is clear from reading the Bhikkhuni Vinaya, where a question arises as to the seniority order of males and females, which would never have been a question had these eight special rules (garudhammas) been a condition of nun's ordination. See Wisdom Quarterly and the Ayya Tathaloka on facebook.com.
After her ordination, Pajāpatī came to the Buddha and worshipped him. The Buddha preached to her and gave her a subject for meditation. With this topic she developed insight and soon after won arahantship, while her five hundred companions attained to the same after listening to the Nandakovāda Sutta.
Later, at an assembly of monks and nuns in Jetavana, the Buddha declared Pajāpatī chief of those who had experience (rattaññūnam) (A.i.25). Not long after, while at Vesāli, she realized that her life had come to an end. She was 120 years old; she took leave of the Buddha, performed various miracles, and then passed into parinirvana, her many companions passing with her. It is said that the marvels that attended her cremation rites were second only to those of the Buddha.
It was in the time of Padumuttara Buddha that Pajāpatī made her resolve to gain eminence. She then belonged to a clansman's family in Hamsavatī, and, hearing the Buddha assign the foremost place in experience to a certain nun, wished for similar recognition herself, doing many good deeds to that end. After many births she was born once more at Benares, forewoman among five hundred slave girls.
When the rains drew near, five nonteaching (pacceka) buddhas came from Nandamūlaka to Isipatana seeking lodgings. Pajāpatī saw them after the treasurer had refused them any assistance and, after consultation with her fellow slaves, they persuaded their several husbands to erect five huts for the nonteaching buddhas during the rainy season, and they provided them with all of their requisites.
At the end of the rains retreat, they gave three robes to each. After that she was born in a weaver's village near Benares (Varanasi on the Ganges river) and again ministered, this time to a great number of pacceka buddhas, sons of Padumavatī (ThigA.140ff.; AA.i.185f.; Ap.ii.529 43).
It is said that once Pajāpatī made a robe for the Buddha of wonderful material and marvelously elaborate. But when it came to be offered to the Buddha, he refused it. He instead suggested that it be given to the Monastic Order as a whole.
Why would the Buddha, the son of this woman, refuse a gift? To make it a great gift with much more karmic benefit (merit) to the giver and the receiver. It is far better to make an offering to the Sangha as a whole than to any individual in it. If one gives to the Monastic Order headed by a buddha, one gives to that buddha as well as to the many stream enterers, once returners, nonreturners, and arhats in it -- which, of course, would be exponentially more meritorious than simply making an offering to any one of these enlightened individuals, as a whole a "field of merit for the world."
Pajāpatī misunderstood and was greatly disappointed, and Ananda intervened. But the Buddha explained that his suggestion was for the greater good of Pajāpatī. And, moreover, it would serve as an example to those who might wish to make similar gifts in the future.
This was the occasion for the preaching of the Dakkhināvibhanga Sutra (M.iii.253ff.; MA.ii.1001ff.; this incident is referred to in the Milinda p.240).
The Buddha had a great love for Pajāpatī, and when she lay ill, as there were no monks to visit her and preach to her -- that allegedly being against the special rules -- the Buddha allegedly amended the rule and went himself to preach to her (Vin.iv.56).
Pajāpatī's name appears several times in the Rebirth Tales (Jātakas). She was the mother monkey in the Cūla Nandiya Jātaka (J.ii.202), Candā in the Culla Dhammapāla Jataka (J.iii.182), and Bhikkhudāyikā (or Bhikkhudāsikā) daughter of Kiki, king of Benares (J.vi.481).
Mahā Pajāpatī Gotami ("Great Pajapati of the Gotama Clan") was so called because, at her birth, augerers prophesied that she would have a large following; Gotamī was her clan (gotta) name (MA.i.1001; cp. AA.ii.774).
There is a story of a nurse employed by Pajāpatī who was born in Devadaha. She renounced the world with Pajāpatī, but for 25 years was harassed by thoughts of lust until, at last, she heard Dhammadinnā preach. She then practiced meditation and became an arhat, a fully enlightened person (ThigA.75f.).
Cold wave affects North India (Jan. 2017)North India was gripped by a cold wave during January 2017, affecting several North Indian states, including Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Harayana, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh. The lowest temperature in Gulmarg due to the cold wave was recorded at -12.4 °C (-9.7 °F). The banks of Dal Lake in Srinagar froze due to the low temperatures....Several army camps in Kashmir bound sectors were damaged and many people died in avalanches near the Line of Control.
Breitbart editor Milo’s event at UC Berkeley tonight has been evacuated by his personal security detail following protests and several fires started by masked “anti-fascists” (BN).
The Republican Club at UC Berkeley invited the controversial gay British breitbart.com senior editor and contributor Milo Yiannopoulis -- an inflammatory, implicitly biased white male homosexual Trump lover -- who denies the existence of "rape culture" on US college campuses, hates Islam, and seems to enjoy fanning the fires of misogyny, racist hatred, and other wedge issues and forms of divisiveness on the American scene.
Milo has started a white privilege grant aimed at enabling white males through funds given by [racist] donors for Milo's idea. Milo describes himself as an agent provocateur who is out to prove that the "social justice left" has gone too far being PC (politically correct), stifling free speech, and singling out speakers the left does not like. Black Lives Matter...but not to Milo and many of his fans.
What he says may be reprehensible, he may be too, but he's right. Free speech rules!
.
Host Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly's replacement, had Yiannopoulis on his FOX News show an hour after the riot erupted surrounding his inflammatory speech. He's a provocateur, humorous, a free speech advocate and polarizing figure. LIVE VIDEO
UPDATE: Talked nixed amid protest
Bank of America ATM vandalized (AP).
BERKELEY, California (Feb. 2, 2017) - A
crowd protesting a far-right commentator's appearance at the University
of California at Berkeley hurled smoke bombs, broke windows, and started
fires Wednesday night, prompting officials to call off the event. More (AP)
Breitbart speaker at Berkeley stirs free speech debate
BERKELEY, California - Fans and foes agree that Milo Yiannopoulos specializes in controversy. The polarizing editor from Breitbart News is a self-proclaimed Internet troll who has been criticized as a racist, misogynist, and white supremacist.More
Milo UC Berkeley Show Evacuated... Charlie Nash (brietbart.com, Feb. 1, 2017)
Milo is not a Nazi, I think.
Breitbart Senior Editor MILO’s event at UC Berkeley tonight has been evacuated following violence and several fires started by masked “anti-fascist” protesters.
(AP) Milo Yiannopoulos spoke on campus at the
University of Colorado in Boulder. Yiannopoulos, the polarizing
Breitbart News senior editor, gained notoriety for railing against
feminists, Muslims, and political correctness. The next stop on his
college speaking tour is UC Berkeley, where protests and outrage against
the campus Republican Club event have stirred a debate about freedom of speech and highlighted
the sensitivities on college campuses at the dawn of the Trump
presidency.
Breitbart is making the news then capitalizing on reporting it (breitbart.com)
What? I'm not bald! I use Propecia, as my doctor broke the law in telling everyone. I also take two other prescribed medicines because I'm so healthy, the healthiest man who has ever run for office of the president, my doctor says. Or did I write that? (Wisdom Quarterly)
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Donald had sex with his daughter Ivanka Trump (PROOF)
I regret these pics, but I was a model and had lots of plastic surgery. Thanks, daddy!
I'll **** everyone on this stage, even these little kids, because I'm the MAN of this family!
This video discusses the weird relationship between President Donald Trump and his daughter, Ivanka (some say Ivan) Trump. They seem to have very inappropriate sexually charged relationship.
First Lady Melania Trump is an abuse victim of President Donald Trump. Here is the recent proof of the domestic abuse that seems to be occurring in the First Family. #FreeMelania
A lot of people think they know who First Lady Melania Trump is, the wife of President Donald Trump. But many don't know the alleged secret prostitution and public lesbian pornography ("nude modelling") past that she has lead, from Slovenia to the White House.
Hey, uhhh, don't blame me. I just, uhhh, work for these white folks, mmm, yup (AP).
To you, Netanyahu, and the U.S. military
Former U.S. President Barack H. Obama (aka Barry Soetoro) is said to have left a legacy of radical social change in the military.
But aside from major shifts like allowing women in all combat roles and repealing the ban on open transgender service, many cases of rampant political correctness have been memory-holed.
Here are just seven egregious examples of social justice that creeped into the armed forces over the last eight years.
1. Handbook tells soldiers not to criticize pedophilia
"I've changed." Now I love power and war.
A proposed U.S. Army handbook from 2012 ordered soldiers not to make any nasty comments about the Taliban or criticize the common practice of pedophilia in Afghanistan.The handbook also suggested that the West’s failure to grasp culture in Afghanistan was partially responsible for the spate of insider attacks. In 2012 alone, insider attacks accounted for 63 deaths of members of the U.S. coalition.
The first openly gay U.S. president? Lincoln was closeted, but Barry showed off Michael.
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According to a draft of the document leaked to The Wall Street Journal, the document urges troops to stop “advocating women’s rights,” or bring up “any criticism of pedophilia,” or “anything related to Islam.”Commands to ignore pedophilia in Afghanistan have by no means been limited to the 2012 draft handbook.Rather, The New York Times reported in 2015 that troops have been told repeatedly to ignore cases of pedophilia and extreme sexual assault -- even on U.S. military bases. 2. The Bible disrespects diversity
Christianity vs. Islam: "Your bull$hit is more bull$hit than my bull$hit"!
In December 2014 the U.S. Army punished Chaplain Joseph Lawhorn for listing Bible verses as an optional resource in a suicide prevention training class. While his training was very well-received, one soldier complained and contacted an outside organization to put pressure on the military.Army Col. David Fivecoat, Lawhorn’s superior, condemned him for supposedly violating Army policy. Fivecoat told him he was to stop mentioning the Bible because it disrespects diversity. More
It's not just racism the US faces but shadism: the darker/blacker you are, the worse off.
#BlackLivesMatter: This is "not a moment, but a movement" (blacklivesmatter.com)
Did you know there's a black American on United States currency? Or is there?
Hey, b*tch, don't stand there staring us down in flip flops! Arrest that black woman! (AP)
"STOP KILLING US!!" reads sign aimed at abusive police doing the new "lynching" (AP).
Oh, for those beloved black leaders we hated when they were alive! Now we love them!
"Don't shoot Alton Sterling." "There is no justice! It's just us!" "No justice No Peace" (AP)
Hey, boy, you're black but you work for us, right? - That's right, son. I'm a trooper. KKK: 3 year old white male dressed in Klan attire reaches for his shadow in black officer's shield, Georgia.
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