I was trying to read the Heart Sutra to chant it in Sanskrit, but it doesn't make any sense in English translation. At least it didn't until Wisdom Quarterly's Dharma editor explained it.* Now it's clear. Now I know why "enlightenment" and "awakening" elude me. Now I know what to study and put into practice to know and see. Thanks, WQ!
one is called a noble disciple who is a stream-winner, no longer liable to ever fall into subhuman states of woe [1], assured of full and final enlightenment."
NOTE: 1.
The "stream-winner" (sotapanna) is sure to become fully enlightened (an arahant) within seven rebirths and will not be reborn more than seven more times, and such a person will never again be reborn in any state lower than the human plane.
the one "with seven rebirths at the utmost" (sattakkhattu-parama) ["one with only seven further rebirths at the utmost," is one of the three kinds of stream-winners (sotāpannas).
the one "passing from one noble family to another" (kolankola),
the one "germinating only once more" (eka-bījī, lit. "one seed" or perhaps "at most once more seeded").]
As it is said (e.g., Pug.37-39; A.III.87):
What is the greatest bliss? Seeing release.
(1) "If a person, after the disappearance of the three lower fetters (personality-belief, skeptical doubt, attachment to rites and rituals, see samyojana), has entered the stream (to nirvana), that person is no longer subject to any rebirth in the lower worlds [below the human plane], is firmly established, destined to reach full enlightenment. After having passed among the celestial/heavenly (deva) and human (manussya) beings only at most seven times more through the round of rebirths, one puts an end to all further suffering. Such a person is called "one with seven rebirths at the utmost" (sattakkhattu-parama).
I continued to practice to make an end of ill.
(2) "If a person, after the disappearance of the three fetters.... is destined to reach full enlightenment, that person, after having passed among noble families two or three times through the round of rebirths, makes an end of all suffering. Such a person is called "one passing from one noble family to another" (kolankola).
(3) "If a person, after the disappearance of the three fetters...is destined to full enlightenment, one, after having only once more returned to the human plane, makes an end of all suffering. Such a person is called "one germinating only once more" (eka-bījī).
7. This is an encouraging message for many! Compare it to the end of MN 22 and also the charming image of the newborn calf in MN 34. The Commentary (MA) to MN 22 says such people are termed "lesser stream-winners" (cula-sota-panna). This term is discussed in The Path of Purification (VM XIX, 27). [This term is more fully explained in The Path of Freedom (Vimuttimagga).] The stress laid here on the importance of faith (actually saddha, "confidence," "conviction," the trust sufficient to investigate that precedes personal verification) is interesting in view of later developments such as the Pure Land schools (e.g., Jodo-Shinshu or "Shin-Buddhism" in Japan).
(SN 22.109 PTS: S iii 160 CDB i 9650)
Maurice O'Connell Walshe (trans.), Sotapanno Sutta: The Sotapanna, "The Stream-Winner" Pali title based on PTS (Feer) edition; Dhr. Seven (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly
This 'l save our kids from capitalist exploitation
The Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) was a bipartisan U.S. government committee formed in 1985 [1] with the stated goal of "increasing parental control over children's access to music deemed to have violent, drug-related, or sexual themes."
The committee's work led to the widespread adoption of the Parental Advisory sticker. The PMRC was known for its prejudicial targeting of heavy metal music, which drew opposition and criticism [2].
On political and religious grounds, the committee was supported by American Protestant televangelists, Reaganites, and the larger Christian evangelical movement, who accused hard rock and heavy metal music of harboring Satanic and occult related themes.
The committee was founded by four women known as the "Washington Wives"—a reference to their husbands' connections with the government power elite in the Washington, D.C. area.
Those female founders of the PMRC are Tipper Gore, wife of Senator and later Vice President Al Gore... More
(WATIVY) Ancient humans got high on purpose: Scientific evidence is everywhere across continents and has been for a long time. They just didn't want to talk about it.
The Chemical Muse uncovers decades of intentional academic misdirection and obfuscation (cover up) to reveal the long history of the widespread drug use in ancient Greece and Rome.
In the city-states that gave birth to Western civilization, drugs were an everyday element of a free society. Often, they were not just available, but vitally necessary for use in spiritual and religious ceremonies, medicine and healing, and war and violence campaigns.
Their proponents and casual users existed in all socioeconomic classes, from the common foot soldier to the emperor.
Citing examples in sacred myths, medicine, and literature, Dr. Hillman shows how drugs (psychedelic gateways to potential creativity or breakdowns) have influenced and inspired artists, philosophers, and politicians whose ideas have formed the basis for civilization as we know it.
Many of these ancient texts may seem well-known, but Dr. Hillman shows how timid, prudish translations have left biblical scholars and readers of the classics in the dark about the reality of drug use in the Classical world.
Dr. Hillman's argument is not simply "pro-drug." Instead, he appeals for an intellectual honesty that acknowledges the use of drugs in ancient societies despite today's conflicting social mores about them.
In our modern world, where academia and university life often get politically charged, The Chemical Muse offers a unique and long overdue perspective on the contentious topic of drug use and freedom of thought. More
(The Esoteric Jesus) [Now denigrated but Gnostic superheroine] Mary Magdalene taught how to see ARCHONS with the physical eyes to chosen ones [successful practitioners]
(Buddha's Wisdom) 🔍 The ancient [Taoist] Zen map that reveals we've been seeking what we already have: The 10 stages of Zen enlightenment, known as The Ten Ox-Herding Pictures, are Zen Buddhism’s 1,000-year-old roadmap to awakening and self-discovery.
What does Zen consider "enlightenment"? There are two words used. The first is satori (from Japanese satoru, to know, to see, understand a gestalt) or "sudden realization." Any insight or epiphany might do. But there's another word, kenshō, that means suddenly seeing our "true face," our "nature," our intrinsic "Buddha-nature." Certainly, our "true nature," which is the true nature of all things, has three marks. Penetrating this is necessary to letting go of all clinging.
None of these accords with what the historical Buddha taught as enlightenment (bodhi, "awakening"), but seeing "emptiness" (suññatā) -- how all things are impersonal -- is necessary for the first stage of awakening called "stream entry."
The Ten Bulls or the "Ten Ox Herding Pictures" (Chinese shíniú 十牛, Japanese jūgyūzu 十牛図, Korean sipwoo 십우)
Created by 12th-century Chinese Chan Master Kuòān Shīyuǎn, these images explain the stages of enlightenment—from desperate seeking to the realization that the ox we’ve been chasing has been the "Buddha-nature" we already possess and have always possessed.
This isn’t just ancient art. It’s a mirror showing where we truly are on the path to awakening right now.
This video explores The 10 Stages of Zen Enlightenment: A Map to Buddha-Nature, decoding the Zen Buddhist path to awakening through Zen’s most iconic teaching story.
Learn how Kuòān Shīyuǎn’s Ten Ox-Herding Pictures became a timeless visual guide to mindfulness, meditation, and non-duality in Chinese Chan and Zen Buddhism.
DISCOVER
The 10 ancient Zen stages explained step-by-step
How 12th century Master Kuòān Shīyuǎn transformed Taoist symbols into Zen training tools
The mystery behind the final picture—why enlightenment ends in a noisy marketplace
How the Heart Sutra and Zen Master Dōgen’s teachings appear inside these images
Why these ancient pictures still describe the modern search for meaning and peace
🙏 Are you somewhere between Picture 1 and Picture 4, searching, struggling, or starting to see glimpses? That's exactly where you need to be. Subscribe to continue the Path to Enlightenment series as we explore Theravāda's Four Stages and Mahāyāna's Bodhisattva Path.
⏱️ TIMESTAMPS
00:00 Intro – “You’ve lost something”
01:09 Chp 1 – The finger pointing at the moon
03:11 Chp 2 – When you first spot what you’ve lost
07:52 Chp 3 – The years of wrestling your own mind
12:06 Chp 4 – The death of everything you think you are
17:57 Chp 5 – Why enlightenment [Zen's version of the awakened state] looks like a drunk in the market
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📚 SOURCES AND FURTHER READING
Primary texts:
"Ten Ox-Herding Pictures" by Kuòān Shīyuǎn (Kakuan) - 12th century Chan Buddhism classic
"The Platform Sutra" - Teachings of Huìnéng, Sixth Patriarch
"The Diamond Sutra" (Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra)
"The Heart Sutra" (Prajñāpāramitā Hṛdaya)
"Shōbōgenzō" by Dōgen Zenji - 13th century Zen master
"The Gateless Gate" (Wúménguān) - Classic Zen kōan collection featuring Zhàozhōu
Modern scholarship:
"Zen and Japanese Culture" by D.T. Suzuki
"The Three Pillars of Zen" by Philip Kapleau (commentary on ox-herding)
"Wild Ivy: The Spiritual Autobiography of Zen Master Hakuin" translated by Norman Waddell
"The Zen Teaching of Rinzai" translated by Irmgard Schloegl
Historical Context:
Earlier buffalo-herding sets from Chinese Chan tradition
Evolution from earlier versions to Kakuan's refined ten-stage cycle
Song Dynasty Buddhist art and philosophy
Thich Nhat Hanh: "To live, we must die every instant. We must perish again and again [like flickering individual stills run in a series of connected frames of a filmstrip, one passing away and the next appearing] in the storms that make life possible."
Thay (Thích Nhất Hạnh) was a Vietnamese Zen (Thiền) teacher who practiced Engaged Buddhism. He often spoke of mindfulness (Buddhist sati) without, to our knowledge, doing much to define or explain it in detail. He lived it. It is, after all, a practice of doing (karma) much more than a theory of being.
Thiền (Zen) Master Thích Thanh Từ (1924–2022) is credited for renovating Trúc Lâm in Vietnam. He was one of the most prominent and influential Thiền masters of the 20th and early 21st century. He was a disciple of Master Thích Thiện Hoa.
The most famous practitioner of modernThiền Buddhismin the West was Thích Nhất Hạnh (1926–2022), who authored dozens of books and founded the Plum Village Monastery in France together with his colleague, Thiền Master Bhikkhuni (Nun) Chân Không.
Other influential Vietnamese teachers in the West include Thích Thiên-Ân, who taught philosophy at UCLA, said "We all shed salty tears and shed red blood; all is one," and founded a meditation center in Los Angeles, and Thích Thiện Tâm, the author of several books in English such as Buddhism of Wisdom & Faith: Pure Land Principles and Practice.
In recent years, the modernization of Thiền has taken a new global dimension, as Vietnamese Zen is becoming influenced by the teachings of influential overseas Vietnamese Buddhist leaders such as Thích Nhất Hạnh, who have adopted Thiền to Western needs, focusing on mindfulness.
As a result, Vietnamese Buddhists have also now begun to practice these modernized forms of Thiền [17]. More
(Kim Iversen) Epstein lives: 71 Orthodox Jewish girls get "lost" in NYC underground tunnels
Now that G is out of jail, is she back to pimping?
Illegal New York Jewish synagogue tunnel leads to 9 arrests (2024) Nine members of an orthodox NY Hasidic Jewish community have been arrested and charged over a secret tunnel that [they illegally dug out to make it] connected to a historic synagogue [across the street after they were unable to get a permit to join the two properties]. The Jews fought police after city officials and leaders of the Chabad-Lubavitch headquarters came to close the tunnel.
Ancient Sanskrit texts such as the Maha Bharata, the Ramayana, and the Puranas describe nāgas (snake people, Reptilians, Draconians, dragons, serpents, demons, lizard people) as a powerful semi-inhuman species
They can alter (shapeshift, transform, cloak) their physical appearance to look either fully human, partially human-partially serpent, or wholly serpent (Reptilian).
Their domain is below our feet in underworlds, underground realms stuffed with earthly treasures. This place is called the Naga-loka (Reptilian Realm) or Patala-loka (reputed to be an entrance into Agartha/Atzlan and those underworlds).
Nagas are also often associated with bodies of waters—including wells, rivers, lakes, and seas—and are guardians of many treasures [9].
AMALEK (Biblical Hebrew עֲמָלֵק, Romanized ʿĂmālēq) was a nation described in the Jewish Hebrew Bible as a staunch enemy of the Israelites. The name "Amalek" can refer either to:
According to the Torah, there is a commandment to EXTERMINATE [in] the memory of Amalek [with a Nakba, another Holocaust, war crimes, crimes against humanity, Palestinian genocide, Gaza ethnic cleansing, illegal imperialism through settler colonialism in Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan, Iran, Egypt, or by any other internationally outlawed methods]. More
I'm dead, but if I were alive, we'd have Jewish organizations send us nubile European girl Jews.
. Their power and venom make them potentially very dangerous to humans. In Hindu mythology, they can take the role of benevolent protagonists:
In the Samudra Manthana, the Naga King (nagaraja) Vasuki, who abides on Shiva's neck, transformed itself into the rope that churns the Ocean of Milk [10], thought to be a celestial reference to our "Milky Way."
Their rivals are the bird people (Garuḍas, Suparnas, Avians, Harpies), legendary semi-human bird-like beings [11]. More
Soccer (futbol, real "association football") is the stupidest most exciting of human sports since at least the time of the mighty Aztecs (Mexica tribe) of what is now Mexico, when they played soccer with a hard rubber ball, combining it with an elevated hoop for a kind of early basketball called Mesoamerican ballgame, allegedly sometimes playing to the death. How did Buddhists, particularly the peace-loving Bhutanese Himalayan variety, get caught up and consumed in this somewhat violent (war-preparatory) sport? Khyentse Norbu tries to explain in his award-winning 1999 film The Cup.
Buddhism arrived in California and Mexico before Spain brought Catholicism and England brought Christianity: An Inglorious Columbus(Edward P. Vining, 1885)
(KTLA 5) June 11, 2026: World Cup fever took over Liberty Park Thursday night in Los Angeles' Koreatown, where soccer fans came out in force to watch a match between South Korea and Czechia. KTLA’s Chris Wolfe reports.
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