This painting holds one of my favorite lines from the prayer beneath the collection: "Help us restore what has been harmed and create a future of harmony and respect."
I painted it as a sunrise, a center of gold opening into rays of red and orange, the first light after a long, dark night.
I wanted to make something in color that remembered that the morning still comes no matter how hard the dark period.
"A Future of Harmony and Respect"
The best way to see a sunrise is through an old growth forest of vibrant trees
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What can one person do save world?
The original is now ready to find its home.
Inquire on Cohart. People sometimes ask how long a painting like this takes me to compose. The painting itself is a matter of days, but the more complete answer is that it takes much longer. This is because the gold comes in layers that each needs its own time and cannot be hurried.
Gold teaches me patience. It will lift, crack, or refuse if it is rushed. So I stopped counting in days and started counting in layers.
I want to save our world's forests!
A future is built the same way: not in one grand gesture, but in patient layers, small daily choices and acts, the things we plant (sow) and tend (cultivate) and refuse to give up on. What we care for grows. What we show up for shows. Everyone can see what shows from our care in its composition.
As of today, "A Future of Harmony and Respect" is available to view on Cohart, to acquire by inquiry. If someone is standing at the start of something, this is a sunrise for that wall.
It is one-of-a-kind, watercolor with 24 karat sustainable gold leaf, with a prayer sealed inside that can be accessed through a chip that allows it to be heard aloud. And it arrives with a certificate of authenticity and earth conscious packaging.
What part of the living world do you most want to see restored?
(Maybe it's forests, human communities, vegan kitchens, grasslands, oceans, bird skies, tunnel systems, space debris belts... Tell us in the comment section below)
With love,
Ekaterina Sky
P.S. If feeling moved beyond wall paintings, PLANT TREES THROUGH THE MOVEMENT at ourlifeforce.org. Also, see the painting on Instagram: @ekaterina.sky.art
(Boxing Game) Holy cow! The animated Chun-Li in real life? Cute Mona Kimura knocks out everyone because she kicks when she does her martial arts in the ring against opponents who walk right into her foot again and again.
Mona Kimura (Japanese 木村 萌那, Kimura Mona, born April 12, 2001) is a Japanese kickboxer and former amateur boxer who is currently signed to K-1. She represented Japan at 2022 IBA Women's World Boxing Championships [2, 3, 4].
Kimura started training in karate at age 4 and won seven consecutive JKJO All Japan Junior Karate Championships then started boxing in 4th grade [5, 6, 7]. In 2019 she won the JBC Junior Featherweight Championship... Does she love Bruce Lee or even know who he was? Is she into kung fu like the great [not an actual monastery-trained] Shaolin master Yi Long? She must at least know the who the great martial artists who preceded her are. More
Buddhism was first established in Japan in the 6th century CE [3, 4, 5]. Most of Japanese Buddhists belong to new schools of Buddhism that were established in the Kamakura period (1185–1333) [6]. During the Edo period (1603–1868), Buddhism was controlled by the feudal Shogunate.
The Meiji period (1868–1912) saw a strong response against Buddhism, with persecution and a forced separation between Buddhism and the indigenous shapeshifter (kami) tradition called Shinto (Shinbutsu bunri).
The largest sects of Japanese Buddhism are Pure Land Buddhism with 22 million followers, followed by Nichiren Buddhism with 10 million believers, Shingon Buddhism with 5.4 million, Zen Buddhism with 5.3 million, Tendai Buddhism with 2.8 million, and about 700,000 for the six old schools established in the Nara period (710–794) [6]. More:
Like Korean Buddhism,* K-pop (Korean 케이팝, RR Keipap, "Korean popular music") is a form of super best-selling music originating in South Korea [2]. The music genre that the term is used to refer to colloquially emerged in the 1990s as a form of youth subculture, with Korean musicians influenced by Western dance music, hip-hop, R&B, and rock [3, 4, 5].
Today, K-pop commonly refers to the musical output of teen "idol" acts, chiefly all-girl groups and all-boy bands, who emphasize visual appeal and performance [6].
As a pop genre, K-pop is characterized by its melodic quality and cultural hybridity [7, 8, 9]. K-pop can trace its origins to "rap dance," a fusion of hip-hop, techno, and rock popularized by the group Seo Taiji and Boys, whose experimentation helped to modernize South Korea's contemporary music scene in the early 1990s [10, 11, 12].
Their popularity with teenagers led the music industry to focus on this demographic. Lee Soo-man of SM Entertainment, who developed the Korean idol system in the late 1990s, created H.O.T. and S.E.S., the "first generation" of K-pop [13].
By the early 2000s, TVXQ and BoA had achieved success in Japan and gained traction for the genre overseas [14, 15]....
ROSE and PSY perform "APT." (live from Summerswag 2025)
By 2019, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) listed South Korea as the 6th largest music market in the world [116], with boy band BTS alone accounting for $4.65 billion, or 0.3%, of South Korea's GDP [117].
In 2024, IFPI declared K-pop the leading global genre in unit sales, across both physical and digital formats. Seventeen of the top 20 albums on the IFPI Global Album Sales Chart that year belonged to this genre [118, 119] thanks to BTS, Blackpink, solo Rosé, Katseye, and a few others. More
Korean Buddhism began in the 4th century CE during the Three Kingdoms Period. Centuries after Buddhism originated in [Gandhara, now modern Afghanistan] and Magadha [a Buddhist territory later brought into the empire under the umbrella term "India" under Buddhist Emperor Ashoka], the Mahayana tradition arrived in China through the Silk Road in the 1st century CE, then entered the Korean peninsula in the 4th century, from where it was transmitted to Japan.
In Korea, it was adopted as the state religion of three constituent polities of the Three Kingdoms Period, first by the Goguryeo (aka Goryeo) in 372 CE, by the Silla (Gaya) in 528 CE, and by the Baekje in 552 CE [1].
Korean Buddhism is distinguished from other forms of Buddhism by its attempt to resolve what its early practitioners saw as inconsistencies within theMahayana Buddhist traditions that they received from foreign countries.
To address this, Korean Buddhists developed a new holistic approach to Buddhism that became a distinct form, an approach characteristic of virtually all major Korean thinkers.
The resulting variation is called Tongbulgyo ("interpenetrated Buddhism"), a form that sought to harmonize previously arising disputes among scholars (a principle called hwajaeng 和諍) [2].
As it now stands, Korean Buddhism consists mostly of the Seon [Zen] Lineage, primarily represented by the Jogye and Taego Orders. The Korean Seon has a strong relationship with other Mahayana traditions that bear the imprint of Chan teachings as well as the closely related Zen.
Other sects -- such as the modern revival of the Cheontae lineage, the Jingak Order (a modern esoteric sect or Vajrayana), and the newly formed Won -- have also attracted sizable followings [3].
Korean Buddhism has contributed much to East Asian Buddhism, especially to early Chinese, Vietnamese, Japanese, and Tibetan schools of Buddhist thought. More
(Let's Be Clear with Ana Kasparian) Israel is going to regret suing New York Times for exposing their mass rape, bestiality, prisoner abuse, crimes against humanity, war crimes
(Buddha's Wisdom) GOENKA: The man who removed Buddhism from Buddhism?
Do it yourself at home the U Ba Khin way
The Goenka Method (of U Ba Khin) provides some practical advice for practicing systematic mindfulness (sati) of the body, one of the four crucial elements in the setting up of the Four Foundations of Mindfulness (Satipatthana), a practice necessary for "insight" (vipassana). Is it the only method? No. Is it the most effective method? Who can say, as it varies from individual to individual. Is it an effective method? Without sufficient stillness, calm, samadhi, absorption (jhana), it seems to Wisdom Quarterly that it is not. The claim is that practicing vipassana can produce its own mild forms of "access concentration" without needed full absorption. This will at best be a very weak and sketchy foundation of sila and samma-samadhi, virtue and "right samadhi." Samadhi is crucial and cannot be skipped over with the ideal of "dry insight" being enough for this decadent age.
S. N. Goenka (Satya Narayana, Satyanārāyaṇa Gōyaṅkā, Burmese ဦးဂိုအင်ကာ) lived from Jan. 30, 1924–Sept. 29, 2013. He was an Indian Burmese businessman and teacher of Buddhist insight (vipassanā) meditation.
Goenka-jii (an honorific added out of great respect) retired from business in 1962, during a period of business nationalization by the military junta in Burma, then moved to India in 1969 to start teaching vipassana meditation.
His teachings are secular and therefore stay away from anything that might appear to be rites or rituals and instead emphasize that Buddha's path to liberation, which was non-sectarian, universal, and scientific (rational) in character.
This led to vipassana meditation appealing to people of all religions as well as no religion, theists, nontheists, atheists, and agnostics, from all parts of the world, East and West.
Vipassana, in the Burmese Theravada Buddhist tradition, is derived from the Abhidhamma(as taught by the Buddha to the monk he declared "foremost in wisdom" Ven. Śāriputra [27, 28]).
Although some Burmese teachers hold that vipassana and Abhidhamma study are inseparable [29], Goenka invited students to consider the theoretical aspects of these Teachings (pariyatti), advising them that the most important aspect of the technique is its practice (paṭipatti), contrasting mere book learning from experiential learning.
Students are free to accept the theoretical background or reject any part they find objectionable.
Goenka reported the words of the Buddha as follows [30]: "Filled with these compassionate and loving thoughts, [the Buddha] proclaimed: Apārutā tesaṃ amatassa dvārā Ye sotavanto pamuñcantu saddhaṃ "Open are the gates of the deathless state to those with ears [to hear] who renounce their lack of [confidence]," that is to say:
"Open are the gates of Nirvana so that people who hear and practice will be able to overcome all doubt," which is one of the Five Mental Hindrances.
Free 10-day course
I thought I'd join a 10-day course, get enlightened, then go get my nails done. Boy, was I wrong.
Mr. Goenka became an influential teacher and played an important role in establishing non-commercial vipassana meditation centers globally where vipassana meditation is taught as a free 10-day residential program with no charges for food, lodging, or meditation instruction, with centers funded by voluntary donations from "old" (past and present) meditators.
How could it possibly be free? It is non-commercial. The rule is that only "old" students (who have completed at least one course) are allowed to donate. "New" students (who have not yet completed at least one course) are not allowed to donate. Donations are accepted after the completion of a course, which everyone qualifies to donate to at the end of each course, so there's never really a time when centers are open to donations and not accepting them. As soon as they are open to accepting dana (donations, gifts, charity), everyone present who just completed the course can give. Give what? Dāna
Goenka was awarded the Padma Bhushan by the government of India in 2012, an award bestowed for distinguished service of a high order.
Sign up for free 10-day courses worldwide at dhamma.org
(Wisdom Quarterly was fortunate enough to meet S. N. Goenka, 88, and his lovely wife when they were invited to the Dhammakaya Meditation Center in Azusa, Los Angeles, for a lunch in his honor and to receive an award for service to humanity, circa 2012. This was just as the Aztec Calendar was wrapping a cycle and the world was about to end, with few people noticing that a new cycle and new world would immediately be continuing. He seemed very kind, and not nearly as Dracula-like as one might think from hearing his droning, baritone Transylvanian/Indian accent on the standardized tapes played during all free 10-day courses). More
Buddha's Wisdom (video); Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, CC Liu, Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Wisdom Quarterly Wiki edit
I am thy Emperor in the Sky, the Demiurge, thy Jealous and vengeful Lord of all Worlds!
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Behold! The Way, the Truth, and the Light!
(MorgueOfficial) I discovered the REAL God | Why the Monad[the One, as taught in the varied traditions we collectively call Gnosticism] was too dangerous to teach.
So that even the Goddess Wisdom (Sophia) as exemplified by Mary Magdalene (the closest and brightest apostle, the real intended successor of Jesus, not dogmatic Peter/Petra, an emissary of Sophia, Barbelo, the true GOD or godhead) had to denigrated and erased, and why Jesus the Anointed One (Christ) had to be misquoted, repurposed, made to work for the state (Emperor Constantine's Roman Empire and subsequent Christendom), and inverted until what the church says he said is nearly the opposite of what he was teaching.
Pistis Sophia (Koine Greek Πίστις Σοφία) is a Gnostic text discovered in 1773, possibly written between the 3rd and 4th centuries AD. The existing manuscript, which some scholars place in the late 4th century, relates one Gnostic group's teachings of the transfigured Jesus to the assembled disciples, including his mother Mary, Mary Magdalene, and Martha. (In this context, "transfigured" refers to Jesus after his death and resurrection, not the event during his life where he spoke to appearances of Moses and Elijah on a mountain). In this text, the risen Jesus had spent 11 years speaking with his disciples, teaching them only the lower mysteries. After 11 years, he receives his true garment and is able to reveal the higher mysteries [entheogens] revered by this group. The prized mysteries relate to complex cosmologies and knowledge necessary for the soul to reach the highest divine realms. More
Why become a follower following in the footsteps of the guru to know what the guru knows when you can just pay lip service to the guru, praise, worship, sing about, and never actually follow anything he taught, pat yourself on the back for being a good "follower" (a pious Christian hypocrite), and call it a day?
Heaven awaits for all kiss-ups who never bothered to read, investigate, study, or experience what the Teacher taught. They just let child molesting intermediaries interpret it for them so they could be sure to get a good seat to the afterlife. God would be so proud!
So all true believers get into heaven?
It's interesting that many modern Christians, contradicting their own official sacred texts (council-approved books of The Book), believe in and speak of a God that sounds an awful lot like the Monad Jesus was really talking about.
The ancient Vedas, Brahmin priests (Brahmanism), and modern Hindus also speak of such a GOD (Brahman, not Brahma) that is not a being in the sky, not an old, bearded man on a cloud throne but rather "the absolute or ultimate reality behind all of the illusion" (the maya or simulation or the ever-revolving samsara). That GOD is called Brahman even in a polytheistic, henotheistic, sometimes pantheistic tradition with so much variety and complexity (because it's an amalgam of all the beliefs and practices found in India by the occupying British who could not understand it until they lumped the diversity into one big pile and called it a "thing," a "religion," of which ancient Indians had no concept, because like most people of the world, spirituality and daily life were not treated as separate).
What is the Greek logos, word, seed sound?
BRAHMAN: In the Old Vedic and subsequent Hindu religions, Brahman (Sanskrit ब्रह्मन्) has a "variety of meanings," but in the Upanishads and later Indian philosophies it connotes "That" from which all existence proceeds, and to which everything returns [1, a], [the Source,] the origin and cause of all that exists [2, 3, 4]. In contemporary Hindu metaphysics, Brahman is the highest universal principle, the Ultimate Reality of the universe behind all the hide-and-seek "divine play" (lila), complexity, and confusion of maya (illusion). [The nondual of Advaita Vedanta.] More
That's what I've been trying to say: we're all divine
This Monad (ONE) is Brahman (GOD), and it probably the TAO, the Great Spirit of Native American lore, and it is likely the "Father" Jesus (Gnostic Jesus, Y'shua, Yeshua, Joshua, Isa, Saint Issa) was really talking about in an anionic (timeless/eternal now) Kingdom, not a heavenly rebirth but a timeless ("eternal") reality right now, for those [mystery cult] initiates ready and able to undergo purification and ego-death (loss of self to gain the kingdom of heaven) and be raised up in a rapture (bliss, unburdening, realization, union) of understanding (comprehension) and gnosis (actual experience) before passing away from this world.
The basic recurring theme in Hindu mythology is the creation of the world by the self-sacrifice of God—"sacrifice" in the original sense of "making sacred"—whereby God [or GOD] becomes the world which, in the end, becomes again God.
This creative activity of the Divine is calledlila, the play [or drama] of God, and the world is seen as the stage [platform] of the divine play. Like most of Hindu mythology, the myth of lila has a strong magical flavour.
Brahman is the great magician who transforms [it]self into the world and then performs this feat with [its] "magic creative power," which is the original meaning of maya in the Rig Veda.
The word maya—one of the most important terms in Indian philosophy—has changed its meaning over the centuries. From the might, or power, of the divine actor and magician, it came to signify the psychological state of anybody under the spell of the magic play [the actors or audience lost in the play].
The Tao of Physics (Fritjof Capra)
As long as we confuse the myriad forms of the divine lila with reality, without perceiving the unity of Brahman underlying all these forms, we are under the spell of maya....
In the Hindu view of nature, then, all forms are relative, fluid and ever-changing maya, conjured up by the great magician of the divine play. The world of maya changes continuously, because the divine lila is a rhythmic, dynamic play.
The dynamic force of the play is karma [act, action, deed, doing, intention], an important concept of Indian thought. Karma means "action." It is the active principle of the play [the acting], the total universe in action, where everything is dynamically connected with everything else.
In the words of the [Bhagavad] Gita, Karma is the force of creation, wherefrom all things have their life.
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With love,
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