Brazilian activist Thiago Avila with Greta on a trip (Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images)
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(Biased right-wing Sky News Australia) "Disaster for the goblin": Greta Thunberg's flotilla rocked by sex scandals, detained [and tortured] by Israeli terrorist forces.
Activists have sex on a boat? That's no "scandal"
EXCLUSIVE: Greta Thunberg's freedom flotilla faces sexual misconduct allegations (New York Post) They’re going to need a bigger boat! Greta Thunberg’s freedom flotilla, which set sail from Barcelona Sunday for another anti-Israel voyage to Gaza, has been rocked by scandal after one of its woke leaders was accused of “sexual misconduct” with at least three volunteers. “A senior leader within the flotilla — a member of the steering committee, the highest governing body of the organization — engaged in sexual relations with multiple activists while on the boat heading to Gaza. Not one person. Not two. Three different individuals,” claimed Palestinian group Heart of Falastin in a social media post earlier this week. “To do it on the boat, while heading to a nation undergoing genocide, with volunteers...” More
PR Rule No. 1, falsely accuse them before they accurately accuse you of the same thing so as to muddy the water and make it all a "both sides do it" argument?
If Zionist Epstein is your pimp, you're in trouble
(Bekah Day, Substack) [There's] a young woman named Neyla Miller. After I received [her] email, I immediately reached back out to her to schedule a time to speak on the phone. Over the next two weeks, Neyla and I spent hours on the phone talking. She told me about her upbringing, how she was swept into the world of sex trafficking, who trafficked her, who[m] she was trafficked to, and how she got out.
I [am] in awe [of] Neyla’s strength to tell her story without fear of naming and shaming the figures who took advantage of her. Her story is very interesting to me because she is someone who was trafficked during the height of Epstein’s reign, but not by Epstein himself.
She was linked to the Howard Rubin case. ...[#]Howard Rubin is the New York City financier who was recently indicted for sex trafficking...more.
The information that I will be sharing with you in this article is information Neyla Miller has shared with multiple law enforcement agencies in the United States and abroad to assist in various trafficking-related investigations. More
Sex abuse survivor Neyla Miller : r/Epstein Detailed account here from Nayla, Nila, Neela, Neyla Miller on who she is and how she got involved [in Epstein, Maxwell, Trump's web] as well as whom she was trafficked to. I believe it's publicly available, but TikToker Bekah Day has been relentless in reporting on Epstein
Disenchantment with the Mundane World: Conversation with former Theravada Buddhist nun
Disenchantment: Untold Tales
(The Theory of Samsara) Jan. 8, 2026: In this in-depth conversation on Ultimate Meaning: The Theory of Samsara, I speak with British Buddhist meditation teacher Beth Upton, a former fully ordained Theravāda Buddhist nun (Sayalay Anuttara) in Burma who spent nearly ten years training under Pa Auk Sayadaw (Ven. Bhaddanta Āciṇṇa) in the Burmese forest meditation tradition.
She shares her journey from ordination at age 25, through years of rigorous monastic training in calm-and-insight (samatha-vipassanā), to her decision to disrobe and teach as a lay practitioner in the West.
Together, we explore some of the most misunderstood questions in contemporary Buddhism, including:
Let go until success then go teach the world.
What truly leads someone to renounce samsaric life
Disenchantment vs. curiosity on the path to liberation
The lived meaning of renunciation beyond philosophy
Tranquility versus insight (samatha vs. vipassanā) — and why “vipassanā” is often a misused term
Ultimate reality, momentariness (moment-to-moment presence), and non-self
Why deep meditation can feel fragile outside the context of monastic life
The role of community, wise friends, and authentic teachers
Commercialization of Dharma vs. teaching by donation
Sectarianism between Theravāda, Mahāyāna, and Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhism
Why liberation is not just for “other cultures” or monastics
Canadian interviewer Lama Choga
This dialogue is not about spiritual abstract beliefs or spiritual ideals, but about what actually works when confronting disappointment (dukkha, suffering), impermanence, and the [impersonal] realities of samsara in modern life.
Chapters/Timestamps
00:00 – Intro: Beth Upton and Path [to End] Samsara
02:18 – Why she chose ordination as a British Buddhist nun at age 25
05:10 – Meeting authentic Buddhist teachers and the power of sangha [community]
08:32 – Experimenting with life and early renunciation
12:45 – Discovering liberation as a real possibility
16:40 – Is enlightenment possible for lay practitioners?
19:55 – Stream entry, arahantship, and Theravāda views
24:10 – Did Beth Upton meet enlightened beings?
27:05 – Why she disrobed after 10 years as a forest nun
33:40 – Fragility of meditation outside monastic life
37:55 – Teaching the Dharma authentically in the West
41:50 – Disenchantment with samsara: knowing it in the bones
47:30 – Cycles of renunciation and returning to the world
52:15 – Creating long-term retreat communities in Europe
56:40 – Teaching by donation rather than selling the Dharma
1:01:30 – Can deep meditation be practiced while working?
1:06:55 – Permanent retreatants and Western monastic models
1:10:40 – Environmental ethics in Buddhist practice
1:15:25 – Sectarianism: Southeast Asian Theravāda vs. Tibetan [Vajrayana] Buddhism
1:21:10 – Personal liberation vs. compassion for all beings
1:26:30 – Shamatha vs. vipassanā: clearing the confusion
1:33:10 – Ultimate reality and momentariness explained
1:45:20 – Reflexive awareness and observing mind moments
1:52:10 – How to find wise friends and authentic teachers
1:57:30 – Final advice for Western practitioners
2:00:10 – Closing reflections and future conversations
Lama Choga and a Canadian Buddhist Sangha
If serious about meditation, renunciation, and understanding liberation beyond romantic [New Age] spirituality, this conversation offers rare clarity and lived insight.
How this was made: Auto-dubbed. Audio tracks for some languages were automatically generated.#DharmaTalk #Samsara #Buddhism #Theravada #Vipassana #MeditationPractice #Renunciation #Liberation #Enlightenment #BuddhistNun #PaAuk #NonSelf #FourNobleTruths #EightfoldPath #SpiritualPractice #Mindfulness #Jhanna #EasternPhilosophy #ultimatemeaning
Mahayana exalts itself and condemns a scarecrow stick figure of its own creation, the Hinayana, no school of which remains, the last being the Sarvastivada
Save oneself or save everyone else? Buddhism's most dangerous question
(Buddha's Wisdom) May 6, 2026: ⚡ FOR 2,000 YEARS BUDDHISM HAS BEEN FIGHTING ITSELF...AND NO SIDE HAS WON YET. Is personal enlightenment (arahantship) selfish?
Buddhism's two greatest paths ideals, that of the Arhat and that of the Bodhisattva, have been locked in the most consequential debate in Buddhist history since the first century CE.
What began as a philosophical disagreement between Mahāyāna and [Hinayana schools until they were all destroyed and] Theravāda Buddhism [arose]. It became something far more dangerous: a 2,000-year argument about what "liberation" (vimutti, moksha) actually means, who it's for, and whether saving oneself first is an act of wisdom or an act of cowardice.
TIMESTAMPS
00:00 The [apocryphal] trial of Śāriputra [where Ven. Sariputra, male disciple "foremost in wisdom," comparable to Ven. Khema, female disciple "foremost in wisdom" used as a stick figure to represent first the Hinayana ("Lesser Vehicle"), a pejorative epithet, and later the Theravada ("Teaching of the Elder Enlightened Disciples of the Historical Buddha") to attack them with Brahminical and Hindu residues on what the Buddha Taught]
02:01 The debate we've been building to
04:19 The prosecution — Mahāyāna's real case
08:10 The defense — the sentence that stops everything
13:19 The trap — who is taking this infinite vow?
18:26 The real wound — self-view in spiritual clothing
24:01 The dissolution — each path guards the other
29:19 The same mountain
🔍 DISCOVER
Why the [apocryphal Mahayana invented discourse] Vimalakīrti Sūtra placed the arhat (Pali arahant) ideal on trial
How the Lotus Sūtra reframed personal liberation through the One Vehicle (Ekayana) teaching
Why Theravāda’s strongest defense begins with one simple fact: the Buddha called himself an was called an arahant
How the Diamond Sūtra complicates the bodhisattva vow through no-self (anatta) and emptiness (shunyata)
Why Vajrayāna Buddhism refuses to take sides in this debate...and what that refusal reveals about both paths simultaneously
📚 SOURCES AND FURTHER READING: (with affiliate links)
Primary [Mahayana] Buddhist texts: Vimalakīrti Sūtra (Vimalakīrtinirdeśa Sūtra) — Robert Thurman translation recommended https://amzn.to/3QTtGSD
Diamond Sūtra (Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra) — Red Pine translation recommended https://amzn.to/3OP9Mro
Primary [Theravada] texts: Majjhima Nikāya (Collection of "Middle Length Discourses" from the Pali canon) — Ariyapariyesanā Sutta (MN 26) — Bhikkhu Bodhi translation https://amzn.to/4dcS2y9
Pāli canon — Nikāya (collection of) discourses on the brahma-vihārās ("Four Divine Abidings" of loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity or dispassionate looking on)
Scholarly and Modern Resources
Paul Williams — Mahāyāna Buddhism: The Doctrinal Foundations https://amzn.to/4evxKCq
Bhikkhu Bodhi (translator) — The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha https://amzn.to/3OMwqkd
Étienne Lamotte — The Teaching of Vimalakīrti
Peter Harvey — An Introduction to Buddhist Ethics https://amzn.to/42e1RH9
Rupert Gethin, The Foundations of Buddhism https://amzn.to/4d5IG7h
🙏 Exploring Buddhism, Theravāda, Mahāyāna, the arhat path, the bodhisattva vow, Buddhist enlightenment (bodhi), no-self (anatta), and Buddhist philosophy for the first time? Maybe subscribing to Buddha’s Wisdom would be helpful. The Buddhist Schools Series goes deeper every video. 📱 Join community on Instagram (buddhaswizdom), Facebook (buddhaswizdom), X (x.com/BuddhasWizdom), Spotify (open.spotify.com/show/5ndnBU5...), TikTok (buddhas.wisdom). ☕ Support the channel: buymeacoffee.com/buddhaswisdom, paypal.me/buddhaswisdom. #Buddhism #Arhat #Bodhisattva #Theravada #Mahayana #BuddhistPhilosophy #Enlightenment #BuddhistDebate #Vajrayana #DiamondSutra #VimalakiriSutra #BuddhistSchools #Dharma #BuddhasWisdom #nirvana #BuddhistSchools #NoSelf #LotusSutra. How this was made auto-dubbed audio tracks for some languages were automatically generated. More
Jewish UK PM Kier Starmer claims to be secular unlike his Jewish wife, so how could he be pro-Zionist Israel or fund and defend its genocide in Gaza?
We're here to help any way we can.
British Prime Minister Starmer says he's an atheist not a religious Jew and has chosen to take a "solemn affirmation" (rather than an oath) of allegiance to the British monarch [390]. He has said that although he does not believe in God, he recognizes the power of faith to bring people together and is raising his children in the Jewish faith [391, 392, 393]. Sure he goes to temple for the Jewish Sabbath, but it's only to accompany his Jewish family to services at the Liberal Jewish Synagogue in North London which is hardly even Jewish really [388, 394]. Starmer is a keen footballer, make Sport sort of his God, maybe even wishing he could engage in football hooliganism for his team but not as PM... More
Television report from W5 about the early 1980's punk rock scene in Los Angeles, California, featuring Back In Control Center (hilarious) and Mike Ness' band Social Distortion.
As a kid in a punk rock garage band many years ago in LA, we once opened for Social D. It was a house party at a squatter's flat in Highland Park, where runaways and heavy partiers stayed. With electricity piped in from a long extension cord, we did what we could. Then came the house band Detox followed by Julie's SIN 34 from Santa Monica before SD headlined. If Hollywood makes a version of that night, it looked a bit like this (and nothing as cool as the first video):
I remember thinking, "Who does this guy think he is with makeup, way more than guyliner, and where can I get some?"
Even then Mike Ness was a powerful presence if only because it seemed for all the world that he did not give two S's, very in line with the Tao. Who knew he had a drinking problem?
The strange thing was, this being LA, there was a massive and mysterious Buddhist building (Mystic Dharma Temple) just down the street on Figueroa St. Rather than drinking, like the fictional character Kwai Chang Caine (Kung Fu), I was drawn to visiting it and learning to meditate from Ven. Chao Chu, a Sri Lankan Mahayana-Theravada polyglot hybrid monk and his snooty American assistant Dana.
Karma being what it is, we eventually ended up getting advanced degrees at UCLA, but not before Chao Chu and I attended the local community college to make up for a wasted youth in high school. There we started the college's first Buddhist club. The temple, the monk, and Dana eventually moved to Rosemead.
Karma, it makes for a long strange trip. So, as the saying goes, "be careful who you step on to move up in the world; you'll be seeing them again on the way down" or some such. Brad Warner was nowhere to be seen, but Noah Levine might have been around as well as Steve Pfauter. Maybe L.A. PUNK 13 knows all of this in greater detail.
One of the strange things about living in LA is its proximity to Hollywood, the throat chakra of the West, like the larger Bollywood is for the East (or India at least) is running into stars. We were at the radio station (KROQ.com, 106.7 FM), at the Audacy Corporation in the Miracle Mile district celebrating Cinco de Mayo at the cantina Descanso. Across the street, legendary punk pioneers Social Distortion was going to play a secret show at the station's new Sound Stage. A few maneuvers later, we were in! But what a strange trip. Standing next to Punk Rock Girl to see cancer survivor Mike Ness, once the epitome of tough guy drunk (now 40 years sober in AA), looking like some kind of gavone from the Lower East Side of NY or some TV gangster mobster as Megan Holiday and Kevin Ryder roll him out for an interview. Nice guy, learned a lot from AA, but he can barely talk or think or comprehend what's going on. The crowd loved it, having won tickets for the coveted show over the past few weeks. Flagging, failing self-proclaimed "punk influencer" Punk Rock Girl (Erin Micklow), who was persona non grata at the Queen Mary punk show and has been banned from Punk Rock Bowling at the Punk Museum in Las Vegas, we hear, weaseled her way in. "Who does a girl have to sl**p with to get into these things?" she might be asking. We would tell her if she asked us. But she seemed to enjoy herself as much as the Ozempic crowd largely in attendance. Punk rock never died, but it sure has been through a lot. Social D has a new album, Born to Kill, coming out after 15 years, and heartless corporate entity KROQ is doing them a solid due to all the fans they still have.
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