This silly looking cartoon of a video is profound, so much so that we are included to call its maker, Greg Knows All, "Añña GREGḍañña" or "Greg who knows" (after the Buddha's very first enlightened disciple, Añña Konḍañña, "Kaundinya who knows, who see").
When the wandering ascetic Siddhartha first thought to teach and make known the Path to Enlightenment (Bodhi) and Liberation (Nirvana), what today the ancient Theravada tradition calls "Buddhism" or Buddha-Dhamma (The Doctrine of the Awakened One), he had no one to teach, no one at least whom he thought would understand. There were his wise albeit unenlightened teachers, but they were passed away and reborn in worlds where they could not be reached for a very long time. Some planes of existence are so long lasting, it's staggering. So he realized his five former companions on his spiritual quest might get it. When he taught them, one did. And that was Kondanna (Kaudinya)
He may be reading this from somewhere, possibly What the Buddha Taught or a scholarly rundown of the historical Buddha's path by Bhikkhu Bodhi or Ven. Professor Analayo. Wow, Greg.
Monastic Disciplinary Rules (Patimokkha, the "Path to Moksha" for Buddhist nuns and monks)
The Buddha's Gradual Path of Progress does not drop off suddenly but deepens like the ocean shelf, producing its result. 1) Virtue is established to bring about peace of mind and serenity of spirit free of misgivings and worry. 2) Atop that foundation of peace and blamelessness, stillness (samadhi), profound peace of mind, is placed. 3) The crowning of this pyramid is what establishes it and makes it permanent, insight (the gnostic experience of wisdom for oneself and depending on no one's authority, direct knowing-and-seeing, personal realization)
What does Buddhism have to say about "time"? One thing's sure, there is anionic time called the Eternal Now. There is only now, and there only ever has been now.
But that is hard to understand until one experiences it then it suddenly seems obvious. Ask Eckhart Tolle. He experienced it and wrote The Power of Now with just one message for the world, talk after talk.
Ram Dass on LSD saw love
Ram Dass (Harvard Jew turned Hindu Dr. Richard Alpert) wrote the classic Be Here Now, having also realized this truth about time. There are wonderful stories in ancient Indian texts about time that say that time is NOT simultaneous. It is relative. It differs from plane to plane in Buddhism's 31 Planes of Existence.
Ancient India understood that time in terms of kalpas (aeons) explained by akasha devas (space entities). It moves differently in heavenly worlds, lasting so much longer than our time -- but possibly happening at the same time. Time will feel very long, even eternal, in other worlds, on other planes. But though that much time may move that slowly there, it will not simultaneously move that way on earth.
Whoa, perhaps too much thinking doesn't pay and I should just be attentive to now and accept.
.
The ancient Vedas speak of time travel?
One Vedic Sanskrit tale speaks of a king and his daughter who were visited by ETs and invited to visit their world/planet. They boarded a vimana (UFO), flew there very quickly, enjoyed a day there, then asked to return home. They were told they could be returned home, but a great deal of time would have passed on earth while they were visiting. When they returned, everyone they ever knew would be long dead and forgotten.
But this is all I have to say about time. I learned it in college as an anecdote in the social sciences. I laughed at how backward some human societies can be until I suddenly realized they were right. We were wrong and we had always been wrong. You know how we say time is an arrow moving from left to right?
We can, and often do, picture time like a boat moving west on a river. The boat relentlessly move from the past (on the left) through the present (in the middle) into the future (on the right). That may all be true. What this society saw is the opposite of what we see, and that is:
Which way am I facing in the arrow of time?
Where are we standing on this boat moving through time?
WEST'S ANSWER: Of course, we're toward the front of the boat, in the driver's seat, looking forward into the future, the present all around us, and the past vanishing into the distance behind us.
THEIR ANSWER: Of course, we are in the back of the boat only ever looking backward into the past. We can never see the future (other than with premonitions, omens, or exhibitions of psychic power) because the boat hasn't gotten there yet (and of course never really does because everything always stays in the present, which is all there is).
What time is it? - Look carefully.
But, we might argue, what about the past? I'm always living in the past, except for the time I "spend" (metaphorically like a limited amount of money) living in the future.
I spend next to no time here, now, just being.
I ruminate and am sad about the past, or I worry and am nervous about the future. I more or less ignore the present -- except when meditating, practicing mindfulness (sati), or listening to the Dhamma, the Buddha's Teachings.
Time travel will confuse us more
The truth is, if we think about it, even when we are "living" in the past or future, we only ever actually do that NOW. We don't go back to the past, and we don't actually "go" to the future. Those are just designations, so that the only time we ever are when we look is in the present. We are not present for the present, but that's where we actually are. Virtually, we're wasting away in the imaginary past or imaginary future, being imagined right NOW. But where are we on that imaginary boat in the example?
That's right, they're right. We've been wrong and haven't been seeing it correctly. We are not in the front part looking forward, and we certainly aren't in the driver's seat (controlling all that's coming at us). We are being carried along, not knowing where we're going, and only finding out after the fact.
I'm bored being here now. Let's talk future.
It could well be that this "now" business is not just a designation. Like a book or album, all time may already be. The story might already be set but we just haven't read it or heard it yet. So we imagine we have perfect freewill and will find out as things transpire.
Time exists, but how it exists -- not as a natural and integral part of the universe, but an artificial and imposed screening device -- is the real question. In a book, there is no time. It is all there all at once. In reading it or flipping through the pages, we create a kind of time or sequencing, ordering, stacking. We can read slowly or jump around very quickly, but wherever we go (in the book), there we are. When? Now. Only ever now.
This is the first paradox of time: Our attitudes toward time have a profound impact on our lives and world, yet we seldom recognize it. The authors' goal is to help reclaim yesterday, enjoy today, and master tomorrow with new ways of seeing and working with our past, present, and future. Just as Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences permanently altered our understanding of intelligence and Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink gave us an appreciation for the adaptive unconscious, Prof. of Social Psychology Philip Zimbardo (infamous for his Stanford Prison Experiment) and Dr. John Boyd’s book changes the way we think about and experience time.
Astropyre (video); text by Dhr. Seven, Pat Macpherson, Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
When it comes to fighting or avoiding a fight at all costs, we have to look at our friendship bracelet that read "WWBLD?" Of course, that stands for "What would Bruce Lee do?" Following the Zen way of the Tao, noninterference with the flow of nature, we'd go around trouble and pick the path of peace. But, y'know, as Kwai Chang Caine found out so many times, sometimes trouble finds you. Then in that case, redirect the violent opponent's own energy against that person.
Shaolin kung fu (Chinese 少林功夫, Pinyin Shàolín gōngfū, Shaolin Wushu, 少林武術, Shǎolín wǔshù, Shaolin quan, 少林拳, Shàolínquán), is the largest and most famous style of the martial art of kung fu. It combines Mahayana Buddhist, Chinese Chan (Zen) philosophy, and martial arts [1]. It was developed in the legendary Shaolin Temple (monastery) in Henan, China during its 1,500-year history [2]. In Chinese folklore there is a saying, "Shaolin kung fu is the best under heaven." It indicates its superiority among the martial arts. "All martial arts under heaven originated from Shaolin," which indicates its influence on other martial arts. The name "Shaolin" is also used as a brand for the external styles of kung fu. Many styles in southern and northern China use the name Shaolin. More
Best known as "Andrew Golota," Andrzej Jan Gołota (born Jan. 5, 1968) was a Polish professional boxer who competed from 1992 to 2013. He challenged four times for a heavyweight world title, by all four major sanctioning bodies, and as an amateur won a bronze medal in the heavyweight division at the 1988 Olympics. Despite his accomplishments and more than 40 professional wins, Golota is perhaps best known for twice being disqualified against Black American boxer Riddick Bowe for repeated low blows to the groin in fights that Golota was winning. On Oct. 4, 1997, he became the first Pole to challenge for a heavyweight boxing crown when he fought WBC champion Lennox Lewis at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City. He had a bout with Mike Tyson in 2000, which he first withdrew from, but afterward was ruled no-contest. In Nov. 2016, Golota was inducted into the Illinois Boxing Hall of Fame. Favorite music? Probably brutal Polish death metal band Vader? More
Given the exigencies and erratic demands of the music industry nowadays, it is essential that one hit song be pushed to the top of the pop charts to rule each summer. A pop idol's shelf life could depend on it, or it might make an up and comer's career. This summer is tough because there's no obvious frontrunner. Taylor Swift? Yawn. Olivia Rodrigo has a new album, and everything she's done in the past has been so promising, but a runaway hit? Not to our ears, not this time, not even "drop dead" or "the cure." Does it have to be a new song? Technically not because SAINt JHN had "Roses" due to a remix that went viral on TikTok or Instagram or my littler sister's cellphone and dance class. We used to be able to rely on Lana Del Rey to kick out the jams.
CHORUS: I like you a lot/ (Putting on my music while I'm watching the boys)/ So I do what you want/ (Singing some rhymes just to suffer the noise)/ Where ribbons are knots/ (Playing the guitar's only one of my toys)/ Cause I like you a lot/ (No holes barred, I was sent to destroy, yeah)// Pink flamingoes always fascinated me/ I know what only the girls know/ Hoes' wet lies akin to me/ Ah, I see you're going/ So I play my music, watch you leave// CHORUS// Velveteen and living single it never felt that right to me/ I know what only the girls to know/ Lies can buy eternity/ Ah, ah, I see you leaving/ So I push record and watch you leave// CHORUS// I live to love you/ And I love to love you/ And I live to love you, boy/ I live to love you/ And I love to love you/ And I live to love you, boy// Nothing gold can stay/ Like love or lemonade/ White sun or summer days/ It's all a game to me anyway// CHORUS// Putting on my music while I'm watching the boys/ Putting on my music while I'm watching the boys
It's like we always say at Wisdom Quarterly, Who needs the historical Buddha's instructions when you can have magic and mystery in Tibet and lots of political mumbo jumbo from a corrupt lapsed empire and its pope-king? The Himalayas were like that until Mao's Army crashed in and crushed Lhasa, the Oracle told the leader to get out quick, and ruling elite made a deal with the devils (CIA). Tibet still wields disproportionate influence in the region, now annexed and part of the PRC. Who has time for a tradition akin to American hippies turning their backs on their parents' Christianity to become dirty hippie "Jesus Freaks"? Of course they would want to because who wouldn't want to get back-to-basics and away from corrupt institutions and an out-of-control clergy? If faced with organized religion, do what seekers like Siddhartha have always done: become a shaman (shraman) on a quest for a personally verified experience of ultimate truth. If one has to do it at all, do it right, spiritual exploration over religion rules. Who could possibly choose the holy Roman Empire's version of Catholicism ("Universalism") instead of the direct teachings of an entheogen-consuming, just-back-from-India, dirty, Jewish, Essene, vegetarian Nazarene adept who spent time in a Buddhist monastery and in ashrams and secret initiation site training and preparing for 18 years?
But many will choose the institution, as most of Tibet (a massive region a quarter to half the size of China) did in centuries past. But the real practice of Buddhism involves moving beyond comfortable institutions, rituals, and dogma and onto the mat for purification of heart/mind and view. That's when the real progress begins. Few are probably ready for that, so let's get back to Tibetan politics with the pope-king who is now just "pope" of one Tibetan school or sect, the Gelug Yellow Hats.
With a peaceful expression, the Tibetan deity is depicted seated on a moon disc lotus seat which is encircled by beautiful flowers. This thangka was exquisitely painted by Enlightenment artists utilizing genuine 24K gold and acrylic paints. More: artofit.org
Candi temples: A candi (from Kawi caṇḍi [1]) is a Hindu or Buddhist temple in Indonesia, mostly built during the Zaman Hindu-Buddha or "Hindu-Buddhist period" between the 4th and 15th centuries.
Does the Indonesian yakkhaor "Bigfoot"(Orang Pendek) live in these jungles protecting natural resources?
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