Halloween, Samhain, the Grateful Dead

The Ghosts in Japanese Buddhist-Shinto art (Utagawa Kuniyoshi, c. 1850)

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Irish Samhain Traditions

(Holiday History) From harvest to haunting: How Samhain (like ancient Japanese Buddhist Obon and seasonal Mexican/pan-Latin Dia de los Muertos or "Day of the Dead" celebrations) became Halloween for wandering spirits, fairies, elves, ghosts, ghouls, and goblins.

OBON (お盆) or just Bon (盆) is a fusion of the ancient Japanese belief in ancestral spirits and a Japanese Buddhist custom to honor the spirits of the ancestors.

We'll be together again: samsara

This syncretic Folk (like the Shinto "kitchen god") Buddhist custom has evolved into a family reunion holiday.

During it people return to visit ancestral family places and clean ancestors' graves because this is when the spirits of ancestors are revisiting household altars [like Mexican ofrendas prepared for the Day of the Dead].

Obon has been celebrated in Japan for more than 500 years and includes the dance Bon Odori. More

Samhain: A History of Winter

(Through the Looking Glass) Samhain: A History of Winter | Wheel of Year

• Buddha, how can the Living HELP the grateful Dead? Transferring merit to the dead

What Buddhists can do for the Dead

The Buddha's chief disciple declared "foremost in psychic powers" among the monks Ven. Maha Moggallāna (comparable to the Buddhist nun Ven. Uppalavanna) saves his Brahmin mother from hell by transferring merits to her after she has died: "Mulian Rescues His Mother"

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Folk Buddhists pray soul out of purgatory (Silver)

The "transfer of merit" (Sanskrit pariṇāmanā [Note 1], Pali pattidāna or pattānumodanā) [3, Note 2] is a customary part of Buddhist spiritual practice where a practitioner's merit (puñña), resulting from wholesome karma (skillful deeds), is transferred to deceased relatives, friends, deities (devas), or to all sentient beings everywhere (as when cultivating the four illimitable Divine Abidings).

Day of the Dead, Mexico, 1995, cemetery prep

Such a "transfer" is a physically enacted deed with its sharing done mentally. The recipient (or another relative stuck in a purgatory such as the realm of hungry ghosts) can receive this merit when they rejoice (feel gratitude, literally becoming the "grateful dead") due to the meritorious acts being done and shared with them on their behalf.

Ah, they remember me! I'm grateful for their help!

This is necessary because in the realm (plane of existence) in which the recipient(s) have been reborn, the opportunity to generate beneficial karma by any other means is extremely limited or altogether absent.

In any case, the person offering, sharing, transferring merit produces more and more merit (wholesome karma). In Buddhism, sharing merit is seen as a far better alternative to mourning. More

• Psychedelic allure of candy store treats in Maryland

The Grateful Dead of the afterlife?

The "grateful dead" in folklore gave 1960s singer and frontman Jerry Garcia the idea to name his band the "Grateful Dead."

According to bassist Phil Lesh, singer Garcia: "In that silvery elf-voice, he said to me, 'Hey, man, how about the Grateful Dead?'" [27]

The definition found in the Britannica World Language Dictionary is "the soul of a dead person...showing gratitude to someone who, as an act of charity, arranged their burial."

I'd be grateful for help when I pass away

According to Director Alan Trist of Ice Nine, the Grateful Dead's music publishing company, Garcia found the name in the Funk & Wagnalls Folklore Dictionary, when his finger landed on it while playing a game of Fictionary [28].

In her Jerry Garcia biography Captain Trips, author Sandy Troy states that the band was smoking the entheogenic psychedelic DMT (also known as "The Spirit Molecule") at the time [29].

DMT: The Spirit Molecule

The motif of the "grateful dead" person appears in folktales from many cultures around the world [30]. Fittingly, the first show under the name Grateful Dead was in San Jose, near San Francisco, on Dec. 4, 1965, at one of Ken Kesey's "Acid Tests" [31, 32, 33].

• The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test

Scholar Michael Kaler has written that the Dead's participation in those Acid Tests was crucial to the development of their improvisational vocabulary and to their bonding as a band, with the group having set out to foster an intra-band musical telepathy [34]. He says this coincided chronologically with adoption of the same goal by acid rockers Pink Floyd, Jefferson Airplane, and the Velvet Underground [35]. More

Why Asians don't really do Halloween

(Spotlight by Laugh Society) Jimmy O. Yang on why Asian Americans don't do Halloween

Ghosts in the past? Spirit of the Dead Watching (Paul Gauguin, 1892)

• Holiday History (video); Jimmy O. Yang; Crystal Q., Pat Macpherson, CC Liu, Dhr. Seven, Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation) (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly Wiki edits

The Simpsons: Apu returns, Treehouse Horror

(PBS Newshour) The Problem with Apu and the American immigrant stories that aren't being told

The horror high above the treehouse

Treehouse of Horror

It's that spooky time of year, and that can only mean one thing. The Simpsons will air another installment of the Treehouse of Horror Halloween special. Like The Great Gazoo of yesteryear (The Flintstones), our favorite extraterrestrial space aliens Kang and Kodos may make an appearance.

• Apu Nahasapeemapetilon makes a triumphant returned all normalized and not nearly as funny as before. Thanks, Hank, or do we have Hari Kondabolu to thank?

The Great Gazoo

Treehouse of Horror is a series of annual Halloween-themed anthology episodes of the animated sitcom The Simpsons. Also known as "The Simpsons Halloween Specials," each episode typically consists of three separate, self-contained segments. Each segment involves the Simpson family in some comical horror, science fiction, or supernatural setting. More

What do Indians in India think?

(Asian Boss) Indians react to Apu controversy (Mumbai street interviews)

Apu returns to The Simpsons with Sunil Malhotra's voice - Apu's new voice vs. original

The Story Behind Apu’s New Voice - 5 Funniest Apu Quotes in The Simpsons - What Happens When Apu Is No Longer Welcome In Springfield? #thesimpsons - (AP) Apu returns to 'The Simpsons' with a South Asian voice -  Apu Nahasapeemapetilon The Simpsons Shocking Apu Return Changes Everything!

How Buddhism shaped Bruce Lee

What philosophy did Bruce Lee teach?

Intercept the fist to disarm the opponent

Jeet Kune Do (Chinese 截拳道, Jyutping, lit. "Stop Fist Way" or the "Way of the Intercepting Fist," abbreviated JKD) is Bruce Lee's hybrid martial art, which was conceived of, practiced, and taught by Lee.

It centers on the principle of counterattacking an opponent in order to impede that opponent's offense [12, 13].

As an eclectic martial art, it relies on a fighting style heavily influenced by Wing Chun, tai chi, taekwondo, boxing, fencing, and jujutsu [14, 15].

Hah, Bruce Lee, you're not so tough!

Bruce Lee beats up all the students of the Japanese martial arts school at once | Fist of Fury

China's "Three Teachings"

Jeet Kune Do, which Lee intended to have practical life applications without the traditional routines and metaphysics of conventional martial arts, incorporates a set of principles to help practitioners make quick decisions and improve their mental and physical health [13, 16].

Lee based JKD on his experiences in unarmed fighting and self-defense, as well as on his eclectic, Zen Buddhist, Confucianist, and Taoist philosophies... More

In a conversation with the abbot of Shaolin Temple, the abbot asks what Lee thinks about when he faces an opponent. "There is no opponent," Lee answers, "because the word 'I' does not exist." That line echoes one of the Buddha's central teachings [anatta, the impersonal nature of all existence and phenomena]. The fixed idea of "me" that "we" [the aggregates] cling to so tightly falls apart the moment you look for it closely [systematically through satipatthana].

Bruce Lee: White men can't fight, Chuck Norris

(Binge Society) Bruce Lee vs. Chuck Norris in The Way of the Dragon (Return of the Dragon)

Did Buddhism shape Bruce Lee’s martial arts philosophy?

Enter the Dragon (Bruce Lee)

(Buddha's Wisdom) 🥋 Was Bruce Lee a secret American Buddhist [partial to China's Three blended spiritual Teachings]?

The man behind the saying, “Be water, my friend” reportedly said he had no religion at all, like most Americans. Yet ZEN, Taoism, [Confucianism] and the Buddha’s teachings (or Dharma) run through his life, his films, and his own blended philosophy he called Jeet Kune Do.

And one famous “Bruce Lee quote” actually traces back to Chinese Zen Buddhist Master Linji (Linji Yixuan), who passed away in the year 866.

Let's follow Bruce Lee from a rowing boat in Hong Kong Harbor, where he punched the sea, to the Oakland, California (next to Berkeley) fight that made him rebuild his art, the back injury that put him in bed for months.

Let's culminate with the Hollywood movie set for Enter the Dragon, where Bruce Lee refused to show up until his Buddhist-Taoist-Confucian philosophy scenes were put back in.

Along the way, we separate what the record shows from what the legend claims.

💡 DISCOVER

• Why Lee punched the sea—and why “Be water” begins with a Taoist image
• How a disputed 1964 fight made him question his fighting style.
• The Buddha’s Parable of the Raft, and how Lee rebuilt his fighting style
• Why Lee insisted on philosophy in Enter the Dragon and the Buddhist image in one of its most famous scenes
• The Buddha's Noble Eightfold Path hidden in Bruce Lee's sickbed notebooks

Fat Happy Budai (Hotei) pointing at the moon

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  What, the hand, that hand that points?

  The Buddhist roots of “Don’t think, feel” and the finger pointing at the moon (Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra)
• The Zen master whose words ended up under Bruce Lee’s name

🌿 Join a community: Instagram: buddhaswizdom. Facebook: buddhaswizdom. X: x.com/BuddhasWizdom. Spotify: open.spotify.com... TikTok: buddhas.wisdom. #BruceLee #Buddhism #Zen

☕ Support the channel: buymeacoffee.com/buddhaswisdom. paypal.me/buddhaswisdom 🔔 Subscribe for more stories of the people who carried Buddhist ideas into the modern world, often without their names attached. And comment on the question, What two words would you write on a card?

• Matt, Buddha's Wisdom, AI. Oct. 17, 2026; Dhr. Seven, Pat Macpherson, Pfc. Sandoval, CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly Wiki edit

Who murdered Nirvana's Kurt Cobain?

No rockstar can live beyond 27 unless he sells out

(Rock Feed, Oct. 20, 2026) The grunge antihero Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain case (murder investigation) just took a dark turn in Seattle, Washington state, USA

• Coverup narrative: "suicide" of Kurt Cobain but no blood is seen on police photos of Cobain's hand that allegedly pulled the trigger, indicating the hand was placed on weapon after the shot
• Private investigator hired by drug addict wife Courtney Love investigated until he came to the irrefutable conclusion that Courtney Love did it -- then was sued and silenced

Murder covered up as self-inflicted death

I was killed and it was covered up

On April 8, 1994, Kurt Cobain, the lead singer and guitarist of the American rock band Nirvana (famous for the song "Smells Like Teen Spirit"), was found dead of a gunshot wound at his home on Lake Washington Boulevard, Seattle, making him a member of the 27 Club. Forensic investigators and a coroner determined that Cobain had died on approximately April 5, three days prior [1]. The Seattle Police Department incident report stated that Cobain was found with a Remington Model 11 shotgun across his body and had suffered a visible gunshot wound to the head. An alleged "suicide note" was also discovered nearby. Seattle police tentatively accepted death as a suicide [2, 3], but conspiracy theories that Cobain was murdered were spread due to inconsistencies with this story and reported to the FBI, partially due to an Unsolved Mysteries episode dedicated to Cobain's death [4]. More

Better than the original? No, but still very good: Violet Orlandi

Kurt and Nirvana "Lithium" (Learn to play it) - @carrjond does great grunge cover

Our parents weren't born when he died

"Lithium" @Code99theBand (Nirvana cover)

• A denial of death in Kurt Cobain case (Rutgers U)
• Dave Grohl reborn a Thai Buddhist girl (Tarn Softwhip) and then reborn countless more times

Why would anyone stage a "suicide"? To cover up truth just alter crime scene, like Epstein's FAKE death

(Keith Edwards) Trump panics as child molester Epstein cell photos blow open COVER UP

Female Bruce Lee? Kickboxer Kimura

Can females even be strong like guys are? - Men are better at everything with high IQ, Pt. 4

One day, will robots be built in Mona's image?

(K-1 Worldwide) Mona Kimura vs. Marine Nicol | full fight | K-1 World Max 2026 Women's Flyweight.

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... More

Mike Tyson is the ugliest weakest worst boxer of all... (public prank)

• Fighting machines (The War of the Worlds)
• The Singularity Is Near (when humans transcend biology)

In the future, will killbots fight humans?

(Frankie LaPenna) The future is here: first Human versus. Robot fight in history (full length)

RIOTS: Why's France really burning? - Israel

(Republic World) Flames of Wrath: 8 shocking sights (France, Italy, Albania) unrest grips Europe

(The Young Turks) Why France (Italy, Belgium, and other parts of EU) is really burning

• 2026 French student protests
• NAZA (2026): exposing Jewish Zionist Israeli war crimes
• "Lavender"? AI-assisted targeting in the Gaza Strip

I get paid by Israel to influence

Hasbara (Hebrew הַסְבָּרָה) is pro-Jewish Zionism PROPAGANDA that Israel euphemistically call "public diplomacy." It includes mass communication, monetary influence, individual interaction with foreign nationals through social and traditional media, and cultural diplomacy. Organizations involved include the genocidally militant IDF and its Spokesperson's Unit, the National Public Diplomacy Directorate at the Israeli Prime Minister's Office, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and pro-Israel civil society organizations (think AIPAC). Zionist organizations historically called such efforts propaganda but found that name too revealing so have encoded it with a Hebrew term, wink-wink. More

• (The Bulwark) The Horny Economy Fueling MAGA Media: Savanna Cannon, Sex Sells the Message

(DemocracyNow.org) Top US and World Headlines Oct. 20, 2026

'Faith' in Buddhism? (Bhikkhu Bodhi)

American Theravada scholar-monk Bhikkhu Bodhi

This is a beautifully written declaration of Buddhist confidence (saddha, faith, conviction) by our American Theravada Buddhist teacher and prolific translator of the Pali canon Bhikkhu Bodhi, founder of Buddhist Global Relief.

It speaks to the quiet, yet transformative work of the Dharma (Truth) the historical Buddha discovered and taught.

Compassion and wisdom go hand in hand.

“We rely on the faith that a law, a principle, an inner truth is silently at work behind the field of phenomena, supporting generosity [letting go] over miserliness [clinging], compassion over apathy, and altruism [founded on the right view of not-self, the impersonal nature of all phenomena, correctly grasped] over selfishness.

“Hidden by the face of appearances, it’s always there, as integral to the working of the universe as the dance of electrons, the binding of atoms into molecules, and the ceaseless pulsing of the stars.

Social Communal Harmony: Anthology

“When we place trust in this law, we find that devoting ourselves to the good of others casts our own lives in a new light.

“It expands our sense of shared identity until it encompasses the whole, turning labor into love and self-sacrifice into ultimate self-fulfillment.

“And with that we acquire an enriching sense of purpose, a fountain of meaning more rewarding than all the petty trophies of the narrow ego-self.”

Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi conducts a weekly virtual meditation over Zoom live from BAUS

• Bhikkhu Bodhi translations (amazon.com)
• Group Meditation over Zoom with Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi
• Bhikkhu Bodhi, BAUS.org (Chuang Yen)

• Bhikkhu Bodhi (president of the Buddhist Association of the United States at Chuang Yen Monastery); Dhr. Seven, Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Pat Macpherson (eds.)

'Faith' in what in Buddhism? (saddha)

"Faith" in what?
In Buddhism, "faith" (Pali saddhā, Sanskrit śraddhā) refers to a confident, serene commitment to the practice of the Buddha's Teaching (Dhamma, Dharma, Doctrine), and to trust in enlightened or highly developed beings, such as the noble ones (those along the four stages of enlightenment).

Buddhists usually recognize multiple objects of this sort of confidence or conviction, but many are especially devoted to one in particular, such as one particular buddha or disciple.

Faith may not only be devotion to a person but exists in relation to Buddhist concepts like the efficacy of karma (confidence that intentional action produce results) and the possibility of enlightenment for those who put into practice what the Buddha taught.

Who are the "noble ones," the real Aryan Sangha?

Faith in Early Buddhism focused on going for guidance the Triple Gem, namely: Buddha (Teacher), Dharma (Teaching), and the successfully Taught (the Noble Saṅgha, the "spiritual community" of developed cultivators of the path).

A faithful devotee was called an upāsaka or upāsika, a status for which no formal initiation is required.

Early Buddhism valued personal verification of the truth of the Buddha's Teachings as the best way to confirm what is true. By comparison, it considered sacred texts (scriptures), mere reason, or faith in a teacher to be far less valuable sources of authority. See the Kalama Sutta.

As important as faith is to initiate action along the path-of-practice, it is merely a first step on the path of compassion and wisdom to awakening (full enlightenment).

Faith becomes obsolete or is redefined at the final stage of the path as it converts to gnosis (direct experience). More

• Dhr. Seven, Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Pat Macpherson (eds.), Wiki edit saddha