Long ago there used to be a writer calling herself "Dukkha Girl." She disappeared, came back, faded again. We love DG. Where is she today? One can only imagine the fate of suburban motherhood or rural farm life with cats. Maybe, just maybe, she became a nun, forsaking the lower-life of householders for the high-life of striving full-time for the ultimate goal of nirvana. Who knows?
Help wanted. Inquire within (in the Comments)
We're sure she'll eventually be in touch to tell us. In the meantime, there's an attention-[whur] we imagine in the role, now that the original DG's been excluded. But this gal's branded a total "poser" and banned. It's got so bad, she lost her business.
Beloved vegan yogini with a penchant for makeup, what will become of her? Does anyone out there have Cali Vibes Who is the future influencer, the next MrsBeast, doing yoga, eating at Cena Vegan?
She or he must exist out there. Look, there's Luke_7. If only that person would contact us here. Eris is not the most punk rock girl in the world. Will she never learn? For all we know, s/he's reading this right now ready for a close up, an unsung genius with an attitude. Contact us below in the Comments Section. Yes, you.
No one imagines s/he could be a reliable correspondent for the despondent, a reporter of all that is dukkha in life. But someone can. Why not you?
Are you drawn to Daria's tone, to snarky commentary mumbled under breath, wishing to get a message to millions. Wisdom Quarterly has millions of views.
There are so many voices that need to be heard.
Great writing skills not a prerequisite, nor is knowledge of philosophy or religion, just opinions. Remember that episode of Family Guy when Peter got a job at the local news station for a weekly segment "What Really Grinds My Gears"? Like that. Do that. Opine. We'll edit and punch it up, make it relevant to the true extent of dukkha.
QUALIFICATIONS: Opinionated, snarky, willful, mad. Gender: open. Race: open. Religion if any: open. Writing skill level: average. Health: have a pulse. Psych: sass. Location: US or expat in Asia. Meditation practice: preferred. Musical taste: alt. Political leanings: open. Sense of humor: a must.Favorite color: should be purple. How to apply: Send writing sample.
Author Dhammaloka ("Dharma-world" or "Dharma-light or white") Viriya ("energy") knows that liberation (vimutti, moksha, vimokkha) from the cycle of rebirth (samsara) comes from the Awakening (bodhi-ification) of the (ennobling = enlightening) Truths.
To be awakened, one needs to practice mindfulness-meditation (satipatthana) by relinquishing attachment to the six senses, which will eradicate the clinging to all [of their attendant] phenomena, before the Dhamma (Truth, Teaching, Doctrine) eventually reveals itself to the practitioner.
Once the practitioner catches a glimpse of the Dhamma, the Ultimate Truth, through direct knowing-and-seeing, the practitioner will know there is no more falling back into the mire of this mundane world.
The Buddha pointed out the way to end of all suffering through mindfulness (sati) practice, and many practitioners since the Buddha’s time have reached that bliss and release from practicing in accordance with it.
However, in the author’s observation, although practitioners in this age find the practice fulfilling, they do not experience the awakening moment and therefore do not see the fruition as they hope to.
What are the challenges of an intensive insight meditation (vipassana) retreat?
What enables a practitioner to experience bliss (piti) from meditation?
What does the practitioner experience when the Dhamma finally appears as direct knowledge and vision?
Find out in this book, which is the first-hand experience of a yogi ("practitioner") who went through the trials and tribulations of a vipassana ("insight") meditation retreat at a forest monastery to see for himself the ultimate truths of
disappointment (that all phenomena are unsatisfactory and unable to fulfill),
impermanence (that all phenomena are constantly hurtling toward destruction).
Directly knowing-and-seeing these Three Universal Truths produces a life-changing experience.
NOTE: Not all vipassana meditation retreats are affiliated with Indian S. N. Goenka (dhamma.org). Burmese monk U Ba Khin's star student and businessman just popularized it worldwide with a free, volunteer-based, 10-day structure.
The Buddha in the usual list we call the Noble (Ennobling = Enlightening) Eightfold Path called one of those factors samma-sati not sati. What's the difference? One might think one is being mindful, but is it what the Buddha or the noble ones call "right" mindfulness? (If there's a right, that implies there's a wrong way to go about it or fool oneself that one is doing it at all). If "mindfulness" only meant awareness, then I'm being "aware" (conscious) right now, right? Yes! Am I being mindful? Probably not. There's a difference, a big difference. Retreat leaders and personal teachers should talk about it more and stop taking it for granted that one will just figure it out or that it is so patently obvious that it needs no defining or delimiting. It does, at least for over-thinkers. Sure, there are some people who will just take to it like guppies or ducklets to water. (They've likely extensively and successfully practiced in past lives).
We don't know what we're doing, but we got a groupon
Therefore, the most important thing before embarking on a vipassana retreat (whether it's Goenka-based or not), know that it is being defined as satipatthana. That means the fourfold setting up of mindfulness, which is explained in great detail in two sutras (Pali canon discourses or suttas). However, and this is the maddening part, almost nothing is said to define mindfulness (Buddhist sati). That is the most important thing to know, but it gets taken for granted. Or very weak definitions are offered, such as defining it as "awareness." We are aware right now, and more than 99% of us are not being mindful about it. For an extensive definition, see the academic work of Western Theravada professor-monk Ven. Analayo.
The Buddhist version of "mindfulness" called sati, as we understand it, is "bare awareness" with detachment, looking on, dispassionate watching. Sounds easy, but it is very hard because it goes against our deeply ingrained habits and traits. Usually when we are aware of anything, we taint that awareness with the Three Poisons of the heart/mind: liking, disliking, indifference (from the roots of all bad karma poorly translated as "greed, hatred, and delusion."
Look up lobha, dosa, and moha. And what becomes apparent is that Pali and Sanskrit terms have wide valence, a range of meaning for a single word. "Greed" or lobha does not mean our idea of greediness. It means liking, preferring, welcoming, grasping, attaching, and getting clingy about pleasant phenomena. "Hatred" or dosa does not mean intense fury or anger; it means disliking, having an aversion to, fearing, avoiding, repressing... It is our customary reaction to any and everything we find unpleasant.
Then there's "delusion" or moha, the worst one, the most embedded one, the hardest one to see. It refers to all the wrong views we hold, consciously and unconsciously, distortions of reality, perversions (seeing what is unpleasant as pleasant, what is repulsive as attractive, what is transient as lasting), confusion, not knowing, not understanding, not fathoming, not knowing, not seeing. This is practically our whole existence, if we think about it, but it might be summarized as failing to notice the Three Characteristics of Existence in all things -- that they are ultimately radically impermanent, eventually disappointing (unable to ever fulfill us), and (no matter how impossible it is to conceive, believe, fathom, or accept) altogether impersonal.
So to be mindful (to see clearly, which is to practice vipassana) is to look on, watch everything without giving in to the unconscious pull of these old habits. Just watch. Just notice. Just maintain attention. Note how when something is pleasing, greed for it arises. When something is displeasing, aversion with regard to it arises. When something is neutral, dull, confusing, hard to grasp, or boring, delusion arises, which is to say we space out, fall asleep, wander to something more interesting, even if it is a very unpleasant memory. Better than boredom. We do everything but be here now when this is the only real place there is to be. There's only now. The past is done. The future will take care of itself. But all our power is here, now. Let's attend to it. Let's finally see it for what it has always been so as to be liberated by the truth. The truth will set us free. What truth? The Truth, sometimes summarized as the Four Noble (Ennobling = Enlightening) Truths, the ultimate (paramattha) Truth, the true nature of existence (personally penetrating the Three Marks of Existence already mentioned). Need a list? There are the 37 Requisites of Enlightenment (the bodhipakkhiyādhammā). That Truth sets one free here and now, immediately.
But there's something every and anyone who embarks on Buddhist meditation needs to know beyond a good grasp of the meaning of "mindfulness" (sati). And that is that one will meet Five Hindrances whenever one tries to sit still or rest the mind or walk and move about with constant attention to the here and now, which does not involve "thinking" about the here-and-now, just watching it dispassionately.
The Five Hindrances one will meet in meditation (and their antidotes)
This is stupid! It doesn't work! Buddha was wrong!
The historical Buddha taught that there are Five Hindrances (pañca nīvaraṇa, Pali pañca nīvaraṇāni), mental factors that hinder, obstruct, derail progress in meditation and ruin daily life [1].
The Theravada Buddhist tradition identifies these factors as specific obstacles to "meditation," which is defined as jhāna (eight stages of stillness, unification, samadhi, concentration, coherence, superconsciousness) in practice.
Contemporary insight meditation teachers identify the Five Hindrances as obstacles to mindfulness meditation and obstacles to samma-samadhi ("right concentration," though "concentration" is problematic because we have many assumptions about what that means). "Stillness" is better, when the heart/mind has settled out, is silent, lucid, observant, directly knowing-and-seeing. But concentration is sometimes useful because ekaggata (singlepointedness or one-pointedness) is a factor of jhana.
The Five Hindrance are part of two types of obstructions (Sanskrit āvaraṇa, i.e., obstacles to insight, realization, awakening, buddhahood), afflictive obstructions (Sanskrit kleśā-avaraṇa, which include the Five Hindrances) and cognitive obstructions (jñeyā-avaraṇa, which bodhisattvas are trying to uproot) [2].
The classic list of Five Hindrances is [3, 4, 5, 6]
craving, desire, lust (kāmacchanda): seeking pleasure through the five senses of sight, sound, smell, taste, and tactile sensation
sloth-and-torpor (thīna-middha): mental-and-bodily lassitude, laziness, weakness, lack of energy to strive, half-hearted action with little or no effort, attention, concentration
restlessness-and-worry (uddhacca-kukkucca): the inability to allow the mind/heart to calm down, relax, become tranquil (passaddhi), serene, unflappable, steady, restful, undistracted, attentive, and focused, diligent, vigilant, energetic
Skeptical doubt (vicikiccha): lack of confidence, conviction, faith, trust that one has understood the instructions, the path, or one's abilities to successfully proceed. More
The antidotes are called the Five Factors of Absorptions, the jhana-anga (limbs or factors). By the way, right mindfulness immediately dispels delusion instantaneously.
Dhammaloka Viriya (diary); Dhr. Seven and Amber Larson (commentary), Ashley Wells (editor) and Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation) selection of video shorts, Wisdom Quarterly
A "roast" is a form of insult comedy, originating in American humor, in which specific individuals, the guests of honor, are subjected to jokes at their expense, followed by genuine praise and tributes.
The assumption is that the roastee can take the jokes in good humor and not as serious criticism or insult and so avoids offense as the audience vicariously relieves steam and tension by seeing the truth exposed in a nonthreatening manner.
The individual roastee is surrounded by friends, fans, and well-wishers, who can receive some of the same treatment during the evening.
The host of the event is called the roastmaster, since it rhymes with and plays on the term toastmaster.
Anyone mocked in such a way is said to have been "roasted."
There is a parallel tradition in some countries in which the host of formal events, such as award ceremonies and annual dinners, is expected to good-naturedly mock the event's attendees. In some cases, this has caused controversy when the host is seen as being too insulting [1,2] or accurate. More
How can Americans bad mouth our super heroine and CIA feminist icon?
LSNTV (YouTube), Sept. 4, 2026; edited by Wisdom Quarterly
Member of CIA and Illuminati?
Gloria Steinem, the iconic feminist, women's rights, and abortion-rights activist, worked for the CIA from 1958 to 1962, which would seem to make her an "agent."
The Independent Research Service, largely financed by the CIA, is how they got money and instructions/directions/orders to her.
She has defended the CIA as not like the murderous, amoral, Orwellian intel Company we all know but as "liberal, nonviolent, and honorable."
The question is unavoidable: how does her later role as a leader of the ever-popular sexual revolution and abortion-rights movement fit with the Agency's Cold War mission?
John-Henry Westen traces CIA Asset Gloria Steinem's personal and political history, attempts to murder her fetus, her successful 1957 abortion, her involvement with the radical feminist group Redstockings, and her eventual CIA-staged emergence as a prominent advocate for women's liberation.
The argument connects the CIA's opposition to Soviet communism with an eagerness to promote social changes that strengthened American capitalism which necessitated weakening traditional family structures.
CIA is the Secret Police for capitalism/Zionism
A list of alleged communist objectives -- weakening the traditional American family, promoting sexual permissiveness, promoting abortion, expanding divorce, influencing education and media, undermining oldtimey traditional morality -- resembles developments associated with Gloria Steinem's activism.
Steinem's CIA-backed influence on the abortion debate is enormous: she promoted the Orwellian euphemism "reproductive freedom," co-founded feminist organizations and the CIA's Ms. magazine, and advocated for abortions for decades.
The connection raises questions that American culture has refused to ask: Were the social revolutions of the 1960s and 1970s organic, or were they engineered by the CIA?
The answer may be more disturbing than the culture is willing to admit. The question is whether anyone will ask it.
In the 1990s, Kripalu Maharaj* was arrested for allegedly raping two young girls. In the end, the prosecution was dismissed due to insufficient evidence [29].
In 2010, Kripalu Maharaj was arrested again in Trinidad and Tobago after a 22-year-old Guyanese woman alleged that he raped her after going to seek spiritual assistance from Kripalu in one of his religious centers. The case was ultimately dropped due to insufficient evidence [30].
Convicted child rapist Guru Swami Saraswati
One of Kripalu's disciples, Prakashanand Saraswati, was convicted of groping two young girls in his ashram in Hays County, Texas.
A 12-person jury declared Saraswati guilty of 20 counts of child molestation, after 50 minutes deliberation, on Friday March 4th, 2011 [31].
Although convicted, child molester Saraswati was released after CEO Peter Spiegel (TV infomercial entrepreneur, Barsana Dham officer, and founder of the California consumer tech companyIdeal Living(ideal Living.com)"put up a $1 million cash bond."
Devotee Peter Spiegel had previously "signed a $10 million indemnity agreement in October 2008."
According to the Austin American-Statesman, Peter Spiegel's attorney Barry Hitchings said that he would contest the agreement.
Peter Spiegel said that he was one of about 40 Hindu followers present for a Sunday dinner at Marsha Kent's home with sex Guru Saraswati the evening before the guru escaped the USA and went on the lam.
Peter Spiegel said, "It never entered my mind that he wouldn't come" to his own trial on multiple child molestation charges [32, 33].
As part of the bond condition, Guru Saraswati was barred from entering the Barsana Dham temple. After Guru Saraswati fled the country, Deputy U.S. Marshal Robert Marcum alleged that members of JKP aided Guru Saraswati in his escape and relocation to India.
Deputy Marcum said, "It is the most sophisticated scheme I've seen as far as fugitive investigations go. They were very smart about what they did "[34, 35]. More
Trial, conviction, and disappearance
In 2007, three former residents of Barsana Dham (aka Radha Madhav Dham), aged between 27 and 30 years old [33], told Hays County, Texas police that they had been sexually abused at the ashram when they were as young as 12 by Guru Saraswati, who was then arrested on April 25, 2008. A 12-person jury convicted Guru Saraswati guilty of 20 counts of child molestation, after just a short deliberation, on Friday March 4th, 2011 [34]. During the trial, Guru Saraswati had been free on a $10 million bond provided by Peter Spiegel [1, 8]. As part of the bond condition, Guru Saraswati was barred from entering the Barsana Dham temple. In April, following the disappearance of its founder, the temple/ashram changed its name [35].
Swami Prakashanand Saraswati, also known as Swami-ji, (born January 15, 1929) disappeared March 7, 2011) is a convicted child molester, Hindu monk, guru, swami, and internationally wanted fugitive from Ayodhya, India [1, 2]. Previously, he founded the Hindu religious organization the International Society of Divine Love[3] and Barsana Dham (the Radha Madhav Dham) temple in the United States [4, 5, 6, 7]. In 2011, a jury found Swami Saraswati guilty on 20 counts of indecency with a child [8]. He remains a fugitive and appeared on the Fox TV show America's Most Wanted[9]. HISTORY: Swami Prakashanand Saraswati was born in a Brahmin caste family in 1929 [10] in Ayodhya [11, 10]. More
We love all God's kids, really love'em
*Jagadguru Kripalu Maharaj [4], born Ram Kripalu Tripathi (October 5, 1922–November 15, 2013) [5, 6] was an Indian spiritual guru [7] who founded Prem Mandir, a major pilgrimage and tourist destination in Vrindavan, India [8, 9] and Jagadguru Kripalu Parishat (JKP).
JKP is a Hindu non-profit organization with five main ashrams [10], four in India and one in the USA [11, 12].
On Makar Sankranti, January 14, 1957, he received the title of Jagadguru ("world teacher") from the Kashi Vidvat Parishad [7, 13, 14]. More
Ideal Living
Jagadguru Kripalu Parishat (JKP), previously known as Sadhna Bhawan Trust, is a religious organization in India [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6].
It was established in 1970 by Kripalu Maharaj [7, 8] and is currently administered by three presidents appointed by him [1, 9,10, 11]. The organization oversees three major temples: Bhakti Mandir in Mangarh, Prem Mandir in Vrindavan, and Kirti Mandir in Barsana [2]. More
How could honest and moral Pres. Trump allow these things to go on in the USA?
Tai chi is today thought of as a Chinese martial art created for combat and self-defense, but that is tai chi chuan, chuan meaning "fist."
For most practitioners, it has (d)evolved into an "exercise," a relaxation technique, and a sport. As an exercise and relaxation technique, tai chi is practiced in set sequences known as "forms" (taolu), usually in gentle, flowing, circular motions that are often described as "meditation in motion," though they may also be performed in faster and more vigorous routines.
As a sport, competitors are judged on their performance in forms, pushing hands, and free sparring. As a martial art, practitioners master the applications of forms and partner work for effective self-defense.
Master Lam practicing in Sichuan
Qigong (Chi gong) is the movement of energy: It is a system of coordinated body-posture and movement, breathing, and meditation [2] said to be useful for the purposes of spirituality, health, and self-defense martial arts training [3]. With roots in Chinese medicine, philosophy, and martial arts, qigong is traditionally viewed by the Chinese and throughout Asia as a practice to cultivate and balance the mystical life-force chi or qi [4]. Qigong practice typically involves moving meditation, coordinating slow-flowing movement, deep rhythmic breathing, and a calm meditative state of mind. People qigong worldwide for meditation, recreation, exercise, relaxation, preventive medicine, self-healing, alternative medicine, self-cultivation, and training for martial arts [2].
One implies the other in pairs. It is not balance
Many styles of tai chi are practiced, both traditional and modern. While the precise origins are not known, the earliest well-documented practice began during the Ming-Qing transition at Chen Village and Zhabao Village in Henan on the North China Plain, a region where centuries of rebellions, invasions, and adverse economic and social conditions nurtured the development of a wide range of martial arts, including those of the Shaolin (Kung Fu) Buddhist Monastery on Mount Song at the western edge of the plain.
Most modern styles trace their development to five traditional schools:
Chen,
Yang,
Wu (Hao),
Wu,
Sun.
In the early 20th century, Yang Chengfu, Wu Jianquan, Sun Lutang, and others promoted and standardized the art for its health benefits in programs supported by the Nationalist government.
This approach was further expanded and institutionalized by the PRC (Peoples Republic of China) government after 1949. In 2020, tai chi was included in the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
More
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