Making "Merit" in Buddhism

Wisdom Quarterly edit of Wikipedia entry "Merit"

The Bodhisattva Ksitigarbha vowed to save others even from the hells (en.topictures.com)

  
The best merit contributes to one's growth towards liberation (nirvana, moksha, full emancipation). But it is generally useful and welcome however it manifests.

Merit can be gained in a number of ways. Before the Buddha's time, it was customary to pray and make vows (deals). Others chanted Brahminical-style mantras and engaged in unprofitable rites and rituals: 

   

According to a latter day Mahayana Buddhist invention, the Sutra of the Great Vows of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, one can "transfer" 1/7th of the merit of an act performed to a deceased loved one such as in the Shitro practice in order to diminish the deceased's suffering in his or her rebirth.

   

"Transferring" merit is possible but not in the way we might imagine. IF one makes merit then "shares" it by offering it for the benefit of relatives (which extend seven generations back) not able by their circumstances to perform very many profitable deeds, AND those relatives approve of such deeds, MERIT is produced by their approval. It is actually their own doing with the help of the living.

   

Great Sivali, an arhat of astounding merit, abundance

The extent of their merit is measured by the meritoriousness of the deed of which they approve (commend, laud, rejoice, and delight in).

      

Giving to the noble Sangha or the Buddha or giving the gift of the Dharma (Dharma-dana) is superior karma most beings in the universe do not have access to and of which few have knowledge.

   

Beings able to receive this transfer of merit is limited, but it is possible. And it is meritorious to offer. Shakespeare's ghost writer was right when he borrowed someone else's observation noting that mercy does not dissipate by being expressed; it is only strengthened:

  

The quality of mercy is not strain'd,
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath: it is twice blest;
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes:
'Tis mightiest in the mightiest....

(Wm. Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice)

  

Transferring Merit
Pariṇāmanā is a Sanskrit term that may be translated as "transfer of merit" or "dedication." It involves helping others by generating merit then sharing it and thereby accruing even more as a result of having shared. The recipient to whom it is dedicated then has the opportunity to also generate merit IF s/he approves of the deed.

  

As humans we need never feel jealous or envious of others' accrual of good deeds, their riches of merit. Instead by approving, applauding, and rejoicing in them, we generate profitable mental karma based on the strength of their good. Our commendation and happiness for them, as well as the special strength of the deed(s) we are approving, enriches us. Unlike limited resources -- gold, greenbacks, oil, wage slaves, precious gems -- merit is a boundless fountain of happiness.

  

Sadly, the same goes for unprofitable karma: Often without realizing it we approve and applaud, sometimes silently at heart, karmically unwholesome deeds. One example is the death penalty. Or we celebrate the mistreatment or killing of others we have labelled "enemies" and members of other groups we distinguish ourselves from. 

   

Rejoicing in the foolish misbehavior of others (violating precepts, holding to wrong views, encouraging actions motivated by greed, aversion, and delusion) brings us harm. This is mental karma bearing a mental resultant and later coming to fruition as miserable outward circumstances.
  
In fact, merely suggesting or praising or encouraging that one kill another (e.g., abort) or commit suicide -- if that person then does it -- makes us co-guilty of the action from a karmic standpoint.

  

Three Bases of Merit

There are three bases of merit. In the "Meritorious Deeds" sutra (AN 8.36, A 8.4.6), the Buddha identifies them:

• giving (dāna-puñña)
• virtue (sīla-puñña)
• cultivation (bhāvanā-puñña)

And in the "Chanting Together" sutra (DN 33, Verse 38), Sariputra identifies the same three.

   

In the Khuddaka Nikaya's Itivuttaka (Iti. 1.22), these bases are defined as: giving, self-mastery, and refraining. In the same discourse the three are restated as: giving, a serene life of mental calm, and a mind of good-will (metta, universally extended friendship).

   

More Merit

Buddhist monastics accrue merit through Buddhist meditation (developing karmically profitable qualities), mindfulness (staying aware of the present moment), sustained contemplation (anussati), wise reflection (yoniso manasikara) while chanting sutras, personal restraint, higher virtue, preserving the Dharma for the human world, teaching the Dharma for the benefit of all beings, and practicing in accordance with the Dharma for the sake of liberation of oneself and others. It is not either-or, it is both.

   

A post-canonical commentary elaborates on the three bases of merit (D.III,218) by stating that lay practitioners can make merit by performing seven other actions:

1. honoring others
2. offering service
3. inviting and involving others in skillful deeds
4. rejoicing, being thankful, and appreciative for others' good deeds
5. listening or studying the Dharma
6. instructing others in the Dharma
7. straightening one's own views in accordance with the Dharma (ditthujukamma).

Zen Koan: Gokoku's Three Shames

Wisdom Quarterly; Book of Equanimity; Koan Study Group, PasaDharma.org

PREFACE TO THE ASSEMBLY

The person without clothing is indeed a naked heretic.

The person who doesn't chew a grain of rice is certainly the burned-face demon king.

Even if you were born in a holy place, you can't avoid falling from the top of the pole.

Is there anything to cover up this shame?

MAIN CASE

Attention!

A monk asked Gokoku, "When a crane stands upon a withered pine, then what?"

Gokoku said, "On the ground below, it's a shame."

The monk then asked, "When dripping water freezes, what then?"

Gokoku replied, "After sunrise, it's a shame."

The monk then asked, "At the time of Esho's persecution of Buddhism,

Where were the good gods [kami, ten, tiān, devas] to protect the Dharma?"

Gokoku said, "For the two guardians of the triple gate, it's a shame."

APPRECIATORY VERSE

Vigorous in the prime of life, one's temples are not yet grey;

A man who doesn't exert himself is not awarded nobility.

Instead recall the family members of unbroken honor;

The brook for washing ears is not for watering the ox.

Commentary

Pagoda Toji, Kyoto, Japan

Comments cannot hope to make clear a koan -- which presents a riddle or conundrum that leads to insight when one realizes the futility of linear reasoning. These comments, therefore, are only meant to set the proper historical stage for pondering the story and averting misguided assumptions particular to our social and historical setting.

   

Preface to the Assembly

A "heretic" is simply anyone professing another dharma or doctrine of liberation, of which there were six famous Indian teachers at the time of the historical Buddha. The Jains were famous for their extreme asceticism and spiritual nudity. The Buddha pointed out the concern with external matters leaving internal ones untended. If one moves toward more and more asceticism, it is presumed less and less internal work is actually being done. The outside cannot cure the inside, but the inside can.

Prof.sor Buswell (The Zen Monastic Experience)

What sort of person eschews the "staff of life" (rice rather than wheat) in Asia? At that time in China or Japan, it would have been unimaginable. (Food allergies are a modern phenomenon related to genetic manipulation, pesticides, contaminants like aflatoxin, and our confused and damaged immune systems. Moreover, who is the "burned face demon king"?

   

It would seem to be Mara, who delights in erecting obstacles to liberation. He is the leader of armies of yakkhas or rakshasas, which are ogres that are often called "demons." It may refer to Yama, the King of the Dead, who is the leader of wardens on hellish planes of torment (niraya loka). But Yama is not regarded as evil nor are the tormentors in hells as understood in the West. While they seem to delight in their work, it is said that they are creations of the person who falls into the Great Waste, unfortunate destinations of rebirth due to the fruition of unskillful karma.

Even if one is born in a heaven or a good and prosperous human home, one is sure to fall eventually into realms of woe. Why? Simply speaking, in the absence of enlightenment/awakening or enlightened guidance teaching us the nature of this world and the worlds to come (other worlds one may be reborn in and the karma that leads to those abodes), we engage in unprofitable karma. Because of ignorance, greed and aversion are dependently originated. Therefore, the highest highs do not prevent one from falling to the lowest lows. Stream entry means safety; all other kinds of spiritual attainments only delay the revolving of samsara (wheel of life and death) and the cycling through unfortunate rebirth destinations. 

  

There are more than Six Realms emphasized by Zen and Chinese Mahayana, which is often only talking about the lowest of three spheres. It is indeed a shame that no matter how lovely one looks, how safe one feels in a particular rebirth, there is hell to come, ignominy, devastation. The Dharma exists to prevent this, but we ourselves set off on the path, practice the techniques, calm the mind/heart and develop liberating insight. What can disguise or "cover up" this pitiful situation, this "shame"?

Main Case

Gokoku Jinja, Osaka, Japan

Gokoku is a wise Zen master being asked, When a bird meant to wade and poke around in water instead stands on a dessicated tree -- like a tall pole from which it will fall -- what about that? It's a shame, Gokoku replies, on the ground.

When what is of a nature to be fluid and drip temporarily freezes and holds, what about that? the monk goes on.

Gokoku thinks that's a shame, too: After the dark, when it's coldest and being held by such cold, this position will not be something the water can hold. It will drip and fall.

The monk gets historical to the time of the ruler Esho who resisted the spread of the Dharma, the teaching of liberation making use of one's own efforts rather than depending totally on a priesthood or elite class of spiritual interpreters. Buddhism upset the cart and was persecuted, suppressed, and inadvertently made more attractive. The truth, like the sun and moon, cannot be kept hidden for long.

Why did the helpful devas (generally superior space beings) not prevent this counter-revolution? What did they know about the ultimate effects of intervening and letting the oppression play itself out? Esho's efforts would only help entrench the Dharma; opposition would only strengthen it or at least spur interest in it.

Gokoku makes reference to the typical layout of a temple compound, "the triple gate," with its two watchmen. While they fail to guard, yet what the temple is guarding is safe. The temple complex is not the Dharma. So even if it is ruined to the chagrin of gatekeepers, the Gateless Gate is still there. The ideas, lessons, practical instructions still exist even when the external elements are attacked.

Appreciatory Verse

"Look!" - "It's a shame."

Near the beginning, one has not yet aged enough to show it. But temples, the sides of the head, will show it. (No clever reference to religious temples are likely being implied in Chinese or Japanese). How foolish a person is not to make an effort for liberation, or at least the storing up merit that will be carried into the future when everything else has to be left behind, when one is strong and full of vigor.

The way to noble attainments is exertion, not to be confused with over-efforting. Rather than going down that road, reflect and contemplate on lineages of enlightened persons, who made the right effort (the balanced effort) and succeeded. This will inspire one in a very profitable way.

The pure, clean water for hearers (shravakas) devoted to hearing the Dharma to use to ready themselves to receive instruction and explanation is not the same H20 used for dousing the oxen, which need not be as pure or precious. H20 is H20 but the source matters for what it is to be used for, a supramundane or mundane task.

Pussy Riot goes to court (video)

Guardian.co.uk (See article)

• VIDEO: Pussy Riot on Putin, "punk prayers" and superheroes
• AUDIO: Punk band's case tests Putin's tolerance for dissent
  

India plunged into darkness

Wisdom Quarterly

Sitting in the dark (washingtonpost.com)

A portion of the population larger than the United States was thrown off the electrical grid yesterday as India suffered a massive but mysterious blackout. Its origins were unknown but eventually corrected in the five Indian states affected. Power had to be drawn from what was until recently the last Himalayan Buddhist kingdom, Bhutan. Then today the blackout grew more massive now involving half a billion people, and still the cause is unknown. With private generators some small portions of the capital are operating. But the vast majority of citizens is suffering in sweltering heat with no end in sight. Is it due to a mass coronal ejection from a solar flare, which like a pulse weapon can easily destroy a grid, or might it be a planned attack to see how a large populace would fare in a power outage?

• Day 2 of India's blackout hits half the population
• 600,000 million people without power in India

A Buddhist Path to Recovery (Part 2)

The Eightfold Path of Recovery
Buddhist Recovery at Dharma Punk, Against the Stream; Wisdom Quarterly (Part 2 of 3)

1. Understanding

We understand that recovery begins when we renounce and abstain from all substances and addictive behaviors regardless of specific substances we have become addicted to. Forgiveness, non-harming actions, service, and generosity (unselfishness) are a necessary part of the recovery process. We cannot do it alone. Community support and wise guidance are an integral part of the path to recovery.

2. Intention

We intend to meet all pain with compassion and all pleasure with non-attached appreciation, to forgive and ask for forgiveness toward all people we have harmed or been harmed by, including ourselves, to be generous and kind to all living beings, to be honest, humble, to live with integrity and to practice non-harming.

3. Communication/Community

Natalie Anonymous (nametranslation.co.uk)

We take refuge in (go for guidance to) the community as a place to practice wise communication and to support others on their path. We practice being honest, wise, and careful with our communication, asking for help from the community, allowing others to guide us through the process. Practicing openness, honesty, and humility about the successes and difficulties we experience.

4. Action/Engagement

We abstain from all substances and behaviors that could lead to suffering. We practice forgiveness toward all people we have harmed or been harmed by, including ourselves, through both meditative training and direct amends. Compassion, non-attached appreciation, generosity, kindness, honesty, integrity, and service are our guiding principles.

5. Livelihood/Service

We try to be of service to others whenever possible, using our time, energy, and resources to help create positive change. We try to secure a source of income/livelihood that is harmless (in line with the fifth factor of the Noble Eightfold Path, right livelihood).

  

6. Effort/Energy

We commit to the daily disciplined practices of meditation, yoga, exercise, wise actions, kindness, forgiveness, generosity, compassion, appreciation, and moment-to-moment mindfulness of sensations, thoughts, and emotions. We cultivate the skillful means of knowing how to apply the appropriate action or meditation for any given circumstance.

7. Mindfulness Meditation

We develop wisdom through practicing formal mindfulness meditation (vipassana). This leads to clear seeing and healing the root causes and conditions that lead us to the suffering of addiction. We practice present-time awareness in all aspects of our lives. We take refuge in the present moment.

Drugs are rampant in Asia, such as Thailand (TIME Magazine)

  
8. Concentration Meditation

We develop the capacity to focus the mind on a single object, such as the natural breath or a phrase, training the mind through constantly bringing it back to this moment -- which is aided by such practices as loving-kindness, compassion, and forbearance -- to focus on the positive qualities we seek to uncover. We utilize concentration at times of temptation and craving to abstain from acting unwisely. We also offer and reach out to one another for support.

• PART 1: A Buddhist Path to Recovery
• A Gentle Path Through the Twelve Steps
• Does electronic dance music inspire drug abuse? 
• USC president urges students not to attend raves
• Family of girl, 15, who overdosed at rave to get payment

This is the path to awakening, the path of recovery from the addictions and delusions that have created an unbelievable amount of suffering in our lives and in the world. All living beings have the ability to live life along these lines.

There is no one who lacks the ability, only those who lack the willingness to take on such a radical task of transformation. Addicts who do not recover right away are not broken or lost. It is just that they have not yet found the willingness to take the path of Wisdom and Compassion.
  
We believe in the human capacity for change. We understand it from direct experience. If we can, you can.

Indian actress to pose for Playboy, ruin India

Huffington Post: Weird News; Wisdom Quarterly

India makes more movies than Hollywood

Sherlyn Chopra, a Bollywood film actor, will become the first woman from India to strip naked in Playboy. The 28-year-old knockout wrote to the magazine and suggested the idea herself, the BBC reported. They got back to her within a few days to accept. 

   

Fans will have to wait till the November issue circulates to get a glimpse of Chopra. A press conference earlier this week heralded the addition of a "Bollywood goddess" to the pantheon of beauties who've appeared on the pages of Hugh Hefner's magazine. 

 

India is socially conservative to a fault

But her decision to pose caused a controversy in her native India where the granddaddy of all adult magazines is banned. A critic cited by the Daily Mail wrote "one wonders if Sherlyn Chopra’s pictures wound a woman’s integrity."

  

Chopra, who has had small roles in a handful of Bollywood flicks, is unfazed by the criticism. "I have become the first Indian to pose naked for Playboy," she said to the BBC, "and nobody can take away that achievement from me," She uploaded snapshots from her tour of the famous Playboy mansions in Los Angeles to her Twitter account.

• PHOTOS: Sherlyn Chopra and Hugh Hefner
• Porn magnate Hugh Hefner reunited with girlfriend
• Bollywood hypocrisy: "The Dirty Picture"

 India tries to come to terms with its double standard in "The Dirty Picture"

as a Bollywood starlet is both made famous and condemned for being sexy.

Will gratuitous porn ruin India?

Wisdom Quarterly (COMMENTARY)

The specter of the bunny ears looms

Modern India is an amazingly conservative and sexist country. Although it creates far more movies than Hollywood, which are seen by far more people in India, there is no nudity in any of them. There is no sex, and for the longest time, there were no overt kisses, although both acts were implied. Dancing is celebrated and often serves as a substitute just as it has in many places around the world (including the US). And more and more violence is celebrated. But sex is taboo, which partially explains the massive population: With suppression comes a mystique with no legitimate outlet for experimentation, so illegitimate resources are exploited in secret. It is exactly because it is taboo that it remains titillating, fascinating, and an endless font of hypocrisy. Until now that titillation has been directed at foreigners (as well as children, the helpless, the most vulnerable, etc.), particularly Westerners, who constantly appear in what little porn is available in India. (It certainly exists but is very underground). Now rather than "liberating" anyone, Western-style exploitation can begin in earnest. Will it ruin India? It may. Other things like war, a war economy (thanks to a growing military-industrial complex), and infrastructure problems may seem more salient. But the day to day experience of living in sexist India is about to get worse.

"Our deepest fear is not..."

Nelson Mandela (Eco_Bela/flickr.com)

American to head Tibetan monastery

Kim Lawton, Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly via Religion News Service

Nicholas Vreeland is the first Westerner to be abbot of Rato Monastery in India (RDF).

    

NEW YORK - The Dalai Lama has given [Ven.] Nicholas Vreeland [now Khen Rinpoche], director of The Tibet Center in New York, a daunting new assignment.

  

On July 6, Vreeland [was] enthroned as the new abbot of Rato Monastery in southern India, one of the most important monasteries in Tibetan [Vajrayana] Buddhism. 

   

He will be the first Westerner to hold such a position. In making the appointment, the Dalai Lama told Vreeland, "Your special duty (is) to bridge Tibetan tradition and (the) Western world."

• RatoDatsangFoundation.org

"His Holiness wishes to bring Western ideas into the Tibetan Buddhist monastic system, and that comes from his recognition that it is essential... that there be new air brought into these institutions," Vreeland told the PBS program "Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly."

   

For many observers, the choice of an American for the role may be a surprising one, and perhaps even more surprising given the background of this particular American.

   

Vreeland had a privileged upbringing -- the son of a US diplomat and the grandson of Diana Vreeland, the legendary editor of Vogue magazine during the 1960s. More

• Dalai Lama wins Templeton Prize for science, religion
• Buddhist father-son struggle in “My Reincarnation”
• Buddhist news and trends (West Wight Sangha)

Huffington Post

Dalai Lama And Suu Kyi, Myanmar Activist, Meet In London

LONDON - Exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama says he has held talks with Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi in London. In...

Dalai Lama At LSE: Young People Are Our Hope (VIDEO)

The Dalai Lama has told young people they are the "force of our hope" and we should put aside our artificial differences and realise we...

Russell Brand Opens Dalai Lama Talk For Young People At The Manchester Arena

His Holiness the Dalai Lama was joined onstage by Russell Brand on Saturday as he spokes to thousands of youngsters at the Manchester Arena. The...

Tibetan Self-Immolates In China's Northwest

BEIJING - A Tibetan man set himself on fire Friday morning in northwest China's Qinghai province, advocacy groups for Tibetan rights reported. It adds to...

Buddhist monk competing in Olympics

Wisdom Quarterly

"Usain - not every man wants to be the fastest in the world," Durex brags on billboard.

  
Ven. Kenki Sato is in London competing in the Olympics. The sport he is competing in is -- not the archery Siddhartha was so good at, which would currently have him being beat by a blind man -- equestrian. Sensei is a Mahayana Buddhist monastic who resides in Myoshoji Temple, Japan. 

  

"Oh, I get it! That's pretty funny."

The monastery is located in the mountains near Nagano. His father, Shodo, is the 25th master of the 460-year-old temple and adjacent horse-riding club. Sensei follows his younger brother Eiken, who not only trained as a monk but in addition rode at the Beijing Olympics. His 24-year-old sister, Tae, is a five-time national show-jumping champion.

With his horse -- not named "Kanthaka" like Siddhartha's boyhood pony -- "Boy Toy," the venerable monk is seen on the track. He has won two gold medals in individual and team jumping at the 16th Asian Games in 2010.

• PHOTOS: Olympic sports part of daily life for tribes worldwide

A Buddhist Path to Recovery? (video)

Buddhist Recovery at Against the Stream, Los Angeles; Wisdom Quarterly (Part 1 of 3)

(SoberLiving.com, SLtscrc) This drug rehab program has succeeded for over 25 years in Newport Beach, California, specializing in separate treatment programs for women or men, including an eating disorder facility. After 30-90 days of sobriety, the Beachside Extended Care Program allows structured treatment in a monitored residence to reintegrate into society. Or get back into the classroom through T.E.A.C.H., which provides transportation and highly supportive academic counseling. Info: (866) 323-5609.
 

The Four Truths of Recovery

These four truths come from a Buddhist perspective that says:
  
“All beings have the power and potential to free themselves from suffering.”
  
We [at Dharma Punx/Against the Stream] feel confident in the Buddha’s teachings to relieve suffering of all kinds, including the suffering of addiction.

1. Addiction creates suffering.

We come to understand, acknowledge, admit, and accept all of the ways our addictions and addictive behaviors have caused suffering in our lives.

• ACTION: Write an in-depth and detailed inventory of the suffering you have experienced in association with your addictions.

2. Addiction is not all your fault.

We come to understand that all forms of addiction have their roots in the natural human tendency to crave for life to be more pleasurable and less painful than it actually is. The addict is not at fault for the root causes and conditions that lead to addiction, only for the habitual reactive patterns that perpetuate it.

• ACTION: Investigate, analyze, and share this inventory with your mentor or teacher and come to understand the nature of your addiction/suffering.

3. Recovery is possible.

Freedom from the suffering caused by addiction is attainable -- if we are ready and willing to take responsibility for our actions and follow the Eightfold Path.

• ACTION: Take refuge in the community, practice, and potential of your own recovery. Study and apply the principles of the path, and eventually you will become confident with a verified faith in the path of recovery/enlightenment through the actions you take on the path.

4. The Eightfold Path to recovery

After the ecstasy, the laundry: Recovery is work.

This is an abstinence-based path and philosophy. We believe that the recovery process begins when abstinence (from all substances and related behaviors) begins. The eight factors or folds of the path are meant to be developed, penetrated, and experienced for oneself. This is not a linear path; it is not taken in order. Rather, all of the factors are developed and applied simultaneously. This is a guide to having a life freed of addiction. The eight folds of recovery are maintained and brought to perfection throughout life.

World Peace Pilgrimage (Mt. Baldy)

WorldPeacePilgrimage.com; JKiser, Pacifica Radio; Wisdom Quarterly

Faiths are uniting for world peace high above on Los Angeles' "holy mountain."

  

For the past three years over 200 people from different faiths have come together on sacred Mount Baldy.

• Mt. Baldy Zen Center

Often snow capped high in the San Gabriel mountain range in eastern Los Angeles County towering over the city, the gathering sends out waves of love and light to the world from its communication center.

  

This annual event draws together pilgrims from all walks of life gathering together, hiking together, singing together, and "praying" together for the sake of co-creating world peace as a blessing to Mother Earth and all her inhabitants.

  

This is a FREE EVENT (other than the cost of the ski-lift). For pilgrimage logistics and to register, see... More

  

Trust Me, I'm Lying (media manipulation)

CoastToCoastAM.com (7-22-12), RyanHoliday.net (trustmeimlying.com); Wisdom Quarterly

   

Professional liar and business strategist Ryan Holiday was on C2C recently talking about how media manipulators control and distort the news. He declares, "Look, this is exactly what's happening, and I know that it's happening because I've personally done it."

  

He shared a media manipulation story as a marketer for the film I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell. He lacked money and media access, so he manufactured a "controversy" around the film. After buying cheap billboards for the movie, for example, he vandalized his ads and sent anonymous pictures of the handiwork to local news blogs. The story spread throughout the Internet and, "It created this nationwide backlash against the movie that generated millions and millions of advertising impressions," he brags.

• Trust Me, I'm Lying: Confessions of a Media Manipulator

Holiday also decried the lack of oversight by the mainstream media when it comes to verifying the veracity of their sources. He cited a social network used by journalists to find "sources" to say what they need said for their stories. He then confessed that he spent the last six months on the site posing as an expert on topics he knew nothing about.

  

He was subsequently cited as a source by nearly two dozen media outlets, including ABC News, MSNBC, and even the New York Times. But Holiday is quick to note that he used his real name during his "experiment." Not one of the news organizations investigated his background, which would have quickly shown that he was an author on media manipulation and not the expert he claimed to be.

  

BOOK: Screwing Mother Nature for Profit

• More on the rare, elusive "Goatman" near Ogden
• 10 Places to Visit Before They Vanish (gallery)
• Dr. Michio Kaku chats about alien invasion (video)
• Brilliant scientists are open-minded about paranormal stuff, so why not you?
• Russian research project offers 'immortality' to billionaires - by transplanting their brains into robot bodies

The Best Book about Buddhism (FREE)

Ven. Dr. Walpola Rahula, ELECTRONIC EDITION (BuddhaSociety.com, PBS) Grove Press, Inc., New York, proofread by F. Ruzsa; online version by V. Máthé as a gift of Dharma

The entire core contents are available online. An expanded edition is also available.    What the Buddha Taught Countless volumes have been written on Buddhism. Wisdom Quarterly has gone through many of them -- finding a few diamonds and a great deal of dross in the process. This work stands the test of time. It manages to quickly explain, rather than outline, almost every important Dharma topic. How it does this is hard to understand.     But that it does it is easy to see. If one had only one Buddhist book to read, it might be a "best of" collection of well translated sutras (like In the Buddha's Words). But if one prefers a book about Buddhism that explains what the historical Buddha actually taught, one would be hard pressed to find a better book.    This indispensable volume is a lucid and faithful account of the Buddha’s teachings. “For years,” says the Journal of the Buddhist Society, “the newcomer to Buddhism has lacked a simple and reliable introduction to the complexities of the subject. Dr. Rahula’s What the Buddha Taught fills the need as only could be done by one having a firm grasp of the vast material to be sifted. It is a model of what a book should be that is addressed first of all to ‘the educated and intelligent reader.’ Authoritative and clear, logical and sober, this study is as comprehensive as it is masterly.”     Table of Content Foreword Preface The Buddha The Buddhist Attitude of Mind The Four Noble Truths The First Noble Truth: Dukkha The Second Noble Truth: Samudaya The Third Noble Truth: Nirodha The Fourth Noble Truth: Magga The Doctrine of No Soul: Anatta Meditation or Mental Culture: Bhāvanā What the Buddha Taught and the World Today             Abbreviations

Warped Tour ending; Summer to continue

Warped Tour; KROQ.cbslocal.com; Wisdom Quarterly

Tanning Warped Tour crowd watches The Used’s frontman (Photo: Cody Black)

 

Don't kiss in a car in the woods (AM)

The corporate-sponsored Warped Tour is wrapping up. The annual alternative fest encourages indie rock and sometimes gets it, but not most of the time. Still, it's something to do when it gets so hot that all you want to do is stand in the sun in a parking lot made of black asphalt with kids and their parents while skateboarders naff off on their boards and post-grungified acts strum along. At least there's a chance of seeing some real punk with the pop, Anyway, tattoos need replacing because who knew they fade in the sun?
 

AIDS 2015 from Zach Galifianakis     

• Warped Tour Diary
• Warped Tour Volunteer Day
• Kaskade to conquer Los Angeles
• Pussy Riot still persecuted by Putin
• 50 FREE concerts in Los Angeles
• Musica en Movimiento Fest (OC)
• Geek Moms kick @$$
• Make love not war, US military 
• Hitchhiker's Guide: Wikipedia as history
• Weather Wars Watch: Drowning Beijing
• Jail violence initiated by guards, undersheriff
• Free online nutrition book
• Pot shops to close; green thumbs needed
• Killing and sex offending even on parole
• VIDEO: Catholic priest arrested for molesting teen, women

VIDEO: America's first female astronaut dies fighting cancer