The Dharma, sutras, and commentarial interpretations of interest to American Buddhists of all traditions with news that not only informs but transforms. Emphasis on meditation, enlightenment, karma, social evolution, and nonharming.
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Wisdom Quarterly's Buddhist Summer Schoolstarted Monday, June 20, 2016.It is open to all andtaught by our principal teacher, American monk Bhikkhu Bodhi. Place a note in the comments section.
Prince Siddhartha looks in on his wife and newborn before renouncing the world.
The royal wedding of Prince Siddhartha and Princess Bimba called Yasodhara (Hintha)
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Wisdom Quarterly reader "Anonymous" recently sent in a link to a clip from the wonderful albeit misleading movie "Samsara." It can be called "Yasodhara's speech" asking all the things people ask when they say, "What about the Buddha's wife?" It is so full of misconceptions that we thought we'd better address them.
Princess Bimba called "Yasodhara"
The popular misconceptions about poor Princess Yasodhara (actually named Bimba Devi), who married her cousin, the Shakyan Prince Siddhartha (the Buddha-to-be), when they were both 16 is lamentable.
He remained married 13 years, from 16 to age 29, when he grew to understand that life was not what his father had presented to him. There is in fact suffering for all in the form of old age, sickness, death and more fundamentally from impermanence, the impersonal nature of existence, and the unsatisfactoriness of all composite things.
Time for a royal teen wedding.
Wishing to save his family and people, he realized he would have to go on a quest in search of enlightenment and nirvana. More than a king, they needed someone to point out the Path to Freedom.
Nirvana is the end of all suffering. And as there was no teacher who knew the path, the ascetic Siddhartha had to become a trailblazer. He had felt this way for years and must have shared his realization with his wife. The final straw came when his son was born.
Because we misunderstand and read things only from our perspective with assumptions about men today, we think the worst.
I'll be back to save everyone, family.
"Oh, what a heartless brute that Siddhartha to leave his poor wife all alone...with nothing but three palaces, a staff of servants, parents, friends, an extended family, royal status, a new son -- future heir to the throne -- to groom for the position, her choice of any man in the kingdom or surrounding kingdoms in Scythia ("Shakya Land"), money, and news of his ascetic adventures. She mimicked him from a distance wanting to be like him even as she lived in splendor declining offers to remarry.
We will rule Shakya Land (Scythia).
We know for certain, as the texts record, that Prince Siddhartha's father, King Suddhodana, and Yasodhara knew what Siddhartha was up to after he renounced. And soon after realizing his goal, he came back to save everyone wishing to be saved.
One would not get that from this Hollywood version of the story, which is strange because Samsara is a Tibetan Buddhist movie with Asians in lead roles and behind the scenes, but far too many Western sensibilities, pandering to a modern audience.
A better book to read about Siddhartha and Yasodhara's wedded life is a recent book by happy Ven. Walpola Piyananda of Dharmavijaya Vihara Buddhist Temple in Los Angeles. It details many of their conversations and is much more accurate than moviemakers and others' assumptions. He must be contacted for the title.
Both the Buddha's former wife Yasodhara ("Bearer of Glory") and his son, Rahula ("Bond"), ordained under the Buddha Shakyamuni along with many Shakyians (Scythians).
Princess Yasodhara as the Buddhist nun Ven. Bhaddhakaccana (aka Rahulamata) became the greatest disputant in northwest "India" (there was no such place as "India" until later but only loosely affiliated kingdoms like Magadha).
Many members of the family clan, who lived in the northwest, at the foothills of the Himalayan range known as the Hindu Kush, very likely in modern Afghanistan, Gandhara, and Pakistan (which only came into being as a country a half century ago).
No good deed goes uncriticized. He came back.
So a 16 year old, married, became a princess, living in splendor and happiness even as her young husband had misgivings about the royal life of nobles, the parties, the hedonism, the luxury and attachment to refinement.
Then after 13 years of this, she gave birth to a beautiful prince but had to see him raised by royal servants and the king and his wife, Siddhartha's adoptive mother (Maha Prajapati, who later became the world's first Buddhist nun).
There is a path to the end of suffering!
She then got to see him again after he fulfilled his life's purpose, his quest, as he taught everyone the path of enlightenment and end of suffering -- his wife and son, his mother and father, his brother and sister, Nanda and Sundari Nanda, his cousins and childhood friends, even his arch nemesis, Yasodhara's brother, the infamous Judas-figure, Devadatta.
A man has a spiritual goal to accomplish so he renounces the throne and the world, gives everything up, then succeeds in his efforts AND comes back to save everyone. What a "brute." What a "selfish brute." How could Yasodhara ever have married a man like that?
Himalayan Mustang District, now a part of Nepal, formerly Tibet (Jmhullot/wiki)
Buddhist prayer flags fly throughout the Himalayas: Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan, India...
Nawang Tsering Gurungat at Diversity Square (Alina Simone)
There's a Tibetan dialect called "Mustang," and it's staying alive in the US
Stepping off the train in Jackson Heights,
Queens [New York], on a recent Sunday, Alina Simone discovered two groups doing sonic battle
in a courtyard ringed with shops:
There was a Tibetan religious service led by
crimson-robed Buddhist monks versus a "Bangladeshi Americans for Bernie Sanders"
rally. Later, looking up the name of the place, it's Diversity Square.
It's no surprise, given this is the epicenter of the most diverse neighborhood in America.
More than 130 different languages are spoken in Jackson Heights, but
many of them are from places so small, so remote, they get lost in the
commotion. Take Mustang [now claimed by Nepal], a dialect of Tibetan with only 7,500 speakers
worldwide — 800 of whom live in the US.
Dialects like Mustang — also referred to as “Mustangi” — are waging
quiet fights here for time, attention, and survival. What exactly are
they fighting against?
We could say it's the pursuit of the American
Dream itself. Given the challenges of starting a new life halfway across
the world, even when a language is spoken at home, English is often
what kids focus on learning.
As language activist Nawang Gurung explains: “Parents work 12 to 15
hours in restaurants, nanny jobs, as nail technicians....Now if
parents talk to their kids in Mustangi dialect, kids are gonna respond
in English.”
Nawang has become a custodian of Mustang here in New York City.
“Language represents your identity,” he explains. “Who you are. If the
Mustangi dialect vanishes, it's slowly gonna mean, it has a totally new
identity.”
Pema, Domaseri, and Domaseri at Diversity Square every
weekend attending Mustang Sunday. Even in a place as diverse as Jackson
Heights, it can be difficult to explain where it is they come from, the
three say (Alina Simone).
“When we say Mustang, not many people get it. And when we say Tibet, ‘Oh! That's China, basically.”
These new identities are being forged by families who are part of a massive migration from
the Himalayas, accelerated by last year's major earthquake in Nepal and
a downturn in tourism. According to Nawang, the result for mountain
people like the Mustang has been “a rapid population decline compared to
other regions in Nepal."
His fear is that as the sparse population of Mustang speakers
scatters, soon there won’t be anyone to learn from. So together with the
Endangered Language Alliance here in New York, he is working to create a
kind of Mustang Library of Congress. It’s part of a project called Voices of the Himalayas, a digital archive that will preserve Himalayan oral history, folklore and song, handed down over hundreds of years. More
Himalayan lore: Inner Earth "Agartha"
(Agarthissml) What is the legend of the underworld
realm of Agartha, and what mysteries surround it?
Presented by Astrambiente Lazio; created by Valeria
Temperini, Michela Rosarno, and Valerio Panfoli, in cooperation with
Adriana Bisirri, professor and principal of the SSML Gregorio VII
University in Rome.
This is an incredible first-hand account from U.S. Air Force Colonel Woodard about the inside of our planet, Earth, which is hollow as are all planets and the sun. Seven cultures live inside, much as Mexican (post-Aztec) and Mesoamerican mythology has always said when referring to Agartha as Aztlan. The Nahuatl word Aztecah means "People from Aztlan."
Buddhist and Indian traditions were speaking in the same way of Shambhala and Shangri-La. More interesting are the frequent early Buddhist references to a "world ruler" (chakravartin). The Buddha said his karma was such that he would have become just such a monarch had he not decided to seek enlightenment and find a path to the end the cycle of suffering called samsara. Instead of a world ruler, he became a buddha, a "universal teacher" of devas and humans whose influence extends far beyond this planet. How far? That is one of the four imponderables. Read more: helenastales.weebly.com.
(UFO mania) What does Ed Snowden tell us about UFOs and Inner Earth?
How do I get inside? (April 28, 2016) Inner Earth beings take first step to openly reveal themselves to humanity by Michael Salla (exopolitics.org).
The concept of a subterranean realm is common throughout the world’s religions and mythological traditions.
There is a powerful antecedent to the legends and rumors extant today in the mythology of VajrayanaBuddhist Tibet.
In his 1930 book Shambhala, Nicholas Roerich describes his attempts to understand the origins of underworld legends "to discover what memories were being cherished in the folk-memory."
Legend of the underworld realm of Agartha presented by Astrambiente Lazio;
created by Valeria Temperini, Michela Rosarno, and Valerio Panfoli, in cooperation with Adriana Bisirri, professor and principal of the SSML Gregorio VII University in Rome.
Explorer Roerich relates the remarkable encounters and events of his travels through Central Asia [Afghanistan, etc.] and Tibet at the turn of the century.
Through his detailed diary notes and the chronicling of legends and parables, he reveals the many facets of the tale of Shambhala, the long-awaited realization of paradise on earth. In Western mythology, Shambhala appears as the mythic land of Shangri-la.
In the prophecies of the East, it is seen as both a physical place and the dawning of a New Era of enlightened consciousness. More
CBS reporter to visit 59 parks in a year
New York (AP) - Conor Knighton didn't take the easy route when he proposed a "CBS Sunday Morning" story on the National Park Service's centennial. His idea approved, he's in the midst of a yearlong journey to spend time in each of the 59 national parks. His "On the Trail" reports air every two weeks, and this Sunday's piece about Depression-era park improvements will be the show's cover story.More
Lawyers hid evidence of police misconduct
Chicago (AP) - When a federal judge concluded that a lawyer employed by
the city of Chicago concealed audio evidence in a civil trial, the court
issued a sharp rebuke, saying the recordings showed police lied about
the events that led officers to shoot and kill a black motorist.More
In this week’s episode Lee Camp discusses what Bernie supporters should do now that the mainstream media has written off other candidates. [Maybe vote for Jill Stein?] He also reveals recent proof that shows how Google Inc. influenced the presidential primary towards Hillary. John and Lee discuss the new trend of "poverty denial" -- because as we all know, no one is really "poor" in the USA -- and how it impacts America’s poorer citizens. Finally, Naomi discusses the latest in attacks against Net neutrality.
For fans of the old-time radio program "A Prairie Home Companion," recent news about Garrison Keillor marks the end of a historic run. This coming Saturday's broadcast from the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles will be his last. He talks with Jane Pauley.
"Car Talk" guys, hosts Ray and Tom Magliozzi, broadcast ~1,200 episodes (NPR)
Ira Glass: Each episode of "This American Life" averages 2.5 million downloads--more than the radio show’s 2.2 million weekly listeners. Launched: 1999(Larry Busacca/Getty Images).
"2 Dope Queens," comedienne hosts Phoebe Robinson and Jessica Williams, hit #1 on the iTunes podcast chart shortly after their debut. Launched: 2016(Mindy Tucker)
.
With both its stars and audience aging, NPR is struggling to adapt to the digital age: "The most innovative people are doing podcasts"
"Prairie Home Companion" tops 3 million
Elsewhere on the dial, “Car Talk” ranks near the top of National Public Radio’s ratings even though co-host Tom Magliozzi died at age 77 nearly two years ago—his jovial cackle still echoing in “best of” versions of the show on more than 600 stations nationwide.
Diane Rehm, 2.4 million listeners (S. Voss)
Later this year, Washington talk-show doyenne Diane Rehm, 79, who boasts one of NPR’s 10 largest weekly audiences, will end more than three decades on the air.
Garrison Keillor [says his show went] from 12 people at the host’s first "A Prairie Home Companion" broadcast, the weekly audience now tops 3 million. Launched: 1974 (David Joles/Minneapolis Star Tribune/Zuma Press).
(Stephen Webster)
“We’ve known that the so-called old guard would eventually have to retire,” said Mike Savage, general manager of public-radio station WBAA in West Lafayette, Indiana, which has aired all three shows for decades. “There’s concern because these programs are well-known and well-loved.”
Public radio is facing an existential crisis. Some of the biggest radio stars of a generation are exiting the scene while public-radio executives attempt to stem the loss of younger listeners on traditional radio.
At the same time, the business model of NPR—the institution at the center of the public-radio universe—is under threat: It relies primarily on funding from hundreds of local radio stations, but it faces rising competition... More
What is important about former USAF Colonel Billie Faye Woodard? S/he was interviewed in February 2012. In Part 1, though adopted by a US military father, s/he claims to be the offspring of Hollow Earth parents.
Gender: s/he is a hermaphrodite.
Woodard also discusses her six-month trip to Hollow Earth as a child, some of the beings and people she met, the creatures she saw, the technology in use down there, and the turn of events that transpired after her return to the surface.
Also revealed is how she graduated at age 12 from high school and her search for a job that ultimately led her to earn a commission in the US Air Force, her first duty assignment at the Pentagon with her father and her placement inside Area 51.
Wisdom Quarterly's Buddhist Summer Schoolstarted Monday, June 20, 2016.It is open to all andtaught by our principal teacher, American monk Bhikkhu Bodhi. Place a note in the comments section.
The Native Bolivian American tribe the Aymara celebrate the new year across Bolivia with people gathering before sunrise on June 21st to welcome it in (Reuters/AP via BBC.com).
The Maya measured time in intervals like the Vedas ("Knowledge Books") of the IVC and India -- influenced by star beings (devas) -- Buddhist and Brahminical/Hindu aeons.
Andes Mountains, Bolivia, Cuernos del Paine from Lake Pehoé (Miguel Vieira/wiki)
Members of the indigenous South American Aymara group traditionally raise their hands to receive the first rays of sun on the morning of June 21st (AP via BBC.com)
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Bolivian President
Evo [pronounced EH-voh] Morales has proposed that the Andean country switch back from the
Gregorian calendar to the calendar previously used by its indigenous Aymara people.
During celebrations for the Aymara New Year, Pres. Morales said he found the Gregorian calendar "untidy."
He suggested that Bolivia "reclaim its ancestral calendar as part of the rebuilding of our identity." Pres. Morales is Aymara.
The future is behind us say Aymara (BBC)
It is not the first time the Bolivian government has suggested changes to the way time is measured.
Two
years ago, the clock on the facade of the Congress in La Paz was
reversed so that its hands turned left [counter-clockwise] and the numbers were inverted to
go from 1 to 12 anti-clockwise. The government dubbed it "clock of the south."
It is Year 5,524
Time is fluid and a consensus reality
On
Tuesday, Morales said the indigenous calendar, in which a year has
13 months of 28 days each, was much "tidier" than the Gregorian one, in
which the length of the months can vary between 28 and 31 days.
[EDITORIAL: As Wisdom Quarterly has explained: A day is 24 hours, a week is 7 days, a month is 4 weeks; therefore, a month is 28 days (4x7) and should be called a moonth, meaning it has all of the moon's phases (full, half, and two quarter moons). There are 13 months in a year because 13 [not 12] x 28 = 364 days. The 365th day is New Year's Day, a day of reflection and transition looking back and ahead, when Earth renews: spring.]
The
21st of June, the winter solstice in the southern hemisphere, is
considered "day zero" in the indigenous calendar and marks the beginning
of the new year.
On Tuesday, many Bolivians celebrated the arrival of the year 5,524.
It's cold for winter solstice in the Andes even as atmosphere erodes and sun worsens (BBC).
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The
year is calculated by adding the number of years that have passed
since the arrival of [Jewish convert to Catholicism, thief, rapist, ethnic cleanser, enslaver, mass murderer, genocide launcher] Christopher Columbus in the Americas in 1492 to the
5,000 years indigenous people are estimated to have lived in the
region.
President Morales declared June 21st a national holiday in 2010. Traditionally, he sees in the new year day at the archaeological ruins at Tiahuanaco, the site of a pre-Columbian fortress.
But due to knee surgery, this year the president held a ceremony at the presidential palace instead.More
Presidential candidate Dr. Jill Stein (Green) Talks About Where the Bernie Movement Goes Now
It’s
important to note that Bernie Sanders (Independent/Democrat), Donald Trump (Republican), Hillary Clinton (federal prison, Cell Block C), and Gary Johnson (Libertarian) are not the
only people running for president, despite what the mainstream media wants us to believe.
That’s why this week, Lee Camp talked with Green Party
presidential candidateDr. Jill Stein, MD. Camp discusses the media, the state of
the current primary race, and whether she would consider running with Bernie Sanders.
For
years, allegations of inmate beatings by sheriff’s deputies in Los
Angeles County jails [were common knowledge]. When they did, one name surfaced over and
over: Paul Tanaka. Tanaka, a Sheriff’s Department veteran who rose to
become second in command of one of the county’s largest police agencies,
was dogged...
When
the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department scandal emerged more than
six years ago, the idea that former Undersheriff Paul Tanaka, and his
old boss, Sheriff Lee Baca, would one day be wearing prison blues was
all but unthinkable. In 2011, the ACLU released a blockbuster report on
inmate abuse...
(WQ)
Allegedly former Sheriff Lee Baca has early-stage Alzheimer's. So he may get
out of prison time -- though he will be sentenced to at least 6 months
in jail and may be forced to serve some of it, at least symbolically. Baca has already been convicted and is awaiting sentencing
after pleading guilty when cutting a special deal to not prosecute his other crimes
and only give him at most half-a-year for a petty offense. LA's is a criminal, a convict now, and now he would have us believe he is an
invalid also, too frail for jail.
Undersheriff sentenced to 5 years in prison
(WQ)
But the man immediately under him -- a brutal bully who told jailers to
beat prisoners with impunity -- has been sentenced and must turn
himself in by August 2016. He is appealing. And everyone is angry that
his boss -- who was well aware of what was going on in the deprivation
of citizen's civil rights, as police committed felony assault under
color of uniform on a regular basis -- is getting away with his crimes
committed over 20 years. They got carried away when the FBI sent in a
spy, and 9 sheriff's officials have been sentenced. The second worst
criminal, former Undersheriff (now felon) Paul Tanaka, who was once the
most likely candidate to replace Baca as LA Sheriff (pre FBI scandal)
and was also mayor of the Los Angeles city of Gardena, is headed to
federal prison. And he is p-ssed off about it
