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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(Facebook) Produced by Gabriela Traverso; written by and starring Gabriela Traverso; DP Cuauhtemoc Gonzalez; edited by Gabriela Traverso.
Unveil Mayan, Aztec, and Mexican history and watch ancient traditions come to life as we travel to Mexico to uncover the meaning behind one of the country's most famous holiday parties, The Day of the Dead!
This beautiful celebration, held right around Halloween, is about life as much as it is about death, a commemoration of the dearly beloved and departed. Be surprised by some insights that surround the magical event known there as El Dia De Los Muertos.
Food writer and presenter Stefan Gates immerses himself in some of the most extraordinary feasts and festivals on earth. By joining ordinary people in these strange and wonderful distillations of their culture and beliefs, he hopes to gain a revelatory insight into how the world thinks and feels.
Gates goes on a wild emotional and spiritual rollercoaster ride, starting with a teenage girl's bizarre coming-of-age ceremony (Quinceañera*) and ending with The Day of the Dead, a cacophonous cross-cultural festival of the senses during which modern Aztecs and Mexicans believe their loved ones come back from the dead for three days (Oct. 31-Nov. 2) every year to spend the day with them.
Stefan Gates (BBC World News)
In Oaxaca [wah-ha-KAH], which has a much stronger Aztec influence than Spanish, Gates is dressed up as a dead woman and made to dance like a lunatic at the head of a procession as it makes its way through town.
He is turned into an emotional wreck at the moment the dead return, bursting into tears as El Dias de los Muertos makes him experience grief and loss for the first time.
*(Feasts/BBC) Coming-of-age at Fifteen (15): debutante's ball, Mexico
But then in the next breath, the family Gates is living with teach him to celebrate and laugh at death. They turn his views on their head, allowing him to embrace and conquer his fear of death through an extraordinary sensual onslaught of food, flowers, songs, and smells.
The sight of the graveyards overflowing with flowers and mescal-drinking revelers is a truly life-changing experience.
WARNING: Beheading! Breasts! Weird underworld (6th dimension) beneath Venice, CA from the unrated comic cult classic "Forbidden Zone" featuring The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo.
Thus have I heard. On one occasion the Blessed One [the Buddha] was staying near Sāvatthī in Jeta's Grove, Anathapindika's monastery. There he addressed the monastics, "Meditators!"
"Yes, venerable sir," the monastics responded.
The Blessed One said, "Meditators, it is as if there were two households with doors, and a person with good eyesight, standing there between them, were to see people entering and leaving a house, wandering out and about.
"In the same way, I see -- by means of the divine eye, purified and surpassing the human -- beings passing away and re-appearing. I discern how they are inferior and superior, beautiful and ugly, fortunate and unfortunate in accordance with their karma (previous and present actions):
"O, how these beings -- who were endowed with good conduct of body, speech, and mind, who did not revilenoble ones (those who have gained any of the stages of enlightenment), who held right views and undertook actions under the influence of right views -- with the breakup of the body, after death, have reappeared in a fortunate destination, even the heavenly realm (sagga, celestial-deva worlds).
"Or how these beings -- who were endowed with bad conduct of body, speech, and mind, who reviled noble ones, held wrong views and undertook actions under the influence of wrong views -- with the breakup of the body, after death, have reappeared in the realm of hungry ghosts (peta loka).
"Or how these beings -- who were endowed with bad conduct of body, speech, and mind, who reviled noble ones, held wrong views and undertook actions under the influence of wrong views -- with the breakup of the body, after death, have reappeared in the animal world.
"Or how these beings -- who were endowed with bad conduct of body, speech, mind, who reviled noble ones, held wrong views and undertook actions under the influence of wrong views -- with the breakup of the body, after death, have reappeared in a plane of deprivation, an unfortunate destination, a lower realm, even in [one of the] hells."
"Then the hell-wardens, seizing (such a being) by the arms, present that person to King Yama [the sympathetic Buddhist "Judge" of the Dead]:
"'This is a person, your majesty, with no respect for mother, no respect for father [Note 1], no reverence for wandering ascetics, no reverence for temple priests [shamansand Brahmins], no honor for the leaders of one's clan. Let your majesty decree a punishment.'
NOTE 1: The word "no respect for father" (apetteyyo) does not appear in the Thai edition, but it does appear in the Sri Lankan, Burmese, and British Pali Text Society editions.
WARNING: Topless breasts, electrified balloon torture (almost), and cursing! What must "hell" be like? Is it like "The Queen's Revenge" on Frenchy from "Forbidden Zone"?
"Then King Yama interviews and interrogates and castigates the person regarding the first deva [angelic] messenger:
"'Good person, did you not see the first devamessenger that has appeared among human beings [on the human plane, which means all of the manussya world]?'
"'I did not, your honor,' one says.
Then King Yama says, 'Good person, did you not see among human beings a tender baby boy lying prone in its own urine and excrement?'
"'I did, your honor,' one says.
Then King Yama says, 'Good person, did not the thought occur to you who are observant and mature: "I, too, am subject to rebirth and have not gotten beyond rebirth. I had better do good with body, speech, and mind"?'
"'I could not, your honor. I was heedless, your honor.'
Then King Yama says, 'Good person, through heedlessness you did not do what is good with body, speech, or mind. And of course, good person, they will deal with you in accordance with your heedlessness. For that harmful karma [2] of yours was neither done by your mother, nor done by your father, nor by your brother, nor by your sister, nor by your friends and companions, nor by your kinsfolk and relatives, nor done by the devas.
NOTE 2: The Pali language uses the word kamma (Sanskrit and English karma) in the singular here, as if it were an uncountable noun (like "water" or "information"). In other words, though singular in form, it could mean any number of actions. Because English does not have an equivalent uncountable noun for action, [it is here untranslated as karma, "actions," which is both singular plural].
WARNING: Sex and violence, sort of! (Creator Richard Elfman) "Forbidden Zone 2" the sequel wants to be funded so it can be remade and go beyond cult status (forbiddenzone2.com).
"'That unwholesome karma was done by you yourself, and you yourself will experience the results.'
"Then, having interviewed and interrogated and castigated the person regarding the first deva messenger, King Yama continues regarding the second:
'Good person, did you not see the second deva messenger that has appeared among human beings?'
"'I did not, your honor,' one says.
"Then King Yama says, 'Good person, did you not see among human beings a woman or man 80, 90, 100 years old -- aged, roof-rafter crooked, bent over, supported by cane, trembling with palsy, miserable, broken-toothed, gray-haired, scanty-haired, or bald, wrinkled, with limbs all blotchy?'
"'I did, your honor,' one says.
"Then King Yama says, 'Good person, did the thought not occur to you who are observant and mature: "I, too, am subject to aging, have not gotten beyond aging. I had better do good with body, speech, or mind"?'
"'I could not, your honor. I was heedless, your honor.'
"Then King Yama says, 'Good person, through heedlessness you did not do what is good with body, speech, or mind. And of course, good person, they will deal with you in accordance with your heedlessness. For that harmful karma [those intended actions] of yours was neither done by your mother, father, brother, sister, friends and companions, kinsmen and relatives, nor done by the devas. That unwholesome action was done by you yourself, and you yourself will experience the results.'
"Then, having interviewed and interrogated and castigated the person regarding the second deva messenger, King Yama questions one regarding the third:
"'Good person, did you not see the third deva messenger that has appeared among human beings?'
"'I did not, your honor,' one says.
"Then King Yama says, 'Good person, did you not see among human beings a woman or man diseased, in pain, severely ill, lying in his or her own urine and excrement, lifted up by others, laid down by others?'
"'I did, your honor,' one says.
"Then King Yama says, 'Good person, did not the thought occur to you who are observant and mature: "I, too, am subject to illness, have not gotten beyond illness. I had better do good with body, speech, or mind"?'
"'I could not, your honor. I was heedless, your honor.'
"Then King Yama says, 'Good person, through heedlessness you did not do what is good with body, speech, or mind. And of course, good person, they will deal with you in accordance with your heedlessness. For that harmful karma of yours was neither done by your mother...your friends and companions...nor done by the devas.
"'That unwholesome action was done by you yourself, and you yourself will experience the results.'
"Then...regarding the third deva messenger, King Yama interviews and interrogates and castigates one regarding the fourth:
"'Good person, did you not you see the fourth deva messenger that has appeared among human beings?'
"'I did not, your honor,' one says.
Human tortures
Evil deeds done dirt cheap ripen later (UC).
"Then King Yama says, 'Good person, did you not see among human beings rulers -- catching a thief, a criminal -- having him tortured in many ways:
flogging him with whips,
beating him with canes,
beating him with clubs;
cutting off his hands,
cutting off his feet,
cutting off his hands and feet;
cutting off his ears,
cutting off his nose,
cutting off his ears and nose;
subjecting him to [these forms of medieval torture:] the 'porridge pot,'
the 'polished-shell shave,'
the 'Rāhu's mouth,'
the 'flaming garland,'
the 'blazing hand,'
the 'grass-duty (ascetic),'
the 'bark-dress (ascetic),'
the 'burning antelope,'
the 'meat hooks,'
the 'coin-gouging,'
the 'lye pickling,'
the 'pivot on a stake,'
the 'rolled-up bed';
having him splashed with boiling oil,
devoured by dogs,
impaled alive on a stake; or
cutting off his head with a sword?'
Those who support and approve harmful actions engage in harmful mental action (karma).
"'I did, your honor,' one says.
"Then King Yama says, 'Good person, did not the thought occur to you who are observant and mature: "It seems that those who do harmful actions are tortured in these many ways in the here and now. How much more in the hereafter? I had better do good with body, speech, and mind"?'
"'I could not, your honor. I was heedless, your honor.'
"Then King Yama says, 'Good person, through heedlessness you did not do what is good with body, speech, or mind. And of course, good person, they will deal with you in accordance with your heedlessness.
"'For that unwholesome action of yours was neither done by your mother...nor by the devas. That unwholesome karma was done by you yourself, and you yourself will experience the results.'
"Then, having...regarding the fourth deva messenger, King Yama interviews and interrogates and castigates one regarding the fifth:
"'Good person, did you not see the fifth deva messenger that has appeared among human beings?'
"'I did not, your honor,' one says.
"Then King Yama says, 'Good person, did you not see among human beings a woman or man, one day, two days, or three days dead: bloated, blue, oozing?'
"'I did, your honor,' one says.
"Then King Yama says, 'Good person, did the thought not occur to you who are observant and mature: "I, too, am subject to death, have not gotten beyond death. I had better do good with body, speech, and mind"?'
"'I could not, your honor. I was heedless, your honor.'
"Then King Yama says, 'Good person, through heedlessness you did not do what is good with body, speech, or mind. And of course, good person, they will deal with you in accordance with your heedlessness. For that harmful karma of yours was neither done by your mother, nor your father...nor by the devas.
"'That unwholesome action was done by you yourself, and you yourself will experience the results.'
"Then, having interviewed and interrogated and castigated the person regarding the fifth deva messenger, King Yama falls silent [3].
NOTE 3: In Asian Buddhist kingdoms, there was a custom that when a king was sentencing a criminal to death or to be tortured, he would not actually express the sentence, but would simply fall silent. The Commentary counsels that if a student asks not to hear the description of hell (which follows from this point), a teacher should teach the student meditation and then wait until the student has reached stream-entry before returning to a description of [the hells].
Hell awaits (Metal Blade Records) What must "hell" be like? Slayer tries to express it in their implicitly Christian/Satanic song "Hell Awaits."
"Then the hell-wardens torture [the person with a store of bad karma] with what's called a fivefold imprisonment: They drive a red-hot iron stake through one hand, they drive a red-hot iron stake through the other hand, they drive a red-hot iron stake through one foot, they drive a red-hot iron stake through the other foot, they drive a red-hot iron stake through the middle of his chest.
"There one feels painful, racking, piercing feelings, yet one does not die as long as one's unwholesome karma is not yet exhausted.
"Then the hell-wardens lay one down and slice one with axes. Then they hold one's feet up and head down and slice one with adzes. Then they harness one to a chariot and drive one back and forth over ground that is blazing, burning, and glowing.
"Then they make one climb up and down a vast mountain of embers that is blazing, burning, and glowing. Then they hold one's feet up and head down and plunge one into a red hot copper cauldron that is blazing, burning, and glowing.
"There one boils with bubbles foaming. And as one is boiling there with bubbles foaming, one goes now up, now down, now all around. There one feels painful, racking, piercing feelings, yet one does not die as long as hone's unwholesome karma is not yet exhausted [4].
NOTE 4: In the Sri Lankan (Sinhalese), Burmese, and British Pali Text Society editions, all in Pali, the sentence, "There one feels painful, racking, piercing feelings, yet one does not die as long as one's unwholesome karma is not exhausted" appears after each of the punishments [painful karmic consequences] listed in this paragraph. In the Thai edition, which is followed here, it appears only at the end of the paragraph.
Headless ghost of Yue Fei confronts recently deceased spirit of Qin Hui in 6th Court of Hell. Plaque held by attendant (left) reads: "Qin Hui's 10 wicked crimes" from a 19th-century Chinese Hell Scroll (W).
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Human torture exists but not hellish?
"Then the hell-wardens throw one into the Great Hell [Avici, "The Waveless"]. And as to the Great Hell, meditators:
"It is four-cornered and has four gates set in the middle of each side. It is surrounded by an iron fortress wall and roofed with iron. Its floor is made of red hot iron, heated, fully blazing. It stands always spreading 100 leagues all around.
"The flame that leaps from the eastern wall of the Great Hell strikes the western wall. The flame that leaps from the western wall strikes the eastern wall. The flame that leaps from the northern wall strikes the southern wall. The flame that leaps from the southern wall strikes the northern wall. The flame that leaps from the bottom strikes the top. The flame that leaps from the top strikes the bottom.
"There one feels painful, racking, piercing feelings, yet one does not die as long as one's unwholesome karma is not yet exhausted.
"There comes a time when, ultimately, with the passing of a long stretch of time, the eastern gate of the Great Hell opens. One runs there, rushing quickly. As one runs there, rushing quickly, one's outer skin burns, one's inner skin burns, one's flesh burns, one's tendons burn, even one's bones turn to smoke.
When [one's foot] is lifted, one is the just same [5].
NOTE 5: The Commentary does not explain the meaning of this ambiguous sentence. It could mean that when the hell-being's foot is lifted from the burning hot floor, either (1) one's skin and so on continues burning or (2) one's body returns to its original form, either of which is gruesome.
(MVD Entertainment Group) This is the "Citizen Kane" of underground movies. Sexy Frenchy falls into an insane underworld (sixth dimension) ruled by a horny little king and his jealous queen. Chicken-boy comes to the rescue, only to have his head cut off by the soul-singing Devil himself -- played by Danny Elfman and the Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo. Frog butlers, topless princesses, black gamblers and drug dealers, and rioting school kids sing and dance in unforgettable musical numbers!
Ethiopian Christian: Hell is terrible.
"But when one finally arrives, the door slams shut. There one feels painful, racking, piercing feelings, yet one does not die as long as one's unwholesome karma is not yet exhausted.
"There comes a time when, ultimately, with the passing of a long stretch of time, the western gate of the Great Hell opens... the northern gate... the southern gate of the Great Hell opens. One runs there, rushing quickly. As one runs there, rushing quickly, one's outer skin burns, one's inner skin burns, one's flesh burns, one's tendons burn, even one's bones turn to smoke. When [one's foot] is lifted, one is the just same. But when one finally arrives, the door slams shut. There one feels painful, racking, piercing feelings, yet one does not die as long as one's unwholesome karma is not yet exhausted.
"There comes a time when, ultimately, with the passing of a long stretch of time, the eastern gate of the Great Hell opens. One runs there, rushing quickly. As one runs there, rushing quickly, one's outer skin burns, one's inner skin burns, one's flesh burns, one's tendons burn, even one's bones turn to smoke. When [one's foot] is lifted, one is the just same. One gets out through the gate. But right next to the Great Hell is a vast Excrement Hell.
"One falls into that. And in that Excrement Hell, needle-mouth beings bore into one's outer skin. Having bored into one's outer skin, they bore into one's inner skin... one's flesh... one's tendons... the bone. Having bored into the bone, they feed on the marrow. There one feels painful, racking, piercing feelings, yet one does not die as long as one's unwholesome karma is not yet exhausted.
"Right next to the Excrement Hell is the vast Hot Ashes Hell. One falls into that. There one feels painful, racking, piercing feelings, yet one does not die as long as one's harmful actions are not yet exhausted.
"Right next to the Hot Ashes Hell is the vast Simbali Forest, [with trees] reaching up a league, covered with thorns 16 finger breadths long -- blazing, burning, and glowing. One enters that and is made to climb up and down them. There one feels painful, racking, piercing feelings, yet one does not die as long as one's unwholesome actions are not yet exhausted.
"Right next to the Simbali Forest is the vast Sword-leaf Forest. One enters that. There the leaves, stirred by the wind, cut off one's hand, cut off one's foot, cut off one's hand and foot, cut off one's ear, cut off one's nose, cut off one's ear and nose. There one feels painful, racking, piercing feelings, yet one does not die as long as one's unwholesome karma is not yet exhausted.
"Right next to the Sword-leaf Forest is the vast Lye-water River. One falls into that. There one is swept downstream, one is swept upstream, one is swept downstream and upstream. There one feels painful, racking, piercing feelings, yet one does not die as long as one's unwholesome karma is not yet exhausted.
Islam: Muhammad visits to hell to see women
"Then the hell-wardens pull one out with a hook and, placing one on the ground, say: 'Well, good person, what do you want?'
"One replies, 'I'm hungry, venerable sirs.' So the hell-wardens pry open one's mouth open with red hot iron tongs -- blazing, burning, and glowing -- and throw into it a copper ball, blazing, burning, and glowing.
"It burns one's lips, it burns one's mouth, it burns one's stomach and comes out the lower side, carrying along one's bowels and intestines. There one feels painful, racking, piercing feelings, yet one does not die as long as one's unwholesome actions are not yet exhausted.
"Then the hell-wardens say: 'Well, good person, what do you want?' One replies: 'I'm thirsty, venerable sirs.' So the hell-wardens pry open one's mouth with red hot iron tongs -- blazing, burning, and glowing -- and pour into it molten copper, blazing, burning, and glowing.
"It burns one's lips, it burns one's mouth, it burns one's stomach and comes out the lower side, carrying along one's bowels and intestines. There one feels painful, racking, piercing feelings, yet one does not die as long as one's unwholesome karma is not yet exhausted.
"Then the hell-wardens throw one back into the Great Hell once more [6].
NOTE 6: The Commentary notes that not everyone who falls into [Avici] hell is tortured with all of these painful karmic consequences: some of the tortures are skipped; in some cases the hell-being's karma is exhausted before the full round of tortures is completed, so that one dies and is reborn elsewhere. Not everyone goes for repeated rounds. Also, it should be noted that suffering in hell is NEVER for eternity (though it may certainly feel like an eternity). As the discourse implies, when the hell-being's bad karma is exhausted, one dies and is reborn elsewhere, in accordance with one's other karma.
(FZ) What in the world is "Forbidden Zone" the cult movie about?
"Once, meditators, the thought occurred to King Yama: 'Those who did bad deeds in the world are tortured in these many ways. O, that I might gain [rebirth in] the human state! And that a Wayfarer (Tathāgata, a buddha) -- worthy and rightly awakened -- might arise in the world! And that I might attend to that Wayfarer! And that he might teach me the [liberating] Dharma! And that I might understand his Dharma!'
"I tell you this, meditators, not from having heard it from another wandering ascetic or Brahmin. On the contrary, I tell you this just as I have known for myself, seen it for myself, understood it for myself."
That is what the Blessed One said. Having said it, the [Welcome One and] Well-Gone One, the Teacher, further said:
Warned by deva messengers, those youths who are heedless grieve for a long, long time -- people entering a lower state.
But those here who are good, people of upright conduct, when warned by deva messengers are ever heedful of this ennobling Dharma.
Seeing danger in clinging, in the coming-into-play of rebirth and death, they are released from letting go (not being clingy), in the ending of rebirth and death. They, happy, arriving at safety, fully released here and now, having gone, gone beyond all anger and danger, have escaped all suffering and disappointment.
If "The Exorcist" is real -- and it is, after all, based on a true story the author William Peter Blatty heard about when he was studying at Georgetown University -- doesn't that mean there are demons, devils, rakshasas, asuras, pretas, narakas?
There may not ultimately speaking be a self, but there is this ever-changing heap of Five Aggregates. That's the "soul," the psyche, the spirit, the gandharva (Pali gandabba). It is not what we think, but it is not nothing either.
There are -- apart from form or our bodies -- feelings, perceptions, mental formations, and consciousness which we cling to as "self," as our abiding identity, as our core ego.
And that amalgamation or composite self can become "possessed," taken over by powerful and negative forces. There are spiritual rules for this, freewill, and the bad spirits have to be invited in, but they trick their way in.
Bon shamans, lamas: demon dance
Then monastics or shamans or priests need to be brought in to release an individual from their grip and influence of nonhuman individuals. That's scary.
We are not ourselves, but even the impersonal self we cling to -- which feels like it is me and mine -- can be lost to others. Theravada monks will chant parittas or protective chants, and Vajrayana lamas will do rituals and ceremonies influenced by Bon shamanism and black magic of Tibet, Bhutan, and Nepal. Mongolian shamans may have to be brought in.
Whether it's all psychological or much more, who can know? The victims and those around them feel it's objectively real for the paranormal phenomena that happens around the possessed. Something's happening. And something happened to a child in the U.S. that led to this film being made. There is a supernatural (which is actually just natural in Buddhism) world and we remain blind to it most of the time.
Newly discovered behind-the-scenes footage!
(Behind The Exorcist) This is a compilation of newly surfaced behind-the-scenes footage from "The Exorcist."
It features never-before-seen superimposition tests and outtake footage revealing Jason Miller's infamous reaction to being shot in the face with a concoction of Andersen's pea soup and oatmeal.
Hollywood's Linda Blair, Regan, The Exorcist
Also included are different takes of child actress Linda Blair ("Regan") filming the projectile vomiting scene, which was originally screen tested and shot with actress Eileen Dietz as the apparatus created by make-up artist Dick Smith was too uncomfortable for Blair.
Upon reviewing the dailies, director William Friedkin decided he was not satisfied with the "spray" effect Smith's apparatus achieved, so he re-shot the scene with Blair miming the actions. A thicker stream of vomit was then superimposed over the shot and remains one of the few optical effects in the film.
Regan's bedroom is also noticeably different to how it appears in the film. Friedkin was unimpressed by original production designer John Robert Lloyd's work, so he quickly replaced him with Bill Malley, who opted for a more monochromatic look.
Why is this movie so scary?
(Behind The Exorcist) "The Exorcist" - Based on a true story of an American boy who was possessed by inimical spirits, Ellen Burstyn reflects on why the film is still scary. Oscar-winning actress Ellen Burstyn chats with the Hudson Union Society on the making of The Exorcist and why it's still scary after 40-odd years. She mentions her spiritual/meditation practice and how she was warned about the danger of what she was depicting and how police, in particular the very racist LAPD, were in the habit of killing unarmed black men even then.
Beyond comprehension: Forty years after William Peter Blatty's novel was published, The Exorcist's author returns to where it all began (Tania Gomez).
We often leave our sexuality at the door when we enter a meditation retreat. Likewise we often leave mindfulness out of our sex life, creating an unnecessary division.
This retreat is an invitation to go beyond that duality and participate in a deep and vital exploration of the divide between sex and spirit, in ourselves and in the world-at-large.
This retreat will be held in the context of silence and will include meditation, writing, mindful inquiry, a Dharma talk, and facilitated group-discussion.
A safe space will be held for bringing compassionate awareness to our sex lives and for affirming erotic intelligence.
The retreat is open to people of every gender, sexual orientation, and relationship status.
You, too, can get lucky: play lotto.
COST: Sliding Scale: $35-$75, plus an offering of dana for the teacher. Please pay at the highest level you are able to afford to support Against the Stream programs and pay it forward for those who have less.
Scholarships and work-study are available. No one will be turned away for lack of funds.
$100+ Monthly Supporters attend at no cost. You, too, can RSVP as a monthly supporter.
"Mindful Sexuality and Erotic Intelligence"
A Daylong Retreat with Deborah Eden Tull
Sunday, Nov. 6, 2016, 10:00 am-4:00 pm
Against the Stream Buddhist Meditation Society
1001a Colorado Ave., Santa Monica, CA (parking nearby) More
Who is Deborah Eden Tull?
Deborah Eden Tull
Deborah Eden Tull is founder of Mindful Living Revolution. She teaches the integration of compassionate awareness into every aspect of our lives. She is a Zen meditation and mindfulness (vipassana) teacher, public speaker, author, activist, and sustainability consultant. She spent seven years as a Buddhist nun at a silent monastery and teaches "Engaged Dharma" practice nationally. See more at deborahedentull.com.
Here's a look back at a centuries-old holiday that’s come a long way from its original intent.
We wondered: How was the holiday (holy day) Halloween commemorated before it was commercialized into a night of trick or treating?
More to the point of our discussion, Is it possible to observe it in a way similar to that of our ancestors?
Let’s begin with the day itself. It is believed that the ancient Celts observed something called a “Samhain [sao-win] festival” toward the end of October.
According to World Book Encyclopedia, the Celts believed that the dead [Buddhist pretas] could walk among the living at this time of year, when dark and cold would begin enveloping much of the Western world for the next several months.
Elements of these customs can be traced to a Druid ceremony in pre-Christian times. The Celts had festivals for two major gods -- one governing the sun and Samhain, God of the Dead, whose festival was held on Nov. 1st, the beginning of the Celtic New Year.
This day, or period, was to mark the end of the harvest and the beginning of winter.
(Stuff They Don't Want You To Know) In the United States, Halloween is replete with ancient traditions that may
seem bizarre to outsiders. Why do we carve faces on pumpkins or dunk our heads in water trying to bite apples? Here are the origins of our traditions, how
they became what they are today, and how religious syncretism has blended
different beliefs, myths, and rituals. (Apocalyptica) Norwegian black metal version of Ed Grieg's "In the Hall of the Mountain King"
Samhain (“summer’s end” and also the name of the god) is seen by some Wiccans as a time to celebrate the lives of those who have died, often involving paying respect to ancestors [the grateful dead], family members, elders of the faith, friends, pets, and other loved ones who have passed on. In some rituals, the spirits of the dead are invited to attend the festivities.
Various sorts of activities on Samhain have been described over the centuries. In Ireland, Samhain was a time to take stock of herds and food supplies. Cattle were brought to the winter pastures after six months in higher summer lands. Then, the people chose which animals to slaughter before the winter. After this, there was feasting.
Catholic intervention
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Let's take over this party for Rome!
The Catholic Church was aware of all the so-called “pagan” observances and had their own day to commemorate the dead or dearly departed, May 13th.
This began in 609 or 610 C.E., when Pope Boniface IV dedicated the Pantheon -- the Roman temple of all the Roman gods -- to the Virgin Mary [the Mother Goddess, Kwan Yin, the Mother of all the Orishas in Yoruba, etc.] and all of the martyrs.
That date was changed by Pope Gregory III (731-741 CE). He dedicated a chapel in Rome to all of the saints and ordered that they be honored on Nov. 1st. This was done, in part, to overshadow the pre-existing Samhain commemorations.
In the 11th century, Nov. 2nd was assigned “All Souls Day” in commemoration of the dead. This began the use of the term All Halloweds’ Eve, or Hallowe’en for October 31, the day before All Saints Day.
The Day of the Dead
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Hallowe’en customs are similar to the observance of Dia de los Muertos or Day of the Dead, commonly practiced in Mexico and traceable to early Aztec times.
Apparently, this “Day of the Dead” was originally commemorated in Mexico in May and was changed to Nov. 2nd sometime after Spanish contact in order to correspond with the Christian tradition.
Food and Gifting
Hey, Beavis, let's go get candy and break stuff.
Trick or treating in modern times goes back to leaving food and wine for roaming spirits.
The custom was referred to as “going a-souling” and was eventually practiced only by the children who would visit the houses in their neighborhoods and be given gifts of ale, food, and money.
It was believed the spirits of the dead returned to visit their old homes during this time, so in ancient times people left food out for them and arranged chairs so that the dead would be able to rest.
Treats called “soul cakes” were given out in memory of the departed. The practice in the Middle Ages of souling -- going door to door begging for food in exchange for prayers -- became popular and is even referenced by William Shakespeare in 1593.
This is obviously the root of the modern “trick or treating” -- threatening pranks and mischief in exchange for mini Snickers bars and sugar in all forms, a practice every dentist loves.
Seasonal foods such as apples and nuts were often used in the Samhain rituals. Apples were peeled and the remains were tossed over the shoulder, their shapes examined to see they formed the first letter of a future spouse’s name.
Nuts were roasted on the hearth and then interpreted: If the nuts stayed together so, too, would the couple. Egg whites were dropped in water; the shapes foretold the number of future children. Children would also chase crows and divine some of these things from the number of birds or the direction they flew.
“Mumming” and “Guising”
Hey, I know! I'll be a clown this year!
Celts would wear masks when they left their homes during the night hours during Samhain days because they hoped they would avoid being recognized by the ghosts and be mistaken merely for fellow ghosts.
“Mumming” and “guising” were a part of Samhain from at least the 16th century and was recorded in parts of Ireland, Scotland, Mann, and Wales. More
Known for the annual return of swallows, Mission San Juan Capistrano has few birds now. They are gone. But a bird expert is trying to "'seduce" them back (Michael Juliano/KPCC).
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Preta and Indian, Kali Puja, Bhuta College (wiki)
There are more than 20 imperial Spanish missions -- which served as U.S. concentration camps to ethnically cleanse, systematically molest, rape, and ruin Native Americans -- scattered throughout California, some dating back as far as 1769.
The genocide is ongoing. With almost 250 years of history, a lot of it tragic and gruesome, it's not a surprise that ghostly tales surround the aging missions.
Ghosts of the Calif. Missions
Take Two reserves judgment on whether anyone should believe in ghost stories [Petavatthu], but what better time to explore them than on Halloween?
A Martinez is joined by historian and self-proclaimed ghost hunter, Richard Senate. Senate talks about the violent history of the Catholic missions, some of the most spine-tingling stories and sightings, and his own personal experience with ghosts.
Click the blue audio player to hear the full interview: More
Once or twice a day, I sit facing a wall in my home.
In the Sōtō Zen tradition, one meditates with the eyes partially open, facing a wall. This is to minimize the distraction of seeing other people while you meditate. Many other traditions involved closed-eyed meditation, and you can sit anywhere.
Zen enso or circle: empty zero?
I just sit. I sit for 20 minutes, a half-hour, sometimes more. But I just sit. I sit and think not thinking; I do that by non-thinking.
This is the Zen practice of shikantaza or “just sitting.” You sit, cross-legged if you can, and let your mind alone.
When you stop thinking, you reach a point of non-thinking. It’s one of the typical paradoxes of Zen that makes your brain try and twist around those words, “not,” “non-,” and “thinking” to figure out what they mean.
Unlike other forms of meditation, shikantaza doesn’t involve concentrating on an object, such as your breath or a mantra.
It is “objectless meditation,” where you focus on everything you experience [and therefore not objectless as one shifts to what is salient in the internal and external environment] -- thoughts, sounds, feelings -- without attaching [clinging] to any of them.
When you get there, you know what it is.
Instruction
Form is emptiness. Emptiness is form.
“Once you have adjusted your posture, take a deep breath, inhale and exhale, rock your body right and left, and settle into a steady, immobile sitting position. Think not-thinking. How do you think not-thinking? Non-thinking. This in itself is the essential art of zazen.”
I’ve been practicing meditation off and on for about 25 years. After following the Tibetan tradition [Vajrayana] for a while, I drifted among other forms of practice, notably Theravada insight meditation [vipassana], before settling on Zen.
There are many different schools of meditation, and even in Zen, there are two main currents, Rinzai and Sōtō. It is the latter, Sōtō Zen, founded by Eihei Dōgen in the 13th century, that feels right to me. It’s the one whose main practice is just sitting. More
(Facebook) Produced by Gabriela Traverso; written by and starring Gabriela Traverso; DP Cuauhtemoc Gonzalez; edited by Gabriela Traverso.
