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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Are these Ancient Artifacts Proof of a Hidden History
Hidden History by Brain Haughton fills the gap between archeology and alternative-history using the latest available data and a common sense approach.
The book discusses not only ancient history’s major mysteries, but also some of the puzzles of alternative history.
Despite being enmeshed in a culture steeped in technology and science, the magic and mysteries of the ancient world can still haunt our imaginations. Pyramids exist in:
Through their architecture, artifacts and deeds, ancient cultures speak to us across thousands of years -- from the pyramids of Egypt to the remotest jungle temples of Peru and megaliths around the world.
Hidden History brings together a fascinating selection of these ancient enigmas, arranging them into three sections: Mysterious Places, Unexplained Artifacts, and Enigmatic People.
So you want to become buddies or "one-of-the-guys" but you have a
shy reputation?
You can instantly increase your guy popularity if you want to! After
all, there's absolutely no reason for you to limit your friends to only
one gender.
Making friends with guys can take time and effort (as it would
with anybody) but will prove to be very rewarding.
Some healing, some scars: the LA Riots, 25 years later
Police love to riot rather than to police.
Off-Ramp talks with residents and eyewitnesses about those dark days... Journalist Joe Domanick tells how decades of police brutality -- including hundreds of police murders of blacks and Latinos -- led to the LA Rebellion, an insurrection more than a riots, and he assesses how far the LAPD has come... How former Mayor James Hahn could have been Reginald Denny... Why one young Latina who lived through the rebellion is still happy to call South Los Angeles “home"... and NPR Host Peter Sagal ("Wait Wait Don't Tell Me") tells Off-Ramp about his bizarre chance meeting with Chief Gates as the killing and mayhem began. And an in-depth account is heard from the brutalized man who was reluctantly at the center of the troubles, the late Rodney King. Full episode
The criminal LAPD beating of Rodney King sparked rebellion (AP/mail.com)
What the h*ll is going on with these protesters? This is a lot harder than I thought it'd be.
WASHINGTON, DC - Thousands
of people across the U.S. are marching on Pres. Trump's
hundredth day in office to demand action on climate change.
In
Washington, D.C., large crowds on Saturday made their way down
Pennsylvania Avenue in sweltering heat. They planned to encircle the
White House.
This climate change business is b*llsh*t!
Organizers say about 300 other protest marches are
expected around the country.
Participants in the Peoples Climate March
say they're objecting to Trump's rollback of restrictions on mining, oil
drilling and greenhouse gas emissions at coal-fired power plants, among
other things.
In Augusta, Maine, protesters outside the
statehouse said they wanted to draw attention to the damage climate
change can cause marginalized communities. A demonstration stretched for
several blocks in downtown Tampa, Florida, where marchers said they
were concerned about the threat rising seas pose to the city. More
LA Peace Parades mark 25 anniversary of LA Rebellion of 1992 (AP/mail.com)
Alan Wilson Watts (Jan. 6, 1915-Nov. 16, 1973) was a British-born American Zen Buddhist philosopher, writer, and speaker, best known as an interpreter and popularizer of Eastern philosophy for a Western audience.
Born in Chislehurst, England, he moved to the United States in 1938 and began Zen training in New York. Pursuing a career, he attended Seabury-Western Theological Seminary, where he received a Master's degree in theology. Watts became an Episcopal priest in 1945 then left the ministry in 1950 and moved to California, where he joined the faculty of the American Academy of Asian Studies.
Watts gained a large following in the San Francisco Bay Area while working as a volunteer programmer at KPFA FM, a Pacifica Radio station in Berkeley.
Watts wrote more than 25 books and articles on subjects important to Eastern and Western religion, introducing the then-burgeoning youth culture to The Way of Zen (1957), one of the first bestselling books on Buddhism.
Buddhism: How can you be enlightened?
(Alan Watts) On Buddhism (Theravada and Mahayana) and its central concept of unsatisfactoriness (dukkha) and liberation (nirvana), what is the quest for enlightenment?
In Psychotherapy East and West (1961), Watts proposed that Buddhism could be thought of as a form of psychotherapy and not a religion. He considered Nature, Man and Woman (1958) to be, "from a literary point of view -- the best book I have ever written." He also explored human consciousness, in the essay "The New Alchemy" (1958), and in the book The Joyous Cosmology (1962).
Towards the end of his life, he divided his time between a houseboat in Sausalito and a cabin on Mount Tamalpais. Many of his books are now available in digital format and many of his recorded talks and lectures are available on the Internet. According to the critic Erik Davis, his "writings and recorded talks still shimmer with a profound and galvanizing lucidity."
A startling new report asserts that the first known Americans arrived much, much earlier than scientists said - more than 100,000 years ago - and maybe they were Neanderthals. This finding would far surpass the "widely accepted" date of about 15,000 years ago (AP).
How old are stone skulls people find?
A Vedic "Day of Brahma" is an "aeon" or kalpa (hundreds of millions of years), which vary in length, some being of indeterminate duration. The Buddha defined a "great aeon" (maha-kalpa) as consisting of four ordinary aeons.
The duration is so staggering that he gave a simile of a flawless mountain of granite a mile long, a mile high, a mile wide. On it each century a small bird comes to whet its beak while holding a piece of fine Kasi cloth. Well, that mound of granite would be ground down to nothing and still one kalpa will not yet have elapsed.
Ancient discoveries are hidden from public
Forbidden archaeology about human origins refers to texts and tangible artifacts and discoveries that do not fit into conventional timelines and theories of mainstream academic and scientific communities.
Neanderthals built mysterious underground circles around 175,000 years ago inside a cave in France. They arranged pieces of stalagmites in rings, as well as in separate piles that they used to light fires upon.
Mes Aynak, Buddhist Afghanistan
This showed a high level of intelligence, he noted, as the beings had to collaborate to pull off the accomplishment, given that the stalagmites were quite heavy.
The standard idea is that the Neanderthals came into existence about 300,000 to 400,000 years ago, and modern humans (Homo sapien sapiens) like us came much later.
But there is plenty of evidence to show that anatomically modern humans were present in Europe at the same as Neanderthals and even before. For example, a couple years ago, archaeologists found footprints resembling modern humans in a layer of rock in Happisburgh, England dating back to around 900,000 years.
Buddhism and tea go way back: Ch'an tea culture, China (BuddhistChannel.tv).
.
Maybe American yerba mate (a kind of Holly introduced by the Guarani Native Americans in South America) is better than Chinese (sine=chine) "tea" (Camellia sinensis or cha). Matcha means powdered young green tea leaves, which is extra potent with phytonutrients and caffeine. But what is "tea"?
The Tea Leaf
Darjeeling is from Buddhist Himalayan India
Many people are surprised to learn that all teas -- white, green, oolong, black, and pu-erh -- are made from the leaves of the same species.
While the varietal of the particular Camellia sinensis plant as well as the weather conditions and soil contribute to the final taste of the tea, the significant differences of tea type develop in the processing of the leaves.
The distinguishing factor that determines whether a tea plant will become white, green, oolong, or black tea is oxidation. [More oxidation turns an anti-oxidant rich green leaf black or "in between" called oolong.]
Oxidation begins after the leaf has been plucked from the plant to begin the process of being dried, withered, rolled, and heat-treated. A black tea is fully oxidized, causing it to turn black, while a white tea is barely oxidized at all, thus retaining its soft, silvery down.
(TeaLeaves) Chado Ceremony with Kazue
Kojima, June Yoriko Tanemura, and Yasuko Takahashi, who all practice the Japanese "Way of Tea" in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Most of us tend to call many things we infuse in hot water a "tea." But technically, it’s only tea if it’s made from the leaves of Camellia sinensis, an evergreen plant indigenous to China and India [particularly Ceylon/Sri Lanka, the Buddhist teardrop-shaped island at the tip of India]. Today tea is grown in over 100 countries to meet the worldwide demand.
Do you fresh young green tea powder yet?
Tea is the world’s second most popular beverage, after water. More people in the US are drinking tea than ever before, joining a booming worldwide trend. Increased understanding of the role antioxidants play in weight loss as well as the prevention of cancer and cardiovascular disease has revealed tea as an ideal health beverage.
Fresh brewed tea is 100% natural, fat-free, calorie-free, gluten-free, sugar-free, preservative-free, and low in caffeine -- tea is the healthy choice. More
The Tea Ceremony Kirsten Dirksen (faircompanies.com) edited by Wisdom Quarterly
I've got a principle in my hand.
Cha-do ("tea-way") is often translated as "tea ceremony," but it or chanoyu ("way of tea") is neither a ceremony nor a ritual in the strictest sense. It is more a culinary celebration of arts or crafts and philosophy, particularly in Zen Buddhism.
It originated in China in the 8th century, spread to Japan in the 9th, and became an art sometime around the 12th century. It wasn't until this past century that the "way of tea" became accessible. In Japan it can now be studied like home economics or in a college club.
The lure may be partly in the brew. Tea has always been used for health. Christy Bartlett of the San Francisco Urasenke Foundation explains that following the form, which she compares to the practice of music, helps one to find intense focus in the moment. As you sip, be here now. More
KROQ Weenie Roast y Fiesta 2017 is coming to the StubHub Center in Carson (Los Angeles) on Saturday, May 20th.
This year offers another unique element as Weenie Roast moves to the StubHub Center for the first time, following 23 years at the now demolished Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre and a special 2000 edition at Angel Stadium.
This year’s lineup includes Lana Del Rey, Lorde, Imagine Dragons, Cage The Elephant, 311, Paramore, Incubus, DREAMCAR, Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness, Judah & The Lion, New Politics, and The Revivalists. Lineup subject to change – no refunds, suckers.
The summer begins with BBQ Tofu Pups!
Use #WeenieRoastand follow KROQ on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to stay up-to-date with all the artists, and to find out how you can win free tickets, and More
(Muse) A "weenie roast" is a just a bad name for a pre-summertime concert the biggest rock station in LA puts together. There are no hotdogs, except on stage sometimes. In 2015, Muse played.
PRE-SALE TICKETS TODAY AT NOON(for KROQ Street Team, which just means signing up at kroq.com and getting a code). REGULAR TICKETS on sale Friday, which will sell out in a few minutes because everybody would have bought during the pre-sale. That's how all of these concerts appear to sell out in minutes of going on sale.
Is it a joke, a German fad in Asia, a clever PR stunt, or a dismal reality? See below.
Wildflower "super bloom" visible from space An explosion of wildflowers has covered the deserts of California, surpassing previous blooms in its enormous scale. Satellite imaging startup Planet Labs has captured shots of the bright spectacle from space. Images Courtesy: Planet Labs; video courtesy: Carla D Gilbert, Henry Toro, and @nat.lee. Edited by Charlie Northcott. More
(BBC) Have you got the bottle for "beer yoga"? A new fitness craze from Germany, combining traditional yoga poses while drinking bottles of beer, is gaining popularity in Asia. Video
COMMENTARY
This goes completely against the Eight Factors or Limbs (Ashtanga) of Integral or Raja Yoga, which the Sage Patanjali outlined in The Yoga Sutras or Aphorisms. The purpose of yoga is meditation. Violating precepts does not lead to success in meditation or even in better posture, poise, strength, and balance for those just doing poses. But nobody cares about details. They care about being controlled by fads and counterintuitive diets or exercise programs or being "hipsters."
Robert M. Pirsig, author of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, dies(AFP)
.
Jonathan Davis of Korn famously noted that there are "dead bodies everywhere, dead bodies everywhere." And Chris Barnes of Cannibal Corpse infamously delighted that "They're all dead, they're all dead, they're all dead." Death is all around. We ignore it. Then someone writes a book, and suddenly it's in our face. The lesson? It's better to travel than arrive.Zen says, Be where you are, or as Ram Dass phrased it, "Be here now."
HEADLINE: Robert Pirsig, author of the iconic Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, dies AFP via PRI.org
“The real cycle you're working on is a cycle called yourself," Robert Pirsig wrote in his 1974 novel.
Robert Pirsig, author of the iconic book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, has died at the age of 88, U.S. media is reporting today.
Despite its title, the book published in 1974 to rave reviews and explosive popularity is more a reflection on metaphysics and existential philosophy than a book on how to fix a motorbike.
It has sold around five million copies around the world. Pirsig died at his home in Maine on Monday, news reports said.
(BBC) Interview with and about Pirsig on Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
Over 5 million copies sold, paperback
The book is a first person narrative [a kind of meditation or contemplation rather than the deeper Buddhist sense of absorption (jhana) and insight-practice (vipassana)] that draws on a 17-day motorcycle trip that Pirsig took across the US in 1968 with his 11-year-old son Chris.
In the book Pirsig speaks under the name Phaedrus, one of the characters in Plato's Dialogues. He reflects among other things on what should be essential to people as they go about living their lives.
Pirsig's son died in 1979 after being stabbed outside a Zen center that he frequented in San Francisco.
Pirsig, a biochemist by training, published in 1991 another novel that was less successful: Lila: An Inquiry Into Morals. Source
Zen Buddhist Pirsig interviewed on NPR, 1974
"What is the road less traveled?" asked American poet Robert Frost. Pirsig answered.
(NPR) Pirsig interview, July 12, 1974 -- the year the book came out. Written by former English teacher while working writing boring computer manuals. It took four years to write, and it was rejected by more than 100 publishers.
Discovery of the Ancient Aratta Civilization of Ukraine, Older than Sumeria
Several locations have been suggested as probable locations of Aratta. Now there is firm evidence that it was located in a region of modern Ukraine north of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov.
While many Western texts still refer to Sumer as being "the oldest civilization with writing," Ukraine has something far older. [Hail the Goddess Inanna.]
This was the cradle of civilization -- at 22,000 BCE -- and Kamyana Mohyla was its most significant sanctuary. This is a very special place. It is the oldest known sanctuary-observatory in the world.
Aratta is now recognized as having been the world's most ancient known civilization. It developed on the steppes north of the Black Sea, in modern Ukraine, long before the Sumerian civilization originated, and from there it radiated its culture into India, Mesopotamia, Egypt, Western China, Ireland, and across Europe. More relics of Aratta are increasingly being found and identified in Ukraine.
Tibetan Buddhist lamas visit Khortytsia Island, Ukraine, as place of their origin
Commentary
The Buddha was a supremely handsome Central Asian royal
with blue eyes, fair/golden complexion, black curly hair, and striking
features, from the Solar Dynasty, a warrior-caste "noble" (Aryan orIranian). See Rhys Davids'Jataka(trans.) with "Story of the Lineage" (MT)
.
Buddhism and Vedas speak of aeons of history
All of these amazing pre-Ice Age civilization discoveries are giving greater and greater weight to an outlandish theory proposed by a Russian scholar years ago, which Wisdom Quarterly covered early on (Was the Buddha Ukrainian?) we covered early on.
There's a saying: "If you're one step ahead, you're a genius. If you're two steps ahead, you're a lunatic." That would explain in large part why Wisdom Quarterly is willing to talk about such outlandish things long before the gatekeepers, media, and dictators of our "consensus reality" catch up. We must get to the truth however unexpected it is or how ever much it violates our preconceived notions.
It's not so surprising if the Buddha were from North Asia. Dr. Ranajit Pal says the Buddha was born in Bamiyan, Afghanistan (one of the three seasonal capitals of people the Ancient Greeks would later call the Scythians/Shakyians, the other two being Kapil/Kabul or Kapilavastu and, we surmise, the incredible Mes Aynak). Ukraine is just above that and the formerly Buddhist "stans" of Central Asia, which later formed the USSR/Russian Empire:
Ven. Junsei Terasawa (Japanese 寺沢潤世, Russian Дзюнсэй Тэрасава, Ukrainian Дзюнсей Терасава) was born Sept. 15, 1950. He is a Japanese Buddhist monk, belonging to the Order Nipponzan Myōhōji. He is notable for being the first Nipponzan monk to be active in Eurasia. Being a respected mentor, surnamed Terasawa-sensei or simply Sensei, he has undertaken many years of monastic peacemaking practices in India, Europe, and the former Soviet Union. Presently, he teaches groups of monks from Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and China.
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Hidden History by Brain Haughton fills the gap between archeology and alternative-history using the latest available data and a common sense approach.
