Sunday, October 29, 2017

Dust to Dust (sutras)

Amber Larson, Ananda, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Pansu Sutras: "Dust Discourses" (SN 56.102-113) based on Ven. Thanissaro translation; Indie Film Maker; Top 14
This shapeshifting "screaming skull" is an Australian peacock spider (ibtimes.com).

 
Pre-Jewish yogic heart symbol, merging arrows
Then the Blessed One, picking up a little dust on the tip of his fingernail, said to the monastics, "What do you think, meditators, which is greater, the dust on the tip of my fingernail or the great earth?"
 
"The great earth is far greater, venerable sir! The small amount of dust the Blessed One has picked up on his fingernail is next to nothing. It doesn't come into the count by comparison. It is not so much as a fraction, this dust the Blessed One has picked on the tip of his fingernail compared to the great earth.
 
"In the same way, meditators, few are the beings who on passing away from the human world are reborn again among human beings. Far more are the beings who on passing away from the human world are reborn in hell(s).
  • Naraka (Sanskrit नरक, Pali niraya) is a term in Buddhist cosmology usually referred to in English as the "hells" (or the "hell realm") but are something closer to "purgatory." They are closely related to diyu, hell in Chinese mythology. They differ from Christianity/Catholicism in two respects. Beings are not sent in as a result of divine "judgment" or "punishment," and rebirth there is not technically "eternal," but it sure can feel like it even if one is only there a week, how much more if one is there exhausting bad karma for an incomprehensibly long period, up to hundreds of millions to quintillions (1018) of years called kalpas/aeons. More

(INDIE FILM MAKER) Horror musical instrument: The Apprehension Engine. What would a sketch of an idea  for an instrument that specialized in creating horrifying sounds look like: One man got his good friend Tony Duggan-Smith to build it with the intention of using it in horror film scoring. It consists of metal rulers which are bowed, a hurdy gurdy wheel-like mechanism, a string played with an attached ebow, a spring reverb (also played with an ebow) some long metal rods, magnets, trash, anything at all to get unnerving sounds.
 
"Therefore, take as your duty this [fourfold] contemplation:
  1. 'This is suffering (dukkha, all forms of unpleasant experience, pain, disappointment, dissatisfaction, ill, unhappiness)...
  2. This is the origination of suffering...
  3. This is the end of suffering...
  4. This is the path of practice that leads to the end of suffering.'"
Then the Blessed One, picking up a little dust with on the tip of his fingernail, said to the monastics, "What do you think, meditators, which is greater, the dust on the tip of my fingernail or the great earth?"
 
"The great earth is far greater, venerable sir! The small amount of dust the Blessed One has picked up on his fingernail is next to nothing. It doesn't come into the count by comparison. It is not so much as a fraction, this dust the Blessed One has picked on the tip of his fingernail compared to the great earth.
 
"In the same way, meditators, few are the beings who on passing away from the human world are reborn again among human beings. Far more are the beings who on passing away from the human world are reborn in the animal womb... in the domain of the hungry ghosts.
 
Indian saint, atheist-Catholic Teresa Mata
..."In the same way, meditators, few are the beings who on passing away from the human world are reborn among devas ("shining ones," angels, godlings, deities, fairies). Far more are the beings who, on passing away from the human realm, are reborn in hell(s)... in the animal womb... [or] in the domain of the hungry ghosts.
 
..."In the same way, meditators, few are the beings who on passing away from the deva realm are again reborn among devas. Far more are the beings who on passing away from the deva realm are reborn in hell(s)... in the animal womb... [or] in the domain of the hungry ghosts.
 
..."In the same way, meditators, few are the beings who on passing away from the deva realm are reborn among human beings. Far more are the beings who on passing away from the deva realm are reborn in hell... in the animal womb... [or] in the domain of the hungry ghosts.

"Therefore, take as your duty this [fourfold] contemplation: 'This is suffering... This is the origin of suffering... This is the end of suffering... This is the path of practice that leads to the end of suffering.'"


Bad basic information leads to worse speculation. The monk Budai or "Fat Happy or Laughing 'Buddha'" is not the historical Buddha Gautama, and no one should ever confuse them. Cool Charles Kos has it wrong: What your Garden Buddha did 60,000 years ago may shock you! Is he Prometheus and the fallen angel, an ancient giant? This is his story. Have you ever wondered about the story behind [Budai]? Gautama Buddha was a historical figure who lived centuries before Jesus. He was a mystic rebel against Brahmin priests. He tried the way of wandering asceticism (shramanism). It didn't work, but he realized the Middle Way avoiding extremes of luxury and penance. he taught the Path and confidence in his attainment and that of his students spread throughout Asia. All beings -- other than arhats and buddhas -- are said to have been reborn, and this cycle goes back in time indefinitely. But each being reborn is not the same being nor, however, can it be said to be completely different. We wander, change, cling to identity, lose everything dear, as karma (our actions) work themselves out impersonally. But we sure do take it personally.
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