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.
(To contact us, leave a comment marked "private").
Controversial and explosive, The Christ Conspiracy marshals an enormous amount of startling evidence.
It shows that the "religion" of Christianity and the literary character "Jesus Christ" were fictionscreated by members of various religions, secret societies, and mystery schools.
This was done in order to unify the Roman Empireunder one official "state religion."
Christ Conspiracy: Greatest Story Ever Sold
This powerful book of scholarship asserts that these groups drew upon a multitude of myths and rituals that already existed long before the Christian Era.
They reworked them into the story the Christian religion presents today -- known to most Westerners as "the Bible."
Author "Acharya S" (aka Dorothy Milne Murdock, 1961-Dec. 25th, 2015) makes the case that there was no actual person named Jesus.
Rather, several characters were rolled into ONE mythic being inspired by the deities:
Murdock demonstrates that the story of Jesus, as portrayed in the Christian Gospels, is nearly identical in detail to those of the earlier "savior-gods" Krishna (Hindus) and Horus (Egyptians).
Murdock concludes that it is certain that Jesus was neither original nor unique, nor was he the divine revelation we make him out to be.
Rather, Christ represents an ancient body of knowledge derived from celestial observations and natural forces [Jordan Maxwell calls "astro-theology" explained in Peter Joseph's Zeitgeist series].
A book that will initiate heated debate and inner struggle, it is intelligently written and referenced. The only book of its kind, it is destined for controversy.
This book contains a table of contents, bibliography, index, and includes over 1,100 citations and more than 30 illustrations.
Primary sources discussed include the Bible, Dead Sea Scrolls, Talmud, Book of Enoch, Gospel of the Hebrews, Gospel of Thomas, Gospel of the Infancy, Epistle of Barnabas and Shepherd of Hermas.
The works of Josephus, Pliny, Tacitus, Suetonius, Justin Martyr, Marcion, Irenaeus, Tertullian, Augustine, Eusebius, Porphyry, Celsus, and others are also included. More
To all who care about the Refuge Recovery, Against the Stream, Dharma Punx, and affiliated dharma communities, the leader and owner of these organizations, Noah Levine, is using this platform to respond to sexual misconduct allegations leveled against him in a secret letter to the board.
[We sure do wish the accuser would step forward, anonymously if necessary, and tell his/her story.#MeToo, #TimesUp]
Or you either, Noah!
Many of you received a letter yesterday from Against the Stream. The letter and the action taken by the board are based on a false allegation [of "sexual misconduct"].
I have spent the last 30 years healing, recovering, and trying my best to help others do the same. I am certainly not a perfect or enlightened person, but I have found in the dharma a path that has led to an embodied honesty and transparency about any shortcomings I have. It is with that same transparency and honesty that I write this letter to make clear that what I am being accused of is absolutely untrue.
Here's what is happening:
Recently a letter was sent out to members of our community and to undisclosed recipients. The letter contains an allegation made through a third party regarding a woman I was dating [aren't you married with children, Noah?] who has apparently made a claim that some of our consensual contact was somehow non-consensual [You raped or took advantage of her, is that what she's alleging?]. This never happened. All of our interactions were mutual with clear and open communication. [Aren't you a drug addict, atheist, ex-con, and confirmed liar? And yet you want us to believe you without even hearing her "lies" side?] The breadth and clarity of our conversations makes this accusation all the more surprising to me and those who know me. [Mm-hm, always the last to know.]
You are not alone. Me, too. We have been harmed. And Buddha help the one who lies about such harm with false allegations against people who did not assault or harass us because that makes you, sister, part of the patriarchal problem.
I have made myself available to all involved parties to discuss the matter -- not just to deny the allegation, but to make sure that every concern, every question, and every fact is addressed openly and truthfully. [Noah, do you like that song by the Circle Jerks, "Deny Everything"?]
LA punks Circle Jerks, "Deny Everything," from the album Group Sex
Further, all of the governing bodies of the organizations I am involved with are aware of and responding to the letter. This includes the boards of Against the Stream and Refuge Recovery as well the executive team at Refuge Recovery Treatment Centers. The ethics council at Spirit Rock Meditation Center is also aware of this and will be doing their own inquiry into this accusation. [That's good news! Obviously, your teams are biased in your favor, and Jack Kornfield and his team are above reproach, even if he's your mentor, friend, and teacher.] I have also informed my teachers Jack Kornfield and Ajahn Amaro and will continue to be in direct contact with them.
We believe Levine (and/or his PR firm).
I am doing my best to meet all of this with forgiveness and compassion [That's the best way, particularly if the allegations are untrue, so keep toughing it out], bringing mindfulness to all of the unpleasant thoughts, feelings, and sensations that are arising and passing through my heart, mind, and body. [What's meditation for?]
With kindness, compassion, appreciation, and as much equanimity as I can embody in this present moment,
Noah Levine
[Are you being sued? Is she one of your clients? Is she one of your employees? Did you get fired from the Huffington Post? We believe you. And we can't wait to hear her version of the situation or see this secret letter.]
In this talk from Wanderlust’s Speakeasy Noah Levine, a meditative leader and author, explores the Buddhist perspective on practicing wise sexuality. (More at wanderlust.com/journal/buddhis...).
In this talk from Wanderlust’s Speakeasy at Aspen Snowmass, author Noah Levine explores [his take on] the Buddhist perspective on how to understand and practice wise sexuality.
Sex, among other feelings of pain and pleasure, is related to all activities of the body. In this lecture Levine explores how mindfulness can help balance our needs for constant stimulation. As humans, we are driven to seek positive sensation and shy away from negativity.
We are born into sexual bodies and sex, intimacy, and loving relationships are central to the human experience. If handled with reverence and care, our sexuality can be a great source of joy. If we don’t pay close attention and practice some level of restraint and renunciation, it can become the core source of our suffering.
“Sex is something we are always working with. If we are engaging with it or not, it’s just part of being human.”
– Noah Levine
Noah Levine is the founder of the “Against the Stream Buddhist Meditation Society” with centers in Los Angeles and San Francisco and over 20 affiliated groups in North America and Europe. He teaches meditation groups, sells workshops, and leads pricey retreats internationally.
Levine has created a process of addiction recovery based on the teachings of the Buddha he calls "Refuge Recovery" [which is a terrible name based on the common mistranslation and misunderstanding of the word sarana, which means "going for guidance" not "going for 'refuge,'" but he was probably much more interested in alliteration than accuracy].
Levine is the author of Dharma Punx, Against the Stream, Heart of the Revolution, and Refuge Recovery.
“We don’t know how to enjoy that pleasant moment and then let it go.”
– Noah Levine
For more information about Levine and his work, check out his website: againstthestream.org. Produced by Wanderlust Festival (wanderlust.com). Filmed by: Circus Picnic (circuspicnic.com). Filmed at Wanderlust Aspen-Snowmass 2015.
Beloved Latino Pope Francis of Argentina celebrates the Chrism Mass at St. Peter's Basilica on Holy Thursday in Vatican City (Alessandra Benedetti/Corbis/Getty Images)
Devil and Church together again?
Things got a little heated at the Vatican this week when an Italian journalist reported that Pope Francis denied the existence of hell.
Apparently, the fiery 93-year-old avowed atheist reporter, Eugenio Scalfari of La Repubblica, set the social media world aflame after writing in Italian that when asked about the fate of "bad souls," the pontiff responded, "Hell does not exist."
[NOTE: He would not be the first pope to deny the existence of hell for "we-want-to-be-more-popular Roman Catholicism: the previous pope, not the Nazi Pope Benedict, but the good and beloved Pope John Paul II said the same thing, redefining "hell" as the more palatable just any kind of "separation from hell" but not all the fire and brimstone stuff. The reason for the reassessment seems to be a bid to gain many, many millions more adherents no matter what the tenets of the religion actually are. Ask a old school Catholic, and s/he will say, "Of course there's a hell!" and be dumbfounded to read the infallible pope's writing on the subject as there now not being one. And nice guy Pope Francis, former longtime henchman for bad Pope Benedict, was now admitting the same thing. Whether or not there's a hell, Catholicism certainly believes there is. Catholics, on the other hand, probably mostly don't believe but certainly fear it, and it will take generations to clear the fear from their consciousness, yet another reason why there are so many "recovering Catholics." Catholicism is the make believe religion of colonial-hegemonic empire, Emperor Constantine's way of trying to rule an empire by cherry picking Christian teachings and tossing out all of the inconvenient stuff. The wannabe "universal" religion, like the Protestant Christianity that came after it, originated as a Roman psy-op, as was widely reported a few years back. Catholicism and Christianity are the great appropriators of many other religions, taking all of the their beliefs from Mithraism, Zorastrianism, Judaism, Hinduism/Mahayana Buddhism, and the many paganisms of the now Christian world. (See, e.g., the work of Archaya S).]
Tell them there's no hell, Papa. - But our guy says there is. - Change this book! - O.K.
.
Co-Pope Benedict, former Nazi Youth
The pope continued, according to Scalfari, saying (emphasis added), "The disappearance of sinful souls exists."
The statements spurred Catholics and other believers to grab their virtual pitchforks to express their fury, which the Vatican has since tried to cool.
The Vatican adamantly rejected Scalfari's characterization of the conversation, which it insisted was not an official interview but rather a "private meeting."
"What is reported by the author in today's article is the fruit of his reconstruction, in which the precise words uttered by the Pope are not cited. No quotations in the aforementioned article, then, should be considered as a faithful transcription of the words of the Holy Father."More
"Christianity" created for social control
(Therearenosunglasses) Was Jesus Christ an anti-Jewish Roman [Flavian Family] PsyOp?
Jesus is American and Republican.
Biblical scholars at the “Covert Messiah” Conference at Conway Hall in London on October 19th presented a controversial discovery to the British public: “[Jesus Christ] may be the only fictional character in literature whose entire life story can be traced to other sources.”
American Biblical scholarJoseph Atwill appeared with them to present a controversial new discovery:
I will be your new God. Forget the others.
Ancient confessions recently uncovered now prove that the New Testament was written by first-century Roman aristocrats and that they fabricated the entire story of Jesus Christ. His presentation was part of the one-day symposium entitled “Covert Messiah” at Conway Hallin Holborn. More
A shocking letter was sent out to the "Against the Stream Community" today.
It concerns its founder, author, ex-con, punk rocker, licensed therapist, and recovery drug addict Noah Levine, student of Spirit Rock's Jack Kornfield, and son of the famous Jewish Buddhist writer Stephen Levine. He is being accused of "sexual misconduct" with no salacious details given.
Did Noah Levine
sexually harass an employee, patient, member, or board member?
Did he say something risque at one of his popular weekly talks referring to penises and such?
Are we to seriously believe Board Member and paid backer Mary Stancavage or popular biracial co-teacher JoAnna Harper are going to be fair judges of these scary sounding accusations?
Here is the shocking letter in full sent by ATS Executive Director Andre Hardy. (Maybe, like Trump, Levine can fire him for investigating this?)
Accusation
I own this place! You can't fire me!
It is with great regret we announce that we have received reports of sexual misconduct by Noah Levine which require an investigation.
During the investigative process we are required to suspend Noah's teaching activities with Against the Stream and his membership on the Board of Directors.
He hired me. I'm going to defend him.
We know this announcement may have significant emotional impact on you, as it does on the teachers and staff, and we plan to be of support in whatever way we can. This is a time for the refuge of [correction: not "refuge of" but "going-for-guidance to" the] Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha.
All classes will continue as scheduled. If you have questions, please feel free to call (805) 764-1340.
ATS Teachers Council: Matthew Brensilver, Vinny Ferraro, JoAnna Hardy, Cheryl Slean, Mary Stancavage
ATS Board of Directors: Heather Briggs, Charles Boyd, Vinny Ferraro, David Francis, Jacqueline Drummond Lewis, Leda Maliga, Brooke Rowland
COMMENTARY
Is this a Jewish patriarchy or ego thing?
This is what happens when you turn your meditation center idea into a "corporation" and start a money-making business (Refuge Recovery Counseling and Sober Living Facility) with all those $100,000s in donations we give.
Or maybe it's trying to work in uber PC Hollywood and Santa Monica with so many traumatized, drug abusing and sex abuse recovering LGBTQ clients and addicts. That's a tough crowd to herd like cats into a clientele. Accuser(s)
Who cares about ATS? I own RR, Inc. now
Good luck saving your business, and your counseling license, and your reputation, man. Do we believe the accusations? We haven't heard them. If the accuser/s want to tell us their story, we're willing to listen, publish it, press for answers from Levine and his lawyers, and agitate for compensation that saves the Center.
Did he do it, whatever "it" is? We can believe it, but it would be shocking. It seems more likely that this is Harvey Weinstein hysteria, but we're willing to believe.
Levine's just an addict and a man -- though one of thought he was enlightened (stream enterer) like his teacher and promoter Jack Kornfield (who wrote that Zen looking certification that hangs behind the desk at the original ATS Buddhist Meditation Center on Melrose Ave. next to the Refuge Recovery office it bought).
Who me? I'm just a down home guy.
This is like a giant "business" now, not at all what it started as. And if Noah is such a [blank] that he would blow it all by raping or molesting someone, cheating on his wife with a coworker or client, or saying a bad word to a too sensitive person, that is f'd up.
Harvey W., help us all in the age of the #MeToo Movement and #TimesUp and #Enough! Levine is or was a writer for the Huffington Post; wonder if they'll fire him just for being accused. What drama and what a mess.
Green tea is much healthier and also has caffeine to feed addiction to morning stimulants.
.
Californians to take their coffee with a CANCER WARNING
Proposition 65 warning sign at LA Starbucks
LOS ANGELES, California - An L.A. judge has determined that coffee companies must carry an ominous cancer warning label because of a dangerous, carcinogenic chemical produced in the coffee bean roasting process.
Superior Court Judge Elihu Berle said Wednesday that Starbucks and other companies have failed to show that benefits from drinking coffee outweigh risks.
I'm addicted to Starbucks, caffeine, sugar.
He ruled in an earlier phase of trial that companies had not shown that the threat from the carcinogenic chemical was insignificant.
The Council for Education and Research on Toxics, a nonprofit group, sued Starbucks and 90 other companies under a state law that requires warnings on a wide range of chemicals that can cause cancer.
Cancer is a Bitch (Gail Kanap Baker)
One such chemical is called acrylamide, the result of browning foods and a carcinogen present in coffee.
"Defendants [like Starbucks] failed to satisfy their burden of proving...that consumption of coffee confers a benefit to human health," Judge Berle wrote in his proposed ruling.
The coffee industry had claimed the chemical was present at "harmless levels" and should be exempt from the law because it results naturally from the burning process that makes beans more flavorful. It also argued... More
Tiny Donkey Thinks He's Actually a Dog Baby donkey Tiny Tim is pretty sure he's actually a dog: This tiny donkey’s so small he lives in the house. He even knows how to go outside with his dog siblings to pee! For more video of Tiny Tim, check him out on YouTube: thedo.do/tinytim. Love animal videos? youtube.com, facebook.com, twitter.com, snapchat.com, instagram.com.
For the full (blue) moon observance day or uposathathis April (though it is officially a blue moon the previous night), participants will wear white, observe the Eight Precepts, practice meditation, listen to sutras, and eat a free delicious island-vegetarian lunch. The Pasadena Buddhist monastery or vihara, previously located in Hollywood, follows the Sri Lankan Theravada vipassana(insight meditation) tradition. Free, open to the public, slightly ethnic.
Luck
can seem synonymous with "randomness." To call someone lucky is usually
to deny the relevance of their hard work or talent.
As Professor of Public Understanding of Psychology Richard Wiseman at the University of
Hertfordshire, in the United Kingdom, puts it:
Lucky people “appear to have an uncanny ability to be in the right
place at the right time and enjoy more than their fair share of lucky
breaks.”
What do these people have that the rest of us don’t? It
turns out “ability” is the key word here.
Beyond their level of
privilege or the circumstances they were born into, the luckiest people
may have a specific set of skills that bring chance opportunities their
way. Somehow, they’ve learned ways to turn life’s odds in their favor.
Demystifying this luck skillset has been a personal project of Christine Carter, a sociologist and senior fellow at the Greater Good Science Center
at the University of California, Berkeley.
Demystifying
the luck skillset has been a project of Christine Carter, a
sociologist and senior fellow at the Greater Good Science Center, at
UC Berkeley (Zoltán Vörös/flickr.com)
.
A few years ago she was
putting together an online course for families on raising happier kids.
She translates research findings on qualities such as gratitude,
mindfulness, and happiness into quantifiable, teachable skills.
Amidst
her work she stumbled upon a funny little concept that seemed to be
entangled with all these things -- LUCK.
“On the academic side of things,
I’ve always been sort of skeptical of any concept related to luck,” says
Carter. “Because as a sociologist, it’s like, Oh, so all those children
in Darfur are just not lucky? We know that there are other things
there.”
Prof. Wiseman started out as a magician and made his
career researching the more unusual niches of psychology.
(His 2002 study was published in The Journal of Parapsychology. It is titled, “An Investigation into the Alleged Haunting of Hampton Court
Palace: Psychological Variables and Magnetic Fields”).
By the 1990s he
had taken on an unconventional project -- running experiments on
self-proclaimed lucky and unlucky people... More
Is luck just fate, or can you change it? A groundbreaking new scientific study of the phenomenon of luck and the ways we can bring good luck into our lives.
What is "luck"?Is it a psychic gift or a question of intelligence? What is it that "lucky people" have that "unlucky people" lack?
Research psychologist Dr. Richard Wiseman put luck under a scientific microscope for the very first time, examining the different ways in which lucky and unlucky people think and behave.
After three years of intensive interviews and experiments with over 400 volunteers, Dr. Wiseman arrived at an astonishing conclusion: Luck is something that can be learned.
It is available to anyone willing to pay attention to Four Essential Principles:
Readers can determine their capacity for luck as well as learn to change their luck through helpful exercises that appear throughout the book.
Illustrated with anecdotes from the lives of the famous such as Harry Truman and Warren Buffett, The Luck Factor also richly portrays the lives of ordinary people who have been extraordinarily lucky or unlucky.
Finally, Dr. Wiseman gives us a look into "The Luck School" where he instructs unlucky people and also teaches lucky people how to further enhance their luck.
Smart, enlightening, fun to read, and easy to follow, The Luck Factor will give readers revolutionary insight into the lucky mind and could, quite simply, change a life.
BOOK: The 4 Essentials
Filled with real-life stories from hundreds of interviews, there are also inspirational quotes from the likes of Benjamin Franklin and Oprah Winfrey.
There aregraphed research datafrom his eight-year study of luck, Dr. Wiseman's book promises to offer "a scientifically proven way to understand, control, and increase your luck."
While many believe luck is a mystical force influenced by superstitious rituals, Dr. Dick Wiseman, chair of psychology at the University of Herfordshire in England, claims lucky people simply possess something.
They possess four basic psychological traits that unlucky people don't. What are those traits? They are the ability to:
maximize chance opportunities
listen to "gut feelings"
expect good fortune
see the bright side of bad luck.
Questionnaires and exercises offer guidance on how to acquire or enhance luckiness while keeping a "luck journal" and incorporating techniques to increase intuition, stop negative self-fulfilling prophecies, and learn how to effectively network.
The format is marked by repetitive chapter summaries, but Dick Wiseman's upbeat, charismatic tone might persuade even skeptical readers of the transformative effect luck can have in their personal and professional lives.More
Murdock demonstrates that the story of Jesus, as portrayed in the Christian Gospels, is nearly identical in detail to those of the earlier "savior-gods" Krishna (Hindus) and Horus (Egyptians).
