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").
It is the Mexican/Native American DAY OF THE DEAD celebration, when the veil between the Planes of Existence in Buddhist cosmology is thinnest, when the "Realm ofHungry Ghosts" spills over, when the deceased visit relatives and their former lives.
It is also an opportunity to acknowledge our most unsavory qualities, the ones we hide most of the year. Transparency is better. No skeleton can stay hidden. Special remembrance meditation. Bring vegan snacks/drinks to share. Wear a sexy or scary costume (maybe a face mask from the 99 cent store).
We'll serve hot cocoa (chocolatl), sweet chocolate, cookies, candies, desserts, and savory plant-based TACO dishes. Hugs (optional). All welcome. FREE/by donation.
Hundreds of thousands pack streets for annual Halloween Carnaval in West Hollywood
(KCAL 9, Oct. 31, 2016/CBS Los Angeles) From creepy clowns and trolls to sexy Bernie Sanders costumes and Tulsi Gabbards, it's the party of the year in West Hollywood for Carnaval. It can get very sexualized (and is not yet as "family friendly" as it wants to be) with Art Mann walking around.
(History, Oct. 30th, 2013) It's one of America's favorite holidays, but what's the real story behind the tricks and treats of Halloween? It started as the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain -- ghosts, masks, treats, costumes, with Catholic modifications from Britain.
Irish and Scottish immigrants in the USA revived the old European customs to make it big business, $6 billion in 2013, much more now with all the sexy outfits, libations, parties, and Bacchanalian revelry. The Americas added Day of the Dead, Dia de los Muertos, lore and Spanish-Catholic traditions to the mix. Halloween's ancient origins took their modern form in the United States.
Buddhist Ghost Stories: Petavatthu: 51 narratives describing in verse how the effects of bad karma can lead to rebirth in the unhappy world of petas (ghosts). Moreover, it details how meritorious actions done by the living can benefit these beings (the would-be grateful dead) and alleviate the suffering of our relatives and ancestors.
There are too many fires to mention in Southern California. All around the suburban edges of Los Angeles, embers keep starting new ones. Smoke swirls in the basin. The freeway arteries are closed for safety, and traffic is worse than ever. So the open ones are clogged. People are sleeping in their cubicles. It's not much better up north.
Rich homeowners have gone homeless. No one is laughing that climate change -- a conspiracy funded by movers and shakers (HAARP, geo-engineering, chemtrails flooding the skies with toxic heavy metal nanoparticles), anthropogenic (due to our fossil fuel burning and environmental destruction), or just something happening all over the solar system due to periodic changes in the sun as David Wilcock explains (divinecosmos.com) -- is merely climate alarmism. LA's local government "clear channel" (KFI 640 AM) is on top of it, as is most of the AM band, including Dr. Drew (KABC.com, 790 AM).
There will be no Halloween trick-or-treating this year, kids, at least not on some of the westside. Too much smoke and traffic danger. The eastside is good. Ronald Reagan's presidential library was at risk.
Trump killed al-Baghdadi and got booed at baseball game
Another wildfire has broken out in Los Angeles, Donald Trump got booed at the World Series, and made a very big deal about killing the leader of ISIS Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and Kimmel mashes-up Trump's speech about his killing with Barack Obama's speech on Osama bin Laden.
BRAG MASH-UP: Trump’s kill speech versus Obama’s kill speech
Here’s where the California wildfires are and where they could spread next
Massive wildfires are blazing in Northern and Southern California, ravaging both ends of the state. Take a look at where the fires are and the damage they have caused and where they could head next.
The Kincade Fire began on Oct. 23rd in Geyserville, Sonoma County, Northern California, and prompted evacuation orders for close to 200,000 residents.
Extreme Red Flag Warning!
(ABC 7, Oct. 31, 2019) Massive fires erupt today in South Los Angeles and Fullerton, O.C.
In Southern California, the Tick Fire began to spread on Oct. 24th in Santa Clarita. Officials said the area just north of Los Angeles has burned more than 4,300 acres, igniting several homes.
While firefighters have contained some of the Tick Fire, a second fast-moving brush fire erupted in Los Angeles in the early hours of Oct. 28. The Getty Fire, named after the Getty Museum near the blaze, covered 400 acres in 2-and-a-half hours. More
Trump private attorney Rudy Giuliani incompetently butt-dials reporter; Narcissistic Pres. Trump gets booed at World Series baseball game. Host Seth Meyers takes "a closer look" at Trump getting booed a few days after his lawyer butt-dialed a reporter, twice, revealing sensitive information making Trump's whole administration look very suspect. Why does Guiliani need the cash he is desperately calling around for? Bribes? By bragging about murdering ISIS bogeyman al-Baghdadi, Trump has not helped matters, and this came after causing the deaths of countless Kurd allies while going against Republican advisors and stalwart supporters like Mitch McConnell. Republicans are floundering in Trump's wake. Late Night with Seth Meyers airs weeknights 12:35/11:35c on NBC.
Trump abandons Kurds in Syria. Even Republicans can't defend him.
This BBC documentary explores a variety of meditation practices. It includes techniques designed to promote relaxation, build internal energy or "invisible life force" (chi, qi, ki, prana), develop concentration, compassion, love, patience, generosity, and forgiveness.
A particularly ambitious form of meditation aims at effortlessly sustained single-pointed concentration meant to enable its practitioner to enjoy an indestructible sense of well-being while engaging in any life activity.
TESTIMONIAL
"Through meditation [I] found the ability to start a new career, reconnect with old friends, and start living my life to the fullest. In short, I rebuilt my life from the bottom up. Today, just 12 years later, I'm completely fulfilled. I love what I do professionally, I have the most wonderful family and friends around me, and I feel grateful for everyday I live. For so many years I was miserable when I had all the gifts life could bestow. It took what I thought at the time was a death sentence for me to wake up and start living. I knew these 'secrets' I had uncovered could help anyone live an extraordinary life, but imagine my shock when I learned how many rich, successful, and famous people had used the EXACT same process to achieve all that he had achieved...." - Jason Stephenson
✳️ 👉 Watch https://youtu.be/sw3XJv5d_mc to discover a fast way to condition the mind towards the achievement of desired goals. Eddie Sergey's technique is said to be easier than affirmations and more effective than visualization. So if you're struggling to improve different aspects of life, this tutorial is a must-watch.
Renowned spine surgeon of 30 years, Dr. David Hanscom, MD (backincontrol.com), has quit surgery and opiate medication for healing pain.
The rate of spine surgery has continued to rise in spite of evidence that most of it is ineffective. It rose rapidly in the mid-90’s with the introduction of new techniques that improved the fusion rate. However, outcomes haven’t improved. Disability keeps rising. Why?“Let’s try spine surgery”?
Surgery works poorly if it is done for “pain” and the source of it is unclear. There is a widespread belief among most patients and many physicians that if everything else has been tried and failed, then surgery is the next logical step. Nothing could be further from the truth.More
He claims the majority of spine operations are unnecessary. Many procedures are actually performed on spines with normal, age-related conditions.
These "spinal fusion" operations are particularly unpredictable when trying to reduce pain. Dr. Hanscom revealed that he's retired from conducting surgeries because too often the results are unsatisfactory. In fact, most patients have stopped seeking this option.
"There's not one piece of data in 50 years," he claims, "that says we should be doing spine fusion for back pain." Only 22% of such patients have a positive outcome, whereas the chance of making the pain worse is 40%. This can push people into opioid abuse.
It is well-documented that disc degeneration, bone spurs, arthritis, bulging discs, and so on are rarely the cause of back pain. So when a fusion is performed for lower back pain (LBP), we really don’t know the source of its arising (3). The success rate of performing a fusion for LBP is less than 30% (4,5). Most people expect a much better outcome, and the resultant disappointment is also problematic for their pain.
I didn't know there was an alternative!
According to Dr. Hanscom chronic physical pain is interwoven with feelings of anxiety. Mental turmoil and anxious symptoms are the triggers. By treating anxiety, pain greatly improves.
"The key is to rewire the nervous system," according to Dr. Hanscom, referring to the concept of neuroplasticity: The brain can adapt and make changes, potentially removing the pathways and associated chemicals -- triggered by inner turmoil -- of "memorized pain."
He addresses the related problem of osteoporosis, a condition where bones become weaker and more brittle. There are solutions, even free ones on his website. Surgery and prescription medicines are almost never the answer. Listen
3. Boden SD, et al. “Abnormal magnetic-resonance scans of the lumbar spine in asymptomatic subjects. A prospective investigation.” J Bone Joint Surg (1990); 72:403– 8.
4. Carragee EJ, et al. “A Gold Standard Evaluation of the ‘Discogenic Pain’ Diagnosis as Determined by Provocative Discography.” Spine (2006) 31:2115-2123.
5. Franklin GM, et al. “Outcomes of lumbar fusion in Washington state workers’ compensation.” Spine (2994); 19: 1897–1903; discussion 1904.
Dr. Hanscom: "The Perils of Back Surgery: A Spine Surgeon's Roadmap"
Orthopedic spine surgeon Dr. David Hanscom, M.D. visits Google to discuss the harsh realities of the spine surgery business. It makes an obscene amount of profit.
But he offers a groundbreaking new approach to solving chronic back pain without surgery or drugs.
After decades of performing spine surgeries, Dr. Hanscom realized the truth: Surgery is rarely effective for patients with back pain.
This realization – combined with his own battles with chronic pain – sparked Dr. Hanscom to develop a new evidenced-based program for ending chronic pain.
Dr. Hanscom is a board-certified orthopedic surgeon with Swedish Neuroscience Specialists in Seattle, Washington. Find his chronic pain ROADMAP at backincontrol.com.
Dhr. Seven, Ellie Askew (eds.) based on Ven. Thanissaro (orig. trans.), Gaddula Sutra: "The Leash" (1), (SN 22.99); see full explanation at "Clog-Bound Sutra" by Pa Auk Sayadaw
We undergo rebirth again, again ad nauseum.
Thus have I heard. Once the Blessed One was staying in Savatthi, in Jeta's Grove, in Anathapindika's monastery. There he said: "Meditators, inconceivable is the beginning of this continued wandering on through rebirth. No beginning is evident when beings -- hindered by ignorance and fettered by craving -- began this continuous round of wandering on.
"There comes a time when the great ocean evaporates, dries up, and ceases to exist. Yet beings — as long as they remain hindered by ignorance and fettered by craving, continuously reborn and wandering on — find no end of disappointment and suffering.
"There comes a time when Sineru (Mt. Sumeru), king of mountains, is consumed by flames, destroyed, and ceases to exist. Yet beings — hindered by ignorance and fettered by craving, continuously reborn and wandering on — find no end of disappointment and suffering.
"There comes a time when this great earth is consumed by flame, destroyed, and ceases to exist. Yet beings — hindered by ignorance and fettered by craving, continuously reborn and wandering on — find no end of disappointment and suffering.
Dogs on a leash
"I like running in circles!" (Little Tunny)
"Just as a dog, leashed to a post, keeps running around and circling, in the same way, an uninstructed ordinary worldling (an average person) — who has no regard for noble ones, is not well-versed or disciplined in their doctrine (dharma), who has no regard for Brahmins, is not well-versed or disciplined in their doctrine — assumes that form (a body) is self, or self possesses form, or form is in self, or self is in form.
"or assumes feeling is self...
"or assumes perception is self...
"or assumes (mental) formations are self...
"or assumes consciousness is self, or self possesses consciousness, or consciousness is in self, or self is in consciousness.
The enso or Zen circle/zero is empty like samsara.
"One keeps running around, circling that very form...
that very feeling...
that very perception...
those very formations...
that very consciousness.
"One does not get loose and free of form, does not get loose and from of feeling... perception... formations... consciousness.
"One does not get loose and free from rebirth, aging, and death, from sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, or despair. One does not get loose and free from disappointment and suffering, I say.
"However, a well-instructed disciple of the noble ones — who has regard for noble ones, is well-versed and disciplined in their doctrine, who has regard for Brahmins and is well-versed and disciplined in their doctrine — does not assume form is self, or that self possesses form, or form is in self, or self as in form.
"does not assume feeling is self...
"does not assume perception is self...
"does not assume formations are self...
"does not assume consciousness is self, or self possesses consciousness, or consciousness is in self, or self is in consciousness.
"One does not run around circling that very form...
that very feeling...
that very perception...
those very formations...
that very consciousness.
"One gets loose and free from form, gets loose and free from feeling... perception... formations... consciousness.
"One gets loose and free from rebirth, aging, and death, from sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, and despair. One gets loose and free from disappointment and suffering, I say."
Beware: They'll have you performing the bad karma of approving, lauding, and calling for killing. Media, particularly Hollywood movies, suck us in by telling us how "bad" someone is. Such propaganda would not justify killing even if it were true, and it being slanted makes it clear that it is being used as PR for breaking the Five Precepts and incurring the karma of killing or promoting killing. Now Trump is like Obama in being a tool of the Money Party to call for endless war against any enemy that can be dreamed up to enrich the military-industrial complex as before when Major General Butler revealed, "War is a racket."
Dog Breed Guide: a hilariously accurate representation of 20+ different pups
The German Shepherd is a aggro nut.
Choosing a canine companion can be a challenge. Different dog breeds each have their own personalities that might mesh perfectly with yours, or the two of you might drive each other crazy.
Luckily, illustrator Grace Gogarty, aka Little Tunny, has created a hilariously helpful guide to distinguish the differences between dogs. Through quick sketches and witty bullet point “facts,” Gogarty has summed up over 20 breeds of canines.
The Chihuahua is a neurotic nut.
Gogarty’s drawings capture the essence of a given type of dog. Her style is cartoonish, and she’s quick to exaggerate features like elongated snouts, dripping tongues, and serious underbites.
The result is charming, and her addition of text is like the cherry on top. It makes the dogs seem either neurotic, delightfully dense, or loyal to a fault -- either way, admirers are sure to laugh.
While these aspects, like her sketching, is also an exaggeration, there is truth to her assessments of each pup. If you’ve ever tried to stop petting a Golden Retriever or heard a Husky howl, you’ll realize that Gogarty is right. More
(Aug. 28, 2016) The Dogman is described as a 7-ft. tall, blue- or amber-eyed canine with the torso of a human. This monstrous creature (werewolf or lycanthrope) has been sighted all over the world as far back as recorded history. It is said that it shows up in 10 year cycles ending in 7. Many types have been described from canine to more Sasquatch-like. Listen: 222paranormal.libsyn.com.
.
Doggy eats man, puppy chews toy, rrr.
Thus have I heard. Once the Blessed One [the Buddha] was living in the Koliyan country in a Koliyan town called Haliddavasana.
Then Punna, son of the Koliyans and an ox-duty ascetic, and Seniya -- a naked dog duty ascetic -- went to the Blessed One, and Punna paid respect to the Blessed One and sat down to one side, while Seniya the naked dog-duty ascetic exchanged greetings with the Blessed One. And when this courteous and amiable talk was finished he, too, sat down to one side and curled up like a dog. When Punna the ox-duty ascetic sat down, he asked the Blessed One:
"Venerable sir, this naked dog-duty ascetic Seniya does what is hard to do: He eats his food when it is thrown on the ground. That dog duty has long been taken up and practiced by him. What will be his [karmic result and] destination? What will be his future course [of rebirth in samsara, the wheel of life and death, the continued wandering on of beings]?"
"Enough, Punna, enough. Let it be. Do not ask that," the Blessed One replied.
But a second... and a third time Punna the ox-duty ascetic asked the Blessed One...
"Well, Punna, since I cannot dissuade you by sayng, 'Enough, Punna, enough. Let it be. Do not ask me that,' I shall therefore tell you.
"Here, Punna, someone develops the dog-duty fully and unstintingly, develops the dog-habit fully and unstintingly, develops the dog-mind fully and unstintingly, develops dog-behavior fully and unstintingly.
"Having done that, on the dissolution of the body, after death, that person reappears in the company of dogs. But if his view is such as this: 'By this virtue or duty or asceticism or spiritual life I shall become a (great) god [brahma] or some (lesser) god [deva],' that is wrong view in this person's case. Now there are two destinations for one with wrong view, I say, perdition or the animal womb.
"So, Punna, if [Seniya's] dog duty is perfected, it will lead him to the company of dogs; if it is not, it will lead him to perdition."
When this was said, the naked dog-duty ascetic Seniya wept and shed tears.
Then the Blessed One said to Punna: "Punna, I could not dissuade you by saying, 'Enough, Punna, enough. Let it be. Do not ask that.'"
[Then the dog-duty ascetic Seniya said:] "Venerable sir, I am not weeping because the Blessed One has spoken thus. Still, this dog duty has long been taken up and practiced by me. Venerable sir, there is this Punna, son of the Koliyans and an ox-duty ascetic: The ox duty has long been taken up and practiced by him. What will be his destination? What will be his future course?"
"Enough, Seniya, enough. Let it be. Do not ask that." But a second... and a third time Seniya the naked dog-duty ascetic asked the Blessed One.
"Well, Seniya, since I cannot dissuade you by saying, 'Enough, Seniya, enough. Let it be. Do not ask that,' I shall therefore tell you."... [The same result obtains.]
When this was said, Punna, son of the Koliyans and an ox-duty ascetic, wept and shed tears. Then the Blessed One said to the naked dog duty ascetic Seniya: "Seniya, I could not dissuade you by saying, 'Enough, Seniya, enough. Let it be. Do not ask that.'"
[Then Punna said:] "Venerable sir, I am not weeping because the Blessed One has spoken thus. Still, this ox duty has long been taken up and practiced by me. Venerable sir, I have confidence in the Blessed One thus: 'The Blessed One is capable of teaching me the Dharma in such a way that I may abandon this ox duty and that this naked dog-duty ascetic Seniya may abandon that dog duty.'"
"Then, Punna, listen and heed well what I shall say."
"Yes, venerable sir," he replied. The Blessed One said:
"Punna, there are four kinds of karma proclaimed by me after my realization with direct knowledge. What are the four?
There is dark karma with dark ripening
There is bright karma with bright ripening
There is dark-and-bright karma with dark-and-bright ripening, and
There is karma that is not dark and not bright with neither-dark-nor-bright ripening that conduces to the exhaustion of karma.
"What is dark karma with dark ripening? Here someone produces a (karmic) bodily process (bound up) with affliction [defiled action expressed through body, speech, or mind], one produces a (karmic) verbal process (bound up) with affliction, one produces a (karmic) mental process (bound up) with affliction.
"By so doing one reappears in a world with affliction. When that happens, afflicting contacts [unpleasant "touches" through eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind] touch one. Being touched by these, one feels afflicting feelings entirely painful as in the case of beings in perdition.
So a being's reappearance is due to a being: One reappears owing to the karmas one has performed. When one has reappeared, contacts touch one. Thus do I say beings are heirs of their karmas. This is called dark karma with dark ripening.
"And what is bright karma with bright ripening?"More
(Monstrum Athenaeum, July 2015) Whether classified as a yet-to-be identified cryptid (cryptozoological specimen) or a werewolf, the Pennsylvania Dogman has resurfaced again in [2015] to remind us that this cryptid isn’t going anywhere... The most recent sighting, documented on the Stranger Eons website, occurred in July and was reported anonymously by a man from Penfield, Pennsylvania. On his way home, the witness encountered the creature late in the day along Mountain Run Road.More
Werewolves (literally "man-wolves") are shape-shifting creatures with unusual speed, strength, reflexes, and senses. They can be found in countless books, films, and TV shows, from the horror classic "The Wolf Man," to the "Twilight" and "Underworld" series.
Though werewolves often play second fiddle to vampires and zombies in terms of pop culture man-monsters, they have a long and rich history.
Traditionally, there were several ways a person could become a werewolf. In her book Giants, Monsters, and Dragons, folklorist Carol Rose notes that:
"In ancient Greece it was believed that a person could be transformed by eating the meat of a wolf that had been mixed with that of a human and that the condition was irreversible." Centuries later other methods were said to create werewolves, including "being cursed, or by being conceived under a new moon, or by having eaten certain herbs, or by sleeping under the full moon on Friday, or by drinking water that has been touched by a wolf."
It was also widely believed that werewolves could dress in a special, protective wolf skin, though they had to remove it at daybreak and hide it. If their magical pelt were found and taken from the werewolf-in-human-form, he or she could be killed.
A similar theme appears in the Scottish and Irish folklore of the selkies — creatures who spend their lives in the cold ocean as seals but can transform into human form by shedding their pelts. If they do so, they must hide their pelts. For if they are found they can't change back into seals and must live on land with the fishermen who possess their skins....
Though the full moon was originally only one of many possible causes of lycanthropy, it was the one that stuck in the public's mind. Today, many people still associate the moon with werewolves and madness.
Some who work in police and emergency medical services have anecdotally claimed that full moon nights are busier, crazier, and more dangerous than other nights. This perception may be rooted more in psychology and imagination than reality: carefully controlled studies have not found good evidence supporting this idea. Furthermore, there is no known mechanism by which the moon would somehow influence a person's mind to make him or her more dangerous — except of course for their own imaginations and expectations.
Today, werewolves are [thought] to be mythical creatures found in fiction instead of lurking in the dark woods, but that was not always the case. Not so long ago, belief in werewolves was common.
Overall, there was little difference between the killings and activities of wolves and werewolves: both would hunt at night, attacking sheep or livestock, and sometimes humans. The main difference was, of course, that the werewolf changed into human form at some point...More
Fantastic Fungi: The Magic Beneath Us, directed by Louie Schwartzberg, is a consciousness-shifting film that takes us on an immersive journey through time and scale into the magical earth beneath our feet, an underground (mycelium) network that can heal and save our planet.
Through the eyes of renowned scientists and mycologists like Paul Stamets, best-selling authors Michael Pollan, Eugenia Bone, Andrew Weil, and others, we become aware of the beauty, intelligence, and solutions the Fungi Kingdom offers us in response to some of our most pressing medical, therapeutic, and environmental challenges. Now in theatres like Laemmles Santa Monica.
MARC (UCLA's Mindful Awareness Research Center) has teamed up with Mindful Magazine to present a new online course: "Cultivating Forgiveness."
In this class Diana Winston guides participants on a journey of forgiveness -- a journey that includes forgiving others and ourselves. Winston teaches with empathy, kindness, and gentleness, encouraging practitioners to release the pain, anger, and self-blame that we may be holding in our hearts to find a renewed sense of inner-release and freedom.
Over five weeks, starting Oct. 28, the course will explore the following themes:
Week 1: What is Forgiveness? Discover new concepts and the benefits of forgiveness.
Week 2: Forgiving Others. Learn practical tools to let go of anger and resentment.
Week 3: Asking Forgiveness. Find out what's required to release shame and self-blame.
Week 4: Self-Forgiveness. Review the necessary steps to cultivate self-forgiveness.
Week 5: Moving Forward. Apply mindful strategies and connect to inner goodness.
Plus, register by October 28th to get exclusive access to live Q&As with Diana Winston and save 20% off course tuition!
All materials on this site are submitted by editors and readers. All images, unless otherwise noted, were taken from the Internet and are assumed to be in the public domain.
In the event that there is still a problem, issue, or error with copyrighted material, the break of the copyright is unintentional and noncommercial, and the material will be removed immediately upon presented proof.
Contact us by submitting a comment marked "private."
Do not follow this journal if you are under vinaya or parental restrictions. Secure protection by Sucuri.
Wisdom Quarterly: American Buddhist Journal is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at creativecommons.org/about/licenses.
Dharma Meditation Initiative
