Sunday, February 11, 2024

In the beginning, devas came down to earth

Dhr. Seven, Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation) (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly; Mother The Mountain Farm, Aug. 27, 2022; The Why Files, 2/1/24; Ven. Sujato (trans.), suttacentral.net

Spring in the Rainforest
(Mother The Mountain Farm) Life in the Australian jungle is magical [as it was in the beginning of life on this garden planet]. Our slow sisterly life in the countryside is full of joy as we work hard in the garden and care for baby goats.

Chapters
  • 0:00 The magic of springtime
  • 1:23 Caring for baby goats
  • 2:55 Our morning routine - duck cuddles
  • 4:30 Permaculture gardening
  • 7:09 Spring afternoons in the garden
  • 8:49 Hard work, unloading wood
  • 10:18 Harvesting avocados and collecting compost
  • 11:53 Building gates and skipping with the goats
  • 13:22 Magical days of tiny goats and gardening

ABOUT: We are sisters, Julia and Anastasia Vanderbyl. A few years ago, we began a journey to live a life in perfect harmony with Nature -- a life of caring for animals, growing fruit, planting trees, gardening, cooking, creating, building, and learning to live with the land.

At this time, Nature has taught us more than we could have ever imagined. Our environmental films document the landscape, the lessons we’ve learned and our work as regenerative farmers here on Bundjalung Country.

We live on the land of the Arakwal and Minjungbal Native People of the Bundjalung Nation. We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the Country we live on and recognize their continuing connection to the land and waters. We thank them for protecting this rainforest and its ecosystems since time immemorial.
Music by Indira Elias: indiraelias.com/ "Soon Enough," "Dreamy Youth," and "Urania." A big thank you to all of the incredible artists who share their music in each episode. All of the music included can be found here: open.spotify.com/playlist/7AX...

We are the space aliens | Life's interstellar journey to Earth: Panspermia

(The Why Files) There are extraterrestrials (ETs) among us. They landed four billion years ago when Earth was just forming. And they weren't humanoids with tall, slender bodies and dark, almond-shaped eyes. The "aliens" were microbes, and they were delivered here (to terraform the planet). And once these aliens awakened in our mineral-rich world, they multiplied quickly and evolved. To see these aliens for yourself, it's actually very easy. Just look in the mirror. (But don't stare; you might freak the being out). #Aliens #Panspermia #UFOs

SUTRA: "What Came First"
Bhikkhu Sujato (trans.), Aggañña Sutta, Long Discourses (DN 27) edited and expanded by Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Pat Macpherson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
Let's eat and stay down here. Who needs nebulous space feeding on joy? We'll be Adam & Eve.
.
Thus have I heard.
  • This sutra is the closest we come to a Buddhist creation myth on the origins of human life on earth. It draws on features of Vedic mythology (which became Hinduism), while giving its own spin. Related stories may be found in DN 26 and Snp 2.7. The Buddha describes a natural process of devolution that requires no metaphysical intervention yet differs strikingly from Darwinian evolution in prioritizing the role of desire (and karma) over selection.
[Once upon a time] the Buddha was staying near the City of Sāvatthī in the Eastern Monastery, in the stilt longhouse of Migāra’s mother.
  • After Jeta's Grove, this was the best-known monastery in Sāvatthī. It was offered by the wealthy lady Visākhā, known as "Migāra’s mother."
Now at that time Vāseṭṭha and Bhāradvāja were novices, training during a probationary period imposed on new monastics, in hopes of becoming fully ordained Buddhist wandering ascetics (monks).
  • Vāseṭṭha and Bhāradvāja were first introduced as the students of Pokkharasādi and Tārukkha respectively in DN 13, at the end of which they went for guidance (sarana). Some time later, they must have asked for ordination. The Commentary says that a probationary period prior to odination (paravasati) was required, not because they had previously gone forth in other schools (as the naked ascetic Kassapa at DN 8:24.1 or the wanderer Subhadda at DN 16:5.29.1), nor because they had committed any offense, but because they were not yet the required 20 years of age.
Then in the late afternoon, the Buddha came downstairs from the longhouse and was walking mindfully up and down in the open air, beneath the shade of the longhouse.

Vāseṭṭha saw him. [Here as in DN 13 Vāseṭṭha takes the lead.] And he said, “Reverend Bhāradvāja, the Buddha is walking mindfully in the open air, beneath the shade of the longhouse. Come, reverend, let’s go to the Buddha. Hopefully we’ll get to hear a Dhamma talk from him.”...

The story begins
  • Two Brahmins, who are ordained as Buddhist novices, approach the Buddha in hopes of hearing the Dharma (Dhamma). He asks if they are not given a hard time by other Brahmins because they have chosen to become wandering ascetics (shramanas) rather Brahmin priests (brahmanas). They say they are given a hard time. Then the Buddha, who comes from a place where the warrior-nobles (kshatriyas) reckon themselves superior to Brahmins, overturns the arguments Brahmins make for their superiority complex. He then tells this story of the distant past as to how humanoid life came to this planet and has been devolving ever since.
...“There comes a time when, Vāseṭṭha, after a very long period has passed, this cosmos [world-system] contracts.
  • Here begins the story of [earthling human] origins. The Buddha begins his creation myth with the end of the world. For this passage, compare DN 1:2.2.1.
“As the cosmos contracts, sentient beings are mostly reborn on the plane of devas of streaming radiance. There they [those devas] are mind-made, feeding on joy (rapture), self-luminous, moving through the sky [space], steadily glorious [emitting light], and they remain like that for a very long time.

“There comes a time when, after a very long period has passed, this cosmos expands. As the cosmos expands, sentient beings mostly pass away from that plane of radiant deities and come back to this realm.
  • In the Brahmajāla Sutta (the "Net of All-Embracing Views Discourse"), beings pass from one brahmā (divine, "fine material") realm to another, but when they come to this world it is as humans. Here we have a different perspective, where beings that are still brahmās (or brahma like) come down to this physical realm.
“Here they are mind-made, feeding on joy, self-luminous, moving through the sky, steadily glorious, and they remain like that for a very long time.
  • The role of food is critical throughout this narrative. Food is a fundamental sustenance on which all creatures must rely, and the nature of the food reflects the type of creature that eats it. Taittirīya Upaniṣad 2.5.1 says the highest form of self is made of bliss (ātmā ānandamaya).
2. The Earth’s Nectar Appears
“But the single mass of water [the face of deep, some expanse of water] at that time was utterly dark.
  • Creation myths often begin with a dark, formless world of water and describe the emergence of divisions and structures of the world. They do not differentiate the physical, biological, ecological, or social, as such distinctions came later.
“The moon and sun were not found, nor were stars and constellations, day and night, months and fortnights, years and seasons, or male and female. Beings were simply known as ‘beings.’
  • Throughout, this discourse has a special interest in tracing the origins of language and how different usages came about. Here the term “beings” is presented as a natural choice: they are “beings” because they are alive. Later, words are selected to convey a certain political or moral stance.
“After a very long period had passed, the earth’s nectar curdled in the water.
  • The reading and sense of samatani is obscure. I think it is connected with santānaka in the next line, in the sense of “networks” or tendrils appearing in the water as it curdles. The Sanskrit at SF 277 and Mūlasarvāstvāda Vinaya 17 has saṁmūrcchitaḥ saṁtanoti (“curdled tendrils”). | Rasapathavī (“earth’s nectar”) is also obscure. We would expect pathavīrasa (cp. phalarasa “fruit juice”, etc.), which is indeed found at SN 5.9:5.3 in the sense “nutriments in soil.” Since this reading also appears here in the Sanskrit sources, I assume it is the correct sense. What is happening her, among these beings, is -- as the "forbidden archeologist" Michal Cremo notes -- is devolution. They are devolving from their more evolved state the longer they stay and more attached they become to lowly worldly pleasures.
“It appeared just like the curd on top of hot milk-rice as it cools. It was beautiful, fragrant, and delicious, like ghee [creme dela crème] or butter. And it was as sweet as pure dwarf-bee honey.
  • Khuddā (literally “small one”) is said to be a species of small bee, also known in Sanskrit as kṣudrā. The “dwarf bee” (Apis florea) fits the bill, as it is a small wild honeybee found in India.
“Now, one of those beings was reckless. Thinking, ‘Oh my, what might this be?’ it tasted the earth’s nectar with its finger.
  • Ghee and honey were among the finest offerings to the gods (devas and brahmas). The soma (ambrosia) was often described as “honeyed.” This text is suggesting that the Vedic sacrifices led to the corruption of divinity (these brahmas alighting on earth).
“They enjoyed it, and craving was born within them.
  • For acchadesi read assādesi (“enjoyed”) after Mu Kd 17’s āsvādayati. The Commentary explains acchadesi as “becomes suffused,” so if it is a misreading it is an old one.
“And other beings, following that being’s example, tasted the earth’s nectar with their fingers. They, too. enjoyed it, and [sensual] craving was born within them.

3. The moon and sun appear

“Then those beings started to eat the earth’s nectar, breaking it into lumps. But when they did this, their luminosity vanished. And with the vanishing of their luminosity, the moon and sun appeared, stars and constellations appeared, days and nights were distinguished, and so were months and fortnights, and years and seasons. So far had the world evolved once more.

“Then those beings eating the earth’s nectar, with that as their food and nourishment, remained [lived] for a very long time. But so long as they ate that earth’s nectar, their bodies became more solid [dense, gross, carnal and less divine, sublime, and subtle] and they diverged in appearance, some beautiful, some ugly.
  • And the beautiful beings looked down on the ugly ones: At DN 26:17.2 it is the ugly ones who are at fault for jealousy.
“‘We’re more beautiful; they’re the ugly ones!’ And the vanity of the beautiful ones made the earth’s nectar vanish. They gathered together and bemoaned, ‘Oh, what a taste! Oh, what a taste!’ And even today when people get something tasty, they say: ‘Oh, what a taste! Oh, what a taste!’ They are just remembering an ancient primordial saying, but they do not understand what it means.
  • This is another veiled critique of the Vedic tradition. In DN 13:13.1 the Buddha told these two Brahmins, Vāseṭṭha and Bhāradvāja, the Vedas or Knowledge Books were recited by people who did not understand them. This problem was well understood within the tradition of the Brāhmins and Upanishads, which constantly emphasized that they are effective for “one who knows this” (ya evam veda).
4. Ground-Fungus

“When the earth’s nectar had vanished, ground-fungus appeared to those beings.
  • “Fungus” is pappaṭaka (Sanskrit parpaṭaka). At Bu Pj 1:2.2.5, the chief disciple Great Moggallāna suggests that, to alleviate a famine with monastics having to go a very long way for their alms rounds, the monastics might eat the pappaṭakojaṁ (“fungus-nutrition” or mycelia) under the earth. Given that it is compared to a mushroom, I think it is the fungal mycelia of a mycorrhizal network. Such fungi spread like tendrils underground, sometimes appearing above the surface, sharing nutrients and information between organisms. Mushrooms are simply the fruiting bodies of this mycelial network, the first "Internet."
“It appeared just like a mushroom. It was beautiful, fragrant, and delicious, like ghee or butter. And it was as sweet as pure dwarf-bee honey.

“Then those beings started to eat the ground-fungus. With that as their food and nourishment, they remained [lived] for a very long time. But so long as they ate that ground-fungus, their bodies became more solid and they diverged in appearance, some beautiful, some ugly. And the beautiful beings looked down on the ugly ones: ‘We’re more beautiful; they’re the ugly ones!’ And the vanity of the beautiful ones made the ground-fungus vanish.

5. Bursting Pods
“When the ground-fungus had vanished, bursting pods appeared, like the fruit of the kadam tree.
  • Readings and meaning of padālatā are uncertain. It has usually been understood that the second element is latā (“creeper”). But this leaves padā unexplained, and the Commentary’s gloss of bhaddālatā is unconvincing. It also leaves unexplained the connection with kalambukā. This is probably the fruit of the kadam tree — fleshy, yellow-orange capsules with about 8,000 seeds that split apart when ripe. I think padālatā is related to padālana in the sense of “bursting”: a seed pod that splits open like a fig or pomegranate.
“They were beautiful, fragrant, and delicious, like ghee or butter. And they were as sweet as pure dwarf-bee honey.

“Then those beings started to eat the bursting pods. With that as their food and nourishment, they remained for a very long time. But so long as they ate those bursting pods, their bodies became more solid and they diverged in appearance, some beautiful, some ugly. And the beautiful beings looked down on the ugly ones: ‘We’re more beautiful, they’re the ugly ones!’ And the vanity of the beautiful ones made the bursting pods vanish.

“They gathered together and bemoaned, ‘Oh, what we’ve lost! Oh, what we’ve lost — those bursting pods!’ And even today when people experience suffering, they say: ‘Oh, what we’ve lost! Oh, what we’ve lost!’ They’re just remembering an ancient primordial saying, but they do not understand what it means.

6. Ripe untilled rice

Moringa with rice porridge
“When the bursting pods had vanished, ripe untilled rice appeared to those beings. It had no powder or husk, pure and fragrant, with only the rice-grain. What they took for supper in the evening, by the morning had grown back and ripened. And what they took for breakfast in the morning had grown back and ripened by the evening, leaving no trace showing. Then those beings eating the ripe untilled rice, with that as their food and nourishment, remained for a very long time.

7. Gender Appears

“But so long as they ate that ripe untilled rice, their bodies became more solid and they diverged in appearance.

“And female characteristics appeared on women, while male characteristics appeared on men.
  • The Commentary to Bu Pj 1:10.6.1 explains “male characteristics” as “beard and whiskers, etc.” (massudāṭhikādi), so this is not just genitals but also secondary sex characteristics.
“Women spent too much time gazing at men, and men gazing at women. They became lustful, and their bodies burned with fever. Due to this fever, they had sex with each other.

“Those who saw them having sex pelted them with dirt, clods, or cow-dung, saying,
  • Pali seṭṭhi is explained by the Commentary as “ash” (chārikā), although this sense does not seem to be attested anywhere else. Mahāvastu has leṣṭu, while Mu Kd 17 has loṣṭa, both explained as “clod.” Given that it is easier to throw a clod of mud than ash, I think these probably convey the correct sense.
“‘Get lost, filth! Get lost, filth!
  • Nassa could mean “Die!” or “Get lost!” I take the softer meaning, as killing has not yet appeared among these beings. This behavior looks much like scapegoating rituals, where certain members of the community are deemed to bear the sins of all and are sacrificed to erase the sin. Often the victim was expelled from the community, temporarily or permanently.
“'How in the world can one being do that to another?’
  • Mob shaming over perceived sexual transgression is the most primitive form of moralizing.
“And even today people in some countries, when carrying a bride off, pelt her with dirt, clods, or cow-dung.
  • “Carrying off” (nibbuyhamānā) like being swept away by a river. Mu Kd 17 says they throw powder, scent, garlands, and nets, while wishing the bride happiness and well-being.
“They’re just remembering an ancient primordial saying, but they don’t understand what it means.

8. Sexual intercourse
“What was deemed as unprincipled at that time, these days is deemed as principled.
  • “Unprincipled” is adhamma, the opposite of dhamma (dharma). In the past the lovers were spurned, now they are celebrated in marriage.
“The beings who had sex together weren’t allowed to enter a village or town for one or two months. Ever since they excessively threw themselves into immorality, they started to make buildings to hide their immoral deeds.
  • The sight of others having sex provokes strong reactions of arousal, jealousy, and disgust, often leading to violence. A culture of sexual modesty regulates these emotions, promoting the growth of larger societal structures.
“Then one of those beings of idle disposition thought, ‘Hey now, why should I be bothered to gather rice in the evening for supper, and in the morning for breakfast? Why don’t I gather rice for supper and breakfast all at once?’
  • Human society evolves first from greed, second from sexual desire, and third from laziness. The effort to avoid manual labor drives cultural and technological innovation.
“So that’s what that being did. Then one of the other beings approached that being and said, ‘Come, good being, we shall go to gather rice.’

“‘There’s no need, good being! I gathered rice for supper and breakfast all at once.’ So that being, following the other's example, gathered rice for two days all at once, thinking: ‘This seems fine.’ [And so on.]
  • Humans are focused on short term comforts and ignore long term consequences.
 TO BE CONTINUED

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