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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Started streaming March 10, 2025 (during Women's History Month) Dawn of the New Earth (The Neogenian Dawn). Ancient texts speak of a mysterious, powerful figure — a female Messiah — whose wisdom was hidden, suppressed, and nearly lost. Was she the true Christ (Kristos, "Annointed One," drugged with entheogens or venoms in the mystery school, according to Dr. Ammon Hillman)?
The Gospel of Mary, attributed to Mary Magdalene, offers a unique perspective on salvation through self-knowledge and inner exploration. Contrary to traditional Christian teachings, this ancient text challenges the concept of sin, framing it as an illusion tied to the physical body. It reveals a vision of spiritual authority where wisdom is accessible beyond institutional limits. Rooted in Gnosticism, this work highlights the diverse landscape of early Christianity, advocating for a personal connection with the divine.
In this book the author describes "Ancestors’ Ceremonies" as practiced in the Taiwanese Catholic Church. The author’s point is to demonstrate how the Chinese symbolic universe made a deep translation of the "new" symbolic system represented by Catholic doctrine. At the same time the effort of the Catholic Church in order to adapt the Gospels’ message to the local situation built up a particular phenomenon that the author defined as cultural dialogue. It is this dialogic relationship the process that the author defines as Culture.
...most usual and popular representation of this Goddess is a beautiful and gracious woman, who holds a child in her arms [Maya and Siddhartha rather than Mary and Jesus] and wears a rosary [mala] around her neck. This iconography has been reused in order to paint the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary at a point where it is hard sometimes to distinguish between the two figures (Figures 3a and 3b).
My point is not that Catholic people consider the Blessed Virgin Mary as the Christian reference of Guanyin [Kwan Yin, the Mahayana Buddhist "Goddess of Compassion"], but I want to stress that, when honoring the "new" supernatural figure, Taiwanese Catholics still maintain the forms they learned through their involvement in popular religious practices from an early age, which are linked to the cultural system they inhabit. God Jesus and the Ancestors: An Ethnography of the Ancestors’ Rites in the Taiwanese Catholic Church
Woman, Thy Name is Ezer ["Rescuer"] The [Judeo-Christian] LORD God said, “It is not good for the man [Adam] to be alone. I will make a helper [ezer, rescuer, Eve] suitable for him” (Genesis 2:18). [Hey, LORD, but what about my first wife, Lilith? - Don't worry about her, Adam, my boy, I'll send her away to become a demoness and jealous eater of babies. That ought a teach her to mouth off. - Like your wife, Asherah, LORD, who I suppose was therefore my mom? - Don't ever bring her name up, Adam, or else! Anyway, my boy, we were better off alone just kicking it in this groovy garden planet we grew out of effort. Enjoy it before I throw you out. Unless you want a guy-pal to hang with. How about a Steve? - Whatever, LORD, as you see fit.]
Scholar R. D. Freeman observes that ezer (pronounced /et-sir/) is a combination of two words, one meaning “to rescue” or “to save,” the other meaning “to be strong.”
Theologian and author Dr. Walter Kaiser notes that ezer appears in the Old Testament often in parallel with words denoting strength and power. The word ezer does not mean that a woman should never be an assistant, an ally, a supporter.
There is nothing negative about a man or a woman helping someone or being called by the [God] to fulfill that role! It’s always a privilege to serve [the God] as we serve others. But it is also crucial that we understand that in the biblical definition of “helper,” the ezer can also fulfill a different role.
It seems that ezer has more to do with what helping looks like, because it doesn’t seem to suggest anything about hierarchy. In some instances, ezer is a word with military connotations; the ezer is also a warrior.
In this context, help comes from one who has the power and strength to provide it. Ezer is a verb as well as a noun, meaning “to defend, protect, surround and cherish.” The ezer is an amazing mix of strength, power, proactivity, and vulnerability. Source
— Adapted from Chapter One, “The Blueprint,” by J O Saxton
What is anyone to make of Adam and Eve on Earth (Eden)?
Of course, the story of Adam and Eve (the Adama or first iteration of humankind and its other half, Eva, the second woman after Lilith in Judaism) is deep and ludicrous.
It is deep that it must be hinting at something else, a truism set in a mythological tale, ludicrous if taken at face value after centuries of translation and misinterpretation.
For instance, there is no "apple," but Christians will swear there is. The "snake" is a humanoid reptilian. There is much here, likely inherited from Sumerian sources, spun by countless rabbis and sincere students to take some useful teaching from it.
Likewise, Buddhism has an origin myth -- not of how it "all" started but rather how human life on this earth began. Long, long ago, light beings (devas, which are a superior class of brahmas) alighted on this planet and over the course of time devolved and became coarser and coarser until we find ourselves the way we are today.
The full tale the Buddha told, almost certainly rooted in true things but explained simply in ways that are hard to take literally, is known as theAggañña Sutta or "A Buddhist Genesis," "On Beginnings."
In this analysis, the "light beings" (lit. "shining ones") are not humanoid beings who can fly alighting on earth by light itself reaching earth like photons from a faraway source. The author explains his motive for writing it:
The Aggañña Sutta of the "Long Discourses of the Buddha" (Dīgha Nikāya) is no satire or parody, as seen by some scholars. Drawing upon cosmology, Darwinism, psychology (Freud, Piaget, etc.), and linguistics, it paints a historically and scientifically accurate picture of devolution and evolution, going beyond the Big Bang. Sentient beings emerge [on earth], bringing with them the latent defilements of craving and passion, nourished by evolving plant life around them. Compatible with Western science, the breakthrough comes when Abhassara beings [from the Abhassara heaven or plane of existence] are taken to be photons, taking Abhassara in a literal etymological sense of "Hither-come-shining-arrow." However accurate this picture may be, the Buddha’s point, is that knowledge of the Dhamma is more important than anything else, explaining the title. More
Buddhist cosmology
Artists paint images of space for NASA
The Buddha described a universe consistent with the multiverse theory where there are countless worlds in all 10,000 directions, anywhere we can point. But all of these are classified into 31 Planes of Existence. One such plane is this world of "radiant ones."
So this sutra is saying this is the divine and sublime world we came from, not evolving from microbes in a primordial soup up to great apes or hominids (though that may be the origin of these bodies). We are fallen devas with every potential of becoming devas again, so in that sense we are divine beings in these sensual bodies.
Our karmas (actions, deeds, intentional acts) determine where we are subsequently reborn, just as previous karmas led to our rebirth on the human plane. We also have the potential to fall further down.
ābhassara: The "Radiant Ones" are a class of heavenly beings of the Fine-Material Sphere (rūpa-loka); cf. deva.
Abhassara is a brahma-world where radiant devas ("shining ones") live from whose bodies rays of light are emitted, like lightning.
This plane of existence belongs to the rūpaloka (the Fine-Material Sphere)
The Buddhist cosmos (universe/multiverse) is classified into three spheres: the Sensual Sphere (kama-loka), where earth and the sensual heavens are, as well as every other plane below the human world (animal, ghost, titan, hells), the Fine-Material Sphere, where more ethereal heavens are, and the Immaterial Sphere, where non-material worlds of pure mind are. This is an interesting distinction as it suggests that all that we call "form" or ultimate "materiality" (rupa) is coming from finer energy that is not yet form. All there is is called nama-rupa, "name and form" (mind and body). Form is of two general kinds, sensual and subtle (matter and light). And there is a sphere of worlds without form, only name or mind, a kind of Logos or Platonic "forms").
It is essential to note that they are brahmas, as this means they are neither male nor female but "god-goddesses" ("supremos") without sexual dimorphism like the lower devas of the Sensual Sphere.
Is there a "heaven"? - There are many!
This plane corresponds to the second meditative absorption or jhāna (Abhs. v.3; Compendium 138, n.4).
All being depend on nourishment: The devas living on this plane subsist on joy (pītibhakkha) (S.i.114.; DhA.iii.258; J.vi.55).
Their span of life is two aeons (kalpas, kappas or more loosely speaking two "eternities"), but there is no guarantee that a person reborn here may not later be reborn in some unfortunate destination/unhappy condition (A.ii.127; but see Abhs. v.6, where their lifespan is given as eight kappas), as is the case for all beings who have not yet attained the first stage of enlightenment.
From time to time these devas utter shouts of joy exclaiming, "Aho sukham, aho sukham!" This sound is said to be the best of sounds.
These devas are completely enveloped in ease (sukhena abhisaññā parisaññā) (A.iii.202; D. iii.219). Their plane forms the third station of consciousness (viññānatthiti). Like humans on the human plane, they are of uniform body, but their perceptions are diverse (ekattakāyā nānat-tasaññino) (A.iv.40, 401; D.ii.69; D.iii.253).
During the periods of the development of the world (evolutionary cycle), many beings are reborn in the Abhassara world, and they are then called the highest of the devas. Yet, even they change their condition (A.v.60).
In lists of devas (e.g., M.i.289) they are listed below the Appamānābhā and above the Subhā. More
Video shorts: Robot Chicken; Magnify explaining ezer, "rescuer" Eve; Billy Carson on the Sumerians; irate Irish lass on feminism overdoing it and crapping on the menfolk
J O Saxton, More Than Enchanting; Ven. Nyanatiloka, Buddhist Dictionary; Suwanda H. J. Sugunasiri, Dhamma Aboard Evolution; Agganna Sutta (DN 27, Digha Nikaya, Pali canon); G. P. Malalasekera (Dictionary of Pali Proper Names); Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Pat Macpherson, Sheldon S. (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
Hear it in Berkeley on KPFA or Los Angeles on KPFK. What does the Nature's plant farmacyhave to help us on our journey to calm and ease?
Planting Medicine airs Tuesdays at 1:00 pm (Pacific Time). The show enhances the community’s knowledge of HERBAL MEDICINE by sharing voices of traditional, holistic healers and healing practices.
LISTEN: Herbs for Fear | KPFAPlanting Medicine – 1:00 pm, March 18, 2025 (heard on March 11th)
“I don't identify as an herbalist, healer, or have a particular interest in medicine.
“So initially I wasn't sure why I felt so drawn to participate in the first cohort of The Home Herbalist (previously the Now and Then Herbal Apprenticeship).
“Several years later, I continue to thank my lucky stars that I followed that impulse and connected with Sam, Renée, and the beautiful cohort I was privileged to be a part of.
“I think about conversations we had and lessons I learned from them just about every day. With deeply thoughtful, grounded, informative, compassionate, and soulful curriculum, teaching, and guidance, I don't hesitate to recommend this program even if, like me, you don't identify as an herbalist or healer.
“For me it was a loving investment in my own everyday relationship to plants, magic, and medicine on a personal level.
“Watching Sam and Renée follow their paths and cultivate meaningful work in community and relationship is a joy and an inspiration.”
Taylor Tomlinson talks about Elon Musk sparking a Tesla backlash
(After Midnight) March 10, 2025: Taylor Tomlinson discusses Elon Musk’s DOGE government cuts sparking a Tesla backlash including a Cybertruck getting booed at a Mardi Gras parade, Teslas being vandalized, owners attempting to disguise their electric vehicles, and global sales taking a nosedive. #AfterMidnight #TaylorTomlinson #Comedy
Trump spins after Musk and Rubio blowup, Pentagon's War on Woke, and Jimmy vs. Daylight Saving Time (Jimmy Kimmel Live) March 10, 2025: DJ Trump (Adderall) could finally do something to make almost everyone happy and eliminate Daylight Saving Time, five years ago this week Trump announced that COVID plandemic was here, measles has now been reported in at least 13 states, future-Pres. Elon Musk (ketamine) reportedly got into it with current Secretary of State Marco Rubio (cocaine) over not firing anyone yet, Trump eventually came to Rubio’s defense but the fallout was so bad that he had to do some spin, Secretary of Defense War Pete Hegseth (alcohol) has been hard at work de-woking the government, the stock market was down by almost 900 points today but Trump was busy whipping out his Presidential Sharpie for a special proclamation, Trump’s Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller (assorted) spent time on FOX objecting to a joke from SNL this weekend, VP JD Vance is getting the meme treatment and FOX is eating it up, England's King Charles unveiled his Apple Music Playlist today, and Yehya reviews the new Robert Pattinson movie Mickey 17. #Kimmel
(JimmyKimmel.com) Trump tries to have chilling effect on free speech on the Columbia University campus with the case of Mahmoud Khalil, a green card holder in the country legally and exercising his rights as a legal resident. But free speech is now illegal.
Harriet Tubman: They called her Moses (2018) | full movie | Dr. Eric Lewis Williams
(Vision Video) Discover the real Harriet Tubman (Araminta Ross, property of Anthony Thompson) in this compelling documentary narrated by Alfrelynn Roberts.
Kanye West, watch your mouth, Yeezy!
It features expert interviews with leading scholars, including Dr. Eric Lewis Williams of the Smithsonian Institute and Carl Westmoreland of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center.
It also features remarkable early 20th century audio recordings of African-American spirituals sung by former slaves. Harriet Tubman is a familiar and revered name in American history. But many are unfamiliar with the details of her remarkable story, the depth of her character, and the inner motivations that drove her.
Born into slavery in Maryland in the 1820s, Harriet Tubman's resolute Christian faith would compel her to extraordinary acts of courage and sacrifice.
Through her selfless efforts, hundreds of African-American slaves escaped to freedom. Tubman's tenacious trust in God and love for others earned her the title "the Moses of her people."
Discover the real Harriet Tubman in this compelling documentary directed by Robert Fernandez and.
The USA will turn 200-years-old next year. Will we still be allowed to study American history, or will Trump, MAGA, and their anti-DEI movement succeed in erasing the past in the name of "color blindness"?
What we never knew about Harriet Tubman
(Smithsonian Channel) One of our nation's greatest heroes/heroines, Harriet Tubman led slaves north to freedom via secret paths and waterways, but her skills allegedly also made her a valuable military asset to the Union Army.
Tashi delek! Tibetan Uprising Day is observed annually on March 10th. It is a day set aside to remember the Tibetan uprising against the People’s Republic of China’s invasion, destruction, occupation, and continuing presence in Tibet beginning in 1959.
It is observed primarily by pro-Tibetan organizations and people and is frequently accompanied by the Dalai Lama’s delivery of a statement calling for renewed efforts to restore Tibet’s rightful place in the world.
Tibet was once a Himalayan empire extending from Bangladesh to Mongolia, with its "Vatican" at Potala Palace in Lhasa under its Pope-King the Dalai Lama (Numbers 1-14) overseeing, according to communist China, Serfs' Emancipation Day, This is when China led "serfs" to freedom (on what is now Harriet Tubman Day in the U.S.) in Tibet in 1959 in an act of great concern to the second-class citizens. It was not done to increase China's massive territory by another 25%, extending its 5,000-year-old empire inside of a Great Wall (built by a preexisting empire thought to have been Greater Tartaria) to its present and growing borders. Taiwan is next, as is an invasion of Afghanistan after the British, Russian, and U.S. empires failed.
Tibet, as it is today, was first unified in the 7th century AD by King Songsten Gampo and his successors. However, its history began in 127 BC, with the formation of the Yarlung Dynasty.
The [communist] People’s Liberation Army of the People’s Republic of China initially entered Tibet in 1949, defeating the small Tibetan army and seizing half of the nation, marking a watershed moment in Tibet’s history [and downfall].
Repression, which included the destruction of holy Buddhist buildings and the arrest of monks (lamas) and other community leaders, rose substantially as resistance to the Chinese occupation grew, particularly in Eastern Tibet.
The communist Chinese government invaded Tibet in 1950, causing chaos and misery for Bon shaman and Vajrayana Buddhist Tibetans, finally resulting in the fall of the Tibetan government and the self-imposed exile of the Dalai Lama and 100,000 Tibetans in 1959.
Brad Pitt's hit movie Seven Years in Tibet depicts events as a Hollywood spin on a book that is a firsthand account of what happened.
The CIA was meddling in the area, seducing the young Dalai Lama XIV to sign a "deal with the devil" to fight China and regain his spiritual-temporal throne, as arrangements were made to arm and train Tibetan Buddhists including the Dalai Lama's brother in Colorado, USA, and send them back to fight the Chinese in very un-Buddhist ways, perhaps leading to the Dalai Lama's infamous view and comment about guns. He accepted payments from the CIA, making him complicit as an "asset," not a "CIA agent" as some might think. These are documented facts (CIA gave 'aid' to Tibetan exiles in '60s, files show - Los Angeles Times) admitted to by "His Holiness" but denied by PR firm advised pro-Tibet American activists concerned with only one side of the propagandastory.
Tibetan prayer flags wave in the wind worldwide
Despite all the religious persecution by the officially atheist communists, loss of their national heritage, and frequent violations of their human rights, Tibetans continue to raise their voices in unison, asking for independence.
Tibet is still considered a sovereign state under international law. Tibet’s sovereignty has NOT been transferred to China as a result of China’s armed invasion and ongoing occupation by the People’s Liberation Army (P.L.A.).
All who continue to support this cause believe that someday Tibet will achieve the independence it so dearly desires and deserves. More
The Dalai Lama worked/works for the CIA?
Tibet's pope was king, so we dealt with him.
While the Dalai Lama, a CIA asset, was hesitant to align with the anti-communist Chinese government in Taiwan, his brotherGyalo Thondup, had a lengthy history of contact with the CIA. He was involved in anti-communist governments such as the Kuomintang (KMT) and its leader, Chiang Kai-shek. Brother Thondup spent his early years in Nanjing, the capital of the Republic of China, where he "ate his meals at the Chiang family table, from April 1947 until the summer of 1949, and tutors selected by Chiang educated the boy" [17]. These close contacts with the KMT are confirmed in a 1959 Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) bulletin, which reveals that Thondup met with KMT representatives "to sign an agreement which might be the basis for eventual Nationalist recognition of Tibetan 'independence' and a free Tibet government" [18]. More
Well before American Mahayana Buddhists and New Age acolytes began flocking to the feet of Tibet's Dalai Lama, hippies and spiritual seekers were following in the footsteps of [abusive sex cult guru] Chogyam Trungpa, a Tibetan lama [or rinpoche] who took up residence in the U.S. during the 1970s [after escaping Tibet to study in England, where he abused drugs and a wild lifestyle, molesting marrying a 16-year-old girl, crashing a car and leaving himself partially crippled, bitter, and angry at his sycophantic students who loved his irreverence as it seemed to match their loose Sixties' lifestyle of "sex, drugs, and rock 'n roll"]. More
I drink, have sex. Maybe I got a little payola, too
WASHINGTON D.C. — For much of the 1960s, the Tibetan exile movement was provided CIA funding to at least the tune of $1.7 million a year for secret "operations" against China, including an annual "subsidy" of $180,000 for the Dalai Lama, according to newly released U.S. intelligence documents.
The money for the Tibetans and the Dalai Lama was part of the CIA’s worldwide effort during the height of the Cold War to undermine [destroy] communist governments, particularly in the Soviet Union and China.
In fact, the U.S. government committee that approved the Tibetan operations also authorized the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba.
The documents, published last month [in 1998] by the U.S. State Department, illustrate the historical background of the situation in Tibet today, in which China continues to accuse the Dalai Lama of being an agent of foreign forces seeking to separate Tibet from China.
Did I know about the deal the Dalai Lama got?
The CIA’s program encompassed support of [violent] Tibetan guerrillas [engaged in warfare] in Nepal, a covert military training site in Colorado [home of the infamous Shambhala sex cult guru Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche's Naropa Institute], “Tibet Houses” [like Prof. Robert Thurman's TibetHouse.us] established to promote Tibetan causes in New York and Geneva, [violent] education for Tibetan operatives at Cornell University, and supplies for reconnaissance [aka spying] teams. More: LA Times (Sept. 15, 1998)
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