Buddhism in Ireland + "The Miracle Club" (film)

The Journal, 1/16/17; Sony Pictures; Dhr. Seven, Pat Macpherson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

I'm Green Tara Kwan Yin, and he's the Irish Buddha Scythianmuni the Shakya/Scythian

Becoming a Buddhist in Ireland

(The Journal) Dharmachari ("Dharma Teacher") Vajrashura is one of four full-time teaching staff members at the Dublin Buddhist Centre (DBC), which is a registered charity.

Lawrence Carroll became Ven. Dhammaloka

Along with six other regular volunteers, they teach Buddhist meditation to approximately 600 new students a year, and Buddhism to another 100.

The DBC is the fulcrum of a wider community of 1,500 Buddhists in the Dublin area and has sister communities (or sanghas) in Killaloe, Clare and Westport, Co Mayo.

Dhr. Vajrashura grew up as Sean Boland in the west of Ireland, before coming across Buddhism in the TCD Meditation Society as a theoretical physics graduate.

Now 39, he is a full-time Buddhist teacher and lives with two friends in a small Buddhist men’s community in Dublin 7. There, they meditate at 7:00 am each morning, breakfast together, and go off to work – in his case as manager of the DBC (jrnl.ie/3130287).

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The Miracle Club

The King of Ireland (via Imperial Rome)

It's Ireland. You can be Catholic, Roman Catholic, New Catholic or Episcopalian, possibly Protestant, and maybe if you're really lucky Buddhist on the coattails of Lawrence O'Rourke, who became the world's first Western Buddhist monk -- U Dhammaloka -- when he left for the States and onto Asia (Mandalay, Burma).

Go to Lourdes, Ladies. We approve

Will you hold me, Friend? Yes, I'll "hold you like a grudge" (FOB). Directed by Thaddeus O'Sullivan. Starring: Laura Linney, Maggie Smith, Kathy Bates. Set in 1967, THE MIRACLE CLUB follows the story of three generations of close friends, Lily (Maggie Smith), Eileen (Kathy Bates), and Dolly (Agnes O'Casey) of Ballygar, a hard-knocks community in Dublin, Ireland, who have one tantalizing dream: to win a pilgrimage to the sacred French Catholic town of Lourdes, a place of miracles that draws millions of visitors each year.

Who was the Irish "Dharma Bum" Lawrence Carroll or U Dhammaloka

When the chance to win presents itself, the women seize it. However, just before their trip, their old friend Chrissie (Laura Linney) arrives in Ballygar for her mother's funeral, dampening their good mood and well-laid plans. The women set out on the journey that they hope will change their lives, with Chrissie, a skeptical traveler, joining in place of her mother.

The glamour and sophistication of Chrissie, who has just returned from a nearly 40-year exile in the United States, are not her only distancing traits: Old wounds are reopened along the way, forcing the women to confront their pasts even as they travel in search of a miracle. #TheMiracleClub #OfficialTrailer #SonyClassics

Dalai Lama: 21st Century Compassion

Ashley Wells, CC Liu, Seven, Wisdom Quarterly; The Lourdes Foundation; L.A. Forum

Public Talk: "21st Century Compassion," Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2014, 12:15 pm, LA Forum

  

For a mere $65.30 per nosebleed seat ticket you, too, can see the Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhist "pope" and former god-king (simultaneous secular and religious leader), who lives in exile in the Himalayan city of Dharamsala, India, much to the aggravation of militant Chinese oppressors. 

• What we don't hear about Tibet (The Guardian)
• Friendly Feudalism: the Tibet Myth (Michael Parenti)

I decided political and spiritual matters. - Wow!

The XIVst Dalai Lama is not remunerated, instead offering Buddhist teachings freely. So he is not to blame for ticket prices. That responsibility falls on the host, which this year is not the Long Beach Tibetan Temple (Gaden Shartse Thubten Dhargye Ling), but the Lourdes Foundation. The lamas in Long Beach always gave out tickets to monastics and devotees and others for Long Beach Civic Auditorium appearances; one can only hope the Lourdes Foundation is doing the same.

If only the world will cultivate compassion

What will the audience see? Not an enlightened being, unfortunately. By his own admission, Tenzin Gyatso, the current Dalai Lama, XIV in line, is not enlightened. He is but a humble ruler of the great former Himalayan Buddhist kingdom (or feudal "serfdom" according to Chinese propagandists, but denied by Phayul.com) of Tibet with a massive Western following. He is a "simple monk," he claims. Or maybe he is a great rinpoche (teacher), the supreme prelate of the Gelug (Yellow Hat) sect, and a mahasattva (great being or vajrasattva), perhaps even an "incarnation" (by some self-willed rebirth) or manifestation of Kwan Yin, the Buddhist Goddess of Compassion (originally appearing in male form as Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva). He is semi-retired -- unlike ex-Pope Benedict XVI, who was fired or forced to resign for his crimes and misdemeanors, from worldly matters. Others now rule and advocate for Tibet, China. But "His Holiness" is involved in co-writing books and presenting teachings. He is the world's most beloved and recognizable Buddhist, and what he says is generally wonderful (mixed reviews), full of compassion and distilled wisdom all Buddhist traditions can agree with.

Dalai Lama and The Lourdes Foundation

[We are] uniting different worlds under one language. The Dalai Lama is a man of peace. In 1989, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his non-violent struggle for the liberation of Tibet from Chinese invaders. He has consistently advocated policies of non-violence, even in the face of extreme aggression. He also became the first Nobel Laureate to be recognized for his concern for global environmental problems. This event will be hosted at The Forum in Inglewood, California, on Feb. 25. Tickets are on sale via the Ticketmaster corporation.

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Angel is attending Dalai Lama at The Forum

	Stacey is attending
	Veronica is attending
	Suzy is attending
	Alex is attending
	Megan is attending
	Masha is attending
	Melissa is attending
	Carole is attending
	Shaun is attending
	Елена is attending
	Doan is attending
	Ye is attending
	Ray may be attending
	Michele is attending
	San is attending
	Enlightened is attending
	Jerome is attending
	Zaynab is attending
	Nargess is attending
	Lily is attending
	Julianna is attending
	Eboni is attending
	Silvia is attending
	Vera is attending
	Murphy is attending
	Cat is attending
	Heather is attending
	Masayuki is attending
	Michael is attending Dalai Lama at The Forum

Make your own "healing water"

(Mac1flow) Goal: to create healing, DNA-repairing, miracle, or "holy" water. Method: charge distilled water by exposing it to 528 HZ sound frequencies, love (metta) meditation, and sun charging.

• Studies: Chinese herbs show promise for diabetes prevention

Dalai Lama in Mtg; Pope says "accept Death"; Witches cause panic in Congo; Virgin Yin

14th Dalai Lama and Pope Benedict XVI (both in France recently and separately)

Pope: Accept death "at the hour chosen by God"

Angela Doland (AP)

Recently, the Catholic leader has been making more news than the Dalai Lama. Both have been in France. The Dalai Lama called a high-level meeting to discuss the future of Tibet, while the pope has been giving advice on everything from money, to power, to death. Avalokiteshvara the Bodhisattva of Compassion, or the Mother Goddess incarnate in another form as the Virgin Mary -- the similarities and redundancies are too numerous and obvious to make too much of.

• Gwan Yin at Lourdes as Mary
• "Lourdes pilgrims stock up on 'miracle' water"

Virgin Mary (catholicsForKucinich) and Guan Yin (mother-god)

LOURDES, France -- People must accept death at "the hour chosen by God [read: by your karma]," Pope Benedict XVI told ailing pilgrims Monday in an anti-euthanasia message at Lourdes, the shrine that draws the desperate, sick, and dying.

At the chilly open-air service outside the Lourdes sanctuary reputed for its curative spring water, some faithful lay on gurneys, tucked into quilts and comforters. A few breathed with oxygen tanks. The 81-year-old pontiff administered the sacrament of the sick to ten people, most in wheelchairs, gently anointing their foreheads and palms with oil.

While several European countries permit euthanasia, the Vatican vehemently maintains that life must continue to its natural end. The pope said in his homily that the ill should pray to find "the grace to accept, without fear or bitterness, to leave this world at the hour chosen by God [karma]." More>>

NOTE: WQ talks about these two heads of state (or state-like non-states, the Vatican and Dharmsala) because they seem to share the same function in disseminating different kinds of Mahayana Buddhism. (The trail to Mahayana doctrines may be traced back to the time of St. Issa, a.k.a. "Jesus Christ," in Tibet, India, and Nepal as previously covered here). Christianity, after all, is famous for borrowing most of its rituals, holidays, and doctrines from other traditions. And Vajrayana is concerned with fighting duns of plague, disaster, and black magic.

Witchcraft rumor sparks riot in Congo (AP)

KINSHASA, Congo -- Accusations that a soccer player was using witchcraft during a match in eastern Congo sparked a riot that killed 13 people, a U.N.-funded radio station reported Monday. Most of the victims were between the ages of 11 and 16, Radio Okapi said. They were suffocated as panicked crowds ran for the exits during the mayhem Sunday in Butembo in eastern Congo's North Kivu province.

Radio Okapi said police tried to control the violence at Matokeo stadium by firing into the air to protect their commander, who was hit in the head and wounded by fans. The two local clubs involved were Socozaki and Nyuki System, the radio said. Dozens of teenagers marched through Butembo's dirt streets Monday in protest, and the regional governor, Julien Mpaluku, paid a visit to the hospital.

Mpaluku said the government was investigating. He made no mention of witchcraft, but confirmed that soldiers had fired into the air to calm angry crowds. The shooting prompted panic instead, which became fatal "when the crowds all tried to leave at the same time." "Most of the dead were children, only two or three were adults," Mpaluku also said. North Kivu has been the epicenter of violence between Congo's army and rebels over the last year which has displaced hundreds of thousands of people.

• Panic in the Congo over “penis snatching” sorcerors

Dalai Lama calls meeting to discuss Tibet / Pope condemns money and power

The pope, cardinals, and bishops -- looking like Tibetan lamas -- attend Pope Benedict XVI's Mass celebrated at the Lourdes shrine, southwestern France, Sunday, 9/14/08. More than 100,000 pilgrims singing hymns gathered on a rain-soaked field known as the Lourdes Prairie for the mass marking the 150th anniversary of a peasant girl's religious visions (AP Photo/Francois Mori). Above, Dalai Lama with Yellow Hat lamas arriving in France for opening of Lerab Ling monastery last month.

DHARAMSALA, India (Reuters, 9/12/08) -- The Dalai Lama has called a special meeting of Tibetan exiles in November or December to discuss political unrest in Tibet this year and the future of the Tibetan movement, officials said on Friday.

Karma Chophel, speaker of the Tibetan parliament-in-exile, told Reuters that officials would meet on Monday to discuss the details of the special session ordered by their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.

The special meeting, the opening session of which would be addressed by the Dalai Lama, would be attended by Tibetan leaders, intellectuals and non-government organizations chosen by the Tibetan parliament-in-exile.

"We have to discuss who are the other people to be called," Chophel said. The meeting of Tibetans comes after months of anti-China protests across the world, sparked off by unrest in Tibet in March which was aggressively suppressed by China.

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Tibetan leader waves at the end of a teaching conference in Nantes, western France, 8/16/08 (Reuters/Stephane Mahe).

Beijing says followers of the Dalai Lama fomented riots and protests across the mountainous region in a bid to derail last month's Olympics Games. The Dalai Lama has rejected the charge. Envoys of the Dalai Lama and China met in July to defuse the crisis, the latest in several rounds of talks since 2002 that many Tibetans, especially younger generations, describe as a Chinese ploy to delay progress on the question of either independence or regional autonomy for Tibet.

The next round of those talks could be held as early as October, two Chinese sources with knowledge of the slow-moving dialogue, told Reuters last week. Many exiled Tibetans would like to go further than the conciliatory "middle way" approach of the Dalai Lama, who seeks autonomy. Tibetan officials said the meeting would see wide-ranging discussions about the future of the Tibetan movement.

"He will advise and he will give guidelines...he will put before the general body his ideas," Chophel said of the Dalai Lama.

Reporting by Abhishek Madhukar; writing by Krittivas Mukherjee; editing by Paul Tait

• Meanwhile, the Christian pontiff was condemning Paganism:

Pope in Paris condemns love of money, power
Jenny Barchfield (AP, 9/12/08)

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Pope waves from bulletproof pope-mobile, outdoor mass Paris near Eiffel Tower, 9/13/08. Tens of thousands turned out for his only public appearance before his pilgrimage to Lourdes (AP Photo/Alberto Pizzoli, pool).

PARIS -- Pope Benedict XVI condemned unbridled "pagan" passion for power, possessions, and money as a modern-day plague Saturday as he led more than a quarter of a million Catholics in an outdoor Mass in Paris.

Benedict was making his first visit as pontiff to the French capital, renowned for its luxury goods, fashion sense and cultural riches. "Has not our modern world created its own idols?" Benedict said in his homily, and wondered aloud whether people have "imitated, perhaps inadvertently, the pagans of antiquity?"

"This is a question that all people, if they are honest with themselves, cannot help but ask," the pontiff said. More>>

• Pope visits miraculous Lourdes

LOURDES, France -- People must cling to hope even in dire circumstances like injustice and torture, Pope Benedict XVI told the faithful at Sunday Mass in Lourdes, which has become a shrine for desperate causes and hope against all odds.