Mad for Marilyn Monroe: Birthday (JFK)

(Historical Void) What Sen. Kennedy said about the Palestinian refugees ("Arabs") enraged and infuriated Zionist Israel when JFK became president a few years later, so they got him back.

• VIDEO: Marilyn Monroe's lasting impact on Hollywood

Norma-Jean as Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn Monroe (born Norma Jeane Mortenson on June 1, 1926) lived until August 4, 1962. She was a sex symbol, comedic American actress, and model.

Known for playing comic "Blonde Bombshell" characters, she became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1950s and early 1960s, as well as an emblem of the era's sexual revolution. She was a top-billed actress for a decade, and her films grossed $200 million (equivalent to $2 billion in 2025) by her tragic death in 1962 [2].

I was born Norma-Jean Mortensen

Born in Los Angeles, Monroe spent most of her childhood in foster homes and an orphanage before marrying James Dougherty at the age of 16.

She was working in a factory during World War II when she met a photographer from the First Motion Picture Unit and began a successful pin-up modeling career, which led to short-lived film contracts with 20th Century Fox and Columbia Pictures.

After roles as a freelancer, she began a longer contract with Fox in 1951, becoming a popular actress with roles in several comedies... More

VIDEO: Marilyn Monroe's grave: This is her final resting place

Marilyn Monroe was assassinated due to Pres. JFK affair

(infamous_style) Monroe's boyfriend Pres. John F. Kennedy speech warning of censorship

Marilyn Monroe is a like a blonde female Buddha loved and worshipped worldwide

(The Katie Halper Show) JFK assassination by Israel files shock: hidden link exposed

• Moon-eyed people lived in America first with the Cherokees - then vanished (The Why Files)
• Proposal to ban hunting, fishing in Oregon met with backlash
• Archaeologists found an ancient Maya map of the universe carved into bedrock

Monks end Peace Walk, return to TX by bus

(PBS NewsHour) Millions of Americans inspired by Buddhist monks' Walk for Peace

‘We show respect': Police officer goes viral for greeting Theravada monks | NBC4 Washington

Time to return to Texas on a bus

Behind the scenes of Peace Walk

(WSLS 10) Behind the scenes: Inside the Buddhist monks' 15-week

Walk for Peace as it reached state of Virginia in the snow

Welcome to Black History Month

(Smithsonian Channel) The Lost Tapes: Malcolm X (full episode)

Release from slavery

Manumission, or enfranchisement (emancipation), is the act of freeing slaves by their owners.

Different approaches to manumission were developed, each specific to the time and place of a particular society. Historian Verene Shepherd states that the most widely used term is gratuitous manumission, "the conferment of freedom on the enslaved by enslavers before the end of the slave system" [1].

Gregg Braden, what keeps us disempowered? - When was first legal interracial marriage in US?

The motivations for manumission were complex and varied. Firstly, it may present itself as a sentimental and benevolent gesture. One typical scenario was the freeing in the master's will of a devoted servant after long years of service.

A trusted bailiff might be manumitted as a gesture of gratitude. For those working as agricultural laborers or in workshops, there was little likelihood of being so noticed.

What about liberation from samsara, Graham Hancock?

In general, it was more common for older slaves to be given freedom. Legislation under the early Roman Empire put limits on the number of slaves that could be freed in wills (lex Fufia Caninia, 2 BC), which suggests that it had been widely used.

Freeing slaves could serve the pragmatic interests of the owner. The prospect of manumission worked as an incentive for slaves to be industrious and compliant.

Roman slaves were paid a wage (peculium), which they could save up to buy themselves freedom. Manumission contracts, found in some abundance at Delphi (ancient Greece), specify in detail the prerequisites for liberation. More

• Malcolm X (Smithsonian Channel, The Lost Tapes, Feb. 2018); Ashley Wells, Shauna Schwartz, Pfc. Sandoval (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

The Diamond Sutra, BAUS class (10/6)

CLASS: The Various Aspects of Meditation Theory in the Diamond Sutra

Not Czech monk Ven. Dhammadipa (Xing Kong)

Ven. Dr. Dhammadipa Sak, Ph.D. (aka Fa Yao) is the abbot of the US Zen Institute in Germantown, Maryland, and the Amata Meditation Center in Boyds, Maryland.

He previously served as the abbot of Chuan Yen Monastery (BAUS' CYM) and the Temple of Enlightenment. He is currently a vice president of the Buddhist Association of the United States (BAUS).

The Diamond Sutra 

Wiki edit by Wisdom Quarterly

This Sanskrit discourse is a Mahāyāna Buddhist sutra (a kind of apocryphal sacred text) from the genre of "Perfection of Wisdom" (Prajñāpāramitā) literature.

Translated into a variety of languages over a broad geographic range, the Diamond Sūtra is one of the most influential Mahayana sutras in East Asia, particularly prominent within the Chan (or Zen) tradition [1] alongside the Heart Sutra.

A copy of the Chinese Tang Dynasty version of the Diamond Sūtra was found among the Dunhuang manuscripts in 1900 by Taoist monk Wang Yuanlu and sold to Aurel Stein in 1907 [2]. They are dated back to May 11, 868 [3]. It is, in the words of the British Library, "the earliest dated printed book" [4].

It is also the first known creative work with an explicit public domain dedication, as its colophon at the end states that it was created "for universal free distribution" [5], a tradition carried on today by many Mahayana publishers given that the Buddha's Dharma is priceless.

Title

I did it, Batman! - There's no I. Keep meditating!

The Sanskrit title for this work is the Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra, which may be translated roughly as the "Vajra Cutter Perfection of Wisdom Discourse" or "The Perfection of Wisdom Text that Cuts Like a Thunderbolt" [1].

In English, shortened forms such as Diamond Sūtra and Vajra Sūtra are common. The title relies on the power of the vajra (diamond or thunderbolt and also an abstract term for a powerful adamantine weapon) to cut things as a metaphor for the type of wisdom that cuts through illusions to get at ultimate reality [1], which is what the Abhidhamma literature of the Pali canon aims to do.

This sutra is also called Triśatikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra ("300 lines on the Perfection of Wisdom Sutra").

The Diamond Sūtra is highly regarded in East Asian countries with historical traditions of Mahayana Buddhism [1]. [It is not considered an actual "sutra," a discourse by the Buddha or his immediate disciples, in the Theravada tradition of South and Southeast Asia.]

Translations of this title into the languages of some of these countries include... More

ABOUT THE TEACHER: Born in Taiwan and raised in Malaysia, Ven. Dhammadipa received his ordination in Sri Lanka in 1987. He earned a Ph.D. in theology and religious studies from the University of Bristol, UK, in 2005.

Ven. Dhammadipa has also been a visiting lecturer at the University of Chicago School of Divinity. His primary interests include Abhidhamma and meditation practices, and he frequently emphasizes the importance of meditation in society.

He is fluent in Chinese, Cantonese, Hakka, and English and is literate in several other languages including Pali, Sanskrit, Japanese, French, and German for his academic pursuits.

• Chaung Yen Monastery (BAUS)
• Home of Bhikkhu Bodhi
• Sunday, October 6, 2024
• 9:00 am to 3:00 pm
• Please click here to register

PROGRAM SCHEDULE

• 9:00 am – Check-in
• 9:30 am – Meditation unguided
• 9:40 am – Greet teacher/bow to the Buddha
• 9:45 am – Introduction to the day’s master and class
• 9:50 am – Morning Class 1
• 10:35 am – Tea break and cookies
• 10:45 am – Morning Class 2
• 11:30 am – Lunch and break
• 12:50 pm – Meditation
• 1:00 pm – Afternoon Class 1
• 1:45 pm – Tea break and cookies
• 2:00 pm – Afternoon Class 2
• 2:45 pm – Share the merits, bow to the Buddha and teacher, and group photo
• 3:00 pm – Clean up

Celebrating BAUS’s 60th anniversary and the new Dr. C.T. Shen & Mrs. Woo Ju Shen Memorial Hall

• Diamond Sutra Study Retreat Series 3 • Ven. Dhammadipa Fa Yao • 10/6/24
• BAUS, Chaung Yen Monastery, Carmel, Upstate New York; CC Liu, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

A female Christianity: Gospel of Mary Mag'

Gnosticism: The Gospel of Mary Magdalene - Salvation through Self-Knowledge of the Soul and Mind

(ESOTERICA) Oct. 7, 2022. The (Gnostic?) Gospel of Mary provides a glimpse into a radically alternative form of ancient Christianity.

• Lost Gospels = New Testament apocrypha

This is one where inner spiritual knowledge is the key to salvation, where women and men have equal standing based on their understanding of the message of the [Messiah/Maitreya] Savior figure, and one where the soul must rise above the demonic gatekeepers of the physical cosmos rather than to believe in credal [creed] formulas or even the salvific power of the death and resurrection of Jesus, the Anointed One.

In this lost Gospel, Mary Magdalene is the true inheritor of the spiritual Gospel of Christ rather than Peter, who attacks her solely based on her gender, despite her profound relationship with the Savior and her understanding of his secret teachings.

Subscribe. Consider supporting Esoterica by becoming a monthly Patron (patreon.com/esotericachannel) or making a one-time donation (paypal.me/esotericachannel). Thanks. All support is profoundly appreciated!

Recommended readings

• Meyer - The Nag Hammadi Scriptures - 978-0061626005
• King - The Gospel of Mary of Magdala: Jesus and the First Woman Apostle - 978-0944344583
• Tuckett - The Gospel of Mary - 978-0199212132
• De Boer - The Gospel of Mary: Listening to the Beloved Disciple - 978-0567082640
• Brock - Mary Magdalene, The First Apostle - 978-0674009660

Dalai Lama: Monks, stop the violence!

Wisdom Quarterly; Sara Malm (DailyMail.co.uk, May 8, 2013); BBC; AP/ABC News

Never mind the hat. These two ex-"popes" are very different. One has disappeared while the other has risen in prominence after both retiring of their own volition (Wisdom Quarterly)

 

Dalai Lama pleads with Buddhist monks to end deadly attacks on Muslims in Burma and Sri Lanka.

• Religious leader asks monks to intervene in anti-Islam violence.
• Dalai Lama condemned attacks on Muslims in Sri Lanka and Burma.
• Hundreds dead and more than 135,000 displaced in Burma this year
• Nominal-Buddhist groups have attacked businesses owned by Muslims.
• Tibetan Buddhist addressed issue in speech at Univ. of Maryland, USA.

Rubbing noses: Gov. O'Malley, Dalai Lama

The Dalai Lama has reached out to monks in Burma and Sri Lanka, imploring them to end recent violence towards Muslims in their countries.

 

The Tibetan Buddhist (Vajrayana) spiritual leader blamed those of his own religion for recent violent attacks in South Asia, while giving a speech at the University of Maryland. Hundreds have died and more than 135,000 people have fled their homes in Burma, also known as Myanmar, in the past year's brutal assaults.

In Sri Lanka [a predominantly Theravada Buddhist island off the southern tip of India], Buddhist groups have recently attacked Muslim businesses.

 

In his speech on Tuesday, the Dalai Lama condemned all killings in the name of religion and admitted that not even Buddhists were exempt from carrying out religious attacks.
 

"Killing people in the name of religion is really very sad, unthinkable, very sad," the Nobel Peace laureate said.
 

"Nowadays even Buddhists are involved, in Burma and Sri Lanka. Buddhist monks destroying Muslim mosques or Muslim families -- it's really very sad." More

UK policy has not changed over China and Tibet

David Cameron and Nick Clegg met the Dalai Lama at St Paul's Cathedral, May 2012

 

David Cameron has said the UK continues to recognize Chinese sovereignty over Tibet amid reports of a rift with Beijing over the issue.

 

The Chinese authorities are said to be angry at the prime minister's decision to meet the Dalai Lama, Tibet's spiritual leader, last year.
 
Mr. Cameron told MPs that UK policy had not changed, and it did not support calls for independence for Tibet. More

• China snubs UK in Dalai Lama fight
• Cameron "to visit China this year" [without Dalai Lama]
• PHOTOS: Amazing Thailand (Raspu/flickr.com)
• Benghazi Talking Points had 12 versions

Dalai Lama lashes Burmese, Sri Lankan Buddhist violence
Ravi Nessman (AP/ABC News, May 8, 2013)

What if the violence gets as bad as Benghazi?

NEW DELHI, India - The Dalai Lama has implored Buddhist monks in Burma and Sri Lanka to put an end to a series of recent attacks on Muslims in their countries.  The Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader spoke Tuesday night about religious violence when asked questions following a speech he delivered to 15,000 people at the University of Maryland in the United States.  Burma, which is now known as Myanmar, has been wracked by sectarian violence that has killed hundreds and displaced more than 135,000 over the past year, while Sri Lankan Buddhist groups have recently attacked Muslim businesses [following a near genocide on militant Tamil Hindu minority separatists, a fight that was the longest running civil war in Asia]. More

Porn Star: Miss Delaware Teen (video)

Wisdom Quarterly; ABCNews.com

 

Beauty Queen Melissa King's X-Rated Nightmare: An all-American "girl next door" -- who recently resigned her crown as a result of this growing online sex scandal -- has a shocking past with X-rated videos and unresolved legal issues. (She is wanted in Maryland for theft and possession of alcohol). This is the story of a teen beauty queen who looked like she had a bright future ahead of her -- until a racy video surfaced and forced her to give up her tiara and the respect of other girls. Miss Delaware Teen USA was a gymnast who said she wanted to work at a fashion magazine after college. She wowed the crowd and the judges, taking home the crown and a spot at the Miss Teen USA Pageant. She says, "If you can dream it and believe it, you can achieve it." However, she denied that it is her in the video. Then the pornographers explained that she reached out to them and released additional video that appears to be King reading a release form prior to performing in May: "I, Melissa King, am doing the scene of my own free will...." Police in Maryland hope she will turn herself in to face charges.

• VIDEO: Miss Teen resigns amid sex controversy
• VIDEO: Pageant Confidential: Miss Nip and Tuck
• VIDEO: Student tapes teacher allegedly stealing
• VIDEO: Philippines sex-trafficking raid

ZEN: Completion of study (koan)

Roshi Jeff Albrizze, PasaDharma.org (free, public Koan Study Group resumes Thursday, Jan. 10, 2013, 7:00 pm; The Book of Equanimity, CASE 46: TOKUSAN’S COMPLETION OF STUDY

American Zen groups everywhere. Heart of Zen Group, Loyola University, Maryland

 

Deva looks on (00_prototype/flickr.com)

PREFACE TO THE ASSEMBLY

The pure ground without an inch of grass for 10,000 miles still deludes people.

The clear sky without even a speck of cloud deceives us.

Though wedges are driven in and pulled out, this does not impede holding up and supporting space.

A hammer blow on the back of the head.

Let's look at a skillful expedient.

MAIN CASE

(Myheartyourheart/flickr.com)

Attention!

Great Master Tokusan addressed the assembly saying, “Exhaust the end and there's instant attainment.

The mouths of all buddhas of the three times [past, present, future] might as well hang upon the wall.

Now, there's a person who roars with laughter. Ha! Ha!

When you know this one, the essence of your exhaustive study is completed.”

APPRECIATORY VERSE

Gathering. Seizing the throat collar.

Winds burnish. Clouds sweep.

Chilling water, heaven turns to autumn.

Don't say a fish scale lacks taste.

Catching all the ocean's fish with a crescent moon.