Hindu Ramayana in Buddhist Thailand

India's Palace of Mysore: Mysore Palace, Karnataka

The Ramayana (Sanskrit रामायणम्, Romanized Rāmāyaṇam [3]), also known as Valmiki Ramayana, as traditionally attributed to Valmiki, is a smriti text (Sanskrit epic) from ancient proto-India (Bharata), one of the two important epics of modern Hinduism known as the Itihasas, the other being the Mahabharata [4], the story of "Great Bharata." The epic narrates the life of the god Rama, the seventh avatar of the [extraterrestrial] Hindu deity Vishnu, who is a prince of Ayodhya in the Kingdom of Kosala. The epic follows his 14-year exile

• to the forest urged by his father King Dasharatha, on the request of Rama's stepmother Kaikeyi;
• his travels across the forests on the Indian subcontinent with his wife Sita and brother Lakshmana;
• the kidnapping of Sita by Ravana, the king of [Sri] Lanka, which resulted in a bloodbath; and
• Rama's eventual return to Ayodhya along with Sita to be crowned as a king amidst jubilation and celebration. More
• Angkor Wat: Buddhist/Vedic (Hindu) fusion temple
• WION; Amber Larson, CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Yoga Sex Abuse: Mindful Strength Podcast

Host Kathryn Bruni-Young (Podcast), Karen Rain; Dhr. Seven, Ananda (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Karen Rain (Haberman): Sex abuse in Ashtanga Yoga w/ Kathryn Bruni-Young

(Kathryn Bruni-Young, #90) Jan. 30, 2019. The Mindful Strength Podcast made the Top 20 Biomechanics Blogs for 2019 list. Support from listeners makes this happen.

TRIGGER WARNING: This conversation covers topics like sexual abuse that might be sensitive to some listeners.

Karen Rain (aka Karen Haberman) was an advanced Ashtanga (Vinyasa) student who experienced almost daily sexual abuse while working with K. Pattabhi Jois, as he was sexually allegedly abusing others as well.

In this interview, Rain (Haberman) shares her opinions on cults, yoga, gurus, and trauma-informed practice in a way that will spark critical thinking.

• Sexual abuse by yoga gurus

She speaks about her experiences in Mysore, India, why she decided not to return (due to the sexual and financial abuse by Jois), and the painful reasons why she quit her yoga practice altogether.

She also comments on the people who have supported her and the devoted students who participated in the covering up and silencing of stories like her own.

Rain also speaks about her relationship with Matthew Remski and how his work is changing the yoga landscape for the better.

(Wise Studies/trueryan.com) Yoga and Ayurveda Teacher Matthew Remski talks

about KARMA as understood in Hinduism with Lonely Guru Ryan Spielman.

This conversation culminates in a really practical discussion of trauma, consent, and ways in which yoga teachers can make their classes more accessible and effective.

This is a powerful conversation and a really important topic. We are grateful to Rain for sharing her experiences with us and we believe there is a lot to be learned from her.

Please visit kathrynbruniyoung.com to access the show notes, which include a handful of Karen Rain's articles and other links that help us further understand this difficult topic.

Loving this Top 20 podcast? Listen on Apple Podcasts and leave a review!

Buddhist SPORTS: "brainball" at Sera (video)

Dhr. Seven and Amber Larson, Wisdom Quarterly; KL.Lau (wiki); TricycleMag (video)

"When the Iron Bird Flies: Buddhism for the West" (with Richard Gere) from BPS/Sera:

The Fix Is In (Brian Tuohy)

The pitch (field) was crackling. Everyone was suited up. Game books in hand, teams formed, star players and cheerleaders, then it was game on.

  

Take that! No, you take that! Click and clack, fripp and frap, with vorpal sword (vajra) in hand. Now you've gotten yourself in a bind you'll never be able to get out of! Here's my retort; now you're trapped! Bam, take that right back! Lama on lama and the rinpoche can referee.

Sacred thunder bolt: Vajra

Here is a poetic play-by-play of an idealized match for The Phörpa (Cup):

One, two! One, two! And through and through,

The vajra hand goes snicker-snack!

He left him slumped, and with his head held high,

He went galumphing back.

- Lewis Carroll's imagination

Diagram of the pitch (mandala) for a match (debate) in the head space of reality.

The debate is on. Bam (hand clap)! Try to get yourself out of that one! (KL.Lau)

.

Debating Buddhist scriptures － Tibet's Sera Monastery 西藏色拉寺 

They'll get it when they meditate (KL.Lau)

Sera Monastery (gompa or Himalayan lamasery) is one of the great three Gelukpa sect university monasteries in Tibet. It is located 1.25 miles (2 km) north of the capital, Lhasa. The other two are Ganden and Drepung.

 

Sophistry? The only way to debate is to study, question, and contemplate (KL.Lau)

 .

Gamble? Larceny Games

The origin of the name "Sera" is attributed to the fact that the site of the monastery was once surrounded by wild roses (Tibetan se ra) in bloom. The original Sera was located in Lhasa about 3 miles (5 kms) north of the Jokang and is responsible for some 19 hermitages, including four nunneries, all located in the foothills north of Lhasa.

Sera Monastery is a complex of structures with a Great Assembly Hall and three colleges, founded in 1419 by Jamchen Chojey of the Sakya Yeshe of Zel Gungtang (1355-1435), a disciple of Tsongkhapa.

During the 1959 revolt in Lhasa, Sera suffered severe damage, its colleges destroyed, and hundreds of Buddhist monks killed. After the Dalai Lama escaped and found asylum in India, many of the Sera monks who survived the Chinese invasion moved to Bylakuppe in Mysore, India.

When Iron Bird Flies (Ayya Khema)

After initial tribulations, they established a parallel Sera with Sera Me and Sera Je colleges and a Great Assembly Hall similar to the original monastic complex with help from the Indian government. There are now more than 3,000 monks living in India's Sera, and the community has spread its missionary activities to several other countries by establishing Dharma centers propagating knowledge of Bon shamanism and  Buddhism known as Himalayan Vajrayana, Indian Tantra, Chinese Esoteric Buddhism, and Lamaism. [This is what was bound to happen "when the iron bird flies," according to Tibetan lore.]
 

Ven. Trijang, Dalai Lama's tutor, Sera Mey

The Sera in Tibet and its counterpart in Mysore, India are noted for their dramatic and very animated "monastic debates." This stylized form of intellectual combat is meant to enhance learning and reflection on the Dharma, the teachings of the Buddha and elaborated, Hindu-synthesized Buddhist philosophy (aka Mahayana). Sera developed over the centuries as a renowned place of scholarly learning, training hundreds of scholars, many of whom have attained fame in Buddhist countries.
   

After the match everyone gathers for a group photo at Sera Me Tratsang College  "stadium"

Yoga: sex scandal, trafficking, regulation

K. Shiva Kumar (ExpressBuzz, India)

Yoga unites people against human trafficking. Over 200 people, including residents at Odanadi — a Mysore-based NGO that works for the welfare and rehabilitation of destitute women and children — and people from all over the world came together on [March 13] to perform yoga in front of the Mysore Palace to create awareness of human trafficking. This unique event "Yoga Stops Trafficking" was organized by Odanadi. It was observed as a "one-day global event" in more than 20 countries including US, UK, Australia, Thailand, and the Netherlands to draw attention to the "evil" of human trafficking that is rampant in India and third-world countries. More>>

Sex Swami's PR disaster

• "I was in samadhi"
  (Mar. 15, 2010) The disgraced godman Nithyananda said his sex video was morphed but did not deny it was his image with the actress... Swami, who has been slapped with cases of cheating after the video footage came to light on March 8th, said the video will be sent to experts... "I believe I do not have any lust. One hundred percent, I am sure that I do not have any need for other person," Swami said. He said the video has been misrepresented by an onlooker.
• Nithyananda: "It was an experiment"
• Indian court summons Nithyananda
• Nithyananda: I didn't run away; I was at Kumbh Mela
  CHENNAI, India - Even as speculation continues over the whereabouts of Swami Nithyananda, who is at the center of a sex scandal, his lawyer on Friday claimed that the godman had not absconded but was in Varanasi. "He is attending the Kumbh Mela..."

Yoga teachers win fight against state regulation
Alexandra Cheney (DNAinfo, New York)
Yoga teachers may soon have cause to praise Vishnu. Within the next ten days, Governor David Paterson is expected to approve a bill that would exempt yoga teachers from state regulation of their training programs.

The likely exemption comes after almost a year of rallies and protests by yoga instructors to avoid the licensing process. "Small studios don't have the umbrella of large studios and can't even afford licensing procedures to hold teacher trainings," said Caitlin Casella, a yoga teacher and teacher-trainer at YogaWorks.

Paterson has until March 24 to sign the bill, which both the State Assembly and State Senate have approved. The Education Department has also backed the bill, despite the fact that they were part of the initial push for the licensing of yoga teachers. More>>

Renowned yoga guru Pattabhi Jois dies

NEW DELHI (AFP) — One of the world's most influential and sought-after Indian yoga experts, Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, has died at the age of 93 following a brief illness, his institute said.

Pattabhi Jois, who is credited with popularizing the ancient system of ashtanga ["eight limbs" or Flow] yoga, died on Monday at his home in the southern city of Mysore, where his Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute is located.

Born in 1915, he studied under ashtanga pioneer T. Krishnamacharya from the age of 12 and attended the Sanskrit College in Mysore.

Pattabhi Jois visited the United States for the first time in 1975 and built up a large following of ashtanga yoga in the West, counting pop star Madonna and actress Gwyneth Paltrow [pictured at left] among his tens of thousands of students.

He continued to teach until his death, travelling the world with the simple slogan that "ashtanga yoga is 99 percent practice and one percent theory."

Ashtanga yoga is conducted in a series of six poses in a hot environment to increase sweating and improve flexibility. Source »

The Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga Method

The Ashtanga practice is a defined set of postures always done in the same order. They are combined with a specific breathing technique (ujjayi), internal "locks" (bandhas), and a gazing point (drishti).

Ujjayi breathing [throat breathing, which sounds like Darth Vader] helps to build heat, fuel cells, regulate the intensity of the practice, and is itself an object of meditation.

The locks help regulate the flow of energy. The drishti point helps maintain mental focus and aids in aligning one in the postures (asanas). These postures are linked together in a dynamic sequence taken from the sun salute called Vinyasa (linked series).

The purpose of the system is to create heat in the body. This leads to purification of the channels through internal cleansing, sweating, and increased circulation. The heat and the repetition also improves flexibility, which allows the student to practice advanced postures with reduced risk of injury. (yoga-art.com; photo Sri Krishnamacharya, teacher of K. Pattabhi Jois and many other yoga gurus)