Rebirth can't be real! We'd remember!

Maybe reincarnation was real. But, then, why don't we remember all our past lives?!

(The Journey to Awakening) If rebirth is real, why don't we remember our past lives?

Rebirth is real

Narrating Karma and Rebirth (Naomi Appleton)

Punabhava (lit. "again becoming," "rebecoming," "renewed existence") is a sutra term for "rebirth," which in later literature mostly is referred to as patisandhi (defined below).

The attainment of full enlightenment (arahatta), implying the end of all suffering and any further rebirths, is often expressed in the words: Natthi 'dāni punabbhavo, "this is the last birth. Now there is no further renewed becoming" (M. 26; D. 15; Therag. 87, 339; Sn. 502).

The term is often linked with abhinibbatti (re- "arising" or "appearance"). It is said, āyatim punabbhavābhinibbatti: "But how, O Brother, does it come to renewed existence and arising in the future?"

"Because beings, obstructed by ignorance and fettered by craving, find ever fresh delight now here, now there, for this reason there is renewed existence and arising in the future" (MN 43). (See also S.XII. 38).

Abhinibbatti also stands sometimes alone in signifying "rebirth" (e.g., in A. VI, 61; X, 65). Compare how in the second noble truth, the adjective ponobhavika means "leading to renewed existence." (See A. III, 76; Sn. 163, 273, 514, 733; S. VII, 12; X, 3). Source

The relinking consciousness

Karma, Rebirth, and Samsara (BPS.lk)

In detailing the reality of rebirth, the Buddha used the term patisandhi (lit. "relinking" or "reunion") consciousness, which is one of the 14 "functions [in the impersonal process] of consciousness" (viññāna-kicca).

Patisandhi is a karma-resultant type of consciousness that arises at the moment of conception, that is, with the forming of new life in the mother's womb.

Immediately afterwards, this consciousness (citta, "mind moment") sinks into the subconscious stream of existence (bhavanga-sota), where it is conditioned. Thereby, corresponding states of subconsciousness arise. Therefore, it is really this rebirth-consciousness that determines the latent character of a person.

Technically and in an ultimate sense, "neither has this [rebirth-] consciousness transmigrated [traveled] from the previous existence to this present existence, nor did it arise without such conditions as karma, karma-formations (sankhara), propensity, object, and so on.

That this consciousness has not come from the previous existence to this present existence -- has not traveled from one life to another -- yet that it has come into existence by means of causes and conditions included in the previous rebirth such as karma and so on may be illustrated by various similes.

An echo, the light of a lamp, the impression of a seal, [a wave on the ocean, electrons in electrical current], and the image produced by a mirror, all of which are reflections, correspond to causes and conditions without being identical to them.

One does not travel to become the other, though it certainly appears that way. Conventionally speaking, of course, we may even say this is what happens as a shorthand, but closer inspection reveals that that is an illusion, a misunderstanding, or an oversimplification of the process actually taking place.

Just as the resounding of an echo is conditioned by an initial sound and so on, nowhere does a transmigration of sound take place. It is just so with this consciousness.

Furthermore, it is said: "In this continuous process, no sameness and no otherness can be found." For if there were full identity (between the different stages), then milk could never turn into curd, whereas if there were complete otherness, then curd could never come from milk....

If in a continuity of existence [a passing from one life to another] any karmic result takes place, then this karmic result neither belongs to any other being, nor does it come from any other [karma], because absolute sameness and otherness are excluded here (The Path of Purification, VisM, XVII 164ff).

In the Questions of King Menander (Mil.), it is said:

"Now, Venerable Nāgasena, the one who is reborn, is that the same as the one who has died or is that another?"

"Neither the same nor another" (na ca so na ca añño).

"Please give me an example, Ven. Nagasena."

"O, king, how do you see it: are you now, as a grown-up person, the same who you had been as a little young and tender babe?"

"No, venerable sir. Another person was the little young and tender babe, but quite a different person am I now as a grown-up man."...

Edgar Cayce returned as David Wilcock

"Is perhaps in the first watch of the night one [flame of a] lamp burning, another one in the middle watch, and yet another one in the last watch?"

"No, venerable sir. The flame [continuous light] during the whole night depends on one and the same lamp.''

"O, king, it is just so with the chain of phenomena linked together. One phenomenon arises, another vanishes, yet all are linked together [in unbroken continuity], one after the other, without interruption. In this way one reaches the final state of consciousness neither as the same person nor as another person.''

Divisions

According to the nature of their rebirth consciousness, beings are divided into the following three groups:

• 1. ahetu-patisandhika: a "being reborn without root-conditions," is a being whose consciousness at the moment of rebirth was not accompanied by any of the three noble root-conditions (greedlessness, hatelessness, undeludedness. (See mūla, "roots").

That is, selflessness, kindness, intelligence were not present. Such beings are found in the Four Lower Worlds (apāya, the downfall, subhuman planes of existence), in which case the function of rebirth is exercised by the class of consciousness listed in Table I as No. 56.

But if, lacking those good root conditions, such beings are fortunate enough to be reborn as humans in this Sensuous Sphere, they will be crippled, blind, deaf, mentally deficient, and so on. (Rebirth-consciousness = Tab. I, No. 41).

• 2. dvihetu (duhetu)-patisandhika: a "being reborn with only two [noble] root-conditions," namely, greedlessness and hatelessness. (Rebirth-consciousness = Tab. I, Nos. 44, 45, 48, or 49).
• 3. tihetu-patisandhika: a "being reborn with three [noble] root-conditions." Such a being can only be found among human beings (rebirth-consciousness = Tab. I, Nos. 42, 43, 46, or 47) and higher heavenly beings [in worlds superior to the human plane (manussa loka) within any of the three spheres, Sensual, Fine Material, or Immaterial].

On these three types of rebirth, see Atthasālini Tr. 11, 354-379. (Appendix: patisandhika). In the sutras, the terms for "rebirth" are chiefly punabbhava ("renewed existence") and abhinibbatti ("[re]arising," "reappearance") or both combined as punabbhavābhinibbatti. Source

NOTE: In the dictionary's Appendix, we find an additional observation: Patisandhi is chiefly a commentarial term, but it occurs several times in one of the later books of the Sutta Pitaka, the Patisambhidā Magga (Pts.M. I, 11f, 52, 59f.; II, 72f.) The usual term found in the discourses (suttas) of the Pali canon for "rebirth" is punabbhava (defined above).

LITERATURE

• The Path of Purification (Vis.M. XVII, 133f, 164f, 189f, 289f; Vis.M. XIX, 22f)
• Karma and Rebirth by Ven. Nyanatiloka Thera (BPS.lk, Wheel 9).
• The Case for Rebirth by Francis Story (Wheel Nos. 12/13).
• Survival and Karma in Buddhist Perspective by K. N. Jayatilleke (Wheel Nos. 141/143)
• Rebirth Explained by V. F. Gunaratna (Wheel Nos. 167/169)
• Buddhist Dictionary: Manual of Buddhist Terms and Doctrines (by Ven. Nyanatiloka Thera)
• The Journey to Awakening (video); Ven. Nyanatiloka, Manual of Buddhist Terms and Doctrines (palikanon.com) edited by Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly

The Empty Nature of All Things

(Buddhism Podcast) The empty nature of all things: Buddhist philosophy on reality

The Suñña Sutta [15] ("Discourse on Emptiness"), part of the Pāli canon, relates that the monk Ānanda, the Buddha's attendant, asked:

"Venerable sir, it is said that the world is 'empty,' the world is empty. In what respect is it said that the world is empty?"

The Buddha replied, "In so far as it is empty of a self or of anything that belongs to a self. So it is said, Ānanda, that the world is empty." More

Free Palestine! HAMAS? (Norm Finkelstein)

(MintPress News) Jewish American Professor Norman Finkelstein: Palestinians tried EVERYTHING before October 7th: A slave's case for resistance

• Ugly Ashkenazi Jew is plainspoken in Hebrew what is hidden in English for American and European audiences

Conan O'Brien "trains" with Israeli killers

(Clear Record) Bill Maher melts down as Ana Kasparian destroys his Israel BS

Republican Massie goes ballistic

Erika's TPUSA gained Israeli ties day after Charlie Kirk's murder

Science discovers the meaning of life

All life comes down to matter, says Materialism

A Mystery as Old as Humanity: For centuries, we’ve asked the same impossible question: What is life—and what gives it meaning? Now, scientists think they’re closer than ever to answering it. But their explanation isn’t philosophical or spiritual—it’s something far more concrete, hidden deep within the structure of matter itself.

• What if Buddhism's fundamental unit of materiality in this universe, the rupa kalapa, or "form particle," explains the "meaning of life"? What if all we are is just material, arising in the cosmos, turning, and passing away into nothingness, having emerged from there in the first place?
• Preposterous. The Buddha rejected this wrong view (miccha-ditthi) in very strong terms. It leads to a very pernicious view that denies a great deal about our lives. There are two extreme views the Buddha rejected and avoided; they are the annihilationist view on the one hand and the eternalist view on the other. Instead, he taught Dependent Origination as an explanation for all things.
• The idea that we (the self, soul, ego, personality, living being) are only material in nature is flawed and leads to the annihilationist wrong view that says that when we die, everything stops. There is no further becoming. Karma has no force to produce further becoming, rebirth, rearising in another state, manifesting the results of previous deeds.
• There is a similar extreme on the other end, that of the eternalists who proclaim that the self/soul (atta or atman) continues in essence unchanged forever, individuated, fated to receive the result of all previous deeds (karma). This, too, is a wrong view.
• How could they both be wrong? Wouldn't one being wrong necessitate the other being right? No. Both views are at odds with reality, and enlightenment (bodhi) is knowing-and-seeing things as they truly are thereby being liberated from the endless Round of Rebirth (samsara).
• What does the Middle Way say is the case? One must first understand that "middle" does not mean a compromise between both views, a mean or average of the two. Indeed, what we are or at least what we identify with, has a material component, but there is also a psychological component. This is nama-rupa, "name and form." This can be said of all things, not just us.
• More importantly, what is "us"? What are "we"? What is the self or soul or the being? The Buddha said when people speak of self, they are referring to the Five Aggregates clung to as self. These are form; feelings, perceptions, mental formations, and consciousness(es).
• What, ultimately speaking, is "form" (rupa)? Science does not know, but well-instructed mystics (noble ones, knowers, seers, those endowed with the divine eye or dibba cakkhu) know. They do not know it by rote. Anyone can come to know that. They know it by direct perception. They are well instructed not to memorize a list but rather to engage in a practice (Satipatthana) to directly see, penetrate, and understand what is there in material form. Unfortunately, what is there is described in ancient and archaic terms. When modern people hear these words, they -- thinking they know what they mean -- dismiss them out of hand.
• Those who listen, who give ear and attention to comprehend what the Buddha meant by these ancient terms is then instruction on the PRACTICE to be able to see them directly. See what? The Four Elements. We "know" there aren't four elements. There are many more. This is not what "elements" (dhatu) means in Buddhism. The elements are not, roughly speaking, material. They are qualities, characteristics, descriptions of matter. Those many descriptions are put into four categories, and these categories are the "elements."
• The PRACTICE of Four Elements Meditation is the way to know-and-see them. This is not science to SHOW others. This is Buddhist psychology (Abhidhamma) to see for oneself. For it is only by knowing-and-seeing for ourselves that we can become free. No one has ever gained freedom, enlightenment, spiritual liberation simply by reading -- just as no one has ever learned physics by flipping to the back pages of a text for the answers to equations. The answers are back there so that, after doing the PRACTICE of calculating, we can see if our results comport and accord with what others have confirmed are the answers. It is essential to come see for oneself. That is the Path of Freedom (Vimuttimagga), the Path of Purification (Vissudhimagga).

Source: Scientists think they’ve finally found the meaning of life (MSN)

Jewish Israel's 'genocide' plan for Gaza: Get Egypt to kill 'em all

"Perish or leave": Hundreds of thousands flee as Israeli military invades Gaza City

(Democracy Now!) Sept. 17, 2025: Zionist-Jewish-Israeli forces has a War Machine pushing deeper into Gaza City as the full-fledged military ground invasion continues despite mounting international opposition and condemnation.

Settler colonial genocides

Is Israel just more Western (CIA) imperialism?

The Black History They Tried to Hide from You

Hundreds of thousands of human beings have been forced to flee Gaza City, where nearly one million Palestinians (whom racist Israeli Jews call "Arabs") have been living among rubble and ruins ahead of Israel's ground offensive.

"Just open your eyes and look at what's unfolding there," says [Democracy Now! guest] Muhammad Shehada, a writer and analyst from Gaza. "It's impossible to see what's happening and conclude that there's anything else but genocide unfolding." More

 

(Middle East Eye) UN: Israel committing 'genocide.' Now what?

UN declares Israel is committing literal GENOCIDE: What happens next?

(Middle East Eye) Sept. 16, 2025: Every eight minutes since October 2023, [hypocritical Zionist Jews in Israel have been killing] a Palestinian in Gaza -- one child every hour.

Now, in its strongest report yet, the United Nations has concluded: Israel IS committing "genocide."

The two-year investigation identifies four genocidal acts:

1. mass killings,
2. torture and displacement,
3. starvation and deprivation, and
4. even measures to prevent births.

It also cites dehumanizing statements by officials and Israeli leaders as evidence of intent. Under the Genocide Convention, every UN member state now has a legal duty to act.

Yet, the UK continues to sell arms to Israel while [lying and] insisting there is “no evidence of genocide.”

• [It's just regular killing, which we approve of and are glad to see the Ashkenazi population do so that they can be out of our hair in Europe and starting an imperial war empire that starts at the sea and expands to become "Greater Israel," consuming the most 'troublesome' part of the Middle East, bringing them to heel for Western powers like the US, UK, EU, and other 'Judeo-Christian' nations to exploit.]

This report sets out obligations not only for Israel, but for governments worldwide. Whether they act -- or ignore it -- will test the credibility of international law and the future of Gaza’s people.

Catch previous episodes of MEE LIVE, a biweekly news program exploring the stories shaping the world through breaking coverage, expert analyses, and hard-hitting interviews. Support stories that matter. Subscribe. Join the channel for access to perks: @middleeasteye. MEE Telegram. Follow on TikTok (middleeasteye), Instagram (middleeasteye), Facebook (middleeasteye), Twitter (middleeasteye). Auto-dubbed: Audio tracks for some languages were automatically generated. Learn more.

Report: "Our Genocide"

(The Guardian) 'Our Genocide': How do Israeli Jews feel about the war on Gaza, Palestine?

• FBI releases highly dubious Tyler Robinson text chain, Eurovision may BAN Israel, w/ Jose Vega (The Jimmy Dore Show)

ABOUT: Democracy Now! is an independent global news hour that airs on over 1,500 TV and radio stations Monday through Friday. Watch livestream at democracynow.org Mondays to Fridays 8:00-9:00 am ET. Subscribe to Daily Email Digest: democracynow.org/subscribe. Latest Shows. Support this work: democracynow.org/donate.

• The Sun, 9/17/25; Amy Goodman, DemocracyNow.org; Middle East Eye, 9/16/25; Shauna Schwartz, Pfc. Sandoval, Sheldon S., Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Israel killing Gazans with A.I. robots

(Democracy Now on YouTube) DemocracyNow.org

(The Young Turks) Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has gone sane

(Kneecap) Can We The People stop genocidal Israel?

• Pfc. Sandoval, Ashley Wells, Sheldon S. (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

American Holocaust: Amazonian Apocalypse

Nossas histórias | Na floresta amazônica, um povo indígena luta pela sobrevivência (ACNUDH)

The Amazonian Apocalypse

Untamed Beauty of the Amazon (freepik.com)

(Lost in Context) For some 10,000 years the world was split into two isolated spheres, each unaware of the other's existence.

Then in 1492 the so-called "Old World" collided with the new, unleashing a cascade of devastation unlike anything humanity had ever witnessed. What followed was without parallel the darkest chapter in human history.

• 00:00 Intro
• 01:19 European arrival
• 02:21 Orellana's expedition
• 06:15 Portuguese take control
• 09:26 Manaus to Santarem
• 13:16 Destruction of the Amazonians
• 21:46 The holocaust of disease
• 25:55 The rubber boom

It didn't stop in the Amazon. It ruined pre-USA

This video tells the tragic story of the destruction of the people of the Amazon rainforest and, through its lens, the holocaust of the entire Western Hemisphere.

Sources (for the Amazon series)

• John Hemming, Tree of Rivers: The Story of the Amazon, 2008
• Chris Feliciano Arnold, The Third Bank of the River, 2018
• Charles C. Mann, 1491: The Americas Before Columbus, 2005
• Charles C. Mann, 1493: How the Ecological Collision of Europe and the Americas Gave Rise to the Modern World, 2011
• McNeill, J. R, Mosquito Empires; Ecology and War in the Greater Carribean, 2010
• Grandin, Greg, Fordlandia, 2009
• Lost in Context, Dec. 9, 2024; Pfc. Sandoval, Crystal Quintero, Sheldon S. (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Bhikkhu Bodhi, what is NIRVANA?

Bhikkhu Bodhi's surprising and profound description of nirvana (nibbana)

(Daniel Aitken) In this profound Dharma Chat, renowned American Theravada Buddhist monk, scholar, and translator Bhikkhu Bodhi sheds light on the ultimate goal of the Buddhist path: nirvana (nibbana). Join him as he navigates the intricacies of this elusive concept in three ways, unveiling its multifaceted nature and dispelling common foolish misconceptions about this reality. Watch the full episode at dharmachats.com.

Nirvana (the Unformed)

Arhats in nirvana are not in nothingness

The beautiful thing about this short answer is that it is what Bhikkhu Bodhi was saying decades ago in his landmark series As It Is, ten taped lectures. The "Nibbana" lecture (Number 6) goes into detail to show that nirvana is NOT nothingness as so many people have concluded. It is not "emptiness." It is not negative, though described by excluding what it is not, which makes it sound like exactly that. Anyone wishing to intellectually grasp nirvana, because direct realization of it (which is the best way of understanding it) is a little way off, will enjoy this talk:

Nirvana (the Deathless)

Nibbana (Nirvana) lecture by Bhikkhu Bodhi, Dhamma, Buddhism

• Bhikkhu Bodhi, Daniel Aitken, Dec. 28, 2023; Dhr. Seven (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly

Is there a Self or not? (sutra)

Is There a Self or Not?

The Wanderer Vacchagotta went to visit the Exalted One (the Buddha) and said:

"Master Gotama, is there a self?" At these words the Exalted One was silent.

"Then, Master Gotama, is there not a self?" Again the Exalted One was silent.

Then the Wanderer Vacchagotta rose from his seat and went away.

Not long after his departure, Venerable Ananda said to the Exalted One:

"How is it, venerable sir, that the Exalted One gave no answer to the question of the Wanderer Vacchagotta?"

"If, Ananda, when asked by the wanderer, 'Is there a self?,' I had replied to him: 'There is a self,' then, Ananda, that would be siding with the recluses and Brahmins who are Eternalists.

"But if, Ananda, when asked, 'Is there not a self?' I had replied that self does not exist, that, Ananda, would be siding with those recluses and Brahmins who are Annihilationists.

"Again, Ananda, when asked by the wanderer, 'Is there a self?,' had I replied that there is, would my reply be in accordance with the knowledge that all things are impermanent?"

"Surely not, venerable sir."

"Again, Ananda, when asked by the Wanderer Vacchagotta, 'Is there a self?,' had I replied that there were not, it would have been more bewilderment for the already bewildered Vacchagotta.

"He would have said, 'Formerly, indeed, I had a self, but now I have not one anymore.'"

Anatta according to Theravada Buddhism

Anatta is the third of the Three Universal Characteristics of Existence (ti-lakkhana) or general characteristics (samanna-lakkhana). Like the teaching of the Four Enlightening Truths, it is the "teaching unique to Buddhas" (buddhanam samukkamsika desana, M. 56/vol. i. 380).

The most usual English rendering, which will be employed here, is "not-self" (or "not self"), though the words "soulless," "egoless," and "impersonal" are often used. (The rendering "Self" with a capital is not justified owing to the absence of capitals in Indian alphabets). More

• Ven. Ñanamoli Thera, The Three Basic Facts of Existence: III. Egolessness (Anatta) (SN 44.10); Dhr. Seven (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly

Report from Gaza: Israel's extermination

Report from Gaza: Palestinians feel they are being "slowly exterminated" in Israel's genocide

(Democracy Now!) Nov. 14, 2024: Let's go to Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, to get an update from Arwa Damon of the humanitarian organization INARA on "deteriorating conditions" as Israeli Jews "slowly exterminate" Palestinians through mass bombings, terror, drone strikes, disease, and purposeful starvation caused by the US proxy war in Israel and its brutal siege.

A special U.N. committee has found that Israel's actions in Gaza are "consistent with the characteristics of genocide."

Palestinians in Gaza feel that "they are living through their own annihilation," says Damon. "There is actually a real sense that the worst is yet to come."

ABOUT: Democracy Now! is an independent global news hour that airs on over 1,500 TV and radio stations Monday through Friday. Watch livestream at democracynow.org Mondays to Fridays 8-9 am ET. Latest shows. Support this work: democracynow.org/donate.

Paris violence as riot police fight with pro-Palestine demonstration

Amsterdam police drag pro-Palestine protesters away for defying ban

(The Scottish Sun) Nov 14, 2024: Demonstrations erupted in central Paris on Wednesday evening, Nov. 13th, as demonstrators gathered to voice opposition to a pro-Israel event featuring Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.

The protestors, many waving Palestinian flags and lighting flares, clashed briefly with police near the Saint Lazare Station. Riot police reacted with tear gas as they pushed the crowd back, creating a tense standoff in one of the city’s busiest areas.

The rally was organized by groups opposing the gala held by the “Israel Forever” association, which supports Israel’s genocidal policies in France.

The event, which aimed to promote Israel’s one-sided interests, featured Smotrich as the keynote speaker.

The minister has been a controversial figure due to his far-right views, including his outspoken support for Israeli settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank and his advocacy for the resettlement of Gaza.

On Monday, Smotrich drew international condemnation after suggesting that Israel could annex the West Bank in 2025, should former U.S. Pres. Trump return to office. His previous remarks on Palestinian emigration and the separation of Arabs and Jews in Israel have also sparked widespread criticism.

Earlier attempts by several French organizations to halt the event through legal means were unsuccessful.

As the evening wore on, protests grew in intensity, with demonstrators marching through multiple locations across Paris in solidarity with Palestine. By 8:00 pm, riot police had deployed in large numbers to control the crowd, and tear gas was shot at them to disperse the demonstrators.

No immediate reports of injuries or arrests were available.

theScottishsun.co.uk thescottishsun / scottishsun #france #protesters #français #palestine #paris

Eating KORN for suicide prevention

Korn at BMO after supporting SOAD at SSW

Now that Suicide Prevention Month is wrapped up, it's time to listen to some Korn again. They're in concert this weekend in SoCal. Due to leaks of credit card and personal financial information, one woman had her virtual tickets transferred to someone else. TicketMaster is to blame. How doe 

September is National Suicide Prevention Month (samhsa.gov) and if you've found a way to hang on, let's see if we could feel, think, and reason our way through this. Unless you're recovering from some attempt, the thoughts are the problem. What reasoning has let to contemplating a permanent solution to a temporary problem? It's all in the thinking. Thinking is a trap, basing decision on unquestioned assumptions. Become aware of the assumption, and all the thinking built on them magically falls away..

September is a month to [listen Guns 'n' Roses' "September Rain," very sad and depressing] and to remember the lives lost to suicide. Millions of people have struggled...

• FREE TICKET to Unsinkable: The Secret to Bouncing Back

NAMI (nami.org) don't like it. Get involved because awareness is the way to prevention, whereas lack of mindfulness and clear comprehension (sati-sampajanna) is the way to automatic pilot. A dog chases a tail. Does it ever figure out that's its tail? One bite would do it, but it's too fast.

Is there ever a time to raise awareness of this urgent crisis? It's like asking, "When is the best time to plant a tree?" We use this month to shift public perception and spread hope.

Prevention beats trying to cure the spiraling when someone falls into a tailspin. That dog just won't stop. One way is to call (988) LIFE-LINE. Every year, the 988 Lifeline and other mental health organizations and individuals across the U.S. raise awareness of suicide prevention during September.

AFSP.org hails National Suicide Prevention Month and Week. This is a moment in time when we rally the public to create awareness of this leading cause of death and inspire more self-compassion.

If only there were a toolkit for suicide prevention (nimh.nih.gov). There is a Digital Toolkit for Suicide Prevention Month. Join the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) to raise awareness by sharing resources that can help one recognize the warning signs of suicide and do something about it.

• KoRn "Dirty" (Live on the Other Side) lyrics by Johnathan Davis, from Issues; Pfc. Sandoval, Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly; SAMHSA.gov, Aug. 16, 2024, et. al.

Everything ZEN? "Optimistic nihilism" - Nothing matters, but it's OK

Do what you did to Bart to me, Lisa. I want to be Big Fat Buddha. - His name is Budai, Dad, and he's NOT the Buddha. He is a jolly bodhisattva with a big candy sack . - Ooh, Santa Budai!

Maha Kassapa smiles at a flower.

Is optimistic nihilism a healthy way of life? In the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the original BBC Radio series before the books, there's a very funny scene in an exchange between the human, Arthur Dent, and a stranger on the planet of Magrathea, a mythical planet that builds planets and therefore couldn't possibly exist. But here it is.

• VIDEO: "Optimistic nihilism" is when we take the attitude of "nothing matters, but it's okay

The stolen ship, The Heart of Gold, which is powered by the new infinite improbability drive, has found it. (Zaphod Beeblebrox, the president of the galaxy, stole it when he was meant to be launching it so he could carry out this secret plan, which first includes getting here to Magrathea).

The crew has entered and left poor Arthur on the surface, where he runs into the Magrathean Slartibartfast, who builds planets and who made the fjords of Earth. He is now working on Earth Mark II.

"Don't panic" (Douglas Adams)

Arthur Dent can't believe his ears, a reference to Earth so far out in space? Earth really is significant and special! But now it's all gone, destroyed by the Vogons.

Arthur, reflecting in this way, asks Slartibartfast a philosophical question about the meaning of life, the universe, and everything. Slartibartfast gives a very strange answer.

The question runs something like, "What's the meaning of it all?"

Zen Master Bart* or Lisa Simpson? (Matt Groening)

Slartibartfast replies, "I say, 'Hang the sense of it'! I far rather be 

happy than right any day."

"And are you?" Arthur interjects with awe.

"No," Slartibartfast laments, "that's where it all falls down of course."

It's a nice philosophy but he -- and one suspects most of us -- can't live up to it. We'd far rather be happy than right, but we are neither happy nor right.

(It sort of gives a boost to those of us who'd far rather be right than happy, though, sadly, we're not right either most of the time, and as for happy? Fuhgeddaboudit.)

So what's the chance any of us are going to pull off this optimistic nihilism?

Optimistic? Okay, if we can manage it or set it as our default option and not worry. Nihilism? Easy, for some of us, all bleak, depressive, laughing at Woody Allen quips at the absurdity of things. WATCH

How to be happy and get saved?

Cosmic Amitabha [God] Buddha

*Does anyone remember that episode of The Simpsons when a psychologist decides that Bart is the healthiest person in Springfield? The doctor finds Bart the most "Zen." He's spontaneous, unpremeditated, artless, authentic, speaks his mind. He's so healthy everyone decides to be like him, and Bart hates it. Suddenly his uniqueness is taken away.

These attributes really are aspirations of Zen Buddhism, according to Alan Watts. The reason for it seems rooted in Taoism more than in what the historical Buddha taught. But it all comes down to a great division that occurred in Mahayana Buddhism, the great Tariki versus Jiriki Debate, whether salvation (enlightenment, awakening, spiritual liberation, emancipation, moksha, freedom, nirvana) is to be attained by our power (efforts) or other power (the efforts of something extrinsic), by our force or an outside force).

What patriarchal Mahayana Buddhism needs is a Goddess of Compassion, a Mary: Guanyin

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The historical Buddha Gautama (Gandhara)

The historical Buddha taught a path of our own efforts, but many later Mahayana Buddhists deviated back to the world-popular path of blind faith, intense devotion, petitioning a higher power to do it for us.

This is never what the Buddha taught, but it makes more philosophical sense: Since we can't by our own power, we need to engage a Higher Power (like Amitabha Buddha, Mother Mary/Bodhisattva of Compassion Kwan Yin, other Cosmic Buddhas, God, or who knows) and hitch our train to that.

Hey, and this tulku bodhisattva?

In Mahayana, everyone will be saved eventually because a great Bodhisattva is going to see to it before attaining buddhahood and his own emancipation.

That's the thinking, Alan Watts explains, and that's why Pure Land Buddhism (Nichiren Shōshū) from Japan and China, Imperial Holy Roman Catholicism, Christianity (Jesus freaks), Islam, some New Age teachings...are all so popular. Will it be us doing or other doing?

Christianity as afterthought

Super Friends: Buddha, Krishna, Mo, Yeshua, Aquaman, Moses, Laozi, Joe Smith (South Park)

Misquoting Jesus (Bart Ehrman)

It's funny that those who are adamant that some other power must save us still have a lot for us to do, as if we were saving ourselves.

Christians hypocritically say ONLY Jesus saves -- but to be saved, WE have to ask, repent, plead for the Holy Spirit to take possession of us and live our lives for us as the driver, be born again, get on God the Father's good side, pray and petition for His "grace," which is a "gift" that can only be given and never earned -- as if all the behaving and other stuff weren't work and earning it.

Savior? Now younger, nicer, whiter, easier!

Jeesh, what kind of scam? Most will do all that work and still not get it because their efforts weren't good enough. "Works without faith are dead" or something? "Not by thine own works art thou saved"?

Works (intentional karma, deeds) mean nothing? Clearly, they mean something. But Imperial Christianity (Protestant movements and the worldwide Catholic Church) wants to keep everyone in bondage and call that being "saved."

Compassionate Kwan Yin Bodhisattva

When you're up in heaven singing in a heavenly choir praising the Almighty God of the Universe, the great Creator, the doer, maker, thinker, and power of everything for an eternity, then you'll be happy?

No thanks. who wouldn't rather be a Buddhist, Independent, or New Ager to understand and make our own way to freedom and the end of all suffering (nirvana), to enlightenment in this very life and the deathless (amata)?

• Dhr. Seven, Ashley Wells, Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Wisdom Quarterly