Showing posts with label buddhist cosmology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label buddhist cosmology. Show all posts

Thursday, August 27, 2026

The sky's gone out: lunar eclipse (8/27)

Lunar eclipse 2026: LIVE view from across the world
    What is the real cause of eclipses? Rahu

    How dare Eric Dubay do science
    Buddhist cosmology, astronomy, and mythology speaks of another celestial body in the region of our sky known as space (50 miles up and higher). This occult body does a better job of explaining eclipses than the Earth's shadow on the Moon, two bodies of the same size and nearby, circling (not orbiting) over the plane of the Earth as we look up. But it's all being covered up with CGI and the Never A Straight Answer U.S. spying agency, NASA. What we "see" with our own eyes is actually manipulated propaganda to conceal the truth rather than reveal the wonders of our cosmos. The body that occludes is called Rahu in the Dharmic religions. The Buddha inherited this from ancient India, but the great sages like Mahavira, Sri Shankara, and the rishis ("seers") agreed. How can anyone take this seriously nowadays at a time of universal lies when speaking truth is a dissident act of rebellion? NASA has much to answer for, as CIA pilot and whistleblower John Lear explained. It isn't that NASA lies about some things; rather everything it says about space is untrue. We are completely deceived.
    So listening to persona non grata flatearther Eric Dubay makes sense. He has 200 proofs for what he claims. (The State of the World requires us to post this Rebuttals to Eric Dubay’s “200 Proofs Earth is not a Spinning Ball” – FlatEarth.ws in reactionary fashion). Would listening to both sides be reasonable? No! Ye shall attend only to official claims of a scientifical nature approved by gatekeepers at the University, priests on pulpits, paid mouthpieces on YouTube, and propagandists worldwide. Nothing else is accepted. Shield your ears and avert your gaze lest ye be contaminated by Dubay's rambling. We, however, are very interested in listening to him. He also has the audacity to condemn Israel, historical Israelites, review claims about Hitler, and is therefore banned, censored, condemned out of hand, and cannot possibly have anything to say that anyone should listen to and evaluate about anything at any time in any world, especially this one. Obey. Burn him at the stake like a witch.

    Expat Yogi Eric Dubay in Buddhist Thailand
    Who? EricDubay.com, who appears on Rumble.com and Bitchute.com and elsewhere where freedom of speech still has some purchase, plus all his books still available on Amazon. Another way to believe classical Indian astronomy is to redefine "Rahu" from celestial body to "lunar node," which is reasonable but preposterous, but at least it's defensible and acceptable to the powers that be. One good reason to doubt that the Moon causes solar eclipses is the position of the Moon before and after eclipse dates, usually nowhere near the place it will be at in the sky on the date. Sometimes in history it has even been visible going down or rising far from where it needs to be, but all such talk is verboten and you will be discredited.

    The Sky's Gone Out is the third studio album by English gothic rock band Bauhaus, released in 1982 by record label Beggars Banquet. The album's production was markedly more difficult than the band's previous records, featuring conflict between the band members and with their record label. Critical reception was also more muted than for their previous classic works, though the album has been more warmly reevaluated over time and held up as a masterpiece. More
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    Thursday, June 11, 2026

    Who "Created" the Universe?


    Baka Brahma, luminous,
    entertained these [wrong] views:
    “I AM that God, the One who makes,
    Father of the whole World.
    I flourish from My own purity.”
    But He had wrongly conceived of
    views that wrapped around Him
    as tight as serpents’ coils:
    The supreme wandering ascetics
    conquered Him by knowledge.
    He was cured. Source


    I am that I am?
    A god (brahmā) known as Baka once reflected privately that he and his heavenly plane of existence were everlasting. He thought that it was not possible that there could be a higher plane of rebirth and was therefore convinced he had overcome all rebirth and suffering.

    The Buddha discerned his deep-seated wrong view and decided out of sympathy to pay Baka a visit in his heaven. When the Buddha appeared in that brahmā world, Baka Brahmā welcomed him formally but immediately announced:

    “Now, good sir, this [place] is permanent, this is everlasting, this is eternal, this is total, this is not subject to pass away; for this neither is born nor ages nor dies nor passes away nor reappears, and beyond this there is no escape” (MN 49).

    The Buddha, however, contradicted him, pointing out that every one of his claims was wrong. Just then Māra the Tempter [a kind of Lucifer figure] joined their conversation. Māra’s task is to prevent beings from being won over to the Dhamma, to keep them trapped in the cycle of rebirth and death, what Mara views as his personal domain [11].

    Taking possession of one of the brahmā’s attendants, Māra urged the Buddha, with a display of sympathy, to accept this brahmā as God, the creator of all other beings.

    He told the Buddha that wandering ascetics of the past who delighted in things of this life and “who lauded Brahmā” won happy rebirths afterwards, while those who disbelieved and rejected Brahmā had to endure terrible punishment [in hells].

    The Awakened One (the Buddha) let Mara have his say and then called his bluff: “I know you, Evil One. Do not think, ’He does not know me.’ You are Māra, Evil One, and the Brahmā and his assembly and the members of the assembly have all fallen into your hands, they have all fallen under your power. You, Evil One, think, ’This one, too, has fallen into my hands. He, too, has fallen under my power.’ But I have not fallen into your hands, Evil One. I have not fallen under your power.”

    “All beings subject to craving—humans, subhumans, devas (celestial deities), or brahmās (grand divinities)—are said to be under Māra’s power because they can all be moved by their mental defilements and must drift along in the current of rebirth and death.

    But the Buddha and the other arahants (fully enlightened ones) have permanently and completely escaped Māra’s circle of influence, for they have eliminated all defilements. They have exhausted the fuel that leads to rebirth and thus have vanquished the Lord of Death (Mara).

    Baka Brahmā begins to speak on his own behalf. He reminds the Buddha of his opening statement on permanence. He warns him that it is futile to seek “an escape beyond” his own brahma realm. Then he cajoles and threatens the Buddha in the same breath:

    “If you will hold to earth… beings… gods… you will be close to me, within my domain, for me to work my will upon and punish.”

    The Buddha agrees that if he clung to earth (or any other aspect of existence) he would remain under the control of Mahā Brahmā ("Great Supremo") and Māra, too, but he adds:

    “I understand that your reach and sway extend thus: Baka the Brahmā has this much power, this much might, this much influence.”

    The Buddha points out that beyond the thousandfold world system over which Baka reigns there are planes of existence of which Baka is totally unaware, and beyond all conditioned phenomena there is a reality that transcends even “the allness of the all”—a consciousness without manifestation, boundless, luminous on all sides—to which Baka has no access whatsoever.

    The Buddha, demonstrating his superiority in knowledge and power, then uses his superior psychic powers to humble Baka in front of his entire assembly. By the end of the discourse, these once haughty divine beings marvel at the might of the wandering ascetic Gotama:

    “Though living in a generation that delights in being…he has extirpated being [becoming, bhava] and its root” [12].

    A brahmā with wrong view
    Once an unnamed brahmā gave rise to this deluded thought: “No ascetic is powerful enough to reach my [divine] realm.”

    The Buddha read his mind and proved him wrong by simply appearing before him and sitting at ease in the air above his head, while radiating flames from his body in a dramatic display of supernormal powers.

    Four great arahant (fully enlightened) disciples—Mahā Moggallāna (the monk the Buddha declared "foremost in psychic powers" among his disciples), Kassapa, Kappina, and Anuruddha—independently realized what had happened and decided to join their Teacher on this divine brahmā plane.

    Each disciple sat cross-legged in the air respectfully below the Buddha—but above that brahmā—in one of the cardinal directions, emitting fire around himself. A short dialogue in verse took place between Mahā Moggallāna, the Buddha’s second chief male disciple, and that brahmā:

    “Today, friend, do you still hold that view,
    The same view that you formerly held?
    Do you see a radiance
    Surpassing that in the brahma-world?”

    “I no longer hold that view, dear sir,
    [I reject] the view I formerly held.
    Indeed, I see a radiance
    Surpassing that in the brahma-world?”

    Today how could I assert the view
    That I am permanent and eternal?”

    According to the Commentary (tika) to this story, the brahmā gave up his wrong view, his wrong belief in his own superiority when he observed the magnificence of the Buddha and a few of his arahants.

    When the Buddha preached the Dhamma to him, that brahma was established in the fruit of stream-entry and stopped thinking of himself as permanent.

    When this brahmā saw his own [radical] impermanence clearly and distinctly for himself, his former tenacious wrong view, wrong opinion that his world and life were immortal was uprooted.

    Many aeons of preparation, the brahmā’s quick intellect, the Buddha’s perfect timing, and the support of the four arahants bore fruit in this divinity becoming a stream enterer (one who has reached the first stage of awakening).

    After the Buddha and those arahants left and returned to Jetavana, the great brahmā wanted to learn more about the powers of Buddhist monastics. He sent a member of his retinue to ask Mahā Moggallāna whether there are even more monastics of this teacher who can perform such feats as he can. Maha Moggallāna replied:

    “Many are the disciples of the Buddha
    Who are arahants with taints destroyed,
    Triple knowledge bearers with spiritual powers,
    Skilled in the course of others’ minds”
    (KS I, 182–84; SN 6:5).

    Not only do large numbers of monastics have such special powers and the ability to know other people’s minds, but there are numerous fully purified arahant disciples of the Buddha as well. The emissary was glad to hear this answer, as was that brahmā when he received the report. Source
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    Friday, June 5, 2026

    Maya map of the universe found in Mexico

    Step pyramid at Comalcalco archeological site in Tabasco, Mexico (wiki)
    A monumental complex built by the Maya of Mesoamerica (Tabasco, Mexico) an estimated 3,000 years ago was modeled on a map of the cosmos (universe), new fieldwork has revealed.
      
    Buddhist cosmological mandala layout
    A detailed survey of the Aguada Fénix site reveals that not only was the monument significantly larger than initial surveys suggested – laid out in the shape of a cross with axes measuring 5.6 and 4.7 miles (9 and 7.5 kilometers) – but it was also designed as a cosmogram, a kind of Buddhist mandala, an architecture symbolizing the cosmos (Buddhist cosmology, Earthly realms).


    What will I wear when I visit? (Crystal Q)
    What's even more remarkable about the structure is that the site contains none of the trappings of social inequality, such as elite residences or sculptures of rulers. This strongly implies that egalitarian cultures were capable of monumental building works without the application of coercive force through a stratified social hierarchy ruled by a king or queen.
    • Before now, the Maya site of Seibal was thought to be the oldest ceremonial center, dating back to around 950 BCE
    • Related: 'Bad Omen': Ancient pyramid in Mexico collapses
    Aguada Fénix greenstone object likely depicts a crocodile (Inomata et al., Sci. Adv., 2025).
     
    The Maya cosmos mapped out on Earth?
    The discovery of Aguada Fénix by way of LiDAR surveys, in the Mexican state of Tabasco near the Gulf of Mexico, was fascinating for a number of reasons.

    The first was its size; it was the largest Maya site ever found, even going by the more modest initial estimate of 1.4 kilometers along its longest axis. And it wasn't hidden in the forest, as so many lost Mesoamerican (Mexican), Central American, and South American structures are.

    It was under a populated area. Plus, there was the aforementioned lack of evidence for social hierarchy. Largest and oldest Maya monument ever found discovered under Mexico
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    Sunday, February 1, 2026

    'Fight till Death' in Human/Animal World


    Countless worlds in 31 Planes of Existence
    What deeds (karma in Buddhism) lead to rebirth in the animal womb (tiracchana yoni). The simple answer is breaking any of the Five Precepts. Upholding these moral precepts is the basic minimum to ever be reborn on the human plane.

    Animals in the Buddhist worldview are believed to inhabit a distinct "world" (loka) that is separat from humans. But the dividing line is not in space. Rather, it is in terms of state of mind. This "Animal Womb" (Sanskrit Tiryag-yoni, Pāli Tiracchāna-yoni) World is part of the downfall (apaya).

    Rebirth as an animal is considered very unfortunate -- even though some animals are very beautiful, long lived, and treated well due to previous karma. In general, rebirth as an animal involves much more suffering than is found in the human world (manusya-loka).

    The real "human world" we don't see
    Humans live long lives in peace and prosperity...not here, but in other human worlds.
     
    We think we understand the "human plane" because we are living on it. We do not. We do not understand even a fraction of human life on this plane, which we are told is a "plane(t)" and no one is allowed to question that and be taken seriously.

    There are countless "human" worlds existing in "world systems" in all directions in space. But just here, wherever "here" is, the Buddha spoke of four "lights" or "islands" (dipas, usually translated as "continents," but they are more likely other divisions, places, dimensions because the strange beings that inhabit them are very different from the ordinary "humans" we take for granted all around us). What is behind the Ice Wall, the next human subdivision or "continent"?
    • FOUR "HUMAN" WORLDS right here, main divisions: (1) Jambu-dīpa, located in the south (of the axis mundi Mt. Sumeru (a "mountain" too big to be an actual peak here like holy Mt. Kailash, K2, Everest, or the even taller Mauna Kea when measured from base to peak as one would normally measure anything), named after the Jambu tree, with human beings who are five to six feet tall and length of life currently at 120 years (though varying between 10 years at its lowest ebb and 80,000 at its height); (2) Pubbavideha located in the east, named after the acacia tree, similar to Yggdrasil the "world tree" in Norse mythology, with humanoid people about 12 feet (3.7 meters) in height, living for an average of 700 years; (3) Aparagoyāna located in the west, named after a giant Kadamba tree (Anthocephalus chinensis), with humanoid inhabitants living not in houses but sleeping on the ground, standing about 24 feet (7.3 m) tall and living for 500 years (though usually 500 just means "a long time"); (4) Uttarakuru, located in the north, with a giant tree called a Kapparukkha, an "aeon-tree," because it lasts for the entire kappa (Pali) or kalpa (Sanskrit) with humanoid inhabitants living in cities built in the air/sky/space (akasha), extraordinarily wealthy, not needing to work for a living – with food that grows by itself – having no private property, standing about 48 feet (15 m) tall and living for 1,000 years under the protection of Vaiśravaṇa.
    • (Does any of this sound like "our 'planet' or 'human world,'" the one we know as we travel around? Or maybe The Jetsons were onto something.) More unbelievable details: The Earthly Realms in Buddhist cosmology
    • There are almost certainly more of these, as spoken of in Vedic, Hindu, and Jain texts, with a series of planes inside, below ground: Agartha (Hollow Earth).
    The Animal World
    Help, I'm drowning, I'm drowning in samsara!
    The Buddhist commentaries (tika) depict the many types of suffering associated with the animal world. Even when human beings are not present to torture, imprison, slaughter, and devour them, they are attacked by other animals and ripped to shreds -- or live in fear of it. They endure extreme changes of environment throughout the year and have no secure habitation.

    Animals that live among humans are often groomed, molested, experimented on, then slaughtered for their bodies, or captured and forced to work with beatings until they are slaughtered at the premature end of their miserable lives.


    This is nice. Diane and I are rich and live well!
    Moreover, animals as a rule suffer from ignorance even more than humans, not knowing or understanding with any clarity what is happening to them or why. And they are unable to do much about it, acting primarily on instinct, if they can manage to figure anything out. Some animals understand what is going on, remembering past lives and wondering why humans cannot hear them or respond to their feelings and cries and complaints. (See an animal communicator if this seems impossible to believe). More
    Slayer: “Fight till Death”
    (Slayer) We were living like animals "In Praise of Death," only living to die (and Hell Awaits)

    Will the Eagle conquer the Serpent?
    Metal and men clash once more to the end/ Warriors above, with the power to kill, descend/ Militia of blood, troops of hate march to die/ Soldiers of Hell, veterans of death arise

    [CHORUS:] Prepare for attack/ Your body will burn/ Endless war/ There's no return/ Prepare for attack/ Death will arrive/ Your orders are clear/ No way to hide/ Fight till death

    Senseless death of all mankind overtakes/ Armored assassins destroy, at will, your escape/ Children of sorrow are trampled into the grave/ There is no future, no fucking world to be saved [CHORUS]
     
    To reign in Hell [guitar solo: Jeff Hanneman]/ Gods of steel unleash their destruction on man/ Reign of death, what is the final command?/ Scepters of hate are dropped upon this Earth/ Clouds of terror destroy all hope of rebirth [CHORUS]

    Prepare for attack/ Your body will burn/ Endless war/ There's no return/ Prepare for attack/ Death will arrive/ Your orders are clear/ No way to hide/ Fight till death/ Fight till death/ Fight till death/ Fight till death.
    • Slayer; Seth Auberon, Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Pfc. Sandoval (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly Wiki edit
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    Monday, December 29, 2025

    Lost civilization beneath Antarctica?

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    Wednesday, November 12, 2025

    The Buddha: Origin of belief in creator God

    The Buddha in a heaven talking to Sakka (Indra) and Maha Brahma (right) (mesosyn.com)

    Origin of the Belief in a Creator God
     
    Buddhism and the God-Idea
    [The Buddha explained:] Now, there comes a time, meditators, when, sooner or later, after the lapse of a long period [of devolving], this world-system passes away.

    When this happens, beings have mostly been reborn in the World of Radiance, and there they dwell made of mind, feeding on joy, radiating light from themselves, traversing the air, continuing in glory; thus, they remain for a long period of time.

    Now, there comes a time, meditators, when, sooner or later, this world-system begins to evolve again. When this happens the Palace of Brahmā appears, but it is empty. And some being or other, either because its span of years has passed or its merit has become exhausted, falls from the World of Radiance, and comes to life [is reborn] in the Palace of Brahmā.

    There also this being lives made of mind, feeding on joy, radiating light from itself, traversing the air, continuing in glory; thus, does it remain for a long, long period of time. Now there arises, from dwelling there so long alone, a dissatisfaction and a longing:

    By merely wishing, I am the Creator!
    “O, would that other beings might come and join me in this place!” And, just then, either because their span of years had passed [in that other world] or their merit [to carry on there] became exhausted, other beings fall from the World of Radiance and appear in the Palace of Brahmā as companions, in all respects like Brahmā [other than their later arrival].

    On this, meditators, the one who was first reborn thinks: “I am Brahmā [Supreme], the Great (Maha) Brahmā, the Supreme One, the Mighty, the All-Seeing, the Ruler, the Lord of All, the Maker, the Creator, the Chief of all [the Alpha and Omega, the I am that I am], appointing to each its place, the Ancient of Days, the Parent of all that are and are to be. These other beings are of my creation. Why is this so? A while ago I thought, 'Would that they might come!’ And on my mental aspiration, behold the beings came!”

    I am who/that/what I am [of which they speak] and I am everlasting!

    No goddesses allowed.
    “And those beings themselves, too, think thus: 'This must be Brahmā, the Supreme, the Mighty, the All-Seeing, the Ruler, the Lord of All, the Maker, the Creator, the Chief of All, appointing to each a place, the Ancient of Days, the Parent  of all that are and are to be. And we must have been created by that being. Why? It is because, as we see, it was that being who was here first, and we came after that.”

    On this, meditators, the one who first came into existence there is of longer life and more glorious and more powerful than those who appeared afterward. And it might well be, meditators, that some being on falling from that state, should come hither [to be reborn].

    Well, they're allowed, just don't call them goddesses like Sophia, Mother Mary, wife Asherah
    .
    And having come hither [to the human plane] that being might go forth from the household life into the homeless state [of a monastic]. And having thus become a recluse that person, by reason of ardor, of exertion, of application, of earnestness, of careful thought, reaches such rapture of heart that, rapt in heart [jhana], he calls to mind his last dwelling-place but not the previous ones.

    He says to himself: “That illustrious Brahmā [Supremo], the Great Brahmā, the Supreme One, the Mighty, the All-Seeing, the Ruler, the Lord of All, the Maker, the Creator, the Chief of All, appointing to each its place, the Ancient of Days, the Father of All that are and are to be, that being by whom we were created is steadfast, immutable, eternal, of a nature that knows no change and will remain so forever and ever. But we who were created have come hither as being impermanent, mutable, limited in duration of life.”


    This, meditators, is the first state of things on account of which, starting out from which, some recluses and Brahmins (shramanas and brahmanas), being eternalists as to some things and non-eternalists as to others, maintain that the soul and the world are partly eternal and partly not eternal. More

    Misconstrued as the "creator" deity
    We're not allowed to question in Christianity
    Buddhism is a nontheistic (not atheistic) religion. It does not include the belief in an ultimate creator deity or any eternal being, divine or otherwise [4][5][6].

    The universe (multiverse) comes into being due to causes and condition, but the Buddha did not declare an ultimate first beginning to it. It is cyclical and all beginnings, like all endings, repeat. There a "laws" that govern this impersonal process but not an ultimate creator God.

    This may be hard to understand because there are gods, many of them, and they of different kinds and orders: devas, brahmas, asuras, maras, nagas, and so on. They abide on different planes, of which there are at least 31; however, these general planes contain countless worlds. All of these worlds are divided into three spheres: sensual, fine material, and immaterial.
    • Among these "gods" or deities are powerful beings who wield the power of creation and other, higher order beings who enjoy the creation of others. These, however, are not ultimate creations; that is to say, they are not really making new "things" such as a new soul (atta) or a new ultimate materiality or mentality. To give an example, say there were a pile of tiny bricks and a bucket of mortar and one were to release bricklayers to have at it. How many structures could they create? How many fabulous Lego-toy like "creations" could they put together?  Presumably, they could fashion together a countless number of "things," but -- in an ultimate sense -- what is there but the same old building blocks? What is there but just ultimate materiality (form) arranged in an immaterial way (name) that looks new but is only really bricks, mortar, and arrangement?
    Countless worlds in 31 Planes in three spheres
    Buddhist texts posit that deities (brahmas, which are a subset of devas or "shining ones") such as Maha Brahma ("Great Supremo") are misconstrued as a creator [7].

    During the vivarta kalpa (some previous aeon), a deity from Abhassara (radiant) plane was reborn on the lower Maha Brahma plane. As many living beings forget about their past life as soon as they are reborn, this also happened with Maha Brahma. No longer being aware of the higher planes of existence, this being felt alone in the universe (or world-system, cakkavala).

    This being longed for the presence of others. After some time, other deities (devas) from higher planes were also reborn on those brahma planes as ministers and companions, an entire retinue [8].

    Seeing this happen and having wished for it, this being falsely believed, "I am their creator." This belief, according to Buddhist texts (like the Brahmajala Sutta), was then shared by those other deities.

    Eventually, however, one of those deities passed away from that world and was reborn on the human plane. Through meditation, that person gained the power to remember past lives [7].

    That person went on to teach what was remembered from that previous life in that glorious (but relatively low) heaven, namely, that Maha Brahma was the creator of this universe.
    • There are countless world-systems ("universes"?) in 10,000 directions, each with its own Maha Brahma and Mara and Sakka, all of which are really stations (positions, seats, thrones, chairs, offices held by living beings).
    The teaching of this person led to the widespread human belief in a creator god, according to the Pali canon [7], which refers to the Buddha's words and other teachings preserved in the Buddha's language (Pali or the lingua franca of Magadhi). More
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    Wednesday, November 5, 2025

    Dear Buddha: Who created the universe?


    It's a question we (metaphysical thinkers, philosophers, and intellectuals) love. We would probably all want to know. That someone may have been the foolish monk Ven. Malunkyaputta. Here's how the Buddha answered to subdue his delusion, ignorant confusion, and pernicious wrong views.

    Metaphysical questions
    Malunkyaputta, do not trouble yourself with such Qs
    Once when presented with a problem of metaphysics (questions that go "beyond physics") by the Buddhist monk Malunkyaputta, the Buddha calmly responded with the Parable of the Poisoned Arrow.

    On that occasion, Ven. Malunkyaputta had been meditating when he got distracted and started pondering. The hindrance of skeptical doubts arose in his mind, realizing that he had never gotten the answer to all of the usual "spiritual" questions seekers were usually in search of. All of those unanswered (some might even say unanswerable, the imponderable questions that plague Homo sapiens or "thinking human").
    • Is the physical world finite or infinite?
    • Did the universe have an origin, and will it end?
    • Who created this Universe?
    • Is the soul the same as the body or different?
    • What becomes of a fully enlightened person after death?
    • And so on ad nauseum. There is really no end to possible metaphysical speculations.
    • There is even a Buddhist text that summarizes all of the view prevalent at the time of the Buddha, which is called the Brahmajāla Sutta or "The Net of All-Embracing Views."
    • "Views" (ditthi) generally refers to wrong views (miccha-ditthi) unless otherwise qualified with samma- ("right-") views. They are as dangerous as a thicket one will get caught up in; it is far better to set them aside, awaken, and with an enlightened mind try to recall what they were when they used to make sense because they will not make sense -- and will not arise -- to the awakened (enlightened) mind/heart.
    • Ven. Malunkyaputta did not stop there. He threatened the Buddha that he would quit the monastic life and disrobe if he did not get answers to these things.
    • The Buddha gave him a powerful parable, asked him if the Buddha had ever promised to answer such questions in exchange for him becoming a monastic disciple, and thereby encouraged him to pursue the Path to the end of all suffering at which time he could see for himself independent of any teacher or teaching. This was that parable:
    When one is shot with an arrow smeared with poison, that wounded person's family may summon a doctor to have the poison removed and provide an antidote [9].

    But what if the wounded person refuses to let a doctor do anything until such time as certain important questions are answered? What if the wounded person demands first to know:
    • Who shot me with this arrow?
    • What is that person's caste and job?
    • WHY did that person shoot this arrow?
    • What kind of feather was used in its tail?
    • What kind of wood was used in its shaft?
    • What kind of poison was smeared on its tip?
    • What was the method the poison was procured?
    One who demands first to have answers to all of that would surely die long before such questions were answered.

    So, too, Malunkyaputta, a meditator will die long before getting such [fruitless metaphysical] questions answered.

    It is no different for one who follows the Middle Way, which teaches only those things necessary to realize enlightenment (direct knowing-and-seeing for oneself).

    Things not helpful and not necessary (but harmful and misleading), the Buddha (the Tathagata or Wayfarer, the Supremely Awakened One) does not teach.

    It is because those types of questions are not helpful in one's quest for enlightenment that they have been left undeclared. More (Nontheistic religion)

    More, more? Enough has been said, but for those persistent thinkers who question
    I have more questions, Sir. - Ask them.
    NOTE    : It is not because they can't be answered. They can (but any answer will be misleading, confusing, entering a thicket of views). It is not because a Supremely Awakened Buddha does not know; such an extraordinary being does know. But it is precisely because those questions are not useful (but a detriment) that the great Teacher -- concerned with the welfare and wellbeing of students -- sets aside such things and leaves them undeclared.

    A disciple, a student, also sets them aside and pursues this path-of-practice to its culmination: awakening in this very life. Then one may ask all such questions.

    One will not ask them because they will not arise because they will not make sense once one understands and penetrates DEPENDENT ORIGINATION (paticca-samuppada).

    One may even answer them for others on their quest who ask such loaded questions, but to do so will be a disservice to them which the Awakened One has avoided, set aside, and left undeclared.
    • It would be like asking the question, "Have you stopped beating your wife? Yes or no!" What is the right answer? There isn't one. There's an explanation but not an answer.
    • A more ancient example that still makes sense is the question, "When this fire goes out, which way does it go: up, down, sideways?" It doesn't "go" somewhere, for it ceases when its causes-and-conditions cease because, really, it never had an independent existence (an existence independent of those very causes and condition: fuel, wick, heat, oxygen, and process-of-combustion...
    • In exactly the same way, when we ask about the "soul" (the "self," atta, atman, ego, personality, being, consciousness), "Where does it go after death? To annihilation? To eternal life? Which is it?!" The question is wrong, so any answer will be misleading and mistaken. But there is an answer:
    • The Buddha formulated that answer in accordance with ultimate truth: Dependent Origination. "When this is, that comes to be; when this is not [present], that does not come to be." Or it may also be phrased more poetically as, "Not having been, they come to be; once having been, they cease." What? Those things. Which things? All composite things (nirvana being the only compact, a.k.a. non-composite, thing and so not a "thing," no-thing yet not "nothing") but most importantly the Five Aggregates clung to as self.
    • That is why the Heart Sutra says, "Form (the first aggregate or heap) is emptiness, and emptiness is form." A better modern translation would be to say, "Form is impersonal [not self], and the impersonal is form." Then the exact same thing is then said of the remaining four aggregates: feelings, perceptions, mental formations, and consciousness(es), the khandha or skandhas in Sanskrit.
    • The Buddha also went into greater detail when he answered, "What things?" with "the ALL that is burning."
    How could this possibly be true? There are many who have followed the Middle Way, who have avoided four foolish (and detrimental) questions and pursued four wise (and beneficial) questions. What are they?
    1. Was I in the past?
    2. What was I in the past?
    3. Will I be in the future?
    4. What will I be in the future?
    The fool ponders such thing fruitlessly, full of wrong view, caught in a thicket of views. However, the wise pursue four other questions which the Buddha has suggested, commended, and advocated:
    1. What is dukkha (disappointment, suffering, pain)?
    2. What is its cause?
    3. What is its solution?
    4. What is the way to its solution?
    These, indeed, are of great benefit. They are known as the Catu-Ariya-Sacca, the Four Ennobling (Enlightening) Truths, the fourth being this very Ennobling Eightfold Path declared by the Buddha.
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    Friday, October 31, 2025

    Hollywood's Halloween vs. Irish Samhain



    University of Edinburgh, Oct. 31, 2016
    Samhain     (SOW-in) or Sauin is a Gaelic festival in Ireland that falls on the Mexican Day of the Dead, Nov. 1st, marking the end of the harvest season and beginning of winter or the "darker half" of the year [1].

    It is also the Irish and Scottish Gaelic name for November. Celebrations begin on Halloween, the evening of October 31st, since the Celtic day began and ended at sunset [1].


    The seasons and festivals of Ireland
    This is about halfway between the autumnal equinox and winter solstice. It is one of the four Gaelic seasonal festivals along with Imbolc, Bealtaine, and Lughnasa.

    Historically it was widely observed throughout Ireland, Scotland, and the Isle of Man. Its Brittonic Celtic equivalent is Calan Gaeaf in Wales. More


    The Citizens of Halloween: "This is Halloween" (from Tim Burton's "The Nightmare Before Christmas")
    (DisneyMusicVEVO) Oct. 14, 2021: Stream “Disney Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas” on Disney+, the only place to stream favorites from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, National Geographic, and more [because there's absolutely nowhere else to stream. All hail the Disney Corporation!]

    (BbaGumpSkrimp) The Making of The Nightmare Before Christmas

    It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!

    It was a time of innocent childishness and evil.
    Remember waiting all October for Linus to see the Great Pumpkin? This Halloween classic wasn’t just wholesome—it changed American (and Canadian) TV forever. From hidden gags to production secrets and the real reason it almost got banned, here are 10 wild facts about It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown! most people didn’t know. Relive the magic of a simpler time. More

    Disney Halloweens used to be easy: skeletons

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