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
(Likely engineered. Nepal is utterly and completely controlled by India.)
Nepal is on fire 🇳🇵
(wehatethecold) Sept. 9, 2025: On the ground in Nepal, I cannot believe what I saw today. Gen Z protests in Nepal and how they unfolded from my lens. The full journey back from Thailand to the UK on two wheels continues soon once I am able to get out of curfew here and fly the bike. It seems it might be a while until that happens. Love you all. Tell my mother I love her, too. 📹 Extended cut (37 mins): wehatethecold. Nepal is on fire 🇳🇵
Why would the Vatican CEO, the King of the Holy See, the ruler of the Catholic Church pontiff visit a tiny minority of Catholics in Buddhist Singapore and Asia in general? Just as when he visited a tiny community in Mongolia, it's strategic, sticking it to neighboring China, which the Church craves to enter and dominate. (The Han Chinese rulers caught on and will not allow a church organization in unless they can join in the ruling of the population, and Rome does not share power).
The BBC provided great reportage about the Holy Father's visit to Singapore's National Stadium to give a mass to an audience of 50,000, noting the "rock concert" atmosphere of the event as if Pope Swift, aka Holy Taylor, were coming to town to play a show and driving everyone kray-kray, full loco. It's a boring mass, for God's sakes. Even the Lord drifts off when the officiant goes long. But average earthlings (basic people) love ritual, love ceremony, love pomp and circumstance. It's the way to rule an empire. Ask Hitler and his PR team, the Nazis. No one threw a better parade and rally, try as MAGA might.
This may go long, but it will help your devotional feel to have some patience and awe.
It's that happy time of year when we chant, "USA! USA! USA!" in unison and remember how much we love winning and wiping out others, like that time we became the first nation in history to use an atomic bomb on a human population -- civilians going about their life, not combatants on a battlefield.
We saved lives. We wanted to demonstrate our new biggest bomb and terrorize the world.
Kill their children before they hurt ours!
This was like the invention of the machine gun, progress that ends war because what kind of maniac would send his troops into the line of fire if he knew the other side had one of these babies. Rat-tat-tat-tat! And the same with nukes. They end war. There's been no war since. Hiroshima, and it all ended. Well, okay, Nagasaki, but then nothing but peace since then. War is outmoded. War is so 1945. All it took was the cooperation of scientists and lots of practice killing people in conventional ways, and now we're the world power to reckon with. There will never be a nation as great as this. Sure, the Roman Empire, and yeah okay, the Greek Empire, and the British, obviously. The sun never sets on the [British] empire.
We rule. I'm going to go down to Home Depot and buy an extra big flag to fly in the front yard to show everyone how patriotic our family is and get a little one for the car. That'll show those Jap[anese]s!
(Democracy Now) CIA and USA's proxy war in Middle East/Israel
"JAP...you're next! Wel'll finish the job!" - Uncle Sam
On August 6th and 9th in 1945, the United States of America purposely detonated two atomic bombs over innocent civilian populations in the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to demonstrate their new terror weapon.
The war crimes killed between 150,000 and 246,000 people, most of them civilians. They remain the only use of nuclear weapons in an armed conflict.
Japan formally cried "uncle" and surrendered to the Allies on August 15, six days after the U.S. bombing of Nagasaki and our allies the Soviet Union's declaration of war against Japan and invasion of Japanese-occupied Manchuria.
The Japanese government signed the peace instrument on September 2, effectively ending the war.
In the final year of World War II, the Allies prepared for an exciting invasion of the Japanese mainland.
This undertaking was preceded by conventional bombing and firebombing campaigns that devastated 64 Japanese cities, killing many civilians, destroying their homes and workplaces, and terrorizing them and their children.
The war in the European "theatre" pretended to come to a conclusion when Germany surrendered on May 8, 1945 [even though Adolf Hitler and top Nazi officials were allowed out of Germany on their way to the new country of New Swabia near Argentina.
Who will rage against the US War Machine?
Having made peace with the Nazis and offered all of them jobs, successfully winning at least 1,000 applicants to have their records sealed and be protected from prosecution if they would work for the USA to create the CIA, NASA, in Werner Von Braun's lab making us intercontinental missiles and other secret weapons, and the Allies were able to turn their full attention to their Pacific War.
By July of 1945, the Allies' top-secret Manhattan Project had produced two types of atomic bombs, "Little Boy," an enriched uranium gun-type fission bomb, and "Fat Man," a plutonium implosion-type nuclear bomb.
The 509th Composite Group of the United States Army Air Forces was trained and equipped with the specialized Silverplate version of the Boeing B-29 Superfortress and deployed to Tinian in the Mariana Islands.
The Allies led by the Americans called for the unconditional surrender of the Imperial Japanese armed forces in the Potsdam Declaration on July 26, 1945, the threat being "prompt and utter destruction" if they didn't obey. The Japanese government ignored the ultimatum. So what choice did the Americans and Allies have. They had to kill everybody to show the emperor they meant business. More
Is there an alternative history?
Hell is a terrible place, and there are worse worlds than this for those who kill and cheer killing
.
New York Times bestselling author Lesley M.M. Blume reveals how one courageous American reporter uncovered one of the deadliest cover-ups of the 20th century — the true effects of the atom bomb — potentially saving millions of lives.
Just days after the United States decimated Hiroshima and Nagasaki with nuclear bombs, the Japanese surrendered unconditionally.
But even before the surrender, the US government and military had begun a secret propaganda and information suppression campaign to hide the devastating effects of these then-experimental weapons.
For nearly a year the cover-up worked — until New Yorker journalist John Hersey got into Hiroshima and managed to report the truth to the world.
Hooray for US War Machine!
When the magazine published “Hiroshima” in August 1946, it became an instant global sensation and inspired pervasive horror about the hellish new threat that America had unleashed.
Since 1945, no nuclear weapons have ever been deployed in war partly because Hersey alerted the world to their true devastating impact.
This knowledge has remained among the greatest deterrents to using them since the end of World War II.
Released on the anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing, Fallout is an engrossing detective story, as well as an important piece of hidden history that shows how one heroic scoop saved—and can still save—the world. More
Is radiation sickness real? Atomic blast fallout?
The World is READY for [More] War
(Colin Quinn) July 29, 2024: Colin is coming to some cities. Get tickets @ colinquinn.com Follow Colin on social media https://twitter.com/iamcolinquinn?ref... https://www.instagram.com/iamcolinqui... colinquinnofficial https://www.tiktok.com/@iamcolinquinn... #comedy #newyork #podcast #colinquinn #comedy #newyork #podcast
Please direct complaints to Wisdom Quarterly, Attn. Editor Ashley Wells or drop them in the comments section
Standup Colin Quinn; Lesley M.M. Blume; Amy Goodman (democracynow.org); Pfc. Sandoval, Ashley Wells, CC Liu, Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly Wiki edit
Circumambulation of world's largest excavated Buddhist temple: Borobudur, Indonesia
Gunung Panang Pyramid in Java, Indonesia, is volcano size with unexplained hewn rocks.
Indonesia has a tribe that keeps its dead around.
Officially, the largest pyramid in the world is in Cholula in ancient Mesoamerica near Mexico City, not in Egypt. The actual largest may be in Bosnia, but officials have not recognized it as anything more than a mountain shaped like a pyramid, despite its cave/tunnel system and artifacts allegedly found in the area.
Another largest/oldest contender is in formerly Buddhist Indonesia. Like Mexico, it is massive. Like Bosnia, it is the size of a mountain and very old. Science would previously not acknowledge Indonesia. Now it does, with a twist: Archeologists say it was not built by humans.
Indonesia is home to the "world's largest Buddhist temple," Borobudur, on the island of Java. The pyramidal structure was built without mortar like Egyptian pyramids, as if mimicking the smoldering volcano visible behind it.
The world's oldest pyramid was built 25,000 years ago, but it was not created by humans. [This is said to be about the time Egypt's great Sphinx was built based on visible watermarks at its base.]
Djoser Step Pyramid, Egypt was thought oldest.
While Guinness World Records officially lists the Djoser Step Pyramid in Egypt as the world’s oldest pyramid (around 2,630 BC), a paper published in October claimed a layer of Indonesia's Gunung Padang Pyramid in Java was constructed as far back as 25,000 BC -- though there has since been doubts as to whether the structure was actually human-made.
Population density of Java by subdistrict as of 2022, with major urban areas (Twotwofourtysix)
Are these massive stones hewn or natural?
In research led by Danny Hilman Natawidjaja of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, and published in the journal Archaeological Prospection, the academics write that “the pyramid’s core consists of meticulously sculpted massive andesite lava” and that the “oldest construction” element of the pyramid “likely originated as a natural lava hill before being sculpted and then architecturally enveloped.”
They write: “This study sheds light on advanced masonry skills dating back to the last glacial period. This finding challenges the conventional belief that human civilisation and the development of advanced construction techniques emerged only…with the advent of agriculture approximately 11,000 years ago.
Gobekli Tepe: Genesis of the Gods
“Evidence from Gunung Padang [in Java] and other sites, such as Gobekli Tepe [in Turkey], suggests that advanced construction practices were already present when agriculture had, perhaps, not yet been invented.”
The academics also claim that the builders “must have possessed remarkable masonry capabilities.” but one UK archaeologist has rubbished the paper, saying he is “surprised [it] was published as is.”
Flint Dibble, from UK's Cardiff University, told the journal Nature that there is no clear evidence to suggest the buried layers were built by humans. More
Liam O'Dell, Indy 100 via MSN, Aug. 6, 2024, "'World’s oldest pyramid' built 25,000 years ago was not made by humans, archaeologists claim"; Pat Macpherson, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
Meet the sleepless man of Vietnam, not to be confused with the insomniacs of Manhattan and Los Angeles and Des Moines. (Yes, it's true!) This is one of the most surreal stories ever heard in Drew Binsky's 7-year career as a YouTuber, and he can’t wait for viewers to watch it.
He's not as interesting as the yogis (breatharians) in India who do not need to eat ever, or meditators who suspend breathing at will for as long as they remain absorbed (in the fourth jhana).
Binsky first heard about Mr. Thai Ngoc many years ago, and he never knew it would be possible to find him because his location has never been revealed.
Mr. Ngoc claims that he hasn’t slept a wink since 1962 (the year Binsky's dad was born), seriously.
Some people think it could be PTSD from the American War, while others believe that he has an extremely rare medical condition. Whatever the case is, Binsky traveled two days from Arizona, USA, to a small village in South Vietnam to track him down, stay up all night with him, and see if it is actually true that he doesn’t sleep at all.
What Binsky discovered is astonishing. Comment thoughts if it's true or false, based on experience. Binsky would love to hear.
#Vietnam #DrewBinsky #Asia
Follow @drewbinsky for more stories from EVERY country, and join him on instagram.com/drewbinsky.
👕 Thanks for making these travel videos possible by supporting his clothing brand, JUST GO 🌎: shopjustgo.com.
There is a cave opening to Agartha in Potala Palace (above right), Lhasa, Tibet, China (WQ).
Kalachakra mandala in Tibetan Mandala, Art and Practice (The Wheel of Time) by Crossman, Sylvie, and Jean-Pierre Barou (eds.), New York: Konecky & Konecky, 2004, pp.20-26.
.
Bon is a dangerous black magic tradition.
In Tibetan Buddhist and Vedic Hindu traditions, Shambhala (shambala, Sanskrit शम्भल, Tibetan བདེ་འབྱུང, Chinese 香巴拉) is a mythical kingdom.
Similarly, Mexican/Aztec Aztlan (Atlantis) is beneath the sea and land; it is a glorious underworld cavern system -- in Agartha (the real "Middle Earth"). But the term can be applied to any "shangri-la."
It is mentioned in various ancient texts, including the Kala-chakra Tantra (The Tantra, Victor M. Fic, Abhinav Publications, 2003, p.49) and the ancient Zhangzhung texts of Western Tibet.
The Bon (pre-Buddhist black magic/shaman) scriptures speak of a closely related land called Tagzig Olmo Lung Ring (The Bon Religion of Tibet, Per Kavǣrne, 1996).
Vedic/Hindu texts such as the Vishnu Purana (4.24) mention the village Shambhala as the birthplace of Kalki, the nemesis of the demon Kali and the final incarnation of Vishnu.
The legends, teachings, and healing practices associated with Shambhala are older than any of these organized religions.
Shambhala may very well have been an indigenous belief system, an Alti-Himalayan shamanic tradition, absorbed into these other religions.
This pre-existing belief system, also called Mleccha (from Vedic Sanskrit म्लेच्छ, meaning "non-Vedic"), and the amazing abilities, wisdom, and long life of these "sun worshipers" who "consume" amrita (solar essence) produced under the tongue (the Siddhi from the Vedic Sanskrit सिद्धि of the ancient Surya Samadhi समाधि) is documented in both Buddhist and Hindu texts.
Whatever its historical basis, Shambhala (spelling derived from Buddhist transliterations) gradually came to be seen as a Buddhist pure land (an idea corrupted or derived from the Buddha's concept of the Pure Abodes), a fabulous kingdom whose reality is visionary or spiritual as much as physical and geographic.
It was in this form that the Shambhala myth reached the Americas and Western Europe, where it influenced Buddhist and non-Buddhist spiritual seekers -- and, to some extent, popular culture in general. More
Local Farmer Wanders Through Jungle and Discovers The World’s Largest Cave
It
was a balmy April day in Vietnam and Hồ Khanh had taken some time to
explore the jungles near his home. He was surrounded by the sounds of
bird calls and buzzing insects, but he overheard something unusual over
the din of the jungle, the sound of wind whistling through something. What Hồ Khanh was about to discover was perhaps the most significant geographic discovery of the past 50 years.
As scandals involving misbehaving Buddhist monks rock the Southeast Asian nation of tourist-friendly Thailand (possibly the most Buddhist country in the world), 101 East examines if the nation can save its moral character.
Why is this happening? Could it be that forcibly sending males into the monastery necessarily creates rebellion, discontent, and misbehavior?
Most of the misbehavior is due not to actual "monks" (bhikkhus) but to novices (samaneras) who temporarily ordain and so undertake fewer rules than fully ordination entails for a few days or months by Thai custom. A person's ordination is only as good as one's underlying motivation for undertaking the eight to 227 training rules of a Buddhist monastic.
Four of these 227 or more training rules (many of which are minor etiquette guidelines that number 1,000 or so) are so important that breaking them leads to immediate and irrevocable "defeat" (parajika). They are: killing, stealing, sex, falsely claiming spiritual attainments.
The whole purpose of the rules is to facilitate meditation and to preserve the Dharma as a living tradition in the world for as long as possible -- through study, teaching, and most of all intensive practice that ensures that at least some people (lay and monastic) gain the stages of enlightenment.
Wheel of the Dharma
There is, of course, misbehavior higher up. Most novices are sincere and studious for the short time they are ordained. Some long time monks are the ones abusing the system set up by the Buddha for producing enlightened beings (arhats) in the world, which constitute the supreme field of merit for the world.
Some Buddhists, particularly adherents of the much larger latter-day Mahayana school, feel it is wrong to speak ill of the community. They invented an additional precept against it. One should hide the dirty laundry? We disagree because sunlight is the best disinfectant.
Dysfunctional communities, such as cults, need to keep secrets. If a community will not clean up its act in silence then saying something becomes necessary. If molestation were happening at home, would you keep silent? Most of us would. But silence makes it possible for it to keep going on. Speak up.
Two chedis (pagodas) near the summit of Doi Inthanon (Lester Mathias Andersson)
Why is there Buddhism if no one seeks a path to enlightenment and nirvana? Altars, like this one in Thailand's Doi Inthanon, would be worthless (Charlie Owen/binbagger/flickr.com).
There are rules -- monastic guidelines known as The Vinaya(Monastic Disciplinary Code) and Patimokkha(direct "Path to Liberation" rule recitation).
Unfortunately, most lay Buddhists have no idea what the rules are.
And most monastics feel it is none of laypeople's business what goes on inside the monastic system. The rules lay out the enforcement of the rules, but they are not enforced. The guidelines are there, but no mechanism exists to see to it that they are carried out.
So instead of cleaning up its own act, unless some pressure comes from outside, the whole system could become corrupted to the point that we lose the third gem or guide of Buddhism, the Sangha (monastic community) like we lost most of the female monastic community and the noble community, both of which are currently on the rise again. The first gem, the Buddha, is no longer here.
The second and arguably the most important, the Dharma (the Teaching of the complete path to enlightenment) is on shaky ground as no one seems to know what it is. It is preserved in the ancient Theravada tradition as the bodhi-pakkhiya-dhamma or "37 Requisites of Enlightenment," which few know exists.
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