How to regrow natural teeth: science

(Mind & Marvel) SOSTDC1 (USAG-1) is a single gene, a molecular bouncer, that keeps teeth from growing in mammals

(NewsNation) Drug to regrow teeth may be on market by 2030

Next, they'll be regenerating eyes with herbs.

Bad Thailand? 'Death meditation' corpses

73 corpses, 600 crocodiles discovered in Thai temple linked to meditation practice | GRAVITAS | WION

(WION) Dec. 3, 2024: GRAVITAS. In a shocking discovery, Thai police uncovered 73 [donated] corpses at a Buddhist temple in Phichit Province, allegedly used for a controversial "[mindfulness of] death meditation" practice.

• Nine stages of decay in Buddhist "mindful awareness of the foulness of the body"
• Tourism in Buddhist Thailand - the friendliest place for foreigners

The Theravada Buddhist temple, which also houses [cares for] over 600 crocodiles [in a fenced off pond], has sparked national outrage [international curiosity] as authorities investigate the bizarre rituals [monastic practices].

Zealot: Life of Jesus the man

Watch the full story to learn more about this chilling [and blood curdling and utterly inexplicable] revelation [that is a lot like Hindu occult Aghori Shiva-the-Destroyer-worshipping cannibal sadhu activity in India made infamous by investigative journalist and controversial Christian scholar (Zealot) Dr. Reza Aslan, Ph.D. and a 2015 episode of his show Believer, which was accused of "religion porn" and anti-Hinduism]. #thai #temple #worldnews

Reza Aslan eats with Hindu cannibals

Buddhist reflections on death

Is there anything sexier than this bag of bones?

Paṭikkūlamanasikāra [1] is a Pāli (Buddhist language) term generally translated as "reflections on repulsiveness or the foul." It refers to a traditional Buddhist meditation whereby 31 parts of the body are contemplated (beginning from the inside) in a variety of ways. In addition to developing mindfulness (sati) and stillness (samādhi), this form of meditation helps the monastic practitioner overcome lust and sensual craving. Along with cemetery contemplations such as the contemplation of the nine stages of decay, this type of reflection or systematic contemplation is one of the two meditations on the naturally "foul" or "unattractive" (asubha) aspects of the body we love, cling to, consider beautiful, and lust after. More

ABOUT: WION (the World Is One News) examines global issues with in-depth analysis. It provides much more than the news of the day. Its aim is to empower people to explore their world. With a global headquarters in New Delhi, it brings news on the hour, by the hour. It delivers information that is [never sensational or distorted and] not biased. It is journalists who are neutral to the core and non-partisan when it comes to world politics. People are tired of biased reportage [like "bodies found in temple for strange ritual"] and it stands for a globalized united world. So for it, the World is truly One.

SUTRA: The Danger of Waves (AN 4.122)

Danger? Olympic surfing in Surf City USA (Huntington Beach, OC) (NBC Olympics)

• 

  Surf the Seine River by the Eiffel Tower, Paris

  Surfers, is there any greater danger than waves? Yes, according to the Buddha, there are crocs, whirlpools, and sharks, too. He recognized these dangers as symbolic for a monastic, a Buddhist monk or nun who leaves the low life of the ordinary uninstructed worldling for the high life of the path and precepts, wandering asceticism he used in his awakening to the complete freedom of nirvana. There are dangers to anyone who would escape the simulation, this samsara, the Wheel of Life, Death, and thus far unbounded suffering.
• Olympic Surfing: Paris 2024 event guide, athletes, how to watch, daily schedule | NBC Olympics

Numerical Discourses (AN 4.122, 13. Fears), "The Danger of Waves")

ALERT: Big surf good, tsunami bad (Japan).

“Meditators, anyone who enters the water should anticipate [these] four dangers. What are the four? The dangers of waves, crocodiles, whirlpools, and sharks.

“These are the four dangers that anyone who enters the water should anticipate.

“In the same way, a person gone forth from the lay life to the left home life in this teaching and training (Dhamma-Vinaya) should anticipate four dangers. What are the four? The dangers of waves, crocodiles, whirlpools, and sharks.

What leviathans or nagas roam the seas?

“What, meditators, is the danger of waves? It is when a person has gone forth out of confidence [saddha, faith in the enlightenment of the Buddha, the enlightening power of the Dharma, and the enlightenment of disciples in the Noble Sangha] from the lay life to the left home life, thinking:

“‘I’m swamped [flooded, overtaken, overwhelmed] by rebirth, old age, and death, by sorrow, lamentation, pain, sadness, and distress. I am swamped by disappointment [dukkha, unsatisfactoriness, ill, woe, suffering, mired in it].

“I hope I can find an [escape, a way out, an] end to this entire mass of suffering.’

The waves inside our heads: tsunamis

“When such a person has gone forth, one’s spiritual companions advise and instruct one: ‘Go out like this, and come back like that. Look ahead like this, and to the side like that. Contract the limbs like this, and extend them like that. This is how to wear the cloak, alms bowl, and monastic robes.’

“Such a person thinks, ‘Formerly, as a lay person, I advised and instructed others. Now these monastics — who I might think were my own children or grandchildren — imagine they can advise and instruct me!’ Angry and upset, one quits the training and returns to the lower life [of a layperson]. This is called a monastic who rejects the training and returns to a lesser life for fear of the danger of waves. ‘Danger of waves’ is a term for anger and distress. This is called the danger of waves.

Crocodilian gharials with gaping mouths await.

“What, meditators, is the danger of crocodiles? It is when a person has gone forth out of confidence from the lay life to the left home life… When one has gone forth, that person’s spiritual companions advise and instruct: ‘Eat, consume, drink, and taste these things, but not those. Eat what is allowable, but not what is disallowed. Eat at the right time [between dawn and noon], but not at the wrong time.’

“One thinks, ‘Formerly, as a layperson, I used to eat, consume, drink, and taste what I wanted, not what I did not want. I ate and drank both allowable and disallowed things, at the right time and the wrong time. These faithful householders give me delicious fresh and cooked food at the wrong time of day. But these other monastics imagine they can gag my mouth!’ Angry and upset, one quits the training and returns to the lower life. This is called a monastic who rejects the training and returns to a lower life for fear of the danger of crocodiles. ‘Danger of crocodiles’ is a term for gluttony. This is called the danger of crocodiles.

Who fear the reptilian dragon crocs? 15 terrifying creatures still roaming the sea

.

Be careful or be sucked in insidiously.

“What, meditators, is the danger of whirlpools? It is when a person has gone forth out of confidence from the lay life to the left home life… When one has gone forth, one puts on robes in the morning and, taking alms bowl and cloak, enters a village or town for alms without guarding body, speech, and mind, without first establishing mindfulness, without restraining the sense faculties.

“There one sees householders or children amusing themselves, supplied and provided with the five kinds of sense strands of pleasure. One thinks, ‘Formerly, as a layperson, I amused myself, supplied and provided with the five sense strands of pleasure. And it is true that my family is wealthy. I can both enjoy my wealth and make merit. Why do I not quit the training and return to the lower life so I can enjoy my wealth and make merit?’

“One quits the training and returns to the lower life. This is called a monastic who rejects the training and returns to the lower life for fear of the danger of whirlpools. ‘Danger of whirlpools’ is a term for the five sense strands of pleasure. This is called the danger of whirlpools.

Sharks represent the sex we find attractive.

“What, meditators, is the danger of sharks? It is when a person has gone forth out of confidence from the lay life to the left-home life…

“When one has gone forth, one puts on robes in the morning and, taking alms bowl and cloak, enters a village or town for alms without guarding body, speech, and mind, without establishing mindfulness, and without restraining the sense faculties.

Get back! Get away! I'm leading a pure life!

“There one sees a female scantily clad, with revealing clothes. Lust infects his mind, so he quits the training and returns to the lower life. This is called a monastic who rejects the training and returns to a lower life because one is afraid of the danger of sharks. ‘Danger of sharks’ is a term for [objects of lust, whether females or males, from the point of view of monks and nuns]. This is called the danger of sharks.

“These are the four dangers that a person gone forth from the lay life to the left home life in this teaching and training (Doctrine and Discipline) should anticipate.”

• Bhikkhu Sujato (trans.), AN 4.122: Ūmibhaya Sutta—"The Danger of Waves" (suttacentral.net) edited by Dhr. Seven and Amber Larson, Wisdom Quarterly

"The Monkey's Heart" (Rebirth Tale)

Stories of the Buddha's Former Births (The Jataka) edited by E.B. Cowell (Cambridge University Press, 1895), Book 2, No. 20; more at Pitt.edu; updated by Wisdom Quarterly

Mr. Monkey (John Downer/materialismisanaddiction/facebook.com)

   

Once upon a time, when Brahmadatta was king of Benares, the Bodhisatta [the "Buddha-to-be"] was reborn in the Himalayan foothills as a monkey. He grew strong and sturdy, with a healthy frame, living by a curve of the river Ganges in the forest.

  

Mr. Crocodile (Jon Sevcik/Naturephoto.cz)

Now at that time there was a crocodile dwelling in the Ganges. The crocodile's mate saw the great frame of the monkey, and she conceived a longing to eat his heart. So she said to her mate, "Sir, I desire to eat the heart of that great king of the monkeys!"

  

"Good wife," answered the crocodile, "I live in the water, and he lives on dry land. How can we catch him?"

  

"By hook or by crook," she replied, "he must be caught. If I don't get him, I shall die."

  

"All right," replied the crocodile, consoling her, "don't trouble yourself. I have a plan. I will give you his heart to eat."

  

Kind monkey kissing kitty (animalszooguru)

When the Bodhisatta was sitting on the bank of the Ganges, after taking a drink of water, the crocodile drew near and said to him, "Good monkey, why do you live on bad fruits in this old familiar place? On the other side of the Ganges there are many mango and labuja trees with fruit sweet as honey! Would it not be better to cross over and gain all kinds of wild fruit to eat?"

  

"Lord crocodile," the monkey answered, "the Ganges is deep and wide. How would I get across?"

  

"Well, if you want to go, I shall let you ride on my back, and I will carry you over."

   

The monkey trusted him and agreed. "Come here, then," beckoned the crocodile. "Up on my back with you!" Up the monkey climbed. But when the crocodile had swum a little way, he plunged the monkey under the water.

  

"Good friend, you are letting me sink!" cried the monkey. "What is that for?"

  

Nagas surround mammal in cage (wikipedia)

The crocodile roared, "You think I am carrying you out of pure good nature? Not a bit of it! My wife has a longing to eat your heart, and I intend to give it to her!"

   

"Friend," explained the monkey, "it is nice of you to tell me. But if our hearts were inside us, when we monkeys go swinging among the tree tops they would be all knocked to pieces!"

   

"Well, then, where do you keep it?" asked the crocodile.

  

The Bodhisatta pointed out a fig tree with clusters of ripe fruit standing close by. "See there," he said, "hanging on that fig tree? There are our hearts."

  

"If you will show me your heart," offered the crocodile, "then I won't kill you."

  

Monkey's kindness to pigeon (paleonym)

"Take me to the tree, and I will point it out to you."

  

The crocodile ferried him to the place. The monkey leaped off his back, and climbing up the fig tree sat high in it. "Oh, silly crocodile!" he yelled back. "You thought that there were creatures that kept their hearts in the treetops! You are silly, and now you are outwitted! You may keep your [karmic] fruit for yourself. Your body is great, but you have no sense!"

  

Then to explain this idea he uttered the following stanzas:
 

Roseapple, jackfruit, mangoes, too, across the water there I see;

Enough of them, I want them not; my fig is good enough for me!

Great your scaly body, verily, but how small your serpent wit!

Now go your own way, crocodile, for I have had the best of it.

   

The crocodile, feeling as silly and miserable as if he had lost a thousand pieces of money, went back sorrowing to the place where he lived. More

• Housewife raised by monkeys in Colombia
• The Buddha's "twin miracle" as Vaudeville act?
• The Buddha's "twin miracle"?
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Nagas in the News: 100 million BC

3 new ancient crocodile species fossils found

National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Paul Sereno enveloped by the jaws of SuperCroc, which weighed eight tons and lived in the Sahara when dinosaurs ruled the world (AP/Nat'l Geo, Mike Hettwer).

WASHINGTON (AP) – A 20-foot-long crocodile with three sets of fangs — like wild boar tusks — roamed parts of northern Africa millions of years ago, researchers reported Thursday. While this fearsome creature hunted meat, not far away another newly found type of croc with a wide, flat snout like a pancake was fishing for food. Slideshow: Dinosaurs and Fossils

Exotic new sea creatures discovered
Thousands of species thrive in an area once thought to be an underwater desert, a new report shows. Strange sea creatures - Antarctic ice loss grows - Saving endangered rhinos

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Nagas in the News: Dogon

(LINK)

MALI -- The Dogon people, famous for their early contact with extraterrestrials (as the startling evidence of their cosmology and celebrations indicate in anthropological circles), also have strong views on the origin of human beings. Apparently, we are descended from (or came about through the intervention of) Nagas (reptilians). They live among and honor crocodiles for this.

• The Dogon: Living among reptiles (Reuters)

Most of Asia and Mesoamerica (notably Cambodian and Mayan cultures) echo this view. Nagas are responsible for modern humans in Buddhist, Hindu, and Jain cosmologies. And they are involved in the bloodlines of ruling families to this day. The connection is genetic, and the control exerted is largely through humans.

Whether they are stationed in the earth in a tangible form, visible only through transpersonal journeying in a subtler form, or possessing individuals with the genetic receptivity to accommodate them, nagas are represented by reptiles (snakes, dragons, plumed serpents, dinosaurs, serpentine sea creatures, and other reptiles). And the Dogon honor them as such.

• NPR: A space mission worthy of our attention

(Reuters) A community in Mali shares a special bond with crocodiles. The residents of Borko town in central Mali have lived alongside crocodiles for years.

The mystical Dogon community believe the animals are positive entities watching over them and regard them as their relatives. A Reuters Africa Journal report (May 16, 2009).