Great Gnostic Jesus, the 'Christ' to follow

(Primeval Archives) What the Gnostic Jesus taught is more dangerous than ever thought

• Gnosticism
• Sophia (Wisdom)
• Pleroma
• Greek Christian Bishop Irenaeus

If the Christ is the "Anointed One," what is that oil with which he, Jesus (and various apostles), was anointed? He is not an earthly king the way Emperor Constantine's Roman Empire might have us believe, but he was initiated into the "mysteries" of an entheogenic cult (spiritual community) that made him realize his (and our) divinity.

It is within me?

The real anointing oil is cerebrospinal fluid?

(And not sacred essential oil of spikenard?)

What the Gnostic Jesus actually taught is opposite of what institutional religion says

Be initiated into this mystery school (cult), see GOD (Monad), and be saved here and now

(Soul Alchemy) Hidden teachings of Jesus to activate pineal gland | Christ Consciousness Within

Cosmic knowledge is gnosis

(Primeval Archives and Primeval Mythology) Gnostic Jesus is one of the most mysterious and controversial figures in early Christian history. [The other prominent figure was "Saint Paul" (Saul of Tarsus), who actually invented the Pauline "Christianity" people follow today.

Hidden within the discovered library of Nag Hammadi, a trove of ancient manuscripts uncovered in Egypt in 1945, are teachings that reveal a radically different message from the Jesus most people today think they know.

These forgotten writings -- including the lost Gospel of Thomas, the Secret Book of John, and the Gospel of Judas -- suggest that Jesus did not come to create a religion, but to awaken humanity through gnosis, the direct knowledge of the divine within.

How to "beg" God correctly?

(Gnostic Talk) Stop praying and call on GOD (Monad) instead

• Jesus came for GOD (Monad) and Sophia (Wisdom), not YHWH (Jehovah)
• The Apocryphon of John

I like my version better, so Rome's going with it

According to Gnostic teachings, the material world is a prison created by a flawed and genocidal deity (the Demiurge Yaldabaoth/Yahweh) and lower cosmic rulers called Archons, while the True Divine Source, the real GOD (the Monad), exists beyond the physical universe.

Why were these liberating texts declared "heresy" and ordered to be destroyed by politically and financially motivated early church leaders?

What did Gnostic Jesus actually teach about reality, the soul, and spiritual awakening? This video explores the hidden philosophy of Gnosticism, the secrets of the Nag Hammadi library, and forbidden ideas that were saved by being buried for over 1,600 years.

Some knowledge was never meant to be found; other knowledge was never meant to be lost. #GnosticJesus #Gnosticism #NagHammadi

Gnosticism: Lost Christian Religion

(Lost Christian Religion) 2,000-year mystery of Gnosticism and Jesus

Ven. Jesus: Yogi St. Issa, Palestine

Gnosticism (from Ancient Greek γνωστικός, Gnōstikós, "having knowledge," Koine Greek ɣnostiˈkos) is a collection of religious and philosophical systems that fully developed by the mid-second century among sects of early Christianity and other faiths [1, 2].

It is not a homogeneous tradition or "religion," but an umbrella term used by modern scholars to describe diverse groups and belief systems with shared characteristics [3].

These diverse Gnostic groups emphasized personal experiential spiritual knowledge (gnosis) above the authority, the traditions, and the proto-orthodox teachings of organized religious institutions [4].

• Sethianism: Sethians (Greek Σηθιανοί) were one of the main currents of Gnosticism during the 2nd-3rd century AD, along with Valentinianism and Basilidianism. It originated as a fusion of two distinct Hellenistic (Greek) Judaic philosophies influenced by Christianity and Middle Platonism [1]. More

The Gnostic worldview distinguishes between a hidden, uncorrupted Supreme Being (the Monad, "the One") and a flawed Demiurge ("Craftsman," Creator) responsible for creating this material reality.

Gnostics hold that this material existence is evil and believed the principal element of salvation was direct knowledge of the supreme divinity, attained via mystical, esoteric insight.

Many Gnostic texts instead of dealing in concepts of "sin," "guilt," "repentance," and "imperial control," but with dispelling illusions and gaining enlightenment, direct knowing-and-seeing [5]. More

• Abraxas, Adam kasia, Adam pagria, Aeons, Anima mundi, The Apocryphon of John, Archons, Barbelo, Demiurge, Divine spark, Five Seals, Gnosis, The Lost Gospel of Judas, Kenoma Luminary, Manda, Mary Magdalene, Monad, Ogdoad, UthraWorld of Light, World of Darkness, Yaldabaoth

Lapsed Atheism; Gnosticism vs. Christianity

(Gnostic Library) What is the gnosis ("knowledge") in Gnosticism? It is direct experience of truth

(Kayse Melone) Why I don't want to be an "atheist" anymore

Orthodox Christianity vs. Gnosticism Explained | Prof. Jiang

(Prof. Jiang MasterClass) June 27, 2026: UNITED STATES Professor Jiang Xueqin explores two very different ways of interpreting Christianity. First, the traditional (orthodox) understanding of the Bible: Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, and Jesus.

Then the lecture moves into alternative esoteric interpretations drawn from historical mystical traditions, discussing ideas such as hidden knowledge, apocryphal texts, Nephilim narratives, the Gnostic Monad [GOD, Brahman], and symbolic readings of creation.

This video presents historical and philosophical interpretations for discussion and education not established historical fact or theological endorsement.

TOPICS COVERED:

— Orthodox Christianity and Biblical Covenants

— Hidden Interpretations and Esoteric Traditions

— Mind Creates Matter

— False God Theory and Jesus

— Paradise Lost and Hidden Meaning

This video is based on lectures by Prof. Jiang Xueqin, where we extract and simplify key ideas from long-form discussions into short, focused videos. Check out Prof. Jiang Xueqin's recommended books to supplement his ideas: ► The Divine Comedy (The Inferno, The Purgatorio, and The Paradiso) by Dante Alighieri: amzn.to/3NZSkzt ► Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy: amzn.to/3ZQfsmy ► Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins: amzn.to/4kskgs4. Check out the Prof. Jiang FULL curated reading list here:  docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1yU...

The lectures featured on this channel are delivered by Prof. Jiang Xueqin. Original lectures: @predictivehistory. Content is used with permission from Prof. Jiang Xueqin. This channel breaks down complex topics in geopolitics, history, and global trends into clear and concise insights. Subscribe for simplified, idea-focused content.

• Kayse Melone, Xueqin; Eds., Wisdom Quarterly

Mind cannot be seen, so where is it?

(Buddhism Podcast) The mind cannot be seen, so where is it? | Buddhist Wisdom

But what is aware that it is aware?

There is a mind-door, greenish in hue, near the heart. This heart-mind seems to be the physical base of consciousness, not the brain in the cranium. When meditating, attention can be adverted to the area around the heart. There there is a mirror reflecting experience, consciousness, awareness. If the "mind" were in the brain or the head, it seems attention would be placed there to find it. But it is very much down closer to what in the West we refer to as the seat of our emotions. The Buddha did not specify a physical base for vijñāna (consciousness) or manas (in Early Buddhism). However, he seems to have been well aware of the practical application of locating this base for the sake of realizing the ultimate nature of mind-and-matter (nama-rupa), ultimate mind (a stream of cittas) and ultimate materiality (a stream of kalapas). But this is for advanced practitioners of Buddhist meditation rather than philosophers and speculators. For those, perhaps Zen no-mind would be better or the compelling mind-only (Yogachara) view.

• Buddhism Podcast (video); text by Dhr. Seven, Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Wisdom Quarterly

Saintly Himalayan Yogi's Eightfold Path

The Dhammapada: mind - Ajahn Brahm: God vs. Bodhi

An 85-year-old Himalayan yogi, rumored to leave no trace in the snow, says true happiness comes from...

The Wise Man on the Mountain - Existential Comics

• What is the "Yoga" (system, tapas, austerity, program) he follows? It is surely Integral Yoga also generally known as Ashtanga or "Eight Limbs." He does not merely do poses or keep a vegetarian diet. He goes much further to include all aspects of the path:

The definition of "yoga"

The Sage Pātañjali (author of the Yoga Sutras or "Yoga Aphorisms") begins his treatise on yoga (1st–3rd century CE) by stating the purpose of writing his book in the first sutra, followed by defining the word "yoga" in his second sutra of Book 1:[2].

योगश्चित्तवृत्तिनिरोधः ॥२॥

yogaś-citta-vṛtti-nirodhaḥ

— Yoga Sutras 1.2

This terse definition hinges on the meaning of three Sanskrit terms:

I. K. Taimni translates it as, "Yoga is the inhibition (nirodhaḥ [usually translated as "cessation"]) of the modifications (vṛtti) of the mind (citta)" [3].

Swami Vivekananda translates this aphorism as, "Yoga is restraining (nirodhah) the mind-stuff (citta) from taking various forms (vrittis)" [4].

When the mind is stilled, the seer or real Self is revealed: 1.3. Then the Seer is established in his [or her] own essential and fundamental nature. 1.4.

In other states there is assimilation (of the Seer) with the modifications (of the mind) [5].

Sadhguru's no guru but tell jokes to Westerners

Eight limbs

Pātañjali's Eight Limbs of Yoga

Patanjali compiled the yoga aphorisms

Pātañjali set out his definition of "yoga" in the Yoga Sūtras as having eight limbs [following the popularity of the historical Buddha's Dharma being condensed into a Noble Eightfold Path] (अष्टाङ्ग, āṅga, "eight limbs") as follows. These are the Eight Limbs of Yoga:

1. yama (abstinences),
2. niyama (observances),
3. āsana (postures),
4. prāṇā-yāma (breath control),
5. pratyāhāra (withdrawal of the senses),
6. dhāraṇā (concentration),
7. dhyāna (meditation), and
8. samādhi (absorption)" [6].

The eightfold path of Pātañjali's yoga consists of a set of prescriptions for a morally disciplined and purposeful life, of which the āsana (yoga postures) form only one limb [7]. More

Buddhism has a different set of Eight Limbs to Enlightenment

What is the path to supreme liberation?

As in Buddhism's Noble Eightfold Path, all of these terms are loaded. They are full of meaning, leaving many aspects to each term or heading. They are not the same path and do NOT lead to the same goal. The goal of yoga is "union," whereas the goal of the Buddha-Dharma is enlightenment and nirvana.

1. Right View: various summaries of "right view" can be found in Buddhist texts. A stock phrase is the opening of the dhamma-eye, in which knowledge arises: "All that has the nature of arising has the nature of ending" [33, Note 2]; showing the futility of striving after worldly fulfillment. More extensive treatments state that our karma (actions) have consequences, death is not the end, and our words, actions, and beliefs have consequences after death. The Buddha himself followed and taught a successful path out of this world and the other world (heaven and underworld/hells),[36, 37, 38, Web 2] and his example can be followed to the same successful result. Later on, right view came to explicitly include karma and rebirth and the importance of the Four Noble Truths, when "insight" (vipassana) became central to Buddhist soteriology, especially in Theravada Buddhism [39, 40].
2. Right Intention (samyaka-saṃkalpa/sammā-saṅkappa) can also be known as "right thought," "right aspiration," "right resolve," or "right motivation" [41]. In this factor, one aspires to let go, renounce (stop clinging to) the worldly life and follow the Buddhist path [42] of purification and freedom. The practitioner is full of thoughts of and intends to strive toward non-violence (ahimsa) and avoid violent and hateful/aversive conduct [40].
3. Right Speech: avoiding lying, abuse, division, and idle chatter [43, 44].
4. Right Conduct: to avoid killing or injuring, taking what is not given, sexual misconduct, intoxication.
5. Right Livelihood: avoiding trading in weapons, living beings, meat, intoxicants/poisons.
6. Right Effort: preventing the arising of unwholesome mental states that not arisen, deposing ones that have, generating wholesome states, and maintaining them to their consummation. What are the profitable mental states? The Seven Factors of Enlightenment (bojjhaṅgā). This includes "guarding the sense-doors" (indriya-samvara), restraint of the sense faculties [45, 46].
7. Right Mindfulness (sati; satipatthana; sampajañña): a quality that guards the heart/mind as it dispassionately watches over [47] and looks on. The stronger mindfulness becomes, the weaker unwholesome states of mind become, weakening their power "to take over and dominate thought, word, and deed" [48, Note 3]. In the insight meditation (vipassana) movement, mindfulness is interpreted as dispassionate "bare attention," watching, vigilance, remaining present and aware with whatever arises in this moment: not being absent minded, but rather being conscientious and conscious of what one is doing; this encourages the awareness of the impermanence of body, feelings, and mind, as well as to dispassionately examine the Five Aggregates clung to as self (skandhas), the Five Hindrances, the Four Noble Truths, and the Seven Factors of Enlightenment [46].
8. Right Samadhi (passaddhi; ekaggata; sampasadana): practicing the Four Stages of Jhana (Sanskrit dhyāna or "meditation"), which includes samadhi/absorption proper in the second stage and reinforces the development of the Seven Factors of Enlightenment, culminating in equanimity (upekkhā) and mindfulness (sati) [50]. In the Theravada tradition and the insight meditation movement, this is interpreted as singlepointedness of mind (ekaggata), stillness, focus, concentration, one-pointedness of the mind, fulfilled through the Four Foundations of Mindfulness as vipassana meditation, which aims at liberating insight from all illusion. More

Love of Pistis Sophia: Faith-Wisdom

(Sacred Knowledge) Pistis Sophia | Forgotten Gospel of Soul’s Fall and Divine Return, April 2025

Pistis Sophia (Koine Greek Πίστις Σοφία) is a Gnostic text discovered in 1773 [1], possibly written between the 3rd [2] and 4th centuries AD [3].

The existing manuscript, which some scholars place in the late 4th century [4], relates one Gnostic group's teachings of the transfigured Jesus to the assembled disciples, including his mother Mary, Mary Magdalene [his chief disciple], and Martha.

• (In this context, "transfigured" refers to Jesus after his death and resurrection, not the event during his life where he spoke to appearances of Moses and Elijah on a mountain).

In this Gnostic text, the risen Jesus had spent 11 years speaking with his disciples, teaching them only the lower mysteries.

After 11 years, he receives his true garment and is able to reveal the higher mysteries revered by this group. The prized mysteries relate to complex cosmologies and knowledge necessary for the soul to reach the highest divine realms. More

Let go, OK. But let go of SEX?

What do you mean don't think about sex? Mara wants us to. What's mind to do? (Teal Roberts)

Why does the Buddha say letting go of sex is the most skillful thing to do with sex?

Ego (Buddhism Podcast) April 13, 2025: Buddhism Explained. Ever wonder why the Buddha considered letting go of sex the most skillful action we can take [in the Sensual Sphere]?

Ugly faces of pretty girls (ebaumsworld.com)

In this poorly worded and mildly insightful talk by American (Thai Theravada Forest Tradition monk) Ven. Thanissaro, let's explore the Buddha's teachings on sensual desire, attachment (clinging), and the profound freedom gained through a sense of urgency (samvega) non-complacency and mindfulness.

Discover how the mind creates reality through constant choices and learn practical techniques to transform commonplace attachment into extraordinary liberation. Explore how mindfulness and concentration can help us understand and skillfully handle sexual desires and other sensual attachments.

• (Of course, the strongest attachment is to views, which is what insight and wisdom are for, helping us break free of ignorance manifesting as delusions, illusions, and wrong views).
• I'm not ugly if you think I'm pretty: 45 unbelievable before and after pics that show the same girls (DeMilked)

Find out why heedlessness can become our worst enemy, and how the Buddha’s path to freedom leads to a state of genuine liberation, peace, and happiness.

Let's take an enlightening journey towards mastering the minds and emotions we habitually identify with and fixate on until we're completely trapped in webs of delusion with no easy way out.

• More idiosyncratic wording: Meditations 3: Dhamma Talks

📍 #Buddhism #Mindfulness #LettingGo #Meditation #BuddhaTeaching #Spirituality #MindMastery

• Ven. Thanissaro via Ego (Buddhism Podcast), April 13, 2025; Pat Macpherson, Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Gnosticism: Why the 'God' traps souls

The REAL reason GOD is TRAPPING souls on Earth | BANNED by the Church | On the Origin of the World

(God's Whisper) The concept of the stolen soul (spirit being, subtle body, mind) is one of the most thought-provoking and haunting ideas in spiritual philosophy, particularly the teachings of Gnostic Christians.

Gnosticism for knowledge and wisdom

This video explores ancient Gnostic teachings that suggest our souls (selves, egos, amalgams explained in Buddhism as the Five Aggregates clung to as self) were ensnared by the Demiurge, a false god who created the material world to keep us trapped in ignorance.

Through texts like On the Origin of the World, we learn that humanity’s fall into this world severed our connection to our true divine/deva-realm (see Aggañña Sutta) origin, chaining us to a cycle of endless rebirths, suffering, distractions, and desires.

The material world we see around us, our bodies, our ambitions, and even our societies all work to keep us ignorant of our true spiritual purpose.

"Soul"? The subtle body pattern of the gross body

I swear to the Demiurge I will F S up: Bible

According to Gnosticism, these external forces are orchestrated by the Archons ("Rulers" Archangels), powerful enforcers of the Demiurge's rule.

The path to freedom lies in Gnosis, an inner awakening that helps us rediscover our divine spark and break free from the illusion.

This video is a guide through the Gnostic view of reality, offering insight into how to reclaim spiritual autonomy and embrace the truth hidden within us.

Catch it and don’t miss out by subscribing, sharing, and clicking the link to discover the truth that will set us free. #BibleStories #TheStolenSoul #Gnosticism #DivineSpark #Demiurge #Gnosis #SpiritualAwakening #BreakingTheIllusion Banned by the Church #gnostic #god #hiddenknowledge #jesus #lucifer #occult #mystic

• Morgue Official; God's Whisper, Feb. 25, 2025; Pat Macpherson and Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Jesus in Buddhism: Buddha, Devadatta

Jesus in Buddhism: Jesus as a bodhisattva

(BuddhaVerse) Some Buddhists perceive Jesus as a bodhisattva — a being trying to become fully spiritually enlightened to "save" others by guiding them to spiritual enlightenment, as all beings at some time or other are striving for liberation from suffering and rebirth.

• [The Ayutthaya Kingdom was in ancient Siam (modern Thailand), which resisted Christian missionaries and their Catholic (Vatican) hegemony.]
• Where did Jesus get his famous Seamless saffron robe [Vajrayana-like Buddhist tunic smock like some swamis, such as Parahamsa Yogananda, use] of Jesus?
• Why do swamis wear pajama robes rather than real robes? 
• [Who is Devadatta? He was once a great monk who made the mistake of pursuing magical powers rather than liberation, squandering his great fortune to know and be close to the Buddha. Devadatta is the Judas Iscariot figure in Buddhism who, rather than practicing for awakening, grew an ego so big he tried to usurp the Buddha and take over the Sangha ("spiritual community" the Buddha had built, which may have had 80,000 or more members since many of those members were members because of their attainment of the paths-and-fruits, and the majority of them would have been devas (angelic light beings visiting or living on the human plane) rather than humans on Earth. Devadatta was the Buddha's cousin, the brother of his former wife (Bimba Devi, known as Princess Yasodhara, with a long history of envy and rivalry with the buddha-to-be or the Bodhisatta, as the Buddha referred to himself when talking about times and events before his great enlightenment). Devadatta held a grudge, and though he did much good in becoming a monk and practicing for 40 years or so, he was rotten and one of the very worst people in the history of Buddhism, almost on par with Mara Namuci. He was not the Buddha's brother, whose name was Nanda, the sibling of their sister Sundari Nanda, who became enlightened monastics like so many of the Scythians/Sakas/Shakyians did, even Devadatta's sister Ven. Yasodhara (who is obscured in Buddhism as badly as "Mary" is in Christianity, hidden by the use of many names to refer to her: Rahulamata or "Rahula's Mother"), Bhadda, Bhadda Kaccana Theri, Bhaddakacca, Bhadda Sundari, Bimba Devi, and Subhadakka, who after the Buddha's return home became a nun, a knowledgeable disciple of the Dharma, an unbeatable debater, and a respected and beloved fully enlightened elder (theri) Buddhist nun, along with the Buddha's mother and many Scythian/Saka princesses and family members, including their son Ven. Rahula, "foremost in doing quiet good."]

Some beings commit to striving not only for full awakening (arahantship) but also supreme or perfect awakening (samma-sam-buddhahood, Sanskrit samyak-sam-buddha) to be able to effectively help others gain realization or bodhi and achieve liberation or nirvana, which is the extinction of ignorance because only an illusion came into and goes out of being.

• [One can argue that there are three types of buddhas: (1) the fully supremely enlightened, (2) the fully enlightened nonteaching or "silent" (pacceka) buddha, and (3) the fully enlightened personal buddha (arahant). All three experience the exact same awakening to the truth, but the first two have special knowledge, and the first has special abilities (the ten powers) beyond. What makes a buddha so extraordinary is that he (as there seems to be no shes because any being bent on supreme enlightenment, a bodhisatta, needs two things to succeed, at least according to Theravada Buddhism, and in doing so will repeatedly be reborn as a male, as the Dalai Lama and Vajrayana Buddhism agree with the ancient Theravada commentaries. Those two are a vow of strong determination to achieve self-awakening at a time when the Dharma no longer exists and no one is being liberated and a sure prediction of success by a current buddha. When the historical Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, aka "Shakyamuni" or the "Sage of the Scythians/Sakas," determined to become a buddha, he did so in the presence of Dipankara Buddha aeons ago, or at least many generations ago as kappa/kalpa may also refer to an ordinary human lifespan at the time, and this span is very variable, going from less than 100 years up to 80,000 years, Dipankara Buddha knew his determination and gave him a prediction of eventual success. How long it takes to eventually succeed is hard to fathom and/or calculate. If a kappa/kalpa is translated as it normally is, it can be millions or hundreds of millions or hundreds of billions of years, astronomical time, archeological time, epochs, ages, which does not make sense since in that deep past there were Vedas ("Knowledge Books") and Sanskrit  language texts and Brahmins (brahmanas) and wandering ascetics (shramanas) and things that seem like much more recent developments on the human plane, which would not seem to have existed millions and billions of years ago. But that is the official Theravada line. We prefer to think that buddhas and tirthankaras like Mahavira, the Nigantha Nataputta (aka Vardhamana), the founder of Jainism, arise much more frequently than that, something more in the range of being separated by thousands or tens of thousands of years rather than aeons. The historical Buddha Gautama named 24 or so previous buddhas and many pacceka buddhas, never suggesting to anyone they pursue those careers but constantly, daily, encouraging and helping countless human and deva beings to become arhats or fully enlightened disciples as quickly as possible. Why? Everything can wait, but our pursuit of wisdom and compassion cannot wait. The opportunity to ever hear and practice the Dharma/Dhamma is so incredibly rare that we have to seize the day and practice, learn, hear, and ask teachers NOW. There's only now.]

His selfless actions and willingness to sacrifice himself for others align with the ideals of a Buddhist bodhisattva [and his training in ancient Tibet/ now India at Hemis Buddhist Monastery in Ladakh in the Himalayas, where Vajrayana (a form of Mahayana) Buddhist lamas are taught to strive for bodhisattva careers rather than personal enlightenment and liberation.

• See the work of Nicolas Notovitch, Swami Abhedananda, Holger Kersten, American cult leader Elizabeth Clare Prophet (The Lost Years of Jesus: Documentary Evidence of Jesus' 17-Year Journey to the East), and many others for documentation concerning the "lost years" of Jesus of Nazareth or Saint Issa as he was known in the East or Isa as he is referred to in Islam].

The Dalai Lama has repeatedly expressed admiration for Jesus Christ [who is explained with shocking clarity as a mystery school leader by Ancient Greek biblical scholar Dr. Ammon Hillman], calling him a great teacher of love and compassion. He emphasizes that Christianity and [Mahayana] Buddhism can learn from each other despite doctrinal differences.

Download new app from Google Play and get notifications, daily quotes from the Buddha, guided meditation methods, articles about Buddhist wisdom, and suttas (sutras, discourses) from the Pali language canon. Discover inner peace, cultivate mindfulness (sati), and unlock the infinite wisdom of the Buddha with this app. APP: play.google.com/store/apps...

Thanks for watching. This channel is new and needs support. On it find many videos on the history and philosophical teachings of Buddhism. Please subscribe to support the teachings of the Buddha on YouTube. Website: buddhaverse.site.

• BuddhaVerse (video), Jan. 8, 2025; most of text and all commentary by Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Pat Macpherson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Who created God? The Buddha's answer

Western conception of Man (Adam) and God (Yahoo) by Michelangelo, Sistine Chapel

Who created God? (The Buddha’s answer)

Gnostics know this proud god is no God.

Ego Podcast (Buddhism) Ever wonder, "Who created God?" or "Why am I here?" This video explores the Buddha’s profound perspective on these timeless questions.

The Buddha didn’t answer such inquiries with dogmas but invited spiritual seekers to look inward, emphasizing personal experience over intellectual speculation. Knowing-and-seeing is what is important, not more words and wonderment.

Discover how the Buddha’s teachings or Dharma guide us from intellectual questioning to self-awareness and existential clarity.

Learn why the Buddha discouraged endless questioning about theoretical matters and instead encouraged the pursuit of actual self-discovery, mindfulness, and inner transformation.

Buddhism and the God-Idea

This journey is not about answers given by others but about finding the truth within ourselves.

• [Yes, all things (dhammas) being impersonal, ultimately there is no-self, but what is there? There is, conventionally speaking, a dependently originated "self," and it is a fabrication of the Five Aggregates clung to as self. So there is a self conventionally but, ultimately, what is it but five ever-changing processes and not at all what it seems. From the inside, it feels real, but looked on dispassionately. It leads to freedom. But we have to let go of our preconceptions and watch mindfully to "see clearly" (vipassana), which is the result of insight meditation by a serene mind purified by the absorptions (jhanas).



Wise brahmas are nevertheless deluded, too.

• The God (Maha Brahma) and Gods (brahmas) and gods (devas) all have origins and did not come out of nothing, nor can it rightly be said that they just always were. Karma (deeds bearing results) is the great divider and assigner; there are actions that result in rebirth as gods of all kinds, namely, samadhi ("stillness unifying the mind to superconsciousness"), which means gaining, developing, and mastering the meditative absorptions (jhanas), grounded in morality and virtue (sila) so as to bring about peace of mind free of remorse or worry. Then, when passing away, if one has mastered the absorption, one will be reborn in accordance with this very weighty skillful karma on a plane of existence corresponding to the level of that mastery. See the 31 Planes of Existence for details. Current deeds create future results. To the extent that we understand (have right view), will (intend), and accumulate actions, they will be foundations for our future experience. So in a sense everyone is creating his or her own future circumstances and fruitions.

Seeking answers to life’s deepest questions? The Buddha’s wisdom offers a path to self-discovery and liberation. Watch now, like, share, and subscribe for more profound insights. #Buddha #God #Truth #SelfAwareness #Mindfulness #Meditation #Enlightenment

• Gary Larson (The Far Side); Ego Podcast (Buddhism), Jan. 20, 2025 (video); additional text by Dhr. Seven, Pat Macpherson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Alan Watts: Return to the Forest

Taoism is widely misunderstood in the West

Afterall, what is more important, mere knowledge or direct experience of the Truth? Should we all be Presbyterians in our booths and pews or Shamans, savage and wild, daring to venture out into that scary forest beyond the township? Who are we, Young Goodman Brown? In Asia, in the ancient culture of China, which is the cultural result of a fusion of three great philosophies -- Confucianism (for the home life), Taoism (for the left home life), and Buddhism (for the Middle Way that avoids all extremes) -- there is that same tension. Many of us want to be held by house and run a household, trapped and miserable, expecting to find happiness and fulfillment there. Of course. Where else would it be? It's all we see all around us. But there is another ancient source of happiness which, if successful, does produce fulfillment or can like nothing else. We might call that shamanism, the nonreliance on priests, intermediaries, and the consensus reality they dictate. Ultimately, each human must see for herself (or himself) can come to know things first-hand. Alan Watts, the great communicator to the West of Eastern philosophies, brings this idea together from various cultures, including the Hindu ideal of the sannyasin or vānaprastha. Watts also explains the deeper meaning of the mandala (a stockaded community, village or city, a ring of defense around the center). He was inspired by American mythologist Joseph Campbell.

NOTE: There are many more Buddhists in the world than get counted, and this is because communist China leaves over 1,000,000,000 (1 billion+) Buddhists uncounted for political and ideological reasons.

This is the same speech with different aural qualities for relistening.

• Alan Watts - KPFK 90.7 FM
• KPFK's Pacifica Online Archives (KPFK.org)
• In memory of Roy of Hollywood Tuckman, Something's Happening, kpfk.org; text by Dhr. Seven and Pat Macpherson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Why Buddhists do not worship God

Alan Watts on yoga and non-thinking (audio)

Oh, how to herd this wayward ox?

The great British Californian Alan Watts, Zen explainer with an irreducible element of rascality intact, discusses the various forms of yoga ("union"), karma ("action"), and approaches to advancing spiritually by abandoning discursive thinking as a crutch to attempt to comprehend the subject-object distinction. Suddenly, many problems cease when we cease to cling to notions of self. If this is me, these are my boundaries, this is myself, then I am acted upon by the universe, the actor, the doer, the decider. But it is not that way. We act, and there is only the universe. All else is a convenient illusion. But if not thinking, then what? Direct knowing, direct seeing, direct experience of what (really) is rather than all that is constantly imagined by restless and redundant thinking.

Are we interdependent with our environment?

• FULL AUDIO: Alan Watts - KPFK 90.7 FM
• Buddhist Radio, Los Angeles: Pacifica Online Archives - KPFK 90.7 FM, 8:00 am, Sundays
• Daily Schedule, KPFK, Los Angeles 90.7 FM
• Something's Happening in Memory of Roy of Hollywood (kpfk.org, 8/11/24); Eds., Wisdom Quarterly

Wisdom of the East in Haiku (Alan Watts)

What is "zen"? It is jhana (Sanskrit dhyana, Chinese chan) or "meditative absorption" (WQ).

The simplest and most advanced form of art

Alan Watts is a British-American Zen genius

Alan Watts is translating haiku, which is regarded as the more sophisticated for its apparent artlessness, direct and unadorned.

• Haiku is not anything one wants to say in 17 syllables, as we are taught in the US, nor is it a rhyme. It is 17 on (phonetic units in Japanese) with no English equivalent. So, lacking an equivalent (of what linguists might call a phoneme or chunk), we have substituted syllables.

(IntelligenceExplosion) The lectures, books, and teachings of Alan Watts are commemorated at alanwatts.org. (More can also be found at alanwatts.com lovingly run by his son).

Why are haiku good? They are following many rules we are not told in English, where we just count syllables and chase pseudo-depth with something snappy and terse. "Brevity is the heart of wisdom." And of all the great haiku that ever came from the West, I have never heard something to rival the great American gay Jewish NAMBLA member Beat Poet Allen Ginsberg, author of Howl, or was it one-time Buddhist Jack Kerouac, author of The Dharma Bums and On the Road, perhaps Sephardic Jew Lawrence Ferlinghetti or American humorist Kurt Vonnegut.

Someone in the 1960s wrote a genius three-word punchline (copied by droll comedian or reprehensible copycat Michael Lowenberg, who dared submit it as an original thought in 2022) that repeated Internet searches do not find. I am forced to compose a facsimile from memory:

walking down the street

i look up, see a pigeon

then hear a high coo

2022 WINNER:

a cicada’s husk

grandfather in his best suit

hands folded, eyes closed

— Ngo Binh Anh Khoa

• Allen Ginsberg's Mostly Sitting Haiku, Collected Haiku (terebess.hu)
• Those Women Writing Haiku inspired the Beat Poets to try to write it (thehaikufoundation.org)
• How to use Haiku poetry for mindfulness (Rest Less)
• ARTS: How to Haiku: 1: What is not a Haiku (treeleaf.org)
• The 22 Best Haiku of 2022 | Society of Classical Poets

Can anything be a haiku?

Sheron Bellio (left) and Tim Conway Jr. (KFI)

Yoko Sakamoto (channeled by Sheron Bellio): Obstacles do not block the path; they are the path. Life isn't as serious as the mind makes it out to be. A piece of bamboo bends but does not break. Only the hand that erases can write the truth.

Nothing ever exists entirely alone; everything exists in relation to everything else.

A world, a torch, and without, torch drop -- a world of trouble. A haiku a brought to you by Sue Beh'rue. I write, I erase, rewrite, erase again, and then [put a spell on you].

The past has no past. A picture of a rice cake does not fulfill. To seek is to suffer; to seek nothing is bliss.

Tim Conway: I understand that your husband, Vic, is a worldly guy. He traveled the world. He spent a lot of time in Tibet, India, China, Vietnam, [Japan but] he said you met at Dalt's?

Yoko: Dalt's, the Dojo of the Smoothie...together we are One, filling each other up. *Gong*

Tim: You've got a little gong, too?

Yoko: A ding-dong with you, Tim Conway, a ding-dong.

Haiku lessons for American poets

Kokuu, Canterbury, UK (ARTS: How to Haiku, 1: What is not a haiku) edited by Wisdom Quarterly

Kokuu | treeleaf.org

(Treeleaf.org) I can’t speak for other languages, but haiku poetry taught at school in English is almost universally bad.

The basic instruction my 13-year-old daughter recently received was that a haiku is a three-line Japanese poem comprising 17 syllables in lines of five, seven, and five syllables respectively.

If one is lucky, one might be told that it is usually about nature and our relationship with the natural world. Is this correct?

Well, it is not totally incorrect, but it focusses the attention in completely the wrong direction and thereby misses out several important factors.

It is true that in Japanese, a count of 17 sound units (morae) are employed in a three-line sequence.

• Good haiku examples by Matsuo Basho

"Quietly, quietly,/yellow mountain roses fall
–sound of the rapids" (Matsuo Bashō)

However, an English syllable tends to be longer than a Japanese sound unit, so English Language Haiku (ELH) written in 17 syllables often to feel too bloated and long compared to their Japanese equivalents.

Moreover, most people writing haiku with the 5-7-5 structure in mind pay far more attention to getting the right number of syllables than forming a good poem. Few modern day ELH poets write in 5-7-5. Some do.

Most bad haiku (the plural of haiku is haiku) on the internet are written in 5-7-5. The syllable count is often achieved by adding adjectives until the magic 17 is reached.

The three-line structure is also not a good way to think about haiku. It is better understood as a poem composed of two essential parts – a phrase (two lines usually containing a verb) and a fragment (one line). This can either be fragment-phrase or phrase-fragment. More about this later.

Also a haiku isn’t a bunch of ideas and concepts. It is essentially a poetic form based on images, often coming from nature. Concepts can be included as well as images, but just concepts is far too heady and not nearly visual enough. Source: treeleaf.org

• AlanWatts.org, Jan. 17, 2015; KFI racist comedy duo Producer Sheron Bellio (impersonator) as "Yoko Sakamoto," wife of Vic the Brick Jacob, in conversation with suspended radio talk show host Tim Conway Jr.; composed, abbreviated, and edited by Dhr. Seven, Ashley Wells, Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly