Consciousness: Vedas right, science finds

(Cosmos Kolo) Nobel Laureate just proved what the Vedas [India's ancient "Knowledge Books"] said 3,000 and more years ago.

• Roger Penrose, author of The Emperor's New Mind, Shadows of the Mind, The Large, the Small and the Human Mind, The Road to Reality
• Anesthesiologist Stuart Hameroff
• The Lancet
• Dutch cardiologist Pim van Lommel
• SCIENCE ILLUSTRATED; They Look Alike, but There's a Little Matter of Size - The New York Times (physicist Mark Miller, Brandeis U) Aug. 15, 2006... Mark Miller, a doctoral student at Brandeis University, is researching how particular types of neurons in the brain are connected to one another...
• Ramana Maharshi Hindu sadhu, great rishi ("seer")

Hinduism's view is wrong in Buddhism

(One Timeless Witness) Consciousness is not what you think: Ramana Maharishi's three step answer

"Buddha Nature," Ven. Thanissaro?

In honor of Festivus, which customarily begins with the "Airing of Grievances," let's take a critical look at Tan Geoff (American translator Ven. Thanissaro, abbot of Wat Metta, California) and the Mahayana-Hindu concept of [some sort of self to cling to through the idea of an essential] "Buddha Nature." Feel free to differ in the comments section for the traditional "Feats of Strength." Happy Festivus, the holiday for the rest of us!

What is "Buddha Nature"?

Ego Podcast (Buddhism) Discover the Buddha’s profound teachings on the nature of the mind (citta) and the path (magga) to true freedom (nirvana). Learn why the mind is neither inherently good nor evil, but capable of immense transformation. This video explores the Buddha’s insights into intentional actions (karma), freedom of choice, and the process of dismantling ignorance (moha, avijja, miccha-ditthi) to achieve liberation (mokkha, moksha). Find out how understanding (panya) and training the mind leads to ultimate peace and Awakening (bodhi).

#Buddhism #BuddhaNature #Mindfulness #Freedom #Awakening #Discernment #Dhamma #TrueFreedom

COMMENTARY

I have a right to my opinion! - Yes,
venerable sir, but state it as such.

Alas, this podcast suffers from too many Ven. Thanissaro (American Geoffrey DeGraff) bad translations, using his idiosyncratic renderings of many Pali terms one might otherwise recognize as countless other Western Buddhist translators have kept them. If one gives a new rendering, it would be customary to provide either the Pali term being translated or the common rendering.

But Ven. Thanissaro doesn't care anything about that, recklessly innovating and misleading countless readers through free distribution on websites like accesstoinsight.org and his English language books. If advice from Bhikkhu Bodhi couldn't restrain him, what could?

Therefore, we try to avoid his translations altogether, opting for the much more reliable and useful work of Bhikkhu Bodhi, Maurice Walshe, Andrew Olendzki, Ajahn Sujato, the Buddhist Publication Society and the German-Jewish monks who, following in the footsteps of the British team who worked on the Pali Text Society translations, give reliable and illuminating renderings of difficult Buddhist terms and concepts.

The one-man wrecking crew that is Ven. Thanissaro (Mr. Geoffrey DeGraff) will either go down in history as the biggest English-speaking goof with poor grammar (Hire a reliable editor and don't brow beat the person into submission with your heavy-handed opinions and quirks!) or the man who saved a generation of would-be Buddhists who never read the legends of Pali-English translation.

The other less serious but equally annoying problem is the A.I. voice can't pronounce even simple words like simile, making one realize that for a podcast on ego, there doesn't seem to be anyone home, just a machine reading text that seems tailor made by Thanissaro (aka Ajaan Geoff).

• Long ago his first Western student (Ven. Mahindo or Tan Jess) was inducted to Wat Metta and had a miserable time until he quit, as many others had who visited and were brow beaten and yelled at by the know-it-all monk-in-charge who had been thrown out of Thailand, it is rumored in Thailand, for trying to break Thai law and take over a temple. If one becomes abbot, one de facto owns the property, which Thai law did not allow. We tried to warn Tan Jess to go to Thailand and ordain there or at least see the tradition there, but he was being bossed around by Ven. Thanissaro by then so only did what he was told. This was long ago, when the latter was writing Wings to Awakening. Having a look at the manuscript, we thought it was garbage -- exactly for its idiosyncratic renditions of Pali words in needless misleading ways, bad grammar, and questionable novel interpretations of things -- and urged Tan Jess to say so if he were reading it over and being asked for notes. He was seized with terror; he wouldn't dream of making an actual note, correction, comment, or criticizing his "all-knowing" teacher, thinking what he might suffer as retribution for his candor and honest evaluation. Because he was a coward, and because Ven. Thanissaro surrounded himself with cowards or yes-men to look at his manuscripts and praise him, they are of poor quality. This is the way we revere monks in the tradition. It's wonderful that Ven. Thanissaro tackled these texts. What might have been if he had done so in a peer-reviewed way or with an editor to put his jumbled writing and invented-grammar into standard English? We were shocked to be told by Bhikkhu Bodhi that he corresponded with Ven. Thanissaro because this meant it was not that help and guidance was not available to Tan Geoff but that he apparently dismissed it, rejected it, or ignored it altogether, much to the detriment of the world. If you make people fear you and you don't take anyone's advice, this is what you can expect to happen to you. He photographs his own covers, edits his own writing (which is one way of having them go unedited), gets someone to proofread the obvious errors, and viola -- a generation of readers who think he's faithfully rendering the Pali canon. It is a pity. So we are reluctant to feature this nice sounding mechanical video, which makes some good points but makes the poorly, almost certainly reading verbatim from some Tan Geoff tome.

Otherwise, a good point is being made. By relying on such post-historical Buddhist concepts -- seemingly derived from Brahminical Vedic Hindu ways of thinking, which insists there is identity, and luminous consciousness is it (and identical with Brahman), an Atman of one kind or another, a waterdrop longing to return to the ocean (samsara) and be forever at rest in an eternal heaven.

Mahayana evades the impersonal nature of all things, preferring in its philosophy to go on and on about "emptiness" without seeming to know what phenomena are empty or devoid of. Self-nature, yes, but also of self or anything belonging to a self (soul, ego, personality). The Mahayana majority reads the Heart Sutra and it never occurs to them to study it, analyze it, and see how straightforward the point is being made: shunyata = anatta.

• Ego Podcast (Buddhism), Winter Solstice, 12/21/24; Eds., Wisdom Quarterly COMMENTARY

Physicists prove universe isn't locally real

Dr. Ben Miles, Oct. 23, 2022; Sheldon S., CC Liu, Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

How physicists proved the universe isn't locally real: 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics explained

(Dr Ben Miles) Alain Aspect, John Clauser, and Anton Zeilinger conducted groundbreaking experiments using entangled quantum states, where two particles behave like a single unit even when they are separated [by great distances]. Their results have cleared the way for new technology based on quantum information.

• 0:00 The 2022 Physics Nobel Prize
• 0:51 Is the Universe Real?
• 1:58 Einstein's Problem with Quantum Mechanics
• 5:09 The Hunt for Quantum Proof
• 7:37 The First Successful Experiment
• 11:06 So What?

#Einstein #nobelprize #entanglement

Interested in this? Sign up for newsletter, 100% free forever and good for the environment. https://drbenmiles.substack.com/ My Links: https://www.instagram.com/drbenmiles/ A few people have asked so info has been added. Some of these are affiliate links. Make a purchase and it doesn't cost purchaser anything extra, but a percentage of the sale will help support this channel and this work, bringing entrepreneurship into science. GEAR: camera: https://amzn.to/3ed5Xac, lens: https://amzn.to/3xIAZyA, lav: https://amzn.to/2SeE20Y and https://amzn.to/3nK33wA, mic: https://amzn.to/3gUYYEv.

Simulation, Mandela Effect, Deja vu (video)

The evidence we are living in a simulation is everywhere. All we have to do is look.

(The Why Files) Premiered June 7, 2022. The Why Files: Operation Podcast PROOF THAT EVERYTHING IS A SIMULATION (including God) Is this reality? Well, we're experiencing...something right now, so maybe the better question is, What is reality?

Could everything we see, everything we experience, everything that exists in our entire universe be artificial? Supporters of Simulation Theory believe that not only is it possible that we're living in a simulation; it's likely.

And the more we look for evidence, the more we find. Philip K Dick believed Deja vu was the simulation adjusting to new code (or a new timeline).

Many people experience The Mandela Effect, a "false memory" shared by a large number of people.

But the biggest clues of Simulation Theory come from science, specifically from quantum mechanics. The only way the Double-Slit Experiment makes sense is if we live in a program.

Quantum Entanglement also defies logic. Only our program would have the ability to defy the laws of physics - and the concept of time. Let's find out why.

Magician's "Brain Magic" (TED Talk)

Keith Barry (TED/ted.com,7/21/08); Dhr. Seven, Pat Macpherson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

 

First, Keith Barry shows us how our brains can fool our bodies -- in a trick that works via podcast, too. Then he involves the audience in some jaw-dropping (and bit dangerous) feats of brain magic, misdirection, psychology, quantum entanglement, NLP, or goodness knows what else. Prepare to be amazed or to call it an amazing hoax. 

The TED Talks channel features the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes (or less). Look for talks on Technology, Entertainment, and Design -- plus science, business, global issues, the arts, and more. Follow TED on twitter or like on  facebook.

Looking for silence in unlikely places, Ireland

Derek Sivers (sivers.org, 12-11-17); Pat Macpherson (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly

Some people think they need to go all the way to Thailand to meditate, or to India to learn yoga. But of course these are things they can do for free at home (Tina Leggio/Derek S.)

.

Unlikely Places and Unentangled Goals

Oh, to finally find peace and quiet!

I once went without food for ten days, and that was fine. But the two things I can’t do without for long are solitude and silence (freedom from people and their noise).

 

I was on holiday in Ireland with seven members of my family, all packed into a van, exploring the country. A week after they returned home, I had to be at a conference in Dublin. So in between those two, I wanted nothing but solitude and silence. 

 

An Irish friend suggested I stay at Mount Melleray Abbey -- a monastery of Cistercian Christian Trappist monks, who are known for their silence, with a guest room that’s FREE for whoever asks.

We like to keep it quiet...unless we  have guests to chat up.

Wow, perfect, the ideal place to stay! I emailed and asked. They said yes. So I prepared for a solid week of silence. I took my family to the airport and drove straight to the abbey.

When a monk met me at the door and showed me the way to my room, I was surprised that he spoke. I thought we’d all be silently gesturing. He told me meals would be served twice a day down the hall.
 

At dinner time I went down the hall, again expecting silent gesturing. But instead there was a room of 30 other guests from around the world, all chattering away. I tried to sit alone, but there was no way to do it.

One loud American latched onto me and bombarded me with shallow questions. I gave vague one-word answers, but that wasn’t enough. I quickly ate and retreated to my room again. I thought about how I’d avoid this chatter for the next six days. More

When Los Angeles enslaved the Natives (audio)

Frances Dinkelspiel, John Rabe (Off-Ramp); Xochitl, Ashley Wells, Wisdom Quarterly

Caucasian ally Lana Del Rey sings in traditional Native American headdress ("Ride").

.

Tangled Vines (Native history in L.A.)

"Los Angeles had its slave mart, as well as New Orleans and Constantinople -- only the [Native American] slave at Los Angeles was sold [weekly] fifty-two times a year as long as he lived, which generally did not exceed one, two, or three years, under the new dispensation."

- Horace Bell, 19th century L.A. newspaper publisher

 

If we didn't already know, most of us would not be surprised to find out that Southern California was a major grape-growing center in the 1800's and that the region produced a lot of alcohol.

• LISTEN NOW: whole story in 8 minutes
• When L.A. ruled by abusing Native Americans

Natives overtaken by imperial Spain.

Given the grotesque human rights abuses involved in California's wine industry, which began 175 years ago, maybe it's best Los Angeles isn't celebrating this particular slice of its history:

In 1840, a Frenchman named Jean Louis Vignes (pronounced vines) shipped barrels of wine made from his Los Angeles vineyard to Santa Barbara, Monterey, and San Francisco. The trip is regarded as the first commercial shipment of wine in California, a baby step that would eventually lead to today's $25 billion industry.

 

There are just a few reminders now of Los Angeles's significant role in the development of the California wine business, which it dominated until 1890....But Los Angeles has covered up more of its wine history than it has preserved. Union Station, for example, sits on top of... More

Wine and L.A.'s unimaginable history of abuse

"Susan, this might be just the wine talking, but I think I want to order more wine."

Peter, let's eat a dead turkey and get drunk.

Ten years ago today, a massive fire broke out in the Wines Central wine warehouse in Vallejo, California. Within hours, flames had destroyed 4.5 million bottles of California wine worth more than $250 million, making it the largest destruction of wine in history. The fire had been deliberately set by a passionate oenophile [wine-lover] named Mark Anderson...

The "Indians" of Los Angeles

The history of the California wine trade, dating back to the 19th Century, is a story of vineyards with dark and bloody pasts, tales of rich men, strangling monopolies, the brutal enslavement of vineyard workers and murder. Five of the wine-trade murders were associated with [the author's great-great grandfather] Isaias Hellman's vineyard in Rancho Cucamonga beginning with the killing of John Rains, who owned the land at the time. He was shot several times, dragged from a wagon, and left off the main road for the coyotes to devour.

In her new book, Frances Dinkelspiel looks beneath the casually elegant veneer of California's wine regions to find the obsession, greed, and violence underneath. Few people sipping California wine can even guess at the "Tangled Vines" where such alcohol began. More

Drawing of Jean Louis Vignes' wine establishment in 1831 (L.A. Public Library).

There's Vignes Street, after all, and those ancient vines growing at the Avila Adobe on L.A.'s oldest street, Olvera Street. And there's San Antonio Winery, although that came along much later.

 

In fact, this history goes back 175 years, as journalist and Berkeley historian Frances Dinkelspiel wrote on LA Observed.

"Maybe it's no surprise that Los Angeles is ignoring the 175th anniversary milestone since aspects of the city's early involvement with wine were reprehensible. While many people know that [genocidal Catholic saint] Father Junipero Serra and the Franciscan fathers treated the Native Americans badly during the Mission era, virtually enslaving them to plant vineyards and harvest and press grapes, few realize that the Californios and Americans who flooded the state during the Gold Rush treated them even worse. Los Angeles gets special mention for the harsh and punitive laws it enacted to force Native Americans to make [alcohol]."

It's part of the story she tells in her new book Tangled Vines: Greed, Murder, Obsession and an Arsonist in the Vineyards of California, which weaves family and local history to tell a story we should be aware of or know much better.

 

1865: Vignes orchard and vineyard at Downey Ave. and Hansen St. (Frank Schumacher/LAPL/Security Pacific National Bank Collection)

Listen to this Nov. 4, 2015 "Off-Ramp" interview (scpr.org/KPCC FM) to discover how state and local officials collaborated with local businessmen to enslave local natives and deprive them of life and liberty and how it kept them working without pay or personal freedom.

 

FRANCES DINKELSPIEL is an award-winning journalist living in Berkeley, California, author of Towers of Gold: How One Jewish Immigrant Named Isaias Hellman Created California, a San Francisco Chronicle bestseller named a Best Book of the Year by the Chronicle and the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association. Dinkelspiel is the co-founder of the news site Berkeleyside (YouTube), and her work has appeared in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, People, San Francisco Magazine, and other publications.

• Gloria Steinem (famed feminist author, Ms. publisher, CIA-operative) live in Los Angeles
• JusticeForMySister.com
• MujeresDeMaiz.com
• Is fat is a feminist issue? Obesity rising among US adults, women overtake men

Buddhism and Quantum Physics

Christian Thomas Kohl (Special to WQ on Buddhism and Quantum Physics)Nagarjuna

EAST MEETS WEST
What is reality? The mindsets of the modern world provide and oscillate between four answers:

1. The traditional Abrahamic (Jewish, Islamic, and Christian) religions speak about a creator that holds the world together. It represents the fundamental reality. If it were separated from the world for even a moment, the world would disappear immediately. The world can only exist because this creator is maintaining and guarding it. This mindset is so fundamental that even many modern scientists cannot deviate from it. The laws of nature and elementary particles now supersede the role of the creator.
2. René Descartes takes into consideration a second mindset, wherein the subject or a subjective model of thought is fundamental. Everything else is only derived from it.
3. According to a holistic mindset, the fundamental reality should consist of both subject and object. Everything should be one. Everything should be connected with everything else.
4. A very modern mindset neglects reality. It could be called instrumentalism. According to this way of thinking, concepts do not reflect a single reality in any one way. Concepts have nothing to do with reality but only with information.

Buddhism refuses these four concepts of reality. It was therefore confronted with the critical reproach of being nihilistic.

If there is neither a creator, nor laws of nature, nor a permanent object, nor an absolute subject, nor in both, nor none, what is there to believe in? What remains that can be considered a fundamental reality?

The answer is simple. It is so simple that we barely consider it being a philosophical statement: Things depend on other things. A "thing" is dependent on its cause(s). There is no effect without a cause and no cause without an effect. There is, for instance,

• no fire without fuel
• no action without an actor
• no actor without action.

Things are dependent on other things. They are neither identical with each other, nor do they break up into objective and subjective parts. This Buddhist concept of reality [known as Dependent Origination] is often met with disapproval and considered incomprehensible. But there are modern modes of thought with points of contact.

For example, there is a discussion in quantum physics about fundamental reality. What things are fundamental in quantum physics?

• particles
• waves
• field of force
• law of nature
• mindsets
• information

Quantum physics came to express itself by certain key concepts: complementarity, interaction, and entanglement. According to these, there are no independent but only complementary quantum objects. They are at the same time both waves and particles. Quantum objects interact with others, and they show evidence of entanglement even when they are separated by great distances.

Without being observed philosophically, quantum physics has created a physical concept of reality. According to that concept the fundamental reality is an interaction of systems that interacts with other systems and with its own components.

This physical concept of reality does not agree on the four aforementioned approaches. If the fundamental reality consists of dependent systems, then its basics can neither be independent and objective laws of nature nor independent subjective modes of thought. The fundamental reality cannot be a mystic entity nor can it consist of information only.

The concepts of reality in Buddhism surprisingly parallel quantum physics.

• More: ctkohl.googlepages.com