Dr. Fauci: New pandemic is coming

• JimmyDore.com exposes Dr. Anthony Fauci, MD, who someway, somehow isn't in prison for lying to Congress, as Sen. Rand has shown, and committing crimes against humanity for profit. Capitalism and healthcare go well together. The good doctor has no interest in anything but making us all healthy since his work with AIDs and all the trouble he got in at that  time.

90% of Americans have parasites

Forever Strong: A New, Science-Based Strategy for Aging Well

Some symptoms of parasitic infestation

Dr. Gabrielle Lyon D.O. (drgabriellelyon.com) has 4.4 out of 5 stars with 1,752 ratings for her New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal bestseller.

Learn how to reboot metabolism, build strength, and extend life with this accessible new guidebook that demonstrates the importance of muscle for health and longevity from the founder of the Institute for Muscle-Centric Medicine®.

Gut parasites handout: functional (Made Whole Nutrition)

I'm a real doctor...who loves to use makeup

After years of watching patients cycle through her practice, Dr. Gabrielle Lyon noticed a pattern. While her patients struggled with a wide range of conditions, they all suffered from the same core problem: they had too little muscle rather than too much fat.

When we think about muscle, we tend to think about strength or aesthetics, but in reality, muscle accounts for so much more than that. As the body’s largest endocrine organ, muscle actually determines everything about the trajectory of health and aging.

Forever Strong (Dr. Lyon)

Many of the conditions Dr. Lyon’s patients were experiencing were actually symptoms of underdeveloped or unhealthy muscle.

Now, Dr. Lyon offers an easy-to-follow food, fitness, and self-care program anchored in evidence and pioneering research that teaches how to optimize muscle—no matter one's age or health background.

Discover how to overcome everything from obesity to autoimmune disorders and avoid diseases like Alzheimer’s, hypertension, and diabetes by following Dr. Lyon’s powerful new approach to becoming forever strong. More

• Shawn Ryan Clips, Dr. G. Lyon, board-certified physician (House of Macadamias); Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Crystal Q., CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Columbus was genocidal Spanish Jew

An Inglorious Columbus (Vining)

The 500-year-old mystery surrounding the final resting place of Christopher Columbus [slavedriver, rapist, genocidal imperialist Cristobal Colon] has been solved by scientists using DNA analysis.

After two decades of research, the team was able to "absolutely confirm" that the human remains found in the Cathedral of Seville, Spain, are those of the famed explorer who died in 1506.

Today, traveling to the same Caribbean islands can be tricky, as anyone caught with contraband can face serious repercussions.

I was taught Colon was a heroic Italian

The researchers have been comparing the DNA samples with those of relatives and descendants for the past 20 years.
A search for Columbus' remains was initiated after his body was moved multiple times following his death, with some experts believing he was buried in the Dominican Republic.

"Today it has been possible to verify it with new technologies, so that the previous partial theory that the remains of Seville belong to Christopher Columbus has been definitively confirmed," said Miguel Lorente, a forensic scientist who led the investigation, on Thursday.

While many experts have long believed that Columbus' remains were inside the cathedral's tomb, it wasn't until 2003 that Lorente and historian Marcial Castro were granted permission to open it and discover the previously unidentified bones within.

DNA technology could not accurately provide results by "reading" a tiny bit of genetic material at the time. The remains of Christopher Columbus's brother Diego and son Hernando, who are also buried at Seville Cathedral, were used by researchers for comparison.

Columbus DNA: The genuine origin program will reveal the researchers' findings © Getty

Columbus's nationality has long been debated in the scientific community, with some suggesting he was Italian.

However, advances in DNA research may finally provide a definitive answer. While some theories propose that Columbus was born in Poland or Spain, others firmly believe he hailed from Genoa.

Some theories suggest that the famed explorer could have been Scottish, Catalan, or Jewish.

• Related video: Indigenous perspective: The true history of Columbus Day (KPAX Missoula, MT) KPAX Missoula, MT

The findings of this research will be revealed in the "Columbus DNA: The Genuine Origin'" program, set to air on Saturday, Saturday, on Spain's national broadcaster, TVE.

While not revealing the results, Lorente confirmed to reporters that the research supports previous theories that the remains in Seville indeed belong to Christopher Columbus.

According to some experts, Columbus was buried in the Dominican Republic. © Getty

The tomb of Christopher Columbus at the Cathedral of Seville © Getty

Despite numerous challenges, particularly the sheer volume of data, Lorente expressed confidence in the research, stating that "the outcome is almost absolutely reliable."

Setting sail from the Spanish port of Palos ["Sticks"] on August 3, 1492, Columbus and his crew of approximately 100 men embarked on a journey in search of the fabled wealth of Asia.

With three ships -- the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria ["the Girl, "the Pint," and "the St. Mary"] -- they ventured far from their intended destination to the other side of the world.

On October 12, 1492, they made landfall [not on mainland America but] in what is now known as the Bahamas. Later that month, Columbus stumbled upon Cuba, erroneously believing it to be mainland China.

Was Columbus Jewish? And does it matter?

(Religion News Service, RNS) — Just in time for Columbus Day, reports emerged on Monday (Oct. 14, 2024) that DNA analysis has revealed that Columbus was a Sephardic Jew.

• Sephardic Jews (Hebrew יְהוּדֵי סְפָרַד‎, Romanized Yehudei Sfarad, translation "Jews of Spain"), where Sephard is "Spain." These are the Sephardim and Iberian Peninsular Jews, the Jewish diaspora in the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal). The term, which is derived from the Hebrew Sepharad (lit. "Spain"), can also refer to the Jews of the Middle East and North Africa, who were also heavily influenced by Sephardic law and customs. Many Iberian Jews sought refuge in communities, resulting in ethnic and cultural integration over the centuries, now living in Israel (Wiki).

Rumors of this have been floating around the Jewish world for a long time — long enough for all to wonder: Is it true? The definitive essay on the subject comes from Jonathan Sarna of Brandeis University, the preeminent scholar of American Jewish history.

It appeared in Commentary magazine in 1992, marking the 500th anniversary of Columbus’ “discovery” of America.

How did Jewish “Columbus-mania” start?

In 1892, to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Columbus’ voyage, the American Jewish merchant Lazarus Straus and his diplomat son, Oscar Solomon Straus of the elite German-Jewish “Our Crowd,” commissioned Rabbi Meyer (Moritz) Kayserling to research the topic of Columbus’ alleged Jewish identity.

The resultant book was Christopher Columbus and the Participation of the Jews in the Spanish and Portuguese Discoveries.

Was Columbus Jewish? And does it matter?

Was Columbus Jewish? [Yes, researchers say they now have definitive DNA evidence.] And does it matter? [Well, inserting a race religion ethnic group loose cultural identity into the mythical story of America is important to control that country and use it to take over a chunk of the geopolitical Middle East.]

Let us put this effort into its proper historical context. Like many of their Jewish contemporaries, the Strauses wanted Jews to assimilate into American life.

What better way to do so than to show the supposedly unbreakable bond between Jews and the very origins of the American experience?

• VIDEO: Local fraternal organization celebrates Columbus Day (Harrisburg)

Not only that. Oscar Straus believed that if it could be historically proved that Jews had taken an active part in the discovery of America, “this fact would be an answer for all time to come to anti-Semitic tendencies in this country,” Kayserling wrote.

The research behind the claim turned out to be interesting. Kayserling documented that Columbus had significant connections with Jews or recent forced converts from Judaism (conversos), who had supplied him with [expensive] maps, astronomical tables, and nautical instruments.

Some championed his cause before the Spanish crown. Some, such as the convert Luis de Santangel, even supported Columbus’ journey financially.

Four men “of Jewish stock” were found to have accompanied Columbus to the New World (actually, only one of them — interpreter Luis de Torres, who had converted [out of Judaism and in] to Christianity not long before — was of certain Jewish descent).

But was Columbus himself Jewish? [The evidence used to be] circumstantial]. His birth name, Colon, was a common Sephardic Jewish name, but there were [also] non-Jews with the same name.

Columbus also had a mysterious triangular signature, which some have dubiously called a key to his Jewish identity.

The family was in the weaving business, which was frequently associated with Jews, and like many Spanish conversos, Columbus and his family were highly secretive, taking great pains to conceal their background, suggesting that they had something to hide.

But these claims are inconclusive, as are the facts that Columbus associated with Jews and even left a small legacy to a Jew, knew Jewish mystical sources, and occasionally linked his experiences to events in ancient Jewish history.

There was one big Jewish link in Columbus’ life. He had an illicit relationship with Beatrice Enriquez, the mother of his son Ferdinand and, in his biographer Salvador de Madariaga’s view, herself a secret Jew.

As for the DNA testing: In my humble opinion, meh. [So what if he's a Jew? What does that matter? Who cares if he committed genocide and raped Indians? He could have done that as a European or a swarthy Spaniard, not because he was a Jew.]

It proves some Jewish genetic [descent and] presence, but that would not be unusual. [And so what if he was?] There is Jewish DNA all over the place.

[We get around; we're very lusty sometimes, especially as sailors in olden times, not today, except for Epstein, and Weinstein, and others in Hollywood and the financial industry, but that's a total coincidence not because we feel entitled.] More than that: If Columbus was indeed a Jew, it would be a substantial lack of Jewish mazal for this to suddenly see the light of day — again.

Because Columbus has not been a hero for quite some time. More than 30 years ago, Sarna wrote: In Was the Discoverer of America Jewish?, a writer in Moment magazine reminds his readers that Columbus’s discovery was “disastrous” for the Native American population, leading to millions of deaths, and that, in addition, the explorer introduced into the New World the scourge of slavery.

“Do we really want to claim Columbus?,” Moment’s editors ask. And Judith Laikin Elkin, writing in Hadassah, has made a similar point:

The search for Jewish ancestry for Columbus is particularly untimely now, when Native Americans are drawing our attention to the genocide that paved the way for the creation of our New World. So we might ask: Why now? Why the sudden resurgence of Jewish Columbus-mania? [Is it because science made a breakthrough or because of our current genocide in Palestine, Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, and soon in Iran and Saudi Arabia?]

When it comes to historical figures, Columbus is not the only would-be-maybe Jew. There had been some speculation that Abraham Lincoln had Jewish ancestry [and he was against slavery, unlike Columbus who was all for slavery and raping the slaves and killing them to keep them in line].

In my mind, it goes back to the phenomenon that I call “Jew-collecting.” It is the habit of seeing someone famous and seeking to confirm that person’s Jewish identity: “Hey, did you know that X is Jewish?”

It is also the need to see those people publicly affirming that identity (e.g., Jerry Seinfeld’s activism for Israel after Oct. 7), especially when we see so many Jewish celebrities remaining silent.

• How to make Jerry Seinfeld cry (religionnews.com)

But there is something deeper going on. This is not about the alleged [science be damned] Jewish identity of Christopher Columbus. This is about the real identity of American Jews. Let us go back to the original impetus and inspiration for the “Jewish Columbus” thing.

...[We're] victims of social antisemitism. The new Jewish “Columbus mania,” the feverish enthusiasm at identifying the great explorer as an M.O.T. (Member Of the Tribe) is a vestige of Jewish ethnic fervor.

It will resonate much more with Jews over 60 than with Jews under 40, who are likely to yawn at the idea of a Jewish Columbus. (They will have never known the old Yiddish epithet, uttered by immigrants who were disappointed at their lack of success in their new land: “A klug tsu Columbus” —  “a curse on Columbus.”

That disappointment with what America had taken from the Jews, 65 years ago, became transformed into Philip Roth’s classic novella, Goodbye Columbus.) But let us understand the timing of this new announcement regarding Columbus.

Yes, [it's] in time for Columbus Day. And yes, [it's] Yom Kippur. And, most certainly, in the week after the one-year anniversary of Oct. 7 [and the start of our genocide on Palestinians], and its accompanying tsunami of antisemitism. More

• Christopher Columbus remains found [and tested] after 500 years as DNA analysis ends the mystery

• Here are the best 30 pics of 2024 as shared by Siena International Photo Awards
• Sensational claim on Columbus' ethnicity can't be verified, say [pro-Israel] independent 'experts'
• 10 creepiest things ever found in the woods: Sasquatch or gorilla?
• Lost underwater city discovered in India could rewrite the history of civilization
• Historical photos of America's deadliest horse tribe
• Colossal stone monument built 1,000 years before Stonehenge shows neolithic engineers understood science
• How science suggests God may have created the universe after all (oops)
• Scientists make startling discovery of ancient stone house
• First map of earth's lost continent has been published
• 2-billion-year-old rock harbors LIVING microbes and rewrites life's history
• Here are the best 30 pics of 2024 as shared by Siena International Photo Awards
• Was Columbus Jewish? (Yes, according to genetic science). And does it matter? (Yes, but let's minimize it and say it has nothing to do with anything so no one's feelings get hurt)

The Simpsons predicted pandemic? (cartoon)

If it was planned and predicted, it was a "plandemic" like that banned movie said so. Watch on BitChute.com. It's a damning portrayal of corrupt Big Pharma complicit with the military-industrial complex and corporate media. The Simpsons are used to preview future events with limited disclosure. This strange process and the unbelievable motive behind it are referred to as "predictive programming."

Jimmy Dore Show: Pink Floyd, Vaxx (comedy)

Jimmy Dore, Mike MacRae, Kurt Metzger (The Jimmy Dore Show); Eds., Wisdom Quarterly

Monkeypox at Wuhan, vaxx mandates (TJDS)

Jim Dore, Kurt Metzger (jimmydore.com); Pfc. Sandoval, Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Wuhan lab was experimenting on monkeypox before outbreak

(The Jimmy Dore Show, July 20, 2022) Americans may still be worrying about the latest COVID "variant" sweeping the planet, but have anyone considered that maybe we should also be concerned about the newest epidemic scare monkeypox?

One viral TikTok features a woman who claims to have contracted monkeypox but who says she got no help from her primary care physician (PCP), a dermatologist, or the CDC. So if anyone gets it, that person may be on his or her own.

Meanwhile, popular British YouTuber and retired nurse trainer Dr. John Campbell notes that the same Wuhan lab identified as ground zero in studying coronavirus was the source of "research" [gain of function?] on monkeypox prior to this latest outbreak.

Jimmy and America’s comedian Kurt Metzger discuss the monkeypox threat and what the odds are that two separate pathogens like COVID-19 and monkeypox could have been the subject of research at the same lab.

Dr. Fauci, who's on his way out, only wants profitable masks and vaccines

• Premium membership: jimmydorecomedy.com/join

Doctor: 5G caused this pandemic (video)

Dr. Cowan, MD, Joshua Coleman, HHRS, 3/12/20; via Islamic Insight; Eds., Wisdom Quarterly

Health and Human Rights Summit, Tucson, AZ, 3/12/20. Camera, sound, editing by Joshua Coleman.

.

The Invisible Rainbow (Arthur Firstenberg)

To Bless a Pandemic World (Ratana Sutra)

Ven. Akaliko, Ven. Anandajoti (ancient-buddhist-texts.net), Dhr. Seven (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly

Poverty Death says to Covid-19 Death, "You ain't seen nothing yet." (creators.com)

Ratana Sutta: "Precious Jewel Sutra"

The backstory of Bahiya of the Barkcloth

(May 18, 2020) The "Precious Jewel Sutra" was originally uttered or chanted by the Buddha and Ven. Ananda as a protection (paritta) for a city ravaged by a pandemic and haunted by the unclean spirits of those who had died as a result. Here two Western Theravada monks in the Thai Forest Tradition, Ven. Sujato and Ven. Akaliko, chant the abridged version for 2020 Vesak celebrations organized by the Federation of Australian Buddhist Councils, an online event held during the pandemic.

CHANT: Ratana Sutta (Sn2.1)

Whatever riches there are -- here, elsewhere, or in the celestial realm -- that excellent treasure
Yaṁ kiñci vittaṁ -- idha vā huraṁ vā saggesu vā -- yaṁ ratanaṁ paṇītaṁ

cannot rival the Awakened One. This excellent treasure in [the world] is the Buddha:
na no samaṁ atthi Tathāgatena, idam-pi Buddhe ratanaṁ paṇītaṁ:

[Pollutants’] end, dispassion, deathlessness, excellence: which the concentrated Scythian sage attained,
Khayaṁ virāgaṁ amataṁ paṇītaṁ, yad-ajjhagā Sakyamunī samāhito,

By virtue of this truth may there be safety!
Etena saccena suvatthi hotu!

There is nothing that is equal to that state. This excellent treasure in [the world] is the Dharma:
Na tena dhammena samatthi kiñci, idam-pi Dhamme ratanaṁ paṇītaṁ:

By virtue of this truth may there be safety!
Etena saccena suvatthi hotu!

That which the Buddha, the Great One, praised as pure, the concentration said to have immediate result,
Yam-Buddhaseṭṭho parivaṇṇayī suciṁ, samādhim-ānantarikañ-ñam-āhu,

no equal to that concentration is to be found. This excellent treasure is in the Dharma:
samādhinā tena samo na vijjati, idam-pi Dhamme ratanaṁ paṇītaṁ:

By virtue of this truth may there be safety!
Etena saccena suvatthi hotu!

Those eight individuals praised by the noble ones, there are these four pairs (of individuals),
Ye puggalā aṭṭha sataṁ pasatthā, cattāri etāni yugāni honti,

those disciples of the Happy One are worthy of gifts, for things given to them have great fruit,
te dakkhiṇeyyā Sugatassa sāvakā, etesu dinnāni mahapphalāni,

this excellent treasure is in the Saṅgha:
idam-pi Saṅghe ratanaṁ paṇītaṁ:

By virtue of this truth may there be safety!
Etena saccena suvatthi hotu!

Those who have firm and devoted minds, without sense desire in Gotama’s dispensation,
te pattipattā amataṁ vigayha, laddhā mudhā nibbutiṁ bhuñjamānā,

those who have attained, and entered the deathless state, are enjoying liberation, gained for free,
Ye suppayuttā manasā daḷhena, nikkāmino Gotamasāsanamhi,

this excellent treasure in [the world] is the Saṅgha: by virtue of this truth may there be safety!...
idam-pi Saṅghe ratanaṁ paṇītaṁ: etena saccena suvatthi hotu!

The old is destroyed, and nothing new is produced, (their) minds are dispassionate about any future rebirth,
Khīṇaṁ purāṇaṁ navaṁ natthi sambhavaṁ, virattacittā āyatike bhavasmiṁ,

they have neutralized the seeds, and are dispassionate about growth, the wise are still, just as this lamp (is still),
te khīṇabījā avirūḷhicchandā, nibbanti dhīrā yathāyam-padīpo,

this excellent treasure in[the world] is the Saṅgha:
idam-pi Saṅghe ratanaṁ paṇītaṁ:

By virtue of this truth may there be safety!
Etena saccena suvatthi hotu!

Jack Kornfield: Pandemic Resources (audio)

Jack Kornfield (jackkornfield.com, spiritrock.org), Trudy Goodman (insightla.org, insightLA); Dhr. Seven, Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Jack Kornfield (spiritrock.org)

We have a choice. Epidemics, like earthquakes, tornadoes, and floods are part of the cycle of life on planet earth. How will we respond?

With greed, hatred/fear, and ignorance? This only brings more suffering.

Or with generosity, clarity/heart, and wisdom? This is the time for love.

This is a time for Bodhisattvas, Buddhas-to-be. In Buddhist teachings, Bodhisattvas are people who vow to alleviate suffering and bring blessings in every circumstance. Bodhisattvas choose to live with dignity and courage and radiate compassion for all, no matter where they find themselves.

• Pandemic Resources (jackkornfield.com)

This is not a metaphor. As Bodhisattvas we are now asked to hold a certain measure of the tragedy of the world and respond with love.

The Bodhisattva path is in front of us. The beautiful thing is, we can see Bodhisattvas all around. We see them singing from their balcony to those shut inside. We see them in young neighbors caring for the elders nearby, in brave healthcare workers and unheralded workers who stock the shelves of grocery stores.

As a father, if she called me, I would fly to the ends of the earth to help and protect my daughter. Now she and her firefighter/paramedic husband and my toddler grandson await the virus. His urban fire department, like many hospitals and first responders does not have masks. And 80% of their work is responding to emergency medical calls where they all expect to get the virus. They will not be tested, because the department can’t afford to lose too many of their firefighters.

What can I do? What can we do? In this moment we can sit quietly, take a deep breath, and acknowledge fear and apprehension arising with uncertainty and helplessness -- and we can hold all of these feelings with a compassionate heart.

We can say to our feelings and doubt, “Thank you for trying to protect me” and “I am okay for now.”

We can put our fears in the lap of the Buddha, Mother Mary, Kwan Yin, place them in the hearts of the generations of brave healers and scientists who tended the world in former epidemics.

When we do we can feel ourselves part of something greater, of generations of survivors in the vast web of history and life. We can feel as if we are “being carried,” as the Ojibwa elders say, “by great winds across the sky.”

This is a time of mystery and uncertainty. So take a breath. The veils of separation are parting, and the reality of interdependence is apparent to everyone on earth. We have needed this pause, perhaps even needed our isolation, to see how much we need one another.

Now it is time to add our part. The Bodhisattva ideal deliberately turns the suffering around to serve and help those around in whatever way it can. This is the test we have been waiting for. We know how to do this.

It is time to renew your vow. Sit quietly again and ask your heart, What is my best intention, my most noble aspiration, for this difficult time? Your heart will answer. 

Let this vow become your North Star. Whenever you feel lost, remember and it will remind you what matters.

It is time to be the medicine,

the uplifting music, the lamp in the darkness.

Burst out with love. If you are a carrier,

be a carrier of hope. If there is a funeral,

send the traveler off with a song.

Trust in dignity and goodness.

Where others hoard, help.

Where others deceive, stand for truth.

Where others are overwhelmed or uncaring,

be kind and respectful.

When you worry about your parents,

your children, your friends, your beloveds,

let your heart open to share in everyone’s care

for parents, children, and love ones.

This is the great heart of compassion.

The Bodhisattva directs compassion

toward everyone.

Those who are suffering and vulnerable

and even those who are causing suffering.

We are in this together.

It is time to re-imagine a world,

to envision sharing our common humanity,

to vision how we can live in the deepest

and most beautiful way possible.

Coming through this difficulty,

what we intend and nurture, we can do.

In the end remember who we are is timeless

awareness, the consciousness that was born

into a body.

You were born a child of the spirit,

and even now you can turn toward the awareness

and become the loving awareness that witnesses

yourself reading and feeling and reflecting.

When a baby is born, our first response is love.

When a dear one dies, the hand we hold is a gesture of love.

Timeless love and awareness is who we are. Trust it.

Dear Bodhisattva, the world awaits your

compassionate heart.

Let’s join in this great task together.

- Jack Kornfield 🙏🏻

P.S. You can listen to these free meditations:

• A Steady the Heart in the Time of Coronavirus
• Compassion in the Time of Coronavirus
• and more at jackkornfield.com

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What the Buddha did during an epidemic

Ven. Piyadassi Thera (trans.), Ratana Sutta: "Jewel Discourse" (Sn 2.1, PTS Sn 222-238; Khp 6) edited by Dhr. Seven, Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Wisdom Quarterly, March 2020, Coronavirus Age

Dharma Buddhist Meditation: Group Zoom Conference, Sundays, 9:00 AM-12:00 PM

Translator's introduction: According to the commentary the reason for this sutra (safeguard discourse), in brief, is an epidemic.

The ancient city of Vesali (Bihar, India) was once afflicted by a famine, causing death, especially of the impoverished. The presence of decaying corpses attracted many unclean spirits that began to haunt the city. This was followed by an epidemic.

Plagued by these three fearsome things -- famine, spirits (non-human beings), and disease -- the citizens sought the help of the Buddha, who was then staying in Rajagaha (Rajgir, India).

Followed by a large number of monastics, including Venerable Ananda, his attendant disciple [possibly his son, according to some traditions, born before Rahula, the son of a harem girl named Mrigi], the Buddha visited Vesali. With the arrival of the teacher, there came a torrential rain, which washed away the putrefying corpses.

• Ānanda asked the Buddha to visit Vesālī. There the Buddha taught the Jewel Discourse (Ratana Sutra) as a paitta, which he then recited, thereby ridding the city of disease, drought, and unclean spirits. (Was Ananda the Buddha's son as some traditions say?)

There really are "unclean spirits" who harm.

The atmosphere was purified, the city was physically clean, and the Buddha delivered the following Jewel Discourse (Ratana Sutta) to Ven. Ananda, and gave him instructions on how to tour the city with the Licchavi citizens reciting (chanting) the discourse as a mark of protection to the people of Vesali.

Ven. Ananda followed the instructions and sprinkled blessed water from the Buddha's alms bowl. As a result the unclean spirits were exorcised, and the epidemic subsided.

Thereafter, Ven. Ananda returned with the citizens of Vesali to the public hall, where the Buddha and a number of disciples had assembled awaiting their arrival. The Buddha then recited the Jewel Discourse to the gathering:

Ratana Sutra: The "Jewel Discourse"

Dispelling fear hand gesture

1. "Whatever (non-human) beings are assembled here, terrestrial or celestial, may they all have peace of mind, and may they listen attentively to these words:

2. "O, beings, listen closely. May you all radiate loving-kindness to human beings who day and night bring offerings to you (share merit). Therefore, protect them diligently.

3. "Whatever treasure there be, whether here or in the world beyond, whatever precious jewel there be in heavenly worlds, there is none comparable to the Tathagata (the Wayfarer, the Thus Come One, the One Arrived at Suchness, the Perfect One). This precious jewel [1] is the Buddha [2]. By this (asseveration of) truth, may there be happiness.

4. "That Cessation, that Letting Go, that Deathlessness (Nirvana) supreme, the calm and collected Scythian (Shakyian) Sage directly realized. There is none comparable to this (Nirvana) Dharma. This precious jewel is the Dharma [3]. By this (asseveration of) truth, may there be happiness.

Fearless be (abhaya mudra)

5. "The Supreme Buddha extolled a path of purification (the Noble Eightfold Path) calling it the path that unfailingly brings concentration. There is nothing comparable to this concentration. This precious jewel is the Dharma. By this (asseveration of) truth, may there be happiness.

6. "The eight persons extolled by virtuous people constitute four pairs. They are the disciples of the Buddha and are worthy of offerings (arhats). Gifts given to them yield rich results. This precious jewel is the Sangha [4]. By this (asseveration of) truth, may there be happiness.

7. "With a steadfast mind and applying themselves well in the dispensation of the Buddha Gautama, free from (defilements), they have attained that which should be attained (arhatship, full enlightenment) encountering the Deathless. They enjoy the peace of Nirvana freely obtained [5]. This precious jewel is the Sangha. By this (asseveration of) truth, may there be happiness.

8. "As a post deep planted in the earth stands unshaken by the winds from the four quarters so, too, I declare is the virtuous person who comprehends with wisdom the Ennobling (Enlightening) Truths. This precious jewel is the (Noble) Sangha. By this (asseveration of) truth, may there be happiness.

9. "Those who realized the Noble Truths well taught by the one profound in wisdom (the Buddha), even though they may be exceedingly heedless, they will not take an eighth rebirth (in the sensual sphere) [6]. This precious jewel is the Sangha. By this (asseveration of) truth, may there be happiness.

10. "With the gaining of insight one abandons three states of mind -- namely self-illusion, skeptical doubt, and belief in meaningless rites and rituals, should there be any. One is also fully freed from the four states of woe and is therefore incapable of committing the six major wrongdoings [7]. This precious jewel is the Sangha. By this (asseveration of) truth, may there be happiness.

11. "Any harmful action (karma) one may still do by deed, word, or thought, one is incapable of concealing it, for it has been proclaimed that such concealing is impossible for one who has seen the Path (of Nirvana) [8]. This precious jewel is the [Noble] Sangha. By this (asseveration of), truth may there be happiness.

12. "As the woodland groves in the early heat of the summer month are crowned with blossoming flowers, even so is the sublime Dharma leading to the (calm) of Nirvana that is taught (by the Buddha) for the highest good. This precious jewel is the Buddha. By this (asseveration of) truth, may there be happiness.

13. "The Peerless One, the Excellent One, the Knower (of Nirvana), the Revealer (of Nirvana), the Bringer (of the Noble Path), taught the excellent Dharma. This precious jewel is the Buddha. By this (asseveration of) truth, may there be happiness.

14. "Their past (karma) is spent, new (karma) no more arises, mind is free from future becoming. The seed (of rebirth-consciousness) has dissolved, they have no more craving for continued rebirth. Those wise one go out (of Samsara, the Wheel of Rebirth and Suffering) as the flame of this lamp (goes out). This precious jewel is the [Noble] Sangha. By this (asseveration of) truth, may there be happiness.

The Buddha washing a sick monk himself.

15. "Whatever (non-human) beings are assembled here, terrestrial or celestial (of earth or sky), come let us salute the Buddha, the Tathagata (the Perfect One, the Wayfarer), honored by devas and humans. May there be happiness [9].

16. "Whatever beings are assembled here, terrestrial or celestial, come let us salute the perfect Dharma, honored by devas and humans. May there be happiness.

17. "Whatever beings are assembled here, terrestrial or celestial, come let us salute the perfect [Noble] Sangha, honored by devas and humans. May there be happiness."

NOTES

1. Ratana means precious "jewel." Here the term is applied to the three jewels or gems, the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha.

2. Literally, in the Buddha is this precious jewel.

3. Literally, in the Dharma is this precious jewel.

4. Literally, in the Sangha is this precious jewel.

5. Obtained without payment: avyayena (KhpA).

6. The reason why it is stated that there will be no eighth existence for a person who has attained the first stage of enlightenment (stream-entry) is that such a being can be reborn at most only seven times in the sense sphere (kama loka).

7. Abhithanani: i. matricide, ii. patricide, iii. the murder of an arhat (enlightened one, consummate one), iv. the shedding of a buddha's blood, v. causing a schism in the Sangha, vi. pernicious false views/beliefs (niyata micca ditthi) that lead to woeful rebirths.

8. One is a stream-enterer (sotapanna), one who has attained the first stage of awakening.

9. The last three stanzas were recited by Sakka, the King of the Devas (in two celestial world immediately above the human plane) (KhpA).

Citation: "Ratana Sutta: The Jewel Discourse" (Sn 2.1), translated from Pali by Ven. Piyadassi Thera based on Access to Insight (BCBS edition), Nov. 30, 2013. Access to Insight (accesstoinsight.org) is owned and managed by the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies.

How to make a cool 3D printed mask

Thingiverse.com/thing:4245665 (imgur); Crystal Quintero, CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Need masks, anyone -- no? Yes? B.S. CDC.

I came up with a mask that can be 3D printed in minutes and uses cloth as a filter. I took a lot of flack for it being told, "Nobody needs a mask."

I was told I was doing more harm than good for making cheap masks available to everyone because people would go out more. That's like saying, "Don't make birth control available because people are going to want to have sex."

Oh no, it's Corona! Stay back!

People are going to go out. Some of us even have to go out in public because we're deemed "essential." So it makes sense to be protected from aerosol exposure.

Terrycloth is now supposed to be the best filter material. Print frame from this link: thingiverse.com/thing:4245665