US heat wave: California bursts into flames

(CBS News) Severe weather across USA, heat wave: California's Summit Fire is 0% contained

• List of heat waves (Wikipedia)

Manjushri Bodhisattva cuts our ignorance

(Buddha's Wisdom with Matt) MANJUSHRI: The bodhisattva who cuts through ignorance

Thousand-Armed Manjushri

Manjushri (Sanskrit 𑀫𑀜𑁆𑀚𑀼𑀰𑁆𑀭𑀻, Romanized Mañjuśrī) is a bodhisattva who represents transcendental wisdom (prajñā) of the "Cosmic Buddhas" [like Vairocana] in Mahāyāna Buddhism.

The name "Mañjuśrī" is a combination of Sanskrit word mañju and the honorific -śhrī. It can therefore be literally translated as "Beautiful One with Glory" or "Beautiful One with Auspiciousness."

Namasangiti Manjushri

Mañjuśrī is also known by the fuller name of Mañjuśrī-kumāra-bhūta (मञ्जुश्रीकुमारभूत) [1], literally "Mañjuśrī, Still a Youth" or, less literally, "Youthful Prince Mañjuśrī." Another name of Mañjuśrī is Mañjughōṣa.

In Mahāyāna Buddhism

Scholars have identified Mañjuśrī as the oldest and most significant bodhisattva in Mahāyāna Buddhist literature [2]. Notable traits of Mañjuśhrī include: More

• Mount Wutai, China
• Mount Odaesan, Korea

It's impersonal: My EGO is an illusion?

Anattā: "not-self," "non-self," "non-ego," "egolessness," "selflessness," "soullessness," the fact that ultimately all is "impersonal" is the last and most difficult of the three fetters or wrong views to cut.

It is one of the Universal Characteristics of All Existence (ti-lakkhana). The anattā doctrine taught by the historical Buddha is that neither within the bodily and mental phenomena of existence (the Five Aggregates clung to as self: form, feelings, perceptions, formations, and consciousness), nor outside of them, can there be found anything that in the ultimate sense can ever be regarded as a self or independently-existing real ego-entity, soul, self, or any other abiding essence, substance, or atman.

This is the central doctrine of Buddhism, without the understanding of which any real knowledge of Buddhism is altogether impossible.

It is the only really specific Buddhist doctrine, with which the entire structure of the Buddhist Teaching (Dharma, Dhamma) stands or falls.

All the remaining Buddhist doctrines might, more or less, be found in other philosophical systems or religions, but the anattā-doctrine is only clearly and unreservedly taught by the Buddha (or buddhas before him), wherefore the Buddha is known as the anattā-vādi, or "Teacher of Egolessness."

Whoever has not penetrated this impersonal characteristic of all existence and does not comprehend that in reality there exists only this continually self-consuming process of arising and passing bodily and mental phenomena, that there is no separate ego-entity within or without this process, that person will not be able to understand Buddhism, that is, the teaching of the Four Ennobling (Enlightening) Truths (sacca) in the correct light.

One will think that it is one's ego or personality that experiences suffering, one's person that performs good and harmful karma and will be reborn according to those actions, one's personality that will enter into nirvana, one's personality that practices the Ennobling Eightfold Path. More

The Buddha: The Fire Sermon

The Fire Sermon: "All is burning"

The Fire Sermon (Buddhistdoor.net)

(Ādittapariyāya Sutta, SN 35.28) In the Pali language canon there is a discourse (sutra) called the "Fire Sermon Discourse," popularly referred to as the Fire Sermon [1].

In this discourse, the Buddha teaches that achieving liberation (vimutti, moksha) from all suffering (pain, disappointment, rebirth, and unsatisfactorinesss) through letting go everything (ALL) mind and the five senses obsessively CLING to as personal, as sources of pleasure, and/or as enduring.

• The Three Poisons of the Heart/Mind in Buddhism

This sutra is also found in the Buddhist Monastic Code (Vinaya) at Vin I 35 [5].

English speakers might be familiar with the name of this discourse due to T. S. Eliot's titling the third section of his celebrated poem "The Waste Land" as The Fire Sermon. In a footnote, Eliot states that this Buddhist discourse "corresponds in importance to the Sermon on the Mount" in Christianity [6].

Background

Let us cut off our jatas and follow this sage!

In the Pali canon's "Collection of Discourses" (Sutta Pitaka), the Fire Sermon is the third sutra delivered by the Buddha (after the first discourse, called the Dhammacakkapavattana Sutta, and the Anattalakkhana Sutta), several months after his great awakening/enlightenment, on top of Gayasisa Hill, near Gaya, in what is now India (formerly the maha-janapada Kingdom of Magadha before there was an "India").

He delivered it to 1,000 newly converted wandering ascetics (samanas) who formerly practiced a sacred fire ritual (Pali aggihutta, Sanskrit agnihotra) [7].

The 5th-century CE post-canonical Pali commentary called the Sāratthappakāsini (the Spk.), attributed to the Theravada scholar-monk Buddhaghosa, draws a direct connection between the ascetics' prior practices and this discourse's main rhetorical device:

Having led the 1,000 ascetics to Gayā's Head, the Buddha reflected, "What kind of Dhamma talk would be suitable for them?"

He then realized, "In the past they worshipped fire morning and evening. I will teach them that the 12 sense bases (āyatana) are burning and blazing. In this way they will be able to attain full enlightenment" [8]. More

• The Fire Sermon: The Third Sermon of the Buddha (Buddhistdoor Global)
• Buddha's Wisdom; Dhr. Seven and Amber Larson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly Wiki edit

Calif heatwave, Yellowstone freezes

California braces for blistering 113F heatwave as wildfires rip through Golden State amid evacuations

(The Mirror US) California is bracing for blistering a heatwave as wildfires rip through the Golden State sparking evacuations. Temperatures across the state are set to soar on Tuesday after a relatively mild Labor Day weekend, with some areas seeing temperatures as high as 113 degrees.

It's another mandatory beach day in Southern California to fight the heat with cold LA seawater

Workout time, Jen Love Hewitt

Los Angeles will see highs in the 90s for much of next week and inland areas such as Palm Springs will see temperatures topping 110 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.

While Northern California won’t see as extreme temperatures as the southern portion of the state, they will still be above average temperatures for most of the week.

This will all go on while fire crews are battling wildfires all over the state with the largest being near the Tahoe National Forest, north of the capital Sacramento near the Nevada border.

• Oregon wildfires burn 1.4 million acres, making them most destructive since reliable records began
• California wildfire engulfs homes with thousands evacuated as 200 firefighters battle blaze
• Lincoln Place - Apartments in Venice, CA - FAQ (lincolnplaceapthomes.com)

A brush fire sparked in Fairfield on Sunday, leading to evacuation warnings before it could be fully contained, according to CalFire Lake Napa Unit (Fire Rescue)

Dubbed the Bear Fire, the Sierra County blaze sparked Monday (Labor Day) afternoon and prompted mandatory evacuations in the surrounding area according to state and federal fire officials. More

• The Mirror US via MSN, 9/3/24; Ashley Wells, Pfc. Sandoval (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Science: Insects NOT attracted to light

Anton Petrov, Feb. 12, 2024; Sheldon S., Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

We were completely wrong about why bugs are attracted to lights

(Anton Petrov) Feb. 12, 2024:  This video discusses a new study that explains why bugs are attracted to light...and it's a bit depressing. They are not attracted to light. That is not what has been happening at all, even though we all thought that self-evidently it was.

Links: https://theconversation.com/the-surpr...

https://www.nature.com/articles/s4146... #insects #biology #bugs

• 0:00 Bugs attracted to light
• 1:30 Previous assumptions that were not correct
• 2:50 New research and how it was done
• 3:35 Discoveries and unusual findings
• 5:20 How this affects insects' instincts
• 6:55 Which lights are the worst?
• 8:00 Conclusions
• 9:20 Variations among insects

Support this channel on Patreon to help me make this a full time job: https://www.patreon.com/whatdamath.  Get a wonderful person tee: https://teespring.com/stores/whatdamath. More cool designs are on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3QFIrFX Alternatively, PayPal donations can be sent: http://paypal.me/whatdamath.

Amazon jungle is on fire (video)

BBC Newsnight, 8/22/19; DemocracyNow.org; Ellie Askew, Crystal Q., Wisdom Quarterly

Brazilian president blames environmentalists for Amazon fires

On Wednesday, Brazil’s far-right President Jair Bolsonaro said, without evidence, that nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) were to blame.

President Jair Bolsonaro: “Regarding the fires in the Amazon, I’m under the impression that it could have been set by the NGOs, because they had asked for money. What was their intention? To bring about problems for Brazil.”

Bolsonaro has worked to deregulate and open up [privatize] the Amazon for agribusiness, [vegetation clearing] logging, and [strip-] mining since he came into office in January.

His attempt to blame environmentalists for the fires drew widespread ridicule and outrage. It came as indigenous people used social media to document how illegal loggers are setting fire to their territories.

This is a woman named Célia, a member of the [Native American] Pataxó indigenous community, speaking in a video that went viral across Brazil this week.

Célia: “Look what they’ve done to our reservation. For two years we’ve been fighting to preserve this land, and now those troublemakers come here and set fire to our village. As if it were not enough, the Vale mining company kills our river, our people, our source of life, and now they’ve come and set fire to our reservation. We won’t stay quiet! Tomorrow we will close the road, and we want the media to defend us!” More

The Fire Sermon (sutra)

Ven. Ñanamoli (trans.) Adittapariyaya Sutra (SN 35.28), Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven, CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly; G. P. Malalasekera (Dictionary of Pali Proper Names)

.

The way to liberation is sacred fire worship.

Thus have I heard. On one occasion the [Buddha] Blessed One was living in Gaya, at Gaya Head, together with 1,000 ascetics. There he addressed them.

 

"Meditators, ALL is burning! And what is the 'all' that is burning?

 

"The eye is burning, forms are burning, eye-consciousness is burning, eye-contact is burning, and whatever is felt as pleasant or painful or neither-painful-nor-pleasant that arises with eye-contact for its indispensable condition, that too is burning.

"Burning with what? Burning with the fire of lust (craving), with the fire of hatred (aversion/fear), with the fire of delusion (wrong view). I say it is burning with birth, aging and death, with sorrow, with lamentation, with pain, with grief, with despair.

• "The ear is burning, sounds are burning...
• "The nose is burning, fragrances are burning...
• "The tongue is burning, flavors are burning...
• "The body is burning, tangibles are burning...

I used to worship fire.

"The mind is burning, mind-objects are burning, mind-consciousness is burning, mind-contact is burning, and whatever is felt as pleasant or painful or neither-painful-nor-pleasant that arises with mind-contact for its indispensable condition, that too is burning.

"Burning with what? Burning with the fire of lust, with the fire of hatred, with the fire of delusion. I say it is burning with birth, aging and death, with sorrow, with lamentation, with pain, with grief, with despair.

 

"Meditators, when a noble follower who has heard (the truth) sees thus, that person finds estrangement in the eye, finds estrangement in visible forms, finds estrangement in eye-consciousness, finds estrangement in eye-contact, and whatever is felt as pleasant or painful or neither-painful- nor-pleasant that arises with eye-contact for its indispensable condition, in that too one finds estrangement.

• "One finds estrangement in the ear... in sounds...
• "One finds estrangement in the nose... in fragrances...
• "One finds estrangement in the tongue... in flavors...
• "One finds estrangement in the body... in tangibles...

The devas remained distracted.

"One finds estrangement in the mind, finds estrangement in mind-objects, finds estrangement in mind-consciousness, finds estrangement in mind-contact, and whatever is felt as pleasant or painful or neither-painful-nor-pleasant that arises with mind-contact for its indispensable condition, in that too one finds estrangement.

"When one finds estrangement, passion fades out. With the fading of passion, one is liberated. When liberated, there arises knowledge that one is liberated. One understands: 'Birth is exhausted, the pure life has been lived out, what can be done has been done, of this there is no more beyond [to come].'"

 

That is what the Blessed One said. The ascetics were glad, and they approved of his words.

 

Now during the Blessed One's utterance, the hearts of those 1,000 meditators were liberated from taints through letting go (clinging no more).

Comedy: Latino "rant" on cultures (video)

Joanna Hausmann (Race/NPR.org, 3-5-16); Crystal Quintero, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly

Venezuelan white Latina comedienne makes funny videos for Univision's "The Flama," which focuses on Latino culture (Derek Gabryzack and Diana Molina/Courtesy of Joanna Hausmann).

 
Latinos in the U.S. are "just put all in one group" [when we're not all Mexicans], says Joanna Hausmann, who is using big time comedy videos to show that all Latinas and Latinos are actually all different even when the dominant U.S. culture lumps them all together.

Comedian "rants" on different Latino cultures

The media portrayal of Latinos and Hispanic culture has come a long way. But the producers of comedy videos at the website "The Flama" [flame] still see room for improvement.

 
The Flama is a website from Univision and Bedrocket Media "created by, for, and starring young Latinos."

The site features a slew of comedy videos with people talking about things like Latino culture, food, or something off the wall like what presidential candidates would look like as characters in "The Hunger Games."

 

Joanna Hausmann is a Venezuelan comedian, writer, and a full-time video creator for the site. One of her roles there is hosting a recurring video series called Joanna Rants, which covers everything from types of Spanish accents to political correctness. More + AUDIO

• VIDEO (and Pacifica audio): Jimmy Dore Comedy

"All is Burning" (The Fire Sermon)

Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly; Ven. Nanamoli/Osbert John S. Moore (Āditta-pariyāya Sutra, Three Cardinal Discourses of the Buddha, Wheel No. 17, BPS.lk)

LA is burning, Springs fire, LA Times cover (Mel Melcon/framework.latimes.com)

Gayasisa, Gaya Head, or Brahmayoni Hill, where the Buddha delivered the Fire Sermon.

.

A world on fire (weakonomics.com)

English speakers might be familiar with the name of this discourse due to T.S. Eliot's titling the third section of his celebrated poem, The Waste Land, "The Fire Sermon." In a footnote, Eliot states that this Buddhist sutra "corresponds in importance to the Sermon on the Mount."

-Alexander W. Allison, Herbert Barrows, Caesar R. Blake, Arthur J. Carr, Arthur M. Eastman, and Hubert M. English, Jr. (1975, rev.), The Norton Anthology of Poetry, NY: W.W. Norton Co., p. 1042, Note 9.

The Sutra

Thus have I heard. On one occasion the Blessed One was living at Gayā, at Gayāsīsa, together with 1,000 monastics. There he addressed them.

“Meditators, all is burning. And what is the 'all' that is burning?

 

“The eye [Note 20] is burning, forms [21] are burning, eye-consciousness is burning, eye-contact [22] is burning, also whatever is felt as pleasant or painful or neither-painful-nor-pleasant that arises with eye-contact as its indispensable condition, that too is burning!

Woman sets boyfriend on fire (splash)

"Burning with what? Burning with the fire of lust, burning with the fire of hate, burning with the fire of delusion. I say it is burning with birth, aging and death, with sorrows, with lamentations, with pains, with griefs, with despairs.

 

“The ear is burning, sounds are burning…

 

The Fire Sermon (Wiki graphic)

 “The nose is burning, fragrances are burning…

“The tongue is burning, flavors are burning…

“The body [23] is burning, tangibles are burning…

“The mind [24] is burning, ideas (mental objects) [25] are burning, mind-consciousness [26] is burning, mind contact is burning, also whatever is felt as pleasant or painful or neither-painful-nor-pleasant that arises with mind-contact as its indispensable condition, that too is burning.

Burning with what? Burning with the fire of lust, with the fire of hate, with the fire of delusion. I say it is burning with birth, aging and death, with sorrows, with lamentations, with pains, with griefs, with despairs.

What to do in the face of fire when all (Camarillo) is in flames? (latimes.com)

 
“Meditators, when a noble follower who has heard (the truth) sees thus, that person finds estrangement in the eye, finds estrangement in forms, finds estrangement in eye-consciousness, finds estrangement in eye-contact, and whatever is felt as pleasant or painful or neither-painful-nor-pleasant that arises with eye-contact as its indispensable condition, in that too one finds estrangement.

 
“One finds estrangement in the ear… in sounds…

“One finds estrangement in the nose… in fragrances…

“One finds estrangement in the tongue… in flavors…

“One finds estrangement in the body… in tangibles…

Brain (mind/heart) on fire (salon.com)

“One finds estrangement in the mind, finds estrangement in ideas (mental objects), finds estrangement in mind-consciousness, finds estrangement in mind-contact, and whatever is felt as pleasant or painful or neither-painful-nor-pleasant that arises with mind-contact as its indispensable condition, in that too one finds estrangement.
 

“When one finds estrangement, passion fades out. With the fading of passion, one is liberated. When liberated, there is knowledge that one is liberated. One understands: ’Rebirth is exhausted, the supreme life has been lived out, what can be done is done, of this there is no more beyond.’”

That is what the Blessed One said. The meditators were glad, and they approved his words.

ENDNOTES

20. EYE [the sensitive portion of the eye], and so on: the six, beginning with the eye and ending with the mind (q.v.), are called the six “Bases for Contact (see Contact) in oneself,” and are also known as the six “Doors” for perception. Their corresponding objects are called “external bases.” (“Sense-organ” is both too material and too objective). This is because the emphasis here is on the subjective faculty of seeing, etc., not the associated piece of flesh seen in someone else or in the looking-glass, which, in so far as it is visible, is not “seeing” but “form” as the “external” object of the seeing “eye in oneself,” and insofar as it is tangible is the object of the body-base in oneself, and insofar as it is apprehended as a “bodily feature” is the object of the mind-base in oneself. Here the eye should be taken simply as the perspective-pointing-inward-to-a-center in the otherwise uncoordinated visual field consisting of colors, which makes them cognizable by eye consciousness, and which is misconceivable as “I.” The six Bases in Oneself are compared to an empty village, and the six External Bases to village-raiding robbers.

21. FORMS: the first of the six External Bases, respective objective fields or objects of the six Bases in Oneself (see EYE). The same Pali word rūpa is used for the eye’s object as for the first of the five categories, but here in the plural. Colors, the basis for the visual perspective of the eye (q.v.), are intended primarily. (See also under FORM [materiality]: Pali rupa (what appears, appearance). As the first of five categories (q.v.) it is defined in terms of the Four Great Elements [or material qualities], namely, earth (hardness), water (cohesion), fire (temperature), and air (distension and motion), along with the negative aspect of space (what does not appear), from all of which are derived the secondary phenomena such as persons, features, shapes, etc.: these are regarded as secondary because while form can appear without them they cannot appear without form. It is also defined as “that which is being worn away” (ruppati), thus underlining its general characteristic of instability).

22. CONTACT: the Pali word phassa comes from the verb phusati (to touch, sometimes used in the sense of to arrive at, or to realize), from which also comes the word photthabba (tangible, the object of the Fifth Base in oneself, namely, body-sensitivity). But here it is generalized to mean contact in the sense of presence of object to subject, or presence of cognized to consciousness, in all forms of consciousness. It is defined as follows: “Eye-consciousness arises dependent on eye and on forms; the coincidence of the three is contact (presence), and likewise in the cases of the ear, nose, tongue, body and mind. Failing it, no knowledge, no consciousness of any sort whatever, can arise at all.” This fundamental idea is sometimes placed at the head of lists of things defining Determinations (q.v.).

23. BODY: the Pali word kaya is used both for the physical body and for any group, as the English word “body” is. In Pali it is also used in the sense (a) for the physical frame, namely, “this body with its consciousness” in a general sense, sometimes called “old action,” and then it forms the subject of body contemplation as set forth in the Satipatthāna Sutra, the aim of which is to analyze this “conglomeration” into its motley constituents. Or else it is used in a strict sense, as here, namely (b) that “door” of the subjective body-sensitivity or tactile sense, the perspective-pointing-inwards-to-a-center in the otherwise uncoordinated tactile field of tangibles consisting of the hard, the hot-or-cold, and the distended-and-movable. (See also under EYE).

24. MIND: the Pali word mano belongs to a root meaning to measure, compare, coordinate. Here it is intended as that special “door” in which the five kinds of consciousness, arising in the other five doors (see under EYE), combine themselves with their objective fields into a unitive perspective-pointing-inwards-to-a-center, together with certain objects apprehendable in this mind-door, such as boundlessness of space, etc. (and names, fictions, etc.). Whatever is cognized in this door (see under Consciousness) is cognized as an idea (q.v.) as opposed to the bare objects of the eye uncognized by it as well. Here it makes this otherwise uncoordinated field of ideas cognizable by mind-consciousness (q.v.). And in the presence (with the contact) of ignorance (of the Four Noble Truths) it is misconceived as “I.” It is thus the fusing of this heterogeneous stuff of experience into a coherent pattern, when it also has the function of giving temporal succession and flow to that pattern by its presenting all ideas for cognition as “preceded.” In the Abhidharma, but not in the Sutta Collection, “the (material) form which is the support for mind” is mentioned (implying perhaps the whole “body with its consciousness”), but not further specified. This would place mind on a somewhat similar basis to the eye-seeing, as meant here in its relation to the objective piece of flesh (see under EYE). Later notions coupled it with the heart. Now fashion identifies it with the brain; but such identifications are not easy to justify unilaterally; and if they in any way depend upon a prior and always philosophically questionable assumption of a separate body-substance and a mind-substance, they will find no footing in the Buddha’s teaching where substances are not assumed.

25. IDEA [mind object]: the word dhamma [things, phenomena] is gerundive from the verb dharati (to carry, to remember); thus, it means literally a “carryable, a rememberable.” In this context of the six pairs of Bases it means the rememberables which form the mind’s special object; as distinct from the forms seen only with the eye, the sounds heard with the ear, the fragrances smelled with the nose, the flavors tasted with the tongue, and the tangibles touched with the body, ideas are what are apprehended through the mind-door (see under Eye, Forms and Mind, and also Contact). These six cover all that can be known. But while the first (see FORMS) are uncoordinated between themselves and have no direct access to each other, in the mind-door the five find a common denominator and are given a coordinating perspective, together with the mind’s own special objects. So the idea as a rememberable, is the aspect of the known apprehended by the mind, whether coordinating the five kinds of consciousness, or apprehending the ideas peculiar to it (see Mind), or whether apprehending its own special objects. This must include all the many other meanings of the word dhamma (Sanskrit dharma). Nirvana (nibbāna), insofar as it is knowable — describable — is an object of the mind, and is thus an idea. “All ideas are not-self.” What is inherently unknowable has no place in the Dharma (Teaching).

26. MIND-CONSCIOUSNESS: if it is remembered that each of the six pairs of Bases, the five consisting of eye, ear, nose, tongue, and body, being coordinated by mind, are open to anyone’s self-inspection; and that consciousness is considered here as arising dependently upon each of these six pairs of Bases and in no other way whatsoever (since no other description rejecting all six is possible without self-contradiction); then this notion of mind consciousness should present no special difficulty.

Right View continued: Dependent Origination

Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly: Noble Eightfold Path, Part III

Golden Buddha, sunrise, Wat Muang, Ang Thong, Thailand (Sasin Tipchai/Bugphai/flickr)

Contemplating the dependent origination of a flame meditation (roshchodeshnewmoon.com)

  
Dependent Origination
Right view also means understanding something mentioned at the beginning: Dependent Origination (paticcasamupada). That is, all things arise dependent on supporting causes and conditions and not independent of them. (The one exception, leading to IT not being called a conditioned THING like everything else, is nirvana, "the unconditioned element").

All things have a cause and are themselves causes. Everything that arises does so depending on supports not in their absence.

This is very easy to understand AND very deep, profound, and difficult to understand. The Buddha stated that, "It is because of not seeing this truth that not only you but I, too, have wandered on for so long in this samsara [cycling wheel of death and rebirth]" meeting with suffering again and again, now here now there. It is key to enlightenment. (There are 37 "things pertaining to enlightenment" in all the Buddha's teaching, a list labelled the bodhi-pakkaya-dharma or "Requisites of Enlightenment." Such lists are for understanding, not for clinging to or memorizing or worrying about).

Easy DO

Five factors give rise to illusory flame.

Well, what's the easy version? As a general principle of reality, of life, of physics, of psychology, we can see countless examples of things that seem like things, like solid objects, like fundamental elements, like unities. But we come to find that they are actually composites. Fire (defined here as a simple flame) is a thing, but what is fire? It is not a "thing" at all, but a process, and this process has components, elements, factors. 

What are the elements of fire? Fuel, heat, air (or any oxidizer), a medium, and combustion. There may be more, but let's just look at these five and add anything else later when the principle of dependent origination is grasped. Is any one of them "fire"? Are any two, three, four? Is there "fire" without any of them? Is there "fire" hiding in them waiting to come out? Is there "fire" apart from them? These things, the components of fire, are NOT fire. And yet there is no fire without them.

Fire element (NLbroekieNL)

Put them together in a functionally operable way and, BAM, suddenly there's fire, there's a flame. Pull any one of the components (the supporting causes and conditions) out and, BAM, suddenly there's not fire. Add the component back and, BAM, fire. Pull another one and, BAM... Try it. Is the "fire" hiding in the thing pulled out and added back in? No, because "fire" is not a thing. It's an epiphenomenal process, an empty heap of elements, an illusion arising based on components.

That is not to say it's conventionally unreal. Of course, it's conventionally real. And if anyone doubts that, we'll burn you with a flame...or at least point you to a fire, and you can have at it. It is ultimately "unreal" -- that is, not at all what it seems, but rather without permanence, identity, or ability to satisfy. It is impersonal; no fire ever reaches out intending to burn someone. But burning will occur as a result of contact with it. Yet, our language forces us to say what is not actually true, which is that "It burns [inflicts injury on] us."

FACILE ARGUMENTS EXPLAINED

Candles go out (imag.yaymicro.com)

It does nothing of the sort. It just becomes (not is, not being, but becoming, an ever-dynamic process, and if the process stops for even an instant, it goes out. 

• Where does it "go"?

It doesn't actually go anywhere; that is just an artifact of the language we employ to talk when we talk about a process as if it were a "thing."

• Where's nirvana?

Nirvana's not a place; that's just an artifact of the language we use to talk about it.

• What are the components of nirvana, is it those 37 mentioned before?

Nirvana's not a "thing." It doesn't have components and is the only thing that does not, so it is the only thing that is not a thing.

• Aha, but you just called it a thing!

That's an artifact of the language we use, not a property of nirvana, and anyway the path to a thing is not the thing.

• Aha, you just called it a 'thing' again!

Shut up.

• No, you shut up!

Okay, I'll shut up, and then this argument's over.

• But...

Uh uh uh!

Difficult DO

Temple in Hamaya (Fabian Belleville/flickr)

Is it clear that what is a composite, composed of elements, is not an independent thing? It is a dependent thing, leaning for support on those elements. Even if we add others or subtract some, the principle remains. No-thing really comes into being or goes out; that's just illusory, that is, what seems to be happening. In reality, what there is is emptiness. Ah, emptiness (shunyata as anatta).

We chose the example of fire/a flame on purpose Other dharmas (e.g., Jainism) have had to say, due to the logic of their arguments about a self/soul, that fire is alive. It certainly is to animists, to some shamans, and to faithful Jains. A wise person, therefore, neither lights nor extinguishes fires for fear of "killing." Look into it.

The Five Aggregates of fire (or what Ven. Thanissaro explains in terms of ancient Indian ideas prevalent at the time of the Buddha of fire clinging or binding to an object, leading him to the eccentric definition of nirvana as "unbinding") are a lot like a famous Mahayana Buddhist Sutra, the most famous in fact.

The Heart Sutra (the epitome of the Heart of Wisdom Sutra in the Prajnaparamita literature) runs: "(1)Form is emptiness, and the very emptiness is form. Whatever is form, that is emptiness. Whatever is emptiness, that is form. And the same is true of (2) feelings, (3) perceptions, (4) formations, and (5) consciousness."

These five are called "heaps" or the Five Aggregates (Groups) of Clinging because they are clung to as self (ego, soul, identity, personality, I, and me). But the very thing that looks at the world is not a unity either. It is a composite. A thing. And these are its components.

• I'm not a 'thing'!

Of course not, not you. You're different. We meant every other living being, every other animate and inanimate thing. But here thing does not mean thing in conventional language. Conventionally, of course, we are all persons. Lowly living beings move up. High born beings fall. Everyone whirls in samsara rarely hearing anything about liberation, nirvana, enlightenment, or the Buddha's Dharma, so rarely appearing in the world.

So we beg your indulgence to pay a little attention because a little "right view" goes a long way in this continued wandering on of suffering, rebirth, and death, death, death. Actions performed with right view are very profitable, very meritorious, even for one not striving for enlightenment. So pay attention. You will rarely ever hear something so important. CONTINUED

Minute Physics: Light, Fire, Duality (video)

(Minute Physics) Light it up! Fire it up! We explain a lot of hot stuff. It might be a candle in microgravity. Minute Physics provides an energetic and entertaining view of old and new problems in physics -- all in a minute! In this episode we explain why fire is red, gas flames are blue, and why you're too cool to glow. Music by Nathaniel Schroeder.

Tweet it, Facebook it, watch it on Google+ or on facebook.com/minutephysics.

Science Friday: What is a Flame? (video)

Wisdom Quarterly, NPR, Science Friday

Flame footage: Dale R. Tree, Tadd T. Truscott, Preston Murray, Jonathon Pendlebury.

Humans are thought to have mastered controlled fire in the middle of the Paleolithic era. Half a million years later, engineers Tadd Truscott and Dale Tree, of Brigham Young University, are trying to quantify it. Using high speed cameras and computer algorithms, they are reconstructing fire, digitally. Understanding flames better can help us use fire better, they say.

Candle Gazing Meditation
Candle gazing meditation is called trakata in Sanskrit (yogawithmarnie.com).

There is a simple but very effective form of meditation -- staring into the center of a candle flame until the countersign is developed and the light becomes visible even when not staring at the fire. It does not involve thinking. Quite to the contrary, it involves arresting and settling the mind. Consciousness continues and in fact becomes a fuller awareness; lucidity actually increases with the cessation of discursive thought, ratiocination, and contemplation. Our natural assumption is that "our" thoughts and ideas are us. What a relief that they think themselves, follow their own course, come and go. The real relief is even temporary release from neurotic revolving in mind. Steady focusing on a flame has the power to bring this about. Of course, this is only the first step. The goal is not simply to stop the mental chatter and be serene. This meditation can be developed to absorption (first jhana). And that sets the foundation for successful insight meditation or vipassana.

(BodyMindPower) Video, music, text: Anke Moehlmann (BMP Music), Mystic Journey Vol. 1 & 2, Yoga Sunset Chill I-III, bodymindpower.de.

A short Candle Meditation may inspire some to meditate with a candle. Use a non-paraffin candle free of toxic petroleum products and synthetic fragrances for best results, such as a simple oil lamp, soy candle, or this video:

It is a simple form of meditation that brings deep relaxation. And it is a fantastic way to improve concentration skills. The flame is an aid to go into a deep state of meditation. If thoughts come just let them be there watching them drifting by. Eyes may water a little, which is normal and helps clear them removing tiredness and improving eyesight.

When the eyes starts to burn, close them and visualize the flame with the third eye, the point between the eyebrows.

As a result of focusing on the flame, it feels as though that there is no distance between the eyes and flame. One might become one with the flame and enter a deep state of peace and tranquility.

Take a comfortable seat that promotes alertness, which usually means an erect but relaxed back that is not leaning on anything. Allow the eyes to relax while gazing at the flame. Breathe in and out at the center of the solar plexus. With each in and outflow of the breath, allow the entire body and mind to become more and more relaxed.

Complete the meditation by allowing a few minutes to come back to Earth. Close the eyes for a few minutes. Then slowly move head, hands, and feet before slowly standing.

• Learn more VIDEO: Mapping Flames
• How cooking made us human
• Managing forest to manage wildfires
• The physics of setting leaves aflame
  

The Great Fire

Picture taken on Nov. 29, 2008 shows Tibetan Buddhist monks try to put out a fire during a drill at Zhaxi Lhunbo Lamasery (monastery or vihara) in Xigaze, southwest China's Tibetan Autonomous Region (Xinhua News Agency/China-Hiking.com).

Rebuilding Burned Buddhist Temple

Diane Smith (Star-Telegram.com)

FORT WORTH, Texas — Wat Lao Thepnimith looks like a postcard from Southeast Asia planted in a suburban patch of houses nestled in northwest Fort Worth. The Buddhist campus is the heart of a Lao-American Buddhist community that began resettling in North Texas in the mid-1970s.

• VIDEO Laotian Buddhist Temple fire

Many of the estimated 11,000 members are refugees of Communism, who fled after the Vietnam War — a conflict in which many Lao were allies of the United States. On Aug. 24, a fire destroyed the campus temple, the Sim Building.

Rebuilding is the only option for a structure described as a labor of love. "We are really so, so sad," monk Ven. Kommana Vongphakdy said. Strangers touched by the story have brought donations. The community is working with Fort Worth to line up blueprints and permits. More>>

• Los Angeles' Station Fire only 49% contained
  Cost tops $37 million. The 154,000-acre blaze is no longer threatening homes. Firefighters are targeting the San Gabriel wilderness. Photos: Station fire - High-res - 360° 1 - 360° 2 - Mapped - Yours - Resources: Map - Air quality - Full coverage »
• Deadly California wildfire's western end under control
• Q: The Greatest fire in Buddhism? A: Taṇhā