Narrow is a Fragile Heart: Western nun

Episode 62: A Narrow Heart is a Fragile Heart | How to Stop Feeling So Alone

 

(Handful OfLeaves) Handful of Leaves Podcast. Support British Bhutanese Vajrayana Buddhist nun Ani Pema Deki's charity fundraiser: openingyourhearttobhutan.com.

• Buddhism in Bhutan

"Opening Your Heart to Bhutan" is a registered UK charity, whose work is providing education, medicine, and shelter to children facing the greatest challenges in Bhutan.

In this episode, Lopen Ani Pema Deki (Ven. Emma Slade) — a former London investment banker who left after a near-death experience in Jakarta (Indonesia) to ordain as a Buddhist nun high in the Himalayas of Bhutan — explores what it means to widen the heart and become truly unbreakable.

She contrasts fleeting, manufactured happiness with the effortless joy that arises from practice, explains how small acts of kindness build resilience, and reflects on faith, karma, and why some people in Bhutan seem less vulnerable to life's ups and downs.

Perfect for listeners curious about practical spirituality, courage, and living with greater purpose.

Key Takeaways:

• 🧭 Choose Liberation, Not Comfort — Why training the mind matters, and how practice aims for freedom from samsara rather than temporary ease.
• 💫 Real Joy vs. Manufactured Bliss — The difference between practice-born joy (stable, effortless) and short-lived worldly pleasures.
• 🤝 Small Acts, Big Heart — Two-minute kindnesses, widening our circle of care, and the role of faith/teacher in sustaining practice.

⏱Timestamps:

• (00:00) – Introduction to Lopen Ani Pema Deki (Ven. Emma Slade), former banker turned Buddhist nun
• (01:00) – The challenge of practicing Dharma in a busy modern life
• (02:31) – Are we seeking comfort in samsara or liberation?
• (02:51) – What happiness really means from a Buddhist perspective
• (03:40) – Joy and bliss: natural results of Dharma practice vs. worldly joy
• (05:28) – Reflections on Bhutan and why happiness can’t be measured easily
• (06:20) – Mental resilience and faith in Bhutanese life
• (07:17) – Small daily acts of kindness in a busy life
• (07:53) – Expanding motivation beyond yourself and loved ones
• (08:52) – Why bother about anyone else besides your loved ones?
• (09:20) – Why widening your heart supports resilience
• (10:24) – The Bodhisattva path: stretching beyond your comfort zone
• (11:14) – How British Lopen Ani Pema Deki (Ven. Emma Slade) became a Buddhist and later a Buddhist nun
• (11:40) – Meeting her teacher in Bhutan
• (12:24) – Moments of clarity and deep spiritual connection
• (14:27) – Karma and how Lopen Ani Pema Deki (Ven. Emma Slade)’s path ripened in Bhutan
• (15:18) – Sneak preview of Part 2

ABOUT THE SPEAKER: 👤 Lopen Ani Pema Deki (Venerable Emma Slade) was born in Kent, England, and was educated at Cambridge University and the University of London, where she gained a First-Class degree. She is a qualified Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and worked in Fund Management in London, New York, and Hong Kong. A deep-seated yearning to enquire into the deeper aspects of humanity arose following a life-changing business trip to Jakarta, where she was held hostage at gunpoint. She resigned from her financial career and began exploring yoga and meditation and methods of wellbeing with the ultimate aim of turning a traumatic episode into wisdom and conditions for thriving. She qualified as a British Wheel of Yoga teacher in 2003 and, over the last 19 years, has run numerous yoga workshops and retreats. ​ Her interest in Buddhism as a science of the mind strengthened after meeting a Buddhist lama (teacher) on her first visit to Bhutan in 2011.

This crucial chance meeting led to her studying Buddhism with this lama and, eventually, led to her becoming the first and only Western woman to be ordained in the last Himalayan [Buddhist] Kingdom of Bhutan as a Buddhist nun. #OpeningYourHeart #BuddhistWisdom #MindfulLiving #FaithAndPractice

• 📄 Transcript: bit.ly/hol-ep-62

Resources:

• Lopen Ani Pema Deki (Ven. Emma Slade) website: emmaslade.com
• Lopen Ani Pema Deki (Ven. Emma Slade) charity fundraiser: openingyourhearttobhutan.com

Special thanks to sponsors:

Buddhist Youth Network, Lim Soon Kiat, Alvin Chan, Tan Key Seng, Soh Hwee Hoon, Geraldine Tay, Venerable You Guang, Wilson Ng, Diga, Joyce, Tan Jia Yee, Joanne, Suñña, Shuo Mei, Arif, Bernice, Wee Teck, Andrew Yam, Kan Rong Hui, Wei Li Quek, Shirley Shen, Ezra, Joanne Chan, Hsien Li Siaw, Gillian Ang, Wang Shiow Mei, Ong Chye Chye, Melvin, Yoke Kuen, Nai Kai Lee, Amelia Toh, Hannah Law, Shin Hui Chong, Dennis Lee

• 🙏 Become a sponsor: handfulofleaves.life/support

🎬 Editor: Hong Jiayi ✍️ Transcribers: Cheryl Cheah, Tan Si Jing, Bernice Bay 🎨 Visuals and Sound: Anton Thorne, Tan Pei Shan, Ang You Shan 📱 Get connected: Telegram: bit.ly/hol-telegram. Instagram: bit.ly/hol-instagram-podcast. Facebook bit.ly/hol-facebook-podcast. Spotify spoti.fi/3w2jfQ1.

• Handful OfLeaves, Sept. 23, 2025; Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Jen B. (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly, orig. 12/19/25

The Empty Nature of All Things

(Buddhism Podcast) The empty nature of all things: Buddhist philosophy on reality

The Suñña Sutta [15] ("Discourse on Emptiness"), part of the Pāli canon, relates that the monk Ānanda, the Buddha's attendant, asked:

"Venerable sir, it is said that the world is 'empty,' the world is empty. In what respect is it said that the world is empty?"

The Buddha replied, "In so far as it is empty of a self or of anything that belongs to a self. So it is said, Ānanda, that the world is empty." More

Mind cannot be seen, so where is it?

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

But what is aware that it is aware?

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

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

Zen's Bodhidharma on the ONE method

The ONE practice that contains every spiritual method | Bodhidharma's breakthrough sermon

(ECHOES OF LOST KNOWLEDGE) April 17, 2026: What if one single practice contained every other spiritual method within it?

In this final chapter of the series, the First Zen Patriarch Bodhidharma [from India] reveals the most essential teaching of his entire lineage — and it begins with beholding the mind.

 

This video is a direct transmission of Buddhist Wisdom that cuts through centuries of misunderstanding about what spiritual practice truly means.

Discover why temples, rituals, chanting, and good deeds alone cannot free us — and what actually can.

In this sermon, Bodhidharma teaches

→ The single method that contains all other methods

→ The three hidden poisons (greed, anger, delusion) — and how they silently run our life

→ The six "thieves" operating through our own senses, robbing us of peace every day

→ Why "three asankhya kalpas [aeons of indeterminate length]" of hardship is not what most people think

→ The true meaning of the six perfections (paramitas), the three sets of precepts, and invoking the Buddha

→ How to behold our own mind and free ourselves from suffering — in this very lifetime.

This is not a lecture. This is Buddhist Wisdom spoken directly — clear, unfiltered, and as alive today as it was 1,500 years ago.

📌 THIS SERIES

• Chapter 1 — Blood Stream Sermon (watch first)
• Chapter 2 — Wake-Up Sermon
• Chapter 3 — Breakthrough Sermon (you are here)

🔍 TOPICS COVERED

• Bodhidharma teachings | Breakthrough Sermon | Beholding the mind | Three Poisons in Buddhism | Six Perfections (paramitas) explained | Buddha Nature | Zen Buddhism | Buddhist Wisdom for modern life | First Zen Patriarch | Liberation from suffering | Three sets of precepts | Six thieves of the mind | Enlightenment teachings
• Bodhidharma: between myth and reality (Penglai Martial Arts)

Every week, this channel brings rare Buddhist Wisdom drawn from the original [Mahayana] teachings of the great masters — Bodhidharma, Bankei, Linji Yixuan, and the earliest Zen patriarchs. If the ancient path to liberation is what one are looking for [that person might try Theravada, a back-to-basics Buddhist movement that holds the teachings of the historical Buddha in the highest esteem over subsequent Mahayana interpretations and apocryphal inclusions, distortions, and additions], subscribe and turn on notifications to never miss a teaching.

This video is best experienced in a quiet space, and with full attention. #BuddhistWisdom #Bodhidharma #ZenBuddhism. How this was made: auto-dubbed and audio tracks for some languages were automatically generated.

Curing the Five Hindrances of mind/heart

(Venerable Gotami) Stuck in life? These Five Things (Hindrances) are hold you back

1. Sense craving (kāmacchanda): seeking pleasure through the five senses of sight, sound, smell, taste and physical feeling.
2. Ill-will (vyāpāda): feelings of anger, hostility, vengefulness, resentment, hatred, and bitterness.
3. Sloth-and-torpor (thīna-middha): mental and physical lack of energy with little to no ability to make effort toward samadhi or concentration.
4. Restlessness-and-worry (uddhacca-kukkucca): the inability to calm the mind and bring it to stillness (samadhi) and focus one's energy.
5. Skeptical doubt (vicikiccha): lack of confidence, conviction, faith in the practice and one's ability to succeed in calm and insight toward enlightenment and liberation.

• The Five Hindrances (pancha-nívarana)

Etymology

According to Gil Fronsdal, the Pali term (nīvaraṇa) translated as "hindrance" actually means "covering." What these hindrances cover over are: the clarity of our mind, as well as our ability to be mindful, wise, concentrated, and stay on purpose [1].

According to earlier translations by Rhys Davids, the Pali term nīvaraṇa (Sanskrit nivāraṇa) refers to an obstacle or hindrance in the ethical sense, usually enumerated in a set of five [7].

In Pali language literature: Pali canon

In the Pali canon's Samyutta Nikaya, several sutras or discourses juxtapose the Five Hindrances with the Seven Factors of Enlightenment (satta-bojjhanga) [a].

For instance, according to SN 46.37, the Buddha states: "Meditators, there are these Five Hindrances, obstructions, corruptions of mind, weakeners of wisdom. What are the five?

1. Sensual craving...
2. ill-will...
3. sloth-and-torpor...
4. restlessness-and-remorse...
5. skeptical doubt...

"There are, meditators, these Seven Factors of Enlightenment, which are nonhindrances, nonobstructions, noncorruptions of mind/heart. When cultivated and developed, they lead to the realization of the fruit of true knowledge and liberation. 

"What are the seven? The enlightenment factor of mindfulness... equanimity... [8][b]."

Ven. Anālayo emphasizes: To overcome the hindrances, to practice satipatthana [the Four Foundations], and to establish the awakening factors [the Seven Factors of Enlightenment] are, indeed, according to several Pali discourses, the key aspects and the distinctive features common to the awakenings of all buddhas of the past, present, and future [9].

Ven. Anālayo supports this by identifying that, in all extant Sanskrit and Chinese versions of the Four Foundations of Mindfulness Discourse (Satipatthana Sutta), only the Five Hindrances and Seven Factors of Enlightenment are consistently identified under the dhamma contemplation section.

Contemplations of the Five Aggregates clung to as self, Six Sense Bases and Four Noble Truths are not included in one or more of these non-Pali language versions [9].

In terms of gaining insight into and overcoming the Five Hindrances, according to the discourse on the Four Foundations of Mindfulness, the Buddha proclaimed:

 

"How, meditators, does a meditator live contemplating mental objects in the mental objects of the Five Hindrances? Herein [within this Doctrine and Discipline], meditators, when sense-craving is present, one knows, "There is sense-craving in me."

When sense-craving is not present, one knows, "There is no sense-craving in me."

One knows how the arising of the non-arisen sense-craving comes to be; one knows how the abandoning of the arisen sense-craving comes to be; and one knows how the non-arising in the future of the abandoned sense-craving comes to be [10]. More: The Five Hindrances

Maybe it's time to break up with partner

(Jordan Peterson Rules for Life) "How to know when to end a relationship?"

(Jordan Peterson Fan Club)

Psychology Prof. Jordan Peterson, PhD, is an unpleasant jerk, but does he have anything to teach us?

Prof. Peterson: How to get over a breakup fast

(Ramble) Jordan B. Peterson: How to salvage a relationship, and when to end it

iHeart Music Festival, Las Vegas (6/11)

Exclusive Capital One Cardholder Presale Tickets For Our iHeartRadio Music Festival | iHeartRadio

Time to be determined and subject to change. Only a limited number of Capital One Access Passes are offered so don't miss the chance to get tickets. For more information on iHeartRadio Music Festival 2025 visit iHeartRadio.com/Festival.

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When purchasing, make sure the following information is accurate: Use an eligible Capital One Visa or Mastercard credit or debit card. Correct card number, security code, billing address associated with the card, name as it appears on the card and expiration date. Artist appearances, dates, times, and venues may change and are not guaranteed.

Capital One Access Pass timing and location details to be determined at a later date. Artist experience subject to change without notice. Capital One does not provide, endorse, nor guarantee any third-party product, service, information, or recommendation listed above. The third parties listed are not affiliated with Capital One and are solely responsible for their products and services. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Science: How bad could one beer be?

How dangerous could one beer be?

(Howtown) Welcome to HOWTOWN! A small but mighty team of two (Joss Fong and Adam Cole) digs into the evidence behind commonly held "facts" and claims in the news.

CHAPTERS

• 00:00 Intro
• 01:22 Drinking appears beneficial
• 03:54 The first mistake
• 05:00 Hank's Razor
• 07:34 Rethinking drinking
• 08:53 A failed trial
• 10:43 A new genetic tool
• 13:04 How risky is drinking?
• 14:50 How dangerous is alcohol?
  

• ASK HOWTOWN A QUESTION: howtown.co/contact

SELECTED SOURCES

• 

  How much alcohol is healthy and safe to drink?

  1981 Bay Area study pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7258861
• Association between daily alcohol intake and risk of all-cause mortality jamanetwork.com/journals/jama...
• Lancet mega-study of 195 countries thelancet.com/journals/la...
• Kiran Biddinger’s mendelian randomization study of cardiovascular effects jamanetwork.com/journals/jama...
• FULL SOURCE LIST: docs.google.com/document...

Howtown is supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation (sloan.org), in association with IMI (theimi.co), and is grateful for the generous support of the Patreon Town Council.*

The two images of televisions marked with an asterisk (*) during the Australia and Canada news montage were generated using MidJourney. To keep Howtown going and get bonus content: Join PATREON: howtown.

Stay in touch

• Instagram: howtown_videos
• Free newsletter: howtown
• Subscribe for more: @howtown

SPONSOR: Go to ground.news/howtown to unlock perspectives beyond media bias and stay informed with the facts. Subscribe through this link for 40% off unlimited access.

*Patreon Town Council: Bev Fong Chris Wubbels Sean Barrett Mike Purvis Ziver Imren Jim Jon Hewett Albychen Hernando Garcia Vladimir Khalimovskiy Sean Talon Evan Hass Mark Tinker Julian Mayorga L.A. O’Connor Hoang Anh Ky Mikey Limotta Marcos Huerta Joaquim Salles Sam Gaty Verner Sääsk Jason Dunlap Parag Mallick Paul Monaghan Edgar Sutawika.

• Joss Fong, Adam Cole, Howtown, Jan. 10, 2025; Ashley Wells, Pfc. Sandoval (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Calm herbs, Planting Medicine (radio)

Classes (Now and Then Herb School)

Sam Roberts (Now and Then Herb School) explores herbal preparations to treat FEAR.

Hear it in Berkeley on KPFA or Los Angeles on KPFK. What does the Nature's plant farmacy have to help us on our journey to calm and ease?

Planting Medicine airs Tuesdays at 1:00 pm (Pacific Time). The show enhances the community’s knowledge of HERBAL MEDICINE by sharing voices of traditional, holistic healers and healing practices.

• 
  LISTEN: Herbs for Fear | KPFA Planting Medicine – 1:00 pm, March 18, 2025 (heard on March 11th)
• Hear/download: Online Archives - KPFK
• Planting Medicine (KPFA program)
• The Herbal Highway Archives | KPFA

Hosted and produced by Emiliano Lemus and Renée Camila. Find archived episodes of The Herbal Highway hosted and produced by Emiliano Lemus and Renée Camila. Archived episodes: The Herbal Highway.

Why study herbalism?

Renée Camila, Mount Shasta, California

“I don't identify as an herbalist, healer, or have a particular interest in medicine.

“So initially I wasn't sure why I felt so drawn to participate in the first cohort of The Home Herbalist (previously the Now and Then Herbal Apprenticeship).

“Several years later, I continue to thank my lucky stars that I followed that impulse and connected with Sam, Renée, and the beautiful cohort I was privileged to be a part of.

Who has time to learn about sacred herbs?

“I think about conversations we had and lessons I learned from them just about every day. With deeply thoughtful, grounded, informative, compassionate, and soulful curriculum, teaching, and guidance, I don't hesitate to recommend this program even if, like me, you don't identify as an herbalist or healer.

“For me it was a loving investment in my own everyday relationship to plants, magic, and medicine on a personal level.

“Watching Sam and Renée follow their paths and cultivate meaningful work in community and relationship is a joy and an inspiration.”

Listen to show at KPFA or archive.kpfk.org

• CLASSES | Renée Camila | Herbalism and Birthwork
• CLASSES | Sam Johnson | Home and Hearth Herbs
• Pacifica Free Speech Radio, Berkeley and Los Angeles, archive.kpfk.org, 1:00 pm, March 11, 2025; Kellly Ani and Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Ouch, it's National Breakup Day 💔

National Breakup Day: reflect, grow, move on

May the Force be with you...but not today.

(Big Fox News) Feb. 21, 2024: Today is National Breakup Day. (Is it because it's "2/21" -- "two, two, one" as in "couple, couple, single" as in "going, going, gone"? No, this is no May 4th, Star Wars Day, when we say, "May the 4th be with you." It's because it's a week after Valentine's Day and Boo was only sticking around to not be alone on the momentous triumph for Kama/Cupid (Mara/Eros) or to get a gift, dinner, and to avoid the humiliation of sitting alone at a restaurant on the biggest day of the year for daters, lovers, and soon to be heartbroken and pathetic hungry ghost humans).

Love hurts, and breaking up hurts worse. So hu-man up! Don't act like such a clingy ghost. That is to say, get out of Buddhist cosmology's Realm of Hungry Ghosts. If you can't help it, talk to addiction medicine specialist Dr. Gabor Maté, who says we can become addicted to anything, even a partner (even though no person, sexual act, or substance is, in and of itself, addictive. If it were, everyone partaking would become an addict, and they don't. So why did we? It's because of our history of early childhood traumas. We are predisposed. That history combined with pleasant dopamine-pleasures = hardcore addiction. And today is the day we are disposed.

Now are ye undeceived.*

It gives singles -- and even those who are attached in a committed relationship, marriage, or handfasting -- a day to reflect on past relationships and realize our own personal growth gained from those experiences.

• Website: wydc-tv.com, Facebook: bigfoxtv, Twitter: bigfoxtv

Why do people break up? Top 5 reasons

The Linda Lindas play Bear Mtn for KROQ

Feb. 21, 2025: The five fastest ways to get broken up with are: (5) hogging the remote (taking too much ownership of the TV, the complaint of 15% of partners), (4) fake listening (failing to communicate because of distraction, ADHD, and not listening), (3) bad money management (splurging, gambling, no control of finances), (2) forgetting [Is it forgetting?], and (1) smoking (the worst thing a partner can do for 64% of people about to breakup with us). Note that neither stinking, snoring, nor cheating made the list. Lesbian Ally Johnson looked it up and presented it to horny hetero co-host Klein on KROQ this morning.

• What am I supposed to do now? National Breakup Day | February 21, 2025
• Most popular breakup day of the year is actually Dec. 11th — and here's why
• National Breakup Day is (or should be) October 1st

Nothing hurts worse than realizing the person you were in love with is an evil jerk

I'll never write a spiteful song about this guy. He's perfect. And we'll always be happy!

.

Let's stand by this star as the world burns.

*American author Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote an allegory, the climactic part of which reads: "by the blaze of the hell-kindled torches, the wretched man beheld his Faith, and the wife her husband, trembling before that unhallowed altar.

“Lo! there ye stand, my children,” said the figure, in a deep and solemn tone, almost sad, with its despairing awfulness, as if his once angelic [now demonic] nature could yet mourn for our miserable [human] race.

“Depending upon one another’s hearts, ye had still hoped that virtue were not all a dream! Now are ye undeceived! — Evil is the nature of [hu]mankind. Evil must be your only happiness. Welcome, again, my children, to the communion of your race!”

“Welcome!” repeated the fiend-worshippers, in one cry of despair and triumph. And there they stood, the only pair, as it seemed, who were yet hesitating on the verge of wickedness, in this dark world.

A basin was hollowed, naturally, in the rock. Did it contain water, reddened by the lurid light? or was it blood? or, perchance, a liquid flame? Herein did the Shape of Evil dip his hand, and prepare to lay the mark of baptism upon their foreheads, that they might be partakers of the mystery of sin, more conscious of the secret guilt of others, both in deed and thought, than they could now be of their own.

The husband cast one look at his pale wife, and Faith at him. What polluted wretches would the next glance show them to each other, shuddering alike at what they disclosed and what they saw!

“Faith! Faith!” cried the husband. “Look up to Heaven, and resist the Wicked One!”

Whether Faith obeyed, he knew not. Hardly had he spoken, when he found himself amid calm night and solitude, listening to a roar of the wind, which died heavily away through the forest. He staggered against the rock, and felt it chill and damp, while a hanging twig, that had been all on fire, besprinkled his cheek with the coldest dew ("Young Goodman Brown" classic American literature, 1835 short story about 17th century Puritan New England).

If only the Buddha had had anything to say about suffering

On many occasions, being asked questions, the Buddha reminded people that he only really taught two things. Any guesses? Did he teach magic and koans? Yin and yang? Mojo and moxie? The Kama Sutra and The Art of Not Giving a F***?

No. Of course, it was suffering (dukkha) and the end of suffering (nirvana). Why would anyone "teach suffering"? The Buddha had to make clear what "suffering" means. He defined it very handily and broadly, a functional definition for the cure he is about to present. What is the use of being told there's a cure if we haven't realized what disease we have been suffering from? "Pain" is much broader than we've imagined, as it includes disappointment, frustration, loss, separation, and even the excruciating agony of heartbreak.

But that's so pessimistic!

No, it isn't. It's a setup for the presentation of the antidote, solution, cure -- the path of practice to bring ALL suffering to a final end. We never even imagined we could bring it to an end, hoping death would do that for us. Death does not do that at all! Why? There is rebirth, and the reason there is rebirth is because there is craving and karma as yet to bring about its many results of all our skillful and unskillful deeds.

ALL disappointment, unsatisfactoriness, and woe CAN be brought to an end, a final end for it to never arise again. That is the great optimism of Buddhism, the "good news" of the Buddha's message to a benighted world of humans and devas (light beings, shining ones).

Suffering (dukkha): Disappointment is one of the Three Universal Marks of Existence. Various sutras sum up how cognitive processes result in our aversion (resistance, hate, fear, revulsion) to unpleasant things and experiences as we are moved to crave, grasp at, and cling to pleasure (sukha), keeping us in saṃsāra, the Cycle of Death and Rebirth. It is at the root of the Five Aggregates clung to as "self": (re)birth is suffering, aging, illness, death, sorrow, lamentation, mental pain, grief, and despair are s; suffering, asociation with the unloved, separation from the loved, NOT GETTING what one wants, getting what one does not want, all of this is "suffering." In brief, the Five Aggregates clung to as self (khandha, skandhas) are suffering.

The Four Noble Truths are Buddhism in a nutshell because they present the whole of the path of practice in four ennobling (enlightening) statements, like the assessment of a master physician:

1. Diagnosis: There is a disease (suffering)
2. Etiology: There is a cause of that disease (craving rooted in ignorance and associated with aversion)
3. Prognosis: There is a solution
4. Cure: There is way to the solution (magga, the path).

Early emphasis is on the importance of developing liberating insight (vipassana) to penetrate these fundamental truths about existence is key, and that insight is arrived at by the path of purification, the path to freedom, which is calm leading to samma samadhi, the meditative absorptions (jhanas), to reach a foundation of balanced stillness and intensification of mind able to penetrate them. It is not by thinking or study, belief or powerful faith. One needs to experience these truths until they are self-evident, not statements, not assessments, not doctrines.

The fourth truth is the general Ennobling Eightfold Path, but there is a more detailed summary enumerated in the 37 Requisites of Awakening/Enlightenment (bodhipakkhiya-dhamma).

• Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Ashley Wells, Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation) (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Soldier karma: life with NO brain

Psychology of brain damage: shattered

How can we live in a world that makes no sense at all? How could we exist when every second of our lives is an unsolvable puzzle, and the tiny bits we do manage to recognize can’t come out?

That was the life of Russian soldier Lev Zasetsky (1920–1993), a young man who suffered a brain injury fighting in another useless war.

That was the life of Lev Zasetsky, who suffered a severe brain injury when thrown into World War II.

The 3,000-page diary he wrote following his injury became one of the most valuable and insightful texts on the study of the human brain in the history of biological science (popsci.com).

Zasetsky suffered from aphasia, a disorder or dysphasia that impairs a person’s ability to communicate or understand communication.

• When Monkey Mind (thinking) stopped
• Case of survival: Lev Zasetsky | Mind Matters
• VIDEO: What if brain stopped working for 5 seconds?

Patient Lev Zasetsky and Dr. Alex Luria

Zasetsky’s form of aphasia resulted in him being able to write without being able to read his own writing or understand all of what he had written.

Russian Dr. Alexander Luria, one of the Soviet Union’s most accomplished neuropsychologists, was assigned to care for Zasetsky and found that the young soldier “simply could not write and…had suddenly become illiterate.”

Dr. Luria pinpointed Zasetsky’s injury to “the second major block of the brain located in the posterior sections of the large hemispheres.”

This portion of the brain’s job is “for receiving, processing, and retaining information a person derives from the external world.”

The precise location of his shrapnel injury meant that “a very important function [had] been seriously impaired: he [could] not immediately combine his impressions into a coherent whole; his world [became] fragmented.”

That’s how the world existed for Lev Zasetsky: fragmented. But he didn’t give up. His fascinating story and undaunted attitude can inspire and reframe our modern understanding of psychology, history, language, communication, showing what the human spirit can accomplish.

• From "He was the man who lived with no brain" (sort of), Popular Science, for more original Popular Science videos, subscribe on YouTube

SUTRA: Want to be a soldier? You might want to reconsider

The headman (gamini) was wise to ask the Buddha to clarify and dispel doubts (Yodhājīva Sutta)

 

The village headman Yodhajiva went to the Buddha, bowed, sat respectfully to one side, and said: "Venerable sir, I have heard it passed down through the ancient teaching lineage of warriors that:

• 'When a warrior strives and exerts in battle, if others strike one down and slay one while striving and exerting in battle then, with the breakup of the body after death, one is reborn in the company of angels (devas) slain in battle.'

"What does the Blessed One say about that?"

"Enough, headman, set that question aside and do not ask it." But a second time and third time the headman Yodhajiva asked it.

"Headman, I seem to be unable to get past by saying, 'Enough, headman, set that question aside and do not ask it,' so to reply simply: When a warrior strives and exerts in battle, one's mind is already seized, debased, and misdirected by the thought, 'May those beings be struck down, slaughtered, destroyed, annihilated, and no longer exist.'

"If others then strike one down or slay one while one is striving and exerting in battle, then with the breakup of the body after death, one is reborn in a hell called the Realm of those Slain in Battle.

Oh no, what will come of ignorance and killing?

"Moreover, if one holds a view such as, 'When a warrior strives and exerts in battle, if others then strike one down or slay one while one is striving and exerting in battle, then with the breakup of the body after death, one is reborn in the company of angels slain in battle,' that is his wrong view.

"There are, I say, two destinations for a person with wrong view, either hell or the animal womb" [rebirth in one of the many hells or the super-diversified animal plane].

When this was said, the headman Yodhajiva began to sob and burst into tears.

"Headman, that is what I was unable to get by you by asking you to set that question aside and not ask it."

"But, venerable sir, I am not crying because of what the Blessed One said but rather because I have been deceived, cheated, and fooled for a long time by that ancient teaching lineage of warriors who said that" (SN 42.3).

How you will die and why: I.R.

Look, if we have to die, let's at least not talk about it, not now while we're still alive.

I.R. = insulin resistance. It's part of the metabolic syndrome our bodies spin into, with weight, diabetes, blood pressure, sugar, addiction, exhaustion...this disease kills more people than cancer, and no one seems to know he or she has it. Get onto YouTube and watch this presentation. It's well worth it.

3X deadlier than cancer and most people don't know they have it

(Dr. Sten Ekberg) May 22, 2020: Over 70% of people have this health issue. Many people need to reverse:

• Insulin resistance,
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Welcome to "Reverse Insulin Resistance Naturally" by Dr. Sten Ekberg; a series where he tries to tackle the most important health issues of the day in a natural and safe way including the benefits of intermittent fasting, fasting, and autophagy (eating away the bad in the body).

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