I died and met gods Shiva 'n Jesus (NDE)

(shaman oaks) She died and met two gods: Jesus and Shiva (near death experience, NDE)

• (Dalai Lama) Is there really no God? This Dalai Lama explains
• Buddhism is nontheistic, not atheistic, and Buddhists are free to believe, follow, worship, or depend on a god (Maha Brahma, the Great Supremo), gods (brahmas, devas), or whatever conception they have of the "divine" (divinity)
• Archaeologists discovered a 5,000-year-old tomb filled to the brim with ancient treasures
• Archaeologists found a lost temple in the sand that solves a major historical puzzle
• Dinosaurs died out within hours, new study suggests

(Religious Debate) Richard Hawkins humiliates Mormon believer Brandon Flowers

The Fire Next Time: California Burnin'

(KTLA) Chemical hazmat emgergency prompts evacuations in Garden Grove

The real reason California is burning: climate

(KTLA 5 News) Live coverage: Wildfires forcing evacuations across Southern California

Like LA Uprising, things blow up

Last near, a large part of Los Angeles County burned in the "LA Fires" -- Eaton Fire in the foothills of Altadena above affluent Pasadena and the Palisades Fire in the affluent coastal area of Pacific Palisades near Malibu -- but did anyone like the mayor learn anything? Not so far as anyone can tell. No official has read The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin?

OJ: Blame it on him. I'm the Juice

Granted it's about igniting social unrest (like the LA Uprising of 1992 triggered by racist LAPD cop and disgraced perjurer Mark Fuhrman, who died last week) rather than wildfires burning out of control, but whatever we've been through as a county, there's worse to come. There's the Big One, an earthquake to flatten the place, a tsunami to inundate the low lying areas of the basin, and there's a cosmic radiation solar emission to take out all the electronics and powerlines.

Fraud Fuhrman hired by FOX

What did the Buddha say about being in this sort of position? He once asked a king what he would do if messengers were to tell him that an adversary were approaching from the east, west, north, and south. The king replied, "What could I do but rely on the Dhamma?" The Buddha then said that there were four such enemies approaching so that whatever he was going to do, it would be wise to do it NOW. The thing is, the Buddha wasn't only talking to that king. Those same adversaries are approaching each of us. But do we notice, listen, pay attention, or act accordingly?

• 

  Murder in Brentwood

  In 1995, Det. Fuhrman was called to testify regarding his alleged "discovery" of evidence in the OJ Simpson case, including a bloody glove recovered at OJ's Brentwood estate. During the trial, witnesses claimed that in the 1980s, LAPD cop Fuhrman frequently described African Americans as "niggers," claims he denied. In response, Simpson's defense team produced recorded interviews with Fuhrman, and witnesses proved that he had repeatedly used racist language during those interviews [1]. As a result, the defense claimed Fuhrman had committed perjury and was not a credible witness. The credibility of the prosecution has been cited as one reason big Simpson was acquitted [2]. The defense claimed Fuhrman planted key evidence as part of a racially motivated plot against Simpson. When asked under oath (without the jury being present), Fuhrman declined to answer all questions, invoking his Fifth Amendment right. These questions included whether he planted or manufactured evidence. He didn't want to answer? Fuhrman "retired" from the LAPD in 1995. In 1996, he pleaded guilty by pleading "no contest" to perjury for his false testimony related to his use of racial epithets. Fuhrman claimed he was not a racist and apologized for his use of racist language [3]. He did not apologize for potentially starting the deadly "LA Riots" or the people killed, an uprising that was a long time in the making due to flagrant LAPD racism. More

The Mamas & The Papas must have known California burns: "California Dreamin'"

Coast Guard says Santa Rosa Island Fire was possibly started by flare from stranded boater

Bain Fire: Jurupa Valley, Ventura County next to Los Angeles County

(CBS LA) Riverside County firefighters battle 200-acre Verona Fire burning near Hemet

The Simile of the Mountains

Dhr. Seven, Pabbatopama Sutta (SN 3.25) based on Ven. Thanissaro (trans)

The Buddha was dwelling in Savatthi. Then King Pasenadi of Kosala approached the Blessed One in the middle of the day, bowed, and sat respectfully to one side. Sitting there, the Blessed One said to him, "Great king, where are you coming from in the middle of the day?"

"Venerable sir, just now I was engaged in the affairs of an anointed noble-warrior king, enjoying the intoxication of royal sovereignty, obsessed with lust for sensual pleasures, who has attained stable control of his kingdom after having conquered a great sphere of earthly territory."

"Great king, what do you think? Suppose a trustworthy and reliable man were to come to you from the east and say, 'If it please your majesty, know that I come from the east where I saw a great mountain, as high as the clouds, coming this way, crushing all the living beings [in its path]. Do as you see fit.'

"'Then suppose a second man were to come from the west... Then a third man were to come from the north... Then a fourth man were to come from the south and say, 'If it please your majesty, know that I come from the south where I saw a great mountain, as high as the clouds, coming this way, crushing all living beings. Do as you see fit.'

"Great king, if such great peril should arise, such a terrible waste of human life — a human rebirth being so hard to obtain — what should be done?"

"Venerable sir, if such great peril should arise, such a terrible waste of human life — a human rebirth being so hard to obtain — what else should be done but conduct in accordance with the Dhamma, right action, skillful deeds, meritorious karma?"

"Then, great king, I inform you, I announce to you, aging and death are rolling in upon you. Great king, when aging and death are rolling in upon you, what should be done?"

"Venerable sir, as aging and death are rolling in upon me, what else should be done but conduct in accordance with the Dhamma, right conduct, skillful deeds, meritorious karma?

"Venerable sir, there are elephant battles [fought by] anointed noble-warrior kings enjoying the intoxication of royal sovereignty, obsessed by lust for sensual pleasures, who have attained stable control of their kingdom and who rule having conquered a great sphere of earthly territory. But there is no use in elephant battles, no sense in them, when aging and death are rolling in.

"There are cavalry battles... chariot battles... infantry battles... But there is no use for such battles, no sense in them, when aging and death are rolling in.

"In this royal court there are counselors who, when the enemies arrive, are capable of dividing them by their wit. But there is no use for such battles of wits, no sense in them, when aging and death are rolling in.

"In this royal court there is abundant gold and silver stored in vaults and depositories, and with such wealth we are capable of buying off enemies when they come. But there is no use in battles of wealth, no sense in them, when aging and death are rolling in. As aging and death are rolling in upon me, venerable sir, what else should be done but conduct in accordance with Dhamma, right conduct, skillful deeds, meritorious karma?"

"So it is, great king, so it is! As aging and death are rolling in upon you, what else should be done but conduct in accordance with Dhamma, right conduct, skillful deeds, meritorious karma?"

That is what the Blessed One said. Having said it, the One Well-Gone [the Welcome One], the Teacher, went on to summarize:

Like massive mounds

mountains press against the sky

move in from all sides

crushing the four directions.

Just so aging and death

roll over living beings, be they

warriors, Brahmins, merchants,

workers, outcastes, or untouchables.

They spare no one and nothing.

They trample all underfoot.

Elephant troops cannot hold their ground

nor chariots nor infantry

nor can a battle of wits or wealth win out.

So the wise, seeing their own good,

steadfast, secure their confidence in

Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha

[Teacher, Teaching, and Taught].

For one who practices Dhamma

in thought, word, and deed

is praised here on earth

and passing into the afterlife

rejoices in the many heavenly abodes.

• Prof. Andrew Olendzki: "Irresistible Force"
• CBS Los Angeles - Breaking Local News, Weather & Investigations
• How to deal with an enemy according to Buddhism - Quora
• Santa Rosa Island (Southern California)
• Channel Islands (Los Angeles, California)
• Ventura County, California is next to LA County
• Riverside County, California is next to LA County
• The Sandy Fire 40 miles north of LA is burning
• 2026 California wildfires (Wikipedia)
• (CBS Evening News) Multiple wildfires erupt across Southern California and western U.S.

Dramatic rescue of SoCal female hiker

Stranded hiker 'death gripping' cliff in Southern California rescued | FOX 11 LA

(FOX 11 Los Angeles) April 15, 2025: Dramatic video shared by the Riverside County Sheriff's Office Aviation Division shows a daring rescue that unfolded over the weekend on the Pacific Crest Trail in Southern California as a well-equipped hiker slipped off the trail under very sunny conditions and into a small crevasse or fold, where she became trapped and terrified, clinging on for dear life.

Subscribe to FOX 11 on YouTube: @foxla

• FOX 11 News, Los Angeles, April 15, 2025; Pfc. Sandoval, CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Eve: 'Rescuer' (ezer) of Adam in Eden

• 

  Don't you mention that woman, young punk!

  Woman, Thy Name is Ezer ["Rescuer"] The [Judeo-Christian] LORD God said, “It is not good for the man [Adam] to be alone. I will make a helper [ezer, rescuer, Eve] suitable for him” (Genesis 2:18). [Hey, LORD, but what about my first wife, Lilith? - Don't worry about her, Adam, my boy, I'll send her away to become a demoness and jealous eater of babies. That ought a teach her to mouth off. - Like your wife, Asherah, LORD, who I suppose was therefore my mom? - Don't ever bring her name up, Adam, or else! Anyway, my boy, we were better off alone just kicking it in this groovy garden planet we grew out of effort. Enjoy it before I throw you out. Unless you want a guy-pal to hang with. How about a Steve? - Whatever, LORD, as you see fit.]
• Were Adam and Eve made stupid? : r/Christianity
• Jesus' "helper" Mary Magdalene | Bible Mystery Resolved:

Ezer is a powerful word

More Than Enchanting (Saxton)

Scholar R. D. Freeman observes that ezer (pronounced /et-sir/) is a combination of two words, one meaning “to rescue” or “to save,” the other meaning “to be strong.”

Theologian and author Dr. Walter Kaiser notes that ezer appears in the Old Testament often in parallel with words denoting strength and power. The word ezer does not mean that a woman should never be an assistant, an ally, a supporter.

There is nothing negative about a man or a woman helping someone or being called by the [God] to fulfill that role! It’s always a privilege to serve [the God] as we serve others. But it is also crucial that we understand that in the biblical definition of “helper,” the ezer can also fulfill a different role.

It seems that ezer has more to do with what helping looks like, because it doesn’t seem to suggest anything about hierarchy. In some instances, ezer is a word with military connotations; the ezer is also a warrior.

In this context, help comes from one who has the power and strength to provide it. Ezer is a verb as well as a noun, meaning “to defend, protect, surround and cherish.” The ezer is an amazing mix of strength, power, proactivity, and vulnerability. Source

— Adapted from Chapter One, “The Blueprint,” by J O Saxton

What is anyone to make of Adam and Eve on Earth (Eden)?

Of course, the story of Adam and Eve (the Adama or first iteration of humankind and its other half, Eva, the second woman after Lilith in Judaism) is deep and ludicrous.

It is deep that it must be hinting at something else, a truism set in a mythological tale, ludicrous if taken at face value after centuries of translation and misinterpretation.

For instance, there is no "apple," but Christians will swear there is. The "snake" is a humanoid reptilian. There is much here, likely inherited from Sumerian sources, spun by countless rabbis and sincere students to take some useful teaching from it.

Likewise, Buddhism has an origin myth -- not of how it "all" started but rather how human life on this earth began. Long, long ago, light beings (devas, which are a superior class of brahmas) alighted on this planet and over the course of time devolved and became coarser and coarser until we find ourselves the way we are today.

The full tale the Buddha told, almost certainly rooted in true things but explained simply in ways that are hard to take literally, is known as the Aggañña Sutta or "A Buddhist Genesis," "On Beginnings."

• Read Wiki version of this sutra
• The Aggañña Sutta (DN 27)

Dhamma Aboard Evolution

A modern writer (Suwanda H. J. Sugunasiri) gives an excellent analysis of this metaphor or allegory (dealing only with sections 10-16 of this long discourse) in an eBook known as Dhamma Aboard Evolution: A Canonical Study of Agganna Sutta in Relation to Science.

In this analysis, the "light beings" (lit. "shining ones") are not humanoid beings who can fly alighting on earth by light itself reaching earth like photons from a faraway source. The author explains his motive for writing it:

The Aggañña Sutta of the "Long Discourses of the Buddha" (Dīgha Nikāya) is no satire or parody, as seen by some scholars. Drawing upon cosmology, Darwinism, psychology (Freud, Piaget, etc.), and linguistics, it paints a historically and scientifically accurate picture of devolution and evolution, going beyond the Big Bang. Sentient beings emerge [on earth], bringing with them the latent defilements of craving and passion, nourished by evolving plant life around them. Compatible with Western science, the breakthrough comes when Abhassara beings [from the Abhassara heaven or plane of existence] are taken to be photons, taking Abhassara in a literal etymological sense of "Hither-come-shining-arrow." However accurate this picture may be, the Buddha’s point, is that knowledge of the Dhamma is more important than anything else, explaining the title. More

Buddhist cosmology

Artists paint images of space for NASA

The Buddha described a universe consistent with the multiverse theory where there are countless worlds in all 10,000 directions, anywhere we can point. But all of these are classified into 31 Planes of Existence. One such plane is this world of "radiant ones."

So this sutra is saying this is the divine and sublime world we came from, not evolving from microbes in a primordial soup up to great apes or hominids (though that may be the origin of these bodies). We are fallen devas with every potential of becoming devas again, so in that sense we are divine beings in these sensual bodies.

Our karmas (actions, deeds, intentional acts) determine where we are subsequently reborn, just as previous karmas led to our rebirth on the human plane. We also have the potential to fall further down.

• ābhassara: The "Radiant Ones" are a class of heavenly beings of the Fine-Material Sphere (rūpa-loka); cf. deva.

Abhassara is a brahma-world where radiant devas ("shining ones") live from whose bodies rays of light are emitted, like lightning.

This plane of existence belongs to the rūpaloka (the Fine-Material Sphere)

• The Buddhist cosmos (universe/multiverse) is classified into three spheres: the Sensual Sphere (kama-loka), where earth and the sensual heavens are, as well as every other plane below the human world (animal, ghost, titan, hells), the Fine-Material Sphere, where more ethereal heavens are, and the Immaterial Sphere, where non-material worlds of pure mind are. This is an interesting distinction as it suggests that all that we call "form" or ultimate "materiality" (rupa) is coming from finer energy that is not yet form. All there is is called nama-rupa, "name and form" (mind and body). Form is of two general kinds, sensual and subtle (matter and light). And there is a sphere of worlds without form, only name or mind, a kind of Logos or Platonic "forms").
• It is essential to note that they are brahmas, as this means they are neither male nor female but "god-goddesses" ("supremos") without sexual dimorphism like the lower devas of the Sensual Sphere.

Is there a "heaven"? - There are many!

This plane corresponds to the second meditative absorption or jhāna (Abhs. v.3; Compendium 138, n.4).

All being depend on nourishment: The devas living on this plane subsist on joy (pītibhakkha) (S.i.114.; DhA.iii.258; J.vi.55).

Their span of life is two aeons (kalpas, kappas or more loosely speaking two "eternities"), but there is no guarantee that a person reborn here may not later be reborn in some unfortunate destination/unhappy condition (A.ii.127; but see Abhs. v.6, where their lifespan is given as eight kappas), as is the case for all beings who have not yet attained the first stage of enlightenment.

From time to time these devas utter shouts of joy exclaiming, "Aho sukham, aho sukham!" This sound is said to be the best of sounds.

These devas are completely enveloped in ease (sukhena abhisaññā parisaññā) (A.iii.202; D. iii.219). Their plane forms the third station of consciousness (viññānatthiti). Like humans on the human plane, they are of uniform body, but their perceptions are diverse (ekattakāyā nānat-tasaññino) (A.iv.40, 401; D.ii.69; D.iii.253).

During the periods of the development of the world (evolutionary cycle), many beings are reborn in the Abhassara world, and they are then called the highest of the devas. Yet, even they change their condition (A.v.60).

In lists of devas (e.g., M.i.289) they are listed below the Appamānābhā and above the Subhā. More

• Video shorts: Robot Chicken; Magnify explaining ezer, "rescuer" Eve; Billy Carson on the Sumerians; irate Irish lass on feminism overdoing it and crapping on the menfolk
• J O Saxton, More Than Enchanting; Ven. Nyanatiloka, Buddhist Dictionary; Suwanda H. J. Sugunasiri, Dhamma Aboard Evolution; Agganna Sutta (DN 27, Digha Nikaya, Pali canon); G. P. Malalasekera (Dictionary of Pali Proper Names); Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Pat Macpherson, Sheldon S. (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Rain, flood in Texas gets worse (live)

LIVE: Texas floods | Hundreds rescued from flooding in Texas as waters continue rising in Houston

(CNN-News) May 4, 2024: At least 178 people have been rescued from homes and vehicles in Harris County, Texas, an official said Saturday, with more rain expected over the weekend in the wake of strong storms and downpours that damaged homes and triggered evacuations, a catastrophe leading to mold infestation, homelessness, and financial ruin. Who's manipulating the weather? No, this is Texas, so God is angry and just paying the state back for endless sinfulness and not doing enough proselytizing against non-Christians.  #texas #usa #texasfloods #news18live

Indonesia volcano erupts = climate change

Major volcanic eruption in Indonesia triggers tsunami warning and evacuation of thousands

Images so spectacular, it's like AI imagined them

(AFP) Indonesian rescuers raced to evacuate thousands of people today (Thursday, 4/18/24) after a volcano erupted five times, forcing authorities to close a nearby airport and issue a warning about falling debris that could cause a tsunami.

• UDPATE: A powerful volcano is erupting. Here’s what that could mean for weather and climate

Map is incomplete, not showing Japan, Taiwan

The crater of Mount Ruang flamed with lava against a backdrop of lightning bolts overnight after erupting four times on Wednesday, forcing authorities to raise its alert level to the highest of a four-tiered system.

The volcano on a remote island in Indonesia's outermost region was still billowing a column of smoke on Thursday morning, prompting authorities to shut the nearest international airport in Manado City on Sulawesi Island for 24 hours.  More

• VIDEO: Indonesia warns of tsunami after volcano erupts
• Japan hit by big earthquake following big Taiwan shaker
• VIDEO: Africa is slowly creating a new ocean (tectonic)

Wild California weather: hail, rain, snow

Woman rescued from LA's concrete river

(NBCLA) March 24, 2024: A swift water rescue of a woman in Studio City in the Valley unfolded today with her being safely pulled out of the deadly waterway by fast moving rescuers who train for just such situations. Many unhoused individuals live in the river because, as in India, the land is cheap and most of the time it's not subject to flooding. But when it rains upstream, it suddenly floods downstream and with nowhere else to go, people refuse to evacuate until it's too late and they get caught on an island or shopping cart clutching an endangered pet.

Spring showers for flowers: Severe thunderstorm warning issued for parts of LA County; LA River rescue

(ABC7) Sunday, March 24, 2024: The Super Bloom is in full flowering mode, and now Indra is mad at the petals and throwing down frozen pebbles. A severe thunderstorm warning has been issued for parts of Los Angeles County as residents are reporting hail and heavy rain in some areas. The warning is in effect until 4:45 pm. The National Weather Service says the thunderstorm was located near the West Covina area, moving southeast at 20 mph. A squall hit Highland Park with severe hail and rain for a brief time beginning about 3:00 pm. More: abc7.com/los-angeles-weather-...

Rain, hail fall in parts of S. California

(KTLA 5) March 24, 2024: Palm became Umbrella Sunday, and Easter is ruined with coming weekend storm that is forecast to last three days. KTLA 5's Kaj Goldberg has the latest weather forecast as another storm hits SoCal.

Indian miners rescued from collapse (video)

Dhr. Seven, Pat Macpherson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Rescuers break through to trapped India miners in Uttarakhand | BBC News

(BBC News) Nov. 28, 2023: Rescuers in India say they have broken through to 41 workers who have been trapped in a tunnel in the Indian state of Uttarakhand since November 12, 2023. The miners became stuck after a landslide nearby brought down a mountain of debris, trapping them. They are expected to be [and have now been successfully] extracted one by one via a 90cm diameter pipe inserted through the rubble of the collapsed tunnel. #India #Uttarakhand #BBCNews. BBC is a British public broadcast service.

How ‘rat miners’ rescued India tunnel workers

(South China Morning Post) Nov. 28, 2023:  Indian rescuers pulled out all 41 workers trapped inside a collapsed tunnel in the Indian Himalayas with some help from a group of people who do so-called "rathole mining," which is effectively banned in the country. Authorities tapped the “rat miners” for help when heavy machinery broke down during a rescue operation that had dragged on for more than two weeks. For more on this: sc.mp/ltfe. Subscribe to YouTube channel for free here: sc.mp/subscribe-youtube #scmp #Asia #India

Incredible rescue: Aussie hero saves 41 miners trapped in India tunnel

(7NEWS Australia) Nov. 28, 2023: There have been jubilant scenes after 41 workers trapped in a tunnel in India for 17 days have finally been brought to the surface and to safety. The drawn-out rescue mission gripping viewers around the world was guided by a heroic Melbourne rescuer. Watch the full interview with Arnold Dix. Key Chapters in this video: 00:00 Miners Trapped for 17 days 01:51 Joined by Arnold Dix live.

For the latest Australian news and breaking news alerts, connect with 7NEWS online: Visit: 7news.com.au #breakingnews Subscribe and set 🔔 7news.link/YTSubscribe

How Mulian rescued his mother from hell

Crystal Quintero, CC Liu, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly Wiki edit

Mulian (Maha Moggallana) rescues his mother from her afterlife (wiki)

.

To rescue mom from Realm of Hungry Ghosts

The Buddha's black disciple

This story is widespread. The Buddha's Black chief disciple Maudgalyāyana (Maha Moggallana) looked for his mother after her death.

In addition to being used to illustrate the principles of karma and rebirth [69, 70], in China the story developed a new emphasis:

In China Maudgalyāyana is known as "Mulian," and his story is taught in a mixture of religious instruction and entertainment to remind people of their duties to their deceased relatives [71, 72].

The earliest version of the story is the Sanskrit Ullambana Sutra [73]. The story is popular in China, Japan, and Korea, where it is told in the form of edifying folktales such as the Chinese bianwen (e.g., "The Transformation Text on Mu-lien Saving His Mother from the Dark Regions") [74, 75].

In most versions of the story, Maudgalyāyana uses his psychic powers to look for his deceased parents to see in where they were reborn.

Although he finds his father in a heaven (deva world), he cannot locate his mother and asks the Buddha for help.

What if we're reborn as shapeshifting ghosts?

The Buddha brings him to his mother, who is located in a hellish realm [usually it is the preta-loka or Realm of Hungry Ghosts], but Maudgalyāyana cannot help her.

The Buddha advises him to make merits on his mother's behalf, which helps her to be reborn in a better place [75, 76, 77].

In the version of the story in Laos, he travels to the world of Yama, the kind king of the dead and ruler of the underworld, only to find the world abandoned.

Yama tells Maudgalyāyana that he allows the denizens of the hell to go out of the gates of hell to be free for one day, that is, on the full moon day of the ninth lunar month.

On this day, the hellions can receive merit transferred and be liberated from hell, if such merit is transferred to them [78].

Son, is that FOOD for me?! Aww, it burned up.

In some other Chinese accounts, Maudgalyāyana finds his mother, reborn as a hungry ghost. When Maudgalyāyana tries to offer her food through an ancestral shrine, the food bursts into flames each time.

Maudgalyāyana therefore asks the Buddha for advice. He recommends him to make merit to the Noble Sangha (the community of enlightened disciples, which is the unsurpassable field of merit) and transfer that merit to his mother.

• While this may sound odd, fantastical, and preposterous -- opposed to the theory of karma (action, deed, intentional act) -- it is actually possible for others to "receive" the merit (meritorious deed, the wholesome action of body, speech, or mind) we perform. How? When we offer the merit, if the other person knows it and receives it and is grateful, then that good mental acts of theirs is what benefits them to the measure of what is offered. Karma is a strange thing and very complex, in fact, so complex that knowing HOW it is going to work itself out by its many results-and-fruits (vipaka and phala) is one of the Four Imponderables.

The transfer not only helps his mother to be reborn in heaven but can also be used to help seven generations of parents and ancestors [79, 80].

• Sadly, as regards this Buddhist transfer of merit, it is not a universal cure for those reborn in the downfall (niraya, the subhuman planes of existence). This is how we know that the mother of Maudgalyāyana (Maha Moggallana) had not fallen into a "hell" (naraka) but rather the less painful Realm of Hungry Ghosts, a kind of Hades/Sheol [an underworld or dimension of shadows right next to us but veiled so we do not see it] or place the ancient Greeks and Jews thought all beings were reborn after death regardless of their karma. The Buddha explained that there are not many places beings would be in a position to "receive" any merit one attempts to "transfer" to all of them. But one should still try. Why? Beings who have fallen into the Realm of Hungry Ghosts can receive merit. And even if the person one is sending the merit to is not in that world but in some worse place, that merit can still be received by one's relatives. Now the Buddha said two very interesting things. One, he defined "relative" or "ancestor" as going back seven generations. All of those beings are our relative eligible to receive merit we transfer. Two, there is no one who does not have a relative(s) in this realm because of the number of people encompassed by going back seven generations. They will benefit even if our target cannot, and we will certainly benefit by the doing of merit, more so for wanting to transfer it, whether or not a particular person receives it.

The offering was believed to be most effective when collectively done, which led to the arising of the ghost festival [81]. (See § Heritage).

Several scholars have pointed out the similarities between the accounts of Maudgalyāyana helping his mother and the account of Phra Malai, an influential legend in Thailand and Laos [82, 83].

Indeed, in some traditional accounts Phra Malai is compared to Maudgalyāyana [83].

On a similar note, Maudgalyāyana's account is also thought to have influenced the Central Asian Epic of King Gesar, Maudgalyāyana being a model for the king [84]. More

Damsel in Distress: Who pays?

Rescued teen sailor to sail again

ADELAIDE, Australia (AP) – The first day California teen adventurer Abby Sunderland was stranded in the Southern Ocean, Australia's rescue agency chartered a jet to fly over the area where her emergency beacon was activated. The 11-hour flight cost an estimated 110,000 Australian dollars (US $94,500). The second day, after locating her, the agency sent another plane to coordinate her pickup by ships racing toward her damaged and drifting yacht. The Australian military also deployed two Orion aircraft to wait on an Indian Ocean island in case an airdrop or further assistance was needed. An Orion costs about AU$30,000 an hour to operate. More>>

Video: Dad defends teen sailor's solo effort

Solo teen sailor rescued; boat to be sunk

(LA Times) Reporting from Sydney, Australia — Abby Sunderland, the 16-year-old California teen solo sailor who ran into trouble in the middle of the Indian Ocean this week, has been rescued. Sunderland was reported to be in good health after being plucked from her damaged vessel 2,000 nautical miles off western Australia by the crew of the French fishing ship the Ile De La Reunion at 7:45 pm AEST. The crew of the Ile De La Reunion, a considerably larger vessel than Sunderland's "Wild Eyes," dispatched a smaller boat to pick her up. More (with video)>>

Bonnaroo Music Festival underway

Music fans at the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival, 6/11/10 in Tennessee (AP).

MANCHESTER, Tenn. — A slightly groggy, sun-drenched Bonnaroo crowd was readying itself for the music festival's big day-two acts, Jay-Z and Stevie Wonder. Both were to take Bonnaroo's main stage Saturday evening in succession, with headliner Jay-Z following Wonder. The day's acts also included Weezer, Jack White's the Dead Weather, Norah Jones... More>>

Slideshow:Bonnaroo Festival

Rescue effort for teen round-the-world sailor

Rescue effort launched for teen sailor

LOS ANGELES (AP/GrindTV) – A [white] 16-year-old Southern California girl attempting a solo sail around the world was feared in trouble today thousands of miles from land in the frigid, heaving southern Indian Ocean after her emergency beacons began signaling and communication was lost. An emergency search is under way for Abby Sunderland, who was trying to navigate the world alone. Another record voyage - Diver takes eerie leap

• US Girl on Solo World Voyage in Trouble (AP)
• VIDEO: California teen girl feared in lost (CBS)

What to call the newest generation

After baby boomers, Generation X, and millennials, the latest group is looking for its moniker. Internet's impact - Working better with Gen Y - Novel for Facebook crowd - Traits of baby boomers