Happy Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent for most Christians. Wisdom Quarterly's Mexican Buddhist Crystal Q. is torn between celebrating abstinence, the FiveEight or Ten Precepts, Ten Commandments, and reverting to simplicity. Since ancient Indian times, ashes from the pyre have been used by wandering ascetics as a way of getting clean. (Ashes are absorbent, and when collected from a funerary pyre, they are a strong reminder of this body's mortality). Buddhist David Bowie perhaps quoted the Anglican prayer book best when he sang, "Ashes to ashes, funk to funky, we know Major Tom's a junkie" (David Bowie's "Ashes to Ashes").
So it's time for a field trip to church (Catholic mass) to see these smearing of cremation ashes across foreheads in Los Angeles. Ananda is eager to see what this is all about. CC took us to the giant Buddhist temple east of Los Angeles in the very Asian San Gabriel Valley, where we enjoyed the Aztec dancers dancing for the Chinese Mahayana Humanist Buddhist crowd. So this explosion/clash of Mexican and European church tradition ought to be a Roman spectacular.
Pasadena, California, has many Catholics, and "church" (mass) was packed. The one we attended is beautiful inside, much more beautiful than the usual Holy Roman Empire version. It has a picture of God unlike any other Euro Catholic church building we've ever seen, a massive mural. And next to the God are beautiful devas ("angels"), drawn in gold and very colorful. The many pews were full, and there is a Spanish language service going on in the school building across the street. This church building is on the corner of Fair Oaks and the 134 Freeway, with a big belfry and clock (campanile). Inside, it's like a mausoleum of imported stone. And the attendees are a mix of Hispanics, Italians, Europeans, and a sprinkling of Blacks and Asians. Everyone is very nice and seem repentant as they line up for their pyre ashes, almost certainly incense stick remnants and coal. Wine and gluten crackers are served, if one doesn't mind mixing saliva with everyone else, but it's wiped with a white towel between sips, which is certainly sterilizing through prayer and God's power or the priest's magic. The officiant and his altar boy assistants said some nice words, encouraged people to be good and observe the RamadanLenten (Latin Quadragesima, "Fortieth") self-purification practices for the next month and ten days, and to do acts of abstinence, restraint, charity, and kindness, all beautiful sentiments for those who live up to the best of their religion. It is very much like the Buddhist Rains Retreat (Pali Vassa).
Meat eating during the Holy Season?
We agree: Let animals live by not eating them.
Historically, abstinence from meat was a requirement on the days of the Lenten season, including Sunday, the "Lord's Day") [20]. In Eastern Christianity -- including Eastern Orthodox, Eastern Catholics, Eastern Lutherans, and Oriental Orthodox -- Great Lent is observed continuously without interruption for 40 days starting on Clean Monday and ending on Lazarus Saturday before Holy Week [21, 6] and the big finale of the real New Year's Day, Easter, the first day of spring (time of renewal, when the "son" rises after being as dead as the winter, as explained by Astrotheology). More
In India, cremation ashes are called phool ("flowers"). They are collected from the pyre in a rite-of-passage called asthi sanchayana then dispersed. This signifies redemption of the dead in waters (like those of the "holy" Ganges or Jordan River) considered to be sacred and a closure for the living (Hinduism, Note 28).
American Pope's first Lent
Kendrick Lamar's Lefty Gunplay, Grammy Award winning LA Latino
Dr. Dre made mad money signing Eminem, so Kendrick adopted Lefty Gunplay (F. Scott Holladay)
(HP) Christianity erased the truth, but the evidence remains: Viking "berserkers" were said to fight in a trance of unstoppable fury. Some historians believe this rage may have been triggered by psychoactive plants like henbane or hallucinogenic mushrooms. Seeds found in a Viking grave in Denmark suggest these substances were known and possibly used. Christians systematically destroyed much of the old pagan knowledge. This video explores the evidence behind one of Viking history’s strangest questions. More
Religions overlap, but just because something came first doesn't mean that Catholicism stole it or appropriated it for self-serving reasons, like growing to encompass every part of the earth, says Casey Cole OFM.
Paul F. Knitter has 4.5 out of 5 stars after 447 ratings with this book. An honest, unflinching tale of re-finding one's faith, from one of the world's most famous theologians
Without Buddha I Could Not Be a Christian narrates how esteemed theologian Paul F. Knitter overcame a crisis of faith by looking to Buddhism for inspiration. From prayer to how Christianity views life after death, Knitter argues that a Buddhist standpoint can encourage a more person-centered conception of Christianity, where individual religious experience comes first and liturgy and tradition second. Moving and revolutionary, this book will inspire Christians everywhere. More
Impatient? Rush to Minute 2:37 to hear Christian approach and the Devil's opposition to being good
What is the Zen way to liberation? Kindergarten
Imagine beginning the Rains Retreat (Buddhist Lent known as Vas) with the idea of being good. Mara will come right at you like an angel of light (Mara Devaputra, Cupid, Eros, Kamadeva) and undermine your efforts, won't he? That's his modus operandi, as Alan Watts explains. But Taoism, and therefore Zen Buddhism, has a solution: Don't let him know what you're doing. One must act without intention, without premeditation, without the goal or outcome in mind so as to not let him know what we're up to on our path to be good. Otherwise, he'll just come along and ruin our efforts like taking candy from an old person or trying to give veggies to a baby: They'll fight you.
Not 40 days, but for more than 40 years, Alan Watts has earned a reputation as one of the foremost Western interpreters of Eastern philosophy.
Beginning at age 16, when he wrote essay for the journal of the Buddhist Lodge in London, Watts developed an audience of millions who were enriched by the wisdom of the East through his books, recordings, radio shows, public television programs, and public lectures.
In all, Watts wrote more than 25 books and recorded hundreds of lectures, all building toward a personal philosophy that he shares in complete candor and joy with readers and listeners throughout the world.
Insight can do what the ego cannot do by doing. - Philosophy or sophistry? Does Watts go too far?
Sixties icon? He was at it since before the 1950s.
His overall body of work has presented a model of individuality and self-expression matched by few philosophers, modern or ancient.
KPFK 90.7 FM Los Angeles continues to air Watts on Sunday mornings (8:00 am) and during Something's Happening midnights on Thursdays overnight to Friday.
Fat Thursday (French Jeudi Gras, not to be confused with next week's Maundy Thursday, ahead of Mardi Gras) on the Catholic Calendar takes place on the Thursday ahead of Ash(Tilaka) Wednesday (the official start of Lent) in February, right before the 40-day period of Lent. That’s February 27 this year.
And yes, it’s exactly what readers may be thinking — a time to indulge. Clear the kitchen and pantry in preparation for FASTING. That’s what Lent is all about, abnegation, austerity, asceticism as watered down as can be and still called a sacrifice and abstention.
I'm going to kill this Lamb (of God) and eat him
Mardi Gras ("Fat Tuesday") is coming, the time of year all Catholics become ducks and stuff themselves(Foie Gras)until, loving the Lamb of God, they demand Veal(made of baby Cow) and then go back to eating baby Lambs, chopped
As the lean season of Lent draws near, food becomes central to many peoples’ thoughts. There’s nothing like a fast (intentional cleansing starvation) to get us thinking about food, particularly those forbidden treats loaded with calorific ickiness.
If donuts were the first thing that came to mind, then that mind is on the right track because this holiday, originating in Catholic Poland, is about stuffing our faces with Polish donuts, known as pączki, and a few other exotically named sweet treats. Pancakes come to mind.
Every Fatso knows calories don't count today.
History of Fat Thursday
Though the exact origin of how this holiday came to be founded is unknown [though the eating up of all the forbidden foodstuffs of the next forty days seems like a pretty convincing explanation], the Polish tradition of consuming donuts is very much known. It dates as far back as the 1500s.
On the religious side of things, Fat Thursday is the last hurrah before the fasting period of Lent, wherein devout Catholics give up many indulgences in the 40 days leading up to Easter, the pagan Day of Rebirth (Resurrection and fertility), when the world springs back to green life after winter.
Roman Catholicism is as far from Christ's message as Protestantism
Traditionally, Catholics abstain from meat and alcohol during this period, as the idea is to give up things one is addicted to, loves, abuses, can’t give up even though one knows one should, in order to focus on the meaning of Easter.
Fat Thursday is known as Tłusty Czwartek in Poland. For those who doubt, the "fat" part of the name refers to the fried sugar crust of different types of pączki (pronounced \poonch-key\ or \pots-ski\) consumed by Poles all over the European country.
The Pope is dying, and all we're worried about is will he get his Angel Wings? We'll get ours.
The most traditional form of pączki is a fluffy donut filled with rosehip jam and dusted with powdered white sugar that looks like cocaine and the contents of a bloody nose on toast.
However, there are many variations now when it comes to fillings. Essentially, this day serves a dual purpose, as it allows Poles to indulge guilt-free in their favorite confectionery, while also carrying a religious meaning.
Rio Carnaval: Fat Tuesday in Brazil: Carnival in Rio (Portuguese Carnaval do Rio de Janeiro) is a festival held every year before Lent that is considered the biggest (and probably the sexiest and most decadent) celebration of Carnival in the world, with two million people per day on the streets, first celebrated in 1723 (wiki).
Some even refer to the day as International Polish Donut Day, and the average Pole will eat two or three today, which translates to about 1,050 empty calories (if anyone is counting, though we’re not)!
If the thought of consuming donuts scares an eater (because of the gluten, fried oil, toxic white sugar, strange fillings, rancidity and carcinogenic acrylamides from heat exposure), the recommendation is to eat just one gluten-free one with a better sweetener (agave, coconut blossom powder, erythritol, monk fruit, birch xylitol, or herbal stevia, because not eating a donut on this day means bad luck for the rest of the year, according to fat Polish tradition.
Another traditional Polish dessert that is extremely popular on this day is faworki, in some places, also known as Angel Wings. Faworki are thin gluten dough ribbons, fried until crispy and sprinkled with powdered white sugar. More
National Day Today, 2/27/25; Recovering Catholic Madison, Ashley Wells, Crystal Quintero (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
LYRICS: ("God" by Tori Amos) [Chorus] God, sometimes you just don’t come through/ Do you need a woman to look after you?/ God, sometimes you just don’t come through// You make pretty daisies, pretty daisies love/ (Come down and tell me what you mean, now)/ I’ve gotta find, find, find what you’re doing about things here/ (Huh, whatcha doing?)/ A few witches burning, gets a little toasty here/ (Hey now, what do you know, what do you know?)/ I gotta find, find, find why you always go when the wind blows// [Chorus]// Well, tell me you’re crazy, maybe then I’ll understand/ (Come down and tell me what you mean, now)/ You got your 9, 9 iron in the back seat just in case/ (Huh, whatcha doing?)/ Heard you’ve gone south, well, babe, you love your new 4-wheel/ (Hey now, what do you know, what do you know?)/ I gotta find, find, find why you always go when the wind blows/ “Give not thy strength unto women nor thy ways to that which destroyeth kings”/ Will you even tell her if you decide to make the sky fall?/ Will you even tell her if you decide to make the sky?// [Chorus]
All the disgusting animals Catholic Church allows for new Lent, Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene begs Christian women to stop sexualizing themselves, JKL pranks Trumpers!
(Jimmy Kimmel Live) Feb. 23, 2024: KFC has unveiled their latest culinary monstrosity, in Venezuela (South America) the Friday Lent menu has been updated to include new animals -- like the world's largest rodent ("water rats" called capybaras), after more than 50 years the U.S. is back on the moon [sort of, given that the Intuitive Machines Lunar Lander tipped over and ended up DOA], it will soon be illegal for kids in Florida to go on TikTok, Snapchat, and Instagram, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene took to X (Twitter) to talk about women being good Christian role models rather than caving into the world and its ways), Don John Trump popped into a Christian religious convention to convince the crowd he is one of them, and the show conducts an experiment in South Carolina ahead of this weekend's primary to ask people who identified themselves as "supporters of Donald Trump" for their take on some of Genocide Joe Biden’s more controversial actions and quotes. But what they were not told at first was that what was said was not from Joe Biden but actually from dumb Don Trump to watch them instantly flip-flop on what they thought. #Kimmel
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