A Mystery as Old as Humanity: For centuries, we’ve asked the same impossible question: What is life—and what gives it meaning? Now, scientists think they’re closer than ever to answering it. But their explanation isn’t philosophical or spiritual—it’s something far more concrete, hidden deep within the structure of matter itself.
What if Buddhism's fundamental unit of materiality in this universe, the rupa kalapa, or "form particle," explains the "meaning of life"? What if all we are is just material, arising in the cosmos, turning, and passing away into nothingness, having emerged from there in the first place?
Preposterous. The Buddha rejected this wrong view (miccha-ditthi) in very strong terms. It leads to a very pernicious view that denies a great deal about our lives. There are two extreme views the Buddha rejected and avoided; they are the annihilationist view on the one hand and the eternalist view on the other. Instead, he taught Dependent Origination as an explanation for all things.
The idea that we (the self, soul, ego, personality, living being) are only material in nature is flawed and leads to the annihilationist wrong view that says that when we die, everything stops. There is no further becoming. Karma has no force to produce further becoming, rebirth, rearising in another state, manifesting the results of previous deeds.
There is a similar extreme on the other end, that of the eternalists who proclaim that the self/soul (atta or atman) continues in essence unchanged forever, individuated, fated to receive the result of all previous deeds (karma). This, too, is a wrong view.
How could they both be wrong? Wouldn't one being wrong necessitate the other being right? No. Both views are at odds with reality, and enlightenment (bodhi) is knowing-and-seeing things as they truly are thereby being liberated from the endless Round of Rebirth (samsara).
What does the Middle Way say is the case? One must first understand that "middle" does not mean a compromise between both views, a mean or average of the two. Indeed, what we are or at least what we identify with, has a material component, but there is also a psychological component. This is nama-rupa, "name and form." This can be said of all things, not just us.
More importantly, what is "us"? What are "we"? What is the self or soul or the being? The Buddha said when people speak of self, they are referring to the Five Aggregates clung to as self. These are form; feelings, perceptions, mental formations, and consciousness(es).
What, ultimately speaking, is "form" (rupa)? Science does not know, but well-instructed mystics (noble ones, knowers, seers, those endowed with the divine eye or dibba cakkhu) know. They do not know it by rote. Anyone can come to know that. They know it by direct perception. They are well instructed not to memorize a list but rather to engage in a practice (Satipatthana) to directly see, penetrate, and understand what is there in material form. Unfortunately, what is there is described in ancient and archaic terms. When modern people hear these words, they -- thinking they know what they mean -- dismiss them out of hand.
Those who listen, who give ear and attention to comprehend what the Buddha meant by these ancient terms is then instruction on the PRACTICE to be able to see them directly. See what? The Four Elements. We "know" there aren't four elements. There are many more. This is not what "elements" (dhatu) means in Buddhism. The elements are not, roughly speaking, material. They are qualities, characteristics, descriptions of matter. Those many descriptions are put into four categories, and these categories are the "elements."
The PRACTICE of Four Elements Meditation is the way to know-and-see them. This is not science to SHOW others. This is Buddhist psychology (Abhidhamma) to see for oneself. For it is only by knowing-and-seeing for ourselves that we can become free. No one has ever gained freedom, enlightenment, spiritual liberation simply by reading -- just as no one has ever learned physics by flipping to the back pages of a text for the answers to equations. The answers are back there so that, after doing the PRACTICE of calculating, we can see if our results comport and accord with what others have confirmed are the answers. It is essential to come see for oneself. That is the Path of Freedom (Vimuttimagga), the Path of Purification (Vissudhimagga).
Rapper Lil Yachty CALLS OUT Black Lives Matter (BLM) because Patrisse Cullors spent millions of dollars (taken from the BLM foundation) buying mansions in Los Angeles and Canada, while Blacks suffered grievously under police, state, and court oppression.
"Black lives do not matteruntil all lives matters," for anyone who thinks Blacks are being selfish to single themselves out as being in need of fair treatment as if we were not all in need of it.
Indeed, everyone needs it, but it should be obvious that everyone does not get it, and Black are among the most oppressed groups in society along with Indigenous and Hispanic folks. This is a demonstrable fact, and if anyone who points it out makes others uncomfortable, it may be necessary to look up Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome, white privilege, white fragility, and most of all IMPLICIT bias.
We are becoming more aware of an inequitable system based on race, just as the Me Too Movement brought attention to the disparate treatment of women in Hollywood's movie and music industries. Awareness has not been enough. Systemic change is needed.
Reparations are needed because the same whites who say they did not own slaves and should not be blamed for the past are benefitting from the country's past system of oppression that advantaged them in the past and present and is doing so into the future. See the work of Dr. Joy DeGruy and Prof. Michelle Alexander for starters.
Maui Police Chief John Pelletier implicated in Penis Diddy Combs rape case
after his strangely coincidental involvement in the Las Vegas mass shooting
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Amber Ruffin’s Best Black History Month Lessons (Pt. 1) | The Amber Ruffin Show
(Peacock) Happy Black History Month! Watch The Amber Ruffin Show streaming now on Peacock: pck.tv/3pOiao8.
We love Malcolm X every day of the year
Amber Ruffin is here to celebrate and educate. Here’s a crash course on the importance of Black History Month, why it matters, and an uncomfortable but oh-so-important reminder of the impact systemic racism has on Americans to this day.
Synopsis: Amber Ruffin showcases her signature smart-and-silly take on the news of the week, responding to it all with a charming, late-night mix of seriousness, nonsense, and evening gowns.
ABOUT: Peacock allows one to stream current hits, blockbuster movies, bingeworthy TV shows, and exclusive originals — plus news, live sports, WWE, and more. Peacock’s got faves, including Parks & Rec, Yellowstone, Modern Family, and every episode of The Office. Peacock is currently available to stream within the United States.
"Racism" is a funny thing. When our hearts/minds become colonized by the dominant group (Caucasians), we may start doing their bidding to survive or prosper in this system. Anti-Black racism is not limited to whites. Black police may be worse at times, as they attempt to prove themselves to their white comrades in blue. They become worse than their jailers. Slavery lives.
CNN obtains audio of traffic stop involving Tyre Nichols
(CNN) Jan. 26, 2023. #CNN #News
CNN has obtained portions of the police scanner audio leading up to the arrest of Tyre Nichols, who was murdered by racist police, dying three days after he was pulled over for alleged "reckless driving" in Memphis, Tennessee. Police say confrontations ensued between their officers and Mr. Nichols during the stop, leading them to torture him, and his death must have been an "act of God" because it happened later after the severe and inhuman beating they delivered to release their aggression and hostility toward Black motorists, the clear result of internalized-racism, a byproduct of colonization by an outside group with animosity toward the colonized group. CNN’s John Miller and Shimon Prokupecz join Alisyn Camerota to discuss. #CNN #News
What riots might erupt in the South?
The Fire Next Time is a 1963 non-fiction book by American author James Baldwin, containing two essays -- "My Dungeon Shook: Letter to my Nephew on the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Emancipation" and "Down at the Cross: Letter from a Region of My Mind."
The book's title comes from a couplet in "Mary Don't You Weep," an African-American spiritual [1, 2]:
God gave Noah the rainbow sign
No more water, the fire next time
The first essay, written in the form of a letter to Baldwin's 14-year-old nephew, discusses the central role of race in American history. The second essay, which takes up the majority of the book, deals with the relations between race and religion, focusing in particular on Baldwin's experiences with the Christian church as a youth... More
Ya regret Pete? Now ya take me back? Ya'see, I'm bigger than Trump! - Take your meds.
Banner saying ‘Kanye is right about the Jews’ hung over the 405 Freeway in LA
(FOX 11 Los Angeles, Oct. 24, 2022) An antisemitic hate group was behind a banner hung over a busy Los Angeles freeway on Saturday saying “Kanye is right about the Jews,” after Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, made a string of antisemitic comments in recent weeks.
Anti-Semitic banners hung on overpass of LA freeway
(Inside Edition, Oct. 24, 2022) Anti-Semitic banners were hung over a freeway in Los Angeles. Some of the banners read, “Honk if you know Kanye is right about the Jews,” referring to comments recently tweeted out by Ye, also known as Kanye West. While the comments were removed from Twitter, the artist had made statements claiming that people were being “controlled by Jews.” [He's gone DefCon 3 on an ethnic group.] Inside Edition Digital’s Mara Montalbano has more.
Kanye West's "White Lives Matter" shirts given out to homeless people in LA's Skid Row
(CBS Los Angeles, Oct. 18, 2022) A known associate of Kanye West posted a video of a group apparently handing out the artist's infamous "White Lives Matter" shirts to the poorest of the poor living on Skid Row. Laurie Perez reports.
Hallelujah, Drake's God's Plan is da shiznit!
People don't like Jews. People dislike Jews. That may sound controversial, but it's often denied. "It's all a misunderstanding." Some people, such as American in exile Eric Dubay, don't think it's a misunderstanding. They are disliked.
Do Jews have an outsized influence on US media news and entertainment? You can't ask that! That question's anti-Semetic. Are Blacks Semetic? The Los Angeles City Council exploded over an anti-Black racism scandal that continues to reverberate over the country's second largest city, which seems like the largest by far. Maybe it's its second place public school system, size wise. LA trails NY.
There are not now nor have there ever been even a million Jews in the USA. Jews make up 2% of the population, and if the population is 350,000,000, that would be 700,000 Jews, mostly concentrated in metropolitan areas, particularly NY and LA.
What a shock that Kanye Ye West-Kardashian is not a fan of an entire people, echoing the splash Mel Gibson once made when he was drunk. Maybe Ye is just off his meds, one of the symptoms of which is anti-Semetism? Recently, West tried to shock the world by wearing "White Lives Matter" shirts. Candace Owens and a cadre of Uncle Toms almost certainly agree. (All lives don't matter until Black Lives Matter, but the BLM organization is not doing Black people any favors by malfeasance and financial shennanigans. Should Candace Owens be shut down and canceled for saying so? The world loves a whistleblower for saying what we already think but hates one for going against the grain and surprising us. "Ain't nobody got time for that." For what? For anyone else's version of "truth."
I'll come up with the questions and the data.
So let's stick to the facts. Where do facts come from? From the university and private corporate researchers, which seem overrepresented in one group, per capita. What percentage of any ethnic or religious group go to college or go into a given field? Those are facts, data, no one is inclined to ask.
We are living in a post-Obama America, so racism is over. Trump indicates that America is racist all over again, possibly more so than before. Or it's more explicit. Are there Neo Nazis in the US? Yes. Are there Neo Nazis in Ukraine? Yes. Aha, there can't be because the elected leader of Ukraine is a Jew! It's ridiculous to think the race of a figurehead determines what the person on the street is up to. Racism ended in England yesterday as an Indian Hindu took office as prime minister. Who believes that?
I agree with the majority and science.
There's just as much racism there as there was before. Are things getting better? Yes, one hopes. Will there be a British backlash? You bet. So let's look at what Black Trump (Ye West) has been up to, stirring the unmelting pot that is the US:
Black journalist Candace Owen (Uncle Tom?) dares to question the sacrosanct Black Lives Matter organization. If we can all agree that the motives of the movement are good, is the organization guilty of malfeasance, embezzlement, and stealing? It could be. A good motive for a movement does not mean a good governing body. Is somebody putting Owens up to taking down a Black power movement to advance herself as an "objective" and sanitized (Becky, Clarence Thomas-style) sellout? It could be. It's worth an investigation to explain the fact that BLM made 80 million in contributions, tugging at the heartstrings of guilty and sympathetic citizens of a very racist country. The Greatest Lie Ever Sold? BLM is rotten at the core while still good at what it preaches, or Candace Owens has much to answer for going after a good organization and not touching actual wrongdoing in the country.
The killer cops who murdered George Floyd opened up a can of worms we still suffer from.
Can BlackLivesMatter.com answer these documented allegations or just appeal to emotions?
BLM activist Shaun King threatens to name innocent cops as Jacob Blake shooter
Accused fraudster Shaun King is threatening to name innocent cops as Jacob Blake’s shooter if the Kenosha Police Department doesn’t release the identity of the officer who did, [according to allegedly biased reporter].
“If you do not name the officer who brutally shot Jacob Blake on Sunday, we will simply begin naming officers from your department who may or may not be him,” the pro-police-reform Black Lives Matter activist threatened online.
“F–k it. Your protection of his identity is unethical. What’s his name?” King wrote in a message “to the Kenosha Police Department” that he pinned to the top of his Twitter thread.
The Brooklyn-based King later tweeted the names of two Kenosha officers.
In one case, he named an officer, saying “people thought he shot Jacob Blake.” In the other, he asked followers to compare photos of a named officer and an unnamed cop on the scene of the shooting.
“POLICE COULD END THIS RIGHT NOW. They are deliberately protecting the man who shot Jacob. What’s his name?” he wrote.More
Vigilante calls on social media before deadly Kenosha attack
Whites with rifles, Kenosha protest 8/25/20 (AP)
Repeated calls for armed vigilantes to travel to Kenosha, Wisconsin, to "protect" capitalist businesses spread across social media following the police shooting of Jacob Blake by cowardly Officer Rusten Sheskey.
Calls went out hours before 17-year-old racist Kyle Rittenhouse shot two people to death and wounded a third during a third night of uprising in the Wisconsin city.
(Aug. 27, 2020) Multiple threads on Facebook and Reddit have urged militias and other armed White people to head to the demonstrations, researchers at the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Lab said in a blog post Wednesday.
The peaceful demonstrations broke out after Officer attempted to murder Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old Black man. Blake was left a paraplegic Sunday, when he was shot seven times in the back by officers answering a senseless "domestic dispute" call (between two females, which Blake was attempting to calm).
Now, two Black people were killed by gunfire Tuesday night. Accused murderer Kyle Rittenhouse, a White 17-year-old from nearby Antioch, Illinois, was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of first-degree intentional homicide.
A video director for the conservative website The Daily Caller tweeted Wednesday that he had conducted a video interview with the vigilante and suspected gunman before the shooting and posted a clip in which the armed young man, standing in front of a boarded-up building, said: “Our job is to protect this [capitalist] business.”
“And part of my job is to also help people [by shooting and/or killing other people]," he said. "If there is somebody hurt, I’m running into harm’s way [to do some hurting]. That’s why I have my rifle -- because I can protect myself, obviously. But I also have my med kit.”
Patriots, get your guns! Sieg heil! Go, go, go! (Beast TV/InfoWars)
.
The Atlantic Council researchers said that before the attack some of the online discussions encouraged acts of violence, while the Alex Jones conspiracy website InfoWars amplified the call to arms, potentially encouraging more armed people to head to Kenosha.
In Wisconsin, people 18 and over can legally openly carry a gun without a permit.
Facebook confirmed Wednesday that it took down a page called Kenosha Guard for violating its policy against militia organizations.
The company said it also is in the process of removing other accounts and material tied to the shootings that violate its policies, such as for glorifying violence, and it is in contact with local and federal law enforcement on the matter.More
BLM confront far-right, trying to chase them out of downtown Portland in mace fight
(VICE News, Aug. 25, 2020) Far-right protesters spar with Black Lives Matter (BLM) and apparent Anti-Fascist (AntiFa) counter-protesters for hours on Saturday, shooting paintballs and mace at each other, destroying property, and harming reporters. It’s the latest in weeks of increasingly racist far-right activity with police backing in Portland.
White racist shoots three Black demonstrators, killing two, in Kenosha
Black Lives Matter and counter-protest by White supremacist "patriot" militia groups
(DW News, Aug. 26, 2020) A white supremacist shot three people and killed two. They were shot dead and several others injured in Kenosha, Wisconsin as peaceful anti-racism demonstrators gathered for a third night. Footage posted online shows what appears to be a criminal militant armed with a rifle, firing shots when he trips, after being chased by BLM demonstrators. Armed militia-like groups are increasingly adding a new layer of tension to public protests in the United States. In some cases, right-wing activists -- openly carrying weapons with the tacit approval of police -- have been patrolling peaceful anti-racism demonstrations with the blessing of local law enforcement. So what is the aim of such groups? DW met with members of one militia known as "American Wolf."
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