Yi Long Ma (Chinese 马一龙, Pinyin yī lóng ma) was born Liu Xingjun (Chinese 刘星君, Pinyin Liú Xīngjūn) [2].
He is a Chinese martial artist, kickboxer, Wushu, and practitioner of other martial arts who competes in Super Welterweight, Welterweight, and Super Middleweight divisions. Born in Dezhou, Shandong [2], he is self-trained in Shaolin Kung Fu [3].
In 2007, he became the Guangdong Foshan International Wing Chun champion. In the summer of 2009, he began to fight in Wu Lin Fen [4]. Yi Long previously called himself the "Number 1 Shaolin Kung Fu Monk" despite the Shaolin Buddhist Temple in 2010 claiming the fighter is unaffiliated with them [5]. More
(PM) A long-awaited excavation by Italian archeologists has finally taken place beneath the floors of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, Palestine.
The church is believed to have been built in part upon the site of Jesus’s tomb, which the Gospel of John describes as having been “a garden.”
Their dig uncovered evidence of 2,000-year-old olive trees and grapevines, suggesting the site had indeed once been used for agriculture [if not gardening].
“At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid.”- John 19:41
As a literary device, this description of the burial place of Jesus Christ is effective; it offers a contrast between the site of Jesus’s death at the crucifixion site of Calvary (also called Golgotha, both derived from the Latin for “place of the skull”) and a fertile garden, brimming with life.
It also provides a cyclical shape to the final chapter of the Christ [the Anointed One's] narrative, which begins with his arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane.
So, as storytelling, this single sentence from the Gospel of John (the most recently written of the four canonical gospels, most scholars agree) has a substantial power to its brevity.
But as a historical record of where, exactly, one of the most famous men [or overhyped propaganda figures beginning with a historical figure then blown all out of proportion with myths, comforting fables, and voluminous imperial Roman psyops] who ever lived was laid to rest, one would be forgiven for finding it sorely lacking in detail.
Yet, thanks to a new discovery reported in the Times of Israel, that sentence might be key to confirming where the real [Jewish, Nazarene, or Essene] man at the center of the Christian faith was placed after his famous [imperial Roman torture practice of] crucifixion. More
Was Jesus originally a Pagan god? | The Christ Series
(Spirit Science)
April 2, 2025: Why is it that before Jesus [the Christ, the Annointed One, the Nazarene] ever existed, stories about his nature existed for thousands of years?
Long before Christianity, the blueprint was already written.
This episode of The Christ Series explores the ancient Mystery School traditions of the Mediterranean world — spiritual schools [based around an entheogenic, psychedelic, hallucinogenic drug, according to Greek philologist and Bible scholar Dr. Ammon Hillman] that centered on dying and resurrecting godmen, sacred rituals of rebirth, and the quest for [ego death and] inner transformation.
From baptisms for Osiris in Egypt to Dionysus in Greece, Mithras [a Maitreya/Messiah figure once worshiped on the Vatican grounds in the Holy See in Rome] in Persia, and Attis in Asia Minor, the core themes now associated with Jesus that were already part of a much older spiritual tapestry.
The idea of a "divine incarnation" (avatar) is not unique to Jesus or Christianity but is found in Hinduism with Krishna, Buddhism with Svetaketu* (descending from the Tusitaheavenor celestial space world to be reborn as Prince Siddhartha) [Setaketu was the Bodhisatta (the Buddha-to-be) reborn in Tusita in his penultimate rebirth. Sp.i.161; MA.i.103], Zoroastrianism with Saoshyant, and the Egyptian solar deity Horus, who daily vanquishes darkness (Set).
Dive into how early Jewish thinkers, especially in Alexandria, encountered these traditions and began weaving them into a new story — one that would become Christianity.
But what emerged in those early days was not the rigid religion we know today. It was something mystical, symbolic, and deeply personal.
In the city-states that gave birth to Western civilization, entheogenic and/or psychedelic DRUGS and substances were an everyday element of a free society. Often, drugs were not just available, but vitally necessary for use in medicine, religious ceremonies, and war campaigns. Their proponents and users existed in all classes up to the emperor. Citing examples in myths, mysteries, medicine, and literature, Dr. Hillman shows how drugs have influenced and inspired... More
The Buddha is always spoken of as a kshatriya as if the Shakyas (Scythians) were part of the Old Vedic Religion or Brahminism
Before the Future-Buddha Shakyamuni was reborn on earth, he was reborn in a higher sensual heaven (the Kama Loka or "Sensual Sphere" world called Tusita or "the Joyful") as its ruler, Svetaketu (Pali Setaketu). There is a story in the Vedic Chandogya Upanishad that is the first time rebirth/reincarnation is mentioned in the Vedas and perhaps in all of the known writings in human history. In this story, Svetaketu returns home from studying. His childhood friends ask him what he learned about the afterlife, to which he replies that it was not part of his curriculum. They ask Svetaketu's father, and he also does not know, so they ask the king, who claims to have known all along and explains the concept of reincarnation. He adds that it is a common belief among the kshatriya (warrior, noble, administrative class) and from this belief, they draw their power (courage in battle) [2]. More
(Brien Foerster)
Lost Treasures of Dashur (Dahshur) and Memphis in Egypt: Walk through the lost cities of Dashur and Memphis, home to forgotten pyramids (like the "Bent Pyramid") and hidden relics of Egypt’s golden age. More
What proof is there for this claim? Everyone knows J was a killer, or was he? (jesusveg.com)
Why I know Jesus was vegetarian (vegan)
(James Tabor) In this interview with Derek Lambert, host of the Myth Vision Podcast, [Prof. Tabor] presents arguments, almost never explored (other than by Keith Akers and just a few others), that Jesus and his followers followed a vegetarian (vegan) diet and did not eat any living creature -- not even fish.
I realize there are a very few passages in the New Testament gospels -- three in total -- that imply otherwise, but they are late and do not stand any test of authenticity.
Q: What the difference between a vegetarian and a vegan? A: Neither word comes from the English word vegetable but rather from the Latin vegetus— "whole, sound, fresh, lively." A vegetarian eats no creatures but may eat creature products like dairy, whereas a vegan is purely plant-based, avoiding animal products and byproducts (many of which are hidden ingredients in common foods and products), often also avoiding leather and cruelty to animals of all kinds.
It is generally acknowledged that his cousin John the Baptizer -- as well as his [twin] brother James, who grew up in his household, never ate meat. But Jesus is made an exception by many.
In Eden, things were wonderful.
Jesus was in fact very much a "Back to Eden" figure who always emphasized, within the varieties of Judaism of his day, "from the beginning it has not been so."
Over the years I have noticed that people get very emotionally involved in dietary questions, every bit as much as the proverbial forbidden topics "religion and politics," as around the table discussions.
I hope folks [Christians] will objectively consider the undeniable evidence.
ABOUT: Dr. James Daniel Tabor, Ph.D. (jamestabor.com) is the founder and director of the Original Bible Project, a non-profit organization aiming to produce a new and reordered translation of the Bible in English. He is a retired professor of Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, where he taught from 1989–2022 and where he was chair of the department from 2004–2014. He previously held positions at Ambassador College (1968–1970, while a student at Pepperdine University), the University of Notre Dame (1979–1985), and the College of William and Mary (1985–1989). More
They've done nothing for me. I mean, not that I know of.
I'm not going to buy more fruit just because she's pretty and in a skimpy top though, you know, I may make conversation and, come to think of it, I do need more oranges.
Reverse true for males: flatter=better?
Let's get one thing straight. Breast size doesn't matter at all, not a bit. They affect nothing, certainly not attention, stares, tips, comments, date requests, marriage proposals, catcalls, jeers, backaches, or popularity. There is no Boobie Industrial Complex (fashions, bikinis, braziers, stuffing, silicone cups, tape, wires, pulleys, wonder pills, creams, exercises, surgical augmentations, lingerie sales, saline implants, Erin Brockovich rentals...) supporting them. It's only a myth! Discovery's Mythbusters conducted a scientific test.
Bigger tipsbreasts equal bigger tips?
Yet again, science confirms that life imitates art just as consumers imitate mainstream media.
I'm not jealous or envious. I'm just curious. How can she stand being such an attention whooer?
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SCIENCE: busting the myth of bust size
(MythBustersDiscovery) Kari Byron and crew put the "bigger boobs better tips" hypothesis through a rigorous scientific social science experimentation with silicone mammalian augmentations that will ascertain the consumer capitalist engagement of a subset of the population of restaurant diners where tipping is obligatory. The conclusion has a twist that may come as a surprise to viewers. Who's actually doing the covert leering and paying for the privilege?
This anecdotal test attempts to see how long viewers will watch without understanding a word of what's going on simply because the fruit-buying influencer hired a bouncy sidekick to play along.
David Nield, ScienceAlert via msn.com, 3/4/24; Skeptic Central, Wisdom Quarterly
In the beginning, the Vesicle Blob. Like it or lump it, but thou shalt not question it (ScienceAlert)
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We may finally know how the first cells on Earth formed
In the beginning, rebirth ad infinitum.
The story of how life started on Earth [called the Agganna Sutra in Buddhism and Genesis or the Garden of Eden in the Abrahamic faiths] is one that scientists are eager to learn.
Researchers may have uncovered an important detail in the plot of Chapter One: an explanation of how bubbles of fat came to form the membranes of the very first cells.
This process adds groups of atoms that include phosphorus to a molecule, bringing extra functions with it -- functions that can turn spherical collections of fats called protocells into more advanced versions of themselves, able to be more versatile, stable, and chemically active.
Diagram of life beginning on Earth
We howl with laughter at religion for believing in fairytales but bow in solemn obedience to the inerrant utterances of white lab coat-clad priests in their lab-temples doing their lab stuff and coming out with papers about it. The sacred word, peer reviewed by fellow priests, spins a yarn and we all say, "Well, that's the way it has to be because Science don't make no junk." The figurative and metaphorical language a visionary (rishi) like the Buddha, Mahavira, Shankara, Moses, or Mohammed might have used, hah, that's of no use to us. It's fine if we want to throw out ancient written texts for new, but to ignore that Science tries to get away with explaining the universe by saying, "If you allow us just one unexplained miracle, the Big Bang, we can explain everything after that" is pitiful. Then anything observed as happening now is used to say, "This must have been what happened the first time, originating from nothing to everything we see now with no miracle at all and no anything before the something we now live and enjoy." Go on, Science, what else happened?
These protocells are widely thought to have been vital building blocks for biochemistry more than 3.5 billion years ago, perhaps emerging from hot springs under the ocean along the way to the evolution of more complex biological structures.
WTH? Science claims to know how life started?
Science observer Lloyd Pye says we have examples of microevolution but not a single example of macroevolution. Along with Michael "The Forbidden Archeologist" Cremo we are getting quite an alternative view to world history and biological origins. Yet, no one notices how Science behaves like storytellers around the campfire, making "reasonable" speculations from data like shamans spinning origin myths based on whatever is at hand to comment on? A vat of skepticism is in order and perhaps an eyeroll. Was it a good idea to trade in one set of priests for another? "God is dead" was a really good slogan if people understood what it meant, so how about we launch, "Data interpreters, get stuffed"? The first laments the loss of a guide, the latter echoes the Who's "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss" lyric. To think we're going to base our lives on what some blanketyblank opines from an ivory tower, as we grovel before the feet of impersonal objectivity and total rationality, unquestioned assumptions and men with mental defilements in charge of what we are allowed to believe? It's untenable.
"At some point, we all wonder where we came from," says chemist Ramanarayanan Krishnamurthy, from The Scripps Research Institute. "This finding helps us better understand the chemical environments of early Earth so we can uncover the origins of life and how life can evolve on early Earth."
Krishnamurthy and his colleagues hypothesized that because the process is so widespread in the body's biological functions, phosphorylation ought to have been involved in early stages of protocell formation.
Replicating conditions likely to match Earth's early days in the lab, the team combined chemicals such as fatty acids and glycerol to try and create more complex vesicles -- bubble-like structures similar to protocells that facilitate cellular processes.
With some tweaking of temperature and acidity, the researchers were able to get the chemical reactions they were looking for, proving that phosphorylation may have been at work as protocells developed in the primordial ooze.
The "Discourse on Beginnings" (Aggañña Sutta, DN 27) is neither satire nor parody, claims author Dr. Sugunasiri, Ph.D., as viewed by Buddhist scholars. Drawing on cosmology, Darwinism, psychology, and linguistics, this sutra paints a historically and scientifically accurate picture of Devolution and Evolution, going beyond the Big Bang. Sentient beings emerge with defilements, such as passion and craving, physically nourished with greater and greater difficulty by devolving plant life. Compatible with Western science, Dr. S, had an insight, a breakthrough in his understanding of this origin myth. What if the "beings" that first came to this earth, the âbhassarabrahmas (or "supremos," a class of devas, lit. "shining ones") are understood to be PHOTONS? Why? This is true if we take the term âbhassara in its literal etymological sense of "hither-come-shining-arrow," described as "self-luminous" and "moving through the air" (akasha, "space"), "glorious" (streaming), "feeding on delight," where they remain for a very long time, "mind-made" (spontaneous), floating above and around earth before the appearance of moon and sun, before night and day. However, as accurate as this picture may be, the Buddha’s point is that knowledge of Dhamma overrides it all, explaining the title [of Dr. S's book]. More
"The vesicles were able to transition from a fatty acid environment to a phospholipid environment during our experiments, suggesting a similar chemical environment could have existed four billion years ago," says chemist Sunil Pulletikurti, from The Scripps Research Institute.
The team describes it as a "plausible pathway" for the creation of phospholipids, the more complex type of vesicle membrane. However, there's lots more study to do before we can be sure about how life came to be on Earth, [science's favorite sentence].
[Do they, with their time machines or mystic powers? They see something now and project it back, neither understanding what they're seeing nor gaining evidence for what actually happened then.]
[And these "discoveries" are] about what happened right after Earth formed, and it all plays into our investigations into life on other planets, too.
[Q: Oh, are we now allowed to believe in life on other planets, according to our gatekeepers? A: "It's out there, it just doesn't come here and has never been here in any way whatsoever" is the official word. So obey and repeat this mantra until told otherwise, and never mind those pesky tardigrades on the moon.]
"It's exciting to uncover how early chemistries may have transitioned to allow for life on Earth," says biophysicist Ashok Deniz, from The Scripps Research Institute.
"Our findings also hint at a wealth of intriguing physics that may have played key functional roles along the way to modern cells."
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