Hidden devils and demons all around

Skip to Minute 3:25 for Fengdu Ghost City based on Buddhist and Chinese mythology

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The UnXplained: Hidden Devils and Demons Surround Us

(HISTORY) Evil (pāpa, Nio) is all around us. See more in this compilation from The UnXplained.

• VIDEO

First, there was the USA's first known serial killer, Mr. H. H. Holmes from the Chicago World's Fair, the real name of which is World's Columbian Exposition (because Columbia is the USA's little-known first name before reverting to the reptilian name Amerika, not related to Amerigo Vespucci as we are all taught).

Where are the "devils"? They are with the ghosts and demons in the underworld (ancient Greek Hades), Gehenna, or what the ancient Chinese call Fengdu Ghost City (Chinese 丰都鬼城, 豐都鬼城) pinyin Fēngdū Guǐ Chéng, originally 酆都鬼城 [1]).

This is a large complex of Chinese shrines, temples, and monasteries dedicated to the afterlife located on Ming Mountain [2] in Fengdu County, Chongqing municipality, China [3]. It is situated about 110 miles (170 km) downstream from Chongqing on the north bank of the Yangtze River.

The city consists of buildings, structures, dioramas, and statues related to Diyu and Naraka, concepts from Chinese mythology and Buddhism that signify the underworld or hell(s). It is modeled to resemble Youdu, the capital of Diyu.

After the building of the Three Gorges Dam and the rising of the water level of the river it became separated from the city of Fengdu, which was rebuilt higher up the mountainside on the south side of the river [4]. More: Fengdu Ghost City

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• The UnXplained, Nov. 17, 2024: CC Liu, Ashley Wells, Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Ken Page, Nightmare Before Xmas, dies

People don't really die, do they? Do we?

(Todd Malkin) Ken Page (1954-2024) sings "Oogie Boogie," a song from A Nightmare Before Christmas live @ The Hollywood Bowl on Halloween 2015).

Page has died at 70, according to a close friend. He now faces rebirth, potentially among the unfortunate beings of the dismal hungry ghost realm for his habitual karma on earth. What did he do? He was an actor and singer, counterfeiting the truth on stage, which American Theravada Buddhist monk Ven. Thanissaro suggests is the kind of karma (deeds) that dooms one to miserable consequences.

• Right Livelihood: Acting and soldiering bad karma (accesstoinsight.org)

All is not lost. Such rebirths, however long lived, are impermanent and then one carries on according to one's just desserts. Of course, it is possible that he willed, carried out, and stored up merit and skillful deeds to counteract some or all of the deeds we saw. The working out of karma is imponderable, but general things may be said about it. May Ken Page be well and happy and celebrate skillful deeds done on his behalf by those who remain living on a plane where wholesome actions are possible (such as the human plane). 

• The Best Vegetarian Recipes of 2024 (MSN)

Kishitigarbha saves (beings from hell)

Kṣitigarbha is in Sanskrit क्षितिगर्भ, Chinese 地藏, pinyin Dìzàng, Japanese 地蔵, rōmaji Jizō, Korean 지장 (地藏), romaja Jijang, Vietnamese Địa Tạng (地藏), Standard Tibetan ས་ཡི་སྙིང་པོ་, Wylie sa yi snying po.

This name translates as "Earth Treasury," "Earth Store," "Earth Matrix," or "Earth Womb."

He is a bodhisattva primarily revered in East Asian Buddhism (rather than the Theravada of South and Southeast Asia) and usually depicted as a Buddhist monk.

• Four heroic incarnations of KSITIGARBHA, the "Earth Store" Bodhisattva — unfailing, tireless compassion (Buddha Weekly)

Overview

Kwan Yin is the Bodhisattva of Compassion

Kṣitigarbha is one of the four principal bodhisattvas along with Samantabhadra, Manjusri, and Avalokiteśvara (transformed into Kwan Yin, the Buddhist goddess of compassion) in East Asian Mahayana Buddhism.

At the pre-Tang dynasty grottos in Dunhuang and Longmen, this figure is depicted in classical bodhisattva form. After the Tang, he became increasingly depicted as a monk, carrying Buddhist meditation prayer beads and a staff.

Goddess of Compassion

Kṣitigarbha is famous and revered for his vow to take responsibility for the instruction of all beings in the six worlds [a Mahayana condensation of the 31 Planes of Existence the historical Buddha outlines] between the final nirvana of the Buddha Gautama and the eventual rise of Maitreya Buddha.

Moreover, he made a vow refrain from achieving supreme buddhahood until all hells are emptied. He is therefore often regarded as the bodhisattva of hell-beings, as well as the guardian of children and patron deity of deceased children and aborted fetuses in Japanese culture.

Usually depicted as a monk with a halo around his shaved head, he carries a staff to force open the gates of hell and a wish-fulfilling jewel to light up the darkness.

The Ksistigarbha Bodhisattva Mantra

• CC Liu, Dhr. Seven, Pat Macpherson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly Wiki edit

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)

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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

Hell on Earth: World's Worst Prisons (video)

Best Documentary, 9/6/23; Seth Auberon, Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

(Best Documentary) Sept. 6, 2023: The worst prisons in the world | full documentary

• 

  Side with abused or abusers?

  00:00 The Worst Prisons in the World
• 01:39 Children as young as 10 are being held in overcrowded and unsafe prison cells in Quezon City, Philippines
• 10:23 Katrina, a European woman, is incarcerated in a prison with overcrowded cells and poor conditions, where she feels unsafe but finds solace in her cellmates
• 19:29 In a prison, the inmates discuss the limited resources they have and the potential dangers they face, including the risk of infection from prohibited items
• 31:29 The largest prison in Europe, Fleury-Mérogis, is struggling to control the connections between inmates and the smuggling of prohibited items

Social media: Facebook.com/BestDocumentary...

Good Catholic goes to HELL: religion to blame

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

Good Catholic goes to hell and says religion is to blame (shocking NDE)

(Shaman Oaks) June 7, 2023. #afterlife #neardeathexperience #heaven M.K. (Kathy) McDaniel had an NDE (near-death experience) after contracting the flu.

• 0:00 - Intro
• 2:14 - NDE in Hell
• 17:17 - NDE in Heaven
• 21:49 - Why did I go to Hell?
• 28:40 - Are you trying to get rich?
• 29:14 - Could it have been a dream?
• 30:22 - Do you have nightmares from your NDE?
• 31:55 - How did your NDE change you?
• 35:36 - An email from Heaven
• 37:16 - What is the purpose of life?
• 38:51 - Are you afraid of death?
• 39:18 - Her book

Buddhism describes many hells (narakas)

She found herself wandering around [in a place Buddhists would describe as] hell [naraka-loka], but eventually ended up in heaven [Buddhist sagga or the deva-loka].

An NDE occurs when someone dies, is revived, and knows for certain that there is an afterlife -- life after life, life after death.

A distressing NDE like Kathy had happens to 3 in 10 people who have an NDE. For Kathy her NDE both distressed and amazed here, and it changed her life forever. ✨

Kathy's links

• Website: misfitinhelltoheavenexpat.com
• Facebook: facebook.com/KathyMcDanie...
• Instagram: instagram.com/kathymcdani...
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/MKMcDaniel3
• Contact: mkm@heavenexpat.com
• 📚 Book: amzn.to/3X1F4e7

But "hell" is not really real, right, Bart Ehrman?

*NOTE: This post contains affiliate links which, if used to buy something, may earn someone a commission. ✨

Social links

• IG: https://www.instagram.com/shamanoaks/
• FB: https://www.facebook.com/shamanoaks/
• TW: https://www.twitter.com/shamanoaks/
• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@shamanoaks
• Join on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/shamanoaks
• Contact: Website: https://www.shamanoaks.com
• Email: shamanoaks@gmail.com
• Music: epidemicsound.com/referral...

#nde #neardeathexperience #afterlife #heaven #nde2023 #shamanoaks

The Thug Life Sutra (discourse)

"Latin Thugs" by Cypress Hill with Mexican B Real, Scandinavian DJ Muggs, and Black Sen Dog, et al.

The Buddha explains how rare a human rebirth is with a powerful simile of a turtle and a floating wooden ring.

Dhr. Seven (trans.), Ashley Wells (ed.), Chiggala Sutta, "A Hole 1," Sacca Samyutta (SN 56.47) via suttafriends.org, Beth Upton (bethupton.com) recommendation

Karma: Giselle Bundchen saves sea turtle

“Meditators, suppose a person were to throw a piece of wood with a single hole in it into the ocean -- and there were a blind turtle in that ocean who popped up only once every hundred years.

“What do you think? Would that blind turtle, popping up once every century, ever poke its neck through the hole in that piece of wood?”

“Only after a very long time, venerable sir, if ever.”

“Meditators, I say, that blind turtle, popping up only once every hundred years, would poke its neck through the hole in that piece of wood sooner than a foolish person who has fallen into [rebirth in] the lower worlds would be reborn again as a human being.

[The thug life]

“Why is that? Meditators, it is because in lower worlds there is no Dharma practice or accruing merit.

“In the lower worlds [subhuman rebirths known as the downfall*], they just prey on each other, preying on the weak.

“Why is that? It is because they have not seen the Four Noble Truths. What four [ennobling truths]?

1. the ennobling truth of suffering
2. the ennobling truth of the origin of suffering
3. the ennobling truth of the end of suffering
4. the ennobling truth of the path that leads to the end of all suffering.

I look nothing like a turtle! (Mitch McConnell)

“Therefore, meditators, make an effort to understand: ‘This is suffering.’ Make an effort to understand: ‘This is the origin of suffering.’ Make an effort to understand: ‘This is the end of suffering.’

“Make an effort to understand: ‘This is the path that leads to the end of all suffering.’”

• Human beings in Buddhism
• A Buddhist Response to Contemporary Dilemmas of Human Existence (Bhikkhu Bodhi)
• "A Hole 2" (SN 56.48) Dutiya Chiggala Sutra (Sutta Friends)
• Chiggala Sutta: "The Hole" (Ven. Thanissaro, accesstoinsight.org)
• The Playboy (masturbation with Chester Brown)
• *"Subhuman rebirths"? (niraya or "downward path" of animals, asuras/demons, hungry ghosts, and the many hells or naraka in Buddhism)

Pastor dies, goes to hell, comes back (NDE)

Tim Newcomb (Popular Mechanics.com via MSN.com); Pastor Gerald A. Johnson on TikTok.com); Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Was this guy there, Pastor?

A [Protestant pastor] says he briefly went to hell years ago. He saw men walking like dogs and heard demons singing Rihanna songs. While many of the most publicized near-death experiences (NDEs) are positive, this was a journey to hell. Why? Negative NDEs also occur.

 

In 2016, a Michigan-based pastor named Gerald Johnson suffered a heart attack. He says he had an NDE that sent him somewhere he never thought he’d visit: hell.

Recently, Minister Johnson took to TikTok to share the details of his traumatic NDE — far from the kind of warm, bright-light epiphany one might expect to hear from someone who temporarily ventures into the great beyond of the afterlife.

Will there be a result, a fruit of deeds done well and ill? Do karmic seeds ripen?

 

“I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy,” the pastor recounts in his viral video. “I don’t care what [anyone] did to me, no one deserves that.”

 

Pastor Johnson says that immediately after his heart attack in February 2016, his "spirit" [subtle body] left his physical body and went down to [a] hell, entering through “the very center of the Earth.”

 

Though he says “The things I saw there are indescribable,” he did his best.

 

Pastor Johnson claims he saw a man walking on all fours like a dog and getting burned from head to toe: “His eyes were bulging, and worse than that, he was wearing chains on his neck. He was like a hell hound. There was a demon holding the chains."

 

Pastor Johnson also heard music in hell, including Rihanna’s “Umbrella” and Bobby McFerrin’s “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” — traditionally upbeat tunes. Only this time, demons were singing the songs to “torture” people.

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  Who keeps a record of our karmic deeds? Yama?

  [The lowest and most painful hells in Buddhist cosmology are said to be very ironic. So that such irony could occur there by the "wardens of hell," which in the West we would call demons or devils, torturing denizens.]
• ["Hell" is real? We don't know. But the texts say so. Were those descriptions added or embellished over the centuries by scholars, commentators, and subcommentators? Embellished maybe, but invented whole cloth? Not likely. We must report what the sutras and other texts say. The traditions describe at least eight hells (and a worse ninth in between universes, known as interstitial hell, a place of desolation and darkness, in some ways worse than the unimaginable torments of Avici or "the waveless deep."]
• [Does anyone at Wisdom Quarterly believe there are actually literal hells? Yes, we havee heard it firsthand -- not that that would be enough. A potential proof was provided. Anyone can verify whether such worlds exist by gaining the meditative absorptions and designating an area of ground then looking beneath it with the enhanced powers of perception provided by the temporary purity of mind/heart/consciousness that results from the powerful concentration of samadhi. This practice is taught by at least one meditation master in Theravada Buddhist Burma. Buddhist laypeople, for the most part, certainly believe in literal hells before being exposed to Western doubt and skepticism.]
• [Buddhist hells are not eternal, BUT rebirth there can be so long lasting as to seem like an eternity many times over. Given the length of a kalpa, or "aeon," when a day or even a moment there is too blistering an experience to get over, one can only imagine that "eternity" is the perfect if not literal word for how long one is there when one ends up there. What brings one to a hell? Bad karma. What brings one out of hell? Good karma performed in advance, as there is little to absolutely no chance of doing good karma (deeds) there -- not mental, verbal, or physical -- once one begins to undergo unending torment.]
• [Just as Buddhist "heavens" (sagga) are too delightful and distracting, there is no chance of doing much good karma in these places because one become too preoccupied with the good life, exquisite pleasures of various sense strands -- sights, sounds, smells, savors, sensations, and streams of consciousness, this last one not exactly being a physical sense like the others but a pleasant abiding in the vipaka or "mental resultants" of deeds, which are exponential compared to what seems like a single deed that is, in fact, according to the Abhidharma, countless impulsions (javanas) and mind-moments (cittas), each of which is like a seed that bears fruit (phala) in the future.]
  

Pastor Johnson says his hellacious NDE made him realize he needed to forgive people who had wronged him, instead of hoping for their punishment.

• [Indeed, in Buddhist terms, it is said that the historical Buddha taught, "Forbearance (khanti) is the highest virtue," meaning "To forgive and let go of that [poop] is best."]
  

Maybe Pastor Johnson’s story sounds far-fetched. But scientists say that while many of the most publicized NDEs have a positive spin, negative NDEs certainly occur as well.

The experts just aren’t entirely sure how or why. Researchers — especially those from the International Association for Near-Death Studies — speculate that NDEs most likely happen due to a change in blood flow to the brain during sudden life-threatening events, like a heart attack, blunt trauma, or shock.

As the brain starts losing blood and oxygen, the electrical activity within it begins to power down. “Like a town that loses power one neighborhood at a time, local regions of the brain go offline one after another,” one expert told Scientific American.

During a NDE, the mind [which is not the brain and not fully dependent on the body] is left to keep working, but without its normal operational parameters.

Whether simply an oxygen shortage, some sort of anesthesia, or a neurochemical response to trauma, as hypothesized, an NDE leaves those who experience it with a real, sometimes traumatic memory.

We may not know how that memory happened — and unlike Pastor Gerald Johnson and his trip to [a very terrible tormenting] hell, victims may not want to recount it ever again — but it could change their life. 

• Gerald Johnson (@geraldajohnson1) | TikTok
• Visit the Vatican, the Holy Roman Empire's "booty closet"? | GetYourGuide

🎥 VIDEO: A guy [named Pastor Gerald Johnson] says he had a heart attack and went to hell. Here's what he saw (msn.com)

French policemen on Oct. 15, 2012, detain topless FEMEN protesters (Francois Mori/AP).

• Top 50 hilarious fails that can only happen on the beach | ✈Global Tiny World✈
• Scientists just unearthed a new statue on Easter Island. Take a look inside one of the most remote inhabited places in the world. (msn.com)
• Most paused movie scenes in the history of Hollywood | DailyBee 
• Centuries-old secrets discovered beneath San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge (msn.com)

"The Exorcist" for Halloween (film)

Venture into the 'Fresh Air' crypt for a Halloween horror fest (NPR News for SoCal - 89.3 FM

Number 1 has to be little Linda Blair as Ouija Board player Regan in The Exorcist

The demon Pazuzu (voice)

The scary station KPCC (Southern California Public Radio at scpr.org) FM wanted to spook half-baked Los Angeles this Halloween. So it played a compilation show of Terry Gross' Fresh Air interviews with Anthony "Hannibal the Cannibal" Hopkins (Silence of the Lambs) and the far scarier woman who did the voice of the demon Pazuzu in The Exorcist Mercedes McCambridge. She is very scary with chilling control of her vocals.

The Untold Truth of The Exorcist

(Looper) The Exorcist is one of the most famous horror films of all time, and it often tops lists of the scariest.

Our gay priests are tops. We're #1

But the production of this classic Hollywood film was pretty frightening itself. The deaths and near-deaths of people associated with the film even led director William Friedkin to have a Catholic priest on set bless the film. While it might seem odd that a priest was hanging around the set, the Catholic Church actually approved of the film, seeing as how the heroes were a pair of priests. Get ready for some head spinning as we take a look at the untold truth of The Exorcist. #Exorcist #Truth Full article: looper.com/22817/untold-truth...

• Real life basis | 0:00
• Church support | 1:20
• Cursed production | 2:01
• Wild release | 2:48
• Anonymous demon | 3:24
• Low-budget effects | 3:54
• Not a horror movie | 4:28

Fall begins: Autumnal Equinox (summer ends)

Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Dhr. Seven, Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

How to explain an EQUI-NOX ("equal night") in simplest terms? (gfycat.com)

Today is the "fall equinox." Here's what that means (ScienceAlert.com)

Fall finally begins in the Northern Hemisphere; explaining the autumnal equinox | WWMT

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Faeries love the fall. Merry meet!

September equinox is the evening or equaling as the seasons change, going from summer to autumn. The Southwest has just had a heat wave on top of a drought with monsoon rains and drastic flooding. When it rains it pours. And when it doesn't, it all dries out.

The Wiccans will soon be dancing. Halloween is on its way. And the dead are stirring. No one really dies, except that this ego is fading constantly, rebuilding, and falling apart until the transition we call "death" seems to take them away, from this dimension to another, from the human to the ghost, heavenly, hellish, or another human realm.

Eric Dubay disagrees on cause of equinox

The human plane is very large, much larger than earth, extending into space in all directions.

Rebirth is a crapshoot. Based on Abhidharma ("Higher Doctrine" or "The Dharma Explained in Ultimate Terms"), whatever "mind moment" or citta comes up will condition and determine the rebirth plane and circumstances.

There goes the summer, the craziest summer our society has had in decades!

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If an entheogen (DMT) could make us see reality

Every act (karma) left countless impulsions (javanas) that can serve as the basis for the future. So unless we're very careful and doing something about it right now, we could be in for a world of hurt in any of the lower planes or in a bad way on this plane in the future. It won't all be devi bliss and enhanced celestial pleasures all the time, like so many of us seem to imagine.

Hey, Gwen, what's up at Woodstock III?

Gwendolyn in Berkeley was a hippie who didn't believe in religion, but she did believe in heaven -- at least to the extent to constantly say, "If there is one, that's where I'm going." How did she know, and what did she think was preventing her for destinies elsewhere in the downward-path (niraya), the Fall, the hellish unfortunate destinations (naraka)? She didn't think that far. She just loved keeping it in the moment and not thinking too much. Aren't many of us like that more than we care to admit? Phish, Grateful Dead, slob rock (lo-fi), and everything is groovy.