Did the 14th Dalai Lama really ask an underage little boy, a minor, to "suck my tongue" in front of cameras (unlike how he must usually do it, in private and behind closed doors)? - Yes. Is that a problem? It's a cultural thing! He has a right to make out with minors. Who are we to judge?
John D. Ireland (trans.), Sirima: "Sirima's Vimana" (Vv 1.16 PTS: Vv 136-148) edited and further explained by Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Pat Macpherson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
The devas are beautiful humanoids.
Ven. Vangisa: Those yoked and finely caparisoned horses of yours, strong and swift, are heading downward through the sky. And these 500 chariots [vimanas = spacecraft, aircraft, limitless-vehicles, flying ships], magically created, are following, their horses [horsepower] urged on by charioteers.
You stand in this excellent chariot [flying craft], adorned, radiant, and shining, like a blazing star. I ask you of lovely slender form and exquisite beauty, from which company of devas (lit. "shining ones") have you come to visit the Peerless One (the Buddha)?
I do as I please, assuming whatever form suits me.
Sirima [12]: From those who have reached the heights of sensual pleasure said to be unsurpassed, the devas who delight in magical creation and transformation. A nymph from that company able to assume any desired appearance [a shapeshifter able to wield the power of transformation] has come here to honor the Peerless One.
Vangisa Thera spoke up.
Vangisa: What meritorious karma (good conduct) did you practice (perform) here in former times? How is it that you live in immeasurable glory, having gained such sensuous pleasures? Due to what have you acquired the unrivalled power to travel through the sky? Why does your beauty radiate in the ten directions?
You are surrounded and honored by the devas. From where did you pass away before you came to a heavenly rebirth, goddess? Or of what teaching (dharma, doctrine-and-discipline) were you able to follow the word of instruction? Tell me if you were a disciple of the Awakened One (the Buddha).
Sirima: In a fine and well-built city situated between hills, an attendant of a noble king endowed with good fortune, I was highly accomplished in dancing and singing. As Sirima I was known in Rajagaha [modern Rajgir, India, where the Buddha dwelled on Vulture's Peak].
But then the Awakened One, the leader among seers, the guide, taught me
of the unconditioned (asankhata), of the cessation of all suffering (nirvana) that is timeless (ānantariya); and
of this path (magga), not crooked, straight, auspicious.
The war in heaven: vimana against vimana
When I had learned of the deathless state (amata = nirvana), the unconditioned, through the instruction of the Tathagata, the Peerless One, I was highly and well restrained in the precepts and established in the Dhamma taught by the most excellent of humans, the Awakened One.
Thus I am a goddess (devi), knowing the undying, a disciple of the Tathagata, the Peerless One, a knower of Dhamma established in the first fruit, a stream-winner. Henceforth, there is no more bad rebirth for me.
I came to revere the Peerless One and the virtuous monastics [monks, nuns, novices] who delight in what is skillful, to honor the auspicious assembly of wandering ascetics and those worthy of respect [the ariya, the noble ones], the Fortunate One, the Dhamma-king.
I am joyful and gladdened on seeing the sage, the Tathagata, the outstanding trainer of humans capable of being trained, who has uprooted craving, who delights in what is skillful, the guide. I honor the supremely merciful Compassionate One.
Ven. Buddhaghosa says (SNA.i.244f, 253f) that Sirimā was Sālavati's daughter, who succeeded to her mother's position as courtesan. After passing away from here, Sirimā was reborn in a high celestial plane of existence known as the Yāma World as the wife of Suyāma. When the Buddha was speaking to the monastics at her cremation, she visited the spot with 500 chariots (vimanas).
Janapada-kalyānī Nandā [the most beautiful Scythian "belle of the land," who was the fiancé of the Buddha's half-brother, Nanda, before the Buddha ordained him after showing him his future due to his mixed karma in a famous sutra that reads like a kind of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, who turns his life around after seeing what is to come], who at that time had become a Buddhist nun, was present.
When the Buddha taught the Kāyavicchandanika Sutta, she became an arahant (fully enlightened), while Sirimā became an anāgāmī (non-returner).
The Vimānavatthu ("Vimana Stories," pp.78f., 86) gives the same story, adding that Vangīsa was also present at the teaching of the sutra and, having obtained the Buddha's permission, questioned the shapeshifting devi Sirimā and made her reveal her former identity.
Here, however, Sirimā is said to have been reborn in the Nimmānarati World, and no mention is made of her becoming an anāgāmī (but rather a sotapanna or "stream-winner"), whereas the lustful Buddhist monk is said to have become an arahant.
Sirimā is mentioned in a list of eminent upāsikās (A.iv.347; AA.ii.791). Eighty-four thousand persons realized the noble truth after listening to the Buddha's teaching at the cremation of Sirimā (Mil.350) [most of whom must have been devas]/
The Sirimā-vimānavatthu is the story of Sirimā's passing away and subsequent events (Vv.i.16; VvA.67ff.) More
Mistakes were made. I was on fentanyl. But what's his excuse? I'm suing! Rev. Mother Superior Teresa Agnes Gerlach was ousted from her convent on 6/1/23 (CBS News•Fort Worth Diocese).
.
Texas nun evicted from monastery in heated row over 'sexting with priest'
The ousted nun had previously rejected claims that she had violated her vows of celibacy after allegedly confessing to the technological (and sinful) relationship while under the influence of fentanyl.
A Texas Catholic Carmelite nun, not a mere sister but the mother superior, who was accused of having an illicit sexual affair with a Catholic priest was evicted from her nunnery (convent) after admitting to sexting the man of the cloth.
Rev. Gerlach has sued Bishop Olson
Rev. Mother Superior Teresa Agnes Gerlach, 43, had previously denied the accusation and launched a $1 million lawsuit alongside her sisters against Bishop of Fort Worth Michael Olson.
The bishop secured a confession about the scandalous affair during an interview on April 24, 2023, in which Rev. Gerlach maintains she was still heavily medicated and under the influence of fentanyl because of a recent surgery.
The nun, who is in a wheelchair and uses a feeding tube on a day-to-day basis, was removed from the Carmelite Nunnery of the Most Holy Trinity she led in Arlington, Texas, on June 1, 2023, after the patriarchal diocese found she had had a fling with Father Bernard Marie of Montana
[who is completely innocent because he is a man and the church needs all the priests it can lure in and hold on to, even if they engage in homosexual child molestation of young boys, gambling, seducing nuns, or other improprieties because, as Pope Francis, the CEO of the Catholic Church of the head of the Holy Roman Church, has said, "Who am I to judge?"]
"Who am I to judge [sexy priests]?" - Pope F
In a recording of the interview with Bishop Olson, Rev. Gerlach can be heard saying: "I made a horrible, horrible mistake. I was not in my right mind. Even a nun can fall.”
READ MORE: Nuns in standoff with Vatican after bishop denies mass over fentanyl confession [LATEST]
and the Catholic diocese for $1 million (Image: CBS NEWS)
The Fort Worth Diocese and Rev. Gerlach are currently in dispute on whether the case should be handled in civil court or let the Vatican intervene in what the bishop has maintained is a Canon Law issue.
Bishop Olson testified in court that Gerlach's fellow nun Sr. Francis Therese had informed him the Mother Superior's relationship with the priest involved "sexting."
In the audio recording, Rev. Gerlach said she had been getting [sexually] frisky with the priest, but just on the phone, oh, and on video calls. But she said they never met in person.
She said: "Bishop, I need to tell you something. I don’t know how to explain this, but this did not happen in person. At all. It was all over the phone.
"I promise you, Bishop. At the time, I was having seizures [a sign of demonic possession in the Church], and I was really in a very difficult position. and I think my brain just got really messed up." More
(Coast to Coast) Sister Lucie Sophie Marie (formerly Lucie Bellerive) assists Father Angelakis in exorcisms and paranormal investigations.
Father Plato Angelakis is an ordained Orthodox Catholic priest who presides as archbishop of the Holy Order of Saint Michael the Archangel in Canada.
They talk about their work as real exorcists and as members of the Ottawa Paranormal Research and Investigation Team, where they strive to bring help to those afflicted by demonic and other negative entities.
The archbishop said they work on cases of possession and lesser stages of demonic interactions such as oppression (which can include paranormal activity such as objects flying off walls), infestation, and attachment.
The types of exorcisms they conduct make use of clairvoyantly gifted people and energy workers like Sister Lucie herself.
To perform their services, they seek out afflicted individual's consent before working with them.
Pagan witch to Catholic sister: Meet Sister Keeyah Lynn Frances
(Queens of Sacred Kaleidoscope) Oct. 18, 2022. Sister Keeyah Lynn Frances is a mystic sister, Reiki master, auxiliary exorcist, and religious consultant for NESPR (New England Society for Psychic Research). Edited by Lucie Bellerive (QueensOfWands1111@gmail.com). #sisterhood #pagan #witch#spiritualdeliverance #reiki
That kid is acting weird by acting out.
Sister Lucie helps prepare a home for their exorcism ritual, using spoken blessings, holy water, anointing oils, and surrounding the location with purifying salt. "I also support the client with the laying [on] of the hands and praying during the ritual," she states, adding that she uses Reiki and pranic ("holy spirit," animating breath energy, chi) healing modalities to replace the void or entity with a higher energy frequency.
She notes that having a woman present at an exorcism can add a feeling of comfort, especially if the victim is female.
Father Angelakis described one case of a woman who hadn't eaten in 30 days, showed incredible strength, pushing the group away during the ritual. More + AUDIO
(Guru Viking, premiered Aug. 5, 2022) In this interview (Episode 161) Guru Viking is once again joined by [awakened] Beth Upton, meditation teacher, former Theravada Buddhist nun, and successful student of renowned Burmese meditation master Pa Auk Sayadaw.
She shares her emphasis on meditation with the natural rhythms of the body and reveals how she deals with students who experience low motivation, psychological challenges, and even psychosis as a result of meditation practice.
Beth Upton also discusses her own relationship difficulties after disrobing as a nun (sayalay), why she embarked on special communication trainings to address them, and explains why erotic feeling diminishes as one becomes more enlightened.
(Samaneri Jayasara) "To attain calm in practice, it's not necessary to be
sitting in meditation. Just ask yourself, 'Eh, what is
this?' and solve your problem right there! People with wisdom are like this. Perhaps they can't attain high
levels of samadhi [mental coherence, concentration], but there must be some [foundational calm], just enough
to cultivate wisdom. Our practice can be like this, that
we depend more on wisdom to solve problems.
When we see the truth, peace arises.
— Ajahn Chah, from "On Meditation"
AJAHN CHAH was a famous Thai Buddhist monk, an enlightened meditation master. He was an influential teacher of the Buddha-Dharma and the founder of two major monasteries in the Thai Forest Tradition. He is reputed to have been an arhat.
Respected and beloved in his own country as a person of great wisdom, he was also instrumental in establishing Theravada Buddhism in the West. Beginning in 1979 with the founding of Cittaviveka (Chithurst Buddhist Monastery) in England, the Forest Tradition has spread throughout Europe, the United States, and the British Commonwealth.
His Dharma talks have been recorded, transcribed, and translated into several languages, including English. He left behind a legacy of talks, meditation students, and monasteries.
Note: All of my recordings can be downloaded via my Google Drive site, the details of which can be found under the Community tab of the main page of this YouTube channel.
When I arrived in Burma (Myanmar), I had to share a room with a fellow meditator, a Burmese gal. On the first night, I was provided with clean bedsheets and a mosquito net, but I didn't want to use the net.
The Burmese woman insisted I use it, as there were many mosquitoes. But I didn't want to, and she gave up asking. The next night she removed her own mosquito net. I was surprised and asked her why. She explained that if she were under her mosquito net, all the mosquitoes in the room would bite me. So she wanted to share the bites with me. ❤️
I want to love without limits.
That day I understood how different and how much kinder the minds of Theravada Burmese Buddhists are.
This story describes exactly their way of seeing things: Not only would they share what little they had, but they would share another person's burden, too. They would endure more to reduce someone else's suffering. At least that's what they would aim to do by their intention. I became a Western Buddhist nun. Every culture has beautiful qualities. We can learn from all of them to help recover our humanity and develop our hearts to be as vast as the sky.
Beautiful female ascetic, Sadhvi Saraswati-ji, speaks to crowd in modern India.
There are hidden dangers in sensual pleasures.
SUTRA: "Thus have I heard. On one occasion the [Buddha] Blessed One was staying near Savatthi at Jeta's Grove, in Anathapindika's monastery. There he addressed the monastics: "Meditators!"
"Yes, venerable sir," they responded.
"Meditators, there are four ways of taking on practices. What are the four?
There is the taking on of a practice that is pleasant in the present but yields pain in the future.
There is the taking on of a practice that is painful in the present and yields pain in the future.
There is the taking on of a practice that is painful in the present but yields pleasure in the future.
There is the taking on of a practice that is pleasant in the present and yields pleasure in the future.
There's no harm in sensual pleasures.
..."What is the taking on of a practice that is pleasant in the present but yields pain in the future?
"'There is no harm in sensual pleasures.' Thus, they meet with their downfall through sensual pleasures. They consort with femalewanderers who wear their hair coiled in a topknot.
"The thought occurs to them: 'What future danger connected with sensual pleasures do those [other] Brahmins and wandering ascetics foresee that they have spoken of the letting go of [relinquishing, abandoning, detaching from, and rejecting] sensual pleasures and describe the full comprehension of sensual pleasures? It's pleasant, the touch of this female wanderer's soft, tender, downy arm!'
O, wandering ascetics, beware of sensual pleasures! There are hidden dangers!
.
"Thus, they meet their downfall through [clinging to] sensual pleasures. Then, having met with their downfall through [clinging to] sensual pleasures, with the breakup of the body, after death, they go to an unwished for destination, the downfall [subhuman worlds collectively called the Great Waste], the Realm of Hungry Ghosts, even the hells.
"There they experience sharp, burning pains, and say: 'This was the future danger connected with sensual pleasures those Brahmins and wandering ascetics foresaw that they spoke of letting go and relinquishing sensual pleasures and described the full comprehension of sensual pleasures. It's because of sensual pleasures, as a result of sensual pleasures, that we're now experiencing these sharp, burning pains.'
Hidden danger: the soft creeping vine
Beautiful female ascetic, Sadhvi Saraswati, seated in front of Krishna and Radha, India
"Just as if a maluva creeper pod were to burst open in the last month of the hot season, and a maluva creeper seed were to fall at the foot of a sal tree.
"The deva[dryad] living in the tree would become frightened, apprehensive, and anxious. Her friends and companions, relatives and kin -- garden devas, forest devas, tree devas, devas living in herbs, grass, and forest monarchs -- would gather together to console her:
"'Have no fear, have no fear! In all likelihood a peacock will swallow this maluva creeper seed, or a deer will eat it, or a brush fire burn it up, or woodsmen will pick it up, or termites will carry it off. And anyway it probably isn't really a seed.'
"Then no peacock swallowed it, no deer ate it, no brush fire burned it up, no woodsmen picked it up, no termites carried it off, and it really was a seed. Watered by a rain-laden cloud, it sprouted in due time and curled its soft, tender, downy tendrisl around the sal tree.
"The thought occurred to the deva living in the sal tree: 'What future danger did my friends and companions, relatives and kin -- garden devas, forest devas, tree devas, devas living in herbs, grass, and forest monarchs -- foresee in that maluva creeper seed that they gathered together to console me:
"Have no fear, have no fear. In all likelihood a peacock is sure to swallow this maluva creeper seed, or a deer will eat it, or a brush fire will burn it up, or woodsmen will pick it up, or termites will carry it off. And anyway, it probably isn't really a seed"?
"'It's pleasant, the touch of this maluva creeper's soft, tender, downy tendrils.'
"Then the creeper, having enveloped the sal tree, having made a canopy over it, and cascading down around it, caused the massive limbs of the sal tree to come crashing down.
"The thought occurred to the deva living in the tree: 'This was the future danger my friends... foresaw in that maluva creeper seed that they gathered together to console me... It's because of that maluva creeper seed that I'm now experiencing sharp, burning pains.'
"In the same way, meditators, there are some Brahmins and wandering ascetics who hold to a doctrine, a view, like: 'There is no harm in sensual pleasures.'
The female ascetic Saraswati
"Thus, they meet with their downfall through sensual pleasures. They consort with female wanderers who wear their hair coiled in a topknot.
"The thought occurs to them: 'What future danger do those [other] Brahmins and wandering ascetics foresee that they teach the relinquishment and analysis of sensual pleasures? It's pleasant, the touch of this female wanderer's soft, tender, downy arm!'
"Thus, they meet with their downfall through sensual pleasures. Then, having met with their downfall through sensual pleasures, with the breakup of the body, after death, they go to an unwished for [rebirth] destination, the downfall [the Great Waste], the Realm of Hungry Ghosts, even the hells.
"There they experience sharp, burning pains. They say: 'This was the future danger connected with sensual pleasures those Brahmins and wandering ascetics foresaw that they spoke of the letting go and relinquishing of sensual pleasures and described the full comprehension of sensual pleasures.
"It's because of sensual pleasures, as a result of sensual pleasures, that we're now experiencing these sharp, burning pains.'
"This is called the taking on of a practice that is pleasant in the present but yields pain in the future. More
Sublime States: The 8 Jhanas (samadhi) by the German-Jewish Buddhist nun Ayya Khema
Follower and fellow meditator Vern Lovic wrote us recently to share exciting news: Meditative absorptions (jhanas) are accessible!
He states, "I'd like to hear from others experiencing jhana [because] for me, they came within a year. I started Jhana8.com to share some of my experiences. I hope, if you are experiencing something like [blissful absorption] during meditation, you write and share it..."
Wisdom Quarterly is dedicated to reviving the original teachings of the historical Buddha which is as much about kindness-compassion, serenity, and concentration (metta-karuna, shamatha, and samadhi) as scholarship, insight, and wisdom (atthakatha, vipassana, and panya).
Those original teachings are buried in the books and can be pulled out by careful, critical reading of the sutras aided, but not bound to, the commentaries.
(sevenchakrasmeditation.com)
Unlike many modern Asian teachers and their misled American Buddhist students, the commentaries are a precious resource. They are vital to the practice of meditation. Why? So much information is left out of chanted, oral tradition discourses, which in fact serve more as outlines and aids to memory not detailed sets of instructions.
One of the most detailed discourses dealing with instructions is the discourse on the establishing of the Four Foundations of Mindfulness. But try to practice those instructions without a skilled teacher relying on the commentaries and a personal practice, and it quickly becomes apparent that the sutra is not enough.
In ancient times no one worried that it was insufficient because no one set out to meditate exclusively dependent on sutras. This is a living oral tradition still -- with regard to implementing the actual practices outlined in the discourses. Masters still meet with students and guide them in very detailed ways not found in books, ancient or modern.
(4ayurveda.com)
Unfortunately, there is a "fundamentalist" anti-commentary attitude prevailing as if only the repetitive, stereotyped texts were the words and teachings of the Buddha. The Buddha taught meditation details directly. The information was preserved in commentarial literature and passed down as a living practice. Somehow in spite of everything it survives. Make a sincere wish to find it then go search for it and, karma willing, resources will reveal themselves.
Of course, we are familiar with many students of the most Venerable Pa Auk Sayadaw, a scholar-monk able to teach insight meditation to the ultimate degree. He does not shy away from teaching mastery of the absorptions as an aid to the final goal.
For it is based on a firm foundation of serene absorbed concentration and applied mindful investigation of the 12 links of Dependent Origination that enlightenment arises.
One fantastic teacher to seek out is Ven. Dhammadipa -- a polyglot Western monk who is ordained in both Theravada and Mahayana traditions, of long standing, a personal friend of Bhikkhu Bodhi, a chief student and translator of Pa Auk Sayadaw, and a monk willing and able to teach Western students.
The nuns Sayalay Susila and Ayya Dipankara are also very skillful and accomplished teachers who speak English and have a profound understanding of serenity-and-insight.
Ajahn Brahm, Bhante G... there may even be hope for the self-ordained Jhanananda, and there is certainly something extraordinary about Daniel Ingram.
(iAwakeblog.com)
Ayya Khema was a Westerner who was intimate with right concentration (samma-samadhi, a crucial Noble Eightfold Path factor). One third of The Path of Purification, a meditation manual by Buddhaghosa central to the ancient Theravada Buddhist school, deals with jhana. Yet, Theravada monastics fear and dissuade people from taking up the jhanas in favor of a frustrating exclusive practice of mindfulness and dry insight (vipassana).
adhicittasikkhā: [adhi+citta+sikkhā] training in higher mind. Adhi-citta-sikkhā is defined by the Buddha at AN 3.90. It is identical with the culture of sammā-samādhi, that is, the development of the first four jhānas. It is one of the three sikkhās.
Lay practitioners are able to reach and master these natural states of "higher mind." We are certain of it. We have met many of them. Moreover, we have met teachers as well as lay Buddhists who have reached the various stages of enlightenment. Even monks find this unbelievable in the world today when even most monastics are incapable of meditative absorption.
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