Quest to Awaken: Dhamma Earth, Asia

Dhamma Eart began in 2008 as a simple Buddhist meditation hermitage nestled in the forested region of Kuching, Malaysia.

Over the years, it has blossomed into an international ecosystem dedicated to Dhamma learning, service, and community building.

Today, its Buddhist monasteries can be found in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), Dhampus (Nepal), and Penang (Malaysia), serving as sanctuaries for practice, wisdom, and compassion.

• Dhamma Earth 法域
• Buddhism in Malaysia

This Dhamma ecosystem provides various platforms for people of all ages, backgrounds, and levels of spiritual development to benefit from the Buddha’s Teachings.

Dhamma Earth aims to nurture holistic well-being—physically, emotionally, and spiritually—through a dynamic Dhamma ecosystem structured around four key pillars:

1. MEDITATION
2. EDUCATION
3. HEALTH AND WELLNESS
4. SOCIAL WELFARE.

The Dhamma Earth ecosystem is dedicated to the growth and transformation of all. We invite you to be part of this journey. Explore more about Dhamma Earth

Buddhist Meditation Hermitage

Dhamma Earth offers a structured meditation training based on the teachings of the most Venerable Pa Auk Sayadaw (Dr. Bhaddanta Āciṇṇa), as practiced in Pa Auk Forest Monasteries.

The meditation course is based on the Buddha’s systematic instructions from the Pali canon (Tipitaka) and its Commentaries (tika), focusing on the Threefold Training:

1. Virtue (sīla, morality): the foundation of ethical living
2. Stillness (samādhi, concentration): the cultivation of a focused mind
3. Wisdom (paññā, knowing-and-seeing): the development of insight

Dhamma Earth monasteries welcome practitioners year-round for meditation practice and scheduled retreats. As the Buddha taught, the gift of Dhamma (the Teachings) is the most precious gift. In this spirit, all meditation retreats at Dhamma Earth are offered free of charge, supported by the generosity (dāna) of donors who wish to help others experience the path of awakening.

DHAMMA EDUCATION

Dhamma Earth believes that Dhamma education should be engaging, accessible, and meaningful for all. Local educational initiatives span across different age groups and interests, including:

• Dhamma classes and camps for children, youth, university students, and young adults.
• Thematic courses in leadership, mindfulness, and creative expression
• Programs by affiliated organizations: Mangala Family, Tusita Youth, and Hai Ou – Promoting Dhamma education
• SOLID (Society of Leadership in De-Selfishness) and WISLEAD (Wisdom Leadership Society) – Cultivating leadership with wisdom
• Wisdom Light Publication Society (WLPS) – Publishing insightful books on Dhamma and beyond.

HEALTH AND WELLNESS

Out of Bihar, Magadha, India, into the world

Compassion in action is at the heart of Dhamma Earth, which strives to uplift the lives of the disadvantaged through our charities Tusita Foundation, Maha Mangala Charity of Malaysia, and Shayoung Club of Malaysia.

Future aspirations: Expanding into hospice care, elderly and disability services, counseling, daycare centers, and orphanages.

SOCIAL WELFARE

A healthy body supports a clear mind. Dhamma Earth integrates physical well-being into spiritual practice through programs that emphasize:

• Holistic health – Nutrition, lifestyle, and mindful living
• Healing and detox retreats – Combining the Buddha's ancient wisdom with modern wellness
• Mind Body Liberation Program – A free-of-charge medical therapy service offering traditional Chinese medicine and holistic therapies, incorporating Dhamma principles into healthcare to address physical and mental sufferings at the root causes.

VISION

Dhamma Earth envisions becoming a global center for Dhamma propagation, continuing to spread the Teachings of the historical Buddha and helping more beings find liberation from all suffering.

Dhamma Earth meditation retreat application

The future of Dhamma Earth includes expanding its ecosystem to encompass more charitable, educational, and health-related projects, ensuring that people at every stage of life can benefit from the Dhamma. More

• DhammaEarth.org; Yean C. and Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

When Everything Falls Apart: Insight

When Everything Falls Apart – Seeing clearly through Buddhist wisdom on suffering

Drone filming off the pier

(Buddhism Podcast) Sept. 23, 2025: Buddhism Explained. What do we do when everything falls apart? This Buddhist podcast explores suffering (unsatisfactoriness, not being able to derive fulfillment from anything), radical impermanence, and healing through simple, clear insights from the Buddha's teachings. No fluff, no escape — just honest reflection, grounded wisdom, and gentle English for all listeners.

• 00:00 - When life breaks in our hands
• 03:25 - The First Truth: Suffering that arises from within
• 06:50 - Impermanence: the nature of everything
• 10:03 - Clear Seeing: a mind that no longer clings
• 13:17 - Healing isn’t pretending: It’s practice
• 16:43 - WHAT REMAINS?
• (FailArmy) Best Fails of the Year | Try Not To Laugh

Vipassana literally means "clear seeing"

The historical Buddha's goal was clearly seeing nirvana in this very life. Theravada follows this.

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Buddhism goes beyond mind to mysticism.

Vipassanā (Sanskrit vipaśyanā विपश्यना, Sinhalese විදර්ශනා) literally means "special, super (vi-), seeing (-passanā)" [3] and is generally referred to as "insight."

Samatha means "calm" [1], "serenity" [2], "tranquility of awareness" [Web 1]. They are two qualities of mind cultivated in tandem in Buddhist practice, with profound calm coupled with mindfulness (dispassionate awareness) serving as the basis for insight knowledges.

In the Pāli language canon and the Āgama, these qualities are not specific practices but elements of "a single path." They are "fulfilled" with the development (bhāvanā, "cultivation") of mindfulness (sati) and meditation (jhānas, lit. the meditative "absorptions") and other path-factors [4][5].

While absorption (jhāna) has a central role in the Buddhist path, vipassanā is rarely mentioned separately. It is usually described along with samatha [4][5] because they are steps towards one goal: liberating wisdom (panna, Sanskrit prajna). More: samatha-vipassanā

(DemocracyNow.org) Top U.S./World Headlines — Sept. 26, 2025

#BuddhistWisdom #Impermanence #WhenThingsFallApart #Suffering #Mindfulness

• FailArmy Best of the Year; Buddhism Podcast, 9/23/25; Dhr. Seven, Pat Macpherson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly Wiki edit

Love of Pistis Sophia: Faith-Wisdom

(Sacred Knowledge) Pistis Sophia | Forgotten Gospel of Soul’s Fall and Divine Return, April 2025

Pistis Sophia (Koine Greek Πίστις Σοφία) is a Gnostic text discovered in 1773 [1], possibly written between the 3rd [2] and 4th centuries AD [3].

The existing manuscript, which some scholars place in the late 4th century [4], relates one Gnostic group's teachings of the transfigured Jesus to the assembled disciples, including his mother Mary, Mary Magdalene [his chief disciple], and Martha.

• (In this context, "transfigured" refers to Jesus after his death and resurrection, not the event during his life where he spoke to appearances of Moses and Elijah on a mountain).

In this Gnostic text, the risen Jesus had spent 11 years speaking with his disciples, teaching them only the lower mysteries.

After 11 years, he receives his true garment and is able to reveal the higher mysteries revered by this group. The prized mysteries relate to complex cosmologies and knowledge necessary for the soul to reach the highest divine realms. More

The truth about enlightenment (bodhi)

What is "enlightenment" (bodhi)? (ceflrdhn.blob.core.windows.net)

(Buddha's Wisdom) What is enlightenment? | The Buddha’s liberating discovery explained

Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva

What is the meaning of the term “enlightenment” in Buddhism? (It certainly means different things in other traditions).

• Bhikkhu Bodhi, what is enlightenment?

Buddhism teaches that it is possible for all of us to “awaken” and reach “enlightenment.” This is the realization of wisdom that puts an end to the cycle of samsara or the endless round of rebirths -- and with it all suffering and ignorance.

Full enlightenment is the highest state of spiritual awakening and liberation from the cycle of pain and suffering inherent in rebirth. Above all, enlightenment is the summit of the Buddhist path to freedom. Enlightenment is bodhi in Pali and Sanskrit, which may also be rendered awakening. It is penetrating the depth of the four ennobling (enlightening) truths the Buddha laid out as fundamental: problem, cause, solution, antidote.

If the problem is PAIN of all kinds, the cause is ignorance (which is linked to craving and fear/aversion), and the prognosis is good that there is a cure, which is this Enlightening (Noble) Eightfold Path. The Four Noble Truths are not articles of faith but truths to penetrate, for until we see just what "suffering" is and how widespread, we will not even think to find a cause or seek an escape.

Seeing suffering and its cause(s) and seeing that there is a solution, the Buddha points the way to our own awakening. No one can awaken for another.

"No one saves us but ourselves,

No one can and no one may;

We ourselves must walk the path;

Buddhas only point the way."

• Video: Buddha's Wisdom; Text: Wisdom Quarterly rewritten definition of ceflrdhn.blob.core.windows.net

Everything feels real, but look closely

Everything feels real…until we look closer

(Solace Fox) Reality feels solid. The past seems fixed. Our thoughts feel like they belong to us. But what if none of it is as real as it seems? Ancient spiritual traditions, philosophers, and scientists have questioned this for centuries. Our mind filters, edits, and reconstructs everything we experience — but why? And what happens when we start noticing the cracks in reality?

 📌 TIMESTAMPS

• 00:00 – What if reality isn’t real?
• 02:14 – The invisible forces shaping our mind
• 05:30 – Why our brain hides the truth from us
• 09:48 – The illusion of free will
• 13:10 – What quantum physics reveals about reality
• 16:00 – If everything is an illusion, what’s left?

I'm at work. This is definitely real. As for my boyfriend at home, I don't know what he feels.

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Why do we suffer? The power of awareness

What's reality? "F around and find out," they say, so I will dive into this soft pile of snow.

Ego Podcast (Buddhism) Discover the transformative power of awareness to end suffering. This insightful video explores why suffering (dukkha, disappointment) arises and how bare (undistorted, unembellished) awareness — the cornerstone of Buddhist mindfulness practice (sati) — can lead us toward true inner transformation.

Drawing on discourses like the Kalama Sutta, the Buddha reminds us not to simply accept beliefs, but to directly experience reality for ourselves.

This mindful practice of clear, non-judgmental attention is key to understanding the roots of our (emotional, psychological, physical, and existential) pain and breaking free from unskillful reactions and patterns.

(All Time) It's not only a misperception. We live in a simulation

• Experience trumps belief: the importance of directly experiencing life rather than relying on inherited belief systems
• How mindful awareness transforms mere knowledge into enlightening insight
• The role of mindfulness: Why paying bare attention to details — breath, feelings, mind, and objects of mind — is essential for breaking the illusion, gaining inner clarity, and ending delusion
• How mindfulness helps us observe then let go of unwholesome reactions
• Practical applications: techniques to observe the mind’s activity without judgment.
• Ways to replace reactive patterns with skillful responses, paving the path to the end of suffering (nirvana)
• The bigger picture: how inner awareness not only alleviates personal suffering but also contributes to a more harmonious life.

Join the journey: If ready to explore how bare (unvarnished, unaltered) awareness can end suffering and lead to wisdom, insight, and inner peace, please like, share, and subscribe. Let's walk the Buddha's path of mindfulness together.

#Mindfulness #InnerClarity #BuddhistWisdom #EndingSuffering #Nirvana #BareAwareness

Subscribe now for free ► @SolaceFox #purpose #god #selfhelp #motivational #Consciousness #Oneness #Spirituality #Mysticism #Enlightenment #Awakening #awareness #life #motivation #universe #ego

• Solace Fox, Ego Podcast (Buddhism), Feb. 27, 2025; Pat Macpherson, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Reflection and Meditation as Powers

We ask to understand. We sit still to know things directly and awaken (DBM/InsightLA).

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The "power of reflection" (patisankhāna-bala) or contemplation is one thing, and the "power of mental development" (bhāvanā-bala) or cultivation is another. About these two powers (bala) it is said in A. II, 10:

It's time to reflect: What have I done?

"What, O meditators, is the power of reflection? O meditators, if someone thinks, 'Unskillful conduct in deeds, words, and thoughts really bears unwelcome fruits both in this life as well as in the life to come' and, as a result of this consideration, one abandons unskillful conduct in deeds, words, and thoughts, follows a skillful course of conduct, and keeps one's heart/mind pure, this, O meditators, is the power of reflection.

Now it is time for stillness, body breathing

"What, O meditators, is the power of mental development (meditation, mental cultivation)? O meditators, if a meditator develops the [Seven] Factors of Enlightenment (bojjhanga), bent on seclusion, on letting go, on cessation, culminating in liberation [following awakening, enlightenment], namely:

1. mindfulness,
2. investigation,
3. energy,
4. rapture,
5. tranquility,
6. stillness, and
7. equanimity,

this, O meditators, is the power of mental development."

• Ven. Nyanatiloka (formerly Anton Gueth) Buddhist Dictionary: Manual of Doctrines and Terms (palikanon.com) edited and updated translation by Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly, June 2024

The Heart of Perfect Wisdom Sutra

Edward Conze (trans.) edited by Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly

The personification of Wisdom: Prajna Paramita (Indonesia)

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Thanks to Edward Conze we have the Heart Sutra in poetic English. It's not a perfect translation, but it was better than anyone could do to put it into modern English we could understand. The short version runs like this with minor updates by Dhr. Seven):

The beauty of Sofia ("Wisdom")

Om! Homage to the Perfection of Wisdom (Prajna Paramita), the lovely, the holy!

Avalokita, the deva and bodhisattva, was moving in the deep course of the Wisdom that has gone beyond.

He looked down from on high, beheld but five heaps, and saw that in and of themselves they were empty.

Here [in this Teaching or Dharma], O Sariputra, form is emptiness [impersonal], and the very emptiness is form;

1. emptiness does not differ from form, form does not differ from emptiness, whatever is emptiness, that is form,
2. the same is true of feelings,
3. perceptions,
4. impulses, and
5. consciousness.

Here, O Sariputra, all things (dharmas) are marked with emptiness; they are not produced nor stopped, not defiled nor immaculate, not deficient nor complete.

Therefore, O Sariputra, in emptiness there is no form, nor feeling, nor perception, nor impulse, nor consciousness.

There is no eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind; there is no form, sound, scent, savor, sensation, nor object of mind; no sight-organ element, and so forth, until we come to: There is no mind-consciousness element.

There is no ignorance, no extinction of ignorance, and so forth, until we come to: There is no decay and death, no extinction of decay and death.

There is no suffering, no origination, no stopping, no path. There is no cognition, no attainment, and no non-attainment.

Praja Paramita personified: What's better than wisdom?

Therefore, O Sariputra, it is because of his non-attainmentness that a bodhisattva, through having relied on the Perfection of Wisdom, dwells without thought-coverings.

In the absence of thought-coverings, one has not been made to tremble.

One has overcome what can upset, and in the end, one attains to nirvana.

All those who appear as buddhas in the three periods of time fully awake to the utmost, right and perfect enlightenment, because they have relied on the Perfection of Wisdom.

Therefore, one should know the prajna-paramita as the great mantra, the mantra of great knowledge, the utmost mantra, the unequalled mantra, allayer of all suffering. In truth -- for what could go wrong?

By the prajna-paramita has this mantra been delivered. It runs like this:

Gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi svaha.

("Gone, gone, gone beyond, gone altogether beyond, O, what an awakening, so good to call!")

This completes the Heart of Perfect Wisdom.

Faith: Trusting Our Own Deepest Experience

Sharon Salzberg; Eds., Wisdom Quarterly

Faith: Trusting Your Own Deepest Experience by successful American Theravada Buddhist meditator and teacher Sharon Salzberg has earned a 4.6 out of 5 stars after 350 ratings.

In this beautifully written work, one of America's most beloved meditation teachers -- cofounder of Insight Mediation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, offers discerning wisdom on understanding faith as a healing quality.

"Faith" is the poor English translation of a term the Buddha used, saddha, which means "confidence," "conviction," "what can be confirmed." He said this Dharma, this Teaching, invites all to come and see for themselves. It can be put to the test.

Through the Teachings of the Buddha and insight (vipassana) gained from her lifelong spiritual quest, Salzberg provides us with a road map for cultivating a feeling of peace, trust, confidence to step forward and put into practice Teachings that promise immediate results and that can be practiced by anyone of any tradition.

Salzberg in India with Dipa and Dipa Ma.

If the ultimate goal of Buddhism is awakening (bodhi, "enlightenment" in this very life), the necessity of investigating to see for oneself is of paramount importance.

But we will not investigate without some measure of "faith" to listen then put into practice what we are not yet able to see as leading to knowledge and vision.

We must commit to persistent practice that reveals itself as wholesome, worthy, and giving rise to the highest good.

Therefore, the real meaning of "faith" becomes something that can be tested and confirmed in the here not the hereafter.

Moreover, we need not reject any other faith, any other religious tradition or teacher, to pursue awakening.

In that sense, Buddhism is not a religion (a set of things to believe) swapped for another religion. It is the Awakened One's map pointing out how we ourselves may bring ourselves to awakening just as he did.

• Faith: Trusting Your Own Deepest by Sharon Salzberg

Alan Watts on "YOGA" (Buddhist Radio)

Alan Watts, Sunday, Sept. 4, 8:00 am (kpfk); Seth Auberon, Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Pacifica Free Speech Radio Archives: ALAN WATTS on KPFK.org 90.7 FM

(Jofy/YouTube) What is Intellectual Yoga (jnana yoga) on the various paths to union, like Christian devotion (bhakti), karma ("action"), royal or integral (raja or kundalini), chanting (mantra), etc.

Go to "Alan Watts on Sunday, September 4, 2022, at 8:00 AM" in archives.kpfk.org

.

ABOUT: "Buddhist Radio" is our name for programmer Roy of Hollywood Tuckman's show Something's Happening when, on Thursdays at midnight and Sundays at 8:00 am, it becomes Buddhist-centric, featuring British-Californian Alan Watts and other luminaries like Los Angeleno Shinzen Young, Pema Chodron, Tami Simon (Sounds True) interviews, and other great overnight listening. Tune in to Pacifica Free Speech Radio, Los Angeles (KPFK.org 90.7 FM).

Path of Serenity and Insight

Ven. Nyanatiloka, Buddhist Dictionary; Dhr. Seven and Amber Larson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Strength is needed but also ease

"Serenity and insight," identical with stillness (samādhi) and wisdom (paññā), form the two branches of mental cultivation (bhāvanā) or self-development generally referred to as Buddhist meditation.

(1) "Serenity" (tranquility, settled, calm) is a peaceful, undistracted, undisturbed, unperturbed, and lucid state of mind/heart attained by strong mental attention to a single object.

Although as a distinct way of practice (samatha-yānika), it aims at the attainment of the eight meditative absorptions (jhānas), a high degree of tranquil focus (not necessarily to the level of absorptions) is indispensable for insight (vipassana), too.

Serenity temporarily frees the heart/mind from impurities and inner obstacles and gives it greater penetrative strength. Insight practices without a foundation of purified stillness will tend to be superficial or impossible.

''What now is the power of serenity (samatha-bala)? It is the one-pointedness and undistracted ability of the mind due to [temporary]

• freedom from [sensual] desire (renunciation)...
• freedom from ill-will...
• to the perception of light (aloka-saññā)...
• to non-distraction...
• to the defiling of phenomena...
• to knowledge,
• gladness,
• the Eight Attainments (jhanas),
• the Ten Kasinas,
• the Ten Recollections,
• the Nine Cemetery Contemplations,
• the 32 Kinds of Breathing-Mindfulness...
• the one-pointedness, and
• non-distraction of the mind of one contemplating abandonment (relinquishment) while breathing in and breathing out (ānāpānasati).

"The power of serenity consists of freedom from perturbation.

"In the first meditative absorption (jhana), it consists of freedom from the Five Hindrances (nīvarana). 

"In the second meditative absorption, it consists of freedom from thought-conception and discursive thinking (vitakka-vicara).

"In the eighth meditative absorption (called the sphere of neither-perception-nor-non-perception), it consists of the freedom from perturbation by the perception of the [preceding absorption called the] sphere of nothingness (see anupubba-nirodha), which is no longer agitated and irritated by defilements associated with restlessness nor by the Five Aggregates clung to as self" (Pts.M. 1. p. 97).

(2) "Insight" (vipassanā) is the penetrative understanding by direct meditative experience of the impermanence, unsatisfactoriness, and impersonality of all material and mental phenomena of existence. It is insight that leads to entrance into the supermundance states of holiness and to final liberation.

''What now is the power of insight?

"It is the contemplation of impermanence (aniccā-anupassanā), of misery (dukkha-anupassanā), impersonality (anattā-anupassanā), of aversion (nibbida-anupassanā), detachment (virāga-anupassanā), extinction (nirodha), abandonment (patinissagga), with regard to

1. form (corporeality),
2. feeling (sensation),
3. perception,
4. mental formations, and
5. consciousness [the Five Aggregates clung to as self]....

"That in contemplating the impermanency one is no more agitated by the idea of grasping ... no more by ignorance and the defilements associated therewith and no more by the groups of existence: this is called the power of insight" (Pts.M. p. 97).

"Two things are conducive to knowledge: serenity and insight. If serenity is developed, what profit does it bring? The mind is developed. If the mind is developed, what profit does it bring? All lust is abandoned.

"If insight is developed, what profit does it bring? Wisdom is developed. If wisdom is developed, what profit does it bring? All ignorance is abandoned" (A. II, 2.7).

There is a method of meditative practice where, in alternating sequence, serenity-meditation and insight-meditation are developed.

"It is called 'serenity and insight joined in pairs' (samatha-vipassanā-yuganaddha), the coupling or yoking of serenity and insight.

"One who undertakes it first enters into the first absorption. After rising from it, one contemplates the mental phenomena that were present in it (feeling, perception, etc.) as impermanent, incapable of fulfilling, and impersonal [ti-lakkhana, the Three Universal Marks of Existence], and thus one develops insight.

Killer yoga instructor, literally: Armstrong

Thereupon, one enters into the second absorption. And after rising from it, one again considers its constituent phenomena as impermanent and so on. In this way, one passes from one absorption to the next until, at last, during a moment of insight, the intuitive knowledge of the path (of stream-entry or further stages of enlightenment) flashes forth. See A. IV, 170; A.IX, 36; Pts: Yuganaddha Kathā.

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Buddhist Goddess of Wisdom: Prajna

Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly; Sabrina, GoddessaDay.com

Prajna Paramita, the feminine embodiment of the Dharma, literally the "Perfection of Wisdom" (a gift to Aranya Anandabodhi's Hermitage/AwakeningTruth.org)

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Perfect Wisdom personified

There is a "Buddhist Goddess," a Sophia of the East, the embodiment and personification of perfect wisdom: Prajna-Paramita.

There are ten "perfections" (paramis or paramitas) a bodhisattva ("being striving for perfect enlightenment") cultivates if s/he wishes to forgo a disciple's enlightenment for the supreme enlightenment of a non-teaching (pacceka) buddha or enlightenment with the ability to effectively teach and establish the true wheel of the Dharma in a world that has lost its way, a samma-sam-buddha.

The culmination of transcendental knowledge -- liberating insight that has transcended ego, suffering, and impermanence -- Prajna Paramita is the feminine “Perfection of Wisdom,” who gives birth to all buddhas.

Interestingly, the Goddess of Compassion, Kwan Yin (Guanyin), is much more famous. Both are essential elements of a supremely enlightened teacher's attainment.

Serene face of knowing-and-seeing

Her face is serene, having attained the freedom of awakening.

Like Kwan Yin, she is sometimes depicted as having the many arms of an omnipotent Hindu goddess (devi), which is likely the largest influence on the rise of "goddesses" as prominent subjects of Buddhist reverence.

For the Vedic religion and subsequent Hinduism promote mono- and polytheism as ways of talking about ineffable subjects directly. There is just one GOD, Brahman, the Ultimate Reality behind the illusion of maya, which finds expression in many gods and goddesses.

So the root of all buddhas, in this way of thinking, is no ordinary deva but a superlative one: impersonal wisdom. The strange back story of the tantric Taras suggests that "goddess" is more an honorific -- a divine-human hybrid appealing to warrior nobles like Prince Siddhartha and his fellow Scythians/Shakyians -- than specific to any distinction in knowledge-and-vision worthy of the noble ones.

These goddess-figures are usually shown holding symbols illustrating their role. Prajna Paramita is a teacher, so she is often depicted holding meditation beads (emblematic of the eternal cycles of time), a rope or magic lasso (like Wonder Woman's, to retrieve those who have strayed from the Path), fruit (for prosperity or path-and-fruition), a lotus (purity), a vase (abundance) and, most importantly, a book (knowledge or wisdom).

Uppalavanna (frank.itlab.us)

Free hands are held in a hand-yoga gesture (mudra) signifying "teaching." The Perfection of Wisdom (prajnaparamita) literature is a collection of later sacred texts that declare the path to liberating-insight or transcendent-wisdom (bodhi, vipassana, nyana/ñana).

In the Heart Sutra, the possessor of such wisdom is Avalokiteshvara, "the one looks down upon [and hears the cries of] the world."

He is taken to be or to have later been transformed into the merciful Kwan Yin (Mother Goddess, Mother Mary figure, a new Saraswati or Lakshmi), but the wisdom itself is Prajna (paññá).

What came first, the sacred texts or the goddess embodying them?

Other "goddesses"

Khema, foremost in wisdom (iwilliam/flickr)

Sadly, for all this talk of Prajna Paramita and Avalokita (Kwan Yin), we are deprived of knowledge of the Buddha's real-life "wisdom goddesses," as embodied in his rarely discussed two chief female disciples -- KHEMA and UPPALAVANNA.

And little is said about the Buddha's two mothers, Maha Pajapati (Prajābatī, who became the first Buddhist nun in history) and his birth-mother Queen Maha Maya Devi.

Why are they rarely discussed? Likely due to sexism and neglect, the ancient Order of Nun (Bhikkhuni Sangha) the Buddha began as an essential element of his mission became defunct. And with that loss so went knowledge of discourses (sutras) delivered to nuns:

One never sees, "O, bhikkhunis!" as the opening of any sutra, yet it is certain the Buddha must have started many discourses this way. And there must have been other now lost discourse delivered by these two nuns to the female monastic community. For they were as important as the wonderful and well-known chief male disciples, Sariputra and Maha Moggallana, we read about all the time.

• Sex and the Rape of a Buddhist nun
• Women and fruits of Buddhist recluseship
• Meet the Buddha's SISTER (Ven. Sundari Nanda) and other enlightened relatives
• VIDEO: Extra rules to subordinate women? (Ayya Tathaaloka)

Nuns: an afterthought forced on the Buddha?

I raised Prince Siddhartha, my sister's son.

Female monastics forced on the Buddha is what we have all been taught as the history (his story) of the Nun's Sangha. But what did the Buddha actually say about women? In the "Great Final-Nirvana Sutra" (Maha-parinibbana Sutta, DN 16), Mara Namuci quotes the Buddha, who agrees he accomplished his goal:

"For the Blessed One, O venerable sir, spoke these words to me: 'I shall not come to my final passing away, Namuci, until my bhikkhus and bhikkhunis [monks and nuns or male and female wandering ascetics], as well as laymen and laywomen, have come to be true disciples -- wise, well disciplined, apt and learned, preservers of the Dharma, living according to the Dharma, abiding by the appropriate conduct, and having learned the Teacher's word, are able to expound it, preach it, proclaim it, establish it, reveal it, explain it in detail, and make it clear; until, when adverse opinions arise, they shall be able to refute them thoroughly and well, and to preach this convincing and liberating Dharma'" (Verse 7).

• ñána: "Knowledge, comprehension, intelligence, insight" is a synonym for paññá (Sanskrit prajna); see also vipassaná.
• ñána-dassana-visuddhi: "Purification of knowledge and vision" [knowing-and-seeing] is the last of the seven purifications and a name for path-knowledge (magga-ñána), i.e., the penetrating realization of the path of Stream-winning, Once-returning, Non-returning, and Arhatship [full enlightenment]. The Path of Purification (XXII) furnishes a detailed explanation of it; (see visuddhi, VII).