Suicidal Tendencies is an American punk rock crossover thrash metal band formed in 1980 [5] in Venice Beach (Los Angeles), California, by vocalist [wannabee white gang member/bike clubber] Mike Muir.
Punk? I'm a one-man cult of personality for ca$h
The band [could be called a one-hit wonder with "Institutionalized" on MTV that] has undergone various lineup changes, with Muir as the only remaining original member. [Got ego?]
Their current lineup includes Muir, guitarists Dean Pleasants and Ben Weinman, bassist Tye Trujillo, and drummer Jay Weinberg.
Notable musicians who have contributed to the band's studio and/or live activities include:
guitarists Rocky George and Mike Clark;
bassists Louiche Mayorga, Bob Heathcote, Robert Trujillo, Ra Díaz, Josh Paul, and Stephen "Thundercat" Bruner; and
drummers Amery Smith, Jimmy DeGrasso, Brooks Wackerman, David Hidalgo Jr., Thomas Pridgen, Ron Bruner, Eric Moore, [Slayer's] Dave Lombardo, Brandon Pertzborn, Greyson Nekrutman, and session musician Josh Freese.
It's punk/thrash, but is it hardcore enough?
Along with D.R.I., Corrosion of Conformity, and Stormtroopers of Death, Suicidal Tendencies is often credited as one of "the fathers of crossover thrash" [6, 7, 8]. They have released 14 studio albums... More: Suicidal Tendencies
Now that Suicide Prevention Month is wrapped up, it's time to listen to some Korn again. They're in concert this weekend in SoCal. Due to leaks of credit card and personal financial information, one woman had her virtual tickets transferred to someone else. TicketMaster is to blame. How doe
September is National Suicide Prevention Month (samhsa.gov)
and if you've found a way to hang on, let's see if we could feel, think, and reason our way through this. Unless you're recovering from some attempt, the thoughts are the problem. What reasoning has let to contemplating a permanent solution to a temporary problem? It's all in the thinking. Thinking is a trap, basing decision on unquestioned assumptions. Become aware of the assumption, and all the thinking built on them magically falls away..
September is a month to [listen Guns 'n' Roses' "September Rain," very sad and depressing] and to remember the lives lost to suicide. Millions of people have struggled...
NAMI (nami.org)don't like it. Get involved because awareness is the way to prevention, whereas lack of mindfulness and clear comprehension (sati-sampajanna) is the way to automatic pilot. A dog chases a tail. Does it ever figure out that's its tail? One bite would do it, but it's too fast.
Is there ever a time to raise awareness of this urgent crisis? It's like asking, "When is the best time to plant a tree?" We use this month to shift public perception and spread hope.
Prevention beats trying to cure the spiraling when someone falls into a tailspin. That dog just won't stop. One way is to call (988) LIFE-LINE. Every year, the 988 Lifeline and other mental health organizations and individuals across the U.S. raise awareness of suicide prevention during September.
AFSP.org hails National Suicide Prevention Month and Week. This is a moment in time when we rally the public to create awareness of this leading cause of death and inspire more self-compassion.
If only there were a toolkit for suicide prevention (nimh.nih.gov). There is a
Digital Toolkit for Suicide Prevention Month. Join the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) to raise awareness by sharing resources that can help one recognize the warning signs of suicide and do something about it.
KoRn "Dirty" (Live on the Other Side) lyrics by Johnathan Davis, from Issues; Pfc. Sandoval, Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly; SAMHSA.gov, Aug. 16, 2024, et. al.
WARNING: Absolute filth, garbage, this should be illegal! This seems to be some band Tees OL, Tee Sol, singing some kind of, can't understand a word the fat blond man (political candidate, father, and author Jack Grisham) is saying about being in high school in the Southbay looking for love, but look at that crowd kept far from the stage for only $200 a ticket. ;)
Our dream has finally come true. See, I told you if we kept praying and spiking our hair.
Mother, the original Misfits are back to get everyone to sing along (Concert Archives.org)
Mike Muir and Suicidal Tendencies sing their MTV hit "Institutionalized"
Oh, hells yeah, I'll be there wearing a sexy outfit!
The Warped Tour is back at the Pomona Fairplex -- only now it's the once in a lifetime "NO VALUES" concert (so named after an old Black Flag song).
It's a Goldenvoice production (Coachella, Stagecoach, etc.), conveniently located in Los Angeles County, out by the fairgrounds, right next to Orange County, just off of the largest freeway in the country (the Interstate 10). It close enough for everyone in the IE and San Berdoo, too. The rest of the world is out of luck.
Decline of Western Civilization, 1
Imagine a show so big that it reunites the original Misfits (not just Danzig), Social Distortion. Iggy Pop (he's still among the living?), Bad Religion, Sublime [no Rome], FEAR [w/ Lee Ving], The Dillinger Escape Plan, Power Trip, The Damned, Suicidal Tendencies, The Vandals, Black Flag, L7, TSOL, [what no Germs or Circle Jerks?], Steve Ignorant of Crass, The Jesus Lizard, The Exploited, The Dead Milkmen, The Adicts, Agent Orange, Adolescents, Cro-Mags...
Hillbillies can't play piano! Where would they practice, the trailer park?
Nu-metal gets carried away with mega-fest in Vegas heat: SOAD, Korn...
Not just punk but ska and other genres, too. The lineup continues with Fishbone, The Aquabats, The Selecter, The Untouchables, The Skeletones, [what, no Save Ferris?], Ceremony, Fidlar, Hepcat, Joyce Manor, MS Paint, Scowl, Shattered Faith, Soul Glo, The Bronx, The Dead, The Lawrence Arms, The Mourning Noise, Turnstile, Viagra Boys [or is that the Cialis Girls?], and a bunch of other vital bands from way back when.
(Punk Rock MBA) Punk show etiquette with dad Finn Mckenty, MBA
Anyone who thought going to Las Vegas to see the Sick New World Fest has got to think this is probably a good idea, too. It's bound not to have all the technical issues that event suffered from. And best of all the Dead Kennedy's original singer, Jello Biafra, will have a DJ set [of all Alternative Tentacles bands?] So expect some snark but precious little "California Uber Alles." It's not cheap, so plan ahead. More
The name of the show, we would guess, comes from an old Black Flag song:
LA hardcore punk band Black Flag performs their anti-hit "No Values"
Entertainment Tonight, Aug. 29, 2023; Eds., Wisdom Quarterly COMMENTARY
Kathy Griffin shares SHOCKING results of getting lips tattooed after getting cancelled for Trump stunt
(Entertainment Tonight) Kathy Griffin undergoes another cosmetic procedure on top of other plastic surgery that has not gone so well. In a YouTube video, the comedian documents the process of getting her lips tattooed and shares the offensive results.
Early on ginger stand up Kathy Griffin played herself on Seinfeld. It was funny because Larry David must have told her, "Just be yourself." So she begins by doting on unfunny Jerry, which offends him. When he asks her to knock it off, she turns on him to hilarious effect. She goes on an Ant-Jerry Comedy Campaign, which ends up being a hit. (I started to understand the show about then, realizing there was no way Jerry Seinfeld was writing it. George Costanza is the funniest because he's the most neurotic, Cosmo Kramer is comic relief because he's a nut, and even Newman is deviously subversive, and who knows what to say about the Catholic character Elaine).
One got a real glimpse at the motormouthing horror that is Ginger Griffin, but she was pleasant enough appearance-wise, like a commercial model for kitchen wax or some such. Most TV models are redheads though they represent only a fraction of the human population. But without makeup, Griffin can hardly be counted among the humans. What planet are those genes from? And those lips, those hips, aarrgh, holy Molly Malone, they're all as nothing compared to the gob. Good gosh, we thought she was cancelled for insulting fellow freak Trump. Guess our society is less forgiving to women.
Video Shorts; Base Jumping X Team Wannabees, Wisdom Quarterly
It's fun to watch in first class (of a car)
There's an extreme sport called "base jumping," taking a parachute in hand and throwing it into the wind when jumping off things -- buildings, cliffs, any platform will do really. What becomes possible when the wings/glider or flexible parachute can be maneuvered and aimed at landing spots? Here one daredevil goes from sky to rooftop of a skyscraper on the beach, probably a resort hotel, where he's not welcome by its security agent posted their to guard some VIP or other. They tell him to get off, but rather than the steps or elevator, he decides to jump off the edge. They helplessly run after him and watch him commit suicide, only he has other plans. A backflip into the wind then the descent of a raptor, skimming the surf and softly alighting on the sand. Success! How in the world it was filmed, we have to wonder. AI-controlled GoPro? How did the cam know to turn around for the backflip? No wonder China and TikTok will one day rule the world.
Watching this clip on a car video screen, I may want to parachute to the ground.
When do those George Jetson flying cars get here already? They exist. Let's go. Sky tickets!
Producer Rick Rubin; System of a Down (SOAD) as reviewed by The Charismatic Voice; T.W. Rhys Davids (trans.) SuttaCentral.net; Dhr. Seven, Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
What did the Buddha teach about suicide?
Attanipātanapañha—T.W. Rhys Davids (trans.), The Questions of King Milinda, Book 4: The solving of dilemmas, Chapter 4 (Mil. 5.4.5), "On Suicide" (PTS cs 13 PTS vp Pali 195)
“Venerable Nāgasena, it has been said by the Blessed One: ‘O meditators, a monastic is not to commit suicide. Whosoever does so shall be dealt with according to the dharma.”
“But on the other hand [members of the Monastic Order] say: ‘On whatever subject the Blessed One was addressing the disciples, he always, with various similes, preached to them in order to bring about the destruction of rebirth [life], old age, disease, and death. And whoever overcame rebirth, old age, disease, and death, that person did he honor with the highest praise.”
“Now if the Blessed One said suicide [is wrong and forbidden] that saying of yours must be wrong. But if not then the prohibition of suicide must be wrong. This, too, is a double-edged dilemma now put to you, and you have to solve it” (PTS cs 14).
“O king, the monastic [disciplinary code] rule you quote was laid down by the Blessed One yet the saying you refer to is also true. There is a reason for this, a (PTS vp En 274) reason for which the Blessed One both prohibited [the destruction of life] and also [in another sense] instigated us to [bring about the destruction of rebirth].”
“What, Nāgasena, might that reason be?”
“A good person, O king, perfect in uprightness, is like medicine to humans, an antidote to the poison of unskillful karma. Such a person is like water to people, bringing down the dust and impurities of unskillful dispositions. That person is like a jewel treasure to people, bestowing upon them all attainments in righteousness. That person is like a boat to people, inasmuch as one conveys them to the further shore of the four flooded streams (of lust, separation, delusion, and ignorance). Such a person is like a caravan owner to people, bringing them beyond the sandy desert of rebirth. Such a person is like a mighty rain cloud to people, filling their hearts with satisfaction. Such a person is like a teacher to people, training them in all that is good. Such a person is like a guide to people, pointing out to them the path to ultimate peace. It was in order that so good a person as that, one whose good qualities are so many and various, so immeasurable (PTS vp Pali 196), in order that so great a treasure mine of good things, so full of benefit to all beings, might not be done away with that the Blessed One, O king, out of his mercy towards all living beings, laid down that injunction, when he said: 'O meditators, a monastic is not to commit suicide. Whoever does so shall be dealt with according to the dharma.'
“This is the reason for which the Blessed One prohibited [self-murder]. And it was said, O king (PTS vp En 275) by the Ven. Elder Kumāra Kassapa, the eloquent, when he was describing to Pāyāsi the Rājanya the other world:
“‘So long as shamans (wandering ascetics or samaṇas) and Brahmins (brahmanas) of uprightness and beauty of character continue to exist — however long that time might be — just so long do they conduct themselves to the advantage and happiness of the great number of people, to the good and gain and benefit of devas and human beings!’” (PTS cs 15)
“And what is the reason for which the Blessed One instigated us [to put an end to rebirth]? Rebirth, O king, is full of pain, and so is old age, and disease, and death. Sorrow is painful, and so is lamentation, and pain, and grief, and despair. Association with the unpleasant is painful, and separation from the pleasant is painful. The death of a mother is painful, or of a father, or a brother, or a sister, or a son [or a sister], or a wife, or of any relative. Painful is the ruin of one’s family, and the suffering of disease, and the loss of wealth, and decline in goodness, and the loss of insight (PTS vp En 276). Painful is the fear produced by despots, or by robbers, or by enemies, or by famine, or by fire, or by flood, or by the tidal wave, or by earthquake, or by crocodiles or alligators. Painful is the fear of possible blame attaching to oneself, or to others, the fear of punishment, the fear of misfortune. Painful is the fear arising from shyness [bashfulness or inhibition due to misconduct] in the presence of assemblies of one’s fellows, painful is anxiety as to one’s means of livelihood, painful the foreboding of death (PTS vp Pali 197).
“Painful are [the punishments inflicted on people accused of crimes], such as being flogged with whips, or with sticks, or with split rods, having one’s hands cut off, or one’s feet, or one’s hands and feet, or one’s ears, or one’s nose, or one’s ears and nose. Painful are [the tortures inflicted on those accused of being traitors] — being subjected to the Gruel Pot (that is, having boiling gruel poured into one’s head from the top of which the skull bone has been removed) — or to the Chank Crown (that is, having the scalp rubbed with gravel till it becomes smooth like a polished shell) — or to the Rāhu’s Mouth (that is, having one’s mouth held open by iron pins, and oil put in it, and a wick lit therein) — or to the Fire Garland or to the Hand Torch (that is, being made a living torch, the whole body, or the arms only, being wrapped up in oily cloths and set on fire) — or to the Snake Strips (that is, being skinned in strips from the neck to the hips so that the skin falls in strips round the legs), or to the Bark Dress (that is, being skinned alive from the neck downwards and having each strip of [PTS vp En 277] skin as soon as it is removed tied to the hair so that these strips form a veil around one) — or to the Spotted Antelope (that is, having one’s knees and elbows tied together and being made to squat on a plate of iron under which a fire is lit) — or to the Flesh-Hooks (that is, being hung up on a row of iron hooks) — or to the Pennies (that is, having bits cut out of the flesh, all over the body, of the size of pennies) — or to the Brine Slits (that is, having cuts made all over one’s body by means of knives or sharp points and then having salt and caustic liquids poured over the wounds) — or to the Bar Turn (that is, being transfixed to the ground by a bar of iron passing through the root of the ear and then being dragged round and round by the leg) — or to the Straw Seat (that is, being so beaten with clubs that [PTS vp En 278] the bones are broken and the body becomes like a heap of straw) — or to be anointed with boiling oil, or to be eaten by dogs, or to be impaled alive, or to be beheaded. Such and such, O king, are the manifold and various pains which a being caught in the whirlpool of births and rebirths has to endure. Just, O king, as the water rained down upon the Himalayan Mountain flows in its course along the Ganges, through and over rocks and pebbles and gravel, whirlpools and eddies and rapids, and the stumps and branches of trees which obstruct and oppose its passage — just so has each being caught in the succession of births and rebirths to endure such and such manifold and various pains. Full of pain, then, is the continual succession of rebirths. A joy is it when that succession ends. And it was in pointing out the advantage of that end, the disaster involved in that succession, that the Blessed One, great king, instigated us to get beyond rebirth, and old age, and disease, and death by the realization of the final end of that succession of rebirths.
“This is the sense, O king, which led the Blessed One to instigate us (to put an end to rebirth).”
“Very good, Nāgasena! Well solved is the puzzle (I put), well set forth are the reasons (you gave). That is so, and I accept it as you say.”
What's Killing America's White Men? (BBC News, Oct. 18, 2018) Every year nearly 45,000 people in America (the USA, not the Americas) kill themselves. That is more than twice the number that die in homicides, and the numbers are increasing. There is one group in particular causing this spike -- white, middle aged men. India Rakusen goes to the rural state of Montana, where suicide rates are double the national average, to find out what drives so many of these [guilt-ridden?] men to despair and taking their own lives.
Nu-Christian Brian Welch, formerly of Korn, says Chester is a "coward" (ZN). And Cornell?
I can't stand all this money and to be away from Chris Cornell formerly of Soundgarden!
Dr. Drew, M.D. (KABC.com) suspects foul play in Bennington and Cornell "suicides."
Chester Bennington the [blank] singer with a great ability to yell is dead -- following a life of drugs, addiction, and being molested as a child (which predisposes one to addiction, according to Dr. Gabor Mate) -- a death brought about by suicide, hanging, on the anniversary of Chris Cornell's birthday (July 20th).
Bennington, 41, and a father of six, was found hanged to dath at 9:00 am in Palos Verdes Estates, an upscale beach community in Los Angeles, the L.A. Coroner confirms. Meanwhile, Linkin Park has released a new rap-metal song on YouTube. The death should help video views and album sales.
Thanks for trying to visit, Chester. (CC)
Bennington had another band, more suggestive of his dysphoric mood, "Dead by Sunrise," which formed in 2005 while he was writing songs for Linkin Park's 2007 album Minutes to Midnight...
By sunrise today, Bennington was dead as had been implicitly promised by his band's name. (Yesterday's death hoax probably did not help his mood or condition very much).
Is it more sad that he made more money this year than any other singer, that he was voted sexiest singer, or that he and Linkin Park have a new album today and were planning a 2018 world tour? Wah-wah-waaaaaah. And somehow right wing Republican nut John McCain, who has brain cancer, is clinging on to life and ready to help Pres. Trump promote war and capitalism and domestic oppression. Way to go, Mara.
Sexiest singer alive? I'm the sexiest dead!
Another death hoax? Chester Bennington dead 2017(en.mediamass.net) News of singer Chester Bennington's death spread quickly earlier this week causing concern among fans across the world. However the July 2017 report has...
Chester Bennington, now dead, is at the No. 1 spot on People With Money’s top 10 highest-paid singers for 2017 with an estimated $46 million in combined earnings.
Killer Michelle Carter in Juvenile Court, New Bedford (Peter Pereira/Standard Times/AP).
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Court hears case of teen who sent beau texts urging suicide
BOSTON - The highest court in Massachusetts has been asked to dismiss a manslaughter case against a teenager accused of sending her boyfriend dozens of text messages encouraging him to kill himself.
Michelle Carter listens to defense attorney Joseph P. Cataldo argue for charges against her to be dismissed at Juvenile Court in New Bedford, Mass. Carter, of Plainville, Mass., is charged with involuntary manslaughter for allegedly pressuring Conrad Roy III, of Fairhaven, Mass., to commit suicide in 2014. Her lawyer will ask the Supreme Judicial Court Thursday, April 7, 2016, to overrule a lower court judge who refused to dismiss the youthful offender indictment against her, which makes her eligible for up to 20 years in prison instead of a lower sentence if she were prosecuted as a juvenile. More
The Buddha taught that encouraging others to kill themselves or kill others is killing, which violates the first of the Five Precepts.
The reason he made known the Five Precepts and the hundreds of guidelines in the Monastic Disciplinary Code was not because certain deeds (actions, karma) displeased him or went against his will.
He revealed them because he saw that they resulted in unpleasant, unwished for results. Those results and fruits (vipaka and phala) are usually not immediate; that is not what results and fruits means.
They come about when karma ripens, which is opportunistic, when an action (a karma) gets the chance, whether in this life, the immediate next life, or in some future life.
Some deeds fall away and do not bear fruit if they do not get the chance within this or the next life. Karma is complicated, working itself out in mysterious ways.
But according to the Vinaya, the Monastic Disciplinary Code, there are certain "defeat" (parajika) offenses, deeds/karma. One is immediately defeated and excluded from the monastic community by committing them.
How about abortion?
One of them is murder -- and it extends to encouraging abortion or commending suicide. One is self-judged guilty of killing (taking life) by speaking in praise of abortion or suicide or homicide which the person then goes on to perform even if that person was going to do it anyway. Because one may have been the cause, or tilted the scale, one is defeated.
Sexual intercourse, stealing, and making false claims of enlightenment are other defeat offenses. So this being the case, What is our karma when we encourage abortion? When we suggest to others that they kill themselves? When we sell guns or deal in weapons, poisons (drugs including pharmaceuticals of abuse), or the flesh trade (modern slavery, prostitution, sex trafficking)?
The Buddha by his insight knew-and-saw directly the unwished for results of such deeds. In the Noble Eightfold Path he therefore defined "right livelihood" as avoiding trade in certain things -- weapons, intoxicants, people, animals for slaughter... We may not like the truth made known to us, but we can profit greatly for looking into it.
The Buddha had little to gain by making rules or talking about boring morality. The way to popularity is to give few rules, never judge or tell anyone else what's "moral" for them or "virtuous" or "good." So some may resent a spiritual teacher telling anyone what's "right" or "wrong," what's beneficial and harmful, to be pursued or abandoned, let go of or kept close to the heart.
Shouldn't everything be let go of? Nothing should be clung to. Sure, let it all go but not right away. In the Parable of the Raft (MN 22), the Buddha says that one is wise to gather material like reeds and lashes to make a raft to cross over from this dangerous side to that safe side of a river using one's own paddling hands and effort THEN letting go once that raft has served its purpose. The raft is the Dharma. It should be let go of, too, but only after it has served its purpose. You don't abandon the raft before you've crossed over to safety. You don't let go of the Doctrine and Discipline before achieving enlightenment and knowing-and-seeing for yourself.
It was because of just such a comment in the Mahaparinibbana Sutta, the sutra of "The Buddha's Last Days" (The Great Final-Nirvana of the Buddha Discourse, DN 16), that "Buddhism" began as a religion.
The Buddha did not create a religion. He taught a Dharma, a Doctrine-and-Discipline, a Teaching, made known a Path, a Way, to enlightenment. He was a mystic and a spiritual teacher, who was not interested in teaching people what he knew -- it's true. He was interested in teaching people how to know for themselves. People came to ask, What do you think?
And he turned it around and asked them, then helped them pursue a line of thought based on what they answered, giving a gradual teaching by asking them questions. He knew the answer, but "teaching" is about bringing others to their own direct-knowledge. He was a guide, not a judge, not a dictator, not a god or God (deva or brahma). So Buddhism is not a set of beliefs to believe or parrot; it is a path to pursue that leads to direct-knowledge. That Path is folded into the Noble Eightfold Path but it is more than that, like the 37 Requisites of Enlightenment, of which the Noble Eightfold Path is a part.
The enlightened elder, the Great Disciple Maha Kassapa (a Brahmin), formalized the teaching into a systematic "religion." He did this on his own after the Buddha's final nirvana because of the comment of a newcomer, an old man who had only recently become a monastic.
When the group of monastics Maha Kassapa was traveling with got news that the Buddha had passed away before they reached him, some (not yet enlightened) became very dejected and cried, threw themselves on the ground, wailed, lamented how they were now lost and so on. The enlightened kept their composure. This old man/new monk, Subhadda, encouraged them:
"Enough, friends! Do not grieve, do not lament! We are well rid of that great ascetic. Too long, friends, have we been oppressed by his saying, 'This is fitting for you; that is not fitting for you.' Now we shall be able to do as we wish, and what we do not wish, that we shall not do."
Venerable Maha Kassapa addressed the monastics, saying: "Enough, friends! Do not grieve, do not lament! For has not the Blessed One declared that with all that is dear and beloved there must be change, separation, and severance? Of that which is born, come into being, compounded, subject to decay, how can one say: 'May it not come to dissolution!'?" (Part 6: Section 28)
By reminding them of impermanence -- and the suffering dependent on it -- he encouraged them to realize enlightenment and be freed of ignorance, clinging, and aversion. But he realized that people would say things just like this Subhadda. They would misrepresent the Dharma, misunderstand what the Buddha taught and why. So he later organized the First Council to agree on a canon of teachings, the teachings and the disciplinary code, so that it would last a long time.
Many of us, maybe without realizing it, are just like Subhadda, with our "modern" sensibility: Don't tell us what to do, and we won't tell you what to do. You do what you like, and I'll do what I like, and we'll all be cool. And anyone who tells us what to do or not do, what is fitting or not fitting, we foolishly think we're well rid of such a person. But that person would have been our guide (not our boss or god or slave-driver) leading us to the insight that opens into enlightenment.
One goal of the Buddha's Teachings is to go beyond needing a teacher. When we realize the Truth for ourselves then it doesn't matter who says it or does not say it, agrees or does not agree, because we directly see for ourselves. So the Buddha said, "This Dharma is inviting; it invites investigation." Come see, come test it for yourself, come see for yourself. It does no good just believing or not believing if we won't see for ourselves.
Maintenance workers look down South Figueroa St. toward a skyscraper under construction where a worker jumped or fell to his death on Thursday, March 17, 2016. A fire department spokesperson said the construction worker plunged 50 stories to his death from the Wilshire Grand Tower on S. Figueroa St. and hit the trunk of a passing car in downtown LA (AP).
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Wilshire Grand Tower hovers high in the sky.
The worker "fell" (more like jumped) from the tower around noon on St. Patrick's Day at the Wilshire Grand Center onto the back edge of a passing car.
It happened at one of the busiest times of day at one of the busiest intersections in downtown Los Angeles, when the streets were thronged with people.
The electrician hit the trunk of the white car, which sat at the corner Wilshire Blvd. and Figueroa St. with his blanket-covered body and a coroner's tent set up hours later. The car did not appear to be that badly damaged.
The City of Los Angeles is backed by mountains with snow after storms (buzzfeed.com).
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The woman who was driving did not appear to be seriously physically hurt but was taken to a hospital, city fire officials said. Her psychological damage will be hard to measure. The 73-story skyscraper will be about 1,100 feet tall, or nearly a quarter-mile, when it's completed.
A ceremony was held earlier this month when the top beam was hoisted into place on the 73rd floor. The $1 billion office and hotel tower being developed by Korean Airlines Co. Ltd. is expected to open in early 2017.
The building is near the Staples Center arena where the NBA's Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers play and is at the center of the bustling and fast-growing financial district of downtown. More
Below the human plane is a place of deprivation, the realm of hungry ghosts (peta loka).
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What is this skull doing here? Who gives up on life?
A real follower of the Buddha accepts the moral law of karma as just, recognizing it as the chief reason for the many inequalities among human beings in regard to health, wealth, and wisdom.
One also learns to face life's losses, failures, disappointments, and adversities calmly, without complaining. For one knows, or at least cultivates confidence (conviction), that they are often the result of our past deeds engaged in in ignorance, motivated by craving, aversion, or fear.
Why me?
If we asks ourselves: "WHY has this happened to me?" it is usually a complaint rather than a question.
The answer, if we wanted it, can be expressed in terms of actions-and-results. This gives great hope because the same regularity still applies! What we do now, right now, will bear fruit. Is there any time to complain or feel sorry for ourselves? Would it not be better to engage in plans, words, and deeds motivated by nonignorance, nongreed, nonhatred? Karma means hope and possibility. We steer our ship, often poorly and blindly, but we steer it, and we can get better at steering it.
One will solve problems to the best of one's ability and will adjust oneself to the new situation when external change is not possible. One need not act rashly, nor fall into despair, nor try to escape difficulties by resorting to drink, drugs, or suicide, as so often happens in modern times wracked with doubt and persistent skepticism. Such conduct only shows emotional immaturity and ignorance of the Buddha's teachings, the Dharma.
For a genuine Buddhist, then, one's everyday activities (karma, choices, willed actions), by way of thought, word, and deed, are more important than anything else in life.
A proper understanding of the Buddhist law of karma and the countless rebirths we are wandering through is essential for happy and sensible living and for the welfare of the world, the good of others and ourselves. In the Buddha's own words:
The slayer gets a slayer in turn;
The conqueror gets one who conquers;
The abuser wins abuse, the annoyer frets.
Thus by the evolution of the deed,
A person who spoils is spoiled in turn.
— Kosala Samyutta (SN), trans. by Sir Robert Chalmers
"Call the police, there's a jumper on the ledge." [Uh, never mind.] (Gareth Cowlin)
Although we imagine ourselves to be a self -- a real and enduring substantial individual -- according to the Buddha's teaching we are, ultimately speaking, more like a flame-like process, an ever-changing combination of matter and mind, no element of which is the same for two consecutive moments.
All of the components of our being are impermanent, unsatisfactory, and devoid of self (in flux, disappointing, and insubstantial. Life is not a "being," an identity; it is a becoming, not a product, but a process.
There is in actuality no doer -- again, ultimately speaking -- only a doing, no thinker, feeler, knower, only the empty process of thinking, feeling, and consciousness, no goer, only going.
Alan Wattsgave an excellent analogy. We assume there is a fist. We can clench five fingers and see it it. Unclench and it disappears. Clench and it reappears. But, say, there is a hand (five fingers like the Five Aggregates of Existence, composite parts not a concrete whole as we assume). Now say we make a fist. Has a fist really come into existence? No, we have a word, a noun, so we assume that is what happens. But when opened we called it a hand, when clenched a "fist." There is no fist, only "fisting," as it were, no hand but only "handing," verbs not nouns, processes not fixed entities. The same is true of the persistent idea/assumption of a self, and so we cling to form (body), feeling (sensations), perceptions, formations, and consciousnesses -- processes, not nouns. But this is only true in an ultimate sense. In a conventional sense, the Buddha and Buddhism very much may speak of a "self." The Five Aggregates describe that self in detail from one life to the next to the next. This is so liable to be misunderstood that it is only taught to advanced students, usually in an intensive setting such as a monastic context, because everyone is so likely not only to misunderstand but then to make wrong assumptions/conclusions based on that misunderstanding. So take it as it is given, as an ultimate teaching (Abhidharma), not a conventional teaching.
The Buddha, Himalayan sky (Sahil Vohra/flickr)
The Buddha teaches us how to put an end to the beginningless cycle of painful rebirths in which we undergo every kind of suffering (disappointment, lack of fulfillment, ill). The way to end the cycle is by removing the causes that drive it forward death after death.
The principal cause is ignorance (avijja) and with it craving, which assumes many forms, as we strive to find fulfillment in things, which are in fact empty, unable to fulfill us. (The real solution is wisdom and enlightenment).
Craving impels us to engage in actions (karma) designed to satisfy craving, yet as craving is essentially insatiable the result is rebirth. We wander on life after life, falling to pitiful worlds, coming up again. Suicide is no answer, no solution at all. But it will seem so when our desires are frustrated.
Craving is a powerful mental force latent in all unenlightened beings. The cause of this constant craving is ignorance of the true nature of life: not knowing that life is an ever-changing process, we take it very personally even as it is subject to so much suffering; we cling to something totally devoid of a self or core. All life, wherever it is found, bears this same threefold nature: a process stamped with the Three Marks of impermanence, unsatisfactoriness, and egolessness (anicca,dukkha,anatta).
The Buddha realized for himself the true nature of life and through this realization of enlightenment and nirvana attained to something beyond life and death: a reality that is unconditioned, blissful, and deathless.
This state cannot be described or comprehended by words and concepts, but it can be experienced and seen directly. It has to be realized inwardly as a matter of direct personal experience; it has to be attained for oneself and by oneself. This ultimate reality, where doubt expires in experience, is nirvana, the goal of the Buddhist path that comes with enlightenment/awakening. More
"No way out!"?
What becomes of people who choose suicide instead? It is usually rebirth in the realm of hungry ghosts or great regret and a loss of a precious opportunity to experience and resolve things in the human world.
The Petavatthu is full of stories about the miserable karmic results of such a choice. Yet many are pulled to it, drawn by inimical beings (who are jealous and envious and wish the downfall of those fortunate enough to currently have a human birth), misled by wrong views, self destructive or sabotaging thought-patterns, misunderstandings of reality...
Real escape from suffering
The Buddha taught, "In truth, there is an unborn, unoriginated, uncreated, unbecome (unformed). If there were not this unborn, unoriginated, uncreated, unbecome, escape from the world of the born, the originated, the created, the formed (becoming), would not be possible" (Inspired Utterances, Udana VIII.3).Where is happiness?
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