Catholic Buddhist Lent: Ash Wednesday

Glam Buddhist David Bowie "Ashes to Ashes" (official video)

Holy [Hindu style) ashes on Ash Wednesday

Happy Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent for most Christians. Wisdom Quarterly's Mexican Buddhist Crystal Q. is torn between celebrating abstinence, the Five Eight or Ten Precepts, Ten Commandments, and reverting to simplicity. Since ancient Indian times, ashes from the pyre have been used by wandering ascetics as a way of getting clean. (Ashes are absorbent, and when collected from a funerary pyre, they are a strong reminder of this body's mortality). Buddhist David Bowie perhaps quoted the Anglican prayer book best when he sang, "Ashes to ashes, funk to funky, we know Major Tom's a junkie" (David Bowie's "Ashes to Ashes").

The tilma of Juan Diego: Our Lady of Guadalupe

Madonna and Child? Kwan Yin

Why would a Mexican be Buddhist? One strong reason in the past was the arrival of Buddhist missionaries from Afghanistan and China before the arrival of Christianity. See American researcher Edward P. Vining and his published findings in An Inglorious Columbus: Or Evidence that Hwui Shan and a Party of Buddhist Monks from Afghanistan Discovered America in the Fifth Century, A.D.) Of course, in modern times Mexican Americans would love Buddhism for its many qualities and perhaps recognizing in the Buddhist Goddess of Compassion Guan Yin a great deal of the Virgin of Guadalupe.

So it's time for a field trip to church (Catholic mass) to see these smearing of cremation ashes across foreheads in Los Angeles. Ananda is eager to see what this is all about. CC took us to the giant Buddhist temple east of Los Angeles in the very Asian San Gabriel Valley, where we enjoyed the Aztec dancers dancing for the Chinese Mahayana Humanist Buddhist crowd. So this explosion/clash of Mexican and European church tradition ought to be a Roman spectacular.

WHAT HAPPENED?

St. Andrew's Church (Pasadena)

Pasadena, California, has many Catholics, and "church" (mass) was packed. The one we attended is beautiful inside, much more beautiful than the usual Holy Roman Empire version. It has a picture of God unlike any other Euro Catholic church building we've ever seen, a massive mural. And next to the God are beautiful devas ("angels"), drawn in gold and very colorful. The many pews were full, and there is a Spanish language service going on in the school building across the street. This church building is on the corner of Fair Oaks and the 134 Freeway, with a big belfry and clock (campanile). Inside, it's like a mausoleum of imported stone. And the attendees are a mix of Hispanics, Italians, Europeans, and a sprinkling of Blacks and Asians. Everyone is very nice and seem repentant as they line up for their pyre ashes, almost certainly incense stick remnants and coal. Wine and gluten crackers are served, if one doesn't mind mixing saliva with everyone else, but it's wiped with a white towel between sips, which is certainly sterilizing through prayer and God's power or the priest's magic. The officiant and his altar boy assistants said some nice words, encouraged people to be good and observe the Ramadan Lenten (Latin Quadragesima, "Fortieth") self-purification practices for the next month and ten days, and to do acts of abstinence, restraint, charity, and kindness, all beautiful sentiments for those who live up to the best of their religion. It is very much like the Buddhist Rains Retreat (Pali Vassa).

Meat eating during the Holy Season?

We agree: Let animals live by not eating them.

Historically, abstinence from meat was a requirement on the days of the Lenten season, including Sunday, the "Lord's Day") [20]. In Eastern Christianity -- including Eastern Orthodox, Eastern Catholics, Eastern Lutherans, and Oriental Orthodox -- Great Lent is observed continuously without interruption for 40 days starting on Clean Monday and ending on Lazarus Saturday before Holy Week [21, 6] and the big finale of the real New Year's Day, Easter, the first day of spring (time of renewal, when the "son" rises after being as dead as the winter, as explained by Astrotheology). More

(Neo Dharmism) Study Christianity, Hinduism, find one shocking difference

In India, cremation ashes are called phool ("flowers"). They are collected from the pyre in a rite-of-passage called asthi sanchayana then dispersed. This signifies redemption of the dead in waters (like those of the "holy" Ganges or Jordan River) considered to be sacred and a closure for the living (Hinduism, Note 28).

American Pope's first Lent

Kendrick Lamar's Lefty Gunplay, Grammy Award winning LA Latino

Dr. Dre made mad money signing Eminem, so Kendrick adopted Lefty Gunplay (F. Scott Holladay)

(The Circle of Syndicates) Why the Mexican Mafia is hunting this LA rapper

(Comedy Caliente) You're full Mexican?!? | Melissa Villasenor

Viking berserkers got high first?

Hollywood's Hart is Catholic?

(HP) Christianity erased the truth, but the evidence remains: Viking "berserkers" were said to fight in a trance of unstoppable fury. Some historians believe this rage may have been triggered by psychoactive plants like henbane or hallucinogenic mushrooms. Seeds found in a Viking grave in Denmark suggest these substances were known and possibly used. Christians systematically destroyed much of the old pagan knowledge. This video explores the evidence behind one of Viking history’s strangest questions. More

• What Ash Wednesday means | Beginning of Lent explained #ashwednesday #lent
• Eds., Wisdom Quarterly; History Profiles, Feb. 13, 2026

When Siddhartha was tempted by Mara

The Buddha versus Mara: The Buddhist "Satan" and his three tempting daughters

You can have whatever you desire

(Buddha's Wisdom) April 26, 2025: 🔍 BUDDHISM'S "DEVIL" AND HIS THREE SEDUCTIVE DAUGHTERS. Did you know Buddhism has its own version of the Devil, a Satan figure?

TIMESTAMPS:

• 00:00 Buddhism's version of the Devil
• 02:01 Meet Mara, Buddhism's ultimate villain
• 06:44 The first daughter Tanhā (Craving)
• 11:08 The second daughter Arati (Boredom/Discontent)
• 15:30 The third daughter Rāga (Passion/Lust)
• 20:02 How the Buddha defeated Mara and his daughters
• 24:40 The daughters among us - modern applications

Mara, the Buddhist devil or chief demon, commands three daughters, who each specialize in a different type of temptation. Their tactics haven't changed in 2,600 years. They're still working on us today -- even through our smartphones.

Christian Sabrina Carpenter is sexy wholesome?

DISCOVER:

• The shocking parallels between Mara and Satan in religious mythology
• How the Buddha's legendary showdown with Mara's daughters reveals timeless psychological insights
• Why Mara's three daughters represent the most dangerous mind-traps humans fall into
• The surprising connection between ancient Buddhist warnings and modern digital addiction
• How the "I see you, Mara" technique can free us from these temptations today
• Ready to break free from the cycles keeping us stuck?

SOURCES:

• The Dhammapada, Sutta Nipata, Majjhima Nikaya, Anguttara Nikaya, Ādittapariyāya Sutta ("The Fire Sermon"), Satipatthana Sutta ("Discourse on the Four Foundations of Mindfulness")

Subscribe to Buddha's Wisdom for more ancient insights to transform modern life.  Join community: Instagram: buddhaswizdom. Facebook: buddhaswizdom. Support the channel: buymeacoffee.com/buddhaswisdom

#buddhism #mara #buddhistdevil #temptation #mindfulness #enlightenment #buddha #spiritualgrowth #mentalfreedom #craving #passion #boredom #buddhistmythology #ancientwisdom

• Matt, Buddha's Wisdom, April 26, 2025; Elizabeth Hurley, Brendan Frasier, remake of Bedazzled (2000); Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Devil says: "Sex, Drugs, and Rock 'n Roll"

Demon: Elizabeth Hurley, Faust: Brendan Frasier (Bedazzled US remake); Eds., Wisdom Quarterly

Liz Hurley sparks frenzy as she smolders in plunging red devil jumpsuit (Express.co.uk)

"Do it, Fat Boy, do it!" - "Restraint, Peter."

I'm going bad, breaking bad, wild! I've had it with the good life and the burdens of being upright! I want to tear loose and have some fun, sickening fun -- fornication, intoxicants, and loud music with a thunderous beat. It's my right as an American. The CIA and FBI made it so, and that's what our boys died for over there on foreign shores. They were fighting for peace, and now I want a piece of what they were fighting for.

If I do it, this will be my karma (intentional action). And as a result, that action will ripen and come to fruition in very unpleasant ways, over and over again, exponentially. Now, if I restrain myself, that will be my action (my present choice, my deed), and it will ripen, here or in the future, over and over again, exponentially. Which do I choose? Craving for painkilling pleasure drives me to choose the former, but sense and having heard the Dharma of the Buddha (the Teachings of the Awakened One) drives me to choose the later. What to do, what to do?

Mara ("The Devil") has many disguises

• What does "karma" mean in Buddhism?
• Is karma (our deeds) always intentional?
• Overcoming by repression (Pali pahāna)
• The [bad] Five Hindrances to progress
• Is Buddhism's Mara real, symbolic, both?
• "Going Down" with the Devil (Hair!)

How to HUG a Buddhist Tree (sutra)

Ananda M. (Dharma Meditation Initiative), Dhr. Seven, Jen B., CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly

Imagine a tree so tall we need to invent equipment to climb it and all our friends to hug it.

It's true! The kundalini energy is tingles. Buddhist meditation is better under trees!

California has the best, oldest (bristlecone), and tallest (redwood) trees in the world.

.

1. If you would hug a tree, do it slowly, softly, with friendliness, full of altruistic kindness the Buddha called metta. Trees are very sensitive, remarkably sensitive, more than most humans will ever know.

Roots of trees are best for meditating.

(Ask Maitreyi, who will be at Shakti Fest-Bhakti Fest in Joshua Tree, California, in May of 2018 or consult the scientific research in The Secret Lives of Plants).
 

Why did the ascetic Siddhartha retire to various groves of trees in his quest for enlightenment and even after his great awakening? There was the banyan tree grove where he gave up penances and self-starvation, where the maiden Sujata offered him solid food. 

The bodhi tree still lives in Bodhgaya, India

There was the bodhi tree grove (bodh gaya), where he became enlightened. There was the grove of trees in the Deer Park, where he gave his first discourse.

There was the bamboo grove (Veluvana) where he found cool shade and took up residence. There were the mango groves (like the one the courtesan Ambapali donated to the Buddha) he stayed at on the outskirts when visiting big cities.

Could some energy emerge from the ground to feed the tree and his own spine, or fruit to gather without getting up (like the nutritious figs of the pipal tree, Ficus religiosa, the bodhi tree that are said to contain a chemical quite like an entheogen)?

Veneration of a sacred grove of trees in India

2. Ask permission to warn the tree and/or any "spirit" (dryad, bhumi deva, woodland fairy) residing in or above it. Trees serve as wonderful homes to the fairies or elementals.

This does not mean that trees have "souls" or "spirits" but rather that devas frequently take up residence in some old, special, or tall trees. There is a long history of veneration of such trees and sacred groves of trees.

3. Then slowly approach, embrace, open your heart, clear your head, and hold on out of loving compassion. You may then feel the bounce back of energy. What we put out into the world comes back to us in manifold ways, exponentially grown all out of proportion to our action (karma). It is not "cause and effect" (which states that the effect will be the equal and opposite force of the cause). It will be like one oak seed or acorn giving rise to a giant tree and countless acorns. Thank the tree, and go in peace. The tree will remember you.

• A California tree (Methuselah) older than Buddhism's Bo

Losing It: Why self-control is not "natural"

Meredith F. Small, "Human Nature" Columnist (LiveScience.com)

After dinner last night, I lost my usual self-control and ate half a box of cookies. No wonder. My self-control had been under pressure all day. I righteously refused a muffin at breakfast, didn't scream at my kid to get out the door although we were late, made a conscious decision not to run over a pedestrian crossing against the light, kept my fist from pounding on the table during a faculty meeting, and resisted the urge to throw an annoying student out of my office.

But by 7 p.m., my self-control mechanism was worn out, and down those cookies went.

The empty box would have been no surprise to Yale University psychologist Joshua Ackerman and colleagues who have discovered that self-control not only wears us down, even thinking about other people's self-control is too much to handle.

In the latest issue of the journal Psychological Science, the researchers taunted subjects with the story of a waiter who was surrounded by gourmet food but not allowed a taste. Some of the subjects were encouraged to go beyond polite listening and actually imagine this poor waiter, to have real empathy with his situation. And then everybody was shown pictures of expensive stuff. Those who had put themselves in the shoes of the waiter, had suffered all that self-control as he had, wanted that stuff, no matter the price.

In other words, just the thought of someone, anyone, depriving himself eventually makes greedy beasts of all of us.Apparently, it's human nature to be out of control. More>>