Monks end Peace Walk, return to TX by bus

(PBS NewsHour) Millions of Americans inspired by Buddhist monks' Walk for Peace

‘We show respect': Police officer goes viral for greeting Theravada monks | NBC4 Washington

Time to return to Texas on a bus

Behind the scenes of Peace Walk

(WSLS 10) Behind the scenes: Inside the Buddhist monks' 15-week

Walk for Peace as it reached state of Virginia in the snow

Levitation by kung fu, dance, running, TM?

The TM corporation under Maharishi Mahesh Yogi -- the Beatles', Beach Boys', and other celebrities' own guru -- used to sell "levitation" during meditation, which turned out to be a kind of flipper hopping by flapping the knees, a ridiculous compromise in the way we can bend reality and language to match. Even this wouldn't be "levitation" as we understand it even with the great hang time.

(Heshers) Levitation through meditation [using same trick TV's Batman used to climb buildings]

(AS) This "yogic flying" TM style "levitation" is more embarrassing than Heshers' sill trick above.

It only took us two views to see how he's doing it, and we guarantee anyone with the right camera set up can do this tonight, with less stress on his plastic drawers from the pushing.

Buddhism's Path of Purification on levitation

95. Uplifting happiness can be powerful enough to levitate the body and make it spring up into the air. For this was what happened to the Elder Mahá Tissa, residing at Punnavallika.

He went to the shrine terrace on the evening of the full-moon day. Seeing the moonlight, he turned in the direction of the Great Shrine [at Anurádhapura], thinking:

“At this very hour the four assemblies [Note 29] are worshipping at the Great Shrine!” By means of objects formerly seen [there] he aroused uplifting happiness with the Enlightened One [the Buddha] as object, and he rose into the air like a painted ball bounced off a plastered floor and alighted on the terrace of the Great Shrine.

• [Note 29: Four assemblies (parisá) Buddhist monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen.]

96. And this was what happened to the daughter of a clan in the village of Vattakálaka near the Girikandaka Monastery when she sprang up into the air owing to strong uplifting happiness with the Enlightened One as object.

As her parents were about to go to the monastery in the evening, it seems, in order to hear the Dhamma [144], they told her:

“My dear, you are expecting a child; you cannot go out at an unsuitable time. We shall hear the Dhamma [the Buddha's Teachings] and gain merit for you.” So they went out. And though she wanted to go, too, she could not very well object to what they said. She stepped out of the house onto a balcony and stood looking at the Ákásacetiya Shrine at Girikandaka lit by the moon.

She saw the offering of lamps at the shrine and the four communities [assemblies] as they circumambulated it to the right after making their offerings of flowers and perfumes. And she heard the sound of the massed recital by the Community of Monastics. Then she thought:

“How lucky they are to be able to go to the monastery and wander round such a shrine terrace and listen to such sweet preaching of Dhamma!”

Seeing the shrine as a mound of pearls and arousing uplifting happiness, she sprang up into the air, and before her parents arrived she came down from the air into the shrine terrace, where she paid homage and stood listening to the Dhamma.

97. When her parents arrived, they asked her: “What road did you come by, my dear?” She answered, “I came through the air, not by the road.”

And when they told her, “My dear, those whose cankers are destroyed [the enlightened] come through the air, but how did you come?”

She replied, “As I was standing looking at the shrine in the moonlight a strong sense of happiness arose in me with the Enlightened One as its object. Then I knew no more whether I was standing or sitting, but only that I was springing up into the air with the [mental] sign that I had grasped [apprehended], and I came to rest on this shrine terrace.”

So uplifting happiness can be powerful enough to levitate the body and make it spring up into the air.

98. But when pervading (rapturous) happiness arises, the whole body is completely pervaded [like soap powder suffused with water], like a filled bladder, like a rock cavern invaded by a huge inundation.

99. Now this fivefold happiness, when conceived and matured, perfects the twofold tranquility, that is, bodily and mental tranquility. When tranquility is conceived and matured, it perfects the twofold bliss, that is, bodily and mental bliss. When bliss is conceived and matured, it perfects the threefold concentration, that is,

1. momentary concentration [khanika samādhi],
2. access [neighborhood] concentration, and
3. absorption concentration [full jhana].

Of these, what is intended by happiness in this context is pervading happiness, which is the root of absorption and comes by growth into association with absorption [145].

CHAPTER IV

The Earth Kasina

100. But as to the other word: pleasing (sukhana) is bliss (sukha). Or alternatively: it thoroughly... More: Path of Purification (Visuddhimagga)

• Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Pat Macpherson (eds.), The Path of Purification edit

Hot teacher repeatedly raped 14-year-old

(Ashley Banfield x Drop Dead Serious)

(Women of Crime) Christina Formella thought her super beauty would save her… It didn’t

• Ashley Banfield, Blabby Gabby (Drop Dead Serious); Women of Crime; Team Double Standard, Amanda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Ashley Wells, CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Short Attn Span Theater: Underdogs

• Migrants moved from secretive UK/US military island after three years
• Diego Garcia asylum seekers feel unsafe on remote British island territory, where they are sexually victimized and worse
• Eds., Wisdom Quarterly

What about the Walking Trees? (video)

(Real Science) The Secret Language of Trees

A real tree that actually walks (by growing new roots as others die off)

(Majestic AquariumsTV)  11/23/15: Real specimen on Fitzroy Island

• Rumble.com video search for trees (rumble.com)
• What happened to the ancient trees? 🌳 (rumble)
• Trees destroy the Carbon Tax narrative. Look at Canada

The biggest tree on Earth is bigger than imagined

(The Premier Discovery) Oct. 30, 2024: Top 20 Biggest Trees in the World. Trees have long stood as silent witnesses to the passage of time, some for thousands of years, growing to sizes that seem impossible. How big can a tree get? From trees so big they can’t be cut down to behemoths that survive fires because of how thick they are. The scale of some trees defies imagination. Here are trees from around the world that are bigger than our imagination can hold.

The Premier Discovery creates unique content for educational and entertainment purposes and represents only the opinions of the channel. It takes content seriously and all content meets legal standards for licensing or fair use. Any attempts to falsify content strikes via the YouTube copyright system will be dealt with by its legal team. The content presented in videos is intended solely for entertainment purposes. While it may draw upon facts, rumors, and fiction, viewers should not interpret any part of the content as factual or definitive information. Please enjoy responsibly.

• The Biggest Tree on Earth is Bigger Than Imagination

Richest part of Mexico City (walking tour)

Wait, there's a rich part of Mexico City? We thought it was all dusty adobe and siestas leaning on giant cacti, enduring the heat then drinking tequila and cerveza, getting into fights, and making trouble for the local policia? That's what TV told us. Or isn't it all drug cartels, beaches, and taco stands with beans as the main cuisine, and maize, and fruity drinks with colorful...we've been Ugly American tourists too long and should get out and see the world more.

Mexico City walking tour, Polanco, Mexico City's luxury neighborhood 🇲🇽

(World Walks) POLANCO Today's walking tour is a leisurely hour among the rich and privileged. Let's tour Polanco, Mexico City's richest neighborhood. World-famous brands and upscale international restaurants line Avenida Presidente Masaryk, the premier shopping avenue [like Beverly Hills' Rodeo Drive] at the heart of this prestigious district, while leafy side streets lined with Spanish colonial mansions and open air-patios.

CHAPTERS

• 0:00 Preview
• 3:14 Av Emilio Castelar
• 9:29 Avenida Presidente Masaryk
• 22:27 Parque Lincoln
• 34:00 Pasaje Polanco
• 43:17 Church of San Agustin

Join each week as we tour new neighborhoods to discover the real Mexico City with virtual tours and high quality 4K walk experiences. Also don't forget to remember to think about subscribing now or later for new virtual tours from around the world. ► Let's connect: Subscribe: 4kwanderings

• The world’s 20 most beautiful cities to visit in this lifetime
• 10 most spectacular countries with UNESCO World Heritage Sites
• Humans arrived in South America much earlier than previously thought
• What's beneath Mexican pyramids? Chamber discovered deep within Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt could be missing piece of puzzle
• Who needs a pretty green world when NASA releases extraordinary never-before-seen images of the universe?
• Are space towns nice? Scientific community divided by alien technology known as the 'Dyson Sphere' found on seven stars
• These 10 mountain towns are as affordable as they are beautiful
• We may finally understand why people are right-handed or left-handed
• These 17 beautiful Caribbean islands will transport one to paradise
• Stonehenge: a transformative discovery of burial mounds to other sacred sites
• Meanwhile on Earth, the mainstream media lies us into war: Hezbollah [not Israel] launches massive attack on Israel after top commander’s killing [after Israel preemptively attacked it after it killed their leader in an illegal assassination]

• 4KWanderings, World Walks, May 22, 2022; Pfc. Sandoval, Crystal Q., CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Indian tree can save the world (again)

Trees are conscious. I just know it.

Long ago (26 centuries) a tree in a sense saved the world, not just this planet but this region of space and the many beings transiting through it, most of them devas ("shining ones") of different sorts.

Then Sujata saved the Bodhisattva with food.

That tree, let's call him Bo though who knows that it was male or female, both or neither, was born on the same day the Bodhisattva (future Buddha) came into the world from another world named Tusita. On that same day his future wife was born. Things were coming together for a miraculous realization. He must have been drawn to that fig-producing tree, now called the "sacred pipal" (Ficus religiosa). What shelter it offered him, what dryads (tree spirits) inhabited it, what terrestrial energies it brought up from Bhumi (Terra, Gaia, Earth) or down from the heavens (sagga), who can say?

Dryads are spirits in trees.

(Maybe the Buddha mentioned it, but we are not aware). It gave the Bodhisattva shelter, a center, energy (plenty of tiny figs with lots of calories free on the ground, a gift from the tree, to enjoy, which an Egyptian mummy in a pyramid in a dream told Edgar Cayce were "spiritual food" and which American researchers noted was chemically similar to LSD).

Though purists in the tradition say the Bodhisattva, living on his own in the forest by his own rules or those generally adhered to by independent wandering ascetics, was fasting all that time, and no one seems to know how long from the time the Bodhisattva left the lifesaving donor Sujata and her maid, who nursed him back to health from his previous extreme fasting.

• Plants are too incredible: There's a tree that walks?! It's known as the "Walking Palm" (Socratea exorrhiza and Socratea exorrhiza) of Central and South America. Where is it going as it moves 20 feet per year?

With Bodhi trees everywhere in the world now, most of them directly related to that very tree, Bo, the oldest documented tree in the world, now living on the Buddhist and Hindu island of Sri Lanka, most Buddhists never seem to think to eat the fruit. It falls to the ground and is squashed underfoot during sacred circumambulations or disregarded. Asking Theravada Buddhist monks about it, they laughed off the question. A little research revealed that in India the sacred fig is regarded as a famine food so is not usually eaten, probably due to its small size. But what an idea -- Buddhist Fig Newtons with gluten free crust. They're delicious and easy to collect, more easily with a net to catch them as they fall before the ants find them.

India is amazing for its trees. At least three should be sacred to Buddhists, more sacred than all tree already are. They are the sacred fig, the sal tree (which helped the Buddha a great deal, first sheltering him until Sujata found him and gave him her dana or charity and the twin sals the Buddha chose for his final nirvana), and sandalwood which provides incense around the world and is nearly being brought to extinction because of its healing scent.

Everywhere in India there is a healing tree, the "village pharmacy" known as the neem tree (as valuable a medicine as the moringa or drumstick tree is nutritious). But even more valuable might be the incredible coconut tree, a source of food, fiber, fuel, oil, sugar, pure water, so valuable that in ancient times to cut one down was considered tantamount to killing a person.

Pongamia in Oahu, Hawaii, USA

Now amid all of this tree wealth comes another tree with incredible potential to replace petroleum. This ancient tree from the pea family is known as the pongamia tree (Millettia pinnata).

• VIDEO: Ancient tree from India may replace petroleum, company hopes (MSN)
• VIDEO: The 7 states with the most trees in America
• Couple living in a Yurt as a simple and affordable tiny house alternative

This tree is incredible for its potential as a biofuel, being 30% oil (in the bean it produces), and nutrient dense due to its high protein content (65% to 70% high quality protein). It is a plant-based oil and a food, a plant that restores oxygen to the environment as well as providing sustenance to bees, the soil, microorganisms like the mycorrhizae (fungi, mycelia) in the ground, and all the other benefit trees provide this world.

• Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Pat Macpherson, Wisdom Quarterly; MSN.com

Foraging wild foods: walkabout LA (5/25)

Guide to Wild Foods, Plants

FORAGING FOR WILD FOODS, WITH RIPARIAN FOCUS — A walkabout led by author and outdoor expert Christopher Nyerges, founder of the School of Self-Reliance, on May 25, 2024, from 10:00 am-2:00 pm.

We’ll walk into Pasadena's watershed area through the willows and waterways and see the diverse flora up close.

We're here to find WILD FOODS, which means edible California plants possibly including mushrooms.

We will prepare the food we gather.

We will learn about the wild foods, wild medicines, and some of the many uses of the amazing yucca plant so valuable to Native Americans (the Tongva) of ancient Los Angeles.

During this walk, we’ll learn about the unique riparian (near water) plants and the uses of the many plants seen along the walk. Expect to see white sage, lettuce, greens, herbs, alders, mulefat, mugwort, willow, and others up close.

There are many other riparian plants, which we may be growing depending on varying conditions and microclimates. There will be many wild edibles that sprout at this time of the year when there’s enough water.

Foraging Wild Edible Plants

There are always many surprises in store for all participants during these nature walks. Native Californian plants, non-native introduced (invasive) plants, and various wildlife will all be part of the walk.

Bring water and dress comfortably. This walk may be applied towards the School of Self-Reliance Ethnobotany Certificate.

• Foraging for Wild Foods Walkabout
• Arroyo Seco, Pasadena, Los Angeles
• (exact location sent with registration)
• Saturday, May 25, 10:00 am-2:00 pm
• $65 ($45 students/seniors)
• Walkabout – School of Self-Reliance
• Christopher Nyerges, SchoolofSelf-Reliance.com; Dhr. Seven, Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Xochitl (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Coachella 2024 set times: video (4/12)

Hi, I'm Lizzy Grant aka "Lana Del Rey." I'm troubled. Please love me, Daddy, Papi Chulo.

This is a new documentary about the experience: Ascending: South Asian Artists at Coachella 2023

Coachella set times are here: Here's when each artist is performing

No Doubt reunites for the big show.

(Billboard) Coachella Weekend One is just around the corner, and the popular music and arts festival released its official schedule of set times. If you're coming, bring money.

• Coachella was planned as a kind of "West Coast Woodstock," which was full of mud: Rain returns to SoCal’s forecast this weekend

Lana Del Rey will be headlining the main stage on Friday opening night (April 12) at 11:20 pm, with Peso Pluma taking the stage right before her at 9:05 pm.

Doja Cat will sing about cows, milk, weed.

On Saturday (April 13), Tyler, the Creator will be headlining at 11:40 pm, with No Doubt reuniting on the main stage at 9:25 pm.

Doja Cat (billboard.com) is taking the main stage as Sunday's (April 14) headliner at 10:25 pm, with J Balvin preceding her at 8:20 pm.

Info also available at coachella.com

There will also be a few late-night performances throughout the weekend, with Steve Angello performing the final slot at the Sahara Tent at midnight on Friday night, Dom Dolla at the same stage at 11:56 pm.

Saturday night and John Summit at 10:56 pm on Sunday night to wrap up the festival's first weekend.

• Help! I didn't get tickets. How can I see it all while saving $1,000?

Watch it at home

But if I c it, no one will c me. What's the point?

For those unable to make it out to the desert in person, YouTube is introducing a new multi-view experience.

This will allow fans around the world to watch the concert FREE on Weekend One.

Watch up to four of six available live stream stage cams at once, while listening to any audio chosen.

The Weekend One livestream, sponsored by Dunkin', NYX Professional Makeup, Colgate, Optic White, and Red Bull in the USA, will kick off on Coachella's YouTube channel (youtube.com/coachella) at 7:00 pm ET/4:00 pm PT on Friday (April 12) and run through Sunday night (April 14).

The full list of set times for weekend one of Coachella 2024 can be found here: More

I'm the GOAT. I hope I don't screw it up.

Watch Coachella on YouTube all year-round, introducing “Ascending | A 2023 Coachella Documentary,” a short-film created by Zoe Malhotra and Meghna Chakraborty [NPR's Meghna?] that spotlights six artists of South Asian descent that performed at Coachella 2023.

• Billboard.com, 4/9/24; Eds., Wisdom Quarterly

Wild Plant Mushroom Hunt: What happened?

Christopher Nyerges, School of Self-Reliance; Seven, Ananda (Meetup), Wisdom Quarterly

WHAT HAPPENED?

Chris Nyerges is an expert.

We converged right on time. I had a basket full of mushrooms I'd hunted down in a woven basket ready for identification. The prizes were very large chanterelles (Cantharellus californicus?), but it was not to be. With years as a mycologist, our prolific wilderness author and Nature Guide Christopher Nyerges scoffed. They were hollow and seemed to have gills. But what caught his eye were some false morels he had spotted nearby. I found these near the stream a distance from our gathering spot. They are in abundance at this time. But what is not is the delicious tree oyster, which previously could always be depended on in some fallen logs and living specimens. They're saprotrophic. Then we set off in search of stinging nettle, chickweed, lambs quarter (Chenopodium, a kind of local quinoa), horehound, blewits, and false morels, which were collected boiled, drained, then sauteed in olive oil with a few potato flakes sprinkled in at the end. They had no salt but were delicious in our hearty vegan soup with bouillon and miso powder we brought along.

Fire is fun and a necessary survival skill.

We learned to make fire by the four methods -- chemical, electrical, mechanical (friction), and solar. A lighter is always good, but a simple clear plastic magnifier works wonders. Two used batteries and steel wool is even better (no sun required), mugwort as kindling and a little breath of life. But the most fun was derived from rubbing two sticks together, a near impossible feat. Some, however, are naturals and can do it in under 30 seconds. Most will not succeed in 30 minutes of trying, hands calloused and arms exhausted.

The soup was wonderful, salty and rich, full of fresh picked greens. And we learned to recognize spurge, poison oak, elderberry, everlasting, wild cherry, acorns (oak nuts), polypores like turkey tail and chicken of the woods (with some chanterelle lookalikes called Jack o' lanterns Omphalotus olivascens), possible agaricus and Lactarius deliciosus, and some mystery mushrooms yet to be keyed, spore printed, and positively identified. The best part is that Nyerges is a wealth of knowledge with a wry sense of humor, constantly playing off his two foils, dedicated students with comedic routines at the ready.

• A more intense wild plant and mushroom foraging nature walk awaits explorers next Saturday morning (see below) from the School of Self-Reliance

Saturday, March 9th

Wild Plants (Chris Nyerges)

At 10:00 am join in as we explore the ethnobotanical treasures of the wild areas of Los Angeles. We'll learn about the common wild foods in season and the many introduced useful plants (mostly from Europe). Many native foods that have been used for millennia, and recent rains have caused them to bloom along with mushroom springing up in the area. We will be examining plants useful for making fire without matches.

• Wild Food Foraging class and fire making
• 3/9, 10:00 am-1:30 pm, $45.00–$65.00
• School of Self-Reliance

Coming up: Seasonal Spring Foraging Walk (3/16)

How to read maps and navigate

On Saturday, March 16, 10:00 am-2:00 pm, spring foraging gets underway as part of the School of Self-Reliance's ETHNOBOTANY SERIES. Spring is the peak of leaf production, when native and non-native plants sprout up everywhere. It’s usually a bit cooler, and everything is going green.

However, in Southern California, we have had only light rain most of the time, so many areas were drying up before the sudden blessing of abundant rain. This means what is available now has changed. We'll learn which plants are useful as food and how to collect them sustainably.

In some cases, learning how to recognize sprouts can lead to plans to come back to a spot for harvesting. The newer growth of the prickly pear cactus or nopal occurs now, so this is the best time to gather them. (But they can be harvested year-round).

Some tree barks are best collected now, such as willow. Some fruits occur early, and we’ll see them in the woods. Some non-natives (invasives), like the mustards, flower early and can be readily collected and used as food or medicine.

Learn how some of these can be dried and stored for later use. Learn what the edible salad plants are likely growing right in our backyards, in the neighborhood, and in wild areas this spring.

Learn which plants can be foraged and made into nutritious foods with simple recipes. We’ll examine images and learn about diverse uses.

We’ll also share a way to look at the environment to see what the future will bring in terms of foraging.  Seasonal Foraging walks are offered four times to “read” the environment. It's a great survival skill.

Location: Upper Arroyo. Registrants will be sent the exact meeting location. Bring drinking water.

• Seasonal Spring Foraging
• Wild foods and useful plants by season
• March 16 @ 10:00 am-2:00 pm
• $45.00–$65.00
• School of Self-Reliance