Keep company with fools? Fall with them

(Venerable Gotami) Leads loving-kindness (metta) meditation makes us happier and nicer

Herbs: 'Planting Medicine,' Pot (Pacifica)

The herbalism and plant medicine show (KPFA)

"Planting Medicine" airs Tuesdays at 1:00 pm on KPFA.org (Berkeley) and KPFK.org (Los Angeles).

"Planting Medicine," formerly "Herbal Highway," enhances the community’s knowledge of herbal (plant) medicines by sharing voices of traditional, holistic healers and their shamanistic healing practices.

Hosted and produced by Emiliano Lemus (aka "Emilia No-Lemus") and Renée Camila.

Planting Medicine originates in the San Francisco Bay Area, each Tuesday at 1:00 pm on 94.1 FM in the Bay and 90.7 FM in the Los Angeles Basin and online at kpfa.org and kpfk.org.

Call the LA studio at (818) 985-5735 and the office (818) 985-2711. Listen LIVE.

• Available for listening after the show at kpfk.org/archive.
• Today's show: Medicinal Berries: Host Emiliano Lemus dives into the world of medicinal berries. Join them to learn about the special healing properties carried by these wondrous fruits.
• (Please don't call in with questions about drugs. This is a serious show about herbs and legal medicinal uses. And if you do call, don't laugh like Beavis & Butt-Head.)

15 Victorian drugs for kids and Brits

(Gaslight Diaries) Shocking plants (heroin, cocaine) and chemicals used as 'medicine' in England

World of herbs is bigger than pot

Good vs. Bad Bud: Differences to Notice

(Cannabis Guy) Oct. 10, 2025: Cannabis Guy breaks down the four signs of quality cannabis — look, smell, and feel. What frosty trichomes really mean, how terpenes reveal top-shelf flower buds, and how to avoid the classic signs of mids. From dull, dry buds to sticky, aromatic flower that burns clean and smooth, this is a complete guide to spotting good cannabis every time. Whether a grower, buyer, or just tired of getting burned by low-grade bud, this video teaches how to identify real quality legal pot.

• Chapter 1: The Look: Visual cues reveal most of a bud’s story. Good: vibrant greens and purples, orange pistils, shimmering frost of trichomes. Trichomes are cannabinoid and terpene factories. Structure and density—tight, compact buds = good growing conditions. Contrast with bad weed: dull, brownish, yellow, moldy, airy, or leafy. Warning: buds with seeds, excess stems, or gray fuzz.
• Chapter 2: The Smell: Aroma is a major quality indicator. Good: bold, distinct scents like citrus, pine, diesel, or berries—driven by terpenes with good preservation through proper curing. Bad weed: smells like hay, grass, or wet cardboard → poor curing. Stale, bland, or ammonia-like smells = old or wet-jarred weed → bacteria/mold risk.
• Chapter 3: The Feel: Texture reveals quality. Good: sticky, springy, and resinous—snaps when broken. The “snap” test is proof of proper drying and curing. Airy/hollow buds = poor lighting or low nutrients. The ideal feel = sticky, dense, but not brittle.
• Info: When it comes to bad vs. good, knowing how to tell good flower apart from trash is key. More

Good plant gone bad: Cocaine market now bigger

• VIDEO: Truth about dangers and possible benefits of homegrown marijuana (free of toxic pesticides in legal weed)

How to regrow natural teeth: science

(Mind & Marvel) SOSTDC1 (USAG-1) is a single gene, a molecular bouncer, that keeps teeth from growing in mammals

(NewsNation) Drug to regrow teeth may be on market by 2030

Next, they'll be regenerating eyes with herbs.

How to offend Irish friends in Ireland

🇮🇪 What are 7 things sure to OFFEND most Irish people in Ireland? ☘️ (Diane Jennings)

(Diane Jennings) Happy St. Patrick’s Day! If celebrating today, make sure you don’t accidentally offend an Irish person. From the ultimate crime of saying "St. Patty’s Day" (seriously, it's Paddy!) to disrespecting Guinness, tea, and our right to complain, here’s what not to do.

Ever wonder why we side-eye people who mispronounce Irish names like Caoimhe or Dún Laoghaire? Or why ordering a Guinness and drinking it immediately is a massive mistake? This is a survival guide to keeping Irish people on your good side. What’s the worst offense on this list? 🍻 Let me know in the comments! #irishvideo #irishpeople #irishgirl ▶ Patreon:  dianejennings

Karma of LUCK, Chinese New Year

Chinese dance tidbits: The dragon serpent dances of China (Fordney Foundation)

Gong xi fa cai and Xin nian kuai le are both good say. - Really? Now I can speak Chinese!

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If the dragon is happy, we're all happy.

Chinese New Year, perhaps the most widely celebrated holiday in the world, typically takes place in January or February, after the Gregorian New Year on January 1st.

Whether spending it in Chinatown or in China, knowing how to wish people a happy new year in the local tongue is a nice touch. Feliz ano nuevo is the way it is said in Los Angeles, where Latin Americans surround Chinatown in all directions.

Come the big day, families and friends will be feasting, partaking in centuries-old superstitions, and spending time together to celebrate the Chinese Lunar New Year (the Spring Festival).

Orange County Supervisor Nguyen blasts Do

With vibrant celebrations taking place from Sydney to San Francisco, there are plenty of opportunities to pay respects and well wishes to the Chinese, especially with customary greetings.

• Ex-Supervisor Andrew Do left no money for Orange County's Vietnamese Tet Festival this year (OC Register)

About Chinese New Year

Asian look is in: Chinese. Japanese, Singaporean

Chinese New Year is a massive, international celebration. With people scattered around the planet observing the Lunar New Year, there are sure to be fireworks, parades, and street fairs in nearly every major city.

Although the first few days are the most observed, Chinese New Year actually runs for 15 consecutive days and ends with the Lantern Festival. Preparations take place for weeks in advance to ensure that this period is filled with luck and prosperity (two things the Chinese value immensely).

Karma, not chance, causes luck?

• 

  Hello, venerable sir, I'm a lucky dragon.

  What is the cause of "luck," Buddha? - It is karma as the great arbitrator and distributor of what is wished for, welcome, and experienced as pleasant. - But which karma (deeds, intentional actions)? - Keeping the Five Precepts and engaging in the Ten Courses of Wholesome Conduct. - And what is the cause of doing these skillful actions? - It is confidence (faith, saddha) or right view or direct knowledge of things. (We may not have right view, but we can go for guidance (not refuge like everyone mistranslates it) to Three Resources that do: the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the (Noble) Sangha. - Is there more to being lucky? - Giving (dana), sharing, letting go, benefitting others, these things do a person great good. - How much good, Buddha? - If beings knew, as I know, the power of giving, they would not eat a meal without first sharing if there were anyone with whom to share it. Such is the power of giving and benefitting others.

• 

  Start with just these three things.

  I said to the monks at the Sri Lankan Buddhist temple, "I need good karma. What is the best way of making skillful karma?" They acted like they had never heard this question before but finally answered with two slogans, dana, sila, bhavana ("generosity, virtue, meditation") for laypeople and sila, samadhi, panna ("virtue, stillness, and wisdom") for more serious and intensive practitioners willing to do it. Notice that both share sila or virtue in common as a vital ingredient.

This is a time for family and lots of food. Firecrackers are thrown in abundance to frighten away unlucky spirits, and red is worn, even red underwear, because of its symbolic meaning.

Children receive small gifts and money in red envelopes called lai see, and various historical figures are honored.

• "Chinese" is not really a language because there is official Mandarin and the older Cantonese, which is closer to Japanese than it is to Chinese, our Chinese professor astounded us by revealing. Could it be true? If someone is speaking Cantonese or Japanese, they will soon get a sense of what the other is saying, but the Mandarin speaker remains in the dark.

"Happy New Year" in Mandarin

Prosperity breeds prosperity, so get lucky.

Unlike Western New Year's Eve celebrations, which tend to be about short-lived resolutions [ending tend days in on QUITTERS DAY] to improve ourselves, the primary goal of Chinese New Year traditions is to usher in good luck and prosperity in the new year.

With such vast variations in Chinese culture and ethnic groups around the world, there are many ways to say "happy new year" in Chinese. Most of them are rooted in luck and financial success.

• Gong xi fa cai is pronounced "gong zee fah tsai," where gong xi means "congratulations" and is also a way to wish one joy. Fa cai is "to become rich or make money." In essence, one is wishing one joy and prosperity to another for the new year. Business owners and workmates use gong xi fa cai as the usual way to say "happy new year" in Chinese.
• Xin nian kuai le is pronounced "sheen neean kwai luh," kuai le means "happy" or "joyous," and xin nian means "new year." Xin nian kuai le is a great way to say happy new year in Chinese to friends without referencing money.

"Happy New Year" in Cantonese

Are good and bad luck mere superstitions?

Cantonese is the language primarily spoken by the people of [business-minded, former imperial British colony] Hong Kong.

• The Cantonese "happy new year" greeting differs slightly from the Mandarin version, even though both are actually written the same way.
• Gong hey fat choy is the Cantonese pronunciation of Mandarin's gong xi fa cai, simply meaning "congratulations and prosperity."

• Greg Rodgers, thoughtco.com, How to Say Happy New Year in Chinese; CC Liu, Pat Macpherson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Giant tree begins to "'talk" to science

California has the world's biggest (General Sherman) and tallest trees (secret redwoods).

.

Nature is strange. Just when you think...

We can now hear one of the largest and most ancient living organisms on Earth whisper with the tremble of a million leaves echoing through its roots.

The forest made of a single giant tree known as PANDO (Latin for "I spread") has 47,000 stems (all with the same DNA) sprouting from a shared root system over 100 acres (40 hectares) of Utah, USA.

Here, this lone male quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) gradually grew into a massive 6,000 metric tons of life.

Do the California elders have something to say?

After possibly 12,000 years of life on Earth, this massive plant, whose tree-like stems tower up to 80 feet (24 meters), surely has plenty to say.

And recordings released this year let us "hear" it like never before.

"The findings are tantalizing," Lance Oditt, founder of Friends of Pando, said when the project was unveiled in May.

"While it started as art, we see enormous potential for use in science. Wind, converted to vibration (sound) and traveling the root system, could also reveal the inner workings of Pando's vast hidden hydraulic system in a non-destructive manner."

Sound artist Jeff Rice experimentally placed a hydrophone inside a hollow at the base of a branch and threaded it down to the tree's roots, not expecting to hear much.

"Hydrophones don't just need water to work," Rice said (acoustics.org/listening-to-the-largest-tree-on-earth...). "They can pick up vibrations from surfaces like roots as well, and when I put on my headphones, I was instantly surprised. Something was happening. There was a faint sound."

Amid a thunderstorm, that sound increased – as the device captured an eerie low rumbling (ecosystemsound.com).

"What you're hearing, I think, is the sound of millions of leaves in the forest, vibrating the tree and passing down through the branches, down into the earth," Rice explained when he presented his recordings to the 184th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America, as reported by The Guardian.

The hydrophone also captured the thumps from tapping on a branch 90 feet away, even though that sound was not audible through the air at that distance.

The massive tree Pando in Utah, green aerial outline of forest "creature" (ScienceAlert/MSN)

Pando in the fall, Fishlake National Forest, Utah

This supports the theory that Pando's root system is interconnected, but a proper experimental setup would be required to confirm the sound wasn't traveling through the soil.

Such shared root systems are common in colonial quaking aspens, but the size and age of Pando make it unique. While quaking aspens can reproduce through seeds, they seldom grow from them as pollination is rare since large aspen stands are usually only one sex, being clones of the same individual.

Friends of Pando invited Rice as an artist in residence to try and better understand this strange, enormous entity.

Oditt hopes to use sound to map Pando's tangle of roots. "The sounds are beautiful and interesting, but from a practical standpoint, natural sounds can be used to document the health of an environment," said Rice.

"They are a record of the local biodiversity, and they provide a baseline that can be measured against environmental change."

Rice also recorded Pando's leaves, bark, and the surrounding ecosystem.

"Friends of Pando plans to use the data gathered as the basis for additional studies on water movement, how branch arrays are related to one another, insect colonies, and root depth, all of which we know little about today," said Oditt.

When a tree spirit speaks to science, it uses a mic

Sadly, this magnificent tree is deteriorating, leaving researchers concerned that Pando's days and all the forest life it supports are numbered.

Human activities, including clearing and slaughtering predators [because, you know, relocating them would be just too much trouble] that keep down herbivore numbers, eat away at this ancient being.

This is all the more reason to listen to "The Trembling Giant" while it can still share its secrets. The recordings were presented at the 184th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America.

An earlier version of this article was published in May 2023. More

In Buddhism, trees can talk?

The Buddha was a figurative giant among men

Buddhism is for the trees, for it began as a forest tradition, as the Scythian (Gandharan) wandering ascetic Siddhartha Gautama set forth from his kingdom, which he renounced. He headed East towards proto-India, to the kingdom of Magadha. He lived in forests there, until he set off deeper into the woods with five companions on a quest for enlightenment.

It didn't work. He was going about it all wrong, doing penance, extreme austerities (tapas), and engaging in self-mortification of nearly fasting to death.

One day, after so much exertion and a sense of urgency to find the Truth and so littler nourishment, he keeled over dead. At least the forest spirits, the bhumi devas, thought he was dead. One fairy said to another, "He's dead." The other corrected the first, "No, this is just how these yogis behave." 

"Are you sure he's alright? It looks like he starved to death," one spirit said to the other, who answered, "Let's pour our deva food (shining one's light body nourishment) into his pores."

"No," Siddhartha declined, thinking that it would be a form of lying to go around as if he were fasting when in fact the devas were feeding him. So the future Buddha got up and went to another tree to continue his spiritual efforts.

Siddhartha shriveled and was withering away with tapas

This massive shade provider was an old sal tree. But weak and malnourished, he could not compose and still his mind to gain samadhi.

A woman came by with food as an offering to the old tree, and she was amazed at the sight of this grizzled, wizened, ana withered shell of a handsome man now appearing in front of the tree. "It's the tree spirit (dryad) manifesting to receive this offering!" she said as she ran back to her mistress Sujata.

Sujata could hardly believe what her maid was telling her, so she went to the tree to see for herself. And there the tree spirit (the future Buddha) was just like the maid had been saying.

Sujata saved the future Buddha by sharing food.

With her own hand, she made the offering, and Siddhartha ate, realizing that it had been foolish to punish the body for the mind's doing. This body could be a vehicle to enlightenment rather than always being seen as an obstacle to spirituality.

The women nursed him back to health at home, disgusting he fellow celibates, his five companions. They abandoned him. Soon, he was well again, and he set off further into the forest, into an awe-inspiring grove that later became famous as Enlightenment Grove (Bodh Gaya). Here the Buddha searched for a tree and found a massive, spreading source of shade and fruit.

Sujata is the heroine of the story, told here carved in stone on Borobudur Temple wall, Java.

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Fasting is very good, but severe austerities are not.

He sat under this tree, the oldest documented tree in the world (surviving on an island on the tip of modern India in Sri Lanka, born of a cutting from the original and restored to what is thought to be the same spot, next to a reassembled Maha Bodhi Vihara ("Great Awakening Temple") in the modern state of Bihar (Vihar'), India, so named because it once had so many viharas (Buddhist abbeys) dotting the land that one would have thought the whole state one massive Buddhist temple complex.

Under this tree, his Bo tree, Siddharta had a great awakening and came to be called the "Awakened One" or in the ancient language of Magadhi (Pali), a widely spoken form of Sanskrit, the Buddha.

Forty-five years later, when it came time that he decided to recline into final nirvana and pass away, making an end of all rebirth and suffering, he chose twin sal trees growing in the boondocks, in a place now called Kushinagar near Gorakhpur, India, close to the border of Nepal.

During his life, the Buddha gave many amazing and profound teachings, but one in particular is striking. He once told the tale of an old grove of trees, where an ancient elder stood. One day a soft creeping vine fell at its feet and began to grow, embracing its trunk as it moved its way up to the canopy.

Thai Buddhist temple mural of Sujata's dana

The dryad, the spirit of that tree, delighted in the soft touch of the vine as it spread upward. Coming to know of this, an assembly of spirits formed a line and began to pay their respects to the tree as if it were in hospice care preparing to die.

The magnificent old tree was offended and asked why the other tree spirits were speaking to it this way. They revealed what the old tree had not yet realized: It was doomed. This "soft creeper" was no friend, no delicate female hand delightful to the touch the way it seemed.

It was, in fact, his doom, attached to him parasitically, aiming to exploit his magnificence in the grove and, rather than delighting in its soft touch as it spread, the old tree would be wiser to see it for what it was: an attachment clinging to him to his detriment. The wise old tree realized it and eventually died.

Did a tree speak? Did a grove of trees have this conversation or was the Buddha merely using a simile to powerfully illustrate how the things we as humans and devas thoughtlessly delight in bring us to ruin? We prefer to think both.

• Tessa Koumoundouros, "Haunting sounds made by world's largest living thing recorded" (sciencealert.com via MSN.com); Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Pat Macpherson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Wild Mushroom Fair 2024, Los Angeles

LA Mushrooms.org; Dhr. Seven, Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Wisdom Quarterly

• Wild Mushroom Fair 2024
• MAP and DETAILS
• LA County Arboretum and Botanic Garden
• Sunday, Feb. 11th from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm

SCHEDULE (subject to change):

• 9:00 am Fair begins, art and photo contest voting begins
• 10:00 am-11:00 am Mushroom Walk with Olga Tzogas
• Meet at Ayres Hall patio
• 11:00 am-12:00 pm Wild mushroom cooking demonstration with Jess Starwood and Gordon Walker
• 1:00-2:00 pm Keynote speaker Dr. Cornelia Cho Mushrooms as Food and Medicine
• 2:30-3:00 pm Art and photo contest voting ends, winners announced
• 3:00-4:00 pm "Overview of the Fungal Kingdom: Mushrooms, Molds, and More" with Dr. Gordon Walker
• 4:00 pm Fair closes

Workshop Schedule

Saturday, day before the Fair

• 10:30 am-3:30 pm "Molecular Mycology - Crash Course in Modern Techniques" with Harte Singer
• Learn techniques for DNA extraction and generating DNA barcode sequences of fungi

Los Angeles County Arboretum, Arcadia, California

Tickets and Details

• 10:30 am-1:00 pm "Koji and Chanterelle Mushroom Fermentation Class" with Shared Cultures

Learn about fungal fermentation with koji and the process of fermenting miso with wild mushrooms

Los Angeles County Arboretum - Arcadia, CA

Tickets and Details

• 12:00-1:30 pm "Grow Wine Cap Mushrooms for Soil Health and Food" with Olga Tzogas of Smugtown Mushrooms

Learn how to grow wine cap mushrooms with Olga Tzogas of Smugtown Mushrooms and take home spawn for your own bed: Private residence - North Hollywood, CA 91601

Tickets and Details

• 1:30- 4:00 pm "Sculpting with Mushroom Mycelium" with Sam Shoemaker

Los Angeles County Arboretum - Arcadia, CA

Tickets and Details

• 2:00-5:00 pm "Making Inks and Pigments from California Fungi" with Elissa Callen

Learn about making inks, pigments and watercolors with California fungi: Private residence - North Hollywood, CA 91601

Tickets and Details

Sunday, at the Fair

• 10:00-11:30 am "Data is not the Destination" discussion with Christian Schwarz

A group discussion about our role in conservation facilitated by naturalist Christian Schwarz in the Bamboo Room

Los Angeles County Arboretum - Arcadia, CA

Tickets and Details

• 2:30-3:30 pm "Intro to Mushroom ID" with Sam Landes (Free, no ticket required) in the Bamboo Room
• 2:30- 3:30 pm "Chaparral Fungi" with Stu Pickell (Free, no ticket required) in the Palm Room

All Day Activities

• Food Concessions
• Kid’s Craft Table
• Scavenger Hunt
• Vendors
• LAMS Member Exhibit
• Mushroom Identification Table
• Mushroom Display Tables
• LAMS Merchandise

Los Angeles Mycological Society: LAMS (lamushrooms.org)

I want to be a rich, married TradWife (video)

Jessica Burbank, Rising (The Hill); CC Liu, Crystal Q. (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Girl Boss-OUT, Trad Wife-IN, new trend among Gen Z sees return to traditional gender roles

(The Hill) Jan. 28, 2024: WASHINGTON, DC. The Heritage Foundation Research Associate Emma Waters weighs in on the "girl boss" versus "trad wife" on social media. Lesbian beauty queen Jessica Burban hosts. Originally aired Jan. 12, 2024. #tradwife #girlboss #women #feminism

I'm a totally unbiased girlboss wannabe at Rising

ABOUT: Rising is a weekday morning show with bipartisan hosts that breaks the mold of morning TV by taking viewers inside the halls of Washington power like never before. The show leans into the day's political cycle with cutting edge analysis from DC insiders who can predict what is going to happen. It also sets the day's political agenda by breaking exclusive news with a team of scoop-driven reporters and demanding answers during interviews with the country's most important political newsmakers. Follow Rising on social media. Website: Hill.TV

Discourse on Blessings (Mangala Sutta)

Abbess Sayalay Susila (sayalaysusila.net) edited by Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly

Preface

I know the supreme blessing.

In the Theravada tradition, the Maṅgala Sutta is a very popular discourse, one of 11 “protective chants” or parittas frequently chanted during Buddhist ceremonies as a blessing for the audience. It is also one of the first to be taught to newly ordained monastics residing in a monastery, prior to other protective chants they memorize and recite.

One may ask, What is so extraordinary about this sutra? It clarifies any confusion about what is a “true blessing” for devas and human beings who may be wondering.

In Buddhism, a blessing is not what we think ― the result of superstitious deeds like propitiating gods and spirits, burning incense, wearing protective amulets, performing elaborate religious rites and rituals, or following cultural traditions the way many Hindus believe bathing in the river Ganges cleanses them of unwholesome karma or sin.

A true blessing is obtained only by abstaining from unwholesome, unskillful deeds ― whether mental, verbal, or physical ― so as to do what is wholesome, that is, refraining from harming ourselves and others. By walking this path, and thereby purifying one’s own mind/heart, one is protected. This is a blessing to oneself and others.

A conversation between the Buddha, who is often referred to as the Blessed One, and a Brahmin makes this clear (Sundarika-Bhāradvāja Sutta, which the Commentary calls the Pūralāsa Sutta, SN. p.79f; SNA.ii.400):

On one occasion the Brahmin Sundarika Bhāradvāja was sitting close to the Blessed One. Then he said: “Does Master Gotama go to the river Bāhukā to bathe?”*

“Brahmin, why go to the river Bāhukā? What can the river Bāhukā do?”

“Master Gotama, the river Bāhukā is held by many to give liberation; it is held by many to give merit; and many wash away their unwholesome actions (evil deeds) in the river Bāhukā.”

Then the Blessed One addressed the Brahmin Sundarika Bhāradvāja in verse:

“A fool may there forever bathe

Yet will not purify dark deeds....

One pure in heart has evermore

The Feast of Spring, the Holy Day;

One fair in act, one pure in heart

Brings his virtue to perfection.

It is here, Brahmin, that one should bathe,

To make oneself a guide for all beings.

And if one speaks no falsehood

Nor works harm toward living beings,

Nor takes what is offered not,

With faith and free from greed,

What need for one to go to Gayā?

For any well will be one’s Gayā.”

―Vatthupama Sutta: "The Simile of the Cloth" (MN7) [Note 1].

The Buddha’s explanation knocks us on our head if we seek blessings from outside ourselves, say, for example, through superstitious means.

Although the Maṅgala Sutta, “The Discourse on Blessings,” was expounded to the devas, the shining ones (shining ones, light beings, godlings) it seems to be more suitable for an audience of human beings who seek after true blessings and happiness.

In this discourse, the Buddha teaches us to follow virtue in our daily lives, to uphold our responsibilities towards our families and to do our duty towards society, to cultivate good characteristics. Furthermore, it urges us to surpass simple mundane goals and aim for loftier aspirations to reach ultimate wisdom and liberation.

Back story

There are 38 verses in the Maṅgala Sutta. Although many Buddhists chant this discourse regularly and may even memorize it, that does not mean they necessarily understand the profound meaning of the discourse. Thus, they do not derive the best benefits of this sutra.

The Pāḷi word maṅgala is composed of three syllables: man means “woeful realm,” ga means “to go,” and la means “to block.” Thus, the term means “to block going into woeful realms.”

In ancient India people used to explore different teachings to acquire wisdom by gathering together for intellectual debates. Group discussions could take several months before a conclusion was reached.

Once, while discussing the question, “What is the supreme blessing?” people came up with many different answers. Some proposed that hearing words of blessings, namely, what is “auspicious, happiness, a good omen, delightful, perfect” and so on or something that is “under a lucky star, on the right day, at the right time” and so on ― that could bring a blessing. Some proposed that seeing a sacred creature, such as a cow, was a blessing, while the sight of an ominous creature, such as a crow, was a curse. Some said the color white was a symbol of blessing, while others insisted it was the color red. No satisfactory answer could be determined after much debate.

Ideas about what is a blessing vary among nations because of cultural differences. In the Chinese culture, which is often thought to be obsessed with luck, the symbols of dragon or phoenix are considered auspicious, as is the color red. Older Chinese believe the color red can expel plagues and evils, so red cloth, crimson gems, and blood red items are exhibited with the hopes of expelling plagues.

The color red is a blessed symbol widely employed in celebrations: red dresses for wedding ceremonies, red lanterns and candles for festival activities, red firecrackers, red paper posted on doors for the lunar New Year, and so on.

Humans are kind. They take my milk and let me live.

For those in India, the cow (bovine) is truly sacred and auspicious. According to Vedic and Hindu beliefs, their chief god, Shiva, rides a bull. Bovine were not only symbols of reproduction and fecundity to them but also something that sustains their livelihoods through agriculture. Cows and bulls roaming freely [2] are often seen in in India, especially in the villages, because they are considered sacred and therefore hold an elevated position in Indian society.

In ancient Egypt, a fish was a symbol of the divine. In their spiritual belief system, eating fish might bring good fortune. Salted fish became a symbol of prosperity and abundance to bring about a plentiful harvest in the coming year.

So we can see, each ethnic group has its unique beliefs about what a blessing is. Such beliefs come from culture and tradition but have nothing to do with any universal truth.

Whether a Buddhist or non-Buddhist, everyone desires a blessing. Buddhists invite monastics to ceremonies to chant, sprinkle nectar, or distribute amulets, such as red thread for the wrist or Buddha and arahant talismans. Some even hold that a chanting ceremony performed over a newly purchased car blesses it and ensures its safety.

Can one really be blessed in this way? Or is it merely our wishful thinking ― our lazy reluctance to make real efforts to perform meritorious deeds (wholesome karma) ― that motivates us?

Some good teachers are disinclined to perform rituals and ceremonies for their disciples. They refrain from giving their students red threads and magic amulets, since they know that such practices do not actually bring about blessings or protection.

Instead, they teach their followers the precious Dhamma, the Teachings of the Buddha, to help them establish themselves in right view, for only right view can guide our daily lives to bring us true happiness and supreme blessings.

Therefore, one should clearly know that blessings are not obtained by praying to God, gods, or Buddhas, nor performing mere rites and rituals. Blessings only come as the results and fruits (vipaka and phala) of our own wholesome deeds of body, speech, and mind.

Imagine praying to a Buddha statue, petitioning it for a blessing or pleading with and paying monastics to offer it. Imagine that that could indeed bring peace of mind and protection or a blessing of any kind. Would not the whole world by now be completely free of disasters? Compassionate monastics would not need to be paid off; they would be happy to bless the entire world. However, it doesn’t work that way.

A true disciple of the Buddha must have the right view with regard to the law of the karma (kamma, the deeds we perform motivated and impelled by our intentions). By doing skillful and avoiding unskillful deeds, promoting good and refraining from harm, we protect ourselves and the others and build a harmonious society.

They take my milk and young from me.

Let’s return to that discussion that asked, “What is the supreme blessing?” Following that heated debate in the human world, the earthbound devas started to debate it, followed by the celestial devas who were also intrigued. In the end, word even reached the Plane of Clear-sighted Devas in the Fine Material Sphere, and the shining one there got to thinking and debating, “What is the supreme blessing?”

So the discussion echoed from earth to the heavens. Devas and humans were trying to define and explain “blessings” based on their own experiences and understanding. This was true for everyone except the Buddha’s noble (enlightened) disciples. However, they could come to no agreement despite their heated debates taking place here and there.

Abhidhamma (Sayalay Susila, Seven)

At that time, Sakka, King of the Devas of the Realm of the Thirty-three and the Realm of the Four Great Kings, knew that the Blessed One ― who is the Knower of Worlds (lokavidū) ― was in the human world. He therefore ordered a deva to visit the Blessed One put to him the question.

The deva prepared then appeared in Anathapindika's Monastery in Jeta’s Grove like a flash of lightning. After paying homage to the Buddha, the deva stood respectfully to one side, and posed the question to the Blessed One in verse:

May all be blessed by their karmic good deeds.

“Blessed One, many devas and human beings have been thinking about blessings, desiring well-being. Tell us, then, what is life's highest blessing?”

On that occasion, the Buddha expounded this discourse in reply:

This is the back story as to how and why the Blessed One came to teach the Maṅgala Sutta, the Discourse on Blessings.

May all be well and happy!

Sayalay Susila

Abbess Appamada Vihari Meditation Center, Malaysia (sayalaysusila.net)

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NOTES

[1] Here I use Bhikkhu Bodhi’s version, modified by Dhr. Seven (wisdomquarterly.com), rather than an accesstoinsight.org version. This translation, I think, flows more smoothly.
[2] I am not sure if it is happening as often today as it did in the past, but it is certainly a custom.

*The Bahukā is a river to which sacrifices were offered in ancient tie (M.i.39; J.v.388f.). v.l.