Yoga Health Foundation News

Has yoga changed your life?

Do you feel more grounded and peaceful in times of stress and challenge? Has that chronic backache finally disappeared? Are your arms and legs looking more toned from a regular practice of sun salutations? What about that sense of accomplishment and gratitude when you enter a place of stillness in a balance pose or inversion? Do you see the world with a little more bliss?

Doesn’t everyone deserve to experience the wonderful benefits of yoga for a healthier mind, body and spirit? We believe so, and Yoga Month is on a mission to motivate all of your friends, co-workers and loved ones to try a class with you.

National Yoga Month is an awareness campaign to educate citizens about the health benefits of yoga while inspiring healthy living across the country. This is an effort by the yoga community, for the yoga community. Let’s come together to bring one week of free yoga to your local community.

As the newest additions to the National Yoga Month staff, we are excited to serve as a vehicle for spreading awareness into your home, workplace, school, city or state. Take action today and sign up to be a part of our expanding team! Raise the awareness of National Yoga Month in your area by reaching out to your local community. You are a cornerstone in this grassroots movement, bringing yoga communities across the country together as one.

Thank you for your support and dedication.

Namaste, Meredith & Sora

Ways You Can Help

Volunteer

As a Communication Volunteer you can:

• Research the studios in your area
• Update our studio database to ensure contact information is correct
• Answer emails concerning National Yoga Month
• Attend city events asYoga Month representatives
• Opt to write articles promoting National Yoga Month
• Commitment is 1-2 hours per week

Contact Sora to be a volunteer or city ambassadors

As a City Ambassador you can:

• Raise the awareness of National Yoga Month in your area by reaching out to local yoga teachers and studios
• Coordinate and attend city events
• Opt to write articles promoting National Yoga Month
• Commitment is 3-10 hours per week

Contact Sora to be a city ambassadors

Donate

Donate twenty-five dollars and receive a copy of Titans of Yoga DVD and Yoga Revolution CD. Your donation of any amount supports National Yoga Month and Yoga-Recess in Schools.

Sponsor

Be a sponsor and support our valuable cause. There are several levels of sponsorship as well as media partnerships available. Reach out to 20 million health-conscious Americans who currently practice yoga, and the additional 5 million who intend to try this beneficial practice.

With your help, we can move towards a nation where yoga is a part of every household. Sign up today by clicking here.

Our New Yoga Month Team

Introducing our new executive directors.

Sora No Sora , RYT-200, spends most of her day laughing with her students. She has been an elementary school teacher for several years and has recently returned from teaching abroad. Sora earned a liberal arts degree from Barnard College, Columbia University and a Masters of Science degree from Fordham University. She is dedicated to teaching children and teen yoga and is the founder of Sno Yoga. Sora is a New York native who resides in Jersey City, NJ. Contact Sora about media partnerships, volunteer and other questions

Meredith Montgomery Originally from Houston, Texas, Meredith earned a liberal arts degree from Kenyon College with majors in Studio Art and Environmental Studies, and a minor in Dance. She received her RYT-200 in 2005. Previously working for eight years in non-profit management, she currently publishes Natural Awakenings Magazine in the Gulf Coast counties of Alabama. Meredith resides in Fairhope, Alabama with her husband, their son, three dogs and a tortoise. Contact Meredith about sponsorship and ways to partner with National Yoga Month

Read more about Yoga Health Foundation and our mission

Messages from our Partners

Yoga Energy Activism with Shiva Rea Please help us spread the word to your local yoga communities and help people sign people up for the Energy Regeneration Challenge. Resources are there for you to inspire your local studio and help be part of 1,008/10,008 people for Earth Day, April 22 through September 22 as well as eco-living tools.

Texas Yoga Association -Yoga law on its way I assume by now you have heard the good news about SB 1176. Jenny, Brandon, Brad and I attended the Senate committee hearing last week and Jen testified for the passing of the Bill. She did a great job and the Bill passed the Senate committee unanimously. It will now be put to the Senate floor and then on to the House committee and then House floor. This is a significant plus for us, but I caution that we are still in a fight. There are opponents of the bill. This week we head back to Austin to testify in front of the House.

2011 Yoga Month Partners

Go Green Expo, HempCon (L.A., April 15)

GoGreenExpo.com

LA Convention Center

1201 South Figueroa St., South Hall G, L.A., CA 90015

Friday, April 15, 2011 (Business to Business and Press ONLY)

Open to Public
Saturday, April 16, 2011 • 10:00 am - 6:00 pm

Sunday, April 17, 2011 • 10:00 am - 5:00 pm

Special Note: Bring your old laptop, computer towers, cell phones, toner/inkjet cartridges, or LCD screen for on-site recycling and enjoy FREE ADMISSION sponsored by GREENspotDROPoff. Normal admission: $15 for the entire weekend.

Panel Discussions & Speaker Schedule

Friday, April 15 (Business to Business Day: CEOs, Procurement & Purchasing Agents, Sustainability Executives, and Press ONLY) 12:30 pm

KEYNOTE: Eric Corey Freed, the Organic Architect 2:00 pm

Eco-Entrepreneurial Panel 3:30 pm

Sustainable Investing

Saturday, April 16 (Open to Everyone) 11:00 am

Cars: Go Electric & Go Green 12:30 pm

KEYNOTE: Ed Begley Jr. 2:00pm

KEYNOTE: Captain Paul Watson 3:30 pm

Living the Green Life Panel 5:00 pm

Eco-Home Improvement Panel Saturday Evening, 7:30pm: Official After-Party at the Roxy (Hollywood) - Open to Everyone - at 9009 West Sunset Blvd. - Classic Rock Tribute to The Doors Sunday, April 17 (Open to Everyone) 11:00 am

Eco Pet Panel 12:30 pm

Sustainability Education Panel

Best Practices for Student Engagement & Leadership 2:00pm

KEYNOTE: Mariel Hemingway with Bobby Williams, moderated by Jen Boulden 3:30 pm

Living the Green Life Panel Eco-Film Showcase: Saturday & Sunday from 10:00 am - 5:00 pm

YOGA CLASSES by LA Yoga

Saturday, April 16 & Sunday April 17

Adult Classes: 2:00 pm

Kids Classes: 3:00 pm

Adult Classes: 4:00 pm

Story Time by IAG Media

Saturday & Sunday at 1:00 pm in the Kid Zone

Home - About - 2011 Dates & Info: San Jose Jan. 28th, Los Angeles April 1st, San Jose June 10th, Los Angeles August 26th, Phoenix Nov. 18th, Get Involved, Be an Exhibitor, Buy Tickets, HempCon Videos, Contact

Buddhism: Going Beyond Words

Beyond Words and Phrases

“Explanations of mind and explanations of the nature are not affirmed by the Zen Buddhist patriarchs. Seeing the mind and seeing the nature is the animated activity of non-Buddhist. Staying in words and staying in phrases is not the speech of liberation. There is a state which has got free from states like these” – Master Dogen, Shobogenzo, Sansuigyo. What is Dogen discussing here? "Not affirmed"? How does the speech of liberation sound? How does one access the states beyond explaining and seeing? More

Ultimate Truth
Wisdom Quarterly (Palikanon.com: paramattha)

The Buddha repeatedly mentioned his reservations about using conventional speech. For example, in The Long Discourses (DN 9):

"These are merely names, expressions, turns of speech, designations in common use in the world, which the Wayfarer (Tathāgata, the one who has gone beyond) uses without misapprehending them."

Paramattha-sacca: "Truth (term, exposition) that is true in the highest or ultimate sense," as contrasted with the "conventional truth," which is also called "commonly accepted truth."

The Buddha sometimes explains the Dharma using conventional (vohara) language. But sometimes he uses the philosophical mode of expression in accordance with undeluded insight into reality.

In this ultimate sense, existence is a process of physical and mental phenomena. In it and even beyond it, there is no real ego-entity. There is no abiding substance to be found. So whenever the sutras speak of a person, or the rebirth of a being, this must not be taken as being valid in the ultimate sense. It is merely conventional mode of speech.

It is one of the main characteristics of the Abhidharma ("Higher Teaching"), as distinct from most of the Sutras ("Discourses"), that it does not employ conventional language. It deals only with ultimates, realities in the highest sense (paramattha-dharma).

Language is not something to cling to ("Talking With Buddha," Empty Mind Films)

But in sutras as well there are many expositions in terms of ultimate language. For example, this happens wherever the texts deal with the aggregates, elements, sense-bases, and their components or whenever the Three Marks of Existence are applied.

The majority of sutra texts, however, use conventional language. It is appropriate in a practical or ethical context. It would be confusing or hollow to say, for example, "The aggregates feel shame," and so on even if ultimately this is the case.

It should be noted, however, that even statements by the Buddha that are couched in conventional language are called "truth" for they are correct on their own level. It does not contradict the fact that such statements ultimately refer to impermanent, unsatisfactory, and impersonal processes.

The two types of truth -- ultimate and conventional -- appear in that form only in the commentaries. But they are implied in a sutra-distinction of "explicit (or direct) meaning" (nītattha) and "implicit meaning (to be inferred)" (neyyattha).

The term "ultimate" (paramattha), in the sense used here used, occurs in the first paragraph of the Kathāvatthu, a work in the Abhidharma. (See Guide to the Abhidhamma, p. 62). See also S.I. 25. The commentarial discussions on these truths (Commentary to DN 9 and MN 5) have not yet been translated in full. On these see K.N. Jayatilleke's Early Buddhist Theory of Knowledge (London, 1963, pp. 361 ff). In Mahāyana Buddhism, of which Zen is a variety, the Mādhyamika school has given a prominent place to the teaching of the two truths.

What is a Buddhist "Saint"? (L.A., April 17-19)

It is good to see (darshan) holy ones even if they have only suppressed the defilements by meditation, which seems to be the case with inspiring and interconnected Hindu guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (us.artofliving.org/losangeles).

Hindu saints -- whether yogis, sages, or seers -- are not the same as "saints" (arhats) in Buddhism, they are nevertheless revered. The Buddha said it is good to see saints as ywell as those who have attained the jhanas (meditative absorptions).

What is a "Saint" in Buddhism?

Dharmachari Seven (Wisdom Quarterly)

In most religions, attaining these purifying states qualifies one as a saint. In Buddhism, by contrast, it is not these states but insight-wisdom that uproots the defilements of the heart/mind that matters. The absorptions merely suppress the defilements -- and it is for this reason that the behavior (hanky panky) of saints can be shocking when scandals are uncovered.

There is no surprise and no contradiction from a Buddhist perspective. A bodhisattva (someone who has taken vows to save all living beings before saving him or herself) should not be confused with a Buddhist saint, which refers to someone who has actually reached liberation.

Buddhist "saints" -- fully enlightened individuals -- cannot do certain things. They can seem to do them. For example, they cannot remove things with "thievish intent." But they can remove them. Stealing becomes impossible, but not the appearance of this.

The absorptions suppress this tendency towards greed. And people notice a change. They begin to call someone a "saint" (saddhu). That person rises and inevitably falls from grace -- falls from the expectations (misconceptions) we have and hold them to.

The absorptions allow one to exercise "supernatural powers" (psychic feats and marvels). When they fail, because they are very hard to maintain particularly under pressure to perform, many a famous name resorts to tricks. (Satya Sai Baba can clearly be seen employing deceptive sleight of hand tricks all over YouTube).

"The Yoga Gurus" movie trailer (Empty Mind Films)

The same goes for sex. (Nithyananda's recent sex scandal with the lying and pretending to be celibate will happen again and again so long as real enlightenment has not taken place).

A Buddhist saint is incapable of the sexual act because lust has been eradicated. But during the many stages preceding full enlightenment (there are actually more than three as explained in the ancient Path of Freedom or Vimuttimagga), it is possible to be married, to date, to enjoy sensual pleasures of all kinds. What has changed?

The commentaries analyze the situation in different ways. One way looks at the ten : Three things have been cut off (identity view, doubt, clinging to the belief that mere rites and rituals can possibly result in enlightenment), but there is no magic halo or aura announcing the profound change. The tendencies and habits one developed over an unimaginable number of births have momentum. Those habits do not evaporate at stream entry (the first stage of enlightenment).

But when greed (lust), hatred (anger, fear), and delusion (confusion, doubt, perplexity with regard to what is the path and not the path to liberation) are uprooted, all misconduct comes to end. The intentions that decide whether a deed is good, "bad" (productive of suffering for the doer when the act comes to fruition), or neutral have all become good. The Buddha found a way to eradicate the roots of suffering. This is why Buddhism is extraordinary and unique among philosophies, practices, and religions.

When asked if other religions had "saints," the Buddha pointed out that in a tradition where such and such were found would have saints of the first order, the second order, the third order, and arhats. But where these were not found, saints would also be missing. He then pointed out that such and such were to be found in this Dharma, this teaching, this practice (Buddhism). The details may be found elsewhere on Wisdom Quarterly.

All religions do NOT lead to the same goal, even if many good traditions head in the same general direction. If any other philosophy or religion (dharma) were arriving at enlightenment (bodhi) and liberation (nirvana), there would have been no reason for the Buddha to strive for the final solution to the problem of suffering 26 or more centuries ago. The heavens are relatively easy to be reborn (born again) into. But realizing nirvana (freedom from all bonds) here and now, while not as easy, is infinitely more secure and blissful than even the highest heaven.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's The Art of Living Foundation's yogic-breathing (pranayama) technique

Will I get old? (Gwyneth Paltrow music video)

Wisdom Quarterly

No topic is more popular than aging, except for all other topics. Gwyneth proves she's vital with Cee-Lo Green. She's in your face when a "Glee" cheerleader accuses her of being too old to be hip. But, as Betty White proves, 80 is the new 74.... and as "Hanna" (actress Saoirse Ronan, who celebrates a birthday today) shows, 16 is the new 21. In other words, there's no rule.

We crave to continue pleasure, to put away pain, and to escape neutral feelings, which we find distressing and "boring." This is dukkha (suffering, unsatisfactoriness, woe). This is the very thing Siddhartha set out to find a solution to. We are born (in whatever plane of existence we can imagine).

"Lost the Comic" (ytorf.com)

It is possible due to karma. But the force of karma eventually becomes exhausted. And we fall away -- sadly, even from heavenly states and, fortunately, even from states of perdition. What is the cause? Ignorance, craving, aversion, and fear lead to suffering, when our mental-verbal-physical actions bear fruit. How can we ever get off the merry-go-round the ancient Indians called Samsara?

Siddhartha became the Buddha, the "Awakened One" precisely because he rediscovered the solution. Buddhism is the teaching, the practice, the instructions that lead to enlightenment and liberation from ALL suffering.

Old Age, Sickness, and Death

Dharma Talk by Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Sensei

A pivotal moment in the life of the Buddha was the day he ventured outside the gates of his home and encountered three aspects of human life that changed him profoundly: old age, sickness, and death....

There are many things in our life that move us to practice, issues that arise in our life and demand attention. We begin to see the infinitely various ways that our greed, anger (one manifestation of which is fear), and ignorance become sources of turbulence and suffering....

But old age, sickness, and death are something we can’t get around. When these become real for us, they can’t be ignored.... [S]ickness, old age, and death constitute the major impulse behind the religious search, our desire to understand and come to peace with all that we see, feel, and experience.

They are the great equalizers; they touch us all. There’s nothing we can do [ultimately, even though there is a great deal we can do to be healthy and vital no matter what the calendar says] -- no measure of accomplishment, prowess, cunning, bribery, deviousness, or cleverness that can ultimately help us with these problems....

How much of what we do, of how we go about our lives, is colored by the constant awareness that our lives are not forever?

...What we can do is concentrate on NOW. If the way we die is the way we live, then how are we living? What can we do about that? Not just for the moment of death, but for this moment too.

New painkiller discovered by science: mindful Zen meditation (medindia.com).

[Zen] Master Dogen said: Life and death itself is the life of Buddha [awakening]. If you despise and reject it, you lose the life of Buddha. Consequently, when you are attached to life and death you also lose the life of Buddha and are left with only the outer form. Only when you do not hate life and death, or desire nirvana, will you enter the mind of Buddha. Do not try to define it with your mind or describe it with words.

When you cast off body and mind and enter the realm of Buddha, Buddha will lead you. If you follow this way, you achieve detachment from life and death and without effort or using your mind, you become Buddha. If you understand this, there is no longer attachment. So if we despise and reject life and death, we lose the life of the Awakened One, we lose the life of our own true, unhindered nature.

Can we live and die without attachments on either side? When we cling to life or death, sickness or health, youth or old age, then all we’re left with is the outer form of the Awakened One, the shell. It’s hollow and so is our experience of today. Only when we completely release our grasp can we allow the mind of Buddha to be manifest.

So how do we not despise and reject that which we are afraid of? How can we transcend our fear? What are we afraid of? ...This sickness and health we attach to, that we alternately love and hate, where is it? How can we not despise one and attach to the other? We can’t will ourselves to do this....

California's "Woodstock" (Coachella 2011)

There's nothing better than a modern hippie fest. But a corporate rave on a manicured lawn in California's freezing desert with lots of police surveillance? It's not everyone's idea of a good time. (To Rave or Not to Rave?) There will be so much "security" (read police interference) this year that the long line of cars on the two-hour wait before entering the parking lot/dusty field could become traffic ticket central. (How many people are going to drive out to Indio to contest any citation?) Wisdom Quarterly speaks to Dev -- meditator, artist, former-cybernaut -- who will lead us into the wilderness this weekend, Friday April 15-17.

Coachella crowd bordering on heat exhaustion (dippedincream.com)

WQ: Why are we going to Coachella? It's bound to be all cops and controlled with nothing spontaneous.

DEV: People will be walking funny this year, that's for sure. Packing recreationals where they were never meant to be packed to avoid being cited. Living in tents...

WQ: LOL. Is there any chance of a completely clean and straight edge concert experience?

DEV: Sure, it's always possible, not likely, but possible. Coachella is about trying to live up to the legend of Woodstock, not MTV Woodstock, but the 60's ideal of peace, love, and happiness. Freedom of expression! If we all get in since not everyone has tickets and it's sold out.

WQ: Since when did a lack of presale tickets ever stop anyone from getting into any concert? That's easy! One just has to think clearly, and not everyone there is able to. You're high on life, right?

DEV: Me? Yes!

WQ: So there's no need to get any higher than that and dehydrate?

DEV: Me? No, no need.

WQ: What's the music like this year, which seems to be moving from rock to pop?

DEV: We're there to see Cee Lo Green, Chemical Brothers, Arcade Fire, Strokes... As for actual hard rock music, the following week has the Big Four death metal concert at the same place, the Empire Polo Club grounds.

WQ: Ooh, will Cee Lo be bringing Gwyneth Paltrow on stage? Because if he doesn't Slayer is going to have to the following week. One way or another, she's going to light up that stage.

Psychedelic Bodhisattva, Goddess of Compassion (-william/Flickr.com)

DEV: I don't know how this year sold out without her. But the Buddhist events will be interesting.

WQ: Buddhist events?

DEV: We are going to hold a Kwan Yin (Mother Earth) meditation to abate violence, radiation, and negative energy.

WQ: The best "protest" is a peaceful demonstration, right?

DEV: Yes, we believe in attraction rather than promotion. So we model it, make an example.

WQ: What's the example?

DEV: Sitting in silence, cultivating the heart/mind. Be joyful for the sake of joy. People do a lot of things to be happy instead of being happy. Relax is a better way of saying "Don't panic." Now, how does one sit still and let go in a maddening crowd? In the same way one does it in a room full of placid meditators. It's easier here, like falling back into a soft sofa but keeping attention rather than blanking out. The spine stays straight, a smile overtakes the face, and a lush natural breath is all there is. It's bliss. If you're attending, come by the mist-showers. They do it in Australia.

Ancient Aliens: The Messengers (video)

Wisdom Quarterly

Buddhism's Angkor Wat, formerly the center of a massive Asian empire (the remnants of which exist in modern Cambodia), is the work of Sakka (a.k.a., Indra, Sakra, St. Michael) through a hybrid human (with a celestial mother) and education in "flying mansion" (vimana).

The deva ("shining ones" or "glowing ones") worlds exist on other planets. They have long been in contact with the human world, according to Buddhist sutras and cosmology. Sakka, ruler of two near-Earth extraterrestrial worlds, frequently appears to aid and learn from the Buddha. However, after the Buddha's final nirvana, Sakka did not merely retreat to the Realm of the Thirty-three to live as a stream-enterer enjoying celestial sensual pleasures. He has opened to the first stage of enlightenment, which does not preclude sensual enjoyment. He has made himself secure, put a limit on suffering, yet retains his royal status as ruler.

From his position, reigning over the Four Sky Kings, he is very interested in the uplift of humanity. Buddhism teaches three foundations of spiritual and material success: virtue, concentration (calm, collectedness, unification of mind), and wisdom. Sakka is concerned with the virtue of humankind and monitors conditions on Earth, according to legend, with updates on the Buddhist and ancient Indian lunar observance days. The "messengers" most frequently coming and blending in to observe humans are called gandharvas (Pali, gandhabbas).

There are forces who do not have the best interests of humans at heart, such as the titans (asuras), some reptilians (nagas), ogres (yakkhas), and the hybrid creations mixing human and alien species. Since all are humanoid, it is not a matter of mixing distinct species so much as combining varieties. Just as not all humans come in peace, ETs are motivated by many objectives.

There is not one group and one motive to extraterrestrial contact; there are many. Even the devas engage in war, to say nothing of more selfish groups. Fear helps no one no matter what. There are benevolent beings who watch and ensure that humans survive.

What to do when everything falls apart

Wisdom Quarterly translation (SN 3.25, Pabbatopama Sutra: Simile of Irresistible Force)

The Buddha, Thailand, with devas (Htetg/Flickr.com)

SAVATTHI, India - The Buddha was residing near Savatthi. King Pasenadi of Kosala approached at midday, bowed, and sat respectfully to one side. The Buddha asked the king, "Where is the great king coming from at midday?"

"Venerable sir, I was going about my daily affairs like any warrior-caste noble enjoying power, influence, and sensual pleasures with stability and control over the land, an expansive foothold of power over a great area on Earth."

"King, answer as you see fit. Suppose some trusted person were to come from the east and say:

• 'I come from the east where just now I saw a great craft (an irresistible force) as high as the clouds coming this way. It was crushing living beings in its path all along the way. Do as you see fit.'
• Then a second were to say, 'I come from the west...
• Then a third were to say, 'I come from the north...
• Then a fourth were to say, 'I come from the south where I saw a great craft as high as the clouds coming this way. It was crushing living beings in its path all along the way. Do as you see fit.'

"King, if such a danger were to arise, such terrible destruction of human life -- rebirth in the human realm being so hard to obtain -- what would the king do?"

"Venerable sir, in the event of such danger, what else could be done but conduct in accordance with Dharma, proper conduct, wholesome karma (actions, intentions, deeds), making merit?"

"I hereby advise and announce to the king that aging and death are approaching. What is the king to do?"

"Venerable sir, as aging and death approach, what else could be done but conduct in accordance with Dharma, proper conduct, profitable (wholesome) karma, making merit?

"There are elephant battles led by warrior-caste rulers exercising power and influence and enjoying sensual pleasures with stability and control over the land, an expansive foothold of power over a great area on Earth. But of what use are elephants in battle when aging and death are approaching? There are cavalry battles... chariot battles... infantry battles... But of what use are horses, chariots, or soldiers in battle when aging and death are approaching?

"In the royal court there are brahmin priests (court chaplains) capable of opposing them by spells [mantras, magic, divination, trances, astrology, curses, occult practices]. But of what use are spells in battle when aging and death are approaching?

"In the royal court there is great wealth stored up in vaults, enough to pay off enemies when they come. But of what use is such wealth in battle when aging and death are approaching?

"Venerable sir, as aging and death approach, what else could be done but conduct in accordance with Dharma, proper conduct, profitable (wholesome) karma, making merit?"

"Just so, king, just so! As aging and death are approaching, what else should one engage in other than conduct in accordance with Dharma, proper conduct, profitable (wholesome) karma, making merit?"

That is what the Buddha, the Tathagata (the Wayfarer, the Welcome One, the Well Gone One), the Teacher summarized:

Like massive crafts,
Ships pressing against the sky,
Moving in from all sides,
Crushing the four directions,
So aging and death
Approach crushing living beings
Whether noble, elite, trader,
Laborer, outcast, or scavenger.
They spare none; they crush everyone.
Neither elephants nor horses,
Neither chariots nor soldiers,
Neither counselors nor wealth can win out
Or hold them back.
So a wise person,
Discerning what is best [for oneself and others],
Steadfast, develops confidence in
The Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha
(The Teacher, Teaching, and Taught).
One who practices in accordance with Dharma
In thought, word, and deed,
Is praised here on Earth
And rejoices hereafter in celestial worlds.

Commentary
Andrew Olendzki translated this verse (as did Ven. Thanissaro). He explains that it emerges from a discussion between the Buddha and King Pasenadi, who generally feels secure behind his four-fold army (elephants, chariots, cavalry, and infantry), his conjurers, and his treasury. The Buddha asks him to imagine a situation -- the fantastic closing in of four irresistible forces -- where all his royal resources will not help him meet the foe. Such is the situation in which we actually all find ourselves. Whether we are rich or poor, aristocrat or laborer, this is what we face even though we are reluctant to admit it.

How do we respond to the inevitable onslaught of aging and death? The answer given in the body of the discourse from the Sutta Nipata is: "What else is there to do, save to live righteously and justly and to work good and meritorious deeds?" The verse summarizes this phrase by saying one should have confidence (another way of translating the word saddham or confirmed-faith, conviction, certainty) in the Triple Gem and practice the Buddha's teaching.

Ever practical, the Buddha often points out that in this way we are covering our bets: There are immediate benefits in this life, and in the next our chances are better of emerging well off.

Tsunami Relief with Linkin Park (video)

Mike Shinoda, co-singer for Linkin Park (a very successful LA-based rock band), launched a massive effort to provide relief to Japan in the wake of its triple disaster. Large earthquakes continue a month later, smaller tsunamis still roll in, and the radioactive fallout is being scattered over the entire planet. (Thank you, HAARP harpists bent on reducing the world's population as they run to safe shelter in underground bunkers). Shinoda has created tee shirts, released a downloadable instrumental track called "We're All in This Together" (Issho Ni) by the band as well as other tracks by other bands as a gift for donating. For those not familiar with the band, this is their current hit, "Waiting for the End," an apparent follow up to their previous hit "In the End."

Interviews: Mike Shinoda explains Music Relief

Japan raises Fukushima crisis level to 7/7

With a massive 7.0 earthquake (aftershock) on the one month anniversary of the tsunami on Tuesday, April 12, 2011 05:47 + 0900 (JST), Japan will raise crisis level while Obama and his corporate sponsors push for more nuclear plants.

(2LifeEssential, April 11, 2011) The Japanese government's nuclear safety agency has decided to raise the crisis level of the Fukushima Daiichi power plant accident from 5 to 7, on a scale that only goes from 1 to 7. Seven is the worst on the international scale. The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency made the decision on Monday. It says the damaged facilities have been releasing a massive amount of radioactive substances, which are posing a threat to human health and the environment over a wide area.

The agency used the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale, or INES, to gauge the level. The scale was designed by an international group of experts to indicate the significance of nuclear events with ratings of 0 to 7. On March 18th, one week after the massive quake, the agency declared the Fukushima trouble a level 5 incident, the same as the accident at Three Mile Island in the United States in 1979. Level 7 has formerly only been applied to the Chernobyl accident in the former Soviet Union in 1986 when hundreds of thousands of terabecquerels of radioactive iodine-131 were released into the air. One terabecquerel is one trillion becquerels. The agency believes the cumulative amount from the Fukushima plant is less than that from Chernobyl. Officials from the agency and the Nuclear Safety Commission will hold a news conference on Tuesday morning to explain the change of evaluation.

Stephen Hawking: We must move to space

NOTE: Revtyson edited this video from Stephen Hawking: Asking Big Questions About the Universe at TEDtalks. In keeping with the theme of TED, Prof. Hawking asks questions like: How did the universe begin? How did life begin? Are we alone? He discusses how we might go about answering them.

"Since in the long run, every planetary civilization will be endangered by impacts from space. Every surviving civilization is obliged to become spacefaring. This is not because of exploratory or romantic zeal, but for the most practical reason imaginable: staying alive... If our long-term survival is at stake, we have a basic responsibility to our species to venture to other worlds" (Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot, 1994).

"We need the stars... We need purpose! We need the image; the Destiny [to take root among the stars] gives us of ourselves as a purposeful, growing species. We need to become the adult species that the Destiny can help us become! If we're to be anything other than smooth dinosaurs who evolve, specialize and die, we need the stars.... When we have no difficult, long-term purpose to strive toward, we fight each other. We destroy ourselves. We have these chaotic, apocalyptic periods of murderous craziness" (Octavia Butler, Parable of the Talents, 1998).

"I don't think the human race will survive the next thousand years, unless we spread into space. There are too many accidents that can befall life on a single planet. But I'm an optimist. We will reach out to the stars" (Stephen Hawking, interview with the Daily Telegraph, 2001).

"The dinosaurs became extinct because they didn't have a space program. And if we become extinct because we don't have a space program, it'll serve us right!" (Larry Niven, quoted by Arthur Clarke in interview at Space.com, 2001).

"In time, [a Martian] colony would grow to the point of being self-sustaining. When this stage was reached, humanity would have a precious insurance policy against catastrophe at home. During the next millennium there is a significant chance that civilization on Earth will be destroyed by an asteroid, a killer plague, or a global war. A Martian colony could keep the flame of civilization and culture alive until Earth could be reverse-colonized from Mars" (Paul Davies, The New York Times, 2004).

"We must turn our guns away from each other and outwards, to defend the Earth, creating a global and in space network of sensors and telescopes to find asteroids [and aliens out there that aliens down here do not like or want intervening in space affairs to save humanity] that could destroy our planet and create the systems to stop them. It makes no sense to dream great dreams while waiting to be hit by a train" (Buzz Aldrin and Rick Tumlinson, Ad Astra Online, 2006).

Looking to Space for Intelligent Life

To find intelligent ETs, look for signs of mining in asteroid belts

Clay Dillow (PopSci.com)

Finding advanced alien races in other parts of the galaxy is not so hard, according to Duncan Forgan of the University of Edinburgh and Martin Elvis at the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Rather than look for direct evidence of cloud cities anchored to far-off rocks, we simply need to ask ourselves what our civilization might look like in the future, then look for signs of that. Specifically, we need to look at other planetary systems’ asteroid belts for signs of mining.

FBI opens "The Vault," UFOs...Malcolm X fly out

The FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigations) released a revamped version of its electronic reading room for records and documents from Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. Dubbed “The Vault,” the database is designed to make it easier for readers to scour thousands of FBI documents. Among the documents are some real national treasures. The files are divided into categories that range from Counterterrorism to... Unexplained Phenomen[a], which contains the infamous “Guy Hottel letter.” Hottel was a special agent in charge of the FBI’s Washington field office. On March 22, 1950, he sent a memo to the FBI director concerning UFO sightings in New Mexico. “An investigator for the Air Forces stated that three so-called flying saucers had been recovered in New Mexico,” read the letter. “They were described as being circular in shape with raised centers, approximately 50 feet in diameter. Each one was occupied by three bodies of human shape but only three feet tall, dressed in metallic cloth of a very fine texture.”

There are Many Types of Space Aliens

Wisdom Quarterly (COMMENTARY)

The Buddha spoke of countless inhabited worlds. The U.S. government's long standing disinformation campaign would have us believe that they are all robotic, green, emotionless creatures bent on invading and destroying Earth. Beings from space come in all shapes and sizes. Levels of the military-industrial complex is well aware of more than 57 humanoid species or groups. But it insists on promoting just one -- scary Greys. If they are real, they would seem to correspond to Buddhist nagas and asuras (reptilians and titans with the common capacity to transform or "shape shift").

No mention is made of Nordic aliens or angelic beings, which surely exist, have visited, and have set up civilization after civilization. Our own modern human race is, in fact, so dependent on what they have contributed (genetically and technologically) that to think we simply evolved and developed all by ourselves is untenable and flies in the face of historical, archeological, mythological, spiritual, and scriptural evidence. What is race anyway? The variation within groups can and often is greater than between groups. Humans DNA is not limited to this planet.

The truth is far more startling than that the FBI now admits that three flying saucers were recovered in Roswell, New Mexico in 1947 with nine alien creatures inside. It was reverse-engineering of their technology, plus technology given to us before and since then, that has created our electronic boom. We are far more connected, as spiritual seers (such as the rishis in India) have long know, than the military-government is interested in admitting. No information has been forthcoming on how many groups already inhabit the planet, interact, come and go, have their own agendas, and to some extent watch over and attempt to frustrate the harm intended by other groups.

Buddhist cosmology information on extraterrestrials is most abundant around four near-Earth groups -- the beautiful Sakka and the "shining ones" (devas) from the Realm of the Thirty-three (Tavatimsa), the Great Sky Rulers (Catumaharajika-devas and messenger gandharvas), the Titans (asuras, who were thrown out of space and onto this planet and are not at all happy about that), and the fierce Reptilians (nagas), all of whom have interbred with the many types of humans that have existed.

Unless they frighten us, we pay no attention to ETs.

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The Bible's wrong? Last of the Tribe (audio)

This American Life

(April 8, 2011 air date) When is it time to walk away, and when is it time to run? This week we have the story of an entire country deciding whether to give up on just one of it's citizens, when to hold 'em in order to win nearly a million dollars in poker, and a new story from Dave Dickerson (30 Second Promo - Stream Episode - Free MP3 - LISTEN NOW).

What's wrong with the Christianity of the Bible?

David Ellis Dickerson tells the story of heading home to Tucson after six years away, having rejected the evangelical Christianity of his family. David came prepared for war, armed with new beliefs. But his family had something else in mind. David is author of the memoir House of Cards (11 1/2 minutes, Song: "Christians and Pagans," Dar Williams).

The last member of the Tribe

There's a part of Brazil that was almost all rainforest until the 1970s, and over the next few decades a million people moved in, cutting down the forest and building towns and cities. Monte Reel was the South American correspondent for the Washington Post in the mid 1990s, when he started hearing rumors of a "wild man," the last member of a tribe, who lived completely alone in this area's remaining forest. Reel's book about the quest to find and save this man is called The Last of the Tribe. The book also has a video trailer (14 1/2 minutes, Song: "The Gambler," Elmer).

Alone in the Amazon jungle: the last of his tribe

What's Happening at Against the Stream?

APRIL, 2011

Spring is in the air. Noah Levine's new book, The Heart of the Revolution, became available on April 5th at Dharma Punx in Hollywood and Santa Monica, bookstores, and from DharmaPunx.com.

Levine will be signing copies around California (schedule at the dharmapunx.com). He will also be doing some signings at classes (to be announced). Dharma Punx has a monthly Intro to Meditation. New meditators and those wishing a refresher, come to Santa Monica on Saturday afternoon. On April 23, a Women's Group is being re-introduced.

On April 26, JoAnna Harper starts a six-week series called Inside the Precepts in Santa Monica. This is the same class she held last fall. Recommit to the practice.

The first ever East Coast Retreat opens for Registration on April 4! April 23, Women's Group, April 26 Inside the Precepts, April 30 Spring Cleaning at the Melrose Center. For more information on weekly classes, People of Color, LGBTQ, Buddhist [Addiction] Recovery, or other groups and events, visit AgainstTheStream.org.

MAY 2011 PREVIEW

Kate Shela and JoAnna Harper team up for a daylong on May 1, Outside In. There is also a Rummage Sale on May 7 in Santa Monica. Stay tuned for info on how to donate your used lovelies. Also in May, the Buddhist Recovery Conference will be hosted. Wes Nisker will visit for a "Weekend with Wes." It will be a half-day retreat ("Be Here Wow"). There will also be a Crazy Wisdom Benefit performance with Pablo Das.

Turn Down that In[t]ernal Racket!

There will be a free screening of "MOMz HOT ROCKs," a feature-length original music documentary on the women of Mamapalooza, mothers with punk rock sensibilities, as part of the Documental Film Series: Unurban Coffeehouse, 3301 Pico Bl., Santa Monica on Monday, April 11, 8:00 pm, FREE (310) 315-0056. It might have been called "In Band With Children" on the women of Mamapalooza. (Edendale Pictures, produced and directed by Kate Perotti).

USC: Levine on Punk Rock and Buddhism

(USC) Following the trend of many self-destructive youths in the United States, Dharma Punk Noah Levine's search for meaning in life first led him to punk rock, drinking, drugs, violence, jail, and dissatisfaction.

Fortunately, his search did not end there. Having clearly seen the uselessness of drugs and violence, Levine looked for positive ways to channel his rebellion against what he saw as the lies society tells us. Author of Dharma Punx, Against the Stream, and Heart of the Revolution, Levine (son of famous Buddhist parents Stephen and Ondrea Levine) is now a Buddhist teacher, author, and counselor.

At USC on Oct. 29, 2009, Levine talked about how he fueled his anger and energy into the practice of Buddhism to awaken his natural wisdom and compassion. The program is sponsored by the USC Office of Religious Life, in association with USC Spectrum.

Who is our fearless leader Obama? (film)

(CDC) "The Obama Deception" is a hard-hitting film that completely destroys the myth that Barack Obama is working for the best interests of the American people.

The Obama phenomenon is a hoax. It was carefully crafted by the captains of the New World Order. He is being pushed on us as "savior" in an attempt to con the American people into accepting not only national but global slavery.

We have reached a critical juncture in the New World Order's plans. It's not about Left or Right: It's about a One World Government.

The international banks plan to loot the people of the United States and turn them into slaves on a Global Plantation.

Covered in this film: who Obama works for, what lies he has told, and his real agenda.

If we want to know the facts and cut through the hype, we must investigate this once revered leader who had the audacity to encourage us to have the audacity to hope.

"The Obama Deception" explains how Obama is continuing the process of transforming America into something that resembles Nazi Germany -- with forced National Service, domestic civilian spies, warrantless wiretaps, the destruction of the Second Amendment, FEMA camps, and Martial Law.

Obama's supporters/handlers are openly announcing the creation of a new "Bank of the World" that will dominate every nation on Earth through carbon taxes and military force.

International bankers intentionally engineered the worldwide financial meltdown to bankrupt the nations of the planet and bring on a single World Government.

The Obama Administration, which carries on in the tradition of the Cheney-Bush catastrophe -- is looting the middle class, destroying pensions and federalizing the states so that the population becomes completely dependent on a Central Government.

The country's "elite" are using Obama to pacify the public so that they can usher in the North American Union (combining Mexico, Canada, and the US) by stealth, launch a new Cold War, and continue the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan. More at infowars.com and prisonplanet.tv

The Roswell Incident (UFO video)

Extraterrestrial UFO debris was recovered from the Roswell, New Mexico incident. Spacecraft that were brought down or crash landed in 1947 were originally reported to the media but soon retracted and covered up until now.

As all can now see, a recently released official FBI memo talks about three UFO craft each with three alien bodies [not all of whom were immediately killed as they flying discs were brought down with disruptive high-powered "radar" equipment, possibly akin to a HAARP array] in each for a total of nine extraterrestrial beings. Although the date on the memo is March 1950, it seems the FBI was notified of the investigation a few years after it occurred. According to the top of the memo, it was quoted from an U.S. Air Force investigator (foia.fbi.gov/ufo/ufo8.pdf, page 34).

FBI confirms Roswell UFO aliens incident

OFFICIAL U.S. DISCLOSURE ON UFOs AND SPACE ALIENS

Oops! FBI confirms Roswell UFO incident

This week the FBI launched an online document archive that they’re calling The Vault (FBI.gov). The site is an electronic reading room that has over 2,000 scanned documents that cover many different subjects.

[Oops! Allegedly by accident], it seems as if the FBI [Federal Bureau of Investigation -- a secretive but official government organization] did not censor the UFO documents well enough: For within those documents is a memo written by the Special Agent in Charge of the Washington Field Office to the FBI Director on March 22, 1950 that confirms the Roswell UFO incident in 1947:

An investigator for the Air Force stated that three so-called flying saucers had been recovered in New Mexico. They were described as being circular in shape with raised centers, approximately 50 feet in diameter. Each one was occupied by three bodies of human shape but only three feet tall, dressed in metallic cloth of a very fine texture. Each body was bandaged in a manner similar to the blackout suits used by speed flyers and test pilots.

According to Mr. [redacted] informant, the saucers were found in New Mexico due to the fact that the Government has a very high-powered radar set-up in that area and it is believed the radar interferes with the controlling mechanism of the saucers. No further evaluation was attempted by SA (redacted) concerning the above.

Here is the scan of the actual memo:

• UFOs have been interfering with our nukes
• Is Wikileaks about to unleash the UFO War?
• Alien satellite cover-up in the 1960′s?

Gov't to map ancient Buddhist routes in state

Pranava K. Chaudhary (TNN, April 6, 2011), edited by Wisdom Quarterly

(topnews.in)

PATNA, Bihar state, India - The Bihar government will soon begin mapping the lost and forgotten Buddhist pilgrimage routes in the state with an aim to revive its old glory and promote tourism.

The newly formed Bihar Virasat Vikas Samiti (BVVS) an non-governmental organization (NGO) working as a separate body under the guidance of department of culture and a deemed university Nava Nalanda Mahavihara (NNM) have jointly designed a multi-pronged project to develop these unknown sites.

(indiaprofile.com)

Experts would be involved to develop these unknown sites spread across the districts of Nalanda, Vaishali, Bhagalpur, Saran, and East Champaran. French archeologist Yves Guichand during his recent Bihar visit took aerial photographs of some of these sites in Nalanda [the site of the world's first Buddhist university].

"The community that has preserved the heritage stands to benefit from it while devising methods to preserve it. Tourism, and more specifically religious pilgrimage, offer a unique opportunity to local people to showcase the culture and heritage and, in the process, generate new avenues of livelihood," says amateur archeologist Deepak Anand, who has been actively engaged in this project for the last few years.

"The pilgrimage routes through villages will give pride to the culture and offer them monetary support to take care of the inheritance and generate awareness," Anand told TOI. This relationship between people and their surroundings would set an example of the Buddha's teachings in the land of its origin.

The vast heritage that is inlaid in most of the villages in Bihar was once part of the pilgrimage for Buddhists all over the world; millions of followers traced these routes for over 1,800 years that saw an unexpected decline [after being targetted internally by Hindus and externally by Arabian-Islamist invasions] around the 14th century AD.

The BVVS and NNM have designed a strategy to develop these sites for the interest of the local community and their heritage. The first phase of the plan would comprise a tour route spanning Bodh Gaya [the site of the Buddha's great enlightenment, where a descendent of the Bodhi-tree he sat under still stands], Pragbodhi, Gurpa, Jethian, Nalanda, Rajgir [a city made famous in countless sutras, the site of Vulture Peak and Jetavana], Parwati, and Checher. The strategy put in place includes a community participation plan focusing on the interdependency of community and heritage termed "[Socially-] Engaged Buddhism."

The process of revitalization of the heritage has many aspects such as field study, exploration, documentation of sites, protection, preservation, excavation, promotion, and showcasing.

The travelogues of two Chinese Buddhist monk travellers, Fa Hsein and Xuanzang, were instrumental in the rediscovery of important sites associated with the life of the Buddha and the events that followed until his final passing into nirvana (mahaparinirvana). Ancient Chinese travels in Buddhist India