Chinese locals spotted the head of the 12-foot statue poking out of the lake. What is it? 600-year-old Buddha statue discovered in China as reservoir water level drops
Archeologists believe that an ancient Buddha statue discovered by villagers in China’s Jiangxi Province is about 600 years old, dating back to the Ming Dynasty, state news agency Xinhua reported last week.
The top of the statue was spotted last month when villagers noticed a Buddha’s head sticking out of the Hongmen Reservoir. According to Xinhua, water levels in the reservoir had fallen due to a recent construction project, revealing a sculpture.
Buddhism in ancient Greek art (answers.com)
After an underwater expedition, researchers confirmed that the statue was about 12 feet long and carved into the cliffside. They also found the base of a hall beneath the statue and a 30-character inscription, which archeologists believe indicate that a temple had previously been there.
The reservoir was built in 1958 on the ruins of the ancient Xiaoshi Township, according to county records obtained by Xinhua. The Buddha statue was erected at the intersection of two rivers.
Xu Changqing, director of the Research Institute of Archaeology of Jiangxi province, told CNN that the statue may have been protected by being underwater for so many years... More
Let me see, let me see! I want to see through the doors of perception.
Reality makes sense; not history.
The great Graham Hancock is a British writer and journalist. In this recent interview, it is as if he is speaking for Wisdom Quarterly: American Buddhist Journal. The editorial board agrees with him and the interviewer.
Hancock specializes in unconventional theories involving our forbidden history: ancient civilizations, DMT, American mysticism (Amazonian ayahuasca), gods/devas, megaliths (stone monuments), enhanced states of consciousness, ancient myths, and astronomical/astrological data from the past.
One of the themes running through many of his books is a posited global connection with a "mother culture" from which all ancient historical civilizations sprang. "We are a species with amnesia," declares Hancock (Fingerprints of the Gods). We have been lied to and denied our history. It is our job to recover it and get to the truth.
We are no fans of the best president we never had, the great letdown that was Obama.
But he has done three good things: made blacks proud, commuted the sentence of Chelsea Bradley Manning, and probably at least one other thing. What's so bad about Obama -- from the left side of viewing the political scene? Let's tell the exiting Obama himself:
Look, I made some mistakes. Ask Michael.
Finally, President B.S. (Barry Soetoro) Obama -- after
selling us out,
burning us,
lying to us,
serving the military-industrial complex,
starting more wars than any president in U.S. history (not declared "wars" blessed by Congress but secret wars and kinetic actions, conflicts, and daring others to provoke the US to fabricate a pretext to launch a strike disguised as a retaliation),
The Audacity of Hope Lying
selling us down the river to the insurance industry and Big Pharma by passing Romneycare in place of a real single payer plan people could afford, then swapping the name out to the Orwellian euphemism (Newspeak) "Affordable Care Act,"
illegally assassinating/droning enemies and US citizens,
signing the indefinite detention (NDAA) act,
continuing the Patriot Act,
signing off on secret executive acts,
remaining by and large silent racist event after racist event,
capitulating to Republicans at every turn and accommodating adversaries as if you worked for them instead of in an adversarial system,
giving great speeches of sweet lies and soaring oratory,
delivering great jokes written for you with competence if not actual comedic chops,
failing to live up to "lawyer," "professor of constitutional law," and "Nobel Peace Prize laureate" titles,
...
Obama was great because he was all things to all people and a very convincing liar.
.
Why didn't you help my wife, boy?
-- today commuted the sentence of U.S. military whistleblower Pfc. Bradley Manning now seven years a prisoner going by the name of Chelsea Manning.
Manning was previously serving a 35 year sentence in military prison for telling the truth. Now that sentence will be commuted to time served. Manning is expected to be released in May 2017.
Thanks, Obama. Too bad you didn't have the guts to do things like this while you were president of the corporation of the U.S. And what about Native American Leonard Peltier , African American Mumia Abu Jamal, or NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden? How about a get-out-of-jail-free card for Julian Assange or Hillary in case Pres. Trump follows through on the "Lock her up!" campaign promise?
.
.
War is peace (George Orwell, 1984)
When Dr. Stephen Greer (disclosureproject.org) asked Obama, "Disclose the presence of extraterrestrials" on the world stage when you're at the podium, after showing him convincing evidence, Obama said he was afraid to defy parts of the government with their own funding and not under his control.
Obama did -- while promising change and transparency -- has done everything the teleprompter writers could dream of having him. And no one could decry him without risking being called a racist.
Of course, the Manning commutation may not stand if Republican Speaker Ryan or the new Trump administration can find a way to rescind it. Thanks, Obama. You've shown that the only way for a person to get along in Washington, D.C. is to go along.
On December 7th, 1964, days before he received the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway, Reverend King gave a brilliant major address in London on segregation, the fight for civil rights, and his support for Nelson Mandela and the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa.
MLK's friend, Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh
The speech was recorded by Saul Bernstein, who was working as the European correspondent for Pacifica Radio. Bernstein’s recording was recently discovered by Brian DeShazor (KPFA.org), director of the Pacifica Radio Archives.
REV. MARTINLUTHERKING: I want to talk with you mainly about our struggle in the United States and, before taking my seat, talk about some of the larger struggles in the whole world and some of the more difficult struggles in places like South Africa.
But there is a desperate, poignant question on the lips of people all over our country and all over the world. I get it almost everywhere I go and almost every press conference.
It is a question of whether we are making any real progress in the struggle to make racial justice a reality in the United States of America.
And whenever I seek to answer that question, on the one hand, I seek to avoid an undue pessimism; on the other hand, I seek to avoid a superficial optimism.
And I try to incorporate or develop what I consider a realistic position...
I want us to make love, Duck. - I'll kill you, motherf'er! - Don't talk that way, Donald.
Sex is obscene, but (violent) war is holy
We censor even cartoon boobs to protect kids.
What's America's longest running and most successful TV show? The beloved Simpsons. But isn't one of the funniest parts, at least in the early years, the psychotically ultra-violent Itchy and Scratchy. It's so shockingly accurate as a depiction of the violent pablum we are fed in summer blockbuster movies and the endless stream of childish cartoons and kid-friendly programming we consume.
Altering consciousness? No, kids, no!
Mars (Ares) forbid we watch anything about sex or mature loving! Our parents and the ladies at the PTA, the censors at Al Gore's wife's PMRC, and all the do-gooders in the country. We want sex, we want to learn about sex, and it would be really good if the adults stopped molesting us and being hypocrites who themselves were molested but can never talk about it. This is a sexual misconduct obsessed society.
And the only time we ever came close to normal was the fabled Sixties, which mostly took place in the Seventies, but was undermined and it caused us to remember all the participants as "dirty hippies" and debauchery. It was a time of true love and mind expanding entheogens.
The clandestine agencies went in with the Fifties' mentality made it "dirty," "shameful," and "disgusting." But everyone looks back fondly on that brief time of peace, love, and happiness.
What's this killing material, Wily E Coyote?
Again as in pre-Sixties America, it's all toy guns for kids, real guns for everybody else, and shoot at will if you feel the slightest bit threatened, except don't you dare even dream of pointing your pistol (or empty hand) at an authority, who is authorized and eager to shoot you dead with impunity. That means with no consequences other than the possible guilt and certain bad karma of harming and killing.
(12:28) Mushrooms are the basis of the communicating forest: Ecologist Suzanne Simard shares how she discovered and scientifically proved that trees use underground fungi (mycelium) networks to communicate and share resources, uprooting the idea that nature constantly competes for survival. It is smarter than that: it cooperates because it knows that the health of one is interdependent on the health of many. Her segment appeared on the TED Radio Hour episode called"Networks."
Suzanne Simard is a professor of forest ecology at the University of British Columbia. Her work demonstrates that complex, symbiotic networks in forests mimic our own neural and social networks. She has 30 years of experience studying the forests of Canada.
California has enormous sequoia drive-through redwood trees (SFGate.com)
This is the real s: sexual attraction is shaped by gut bacteria, infectious diseases, and parasites.
This is "your" brain?
Behind our sexual impulses -- whom we feel attracted to and why -- complex biological interactions help determine our emotions, our obsessions, and our revulsions... This Is Your Brain on Parasites: How Tiny Creatures Manipulate Our Behavior and Shape Society.
"From start to finish,
[McAuliffe] spins a consistently engrossing tale of invasive creatures
that can alter your behavior and outlook, depress your cognitive
functioning, and even make you more violent or sexually aggressive."
-
Heather Havrilesky, Book Forum
This is Your Brain on Parasites
Kim Kardashian-West: beauty or parasite?
These tiny organisms can only live inside another animal, and as author
McAuliffe reveals, they have many evolutionary motives for manipulating our behavior as their host.
Far more often than appreciated, these puppeteers
orchestrate the interplay between predator and prey.
With astonishing
precision, parasites can coax rats to approach cats, spiders to
transform the patterns of their webs, and fish to draw the attention of
birds that then swoop down to feast on them.
Humans are
hardly immune to the profound influence of parasites. Organisms we pick
up from our own pets are strongly suspected of changing our personality
traits and contributing to recklessness, impulsivity -- even suicide.
Microbes in our guts affect our emotions and the very wiring of our
brains. Germs that cause colds and flu may alter our behavior even
before symptoms become apparent.
Parasites influence our
species on the cultural level, too.
McAuliffe documents a
subconscious fear of contagion that impacts virtually every aspect of our
lives, from our sexual attractions and social circles to our morals and
political views.
Drawing on a huge body of research, she argues that our
dread of contamination is an evolved defense against parasites -- and it is often a
double-edged sword. The horror and revulsion we feel when we come in
contact with people who appear diseased or dirty helped pave the way for
civilization.
But it may also be the basis for major divisions in
societies that persist to this day.
In the tradition of Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs and Steel and Neil Shubin’s Your Inner Fish, this book s both a journey into cutting-edge science and a revelatory examination of what it means to be human. More
The time bell (die glocke) stupas of Borobudur Buddhist temple complex, Indonesia.
Time travel is true, says chrononaut
Proof of Project Pegasus Mars Teleportation Time Travel
CHANT: What do we want? Time travel! When do we want it? It's irrelevant! (Why is it irrelevant? Because whenever we get it, we'll always have had it in a sense. That's how time is, very unreal and mutable).
What is time? Not what we're told (AP)
Let's go to a former insider to get inside Project Pegasus(facebook) to discuss the teleportation machine in El Segundo, Los Angeles, near LAX Airport. What did the Chrononaut Basiago find?
He found humanoid and animal life on Mars as well as ancient archeology suggesting that intelligent life had been their a long, long time. And he has pictures.
This is a video presentation by the sensible whistleblower, attorney, and secret CIA project participant Andrew D. Basiago, who does a "show and tell" about his experiences within the secret DARPA program "Project Pegasus."
He very cogently claims that there is a lot our government is not telling the world about the true history of U.S. (and Nazi Germany Die Glocke) time travel research and existing teleportation technology.
Borobudur in Java, Indonesia is the largest excavated Buddhist temple complex. The world' largest remain underground in Mes Aynak, Afghanistan, where the Buddha was born (see ranajitpal.com for birthplace information.)
Andrew D. Basiago and the Hawaiian Dolphins, March 2017 (facebook.com)
"What it Takes to be a Shaolin Monk" - Shaolin Kung Fu is among the oldest institutionalized styles of Chinese martial arts. It originated and was developed in the Mahayana Buddhist Shaolin temple in Henan province, China, for over 1,500 years. But what did the historical Buddha teach about warrior-celibacy that is still practiced in Theravada Buddhism?
Shhh, I can't give up hand-to-hand combat.
This sutras, addressed to monastics, deals with the battle to maintain celibacy to be victorious in practice. The Buddha compares the victor to a warrior, an analogy likely to appeal to masculine pride (AN 7.48).
In this analogy, a celibate is a warrior of the highest degree not a wimp. Because trying to maintain celibacy involves attraction to females, females play the role of first-line adversary for the purpose of this discourse.
The same would go for men, who are the vexation of female celibates as is dealt with in the BhikkhuniVinayatexts.
Discourses in the Pali language canon depict nuns successfully maintaining their celibacy when confronted by men in the wilderness. A prime example is the Psalms of the Nuns (Therigatha XIV). There are other examples of nuns resisting temptation in the Bhikkhuni Samyutta.
But ultimately, of course, the "adversary" exists within not without the individual. This is shown by the fact that the monastic in this discourse has to set off alone to make an end of the defilement (outflow/inflow) of obstructive sensual passion in the mind before becoming "victorious."
(Hard Shaolin 04) Stay hard with chi gong (qi gong) techniques to control breath (prana) energy
SUTRA: The [Spiritual] Warriors
Theravada preserves what the Buddha taught
[Thus have I heard. The Buddha taught:] "Meditators, there are five types of warriors in the world. What five?
"There is a warrior who, on seeing a cloud of dust [stirred up by the adversary's army], falters, faints, fails to steel himself, and cannot engage in battle. Indeed, some warriors are like this. This is the first type of warrior found in the world.
"Then there is a warrior who can handle a cloud of dust, but on seeing the top of the adversary's battle banner, he falters, faints, fails to steel himself, and cannot engage in battle. Indeed, some warriors are like this. This is the second type of warrior in the world.
"Then there is a warrior who can handle the cloud of dust and the top of the adversary's banner, but on hearing the tumult [of the approaching forces], he falters, faints, fails to steel himself, and cannot engage in battle. Indeed, some warriors are like this. This is the third type of warrior in the world.
"Hand to hand"? Huh huh huh, huh huh huh...
"Then there is a warrior who can handle the cloud of dust, the top of the adversary's banner, the tumult, but who in hand-to-hand combat is struck and falls wounded. [Hand to hand?] Indeed, some warriors are like this. This is the fourth type of warrior in the world.
"Then there is the warrior who can handle the cloud of dust, the top of the adversary's banner, the tumult, and hand-to-hand combat. On winning the battle, victorious in battle, he comes out ahead in battle. Indeed, some warriors are like this. This is the fifth type of warrior the world.
"These are the five types of warriors who can be found existing in the world.
"In the same way, meditators, there are five warrior-like individuals who can be found existing among the monastics. What five?
How shall Shaolin monks train to be like the "spiritual warriors" of which the historical Buddha spoke?
[1]
"There is a meditator who, on seeing a cloud of dust, falters, faints, fails to steel him [or her]self, and cannot continue in the high life. Declaring this weakness [and inability to continue] in the training, that meditator leaves the training and returns to the low life [of ordinary uninstructed worldlings].
Don't make me come in the wilderness for you.
"What is the 'cloud of dust'? A meditator who hears, 'In that village or town there is a female who is shapely, beautiful, charming, endowed with the foremost lotus complexion.' On hearing this, one falters, faints, fails to steel himself, and cannot continue in the high life. Declaring this weakness, that meditator leaves this training and returns to the low life. That is the cloud of dust.
"This individual, I say, is like the warrior who on seeing a cloud of dust, falters, faints, fails to steel himself, and cannot engage in battle. Indeed, some individuals are like this. This is the first type of warrior-like individual found existing among the monastics.
[2]
"Then there is the meditator who can handle the cloud of dust, but who on seeing the top of the adversary's banner, falters, faints, fails to steel himself, and cannot continue in the high life. Declaring this weakness, that person leaves the training and returns to the low life.
"What is the 'top of the banner'? There is the meditator who not only hears about a beautiful female, he sees her for himself. But on seeing her, he falters, faints, fails to steel himself, and cannot continue in the high life.
"Declaring this weakness, he leaves the training and returns to the low life. That is the top of the banner. This individual, I say, is like the warrior who can handle the cloud of dust, but who on seeing the top of the adversary's banner, falters, faints, fails to steel himself, and cannot engage in battle. Indeed, some individuals are like this. This is the second type of warrior-like individual among the monastics.
(National Geographic) Amazing feats by Shaolin Buddhist monks undergoing Qi Gong training
[3]
"Then there is the meditator who can handle the cloud of dust and the top of the adversary's banner, but who on hearing the tumult, falters, faints, fails to steel himself, and cannot continue in the high life.
Declaring this weakness, he leaves the training and returns to the low life. What is the tumult? There is the meditator who has gone into the wilderness, to the foot of a quiet tree, or to an empty building. A female approaches him and giggles, calls out to him, laughs, teases him. On hearing her giggle, being called out to, hearing her laugh, and being teased by her, he falters, faints, fails to steel himself, and cannot continue in the high life.
"Declaring this weakness, he leaves the training and returns to the low life. That is the tumult. This individual, I say, is like the warrior who can handle the cloud of dust, the top of the adversary's banner, but who on hearing the tumult, falters, faints, fails to steel himself, and cannot engage in battle. Indeed, some individuals are like this. This is the third type of warrior-like individual found existing among the monastics.
[4]
Theravada Buddhism lives on in the Thai Forest Tradition, Burma, Sri Lanka, Cambodia...
.
"Then there is the meditator who can handle the cloud of dust, the top of the adversary's banner, and the tumult, but who when in hand-to-hand combat is struck and falls wounded. What is the hand-to-hand combat?
"There is the meditator who has gone into the wilderness, to the foot of a tree, or to an empty building. A female approaches him and sits down next to him, lies down next to him, throws herself all over him. When she does so he -- without first renouncing the training, without declaring his weakness to continue in this training [which would absolve him of the rule and, because he would no longer be a monastic, would avoid a defeat offense that entails immediate expulsion] -- engages in sexual intercourse.
"This is hand-to-hand combat. This individual, I say, is like the warrior who can handle the cloud of dust, the top of the adversary's banner, and the tumult, but who when in hand-to-hand combat is struck and falls wounded. Indeed, some individuals are like this. This is the fourth type of warrior-like individual found existing among the monastics.
[5] "Then there is the monastic who can handle the cloud of dust, the top of the adversary's banner, the tumult, and hand-to-hand combat. On winning the battle, victorious in battle, he comes out ahead in battle. What is victory in the battle?
"There is the meditator who has gone into the wilderness, to the foot of a tree, or to an empty dwelling. A woman approaches him and sits down next to him, lies down next to him, throws herself all over him. When she does so he extricates himself, frees himself, and goes off where he will.
"He resorts to a secluded dwelling place -- the wilderness, the foot of a tree, a mountain, a glen, a hillside cave, a charnel ground, a forest grove, the open air, a haystack. Having gone into the wilderness, the foot of a tree, or an empty building, he sits down, crosses his legs, holds his body upright, and brings mindfulness to the fore.
The Five Hindrances to Meditation
"Abandoning craving (covetousness) with regard to the world, one dwells with awareness free of craving. One cleanses the mind/heart of craving.
Abandoning ill will and anger, one dwells with awareness free of ill will, sympathetic to the welfare of all living beings. One cleanses the mind of ill will and anger.
Abandoning laziness and drowsiness, one dwells with awareness free of laziness and drowsiness, mindful, alert, perceiving light [the nimitta or "sign" that develops with persistence]. One cleanses the mind of laziness and drowsiness.
Abandoning restlessness and worry [with regard to the world], one dwells undisturbed, the heart/mind inwardly still. One cleanses the mind of restlessness and worry.
Abandoning doubt and uncertainty, one dwells having crossed over doubt, free of perplexity with regard to skillful mental states. One cleanses the mind of doubt.
"Having abandoned these Five Hindrances, corruptions of mind that weaken wisdom -- withdrawn from sensuality, withdrawn from unskillful states [of mind] -- one enters and remains in the first absorption (meditation, jhana) with rapture and blissborn of withdrawal, accompanied by applied and sustained attention.
"With the stilling of applied and sustained attention, one enters and remains in the second absorption with rapture and bliss born of serenity, unification of mind [coherence, composure] beyond applied and sustain attention -- with internal assurance.
"With the fading of rapture, he remains equanimous, mindful, and alert, and experiences refined pleasure in the body. He enters and remains in the third absorption, of which the noble ones [those who have entered the stages of enlightenment] declare, 'The one who is equanimous and mindful has a most pleasant abiding.'
"With the abandoning of both pleasure and pain -- as with the earlier fading away of elation and distress [pleasure and pain] -- he enters and remains in the fourth absorption with purity of equanimity and mindfulness, surpassing pleasure and pain.
"With mind/heart thus concentrated, purified, and bright, unblemished, free of defects, pliant, malleable, steady, and attained to imperturbability, he directs and inclines the mind to the knowledge of the passing away of the mental defilement.
Four Noble Truths
"He knows in line with truth that:
'This is suffering (disappointment, woe, ill)...
This is the origination of suffering...
This is the end of suffering...
This is the way leading to the end of suffering...
These are mental defilements... This is the origin of defilements... This is the end of defilements... This is the way leading to the end of defilements.' His heart thus knowing, thus seeing is released from the defilement of sensuality, the defilement of becoming [rebirth], the defilement of ignorance."
"With this release comes the knowledge, 'Released!' One knows, 'Rebirth is ended, the high life is fulfilled, the task done. There is nothing further for this world.'
"This is victory in battle. This individual, I say, is like the warrior who can handle the cloud of dust, the top of the adversary's banner, the tumult, and hand-to-hand combat. On winning the battle, victorious in battle, he comes out ahead in battle. Indeed, some individuals are like this. This is the fifth type of warrior-like individual found existing among monastics.
"These are the five warrior-like individuals who can be found existing among monastics."
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