Disclosure Fest: land + water blessings (8/8)

Adrian (D Fest); Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Jen, Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

dddddAnandad 

Events coming up!

This Saturday 8/8/2020 on Lions Gate Portal

Come join us for a special DisclosureFest Live as we start this much-needed water and land blessing ceremonies for our, one human family, our planet, and our beloved Los Angeles area! 
We have chosen a very special place on this sacred Lions Gate Portal, where we can tap into the power of our previous mass meditations, and the healing points of the planet.

We have some amazing Indigenous representatives hosting this blessing for our sacred lands and waters.... coming together from different tribes to offer song, dance, and prayer in unity with every color and creed to help us unite. 
Bringing this ascension quality deep into the veins of sacred running waters and the energetic lines of the earth.
Join our Tungva Nation Grandmother, Tina Calderon, and her family as we honor the elements and the indigenous ancestors of the Los Angeles region who were here long before us.
Flow with Mayan Water blessing by Timekeeper Jose Munoz and Zoe Raven to wash over you, through thoughts and prayer as he honors the land with exceptional sacred water blessed from water keepers around the world since the 1970s.
Sing, pray, and dance with us as Joaquin Chavez represents the Chumash Mexicano indigenous of the Malibu and Ventura County areas honors us with a moving prayer and traditional offerings of his people.

Special acoustic performance by JBrave and Lotus

A special message from Elizebeth April

Song and prayer by Jessa Calderon

Meditation by Adrian Vallera & Sacred Sound by Avatara

Hosted by: Michelle Anderson

Join us virtually as the DisclosureFest team represents and anchor in all of you, the children of the rainbow....all of our differences creating a dynamic tapestry of
prayer, song, & love.

As hearts thirsty for peace gather,
let us drink from the same well~
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TODAY 3:00PM - 5:00pm PDT

HIROSHIMA NAGASAKI 75

Healing Hearts ~ Healing Nations

USA August 5th
3:00pm - 5:00pm PDT
6:00pm - 8:00pm EDT

Japan August 6th
7:00am - 9:00am

Click Here for Your Timezone

WATCH HERE

www.worldpeace.org

Hiroshima Nagasaki 75

PROGRAM

M.C. 

Fumi Johns Stewart

Executive Director

May Peace Prevail On Earth International

Co-Host

SINE Network

Unity Earth

Unify

Part One 

HEALING SOULS

Opening Blessing 

Hereditary Chief Phil Lane Jr.

Voices Calling for Peace

Toshiko Tanaka - Hibakusha SurvivorKathleen Burkinshaw - Speaker/Author, Daughter of Hibakusha 

Svetlana Kudryashova - Chernobyl Experience

Hideko Izumi - Fukushima Experience

Veterans for Peace 

Major Renee Marie - Healing through Peace Poles

Helene Jaccard & Gerry Condon - The Golden Rule Project

Hiroshima and Pearl Harbor Rainbow Bridge

Yasuyuki Nemoto - Message from Water and Rainbows

Kazumi Ohishi - Water Shaman Peace Blessings 

Jennifer Sagon-Taeza - Message from Pearl Harbor - Pacific Historic Parks 

Japanese Peace Constitution Article 9

Hideo Nakazawa

President Obama’s Hiroshima Visit

Keiko Nakamichi

The Nuclear Prayer

United Religions Initiative

Song Offering 

Kristin Hoffman

Part Two

HEALING NATIONS

Greetings from Hiroshima

Shohei Tominaga 

Keiko Nakamichi

 Global Silent Minute

Dot Maver 

~ PROGRAM HIGHLIGHT ~

GLOBAL SYNCHRONIZED MEDITATION

Golden ~ Silent ~ Minute

Japan ~ August 5th 8:15am

USA ~ 4:15pm PDT ~ 7:15pm EDT

Japan stops for one minute of silence at 8:15am 

the exact moment the atomic bomb fell on 

the City of Hiroshima

Join us in a LIVE feed from Japanese National 

Television for a golden silent minute 

in remembrance of all who 

have suffered in war for a healing of souls, 

a healing of nations and to envision a new world of 

planetary oneness, harmony and everlasting peace

JOIN THIS HISTORIC MOMENT

Messages

Mayor Kazumi Matsui of Hiroshima

Mayor Kirk Caldwell of Honolulu

Rika Saionji 

Vice President

May Peace Prevail On Earth Int.

World Peace Flag Ceremony

Closing Song

James Twyman

For more information, visit us online at:  DisclosureFest.org

Did the Buddha exist? (City of Dhamma)

Isaline B. Horner (trans.), Milindapanha or "Questions of King Milinda" from The Blessed One’s City of Dhamma (Buddhist Publication Society); Dhr. Seven, Ven. Aloka (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

In the Greek king's court, Bactria (NW India)

King Milinda [ancient Greek King Menander I] approached Venerable Nagasena, greeted him, and sat down at a respectful distance.

King Milinda, anxious to know, hear, remember, see the light of knowledge, break down the lack of knowledge, to find the light of knowledge, to expel the darkness of ignorance, aroused extreme steadfastness and zeal and mindfulness and clear comprehension, and spoke to Ven. Nagasena:

“Revered Nagasena, have you ever seen the Buddha?”

“No, sire.”

“But have your teachers ever seen the Buddha?”

“No, sire.”

“Revered Nagasena, if you have never seen the Buddha, and if your teachers have never seen the Buddha, well then, revered Nagasena, there is no Buddha; the Buddha is not manifested here.”

“But, sire, did those former noble warriors exist who were the forerunners of your noble warrior dynasty?”

“Yes, revered sir; what doubt is there?”

“Have you, sire, ever seen the former noble warriors?”

“No, revered sir.”

“But have those who have instructed you, sire — priests, generals, judges, chief councilors — have these ever seen the former noble warriors?”

Translator Isaline B. Horner

“No, revered sir.”

“But if you, sire, have not seen the former noble warriors and if your instructors have not seen the former noble warriors, where are the former noble warriors?”

“Revered Nagasena, articles of use enjoyed by the former noble warriors are to be seen, that is to say, the white sunshade, the turban, the shoes, the yak-tail fan, the treasure of the sword of state, and the couches of great price. By these we can know and can believe that the former noble warriors existed.”

“Even so, sire, we may also know and believe in this Blessed One. There is this reason according to which we may know and believe that there was this Blessed One. What is the reason? There are, sire, articles of use enjoyed by that Blessed One who knows and sees, the Arhat, the Perfectly Enlightened One, that is to say, the [37 Requisites of Enlightenment]:

1. Four Foundations of Mindfulness
2. Four Right Efforts
3. Four Bases of Psychic Power
4. Five Spiritual Faculties
5. Five Powers
6. Seven Factors of Enlightenment
7. Noble Eightfold Path [1].

By these the world with its devas knows and believes that there was this Blessed One. For this reason, sire, for this cause, because of this methodical reasoning, because of this inference it should be known that there was this Blessed One.”

“Revered Nagasena, make a simile.”

The Blessed One, Gandhara, Central Asia

“As sire, a city-architect, when he wants to build a city, first looks about for a district that is level, not elevated, not low-lying, free from gravel and stone, secure, irreproachable and delightful, and then when he has made level there what was not level and has had it cleared of stumps of trees and thorns, he might build a city there. It would be fine and regular, well planned, the moats and encircling walls dug deep, the city gates, the watch-towers and the ramparts strong, the crossroads, squares, junctions and the places where three or four roads meet numerous, the main-roads clean, level and even, the bazaar shops well laid out, the city full of parks, pleasances, lakes, lotus pools and wells, adorned with a wide variety of shrines to devas, the whole free from defects. When that city was fully developed, he might go away to another district. Then after a time that city might become rich and prosperous, well stocked with food, secure, successful, happy, without adversity, without accident, crowded with all kinds of people. When these people had seen the city, new, well laid out, without a defect, irreproachable, delightful, they would know by inference: ‘Clever indeed is that city-architect who was the builder of the city.’

“Even so, sire, that Blessed One is without an equal, equal to the unequaled, equal to the matchless ones, unique, incomparable, boundless, immeasurable, of unmeasured special qualities, attained to perfection in special qualities, of infinite steadfastness, infinite incandescence, infinite energy, infinite power, gone to perfection in the powers of a Buddha; having overthrown Mara and his army, burst asunder the net of false views, made ignorance to be cast out and knowledge arise, borne aloft the torch of Dharma; and having attained omniscience, unvanquished and victorious in the battle, he built the City of Dharma.

“In the Blessed One’s City of Dharma the encircling walls are virtue, the moats are conscience, the ramparts over the city gates are knowledge, the watch-towers are energy, the pillars are confidence (conviction), the doorkeepers are mindfulness, the cross roads are the sutras, the places where three or four roads meet is the Higher Doctrine (Abhidhamma), the law-court is the Monastic Discipline (Vinaya), the streetway is the foundations of mindfulness. And in that streetway of the foundations of mindfulness such shops as these are offering goods for sale, that is to say, a flower shop, a perfume shop, a fruit shop, an antidote shop, a medicine shop, a nectar shop, a jewel shop, and a general shop.”

“Revered Nagasena, what is the flower shop of the Buddha, the Blessed One?”

Ancient Buddhist Scrolls from Gandhara (Salomon)

“There are, sire, certain kinds of objective supports for meditation that have been pointed out by that Blessed One who knows and sees, the Arhat, the Perfectly Enlightened One, that is to say, the perception of impermanence, the perception of non-self [the impersonal nature of all things], the perception of the foul, the perception of peril, the perception of abandonment, the perception of dispassion, the perception of cessation, the perception of not delighting in anything in the world, the perception of the impermanence of all formations, mindfulness of breathing; the [sobering] perception of a swollen corpse, the perception of a discolored corpse, the perception of a decomposing corpse, the perception of an oozing corpse, the perception of a corpse gnawed by animals, the perception of a corpse with bones scattered, the perception of a corpse hacked up and scattered, the perception of a corpse still bleeding, the perception of a worm-infested corpse, the perception of a skeleton; the perception of loving-kindness, the perception of compassion, the perception of sympathetic joy, the perception of equanimity; mindfulness of death; mindfulness occupied with the body [2].

“Whoever is anxious to get free from old age and death chooses one of these objective supports for meditation and, with this objective support for meditation, one is freed from lust, freed from hatred, freed from delusion, freed from pride, freed from wrong views; one crosses over samsara [the endless round of rebirth], stems the stream of craving, cleanses away the threefold stain; and when one has abandoned all the defilements and has entered the City of Nirvana that is stainless, dustless, pure, fair, birthless, ageless, deathless, blissful, cooled, and without fear, one sets free one's mind in arhatship [full enlightenment]. This sire, is called the Blessed One’s flower shop.”

“Revered Nagasena, what is the perfume shop of the Buddha, the Blessed One?”

“There are, sire, certain kinds of virtue that have been pointed out by that Blessed One. Anointed with the perfume of this virtue, the Blessed One’s offspring make fragrant and pervade the world with the devas with the perfume of virtue, and they breathe it forth and fill the quarters and the intermediate points and the following winds and the head-winds with it, and when they have suffused the world, they stand firm. And what, sire, are these various kinds of virtue? The morality of going for guidance (sarana), the Five Precepts, the Eight Precepts, and the Ten Precepts, the morality of restraint by the Path to Freedom (Patimokkha) as included in the Five Recitations [3]. This, sire, is called the Blessed One’s perfume shop.”

“Revered Nagasena, what is the fruit shop of the Buddha, the Blessed One?”

“Fruits, sire, have been pointed out by the Blessed One, that is to say, the fruit of stream-entry, the fruit of once-returning, the fruit of nonreturning, the fruit of arhatship, the attainment of the fruit of emptiness, the attainment of the fruit of the signless, the attainment of the fruit of the undirected [4]. Whatever fruit anyone wishes for, one, giving the price of the transaction, buys the fruit one prefers.”

“Revered Nagasena, what is the antidote shop of the Buddha, the Blessed One?”

“Antidotes, sire, have been pointed out by the Blessed One. By means of these antidotes the Blessed One sets free the world with the devas from the poison of the defilements. And what are these antidotes? These Four Noble Truths have been pointed out by the Blessed One, sire, that is to say, the

1. noble truth of suffering [disappointment, unsatisfactoriness],
2. the noble truth of the arising of suffering,
3. the noble truth of the cessation of suffering,
4. the noble truth of the way leading to the cessation of suffering.

Those who therein are longing for profound knowledge and hear the Dharma of the Four [Ennobling] Truths, they are set free from rebirth, aging, and death, from sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief, and despair. This sire, is called the Blessed One’s antidote shop.”

“Revered Nagasena, what is the medicine shop of the Buddha, the Blessed One?”

“Medicines, sire, have been pointed out by the Blessed One. By means of these medicines the Blessed One cures devas and humans, that is to say, the

• Four Foundations of Mindfulness
• Four Right Efforts
• Four Bases of Psychic Power
• Five Spiritual Faculties
• Five Powers
• Seven Factors of Enlightenment
• Noble Eightfold Path.

By means of these medicines the Blessed One purges people of wrong views, of wrong aspiration, of wrong speech, of wrong action, of wrong mode of livelihood, of wrong endeavor, of wrong mindfulness, and of wrong concentration; he has an emetic given for the vomiting up of lust, hatred, delusion, pride, false view, doubt, agitation, lethargy and drowsiness, shamelessness and lack of fear of wrongdoing; he has an emetic for the vomiting up of all the defilements. This, sire, is called the Blessed One’s medicine shop.”

“Revered Nagasena, what is the nectar shop of the Buddha, the Blessed One?” More

UCLA: At Home in Your Heart Retreat (8/5)

MARC.ucla.edu; Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

At Home In Your Heart

with Dr. Bonnie Duran, Ph.D. + Tempel Smith

Join MARC (UCLA's Mindful Awareness Research Center) for a 5-day training of mindful loving awareness (metta) using home as the base of practice.

With metta (friendliness, kindness, agape) we cultivate calm embodiment, a steady capacity to appreciate all living beings, and we dissolve the habits that dull our ability to see each other with respect.

Cool, I can do it from home in Fort Wayne!

The greatest impact of metta is often to quiet our own harsh inner-critic and learn to befriend ourselves.

The daily retreat format will combine shared sitting and walking meditations with instruction, as well as an evening meditation with a discussion about the theory behind the practices.

Afternoons during the training will have suggested practices to further strengthen and integrate loving-awareness throughout our home life.

• Who: Anyone ages 16+
• Dates: Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2020 to Sunday, Aug. 9
• Sliding Scale: $75-475, but no one turned away for lack of funds.
• Venue: Online via Zoom

Dharma Buddhist Meditation LA (Meetup)

This retreat will draw from and reference Buddhist meditation practices but is open to anyone of any spiritual background or no background at all.

This retreat meets the need we all have to learn how to bring the benefit of our loving-awareness directly into our ordinary lives.

• Visit website for more info and to register
• (marcinfo@ucla.edu) REGISTER NOW

You can do it. Why? There are three categories of costs: 1) Generosity Rate: $475, 2) Standard Rate: $275, 3) Economic Hardship Rate: $75. And no one will be turned away for lack of funds**

The BOMB in Lebanon caught on video

Claire Anderson (express.co.uk, 8/4/20); Sheldon S., Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Lebanon explosion: WATCH moment fireworks factory blows up sending mushroom cloud into sky

A huge explosion rocked Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, on Tuesday (8/4/20), injuring many as glass shattered and balconies collapsed from the impact.

Lebanon's Health Minister Hamad Hasan said an explosion in central Beirut on Tuesday caused a "very high number of injuries" and extensive damage, Lebanese LBC television channel quoted him as saying. The state news agency, NNA, and two security sources said the blast occurred in the port area, where warehouses were housing explosives.

It was not immediately clear what caused the blast [Israeli sabotage, covert Mossad operation?] or what kind of explosives were being warehoused. Lebanese security and medical sources... More

Tibetan Healing: Cleansing (video)

Meditation & Relaxation Music, 11/19; Crystal Q., Ashley Wells, CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Tibetan healing sounds clean aura and environment, removing all negative energy

Looking at Potala Palace, Lhasa, Tibet/China

This 30 minute audio is a powerful Tibetan healing meditation using music that is calming, peaceful, and relaxing. Tibetan Healing Sounds by Paradise Music is also available. Subscribe to the channel for new videos. Here can be found musical video compositions, such as meditation music, relaxing music, music that helps relieve stress and anxiety, music for focusing and concentrating, music for imagination and creativity. All will help one immerse oneself in one's inner peace to easily find the solutions needed. There is also healing music for Reiki and Zen and spa music, or sleepy music to help soak up consciousness and plunge into deep sleep. The goal is to help people relax and meditate, to give rest from somatic tension and modern way of life, to lead to harmony with oneself and nature. Namaste.

NY prosecutor seeks Trump's taxes

Associated Press (ap.org, Aug. 4, 2020); Seth Auberon, Pfc. Sandoval (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Who I molest is my own business. I mean, who I cheat out of taxes is my own business.

.

Prosecutor seeking Trump's taxes cites probe of his business

Kanye, I'm in big trouble. - Nah, you be a'right.

NEW YORK, NY — A NYC prosecutor fighting to get Pres. Trump’s tax returns told a judge Monday he was justified in demanding tax records because of public reports of “extensive and protracted criminal conduct at the Trump organization.”

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr. is seeking eight years of the Republican president’s personal and corporate tax records, but has disclosed little about what prompted him to request the records, other than part of the investigation related to payoffs to two women to keep them quiet about alleged affairs with Trump.

In a court filing Monday, attorneys for Vance, a Democrat, said the president wasn't entitled to know the exact nature of the grand jury probe, which they called a “complex financial investigation.”

They noted, however, that at the time the subpoena for the tax filings was issued to Trump's accountants, “there were public allegations of possible criminal activity” at the president's company “dating back over a decade.”

They cited several newspaper articles, including one in which the Washington Post examined allegations that Trump had a practice of sending financial statements to potential business partners and banks that inflated the worth of his projects by claiming they were bigger or more potentially lucrative than they actually were. More

Meditation: Black Lives Matter Movement

Guest voice Victoria Robertson, InsightMyanmar.org, Episode16, "Intersections of Dharma and Race," Part. 1 (player.captivate.fm); Ellie Askew, Dhr. Seven (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly

"All lives CAN'T matter until Black Lives Matter" movement tee-shirt.

This is a very different kind of show than any previous episode by the Insight Myanmar Podcast. This is the AUDIO.

The usual run of sit-down interviews was interrupted to produce a special series on corona Burma, on how monastics and practitioners were responding to the pandemic, highlighting meditators dealing with the world shutting down.

Another historic moment engulfed the United States and resonated with people around the world: the Black Lives Matter demonstrations over the police-murder of George Floyd.

The following is the first episode is a new series called the “Intersection of Dharma and Race,” widening the scope of programming to examine the intersecting lines of Dharma practice, racism, and social justice.

Aishah Shahidah Simmons, a long-term Black American insight (vipassana) meditator formerly in the tradition of S.N. Goenka and an award-winning cultural worker, joins the volunteer team as co-producer of this series.

With the impetus of recent events and growing appreciation of the Black Lives Matter Movement, many people, as well as social and cultural institutions, are starting to seriously examine themselves for implicit bias and whether they may be unintentionally contributing to the perpetuation of social inequities.

The first voice: Victoria Robertson

May this be a platform for exploring the American mindfulness and vipassana communities. 

The United States has been witnessing an explosion of multiracial bravery inspired and led by Black individuals speaking truth to power, standing up against racism, and advocating for social justice, from well-known sports franchises to giant corporations.

Second voice: Joshua Bee Alafia

While these acts may at times be confrontational and even put an individual’s job security in jeopardy, they highlight uncomfortable and too-long-ignored truths that societies must finally face, both people as individuals, and collectively.

The nature of these challenges to power and the status quo was at times uncomfortable to hear, but mostly they were offered in the spirit of positive change, to push the needle towards initiating — at long last — an honest and open dialog about has been avoided or unseen for far too many years.

Institutional racism in Richmond, Virginia

In this same spirit, even if some of the interviews that follow may provoke discomfort or unease, it is hoped that this series can be a platform for bringing a similar sort of conversation about entrenched practices, protocols, and attitudes within the vipassana and mindfulness communities. More + AUDIO

• DC releases police footage of three "deaths" of black men by police from 2018 after clearing themselves of charges
• Sorry, Boomers. Millennials and younger now US majority

20 min. Mindfulness Meditation for Presence

Sara Raymond, The Mindful Movement, Aug. 29, 2016; Ashley Wells (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly

Mindfulness Meditation for Being Present

This is a guided meditation to help develop the skill of being mindful and present. It reduces stress levels and improves overall health and well-being when practiced regularly. It is best listened to with headphones and should not be listened to while driving. Written and read by Sara Raymond; Music: "5 minute Meditative State" by Chris Collins (indiemusicbox.com).

• Meditation also available without background music
• An updated version of this meditation is also available

💜Be comfortable. The Mindful Movement is an oasis to tap into inner peace, a positive mindset, and the ability to self-heal.

Results of KARMA: vipaka and phala

Ven. Nyanatiloka, Buddhist Dictionary; YK; Dhr. Seven, Ven. Aloka (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Resultant (vipaka)

Krishnan on vipaka (Numen)

"Karmic result," is any karmically (morally) neutral mental phenomenon (e.g., bodily agreeable or painful feeling, sense-consciousness, etc.), that is the result of wholesome or unwholesome "karma" (volitional action through body, speech, or mind) done either in this or some previous life.

Totally wrong is the belief that, according to Buddhism, everything is the result of previous karma (action). Never, for example, is any karmically wholesome or unwholesome volitional action the result of former action, being in reality itself karma.

On this subject see titthāyatana, karma, Table at the end of the book I; Fundamentals of Buddhism II, Ven. Nyanatiloka (BPS.lk). Cf. A. III, 101; Kathāvatthu 162 (Guide through the Abhidhamma Pitaka, Ven. Nyanatiloka, 3rd ed. 1971, BPS.lk, p. 80).

Karma-produced (karma-ja or karma-samutthāna) corporeal (bodily) things are never called karma-vipāka, as this term may be applied only to mental phenomena (like intimation).

Fruit (phala)

Phala (lit. "fruit") 1. result, effect (often together with hetu, cause); 2. benefit (e.g., in Sāmañña-phala Sutra, "The Discourse on the Fruits [Benefits] of Recluseship," DN 2).

As "path-result," or "fruition," it denotes those moments of supermundane consciousness that flash forth immediately after the moment of various stages path-consciousness (see the noble ones, or ariya-puggala, on the stages of enlightenment and which, until the attainment of the next higher path-consciousness, may recur innumerable times during the practice of insight (vipassanā).

If thus repeated they are called the "attainment of fruition" (phala-samāpatti), which is explained in detail in The Path of Purification (Vis.M. XXIII).