Wisdom Quarterly: American Buddhist Journal

Friday, May 29, 2009

A Homegrown Revolution

Path to Freedom presents "A Homegrown Revolution," a collection of clips featuring their urban homestead and farm. The focus is on the need for radical action -- growing food in the city!

This short, self-produced music video was shown at Peter Seller's Cultural Art's class at UCLA followed by a short presentation by urban farmer Jules Dervaes, the founder of Path to Freedom. The focus of the class was on the art of slow food. Among other guests invited were Michael Pollan, Alice Waters, and Eric Schlosser.

Like the victory gardens of yesteryear, start your own homegrown revolution! Grow your food in your own yard. For more information visit the urban homesteaders at PathtoFreedom.com. Read the online journal urbanhomestead.org/journal. Since the early 1980's the Dervaes family has successfully transformed their ordinary city lot into a self sufficient urban homestead.

No Waterboarding, Torture by Cookies

(TIME.com) The most successful interrogation of an Al-Qaeda operative by U.S. officials required no sleep deprivation, no slapping or "walling," and no waterboarding. All it took to soften up Abu Jandal, who had been closer to Osama bin Laden than any other terrorist ever captured, was a handful of sugar-free cookies. More>>

America's (freest and) Least Free States

Greg Bobrinskoy (data: Mercatus Center, George Mason University)

From indelibly American quotations like "Give me liberty or give me death" to the iconic pairing of "liberty and justice" in the Pledge of Allegiance, there's no shortage of examples demonstrating that Americans have historically placed a high value on the concept of freedom.

But in a country as large and diverse as the United States, the concept of liberty is sure to have different definitions for different people. More complicating still is the fact that, beyond the overarching liberties defined by the Constitution, individual states have their own legislation to address individual freedoms that aren't explicitly covered in federal doctrine:

In Depth: America's Top 10 Freest and Least Free States

Oil plentiful, demand weak, why are prices up?

TIME

(VIDEO WCNC) Storage tankers across the globe may be brimming with oil that no one is buying because of the global economic downturn, but the traditional laws of supply and demand don't always apply to oil prices. Drivers have faced rising prices at the gas pump in recent months, as investors and oil-producing countries hoard supplies in anticipation of a global economic recovery later this year.

Video: Gas prices creep up for holiday (KGW)

The 12 member countries of the OPEC cartel voted in Vienna on Thursday to maintain output at current levels rather than increase supplies in order to bring some relief to consumers, particularly in the gas-guzzling West. More>>

Monks Walk Himalayas for Environment

Drukpa lineage monks: "monastic environmentalists" (drukpa-fr.org)

KRIPA KRISHNAN MANALI, India (Press Trust of India) - Dressed in their deep red robes, monks and nuns of a 800-year-old Buddhist sect have begun a walking-journey (pad-yatra) to promote environmental conservation and spread awareness about the indis-criminate use of plastics and motor vehicles.

Led by their spiritual leader, the Gyalwang Drukpa, 600 monks are traveling across the snow-clad Himalayas in the month-long "walkathon." It will culminate in the Hemis Festival in Ladakh, India (Hemis Gompa) later next month.

"The journey (yatra) is a way of embracing the 'walking life,' which is beautiful and stress free. Why should we quit walking for cars and helicopters, when they cause so much damage to nature?" the Gyalwang Drukpa asked reporters here before commencing the walkathon on May 25, 2009.

The walkathon is expected to gather more volunteers and fellow Drukpas along the 400-km stretch. The Drukpa leader says he is expecting up to 1,000 followers to join him en route. They will talk to villagers about the environment and also distribute pamphlets and reusable canvas bags.

"We want to spread the message of environmental protection and are not marching for Buddhism. The aim is to interact with people living in the remotest corners of the Himalayas and get to know nature more intimately," the spiritual leader said.

"Burma VJ" (film trailer)

While 100,000 people and thousands of Buddhist monks took to the streets to protest the countryʼs repressive regime, which has held them hostage for more than 40 years, foreign news crews were banned and the Internet was shut down.

Anders Østergaardʼs award-winning documentary shows a rare look into the Saffron Revolution, the 2007 uprising in Burma through the cameras of the DVB, an independent journalist group.

The Democratic Voice of Burma is a collective of 30 anonymous, underground video journalists (VJs). They record historic events on camcorders then smuggle the footage out of the country, where it is broadcast worldwide. Risking torture and life imprisonment, the VJs vividly document brutal clashes with the military and undercover police – even as they become targets of the authorities.

Twitter.com/CineMarkTheater:

reservethatseat.info

Israel to lose illegal settlements

Obama takes tough and risky stance on Israeli settlements

McClatchy Newspapers (5/28/09)
WASHINGTON (AFP) — President Barack Obama Thursday ratcheted up what might be America's toughest bargaining position with Israel in a generation, demanding anew that Israel stop oppressing Palestinians by expanding its settlements in the disputed West Bank as a key step toward making peace with its Arab neighbors. Full Story»

13-year-old wins National Spelling Bee

Kavya Shivashankar from Olathe, Kansas is presented the winner's trophy at the 2009 National Spelling Bee on 5/28/09 after spelling "Laodicean" (Reuters/Jim Young).

Slideshow: National Spelling Bee

WASHINGTON, D.C. – It's safe to say the best is yet to come for the new national spelling champion. She's only just become a teenager. She'll probably keep her competitive juices flowing by entering the International Brain Bee, the perfect contest for an aspiring neurosurgeon. More>>

Volcano killed global sea life

Volcano killed global sea life
A huge volcanic eruption 260 million years ago wiped out marine life around the world. "Gigantic clouds of steam"

Cuckoo bird could be extinct soon

Travel the World (Lonely Planet)

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Wanderlust Festival: Yoga and Music

Kristine David

A new kind of festival brings together the world's top yogis and best rock performers in a setting of breathtaking natural beauty on July 24-26, 2009 in California.

Wanderlust will feature both yoga instructors and eclectic music artists. The festival takes place on July 24-26 at Squaw Valley USA in North Lake Tahoe. The festival is structured on the betterment of the human body and mind.

Attendees can take morning yoga classes taught by Shiva Rea, John Friend, Annie Carpenter, Christy Nones, Duncan Wong, Elena Brower, Janet Stone, and Sianna Sherman, as well as instructors from San Francisco’s Yoga Tree studios.

Musical artists will perform on stages nestled in the Sierra Nevadas. These include Michael Franti & Spearhead, Spoon, Andrew Bird, Jenny Lewis, Broken Social Scene, Gillian Welch, and Girl Talk. There will also be a series of late night DJ sessions at the Casbah stage in the village.

Buddha Boy meditating

Video of "Buddha Boy," the teenager Ram Bahadur Bomjan meditating with Italian and Nepalese commentary. The footage, set in the jungles of Nepal where he has been practicing austerities (such as severe fasting) while meditating under a Bodhi tree, speaks for itself. A brief overview of his life and bodhisattva-mission are explained in subtitles:

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Meet the Goode Family (cartoon)

Meet the Goode family. They're zealous vegans, they drive a hybrid, and they recycle everything possible. But despite their best efforts, something always goes haywire with their politically-correct plans. Now airing Wednesdays @ 9/8:00 pm central on ABC.

Edgar Cayce: David Wilcock interview (radio)

Part I (Part II; Part III; Part IV; Part V; Part VI, Part VII; Part VIII; Part IX; Part X; Part XI)

David Wilcock (Edgar Cayce) is a professional intuitive consultant who, since reading Richard C. Hoagland's The Monuments of Mars in 1993, has intensively researched ufology, ancient civilizations, consciousness science, and new paradigms for understanding of matter and energy. He is the author of a critically acclaimed trilogy of scientific research works, known as the Convergence series, which gives definitive support to the idea that a change in matter, energy, and consciousness is now occurring on the Earth and throughout the solar system.

Wilcock has appeared on broadcast television, lectured throughout the United States and Japan, published a variety of magazine articles and appeared on numerous radio talk shows. He is the co-author of the book The Reincarnation of Edgar Cayce, now available in bookstores nationwide, and a summary of his latest scientific work appears therein, where a breakthrough case for mass, spontaneous DNA evolution on Earth is unveiled. David is also an accomplished musician and composer within a variety of styles, including jazz-fusion, meditative, and world music.

David returned, sharing his perceptions about 2012 and parallel realities. The 2012 time frame could bring a "golden age" for humanity, with a dimensional shift that leads us into ascended states, and if there is a calamity such as a pole shift around this time, people will warp into a parallel reality and not be affected by it, he outlined.

Wilcock offered details of his conversations with "Daniel," a man who said he took part in the Montauk Project -- a series of experiments in which portals were materialized and people traveled through them. Space and time were completely inverted in the experiments so it appeared as though the subjects were traveling through time rather than space, Wilcock explained.

Wilcock also shared some of his psychic intuitions such as the United States government eventually collapsing and being replaced by nation states. Civilian outrage over the truth about 9-11 will be one of the things that leads to this, he said. Currently he is working on a film project, Convergence which he hopes will be ready for release by the end of 2008.

Burma rejects foreign criticism

Jonathan Head (BBC South East Asia correspondent)

(Above) Burma's hardline generals form dictatorship that has put Suu Kyi on trial. (Right) the trial has drawn international condemnation leading to worldwide protests.

Burmese pythons invade Florida

The Burmese government has rejected foreign criticism of the charges against opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi as interference from abroad.

Speaking at a meeting of EU and South East Asian ministers in Cambodia, the deputy fo-reign minister insisted that her trial was not a human rights issue. US President Obama has called Ms. Suu Kyi's hearing a "show trial."

The regional group ASEAN recently warned Burma that its honor and credibility were at stake. The trial entered its ninth day on Thursday, with more testimony from the American who swam to Ms. Suu Kyi's house. More>>

Interactive map: Life in some of the areas worst-hit by last year's cyclone

Scientists fear malaria drug resistance

Jill McGivering (BBC News, Cambodia)

In a small community in Western Cambodia, scientists are puzzling over why malaria para-sites seem to be devel-oping a resistance to drugs and fearing the consequences.

Ten days ago, Chhem Bunchhin, a teacher in Battambang Province, became ill with chills, fever, headache, and vomiting. At a nearby health center he was treated with drugs considered a "silver bullet" in the battle against falciparum malaria.

This treatment with artesunate drugs was part of a clinical study being carried out by the US Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Science (AFRIMS). In the past, artesunates have always cleared malaria parasites from the blood in two or three days. But after four days of monitored treatment, Chhem Bunchhin was still testing positive for parasites.

The anti-malarial drugs worked more slowly in him. Dr. Delia Bethell, an investigator working on the clinical trials (pictured right), said he wasn't alone. More>>

BBC malaria

LINKS

Beware the lottery "curse"

Beware the lottery "curse"
Everyone dreams of hitting the jackpot, but the windfall may turn into a nightmare. Shattered dreams

The "Taliban Flogging"

WQ COMMENTARY

BBC VIDEO (0:58) Public flogging of teenage girl in Pakistan. A chief justice has ordered the girl be brought from the north-western Swat Valley. Apparent members holding, beating, and ordering her brother to help as she cries out in pain. More>>

The Issue
Much has been made of video of a "brutal" beating of a Pakistani girl accused of adultery. This has, it is said, galvanized the populations of Pakistan and Afghanistan to side with the West as it invades and destabilizes their governments. Homegrown terrorists are less of a problem than an external armed force imposing its will. WQ decided to investigate.

The segment of video available through the BBC and many other outlets is hardly spectacular and could well be fake. But assuming its authenticity, it is hard to see how this footage would incense peace loving people around the world to condone violence or despise radical tribal Muslims.

The Meaning
The act and even the threat of the act is reprehensible. Public floggings are not acceptable. (Private floggings in secret detention camps run by the US Army, the CIA, and even more secretive spy rings are okay -- so long as those extrajudicial punishments are for a good cause, such as Apple Pie, Freedom, and of course Security). And yet far more reprehensible is the invasion by the United States in a false flag operation seeking out Osama bin Laden (a.k.a. Nineteen Eighty-Four's "Emmanuel Goldstein").

The Conclusion

Abandon hate. Love even the Taliban, a propped up organization used by the US to justify invasion and covert military actions when people stop believing in the all-powerful "Al Qaeda" boogieman network. Understand that PSYOPS and propagandists exploit what they can to promote war: War is first in the heart, as a media event instigating support, then an act of terror.

Serb priest fired for beatings

Irish Catholic priests and nun beat and rape students

Chinese occupiers beat Tibetan monks

Burmese jailers beat and torture political prisoners

Sri Lankan soldiers beat Tamil rebels

Kohistan nerves
Pakistani district fears Swat conflict will spill over.

The Road to Enlightenment

PHOTOS: Buddhists Meg and Mark preparing for meditation; talking outdoors (BBC)

EXETER, England (BBC) - If you're looking for a new spiritual journey, the path to enlightenment could be right under your nose. Danny Lawrence meets members of the Diamond Way Buddhist Centre in Exeter.

Whether you've abandoned a previous faith, or you're trying to conquer a bad habit, meditation could be a life-changing experience.

Members of the Diamond Way Buddhist Centre in Exeter meet for meditation twice a week. They follow the example of Buddha, a prince who lived 2,500 years ago. His own quest for enlightenment is the model for tens of millions of people around the world.

A New Beginning

After growing up in a Christian tradition, Meg Surrey has taken a new direction.

"I was brought up in the Church of England, although not strictly," she explained.

"My parents went to church maybe at Christmas and Easter, but I was christened as a baby.

"In my early teens I became interested in it and I was confirmed.

"But by the time I was about 16, I was beginning to have big questions about an outside creator and nobody seemed to be able to answer these for me.

"Gradually I became disillusioned with it."

Members of the centre come from a variety of backgrounds. Mark Brimble's is similar to Meg's.

"Like Meg, I was christened," he said. "My mother wasn't particularly involved in the church -- we'd maybe go to Midnight Mass -- and my father's an Atheist.

"I motivated myself to get involved when I was at college, but felt uncomfortable.

"I started having problems with some of the dogma and some of the issues in the Bible.

"I think most specifically because I consider myself a scientist and the two did not merge. It left me asking a lot of questions.

Meg and Mark share their discoveries.
"I went into a bit of a spiritual wilderness for some time. Then I got involved in Reiki, which is a natural method of healing, and shortly after that I became aware of Tibetan Buddhism."

Buddhism differs from some faiths in that there is no worship of a creator God. Rather, Buddhist meditation seeks to follow the teachings of the Buddha.

"Buddha was a man," explained Meg. "A very intelligent and dedicated man, but a man nevertheless.

"While we have statues and paintings of various Buddha forms, they're really just to aid our meditation. They're not gods to be worshipped."

Buddhism in the West
Buddhism's stronghold may be in Asia, but knowledge and practice of it in the West is increasing.

"This country is perhaps unusual in Europe because of its colonial past," said Meg. "Buddhism probably reached this country earlier than in some countries. More>>

Pagan-Buddhist Goddess: Cybill Shepherd

Celebitchy.com (May 12, 2009)

I’m a Christian Pagan Buddhist Goddess worshiper

Cybill Shepherd with daughter Clementine Ford at the LA Gay & Lesbian Center, 4/24/09 (Photo: FayesVision/WENN.com).

Fox News entertainment reporters have a really bad habit of asking utter B-list and C-list celebrities awkward questions about politics and sensitive cultural issues....

Something similar has happened when Cybill Shepherd and a Fox News reporter's eyes met across the crowded Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center’s “An Evening With Women” event.

Since this all took place at a Gay and Lesbian Center, the conversation was headed in an obvious direction. When asked about gay marriage and the passage of Prop 8 in California, Cybill laid the entirety of the Prop 8 blame at the feet of “the Mormons and the Catholics.”

After that, Cybill started talking about the evolution she’s seen in civil rights, from Memphis in the 1960s to Los Angeles in the new millennium. She’s quite eloquent...then she has to go off on what religion she practices, “Christian Pagan Buddhist Goddess worshiper.” Of course. Who isn’t? Cybill also calls herself a “feminist” and says that “I really think that probably God is a woman, that helped me to break through that celestial glass ceiling.”

...The 59-year-old’s passion to pursue the fight for gay and lesbian rights actually stemmed from Martin Luther King’s assassination in 1968.

“He was killed in my hometown of Memphis, three and a half miles from my high school and I’m a product of the segregated south and I got to see that hatred up close, live that hatred, colored only, whites only, and when he was killed I was stricken with guilt and shame,” Shepherd added.

“I felt as though I hadn’t done enough to help the civil rights cause and as I gradually began to understand, what is the most recent excuse to deny people rights under the law? To treat them as less than human and once you get that kind of right thinking you realize how important it is to stand up for the gay and lesbian kids who are at greater risk because they don’t have community support and sometimes their parents kick them out. Particularly in L.A we have more runaways than anywhere in the world.”

So when it comes to Shepherd’s own faith, she’s developed quite the hybrid of religious convictions.

“I’m a Christian Pagan Buddhist Goddess worshiper, but I’m also a feminist. I think the ultimate glass ceiling is God, in another words, if we think God is a man, then we make man a God, and I studied and learned that there is a whole other history of the worshiping of the great mother,” she explained. “I really think that probably God is a woman, that helped me to break through that celestial glass ceiling.”

Reaction (from Fox News)
I actually don’t really have a problem with any of that, to each her own. Many of us probably have elements of Paganism and Goddess worship in our haphazard faith, whether we know it or not, so no judgment. I suppose my problem with what Cybill is saying is that I know how some people will take it. They’ll look at her and think “whatever, typical whack-job Hollywood,” when Cybill actually had interesting things to say about growing up in Memphis and seeing the civil rights movement up close. Full story