New Year's Eve 2015 or Insight Meditation

Amber Larson, Seth Auberon, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly; Spirit Rock; Dharma; Insight LA

Snowman warms up to 2015 on a breezy beach to snuggle (hdwallpapersimages.com)

Looks can be so deceiving, particularly at a party when playing diva dress up (Filip Wolak).

The sexy photography of Filip Wolak in rocking clubs (groobo/flickr.com)

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It's almost New Year's Eve, the biggest night of decadent celebration (next to Halloween) in the nation. The whole world will be welcoming Baby 2015, a cherub with a top hat. What to do, what to do? Nightclub and dancing, meditation hall and sitting, staying up late to watch Dick Clark's ghost talk about a ball in New York falling to the ground after watching the fireworks display in Sydney, India, and various capitals that get the Sun's blessing sooner than the land of the setting sun, our own USA? One could set intentions at Spirit Rock or Against the Stream, watch videos with Shambhala, cheer on the early morning football crowds lining the boulevard for the world famous Rose Parade (followed by the more famous Rose Bowl game)... If only there were a cave to sit in while the whole world writhes in ecstasy as a new calendar gets tacked up. Two days off work? No, they want us back in on Friday. And Friday means a whole new round of parties. Are we devas (well born beings imagining themselves immortal because they outlive humans) or simply fortunate humans wasting our opportunity to learn and practice the liberating Dharma?

Sutra: In the Forest
John D. Ireland (trans.) edited by Wisdom Quarterly (SN 1:10)

The devas, like Radha and Krishna, delight in sensuality not realizing their mortality.

 
Thus have I heard. At one time the Buddha was staying near Savatthi at Jeta's Grove in the multimillionaire’s monastery. Now when night was passing a certain deva [see definition below], lighting up the entire grove with her surpassing beauty, approached the Buddha. Having drawn near and bowed, she stood respectfully to one side.
 
Standing there the deva said:

Those living in the forest,
Peaceful and calm, of pure life,
Eating but one meal a day,
How is it they appear so radiant?

The Buddha replied:

They sorrow not for what is past,
They have no longing for the future,
The present is sufficient for them,
Hence it is they appear so radiant.

By having longing for the future,
By sorrowing over what is past,
By this fools are withered up
As a cut down tender reed. [The end.]

Best New Year's Eve parties, L.A.

Best and worst of Hard Day of the Dead 2014

Whether it's the best night of the year to party or a risky amateur night, New Year's Eve feels special. It deserves more than booze in front of the home boob tube. Take a chance and get out! As in years past, The LA Weekly strives to compile a diverse array of happenings to choose from, a sampling of the wild and wonderful offerings covered all year in L.A. From themed retro nights to mega-hotel bashes to DJ-driven dance-offs to offbeat bashes that could only happen here, in this great city, any of these might be a fine and festive way to kick off 2015. All events listed are on Wednesday night, Dec. 31, 2014 and are over 21 (unless otherwise specified), ending at 2:00 am. More

• 10 Weirdest Places to Stay in Los Angeles
• California's most sexually active cities
• San Francisco: Concentration Meditation for Purification of Mind with Tina Rasmussen and Stephen Snyder
• A Pali Word a Day for Daily Reflection

Insight Meditation Society, Boston area, Barre, Mass. with Joseph Goldstein (Dharma.org)

InsightLA, westside Los Angeles, with Trudy Goodman (insightla.org)

Spirit Rock, San Francisco adjacent, Marin with Jack Kornfield, et al. (spiritrock.org)

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What are devas?

Deva: an inhabitant of the woodlands or one of the many celestial worlds. The word literally means “shining one” and is related to the English words divine, diva, deity, divinity, and so on.
 

Akasha deva (TW)

The body of a deva is purer and more subtle than a human being’s with varying grades of luminosity, radiating light like our own. Whereas our auras are weak, theirs are strong. They may regard themselves as "immortal" but are quite mortal, generally living much, much longer than humans.
 

The period before dawn is the usual time for these beings to visit the Buddha, one of whose titles is sattha deva-manussanam, the "teacher of devas and humans."

Laos' "Temple Mountain" (Wat Phou)

A. Nguyen, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly; Pint Maws (via Pinterest Mania, Ben/flickr), Wiki edit

(VideoVoyage.TV) Wat Phu is a ruined Khmer temple complex in southern Laos located at the base of Mt. Phu Kao, which later became a Theravada Buddhist center as it remains today.

UNESCO World Heritage Site Vat Phou, Laos hidden in jungle rediscovered in 1914 (PM).

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Shiva Nataraja (Kristine Krol)

Vat Phou or Wat Phu (Lao ວັດພູ, "temple-mountain") is a ruined Khmer Hindu temple complex in Buddhist southern Laos.
 
It is located at the base of Mount Phu Kao, 4 miles (6 km) from the Mekong river in Champasak province.

There was a temple on the site as early as the 5th century, but the surviving structures date from the 11th to 13th centuries.

(Secrets of Nature) LAOS, Southeast Asia: 85% of the country is pristine nature, widespread forests, jungle wilderness, steep mountains, and wide river valleys, with cool high plateaus and savannahs. The primeval forests support fauna like something out of a fairytale, with elephants, tigers, leopards, and some of the rarest animal species on the planet. Unknown species discovered by science at regular intervals. In recent decades, the few large mammals to be described for the first time were all found in Indochina (between India and China), and experts assume that most of them are at home in Laos: wild oxen such as the saola and kuprey or the truong son munjak. No outsider has ever seen a living specimen of the latter. Its existence is only known indirectly, through skeletons, horns, and bag that are occasionally found in remote villages. Here is the Mekong, one of the last untamed rivers on Earth. Fed by hundreds of tributaries, it is one of the richest freshwater systems on the planet, comparable to the Amazon or Congo, where the Mekong catfish lives -- 9 feet (3 m) long, 661 lbs (300 kg), possibly the largest freshwater fish (naga) on Earth.
 

Bangkok linga shrine (alinavitenberg/flickr)

The temple has a unique structure, in which the elements lead to a shrine where a linga (phallic structure) dedicated to Lord Shiva was bathed in water from a mountain spring. The site later became a center of Theravada Buddhist worship, which it remains today.

View from Vat Phou or Wat Phu near the sanctuary on the upper level, looking back towards the Mekong River (Mattun0211/wiki).

  

The mountain has a natural linga on its peak.

Wat Phou was initially associated with the city of Shrestapura, which lay on the bank of the Mekong river directly east of mount Lingaparvata, now called Phu Kao (pamphlet Projet de Recherches en Archaeologie Lao. Vat Phu: "The Ancient City, The Sanctuary, The Spring").

By the latter part of the 5th century the city was already the capital of a kingdom, which texts and inscriptions connect with both Chenla and Champa. And the first structure on the mountain was constructed around this time (Freeman, A Guide to Khmer Temples in Thailand and Laos p. 200-201).

The mountain gained spiritual importance from the linga-shaped protuberance on its summit. The mountain itself was therefore considered the home of Shiva, with the river representing the ocean or India's holiest river, the Ganges (COMOS report p. 71). 

 

The temple was naturally dedicated to Shiva, while the water from the spring that emerges directly behind the temple was considered sacred.

Vat Phou or Wat Phu from left to right: the south palace, the tiers leading to the central sanctuary, mountain peak shrouded in mist, and the north palace (wiki).

 

Famous Angkor Wat (samcambodiatours)

Wat Phou was a part of the Buddhist-Hindu Khmer empire, centered on Angkor (with the massive Buddhist-Hindu temple Angkor Wat) to the southwest, at least as early as the reign of Yashovarman I in the early 10th century.

Shrestapura was superseded by a new city in the Angkorian period, located directly south of the temple (Ibid., p. 72). In the later period, the original buildings were replaced, reusing some of the stone blocks. The temple now seen was built primarily during the Koh Ker and Baphuon periods of the 11th century.

 

Minor changes were made during the following two centuries before the temple, like most in the empire, was converted to Theravada Buddhist use. This continued after the area came under control of the Lao. A festival is held on the site each February. Little restoration work has been done, other than restoring boundary posts along the path. Wat Phou was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2001.

The site

 

Like most Khmer temples, Wat Phou is oriented toward the east. The axis actually faces eight degrees south of due east, being determined primarily by the orientation of the mountain and river. Including the barays it stretches 1.4 km east from the source of the spring, at the base of a cliff 100 meters up the hill. Six km east of the temple, on the west bank of the Mekong river, lay the city, while a road south from the temple itself led to other temples and ultimately to the city of Angkor. More 

• How far is the Moon from Earth? (space.com)

Fearless in the face of Death (sutra)

Amber Larson, Bhante, Dhr. Seven, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly translation, Abhaya Sutra

"The smaller the coffin the harder it is to carry" - Minister Asif. So use British wheels. Mara (Death) spreads fear of poison gas in England from Nazi blitzkriegs and particulate raids.

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Nazis won WW II, working in US

Thus have I heard. At one time Janussoni the Brahmin went to the Blessed One [the Buddha], exchanged courteous greetings, and sat respectfully to one side.

 

Sitting there he said to the Blessed One: "I hold the view and am of the opinion that there is no one who, being subject to death, is unafraid or free of terror about death."

The Blessed One replied: "Brahmin, there are those who, being subject to death, are afraid and terrified of death. But there are others who, although being subject to death, are unafraid and free of terror about death.

The Fearful

I worry, and in the grip of fear and a racing mind, I have insomnia. I'm American.

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The U.S. of Fear (tomdispatch.com)

"And who is the person who, being subject to death, is afraid and terrified of death? It is the person who has not yet abandoned passion, desire, clinging, thirst, fever, and craving for sensuality. When that person comes down with a serious disease, the thought occurs, 'O, those beloved sensual pleasures will be taken from me! And I will be separated from them!'

 

One grieves and is tormented, weeps, pounds one's own breast, and grows mad. This is a person who, being subject to death, is afraid and terrified of death.

 

FEAR: "false evidence appearing real"

"Furthermore, there is a person who has not abandoned passion, desire, clinging, thirst, fever, and craving for the body. When that person comes down with a serious disease, the thought occurs, 'O, my beloved body will be taken from me! And I will be separated from my body!' One grieves and is tormented, weeps, pounds one's own breast, and grows mad. This, too, is a person who, being subject to death, is afraid and terrified of death.

 

Hey, scaredy cats, surprise!

"Furthermore, there is a person who has left undone what is good, has left undone what is skillful, has not given protection to those in fear but, instead, has done what is harmful, wrathful, and cruel. When that person comes down with a serious disease, the thought occurs, 'I have left undone what is good, have left undone what is skillful, have not given protection to those in fear but, instead, have done what is harmful, wrathful, and cruel.

• [NOTE (Wisdom Quatterly) One of the best ways to give others "protection from fear" is to adhere to the Five Precepts, right livelihood, and in engaging in such restraint one liberates countless beings from fear and trembling one would otherwise endanger them with, and on some level other beings sense this.] 

"To the extent that there is a destination for those who have left undone what is good, have left undone what is skillful, have not given protection to those in fear but, instead, have done what is harmful, wrathful, and cruel, and that is where I am headed after death.'

"One grieves and is tormented, weeps, beats one's own breast, and grows mad. This, too, is a person who, being subject to death, is afraid and terrified of death.

Just look at the size of that thing. Attack it!

"Furthermore, there is a person in doubt and perplexed, who has not arrived at certainty with regard to the true Dharma. When one comes down with a serious disease, the thought occurs, 'How full of doubt and perplexity I am! I have not arrived at any certainty with regard to the true Dharma!' One grieves and is tormented, weeps, beats one's own breast, and grows mad. This, too, is a person who, being subject to death, is afraid and in terrified of death.

 

"These, Brahmin, are four people who, being subject to death, are afraid and terrified of death.

  

The Fearless

The Buddha's fearless gesture, abhaya mudra, Wat Plai Laem, Koh Samui (sumuizoom.com)

Fearless mudra (samuizoom.com)

"And who is the person who, being subject to death, is unafraid and not terrified of death?

 

"There is a person who has abandoned passion, desire, clinging, thirst, fever, and craving for sensuality. When one comes down with a serious disease, the thought does not occur, 'O, those beloved sensual pleasures will be taken from me! And I will be separated from them!' One does not grieve, is not tormented, does not weep, or beat one's own breast, or grow mad.

This is a person who, being subject to death, is unafraid and not terrified of death.

"Furthermore, there is a person who has abandoned passion, desire, clinging, thirst, fever, and craving for the body. When that person comes down with a serious disease, the thought does not occur, 'O, my beloved body will be taken from me! And I will be separated from my body!' One does not  grieve, is not tormented, does not weep, does not beat one's own breast, or grow mad. This, too, is a person who, being subject to death, is unafraid and not terrified of death.

 

"Everything you want is on the other side of fear." So feel the fear and do it anyway.

 

"Furthermore, there is a person who has done what is good, has done what is skillful, has given protection to those in fear, and has not done what is harmful, wrathful, or cruel. When that person comes down with a serious disease, the thought occurs, 'I have done what is good, have done what is skillful, have given protection to those in fear, and I have not done what is harmful, wrathful, or cruel.

"'To the extent that there is a destination for those who have done what is good, what is skillful, have given protection to those in fear, and have not done what is harmful, wrathful, or cruel, that is where I am headed after death.' One does not grieve, is not tormented, does not weep, does not beat one's own breast, or grow mad. This, too, is a person who, being subject to death, is unafraid and not terrified of death.

 

"Furthermore, there is a person who is free doubt and unperplexed, who has arrived at certainty with  regard to the true Dharma. When one comes down with a serious disease, the thought occurs, 'I am free of doubt or perplexity. I have arrived at certainty with regard to the true Dharma.' One does not grieve, is not tormented, does not weep, does not beat one's own breast, or grow mad.

 

This, too, is a person who, being subject to death, is unafraid and not terrified of death.

 

"These, Brahmin, are four people who, being subject to death, are unafraid and not terrified of death."

  

The Brahmin responds

Fear is optional. (baconbabble.com)

When this was said, Janussoni the Brahmin said to the Blessed One: "Magnificent, Master Gautama, magnificent! It is just as if one were to set upright what was overturned, to reveal what was hidden, to show the way to one who was lost, or to carry a lamp into the dark so that those with eyes could see forms!

"In the same way has Master Gautama -- using many lines of reasoning -- made the Dharma clear. I go to Master Gautama for guidance (sarana), go to the Dharma, and go to the [noble] Sangha. May Master Gautama remember me as a lay follower who has gone to him for guidance from this day forward as long as life lasts."

U.S. war on Afghanistan ended! (video)

Ashley Wells, Pfc. Sandoval, Pat Macpherson, Dhr. Seven, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly; activist Kathy Kelly (facebook.com), Amy Goodman (DemocracyNow.org, Dec. 29, 2014)

Rural children of Afghanistan look on as they are invaded and stripped of autonomy (AP).

Bleeding Afghanistan: Washington, Warlords, and the Propaganda of Silence

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13 is lucky

(Paul Fitzgerald and Liz Gould)

Lucky 13, we all know it. Or do we? Before 14 years of formal war, the third Bush White House (called the Obama administration) is changing the name of things. It is a semantic shift. We are no longer at "war" formally. Now it's an "informal conflict" and "peacekeeping mission," a "low-level kinetic dispute," a crossing the t's and dotting the i's "cleanup" and imperial escapade involving lots of the empire's invading military troops and more being sent.

Warlords Obama, Pannetta, Tenet, Gates, Hagel, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, Powell, Biden, Ashcroft, Bush, and others have failed in disgrace after squandering one trillion dollars and still planning to spend 54 billion in the coming year and more in the future.

Money is the root of all war.

But not all is lost. While taxpayers and official coffers have been stripped of funds, private corporations have been enriched. Contractors had a boon. The CIA made out well. The effort was, after all, a product of the U.S. military-industrial complex, which means the union of the Pentagon (public government) and industry (private corporations). Many multimillionaires were minted by our foreign exploits. U.S. Marine Corps Major General Smedley Butler said it long ago, "War is a Racket" (published 1935), and it always has been in modern times.

The Afghan War is NOT over but we will be pretending as if it is: U.S. officially ends 13-year formal combat mission, but 11,000+ troops to informally continue the illegal imperial invasion and offensive fight

When peace is a crime
Peace activist Kathy Kelly sent to prison for PROTESTING our drone war
[What CODE PINK's Medea Benjamin calls "war by remote control" peace activist Kathy Kelly protests: Our illegal assassinations, which kill many more innocent civilians ("collateral damage") than "targets," use killer drones. Why?] "At its core, war is impoverishment [impoverishing the needy to enrich the greedy].

"War’s genesis and ultimate end is in the poverty of our hearts.

"If we can realize that the world’s liberation begins within those troubled hearts, then we may yet find peace…What good has ever come from the slaughter of the innocents?" (Americans Who Tell The Truth)

Kathy Kelly is thinking about the U.S. military's insatiable appetite for war in Afghanistan and the stark facts about children near death from starvation (vcnv.org).

Salt and Terror in Afghanistan

(Voices for Creative Nonviolence) Two weeks ago in a room in Kabul, Afghanistan, I joined several dozen people, working seamstresses, some college students, socially engaged teenagers... (vcnv.org)

 

Fire and Ice in Afghanistan

Little Shuba, 3-y.o., Afghan survivor

(HuffingtonPost.com) Shuba, 3 1/2 years old, survived a terrible fire. Her uncle found her and her twin sisters inside a hut that was blossoming into flames. Such relief in the refugee camp that no one was killed. Locked in Winter: As many as 35,000 displaced persons are now living in the slum areas in the capital of Kabul alone. The fire in the Chaman e Babrak camp extended to adjacent homes, swiftly rendering nine families homeless in the midst of already astounding poverty.

The worst narco-state in history? After 13-year war, U.S.-administered Afghanistan’s opium trade floods the globe [and the CIA pockets the profits to fund its illegal missions]

(Democracy Now! FULL episode, Monday, December 29, 2014)

NYPD officer speaks out on fellow racist cops who turned backs to NY mayor and why people of color FEAR police

• U.S.-led NATO occupation formally ends combat role, but war continues
• Racist LAPD officers mock murder of Michael Brown in song parody
• Anti-police brutality protests continue across U.S. 
• NSA discloses trove of violations in Christmas Eve document dump
• Indonesian officials say missing plane likely at bottom of the sea
• U.S. drone strike kills 7 as Pakistani forces expand offensive
• U.S. continues Iraq, Syria bombing; group says ISIS has killed nearly 2,000
• Thousands attend funeral for slain NYPD officer
• Police Commissioner: "Inappropriate" for officers to turn backs on mayor
• Ferguson police spokesperson suspended for calling roadside memorial "a pile of trash"
• Mexican protesters mark 3 months since student disappearances
• Al Jazeera journalists mark 365 days of imprisonment in Egypt
• Egyptian appeals court upholds convictions, reduces jail terms of pro-democracy protesters
• Cuba rejects calls to extradite Assata Shakur to U.S.
• Oregon doctor freed in East Timor, but still can’t return home

Note strategic importance of formerly Buddhist Afghanistan, home of the Buddha (ranajitpal.com) next to Iran, former Soviet Central Asia, Pakistan, India, and China/Tibet. Greek, British, and Russian empires came here to die, now the USA has. China is next.

Buddhist monks live in peace with tigers (video)

Seth Auberon, Pat Macpherson, Amber Larson, Wisdom Quarterly; StrangeFeed.com

Tony, it's great! I'll karate chop massage you straight to Sleepy Town (strangefeed.com).

(Animal Planet)

Here, Kimba, try using chopsticks.

There is a temple in Western Thailand where devoted Buddhist monks live among unwanted tigers, nurturing them and releasing them into the wild when they reach maturity!

The controversial Tiger Temple (Wat Pha Luang Ta Bua) is a Theravada Buddhist monastery founded in 1994 as a Thai forest tradition temple complex that has become a sanctuary for abandoned wild animals.

The temple is in the Saiyok district of Thailand’s Kanchanaburi province, close to the border with Burma (which the dictators renamed "Myanmar"), some 24 miles (38 km) northwest of Kanchanaburi along the 323 Highway. 

Hey, your thirsty tiger scratched me!

The story goes that in 1999 a tiger cub was given to the temple by villagers because it had been abandoned by its mother. Unfortunately, it later died due to the inexperience of the monks regarding tiger keeping.

 

Soon several more tiger cubs were given to the temple to care for, and the rest is history. As of records up to 2012, there are more than 100 tigers living in the temple.

(Etienne Verhaegen) "The Little Buddhas and the Tigers" (Les Petits Bouddhas et les Tigres)

Big predator cats love milk (strangefeed.com).

Tourists are attracted from around the world, where they can see enormous tigers lazily lounging wild around monk caretakers who go about with their daily routines. Some wildlife organizations have claimed that the temple has no permit from the Thai Wild Animals Reservation and Protection Act of 1992 and should be closed due to shady dealings with a tiger farm in Laos, allegations based on an investigation between 2005 to 2008.

Fortunately, in 2008, ABC News reporters spent three nights in the monastery and found no evidence of calming drugs being administered to the tigers or any other mistreatment. Both Thai and Western employees who were interviewed claimed that the animals were well treated. The head of the temple was interviewed and stated that their mission is clear, "To breed tigers and release them into the wild.” When in Buddhist Thailand, visit this wondrous place!

(Journeyman Pictures) Thailand's Controversial Tiger-Taming Temple

Who's a good tiger? (strangefeed.com)

"Taming the Tigers" (2013): Thailand's Tiger Temple is one of the country's best known tourist attractions. Although marketed as a sanctuary to help conserve an endangered species, some activists claim it has a history of exploitation and abuse.

"If you're selling animal exploitation as a conservation project, then I have a serious concern," states Edwin Wiek of the Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand. There's something undeniably mysterious and majestic about tigers, even in captivity. But while tourists are told the temple is a sanctuary for rescued animals, conservationist and animal rights activist Sybelle Foxcroft claims they are treated appallingly. "I personally saw sticks being broken across tigers' backs." The temple claims "assertive treatment" is the only way to train these powerful animals. In stark contrast, Foxcroft describes it as "probably one of the most horrific things I've ever seen."

Journeyman Pictures is an independent source for the world's most powerful films, exploring the burning issues of today. It represents stories from the world's top producers, with brand new content coming in all the time. Its channel has outstanding and controversial journalism covering every global subject imaginable.

Thailand's Tiger Temple is full of real meat eating predators (Steve Winter/NatGeo).

(National Geographic Live) Steve Winter visits Thai Tiger Temple trembling with terror.