Wisdom Quarterly: American Buddhist Journal

How to understand Buddhism (animation)

2012-01-28T07:07:00.000-08:00

Alan Watts; Something's Happening (KPFK.org); Wisdom Quarterly; Khmer animation

"The Journey from India, Part II" (Alan Watts audio)

The teaching of Buddhism is a dialogue, according to Alan Watts. It is a dialectic, an expert pedagogy (upaya, a "skillful means" of teaching).

So what we understand as the "teachings of Buddhism" are not the teachings. They are merely the opening gambit of a dialogue between individuals.

What the Buddha says to someone depends on what he knows that person's capacity to understand is. As we listen in we may be confused.

The Buddha is not speaking in absolutes so much as he is administering exactly the medicine this person needs to be cured of delusion and the suffering that comes with it.

"Buddhism," rather than teaching dogma, is a path of practice to directly realize the liberating-truth the Buddha himself had found. What he knew, we can know. Less useful is belief or faith when insight-knowledge and wisdom are what set us free.

The Buddha's message is consistent, but that only emerges over time. He taught for 45 years. In any specific instance, what he is teaching may sound like a paradox or, worse, a tautology (some self-evident piece of circular logic).

However, when we recognize the dialectic pattern, it suddenly makes sense. It is perfect just as it is -- so long as it is grasped properly.

Buddhism has developed and become something different, the growth of a seed the Buddha planted. Some later schools may have gone too far afield, but they tend to return. Nagarjuna's "Middle Way" (Madyamika) philosophy brought this method of dialogue to an extreme in an attempt to counter clinging to views.

Theravada, the earliest existing Buddhist school, has a threefold division of the Dharma. Beginning as a living oral tradition, it was eventually written down. Then commentaries also had to be written down to explain what was missing in the absence of a living dialectic.

Many sutras may seem unbearably monotonous. This is because what was written down was for chanting to be listened to, not read the way we read books. The written parts were lists, formulas, rote memorization and mnemonic devices for oral teaching.

The real reason the Buddha singles out desire (tanha, craving) is not merely dialectical, as Watts suggests. Desire is NOT the ultimate cause of suffering, ignorance is. And enlightenment is the ultimate solution. Craving is one of the proximate causes. But it is the weak link in the chain of Dependent Origination. The Buddha saw it. He recognized it as an escape from suffering, because wisdom can uproot craving when what we crave is seen as it truly is. We can see it and uproot it with insight (vipassana). Willpower, rationalizing, and psychological suppression do not work. Serenity and insight do work.

The unbroken oral tradition remains, but it is rare and usually available only in monastic and meditative settings, which are open to non-monastic and temporarily ordained practitioners. The instructions are not secret, but they are also not printed all over books, which would place them out of context.

However, most monastics or "professional clergy" as Alan Watts refers to them, seem to be involved in chanting and formalities. They do not seem to be involved in the living teaching or practice for the goal the Buddha set out and created monasticism to support. They see their function as preserving the Dharma, sadly, without reaching the goal or being able to effectively guide others to that knowledge-and-vision of nirvana.

The Buddha's words were organized into chants and written in so formal a way that no person would have ever spoken. What was said was converted to this form. And if we cling to the form, we will miss the meaning.

But when we understand, we will be grateful for the form that serves as an excellent device to both learn and skillfully teach what the Buddha taught.

Making "Merit" in Buddhism (Part 3)

2012-01-28T07:00:00.000-08:00

UPDATED: Dharmachari Seven, Mordicia Allen, Wisdom Quarterly; (edited by Ashley Wells)

If not me, who? If not now, when?

Karma (action) is always in the present. The only time for us to act is NOW. And one experiences the results of karma (which are called phala and vipaka, fruit and mental-resultants) NOW. In this sense, there is only now. Our lives will only ever be now. We will not go to the future. The future will come to us and be experienced in the now.

Making "Merit" in Buddhism (Part 2)

Yet many of us misspend the now reflecting on the past or pondering what may come. We bring the past back into the now, or we pretend the future is in the now. Now is all there is. So the wise person lives now. BE HERE NOW. This is where the power is.

We have the power to shape the future that comes our way. It is not fixed and sure to come in some certain way. Nor should one think that "now" refers only to this instant, for it expands and contracts to be viewed however we view it. We are constantly remaking, revising, and reinterpreting the past. All of this is done now.

What we do/say/decide now conditions what comes up from the vast store of accumulated karma (past deeds). For this reason merit is a wonderful storehouse which helps everyone in ALL circumstances.

Good is good even for bad
And this is a very curious thing. Even "evil" beings -- whose habits are unskillful, unprofitable, whether ruined by greed, anger, fear, or delusion -- would be overjoyed to have merit to draw from, if only they understood the source of happiness.

Merit makes a monster stronger; unwholesome karma does not. Merit makes a thief richer; the karmic results of stealing do not. Now, of course, it may seem to the casual onlooker that it is the stealing that has made the thief rich. But one is not seeing karma and its results.

That karma of stealing has not yet born fruit. And while there may be some immediate mental-resultants (worry, delight, fear, happiness, delusion, remorse, etc.), karma has not had a chance to ripen. Even if the thief is seen suffering -- for example, having been caught and now being subjected to some direct consequence -- that is NOT the full ripening of the deed.

Beings have the habit of repeating their tendencies, as the Jatakas (rebirth stories) illustrate again and again. So it is not known why the thief now suffers, fails, and falls into ignominy. To imagine it is due to the immediately preceding deeds is a grave error, one religion teaches us again and again, taking the general illustration of the principle as the fact.

Then as a consequence of this error, we become full of doubts about karma (or the personal, all-knowing, stand-in force who works in mysterious ways meting out rewards and punishments for all behavior) because we see people doing many bad things and apparently profiting from it, living well, being happy.

We do not realize that merit is the source of their happiness in spite of how they are spending their time now, accumulating karma to be experience when the future comes into the now. This understanding of karma is the insight of Pa Auk Sayadaw, a renowned scholar-monk who not only mastered meditation but who, in a rare combination, is also a prolific writer. (See The Working of Kamma for excruciatingly exacting details on karma).

If merit benefits beings with bad habits and unskillful, unprofitable tendencies, what can be said of others with skillful, profitable, unselfish, friendly, courageous, wise habits?

Likewise, bad is bad even for bad. A "demon" (maras, asuras, rakshasas, nagas) gains in appearance, strength, range of influence, and powers based on GOOD karma, not bad. If that being chooses to use such present strength, born of merit, to further accumulate unprofitable karma, that is just what will happen. The past good will be used in the service of what is unprofitable.

A "bad" being wishing to be bad advances by past good even as this person does more and more bad. It is to a person's credit, among the bad, to be even more cruel, more tyrannical, more draconian. One gains in strength, and the bad delight in the power of what bad can accomplish, but at some time, the tyrant weakens, becomes feeble (George Bush, Moammar Gaddafi, Than Shwe, etc.), loses influences and gets his comeuppance.

Then no one says, "Oh what a surprise, taken down!" No, they say just the opposite: "He was lucky to have lasted as long as he did, now he's going to get it, this is what inevitably happens to those who live by the sword...."

But why did he last so long, where did he get the strength for wrongdoing, what fueled his success as a tyrant? It was not past debt; it was past merit. And the "bad" done now for the sake of bad was bad for him. Good now (any mercy or giving or understanding) would have benefited him in the future as bad now was only exhausting merit.

Mahayana scholars explain where nagas (shape shifters, reptilians, dragons, snakes, or any strong being such as a human tyrant or bull elephant, but particularly creatures with supernormal abilities and irritable dispositions) get their magical powers, wealth, and long life spans.

They are classified, alternately, as living underground, undersea, or in celestial spheres. And it is the celestial dragons with the power of transformation that are interesting here: They live in space/sky wielding great power. But if they are cosmologically classified as inferior to humans, How do they have superior powers?

Mahayana developed scant information on nagas and explains that merit is the cause. Nagas are unskillful beings, but in the past (as humans or in whatever form) they gave, which is a very meritorious activity. But to this profitable karma they added unprofitable karma.

For having given, they soon regretted it: "Oh, I gave too much! I wish I hadn't given to that recluse, that teacher, that person..." This mental karma undercut their profitable deed and reshaped the result. Now they gain from past giving but are joyless and stingy in receiving the fruits of their deed.

The same can be said of Ebenezer Scrooge. It is no accident that he is rich, nor is it an accident that he is so miserable. And if he had continued in that way, stingy and callous, he would have been buried by his misdeeds made possible by his merit. We have what health and wealth we have by merit, but we experience what we have by how we act now (in addition to the mental-resultants of past deeds).

An example that may be easier to grasp from a Theravadan Buddhist perspective is the curious case of Mara Devaputra, "Cupid," the "Devil," the "Tempter" in Buddhism. He does not live in hell, nor does he want people to go to any of the hells. Instead, he wants them to remain forever in the Sensual Sphere (kama loka), the lowest of the three spheres. He opposes and obstructs meditators or anyone striving to break free of this sphere.

He fought Siddhartha -- using his three deadly-beautiful daughters, Craving, Indifference, and Passion -- to impede him because he foolishly feared that if the Buddha were to find and teach a means of escape from rebirth and suffering (samsara), many might break free of his influence.

Mara Devaputra imagines he is the lord of the sphere. But he is not an all-inclusive Satan-type being. He is more like a Lucifer, an archangel living at the top of the Sensual Sphere in a celestial space plane in luxury and comfort.

He tempts beings drawing them away from renunciation, unselfishness, and restraint. (There are other forms of mara, referring to more brutal adversaries and accusers on Earth, other obstacles, and yaksha armies).

Mara Devaputra has neither knowledge nor regard for what will happen to beings (celestial, human, subhuman) who go about conducting themselves driven by craving, lust, greed, and overwhelming avarice. He is principally interested in maintaining his position atop the only sphere he knows.

To him everyone else is out of reach, particularly anyone who escapes samsara. (Within samsara there are also Fine-Material and Immaterial Spheres, comprising the three divisions of the Thirty-One Planes of Existence. Nirvana is not a plane, for it transcends samsara altogether).

How does such a being (whom the Buddha called Namuci, the "non-releaser") -- for he is not the only one but one in a line of vile adversaries and accusers such as the ancient "Corrupter" Mara Dusi -- live in a heaven or have supernormal powers?

Contradiction?
Monotheists go into contortions to explain how God cannot make a mistake, yet he does not want the Devil (whom he created) to do what the Devil cannot help but do. It is a needless misunderstanding.

The living being we call "God" is not the great uncreated creator of all. There is no such agent, even though there are great radiant beings anyone would point to saying, "That's 'God,' that must be who monotheistic bibles were talking about!"

Likewise, the monotheist's Devil cannot make one act. (Trick, tempt, sway, influence, scare into being evil, yes, but not force). We participate and co-create our actions, or they are not our "actions."

Karma (action) refers to intentional deeds, words, thought-habits. In the past Mara accrued merit and misuses it to bury himself in miserable acts of obstruction, overwhelmed as he is by greed, hate/fear, and delusion.

The "Gods" people and books glorify also got where they got by merit (profitable karma). And they are still caught up in samsara, the wheel of life and death experiencing the results of karma.

It is thought that they are not -- because they are so much longer lived, so much more powerful, knowledgeable, radiant, and so on -- but they are. What motivates them? Greed (jealousy), anger (righteous indignation), fear (of not being all s/he/it imagines or claims to be), delusion (self-aggrandizement and pride).

Who needs merit?
The gods need merit. Maha Brahma ("Great Supremo" or the Creator, who may create but who did not create everything in the universe) needs merit. Mara needs merit. Devas (archangels) need merit. Nagas (draconians) need merit. Asuras (titans) need merit. Gandharvas (fairies, messenger angels) need merit.

HUMANS (on this planet and elsewhere) need merit. Animals (of staggering variety) need merit. Pretas (ghosts, spirits) needs merit. Even narakas (hellions) need merit, or how will they ever get out of the bowels of the most miserable planes of existence? All beings benefit from merit.

Bad karma expends one's store of merit. By willing, performing, and accumulating unskillful karma, one stores up much demerit. Like debt, it is to be met with before long. It may already weigh on us as soon as we accrue it.

It takes a lot of effort to look like you don't care how you look. Looking "ugly" (pretty by a different aesthetic) takes merit.

The example of Goths
Another example of how merit helps even those who imagine themselves to be damned, ghoulish, "evil," possessed, delighting in the dark is the case of "Goths."

Some humans act like demons, zombies, ghosts, goblins, vampires, or inhuman monsters. This may be their authentic wish or view, or it may be pure affectation.

Nevertheless even among Goths -- who aspire to look gruesome, dreadful, dead, and decomposing -- it is necessary to be beautiful.

Dark beauty, vampiric looks, pasty/alabaster complexion, acne-free skin, straight strong teeth particularly incisors, silky hair, a lusty eat-your-heart-out figure, good eyes, pretty lips, a strong constitution, supernatural abilities... are all the result of merit.

Imagine trying to be a Goth with acne, spotty or wrinkled skin, acne, asymmetrical features, big pores, excess weight, crossed eyes, glasses, yellow teeth, coarse hair, short stature, misshapen boobs, a bony butt, and so on.

When one is trying to look "bad" and dangerous, "evil" and repugnant, cool and disinterested, effortlessly charming and uber-sexual (seductive) -- merit is necessary to accomplish it.

This anti-beauty style has strict parameters about what is attractive, which one needs a great deal of merit to live up to. After all, what it finds most attractive is not the declining demon but the "fallen angel," the Lucifer not the Satan, which people typically confound as one and the same.

Goths are NOT Satanists, but practicing the Dark Arts with charisma (animal magnetism), or being a hedonist, atheist, Pagan, Wiccan, or feared are much admired -- and the road to these is not debt but misused merit. Falling angels are as beautiful as angels, maybe more so, the fallen ones not so much.

A paradox? No, even among animals the same is true. It is on account of merit that an animal, even one with a terrible disposition, has outward beauty and attractive markings, is favored, and has an easier life. Not only animals but anyone reborn among ghosts, hellions, demons, or monsters has standards against which one will be judged and deemed either well favored or ill favored.

It is not only among humans and superhumans (rulers, devas, brahmas) alone that beauty, bravery, brains, loyalty, and trustworthiness are valued. They are more valued among killers, thieves, robbers... Then subhumans demand loyalty and honor.

In fact, the worse the realm, the more valuable these things are because they are in short supply and necessary for survival and advantage.

No one appreciates being violated, particularly those in the habit of violating others. Thieves do not want to be stolen from.

Demons do not want to be tormented, disrespected, or controlled (possessed). The worse one gets, the less one wants in any way to be told what to do.

Angels may gladly obey good celestial King Sakka, but demons prefer to betray and challenge the Devil -- just as mafiaosos, wanting to be mob bosses, constantly scheme against the Godfather looking for any sign of weakness. "There is no rest for the wicked," and no demon (underworld warden), hellion, hungry ghost, or animal can rest due to the insecurity of unwholesome associates. CONTINUED

"Buddhism A to Z" (dictionary)

2012-01-28T06:00:00.000-08:00

Prof. Ronald B. Epstein (Buddhist Text Translation Society's Buddhism A to Z)
(pfpjvalley)

Prof. Ron Epstein's collection of definitions of Mahayana Buddhist terms, released in book form by B.T.T.S., are now also available free online. Send corrections, including broken links, and suggestions for improvements to Prof. Epstein.*

While many words may sound familiar, having begun the adoption process into English, they are often the subject of some misunderstanding or Judeo-Christian assumptions.

BUDDHISM A-Z (online.sfsu.edu)

Dharma, Sangha, Arhat, karma, Bodhisattva... are all technical Buddhist terms. While they may seem vaguely familiar to Western readers, what do they really mean in Buddhism?

What are the Four Noble Truths, the Five Aggregates (Skandhas), the Six Perfections (Paramitas), and the Eight Winds? Buddhism A-Z has the answers. This volume contains full definitions of hundreds of terms, names, lists, and concepts most frequently met with in the post-Pali Canon sutras, which Mahayana says represents the original to-be-inferred teachings (as best explained by Alan Watts in How to Understand Buddhism).

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

*EDITOR'S NOTE: I have made the following unfinished work available despite some misgivings. I have done so for two main reasons. (1) I think that much of the material may be of value, particularly to students and to others who are not familiar with basic [Mahayana] Buddhist teachings, and (2) it has been many years since I have had time to work on this project, so perhaps by making it known, others can consider helping to bring it to completion....

Sanskrit diacritical marks are still missing, as are many of the Chinese characters. For the characters that are present, a Chinese Internet viewer program is needed. (Otherwise the characters appear as unintelligible symbols.) - Ron Epstein

A Publication of the Buddhist Text Translation Society
© Copyright 1986, revised 1992, by Ron Epstein and the Buddhist Text Translation Society
Compiler and Editor: Ron Epstein

Reviewed by: Dharma Master Heng Shun et. al.
Proofreading by: Lin Chia-hui, Rita Lu, et. al.

A NEWLY REVISED PRINT EDITION IS NOW AVAILABLE:
Ronald B. Epstein, compiler. Buddhist Text Translation Society's Buddhism A to Z.
Burlingame, CA: Buddhist Text Translation Society, 2003.

Why is DMT illegal when Elite use it? (audio)

2012-01-27T07:00:00.000-08:00

Wisdom Quarterly; PlanetEarthAwakens01

The third, inner, or "divine eye" (dibba cakkhu) is the pineal gland. MORE

Alex Jones (infowars.com) exposes the DMT connection (communicating with the Clockwork Elves), which stretches the mind to the point of awe. What is the secret government (the ruling elite) doing and why? Rick Strassman's book DMT: The Spirit Molecule documents extensive research on Globalists injecting DMT. Almost all of his patients came back say they came into contact with other conscious entities in alternate dimensions or in far off space. Many described praying mantis type beings who would conduct experiments on them and communicate telepathically.

Are these negative entities completely real and guiding an elite Illuminati's agenda. This evidence ties in with Steve Quayle's concept of the "return of the nephilim" (those who came from above) and the reason the powers that be promote such maverick and expensive research as the Large Hadron Collider. Is the idea to open up this physical plane to negative ("demonic") entities? The rabbit hole is much deeper than most of us can begin to comprehend.

Yet most of us have never heard a word of it. Here is a fast introduction to the Bilderberg Group, Pentagon at the University of Texas, Phillip K. Dick, Terrence McKenna, Joe Rogan, Satanism, interdimensional alien contact like Tesla talked about receiving, asuras, nagas, screens, world government, New World Order, demons, space aliens, channels, mescaline elf, LSD, PCP, psychedelic mind expanding, the subconscious, David Icke, and more.

GATE 2 coming to California (Feb. 4, 2012)

2012-01-27T06:00:00.000-08:00

GateCommunity.org/GATE2

Bjork to teach science in New York (video)

2012-01-26T06:10:00.000-08:00

Wisdom Quarterly

Avant garde Icelandic bhumi-devi Bjork, 46, is getting ready to teach high school science at the New York Hall of Science. Her course will mix interactive exhibits and music workshops as they relate to her latest release "Biophilia" (love of biotic life), which now has a number of associated Apple iPad apps everyone can access.

They say she's a crazy cat lover, but she's really a scientist.

Clean up of bodies, rubbish on Mt. Everest

2012-01-25T09:00:00.000-08:00

May 5, 2010

In May 2003 ABC reported, "With the debris of more than 50 years of climbing — oxygen canisters, tents, backpacks, and even some bodies — Mount Everest has been called the world's highest garbage dump." Fast forward seven years and Buddhist Sherpas are still trying to clean up.

(BBC) The Extreme Everest team says the mountain has been polluted [by corpses of failed climbers and tons of trash expeditions dump on the mountain]. An effort by 20 Nepalese Sherpas to clear rubbish and remove the bodies of climbers from the top of Mount Everest has been hampered by 100km/h winds. The Sherpa-led Extreme Everest expedition is performing a "deep clean" of the world's highest mountain.

So far it has recovered several bodies, including that of a Russian climber, Sergei Duganov, which has now been helicoptered off the mountain. The Sherpas hope to remove at least two tons of rubbish from Everest. The clean-up team now aims to reach the summit on Saturday when the weather should have improved. A spokesman for the expedition said that three bodies -- two of which had not been identified...

The BBC's Joanna Jolly in Kathmandu says that the expedition is controversial because many relatives of climbers who died on Everest want their bodies to remain there. However, the Sherpas say the bodies are polluting the 8,850m-high (29,035 feet) mountain and need to be removed. More>>

So you want to climb Everest? (Balloon Goes Bang)
Team set to clear bodies from Everest death zone
Expedition: Everest Dispatches

United POLICE States of America (video)

2012-01-25T08:01:00.000-08:00

Wisdom Quarterly (ANALYSIS)

Politics makes strange bedfellows. "Kinky Sex Makes the World Go Around" (Dead Kennedys) explains how economics and war go hand in hand.

The MIC (military-industrial complex) is safe. Co-opting the language of the Occupy Movement without ever once mentioning the word "occupy," Wall Street's own B.S. (Barry Soetoro) Obama puts the final touches on the Bush family's New World Order.

"We're not trying to push financial reform because we begrudge success that's fairly earned. I mean, I do think at a certain point you've made enough money. But, you know, part of the American way is, you know, you can just keep on making it..." — on Wall Street reform, Quincy, Illinois, April 29, 2010. More

Naomi Klein explains how "shock" and awe of entire populations produces the same results as torturing a detainee. "Disaster Capitalism" provides the economic shock.

But first to fake a popular election. How to get people to vote for more of the same? Vow "No more bailouts!" The damage is done. We won't be getting public money back from the massive bailouts industry already got:

Welfare fattened corporations and put the rest of us on the verge of homelessness and joblessness (facing foreclosure, underemployed, or very job-insecure). And let's give more money than Dick Cheney and W gave to the military.

The debt widens. Fear spreads. And if we feel insecure, we can rest assured that the name has already been changed from the Department of "War" to the Department of "Defense."

Pick a candidate, any candidate. All three are beholden to Wall Street, the Pentagon, Israel lobbyists, and clandestine services (CIA, TSA, NSA, NSC, FBI, police, Facebook...)

Music Meditation at Against the Stream

2012-01-25T06:30:00.000-08:00

Wisdom Quarterly; George Haas, Against the Stream

Peace activist Laura Murphy of the TwentytwELVES (conscious-creativity.com)

Back by popular demand, Against the Stream Hollywood hosts a Friday night "mindful music" event. The evening involves formal meditation accompanied by live music with amazing musicians, many of them meditators.

WHEN: Friday, Jan. 27th, 2012, 7:30 pm
WHERE: ATS, 4300 Melrose Ave., LA, CA 90029
WHY: Mindful live music helps a meditation practice.

WHO: Bruce Teter on pipes, Italian Zampogna, French musette. Jazzy call-and-response kirtanwallah with Rick Chant and Michael Wachs. Matt Corey one upright bass playing Bach. Andy Sykora on shimmering gong.

The evening consists of instruction in music meditation, followed by four half-hour set/sits. The night closes with food and merry-making. No registration is necessary, and this is a donation (dana) based event.

"Norwegian Wood" (trailer)

2012-01-25T06:29:00.000-08:00

(nonesuchrecords) TRAILER

Tran Anh Hung's adaptation of the bestselling novel that made Haruki Murakami famous is about a young Tokyo couple's sexual awakening amidst the tumult of the 1960s. "Norwegian Wood" has arrived in Los Angeles. The film opened in the UK in 2011 and in the US on January 6, 2012. The soundtrack, out now on Nonesuch Records, features an instrumental score by Jonny Greenwood performed by the BBC Concert Orchestra and the Emperor Quartet as well as three tracks written and performed by CAN. norwegianwoodmovie.com

Black Buddha, Black Jesus, "Malcolm X Day"

2012-01-25T06:00:00.000-08:00

Wisdom Quarterly; Newsone.com

Does Malcolm X deserve a federal holiday? Toure, a New York Times best-selling author, thinks so. He penned a Time Magazine column arguing that the civil rights legend is as deserving of a federal holiday as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Why Obama’s Critics Are Right

What would we celebrate on “Malcolm X Day?” Toure give us some of the principles we’d celebrate:

"Malcolm’s not a static intellectual figure -- his mind journeyed throughout his life, he held firm to his principles but was also strong enough to re-evaluate his beliefs and change when he deemed change is right...." More

First they [the Nazis] came for the communists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn't speak out because I was Protestant.

Then they came for me,
and there was no one left to speak out for me.

Martin Niemöller on the inactivity of German intellectuals about Nazis

VIDEO: The mass incarceration of Americans

Outcasts in a "free" America
Gandhi, Thich Nhat Hanh, Martin Luther King, Jr. are remarkable symbols of peace. So is the Jewish-Buddhist revolutionary St. Issa, spoken of highly in Islam, who became the central figure of his own religion after returning to Jerusalem from India.

They were all following examples of peace and justice, not one or the other. Malcolm X is labelled a "violent radical."

One quote, promoted by newspapers and a very racist FBI ("By any means necessary"), defines him for most Americans. But he should be remembered for having said:

"If you're not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed and loving the people doing the oppressing."

The fact is, each of these figure in his own time was called a "violent radical" by the powers that be. Each had his words twisted and his message diluted. Each challenged the status quo of oppression. Our own American racism makes it amazing that any state allows MLK Jr. Day celebrations.

The Tuskegee Airmen, black American heroes in "Red Tails" by "Star Wars"
creator George Lucas, revere a black Jesus. See more at blackjesus.com

But Reverend King only became who he was because Malcolm was struggling alongside him. It held his feet to the fire the way Dr. Cornell West and Tavis Smiley constantly try to hold Obama's feet to the fire to rise to the greatness he is obviously capable of. In America we still ignore other outcast figures, many of them simply because they are black or women or otherwise disenfranchised. We do it to our own detriment.

"Buddha the African"? Could he have emerged from pre-Islamic, pre-Persian, Arabian lands such as Egypt (or somewhere in the geopolitical Middle East) far to the west of India? One writer thinks so (essaysbyekowa.com).

Was the Buddha "black"?
It would be nice if he were because then the world might be less racist.

The Light of Asia, the Prince of Peace, the Awakened One (Buddha) is described as being Central Asian in appearance: He had blue eyes, black curly hair, and "golden" skin.

In context, descriptions of his complexion suggest he was relatively "fair," pure, or yellow (tan). He was certainly out in the sun a great deal. Cambodian (ancient Khmer Empire) depictions that look for all the world like Mesoamerican stone figures certainly look "black." But they do not look like historical descriptions in the texts or earlier depictions in art found farther west. And not all of these figures even represent the historical Buddha.

He could have been reddish brown and from Nepal (north Indian) with Tibetan (Mongoloid) features. But there is more evidence that he was from the northwest, in the vicinity of Afghanistan and a mother possibly from as far west as modern Iran (Persia, Seistan Baluchistan according to maverick anthropologist Dr. Ranajit Pal).

However, these places did not have the connotations they do now: There was no Islam. Zoroastrianism had not come into existence. Arabs were not prevalent. Even today, Arabs only represent a small percentage of Muslims. It is more likely that Krishna, whose name means "black" or "dark," was actually extraterrestrial blue, not blue-black.

Had the Buddha been black, there would have been no problem depicting him as such. Many ETs are blue and shown as such. One of the Buddha chief male disciples, Moggallana foremost in psychic powers, was actually a very dark brahmin.

The Buddha was not a brahmin, the high caste elitists (priests, intellectuals) often depicted as being racist and arrogant due to their obsession with "purity." Siddhartha was a warrior caste noble (kshastriya) from a family concerned enough with their royal bloodline to pair him with his cousin, Yasodhara.

All four castes (which also include merchants and servants) might be dark or fair, but darker skinned individuals seem to have been discriminated against just as they are now. The ancient Aryans (devas and asuras, unearthly visitors who seem to have embedded themselves in cultures around the world where they formed empires) made complexion an issue by being obsessed with conquest and breeding with earthlings.

Was Jesus "black"?
Was Jesus (Yshua, Joshua) black and from Egypt, which is in Africa? The Bible describes him that way in the only racial descriptions given of him (Rev 1:14). He had nappy hair like "lamb's wool" and "bronze" skin. Of course, this was in a revelatory vision. Other descriptions seem to have been edited out of the Bible. See debate.

He was dark, not a tall blond, blue-eyed Nordic giant. The Church used to depict him as dark until it suddenly changed him to make him more European. But what we mean by race is not what was meant in previous centuries. We seem more racist than those in the past.

Jesus had dark bronze skin and curly hair
(Jesus and Buddha) St. Issa said, “If your leaders say to you, ‘Look, the kingdom is in the sky,’ then the birds of the sky will precede you. If they say to you, ‘It is in the sea,’ then the fish will precede you. Rather, the kingdom is within you, and it is outside you. When you know yourselves, then you will be known, and you will understand that you are children of the living Father. But if you do not know yourselves, then you live in poverty, and you are the poverty.” - Gospel of Thomas 1:3

India: Berserk bus driver (video)

2012-01-25T05:55:00.000-08:00

IBN; CNN; AP via HuffingtonPost.com; Wisdom Quarterly

NEW DELHI, India - A bus driver mowed down pedestrians and rammed cars, scooters, and food stalls in [an hour long] rampage through crowded Indian streets Wednesday that killed nine people and injured more than two dozen.

Police chased the bus for an hour through the streets of the central city of Pune, with traffic officers firing on it in an attempt to stop it, before they managed to arrest the 30-year-old driver. He is being held on murder charges.

The licensed bus driver had driven his route as normal Tuesday, but on Wednesday morning he jumped into another driver's bus and took off, police said.

"He just went berserk," slamming into people, cars, school buses, scooters, and vegetable stands, Pune Police Commissioner Meeran Borwankar said.

Pedestrians tried to flee, with some throwing children out of the way of the oncoming bus, she said. More

India: 9 killed as bus driver runs amok on Pune streets

OPINION
Road rage? Western-style terrorism from too many Hollywood-influenced Bollywood movies? Too much stress from American wars on Afghanistan and Pakistan (which a half century ago were part of India)? Too much communal (Hindu vs. Muslim) violence? Or is this another Manchurian candidate going off as programmed? We can only speculate.

Those beings who wish for war, conquest, chaos, and fear are winning. Striking random terror into the hearts of urban populations is our specialty -- studied by the CIA, practiced by the US military, induced by screens and HAARP emissions, called for by military training and PsyOps. If it only happened in places like India, who would worry? But it happens in the US almost every week.

Just yesterday a man went into a fast food restaurant and started breaking windows with a metal bar. Police executed him when he did not put the bar down. LA police answered a domestic violence call on a drunk or special needs man and executed him in front of his house when he did not comply quickly enough. These are militarily-trained domestic police who are rarely so much as charged for excessive force. If enough random cases go of bizarre activity meet with uncontested use of excessive force, we have a police state on our hands. And it is justified my the unpredictable public the police are protecting us against as they strip us of our rights. It is like the young American soldier famously said of the Vietnamese village: "We had to destroy to save it."

Joan Halifax at Against the Stream (Feb. 18)

2012-01-25T05:00:00.000-08:00

Roshi Joan Halifax will visit for a special benefit weekend celebrating Against the Stream's fourth anniversary.

ALTARS IN THE STREETS: Occupy the Heart
Saturday – Feb. 18, 7:30-9:00 pm
This talk will explore spirituality taken from the monastery into the world. Through work in the prison system and with dying people, social and political activism, and a commitment to environmental responsibility, she looks at three aspects of spirituality:

spirituality of social action addressing structural violence
spirituality of service addressing direct and indirect suffering
spirituality of conscience and conscientiousness.

These three aspects are viewed from a Buddhist perspective where mutuality or interdependence is the base of our relationship with the world.

ENGAGED BUDDHISM: A Daylong Practice
Sunday – Feb. 19, 9:00 am-4:00 pm
The Dalai Lama said, "Compassion is not a luxury; it is a necessity for the humanity to survive." This daylong explores fierce compassion, radical wisdom, and fearlessness in today’s world. It includes teachings, practices, and research on the mental qualities that make it possible for us encounter the world bravely.

Twitter's Online Meditation Crew

2012-01-24T08:00:00.000-08:00

Onlinemeditationcrew.org; Wisdom Quarterly

The Online Meditation Crew (OMC) is a group of practitioners who, through the wonders of modern technology and a common interest in a shared practice, have come together along the path. The purpose of the OMC is to foster the personal meditation practice of the individual through the support and company of a crew. Anyone and everyone is welcome to come along on the journey. Keep an eye out for #OMCru shout-outs on Twitter and join in with the OM CREW today. The new home of the Online Meditation Crew is: onlinemeditationcrew.org

I'm too fat - and not like the Happy Buddha

2012-01-24T06:00:00.000-08:00

Rawstory.com; Wisdom Quarterly

The historical Buddha was well proportioned, never fat. Before reaching enlightenment he fasted to the point of anorexia, so severe were his austerities. The middle way between fasting and indulging proved to be the way to enlightenment. The body is a vehicle for spirituality not an obstacle.

The obese or Fat Buddha (Budai) is actually a folkloric deity who serves as a symbol of good luck in China. In Japan he is called Hotei or Duncan Royale Hoteiosho where he has been adapted into Santa Claus, having once been a Zen monk who gave out candy to children from a cloth sack.

He is the "Happy "Buddha (actually a bodhisattva striving to be a buddha, or Maitreya the next Buddha-to-be himself) seen in nearly every Chinese restaurant interested in business success. He is no example of health-success.

If "health is wealth," of what use is being rich but morbidly obese? Of course, most of us are fat NOT because of overeating but because of poor eating (too many processed foods, empty calories, carbs that make us hungry and fat at the same time, as Gary Taubes has explained so well).

Stress and hormonal disruptions also add to our tragic situation -- living in the Realm of Hungry Ghosts starving as we grow fatter and fatter, eating more only to feel hungrier. The best place to find fat, unhealthy Americans is wherever people eat along federal guidelines. Who eats the "Four Food Groups" exclusively according to the old Food Pyramid? People on Indian reservations, federal prisoners, overweight kids in public schools...

Hormone helps obese shed weight
RawStory.com
An appetite-curbing hormone found in the gut may help overweight and obese people shed weight, lower blood pressure, and reduce cholesterol levels, according to a study released [Jan. 11, 2012].

Known as glucagon-like peptide-1, or GLP-1, the hormone is naturally secreted from the intestine when we eat.

Recently, doctors have begun to use GLP-1 to treat patients with Type 2 diabetes due to the molecule’s ability to regulate sugar levels in the blood.

But they also noticed that the hormone appeared to make patients less hungry, raising the question of whether it could work as a treatment for obesity.

A team of researchers led by Tina Vilsboll of the University of Copenhagen designed a study to find out. Reviewing medical literature, they analyzed the results of 25 clinical trials involving over 6,000 patients who had been given GLP-1. More

Happy (Lunar) New Year!

2012-01-23T21:00:00.000-08:00

Ashley Wells, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly

(china-family-adventure.com)

January 23, 2012 marks the beginning of the lunar new year observed in China. It is the Year of the Dragon, the only "mythological" animal in Chinese astrology. One's sign is reckoned by the year of birth rather than the month. The symbols repeat every dozen years. Is this a sensible system? It is ancient, inspired from celestial visitors, and how likely is it that the most populous nationality on the planet would be off? Not only are there a billion plus mainland Chinese, there are countless pockets all over the world. Rebirth on the human plane, for most beings, means Chinese culture and DNA. That is better than being a "barbarian," which people outside of The Wall are, or at least were, regarded as.

The pre-Indian "Aryans" (documentary)

2012-01-23T20:25:00.000-08:00

(Tolerancethroughknow)

Extraterrestrial Aryan empires and invasions, and the origin of the swastika 卐, are much older than the very ancient pre-Indian Indus Valley Civilization, who spoke Sanskrit and composed the Vedas (Books of Knowledge), sacred texts still revered in Hinduism.

AR means sun, fire, flame, or light. The ancient ARyans, however, did not originate in ancient India nor did their solar cross symbol the swastika. These aliens pre-date the Sanskrit language, the root of the Indo-European (Indo-Aryan) language tree.

The Indo-Europeans are believed to have originated on or near the Armenian Plateau in post-flood Mount Ararat in the Caucasus Mountains, which are technically part of the Himalayan range.

Those ancient people, hybrid-humans with extraterrestrial rulers from space (the sky, the heavens) migrated throughout Western and Central Asia then onto Europe. These giant humanoid aliens figure in many origin myths -- from China, who say they were pyramid-building, Caucasoid space brothers referred to in legend as the Sun Gods, to Mesoamerica, where the Maya spoke of Kukulcan (Aztec, Quetzalcoatl) and the expectation that Nordic Alien titans would return from space to guide them).

These beings should not be confused with racist white humans claiming a divine rite of rule or neo-Nazi white supremacy. That lives on in America, which like a handful of other nations imported many scientists from Nazi Germany to carry on their military research and imperial agenda.

What the aliens have told all rulers was that by breeding with them, they were being endowed with the right to conquer and rule, leading to the creation of empire after empire in the world's history.

Those ancient Aryans are credited with everything

Smallfoot? Extinct jungle primate discovered

2012-01-23T20:00:00.000-08:00

Gallery: Undated photo released by Ethical Expeditions of a large primate species presumed to be extinct but found alive in Indonesian jungles where Asian Bigfoot(s) are also reported (Eric Fell/AP)

It is argued that Bigfoot could not exist even in remote places. The fact is, most of the vast animal world remains undiscovered. Bigfoot is not one of them. For they have been found and secretly documented. Why the information remains secret is up for debate. But in response to the argument that finding new large primate species is out of the question, as if we have found and made public all such beings, there comes this completely unexpected discovery.

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - Scientists working in the dense jungles of Indonesia have "rediscovered" a large, gray monkey so rare it was believed by many to be extinct. They were all the more baffled to find the Miller's Grizzled Langur -- its black face framed by a fluffy, Dracula-esque white collar -- in an area well outside its previously recorded home range. The team set up camera traps in the Wehea Forest on the eastern tip of Borneo Island in June, hoping to capture images of clouded leopards, orangutans, and other wildlife known to congregate at several mineral salt licks. The pictures that came back caught them all by surprise: groups of monkeys none had ever seen. More

VIDEO: Solar flares and science videos

New Iran sanctions most threaten non-U.S. banks

Japan offers U.S. support on Iran, less clear on Asia

Space: Russia seeks US and EU collective Moon Base

Space Agencies put Moon Base back on the table

Sony, Panasonic debt ratings cut on TV losses

Crocodile swallows Indonesian girl

British prince to climb Mount Everest

What the "Ancient Aliens" left behind (video)

2012-01-22T19:30:00.000-08:00

(LostPlaneta) Ancient Aliens, Season 3,Episode 3 (S.3, Ep. 1, S. 2, Ep. 2)

Dwarka (Dvarka, Dwaraka, Dvaraka) is a city in Gujarat, India). Known as Dwarawati in Sanskrit, it is rated as one of the seven most ancient cities in the country. The legendary place was the dwelling place of the blue extraterrestrial Krishna.

It is believed that due to damage and destruction by the sea, Dwarka was submerged six times. The modern day Dwarka is the seventh such city to be built in the area. According to Vedic and Hindu legend, Krishna built a city that was ultimately destroyed by rising sea levels.

Now archeologists and Indian Navy divers are investigating underwater ruins on India's west coast that are said to be Krishna's city. The new efforts will settle the debate currently raging over the age and authenticity of the site near Samudranaraya Temple.

(Videopostman) Graham Hancock's "Underworld: Flooded Kingdoms of the Ice Age"

Divers have collected blocks and samples to be dated. Traditional Hindu scholars referencing ancient Vedic scriptures believe the location to be very ancient, originally built many thousands of years ago. Such notions are, of course, vehemently rejected by establishment scientists. But they are willing to concede that there is evidence indicating an age of as much as 3,500 years.

Of course the date the city was destroyed would be long after its inception, so a definitive maximum date has not been established. A new study is expected to resolve the issue.

Archaeologists will use carbon dating to determine the exact age of the ruins. The earlier excavations, which first began 40 years ago, only revealed stones, beads, glass, and terracotta.

Turkey's Gobekli Tepe is also 12,000 years old. But advanced civilizations
on Earth are millions of years old within forbidden archeology.

2012 and the Kali Yuga (video)

2012-01-22T18:00:00.000-08:00

Bruce Fenton* (2012rising.com); edited by Wisdom Quarterly

(LINK) Mayan calendars point at Dec. 21st, 2012, suggesting the end of the world as we know it -- another Dark Age or a new Golden Age? Who was the blue eyed, white haired Kukulcan (asura)? What is the great pyramid at Chichen Itza? When will feathered serpents (nagas) plunge into our hollow Earth?

One of the most interesting calendar coincidences in relation to the Mayan 2012 information is the similarity between the start dates of the last long count cycle of the Mayan system and Hinduism’s Kali Yuga (the cyclical Dark or Decadent Age).

Yugas are vast periods of time, epochs that relate to the Earth's journey around a cosmos' central sun. The four yugas (Satya Yuga, Treta Yuga, Dvapara Yuga, and Kali Yuga) together make up an entire world age (aeon, kalpa) between formation and disintegration events, calculated to be about 4,320,000 years in total duration.

The Hari Krishna movement derived this view of the Kali Yuga from the Vedanta. Why are disparate cultures telling essentially the same tale? It is because extraterrestrial visitors seeded imperial cultures across the globe. But the ancient astronauts are now mythologies of "gods," angels, and demons.

While most Dec. 21, 2012 researchers are aware of the 3114 BCE start date of the current long count cycle, few are aware that the Kali Yuga -- a predicted era of moral decline and spiritual bleakness -- began in the year 3102 BCE.

It is startling that there are only 12 years difference between systems on different sides of the planet. The Brahma Vaivarta Purana Sutra from ancient (Vedic) India depicts a period which has many of the failings visible in our modern society. Such is the backdrop of the spiritual decline in the Kali Yuga.

It is, however, a mistake for people to seek a link between the Mayan 2012 end-date and the closing of the Kali Yuga. Although their starts may be similar, their ends do not. (Although some suggest this is an error).

Buddhism
The Kali Yuga is set to continue for a vast period, at least 432,000 years, well eclipsing the 5126 years of the Mayan long count calendar. Scholars from Eastern philosophies such as Buddhism and from religions such as Brahmanism (Vedic Hinduism), often suggest that ages are many millions of years long, vast kalpas (aeons, of which there are a variety of differing spans).

There is an excellent Buddhist parable that attempts to explain the staggering length of a kalpa. The Buddha said it was hard to say in terms of years, centuries, of millenia but that nevertheless an idea could be conveyed: The vivid description of an aeon is far more effective than a string of numbers.

It can be likened to a mass of flawless marble the size of mythical Mount Meru (Sumeru). And once every a bird whets its beak on top of the mountain with a fine Varanasi cloth. Carrying on in this way, that mountain of stone would sooner be completely worn away and yet a single kalpa would not have elapsed.

It is worth noting that Buddhist philosophy does not tend to hold to the idea that a time of any great universal significance will happen in our near future. Every moment carries the same inherent flaws and their solution is present, even if it is only revealed very rarely by universal teachers (buddhas) who rediscover and make known the Dharma.

The only significant events predicted or prophesied are the ending of vast epochs and the extremely rare and intermittent arising of new buddhas. There have been suggestions in relation to 2012 that the next Buddha (Maitreya) will arise at this time in a Judeo-Christian (Messiah) end of days scenario.

Unfortunately, anyone familiar with Buddhist lore will recognize that it is made clear that fully enlightened teaching buddhas only arise millions of years apart -- not on a regular interval or when needed but after vast stretches of geological time.

(ShiftOfTheAge) "Shift of the Ages" film is an authentic story of the Maya, the Mayan Calendar, 2012, and the turbulent times in which we are living told through living Grand Elder Wandering Wolf, who is also known as Don Alejandro Cirilo Perez Oxlaj. It will be Maya's first official discourse to the world (shiftoftheAges.com),

Buddhism (the Dharma) is prophesied to completely disappear during the Kali Yuga. And during that time it will be virtually impossible for seekers to find any opportunity for spiritual realization (breakthrough to the stages of enlightenment) at all by any system now available.

Only when such utter darkness has shrouded the world will another being become fully realized wholly by unprompted effort and without any guidance to become the next supremely enlightened teacher, the Buddha Maitreya.

The most notable discussion on the Kali Yuga by Buddhist teachers actually refers to how lucky a living being is to be reborn as a human at any time when the Dharma still exists and how much rarer to ever see a buddha or even an enlightened individual (arhat).

To quote the Tibetan teacher Pabongka Rimpoche, “Most important of all through this physical rebirth you are able to achieve the state of Vajradhara [unification of the illusory body and great bliss] within one short lifetime in this degenerate age; otherwise it would take thee countless great aeons to achieve. Thus this rebirth is worth more than one thousand billion precious jewels.” Dec. 21, 2012 may close a cycle... More

VIDEO: 2012 Solar Storms and DMT

*(VajraGuru333) Bruce Fenton introduces 2012Rising.com.

Exploring the Heart Sutra (Sanskrit, English)

2012-01-22T17:55:00.000-08:00

Wisdom Quarterly explanation based on Edward Conze's original Sanskrit translation

The Heart (or Core of Wisdom) Sutra in Japanese based on the Sanskrit with drawing of missionary Bodhidharma (somewhereindhamma.wordpress.com)

The Heart Sutra in Sanskrit and English

Prajna-paramita Hridaya Sutra
The "Heart of Perfect Wisdom Discourse" (Prajnaparamita Sutra) is the most important Mahayana scripture of all. Why should this be? It was not uttered by the historical Buddha. It may not have been uttered at all. Yet it encapsulates one of the most subtle and important Buddhist teachings -- anatman (anatta, "not-self").

It is the impersonal nature of apparently personal phenomena that confounds thinkers. We cling to the skandhas -- forms (this body), feelings, perceptions, mental formations (of which there are 50), and consciousness -- as "self," myself, my immortal "soul," my ego, my all. This latter-day discourse is the epitomizing of realizing (almost as a mystical experience of profound insight) that these conventionally-personal factors are ultimately-impersonal:

They do not belong to one, cannot be relied on to behave as one wishes (as wish wishes since there is no homunculus behind the appearance of an independent agent). They are dropping away at every moment and being replaced by near identical, but NOT identical, replacements.

Is consciousness eternal?
Yes and no. How? From the perspective of conventional truth, life does not end at death. Life carries on. One is instantly reborn (even if one subscribes to an intermediate stage, there is no time that one is without aggregates). The wheel of existence (samsara) rolls on until full enlightenment makes an end of all suffering. That consciousness, identified as the "soul," is immortal compared to the mortal body. It is imperishable compared to the perishable body. Why? It is because life carries on without intermission. BUT how could it be said to be anything but perishable, mortal, and impermanent when it is passing away at every second, every moment, every sub-moment? Consciousness does not last a single instant. One consciousness moment arises, turns, and falls away to be immediately replaced by another that is a lot like but not identical to the preceding moment. It is, therefore, not eternal in an ultimate sense. Conventionally, we will not die at death. Ultimately, we will not survive another moment. There are subtle bodies, and one can see them with the divine eye. One would call that body a soul, spirit, ghost, or the "true self" within the body, but it is only a more subtle body. If one understood with wisdom, one would see the radical rise and fall from moment to moment of all elements (whether physical or psychological, kalapas or cittas).

Particles (kalapas) and mind moments (cittas) are the elements of which all we are is composed and constituted. Each is impersonal, disappointing, and radically impermanent (incessantly rising and falling). We conceive of ourselves as these Five Aggregates (Groups, Heaps, Sets).

That is, they themselves might be said to conceive of themselves -- these functionally integrated (and transient, unsatisfactory, empty) factors -- as a real "self." It is a wrong view that can only be cured by insight-wisdom. Thinking will never cure the habit of our delusion. Why is it important to breakthrough to an understanding of ultimate reality, particularly when we are so cozy clinging to these phenomena as "self" and therefore as me, myself, and/or mine?

It is important because it is the crucial (sine qua non) element leading to the first stage enlightenment, stream entry. "O, what an awakening!" It was all a dream, illusory, real in its own way but nothing to cling to or suffer over. They are just phenomena.

The setting is instructive. This is a Mahayana invention, not a canonical text taught to the Buddha's direct disciples (hearers, practitioners). [Note 1] The central figure is neither the Buddha nor his chief male disciple ("foremost in wisdom"). What Sariputra represents is, in fact, being made fun of in the sutra. The Buddhist school that created this sutra is setting itself up as superior to the school it is implicitly criticizing or attacking.

Having been set up as the straw man representing the Hinayana schools who so revered him for his wisdom. Mahayana, emphasizing compassion and devotion and intuition, here regard Sariputra's "wisdom" as mere reasoning, thinking, philosophizing -- not insight or direct experience. (Of course, Sariputra did have direct experience, but he was also a very well educated brahmin with a very sharp mind).

The pre-Buddhist Indian idol, Avalokita or Avalokiteshvara (the "one who looks down" and hears the cries of the world due to his immense compassion), is the central figure. And he is schooling straw man Sariputra in real wisdom realized through meditation that approaches "mystical" experience.

(It is, in fact, not mysticism but the sober, systematic practice of the Four Foundations of Mindfulness that leads to liberating-wisdom).

The location is a mysterious sounding place made famous in sutras handed down from the time of the historical Buddha: Vulture's Peak is a small hill, which has never seen a vulture, in Rajgir (the royal fortress town rung by seven small hills on the otherwise flat Gangetic plain), the ancient capital of Magadha. The "vultures" are shadows cast by the large natural stones that resemble the birds.

The goal of apocryphal texts is to make them sound authentic. And while this sutra was not handed down from the time of the Buddha the way the others were, through Ananda, it is not necessarily a great crime that it was invented. According to Alan Watts (audio, "The Journey from India," Part II), it would have been quite improper to claim authorship. The standard practice was to give credit to the font or symbolic source of the wisdom.

The Heart of Perfect Wisdom

Edward Conze, [Mahayana] Buddhist Scriptures (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1959)
"Meditation at Vulture Peak Mountain" (Josh Fouse, Stanford University, India Program) taken at Rajgir, the alleged location of the Heart Sutra from Avalokiteshvara to Sariputra in the presence of the Buddha. Students from the AEA India Program can be seen meditating.

Om namo Bhagavatyai Arya-Prajnaparamitayai!
Homage to the perfection of wisdom, the beautiful, the sacred!

Arya-Avalokitesvaro bodhisattvo gambhiram prajnaparamitacaryam caramano vyavalokayati sma: panca-skandhas tams ca svabhavasunyan pasyati sma.

Avalokita, the noble (arya, "enlightened") venerable ("lord") and bodhisattva (someone striving for full enlightenment), was moving in the deep course of the wisdom which has gone beyond. He looked down from on high (as his name indicates), he beheld but five heaps (the Five Aggregates), and he saw that in their own-being they were empty (impersonal, not-self, devoid of a permanent soul, owner, or controller).

Iha Sariputra rupam sunyata sunyataiva rupam, rupan na prithak sunyata sunyataya na prithag rupam, yad rupam sa sunyata ya sunyata tad rupam; evam eva vedana-samjna-samskara-vijnanam.

Here, O Sariputra, form is emptiness (void of essence, void of self, void of identity) and the very emptiness is form; emptiness does not differ from form, form does not differ from emptiness; whatever is form, that is [impersonal], whatever is [impersonal], that is form, the same is true of feelings (sensations), perceptions, impulses (50 kinds of mental formations the most salient of which are volitions or impulses; in fact, sensations and perceptions are also formations but are so important as to be treated separately in this analysis), and consciousness.

Iha Sariputra sarva-dharmah sunyata-laksana, anutpanna aniruddha, amala aviamala, anuna aparipurnah.

Here, O Sariputra, all dharmas (phenomena, real things, things that bear their own nature) are marked with emptiness (non-identity, not-self, not representative of a self); they are not produced or stopped, not defiled or immaculate, not deficient or complete (but go beyond duality).

Tasmac Chariputra sunyatayam na rupam na vedana na samjna na samskarah na vijnanam. Na caksuh-srotra-ghranajihva-kaya-manamsi. Na rupa-sabda-gandha-rasa-sprastavaya-dharmah. Na caksur-dhatur yavan na manovjnana-dhatuh. Na-avidya na-avidya-ksayo yavan na jara-maranam na jara-marana-ksayo. Na duhkha-samudaya-nirodha-marga. Na jnanam, na praptir na-apraptih.

Therefore, O Sariputra, in emptiness there is no form, nor feeling, nor perception, nor impulse, nor consciousness; no eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind; no forms, sounds, smells, tastes, touchables (tangibles), or objects of mind; no sight-organ element, and so forth, until we come to: no mind-consciousness element; there is no ignorance, no extinction of ignorance, and so forth, until we come to: there is no decay and death, no extinction of decay and death. There is no suffering, no origination, no stopping, no path. There is no cognition, no attainment, and [no] non-attainment.

Classically, the Abhidharma (the "Higher Teachings" or "Ultimate Dharma" as distinct from the sutras and the monastic disciplinary rules of conduct) breaks down the elements of being, both internal and external. Internally, there are the sense organs that give rise to the various kinds of consciousness (eye-consciousness, ear-consciousness, etc.) and the sensitivity within each organ (sight-organ element, sound-organ element, etc.) Externally, there are visible forms (sights), sounds, and so on that impinge upon the internal to give rise to not only the various forms of consciousness but also to ignorance and the other links in the chain of Dependent Origination and the Four Noble Truths.

Tasmac Chariputra apraptitvad bodhisattvasya prajnaparamitam asritya viharaty acittavaranah. Cittavarana-nastitvad atrastro viparyasa-atikranto nishtha-nirvana-praptah.

Therefore, O Sariputra, it is because of his non-attainmentness that a bodhisattva, through having relied on the perfection of wisdom, dwells without thought-coverings (conceptions, conceiving, inferences, imagining). In the absence of thought-coverings he has not been made to tremble, he has overcome what can upset, and in the end he attains to nirvana.

Tryadhva-vyavasthitah sarva-buddhah prajnaparamitam-asritya-anuttaram samyaksambodhim abhisambuddhah.
All those who appear as buddhas in the three periods of time (past, present, future) fully awake to the utmost, right and perfect (supreme with the ability to teach) enlightenment because they have relied on the perfection of wisdom.

There is another kind of buddha, the non-teaching supremely enlightened person. A disciple's enlightenment (arahantship) is the same in terms of release, freedom, liberation, and nirvana, but it is not the same in terms of other things known. Those come as a result of having developed the Ten Perfections, of which wisdom is the final one).

Tasmaj jnatavyam: prajnaparamita maha-mantro maha-vidya-mantro "nuttara-mantro" samasama-mantrah, sarva-duhkha-prasamanah, satyam amithyatvat. Prajnaparamitayam ukto mantrah. Tadyatha: Gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhisvaha. Iti prajnaparamita-hridayam samaptam.
Therefore, one should know the prajnaparamita (perfection of wisdom) as the great spell (mantra), the spell of great knowledge, the utmost spell, the unequalled spell, allayer of all suffering, in truth -- for what could go wrong? By the prajnaparamita has this spell been delivered. It runs like this:

Gone, gone, gone beyond, gone altogether beyond, O what an awakening, all-hail!

NOTE 1: Mahayana created a wonderful sophistry saying that the Buddha taught an implicit or to-be-inferred teaching and an expedient or dumbed down teaching and that the more sophisticated teaching, while taught first, was revealed second. So the Hinayana ("inferior vehicle," a number of now defunct schools such as the Sarvastivada that never included the Theravada, which is the oldest extant school) is for dummies, and Mahayana ("great vehicle") is for geniuses.

The (New) Lord's Prayer; Mary's Heart Sutra

2012-01-20T07:07:00.001-08:00

Seven and Fehrensen, Wisdom Quarterly, based on Conze translation (syncretism conceiving of Mary as a representation of Kwan Yin and both as the Divine Feminine)

The Buddhist Goddess Kwan Yin, Bodhisattva of Compassion who hears the cries of the world, is sometimes conceived of as a female buddha, Wat Plai Laem, Koh Samui Island, southern Thailand (Joachim Leppala/Flickr.com)

Divine Source
Who art in consciousness
Hallowed be thy name-and-form
Empire come where will is One
On Earth as it is in space
Thank you for granting our daily wishes
And for overlooking our awkward trespasses
Lead us unto liberation, and point the way
To avoid all that is unskillful
Aum

The (Immaculate) Heart Sutra

Virgin Maryām [Note 1], blessed bodhisattva [lord] full of grace,
Was cultivating the perfection of wisdom
When she perceived that all Five Heaps are impersonal.
She thereby overcame all suffering [and exclaimed]:

"O, Wise One, form does not differ from the impersonal [the empty],
The impersonal does not differ from form.
Whatever is form, that is impersonal,
Whatever impersonal, that is form.
The same is true of feelings,
Perceptions, mental formations, and consciousness."

The immaculate heart of Mary (campus.udayton.edu)

"Herein, all phenomena bear the universal mark of the impersonal.
They are neither produced nor stopped,
Neither defiled nor immaculate,
Neither deficient nor complete [but are beyond all duality].

"Therefore, O Wise One, in the impersonal
There is neither form, nor feeling, nor perception,
nor formation, nor consciousness;

"No eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind [sense apparatuses];
No forms, sounds, smells, tastes, tangibles,
nor objects of mind [sense impressions];
No sight-organ element [sensitive material in the eye],
and so forth, until we come to:
No mind-consciousness element [heart base];

"There is no ignorance, no extinction of ignorance,
and so forth, until we come to:
There is no decay and death, no extinction of decay and death.
There is no suffering, no origination, no stopping, no path.
There is no cognition, no attainment, and no lack of attainment.

"Therefore, O Wise One, it is because of one's non-attaining
That a bodhisattva, through having cultivated the perfection
of wisdom [prajna-paramitta],
Dwells without conceiving.
In the absence of conceiving, one is free of trembling,
Having overcome all that can upset
and in the end attains to nirvana [2].

"All who appear as fully awakened teachers
in the past, present, and future
Fully awake to the utmost, supreme and perfect illumination,
Because they have cultivated the perfection of wisdom.

"Therefore one should recognize the perfection
of wisdom as the great blessing,
The blessing of great knowledge, the utmost blessing,
the unequalled blessing,
Allayer of all suffering, in truth -- for what could go wrong?

"The perfection of wisdom has brought it about:

Gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi svaha!

(Gone, gone, gone beyond, gone altogether beyond, O what an illumination, amen!)

"This completes the heart [pithy essence] of perfect wisdom."

1. Avalokiteshvara, "the lord who hears the cries of the world," came to be called Kwan Yin, who also takes the form of the Virg Yin, popularly known in the West and in Islam as Mother Mary. Originally an Indian male, the figure metamorphosed in the popular imagination into a Chinese female and then a goddess (devi). So it is not a stretch to reconcile them: They embody and represent the same thing in the marriage of wisdom and compassion.

2. An alternative phrasing might run: "There is no wisdom, and there is no attaining whatsoever. Because there is nothing to be attained, the bodhisattva pursuing the perfection of wisdom has no obstruction of mind. Because there is no obstruction, one has no fear, and one passes far beyond confused imagining and ultimately experiences nirvana.