Wisdom Quarterly: American Buddhist Journal

If there's no self, whose NDE is it?

2026-05-25T22:01:00.000-07:00

(Buddha's Wisdom) NO-SELF vs. NDEs: Buddhism's strangest question about death

Near-death experience (NDE)
Dr. Raymond Moody wrote Life After Life: A Groundbreaking Exploration of Near-Death Experiences and the Transformative Insights into the Afterlife, Backed by Scientific Study and Personal Testimonies
Dr. Ian Stevenson
Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: stages of human death
Dr. Helen Wambach does early science in Reliving Past Lives: The Evidence Under Hypnosis
If there is no permanent "self," what is there then?
Saṃsāra is not Nirvana, but is to say so helpful?
What is Liberation (Moksha) but Awakening to the Truth that this was all a Dream (Maya)?
Death (marana) is death because it is immediately followed by rebirth; there is no space in between, as the Bardo is misunderstood to be, because it will not be another human rebirth next
At the instant of death, in that submoment, what was a human life is lost, the impersonal process of consciousness relinks and rearises according to karma in a new form. It is neither a new existence nor the same as the one before, and this is confusing. Identity clings. But just as it was impersonal before, it is impersonal still, and the process (patisandhi in samsara) rolls on. Samsara is the "continued wandering on" and its detailed process the Buddha made known in the Abhidhamma, how cittas (mind moments) and impuslions (javanas) produce their results (vipaka and phala), and a "being" (which is really always a becoming) is unaware and just carried on...

Egoless Led Zeppelin (JBLZE) in Hollywood?

2026-05-25T22:00:00.000-07:00

JBLZE “Stairway to Heaven” live at LA's Greek Theater, Hollywood, May 23, 2026

The only Led Zeppelin reunion in history

Led Zeppelin: Celebration Day, live at The O2 Arena, London (England 2007)

There is a self, but it's ultimately impersonal.

What is a "band"?* It's a lot like a Buddhist "SELF," a "UCLA" (the American college), or a Greek SHIP of Theseus. It has a name, from which it derives its stable identity, but does it really have anything else for long? It's an illusion.

To demonstrate: I went to a college called UCLA. It doesn't exist. It started as a campus near USC, which is close to the skyline of DTLA/Downtown Los Angeles.

Plant, baby, is there really a "manic" nirvana?

If anyone can grasp these few examples, such a person will understand why the Buddha taught that ultimately speaking, there is no self, no soul, no essence, no abiding consciousness that travels from life to life or stands still here now.

That's impossible to accept. So reject it. Of course there's a self (atta). It's writing right now, and another self is reading right now...in a conventional way of speaking. No one is saying there's not that.

That being the case, WHY would the historical Buddha ever say there wasn't a self? We have to consider that. What is the reason, what did he mean, was he serious?

How does "suffering" come to be? 12 links.

The answer is: It is the unexamined assumption of what this "self" is that keeps us from awakening, keeps us from enlightenment (bodhi), keeps us from liberation (vimutti, moksha). There is something, lots of "things" (dhammas, "phenomena"). Such things arise by a process the Buddha called Dependent Origination (Conditioned Co-Genesis, Mutual Interdependence, this-that-that-this). This is, so that comes to be; when this is not, that does not arise -- as if "this" is not really more than "that."

Understanding D.O. in one example: What is a "candleflame"? If we break it down, deconstruct it, we find that it is five things. Who cares? Well, it's important because in place of this "self" we all believe in and never question the existence of, the Buddha is going to teach us that what we have been failing to see and penetrate is this very principle of conditioned co-arising or D.O. Okay, then, what five things?
Where does suffering go?
There is (1) wax, (2) wick, (3) heat, (4) oxygen, and (5) a very mysterious process of combustion. (Add to the list or take away, it doesn't really matter for the example to sink in). When these five are in a functionally integrated arrangement, bam, candleflame! Where did it come from? When it goes out, where will it "go" -- east, west, north, south, hell, heaven, the sphere of nothingness, the ground, my neighbor Robby Joiner's yard never to be seen again like all my frisbees? No, the designation does not apply; it is not correct to say the candleflame "goes" here, there, or anywhere. We just say it goes "out." That is to say, when these [factors, conditions, limbs] are present, that [candleflame] arises. When they are not, it is not. Therefore, in a sense one can say that a "candleflame" does not really exist, which is to say it does not exist independent of those factors upon which it utterly depends.
A candleflame does not exist.
Yet, we don't think it is any of those factors. It really seems independent, a new thing that came into being or brought those things (causes and conditions) with it. When does it come into being? When does it manifest what we conventionally call its "being" (beingness) into existence? When the final element (aggregate) is added. Try it. Put together any four of the five elements. There won't be a candleflame. Now, add the fifth. Viola! "Candleflame" arises in the mind -- which is what these five aggregate processes look like. We think it arises in the world, but probably all that was there before is still there now, nothing actually having been added. And when it goes out, one or the other factors (limbs) upon which it depended has been exhausted or removed. Right? Try it. Can we say that, for example, the heat is the candleflame? No, because there's heat everywhere yet there are very few candleflames. Is it the wax? No, because there's a world of wax yet relatively few candleflames.... But when we add the final element, "candleflame" seems to jump into existence. And, of course, it does conventionally speaking. But ultimately speaking, it does no such thing. It doesn't really ever exist, in a manner of speaking. I'll make this point again and again until it clicks what's being said and what is not.

UCLA does not (ultimately) exist. Here's why.

This "UCLA" that I say does not exist, isn't it right over there in Westwood? There sure is something called "UCLA" in Westwood right now. But what was born and originated near USC, other than the name or some transient traditions and a charter or photos, and what things came over from that first place that remain unchanged?

All of the faculty are different
All of the students are different
All of the curricula, books, desks...
In fact, let's imagine the first place burned down and was completely incinerated, so that nothing, not a brick, not a scrap of the original went from DTLA to the Westside, would we still call it "UCLA"? We sure would! Why? What we identify or imagine to be UCLA is moving from here to there.
In a century, will there be a "UCLA"? No, but there almost surely will be a college (university) called "UCLA." All the faculty, students, books, lesson plans, and ephemera will be different, but it'll still -- in a sense -- be good ol' UCLA, at least in our minds and on some plot of real estate somewhere in LA.

There is no ship

Is it the same ship or a different ship?

Aside from the example of an empty college, a figment of our consensus reality to call this this and that that, maybe the ancient Ship of Theseus example would better communicate this. A ship sets off for Greece but along the way has to change the sails then the oars then the floorboards then the wheel then, piece by piece, every single piece. Is it still the same ship that arrives in Greece?

Whaddya mean "there's no car?" It's right here!

The nice answer is that it neither is exactly the same ship, but we can't say that it's another. It is, of course, not the same, but to say it's different does violence to our language and what we mean, as Bhikkhu Bodhi pointed out in As It Is. The same with your car. You could take it into the mechanic over and over so many times that they change every single piece. Then is it still the same car? It's your car either way, but not a lick of it remains, not a single piece. But a paper somewhere at the DMV says it's yours, even with a new license plate and engine block number, paint job, glass, carpet, upholstery, gas, oil, screws, everything.

There is no oxcart

There is no such thing as an oxcart.

In the same way, in ancient times, an oxcart. What is it? It is, broadly speaking, five components fitted in a functionally operational way (wheel, axle, body, steering, ox). Add pieces to the definition or take them away, it doesn't matter. But five is easy. Whose oxcart is this? It belongs to Thad. Its wheels are broken. Change them. Axle is broken. Change it. The body is broken. Change it. The steering is shot. Change it. Ox is exhausted. Change it. Now, every part having been changed, what oxcart? That one. Whose oxcart is it? Thad's. Why? It's because in a conventional sense (by our agreement and his delusion) it has been his all along, even though it is completely different. He has no control over it really; he can't keep it from breaking apart. But we still call it his, and we seem to have no trouble identifying it even as every single part gets switched out.

This "SELF," what is it? It is five things (form, feelings, perceptions, formations, consciousness). Whose is it? This one's mine. What do you call it? "Me." Sometimes "I." It's myself, I mean, my self. My soul. My ego. My personality. My atta (Sanskrit atman). My vessel into which I load my store of karma (deeds, doings, intentional acts, or all of my willed actions).

By "form" you mean this rapidly deteriorating arrangement of materiality composed of solidity, movement, cohesion, and temperature? That's the one! So this material form, this body (this temporary vessel or vehicle), is actually just Four Great Elements, which are not "elements" as such but rather qualities of materiality, in a sense quanta or quantities of it because all material particles (rupa kalapas) are actually composed of all four elements or dhatus (or maha bhuta) but in differing amounts, so that when solidity is in preponderance, it gets labelled "solid" but still has all of the other features to a lesser degree. This is "you"? No. It is my body, but I am not the body. The body changes, but "I" stay the same forever and ever, the eternal self, the unchanged soul, the essence or core of the ego (psyche), the invisible watcher, holder, and owner of all that stands.
Okay, these feelings, that's "you"? Yes, that's me. I'm the feeler. So you're not the feeling? Well, no, not exactly, but feeling-feeler, same thing. Okay, all of them? Which all? You are all pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral feelings passing through? Yeah, sort of, I am the feeler.
All right then. These perceptions? Yes, I am the perceiver. And you are the perceptions passing through, too? Sure, okay, perception-perceiver, I am the all.
And these other mental formations, like these volitions, impulses, motives, intentions (cetanas)? Yes, I am the intender. And the intention? Intention-intender, same thing. I am the all, the owner, the doer, the knower, the experiencer, the controller or the one-who-thinks-he's-in-control.
Okay, and this consciousness? Yes, I am consciousness. All of them? "All"? "You" are eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind-consciousnesses? Uh, yes, I am consciousness. And all the consciousnesses passing through conscious experience? Uh, I guess.

"Self" as impersonal processes
Does anyone know why the Buddha called each of these heaps an "aggregate"? It's very important. It is because there are trillions of them, not one form, one feeling, one perception, one formation, one consciousness. At least with the oxcart, it seems like there is one (or more) wheels, axle, one body, one steerer, one ox, and the conglomeration of those forms one oxcart. But with "SELF," there are no such single items. There are aggregations (heaps of rupa kalapas) of material particles, countless numbers of them in every "material" thing, and that's just the body, the form, which has 32 main parts and lots of subsidiary parts, so many that one cannot find it tenable to consider one's "self" this body. So we cling to the other four mental formations as "self." (Yes, we call the fourth heap "mental formations" or sankaras, but the fact is that feelings, perceptions, and consciousnesses are all mental formations, too. The Buddha segregated them into these five for explanatory and insight purposes. As we develop liberating insight into these, we will clearly know-and-see that what we took to be MY feeling was just feeling being felt -- arising, turning, and passing away at all times, hurtling towards destruction, never standing still for even a submoment. The reason a feeling lasts is not because it arises and hangs around for a while then, realizing it's impermanent, it leaves. One feeling arises, turns, passes away, as another almost identical feeling arises, turns, passes away, in succession until this process dies out, at which time "the feeling" which was a heap of feelings passes to be replaced by another kind of feeling. The same is true of the other four aggregates. Science tells us this material body is nothing but a conglomeration of cells, which are molecules, which are atoms, which are quarks and strong-and-weak forces and thingies and whatnots, ever more subtle until they're not even material.

Add ingredients to the definition of "SELF" or take them away, it doesn't matter. The same is true. What we call "self" is not-self. It is impersonal, and radically impermanent, and ultimately disappointing, painful, stressful, incapable of ever fulfilling us.

*What is a "band"?

Meet the future legendary "Mr. Jimmy" [Sakurai] as he shreds on guitar for an adoring crowd

With John Travolta as Robert Plant

If ANY of this has made sense, let us deal with the problem at hand: What is a "band"? It's a group, an assemblage, an aggregate, a "heap" of four or five basic members. Whose band is it?

(Whoever owns the name, which is just about the only stable thing other than ownership rights of music catalog performed and/or written under that name).

What five members (factors)?

Fifth member Pete (Manager Peter Grant) is the best like Fifth Beatle Pete Best

So one day four guys and their manager became the New Yardbirds. And they got threatened with a lawsuit, so they became Lead Zeppelin. But Peter Grant, the manager and fifth member, said, "To avoid mispronunciation, let's call the band Led Zeppelin." All agreed. They played, recorded, became famous, and then the drummer had a son and died. End of the story. Led Zeppelin was over. But capitalism and greed being what they are, Led Zeppelin lived on. There was even a reunion of sorts, but they couldn't bring back the dead, so they did the next best thing: They brought in the next of kin, drummer John Bonham's son Jason. It was like having 3.5 of the original four members present. It worked!

It worked so well, that everyone but Jimmy Page or Robert Plant could have quit, and the behemoth could have gone on like the Who, Stones, Chicago, or any other massive rock act has done for years and years until not even a single member of the original band is touring! How is that possible?! Ship of Theseus. Oxcart.

Who am I? There is no me?

What're ya doin in my hole?!

In fact, there's an Early Buddhist or later Chinese Buddhist parable that may illustrate this even better: A man (let's say it's YOU) is walking and falls into a deep hole, at the bottom of which are two ghoulish demons arguing as they prepare some human stew from human limbs strewn all around their gloomy hole. Seeing you fall in, the angry one asks what the h*ll you're doing there and tears your arm off. And the other, just to p*ss off the first, grabs another arm from off the ground and attaches it to your body. It works! You move the fingers. These demonic ghouls have black magic powers. You're elated to get your arm back, which p*sses off the first, who then tears off your other arm. The other grabs another arms, attaches it to you. Again it works, you're elated, and it, being p*ssed off, tears off a leg, which is replaced, a torso with heart and head. Getting all five limbs torn off and others reattaches, you get the heck out of the hole. Who got out? Who went in. All five limbs are still down in the hole, but here "you" are running away. Is it you, is it not you, is it sort of you?

There is no UCLA?

"UCLA" can restart anywhere with anyone.

Is there one "UCLA," many UCLAs, no UCLA? Is this feeling the self, is that perception the self, is this consciousness what dies and is reborn -- or is it all an impersonal ("empty," devoid of self) process just rolling on? And that's all it's ever been? Ask Jason.

Because Jason must have asked all the remaining members of Led Zeppelin, Inc. to join him on tour. But for one reason or another (think ego, clashes, not wanting to ruin the profitable brand, and solo careers), they did not. So he did. Jason did. Jason went on tour.

Is there a Robert Plant? - Now and Zen
The O2 Arena show (called the Ahmet Ertegun Tribute Concert) was in 2007, and on Saturday night, Jason Bonham said he's been doing JBLZE about 16 years or so. That seems to be how long Jason and Co. ("JBLZE," Jason Bonham's Led Zeppelin Evening) have been at it. They don't need Page; they have "Mr. Jimmy" (Sakurai) on guitar, and he looks and plays more like Page did back then than Jimmy Page does now.

Is original Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant a Buddhist or simply a Gypsy mystic with a penchant for writing epic Nordic lyrics? What about Now and Zen and Manic Nirvana?
Science find a cure for ringing in the ear? Lenire ®: Tinnitus treatment using bimodal neuromodulation

Original Led Zeppelin drummer John's son Jason’s Led Zeppelin ~~Experience~~ Evening “Kashmir” LIVE The Greek Theater Los Angeles Hollywood, California May 23, 2026

Anattā is not a joke or punchline. All things are impersonal and always have been. And so long as we do not realize it (or that they are impermanent and disappointing, too), we will cling. And by clinging, we will suffer. And the way to let go (and stop suffering) is to realize the True Nature of All Things.

All things are impersonal: anattā

Ven. Nyanatiloka, Buddhist Dictionary of Doctrines and Terms edited by Wisdom Quarterly

What are the Five Aggregates in Buddhism?

THERE IS NO SELF (an-attā, not-atta): "not-self," egolessness, soullessness, the impersonal nature of all phenomena (particularly the Five Aggregates clung to as "self") is the final and most incomprehensible of the Three Universal Characteristics of All Existence (ti-lakkhana).

The anattā doctrine is unheard of throughout the universe, except that a supremely awakened buddha has made it known (or a nonteaching buddha has cultivated up to supreme realization) and thereby opens up an escape from the phenomenal world of endless rebirth and incomprehensible suffering.

This doctrine teaches that neither within body-and-mind (nama-rupa, the bodily and mental phenomena of existence) nor outside of them can there be found anything that in THE ULTIMATE SENSE able to be regarded as a self, soul, self-existing real ego-entity, or any other abiding essence or substance.

This is the central doctrine of Buddhism. Without understanding it, real knowledge of Buddhism is altogether impossible.

It is the only really specific Buddhist doctrine with which the entire structure of the Buddha's Teaching (Dhamma) stands or falls.

All of the remaining Buddhist doctrines may, more or less, be found or hinted at in other philosophical systems, doctrines, or religions. But the anattā-doctrine has been clearly and unreservedly taught only by a buddha.

It is on account of this that the historical Buddha was known as the anattā-vādi, or "Teacher of Impersonality." [He was also called a karma-vadin for emphasizing personal actions and karmic results.]

Whoever has not penetrated the impersonal nature of all existence and does not comprehend that in reality there exists only this continually self-consuming PROCESS of arising, turning, and passing away of bodily-and-mental phenomena and that there is no separate (independent, self-standing) ego-entity in or outside of this process, that person will be unable to understand Buddhism.

That is, that person will be unable to understand the teaching of the Four "Noble" (Enlightening) Truths (sacca) in the correct light. One will instead think that it is:

one's soul, self, ego, or personality that experiences suffering (dukkha, disappointment, pain, distress),
one's personality that performs skillful and unskillful deeds (good and evil actions)
one's soul who will be reborn according to such actions (karma),
one's personality that will enter into some kind of everlasting heaven, sphere, place, or state the Buddha called "Nirvana" (Pali Nibbāna),
one's "self" that practices on the Enlightening (Noble) Eightfold Path.

So it is said in The Path of Purification (Vis.M. XVI):

"Mere dukkha [ignorance] exists;

No experiencer of dukkha is found;

Deeds are, but no doer of deeds is there;

Nirvana is, but not one who experiences it;

The Path is, but no traveler on it is seen." More

Get Him to the Greek: smoke Epstein

Penis Diddy, accused rapist Russell Brand, that Jewish guy and Jonah Hill

Rock's future: Japanese Buddhist girls?

(KreciolaTV) Hanabie. LIVE Pol'and'Rock Festival 2025 (full concert)

Dhr. Seven, Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Ashley Wells (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly

PUNK ROCK music be all like...

2026-05-25T21:58:00.000-07:00

(Paloma Reloaded) PUNK MUSIC be like May 15, 2026: Enjoy my content? Please consider becoming a Patreon or, optionally, fund the research through BuyMeACoffee. ☕ Thanks! ✨ palomareloaded

Punk rock born out of hating ego

(MaxxUnitt) Punk rock was born from hating these bands

Whole new worlds of music(k)?

(RYM Charts) The best album of every punk genre (75 genres)

The seven levels of rapper

2026-05-25T21:57:00.000-07:00

(duplee)

(blustre) Great songs by bad artists?

The 7 Levels of Rappers | REACTION MASHUP

(gozman) Drake on Iceman diss

The biggest meme in rap: Drake

BEST rap songs ever made? - Top 10 most streamed rap songs of all time

Rapper of the Year: RAP goes too far: metal Ghostemane?

Tao of Not Trying: Alan Watts, Lao Tzu, B Wen

2026-05-25T21:54:00.000-07:00

(After Skool) Taoism Founder Lao Tzu on Art of Not Trying

Care about what they all think, prisoner?

Wu wei (Chinese 無為, simplified Chinese 无为, Pinyin wúwéi) is a concept [popular in Zen Buddhism] from ancient Chinese philosophy that literally means "not-acting" or "non-doing," variously interpreted and translated as actionlessness, inaction, or effortless action [1, 2].

Is it the "flow state" in Western psychology?

If I could be Zen, would I be a Taoist?

In Taoism, it denotes the nature of Tao, meaning that while the Tao (the way, path, or flow of nature) is the source of all existence and manifestation of all phenomena, its intrinsic formless essence is that it acts or moves in a silent, invisible, ineffable, often-unnoticed manner that may even seem motionless and effortless [3, 4, 5, 6, 7].

Accordingly, Taoists aspire to live their lives in alignment with such a harmonious state of free flowing and unforced activity.

In a political context, it also refers to an ideal form or principle of spontaneous and non-aggressive governance [8]. More

The Path of Least Resistance

(Benebell Wen) Ziran (The Taoist Path of Least Resistance)

Let nature reign and all will be well?

Ziran (Romanized tzu-jan) is a key concept in Taoism and East Asian Buddhism. It literally means "of its own" or "by itself" and therefore "naturally; natural; spontaneously; freely; in the course of events; of course; doubtlessly" [1, 2].

ETYMOLOGY: This Chinese word is a two-character compound of zì (自, "self," "oneself," "from," "since") and rán (然, "right," "correct," "so," "yes"), which is used as a -ran suffix marking adjectives or adverbs (roughly corresponding to English -ly).

What is the most intelligent response? Flow

According to the Shuo Wen lexicon, the character 自 zi means "nose" [one's nose, oneself when not interfered with by outside influences.] In Chinese culture, the nose (or zi) is a common metaphor for a person's own point of view [3]. More

Alan Watts, what's the Philosophy of the Tao?

Alan Watts – Philosophy of the Tao, Pt.1 | Flow, Balance, and the Course of Nature (full talk)

Pantheon of Taoist Gods (Tao.org)

A decolonized intro to Taoism

(Benebell Wen) Taoism: A Decolonized Introduction

OMC, I'm in LOVE! 'Off Campus' (rom-com)

2026-05-25T21:53:00.000-07:00

Chemical basis of love (neuropsych)

"OMC" not OMG? That's right, as in oh holy COW and "Don't have a Cow, man!" because love is a many-splendored thing. What better topic for a TV show than the same-old same-old? Sex sells, specially when it's wrapped in romantic love, which justifies it in our consensus reality. One is the sizzle, the titillation, and the other is the drug.

(Alex Meyers) May 2026: Off Campus is my kind of trash! Yeah, Off Campus, that's right. So I made an animated commentary analysis of it. Here's a full breakdown of this Prime Video TV show, a romcom that is so basic, it's kind of not the worst thing out there.

Nothing Higher to Live For: A Buddhist View of Romantic Love

Do we ever grow out of it? Generation Timeline made simple (Wiki)

I've nothing higher to live for!

(Leo Price) ...If life means nothing, then only pleasure is worthwhile. Or if life has meaning and we cannot get at it, then still only enjoyment matters.

This is the view of not only brutes but some sophisticated philosophers.

It slips into our unconscious by default when we hold no other. However, we are reluctant to entertain it.

Oh, Ro-Ro! - Oh, Jewels!!

We would rather, if we question ourselves about it at all, take as our "purpose" the

support of family,
search for truth or beauty,
improvement of society,
fame,
self-expression,
development of talent...

It might be fair to say that apart from these or beneath these, for many of us our fundamental purpose is the search for love, particularly romantic love.

The love of one person for another is often the floor onto which we fall after the collapse of other dreams.

(Recap & Edit) Garrett and Hannah being a comedic duo (Off Campus)

I will kill you. - Find me first, Eros!

It is thought of as solid when nothing else is, and although it frequently gives way and dumps us into a basement of despair, it still enjoys a reputation of dependability. No matter that such a reputation is illogical—it still flourishes and will continue to flourish regardless of what anyone says.

Love, or the MYTH of love, is the first, last, and sometimes the only refuge of uncomprehending human beings. What else makes our hearts pound? What else makes us swoon with tingly feelings? What else renders us so intensely alive, aching, pining, yearning, wishing, hoping, craving?

I 💖you, Agnes. - I, too, Hieronymus.

The SEARCH for love—the sublime, the nebulous, the all consuming—remains sacred in a world that increasingly despises the sacred.

When the heroic and transcendental are only memories, when religious institutions fill up with bureaucrats and social scientists, when nobody believes there is a sky beyond the ceiling, then there seems no other escape from the prison of self than throwing ourselves abandon into love.

With a grey age of spiritual deadness upon us, we love. We beg for love or grieve for love. We have nothing higher to live for.

Indeed, many take it on faith that romantic love is the highest thing to live for. Movies, popular literature, art, and music all relentlessly celebrate it as the one "truth" accessible to all.

This kind of love obliterates reason, as poets have long sweetly lamented, and this is part of its charm and power. Why? We want to be swept up and spirited out of our calculating selves. "Want" is the key word because in the spiritual void of modern life, the wanting of love becomes increasingly indistinguishable from love itself.

So powerful, so insistent is it that we seldom notice that the gratification it tempts us with is rare, yet the craving is relentless. Love addiction? Love is mostly in anticipation; it is an agony of anticipation; it is an ache for a completion not found in the dreary round of mundane routine. That we never seem to possess it in its imagined fullness does not deter us. It hurts so bad that it must be good. Nothing Higher to Live For: A Buddhist View of Romantic Love

Off Campus stars getting body shamed?

(BF) Katie Holmes Who and Dawson Creeky Van Der Beaky teen rom-com

The Gen Alpha Melody

(Carl E. Martin) The Gen Alpha Melody

(Bookimo) The Mistake (Off Campus) | Elle Kennedy animated summary

God=Tao? Converting Taoism into Christianity

2026-05-25T21:50:00.000-07:00

How could the true "Tao" ever be limited to a personality? Pantheon of Taoist Gods (Tao.org)

The Jesuit priest who almost converted Taoism to Christianity

Matteo Ricci, Latin Matthaeus Riccius (Oct. 6, 1552–May 11, 1610) was an Italian Catholic Jesuit priest and one of the founding figures of the Jesuit China missions.

Ricci: You will worship our God

He created the Kunyu Wanguo Quantu, a 1602 world map written in Chinese characters. In 2022, the Apostolic See declared its recognition of Ricci's heroic virtues, thereby bestowing upon him the honorific of venerable [1]. Ricci arrived at the Portuguese settlement of Macau in 1582, where he began his missionary work in China.

He mastered the Chinese language and writing system.

The West's Vatican will rule China!

He became the first European to enter the Forbidden City of Beijing in 1601 when invited by the Wanli Emperor, who sought his services in matters such as court astronomy and calendrical science.

He emphasized parallels between Catholicism and Confucianism but opposed Buddhism.

He converted several prominent Chinese officials to Catholicism. He also worked with several Chinese elites, such as Xu Guangqi, in translating Euclid's Elements into Chinese as well as the Confucian classics into Latin for the first time in history. More

Who was Lao Tzu, founder of Taoism?

(Daily Tao Wisdom) "The Taoist Healing Walk": XI XI HU Technique

Lao Tzu (aka Laozi)
LAO TZU (Romanized "the Old Boy," Chinese Laozi, 老子, Pinyin Lǎozǐ) was a legendary Chinese philosopher and sage traditionally credited with writing The Book of Changes or Tao Te Ching (Pinyin Dào Dé Jīng), one of the foundational texts of Taoism.

Traditional accounts identify him as Li Er, born in the 6th century BC in the state of Chu during China's Spring and Autumn period (c. 770–c. 481 BC). He is said to have served as the royal archivist for the Zhou court.

Alan Watts on Chinese philosophy: Tao symbol explained

He is also said to have met Confucius (c. 551–c. 479 BC), and to have composed The Book of Changes before withdrawing into the western wilderness.

Modern scholarship, however, has questioned both Lao Tzu’s historicity and the traditional attribution of the Tao Te Ching to a single author. More

Confucius

CONFUCIUS, born Kong Qiu, was a Chinese philosopher of the Spring and Autumn period who is traditionally considered the paragon of Chinese sages. Much of the shared cultural heritage of the Sinosphere originates in the philosophy and teachings of Confucius [1].

His philosophical teachings, called Confucianism, emphasize personal and governmental morality, harmonious social relationships, righteousness, kindness, sincerity, and a ruler's responsibilities to lead by virtue [2].

He considered himself a transmitter for the values of earlier periods, which he claimed had been abandoned in his time... More

Alan Watts on unbelievable Taoist-Zen wisdom

What is the Tao in Lao Tzu's Taoism?

Outline of the aura: Qigong

Taoism (pronounced Daoism) is a philosophical and religious tradition indigenous to China and is a major influence on Zen. It emphasizes harmony with the Tao (道).

With a range of meanings in Chinese philosophy, translations of Tao include "Way," "Road," "Path," or "Technique," generally understood in the Taoist sense as an enigmatic process of transforming ultimately underlying reality [2, 3].

Taoist thought has informed the development of various practices within the Taoist tradition, including forms of

meditation,
astrology,
qigong,
feng shui, and
internal alchemy [4].

Meister Lam in Jiuzhaigou: Qigong

A common goal of Taoist practice is self-cultivation, a deeper appreciation of the Tao, and a more harmonious existence [with nature].

Taoist ethics [that blended until they are thought to be of Buddhist origin in Zen] generally emphasize virtues of effortless action, naturalness, simplicity, and the three treasures of compassion, frugality, and humility.

Taoism is a distinct tradition with its own scriptures, priestly lineages, and ritual systems, but it has long been closely intertwined with Zen and Chinese folk religion, and the boundary between them is often fluid in practice [5].

The core of Taoist thought crystallized during... More

When we stop wanting more, everything changes – Lao Tzu

Alan Watts on Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching

Mandy Kahn: Deep Dive Poetry @ PRS

2026-05-25T21:45:00.000-07:00

Peace activist Mandy Kahn hosts Deep Dive Poetry at prs.org

Friends, Peace Class meets on Wednesdays, but tonight we take a deep dive. On Tuesday (May 26, 2026) the Deep Dive Poetry reading series returns to Manly P. Hall's Library of World Religions at the Philosophical Research Society (PRS), with the next poetry presentation taking place in September. The last Peace Class was about Loving Boundaries, found below.

WHAT HAPPENED?

More than 40 people showed up, so many that we ran out of chairs. But there's a gallery to the side, and a few folding chairs later, Mandy Kahn got up to read. A new poem about being a "Kahn" (German Jewish Cohen) delighted readers. But the one about Mara (Death) really caught our attention:

I Do Not Fear Death, Yet Go On Living

I do not fear death, yet go on living.

I know choirs wait for me to finish,

waiting to paint this clear air with their singing,

wait in gauzy figures, just past seeing.

I know what will greet me is more vibrant

than a field of poppies in the morning

widening their petals for the daylight.

I know what is waiting, past my seeing,

Know its luster. Still, I go on living,

chopping, boiling, eating, scrubbing, sweeping,

writing sonnets seen by just my ceiling,

stacking up old bills--paying, not paying,

then a bath, a walk, and it is evening.

Choirs wait to stir the air with feeling.

Angels wait to steer me towards a drawbridge

made of lighted crystal. I keep living

- Mandy Kahn, Holy Doors

WQ's Priestess of Peace Mandy

Mandy’s youthful, but one is reminded of Jen Moxley and her contemplations: When people lie awake with their thoughts, their mind often turns to how life has changed and what may come. Spinning in the dark hours, thoughts swirl with fears, hopes, and reflections. People change as they pass through time. So, too, does the world they live in, their friends and their environment and the society they live in. The Midnight Work, Jennifer Moxley’s eighth book of poetry, contemplates these changes as she enters and experiences midlife. UMaine.edu/news/2026.

Am I pretty? (Callie Siskel)

Then self-described “moribund" Callie Siskel stepped up to the podium, asking, Does loss define us, or do we define loss?

Tracing the duality of grief as it reverberates through a family, she wrestles with questions of identity and inheritance in precise, lucid language. Her book of poetry, Two Minds, indulges and therefore exposes the vanity of turning private pain into art and the pursuit of self-revelation.

Two Minds (Callie Siskel)

Drawing on ekphrasis, ars poetica, and prose poetry, Siskel expands the elegy and elegiac genre as she oscillates between childhood and adulthood, art and mythology, as well as the natural and domestic world. At once cerebral and emotional, Amazon describes Two Minds as “an essential meditation on the ways that loss cleaves and doubles our perceptive power.” Her poem about Jean says it all, reflecting on her own appearance as she sees it through the eyes of a great portraitist who repeatedly painted his wife. Who would ever guess she was once Time's person of the year? She explains in her other "Narcissus" (The Paris Review):

"Narcissus"

You. (Time Person of the Year)

Time’s Person of the Year was “You.”
I was a sophomore in college. I held the mirror up to my friend.
Outside a fraternity, I stood in a circle of women telling each other how pretty they were.
On the walk back to my room, I passed a monument: water running over granite.
The man I loved wanted me in his bed, so I could tell him he was exceptional.
There is a difference between Echo and the spring: one repeats, one colludes. More

"The Concept of Immediacy"

I fell asleep with an idea, but when I woke up, I’d lost it,

as when, approaching the rabbit on the trail,

it took off into the brush.

I followed, clearing the warblers,

fixing their gaze.

Ruining something felt like a reason to proceed.

Looking out at the view—

dense swaths of pine, the bay, all three bridges

half-submerged—

I waited for a sign to go back, the mind saying enough

or what next or there’s nothing here... More

Enough with all the words! Maybe we should meditate now (Ramón García)

Second Tuesday Poetry ft. Ramón García

Then came a remarkable man from Eagle Rock, CSUN Prof. Ramón García, regaling the audience with poetry of travels and the most unexpected things. We thought we knew Mesoamerican/Mexican history, but we did not know about the mystic Aztec Mirror housed in The British Museum (magical mirror and case). But that's a new poem, as yet unreleased. Most of the selections he read came from Strange Signatures:

Obsidian 'Spirit Mirror' used by Queen Elizabeth I's court astrologer has Aztec origins

Strange Signatures

Paralleling how celebrated artists create and are consumed, this book of poetry maps a zone of contact between artistic creation and the dangers of identification. A neo-baroque, lyrical treatise on encountering the Other, the poems in Strange Signatures reverse the colonial gaze and transform it into scenes of conflicted recognition.

At the origin of the Other is a queer Bluebeard, an emblem of imperialist violence and savage injustice. Resisting the patriarchy and its colonizing powers are Bluebeard's feminist phantom brides, a "bride brotherhood," the guerrilla-muses of solidarity and revolution. In poems that open the secret chambers of individual and collective histories, Bluebeard's survivors continue a phantom afterlife by way of dislocated avatars: modernist artists, estranged Latin American poets, pop stars, a taxidermized parrot and a Peruvian mummy.

This book is an international, cinematic montage of the phantasmatic and the all-too-real, locating social transformation in memory, crime and the allegorical biographies of celebrated artists and poets. More

Ramón García finalist for 3 int'l Latino book awards | CSUN

Who could write a whole poem about a commonplace mirror? Sylvia Plath did.

Then two veteran poets and friends came to the podium, the well-known Gail Wronsky and David St. John. While her readings were the highlight of a very uplifting night, he did more explaining and prefacing, bringing us into the interior life of a poet. Then he went to a touching early piece, "From a Bridge."

A Review of Gail Wronsky's Imperfect… | The Poetry Foundation

(Beyond Baroque) Los Angeles book launch for Gail Wronsky and Paul Liber

"From a Bridge"

By David St. John

I saw my mother standing there below me

On the narrow bank just looking out over the river

Looking at something just beyond the taut middle rope

Of the braided swirling currents

Then she looked up quite suddenly to the far bank

Where the densely twined limbs of the cypress

Twisted violently toward the storm-struck sky

There are some things we know before we know

Also some things we wish we would not ever know

Even if as children we already knew & so

Standing above her on that bridge that shuddered

Each time the river ripped at its wooden pilings

I knew I could never even fate willing ever

Get to her in time

"The Last Troubadour" | The Poetry Foundation

Loving Boundaries

Walking, I looked up and saw myself.

We are here to learn to choose peace. Choosing peace looks like choosing to honor the Earth and her holy forests and waters. It is choosing to honor others with love, kindness, gentleness, and choosing to honor ourselves with self-love, self-kindness, self-gentleness.

As an aspect of this project of learning to choose peace, all will eventually learn how to share metta or universal love-without-end while still maintaining boundaries that honor self.

Only the lower mind thinks that one must choose between honoring others and honoring oneself.

Only the lower mind thinks, “Should I take an action that benefits me or one that benefits others?”

From the perspective of the higher mind, the Peace Mind, one can see that there is always an action (karma) available that both honors the self and all others.

When we are operating from the Peace Mind, we see with the Peace Mind's faculties. The Peace Mind is the place of infinite options, infinite opportunities.

Only someone outside of the Peace Mind could believe that a choice between self and others could be required.

Often, the options that honor both self and others will look like kindness with loving boundaries, or unconditional love with loving boundaries.

The gate that guards my garden of loving

Now, these boundaries are not limits on the amount of love expressed; one can express love-without-end, love-without-condition, and still engage loving boundaries.

These are boundaries that protect the individual even as s/he shares love-without-end, universal, limitless love.

What does it look like? Imagine a cottage surrounded by a tall garden wall with a locked gate.

Can I be safe in my garden AND share it?

To visualize love-without-end being expressed while maintaining loving boundaries, imagine being the inhabitant of that cottage. You send love-without-end over the wall, into the town, all the while still maintaining a protective wall. The inhabitant keeps her/his ground safe.

All day, every day, we can flow our love over the wall. It can flow from us without ceasing, and it can be a love without judgment, a love that surrounds and supports everyone equally, a love that enriches and heals and purifies all who are touched by it.

Our love can heal others, support others, care for others, and can still keep this boundary in place.

Because we are a part of others, it never honors others when we dishonor ourselves or give of ourselves in a way that does not serve us as we serve them. Over-giving harms others, even as it harms us.

Regardless of how others react to our boundaries in the moment, know that our lack-of-boundaries never serves others in the long run. Why? It hinders our ability to be of service to them and to everyone, and to ourselves in the future.

Service to self and service to others are aspects of the same thing. One's highest action always serves both self and others simultaneously.

Participating in service to others that does not honor self is simply a phase that many will pass through before choosing forms of service that also honor self.

Serving others feels so good to us, so right to us, that sometimes we experience “service rapture.” That selfless “service rapture” can be a kind of high. We can love the joy of serving so much that we over-give and burn out. This is simply a lesson to be learned.

When we give from grace, from strength, from fullness, we refill even as we give, and burnout is not reached. We give, fill, give, fill, give, in a harmonic flow—and when we do, we can feel when it is time to rest, and we can feel when it is time to act, and we naturally do what is called for, knowing that serving self by resting is also an aspect of serving others.

What was I doing way up there?

This flow state of service is always eventually learned by every evolving being.

Honoring self and honoring others is one. We are one. We are one in separate bodies. When we realize this, we begin to serve all parts of self—the self that appears to be us as well as the self that appears to be others—in harmonic flow.

When we learn this flow, when this flow becomes natural to us, we are of highest service.

Different situations and different relationships require different forms of loving boundaries from us.

The easiest way to see what kind of boundaries are required in any situation is to gaze at it from the place of our Peace Mind. From here, it is clear how to both honor ourselves with boundaries and to send love-without-end over our garden walls.

Even in a private magic garden, I love everyone

We will know that we have learned these lessons as a society when kindness is expressed in our penal system.

Now we live in a society that maintains a penal system that attempts to “scare people straight”—to use punishment, fear, cruelty, and harshness to build fear into an individual in an attempt to reform that penitent.

This system is based on the belief that fear could ever inspire inmates in such a system to choose more loving actions. It will not. It cannot.

Fear-based reform tactics build fear, hatred, resentment, anger, and frustration in an inmate, and those things flow back toward all of us in the collective, where such things affect everyone to our detriment.

One cannot build fear in another and not also build fear into the collective. We are all part of the collective consciousness.

But a separated mind believes, “As I punish this person, I make myself safe from punishment.” That can never be true. We are too connected for that to be possible.

That which we put into others we put into ourselves and into all whom we love and hope to protect.

When we understand this, it becomes natural for us to treat all people, even those who have acted in ways that are less than loving, with love. But we learn to do this while maintaining loving boundaries.

This is what we will learn to express in our penal system.

When we have learned this completely, when we have treated all inmates with love, while maintaining needed physical boundaries, we will have evolved to a place wherein no penal system is needed.

On the way to the experience of no penal system being required, we must first learn how to share love and maintain boundaries. That is the next lesson for us to learn.

Yes, high, thick walls may be required to create general safety. But cruelty and torture behind those walls is never required. We can have those walls, and we can send love over them. We are never safe from our own cruelty.

When there is a place within our town or our state or our country or our world where people are treated with cruelty, aspects of that cruelty affect us and those we love most.

Once we understand this, we can begin to look at the penal system as a place of opportunity. Our opportunity is to consider this question: "How can I express my love-without-end here while still maintaining needed boundaries?"

Four Divine Ways to Be

True transformation is inspired by the witnessing of acts of:

loving-kindness-without-end,
compassion-without-end,
joy-in-others'-joy-without-end,
unbiased-looking-on-in-others'-equanimity-without-end.

True transformation is inspired by the Peace Mind witnessing acts of peace.

If our goal is to see fewer unloving acts taking place in our society, we can only reach that goal by modeling acts of peace: acts of loving-kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity.

If our penal systems become places in which acts of true peace can be observed, they will become places of true and permanent transformation.

Transformation must be chosen by the individual; it cannot be enforced. After witnessing acts of peace, some will choose transformation.

Our job, then, is to give people the opportunity to witness acts of peace.

We can give people these opportunities, and we can treat them with respect, honoring and love, and we can still create needed boundaries that protect others, and ourselves.

Fear-based “reform” tactics do not only affect those who find themselves on the receiving end of them. They also build guilt, shame, regret, and resentment in their practitioners because these practitioners will always, on some level, recognize that actions of cruelty towards others are not their highest actions.

Love-based tactics heal. They heal those who carry them out, and they heal those who are on the receiving end of them.

They heal the relationship between practitioner and recipient in the moment, and they begin to heal the resentment, anger, and sadness that centuries of cruelty-based reform tactics have built up in our collective consciousness.

One act of love-based interaction in this format heals many levels of trauma left over from old cruelty-based strategies. As they heal old trauma, these love-based tactics create new possibilities of peace-on-earth for all beings.

Our penal systems are wonderful places to practice kindness-without-end with loving boundaries. Our lives are also wonderful places to practice this.

Where is life giving us the opportunity to both share unconditional love and to honor—and enforce—the space, the protection, and the boundaries that we require?

Special thx to Seven for helping me express this!

Once we can create loving boundaries in our own lives, we can safely flow more love-without-end into our world.

In brief, the better our boundaries, the more fully we can be an instrument of pure and ever-flowing metta and grace.

Zoom link to join Peace Class:
us02web.zoom.us/j/82150472713
Meeting ID: 821 5047 2713
Mandy Kahn, Peace Class, May 19, 2026, with glow up and editing by Dhr. Seven, Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Wisdom Quarterly

Bhikkhu Bodhi: Selfless Dependent Origination

2026-05-25T21:40:00.000-07:00

(Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies) Dependent Origination and Selflessness in Pali tradition: Bhikkhu Bodhi

American Theravada scholar-monk Bhikkhu Bodhi
Bhikkhu Bodhi, did the Buddha say there's NO self?
Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies
Tibetan Vajrayana is a Mahayana school
Nagarjuna: Nāgārjuna (from Sanskrit Nāga + Arjuna, Chinese Lóngshù 龍樹, Tibetan Klu sgrub); circa 150 – c. 250 CE) was a philosopher and Mahāyāna Buddhist monk from South India. He is considered the founder of the Madhyamaka (Middle Way) school [2, 3]. He is widely considered to be the most important Buddhist philosopher after the Buddha himself [4, 3]. Indeed, at least in Tibetan Buddhism, he is called the "second Buddha" [5]. He was a well-known defender of the new Mahāyāna movement. His treatises (śāstras) are the foundational texts of a school of Buddhist philosophy known as the teaching of emptiness (Śūnyatā-vāda) or Middle Way School of Madhyamaka...
ABOVE: Nagarjuna statue in Elista, Kalmykia, Europe, Russia: Великий учитель Нагарджуна. Буддийский храм «Золотая обитель Будды Шакьямуни». Элиста

Indian monk and teacher Nagarjuna with 84 mahasiddha (wikipedia)

What is the True Nature of Existence?

2026-05-25T21:35:00.000-07:00

Talk 3. The True Nature of Existence | Bhikkhu Bodhi (The Buddha's Teaching: As It is, 1981)

✡️ Jewish Zionist Israel controls the USA

2026-05-25T21:31:00.000-07:00

Most Jews in US see Zionist Israel's war crimes

(Breezy Politics) Israel is losing America -- and there's nothing it can do about it. [But that won't stop it from trying to stop it with more censorship, monopolizing the mainstream U.S. media, PR, hasbara, psyops, propaganda, whitewash commercial campaigns, deception, controlling the U.S. university system, paying off trolls like Shapiro, Kirk, other mouthpiece apparatchiks, and other abominable secret tactics.]

Piers Morgan and Megyn Kelly in defense of poor Greater Israel?

Israel is losing America — and there’s nothing it can do about it

(Breezy Politics) May 23, 2026: Americans are beginning to wake up to the scale of Israeli influence inside Washington D.C. — and to the growing gap between what the American people want and what the American government actually does.

From the push toward attacking and starting a needless war with Iran to the broader role of the Zionist lobby in shaping U.S. foreign policy, this video examines a question that more and more Americans are starting to ask: Does the U.S. government still fundamentally answer to the American people?

This issue goes far beyond Israel, Iran, or the Middle East. It goes to the heart of American sovereignty itself. Using historical examples, we explore what happens when political energy is consumed by internal disputes while powerful interests continue steering the direction of the state from above.

At what point does a government stop being truly “by the people and for the people”?

0:00 - Intro
7:10 - Zionist lobby vs. American sovereignty
10:07 - The real reason Israel hates Iran [and induces Americans to fear and hate it, too]
12:16 - Why does the Zionist lobby exist?
15:44 - What is the Zionist lobby and how does it work?
19:35 - What makes the Zionist lobby different?
22:00 - Why does the Zionist lobby panic?
25:41 - The lobby made a strategic mistake
28:36 - The lobby under stress
29:19 - The Zionist lobby vs. the Middle East
31:07 - The Israel lobby’s strategy in Egypt and Jordan
34:00 - Country over party

#IsraelFirst #Zionism #Jews #WhiteSupremacy #SuperiorityComplex #Politics #AmericaFirst #Iran #Israel #Geopolitics #ForeignPolicy #Lobbying #Sovereignty #BreezyPolitics

If life is short, what really matters?

2026-05-25T21:30:00.000-07:00

(Buddhism Podcast) If life is so short, what really matters? A Buddhist perspective

Householder happiness? Marriage troubles in American Suburbia (Falsettos)

(JF) FALSETTOS: "I'm Breaking Down" by Barbara Walsh

LYRICS: "I'm Breaking Down"

(Genius) I'd like to be a princess on a throne/ To have a country I can call my own/ And a king who's lusty and requires a fling/ With a female thing/ Great, men will be men/ Let me turn on the gas/ I caught them in the den with Marvin grabbing Whizzer's ass/ Oh sure, I'm sure, he's sure he did his best/ I mean he meant to be what he was not/ The things he was are things which I forgot/ He's a queen I'm a queen/ Where is our crown?/ I'm breaking down/ I'm breaking down/ My life is shitty/ And my kid seems like an idiot to me/ I mean that's sick/ I mean he's great/ It's me who is the matter/ Talking madder/ Than the maddest hatter

If I repeat one more word/ I swear I'll lose my brain/ Oh, what else should I explain?/ Oh, yes, it's true/ I can cry on cue/ But so can you/ I'm breaking down/ I'm breaking down/ Down, down/ You ask me, "Is it fun to cry over nothing?"/ It is, I'm breaking down/ Now let's consider what I might do next/ I hate admitting I've become perplexed/ I'm bereaved/ I've cried, I've shook, I've yelled, I've heaved/ I have been deceived

As enemies go Whizzer is not so bad/ It's just he's so damn happy/ That it makes me so damn mad/ I want to hate him but I really can't/ It's like a nightmare how this all proceeds/ I hope that Whizzer don't fulfill his needs/ "Don't" is wrong/ Sing along!/ What was the noun?/ I'm breaking down/ I'm breaking down/ I'll soon redecorate these stalls/ I'd like some padding on the walls/ And also pills/ I wanna sleep Sure, things'll probably worsen/ But it's not like I'm some healthy person/ I've rethought my talks with Marv/ And one fact does emerge/ Oh, I think I like his shrink/ So that is why I might turn to drink/ I'm on the brink/ Of breaking down/ I'm breaking down/ Down, down/ I only want to love a man who can love me/ Or like me/ Or help me/ Help me!

Marvin was never mine/ He took his meetings in the boys' latrine/ I used to cry/ He'd make a scene/ I'd rather die/ Than dry-clean Marvin's wedding gown/ I'm breaking down/ I'm breaking down/ It's so upsetting when you've found/ That what's rectangular is round/ I mean it stinks/ I mean he's queer/ And me, I'm just a freak/ Who needs it maybe every other week/ I don’t know/ I've rethought the fun we've had/ And one fact does emerge/ I've played the foolish clown/ The almost virgin who sings this dirge/ Is on the verge/ Of breaking down/ I'm breaking down/ Down, down/ The only thing that's breaking up is my family/ The only thing that's breaking up is my family/ But me, I'm breaking Down!

The real truth about women: Schopenhauer

2026-05-25T21:25:00.000-07:00

(The Selves) The real truth about women: Schopenhauer

C'mon, Arty, you don't mean it! Come hug me.

Arthur Schopenhauer (Feb. 22, 1788–Sept. 21, 1860) was a German philosopher and writer known for his 1818 work The World as Will and Representation (Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung), which was expanded in 1844.

It characterizes the phenomenal world as the manifestation of a blind and irrational noumenal will [11, 12, 13].

I'll get him, girl. Watch me

Building on the transcendental idealism of Immanuel Kant, Schopenhauer developed an atheistic metaphysical and ethical system that rejected the contemporaneous ideas of German idealism [8, 9].

Schopenhauer was among the first philosophers in the Western tradition to share and affirm significant tenets of Indian philosophy, such as asceticism, denial of the self, and the notion of the world-as-appearance [14], as an ILLUSION the Buddha and other Dharmic teachers called Maya. More

Another assassin shoots at Trump (comedy)

2026-05-25T21:25:00.000-07:00

Look, Steve, I'm sorry I got you fired, but you don't support Israel nearly enough to be on TV.

(Sammy Obeid) Show interrupted by White House shooting | stand up comedy

You can't get me. I'm invincible. Israel will always protect me!

(TYT) Israel's sickening abuse of peace activists, sickening

(France 24 English) Israel taunts, mocks violated SMUD Flotilla activists

(The Young Turks) Bassem Youssef helps spread the joy! Guns?

(TYT) Bassem Youssef exclusive insight into Candace Owen interview

Free Palestine! HAMAS? (Norm Finkelstein)

2026-05-25T18:00:00.000-07:00

(MintPress News) Jewish American Professor Norman Finkelstein: Palestinians tried EVERYTHING before October 7th: A slave's case for resistance

Ugly Ashkenazi Jew is plainspoken in Hebrew what is hidden in English for American and European audiences

Conan O'Brien "trains" with Israeli killers

(Clear Record) Bill Maher melts down as Ana Kasparian destroys his Israel BS

Republican Massie goes ballistic

Erika's TPUSA gained Israeli ties day after Charlie Kirk's murder

Behind Rothschild's sealed vault: Tartaria

2026-05-25T17:05:00.000-07:00

(Old World Proof) What they found sealed inside the Rothschild Vault in Frankfurt in 1898

The Rothschilds: German Jewish banking family

Hey, Rothschilds, how much did your "nobility" cost?

(TJDS) Amazon's Jeff Bezos is terrified masses will revolt and come for him

Healing OM mantra: Tibetan monks chant

2026-05-25T17:00:00.000-07:00

(Tibetan Nuns) Healing Om (aum) Mantra: Tibetan Buddhist lama chants for nervous system repair

Ke$ha makes a comeback? (NPR)

2026-05-24T17:00:00.000-07:00

NPR AUDIO: Kesha is back with a new album and world tour

I'm Ayesha from Durham, SC

NPR's [National Jewish Public Radio's] super Southern voice Ayesha Rascoe speaks with the pop star Kesha (Ke$ha) about her life, her afterlife, her music, and her new world tour: "The Freedom Tour." More

Interviewer Ayesha Rascoe is the host of Weekend Edition Sunday and the weekend host of Up First. As host of the morning news magazine show, she interviews nuts, newsmakers, entertainers, politicians, and others about the stories that everyone is talking about or that everyone should be talking about. More

Arroyo Secodelic Fest, Open Mic Poetry LA

2026-05-22T16:20:00.000-07:00

Arroyo Secodelic Festival 2026, Los Angeles | KCRW FM

Welcome to the first unofficial day of summer, which runs from Memorial Day to Labor Day in LA

How can I start to awaken in a big city?

What is a psychedelic? It is a "mind manifesting" compound, like an entheogen that brings out the divine from within. What is an Arroyo Seco? It is a dry river bed. What is an Arroyo Secodelic?

ARROYO SECODELIC FESTIVAL (arroyosecodelic.com) May 22–25, 2026: Highland Park, Los Angeles, all ages with 60+ bands across six walkable venues along famous Figueroa Street with FREE and paid admission shows. See arroyosecodelic.com for details. Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday (Memorial Day weekend). Tickets are available as 4-Day Passes to all shows in all venues. See individual schedule for full lineup by day, appearing mostly at the Lodge Room, De La Playa Records, Oblivion Indoor, and Highland Park Ebell, all orbiting Kinship Yoga on Fig.

The Fest on KXLU 88.9 FM (blog), KCRW 89.9 FM
Love it live! A group for fans of live music | The Lodge Room

WHAT HAPPENED?

(Doom Haze) Psychedelic stoner rock session | dark room groove compilation

Adolescents live at the House of Blues way back; still alive in 2025 playing with the Circle Jerks

Meanwhile, before the Fest, in nearby Hollywood, DEICIDE takes over the Palladium

One day ASF may bet as big as Brokecella

KXLU and KCRW were on top of it. In addition to a mixed bag of indie artists, there were three or four punk giants: FEAR, Adolescents, Alice Bag (now Juanita), and Mike Watt (now without Minutemen)...what, no Exene Cervenka's X? But exciting acts like Death Valley Girls, Cameron Romance, and the Silverados were on hand to keep things lively. Now it's Monday, aka Bad Memory Day, and everyone is converging on the Lodge to catch Adolescents on a rare foray beyond the Orange Curtain to Competition City L.A. Why?

Highland Park is rock 'n roll paradise. Arroyo Secodelic Festival is a 4-day music fest in Highland Park, May 22-25, 2026, featuring a frenetic and fuzzy array of rock 'n roll artists spanning generations — including three of Southern California's finest first wave punk bands: Lee Ving's FEAR, OC royalty Adolescents, and pioneering punk bassist Mike Watt as well as San Francisco power pop icons Flamin' Groovies and LA rockers Strawberry Fuzz, Levitation Room, The Warlocks, and Death Valley Girls.

What's the big deal about these punks?

Adolescents Adolescents (first full album)

Forget "Amoeba." WELCOME TO REALITY: Blood so deep the horse must hold his head up high/ In the valley of decision one third of the world will die/ Beat your hoes and plows into axes and spears/ As the armies meet in a battle they predicted for years// (CHORUS) Let the weak say I'm a warrior/ Bring down the warriors/ Let the faithless regain faith/ Your faith is hopeless// The prophets and the psychics and the military agree/ Continual crisis leads us straight to World War III/ Roll out the red carpet let the Angel of Death ride in/ To the valley of decision let the mayhem begin// (CHORUS)// Apocalyptic madness two thirds of the world in sadness/ The other third is gone but sadness lingers on/ Crumbled cities and an aftermath of hate/ No way to stop them 'cause now its too late/ The Antichrist's mission's done/ The dead are the only lucky ones/ Are you ready?/ The picture's painted/ For the valley - the scene is set/ Of decision - make your decision/ For the valley it's too late/ Welcome welcome to reality/ Welcome welcome to reality/ Make a decision cause you've got no choice

The Festival takes place across multiple venues on Figueroa St. and beyond — The Lodge Room, Oblivion, Highland Park Ebell, Cheerio Collective, De La Playa Records, Blind Barber, North Figueroa Books, and a few pop ups and buskers. All Arroyo Secodelic shows are ALL AGES.

Free poetry pre-show at Eagle Rock Library

(Daytime T.V. Lizards) BLISS at the 2026 ARROYO SECODELIC FESTIVAL pre-party

Enter the Gateless Gate of Heightened Awareness into the magic Doors of Perception.

Blended (Mestizo) to Synthesis

Share original poems, songs, lyrics, spoken word, or just come listen. Each open mic performer will get 5 minutes for an original work. Sign up on arrival. Our FEATURED PERFORMER for National Poetry Month is Seven, who performs in Buddhist Sanskrit, Gaelic, English, and pre-Spanish (Nahuatl). An urban shaman and yogi with Native American roots (Kizh/Tongva), he won the San Gabriel Valley Poetry Festival chapbook and broadside contests, among many other honors, and has been published in several anthologies and journals, including the library's very own The Stone Bird: Anthology. He was also a featured poet at L.A. Shakespeare Fest and LitFest Pasadena with the word troupe Poets in Distress. Open Mic Poetry | Los Angeles Public Library

(Pondwater Society) Train 45 "Best Ever Death Metal Band Out of Denton"

(Pondwater Society) Rick Lupert duet with Brandon Constantine

RELATED ARTS EVENTS

Eagle Rock Branch - Los Angeles Public Library | Los Angeles CA | Facebook

Friday, May 22, Arroyo Secodelic Festival (runs until Monday, May 24) Arroyo Secodelic Festival — May 22–24, 2026 · Highland Park
Saturday, May 23 2:00 pm Miriam's Garden Hyde Park Miriam Matthews Branch Library
JBLZE (The Jason Bonham Led Zeppelin Evening) Greek Theatre, LA
May 28, 4:00 pm REAB Traveling Symphony Series Presents: Symphony of Shared Stories Van Nuys Branch Library
May 29, 10:30 am REAB Traveling Symphony Presents: Collaborative Poetry with DSTL ARTS Fairfax Branch Library
May 30, 12 noon REAB Traveling Symphony Presents: Collaborative Poetry with DSTL ARTS Hyde Park Miriam Matthews Branch Library
May 30, 2:30 p.m. REAB Traveling Symphony Presents: Collaborative Poetry with DSTL ARTS Baldwin Hills Branch Library
June 9, 6:00 pm Poetry Open Mic Westwood Branch Library
ADA accommodations: (213) 228-7430 at least 72 hours prior to event. Para ajustes razonables según la ley de ADA, llama (213) 228-7430 al menos 72 horas antes del evento.

AwareProject.org for rethinking psychedelics (The Aware Project, Los Angeles)

(No Ads) Get rid of all bad energy, whole body cleansing, chakra healing | claim inner peace #1

Microdosing at the Psychedelic Institute, LA

Featuring punk legends FEAR ● Flamin' Groovies ● Adolescents ● Levitation Room ● Strawberry Fuzz ● Mike Watt & The Secondmen ● Juanita & Juan ● Untitled ● The Warlocks ● Death Valley Girls ● Flat Worms ● Valgur ● Toys That Kill ● Buckets ● Cinnamon ● The Darts ● Windows ● Cissi TV ● Op Ed ● Sun Atoms ● Baus ● Cameron Romance ● The Flamenco Souls ● Axxident ● Wave Decay ● and more...

Arroyo Secodelic Festival — Friday to Monday, May 22–24, 2026 · Highland Park, Hipsterville, LA County

Death of anti-Folk indie darling Beck

(Guitar Meets Science) The 14 days that destroyed Beck's career

Mike Watt + The ~~Minutemen~~ Missingmen - live at the Echo, 11/2/19

The Silverados "The Public Opinion" (official video)

Juan and Juanita "Fuego" (Alice Bag & Kid Congo Powers) Cobra Lounge July 2, 2025

Death Valley Girls - full performance (live on KEXP)

The Flamin' Groovies "Shake Some Action" (TV)

Bear Awareness: Questions and Answers on Taming Your Wild Mind

Bear Awareness: Taming Mind

British Buddhist monk Ajahn Brahm (trained in the Thai Forest Tradition and abbot of Buddhist Society of Western Australia) has 4.6 out of 5 stars (with 85 reviews) for this book.

He is the bestselling author of Who Ordered This Truckload of Dung? and one of the world’s most beloved Theravada Buddhist monks because of his sense of humor.

In Bear Awareness, Ajahn Brahm answers meditators’ questions, actual questions from students of meditation––questions readers may have wondered about as well.

Hi, y'all! Feed your head like Grace says.

While most sati or mindfulness meditation teachers praise the benefits of "bare awareness," Ajahn Brahm teaches bear awareness.

He helps us make friends with the scary things that come up on the cushion, and he shows how to lift the mood with a well-placed stuffed teddy or a well-timed pun.

The intimacy of the question-and-answer format provides a fresh experience of learning from a Western master meditator who studied with the awakened Thai master Ajahn Chah.

Author: British Abbot Ajahn Brahm (BSWA)

Whether he is urging readers to fly Buddha Air (as we sit back and relax on our way to nirvana), giving tips for dealing with panic attacks or depression, or extolling the bliss (piti) of meditation that is better than sex, he gives us permission to enjoy our lives and our practice. More

Dancing in the Rain at Cruel World Festival (KXLU)
Second Nature: Gender and Sexuality in the Animal World
CAMERON 🖤 ROMANCE (@cameron.romance) • IG
ArroyoSecoDelic.com; Ajahn Brahm (Bear Awareness, BSWA.org); Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Dhr. Seven, Jen B. (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

$5 RAVE: Pasadena Summer Solstice (6/20)

2026-05-22T16:15:00.000-07:00

Does Pasadena know how to throw a rave? It did in Project X "Pursuit of Happiness" (music video)

On the Summer Solstice of Saturday, June 20, 2026, from 7:00 to 10:00 pm the LAist is holding a rave at Remainders Creative Reuse. Total price of entry? $5.00 (five USD and 49 cent service fee).

Break out the rave gear and join Remainders Creative Reuse and LAist.com for a night of wild dancing, crafting, and community.

ALISON WONDERLAND trap, hip hop and bass DJ set in The Lab LA

(Maskevito) Rave Music + footage (mainly early 1990s house mix)

DJ Tekfor will be on hand all night bumping the 90’s rave jams and all the other hits. And there will be not one, not two, but three crafting stations with instructors:

Make Your Own Junk Journal with Sarena
Circle Weaving with Courtney
Paper Mâché Sculptures with Aspen

TICKETS: Craft Rave at Remainders w/ LAist
LOCATION:
Remainders Creative Reuse
787 E. Washington Blvd.
Pasadena (LA), CA 91104

Shop — Remainders Creative Reuse - Creative Space & Thrift Store

Classes — Remainders Creative Reuse - Creative Space Thrift Store

Tove Lo "Habits (Stay High)" - Hippie Sabotage Rave Remix

Can I sew my own outfit for EDC '27?

Already have a project in progress? Bring it along! Or if still looking for a spark, we’ll have a pop-up crafting table ready for everyone.

Whether a raver knits, collages, beads, sketches, or basketweaves, this is the perfect excuse to make something while soaking up the ravey 90’s vibes! Come as you are. (Bonus points will be awarded for 1990s-inspired outfits).

PLAYLIST: Trip-Hop Vol. 2: Portishead/Massive Attack inspired mix [The Lounge Palace]

So get ready for a night of dancing, crafting, and fun. All ages. Families welcome. BYON (bring your own Narcan lol).

Source: LAist.com

(Pepito Tequila) Trip Hop Meditation? When the DJ spins Portishead's "Wandering Star"

COMMENTS

Is this serious?!?! How...for only FIVE bucks?!
We wouldn't put anything past Larry Mantle or Pasadena's KPCC 89.3 FM and its long-running battle to seem more relevant than Madeleine Brand and Santa Monica's KCRW 88.9 FM.
C'mon, everyone knows Larry is a [bleep]!
That doesn't mean he doesn't put on a good show, what he claims is "the largest conversation in Los Angeles." Maybe NPR reporter Josie Huang wants to outdo science journalist... [Science bowl: Can NoHo… | KCRW]
Who, Doualy Xaykaothao of NPR via KUNC?
No, remember there was that Asian science journalist at KPCC and like the LA and Pasadena Weekly? She used to go to all sorts of parties, festivals, events, write about it, be on the radio all the time. Then KPCC booted her, KCRW picked her up? She lived in a small house in NoHo, the value of which kept going up, trapping her in LA.
You mean Cary Harrison? He's over at KPFK (90.7 FM) on Friday morning, unless you mean Emily Kwong or these folks Honor Roll - Asian American Journalists Association? LMU on IG?
Oh, you must mean radio turned sex star Sandra Tsing Loh!

Living FULLY before our human life ends

2026-05-22T12:07:00.000-07:00

(Buddhism Podcast) Living fully before life ends -- the Buddhist way to meet life

(Buddhism Podcast) Where do humans come from? Buddhism's view on origins

(Buddhism Podcast) Where do we go after death? The Buddha's answer: "rebirth" of the impersonal [one of the Three Universal Marks of Existence] process of Dependent Origination rolling in the "continued wandering on" of samsara

The 6th sense humans had before 1850

2026-05-22T12:05:00.000-07:00

(Rewired Era) The sixth sense human all had before 1850: They bred it out and no one knows why but indigenous aboriginal "wayfinders" can still know where they are and where they're going

Peaceful Tulsi Gabbard pushed out by Trump

2026-05-22T12:00:00.000-07:00

(OneIndia News) Republican Sen. Massie destroyed by Miriam Adelson and Israel for calling out Israeli, Epstein, and Trump's crimes...

(Washington Post) She either supports our Zionist war against Muslims or she's out

(The Young Turks) Was Tulsi Gabbard FORCED out or willingly stepped down?

DemocracyNow.org

Trump's Jewish family? MAGA didn't know

(Rebel HQ) MAGA supporters realize Trump's grandchildren are [Zionist] Jewish [Jews]

(TYT) The Israel Report Americans were sold just collapsed

(Secular Talk) Kyle Kulinski Show: IDF on verge of collapse, needs forcibly drafted recruits

Why we need to ROAST, to laugh or cope?

2026-05-21T18:00:00.000-07:00

WARNING: (Comedy Central) Nikki Glaser’s best [and most evil] ROAST moments

(The Artist is The Enemy) Roasting isn't just jokes. It's a coping mechanism

Noble Eightfold Path: wrong speech and right speech
Comedy Central UK: Top 5 Roast Moments

Natasha Leggero’s best [fiercest] ROAST comebacks 🔥

What if we could rise above?
RIGHT SPEECH (sammā-vācā) in most Buddhist texts (such as the Pali canon) is presented as four abstentions [29, 68]: "What is right speech? Abstaining from lying (false speech), from divisive speech, from abusive speech, and from idle (beastly talk) speech: This is called right speech."

Instead of the usual "abstention and refraining from wrong" terminology, a few Buddhist texts, such as the "Fruits of Recluseship Discourse" (Samaññaphala Sutta) and Kevata Sutta in the Long Discourses of the Buddha (Digha Nikaya) explain this virtue in an active sense, after stating it in the form of an abstention [69].

(Comedy Central) The harshest burns from ROAST of James Franco

This is not quite it, Dear. Study them more subtly.

Please don't hurt my inner child! It's fragile!

For example, Fruits of Recluseship Sutra states that a part of a Buddhist monastic's virtue is that of "abstaining from false speech. One speaks the truth, holds to the truth, is firm, reliable, not a deceiver of the world" [69].

Similarly, the virtue of abstaining from divisive speech is explained as delighting in creating concord [69] and peace and harmony between people.

I'm humiliated! I can never face the world!

The virtue of abstaining from abusive speech is explained in this sutra as including affectionate and polite speech that is pleasing to most people.

The virtue of abstaining from idle chit chat (animal talk or ticcharana-katha) is explained as speaking what is connected with the Dharma, the goal of of which is liberation from all ignorance and suffering [69, 40] by realizing the freedom of enlightenment and the bliss and peace of nirvana. More

Roasters (Comedy Central); The Artist is The Enemy; Eds., Wisdom Quarterly Wiki edit (Noble Eightfold Path factor)

The Greek Buddha (Pyrrho of Elis)

2026-05-21T07:00:00.000-07:00

(Pierrot)