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Saturday, June 23, 2012

Pope, Sandusky, Lynn: We didn't do nuthin'

Wisdom Quarterly
First the head of the Catholic Church and alleged former Hitler Youth member Pope Benedict XVI made these stunning comments on behalf of his clergy's homosexual rape and abuse of children: 
  
In a pre-recorded video message (not a spur of the moment gaff but a well thought out and approved position statement) the Pope told  75,000 worshipers gathering in Ireland from around the world for an outdoor Mass that it is a "mystery" why priests and other Church officials sexually abuse children entrusted to their care by parents and schools, undermining faith in the Roman Catholic Church "in an appalling way."

Benedict [who chose a strange name for himself when he became Pope, given that the most famous "Benedict" in history is the great traitor Benedict Arnold, at least from US-centric eyes] commented on the sexual abuse scandals and cover ups by Church hierarchy including his office.
Serial scandal survivor (unitednationsoffilm)
PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania - It has been a tough week for child molesters, rapists, and abettors in Penn. Sports hero Coach Sandusky was found NOT guilty on three counts of raping children. However, he was convicted on 45 similar counts and will likely face civil lawsuits and life imprisonment.
  
Coach: serial child molester, rapist (Times)
His own adopted son was ready to testify that Sandusky molested him as well, adding fuel to the raging fire. The Coach therefore decided not to testify on his own behalf, thus avoiding his son. So the jurors never knew about the additional victim.
   
A movie (The Invisible War) came out about rape in the military mostly committed by serial rapists who prefer men and seem immune from any meaningful consequences. Soldiers violate their camaraderie and fraternal brotherhood by violating fellow soldiers, male and female, then go on to rape and murder civilians abroad. They may even come home to molest children and other men or women here. Or maybe they contribute to the growing rate of veteran suicides (averaging 18 a day, 500+ a month), a casualty rate higher than that brought about by combat.
  
Jury deliberates on the fate of trusted official who sexually abused kids (kshb.com).

Monsignor found guilty in church sex abuse case
PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Monsignor William Lynn was found guilty on Friday of one count of endangering the welfare of a child, making him the highest-ranking US Roman Catholic official convicted in the [ongoing] church child sex abuse scandal.

UK Buddhist chief convicted of sex abuse

Chief Sanghanayaka Thera of Great Britain Sentenced to 7 Years in Prison for Child Abuse
Colombo Telegraph (June 5, 2012) via The Buddhist Channel; Wisdom Quarterly
Sri Lankan chief monk convicted of sex abuse
LONDON, England - The Chief Monastic Order Elder of Great Britain and abbot of the Thames Buddhist Vihara has been convicted of four counts of indecent assault on a underage and sentenced to seven years in prison, a judge ruled [June 5, 2012].
   
He is also banned for working with children for life and his name is added to sex offenders register, a court spokesman told The Colombo Telegraph.
   
Venerable Pahalagama Somaratana, 65, of Dulverton Road, Croydon was convicted at Isleworth Crown Court on May 1 of four counts of indecent assault on a female under 16 between January 1, 1977 and December 31, 1978 at an address in Chiswick.
   
He was found not guilty of the rape of a female under 16 between January 1,1977 and December 31, 1978 at an address in Chiswick and not guilty of indecent assault on a female under 14 between January 1, 1985 and December 31, 1986 at an address in Croydon.
  • [This is even more serious because it is absolutely a breach of monastic disciplinary rules, which means that if penetration happened -- whether or not he was convicted of it or even charged -- he has committed a grave "defeat" offense (parajika) and is instantly not a monk and not part of the Order. In addition, he has discredited the Buddha's message (Dharma), Theravada Buddhism, the Male Monastic Order (Bhikkhu Sangha), Sri Lanka (his country of origin), and celibate Buddhist monasticism.]
  • Sri Lankan Buddhist monk beat 14-year-old Catholic student for refusing to learn Buddhism
In May 2010 Child Abuse Investigation Command officers began an investigation into historical allegations of indecent assault and rape. On Tuesday, 14 September 2010 a (then) 64-year-old monk was arrested on suspicion of an historical indecent assault and rape. He was questioned at Heathrow police station and later bailed pending further enquiries.
 
He was charged on September 12, 2011 and further charged on  November 11, 2011.
  
On Friday, September 23 Pahalagama Somaratana appeared on bail at Feltham Magistrates’ Court charged with rape of female under 16 between January 1, 1977 and December 31, 1978 at an address in Chiswick and indecent assault on a female under 16 between January 1, 1977 and December 31, 1978 at an address in Chiswick.
   
Pahalagama Somaratana has been charged with another eight counts of sexual abuse on Friday, November 11 the London Metropolitan police told the Colombo Telegraph. According to the metropolitan police these eight indecent assaults on a female under 14 took place between January 1, 1985 and December 31, 1986 at an address in Croydon.
   
The 65-year-old Pahalagama Somaratana Thero appeared on bail at Feltham Magistrates’ Court on Friday, December 2 and was bailed to appear at Isleworth Crown Court on December 20, 2011. Source

Sri Lankan war and sex crimes against Tamils
Raped ethnic minority Tamil Hindu rebel
GRAPHIC CONTENT! A new video shows the Tamil rebel [LTTE] media TV announcer Issapriya’s naked body (shown left). It lies with hundreds of dead bodies, first with hands tied then untied. They indicate that she had been raped by Sri Lankan soldiers then executed.
  
A [majority Sinhalese Theravada Buddhist] security forces officer speaking in Sinhalese to a female says, “Here,  here, Voice of Tiger announcer.” (See at Minute 2:56 in the video).
The video clearly demonstrates a woeful and consistent pattern by the Sri Lankan forces: Most of the female combatants, armed and unarmed, as well as civilians are stripped naked or have their underwear pulled down to their knees and their bras are either missing or near their neck, exposing the breasts of teenage girls and young women. Only a few men are stripped naked. [Do Sri Lankan soldiers rape them, too?]

人命夕難保

見一老僧至,自己稱自己是「楚圓禪師」。這位禪師繞我的身子三匝,振一下錫杖,說了一偈子:
  
昨日作嬰孩。
  
今朝年已老。
  
未明三八九。
  
難踏古皇道。

時輪金剛沙曼陀羅解除法會


時輪金剛沙曼陀羅解除法會」在真佛宗可以說是未曾有過的法會形態,同門大眾對此法會的意義或許不甚明白,因此中觀堂在師佛離台前,特別恭請根本上師 蓮生活佛,為「時輪金剛沙曼陀羅解除的意義」,做詳盡的開示。根本上師非常慈悲,知道我們要將去年的「時輪金剛沙曼陀羅佛塔」解除,不但清楚詳細的為我們開示「時輪金剛沙曼陀羅」建立與解除的功德法益,更特別加持祝福我們此次的法會,令弟子們相當感動,以下就是根本上師開示全文:

「時輪金剛的沙曼陀羅」的意義,就是在人間的壇城。智慧本尊是在虛空之中。祂要顯現在人間的大地之上,便以沙曼陀羅做為祂的壇城的象徵。

一般來講在密教裡面,建曼陀羅在大地上是以沙曼陀羅為主。在西藏呢,

慈悲作障、一皈依(二)


我們談「慈悲作障」與「一皈依」。 

  所謂一皈依,應該很簡單就可以體會出來。 

  「一」就是定,你的皈依師父,就是一,完全的依怙,你完全的皈依他。也就是百分之百的依止,就是一皈依。沒有什麼懷疑,沒有什麼疑念。 

  「慈悲作障」就是有時候,你基於種種的法,你障礙了自己。對自己的師父,根本上起了疑惑,這個就叫做「作障」,會變成一種障礙。所以我們修密教,應該是要一皈依。 

  上回談到的故事,是師父身上跳蚤的問題。

What God Didn't Know (sutra)

Wisdom Quarterly based on Walshes* translation of Kevaddha Sutta (DN 11); "God" = Brahma
(Asyasolo/flickr.com)
   
Thus have I heard. Once the Buddha was staying at Nalanda,  in Pavarika’s Mango Grove. And the householder Kevaddha came, bowed, and sat down respectfully to one side. He then said:
   
“Venerable sir, this [City of] Nalanda is rich, prosperous, populous, full of people who have confidence [faith, belief] in the Blessed One.
   
It would be good if the Blessed One were to encourage some monastic disciple to perform supernatural feats and miracles. In this way Nalanda would come to have even more confidence.”
   
The Buddha replied: “Kevaddha, this is not the way I teach Dharma to the monastic disciples, saying: ‘Go, disciples, and perform supernatural feats and miracles for the white-clad lay people!’” [Faithful Buddhists in ancient India wore white when they went to see the Buddha and monastics, which they did weekly on lunar observance days.]
  
2. For a second time Kevaddha said: “Venerable sir, I would not be rude, but I still say: This Nalanda is rich, prosperous… and would come to have even more confidence in the Blessed One.” And the Buddha replied as before.
   
3. When Kevaddha repeated his request a third time, the Buddha said: “Kevaddha, there are three kinds of miracles that I have declared, having realized them through direct insight and experience. What are the three? The miracle of psychic power, the miracle of telepathy, and the miracle of instruction. 
  
Psychic Powers
Greek tele "distant" + patheia "feeling"
4. “What is the miracle of psychic power? Here [within the Buddha’s teaching], Kevaddha, a monastic disciple displays various psychic powers in different ways: The person being one becomes many, being many becomes one. One appears and disappears; one passes through fences, walls, and mountains unhindered as if through air; one sinks into the ground and emerges from it as if it were water; one walks on water without breaking the surface as if on land; one flies cross-legged through the sky like a bird with wings; one even touches and strokes with hand the Sun and Moon, as mighty and powerful as they are (as in “The Fruits of Recluseship” discourse, DN 2, Verse 87). And one travels in the body as far as the Brahma World [or “7th Heaven” known as Parisajja Brahma Deva Loka, Brahmas Retinue”]. Then someone who has confidence and trust sees that monastic doing these things. 
  
5. “That person tells this to someone else who is skeptical and unbelieving saying: ‘It is wonderful, it is marvelous, the great power and skill of that ascetic…’ And that person might say: ‘There is something called the Gandhāra [invisibility] charm. It is by means of this that that monastic becomes many…’
   
“What do you think, Kevaddha, would not a skeptic say that to a believer?” “Yes, venerable sir.” “And that is why, Kevaddha, seeing the danger [inherent] in such miracles, I dislike, reject, and [am] loathe [to use] them. 
   
Telepathy
Siddhartha’s period of severe austerities
6. “And what is the miracle of telepathy? Here, a monastic disciple reads the minds of other beings, of other people, reads their mental states, their thoughts and ponderings, and says: ‘That is how your mind is, that is how it inclines, that is in your heart.’ Then someone who has confidence and trust sees those things being done.
   
7. “One tells this to someone else who is skeptical and unbelieving, saying: ‘It is wonderful, it is marvelous, the great power and skill of that ascetic…’ And that person might say: ‘There is something called the Manika [mind reading jewel] charm. It is by means of this that that monastic can read the minds of others…’ And that is why, seeing the danger of such miracles, I… loathe them. 
   
Miracle of Instruction
8. “And what is the miracle of instruction? Here, Kevaddha, a disciple gives instruction as follows: ‘Consider in this way, don’t consider in that way, give up that, gain this and persevere in it.’ That, Kevaddha, is called the miracle of instruction.
   
9-66. “Again, Kevaddha, a Tathāgata [Wayfarer, Welcome One, Well Gone One] arises in the world, an arhat, a fully-enlightened buddha, endowed with wisdom and conduct, Well-Farer, Knower of the Worlds, incomparable Trainer of Persons to be Tamed, Teacher of Deva Beings and Human Beings, enlightened and blessed. 
   
“He, having realized it by his own super-knowledge, proclaims this world with its devas, māras, and brahmās, its princes, and peoples. He preaches the Dharma, which is lovely in the beginning, the middle, and end, in spirit and letter, and displays the fully-perfected and purified supreme life [of renunciation]. A disciple goes forth and practices the virtues... (as “The Fruits of Recluseship” discourse, DN 2, Verses 41-63).
   
“One guards the sense-doors and attains the [first] four absorptions (jhānas)... (as in DN 2, Verses 64-82); one attains various insights... (DN 2, Verses 83-84); one realizes the Four Noble Truths, the path, and the cessation of the corruptions (DN 2, Verses 85-97), and one knows: ‘[The ultimate goal is accomplished]…There is nothing further here.’ That, Kevaddha, is called the miracle of instruction. 
   
67. “And I, Kevaddha, have experienced these three miracles by my own super-knowledge.
   
“Once, Kevaddha, in this Monastic Order the thought occurred to a certain monastic: ‘I wonder where the four great elements -- earth, water, fire, air [actually the four characteristics of materiality: solidity, cohesion, temperature, motion] -- cease without remainder.’ And that monastic attained such a state of mental concentration [absorption] that the way to the deva-realms appeared.
   
Visiting the Heavens
68. “Then arriving in the [space] Realm of the Devas of the Four Great Sky Kings, that monastic asked those devas [gandharvas, entertainers, messengers]: ‘Friends, where do the four great elements -- earth, water, fire, air -- cease without remainder?’

“At this question the devas in the Realm of the Four Great Sky Kings said: ‘Monastic, we don’t know where the four great elements cease without remainder. But the Four Great Sky Kings [who look over the quadrants of space closest to Earth] are loftier and wiser than we are. They may know where the four great elements cease…’
   
69. “So the monastic went to the Four Great Sky Kings and asked, but they replied: ‘We don’t know, but the Thirty-Three [ruling] devas [who live in Tavatimsa, or the “Realm of the Thirty-Three”] may know…’
   
70. “So the monastic went to the Thirty-Three devas, who replied: ‘We don’t know, but Sakka, ruler of the [Thirty-Three] devas [as well as the Four Great Sky Kings], may know…’
   
71. “Sakka, ruler of the devas, said: ‘The Yāma Realm devas may know.’
   
72. “The Yāma Realm devas said: ‘Suyāma, born among devas, may know…’
   
73. “Suyāma said: ‘The Tusita Realm devas may know…’
  
74. “The Tusita Realm devas said: ‘Santusita, born among devas, may know…’
   
75. “Santusita said: ‘The Nimmānarati Realm devas may know…’
  
76. “The Nimmānarati Realm devas said: ‘Sunimmita, born among devas, may know…’
  
77.“Sunimmita said: ‘The Paranimmita-Vasavatti Realm devas may know…’
   
78. “The Paranimmita-Vasavatti Realm devas said: ‘Vasavatti, born among devas, may know…’
   
79. “Vasavatti said: ‘The devas of Brahmā’s Retinue may know…’
80. “Then that monastic, by the appropriate concentration [absorption], made the way to the Brahmā World appear and went among the devas of Brahmā’s Retinue and asked them. They said: ‘We don’t know. But there is Brahmā, Great Brahmā [Maha Brahma], the Conqueror, the Unconquered, the All-Seeing, All-Powerful, the Lord, the Maker and Creator, the Ruler, Appointer and Orderer, Parent of All That Have Been and Shall Be. That Brahma is loftier and wiser than we are and would know where the four great elements cease without remainder.’
  
“And where, friends, is this Great Brahmā now?” 
  
“Monastic, we do not know when, how, or where Brahmā will appear. But when certain signs are seen -- when a light appears and a radiance shines forth -- then Brahmā will appear. Such signs are an indication that Brahma will soon appear.”
  
81. “Then it was not long before Great Brahmā appeared. And that monastic stepped up and said: “Friend, where do the four great elements -- earth, water, fire, air -- cease without remainder?” to which Great Brahmā replied: ‘Monastic, I am Brahmā, Great Brahmā, the Conqueror, the Unconquered, the All-Seeing, All-Powerful, the Lord, the Maker and Creator, the Ruler, Appointer and Orderer, Parent of All That Have Been and Shall Be.” 
   
82. “A second time the monastic said: ‘Friend, I did not ask you if you are Brahmā, Great Brahmā… I asked you where the four great elements cease without remainder.” And a second time Great Brahmā replied as before. 
   
83. “And a third time the monastic said: ‘Friend, I did not ask you that; I asked where the four great elements -- earth, water, fire, air -- cease without remainder.’
  
“Then, Kevaddha, Great Brahmā took that monastic aside by the arm and said: “Monastic, these devas believe there is nothing Brahmā does not see, does not know, is unaware of. That is why I did not speak in front of them. But, monastic, I don’t know where the four great elements cease without remainder.
  
“And therefore, monastic, you have acted wrongly. You have acted incorrectly by going beyond the Blessed Lord [the Buddha] in search of an answer to this question elsewhere. Now, monastic, you just go to the Blessed Lord and put this question to him, and whatever answer he gives, accept it.’
  
84. “So that monastic, as swiftly as a strong man might flex or unflex his arm, vanished from the Brahmā World and appeared in my presence. He prostrated himself before me, then sat down respectfully to one side, and said: ‘Venerable sir, where do the four great elements -- earth, water, fire, air -- cease without remainder?’
   
85. “I replied: ‘Monastic, once upon a time seafaring merchants, when they set sail on the ocean, took in their ship a land-sighting bird. When they could not see the land themselves, they released the bird. The bird flew to the east, south, west, and north, to the zenith, and to the intermediate points of the compass. If it saw land anywhere, it flew there.
   
“But if it saw no land, it returned to the ship. In the same way, monastic, you have been as far as the Brahmā World searching for an answer to your question and not finding it. And now you come back to me. But, monastic, you should not ask your question in this way: ‘Where do the four great elements -- earth, water, fire, air -- cease without remainder?’
 
“Instead, this is how the question should have been put: 
   
‘Where do earth, water, fire, and air find no footing?
Where are long and short, small and great, fair and foul -- 
Where are “name and form” wholly destroyed? 
And the answer is:
‘Where consciousness is signless, boundless, all-luminous,
That’s where earth, water, fire, and air find no footing,
There both long and short, small and great, fair and foul --
There “name and form” are wholly destroyed.
With the cessation of [the impersonal process of] consciousness this is all destroyed.’”
  
Thus the Buddha spoke, and the householder Kevaddha delighted and rejoiced at his words.
  • *Translator Maurice O’Connell Walshe (1911-1998) was one of the foremost British-born Buddhist and Pali scholars, Vice-President of the Buddhist Society, Chair of the English Sangha Trust, and author of the definitive translation of the Digha Nikaya or Long Discourses of the Buddha.