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Monday, November 12, 2012

News of the Day: Suck a Lemon

Ashley Wells, Xochitl, Pat Macpherson, Wisdom Quarterly (Armistice Day/Veteran's Day 2012)
Rap has nothing on quirky indie rock like moe.

Demolition of Buddhas approaching!
KABUL (Reuters, Dec. 5, 2010) - Ancient Buddhist relics may temporarily delay huge Afghan copper mine. Safeguarding ancient Buddhist relics at a huge Chinese-run copper mine [MCC] in Afghanistan could take three years and delay the country's biggest foreign investment project, the Afghan mining minister said on Sunday. Archaeologists recently uncovered [2,600 year old] Buddhist remains at Mes Aynak mine southwest of the capital Kabul, including a temple, reliquaries, frescoes, and gold covered statues several meters high, some more than 15 centuries old. More
  
New Earth found (disclosure approaching)
In an exopolitical sign of impending disclosure in the mainstream media,  this report is making the rounds: Astronomers found a new planet similar to Earth that would take us 42 years to reach, traveling from Earth at the speed of light. Researchers have discovered a super-Earth planet circling a star at a distance that would allow that planet to support life, according to the study, "Habitable-zone super-Earth candidate in a six-planet system around the K2.5V star HD 40307." More
  
Cardboard bike can change the world
Oct. 16 - Israeli entrepreneurs say they're about to take the cycling world by storm with their new bicycle - made of recycled cardboard. Each bike costs less than $US10 to produce which, the developers say, will make it an accessible, environmentally-friendly form of transportation all over the world. Jim Drury has more. (Video + transcript)

Nagas in the News: New tentacled snake
Tentacled naga sea serpent (wikicommons)
Indiana Jones and Samuel L. Jackson may need to start their own group therapy session: Eight tentacled snakes were recently hatched at the Smithsonian's National Zoo. These babies belong to an aquatic species of snake native to Southeast Asia, formally known as Erpeton tentaculatus, according to the Mother Nature Network. Scientists say it is the only known species of snakes to have tentacles, which are used to sense vibrations from fish swimming by. The snakes are relatively small, usually growing to lengths of about 20 to 35 inches. The tentacled snake spends almost all of its life hiding in murky waters, and scientists say its venomous fangs are not a threat to humans.
Akshobhya (viewonbuddhism.org)
Beyond its unusual sensory devices, the tentacled snake has some other impressive evolutionary traits as well, including the ability to predict where a startled fish will maneuver, allowing the tentacled snake to literally guide the prey into its open mouth. A 2009 report from Science Blogs explains in detail how tentacled snakes use their sharp senses and incredible speed to trap their prey. "I haven't been able to find reports of any other predators that exhibit a similar ability to influence and predict the future behavior of their prey," Vanderbilt University professor of biological sciences Kenneth Catania said in a statement. Watch video of the tentacled snake capturing a fish here. More

KOAN: Nanyo's Wash Basin (Vairocana)

Koan Study Group, Roshi Albrizze, Seven, Wisdom Quarterly; Book of Equanimity (BN)
A wash basin is a base thing. Today, it would be as if a master asked one to fetch a roll of toilet paper in answer to a question about the nature of the Great Illuminator.

  
Case 42: Nanyo’s Wash Basin
PREFACE TO THE ASSEMBLY 
Vairocana (users.skynet.be)
Washing bowls and filling the wash basin are both Dharma gates and Buddha's affair.
Carrying firewood and drawing water are nothing but marvelous activity and supernatural power.
Why can't one obtain liberating radiant splendor [releasing effulgence like splitting the atom] in shaking the earth?

MAIN CASE
Attention!
A monk asked Zen Master [Chu of] Nanyo, "What is the original body of the Cosmic Buddha Vairocana?"
Master Nanyo replied, "Go and fetch me the wash basin."
The monk brought the wash basin to him.
Master Nanyo said, "Now, go put it back."
The monk asked again, "What is the original body of the Cosmic Buddha Vairocana?"
Master Nanyo remarked, "The old Buddha is long gone."

APPRECIATORY VERSE
A bird soaring in air.
A fish dwelling in water.
Rivers and lakes both forgotten, one aspires to clouds and heaven.
A thread of doubting mind, and they're facing ten-thousand miles apart.
How many people understand and repay such unselfish kindness?
Who is Vairocana?
Buddha and Bodhisattva Directory (edited by Wisdom Quarterly)
Vii-ro-cha-na means "one who is like the sun" or "the radiating one." In Chinese Vairocana is called Pe-Ru-Gher-Na or Da-Ze-Zu-Lai ("Great Sun Buddha"), in Japanese, Dainichi Nyorai or Roshana, in Tibetan, Rnam-par-snang-mdzad or Rnam-snang ("Maker of Brilliant Light").
  
Maha Vairocana ("Great Illuminator") in Hinduism-influenced Mahayana Buddhism is conceived of as the "Supreme Buddha." This is how this deified figure is regarded by many Mahayana Buddhists in Far East Asia, Tibet, Nepal, and Java. 
  
In the devotional Mi-tsung sect of China and the Shingon sect of Japan, Vairocana is the chief object of reverence and is regarded as the source of the entire universe -- a Maha Brahma ("Great Supremo" or powerful creator) figure made completely Buddhist.
  
Tibetan (manjushri.com)
The characteristic hand gesture displayed throughout these two regions is the mudra of the six elements, with the index finger of the left hand clasped by the five fingers of the right. This pose symbolizes the uniting of the five elements of the material world (earth, water, fire, air, and ether or separating space) with the spiritual (consciousness, prana, ch'i). 
  
The other gesture popular in Vairocana statues is in the Dharma-chakra-mudra ("teaching gesture").

As the supreme Buddha, Vairocana is usually located in the center of mandalas of the five tantric Dhyani Buddhas.
  
(A possible explanation)
In paintings, Vairocana is colored white to symbolize a pure consciousness.
 
Vairocana represents either the integration or origin of the Dhyani Buddhas. His wisdom is the Wisdom of the Dharmadhatu ("realm of phenomena"). The Dharmadhatu is the Realm of Truth, in which all things exist as they really are.
  
Vairocana's wisdom is also referred to as the All-Pervading Wisdom of the Dharmakaya ("Body of the Dharma"), the absolute Buddha nature. Therefore, Vairocana's symbol is the dharmachakra, the "Wheel of the Buddha's Teaching." It denotes the teaching of the Buddha. Its eight spokes represent the Noble Eightfold Path. More
Vairocana in Brief
Wikipedia entry edited by Wisdom Quarterly
Tibetan Vairocana (Dharmaflower.net)
Vairocana is a celestial buddha often interpreted, in Mahayana texts like the Flower Garland Sutra, as the Bliss Body of the historical Buddha (Siddhartha Gautama). In Chinese and Japanese Buddhism, Vairocana is also seen as the embodiment of the Buddhist concept of emptiness. In the conception of the Five Wisdom Buddhas of Vajrayana Buddhism, Vairocana is at the center. His "consort" (a popular Hindu concept about gods) in Tibetan Buddhism is White Tara. (In the Tibetan tradition, there is an affiliated female figure for every one of the Five Wisdom Buddhas.) This glorious figure is not to be confused with Virocana, who appears in the eighth chapter of Hinduism's Chandogya Upanishad as the king of the Titans (asuras). More
PHOTOS: ANGKOR WAT (Cambodia) in its state of preservation is unrivaled. Its mightiness and magnificence bespeak a pomp and luxury surpassing that of a Pharaoh or a Shah Jahan, an impressiveness greater than that of the pyramids, an artistic distinctiveness as fine as that of the Taj Mahal.