News of the Day: Spiritual movies (video)

Seven, Pat Macpherson, Irma Quintero, Wisdom Quarterly, News of the Day, Nov. 2012

Calming prints on the streets of Chiang Mai, Thailand's second city (WeGoTwo/flickr.com)

• Obama drops in on Cambodian dictator Hun Sen after visit with Burma's rulers
• 10,000 Days of Hun Sen: “I not only weaken the opposition, I’m going to make them dead...and if anyone is strong enough to try to hold a demonstration, I will beat all those dogs and put them in a cage.” 
• WalMart and others kill Bangladeshi workers

Happiness
Happiness in Teen Years linked to Higher Income later

Happy Samurai Girl (imdb.com)

(HuffPo) Gloomy teens, take heed -- your more happy-go-lucky classmates will likely earn more than you, according to new research. Researchers followed more than 10,000 U.S. adolescents over a decade and found that happiness during the teen years and young adulthood was linked with income at age 29.

Life Lessons I Learned from my Baby
Declines in Quality of Life of all EU states, alarming

Declines of over 20% in levels of optimism and happiness are reported in some countries across the EU and over a third of people indicate a... 

Happiness first for youths

The top motivating factors for Malaysians aged 18-35 are happiness, success, family, and ambition -- according to the latest Generation-Asia...

Led Zeppelin movie released: "Celebration Day"

Jimi Hendrix NEW album: "People, Hell, and Angels"

WATCH: Soundgarden plays live concert

Hundreds attend happiness panel

(Yale Daily News) Hundreds of students flooded into LC 101 last night to hear a panel of professors discuss happiness. The talk, hosted by Vita Bella ["Good Life"]... 

Study: Happiness in workplace is key to employee productivity

To complement this study, The Wall Street Journal examined the role that happiness has in workplace productivity, and how both employees... 

Workers now happiest they have been in ages, finds study

(Herald Sun, Nov. 25, 2012) Workers now happiest they have been in ages, finds study... Happiness among their workers also is up by 40 per cent as they too enjoy better... 

"Female PORN STARS are happier"

(MSN NZ News, Nov. 26, 2012) A study claiming porn actresses are happier in their sexuality and self-image than other women has been discredited by an Australian expert.

  
"Travelers and Magicians"

In Bhutan, the last Himalayan Buddhist kingdom, dreaming of coming to Buddhist America

  
A Bhutanese fable [available for DVD rental] about lives in transition will be shown Monday at Real Art Ways, 56 Arbor St., Hartford. "Travelers and Magicians" tells the story about Dondup, who wants to leave Bhutan for America, and a monk who tries to talk him out of it. To do this, the monk tells the story of another man restless and dissatisfied, whose story does not end well. It is the first movie shot entirely in Bhutan, and is in the Bhutanese language, Dzonghka, with subtitles. More

Bollywood's Sherlyn Chopra to star in Kama Sutra in 3D
Kashmir: Canada and India's new relationship
LA Yoga: Ayurveda and Health (Magazine)

Kindle eBook: India Was One

iJAN helps FREE Palestine: The WorldSocial Forum Free Palestine (WSF FP) is approaching. More than 10,000 Palestinian and solidarity activists from 36 countries will converge on Porto Alegre to learn from each other and together organize to build a strong movement to confront Israel and Zionism and the broader injustices they represent and support. The International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network and activists in the US, Canada, and around the world are building a joint struggleframework to the WSF FP.  More

Filling US prisons with "modern slaves" for profit
The North America Bigfoot Search (Paulides)
UFO sightings warm up on Australia's Gold Coast
Research in Open and Distance Learning  (Journal)
China dissident Ai Weiwei basks in his relative liberty
PHOTO GALLERY: Buddhist beauty in China (wow)
PHOTOS: TraceLUX's trip to Tibet
Bhutan gives cold shoulder to Nepal
Rooftop news: The Himalayan Times 
English eBooks (Tusita Hermitage)

"Life of Pi"

(LINK) Director Ang Lee ("Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon") recruits an actual trained Bengal tiger to create a groundbreaking movie about a young man who survives a tragic disaster at sea. He is hurtled on an epic journey of adventure and discovery. While marooned on a lifeboat, he forms an amazing and unexpected connection with the ship's only other survivor, the tiger. WARNING: Many viewers say the movie tries to inspire wonder and awe and a belief in GOD.

 

"Cloud Atlas"

 (LINK) The most "Buddhist" movie of the year?

 

This Wachowski film features handsome Halle Berry and America's very own sweetheart Tom Hanks with Buddhist themes reminiscent of "Looper." Except this is without a time-travel conceit to make the karmic connection perfectly clear. "Cloud Atlas" is an exploration of how the actions (karma) of individual lives impact one another. This happens in the past, present, and future. One living being, in the course of becoming, is shaped from a killer into a hero. And a single act of kindness ripples across centuries to inspire a revolution.
  
Not since Hanks nearly ruined "Cast Away" have we been so torn between wanting to watch a film for thematic reasons and being kept away by its male lead. In that epic adventure, Hanks' character is adrift on a raft ("Life of Pi"-style) with no one to talk to but a soccer ball. He draws eyes on it, places a wig atop it, and constantly whines: "Wilson, will I ever get home? Wilson, does my wife still love me? Wilson, what are we going to do?!!" Later in a hallucination, the ball answers him: "My name is Voit, dumb@ss!" Wait, that pay-off only came much later in a "Family Guy" cutaway:

"Cloud Atlas" might be bearable with the help of co-stars Susan Sarandon, Zhou Xun, Hugo Weaving, Doona Rae, Jim Sturgess, James D'Arcy, Hugh Grant, Ben Whishaw, Jim Broadbent, Keith David, David Mitchell, David Gyasi... because if the worst thing one has to say about a prospective film is that Tom Hanks is in it, that is probably one great film.

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Bigfoot is a kind of "human," DNA shows

Dr. Melba S. Ketchum; George Knapp, David Paulides; edited by Wisdom Quarterly

DNA moves in an aqueous environment (istockphoto.com/rustycloud/esciencecommons)

 

"Bigfoot" DNA sequenced in genetics study

Five-Year genome study at DNA Diagnostics yields evidence of Homo sapiens/unknown hominin hybrid species in North America.

 

DNA wall (John Goode/Flickr/Wired.com)

DALLAS, Texas (PRWEB, Nov. 24, 2012) - A team of scientists can verify that their five-year long DNA study, currently under peer-review, confirms the existence of a novel hominin [not hominid] hybrid species, commonly called “Bigfoot” [by European invaders and east coast migrants] or “Sasquatch” [by Native American groups], living in North America. 

 

Researchers’ extensive DNA sequencing suggests that the legendary Sasquatch is a human relative who arose approximately 15,000 years ago as a hybrid cross of modern Homo sapiens with an unknown primate species. 

Dr. Ketchum (DNAdiagnostics.com)

[It is not a Neanderthal. It has been determined to be human, as Native Americans have always maintained. These creatures possess their own language and culture, which is the Buddhist position, which recognizes these nature and mountain protecting Abominable Snowmen and Yetis as yakkhas (Sanskrit, yakshas, female yakshis) and rakshasas, "ogres."]

  

The study was conducted by a team of experts in genetics, forensics, imaging, and pathology, led by Dr. Melba S. Ketchum of Nacogdoches, TX. In response to recent interest in the study, Dr. Ketchum can confirm that her team has sequenced three complete Sasquatch nuclear genomes and has determined that the species is a human hybrid:

Synthetic DNA/RNA (ZME Science)

“Our study has sequenced 20 whole mitochondrial genomes and utilized next generation sequencing to obtain three whole nuclear genomes from purported Sasquatch samples. The genome sequencing shows that Sasquatch mtDNA is identical to modern Homo sapiens, but Sasquatch nuDNA is a novel, unknown hominin related to Homo sapiens and other primate species. Our data indicate that the North American Sasquatch is a hybrid species, the result of males of an unknown hominin species crossing with female Homo sapiens. 

Not a monkey? Half "angel/demon" DNA?

[Like the biblical nephilim hybrids and half-human yakshas in ancient Sanskrit Vedic texts, these ogres frequently abduct human females, taking them as "wives" according to lore. They do so because they are powerful humanoids with honed senses that might be labelled psychic, supernormal, or preternatural. Homo sapiens are capable of the same feats, but we seem to have dulled our six natural senses to the point that we find it difficult simply surviving in nature like our cave-dwelling forbears. Their existence and reports of sightings have often occurred in connection with UFO sightings -- such as the case of "crazy bears" dropped off by a UFO referred to as a small moon. They descended from above, come up from underground genetics labs, and they are also said to enter this plane trans-dimensionally through portals. This should not come as a surprise; governments around the world have long known and confirmed for themselves that these humanoid hybrid creatures exist. Russia, for example, held a public conference last year (2011) to bring together scientists and researchers. The same may be said of those extraterrestrials not covered in hair, but that has yet to be disclosed by official confirmation. After all, it's not true until The Man says it's okay to believe, for such is our colonized mindset.]

 

“Hominins are members of the taxonomic grouping Hominini, which includes all members of the genus Homo. Genetic testing has already ruled out Homo neanderthalis and the Denisova hominin as contributors to Sasquatch mtDNA or nuDNA.

 

Yeti shrines (wdwforgrownups)

“The male progenitor [who] contributed the unknown sequence to this hybrid is unique as its DNA is more distantly removed from humans than other recently discovered hominins like the Denisovan individual,” explains Ketchum.

 

“Sasquatch nuclear DNA is incredibly novel and not at all what we had expected. While it has human nuclear DNA within its genome, there are also distinctly non-human, non-archaic hominin, and non-ape sequences. We describe it as a mosaic of human and novel non-human sequence. Further study is needed and is ongoing to better characterize and understand Sasquatch nuclear DNA.” More

• 2012 and the psychedelic shamans
• Britain’s "Bigfoot" spotted in Tunbridge Wells
• Weird War: Strange stories of the military
• Heaven exists. Or does it?
• Missing toddler found on sandbar in river

The Buddha and Bigfoot: the Yakkha Alavaka

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Vegans in Space (NASA)

Rose Y.Colón (finedininglovers.com, July 24, 2012); Seven, Wisdom Quarterly

Worlds in space/sky (Sanskrit, akasha) are best visited by vegans (wallpapervortex.com). Below Mars image from Shutterstock engineers at NASA’s Synthetic Biology Initiative using life to create building blocks of life instead of shipping them (via inhabitat.com).

Mars is really more hospitable than trip there

We have Buddhists in space, Buddhists from space, Buddhists sending messages from space, so why not smart, compassionate, green (environmentally-conscious) vegans? 
 
The next time NASA sends astronauts to Mars in the 2030s, they will not be eating synthetic capsules, freeze-dried food, or liquid meals. That's so last millenium.
  
On their mission to Mars, NASA astronauts will eat 100% vegan meals complete with fresh fruits and vegetables grown on the spaceship.

  

How is this possible? [A better question is, Why? Could it be that even mainstream scientists know full well that a vegan diet is the healthiest for humans particularly those under the strains and stresses of space travel, while the fiction is maintained that here on Earth we need junk food and flesh?]

It is all thanks to the research being done by NASA's Advanced Food Technology (AFT) project. 

V is for Vegan tees (OnOurSleeve.com)

Since Mars has some gravity, the AFT researchers believe astronauts will be able to chop and cook vegetables and even grow their own plants with hydroponics using recycled water.

 

The six to eight astronauts who will participate in the Mars mission will require enough food for three years. Mars is so far away that NASA will not be able to send food every six months like they do for the International Space Station. Neither will they be able to preserve meat or dairy for such a long period, according to senior research scientist Maya Cooper. 

 

That is why Cooper and her team have come up with a menu of 100 vegan recipes. According to this video, NASA is still working to ensure the astronauts have healthy and varied meals.It is not clear how talented a chef will be onboard to prepare these recipes, but if this animated 3D short film is any indication, the astronauts are in for years of treats. AP/FDL VIDEO

(GoVeg.com)

 
Inhabitat:

• NASA harnessing the power of microbes to create building bricks on Mars
• How "soft infrastructure," like wetlands and green roofs, could save NYC
• Our World: giant pixelated LEGO map built from 1 million bricks!
• London’s Earth creature is super adobe dome by city’s smallest architects
• INTERVIEW: Architecture for Humanity’s Co-Founder Kate Stohr 
• "World’s Most Sustainable Gas Station" in the Netherlands
• UK scientists developing autonomous flying honey bee robots!

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Detachment and Compassion in Buddhism

Elizabeth J. Harris,* Detachment and Compassion in Early Buddhism; Wisdom Quarterly

Wisdom Quarterly: Think detachment and non-clingy compassion go together?

 

Bodhi leaf hearts (Gabrielgs)

To people looking at Buddhism through the medium of English, the practice of compassion and detachment can appear incompatible, especially for those who consider themselves to be socially and politically engaged. 

 

In contemporary usage, compassion brings to mind outward-moving concern for others, while detachment suggests aloofness and withdrawal from the world.

• What is compassion, what is wisdom?

Yet Buddhism recommends BOTH as admirable and necessary qualities to be cultivated. This raises questions such as:

• If compassion means to relieve suffering in a positive way, and detachment to remain aloof from the world, how can the two be practiced together?
• Does detachment in Buddhism imply lack of concern for humanity?
• Is the concept of compassion in Buddhism too passive, connected only with the inward-looking eye of meditation, or can it create real change in society?

Kwan Yin (Avalokita), bodhsattva of compassion, Kayosan, Japan (Massimiliano Troiani)

 

It is certainly possible to draw sentences from Buddhist writers which seem to support a rejection of outward concern for others. For example, [classic Mahayana translator] Edward Conze has written, "The Yogin can only come into contact with the unconditioned when he brushes aside anything which is conditioned" (Buddhist Thought in India, 1960, Ch.5).

Similarly, G.S.P. Misra writes (Development of Buddhist Ethics, p. 44), "In the final analysis, all actions [karma] are to be put to cessation... The Buddha speaks of happiness involved in non-action which he further says is an integral part of the Right Way (samma patipada).

 

Taken in isolation and out of context, these remarks can give the impression that the path to [Sanskrit nirvana, Pali nibbana] implies developing a lack of concern towards everything in samsara. But is this inference sound? I would argue that it is not.

• BOOK: Amazing and Amusing Adventures of SAM and SARA: The Zen of All  Kinds of Stuff!

This is an issue which touches on the whole question of transferring concepts across linguistic barriers, in this case Pali and English. It calls not only for an understanding of how the concepts are used within the framework of the Pali Buddhist texts, but also for an awareness of how the English terms used in translation function and whether they are adequate.

 

Inevitably, a dialogical approach between two linguistic frameworks is necessary.

 

Detachment

Laugh more, stay cool (zazzle.com)

Viveka [withdrawal] and viraga [dispassion, cooling] are the two Pali words which have been translated as "detachment." The two, however, are not synonymous. The primary meaning of viveka is separation, aloofness, seclusion. Often physical withdrawal is implied. The later commentarial tradition, however, identifies three forms of viveka: physical withdrawal (kaya-viveka), mental withdrawal (citta-viveka), and withdrawal from the roots of suffering (upadhi-viveka).

Physical withdrawal, as a chosen way of life, was not uncommon during the time of the Buddha. To withdraw from the household life, renounce possessions, and adopt a solitary mendicancy was a recognized path. 

 

The formation of the Buddhist monastic Order (Sangha) was grounded in the belief that going out from home to homelessness could aid concentrated spiritual effort. 

Yet, to equate the renunciation which the Buddha encouraged with a physical withdrawal, which either punished the body or completely rejected human contact would be a mistake. More

• ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Dr. Harris studied Buddhism in Sri Lanka from 1986-1993 obtaining a Ph.D. from the Postgraduate Institute of Pali and Buddhist Studies, Univ. of Kelaniya. She is now Secretary for Inter-faith Relations in The Methodist Church in London. Previous BPS publications include Violence and Disruption in Society (Wheel No. 392/393) and Journey into Buddhism (Bodhi Leaves No. 134).

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