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Directors Scott Roberts and Jeremy Wagener; Wisdom Quarterly
a documentary film about the history of oil prices and the future of alternative fuel
The film "Gas Hole" is a wide and detailed examination of US dependence on foreign supplies of oil. What led America to go from a leading exporter of oil to the world's largest importer? What are the forces that contribute to that change and prevent its solution?
The film examines many potential solutions to oil dependence. Starting with technology that dramatically improves gas mileage, to navigating bureaucratic roadblocks, to evaluating alternative fuels available now, to questioning consumer reluctance to embrace available alternatives. Using gasoline? See this movie!
(RT) What the oil companies don't want you to know
I never liked Morrissey, except that one song in which he says, "Sweetness, I was only joking when I said by rights you should be bludgeoned in your bed" (The Smiths' "Bigmouth Strikes Again"). Mohamed Morsi is sort of the same.
What is the best way to a stable democracy? Set up a police state. For "the price of freedom is eternal vigilance," a slogan beloved by American and Israeli militants of all stripes, particularly underground moles in nuclear mountain vaults and secret subterranean military installations ready to push The Button(s). Marines, grunts, death-from-above squadrons, and the cavalry in league with paramilitary city squad cars, they love this slogan. This is constant vigilantism, and they are paid vigilantes opposing all who question and agitate.
A new hope, a new Mohamed for Egypt, Morsi came in with the potential of making a real change. But real change simply cannot be tolerated. The current set up is too profitable and too strategically advantageous to alter. The Israeli government is laughing to have the spotlight taken off it.
Oh, Mo, you bigmouth. Do you know how Joan of Arc felt? The Arab Spring was supposed to be different, but we maintain that it could never have actually happened without MIC (military-industrial complex) approval and complicity.
Freedom post Arab Spring? Not yet.
Protesters do not run Facebook and Twitter, the alleged new social media "little guys" that enabled this revolution; the CIA and NSA do.
G-Ogle it. (A G-Man, according to John B. Wells, is a Government Man, code for a clandestine federal agent, and ogle is to look or watch intently, as in leer, and it is well known that Google is a CIA spying platform, likely from the start, possibly by infiltration as it started to dominate and control Web searching).
But it's just "temporary"? Reutersvia Huffington Post (Nov. 25, 2012)
Rioting in Cairo over Morsi's decrees (AP)
The Egyptian presidency said on Sunday [today] it was committed to engaging "all political forces" to reach common ground on the constitution and stressed the "temporary nature" of a decree expanding President Mohamed Mursi's powers [something Morsi himself decreed by fiat]."This declaration is deemed necessary in order to hold accountable those responsible for the corruption as well as other crimes during the previous regime and the transitional period," the presidency said in a statement. [In otherwords, using our handy cereal box Decoder Ring, "Morsi may have to burn the village to save the village," War on Vietnam style.]
E. Landau, A. Dorrian, P. Macpherson, edited by Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly
Is compassion for Palestinians in Gaza anti-semitism? Absolutely not. But one would never know that from reading through the mainstream mead's coverage of Israel's war crimes against Palestinians in the name of self-defense. And wherever Israel goes, the US/MIC is not far behind.
Often "we" (as if the average American had much to do with the decision-making motives of corporate war-profiteers and violence-prone generals at the Pentagon) are leading Israel around by the nose to do the bidding most profitable to us in the region. "Israel is worth ten CIAs" a CIA official once famously admitted.
Benjamin Netanyahu, "Bibi," was educated in America. That is why he has barely an accent. Yet no one speaks eloquently for the Palestinians. And it seems no one tells Muslim men and women being bombed to stop shouting and behaving "emotionally" when reporting the facts on the ground. Jewish soldiers are not allowed to brag or are not asked by reporters to explain why they kill and terrorize civilians. Is there an Arab League representative, an unbiased translator, any voice in the wilderness? Palestinians do not have a fraction of the sterling public relations support Israel and the US military take for granted.
Israeli warcrimes against Palestine: witnessessee KL War Crimes Commission(sabbah.biz)
The coverage, particularly on NPR, is astoundingly pro-Israel even when it seems to be showing the other side of the argument. The obvious slant is in reporting Netanyahu's spin; the subtle bias is far more insidious, leaving one to wonder how they do not lose all credibility news story after news story.
Such is the power of money, intellectual capital, and misguided sympathy for historical wrongs towards Jews and, only more recently "Israelis," if there is such a thing. Zionists? Usurpers? The people of the Bible? Anyone who claims the bloodline and mantle of The Chosen Ones?
It takes an Arabic or Palestinian scholar to point out that the people who call themselves and whom we call "Jews" today are hardly as distinct or rooted in and around Jerusalem as we now take for granted. The whole history of the genocidal founding of the modern state of "Israel" and its location in Palestine as their "promised land" is problematic.
However, PR firms pay off Christian scholars and other scientists to jump into the fray in favor of all things Israel. It doesn't even take that; for it is understood in scholarly circles that if one wants to make a name for him or herself and be widely cited and published, one's finding had better be in favor of Israel and its revisionist history. If all these voices silenced themselves, the CIA and its operatives would still rule the discussion. How much nicer that they self-select and use their clout to justify and further war.
This is not a question about Semitic languages, proto-Hebrew (apparently any earlier or current form of Arabic on any shard of pottery), or how far back the Bible can be pushed as unbiased historical document not a story of a people told by those very people to perpetuate themselves at the expense of neighbors or outsiders coming in claiming to be those descendents continuing a long tradition of forced relocation and cultural genocide.
The blame does not fall on individuals like Romney-supporting Netanyahu, his similarly educated brother, or the Kanesset. It is displaced onto other actors, even stone throwers trying to defend themselves against atrocities wrought by the super power on the other side of the wall. Yes, wall, not "fence."
Israeli nationalists are wrong. And their right-wing media machines, owned and operated by billionaires and multi-millionaries rather than the dogged journalists and editors who constantly bear the brunt, are hopelessly biased. Here is one problem. Polls are taken and reported acting as if the vast majority, 80%, of Israelis are for genocide, rubber stamping anything the Israeli Department of War (IDF) wants to do, short of ground invasions unless Netanyahu should deem them "unavoidable."
What are the poll questions being asked? And who is doing the asking and tabulating and spinning the results, an Israeli nationalist paper?
"Do you disapprove of a country defending itself from hostile rocket fire?"
"Are you for terrorism?"
"If a peaceful nation, which only wants peace, is brutally attacked by thugs hiding in slums on the other side of a Security Fence, is it all right for the peaceful nation to defend itself, or should it allow bombs to rain down on its children and elderly?"
Answer honestly and anonymously, and we promise not to twist or construe your answers as being in support of genocide, mutilation, or asymmetrical warfare against those godforsaken "dogs" in Gaza and the West Bank.
Has anyone ever heard something more true than that Sarah Silverman joke from her feature-length movie, "J is Magic"? She complains about someone criticizing Jews then, rhetorically, with biting satire, asks: Hey, I thought we owned the media. How are others getting their say?
The gist of it is, of course Israeli nationalists have an inordinate influence on the media around the world, but we aren't ever allowed to point that out. Wink-wink. That would be, pick your offending term, "racist," anti-Semitic, hateful, so unfair, so biased.
Angry Netanyahu, a real CIA asset (Al Jazeera)
God (YHWH) forbid anyone attribute anything negative to any Jewish person (except Bernie Madoff or Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel, those pariahs), Israelis in and around Palestine, or any Hebrew-speaking person from here in Hollywood to there in Tel Aviv, that's "anti-Semitism!"
If a right-wing leader in Israel acts like that German guy andanyone dares to point out a similarity or two, dares to point out that the Emperor has no clothes, forgetaboutit. The gloves are off. Just last week Southern Californians were sympathizing with the plight of Palestinians in Westwoodat the beloved Federal Building, site of all the best protests.
Jews, Israeli nationalists, Christian fundamentalists, and/or students feeling guilty about not doing enough to support the Promised Land Project (i.e., the new state of Israel), which gives them dual US-Israeli citizenship while Palestinians have no citizenship anywhere, and free trips to Israel while Palestinians are free to travel to a neighbor's house but no farther, went to confront and provide a counterpoint to those Palestinian sympathizers. Violence erupted on the streets of Los Angeles as a result of their intimidating counter protest. West LA is the heart of the Jewish and pro-Israel presence in LA.
Most Los Angelenos slept in. We can't be bothered. We've got homework, housework, work (business), and lots of other busy-work to see to.
They may say we're "racists," but Wisdom Quarterly has to stand up and call it what it is: Israeli-planned attacks on a nearly defenseless population using Iran-made "missile strikes" as pretext, propaganda, atrocities, the world's biggest prison, ethnic cleansing, and if only there were a word for the attempted systematic elimination of a people...
What's the real motive? Even God (the war-like Jewish tribal one) doesn't know, but the MIC sure does.
Although some one or some "cabal" put him up to it, P.M. Netanyahu has to be called on to answer for it. Sec'y of State Clinton has to be called to answer. (Pres. Obama is smart using Bibi's pro-Romney comments to stay out of the fray, sort of earning his Nobel Peace Prize by sending in Hillary to do the handshaking and historic signing, while he himself enjoys the sights in Buddhist Asia instead).
Mansfield: "I chose to sit in here. Now there was a film showing, 'Where Should Birds Fly.' Now those of you who were in here would have been as shocked -- even though I thought I knew what was going on -- shocked as anybody could be about the appalling situation. We've heard a lot about the appalling situation, but the film says it all. Farmers being shot at as I speak... It's in that context that I have a feeling...that there's a sense of urgency, emergency, and that that has to be communicated into legal redress."
The RToP held its fourth international session in New York City on Oct. 6-7. It took place in the Great Hall at Cooper Union located at 7 East 7th Street, New York, NY.
The RToP is an International People's Tribunal created in response to the international community's inaction regarding Israel's recognized violations of international law.
The Tribunal aims to bring attention to the complicity and responsibility of various national, international, and corporate actors in the ongoing Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories and the perpetuation of Israel's impunity under international law.
RToP has no legal status, but like other tribunals on Vietnam, Chile, and Iraq, its legitimacy comes from its universality and the strength it draws from the will of citizens and the support of international personalities who advocate for an end to the Israeli occupation and Israel's denial of Palestinian rights.
Why are we at war with Iraq? It was initiated by Ehud Barak for Israel's strategic benefit and US influence in the region.That's what "Israel" is for. It has its intelligence organization, Mossad, carry out false flag operations, deceiving others into attacking its enemies, getting others to fight wars for them. Wars for territory, wars for oil (or its control), wars for regional influence... Iraq is being turned into another Palestine for Israel.
In this anti-Buddhist propaganda photo suggesting Buddhists monks (Tibetan lamas) are up to no good standing among corpses, what is really happening is quite the opposite. Lamas were brought in to bless and comfort victims after a massive Himalayan landslide in Tibet -- in this inflammatory, undated photo tagged with a url link to a video reporting atrocities committed against Burma's minority Muslim Rohingyas, which the world seems to be ignoring:tinyurl.com/93hqzme.
UPDATE: The editors of Wisdom Quarterly are not apologists (defenders the faith ready to explain any and every negative thing away). If monastics or nominal lay "Buddhists" harm others, we report it.Reports have reached us that Buddhists did NOT go on murderous rampages. They might have, but there is a more plausible explanation. Rohingyas are in a tense stand off with their coompatriot neighbors, Burmese Buddhist villagers and co-religionist Muslims in nearby Bangladesh. Buddhists are angry about a sensational rape of a Buddhist female by Rohingya boys, ongoing drug dealing, and general anti-social behavior. But it is alleged that Rohingyas set fire to their own villages using gun powder provided to them from some outside source agitating for change. Rohingyas want to have their plight recognized, so they had to do something to get sympathy and vital humanitarian relief from either the world in general or Bangladeshi officials in particular.
Burma has a history of massacring minorities.
The worldwide MIC (transnational military-industrial complex) has succeeded in sucking in some Buddhists, tragically pitting some poor Burmese villagers against their fellow countrymen, an ethnic minority known as the Rohingya. Neighboring Muslim Bangladesh has refused to help save lives and prevent this nascent genocide by admitting Rohingyas attempting to flee the violence, which goes both ways with Rohingyas attacking minority Bangladeshi Buddhist temples and villagers and majority Burmese Buddhists retaliating.
But this is not a simple case of neighbor-on-neighbor violence. Pres. Thien Sein of Burma hasadmitted that the monstrous Myanmar military -- which in 2007 attacked, imprisoned, and slaughtered uncounted Buddhist monks and pro-democracy protesters in the ongoing Saffron Revolution -- has been systematically executing Rohingya. The military junta headed by Burmese dictator Gen. Than Shwe have ruthlessly attacked and waged war against many of Burma's ethnic minorities, including Buddhists along the its mountainous borders with Thailand and China.
Stop! Consider the consequences of shortsighted action (karma)! Hatred will never cease by hatred. Every gain will mean even more loss (Ahsanul Bari).
We go to Bangladeshi Buddhist abbot and scholar Ven. Karunananda, Ph.D. for comment.
WQ: "Venerable sir, Buddhists are killing Muslims?"
VK: "Villagers are fighting, but this has absolutely nothing to do with religion. This is not a religious crusade or anything Buddhist monastics sponsor. Rohingya attacked Buddhists in Bangladesh; Buddhists in Burma are attacking Rohingya."
WQ: "Where is Hillary Clinton in all this?"
VK: "That is a good question."
WQ: "Worse yet, where is our heroine Nobel Peace Laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi?"
VK: "This is a very delicate matter, very tragic."
There is a dictum in Buddhism that any person who attacks another is wrong to do so, but a person who retaliates is worse. Revenge is NOT justified in Buddhism, contrary to Western conceptions of God and Jewish-Christian ideals of vengeance, following a tribal God(s) into war against neighbors.
Fortunately, New Testament Christians speak of a new ideal (forgiveness) and a new God (Issa/Jesus) replacing the warring eye-for-any-eye mentality attributed to YHWH.
But many Christians in the West (US, UK, EU, and the Holy See) do not distinguish Old and New Testament Gods when it comes to such things as revenge, war, imperial-crusades, and ethnic-genocides. Conducting war in the name of One God (peruse the Christian Bible's Book of Judges if there's any doubt) and world domination is a mainstay in the Far West and, sadly, the Middle East as well.
The CIA can't make all this war without some help from a minority of Muslims bent on upholding the eye-for-an-eye mentality of monotheistic tradition. But to whom are we to attribute most of the violence in the world today?
Who does what?
(americanbedu.com)
Photographer Kombizz Kashani rhetorically asks: "Who started the first world war? Muslims?? Who started the second world war? Muslims?? Who killed ten million aborigines in Australia? Muslims?? Who dropped nuclear bombs on civilian [non-combatants] in Hiroshima and Nagasaki? Muslims?? Who killed more than 100 million Native American-Indians in North America? Muslims?? Who killed more than 50 million indigenous-Indians in South America? Muslims?? Who trafficked ~180 million Africans as slaves with 88% of them dying or being thrown into the Atlantic?? Muslims??"
No, they weren't Muslims! They were mostly [nominal] Christians.
Let's define "terrorism." If a non-Muslim does something untoward, it's a "crime." But if a Muslim commits the exact same misdeed, it's "terrorism." We first have to disabuse ourselves of this biased double-standard.
Afghanarchaeologist examines the remains of Buddha statues discovered inside an ancient monastic complex in MES AYNAK, Logar province, Afghanistan, on Nov. 23, 2010 (AP).
Should anyone be upset that the Prophet Mohammed is mocked? Yes. Our modernity means we have few if any sacred cows. That's fantastic and liberating for us. And eventually other spiritual people will devolve/evolve to that state. But until then respect is needed all the way around.
Buddhism is more peaceful and peace-inspiring than most people imagine. According to the Buddha, if a person hits another person and that hit-person hits back, that second-hitter is worse than the first. Jesus (Issa) would be proud to align himself with a nonviolent tradition like that.
Hi, I'm Republican Jesus
How far from that are our Judeo-European ways. Here we're encouraged to hit first and keep hitting.
(Growing up in Boston if I were to come home crying that I had gotten beaten up by someone, my father -- or my older brother in hi place -- would ask me, "Did you hit him first?" If the answer were no, I'd get a second beating. It's the Irish/Italian way. It's the east coast way. It's probably a holdover of surviving in a lower socioeconomic bracket. It's probably what any CHAV would do in Britain or gavone in New York).
Jesus is reputed to have said, "Turn the other cheek." If one is backhanded disrespectfully, turn the face to be hit honorably, openhandedly on the opposing cheek. In neither case is one to get mad, but we rarely follow that. At least we espouse it. At least we carried out crusades to spread Jesus's message of love to "barbaric" Muslims. (Did we teach them to cut off the hands of thieves, extract eyes for eyes, and not suffer children disrespecting parents under penalty of death, all things the Bible enjoins us to do?) We are the barbarians, and we can't bear to see ourselves that way.
"We aren't; they are!" we say. Or maybe everyone is. It's like Elizabeth Kubler Ross said, "I'm not okay, you're not okay, and that's okay."
So, hey Americans, stop insulting Islam! And, hey Military-Industrial Complex (MIC), stop invading, corrupting, installing, and deposing dictators friendly to the West.
Why?
Peace in the Middle East? (richardsilverstein.com)
If anyone believes the geopolitical Middle East is setting fire to embassies, schools, and effigy flags because of a YouTube video, they must not have been paying attention to events over the past few decades. It is analogous to the gratuitous Rodney King beating and attempted murder by the LAPD. Los Angeles did not erupt into rioting after criminal police were acquitted because of that acquittal. These are merely excuses, triggers, detonators to a tinder box of long held resentments.
It is because these abuses -- in this case abuse by the long arm of the US military under the control of our overt and covert government and the much shorter arm of the MIC's main ally Israel -- have been mounting for decades. They do not stir themselves up but are organized and antagonized by "our" PsyOp forces. So why do we keep falling for our mainstream media's slanted coverage which seems bent on instigating Armageddon scenarios wherever it can.
This October the world's leading American Buddhist scholar-monk, advocate for women, and teacher of Wisdom Quarterly's editors, Bhikkhu Bodhi, will be walking, walking, and walking to feed the hungry.
Join the walk in New York, Los Angeles, and Escondido! Why? Every year hunger and hunger-related illnesses claim the lives of ten million people, half of them children. Knowing this breaks not only the heart of this preeminent monk and translator, but of all compassionate Americans. It's even worse knowing that instead of funding endless wars, just a few dollars can do much to relieve this needless human suffering.
Ven. Bodhi is an inspiration to Buddhists worldwide with his acclaimed translations of the Buddha's collection of sutras that have become the standard.
After giving so much of his life to studying and translating the Buddha’s discourses, he has gone a further step to show us the importance of putting compassion into action.
As the great empire of force, theft, and violence, we must also help -- really help -- where it’s needed most. Buddhist Global Relief (BGR) exists because of his efforts, and it continues to be guided by his wisdom, compassion, and virtue. BGR is dedicated to combating global hunger and effectively changing and saving lives.
Individual stories may break our hearts, but they also lift our spirits, inspiring us to keep on walking for the benefit of the helpless. Walks such as these give poor and hungry people the resources, tools, and hope they need to live healthy, productive lives and become a source of help to others.
Do something
Now you have the chance to support Bhikkhu Bodhi’s walk to help change the course of someone’s life. Every dollar given makes a real difference, enabling children to eat, girls to go to school, farmers to grow more crops, and women to support their families. Learn more about how BGR works and hear Bhikkhu Bodhi’s words of encouragement at buddhistglobalrelief.org.
"Furthermore, one Johannes Pontius [John Ponce] was sente foorthe with three shyppes to destroye ye Canibales, bothe in the lande [mainland] and Ilandes thereaboute; as well that the nations of the more humane and innocente people maye at the lengthe lyve without feare of that pestiferous generation, as also the better and more safely to search the secretes and rychesse of those regions."
In these words the ancient chronicler sets forth the expedition of John Ponce de Leon for the subjugation and enslaving of the Caribs, or cannibals, Indians who lived in the small islands south of Boriquen, between it and the coast of South America. Our hero had gone to Spain for permission from the king to conquer and settle the country he had discovered, which lay to the north-west of Boriquen, and this had been granted willingly.
But as an after thought, Ferdinand had made the proviso that he should first attack, and if possible bring to terms, the fierce Caribs who so often ravaged the islands lying to the north of their abodes. This stipulation was not at all to the liking of Juan Ponce, though it was probably the result of his own representations to the crown respecting the cannibals, who, having been placed by the sovereigns beyond the pale of mercy, could be enslaved and made objects of traffic, on account of their reputation as devourers of human flesh.More
Dr. Franklin Ruehl, Ph.D., Huff Post Weird News; "Finding Bigfoot" (Animal Planet) (LINK)
Rather than being a missing link between man and the apes, Bigfoot may possibly be an alien entity. This intriguing possibility is derived from evidence in several solid UFO cases. The earliest clues date back to 1888, when a cattleman described an encounter with friendly Indians in Humboldt County, California. They led him to a cave where he saw a hefty humanoid creature covered in long, shiny black hair, with no neck, sitting cross-legged. One Indian told him three of these "Crazy Bears" had been cast out of a small moon that dropped from the sky and landed. The "moon" then ascended back into the air. So it's highly likely the "Crazy Bears" were really Bigfoots, and the "moon," a spacecraft. Now fast-forward almost 100 years... More
Olivia Culpo, the new Miss America, can't believe all her prayers finally came true!
Miss Pennsylvania USA claims pageant rigged
Praying to Saint Barbie
PITTSBURGH (AP) - The Miss USA pageant representative from Pennsylvania resigned her crown claiming the contest is rigged...
A posting on Miss Pennsylvania Sheena Monnin's Facebook page claims another contestant learned the names of the top 5 finishers on Sunday morning -- hours before the show was broadcast.
Monnin claims the other contestant told her the names of the Top 5 she spotted on a planning sheet for the telecast -- and she decided to step down as soon as those same contestants were named during the show.
"In my heart I believe in honesty, fair play, a fair opportunity, and high moral integrity, none of which in my opinion are part of this pageant system any longer," Monnin wrote in one of her Facebook posts.
Monnin, of Cranberry, Butler County, did not immediately respond to a Facebook message from The Associated Press. Donald Trump, who runs the Miss Universe Organization, called Monnin's claims that the pageant was fixed... More
Dhr. Seven and Amber Dorrian, Wisdom Quarterly translation
"Five things are desirable, agreeable, pleasant, yet hard to obtain in the world. What are the five?
1. Long life... 2. beauty... 3. pleasure... 4. status... 5. rebirth in heaven...
However, I tell you, these five things are not to be obtained by prayer or vows [petitioning or bargaining]. If they were to be obtained in this way, who would not have them?
It is not fitting for a follower of the Noble Ones [and their enlightening teaching] who desires beauty to plead or bargain for it, or to delight in doing so.
Instead, a disciple of the Noble Ones who desires beauty should follow a path of practice leading to beauty. In so doing, one will attain it, be it human [now or in the future when one is again born as a human] or divine [in worlds to come]...
(The same may be said of long life, pleasure, status, and rebirth in heavens)..." (AN 5.43).
The Cause of Beauty
Wisdom Quarterly translation based on Rhys Davids'
The Greek King Menander asked the Buddhist monk Nagasena, "Revered Nagasena, why is it that all people are not alike? Some are short-lived, some long-lived, some sickly some healthy, some ugly some beautiful, some without influence some of great power, some poor some wealthy, some low born some high born, some foolish some wise?"
Nagasena replied: "Why is it that all vegetables are not alike? Some are sour, some salty, some pungent, some acidic, some astringent, and some sweet?"
"Venerable sir, I fancy that it is because they come from different kinds of seeds."
"Just so, Great King, are the differences you have mentioned among humans to be explained. For it has been said by the Buddha: 'Beings, O brahmin, each have their own karma [deeds], are inheritors of karma, belong to the tribe of their karma, are relatives of karma, have karma as their protecting overlord. It is karma that divides them up into low and high and such divisions."
(From Rhys Davids, Milindapanha, "Questions of King Menander," 1:100).
The secret, then, is that karma separates the beautiful from the ugly. What karma? Patience and kindness having been willed, carried out, and accumulated, frequently practiced, made a habit are causes of beauty when any of these acts come to fruition. Anger, ill will, hate, resentment, and harshness are causes of ugliness when these mental actions finally come to fruition. The Buddha explains in detail:
But WHY?
Perplexed by the apparent and seemingly inexplicable disparity that exists among humans, the young truth seeker Subha ("Beauty") approached the Buddha and questioned him regarding it.
"Venerable sir, what is the reason, what is the cause that we find among humans the short-lived and the long-lived, the diseased and the healthy, the ugly (dubbannā) and the beautiful (vannavantā), the powerless and the powerful, the poor and the rich, the low-born and the high-born, the ignorant and the wise?"
The Buddha explained: "All living beings have actions (karma) as their own, their inheritance, their congenital cause, their kinsman, their resort. It is karma that differentiates beings into low and high states.[Note]"
Then he explained the causes of such differences in accordance with the law of causes, conditions, and their many results:
"...If one is wrathful and turbulent, is irritated by a trivial word, gives vent to anger, ill-will and resentment, that person, as a result of irritability, when born among humans, will become ugly." (This is because this seed comes to fruition at the time of rebirth conditioning what is expressed in terms of one's vast store of karma).
"If one is not wrathful nor turbulent, is not irritated even by a torrent of abuse, does not give vent to anger, ill-will, and resentment, that person, as a result of amiability, when born among humans, will become beautiful." Similarly a reason is given for each kind of karma, conduct, behavior, states (volitions), and traits (habits) that have the power to ripen in the future. More
Neo Nazi won't be beautiful
Instead of reading the aryan ("noble") works of Greek King Menander (called the Milindapanha) a series of questions and answers from one of the Buddhists who flourished in ancient Greece (Indo-Greco empires like Bactria), this Greek Neo Nazi failed to check his anger.
He let it grow until, like fire, it spread all out of control. And he revealed his true colors in this lifetime -- anger, a propensity for violence, animosity, and abusiveness. He had trained in the military and Greek special forces as many Neo Nazis dream of doing.
Losing control, he beat a female political opponent on live TV. First he threw a drink in the face of another female opponent. He is being sought by police to account for his outlandish behavior that has upset national sensibilities and standards of conduct for men particularly politicians appearing in public.
(LeakNewz) Greece's pre-electoral climate has become more explosive after a high profile neo-Nazi MP assaulted two female politicians from leftwing parties on live TV.
The beating, a first in the nearly 40 years since democracy was returned to its birthplace [although it existed in the Indian Buddhist Sangha before arriving in ancient Greece], broke out during a morning talk show when Ilias Kasidiaris, the spokesman of the far right Chrysi Avgi ("Golden Dawn") took umbrage at deputy Rena Dourou declaring that his party "will take the country back 500 years."
After leaping from his seat and throwing a glass of water at Dourou, a deputy with the radical Syriza party, Kasidiaris then turned on Liana Kanelli, an MP with the KKE Communist party, who, waving a piece of paper, stood up to condemn the action.
As the cameras rolled, the cropped-haired Kasidiaris, a weightlifting enthusiast who had served in Greece's special forces, is shown beating Kanelli, slapping her around the face... More
