Buddhism before Theravada (audio)

John Peacock (audiodharma.org)  "Buddhism Before the Theravada"; Wisdom Quarterly

(Auto_Mattic/flickr.com)

 

The Buddha did not teach in a vacuum. His teachings were directed to those who shared the social world in which he lived. 

John Peacock, a British scholar who studies and translates in more than a dozen languages and is familiar with the philosophical environment of the Buddha’s day, maintains that by framing the Buddha’s teachings in their original context, it is possible to RECOVER the original meaning of teachings that have been ignored and lost by later Buddhist schools -- including the Theravada.

• Thera + vada = "Elders' Teaching" or "The Teaching of the Elders." Who are these "elders"? They are the immediate enlightened monastic disciples of the Buddha, the monks (theras) and nuns (theris) of ancient India.

These talks examine many of the ways in which Buddhist practice was radically different from the Brahminical and Upanishadic thinking of the time and, indeed, how it differs in substantive ways from much present-day understanding of the Dharma. 

This exploration details the Buddha’s shift away from metaphysical thinking to a focus on internal experience and ethical activity. In the process there will be consideration of how the Buddha’s earliest teachings diverge from much of the Western philosophical tradition and often from what has become the traditional view of the Dharma today as well.

 

Part 1	John Peacock	2011-09-03	1:36:43	Download Stream
Part 2	John Peacock	2011-09-03	0:42:32	Download Stream
Part 3	John Peacock	2011-09-03	1:53:13	Download Stream
Part 4	John Peacock	2011-09-03	1:13:40	Download Stream
Part 5	John Peacock	2011-09-04	1:16:31	Download Stream
Part 6	John Peacock	2011-09-04	1:54:06	Download Stream

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Amazing Afghan Buddha discoveries (video)

Brent E. Huffman; Wisdom Quarterly via TheWorld.org

"The Buddhas of Aynak" (teaser) by archeologist and filmmaker Prof. Brent E. Huffman, Northwestern University.

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Mining threatens new Afghan Buddhas (audio)

David Leveille, TheWorld.org (Geo Quiz, Nov. 9, 2012); ZenPundit; Wisdom Quarterly

A gold-plated seated Buddha overlooks China's impending MCC mine (Brent E. Huffman/CNN).

  

CIA's Taliban demolishing Buddha (CNN/XTL)

For [The World's] "Geo Quiz" picture: a golden Buddha sitting atop a mountain of copper [gold, and rare earth minerals]. We’re looking for one of the largest underground copper deposits in the world. It’s in an eastern province of Afghanistan southeast of Kabul.

A Chinese company has purchased the right to mine the site. And cash-strapped Afghanistan stands to reap billions of dollars in revenue from the deal. But there’s a hitch.

(TheAbdaliBacha) Filmmaker Brent E. Huffman addresses the effort to save an ancient Buddhist archeological site from Chinese mining interests.

  

Bamiyan Buddha (culturalpropertylaw)

There’s an ancient Buddhist monastery [the oldest known and perhaps the most magnificent, situated near Siddhartha's birthplace, the actual Kapilavastu] there and the site is full of centuries old Buddha statues and artifacts.
  

Mining operations threaten all of them, and archaeologists are scrambling to save what they can. So which is more important? The copper representing Afghanistan’s economic potential -- or the Buddhas representing its cultural heritage?
  

For now just tackle this simpler question: Name the site where ancient Buddhas may soon be destroyed by a copper mine that’s set to start operations in December [2012]. Answer + Photos + Video

• Afghanistan's Vanishing Buddhas (Foreign Policy)
• Brent E. Huffman is a documentary filmmaker and assistant professor at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern Univ. He started making a film about the Mes Aynak site in the summer of 2011 thinking he would be documenting the site before it was demolished and recording the process of rescue archeology. Now he hopes he can use his film to raise awareness to actually save Mes Aynak. 

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"YogaWoman" (film)

YogaWoman.TV; Amber Dorrian, Wisdom Quarterly

(YogawomanTV) Movie now showing in Los Angeles and other major markets

 

The wonders of inner peace (Yogag33k)

Yoga, as spiritual exercises and an ancient Vedic philosophy, was brought to the West from India by a lineage of male teachers (gurus) and their disciples (chelas). But now a generation of women are leading the way. They're strong, they're inspiring, and they're radically changing people's lives. "YogaWoman" is a groundbreaking film, uncovering a global phenomenon that has forever changed the face of yoga.

  
Comments

Shiva-Shakti, the masculine-feminine in everyon

(Notch76) I am a man, and I practice yoga, but my understanding is that a major aspect of the practice is the move toward dissolving the ego along with any attachment to one's identity (including gender) in favor of a realized oneness with all. That being said, I don't take issue with the fact many women find peace, comfort, and strength through yoga practice. I think it's beautiful when anyone makes such a discovery.
  
(Wendyness01 replying to MagicPonyRides) Unless you have "exposure" in the yoga community (the "casting couch" approach works), one's ability to make a living teaching yoga is VERY limiting. I know several yoga teachers who can't make a living teaching yoga so they "mate poach." Most yoga teachers that I know here in the West are female, NOT married, and DON'T have children. Not very empowering.
  
(ChannelStudioPeace) How fantastic! A film about yoga and women! Yoga's a wonderful way of entering sacred space, feeling your power, and experiencing the connection to yourself and the universe around you. It's interesting how the cycle has shifted from yoga being practiced and taught exclusively by men at one time to today it being practiced and taught almost exclusively by women. As a female practitioner and yoga teacher, I can't wait to see the movie!
  
(Wayne Barrow) As a male with only a cursory interest in yoga, I was blown away by this insightful film as it gave me a fascinating insight into this noble art from a female perspective. I wish the filmmakers and people involved in the production all the best for producing a quality and entertaining product. I wish people would actually see the documentary all the way through before passing judgment!

• YogaMan? Too bad men can't do yoga!

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"The Monkey's Heart" (Rebirth Tale)

Stories of the Buddha's Former Births (The Jataka) edited by E.B. Cowell (Cambridge University Press, 1895), Book 2, No. 20; more at Pitt.edu; updated by Wisdom Quarterly

Mr. Monkey (John Downer/materialismisanaddiction/facebook.com)

   

Once upon a time, when Brahmadatta was king of Benares, the Bodhisatta [the "Buddha-to-be"] was reborn in the Himalayan foothills as a monkey. He grew strong and sturdy, with a healthy frame, living by a curve of the river Ganges in the forest.

  

Mr. Crocodile (Jon Sevcik/Naturephoto.cz)

Now at that time there was a crocodile dwelling in the Ganges. The crocodile's mate saw the great frame of the monkey, and she conceived a longing to eat his heart. So she said to her mate, "Sir, I desire to eat the heart of that great king of the monkeys!"

  

"Good wife," answered the crocodile, "I live in the water, and he lives on dry land. How can we catch him?"

  

"By hook or by crook," she replied, "he must be caught. If I don't get him, I shall die."

  

"All right," replied the crocodile, consoling her, "don't trouble yourself. I have a plan. I will give you his heart to eat."

  

Kind monkey kissing kitty (animalszooguru)

When the Bodhisatta was sitting on the bank of the Ganges, after taking a drink of water, the crocodile drew near and said to him, "Good monkey, why do you live on bad fruits in this old familiar place? On the other side of the Ganges there are many mango and labuja trees with fruit sweet as honey! Would it not be better to cross over and gain all kinds of wild fruit to eat?"

  

"Lord crocodile," the monkey answered, "the Ganges is deep and wide. How would I get across?"

  

"Well, if you want to go, I shall let you ride on my back, and I will carry you over."

   

The monkey trusted him and agreed. "Come here, then," beckoned the crocodile. "Up on my back with you!" Up the monkey climbed. But when the crocodile had swum a little way, he plunged the monkey under the water.

  

"Good friend, you are letting me sink!" cried the monkey. "What is that for?"

  

Nagas surround mammal in cage (wikipedia)

The crocodile roared, "You think I am carrying you out of pure good nature? Not a bit of it! My wife has a longing to eat your heart, and I intend to give it to her!"

   

"Friend," explained the monkey, "it is nice of you to tell me. But if our hearts were inside us, when we monkeys go swinging among the tree tops they would be all knocked to pieces!"

   

"Well, then, where do you keep it?" asked the crocodile.

  

The Bodhisatta pointed out a fig tree with clusters of ripe fruit standing close by. "See there," he said, "hanging on that fig tree? There are our hearts."

  

"If you will show me your heart," offered the crocodile, "then I won't kill you."

  

Monkey's kindness to pigeon (paleonym)

"Take me to the tree, and I will point it out to you."

  

The crocodile ferried him to the place. The monkey leaped off his back, and climbing up the fig tree sat high in it. "Oh, silly crocodile!" he yelled back. "You thought that there were creatures that kept their hearts in the treetops! You are silly, and now you are outwitted! You may keep your [karmic] fruit for yourself. Your body is great, but you have no sense!"

  

Then to explain this idea he uttered the following stanzas:
 

Roseapple, jackfruit, mangoes, too, across the water there I see;

Enough of them, I want them not; my fig is good enough for me!

Great your scaly body, verily, but how small your serpent wit!

Now go your own way, crocodile, for I have had the best of it.

   

The crocodile, feeling as silly and miserable as if he had lost a thousand pieces of money, went back sorrowing to the place where he lived. More

• Housewife raised by monkeys in Colombia
• The Buddha's "twin miracle" as Vaudeville act?
• The Buddha's "twin miracle"?
• Weinergate Part II: Justin Bieber to pay to keep nude photos of "Mr. Bieber" off the Web

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Buddhism in Iran

Mehrak Golestan (Iranian.com, 2004); Wisdom Quarterly (2012)

Buddha statues and relics priceless smuggled out of Pakistan and recovered (sfgate.com)

  

Lahore Museum, 500 BC (MOW)

The first instance of Buddhism entering Iran seems to have been during the life of the historical Buddha, Sakyamuni, roughly 5/6th century BCE. During the course of this paper, I will seek to examine the spread of Buddhism amongst Iranian people, a subject the significance of which is often overlooked by modern day scholars. The paper begins with a brief background of the region and then examines the circumstances under which Buddhism entered the Persian Empire and how it spread amongst the people of the region.
  

New borders divide old India (new-pakistan.com)

It then looks at the patterns of cross cultural influence and the mark that Buddhism left on Iranians and vice versa. To clarify, the area I am concerned with is not the region of modern day Iran, rather the area of Central Asia inhabited by Iranian people from roughly 500 BCE onwards. This would include modern day Iran, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, as well as parts of North-West Pakistan and India....
  

Shakyamuni [Bijapuri (Ed Sentner)]

The most obvious example of Iran's influence on Buddhism is to be found in the "Gandharan" style of art. It developed under the Kushans and is closely linked with the development of Mahayana Buddhism. Scholars agree with Emmerick (1983) that, "It seems probable that both [development of art as well as development of Mahayana school of thought] arose from the contact between Greek, Iranian, and Indian influences" (Emmerick, RE, "Buddhism amongst Iranian peoples" in: Yarshater, Ed, Cambridge History of Iran, vol 3.2, Cambridge, CUP).  More

• Buddhism in Pakistani (Gandharan) history
• Western Buddhas in Lahore Museum, Pakistan

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Bangladeshi Buddhism comes to the LBC

Saumik Barua (Bodhi Mission), Dharmachari Seven, Wisdom Quarterly visits Long Beach (2)

The Buddha in a tree (NoahOz/flickr.com)

 

Vultures Peak, Rajgir, India

The Buddha lived in Magadha, in a middle kingdom ruled by a benevolent king (Bimbisara) seated in a capital ringed by seven hills (Rajagriha). He preferred a lookout from a hill called Vultures Peak, so named because the shadows of the large stones there appear from a distance to be vultures. 

  

This kingdom, or janapada (warrior caste clan territory), once included what is now Bangladesh, the eastern limits of ancient India, according to the abbot of Long Beach's Bodhi Vihara, Ven. Karunananda, Ph.D.

  

Long Beach ("the LBC") is quite short compared to Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar, the world's longest sandy beach, squeezed between Burma and India. But the seaside city at the southern end of the megalopolis that is Los Angeles has attracted a sizable number of Bengali Buddhist transplants. The ancient Buddhism practiced by them traces its history to the Buddha in Magadha.

 

The "teaching (vada) of the elders (thera)" refers to the enlightened elder disciples (theras) of the Buddha, leading disciples such as the chief nuns Khema and Uppalavanna and chief monks Sariputra and Moggallana, as well as Maha Kassapa (who organized the Buddha's teachings into a "religion" at Saptaparni Cave in the first hill near the gate of the capital) and Ananda, Maha Prajapati and Sundari Nanda, the Buddha's mother and sister.

What is the teaching the missionary wing of California Bodhi Mission works to promote? Bangladeshi Buddhists, who claim as a peoples to have originated in and around Bodhgaya (where Siddhartha became the Buddha), believe that the Awakened One taught only two things -- disappointment and the end of disappointment, suffering and nirvana.

What is disappointment? It is rebirth, old age, sickness, death; sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief, and despair; to be united with the unloved, to be separated from the loved; to not get what we want or wish for; in general, identifying with the Five Groups of Existence (form, feeling, perceptions, formations, and consciousness) is disappointing.

What is nirvana? It is the "unconditioned element," the falling away of all formations, bliss unutterable -- a happiness without supports. It is blameless and visible here and now.
  
How?

The Buddha taught the path and the answer by encapsulating it in a tight and often misunderstood formulation called the Four Noble Truths. "Everyone thinks they know what those are, but if they really knew," the abbot explains, "they would be enlightened."
  
Why? "It is because fully penetrating the full meaning of these truths is enlightenment. Enlightenment is not omniscience; it is fully knowing these four things -- what is the problem, what is its cause, what is the solution, what is path/not-path leading to the solution -- at the level of liberating insight-wisdom."

Well said, sir, well said! (Sadhu, sadhu, sadhu!) How can people help your mission?
  
"They can donate to our cause or participate in an upcoming ceremony, the Honey Offering Full Moon Observance (September 29, 2012), treasured by Bangladeshi Buddhists. Of course, the best way is to contact the temple and offer their supportive participation. We are here to benefit Americans, to serve the US Bangladeshi community, and to unite the Sangha as one brother-and-sisterhood of support. Everyone is welcome to visit Bodhi Vihara."

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The Buddha's First Sermon (sutra)

Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly translation (Dhammachakapavattana Sutra, SN 56.11)

(My-Third-Eye/flickr.com)

PREFACE: Seven weeks after the great enlightenment, the former ascetic Prince Siddhartha, now the fully awakened Buddha, set out to teach his five former companions. He realized that they were still stuck in the futility of struggling by severe asceticism near India' holy city on the Ganges, Varanasi. He had previously practiced with them undertaking the most extreme penances and painful observances. He abandoned this well worn path to "spirituality" when he realized it would never lead to awakening to the Truth and liberation from all suffering. He discovered that cultivating absorptions and insight (jhana and vipassana) through proper concentration and mindfulness (samma samadhi and samma sati). In this sutra the Buddha sets in motion the Wheel of the Truth (the essential limbs, or spokes, of which lead to the hub of nirvana). This is the True Wheel, the path to the liberation he had experienced seven weeks earlier.

 

The Buddha addresses the Group of Five

SARNATH, India - Thus have I heard. At one time the Buddha was in Varanasi at the Resort of Seers (Isipatana) in the Deer Park. There he addressed the group of five ascetics.

  

"Recluses, these two extremes should be abandoned by anyone who has gone forth from household life. What two?

   

"There is devotion to indulgence, coarse pleasures associated with sensual desire, which is inferior, base, vulgar, ignoble, and leads to disappointment on the one hand, and on the other hand there is devotion to asceticism, which is just the same.

  

"The middle way discovered by [me] avoids both extremes. This path leads to vision, knowledge, peace, direct experience, discovery, to nirvana (final liberation). What middle way? 

  

"It is this ennobling Eightfold Path, namely:

1. right view
2. right intention
3. right speech
4. right action
5. right livelihood
6. right effort
7. right mindfulness
8. right concentration.

The Four Noble Truths

I. "Disappointment as an Ennobling Truth is this: Birth is disappointing as are aging, sickness, death, association with the unpleasant, dissociation from the pleasant, not getting what one wants is disappointing -- in brief, the Five Aggregates of Clinging are disappointing.

II. "The origin of disappointment as an Ennobling Truth is this: Craving produces renewal of being [rebirth] accompanied by enjoyment and lust and delighting in this and that. What craving? Craving for sensual desires, craving for [eternal] existence, and craving for nonexistence.

  

III. "Cessation of disappointment as an ennobling truth is this: It is remainderless fading and ceasing, letting go, relinquishing, rejecting and abandoning of such craving.

   

IV. "The path leading to the cessation of disappointment as an ennobling truth is this: It is this ennobling Eightfold Path...

  

"'Disappointment as an ennobling truth is this.' Such was the knowing-and-seeing (knowledge and vision of the Dharma), understanding, discovery, the light that arose in regard to things never heard by me before. 'Disappointment as an ennobling truth can be diagnosed.' Such was the knowing-and-seeing, understanding, discovery, the light that arose in regard to things never heard by me before. 'Disappointment as an ennobling truth has been diagnosed.' Such was the knowing-and-seeing, understanding, discovery, the light that arose in regard to things never heard by me before.

  

"'The origin of disappointment as an ennobling truth is this.' Such was the knowing-and seeing... 'This origin of disappointment as an ennobling truth can be abandoned.' Such was the knowing-and-seeing... 'This origin of disappointment as an ennobling truth has been abandoned.' Such was the knowing-and-seeing... in regard to things never heard by me before.

  

"'The cessation of disappointment as an ennobling truth is this.' Such was the knowing-and-seeing... 'This cessation of disappointment as an ennobling truth can be verified.' Such was the knowing-and-seeing... 'The cessation of disappointment as an ennobling truth has been verified.' Such was the knowing-and-seeing... in regard to things never heard by me before.

  

"'The way leading to the cessation of disappointment as an ennobling truth is this.' Such was the knowing-and-seeing... 'The way leading to the cessation of disappointment as an ennobling truth can be developed.' Such was the knowing-and-seeing... 'The way leading to the cessation of disappointment as an ennobling truth has been developed.' Such was the vision... in regard to things never heard by me before.

  

"As long as my knowing-and-seeing of things just as they are was not purified with regard to these 12 aspects, in three phases for each of these Four Noble Truths, I did not claim in this world with its light beings (devas), its killers (maras), its creatives (brahmas), in this generation with its wandering ascetics (recluses) and Brahmin priests, with its princes and people to have discovered the supreme enlightenment.

  

"But as soon as my knowing-and-seeing of things just as they are was purified with regard to these 12 aspects, in the three phases for each of these Four Noble Truths, then did I claim in this world... to have discovered the supreme enlightenment. Knowledge and vision arose in me: 'My heart's deliverance is assured. This is my last birth. Now there is to be no renewal of being.'"

  

That is what the Blessed One said. The group of five were glad, and they approved of his words.

   

Now during this teaching there arose in the ascetic Kondañña the purified and stainless vision of the Truth: "Whatever is subject to arising is also subject to falling away."

   

Word Spreads Fast

Our 10,000-fold world-system

When the Wheel of Truth had been set rolling by the Buddha, the earthbound devas raised this cry: "At Varanasi, at the Deer Park in the Resort of Seers, the matchless Wheel of Truth has been set rolling by the Blessed One, not to be stopped by any recluse or deity, death-angel or divinity, or anyone in the world!"

  

On hearing the earthbound devas' cry, the devas inhabiting the six celestial paradises in space within the Sensual Sphere took up the cry until it reached beyond Great Brahma's Retinue in the Fine-Material Sphere. So indeed at that hour, at that very moment, the cry soared up to the World of Great Brahma. And this 10,000-fold world-system shook and quaked, and an unbounded radiance surpassing the very nature of the light beings was displayed throughout this entire world-system.

  

Then the Buddha exclaimed: "Kondañña knows! Kondañña knows!" And that is how that venerable one acquired the name Añña-Kondañña -- "Kondañña Who Knows."

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Who are the "Buddhists from space"?

Dharmacharis Seven and Amber Dorrian, Wisdom Quarterly

The Buddha under, on, above Mt. Sumeru, Axis Mundi, with humans at base (michielkauwatjoecom).

  

 Cave art: sky devas (Jasspierxia)

Who are the "space aliens" (akasha-loka devas) and how could they be Buddhist? As funny as it may sound, there are Buddhists in space. 

  

"Space" (Sanskrit, akasha) refers to the infinite sky. Beings coming from, patrolling, or living in the sky are referred to as akasha devas -- literally, "space shining ones."
  
Not all are devas proper, but it is a general term for superior and longer lived beings. (These are the gods, godlings, and demigods described in religious lore East and West, from pre-Hindu to pre-Christian, in ancient India, Rome, Greece, Egypt, Sumer, and throughout the Near East).

• Covert space alien activity in Washington, DC

There are also asuras (titans), yakkhas (ogres of a furry bipedal nature), nagas (reptilians), and brahmas (powerful creative beings that have transcended sex). One class of beings who reside two levels up in the space worlds (lokas) above Earth are the subjects of Sakka, Ruler of the Devas. Which devas? Only the limited number in Tavatimsa, the world of the 33 "lords" or rulers of that space plane.

 

His "star command" is good and wishes to benefit humans and the perpetuation of the Buddha's Dharma (path to liberation).

   

He frequently visited the Buddha in his vimana (UFO, space chariot) with his driver and is said to have become a stream enterer, having entered upon the first stage of enlightenment by hearing the Buddha's teaching. There are inimical forces however. And Sakka is said to have asked lesser "angelic" (subordinate space rulers from the four quarters of the sky) messenger beings (devas and gandharvas) to keep an eye on human progress particularly in the arena of virtue.

   

It is said that these "Four Great Kings" (catu-maha-rajikas), who regard Sakka as their king making him "King of Kings," patrol our skies and monitor humanity in that respect apparently with devices that read the heart/mind of humans.

   

These devas or "space aliens," it should be noted, are not hideous reptoids, little green men, or monsters. They are Nordic aliens who mated with humans and thereby enhanced our physical symmetry, beauty, and intelligence as is recorded by countless cultures and spiritual traditions.

   

While all this may seem like utterly ridiculous "mythology," East and West, Wisdom Quarterly tries to keep abreast of actual UFO research, leaks, and discoveries to show how far from the mark we have strayed from what is real and what the modern mainstream media would have us believe.

  

It is only natural that one would doubt and dismiss any talk of angels, aliens, giants, and virtue. And that would be fine if we did not then fail to investigate. After all, the truth is much stranger than our fiction.

Buddhist depiction of deva/"angel (Swanksalot)

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Afghan Buddhist loot returned to Kabul

BBC.co.uk, Aug. 5, 2012 (VIDEO)

Many of the precious [pre-Islamic Buddhist] objects were looted during Afghanistan's civil war.

Hundreds of archaeological artifacts looted from Afghanistan have been handed over to the country's national museum during a ceremony in the Afghan capital, Kabul. Many of the 843 pieces were stolen during Afghanistan's civil war in the 1990s and ended up on the black market.

   

Some of the items, which include stone statues of Buddha [who was born near the ancient Indian frontier in an area known as Gandhara conjectured to be in the vicinity of modern-day Bamiyan, Afghanistan] and intricate ivory carvings, are up to 4,000 years old.

   

The British Museum in London has helped to complete their return. Some of the stolen artifacts were recovered by British border forces and police, while others were found in private collections and bought back by generous donors.

  

One stone Buddha, thought to be around 1,800 years old, was stolen from the museum in Kabul and recovered in Japan. The British Ministry of Defence (MoD) flew the pieces back to Afghanistan in large crates, landing at their military base in Camp Bastion. More 

"As the figure of [the] Buddha looks down at us, finally at rest after its 20-year ordeal, it is hard not to think of its future"

- Aleem Maqbool ( BBC News, Kabul)

• VIDEO: Looted art's homecoming to Kabul

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Venus transiting across the Sun

Ashley Wells, Dhr. Seven, CC Liu, Pat Macpherson, Wisdom Quarterly

Barring interference by carcinogenic chemical irritants, Venus will visibly travel across the face of the Sun as seen from Earth today. Protect the eyes with special viewers; anything else will cause harm and not allow viewing.

TransitOfVenus.org explains how to watch Venus moving through heaven (i.e., space) safely. The Sun is so bright and Venus, the second planet from Sol, is so small that it is not visible to unprotected eyes. Sunglasses are a good way to go blind or at least do great damage to the retina's rods and cones that lace pain receptors to alert us that damage is being done. Viewers can ascend the hills behind Hollywood and get help from amateur-experts at the Griffith Observatory. But most any school will do.

• Southland gets rare chance to see Venus move

This has been a strange 2012 with many more sky anomalies than an average year. Moons, eclipses, strange lights, alignments... could the Maya have been onto something? And who told them of the heavens from the viewpoint of incoming craft rather than primates looking up from the tops of pyramids?
  
There are strange bird people (suparnas, garudas), avian-human hybrids, and there are feathered serpents (nagas), reptilian-human hybrids. With plant-helpers, they told the indigenous Amazon Jivaro and neo-shaman anthropologist Michael Harner that they were the "true gods" of this world. What did they mean?
  
There is more to this world, beings seen and unseen, than meets our two ordinary eyes. An extraordinary "third eye" -- or what the Buddha called the dibba cakkhu and other supernormal powers -- is needed sometimes.
  
A meditator near Boston, at Barre's Insight Meditation Society, told Wisdom Quarterly of developing the absorptions then turning attention toward designated areas and seeing the "unseen beings" there. There were devas above the trees, suffering beings beneath the ground, ghosts cowering, and humanoid beings in space. This was our first hint that what the Buddha taught about cosmology and cosmography is personally verifiable. It may not be very important or pertinent to serenity-and-insight. But if it verifiable, it is not something taken on faith.

“I began to open my eyes, which led to a terrible tendency to question authority because authority that cannot be questioned is tyranny, and I will not accept tyranny -- any tyranny -- even that of heaven.”

- Terry Pratchett

There are natural born "seers" who, knowing nothing of Buddhism, describe the same sort of beings. This plane is full of them. Could it be the planets have titular entities associated with them: Surya (Sun), Chandra (Moon), Bhumi (Earth, Gaia), and Shukra (Venus). The world is much stranger and wonderful than most of us ever imagine.
 
According to the world's only functioning "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" (a.k.a. Wikipedia), Venus is Shukra and the titular entity for the first planet from the Sun is Budha. Astrology and horoscopes used to be powerful tools before the information was suppressed and turned into an inane pastime and ludicrous endeavor.
 
(13Orcun) Conductor Gustav Holst may be most famous for his "The Planets." But he arguably created a much greater and profound work he called the "Hymns from the Rig Veda." That is, he understood the links between the Sanskrit Vedas ("Books of Knowledge") and proto-European languages and mythologies/astrology. Sir David Willcocks, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

 

Venus as a Boy

Shukra represents the planet Venus. It is a Sanskrit word for "clear, pure" or "brightness, clearness." It is the name the son of Bhrigu and Ushana, and preceptor of the Daityas, and the guru of the Asuras, identified with the planet Venus  (with honorific, शुक्राचार्य Shukracharya). He presides over "Shukra-var" or Friday. He is rajas in nature and represents wealth, pleasure, and reproduction.
 
In Astrology, there is a dasha or planetary period known as Shukra Dasha which remains active in a person's horoscope for 20 years. This dasha is believed to give more wealth, fortune, and luxury to one's living if a person has Shukra positioned well in his or her horoscope as well as Shukra being an important beneficent planet in her or his horoscope.

Bjork's "Venus as a Boy" live with Indian influences

Budha (Mercury)

Budha is the deva (literally, "shining one" or "god") associated with the planet Mercury, the son of Chandra (our Moon) with Tara. He is the "saint" or "god of merchandise" and protector of merchants. He is of Rajas Guna and represents Communication. Budha presides over "Budh-var" or Wednesday. In modern Hindi and other Indian languages, Wednesday is called Budhvar; in Tamil and Malayalam it is Budhan.

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