China: "Buddhism has a 'devil' as its 'Pope'"

Ashley Wells, Dhr. Seven, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly HALLOWEEN SERIES

China thinks this humble CIA operative/asset (not "agent") -- spiritual leader and former head of state, Tibetan "God-King" or Vajrayana "Pope" -- is the devil (AP/Examiner.com).

  

Bon is the  pre-Buddhist black magic infused shamanism of Tibet and Bhutan. It blended with the missionary religion of peace and enlightenment from the subcontinent below.
  
But Buddhism did not displace Himalayan superstitions, necrcomancy, talk of spirits, banshees, and Abominable Snowmen. Wise old wives' tales remain and the necessity of doing something to ward off disgruntled ghosts, vile demons, and other unseen inimical forces.
  
The Shugden controversy is related to the worship of forces the current Dalai Lama believes resulted in the invasion of ancient Tibet by imperial atheistic-communist China.
  
In the exquisite photo above the 14th Dalai Lama uses his hands as horns speculating on the Chinese government's views of his freedom-fighting efforts. "His Holiness" has just completed 50 years in exile from Tibet, from which he was able to escape with the help of CIA agents out to subvert China and its expansionist Cultural Revolution.
  

China is a ruthless police state opposing Tibet.

In spite of their violent invasion, he (Tenzin Gyatso) remains remains compassionate, forgiving, and jovial about the situation -- one worsened by multiple self-immolations protesting Chinese police state tyranny. He hopes to return to Tibet, even if it remains a part of China, but the current Chinese government will not stand for it. The Dalai Lama frequently visits Washington DC and tours the US, drawing sell out crowds in massive arenas wherever he appears. Calling him "the devil" is an interesting commentary to confer on him. For no matter how he is attacked, he remains a leader in the campaign against injustice toward all living beings. (See official Website).

Dharamsala, India's Tibetan exiles hold candlelit vigil after Tamdrin Dorjee's demonstration-suicide in Tsoe Monastery, Gansu province, 10-13-12 (AP/Ashwini Bhatia).

   

Tibetan nun sets herself ablaze in China (AFP).

BEIJING -- Two Tibetan cousins set fire to themselves in their village to protest Chinese rule, bringing the total number of self-immolations this week to seven, the highest since the protests began last year, a rights group said Saturday.

  

The London-based group Free Tibet said cousins Tsepo, 20, and Tenzin, 25, called for independence for Tibet as they set themselves ablaze Thursday in front of a government building in their village in Biru county north of Lhasa, Tibet's main city.

  

Tsepo reportedly died and Tenzin's condition was unknown after he was taken away by authorities, Free Tibet said. 

Dozens of ethnic Tibetans have set themselves on fire in heavily Tibetan regions since March 2011 to protest what activists say is Beijing's heavy-handed rule in the region. Many have called for the return of the Dalai Lama, their exiled spiritual leader.

  

The protests have intensified as Beijing nears a once-a-decade power transfer in early November. More

Real vampire arrested in Texas, USA

What we think we become [because "Mind/heart is the forerunner of all conditions" (Dhp. 1)]. This means that it is important to think of ourselves in the best possible way. For as it is said since the days of Dale Carnegie's friendly-and-influential-popularity, "If we can conceive it and believe it, we can achieve it" (Napoleon Hill). It works to our detriment as well, wallowing in our depression, self-pity, "evil," or perceived shortcomings. We are without limits and capable of achieving anything -- even heavenly splendor, full enlightenment in this very life, even the ability to teach as a perfectly awakened buddha.

•  AUDIO: Mind is the Forerunner of all?

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Catholic Church is "200 years out of date"

(nocaptionneeded.com)

  

ROME, Italy (Reuters) - The former archbishop of Milan and papal candidate Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini said the Catholic Church was "200 years out of date" in his final interview before his death, [which was] published on Saturday.

 

Martini, once favored by Vatican progressives to succeed Pope John Paul II and a prominent voice in the church until his death at the age of 85 on Friday, gave a scathing portrayal of a pompous and bureaucratic church failing to move with the times.

   

"Our culture has aged, our churches are big and empty and the church bureaucracy rises up, our rituals and our cassocks are pompous," Martini said in the interview published in Italian daily Corriere della Sera.

  

"The Church must admit its mistakes and begin a radical change, starting from the pope and the bishops. The pedophilia [child molestation] scandals oblige us to take a journey of transformation," he said in the interview.

  

In the last decade the Church has been accused of failing to fully address a series of child abuse scandals which have undermined its status as a moral arbiter, though it has paid many millions in compensation settlements worldwide.

  

Martini, famous for comments that the use of condoms could be acceptable in some cases, told interviewers the Church should open up to new kinds of families or risk losing its flock. More

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"It will pass" (meditation)

James Khan (detoxifynow.com); Meditation Committee, Wisdom Quarterly

A student went to a meditation teacher and complained:

  
"My meditation is horrible! I feel so distracted! My legs ache! I'm constantly falling asleep! It's just horrible!"

 

"It will pass," the teacher replied matter of factly.
 

A week later, the student came back to the teacher to report:
  
"My meditation is wonderful! I feel so aware! I feel so peaceful! I feel so alive! It's just wonderful!'
 

"It will pass," the teacher replied matter of factly.

Commentary

"Oh, of course! Why did I let myself get clingy?"

Goenka once lamented (as anyone who sits the free 10-day course will hear him tell) that many students grasp at their meditative successes and want to know how to re-experience them, how to bring them back, how to have just good sits without the "wasted" time sessions. The lament is that it is just this sort of grasping we sit to let go of. While letting go, much more comes. But we cannot easily let go to get more to come. That is a subtle form of grasping and clinging. Long after the Buddha but long before Goenka, the Western poet Alexander Pope immortalized this message, perhaps never realizing how much it describes attempts at meditating, in this stanza:

"Oh thoughtless mortals! ever blind to fate,
Too soon dejected, and too soon elate!"

("The Rape of the Lock")

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