News of the Day: Careless World (video)

Ashley Wells, CC Liu, Pat Macpherson, Pfc. Sandoval, Xochitl,Wisdom Quarterly

Tom Tomorrow (thismodernworld.com)

 

(iTunes)
 
What are the "Akashic Records"?

In this episode of Ask Teal on the Akashic Records she explains that they are the human way of understanding that every (karmic act such as every) thought that has ever been thought still exists. Therefore, one aspect of collective consciousness is a vibrational "record" of every individual on its journey throughout all world-systems that have ever been before now and all future potentials originating from now. Teal describes the Akasha (aether, space) as being like a library where the planes, levels, or floors of a library of universal dimensions. The information in/on each dimension corresponds to the frequency specific to that dimension. To access specific information contained within the Akashic Records, one must first become the same vibration that contains that information. Teal explains what information is contained in each dimension. Animation by Jordan Duchnycz (thespiritscience.net). Music: "Diamond" by Cora Flora (coeur-de-fleurs.com).

Jade Buddha World Tour hits California (religion-events)

 

(Aside from rape) Indian women marry up; men left behind

(New York Times, "India Ink") There’s an unexpected problem in New Delhi’s high-end marriage market, according to Gopal Suri, who has been a marriage broker for two decades. There are too few “quality” men, he said in a recent interview, as a growing pool of young women with unprecedented levels of education are seeking and making matches with educated men from higher socioeconomic groups. The repercussions from India’s skewed sex ratios are being felt... 

• U.S. Hindus hear the call of India  
• Skirmishes threaten Pakistan-India thaw 
• India’s new focus on Rape shows surface of women’s perils 
• For India rape victim’s family, many layers of loss

"Sandy Hook" conspiracy theory (video)

Conspiracy theories too hard; easier to believe government lies (Gawker)

  

Conspiracy theories surrounding the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting have reached a new level with a viral "truther" video that has been viewed by millions of people in just one week. "Experts"... claim to have debunked the video as mere questions, not answers. On Jan. 7, the video titled "The Sandy Hook Shooting - Fully Exposed" was posted to the YouTube channel ThinkOutsideTheTV, where it garnered more than 8.6 million views in just nine days. The 30-minute video uses news clips to point out "inconsistencies" in the Sandy Hook coverage.

• Obama announces GUN CONTROL (on pretexts)
• Fired porn-star-turned teacher can't get job back 
• Hate group drops Aaron Swartz funeral protest after Anonymous vows action

Golden Buddha altar Vajrayana-style (Buddhisttraintour)

 

Buddha collapsed

"As an 18-year-old girl who lives in Iran today and who faces very specific ideological, political and social pressures, I have a lot to say… Even though my film was not made in Iran, it shows my desire to speak of collective suffering, in Iran as well as in Afghanistan." That’s director Hana Makhmalbaf, whose feature-film debut, Buda as sharm foru rikht ("Buddha Collapsed Out of Shame")...

Golden Globes: Ferrell, Wiig, Fey, Poehler

When the 2013 Golden Globes story is written, it’ll be all about Jodie Foster’s meta, honest non-coming out and quasi-retirement, Anne Hathaway’s fake sincerity getting killed on Twitter, an appearance by former President Bill Clinton, Tommy Lee Jones’ grumpface, the best Taylor Swift joke ever, and a fantastic opening monologue from Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. But don’t forget Will Ferrell and Kristen Wiig’s presentation of Best Lead Actress in a Comedy or Musical...

• Tibetan cosmological models

Great stories make great change possible 

(Jonah Sachs) World-changing messages deserve to be heard -- really heard. But that only happens when we learn to tell a great story. Let’s re-invent our brands, make movies, or design and build websites. And along the way, get help telling the kinds of stories the world is waiting to hear: Free Range

Full Moon in Sagittarius

(Beth Owl's Daughter) ...In Western folklore, this full moon of May is sometimes known as the Dyad Moon or Lover’s Moon, celebrating the union of physical and spiritual. Also known as the Strawberry, Rose, or Flower Moon, some traditions say that this is the Moon that is most sacred to Artemis or Diana, the Huntress, and a Maiden aspect of the Goddess. This Moon favors expanding consciousness through chanting, sacred-sexuality, or working with plant allies (bhumi devas) and embracing the wild. Let the mood expand and become more adventurous and optimistic. Sagittarius is the consummate traveler, seeker, and vision quester. Sagittarius seeks wisdom through combining physical and spiritual experience in order to understand the true nature of existence. More

Atlantis: The Lost Continent

(JoeMozzone)

(3:10 mins) Leaked From NASA: Nibiru's Projected Path 2012

   

Danger: Flax seed is toxic and harmful! 
THE FACTS ON FLAX (Bruce Fife, N.D., Saturated Fats May Save Your Life)

[Try hemp, chia, or soaked raw nuts instead.] Many people nowadays are avoiding all types of meat and meat byproducts including fish. People prefer a vegetable source for Omega-3 fatty acids. Alpha-linolenic acid, which the body can convert into EPA, is found to some degree in many plants. Flaxseed contains [too much] alpha-linolenic acid (57%) of any commercially grown plant. [This causes an imbalance of the vital 3-6-9 ratio.] ... It's been hailed as a panacea for many ills. No respectable health food store would be caught dead without a half dozen assorted varieties available for sale.  Both good and bad can be said about alpha-linolenic acid and flaxseed oil in general. Unfortunately, the bad is ignored in preference to promoting only the good. This has created the misconception that flaxseed oil provides great benefits with little risks. In reality, there are many risks. More

• Seeds of Enlightenment 
• Bikini waxes cure lice
• Killing Web activist Swartz
• FBI investigated Scientology labor practices

Eating is Optional

WARNING: Without live guidance and proper practice, food is needed!

In India some practitioners are perfectly certain that no human food is necessary to sustain life and vigorous health. Breatharian-yogis living on prana (breath), solar emanations, exuded nectar, and perhaps water. The Buddha Boy did it. Here is one old man who has not eaten for 70 years. For some the practice of not-grounding, not touching earth, allows celestial energy to be collected without grounding out leading to incredible longevity (as understood by modern alchemists creating Ambrosia/Philospher's Stone from rarefied salts from evaporated dew that has not touched the ground).

 

EXPOSED: Satanism in the music industry

(Scrawny2Brawny) Music, Hollywood, Illuminati, NWO... This is a glimpse at the hidden force controlling "Hollywood" and its corrupt corporate music industry. We have looked over the Jordan and we have seen. Things are not what they seem..., as Pink Floyd phrased it ("Dogs"). Can anyone hear what Michael Jackson was saying?

"Being the artist that I am, at Sony, I've generated several billion dollars at Sony -- several billion. And they really thought that my mind was always on music and dancing... and it usually is. But they never thought that this performer, myself, would... OUT THINK THEM."

"I just need you to know, that this is very important what we're fighting for. Because I'm tired -- I'm really tired of the manipulation. I'm tired of how the press is manipulating everything in this situation.. They do not tell the TRUTH... They manipulate our history books."

"For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, and against spiritual wickedness in heavenly places" (Judeo-Christian scripture Ephesians 6:12).

"Sound City"


(Banana1015.com) Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor recently gave further details on [Nirvana drummer, Foo Fighters frontman] Dave Grohl’s upcoming Sound City Studios documentary and confirmed that their recent collaboration was part of the project. Grohl hasn’t volunteered much information about his upcoming movie on the studio where Nirvana recorded their famous album "Nevermind" -- the now closed Sound City Studios. The one thing Dave has hinted at is that we can “expect some epic jam sessions.” They will presumably involve: members of Ratt, Cheap Trick, REO Speedwagon, and Slipknot vocalist Corey Taylor. Most of the information on the upcoming documentary has come from the other parties involved with the project, not Grohl. More

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Zen Koan: Gokoku's Three Shames

Wisdom Quarterly; Book of Equanimity; Koan Study Group, PasaDharma.org

PREFACE TO THE ASSEMBLY

The person without clothing is indeed a naked heretic.

The person who doesn't chew a grain of rice is certainly the burned-face demon king.

Even if you were born in a holy place, you can't avoid falling from the top of the pole.

Is there anything to cover up this shame?

MAIN CASE

Attention!

A monk asked Gokoku, "When a crane stands upon a withered pine, then what?"

Gokoku said, "On the ground below, it's a shame."

The monk then asked, "When dripping water freezes, what then?"

Gokoku replied, "After sunrise, it's a shame."

The monk then asked, "At the time of Esho's persecution of Buddhism,

Where were the good gods [kami, ten, tiān, devas] to protect the Dharma?"

Gokoku said, "For the two guardians of the triple gate, it's a shame."

APPRECIATORY VERSE

Vigorous in the prime of life, one's temples are not yet grey;

A man who doesn't exert himself is not awarded nobility.

Instead recall the family members of unbroken honor;

The brook for washing ears is not for watering the ox.

Commentary

Pagoda Toji, Kyoto, Japan

Comments cannot hope to make clear a koan -- which presents a riddle or conundrum that leads to insight when one realizes the futility of linear reasoning. These comments, therefore, are only meant to set the proper historical stage for pondering the story and averting misguided assumptions particular to our social and historical setting.

   

Preface to the Assembly

A "heretic" is simply anyone professing another dharma or doctrine of liberation, of which there were six famous Indian teachers at the time of the historical Buddha. The Jains were famous for their extreme asceticism and spiritual nudity. The Buddha pointed out the concern with external matters leaving internal ones untended. If one moves toward more and more asceticism, it is presumed less and less internal work is actually being done. The outside cannot cure the inside, but the inside can.

Prof.sor Buswell (The Zen Monastic Experience)

What sort of person eschews the "staff of life" (rice rather than wheat) in Asia? At that time in China or Japan, it would have been unimaginable. (Food allergies are a modern phenomenon related to genetic manipulation, pesticides, contaminants like aflatoxin, and our confused and damaged immune systems. Moreover, who is the "burned face demon king"?

   

It would seem to be Mara, who delights in erecting obstacles to liberation. He is the leader of armies of yakkhas or rakshasas, which are ogres that are often called "demons." It may refer to Yama, the King of the Dead, who is the leader of wardens on hellish planes of torment (niraya loka). But Yama is not regarded as evil nor are the tormentors in hells as understood in the West. While they seem to delight in their work, it is said that they are creations of the person who falls into the Great Waste, unfortunate destinations of rebirth due to the fruition of unskillful karma.

Even if one is born in a heaven or a good and prosperous human home, one is sure to fall eventually into realms of woe. Why? Simply speaking, in the absence of enlightenment/awakening or enlightened guidance teaching us the nature of this world and the worlds to come (other worlds one may be reborn in and the karma that leads to those abodes), we engage in unprofitable karma. Because of ignorance, greed and aversion are dependently originated. Therefore, the highest highs do not prevent one from falling to the lowest lows. Stream entry means safety; all other kinds of spiritual attainments only delay the revolving of samsara (wheel of life and death) and the cycling through unfortunate rebirth destinations. 

  

There are more than Six Realms emphasized by Zen and Chinese Mahayana, which is often only talking about the lowest of three spheres. It is indeed a shame that no matter how lovely one looks, how safe one feels in a particular rebirth, there is hell to come, ignominy, devastation. The Dharma exists to prevent this, but we ourselves set off on the path, practice the techniques, calm the mind/heart and develop liberating insight. What can disguise or "cover up" this pitiful situation, this "shame"?

Main Case

Gokoku Jinja, Osaka, Japan

Gokoku is a wise Zen master being asked, When a bird meant to wade and poke around in water instead stands on a dessicated tree -- like a tall pole from which it will fall -- what about that? It's a shame, Gokoku replies, on the ground.

When what is of a nature to be fluid and drip temporarily freezes and holds, what about that? the monk goes on.

Gokoku thinks that's a shame, too: After the dark, when it's coldest and being held by such cold, this position will not be something the water can hold. It will drip and fall.

The monk gets historical to the time of the ruler Esho who resisted the spread of the Dharma, the teaching of liberation making use of one's own efforts rather than depending totally on a priesthood or elite class of spiritual interpreters. Buddhism upset the cart and was persecuted, suppressed, and inadvertently made more attractive. The truth, like the sun and moon, cannot be kept hidden for long.

Why did the helpful devas (generally superior space beings) not prevent this counter-revolution? What did they know about the ultimate effects of intervening and letting the oppression play itself out? Esho's efforts would only help entrench the Dharma; opposition would only strengthen it or at least spur interest in it.

Gokoku makes reference to the typical layout of a temple compound, "the triple gate," with its two watchmen. While they fail to guard, yet what the temple is guarding is safe. The temple complex is not the Dharma. So even if it is ruined to the chagrin of gatekeepers, the Gateless Gate is still there. The ideas, lessons, practical instructions still exist even when the external elements are attacked.

Appreciatory Verse

"Look!" - "It's a shame."

Near the beginning, one has not yet aged enough to show it. But temples, the sides of the head, will show it. (No clever reference to religious temples are likely being implied in Chinese or Japanese). How foolish a person is not to make an effort for liberation, or at least the storing up merit that will be carried into the future when everything else has to be left behind, when one is strong and full of vigor.

The way to noble attainments is exertion, not to be confused with over-efforting. Rather than going down that road, reflect and contemplate on lineages of enlightened persons, who made the right effort (the balanced effort) and succeeded. This will inspire one in a very profitable way.

The pure, clean water for hearers (shravakas) devoted to hearing the Dharma to use to ready themselves to receive instruction and explanation is not the same H20 used for dousing the oxen, which need not be as pure or precious. H20 is H20 but the source matters for what it is to be used for, a supramundane or mundane task.

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Condom Contest and cover art (video)

SCPR.org; Patt Morrison; Wisdom Quarterly

Activists with large packets for "Love Condoms" campaign (Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images)

  
Are you sex-positive (wiki)? The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health wants to know what image of the City of Angels gets you in the mood. The artwork of ten lucky Angelenos will be chosen to appear on 1,000,001 condom wrappers in the Health Department’s new “L.A.’s Next Sex Symbol” contest -- with the goal of promoting safer sex and reducing new incidences of HIV in the Southland. More

• Public Health asks LA residents to design condom wrappers
• L.A.'s next sex symbol contest: Preliminary round entries
  onecondoms.com
• The Official Los Angeles Condom on Facebook
  www.facebook.com
• L.A.'s next sex symbol contest
  www.lasexsymbol.com
• Huff Po: Show Us Your Package, LA-branded condom
  www.huffingtonpost.com
• Beijing finds common cause with Chinese Buddhists

Gov. Brown talks about Buddhism and governing

What does Buddhism teach that might help him if he's elected governor again? “Illusions are endless and our job as human beings is to cut them...

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Guilt, Shame and Buddhist Practice

Remembering a wrong is like carrying a burden on the mind.
~Buddha

James: This reminds me of something that my mom told me in regards to guilt. Carrying guilt around in our minds is like hiking up a mountain and picking up every rock we stub our toe upon and throwing it in our backpack. That is unskillful. It is unnecessary suffering and it stems from a belief in a separate self. That somehow we are so important that we should suffer more than anyone else. It is also the belief that we are so powerful that we can actually revisit these past unskillful actions and somehow in reliving them change the result.

I personally have greatly suffered from the vicious cycle of guilt and shame and understand this process very well. I have worked hard on being in the moment and am now slowly learning how to let go of guilt through meditation and concentrating upon mindfulness.

Through meditation we can practice letting go of the burdens within our mind via deep breathing. Further, meditation is like a reset button that we can push to return us to the sharp wisdom of the present moment. Bringing us back to our natural state of peace, relaxation and freedom from the specter of invented ghosts which the ego-self creates for it's need of chaos and drama to feed "itself" and survive.

Mindfulness brings us back to the present moment as well. It keeps our attention upon what is going on in our present reality. Keeping us focused and aware. This keeps us from falling one step behind ourselves which leads us to trip over obstacles along our path because we are so focused on reliving the past that we do not see them coming. Obstacles which throw us off of the trail of balanced Reality of the present moment and into the waiting arms of the ego-self. Staying mindful of the present moment allows us to be aware of obstacles rising up and have the mental clarity to move safely around them.

May we all be more aware of the present moment and not pick up rocks. And if we do, may we only hold them for only a moment and throw them innocently back down onto the path and not into our backpacks to carry around like a martyr.

~Peace to all beings~

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