America's Buddhist burial mound at Sedona

Crystal Quintero, Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly; photographers Pete/Karevil, Glen Carlin

Vajrayana Buddhist prayer flags flying over Boudhanath, Nepal (Pete/Karnevil/flickr)

 

Wisdom and Compassion

The dome at the base of Boudhanath Stupa ("Enlightenment Reliquary," a UNESCO World Heritage Site) outside Kathmandu, Nepal represents the entire world. When a person awakens (represented by the opening of the eyes of wisdom and compassion) from the illusory bonds of the world, that person has reached the state of enlightenment. Complete liberation (nirvana) awaits and is already visible when this is accomplished.

America needs a great Buddhist stupa!
Xochitl, Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven, Ashley Wells, Wisdom Quarterly

Sedona's Buddhist Stupa, Sedona, Arizona (Glen_Carlin/flickr.com/collage)

 

Flags over Sedona Stupa (Glen Carlin)

We have one! We have other smaller ones, too. Every Buddhist temple in America wants its own old-world reliquary, a white mound to entomb spiritual treasures.

Pagodas, dagabas, chortans, mandala-mounds, and so on all house priceless reliquary objects -- either minute amounts of the historical Buddha's funerary ashes or relics (strange physical byproducts of enlightenment manifesting as beautiful glass-like beads and other formations that survive or are produced during cremation) or the remains of arhats, honored teachers, and world rulers (chakravartins).

Then there's the great Tibetan stupa at SMC in Colorado, too (shambhalamountain.org)

• 

  Small side-chortan in Sedona

  Wait a minute. How in the world could there be so many of the Buddha's cremation ashes to supply all the world's stupas? It's ludicrous; it's like all that wood the Medieval Christians sold as authentic bits of Christ's own Roman cross. The answer is very simple. If we begin with one cup of actual cremation remains, then we can divide that, but as with any precious powder, it is watered down with a neutral substance: one part relic ashes with one million parts neutral ashes = 1,000,001 parts authentic Buddha ashes. Stranger still, "relics" multiply, so they are not limited to what was available the first day. Moreover, not only the Buddha's remains are used but those of many arhats. There are still arhats, still funeral pyres, cremation remains, and so long as the Dharma is practiced even by one person, there is a chance for more.

Amazing Anasazi (Hopi) ruins at Tuzigoot, Clarkdale, Arizona (americansouthwest.net)

 

Wooden Buddha (Glen Carlin)

City councils are very reluctant to approve of such building requests. There is a campaign to bring one to Los Angeles by the Los Angeles Buddhist Vihara.
 
But one already exists, built by Tibetan Buddhists in northern California. Across the USA there are small ones and plans, or at least dreams, for more.

Buddha profile (Glen Carlin)

However, there is at least one great one already: It is in our spiritual center where Native Americans recognized vortices of power and energy, Sedona, Arizona.

Wisdom Quarterly visited with Xochitl and Dr. Rei Rei to visit the Anasazi sites and this amazing hidden gem hidden on the west side of the American Southwest's most beautiful town.

To visit, choose the cooler months. Sedona is amazing year round, with winter snows the blanket the red rocks. It is one of the most picturesque landscapes in the world, a lower extension of the once Buddhist Grand Canyon. (How could the Grand Canyon ever have been Buddhist? It was).

• VIDEO: Native Buddhist artifacts, Grand Canyon
• Were the Anasazi [Native Americans] Buddhists?
• Buddhist cave temples found in Grand Canyon
• AUDIO: Ancient Egyptians in the Grand Canyon 
• Grand Canyon's secret underground Buddhist temple?  
• Native American Buddhism and Tibet 

Hovering above the massive stupa is a gorgeous wooden Buddha carving surrounded by many American offerings: trinkets, flowers, incense, glass beads, Native American jewelry, coins, notes, flags...adding to the splendor of the U.S. Southwest (Glen_Carlin/flickr.com).

Sedona, Arizona is "the most beautiful place on earth" (visitsedona.com)

But I really love myself! (sutra)

Ashley Wells and Pfc. Sandoval, Wisdom Quarterly

Nepal's other Everest: trekking to the summit of Gokyo Ri and some of the best views in the country. About two hours’ walk north of Namche Bazaar, the largest town in the Khumbu region, the trail forks. Turn right towards Everest Base Camp (Zolashine/Getty/BBC.com)

Royal Sutra

Dhr. Seven (trans.), Wisdom Quarterly (Rājan Sutra from "Inspired Utterances," Udana 5.1)

Buddha on Gokyo Ri peak (Hendrik Terbeck)

Thus have I heard. Once when the Blessed One was residing near Sāvatthī at Jeta's Grove in the millionaire's monastery, King Pasenadi of Kosala and Queen Mallikā went to the upper floor of the palace.

The king turned to the queen and said, "Mallikā, is there anyone dearer to you than yourself?"

 

"No one, great king, no one is dearer to me than myself. Great king, and how is it with you, is there anyone dearer to you than yourself?"

 

"No one, Mallikā, no one is dearer to me than myself," he answered. Then King Pasenadi left to see the Blessed One. When he arrived, he bowed, sat respectfully to one side, and related to him the exchange.

Then realizing the significance of what was being said, the Blessed One exclaimed this verse of uplift:

"Scanning all directions with awareness, one finds no one dearer than oneself. Others, too, are equally dear to themselves. So if one loves oneself, one avoids hurting others."

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Giant Gay Pride Parade Fest (June 6-8)

Dev, Wisdom Quarterly; gaywesthollywood.com/gaypride

LA PRIDE LGBT Pride in West Hollywood 

Christopher Street West Association, Inc. is a non-profit service organization within the... Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Celebration in West Hollywood. The LA PRIDE Celebration is held in beautiful West Hollywood Park.

  

2014 Gay Pride in Los Angeles, California, Gay West Hollywood 

LA Gay Pride Parade and Festival in Los Angeles, attracting 1/2 million visitors... 

City of West Hollywood: One City One Pride LGBTQ Arts Festival 

Each year, the City of West Hollywood celebrates Pride month through the artistic contributions of our community with the One City One Pride Arts Festival. 

West Hollywood Los Angeles Gay Pride 2014 

(GayTravel.about.com) The L.A. Pride Festival occurs over Friday, June 6, Saturday, June 7 (from noon until midnight), and Sunday (from 11:00 am till 11:00 pm) in the heart of West Hollywood.

The Left Forum 2014 (audio)

Amber Larson, Pfc. Sandoval, Pat Macpherson, Wisdom Quarterly; NYC, LeftForum.org

Left Forum 2014 Special Programming (KPFKorg) (ARCHIVE)

BuddhaFest (June 19-22, 2014)

Ashley Wells and CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly; BuddhaFest.org via Tricycle.com

BuddhaFest 2014: A Festival for Heart and Mind. The fest is inspired by the principles of mindfulness and compassion and features four days of films, talks, Buddhist meditation, and music at the Spectrum Theatre at Artisphere in the Rosslyn area of Arlington, VA, just outside of Washington, D.C. (See complete BuddhaFest Schedule)

Opening Night Film: "Blood Brother," Sundance Grand Jury and Audience Award winner!

"Good Morning America" (GMA/ABC) panicky Weekend Anchor Dan Harris will speak on opening night about the spiritual odyssey that led him to Buddhist principles and mindfulness.

Sign up for updates, and events (buddhafest.org/sign-up-for-updates/)

Native Americans on gay marriage, junk food...

Xochitl; CC Liu, Ashley Wells, (eds.) Wisdom Quarterly; NPR.org; Take Two (SCPR.org)

Cleaning, restoring, and hiking Hahamongna, sacred Tongva land, Native Los Angeles

Navajo Nation rainbow flag (dbking/flickr.com/npr.org)

How some Natives dealt with homosexuality

LGBTQ (transgendersociety.yolasite.com)

It may be that gay marriage is not accepted by traditional Native Americans, like California's Chumash (ranging from Malibu to San Luis Obispo). They nevertheless found a progressive and inclusive solution to gender-bending, transsexuality, and homosexuality: "Two-spirit people."

San Francisco march (indybay.org)

Two-spirit is a modern umbrella term used by some indigenous North Americans for gender-variant individuals within their communities.

 

Non-Native anthropologists have historically used the term berdaches (almost exactly like the analogous Afghan/Pashtun bacheh) for individuals who fulfill one of many mixed gender roles in First Nations and Native American tribes.

• Afghan Buddhist missionary monks, led by Hwui Shan, brought Buddhism to Native Americans in the 5th century AD according to historian Edward P. Vining ("Inglorious Columbus," 1884)
• Buddhism refers to transgender individuals as pandakas
• Modern Buddhists in Thailand (S.E. Asia) say kathoeys

The complex social psychology of sex and the social construction of gender among Native Americans and ancient Asians can teach us a great deal to allay our unconscious sexism (GJ)

  

Ancient Afghans and Chinese in America

But this term has more recently fallen out of favor (in Afghanistan as well). Third and fourth gender roles historically embodied by two-spirit people include performing work and cross dressing, that is, wearing clothing associated with the other gender. 

 

Some tribes consider there to be at least four gender identities: (1) feminine men, (2) masculine men, (3) feminine women, and (4) masculine women. The presence of male two-spirits "was a fundamental institution among most tribal peoples" (Brian Joseph Gilley, Becoming Two-Spirit: Gay Identity and Social Acceptance in Indian Country, 2008). According to Will Roscoe, male and female two-spirits have been "documented in over 130 North America tribes, in every region of the continent" (Will Roscoe, The Zuni Man-Woman, p.5, 1991).
 

Transsexual and transgender Native Americans existed, and were even accepted and assimilated, before Western contact (Transgender Society/de Batz, Illinois,1735)

.

Banning Native American Gay Marriage
Tell Me More (npr.org)

But we need gay marriage or they win!

The Navajo Nation has has prohibited same-sex marriage since 2005, when the Dine Marriage Law was passed. Now, critics are challenging that ban.  As the largest reservation in the U.S., the Navajo Nation straddles the borders of three states: New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah. Utah has been embroiled in its own same-sex marriage battle recently (the state halted gay marriages Monday).  But these state laws do not affect the Navajo Nation ban. Michel Martin, the excellent host of NPR's nightly Tell Me More, recently sat down with Deswood Tome, a special adviser to the president of the Navajo Nation and activist Alray Nelson of the Coalition for Navajo Equality. LISTEN

Impact of The Long Walk felt 150 years later

Laurel Morales, Fronteras Desk (Take Two, Jan. 24, 2014)

The Long Walk for Navajos and Apaches (Bosque Redondo Memorial/Shonto Begay)

 

Navajo Artist Shonto Begay says, “I could feel and hear the cries of the people the trail the heat the cold. I had to be deep deep inside that to try to bring out the echoes of the cries on the trail.”

January marked the 150th anniversary of what Navajo and Mescalero Apache people call "The Long Walk," similar to the forced death-march known as the "Trail of Tears."

Native American (SuperG82/flickr)

In 1864 the U.S. Army forced the Navajo and Apache to walk 400 miles from their assigned reservation in northeastern Arizona to the edge of the Pecos River in eastern New Mexico. As expected thousands died during that long, arduous journey.

These days, so many Navajos like musician Clarence Clearwater have moved off the reservation for work.

Clearwater performs on the Grand Canyon Railway -- the lone Indian among dozens of cowboys and train robbers entertaining tourists.

 

“I always tell people I’m there to temper the cowboys,” Clearwater said. “I’m there to give people the knowledge that there was more of the West than just cowboys.”

 

Clearwater retraced his great-great-great-grandfather’s footsteps 50 years ago for The Long Walk’s 100th anniversary. Along the way he learned a song about going home. LISTEN

• A history of discrimination denying affirmative action

Native American Junk-Food Tax?
"Advocates Vow To Revive Navajo Junk-Food Tax" (AP/NPR, April 22, 2014)

This mouth-watering burger is a delicious vegan melt with baked fries (Vegan)

 

Don't tell anyone they're good as in healthy.

FLAGSTAFF, Arizona - Facing a high prevalence of diabetes, many American Indian tribes are returning to their roots with community and home gardens, cooking classes that incorporate traditional foods, and running programs to encourage healthy lifestyles.

 

The latest effort on the Navajo Nation, the country's largest reservation, is to use the tax system to spur people to ditch junk food.

 

Sobochesh berries (eattheweeds.com)

A proposed 2 percent sales tax on chips, cookies and sodas failed Tuesday in a Tribal Council vote. But the measure still has widespread support, and advocates plan to revive it, with the hope of making the tribe one of the first governments to enact a junk-food tax.

 

Elected officials across the U.S. have taken aim at sugary drinks with proposed bans, size limits, tax hikes and warning labels, though their efforts have not gained widespread traction. In Mexico, lawmakers approved a junk food tax and a tax on soft drinks last year as part of that government's campaign to fight obesity.

 

Navajo President Ben Shelly earlier this year vetoed measures to establish a junk-food tax and eliminate the tax on fresh fruit and vegetables. At Tuesday's meeting, tribal lawmakers overturned the veto on the tax cut, but a vote to secure the junk-food tax fell short. Lawmakers voted 13-7 in favor of it, but the tax needed 16 votes to pass. More

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News of the World: Fly Malaysia Airlines cheap

Pfc. Sandoval, Pat Macpherson, Ashley Wells, Wisdom Quarterly (NEWS REVIEW)

Lose yourself! Dare to live, dare to fly, dare to fall into a hijacking black hole (cutideals)

(SH) A baby moose is stuck in the fence in the snow. Humans sneak up. What will happen?

1. Wells Fargo admits to defrauding homeowners out of their houses, robosigning, foreclosing, training employees to "lose" paperwork -- will not be charged with theft or any major felony but may have to pay small penalty to banking insiders.

2. DARPA is encouraging many academics and ametuers to work for the Killing Machine, the U.S. Imperial Military Service. But they don't know it. "I don't work for the military," they exclaim. "I just enter contests sponsored by DARPA; I can't help what they do with my invetions. If they want to build decision-making killer robots out of my contest winner, that's on them. I don't work for the military. I'm just a garage tinkerer, a code writer, a contest enterer." Oy vey.

3. "We Come As Friends" Anti-imperialist radio host Michael Slate (revcom.us) talks to the film maker showing just how "empire" is accomplished whether it's the British yesterday or the Americans today. The world's newest country is South Sudan on the continent of Africa. When Hillary Clinton visited, she invited investment and exploitation. Come, bankers, "do well while doing good," was her PR campaign's slogan. "There's plenty of money to be made" off of these black-skinned dummies, dark skinned needy, dimwitted pawns, poor, up-and-coming Third World youth. It is what the British did for centuries, and we're just following that Western lineage of invasion, occupation, and unadulterated exploitation while bringing "God" and "civilization" to these savages, those in need...while extracting everything we can via the railroads and infrastructure we first build to benefit ourselves. It's not for them, mind you, but for getting the goods to market by way of the exit ports for shipping. Thanks, future president Hillary; you're a Good Old Boy after all.

Dr. DeGruy, Fullerton College, March 28

4. Southern California progressives have become so open minded that they finally see that "mass incarceration" is a reality and a purposeful policy, a ALEC-style conspiracy? Have professors Michelle Alexander and Joy DeGruy finally broken into the popular imagination? What else could explain quizzing L.A. Sheriff candidates on their views of "mass incarceration"? Sure, they'll probably lie and do it anyway, but they can't say they were never asked. Then they can be called on their lying and voted out, and another set can be brought in and do the same thing, then voted out... See how well democracy works? Just ask the Great Communicator, our Fearless Leader Obama. He would never lie. He would sooner chop down a cherry tree and be spanked than fib about it.

Here's a handy chart provided by USAF

5. Dr. Roger Lear, M.D. (alienscapel.com) is dead? The only man brave enough to remove extraterrestrial alien implants, expose them, and live to tell about it... Well, perhaps not the latter. He has succumbed to medical interventions, one of America's leading killers (the iatrogenic effect). Was he assassinated for saying too much? He will be missed, and his evidence cannot be explained by ordinary means. The only way to ignore him is to ignore him. This leaves no messy questions about how inanimate objects, the "implants," have bundles of nerves going to them. Since when does the body not only not reject foreign matter but embrace it more than medical implants? His findings were shocking, so of course they could not be widely reported. To do so would mean having to find a way to dismiss the obvious: there are others, and they occasionally implant people.

6. Republican Chris "Christ" Christie has group sex and makes a polished porn movie about it? That's what Gawker is currently investigating -- with its near forensic analysis of the footage -- and reporting.

What goes up must come... Not necessarily.

7. Then there was something about some missing plane or something? Went off its route straight to Diego Garcia, a military base expert in secrecy for the clandestine military-industrial complex (MIC). It was probably just a coincidence that it was carrying 20 top secret chip researchers, many of them Americans, on their way to the capital of China. Sure the world is searching millions of square miles of sea for them, yeah. Hey, but did you hear about the discounted flights? Bring a cellphone (mobile) and call us the next time this happens so we won't worry so much.

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Update: Suspect in Hollywood Hills shooting dead; officer hit by small debris A police spokesman said the suspect in a shooting in the Hollywood Hills Monday morning has been executed by police is dead of apparent gunshot wounds but, more importantly, an officer has been slightly hurt during the altercation and is now doing well, according to Chief Charlie Beck. And as for the suspect Anaheim police recently executed for protecting himself against a vicious trained K-9 agent, uh, well, at least the doggie, whose name is Bruno, is making progress (video). But someone is trying to stop surveillance helicopters and their noise by complaining to the FAA when they are needed for police state protection law and order

Dalai Lama: 21st Century Compassion

Ashley Wells, CC Liu, Seven, Wisdom Quarterly; The Lourdes Foundation; L.A. Forum

Public Talk: "21st Century Compassion," Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2014, 12:15 pm, LA Forum

  

For a mere $65.30 per nosebleed seat ticket you, too, can see the Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhist "pope" and former god-king (simultaneous secular and religious leader), who lives in exile in the Himalayan city of Dharamsala, India, much to the aggravation of militant Chinese oppressors. 

• What we don't hear about Tibet (The Guardian)
• Friendly Feudalism: the Tibet Myth (Michael Parenti)

I decided political and spiritual matters. - Wow!

The XIVst Dalai Lama is not remunerated, instead offering Buddhist teachings freely. So he is not to blame for ticket prices. That responsibility falls on the host, which this year is not the Long Beach Tibetan Temple (Gaden Shartse Thubten Dhargye Ling), but the Lourdes Foundation. The lamas in Long Beach always gave out tickets to monastics and devotees and others for Long Beach Civic Auditorium appearances; one can only hope the Lourdes Foundation is doing the same.

If only the world will cultivate compassion

What will the audience see? Not an enlightened being, unfortunately. By his own admission, Tenzin Gyatso, the current Dalai Lama, XIV in line, is not enlightened. He is but a humble ruler of the great former Himalayan Buddhist kingdom (or feudal "serfdom" according to Chinese propagandists, but denied by Phayul.com) of Tibet with a massive Western following. He is a "simple monk," he claims. Or maybe he is a great rinpoche (teacher), the supreme prelate of the Gelug (Yellow Hat) sect, and a mahasattva (great being or vajrasattva), perhaps even an "incarnation" (by some self-willed rebirth) or manifestation of Kwan Yin, the Buddhist Goddess of Compassion (originally appearing in male form as Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva). He is semi-retired -- unlike ex-Pope Benedict XVI, who was fired or forced to resign for his crimes and misdemeanors, from worldly matters. Others now rule and advocate for Tibet, China. But "His Holiness" is involved in co-writing books and presenting teachings. He is the world's most beloved and recognizable Buddhist, and what he says is generally wonderful (mixed reviews), full of compassion and distilled wisdom all Buddhist traditions can agree with.

Dalai Lama and The Lourdes Foundation

[We are] uniting different worlds under one language. The Dalai Lama is a man of peace. In 1989, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his non-violent struggle for the liberation of Tibet from Chinese invaders. He has consistently advocated policies of non-violence, even in the face of extreme aggression. He also became the first Nobel Laureate to be recognized for his concern for global environmental problems. This event will be hosted at The Forum in Inglewood, California, on Feb. 25. Tickets are on sale via the Ticketmaster corporation.

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Angel is attending Dalai Lama at The Forum

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	Michael is attending Dalai Lama at The Forum