lindseyandhaley: asuras

Showing posts with label asuras. Show all posts

Monday, 11 August 2014

Forgiving in the Face of ANGER (sutra)

Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Wisdom Quarterly; Andrew Olendzki, Vepacitti Sutra (SN 11.4)

Churning Space: bas-relief of Samudra manthan, Angkor Wat, Cambodia, shows Vishnu in the center, in his Kurma avatar, with the asuras and the devas on either side (Wiki).

Rebel asuras, cast from deva-world by Sakka, fall to Earth (Hieronymus Bosch).

Asura Dvarapala, Borobudur (wiki)

This noble teaching on how to respond when faced with anger is placed in an ancient historical/mythical setting. The story is told by the Buddha of a great war between devas (shining ones, angels) and the asuras (titans, demons).

The devas are ultimately victorious (as happens in later Greek and Norse versions of the same myth). They capture Vepacitti [full history], a titan king. Bound in chains, he is brought to the space station of the Thirty-Three and into the presence of Sakka, King of the Devas.

Being the titan that he his, Vepacitti hurls a torrent of abuse and insulting names at his captor (the catalog of which in the commentary is most interesting). Sakka, however, is unmoved, inspiring Matali, the charioteer of his spacecraft, to begin the following poetic exchange:

The poem is in the prevalent vatta meter, with eight syllables per line, and contains much subtle word-play. For example, the words bala (fool) and bala (strong, powerful) dance with one another throughout the piece (appearing 17 times), nowhere more intimately than in the frolicking alliteration of Lines 31 and 32 (abalan-tam balam aahu yassa balaabalam balam).

FOOLS (Bala Sutra, Book of the Twos, AN 2.98) "Meditators, there are two fools. Who are the two? The one who takes up a burden that has not befallen one, and the one who does not take up a burden that has. These are the two fools."

A king of the titans (Evs in Nz/flickr)

The linking of the word titikkhati (forbearance) with the similarly sounding tikicchati (healing) is also a poignant touch that is hardly accidental.

This exchange shows well how the Buddha adapted the heroic ideals of his warrior's heritage to the inner struggle for self-mastery. The strength of the victorious Sakka -- who is a stream enterer having been a hearer of the Buddha's Dharma and won that attainment -- rests in his wisdom and forbearance.

The weakness of the fierce yet vanquished titan comes from his lack of understanding, earning him the label "foolish," which leaves him helpless to resist the passions raging within him.

Was Zarathustra an asura? (G6G)

Though these verses were penned thousands of years ago, their truth is timeless. It is the same truth that has helped many non-violent social and political reform movements achieve dramatic results in our own century.

Conquest is only the apparent victory of the short-sighted, while transformation of oneself and others is the more lasting "victory" of the wise. Remaining unprovoked in the face of anger and hostility still offers the best hope for healing our troubled world.

THE FOOLISH AND THE WISE (Bala-Pandita Sutra, AN 2.21) "Meditators, there are two foolish persons. Who are the two? The one who does not see a transgression as a transgression, and the one who does not rightly forgive another who has confessed a transgression. These are the two fools. There are two wise persons. Who are the two? The one who sees one's own transgression as a transgression, and the one who rightly forgives another who has confessed a transgression. These are the two wise persons."

Bas relief of Sakka, King of the Devas [of Tavatimsa], and apsaras (wiki)

Calm in the Face of Anger (verses)

[Matali:] Sakka, could it be you're afraid,

Or weak, that you forgive [khanti] like this,

Though hearing such insulting words

From the lips of Vepacitti?

[Sakka:] I am neither afraid nor weak,

Yet I forbear Vepacitti.

How is it one who knows, like me,

Would get provoked by such a fool?

[Matali:] More angry will a fool become

If no one puts a stop to him.

So let the wise restrain the fool

By the use of a mighty stick.

[Sakka:] This is the only thing, I deem,

That will put a stop to the fool:

Knowing well the other's anger,

One is mindful and remains calm.

[Matali:] This very forbearance of yours,

Sakka, I see as a mistake.

For when a fool reckons like this:

"From fear of me he does forbear,"

The dolt will come on stronger still —

Like a bull the more that one flees.

Deva Sakka defeats the dragon or naga (1st-art-gallery.com).

[Sakka:] Let him think whatever he likes:

"From fear of me he does forbear."

Among ideals and highest goods

None better than patience is found.

For surely he who, being strong,

Forbears the ones who are more weak —

Forever enduring the weak —

That is called the highest patience.

For whom strength is the strength of fools,

It is said of the strong, "He's weak!"

For the strong, guarding the Dharma,

Contentiousness is never found.

It is indeed a fault for one

Who returns anger for anger.

Not giving anger for anger,

One wins a dual-victory.

One behaves for the good of both:

Oneself and the other person.

Knowing well the other's anger,

One is mindful and remains calm.

In this way one is healing both:

Oneself and the other person.

The people who think, "He's a fool,"

Just don't understand the Dharma.

The lore of St. Michael, the archangel, are echoes of Sakka, King of the Angels. He is revered in Buddhism, Vedic Hinduism, Yazidi Islam, Eastern Orthodox Christianity, and Catholicism.

Friday, 27 June 2014

News of the World: Earth Changes (video)

Pfc. Sandoval, Pat Macpherson, Crystal Quintero, Amber Larson, Wisdom Quarterly; CBS

Summer 2014: All concerts free and open to the public (levittla.org/KPFK.org)

(LIP TV) Documentary of "Code Black" about the first modern emergency room, C Booth, a trauma bay concept invented in Los Angeles' County-USC Medical Center, our "General Hospital"

Taking meds to feel normal?

LOS ANGELES, California - A notorious trauma bay in an inner-city ER earns its keep as the "hurt locker of medicine" as new, idealistic, and adrenaline-seeking doctors train in an environment akin to a war-zone.

When the hospital moves to a swank, new building the rush fades, and a bad bureaucracy gridlocks the state-of-the-art facility.

The doctors are faced with the unexpected realities of life and death in a safety-net health care system at the brink of overload. Now playing. Don't worry. "Nothing Bad Can Happen"...and if it does, there's always C Booth:

"Christian torture porn" from Germany, now showing in L.A.

There are no such things as UFOs
Google Earth Map catches image of UFO with passenger

Don't forget to watch the soccer/football match! But first take a shower, Hattiesburg, to wipe the stench of near-defeat off you as we were ready to rejoice.

EARTH FILES (@ earthfiles.com)

Moon (Chandra) seen from atop Earth (Bhumi)

Subscribe to Real X-Files and Archive - Books and DVDsConferences: Earthfiles' Linda Moulton Howe speaking about 12,000-year-old Gobekli Tepe, Turkey, and whistleblowers' leaks about ET self-activating technologies at MUFON Int'l. Conference (July 18-20, 2014), Cherry Hills, New Jersey. Contact in the Desert (August 8-10, 2014), Joshua Tree Retreat Center, California

AUDIO: Most of the water on Earth not in oceans but in mantle rocks 400 miles below crust (MP3) See lab-grown crystals of ringwoodite contain 1st% of H2O (Steve Jacobsen, Ph.D., Geophysicist, Northwestern University)
AUDIO: Eerie metallic scraping sounds heard from Michigan to Alaska: “If you had a snowplow going down a dry street and you had this loud sound of scraping metal against concrete, almost like a squealing as it's scraping.” - Pattie, Resident, Ann Arbor, MI, sound heard June 18, 2014. “All of a sudden I heard an extremely loud screeching noise. It sounded like a 10,000-gallon steel drum being drug over a bed or rocks.” - Gordon, Construction, Prince of Wales Island, Alaska 2011
AUDIO: Another “Dragonfly Drone” Sighting and Isaac Whistleblower, but the Year Was 1981. One of a dozen photos of dragonfly drone taken in Big Basin, Redwoods State Park northwest of Santa Cruz, California, on June 5, 2007. See 061707 Earthfiles.
CIA's “Anonymous Kewper” briefed Eisenhower and Nixon in 1959 About UFOs, Human Abductions and Animal Mutilations. Pres. Dwight Eisenhower from 1953 to 1961, with his VP Richard Nixon in White House. “Anonymous Kewper Stein” briefed them both in Washington, D.C., along with his CIA boss, Anthony, about German discs, extraterrestrial craft, human abductions and animal mutilations in 1959.
June 21, 2014 - Summer Solstice: Today at 6:51 AM EDT, the Sun was shining directly above the Tropic of Cancer marking this as the longest day of 2014 for the Northern Hemisphere and beginning of summer. This same day marks the winter solstice in the Southern Hemisphere where winter begins. These seasons happen because Earth is tilted on its axis at a 23.5-degree angle.
June 20, 2014 - Earth's Core Changes Are Changing Magnetic Fields. Swarm satellite (ESA) measurements made the last 6 months show a dramatic decline over North and South America with a strengthening of the Earth's magnetic field over the southern Indian Ocean. June 2014 image by ESA's Swarm Satellite. Magnetic North continues to move towards Siberia where a large magma rise under the crust has been occurring for the past three decades. This new picture reinforces the concept that the Earth's magnetic poles are building up to a switch. Over the last 200 years, the magnetic field has weakened by about 15%. Over the last 20 million years, the poles have reversed on average about every 200,000 to 300,000 years. But the last pole reversal was 780,000 years ago, so Earth is long overdue for a pole change. What exactly happens to Earth life at such pole reversals is unknown. See 020111 Earthfiles.
June 20, 2014 - Labyrinth Crop Formation in Celle, France. See: video and ground shots, Cropcircleconnector. First reported on June 12, 2014. Aerial © 2014 by Yannick Pezeu. High altitude aerial of wheat labyrinth near Celle and Savigny-sur-Braye, Loir-et-Cher, France. Wheat pattern reported June 12, 2014. Vendome is 108 miles southwest of Paris, France, and only 19 miles east of Besse-sur-Braye and Celle, Loir-et-Cher, France.
June 17, 2014 - Puzzling Swarm of 5.7 Magnitude Quakes in Alaska since April 18th. “At this point, we don't really understand the nature of these earthquakes.” - Natasha Ruppert, Seismologist, Alaska Earthquake Center. Monday, June 16, 2014, at 4:01 AM, the fifth 5.7 magnitude earthquake since April 18th in same Alaska region northeast of Noatak, an Eskimo village of 560. Residents are not used to having the ground shake. There are no active faults in the region. The earth keeps moving miles below the Earth's surface, so human activities such as surface mining are ruled out as the cause. See: Alaska Earthquake Center.
June 15, 2014 - 1953 to 1981: Project AQUARIUS — 16 Volumes About UFOs and IACs. Click for Real X-File. “In the 1976 MJ3 report, it was estimated the Alien's technology was many thousands of years ahead of United States technology.” - Alleged historic MJ12 TOP SECRET Executive Briefing
June 12, 2014 - AUDIO: The Unexplained - Interview UK broadcaster Howard Hughes with Linda Moulton Howe. Bizarre MH370 disappearance; phenomenal Human-E.T. hybrids
June 10, 2014 - Illinois Is First State to Ban Microbeads. Click for report. “I'm optimistic that we've started a nationwide movement to protect not just the Great Lakes, but other bodies of water with high concentrations of microbeads.” - Illinois State Senator Heather Steans (D-Chicago), Bill Co-Sponsor.

Tuesday, 10 June 2014

Through the Rabbit Hole with Krystle Cole

Urban Shamans Amber Larson, Xochitl, Crystal Quintero, Dhr. Seven, CC Liu, Bela, Wisdom Quarterly; Hamilton Pharmacopeia (VICE/HBO, 2012); Krystle A. Cole (NeuroSoup)

"You should get out more," people may say. Maybe people should get in more, like Alice.

TOPEKA, Kansas - Former goth stripper, author of Lysergic, and producer of numerous YouTube videos Krsytle A. Cole talks about her time spent living in an "Underground Acid Palace," a subterranean missile silo converted into a luxurious LSD-manufacturing facility.

She take Hamilton and VICE's cameras on a tour into the rabbit hole. We're not in Kansas any... well, apparently, we still are. And this time it's underground just like Alice in Wyrd (another word for Wonderland).

Krystle Cole spent three years of her life running from the DEA, being held partially against her will and used as a guinea pig for strange new psychedelic chemicals.

Lysergic, 2nd ed. (goodreads.com)

Eventually her friends-turned-captors were arrested, whereas Krystle herself barely escaped incarceration.

She now makes her living as a writer, sharing her experiences in books and on the Web in her firsthand and Erowid.org-style accounts of experimenting with entheogens and other forbidden substances on NeuroSoup.

I wonder, I wonder, I wonder what's down in there! (Alice at the gate of the Rabbit Hole)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dw7e8rGQvGc

We can't help but observe how much she looks like someone we knew, both in terms of her features and her mannerisms, who eventually became an expert Buddhist meditator and stream enterer. Of course, people do not believe anyone get enlightened nowadays. They do. How do we know? we'll be asked. That was courtesy of a strange set of circumstances too hard for others to believe. We believe it. We were there. We saw and understood.

DRUG DISCUSSION
Wisdom Quarterly (URBAN SHAMANISM)

The lights, the lights, painting with light (DigitalTurkey-Graph/flickr.com)

The devas still descend from space.

Is there anything good to be said about any "drug"? Yes, the entheogens, the ones that bring out the "divine" (theos, deus, devas, the "godly") within. So, Xochitl, which drug? Native Americans have "plant helpers," not "drugs." To say that word tosses our minds to grim concrete ghettos and dreary suburbs painted neon. We're leaving that; we're back in nature; we're going to Wyrd or the Spirit World. An entheogen, a sacred plant, root, vine, mushroom, or combination -- whatever -- is all about getting to one thing: DMT (dimethyltryptamine).

(Gnosis) "DMT: The Spirit Molecule," which explores human consciousness, weaves an account of Dr. Rick Strassman's groundbreaking DMT research through a multifaceted approach to this intriguing entheogen/hallucinogen found in the body, brain, and hundreds of plants.

And this DMT is not out there. It's in here, in the center of our brains, behind the third eye, where the pineal gland is enclosed in gray matter with active rods and cones and its own inner-retina.

There are many ways to awaken it. "Drugs" are the worst way. People are not ready to see it. Amber, does Buddhism have anything good to say about drugs? I think we all agree with Dr. Gabor Mate that the problem of "drug use and abuse" is that almost no one in the U.S. who sets out to get high is actually trying to get high. They're just trying to get wasted.

Befriending Faeries

They are trying to obtund (dull) rather than enhance consciousness, trying to get blotto, blitzed, full of toxins or intoxicated. Right, Seven? That's right! We use the same word to mean exact opposite things -- doped up or wasted versus opened up and trying to see things as they really are.

Whatever there is of substances to get "high" on, that exists within for us to access. Crystal? There are Tibetan lamas who do dream yoga. But look at the yogis of olde, not the ganja-obtunded waste-cases sitting around growing great dreadlocks and clutching hash pipes. Maybe they would have taken or produce Soma and Amrita, the "nectar of the devas."

Yogis sometimes veer off the path (D. Earlotti)

What we call chocolate was something like that, Theobroma cacao, "cocoa the food of the devas." Which extraterrestrial-gods was it who pointed out the pits of that fruit was edible?

The subtle little fairies/devis in art (1909)

Serenity-meditation that leads to the absorptions leads to bliss in the first two jhanas, independent of the senses and sensuality. It comes from within. It makes possible the concentration and mental-collectedness needed for successful insight-practice called vipassana. Anyone smoking high-THC/low-CBD cannabis to get lost or wasted will get lost and waste her/his time.

Devas watch as liberator is born.

But if one pursues awakening the pineal gland, the third eye, the seat of consciousness, the "mind door" around the heart may get something else, awakening and liberation. But real liberation is not transient. It does not fall away. Drug experiences, absorptions (jhanas), hallucinations, and delusions do. The Five Precepts warn us away from intoxicants. This is very wise. Mere "knowledge" (ñāna), study (suta), and experience cannot substitute for actual wisdom (Sanskrit prajñā, Pali paññā).

Embodying DMT as "Soma"?

Stephen T. Naylor, Encyclopedia Mythica (pantheon.org)

The devas depicted in Western/Greco-Roman forms (Ilias Flaxman, Gestochen/Wiki)

Where earthbound devas dwell, Plitvice

Soma is a very difficult deity [deva] for many outside of India to comprehend. He works on numerous levels, all of which are tied together rather strangely. Soma is firstly a plant.

He is also an intoxicating drink which was brewed from that plant [which plant or mushroom, root or vine is disputed]....Though he is never depicted in human form, Soma obviously did not want for lovers [i.e., people who loved it]; poets rarely do.

In one episode, his desires caused a war. He had grown arrogant due to the glory that was offered him. Because of this, he let his lust overcome him; he kidnapped and carried off Tara, the wife of the [deva] Brihaspati. After refusing to give her up, the devas made war on him to force her release, and Soma called on the [titans] asuras to aid him.

Finally, Brahma interceded and compelled Soma to let Tara go. But she was with child, and it ended up that this child was Soma's. The child was born and named Budha (not to be confused with the Buddha). More

There is a "road" (path) to a weird "land" (place) somewhere outside of this illusion.

Is it Amrita, the endogenous nectar of our divine nature?

Wisdom Quarterly edit of Wikipedia entry

Mohini, female-Vishnu with Amrita pot (W)

Amrita is repeatedly referred to as "the drink of the devas, the "gods," which grants them "immortality."

Immortality? Perhaps that timeless vision or realization of who we really are, which does not end at death; our personality ends, and self falls away, but something, some whole, some connection to everything else, remains or is reborn, taking and clinging to a new form it immediately mistakes for "self" again. We are not so limited as any expression or manifestation would suggest.

Amrita features in the "ocean-churning" Samudra manthan legend, which describes how the devas, because of a curse from the sage Durvasa, begin to lose their immortality (divine vision of themselves?

Assisted by their mortal enemies, the asuras (Buddhist "titans"), they churn the ocean (cosmos, world-system, Milky Way, samsara) and create -- among other wonderful (Wyrd) things -- Amrita, the nectar of immortality.

In yogic philosophy (as it found its way from Hindu philosophy into its cognate Mahayana-Buddhism), Amrita is a fluid that can flow from the pituitary gland down the throat in deep states of meditation. It is considered quite a boon: Some yogic texts say that one drop is enough to conquer death and achieve immortality. More

Wednesday, 14 May 2014

"Persepolis" or Persepolis? (video)

Eds., Wisdom Quarterly; Marjane Satrapi ("Persepolis"); Discovery.com "Persepolis"

Ancient Persia

The remnants of a great empire

One of the most impressive settlements in the ancient world, Persepolis was destroyed and burned by invader Alexander the Great in 330 BCE. It lay forgotten for over 2,000 years. This documentary travels to modern Iran to bring Persepolis back to life and investigate the complexities of the Persian Empire that was responsible for creating this astonishing city.

The Spread of Buddhism from its origins in Afghanistan (Gandhara) and India (Magadha) to Iran, where two counter-movements arose in Zoroastrianism (Asuras, Parsis) and Islam (Muslims, Sufis) that then rolled into India and Buddhist strongholds in East and Far East Asia.

"Persepolis," Iran

WATCH FREE: FULL FILM NOW

Religion is mostly a horrible thing. "Persepolis" is the poignant story of a young girl in Iran during the Islamic Revolution.

It is through the eyes of precocious and outspoken 9-year-old Marjane that we see a people's hopes dashed as fundamentalists take power -- fomented by the West who is enriched in the process of creating a terrorist dictatorship to rob the resources of a nation -- forcing the veil on women and imprisoning thousands.

Ancient India used to include modern Iran

Clever and fearless, Majrane outsmarts the "social guardians" and discovers punk rock, ABBA (pop), and Iron Maiden (heavy metal). Yet, when her uncle is senselessly executed and as bombs fall around in the capital of Tehran during the Iran-Iraq war, the daily fear that permeates life in Iran is palpable.

As she gets older, Marjane's boldness causes her parents to worry over her continued safety. So at age 14, they make the difficult decision to send her abroad to school in Austria. Vulnerable and alone in a strange Western land, she endures the typical ordeals of a teenager.

Map of Buddhist Central Asia and India

In addition, Marjane has to combat being equated with the religious fundamentalism and extremism she fled her country to escape. Over time, she gains acceptance, and even experiences love. But after high school she finds herself alone and horribly homesick.

Though it means putting on the veil and living in a tyrannical/hypocritical society, Marjane decides to return to Iran to be close to her family.

Like Buddhist Asokan Edict: Cyrus Cylinder

After a difficult period of adjustment, she enters art school and marries, all the while continuing to speak out against the hypocrisy she witnesses. At age 24, she realizes that while she is deeply Iranian, she cannot live in Iran.

She then makes the heartbreaking decision to leave her homeland for France, optimistic about her future, shaped indelibly by her past.

(LY) Discovery: Did the oldest civilization on Earth exist in Persia?

IRAN: People of the Flames, Zoroastrians