Coachella Music Festival 2014 starts (watch)

Amber Larson, Dev, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly; Youtube.com/user/Coachella (Ch. 1, 2, 3)

Watch the California desert festival streamed live on youtube both weekends.

Art, music, lovemaking, yoga, desert communing, shouting, contemplating, staying hydrated

These are the LINKS to Day 1, Channel 1. Channel 2. Channel 3. More

 

Girls of Coachella rave and barf on lawn

We can think, think, think, but sometimes we just have to dance. What is dancing? Rhythmic movement to cues coming in through other senses. Such movement makes us human, bonding large groups. Go tribal, go rural, go aural, but go. It need not make sense to the CPU. As long as the senses can sense it, our bodies can make sense of it. It's part of what the body is for, and there are many beings without bodies for lack of use. So use it. Schedule

Colbchella: Dancing to "Get Lucky" with Colbert (Daft Punk)

 

• VIDEO: Japan's "Penis Festival" goes totally nuts
• The radical vaginal art of Favianna Rodriguez (Berkeley)
• Weekly Progressive Events (OC)
• Hey, US Military-Industrial Complex, I'm not a bug splat
• 9-foot case with Sasquatch body goes on tour in US
• DNA shows that Sasquatches (Yakkhas) mated with human females, not accepted by mainstream media (MSNBC via LiveScience.com)
• Sasquatch is human relative, scientific study shows
• How our brains see something that can't be seen
• Top 10 Beasts and Dragons: How Reality Makes Myth
• Bigfoot, Nessie, Kraken: Cryptozoology Quiz 
• Top 10 Unexplained Phenomena

RAVES: Electric Daisy Carnival, Hard (video)

Amber Larson, Seth Auberon, Dev, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly; Gustavo Turner (LA Weekly)

EDC 2014 hopefuls wait to be called in (Gustavo Turner, 1 of 49 photos in SLIDESHOW)

 
EDC Auditions

Raver hopeful in front of Budai (G. Turner)

Years ago, buses full of hopefuls (males and females) arrived in Hollywood every day. They were the most beautiful young people in America carrying but a ratty suitcase, an "act" or a "talent," and The Dream -- making it "in the movies." 

 

These days, the movies ain't what they used to be. But the hopefuls keep coming to events like the open auditions call put out by Insomniac, the unstoppable creators of mega dance festival Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC). The auditions were held last Tuesday and Wednesday (March 5-6, 2014) at Create Nightclub, in the heart of Hollywood, next door to the Museum of Death.

The Insomniac auditioners the ravers are trying to impress (Gustavo Turner, laweekly.com)

 

Wholesome "Yoga Rave" (Art of Living, L.A.)

Budai (Hotei) and ravers getting ready (LAw)

The tryouts were also being filmed for Insomniac's new YouTube show "#EDCAuditions," a sort of "America's Got Talent" for go-go dancers in tiny bikinis, contortionists, clowns, magicians, stilt walkers, guys who blow up enormous balloons and then get inside them, and...

 

A man in an old-timey explorer outfit who can chug-a-lug a whole gallon of white liquid and vomit it into a bucket while his friend tries to juggle a bowling bowl and a giddy redhead in a skintight dress jumps around. [They were our favorite.] More

(InsomniacEvents) Electric Daisy Carnival Las Vegas 2014 official announcement

(Art of Living TV) Inspired by Indian teacher Sri Sri Ravi Shankar emerging out of the rich, pro-Buddhist Vedic Hindu yoga tradition, particularly as synthesized by the Sage Patanjali, this course teaches the initial steps of meditation, which is cultivation of mind/heart.

Hard Summer announces new home and dates
Dennis Romero (laweekly.com)

Hard Summer 2013 (Timothy Norris). The mega rave is coming to El Monte, L.A. for 2014 to the location that hosts the annual mega Vesak, the threefold celebration of the Buddha's birth, enlightenment, and final nirvana.

  

Music, dance, yoga: Eat Pray Love

With Los Angeles State Historic Park closed for a one-year renovation, the Hard festivals and other big events previously held there (including FYF Fest, H20 Fest) have had to look for new venues for 2014.

Hard has solved its problem by adopting as its home for their Hard summer event -- held August 2 and 3 -- the 1,492-acre Whittier Narrows Recreation Area in South El Monte, east of downtown L.A. It sounds to [L.A. Weekly] like a novel use for the public park.
 

Hindu Shiva-Shakti merging under the Moon

A source with knowledge of the news pointed to the Ticketmaster listing, saying that it wasn't initially clear if the event would face resistance from South El Monte city officials. (Hard officials will announce that news).
 
While "raves" have become a bad word with politicians around Los Angeles, Hard was purchased in 2012 by the nation's largest concert promoter, Live Nation, signaling that it's a highly professional (and money-making) operation. More

 

(Hardfest) 2014 Teaser: HARD Summer 2014 - August 2 and 3, Whittier Narrows Recreation Area. LA's largest music festival is moving to a BIGGER home just 10 minutes east of downtown L.A. at a beautiful park making the fest harder, better, bigger, and greener with more artists and more stages (facebook, twitter, instagram, soundcloud, tumblr, hardfest.com).

 

Did the Buddha dance?

Dhr. Seven and Amber Larson, Wisdom Quarterly

Dancing Tara Bodhisattva, Nepal (ebay.com)

Why do human beings dance? Synchronized movements, particularly to rhythmic music or a unifying beat as our cue, are a natural ritual for nonverbal expression and communication. 

 

We are making use of these incredible bodies, which may seem feeble now in the Kali Yuga ("Age of Vice" or "Dark Age") but were and will certainly be much more incredible in earlier and future Golden Ages. (It's cyclical, so all ages repeat).

 

Shakyamuni Buddha was not Shiva Nataraja ("Dancing Shiva," lit. "Shiva Lord of the Dance [of Life]"). According to Hinduism the Buddha was the ninth avatar of Vishnu, the great sustaining god. 

 

The Buddha, however, made it very clear that he is NOT a god/deva, not a messenger angel, not a mythical being, no longer an ordinary human being, not an anything other than "AWAKENED" (Dona Sutra, AN 4.36). Because of this, he came to be called the Buddha, a title which means the "Awakened One."
 

Dancing Shiva Nataraja, India

But if GOD (Brahman, godhead) is an acronym, G.O.D. -- the Generator (Brahma), Operator (Vishnu), and Destroyer (Shiva) of the universe -- then by this logic the historical Buddha was a force for the steady maintenance of this world-system, our universe or, at least, our solar system.
 
(According to whistleblower and former CIA pilot John Lear, our solar system actually has more than 30 planets, which if true might correspond to Buddhist cosmology's 31 Planes of Existence, assuming a "world-system" is only the size of a solar system rather than a galaxy, constellation/celestial sphere like Orion, or a universe).
 
So did the Buddha dance? Find out here: More

RAVE NEWS

• The Ultra Music Festival, Los Angeles (March 28, 29, 30)
• VIDEO: Electric Daisy Carnival 2014 dates announced Electric Daisy Carnival mega-rave will take place in Las Vegas from June 20 to 22, 2014, West Coast Sound has announced. Tickets start at $249 for general admission and $499 for VIP tickets, in addition to service fees. (Over 21) The lineup...
• Why Is Everyone So Pissed About the EDM Reality Show? As the Hollywood-based casting guru behind Jersey Shore and A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila, Doron Ofir knows how the lowbrow culture game is played. But even the man who gave the world Snooki might have been caught off-guard by the outrage over one of his latest projects: a...
• Jason Bentley on the Music That Is the Core of His Being Our music feature this week breaks down the career of KCRW Music Director and Morning Becomes Eclectic host Jason Bentley, who has been a central figure in the L.A. electronic scene since almost before Skrillex was born. We spoke with Bentley a number of times for this story, including in... 
• Lightning in a Bottle 2014: new location and dates announced Lightning in a Bottle is moving to central California. This year's installment of the Do Lab-produced music and arts festival will take place May 29-June 1, 2014 at Monterey County's Lake San Antonio Rec Area, Bradley, California. Last year's festival, held at Temecula's Lake... 
• The Evolution of Rave Fashion When deciding what to wear to a rave, it helps first to consider your objective: Do you want to look hot? Dress for the weather? Hook up? Express your personal style? Or should your outfit simply complement the illegal drugs you plan to do? Since raves kicked off in late-1980s England, fashion trends have... 
• Here's what happened to all those people ARRESTED at Lightning in a Bottle last year Organizers recently announced that the 2014 incarnation of the arts and music festival will be held at a new location in Central California. More restrictive sound rules at last year's location were given as the reason. But the elephant in the room is all the arrests of attendees... 



Don't do bad dope, man

• Ravers and Rappers: Quit glorifying DRUGS that kill people Are ravers the modern day hippies? There are plenty of parallels, from the flower imagery to the PLUR mentality. Then, of course, there's the idea of using drugs as a path to enlightenment (or, at least, amazing vibes). But when it comes to drugs there's a key difference: The hippies were safer [using natural DMT-containing substances rather than petrochemical pharmaceuticals]...

-@West Coast Sound

TOP PIC: Downtown L.A. viewed from Native American land now L.A. State Historical Park

Did the Buddha dance? (video)

Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly; Ou Lu Yang, Xochitl (ed.)

Don't lecture us, venerable sir, just show us that dance again (Dietmar Temps/flickr.com).

Tibetan Vajrayana lamas engaged in meditative Tai Chi-style movements.

Native American Apache spirit dancers, 1887, traditional ceremony (Native Skeptic)

  

Dancing Tara (liveauctioneers)

Why do human beings dance? Synchronized movements, particularly to rhythmic music or a unifying beat as our cue, are a natural ritual for nonverbal expression and communication.

 

We are making use of these incredible bodies, which may seem feeble now in the Kali Yuga but were certainly much more incredible in earlier and future Golden Ages. (It's cyclical, so all ages repeat).

Shakyamuni Buddha was not Shiva Nataraja ("Dancing Shiva," lit. "Shiva Lord of the Dance [of Life]"). According to Hinduism the Buddha was the ninth avatar of Lord Vishnu, the great sustaining god. 

 

The Buddha, however, made it very clear that he is NOT a god/deva, not a messenger angel, not a mythical being, no longer an ordinary human being, and not an anything other than "AWAKENED" (Dona Sutra, AN 4.36). Because of this, he came to be called the Buddha, a title which means the "Awakened One."

 

Shiva's cosmic dance, not the Buddha's

But if GOD (Brahman, godhead) is an acronym, G.O.D. -- the Generator (Brahma), Operator (Vishnu), and Destroyer (Shiva) of the universe -- then by this logic the historical Buddha was a force for the steady maintenance of this world-system, our universe or, at least, our solar system.

• Buddhism and the God-idea

(According to whistleblower and former CIA pilot John Lear, our solar system actually has more than 30 planets, which if true might correspond to Buddhist cosmology's 31 Planes of Existence, assuming a "world-system" is only the size of a solar system rather than a galaxy, constellation/celestial sphere like Orion, or a universe).

 

So did the Buddha dance? 

Dancing 1,000-armed Kwan Yin Pusa (CTG)

No, the Buddha did not dance. There is no need to for one who has transcended materiality and mentality and reached the stillness of absorption and become the quintessence of enlightenment, no longer a slave to intellect and emotion, to clinging and suffering, to identity and to social constraints. 

 

Dancing is also outside of the Discipline (Patimokkha and  Vinaya and even excluded in the Training Rules of intensive lay practitioners during the lunar observances).

 

Dancing Tara Bodhisattva, Nepal (ebay.com)

But that is not to say Buddhists do not. Buddhists do dance! Buddhists (even bodhisattvas) do all sorts of things. Look at Kwan Yin, look at Tara, look at high lamas and other vow takers. 

 

A better question one might ask is, Did Siddhartha (the Buddha-to-be) dance? There were more than enough musicians and dancing girls in the palaces and at the parties, so he must have.

 

Should we as American Buddhists be stoic and guilt-ridden like our Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish cultural forbears (as typified in James Joyce's The Dead)? No, let's not do that.

 

Prince Siddhartha and the palace dancing girls

Let's be alive. Let's have bodies rather than separating from them the way early childhood trauma encourages us to do. Being "present" means being here, in the body. That is what Ram Dass meant when he distilled the message of Zen and Buddhism in general with the simple expression BE HERE NOW.

 

Flexible yogini in sitting pose (Caroline Klebl)

Let's loosen our hips. Raja (Ashtanga, Integral) Yoga and even gentle Hatha Yoga helps with that. Unclenching sphincters also helps. We are so uptight, pushing ourselves to seem ever-busy, seeming to get so much done to fulfill ourselves by waving bucket lists with lots of check marks.

 

"Breathe," Pink Floyd advises, "breathe in the air. Don't be afraid to care. Leave. But don't leave me. Look around. Choose your own ground. How you live and how you fly, the smiles you'll give and tears you'll cry, all you touch and you see is all your life will ever be...."

 

Dancing, remembering, and letting go

Then there's the advice of Deadmau5 featuring Kaskade: "Feeling the past moving in/ Letting a new day begin/ Hold to the time that you know./ You don't have to move on, but let go./ Remember turning on the night/ And moving through the morning light./ Remember how it was with you./ Remember how you pulled me through./ I remember, I remember, I remember.../ Hold to the love that you know./ You don't have to give up to let go." (Extended dance mix)

 

Dancing shakes off excess cosmic energy (shakti, feminine power, yin) from the body's spinning chakras. Then Shiva resorts to the bliss (piti and sukha) of samadhi.

  

Tibetan Monks' Trance Dance 

OuLuYang edited by Wisdom Quarterly

You should do like this, not do like that. And don't laugh, I'm serious. You're recluses now, and right and wrong must be very clear to you! Do you hear me? (overgrownpath.com)

  

The video above is a dance performed by young monastics at Ganden Sumtseling Gompa, a Buddhist monastery located north of the city of Zhongdian (Shangri-La) in Yunnan province on the southeastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau.

 

The dance begins with one lama emerging from the main temple. His routine initially faces the temple then faces all of the directions of the wind then spirals around a central point where there is a dark quilt and wooden square (symbolizing a demon).

 

The beat of the shaman's drum (Budddhism and Bön), Lamayuru, Ladakh (Dietmar Temps)

  

The shaman's ancient drum far from Tibet

The dance accelerates and incorporates jumping. In its finale, dozens of monks join in to perform the circular dance around the quilt until, in the end, they all crowd around its center. 

 

The dance concludes with pairs of monks taking leaps at the temple, praying toward its entrance, praying away from its entrance, then jumping inside. Altogether it takes about three hours. The dance is performed annually, during a ritual in which monks dress in elaborate costumes and masks and dance around a large effigy of the demon rather than a quilt. It is very reminiscent of Native American (Hopi, Anasazi, Apache, Puebloan peoples) ceremonial dances.

 

The purpose of the dance is to contain the angry spirit of the demon, possibly to recreate the Tibetan myth of the subjugation of an angry Himalayan goddess by an Indian monk, which popularized the monk and allowed for the introduction of Buddhism to Tibet. This video is an amalgamation of clips recorded during the initial monk's rehearsal for the ritual.