Climate Change is Killing the Desert (audio)

Xochitl, Amber Larson, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly; A Martinez, Alex Cohen (Take Two/SCPR)

Sunset, Joshua Tree Nat'l Park, Boy Scout Trail head, 5-29-14 (Richard Lui/The Desert Sun)

The future of California and the American Southwest unless we stop corporate radiers

    

It's not getting hotter just less cool, more chaotic

Nearly all of the Joshua trees in Joshua Tree National Forest could disappear in a few decades because of climate change.

 

It's hard to imagine that in the deserts of the American Southwest, a few degrees hotter can drastically affect a place that's already very dry.

Many predictions of rising worldwide temperatures [most of them conservative underestimates] often conjure up images of swelling shorelines flooding beachfront homes and towns like Manhattan and Malibu because of shrinking polar ice caps.

The high Buddhist desert of Ladakh, India in the Himalayas, behind Mt. Everest, here overlooking the lamasery of Tsemo Gompa in the capital of Leh (SylvainBrajeul/flickr.com)

 

(Geoengineeringwatch.org) "Climate engineering" is weather modifcation/warfare that means the collapse of civilization. Look up. Those lines and ugly haze come from "chemtrails."

 

Himalayan desert behind Everest, Zanskar river

But Ian James, environment reporter for The Desert Sun, wrote a three-part investigation on how climate change could drastically affect the flora (plants), fauna (animals), and people (humans and other humanoids like the earthbound-devas or nature spirits and the dreaded djinn) of this arid wilderness.

 

Desert mesa, American Southwest drying up

"Basically in the desert there's very little humidity in the air," said James on Take Two.

"That lack of humidity in the air, in the soil, in the whole region makes it so the hotter temperatures don't have that one other element to bump up against that would make it a little less intense." LISTEN: AUDIO (9:20)

  

Berkeley may use gas pump warnings about global warming

[Increase] awareness. "Chances are a consumer dismissive of climate change won’t notice the label," Brooks said. "The person concerned about climate change will read the label...It acts as a reinforcement...

 

How the insurance industry sees climate change

...America, on the threat climate change posed to the $2-trillion... Climate change: A June 17 Op-Ed... steps to prevent losses related to climate change. Farmers has withdrawn the lawsuits...

 

Tale of passenger pigeon extinction may have had natural twist

(Geoffrey Mohan) The authors wondered how climate and food might have affected the passenger pigeon... it also revealed sharp year-to-year changes in acorn production that could have affected... over the last million years, based on climate, food, and other factors, the authors...

• DVD: Climate Engineering
• Desert Sun: "Joshua trees losing ground"
• Desert Sun: "Struggle for survival"
• Desert Sun: "Vanishing Water" (desertsun.com)
• Island nation bans commercial fishing in part of Pacific

• The US-planned ISIS insurgency continues in Iraq
• SoCal vets express frustration with unrest in Iraq
• Close Calls: Hikers survive Grand Canyon rock slide
• Vast reservoir of water deep below Earth's surface
• Man charged with molesting 5 kids may have other victims
• Searching for Sasquatch in Virginia (southwesttimes.com)
• No worries. We'll just leave California and get On The Road

Walking meditation (sutra)

Dhr. Seven and Amber Larson, Wisdom Quarterly translation; "Discourse on Walking" (Cankama Sutta, AN 5.29); video by Ven. Yuttadhammo Bhikkhu (DhammaWiki.com)

(YB) Third of six in a series on HOW TO practice meditation demonstrating the simple technique of Buddhist walking meditation (candama) free of dogma and mumbo-jumbo.

 

Meditators, these are the five benefits for one who practices walking meditation. What are the five?

1. One can endure travel by foot.
2. One can endure exertion.
3. One is freed of disease.
4. One, whatever one has eaten or drunk, chewed and savored, gains good digestion.
5. One enters concentration while practicing walking meditation, which lasts for a long time.

These are the five benefits for one who practices walking meditation.

Easy instructions 

Living room Neue Errungenschaft (GretasWorld)

VIDEO: Walking meditation with Gil Fronsdal 
There are four postures for "meditation" (development, cultivation): sitting, walking, standing, and lying down. This Dharma talk was given by Gil Fronsdal at the Insight Meditation Center (IMC) in Redwood City, California. Each talk -- also given by Andrea Fella and guest speakers -- illuminates aspects of the Buddha's teachings or "Dharma." The purpose is what the Buddha had in mind for his teachings, namely, to guide us toward the complete end of suffering and attainment of complete freedom (nirvana).

• VIDEO: Walking meditation with Joseph Goldstein
• VIDEO: Walking meditation with Thich Nhat Hanh
• VIDEO: Guided walking meditation (EZ Yoga)
• VIDEO: Easy walking meditation (Ben Griggs) A quick guide to focused walking meditation allowing the mind/heart to settle deeply, particularly useful for beginners and anyone struggling with drowsiness. Filmed in Japan among the cherry blossom trees at Happy Science Temple.

The Parable of the Raft (sutra)

Dhr. Seven and Amber Larson, Wisdom Quarterly

A raft in search of safety in a world overwhelmed by disappointment (stepoutsidenow)

 

A raft crosses over (danitadelimont.com)

The road to nirvana is paved with samsara. That is to say, it's flooded (ogha). 

 

The Buddha poses the problem we face with a parable. A person is trapped on one shore. Where we stand, there is great danger and uncertainty. There is a further shore, however, a stable place of safety, a secure refuge.

 

But there is no bridge or ferry for crossing over. What is one to do? A wise person gathers logs, branches, leaves, and vines and fashions together a hasty raft, sturdy enough to accomplish the goal.

Climbing aboard the raft and using one's strength with arms and legs to paddle, one crosses over to safety and security.

 

In a flooded field (Anekphoto/flickr.com)

The Buddha then asks, "What should one now do, having crossed over? This raft has served one so well, so what should be done with it -- carry it on firm land?"

 

His listeners replied that it would not be sensible to cling to the raft in this way.

 

The Buddha continues, "What if one were to lay the raft down with gratitude, reflecting that this raft has served one well? Now it is no longer of use and can be laid down on the shore."

 

His listeners replied that this would be the appropriate attitude.

 

The Buddha concluded by saying, "Just so with my teachings, which are like a raft for crossing over -- not for clinging to."

 

What does it all mean?

Neither rushing forward nor falling back

According to the historical Buddha, the Sage from the Shakya clan, if we want to cross over from this shore (samsara) full of dangers to the further shore beyond all danger (nirvana), we need to put together a "raft."

We gather just enough material then strive diligently and consistently. We exert just enough effort (viriya), paddling with every limb we have, to cross over to the beyond-beyond. 

Persistent balanced-effort (neither under- nor over-exerting) is the gradual path the Buddha taught from achievement to achievement to achievement. Or we exhaust oursevles and abandon the effort. Or we die trying by the legendary effort that gets all of the attention in spite of the fact that it does not work to overdo it.

• Explaining the Parable of the Raft
• How to Operate the Raft (Bhikkhu Bodhi)

Macklemore, Ryan Lewis on Buddhism (video)

Seven and Boo, Wisdom Quarterly; Macklemore featuring Ryan Lewis; RapGenius.com

Fans of Macklemore show the artists love (soundonthesound.com)

Macklemore strikes a meditation pose in his Batman PJs (blog.designedgood.com)

Neo-hippies (elelphantjournal.com)

Vipassana is a Buddhist term. It means "insight" and implies insight meditation. It has been further popularized by S.N. Goenka, an Indian-American teacher from Burma. He and his Burmese teacher, U Ba Khin, conceived of free 10-day retreats to teach Westerners and others a powerful Buddhist practice -- available to all regardless of faith, tradition, or belief system. People are so moved by the experience that they often begin to quote the Buddha, Theravada texts, and Goenka talks (all taped for students) as they suddenly experience more calm and life-transformations than they ever imagined. 

Mrs. and Mr. S.N. Goenka (Dhamma.org)

Curt Cobain was so interested in Buddhism and "the end of all suffering," translated from Sanskrit as nirvana, that he named his band after the goal. The path to enlightenment often strikes artists. Apparently, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis were similarly moved by their experience of the first blush of insight that ultimately leads to nirvana. In 2009 they released the song Vipassana or "Insight." They would later become famous for such hits as "Thrift Shop," "Same Love," and their second-best song ever, "Can't Hold Us," their very best song being:

  

Vipassana
Macklemore, Ryan Lewis

[Tape recording of Goenka:] "Vipassana is science of mind and matter: how the mind is influencing the body and later how the body is influencing the mind, the mind, the mind..."

Business insight? (executive.dhamma.org)

Yesterday? Forget it. Tomorrow is? Nada. The present is? Right here, through the breath. Watch it. Atheist Jesus peace, hangin' on a cross. We sit and discuss God on lawn chairs about how we got here: What it is, what it isn't, sh-t. Fate versus faith, scrimmaging with coincidence. Leave out the marketing; hold up on the business end. Focus on the genuine. With everything else, you can shed the skin. I was a couple moves away from being dead -- in that ER overdosing, eyes bleeding red. I fell in love, made an album, got a buzz, lost it all, sobered up, and guess what?

Macklemore surfs the crowd as Ryan Lewis works the stage (flickr com)

 

Now we meet again. And I'm back, finally just laughing. Expectations are resentments waiting to happen. Studying the Dharma, karma of vipassana [meditation] practice, Bah'u'llah, Buddha, God, to the mountaintop, and I'm traveling, learning, yes, reflecting on what matters: People, impermanence, lack of attachments. It's space and time, a couple man-made distractions, the measure of a spirit that no human can ever capture. Church, ha, this booth is my Vatican. I don't control life, but I can control how I react to it. Student of the breath, break beats, and balancing. Desire versus Truth until I finally find happiness [the ultimate, the highest happiness, being nirvana].

Prof. Macklemore and Ryan Lewis

CHORUS: I'm going, I'm going, I'm going. Passing through space and time, passing through space and time, oh, passing through space and time, space and time, space and time...

I was put here to do something before I'm lying in that casket. I'd be lying on the beat if I said I didn't know what that is. The world's a stage, and we play a character. I found him. It took me 20 something years and a bunch of sh-tty sound checks. I'm not going to be content until I find gratitude regardless of my sales or the record deals that they're handing you. If the next generation takes our legacy and samples you, we'll have a bunch of MP3s and misled kids to pass them to.

 

I use my veins to create the color I paint from. Delve into something till my heart becomes my paint brush. I told my mama, "I'm not stopping till my name's up." Thinking those comments on that blog is gonna save us. Searching for everything but Gods and validation. Get insecure and then we start blaming the haters. Used to look to women to fill a part of me that was vacant. Truth, the only thing that I ever used in moderation. 

 

So I stare into this paper instead of sitting at a cubicle. Take all ugly sh-t inside and try to make it beautiful. Use the cement from rock bottom and make it musical so the people can relate to where I've been, where I'm going, what I've seen, what I've heard. From the guts, f-ck the glory, just a person on a porch putting it all into recording. Many in my past and many that came before me. I just keep walking my path and blessed to share my story.

• PHOTOS: Flashback to "Dawson's Creek"
• VIDEO: Greenwald on Obama's Neo-conservatism

More on insight (vipassana) in the Art of Living (Dhamma.org)