World's most famous Irish Buddhist (video)

Dhr. Seven, Pat Macpherson, Amber Larson, Wisdom Quarterly; UCCIreland

Prof. Brian Bocking, The Study of Religions Department, University College Cork, Dec. 2010

Los Angeles' Big Irish Fair Music Fest

The entire Irish population of Los Angeles has drained into the seaside shantytown of once bucolic now industrial Long Beach City, made famous by Snoop Dogg as "The LBC!"

It is the site of this year's Big Irish Fair and Music Fest. The Moon hangs high, and songs of auld are sung.

Few in this Buddhist town -- full of Cambodian and Bangladeshi Theravada, Tibetan Vajrayana, Chinese and Vietnamese Mahayana temples, and even an American Zendo and yoga studios galore, now overflowing with Ireland'ers, Irish expats, and the massive diaspora -- will know that the most famous Irish Buddhist in history is Ven. Dhammaloka from Dublin.

He was the first Westerner to ordain in the Buddhist tradition of Asia.

A tiny island of magnificent world import

Who was this "hobo," this wanderer, world traveler, spiritual pioneer, the most famous Occident in the old Orient who blazed a trail for us all? Ignored by history, this enigmatic freethinking Dubliner used various aliases, with the Buddhist name Dhammaloka ("Dharma World"), the "Irish Buddhist," who came before Brits Alan Bennett and H. Gordon Wallace and other credited as the first Westerners to explore Buddhism as monastics.

He converted from Catholicism to Theravada Buddhism around 1900, and became widely known throughout Asia in the process. He managed, as a good Irishman, to eventually fall afoul of the colonial establishment and its Christian missionaries.

Uncovering Ven. U Dhammaloka's unique story has taken some inspired detective work on the part of UCC's Prof. Brian Bocking and his colleagues. But their efforts have not been in vain. The Lost Irish Buddhist emerges after all these years as one of the earliest Western Buddhist monks, pre-dating many others who have claimed the title. Prof. Bocking takes us through an amazing odyssey.

Emerald Isle: sunset across Lower Lough Erne Fermanagh, Ireland (ayay.co.uk)

 

The First [Western] Buddhist monk

John L. Murphy (Fionnchu)

I drove out to UC Riverside [on May 16, 2011] to hear a professor in from Cork, Ireland talk about perhaps the first Irish Buddhist monk -- at least the first one we know of, who took robes in Burma fighting Christian incursions [British hegemony], defending the Dharma after his ordination, appointing himself "the Bishop of Rangoon," Burma.

His birth name is unclear because of the aliases he used in life, so his birth and death, to date, remain speculative (1856-1914?). He's a predecessor, combative if genuine, of more refined and less cantankerous Western converts. His appearance, suddenly in 1900, and his fading out by 1914, makes up a rather Zelig-like "hobo" bohemian character in Asia, where he covered considerable territory. He garnered fervent press -- some generated by his alter ego/nom de plume "Captain Daylight." He's a character worth getting to know.

The 2011 issue of Contemporary Buddhism featured Prof. Brian Bocking's article alongside scholars Thomas Tweed, Alicia Turner, and Laurence Cox (see his initial research). They hosted a UC Cork Dhammaloka Day Conference on Feb. 19th 2011 highlighting their research. More

• VIDEO: "The Man Who Lost Ireland"
• VIDEO: "Buddhist Porn" (lol Jakemitra)

Modern Native throat singer, "Animism" (video)

Crystal Quintero, Seven, Amber Larson, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly; Tanya Tagaq (Q/CBC)

The Buddha had blue eyes? It's not so rare in Central Asia extending south from Gandhara/Afghanistan north to Kalmykia/Russia to the Far East of Buddhist Siberia, North Asia

A little bird told me, and it wasn't twitter. We are all interconnected (No Strangers)

Q's Jian Ghomeshi speaks with Inuk throat singer Tanya Tagaq about her new album, "Animism," and how she went from being a self-taught throat singing vocalist, honing her skills in the shower, to collaborating with the likes of the Kronos Quartet and Björk. Indeed, it was her lack of formal training that attracted Björk to her, says Tagaq, adding that the Icelandic artist didn't think she was "supposed to" sound a certain way. That's a perspective Tagaq shares.

• CBC Music: First play of Tanya Tagaq's Animism (free)

• 

  Inuk Tagaq reclaiming Nanook of the North

  Animism? (from Latin animus, -i "animator, soul, life") is the worldview that all entities (animals, plants, inanimate objects and phenomena) possess a spiritual essence. In the anthropology of religion it is used as a term for the underlying belief system or cosmology of some indigenous tribal peoples, especially prior to the infiltration of colonialism and organized "religion." Although each culture has its own mythologies and rituals, the term "animism" is said to describe the most common, foundational thread of indigenous peoples' "spiritual" or "supernatural" perspectives -- so fundamental and taken-for-granted that most animistic indigenous people have no word in their languages that corresponds to "animism" (or even "religion"). More

Shaman medicine (thefederationoflight.com)

"I like to live in a world that's not supposed to be. Or it's just there already as it is. It doesn't have to be anything, you know, because we put a lot of constraints on ourselves everyday in this crazy society," she says, adding that she gives "zero sh*ts about what people" think about her -- even as a trendy rave dancer -- but instead respects herself, her instincts, and her emotions. "And I every day do what I can to be a good person.... That's why breath is so important; it's the common denominator."  More

• VIDEO: Tuvan throat singing of shaman Mongolia
• L.A.'s HAIM shows off Himalayan throat singing 
• Vancouver's Push Festival: From Throat Singing to Puppets
• Science: Native Americans came from Asia
• Afghans and Chinese beat Columbus to America
• Ancient skeleton in Mexico reveals Asian DNA

(GSS) "Tantric Choir": Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhist lamas of Gyuto chant in the Mongolian style of Bön "medicine men," shamans, and nomadic reindeer herders.

Standing by her #Sealfie: Manitoba's Tanya Tagaq addresses the controversial anti-Ellen campaign. Despite the considerable backlash after posting a photo of her daughter beside a dead seal, she supports native hunting and "being a part of what you [kill to] eat" (CBC.ca).

KARMA IS A B-TCH: When the "hunter" becomes the hunted, guilty of killing then mauled for it by another "hunter" in the samsaric wheel of survival. (LOL? Schadenfreude?) Don't kill.

Korea Town Night Market (April 18-19)

Wisdom Quarterly; KTownNightMarket.com

FREE admission. Visit the K Town Night Market from the afternoon to midnight.

Korean ceremonial dance on the Buddha's Birthday in Bulguksa (Joonghijung/flickr)

The Story of Indian Americans (video)

Xochitl, Ashley Wells, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly

500 Nations: The Story of Indian Americans (Part 1)

Recent estimates indicate that the population may have been in excess of 100 million people spanning from Alaska and Greenland to the southern tip of South America. In Pre-Colombian North America (north of Mesoamerica), and in Pre-Canada, most people lived along the coast and along major rivers.

(TNH) "America Before Columbus" Part 1

Native America before European colonization: By the time the corrupt conqueror Columbus came to enslave people in the Caribbean Islands in 1492, unknown to him and majority of the Eastern Hemisphere, he landed on islands located in the middle of two huge continents now known has North and South America. Both were teaming with huge civilizations that rivaled any in the world at the time and thousands of smaller First Nations, clans, and tribes.

• Essential Question: Was America full of people?

The Tibet-Pueblo [American Indian] Connection

Xochitl, CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly; Tricycle Magazine (tricycle.com)

The world's largest and most famous pueblo: Potala Palace, Lhasa, Tibet (Adam Lai/flickr)

Tibet's Potala Palacet under construction? No, this is the side of a Zuni pueblo complex in New Mexico, which serves as home and ceremonial center (Timothy H. O'Sullivan/GEH).

From the Roof of the World to the Land of Enchantment: The Tibet-Pueblo Connection

We look nothing like our brothers and sisters in the USA...except for many obvious signs

   

“When the iron bird flies,
the Dharma will come to the land of the red man.”

-Ninth-century prophecy by Guru Rinpoche

They look nothing like us (Elk Foot)

In the incongruous atmosphere of the Wilshire Hotel in Los Angeles, an extraordinary encounter took place in 1979. During the Dalai Lama’s first visit to North America, he met with three Hopi elders. 

 

The spiritual leaders spoke in their native languages. Delegation head Grandfather David’s first words to the Dalai Lama were: “Welcome home.”

 

The Dalai Lama laughed, noting the striking resemblance of the turquoise around Grandfather David’s neck to that of his homeland. He replied: “And where did you get your turquoise?”

 

Hopi Kachina artifacts (scpr.org)

Since that initial meeting, the Dalai Lama has visited Santa Fe to meet with Pueblo leaders, Tibetan lamas have engaged in numerous dialogues with Hopis and other Southwestern Indians, and now, through a special resettlement program to bring Tibetan refugees to the United States, New Mexico has become a central home for relocated Tibetan families.

 

As exchanges become increasingly common between Native Americans and Tibetans, a sense of kinship and solidarity has developed between the cultures. While displacement and invasion have forced Tibetans to reach out to the global community in search of allies, the Hopi and other Southwestern Native Americans have sought an audience for their message of world peace and harmony with the Earth.

Thangka of Six Realms of 31 in the Wheel of Samsara, the cycle of rebirth and death

  

Vajrayana, Hopi? There's a relation (wn.com)

These encounters have created a context for the activities of writers and activists who are trying to bridge the two cultures. A flurry of books and articles have been published, arguing that Tibetans and Native Americans may share a common ancestry.

 

The perception of similarity between Native Americans of the southwest and the Tibetans is undeniably striking. Beyond a common physicality and the wearing of turquoise jewelry, parallels include the abundant use of silver and coral, the colors and patterns of textiles, and long, braided hair, sometimes decorated, worn by both men and women.

 

Book of the Hopi (Frank Waters/goodreads.com)

When William Pacheco, a Pueblo student, visited a Tibetan refugee camp in India, people often spoke Tibetan to him, assuming that he was one of them. “Tibetans and Native American Pueblo people share a fondness for chile, though Tibetans claim Pueblo chile is too mild,” says Pacheco.

 

Even before most Westerners knew where Tibet was, much less the extent of its people’s suffering, and almost 20 years before the advent of the Tibetan diaspora, cultural affinities between these two people were noted by Frank Waters in his landmark work Book of the Hopi (1963).

 

Waters’ analysis went below the surface, citing corresponding systems of chakras, or [subtle] energy spots [wheels] within the body meridians, that were used to cultivate cosmic awareness. 

 

Native American dancers, New Mexico

In The Masked Gods, a book about Pueblo and Navajo ceremonialism published in 1950, Waters observed that the Zuni Shalako dance symbolically mirrored the Tibetan journey of the dead. 

 

“To understand [the Zuni Indian Shalako dance’s] meaning, we must bear in mind all that we have learned of Pueblo and Navaho [sic] eschatology and its parallels found in the Bardo Thodal, The Tibetan Book of the Dead, in The Secret of the Golden Flower, the Chinese Book of Life, and in the Egyptian Book of the Dead.”

The Tibetan Book of the Dead (HB)

Many Earth-based cultures steeped in a shamanic tradition share spiritual motifs (hence the broad comparison made by Waters).
 
This could account for some similarities, such as Navajo and Tibetan sand painting, and cosmic themes found in Tibetan and traditional Pueblo dances. More

Saving Native American LA: "Hahamongna"

Ashley Wells, Xochitl, Seven, Pfc. Sandoval, Wisdom Quarterly; SaveHahamongna.org; TongvaTribe.net; Andre Coleman (PasadenaWeekly.com, Jan. 2, 2014)

Mountain watershed north of Los Angeles's tangled freeways (SaveHahamongva.org

Tongva of Los Angeles, Chumash of Malibu, Acjachemem of Orange County (tongvatribe.net)

 

JPL, waterway (swartzentrover.com)

DEVIL'S GATE - In the Pasadena foothills (Los Angeles County), there is a dam placed above the world-famous Rose Bowl. 

This is sacred First Nations (the Tongva, the original inhabitants of L.A.) land known as Xaxaamonga. It was taken over by an imperial army long ago, and that military force built a jet propulsion and skunk works laboratory (JPL) affiliated with nearby Caltech University.

Chris Nyerges in Hahamongna (latimes.com)

The Hahamongna basin was once a great meeting place, a periodic city set up as the site of great gatherings of Native Americans from what is now the Los Angeles metropolitan basin, its eroding foothills, crowded coastal zone (particularly Malibu), Catalina (part of the Channel Islands), and modern Orange County.

That is all to be destroyed.

 

Angeles Nat'l Forest foothills, JPL (SH)

A new plan aims to remove the land and truck it away in the name of "sediment clean-up." At an estimated cost of $70 million, the Hahamongna Watershed Park will more or less cease to exist as a natural habitat. No tree or vegetation will be left standing. In its place concrete, dirt, and rubble will remind local hikers of what was once pre-European-invasion life in the area.

The original inhabitants, the Tongva tribe of the Los Angeles basin (tongvatribe.net)

 

Save Hahamongna!

LA County Flood Control District's EIR

Hahamongna is a rare spot in the Arroyo Seco at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains where the natural watershed meets the urban plain. Periodically, flash floods roar into this basin. Bounded on the north by the mountains and an ominous Jet Propulsion Lab, on the south by Devil's Gate Dam, Hahamongna contains five unique habitat zones that only exist in alluvial canyons near the mountains as well as wildlife (birds, hawks, lions, deer, foxes, toads, bobcats). Most sites like this in Southern California have already been destroyed. Can we afford let Hahamongna go the way of other lost environmental treasures in Southern California. LATEST NEWS

The trucks are coming: 200,000 double-bed, diesel-spewing, street-clogging machines will cause noise, dust, and air pollution, destroying precious habitat (savehahamongna.org).

 

Scraping the Bottom

André Coleman

Hahamongna trees (SH)

City officials and local residents join forces against sediment removal plans for Devil’s Gate Dam. Pasadena officials opposed to a five-year, $70-million sediment clean-up of Devil’s Gate Dam in Hahamongna Watershed Park, which they say could increase health risks and negatively impact local traffic, are making their feelings known in a letter to L.A. County officials pushing the controversial project. County Public Works Department officials want to remove up to 4-million cubic yards of sediment and build up around Devil’s Gate Dam, located in the southern portion of the park, but the excavation would also force workers to remove trees and vegetation in the area. More