Buddhist SPORTS: "brainball" at Sera (video)

Dhr. Seven and Amber Larson, Wisdom Quarterly; KL.Lau (wiki); TricycleMag (video)

"When the Iron Bird Flies: Buddhism for the West" (with Richard Gere) from BPS/Sera:

The Fix Is In (Brian Tuohy)

The pitch (field) was crackling. Everyone was suited up. Game books in hand, teams formed, star players and cheerleaders, then it was game on.

  

Take that! No, you take that! Click and clack, fripp and frap, with vorpal sword (vajra) in hand. Now you've gotten yourself in a bind you'll never be able to get out of! Here's my retort; now you're trapped! Bam, take that right back! Lama on lama and the rinpoche can referee.

Sacred thunder bolt: Vajra

Here is a poetic play-by-play of an idealized match for The Phörpa (Cup):

One, two! One, two! And through and through,

The vajra hand goes snicker-snack!

He left him slumped, and with his head held high,

He went galumphing back.

- Lewis Carroll's imagination

Diagram of the pitch (mandala) for a match (debate) in the head space of reality.

The debate is on. Bam (hand clap)! Try to get yourself out of that one! (KL.Lau)

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Debating Buddhist scriptures － Tibet's Sera Monastery 西藏色拉寺 

They'll get it when they meditate (KL.Lau)

Sera Monastery (gompa or Himalayan lamasery) is one of the great three Gelukpa sect university monasteries in Tibet. It is located 1.25 miles (2 km) north of the capital, Lhasa. The other two are Ganden and Drepung.

 

Sophistry? The only way to debate is to study, question, and contemplate (KL.Lau)

 .

Gamble? Larceny Games

The origin of the name "Sera" is attributed to the fact that the site of the monastery was once surrounded by wild roses (Tibetan se ra) in bloom. The original Sera was located in Lhasa about 3 miles (5 kms) north of the Jokang and is responsible for some 19 hermitages, including four nunneries, all located in the foothills north of Lhasa.

Sera Monastery is a complex of structures with a Great Assembly Hall and three colleges, founded in 1419 by Jamchen Chojey of the Sakya Yeshe of Zel Gungtang (1355-1435), a disciple of Tsongkhapa.

During the 1959 revolt in Lhasa, Sera suffered severe damage, its colleges destroyed, and hundreds of Buddhist monks killed. After the Dalai Lama escaped and found asylum in India, many of the Sera monks who survived the Chinese invasion moved to Bylakuppe in Mysore, India.

When Iron Bird Flies (Ayya Khema)

After initial tribulations, they established a parallel Sera with Sera Me and Sera Je colleges and a Great Assembly Hall similar to the original monastic complex with help from the Indian government. There are now more than 3,000 monks living in India's Sera, and the community has spread its missionary activities to several other countries by establishing Dharma centers propagating knowledge of Bon shamanism and  Buddhism known as Himalayan Vajrayana, Indian Tantra, Chinese Esoteric Buddhism, and Lamaism. [This is what was bound to happen "when the iron bird flies," according to Tibetan lore.]
 

Ven. Trijang, Dalai Lama's tutor, Sera Mey

The Sera in Tibet and its counterpart in Mysore, India are noted for their dramatic and very animated "monastic debates." This stylized form of intellectual combat is meant to enhance learning and reflection on the Dharma, the teachings of the Buddha and elaborated, Hindu-synthesized Buddhist philosophy (aka Mahayana). Sera developed over the centuries as a renowned place of scholarly learning, training hundreds of scholars, many of whom have attained fame in Buddhist countries.
   

After the match everyone gathers for a group photo at Sera Me Tratsang College  "stadium"

Life in Buddhist India, circa 1999 (video)

Amber Larson, Wisdom Quarterly; Norton Simon Museum

"In the Land of Snow" Buddhist Art of the Himalayas" (nortonsimon.org)

A group of young Tibetan monks living in India's Himalayas find themselves torn between their spiritual pursuits and their love for soccer in the true-life comedy "The Cup." Soccer's World Cup fever had swept the globe, finding its way into a remote Buddhist monastery nestled in the Himalayas of northern India. While their teachers, elder lamas, try to keep the young monks focused on their studies, they will do just about anything to watch the final match.

Even if that means finding a satellite dish and setting it up on top of their quiet hermitage. An inspiring tale of colliding cultures, midnight escapades, and daring secret plots is all set against the rich traditions of Tibetan/Bhutanese Vajrayana Buddhism and art. (Rated G, Tibetan with English subtitles, showing tonight FREE at the Norton Simon Museum of Art, Pasadena, as part of the Himalayan Buddhism exhibit).

• Date: Friday, June 06, 2014
• Time: 7:00 pm - 8:40 pm
• Director: Khyentse Norbu

The Buddha and Sports (Superb Owl, Part 2)

Ashley Wells, Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven, CC Liu, Pfc. Sandoval, Wisdom Quarterly; Ven. Silacara Bhikkhu (A Young People's Life of the Buddha) ORGANIZED SPORTS (PART 1)

Siddhartha: Does he have a concussion? Channa: No, this guy's, uh, never mind (SF).

    

QB Colbert and a bunch of B's on the gridiron

Siddhartha the Bodhisat (Buddha-to-be) was living the household life, being raised with a great education to become a leader, a prince in the Shakya (Sakya) clan in frontier northwest India (Afghanistan, not Nepal).
 

That Siddhartha is great!

In Siddhartha's bodily attainments, he was well endowed just as he was in mind (intellect) and character (virtue). The girls, Shakyan cousins and princesses, looked on in admiration to various contests.   Although gentle in manner, he was bold in the practice of all the sports of his country. He was a cool and daring horseman, a marksman with bow and arrow, and an able and skillful chariot-driver. In the latter sport, he won many chariot races against the best drivers in the country. Yet, for all his keenness in trying to win a race, he was kind and compassionate towards the horses who helped him to win so often. He would frequently let a race be lost rather than urge his weary, panting horses beyond their strength.

Not only towards his horses but towards all creatures, Siddhartha seemed to have a heart full of compassion. He was a ruler’s son and had never himself had to suffer hardship or distress. Yet, his kind heart seemed to know by sympathy how others felt when they were afflicted or in pain, whether these others were men or animals. When he was kind to others, as far as he could, he tried to relieve any suffering they were already enduring.

Devadatta utterly ruined himself later.

Once when he was out walking in the country with his cousin Devadatta [brother of his future wife, Bimba, more popularly known as Yasodhara], who had his bow and arrows with him. Devadatta shot a swan that was flying overhead. The arrow hit the swan and it fluttered, painfully wounded, to the ground. Both boys ran to pick it up, but Siddhartha reached it first. Holding it gently, he pulled the arrow out of its wing, put some cool leaves on the wound to stop it from bleeding, and stroked and soothed the hurt and frightened bird. Devadatta was very much annoyed to see his cousin take the swan from him in this way, and he called on Siddhartha to give him the swan because he had brought it down. Siddhartha, however, refused to give him the swan, saying that if the bird had been killed then it would have been his. But as it was alive, it belonged to the one who saved it, and so he meant to keep it. Devadatta maintained that it should belong to him because he tried to kill it.

Devadatta, Siddhartha, and the wounded swan (daobingan/photobucket.com)

  

Siddhartha proposed and Devadatta agreed that their dispute be settled by a full council [one is reminded of a loya jirga or grand assembly] of the wise men of the country. The council, accordingly, was called and the question put before them. Some in the council argued one way, some in the other, some siding with Devadatta, others with Siddhartha. But at last one man in the council, whom nobody had ever seen before, rose and said: “A life certainly must belong to one who tries to save it; a life cannot belong to one who is only trying to destroy it. The wounded bird by right belongs to the one who saved its life. Let the swan be given to Siddhartha.” All of the others in the council agreed with these wise words, and Prince Siddhartha was allowed to keep the swan. He cared for it until it was cured; then he set it free, letting it fly back to its mates on the forest-lake. More

The Land of the Shakyas (Sakastan, Sakae, and Sakala?) with their capital at Kapilavastu (Kapisa?) not the future "Nepal" between Kashmir and Kosala. (See ranajitpal.com).

 
The Big Game

We'll see who wins at the big festival celebration and feast (daobingan/photobucket)

 
Once, after practicing with his many Shakya clan cousins, young Siddhartha had great prowess in sports yet remained humble. He engaged in equestrian sports, raced chariots, swam, ran, shot targets, had a white pony/stallion named Kanthaka.

Kanthaka and Siddhartha (BDE)

He was good, and the other boys were jealous. The girls looked on admiringly from the sidelines of their very patriarchal society out in the frontier between East and West along the Silk Road that enriched their land (janapada, the clan's territorial holdings), where Indian traders traveled into Central Asia near Gandhara. The great ancient monuments in Bamiyan were marvels of the day, later converted to representations of their greatest son. (They are so ancient that only Madame Blavatsky has proposed their age and original purpose).

Tired of being trapped by life, Siddhartha lets go of Kanthaka, his royal position, inheritance, and trapping telling his servant Channa to give back to his father (BDE).

  

Setting out on a quest on Kanthaka (SF)

Like earlier Vedic Brahmanism (pre-Hinduism) later Islam (post-Zoroastrianism) and original Judaism (pre-Christianity), the Buddha never allowed anthropomorphic representations. India did not have them until the Indo-Greco artists in this area started making them, then no one was going to be left behind.
 
All of the "gods" (devas, brahmas, and avatars) became beautiful ancient Greek-style gods (demigods) and chimera hybrids. Buddhism led the way in spite of the Buddha having it otherwise. When one sees the Buddha one does not see the Buddha, according to the Buddha, because to see the Buddha proper means seeing the Dharma, namely, seeing Dependent Origination.

Kanthaka and Siddhartha (wiki)

But we settle for superficial appearances, and those are greatest in Afghanistan, the original land of Siddhartha's family. The area has always been contentious (as pointed out by Fitzgerald and Gould InvisibleHistory.com), long before the British empire drew the Durand Line or the Soviet Union fought the covert CIA/overt Mujahadeen (God's Army). Russia and America suffered defeat there, like the Greeks (Alexander the Great) and British before them. Of course, we are still suffering defeat, because anyone can conquer Afghanistan, but no one seems to be able to rule and administrate it. Even when a "Taliban" is created out of angry Arab ex-cons from Pakistan and elsewhere, foreigners in tribal Afghanistan, still there is no ruling the wandering bands and their unique ways. Pashtuns are not the indigenous people. It is a country of Gandharans, Shakyans, Hazaras, Tajiks, Kyrgyz, Kazakhs, Turkmens, Pashtuns, Uzbeks, other Central Asians, Indians, Persians, and Iranians.

(K4V) Buzkashi (kok boru) is the Afghan national sport. It is a popular sport

among south Central Asians. Its Turkic name is kökbörü, kök = "blue," börü =

"wolf," denoting the grey wolf, the holy symbol of the Turkic people. More

SAVAGES? Like savages we Americans play to the crippling death on a mock (battle)field tossing around a laced up carcass of an animal. Much like the British play rugby. How strange, then, that we laugh at the Afghan sport of polo using the carcass of an animal. Somehow, they're the "savages." We invade them, engage in war crimes, rape women and children, kill civilians, assassinate by remote control drones, plunder a nation, make war propaganda reels like "Lone Survivor" for the people back home to feel good about war profiteering... and they're savages. Invaders, 1. Conquered, 0. USA! USA! USA! lol

Spiritual is Ordinary (football)

Amber Larson, CC Liu, Seth Auberon, Wisdom Quarterly; Buddhist meditation teacher Sylvia Boorstein (Spirit Rock), It's Easier Than You Think: The Buddhist Way to Happiness

(MT) FOX NFL Sunday, Part D'oh -- the historic intersection between The Simpsons and FOX NFL

Sylvia Boorstein (OB)

A few years ago I was teaching in another city, and the person who was to be my host telephoned me in advance to see if I had any special food requirements. I appreciated his concern and explained my eating preferences. I also mentioned that I don't normally eat much for breakfast but that I do like coffee in the morning.

He replied, in a very surprised voice, "You drink coffee?" I realized I had just made a heretical confession. I needed to do some fast mind scrambling to find a graceful way to explain to my host (without losing my spiritual stature) that I do, indeed, drink coffee.

"You drink coffee?" (funny-pics.co)

There are some peculiar notions about what constitutes "being spiritual." I have a cartoon on the wall of my office that shows two people having dinner in a restaurant. One of them is saying to the other, "It's such a relief to meet someone who isn't on a spiritual question." I agree. There is an enormous possibility of getting sidetracked into self-conscious holiness, of putting energy into acting the part of a "spiritual person."

Outside of the US, football doesn't matter. But futbol (soccer) means the world.
 

Ball games keep us fit for war (theworld.org)

A dear friend of mine, as he has become more and more established as a meditation teacher, has become less and less hesitant about telling people he loves football games. He even admits he gets very excited about the games, cheering at his television set as if he were sitting in the stadium.
 

No dispassionate attitude of "May the best man win" for him! I know he has a wonderful level of understanding, and he behaves like a regular person in a regular world. Being a meditator and developing equanimity do not mean becoming weird.

I think I chose the title for this book long before the book itself was written. Indeed, I was motivated to write largely because I wanted to tell people that spiritual living does not need to be a big deal. More

• It's Easier Than You Think (SylviaBoorstein.com)
• Quotes: It's Easier Than You Think (Goodreads.com)

(Smithsonian) Video games can become an obsessive distraction.

World Cup: Iceland, Ireland's 33rd county

Pat Macpherson, Ashley Wells, Wisdom Quarterly; Producer Clark Boyd (TheWorld.org)

Icelandic bhumi-devi and pop idol Bjork's call for Tibetan freedom at a Shanghai concert unnerves Chinese communist officials (Hannah Johnston/Getty Images/Epoch Times).

  

Kill 'em all in the name of my lord!

It’s nail-biting time for many soccer fans out there -- the World Cup playoffs. Over the next week, national teams will do crippling, brain-trauma inducing, war-like battle to try and snag one of the few remaining tickets to next year's World Cup in Brazil.
 

The smallest nation with a dog still in this fight is Iceland, who plays Croatia on Friday. Now, Iceland has a very small population, and thus a small pool of professional players to choose from. And yet, they have a chance, however slim, of making it to Brazil. That's more than IRELAND can boast.

 

Yay, we have Saint Patrick's blessing! We have Saint Patrick's blessing! (theworld.org)

  

Not my Iceland, Patty, no way! (DMSI)

The Irish national [soccer] team has already been eliminated, and most Irish fans are already looking well beyond Rio. But not Eoin Conlon.

 

Over a drink of yeast-contaminated carbs with a Brazilian co-worker in Dublin recently, Conlon started wondering out loud about throwing his support behind ICELAND.

 

“And we kind of laughed, saying: ‘Well, that’s as close as Ireland's going to get to Brazil. It's only a letter difference. A “c” for an “r.” We might as well be brothers,’” says Conlon. Conlon and his friend work for a digital agency, so they did what comes naturally. They built a website in support of Iceland's soccer team.

 

Then, they started a Twitter feed urging Irish soccer fans to back Iceland. The campaign is called County Iceland. Ireland already has 32 counties. So, Conlon says, why not make Iceland the 33rd?

 

“There are only about 320,000 people in Iceland. So if they were a county in Ireland -- I'm calling them the 33rd county -- it would [be] only the fifth-largest county in Ireland. It's incredible the success they've had. And I hope it continues,” he says.

 

Conlon says the website is just a bit of fun. All a visitor has to do is click a "support" button. LISTEN