Police State: Ferguson, Missouri riots (video)

SelfEsteemMedia; Pat Macpherson, Ashley Wells, Pfc. Sandoval, Wisdom Quarterly

Killing in the name of? Black teen "accidentally" shot on purpose in the back with his hands up while yelling, "Hands up, don't shoot!" Ferguson, St. Louis County, MO (dayandadream.com).

When people rise up against injustice, the police state cracks down harder on any pretext.

Social media has changed so much about the way we live, how we love, and how we get our news. [Apart from all the government spying and corporate data collection, which is handed over to the NSA, CIA, FBI, NSC, or pretty much any government agency that asks for it, social media is nice for being peer-to-peer, or at least appearing to be.]

• Los Angeles to join the fray Sunday at LAPD HQ
• Anniversary of Egypt's mass killing of protesters - a "crime against humanity" on par with China's Tiannamen Square and Massacre at Uzbekistan

Police state deployed after backlash to murderous cop executing black teen (inlandsocal.com)

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Egypt, worse than Tiananmen? 1st anniv

A tragic  [murder] shooting by a Ferguson, Missouri police officer of an unarmed [black] teenager, Mike Brown, has brought about anger, rioting, shooting, looting, arson, and injuries [by citizens fed up with police state abuses, endemic departmental racism, the hiring of white police-troops carrying assault rifles and deploying SWAT tactics at the slightest provocation  -- or with no provocation at all but just to practice -- to patrol predominantly black  areas in a heavy handed, siege mentality, paramilitary style].

The town of Ferguson has been turned upside down. Yet, the national media is largely silent on the issue. The local Quicktrip has been looted and burned to the ground. Store owners are rushing to their establishments to try to deter the protestors from any further [riot-related] theft and destruction. But CNN is still running stories on the new U.S. war on Iraq, the beautiful “Super Moon,” and [Israeli crimes] in Gaza [which it never fails to blame on the victims of the assaults].

 

Ferguson Faceoff after Mike Brown murder causes riots in Ferguson, MO (selfesteemmedia).

 

People are turning to social media to see photos, videos, and other content showing what is happening in St. Louis, MO. Social media gives every average person the ability to break news before the professionals. In April, 1992 during the LA Riots the world had to wait to hear about the unrest in Los Angeles while 16 years later the world has the ability to watch the riots in real time, on-line through the eyes of the people that are living through it.

 

The Quicktrip was burned down after being looted during outrage over police shooting.

 

It is said that those that do not learn history are destined to repeat it. There are lessons to be learned on both sides of this tragic and likely racist crime. Perhaps the free flow of information social media facilitates will help us all remember history with enough detail to avoid future riot situations. The national media has been caught asleep at the wheel on this issue... More

• VIDEO: Uzbek Massacre (Journeyman Pictures) In June 2010 ethnic tensions in [formerly Buddhist now Muslim] Kyrgyzstan overflowed, and a conflict ensued that killed hundreds and displaced hundreds of thousands. Now it is emerging that the government may have been behind the attacks. 
• VIDEO: Egyptian Army kills 800+ during anti-coup protests

(David Lim) Chinese troops are sent in in full military gear to quiet pro-democracy uprising in China's Tiananmen Square by shooting unarmed civilians killing over 800. Most of the world's Chinese have no idea this ever took place thanks to government's clampdown on the media and disinformation campaigns.

The Buddhist Path as Therapy

Amber Larson and Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly; Ven. Thanissaro, "Healing Power of the Precepts" (Noble Strategy); Mary Loftus (Psychology Today, Sept. 5, 2013); Sunny

Fairness or martyrdom? When virtue becomes a vice (Jeff Riedel/psychologytoday.com)

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Virtue becomes a vice? (PT)

The Buddha was a kind of doctor [referred to in some sutras as a "master physician"], treating the spiritual ills of living beings [human and devas, also referred to as "the teacher of gods and humans].

The path of practice he taught was like a course of therapy for suffering (disappointed) hearts and minds. This way of understanding the Buddha and his teachings or Dharma dates back to the earliest texts, and yet it is also very current.

Buddhist meditation practice is often advertised as a form of healing, and quite a few psychotherapists now recommend that their patients try (mindfulness based) meditation as part of their treatment.

 

After several years of teaching and practicing meditation as "therapy," however, many of us have found that meditation on its own is not enough.

Psycho Mike (Suicidal T.)

In my own experience as a Western monk and abbot of Wat Forest Monastery in California (Thai Theravada), I have found that Western meditators tend to be afflicted more with a certain grimness and lack of self-esteem than any Asians I have ever taught.

Our psyches are so wounded by modern civilization that we tend to lack the resilience and persistence needed before concentration (serenity) and insight practices can be genuinely therapeutic.

 

Other teachers have noted this problem as well and, as a result, many of them have decided that the Buddhist path is insufficient for our particular needs. To make up for this insufficiency they have experimented with ways of supplementing meditation practice, combining it with such things as myth, poetry, psychotherapy, social activism, sweat lodges, mourning rituals, and even drumming.

The Buddha's full course

The problem, though, may not be that there is anything lacking in the Buddhist path, but that we simply haven't been following the Buddha's full course of therapy.

 

The Buddha's path consists not only of mindfulness, concentration, and insight practices, but also of virtue (sila), beginning with the Five Precepts. In fact, the precepts constitute the first and most basic step on the Buddhist path.
 

Balance? (Jeff Riedel/PT)

There is a tendency in the West to dismiss the Five Precepts as Sunday-school rules bound to old cultural norms that no longer apply to our modern society. But this misses the role the Buddha intended for them: They are part of a course of therapy for wounded minds/hearts. In particular, they are aimed at curing two ailments that underlie low self-esteem, regret and denial.

 

When our actions do not measure up to certain standards of behavior, we either regret the actions or, worse, engage in one of two kinds of denial -- either denying that our actions did in fact happen or denying that the standards of measurement are actually valid. These reactions are like wounds in the mind... More

(Sunny and the Sunliners) Self-esteem low? Depressed after a bad relationship? "It's Okay," says Sunny. "Ha, ha, ha/ It's all right/ I've been hurt before/ It's all right/ You don't love me anymore/ Maybe someday/ I'll find a way without you/ Ha, ha, ha/ Who am I kidding?/ It's okay/ Baby, I can see/ It's okay/ But, but would it make you happy?/ Maybe someday/ I'll find a way without you./Ha, ha, ha/ Someday, it won't be long/ You're gonna find yourself all alone/ It's okay/ Baby, I can say see/ It's okay/ I will set you free..."

But I really love myself! (sutra)

Ashley Wells and Pfc. Sandoval, Wisdom Quarterly

Nepal's other Everest: trekking to the summit of Gokyo Ri and some of the best views in the country. About two hours’ walk north of Namche Bazaar, the largest town in the Khumbu region, the trail forks. Turn right towards Everest Base Camp (Zolashine/Getty/BBC.com)

Royal Sutra

Dhr. Seven (trans.), Wisdom Quarterly (Rājan Sutra from "Inspired Utterances," Udana 5.1)

Buddha on Gokyo Ri peak (Hendrik Terbeck)

Thus have I heard. Once when the Blessed One was residing near Sāvatthī at Jeta's Grove in the millionaire's monastery, King Pasenadi of Kosala and Queen Mallikā went to the upper floor of the palace.

The king turned to the queen and said, "Mallikā, is there anyone dearer to you than yourself?"

 

"No one, great king, no one is dearer to me than myself. Great king, and how is it with you, is there anyone dearer to you than yourself?"

 

"No one, Mallikā, no one is dearer to me than myself," he answered. Then King Pasenadi left to see the Blessed One. When he arrived, he bowed, sat respectfully to one side, and related to him the exchange.

Then realizing the significance of what was being said, the Blessed One exclaimed this verse of uplift:

"Scanning all directions with awareness, one finds no one dearer than oneself. Others, too, are equally dear to themselves. So if one loves oneself, one avoids hurting others."

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