Sunday, March 31, 2013

A Very Pagan and Buddhist EASTER (video)

Dhr. Seven, Pat Macpherson, Ashley Wells, Wisdom Quarterly (Easter, 2013)
Monumental Kwan Yin, Buddhist temple, Adelanto, California (J*Phillips/
Fertility: Ēastre, the Stork, bunny, angel-babies...
Easter is said to be the most important religious feast in the Christian liturgical year. Forget the birth (when Santa Claus and the Stork conspired to bring the star child into the world so we could all have Christmas); the real miracle was not-dying.
It is believed by Christians to be the rebirth of Jesus (St. Issa), which would mean he died-died, but he didn't even die. Surviving the relatively common torture ("passion") and returning to the Jewish trading outpost in Kashmir, India, the great sage grew old (some say 120, even 150), passed away, and was buried/entombed where (Rozabal) his remains are worshiped to this day by the local Ahmadiyya Muslim Community.

Queen of Heaven (PearlsInTheEternity)
  • Rozabal (रोज़ाबल) is the name of a Muslim shrine located in the Khanyaar quarter of the city of Srinagar in Kashmir two graves, one on top of the other. The word rauza means tomb, the word bal means place, often a landing place by a lake, hence "place of the tomb." Locals have traditionally referred to the main sage buried there as Yuzasaf (Yuz Asaf, Youza Asouph, "Son of Joseph"). The other is Mir Sayyid Naseeruddin. The shrine was relatively unknown until the founder of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, claimed in 1899 that it is actually the tomb of Jesus /Isa/Issa the "anointed one" (christ, Greek, kristos) a belief shared by many Ahmadis and an increasing number of Christians today thanks to the discovery of Nicolas Notovitch and the scholarship of Holger Kersten.
Earth gives birth to bodies (Maui Almanac).
Now the Stork and St. Nick may not be part of the official Christian story -- certainly they are part of the popular fiction we feed our kids along with sugar-and-offal candies in Americaland -- but the tomb and trip to India are true.
Bhumi, the Earth Goddess (MS-M)
To "resurrect" one would have to do, and if there was no death, was there a miracle? Surviving crucifixion was as easy as bribing the guards, who would then pierce one with a sword to prevent one from drowning as fluid fills the lungs and drowns one in three days. St. Issa/Jesus was pulled down quickly and released at night. The cover story was he was dead, entombed, and lo and behold, it's a miracle: He's not there! He's dressed in Indian white -- appropriate to an Indian sage, a muni, a yogi, a dhyana-meditator. Jain monastics, Hindu priests, Buddhist probationer (anagarikas) and even intensive lay practitioners.

We know it seems sad that Jesus/Issa could have been a Buddhist, or practiced Buddhism, or even learned Buddhism. But it is a wonderful thing! He learned other Eastern philosophies as well -- Jainism (the other wandering-ascetic movement contemporary with the Buddha which survives down to this day) and Vedic Brahmanism, which became Hinduism, largely as expressed in it monotheism (interpreted not as there being only one god, because there are many, but interpreted as there being only one ultimate godhead as the source of all reality and all expressions through other gods and sages, Brahman personified as Great Brahma by the Brahmins).
Mahayana ("Great Vehicle") is essentially a form of universalism/"catholicism": the story of a second coming (Messiah/Maitreya) outshone by a feminine expression of spirituality, a mother goddess of mercy and compassion "who hears the cries of the world" (Buddhist Kwan Yin/Avalokiteshvara or Ashtoreth, the chief goddess or female divinity)... emerging out of the modern Near East. It did not begin with Buddhism. It is shared by Zoroastrianism, Mithraism (the pre-Christian Roman Empire's "Pagan" religion worshipping a resurrection figure, Mithras, who is essentially the template for the popular or PR "Jesus" figure the world knows about, the world recognizes as their own because Catholicism got where it got as the largest religion by appropriating everyone else's story, savior figure (Mithra, Maitreya, Messiah...), and even the miraculous life details (the Buddha-to-be, or Bodhisattva, in Tusita heaven prior to taking re-birth on Earth)...
The good St. Issa and modern Peeps (GPS)
Many Christians believe their miraculous "savior," a god incarnate, but not just a god rather an expression of the ultimate GOD, the Godhead/Godhood) occurred on the third day of a garden variety Roman torture ritual, crucifixion, around 33 BCE (before the common era). There was not enough time to die of the crucifixion itself. But Christian theology, using the PR Jesus, built an entire creed around odd astrotheological consistencies (best explained by Jordan Maxwell) in many  popular religions, even contorted to fit the story of the Buddha.

Easter is a movable feast with origins in Jewish Passover (a time of animal sacrifice when an innocent and unblemished or "pure" lamb was killed) and ancient European-Pagan rites of spring. 

Vile but very cute junkfood (
Of course, nowadays many non-religious cultural elements have become part of the spring break holiday -- such as Peeps, which are made of toxic white sugar, gelatin (gelatinous boiled entrails of ruminant animals like goats, cows, and pigs). And those aspects are often celebrated by Christians, Neo-Pagans, Jews, and others.
(History) Decoding Vatican Secrets, killing John Paul I (see Min. 24:00)

Saturday, March 30, 2013

The Hollywood Stars Must Be Crazy! (video)

I. Rony, Amber Dorrian, Seven, Ashley Wells, Seth Auberon, Bela, Wisdom Quarterly
As Women's History Month wraps up, who can answer an innocent child's question?

But I was going to start taking care of HER from now on!
GIRLS on HBO, is it helping the cause of women or harming? Hold on, shhh-shhh, it's coming on.
Looking Back at the TomKat
News of Tom Cruise, Suri, and Katie Holmes' divorce broke on June 29, 2012, one day after the actress filed paperwork to end their 5-year marriage. Let's look back at their history in a spotlight with Zimbio (photos, timeline). Scientology may be squirming, but not its leaders. The Thetan (a word L. Ron Hubbard defines as roughly equivalent to Buddhism's arhat, or free and clear/enlightened individual; some Scientologists define Hubbard as the Second Coming, the literal Buddha Maitreya) Cruise unfortunately is not a great businessman: He signed a billion year contract with the cult-like organization, which sounds almost as bad as selling one's soul to the Father of All Lies in Christian lore.

Actor James Franco ("Oz") is now a thuggish pimp (turning out former Disney Corp. Mouseketeer-tricks like Selena Gomez and kissing buddy Vanessa Hudgens), but he used to be a pornographer. The good kind. A documentarian of sex. And it cost him says the Vancouver Sun. Of course, Franco does more than create documentaries. He turns out performances that run the gamut.

L-R: Selena Gomez (blue), Pimp Franco, Mila Kunis, and Wizard Franco (LAT)

Happy Birthday, Stars!
Innocent Mouseketeer Selena Gomez (
Justin "Thug Life" Bieber is at it AGAIN, wearing gas mask disguises, going shirtless, talking S, exposed for having cheated on Selena with Rihanna, and getting into fights. He failed the fans abroad, arrived late to lackluster shows, and came back to suburban Los Angeles to test drive his newly delivered Ferrari.
A neighbor, not happy about the most popular boy in the world going 100 mph on the quiet streets of Calabasas, told him to stop. The Beebs spit on him and threatened his life. Police are investigating the battery. He just turned 19 and recently lost his race car to loaning it to rapping drivers with few driving skills.

"National embarrassmentt"
As Elle Macpherson and Kevin Ryder (of Kevin & Bean fame) turn half-a-century, The Beebs' disreputable friends have turned his California mansion into a den of pot-smoking iniquity, which we guarantee he knows nothing about. And reformed thief Lindsay Lohan is at it again, except this time she's 100% innocent because she would hate to end up in jail like billionairess Paris Hilton. Sadly as a result of heartbreak or egomania, The Beebs, a Canadian national, has become a "national embarrassment."

The least "country" popstar there ever was, TayTay performs a dubstep version of "I Knew You Were Trouble" at the 2013 Brit Awards.

Tadolf Swiftler: BULLY
Lady Gaga, crippled but still kicking at 26, is taking a dive in the popularity polls. But she'll make a comeback once heat from twin 21-year-olds like Taylor Swift and Adele dies down. Taylor is in over her head attacking professional comediennes like Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. She's still bitter about losing a kid Kennedy, but it's so much worse losing a fellow popstar. She should have known Harry Styles was trouble, trouble, trouble when he walked in. Poor Harry! He took a shoe in One Direction straight to the Styles.

One Direction's Harry takes a fan's shoe to the Styles. (Ouch!)

But, allegedly, that shoe provided him more action than Tadolf ever did. She can't hold down a boytoy because she's a goody two-sh... or, as current chart topper Jimi Hendrix (Billboard) might say, she's never "been experienced." True or not, that's her Hollywood reputation. Britney Spears falsely-enjoyed the same reputation for a long time. Thank you, Disney Corp. Where do you find them?  
Why won't Whites stop committing crimes? Not that race has anything to do with crime.

Ke$ha is an all-American Satanist
Is it satanic? Yes but "Ke$ha is to satanism as Twilight is to vampires" (Joshua Frazer).
Mara has many minions, daughters, Cupids...
(Ken Layne, TheAwl) Don't live fast but do Die Young: This is the new mainstream occultism. Ke$ha! "TiK ToK" was catchier, sleazier, more honest and more fun than Lady Gaga, but the pop tastemakers mostly dismissed Ke$ha as basically the garbage monster behind Winkies. Now Ke$ha has another sleazy dance-pop song, memorable and forgettable, and almost vulgar. The video was released last week and has just begun to swirl around the paranoid-paranormal websites.

Ke$ha shows off new penis suit (FFS)
People are outraged by the occult sex magick dance orgy held within a Catholic Church at night. This is a Black Mass, with Ke$ha as High Priestess. And it looks much better and is so much more entertaining than the dreary old Black Mass of the Old World Occult. Satanism isn't about a literal Satan, because who cares? It's about living. It's the way we live now! The Old Satanism involved a lot of heavy black robes and biblical-sounding mumbo jumbo. The Black Mass is just a reversal of the regular Mass, and all of its emotional power comes from the illicit shock/delight in reversing Catholic/Christian symbolism. Light is dark, below is above... If you lack even a lingering belief in the traditions being parodied, the only sexy thing is the brief nudity... More

What's it like to be a star? Ke$ha reveals all with the help of MTV on "My Beautiful Life."

I said I was sorry.
Why do Kristen Stewart do how she do? Who can say? Here she herself explains, while the Hollywood gossip machine pens its guesses: Her life wasn't "crazy" enough. She needed more drama, more chaos, more attention. She's too young to play it safe, too old to walk away. 

My boyfriend doesn't understand me.
O, KStew, will you never learn? RPattz is running around on a set far, far away, not answering texts, not taking calls. What's a jilted lover to do to grab the limelight again and say to the world, "Hey, look at me!"? How about going out with Katy Perry's female assistant? Lesbian? Not!
Pornographer's Dec.-Jan. marriage
Hey, kids, be sure to catch me on Nickelodeon's Kids' Choice Awards! (
Tired of shooting stars? Watch falling stars
Tweens can't get enough of Taydolf: 10 Things We Didn't Know ( And Swiftler reminds us that if you are not for her, you are against women. At least that's what Katie Couric told her. We hopehere's a special place in heaven reserved for dummies.
See Ultimate Girls' Fail Compilation 2012

Friday, March 29, 2013

Buddhist Boot Camp (video)

"Faithfully Religionless" - Timber Hawkeye (TEDxHonolulu 2012)

"Sit Happens" teeshirts
Buddhism is all about training the mind/heart.
Boot camp is an ideal training method for this generation with our short attention span. The chapters in this small book can be read in any order. And they are short and easy to understand. Each story, inspirational quote, and teaching offers mindfulness-enhancing techniques anyone can relate to.
It is very possible (and perfectly okay) for Catholics, Muslims, or Jews, for example, to find the Buddha's teachings motivational. 
As the Dalai Lama says, "Don’t try to use what you learn from Buddhism to be a Buddhist; use it to be a better whatever-you-already-are.”
There is absolutely no reason to argue over which religion came "first" or whose philosophy is "better." The important thing is to be kind, understanding, peaceful, and compassionate, which is actually fundamental to all religions and schools of thought. More
  • Timber Hawkeye coming to Los Angeles
  • Monday, April 1, 2013, 6:30 pm
  • Alexandria II Bookstore
  • 170 S. Lake Ave., Pasadena, CA 91107

Being spied on in America (audio)

Pat Macpherson, Pfc. Sandoval, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly
Marketplace Tech segment reports on government spying (

It's legal for the government to read emails that are six months and older -- without a warrant, without probable cause, without a citizen ever knowing it. This is known because the government wants to expand that to earlier emails. National Security Letters are enough. Why bother with a rubber stamp from a FISA court?

That's just the start. Tracking networks. Ten thousand mini drones overhead -- spying, following, remotely downloading hard drive contents with amazing stealth. The abuses never end. It was not the American government prosecuting wars around the world; it was the Military-Industrial Complex using the Pentagon, CIA, NSA, NSC, FBI, DEA, IRS, SEC, SS (Secret Service), Department of War, Department of Homeland Security, State Department, and secret agencies to do their bidding. It hardly matters what the law books say because the MIC is not above breaking the law.

Science is Sexy (but only on Friday nights)

Wisdom Quarterly; UC Television
UCTV [1/2011] [Science] [Show ID: 19862]
Ira Flatow, science journalist and host of NPR's "Science Friday" (which will survive the loss in June of Neal Conan's "Talk of the Nation") discusses why science is sexy. This was his acceptance address for the 2010 Nierenberg Prize from the series "Frontiers of Knowledge."

Thursday, March 28, 2013

Headlines: US spying, war gay marriage (video)

Ashley Wells, Seven, Pat Macpherson, Wisdom Quarterly;
Caldicott on Fukushima and Nuclear Planet
( On March 8th, legendary activist Helen Caldicott spoke at The Great Minds Series in Santa Monica, California. Every bit of her vivacious Australian humor and personality was used for one thing: Getting across her message, as she has done for 40 years, which is more vital than ever -- the continuous proliferation of nuclear reactors and weapons. Even after she met with Pres. Reagan, P.M. Mitterand, and had the support of Phil Donahue, Paul Newman, and others, she is still out there with the message of her book, NUCLEAR POWER IS NOT THE ANSWER!

As director of the Center for the Study of Yoga and Health, owner of Breathe into Balance, and founder of the "Power Yin Yoga" tradition, Kelly Larson is an experienced transformational consultant, yoga and meditation instructor, speaker, and author. She is a private yoga instructor.
Larson in Yoga Journal
Larson integrates yogic teachings from many master teachers around the globe and offers yoga retreats, workshops, and private sessions internationally. Her yoga certification was completed in India, where she returns to lead retreats, teaching it as a transformational tool. She helps one-on-one working with clients globally in person and via virtual consultations.

Good Buddhist dog reads ascetic poetry (ALF)
After seeing the movie "Amongst the White Clouds" about Buddhist hermits living in seclusion on high mountains in China, Sita [the dog] was deeply moved by their ascetic life. They are living alone in deep mountains... "carrying water and chopping wood" year after year. This morning Sita was having a serious discussion with Sasha about impermanence and how all living beings have Buddha Nature including dog-beings. Sita even pulled out a poem by Cold Mountains read it to Sasha, hoping to entice her to join her for a cozy monastic life on the high cliffs of the Sangre de Cristo mountains: On high cliffs I live alone/Swirling clouds swirl all day/Inside my hut it might be dim/But in my mind I heard no noise....

Maundy Thursday: Pope feels kids' feet

Pat Macpherson, Ashley Wells, Wisdom Quarterly;
Pope Francis washes the feet of prisoners in a youth detention center (Reuters/BBC)
Why talk about Catholicism? Although the USA accounts for only 6% of Catholics worldwide, it is the majority religion here. So much so that there are six Catholics on the Supreme Court and three Jews, although the latter represent less than 1/300ths of the US population. Many, many Buddhists are recovering Catholics or otherwise disaffected members of other spiritual traditions such as Judaism.
The new Italian-Argentine Holy Roman pontiff, the formerly Argentinian-junta-aligned Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio (now Pope Francis I) humiliated himself today in the footsteps of St. Issa (Jesus as he is known in Kashmir, India)... sort of.
Catholic Church's Pope Emeritus with "friend"
Imagine washing the feet of the poor. What a wonderfully humble gesture, which takes and produces humility. Now make those the feet of poor inmates. What selflessness!  Now make them young boys with pretty feet (and two hapless girls), and it makes one wonder about the rebirth of the Vatican and its global reach. 
Is it turning a new leaf, or is it just changing wallpaper? Weren't the priest going to give up children for lent?
The beloved new head of the corporation, who took the greatest Catholic saint's name, twisted this annual act into something less than admirable by making it oppressed children, likely sexually harassed and/or molested in detention.
Did they really want a creepy older white man in a priest's outfit fondling their clean feet? Let's hope so. It is a beautiful tradition. Maybe next year he'll go with poor dirty adult female feet.
Foot fetish?
Monument to St. Issa's feet with crucifixion marks near his tomb in Kashmir, India
(BBC) Pope Francis has washed the feet of [sexy young] prisoners in a youth detention center near Rome as part of the Maundy Thursday service.
The Christian ritual takes place on the Thursday before Easter to commemorate Christ's Last Supper. Thousands of pilgrims and tourists are arriving in Rome to attend ceremonies during the holy week ahead of Easter.
In a homily, the Pope earlier urged priests to do less "soul-searching" and engage more with parishioners.
"It is not in soul-searching... that we encounter the Lord," he told hundreds of cardinals, priests, and bishops in St. Peter's Basilica.
Worshippers should "leave Mass looking as if they had heard good news," he added.
Gesture of humility[?]
During Thursday's intimate service at Casal del Marmo, the Pope washed and kissed the feet of 12 young detainees to replicate the Bible's account of Jesus [St. Issa] Christ's gesture of humility towards his 12 apostles on the night before he was crucified.
Some of the prisoners volunteered to have their feet washed, while others were given an invitation to help them overcome their embarrassment, the Catholic News Agency quoted the prison chaplain as saying. More

"The Choice" (Aung San Suu Kyi film)

Wisdom Quarterly; BBC This World, 2012; lianlilianli02

(USannAung) The Lady Aung San Suu Kyi in San Francisco, 2012

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

On Letting Go (comics)

Zen paradox: "What do you do when  you have freed yourself of all desire except the desire to be free of desire?" (
This English translation is Suen Wai Kwan’s retelling of “The Monk with the Flowers.”
In the story a monk requests the truth of the universe from the Buddha, who in turn asks the seeker to let go.
He puts down his flower offering, separates his palms held in añjali mudrā, but the Buddha still requests he let go.
What else is there to let go of?
Kwan's artwork appeared in Volume 3 of Culturecom's manga series The Legend of Guan Yin.

Cathy Thorne (
John McPherson (

Dwelling Alone, Dwelling with Another (sutra)

Wisdom Quarterly translation, The Salayatana Book, Kindred Sayings on Sense (SN 63)
Grand Buddha at Ling Shan, near Wuxi, Jiangsu, China (Z4nclr4/
Hermit cabin (
SAVATTHI, India - Venerable Migajala came to the Buddha.... And seated to one side, he addressed him:

"'Dwelling alone! Dwelling alone!' venerable sir, is the saying. To what extent is one a dweller alone, and to what extent is one a dweller with another (sadutiya, "with a second, with a mate"), venerable sir?"

"There are, Migajala, objects cognizable by the eye -- objects which are desirable, pleasant, delightful, and dear, fraught with passion, inciting lust. 
Letting go (
"If one [a monastic or meditator] is enamored of them, if one welcomes them, if one persists in clinging to them, so enamored, so persisting, there comes a lure. Where there is a lure, there is infatuation. Where there is infatuation there is bondage. Bound in the bondage (fetter) of the lure, Migajala, one is called a 'dweller with another.'...
"There are, Mijagala, flavors cognizable by the tongue... sounds cognizable by the ear... tangibles cognizable by the skin... fragrances cognizable by the nose... mind-states cognizable by the mind... inciting lust. If one is enamored of them... there comes a lure. Where there is a lure, there is bondage.... Bound with the bondage of the lure, Migajala, a brother is called a 'dweller with another.'...

"One so dwelling, Migajala, though that person frequent jungle glades, hermitages, or forest lodgings, remote and silent, removed from the uproar, free from the [madness] of crowds, where one lodges far from humankind, places fit for solitude [withdrawal and serene meditation] -- yet that person is called a 'dweller with another.'...

"But, Migajala, there are objects cognizable by the eye -- objects which are desirable, pleasant, delightful, and dear, fraught with passion, inciting lust. If one is NOT enamored of them, does not welcome them, does not persist in clinging to them, in that person not enamored, not welcoming, not persisting in clinging to them, the lure fades away.

"Where there is no lure, there is no infatuation. Where there is no infatuation, there is no bondage. Freed from the bondage of the lure, Migajala, one is called a 'lone dweller.'

"So also with regard to flavors cognizable by the tongue... and mind-states cognizable by mind....

Moritz von Schwind (circa 1846)
"Thus dwelling, Migajala, one, though dwelling amid a village crowded with monastics, with laymen and laywomen, with rulers (rajas) and royal ministers, with other teachers and their followers -- yet one is called a 'lone dweller,' a dweller alone.
"Why? Craving is the mate, the other, the one left behind. Therefore, one is called a 'lone dweller.'"

Dwelling Alone, Dwelling with Another
Migajala II (SN 64)
...Then Venerable Migajala came to the Buddha [again]... And seated to one side, he said to him:

"Well for me, venerable sir, if the Exalted One should give me a teaching in brief, hearing which I might dwell solitary, secluded, zealous, ardent, and aspiring." TO BE CONTINUED

Monday, March 25, 2013

My favorite Nazis are Jews (comedy)

Wisdom Quarterly; Los Angeles Times (, March 24, 2013)
Col. Klink, Sgt. Shultz, and Cpl. LeBeau with Fräulein Helga (LA
Once the funniest war show on American TV
In more ways than one, Robert Clary is a survivor. In real life, the diminutive Parisian-born actor and singer survived three years in concentration camps as a Jewish teenager during World War II.
In show business, the 87-year-old has had a long and successful career that has included TV, Broadway, nightclubs, and records.
Clary remains best known for his role as master chef and French patriot Cpl. LeBeau in the 1965-71 CBS comedy series "Hogan's Heroes," which was set in a German stalag, or P.O.W. camp, during WW II. The series also featured Bob Crane [Hogan], Werner Klemperer [Col. Klink], John Banner, Richard Dawson [gameshow host/kisser], Ivan Dixon, and Larry Hovis.

Those heroic Americans)! Hogan's Heroes: "Happy Birthday, Adolph" (Season 1, Episode 17)
Not Nazis: Barry overdoes it with Bibi (LAT)
After the series went off the air, he remained close to the two other actors on the series whose lives had been upended by the Nazis -- German-born Klemperer, who won Emmys as the officious Col. Klink, and the Austrian-born Banner, who played the befuddled Sgt. Schultz. Both were Jews who had fled the Nazis before the outbreak of the war. More
Ellen Page introduces Burma's "Hitler," dictator Than Shwe