Sunday, January 27, 2008
The Program
Don't hurt yourself.
Don't hurt anyone else.
Don't do anything stupid.
Have a good time.
Respectfully,
The Management
"We Take Good Care of You"
Don't hurt anyone else.
Don't do anything stupid.
Have a good time.
Respectfully,
The Management
"We Take Good Care of You"
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Earliest Inhabitants
In Ethiopia there is evidence of human ancestor species dating to 5.9 million years ago. Anatomically modern - Homo Sapiens - 250,000 b.p.to 160,000 b.p. "Studies of genetics and of fossils place the origin of modern Homo sapiens in Africa some 200,000 BP during the Paleolithic"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_world
Here's a list of various countries and the an estimate of the time of their first human inhabitants.
South Africa 164 years before present (kya) on the coast at Pinnacle Point.
Botswana - 70 kya at Tsodilo Hills.
China ~ 69 kya
Sudan ~ 60 kya
Australia - 40 kya
Europe ~ 37 kya
Congo: the Ishango bone dates to 25 kya
Israel - Natufian culture 15 kya; but earliest humans date to 500 kya
Algeria - 12 kya
Egypt ~ 10 kya
Libya - 10 kya
Morocco - 10 kya
Turkey - already had a relatively advanced culture at Çatal Hüyük; 9 kya
North America 9 - 50 kya
India ~ 7 kya, although it would seem the ancestors of people who would go on to settle Australia passed through India.
So Africa was populated with anatomically modern humans long before any other continent. People probably migrated along the coasts and were living in a wet Sahara 10,000 years b.p.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_world
Here's a list of various countries and the an estimate of the time of their first human inhabitants.
South Africa 164 years before present (kya) on the coast at Pinnacle Point.
Botswana - 70 kya at Tsodilo Hills.
China ~ 69 kya
Sudan ~ 60 kya
Australia - 40 kya
Europe ~ 37 kya
Congo: the Ishango bone dates to 25 kya
Israel - Natufian culture 15 kya; but earliest humans date to 500 kya
Algeria - 12 kya
Egypt ~ 10 kya
Libya - 10 kya
Morocco - 10 kya
Turkey - already had a relatively advanced culture at Çatal Hüyük; 9 kya
North America 9 - 50 kya
India ~ 7 kya, although it would seem the ancestors of people who would go on to settle Australia passed through India.
So Africa was populated with anatomically modern humans long before any other continent. People probably migrated along the coasts and were living in a wet Sahara 10,000 years b.p.
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Large and Small in Hwa-Yen Buddhism
Garma C. C. Chang is an authority on both Tibetan and Zen Buddhism.
From "The Buddhist Teaching of Totality: The Philosophy of Hwa-Yen Buddhism" by Garma C. C. Chang
Summarizing the Hwa-Yen or Flower Ornament Sutra, he says:
1. That a universe can be infinitely vast or small depending on the scale of measurement, or the position from which a measurement is made.
2. That the "larger" universes include the "smaller" ones as a solar system contains its planets, or a planet contains its atoms...
3. That a "small" universe, (such as an atom) not only contains the infinite "lesser" universes within itself, but also contains the infinite "larger" universes...
p. 12
SIXTH: The mystery of Non-Obstruction of immensity and minuteness.
...
Ch'eng Kuan observes further in the same essay: "The so-called 'minuteness' is that which, having no space within itself, has no inside; the so-called 'immensity' is that which, having no boundary, has no outside. That which is without an outside, the vast Buddha-Body and Land, can enter that which is without an inside, the minute dust-mote. This is the Non-Obstruction of immensity and minuteness.
...
The large must include the small to be called the large, and the small must contain the large to be called the small. Because they have no Selfhood, the large and the small can mutually contain each other. Thus we know that the so-called "large" is the large of the small, and the so-called "small" is the small of the large. There is no definite nature to the small, because it even stretches to cover all the ten directions, and there is no definite shape to the large, because all aeons are vividly revealed in one moment. Since the very small is the very large, Mount Sumeru is contained in a mustard seed; and since the very large is the very small, the ocean is included in a hair.
pages 164 - 165
From "The Buddhist Teaching of Totality: The Philosophy of Hwa-Yen Buddhism" by Garma C. C. Chang
Summarizing the Hwa-Yen or Flower Ornament Sutra, he says:
1. That a universe can be infinitely vast or small depending on the scale of measurement, or the position from which a measurement is made.
2. That the "larger" universes include the "smaller" ones as a solar system contains its planets, or a planet contains its atoms...
3. That a "small" universe, (such as an atom) not only contains the infinite "lesser" universes within itself, but also contains the infinite "larger" universes...
p. 12
SIXTH: The mystery of Non-Obstruction of immensity and minuteness.
...
Ch'eng Kuan observes further in the same essay: "The so-called 'minuteness' is that which, having no space within itself, has no inside; the so-called 'immensity' is that which, having no boundary, has no outside. That which is without an outside, the vast Buddha-Body and Land, can enter that which is without an inside, the minute dust-mote. This is the Non-Obstruction of immensity and minuteness.
...
The large must include the small to be called the large, and the small must contain the large to be called the small. Because they have no Selfhood, the large and the small can mutually contain each other. Thus we know that the so-called "large" is the large of the small, and the so-called "small" is the small of the large. There is no definite nature to the small, because it even stretches to cover all the ten directions, and there is no definite shape to the large, because all aeons are vividly revealed in one moment. Since the very small is the very large, Mount Sumeru is contained in a mustard seed; and since the very large is the very small, the ocean is included in a hair.
pages 164 - 165
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
From "The Shape of Ancient Thought"
'Descartes proceeds to "reason with" himself in a discursive way, not in the least having taken leave of his normal consciousness. This is not what the word "meditation" means in relation to Hindu and Buddhist thought. In Patanjali's tradition it is said that when the mind is held immobile for the space of twelve restrained and elongated breaths the state of dharana may be said to begin. Dharana is the first stage of concentration in Patanjali's tradition. Dhyana, meditation, and samadhi, trance, are more demanding. One modern authority, Swami Vivekananda, says that samadhi begins after the mind has been immobile for half an hour. Even a minute of mental immobility usually takes training and practice. Descartes probably did not get beyond Patanjali's first stage - perhaps he did not even get to it, since his "withdrawal" from the senses was an accompaniment to discursive thinking, which is a fluctuation in the mind. He had not even begun to "meditate" in the yogic sense of the word.'
Thomas McEvilly, " The Shape of Ancient Thought ," pp 180 - 181
Thomas McEvilly, " The Shape of Ancient Thought ," pp 180 - 181
Some Dzogchen Quotes
Chapter 6, Twenty Seven Courses of Training in Dzogpa Chenpo
p. 308
CONTEMPLATING IN THE EQUAL STATE OF SPACE-LIKE ABSENCE OF EXTERNAL APPREHENDED OBJECTS
Various appearing objects are manifesting as dreams and magic, but if analyzed down to partless atoms, they are (seen to be) emptiness, as they do not exist. So contemplate naturally in the state of self-clarity and emptiness (of the objects) as well as of the apprehending senses, which comprehend the percepts of the objects. This is an important point for realizing the no-self of the objects and perceptions (gZung-Ba'i Shes-Pa).
THE INNER APPREHENDER IS ROOTLESS AND IS EMPTINESS
When one searches for the nature of the mind, which comprehends (phenomena) as objects and subjects, one will not find that it has any existence , past or present, material or immaterial, coming, abiding and going, or color and design, and so on. At that point, remain naturally in the state of baseless mind without apprehension. This will bring the realization of the emptiness of apprehending as "I" and "self."
CONTEMPLATION ON THE UNION (OF TRANQUILITY AND INSIGHT)
This is the unified training of tranquility and insight, whereas in the previous training they were practiced separately.... Whatever appears (in the mind), contemplate in the state that is naturally even, blissfully smooth, tracelessly clear, vastly free, and limitlessly open without any bounds of analysis. At that time the space-like realization arises, which has no (distinction of) outer, inner, or between. It is spontaneous accomplishment of tranquility as it is abiding, of insight as it is clear, and of single union as it is inseparable.
MEDITATION ON SPACE-LIKE EMPTINESS
The body remains in the seven-fold Vairocana posture without moving, like Mt. Meru. The senses remain clearly in self-clarity without ceasing, like the reflection of the moon in a pond. Whatever (appearance) arises (in the mind), do not focus (the mind) on the aspect of appearing but remain with the emptiness aspect of it, which is through clarity, floating and abundant without (differentiations and limitations of distinguishing) outer, inner, or between. Through that meditation, one realizes all phenomena as emptiness with no break, like space.
The way of meditation for beings of higher intellect.
Here, (the state of meditation and realization) is a ceaseless continuum like the flow of a river. Because of one's realization of the awareness as the Dharmakaya, the (mental) projections and withdrawals arise and dissolve as the play of the ultimate nature. Hence, (everything) arises as the clarifying training for the realization, without abandonings or acceptances and deviations or obscurations. On an island of gold, ordinary stones and earth are hard to find even if they are searched for. Likewise, since whatever arises in the intellect has arisen as the spontaneously arisen wisdom, the subjective thoughts are nothing but the realization of the primordially liberated Samantabhadra (Kun-Tu bZang-Po). Whatever arises as the object has arisen as the emptiness-form. So, (for the yogi) the objective thoughts are nothing but the vast expanse of primordially liberated Samantabhadri (Kun-Tu bZang-Mo). (For him) all the phenomenal aspects, which were apprehended separately as the mind and the object, cease in the sphere of non-dual Great Perfection. (At that time, all the phenomenal existents have) arisen in the expanse of the wisdom without (distinctions of) outer and inner, have become equalness without top or bottom... This is the time when the yogi, whose intellect has been exhausted, is happy in the state of exhaustion (of phenomena) in the ultimate nature. Here, having been introduced to the uninterrupted realization, and the awareness having become denuded, one maintains the pure meditationless natural mind, floating nakedly and completely without hindrance, and with confidence in it. (p. 310)
The Practice of Dzogchen
Longchen Rabjam
Introduced, Translated and Annotated by Tulku Thondup
Edited by Harold Talbott
p. 308
CONTEMPLATING IN THE EQUAL STATE OF SPACE-LIKE ABSENCE OF EXTERNAL APPREHENDED OBJECTS
Various appearing objects are manifesting as dreams and magic, but if analyzed down to partless atoms, they are (seen to be) emptiness, as they do not exist. So contemplate naturally in the state of self-clarity and emptiness (of the objects) as well as of the apprehending senses, which comprehend the percepts of the objects. This is an important point for realizing the no-self of the objects and perceptions (gZung-Ba'i Shes-Pa).
THE INNER APPREHENDER IS ROOTLESS AND IS EMPTINESS
When one searches for the nature of the mind, which comprehends (phenomena) as objects and subjects, one will not find that it has any existence , past or present, material or immaterial, coming, abiding and going, or color and design, and so on. At that point, remain naturally in the state of baseless mind without apprehension. This will bring the realization of the emptiness of apprehending as "I" and "self."
CONTEMPLATION ON THE UNION (OF TRANQUILITY AND INSIGHT)
This is the unified training of tranquility and insight, whereas in the previous training they were practiced separately.... Whatever appears (in the mind), contemplate in the state that is naturally even, blissfully smooth, tracelessly clear, vastly free, and limitlessly open without any bounds of analysis. At that time the space-like realization arises, which has no (distinction of) outer, inner, or between. It is spontaneous accomplishment of tranquility as it is abiding, of insight as it is clear, and of single union as it is inseparable.
MEDITATION ON SPACE-LIKE EMPTINESS
The body remains in the seven-fold Vairocana posture without moving, like Mt. Meru. The senses remain clearly in self-clarity without ceasing, like the reflection of the moon in a pond. Whatever (appearance) arises (in the mind), do not focus (the mind) on the aspect of appearing but remain with the emptiness aspect of it, which is through clarity, floating and abundant without (differentiations and limitations of distinguishing) outer, inner, or between. Through that meditation, one realizes all phenomena as emptiness with no break, like space.
The way of meditation for beings of higher intellect.
Here, (the state of meditation and realization) is a ceaseless continuum like the flow of a river. Because of one's realization of the awareness as the Dharmakaya, the (mental) projections and withdrawals arise and dissolve as the play of the ultimate nature. Hence, (everything) arises as the clarifying training for the realization, without abandonings or acceptances and deviations or obscurations. On an island of gold, ordinary stones and earth are hard to find even if they are searched for. Likewise, since whatever arises in the intellect has arisen as the spontaneously arisen wisdom, the subjective thoughts are nothing but the realization of the primordially liberated Samantabhadra (Kun-Tu bZang-Po). Whatever arises as the object has arisen as the emptiness-form. So, (for the yogi) the objective thoughts are nothing but the vast expanse of primordially liberated Samantabhadri (Kun-Tu bZang-Mo). (For him) all the phenomenal aspects, which were apprehended separately as the mind and the object, cease in the sphere of non-dual Great Perfection. (At that time, all the phenomenal existents have) arisen in the expanse of the wisdom without (distinctions of) outer and inner, have become equalness without top or bottom... This is the time when the yogi, whose intellect has been exhausted, is happy in the state of exhaustion (of phenomena) in the ultimate nature. Here, having been introduced to the uninterrupted realization, and the awareness having become denuded, one maintains the pure meditationless natural mind, floating nakedly and completely without hindrance, and with confidence in it. (p. 310)
The Practice of Dzogchen
Longchen Rabjam
Introduced, Translated and Annotated by Tulku Thondup
Edited by Harold Talbott
Religion Before Adam
The use made of the Adam and Eve myth has been to de-legitimize nakedness and subjugate the sacred under the control of priests and the state. See for example Elaine Pagels book, "Adam, Eve and the Serpent," a book less about the first couple than the use made by a patriarchial culture of it's origen myth.
Religion before Adam, though, was an affair of naked, dark skinned, dancing, snake handling entheogen using shamans. In many cosmologies of many cultures the themes of serpent, cosmic, primordial or first man and or woman, nakedness and magic plant occur together. For example: Purusha and the couple Shiva and Parvati in India, Adam Kadmon and Adam and Eve in Jewish folklore, Samantabhadra and Samantabhadri in India, Tibet and Mahayana Buddhism.
One place to look for clues about religion before Adam is Africa and the ancient near East. On the southern coast of South Africa, about 200 miles east of Cape Town there is a cave at Pinnacle Point near Mossel Bay. In the cave, there is evidence of habitation by anatomically modern human who engaged in symbolic behavior 164,000 years ago. It would have been easy since then for people to spread thoughout Africa, starting on the coast and spreading inland. In the Sahara Pump theory, North Africa is alternately wet and dry. When wet it's habitable. As it drys out, animals, people and their cattle migrate to the North, and East; to Egypt and the Middle East. The latest wet period was 12,500 b.c. to 4,000 b.c. at which time there was a migration away from the drying Sahara. Semitic languages like Arabic, Aramaic and Hebrew are of the Afro-Asiatic family, not Indo-European.
At the Tsodilo Hills in Botswana, there is a stone python that apparently has been worshiped for the last 70,000 years. There was plenty of water and good hunting and fishing at the time. The site is about 25 miles from the Okavango River Delta, a remnant of Lake Makgadikgadi, a huge lake that dried up about 10,0000 years ago.
The people who live in the area today, the San or Bushmen, believe all humanity is descended from a python. According to the San the First Spirit knelt and prayed on the "male" hill after creating the world. and his knees left an impression in the rock. (Interestingly, there is a similar tradition at Sri Pada, a mountain also called "Adam's Peak" in Sri Lanka. An indentation at the peak is taken as the footprint of Adam, Buddha or Shiva by Muslims, Buddhists and Hindus.)
At Tsodilo Hills, there was a chamber in which a shaman could hide. And he was probably naked. According to anthropologists, clothing was invented around that time in climates far colder than Botswana.
The San people of the Kalahari desert, also known as Bushmen, San, Basarwa, ǃKung or Khwe date far back in pre-history to at least 22,000 b.c. and by genetic evidence, are one of the oldest peoples of the world. They had an advanced culture 20,000 years ago. They call themselves "the first people," and may be right. As late as 1962, nakedness was common among the Nuer and San peoples.
In San religion a shaman enters trance to consult with "power animals." The San "Trickster" god seems similar to Shiva, the "wild god of power and ecstasy." In art, Shiva is depicted with a snake. In India, there are Naga: Naked Indian ascetics who worship Siva. "Naga" means a snake being that is associated with the elixir of life and immortality. One of the names of Siva is दिगम्बर or Digambara, Dik = Clothes, Ambara = Sky; a Sanskrit term for "clothed with the sky," i.e naked. Digambar is the name of one of the two Jain sects and also also one of the names of Siva.
The first or cosmic man in the Upanishads is the giant Purusha. In Samkhya, a school of Hindu philosophy, Purusha is pure consciousness, thought to be our true identity, and contrasted with Prakrti, or the material world.
Similarly, Samantabhadra or the Bodhisattva Universal Goodness (Tibetan Buddhism, Lotus and Flower Ornament Sutra) is a naked blue Buddha who represents ultimate reality: "Among those esoteric traditions that treat Samantabhadra as the Primordial Buddha, he is always represented naked, with a dark blue body, in union with his consort Samantabhadi."
"Samantabhadra is looked upon in certain Tantric Buddhist sects as the Primordial Buddha, awakened since the very beginning. Certain of the Yogacara sects claim that Samantabhadra, instead of Vairocana, is the founder of the Yoga system, and look upon him as a divinity of religious ecstasy. Those who practice ecstatic meditation in Japanese esoteric schools regard him as a special divinity central to their practice."
The name Samantabhadra = Saman hymn ? + Bhadra Auspicious?
The Samaveda "consists chiefly of hymns to be chanted by the Udgatar priests at the performance of those important sacrifices in which the juice of the Soma plant, clarified and mixed with milk and other ingredients, was offered in libation to various deities."
As cosmic person, Samantabhadra shrank from cosmic proportions to human size: "The Bodhisattva Universal Virtue is boundless in the size of his body, boundless in the sound of his voice, and boundless in the form of his imate. Desiring to come to this world, he makes use of his free trancendent powers and shrinks his stature to the small size [of a human being]."
The Threefold Lotus Sutra: The Sutra of Meditation on the Bodhisattva Universal Virtue pp. 348 - 349
As Samantabhadra is shown with his consort Samantabhadri, Shiva is said to have shared half of His body for Shakti and is known as ardhanarishwara (half woman, half man.) Shiva is said to have shared half of His body with Shakti and is known as Ardhanarishwara (half woman, half man) in this form.
In "Tree of Souls: The Mythology of Judaism," 160 p. 129 - 130
Adam the Giant: Adam was as tall as the sky. The angels complained, and God reduced him to human stature. also: 162, Adam's body of light: when Adam's brightness vanished, he was naked.
In Sri Lanka, At Sri Pada or "Adam's Peak" Sinhalese Samanalakanda "butterfly mountain" in Tamil Shivanolipatha Malai and Shiva padam, there is a rock formation with an indentation resembling a foot at the top. The foot is variously taken as the footprint of Adam, Buddha or Shiva. Saman is the local deity of the place.
It would be interesting to investigate, for example, the roots of the words for naked and serpent. In the Hebrew bible, Nakedness and the serpent are associated through a pun:
- aw-rome nude or naked
and
- aw-room subtil.
"... and they shall be one flesh, and they were both naked (6174 aw-rome),
the man and his wife, and they were not ashamed." Gen 2:24-2:25 6174
also, maybe there is a connection with the serpent here:
6191, 6192 aram - prim root; to make bare, smoothness, cunning, prudent, gather together
6193 orem - strategem, craftiness
Now the serpent was more subtil (Gen. 3:1 6175 aw-room cunning, crafty, prudent, subtil) Note: 5904 is Iyr Nachash: city of a serpent Serpent in Genesis - 5175 Nachash - snake, serpent hiss, to whisper a magic spell, prognosticate, divine, enchanter, diligently observe Matthew 10:16 3789 "be ye therefore wise as serpents and harmless as doves" (Greek ophis - sharp vision, snake, sly cunning person
Also, Moses compatriots were apt to get naked at the most inconvenient times: "Moses saw that the people were naked ... "
Ex 32:25 6544 paw-rah loosen, expose, make naked.
Religion before Adam, though, was an affair of naked, dark skinned, dancing, snake handling entheogen using shamans. In many cosmologies of many cultures the themes of serpent, cosmic, primordial or first man and or woman, nakedness and magic plant occur together. For example: Purusha and the couple Shiva and Parvati in India, Adam Kadmon and Adam and Eve in Jewish folklore, Samantabhadra and Samantabhadri in India, Tibet and Mahayana Buddhism.
One place to look for clues about religion before Adam is Africa and the ancient near East. On the southern coast of South Africa, about 200 miles east of Cape Town there is a cave at Pinnacle Point near Mossel Bay. In the cave, there is evidence of habitation by anatomically modern human who engaged in symbolic behavior 164,000 years ago. It would have been easy since then for people to spread thoughout Africa, starting on the coast and spreading inland. In the Sahara Pump theory, North Africa is alternately wet and dry. When wet it's habitable. As it drys out, animals, people and their cattle migrate to the North, and East; to Egypt and the Middle East. The latest wet period was 12,500 b.c. to 4,000 b.c. at which time there was a migration away from the drying Sahara. Semitic languages like Arabic, Aramaic and Hebrew are of the Afro-Asiatic family, not Indo-European.
At the Tsodilo Hills in Botswana, there is a stone python that apparently has been worshiped for the last 70,000 years. There was plenty of water and good hunting and fishing at the time. The site is about 25 miles from the Okavango River Delta, a remnant of Lake Makgadikgadi, a huge lake that dried up about 10,0000 years ago.
The people who live in the area today, the San or Bushmen, believe all humanity is descended from a python. According to the San the First Spirit knelt and prayed on the "male" hill after creating the world. and his knees left an impression in the rock. (Interestingly, there is a similar tradition at Sri Pada, a mountain also called "Adam's Peak" in Sri Lanka. An indentation at the peak is taken as the footprint of Adam, Buddha or Shiva by Muslims, Buddhists and Hindus.)
At Tsodilo Hills, there was a chamber in which a shaman could hide. And he was probably naked. According to anthropologists, clothing was invented around that time in climates far colder than Botswana.
The San people of the Kalahari desert, also known as Bushmen, San, Basarwa, ǃKung or Khwe date far back in pre-history to at least 22,000 b.c. and by genetic evidence, are one of the oldest peoples of the world. They had an advanced culture 20,000 years ago. They call themselves "the first people," and may be right. As late as 1962, nakedness was common among the Nuer and San peoples.
In San religion a shaman enters trance to consult with "power animals." The San "Trickster" god seems similar to Shiva, the "wild god of power and ecstasy." In art, Shiva is depicted with a snake. In India, there are Naga: Naked Indian ascetics who worship Siva. "Naga" means a snake being that is associated with the elixir of life and immortality. One of the names of Siva is दिगम्बर or Digambara, Dik = Clothes, Ambara = Sky; a Sanskrit term for "clothed with the sky," i.e naked. Digambar is the name of one of the two Jain sects and also also one of the names of Siva.
The first or cosmic man in the Upanishads is the giant Purusha. In Samkhya, a school of Hindu philosophy, Purusha is pure consciousness, thought to be our true identity, and contrasted with Prakrti, or the material world.
Similarly, Samantabhadra or the Bodhisattva Universal Goodness (Tibetan Buddhism, Lotus and Flower Ornament Sutra) is a naked blue Buddha who represents ultimate reality: "Among those esoteric traditions that treat Samantabhadra as the Primordial Buddha, he is always represented naked, with a dark blue body, in union with his consort Samantabhadi."
"Samantabhadra is looked upon in certain Tantric Buddhist sects as the Primordial Buddha, awakened since the very beginning. Certain of the Yogacara sects claim that Samantabhadra, instead of Vairocana, is the founder of the Yoga system, and look upon him as a divinity of religious ecstasy. Those who practice ecstatic meditation in Japanese esoteric schools regard him as a special divinity central to their practice."
The name Samantabhadra = Saman hymn ? + Bhadra Auspicious?
The Samaveda "consists chiefly of hymns to be chanted by the Udgatar priests at the performance of those important sacrifices in which the juice of the Soma plant, clarified and mixed with milk and other ingredients, was offered in libation to various deities."
As cosmic person, Samantabhadra shrank from cosmic proportions to human size: "The Bodhisattva Universal Virtue is boundless in the size of his body, boundless in the sound of his voice, and boundless in the form of his imate. Desiring to come to this world, he makes use of his free trancendent powers and shrinks his stature to the small size [of a human being]."
The Threefold Lotus Sutra: The Sutra of Meditation on the Bodhisattva Universal Virtue pp. 348 - 349
As Samantabhadra is shown with his consort Samantabhadri, Shiva is said to have shared half of His body for Shakti and is known as ardhanarishwara (half woman, half man.) Shiva is said to have shared half of His body with Shakti and is known as Ardhanarishwara (half woman, half man) in this form.
In "Tree of Souls: The Mythology of Judaism," 160 p. 129 - 130
Adam the Giant: Adam was as tall as the sky. The angels complained, and God reduced him to human stature. also: 162, Adam's body of light: when Adam's brightness vanished, he was naked.
In Sri Lanka, At Sri Pada or "Adam's Peak" Sinhalese Samanalakanda "butterfly mountain" in Tamil Shivanolipatha Malai and Shiva padam, there is a rock formation with an indentation resembling a foot at the top. The foot is variously taken as the footprint of Adam, Buddha or Shiva. Saman is the local deity of the place.
It would be interesting to investigate, for example, the roots of the words for naked and serpent. In the Hebrew bible, Nakedness and the serpent are associated through a pun:
- aw-rome nude or naked
and
- aw-room subtil.
"... and they shall be one flesh, and they were both naked (6174 aw-rome),
the man and his wife, and they were not ashamed." Gen 2:24-2:25 6174
also, maybe there is a connection with the serpent here:
6191, 6192 aram - prim root; to make bare, smoothness, cunning, prudent, gather together
6193 orem - strategem, craftiness
Now the serpent was more subtil (Gen. 3:1 6175 aw-room cunning, crafty, prudent, subtil) Note: 5904 is Iyr Nachash: city of a serpent Serpent in Genesis - 5175 Nachash - snake, serpent hiss, to whisper a magic spell, prognosticate, divine, enchanter, diligently observe Matthew 10:16 3789 "be ye therefore wise as serpents and harmless as doves" (Greek ophis - sharp vision, snake, sly cunning person
Also, Moses compatriots were apt to get naked at the most inconvenient times: "Moses saw that the people were naked ... "
Ex 32:25 6544 paw-rah loosen, expose, make naked.
Friday, March 30, 2007
They was a brave on a ridge, against the sun
In "The Grapes of Wrath," an anecdote is told at a campfire by an old man who fought in "Indian Wars" and was a recruit against Geronimo:
"They was a brave on a ridge, against the sun. Knowed he stood out. Spread his arms an' stood. Naked as morning, an' against the sun. Maybe he was crazy. I don' know. Stood there, arms spread out; like a cross he looked. Four hundred yards. An' the men--well, they raised their sights an' they felt the wind with their fingers; an' then they jus' lay there an' couldn' shoot. Maybe that Injun knowed somepin. Knowed we couldn' shoot. Jes laid there with the rifles cocked, an didn' even put 'em to our shoulders. Lookin at him. Head-band, one feather. Could see it, an' naked as the sun. Long time we laid there an' looked, an' he never moved. An' then the captain got mad. "Shoot, you crazy bastards, shoot!" he yells. An' we jus' laid there. "I'll give you to a five-count, an' then mark you down," the captain says. Well, sir--we put up our rifles slow, an' ever' man hoped some-body'd shoot first. I ain't never been so sad in my life. An' I laid my sights on his belly, 'cause you can't stop a Injun no other place--an'--then. Well, he just plunkered down an' rolled. An' we went up. An' he wasn' big--he'd looked so grand--up there. All tore to pieces an' little. Ever see a cock pheasant, stiff and beautiful, ever' featrher drewed an' painted, an' even his eyes drawed in pretty? An' bang! you pick him up--bloody and twisted, an' you spoiled somepin better'n you; an eatin' him don't never make it up to you, 'cause you spoiled somepin in yaself, an' you can't never fix it up." And the people nodded, and perhaps the fire spurted a little light and showed their eyes looking in on themselves." Against the sun, with his arms out. An he looked big--as God." Chapter 23 page 419.
I wonder what's Steinbeck's source for this anecdote? Could the braves behavior have been related to the Ghost Dance, an Indian religious movement that was influenced by Christianity? The Ghost Dance was described at the time by James Mooney. Later, the anthropologist Weston LaBarre wrote a book with the same title, describing similar movements, sometimes involving nudity, occuring among defeated peoples around the world.
"They was a brave on a ridge, against the sun. Knowed he stood out. Spread his arms an' stood. Naked as morning, an' against the sun. Maybe he was crazy. I don' know. Stood there, arms spread out; like a cross he looked. Four hundred yards. An' the men--well, they raised their sights an' they felt the wind with their fingers; an' then they jus' lay there an' couldn' shoot. Maybe that Injun knowed somepin. Knowed we couldn' shoot. Jes laid there with the rifles cocked, an didn' even put 'em to our shoulders. Lookin at him. Head-band, one feather. Could see it, an' naked as the sun. Long time we laid there an' looked, an' he never moved. An' then the captain got mad. "Shoot, you crazy bastards, shoot!" he yells. An' we jus' laid there. "I'll give you to a five-count, an' then mark you down," the captain says. Well, sir--we put up our rifles slow, an' ever' man hoped some-body'd shoot first. I ain't never been so sad in my life. An' I laid my sights on his belly, 'cause you can't stop a Injun no other place--an'--then. Well, he just plunkered down an' rolled. An' we went up. An' he wasn' big--he'd looked so grand--up there. All tore to pieces an' little. Ever see a cock pheasant, stiff and beautiful, ever' featrher drewed an' painted, an' even his eyes drawed in pretty? An' bang! you pick him up--bloody and twisted, an' you spoiled somepin better'n you; an eatin' him don't never make it up to you, 'cause you spoiled somepin in yaself, an' you can't never fix it up." And the people nodded, and perhaps the fire spurted a little light and showed their eyes looking in on themselves." Against the sun, with his arms out. An he looked big--as God." Chapter 23 page 419.
I wonder what's Steinbeck's source for this anecdote? Could the braves behavior have been related to the Ghost Dance, an Indian religious movement that was influenced by Christianity? The Ghost Dance was described at the time by James Mooney. Later, the anthropologist Weston LaBarre wrote a book with the same title, describing similar movements, sometimes involving nudity, occuring among defeated peoples around the world.
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
Maitri Upanishad IV
Maitri Upanishad IV:
"When, making the mind thoroughly firm,
Free from laxity and distraction,
One reaches a state without mind,
That is the highest state.
The mind should be kept in check
Until it has dissolved into the heart:
This is both knowledge and liberation.
The rest is multiplication of books.
The bliss that the stainless consciousness, washed by
concentration,
May have when it has been brought into the self
Cannot be described by speech:
It is experienced directly through the inner organ.
Water in water, fire in fire,
Or space in space cannot be made out:
Just so the one whose mind has gone within
Is completely freed.
For human beings the mind is cause
Of bondage and freedom.
When attached to objects, it brings bondage:
When without object, it brings freedom, so it
is recorded."
"When, making the mind thoroughly firm,
Free from laxity and distraction,
One reaches a state without mind,
That is the highest state.
The mind should be kept in check
Until it has dissolved into the heart:
This is both knowledge and liberation.
The rest is multiplication of books.
The bliss that the stainless consciousness, washed by
concentration,
May have when it has been brought into the self
Cannot be described by speech:
It is experienced directly through the inner organ.
Water in water, fire in fire,
Or space in space cannot be made out:
Just so the one whose mind has gone within
Is completely freed.
For human beings the mind is cause
Of bondage and freedom.
When attached to objects, it brings bondage:
When without object, it brings freedom, so it
is recorded."
Sunday, July 23, 2006
Kingdoms apocalyptic and sapiential
Among scholars who study the "historical Jesus," there seem to be two views. Bart Ehrman calls Jesus an "Apocalyptic prophet" who expected the imminent end of history. Earthly, human kingdoms and empires would be no more, and God's imperial rule would commence, and this would happen real soon now. You have to search no farther than your television to find people still expecting it!
John Dominic Crossan, however, argues for a sapiential kingdom of God, in which "the Kingdom of God is within you." According to this view, the kingdom is similar to the Buddhist nirvana. According to a Zen saying, "Nirvana is Samsara fully realized; Samsara is Nirvana rightly understood."
Now what interests me is that two such scholars and historians as Ehrman and Crossan could come to such diametrically opposite conclusions. Maybe Christianity and the teachings of Jesus are susceptible of both interpretations, like the trick drawing that is either of a young or an old woman, depending on how you look at it.
Even if Jesus did not expect the imminent end of history, Paul and other early Christians did. This is confirmed by scholarly criteria such as multiple attestation. But later new testament texts, as well as the Coptic Gospel of Thomas, downplay the imminent aspect of the kingdom. Maybe early Christians got tired of waiting and turned to ideas from hellenistic and Jewish mysticism, hence Gnosticism.
So a task for further research: the extent to which ideas from the East, like the Hellenistic Indo-Greek and Greco-Buddhist kingdoms influenced early Christianity. The last Indo-Greek Kingdom was overturned in 10 a.d. It is quite possible that Buddhist missionaries scattered along the Silk Road to Antioch and Sephoris, where early Christians would easily have come in contact with them.
John Dominic Crossan, however, argues for a sapiential kingdom of God, in which "the Kingdom of God is within you." According to this view, the kingdom is similar to the Buddhist nirvana. According to a Zen saying, "Nirvana is Samsara fully realized; Samsara is Nirvana rightly understood."
Now what interests me is that two such scholars and historians as Ehrman and Crossan could come to such diametrically opposite conclusions. Maybe Christianity and the teachings of Jesus are susceptible of both interpretations, like the trick drawing that is either of a young or an old woman, depending on how you look at it.
Even if Jesus did not expect the imminent end of history, Paul and other early Christians did. This is confirmed by scholarly criteria such as multiple attestation. But later new testament texts, as well as the Coptic Gospel of Thomas, downplay the imminent aspect of the kingdom. Maybe early Christians got tired of waiting and turned to ideas from hellenistic and Jewish mysticism, hence Gnosticism.
So a task for further research: the extent to which ideas from the East, like the Hellenistic Indo-Greek and Greco-Buddhist kingdoms influenced early Christianity. The last Indo-Greek Kingdom was overturned in 10 a.d. It is quite possible that Buddhist missionaries scattered along the Silk Road to Antioch and Sephoris, where early Christians would easily have come in contact with them.
Hesychasm and Meditation
Sustained single-minded focus is what works.
From Wikipedia:
This practice of the Eastern Orthodox Church is very similar to the Pure Land Buddhist practice.
From Wikipedia:
"Hesychastic practice involves acquiring an inner stillness and ignoring the physical senses. In this, Hesychasm shows its roots in Evagrius Pontikos and even in the Greek tradition of asceticism going back to Plato. The Hesychast interprets Christ's injunction in the Gospel of Matthew to "go into your closet to pray", to mean that he should ignore the senses and withdraw inward. St John of Sinai writes: "Hesychasm is the enclosing of the bodiless mind (nous) in the bodily house of the body." (Ladder, Step 27, 5, (Step 27, 6 in the Holy Transfiguration edition).)"
"While he maintains his practice of the Jesus Prayer, which becomes automatic and continues twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, the Hesychast cultivates sobriety (Gr. nepsis). Sobriety is the mental ascesis described above that rejects the tempting thoughts; it puts a great emphasis on focus and attention. The Hesychast is to pay extreme attention to the consciousness of his inner world and to the words of the Jesus Prayer, not letting his mind wander in any way at all."
"The goal at this stage is a practice of the Jesus Prayer with the mind in the heart, which practice is free of images (see Pros Theodoulon). What this means is that by the exercise of sobriety (the mental ascesis against tempting thoughts), the Hesychast arrives at a continual practice of the Jesus Prayer with his mind in his heart and where his consciousness is no longer encumbered by the spontaneous inception of images: his mind has a certain stillness and emptiness that is punctuated only by the eternal repetition of the Jesus Prayer."
This practice of the Eastern Orthodox Church is very similar to the Pure Land Buddhist practice.
"Some Pure Land Buddhists have taught that in order for a devotee to be reborn in Amitabha's Western Paradise or Western Pureland, they should chant or repeat a mantra or prayer to Amitabha as often as possible to reinforce a proper and sincere state of mind"
