Vibhajjavada and Sarvāstivāda: Analysing the Heart Sutra from Theravadin Perspective—Part 11

5.1. Vibhajjavāda vs Sarvāstivāda

Āṇi Sutta

Sarvāstivāda

In future time, there will be bhikkhus who will not listen to the utterance of such discourses which are words of the Tathāgata, profound, profound in meaning, leading beyond the world, (consistently) connected with emptiness, they will not lend ear, they will not apply their mind on knowledge, they will not consider those teachings as to be taken up and mastered.

Vibhajjavada

Thus, bhikkhus, the discourses which are words of the Tathāgata, profound, profound in meaning, leading beyond the world, (consistently) connected with emptiness, will disappear.

• Suññatā, (f.) (abstr. fr. suñña) emptiness, “void, ” unsubstantiality, phenomenality; freedom from lust, ill-will, and dullness, Nibbāna
• MAJJHIMA NIKĀYA III: Kāyagatāsatisuttaṃ Kayagatasati: Ten benefits of Kayagatasati:

Bhikkhus, mindfulness of the body in the body, practised, developed, made much, made the vehicle, made the foundation, indulged in the practise with aroused effort, I declare ten benefits. What are the ten?

• ākiñcañña-āyatana: The sense of nothingness
  • One is to sense nothing in this formless jhana (outside the five senses)

Vibhajjavadis (Theravadis) follow the Dhamma-Vinaya Sasana established by the Buddha.

5.1.1. The meaning of "great vehicle"

Nagarjuna explains in the Maha Prajnaparamita Sastra the meaning of Mahayana.

[Prajnaparamita (CONZE page 32):]
1 . Its Constituents :
(a) Six Perfections.
(b) 20 Kinds of Emptiness.
(c) 112 Concentrations.
(d) 21 Practices.
(e) 43 Dharani-doors.
(f) 10 Stages.

1. Three questions concerning the great vehicle.
   
2. Why the "Great Vehicle" is so called.
   

• Mahāprajñāpāramitāsūtra presents the 10 stages of bodhisattva career. Lankavatara presents the ten stages of bodhisattva nirvana. Lotus does not but it shares Anuttarasamyaksambodhi, the concept presented by Mahāprajñāpāramitāsūtra. Lankavatara does not.

[Prajnaparamita (CONZE page 577):] Gradually they are nirvanized in the realm of Nirvana which leaves nothing behind and that through the three vehicles, i.e. the Disciple-vehicle, the Pratyekabuddha-vehicle, or the great vehicle. It is thus that Bodhisattvas achieve much good when they raise their thought to the supreme enlightenment and progress to Thusness, etc. to : until they win final Nirvana in the realm of Nirvana which leaves nothing behind.

• All the three vehicles can reach the realm of Nirvana.
• Bodhisattvas achieve much good for what? What is it necessary: the appraisal of the public or Mahayanist ego?
• Mahayanists with Sarvāstivādi sutras did not understand their goal clearly. They chose one or mixed some and could not stop developing new schools.
• Vibhajjavada is one school with some branches. Some value the branches. Some value the Dhamma-Vinaya.

Ādhārayogasthāna

The Yogācārin mahayana advocates for Buddhahood but does not accept everyone can become a Buddha:

Yogasthāna one is titled the section on the basis (ādhārayogasthāna) because it deals with the basis (ādhāra) for becoming a bodhisattva (topic 1). There are three main aspects of the basis of a bodhisattva. The first is an inborn unique predisposition (svagotra) for the bodhisattva path, those who lack this are said to be unable to reach Buddhahood. The second is "the basis of initially engendering the resolve to reach Buddhahood (prathamaś cittotpādaḥ), which refers to arousing bodhicitta, practicing the perfections for the benefit of oneself and others, and so forth. The third is "the basis of practicing all the factors leading to Awakening" (sarve bodhipakṣyā dharmāḥ).^\82]) [Yogācārabhūmi-Śāstra (wiki)]

On the other hand, chanting the name of Amitabha (Avalokiteśvara) alone is enough for a place in heaven:

if we can recite Namo Amitabha Buddha exclusively, we will have grasped the essence of the Dharma [...] It doesn’t matter if a person is of superior, intermediate or inferior ability, intelligent or dull, literate or illiterate, male or female, young or old, worthy or unworthy – anyone who recites will achieve rebirth [and then Buddhahood in the Pure Land]. Such certainty does not apply to practitioners of other schools [although our Buddha Amitabha and bodhisattvas have mercy for all of you]. [A Discourse by Dharma Master Huijing Amitabha-Recitation Society, Tainan, Taiwan; March 10, 2007]

Mahayanist Scriptures

Some early authors of the Savāstivādi/Mahayanist sutras were Mādhyamika, Nāgārjuna, Vasubandhu, etc. However, the authors of the Heart Sutra (Prajñāpāramitāhṛdayasūtra) is not known, forgotten or revealed.

in his Treasury and Twenty Verses arguments, Vasubandhu argues that naïvely to require that all scriptures be interpreted literally is to insist that the Buddha repeatedly contradicted himself. He cites many internal references to lost or unknown texts, and argues that this shows that no lineage or school can claim to have a complete canon. Unlike his Mādhyamika opponents, Vasubandhu believes that the Mahāyāna Sūtras must be read under a “special intention [abhiprāya],” so as to prevent the danger of nihilism. [Vasubandhu: 3. Approaches to Scriptural Interpretation (Jonathan C. Gold)]

• That is the background of the Savāstivādi/Mahayanist scriptures. They understood their scriptures were not flawless and reliable.
  • Ancient intellects with good intentions analysed the TiPitaka to find flaws.
  • King Milinda created several questions, and the Venerable Nagasena Mahathera answered them and removed doubts from the mind of the king. He followed the Buddha and became a member of the Sangha.
• so as to prevent the danger of nihilism: But it is eternalism (sassatavāda), of "outside agent" (Ephesians 5:18: be filled in the Spirit)

The outside agent

[Ephesians 5:18 (Eddie Rasnake):] being “filled with the Spirit” involves the Spirit getting you. Paul contrasts being drunk on wine with being filled with the Spirit. In both cases, an outside agent is influencing the person. With both, it is initiated by an act of the will, and both are results of the outside agent’s work on the inside. With wine, it is alcohol released from the stomach into the bloodstream and brain. With filling, it is the already present Spirit released into all parts of the body. Both result in altered personalities consistent with the altering agent.

• The ten-stage bodhisattva training comprises “filled with the Spirit” and "result in altered personalities"
• “filled with the Spirit”: the Tathagata's universalized life as manifested in its transformations
• "result in altered personalities": he no longer lives unto himself

[Lanka Chapter 13:] In the perfect self-realization of Noble Wisdom that fallows the inconceivable transformation death of the Bodhisattva's individualized will-control, he no longer lives unto himself, but the life that he lives thereafter is the Tathagata's universalized life as manifested in its transformations. In this perfect self-realization of Noble Wisdom the Bodhisattva realizes that for the Buddhas there is no Nirvana.

• for the Buddhas there is no Nirvana: they become Buddhas because the original Tathagata (the Spirit) fills the completely. Thus, both Amitabha Buddha and Avalokiteśvara are forms and names only, as the same original Tathagata is in them—form is empiness/empty; emptiness is form. That Tathagata is emptiness.

Magic and Witchcraft

A magazine interviewed a famous Theravada monk Thit-cha-taung Sayadaw U Tiloka about witch-craft and possession. The Sayadaw explained a fine-particle body of a paranormal being can possess and unpossess a coarse-particle human body just the way milk and water can merge and unmerge, and a flame can move through metal mesh without destroying each other. The fine-particle body can occupy the spaces inside a coarse-particle body. The paranormal being can possess a human or animal by suppressing consciousness that resides around the chest. The possessed becomes totally unconscious and unaware of the situation. Such a paranormal being can be parasitic.
The fine-particles like the cool-therm (sita tejo) can pass through a coarse-particle body. We can see the sita tejo as shadow or the dark when the light is off. All beings on the Earth are made of the fine or coarse particles (the different forms of the four mahabhuta).

There are thus two types of tejo and sita tejo. Utu (climate) is another name for tejo. When the body and environs are cool, sita tejo pervades the entire atmosphere. When hot, unha tejo does the same. If this tejo dhatu is hot when it should be hot and cool when it is the time for cool season, we have healthy climate. In our bodies if tejo is moderate we are healthy; if not we are sick; if in excess we die. [Abhidhamma in Daily Life (Ashin Janakabhivamsa): Part 1 - The Four Fundamental Elements]

• One feels comfortable when sita tejo (cool therm) and unha tejo (hot therm) are in balance. When sita tejo is more, it is cold. When unha tejo is more, it is hot. It should not feel anything in a vacuum. However, sita tejo is everywhere. Unha tejo can be blocked by objects. Sita tejo can go through objects and be seen as shade and shadow.

The paranormal being like gandhabba devas (translated as fairy) can come and dwell with their mansions inside humans, like a tree-spirit in a tree. A gandhabba deva can be summoned and made to come and reside inside a human body. That is not a type of possession. Either way, the individuals with gandhabba devas dwelling inside them can get a share of the deva's supernatural power to perform (extraordinary) magic, witchery, etc., These individuals with such power can follow the amoral path to hurt others or the moral path to treat or help those attacked/hurt by those from the lower path. Not all gandhabba are good devas. They would not come and reside in a human unless they can get something back.
The Vinaya prohibits the bhikkhus from using these devas, performing magic and fortune-telling.
Think Again Before You Dismiss Magic (Roger R. Jackson): An article on the Lion's Rore (a Buddhist website) explores the practice of magic and spell in the Buddhist world. The author argues for the practice of magic and spell. He asked a young Siri Lankan bhikkhu, who replied, "That is not [Theravada] Buddhism."

"Magic is our shared heritage.” — Sam van Schaik

• Why isn't Buddhism our shared heritage, too?
• Shouldn't the practice of vipassana be our shared heritage?
• Rather vipassanā-ñāṇa (insight knowledge) should be our shared heritage.
• The fact is gandhabba devas do not enjoy the Dhamma.

In the Atanatiya Sutta (D.iii.203, 204) the Gandhabbas are mentioned among those likely to trouble monks and nuns in their meditations in solitude.

• Practicing magic, spell and witchcraft is not Buddhism. Theravadi bhikkhus do not let the gandhabbas reside inside their bodies.
• In the Theravadi countries, some bhikkhus treat the patients suffering from spells, possession, and magic.
• Taung Twin Sayadaw Khin Gyi Phyaw (a book written in Burmese);
• The same book: တောင်တွင်းဆရာတော်ခင်ကြီးဖျော် - ကဝေသာရကျမ်း.pdf;

Alavaka Yakkha

Alavaka Sutta: DISCOURSE TO ALAVAKA: The seventh question of Alavaka: Who is tactful and energetic, And gains wealth by his own effort. The Buddha's answer: Fame will he acquire by truth, And friendship by his giving.

Understanding the meaning of the Buddha's words, Alavaka said, "Now I know what is the secret of my future welfare. It is for my own welfare and good that the Buddha came to Alavi." Alavaka prostrated before the Buddha and begged to be accepted as a disciple. [Life of the Buddha: 10. Alavaka, the Demon (Buddha Net)]

• Buddhists celebrate the taming of the Alavaka Yakkha as one of the eight glorious victories of the Buddha.

Mass Conversion (Dhammābhisamaya)
[King of Alavi] with his hosts of ministers, troops and were joined by the citizens of Āḷavi who did obeisance to the Buddha and sat down around him and asked: “Exalted Buddha, how could you tame such a wild and cruel ogre?”
The Buddha then delivered the aforesaid Āḷavaka Sutta in twelve verses in which He started His narration with the attack made by the ogre and went on relating in detail: “In this manner did he rain nine kinds of weapons, in this manner did he exhibit horrible things, in this manner did he put questions to me, in this manner did I answer his questions.” By the end of the discourse eighty-four thousand sentient beings realized the Four Truths and found emancipation.
Regular Offerings made to The Ogre
Now King Āḷavaka and the citizens of Āḷavi built a shrine for the ogre Āḷavaka, near the (original) shrine of Vessavana Deva King. And they regularly made to the ogre, offerings worthy of divine beings (devatabali) such as flowers, perfumes, etc. [The Great Chronicle of Buddhas (Ven. Mingun Sayadaw): Part 4 - Taming of Āḷavaka the Ogre]

The birth of all things

'The external agent' rejects upadana-paccaya bhavo (life arises due to clinging), as the Buddha stated in the Paticcasamuppada.

[Lanka Chapter 3:] They foster the notion that the birth of all things is derived from the concept of being and non-being, and fail to regard it as it truly is, as caused by attachments to the multitudiousness which arises from discriminations of the mind itself.

• How do such attachments act as the reasons for the birth of all things (all dharmas: living and nonliving, physical and abstract)?
• Lankavatara: the mind's discrimination and false imagination—but what is the mind?

[Lanka Chapter 3:] When objects are not seen and judged as they truly are in themselves, there is discrimination and clinging to the notions of being and non-being, and individualized self-nature, and as long as these notions of individuality and self-nature persist, the philosophers are bound to explain the external world by a law of causation.

• The individualized self-nature can be understood as atta, which the Sakyamuni rejects.
• Svabhāva-Śūnya (empty/emptiness of self-nature) is used to reject the individualized self-nature or self, which is however replaced with buddha-self (buddha-self-nature).
• The Savāstivādi/Mahayanist scriptures replaces atta with svabhāva (sabhāva) without rejecting its meaning. That atta is the atta (buddha-sabhāva) of the original Tathagata, who is presented by Lankavatara.
• Thus, Svabhāva-Śūnya does not represent anattavada (Dhamma-Vinaya/Vibhajjavada).

5.1.2. Heart Sutra: Background

Heart Sutra (Prajñāpāramitāhṛdaya) is believed composed in the Kushan Empire in the 1st century CE.

[Heart (Red, page 21):] since the Heart Sutra was clearly organized as a response to the teachings of the Sarvastivadins, it was probably a Sarvastivadin monk (or former Sarvastivadin monk) in this region who composed the Heart Sutra upon realizing the limitations of the Sarvastivadin Abhidharma

• For some reasons, the Heart Sutra author(s) brought the Venerable Sariputta into the scene inferior to a bodhisattva, who was equipped with the knowledge invented by the Sarvāstivādis.
• The Heart Sutra is a mantra. Mantra was originally developed by the Brahmins and the Jains.

[Heart (Centre):] Hear then the great dharani, The radiant peerless mantra, The Prajnaparamita...

• dharani: [Red Pine (wiki)] mantra and dharani were originally interchangeable, but at some point dhāraṇī came to be used for meaningful, intelligible phrases, and mantra for syllabic formulae which are not meant to be understood.

5.1.3. Jñānapāramitā vs Prajñāpāramitā

The Savāstivādi/Mahayanist scriptures present two sets of pāramitā. For the concept of Avalokiteśvara, they present the set of six pāramitās, excluding Jñānapāramitā.

[Heart (Red page 5-6):] Whoever the author was, he begins by calling upon Avalokiteshvara, Buddhism's most revered bodhisattva, to introduce the teaching of Prajnaparamita, the Perfection of Wisdom, to the Buddha's wisest disciple, Shariputra. Avalokiteshvara then shines the light of this radical form of wisdom on the major approaches to reality used by the Sarvastivadins, the most prominent Buddhist sect in Northern India and Central Asia two thousand years ago, and outlines the alternative approach of the Prajnaparamita. Finally, Avalokiteshvara also provides a key by means of which we can call this teaching to mind and unlock its power on our behalf

• the author was certainly not the Sakyamuni, nor Nāgarjuna, but unknown one(s) who probably wanted to remain secret.
• the author(s) were Sarvāstivādi scholars obviously, the pseudo-bhikkhus who will not listen to the utterance of such discourses which are words of the Tathāgata (Āṇi Sutta).
• Avalokiteshvara (Avalokiteśvara), Buddhism's most revered bodhisattva is unknown in the Pali Canon.
• What is reality used by the Sarvastivadins? It is emptiness—[as per Heart (Dharmanet),] the futility of any concept to accurately express the nature [svabhāva] of reality [the original Tathagata (citta-matrata)].

5.1.4. Prajñā in place of Jñāna:

[Heart (Red continues)] The basis for this reformulation is the teaching of prajna in place of jnana, or wisdom rather than knowledge.

• Nāgārjuna may reject jñāna (the 10th pāramitā) to allow Avalokiteśvara keep the bodhisattva ideal according to Mahāprajñāpāramitāsūtra.
• Both Mahāprajñāpāramitāsūtra and Lankavatara were composed in 100CE. They share the concept of prajna as understanding emptiness and as a pāramitā.

What is prajñā (perfect wisdom)?

[Prajnaparamita (CONZE page 56):] The Lord: Here the Bodhisattva, the great being, coursing in the perfection of wisdom, truly a Bodhisattva, does not review a Bodhisattva, nor the word "Bodhisattva", nor the course of a Bodhisattva, (nor the perfection of wisdom, nor the word "perfection of wisdom". He does not review that "he courses", nor that "he does not course"). He does not review form, feeling, perception, formative forces, or consciousness. (P38) And why? Because the Bodhisattva, the great being, is actually empty of the own-being of a Bodhisattva, and because perfect wisdom is by its own-being empty.

• Lankavatara also advocates for the giving up of individualised will-control.
• Do these two sutras advocate for 'Blank Mind'?
  • [Nayaswami Asha:] diminishing self-control and awareness by drugs or alcohol, or deliberately reducing your will power and blanking the mind, can be a way of opening the door for someone else to move in. [A Blank Mind: Dangerous or Desirable?]
• When buddha-nature (mind/awareness) is cleared and developed, the bodhisattva is no longer living for himself, according to Lankavatara.
• Citta-matrata (mind-only) means the lack of physical body, which the mind needs for interaction and emancipation.

[Prajnaparamita (CONZE page 189):] a Bodhisattva who courses towards enlightenment. If, when this is being expounded, the thought of a Bodhisattva does not become cowed, stolid, or regretful, and if his mind does not tremble, is not frightened, nor terrified, then that Bodhisattva, that great being courses in perfect wisdom. [...] It is because of the nonbeingness, the emptiness, the isolatedness of a being, because of the absence of an own-being in it, that a Bodhisattva does not approach (a Bodhi-being) at the beginning, at the end, or in the middle. And why? Because as a result of the nonbeingness of a being, its emptiness, its isolatedness, and the absence of own-being in it one cannot apprehend its beginning, etc.

• Emptiness is a result of the nonbeingness of a being.

[Lanka Chapter 2:] you and all Bodhisattvas should discipline yourselves in the realization and patience acceptance of the truths of the emptiness, un-bornness, no self-natureness, and the non-duality of all things.

Defining prajñā:

[Lanka Chapter 3:] By emptiness in the highest sense of the emptiness of Ultimate Reality is meant that in the attainment of inner self-realization of Noble Wisdom [āryajñāna] there is no trace of habit-energy generated by erroneous conceptions...

• Prajñā means emptiness in the highest sense...

[Prajñā) (Buddhism) (Williams):] prajñā according to Mahayana Prajñāpāramitā sutras is ultimately the state of understanding emptiness (śūnyatā).^\16])#cite_note-:6-16) [What is Prajna? (cont.) (FoGuangPedia):] Prajna is understanding the inherent emptiness of dependent origination, and knowing that true emptiness is only possible because of wondrous existence. [Prajñā) (Hinduism):] Prajña or Pragya is used to refer to the highest and purest form of wisdom,

• Prajñā and jñāna (knowledge) are similar. Jñāna (knowledge) can replace prajñā to describe the same thing.
• Hypothesis: Prajñā in Hinduism is why prajñā became the most important in Mahayana to reject jñāna (knowledge) and Vibhajjavāda.

Prajñā cannot replace Jñāna

Lankavatara presents its Noble Wisdom as perfect-knowledge (jnana) in Chapter 4, 11 and 12. Lankavatara does not consider prajñā as wisdom.

[Lanka Chapter 4:] There are four kinds of Knowledge: Appearance-knowledge, relative-knowledge, perfect-knowledge, and Transcendental Intelligence [...] Perfect-knowledge belongs to the world of the Bodhisattvas who recognize that all things are but manifestations of mind; who clearly understand the emptiness, the un-borness [...] and is the pathway and entrance into the exalted state of self-realization of Noble Wisdom. Perfect-knowledge (jnana) belongs to the Bodhisattvas who are entirely free from the dualism of being and non-being, no-birth and no-annihilation, [...] To them the world is like a vision and a dream, it is like the birth and death of a barren-woman's child; to them there is nothing evolving and nothing disappearing. The wise who cherish Perfect-knowledge, may be divided into three classes, disciples, masters and Arhats. [...] Arhats rise when the error of all discrimination is realized. Error being discriminated by the wise turns into Truth by virtue of the "turning-about" that takes place within the deepest consciousness. Mind, thus emancipated, enters into perfect self-realization of Noble Wisdom.
[Lanka Chapter 11:] The Blessed One replied: The Bodhisattvas are those earnest disciples who are enlightened by reason of their efforts to attain self-realization of Noble Wisdom and who have taken upon themselves the task of enlightening others. They have gained a clear understanding of the truth that all things are empty, un-born, and of a maya-like nature; [...] and they are abiding in the perfect-knowledge that they have gained by self-realization of Noble Wisdom.

• Avalokiteśvara's discovery of Svabhāva-Śūnya (Maya)

[Lanka Chapter 12:] Second, as Jnana, [Dhammakaya] is the mind-world and its principle of the intellection and consciousness. Third as Dristi, it is the realm of dualism which is the physical world of birth and death wherein are manifested all the differentiation, desire, attachment and suffering.

• [Lanka Chapter 4:] Ones who have perfected jnana are who clearly understand the emptiness,
• [Lanka Chapter 11:] They have gained a clear understanding of the truth that all things are empty [...] they are abiding in the perfect-knowledge that they have gained by self-realization of Noble Wisdom.
• [Lanka Chapter 12:] Jnana is Dhammakaya.

Prajñāpāramitā

To reach āryajñāna (the Noble Wisdom), Lankavatara chapter 11 recommends "to practice the six Paramitas" which are presented in Lanka chapter 9 as charity, good behavior, patience, zeal, thoughtfulness and wisdom.
Lankavatara does not recognise jñānapāramitā, nor āryajñāna as a paramita. Nevertheless, Nāgārjuna presents Daśapāramitā (दशपारमिता) (the “ten perferctions”) in the Dharma-saṃgraha (section 18), including 5) dhyāna-meditation, 6) prajñā-wisdom, and 10) jñāna-knowledge.
If Nāgārjuna authored both the Mahāprajñāpāramitāsūtra and the Dharma-saṃgraha, why did he reject jñānapāramitā? The true author of the Dharma-saṃgraha might be a different Nāgārjuna if Nāgārjuna the author of Mahāprajñāpāramitāsūtra did not present the Daśapāramitā. The four further virtues [were] added later, but the authors are not the famous Nāgārjuna.
Florin Deleanu proposes a hypothesis:

It is not so important whether the content of the four extra perfections, or for that matter the daśapāramitā model itself, was known to the authors of the Ādhārayogasthāna or not. [...] The ten-pāramitā model must have been adopted later, and one of the reasons probably was the introduction of the complex vihāra-based path and the need to have more perfections corresponding, whenever possible, to each major stage. (On the pāramitā-theory in the Bodhisattvabhūmi in general and its influence on later Yogācāra texts, see SHIMIZU, 1987.) [Meditative Practices in the Bodhisattvabhūmi Quest for and Liberation through the Thing-In-Itself (Florin DELEANU. Page 905)]

Ādhārayogasthāna is an invention of the Yogācāra school

[Florin Deleanu (page 884):] The textual history of the Yogācāra tradition begins with the Śrāvakabhūmi, an exposition of the theory and praxis of the spiritual path along lines common to a few Northern Śrāvakayāna schools, most notably the Sarvāstivāda.

The Sarvāstivādis claim Sarvāstivāda was a part of the original Sangha, which they argued with, without ever been a part of it. Thus, their doctrine does not come from the original Dhamma-Vinaya established by the Sakyamuni. Their doctrine existed during the Buddha's time, so it was rejected by the Buddha Himself.
The followers of Lankavatara and Prajñāpāramitāhṛdayasūtra (the mini version of the Mahāprajñāpāramitāsūtra) ignore the āryajñāna (the Noble Wisdom). Instead, they follow Anuttarasamyaksambodhi from the Lotus Sutra but not the Nirvana concept presented by it.
Prajñāpāramitā is the sixth stepping stone to reach Āryajñāna (Noble Knowledge), buddhahood, understanding of emptiness. Prajñā (wisdom) cannot replace jñāna (knowledge) without a successful rebellion.

5.1.5. Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara vs Arhat Śāriputra

[Mahāprajñāpāramitāśāstra (chapter XV): Śāriputra (शारिपुत्र):]“Śāriputra is by far the foremost in wisdom (prajñā). A stanza of the Buddha says: ‘Except for the Buddha Bhagavat, the knowledge (jñāna) of all beings would not equal a sixteenth part compared with the wisdom (prajñā) and learning (bahuśruta) of Śāriputra’”.

• Śāriputra's wisdom is Paṭisambhidā (Analytical understanding). It is not 'understanding the inherent emptiness of dependent origination, and knowing that true emptiness is only possible because of wondrous existence (FoGuangPedia)'.
• wondrous existence is dukkha, too.
• Yet for an obvious reason Avalokiteśvara had to teach wisdom (prajñā) to Śāriputra because his prajñā is not 'understanding the inherent emptiness of dependent origination...

[Buddhāvataṃsaka (the Flower Adornment Sutra):][the Sound Hearers / arhats] constantly dwelling in the reality-limit and ultimate stillness and quietude, they were far removed from great compassion. They forsook living beings and dwelt in their own affairs.

• Mahāprajñāpāramitāśāstra predates Buddhāvataṃsaka. The latter was written for attacking the arhats.
• However, Nāgārjuna was an original thinker of the superior wisdom of the bodhisattvas. He ignored the Tathagatas of the past were Arhats.

[Prajnaparamita (CONZE page 3):] It is then said that the wisdom of a Bodhisattva is superior to that of the Arhats, because in his compassion he puts it at the disposal of all beings, so that they may be able to win Nirvana. This superiority is based on the "thought of enlightenment"

• upadana-nirodha bhava-nirodho: The arahant arises from the cessation of clinging.
• This bodhisattva concept ignores the eradication of anusaya kilesas, which the Sarvastivadis were very much aware of.

and the 6 perfections (P 41), and it finds an expression in the fact that, as the source of all that is good in the world, the Bodhisattvas are worthy of the gifts of all beings, including the Arhats.

• Some Mahayanist sutras insists arhats are not good enough while admitting the Buddhas are arhats.

5.1.6. What Is the Āryajñāna:

[Lanka Chapter 1:] In the days of old the Tathagatas of the past who were Arhats and fully-enlightened Ones came to the Castle of Lanka on Mount Malaya and discoursed on the Truth of Noble Wisdom that is beyond the reasoning knowledge of the philosophers as well as being beyond the understanding of ordinary disciples and masters; and which is realizable only within the inmost consciousness [...] Then said Mahamati the Bodhisattva-Mahasattva: O blessed One, Sugata, Arhat and Fully-Enlightened One, pray tell us about the realization of Noble Wisdom [...] By which, going up continuously by the stages of purification, one enters at last upon the stage of Tathagatahood [...] Mahamati the Bodhisattva-Mahasattva: By Noble Wisdom, going up continuously by the stages of purification, one enters at last upon the stage of Tathagatahood, Noble Wisdom is involved in all the stages of purification

• masters are Paccekabuddhas, whom Lankavatara does not recognise as arhats.
• Mahamati's questions also explain about Noble Wisdom.
• Mahamati the Bodhisattva-Mahasattva: By Noble Wisdom, going up continuously by the stages of purification, one enters at last upon the stage of Tathagatahood,
  • Noble Wisdom is involved in all the stages of purification
• Tathagatahood enables Bodhisattvas-Mahasattvas to bring all beings to the same perfection of virtue.

[Lanka Chapter 13:] Nirvana is the realm of the Dharmata-Buddha; it is where the manifestation of Noble Wisdom that is Buddhahood expresses itself in Perfect Love for all; it is where the manifestation of Perfect Love that is Tathagatahood expresses itself in Noble Wisdom for the enlightenment of all -there, indeed, is Nirvana!

• Noble Wisdom that is Buddhahood expresses itself
  • Nirvana or Tathagatahood are not attainment but rather developments inside a bodhisattva.

Lankavatara presents the āryajñāna as the highest stage that is Tathagatahood that develops within a bodhisattva. Then he should perfect Jñānapāramitā the “perfection of knowledge.” Lankavatara explains about Noble Wisdom from chapter 1 to chapter 13.
Rejecting jñāna is rejecting āryajñāna.

• Prajnaparamita rejects Jñānapāramitā. That is how Nāgārjuna rejects Nāgārjuna— an evidence that indicates Nāgārjuna was a pseudonym of many Nāgārjunas.
• Āryajñāna of Lankavatara is not Anuttarasamyaksambodhi of Lotus, Mahāprajñāpāramitāsūtra and the Heart Sutra (Prajñāpāramitāhṛdayasūtra).
• Rejecting jñāna is to reject āryajñāna and Sabbanuta Ñāna.
• Ñāna (jñāna) means enlightenment in both Vibhajjavāda and Sarvāstivāda.

5.1.7. Sabbanuta Ñāna (Omniscience)

The Great Discourse on the Wheel of Dhamma Part VIII [Buddha Net]

Sammasambodhi is the arahatta magga nana which is attained only by the Buddhas. The Buddhas gain this arahatta magga nana intuitively by their own efforts without any instruction from others. By this nana, they rightly and perfectly know everything because with it arises simultaneously the sabbannuta nana which knows everything.

PIC AND HISTORY Mahidol University Mara tries to prevent the going forth, telling the Prince that in seven days he will inherit an empire; the Prince does not listen

When Prince Siddhattha had ridden the horse through the city gate into the moonlit night, a voice like music arose from close to the city gate. That voice forbade the Prince from going forth.

• Parinimmita-vassavatti is the highest deva realm in the kama-loka (sense-pleasure world, opposed to mind-pleasure brahma-loka).
• Vasavattī is a name given to the Māra, Maradevaputta.

[Mara's visit to deter the Bodhisatta by feigning goodwill in The Great Chronicle of Buddhas (Ven. Mingun Sayadaw):] (...the Mara was in fact just a powerful Deva inhabitant of the Paranimitta Vasavatti Deva world, leading an insurgency there with a large retinue of evil Devas, causing great nuisance to humans, Deva and Brahmas in their performance of meritorious deeds.)

Zen is not based on words. Now I'm sure all of you will say "ah but you're using words! Yes I am very smart". Reddit is based on words. And for the cooler subs, pictures too. They say a picture is worth 1000 words, so wouldnt Zen be based on pictures? Anyway, here's some words about how Zen is not based on words;

And there was another time when I offered our Master a poem I had written. He took it in his hands, but soon sat down and pushed it away. ‘Do you understand?’ he asked. ‘No, Master.’ ‘But wHy don’t you understand? Think a little! If things could be expressed like this with ink and paper, what would be the purpose of a sect like ours?’

Ink and paper covers words and pictures too, I think.

If you produce words on top of words, phrases on top of phrases, ideas on top of ideas, making up explanations and interpretations, you will not only get me bogged down, but you'll also turn your backs on Hsueh Tau. Although old man Hsueh Tau's verse is this way, his intention is not like this. He has never made up principles to bind people.

So even though Zen masters like Xuedou and Yuanwu used words, their intention wasn't for you to get bogged down in them, holding them up like they're worth anything. We know how they felt about their words because of their words. Buts that's because most communication, especially through centuries of time, are based on words. Not Zen, tho. To say Zen is based on anything misses the mark.

If you say words are it, this has no connection; if you say words are not it, this has no connection either.

Watts said something along the lines of "when you get the message, hang up the phone." It's ironic that the kind of people who are adamant that Zen is based on the words of Zen Masters also imply they are the only ones who understand the message. They say that all the buddhists who translate and kept record of the words don't actually understand the message. They say the message is in the 4 statements, or that the message is understood by thinking really hard about what they say. It doesn't take a lot of thinking to understand that words are expedients. They are tools meant to be discarded when the job is done.

Words and speech are just vessels to convey the Path. Far from realizing the intent of the Ancients, people just search in their words; what grasp can they get on it? Haven't you seen how an Ancient said, "Originally the Path is wordless; with words we illustrate the Path. Once you see the Path, the words are immediately forgotten." To get to this point, you must first go back to your own original state.

Is it ironic that the blue cliff record is full of words and yet a bunch of them are about how the words aren't the important part? It's just that forums like reddit, and especially rzen with their ban of image posts, depend and are based on words. But a bunch of you seem to take what they say seriously, except when it comes to forgetting about them and their words? How long will you continue to bury yourself in these words? I read BCR once. I only go back to it to pull these quotes for all the people who demand you quote Zen masters when discussing Zen.

You must avoid turning to the words for your subsistence. Why? What moisture is there in unleavened bread? People often fall back into conceptual consciousness. You must obtain your understanding before the words arise; then the great function will become manifest and you will naturally see it. This is why after old man Shakyamuni had attained the Path in the land of Magadha, he spent three weeks contemplating this matter: "The nature of all things being quiescent extinc-tion cannot be conveyed by words; I would rather not preach the Dharma, but quickly enter nirvana." When he got to this point, even Shakyamuni couldn't find any way to open his mouth. But by virtue of his power of skill in technique, after he had preached to the five mendicants, he went to three hundred and sixty assemblies and expounded the teachings for his age. All these were just expedients. For this reason he had taken off his bejewelled regal garments and put on rough dirty clothing. He could not but turn towards the shallows within the gate of the secondary meaning in order to lead in his various disciples. If we had him face upwards and bring it all up at once, there would hardly be anyone in the whole world (who could under- stand). But tell me, what is the supreme word? At this point Hsueh Tou reveals a little of the meaning to let people see. Just don't see that there are any buddhas above, don't see that there are sentient beings below; don't see that there are mountains, riv- ers, and earth without, and don't see that there are seeing, hearing, discernment, or knowledge within: then you will be like one who has died the great death and then returned to life. With long and short, good and evil, fused into one whole, though you bring them up one by one, you'll no longer see them as different. After that, you'll be able to function respon- sively without losing balance.

Keep talking tho..I enjoy the content.

世尊、因外道問、不問有⾔、不問無⾔。 A non-Buddhist philosopher said to the Buddha, "I do not ask for words; I do not ask for non-words."
世尊據座。 The Buddha just sat there.
外道贊歎云、世尊⼤慈⼤悲、開我迷雲令我得⼊。 The philosopher said admiringly, "The World-honored One, with his great mercy, has blown away the clouds of my illusion and enabled me to enter the Way."
乃具禮⽽去。 And after making bows, he took his leave.
阿難尋問佛、外道有何所證贊歎⽽去。 Then Ananda asked the Buddha, "What did he realize, to admire you so much?"
世尊云、如世良⾺⾒鞭影⽽⾏。 The World-honored One replied, "A fine horse runs even at the shadow of the whip."

Mumon's Comment

無⾨⽈、阿難乃佛弟⼦、宛不如外道⾒解、且道、外道與佛弟⼦相去多少。 Ananda was the Buddha's disciple, but his understanding was not equal to that of the non- Buddhist. I want to ask you, what difference is there between the Buddha's disciple and the non-Buddhist?

Mumon's Verse 頌⽈

劍刃上⾏ On the edge of a sword, 氷綾上⾛ Over the ridge of an iceberg, 不渉階梯 With no steps, no ladders, 懸崖撒⼿ Climbing the cliffs without hands.

One zen denizen recently quoted this with a twist on the historical value of the Buddha. Regarding the case, He asked the question:

the most interesting subset is records about Zen Master Buddha, called Shakyamuni. He was the first Zen Master historically, and nothing is known about him historically. So what are these "records" for in Zen texts?

First of all, a great deal is known about the “historical” Buddha.
It’s safe to say, that despite all lack of evidence, the World Honored One is viewed as more than just a simple “zen master” in the record.
Why else would the zen record include cases that vouch for the Buddha’s authenticity? This case being included in the Wumenguan shows that evidence is not the final metric. Discernment is also a method used to determine if sacred books are valid.

Ananda was the Buddha's disciple, but his understanding was not equal to that of the non- Buddhist.

Here we see verification without proof. Wumen believed that the Buddha and his cousin Ananda were historical. He didn’t need to rely on the written word to understand this, which confirms the 2nd of the Four Statements.

A transmission beyond the written word

Wumen displays his knowledge of the Buddhist hierarchy.
Ananda was a disciple. The one called the non-Buddhist philosopher was an unbeliever .
The hierarchy thus follows: Buddha (the teacher) Ananda (the disciple) The non-Buddhist philosopher (the unbeliever)
This hierarchy carries on till today, though much of the lineage is broken by false teachers. Because there have been “charlatans”, as the Buddha called them, throughout the past and up to now, there is an attempt, by a small group of people, to erase him from the historical record, as if he never existed. But Zen hinges on the reality of the Buddha, as the ancient Chinese writers have made evident through their inclusion of him in their historical record, the Cases.

Talk is cheap. That must be the reason that false apostle Andrew Wommack does so much talking on podcasts, videos, and guest sermons. After all, he’s siphoned his millions by hocking cure-alls and teaching Word of Faith incantations to followers. If his efforts weren’t so insidious, they would be comical in their similarities to a Live Action Role-Playing (LARP) session.
Wommack spews a lot of lies and hate against political opponents, the LGBTQ community, other religions, and people who do not follow his commands (which is an overwhelming majority of the world at-large). He also lends a lot of lip service to walking back his vitriol, without apologizing or admitting he’s wrong, of course. In one part of a sermon, Wommack will declare that his enemies are “demonic,” yet he will also indicate that he does not hate anyone.
That’s right, he doesn’t hate you. He just wants to shoot and bring to heel anyone outside of his cult to beget the second-coming of Jesus by creating a hellscape Christian theonomy on earth. Moreso than Wommack himself, his fascist American Taliban training institute Charis Bible College loves to obscure their heinous actions with propaganda inflating their “good” deeds.
A little while ago, Charis and Wommack began licking their wounds and regrouping after they failed to usurp several Woodland Park City Council seats by secreting-in candidates who had lied about their cult affiliations. The good citizens of Woodland Park sussed out and exposed these Manchurian Candidates. In turn, true and caring community members were duly elected. Shortly after, Charis students and Truth and Liberty Coalition stooges from all over the U.S. began to flood community social media with assertions of philanthropy and donations.
“Andrew Wommack Ministries gives so much back to the community,” they would say, citing some pittance of money that they had provided to take care of the countless homeless and destitute followers camping in Pike National Forest. Let me make that clear: They claimed that Andrew Wommack Ministries and Charis Bible “College” had donated to help the poor and homeless when they were really just helping a few Charis students, as they should be doing in the first place.
Charis and Wommack have created a veritable flood of people who do not have money, cannot get housing, and who rely on a number of other churches and organizations to provide them with fulfillment of basic human needs. Meanwhile, their Word of Faith magic school with fiat degrees offers loans to put students in debt and further impoverish them.
When the Charis Bible Cult “gives back,” they are really just doing enough to make themselves look better. Their followers and leaders will inevitably spin and propagate propaganda to pat themselves on the back and obscure criticism.
Andrew Wommack Ministries promised, via written agreement, to pay property taxes for student dorms at Charis Bible College so that public services and citizen taxpayers would not suffer an undue burden for the thousands of people attending the Word of Faith Hogwarts. A litany of social and mental health issues arises from this population, putting a huge burden on local governments. Yet, when it came time to begin paying these taxes, Andrew Wommack and his minions went back on their word and challenged Teller County fire departments, police, city, and special districts to try and enforce the agreement. As a consolation to the millions of dollars in property taxes that would have helped public services weather the onslaught of Charis students and staff, Andrew Wommack Ministries offered the City of Woodland Park ONLY $250,000: Just one payment, to one entity, as compensation for lies and reneging on their word.
Charis Bible College, Truth and Liberty Coalition, and Andrew Wommack Ministries cultists began to post propaganda on social media and in local papers claiming that the “donation” to Woodland Park was philanthropic. Meanwhile, the police and firefighters who diligently serve cultists as they would anyone else, have done without essential funding to mitigate the costs to themselves and taxpayers.
Imagine that a friend had taken $1,000 from you while enjoying a meal in your home. They then gave you back $50 and lauded their own generosity. They even published an ad in newspapers and on Facebook to inform the community of their philanthropy. While different in scale, these actions mirror the Charis cult’s inequitable and criminal behavior.
Common decency, truth-telling, and fairness do not mean anything to Andrew Wommack Ministries. When challenged on their propaganda regarding the “donation” to Woodland Park and their deprivation of other public services, the Charis cultists and middle-management said, “Why would we want to pay taxes we don’t have to pay?”
To that, I pose a more pertinent question: Why should the citizens of Teller County have to pay welfare to the millionaire Andrew Wommack and his minions who are continuously deceiving the citizenry, attempting to take over the community, and endeavoring to install a theonomy to replace our American Democratic Republic?
Whenever Charis and Wommack speak of philanthropy, they are hiding selfish motives.

(my translation):
.
.
Daodejing 22
.

{22i} 不自見 故明. 不自是 故彰. 不自伐 故有功. 不自矜 故長.

In not [making] views for yourself, [there is] thus clarity/discernment/enlightenment.
In not [trying] to be right for yourself, [truth becomes] thus evident/revealed.
In not bragging for yourself, [there] is thus accomplishment.
In not upholding/clinging to yourself, [there is] thus lastingness/leadership.
.

{22ii} 夫唯不爭 故天下莫能與之爭.

Only in not contending/fighting [for yourself], that therefore all under heaven can’t contend/fight with [you].
.

{22iii} 古之所謂 曲則全者 豈虛言哉! 誠 全而歸之.

What the ancients said - “yield/relinquish to be fulfilled1”, [they] are not false/empty words2!
Be sincere [to these words], and be fulfilled in return.
.
.

1. Yield/relinquish to be fulfilled is a teaching mentioned in the {21iv}. In this section, the teaching here seems to be about yielding and relinquishing your-self.
   
2. Although this text seems to be against words and instruction, it isn’t actually so. To realise the so-called Dao, most of us would still need to heed the words and instructions and teachings in this text. It should be that only upon realising Dao, that words and instructions can be given up. Kind of like the Buddhist parable of the raft, whereby upon reaching the other shore, the raft can be abandoned. Because if words and instructions are totally useless, why is this text written in the first place? It is like what’s said in {56i}: “In knowing, words are not needed. Words are for those who do not know.” The point of this text (DDJ) isn’t to condemn words and instructions, but to help people accord with Dao such that words and instructions are naturally no longer needed.
   

.

Dear dharma friends,
I’m just wondering if there are any pali sources regarding the ethics of cutting down trees or maybe working with plants in general. As I’m doing this quite frequently I would be interested to know what the buddhist tradition says about it.
Also a mahayana friend told me about an apparent viyana text, where the buddha says the monks shouldn’t use silk for monks, because they would have a «unpayable » debt afterwards. They use this as a foundation of veganism in their branch of mahayana. Do any of you maybe know about this passage?

Ud 8.5 Cundasutta: With Cunda
https://daily.readingfaithfully.org/ud-8-5-cundasutta-with-cunda/
So I have heard. At one time the Buddha was wandering in the land of the Mallas together with a large Saṅgha when he arrived at Pāvā. There he stayed in Cunda the smith’s mango grove.
Cunda heard that the Buddha had arrived and was staying in his mango grove. Then he went to the Buddha, bowed, and sat down to one side. The Buddha educated, encouraged, fired up, and inspired him with a Dhamma talk. Then Cunda said to the Buddha, “Sir, may the Buddha together with the mendicant Saṅgha please accept tomorrow’s meal from me.” The Buddha consented with silence.
Then, knowing that the Buddha had consented, Cunda got up from his seat, bowed, and respectfully circled the Buddha, keeping him on his right, before leaving. And when the night had passed Cunda had delicious fresh and cooked foods prepared in his own home, and plenty of pork on the turn. Then he had the Buddha informed of the time, saying, “Sir, it’s time. The meal is ready.”
Then the Buddha robed up in the morning and, taking his bowl and robe, went to the home of Cunda together with the mendicant Saṅgha, where he sat on the seat spread out and addressed Cunda, “Cunda, please serve me with the pork on the turn that you’ve prepared. And serve the mendicant Saṅgha with the other foods.” “Yes, sir,” replied Cunda, and did as he was asked.
Then the Buddha addressed Cunda, “Cunda, any pork on the turn that’s left over, you should bury it in a pit. I don’t see anyone in this world—with its gods, Māras, and Brahmās, this population with its ascetics and brahmins, its gods and humans—who could properly digest it except for the Realized One.” “Yes, sir,” replied Cunda. He did as he was asked, then came back to the Buddha, bowed, and sat down to one side. Then the Buddha educated, encouraged, fired up, and inspired him with a Dhamma talk, after which he got up from his seat and left.
After the Buddha had eaten Cunda’s meal, he fell severely ill with bloody dysentery, struck by dreadful pains, close to death. But he endured unbothered, with mindfulness and situational awareness.
Then the Buddha said to Venerable Ānanda, “Come, Ānanda, let’s go to Kusinārā.” “Yes, sir,” Ānanda replied.
I’ve heard that after eating
the meal of Cunda the smith,
the wise one fell severely ill,
with pains, close to death.
A severe sickness struck the Teacher
who had eaten the pork on the turn.
While still purging the Buddha said:
“I’ll go to the citadel of Kusinārā.”
Then the Buddha left the road and went to the root of a certain tree, where he addressed Ānanda, “Please, Ānanda, fold my outer robe in four and spread it out for me. I am tired and will sit down.” “Yes, sir,” replied Ānanda, and did as he was asked. The Buddha sat on the seat spread out, and said to Venerable Ānanda, “Please, Ānanda, fetch me some water. I am thirsty and will drink.”
When he said this, Venerable Ānanda said to the Buddha, “Sir, just now around five hundred carts have passed by. The shallow water has been churned up by their wheels, and it flows cloudy and murky. The Kakutthā river is not far away, with clear, sweet, cool water, clean, with smooth banks, delightful. There the Buddha can drink and cool his limbs.”
For a second time, and a third time, the Buddha said to Ānanda, “Please, Ānanda, fetch me some water. I am thirsty and will drink.” “Yes, sir,” replied Ānanda. Taking his bowl he went to the river. Now, though the shallow water in that river had been churned up by wheels, and flowed cloudy and murky, when Ānanda approached it flowed transparent, clear, and unclouded.
Then Venerable Ānanda thought, “Oh, how incredible, how amazing! The Realized One has such psychic power and might! For though the shallow water in that river had been churned up by wheels, and flowed cloudy and murky, when I approached it flowed transparent, clear, and unclouded.” Gathering a bowl of drinking water he went back to the Buddha, and said to him, “It’s incredible, sir, it’s amazing! The Realized One has such psychic power and might! For though the shallow water in that river had been churned up by wheels, and flowed cloudy and murky, when I approached it flowed transparent, clear, and unclouded. Drink the water, Blessed One! Drink the water, Holy One!”
So the Buddha drank the water. Then the Buddha together with a large Saṅgha of mendicants went to the Kakutthā River. He plunged into the river and bathed and drank. And when he had emerged, he went to the mango grove, where he addressed Venerable Cundaka, “Please, Cundaka, fold my outer robe in four and spread it out for me. I am tired and will lie down.”
“Yes, sir,” replied Cundaka, and did as he was asked. And then the Buddha laid down in the lion’s posture—on the right side, placing one foot on top of the other—mindful and aware, and focused on the time of getting up. But Cundaka sat down right there in front of the Buddha.
Having gone to Kakutthā Creek,
whose water was transparent, sweet, and clear,
the Teacher, being tired, plunged in,
the Realized One, without compare in the world.
And after bathing and drinking the Teacher emerged.
Before the group of mendicants, in the middle,the Buddha,
the Teacher who rolled forth the present dispensation,
the great seer went to the mango grove.
He addressed the mendicant named Cundaka:
“Spread out my folded robe so I can lie down.”
The evolved one urged Cunda,
who quickly spread the folded robe.
The Teacher lay down so tired,
while Cunda sat there before him.
Then the Buddha said to Venerable Ānanda, “Now it may happen, Ānanda, that others may give rise to some regret for Cunda the smith: ‘It’s your loss, friend Cunda, it’s your misfortune, in that the Realized One became fully extinguished after eating his last almsmeal from you.’ You should get rid of remorse in Cunda the smith like this:
‘You’re fortunate, friend Cunda, you’re so very fortunate, in that the Realized One became fully extinguished after eating his last almsmeal from you. I have heard and learned this in the presence of the Buddha. There are two almsmeal offerings that have identical fruit and result, and are more fruitful and beneficial than other almsmeal offerings. What two? The almsmeal after eating which a Realized One understands the supreme perfect awakening; and the almsmeal after eating which he becomes fully extinguished in the element of extinguishment with nothing left over. These two almsmeal offerings have identical fruit and result, and are more fruitful and beneficial than other almsmeal offerings.
You’ve accumulated a deed that leads to long life, beauty, happiness, fame, heaven, and sovereignty.’ You should dispel remorse in Cunda the smith like this.”
Then, understanding this matter, on that occasion the Buddha expressed this heartfelt sentiment:
“A giver’s merit grows;
enmity doesn’t build up when you have self-control.
A skillful person gives up bad things—
with the end of greed, hate, and delusion,they’re extinguished.”
Read this translation of Udāna 8.5 Cundasutta: With Cunda_by Bhikkhu Sujato on SuttaCentral.net. Or read a different translation on DhammaTalks.org or Ancient-Buddhist-Texts.net. Or _listen on SC-Voice.net. Or explore the Pali on DigitalPaliReader.online.
Or read a translation in Deutsch, Srpski, Español, Bahasa Indonesia, Italiano, 日本語, မြန်မာဘာသာ, Nederlands, Norsk, Português, Русский, or සිංහල. Learn how to find your language.
Signup to get these suttas in your email inbox every day: Daily.ReadingFaithfully.org

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🛐 The limitations of the term Religion

First off, the category of religion is not a conceptually neutral one. It's rooted in Abrahamic monotheism. Over time this theology became 'secularised' into 'facts about the world'. This is why there are never-ending definitions of 'religion' that try to include traditions like Santeria, Shinto, Taoism, Buddhism etc.
Since there was never any neutral conceptual ground for the human phenomenon.
We can place Buddhism into the category with quite a few definitions. Since it always had, at its founding a complex metaphysics and cosmology.
But this does not mean it falls into the same category of what is normatively understood as 'religion': Islam, Christianity and Judaism.

⛓️ Breaking free from Abrahamic frameworks

South Asian traditions like Buddhism, Hinduism etc are closer to indigenous knowledge systems. The Samana (Pali) movements. - Shramana (Sanskrit) is where we get our term for shaman. - were focused on the individual human experience (atta) embedded within a larger context (samsara)
However, the category is unstable and tends to break down, the more you try to make it fit the Abrahamic understanding of what religion is supposed to be. At that point, you're trying to force a square peg into a round hole.
The other danger is that we are actively producing/constructing pseudo religions by imposing that framework on other knowledge systems. We can see how Hindus and Sri Lankans have responded to monotheistic legal frameworks during and after the colonial period.
They began to fit their traditions into the monotheistic framework of religion, to access legal protections and recognition: Buddhists have a "holy book" (Tripitaka), a founder (Lord Buddha), a priesthood (the sangha), a catechism (the four noble truths) etc.

• u/mykerman03

👮‍♂️ WEAPONIZATION

Religiosity is not a neutral term as many would have us believe. It is born out of a Western Abrahamic framework, hence why people always seem to weaponize its limitations to try to EXPLOIT Buddhism; either by denying its members the experiences and the cultural nuances it has (by declaring it secular and its religiosity a corruption) or by means of turning it into a colonial-construct that appeals to Abrahamic view of the world to easily divide and control the colonized, as we saw happened multiple times in history.

• u/tendai-student

--------------🟣--------------
Credits: u/tendai-student & u/mykerman03
Thank you for reading
🙏

The curious PWS (person who stutters) in me read this stutter book: "The perfect stutter" (2021) written by a PhD researcher and speech therapist. After finishing the 438 pages, I summed up the important points.
Intro:

• The author (PhD) used to be a severe stutterer (page 35)
• You can find all his research about stuttering here (open access)
• The author's stuttering had been in remission for 10 years. Unlike previous remissions, the fear that stuttering may one day return had completely vanished (356)
• There may be ways of returning people to the early onset type of stuttering
• Some severe stutterers might experience that most people avoid talking to them when stuttering is severe. In contrast, when their stuttering becomes mild, most people might become happy to talk to them and they are never short of willing conversation partners (255)
• Most clients in speech therapy might be mild stutterers (255)
• In self-help groups (and basically everywhere all around the world), mild stutterers tend to be able to share more experiences about their stuttering (than severe stutterers). So, severe stutterers tend to be naturally under-represented and overlooked (258)
• A vicious circle consisting of: traumatic stress leads to stammering, and stammering leads to traumatic stress. One of the properties of vicious circles is that they are self sustaining. So, if this sort of vicious circle does become established, it could help explain why a stutter disorder is likely to continue to persist quite irrespective of whether or not the factors that originally caused stuttering still exist (424)
• New approaches of speech therapy emphasize on the need for society to adapt and accommodate stuttering, and a tendency to focus more on self esteem issues than on promoting greater fluency. This new shift might not have been so beneficial to people whose stuttering is severe and whose speech rate is substantially slower than that of their interlocutors, and for whom time pressure and negative listener reactions may be a major source of traumatic stress (426)
• In speech therapy, some assumptions are that it’s always OK to take our time. The problem with this assumption is that there are many situations in everyday life where a certain speed is necessary in order to avoid incurring the wrath of other people - which can provoke palpably negative responses - which can lead to more stress and anxiety (427)
• The findings of the high incidences of stuttering in young children suggest that perhaps stuttering really is a normal phenomenon, and perhaps all young children experience it for a transient period – generally at some point between two and four years of age. If this is indeed true, it would suggest that somewhere between 85 to 95 percent of cases go completely unnoticed by everyone and spontaneously remit after a short period of a few days. And only in a small percentage (under 20%) of cases do the parents (or anybody else) ever become aware of the symptoms, and only in about 5% of cases does it come to be considered as a cause for concern or as a disorder or ‘stuttering problem’, and only in 1% of cases does it persist (as a definite disorder) beyond early childhood (383). Probability all children stutter to a certain extent while their release thresholds are being fine-tuned (387)
• If everybody has occasional experiences of not being able to get their words out, the fact that the vast majority of these experiences go unreported seemed to suggest that most people do not consider them to be a cause for concern and are not disturbed by them. But clearly such experiences can be distressing, especially if they happen more frequently or last for longer periods of time or happen during moments when it is important to be able to speak fluently (387)

Genetics & neurology:
(A) A subset of stutterers are relatively slow at speech planning in general and make somewhat more speech planning errors than non-stutterers. Their speech motor control abilities are somewhat below average, but not sufficiently so for them (or their listener) to be consciously aware that they are impaired. This subset of stutterers may be predisposed to genes that cause: (303)

• hypersensitivity to sensory feedback
• abnormally slow or impaired speech planning or speech motor control abilities
• abnormalities in dopamine metabolism

(B) Another subset of stutterers are without a genetic or neurological predisposition (without an underlying speech or language impairment) - whose stuttering stem entirely from their perfectionistic approach to speech (in other words, they are sensitized to their speech that don't conform to their ideal, and which they perceive as not good enough) (334)
Why do we block?

• If people who stutter (PWS) perceive an unwanted speech error in the upcoming speech plan, it gets cancelled and the nerve impulses that are required to execute the speech motor plan is not generated - resulting in motor inhibition (in other words, primary stuttering) (237)
• There is nothing wrong with the error-repair mechanism in PWS, rather the problem is the frequency we perceive such errors as a problem and to be avoided and acting up on it (237)
• We might use secondaries (like repetitions and tension) to indicate to our listeners that we are still trying to speak or to maintain the rhythm of our speech

What is the primary symptom of stuttering?

• The silent invisible block is the only truly primary symptom of stuttering. Contrary to the traditional view and very much at odds with mainstream theories that therapists are best acquainted with, the VRT hypothesis views repetitions as merely secondary symptoms because they are responses that we may produce in response to those blocks (or to the experience of being unable or unready to execute a speech plan), see this scientific model (299-301)
• Speech therapists generally only consider the visible/audible speech blocks. Yet, visible blocks are really a combination of 2 things: a silent block plus pushing (and often plus other escape behaviours as well). The primary block is just the absence of any movement happening at all
• Many stutterers are themselves also unaware of their silent blocks due to a lack of mindfulness (self-awareness)

Variable Release Threshold mechanism:

• The Variable Release Threshold (VRT) mechanism predicts that the scenarios that are highly likely to trigger stuttering are those in which a speaker has high expectations regarding how perfectly he should speak (350) (this research explains it well)
• The Variable Release Threshold hypothesis is a synthesis of the Anticipatory Struggle and EXPLAN hypotheses. This release threshold goes up and down from moment to moment, depending on how important the speaker perceives it is to speak the planned words: (1) clearly, (2) accurately, (3) error-free, (4) appropriately. The rise in the release threshold increases the length of time it takes for the sound to become sufficiently activated to make it available for motor execution. For example, if I say "My name is John Doe", then our name will be set at a higher level than the release threshold for the first three words to say correctly (because for most of us, our name conveys the most important information) (343)
• The majority of disfluencies arise as a result of trying to execute speech plans too soon - before they are ready to be executed. It's only ready after the speech plan have attained a certain minimum level of electrical activation - in other words, if it exceeds a certain threshold: the 'execution threshold' before it becomes available for overt execution. This execution threshold works as a quality control mechanism to prevent the speaker from executing sounds that are likely incorrect or inappropriate (267)
• In the word-combination phase - when young children give words important meaning - some children become aware that some verbalisations in some situations elicit negative responses. So they start learning that in certain social situations, certain verbalizations are likely to be punished rather than rewarded, resulting in developing a conditioned reflex that inhibits them from producing those verbalizations in situations where punishment is likely to result (352)
• Silent blocks are simply the failure of the speech plan to execute. One could see it as an “approach avoidance conflict” – as in Sheehan’s theory. The desire to speak leading to an increase in post-synaptic dopamine, and the desire to avoid punishment/suffering leading to a decrease in post-synaptic dopamine. The failure to initiate execution of a speech plan occurring when the avoidance is greater than the approach, so the net result is that the dopamine levels don’t increase high enough to reach the execution threshold. So the speech motor plan is never executed
• Research shows that close to the stuttering onset, children who stutter (CWS) do not anticipate their moments of stuttering. (probably because they have not yet had enough experience of when it occurs). Then their anticipation increases until it finally reaches the point where, as adults, they accurately anticipate 90% of upcoming stuttering. The trouble is that this sort of anticipation is probably a sort of self-fulfilling prophesy

Definition of speech errors:

• Many people interpret moments of stuttering as "errors" whereas the author considers moments of stuttering to be our brain’s way of trying to prevent us from making speech errors (by preventing us from speaking). Thus, stuttering symptoms are not errors

Incentive Based Learning:

• Incentive Based Learning refers to Operant Conditioning in which dopamine plays a key role: “primary rewarding stimulus” “primary punishing stimulus" “secondary rewarding stimuli” “secondary punishing stimulus”. The adjective “primary” is used for stimuli that are inherently rewarding or punishing, like for example pleasure or pain, whereas the term “secondary” is used for stimuli that have become associated with primary stimuli. Blocks are more likely to result from Operant Conditioning than from Classical Conditioning. In contrast, Classical Conditioning is likely responsible for the gradual generalisation of stimuli that can elicit blocks as the stutter develops
• Operant Conditioning is a form of conditioning that occurs when a person’s actions lead to “punishments” or “rewards. In contrast, Classical Conditioning occurs simply when two stimuli occur at the same time – and thus become associated with one another

Possible differences between men and women:

• Women who stutter might be more prone to flight responses (avoidance behaviors), whereas men to fight responses (using force to push words out). Perhaps, due to it being more noticeable than flight responses, this might partially account for the finding that stuttering seems to be more common in men than in women (300)
• A genetic predisposition to stuttering may affect both girls and boys equally

Tips: (from the researcher)

• we need to differentiate between primary and secondary symptoms of stuttering – and accept the primary symptoms (the blocks) but not accept the secondary symptoms
• interrupt, change or build tolerance against repeated negative thinking that reinforces anticipation
• completely ignore the anticipation of stuttering and carry on speaking regardless, as though they had never anticipated stuttering, i.e. not slow down, not change the way of speaking, not avoid. Simply allow yourself to block – just like little children do when in the early stage of stuttering
• don't use behavioral approaches - such as easy onset - to anticipate stuttering
• accept tension. Because trying to stop tension may be practically impossible – and may itself act as an unhelpful distraction. A certain amount of tension is almost bound to occur when one anticipates stuttering and it may be better to simply accept that there is some tension – and to carry on regardless
• develop a more helpful understanding of what exactly an “error” is – and to be less critical of our performance (stuttering is not an error)
• accept our hypersensitivity or error-proneness
• accept that a certain amount of discomfort is unavoidable (cf. the Buddhist “4 noble truths” of suffering)
• accept the things I cannot change, have courage to change the things I can, have the wisdom to know the difference
• we need to stop excessively relying on interoception (which is the awareness of what’s going on inside our bodies). We need to become less sensitive / reactive to the feelings that lead us to anticipate stuttering – and we need to cultivate our ability to ignore those feelings and just carry on regardless
• Understand that continuing to try to reformulate the same speech plan is pointless and counterproductive - because it is highly likely to result in repeated reformulations of the same error

Tips: (that I extracted from the book)

• don't aim for symptomatic relief (page 251) (which might occur during fluency-shaping techniques) - because it requires changing the speech motor plan (which encourages avoidance in a way)
• stop trying to hide stuttering (in other words, don't implement avoidance)
• uncover false beliefs (362)
• don't perceive it has unhelpful if listeners help us out (e.g., by anticipating our words and supplying them). Instead, view it as normal behavior (and it enables us to move forward more quickly and prevents effortful secondary behavior and traumatic experiences) (it also gives us useful feedback as it clarifies whether they were understanding me). Even if listeners supplied the wrong word, we should just keep on trying to say the word, so it doesn't set us back in any way. If stutterers are annoyed by it instead, it may reflect they have linked self-esteem to the ability to speak without stuttering. Stutterers might stutter more if they are aware that listeners don't understand them. So, if we discourage such feedback, we become less aware whether listener's had understood us, which renders us more likely to stutter (321)
• address the fear of failure or fear of not doing well enough (327)
• make our perceived speech performance more positive (aka confidents / positive value judgements)
• accept that you might be: (1) relatively slow at speech planning in general, and (2) make somewhat more speech planning errors than non-stutterers. And, (3) accept that your speech motor control abilities might be somewhat below average, but not sufficiently so for you (or your listeners) to be consciously aware that they are impaired (303)
• understand that there may be ways of returning to the early onset type of stuttering - in which you (and listeners) might not be sufficiently consciously aware of impaired speech motor control abilities (303)
• don't blame listeners for finding it difficult to experience listening to someone who stutters - compared to listening to someone who is fluent and articulate. Don't blame them for clearly feeling embarrassed by our stuttering or even afraid of it, or even upset by it. Because otherwise we would be essentially to fall into the same trap as blaming oneself for one's stuttering (257)
• understand that (1) being unaware of an underlying mild speech-production impairment, or (2) distorted perceptions of how perfect speech needs to be, or (3) perceiving it as a problem that listeners (like parents) are incapable of understanding us or unwilling to try, no matter how perfectly we speak - that this can result in the release threshold to rise too high and prevent the stutterer getting the words out (351). So, if we continue perceiving listener's reactions as a problem, the stutter disorder increases because the excessive rise may happen again because previous rises in the release threshold have not resulted in an adequate increase in the quality of our speech
• don't become overly sensitive / reactive if you perceive (or anticipate) stuttering. Because research found that listeners prefered listening to speech with mild disfluencies, rather than speech without disfluencies (322)
• understand that speech therapists might recommend completely eliminating fillers. However, the problem with this approach is that it leads to eliminating healthy (useful) fillers (as they are indispensable in normal conversations) (324)
• don't incorrectly blame tension. Because speech blocks occur because the speech motor plans are being repeatedly cancelled before we get the chance to execute them - and not because of muscle tension that we often incorrectly believe (page 237). Tension is a common response to anticipation of difficulty communicating. The primary symptom of stuttering is not a result from tensing the speech muscles (342)
• adopt a new attitude to not avoid 'speech errors that we perceive as a problem' (237). Here we are referring to speech errors such as: (1) the anticipation / evaluation whether listeners will understand us, and (2) the perception of our past (and present) speech performance (rather than our actual speech performance) (very important!) (aka negative value judgements) (341)
• don't blame genetics for increased speech error-repairs - that result in severe stuttering. Because when we listen to our inner speech (to the little voice inside our head) - the words we can hear are likely mostly fluent and correctly phonologically encoded. So, speech errors due to genetics - don't seem to occur anywhere near often enough to explain the frequency with which we stutter. (260) Suggesting that blocks may more likely be contributed from Operant Conditioning
• understand that most speech errors are likely not real errors but imaginary (perceived) errors (260) - resulting in engaging in excessive / unnecessary error-repair activities
• address being abnormally sensitive to our speech (hypervigilant monitoring) and address being excessively critical of its quality
• don't try to execute speech plans too soon - before they are ready to be executed - to prevent primary stuttering (267)
• don't label 'difficulties integrating words into multi-word speech plans' (aka reduced speech planning ability) as a stutter disorder - because that's likely counter-productive
• don't avoid the initial speech plan. Because if a person successfully avoids an anticipated unpleasant experience (e.g., primary stuttering) then the tendency to avoid is reinforced. However, that person then never gets to discover whether or not that anticipated unpleasant experience would really have occurred (had they not avoided it). Consequently, if they continue to avoid anticipated unpleasant experiences, they will never be able to go beyond the tendency to anticipate those experiences – even though those experiences may no longer pose a threat – or may no longer occur
• decrease the execution threshold (if it's too high) - by addressing the perception of how important the speaker perceives it is to speak the planned words: (1) clearly, (2) accurately, (3) error-free, (4) appropriately (343)
• don't view secondaries as a problem and to be reduced (somewhat black and white thinking). Because this can lead us to viewing secondaries (such as, repetitions) as pathological and therefore undesirable symptoms of stuttering
• address the belief that speaking is difficult or that we must make a lot of effort to speak. Because we anticipate that we might make a speech error which stems from painful memories or from repeated exposure to making speech errors (335) - which leads to believing that speaking is difficult and that we must make a lot of effort to speak (and resorting to unnatural or highly controlled strategies)
• address the doubt that our communication attempt might be unsuccessful (336)
• don't evaluate stuttering blocks as errors. Otherwise we are bound to evaluate them negatively. Instead, if we can come to consider them as the body’s way of trying to prevent us from making speech errors, then we can learn to accept them and no longer perceive them in a negative light
• to prevent relapse, address the fear that stuttering may one day return again
• focus on maintaining the forward flow of our speech than on trying to clearly enunciate each and every word (429)

DN 16 From… Mahāparinibbānasutta: The Great Discourse on the Buddha’s Extinguishment—Dividing the Relics
https://daily.readingfaithfully.org/dn-16-from-mahaparinibbanasutta-the-great-discourse-on-the-buddhas-extinguishment-dividing-the-relics/
[Note: Below are the final passages from DN 16]
And when the Buddha’s corpse was cremated no ash or soot was found from outer or inner skin, flesh, sinews, or synovial fluid. Only the relics remained. It’s like when ghee or oil blaze and burn, and neither ashes nor soot are found. In the same way, when the Buddha’s corpse was cremated no ash or soot was found from outer or inner skin, flesh, sinews, or synovial fluid. Only the relics remained. And of those five hundred pairs of garments only two were not burnt: the innermost and the outermost. But when the Buddha’s corpse was consumed the funeral pyre was extinguished by a stream of water that appeared in the sky, by water dripping from the sal trees, and by the Mallas’ fragrant water.
Then the Mallas made a cage of spears for the Buddha’s relics in the town hall and surrounded it with a buttress of bows. For seven days they honored, respected, revered, and venerated them with dance and song and music and garlands and fragrances.
King Ajātasattu of Magadha, son of the princess of Videha, heard that the Buddha had become fully extinguished at Kusinārā. He sent an envoy to the Mallas of Kusinārā: “The Buddha was an aristocrat and so am I. I too deserve a share of the Buddha’s relics. I will build a monument for them and conduct a memorial service.”
The Licchavis of Vesālī also heard that the Buddha had become fully extinguished at Kusinārā. They sent an envoy to the Mallas of Kusinārā: “The Buddha was an aristocrat and so are we. We too deserve a share of the Buddha’s relics. We will build a monument for them and conduct a memorial service.”
The Sakyans of Kapilavatthu also heard that the Buddha had become fully extinguished at Kusinārā. They sent an envoy to the Mallas of Kusinārā: “The Buddha was our foremost relative. We too deserve a share of the Buddha’s relics. We will build a monument for them and conduct a memorial service.”
The Bulis of Allakappa also heard that the Buddha had become fully extinguished at Kusinārā. They sent an envoy to the Mallas of Kusinārā: “The Buddha was an aristocrat and so are we. We too deserve a share of the Buddha’s relics. We will build a monument for them and conduct a memorial service.”
The Koliyans of Rāmagāma also heard that the Buddha had become fully extinguished at Kusinārā. They sent an envoy to the Mallas of Kusinārā: “The Buddha was an aristocrat and so are we. We too deserve a share of the Buddha’s relics. We will build a monument for them and conduct a memorial service.”
The brahmin of Veṭhadīpa also heard that the Buddha had become fully extinguished at Kusinārā. He sent an envoy to the Mallas of Kusinārā: “The Buddha was an aristocrat and I am a brahmin. I too deserve a share of the Buddha’s relics. I will build a monument for them and conduct a memorial service.”
The Mallas of Pāvā also heard that the Buddha had become fully extinguished at Kusinārā. They sent an envoy to the Mallas of Kusinārā: “The Buddha was an aristocrat and so are we. We too deserve a share of the Buddha’s relics. We will build a monument for them and conduct a memorial service.”
When they had spoken, the Mallas of Kusinārā said to those various groups: “The Buddha became fully extinguished in our village district. We will not give away a share of his relics.”
Then Doṇa the brahmin said to those various groups:
“Hear, sirs, a single word from me.
Our Buddha’s teaching was acceptance.
It would not be good to fight over
a share of the supreme person’s relics.
Let us make eight portions, good sirs,
rejoicing in unity and harmony.
Let there be monuments far and wide,
so many folk may gain faith in the Clear-eyed One!”
“Well then, brahmin, you yourself should fairly divide the Buddha’s relics in eight portions.”
“Yes, sirs,” replied Doṇa to those various groups. He divided the relics as asked and said to them, “Sirs, please give me the urn, and I shall build a monument for it and conduct a memorial service.” So they gave Doṇa the urn.
The Moriyas of Pippalivana heard that the Buddha had become fully extinguished at Kusinārā. They sent an envoy to the Mallas of Kusinārā: “The Buddha was an aristocrat, and so are we. We too deserve a share of the Buddha’s relics. We will build a monument for them and conduct a memorial service.”
“There is no portion of the Buddha’s relics left, they have already been portioned out. Here, take the embers.” So they took the embers.
Then King Ajātasattu of Magadha, the Licchavis of Vesālī, the Sakyans of Kapilavatthu, the Bulis of Allakappa, the Koliyans of Rāmagāma, the brahmin of Veṭhadīpa, the Mallas of Pāvā, the Mallas of Kusinārā, the brahmin Doṇa, and the Moriyas of Pippalivana built monuments for them and conducted memorial services. Thus there were eight monuments for the relics, a ninth for the urn, and a tenth for the embers. That is how it was in the old days.
There were eight sharesof the Clear-eyed One’s relics.
Seven were worshipped throughout India.
But one share of the most excellent of men
was worshipped in Rāmagāma by a dragon king.
One tooth is veneratedby the gods of the Three and Thirty,
and one is worshipped in the city of Gandhāra;
another one in the realm of the Kaliṅga King,
and one is worshipped by a dragon king.
Through their glory this rich earth
is adorned with the best of offerings.
Thus the Clear-eyed One’s corpse
is well honored by the honorable.
It’s venerated by lords of gods, dragons, and spirits;
and likewise venerated by the finest lords of men.
Honor it with joined palms when you get the chance,
for a Buddha is rare even in a hundred eons.
Altogether forty even teeth,
and the body hair and head hair,
were carried off individually by gods
across the universe.
Read the entire translation of Dīgha Nikāya 16 Mahāparinibbānasutta: The Great Discourse on the Buddha’s Extinguishment_by Bhikkhu Sujato on SuttaCentral.net. Or read a different translation on DhammaTalks.org, Ancient-Buddhist-Texts.net or AccessToInsight.org. Or _listen on PaliAudio.com or SC-Voice.net. Or explore the Pali on DigitalPaliReader.online.
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Through meditation we believe that we can experience brain states while awake that normally only arise during deep sleep. Remaining still in the meditative posture for an extended period of time, 'tricks' the body and brain into thinking we are asleep. However because we are not laying down, but rather sitting up the body has to engage in a minimal though significant amount of neural and muscular feedback to maintain the meditative posture. It is this subtle feedback that allows us to maintain conscious awareness, without sleep paralysis, as our brain enters deep sleep states. These deep sleep states involve periods where the cortex or dualistic mind has gone 'off-line' and our awareness is able to experience the direct sensory stimulus as it arises in the body, without the meaning and words that arise with the normal cortical integration of these primary sensory stimulus.
As we develop and mature I believe our cortical/thalamic complex gradually creates a VR type experience for our awareness, so gradually we no longer see what arrives at our eyes but rather is what is constructed from the direct sensory experience in the occipital lobe of the cortex - our visual center. By the time we are adults our awareness can no longer directly perceive the external world. It can only see and hear the reprocessed reality as it is reconstructed from direct sensory stimulus, in our cortex. As adults we never see the outside world. We don't see the mountain. We only see the image of a mountain created in our visual cortex.
Without the ability to integrate information the cortex would no longer be able to read or use language and thus the dualistic mind would no longer interfere with the awareness of primary stimulus...and the 'manifold of named things' is extinguished.

These studies have revealed clear-cut differences between conscious and unconscious conditions during wakefulness, sleep, anesthesia, and severe brain injury. When subjects are conscious (i.e., they have any kind of experience, like seeing an image or having a thought), TMS (transcranial magnetic stimulation) triggers a complex response made of recurrent waves of phase-locked activity.....during early NREM sleep the slow-wave-like response evoked by a cortical perturbation is associated with the occurrence of a cortical down-state...Interestingly, after the down-state cortical activity resumes to wakefulness-like levels, but the phase-locking to the stimulus is lost, indicative of a break in the cause–effect chain...Cortical bistability, as reflected in the loss of phase-locking to a stimulus, leads to a breakdown in the ability of the cortex to integrate information
https://www.nature.com/articles/srep30932

Not all aspects of deep sleep because meditative posture is being maintained

... But the most significant difference is that the body appears to move into a state analogous to many, but not all, aspects of deep sleep, while consciousness remains responsive and alert.
https://journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/physiologyonline.1998.13.3.149#:~:text=In%20the%20hypometabolic%20state%20induced,is%20also%20decreased%20vascular%20resistance%2C

I spent many years studying Buddhism. I found myself bouncing from one Buddhist school to another. Regardless of which Buddhist school I was looking at, I inevitably found myself involved in discussions of Buddhist hermeneutics – the branch of knowledge that deals with the interpretation of historical literary texts.
Keren Arbel is a Buddhist scholar who recently published a book that challenges our usual approach to the study and attainment of the ‘jhanas’. Keren discusses the jhanas from 2 different prospective - Theravāda commentarial tradition vs the Pali Nikayas. Keren views the difference between these 2 different views of the jhanas as so significant that she goes as far to suggest they may represent and describe totally different experiences.

“What this study does challenge, however, is the assumption that Theravāda commentarial literature refers to the same jhānas as the Nikāyas. The question is, can we look at the jhānas, as they are described in the Nikāyas, with fresh eyes, not conditioned by later interpretations?... Yet, what I am suggesting is that we should be open to the possibility that these two textual corpuses – the Nikāyas and the Theravāda commentarial tradition – might be talking about two different types of experiences brought about by two different types of practices." - Early Buddhist Meditation: The Four Jhanas as the Actualization of Insight (Routledge Critical Studies in Buddhism) 1st Edition http://kerenarbel.com/en/

This incongruity arises because as she puts it

“...every commentary is a product of a certain historical, spiritual and intellectual context; as such, each commentary expresses specific understanding and views. That is, every commentator is rooted in a specific milieu and expresses different interests. The Theravāda commentarial tradition is no exception. It was written in a different context and milieu than the Nikāyas and expresses views and concerns relevant to that point of time and specific understanding of Buddhist practice.”

Leigh Brasington also reminds us

Also, please remember: this is just one person’s understanding of the jhānas. There are many more interpretations out there. Furthermore, my understanding of the jhānas has changed over time. Had I written this book five years earlier, it would be quite different. Nothing stays the same; everything in the universe is in flux—especially human ideas and understanding. Brasington, Leigh. Right Concentration: A Practical Guide to the Jhanas (pp. 160-162). Shambhala. Kindle Edition.

So the basic principles and how they are applied may vary considerably from one culture to the next and from one time period to another. If there can be that much variation between a practice based on the Theravāda commentarial tradition vs a practice based on the Pali Nikāyas, then how much change could have occurred between the time of the Nikāyas to the present day? Perhaps the experience of the jhanas is different today and maybe we should be looking at the jhanas differently than did the Nikayas or Theravadens.
Our cortex is still developing throughout puberty and our prefrontal areas are still developing connections well into our twenties. The way our cortex is ultimately wired and the way our senses become mapped to our external world is affected greatly by the culture in which we develop and the language of that culture. So a practice that was effective a thousand years ago may not work the same way for the modern brain. I see this as why Buddhism, as well as other religions, manifested in so many different ways as it spread from one culture to another. The connections of the brains of each different culture, ideology and language are all a little bit different, with significant ramifications for the type of practice that is effective for each culture.

Increasingly, neuroscientists are finding evidence of functional differences in brain activity and architecture between cultural groups, occupations, and individuals with different skill sets. The implication for neuroanthropology is obvious: forms of enculturation, social norms, training regimens, ritual, and patterns of experience shape how our brains work and are structured. But the predominant reason that culture becomes embodied, even though many anthropologists overlook it, is that neuroanatomy inherently makes experience material. Without material change in the brain, learning, memory, maturation, and even trauma could not happen. Neural systems adapt through long-term refinement and remodeling, which leads to deep enculturation. Through systematic change in the nervous system, the human body learns to orchestrate itself as well as it eventually does. Cultural concepts and meanings become anatomy.
https://neuroanthropology.net/2009/10/08/the-encultured-brain-why-neuroanthropology-why-now/

At the same time I was studying Buddhism, I was also studying the neurosciences and how our brain goes about creating our conscious experience of reality. As you can see from my discussions, I came to view the cortex as the single most important part of the human brain in creating our uniquely human experience, and the part of the brain that is most important in separating us from other primates.
My relationship with Buddhism changed dramatically when I came upon this definition of Nirvana.

Nirvana is defined as the coming to rest of the manifold of named things. - Chandrakirti: Lucid Exposition of the Middle Way

This was a definition I could really sink my teeth into. The part of our brain that names things is the cortex. This definition of nirvana suggested that it was possible to stop the activity of our cortex. It was possible for our awareness to experience reality without the process of naming automatically occurring. The primary function of the cortex is to orchestrate the complex movements that humans engage in during their daily life. This involves inhibiting some movements and adding fine motor control to others. For example the act of human speech involves the manipulation of the human voicebox and our breathing so that speech and breathing can occur concurrently. So if the cortex was involved in the control of our movements, then the way to stop the cortex would be to stop moving, as we do when we go to bed and sleep.
So I began to meditate with the sole objective of not moving. This lead to this experience, which I can still experience in my meditations.

After I had been sitting for some time in a meditative posture, I became aware of the sound of a great river flowing through my ears. My breath became a mighty wind rushing through the caves of my sinuses, in and out like the tide of an unspeakable ocean. Suddenly my eyes rolled over in my head. I was amused and startled because I realized my eyes were not shaped like circular globes but rather like elongated footballs, so they plopped over like a misshapen wheel. The physical coherence of my body dissolved and I became an unlimited amalgamation of countless shimmering orbs/clouds of energy, each emanating a pure white light. This light radiated boundless joy and compassion. The source of the light was a small crystal at the center of each orb. Each crystal vibrated with a unique tone or musical note and together they became what I can only describe as a heavenly symphony. This light radiated boundless joy and compassion. Each breath I took was more pleasurable than anything I had ever experienced. It seemed as each breath brought more pleasure then the sum of all my experiences up to then. The breath flowed through my body like an electrical river of pure energy and joy. I could feel the energy flow in my arms as it crossed over the energy flow in my legs. A small breath would bring this river just to the tips of my fingers, and a large breath would overflow my body with radiant energy. I opened my eyes and saw an unusual and amusing looking creature seated before me, with most of its body wrapped in colorful fabric. There was a sprout of hair at the top and it was making a birdlike chirping sound. I searched the features of this mostly hairless creatures and found the noise was emanating from a small slit in the creatures flesh. Although the noises were meaningless I could see into the creatures mind and knew its thoughts. I looked at a book on the table before me and the words on the cover were only lines, angles and curves and I saw no meaning in them. As this was happening feelings of great joy and compassion flowed through my body. After some time of abiding in this state the world of names and words returned and I saw the creature as my wife and I could read the written words again.

I believe this meditative experience arose as my awareness became separated from the cortical/thalamic complex. However it is not the only kind of meditative experience I have. I also have 'dreamwalking, shamanistic' experiences, where my awareness is still entangled with my cortex, but the activity of my cortex is no longer ‘locked’ to external stimulus.
However, having these type of meditative experiences has lead me to question the efficacy of putting a substantial part of our energy into the maintenance of a daily meditation practice. The Buddha did not recommend this for anyone other than those involved in the monastic lifestyle. When we do so in the West I believe we are at risk of altering the cortical connections we have developed over the period of our development that are ultimately necessary for navigating the unique environment of the modern cityscape. We are also habituating our brain and body into sitting in the meditative posture, making the transcendent states that can arise in meditation more difficult to achieve.
I do not believe our brains are the same as someone who practiced a thousand years ago, and what worked then may not have the same effect today. I believe we should save our deep meditation practice for times when we can devote several hours to our practice, so that when the fruits of meditation arise we have the time to let go and to let what may arise take its natural course. Our daily practice should involve more of the practical aspects of dharma such as study, devotional practices, investigation of the unreliably of our sensory experience and service to others. I feel we are putting way to much energy into discussions revolving around aspects of Buddhist hermeneutics.
Keren Arbel in a youtube discussion, which unfortunately is no longer available, on ‘The 7 factors of Awakening’ she discussed the importance of the 'mindfullness approach'. She views this as the most important factor. She states that the Buddha taught that developing mindfulness leads to investigation. When investigation develops, we have ‘energy’. When the mind investigates into the nature of experience now, in this moment, there is a lot of energy, and when we have energy then we also have joy. This investigation we can do every moment and we don’t need to sit on a cushion for that. She says it is very joyful to see into the nature of experience, even if that particular experience is painful.
If I had to recommend anyone's approach to practice and meditation, it would be Thich Nhat Hanh's. I believe our daily meditation's, if we are Buddhist, should involve the devotional/metta aspects of practice, where we let go of our sense of self and dedicate our energies towards the service of others, generosity and engaging in an investigative process arising from mindfulness that is dedicated towards understanding the nature of suffering and its relationship to the social and cultural environment in which we find ourselves. Deep meditation practice should be saved for those times when we have created the proper environment and conditions, so that if the fruits of our meditation arise, we can let these meditative perceptions unfold without constraint, without having to interrupt them to go pick up the kids.
Progress on the cushion is directly correlated with how much we have learned to "Care, Collaborate and Connect" with our world when we are off the cushion.
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-12-mental-health-coping-myth.html
As most meditations involve not moving, the 'brain states' that I elude to are not dependant on the type of meditation but only on that fact we have remained still long enough to let the natural physiological tendencies of our body/brain take their course. I believe we are born with all the tools we need and that our spiritual journey is more a process of finding what is there already... more of a letting go than an adding to. More of a negation of what has been added and a return to a childlike state of potentiality and emptiness.
If we have some understanding of what may happen and why, then it is likely we will have the equanimity to continue to stay with our meditation and we will be able to let what may arise continue unabated. This may also explain the universality of the spiritual/religious experience that seems to have been a part of the human reality throughout history . The physiological relationships between cortical and non cortical awareness are not dependant on the time and place that a human was born, or the belief system that humans may of held. Also there are many plants and fungi that can also alter the normal relationship between cortical and non-cortical awareness, allowing our awareness to move unheeded into different areas of our brain and body. It is apparent that humans were aware of these different substances and these different states of awareness very early in our history, which also facilitated a wide variety of shamanistic experiences. I don't believe these substances are necessary, as I believe there are many different keys that are capable of unlocking the doorway to the transcendent. Nor, on the other hand, should the efficacy of these substances be ignored.
Additional Resources: These titles represent current up to date research and in no way can be considered pseudoscience or popular science.

Meanwhile the scientific study of mental processes has revealed that consciousness is not necessary for rational thought. Inferences can be drawn and decisions made without awareness. This raises a new problem for our understanding of consciousness. Descartes and his contemporaries took it for granted that consciousness was necessary for rational thought and willed, as opposed to automatic, behavior. If not the basis of rational thought, what is the function of consciousness? (p. 12). Kindle Edition.
https://www.wiley.com/en-ca/The+Blackwell+Companion+to+Consciousness%2C+2nd+Edition-p-9780470674062?fbclid=IwAR2PNeqZSsI0-QEt6kZnJAfeTpJgsIhhjNEiunwURIrW242U6IdRRNdOT3M

2 books concerning how 'self' arises in the brain...

Biological theorists who seek to explain consciousness have gotten stuck in the cerebral cortex, citing it as the situs of consciousness, i.e., where consciousness arises. I will challenge this notion and, accordingly, offer a new theory of how we become conscious during various natural or induced states in which we are unconscious. Pfaff, Donald. How Brain Arousal Mechanisms Work (Kindle Locations 107-110). Cambridge University Press. Kindle Edition. University Press.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/07/180723143007.htm?fbclid=IwAR0H8Nvkjx7_IqMykywOdpWzRR1RERVSKwYsbcoP2oH3m5Bn0AlZ273IBog
https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/how-brain-arousal-mechanisms-work/4078E3DFD96FAF9B58FFBCD772E08CDD?fbclid=IwAR0rISvpuAvhC2IB3uP2c4BVY9lGQ7-I8tIdJVPIMliH1Ce6iMfjIMGAGkM
But, even though it operates subliminally, as we begin to understand the cerebellar self, we also start to appreciate how important it is to our perception of our surroundings, how we move, and even the implicit sense of agency we have in our interactions with the world. Montgomery, John. Evolution of the Cerebellar Sense of Self (p. 2). OUP Oxford. Kindle Edition.
https://academic.oup.com/book/9812?login=false&fbclid=IwAR2lTL_mvhAQKhTY5WEzMjJ-cXizMriEqNjzJgC1CVUWOh6PSZ4B_zDQP50

In these books you will be introduced to parts of our brain that perform different functions. Once we understand what these parts of the brain are, what they look like and where they are situated, and what function they perform we can direct our awareness to these different parts of the brain during our meditation and gradually learn to recognize their activity. Gradually we can gain some conscious control over these different parts of our brain. It is interesting that "mindfulness" originates from the Pali word sati. According to Bryan Levman writing in the Journal of the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies, "the word sati incorporates the meaning of 'memory' and 'remembrance'.
Samatha meditation develops samadhi or concentration by focusing attention. Samatha would correlate with the cerebral cortex and its hemispheres. Mindfullness moves our awareness down into our limbic system and the parts of our brain related to memory and remembrance, like the hippocampus, hypothalamus. Our awareness can go still deeper into structures in our midbrain and brainstem...and we get into the realms of Vipassana. Plasticity is sited as proof that meditation is doing something positive for our brain. However, the brain has developed the connections it has over our period of development to optimize the way different parts of our brain our connected. We do not want to be changing these connections between different parts of our brain unless we are in a very controlled environment like in a monastery. For example if we alter the connections between cerebellum and cortex then we can experience schizophrenic and dissociative symptoms. The book on the cerebellum discusses this. Once these connections are disrupted, for some people the cortex will now be experienced as 'other' rather than self which is why some people will hear voices and see things as really there which are arising only in their cortex like a dream. If we change our connections between different areas of our brain we make it much more difficult for our awareness to move freely throughout our brain...and ultimately into the Vipassana or 'insight' areas of the midbrain and brainstem.

https://acamh.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/camh.12600?fbclid=IwAR0pXTXMBqhaepmiGCavjXWjnTjsK_KuvgEbVjk8CBkHBm_uv-A1XNEbVoo

Hi Buddhists,
I'd consider myself as one among you (been practicing 25 years + related martial arts) but I'm not really active on reddit--however, I am writing actively on Substack, and I've written a 3 part interview (part 1 and 2 now complete) with Bill PorteRed Pine, famed China-travel writer, and wonderful translator of buddhist tomes, taoist texts, and a lot of beautiful Chinese poetry. It's a bit of a niche subject for most people in the world, but I thought it might appeal to some of you:
Part 1, in which I detail some of my background, my time living in China, and how I found my way to Bill's works, and ended up befriending him, and visiting him: https://nickherman.substack.com/p/an-interview-with-writer-and-translator
Part 2: The first part of the actual interview: https://nickherman.substack.com/p/an-interview-with-writer-and-translator-af2
Part 3 (the rest of the interview) should be posted within the next week.
(also posted in /Zen)

The Buddha Creates a Jewel Walk
I have never seen a painting or a line drawing done of Buddha creating the famous Jewel Walk with which he begins to tell the story of the previous Buddha's who gave a prediction of buddhahood to him. If you've ever seen a picture of this phenomena llet me know. I find it difficult to really imagine it. thank you
[The Buddha creates and passes up and down a jewel Walk in the heavens to prepare to relate the tales of the 24 Buddhas preceeding him and his own descent into the womb.]
[33] When the teacher had performed the Marvel of the Double In the sky And had surveyed the mental character of the populace, being anxious to teach them a suitable teaching of Dhamma as he walked up and down, he created the Jewel Walk consisting of all the jewels and extending over the 10,000 World-Systems.
Verse 5: Come, I will display the unsurpassed power of a Buddha. In the Zenith I will create a walk adorned with jewels!
Verse 11 :The leader of the world created a well-wrought walk with all the jewels.
Verse 12: In the 10 000 World System he displayed like a course of pillars on (each) supreme mountain Sineru, Walks made of jewels.
13 The Conqueror created a Walk spanning the 10,000. All golden were the sides of that Walk which was made of jewels.
Verse 14: The junction of (each pair of) beams were symmetrical The floorboards covered with gold all golden were the railings Well-fashioned on both sides (of the Walk).
Verse 15 : Strewn over with sand (consisting) of jewels and pearls, fashioned and made of jewels it [the Walk] illuminated all the quarters like him of the hundred rays when he has written risen.
Verse 16: Walking up and down in that, him of the 32 glorious marks, Self-Awakened one, Conqueror, shining, walked up and down in the Walk.
Verse 17: All the divas gathered together showered down on the walk diva-like mandarava flowers, lotuses, flowers of the coral tree.
Verse 20 : Heavenly musicians, demons together with the divas, nagas, fairy birds, and birdmen besides saw that one who was compassionate for the world's welfare like the orb of the Moon high aloft in the zenith.
Verse 31: They sent fourth chants in the air snd down the airy paths they've played on drums on seeing the wonder in the Zenith.
Verse 43: Even as he was standing on the Vulture Peak, Sāriputta of great wisdom, proficient in concentration and meditation, saw the leader of the world.
Verse 44 He surveyed the bull of a man who was like a king of the Sala trees in full bloom, like the moon in the heavens, like the sun at midday.
Verse 45: He saw the wise one, the leader who was blazing like a tree of lamps, like the newly risen sun, illuminated by a halo extending for a fathom.
Verse 48: Come, all of us will go, we will question the Conqueror, when we have seen the leader of the world we will dispel doubt. [Ed. Relate the story Of the 24 Previous Buddhas.]
Verse 64: These are the four incalculables of which the extent is not known: The aggregation of beings, and space, and the infinite world-spheres, and the immeasurable knowledge of a Buddha. It is impossible to ascertain these.
[ Here the Buddha begins the recitation of his own Descent from Tusita and into the womb of his mother and the Tales of the 24 Buddhas.]
From The Buddhavamsa, The Minor Anthologies - Volume Three, Sacred Books of the Buddhists Volume 31, Horner I.B. [translator], Pali Text Society, Bristol, 2013
PS: Metteyya has a cameo at the end!

Inspired to write down my experiences and tips in dealing with procrastination by our friend here:
From u/NoMoreSquatsInLA/

My primary struggles are with ADHD, executive dysfunction, and anxiety. I realized my breathing was all kinds of messed up. For the past 2 weeks I’m trying to check in throughout the day and breathe through the diaphragm.
If any of you more experienced practitioners have any insights / tips to share about breaking this cycle of procrastination and self sabotage, do share.

This sounds a lot like me. My attention is good when it focuses on something but it seems to prefer to jump around a lot. I used to procrastinate quite a lot as well, but was able to (mostly) get beyond it using Buddhist style practices and non-dual views.
This will be a discussion of a non-violent (non-coercive) approach to changing the way things are. Satyagraha if you will, on a small, personal scale.
We can start by acknowledging how things are.
What's the experience of procrastination?

• Being told to do something by some authority.
• Feeling anxious about it.
• Feeling resentful about being told to do something.
• Not really wanting to do that something.
• Feeling resentful about feeling anxiety about it.
• Avoiding the situation (trying to hide from the unpleasantness) so we engage in mindless distraction or a nap or whatever. We attempt to achieve unawareness.
• The unpleasantness (resentment, fear) increasing as time goes by and the task remains undone.
• Unpleasantness increasing avoidance.
• Until finally the deadline is so perilously close, sheer panic flattens everything else and impels something to be done.
• What gets done may be an OK product but not as good as we could do, so there's some shame involved, as well as the recollection of all those horrible feelings.
• The most horrible part is feeling compelled to DO IT and compelled to NOT DO IT at the same time. Awareness caught and compressed in the jaws of a vise.

OK, so where we want to end up is like this, being non-dual about it:
From the viewpoint of "the beyond": suffering terribly, performing bad work or good work or no work, or feeling fine and doing work and feeling good about 'yourself' - that's all "just what happened"
So from the viewpoint of "gone beyond" (no-karma):

• It's OK to do the thing
• It's OK to not-do the thing
• Since previously we evaluated the situation and decided it was preferable to do the thing, let's do it!
• No pressure since every outcome is fundamentally OK.

There is also the "good karma" aspect:

• Doing the work because it is "right action" and feels harmonious with the role of having a job.

This is the feeling of not being coerced by the situation. Escaping compulsion. Working, beyond samsara. Right action.
But how do we get there?
Non coercive suggestions leading to "good habits"
We dip awareness into the job at hand. Think about it and then drop it. Think about it again and let it go. Think about and feel into what needs to be done. Drop it. Gradually these mental imprints (having the impression of something missing or needing to be done) build up and there's a positive compulsion to do something about it.
You'll notice there isn't much "executive function" here, we're not maintaining anything, we're just persistently and occasionally dropping imprints into the pond [of the mind] until a compulsion to get it done begins to arise.
Similarly, you could just do a little bit of the work. Any part of it. Just a bite.
Then the conscious mind can ride this almost-unconscious compulsion and do this thing. Lots of little bites builds up hunger for the feast!
As well, we may wish to contemplate the virtues of doing the work, having a happy boss / teammates, feeling productive, being happy with our role. As before, bring this up and let it drop, let it make whatever imprint in the mind it may. Just lean a little this way, don't force anything. This should help to counter balance the negative feelings and keep you from sinking into them.
Dissolving "bad habits" and adverse emotional imprints
There's going to be a ton of emotional imprints at work here, really a balled-up mass of negative stuff, coming from your childhood and all those previous procrastination experiences.
But it's all OK (if you are aware of it.)
You can be compelled this way and that, by powerful emotions, seemingly unavoidably, But it's not really so bad if you can maintain awareness in the situation.
If by compulsion you end up in "hiding" / avoiding mode - be aware! Be aware for example that you feel like a child hiding from a vengeful, predatory Authority, maybe. Just sink into and dwell with this - but stay aware! Keep your mind open and wide and feel the feeling while also recalling it's just one of many possible feelings, just part of awareness. Permeate the whole feeling-pattern with awareness. Don't anticipate it dissolving (although it will.) Just be with it. Equanimity comes from a broad open space and just-allowing. Awareness permeating the pattern brings it back home and lets the trapped energy return to the whole of awareness.
Likewise resentment of Authority for bringing about these ill feelings. Be aware of how this works. In my case, in the first place my energy doesn't like being forcibly diverted from wherever it wanted to go. There's some degree of attachment to keeping on doing whatever I was doing or wanted to be doing (as opposed to what the Authority wants me to be doing.)
So we acknowledge that resentment and the way the energy spills around angrily if it's being diverted from its former course.
Maybe these aren't your exact emotion-behavior patterns. But in any event you'll want to bring/allow the negative feeling-behavior patterns and just let them be felt and let them be and let them dissolve in awareness and return their energy to the whole.
Feel these things like feeling energy in your body, without getting into head games and making stories about them. If you do make stories be aware of that and return awareness/acceptance to the tides of feeling in the body and in the heart.
NOTE: You may have to cycle through all these quite a few times but you'll notice they get weaker - more transparent and less compulsory - each time.
Once you're free of compulsion to do it or not do it, then you're a free awareness and you can just do what is best.
Finally . . .
Give yourself room and be good to yourself:
Maybe you actually DO need to take a nap or rest before getting to it. Resolve that your needs are important and will be attended to. If you need to rest, then provide rest for yourself. This helps avoid resentment of your needs being forced to be unattended / disallowed. This is all about being good to yourself and those around you ... it's not about forcing you to do anything. Remember doing something or doing nothing are both OK.
CODA:
I can't say I'm entirely free of procrastination per se - for one thing, I'm writing this as I'm technically supposed to be working! It's just that I'm not-working in a sensible way, I don't have a lot to do right now so I'm taking my own time to do something worthwhile. The same goes for meditation during work hours - I do it if there is time since it's important to me. So you might just say I've greatly tempered procrastination and I do not experience the emotional hell of procrastination any more.
Perhaps now that I've written this, the universe will put me through procrastination hell one more time just to demonstrate that it has the last word! Well, if so, then so be it. I'll try for the good even if in a cage!
FINALLY:
Good luck to you my friends who are coming here suffering! It is possible to clean up your bad karma and dissolve all unwholesome mental habits! Best to you, I really mean that. My heart is with you, no one should have to suffer like this.

Zen is based on words

It's popular in Buddhist circles to claim that Zen is a kind of mysticism that language can't address.
This is 100% historically inaccurate, and not only misrepresents Zen's 1,000 historical record in China, this misrepresentation has been exploited by new agers and Buddhists specifically in order to diminish Zen and Zen historical records to create new age religions and promote modernist Buddhism as cooler than they are.

Why did people in the 60's make this mistake

1. Japanese Buddhists in particular had nothing but Chinese records, and Zazen didn't work (plus Japanese Buddhists knew that Zazen wasn't Chinese).
   • Japanese Buddhists failed to produce any Zen Masters, ever, in Japanese history. The only Japanese person to have a reasonable claim to being a Zen Master, Bankei, was not like by Japanese Buddhists much at all. No students, no teacher, no heirs, and Bankei outright rejects Zazen as a means to enlightenment as he blamed it for his near death experience and lifelong poor health.
2. Westerners encountering Zen without any of the books of instruction written by Zen Masters were confused, and surging new age religions took advantage, telling people "the confusion is the truth".
   • To be fair, the books of instruction written by Zen Masters are very challenging, and Judaeo-Christian culture wasn't prepared.

Lots of people who still think books from the 60's are "true" to this day struggle with "words", particularly high school book reports on Zen books of instruction.

What is the argument against words?

It's mistranslation only. That's the funniest part.
The Four Statements of Zen, which Buddhists are quick to dismiss as less central than the eightfold path, nevertheless, are often mis-referenced by Buddhists even in this forum.
The Four Statements refer ONLY to

 a separate TRANSMISSION outside records 

because records are so famously Zen

 not dependent on Doctrine 

because doctrine is what Buddhists use words for, the only thing Buddhists can use words for.

More Words than Anybody

It is not that Zen is outside of words., as If somehow it was too mystical to be taught or somehow dependent on silence.
From the traditional question, What do they teach where you come from? to the fact that Zen Masters encouraged the recording of transcripts for history transcripts we now call koans, we see that words are more common in Zen than they are in any religion or philosophy, rivaling text books for wordiness. Isn't that interesting?
Not only do Zen Masters encourage keeping records, Zen Masters wrote books of instruction based on these transcripts. not only did they wrote books of instruction based on the transcripts, they considered the historical records of transcripts, aka koans to be so important they wrote books of instruction about the books of instruction written about koans.
The 1960s era Buddhist view of Zen being non-wordy is entirely misinformed and largely based on ignorance and illiteracy, which was in turn encouraged as a way of convincing people that mental stupors in a meditative self-hypnotic trance were the way to go.

Zen words is where it's at

The transmission is not based on specific words.
But that doesn't mean that words haven't been used to transmit Zen.
Zen Masters answer questions to demonstrate enlightenment.
That's right... words are the manifestation of Buddha Dharma.

 EDIT: NORMALIZING IGNORANCE AND "FEELING TRUE" 

As Buddhist scholar extraordinaire Hakamaya pointed out, beginning in the 60's the West normalized ignorance of Asian culture and "feelings" of being right over actual facts and arguments.
Lots of people come into this forum who can't quote Zen masters and in fact know nothing about what Zen Masters teach... but they "feel" like they know, so they insist they do.
But just as nobody would tolerate "feeling" you are a doctor without a license, or "feeling" like you are a electrician without a certification, or "feeling" like you are a mathematician when you can't do math, nobody is going to accept "feeling" like you know about Zen when you can't write a high school book report about any Zen teaching, ever.

I'm pretty sure the statue is not of Istaroth, as many theorize.
It is mentioned that Istaroth was helping Makoto plant the sacred cherry tree, it is never mentioned that Ei knows her or that the statue was of her (Istaroth).
It doesn't make sense that a statue of another unknown god, like Istaroth, would be built in front of her palace in the middle of the city of Inazuma, when Ei is repeatedly said to have cut all ties with Celestia.
From statements by Thomas, it is specifically known that the statue was built recently, before the events within the Makoto plane.
"Omnipresent God," isn't that a title for a goddess whose ideal is eternity? Furthermore, as we all know, Ei is omnipresent.
The name of the statue in the original language is "God of a thousand arms and a hundred eyes ", Raiden's desiderata chakra, in the original language is "Wishing Wheel of One Hundred Eyes", which is a clear reference to the title she took during the vision capture decree.
During Raiden's weekly boss battle, the voice lines in the original language are "A thousand hands, wrap it all up" which is combined with the name of the desiderata chakra in the same language.
Is a clear reference to a key Buddhist belief, "The perception of the eye influences the desires of the heart, which in turn influences the actions of the hand." this is also referenced directly in raiden's ability description and general mudra of the malefic.
Inazuma's arc is literally called "Omnipresence over mortals", and in the original language "God of a thousand arms and a hundred eyes".
The description of her archon quest directly refers to her as omnipresent, or in the original language, "God of a thousand arms and a hundred eyes".
The fact that her title is only applicable during the decree is probably because it referred to her total oppressive control over Inazuma, with her hundred eyes she would watch over the people through the plane of euthymia, which It's literally what happens when you use her ability, and with her thousand hands she would take down anyone who stood in his way.
The npc "Yamada" of the Grand Narukami Shrine literally mentions that the statue belongs to the Shogun.
The statue itself could be intended to be more of a physical representation of the concept of eternity, rather than being modeled after an actual figure in Genshin Impact, in the description of the achievement "Everyone's Aspirations", and in a thoma's voice line, the statue is described simply as "The symbol of eternity".
Raiden's elemental ability in the game is "Eye of Stormy Judgment" and the talent material "Tears of the Calamitous God", they are very similar to the eye shaped pendant that the statue has.
The statue's wings are covered in eyes and we know that the symbolism of eyes is used extensively for the character of Ei.
In her weekly boss form she is covered in designs of eyes and arms, like the god of a thousand arms and a thousand eyes, while the purple pattern behind her head resembles eyes and wings of the statue.
It is also worth noting that in Hoyoverse animation, the wings that appear behind Ei are the same as the ones on the statue, I doubt Hoyoverse would make a representation like that if the statue is not hers.
If the statue is Ei and not the personification of her eternity, perhaps the clothing does not match that of the statue of The Seven, or with her cinematics, but the clothes that Barbatos wears in the manga and his cinematics also do not coincide with any of his two statues (the one he has in the middle of the city of Mondstadt and the one of The Seven).
The statue is still under construction, maybe that's why its base is still worn out, and if I remember correctly, it's actually being rebuilt.
I also want to clarify that the story of Inazuma was very poorly written and very rushed, so the statue does not have too many details and still leaves many doubts and inconclusives, maybe they had other ideas for the statue but changed their mind at the last minute and they were too lazy to change it, we just have to wait for them to give us more history about the statue.

EDIT: I wrote this originally for the agender thread that’s why that’s the language but it’s still relevant for non-binary communities as well. It’s really for everyone.
I’m reading the book Black and Buddhist and a passage in Buddhist teacher Ruth King’s piece WHOLENESS IS NO TRIFLING MATTER made me think of this community and about describing myself as agender but still being a gendered being in society with a marginalized gendered body.
We all came to this description, identity, feeling, submission, label, community of agender for various reasons and I believe at the root those reasons unite us.
Calling myself agender is a way for me to express my desire to be free from gender expectations, norms, harm, judgement, and separateness.
I’d so love if y’all would take a few moments to read what Ruth King wrote and reflect on how can we turn inward and take action steps collectively to build a world where everyone feels safe in any form no matter how they present physically.
WHOLENESS IS NO TRIFLING MATTER
“But over the years, participating in dharma community mostly attended and led by white people, I have often felt my heart quake and stomach tighten after hearing white teachers and yogis speak from a lack of awareness of themselves as racial beings. I have never heard white teachers make blatant racist comments with intent to harm. Rather, there was a more subtle obliviousness about whiteness as a collective reality and its privilege and impact, and an assumption that we were all the same or wanted to be, In those moments, despite my best efforts, I would be reminded of race and of being invisible and would spin into a hurricane of anger, confusion, and despair.
Over the years, I had both experienced and witnessed intense bruising and racial distress from such ignorance, resulting in separation. This particular flavor of separation reflected not only a division of the races, but also a division of heart. The consciousness-or unconsciousness--that supports racial suffering cuts people out of our hearts. We then try to live as if "cutting" doesn't hurt. We pretend we are not bleeding from the wounds of separation as we move about our lives in search of freedom and contentment, and we have convinced ourselves that we can live disconnected- from the planet and each other--and still be whole, happy, and peaceful.
It was sobering to acknowledge that being in a sea of racial ignorance wasn't going to disappear anytime soon. Then I began to muse: Clearly, my freedom is not dependent upon whether white folks wake up to their ignorance, right? Clearly, my freedom is more immediate and in my hands, right? Right! I was reminded of what Toni Cade Bambara had written in The Salt Eaters: “Are you sure, sweetheart, that you want to be well? … Just so's you're sure, sweetheart, and ready to be healed, cause wholeness is no trifling matter."

Hello dear dharma friends,
Do you maybe know of any pali sources which states the acts a sotapana can still do and which not??
I recently read about the earliest buddhist school we know off and their believes and I was interested and surprised to know, that they share a lot with mahayana doctrine. One of their believes is that sotapanas can conduct all actions, except the three really bad ones which are often mentioned also in theravada. Killing your father, hurting a buddha, schism the sangha.
Thanks for your answers!!!

YŪREI CHRONICLES [ 幽霊クロニクルズ ]
Tales of Japanese Horror [ 日本のホラーの物語 ]
By: Seph Cruz [ 投稿者: セフ・クルーズ ]
CONTENTS [ コンテンツ ]
Preface [ はじめに ]
Chapter 1: The Cursed Scroll [ 第 1 章: 呪われた巻物 ]
Chapter 2: The Shrine in the Shadows [ 第 2 章: 影の神殿 ]
Chapter 3: The Haunting of the Geisha [ 第 3 章: 芸者の幽霊 ]
Chapter 4: The Onryo's Revenge [ 第 4 章: 怨霊の復讐 ]
Chapter 5: The Dollmaker's Curse [ 第 5 章: 人形師の呪い ]
Chapter 6: The Shadow in the Forest [ 第 6 章: 森の影 ] Chapter 7: The Haunting of the Yūrei Inn [ 第 7 章: 幽霊旅館の幽霊 ]
Chapter 8: The Curse of the Haunted Kimono [ 第 8 章: 幽霊着物の呪い ]
Chapter 9: The Mirror's Malevolence [ 第 9 章: 鏡の悪意 ]
Chapter 10: The Bridge to the Beyond [ 第 10 章: 彼方への架け橋 ]

 "Yūrei Chronicles: Tales of Japanese Horror" 

Chapter 1: "The Cursed Scroll"
In the heart of Kyoto, where history whispered through the ancient streets, there existed an antique bookstore known only to those who sought the rarest of tomes. Nestled among centuries-old texts and dusty manuscripts, a forbidden scroll lay hidden, waiting for an unwitting soul to stumble upon its chilling secrets.
Chapter 1: "The Cursed Scroll"
The quaint, dimly lit bookstore was a treasure trove of the past. Intricate calligraphy adorned scrolls, while faded ink whispered stories of long-forgotten samurai and mystical creatures. Among these relics of history, one scroll remained elusive, concealed behind a glass case. Its dark, ornate cover bore no title, and its presence seemed to beckon.
Haruki, a young scholar with a fascination for the occult, visited the bookstore one rainy afternoon. His curiosity led him to inquire about the enigmatic scroll. The elderly shopkeeper, Mr. Tanaka, peered at him with a knowing look, cautioning him about the scroll's malevolent reputation.
"Many have sought to uncover its secrets," Mr. Tanaka said, his voice trembling with age, "but few have lived to tell the tale."
Haruki, undeterred by the ominous warning, insisted on examining the scroll. Mr. Tanaka, sensing the scholar's determination, reluctantly unlocked the glass case. As Haruki unrolled the ancient parchment, he saw that it was filled with intricate symbols and incantations, written in a language he could barely comprehend.
For days, Haruki delved into the scroll's mysteries. His sleepless nights were filled with whispers from unseen forces, and chilling drafts seemed to haunt his small apartment. Yet, he pressed on, believing that the scroll held untold knowledge and power.
One fateful night, as a full moon cast eerie shadows across his cluttered study, Haruki recited an incantation from the scroll. The room grew icy cold, and an otherworldly presence enveloped him. A mournful wail echoed through the room, and Haruki's heart raced as he beheld the apparition before him.
A yūrei, its long, disheveled hair obscuring its gaunt face, hovered in the air, its eyes filled with anguish and rage. It reached out bony, pale fingers toward Haruki, its spectral form translucent yet undeniably real.
In that moment, Haruki realized the scroll's true nature – a curse that summoned vengeful spirits to torment the living. He had unwittingly invited the yūrei into his world, and now, it sought retribution for its suffering.
The scholar's life turned into a nightmare as the vengeful spirit haunted his every waking moment. His research became an obsession to find a way to pacify the yūrei and lift the curse. With each passing day, Haruki's health deteriorated, his body and mind succumbing to the relentless torment.
Desperate, he sought the guidance of a renowned exorcist, who revealed a grim truth. The only way to break the curse was to discover the scroll's origins and offer the yūrei the peace it so desperately sought.
As Haruki ventured deeper into the scroll's history, he uncovered a tale of betrayal and tragedy that spanned centuries. With newfound knowledge and a heavy heart, he prepared to confront the vengeful yūrei and set things right.
In a chilling confrontation between the living and the dead, Haruki faced the spirit, offering it the closure it craved. As the yūrei dissipated into the ether, its mournful wail echoed one last time, fading into the night.
Haruki emerged from the ordeal forever changed, carrying the weight of the scroll's curse as a cautionary tale. The forbidden knowledge he had sought had come at a great cost, a reminder that some mysteries should remain hidden, and some curses should never be invoked.
As the sun rose over Kyoto, the antique bookstore remained shrouded in an eerie silence, and the cursed scroll returned to its cryptic slumber, waiting for the next unwitting soul to unlock its dreadful secrets.
End of Chapter 1: "The Cursed Scroll"
Chapter 2: "The Shrine in the Shadows"
In the heart of a tranquil Japanese village, nestled among ancient forests, stood a centuries-old Shinto shrine, known to few but revered by all. This sacred place held an eerie secret, hidden in the shadows of its past.
Chapter 2: "The Shrine in the Shadows"
The village of Mizuki was picturesque, surrounded by dense woods and the whispers of rustling leaves. Its most treasured gem was the Shōrin Shrine, a sanctuary dedicated to the worship of the kami, where the villagers paid homage with heartfelt prayers and offerings.
On a bright spring morning, the Hayashi family moved into a charming house near the shrine. Yuko, a spirited young girl with inquisitive eyes, was enchanted by the quaint beauty of Mizuki and the mystique of the Shōrin Shrine. Her parents, Masato and Yuki, hoped the peaceful village would offer respite from the bustling city.
Their first evening in Mizuki was serene, and the family felt blessed to live in such an idyllic place. As night descended, they heard a faint melody echoing through the forest—a haunting tune played on a traditional shamisen. Yuko, drawn by curiosity, followed the eerie melody to the shrine.
At the shrine's entrance, she saw a flicker of movement among the trees and bushes. As her eyes adjusted to the dim moonlight, she gasped in awe and terror. There, bathed in an ethereal glow, stood a beautiful woman dressed in a white kimono, her long hair cascading like an ebony waterfall.
The woman's face bore an expression of immense sorrow, and her eyes seemed to pierce Yuko's very soul. In her delicate, spectral hands, she held a shamisen, its strings plucked by fingers that had long since turned to mist.
"Who are you?" Yuko asked, her voice quivering.
The apparition gazed at Yuko with an inscrutable sadness and whispered, "My name is Hana. I have been bound to this shrine for centuries, waiting for someone to hear my song."
Hana's story unraveled like a tragic tapestry before Yuko. She had once been a young woman in love with a humble fisherman from Mizuki. Their love was forbidden, and when their secret was discovered, they met a tragic end at the hands of the villagers.
As she spoke, the melody of her shamisen became more mournful, and the trees seemed to weep in sympathy. Hana's spirit, bound to the shrine, could only find solace by sharing her story with the living.
Yuko, moved by Hana's tale, felt a deep connection to the ghostly figure. She promised to help Hana find peace and bring her story to light. Together, they would uncover the truth behind the tragic love story that had ensnared the shrine for centuries.
As Yuko delved into the village's history, she uncovered hidden documents and ancient scrolls that confirmed Hana's story. The injustice done to Hana and her beloved was a blot on the village's past, a truth that had been concealed for generations.
With newfound determination, Yuko rallied the villagers to acknowledge the village's dark history and to seek forgiveness for the sins of the past. In a moving ceremony at the Shōrin Shrine, the villagers offered their prayers, and Hana's spirit was finally set free.
As the first rays of dawn bathed Mizuki in golden light, Hana's ethereal form dissolved into a wisp of gratitude and serenity. The shrine, once shadowed by sorrow, now radiated with newfound peace.
"The Shrine in the Shadows" became a tale passed down through generations, a reminder that love and forgiveness could transcend even the darkest of curses. Mizuki continued to flourish, its shrine standing as a testament to the enduring power of redemption.
End of Chapter 2: "The Shrine in the Shadows"
Chapter 3: "The Haunting of the Geisha"
In the vibrant streets of 19th-century Tokyo, beneath the shimmering lanterns and behind the delicate allure of geisha, a haunting presence lurked—a presence that would forever change the life of a celebrated geisha named Kaede.
Chapter 3: "The Haunting of the Geisha"
In the heart of Tokyo's historic Yoshiwara district, Kaede was renowned as one of the most captivating and skilled geisha. Her beauty was ethereal, her dances mesmerizing, and her laughter like the tinkling of wind chimes. But beneath her porcelain makeup and the grace of her performances lay a heart heavy with secrets.
One cool autumn evening, as the lanterns cast their warm glow on the district, a newcomer arrived at the teahouse where Kaede performed. His name was Kaito, a handsome and enigmatic man with piercing eyes that seemed to see beyond the facade of the geisha. Kaede's heart quickened as their eyes met, and she felt a connection she had never experienced before.
As weeks turned into months, Kaede and Kaito's bond deepened, their love blossoming like the cherry blossoms in spring. But their love was a forbidden one, as Kaito was a samurai, and their worlds were as different as night and day.
One fateful night, Kaito revealed a dangerous secret to Kaede—he was involved in a plot against a powerful daimyo who ruled with cruelty and oppression. Kaito believed that by exposing the daimyo's corruption, he could bring justice to the people. He asked for Kaede's assistance in gathering information from the teahouse's influential patrons.
Reluctantly, Kaede agreed, and together, they embarked on a treacherous path filled with deceit and danger. As the days passed, they uncovered dark secrets that could expose the daimyo's crimes. However, their actions did not go unnoticed.
One evening, as Kaede performed for a gathering of influential men, a sinister figure appeared in the shadows. It was the vengeful spirit of a geisha named Akiko, who had perished in Yoshiwara under tragic circumstances. Her ghostly form was veiled in a blood-red kimono, and her eyes burned with malevolence.
Akiko's haunting began subtly—a chill in the air, whispers of despair, and a feeling of dread that hung over the teahouse like a shroud. Kaede, sensing the supernatural presence, knew that they had awakened a vengeful spirit.
Desperate to protect Kaede, Kaito sought the guidance of a local exorcist, who revealed the tragic story of Akiko. She had been a geisha in love with a samurai, but their forbidden love had led to betrayal and death. Her restless spirit sought vengeance on those who dared to love across societal boundaries.
With the exorcist's help, Kaito and Kaede embarked on a perilous journey to confront Akiko's spirit and offer her the peace she so desperately sought. In a climactic showdown, they faced the vengeful geisha, revealing the truth behind her betrayal and death.
As the first light of dawn bathed the Yoshiwara district, Akiko's spirit dissipated, her eyes filled with sorrow and resignation. The curse she had cast upon the teahouse lifted, and peace returned to the district.
Kaede and Kaito's love story continued, forever marked by the supernatural forces they had encountered. The teahouse thrived once more, its lanterns casting their warm glow over the enchanting district, where love knew no boundaries and forgiveness transcended even death.
"The Haunting of the Geisha" became a legend whispered among geisha in Yoshiwara, a testament to the enduring power of love and the consequences of forbidden desires in the mysterious world of Edo-era Tokyo.
End of Chapter 3: "The Haunting of the Geisha"
Chapter 4: "The Onryo's Revenge"
In the heart of a decaying city, where abandoned buildings stood as silent witnesses to forgotten tragedies, a group of urban explorers would stumble upon a place where the restless dead held their sinister dominion.
Chapter 4: "The Onryo's Revenge"
The city of Kurayami had fallen into disrepair, its once-thriving industries crumbling, and its streets echoing with the memories of better days. Among its many derelict structures was the forsaken Kurayami Hospital, a place whispered about only in fearful tales.
Rumors spoke of a curse that had befallen the hospital after a gruesome series of medical experiments in the early 20th century. Patients had been subjected to horrific procedures, and their agonized cries still seemed to reverberate through the corridors.
A group of urban explorers, lured by the thrill of the forbidden and the allure of the macabre, set their sights on Kurayami Hospital. Among them was Hiroshi, the group's leader, and Yumi, a budding photographer with an affinity for capturing the eerie beauty of abandoned places.
As the explorers entered the hospital's crumbling entrance, they were greeted by the musty scent of decay and the eerie silence of long-abandoned hallways. Shadows danced in the dim light as they ventured deeper into the forsaken building, their footsteps echoing like distant whispers.
The group's excitement turned to unease as they encountered signs of the hospital's dark past—rusty surgical instruments, bloodstained gurneys, and cryptic medical notes. Yumi's camera captured it all, each photograph revealing more about the hospital's gruesome history.
As night fell, the explorers gathered in the hospital's decrepit lobby, their flashlights casting trembling beams into the darkness. It was then that they heard it—a faint, mournful wail, like the keening of a soul in torment.
Hiroshi, the group's fearless leader, brushed off their concerns, attributing the sound to the wind or their imagination. But the cries grew louder and more anguished, echoing through the halls.
The group became separated as they navigated the labyrinthine corridors. Yumi, camera in hand, wandered into the hospital's disused psychiatric ward. There, in a shadowed corner, she saw her camera's flash reveal a horrifying apparition—an onryo, a vengeful spirit with long, disheveled hair and eyes filled with hatred.
The onryo's spectral form contorted with rage as it approached Yumi. Its icy fingers reached out, and she felt an otherworldly coldness pierce her very soul. She knew that this was the spirit of a patient who had suffered unimaginable horrors in the hospital.
As Yumi's companions searched for her, they stumbled upon the onryo's lair and witnessed the terrifying encounter. In a desperate bid to save Yumi, they searched for a way to pacify the vengeful spirit.
Through a combination of research and communication with a local historian, they learned the full extent of the hospital's atrocities. Armed with this knowledge, they returned to the onryo's domain to confront the spirit and offer it the peace it had been denied for so long.
In a climactic showdown, the group faced the onryo, revealing the hospital's dark secrets and acknowledging the suffering of the tormented souls within. With profound remorse, they begged for forgiveness on behalf of those who had perpetrated the atrocities.
As the first rays of dawn broke over Kurayami, the onryo's anguished wails transformed into a mournful sigh. The spirit, its wrath finally quelled, dissipated into the ether, leaving behind a sense of profound sadness and closure.
The group of urban explorers emerged from Kurayami Hospital, forever changed by their encounter with the supernatural. They had confronted the past and offered redemption to the restless dead, leaving the decaying city with a newfound sense of hope.
"The Onryo's Revenge" became a cautionary tale among urban explorers, a reminder that some places are best left undisturbed, and that the past, no matter how dark, can be confronted and reconciled.
End of Chapter 4: "The Onryo's Revenge"
Chapter 5: "The Dollmaker's Curse"
In a remote mountain village, nestled among mist-shrouded peaks, a master dollmaker crafted exquisite creations that captured the hearts of collectors worldwide. Yet, within her secluded workshop, a malevolent force lurked—one that would ensnare a curious journalist in a nightmarish world of living dolls and dark secrets.
Chapter 5: "The Dollmaker's Curse"
Hidden away in the secluded village of Ichiban, known only to those who ventured deep into the mountains, lived a master dollmaker named Ai. Her dolls were celebrated for their lifelike beauty and craftsmanship, with collectors from distant lands coveting her creations.
One brisk autumn morning, a journalist named Keiko received a cryptic letter from a source in Ichiban, hinting at a sinister mystery surrounding Ai's dolls. Intrigued by the enigmatic message, Keiko embarked on a journey to the remote village, determined to uncover the truth.
Ichiban was a place untouched by time, its cobblestone streets winding through dense forests and past centuries-old homes. The village exuded an eerie tranquility, and the locals spoke in hushed tones about Ai's dolls, rumored to be infused with a piece of the human soul.
Upon reaching Ai's workshop, Keiko was greeted by the dollmaker herself, a woman of grace and poise. The workshop was a treasure trove of exquisite dolls, their eyes seeming to follow Keiko's every move. Among them, a particular doll known as Hikari stood out—a hauntingly beautiful creation with ebony hair and obsidian eyes.
As Keiko delved deeper into the village's mysteries, she discovered that Hikari was believed to house the soul of a deceased child, a belief held by both Ai and the villagers. The doll's unsettling presence and the uncanny resemblance it bore to a girl named Mei, who had died tragically years ago, sent shivers down Keiko's spine.
Keiko's nights in Ichiban were filled with restless dreams of porcelain dolls that came to life. In these dreams, Hikari beckoned her to uncover the truth behind the dollmaker's creations. Guided by an inexplicable compulsion, Keiko embarked on a quest to unearth the dark secrets hidden within Ai's workshop.
As Keiko investigated further, she uncovered Ai's own tragic past—a story of unrequited love, loss, and a desperate desire to capture the essence of the human soul in her dolls. With each revelation, the line between the living and the lifeless blurred, and Keiko felt herself becoming entangled in a nightmarish world.
The dolls that had once been works of art now seemed to harbor malevolence. They moved of their own accord, their eyes filled with an eerie, lifelike intensity. Keiko realized that Ai's obsession had bound her to a sinister force, and her creations hungered for more than just existence.
In a chilling climax, Keiko confronted Ai and the curse that had gripped her creations. Together, they sought to break the curse's hold and release the trapped souls within the dolls.
As the moon hung low in the night sky, Ai performed a solemn ritual, guided by the spirit of Mei, whose essence had been captured in Hikari. The dolls, imbued with a restless energy, gathered around, their haunting eyes watching as the curse was lifted.
With a mournful sigh, the dolls' porcelain features softened, and their malevolence dissipated. The spirit of Mei was set free, and the dolls became lifeless once more, their beauty preserved in eternal stillness.
Ichiban returned to its peaceful slumber, and Keiko departed with a newfound appreciation for the power of art and the depths of human longing. The village's haunting tale of the dollmaker's curse served as a reminder that some obsessions could lead to the creation of something far more sinister than art itself.
End of Chapter 5: "The Dollmaker's Curse"
Chapter 6: "The Shadow in the Forest"
In a land steeped in history and tradition, the Aokigahara Forest, known as the "Suicide Forest," concealed a dark secret. Within its dense, ancient foliage, a group of hikers would embark on a journey that would lead them into the heart of a malevolent force.
Chapter 6: "The Shadow in the Forest"
Deep within the prefecture of Yamanashi, shrouded in a perpetual mist, lay the infamous Aokigahara Forest—an expanse of ancient woodland that held a dark reputation. Known as the "Suicide Forest," it had been a site of countless tragic deaths throughout the centuries.
A group of adventurous hikers, seeking to conquer the wilderness and challenge the forest's ominous legends, gathered on a chilly autumn morning. Among them was Akira, an experienced guide with a deep respect for the forest's history, and Yumi, a young woman in search of adventure and solace from her own troubled past.
The hikers ventured deep into the forest, their footsteps muffled by the thick blanket of moss and fallen leaves. The dense canopy above cast eerie shadows, and the trees seemed to whisper secrets of sorrow and despair.
As they trekked further into the woods, they began to notice strange occurrences—a disconcerting sense of being watched, distant whispers on the wind, and ghostly apparitions that flickered at the edge of their vision. Akira, the guide, attributed these phenomena to the forest's ominous reputation and urged the group to press on.
Yet, the forest's grip on their minds and senses tightened. Yumi, in particular, felt a strange connection to the haunting forces that seemed to lurk behind every tree. Inexplicable visions of tragedy and despair flashed before her eyes, and a sense of overwhelming dread enveloped her.
Night descended on the forest, and the hikers set up camp, their flickering campfire offering the only semblance of comfort in the oppressive darkness. It was then that Yumi encountered a spectral figure—a yūrei, her kimono tattered and her eyes empty voids.
The yūrei beckoned to Yumi, her voice a mournful echo. Unable to resist, Yumi followed the apparition into the depths of the forest, her companions unaware of her disappearance. The yūrei led her to a clearing where an ancient tree stood, its gnarled roots forming a grotesque face.
As Yumi approached the tree, she felt a malevolent presence—an ancient spirit of the forest itself. It spoke to her, revealing the tragic history of Aokigahara—the place where those who had lost hope sought refuge in death.
Yumi learned of the forest's vengeful guardian, a yūrei born of countless lost souls, whose suffering fueled its malevolence. It was the embodiment of the forest's sorrow, forever bound to torment those who ventured within.
Realizing that Yumi was now connected to the yūrei, her companions embarked on a desperate search to rescue her from the forest's clutches. With the guidance of Akira's knowledge and determination, they confronted the vengeful spirit, revealing the pain of their own pasts and the impact of their actions on the world around them.
As the first rays of dawn bathed Aokigahara in a pale light, the yūrei's malevolence waned, and its grip on Yumi loosened. With a final sigh, it dissipated into the morning mist, its haunting presence released from the forest.
Yumi was reunited with her companions, forever changed by her encounter with the malevolent spirit of Aokigahara. The forest's ominous reputation remained, a reminder of the darkness that could consume those who dared to venture too close to its heart.
"The Shadow in the Forest" served as a chilling testament to the mysteries of Aokigahara, where the past and the present intertwined, and the boundaries between life and death blurred beneath the ancient canopy.
End of Chapter 6: "The Shadow in the Forest"
Chapter 7: "The Haunting of the Yurei Inn"
In a remote village nestled among mist-covered mountains, a centuries-old inn held a sinister secret. When a weary traveler seeks refuge within its ancient walls, she becomes entangled in a web of supernatural mysteries that threaten to consume her soul.
Chapter 7: "The Haunting of the Yurei Inn"
The village of Okuyama was a hidden gem, nestled among towering peaks and blanketed in mist. Within this secluded haven stood the Yurei Inn, a centuries-old establishment steeped in history and whispered legends. Its age-old charm masked a sinister truth—a haunting presence that had plagued the inn for generations.
Amidst a dense fog, a lone traveler named Rei arrived in Okuyama, weary and seeking shelter from the elements. The Yurei Inn, with its rustic charm and flickering lanterns, seemed like the perfect refuge. Little did Rei know that her stay at the inn would unravel the mysteries hidden within its ancient walls.
Upon her arrival, Rei was greeted by the inn's elderly proprietress, Eiko, a woman whose weathered features and deep knowledge of the village's history hinted at a deeper connection to the inn's haunting past.
As Rei settled into her room, the oppressive atmosphere within the inn became palpable. Shadows seemed to dance in the corners of her vision, and strange, ghostly whispers echoed in the corridors. Unbeknownst to her, Rei had become a pawn in a centuries-old battle between the inn and the vengeful spirits that resided within.
In the dead of night, Rei awoke to a chilling presence at her bedside—an ethereal yurei, her white burial kimono flowing like a spectral river. The vengeful spirit's eyes held an insatiable hunger, and she reached out to Rei, her fingers icy and skeletal.
Rei's nights became torment as she encountered more yurei within the inn, each with their own tragic stories of betrayal, injustice, and unfulfilled desires. The spirits sought vengeance, and Rei's presence within the inn had awakened their malevolence.
Desperate to uncover the inn's secrets and free herself from the spirits' relentless pursuit, Rei sought the guidance of Eiko. The elderly proprietress revealed the tragic history of the inn—an establishment built on the suffering of countless souls who had met their demise within its walls.
Eiko's own family had been entangled in the inn's dark legacy, and she bore the weight of their deeds. Together, Rei and Eiko embarked on a journey to confront the yurei and offer them redemption, hoping to break the cycle of suffering that had plagued the inn for centuries.
In a harrowing confrontation with the vengeful spirits, Rei and Eiko unveiled the truth behind the inn's cursed history and acknowledged the pain of the souls that had been wronged. With heartfelt apologies and rituals of atonement, they sought to release the spirits from their torment.
As the first rays of dawn bathed Okuyama in a golden light, the yurei's spectral forms dissolved into the ether, their eyes filled with a mix of sorrow and gratitude. The Yurei Inn, once a place of darkness, now held the promise of redemption.
Rei departed from Okuyama, forever marked by her encounter with the supernatural. The Yurei Inn, now cleansed of its malevolent spirits, stood as a testament to the power of reconciliation and the hope of breaking the chains of the past.
"The Haunting of the Yurei Inn" became a cautionary tale among villagers, a reminder that the sins of the past could be confronted and forgiven, even in the face of vengeful spirits.
End of Chapter 7: "The Haunting of the Yurei Inn"
Chapter 8: "The Curse of the Haunted Kimono"
In the heart of Kyoto, where tradition and modernity intertwined, a family heirloom, an ancient kimono, carried a chilling curse that had plagued generations. A woman must delve into her family's history to uncover the origins of the curse and find a way to break it before it consumes her and her loved ones.
Chapter 8: "The Curse of the Haunted Kimono"
Kyoto, the city of a thousand temples, was a place where time seemed to stand still. Among the historic districts, the Nakamura family had passed down a treasured heirloom for generations—an exquisite silk kimono adorned with intricate embroidery, a relic of a bygone era.
The kimono had always been a source of fascination and reverence within the Nakamura family. It was said to be imbued with mystical powers, protecting its wearer from harm and misfortune. But beneath its ornate beauty lay a dark secret—a curse that had haunted the family for centuries.
Emi, the youngest of the Nakamura family, had grown up hearing stories of the kimono's mystical properties and the curse that clung to it. When her grandmother passed away, leaving the kimono in her care, Emi became the latest custodian of this fabled garment.
As the years passed, strange occurrences began to plague Emi and her family. The kimono seemed to have a malevolent presence, causing nightmares, unexplained accidents, and a growing sense of dread. Emi's husband, Toshiro, and their young daughter, Yuki, bore the brunt of the curse's effects.
Desperate to protect her loved ones, Emi embarked on a quest to uncover the origins of the curse and find a way to break it. She delved into her family's history, poring over ancient scrolls and consulting with local priests and scholars.
Through her research, Emi learned of a tragic love story that had been concealed for generations—a forbidden romance between a Nakamura ancestor and a woman from a rival clan. The lovers had been torn apart by a vengeful spirit, and their love had been sealed within the cursed kimono.
With newfound determination, Emi sought out the help of a renowned exorcist, who revealed that the curse could only be broken by reconciling the spirits of the star-crossed lovers and offering them a chance at eternal peace.
Emi, Toshiro, and Yuki embarked on a journey to the ancestral shrine of the Nakamura family, where they conducted a solemn ritual to appease the vengeful spirits. As they offered their prayers and made heartfelt apologies on behalf of their ancestors, a profound sense of forgiveness washed over them.
In a climactic moment, the cursed kimono transformed, its once malevolent aura dissipating into the ether. The spirits of the star-crossed lovers, now free from their torment, appeared before Emi and her family, their eyes filled with gratitude.
As the cherry blossoms rained down upon Kyoto, Emi, Toshiro, and Yuki returned home with a newfound sense of peace and closure. The kimono, no longer cursed, became a symbol of their family's resilience and the enduring power of love and forgiveness.
"The Curse of the Haunted Kimono" served as a reminder that the sins of the past could be atoned for and that the bonds of love and family could transcend even the darkest of curses.
End of Chapter 8: "The Curse of the Haunted Kimono"
Chapter 9: "The Mirror's Malevolence"
In a quiet suburban neighborhood, an antique mirror with a sinister past found its way into the home of a young couple. As they unwittingly unleashed the malevolent spirit trapped within, they must confront the mirror's dark history to save themselves and their family.
Chapter 9: "The Mirror's Malevolence"
In a serene suburban neighborhood, where cherry blossoms bloomed with each passing spring, lived a young couple, Hiroshi and Aiko, who were enamored with the charm of their new home. They had recently moved into a quaint, old-fashioned house that came with a peculiar antique mirror.
The mirror was ornate and beautiful, its frame adorned with delicate carvings of cherry blossoms. It had been left behind by the previous owner, a recluse who had passed away under mysterious circumstances. Little did Hiroshi and Aiko know that this mirror carried a malevolent secret.
As they settled into their new home, strange occurrences began to unfold. Reflections in the mirror seemed to distort, showing glimpses of eerie, shadowy figures lurking in the background. At night, whispers filled the room as if unseen voices murmured from within the glass.
Aiko, with her fascination for the occult, was the first to sense the mirror's sinister aura. She delved into research, uncovering tales of a cursed mirror that had plagued the previous owner's family for generations.
The mirror had once belonged to a vengeful spirit, a yūrei who had perished in despair. Its malevolence was bound to the glass, and those who possessed it were tormented by the spirit's relentless anger and sorrow.
Desperate to free themselves from the mirror's curse, Hiroshi and Aiko sought the guidance of a spiritual medium. Through a series of rituals and séances, they made contact with the vengeful spirit trapped within the mirror.
The spirit's story unfolded like a tragic drama—the yūrei had been a young woman in love with a man from a rival clan. Their love was forbidden, and when their secret was discovered, they had both met a grisly end. Her spirit had been bound to the mirror as punishment for her defiance of societal norms.
With the medium's help, Hiroshi and Aiko offered prayers and apologies on behalf of the mirror's original owner, seeking forgiveness for the wrongs committed against the vengeful spirit. They vowed to help the spirit find peace and redemption.
In a chilling climax, they conducted a final ritual, allowing the yūrei to pass on and find the solace she had been denied for centuries. As they gazed into the mirror one last time, they saw the spirit's reflection fade into the distance, her eyes filled with a mix of gratitude and farewell.
The mirror, now cleansed of its malevolence, became a symbol of hope and renewal for Hiroshi and Aiko. Their family flourished, and the cherry blossoms in their garden bloomed with newfound vibrancy, a testament to the enduring power of love and forgiveness.
"The Mirror's Malevolence" served as a chilling reminder that even the most innocuous objects could carry dark secrets, and that confronting the past and seeking redemption could break the bonds of even the most malevolent curses.
End of Chapter 9: "The Mirror's Malevolence"
Chapter 10: "The Bridge to the Beyond"
In a remote mountain village, isolated from the modern world, a historic bridge served as a link between the living and the dead. When a group of travelers crossed its ancient planks, they would discover the chilling truth behind the bridge's supernatural origins.
Chapter 10: "The Bridge to the Beyond"
Deep within the heart of the Japanese mountains, nestled among ancient forests and shrouded in mist, lay the village of Yamanokawa. It was a place where tradition and superstition still held sway, and the bridge that spanned the river was both a lifeline and a gateway to the unknown.
A group of adventurous travelers, drawn by the allure of Yamanokawa's untouched beauty, embarked on a journey to explore the village's remote reaches. Among them were Kaito, a historian with an insatiable curiosity, and Mia, a photographer who sought to capture the essence of this secluded world.
The village's centerpiece was the Akane Bridge, a weathered structure made of ancient wood and adorned with centuries-old lanterns. Its planks creaked with the weight of history, and the river below whispered tales of lives long gone.
As the travelers ventured deeper into Yamanokawa, they discovered that the villagers held a profound reverence for the bridge. It was said to be a link between the living and the dead, a place where offerings were made to appease the spirits that dwelled in the surrounding forest.
As night descended, the travelers set up camp near the Akane Bridge, its lanterns casting an eerie, flickering glow on the river's surface. It was then that they heard the sound—a mournful melody that seemed to emanate from the bridge itself.
Mia, driven by curiosity, followed the haunting tune to the bridge's edge. There, bathed in an otherworldly light, she saw a figure—a woman in a white kimono, her long hair flowing like an ebony waterfall.
The woman, whose name was Hikari, revealed herself to be a yūrei, a spirit bound to the Akane Bridge for centuries. She had once been a young bride whose love had been torn apart by a tragic accident on her wedding day. Her spirit was eternally linked to the bridge, where she waited for her beloved to return.
Kaito, the historian, delved into the village's archives and uncovered the tragic story of Hikari's past. It was a tale of love and loss, of a bride whose life had been cut short, and a groom whose heart had been forever scarred by grief.
With newfound determination, the travelers sought to reunite the spirits of Hikari and her beloved. They embarked on a journey deep into the forest, following a path laden with offerings and prayers.
At the heart of the forest, they discovered an ancient shrine dedicated to love and reconciliation. There, in a poignant ceremony, they offered heartfelt prayers and apologies on behalf of the villagers and the groom who had never returned.
As the first light of dawn broke over Yamanokawa, a sense of serenity washed over the Akane Bridge. Hikari's spectral form dissolved into the river's mist, her eyes filled with a mix of longing and gratitude.
The travelers departed from Yamanokawa, forever changed by their encounter with the supernatural. The Akane Bridge, now freed from its haunting past, stood as a testament to the enduring power of love and the hope of reuniting even in the afterlife.
"The Bridge to the Beyond" became a legend whispered among villagers, a reminder that some bonds could transcend time and that the spirit of love endured even in the face of eternity.
End of Chapter 10: "The Bridge to the Beyond"