Mark Foote

THE MESOAMERICAN SACRUM BONE: DOORWAY TO THE OTHERWORLD Brian Stross The University of Texas at Austin I guess Dao Bums is having technical issues again. Half my post was lost, here. I wrote Brian, and he wrote back with encouragement, the mark of a great teacher as far as I'm concerned. My letter to Brian: The Gospel of Mary and the Mesoamerican Sacrum Bone He also has a paper on "the armadillo stool": Seating and seats were important to the Classic Maya nobility, just as the short-legged stool is still an important item of household furniture for many modern day Maya and neighboring peoples. Identification of the stone armadillo as a ceremonial stool informs a brief discussion of forms and functions of the Mesoamerican seat in past and present times, and of the role of the armadillo in Mesoamerican thought. (f No. 25, 2007 WAYEB NOTES ISSN 1379-8286 THE ARMADILLO STOOL) Fascinating to look at the touch points on the figure in that carving, Taomeow, the sacrum being the primary one (and low on the sacrum, near the tail-bone). Also the ball of the foot, the knee, the base of the neck and points down the back. The nose. All about the thoracolumbar fascia, IMHO. RIP, Brian Stross.

THE MESOAMERICAN SACRUM BONE: DOORWAY TO THEOTHERWORLD Brian Stross The University of Texas at Austin I wrote to Brian, that's here: The Gospel of Mary and the Mesoamerican Sacrum Bone He was kind enough to respond, and encourage me. A teacher, was Brian, passed away now. He also had a paper on the Mexican/Central American three-legged stool, which I guess was something that was given to someone when they became an elder of the community. Sort of like: … Hsiang Lin said, “Sitting for a long time becomes toilsome.” If you understand this way, you are “turning to the left, turning to the right, following up behind.” (“The Blue Cliff Record”, Yuanwu, Case 17; tr. Cleary & Cleary, ed. Shambala, p 114) The three-legged stool.

places me back in home is where the heart is, and where the heart is, home

Or how about, "embodied self-location"? Modern neuroscience now includes the study of the “bodily self”: A key aspect of the bodily self is self-location, the experience that the self is localized at a specific position in space within one’s bodily borders (embodied self-location). (Journal of Neuroscience 26 May 2010, 30 (21) 7202-7214; https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3403-09.2010) The “self (that is) localized at a specific position in space” is commonly associated with consciousness. The Indian sage Nisargadatta spoke about “the consciousness in the body”: You are not your body, but you are the consciousness in the body, because of which you have the awareness of “I am”. It is without words, just pure beingness. (Gaitonde, Mohan [2017]. Self – Love: The Original Dream [Shri Nisargadatta Maharaj’s Direct Pointers to Reality]; ISBN 978-9385902833) The specific position in space of “the consciousness in the body” is often assumed to be fixed somewhere behind the eyes. Zen teacher Koun Franz suggested that the location is not fixed: … as an experiment, I recommend trying it, sitting in this posture (legs crossed in seated meditation) and trying to feel what it’s like to let your mind, to let the base of your consciousness, move away from your head. One thing you’ll find, or that I have found, at least, is that you can’t will it to happen, because you’re willing it from your head. To the extent that you can do it, it’s an act of letting go–and a fascinating one. (“No Struggle [Zazen Yojinki, Part 6]”, by Koun Franz, from the “Nyoho Zen” site, parenthetical added) Franz spoke about “letting go” to allow the “base of consciousness” to move away from the head. Gautama spoke about “making self-surrender the object of thought” in order to “lay hold of one-pointedness”: Herein… the (noble) disciple, making self-surrender the object of (their) thought, lays hold of concentration, lays hold of one-pointedness. (SN 48.10; tr. Pali Text Society [PTS] vol. V p 174) Laying hold of “one-pointedness” is having the experience of embodied self-location wherever consciousness takes place. Consciousness can be fixed in place by the exercise of will, as Gautama explained: That which we will…, and that which we intend to do and that wherewithal we are occupied:–-this becomes an object for the persistence of consciousness. The object being there, there comes to be a station of consciousness…. But if we neither will, nor intend to do, nor are occupied about something, there is no becoming of an object for the persistence of consciousness. The object being absent, there comes to be no station of consciousness. (SN 12.38; tr. PTS SN vol. II p 45; “persistance” in original) A surrender of the exercise of will, of intention and deliberation, is necessary to allow the “base of consciousness” to move away from the head, to allow a laying-hold of “one-pointedness”. (The Diamond Trap, the Thicket of Thorns)

As to this… right view comes first. And how… does right view come first? If one comprehends that wrong purpose is wrong purpose and comprehends that right purpose is right purpose, that is… right view. And what… is wrong purpose? Purpose for sense-pleasures, purpose for ill-will, purpose for harming. This… is wrong purpose. And what… is right purpose? Now I… say that right purpose is twofold. There is… the right purpose that has cankers, is on the side of merit, and ripens unto cleaving (to new birth). There is… the right purpose which is [noble], cankerless, supermundane, a factor of the Way. And what… is the purpose which is on the side of merit, and ripens unto cleaving? Purpose for renunciation, purpose for non-ill-will, purpose for non-harming. This… is right purpose that… ripens unto cleaving. And what… is the right purpose that is [noble], cankerless, supermundane, a component of the Way? Whatever… is reasoning, initial thought, purpose, an activity of speech through the complete focussing and application of the mind in one who, by developing the [noble] Way, is of [noble] thought, of cankerless thought, and is conversant with the [noble] Way–this… is right purpose that is [noble], cankerless, supermundane, a component of the Way. (MN 117, translation Pali Text Society vol. III pp 115-116) "Dharmic ends" I'm guessing would fall under "purpose which is on the side of merit". And I agree that health is wealth, and purpose on the side of merit is a good thing. Unavoidable!

Yes, and that's the real heart of the martial arts--or as Morihei Ueshiba put it: Aikido is ai (love). You make this great love of the Universe your heart, and then you must make your own mission the protection and love of all things. (Aikido Journal, "Interview with Morihei Ueshiba and Kisshomaru Ueshiba", Josh Gold, September 24, 2016) The initial concentrations Gautama taught conclude with the cessation of volition in inhalation and exhalation. My description, as I've said, is activity of the body in inhalation and exhalation solely by virtue of the location of consciousness. Gautama stated that the initial concentrations involved equanimity with respect to the multiplicity of the senses: … equanimity in face of multiformity, connected with multiformity… [which is] equanimity among material shapes, among sounds, smells, flavours, touches. (MN 137, tr. Pali Text Society vol. III p 268) The first four of the concentrations that could follow involved equanimity with respect to the uniformity of the senses: … equanimity in face of uniformity, connected with uniformity. And what… is equanimity in face of uniformity, connected with uniformity? It is… equanimity connected with the plane of infinite ether, connected with the plane of infinite consciousness, connected with the plane of no-thing, connected with the plane of neither-perception-nor-nonperception. (ibid) I'm grateful that you are willing to indulge me, quoting from my posts at length. My own experience is limited--here is what I can say: There’s a third line about actualization in “Genjo Koan”: Although actualized immediately, the inconceivable may not be apparent. (“Genjo Koan [Actualizing the Fundamental Point]”, tr. Kazuaki Tanahashi.) Kobun Chino Otogawa gave a practical example of that third line, even though he wasn’t talking about “Genjo Koan” at the time: You know, sometimes zazen gets up and walks around. (Kobun Chino Otogawa, this author’s recollection of a lecture at S. F. Zen Center in the 1980’s) Activity of the body solely by virtue of the free location of consciousness can sometimes get up and walk around, without any thought to do so. Action like that resembles action that takes place through hypnotic suggestion, but unlike action by hypnotic suggestion, action by virtue of the free location of consciousness can turn out to be timely after the fact. When action turns out to accord with future events in an uncanny way, the source of that action may well be described as “the inconceivable”. I have found that zazen is more likely to “get up and walk around” when the free location of consciousness is accompanied by an extension of friendliness and compassion, an extension beyond the boundaries of the senses. Gautama the Buddha described such an extension: [One] dwells, having suffused the first quarter [of the world] with friendliness, likewise the second, likewise the third, likewise the fourth; just so above, below, across; [one] dwells having suffused the whole world everywhere, in every way, with a mind of friendliness that is far-reaching, wide-spread, immeasurable, without enmity, without malevolence. [One] dwells having suffused the first quarter with a mind of compassion… with a mind of sympathetic joy… with a mind of equanimity that is far-reaching, wide-spread, immeasurable, without enmity, without malevolence. (MN 7, tr. Pali Text Society vol I p 48) Gautama said that “the excellence of the heart’s release” through the extension of the mind of compassion was the first of the further concentrations, a concentration he called “the plane of infinite ether” (MN 111; tr. Pali Text Society vol III p 79). The Oxford English Dictionary offers some quotes about “ether”: They [sc. the Brahmins] thought the stars moved, and the planets they called fishes, because they moved in the ether, as fishes do in water. (Vince, Complete System. Astronomy vol. II. 253 [1799]) Plato considered that the stars, chiefly formed of fire, move through the ether, a particularly pure form of air. (Popular Astronomy vol. 24 364 [1916]) (Oxford English Dictionary, s.v. “ether (n.),” March 2024, https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/1514129048) When the free location of consciousness is accompanied by an extension of the mind of compassion, there can be a feeling that the necessity of breath is connected to things that lie outside the boundaries of the senses. That, to me, is an experience of “the plane of infinite ether”. (The Inconceivable Nature of the Wind) When I'm dancing (I love to free-style to rock n' roll), or out walking at night, I look to the location of consciousness for the automatic activity of the body, and if I can muster up a mind of friendliness and compassion and extend that, I am dancing with everybody else and walking with people I don't know--people who may have mixed intentions toward me. If I feel apart, I am lacking some of the above. Not the only way to be one with what lies beyond, for sure. Very handy in mosh situations.

"... someone can have knowledge, training, even wisdom, and still be unconsciously driven by subtle egoic forces." Nail on the head. That's the subject of the essay I took the quote from (One Way or Another). That essay is about MN 70, a lecture where Gautama distinguishes seven different types of "persons existing in the world". The first has experienced the final, "signless" concentration and has also arrived at "intuitive wisdom", the second has arrived at "intuitive wisdom" without attainment in the concentrations, and the other five have not arrived at "intuitive wisdom" (the third, in spite of having experienced the final, "signless" concentration). Only the first two, said Gautama, have completely destroyed the cankers. The others have partially destroyed the cankers, but not completely. Apparently "intuitive wisdom" is connected with the understanding Gautama spoke of, the understanding that consciousness is bound to the body, and also with the ability to see previous habitations and future comings-to-be. Gautama came to his understanding and vision either while in the fourth concentration (many lectures), or after the final concentration (one lecture), but per MN 70 these things are not automatic because of the concentrations. I have to say, if I could see past lives and future, the cankers might well be cut off at the root in me, too! Meanwhile, Gautama did say that his mindfulness was "a thing perfect in itself", and he said that the particular version of mindfulness that was his own was his way of living both before enlightenment ("when I was as yet the bodhisattva") and after enlightenment ("the tathagatha's way of living"). He recommended his way of living (more about that here), and my effort is to realize that, and not the vision of previous habitations and future comings-to-be that would result in the complete destruction of the cankers. Weird, huh--a Buddhist who's not into enlightenment, per se. But then, what they offer in Zen is not actually the enlightenment of Gautama, where the cankers are completely destroyed--more like Gautama's way of living, in disguise.

I think that pretty much parallels my own experience. Particularly when I lie down to sleep, my consciousness seems to end up just under the rib cage. In that case, all I need to do is stay with it, and I fall asleep. When I sit, I seem to start with something like Gautama described, consciousness like bath powder that's been scattered in the bottom of a copper basin, moistened, that can be kneaded into a ball. Equally, I have to bring my center of balance low, relax the muscles around the lower abdomen and pelvis, and allow stretch in the ligaments that attach the sacrum to the pelvis. Yuanwu's bit about "turning to the left, turning to the right, following up behind" has been useful to me. Sometimes I'm almost a whole sitting before things shift to the vicinity of the MDT, and the placement of the jaw enters into things, but then my posture has always been terrible. I am learning new things now, I hope my posture improves. I also find the first two lines in Gautama's short stanza about developing psychic power useful, the full stanza is: So he abides fully conscious of what is behind and what is in front. As in front, so behind: as behind, so in front; as below, so above: as above, so below: as by day, so by night: as by night, so by day. Thus with wits alert, with wits unhampered, he cultivates his mind to brilliancy. (Sanyutta-Nikaya 51.11; translation above, Pali Text Society vol. V p 235) Mostly I think the first two lines are about relaxed activity in the muscles of the abdomen and in the extensors of the spine, such that stretch in the ligaments of the sacrum and spine can regulate reciprocal activity in the abdominals. You can find my line-by-line on the stanza here, if you're interested: The Gautamid Offers a Practice. (I edited the piece to remove the reference to the cranial-sacral rhythm and the sphenoid bone--I think the essay still makes sense, and I am editing these remarks to remove my reference here to the sphenoid bone and the gland that sits in that bone). I go through Gautama's metaphors for the four concentrations (leading to the cessation of volition in inhalation and exhalation) in my Applying the Pali Instructions. If I don't look to the location of consciousness for the automatic activity of the body in inhalation and exhalation, the whole thing falls down. At some point it's just relax, find the ease of that automatic activity, calm down, accept my mind, and look to the free location of consciousness, over and over. Not boring.

The three “cankers” were said to be three cravings: “craving for the life of sense”, “craving for becoming”, and “craving for not-becoming” (DN 22; PTS vol. ii p 340). When the cankers are “destroyed”, the roots of the craving for sense-pleasures, the roots of the craving “to continue, to survive, to be” (tr. “bhava”, Bhikkyu Sujato), and the roots of the craving not “to be” (the craving for the ignorance of being) are destroyed. ... There is a lecture where Gautama described how, while abiding in the fourth concentration, he directed his mind to “the knowledge of the destruction of the cankers” (MN 4, tr. PTS p 29). That direction of mind, said Gautama, resulted in an understanding “as it really is” of what he called the four truths: the existence of suffering, the arising of suffering, the ceasing of suffering, and the path leading to the ceasing of suffering. Once he had understood the four truths, he directed his mind to an understanding “as it really is” of a similar four truths with regard to the cankers, and subsequently realized both freedom from the cankers and knowledge of that freedom. ... If a person can exhibit a mindfulness like Gautama’s without having become enlightened, and can have “seen by means of wisdom” without having completely destroyed the cankers, then how can one know who to trust as a teacher? Gautama’s advice was to go by the words of the teacher rather than any claim to authority, to compare the instructions of a teacher to the sermons Gautama himself had given and to the rules of the order that Gautama himself had laid down (DN 16 PTS vol. ii pp 133-136). Nevertheless, activity solely by virtue of the free location of consciousness, the hallmark of the fourth concentration, has been conveyed by demonstration in some branches of Buddhism for millennia. The transmission of a central part of the teaching through such conveyance, and the certification of that transmission by the presiding teacher, is regarded by some schools as the only guarantee of the authenticity of a teacher. The teachers so authenticated have in many cases disappointed their students, when circumstances revealed that the teacher’s cankers had not been completely destroyed. Furthermore, some schools appear to have certified transmission without the conveyance that has kept the tradition alive, perhaps for the sake of the continuation of the school. (One Way or Another)

Something from my latest post, on my blog "zenmudra.com/zazen-notes", that might interest you: Gautama recommended a cross-legged seated posture for “arousing” mindfulness. I believe, based on my own experience, that the cross-legged posture exacerbates the shearing stress on vertebrae of the lower spine in the movement of breath. In my experience, consciousness can take place in a specific location in response to that stress, and the location of consciousness can lead the balance of the body to engage activity in order to relieve that stress. A frailty in the structure of the lower spine emerged in the 1940’s, when research demonstrated that the discs of the spine cannot, on their own, withstand the pressure of lifting significant weight. In the 1950’s, D. L. Bartelink concluded that pressure in the “fluid ball” of the abdominal cavity takes load off the structure of the spine when weight is lifted (“The Role of Abdominal Pressure in Relieving the Pressure on the Lumbar Intervertebral Discs”; J Bone Joint Surg Br. 1957 Nov; 39-B[4]:718-25). The pressure in the “fluid ball” is induced by activity in the abdominal muscles. Bartelink theorized that animals (as well as humans) make use of pressure in the abdominal cavity to protect the spine, and he noted that breathing can continue even when the abdomen is tensed: Animals undoubtedly make an extensive use of the protection of their spines by the tensed somatic cavity, and probably also use it as a support upon which muscles of posture find a hold… Breathing can go on even when the abdomen is used as a support and cannot be relaxed. (ibid) In the 1980’s, Gracovetsky, Farfan and Lamay suggested that in weight lifting, the abdominals work against the extensor muscles of the spine to allow the displacement of the fascial sheet behind the sacrum and spine: If this interpretation is correct, it would partly explain why the abdominal muscles work hard during weight-lifting. They apparently work against the extensor muscles. Furthermore their lever arm gives them considerable effect. In fact, we propose that the effect of the abdominal muscles is two-fold: to balance the moment created by the abdominal pressure (hence, the abdominal muscles do not work against the weight lifter) and to generate abdominal pressure up to 1 psi, which would help the extensors to push away the fascia. It is essential that the supraspinous ligament and the lumbodorsal fascia be brought into action to permit weight lifting without disk or vertebral failure. … It must be kept in mind that in some circumstances ligament tension may reach 1800 lb., whereas no muscle can pull as hard. (Gracovetsky, S., Farfan HF, Lamay C, 1997. A mathematical model of the lumbar spine using an optimal system to control muscles and ligaments. Orthopedic Clinics of North America 8: 135-153) Dr. Rene Cailliet summarized these findings: In the Lamy-Farfan model the abdominal pressure is considered to be exerted posteriorly against the lumbodorsal fascia, causing the fascia to become taut…. thus relieving the tension upon the erector spinae muscles. (“Low Back Pain Syndrome”, ed. 3, F. A. Davis Co., pp 140-141) Farfan, Lamay and Cailliet referred to the “lumbodorsal fascia”. That fascia is now more commonly referred to as the “thoracolumbar fascia”. The Lamay-Farfan model presupposed a flattening of the lumbar curve, like that of a person bent over to lift weight from the floor, but acknowledged that the control of the ligament system afforded by activity between the abdominals and extensors could not be directly accounted for in the model. My assumption is that in the cross-legged posture, activity engendered by the location of consciousness can bring about at least a partial engagement of fascial support behind the spine. (The Diamond Trap, the Thicket of Thorns) From a different post, about a year ago--in my experience, the activity Gautama described frequently revolves around the MDT: ... That brings us to the third concentration. Gautama described the third concentration as like “water-lilies” of three different colors in a pond, lilies that never break the surface of the water: … free from the fervor of zest, (one) enters and abides in the third musing; (one) steeps and drenches and fills and suffuses this body with a zestless ease so that there is not one particle of the body that is not pervaded by this zestless ease. … just as in a pond of blue, white, and red water-lilies, the plants are born in water, grow in water, come not out of the water, but, sunk in the depths, find nourishment, and from tip to root are steeped, drenched, filled and suffused with cold water so that not a part of them is not pervaded by cold water; even so, (one) steeps (one’s) body in zestless ease. (AN 5.28, tr. Pali Text Society vol. III pp 18-19, see also MN 119, tr. Pali Text Society vol. III pp 132-134.) The water-lilies I believe represent the influence of the legs, the arms, and the head on activity in the abdominals, and consequently on stretch in the ligaments of the spine. The feeling of a combined influence of the extremities in the abdomen could be said to be like lilies of three colors floating under the surface of some body of water. The exact influence of each extremity remains unclear (zest ceases), yet with a sense of gravity and a stretch in particular ligaments, I can arrive at an ease. Gautama declared that the sages abide in the third concentration. I remind myself that the activity of the body in inhalation and exhalation tends toward coordination by the free placement of consciousness, and look for ease. (Applying the Pali Instructions) I would now have to say that the feeling of ease associated with concentration is the feeling of ease that arises from activity of the body by virtue of the location of consciousness. Activity of the body can follow automatically as the location of consciousness leads the balance of the body. Automatic activity of the body by virtue of the location of consciousness has a feeling of ease, and initially a feeling of energy (or “zest”) as well. Gautama spoke of the extension of the feeling of ease, an extension such that “there is not one particle of the body that is not pervaded by this… ease”. He used the words “steeps, drenches, fills, and suffuses” to describe how the feeling of ease pervades the body, indicating that the feeling is accompanied by a fluid sense of gravity. The extension Gautama described maintains an openness of the body to the placement of consciousness at any point, and to ease through automatic activity of the body by virtue of the location of consciousness at that point. Gautama taught that the feeling of ease ceases in the fourth concentration. Instead of ease, a “purity by the pureness of mind” is extended: … (one) suffuses (one’s) body with purity by the pureness of (one’s) mind so that there is not one particle of the body that is not pervaded with purity by the pureness of (one’s) mind. (AN 5.28, PTS Vol. III p 19) The “pureness of (one’s) mind” is the pureness of the mind in the absence of any will, intention, or deliberation with regard to activity in the body. (The Diamond Trap, the Thicket of Thorns) Udayin, as an emerald jewel, of all good qualities, might be strung on a thread, blue-green or yellow or red or white or orange coloured; and a [person] with vision, having put it in [their] hand, might reflect; ‘this emerald jewel... is strung on a thread, blue-green... or orange-coloured’–even so, Udayin, a course has been pointed out by me for disciples, practising which disciples of mine know thus: This body of mine... is of a nature to be constantly rubbed away... and scattered, but this consciousness is fastened there, bound there.... (MN 77, tr. Pali Text Society vol. II p 217)

Reading more of the passage that Gerard posted (same source): A second time and a third time the Venerable Mahamoggallana told that person to get up, and a second time and a third time that person remained silent. Then the Venerable Mahamoggllana took that person by the arm, pulled him outside the gate, and bolted it. Then he approached the Lord and said: "Revered sir, I have ejected that person. The assembly is quite pure. Revered sir, let the Lord recite the Patimokkha to the bhikkhus." "It is strange, Moggallana, it is remarkable, Moggallana, how that stupid person should have waited until he was taken by the arm." Then the Lord addressed the bhikkhus: "From now on, bhikkhus, I shall not participate in the Uposatha observance or recite the Patimokkha. From now on you yourselves should participate in the Uposatha observance and recite the Patimokkha. It is impossible, bhikkhus, it cannot happen, that the Tathagata should participate in the Uposatha observance and recite the Patimokkha with a gathering that is not pure. So the right thing to do was probably for the moderators to realize the situation could be repeated in the future, and after Daniel's ejection, withdraw from the recitations of transgressions that is Dao Bums altogether. Just kidding! What a strange world. I was ok with Daniel, but just before he got ejected, I had the impression that he was stringing people along to spring a secret agenda. Sort of like:

I'm also fascinated and mystified by the notion of karma. The thing I find truly unique about the teachings of Gautama the Buddha are his descriptions of the states of concentration. In many lectures, he described his enlightenment as associated with what he termed the "fourth concentration", a state wherein volitive activity in inhalation and exhalation ceases. Now the notion of cessation of volition in inhalation and exhalation is odd. Most folks actually don't exercise volition in the movements of inhaling and exhaling. There are yoga exercises where things are done with the movement of breath willfully, that's true, but most people who practice seated meditation (a person "comes to be sitting down" before the fourth concentration) are not doing anything willfully with the movement of breath. In my experience, the fourth concentration is about activity of the body solely by virtue of the location of consciousness. If the activity of the body is not solely by virtue of the location of consciousness, then there is some element of habit or volition involved in the activity of the body, in the posture or carriage, and that can affect the movement of breath. Not to mention that when we exercise will to move the body, we pretty directly affect the movement of breath. Gautama's practice was to sit down cross-legged and turn that around, so that no matter where consciousness took place in his body, the activity of the body was by virtue of the location of consciousness and the location alone. In many of Gautama's lectures, he described how he "applied and bent down" his mind while in the fourth concentration to "insight that comes from knowledge". He saw that the body was impermanent, but that consciousness was bound to the body "like a jewel fastened on a thread". Subsequently he experienced a number of psychic phenomena, like a mind-made body, various miraculous abilities (I suspect accomplished with the mind-made body). He also recalled past births, and future arisings, and how they were in accord with the volitive acts of the individual (I'm taking all this from Digha Nikaya 2). Gautama's enlightenment, he later made clear, was not so much a matter of his having achieved states of concentration (even though he achieved a cessation of volition in feeling and perceiving, something his teachers had not attained), as of these insights which came in conjunction with his concentration. Moreover, in one sermon he made clear that it was possible to attain even final state of concentration without becoming enlightened (MN 70). Enlightenment, he said, resulted in the complete destruction of the cankers, and anything that did not result in the complete destruction of the cankers was not enlightenment. The three “cankers” were said to be three cravings: “craving for the life of sense”, “craving for becoming”, and “craving for not-becoming” (DN 22; PTS vol. ii p 340). When the cankers are “destroyed”, the roots of the craving for sense-pleasures, the roots of the craving “to continue, to survive, to be” (tr. “bhava”, Bhikkyu Sujato), and the roots of the craving not “to be” (the craving for the ignorance of being) are destroyed. (One Way or Another) What has passed for enlightenment in the centuries after the Gautamid is something different: ... activity solely by virtue of the free location of consciousness, the hallmark of the fourth concentration, has been conveyed by demonstration in some branches of Buddhism for millennia. The transmission of a central part of the teaching through such conveyance, and the certification of that transmission by the presiding teacher, is regarded by some schools as the only guarantee of the authenticity of a teacher. The teachers so authenticated have in many cases disappointed their students, when circumstances revealed that the teacher’s cankers had not been completely destroyed. Furthermore, some schools appear to have certified transmission without the conveyance that has kept the tradition alive, perhaps for the sake of the continuation of the school. (ibid) My conclusions: Not possible to see whether the karma that Gautama described exists without experiencing psychic phenomena, beginning with a mind-made body; The enlightenment Gautama experienced in connection with his ability to experience psychic phenomena is a different thing from what currently passes as enlightenment; It's possible to practice the mindfulness that was Gautama's way of living without experiencing psychic phenomena (he described that way of living as "something peaceful in itself, and a pleasant way of living besides", and said it was his way of living before enlightenment as well as after). That last says that I don't need to know whether Gautama's insights into the coming and going of beings according to their deeds are based in reality, in order to benefit from his teaching.

I was trying to show a friend something from my YouTube channel, but the song that came up sounded terrible on her phone. I made a note to delete it from the channel when I got home. Back home, listening on the desktop, it sounded fine. What I've been listening to, from about ten years ago!

It's interesting, but tell me, can YOU experience all of this yourself in this moment, or is this a story you were told or constructed yourself? I regularly have such experiences - sometimes from experiments [One] dwells, having suffused the first quarter [of the world] with friendliness, likewise the second, likewise the third, likewise the fourth; just so above, below, across; [one] dwells having suffused the whole world everywhere, in every way, with a mind of friendliness that is far-reaching, wide-spread, immeasurable, without enmity, without malevolence. [One] dwells having suffused the first quarter with a mind of compassion… with a mind of sympathetic joy… with a mind of equanimity that is far-reaching, wide-spread, immeasurable, without enmity, without malevolence. (MN 7, tr. Pali Text Society vol I p 48) Gautama said that “the excellence of the heart’s release” through the extension of the mind of compassion was the first of the further concentrations, a concentration he called “the plane of infinite ether” (MN 111; tr. Pali Text Society vol III p 79). The Oxford English Dictionary offers some quotes about “ether” (Oxford English Dictionary, s.v. “ether (n.),” March 2024.): They [sc. the Brahmins] thought the stars moved, and the planets they called fishes, because they moved in the ether, as fishes do in water. (Vince, Complete System. Astronomy vol. II. 253 [1799]) Plato considered that the stars, chiefly formed of fire, move through the ether, a particularly pure form of air. (Popular Astronomy vol. 24 364 [1916]) When the free location of consciousness is accompanied by an extension of the mind of compassion, there can be a feeling that the necessity of breath is connected to things that lie outside the boundaries of the senses. That, to me, is an experience of “the plane of infinite ether”. (The Inconceivable Nature of the Wind)

Sad tales, Nungali.

Michael Caine as the Buddha:

Careful what you wish for? Like the Chinese say, it's a curse to be born in interesting times.

You mean like:

Sorry--I thought you said, "face plant"!

"but I love her--it's my own damn fault."

Here are some lines from the Stanford project (at zazenshin--unfortunately permission is now required to access the project), translating Dogen's words: Daji said, "How can you produce a mirror by polishing a tile?" Nanyue replied, "How can you make a buddha by sitting in meditation (zazen)?" Daji asked, "Then, what is right?" Nanyue replied, "When someone is driving a cart, if the cart doesn't go, should he beat the cart or beat the ox?" Daji had no response. (That's all from here: https://www.thedaobums.com/topic/13341-soto-zen-buddhism-and-the-afterllife/?page=2) Here's my summary of Gautama's approach to mindfulness in everyday life: 1) Relax the activity of the body, in inhalation and exhalation; 2) Find a feeling of ease and calm the senses connected with balance, in inhalation and exhalation; 3) Appreciate and detach from thought, in inhalation and exhalation; 4) Look to the free location of consciousness for the automatic activity of the body, in inhalation and exhalation. (Applying the Pali Instructions, edited) The trick is in the feeling of ease that I'm looking for: I would now have to say that the feeling of ease associated with concentration is the feeling of ease that arises from activity of the body by virtue of the location of consciousness. Activity of the body can follow automatically as the location of consciousness leads the balance of the body. Automatic activity of the body by virtue of the location of consciousness has a feeling of ease, and initially a feeling of energy (or “zest”) as well. Gautama spoke of the extension of the feeling of ease, an extension such that “there is not one particle of the body that is not pervaded by this… ease”. He used the words “steeps, drenches, fills, and suffuses” to describe how the feeling of ease pervades the body, indicating that the feeling is accompanied by a fluid sense of gravity. The extension Gautama described maintains an openness of the body to the placement of consciousness at any point, and to ease through automatic activity of the body by virtue of the location of consciousness at that point. (The Diamond Trap, the Thicket of Thorns) The effort for me, the "beating of the ox" if you will, is in finding ease in the free location of consciousness. Nevertheless, I need practice with some very physical elements of posture and carriage, apparently--my free consciousness keeps coming back to them, and they have taken me decades to comprehend in a way that abets the ease of concentration. They're in the post I quote from above.

local talent: Lake County Music Guide (by Mike Guarniero) 1.8K followers • 2 following Want to know where to find live music in Lake County, here's your local guide. No need to call around ... And speaking of the Shannon Ridge Mercantile in Finley, they are pleased to bring you the fantastic band, Fogg Revisited on Saturday afternoon from 4 to 7:00. Imagine Pink Floyd playing Classic Rock covers, that would best describe this band – and the Floyd they perform is fantastic! Stock up on your favorite Shannon Ridge wines and enjoy delicious tacos hosted by the local travel soccer team! Every bite supports the team’s upcoming season and travel expenses. Rock on!...

I think Jiimmy Buffet did alright too, although he was no Warren Buffet. Jimmy had a real estate and restaurant thing going for a while, in Florida and around. You can read all about it, book a stay, even! https://www.jimmybuffett.com/

liminal_luke, you might like this: One Way or Another (from my blog, at zenmudra.com/zazen-notes) An excerpt: If a person can exhibit a mindfulness like Gautama’s without having become enlightened, and can have “seen by means of wisdom” without having completely destroyed the cankers, then how can one know who to trust as a teacher? Gautama’s advice was to go by the words of the teacher rather than any claim to authority, to compare the instructions of a teacher to the sermons Gautama himself had given and to the rules of the order that Gautama himself had laid down (DN 16 PTS vol. ii pp 133-136). Nevertheless, activity solely by virtue of the free location of consciousness, the hallmark of the fourth concentration, has been conveyed by demonstration in some branches of Buddhism for millennia. The transmission of a central part of the teaching through such conveyance, and the certification of that transmission by the presiding teacher, is regarded by some schools as the only guarantee of the authenticity of a teacher. The teachers so authenticated have in many cases disappointed their students, when circumstances revealed that the teacher’s cankers had not been completely destroyed. Furthermore, some schools appear to have certified transmission without the conveyance that has kept the tradition alive, perhaps for the sake of the continuation of the school.