GLOBAL ASCENSION/TRANSFORMATION Experience transformation as we cross the threshold into the Age of Aquarius! “11.11.11 is a celebration for Global Peace and Transformation.” Disclosure includes ETs, 2012, Mayan Calendar, Meditation, Yoga, Music, Ancient Aliens, Prophecy, Earth Changes, Exopolitics, Consciousness, Forbidden Archeology, UFOLOGY, Sound Healing, Dance, Banquet Party...
(Abdlmagid1) As World War II raged across Europe and the Pacific Rim, the conflict reached every continent on the planet, including Antarctica. Little known Nazi expeditions to Antarctica were launched. What did they hope to find there?
Cultures across the planet have legends describing giant, human-like creatures. These stories are usually dismissed as folklore -- yet it is believed races of giants existed at some point in Earth's past.
(HowStuffWorks) Conspiracy theorists across the world believe that Freemasons control the District of Columbia (Washington DC) through the use of arcane symbols and geomancy. But why?
For centuries, the achievements of the past have baffled modern societies. How could ancient empires build architectural marvels like the pyramids of Egypt or Mesoamerica or the Nazca lines?
Did the U.S. government steal Tesla's technology? When impoverished inventor Nikola Tesla died in New York City, the US government confiscated his notes. Why? Were they trying to steal his technology? Did they ever relinquish the notes? Are they using free energy and hiding it from the world for the benefit of private businesses?
Stephanie Nash (mindfulnessarts.org) interviews Leigh Brasington, respected jhana meditation teacher about the "meditative absorptions." This is the beginning of a longer interview about the what, why, and how of jhanas as part of a meditation practice. Filmed in August 2009 at Cloud Mountain Retreat Center, Washington.
The Jhanas in Ancient Buddhism
Ven. Henepola Gunaratana ("Bhante G")
The various subjects and methods of meditation divide into two inter-related systems. One is called the development of serenity (samatha), the other the development of insight (vipassana).
The former also goes under the name of development of concentration (samadhi), the latter the development of wisdom (pañña). The practice of serenity meditation aims at developing a calm, concentrated, unified mind as a means of experiencing inner peace and as a basis for wisdom.
The practice of insight meditation aims at gaining a direct understanding of the real nature of phenomena.
Of the two, the development of insight is regarded by Buddhism as the essential key to liberation, the direct antidote to the ignorance underlying bondage and suffering.
Whereas serenity meditation is recognized as common to both Buddhist and non-Buddhist contemplative disciplines, insight meditation is held to be the unique discovery of the Buddha and an unparalleled feature of his path.
However, because the growth of insight presupposes a certain degree of concentration, and serenity meditation helps to achieve this, the development of serenity also claims an incontestable place in the Buddhist meditative process.
Jon Kabat Zinn narrates a guided meditation that corresponds to the first two stages of Ajahn Brahm's jhana meditation technique: (1) Letting go of past and future, placing attention on the body, (2) letting go of inner chatter, placing attention on sounds, (3) letting go of diversity, placing attention only on the breath.
Together the two types of meditation work to make the mind a fit instrument for enlightenment. With his mind unified by means of the development of serenity, made sharp and bright by the development of insight, the meditator can proceed unobstructed to reach the end of suffering, nirvana.
Pivotal to both systems of meditation, though belonging inherently to the side of serenity, is a set of meditative attainments called the jhanas. Though translators have offered various renderings of this word, ranging from the feeble "musing" to the misleading "trance" and the ambiguous "meditation," we prefer to leave the word untranslated and to let its meaning emerge from its contextual usages.
From these it is clear that the jhanas are states of deep mental unification that result from the centering of the mind upon a single object with such power of attention that a total immersion in the object takes place.
The early sutras speak of four absorptions, named simply after their numerical position in the series: the first jhana, the second jhana, the third jhana, and the forth jhana. In the sutras the four repeatedly appear each described by a standard formula, which we will examine later in detail.
The importance of the jhanas in the Buddhist path can readily be gauged from the frequency with which they are mentioned throughout the discourses. They figure prominently both in the Buddha's own experience and in his exhortation to disciples.
In his childhood, while attending an annual plowing festival, the future Buddha spontaneously entered the first jhana. It was the memory of this childhood incident, many years later [during his six year quest for enlightenment] after his futile pursuit of austerities, that revealed to him the way to enlightenment during his period of deepest despondency (M.i, 246-247).
After taking his seat beneath the Bodhi tree, [Siddhartha] entered the four jhanas immediately before direction his mind to the threefold knowledge that issued in his enlightenment (M.i.247-249).
Throughout his active career the four jhanas remained "his heavenly dwelling" (D.iii.220) to which he resorted in order to live happily here and now.
His understanding of the corruption, purification, and emergence in the jhanas and other meditative attainments is one of the Ten Powers [of a Buddha or Tathagata] which enable him to turn the matchless wheel of the Dharma (M.i.70).
Just before his passing away the Buddha entered the jhanas in direct and reverse order, and the passing away itself took place directly from the fourth jhana (D.ii.156).
The Buddha is constantly seen in the suttas encouraging his disciples to develop jhana. The four jhanas are invariably included in the complete course of training laid down for disciples ("Fruits of Recluseship" discourse (DN 2; MN 27).
They figure in the training as the discipline of the Noble Eightfold Path... More
A number of academic archaeology textbooks rudely dismiss [America's most famous psychic] Edgar Cayce’s pronouncements about ancient history. Cayce was, to them, a “cult archaeologist” -- unworthy of further investigation.
...Despite the claims of archaeologists, the history of ancient America put forth in Edgar Cayce’s readings has never been tested. Edgar Cayce, America’s famous “Sleeping Prophet,” gave 68 “psychic readings” between 1925 to 1944 that provided information on America’s Mound Builders and ancient American history.
These readings have never been thoroughly analyzed and have been largely forgotten. For the first time, Cayce’s statements about ancient America are genuinely compared to current archaeological evidence.
The authors relate that they began with a skeptical point of view but the weight of the evidence eventually showed Cayce’s accuracy. Incredibly, nearly everything Cayce related about the Mound Builders and the patterns of migrations to ancient America is true.
Since 1997, a series of astounding developments have shattered American archaeology’s most cherished beliefs. Excavations have uncovered solid evidence that ancient America was probably settled at least 50,000 years ago.
Genetic evidence shows that several waves of migrations came into America from not only Siberia, but also from Polynesia, China, and Japan.
A mysterious genetic type has been identified in ancient American skeletal remains as well as in some modern Native Americans. This enigmatic type is also linked to Israel, parts of Spain, France, Italy, and the northern Gobi Desert. It may well have originated in a location between America and Europe. This genetic type entered America in about 10,000 B.C. and could be the result of migrations from the mythical land of Atlantis.
Another genetic type could be from the mythical land of Mu. More
Exterior view of tomb of Mayan ruler at the ruins of the Mayan city of Palenque in the hills of the southern Mexican state of Chiapas (INAH/Reuters).
A tiny remote-controlled camera peered inside the tomb that had been sealed for 1,500 years, revealing red frescoes, pottery, and pieces of a funerary shroud made of jade and mother of pearl. Archeologists had not been able to access the vault discovered in 1999 inside a Mexican pyramid among the ruins until now, the INAH said in a release on Thursday.More
Tiny camera reveal early Mayan tomb Researchers said Thursday that a tiny remote-controlled camera lowered into an early Mayan tomb in southern Mexico has helped reveal an intact funeral chamber with offerings and red-painted wall murals. The tomb was discovered in 1999 inside a pyramid among the ruins of the Mayan city of Palenque in the hills of the southern Mexican state of Chiapas.
Mexico City – Mexican archaeologists have found a new ballplayer monolith dating from between 900 A.D. and 1000 A.D at an archaeological site in the north-central state of Zacatecas, INAH said.
The offering contains human bones of at least six individuals, probably sacrificed during a pair of intense dry season periods, one nearly 1200 years ago and the other, 900, as well as ceramic vessels; jade and shell beads; flint and double leaf knives, shell round artifacts that might have been Tlaloc goggles, animal bones, and a great amount of charcoal probably used during the ritual.
"The frescoes have a twist of Kashmir flavor. They are a valuable resource for archeologists trying to figure out when and where Buddhism was introduced to China." Shangri la is full of Buddhist caves and treasures (TibetanAltar)
China Exclusive: A rare look into Tibet's largest Buddhist grottoes
(PeoplesDaily) Hidden among sandstone hills in remote western Tibet, a stretch of honeycomb-shaped caverns is way beyond the reach of most travelers.
Known as the Donggar Piyang grottoes, the 1,000-year-old caverns in the Tibet Autonomous Region's Ngari Prefecture hold one of the world's greatest collections of Tibetan Buddhist murals.
The grottoes, divided into two clusters of 200 and 1,000 caves, respectively, hold remains of ancient monasteries, fortresses, and forests dating back as far as the 10th century.
Experts expect that the well-preserved grottoes will shed some light on the Guge Kingdom, an ancient kingdom that is estimated to have existed between the 9th and 17th centuries in what is known today as Zanda County.
The exotic frescoes of the Donggar Piyang grottoes were first discovered in 1992, when an archaeological expedition team set foot in this remote corner of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau... More
Experience transformation as we cross the threshold into the Age of Aquarius! “11.11.11 is a celebration for Global Peace and Transformation.” Disclosure includes ETs, 2012, Mayan Calendar, Meditation, Yoga, Music, Ancient Aliens, Prophecy, Earth Changes, Exopolitics, Consciousness, Forbidden Archeology, UFOLOGY, Sound Healing, Dance, Banquet Party...
Experience transformation as we cross the threshold into the Age of Aquarius! “11.11.11 is a celebration for Global Peace and Transformation.” Disclosure includes ETs, 2012, Mayan Calendar, Meditation, Yoga, Music, Ancient Aliens, Prophecy, Earth Changes, Exopolitics, Consciousness, Forbidden Archeology, UFOLOGY, Sound Healing, Dance, Banquet Party...
