#because it’s certainly not a Tibetan monk

[prying-pandora666]

I don’t know how to say this tactfully, but I’ll do my best.

If other fans online have convinced you to see the gentle, optimistic, empathetic, fun loving, whimsical, forgiving, wise beyond his years genocide survivor, as a sexist, racist, xenophobic, abusive, pro-colonization, sexual assault perpetrator who doesn’t care about anyone else and doesn’t understand trauma…

You have been LIED TO.

Please just think for a moment!

ATLA was banned in China from the beginning for a reason. Because they didn’t want anyone empathizing with a character based on Tibetan monks. Why? Because they are an actual oppressed and persecuted minority IRL. Their religious leader lives in exile. Their second most important spiritual figure is the youngest political prisoner ever taken (and to this day no one knows if he’s alive or dead!). China has actual prison and labor camps. Tibetan people get sent there for “re-education”.

Can you please think about what these “fans” are saying when they stomp all over this allegory in TLA and try to frame Aang as the oppressor?

Do you really think it’s appropriate or these people who call Aang all these horrible (and inaccurate) things are being in anyway fair when they call Aang “white coded”???

Even without the real world context, Aang is explicitly the only survivor of a genocide. The last of his people. He has lost more than anyone else in the entire franchise. There’s a reason he clings so hard to Appa.

Do you think it’s fair to compare a 12 year old misreading signals and trying to kiss a girl who already consensually kissed him before, and immediately backing off and giving her space when she says no, to rape?

Tweens and teens miscommunicating and trying to comfort each other with kisses, only to realize that’s not what their friend needed and immediately backing off is the same as having your body violently violated against your will? The same as having your “no” ignored?

How do you think this makes survivors feel? To see people use their experiences as a shield and cudgel for ship discourse? It certainly upsets me as someone who experienced intimate partner violence, let me tell you! And I know I’m not the only one.

And how is it in anyway feminist or pro-Katara to ignore her own agency and deep love she shows for Aang? Yes, that includes her own crush on him! It IS reciprocated!

Lastly, you don’t need to demonize Aang to ship whatever you want to ship. Please understand that the majority of these takes are bad faith and born out of bitterness and insecurity over a friggin FANON SHIP.

And none of it is necessary! You can ship whatever you want! You don’t need permission or excuses. You can just ship them! You can make your case for why you like another pairing better without misrepresenting what happened in the show and what these characters are like, let alone what they represent.

There’s already plenty to work with in the show as it is! Otherwise why bother?

I’m imploring fans taken in by persuasive and manipulative metas to please just think about it. Get off social media and rewatch the show for yourself thoughtfully.

It doesn’t need to be like this.

[nakedpastor]

You Are Not Broken

Let me try to explain these cartoons because I think it’s important.

Victor Frankl said, “Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”

I’ve also been reading Mattieu Ricard, considered the happiest man on earth. Through reading about him I discovered that he, through meditation, etc., trained himself to collapse this space between stimulus and response so that even auto-responses, like squinting the eyes at a loud noise, are controlled. It’s not that there isn’t a response, it’s that the space between stimulus and response collapses to almost imperceptibility. 

I’m reminded of an ancient Tibetan monk who had many disciples. His son died, and he went into a cave to mourn. He didn’t come out for many weeks. His disciples were perplexed and challenged their master: “You taught us that all suffering is an illusion, yet you mourned for so long! Why?” He responded, “Because this illusion was very convincing.”

Sometimes collapsing that space, as well as integrating what we think or feel happened, takes what we perceive as time.

This also relates to theories about time… that it is not real, but a human construct to help us cope with our experience of reality. One idea is that time is simply a series of nows. A series of nows, linked, we perceive as linear time. But the fullness of time is now. Now. Now. Forever, the space between nows, perceptibly collapsed, is all now. There is no past because it doesn’t exist now. There is no future  because it doesn’t exist now either. Infinity is fully present now.

So, the narrative may go like this: we feel we are not broken. But then we experience trauma. Then we heal. Then we are back to the feeling of not broken. Our ability to collapse this space between feeling not broken to feeling not broken is an important process to learn, otherwise we get stuck in this in-betweenness of not feeling whole. I use the word “feeling�� on purpose because I truly believe we are not broken, but we can certainly feel it when we are traumatized. I think this traumatization is a fluctuation in our mental state that can be temporary. 

Like Sinéad O’Connor’s therapist told her; the reason you go to therapy is to find out there’s nothing wrong with you. Sure, there's a ton of work that occurs in this space. Research. Writing. Theorizing. Therapy. Self-awareness. And so on. All to build or believe a narrative that makes sense to us of how we got from point A… not broken, to point B… not broken… but with an impressive in-between experience that seems to challenge this not-brokenness. What about all those feelings of loss, suffering, pain, struggle, alienation, grief, all of that, and feeling broken? So we build or believe a narrative that helps us make sense of it all. We choose a narrative that works.

This is why I think collapsing that space is crucial to a speedy feeling of recovery, of not-brokenness.

This reminds me of another story. In the film The Last Samurai, there is a Samurai lord who has spent his whole life searching for the perfect cherry blossom. Without success. (Spoiler alert!) On his last day, dying on the battlefield, a wind picks up and blows thousands of cherry blossoms across the field. Some land in his hand, and he says, “Perfect! They are all perfect!” I knew this to be true. But how did he get from point A… a beautiful cherry blossom is just a beautiful cherry blossom, to searching for the perfect one… to point B… all cherry blossoms are beautiful cherry blossoms? Because he finally knew that they are all perfect. 

Stay with me. I’m going somewhere with this that relates to the cartoon communicating that you’re not broken.

This is how I view all salvation narratives. Yes, all of them! They are all attempts to explain what we think happens in the in-between of perfection and perfection that we call our life experience and all of history.

Let’s take the Christian one, which is the one I grew up with. The narrative goes something like this: We start in the Garden whole. Then we fall. Then we are rescued, repaired, and reconciled. Then we are whole again! From not broken to not broken.

This is the Christian salvation narrative. The collapsed version.

What about all that happened and happens in between… all those feelings of temptations, sin, rejected by God, alienated from God, fear of punishment, enmity between people? All the Christian narratives attempt to do just this, all in their own unique ways. 

But the collapsed version of this is very simple… not broken to not broken. The space in between these two realties that are really one reality, is where the narrative tries to make sense of it. 

The seemingly long salvation narrative, collapsed into imperceptibly, collapsed into one now, is that we are not broken.

I listened to Gabor Maté on a video where he says,

“So healing is actually recognizing our wholeness… and when we do, and realize that nothing was ever broken, and that if nothing was ever broken, therefore there was nothing ever bad that ever happened to us… If our wholeness was never destroyed then there was no damage. And if there was no damage, then there’s no sinners, there’s no perpetrators.” (@raisethevibration on Tiktok).

So my claim is that our salvation narratives as well as our therapy narratives are our ways of coming to this understanding of our wholeness, our unbrokenness. 

You are not broken.

Two disclaimers:

This isn’t to devalue the narratives we construct to explain our pain, or the narratives we construct to explain our spiritual struggle. We value them. But we can learn to collapse them into imperceptibility.

This also isn’t to assume that what I just wrote isn’t just another narrative I built and believe to attempt to explain something I think is true.

[ecoterrorist-katara]

The West has been notorious in viewing and treating indigenous and Asian cultures as a monolith. Due to that, the idea of handpicking various aspects from those particular cultures seems to come from the result of a Western ethnocentric worldview. And due to how it does not acknowledge the differences in these various Asian and indigenous cultures….it’s hard to argue that it’s not orientalist. Especially since they combine these different aspects of those cultures in a simplistic manner to a western audience.

Whether the work encourages you to identify with the characters or not doesn’t matter in regards to if it is orientalist or not.

And I would suggest you research this show and Tibetan monks. If you don’t agree with their being orientalist aspects of the show, then fine, but that one aspect, in how they handled it, is orientalist.

Why specifically only Asian and indigenous cultures? what could two American Caucasian men find in those cultures that they think they can pick and choose certain things from them, and it end up being cohesive?

Whether a show encourages you to identify with its characters matters a whole lot in whether the show is Orientalist, because the whole point of Orientalism is making the Oriental Other look bad! If a work encourages you to identify with these “Others,” it’s actually breaking down the Orient-Occident binary.

To be clear, ATLA not being Orientalist doesn’t preclude it from being culturally appropriative. The important things to me are whether ATLA is harmful to 1) the cultures that inspired it or 2) the people from those cultures, and the answer to both questions is no. ATLA is not claiming to represent anything, and therefore it’s not spreading misinformation or stereotypes — with the exception of, again, Guru Pathik which I think was in poor taste.

I do take issue with how easy it is for fans to take the Air Nomads as representation of Tibetan Buddhist monks. I think Bryke should have gone further to incorporate more influences to get away from the impression that Air Nomads are Tibetan Buddhist monks (or Buddhists in general), because people now moralize about the Air Nomads using the plight of Tibetans, and the oppression of Tibetans — like the oppression of all real-life people — should not be shoehorned into a cartoon. Still, a child fan of ATLA wouldn’t think the Air Nomads are Tibetan Buddhist monks unless someone in their life tells them so, because the inspiration is not explicit in the text. It’s fans who draw asinine conclusions like Fire Nation = Japan / Air Nomads = Tibetans or Buddhist monks / Earth Kingdom = China / SWT = Inuit, and then interpret ATLA according to corresponding real-life dynamics, who inadvertently spread misinformation. I have never seen such ridiculous takes on Buddhism as I have in the ATLA fandom. Nobody with an iota of knowledge of South Asian or Southeast Asian politics would claim that Buddhists are always non-violent. Nobody who knows about monks would think monks can get married. But I can’t even fault the text; I fault people who take their information about Buddhism from a cartoon that never even mentioned the word Buddhism.

Fundamentally I think this conversation is about whether it’s okay for white Americans to take aesthetic inspiration from non-white cultures to create their fantasy worlds, and to what extent they’re responsible for the ways in which their fans interpret the sources of their inspiration. I’m fine with people taking aesthetic inspiration from my culture (beyond sacred and religious cultural practices, which I generally don’t think should be aestheticized by people who don’t understand them). I don’t know why Bryke chose to take inspo from Asian and northern Indigenous cultures; people can certainly say it’s culturally appropriative and decide not to watch it.

[the-all-seeing-salmon]

3rd Doctor Episode Recommendations

In Short:

Spearhead from Space (4 eps)

The Mind of Evil (6 eps)

The Three Doctors (4 eps)

The Green Death (6 eps)

The Time Warrior (4 eps)

Invasion of the Dinosaurs (6 eps)

Planet of Spiders (6 eps)

With explanation:

Spearhead from Space - Jon Pertwee's first episode, a great introduction to his Doctor, reintroduction to UNIT, and a new monster that would become a classic.

The Mind of Evil - Story-wise, this one isn't a great serial, however, every scene with Roger Delgado's Master is great, and every scene where he and the Doctor are interacting is absolutely golden! If you like it, I recommend watching the other serials with him in because they have amazing chemistry. It's a shame none of the stories he's in were that great, but he's certainly the best part of them.

The Three Doctors - First multi-Doctor episode, good stuff.

The Green Death - When people say Doctor Who is too leftist these days, they obviously haven't watched the classic show. This one is about corporate greed and pollution whilst a group of perceived hippies make meat substitutes out of fungus.

The Time Warrior - Introduction of Sarah-Jane Smith and the Sontarans.

Invasion of the Dinosaurs - Another anti-pollution serial, this time with more eco-terrorism vibes and adorably-bad dinosaur models/costumes. It's great, trust me.

Planet of Spiders - 3rd Doctor's final story with giant spiders. Unfortunately it does have a couple of white actors playing Tibetan monks.

Doctor Who Episode Recommendations

Finally started watching classic Doctor Who right from the beginning and my friend asked for a list of episodes I'd recommend as, lets be honest, not all of the are that great. And so, here are my 1st Doctor era episode recommendations.

In short:

An Unearthly Child (4 eps)

The Daleks (7 eps)

The Aztecs (4 eps)

The Romans (4 eps)

The Web Planet (6 eps)

The Time Meddler (4 eps)

The Tenth Planet (4 eps)

With explanation:

An Unearthly Child - Good to see where the show started and as an introduction to the 1st Doctor and his companions.

The Daleks - Long, but the first few episodes at least are enjoyable. It's good to see where the daleks originated. However, and this may be sacrilege, but Terry Nation scripts aren't very good (this era anyway). Sorry Terry, but I don't rate your writing very highly, and whilst I recommend this serial, it starts to drag. I don't know why they keep giving you 6 episode to fill.

The Aztecs - A great historical serial, each episode is actually filled with content. It's exciting, interesting, and humorous. It feels almost like a modern Who episode. Best of the era in my opinion.

The Romans - Not as good as The Aztecs, but still pretty good. The historical episodes in this era are rather good imo, whilst often the more sci-fi serials feel a bit lacking.

The Web Planet - This one may divide opinion, but I think it's a wonderful and silly story with some of the best sci-fi writing in the era to this point. The sets and costumes aren't great, granted, but it had ambition and I commend it for that. If you watch it as theatre it's a great serial. Also the larvae guns are cute.

The Time Meddler - A proper mix of historical and science fiction, with some exploration of the wider lore that ultimately makes the show.

The Tenth Planet - Hartnell's last serial and a good one, plus the first encounter of the cybermen.

[myhauntedsalem]

Crow’s Connection to Death

Crows for centuries have been closely connected with death. The main reason for this is crows feed on carrion–the flesh of the dead. Because of this many cultures, associate crows with death and dying. Some cultures in the past believed that crows were messengers of death. How this reputation came about is certainly understandable but is unfair.

If we look at examples in history around the world it becomes clear why so many cultures have a tradition of associating crows with death. In man’s early history bodies were not buried, it was a common sight to see crows feasting upon human corpses.

For centuries crows during times of war have been observed following soldiers onto battlefields where they wait patiently for the battle to be over so they can feed upon the fallen. In medieval Western Europe during an outbreak of the Bubonic plague people noted crows feeding upon the victims’ stacked bodies.

Because of this association with death crows over time gained a bad reputation. But not all cultures viewed them in this light.

Some Native American cultures see crows as a positive symbol because they believe the crow acts as a communicator or liaison between this world and the next. They are viewed as assistors that help the deceased cross over.

The Tibetans held a somewhat similar belief– they once placed pieces of bodies on top of temples so that crows could carry them to the next life.

The early Celtics viewed crows as the mediators between the human and spirit worlds. They believed that crows were oracles which god used to speak to them. This belief probably came about because crows can be trained to talk. So to some cultures crows are spiritual or supernatural in nature.

Over time this belief that crows were connected to death was used to teach lessons.

In the 13 th century Talmud, a vast collection of Jewish laws, there is a story where a crow teaches Adam and Eve to bury the body of their son. Adam and Eve being confronted with this first dead body on earth after creation did not know what to do with it. The story states the crow then kills another crow and buries it in front of Adam and Eve as a demonstration.

In an early Buddhist tradition, monks would sit in a graveyard and concentrate on decomposing bodies, again in a time before bodies were properly buried, later this was done through imagery and mediation. At one point during this guided meditation, the monk would see the image of a crow feasting upon his own corpse. The idea behind this was to keep death always in the forefront.

In a similar western tradition the Benedictine monks founded by St. Benedict, who once claimed a crow saved his life by warning him about a piece of poisoned bread, believed death should be kept always before the living.

The reason these two groups used the crow and its scavenging ways was to remind them that the presence of death is a part of the natural cycle of life. When we can see and understand the ephemerality of our lives we learn to appreciate life on a daily basis.

The false belief that crows bring death has resulted in a variety of myths and superstitions being passed down from one generation to the next. One of the most prevalent of these myths is about crows in graveyards. People say they hang out in them because of their connection to death. After all crows are big, black, and spooky.

In reality crows just find graveyards an ideal habitat. There is a nice mowed expanse of lawn where they can easily spot earthworms to eat etc. There is abundant water with plenty of trees to keep watch from and graveyards are quiet which crows like. There is another myth about crows flocking together in graveyards; they do this for protection, not for any supernatural reason.

The Greeks felt that crows were a bad omen often foretelling death. Because of this belief, they would say to the birds, “Go on your way, and bring me good news.” One term used for a group of crows is “murder” this comes from Greek mythology as well.

The Irish for generations believed that when a crow caws three times they are announcing the death of an individual. It was also believed if a crow flew into a house and couldn’t get out it was a bad omen.

Some superstitions state that a crow must fly into the house to foretell death. If the bird flies into a house in the morning the person will die in a better manner than if the crow flies in at dusk. If the crow is covered in mud or injured the person will have a long illness.

Today in our urban world, it is still almost impossible to avoid seeing crows along the highway picking at road kill. I think this is why so many myths and superstitions persist about the crow being a symbol of death.

In reality, crows are not to be feared, in fact when they are observed closely people note they are vibrant and alive. They are always doing something creative and they are very playful, which means they are highly intelligent.

In a recent Nature episode entitled “A Murder of Crows” on PBS it was shown crows make tools that help them retrieve food. Recent research indicates they are among the brightest animals in the world.

What is amazing is that crows seem to understand their own mortality. When one of them dies people have observed the following phenomenon. They often fly around the deceased bird cawing; in fact, they seem to hold their version of a crow funeral. They are seen landing and forming a circle around the deceased bird’s body. They stand still and silent for anywhere from a few minutes to over thirty minutes.

The people who have witnessed this event state that it shocked them for it was obvious to them that these crows were not just standing around.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

A Remembrance of my Father, posted by Eve Hill “The search for the meaning of life is the meaning of life.” This was who my father was. One of the questions I am most often asked is, “With Dr. Needleman as your dad, what were conversations like at the dinner table?” Questions were encouraged. Especially the unanswerable ones. When I was about six or seven years old, we had a houseguest staying with us, a Tibetan monk & scholar named Lobsang Lhalungpaa. My father said I could ask him a question, any question. I was very shy. I had a question but I couldn’t bring myself to say it out loud. So I wrote it down on a piece of paper – actually I wrote it down many, many times, all over the piece of paper, with lots of question marks and exclamation points, and then folded the paper up to make it small. “What happens when you die?” Lobsang told me to imagine a football. And then he told me to imagine there was a hole in the football, and all the air went out of it. He said he thought it was maybe something like that. Maybe it is. Maybe it‘s like what happens in that scene from one of my father’s books, “An Unknown World.” His younger self, Jerry, is experiencing the untimely death of his closest boyhood friend, Elias. The one he met often at the low stone wall, to discuss their love of science, ideas, and the universe. But Elias dies at fourteen. In the book, when Elias dies, Jerry cries out, “I’ll learn for both of us!” My father certainly seems to have taken this “I’ll learn for both of us” to heart. He was completely dedicated throughout his life - to his scholarly work and to The Work. Let’s face it - he worked. A lot. I mean, it seemed like he was either out teaching at San Francisco State, out at a Gurdjieff meeting, working in his office and not to be disturbed, or napping in his office & not to be disturbed. We did watch football games together. We played catch. We looked through his childhood sports autograph collection, several worn little books, tied together with rubber bands. In the pages, so many signatures, and stories behind the signatures. Him waiting outside the ballpark or the train station for Jackie Robinson, Ty Cobb, or Dizzy Dean. He bought us ice cream at Swensen’s and we rode the cable car. We made it to Playland a bunch of times before it got torn down, and when my Grandma Ida came to town from Florida, they took me along with them to Reno and let me pull a few slots when no one was looking. He made quarters appear out of our ears. Balls disappeared between his fingers, and he always knew every card we picked. My father was funny. My father was serious. My father was comfortable as the center of attention. And generous. I have come to realize more and more – ever since Gail died, just how generous he was with all of you. Because of how you all responded when that happened. You counseled him with patience. You kept calling, listening, visiting. Bringing food, sitting quietly with him, and reading to him. And then in June, when he had a fall and came home on hospice, you still kept calling, listening, & visiting. You still kept bringing food, sitting quietly, and reading to him. It meant a lot to me to see how much he meant to you. With all that he had, he nurtured the seeker in himself and in others. And I think he learned enough for all of us. Thank you.

[likealittleheartbeat]

One of the weaker atla fandom takes is ‘I ship so-and-so with therapy.’ As if the mentorships, spiritual guidance, somatic practices, peer supports, and ultimate political liberation are not enough to really help these characters out. It’s not real, I guess, unless the gaang talks to someone whose in however much student loan debt with a license that let’s them put four letters behind their name and talk to insurance companies. Lol. Like, a good therapist can be incredibly helpful, but maybe, when your looking at a show that’s a historical fantasy based in East Asian and indigenous cultural practices, consider the fact that there are other approaches to emotional well-being besides what’s come to now dominate the west.

And I get why it’s hard for a lot of us raised in Euro-American cultures to see. Since the Enlightenment, in the standardized health world, we’re used to a very systematic and specialized approach to health, visiting different doctors for different parts of our body. Let alone the idea that emotional and physical health might be connected. Certainly some scientific gems were discovered within western medicine approaches. But it’s also fortunate that holistic practices are being increasingly addressed in western medicine now, although the classifications and bureaucracy remain.

Meanwhile, the roles and approaches in other philosophies of health have consistently been more integrated. They saw relationships and faith as factors worthy of investigation, and western medicine, as I said, is increasingly beginning to recognize the efficacy of these other well-established perspectives. In fact, Zimbabwean Grannies, you know community mentor figures like Kanna or Iroh or Gyatso, were shown to be significantly more effective in addressing the mental health needs of a Zimbabwean community member than a licensed therapist (and this has been repeated in other cultures), not because therapists are shams but because cultural relevancy and faith in the process are pretty much the most important factors for individual’s outcomes in a therapeutic relationship.

The other thing is that it’s not just a therapist’s job to get a client to feel good. Their job is to help the client create a balanced lifestyle, securely face their problems, and integrate with people in the world. If these supports are in place, and the client feels at peace and strong in their approaches to coping when struggles come up, the therapy should be done. And the client shouldn’t be dragged into years of expensive sessions just because they went through some shit in childhood; that would just be cruelty on top of cruelty. The end of the show seems like a pretty good portrayal of finding a state of well-being for everyone—except for Ozai and Azula lol—all found with support from people who did not have LCSWs (though the nomads could have certainly had degrees in the same vain as Tibetan monks).

So, especially within the atla fandom or in reference to other non-western and/or historical characters, when someone says I ship so-and-so with therapy, I can appreciate their well-meant sentiment that they have compassion for this character’s plight, but I just want them to be sensitive to the way their meme unknowingly makes a lil imperial move by projecting the superiority of current (and very capitalizing) western healthcare. And I think as fans of atla, a show that’s focused on the arms of imperialism AND the legitimacy of eastern traditions, we can make better jokes. But don’t beat urself up, honestly. Like Alanis says, you live, you learn. Flameo, hotmans!

[variousqueerthings]

WELL goodbye to Doctor the Third, it's been a pleasure. that last episode couldn't be called the best of Pertwee's run (although he was stellar as always), but I think it does highlight a factor in ye classics which is that after some time it's the experience of them in and of itself that gives the satisfaction

his final speech about living despite fear was excellent, and interesting to read next to the nu!who watch that I'm doing, as well as in contrast to Two's forced regeneration -- this Doctor feels very content with the choices made, and ready to embrace a new self

I don't know if this comes from my being a nu!who baby, but I definitely do think there is a real melancholy and sense of death when the Doctor moves on to a new body. the goodbyes aren't lessened in impact because we know that technically the Doctor lives on. but I also like the speech way forwards in time that Ten gives about how regeneration feels like dying, and so that's a formative part of how I have read regeneration since I was a kid

certainly it's less explosive now than in the future though, but the "being kind of loopy" post-regeneration was there from the beginning

I wonder if nu!who will ever do anything with the idea that the Doctor had a mentor, but there'd have to be some real re-writing of the character to not be, essentially, a white guy portraying a Tibetan monk. I guess that's what they're doing with the Toymaker, so it's not impossible and the idea of the Doctor having a mentor isn't bad in and of itself. if it hadn't been for that I'd probably have had a much more chill time with silly giant spider plot (who doesn't love a silly giant spider plot, after all)

favourite episodes of the era: Doctor Who and the Silurians, Inferno, The Mutants, The Three Doctors, The Green Death, and Invasion of the Dinosaurs -- not to say I didn't enjoy plenty of others and tbh every time the Master shows up onscreen it's a win for an episode, but I think these all stuck out for one reason or another

I'm also keeping a keen watch out for how the Dalek narratives continue, as a couple of Classic!Who fans have identified that there is a build-up that works towards a future Time War

I will always be thinking about how they introduced the Master this era in a way that nearly immediately established that the two of them were bonkers about each other in some way or other -- truly a Dynamic of all time from the very beginning

would love to see another Master iteration that's very gentlemanly, as the main descriptor. Nu!Who has tended towards a very unhinged what-will-they-do-next kind of characterisation, but at this point in time (which, granted, pre-crispy, pre-weird-american-movie, pre-time-war-lore) the Master is often very polite, especially to Jo

and that is that. goodbye Jon Pertwee, hello Tom Baker!

is there a reason the Doctor and the Brigadier just went on a little date to the theatre?

[vajranam]

Kurukulla

KURUKULLA

The Dakini of Magic and Enchantments

One Buddhist Dakini originating from the country of Uddiyana is the goddess Kurukulla. The name Kurukulla is translated into Tibetan as Rigjyedma (rig-byed-ma), “she who is the cause knowledge.” She is associated with a king of Uddiyana named Indrabhuti. In a sadhana text attributed to her for the red Kurukulla in her eight-armed form. But whether she had eight arms or four arms, she is generally known as the Uddiyana Kurukulla. Most modern scholars believe this indicates that Kurukulla was originally a tribal goddess, much like the Hindu goddess Durga had been in India, who later, because of her popularity, became associated with the Buddhist great goddess Tara. For this reason, Kurukulla is often called the Red Tara (sgrol-ma dmar-po) or Tarodbhava Kurukulla, “the Kurukulla who arises from Tara.”

Kurukulla appears to have become popular originally, and she remains so even among the Tibetans today, because of her association with the magical function of enchantment (dbang gi ‘phrin-las) or the bewitching of people in order to bring them under one’s power (dbang du bsdud). More than any other figure in the Buddhist pantheon, Kurukulla becomes the Buddhist goddess of love and sex, corresponding to the Western gooddesses Aphrodite and Venus. She is depicted as a voluptuous and seductive nude sixteen year old girl. Among the attributes she holds in her four hands, four arms being her most common manifestation, are the flower-entwined bow and arrow, reminiscent of the Western Eros and Cupid, although as the goddess of witchcraft, she is more akin to Diana.

It may appear strange to us that Buddhism, originally the religion of celibate monks, should give birth to this attractive and seductive sex goddess. Buddhism as a spiritual path is ultimately concerned with enlightenment and liberation from Samsara. This ultimate goal is known as the supreme attainment or siddhi (mchog gi dngos-grub). But not all Buddhist practitioners are celibate monks living in semi-permanent meditation retreat isolated from the world.

Like everyone else, Buddhists must deal with the practical circumstances of life and society. Sadhana or deity invocation is a meditation and ritual practice where the practitioner in meditation assumes the aspect or form of the deity, who is regarded as a manifestation of the enlightened awareness of the Buddha, and then invokes the spiritual powers and wisdom and capacities of that particular deity as an aid to realizing liberation and enlightenment. In Deity sadhana practice, or in one’s meditation practice, the archetypal form of the deity is considered a particularly powerful method to accelerate spiritual evolution. The meditation image of the deity visualized by the practitioner in sadhana, being an archetype or manifestation of enlightened awareness, and this radiant image opens a channel and acts as a receptacle for receiving the grace or blessings of the Buddha for a specific purpose. The process of visualization in meditation is a method of accessing and focusing spiritual energy, like using the lens of a magnifying glass to focus the rays of the sun in order to kindle a fire. The image of the deity is something that is concrete and accessible to human consciousness. In his own nature as the Dharmakaya, the Buddha is beyond conception by the finite human mind. The meditation deity, however, makes the unmanifest manifest and therefore accessible to consciousness. In the same way, Christians might have visions of angels that might make the grace of God manifest, but in Buddhism there are both male and female meditation deities, and Kurukulla is certainly an example of the latter.

The psychic powers developed through sadhana practice are known as ordinary attainments or siddhis (thun-mong gi dngos-grub)

Sadhana texts speak of the four magical actions or magics:

1. White magic or Shantika-karma (zhi-ba’i ‘phrin-las) has the function of calming and pacifying conditions and healing. White Tara is an example of a deity that specifically has this white function.

2. Yellow Magic or Paushtika-karma (rgyas-pa’i phrin-las) has the function of increasing wealth, prosperity, abundance, merit, knowledge, and so on. Vasundahara and Jambhala are examples of deities with these functions. Hence they are yellow in color.

3. Red Magic or Vashya-karma (dbang gi phrin-las) has the function of bringing people under one’s power, of enchanting, bewitching, attracting, subjugating, magnetizing them. This is the primary function of Kurukulla and hence her red color.

4. Black Magic or Raudra-karma (drag-po’i phrin-las) has the function of destroying evil and obstructions to the spiritual path. This is the specific function of many wrathful manifestations such as the Dakini Simhamukha who is dark blue in color.

These four functions are allotted to the four gates of the mandala palace, namely, the white or pacifying function in the east, the yellow or increasing function in the south, the red or enchanting function in the west, and the black or destroying function in the north. With each of these four magical functions there exists an elaborate system of correspondences. The scientific world-view, which admits mechanistic causality as the only possible natural cause of events. Magic principally relates to our dimension of energy, and this energy, according to the traditional way of thinking, is intermediate between the mental and the physical, just as the soul is intermediate between the spirit and the flesh. Ritual is simply one way to access and direct energy. Although mind or spirit is primary, the other dimensions of energy or soul and body are important.

Where we find sadhana or theurgy, that is, high magic, we also find low magic or goetia, that is, common witchcraft. In the Tibetan view, these practices are not necessarily black, no more sinister than finding lucky numbers for betting on the horses, or making love potions or amulets for protection, and so on. For these common practices of folk magic, it is not even necessary to enter into meditation and transform oneself into the deity. Nevertheless, Kurukulla is also the patron of such activities. She is pre-eminently the Buddhist Goddess of Witchcraft and Enchantment. In a real sense, she represents the empowerment of the feminine in a patriarchal milieu. one might invoke Kurukulla to aid accomplishment wishes on their ambitions. Tibetans take a very clear-eyed and practical view of life, without sentimentalizing spirituality. The Tibetan do not rigidly separate this world, with its practical concerns, from the world of the spirit.

Just as Tara in her usual green form may be called upon by Buddhists to protect them from various dangers and threats, in particular the eight great terrors and the sixteen fears, so in her red form as Kurukulla, she may be called upon to exercise her powers of enchantment and bewitchment to bring under her power (dbang du bsdud) those evil spirits, demons, and humans who work against the welfare of humanity and its spiritual evolution.

However, in terms of practical magic, she can bring under the practitioner’s power a personal enemy, a boss, a politician, a policeman, or a recalcitrant lover, male or female... In Tibet, Kurukulla was also called upon when commencing the building of a new monastery, Kurukulla, who subjugate the demonic and the human forces that stand in one’s way

Photo: One of Kurukulla’s mandalas with five colours of Dakini

[softheartedsadist]

To Jon Favreau

I really hope it is true that the Mandalorian will not make a habit of removing his helmet.

He swore a creed, and while I can understand some exceptions, it should not be a frivolous thing.  I am actually very angry at Bo-Katan calling his tribe “a cult of religious zealots” because it implies that they are all crazy because they don’t follow her more middle-ground way.

If Catholic nuns wear habits, Muslim women wear hijabs, and Tibetan monks shave their heads... for their religion... and most certainly aren’t crazy, just devout, then the Mando isn’t either.

And if Din Djarin is in fact now Mand’alor, then I do not believe that he will see uniting the different tribes of Mandalore to mean that they all must follow the same Way.  That manner of thinking is what lead to much of the warring in Mandalore’s past.

‘There are many paths up the mountain, and they all may lead to the peak.’

[trashy-croud]

Tibetan Foothills 🏔️🧗‍♀️

The level that introduced us to snowy levels. The cutscene in between, (which I managed to get a few snapshots of in the previous post) showed us how Lara escaped the murky depths with her prize and was heading to Tibet, the snowy peaks. The change of colours is a great change from the blue and brown colour pallet from the underwater levels. Instead it’s much more brighter and although at points can be straining on the eyes, it still manages to draw you in closer. The use of draw distance in this level was, like I have said in most, amazing. It manages to draw you in up until you then see the boulders coming storming at you and then you’re too late and only end up repeating the pattern once more. I swear I have the memory span of a goldfish somedays, especially when playing this game. But lets talk more about this level as a whole rather than talking about things that I could talk about at the end of our adventure through this game.

So we started off this level killing many species which are probably endangered thanks to Lara 😂😉 Yet it’s either kill or be killed and to be honest, they were less of a threat compared to the snowmobile in this level. I’m sure this might be a running theme because, for the life of me, in any game, it’s impossible for me to control vehicles. I’m thrown over some side or off a cliff, anything involving vehicles is bad for me, and although it was frustrating for me to try and control, I still enjoyed it. It was a nice change of pace and greatly reminded me of the boat in Venice, I hated that boat with a passion because I couldn’t do the little timer gate thing with it, but I enjoyed it. 🚤

It was the music for the snowmobile that drew me towards it 🎶🎵 The music was phenomenal and perfectly timed. When I tried to go on the enemies vehicle, it played completely different music, one that I’m sure I’ve heard in other games in the franchise, like AoD although I can’t be certain with it entirely as I haven’t seen/played the game in years. But the music does certainly bring back some memories. Perhaps the music was actually in an earlier level and I didn’t notice it until now?

Though talking about snowmobiles, the enemy ones are an absolute bugger. They hit you, you die instantly no matter how much health you have and, AND they have guns! How is that fair?! But they don’t have the getaway boost that we have on our little red bike. So they were easy to get rid of should I ever feel like not fighting them. Though there were points where there were multiple, (much closer to the end of the level) which I wanted to absolutely throttle and scream at. Yet I couldn’t, it was a. too early in the morning for loud screaming and b. I didn’t have enough time for it because the moment I felt like screaming, I reloaded myself into the level instantly. There was plenty of cursing under my breath aimed towards them though, that is a given.

This level has proven that they are upping the level of difficulty with each new location we visit, although it wasn’t an overly difficult level, I dread what levels are to come! Luckily I’ve gotten all of the secrets of this level, they weren’t too difficult to get ahold of and were somewhat easy to spot. Especially the jade and stone dragon 🐉

I do have to add one part of the level that, although tedious, was very satisfying and that is managing to dive into the water at the end. The jump to get to the right position was awkward and led to many deaths, more than I could count on both hands. But getting tha jump right, making it a swan dive straight into the water - ever so satisfying. It was also a bit nerve-wracking as well as that jump is practically millimetres away from the actual edge so you never know if it’s a splash or a crunch. Would have to give her a 10/10 score for that dive though, no faults about it!

But now we get closer to where the Seraph belong, hopefully we can get there before anyone from Bartoli’s grunt squad. We now reach the Barkhang Monastery, perhaps we’ll encounter a monk or two!

[howtoteachmeditation1]

How to Create a FLOW State Through Yoga and the Eastern Martial Arts Way

As a lifelong practitioner in Eastern martial arts, one of the first things I was taught is the control of my body through my mind. This included breathing a particular way and moving with intention. Other areas of the Eastern arts also emphasize mental and physical control through focused attention. Yoga is one of them. Mindfulness training may take many years to master and yet, those that do it, gain control over the autonomic nervous system (ANS) of their body.

The autonomic nervous system includes the heart rate, respiration, perspiration, blood pressure and even one's digestive process in the areas that are controlled. It is divided into two subsystems: the parasympathetic (PNS) and sympathetic nervous (SNS) systems. There also appears to be a third subset hat uses nitric oxide as a neurotransmitter and found in one's gut and lungs, it's known as 'non-adrenergic and non-cholinergic' neurons.

Imagine being able to control your ANS responds through sheer mental training. I've always been astounded by how certain yoga practitioners are able to control their bodies through mind control. Even more so, I remember watching a special on TV of how Tibetan Monks are able to control how their bodies respond to cold. In this special, they are able to withstand temperatures would have done in most people quite fast and do it while sleeping overnight with nothing but their clothes and a light covering.

Getting into a FLOW is certainly not this extreme in nature to accomplish. We see this in most activities when the practitioner is fully engaged in an activity that is challenging. Michael Jordan would always that have slight smile when the game was on the line and he had the ball. He was in a state of flow because of the challenge. Great pianists engage in the same state when they are performing a challenging piece at a location, such as Carnegie Hall. We see this across the board with all masters of their art. click here for more Meditation Teacher Certification

Kundalini Yoga is an effective art that emphasizes mindfulness in its practice. There should be teachers of the art close to you or you may be able to attend workshops that will get you started. You can find out more through the Kundalini Research Institute at kundaliniresearchinstitute.org. Heck, you might even think about becoming a teacher yourself. BTW, Kundalini.org offers a free online introduction to Kundalini yoga.

Traditional Eastern martial arts utilize many mind-body practices as part of their training. As I stated before, this includes breathing and meditation. Even the practice of kata involves the mind and body working together. Tai Chi, as a martial art, brings in the heavy use of breathing, movement and a meditative state to create flow.

Using the martial arts to create a FLOW state takes practice for most Western practitioners. This is because of the influence of the Western mind versus the Eastern mind. In Zen Buddhism, meditative state is emphasized in a flow like state. Western traditions don't think this way. So as you practice your martial arts to get into a state of flow this way, make sure to make it challenging enough to grow, but not too much that it creates anxiety. This includes the use of kata. If you are a practitioner of the Chinese art of Wing Tsun or Jeet Kune Do, the wooden dummy is a great tool to help create flow through physical practice. You have to have absolute mental focus in using it properly. I would suggest with any martial arts, start off slow and then progress faster in order to challenge you fully. And that is the key here, continued and progressive challenges.

[romancandlemagazine]

An Interview with John Lurie

Whilst most humanoids struggle to master even one useful skill in life, John Lurie is one of those adept rapscallions who can seemingly turn their hand to pretty much anything — from acting to angling.

This knack has led to a fairly stacked C.V. which involves such notable achievements as forming a rule-flouting jazz band called The Lounge Lizards, appearing in films like Down by Law, Paris, Texas and Wild at Heart and showing his paintings in exhibitions all over the planet.

And if all that wasn’t enough, he’s also hosted his own fishing show, and, with the help of Dennis Hopper, once came particularly close to snagging the elusive giant squid.

Here’s what he had to say about fishing, New York in the '70s and the importance of humour in the world...

First question… your television programme Fishing with John is mint. How did that come about?

I was threatening to do it for a long time, but wasn’t really serious. I would go fishing with Willem and we would video tape it. I flew out one New Year’s Eve to play with Tom Waits and the next day we went and fished with Stephen Torton video taping it.

This woman, Debra Brown, saw the tapes, home movies actually, and brought them to a Japanese company that was looking to get involved in things in New York.

She came back to me and said they wanted to make a pilot. I believe my response was, "Are you kidding?"

When you watch a film or television program, you only see the end result. What was it like filming that thing? Were there any mad struggles?  

If you see something good, you can just assume there were mad struggles. If you see something bad, you can assume that people were too lazy to take on the mad struggles.

If I am flicking through the channels looking for a movie, I can tell you in five seconds if a movie is going to be any good by the sound of the door closing or the light or the music or whatever.

Why do you think people love fishing so much?  

First off, so we can go to these beautiful places and pretend to be doing something. We wouldn’t go if there were nothing to do. And there is that visceral thing. A big fish on the line is like that exhilarating sports thing, like hitting a baseball perfectly or shooting a basket and the net just goes swish.

And then there is that thing of the world of mystery, right next to the world we are living in. What is in there? We are only going to be aware of what is there with a hook and a nylon string.

So of course we have to drag this amazing creature out of the water and kill it because human beings are pretty much ridiculous. The last bit is not why we love fishing, it’s just an observation.

I’d say it’s a pretty sharp observation. Did you ever face anger from the fishing community due to the lack of more conventional fishing?

Yes.

Why isn’t more television like Fishing with John? I hear we’re supposedly in the age of ‘peak TV’ or whatever, but why is there so much boring stuff out there?

The great thing about this, and a big shout out to Kenji Okabe from Telecom Japan, was they left me alone. I am fairly certain that the reason Breaking Bad was so great was because they left Vince Gilligan alone.

With most projects there are all these people meddling with what you do, to ruin it. The Gatekeepers. It is almost like there is a conspiracy to maintain mediocrity.

Going back a bit now, am I right in saying you’re from Minneapolis originally. What were you into as a child?

At first, dinosaurs and archeology. Then reptiles, particularly snakes after we moved to New Orleans. I was going to open my own snake farm. Then I was pretty sure one day, I would play center field for the Yankees.

An attainable dream. You moved to New York in the late 70s, and not long after, you started The Lounge Lizards. It seems like New York at that time is glamourized a bit now, but what was it like for you? What food did you eat? Where did you go at night? What streets were good to walk down? What did it smell like?

I was trying to remember the food I ate back then and couldn’t remember. I was pretty broke most of the time. They used to serve hors d’oevres at gallery openings and cheese became a large part of my regular diet.

Almost every night, or maybe not even “almost” — more like every night — we went to the Mudd Club. More than what streets were “good” to walk down, I can tell you which streets were bad to go down. I lived on East Third St across from the Men’s Shelter, so my block smelled of rotting garbage and urine.

What are some bits that people don’t talk about from that time? What sucked about back then?

It went fairly quickly from people having more relentless fun than any period in human history to a fairly grim time, a year or two later. There was the beginning of AIDs. I had many friends who were dying or horrifyingly sick. People were getting strung out. There were many deaths. Car accidents. People fell out of windows.

Also, with the artistic promise that was there, the output is disappointing. I suppose the wildness led to a lack of discipline and the work wasn’t nearly as good as it should have been.

I might be wrong, but it seems like at that time people just did what they felt like doing… people made films, music or anything else, with no regard for budget. I suppose for example, you made a film called Men in Orbit in your apartment for $500. Where did this freedom come from?

The freedom came from a ferocious demand to have that freedom at any cost. But it is odd or sad, because the more talented of those people seem to have gone unknown and the people who are now household names are, mostly, the ones who played the game by the rules from the beginning.

Do you think people nowadays get too hung up on money? Or perhaps too hung up on success?

I think people nowadays for the most part are quite lost and afraid. So they do whatever they think they must do to have a successful career, even if it means that they are making shit — and it usually does mean they are making shit.

The Lounge Lizard’s album, Voice of Chunk is an amazing record. What sort of stuff were you listening to when you made that? And who is Bob the Bob?  

The listening came from earlier in my life. Evan and I would devour everything. From Stravinsky to Monk to Little Walter to Coltrane to Tibetan music to Ellington to Dolphy to Pigmy music (you get the idea).

Later, when working on my own stuff, I stopped listening to pretty much everything. Though when I was in Morocco doing Last Temptation, I played a lot with Gnawa musicians that shifted me a bit. And around that time Evan discovered Piazzolla.

Bob the Bob is Kazu from Blonde Redhead. That is her mouth on the cover of the record. I still call her Bob.

You’re a prolific painter. Are there certain things that you notice recurring in your paintings?

I live on a small Caribbean island. There are flowers everywhere. I don’t like to think that they influence what I paint but they do. Fucking flowers.

A lot of people paint when they’re young, then stop. Why do you think that is? How come you didn’t stop?

The best paintings I have seen in the last 30 years or so are the ones taped to refrigerators. I don’t know why people stop painting or when they don't stop, why the painting gets so stiff.

I am sure my mother, who painted herself and taught art in Liverpool where the Beatles went, but not at the same time, had something to do with me keeping a freedom in my work. To not be afraid of that childlike dream thing.

Though it has been suggested that it may be time for me to get in touch with my “inner adult.”

How do you know when a painting is finished?

I ask Nesrin. If she says it is finished, I know it isn’t.

You seem like a pretty funny guy. Do you think humour is sometimes underrated? Do people take stuff too seriously sometime?

I think humor is immensely important. I think humor can shift society’s consciousness in a better way than almost anything else. So from Shakespeare to Mark Twain to Lenny Bruce to Richard Pryor and many more - these people shifted things for the better.

Do you know who was president when Mark Twain was at his peak? Benjamin Harrison. Who the fuck was Benjamin Harrison?

What are your thoughts on the internet? It seems like it’s a big thing these days.

I get so disappointed with people because I feel like social media could be an enormously positive thing for the world. And I certainly don’t mean to exclude humor, just I have heard enough fart jokes for one lifetime…

Something that bothers me quite a bit, is a star athlete gets hurt and then the response on places like twitter is close to joy. What kind of bitterness about your own life would make you behave like that?

You’ve just recently released a new Marvin Pontiac album after 17 years. This one is called The Asylum Tapes, and was reportedly made on a four track recorder in a mental institution. Back story aside, what made you want to make an album again?  

I have Advanced Lyme, so I was unable to play anything for a long time. Actually because of what was happening to me neurologically, I couldn’t even hear music for the first few years — it was more like fingernails on a blackboard.

As I slowly got better, I was able to play guitar and harmonica again, though playing saxophone would seem to be done for me in this life.

But I am very proud of this album and hope people get a chance to hear it. I made it to cheer people up.

Are people still confused about who Marvin Pontiac is?

I suppose so. He is a character I created to make this music. I suppose that is bad marketing, but fuck it.

Would the album be different if it was a John Lurie album? Do you feel like you can get away with more stuff as Marvin Pontiac? Or maybe what I mean is, is it easier to say some things as Marvin Pontiac?

Yes, absolutely. Marvin gives me a certain freedom. I doubt I would put out a record where I sing about a bear saying, “Smell my sandwich.”  But I’m happy that I get a chance to do that.

The lyrics are pretty straight up and direct. Do you sit and stew on songs and ideas for long, or do you just get it out?

Often they just come straight up. Like 'My Bear To Cross' I pretty much just came up with it live in the studio. Some took quite a while. And there are a couple where I never found the right lyrics to finish off a song and put them aside.

Okay, last question… do you think a lot of stuff is too over-thought and over-prepared? Does thinking sometimes get in the way?

Let me think about that.

[fantastic-nonsense]

#is it an issue/offensive #I obviously agree with this analysis of the Jedi order and it’s annoying to see the fandom misinterpret the order so poorly #but it’s a fictional religious order I’m just wondering how much of this specific misinterpretation circulating the fandom is… an issue #vs just annoying to keep reading #I get that it’s offensive to… the Jedi #but who is it offensive to irl. is it offensive to anyone irl? /gen (@flowersforthelost)

This is one of the many reasons why I shouldn't leave info in the tags just because I think it detracts from the main point of the post. You're right that it's unclear what I'm referring to and that I should have specified this upfront.

Anyway, the answer is yes, because it brings up a lot of really skeevy implications to call the Jedi baby snatchers while ignoring the Order's deliberate, direct parallels to real-life religious cultures that induct and teach children from a very young age.

The most obvious parallels here would be Zen and Tibetan Buddhist monks (sub-cultures also notable for being one of the main IRL cultural bases for Aang and the Air Nomads in ATLA), as seen in videos like this one:

But there are certainly other surviving and/or thriving religious orders that prioritize raising children within a monastic or ordered lifestyle similar to the Jedi, particularly the Nihang (a "warrior monk" sect of Sikhism) and those participating in a variety of shamanistic-based religious traditions.

As a final note, here's a fun video of some young Nihang boys playing around and showing off their skills! Hope this explanation helped!

Friendly reminder: the Jedi are not a "cult of baby snatchers," and it's pretty wildly offensive to call them that or compare them to the First Order kidnapping infants, replacing their names with call numbers, and raising them to be stormtroopers.

All the Order does is identify Force Sensitives and ask if their families wish for them to be trained. Families make the the choice to keep or give up their children by themselves. TPM makes this clear when Qui-Gon asks Anakin if he wants to be a Jedi, clearly identifying that it's a "hard life" and "won't be easy," and asks Shmi if that's a life she wants for him. It's also clearly standard practice, as we see with Plo Koon & Ahsoka in TCW.

Jedi children keep their birth names. Their family information is on file for them to check if they wish. They're allowed (and encouraged, even!) to have culturally-important clothing, traditions, markings, and jewelry. They're not being denied that knowledge or forced to stay.

Yan Dooku is named COUNT Dooku specifically because he voluntarily left the Order, returned to his homeworld, and reclaimed his birth heritage and title. He knew Serenno was his homeworld and he'd known since he was a child, because that wasn't information the Jedi hid from him.

Luminara and Barris Offee have traditional Mirialan facial tattoos and there's a practice of Mirialan Jedi taking on Mirialan padawans that the Order clearly accepts. Ahsoka and Shaak Ti wear their Akul Teeth proudly on their montrals. Quinlan Vos wears facepaint. Depa Billaba has her Mark of Illumination piercings despite being too young to have formed a genuine connection with Chalactan culture when she was rescued. Jedi do not deny children their names, families, or connections to their birth cultures. It's exactly the opposite, and I really need fandom to start thinking criticially about this issue.

[adapted-batteries]

Beware the Bear

Fandom: The Librarians

Rating: General/sfw

Relationship: Jazekiel

Word Count: 2333

The Library acquires a canine guardian after a mission to a monastery in Tibet, and it turns out he’s more magically skilled than anyone realizes.

Or, alternate summary: How many times did I type "god" instead of '"dog" when writing this? (the answer: it was almost every time I tried to write “dog”)

Also posted on my Ao3 here.

-----

Stone and Ezekiel being more than friends had been happening for a long while. They kept it on the down low, and thanks to Ezekiel’s paranoia, no one knew about them. No one seemed to pay any mind that they left together sometimes, and they carefully timed their entrances after spending the night at each other’s places, though more often than not they ended up at Stone’s place.

For the most part they kept themselves off each other unless they were alone in the Library, though they kept themselves in check more after Flynn and Eve got tethered. Neither of them were sure the new immortals didn’t know everything that happened in the Library. The Librarian and Guardian both assured they weren’t connected to the Library in that manner when the LiT’s berated them with questions about how it was like being tethered, but Stone liked erring on the side of safety. Neither Flynn or Eve ever brought up him and Ezekiel if they did know about the secret kisses had in the depths of the Library, and maybe a blowjob or two, which Stone and Ezekiel indulged themselves in sometimes.

The trio went on a mission to a monastery in Tibet, which according to the Library’s records of the place, was known for the temple dogs they raised. One of the dogs of the previous year’s litter, apparently the runt (Tibetan mastiff like dogs aren’t small, even if they’re the runt of the litter), took it upon itself to help the trio deal with the artifact messing with the laws of magic at the monastery. It turned out the dog was a vital part of the mission, with a nose for magical objects. One of the monks noticed how the dog worked so well with the LiTs, and ended up giving them the dog as the gift.

Eve was certainly surprised when they returned. “Um, is that a dog?”

“It’s a magical dog!” Cassandra said, bounding into the Annex, the small bear of a dog right on her heels.

Jenkins nodded at the dog almost reverently, and then glanced to the newly arrived Librarians. “You didn’t steal this dog, correct?”

“No, it was a gift for helping the monastery out with this,” Stone replied, placing an ornately carved wooden box about the size of a thick phonebook on the main table. Stone looked at Ezekiel sternly. “Do not open this here, no matter how much you want to see what happens.”

“I wasn’t going to,” Ezekiel retorted, patting the dog on the head.

“Before anyone opens it, I will take it to the dangerous artifacts wing,” Jenkins said, picking up the box gingerly before he left the Annex.

“Dangerous artifact taken care of, now the next order of business is him,” Eve said, pointing to the dog. “You need to decide if someone is going to keep him at their place, or if he’ll stay here, get the necessities for a dog, and name him.”

“You’re not gonna help us?” Ezekiel asked.

Eve sat down at her desk. “I’m not the one who brought a dog back.” She looked expectantly at the trio, who just stood there. “Well? Any names?”

Stone went thoughtful. “I always wanted to name a dog after Michelangelo.”

“Oh, I like the name Galileo,” Cassandra said.

Ezekiel eyed both of them with mild contempt for using the famous people in their fields. “How about Bear? Because he’s huge and from a distance kind of looks like a small bear.”

“I vote for Bear too,” Eve started, giving an apologetic look to the somewhat disappointed Stone and Cassandra, “Not that famous people have bad names...but Bear suits him more.”

Bear let out a content boof.

“Sounds like he likes Bear too,” Stone said. Bear looked at him, wagging his tail.

“Time for Bear’s first shopping trip!” Cassandra said excitedly, hurrying down the corridor. Bear loped after her, tail still wagging.

---

Two hours later the trio and Bear returned to the Annex with a nice, plush dog bed, new gold and maroon collar and matching leash (Cassandra insisted he needed it because it suited him, not because he belonged in Gryffindor), a bag of dog food half the size of Cassandra (which Ezekiel carried because he wanted to prove to Stone he could), and probably too many toys and treats because all three of them seemed to be competing for who could spoil Bear the most. Bear certainly wasn't going to stop them, he knew what was best for him.

He liked the monastery where he was raised, but he loved living at the Annex. Not only did he have six people to watch over (even if three were immortal), but the place seemed to heighten his senses with all the ambient magic. The magic certainly made his ability to project his thoughts much easier. It took a few days of trying to communicate to his people for them to realize they were actually hearing him, not just reading his facial expressions super well.

Cassandra was reading something intently, sitting at a stool at the main table. Whatever it was, Bear could tell it was perplexing, complicated enough to keep her hunched over the book for a good two hours, unaware that Bear was watching her. Instead of softly boofing to get her attention, he projected “Time for break” at her.

The thought snapped her out of her study; she glanced around the Annex, everyone else who was in there (Eve and Stone) still working away at their respective desks, not looking at her. Finally her gaze found Bear, watching her expectantly. She tilted her head to the side, thinking for a moment, then started to focus back on the book, so Bear projected the same phrase again.

This time she looked directly at Bear, initial shock flooded by curiosity. She waved a hand in front of her (Bear learned quickly that was how she used her magical ability), and then the words “Did you say that?” in her voice appeared in his head.

“Yes,” Bear thought back.

Cassandra grinned and shot off her stool towards the middle of the Annex. “Guys! Bear can talk!”

Stone and Eve both looked up, Stone a little less focused because he had been deep in research land. Eve blinked at Bear. “I didn’t hear anything.”

“Not verbal, telepathic,” Cassandra corrected. She looked at Bear, gesturing towards Eve.

He hadn’t had any success with getting his thoughts to Eve before, but maybe now that she was focused on him, it would work. “Can project thoughts,” he sent to her, but based on her lack of reaction, she didn’t hear it. Bear looked to Stone, trying the same phrase, but again he got the same blank look. Bear looked back to Cassandra. “They can’t hear me. Not sensitive enough.”

“He says you guys aren’t sensitive enough to hear him. I guess since I can send thoughts, I can receive them easier too,” Cassandra said.

“The monks didn’t mention anything about telepathy,” Stone said.

Cassandra looked at Bear for his answer. “Rare ability. Needs lots of ambient magic,” he sent to her.

“He says it’s a rare ability, and because there’s so much ambient magic here in the Library, it’s easier to do.” Cassandra started heading out of the Annex. “Let’s go find Jenkins or Flynn and see if they can pick up your thoughts,” she told Bear. He happily followed.

Flynn and Jenkins could, in fact, receive Bear’s thoughts, but not as easily as Cassandra could. When they finally found Ezekiel, which didn’t take as long as Cassandra thought it would thanks to Bear’s nose, they learned Ezekiel wasn’t sensitive enough either. Bear hoped with enough time and training from Jenkins, the ones who couldn’t hear him now could eventually.

---

Eventually that did happen for Eve , and once she was able to understand Bear, she used that talented, magical artifact finding sniffer of his to find the Librarians whenever they ran off when there was work to do. When someone got found, they were annoyed...but not for long because who can be annoyed with happy, fluffy dog that weighed as much as a person. Cassandra and Stone were always pretty easy to find, but Ezekiel liked to make it a game, to “keep Bear sharp” he told Eve.

Today Bear was sent to find both Ezekiel and Stone. He followed their scents deep into the Library. Last time Bear found them together, Ezekiel had heard him so he couldn’t surprise them. He was determined to spook the thief today.

Silently he padded around shelves, careful to keep his claws from clacking on the concrete floor. Their scents grew stronger, meaning he was close. There was more than just their usual smells; Bear noticed scents similar to what he sometimes smelled from the older dogs back at the temple, smells that meant in two month’s time, there was another litter of temple dogs arriving in the world.

Bear had seen Flynn and Eve put their mouths together on multiple occasions, but he hadn’t seen any of the others do that until he peeked his head around the edge of the bookcase Stone and Ezekiel were behind. Clearly Ezekiel was occupied enough to not notice Bear, being pressed against the bookcase by Stone, which meant Bear won this time. He boofed at them both to get their attention.

Both men were startled, Stone stepping back a good three feet. “Don’t sneak up on us like that,” Stone said, smoothing back his hair.

“It’s not his fault. Baird probably sent him to get us,” Ezekiel said, brushing out the wrinkled state of his shirt from Stone’s hands. He smirked at Bear. “Though you did good this time, I didn’t even hear you.” Bear let his tongue loll out, his version of a smile.

“Alright, let’s go see what Baird wants,” Stone said with a huff. Bear didn’t know why they seemed so startled; Flynn and Eve didn’t act like that, but then again this was the first time he saw Stone and Ezekiel doing that. Maybe Cassandra would know why. He always asked her questions when humans didn’t make sense.

“There you two are. What were you doing that was more important than being on time to our sparring practice,” Eve asked, that last bit aimed at Stone.

“Oh uh, was doing some research, and ran into Ezekiel,” Stone mumbled, trying to avoid the question.

Bear had no problem reporting to Eve, so he projected an image of what he’d walked into. Stone seemed to realize a bit too late that Bear could do that; as soon as he saw Baird’s jaw drop a little, he quit saying anything. Ezekiel was just intently watching the wall in between Stone and Eve, which meant he was focused on Stone in his peripheral but trying to hide it (Bear noticed he did that a lot). Satisfied his job was done, he plodded over to his bed and laid down.

Eventually Stone cleared his throat. “Whatever he showed you, uh-”

Eve cut him off, trying to do the best with the awkward situation. “I have no problem with you two...um...being intimate, but you need to do that in your spare time, not work time.”

“Understood,” Stone said, clearly ready for Eve to start walking to the sparring room.

Eve wasn’t ready to go just yet. “Can I ask how long this has been going on?”

“Well, you see…” Stone started.

“It’s been awhile,” Ezekiel answered, finally done with Stone’s awkwardness.

“You both know you don’t have to hide anything from us,” Eve said, looking at them both.

Stone and Ezekiel looked at each other, then Ezekiel said, “We know.”

Eve watched them a moment more, then walked towards Stone, heading towards the door. She clapped her hand on his shoulder. “Time to sweat Stone, and you can’t blame Ezekiel for distracting you to get out of the extra ten minutes you’re going to make up for being late.”

“I wasn’t gonna-” Stone started, scowling at Ezekiel when he started snickering. “Next time I’m not gonna listen to you runnin’ your mouth when I’m trying to do work.”

“Then you’re gonna have to do better controlling yourself then,” Ezekiel said smugly. “I didn’t even have to say a full sentence before you had me pinned against the bookcase.” As soon as he remembered Eve was there, he put on a nervous smile. She just rolled her eyes at him.

Stone laughed under his breath at him, then started walking out with Eve. “We’ll finish that later,” he said to Ezekiel.

“You better,” Ezekiel called after them, savoring the embarrassed/frustrated noise Stone made when he said it. Annex to himself, he walked over to Bear, who was just resting his eyes. “Stone’s not mad at you for earlier, you know, he’s just, not a very open guy.”

Bear nodded at him, tilting his head to the side after to get Ezekiel to continue. He knew that already, Stone didn’t smell angry one bit, but he also knew Ezekiel liked to talk to him too.

Ezekiel smiled at him. “You know, you may have caught me at a bad time today, but I’m not ready to let you have another win just yet. Five minutes, then try to find me, okay?”

Bear boofed and nodded at him, standing up and stretching.

“Game on then,” Ezekiel said, patting Bear on the head, then zoomed out of the Annex.

Bear did find him, mainly because Ezekiel didn’t do enough to cover his scent again (it took a lot to hide it from Bear), and managed to sneak up on him again, though Bear noticed Ezekiel’s mind seemed to be other places, so he got Ezekiel to take him outside for awhile.

Bear liked the temple; it was home, it had many kindred spirits, and the monks were very kind caretakers. But he loved being the first animal guardian for the Library.

-----

Post Notes: I had this idea floating around in my ever-growing list of fic ideas for almost a year, mainly when I was reading through The Dresden Files and got to Mouse being introduced. For those who don’t know, Mouse is Harry’s canine companion, a temple dog from a monastery. Essentially the dogs are Foo Dogs in Tibetan mastiff bodies, and act as sentries. They’re tough, but not immortal, and can interact with spirits. They also have a super bark, and are very intelligent.

In the books Mouse only speaks once, in Changes, but I figured with the amount of ambient magic in the Library, Bear projecting thoughts wouldn’t be a long shot.

[garywonghc]

Reincarnation: What do modern research and traditional Buddhist teachings say?

by Sam Littlefair

What happens after you die?

Traditionally, that question has been the province of religion. But, increasingly, academic researchers are trying to divine the answer using the scientific method.

Most Buddhist traditions say the answer to that maybe-unanswerable question is rebirth.

Some say the Buddha discussed rebirth out of convenience, because it was already a widely held belief in ancient India. But in his new book, Rebirth in Early Buddhism & Current Research, reviewed in the Summer 2018 issue of Buddhadharma, Buddhist monk and scholar Bhikkhu Analayo disagrees. Reincarnation was the subject of fierce debate in ancient India, and many of the Buddha’s contemporaries denied the idea. No less, according to the earliest Buddhist scriptures, the Buddha spoke at length about rebirth. According to the Brahmajala-sutta, the denial of rebirth actually qualifies as a “wrong view.”

At the same time, the Buddha — along with many contemporary teachers — have said that Buddhists needn’t, or maybe shouldn’t, dwell on the idea of past and future lives. And there is no unified understanding of rebirth from one life to another in Buddhism. Indeed, many contemporary Buddhists assert that we almost certainly can’t know anything about rebirth.

In the May 2018 issue of Lion’s Roar, I wrote about the contemporary study of reincarnation, led by psychiatrist Jim Tucker at the University of Virginia’s Division of Perceptual Studies. Tucker isn’t concerned with spirituality. He uses rigorous scientific methods to investigate cases in which children seem to recall past lives, and — as I report in my article — he has found some remarkable examples.

Even more remarkable than the individual cases, though, are the insights that can be gleaned when the cases are examined en masse. Tucker and his colleagues have collected thousands of cases and coded them into a computer database for statistical analysis, and they’ve started to draw some fascinating conclusions.

It might be amiss to think that the Buddhist view can or should affirm the Western academic view, or vice versa. There’s also an important distinction between the two. Tucker’s team focuses on reincarnation, which generally implies the existence of a soul that transmigrates from body to body. The Buddhist view of “non-self” rejects the existence of an essential soul, instead positing that we are an ever-changing collection of phenomena that create the illusion of a self.

In general, there isn’t much of a unified Buddhist view on rebirth. Many Buddhists decline to engage any discussion on the subject. And, as of yet, reincarnation research has yielded some interesting evidence but hasn’t produced any proof or solid theory of reincarnation. I like to compare the two purely as food for thought. Personally, I find that it challenges my ideas about rationality and the mind.

So, in the spirit of good fun, here are a few ways that the research and the teachings agree and disagree.

1. ATTRIBUTES PASSING TO THE NEXT LIFE

The main phenomenon studied in reincarnation research is mental or physical attributes passing from one life to another.

Most commonly, these are memories. The interview subjects find a young child who is describing things they couldn’t have experienced, which took place before they were born. The researchers tend to take on cases in which they expect they might be able to uncover a “previous personality” (PP). Along with memories, the researchers also look at physical attributes — like birthmarks or birth defects — and behaviours that seem like they could be connected to the PP. There are many cases in which a child has a birthmark the size and shape of a gunshot wound (sometimes they even have a second, larger birthmark matching an exit wound) that correspond precisely to a fatal gunshot wound on the PP. In some cases, the autopsy report confirms that the location of the wound matches the location of the birthmark. Often, the children exhibit signs of PTSD, despite having no reported trauma in this life. More than half of children whose PP purportedly died of drowning are scared of water. More rarely, there are cases in which a subject knows a foreign language or has other skills purportedly learned in a past life.

To find a Buddhist corollary, we need look no further than the story of the Buddha. He was said to have remembered all of his past lives the night before he attained enlightenment. He was also said to be marked with 32 physical (and fantastical) characteristics accrued during past lives. And, there is a story that when the Buddha went to school as a boy, he understood many foreign scripts that even his teacher didn’t know, learned in past lives.

Such stories continue today in the Tibetan tradition of tulkus, reincarnate lamas, who are often identified by their ability to recognise objects belonging to their predecessor.

2. PREDICTIONS AND DREAMS

The researchers also take into account seemingly supernatural predictions or dreams that correspond to seeming cases of reincarnation. The dreams, most often had by the mother, involved a figure coming to them and asking to be their child. In the case of the Buddha, his mother reportedly had a dream in which an elephant came to her and entered her womb. In the tulku system, Buddhist lamas give predictions about the circumstances of their reincarnation’s birth.

3. GOOD KARMA

Karma is a very tricky notion, subject to lively debate among Buddhists. Karma does not suggest that “what goes around comes around,” as per the pop culture interpretation. It would be a mistake to think karma means that our circumstances are the direct result of our past actions. Buddhist scholars acknowledge that our circumstances are the result of many factors, including — but not limited to — our “karma.”

Karma refers to the fact that our actions have effects. These effects are generally indecipherable, and may not develop immediately. It could take years or — if you believe in it — lifetimes for karmic consequences to flower.

However, some Buddhist teachers suggest that there could be some trends in karma. Analayo writes that “a basic pattern can be discerned in that evil will eventually have its fruition in painful experience, just as wholesomeness will eventually have pleasant results.”

The Dalai Lama has gone a step further, writing that if you want a “favourable rebirth as a human being… simply to live a virtuous life is seen as sufficient.”

Amazingly, statistical analytics by reincarnation researchers has suggested that what the Dalai Lama says may be true.

When Tucker’s team investigates a case, they grade the PP’s personality on a few variables: “Was PP saintly? Was PP a criminal? Did PP commit moral transgressions? Was PP philanthropic or generous? And was PP active in religious observance?”

Tucker compared those traits against the social and economic standing of the person’s purported reincarnation. Out of all of those characteristics, Tucker found one correlation: the saintlier a person was in a past life, the higher the social and economic status of their reincarnation.

4. HABITS

As we look at the more complicated manifestations of karma, we can find other interesting trends in Tucker’s research. For instance, Tucker speculates that we deal with unresolved issues from our current life in future lives. A person who hoards wealth might find themselves poor in the next life. This parallels the Buddhist concept of “realms,” states of existence that we can be born into or experience from moment to moment. Like Tucker’s description, it’s said that our habits in one lifetime determine what realm we’re born into in the next.

But Tucker observes that habits can also persist from one life to another. In the cases his team has collected there is a statistically significant correlation between personality traits in a person and those same traits in their reincarnation: a religious person was likely to have a religious reincarnation; a philanthropic person, a philanthropic reincarnation; a meditator, a meditative reincarnation. The subjects also retain the same gender 90% of the time. In the Buddhist view of rebirth, it is taught that habits — such as these — are mostly what carries from one life to the next.

5. ABILITY TO REMEMBER

The Dalai Lama says that a person’s ability to remember a past life is dependent on their “capacity for retention.” The younger and more suddenly someone dies, the more likely they will be to carry memories and behaviours into the next life.

This matches very closely with Tucker’s research. In 70% of Tucker’s cases, the previous personality died unnaturally, and the median age of death was 28. A quarter of previous personalities died before they turned 15.

“Dying young increases the likelihood that a child will later report memories of your life,” writes Tucker.

Furthermore, when a previous personality died of natural causes, the child is much less likely to remember the way they died.

Those memories are more likely to be remembered at a young age, says the Dalai Lama, because the characteristics of the previous personality are overwritten by the experiences of the present personality. In Tucker’s research, most children start talking about a previous life around the time they begin to talk and stop talking about it by age seven. By the time they’re a teenager, they might deny ever having remembered a past life.

The Dalai Lama also says that meditation will helps carry memories onward. While Tucker says he can find no indication of this in his research, the data does suggest that the more someone meditated in their past life the more likely they were to recall experiences from in between lives.

Which brings us to…

6. THE IN-BETWEEN

About 20% of Tucker’s cases report memories from in between lives. These memories include experiences like their own funeral, their own conception, or another realm. The median average time between death and birth is about 15 months. That suggests there’s about six months between death and conception.

Some schools of Buddhism discuss the time between lives, called the bardo, at length. Most famously, the Tibetan Book of the Dead describes the experience of the bardo in great detail. Tucker’s research contradicts the Tibetan Buddhist belief that a person spends 49 days in the bardo before conception — though that figure is sometimes thought to refer to figurative “days,” and not Earth days. Some schools of Buddhism say there is effectively no time between lives. Others don’t specify.

Why talk about seemingly superstitious ideas like this? Buddhists like to talk about rebirth and its related ideas — like karma, realms, and bardo — because they’re not only experiences that take place from lifetime to lifetime. Regardless of birth and death, Buddhism teaches that these are all phenomena constantly occur from moment to moment. In each instant, the elements that make up this human body disintegrate and reform in a miraculous, continuous rebirth so persistent that it convinces us we are real, permanent individuals. In any moment, we can be reborn in a new realm, or lost in a groundless state of bardo.

Many Buddhist teachers discourage us from getting too preoccupied with the notion of rebirth from lifetime to lifetime. While it makes a fascinating scientific study, when it comes to spiritual practice, it can easily become a fruitless distraction. Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche once wrote,

“Many ordinary people have had experiences that they feel confirm the existence of reincarnation. In England I knew a Catholic family whose daughter died in an accident. They had another daughter a few years later. One day the second daughter was crossing the road with her father, and suddenly she said: “I don’t want to cross this road. This is where the accident happened last time, isn’t it, Daddy?” And indeed, it was where the accident had occurred. Similar things have happened to a lot of people, but I don’t want to speculate about that or try to make people believe this. The main point is that consciousness continues all the time. It can’t be destroyed. Whether we are asleep or we are unconscious, consciousness continues, all the time.”