Part 2 of my modern avatar au, The Gaang (part 1)

Awakening Frontiers - Enlighten-Up Course | Planet Dharma

August 28 @ 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm UTC+0

What is the future of modern Buddhism?  How may we participate in creating a viable global path of liberation? Having presented at the Future of American Buddhism Conference in June 2022, Catherine Pawasarat Sensei shares her insights on the past, present, and future of planetary Dharma.

To know about Planetary Dharma and Buddhism visit the planetdharma.com website and join the course.

"BUDDHA'S STANDPOINT IN THE EARTHLY LIFE: III-A" HILMA AF KLINT // 1920

Fujishima Takeji

Great Buddha

1953

within the first hour of the episode’s release btw, fans were able to figure out that

kuukou’s temple wasn’t far up a mountain as suggested in auxiliary media and more like at a halfway point

found a shop that looks exactly like the one kuukou’s looking into in the same area

written a mini dissertation on what the intended purpose of using that egyptian mural with bat

and man the bat community is cool lol

Wukong after reaching the nirvana, after his 15 years of journey (Idk if it's 15 years the journey has lasted) did he still eat humans after that time? I've heard in buddhism the human life is not woth at all, it's like an atom, correct me if this is wrong and thanks for your time of answering

(14 years) and no Wukong did not eat humans afterward as that would go against his vows to not eat meat and to value all life. I don’t know who told you that human life is worth nothing in Buddism but human life is to be considered one of the highest levels to be and should be valued as sacred to be able for anyone to reach enlightenment… I think you might be confusing the idea that letting go of personal material and personal desires like greed, want, and selfishness is the same as letting go of your own personality or morals?? Which is not the case. They accept that they are going to but they do not want to die and they accept that all life is priceless which does not mean no life is less worthy. It is even said to be careful when you sweep so that ants are not harmed… Buddism being about letting go of worldly desires and while there is a lot about self-sacrificing and selfishness involved it is out of a place of compassion and love for your fellow man.

As a Buddha, Wukong is supposed to have a sense of lack of self, be able to separate the idea of self from his physical form, and become one with the universe all that jazz but that doesn't mean that life is... an atom? Self-sacrifice in this case means giving up his worldly desires, in order to reach that level of enlightenment. It’s more about not letting worldly desires weigh you down, knowing that just being yourself is enough and you don’t need to desire things that are “better” in order to find fulfillment in your life. All the happiness that you can find in the world is inside you in about accepting yourself rather than, looking for acceptance in the world. The reason why they push for having no desires is more so that you don’t need those desires, like money or fame or glory in order to feel more like a person. You have, and will always will be enough and that’s all that you’ve ever needed. Of course, it’s also important to connect to others that they are also enough how they are, and by showing them through compassion.

Actually just to think that Buddhism encourages devaluing life to the point of suicide or murder… that is very inaccurate to the point of insulting. I am not sure where you got this information but I implore you to do more research as that is… disgusting to think an entire religion is boiled down to such a thing…

And also while Wukong has said he has killed and eaten humans if it is often seen as more of him saying that hypothetically as his power of reviving people only happens with a pure qi. In the book Sanzang asks for Wukong to bring back the dead king in the well because both Bajie and Wujing ate people and their powers are tainted from while Wukong is pure, suggesting that he has never eaten a sentient being.

Has Sun Wukong really eaten people? Look at what he said to the Jade Emperor with clairvoyance when he was just born

https://inf.news/en/culture/93b9d93209bb1de0b7ecd2eef670cbdf.html

The Green Tara (Sanskrit: Shyamatara; Tibetan: Sgrol-ljang) was believed to be incarnated as the Nepali princess. She is considered by some to be the original Tara and is the female consort of Amoghasiddhi, one of the “self-born” Buddhas. She is generally shown seated on a lotus throne with right leg hanging down, wearing the ornaments of a bodhisattva and holding the closed blue lotus (utpala).

Because wisdom is innate, we can all enlighten ourselves. ~ Venerable Hui Neng

Man, Buddhist ramble here but like, I actually like read the passed around post of the Tibetan Buddhist talking about Tulpamancy and how its just NOT Buddhist and as a Zen Buddhist, one of my largest issues and frustrations with the concept of "modern tulpamancy" being called tulpamancy and being Buddhist was VERY directly and specifically put in the same words as I would when explaining Buddhist philosophy and I'm just like.... ah so this is in fact Just a Buddhist thing.

"The biggest, most dangerous form of evil in Buddhist thought is "ego" or self-grasping. If ANY mental phenomena increases your self-cherishing attitudes (self importance, grandiosity, jealousness, craving, hatred, self-loathing, self-absorption etc) it's evil. IF a mental phenomena causes greater flexibility, less attachment, more tranquil emotions, less mental chatter/discursive thinking, increased generosity and compassion toward others, higher mental clarity etc.--that's good. When working with the infinite power of your own mind, it's important to think of it like a garden. What plants are you tending to most? Are they medicinal? Are they ornamental? Are they poisonous? Are they weeds?"

as well as

Now, leave it to Victorians to take Tulku concept and turn it into a completely individualistic way of making another Ego inside your Ego--as if having one wasn't enough of a burden.

I would also like to say for those reading this, do not use white, western, and christian interpretations of terms like "evil" and "good" - evil and good in Buddhist philosophy doesn't inherently mean Evil like it does in Christian heavy spaces. It means a thing that brings dukkha or suffering / unhappiness.

A large core of zen is removing the "I" from life.

And no, again, western perspectives, this doesn't me "sacrificial selflessness" necessarily either, it doesn't mean anything more than 'removing the I' and if that confuses you or doesn't make sense, that is because - at least in Zen practice - it is an extremely esoterical concept that sets the frame work for a literal life time of practice to explore and deeply understand. There is no way I could ever imagine to explain what "removing the I from life" means in a textpost that not only does it justice as someone who is relatively young in my practice to explain it to someone who doesn't know the practice at all, in one post. It's not something you can explain, it is just something you either need to engage with to understand or simply just respect. If you have preconceptions of what it is, you are probably incorrect.

So the very act of creating more egos and concepts of "I" with details and divided lives and interests and tastes and aesthetics and relationships is just... so fundamentally not Buddhist. I used to say not Zen Buddhist because that is all I can talk about, but apparently not Just Zen Buddhist.

Its honestly - as an ex-Satanist/Luciferian (depends which part you ask) myself - like trying to make the case that Satanism is a genuine innocent respectable break off branch of Christianity that is not at all meant to be mocking, twisting, or disrespecting Christians. Satanism is taking everything Christians tend to condemn about the human soul and spirit and flipping it on its head to have its own philosophy and ideology. It is inherently a fuck you to Christians (which I support love yall)

"Modern Tulpamancy" is taking what is one of the largest causes of dukkha (probably the closest thing to 'sin' if you HAD to draw comparisons) in Buddhism and just... EMPHASIZING it, making it the center of your lifestyle and/or practice should you choose to use that term, and then trying to say.... its not??? disrespecting??? it??? that it isn't a mockery???

It's just a headache.

Excerpt from An Interesting Book— more at AnInterestingBook.com

One of the reasons I avoid a lot of “therapeutic resources” (including a lot of actual therapists ) is that so many of them, particularly those connected to workplaces, are very aggressive in actively personalising any individual client’s situation. I’m thinking statements such “don’t take what x person says personally”; “you can’t control what other people do, only how you “choose” to feel/respond”; the million shades of “you have to bring a positive mental attitude”/“stay positive”/“positive vibes only” etc etc. Not to mention the way capitalist corporate culture has co-opted mindfulness - you know, the spiritual practice of Buddhism, the explicitly anti-materialist religion - to cast the issue as those who are struggling with inadequate pay and ridiculous workloads rather than addressing the actual issues.

I see statements and practices such as these as an essential part of maintaining systemic marginalisation and oppression that is perpetrated by a significant part of the therapy industry. Making a client - and clients are inevitably more marginalised people because marginalisation a) means an intense amount of mental distress b) means experiencing constant sanction for the same behaviours that are tolerated or celebrated in privileged groups of people - continually focus inward on “managing their own response” to oppression and marginalisation is an active part of preventing those people from organising and campaigning to demand actual change.

And this is why they are so popular in those bits of the therapy industry most adjacent to corporate culture, as well as in influencer culture. They focus the issue on the person struggling - who is likely to be marginalised - and actively force them into a process of introspection, self-blame and self-gaslighting while actively forcing them away from community and workplace organising and activism. It has certain parallels with the practice of Roman Catholic confession; admittedly, that was an enforced practice for a big chunk of the world for millennia, and therapy is habitually sought out by a person themselves, but, given the culture of indulgences (formally in the late medieval/early modern period, but informally for a lot longer) meaning the same “sins” were almost invariably sanctioned far more harshly in poor and marginalised people, and the Roman Catholic Church frequently treating rebellion as actual heresy through the medieval and early modern periods, I feel there is at least some merit in the comparison.

(Please note I am neither anti-Christianity, specifically anti-confession as a religious practice, or anti-therapy. I am discussing ways certain practices have operated or currently do operate to reinforce structural oppression and marginalisation within current or historical contexts, and parallels between them. These say much more about how privilege operates to protect itself than anything else, as far as I am concerned.)

What are your thoughts on people who draw Aang with hair in a modern au?

I’m assuming this is about him still being buddhist yet being depicted with hair in modern aus.

I’ve seen some videos of young men in training with a full head of hair alongside their masters who are completely shaven. I’m not buddhist so I can’t say whether it’s ok or not, but from what I’ve seen some teens and YAs don’t shave their hair until they’re older while some are shaven since childhood.

Also may be due to the fact that that some are ‘lay followers’ - buddhists who do not fully subscribe to the monastic lifestyle. I guess it depends on how aang is being portrayed in these aus, either as a lay follower or a monk, in which case I think his head should be shaved. In most modern aus where he is younger and has hair, I just assume he’s being depicted as a lay follower. Some don’t even mention him being a buddhist at all which is… another conversation.

Again, not buddhist so…. take this however you want?

just slipping in and out to mention that if you didn't think that Hidan's religion combines both elements of shinto and the worship of one primary deity (Jashin). . . .. . . boy do I have some news for you.

bare concrete

the plaque of the temple

now a dark rectangle

I was reading The Monkey King's Daughter (you can read the whole book for an hour) and apparently the protagonist is also Guanyin's grandchild? Can Guanyin be shipped?

I mean I can’t say like what are like the moral implications of shipping GuanYin itself cause that is so not my place but I’m still going to answer this cause it kinda of interesting when it comes to modern media. First off saying that like I have never really seen romance done with GuanYin. At least in a serious way. But if I had to take a guess it can be seen as 'possible' as much as like shipping anyone in Chinese mythos, in that isn't really taken seriously at all. In a lot of modern fan spaces there are a variety of crack ships for more humorous or hypothetical situations like I have seen literally the Star of Venus shipped with Jade Emperor just cause. But I don't see much with buddhas or bodhisattvas in either post-modern media nor in fan spaces. At least that isn't Wukong or Sanzang since they are both Buddhas. And I have done a whole thing about how Wukong for decades wasn’t seen as a romantic figure until like there was a huge character reconstruction, but that isn’t usually the case for most characters.

I would say that the most mainstream instance I can think off the top of my head is The Lost Empire (2001) where it had the main character has a romantic plot with Gaunyin herself. Of course, that wasn't really a masterpiece within itself but this was considered like a 'bad choice' more so that it was just a very strange and awkward romance at that.

Funny enough I think I see more romantic for humor's sake on Guanyin in comic books or games as likes gags at most. Like in Westward comics (later a tv series) Guanyin has a celestial-turned-demon trying to pursue him that he always rejects. Another is more play for laughs but Guanyin in the Fei Ren Zai where people just don't know it's Guanyin and think she is so attractive.

I've seen some games that have Guanyin as like a pretty boy/girl but otherwise nothing even close to a romance plot. Those are more just for like aesthetics of making every character look overly attractive to sell it.

The best I can say is that is just kinda strange and a little strange personally but I can't say that it can be taken seriously. I mean Wukong is supposed to be a Buddha by the end of the novel, so if The Monkey King's Daughter has it that a buddha can have a daughter then there wouldn't be anything stopping the author from having a bodhisattva having kids.

ok. i did this to myself bringing this up but. the western version of buddhism where they just. completely take out the reincarnation part????? genuinely what the fuck? then thats not buddhism call it something else???????