Thursday, March 28, 2024

Holy Week: Happy Maundy Thursday

Jesus as a Buddhist monk during his missing years in India (Nicolas Notovitch/Holger Kersten)

(Catholic Kids Media) Created by Isabella D'Angelo. What is Holy Week? Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter!  March 28, 2023: Support the channel on Patreon (catholickidsmedia) or Venmo (@catholickidsmedia) because Rome isn't paying for anything it doesn't mandate and pre-approve of. Contact: catholickidsmedia@gmail.com.

It's been a fun Christian Lent as 2.5 of us undertook to stay "holy" (kusala, wholesome, sinning only in thought and thoughtlessness, i.e., by mind and unmindfulness, which is to say, mental karma and negligence but not willful intent), Sandoval, Seven, and Pat.
What happened? Pat dipped out and came back (so gets half credit). Seven held firm by practicing contentment rather than forcefulness, and Sandoval struggled by trying to muscle it. Recovering from the influence of American, Irish, and Mexican Catholicism can be enlightening! With little to no regard for the Vatican Corporation, its current CEO, and the flagrant secularism of most of the Catholic world.

We're Mexican Buddhists, and even Pat is a Patricio for the cause. Buddhism explains things much better, gives more sensible answers to life, the universe, and everything, but Shannon Farren stayed on our backs to stay on the straight and narrow. And my friend Slim Fitzgerald is participating in mass services, so it's the least we can do to emulate her good example.

Holy Thursday
Roots of the Easter story: Where did Christian beliefs about Jesus’ resurrection come from?
Pope Francis washes feet in photo op. No chance of arousal because they're females (MN).
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(WQ Wiki edit) Maundy Thursday or "Holy Thursday," among other names, is the day during Holy Week that commemorates the Washing of the Feet (Maundy) and Last Brunch of Jesus Christ with the Apostles, as described in the canonical gospels [1].

It is the fifth day of "Holy Week," preceded by Spy Wednesday [when you fink on your siblings for breaking Lent rules?] and followed by Good Friday [2].

"Maundy" comes from the Latin word mandatum, or commandment (mandate), reflecting Saint Issa or Jesus' words "I give you a new commandment" [3].
  • [Did the Good Lord also say: "Thou shalt bow to your knees and obey me, for I speaketh in the name of my Father in the Sky, and He is wanteth to smite thee, so watch it!"?]
The date of the day will vary according to whether the Gregorian calendar or the Julian calendar is used.

Eastern [Orthodox] churches generally use the Julian system.

(JCS) Judas tries to warn Jesus to stop making it all about Himself

Names
Medicine has no easy cure for toenail fungus.
Use of the names Maundy, Holy, and others is not evenly distributed. The generally accepted name for the day varies according to geographical area and religious affiliation.

Therefore, although in England "Maundy Thursday" is the normal term, the term "Holy Thursday" is more commonly used in [more Catholic] Ireland, the United States, Scotland, and Canada [4] and is the official name used by the Catholic Church in English [5]. More
A Catholic Lent for Buddhists

Punxsutawney Issa emerges.
QUESTION: "All y'all are Buddhists. How 'Catholic' are you?"

ANSWERS: "Catholic? Not at all, or just recovering from the residue of it. I'm only Catholic on my mother's side. My dad was Catholic, too, but he didn't care. I'm so Catholic I remembered an Irish joke. When you're Catholic, they send you to Indoctrination Camp (Catechism) as a child, where nuns berate and beat you, so once you've gone through that, you're "Catholic" because it's branded on your psyche. If you're lucky, you get molested, which I think qualifies you to teach. If you're unlucky, you just settle for the beatings. Even if you try to tell, what's anyone going to do? Oh, if only a young nun could've shepherded us into manhood as a holy rite of passage like in the olden days of Temple Prostitution, started with the ancient Sumerians and Greeks and others. It's got to be a better way than the present system that teaches you to lie, be a hypocrite, keep your head down, fear but never respect authority, and sin [miss the mark] every chance you get. Of course, Roman Catholicism is meant to do this. It's a trick and a trap, how covering up incites lust, whereas free nudity dispels it, but we're taught the exact opposite. Harsh imposition of rules leads to rebelliousness, guilt, confusion, and resentment, but free presentation of orderliness and guidelines leads to willful compliance, acceptance, and a desire to behave well even when no one is looking. It's internal versus external locus of control, pure Psych 101. I'm so Catholic I like to tell Irish jokes: A priest in Dublin tears out of the parking lot and starts swerving down the road. An officer pulls him over, and as he approaches, he can already smell alcohol. As he greets the driver, he looks in the vehicle and sees a bottle of wine at his feet. "Been drinking this morning, Father?" "Oh, no, no, no. That's just water, my Son." "Really, Father? I can smell it." The priest looks up into the heavens and exclaims, "Praise the Lord, another miracle!" (Turning water into wine.) The copper, being a right honorable Catholic, does the sign of the cross and lets him go. See there? That "joke" promotes stereotypes. It's jokes like that put us where we are nowadays, where 99 percent of the police make the other 1 percent look bad. *Rimshot* We're just doing this for Easter, which is when they kill Jesus or Saint Issa, right, on that Imperial Roman torture device? I think it's when he is reborn. Well, death-rebirth, it's the same thing, really. That's samsara for you. There isn't one without the other.

QUESTION: "Well, are Buddhists any better?"

"Once Upon the Cross"
(Deicide) "Once Upon the Cross"

ANSWERS: "Yes, we don't have a cruci-fixation. We don't strive for a rebirth in any of the heavens. We strive for the end-of-rebirth and the end of all suffering, which is brought about -- not by rebirth -- but by awakening. Enlightenment is our goal."

QUESTION: "Nirvana, you mean?"

ANSWERS: "Yes. Yes. Yeah."

QUESTION: "But 'Nirvana is Samsara,' I've heard say."

ANSWERS: "No, that's Mahayana nonsense, a slogan, which can be true in one sense but is completely abused, misunderstood by nearly everyone who says it, and misleading. It's treated like a snappy koan to not overexert in meditation or set up a goal and craving for 'something to happen' that stifles the attainment of that goal. But it's really misleading because, if we're all already enlightened, then there's nothing to do really, right? Why am I going to go be quiet and meditate in solitude if all the work is done? I'd rather celebrate, party, amuse myself, engage in sleep and endless distractions/amusements, like the world does, more obsessively every year that passes."

QUESTION: "You said, 'it can be true.' In what sense is the 'Nirvana is Samsara' slogan true?"

ANSWERS: "Well, it's true that if one awakens, that is, attains enlightenment, one will still be in samsara for the time being. They are not mutually exclusive. Nirvana dawns within samsara. They will for that person who knows-and-sees be the same thing. That person can see the distinction, like being in prison and holding your release papers: you're in but you're out, you're free but you're in prison, you're destiny is fixed but you're not there yet. So to equate them, to make people think there's no difference when they could hardly be more different, that's like blasphemous. We don't have blasphemy in Buddhism as such. It's wrong speech. If one thinks and believes like a Hindu that we're all already GOD (Brahman), just playing (lila) in an illusion (maya), all already saved (liberated), all already destined for the end of rebirth (nirvana), then what is it we aim for, what is it we make a determination for, what is we practice to realize? That's it's already as true for me as it is for a drunk on the floor his face stuck to the rug by dried vomit?"

(Mr. Show with Bob and David) "Jeepers Creepers" (Parts 1 and 2)

QUESTION: "But you're God's children, don't you know that?"

ANSWERS: "Potentially. Anyone can become a devaputta (literally, a "son of god"), but here 'the gods' are not 'God,' just the devas, the 'shining ones.' Anyone with the appropriate karma can be reborn among them. Saint Issa/Jesus Christ could be reborn among them, and the God there could say, 'He's my only begotten son on [or sent to] Earth.' What is this 'begotten' business? Everyone reborn in the deva worlds is someone's son/daughter, offspring. Beings are spontaneously [without intermediary of parents but just by their own karmic deeds] reborn there. We have that potential. We also have the potential to squander it all and be reborn in subhuman worlds (animal, ghost, titan/demon, hellion). We have to take care, we have to practice, we have to keep precepts (virtue, morality), we have to be mindful, we have to cleanse our hearts/minds.

QUESTION: "So then why practice Lent, Buddhist or Catholic or Eastern Orthodox Christian, just to mock it, just for old time's sake?"

ANSWERS: No, it's a very good practice. To give up things, eat only vegetarian/vegan food like Catholics used to do and Eastern Orthodox Ethiopians still do, renounce, let go, sacrifice, do good for others, recollect how others sacrificed for us, contemplate our short lives in the human state as educated persons who can question and read and learn from other, storing up good karma... How can that be bad?

QUESTION: But you joke and you don't bow to God?

ANSWERS: "Yes, that's right. We joke. We listen to death metal and anything else we want to listen to. We do not bow to God or worship a Jewish Old Testament figure who promotes genocide, or grovel or beg his son [Issa, Jesus, or any Abrahamic holyman] or mom [Mother Mary] or wife [Asherah], or have any beef with that Cat [Douglas Adams' cat 'The Lord']. We're nontheists.

QUESTION: "Oh, atheists?"

ANSWERS: "No, non-theists. Whether there is a God or not, what difference does that make to our effort, our walk through life, our awakening or ignorance. That God is not awakened. That God cannot awaken us. We have no beef, just as the Buddha didn't. ...Let's not get off track. Question our motives if you must, but ask us what we did for Lent."

QUESTION: "What did all y'all practice and give up for Lent or sacrifice or recall?"

ANSWERS: "No sex of any kind, of any kind (not even naughty pictures). A strict vegan diet. For 40 days. We went to church on Sundays..."

QUESTION: "Aha! Church. So you called on God?

ANSWERS: "No, not really. We went to a Quaker church. Now, God may be there. The Spirit may be any- or everywhere. But there were no priests, no programmers, no thing we had to do, other than be respectful of others as one would anyway anywhere else one might be. The Quakers might be more tolerant than any others even if we had wanted to act out. They were nice."

QUESTION: "You should have told them you were Buddhists. Do you think they would have been so nice if they knew?"

ANSWERS: "We did, and they were and, yes, we think they would have been even if we said nothing but just came in there wearing Zen robes, a kung fu outfit, or a big tee-shirt that read, 'I'M A MEXICAN BUDDHIST AND IRISH.' I think they would have laughed with glee. They laughed about other things and were very friendly and inviting. The place was packed, and the Friends Meeting were Spirit-led. Did we 'waste' our time?"

QUESTION: "You know, why don't you guys go to hell and get your own Lent?"

ANSWERS: "We might. Hell is that way. Who can avoid it. At least it's not eternal, but it is very, very bad and one should avoid it at all costs. There's no telling when one will get out again, the same being true of rebirth as an animal, ghost, or titan. And we've already got one: 'Buddhist Lent' is called the Rains Retreat (Vassa), and it lasts 90 days. It corresponds with the monastic period of intensive practice indoors. Every Buddhist Sabbath (Fasting Day), which is once a week and called the Uposatha, one observes Eight Precepts instead of the regular five, and one does not eat after 12:00 pm. That leaves the day for intensive practice on the new moon, quarter moon, full moon, and three-quarters moon days. It's an ancient pre-Buddhist practice the Buddha praised and encouraged everyone to observe. One doesn't have to be a Buddhist. Anyway, according to legend and the BBC, Jesus Christ was a Buddhist monk before he was Christian...."

Jesus was a Buddhist monk (BBC)

*Jesus was a Buddhist monk | BBC documentary
Jesus wore this Buddhist-saffron-colored seamless robe like a sadhu (Christian Faith Guide)
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(Brian Oblivion) 12/19/11: From Minute 38 on comes the interesting bit. This British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC 4) documentary examines the question "Did Jesus Die?" It looks at various ideas around this question until Minute 25, where this examination of ideas takes a very logical and grounded turn with surprising conclusions that demonstrate: The "Three Wise Men" were Buddhist monks who [were in search of a tulku] found Jesus and came back for him around puberty. After being trained in a Buddhist monastery [Hemis Gompa, Ladakh] he spread the Buddhist philosophy, survived the crucifixion, and escaped to Kashmir, Afghanistan [near the birthplace of the Buddha, ancient Gandhara], where he died an old man at the age of 80 [and was entombed in the Jesus style with Buddhist foot imprints marking his burial site, not covered by an Islamic grave and another person, making excavation difficult or impossible without trouble. See the scholarship of Holger Kersten and Nicolas Notovitch for the details and written evidence].
  • Andrew Lloyd Weber, Jesus Christ Superstar, "This Jesus Must Die"; Deicide, "Once Upon the Cross"; Pfc. Sandoval, Dhr. Seven, Pat Macpherson, Wisdom Quarter
Tibetan Buddhist monk, 130-years-old?

Diddy bridge collapse conspiracy (TikToks)


1 hour of creepy and scary TikToks that might wake us up and change our reality
(LayedBakDFR) March 28, 2024: This is a reaction video, Part 7. Follow me on social media ● https://patreon.com/Layedbakdfr ● instagram.com/LayedBakDFR/ ● https://twitter.com/LayedBakDFR ● soundcloud.com/LayedBakDFR ● Snapchat: LayedBakDFR. ● Merch - layedbakdfr.creator-spring.com/? #FireSquad

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Wednesday, March 27, 2024

Why the heck would anybody be Buddhist?


I spent one month studying Buddhism. It changed me.
(Nas Daily) Feb. 15, 2024: This is Month 1 of my six-month Spirituality Challenge. I went super deep into Buddhism. And I came out a changed man. Let me tell you the story. Thanks to @BuddhismInEnglish for sharing your wisdom. See you next month for a video about the world's oldest religion: [the Old Vedic religion adopted by] Hinduism [which was only organized as a "religion" by Adi Shankara in 725 CE]. Thanks for watching Nas Daily, bringing people together, which is why it creates content that does exactly that.

Two Aryan peoples, Iranians and Ireland-ians

Non-Jonesian Indology
WQ CORRECTIONS
: The Buddha (born Prince Siddhartha Gautama) was born in Gandhara (modern-day Afghanistan a little west of Nepal along the same mountain range, the foothills of the Himalayas at a portion called the Hindu Kush), probably in the town of Bamiyan but moving between three seasonal capitals in an ancient place the texts called Kapilavastu, probably ancient Kabul and Mes Aynak, the site of the world's largest unexcavated Buddhist temple complex, which is thought to be at least one square mile in size. For political reasons and ethnoreligious tensions, the Buddha had to be relocated in history (not in physical reality) from Muslim Afghanistan and Indo-Pakistan east closer to India. Nepal was selected as that faraway place possibly because it might have been the site of the original Lumbini, though that likely was in or around Sistan-Baluchestan in the "Aryan" (Aryian = Iranian = Persian) land of Sakastan/Scythia that is now a land between Afghanistan and Iran. See Dr. Ranajit Pal from the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute and his maverick history book, Non-Jonesian Indology and Alexander.

Why Buddhism?

Handbook of Buddhist Wisdom
Yeah, Doug, "Why Buddhism?" What's the point of the Dharma, the Buddha's Teaching, particularly if one takes a secular slant? Can't we just OBEY the God, bow to his son, thank his Holy Mother (or worship his former-wife Asherah), and be done with religion? Get the holidays, send in a check, and otherwise ignore it, Y'know, "God is dead" and all that.

(Doug's Dharma) March 25, 2024: Why Buddhism? 🧡 Doug discusses a couple of quick reasons why someone might want to consider adopting a Buddhist outlook and Buddhist practice in life. 

Find this material useful? Check out his Patreon page to get fun benefits like exclusive videos, audio-only versions, and extensive show notes: dougsseculardharma. 🧡 Or one can make donations through: paypal.me/dougsdharma 📙 Check out his book, A Handbook of Early Buddhist Wisdom, with a foreword by Wisdom Quarterly's own scholarly American teacher Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi: books2read.com/buddhisthandbook ☸️ FREE mini-course at the Online Dharma Institute: onlinedharma.org. 🎙Check out Doug's podcast with Jon Aaron, Diggin' the Dharma: digginthedharma.com

What language do they speak in Ireland? (lol)

✅ Videos mentioned:
Webpage: dougsdharma.com. Facebook: onlinedharmainstitute Mastodon: https://mindly.social/@dougsdharma Instagram: dougsdharma Threads: threads.net/@dougsdharma Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/dougsdharma....

Thumbnail image courtesy Josch13 at Pixabay. ❤️ Thanks to Patreon Patrons: Anonymous (3) John Oborne Dun Jing Jimmy Maa Debbie Mattison Steve H. Ron Peat Michael S. Kearns Matthew Smith Shantha Wengappuli Karma_CAC Jorge Seguel Christopher Apostolof Gail JM David Bell T Pham VCR Upayadhi Andi and Erik ATGuerrero686 Michael Scherrer khobe schofield Alex Perdomo Benji Forsyth Blaze Way Sonny Flink Steve Marlor Joy L Lee Andrew Tom Anthony Tucker Karlee R Ethan M Billy in Singapore Olivia Otter Carl Lennartson xiao mao Jeff Harvey Andrew Ingrouille Kenneth Grandchamp Rene Gariepy Russell Needham Smoggyrob Mac Roja Bernardo Clémence Ortega Douville Kwan Alex Scott Johnston Richard J Beninger Nathanael O. Arnquist SaturnianMandala Trin P Letesa Isler Dorien Izel Robert Paterson Jake Tobiason Louvenia Ortega Steve S. Richard Rappuhn Sarah Kress John Aaron Paul Niklewski Kong Ing Kai Dave Gorman rhys reed Osanda Wijeratne Scarlett Farrow BJ - RetreaTours™ Michael Lefsky Matthieu Tregnier Roland Harris

NOTE: As an Amazon Associate, Doug earns from qualifying purchases. Amazon links are affiliate links, where he will earn a very small commission on purchases made at no additional cost to purchaser. This goes a tiny way towards defraying the costs of making these videos. Thanks!

Nas Company, Feb. 2024; Doug's Dharma, March 24, 2024; Ashley Wells, Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Crystal Quintero (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Judeo-Christianity, The Messed Up Parts 😲


Genesis, but only the really messed-up parts - Abrahamic Mythology Explained
(Jake Doubleyoo) Premiered 9/23/23: Join Patreon: jakedoubleyoo. I might need it for this one article on Dinah: thetorah.com/article/who...


Let's try to explain the Book of Genesis: Adam and Eve
(Jake Doubleyoo) Premiered May 27, 2023: This video covers (most of) the Book of Genesis, from creation to Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Noah and the flood, and the lives of the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. Patreon: jakedoubleyoo JJJreact
  • Sheldon S., Seth Auberon, Shauna Schwartz (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Trump Bible for sale, Jan 6 gift? (Daily Show)

OMG! - Yes, Donny? - No, I was just takin' your name in vain. I'm selling your book! - OMG.
Bibles (KJV) are available everywhere for free, but why not pay $60 so billionaire Trump can profit?

Jordan Klepper on how we should deal with Jan 6th rioters

(The Daily Show) March 27, 2024: Clever Jordan Klepper reports on Ronna McDaniel’s short-lived stint at NBC News and the key question it raises: How should America deal with the people who denied the results of the 2020 election and stormed the Capitol on January 6th, 2021? #DailyShow #Jan6 #Insurrection #Trump

How the GOP is trying to win female voters amidst anti-abortion legislation
March 27, 2024: The Supreme Court’s latest abortion pill ruling exposes the
Republicans' struggle to secure female voters while taking their rights away.
Jordan Klepper dives into the GOP’s woman problem, and how they're
planning to win them back. Rape, incest, life and death. #SCOTUS

Jordan Klepper on Trump's Bible grift and GOP reaction to Baltimore bridge collapse
Angelic Ariel, aborted offspring ofTrump and his womanizing, is rolling in her baby eyes.
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(The Daily Show) March 26, 2024: Jordan Klepper tackles Trump’s new branded Bibles and how right-wing media is rushing to blame the Baltimore bridge collapse on Democratic policy. Plus, Josh Johnson weighs in on Florida’s social media ban for children under 14, and what this means for the rising generation of schoolyard bullies.
  • 00:00 - Jordan Klepper welcome
  • 00:21 - Trump announces his latest business venture: Bibles
  • 02:33 - GOP’s reaction to the bridge
  • 04:57 - Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signs social media ban for children
  • 07:20 - Josh Johnson weighs in on Florida’s social media ban
Subscribe to The Daily Show: @thedailyshow, Twitter: thedailyshow, Facebook: thedailyshow, Instagram: thedailyshow. Stream full episodes of The Daily Show on Paramount+: paramountplus.com...
  • Jordan Klepper, Pfc. Sandoval, Ashley Wells, Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Sex, Sports, and Social Media Distraction


The REAL reason Olivia Dunne is the "face of gymnastics"
(Sports Dive) Welcome back to Sports Dive. Today the channel is talking about the REAL reason Olivia Dunne is getting money hand over fist and ruining college sports and female gymnastics by being sold as the face of it.

The US public likes "Aryan" Nazi Barbies
She's an average to mediocre athlete with a pretty face, and that face is what matter to brands paying her for sponsorships, leaving the real athletes behind. Excited to learn more about this? Make sure to watch the whole way through to not miss the details. Also subscribe to the channel because Sports Dive posts some of the best content online [sort of, well okay, not really but we need the hits. Hey, when Taylor Swift did the same thing to pop music, no one said anything, and that made her the top earner]. #sportsdive #oliviadunne #gymnast
  • Sports Dive, 12/10/23; Ashley Wells, Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Mermaids on Manatee Appreciation Day!

Portrait of a selkie "A Mermaid" (by artist John William Waterhouse, 1900)
Why are boats so mad at our kind, cutting us up with their metal teeth and racing away?
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Manatee Appreciation Day: protecting the gentle giants of the sea
"The Mermaid's Rock" by Edward Matthew Hale, 1894 (thevintagenews.com)
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Buddhism says mermaids live under the sea
Celebrated annually on the last Wednesday in March, "Manatee Appreciation Day" is more than just a tribute – it’s a global call to protect the gentle giants [related to elephants] of the sea. 

Manatees have no natural predators [other than motorboaters swinging brutal propeller blades], which contributes to their serene demeanor. However, this does not mean they are without threats. 

Human activities pose significant risks to manatee populations. Despite these challenges, manatees have shown remarkable resilience, with conservation efforts playing a crucial role in protecting them.

A childlike heart will yet believe even as adults scoff at ancient lore.
I know what I saw! (Cristobal Columbus)
  • MERMAIDS (mythical half-female, half-fish creatures) have existed in seafaring lore at least since the time of the ancient Greeks. Typically depicted as having a woman’s head and torso, a fishtail instead of legs, and holding a mirror and comb, mermaids live in the ocean and, according to some legends, can take on a human shape and marry mortal men [as in the selkie lore of Ireland, Manx, Scotland, Faroe Islands, Iceland, the British Isles]. Mermaids are closely linked to sirens, another folkloric figure, part-woman, part-bird, who live on islands and sing seductive songs to lure sailors [like Homer's Odysseus and his crew] to their deaths. Mermaid sightings by sailors, when they weren’t made up, were most likely manatees, dugongs, or Steller’s sea cows (which became extinct by the 1760s due to cruel human over-hunting). Manatees are slow-moving aquatic mammals with human-like eyes, bulbous faces... (HISTORY*)
  • Psychic Maha-Mog' was dark
    SUTRA
    : In a very strange Buddhist sutra, Great Moggallana, the male disciple declared by the Buddha as "foremost in psychic powers" mentions that at the bottom of the sea, there are indeed mermaids who dance seductively. A reference to shapeshifting space aliens living in bases below the ocean? There is worldwide awareness that at some point in the past, there really were vicious creatures who swam the seas, just as reports of harpies and others were reported by many cultures. Let's examine what one of the Buddha's four chief disciples said of these mysterious creatures from MN 50:
"In the middle of the ocean
There are mansions aeon-lasting,
Sapphire-shining, fiery-gleaming
With a clear translucent luster,
Where iridescent sea-nymphs dance
In complex, intricate rhythms"

"Mansions stand for an eon
in the middle of the sea,
The hue of beryl-stones,
brilliant, glowing, radiant;
There dance full many
nymphs in divers hues"
(Isaline Blew Horner, born 1896, translation of MN 50)

"There are mansions that last an eon
standing in the middle of a lake.
Sapphire-colored, brilliant,
they sparkle and shine.
Dancing there are nymphs
shining in all different colors."
(Bhante Sujato translation of MN 50)
  • The Connected Discourses of the Buddha
    with the manatee's land cousin on the cover
    Alas, no further mention of the sea-nymph mermaid selkies is made in this sutra, Is it reasonable to think the great monk was simply repeating Indian or Scythian lore? He was addressing Mara, to warn him what was to happen for bad karma of the sort this mara was accumulating. Modern people don't believe in Mara, despite the Mara Samyutta, and all those references to him by the Buddha. There's a thick translation of The Connected Discourses by American Theravada scholar-monk Bhikkhu Bodhi that includes it. So if Mara, a kind of Tempter -- Lucifer, Cupid, Eros, Devil -- figure in Buddhism could be real, are mermaids so hard to believe in, existing underwater by inhabiting vimanas ("mansions" that are USOs) so hard to swallow?
  • MN 50: Māratajjanīyasutta—Ven. Sujato (suttacentral.net)
The plight of the manatee

Boat strikes are a growing threat (earth.com)
Human activities have not been kind to manatees. Boating, pollution, and habitat destruction stand out as the three greatest threats.

Despite legal protections against hunting, manatees continue to be poached for their meat and hides. Furthermore, their natural habitats, crucial for their survival, are being decimated by human development and intrusion.

Boat strikes are particularly alarming, leading to tragic injuries or even death for these gentle creatures. This dire situation underlines the urgency of increasing awareness so that manatees will continue to exist in the future.

Getting to know sea cows
Secret places, Mexico's cenotes, near Belize
Manatees, also known as the cows of the sea [even though their closest relatives are elephants], are a marvel of marine life, characterized by their gentle nature and slow-moving grace [which caused people like Christopher Columbus to report mermaid sighting, possibly with the intention to violate them as he was planning for the gentle Indigenous humans he met].

These large, aquatic mammals belong to the order Sirenia [which is interesting because the Spanish word for "mermaid" is sirena], which also includes three species of dugongs
Vegan diet
One of the most captivating aspects of manatees is their all-vegan herbivorous diet, as they feed on a wide variety of submerged, floating, and emergent plants in fresh and saltwater environments. More
  • TEXT: Staff writer Chrissy Sexton, Earth.com, 3/27/24; Crystal Quintero, CC Liu, Shauna Schwartz (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
  • ART: Boat strikes were apparently a problem even in ancient times ("The Mermaid’s Rock" by Edward Matthew Hale, 1894 (thevintagenews.com).