View allAll Photos Tagged Understanding
Asahi,
Said friend Michiko,
Means that 'aha' moment,
awe, understanding, awareness, zen understanding,
all that could rise our soul to gratitude and wisdom.
In Japanese, it means morning sun.
Original Slide Scan, Photographer unknown.
Approx. 30 year's ago, I purchased a number of original slides (with copyright) most of which probably haven’t been seen before, especially, on flickr. I have no written information to hand of the details of any picture, subsequently, please feel free to leave a comment if you know locations, dates, loco numbers etc, etc, it would be much appreciated. A few of the photos have the locos adorning a proper headcode, so, these are obviously taken any time up to the mid-1970s, I have been able to work out a couple of details through my personal railway employment knowledge.
I have uploaded these at a low resolution, please don't copy / download without my prior permission.
I only collect slides on the understanding that the full copyright transfers over to me, if you believe there to be a copyright issue with any of these photographs, then, please drop me an email.
Like to see the pictures as Large as your screen? Than why not click on the Slideshow : www.flickr.com/photos/reurinkjan/sets/72157622436074363/s...
A Short Guide to Tibetan Buddhism.
Nyingma ('The Ancient Ones' )
This is the oldest school of Tibetan Buddhism. It is based on a lineage of teachings and traditions introduced during the reigns of the Buddhist Kings of the Yarlong Dynasty in the eighth and ninth century by Padmasambhava, Shantarakshita, Vilalamitra, and others.
Kagyu ( 'Oral Lineage' )
The particular feature of the Kagyu lineage is that the teacher, after having mastered the teachings, clears away defects - relating to intellectual understanding, meditational experience, and the various levels of realisation. Upon completion of the process, the teacher is able to point out and introduce mahamudra to the disciple. The Kagyu teachings have been transmitted and preserved this way, in an unbroken line, until the present time.
Sakya 'Grey Earth'
The Sakya tradition originated in the eleventh century, and has been closely associated with the Khon Family. Khon Lui Wangpo Sungwa became a disciple of Guru Rinpoche in the eighth century. Through the next thirteen generations, the Dharma continued to be propagated through the Khon family. In 1073, Sakya Monastery was built by Khon Konchok Gyalpo which established the Sakya Tradition in Tibet. He studied under Drokmi the Translator (992-1072) and became a master of many deep teachings.
Gelug 'Way of Virtue'
This is lineage combines the teachings and practices of the Nyingma, Kagyu and Sakya with the Sutra and Tantra systems of Indian Buddhism and the intellectual heritage of Nagarjuna and Asanga. It was founded by Gyalwa Tsongkhapa (1357-1419)
Tsongkhapa's disciple, Gyalwa Gedun Drupa was the first of the fourteen successive rebirths of the Dalai Lama. The present Dalai Lama is Tenzin Gyatso, known to his followers as Vajradhara Vagindra Sumati Shasana Dhara Samudra Shri Bhadra. He was given the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989 in recognition of his tireless efforts on behalf of world peace and alleviating the sufferings of the Tibetan people under the genicidal policies of the Chinese government.
Bon
An ancient spiritual tradition, considered by scholars to be of Zoroastrian or Kashmiri Buddhist origin, which was widespread in Tibet, particularly in the western region of Zhangzhung prior to the official introduction and establishment of Buddhism. Although its literature appears to distinguish it from both the indigenous beliefs of Tibet and the Buddhist traditions, it has over the last several hundred years assimilated many of the teachings of the Buddha Shakyamuni and developed a neo-Buddhist theoretical foundation. The Bon tradition is particularly strong in the Shand region of Tsang, in Kongpo, Khyungpo, and the Ngawa region of Amdo.Excerpted from; A Handbook of Tibetan Culture
I found this heart-wrenching poem while surfing on youtube. It was written by Roger Valentine and posted for a friend with autism. Beneath the surface of the words is a very human journey that many of us have taken and still take. Silence and suffering paralyzes us in darkest chaos. In helplessness all seems to be lost and pointless. Eventually wisdom rejuvenates us with kindness and understanding. In this light we find our voice and our uniqueness. In joy we overflow with who we are meant to be. This poem is eloquently recited by Rajesh Vedprakash whose silk laden vocals really add emotion to this superb piece. Thank-you kindly Mukhtarze for posting this.
Listening to the clip inspired this digital art piece.
Listen: www.youtube.com/profile?user=mukhtarze#p/u/17/cq45qrxczmQ
Text for Poem: Click Here
God’s Work, God’s Disposition, and God Himself I
Today we are communicating an important topic. This is a topic that has been discussed since the commencement of God’s work until now, and is of vital significance to every single person. In other words, this is an issue that everyone will come into contact with throughout the process of their belief in God and an issue that must be touched upon. It’s a crucial, unavoidable issue mankind cannot separate itself from. Speaking of importance, what is the most important thing for every believer in God? Some people think the most important thing is understanding God’s will; some believe it is most important to eat and drink more of God’s words; some feel the most important thing is to know themselves; others are of the opinion that the most important thing is knowing how to find salvation through God, how to follow God, and how to fulfill God’s will. We will put all of these issues aside for today. So what are we discussing then? We are discussing a topic about God. Is this the most important topic to every person? What is the content of a topic about God? Of course, this topic certainly cannot be separated from God’s disposition, God’s essence, and God’s work. So today, let’s discuss “God’s Work, God’s Disposition, and God Himself.”
"Accidents don't occur through repeated attacks by surface vessels and aircraft. It obviously was a decision made pretty high up on the Israeli side, because it involved combined forces. The ship was flying an American flag. My judgment was that somewhere along the line some fairly senior official gave the go ahead. I personally did not accept the Israeli explanation."
-- US Secretary of State Dean Rusk,
"...the board of inquiry (concluded) that the Israelis knew exactly what they were doing in attacking the Liberty."
-- CIA Director Richard Helms in his book A Look Over my Shoulder
"It was no accident."
-- CIA Director Richard Helms in interview for Navy Times, 6/26/2002.
That the attack was deliberate "just wasn't a disputed issue" within the National Security Agency
-- Former NSA Director retired Army Lieutenant General William Odom on 3 March 2003 in an interview for Naval Institute Proceedings
Former NSA/CIA Director Admiral Bobby Inman "flatly rejected" the Cristol/Israeli claims that the attack was an accident
-- 5 March 2003 interview for Naval Institute Proceedings
"I have never believed that the attack on the USS Liberty was a case of mistaken identity. That is ridiculous. Israel knew perfectly well that the ship was American."
-- Admiral Thomas H. Moorer, former Chief of Naval Operations and later Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff writing for Americans for Middle East Understanding, June 8, 1997
"To suggest that they [the IDF] couldn't identify the ship is ... ridiculous. ... Anybody who could not identify the Liberty could not tell the difference between the White House and the Washington Monument."
-- Admiral Thomas Moorer, Chief of Naval Operations and later Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, quoted in The Washington Post, June 15, 1991, p. 14
Of four former NSA/CIA seniors with inside knowledge, none was aware of any agency official who dissented from the position that the attack was deliberate
-- David Walsh, writing in Naval Institute Proceedings
"That the Liberty could have been mistaken for the Egyptian supply ship El Quseir is unbelievable"
-- Special Assistant to the President Clark Clifford, in his report to President Lyndon Johnson
"Inconceivable that it was an accident. 3 strafing passes, 3 torpedo boats. Set forth facts. Punish Israelis responsible"
-- Clark Clifford, Secretary of Defense under Lyndon Johnson, in Minutes of NSC Special Committee Meeting, 9 June 1967
"A nice whitewash for a group of ignorant, stupid and inept [expletive deleted]."
-- Handwritten note of August 26, 1967, by NSA Deputy Director Louis W. Tordella reacting to the Israeli court decision exonerating Israelis of blame for the Liberty attack. Dr. Tordella expressed the view that the attack was deliberate and that the Israeli government attempted to cover it up to authors James Ennes and James Bamford and to Congressman George Mahon (D-Texas), and in an internal memorandum for the record. He noted "a nice whitewash for a group of ignorant, stupid and inept (redacted)" in the margin of the official Israeli excuse for the attack as noted in the NSA Gerhard report 1982)
"The attack was clearly deliberate."
-- General Marshall Carter, former director, National Security Agency, in a telephone interview with James Ennes
"My immediate reaction was it was not an accident. It had to be a deliberate attack."
-- Lucius Battle, in BBC Documentary "Dead in the Water".
"....did not buy the Israeli 'mistake' explanations either. Nobody believes that explanation." When informed by author Bamford of gruesome war crime (killing of large numbers of POWs) at nearby El Arish, Morrison saw the connection. "That would be enough," he said. "They wouldn't want us in on that. You've got the motive. What a hell of a thing to do."
-- Major General John Morrison, US Air Force, Deputy Chief NSA Operations during the attack and later Chief of NSA Operations as reported in Body of Secrets by James Bamford, p233.
"I can tell you for an absolute certainty (from intercepted communications) that they knew they were attacking an American ship."
-- Oliver Kirby, former deputy director for operations/production, National Security Agency. Kirby participated in NSA's investigation of the attack and reviewed translations of intercepted communications between pilots and their headquarters which he reports show conclusively that they knew their target was an American ship.
On the strength of intercept transcripts of pilots' conversations during the attack, the question of the attack's deliberateness "just wasn't a disputed issue" within the agency.
-- Lieutenant General William E. Odom, former director, National Security Agency, interview with David Walsh on March 3, 2003, reported in Naval Institute Proceedings, June, 2003
Inman said he "flatly rejected" the Cristol thesis that the attack was an accident. "It is just exceedingly difficult to believe that [USS Liberty] was not correctly identified" based on his talks with NSA seniors at the time having direct knowledge of intercepted communications. No NSA official could be found who dissented from the "deliberate" conclusion.
-- Admiral Bobby Ray Inman, USN, Director National Security Agency 1977-1981, reported in Proceedings, June, 2003
"I found it hard to believe that it was, in fact, an honest mistake on the part of the Israeli air force units. I still find it impossible to believe that it was."
-- Paul C. Warnke, Undersecretary of the Navy and later general legal counsel to the Department of Defense.
"In many years, I have wanted to believe that the attack on the Liberty was pure error. It appears to me that it was not a pure case of mistaken identity. . . . I think it is about time that the State of Israel and the United States government provide the crew members of the Liberty, and the rest of the American people, the facts of what happened and why it came about that the Liberty was attacked 30 years ago today." Later, McGonagle remarked, "USS Liberty is the only US Navy ship attacked by a foreign nation, involving large loss of life...that has never been accorded a full Congressional hearing."
-- Captain William L. McGonagle, Commanding Officer, USS Liberty, speaking at Arlington National Cemetery June 8, 1997.
"The Israelis told us 24 hours before that ...if we didn't move it, they would sink it. Unfortunately, the ship was not moved, and by the time the message arrived the ship was taking on water."
-- John Stenbit, Assistant Secretary of Defense for C3Im in an address to the AFEI/NDAI Conference for Net Centric Operations, Wednesday, April 16, 2003
Walter Deeley, NSA department head, conducted still-classified investigation of the attack and remarked later in telephone interview that he regards the attack as deliberate.
-- NSA Department Head Walter Deeley
"The highest officials of the [Johnson] administration, including the President, believed it 'inconceivable' that Israel's 'skilled' defense forces could have committed such a gross error."
-- Lyndon Johnson's biographer Robert Dallek in Flawed Giant, Oxford University Press, 1998, pp. 430-31
Never before in the history of the United States Navy has a Navy Board of Inquiry ignored the testimony of American military eyewitnesses and taken, on faith, the word of their attackers.
-- Captain Richard F. Kiepfer, Medical Corps, US Navy (retired), USS Liberty Survivor
"The evidence was clear. Both Admiral Kidd and I believed with certainty that this attack...was a deliberate effort to sink an American ship and murder its entire crew.... It was our shared belief. . .that the attack. . .could not possibly have been an accident.... I am certain that the Israeli pilots [and] their superiors. . .were well aware that the ship was American."
-- Captain Ward Boston, JAGC, US Navy (retired), senior legal counsel to the US Navy Court of Inquiry
According to Kidd's legal counsel, Captain Ward Boston, USN, Kidd discussed with him his belief that the attackers were aware they were attacking an American ship. The Court ruled otherwise because they were so directed by Washington.
-- Admiral Isaac C. Kidd, President of the Navy Court of Inquiry, as reported in Navy Times, 6/26/2002
"I feel the Israelis knew what they were doing. They knew they were shooting at a U.S. Navy ship."
-- Captain Ward Boston, legal counsel to the Navy Court of Inquiry, as reported in . Navy Times, 6/26/2002
"No one in the White House believed that the attack was an accident."
-- George Christian, Press Secretary to President Lyndon Johnson in letter to James Ennes, 1978.
After reviewing the Court of Inquiry in his official capacity as legal counsel to the convening authority, concluded that the evidence did not support the findings that the attack was an accident and declined to recommend that his Commander sign and forward it to Washington.
-- Rear Admiral (then captain) Merlin Staring, Staff Legal Office for Commander in Chief US Naval Forces Europe and later Chief Judge Advocate General of the Navy. Statement to Navy Times, 3 June 2002 and elsewhere
"The Congress never investigated this matter, and I don't detect much enthusiasm for getting into it now."
-- Senator Adlai Stevenson III in letter to James Ennes dated September 9, 1980
"From what I have read, I can't tolerate for one minute that this was an accident! ... What have we done about the Liberty? Have we become so placid, so far as Israel is concerned or so far as that area is concerned, that we will take the killing of 37 (sic) American boys and the wounding of a lot more and the attack on an American ship in the open sea in good weather? We have seemed to say: 'Oh, well, boys will be boys.' What are you going to do about it? It is most offensive to me!
-- Senator Bourke Hickenlooper; From transcript of July 1967 Senate Foreign Relations Hearing on Foreign Assistance Act of 1967.
"I have read the Navy investigation of the Liberty, and the evidence adduced there, and I have read the Israeli court of inquiry records, and based upon their own records of the investigation, I cannot agree that it was accidental."
-- Senator Bourke Hickenlooper; From transcript of May, 1968, Senate Foreign Relations Hearing on Foreign Assistance Act of 1968, page 444.
"American leaders did not have the courage to punish Israel for the blatant murder of its citizens. . . . The Liberty's presence and function were well known to Israel's leaders. ...Israel's leaders concluded that nothing they might do would offend the Americans to the point of reprisal. If American leaders did not have the courage to punish Israel for the blatant murder of American citizens, it seemed clear that their American friends would let them get away with almost anything.
-- George Ball, under secretary of state at the time writing in The Passionate Attachment: America's Involvement with Israel, pages 57-58.
"I don't think that there's any doubt that it was deliberate.... [It is] one of the great cover-ups of our military history."
-- David G. Nes, the deputy head of the American mission in Cairo at the time
"How much better if Congress would....call to account those who were involved in spreading lies about the tragedy."
-- James Akins, former US Ambassador to Saudi Arabia James Akins in Special Report, The Israeli Attack on the USS Liberty, June 8, 1967, The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, December, 1999
"It's an American ship!" the pilot of an Israeli Mirage fighter-bomber radioed Tel Aviv as he sighted the USS Liberty on June 8, 1967. Israeli headquarters ordered the pilot to attack the American ship.
-- former US Ambassador to Lebanon Dwight Porter describing transcripts of communications he saw, reported in syndicated column "Remembering the Liberty" by Rowland Evans and Robert Novak, November 6, 1991.
"The historical event which took place in June 1967 can hardly be called enigmatic and mysterious. ...It is difficult to understand that the Israelis could not identity the USS Liberty, since the ship had a unique antenna and equipment and especially since the Israelis had identified the ship with long term observation."
-- Translated from a taped interview with Sergeev Oleg Korneevitch, retired Colonel, Soviet GRU.
"The government of Israel intentionally attacked the ship. ...The attack was not legally justified. ...(there were) two further violations of international law...the use of unmarked military aircraft (and)...the wanton destruction of life rafts."
-- Walter L. Jacobsen, Lieutenant Commander, US Navy, in Naval Law Review, Vol 36, Winter 1986
"Certain facts are clear. The attack was no accident. The Liberty was assaulted in broad daylight by Israeli forces who knew the ship's identity. ...The public, however, was kept in the dark. Even before the American public learned of the attack, U.S. government officials began to promote an account satisfactory to Israel. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee worked through Congressmen to keep the story under control. The President of the United States, Lyndon B. Johnson, ordered and led a cover-up so thorough that years after he left office the episode is still largely unknown...."
-- Paul Findley, author and former Member of Congress 1961-1983 in They Dare to Speak Out, by Paul Findley, 1985, page 166
"Is the Liberty episode being erased from history. So it would seem...What has happened to our prying journalistic corps and our editors, normally so indignant of attempted suppression of the news?...We believe that a joint select committee of Congress should investigate the strange case of the USS Liberty..."
-- William F. Buckley, journalist and publisher, National Review, June 27, 1967
"The attack on the USS Liberty was planned and there is and was a cover-up." "If the very valuable lessons of the Liberty were known, the capture of the USS Pueblo could not have happened."
-- Lloyd M. "Pete" Bucher, US Navy, Commanding Officer USS Pueblo when captured by North Korea in January 1968, in telephone conversations with James Ennes and on September 6, 2002, with Richard Schmucker.
"It is clear that the Israelis knew that they were attacking a vessel of the US Navy, especially as it was flying a large Stars and Stripes at the time. The fact that they spent six hours reconnoitering and executing the attack, which included machine-gunning the lifeboats, attests to the deadly intent of the operation.
-- Andrew and Leslie Cockburn, Dangerous Liaison, the Inside Story of the US-Israeli Covert Relationship, by Andrew and Leslie Cockburn, p152.
"A. Jay Cristol's virtual minority of one assessment is not supported by the detailed non-technical common sense evidence to the contrary in Body of Secrets (by James Bamford). "There is nothing surprising in Bamford's conclusion that the attack was deliberate. Liberty survivors have made that case convincingly for years."
-- Professor Hayden Peake, author, former CIA officer and member, Association of Former Intelligence Officers, The Intelligencer, Vol. 12, No.1, Summer 2001
Survivors of the attack are unanimous in their conviction that the attack was deliberate. Among other things, their belief is based upon the intense pre-attack reconnaissance, the fact that the firing continued from close range long after the attackers examined the ship and its markings from a few feet away, and because the Israeli version of events as reported to the United States is grossly untrue.
-- USS Liberty survivors
Several Air Force intelligence analysts who have come forward to report that they saw real-time transcripts of communications from the attacking forces which show clearly that they were aware they were attacking an American ship. Others who saw these transcripts include Dwight Porter and Oliver Kirby, mentioned above, and several top officials of the American intelligence community.
-- Former US Air Force intelligence analysts Ron Gotcher, Steve Forslund, Richard Block and pilot Charles Tiffany
Published doctoral thesis establishes that the attack was deliberate.
-- John Borne, PhD, adjunct professor of history, NY University.
Rejects the US Navy Court of Inquiry as inadequate, declares that the attack was apparently deliberate, and calls upon the United States to conduct a complete and thorough investigation.
-- Resolution #508 of the American Legion at its 49th annual national convention in August, 1967
"The [Navy Court of Inquiry] leaves a good many questions unanswered."
-- The New York Times, July 1, 1967
"The naval inquiry is not good enough."
-- The Washington Post, June 30, 1967
"They must have known...that Liberty was an American ship."
-- The Washington Star, June 30, 1967
"The action was planned in advance"
-- Drew Pearson and Jack Anderson in The Washington Post, June 30, 1967
"Only the blind or the trigger happy could have made such a mistake"
-- The National Observer
"The attack was deliberate. Those responsible should be court-martialed on charges of murder."
-- California Congressman Craig Hosmer in the Congressional Record--House, June 29, 1967, p. 17893
"How can this be treated so lightly? What complaint have we registered?
-- Mississippi Congressman Thomas G. Abernethy in the Congressional Record--House, June 29m, 1967, pp. 17894-5
"Certain facts are clear. The attack was no accident. The Liberty was assaulted in broad daylight by Israeli forces who knew the ship's identity. ...The President of the United States led a cover-up so thorough that years after he left office, the episode was still largely unknown to the public -- and the men who suffered and died have gone largely unhonored."
-- Paul Findley, They Dare to Speak Out, Lawrence Hill & Co., 1985, p166
The story has been hushed up."
-- Louisiana Congressman John R. Rarick in the Congressional Record--House, September 19, 1967, pp. 12170-6
The expression Margaret C has is totally natural, unrehearsed. I never met her before taking her picture(s) for 2 hours. A few weeks later Margaret C helped me name the technique I had been using to help strangers be courageously vulnerable. It's called "Present." It's effective because they're introduced to a deeper understanding of themselves, often in a public setting. It enables a person to transform life from a passive experience to an active journey by dealing fear a crushing blow. In this sense, it's about being introduced to yourself in a new way, to naturally form a deeper understanding to love and not fear. More photos/portraits of former strangers "Present" are on my Flickr and will be shared. Best to all! Washington D.C., 1 Oct 17.
Both Science and Religion have been at a conceptual war since their foundations. They both attempt to illuminate mankind with the knowledge and understanding of the universe and ourselves, howver it is the methodology used to get there which creates the conflict between both fields.
We once lived in a time where the questions we asked ourselves greatly outweighed the answers we could of ever hoped to have for them. Within the mystery, everything seemed supernatural, so naturally it would make sense why we attributed the countless the deities to everything we see around us, be it the sun, the water, love, war, etc.
It just made sence to say "the gods are the creators of the land they rule",since afterall, such statement couldnt be ..............
We see this beleif of a creator in almost every culture we've encountered. This method worked for a while, however as time went foward, the primitive view of the universe would remain dominant despite numerous new ideologies being formed which described the workings of earth differently to these holy texts. Such conflicting souls were violently suppressed by countless religious groups across the globe until recent time (and that only in some places, especially in the west)
While I can agree that religion once had a positive impact within the history of art and music, it had also been very detrimental force to that of science and technology
Religion is about obeying the past, Science is about defying it and that's why they are at conflict
And be sure to check by my other acount: www.flickr.com/photos_user.gne?path=&nsid=77145939%40..., to see what else I saw last week!!
Yes I'm back again.
However due to my main computer on which I edit my work being struck down with a big bad virus, this picture and all the others I am uploading, were Unedited but have now been replaced with Edited versions. So enjoy and Thanks for your patience and understanding.
I do still hate everything about this shit that is new Flickr and always will, but an inability to find another outlet for my work that is as easy for me to use as the Old BETTER Flickr was, has forced me back to Flickr, even though it goes against everything I believe in.
I don't generally have an opinion on my own work, I prefer to leave that to other people and so based on the positive responses to my work from the various friends I had made on Flickr prior to the changes I have decided to upload some more of my work as an experiment and to see what happens.
So make the most of me before they delete my acount: www.flickr.com/photos/69558134@N05/?details=1, to stop me complaining!!
Shuttle358
Book :
New Order
Retro
London Records
2008
Photography . Nick Knight
Art Direction . Peter Saville
CD :
Pinkcourtesyphone
Elegant & Detached
ROOM40
RM451
Music & Design . Richard Chartier
iTunes :
New Order
Sub Vulture
Factory
FAC133
Sir GMAttenborough ...
Full understanding for Pu er tea
Xishuang Banna (西双版納) as a famous pu-erh tea production area
Xishuang Banna is situated on the Southern end of Yunnan and it is located at the borders of Myanmar, Vietnam and Laos. The name of “Xishuang Banna” is originated from Thai language. The ancient route of Tea and Horse started from the Southern end of Xishuang Banna, a town called Yiwu (易武), and it continued up to the North. Tea was once stocked and gathered at a town called pu-erh (普洱) which is the hub for pu-erh tea trading and logistics. This is why the minorities’ tea was named as pu-erh.
ripe puer tea
Pu’er ripe tea is fermented in heaps, under the action of enzymes, producing many new nutrients which are beneficial to you health,.
raw puer tea
Raw puer tea is suitable for long storage. Classic raw pu’er tea tastes bitter, especially at first, has has a sweet and fragrant aftertaste.
Yiwu Zhengshan tea cake
Yiwu Zhengshan Pu Er tea cake is produced from tea leaves harvested from Yi Wu Zheng Shan,in southeast Yunnan province. The word Zheng means original, and only tea leaves harvested from Yi Wu town (only a few sq km in size) can be considered as such. The infusion yields a strong liquor that is slightly bitter but finishes with a sweet aftertaste. Aged in the Shou, cooked style, this pu-erh has already settled into a rich and versatile flavor profile.
Sheryl hz.aliexpress.com/store/1852188
Email, heteapuerh@gmail.com
kmhetea@yahoo.com
Skype, heteapuerh@sheryl
Contact, sheryl Lynnlee
Leipziger Buchmesse 2017 / Leipzig Book Fair 2017
2017-03-24 (Friday)
2017_001
2017#288
-Luka (__) 525834 as Gazelle from Zoomania
Thank you for any group invites which I'd be glad to accept. However, if I can't check the content of such groups ("This group is not available to you") I'd rather not add any of my photos. Thank you for your understanding.
Researchers at the Northwestern University Center of Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence are studying the ways in which cancer cells migrate from existing tumors to create new, metastatic tumors in different regions of the body. By creating micrometer scaled adhesive islands on gold surfaces, they have allowed individual metastatic cells to take on shapes, such as the star depicted above. These shapes provide cues to cancer cells, which respond in the above image by concentrating their motility machinery at the star’s tips. This assay lends itself to large scale screening of cell populations—a problem that has stymied past efforts to find a drug that targets metastatic motility.
This image is part of the Nanotechnology Image Library collection.
Credit: Bartosz Grzybowski, Ph.D., National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health
We have the Winter Solstice coming up soon so I am going to try to explain what it is all about. We all know there is 24 hours in a day so what is this Shortest Day all about.
The reason we have any seasons is because the earth has a 23.5 degree tilt. In the summer months the sun shines directly on our USA country, in the Winter we get the weak angular rays. This country averages well over 100 degrees difference.
In July Death Valley can be well over 100 degrees. In winter much of the North is hovering around zero.
What makes all the difference is the latitude where you live. On the longest day in June, Seattle gets about 13 hours of sunlight, while Miami gets around 11. Norway is called the land of the Midnight sun. In Summer the sun goes below the horizon for only about 40 minutes, then it is up again. In Barrow, Alaska, the sun goes down on November 18th and it comes up again 67 days later on January 23rd.
I hope this has helped to explain some of the mysteries associated with the Solstice.
WATERS EAST OF OKINAWA (July 30, 2014) Ships from U.S. and Indian Navies, and Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force participate in a photo exercise as part of Malabar 2014. Malabar 2014 is a U.S. Navy, Indian Navy, Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force trilateral naval field training exercise aimed to improve our collective maritime relationship and increase understanding in multinational operations. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Chris Cavagnaro/Released)
Educational Classroom Poster for teaching elementary math. This one help students understand the concepts and units of Metric Lengths.
Available in letter size and now 11"x17".
I have struggled with understanding, especially in the last couple years since I received my promotion. I struggle more so not in my understanding of things or of others, but in getting others to understand me and my world. It’s hard to explain why I work the hours I do and to get others to understand why yes, it is very difficult in my day to find time just to go to the bathroom or find a minute to eat something. One of my supervisors asked me the other day, “Do you eat? I never see you eat.” I just smiled on the outside and said “Of course I eat, can’t you tell??” but when the laugh faded, inside I was crumbling…
Sure, there’s the psychological side that says “Maybe that’s the way I want my life to be. I built my life to be this way on purpose for _______ reason….”, but I don’t quite buy that. No- correction: I don’t buy that whatsoever.
I wish I had a better means to bring understanding of my world and of my mind to those close to me: what I am going through, what my world is like, what millions of thoughts race through my mind. I wish I had the time to explain, be transparent, and be understood. But I have the feeling I will be chasing that elusive understanding for some time…
Theme: Musings And Ramblings
Year Six Of My 365 Project
A series of AI-generated portraits of Sharon S. in different art styles.
To be continued.
Pictures made with Midjourney.
I'm always happy to accept invites to groups as long as I can see their content. Should I see "this group is not available to you", my photos won't be made available to that group. Thanks for your understanding.
Humanity's direction shall always be towards a more loving and peaceful life...for younger generations and future generations to be born...
Leica-M6 TTL 0,72 Elmarit-M 1:2.8/21 mm ASPH.
Nikon super Coolscan 5000ed.
Delta 400asa developer HC 110 1+31 (B)
🔴Leica my point of view.
Wetzlar, Deutschland.
Leica-CL 1974 Rangefinder
Leica-M 6 TTL 0.72 1998 Rangefinder
Leica-M6 TTL 0.85 2001 Rangefinder
Learning I suppose is factual.
When we learn things we can recite them at command...
to ourselves or others.
That can come in handy.
Understanding though...
That seems entirely different from learning.
'Understanding' seems to be the ability to relate the things we've 'learned' to each other...
to the greater interconnected reality around us.
'Now that I know this, what will I do with it?'
I wonder what comes on top of understanding.
I'm curious.
We're all on the same journey.
Portrait on London streets, a street worker looks back to me with understanding. This looks of human understanding remain so important for me.
I asked him, almost as I arrived in London, they were having a pause, "may I take a photo of you?" and he answered "Why? I am old" then I pointed to myself and said "And me? I am not still interesting, because of my age? I am older then you."
That is the look, telling me, "yes, take a photo"!
We were not so different after all and he felt also interesting.
I do remember, looking at these photos again, when Judy Carter told us "SEE the others" around you, tell them you see them.
Photo taken less then a month after my arrival in UK.
During my first photo stroll in London centre.
My set "no more a stranger" of photos of people I did not know
Old Vieux Öreg set
Merton begins this transitional section by clearly indicating that while vows are an essential element of religious profession, they are not the only or even the most important dimension of that profession. First in significance is the commitment to ongoing conversion, to “putting on” Christ, to following Christ, to sharing in the mystery of Christ. Then comes incorporation into the religious community, to be understood not just in a juridical context, as a contractual arrangement, but as participation in a supernatural family that is a manifestation of Trinitarian mutual love. “In this society of love,” Merton writes, “what matters is not the assertion of rights and the enforcement of obligations, but mutual trust and love” (157), which should then radiate out from the community to embrace the entire Church. Without this family spirit, religious life is reduced to “organized hypocrisy” (158). Consecration to God by vow is thus “but the third in importance of the three essential elements of religious profession” (158).
Merton then goes on to consider the nature of religious profession in general and of making vows in particular from both canonical and theological perspectives. The validity of profession depends on the fulfillment of various external factors (age, valid novitiate, explicit public declaration, etc.) but most fundamentally on free and full consent. The theological foundation of profession, traced through the successive diverse acts that constitute consent according to Thomistic analysis, is the will to obligate oneself, the free decision of the entire person, involving intelligence, senses and emotions, and the will. Thus to make a vow is not to renounce one’s freedom but to exercise it in an act of worship, the definitive offering of oneself to God. “Only to such a One can we give our liberty without debasing it. Only to such a One can we give our liberty and become yet more free by doing so” (185).
-The life of the vows : initiation into the monastic tradition 6 / by Thomas Merton ; edited with an introduction by Patrick F. O’Connell ; preface by Augustine Roberts.
Royal Navy And Royal Netherlands Navy Signing A Memorandum of Understanding. Picture:LA(Phot) Alex Knott
2SL, Vice Admiral David Steel CBE signing the Memorandumof Understanding on behalf of the Royal Navy.
2SL, Vice Admiral David Steel CBE signed the Memorandum of Understanding on behalf of the Royal Navy. Pictured is the Second Sea Lord Vice Admiral David Steel CBE and Vice Admiral Borsboom of the Royal Netherlands Navy whilst the two respective Navies sign the Memorandum of Understanding, aboard HMS Victory in HMNB Portsmouth.
Leipziger Buchmesse 2016 / Leipzig Book Fair 2016
2016-03-19 (Saturday)
2016_053
2016#270
Jule (Julia) ______ as Belle from Beauty and the Beast
Thank you for any group invites which I'd be glad to accept. However, if I can't check the content of such groups ("This group is not available to you") I'd rather not add any of my photos. Thanks for your understanding.
The Ajanta Caves (Ajiṇṭhā leni; Marathi: अजिंठा लेणी) in Aurangabad district of Maharashtra, India are about 30 rock-cut Buddhist cave monuments which date from the 2nd century BCE to about 480 or 650 CE. The caves include paintings and sculptures described by the government Archaeological Survey of India as "the finest surviving examples of Indian art, particularly painting", which are masterpieces of Buddhist religious art, with figures of the Buddha and depictions of the Jataka tales. The caves were built in two phases starting around the 2nd century BCE, with the second group of caves built around 400–650 CE according to older accounts, or all in a brief period of 460 to 480 according to the recent proposals of Walter M. Spink. The site is a protected monument in the care of the Archaeological Survey of India, and since 1983, the Ajanta Caves have been a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The caves are located in the Indian state of Maharashtra, near Jalgaon and just outside the village of Ajinṭhā 20°31′56″N 75°44′44″E), about 59 kilometres from Jalgaon railway station on the Delhi – Mumbai line and Howrah-Nagpur-Mumbai line of the Central Railway zone, and 104 kilometres from the city of Aurangabad. They are 100 kilometres from the Ellora Caves, which contain Hindu and Jain temples as well as Buddhist caves, the last dating from a period similar to Ajanta. The Ajanta caves are cut into the side of a cliff that is on the south side of a U-shaped gorge on the small river Waghur, and although they are now along and above a modern pathway running across the cliff they were originally reached by individual stairs or ladders from the side of the river 35 to 110 feet below.
The area was previously heavily forested, and after the site ceased to be used the caves were covered by jungle until accidentally rediscovered in 1819 by a British officer on a hunting party. They are Buddhist monastic buildings, apparently representing a number of distinct "monasteries" or colleges. The caves are numbered 1 to 28 according to their place along the path, beginning at the entrance. Several are unfinished and some barely begun and others are small shrines, included in the traditional numbering as e.g. "9A"; "Cave 15A" was still hidden under rubble when the numbering was done. Further round the gorge are a number of waterfalls, which when the river is high are audible from outside the caves.
The caves form the largest corpus of early Indian wall-painting; other survivals from the area of modern India are very few, though they are related to 5th-century paintings at Sigiriya in Sri Lanka. The elaborate architectural carving in many caves is also very rare, and the style of the many figure sculptures is highly local, found only at a few nearby contemporary sites, although the Ajanta tradition can be related to the later Hindu Ellora Caves and other sites.
HISTORY
Like the other ancient Buddhist monasteries, Ajanta had a large emphasis on teaching, and was divided into several different caves for living, education and worship, under a central direction. Monks were probably assigned to specific caves for living. The layout reflects this organizational structure, with most of the caves only connected through the exterior. The 7th-century travelling Chinese scholar Xuanzang informs us that Dignaga, a celebrated Buddhist philosopher and controversialist, author of well-known books on logic, lived at Ajanta in the 5th century. In its prime the settlement would have accommodated several hundred teachers and pupils. Many monks who had finished their first training may have returned to Ajanta during the monsoon season from an itinerant lifestyle.
The caves are generally agreed to have been made in two distinct periods, separated by several centuries.
CAVES OF THE FIRST (SATAVAHANA) PERIOD
The earliest group of caves consists of caves 9, 10, 12, 13 and 15A. According to Walter Spink, they were made during the period 100 BCE to 100 CE, probably under the patronage of the Satavahana dynasty (230 BCE – c. 220 CE) who ruled the region. Other datings prefer the period 300 BCE to 100 BCE, though the grouping of the earlier caves is generally agreed. More early caves may have vanished through later excavations. Of these, caves 9 and 10 are stupa halls of chaitya-griha form, and caves 12, 13, and 15A are vihāras (see the architecture section below for descriptions of these types). The first phase is still often called the Hinayāna phase, as it originated when, using traditional terminology, the Hinayāna or Lesser Vehicle tradition of Buddhism was dominant, when the Buddha was revered symbolically. However the use of the term Hinayana for this period of Buddhism is now deprecated by historians; equally the caves of the second period are now mostly dated too early to be properly called Mahayana, and do not yet show the full expanded cast of supernatural beings characteristic of that phase of Buddhist art. The first Satavahana period caves lacked figurative sculpture, emphasizing the stupa instead, and in the caves of the second period the overwhelming majority of images represent the Buddha alone, or narrative scenes of his lives.
Spink believes that some time after the Satavahana period caves were made the site was abandoned for a considerable period until the mid-5th century, probably because the region had turned mainly Hindu
CAVES OF THE LATER OR VAKATAKA PERIOD
The second phase began in the 5th century. For a long time it was thought that the later caves were made over a long period from the 4th to the 7th centuries CE, but in recent decades a series of studies by the leading expert on the caves, Walter M. Spink, have argued that most of the work took place over the very brief period from 460 to 480 CE, during the reign of Emperor Harishena of the Vakataka dynasty. This view has been criticized by some scholars, but is now broadly accepted by most authors of general books on Indian art, for example Huntington and Harle.
The second phase is still often called the Mahāyāna or Greater Vehicle phase, but scholars now tend to avoid this nomenclature because of the problems that have surfaced regarding our understanding of Mahāyāna.
Some 20 cave temples were simultaneously created, for the most part viharas with a sanctuary at the back. The most elaborate caves were produced in this period, which included some "modernization" of earlier caves. Spink claims that it is possible to establish dating for this period with a very high level of precision; a fuller account of his chronology is given below. Although debate continues, Spink's ideas are increasingly widely accepted, at least in their broad conclusions. The Archaeological Survey of India website still presents the traditional dating: "The second phase of paintings started around 5th – 6th centuries A.D. and continued for the next two centuries". Caves of the second period are 1–8, 11, 14–29, some possibly extensions of earlier caves. Caves 19, 26, and 29 are chaitya-grihas, the rest viharas.
According to Spink, the Ajanta Caves appear to have been abandoned by wealthy patrons shortly after the fall of Harishena, in about 480 CE. They were then gradually abandoned and forgotten. During the intervening centuries, the jungle grew back and the caves were hidden, unvisited and undisturbed, although the local population were aware of at least some of them.
REDISCOVERY
On 28 April 1819, a British officer for the Madras Presidency, John Smith, of the 28th Cavalry, while hunting tiger, accidentally discovered the entrance to Cave No. 10 deep within the tangled undergrowth. There were local people already using the caves for prayers with a small fire, when he arrived. Exploring that first cave, long since a home to nothing more than birds and bats and a lair for other larger animals, Captain Smith vandalized the wall by scratching his name and the date, April 1819. Since he stood on a five-foot high pile of rubble collected over the years, the inscription is well above the eye-level gaze of an adult today. A paper on the caves by William Erskine was read to the Bombay Literary Society in 1822. Within a few decades, the caves became famous for their exotic setting, impressive architecture, and above all their exceptional, all but unique paintings. A number of large projects to copy the paintings were made in the century after rediscovery, covered below. In 1848 the Royal Asiatic Society established the "Bombay Cave Temple Commission" to clear, tidy and record the most important rock-cut sites in the Bombay Presidency, with John Wilson, as president. In 1861 this became the nucleus of the new Archaeological Survey of India. Until the Nizam of Hyderabad built the modern path between the caves, among other efforts to make the site easy to visit, a trip to Ajanta was a considerable adventure, and contemporary accounts dwell with relish on the dangers from falls off narrow ledges, animals and the Bhil people, who were armed with bows and arrows and had a fearsome reputation.
Today, fairly easily combined with Ellora in a single trip, the caves are the most popular tourist destination in Mahrashtra, and are often crowded at holiday times, increasing the threat to the caves, especially the paintings. In 2012, the Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation announced plans to add to the ASI visitor centre at the entrance complete replicas of caves 1, 2, 16 & 17 to reduce crowding in the originals, and enable visitors to receive a better visual idea of the paintings, which are dimly-lit and hard to read in the caves. Figures for the year to March 2010 showed a total of 390,000 visitors to the site, divided into 362,000 domestic and 27,000 foreign. The trends over the previous few years show a considerable growth in domestic visitors, but a decline in foreign ones; the year to 2010 was the first in which foreign visitors to Ellora exceeded those to Ajanta.
PAINTINGS
Mural paintings survive from both the earlier and later groups of caves. Several fragments of murals preserved from the earlier caves (Caves 9 and 11) are effectively unique survivals of court-led painting in India from this period, and "show that by Sātavāhana times, if not earlier, the Indian painter had mastered an easy and fluent naturalistic style, dealing with large groups of people in a manner comparable to the reliefs of the Sāñcī toraņa crossbars".
Four of the later caves have large and relatively well-preserved mural paintings which "have come to represent Indian mural painting to the non-specialist", and fall into two stylistic groups, with the most famous in Caves 16 and 17, and apparently later paintings in Caves 1 and 2. The latter group were thought to be a century or more later than the others, but the revised chronology proposed by Spink would place them much closer to the earlier group, perhaps contemporary with it in a more progressive style, or one reflecting a team from a different region. The paintings are in "dry fresco", painted on top of a dry plaster surface rather than into wet plaster.
All the paintings appear to be the work of painters at least as used to decorating palaces as temples, and show a familiarity with and interest in details of the life of a wealthy court. We know from literary sources that painting was widely practised and appreciated in the courts of the Gupta period. Unlike much Indian painting, compositions are not laid out in horizontal compartments like a frieze, but show large scenes spreading in all directions from a single figure or group at the centre. The ceilings are also painted with sophisticated and elaborate decorative motifs, many derived from sculpture. The paintings in cave 1, which according to Spink was commissioned by Harisena himself, concentrate on those Jataka tales which show previous lives of the Buddha as a king, rather than as an animal or human commoner, and so show settings from contemporary palace life.
In general the later caves seem to have been painted on finished areas as excavating work continued elsewhere in the cave, as shown in caves 2 and 16 in particular. According to Spink's account of the chronology of the caves, the abandonment of work in 478 after a brief busy period accounts for the absence of painting in caves such as 4 and 17, the later being plastered in preparation for paintings that were never done.
COPIES
The paintings have deteriorated significantly since they were rediscovered, and a number of 19th-century copies and drawings are important for a complete understanding of the works. However, the earliest projects to copy the paintings were plagued by bad fortune. In 1846, Major Robert Gill, an Army officer from Madras presidency and a painter, was appointed by the Royal Asiatic Society to replicate the frescoes on the cave walls to exhibit these paintings in England. Gill worked on his painting at the site from 1844 to 1863 (though he continued to be based there until his death in 1875, writing books and photographing) and made 27 copies of large sections of murals, but all but four were destroyed in a fire at the Crystal Palace in London in 1866, where they were on display.
Another attempt was made in 1872 when the Bombay Presidency commissioned John Griffiths, then principal of the Bombay School of Art, to work with his students to make new copies, again for shipping to England. They worked on this for thirteen years and some 300 canvases were produced, many of which were displayed at the Imperial Institute on Exhibition Road in London, one of the forerunners of the Victoria and Albert Museum. But in 1885 another fire destroyed over a hundred paintings that were in storage. The V&A still has 166 paintings surviving from both sets, though none have been on permanent display since 1955. The largest are some 3 × 6 metres. A conservation project was undertaken on about half of them in 2006, also involving the University of Northumbria. Griffith and his students had unfortunately painted many of the paintings with "cheap varnish" in order to make them easier to see, which has added to the deterioration of the originals, as has, according to Spink and others, recent cleaning by the ASI.
A further set of copies were made between 1909 and 1911 by Christiana Herringham (Lady Herringham) and a group of students from the Calcutta School of Art that included the future Indian Modernist painter Nandalal Bose. The copies were published in full colour as the first publication of London's fledgling India Society. More than the earlier copies, these aimed to fill in holes and damage to recreate the original condition rather than record the state of the paintings as she was seeing them. According to one writer, unlike the paintings created by her predecessors Griffiths and Gill, whose copies were influenced by British Victorian styles of painting, those of the Herringham expedition preferred an 'Indian Renascence' aesthetic of the type pioneered by Abanindranath Tagore.
Early photographic surveys were made by Robert Gill, who learnt to use a camera from about 1856, and whose photos, including some using stereoscopy, were used in books by him and Fergusson (many are available online from the British Library), then Victor Goloubew in 1911 and E.L. Vassey, who took the photos in the four volume study of the caves by Ghulam Yazdani (published 1930–1955).
ARCHITECTURE
The monasteries mostly consist of vihara halls for prayer and living, which are typically rectangular with small square dormitory cells cut into the walls, and by the second period a shrine or sanctuary at the rear centred on a large statue of the Buddha, also carved from the living rock. This change reflects the movement from Hinayana to Mahāyāna Buddhism. The other type of main hall is the narrower and higher chaitya hall with a stupa as the focus at the far end, and a narrow aisle around the walls, behind a range of pillars placed close together. Other plainer rooms were for sleeping and other activities. Some of the caves have elaborate carved entrances, some with large windows over the door to admit light. There is often a colonnaded porch or verandah, with another space inside the doors running the width of the cave.
The central square space of the interior of the viharas is defined by square columns forming a more or less square open area. Outside this are long rectangular aisles on each side, forming a kind of cloister. Along the side and rear walls are a number of small cells entered by a narrow doorway; these are roughly square, and have small niches on their back walls. Originally they had wooden doors. The centre of the rear wall has a larger shrine-room behind, containing a large Buddha statue. The viharas of the earlier period are much simpler, and lack shrines. Spink in fact places the change to a design with a shrine to the middle of the second period, with many caves being adapted to add a shrine in mid-excavation, or after the original phase.
The plan of Cave 1 shows one of the largest viharas, but is fairly typical of the later group. Many others, such as Cave 16, lack the vestibule to the shrine, which leads straight off the main hall. Cave 6 is two viharas, one above the other, connected by internal stairs, with sanctuaries on both levels.
The four completed chaitya halls are caves 9 and 10 from the early period, and caves 19 and 26 from the later period of construction. All follow the typical form found elsewhere, with high ceilings and a central "nave" leading to the stupa, which is near the back, but allows walking behind it, as walking around stupas was (and remains) a common element of Buddhist worship (pradakshina). The later two have high ribbed roofs, which reflect timber forms, and the earlier two are thought to have used actual timber ribs, which have now perished. The two later halls have a rather unusual arrangement (also found in Cave 10 at Ellora) where the stupa is fronted by a large relief sculpture of the Buddha, standing in Cave 19 and seated in Cave 26. Cave 29 is a late and very incomplete chaitya hall.
The form of columns in the work of the first period is very plain and un-embellished, with both chaitya halls using simple octagonal columns, which were painted with figures. In the second period columns were far more varied and inventive, often changing profile over their height, and with elaborate carved capitals, often spreading wide. Many columns are carved over all their surface, some fluted and others carved with decoration all over, as in cave 1.
The flood basalt rock of the cliff, part of the Deccan Traps formed by successive volcanic eruptions at the end of the Cretaceous, is layered horizontally, and somewhat variable in quality, so the excavators had to amend their plans in places, and in places there have been collapses in the intervening centuries, as with the lost portico to cave 1. Excavation began by cutting a narrow tunnel at roof level, which was expanded downwards and outwards; the half-built vihara cave 24 shows the method. Spink believes that for the first caves of the second period the excavators had to relearn skills and techniques that had been lost in the centuries since the first period, which were then transmitted to be used at later rock-cut sites in the region, such as Ellora, and the Elephanta, Bagh, Badami and Aurangabad Caves.
The caves from the first period seem to have been paid for by a number of different patrons, with several inscriptions recording the donation of particular portions of a single cave, but according to Spink the later caves were each commissioned as a complete unit by a single patron from the local rulers or their court elites. After the death of Harisena smaller donors got their chance to add small "shrinelets" between the caves or add statues to existing caves, and some two hundred of these "intrusive" additions were made in sculpture, with a further number of intrusive paintings, up to three hundred in cave 10 alone.
A grand gateway to the site, at the apex of the gorge's horsehoe between caves 15 and 16, was approached from the river, and is decorated with elephants on either side and a nāga, or protective snake deity.
ICONOGRAPHY OF THE CAVES
In the pre-Christian era, the Buddha was represented symbolically, in the form of the stupa. Thus, halls were made with stupas to venerate the Buddha. In later periods the images of the Buddha started to be made in coins, relic caskets, relief or loose sculptural forms, etc. However, it took a while for the human representation of the Buddha to appear in Buddhist art. One of the earliest evidences of the Buddha's human representations are found at Buddhist archaeological sites, such as Goli, Nagarjunakonda, and Amaravati. The monasteries of those sites were built in less durable media, such as wood, brick, and stone. As far as the genre of rock-cut architecture is concerned it took many centuries for the Buddha image to be depicted. Nobody knows for sure at which rock-cut cave site the first image of the Buddha was depicted. Current research indicates that Buddha images in a portable form, made of wood or stone, were introduced, for the first time, at Kanheri, to be followed soon at Ajanta Cave 8 (Dhavalikar, Jadhav, Spink, Singh). While the Kanheri example dates to 4th or 5th century CE, the Ajanta example has been dated to c. 462–478 CE (Spink). None of the rock-cut monasteries prior to these dates, and other than these examples, show any Buddha image although hundreds of rock-cut caves were made throughout India during the first few centuries CE. And, in those caves, it is the stupa that is the object of veneration, not the image. Images of the Buddha are not found in Buddhist sailagrhas (rock-cut complexes) until the times of the Kanheri (4th–5th century CE) and Ajanta examples (c. 462–478 CE).
The caves of the second period, now all dated to the 5th century, were typically described as "Mahayana", but do not show the features associated with later Mahayana Buddhism. Although the beginnings of Mahāyāna teachings go back to the 1st century there is little art and archaeological evidence to suggest that it became a mainstream cult for several centuries. In Mahayana it is not Gautama Buddha but the Bodhisattva who is important, including "deity" Bodhisattva like Manjushri and Tara, as well as aspects of the Buddha such as Aksobhya, and Amitabha. Except for a few Bodhisattva, these are not depicted at Ajanta, where the Buddha remains the dominant figure. Even the Bodhisattva images of Ajanta are never central objects of worship, but are always shown as attendants of the Buddha in the shrine. If a Bodhisattva is shown in isolation, as in the Astabhaya scenes, these were done in the very last years of activities at Ajanta, and are mostly 'intrusive' in nature, meaning that they were not planned by the original patrons, and were added by new donors after the original patrons had suddenly abandoned the region in the wake of Emperor Harisena's death.
The contrast between iconic and aniconic representations, that is, the stupa on one hand and the image of the Buddha on the other, is now being seen as a construct of the modern scholar rather than a reality of the past. The second phase of Ajanta shows that the stupa and image coincided together. If the entire corpus of the art of Ajanta including sculpture, iconography, architecture, epigraphy, and painting are analysed afresh it will become clear that there was no duality between the symbolic and human forms of the Buddha, as far as the 5th-century phase of Ajanta is concerned. That is why most current scholars tend to avoid the terms 'Hinayana' and 'Mahayana' in the context of Ajanta. They now prefer to call the second phase by the ruling dynasty, as the Vākāţaka phase.
CAVES
CAVE 1
Cave 1 was built on the eastern end of the horse-shoe shaped scarp, and is now the first cave the visitor encounters. This would when first made have been a less prominent position, right at the end of the row. According to Spink, it is one of the latest caves to have been excavated, when the best sites had been taken, and was never fully inaugurated for worship by the dedication of the Buddha image in the central shrine. This is shown by the absence of sooty deposits from butter lamps on the base of the shrine image, and the lack of damage to the paintings that would have been happened if the garland-hooks around the shrine had been in use for any period of time. Although there is no epigraphic evidence, Spink believes that the Vākāţaka Emperor Harishena was the benefactor of the work, and this is reflected in the emphasis on imagery of royalty in the cave, with those Jakata tales being selected that tell of those previous lives of the Buddha in which he was royal.
The cliff has a more steep slope here than at other caves, so to achieve a tall grand facade it was necessary to cut far back into the slope, giving a large courtyard in front of the facade. There was originally a columned portico in front of the present facade, which can be seen "half-intact in the 1880s" in pictures of the site, but this fell down completely and the remains, despite containing fine carving, were carelessly thrown down the slope into the river, from where they have been lost, presumably carried away in monsoon torrents.
This cave has one of the most elaborate carved façades, with relief sculptures on entablature and ridges, and most surfaces embellished with decorative carving. There are scenes carved from the life of the Buddha as well as a number of decorative motifs. A two pillared portico, visible in the 19th-century photographs, has since perished. The cave has a front-court with cells fronted by pillared vestibules on either side. These have a high plinth level. The cave has a porch with simple cells on both ends. The absence of pillared vestibules on the ends suggest that the porch was not excavated in the latest phase of Ajanta when pillared vestibules had become a necessity and norm. Most areas of the porch were once covered with murals, of which many fragments remain, especially on the ceiling. There are three doorways: a central doorway and two side doorways. Two square windows were carved between the doorways to brighten the interiors.
Each wall of the hall inside is nearly 12 m long and 6.1 m high. Twelve pillars make a square colonnade inside supporting the ceiling, and creating spacious aisles along the walls. There is a shrine carved on the rear wall to house an impressive seated image of the Buddha, his hands being in the dharmachakrapravartana mudra. There are four cells on each of the left, rear, and the right walls, though due to rock fault there are none at the ends of the rear aisle. The walls are covered with paintings in a fair state of preservation, though the full scheme was never completed. The scenes depicted are mostly didactic, devotional, and ornamental, with scenes from the Jataka stories of the Buddha's former existences as a bodhisattva), the life of the Gautama Buddha, and those of his veneration. The two most famous individual painted images at Ajanta are the two over-life size figures of the protective bodhisattvas Padmapani and Vajrapani on either side of the entrance to the Buddha shrine on the wall of the rear aisle (see illustrations above). According to Spink, the original dating of the paintings to about 625 arose largely or entirely because James Fegusson, a 19th-century architectural historian, had decided that a scene showing an ambassador being received, with figures in Persian dress, represented a recorded embassy to Persia (from a Hindu monarch at that) around that date.
CAVE 2
Cave 2, adjacent to Cave 1, is known for the paintings that have been preserved on its walls, ceilings, and pillars. It looks similar to Cave 1 and is in a better state of preservation.
Cave 2 has a porch quite different from Cave one. Even the façade carvings seem to be different. The cave is supported by robust pillars, ornamented with designs. The front porch consists of cells supported by pillared vestibules on both ends. The cells on the previously "wasted areas" were needed to meet the greater housing requirements in later years. Porch-end cells became a trend in all later Vakataka excavations. The simple single cells on porch-ends were converted into CPVs or were planned to provide more room, symmetry, and beauty.
The paintings on the ceilings and walls of this porch have been widely published. They depict the Jataka tales that are stories of the Buddha's life in former existences as Bodhisattva. Just as the stories illustrated in cave 1 emphasize kingship, those in cave 2 show many "noble and powerful" women in prominent roles, leading to suggestions that the patron was an unknown woman. The porch's rear wall has a doorway in the center, which allows entrance to the hall. On either side of the door is a square-shaped window to brighten the interior.
The hall has four colonnades which are supporting the ceiling and surrounding a square in the center of the hall. Each arm or colonnade of the square is parallel to the respective walls of the hall, making an aisle in between. The colonnades have rock-beams above and below them. The capitals are carved and painted with various decorative themes that include ornamental, human, animal, vegetative, and semi-divine forms.
Paintings appear on almost every surface of the cave except for the floor. At various places the art work has become eroded due to decay and human interference. Therefore, many areas of the painted walls, ceilings, and pillars are fragmentary. The painted narratives of the Jataka tales are depicted only on the walls, which demanded the special attention of the devotee. They are didactic in nature, meant to inform the community about the Buddha's teachings and life through successive rebirths. Their placement on the walls required the devotee to walk through the aisles and 'read' the narratives depicted in various episodes. The narrative episodes are depicted one after another although not in a linear order. Their identification has been a core area of research since the site's rediscovery in 1819. Dieter Schlingloff's identifications have updated our knowledge on the subject.
CAVE 4
The Archeological Survey of India board outside the caves gives the following detail about cave 4: "This is the largest monastery planned on a grandiose scale but was never finished. An inscription on the pedestal of the buddha's image mentions that it was a gift from a person named Mathura and paleographically belongs to 6th century A.D. It consists of a verandah, a hypostylar hall, sanctum with an antechamber and a series of unfinished cells. The rear wall of the verandah contains the panel of Litany of Avalokiteśvara".
The sanctuary houses a colossal image of the Buddha in preaching pose flanked by bodhisattvas and celestial nymphs hovering above.
CAVES 9-10
Caves 9 and 10 are the two chaitya halls from the first period of construction, though both were also undergoing an uncompleted reworking at the end of the second period. Cave 10 was perhaps originally of the 1st century BCE, and cave 9 about a hundred years later. The small "shrinelets" called caves 9A to 9D and 10A also date from the second period, and were commissioned by individuals.
The paintings in cave 10 include some surviving from the early period, many from an incomplete programme of modernization in the second period, and a very large number of smaller late intrusive images, nearly all Buddhas and many with donor inscriptions from individuals. These mostly avoided over-painting the "official" programme and after the best positions were used up are tucked away in less prominent positions not yet painted; the total of these (including those now lost) was probably over 300, and the hands of many different artists are visible.
OTHER CAVES
Cave 3 is merely a start of an excavation; according to Spink it was begun right at the end of the final period of work and soon abandoned. Caves 5 and 6 are viharas, the latter on two floors, that were late works of which only the lower floor of cave 6 was ever finished. The upper floor of cave 6 has many private votive sculptures, and a shrine Buddha, but is otherwise unfinished. Cave 7 has a grand facade with two porticos but, perhaps because of faults in the rock, which posed problems in many caves, was never taken very deep into the cliff, and consists only of the two porticos and a shrine room with antechamber, with no central hall. Some cells were fitted in.
Cave 8 was long thought to date to the first period of construction, but Spink sees it as perhaps the earliest cave from the second period, its shrine an "afterthought". The statue may have been loose rather than carved from the living rock, as it has now vanished. The cave was painted, but only traces remain.
SPINK´S DETAILED CHRONOLOGY
Walter M. Spink has over recent decades developed a very precise and circumstantial chronology for the second period of work on the site, which unlike earlier scholars, he places entirely in the 5th century. This is based on evidence such as the inscriptions and artistic style, combined with the many uncompleted elements of the caves. He believes the earlier group of caves, which like other scholars he dates only approximately, to the period "between 100 BCE – 100 CE", were at some later point completely abandoned and remained so "for over three centuries", as the local population had turned mainly Hindu. This changed with the accession of the Emperor Harishena of the Vakataka Dynasty, who reigned from 460 to his death in 477. Harisena extended the Central Indian Vakataka Empire to include a stretch of the east coast of India; the Gupta Empire ruled northern India at the same period, and the Pallava dynasty much of the south.
According to Spink, Harisena encouraged a group of associates, including his prime minister Varahadeva and Upendragupta, the sub-king in whose territory Ajanta was, to dig out new caves, which were individually commissioned, some containing inscriptions recording the donation. This activity began in 462 but was mostly suspended in 468 because of threats from the neighbouring Asmaka kings. Work continued on only caves 1, Harisena's own commission, and 17–20, commissioned by Upendragupta. In 472 the situation was such that work was suspended completely, in a period that Spink calls "the Hiatus", which lasted until about 475, by which time the Asmakas had replaced Upendragupta as the local rulers.
Work was then resumed, but again disrupted by Harisena's death in 477, soon after which major excavation ceased, except at cave 26, which the Asmakas were sponsoring themselves. The Asmakas launched a revolt against Harisena's son, which brought about the end of the Vakataka Dynasty. In the years 478–480 major excavation by important patrons was replaced by a rash of "intrusions" – statues added to existing caves, and small shrines dotted about where there was space between them. These were commissioned by less powerful individuals, some monks, who had not previously been able to make additions to the large excavations of the rulers and courtiers. They were added to the facades, the return sides of the entrances, and to walls inside the caves. According to Spink, "After 480, not a single image was ever made again at the site", and as Hinduism again dominated the region, the site was again abandoned, this time for over a millennium.
Spink does not use "circa" in his dates, but says that "one should allow a margin of error of one year or perhaps even two in all cases".
IMPACT ON MODERN INDIAN PAINTINGS
The Ajanta paintings, or more likely the general style they come from, influenced painting in Tibet and Sri Lanka.
The rediscovery of ancient Indian paintings at Ajanta provided Indian artists examples from ancient India to follow. Nandlal Bose experimented with techniques to follow the ancient style which allowed him to develop his unique style. Abanindranath Tagore also used the Ajanta paintings for inspiration.
WIKIPEDIA
Dutch Landscapes - Brabant -
Gedurende de mobilisatie en de meidagen was het fort in functie als legeringslocatie. Tussen 10 en 13 mei werd het gebied geïnundeerd. Op 12 mei verliet een groot deel van de bezetting het fort. De achterblijvende troepen beschikten over slechts weinig munitie en onbruikbare handgranaten. Men breidde de bezetting uit met twee lichte mitrailleurgroepen en een nieuwe commandant nam het bevel over. Men nam in de middag van 14 mei 1940 waar hoe het flankerende fort De Hel werd aangevallen door Duitse pantserwagens. Dit waarnemende en beseffende dat zij geen wapens tegen pantserwagens bezaten, trok de bezetting weg via Dintelsas. Ze werden daar alsnog door de Duitsers gevangen genomen.
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Dutch Landscapes - Brabant -
During the mobilization and the May days the fort was in office as alloy location. Between 10 and 13 May was inundated area. On May 12, leaving a large part of the occupation the fort. The remaining troops possessed little ammunition and unusable grenades. They expanded the occupation with two light machine gun groups and a new commander took command. They took in the afternoon of May 14, 1940 where the flanking Fort Hell was attacked by German armored cars. This perceiving and understanding that they had no weapons against armored vehicles, pulled the occupation road through Dintelsas. They were there still captured by the Germans.
my first form of liquid painting was on abstract spiritual forms in motion.
i finished that series in 1999 after a show in which no one seemed to be intrigued by the essential qualities of what our eyes show to us.
i switched over to REAL representational art.
but i kept the NOT GALLERY aspect of my work pretty strong -- using way more black, only tints and shades and full chroma colors. i painted my feelings with the colors i chose.
and "my feelings" weren't intended to be my own.
i love classical ideology.
form and beauty and also our modern understanding that the 1 percent is fetish and nazi/fascist by its nature.
so i'm not into perfection as much as the idea of things that are just obviously better or trying or engaged or activated.
arguments about perfection are weird.
why do people like to fight so much?
my eyes tend to see all things as rather ordinary and i want to show off the simple things i find, to revel in their nature and then to figure out an expression that suits the two -- the object itself and my attitudinal relationship with it. for me, more than ambiguous emotional terms, i favor HEAT and MOTION as the aspects of light that i choose to focus on.
because my life is so interlapped with photography, i am both a camera and a painter, a robot and a brain, a drone and brighter magick user.
i can't help this double nature and like prince said, you'd better know your dark side and your bright side and if they can get along and you end up bright, that is the path of the philosopher guide.
so if that's you, now is the time!
RISE up among the people.
use your intelligent power to untangle the ropes of darkness!
but i digress.
so through and along my urban and townsy journeys -- santa barbara, seattle, san francisco, santa fe, san diego, amsterdam, manhattan -- i eventually found my way to flowers.
they grow in the front yards of the people's homes wherever i walk, or in buckets at a florist shop along the street or a grocery store. the beauty of flowers is everywhere.
and flowers are a reminder that everything dies. but it can be beautiful.
and we cut flowers for their beauty.
for me, roses are wanton.
they are my third form/series of liquid paintings.
the second one, and the most explored/exploded, is the exploding rainbow dahlia.
and where roses are wanton and vain-glorious (really, i had no idea!), the dahlia is like a swiss community with its order and its architectural phenomenon.
my exposure to dahlias was limited before i arrived in san francisco. i had painted orchids, peonies, chinese rose, birds of paradise, cala lilies, california golden poppies, and tulips.
but dahlias and the rainbow seemed like they were made for each other. that those TWO THINGS were US. that we, as people were just like dahlias in the way we ordered and constructed our lives. the dahlia with its form for capturing and storing light and moisture, and the exploding rainbow with its blatant and broken spectrum of blasting color.
so i floated those dahlias in space where a million things were happening all at once. everything as one moved into a constellation. i added multiple sided die and glinty bits of ambiguous crow candy for the eye.
vanity and selfism, the star charisma of the rose's nature -- that of desire and death masked as finality -- was just another form of circustry in this new unexploited world of die and glinty, treasury bits spinning and rolling and falling through space, into space, as space. hitting and colliding, forcing loss and explosion and aiding decay.
and there was a war in these pieces which forced them into a liquidity.
that war was between the clarity of stasis and our fascination with movement.
the impressionists, aided ENTIRELY BY THE USE OF THE CAMERA, had learned that aperture values that the camera's limited technology could exploit at the time had shown new essentials.
aperture values taught the impressionists that they could DELETE things from the environment to increase the imaginative suggestibility of the viewers mind.
for example, if i have my focus on the nostrils of a racing horse and progressively blur and fade out the clarity as the horse goes away through foreshortening, the horse's nose will seem MUCH closer to the viewer and more three dimensional than it would if the receding part of the horse were in perfect detailed clarity.
people like manet realized even further, using the same deletion technique of the intelligence, that a glove could literally look MORE glove-like with just three strokes of a brush. indeed, that the SUGGESTION of a glove was infinitely more powerful and perfect to the impression of the piece than an actual glove ever could be.
so in my liquid painting, i envisioned a human circus as exploding rainbow dahlias. our vanity and self-love; our beauty and our grace; and our aging and exploding.
all with dreams of promise, jewelry in the sky, and an unending ability to NEVER grasp much of anything.
and we are constantly coming in and out of focus in our own lives, a living constellatory fascination with ourselves and others creating patterns and habits and occupations.
and that rabbit hole lasted for several years.
it started in 2010/11 as a discovery process and eventually ended up producing over 6,000 images of that world. enough to create an app that could endlessly recreate the world imagined.
and the goal was to document every conceivable color pattern that the human eye could see.
and i think it worked.
it also led to the conclusion of the PIXELWITHIN theory.
which i have elaborated over on torbakhopper's news outlet, lol. the merkaba is a beautiful thing!!
so now the rose.
sometimes slutty, sometimes regaling and proud. sometimes curvy, sometimes more than curvy or with torn edges and hot little shadows.
england had a war over roses.
just like the u.s. had a war over rubber. just kidding. it was all about democracy and partiotism.
and roses are more likely to cause trouble than dahlias.
dahlias are all about the community as a metaphor.
there is a fundamental "coming together" about dahlias.
whereas, honestly, roses are all about falling apart.
this large group of examples are all different now. just like the other forms of liquid painting, CHANGE is a part of the game.
2Ti 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
www.sermonaudio.com/gallery_details.asp?image=gr-11807231...
The Approved Workers of God
II Timothy 2:15
“Spoudason seaton dokimon parasthsai tw qew,
Be eager yourself approved to present to God,
ergathn anepaiscunton, orqotomounta ton logon ths alhqeiaV.”
a worker unashamed, cutting straight the word of truth.
“Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needed not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” KJV
Though King James Version KJV will be used as reference, I’d rather choose to mention and use as cross-reference the New King James Version NKJV and the most important is to introduce the importance of using the original text in Greek which is the Majority Text.
There should be a proper way of studying and teaching the Scripture as the word of God. I’m going to show the “teacher of the word of God” the importance of using the original text and the significance of Paul’s writings why he chose that specific word.
I have chosen to use this text as my introduction for this is very important to us to have the biblical understanding of why Paul is trying to tell Timothy the importance of correct, right, true and biblical teaching for the time will come some workers will depart from the “truth”.
There is big difference between the history of the past as the reformers fought in the history of “true Christian Religion” and in our present time with respect to “the wiles of the devil” to twist, to contaminate, to manipulate, to divert from the truth as the word of God to make the people of God be misdirected from “truth” so that others will remain totally depraved under the influence of Satan.
There are things which in some respect that some doctrines are not really so important and so serious, as if, it is of none important that the effect is unrealized, it is being neglected and the final results is compromising!
Some topics to be tackled which is consider as the “last few centuries(y) before the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ” doctrines of the devil are: In Christology- “Christ could be tempted”, “Carnal Christian”, “Christian Rock Music”, White Lies”, Speaking in Tongues”, Evangelistic Entertainment”, Ecumenical Gospel”.
Therefore, there is importance for us, as true followers of Christ to fight back, to refute, and to be an apologetics with these kind of false teachings.
There are 4-points that we have to consider in studying this text, I Timothy 2:15 according to its context:
1.We have to be in a hurry in studying the Scripture.
2.We have to make sure to present ourselves really approved to God.
3.We have to be ready and not ashamed of being a fighter of the “truth”.
4.and finally, we have to make sure that our study of the Scripture is truly in the right way and how.
The first word used in kjv is “Study” but the original word used is spoudason, aor active imperative second person singular of the word spoudazw, spoudadzo means, to hasten, to hurry, to bent upon, make haste. (to exert one’s self, endeavor, give diligence.) Paul is trying to tell Timothy to hurry up and make himself ready for “in the last days, perilous times shall come, for men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof” 2 Timothy 3:1-5a, “ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth” v.7. Because of these things enumerated by Paul, he said in v.7 “ever learning” means always learning but never, I repeat, never “able to come to the knowledge of the truth” but instead which is the opposite of the truth, which is pseudos-falsehood, resulting in false doctrines and teachings that makes the man compromising in his attitude with respect to truth. We have to be in a hurry (in our attitude) to study the Scripture for that time is already here, especially our time now, the 21’st century wherein lots of compromising teachings are spreading in the Christian community. “Go back to the Scripture!” “But, beloved remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles and of our Lord Jesus Christ…” Jude 17
Second word, which is dokimon, from the word dokimos, dokimos, proved, tried; approved after examination and trial as in Rom. 16:10 “Salute Apelles approved in Christ” and “Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried (dokimos), he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.” James 1:12; by implications, “acceptable” as in Rom. 14:18. We have to be strong in our Christian graces, even to endure hardships and commit ourselves to remain faithful as of a “soldier”. “Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.” V. 3. We have to endure hardness, endure afflictions, suffer trouble but still remain a good soldier, still worthy to be a soldier of Christ. A champion of the cause of Christ.!!
To be approved unto God, we have to consider ourselves as the leader and commander of the people of God, as the shepherd of the flock of God thru Christ as the Chief Shepherd, the Commander-in-Chief, the Captain of our Salvation, whom the soldiers are willing to suffer and die for in this battles, fighting against sin, the world and Satan.
“Present ourselves approved unto God”
dokimon parasthsai tw qew. The language of Paul to Timothy as a teacher to student relationship signifies the importance of being ready to give himself even his life as a soldier to his commander, no matter what kind of affliction he has to encounter, we must be ready to die and serve for it.
To fight and ready to die in service to our Lord Jesus Christ!
ergathn anepaiscunton, a worker needed not to be ashamed, “According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death.” Philippians 1:20
The most important of all, which gives the idea of how we have to make ourselves as a real soldier, a shepherd of the flock, ministering the Church that was bought with a price of the blood of Christ and was given towards the Elders or Bishop (episkopos) I Timothy 3:1, is “apt to teach”, didaktikos, which is able to teach.
“Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers (episkopous), to feed (poimainein) the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. 29For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.” Acts 20:28
orqotomounta ton logon ths alhqeiaV.
orthotomounta ton logon teis aleitheias.
Cutting straight the word of truth.
In kjv “rightly dividing the word of truth”
Orthotomounta is the most significant and important word of study for us to understand what Paul meant in this text:
orqotomounta, orqotomew, orthotomeow, to cut straight: to proceed by straight paths, hold a straight course or to do right. To set forth truthfully, without perversion or distortion as in Hebrew 12:13; teach correctly. Compound word orqoV, straight and the verb tomew, to cut.
What does it meant by “rightly dividing the word of truth” in kjv or “cutting straight the word of truth”?
I prefer to use as the correct rendering of the word “cutting straight”.
This is the illustration, if you were given a 4” x 8” piece of paper, how are going to cut it in half? There are several ways of cutting the paper: first, fold it in half and then ripped it in half, but the edges are rough. Second, cut it with scissors though the edges are clean and not rough, it is crooked. Thirdly, by using a blade as cutter and a ruler or by using a “paper cutter” which the results is, straight and clean.
Now, what Paul meant to cut straight the word of truth, is there should be a right way of studying and teaching the scripture which is the word of God, the word of truth. It should be approved and tried like the way the reformers did long time ago.
How can we do that? Some wrong teachings are the results of “twisting the truth” to make it seems right but actually is wrong, perverting the truth which comes the results of our attitude between the truth and the “falsehood” is “compromising”, instead of “cutting straight the word of truth”. The attitude of “compromising” between the truth and falsehood is the most neglected topic of arguments among the brethren in Christ, especially those who are really involve in the ministry whether an Elder, Bishop, or a Pastor that “shepherds” the flock of God.
It is either “black or white” and there is no such thing as “gray”!
It is either God or Satan and there is no in-between!
It is either good or evil, to be righteous or sinful and to be biblical or not.
I’m presenting the “cutting straight the word word of truth”, which is the original word in Greek, “orthotomounta” as the way I’ve known in right way of studying the scripture, which is the Bible as the word of God.
There is a great purpose of God of why he had chosen the language of Hebrew of the Old Testament and the language of Greek in the New Testament. To be precise, specific and direct in meaning according to its context is the very important thing to observe in this study of the word, according to its purpose and the meaning of it according to God.
Oh well, I’m going to repeatedly say the word “orthotomounta” in our study to show you what Paul meant in this text.
In getting to know some applications to have proper understanding of this text, we must continue the reading of the scripture according to its context.
It will be short, direct and concise in its nature of presentation and pray that the Holy Spirit will guide us and direct us to the truth according to the grace of God.
1.Avoid wicked, stupid or profane language and fruitless discussion. “Vain babblings” came from a compound word in Greek, kenoV, kenos, a primary word means – empty and the word fonh, phonei, noise, sound or voice, which kenofonia, kenophonia, means – “empty word” empty sounding, fruitless discussion. This will only lead to increase wickedness, impiety or ungodliness. It will profit them nothing but “unfruitfulness”. Verse 16. Also in verse 22, such as foolish and stupid questions that will only lead to a fight.
2.We have to be “instant in season” II Tim 4:2, to be at hand and ready to defend the word of truth instantly, because if we will be idle for a time, it will lead to be spreading into the Church wrong teaching like a cancer. The following verse 17, Paul use the word gaggraina, gangraina, where the English word gangrene came from, it is a cancerous disease by which any part of the body suffering from inflammation becomes so corrupted that, the evil continually spreads, attacks other parts of the flesh until it reaches the bone structure. This will results in spreading the wrong teaching like a gangrene until it reaches the main structure of the ekleisia, which is the church, the mystical body of Christ, to topple down the people of God. This will lead to some who separates themselves from the wrong teaching, some churches will experience “splits” and some sheeps will be gone astray! Like Philetus and Hymenaeus teaching that the resurrection is past already to overthrow the faith of some. Verse 18
3.The right attitude after performing “orthotomounta” as servant of the Lord, verse 22, is “not strive” kjv, from the word macomai, machomai, those who fight in hand-to-hand combat, so we don’t entertain foolish questions that will only lead to a fight. But we have to be gentle, able to teach, patient, in meekness, giving good instructions to those who oppose us. Verse 24 and 25.
4.The purpose as we impart the truth in gentle and humble manner is to rely in the sovereignty of God by the intervention of the work of Holy Spirit that these people will turn to repentance, to the knowledge of the truth, to recover them from “the snare of the devil” who are still in captive or became captive, trapped, seduced by the arts of Satan or maybe still totally depraved according to their own will. Verse 25 and 26. Note: I mentioned the words “or maybe still totally depraved” for two reasons: One, there are some people who are totally depraved and works under the influence of Satan coming into the church “in sheep’s clothing”. And second, in verse 26, the Greek word, kai ananhywsin en thV tou diabolou pagidoV, and the word ananeipsowsin, which is first aorist active subjunctive of the verb ananhfw, ananeifow, means to return to soberness, to be sober again. Since it is in the active voice and subjunctive mood, there is a connotation that these brethren might be recovered again to their consciousness that they have to repent of their wrong teachings. This will be our biblical and right attitude with other believers in defending the word and presenting the “orthotomounta”, cutting straight the word of truth.
Facebook pages -- Understanding your Facebook page
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