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Still much devastation going on...and NO power for me yet...BUT..I do not want to include all of that here...Felt the need to post some of the beauty around me right now instead...Still so limited with software/cropping/resizing photos..so forgive any roughness..Just want everyone to know I am OK...muddling through...so enjoy these blues skies and sunshine...
A best friend of mine was recently diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease.We were talking and he made the statement "Laugh...because life makes no sense whatsoever."
**Optimism**
Even as dark clouds seek to obscure the light, the power that is optimism keeps us moving forward until the sun shines again.
An optimist is the human personification of spring. ~Susan J. Bissonette
I think I have been subconsciously channelling my friend Geisha!
28 – Linda Scott Residence. 1910 S Harvard Blvd. 1907. Frank M Tyler.
Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 963
Departing from his usual Transitional Victorian-Craftsman Style, F M Tyler designed a mansion for Ms. Linda Scott with a Moorish façade, in 1910. The rooms of this house are arranged around a central foyer with a center staircase descending in the middle of the room from an open gallery. On the south are a feminine parlor and library; on the north is a masculine study and opulent dining room. Access to the service area is from a door hidden behind the staircase. The arrangement is meant to impress, and it does!
West Adams Heights
“Nowadays we scarcely notice the high stone gates which mark the entrances on Hobart, Harvard, and Oxford streets, south of Washington Boulevard. For one thing, the traffic is too heavy, too swift; and then, again, the gates have been obscured by intrusions of shops and stores. At the base of the stone pillars appears the inscription “West Adams Heights.” There was a time when these entranceways were formidable and haughty, for they marked the ways to one of the first elite residential areas in Los Angeles. . . In the unplanned early-day chaos of Los Angeles, West Adams Heights was obviously something very special, an island in an ocean of bungalows—approachable, but withdrawn and reclusive—one of the few surviving examples of planned urban elegance of the turn of the century.”
- Carey McWilliams, “The Evolution of Sugar Hill,” Script, March, 1949: 30.
Today West Adams Heights is still obviously something special. The past sixty years, however, have not been kind. In 1963 the Santa Monica Freeway cut through the heart of West Adams Heights, dividing the neighborhood, obscuring its continuity. In the 1970’s the city paved over the red brick streets and removed the ornate street lighting. After the neighborhood’s zoning was changed to a higher density, overzealous developers claimed several mansions for apartment buildings. Despite these challenges, however, “The Heights,” as the area was once known, has managed to regain some of its former elegance.
The West Adams Heights tract was laid out in 1902, in what was then a wheat field on the western edge of town. Although the freeway now creates an artificial barrier, the original neighborhood boundaries were Adams Boulevard, La Salle Ave, Washington Boulevard, and Western Avenue. Costly improvements were integrated into the development, such as 75-food wide boulevards (which were some of the first contoured streets not to follow the city grid), lots elevated from the sidewalk, ornate street lighting, and large granite monuments with red-brass electroliers at the entrance to every street. These upgrades increased the lot values, which helped ensure the tract would be an enclave for the elite.
One early real estate ad characterized the neighborhood stating: “West Adams Heights needs no introduction to the public: it is already recognized as being far superior to any other tract. Its high and slightly location, its beautiful view of the city and mountains make t a property unequaled by any other in the city.”
The early residents’ were required to sign a detailed restrictive covenant. This hand-written document required property owners to build a “first-class residence,” of at least two stories, costing no less than two-thousand dollars (at a time when a respectable home could be built for a quarter of that amount, including the land), and built no less than thirty-five feet from the property’s primary boundary. Common in early twentieth century, another clause excluded residents from selling or leasing their properties to non-Caucasians.
By the mid 1930’s, however, most of the restrictions had expired. Between 1938 and 1945 many prominent African-Americans began to make “The Heights” their home. According to Carey McWilliams, West Adams Heights became known “Far and wide as the famous Sugar Hill section of Los Angeles,” and enjoyed a clear preeminence over Washington’s smart Le Droit Park, St. Louis’s Enright Street, West Philadelphia, Chicago’s Westchester, and Harlem’s fabulous Sugar Hill.
West Adams Heights, now also known as Sugar Hill, played a major role in the Civil Rights movement in Los Angeles. In 1938 Norman Houston, president of the Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Company, and an African-American, purchased a home at 2211 South Hobart Boulevard. Legal Action from eight homeowners quickly ensued. During that period, other prominent African-Americans began to make Sugar Hill their home – including actress Hattie McDaniels, dentists John and Vada Summerville, actress Louise Beavers, band leader Johnny Otis, and performers Pearl Baily and Ethel Waters, and many more. On December 6, 1945, the “Sugar Hill Cases” were heard before Judge Thurmond Clark, in LA Superior Court. He made history by become the first judge in America to use the 14th Amendment to disallow the enforcement of covenant race restrictions. The Los Angeles Sentinel quoted Judge Clark: “This court is of the opinion that it is time that [African-Americans] are accorded, without reservations and evasions, the full rights guaranteed them under the 14th Amendment.” Gradually, over the last century people of nearly ever background have made historic West Adams their home.
The northern end of West Adams Heights is now protected as part of the Harvard Heights Historic Preservation Overlay Zone (HPOZ). The Historic West Adams area of Los Angeles (which includes West Adams Heights) boasts the highest concentration of turn-of-the-century homes west of the Mississippi, as well as the highest concentration of National Historic Landmarks, National Register of Historic Places, National Historic Districts, State Historic Landmarks, Los Angeles Cultural-Historic Monuments, and Historic Preservation Overlay Zones in the city. The entirety of West Adams Heights should be nominated as a National Register Historic District, for the quality of homes, the prominence of the architects, notoriety of the people who lived in the neighborhood, and the role it played in civil rights.
Perhaps a quote adapted from a fireplace mantle in the Frederick Rindge mansion best symbolizes the optimism which exists in West Adams: “California Shall be Ours as Long as the Stars Remain.”
While being ill in my bed I have much time to think about bits and pieces ....
Following wise sentences I have found in one of my books
(sorry, only in German. Perhaps anybody could translate ??):
" Es ist klüger, pessimistisch zu sein:
Vergessen sind die Enttäuschungen,
und man steht vor den Menschen nicht blamiert da.
So ist der OPTIMISMUS bei den Klugen verpönt.
OPTIMISMUS ist eine Lebenskraft,
eine Kraft der Hoffnung, wo andere resignieren,
eine Kraft, Rückschläge zu ertragen,
eine Kraft, die die Zukunft niemals dem Gegner überläßt,
sondern sie für sich in Anspruch nimmt.
Den OPTIMISMUS als Willen zur Zukunft soll man nie verächtlich machen,
auch wenn er hundertmal irrt;
er ist Gesundheit des Lebens, die der Kranke nicht anstecken soll. "
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
From the Wipers Times. If you haven't caught the new BBC dramatised story of The Wipers Times it's available on i-player. I was bought the reproductions by my Mum about ten years ago as a Christmas present. Good stuff. :-)
Stepped out to replenish the squirrel corn cob feeder while ago. Felt so nice to get outside, been down with flu for a couple of days, you know the drill, fever(102°, aches, delirium, sleeplessness, thinking you're dying stuff...anyway just felt good to get outside. So I began hearing what I thought was a woodpecker. The pounding sounded as if it were on a hollow tree right next to me but I scanned all the sweetgums and oaks to no avail. Then I happened to see a furtive movement . . . inside my "squirrel proof" bird feeder. Yep . . . a little chick-a-dee was trapped inside and tapping to let me know he wanted out! After opening the top he acted like he couldn't quite decide to make his great escape in the vertical so I laid it across the bird wash where he then waddled out and hit the ground wobbling. Guess he had been in there too long and was too stiff to fly right off the bat? Anyway I left him to his ground wanderings in my unraked yard . . . then once back inside I started thinking, what about the neighborhood cats. Were they going to be the recipients of my random act of kindness? Sigh . . . sometimes Nature is cruel. Hope the little guy survives.
Gautama Buddha, also known as Siddhārtha Gautama, Shakyamuni, or simply the Buddha, was a sage on whose teachings Buddhism was founded. He is believed to have lived and taught mostly in northeastern India sometime between the sixth and fourth centuries BCE.
The word Buddha means "awakened one" or "the enlightened one". "Buddha" is also used as a title for the first awakened being in a Yuga era. In most Buddhist traditions, Siddhartha Gautama is regarded as the Supreme Buddha (Pali sammāsambuddha, Sanskrit samyaksaṃbuddha) of the present age. Gautama taught a Middle Way between sensual indulgence and the severe asceticism found in the śramaṇa movement common in his region. He later taught throughout regions of eastern India such as Magadha and Kosala.
Gautama is the primary figure in Buddhism and accounts of his life, discourses, and monastic rules are believed by Buddhists to have been summarized after his death and memorized by his followers. Various collections of teachings attributed to him were passed down by oral tradition and first committed to writing about 400 years later.
CONTENTS
HISTORICAL SIDDHARTA GAUTAMA
Scholars are hesitant to make unqualified claims about the historical facts of the Buddha's life. Most accept that he lived, taught and founded a monastic order during the Mahajanapada era during the reign of Bimbisara, the ruler of the Magadha empire, and died during the early years of the reign of Ajasattu, who was the successor of Bimbisara, thus making him a younger contemporary of Mahavira, the Jain tirthankara. Apart from the Vedic Brahmins, the Buddha's lifetime coincided with the flourishing of other influential śramaṇa schools of thoughts like Ājīvika, Cārvāka, Jainism, and Ajñana. It was also the age of influential thinkers like Mahavira, Pūraṇa Kassapa , Makkhali Gosāla, Ajita Kesakambalī, Pakudha Kaccāyana, and Sañjaya Belaṭṭhaputta, whose viewpoints the Buddha most certainly must have been acquainted with and influenced by. Indeed, Sariputta and Moggallāna, two of the foremost disciples of the Buddha, were formerly the foremost disciples of Sañjaya Belaṭṭhaputta, the skeptic. There is also evidence to suggest that the two masters, Alara Kalama and Uddaka Ramaputta, were indeed historical figures and they most probably taught Buddha two different forms of meditative techniques. While the general sequence of "birth, maturity, renunciation, search, awakening and liberation, teaching, death" is widely accepted, there is less consensus on the veracity of many details contained in traditional biographies.
The times of Gautama's birth and death are uncertain. Most historians in the early 20th century dated his lifetime as circa 563 BCE to 483 BCE. More recently his death is dated later, between 411 and 400 BCE, while at a symposium on this question held in 1988, the majority of those who presented definite opinions gave dates within 20 years either side of 400 BCE for the Buddha's death. These alternative chronologies, however, have not yet been accepted by all historians.
The evidence of the early texts suggests that Siddhārtha Gautama was born into the Shakya clan, a community that was on the periphery, both geographically and culturally, of the northeastern Indian subcontinent in the 5th century BCE. It was either a small republic, in which case his father was an elected chieftain, or an oligarchy, in which case his father was an oligarch. According to the Buddhist tradition, Gautama was born in Lumbini, nowadays in modern-day Nepal, and raised in the Shakya capital of Kapilavastu, which may have been in either present day Tilaurakot, Nepal or Piprahwa, India. He obtained his enlightenment in Bodh Gaya, gave his first sermon in Sarnath, and died in Kushinagar.
No written records about Gautama have been found from his lifetime or some centuries thereafter. One Edict of Asoka, who reigned from circa 269 BCE to 232 BCE, commemorates the Emperor's pilgrimage to the Buddha's birthplace in Lumbini. Another one of his edicts mentions several Dhamma texts, establishing the existence of a written Buddhist tradition at least by the time of the Maurya era and which may be the precursors of the Pāli Canon. The oldest surviving Buddhist manuscripts are the Gandhāran Buddhist texts, reported to have been found in or around Haḍḍa near Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan and now preserved in the British Library. They are written in the Gāndhārī language using the Kharosthi script on twenty-seven birch bark manuscripts and date from the first century BCE to the third century CE.
TRADITIONAL BIOGRAPHIES
BIOGRAPHICAL SOURCES
The sources for the life of Siddhārtha Gautama are a variety of different, and sometimes conflicting, traditional biographies. These include the Buddhacarita, Lalitavistara Sūtra, Mahāvastu, and the Nidānakathā. Of these, the Buddhacarita is the earliest full biography, an epic poem written by the poet Aśvaghoṣa, and dating around the beginning of the 2nd century CE. The Lalitavistara Sūtra is the next oldest biography, a Mahāyāna/Sarvāstivāda biography dating to the 3rd century CE. The Mahāvastu from the Mahāsāṃghika Lokottaravāda tradition is another major biography, composed incrementally until perhaps the 4th century CE. The Dharmaguptaka biography of the Buddha is the most exhaustive, and is entitled the Abhiniṣkramaṇa Sūtra, and various Chinese translations of this date between the 3rd and 6th century CE. The Nidānakathā is from the Theravada tradition in Sri Lanka and was composed in the 5th century by Buddhaghoṣa.
From canonical sources, the Jataka tales, the Mahapadana Sutta (DN 14), and the Achariyabhuta Sutta (MN 123) which include selective accounts that may be older, but are not full biographies. The Jātakas retell previous lives of Gautama as a bodhisattva, and the first collection of these can be dated among the earliest Buddhist texts. The Mahāpadāna Sutta and Achariyabhuta Sutta both recount miraculous events surrounding Gautama's birth, such as the bodhisattva's descent from the Tuṣita Heaven into his mother's womb.
NATURE OF TRADITIONAL DEPICTIONS
In the earliest Buddhists texts, the nikāyas and āgamas, the Buddha is not depicted as possessing omniscience (sabbaññu) nor is he depicted as being an eternal transcendent (lokottara) being. According to Bhikkhu Analayo, ideas of the Buddha's omniscience (along with an increasing tendency to deify him and his biography) are found only later, in the Mahayana sutras and later Pali commentaries or texts such as the Mahāvastu. In the Sandaka Sutta, the Buddha's disciple Ananda outlines an argument against the claims of teachers who say they are all knowing while in the Tevijjavacchagotta Sutta the Buddha himself states that he has never made a claim to being omniscient, instead he claimed to have the "higher knowledges" (abhijñā). The earliest biographical material from the Pali Nikayas focuses on the Buddha's life as a śramaṇa, his search for enlightenment under various teachers such as Alara Kalama and his forty five year career as a teacher.
Traditional biographies of Gautama generally include numerous miracles, omens, and supernatural events. The character of the Buddha in these traditional biographies is often that of a fully transcendent (Skt. lokottara) and perfected being who is unencumbered by the mundane world. In the Mahāvastu, over the course of many lives, Gautama is said to have developed supra-mundane abilities including: a painless birth conceived without intercourse; no need for sleep, food, medicine, or bathing, although engaging in such "in conformity with the world"; omniscience, and the ability to "suppress karma". Nevertheless, some of the more ordinary details of his life have been gathered from these traditional sources. In modern times there has been an attempt to form a secular understanding of Siddhārtha Gautama's life by omitting the traditional supernatural elements of his early biographies.
Andrew Skilton writes that the Buddha was never historically regarded by Buddhist traditions as being merely human:
It is important to stress that, despite modern Theravada teachings to the contrary (often a sop to skeptical Western pupils), he was never seen as being merely human. For instance, he is often described as having the thirty-two major and eighty minor marks or signs of a mahāpuruṣa, "superman"; the Buddha himself denied that he was either a man or a god; and in the Mahāparinibbāna Sutta he states that he could live for an aeon were he asked to do so.The ancient Indians were generally unconcerned with chronologies, being more focused on philosophy. Buddhist texts reflect this tendency, providing a clearer picture of what Gautama may have taught than of the dates of the events in his life. These texts contain descriptions of the culture and daily life of ancient India which can be corroborated from the Jain scriptures, and make the Buddha's time the earliest period in Indian history for which significant accounts exist. British author Karen Armstrong writes that although there is very little information that can be considered historically sound, we can be reasonably confident that Siddhārtha Gautama did exist as a historical figure. Michael Carrithers goes a bit further by stating that the most general outline of "birth, maturity, renunciation, search, awakening and liberation, teaching, death" must be true.
BIOGRAPHY
CONCEPTION AND BIRTH
The Buddhist tradition regards Lumbini, in present-day Nepal to be the birthplace of the Buddha. He grew up in Kapilavastu. The exact site of ancient Kapilavastu is unknown. It may have been either Piprahwa, Uttar Pradesh, present-day India, or Tilaurakot, present-day Nepal. Both places belonged to the Sakya territory, and are located only 15 miles apart from each other.
Gautama was born as a Kshatriya, the son of Śuddhodana, "an elected chief of the Shakya clan", whose capital was Kapilavastu, and who were later annexed by the growing Kingdom of Kosala during the Buddha's lifetime. Gautama was the family name. His mother, Maya (Māyādevī), Suddhodana's wife, was a Koliyan princess. Legend has it that, on the night Siddhartha was conceived, Queen Maya dreamt that a white elephant with six white tusks entered her right side, and ten months later Siddhartha was born. As was the Shakya tradition, when his mother Queen Maya became pregnant, she left Kapilvastu for her father's kingdom to give birth. However, her son is said to have been born on the way, at Lumbini, in a garden beneath a sal tree.
The day of the Buddha's birth is widely celebrated in Theravada countries as Vesak. Buddha's Birthday is called Buddha Purnima in Nepal and India as he is believed to have been born on a full moon day. Various sources hold that the Buddha's mother died at his birth, a few days or seven days later. The infant was given the name Siddhartha (Pāli: Siddhattha), meaning "he who achieves his aim". During the birth celebrations, the hermit seer Asita journeyed from his mountain abode and announced that the child would either become a great king (chakravartin) or a great sadhu. By traditional account, this occurred after Siddhartha placed his feet in Asita's hair and Asita examined the birthmarks. Suddhodana held a naming ceremony on the fifth day, and invited eight Brahmin scholars to read the future. All gave a dual prediction that the baby would either become a great king or a great holy man. Kondañña, the youngest, and later to be the first arhat other than the Buddha, was reputed to be the only one who unequivocally predicted that Siddhartha would become a Buddha.
While later tradition and legend characterized Śuddhodana as a hereditary monarch, the descendant of the Suryavansha (Solar dynasty) of Ikṣvāku (Pāli: Okkāka), many scholars think that Śuddhodana was the elected chief of a tribal confederacy.
Early texts suggest that Gautama was not familiar with the dominant religious teachings of his time until he left on his religious quest, which is said to have been motivated by existential concern for the human condition. The state of the Shakya clan was not a monarchy, and seems to have been structured either as an oligarchy, or as a form of republic. The more egalitarian gana-sangha form of government, as a political alternative to the strongly hierarchical kingdoms, may have influenced the development of the śramanic Jain and Buddhist sanghas, where monarchies tended toward Vedic Brahmanism.
EARLY LIFE AND MARRIAGE
Siddhartha was brought up by his mother's younger sister, Maha Pajapati. By tradition, he is said to have been destined by birth to the life of a prince, and had three palaces (for seasonal occupation) built for him. Although more recent scholarship doubts this status, his father, said to be King Śuddhodana, wishing for his son to be a great king, is said to have shielded him from religious teachings and from knowledge of human suffering.
When he reached the age of 16, his father reputedly arranged his marriage to a cousin of the same age named Yaśodharā (Pāli: Yasodharā). According to the traditional account, she gave birth to a son, named Rāhula. Siddhartha is said to have spent 29 years as a prince in Kapilavastu. Although his father ensured that Siddhartha was provided with everything he could want or need, Buddhist scriptures say that the future Buddha felt that material wealth was not life's ultimate goal.
RENUNCIATION AND ASCETIC LIFE
At the age of 29, the popular biography continues, Siddhartha left his palace to meet his subjects. Despite his father's efforts to hide from him the sick, aged and suffering, Siddhartha was said to have seen an old man. When his charioteer Channa explained to him that all people grew old, the prince went on further trips beyond the palace. On these he encountered a diseased man, a decaying corpse, and an ascetic. These depressed him, and he initially strove to overcome aging, sickness, and death by living the life of an ascetic.
Accompanied by Channa and riding his horse Kanthaka, Gautama quit his palace for the life of a mendicant. It's said that, "the horse's hooves were muffled by the gods" to prevent guards from knowing of his departure.
Gautama initially went to Rajagaha and began his ascetic life by begging for alms in the street. After King Bimbisara's men recognised Siddhartha and the king learned of his quest, Bimbisara offered Siddhartha the throne. Siddhartha rejected the offer, but promised to visit his kingdom of Magadha first, upon attaining enlightenment.
He left Rajagaha and practised under two hermit teachers of yogic meditation. After mastering the teachings of Alara Kalama (Skr. Ārāḍa Kālāma), he was asked by Kalama to succeed him. However, Gautama felt unsatisfied by the practice, and moved on to become a student of yoga with Udaka Ramaputta (Skr. Udraka Rāmaputra). With him he achieved high levels of meditative consciousness, and was again asked to succeed his teacher. But, once more, he was not satisfied, and again moved on.
Siddhartha and a group of five companions led by Kaundinya are then said to have set out to take their austerities even further. They tried to find enlightenment through deprivation of worldly goods, including food, practising self-mortification. After nearly starving himself to death by restricting his food intake to around a leaf or nut per day, he collapsed in a river while bathing and almost drowned. Siddhartha was rescued by a village girl named Sujata and she gave him some payasam (a pudding made from milk and jaggery) after which Siddhartha got back some energy. Siddhartha began to reconsider his path. Then, he remembered a moment in childhood in which he had been watching his father start the season's ploughing. He attained a concentrated and focused state that was blissful and refreshing, the jhāna.
AWAKENING
According to the early Buddhist texts, after realizing that meditative dhyana was the right path to awakening, but that extreme asceticism didn't work, Gautama discovered what Buddhists call the Middle Way - a path of moderation away from the extremes of self-indulgence and self-mortification, or the Noble Eightfold Path, as was identified and described by the Buddha in his first discourse, the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta. In a famous incident, after becoming starved and weakened, he is said to have accepted milk and rice pudding from a village girl named Sujata. Such was his emaciated appearance that she wrongly believed him to be a spirit that had granted her a wish.
Following this incident, Gautama was famously seated under a pipal tree - now known as the Bodhi tree - in Bodh Gaya, India, when he vowed never to arise until he had found the truth. Kaundinya and four other companions, believing that he had abandoned his search and become undisciplined, left. After a reputed 49 days of meditation, at the age of 35, he is said to have attained Enlightenment. According to some traditions, this occurred in approximately the fifth lunar month, while, according to others, it was in the twelfth month. From that time, Gautama was known to his followers as the Buddha or "Awakened One" ("Buddha" is also sometimes translated as "The Enlightened One").
According to Buddhism, at the time of his awakening he realized complete insight into the cause of suffering, and the steps necessary to eliminate it. These discoveries became known as the "Four Noble Truths", which are at the heart of Buddhist teaching. Through mastery of these truths, a state of supreme liberation, or Nirvana, is believed to be possible for any being. The Buddha described Nirvāna as the perfect peace of a mind that's free from ignorance, greed, hatred and other afflictive states, or "defilements" (kilesas). Nirvana is also regarded as the "end of the world", in that no personal identity or boundaries of the mind remain. In such a state, a being is said to possess the Ten Characteristics, belonging to every Buddha.
According to a story in the Āyācana Sutta (Samyutta Nikaya VI.1) - a scripture found in the Pāli and other canons - immediately after his awakening, the Buddha debated whether or not he should teach the Dharma to others. He was concerned that humans were so overpowered by ignorance, greed and hatred that they could never recognise the path, which is subtle, deep and hard to grasp. However, in the story, Brahmā Sahampati convinced him, arguing that at least some will understand it. The Buddha relented, and agreed to teach.
FORMATION OF THE SANGHA
After his awakening, the Buddha met Taphussa and Bhallika — two merchant brothers from the city of Balkh in what is currently Afghanistan - who became his first lay disciples. It is said that each was given hairs from his head, which are now claimed to be enshrined as relics in the Shwe Dagon Temple in Rangoon, Burma. The Buddha intended to visit Asita, and his former teachers, Alara Kalama and Udaka Ramaputta, to explain his findings, but they had already died.
He then travelled to the Deer Park near Varanasi (Benares) in northern India, where he set in motion what Buddhists call the Wheel of Dharma by delivering his first sermon to the five companions with whom he had sought enlightenment. Together with him, they formed the first saṅgha: the company of Buddhist monks.
All five become arahants, and within the first two months, with the conversion of Yasa and fifty four of his friends, the number of such arahants is said to have grown to 60. The conversion of three brothers named Kassapa followed, with their reputed 200, 300 and 500 disciples, respectively. This swelled the sangha to more than 1,000.
TRAVELS AND TEACHING
For the remaining 45 years of his life, the Buddha is said to have traveled in the Gangetic Plain, in what is now Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and southern Nepal, teaching a diverse range of people: from nobles to servants, murderers such as Angulimala, and cannibals such as Alavaka. Although the Buddha's language remains unknown, it's likely that he taught in one or more of a variety of closely related Middle Indo-Aryan dialects, of which Pali may be a standardization.
The sangha traveled through the subcontinent, expounding the dharma. This continued throughout the year, except during the four months of the Vāsanā rainy season when ascetics of all religions rarely traveled. One reason was that it was more difficult to do so without causing harm to animal life. At this time of year, the sangha would retreat to monasteries, public parks or forests, where people would come to them.
The first vassana was spent at Varanasi when the sangha was formed. After this, the Buddha kept a promise to travel to Rajagaha, capital of Magadha, to visit King Bimbisara. During this visit, Sariputta and Maudgalyayana were converted by Assaji, one of the first five disciples, after which they were to become the Buddha's two foremost followers. The Buddha spent the next three seasons at Veluvana Bamboo Grove monastery in Rajagaha, capital of Magadha.
Upon hearing of his son's awakening, Suddhodana sent, over a period, ten delegations to ask him to return to Kapilavastu. On the first nine occasions, the delegates failed to deliver the message, and instead joined the sangha to become arahants. The tenth delegation, led by Kaludayi, a childhood friend of Gautama's (who also became an arahant), however, delivered the message.
Now two years after his awakening, the Buddha agreed to return, and made a two-month journey by foot to Kapilavastu, teaching the dharma as he went. At his return, the royal palace prepared a midday meal, but the sangha was making an alms round in Kapilavastu. Hearing this, Suddhodana approached his son, the Buddha, saying:
"Ours is the warrior lineage of Mahamassata, and not a single warrior has gone seeking alms."
The Buddha is said to have replied:
"That is not the custom of your royal lineage. But it is the custom of my Buddha lineage. Several thousands of Buddhas have gone by seeking alms."
Buddhist texts say that Suddhodana invited the sangha into the palace for the meal, followed by a dharma talk. After this he is said to have become a sotapanna. During the visit, many members of the royal family joined the sangha. The Buddha's cousins Ananda and Anuruddha became two of his five chief disciples. At the age of seven, his son Rahula also joined, and became one of his ten chief disciples. His half-brother Nanda also joined and became an arahant.
Of the Buddha's disciples, Sariputta, Maudgalyayana, Mahakasyapa, Ananda and Anuruddha are believed to have been the five closest to him. His ten foremost disciples were reputedly completed by the quintet of Upali, Subhoti, Rahula, Mahakaccana and Punna.
In the fifth vassana, the Buddha was staying at Mahavana near Vesali when he heard news of the impending death of his father. He is said to have gone to Suddhodana and taught the dharma, after which his father became an arahant.The king's death and cremation was to inspire the creation of an order of nuns. Buddhist texts record that the Buddha was reluctant to ordain women. His foster mother Maha Pajapati, for example, approached him, asking to join the sangha, but he refused. Maha Pajapati, however, was so intent on the path of awakening that she led a group of royal Sakyan and Koliyan ladies, which followed the sangha on a long journey to Rajagaha. In time, after Ananda championed their cause, the Buddha is said to have reconsidered and, five years after the formation of the sangha, agreed to the ordination of women as nuns. He reasoned that males and females had an equal capacity for awakening. But he gave women additional rules (Vinaya) to follow.
MAHAPARINIRVANA
According to the Mahaparinibbana Sutta of the Pali canon, at the age of 80, the Buddha announced that he would soon reach Parinirvana, or the final deathless state, and abandon his earthly body. After this, the Buddha ate his last meal, which he had received as an offering from a blacksmith named Cunda. Falling violently ill, Buddha instructed his attendant Ānanda to convince Cunda that the meal eaten at his place had nothing to do with his passing and that his meal would be a source of the greatest merit as it provided the last meal for a Buddha. Mettanando and Von Hinüber argue that the Buddha died of mesenteric infarction, a symptom of old age, rather than food poisoning. The precise contents of the Buddha's final meal are not clear, due to variant scriptural traditions and ambiguity over the translation of certain significant terms; the Theravada tradition generally believes that the Buddha was offered some kind of pork, while the Mahayana tradition believes that the Buddha consumed some sort of truffle or other mushroom. These may reflect the different traditional views on Buddhist vegetarianism and the precepts for monks and nuns.
Waley suggests that Theravadin's would take suukaramaddava (the contents of the Buddha's last meal), which can translate as pig-soft, to mean soft flesh of a pig. However, he also states that pig-soft could mean "pig's soft-food", that is, after Neumann, a soft food favoured by pigs, assumed to be a truffle. He argues (also after Neumann) that as Pali Buddhism was developed in an area remote to the Buddha's death, the existence of other plants with suukara- (pig) as part of their names and that "(p)lant names tend to be local and dialectical" could easily indicate that suukaramaddava was a type of plant whose local name was unknown to those in the Pali regions. Specifically, local writers knew more about their flora than Theravadin commentator Buddhaghosa who lived hundreds of years and kilometres remote in time and space from the events described. Unaware of an alternate meaning and with no Theravadin prohibition against eating animal flesh, Theravadins would not have questioned the Buddha eating meat and interpreted the term accordingly.
Ananda protested the Buddha's decision to enter Parinirvana in the abandoned jungles of Kuśināra (present-day Kushinagar, India) of the Malla kingdom. The Buddha, however, is said to have reminded Ananda how Kushinara was a land once ruled by a righteous wheel-turning king that resounded with joy:
44. Kusavati, Ananda, resounded unceasingly day and night with ten sounds - the trumpeting of elephants, the neighing of horses, the rattling of chariots, the beating of drums and tabours, music and song, cheers, the clapping of hands, and cries of "Eat, drink, and be merry!"
The Buddha then asked all the attendant Bhikkhus to clarify any doubts or questions they had. They had none. According to Buddhist scriptures, he then finally entered Parinirvana. The Buddha's final words are reported to have been: "All composite things (Saṅkhāra) are perishable. Strive for your own liberation with diligence" (Pali: 'vayadhammā saṅkhārā appamādena sampādethā'). His body was cremated and the relics were placed in monuments or stupas, some of which are believed to have survived until the present. For example, The Temple of the Tooth or "Dalada Maligawa" in Sri Lanka is the place where what some believe to be the relic of the right tooth of Buddha is kept at present.
According to the Pāli historical chronicles of Sri Lanka, the Dīpavaṃsa and Mahāvaṃsa, the coronation of Emperor Aśoka (Pāli: Asoka) is 218 years after the death of the Buddha. According to two textual records in Chinese (十八部論 and 部執異論), the coronation of Emperor Aśoka is 116 years after the death of the Buddha. Therefore, the time of Buddha's passing is either 486 BCE according to Theravāda record or 383 BCE according to Mahayana record. However, the actual date traditionally accepted as the date of the Buddha's death in Theravāda countries is 544 or 545 BCE, because the reign of Emperor Aśoka was traditionally reckoned to be about 60 years earlier than current estimates. In Burmese Buddhist tradition, the date of the Buddha's death is 13 May 544 BCE. whereas in Thai tradition it is 11 March 545 BCE.
At his death, the Buddha is famously believed to have told his disciples to follow no leader. Mahakasyapa was chosen by the sangha to be the chairman of the First Buddhist Council, with the two chief disciples Maudgalyayana and Sariputta having died before the Buddha.
While in the Buddha's days he was addressed by the very respected titles Buddha, Shākyamuni, Shākyasimha, Bhante and Bho, he was known after his parinirvana as Arihant, Bhagavā/Bhagavat/Bhagwān, Mahāvira, Jina/Jinendra, Sāstr, Sugata, and most popularly in scriptures as Tathāgata.
BUDDHA AND VEDAS
Buddha's teachings deny the authority of the Vedas and consequently [at least atheistic] Buddhism is generally viewed as a nāstika school (heterodox, literally "It is not so") from the perspective of orthodox Hinduism.
RELICS
After his death, Buddha's cremation relics were divided amongst 8 royal families and his disciples; centuries later they would be enshrined by King Ashoka into 84,000 stupas. Many supernatural legends surround the history of alleged relics as they accompanied the spread of Buddhism and gave legitimacy to rulers.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
An extensive and colorful physical description of the Buddha has been laid down in scriptures. A kshatriya by birth, he had military training in his upbringing, and by Shakyan tradition was required to pass tests to demonstrate his worthiness as a warrior in order to marry. He had a strong enough body to be noticed by one of the kings and was asked to join his army as a general. He is also believed by Buddhists to have "the 32 Signs of the Great Man".
The Brahmin Sonadanda described him as "handsome, good-looking, and pleasing to the eye, with a most beautiful complexion. He has a godlike form and countenance, he is by no means unattractive." (D, I:115)
"It is wonderful, truly marvellous, how serene is the good Gotama's appearance, how clear and radiant his complexion, just as the golden jujube in autumn is clear and radiant, just as a palm-tree fruit just loosened from the stalk is clear and radiant, just as an adornment of red gold wrought in a crucible by a skilled goldsmith, deftly beaten and laid on a yellow-cloth shines, blazes and glitters, even so, the good Gotama's senses are calmed, his complexion is clear and radiant." (A, I:181)
A disciple named Vakkali, who later became an arahant, was so obsessed by the Buddha's physical presence that the Buddha is said to have felt impelled to tell him to desist, and to have reminded him that he should know the Buddha through the Dhamma and not through physical appearances.
Although there are no extant representations of the Buddha in human form until around the 1st century CE (see Buddhist art), descriptions of the physical characteristics of fully enlightened buddhas are attributed to the Buddha in the Digha Nikaya's Lakkhaṇa Sutta (D, I:142). In addition, the Buddha's physical appearance is described by Yasodhara to their son Rahula upon the Buddha's first post-Enlightenment return to his former princely palace in the non-canonical Pali devotional hymn, Narasīha Gāthā ("The Lion of Men").
Among the 32 main characteristics it is mentioned that Buddha has blue eyes.
NINE VIRTUES
Recollection of nine virtues attributed to the Buddha is a common Buddhist meditation and devotional practice called Buddhānusmṛti. The nine virtues are also among the 40 Buddhist meditation subjects. The nine virtues of the Buddha appear throughout the Tipitaka, and include:
- Buddho – Awakened
- Sammasambuddho – Perfectly self-awakened
- Vijja-carana-sampano – Endowed with higher knowledge and ideal conduct.
- Sugato – Well-gone or Well-spoken.
- Lokavidu – Wise in the knowledge of the many worlds.
- Anuttaro Purisa-damma-sarathi – Unexcelled trainer of untrained people.
- Satthadeva-Manussanam – Teacher of gods and humans.
- Bhagavathi – The Blessed one
- Araham – Worthy of homage. An Arahant is "one with taints destroyed, who has lived the holy life, done what had to be done, laid down the burden, reached the true goal, destroyed the fetters of being, and is completely liberated through final knowledge."
TEACHINGS
TRACING THE OLDEST TEACHINGS
Information of the oldest teachings may be obtained by analysis of the oldest texts. One method to obtain information on the oldest core of Buddhism is to compare the oldest extant versions of the Theravadin Pali Canon and other texts. The reliability of these sources, and the possibility to draw out a core of oldest teachings, is a matter of dispute. According to Vetter, inconsistencies remain, and other methods must be applied to resolve those inconsistencies.
According to Schmithausen, three positions held by scholars of Buddhism can be distinguished:
"Stress on the fundamental homogeneity and substantial authenticity of at least a considerable part of the Nikayic materials;"
"Scepticism with regard to the possibility of retrieving the doctrine of earliest Buddhism;"
"Cautious optimism in this respect."
DHYANA AND INSIGHT
A core problem in the study of early Buddhism is the relation between dhyana and insight. Schmithausen, in his often-cited article On some Aspects of Descriptions or Theories of 'Liberating Insight' and 'Enlightenment' in Early Buddhism notes that the mention of the four noble truths as constituting "liberating insight", which is attained after mastering the Rupa Jhanas, is a later addition to texts such as Majjhima Nikaya 36
CORE TEACHINGS
According to Tilmann Vetter, the core of earliest Buddhism is the practice of dhyāna. Bronkhorst agrees that dhyana was a Buddhist invention, whereas Norman notes that "the Buddha's way to release [...] was by means of meditative practices." Discriminating insight into transiency as a separate path to liberation was a later development.
According to the Mahāsaccakasutta, from the fourth jhana the Buddha gained bodhi. Yet, it is not clear what he was awakened to. "Liberating insight" is a later addition to this text, and reflects a later development and understanding in early Buddhism. The mentioning of the four truths as constituting "liberating insight" introduces a logical problem, since the four truths depict a linear path of practice, the knowledge of which is in itself not depicted as being liberating:
[T]hey do not teach that one is released by knowing the four noble truths, but by practicing the fourth noble truth, the eightfold path, which culminates in right samadhi.
Although "Nibbāna" (Sanskrit: Nirvāna) is the common term for the desired goal of this practice, many other terms can be found throughout the Nikayas, which are not specified.
According to Vetter, the description of the Buddhist path may initially have been as simple as the term "the middle way". In time, this short description was elaborated, resulting in the description of the eightfold path.
According to both Bronkhorst and Anderson, the four truths became a substitution for prajna, or "liberating insight", in the suttas in those texts where "liberating insight" was preceded by the four jhanas. According to Bronkhorst, the four truths may not have been formulated in earliest Buddhism, and did not serve in earliest Buddhism as a description of "liberating insight". Gotama's teachings may have been personal, "adjusted to the need of each person."
The three marks of existence may reflect Upanishadic or other influences. K.R. Norman supposes that these terms were already in use at the Buddha's time, and were familiar to his listeners.
The Brahma-vihara was in origin probably a brahmanic term; but its usage may have been common to the Sramana traditions.
LATER DEVELOPMENTS
In time, "liberating insight" became an essential feature of the Buddhist tradition. The following teachings, which are commonly seen as essential to Buddhism, are later formulations which form part of the explanatory framework of this "liberating insight":
- The Four Noble Truths: that suffering is an ingrained part of existence; that the origin of suffering is craving for sensuality, acquisition of identity, and fear of annihilation; that suffering can be ended; and that following the Noble Eightfold Path is the means to accomplish this;
- The Noble Eightfold Path: right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration;
- Dependent origination: the mind creates suffering as a natural product of a complex process.
OTHER RELIGIONS
Some Hindus regard Gautama as the 9th avatar of Vishnu. The Buddha is also regarded as a prophet by the Ahmadiyya Muslims and a Manifestation of God in the Bahá'í Faith. Some early Chinese Taoist-Buddhists thought the Buddha to be a reincarnation of Lao Tzu.
The Christian Saint Josaphat is based on the Buddha. The name comes from the Sanskrit Bodhisattva via Arabic Būdhasaf and Georgian Iodasaph. The only story in which St. Josaphat appears, Barlaam and Josaphat, is based on the life of the Buddha. Josaphat was included in earlier editions of the Roman Martyrology (feast day 27 November) — though not in the Roman Missal — and in the Eastern Orthodox Church liturgical calendar (26 August).
Disciples of the Cao Đài religion worship the Buddha as a major religious teacher. His image can be found in both their Holy See and on the home altar. He is revealed during communication with Divine Beings as son of their Supreme Being (God the Father) together with other major religious teachers and founders like Jesus, Laozi, and Confucius.
In the ancient Gnostic sect of Manichaeism the Buddha is listed among the prophets who preached the word of God before Mani.
WIKIPEDIA
I am amazed at and thankful for all the folks helping to recreate the Jersey Shore. Four months have past, the rebuilding has begun and is moving along at warp speed. We are all full with hope of the boardwalk being operational by Memorial Day weekend, the official unofficial opening of summer season here “down the shore“. Next weekend the annual St. Patrick’s Day parade will go on. This was unimaginable four months ago.
There are still so many homes sitting in limbo, tear down or rebuild? People waiting on help from FEMA and or insurance monies. The red tape is miles long. At last count my small town had nearly 100 homes/families with lives still up in the air. However, on the bright side, businesses are repairing and reopening at a rapid rate.
Sandy’s winds may have destroyed our homes, our boardwalk and our beaches. But she did not blow away all the memories we carry with us.
“Restore the Shore”. I, personally, don’t think it can be restored to what it was. I will remain optimist and believe it will be rebuilt. We will all create new memories.
submitted to ODC/ topic ~ Optimism or Pessimism
Seen & Posted for Critique To The Photo-Focus Group
To my Photo ~ Focus group, I have been playing around again in Photoshop. I had been wanting to create a photo out of some of the 100s I have of our now destroyed boardwalk. I had several different ideas but wasn’t certain exactly how to produce it. I need to learn more about the power of the program. Does this work in conveying the story? Is there something you think I should have added? Deleted? Or is it ok as is?
Oh and thanks to everyone's input from one of my other photos, I paid a little attention to shadowing and a few of the other details. I'm not sure about the photo on the edge of the basket. hmmmmm
Mixed Media Frenzy on this one! Paint dabbers, watercolor and salt, distress inks, graphite pencil, alcohol inks, glazing varnish, glossy accents, holographic sticker dots, and bronze jewels. August 2011
Optimism is an Essential Ingredient for Innovation
Robert N. Noyce
This cat’s optimistic about getting lunch. Amur leopard, Panthera pardus orientalis, leaping. CA Why it Works: The intensity of the leopard’s focus and its mid-air position. Reference number: TDal_1304_031
Views
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Hello Welcome to the land of magic and fantasy.
The land of the cradle of religions and the first civilizations.
The land of Egypt
Today you go to a spot of Bhalla diligent in seeking described by you and by the private Mattmiz from other spots.
It is a land of green in the inner Western Desert of Egypt it
. Bahariya Oasis.
(I) lines for the blogger ,,,,,,,
Dear reader
I know you myself .......
Name / Mohammed Abdullah Mohammed Abbas
Area of work / artist automorphic revelation of the nature
Place of Birth / Albawity Bahariya Oasis Giza, Egypt
Artist automorphic inspiring talent drew inspiration from nature. God has blessed me with great artistic talent from an early age and that helped me that I was born in the Oasis and I lived and grew up under the skies and on the soil and between the folds of mountains and sand Abott and drank water from groundwater wells may like it so loving. And I hope the remains Sewa and Volkolorha People by nature and by the habits and traditions carries with it the fragrance of small oases of history and a solid go along with urbanization and civil rights. As for my paintings art, I cut many of the valleys and paths until you get the natural raw materials as well as gum trees, as well as stones from the slopes of the mountains in order to Ichkeul my paintings by the technical nature of all raw materials so that they are expressing a model of the oasis and its people and their customs and traditions. God has helped me in that he created many works even earn any great admiration of the Egyptians and foreigners from all over the world. It is also vBExperience I Ichkeul sculpture on the stone figures of important people and oases to be expressed in the model house Ziafti realize my dream and now that I have obtained a great admiration for all lovers of nature.
This little to acknowledge it and impart a quick look, which collected the proceeds from scientific about this spot (Bahariya Oasis) while working and going to the valleys and roads and mountains on foot on foot for the acquisition of natural raw materials such as sand, full colors and stones from the mountains and the gum trees to the drawing boards to the oasis, the old to remain a memory in the history of Egypt .........
Welcome to the oasis of art and dreams ...............( Bahariya Oasis Committee of God in the home)
For communication
mop: +20124671367
mop: +20172993345
deserteagle121@hotmail.com
mo_5070@yahoo.com
Mohamed_12199@yahoo.com
(II) - geographic location
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Bahariya Oasis is located in Western Sahara, Arab Republic of Egypt
And away from Cairo, 360 km south west of the Nile Valley and about 220 km away with the alignment of the country west of the Nile Valley, such as Matay and Samalut at a latitude 0''21''28%''0''28 longitude & North Tropic of Cancer.
It is the third time of configurations as described geological maps.
(III) - Description of natural
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This oasis is a low rectangle extending from the northeast to the southwest and the length along the low-about 130 km 'and a maximum width of the north side of this low about 45 km' and expand in the northeast it has significantly expanded and gradually narrows towards the southwest until it is finished south of the space, which is Part of the Oasis 'The area around the low (4000 km) four thousand square kilometers and in expanding the region is populated metropolitan' and this low four entrances and exits of vehicles are: -
(1) - from the north east the main road leading to Cairo, about 360 km.
(2) - Nabq coracoid and this way Mudug Sandstone was formerly the main entrance to the oasis before the paved road which passes next to the chirp coracoid from the north south of the Qattara Depression and ends on the outskirts of low oases, as well as Mount coracoid and then passes the road next to the tomb of Sidi | Muhammad Gaddafi, and people were Oasis formerly make this the tomb of Sheikh comfort station at the coming and going to and from Cairo, where the travel takes more than a week of heavy transport vehicles on this road.
(3) - Nabq Siwa in the north west and this meant to the oasis of Siwa, about 420 km and this goes towards the western direction informed Gharwd jacket and an oasis of Siwa and the lame even
Oasis Jacket (located low and Oasis jacket on the progress of 225 k m from the Bahariya Oasis, 162 KM east of the Oasis of Siwa and 55 KM to the east of the Oasis of the lame, one of the surrounded break important caravan, which is located on the road to Siwa _ Bahariya Oasis, as cut off convoys the distance between them and the Bahariya Oasis in 4 days and between the jacket and the lame in the leap from the stability of the sun Mushargaha to the west and the oasis is low on the body and led a long rosette Lake area of 12 km, the depth of this lake is not more than 14:00 either eye jacket rises the water level on the level of surface lake, a little oasis plantations neglected palm poor resorted to the Bedouin in the case of lack of food during a crossing of the oasis and the area of grassland, but no one inhabited only by going through convoys to rest first, and provide water II in the case of having, as the water-metal situation makes it unfit for drinking ...
(4) - peace in the south west and this meant the way to Farafra Oasis, about 200 km and this passes on the continent of Sheikh Abdullah and then mount the crystal and then the White Desert ......
For this low-eleven trail and a corridor to the beauty of the past and they
(1) - from the south east
* Path Manfalouty
* Path Aldchloty
* Path Roby
* Darb El Bahnasawy
They are paths leading to the Nile Valley and pass on Ahtaya acacia and chirp Eboumhariq routes and Rayyan north valley, watermelon stone and the cave south note that routes the four mentioned above be on the path to one while crossing Pegrd Eboumhariq, which has a length of about 375 km in the maximum display a 3 km, which starts from the eye sea sand as far north end on the outskirts of the Valley to the south and Eboumhariq Kharga oasis away from the Navy about 60 kilometers to the east is the tallest grade sand in the desert of Egypt in general note that Grude Western Sahara start from the northwest and ends in the south east.
(2) - and to the north
* Path cupola and ladle
* Path Seiwy
* Rummage thirteen
They Mwdien to El Alamein, Matrouh and Siwa and pass the valley of Abu Abosnan Algradik Qattara Depression, which lies about 320 km from Bahariya Oasis and gave a description of this area, not to my arrival there.
(3) - from the west
* Path Aletbinip
* Path of the continent of Gallstone
They Mwdien to Siwa Oasis and the jacket and eye function and Farafra.
Eye function) known to the Bedouin into misguided as guided her convoy was misguided in the desert and away its location from the Farafra Oasis 72 km M and Oasis Bahrain 173 km m which is strange really as it explodes in the top of a hill of sand is composed of 3 degrees with a rise in the first one meter on the surface of easily located in the north either second-class-oriented production by 3 m above the first layer and the third rise 5:00 p.m. on the second and stem the eye in a low place about two meters on the top of the hill, which is almost repression around him prevented him from tear and water, this eye is the finest water the desert and no eye on the bushes of palms and tamarind and jungle station, excellent for convoys traveling between the oasis of Farafra and Siwa through the paths of jacket _ lame they are of the wonders of the desert they really the headquarters for the convenience of convoys and tourism and to provide some water them if necessary, but no one reward them.
(4) - from the south west
* Trail corridor continent Sheikh Abdullah Mohammed
* White cave trail
They are doing to the mountain crystal cave and Beer White as the cave and Beer White is located in the northwest of the desert white and along the plateau Rev. Abu Saeed Al-Western set in the middle through the eye of stray and this is the second cave and white desert and the oasis of Farafra, where the mountain crystal away from the lower Bahariya Oasis 30 km, a the pearl of the desert where it emits light after the impact of sunlight at noon and in the moon nights, especially in winter, when the moon is vertically resurrected light on the crystal reflects the light of the north and south and the White Desert 60 km ......
Albawity .. ..
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City Center is the Bahariya Oasis was named Albawity proportion to the name of the Sheikh of the righteous to accept the oases of the ancient lands of the East and he stayed. He has suffered a lot until he reached the oasis and had the generosity and love of the people of the oases and settled and his name (Sidi Hassan Abu Ya'qub Yusuf ibn Yahya Albuwayty), one of the disciples of Imam Shafie his doctrine may God bless him 'and when he passed away of Imam Shafie year 819 AH blessings Sidi Albuwayty people Amama He was among the worshipers of the homes Ms. Karima (Nafisa may Allah be pleased with her). The stability of the land of Oasis request of her family buried them when dies did not fail the people of the oasis on the implementation of his will and has already set up a shrine to him was buried at the time of his death there Balbauwayty and close to the three eyes of their secrets Pmaihm they are a cure for every disease and belongs also their names to him what he was doing where they are : -
Water and wells and springs
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Eye Prayer
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Dubbed this name because he was wudoo including Sheikh Albawity and prayed beside her, because it close to him.
Appointed companion
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And named after Sheikh Albuwayty because he was sitting is the people of the oasis after receiving prayer tool for science and religion to the day you see people sitting Oasis after the Asr prayer in this place.
Appointed bucket eye and spears
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Already are medicine and healing every disease, even if neglected them, but remaining so far as to walk one night and by the way stray finds lantern lights the way for him and guide him even up to safety and their many blessings and secrets ........ Aynak Iain bucket and spears ........
Appointed Alepeshmo
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Roman is a term attributed to Sheikh Albuwayty means (00000000)
It is ironic that this hot Mjerian her eye on the boiling hot and cold stems from the earth from the same place and cold in its course, came from the south until it meets the hot and cold water in the course of one
That place is already Albawity oasis for hundreds of years old does not change Volklorh, customs and traditions, yet the old buildings where there are rocky hills, which was a natural oasis people exploit natural basis for their homes and taken them to the walls of the stones also.
There is this place the tomb of Shaykh (Ahmad Bin Ali) from the north.
It is the south west there is an area called the Western Wall, where the small hill called the continent blacksmiths because they are set up by some of the Accept from the west to Libya an ancient Vantsb name of that place to the title of this family blacksmiths, one of the oldest and largest families, the oasis and the area Albawity Indeed, so far, is the largest residence mismatch Sheikh (Sidi Mohammed Abbas) is a very Li Mohammed Abdullah. There is that area recently from the northern side resorts overlooking the orchards and palm trees directly from the old Oasis Hotel, which was established a few years this area has not changed from the folklore of this beautiful thing is our motto. There is also the oasis water springs from the eyes of groundwater and springs such as the ancient Roman male and listed their names
* Appointed Alepeshmo
* Appointed or snake
* Appointed Muftlp
Many of eyes Romanian old and modern groundwater wells of hot and cold.
After the study discovered that high ground water, sulfurous water treatment of some diseases.
There Trough Oasis sand dunes called chirp. Of which included his name, such as
* Grade debt
* Chirp horse
* Chirp or tippet
As well as the oasis there is a chain of mountains, and every mountain has a name, for example: -
Mount Hofuf
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This mountain is the tallest mountain oases Trough 12 kilometers long, and if you look a closer look you see snaking. It is apparent that the events with me his old Pharaohs. There are on this mountain paths of two-way and corridors, including the apparent meaning of them work there and there at the top of this mountain
Some of the stones heavy sand diabetes Iskhaddmunha apparent that the pharaohs in the making of their parentage .....
And you see there on the top of the mountain roads are paved from the top to the bottom of the visible than that of the easy workflow Abgal to flatten the stones mentioned earlier even Liato them to the place of their own making and see the many things that go on to explain the absence of the mind and pulls her thought and imagination and finally really a certificate of the Pharaohs and the ancient Egyptian.
oasesMount Pyramid
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And his name folks at Oasis cupola and ladle because they resemble cooking pots, three parts of this mountain fleece the first cupola and the eastern and western East scoop by scoop, and this configuration from God and not by humans.
Mount coracoid
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, Named so because it takes the form of a bird the crow, and this mountain is considered the main gate to the entrance of the oases of date by the way is paved as Zchrisabaka.
And the headquarters of this mountain in the northeast and on the outskirts of the entrance of low oases.
Mount Hammad
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Originally named Mount of Praise because convoys to express if they arrived to this area will praise the name of Allaah (God)
Maanoh because of the hardship in their travels.
Mount equitable
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And named this mountain of that name because it is located in the middle of the road between Albawity and space, therefore, called Mouncef.
Mount Giadp
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He called this name because it is different from the mountain, despite being the color black in the desert.
Mount Mtila Radwan
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This mountain, named so because the trail corridor as mentioned conducive to Grude jacket and Siwa. White and well appointed function and in the name of the original eye stray south of Farafra. Mark and has no known only to those knowledgeable ....
Mountain English
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It is situated Balbauwayty and called by that name, because this mountain, saw a lot of the suffering of the English up and down in the Second World War where she was their stay on this mountain black color steadfast and so far the remains of their buildings, it was called that name because he is a black box, which saw the course of things years of war and still tells us over the years about the events, which is formed by the configurations of factors, however, natural or man.
Effects.
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There are many of the Bahariya Oasis, the pharaonic, Coptic, and Romanian. Pharaonic it .......
Caves carved in the mountains, the bodies of the dead mummified in the coffins of pottery and stone valley, mummies, gold and Maqil of archaeologists that the oasis was inhabited (33) Thirty-three families in the era of the Pharaohs, Romans and were used as warehouses for grains, including wheat, had come to her arrivals request it. So far, and discovered by the Antiquities Authority, no more than (10%) ten percent and the rest in the ground and we conservers of him because he first civilizations of the world at large.
Heritage
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There are Roman ruins of buildings visible from and Coptic churches, it was a mud-brick and are found in the area of space and Mendicp. There are also oases ruins of buildings for the people of the old Oasis and that does not change the folklore arts of sculpture, drawing, art and customs and traditions. You see the buildings of each family and the shrine of sheikh mediates their buildings and see the ruins of buildings by Sqhob influenced by the gunshot wounds and of the ancients knew that it addressed the effects of the people of the oasis of Raiders of the target. There are also after the gates at the entrances to some of the areas and streets on the outside, which indicate that these places and streets were closed for fear of the invaders and intruders and bandits coming from the tracks and the mountains at night. There are also oases ancient mosques hundreds of years such as the Mosque Albawity and inclusive country and a mosque likeness and Elsafaip and inclusive angle Elsnose It was the first mosque raises his minaret of brick and this mosque is said to have been built at the hands of men (of the family Senussi) who Accept from the West, past and stayed here for several years and received a very generous and familiarity of the people of the oases and the intensity of their love
The people of the oases if one of them had a child called Senosy note that the oasis is famous generosity to all entrants, such as Mackerm by Sheikh and Sheikh Albuwayty obstacle
Many of the generosity of those who want oases best enjoyed where it is wanted by the evil out of them and so far there in the fields of the pulpit to the Eid prayer, as to condemn the people of Bahariya Oasis religion Islamic Blsttina and there is no other religions except arrivals from other countries There is no difference between Muslim and Christian and deals Oasis people with love and tolerance ...
Features singled out by God oases
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There are oases of marine black desert which is about rock formations and mountainous highlands, a black
Consists of the age of volcanoes. It is natural beauty you see white sand in the embrace of the black mountains. Highlands and ranges between 150 meters to 366 meters. There is a mountain rose mountain poses the problem of small pieces
And as if a rose and take her visitors already from the people of the oasis and different races. The generosity of the mountain and put a lot a lot every year.
There is also a mountain and the mystery of physical Rabbani, this mountain has a small door, if entered women who do not give birth took place about seven times the wrap sections give birth to the orders of God. If the newcomer wished him from the people of the oasis and anything outside of it and took some stones and Kara receive what he wants them on the orders of God and has many secrets and this is true from the mouths of veterans. There are white desert oasis, a beautiful landscape, a mountainous, white limestone composed by the nature of the problem Kalnkhalp, sentences, and the tent. Sahara and the white eye are green and the secret of long Idem. And there is a mountain crystal, mushrooms and whole landscapes. And there are oases Mnottaghat and tourist hotels Mjhzp fit for all arrivals from tourists and succession. Note that the oases and put on the tourist map by the competent authorities. And held for visitors from different races all necessary means of entertainment and comfort in order to be in safety and security, thanks so dear to our beloved Egypt.
Welcome to the oasis of my dreams ..............
One of the fragments of 15th century stained glass from old St Michael's reinstated in the former south porch (now the Haigh Chapel, which is normally locked so these fragments can only be glimpsed through the glazed frontage facing into the ruins).
Coventry's Cathedral is a unique synthesis of old a new, born of wartime suffering and forged in the spirit of postwar optimism, famous for it's history and for being the most radically modern of Anglican cathedrals. Two cathedral's stand side by side, the ruins of the medieval building, destroyed by incendiary bombs in 1940 and the bold new building designed by Basil Spence and opened in 1962.
It is a common misconception that Coventry lost it's first cathedral in the wartime blitz, but the bombs actually destroyed it's second; the original medieval cathedral was the monastic St Mary's, a large cruciform building believed to have been similar in appearance to Lichfield Cathedral (whose diocese it shared). Tragically it became the only English cathedral to be destroyed during the Reformation, after which it was quickly quarried away, leaving only scant fragments, but enough evidence survives to indicate it's rich decoration (some pieces were displayed nearby in the Priory Visitors Centre, sadly since closed). Foundations of it's apse were found during the building of the new cathedral in the 1950s, thus technically three cathedrals share the same site.
The mainly 15th century St Michael's parish church became the seat of the new diocese of Coventry in 1918, and being one of the largest parish churches in the country it was upgraded to cathedral status without structural changes (unlike most 'parish church' cathedrals created in the early 20th century). It lasted in this role a mere 22 years before being burned to the ground in the 1940 Coventry Blitz, leaving only the outer walls and the magnificent tapering tower and spire (the extensive arcades and clerestoreys collapsed completely in the fire, precipitated by the roof reinforcement girders, installed in the Victorian restoration, that buckled in the intense heat).
The determination to rebuild the cathedral in some form was born on the day of the bombing, however it wasn't until the mid 1950s that a competition was held and Sir Basil Spence's design was chosen. Spence had been so moved by experiencing the ruined church he resolved to retain it entirely to serve as a forecourt to the new church. He envisaged the two being linked by a glass screen wall so that the old church would be visible from within the new.
Built between 1957-62 at a right-angle to the ruins, the new cathedral attracted controversy for it's modern form, and yet some modernists argued that it didn't go far enough, after all there are echoes of the Gothic style in the great stone-mullioned windows of the nave and the net vaulting (actually a free-standing canopy) within. What is exceptional is the way art has been used as such an integral part of the building, a watershed moment, revolutionising the concept of religious art in Britain.
Spence employed some of the biggest names in contemporary art to contribute their vision to his; the exterior is adorned with Jacob Epstein's triumphant bronze figures of Archangel Michael (patron of the cathedral) vanquishing the Devil. At the entrance is the remarkable glass wall, engraved by John Hutton with strikingly stylised figures of saints and angels, and allowing the interior of the new to communicate with the ruin. Inside, the great tapestry of Christ in majesty surrounded by the evangelistic creatures, draws the eye beyond the high altar; it was designed by Graham Sutherland and was the largest tapestry ever made.
However one of the greatest features of Coventry is it's wealth of modern stained glass, something Spence resolved to include having witnessed the bleakness of Chartres Cathedral in wartime, all it's stained glass having been removed. The first window encountered on entering is the enormous 'chess-board' baptistry window filled with stunning abstract glass by John Piper & Patrick Reyntiens, a symphony of glowing colour. The staggered nave walls are illuminated by ten narrow floor to ceiling windows filled with semi-abstract symbolic designs arranged in pairs of dominant colours (green, red, multi-coloured, purple/blue and gold) representing the souls journey to maturity, and revealed gradually as one approaches the altar. This amazing project was the work of three designers lead by master glass artist Lawrence Lee of the Royal College of Art along with Keith New and Geoffrey Clarke (each artist designed three of the windows individually and all collaborated on the last).
The cathedral still dazzles the visitor with the boldness of it's vision, but alas, half a century on, it was not a vision to be repeated and few of the churches and cathedrals built since can claim to have embraced the synthesis of art and architecture in the way Basil Spence did at Coventry.
The cathedral is generally open to visitors most days. For more see below:-
Cava keeping her eye on the reindeer cookies.
I nearly cloned out the oof light spot near Cava's lip, but then realized that it was "drool bokeh", so decided that it should stay!
For Studio 26 "imitation/tribute" assignment. Dave's original image is below.
Detail of the Golden Window, one of the final pair of nave windows representing the soul's final journey into Heaven. This window was designed by Lawrence Lee and represents the Heavenly City, studded with gemstones and with a large figure of Archangel Michael at the centre. At the base a shadowy Christ-like figure appears to welcome us.
Coventry's Cathedral is a unique synthesis of old a new, born of wartime suffering and forged in the spirit of postwar optimism, famous for it's history and for being the most radically modern of Anglican cathedrals. Two cathedral's stand side by side, the ruins of the medieval building, destroyed by incendiary bombs in 1940 and the bold new building designed by Basil Spence and opened in 1962.
It is a common misconception that Coventry lost it's first cathedral in the wartime blitz, but the bombs actually destroyed it's second; the original medieval cathedral was the monastic St Mary's, a large cruciform building believed to have been similar in appearance to Lichfield Cathedral (whose diocese it shared). Tragically it became the only English cathedral to be destroyed during the Reformation, after which it was quickly quarried away, leaving only scant fragments, but enough evidence survives to indicate it's rich decoration (some pieces were displayed nearby in the Priory Visitors Centre, sadly since closed). Foundations of it's apse were found during the building of the new cathedral in the 1950s, thus technically three cathedrals share the same site.
The mainly 15th century St Michael's parish church became the seat of the new diocese of Coventry in 1918, and being one of the largest parish churches in the country it was upgraded to cathedral status without structural changes (unlike most 'parish church' cathedrals created in the early 20th century). It lasted in this role a mere 22 years before being burned to the ground in the 1940 Coventry Blitz, leaving only the outer walls and the magnificent tapering tower and spire (the extensive arcades and clerestoreys collapsed completely in the fire, precipitated by the roof reinforcement girders, installed in the Victorian restoration, that buckled in the intense heat).
The determination to rebuild the cathedral in some form was born on the day of the bombing, however it wasn't until the mid 1950s that a competition was held and Sir Basil Spence's design was chosen. Spence had been so moved by experiencing the ruined church he resolved to retain it entirely to serve as a forecourt to the new church. He envisaged the two being linked by a glass screen wall so that the old church would be visible from within the new.
Built between 1957-62 at a right-angle to the ruins, the new cathedral attracted controversy for it's modern form, and yet some modernists argued that it didn't go far enough, after all there are echoes of the Gothic style in the great stone-mullioned windows of the nave and the net vaulting (actually a free-standing canopy) within. What is exceptional is the way art has been used as such an integral part of the building, a watershed moment, revolutionising the concept of religious art in Britain.
Spence employed some of the biggest names in contemporary art to contribute their vision to his; the exterior is adorned with Jacob Epstein's triumphant bronze figures of Archangel Michael (patron of the cathedral) vanquishing the Devil. At the entrance is the remarkable glass wall, engraved by John Hutton with strikingly stylised figures of saints and angels, and allowing the interior of the new to communicate with the ruin. Inside, the great tapestry of Christ in majesty surrounded by the evangelistic creatures, draws the eye beyond the high altar; it was designed by Graham Sutherland and was the largest tapestry ever made.
However one of the greatest features of Coventry is it's wealth of modern stained glass, something Spence resolved to include having witnessed the bleakness of Chartres Cathedral in wartime, all it's stained glass having been removed. The first window encountered on entering is the enormous 'chess-board' baptistry window filled with stunning abstract glass by John Piper & Patrick Reyntiens, a symphony of glowing colour. The staggered nave walls are illuminated by ten narrow floor to ceiling windows filled with semi-abstract symbolic designs arranged in pairs of dominant colours (green, red, multi-coloured, purple/blue and gold) representing the souls journey to maturity, and revealed gradually as one approaches the altar. This amazing project was the work of three designers lead by master glass artist Lawrence Lee of the Royal College of Art along with Keith New and Geoffrey Clarke (each artist designed three of the windows individually and all collaborated on the last).
The cathedral still dazzles the visitor with the boldness of it's vision, but alas, half a century on, it was not a vision to be repeated and few of the churches and cathedrals built since can claim to have embraced the synthesis of art and architecture in the way Basil Spence did at Coventry.
The cathedral is generally open to visitors most days. For more see below:-
Kilmainham Gaol (Irish: Príosún Chill Mhaighneann) is a former prison, located in Kilmainham in Dublin, which is now a museum. It has been run since the mid-1980s by the Office of Public Works (O.P.W.), an Irish Government agency.
Kilmainham Gaol has played an important part in Irish history, as many leaders of Irish rebellions were imprisoned and some executed in the jail. The jail has also been used as a set for several films.
When it was first built in 1796, Kilmainham Gaol was called the 'New Gaol' to distinguish it from the old jail it was intended to replace - a noisome dungeon, just a few hundred metres from the present site. It was officially called the County of Dublin Gaol, and was originally run by the Grand Jury for County Dublin. Over the 140 years it served as a prison, its cells held many of the most famous people involved in the campaign for Irish independence. The leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising were held and executed here.
Children were sometimes arrested for petty theft (as in the UK), the youngest said to be a seven year-old boy[citation needed], while many of the adult prisoners were deported to Australia.
There was no segregation of prisoners; men, women and children were incarcerated up to 5 in each cell, with only a single candle for light and heat, most of their time was spent in the cold and the dark.
Kilmainham Gaol was abandoned as a jail in 1924, by the government of the new Irish Free State. Following lengthy restoration, it now houses a museum on the history of Irish nationalism and offers guided tours of the building.
An art gallery on the top floor exhibits paintings, sculptures and jewelry of prisoners incarcerated in jails all over contemporary Ireland.
Victorian Optimism: The New East Wing.
At Kilmainham the poor conditions in which women prisoners were kept provided the spur for the next stage of development. Remarkably, for an age that prided itself on a protective attitude for the 'weaker sex', the conditions for women prisinors were persistently worse than for men. As early as his 1809 report the Inspector had observed that male prisinors were supplied with iron bedsteads while females 'lay on straw on the flags in the cells and common halls.' Half a century later there was little improvement. The women's section, located in the west wing, remained overcrowded.
Kilmainham Gaol's historic importance was assured by those heroic men and women who were held or died here for their nationalist ideals. The Gaol's history as a prison, the fate of the common man and women as convict, is a compelling story in its own right. Their story gives a unique insight into convict transportation and the Great Famine, two major events in the social history of modern Ireland.
Kilmainham Gaol is one of the biggest unoccupied gaols in Europe. Now empty of prisoners, it is filled with history. It has aptly been described as the 'Irish Bastille'.
When the Gaol was first built public hangings took place at the front of the Gaol. However, from the 1820s onward very few hangings, public or private, took place at Kilmainham.
BASTROP, Texas – Despite earlier optimism, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department firefighters and other personnel were still facing a fire threat to historic structures at Bastrop State Park today.
According to TPWD incident commander Robert Crossman, all but about 100 acres of the 6,000-acre park have been blackened by fire, but firefighters have so far been able to save most of the Civilian Conservation Corps-constructed structures on the park, with two possible exceptions – two CCC observation structures believed to have been damaged.