It's Alive!

 

I'd finished my shopping up at Aldi and loaded my perishables into the cooler. As I glanced across the parking lot I saw this refugee from the graveyard shambling toward me. Virtually every panel seemed to be a different color. Fortunately, I had my trusty Canon with me and I shot it on the spot. I didn't see it move again, I don't know where these undead vehicles are coming from or how the zombie automotive apocalypse started, but I won't venture out of my house unarmed.

 

The beauty shot. (* ahem! ahem! *) Mazda B2500 (maybe).

 

But what is it?

When we go out to Nichols Point to see the grave of William Chaffey you can see the kind of country that typified the Mildura area in the 19th century. Yet the Chaffey brothers of Canada were such amazing visionaries that they could see how this semi-desert country could be transformed into a fruit bowl with verdant growth. Their foresight was remarkable. Their story is almost amazing. In 1884 the Victorian Premier, Alfred Deakin (later PM of Australia) went to California to visit irrigated colonies as Victoria had suffered a long drought from 1877-84. There he met George and William Chaffey and invited them to come and work irrigation miracles in Victoria. The concept was for the Chaffey brothers to buy the land and water rights at a low price, start irrigation and develop the land and sell it on at a high price. The Victorian government in 1886 gave the Chaffey brothers 250,000 acres of land on the old Mildura sheep station on the Murray for an irrigated colony development. The Chaffeys had to build pumping stations to obtain the water from the river, dig water canals and trenches, clear the land, level it for irrigation and then sell it. Their agreement with the government meant they had to spend £300,000 on these improvements over 20 years. They advertised for investors in California and Canada where they were already known as well as Melbourne and Adelaide. They advertised the 10 acre fruit blocks as grape, fruit orchard and orange grove lands. The Chaffeys began work in 1887 led by William. Younger brother Charles went to oversee the development of Renmark in SA. William selected 200 acres for himself near the Psyche Bend Pumping Station and now the site of the Chateau Mildura Winery. William Chaffey established this in 1888 one year after settlement work began. They hoped to irrigate 33,000 acres in the first stage. By 1890 3,300 people were living in the Mildura district. But the land boom of the 1880s collapsed around 1890 as Australia headed into drought and a major economic depression. Consequently the Chaffeys went bankrupt in both Mildura and Renmark in 1895. A Victorian Royal Commission in 1896 found the Chaffeys responsible for the collapse of the irrigated colonies. The Chaffeys certainly advertised and painted a rosy picture of the prospects of Mildura and Renmark but such a grandiose scheme without government financial backing was doomed to failure in Australia, especially when a worldwide economic depression hit it.

 

All that William had left after their bankruptcy was his winery, 200 acres of irrigated fruit block and the mansion he had built earlier in 1889 called Rio Vista (river view). William worked like any other fruit blocker. He unsuccessfully tried to sell Rio Vista but could not find a buyer. He helped the area establish a dried fruit marketing board and he earned the respect of the citizens of Mildura. He became President of the shire council in 1903 and the first city Mayor in 1920. He was so admired by the town residents that they presented him with a Ford motor car in 1911. He eventually paid off his debts to the Victorian government. He died at Rio Vista in 1926. There is now a fine statue of him in the centre of Deakin Avenue- the main street- named after the Victorian Premier and later Australian Prime Minister, Alfred Deakin. It was erected in 1929. This street is also one of the longest avenues in the world at 12.1 kms in length!

 

Throughout this period most of William’s income came from the winery. It produced table wine until around 1900 when it switched to fortified wines (sherry and port) and the distilling of brandy. Transport of produce was difficult until the railway arrived in Mildura in 1903. In 1910 he formed the larger Mildura Winery Company with a second distillery at Merbein. After William’s death the brand name was changed to Mildara in 1937. As an adjunct to the winery he established the Australia Dried Fruits Association around 1895. This was a way of using local fruit because there was no transport available for perishable food before the arrival of the railway from Melbourne in 1903. Dried fruit could be stored for a long time and it did not matter if considerable time was taken to get it to the city markets. So Chaffey established the two main products of the Mildura region- wines and spirits and dried fruit. Both were exported to England. William married twice. His first wife and some infant children are buried near the original Mildura Station on the Murray. His second wife is buried near him in Nichols Point cemetery. He was survived by 3 sons and 3 daughters. One later bought Avoca Station from the Cudmores!

 

Meantime the SA Premier, Sir John Downer offered the Chaffey brothers 250,000 acres of Crown Land at Renmark and they accepted that too. With 500,000 acres to develop the brothers George and William worked hard and their younger brother Charles also came out from California to manage the Renmark operation. The Mildura and the Renmark scheme were losing money so George tried to sell land blocks in the irrigation schemes in London in 1894 but he failed to find a buyer. In December 1894 the Chaffey brothers went into liquidation with huge debts and owing extensive wages to their employees. George then returned to Canada; William stayed on in Mildura; and Charles stayed on in Renmark. Charles Chaffey’s residence in Renmark called Olivewood is owned by the National Trust. It is built in Canadian log cabin style but with Australian verandas. It is probably the oldest residence in Renmark as it was erected in 1889. Charles ran the operation in Renmark until 1904 when he returned to Canada with his family and the bank repossessed the home. It had several owners until acquired by the National Trust in 1979. Only William and his family stayed the course and really developed the Australian irrigation colonies. When the Chaffeys went bankrupt the state governments took over the management and operation of the irrigation colonies with SA setting up the Renmark Irrigation Trust and Victoria the Mildura Irrigation Trust. Another of the legacies of the Chaffeys is the layout of both Renmark and Mildura which are remarkably similar. William Chaffey followed a standard California/USA approach with a wide divided avenue to be the centre thoroughfare of each town, with consecutively numbered streets running across the grand avenue. Streets running parallel to the main avenue had individual names. Hence in Mildura you have Ontario Avenue (reflecting the Chaffey Canadian origins) and San Mateo Avenue (California linkages) etc.

 

Mildura – founded in 1887.

The town was named after the original Mildura station which in turn was named from a local aboriginal word meaning “red earth”. Pastoralism began in 1847 when squatter Francis Jenkins moved here from NSW. He thought he was in SA! But his occupation was not legal and the leasehold went to Hugh and Bushby Jamieson who called their property of 150,000 acres Mildura. Once the river boat trade began in 1854 they expanded their sheep flock to 10,000. Alexander McEdward bought the property in the 1870s and later the government resumed it for the Chaffeys irrigation colony in 1887. Mildura grew very slowly even after the Chaffeys started their great work of clearing, felling, levelling and pumping water to turn the semi-desert into fruit blocks. The 1890s were economically depressed. The government Irrigation Trust continued the Chaffey work after 1894 and by 1910 the town was well established with a railway station (1903), a large temperance hotel, a school, stores, churches, a Carnegie Library, a public institute and a Working Man’s’ Club. Opposite the railway station was a well patronised river wharf and port. William Chaffey became the first Mildura mayor in 1920 and when the population had reached 15,000 in 1934 the town was declared a city.

 

Soldier settlers after World War One and Two were offered fruit blocks in the district and in both eras they helped boost the growth and population of the area. Today Mildura has the second busiest airport in Victoria outside the Melbourne area, and it is still growing. It now relies on tourism and retirement living as well as fruit and grape production for its economic output. Its warm climate makes it a favoured retirement spot for southern Victorians!

 

Class 52 1068 Western Reliance runs non stop through Bodmin Road Station with the 12:45 Penzance to Crewe Parcels and Perishables, 16/07/1975, notice the welded patch on the front of the loco.

 

image Kevin Connolly - All rights reserved so please do no use this without my explicit permission

It's rare for us to sit down as a family for a meal these days with three grown up kids out making their own way in the world. But when we do it is typical for some really funny stories to surface. This year we will be 10 of us around the table for Christmas dinner, provided my wife doesn't invite a homeless or lonely elderly person to spend Christmas with us. I've been blessed to have a charismatic family, three great grown up kids, who were born with a smile on their faces and a laugh in their lungs. I'm glad they had the confidence to explore the world although when the two boys chose to get out of the back garden at the ages of three and 18 months and go and explore the local wood yard and fire station my wife nearly died of fright. Some of the stories they come out with are hilarious. Some are repeats, where the mere mention of, "Do you remember....?" is enough to bring out mirthful laughter. Some have taken time to surface, only emerging as their confidence as adults has grown, and as fear of the repercussions of a confessional have faded. As I chew over a mouthful of chicken and sprouts and listen to them relate their stories at the table I thank my luck stars I didn't know about it at the time and hope that (in one particular case) the criminals they cheated out of thousands of pounds have now given up hunting them down. I shiver. But I also chuckle at the escapades they had: the vision of the ice cream van man accelerating off down the street in a cloud of black smoke, as he tries to catch up with my elder son after he had chucked a stink bomb in through the back window of the van while he was serving customers, but also the story of the same son who at the age of eleven fought off two adult rottweilers that had pulled their owner over and were now fighting over an old lady who was trying to protect her golden retriever. Sometimes one of them will start, "Dad, do you remember that time when........"and they all start laughing again. Yes, I suppose I had my stories to tell too. But my charitable wife, too, has her own occasional confessional.

 

It was a few weeks ago when she was on her fourth trip to Tesco that week that, as she pushed her trolley into the store, she was met by a large charity stall set up just inside the entrance. Greeting every new customer who came in was a friendly faced silver haired woman with a beaming smile and colourful badges pinned to her bosom. It was the smile that attracted my wife, and firing back an equally friendly smile she asked what the stall was for. Apparently it was a charitable organisation (not the Tesco Toy Appeal pictured) collecting food for the homeless and elderly, living in loneliness, just the sort my wife would bring home unannounced and introduce to me when I walked in at night from a day at the office, and tell me that they are now living with us. Anyhow, I digress. My wife set off down aisle One with a new sense of purpose. Not only would she load the trolley to the top (she's always thought it a waste of space not to fill it until it is brimming full) with food for the hens, the cats and dog, but she would also buy some human food, you know, non-perishable things like tins and packaged food that would give good wholesome, nutritious meals to the needy, homeless, old and lonely. And if there was room left she would fit in some food for those of us humans who still live at the same address as her too. So absorbed was my wife in thoughtfully selecting the best sort of items to give to the charity that it was some time before she couldn't pile any more items on top of the trolley and she headed towards the tills. But then she was feeling so good about herself that she thought she would buy herself a bunch of flowers, which she could balance across the top of the trolley and they wouldn't get crushed. The bunches of flowers were back near the entrance to the store. But as she got near there the charity lady with the big smile turned round from facing the entrance and once again my wife and her found them selves with big warm friendly smiles on their faces again. Wheeling the trolley over my wife gushed, "I've got you these!" and proudly dug out the items she had specially selected to donate. It was probably about £ 30 worth and the charity lady was so thankful for such a generous donation, that my wife felt extra good about herself as she paid for and bagged the shopping at the till. Of course there was an opportunity for another big smile and a wave as she passed the charity stall and the beaming lady on the way out.

 

It really was two days later that my wife realised she hadn't paid for any of the items she gave to the charity stall. She had effectively picked them off the supermarket shelves and put them in the hands of the charity. My wife committed no crime in all her innocent generosity, but the charity ended up stealing the items from Tesco!

 

You see being kind, thoughtful and compassionate can be bad. Next it was my eldest son again. You know, the one who as a young boy saved an old woman and her golden retriever from two attacking rottweilers. He now has a building business. Recently a potential customer asked him to price up a job at his house. The owner was going to be at work so told my son where he had hidden a key, and that he should just go in and assess the job and lock up on the way out. It was raining that day and my son was glad to get in the house. He had to check the structure and briefly went from room to room and into the kitchen, where he noticed a bowl of pet food, and a water bowl, on the floor. But going through to the back of the house he suddenly spotted a large dog peering in through the patio doors. It was barking and wagging its tail vigorously, clearly a nice big, bouncy friendly dog and it obviously wanted to be let in from the back garden as it was raining. Letting it inside the dog went straight to the bowl of food and started to eat enthusiastically. By the time my son had assessed the job the dog was curled up on the settee and looking well settled for when its owner returned home from a day's work.

 

It was later that evening that the potential client phoned my son and asked him what he thought about the job, and whether he felt he could do it. The response was very positive and the conversation was just winding up when the house owner asked, "What's with the dog?" The question caught my son off guard, and he was suddenly concerned. Had the dog become ill after he had left it or something? Cautiously he replied, "Err, how do you mean?" There was a brief pause at the end of the line and then the owner said, " I don't have a dog. I have a cat. That dog you let in my house belongs to someone else who lives down at the end of the road, but it's always coming in my garden!" The conversation ended with laughter at both ends!

 

Thankfully no harm was done, but once again it demonstrates that being kind, compassionate and thoughtful can be bad. Christmas is a time for giving, a time for thinking of others. Be careful what you do!

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 have had to move in with my mom and my house is getting repossessed. I was wondering if any of my friends may know of any charities or organizations that might be able to help me get a few things together for my daughter--she is going to be going to college to live in the dorms and I am having a hard time coming up with the money to get all that she needs. I have to pay a $150.00 deposit for her dorm room. She needs a dorm refrigerator, sheets (single, I think), towels, washcloths, Gain, Downy, personal hygiene products, non-perishable foods( she loves beanie weenies, spagettios and meatballs, Ramen noodles (chicken), vienna sausages, Ritz crackers, chips, and of course, Dr Pepper, lol. Also, they said she could get one of those plastic "dressers" on wheels. Please let me know if you know ANYONE that I could contact to help or if you want to donate--even $1.00 would help-you can do it using my PayPal email semmaf@yahoo.com

  

Thank you and God bless,

 

Tammy

PS---I am also trying to find a good used car for her--maybe one that I could make payments on.

I just wanted to stop by and say hello. I miss you all and hope to be able to get a camera and start taking pics again very soon. Hugs, Tammy

As high sun starts to set in, P61 cruises by Old Spencer Yard as it prepares to make a right hand turn towards the Asheville main at Salisbury. The track in the foreground is referred to as the "Peach Track", as perishables were often loaded onto rail cars at a Coal and Ice plant which stood at this location many years ago.

Honey has an eternal shelflife, given that it is well-sealed. Archeologists have found perfectly preserved honey in ancient tombs. Honey will only spoil when something perishable is introduced to it.

 

This is one of the designs included in my Valentine's series. Find stickers & cards with this design on my Etsy.

Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway No. 5017 was built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1944. It was assigned to freight service and operated between Belen, New Mexico, Waynoka, Oklahoma, and La Junta, Colorado. Between 1953 and 1955, it was used in extra service to supplement diesel power during the peak movement of perishables, grains and other commodities. The locomotive was retired in 1955.

 

via Instagram ift.tt/1lUKQeR

WEEK 17 – Collierville Houston Levee Kroger (I)

 

As is typical with a millennium-build Kroger such as this one, the deli and bakery counters are located along the left side of the perishables grand aisle, in an island of sorts formed between the right-side wall and the first aisle. And I don’t think I’m alone in saying this service department island looks absolutely fantastic done up in its new Urban Mix décor! Strangely, Urban Mix is a very dark package, in regards to the color choices at play. That’s not typically what you see in retail. But here, it just works. Of note, it doesn’t feel dark in the store, and I hope it’s not coming across that way in the images either. The *colors* are dark, but the *feel* is not.

 

(c) 2020 Retail Retell

These places are public so these photos are too, but just as I tell where they came from, I'd appreciate if you'd say who :)

 

No. 4 of 9 - Sweden

 

This bus reminds me about the amazing story of Christopher Johnson McCandless, aka "Alexander Supertramp" and his "magic bus."

If you do not know this story, please do yourself a favour and look it up. It is made into a book and also a film under the name "in to wild", with an amazing soundtrack by Eddie Vedder (Pearl Jam).

“... food is not simply organic fuel to keep body and soul together, it is a perishable art that must be savoured at the peak of perfection.”

Today the official beginning of autumn started with a wonderful sunny and warm day. However nature begins to turn into fall. This Physalis clearly showed the perishability of nature, but in a wonderful way.

 

Canon PowerShot S5 IS

Aufnahmedatum/-zeit: 23.09.2007 10:51

Aufnahmemodus: Av (Zeitautomatik)

Tv (Verschlusszeit): 1/60

Av (Blendenzahl): 2.7

Filmempfindlichkeit (ISO): 100

Objektiv: 6.0 - 72.0mm

Brennweite: 6.0mm (crop)

Apparently it was cash only, no credit cards (whatever the heck those are). I wonder how they kept perishables fresh.

OM

Auṃ or Oṃ, Sanskrit: ॐ) is a sacred sound and a spiritual icon in Indian religions.[1][2] It is also a mantra in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism.[3][4]

Om is part of the iconography found in ancient and medieval era manuscripts, temples, monasteries and spiritual retreats in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism.[5][6] The symbol has a spiritual meaning in all Indian dharmas, but the meaning and connotations of Om vary between the diverse schools within and across the various traditions.

In Hinduism, Om is one of the most important spiritual symbols (pratima).[7][8] It refers to Atman (soul, self within) andBrahman (ultimate reality, entirety of the universe, truth, divine, supreme spirit, cosmic principles, knowledge).[9][10][11] The syllable is often found at the beginning and the end of chapters in the Vedas, the Upanishads, and other Hindu texts. It is a sacred spiritual incantation made before and during the recitation of spiritual texts, during puja and private prayers, in ceremonies of rites of passages (sanskara) such as weddings, and sometimes during meditative and spiritual activities such as Yoga.

Vedic literature

The syllable "Om" is described with various meanings in the Vedas and different early Upanishads.[19] The meanings include "the sacred sound, the Yes!, the Vedas, the Udgitha (song of the universe), the infinite, the all encompassing, the whole world, the truth, the ultimate reality, the finest essence, the cause of the Universe, the essence of life, theBrahman, the Atman, the vehicle of deepest knowledge, and Self-knowledge".

Vedas

The chapters in Vedas, and numerous hymns, chants and benedictions therein use the syllable Om. The Gayatri mantra from the Rig Veda, for example, begins with Om. The mantra is extracted from the 10th verse of Hymn 62 in Book III of the Rig Veda.These recitations continue to be in use, and major incantations and ceremonial functions begin and end with Om.

ॐ भूर्भुवस्व: |

तत्सवितुर्वरेण्यम् |

भर्गो देवस्य धीमहि |

धियो यो न: प्रचोदयात् ||

 

Om. Earth, atmosphere, heaven.

Let us think on that desirable splendour

of Savitr, the Inspirer. May he stimulate

us to insightful thoughts.

Om is a common symbol found in the ancient texts of Hinduism, such as in the first line of Rig veda (top), as well as a icon in temples and spiritual retreats.

The Chandogya Upanishad is one of the oldest Upanishads of Hinduism. It opens with the recommendation that "let a man meditate on Om".[26] It calls the syllable Om as udgitha (उद्गीथ, song, chant), and asserts that the significance of the syllable is thus: the essence of all beings is earth, the essence of earth is water, the essence of water are the plants, the essence of plants is man, the essence of man is speech, the essence of speech is the Rig Veda, the essence of the Rig Veda is the Sama Veda, and the essence of Sama Veda is the udgitha (song, Om).[27]

Rik (ऋच्, Ṛc) is speech, states the text, and Sāman (सामन्) is breath; they are pairs, and because they have love and desire for each other, speech and breath find themselves together and mate to produce song.[26][27] The highest song is Om, asserts section 1.1 of Chandogya Upanishad. It is the symbol of awe, of reverence, of threefold knowledge because Adhvaryu invokes it, the Hotr recites it, and Udgatr sings it.[27][28]

The second volume of the first chapter continues its discussion of syllable Om, explaining its use as a struggle between Devas (gods) and Asuras (demons).[29] Max Muller states that this struggle between gods and demons is considered allegorical by ancient Indian scholars, as good and evil inclinations within man, respectively.[30] The legend in section 1.2 of Chandogya Upanishad states that gods took the Udgitha (song of Om) unto themselves, thinking, "with this [song] we shall overcome the demons".[31] The syllable Om is thus implied as that which inspires the good inclinations within each person.[30][31]

Chandogya Upanishad's exposition of syllable Om in its opening chapter combines etymological speculations, symbolism, metric structure and philosophical themes.[28][32] In the second chapter of the Chandogya Upanishad, the meaning and significance of Om evolves into a philosophical discourse, such as in section 2.10 where Om is linked to the Highest Self,[33] and section 2.23 where the text asserts Om is the essence of three forms of knowledge, Om is Brahman and "Om is all this [observed world]".[34]

Katha Upanishad

The Katha Upanishad is the legendary story of a little boy, Nachiketa – the son of sage Vajasravasa, who meetsYama – the Indian deity of death. Their conversation evolves to a discussion of the nature of man, knowledge,Atman (Soul, Self) and moksha (liberation).[35] In section 1.2, Katha Upanishad characterizes Knowledge/Wisdom as the pursuit of good, and Ignorance/Delusion as the pursuit of pleasant,[36] that the essence of Veda is make man liberated and free, look past what has happened and what has not happened, free from the past and the future, beyond good and evil, and one word for this essence is the word Om.[37]

The word which all the Vedas proclaim,

That which is expressed in every Tapas (penance, austerity, meditation),

That for which they live the life of a Brahmacharin,

Understand that word in its essence: Om! that is the word.

Yes, this syllable is Brahman,

This syllable is the highest.

He who knows that syllable,

Whatever he desires, is his.

— Katha Upanishad,

Maitri Upanishad

The Maitrayaniya Upanishad in sixth Prapathakas (lesson) discusses the meaning and significance of Om. The text asserts that Om represents Brahman-Atman. The three roots of the syllable, states the Maitri Upanishad, are A + U + M.[39] The sound is the body of Soul, and it repeatedly manifests in three: as gender-endowed body - feminine, masculine, neuter; as light-endowed body - Agni, Vayu and Aditya; as deity-endowed body - Brahma, Rudra[40] and Vishnu; as mouth-endowed body - Garhapatya, Dakshinagni and Ahavaniya;[41] as knowledge-endowed body - Rig, Saman and Yajur;[42] as world-endowed body - Bhūr, Bhuvaḥ and Svaḥ; as time-endowed body - Past, Present and Future; as heat-endowed body - Breath, Fire and Sun; as growth-endowed body - Food, Water and Moon; as thought-endowed body - intellect, mind and pysche.[39][43] Brahman exists in two forms - the material form, and the immaterial formless.[44] The material form is changing, unreal. The immaterial formless isn't changing, real. The immortal formless is truth, the truth is the Brahman, the Brahman is the light, the light is the Sun which is the syllable Om as the Self.[45][46]

The world is Om, its light is Sun, and the Sun is also the light of the syllable Om, asserts the Upanishad. Meditating on Om, is acknowledging and meditating on the Brahman-Atman (Soul, Self).[39]

Mundaka Upanishad[edit source]

The Mundaka Upanishad in the second Mundakam (part), suggests the means to knowing the Self and the Brahman to be meditation, self-reflection and introspection, that can be aided by the symbol Om.[47][48]

That which is flaming, which is subtler than the subtle,

on which the worlds are set, and their inhabitants –

That is the indestructible Brahman.[49]

It is life, it is speech, it is mind. That is the real. It is immortal.

It is a mark to be penetrated. Penetrate It, my friend.

 

Taking as a bow the great weapon of the Upanishad,

one should put upon it an arrow sharpened by meditation,

Stretching it with a thought directed to the essence of That,

Penetrate[50] that Imperishable as the mark, my friend.

 

Om is the bow, the arrow is the Soul, Brahman the mark,

By the undistracted man is It to be penetrated,

One should come to be in It,

as the arrow becomes one with the mark.

— Mundaka Upanishad, 2.2.2 - 2.2.4[51][52]

Adi Shankara, in his review of the Mundaka Upanishad, states Om as a symbolism for Atman (soul, self).[53]

Mandukya Upanishad

The Mandukya Upanishad opens by declaring, "Om!, this syllable is this whole world".[54] Thereafter it presents various explanations and theories on what it means and signifies.[55] This discussion is built on a structure of "four fourths" or "fourfold", derived from A + U + M + "silence" (or without an element).[54][55]

Aum as all states of time

In verse 1, the Upanishad states that time is threefold: the past, the present and the future, that these three are "Aum". The four fourth of time is that which transcends time, that too is "Aum" expressed.[55]

Aum as all states of Atman

In verse 2, states the Upanishad, everything is Brahman, but Brahman is Atman (the Soul, Self), and that the Atman is fourfold.[54] Johnston summarizes these four states of Self, respectively, as seeking the physical, seeking inner thought, seeking the causes and spiritual consciousness, and the fourth state is realizing oneness with the Self, the Eternal.[56]

Aum as all states of consciousness

In verses 3 to 6, the Mandukya Upanishad enumerates four states of consciousness: wakeful, dream, deep sleep and the state of ekatma (being one with Self, the oneness of Self).[55] These four are A + U + M + "without an element" respectively.[55]

Aum as all of knowledge

In verses 9 to 12, the Mandukya Upanishad enumerates fourfold etymological roots of the syllable "Aum". It states that the first element of "Aum" is A, which is from Apti (obtaining, reaching) or from Adimatva (being first).[54] The second element is U, which is from Utkarsa (exaltation) or from Ubhayatva(intermediateness).[55] The third element is M, from Miti (erecting, constructing) or from Mi Minati, or apīti (annihilation).[54] The fourth is without an element, without development, beyond the expanse of universe. In this way, states the Upanishad, the syllable Om is indeed the Atman (the self).[54][55]

Shvetashvatara Upanishad

The Shvetashvatara Upanishad, in verses 1.14 to 1.16, suggests meditating with the help of syllable Om, where one's perishable body is like one fuel-stick and the syllable Om is the second fuel-stick, which with discipline and diligent rubbing of the sticks unleashes the concealed fire of thought and awareness within. Such knowledge, asserts the Upanishad, is the goal of Upanishads.[57][58] The text asserts that Om is a tool of meditation empowering one to know the God within oneself, to realize one's Atman (Soul, Self).[59]

Epics[edit source]

The Bhagavad Gita, in the Epic Mahabharata, mentions the meaning and significance of Om in several verses. For example, Fowler notes that verse 9.17 of the Bhagavad Gita synthesizes the competing dualistic and monist streams of thought in Hinduism, by using "Om which is the symbol for the indescribable, impersonal Brahman".[60]

I am the Father of this world, Mother, Ordainer, Grandfather, the Thing to be known, the Purifier, the syllable Om, Rik, Saman and also Yajus.

— Krishna to Arjuna, Bhagavad Gita 9.17, [60]

The significance of the sacred syllable in the Hindu traditions, is similarly highlighted in various of its verses, such as verse 17.24 where the importance of Omduring prayers, charity and meditative practices is explained as follows,[61]

Therefore, uttering Om, the acts of yajna (fire ritual), dāna (charity) and tapas (austerity) as enjoined in the scriptures, are always begun by those who study the Brahman.

— Bhagavad Gita

Yoga Sutra

The aphoristic verse 1.27 of Pantanjali's Yogasutra links Om to Yoga practice, as follows,

तस्य वाचकः प्रणवः ॥२७॥

His word is Om.

— Yogasutra 1.27,

Johnston states this verse highlights the importance of Om in the meditative practice of Yoga, where it symbolizes three worlds in the Soul; the three times – past, present and future eternity, the three divine powers – creation, preservation and transformation in one Being; and three essences in one Spirit – immortality, omniscience and joy. It is, asserts Johnston, a symbol for the perfected Spiritual Man (his emphasis).

WEEK 19 – Collierville Houston Levee Kroger (II)

 

We find ourselves back out in the rear actionway now, facing the spot immediately in-between the Dairy department signage (as we saw Thursday) and the Milk & Eggs signage (which we’ll see in the next image). One of the first things that should have caught your eye in this portion of the store is that the wall décor is no longer nearly as dark as what we saw previously in the perishables grand aisle and in the meat departments, trading in the shades of black and gray for a yellow color instead. That said, however, this yellow is by no means comparable to other, brighter yellow colors found in store décor packages (a la Walmart's Project Impact, or even Kroger’s own bountiful and fresh and local décors); and in fact, this seems to me to be a darker yellow color (ochre?), so it manages simultaneously to lighten up the store while also keeping the dark theme going. Cool!

 

(c) 2020 Retail Retell

These places are public so these photos are too, but just as I tell where they came from, I'd appreciate if you'd say who :)

 

The weather here is extremely bad and I can't sleep with the noise of the winds and debris moving outside. It's pretty bad. One woman was already killed in Toronto and we have yet to get the worst of it. Apparently the worst of the storm will hit about the same time I am driving to work at 4:30 am.

 

Have a great Tuesday everyone and stay safe!

 

==========================================================================

 

"Toronto police say a huge gust of wind caused a business sign to fall apart Monday night, killing a woman with flying debris.

 

The incident occurred on Keele Street near St. Clair Avenue at around 7:30 p.m. Witnesses said the sign could be seen swaying back and forth.

 

The woman, who has yet to be publicly identified by police, could be Ontario's first victim of powerful cyclone Sandy, a fall storm carrying hurricane-strength winds and wreaking havoc south of the border.

 

Sandy made landfall along the coast of southern New Jersey just before 8 p.m. but the storm caused damage and widespread power outages across Toronto before the cyclone even reached its full potential.

 

About 3,500 customers in Toronto reported being without power, a spokesperson for Toronto Hydro told CP24 at around 8 p.m. By 8:40 p.m., that number jumped to about 6,000 customers.

HydroOne reported having 29,000 customers without power across the GTA. A large chunk of those outages were being reported in Chatham and Walkerton.

 

In Mississauga, 2,000 customers reported being without power. Most of the outages were based in south Mississauga, according to Ennersource.

 

There are no school closures to report in the GTA but school boards have said they will make their decision Tuesday morning.

 

Rain and strong winds were also reported but CP24 Meteorologist Chris Potter said the weather conditions would likely worsen overnight.

 

“The worst of the winds will be experienced across southern Ontario including the GTA between 1 a.m. and 4 a.m.,” he said. “Peak wind gusts will be in excess of 90 kilometres an hour in some locations.”

 

A wind warning remains in effect for parts of eastern and southern Ontario, including the GTA, because wind gusts as fierce as 90 to 100 kilometres-per-hour are possible.

 

“The winds will gradually decrease during the day tomorrow, however remnants of Sandy will stick around Ontario until the end of the work week,” Potter said.

 

Powerful wind gusts will be the main threat Monday night and early Tuesday morning, with rainfall a lesser concern as Sandy tracks a little farther to the south, Environment Canada said.

In Canada, Ontario will get the worst of the massive storm, largely due to the wind, said Environment Canada warning preparedness meteorologist Geoff Coulson.

 

On the water, "storm force" winds of 48 to 63 knots are expected on the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River.

 

A total of 20 to 40 millimetres of rain is likely due to Sandy’s effects, especially across the Niagara Region to St. Thomas, Environment Canada said.

 

Sandy was also causing chaos for air travellers looking to fly out of or into the city.

Twenty-eight per cent of today's incoming flights to Pearson International Airport were cancelled, according to the Greater Toronto Airport Authority. Nearly 28 per cent of outgoing flights were also cancelled.

 

Widespread cancellations were also reported today at Billy Bishop Airport on Toronto's island.

Emergency preparedness

 

Emergency officials encouraged people to prepare an emergency kit, just in case their home loses power for an extended period of time. The kit should contain bottled water, non-perishable food, candles, flashlights and extra batteries, and a radio.

 

During a power outage, intersections where traffic signals are not working should be treated as all-way stops.

 

Strong gusts may create dangerous situations outdoors, where the wind threatens to snap trees and blow around or topple loose objects.

 

People are asked to secure lawn furniture, garbage bins, Halloween decorations and other loose objects on their properties, including their balconies.

 

The city is asking property owners for their help to prevent street and basement flooding.

Myles Currie, the city’s director of transportation services, said his department’s biggest concern is clogged catch basins.

 

City employees are looking for trouble spots as they patrol neighbourhoods, but Currie asked property owners to help out and clear catch basins and storm drains that are clogged by fallen leaves and other debris.

 

If possible, people can help out by removing leaves from the street in front of their home, Currie said.

 

Flood threat

 

Emergency Management Ontario is warning about the possibility of localized flooding in low-lying areas.

 

Because of the rainfall, swollen streams will be flowing faster than usual, creating dangerous conditions along riverbanks.

 

Toronto and Region Conservation is warning people to be cautious near bodies of water.

Motorists should avoid driving through flooded low-lying areas and roads, especially at underpasses, the organization said.

 

Halloween

 

In addition to warning about heavy rain and strong winds, meteorologists are also talking about the possibility of snow.

 

Wet snow is possible over the Haliburton and Dundalk Highlands on Monday night, as temperatures flirt with the freezing mark, but accumulations may not be significant, Environment Canada said.

 

Meanwhile, the storm is expected to weaken later Tuesday and on Halloween, but the weather will remain cool, damp and breezy for trick-or-treaters Wednesday night, according to the special weather statement.

 

The week is looking fairly miserable, with Environment Canada predicting rain Monday to Friday. Daytime highs will range between 6 C and 13 C.

  

Read more: www.cp24.com/news/flying-debris-kills-woman-widespread-po...;

The pineapple (Ananas comosus) is a tropical plant with an edible fruit and the most economically significant plant in the family Bromeliaceae. The pineapple is indigenous to South America, where it has been cultivated for many centuries. The introduction of the pineapple to Europe in the 17th century made it a significant cultural icon of luxury. Since the 1820s, pineapple has been commercially grown in greenhouses and many tropical plantations. Further, it is the third most important tropical fruit in world production. In the 20th century, Hawaii was a dominant producer of pineapples, especially for the US; however, by 2016, Costa Rica, Brazil, and the Philippines accounted for nearly one-third of the world's production of pineapples.

 

Pineapples grow as a small shrub; the individual flowers of the unpollinated plant fuse to form a multiple fruit. The plant is normally propagated from the offset produced at the top of the fruit, or from a side shoot, and typically mature within a year.

 

BOTANY

The pineapple is a herbaceous perennial, which grows to 1.0 to 1.5 m tall, although sometimes it can be taller. In appearance, the plant has a short, stocky stem with tough, waxy leaves. When creating its fruit, it usually produces up to 200 flowers, although some large-fruited cultivars can exceed this. Once it flowers, the individual fruits of the flowers join together to create a multiple fruit. After the first fruit is produced, side shoots (called 'suckers' by commercial growers) are produced in the leaf axils of the main stem. These may be removed for propagation, or left to produce additional fruits on the original plant. Commercially, suckers that appear around the base are cultivated. It has 30 or more long, narrow, fleshy, trough-shaped leaves with sharp spines along the margins that are 30 to 100 cm long, surrounding a thick stem. In the first year of growth, the axis lengthens and thickens, bearing numerous leaves in close spirals. After 12 to 20 months, the stem grows into a spike-like inflorescence up to 15 cm long with over 100 spirally arranged, trimerous flowers, each subtended by a bract.

 

The ovaries develop into berries, which coalesce into a large, compact, multiple fruit. The fruit of a pineapple is usually arranged in two interlocking helices. Typically there are eight in one direction and 13 in the other, each being a Fibonacci number.

 

The pineapple carries out CAM photosynthesis, fixing carbon dioxide at night and storing it as the acid malate, then releasing it during the day aiding photosynthesis.

 

The pineapple comprises five botanical varieties, formerly regarded as separate species:

 

Ananas comosus var. ananassoides

Ananas comosus var. bracteatus

Ananas comosus var. comosus

Ananas comosus var. erectifolius

Ananas comosus var. parguazensis

 

POLLINATION

In the wild, pineapples are pollinated primarily by hummingbirds. Certain wild pineapples are foraged and pollinated at night by bats. Under cultivation, because seed development diminishes fruit quality, pollination is performed by hand, and seeds are retained only for breeding. In Hawaii, where pineapples were cultivated and canned industrially throughout the 20th century, importation of hummingbirds was prohibited.

 

ENGLISH NAME

The first reference in English to the pineapple fruit was the 1568 translation from the French of André Thevet's The New Found World, or Antarctike where he refers to a Hoyriri, a fruit cultivated and eaten by the Tupinambá people, living near modern Rio de Janeiro, and now believed to be a pineapple. Later in the same English translation, he describes the same fruit as a "Nana made in the manner of a Pine apple", where he used another Tupi word nanas, meaning 'excellent fruit'. This usage was adopted by many European languages and led to the plant's scientific binomial Ananas comosus, where comosus 'tufted', refers to the stem of the plant. Purchas, writing in English in 1613, referred to the fruit as Ananas, but the Oxford English Dictionary's first record of the word pineapple itself by an English writer by Mandeville in 1714.

 

HISTORY

PRECOLONIAL CULTIVATION

The wild plant originates from the Paraná–Paraguay River drainages between southern Brazil and Paraguay. Little is known about its domestication, but it spread as a crop throughout South America. Archaeological evidence of cultivation/use is found as far back as 1200 - 800 BC (3200-2800 BP) in Peru and 200BC - AD700 (2200-1300 BP) in Mexico, where it was cultivated by the Mayas and the Aztecs. By the late 1400s, cropped pineapple was widely distributed and a stable component of the diet of Native Americans. The first European to encounter the pineapple was Columbus, in Guadeloupe on 4 November 1493. The Portuguese took the fruit from Brazil and introduced it into India by 1550. The 'Red Spanish [es]' cultivar was also introduced by the Spanish from Latin America to the Philippines, and it was grown for textile use from at least the 17th century.

 

Columbus brought the plant back to Spain and called it piña de Indes, meaning "pine of the Indians". The pineapple was documented in Peter Martyr's Decades of the New World (1516) and Antonio Pigafetta's Relazione del primo viaggio intorno al mondo (1524-1525), and the first known illustration was in Oviedo's Historia General de Las Indias (1535).

 

OLD WORLD INTRODUCTION

The pineapple fascinated Europeans as a fruit of colonialism. But it was not successfully cultivated in Europe until Pieter de la Court developed greenhouse horticulture near Leiden from about 1658. Pineapple plants were distributed from the Netherlands to English gardeners in 1719 and French ones in 1730. In England, the first pineapple was grown at Dorney Court, Dorney in Buckinghamshire, and a huge "pineapple stove" to heat the plants was built at the Chelsea Physic Garden in 1723. In France, King Louis XV was presented with a pineapple that had been grown at Versailles in 1733. In Russia, Catherine the Great ate pineapples grown on her own estates before 1796.

 

Because of the expense of direct import and the enormous cost in equipment and labour required to grow them in a temperate climate, in greenhouses called "pineries", pineapple became a symbol of wealth. They were initially used mainly for display at dinner parties, rather than being eaten, and were used again and again until they began to rot. In the second half of the 18th century, the production of the fruit on British estates became the subject of great rivalry between wealthy aristocrats. John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore, built a hothouse on his estate surmounted by a huge stone cupola 14 metres tall in the shape of the fruit; it is known as the Dunmore Pineapple. In architecture, pineapple figures became decorative elements symbolizing hospitality.

 

SINCE 19TH CENTURY: MASS COMMERCIALIZATION

Many different varieties, mostly from the Antilles, were tried for European glasshouse cultivation. The most significant was "Smooth Cayenne", imported to France in 1820, subsequently re-exported to the UK in 1835, and then from the UK via Hawaii to Australia and Africa. "Smooth Cayenne" is now the dominant cultivar in world production. Jams and sweets based on pineapple were imported to Europe from the West Indies, Brazil, and Mexico from an early date. By the early 19th century, fresh pineapples were transported direct from the West Indies in large enough quantities to reduce European prices. Later pineapple production was dominated by the Azores for Europe, and Florida and the Caribbean for North America, because of the short trade routes.

 

The Spanish had introduced the pineapple into Hawaii in the 18th century where it is known as the hala kahiki ("foreign hala"), but the first commercial plantation was established in 1886. The most famous investor was James Dole, who moved to Hawaii in 1899 and started a 24-hectare (60-acre) pineapple plantation in 1900 which would grow into the Dole Food Company. Dole and Del Monte began growing pineapples on the island of Oahu in 1901 and 1917, respectively, and the Maui Pineapple Company began cultivation on Maui in 1909. James Dole began the commercial processing of pineapple, and Dole employee Henry Ginaca invented an automatic peeling and coring machine in 1911.

 

Hawaiian production started to decline from the 1970s because of competition and the shift to refrigerated sea transport. Dole ceased its cannery operations in Honolulu in 1991, and in 2008, Del Monte terminated its pineapple-growing operations in Hawaii. In 2009, the Maui Pineapple Company reduced its operations to supply pineapples only locally on Maui, and by 2013, only the Dole Plantation on Oahu grew pineapples in a volume of about 0.1 percent of the world's production. Despite this decline, the pineapple is sometimes used as a symbol of Hawaii. Further, foods with pineapple in them are sometimes known as "Hawaiian" for this reason alone.

 

In the Philippines, "Smooth Cayenne" was introduced in the early 1900s by the US Bureau of Agriculture during the American colonial period. Dole and Del Monte established plantations in the island of Mindanao in the 1920s; in the provinces of Cotabato and Bukidnon, respectively. Large scale canning had started in Southeast Asia, including in the Philippines, from 1920. This trade was severely damaged by World War II, and Hawaii dominated the international trade until the 1960s.

 

The Philippines remain one of the top exporters of pineapples in the world. The Del Monte plantations are now locally managed, after Del Monte Pacific Ltd., a Filipino company, completed the purchase of Del Monte Foods in 2014.

 

USES

CULINARY

The flesh and juice of the pineapple are used in cuisines around the world. In many tropical countries, pineapple is prepared and sold on roadsides as a snack. It is sold whole or in halves with a stick inserted. Whole, cored slices with a cherry in the middle are a common garnish on hams in the West. Chunks of pineapple are used in desserts such as fruit salad, as well as in some savory dishes, including pizza toppings, or as a grilled ring on a hamburger. Traditional dishes that use pineapple include hamonado, afritada, kaeng som pla, and Hawaiian haystack. Crushed pineapple is used in yogurt, jam, sweets, and ice cream. The juice of the pineapple is served as a beverage, and it is also the main ingredient in cocktails such as the piña colada and in the drink tepache.

 

In the Philippines, a traditional jelly-like dessert called nata de piña has also been produced since the 18th century. It is made by fermenting pineapple juice with Komagataeibacter xylinus.

 

Pineapple vinegar is an ingredient found in Honduran, and Filipino cuisine, where it is produced locally. In Mexico it is usually made with peels from the whole fruit, rather than the juice, but in Taiwanese cuisine it is often produced by blending pineapple juice with grain vinegar.

The European Union consumed 50% of global total for pineapple juice in 2012–2016. The Netherlands was the largest importer of pineapple juice in Europe. Thailand, Costa Rica and the Netherlands are the major suppliers to the European Union market in 2012–2016. Countries consuming the most pineapple juice in 2017 were Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines, having combined consumption of 47% of the world total. From 2007 to 2017, the largest growth in pineapple juice consumption was by Angola. The consumption of pineapple juice in China and India is low compared to their populations.

 

NUTRITION

Raw pineapple pulp is 86% water, 13% carbohydrates, 0.5% protein, and contains negligible fat (table). In a 100-gram reference amount, raw pineapple supplies 209 kilojoules (50 kilocalories) of food energy, and is a rich source of manganese (44% Daily Value, DV) and vitamin C (58% DV), but otherwise contains no micronutrients in significant amounts.

 

PRODUCTION

In 2019, world production of pineapples was 28.2 million tonnes, led by Costa Rica, the Philippines, Brazil, and Indonesia as the largest producers.

 

CULTIVATION

In commercial farming, flowering can be induced artificially, and the early harvesting of the main fruit can encourage the development of a second crop of smaller fruits. Once removed during cleaning, the top of the pineapple can be planted in soil and a new plant will grow. Slips and suckers are planted commercially.

 

ETHICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS

Like most modern fruit production, pineapple plantations are highly industrialized operations. Growers use toxic pesticides extensively, and run-off can flow into drinking water supplies. Workers, frequently economic migrants, are poorly paid by the standards of Western, developed nations.

 

Historically, tropical fruit agriculture, such as for pineapples, has been concentrated in so-called "banana republics." In 2010, 60% of pineapples consumed in Europe were grown in Costa Rica.

 

ILLEGAL DRUG TRADE

Export pineapples from Costa Rica to Europe are recurrently used as a cover vehicle for narcotrafficking, and its containers are impounded routinely in either location.

 

EXPANSION INTO PROTECTED AEREAS

In Costa Rica, pineapple cultivation has expanded into the Maquenque, Corredor Fronterizo, Barra del Colorado and Caño Negro wildlife refuges, all located in the north of the country. As those are protected areas and not national parks, limited and restricted sustainable activities are allowed, however pineapple plantations are industrial operations and many of these don't have the proper license to operate in the protected areas, or were started before either the designation of the area, recent regulations or the creation of the environmental regulatory agency (Setena) in 1996. The agency has registers for around 358.5 ha of pineapple plantations operating within protected areas, but satellite imagery from 2018 reports around 1,659 ha (6.41 sq mi).

 

CULTIVARS

Many cultivars are known. The leaves of the commonly grown "smooth cayenne" are smooth, and it is the most commonly grown worldwide. Many cultivars have become distributed from its origins in Paraguay and the southern part of Brazil, and later improved stocks were introduced into the Americas, the Azores, Africa, India, Malaysia and Australia.

 

VARIETIES INCLUDE:

"Hilo" is a compact, 1.0- to 1.5-kg Hawaiian variant of smooth cayenne; the fruit is more cylindrical and produces many suckers, but no slips.

"Kona sugarloaf", at 2.5 to 3.0 kg), has white flesh with no woodiness in the center, is cylindrical in shape, and has a high sugar content but no acid; it has an unusually sweet fruit.

"Natal queen", at 1.0 to 1.5 kg, has golden yellow flesh, crisp texture, and delicate mild flavor; well-adapted to fresh consumption, it keeps well after ripening. It has spiny leaves, and is grown in Australia, Malaysia, and South Africa.

"Pernambuco" ("eleuthera") weighs 1–2 kg, and has pale yellow to white flesh. It is sweet, melting in texture, and excellent for eating fresh; it is poorly adapted for shipping, has spiny leaves, and is grown in Latin America.

"Red Spanish", at 1–2 kg, has pale yellow flesh with a pleasant aroma, is squarish in shape, and well-adapted for shipping as fresh fruit to distant markets; it has spiny leaves and is grown in Latin America and the Philippines. It was the original pineapple cultivar in the Philippines grown for their leaf fibers (piña) in the traditional Philippine textile industry.

"Smooth cayenne", a 2.5- to 3.0-kg, pale yellow– to yellow-fleshed, cylindrical fruit with high sugar and acid content, is well-adapted to canning and processing; its leaves are without spines. It is an ancient cultivar developed by Amerind peoples. In some parts of Asia, this cultivar is known as Sarawak, after an area of Malaysia in which it is grown. It is one of the ancestors of cultivars "73-50" (also called "MD-1" and "CO-2") and "73–114" (also called "MD-2"). Smooth cayenne was previously the variety produced in Hawaii, and the most easily obtainable in U.S. grocery stores, but was replaced over the course of the mid-1990s and 2000s by MD-2.

Some Ananas species are grown as ornamentals for color, novel fruit size, and other aesthetic qualities.

 

In the US, in 1986, the Pineapple Research Institute was dissolved and its assets divided between Del Monte and Maui Land and Pineapple. Del Monte took cultivar '73–114', dubbed 'MD-2', to its plantations in Costa Rica, found it to be well-suited to growing there, and launched it publicly in 1996 as 'Gold Extra Sweet', while Del Monte also began marketing '73–50', dubbed 'CO-2', as 'Del Monte Gold'.

 

PHYTOCHEMISTRY

Pineapple fruits and peels contain diverse phytochemicals, among which are polyphenols, including gallic acid, syringic acid, vanillin, ferulic acid, sinapic acid, coumaric acid, chlorogenic acid, epicatechin, and arbutin.

 

BROMELAIN

Present in all parts of the pineapple plant, bromelain is a mixture of proteolytic enzymes. It is present in stem, fruit, crown, core, leaves of pineapple itself. Bromelain is under preliminary research for treatment of a variety of clinical disorders, but has not been adequately defined for its effects in the human body. Bromelain may be unsafe for some users, such as in pregnancy, allergies, or anticoagulation therapy.

 

If having sufficient bromelain content, raw pineapple juice may be useful as a meat marinade and tenderizer. Although pineapple enzymes can interfere with the preparation of some foods or manufactured products, such as gelatin-based desserts or gel capsules, their proteolytic activity responsible for such properties may be degraded during cooking and canning. The quantity of bromelain in a typical serving of pineapple fruit is probably not significant, but specific extraction can yield sufficient quantities for domestic and industrial processing.

 

PESTS AND DISEASES

Pineapples are subject to a variety of diseases, the most serious of which is wilt disease vectored by mealybugs typically found on the surface of pineapples, but possibly in the closed blossom cups. Other diseases include citrus pink disease, bacterial heart rot, anthracnose, fungal heart rot, root rot, black rot, butt rot, fruitlet core rot, and yellow spot virus. Pineapple pink disease (not citrus pink disease) is characterized by the fruit developing a brownish to black discoloration when heated during the canning process. The causal agents of pink disease are the bacteria Acetobacter aceti, Gluconobacter oxydans, Pantoea citrea. and Tatumella ptyseos.

 

Some pests that commonly affect pineapple plants are scales, thrips, mites, mealybugs, ants, and symphylids.

 

Heart-rot is the most serious disease affecting pineapple plants. The disease is caused by Phytophthora cinnamoni and P. parasitica, fungi that often affect pineapples grown in wet conditions. Since it is difficult to treat, it is advisable to guard against infection by planting resistant cultivars where these are available; all suckers that are required for propagation should be dipped in a fungicide, since the fungus enters through the wounds.

 

STORAGE AND TRANSPORT

Some buyers prefer green fruit, others ripened or off-green. A plant growth regulator, Ethephon, is typically sprayed onto the fruit one week before harvest, developing ethylene, which turns the fruit golden yellow. After cleaning and slicing, a pineapple is typically canned in sugar syrup with added preservative.

 

A pineapple never becomes any riper than it was when harvested.

 

The fruit itself is quite perishable and if it is stored at room temperature, it should be used within two days; however, if it is refrigerated, the time span extends to 5–7 days.

 

TEXTILES

The 'Red Spanish' cultivar of pineapples were once extensively cultivated in the Philippines. The long leaves of the cultivar were the source of traditional piña fibers, an adaptation of the native weaving traditions with fibers extracted from abacá. These were woven into lustrous lace-like nipis fabrics usually decorated with intricate floral embroidery known as calado and sombrado. The fabric was a luxury export from the Philippines during the Spanish colonial period and gained favor among European aristocracy in the 18th and 19th centuries. Domestically, they were used to make the traditional barong tagalog, baro't saya, and traje de mestiza clothing of the Filipino upper class, as well as women's kerchiefs (pañuelo). They were favored for their light and breezy quality, which was ideal in the hot tropical climate of the islands. The industry was destroyed in the Second World War and is only starting to be revived.

 

WIKIPEDIA

Lokta Paper is unique in many ways. It can be preserved for very long period of time. The papers made from Lokta are non-perishable in the water, free from germs and highly resistant to insects like silverfish, paper crawlers etc. Lokta paper is also excellent for wrapping precious stones as its soft fibers do not scratch the stones. These papers are easy to dye in water with colors and are ideal in production without using any machines in entire process. The scraps of these papers are highly potential for easy recycling.

 

© Suna Cho

- Rollei 35 SE

- Kodak Portra 400

- Epson V850 Pro

Marazion is a civil parish and town, on the shore of Mount's Bay in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is 2 miles (3.2 km) east of Penzance and the tidal island of St Michael's Mount is half-a-mile offshore. At low water a causeway links it to the town and at high water passenger boats carry visitors between Marazion and St Michael's Mount. Marazion is a tourist resort with an active community of artists who produce and sell paintings and pottery in the town's art galleries.

 

Marazion lies within the Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). Almost a third of Cornwall has AONB designation, with the same status and protection as a National Park. On the western side of the town is Marazion Marsh, a RSPB reserve and a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).

 

Remains of an ancient bronze furnace, discovered near the town, tend to prove that tin smelting was practised here at an early period. Marazion was not recorded in the Domesday Book of 1088.[3] Its only charter was granted by Queen Elizabeth I.

 

The charter attributed to Robert, Count of Mortain granted lands and liberties to St Michael's Mount opposite Marazion and included a market on Thursdays. This appears to have been held from the first on the mainland. From it is probably derived the Marghasbighan (Parvum Forum, lit. "small marketplace") of the earlier and the Marghasyewe (Cornish: "Thursday Market") or Marketjew (Forum Jovis) of the later charters. It may be added that a Jewish origin has been erroneously ascribed to the place from the name Marketjew.

 

It is certain that Richard, Earl of Cornwall provided that the three fairs, on the two feasts of St Michael and at Mid-Lent, and the three markets which had hitherto been held by the priors of St Michael's Mount on land not their own at Marghasbighan, should in future be held on their own land at Marchadyou. He transferred in fact the fairs and markets from the demesne lands of the Bloyous in Marazion to those of the prior. Its earliest known charter was granted in 1257.

 

To remedy the loss incurred by this measure Ralph Bloyou in 1331 procured for himself and his heirs a market on Mondays and a fair on the vigil, feast, and morrow of St Andrew at Marghasyon. In Leland's time the market was held at Marhasdeythyow (Forum Jovis), and both Norden (1582) and Carew (1602) tell us that Marcajewe signifies the Thursday's market, which, whether etymologically sound or not, shows that the prior's market had prevailed over its rival. In 1595, Queen Elizabeth granted to Marazion a charter of incorporation. This ratified the grant of St Andrew's fair, provided for another on the Feast of St Barnabas and established a market on Saturdays.

 

The corporation was to consist of a mayor, eight aldermen and twelve capital burgesses. This corporation continued to administer the affairs of the borough until it was dissolved under the Municipal Corporations Act 1883. The chairman of the commissioners retains possession of the regalia. Of the fairs, only the Michaelmas fair has survived and all the markets have gone. The seal of the borough of Marazion was On a shield the arms three castles triple turreted, with the legend "Semper Eadem".

 

It is stated that Marazion formerly had the right of returning two members to parliament. Dr Borlase gives the name of two, who in 1658, were re-elected: Richard Mlyll, Esq and Thomas Westlake, Esq; but the inhabitants petitioned against them taking their seats because they were unable to pay expenses for their attendance.

 

Under the Commonwealth an attempt was made to secure or recover the right, and two members are said to have been returned, but they were not allowed to take their seats. Marazion was once a flourishing town, owing its prosperity to the throng of pilgrims who came to visit St Michael's Mount (this ceased at the time of the Reformation). During the first half of the 16th century it was twice plundered; first by the French, and later by Cornish rebels. The rise and progress of the neighbouring borough of Penzance in the 17th century marginalised Marazion.

 

Penwith is believed to be the last part of Cornwall to speak Cornish as a community language. Dolly Pentreath, the last recorded speaker came from Paul in Penwith. A year following the death of Dolly Pentreath, Barrington received a letter, written in Cornish and accompanied by an English translation, from a fisherman in Mousehole named William Bodinar stating that he knew of five people who could speak Cornish in that village alone. Barrington also speaks of a John Nancarrow from Marazion who was a native speaker and survived into the 1790s.

 

The graveyard of Gulval church is the burial place of local pirate and smuggler John 'Eyebrows' Thomas of Marazion.

 

The West Cornwall Railway opened Marazion railway station on 11 March 1852 and its goods yard handled a large volume of perishable traffic – fish, fruit, and vegetables – from the surrounding farms and harbours. Marazion station closed to passenger traffic in October 1964 and to freight in December 1965. For many years the site of the closed station was home to Pullman railway carriages which were used as camping coaches. The site, though not conveniently located, is on Cornwall's still-operating passenger main-line, so there are aspirations to re-open it.

 

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution opened a 'Marazion Lifeboat Station' in 1990, although the D-class (EA16) inshore lifeboat was actually kept in a shed on the quayside on St Michael's Mount. The station was closed on 31 October 2001 as it was proving difficult to find enough volunteer crew members. The boat was transferred to the neighbouring Penlee Lifeboat Station at Newlyn on the other side of Mounts Bay where there is a larger population to draw the crews from.

 

At the end of the Second World War a number of naval vessels, the most famous of which was the battleship HMS Warspite were broken up on the beaches at Marazion. HMS Warspite was beached and broken up in 1947.

 

In 2021, the town received a brief spike in publicity after submitting itself for consideration for city status as part of Queen Elizabeth II's jubilee celebrations. The bid was considered by most to be hopeless, however if granted, Marazion would have been the smallest city in the UK, taking the title from St Davids in Wales.

Air vents everywhere. This image is of a 1:48 scale model of the SS Virginian, built in 1904 for the Allan Line's Liverpool-Halifax service. The Allan Line was absorbed into the Canadian Pacific Railway Co. Ltd in 1915; they have loaned the model to the Science Museum in London.

 

She was 10,754 grt, with an overall length of 540 feet, beam of 60.3 feet and a draught of 38 feet. She carried 470 first-class, 240 second-class and 940 third-class passengers distributed over five decks. In addition, the holds fore and aft provided space for about 8,000 tons of perishable cargo, such as chilled beef.

 

The triple-screw vessel was built by Alexander Stephen & Sons Ltd. Her sister ship, the Victorian, built by Workman, Clark & Co. Ltd of Belfast was the first liner on the Atlantic service driven by steam turbines.

 

Each propeller shaft was coupled to 12,000 shp Parsons steam turbines. The centreline shaft was only used for increasing the ship's speed and it was coupled to a high-pressure turbine. The two wing shafts were each driven by low-pressure turbines which incorporated astern turbines that revolved idly when the ship was moving ahead. Steam was provided at 180 lb/sq in by nine single-ended cylindrical boilers. On trials this gave the Virginian a speed of 19.8 knots but her mean service speed was 14.2 knots.

And this photo looks all the way across the right side perishables/service aisle, from near the edge of floral. The coffee bar, cheese counter, deli and bakery are over on the other side of the store, so I guess that side might be called the true grand aisle section!

____________________________________

Whole Foods Market, 1963-built (as Fred Montesi Grocery), Poplar Ave. near White Station Rd., Memphis

Cardiff Docks is a port in southern Cardiff, Wales. At its peak, the port was one of the largest dock systems in the world with a total quayage of almost 7 mi (11 km). Once the main port for the export of South Wales coal, the Port of Cardiff remains active in the import and export of containers, steel, forest products and dry and liquid bulks.

Following the development of the coal found in the Cynon Valley, Rhondda Valley, and Merthyr areas of South Wales, the export of both coal and iron products required a sea connection to the Bristol Channel if economic volumes of product were to be extracted.

In 1794, the Glamorganshire Canal was completed, linking the then small town of Cardiff with Merthyr, and in 1798 a basin was built, connecting the canal to the sea. By the 1830s, Cardiff became the pre-eminent iron-exporting port, shipping almost half of British overseas iron exports; between 1840 and 1870, the volume of coal exports increased from 44,350 to 2.219 million tonnes.

Increasing agitation for proper dock facilities led Cardiff's foremost landowner, John Crichton-Stuart, 2nd Marquess of Bute, to promote the construction of the (West) Bute Dock. The dock design was by Admiral William Henry Smyth and the resident engineer was George Turnbull. Two years after the October 1839 dock opening, the Taff Vale Railway was opened, following much the same route as the canal.

With the construction of the new East Bute Dock from 1855, designed by James Walker of Messrs. Walker & Burges and built by Thomas Cubitt's firm, its opening in 1859 resulted in coal supplanting iron as the industrial foundation of South Wales, with exports reaching 2 million tons as early as 1862.

Cardiff's first steamship was the Llandaff of 1865, and by 1910, there were some 250 tramp steamers owned at Cardiff, by prominent firms such as William Cory & Son, Morel, Evan Thomas Radcliffe, Tatem and Reardon-Smith. Each day, the principals of these companies would meet to arrange cargoes of coal for their ships in the opulent Coal Exchange in Mount Stuart Square. This trade reached its pinnacle in 1913, when 10.7 million tons of coal were exported from the port. After the First World War, there was a boom in shipping in Cardiff, with 122 shipping companies in existence in 1920. The boom proved short-lived, however; oil was growing in importance as a maritime fuel, and the terms of the Treaty of Versailles soon flooded Europe with cheap German reparation coal.

Cardiff now has three operational docks capable of handling ships of up to 35,000 tons deadweight: Queen Alexandra Dock, Roath Dock and Roath Basin. Although still owned by the port, Roath Basin is now only used as a hospitality berth, and is only accessible by vessels via Roath Dock. The port has transit sheds with nearly 40,000 m2 (430,000 sq ft) of indoor storage plus 22.9 ha (57 acres) of open storage. There are 7 quayside cranes plus a range of mobile cranes. Cardiff's specialised facilities include a distribution terminal and chill and cold storage for perishables.

  

In Greenlandic Inuit (Kalaallit) traditions, a tupilaq (tupilak, tupilait, or ᑐᐱᓚᒃ) was an avenging monster fabricated by a practitioner of witchcraft or shamanism by using various objects such as animal parts (bone, skin, hair, sinew, etc.) and even parts taken from the corpses of children. The creature was given life by ritualistic chants. It was then placed into the sea to seek and destroy a specific enemy.

 

The use of a tupilaq was risky, however, because if it was sent to destroy someone who had greater magical powers than the one who had formed it, it could be sent back to kill its maker instead, although the maker of tupilaq could escape by public confession of her or his own deed.

 

Because tupilaqs were made in secret, in isolated places and from perishable materials, none have been preserved. Early European visitors to Greenland, fascinated by the native legend, were eager to see what tupilaqs looked like so the Inuit began to carve representations of them out of sperm whale teeth.

 

Today, tupilaqs of many different shapes and sizes are carved from various materials such as narwhal and walrus tusk, wood and caribou antler. They are an important part of Greenlandic Inuit art and are highly prized as collectibles.

 

Image taken at Greenland National Museum in Nuuk. The museum has exhibitions that cover all of Greenland’s history during 4.500 years. From the first Arctic Stone Age Cultures, the Norse settlements, the arrival of the Thule culture – the ancestors to the present Inuit to the gradual transition to modern Greenland.

 

Image taken at Greenland National Museum in Nuuk. The museum has exhibitions that cover all of Greenland’s history during 4.500 years. From the first Arctic Stone Age Cultures, the Norse settlements, the arrival of the Thule culture – the ancestors to the present Inuit to the gradual transition to modern Greenland.

Shopping at new supermarket - Trader's Joe this summer 2022. Within two weeks, I learned that "Tuesday and Wednesday are the best days to shop without standing on long lines. Early morning is honestly the best time to go. You can get fresh produce every morning - the best products, and some stuff actually will sell out for the day around 2 to 4 p.m., including perishable and nonperishable items."

The Local is southbound at CCT Youngstown station, east of Acampo. The Buck family sheds once did a multitude of perishable business from this location. Buck-owned Liberty Winery (behind the photographer) was also a steady CCT customer. I had the pleasure this day of taking noted photographer Wilbur C. Whittaker (at trackside) along for the chase. It was Wil and his fine collection of CCT photographs from the 30s and 40s that led me to co-author a book on the subject. Dave Stanley photo ©2025

At 8.37pm, a series of horn blasts announced the arrival of Launceston-bound fast goods #236. Due (nominally) at 7.50pm, she is running late and #235 which has to be crossed here, is already waiting impatiently at the 'Home stick' (Launceston end).

 

#236 was a fast through service from Wynyard (Mondays only) or Smithton (Tues-Fri) and only picked up perishables or priority goods along the way. All Launceston loading was marshalled next to the locos: thus upon arrival here, the train ran as far towards Launceston as was necessary for the brake van to clear the northern points. #236 then set back, via the Hobart side of the wye, into the marshalling yard where any Main Line loading could be easily detached...

 

Monday 8.37pm 4-2-1974

An eastbound SP solid train of perishables, was crossing the big bridge across the Rio Grande River from New Mexico into El Paso, TX.

1 CORINTHIANS 15:54

CR 6351-5031-5036 lead the PXSE-6 (Perishable Express, Blue Island, IL to Selkirk, NY) through Oriskany passing the old NYC freight station. Hot westbound van TVLA has just passed at speed going west on Track 2. The front grille and hood of an AMC Pacer waits at the grade crossing. PXSE has a cut of ADM grain up front for the grain mill in Upper Hudson, NY.

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

"When this perishable nature has put on imperishability, and when this mortal nature has put on immortality, then the words of scripture will come true: Death is swallowed up in victory. Death, where is your victory? Death, where is your sting? Now the sting of death is sin, and sin gets its power from the Law. So let us thank God for giving us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Never give in then, my dear brothers, never admit defeat; keep on working at the Lord’s work always, knowing that, in the Lord, you cannot be labouring in vain."

– 1 Cor 15:54-58, which is today's 2nd reading at Mass.

 

Stained glass from Edinburgh University.

It's Alive!

 

I'd finished my shopping up at Aldi and loaded my perishables into the cooler. As I glanced across the parking lot I saw this refugee from the graveyard shambling toward me. Virtually every panel seemed to be a different color. Fortunately, I had my trusty Canon with me and I shot it on the spot. I didn't see it move again, I don't know where these undead vehicles are coming from or how the zombie automotive apocalypse started, but I won't venture out of my house unarmed.

 

Toodle-oo, Truckenstein! Wait, what? It's a Ford Ranger?

 

Seriously, which is it?

Please feel free to follow my Facebook page www.facebook.com/truckingpix

Some freshly shopped power was leading an eastbound Santa Fe train of perishables and canned goods climbing towards the entrance to Crozier Canyon, AZ in beautiful afternoon light.

Similar in shape and size to the previous two jugs from this hoard (cats. 6oc, 6od), this example is somewhat more elongated, with a plain neck, a body decorated with figures in high relief, and an undecorated foot. Between the neck and the body of the jug are two borders of egg-and-dart bands. The upper end of the curved handle with two wide longitudinal grooves splits to wrap around the back of the outturned rim, and the lower end terminates in a simple upturned palmette with rounded leaves.

 

On the body of the jug are three identical repetitions of the same scene. The naked male figure to the left may be identified as Herakles because of the club he holds and the lion skin partly visible between his legs. The hero is beardless, the head is facing, and the upper body is turned three quarters to the viewer. His right leg is bent at the knee, probably to indicate a step backward, but hangs in the air, as there is no groundline. With his left hand, Herakles pushes away the female figure, dressed in a short chiton held at the shoulder by a round clasp and a flying chlamys. In her outstretched hands, she holds a spear pointed at the hero's head and steps with her right foot on his knee. In the spaces between the human figures are a rearing horned lion-griffin and a bridled horse.

 

Two interpretations have been suggested for the scene, the more probable being the fight between Herakles and the Amazon Hippolyte. In the myth the hero fights not the queen of the Amazons, however, but the swift-as-the-wind Aella, the powerful Melanippe, and seven more female warriors. Also, it is difficult to read the scene in one way only, as the vase and its decoration were made by a Thracian artisan who borrowed but then to a great extent simplified the scheme of popular Greek depictions of an Amazonomachy. The desire to fill all spaces with symbols (in this case the figure of the griffin and the horse) and a repeated composition is typical of Thracian art and opens a semantic labyrinth of diverging interpretations.

 

Part of a hoard of 161 silver vessels unearthed in 1986 in the Bulgarian village of Rogozen, Bulgaria; now known as the Rogozen Treasure. Found packed tightly together, they may have been placed in bags made from perishable material before being buried. The vases are all types used for pouring or drinking, and their decorations points to cultural contacts with Greece and Asia Minor (in present-day Turkey).

 

Thracian, ca. 350-300 BCE, silver.

 

Regional Historical Museum, Vratsa, Bulgaria (B 460).

 

______

 

Photographed at the Getty Villa Museum, part of the 'Ancient Thrace and the Classical World: Treasures from Bulgaria, Romania, and Greece' exhibition.

Cpl. Jonathon Schannep and Sgt. Daniel Kahn, force reconnaissance Marines with 4th Force Reconnaissance Company, scout a beachfront during hydrographic reconnaissance training at Marine Corps Training Area Bellows in Waimanalo, Hawaii, Jan. 13. The training was part of a weeklong jump and dive training package that brought the unit, headquartered in Alameda, Calif., together with their Hawaii-based counterparts — 4th Force's 4th Platoon. Following a real-life mission, the data they collect — such as the size and frequency of wave crests, sediment type and slope of the beach — allows unit commanders to determine what type of landing and vehicles the beach's composite supports, said Petty Officer 2nd Class Mike Weissman, a hospital corpsman with 2nd Platoon, 4th Force.

Marine Corps Base Hawaii – Kaneohe Bay

Photo by Lance Cpl. Reece Lodder

Date Taken:01.13.2011

Location:WAIMANALO, HI, US

Related Photos: dvidshub.net/r/qhigjy

WEEK 31 – Hernando Kroger

 

Turning our attention back toward the bakery now, with a shot overlooking it and the entire right side wall of the store. A proper ‘stour’ follows the intended flow of the supermarket, so that’s precisely what we’ll be taking a look at this week!

 

You’ll note a lot of the photos in this entire photoset are from May 19th, including this one, and most other ones today as well. What can I say – it must’ve been a good day for picture taking!

 

(c) 2016 Retail Retell

These places are public so these photos are too, but just as I tell where they came from, I'd appreciate if you'd say who :)

Yes, finances being what they are, and given that his business involves highly perishable goods, his "boss" won't allow him any time off until he's sold every bouquet in his adapted supermarket shopping cart. (And that's if he's his own boss.)

 

He knows that a lot of his neighbors are pressed for funds, so he sells the cheapest possible flowers: Carnations and Chrysanthemums...with some bouquets containing an extra-fancy mum or two, each encased in its own protective sleeve.

 

But perhaps I'm wrong; he may not be self-employed at all. He may rent the cart from a middle-man and only receive a small percentage on the flowers he sells. That would mean he would never have a day off--he couldn't afford to. He's not making enough as it is!

  

Washington Heights, Upper Manhattan

New York, NY USA

-----

For the group six word story.

 

Image: Flying Fish Cove from Territory Day Park, Christmas Island, Indian Ocean. External Territory of Australia.

 

Below is the first in a series of five monthly reports I sent back to friends in 2007.

Recommend reading them in order to get the best out of them.

Very long.

  

Notes from Christmas Island (CI)

Chapter 1

JULY 2007

RANDOM OBSERVATIONS AND LIFE EXPERIENCES ON A RAINFOREST COVERED ISLAND, NO WHERE NEAR ANYWHERE AS DESCRIBED IN AN OFTEN

NON-CHRONOLOGICAL, NON-SEQUENTIAL, NON-LINEAR, ALL OVER THE PLACE MANNER!

 

I imagine the short exchange between Christmas Island International Airport [XCH] Air Traffic Control and our pilot went something like this:

 

“Inbound National Jet RJ-70 this is XCH.

You are cleared to land, winds 20 knots ESE,

So why don’t you stop messing around and put that sucker on the ground, then we can all go home”

 

“Groovy XCH, this is inbound RJ-70, copy that, please have a Canadian Club and Dry waiting for me on the tarmac, will have this big bird on the deck in a second.”

 

Or words like that.

 

Within ten minutes I became the last person off the plane as the flight attendants smiled nicely whilst, quite possibly, gently cursing my unstressed gait as I alighted the aircraft.

 

With a nose full of wonderful warm and clean tropical air I glanced towards the smallish aviation terminal building.

The terminal’s primary task was to allow for the lawful and obedient arrival and departure of passengers as listed on the aircraft passenger manifest.

It’s secondary but nevertheless important duty was to hold back a very green swath of rainforest from imminent invasion of the outrageously undulating but clearly useable runway.

 

This should be the last time I would be requiring that lumpy runway for a little while.

 

Christmas Island [CI], 10 degrees south of the Equator,

2600 km north, north-west from Perth,

2800 km west from Darwin,

360 km south from Indonesia,

1300 km south from Singapore

900 km north, north-east from Cocos (Keeling) Islands is to be home to Jody and myself for at least the next three months.

 

This airport is 291 metres above sea level.

For some perspective:

That is higher than the Central Park Building Perth, Australia

Outrageously higher than anything built in Adelaide, Australia

Fractionally lower than Centrepoint Tower in Sydney, Australia

Marginally higher than the Transamerica Building in San Francisco, USA

Almost twice the height of the Washington Monument in Washington DC, USA

A couple of storeys short of Bank of China Building, Hong Kong

Four fifth’s the height of the TV Tower Berlin, Germany

And that's just the height of the airport, some of the island is a third higher again.

As a rock, this island pokes right out of the water.

 

All the settled areas of CI are either a bit below, quite a bit below or massively far below the airport.

 

The steepness of the hill is severe in some places, sufficient enough to make a Tour De France rider squirm in his bike shorts and say “Sacré Bleu!”

Cleverly we had booked a 4WD hire car for the first week.

With certain smugness we took this all terrain vehicle out of the airport and down, down, down the hill to our unit.

Our three monthly lease of this unit, signed sight unseen, could now commence.

Let’s see what we have signed up for.

 

With the six kilometre winding downhill drive completed and the 4WD parked outside our new home, we were ready to collect the key, which was securely sitting on top of the frame of the front door.

Or so we were told!

As expected it was nowhere to be found.

Sleeping in the jungle seemed quite a chance.

 

This is where old contacts come in handy.

Also where the philosophy of, always make friends not enemies, pays dividends.

The neighbour to our property was a friend of mine in 1991 when I lived on the island.

A quick explanation of our predicament and soon a key was produced.

He had previously owned the unit and only sold it this year.

A spare key to the unit still jangled, if shaken, on his key ring and within moments we were inside.

Who’s a lucky a boy!

 

We leased this unit, which was to be one of either:

a] furnished

b] partially unfurnished

c] completely unfurnished.

To be frank we were not exactly sure what we were getting, but we knew we had a roof over our head and a front door and potentially a key.

 

Apart from the water leaking from the shower that drips out in the four cardinal directions and into the crappy carpet and onto the laundry floor, it would be adequate.

It won’t be featured in any of the following magazines:

Homes and Gardens or Design Trends or Architectural Weekly or Architectural Monthly or Architectural Annual.

Can’t see it getting a run in Clean Carpet Weekly but is a very good chance for a major feature in The Bad and Damp Carpet Journal.

On the plus side, the walls were painted, once.

The unit was old, tired, pretty well completely dirty and in summary

‘a bit crap’ however we are really quite happy here.

There was also no mattress on the bed, my friend but also had a spare, so we were soon sorted in that regard.

 

Because what it does have, is a fairly cool location.

We are unit two, of a set of four.

Where unit one is separated from the ocean by the main arterial road on the lower part of the island.

Not unexpectedly unit two is behind unit one.

Our ability to live in properties adjacent to main roads continues.

However this road is not really busy.

Sometimes fifteen minutes can elapse between cars and after midnight possibly hours between one lot of traffic and the next.

 

Of a morning there is no good reason, not to sit out on a chair, on the lawn near, but not under, the adjacent coconut tree and have my bowl of cereal and watch the ocean move and the traffic go by.

 

CI , an Australian external territory has a population of around fifteen hundred with eleven hundred being adults.

Life is unhurried and casual.

In a city all tasks seem to be done quickly or required to be done quickly.

That is not necessarily the case here.

Not everything can be done quickly, as shipping and flying things in and out have their own schedule, such as:

Monday has a flight from Perth to CI.

Thursday has a flight from Singapore to CI.

Friday has a flight from Perth to CI.

Postage leaves here on Mondays and Fridays direct to Perth.

Postage to CI on Thursdays goes from Perth to Singapore then changes airlines to fly from Singapore to CI.

So theoretically if a letter was posted from a person in Singapore to someone here, the letter would travel from Singapore to Perth to Singapore to CI.

A ship arrives around every six weeks or so to restock the non-perishables and larger items.

 

Crime is virtually unheard of, perhaps the occasional minor issue but any offence is unusual and certainly the talk of the town if it happens.

We think the cops, mainly go fishing.

Cars have the keys left in the ignition all the time.

So much easier to find the car keys when they stay in the car ready for use.

No one locks their car.

 

More often than not during the day we do not lock our house.

It took a week or so to get comfortable with this.

At night, we do, while we are sleeping but at some point that will probably change.

Jody gave up her handbag on the second day and my wallet has been ditched.

In it’s place is a small tough plastic bag, to hold some cash and now and then my plastic card to get cash out from the bank.

 

Fresh food comes in three times a week.

On Monday from Perth, Thursday from Singapore and Friday from Perth and occasionally on Saturdays from Perth, if it is school holidays.

Anything that comes via a plane is pretty pricey such as refrigerated items, fruit and vegetables.

We switched immediately to long life milk, which comes up via ship instead of the "short life milk" that comes up on the plane.

Items from the ship seem to be only about 20% more expensive that in Perth.

Not bad considering where we are.

Similar situation for the fuel, here it is AUD$1.41ltr when in Perth it is AUD$1.31. Could be worse.

 

The ship did arrive end of July, despite being due in the middle of July and is kind of a big event as restocking occurs.

Also on this ship were our mountain bikes which will give us more capacity to get around if vehicles are not handy.

 

The wildlife here is fantastic.

CI is known for the red crabs and their accompanying migration around December.

Which is a world class natural event.

The red crabs are kinda nice, in a crab type of way.

Not aggressive at all and in general, a peaceful type of creature.

Out in the jungle there is about one crab per square metre or two, which makes about 60 million of them or 480 million legs if you were to count them that particular way. But why would you.

Then there are the other crabs, the blue crabs that hang out in freshwater stream areas and the awesome robber crabs plus another ten or twenty other varieties that scuttle left and right.

 

The robber crabs are massive, sitting about six inches / 15cm off the ground.

Apparently larger ones can be 70 years old.

They prefer coconuts and can grind away at them with their claws until they get them open.

Allegedly their claws are so strong they can snap a broomstick in half, not that anyone has ever seen it happen, but looking at them it seems a fair call.

To see a crab weighing two or three kilograms suspended from a tree trunk eight feet in the air, is a formidable sight.

There are plenty of other amazing creatures, more on them in the next chapter.

 

For a small population there is a wide array of outlets for food and drinks.

There is one large supermarket similar to any well stocked shop in a small town on the mainland.

Three small Asian supermarkets whose aisles are so narrow that your shoulders barely fit between.

For meals there are two Chinese restaurants, three coffee shops, three pubs and a Chinese noodle house.

Add or possibly minus from that list a Malay Restaurant that doesn’t seem to open!?

Due to the nature of the geography most places have an ocean view and a cooling breeze.

 

Other items of note for a small, extremely remote island is the sensational hospital (ocean views standard), an 18 million dollar recreation centre with 25m swimming pool, children’s pool, basketball court, coffee shop and a brilliantly resourced gym.

Half way up the hill is the outdoor cinema, with great ocean views before the sun goes down and a lovely breeze when the movie is on. Unless it is raining.

 

There is one movie per week at AUD$5 per person, movies get to the island just as they are leaving the cinemas in Perth, so they are reasonably current.

Popcorn is available, but if four people have ordered popcorn before we get there then we have to wait eight minutes before ours is actioned.

Two minutes each packet in the microwave.

Practical solution to a practical problem.

 

Movies can be sponsored, so if I wanted to make the film

“brought to you by Keith and Jody” then we just have to lay the money down, rumour is, about AUD$300.

A local radio station is transmitting along with a few FM stations from Perth, ABC Local Radio plus Triple J that transmits Australia wide.

 

TV has ABC, SBS, WIN being a local version of Channel 9 and GWN country TV that takes combination Channel 7 and Channel 10.

Sadly both WIN and GWN suffer from the Western Australian country commercials varying from low quality to really low quality.

 

We convinced the landlord to supply a new mattress as the old one borrowed was pretty knackered.

We found a suitable one at the supermarket and arranged purchase.

For delivery the supermarket manager, who I knew from 1991 helped me lift it on the back of his ute, gave me his keys and said to drop the ute off in the carpark when I was finished and to leave the keys in the ignition. Fantastic. That’s how business should be done.

 

Vehicle transport is a necessity to get up the hill.

I do go running up the hill but I am the only one I know who does, my chances of having Jody run up the hill are about one degree.

That is, in every 360 times I ask she would probably agree to run once.

 

From the beginning of August we have hired a car from an old friend, or to be nice, a friend from a long time ago.

Not everything on the car works but if it did then the deal I got wouldn’t have happened.

The car is for sale and I can hire it until it sells.

Who knows I may have been able to get it for free, maybe, maybe not, but one needs to be fair here so some payment was necessary

Normally a newish car for hire would be about AUD$300 hundred per week.

My weekly hire rate is one carton of Boag’s Lite beer and one bottle of Champagne. Total cost $44 per week.

 

Those who know me and thought I possessed a minimum level of sophistication then the following will clearly shatter that illusion and those who believe I have no sophistication will be vindicated.

When I enquired what type of champagne was desired, the reply was “Brut”.

Easy then, off to the supermarket I headed to stock up on the grog.

Alcohol and cigarettes do not attract the mainland duties and taxes.

These items are ridiculously cheap.

Bottle of 1 litre spirits that would be $30 - $40 on the mainland are $14 here.

Cigarettes, for those filthy smoking bastards are around $2.50 a packet instead of the advised figure of $12 (so I am told.)

Even if I have my smokes prices a bit wrong, it’s still damn cheap.

I should start being a chain smoker and become an alcoholic, I would save sooooo much money!!

 

Back to the Champagne, I scoured the Champagne section of a very comprehensive alcohol section, juxtaposed to the dishwashing powder and washing machine liquids.

No brand of Champagne called Brut here!

With a bowed head and dragging of feet I slunk out of the supermarket like an abject failure.

I would be unable to fulfil my end of the “grog for car” regime.

Later Jody in a calm and quiet voice took me gently aside and explained that Brut was not a brand but a variety.

With a spring in my step I located a nicely priced bottle of James Hardy Champagne.

You can see my confusion, the words “Brut De Brut” located under the brand were not obvious and the whole thing just looked like a plain old bottle of wine to me.

 

Maybe this is not my area of expertise.

Jody was kind by saying it wasn’t my fault given that it is a "chick’s drink" or that it is "women's business" and I had no real right knowing about that type of thing anyway.

Sounds like the perfect disclaimer for me.

 

If I haven’t said so already, we are loving life here, sure the mosquito’s are impressed with Jody’s fair skin and tasty new blood.

They don’t get fair skin much like that too often, so they are making hay while the sun shines.

 

The mosquitos are not as bad as I thought, though, going thoroughly through a thoroughfare throughout the jungle like a thoroughbred where it is damp, mozzies can be an issue but in the settled areas, no worse than on the mainland.

We came prepared with a wonderful white mosquito net to cover us while sleeping.

Looks quite romantic really and keeps those buzzing mongrels away.

 

I once read, never skimp on two things when camping (extend that to remote areas) those being toilet paper and mosquito nets.

Go cheap and you will regret it.

This advice is being taken.

 

Before I go, please allow me to talk about the weather.

Those who might read this should be in the following listed locations and regions.

As I write this, early August 2007, it is winter in Australia and summer in the northern hemisphere.

On the “mainland”, as continental Australia is succinctly referred, we understand the situation is thus:

Perth, has been raining virtually all month since we left.

Adelaide, varies from miserable to cold and miserable.

Melbourne, is well, Melbourne and enough said there.

Sydney, would be similar to Perth, but with delusions of grandeur.

Hong Kong, let's mark you down as hot and humid with afternoon rain.

South Korea, possible storm clouds on the horizon, not from the weather but from those crazies next door in North Korea.

Germany, should be lovely and if on the autobahn, then fast.

While not being familiar with summer in San Francisco, San Diego & Palo Alto I expect you have your hottest month right now and I would guess pretty nice.

Washington DC now should be as warmish as it gets and trying to rule the world.

Hope I mentioned everyone.

 

According to official temperature collection data, Christmas Island minimum never drops below 20 (centigrade) and maximum never gets above 30.

Humidity levels can be neatly described as, humid.

When the local’s describe the water temperature as cold, it isn’t.

It’s a great place.

 

OK it is late and that’s enough for now.

If I send this when I have written everything I want to say, then it will never be sent.

This is Chapter 1, Chapter 2 is for another day...

If you print them all off then you will have a first edition of this virtual book. How about that!

 

All replies readily accepted, go easy with attachments, anything larger than 200KB or 0.2 MB takes forever to download and at $8 per hour costs me a fortune.

 

Hope you are all fine and unless we hear otherwise, we are assuming you are.

 

See ya

 

Keith (and Jody who is currently sleeping and missing her 2 cats)

  

A train does not need to always be present…but a train will come.

 

Here are two very different railroads that move two very different type of commodities and both have a single monumental task - to move our world. From above Sacramento Regional Transit's Gold Line LRT reaches skyward to cross the Union Pacific twice in the area of a couple hundred feet, first crossing the Fresno Subdivision you see before you, and again in the background the famed ex-SP Placerville Branch which runs for 13 miles beside the Light Rail line to Nimbus, CA.

 

However, tonights real show is front and center. In the two hours I sat at Brighton, CA, a neighborhood in Sacramento near the CSU campus, five trains passed by myself and my best friend, Jeremiah. Two intermodal trains, a manifest, another "Z" train and finally Amtrak 703 which came by us at 80mph marking the end of a beautiful night. Brighton serves as the gateway to the San Joaquin Valley to the south and is a staging point on the railroad for trains entering Roseville via the famous Elvas Wye, five miles to the north on the opposite side of CSUS.

 

This image was captured while waiting for the "Salad Shooter", an expedited perishable train that consists of 55 specialized mechanical reefer cars that run between Delano, CA and Selkirk, NY. The "Shooter" took down the Clear seen on Track 1. The Advance Approach as seen on Track 2 was being lined up in preparation for AMT703, the last San Joaquin Corridor train of the night. By the time both trains showed up this was a show of double Clears and each train passed within minutes of each other, both heading northbound and disappearing into the night. By this time SacRT had ended its night in the form of not revenue trains but deadhead moves to its yard on the North side of Sacramento which is also alongside the UP.

 

What is very interesting about this area is the fact that SacRT, while being 41 miles long is draped across each subdivision of the Union Pacific Railroad through Sacramento. The Blue Line, which runs from the extreme north end of the city runs alongside the Martinez Subdivision, also known as the "Cal-P", crosses the Sacramento Subdivision just north of Haggin Junction, and joins the Sacramento Subdivision again for its nine-mile jaunt to Meadowview Road. That totals to some sixteen miles in length.

 

The Gold Line on the other hand, runs on the former Sacramento Valley Railroad RofW, California's first railroad, as well as parts of the former Central California Traction Company on R Street to what was Brighton Junction. The bridge you see is 160+ years of history, as the SVRR crossed the railroad at grade. Today a US highway, seen to the left, occupies that space, forcing RT under the highway, then screaming for the sky to cross the UP, then back to ground level alongside the branch. That simple, but impressive structure is known as the Brighton Bridge which sees some 120 Light Rail trains a day. From there it follows the original railroad alignment into downtown Folsom.

 

While Union Pacific is touring the nation celebrating its 150th birthday, Northern California celebrates some 160 years of railroading. To this day the Capitol region of California is still a railroad town and its culture is alive and well. Just stand anywhere in Sacramento, you're always within earshot of a flange or a horn. Always.

 

© D. Felice Strong-Baker Photo, All Rights Reserved.

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Cooler with perishables to go in at the last minute.

13330 Franklin Farm Rd, Herndon, VA 20171

 

This Giant store opened in the late 1980s and shares a similar design with the Centreville store also opened in this period. This store likely had the "red neon" interior of the time until a major 2007 Super Giant concept remodel. That remodel relocated many departments, creating double entrances with a pharmacy on one side and a large perishables "power aisle" on another.

Today the store is receiving another remodel to Ahold's new gray/wood look resembling current trends.

The Canadian Pacific Holiday Train draws a festive crowd in Merrickville, ON on the evening of November 29 as it makes it's way across the country collecting non-perishable food items or cash donations that stay in your own community.

The Virginia Beach Police Mounted Patrol celebrated the holiday season by hosting a Holiday Open House - Toy & Food Drive on December 10th at the Mounted Patrol Barn. Donations of non perishable food and new unwrapped toys were collected at the event and distributed to local charities to make the season a little brighter for those in need

There were riding demonstrations, K9 demo, kids' activities, a food truck, and more!

This event was open to the public.

 

Photography - Craig McClure

22195

 

© 2022

ALL Rights reserved by City of Virginia Beach.

Contact photo[at]vbgov.com for permission to use. Commercial use not allowed.

WEEK 9 – Hdo Kroger Marketplace, Set IV

 

However, if PlazaACME can squeeze four thousand descriptions out of an underground cavern, I can come up with a measly three about a cheese shop :P Here we’re looking from the right side of the counter (as compared to its front in the previous couple of pics) across the grand perishables actionway toward the deli counter.

 

One thing that upsets me about this cheese counter is that it doesn’t place samples out in bins across the salesfloor, like at the Goodman and Getwell Kroger. Don’t they know I only shop at Kroger to eat free cheese?!

 

(c) 2018 Retail Retell

These places are public so these photos are too, but just as I tell where they came from, I'd appreciate if you'd say who :)