KUAN YIN, SHAMBHALA, AND

OM MANI PADME HUM


the Wanderllng

In the book SHAMBHALA: Oasis of Light, by Andrew Tomas (1977), which is fully linked to in a PDF version further down the page, the author, who spent many years studying the myths and legends of the Far East, writes that the Kunlun Mountains of the Tibetan Plateau in Qinghai Province holds a very important place in Chinese mythology. Tomas writes:


"It is in the Kunlun range that the Immortals are believed to be, living in a mysterious hermitage said to exist somewhere beyond time in a remote area known under a variety of names such as Gyanganj, Shambhala or Shangri-La and, according to Tomas in his book, ruled by Hsi Wang Mu, the Queen Mother of the West. Hsi Wang Mu, is also known as Kuan Yin, the goddess of mercy and compassion."


In THE WAY TO SHAMBHALA: Mollifying the Naysayers which carries with it an overtone of variance regarding the given specifics as to location as to Shambhala relative to Tomas, does run deeply in the same vein, drawing from the same strengths of Shambhala, both historic and in legend. It does say, which is agreed upon by most, that the texts imply that one can cross the snow mountains only by flying over them, but must be done through spiritual powers and not by material means.


"Although there are differing opinions as to where Shambhala actually is, the lamas all agree that it is a place of majestic beauty. They are more specific about the kingdom itself and give a remarkably clear and detailed picture of it. According to their descriptions, a great ring of snow mountains glistening with ice completely surrounds Shambhala and keeps out all those not fit to enter. The texts imply that one can cross the snow mountains only by flying over them, but the lamas point out that this must be done through spiritual powers and not by material means."


While it is true throughout the centuries there have been many reports and incidents recorded where people have just stumbled across or "fallen into" Shambhala, in the end most of the stories have a tendency to weaken, fall apart, or get caught up in some insurmountable twist.(see) Now this is not to say it can't happen, but the texts so quoted above also imply that a non Shambhala person, an outsider if you will, has to be "groomed." Launched expeditions and their ilk, like some African safari in an old Tarzan movie, just do not have a tendency to work. Throughout recorded history none have ever been successful to such a degree that they bared fruit.

People don't like the being groomed prospect and all, mostly because it leaves them out, but in things spiritual you will find that such a premise is not so unusual. The highly venerated Indian holy man the Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi is perhaps the highest profile example. Known as Venkataraman in his early years he was basically a non-descript boy growing up in south India like any number of the other non-descript boys thereabouts. However, even before he was conceived or born there was a much bigger umbrella cast over him and his forthcoming existence:


"There was a curse on Venkataraman's family - in truth, it was a blessing - that one out of every generation should turn out to be a mendicant. This curse was administered by a wanderling, an ascetic who, it is said, begged alms at the house of one of Venkataraman's forbears, and was refused. A paternal uncle of Sundaram Aiyar's became a sannyasin; so did Sundaram Aiyar's elder brother. Now, it was the turn of Venkataraman, although no one could have foreseen that the curse would work out in this manner. Dispassion found lodgement in Venkataraman's heart, and he became a parivrajaka."

The Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi


There is a theme, often unsaid or unseen that runs in a wide band in things spiritual. For the most part and for those most truly involved, it is sometimes a calling, but as with Sri Ramana it is blanketed by much bigger and much larger things, sometimes generations back. How does one know if they have a "calling?" It is not so much YOU that determines such a thing, but the "selection out" that occurs from or by another or possibly, like a seedling, developing to maturehood from an already fertilized previously laid-down unknown, unnamed non-existent yet is, viable growth-plain. Some seedings make it, others don't. For those that do, there is an almost innate ability that is somehow radiated or felt. You yourself may not even know per se' although your whole life you may have had "this feeling." It just needs to be focused. That is what happened in my case and to countless others like me throughout the centuries. You are somehow selected out, sometimes even before you ever were and groomed.[1]

Starting the mid 1920's a man named Nicolas Roerich along with a small close-knit personal entourage traveled throughout Tibet and the Himalayas for five years or so. In the process, Roerich, a highly accomplished artist, created hundreds and hundreds of paintings, mostly sweeping landscapes of what he saw or observed first hand. A good portion of his travels took him into rather isolated and off-the-beaten-path and places, especially compared to what the typical westerner of the day would ever see, few and far between other westerners were at the time.

On the surface for the majority of outsiders who were semi-aware of his movements, Roerich Tibetan-Himalayan travels appeared not to be specifically focused, having a wisp of being widely general in nature. There were two areas that captured his interest at a very high level however, that he didn't spread around at a very high level, Shambhala, discussed here, and what is known as the Hemis Manuscripts. The Hemis Manuscripts were said to be a series of ancient books or scrolls stashed away in a couple of monasteries in Tibet that say Jesus of Nazareth, during the 12 years he shows up missing in the bible, traveled to India and Tibet. As for Shambhala, even though he never made a formal declaration that the mysterious hermitage was his primary motive for his travels, everything he did was heavily blanketed by the prospect, with many moves either following leads or taking calculated moves that he hoped would lead to Shambhala. Over and over he sought out, met with, or talked to various people from highly distinguished spiritual notables to vagrants and Indigents, who were supposed to have either insight or knowledge in where it was and how to access it. Nowhere has it been revealed that he was successful, either alone or in the presence of members of his party. The following quote, taking into consideration regarding the above, Roerich, and Shambhala, is presented without comment and in contrast to the visual imagery in his painting below titled "Drops of Life" (1924):


"In The Guidebook to Shambhala written in the mid-18th century by the Sixth Panchen Lama (1738-1780) the Lama explained that the physical journey to Shambhala could only take one so far. To reach the fabled land, one needed to perform an enormous amount of spiritual practices. In other words, the journey to Shambhala was actually an inner quest. This explanation, however, did not seem to deter intrepid adventurers such as the Roerichs from trying to reach Shambhala by merely trekking there."

Mistaken Foreign Myths about Shambhala


Most if not all of Roerich's works of art are regarded to represent actual Tibetan and Himalayan landscapes and places that can still be seen and recognizable to this day. However, among his hundreds of paintings there is one that stands alone in what it represents, clearly showing a mild weather climate containing nearly sub-tropical plants and a lightly dressed woman surrounded in the background by barren, snowy mountains: The painting below shows hot springs and rich vegetation in the midst of barren, snowy mountains, creating a micro-climate.



The deeply spiritual holy man, Lama Anagarika Govinda (1898-1985), who lived and traveled extensively in India and Tibet most of his adult life, in his book The Way of the White Clouds (1966), Part 4, Return to Western Tibet, Chapter 45(see), speaking from his own personal experiences of the many unknown, hidden and mysterious places and canyons of Tibet, writes:


"(T)he surrounding highlands, accessible only through some narrow rock-clefts and gorges, known only to the local inhabitants, there were flower-bedecked gardens, surrounded by trees and fields of golden wheat and fertile pastures, through which, like silver veins, flowed the water of crystal-clear mountain streams. There were lofty temples, monasteries and castles, rising from the surrounding rock-pinnacles."

THE WAY TO SHAMBHALA: Mollifying the Naysayers


From his Enlightenment forward, the Buddha, as part of his teaching method, presented his deeply held spiritual and philosophical concepts to those so interested through the use of comparisons, allegories, similes, and metaphors. The following is presented in the same comparison, allegory, simile, and metaphor fashion for the same reasons.


"For me, as a kid, comic books were big in my life. Although I saved and collected a number of them on and off over the years, in the end, the vast majority of them simply just disappeared, were given away, lost, or forgotten. However, among that vast majority, at least two impacted my life and me personally in major ways and a third in an important but somewhat more minor way.

"One such major impactor was True Comics, No. 58 with a cover date of March, 1947. Inside was a story titled 500 Years Too Soon the title referring to the famous Renaissance artist and inventor Leonardo Da Vinci and his attempt to build and fly a human powered air-worthy craft back in 1490 AD."


As far as comic books are concerned, True Comics, No. 58 and one titled BLUE BOLT No. 6, because of a story it had in it that was referred to as The Goose Shoot, had major impacts on my everyday early childhood. But, as mentioned in the quote above, there was a third important comic book character that influenced me as well in a somewhat more minor but longer term way. She was a heroine billed as the "Queen of the Sagebrush Frontier" going by the name of Firehair.

In several places, in conjunction with Firehair I write that both my mother and her sister had beautiful long red hair. In that they were so close together age-wise and looked so much alike almost everybody mistook them for twins. Although I do not remember much about my mother I remember my aunt very well, and because of their look alikeness I always felt I had a good idea of what my mother looked like. In conjunction with Firehair, as a young boy I always held a certain affinity towards her character because I liked to believe that my mother, with her red hair and all, would have been like her, maybe even, since I never went to her funeral, found by Indians and saved.

Not long after World War II while I was still a young boy somewhere around the fourth or fifth grade or so, I met an elderly Chinese man who worked as a dishwasher and swamper in a bar owned by my Stepmother. A couple of buddies and I used to pull a wagon called a Radio Flyer through the back alleys in our neighborhood a few days a week collecting pop and beer bottles for the deposit. After we collected a wagon load we would turn them in various places around of which one was the bar. In the process trading in the bottles for cash I got to know the dishwasher.

During slow times or when he was caught up with his work he used to sit Buddha style in the back alley and meditated. As a young boy without a lot of experience in the matter, and never with my buddies, I used to go by the bar and meditate with him even without turning in soda or beer bottles for the deposit. Sitting in the shade on the back steps amongst the garbage cans and flies behind the bar one afternoon, while drinking hot tea out of tiny little cups with no handles in a near ritual-like tea ceremony he insisted on, the elderly Chinese man told me a story about the bombing of Japanese occupied Taiwan by B-29 Superfortresses of the United States Army Air Force during World War II.

He said from ancient times there was a "girl Buddha" whose followers believed that reciting the mantra Om Mani Padme Hum would, because of her compassion, deliver them from harm. He said even though he himself had not practiced or invoked the mantra, while seeking refuge in the midst of the attack he inadvertently ended up amongst a group of believers who were also running to find shelter from the explosions. Then, while within the group, most of whom were verbally repeating the mantra, overhead, pure white and almost cloud-like the "girl Buddha" appeared in the sky above them actually deflecting the trajectory of the bombs away from their exposed path until they reached safety and out of harms way.



The mantra came up because of a 1940s comic book superhero called The Green Lama that used the Om Mani Padme Hum mantra much like Billy Batson used Shazam to become Captain Marvel --- to invoke superpowers --- and, in the Green Lama's case, like Captain Marvel, gaining super strength, invulnerability, the ability to fly, and even being impervious to bullets to the point of being bulletproof. The old dishwasher had six or eight copies of the Green Lama, all in like-new mint condition, of which, for whatever reason, he gave to me. The "girl Buddha" was of course Kuan-yin and her miraculous appearances in human form are found in the legend of Miao-shan. See:


THE LEGEND OF MIAO SHAN


My older brother was born three years before I was, and thus then, because of that age difference, started school several years before I did. As he went from kindergarten through to the third grade my mother helped him with his reading. Even though I hadn't started school because of being too young, I learned to read right along with him. By the time he reached third grade and I started kindergarten, I was reading third grade books probably as well or better than he was and was being shown off by my mother for being able to do so to anybody who would listen. My brother had assigned school books to read. I didn't, so in the process I turned to comic books. The quote below, from the source so cited, although right on, is meant to be tongue in cheek as well:


"As we traveled along, in a general chit-chat sort of way about the floods, drawing from my super heavily injected academic background brimming with in-depth encyclopedic and intellectual knowledge of information and data --- all garnered from comic books of course --- I told him about a great story I read in a Gene Autry comic called 'Ship in the Desert' (issue #52, June 1951) as well as an another one in an Uncle Scrooge comic called 'The Seven Cities of Cibola' (issue #7, September 1954) wherein wrecked Spanish galleons had been found in the desert in both stories. As near as I could remember, as far as the ships were concerned, the punchline for both stories were associated with an old Colorado River channel covered and uncovered over the centuries by flash floods or some such thing leading to the Salton Sea."

GENE AUTRY: Ship in the Desert" Issue #52, June 1951


SO, WHERE DOES IT COME FROM?

IT FLOWS FROM MY SUPER HEAVILY INJECTED ACADEMIC BACKGROUND BRIMMING
WITH IN-DEPTH ENCYCLOPEDIC AND INTELLECTUAL KNOWLEDGE OF INFORMATION
AND DATA, ALL COMING FROM COMIC BOOKS OF COURSE. TO SEE CLICK THE IMAGE.


When my dad married the person I call my stepmother he gathered up my brothers and me to live once again as a family unit. My stepmother, who was just about the the same age as my father, had never been married nor had been around children, raised children, or had any herself. So said, her view of what she thought of as family, and although I loved her view and her too, was a little skewed from what my family was before my mother died. My stepmother hired people to do everything. So family-wise, my older brother, who only my dad and godfather could control, was overseen by our godfather. I fell under the auspices of my Uncle and my younger brother was taken care of by a nanny or a series of nannies. My brothers and I and our caretakers, nannies, et al, stayed on the same property my uncle's art studio was located, a place everybody called the compound while my stepmother lived in an exclusive behind the gate estate community some distance away

One summer her namesake niece stayed with her and in the process, in that the niece was several years older than my younger brother and me my stepmother had her babysit us some of the time in an effort to offer some relief to my uncle and others. Directly across the street from my stepmother's house lived a family or some notoriety, the Halliburton's of Haliburton Oil. During the summer my niece was visiting a son of old man Halliburton named David fell hard for her, and of which I think, even though he was in his late teens or early twenties was most likely his first and thus then, his most unforgettable summer of love.

The son, David, eventually ended up being David Halliburton, Sr., a semi-avid yachtsman and marlin fisher, and, although a heir to a good part of the Halliburton Oil fortune, a man in his own right. From a young boy onward Halliburton loved the area in and around the tip of the Baja Peninsula, re the following:


"As an adult, David Halliburton Sr. frequently returned to Baja to fish with friends including Baron Hilton, Dean Martin and John Wayne. Partly so their wives would make the trip, instead of complaining about the men's frequent Mexican fishing excursions, David Sr. built the peninsula's first upscale resort, the Twin Dolphin, in 1977."



PANORAMIC VIEW OF HALLIBURTON'S HOTEL TWIN DOLPHIN AS IT LOOKED 1980s-1990s

The resort, although no longer in existence having long since demolished, there wasn't much that rivaled the Twin Dolphin in it's hey day. I frequented the place often and almost always as a guest of Halliburton and if I wasn't and he discovered I was there he comped everything. One of the times I was there Dean Martin was there traveling with the actress Phyllis Davis. Now, while I didn't meet Dean, or even see him for that fact, I did have breakfast under invite as a guest of Halliburton one morning and Davis, sans Dean, was there. Several years later she contacted me regarding what she described as a growing spiritual awareness she was hoping to cultivate and wondered if I could offer some advice. Thinking what I suggested was a little more difficult than she wanted to pursue at the time she just let it go at that.


"According to the Buddha and how the sutras are said to present it, to manifest or execute the abilities of Siddhis, a stringent regimen of meditation and concentration MUST meet certain levels of accomplishments. To reach such a level the meditator must be perfect in the precepts (Sila), bring his thoughts to a state of quiescence (Samadhi), practice diligently the trances (Jhana), attain to insight (Prajna) and be frequenter to lonely places."

SIDDHIS: Supernormal Perceptual States


Unlike most, in an honest assessment of herself, Davis questioned if she could meet such criteria, that is, being masterful in Sila, Samadhi, Jhana, and Prajna and be frequenter to lonely places. However, as time passed and people in her life she cared for and loved began to come and go, some on a more-or-less permanent basis by pushing up daisies, she began reevaluating just where she was finding herself in the overall scheme of things.


Sometime later, unrelated to Phyllis Davis or any of the above, I traveled to the Mahasi Meditation Center located in what was once Rangoon, Burma, now called Yangon, Myanmar to participate in their 12 week meditation sessions. The center is a rather large complex squeezed neatly into twenty acre compound exclusively for the participating in Vipassana Meditation, the same meditation method developed, used, and taught by the Buddha.. Those who seek admission to the center undergo full-time meditation regimen for six to twelve weeks which is considered an appropriate period of retreat for one to gain experience into Vipassana meditation. Amazingly enough, for those who may be so interested, for foreign meditators, the entire period of their stay for study-practice at the center --- six to twelve weeks --- is FREE, including both full boarding and lodging.

A few days before I was to complete my 12 weeks, and for all practical purposes, on a countdown in hours to depart, one of the monks, in a highly unusual set of circumstances, came to me and said an American woman had arrived at the office requesting to see me. In that only a very small cadre of people actually knew where I was and what I was doing, thinking someone seeking me must have some importance behind it, I agreed to go back with the monk. When I got to the administrative area the woman was gone, leaving only a $100 dollar Desert Inn poker chip to be given me.

When my time was over and I was unceremonious walking out the main gate, carrying what few belongings I had and dressed in the civilian clothes I arrived in, a man, looking all the same as being Burmese and most likely a local, who had been sitting in a parked car across the way in the shade, got out and began walking toward me. Speaking English the man said he had been asked by an American woman to watch for me, hand me an envelope, then, if I was willing, take me to the hotel where she was staying. The woman of course, was Phyllis Davis, and I knew it would be because probably next to the last time I saw her she gave me an exact duplicate to the $100 dollar chip I had now in Rangoon, telling me then to go gamble and have a good time. I never used the chip, actually sending it back to her in 2002 when her co-star of the TV series Vega$ Robert Urich died.

After a couple of days lounging around the hotel pool with me indulging in tropical drinks with crushed or shaved ice, triangle shaped pineapple slices with little pop-up umbrellas, and as well, having room service, sleeping in air conditioned rooms, and taking real long and hot showers with plush towels after 12 weeks at the meditation center, we gathered up a couple of things we might need and left that world behind ending up in Chiang Mai, Thailand to seek out a person I knew would be able to help us. I told him that the lady I was traveling with was in the early stages of following a spiritual path and had expressed a desire for my assistance hoping to become masterful in Sila, Samadhi, Jhana, and Prajna. To do so she needed to be a frequenter of lonely places. With that we were taken back to the hostel where we were staying.

The following day, barely before the sun had a chance to break across the slum-tops lining the close-by Chiang Mai eastern horizon, unknown to us and without our bidding, two men, one who could speak English, accompanied by a Buddhist monk arrived in a van looking for us. The man who could speak English said to gather up all our stuff because, with the monk's help, we were going to a place where the lady could be a frequenter to lonely places. The driver, following the monk's directions, headed northeast out of Chiang Mai on the main roads toward the mountains and jungles beyond.

The next morning the van turned onto some rough unpaved jungle road. After some distance the monk told the driver to stop. Phyllis and I got out taking our stuff with us and followed the monk into the jungle. Some hours later we came upon an opening with a small roofed wooden structure built at least three feet off the ground on stilts with a set of steps in the center-front leading to a wood floor interior. All four sides of the structure were open but had roll up rattan-like shades or blinds that could be pulled up or down forming walls, of which the one in the back was down. The way the structure faced the sun came up in the morning on the far left going across the sky in an arc setting on the far right, shining all day on the structure albeit leaving almost all of the floor area shaded. The only thing inside were two meditation mats neatly laid out on the floor. About 30 feet across the clearing was a fire pit like cooking area. After a week or two when I could sense she felt comfortable with her surroundings, the villagers, the jungle, her safety, and especially so with her meditation sessions, I told her I would be leaving. The next day, following one final wave from a distance, I headed alone into the jungle on the same trail the two of us came in on.


As easy as it may have seemed for Phyllis and I in Chiang Mai, and the graciousness of the help we received with transportation and all for her to reach a meditation spot where she could safely become masterful in Sila, Samadhi, Jhana, Prajna, and a frequenter of lonely places, which she was apparently able to do, it wasn't done without a cost. Nothing is free. Although Phyllis never knew about it nor did I ever have a chance to tell her, for the services rendered there was a price that was to be extracted.

The person I went to see in the Thai restaurant was willing to help in exchange for me providing a service for him. He knew I was a longtime Asian travel hand, sometimes Nam Yu related, sometimes not, but nearly always under rather scary or unscrupulous circumstances with a once upon a time uncanny ability to slip through places without raising undue concerns. He also knew I was a trusted commodity, especially if leveraged against the fact that no harm would come to the "woman," i.e., Phyllis. After hearing his request, of which I thought was a little much of an overkill, to do his bidding I asked if when done, he would in turn do an additional small favor for me. Agreeing to do so, we shook hands and the deal was done. All I had to do was get a small item across the Thai border into Burma and deliver it to a specific person. A couple of days later found me crossing the bridge by foot from the Thai city of Mae Sai into Tachileik where the man I was supposed to meet was supposed to be. But of course, wasn't. I was told he was now in a place called Mong La about 85 miles north up along the Chinese border.


In the Star Wars film, when Obi-Wan Kenobi warned Luke Skywalker that he would never find a more "wretched hive of scum and villainy than Mos Eisley Spaceport," there was no clarification. However, it thrived in being so mostly because of being located so far from the galaxy's political epicenter, and rarely if ever policed. So it is with Mong La.

As far a Mong La itself is concerned, being compared with Mos Eisley, or perhaps even the cities as seen in Bladerunner or the early scenes of the Fifth Element, movies all, they are some writers thought up view of what someplace like what they are trying to depict would be like. In real life I don't think any writer, producer, director or actor would step foot in Mong La alone without a whole lot of a protective entourage. Without any knowledge of how things work a person can and will sometimes, just disappear.


"Obi-Wan Kenobi warned Luke Skywalker that he'd never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy in the whole galaxy than Mos Eisley spaceport."


I guess neither Obi-Wan or Luke ever heard of Mong La.(see)


Mong La is crawling with casinos. However, six or seven years before, in 2003, as told by my driver, in nothing less than a sovereign invasion, China sent heavily armed People's Liberation Army troops cross-border into Mong La an effort to shut down the Casinos. Word had it that high-ranking Chinese government officials had lost billions of yuan in the town's casinos. One report said the daughter of a senior Chinese official had lost more than the equivalent of $1.6 million U.S. dollars using nothing but government funds. Sai Leun, the warlord who runs what is officially known as Special Region No. 4 wherein the city of Mong La is located, responded to the Chinese incursion by moving the casinos to a jungle area I estimate to be about 8 miles east and slightly south out of town. By the time I was in Mong La he had built more than two dozen casinos in an area now known in the vernacular as "casino city." After that most of central Mong La became a ghost town, although at the time I was there you could see a recovery was going on albeit never loosing a step as to its disreputable reputation.


"While the abandoned casinos are left to crumble in the centre of Mong La, the glitzy new casino area is a truly incredible sight huge columned palaces with names like Royal Casino and Casino Lisboa rise up in bizarre contrast with the villages and rice paddies that surround them. Armies of young casino workers in waistcoats mill around outside, and inside they robotically flip cards and spin wheels for the crowds of Chinese men and women squeezed around the tables."

MONG LA: MYANMAR'S SIN CITY, Charlotte Rose, Myanmar Times


Of course Mong La, although not a country but a city, is being offered up as a simile, albeit in reverse, a total opposite mirror image if you will, of all that Shambhala stands for.

Not surprisingly, when I arrived in Mong La the man I was looking for wasn't there either. Powers that be told me he was supposedly at a place called Panghsang, 70 miles further northwest. More specifically at his private fortress-like mansion west of the main section of town directly edging up to the Myanamar China river border but still in Myanamar, called Wan Nalawt. I was also told I would be taken there the next day and in the meantime just hang out.[2]


As for similes, not only on this page, but in one of the very first paragraphs of THE CODE MAKER, THE ZEN MAKER: Shangri-la, Shambhala, Gyanganj, Buddhism, and Zen I state that from his Enlightenment forward, the Buddha, as part of his teaching method, presented his deeply held spiritual and philosophical concepts to those so interested through the use of comparisons, allegories, similes, and metaphors. However, even before that paragraph, centered and in caps, in conjunction with the page so presented, directly underneath my name identifying me as the author and making no apologies, pulling any punches, or waffling, I flat out write:


A ZEN ADEPT VISITS SHAMBHALA


Then I write that for me, as a kid, comic books were big in my life jumping quickly to the Green Lama. Here I was, independently and on my own while still a young boy only in the fourth or fifth grade being introduced to and learning about Om Mani Padme Hum by an ancient Chinese man sitting Buddhis style meditating in a back alley behind a bar.

Even then, starting even in times past, the groundwork was being laid by outside forces for acceptance into the realm of Shambhala. I was being groomed.


THE CODE MAKER, THE ZEN MAKER
SHANGRI-LA, SHAMBHALA, GYANGANJ, BUDDHISM AND ZEN

OM MANI PADME HUM


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JAMES HILTON-------------------------------------ANDREW TOMAS--------------------------------NICOLAS ROERICH


PHYLLIS DAVIS


THE SAIGON TEA GIRL


THE LADY AND THE TIGERS


DR. MARGARET CHUNG M.D.
FLYING TIGER RECRUITER, ADVOCATE, PHYSICIAN

SHAMBHALA, TIME, AND THE LANGOLIERS


CHIYONO: JAPAN'S FIRST FEMALE ZEN MASTER


HOPE SAVAGE: BEAT GENERATION'S MISSING WOMAN


PULYAN'S TEACHER: FEMALE RAMANA WITHOUT A MOUNTAIN



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Nagarjuna, Ganapati Muni, Kuan Yin, Miao Shan, Tung-Shan, Lin Chi, Te Shan, Dogen



















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VILLAINY IN THE WHOLE GALAXY THAN MOS EISLEY. FOR A VIDEO OF MY TAKE ON IT CLICK IMAGE




















"Wandering in a hidden valley beneath the snow-wrapped shoulders of the Dhaulagiri massif, a lone hunter from the region of Dolpo hearkened to the echo of lamas chanting and the beating of drums. Tibetans tell the story of how this simple transient followed the sound of the music towards its source, which brought him to a doorway in a great cliff. Passing through it, he found himself in a beautiful valley adorned with verdant rice fields, villages and a gracious monastery. The people who lived in this valley were peaceful and happy, and they extended to the hunter a warm welcome, urging him to stay. He was delighted with their blissful existence but soon became anxious to go back to his own family and bring them to enjoy the beautiful valley. The residents there warned him that he would not be able to find the way back, but he was determined to leave. As he made his way out through the cliff door, he took the precaution of hanging his gun and his shoes beside the entrance to mark it. Confidently he went to fetch his wife and children, but when he returned to the hidden valley, he found the gun and shoes hanging in the middle of a blank rock wall."(source)


















Footnote [1]

There are hordes of people who don't like the concept or necessity of a need for being "groomed" or "selected out." It doesn't come from me. It is a thread of truth and facts weaved into things spiritual as found in the texts and scriptures attributed to the sayings and teachings of the Buddha. Of course they can be discounted if one were to so choose, it just doesn't change things.

After the Buddha attained Awakening and was considering whether or not to teach the Dharma, he perceived that there were four categories of beings: those of swift understanding, who would gain Awakening after a short explanation of the Dharma (ugghatitaññu); those who would gain Awakening only after a lengthy explanation (vipacitaññu); those who would gain Awakening only after being led through the practice (neyya); and those who, instead of gaining Awakening, would at best gain only a verbal understanding of the Dharma (padaparama).


Ugghatitannu: an individual who encounters a Buddha in person and who is capable of attaining the Noble Path and Noble Truth through the mere hearing of a short discourse.


Vipancitannu: an individual who can attain the Paths and the Fruition states only when a discourse is expounded to him at some considerable length.


Neyya: an individual who does not have the capability of attaining the Paths and the Fruition states through the hearing of either a short or a long discourse but who must make a study of the teachings and practise the provisions contained therein for days, months or years in order that he may attain the Paths and the Fruition states.

An individual of the Neyya class can become a Sotpanna in this present life if he faithfully practises the Bodhipakkhiya-Dhamma comprising satipatthana (Four Applications of Mindfulness), sammapadhana (Right Exertion), etc. If the individual is lax in his practice, he can become a Sotapanna only in his next existence after being reborn in the deva planes. If he dies while still aloof from these (Bodhipakkhiya-Dhammas) he will become a total loss so far as the present Buddha Sasana is concerned, but he can still attain release from worldly ills if he encounters the Sasana of the next Buddha.


Padaparama: one whose highest attainment is the text. An individual who, though he encounters the Buddha-teaching or Buddha-doctrine (Buddha Sasana) and puts forth the utmost possible effort in both the study and practice of the Dhamma, cannot attain the Paths and the Fruition states within this lifetime. All that he can do is accumulate habits and potential. Such a person cannot obtain release from Samsara.

An individual of the Padaparama class can attain release only within the present Buddha Sasana after rebirth in the deva planes in his next existence, if he can faithfully practise the Bodhipakkhiya-Dhammas in his present existence. The present Buddha Sasana will continue to exist so long as the Tipitakas remain in the world. The Padaparama class of individuals have to accumlate as much of the nuclei or seeds of Parami as they can within this lifetime.


(source)

















Footnote [2]

Although it is quite true similar things as to what happened below could very well happen anywhere in the world, in a continuing theme that Mong La was a total opposite mirror image if you will, of all that Shambhala stands for, I offer the following as found in the previously cited Phyllis Davis link:


No sooner had I returned to the hotel and closed the door than there was a knock. Opening the door, standing in the hallway just in front of me was a man from the lobby area that I recognized. Accompanying him was an Asian girl with heavy eye and face make-up, super long straight black hair, six or seven inch stiletto heels, and a yellow over the shoulder drop-down dress so short it barely covered her business. Also, if she weighed over a 100 pounds or remotely any age much older than 14 it would be a miracle of nature. In so many words the lobby man told me she was "mine" for the night to do whatever I wanted with her. Then he said if I would rather have a boy that could be arranged too. I told the man I would appreciate it if the two of them just left, I didn't want anybody that night of either sex. He said he couldn't because if he did there would be big trouble for both him and the girl. I told him I wanted to see the Madame. Soon a short little round woman who looked more like she sold noodles on the street than running a string of hookers was at the door. I explained everything through the man as an interpreter and she basically said whatever, she just wanted her money ... and if the girl didn't stay the night she wouldn't get paid. We eventually worked everything out and all of them left including the 14 year old girl. After that nobody bothered me for the rest of the night.

However, the next morning when I left to go downstairs hoping to get a western-style breakfast, just to the right of the door on the floor against the wall, curled up in a rather tight fetal position, was the 14 year old girl, fast asleep. To get paid the Madame must have made her stay the night, even if it was outside the door.














Gene Autry's Cowboy Code of Honor

  1. A cowboy never takes unfair advantage -- even of an enemy.
  2. A cowboy never betrays a trust. He never goes back on his word.
  3. A cowboy always tells the truth.
  4. A cowboy is kind and gentle to small children, old folks, and animals.
  5. A cowboy is free from racial and religious intolerances.
  6. A cowboy is always helpful when someone is in trouble.
  7. A cowboy is always a good worker.
  8. A cowboy respects womanhood, his parents, and his nation's laws.
  9. A cowboy is clean about his person in thought, word, and deed.
  10. A cowboy is a Patriot.


Roy Rogers Riders Club Code

  1. Be neat and clean.
  2. Be courteous and polite.
  3. Always obey your parents.
  4. Protect the weak and help them.
  5. Be brave, by never take chances.
  6. Study hard, and learn all you can.
  7. Be kind to animals and care for them.
  8. Eat all your food and never waste any.
  9. Love God and go to Sunday School regularly.
  10. Always respect our flag and country.



BILLY BATSON MOMENTS BEFORE THE ANCIENT MAN GRANTS HIM THE POWERS TO BECOME CAPTAIN MARVEL


Not a cowboy western hero, but a comic book hero nonetheless, before he ever became Captain Marvel, as depicted in Captain Marvel: His Origins, Billy Batson was met by a phantom-like stranger and of his own accord traveled via a mysterious subway to a deep underground cavern ornately carved with the Seven Deadly Enemies of Man. All seven, Pride, Envy, Greed, Hatred, Selfishness, Laziness, and Injustice, are the antithesis to the Code of the West --- that is to say, combating or eliminating one, any, or all by promoting their opposite as a way of life would formulate the basis encompassing the precepts of the Code.

As an example, and with absolutely no intention toward proselytizing or preaching, but only to illustrate the universal similarities most of the Codes, if not all, align in some way to the following precepts as laid down by the Buddha thousands of years ago please note how close the The Five Hindrances are with the Seven Deadly Enemies of Man as found in Captain Marvel. So too, check out the following precepts known throughout history as the Noble Eightfold Path and their comparisons with the Cowboy Code of the West:


  • RIGHT UNDERSTANDING: Understanding the true nature of existence, and the moral laws governing the same.

  • RIGHT THOUGHT: A pure state of mind, free from from ill-will and cruelty; in other words, thoughts of goodness and mercy.

  • RIGHT SPEECH: Consists of words which are not false, not harsh, not scandalous, not frivolous, i.e. truthful words, mild words, pacifying words, and wise words.

  • RIGHT ACTION: Abstaining from intentional killing or harming of any living creature, abstaining from dishonest taking of others' property.

  • RIGHT LIVELIHOOD: Participating in such a livelihood that it does not bring harm and suffering to other beings.

  • RIGHT EFFORT: The effort we make in overcoming and avoiding old and fresh bad actions by body, speech and mind; and the effort which we make in developing fresh actions of righteousness, inner peace and wisdom, cultivating them to perfection.

  • RIGHT MINDFULLNESS: Alertness of mind. It is the ever-ready mental clarity in whatever we are doing, speaking, or thinking and keeping before our mind the realities of existence.

  • RIGHT CONCENTRATION: Maintaining a mental concentration directed towards a morally wholesome object, always bound up with right thought, right effort and right mindfulness.

(source)


1.) From the first generate only thoughts with the right escort.

2.) Support right thoughts already risen.

3.) From where thoughts arise, generate no thoughts that carry negative escort.

4.) Dispel any negative thoughts already risen. (source)



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