#dharma sunday

[mmwm]

INDEPENDENCE DAYS #42

[donotdestroy]

The Voice of Happiness

After Bankei had passed away, a blind man who lived near the master’s temple told a friend: “Since I am blind, I cannot watch a person’s face, so I must judge his character by the sound of his voice. Ordinarily when I hear someone congratulate another upon his happiness or success, I also hear a secret tone of envy. When condolence is expressed for the misfortune of another, I hear pleasure and satisfaction, as if the one condoling was really glad there was something left to gain in his own world.

“In all my experience, however, Bankei’s voice was always sincere. Whenever he expressed happiness, I heard nothing but happiness, and whenever he expressed sorrow, sorrow was all I heard.”

[dollydharma]

[srisrisriddd]

Happy SunDay FunDay

Mindfulness

Time Is Illusion

Dhamma Dharma Cat

Cartoon Comic Anime Meme Philosophy Inspiration Of

Bhagwan Sri Sri Sri Dr Devang H Dattani ji

Infinite SriSriSri DDD

Posted By TheBlissCity

See The Photo For Fun Joy Joke

#Comic , #Cartoon , #SunDay , #FunDay , #Joy , #Joke , #Art , #Laugh , #Pun  , #Smile , #Happiness , #Humour , #Funny , #Comedy , #Drawing , #Animation  , #Life , #Philosophy , #Motivation , #Laughter , #Jokes , #Enlightenment , #Enlightened , #Comics, #Dogma , #Skepticism , #academic , #Philosophy , #funny , #Memes , #Anime , #Cat

[journeythroughjourneytothewest]

Hello and Welcome!

This is a blog dedicated to Journey to the West, where anyone interested may join in and follow along in a journey through Wu Cheng’en’s classic. This reading group will be focused on the Anthony C. Yu English translation, which the ever-interesting @journeytothewestresearch has helped provide completely free to download and read as pdfs! The link can be found below:

https://journeytothewestresearch.com/2019/06/07/archive-10-journey-to-the-west-2012-revised-edition/

In full awareness that everyone has their own busy lives and differing schedules, this reading group is working off of a “do-as-you-want” model. Everyone is welcome to submit their analysis, art, reactions, memes, criticisms, additions of context, etc. as we make our way through the journey, but there is no pressure but to have fun with the work!

That said, there is a reading schedule. This reading group has now made it through Volumes 1 and 2 of this classic, and will start up Volume 3 on September 15, 2024. The reading schedule encourages all interested to read one JTTW chapter per week. This group then "meets" every Sunday, which is be the day participants are encouraged to finish that week's chapter and/or submit their creative/analytical pieces about it. Sunday will also be the day where I will give a quick recap of that week's chapter, and will mass reblog anything participants submitted to have that work in the archive. Again, this blog has now made it through Volumes 1 and 2, and will start keeping to the reading schedule for Volume 3 starting September 15, so please have read “Chapter 51: Mind Monkey in Vain Uses a Thousand Tricks; Futile Water and Fire Make It Hard to Smelt Demons,” by then. You’ll find the reading schedule for Volume 3 below, and while not necessary I do encourage everyone to give a look at Yu’s introduction to this text in Volume 1 as well.

I want to end by stressing that it is completely understandable that new members would be concerned about joining after the reading schedule has officially started, and indeed after we have made it through the first volume. As such, I want to confirm that while this group encourages people to send in their submissions on Sunday for the chapter covered that week, you should feel completely free to both submit your stuff on any day of the week that’s best for you, as well as to send in art, memes, analysis, commentary, etc. for every chapter that has already been covered according to the reading schedule. In other words, all I’m going to ask is that your “late” submissions are in line with what happens in Volumes 1 and 2 and/or chapters in Volume 3 that the group has already read as laid out in the reading schedule below. So for example you should feel free to submit the sketches you made about Chapters 47, 48, 49, 50, and 51 on the Monday-Saturday of the week following the Sunday this book club finished Chapter 51, but please save your meme about Chapter 52 for the Sunday that chapter was scheduled to be read. So start, read, and submit as you can!

Thank you and thank you again to anyone who wants to participate anfd to everyone who has already expressed so much enthusiasm and contributed so much to this reading group! I’m very happy and excited to continue this literary pilgrimage with you all.

---

Journey to the West Volume 3 Reading Schedule

September 15-Chapter 51: Mind Monkey in vain uses a thousand tricks; Futile water and fire makes it hard to smelt demons

September 22-Chapter 52: Wukong greatly disturbed the Golden Helmet Cave; Tathagata reveals in secret the true master

September 29-Chapter 53: Imbibing, the Chan Lord conceives a ghostly child; Yellow Dame brings water to end the weird fetus

October 6-Chapter 54: Dharma-nature, going west, reaches the Women State; Mind Monkey makes a plan to flee the fair sex

October 13-Chapter 55: Deviant form makes lustful play for Tripitaka Tang; Upright nature safeguards the untainted self

October 20-Chapter 56: Wild Spirit slays brutish bandits; Wayward Way sets loose Mind Monkey

October 27-Chapter 57: True Pilgrim lays bare his woes at Mount Potalaka; False Monkey King transcribes texts at Water-Curtain Cave

November 3-Chapter 58: Two Minds cause disorder in the great Cosmos; It's hard for one body to realize true Nirvana

November 10-Chapter 59: Tripitaka Tang's path is blocked at Mountain of Flames; Pilgrim Sun baits for the first time the palm-leaf fan

November 17-Chapter 60: Bull Demon King stops fighting to attend a lavish feast; Pilgrim Sun baits for the second time the palm-leaf fan

November 24-Chapter 61: Zhu Eight Rules assists in deafeating the demon king; Pilgrim Sun baits for the third time the palm-leaf fan

December 1-Chapter 62: To wash off filth, to bate the mind, just sweep a pagoda; To bind demons and return to the lord is self-cultivation

December 8-Chapter 63: Two monks, quelling fiends, disturb the dragon palace; The sages, destroying deviates, acquire the treasures

December 15-Chapter 64: At Bramble Ride Wuneng exerted great effort; At Shrine of Sylvan Immortals Tripitaka discusses poetry

December 22-Chapter 65: Fiends set up falsely the Small Thunderclap; The four pilgrims all meet a great ordeal

December 29-Chapter 66: Many gods meet injury; Maitreya binds a fiend

January 5-Chapter 67: Having rescued Tuoluo, Chan nature is secure; Escaping filthiness, the Mind of Dao is pure

January 12-Chapter 68: At Scarlet-Purple Kingdom the Tang Monk speaks of past eras; Pilgrim Sun performs on an arm broken in three places

January 19-Chapter 69: At night the Lord of the Mind refines medicines; At a banquet the king speaks of the perverse fiend

January 26-Chapter 70: The monstrous demon's treasures release smoke, sand, and fire; Wukong by stratagem steals the purple-gold bells

February 2-Chapter 71: By a false name Pilgrim defeats the fiendish wolf; In epiphany Guanyin subdues the monster-king

February 9-Chapter 72: At Cobweb Cave Seven Passions delude the Origin; At Purgation Spring Eight Rules forgets all manners

February 16-Chapter 73: Passions, because of old enmity, beget calamity; Demon-trapped, the Mind Lord with luck breaks the light

February 22-Chapter 74: Long Life reports how vicious the demons are; Pilgrim displays his transformation power

March 2-Chapter 75: Mind Monkey drills through the yin-yang body; Demon lords return to the true great Way

[longliverockback]

Jethro Tull Stand Up [The Elevated Edition] 2024 Parlophone ————————————————— Tracks CD One: Steven Wilson Remix 01. A New Day Yesterday 02. Jeffrey Goes to Leicester Square 03. Bourée 04. Back to the Family 05. Look into the Sun 06. Nothing Is Easy 07. Fat Man 08. We Used to Know 09. Reasons for Waiting 10. For a Thousand Mothers Associated Recordings 11. Living in the Past 12. Driving Song 13. Bourée [Morgan version] Original 1969 Stereo Single Mixes 14. Living in the Past 15. Driving Song BBC Top Gear Session 16. A New Day Yesterday 17. Fat Man 18. Nothing Is Easy 19. Bourée

Tracks CD Two: Live at the Stockholm Konserthuset, 9th January 1969 Second Show 01. Introduction 02. My Sunday Feeling 03. Martin’s Tune 04. To Be Sad Is a Mad Way to Be  05. Back to the Family 06. Dharma for One 07. Nothing Is Easy 08. A Song for Jeffrey Live at the Stockholm Konserthuset, 9th January 1969 First Show 09. To Be Sad Is a Mad Way to Be 10. Living in the Past [mono] 11. Driving Song [mono] Original Radio Spots 12. Stand Up [Spot #1] 13. Stand Up [Spot #2]

Tracks DVD: Steven Wilson Remix 01. A New Day Yesterday 02. Jeffrey Goes to Leicester Square 03. Bourée 04. Back to the Family 05. Look into the Sun 06. Nothing Is Easy 07. Fat Man 08. We Used to Know 09. Reasons for Waiting 10. For a Thousand Mothers Associated Recordings 11. Living in the Past 12. Driving Song 13. Bourée [Morgan version] 14. A New Day Yesterday 15. Jeffrey Goes to Leicester Square 16. Bourée 17. Living in the Past 18. Look into the Sun 19. Nothing Is Easy 20. Fat Man 21. We Used to Know 22. Reasons for Waiting 23. For a Thousand Mothers 24. Living in the Past 25. Driving Song 26. Bourée [Morgan version] 27. A New Day Yesterday 28. Jeffrey Goes to Leicester Square 29. Bourée 30. Back to the Family 31. Look into the Sun 32. Nothing Is Easy 33. Fat Man 34. We Used to Know 35. Reasons for Waiting 36. For a Thousand Mothers 37. Living in the Past [mono] 38. Driving Song [mono] 39. Living in the Past 40. Driving Song Live at the Stockholm Konserthuset, 9th January 1969 41. To Be Sad Is a Mad Way to Be 42. Back to the Family —————————————————

Ian Anderson

Martin Barre

Clive Bunker

Glenn Cornick

* Long Live Rock Archive

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

The Goldfish :: Henri Matisse :: 1912

* * * *

Tricycle Daily Dharma delivery for Sunday (and every day): Call It By Its Right Name | October 5, 2014

If you know a view as a view, you can be free of that view. If you know a thought as a thought, you can be free of that thought.

— Zoketsu Norman Fischer, "Beyond Language"

[alive on all channels]

[linnielinnielinnie]

100 random songs i quite like

time lapse lifeline - maria taylor

rewind - goldspot

two weeks - grizzly bear

don't call me whitney bobby - islands

fountain - sara lov

you on my arm - leith ross

simple song - the shins

it's only time - the magnetic fields

insomniac - memo boy

forest whitaker - bad books

when the devil's loose - aa bondy

are you ok - wasuremono

hey beautiful - the solids

heaven - the walkmen

what's in the middle - the bird and the bee

if the hudson overflows - goldspot

soft shock - yeah yeah yeahs

anchor - mindy gledhill

there she goes - the la's

sunday - the cranberries

limang dipang tao - barbie's cradle

dancing in the moonlight - toploader

landslide - liam titcomb

ho hey - the lumineers

in the bosom - sweet after tears

from the ground up - sleeping at last

moral panic - y la bamba

break the rules - ruen brothers

it never stops - bad books

rebirth - vancouver sleep clinic

the gilded hand - radical face

the longest time - billy joel

call off the hunt - lowpines

lost here - fauntella crow

half light - fossil collective

tongues and teeth - the crane wives

monument - fossil collective

promised land - the milk carton kids

the fold - ivan and alyosha

freight train - sara jackson holman

broken brights - angus stone

when the morning comes - jon allen

just like heaven - the cure

harness your hopes - pavement

1983 - neon trees

close your eyes - split screens

trouble - cage the elephant

paul - big thief

overjoyed - matchbox twenty

melancholy astronautic man - allie moss

heaven knows (this angel has flown) - orange and lemons

from eden - hozier

figure me out - the cocanuts

i wake up - the glorious

july bones - richard walters

what am i - lola marsh

put it together - langhorne slim

into the mystic - van morrison

time - angelo de augustine

therese - maya hawke

pyotr - bad books

petite mort - bad books

no sides - bad books

no reward - bad books

friendly advice - bad books

ambivalent peaks - bad books

42 - bad books

lost creek - bad books

the after party - bad books

buddy holly - weezer

boys don't cry - the cure

tears over beers - modern baseball

evergreen - richy mitch & the coal miners

it's okay to think about ending - earlimart

out of the blue - john lennon

almost home - moby

baba o riley - pete townshend

street lights - the cocanuts

the afer you - miakoda

cool about it - boygenius

germany and rome - the ridleys

everybody wants to love you - japanese breakfast

handclap - fitz and the tantrums

two wuv - tally hall

my heart is buried in venice - ricky montgomery

snow - ricky montgomery

cabo - ricky montgomery

explode! - mother mother

sweet talk - saint motel

still feel - half alive

loretta - ginger roots

do it all the time - idkhbtfm

odoriko - vaundy

unti-unti - up dharma down

flowers - the red pears

after hours - the velvet underground

tim i wish you were born a girl - of montreal

this december - ricky montgomery

i'll be your mirror - the velvet underground

savage good boy - japanese breakfast

[kolajmag]

THIS WEEK AT KOLAJ MAGAZINE

Collage the Planet, K Is for Koan, Finding One's Voice and Dharma

CALL TO ARTISTS Collage the Planet: Environmentalism in Art Artist Residency Early Deadline: Wednesday, 28 February 2024

CALL TO ARTISTS Curating Collage Workshop 2024 Deadline: Sunday, 18 February 2024

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS PoetryXCollage Deadline: Open

COLLAGE ON VIEW K is for Koan, T is for Tone Erika Schmidt at Studio Place Arts in Barre, Vermont, USA

FROM THE ARTIST DIRECTORY Closer to Finding My Own Voice Kira Evans | Knoxville, Tennessee, USA

FROM THE ARTIST DIRECTORY Dharma Art Fabio Borges | Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

COLLAGE ON VIEW Collaging The Betsy Paul Loughney at The Betsy Hotel in Miami Beach, Florida, USA

Read the full update

*****************************

Kolaj Magazine, a full color, print magazine, exists to show how the world of collage is rich, layered, and thick with complexity. By remixing history and culture, collage artists forge new thinking. To understand collage is to reshape one's thinking of art history and redefine the canon of visual culture that informs the present.

SUBSCRIBE | CURRENT ISSUE | GET A COPY

SIGN UP TO GET EMAILS

[mahayanapilgrim]

Dharma in the morning.

A very good Sunday, good friends.

May every life be bright.

Stay cool and happy. Don't worry about misery.

Travel safe and healthy.

Under the sky, what should I fear of rain?

Born as a human, when the time comes, we must die.

Why are you holding on?

What is in this world is our own.

Buddha's friendship!!

[mmwm]

INDEPENDENCE DAYS #39

[donotdestroy]

The True Path

Just before Ninakawa passed away the Zen master Ikkyu visited him. “Shall I lead you on?” Ikkyu asked.

Ninakawa replied: “I came here alone and I go alone. What help could you be to me?”

Ikkyu answered: “If you think you really come and go, that is your delusion. Let me show you the path on which there is no coming and going.”

With his words, Ikkyu had revealed the path so clearly that Ninakawa smiled and passed away.

[g-raynard]

"Days tumbled on days, I was in my overalls, didn't comb my hair, didn't shave much, consorted only with dogs and cats, I was living the happy life of childhood again . I was as nutty as a fruitcake and happier. Sunday afternoon, then, I'd go to my woods with the dogs and sit and put out my hand palms up and accept handfuls of sun boiling over the palms." - Jack Kerouac,

The Dharma Bums

[michaelgabrill]

The Next Full Moon is the Buck or Thunder Moon

The Next Full Moon is the Buck or Thunder Moon; the Hay or Mead Moon; Guru Purnima; Asalha Puja (aka Dharma Day or Esala Poya); and the start of Vassa.  The next full Moon will be Sunday morning, July 21, 2024, appearing opposite the Sun (in Earth-based longitude) at 6:17 AM EDT. For the International […] from NASA https://ift.tt/1F0MjDX

[singular-yike]

Holy Sites of the Len'en Series

This might seem very out of place for those of you who aren't the most up-to-date with the latest Len'en news, so before we go into today's topic, let's go over some background.

Kanae Tabinoki

On 14 Jan 2023, JynX made their Vtuber debut under the persona of "Kanae Tabinoki", the gamedev Vtuber.

Kanae mainly streams around 22:00 (JST) every night. On weekdays, he works on Len'en for an hour on stream, under the "surveillance" of the viewers, enabling work on Len'en to be done on weekdays as well, which he apparently hadn't been doing prior.

On Saturday and Sunday, he does approximately 2-hour long chatting and gaming streams respectively. And this is where our main point comes in.

Holy Sites of the Connecting Chains

On one such chatting streams (Summary Here), Kanae was asked if the Len'en series has any "holy sites", here referring to real-life locations highly impactful or significant to a fictional series.

Since Len'en takes so much inspiration from Japanese history and mythology, the answer was of course "yes". In fact, there are many such holy sites all across the world, not just in Japan!

However, in fear of spoiling future developments, Kanae only shared a few obvious ones with us. Nevertheless, let's take a look at some:

Taira no Fumikado — Masakado in Tokyo

The most detailed examples given were the many locations in Tokyo related to Taira no Masakado, one of Fumikado's bases and their once-target of revival.

There are many more than the one's Kanae listed on-stream, but here I'll only go over the ones he mentioned:

Masakado Mound

The "Masakado Mound" (将門塚), also simply called the "Head Mound" (首塚), is, as the name suggests, where Masakado's head is said to have been buried.

It's location is said to be where the head landed after exhausting its power while flying towards the eastern regions of Japan (long story, irrelevant today).

This place was once Shibasaki Village (芝崎村), the villagers that found the head made it a burial mound, but the village later fell under a mysterious epidemic.

A wandering Buddhist priest determined that this was a curse from Masakado's vengeful spirit. He christened Masakado with a Dharma name and erected a stone grave marker on the mound, instructing the villagers to worship him in order to pacify him.

Kanda Shrine

This next location Kanae gave was the Kanda Shrine (神田明神), which is actually related to the mound we've discussed above. In fact, the Kanda Shrine used to be found next to the mound!

The Shinto shrine (along with its previously accompanying Buddhist temple) used to be called Masakado's "body". This later got corrupted, "karada" (体 body) in Japanese got warped into "kanda", giving the shrine its modern name.

Of course, due to its close relation to the Head Mound, the Kanda Shrine also enshrines Masakado, as a god who wards off calamities. Though the shrine would later be relocated, no longer next to the mound, it would retain its enshrinement of Masakado.

Mount Narita Shinshō Temple

Finally, Kanae gave us the Mount Narita Shinshō Temple (成田山新勝寺), a Buddhist temple established in 940 to commemorate the victory of the Heian capital against Masakado.

According to the temple's origin tale, a bunch of Buddhist priests were ordered by the court to pray for their force's victory and Masakado's defeat.

Emperor Suzaku personally issued a similar decree to the priest Kanchō (寛朝), who brought with him a figure of the deity Fudō Myōō (不動明王), Acala in Sanskrit, said to have been carved by the founder of the school he belonged to.

When Masakado really was defeated, Emperor Suzaku rejoiced, thinking that Fudō Myōō himself must've heard and answered the monks' prayers.

When he later heard Kanchō's report that the statue suddenly got too heavy to bring back, he thought it was a sign that the deity wanted a temple dedicated to him built where the statue no longer moved from, and hence, the Mount Narita Shinshō Temple was founded.

Tenkai Zuifeng & Tsurubami Senri — Nikkō Tōshō-gū Shrine

Another location Kanae gave was one related to Tenkai Zuifeng and Tsurubami Senri, the Nikkō Tōshō-gū Shrine (日光東照宮).

The shrine is where Tokugawa Ieyasu, the basis for Tsurubami Senri, was buried and enshrined. Additionally, Tenkai Zuifeng makes numerous references to the shrine in their spell cards.

To learn more, check out my analyses of Tenkai and Tsurubami, if you'd like~.

??? — Kumano Grand Shrine

You remember how I said Kanae wanted to be careful with their words in order to avoid potential spoilers? Well he wasn't careful enough, oops~!

Ever considerate of his viewers, Kanae wanted to list places from all across Japan so that everyone can visit one of these holy sites without having to travel so far.

This lead to him considering the locations in Izumo (出雲), this is when he blurted out: "The Kumano Grand Shrine?" He quickly realises that he didn't tell the story related to the shrine yet, and asks the viewers to forget about hearing that bit.

Even so, I'll have to apologize to JynX/Kanae here, because I'm definitely digging into this. So, let's see what the shrine is about~!

Kumano Grand Shrine, First Shrine of the Izumo Province

While I wasn't originally sure whether he was referring to modern-day Izumo City (出雲市) or the historical Izumo Province (出雲国), the mention of the shrine confirms it to be the province.

This is because Kumano Grand Shrine used to hold the rank of First Shrine in the Izumo Province (it still holds onto the title in an unofficial capacity), "First Shrine" being the highest ranking shrine in a province back then.

Below: The gate to the shrine, an impressive shimenawa rope hanging from it.

The shrine is said to be where fire was first discovered, and is thus also called "Hinomoto-Hidezome no Yashiro" (日本火出初之社 shrine of the first appearance of fire in the land of the rising sun).

I would love to learn more, but the tale behind this name has already been lost to time, and any theory I make based on this little bit would simply be too vague and unsubstantiated.

Looking at the shrine's history doesn't do us much good either, it's just one of those shrines that is so old it's seemingly been there since the dawn of time (or at least, the written record).

Our first record of the shrine comes from the Nihon Shoki, Japan's second-oldest chronicle of its own history, where the gods themselves are said to have ordered the creation of this shrine. Nothing else is known about its origins, a dead end again.

God of the Kumano Grand Shrine

Finally, we can look at the one lead we do have, the gods of the Kumano Grand Shrine, or rather, the god of the shrine.

Below: The prayer hall of the shrine (right), behind which you can barely see the main hall, where the god's spirit is said to dwell.

Curiously, the shrine enshrines but a single god, his name?

Izanagi-no-Himanago Kaburoki-Kumano-no-Ōokami Kushimikenu-no-Mikoto

伊邪那伎日真名子　加夫呂伎熊野大神　櫛御気野命

Yeaaaah... That's a long name, like really long. In fact, it's the longest deity name I think I've ever encountered in researching Japanese mythology (just by a single character but hey).

Still, the name can be broken down:

Izanagi-no-Himanago (伊邪那伎日真名子): "August and beloved child of Izanagi"

Kaburoki-Kumano-no-Ōokami (加夫呂伎熊野大神): "Divine ancestor god, the Great god of Kumano"

Kushimikenu-no-Mikoto (櫛御気野命): Another name for the god Susanoo-no-Mikoto

"Kushimikenu" (櫛御気野) is not too clear, although scholars propose that "kushi" (櫛) means "wondrous" and "mike" (御気) means "food", thus the name is understood here to denote a food god.

And so, the name can be interpreted to be:

"The august and beloved child of Izanagi, divine ancestor god, the great god of Kumano, Kushimikenu"

Yep, that's a name.

I'll be honest we didn't really need to delve into the name so much, but it's one of my favourite parts of Japanese mythology so I couldn't help myself, ehe~.

What Could This Mean?

Now that we have one clear lead, the Shinto god Susanoo, here's a few possibilities of what this shrine could potentially inspire/lend itself to in Len'en.

Possibility 1: Revelation of the Adagumo's Downfall

Susanoo is the god who, most famously, slew Yamata no Orochi, the serpentine monster who served as the inspiration behind Adagumo no Yaorochi, Saragimaru and the clan leader they spawned from.

So one possible way to interpret this little leak, is that we might get to learn about the people who caused the downfall of the ancient Adagumo clan from all the way back then.

That, or we may get to learn more about how the Adagumo siblings, the orochi youkai, fell throughout the ages.

Possibility 2: Conflicts with and amongst the gods

Another key story about Susanoo, is his banishment from the heavenly realm of Takamagahara.

I won't recount the story here, but most notable to me personally, in the relation of the Len'en series, is that Susanoo traces his lineage back to the heavenly gods.

However, after his banishment, he never went back to Takamagara even after patching things up with them, nor did he go to rule the domain originally granted to him, the sea. Instead, he chose to go to Ne-no-Katasukuni (根の国), the "land of roots".

The nature of Ne-no-Katasukuni is not well understood. It's commonly thought of as an underground realm, perhaps related to the realm of the dead, Yomi.

However, other scholars and even traditional prayers contradict this, proposing that it's a location on the surface of the world, or a mystical location across the "great plains of the sea".

Nevertheless, Susanoo's banishment from Takamagahara and subsequent move to Ne-no-Katatsukuni means that he has transformed from a heavenly god, to an earthly god.

This of course ties into a curious line uttered by Hoojiro in AWTIF:

AWTIF [Baclside] - Alice Leaping Atop Lily Pad Ice

Hoojiro "Have you ever heard of it? The story of the imperial family and the Earthly Gods buried by history's darkness."

I have a more detailed analysis and theory on it here, so go check that out if you want more context.

If a Susanoo figure really is going to show up in Len'en, perhaps we'd get to learn about Len'en's own version of events from them. What dark secrets do the heavenly and earthly gods hide, and what has been lost to the flow of time? Maybe it's time to find out~.

And that's concludes that. We covered a lot this time, none of them too detailed, since they don't really directly impact Len'en's lore, but interesting stuff nonetheless.

And most curiously, we went over two possible directions the story is taking us in, all thanks to an unfortunate slip of the mouth. It's alright Kanae, nothing was spoiled and the intrigue is greater than ever~!

As a side note, there's actually a surprising amount to analyse in regards to Kanae's himself (as a character I mean, design and such, I'm not about to analyse him as a human being), so if you're ever interested in that, it'd be an interesting dive too.

Well then, that's all I have. I hope you enjoyed~! :)

[caelum-in-the-avatarverse]

*harass harass* Tell me about the buddhism books you've been reading caelummmmm. Tell me how they intersect with ATLA and your thoughts on EBWF

*sweats*

So the more I read about Eastern Philosophy, the more I realize I'll probably never fully grasp it, lol. Ironically I think Buddhism's answer to this realization is "Yes, that's the POINT."

I'll be honest - I'm not reading anything overly academic or deep. I needed to get in on the ground level of understanding, so I literally read through Buddhism for Dummies, Taoism for Dummies, and Hinduism for Dummies. All three were very interesting and informative!

For me, trying to understand Buddhism is kinda like trying to hold smoke, my hands are in it but I can't seem to grasp it. I feel like I get it when I'm reading about it but once I put the book down the concept just eludes me. (If anyone's got any reading suggestions for understanding Buddhist philosophy, feel free to rec them to me!)

One thing that stuck out to me, though - the Three Jewels. The Three Jewels (Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, or the teacher, his teachings, and the spiritual community) are a pretty important part of Buddhism, which means they ought to be a pretty important part of Air Nomad culture as well. I'm guessing there should be some sort of Buddha-like enlightened teacher figure in the Air Nomads' distant past... Also there's so many different schools of Buddhism, makes me wonder at the differences there must've been between Air Temples.

Also the fact that these things are called the Three Jewels, and we have the Feanorions, who are also related to three jewels...idk, I just find that funny.

There's also the whole concept of a finger pointing at the moon, or the word used to describe something is not the something itself, and...well, elves are word nerds, so I feel like there's gonna be some interesting conversation around that at some point.

I really enjoyed learning about Hinduism. Growing up, India as a concept was basically "that place where we send missionaries", so it was nice to finally, like, learn about Hinduism on its own terms without that Sunday School overlay. It was a little hard to wrap my head around some of the concepts with the avatars and how all the gods are manifestations of the main gods and it really takes the concept of "everything is connected" to a whole other level, but it was really cool stuff!

Taoism was pretty cool to learn about too, but I can't remember any specifics right now.

...And I haven't gone any deeper into any of this yet because I took a tangent and dove into Tibetan history. I wanted to read Prisoners of Shangri-La by Donald S. Lopez Jr. because it was recommended in this post, but the point of that book is to deconstruct the harm done by Orientalism and Tibetan stereotypes, and I very quickly realized I had no idea what any of these Orientalist Tibetan stereotypes it was talking about were, so I went and read Tibet: A History by Sam Van Schaik to get a better grasp of the background. It helped a lot, and I started on Prisoners of Shangri-La again, but then a library book I requested a month ago finally came in, so everything's been put on hold while I read about how the 1920s Florida real estate boom led to the Great Depression. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯