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pannaginip · 6 months

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Located 62km north-east of the capital Manila, Daraitan village in Rizal province is home to about 5,700 residents, a majority of whom are members of the Dumagat-Remontado indigenous people who consider vast hectares of the mountain range as part of their ancestral domain.

But the village may soon disappear under the same waters that give it life, once the Philippine government finishes building the Kaliwa Dam – one of 16 flagship infrastructure projects of former president Rodrigo Duterte that is being funded by China.

The new dam is expected to provide Metro Manila with an additional 600 million litres of water daily once it is finished by end-2026. Officials said building the 60m-high reservoir is even more necessary now that the country is starting to feel the impact of the El Nino weather phenomenon.

But it was only in 2021 under Mr Duterte that construction finally broke ground, three years after Manila and Beijing signed the 12 billion peso (S$288 million) loan agreement.

Of the 119 on the list [of flagship projects of the "Build, Build, Build” infrastructure programme], Mr Duterte turned to China to finance 16 big-ticket projects in a bid to cement his legacy by the time his presidency ended in 2022. He embraced Beijing during his term and even downplayed Manila’s claims in the disputed South China Sea in favour of securing loans and grants from China.

Analysts have criticised Mr Duterte’s infrastructure programme as ambitious. Perennial domestic issues like local politics, right-of-way acquisition problems, lack of technology and red tape in bureaucracy led to severe delays in the projects.

The same issues hound the China-funded projects – which come under Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to build infrastructure in developing nations – with the problems made more severe by Beijing’s high interest rates in its loan agreements and local backlash due to displacement of residents or potential environmental damage.

Critics say the BRI has been detrimental in the long run to some recipient countries, especially those that have been unable to repay their loans, like Sri Lanka and Zambia.

The Duterte government’s failure to take advantage of its BRI loans was a “missed opportunity” for the Philippines, said infrastructure governance specialist Jerik Cruz, a graduate research fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The four completed China-funded projects under Mr Duterte were controversial too. But they came to fruition because they had the support of local politicians allied with Mr Duterte and therefore increased his political capital, said Dr Camba.

Tribal leaders said they were not properly consulted regarding the project that threatens their traditional way of life. Environmentalists from the Stop Kaliwa Dam Network also say the project would destroy 126 species of flora and fauna in the Sierra Madre.

The Philippines’ Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act states that the government must first secure a tribe’s free, prior and informed consent before building on its ancestral lands.

But Ms Clara Dullas, one of the leaders of the Dumagat-Remontado in Rizal, alleged that the Duterte government had either misinformed or pressured other tribe members into giving their consent.

She could not bear to hold grudges, though, noting that the Dumagat-Remontado organisations that eventually agreed to the Kaliwa Dam were each given 80 million pesos, or $1.9 million, in “disturbance” fees.

“The Kaliwa Dam is the reason why our tribe is divided now. There is a crack in our relationships even if we all come from the same family,” said Ms Dullas. “I can’t blame the others because we lack money. I believe there was bribery involved.”

The government requires them to present identification documents, and only those given passes may enter. Mr Dizon said this is to ensure that no unidentified personnel enter the area [close to the construction zone].

“We feel like we are foreigners in our own home because the Chinese and the people in our own government are now preventing us from entering the lands where we grew up,” said tribe leader Renato Ibanez, 48.

Mr Ibanez also accuses the Philippine authorities of harassing tribe members who are vocal against Kaliwa Dam. Some of them have been accused of working with communist rebels, a charge the tribe vehemently denies.

Unlike his predecessor, Mr Marcos is more aggressive in defending Manila’s overlapping claims with Beijing in the South China Sea, but still fosters economic ties with it.

Geopolitical tensions between the two nations and Mr Marcos’ stance towards Beijing are going to dictate the fate of the pending China-funded projects the President inherited from Mr Duterte, said Mr Cruz.

Tribe members said they would be more amenable if Mr Marcos would revisit Japan’s proposed Kaliwa Intake Weir project that Mr Duterte had set aside.

“We like Japan’s proposal. It would not destroy our forests. It would not affect residents here. The Philippines would not be buried in debt,” said Ms Dullas.

This was among the alternatives the Dumagat-Remontados offered during their nine-day march in February 2023, when some 300 members walked 150km from Quezon and Rizal all the way to Manila to protest against the Kaliwa Dam.

But they failed to secure an audience with Mr Marcos. They remain wary of the President’s position on the Kaliwa Dam and other controversial China-funded deals.

“As much as we want to fully pin our hopes on him, we don’t. We’ve learnt from past efforts to trick us, make us believe a project is about to end, only for it to be resurrected again years later,” said Ms Dullas.

2024 Mar. 3

#philippines #indigenous rights #dumagat-remontado #state violence #red tagging #infrastructure #environmental issues #afp-pnp

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mariacallous · 8 months

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Many thousands of civilians have reportedly been killed. The number of people displaced from their homes is well into seven figures. Densely populated urban areas have been reduced to rubble. Supplies of electricity, food, and water have been cut off. Hospitals have come under attack. Many of those fleeing, injured, or dead are children.

I could be describing Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which has raged on for almost two years now, or the terrible human costs of Israel’s military offensive in the Gaza Strip following the horrific Hamas attacks on Oct. 7. But I am referring to a conflict that has received much less international attention: the civil war in Sudan that broke out last April. Even as one lethal war captures the world’s attention, others roil on in the background.

Unsurprisingly, given its geopolitical significance, Ukraine has received considerable attention in the West, where leaders have been quick to condemn Russia’s war crimes. The new conflict in the Middle East has dominated headlines over the past couple of months. But Sudan’s crisis has gone woefully underdiscussed, like many others that for various circumstantial, political, or geographic reasons seem to matter less to the international community.

The West likes to think it has abandoned the racist habit of ascribing different value to human life in different places. We profess our respect for international law, which codifies the principle of equality. But in practice, our behavior does not always reflect this. Accusations of double standards from non-Western counterparts sting precisely because they have a point.

This is not to advocate for a zero-sum redistribution of attention and diplomatic energy from one conflict to another. Nor is it to say that we should care any less about innocent people killed, for example, in Kharkiv than those killed in Khan Yunis or Khartoum. Instead, more than 75 years after the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the international community needs to rediscover the tradition of humanitarian universalism. We must avow in word and deed that all human lives possess the same value and that the killing of civilians is unacceptable wherever it occurs.

Never before in recent memory has this been more urgent. The world has entered what David Miliband, the president and CEO of the International Rescue Committee, has called an “age of impunity.” War crimes often go unpunished. Nations increasingly disregard the laws of war: Torture, sexual violence, acts of collective punishment, and indiscriminate destruction of civilian homes and services are tragically common.

In a fragmenting international order, old mechanisms such as naming and shaming no longer work. Multilateral peacekeeping operations are in decline. These days, when wars do end, it is more often the result of one side vanquishing the other than a negotiated settlement. This new disorder arrived gradually—as the optimism of the immediate post-Cold War era gave way to new wars, power shifts, and then global economic crisis in the 2000s—and then accelerated in the early 2020s.

Wars are now more frequent, they are lasting longer, and they are killing more people. In 2022, more than 200,000 people died in state-based conflicts globally—the highest death toll since 1986 (excluding unilateral acts of violence such as the Rwandan genocide). Mass civilian casualties in recent years include the massacres of Tamils in Sri Lanka; the killing of tens of thousands of civilians in Yemen; and the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people in Ethiopia’s Tigray region. Such conflicts are forcing more civilians to flee, which is one of several factors that has driven the number of displaced people worldwide to a record 114 million.

Open Society Foundations, the philanthropy I run, provides funding to several of the largest humanitarian organizations to support their work on these overlooked conflicts. We also fund a range of advocacy and policy groups working to bring attention to the roots of these crises and mobilize the political will to address them. But this work can feel like a drop in the ocean. It needs more funding and scaled-up operations, particularly at a time when there is less news coverage of international conflicts, as media outlets have fewer resources to send foreign correspondents to distant war zones. When these conflicts are out of public sight, they too easily become out of mind for officials and politicians.

The time has come, then, for a new universalist global campaign for solidarity with victims of conflict everywhere that reestablishes the norm of equally valuable human life. This may seem like an obvious principle, woven as it is through the constitutions of multilateral institutions such as the U.N. But it is evidently getting lost in today’s world.

Civil society activists capable of crossing national and partisan divides should lead this campaign. They should cooperate with existing multinational institutions, such as the U.N.; nongovernmental organizations, such as ONE Campaign and Amnesty International; and far-sighted cultural and media figures with the reach needed to build momentum.

This global campaign should demand deeper pools of core funding for emergency aid, especially from groups of national governments, ensuring that aid responses do not depend merely on media attention or the largesse of individual governments. It should challenge both media and government to widen their attention spans and scope for empathy. And it should also demand swifter multilateral responses to crises, including by pressuring the U.N. Security Council to speak out immediately for basic humanitarian principles rather than deliberating for weeks.

Perhaps most fundamentally, the campaign should draw in a network of civil society groups, cultural leaders, and new generations of human rights champions to proclaim: no more hierarchies of civilian suffering, no more double standards, no more selective blind spots.

In an age of multiplying and interlocking crises, the international community must find room for solidarity for more than one or two benighted groups at a time. Global civil society should convene, whether in person or online, to launch this new campaign and reassert fundamental but increasingly sidelined principles of equality, solidarity, and shared humanity. As the English poet John Donne put it: “Any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind.”

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talonabraxas · 3 months

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Buddhism Siddhartha Gautama, the founder of Buddhism who later became known as “the Buddha,” lived during the 5th century B.C.

Gautama was born into a wealthy family as a prince in present-day Nepal. Although he had an easy life, Gautama was moved by suffering in the world.

He decided to give up his lavish lifestyle and endure poverty. For nearly six years, he undertook fasting and other austerities, but these techniques proved ineffectual and he abandoned them. He eventually promoted the idea of the “Middle Way,” which means existing between two extremes. Thus, he sought a life without social indulgences but also without deprivation.

After regaining his strength, he seated himself under a Bodhi tree in west-central India and promised not to rise until he had attained the supreme enlightenment. After fighting off Mara, an evil spirit who tempted him with worldly comforts and desires, Siddhartha reached enlightenment, becoming a Buddha at the age of 35. He spent the rest of his life teaching others about how to achieve this spiritual state.

When Gautama passed away around 483 B.C., his followers began to organize a religious movement. Buddha’s teachings became the foundation for what would develop into Buddhism.

In the 3rd century B.C., Ashoka the Great, the Mauryan Indian emperor, made Buddhism the state religion of India. Buddhist monasteries were built, and missionary work was encouraged.

Over the next few centuries, Buddhism began to spread beyond India. The thoughts and philosophies of Buddhists became diverse, with some followers interpreting ideas differently than others.

In the sixth century, the Huns invaded India and destroyed hundreds of Buddhist monasteries, but the intruders were eventually driven out of the country.

Islam began to spread quickly in the region during the Middle Ages, forcing Buddhism into the background. Nonetheless, Buddhism eventually spread to Central and Southeast Asia, China, Korea, Japan and, in the 20th century, to the West.

Buddhism Beliefs and Practices

Some key Buddhism beliefs include: Followers of Buddhism don’t acknowledge a supreme god or deity. They instead focus on achieving enlightenment—a state of inner peace and wisdom. When followers reach this spiritual echelon, they’re said to have experienced nirvana.

The religion’s founder, Buddha, is considered an extraordinary being, but not a god. The word Buddha means “enlightened.”

The path to enlightenment is attained by utilizing morality, meditation and wisdom. Buddhists often meditate because they believe it helps awaken truth.

There are many philosophies and interpretations within Buddhism, making it a tolerant and evolving religion.

Some scholars don’t recognize Buddhism as an organized religion, but rather, a “way of life” or a “spiritual tradition.”

Buddhism encourages its people to avoid self-indulgence but also self-denial.

Buddha’s most important teachings, known as The Four Noble Truths, are essential to understanding the religion.

Buddhists embrace the concepts of karma (the law of cause and effect) and reincarnation (the continuous cycle of rebirth).

Followers of Buddhism can worship in temples or in their own homes.

Buddhist monks, or bhikkhus, follow a strict code of conduct, which includes celibacy.

There is no single Buddhist symbol, but a number of images have evolved that represent Buddhist beliefs, including the lotus flower, the eight-spoked dharma wheel, the Bodhi tree and the swastika (an ancient symbol whose name means “well-being” or “good fortune” in Sanskrit).

Types of Buddhism Today, many forms of Buddhism exist around the world. The three main types that represent specific geographical areas include:

Theravada Buddhism: Prevalent in Thailand, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Laos and Burma

Mahayana Buddhism: Prevalent in China, Japan, Taiwan, Korea, Singapore and Vietnam

Tibetan Buddhism: Prevalent in Tibet, Nepal, Mongolia, Bhutan, and parts of Russia and northern India

Zen Buddhism is a form of Mahayana Buddhism that’s practiced in many of the same areas. It emphasizes simplicity and meditation—the word “zen” means meditation—in lieu of religious scripture, ceremonies or doctrines.

Nirvana Buddhism is closely related to Theravada Buddhism, but the concept of nirvana is also central to many paths of Buddhism. The term nirvana means “blowing out,” as a candle is blown out, thus ending all attachment and desire to achieve a state of pure enlightenment.

Each of these types reveres certain texts and has slightly different interpretations of Buddha’s teachings.

Some forms of Buddhism incorporate ideas of other religions and philosophies, such as Taoism and Bon.

Dharma Buddha’s teachings are known as “dharma.” He taught that wisdom, kindness, patience, generosity and compassion were important virtues.

Specifically, all Buddhists live by five moral precepts, which prohibit:

Killing living things Taking what is not given Sexual misconduct Lying Using drugs or alcohol

Four Noble Truths The Four Noble Truths, which Buddha taught, are: The truth of suffering (dukkha) The truth of the cause of suffering (samudaya) The truth of the end of suffering (nirhodha) The truth of the path that frees us from suffering (magga)

Collectively, these principles explain why humans hurt and how to overcome suffering.

Eightfold Path The Buddha taught his followers that the end of suffering, as described in the fourth Noble Truths, could be achieved by following an Eightfold Path.

In no particular order, the Eightfold Path of Buddhism teaches the following ideals for ethical conduct, mental disciple and achieving wisdom:

Right understanding (Samma ditthi) Right thought (Samma sankappa) Right speech (Samma vaca) Right action (Samma kammanta) Right livelihood (Samma ajiva) Right effort (Samma vayama) Right mindfulness (Samma sati) Right concentration (Samma samadhi)

Buddha by Talon Abraxas

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livelaughlovechai · 2 years

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Things to keep in mind while writing a south asian character-

(Since I'm a mixed south-north indian and a hindu-sikh I've mainly included details about indian-hindu characters(ill try to include more abt sikh characters aswell)tho ive tried to include as much info as I can abt other south asian countries aswell !also ,if you want,feel free to add more details in :)

And please forgive my grammar in some of these places XD

1.The most common one,of course being that south asia is not all india.countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri lanka,Bhutan etc exist to.

2.Religion tends to be a big part of many south asian people’s lives , and If not a big part of their life,than most south asians are atleast religious in one way or the other.Different religions are in majority in different regions of south asia.For example,Sri lanka is majority buddhist, mainly in the sinhalese majority while the tamil minority there is majority hindu. But it's more than valid if ur character is atheist to tho!

3.For indian characters specifically ,it's is important to know what state they are from and that state’s culture . For example,most (or almost all)tamil characters won't wear a salwar kameez.(if they do then mostly muslim tamils)(reminder;I'm talking about traditional wear. Yes a lot of Tamil's could wear a salwar kameez if they want but it is not the traditional dress of tamil nadu)

4.India itself is very diverse,so don't make every character hindu.in some regions one religion is more in the majority than the others.If you decide to make a christian-indian character ,than they usually are from south-west india and north-east india.

5.If you decide to make a hindu-indian character as maybe a marvel/dc oc or something , its best to do some research on hindu stories and history.trust me,it helps alot. If not a hindu character than do research on the folk tales of that characters region,as that can help to.

6.NOT EVERY INDIAN SPEAKS HINDI.INDIAN/HINDU ARE NOT LANGUAGES.istg please . All it takes is one search of your characters state and the states description almost always mentions the state’s official language.while some character from non Hindi speaking areas of the country, for example a malyalee person could know how to speak hindi (most probably by living somewhere like delhi),they would still talk in malayalam with family and stuff . Also a pakistani character and Hindi speaking indian can almost always communicate easily since since the most spoken language in Pakistan,Urdu is very similar to Hindi in sound(also a lot of indians,specifically muslim indian’s have urdu as their first language.)Also punjabi Pakistani's and Indian's don't have any problem in communication(the script they write punjabi in is different tho)Also since a lot of people from the north had their ancestors migrate from pakistan to india during partition regional languages of Pakistan such as sindhi,multani,balochi etc can be understood by some people of such descent living in India.And a bengali speaking indian and a Bangladeshi can communicate just as well.Nepali speaking indians and Nepali people can also communicate with each other.But when it comes to Sri Lankan tamil people their dialect is different than the one of indian tamilians,so their tamil is better understood by malyalees,but they can still communicate well enough with each other.afghan people speak pashto and dari.pashto is also understood by a small amount of ethnic pashtuns who live throughout the sub continent.People from the Maldives speak the language of dhivehi.

7.Indians overall have many festivals that all people of usually a certain community celebrate regardless of religion,caste,etc.For example ,the people in kerela celebrate onam.Infact in alot of the state’s people from a specific region have their on festivities.

8.Physical features vary from area to area of South Asia.So there is no definite“south asian“look.

9.Sikh’s don’t cut their hair , that’s why most Sikh women have long hair and most Sikh men wear turbans. Although some do, like my uncle from my mom’s side and my mom herself and etc. Though socially it's more acceptable for a sikh woman to cut her hair then a sikh man. But a load of times sikh immigrants do have to sadly cut their hair and take off their turbans in order to get jobs and all.

10.-And Hindu’s don’t eat beef.Most Sikh’s and overall all Indians tend to avoid beef to.a lot of Hindus are vegetarians due to religious beliefs. Tho mallus and some people from the north east for example usualy do eat beef(mainly the non hindus)

11.-For characters specially from south india(that to mainly kerala and tamil Nadu) the naming tradition that is used most commonly is that the child and wife use the father’s name as their last name. Though I've noticed that outside of their states atleast they tend to use their family names, but very rarely caste names.

12.- Believe it or not, in a show( I'm not sure about the name) a pakistani character had the name“shiv reddy“.pissed me of sm.yes pakistani hindus exist but if I havent already mentioned before,CERTAIN LAST NAMES BELONG TO CERTAIN AREAS. Reddy is an indian telugu hindu last name.please do your research.

13.-This applies to a good amount of north indians and just overall non south indians.south india is not one state.madras was the OLD name for Chennai, which is just one CITY in one state of south india.There are 5 states,6(and more) languages spoken. Please do not confuse those cultures.

14.-As for a good amount of non punjabis...please.punjabis are not all “balle-balle“ sikh people.please. And they're not all angry people looking for a fight either.

15.-Talking abt north india,I need to mention bollywood and how they stereotype.bombay aka the film city is in Maharashtra.yet they still stereotype Maharashtrians as poor people.gujjus are always the rich snobbish ppl.bengali ppl are sweet shy people and nepali people are Chinese. Goans are always english speaking drunkards or high attitude aunties.rajasthanis all have a heavy accent and are royalty and Uttar pradeshis-biharis are poor illiterate people. PLEASE STOP WITH THIS STEREOTYPICAL BULLSHIT ISTG. See,stereotypes exist because they are true, but only a part of the truth and over exaggerated asf.

16.-India does have a poverty issue but we are far from a third world country.most indians are middle class,that to is split in between lower middle class,middle middle class and upper middle class.and until or unless you live in a rural area casteism really isn't a problem.but remember,while casteism is illegal in indian law,it still affects people.it’s just a little less prevelant in big cities. While india is the farthest ahead in south asia atleast the rest of the countries are doing well for themselves as well.

17.-hindu culture specifically has so much lgbtqia+ stuff in it.but the fucking brit’s and Mughals ruined it. The only transgender festival of Asia is held in tamil nadu.seriously, I advise you do research of your own on it and you'll love it to!♥️

18.-Btw, hindi is a language,hindu religion. (had to add this again)Your character prolly from some place like madhya pradesh,bihar,Uttar pradesh,Delhi,uttarakhand or himachal pradesh if they are hindi speaking. Some people have the same confusion with malayalam. Malayalam is a language, malyalee’s are the people who speak it or at from kerala.

19.-talking about food.curry is a wide ass term.wdym by curry?fish curry,mutton curry or is it paneer curry?is it more creamy or not?do you eat it by itself,with rice,a paratha/parotta or all?like seriously stop with “curry“ ITS ANNOYINGGG.again food varries alot area by area.even in a specific area food varries. For example,Kerala-Tamil nadu sambar is damn spicy but sambar from karnataka and telugu states tends to be sweeter.also food from Karnataka is much milder in spice then food from Andhra,but still capable of burning the mouths of most non south asians 😍😘🥰.also,we tend to eat most of our food with hands(THE best way.)famous delicacies vary from country to country in south asia and area to area of india btw. And our food is not ’smelly’, it's FRAGRANT.

20.ok so ive in total had 2 specific segments dedicated to language and this is the third one.India,while having only 22 offical languages(again;i remind you,we do not have a national language)actually has like thousands of languages. Native people from even just one state can have different mother tongues(for example-three people who were born and raised in karnataka and have families that are native to the state could have the languages of kannada,tulu and kodava as their mother tongues).And again,dialects also differ.For example,Bombay hindi and the hindi of a person from Uttarakhand would be different, and so would Bangalore tamil and a Madurai native’s tamil.Also,let’s say a telugu person has been living in mumbai for a while,very rarely will they ever have an ’accent’ while speaking hindi or english.

21.so above i mentioned that alot of people from the north have had ancestors move in from pakistan during the partition(and vice versa for some Pakistani's).Similarly,a good amount of people from west bengal had their ancestors move in from bangladesh(and vice versa again,but unlike the north india-pakistan thing indian bong’s and bangladeshi people don’t exactly have that ’divide’).Adding this in specifically not only because of how important this is but it can give more depth to your characters if they are from any of these areas.

22.Every state has different art forms.be it dance,music or just art,every state has it different.India has 8 classical dances(bharatanatyam,kuchipudi, mohiniyattam,kathakali,oddisi,kathak, manipuri and sattriya) and has countless many more.Music also varies and so does art as i said above.

23.our culture is super feminist but fucked by the brits and mughals again. We had so many queens and princesses that fought wars and also many female warriors.In the ancient times women only wore single drape saris and didn’t cover their breasts because they were not seen as sexual,but infact as a sign of motherhood(and there forth strength).If they were covered,it was for support.

24.Most people know atleast 3+ languages and almost everyone knows 2 at the very least. Sometimes they can even understand(which can range from basic to great) some other languages. For eg.- my dad can speak english,hindi,telugu,konkani,tulu,punjabi,urdu and multani+ he can understand malayalam,kannada,sindhi and tamil well enough.

That's it(for now):) hope this can help.feel free to ask questions!+random songs from my playlist✨✨✨

(ps,check this post of mine out cause y not lol)

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irunevenus · 19 days

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Buddhism: The Journey of the Mind and Spirit to Enlightenment

Buddhism is one of the world’s oldest and most influential religions and spiritual philosophies, with roots dating back to the sixth century BCE in India. Founded by the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, Buddhism has spread throughout Asia and beyond, shaping the cultures, art, literature, and spiritual practices of many societies. More than a religion in the traditional sense, Buddhism offers a philosophical and ethical path to self-knowledge, detachment, and the pursuit of enlightenment. This article explores the origins, fundamental teachings, and lasting impact of Buddhism.

The Origins of Buddhism: The Life of Siddhartha Gautama

Siddhartha Gautama was born around 563 BCE in Lumbini, present-day Nepal, into a royal family. From an early age, he was sheltered from the painful realities of life, living in a palace surrounded by luxury. However, upon leaving the palace and seeing the suffering of the world—represented by the visions of an old man, a sick man, a corpse, and an ascetic—Siddhartha realized the impermanence of life and decided to abandon his privileged existence to seek an answer to human suffering.

After years of spiritual searching, Siddhartha practiced deep meditation, asceticism, and studied with various teachers, but it was under a fig tree, known as the Bodhi Tree, that he finally achieved enlightenment, becoming the Buddha, which means “The Awakened One.” He spent the rest of his life teaching the principles he discovered, offering a path to the cessation of suffering, known as the Eightfold Path.

The Fundamental Teachings of Buddhism

Buddhism is based on a series of teachings that seek to guide practitioners in understanding the nature of life and in the pursuit of enlightenment. Among the central tenets are the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path.

The Four Noble Truths:

The Truth of Suffering (Dukkha): Life is permeated by suffering, dissatisfaction, and impermanence.

The Truth of the Origin of Suffering: Suffering is caused by craving and attachment, which lead to frustration and pain.

The Truth of the Cessation of Suffering: It is possible to overcome suffering through detachment and understanding.

The Truth of the Path to the Cessation of Suffering: The Eightfold Path is the practical route leading to liberation.

The Eightfold Path:

Right Understanding: Knowing the reality of the Four Noble Truths.

Right Thought: Cultivating the intention of renunciation, goodwill, and nonviolence.

Right Speech: Avoiding lies, slander, hurtful words, and idle talk. - Right Action: Behaving ethically, refraining from killing, stealing, or sexual misconduct.

Right Livelihood: Choosing an occupation that does not cause harm to other beings.

Right Effort: Striving to avoid negative thoughts and cultivating positive ones.

Mindfulness: Maintaining awareness of the body, feelings, mind, and phenomena.

Right Concentration: Practicing meditation to achieve higher states of mind and enlightenment.

Types of Buddhism: Diversity in Practices and Traditions

Buddhism expanded rapidly after the Buddha's death, dividing into several schools and traditions that reflected different interpretations of the original teachings.

Theravada (The Way of the Elders): Predominant in Southeast Asia (Thailand, Myanmar, Sri Lanka), this tradition closely follows the Buddha's original teachings, with an emphasis on monastic practice and meditation.

Mahayana (The Great Vehicle): With roots in China, Japan, and Korea, Mahayana emphasizes compassion and the path of the bodhisattva—one who seeks enlightenment not just for oneself but to help all beings.

Vajrayana (The Diamond Vehicle): Developed primarily in Tibet, it combines elements of Mahayana Buddhism with esoteric rituals and tantric practices to achieve enlightenment quickly.

Zen Buddhism: Originating in China (as Chan) and later developed in Japan, Zen focuses on meditation (zazen) and direct experience of reality, emphasizing simplicity and self-knowledge.

Buddhist Philosophy: Karma, Samsara, and Nirvana

Buddhism is not just a series of rituals, but a profound philosophy that addresses the nature of the mind and the universe. Central to this is the concept of karma – the idea that intentional actions, good or bad, generate consequences that shape the cycle of birth, death and rebirth, known as samsara. The ultimate goal of the Buddhist practitioner is to attain nirvana, a state of liberation and complete cessation of suffering.

Legacy and Influence of Buddhism

Buddhism’s impact has transcended religion, profoundly influencing the art, literature, politics and philosophy of many cultures. Buddhist monasteries were centers of learning, preserving sacred texts and

Legacy and Influence of Buddhism

Buddhism’s impact has transcended religion, profoundly influencing the art, literature, politics, and philosophy of many cultures. Buddhist monasteries were centers of learning, preserving sacred texts and promoting education. Buddhist iconography—from serene statues of the Buddha to intricate mandalas—continues to inspire.

In the West, Buddhism gained popularity in the 20th century, especially through meditation and mindfulness, which were adapted as wellness practices separate from religious contexts. Figures such as the Dalai Lama and Thich Nhat Hanh have become global ambassadors for peace and Buddhist philosophy.

Buddhism in the Modern World

Today, Buddhism continues to grow and adapt, with an estimated half a billion followers worldwide. Buddhist traditions remain vibrant, from remote monasteries in the Himalayas to urban centers in the West. In a world marked by stress and the search for meaning, the Buddha’s teachings on compassion, wisdom, and self-mastery resonate as a guide to a more conscious and harmonious life.

Buddhism is not just a religion; it is a philosophy that offers a path to a deeper understanding of the mind and existence. With its timeless teachings, Buddhism invites each individual to explore their own experience, cultivate compassion, and seek true inner freedom.

#buddhism #buddha #ocultism #history of religion #religion

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triptychgrip · 3 months

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When I think of all the time in my childhood that I was so caught up in fear over going to hell -- because, unfortunately, my parents didn't have the emotional maturity to understand how the Catholic indoctrination that permeated every part of our home life affected their (closeted) kid -- it fills me with rage. I was way too young to consent to "buying in" to the lifetime of anxiety/religious trauma that would follow me, and if I had the power to, I'd force the Church to pay for my therapy bills for the rest of my life (and every other queer kid's therapy bills, for that matter).

The rage compounds when I start to think about how much indoctrination has not only stolen from my life, but from entire populations and countries on a macro/global scale in terms of missionary work. Religious indoctrination seeped into my parents' lives too, when they were growing up in their native Sri Lanka. So many Catholic/Christian Sri Lankans don't even understand how they've been brainwashed into the cult of white saviorism: into believing that the country's ancestral Buddhism and other religions are "barbaric", and that had it not been for Catholic missionaries, that Sri Lanka in its totality would have just wasted away.

The paternalism is sickening, and there is still a huge narrative around the mandate of "saving" wayward people/countries that exists in traditional Catholic circles. No amount of reparations will be enough to account for the long-lasting damage indoctrination has wrought all over the world, and if you're interested in understanding even a tiny bit of what this damaging legacy has been, I'd highly recommend reading Unsettling Truths: The Ongoing, Dehumanizing Legacy of the Doctrine of Discovery, by Mark Charles and Soong Chan-Rah.

Join me in the rage.

#religious trauma #ex catholic #ex christian #white saviorism #personal

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antoine-roquentin · 1 year

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Part 1 in this series about... something. I’ll figure it out when I write more.

Howard Imbrey was a CIA agent. Having started in the CIA’s WW2 predecessor, the OSS, he was placed undercover in diplomatic roles at American consulates and embassies in Sri Lanka, India, and Ethiopia during the late 40s and 50s. This was a traditional role for intelligence agents: with diplomatic immunity, they would be safe from prosecution, while embassy parties and other events allowed them to pick up gossip from inside the country.

However, it did limit agents and paint a large target on their back. Imbrey operated in a friendly environment in India, where he could rely on British-trained police chiefs as informants in the battle against the Communist Party of India in Maharashtra and Kerala. In other parts of the world, governments would monitor the movements and activities of those who came out of the American embassy, knowing them to be spies.

In 1958, Imbrey was instead embedded in a fake corporation headquartered near the UN in NYC, with a real businessman as his partner. They worked closely with UN diplomats to find actual businesses to promote, to keep the whole thing legit. At the same time, it allowed Imbrey the chance to question the diplomats and businessmen for gossip and to meet with other informants the CIA had already cultivated across the continent. Some of these informants included Cyrille Adoula and Albert Kalonji, head of political parties and breakaway factions devoted to undermining Patrice Lumumba’s elected government in the Congo.

The article attached was important to developing his cover. Initially, it ran in Fortune, owned at the time by Henry Luce’s Time Inc., while the screenshots are from John H. Johnson’s Negro Digest. Luce was historically close to the CIA and the American government in general. He hired CIA agents onto his staff and allowed them to write propaganda as they saw fit. He directed his journalists to publish opinion pieces attacking those who exposed CIA secrets, like Ramparts magazine. At one point in the Congo Crisis, US Ambassador to Belgium William Burden, a friend of Luce’s, phoned him to get him to bury a story on Lumumba. No information has come out either way on just whether the journalist who wrote this article knew Imbrey was CIA or was simply ordered to by higher ups, but it seems likely that the editorial staff of Negro Digest simply saw it as fitting with their focus on black lives and reprinted it unwittingly to the CIA’s benefit. Later on, Imbrey would find another cover as a journalist with a CIA-controlled news outlet in Paris, Brussels, and Rome, which allowed the CIA to fly informants to him.

None of this was known to anyone until 2001, save for a brief acknowledgement of thanks to Imbrey’s wife in a book by Larry Devlin, CIA Station Chief in the Congo. That year, Imbrey suddenly gave two interviews in April and June, and then died a year later. One was to a high school student at a private Episcopal school in Maryland. It’s roughly written, and clearly transcribed by someone who’s writing the names of Congolese officials by ear rather than knowledge, but deserves to be read, not because Imbrey lets his guard down consciously, but rather because of the implicit biases he still has and the distinction between the secrets he wishes to keep and those he feels fine in revealing. Particularly humorous is when the kid tries to ask him about whether the CIA operated independently from the president, and Imbrey denies it, saying “That’s an Arab type of operation.”

The other was to Charles Stuart Kennedy, a career diplomat who retired in the 80s and subsequently made a post-retirement life of interviewing other diplomats for the public record. Since many CIA employees were embedded as diplomats, he ended up running into a bunch. His interview is much more detailed and professional, albeit with the same transcription errors on names, and makes for excellent reading for anybody who enjoys salacious historical gossip. Imbrey talks about reading Popeye the Sailor bootleg Rule 34 as a kid, kidnapping fishermen in the Indian Ocean with submarines to train them to use radios to spy on the Japanese Navy (sounds like UFO abductions), supplying porn to the higher ups in the Indian Navy, etc. But two particular moments stand out, one being what may be the single worst denial of American involvement in the assassination of Patrice Lumumba:

Q: Did you get involved at all with the Lumumba business?

IMBREY: No, the only thing I can tell you is they sent out this shellfish compound to chief of station Larry Devlin and he sent it back with an angry note saying, “Don't you know the Belgians are going to kill him, what do you want us to do?” We kept totally out of that one. Then Lumumba really put himself in terrible trouble when he gave a rise of one rank to everybody in the army and then found he couldn't pay the new prices. Then the army rebelled; they put him in an airplane, took him south and they pulled him out of the airplane on the driveway, brought him up to the chief of the Lunda tribe and in Munongo's office and I guess they shot him there or it may not have been there. In Munongo's office they began asking him a couple of questions. Well, this was according to his answers. Munongo took a bayonet and put it right into Lumumba's chest and Captain Gatt, a Belgian, was right there and he fired a bullet in the back of Lumumba's head to put him out of his misery and that was how it happened, but no Americans were involved.

and whatever this is, which happens to coincide with the CIA’s MHCHAOS operation on American soil:

Q: When you came home what were you doing?

IMBREY: That's where we turn off the tape recorder.

Q: All right, well then, we'll just skip over that. When did you take off again where we can talk?

IMBREY: Let's see. I was sent back to Rome in '72. Turn it off for a while and I'll tell you about it.

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hariyali · 1 year

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Resource Masterlist: Indian Art

Cheap/Free resources:

Wkipedia:

Wikipedia of Indian Art: I'll recommend reading the subtopics from bottom up; it seems more relevant that way!

Wikipedia of Indian Painting: once you go through this article you should further look into whichever style you like, and learn it in depth. It also has links to vernacular art.

Rasa: the classical theory of Indian aesthetics

From Archive.Org (maybe scholarly and/or illustrative. In case illustrations are not there, simply Google them for reference):

Stone Age Painting in India by Romert Brooks

The arts of India from prehistoric to modern times by Ajit Mookerji (If you have no idea about Indian arts, START HERE; it's a short book full of illustrations)

Rajput painting : romantic, divine and courtly art from India by Ahluwalia, Roda

Indian Painting by C Sivaramamurti

South Indian Paintings by C Sivaramamurti

Approach to nature in Indian art and thought by C Sivaramamurti

[There are many books on Indian art, architecture and sculpture by C Sivaramamurti on Archive.org. It's basically a goldmine.]

Kalighat : Indian popular painting, 1800-1930 by Balraj Khanna

Art of modern India by Balrak Khanna [Again, you can check out other titles by Khanna.]

Indian Textiles by John Gillow

Traditional Indian Textiles by John Gillow

South-Indian images of gods and goddesses by HK Sastri

Myths and symbols in Indian art and civilization by Heinrich Zimmer (no illustrations)

The art of Indian Asia, its mythology and transformations by Heinrich Zimmer (with illustrations)

History of Indian and Indonesian art by Ananda Coomaraswamy

A Concise History of Indian Art by Roy C Craven

Deccani Painting by Mark Zebrowski

Indian Folk Art by Heinz Mode; Subodh Chandra

Women of India by Otto Rothfeld (this isn't about art but has few informative illustrations on regional costumes of women)

Dress And Ornaments In Ancient India by Mohini Verma and Keya Bawa

Classical dances and costumes of India by Ambrose, Kay

Cultures and Costumes of India and Sri Lanka by Kilgallon, Conor (o course i had to see other books on costumes)

Studies In Indian Painting by DB Taraporevala

Five Thousand Years of Indian Art by Hermann Goetz

Indian Painiting by Philip Rawson

The Art of Tantra by Philip Rawson

MS Randhawa (different books on Punjabi paintings Basohli, Kangra, Guler and General Themes in Indian Painting)

The imperial image: paintings for the Mughal court by Beach, Milo Cleveland

Wonders of nature : Ustad Mansur at the Mughal court by Dāśa, Aśoka Kumāra

Imperial mughal painting by Welch, Stuart Cary

Painted delight : Indian paintings from Philadelphia collections

India : life, myth and art by Ram-Prasad, Chakravarthi

The heritage of Indian art by Agrawala, Vasudeva Sharana

The adventures of Rama : with illustrations from a sixteenth-century Mughal manuscript

Indian paintings from the Punjab Hills by WG Archer

Art in East and West by Rowland Benjamin

Stella Kramisch (An American art historian and curator who was a leading specialist on Indian art, including folk art, for most of the 20th century. Also a Padma Bhushan awardee.)

The transformation of nature in art by Coomaraswamy, Ananda K

Books available on Libgen:

Art Of Ancient India : Buddhist, Hindu, Jain by Huntington and Huntington

The New Cambridge History of India, Volume 1, Part 3: Mughal and Rajput Painting

Myths and Symbols in Indian Art and Civilization by Heinrich Zimmer

Four Centuries of Rajput Painting: Mewar, Marwar and Dhundhar Indian Miniatures from the Collection of Isabelle and Vicky Ducrot

Ajanta by Yazdani

The Aesthetic Experience Acording to Abhinavagupta

TheHeritageLab is a free website to connect you to cultural heritage through stories, public engagement programs, campaigns, and free-access content.

Also if you're in Delhi, do consider getting a membership of Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) library.

Folk art:

Folk art is an entirely different area that deserve a post of its own. But i love them so here is a long list by Memeraki.com. You can Google each and then look more into what you like. This website also offers very cheap courses in traditional Indian arts by the hidden and disenfranchised masters themselves! It's doing a great work in giving them a platorm. I myself have taken the Mughal Miniature course here. You can consider it.

Illustrated Books:

Note: These are coffee table books with beautiful illustrations that you'd love to looks at.

The Night Life of Trees: In the belief of the Gond tribe, the lives of humans and trees are closely entwined. A visual ode to trees rendered by tribal artists from India, this handcrafted edition showcases three of the finest living Gond masters. THIS YOUTUBE LINK shows the making of the book. The channel also features other works of Gond art.

An Unknown Treasure in Rajasthan: The Bundi Wall-Paintings: This book celebrates the surviving wall-paintings at Bundi by presenting a stunning photographic survey

Painting In the Kangra Valley: Painting in the Kangra Valley is an attempt to survey the painting styles of Guler and Kangra, which flourished in the 18th and 19th centuries. The painting activity began with Kashmiri painters (...)

Indian Painting: The Lesser Known Traditions: India has an astonishingly rich variety of painting traditions. While miniature painting schools became virtually extinct with the decline of aristocratic patronage, a number of local vernacular idioms still survive and continue to develop.

Madhubani Art: Indian Art Series: Madhubani art's origin is believed to go back to the ancient era of the Ramayana, when the town was decorated by inhabitants of the region for the wedding of Lord Rama and Sita with elaborate wall paintings and murals (...) Primarily a significant socio-cultural engagement for the womenfolk of Bihar, this art was a welcome break from their daily drudgery.

Reflections on Mughal Art and Culture: Enter the splendid world of Mughal India and explore its rich aesthetic and cultural legacy through fresh insights offered by 13 eminent scholars.

Monsoon Feelings: A History of Emotions in the Rain: Through a series of evocative essays exploring rain-drenched worlds of poetry, songs, paintings, architecture, films, gardens, festivals, music and medicine, this lavishly illustrated collection examines the history of monsoon feelings in South Asia from the twelfth century to the present

Sita's Ramayana shifts the point of view of the Ramayana - the saga of a heroic war - to bring a woman's perspective to this timeless epic. Illustrated with Patua painting.

Adi Parva: Churning of the Ocean: a graphic novel that is a revisionist retelling of some of our oldest tales which have inspired and guided generations of people.

Ajit Mookerji, Sivaramamurti and Craven Roy's books are concise from where one can begin and then delve deeper into the subject of interest. Reading history and myths behind the work for context and listening to music from the given time/region alongside will make the exploration even more enjoyable!

#indian aesthetics #indian art #master post of indian art #desi #desi culture #desi aesthetic #indian dark academia #indian art history #indian art history books #indian art books

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gol-travels · 11 months

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Maldives; Paradise on Earth

Introduction

When you imagine an idyllic paradise on Earth, your mind may conjure up images of pristine white-sand beaches, crystal-clear turquoise waters, and overwater bungalows perched above colorful coral reefs. Such a paradise exists, and it's called the Maldives. This archipelago nation, located in the Indian Ocean, is renowned for its breathtaking beauty, making it a dream destination for travelers seeking an escape to a tropical paradise. In this blog, we'll take you on a virtual journey to explore the wonders of the Maldives.

Geography and Location

The Maldives is a tropical paradise composed of 26 atolls, each made up of countless coral islands. This small nation is situated in the Indian Ocean, southwest of Sri Lanka and India. It stretches across roughly 1,200 islands, of which only about 200 are inhabited, while the rest remain uninhabited, waiting to be discovered by adventurous souls.

Breathtaking Beaches

The Maldives is synonymous with pristine beaches that seem to have been plucked from a postcard. The powdery white sands and crystal-clear waters create a dreamlike setting for relaxation, water sports, and romantic getaways. Whether you're strolling along the beach hand in hand with your loved one or simply basking in the sun, you'll find serenity on these shores.

Underwater Wonders

One of the Maldives' most remarkable features is its vibrant marine life. The clear waters here are a haven for snorkelers and divers. Beneath the surface, you'll discover a mesmerizing world of colorful coral reefs, exotic fish, and even the chance to swim with majestic creatures like manta rays and whale sharks. The Maldives' underwater world is like a living painting that will leave you in awe of nature's wonders.

Luxurious Overwater Bungalows

Staying in an overwater bungalow is a quintessential Maldivian experience. These iconic accommodations provide direct access to the Indian Ocean, allowing you to wake up to the sound of gentle waves and take a refreshing dip in the sea right from your deck. Many resorts in the Maldives offer these luxurious bungalows, which provide an unforgettable and intimate experience for honeymooners and romantic getaways.

Sunsets and Stargazing

The Maldives offers some of the most spectacular sunsets you'll ever witness. As the sun dips below the horizon, the sky is painted with vibrant hues of orange, pink, and purple. It's the perfect backdrop for a romantic evening or a memorable beachside dinner. Once night falls, the clear, unpolluted skies provide a fantastic opportunity for stargazing. The lack of light pollution reveals a breathtaking view of the stars and constellations, making it an ideal setting for astronomy enthusiasts.

Culture and Cuisine

While the natural beauty of the Maldives is undoubtedly a major draw, the local culture and cuisine are equally captivating. The Maldivian people are known for their warm hospitality, and you can immerse yourself in their traditions by visiting local islands and experiencing their unique way of life. Maldivian cuisine is a delicious blend of flavors influenced by Indian, Sri Lankan, and Arabic cuisines. Fresh seafood, coconut, and aromatic spices are central to their dishes, providing a true taste of the islands.

Conclusion

The Maldives is the embodiment of paradise on Earth, where nature's beauty and luxury seamlessly coexist. It's a destination that caters to both relaxation and adventure, with its stunning beaches, vibrant marine life, luxurious overwater bungalows, and captivating culture. If you're seeking a tropical escape that feels like a dream, the Maldives is your answer. Pack your bags and prepare for an unforgettable journey to one of the most beautiful places on the planet. Your very own slice of heaven awaits in the Maldives.

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jingleholidaybazaar · 1 year

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Maldives Tour Details: Everything You Need to Know

Introduction: Exploring the Paradise on Earth

If you're looking for a dreamy tropical getaway, the Maldives is an idyllic destination that should be at the top of your travel list. With its pristine white sandy beaches, crystal-clear turquoise waters, and vibrant marine life, the Maldives offers a slice of paradise like no other. In this comprehensive guide, we will delve into the Maldives tour details to ensure you have all the information you need to plan a memorable trip to this stunning archipelago.

Maldives Tour Details: A Closer Look

The Maldives is an archipelago located in the Indian Ocean, southwest of Sri Lanka. Comprising of 26 atolls and over 1,000 coral islands, this tropical nation offers an array of breathtaking landscapes and natural wonders. From luxurious resorts to thrilling water sports activities, the Maldives caters to all types of travelers, whether you're seeking relaxation or adventure.

FAQs about Maldives Tour Details

1. What is the best time to visit the Maldives?

The Maldives enjoys a year-round tropical climate, but the best time to visit is during the dry season, which spans from November to April. This period offers clear skies, calm seas, and plenty of sunshine, making it ideal for beach activities and underwater exploration.

2. How do I reach the Maldives?

Most international visitors reach the Maldives by air. The Malé International Airport, the main gateway to the country, receives flights from major airlines worldwide. From there, you can continue your journey to your resort or desired island either by seaplane, speedboat, or domestic flight, depending on the distance.

3. What are the accommodation options in the Maldives?

The Maldives is renowned for its luxurious resorts that provide a lavish and indulgent experience. From overwater villas with private pools to beachfront bungalows, you'll find a wide range of accommodation options to suit your preferences and budget. Additionally, there are also guesthouses and budget-friendly hotels available on local islands, offering a more affordable alternative.

4. Are there any water sports activities in the Maldives?

Absolutely! The Maldives is a haven for water sports enthusiasts. You can indulge in activities such as snorkeling, scuba diving, kayaking, jet skiing, and parasailing. The pristine coral reefs teeming with colorful marine life make it a paradise for diving enthusiasts, while the calm lagoons provide the perfect setting for snorkeling adventures.

5. Can I experience the local Maldivian culture?

While the Maldives is famous for its luxury resorts, it's also possible to immerse yourself in the local Maldivian culture. You can visit the capital city, Malé, and explore its bustling markets, mosques, and historical sites. Additionally, you can take part in cultural excursions to nearby islands, where you can interact with locals, sample traditional cuisine, and learn about their way of life.

6. What are some must-visit attractions in the Maldives?

The Maldives is home to numerous stunning attractions that are worth exploring. Some of the must-visit places include the vibrant capital city of Malé, the Baa Atoll Biosphere Reserve, which is a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve, and the stunning underwater restaurant located in Rangali Island. These attractions offer a glimpse into the beauty and uniqueness of the Maldives.

Conclusion: Embark on an Unforgettable Journey to the Maldives

As you can see, the Maldives offers a myriad of opportunities for an unforgettable vacation. Whether you're seeking relaxation, adventure, or a mix of both, this tropical paradise has it all. From the

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yibennianyaji · 2 years

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Recent Reading: The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida and The Birth Lottery by Shehan Karunatilaka

The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida is, of course, last year's Booker winner, a slightly out-of-nowhere choice for an award that has been getting more adventurous and interesting in recent years. The Birth Lottery and Other Surprises is a collection of Karunatilaka's short fiction, currently slated for publication in the US and UK in the spring, but I was able to snag a copy from India earlier this month. Taken together, they not only make for some engrossing and delightful reading, but reveal Karunatilaka as firmly embedded in the SFF tradition. There's an entirely defensible case for Seven Moons as a nominee in the upcoming Hugo awards (or if not that, one of the wider-ranging genre awards like the Crawford or World Fantasy), and my only real complaint about The Birth Lottery is that it doesn't include a publication history, making it impossible to know which of the stories in it are awards-eligible.

The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida begins with the violent death of its protagonist. Maali is (or rather was) a war photographer, compulsive gambler, and inveterate hopper into the beds of handsome young men. In 1990 Sri Lanka, any one of these might have been enough to get him killed. He could have been murdered over a gambling debt, or by his closeted but intensely jealous boyfriend, DD. He could have fallen victim to any of the war-torn country's violent factions—the Tamil Tigers, the communist JVP, or the government bent on stamping out both and not too fussed about rounding up innocents in the process—all of whose atrocities he has, at one point or another, documented.

Maali himself has no memory of his death, but as the impassive clerks who greet him in the afterlife's waiting room inform him, this is irrelevant. He has seven nights (or "moons") to make peace with the life he's finished living and make himself ready for The Light. Otherwise, they warn, he will be left as a wandering spirit, unable to get back on the wheel of reincarnation and prey to any number of ghostly beings that wander the world. Maali himself, a cynic and nihilist who still hasn't resigned himself to the fact that the afterlife even exists, is more interested in securing his earthbound legacy. In leading DD and his best friend (and "official" girlfriend) Jaki to the box of photographs deemed too dangerous to publish in his lifetime—photographs that, he believes, will prove so explosive as to potentially topple the Sri Lankan regime and permanently upend the country's violent status quo.

The bureaucratized afterlife is a long-established trope, going back to films like A Matter of Life and Death and Defending Your Life, and seen more recently in The Good Place. Karunatilaka's twist on it is that the afterlife, at least as dead Sri Lankans like Maali experience it, reflects the indifference and dysfunction of similar bureaucracies in the real world. The afterlife waiting room is chaotic and disorderly (even dead, Maali muses, Sri Lankans can't queue). The recently deceased, many of whom have died by violence, argue with the spirits processing them about the unfairness of their fate. The process of getting ready to enter The Light involves securing various forms from different departments, some of which turn out to be closed when Maali gets there. And through it all, there are voices suggesting that the whole thing is pointless, a runaround, a way of distracting the dead from what really matters.

Maali has two guides during his afterlife sojourn. Ranee, the spirit of a Tamil moderate gunned down by the Tigers, is the institutionalist urging him to follow the rules, complete the process, and enter The Light. His desire to secure his legacy and look after DD and Jaki (or, for that matter, discover his murderer) she dismisses as the vestiges of ego that must be discarded. Her opposite number is Sena, a JVP activist disappeared by the government, who argues that the system Ranee represents is merely another instrument of bourgeois control, and that forgetting one's life to rejoin the cycle of reincarnation only ensures that nothing will ever change. Better, he suggests, to stay on Earth and get revenge on the people who murdered them. If you found yourself underwhelmed by the conclusion of The Good Place, it can be gratifying to see Maali point out to Ranee that focusing on his own enlightenment does nothing to change a world where the rich and powerful continue to prey on the poor and powerless. But Sena's schemes are similarly unconvincing, arguing for retributive violence without any suggestion of how this will make things better.

Never much of a joiner, Maali refuses both offers and returns to Earth to try to get his photographs published. This allows Karunatilaka to construct an elaborate cosmology of the afterlife while giving readers a tour of late 20th century Colombo and its profound dysfunction. Like Patrick Swayze in Ghost, Maali learns that there are elaborate rules for how the dead can interact with the living world—they can ride winds like bus lines, or congregate in trees that act as transport hubs—and certain individuals who can teach him new tricks, such as whispering to the living.

Maali can travel anywhere his remains go, and anywhere his name is spoken. Which means that he follows the hapless goons tasked with disposing his corpse (along with those of other murder victims), and the police officers who receive his missing person's report and are desperately trying to work out which angle—accepting a bribe from Maali's mother, doing under the table work for one government minister, currying favor with another—gives them the most advantage and places them in the least danger. Along the way we're introduced to the various forces with whom Maali entangled himself during his life—a Tamil aid organization with barely-hidden Tiger ties; a British arms dealer masquerading as a journalist; the various military officers and government officials who have erected an almost industrialized system of criminalizing and disappearing those deemed enemies of the regime.

If, like me, you know virtually nothing about Sri Lanka and its recent history, you will most likely find the experience of reading The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida both bracing and instructive. Karunatilaka originally published the novel in India in 2020, under the title Chats With the Dead. The current version was reworked for international readers with more explanatory material. (Some of these segments are fairly easy to clock once you know they're there, such as a cheat sheet explaining the country's various factions that Maali allegedly wrote for the foreign journalists who employ him as a fixer.) Even with this handholding, it's easy to feel disoriented by the bombardment of information, almost all of it relating to atrocities—the slaughter of Tamil civilians under the guise of rooting out terrorists in 1983, the downing of a commercial airliner in 1986, the brutal crackdown against those suspected of JVP connections in the late 80s, and the existence of The Palace, a secret prison where those suspected of anti-government activities are held, tortured, and ultimately discarded.

Karunatilaka constructs a setting in which both the living and the dead are engaged in a seemingly endless cycle of sectarian violence. Everywhere he goes, Maali encounters the spirits of the murdered and disappeared, who linger in order to proclaim the injustice of their fate, or simply out of irresolvable grief and anger. Sena recruits from among these, promising them vengeance and using his growing powers to orchestrate violence in the world of the living. Other spirits have their own agenda—the country's corrupt, bloodstained minister of defense has been saved from multiple assassination attempts by the spirit of a dead bodyguard, who has protected generations of unworthy leaders long after his own death. And a constant threat to spirits who fail to enter The Light is the Mahakali, a monstrous creature who swallows up lost spirits, whose genesis is in a long-ago act of violence that continues to reverberate down the generations.

The tone with which these elements, historical and fantastical, are related is sardonic and mocking, drily revealing such details as the ghosts of Tamil child soldiers who enjoy the afterlife because there, nobody tells them what to do, and the spirits of tourists from the downed airliner who decided not to follow their bodies home because, after all, they'd paid for a vacation. That the novel is narrated wholly in the second person only intensifies the blackness of this humor—are we witnessing the depths of Maali's self-loathing, or his blanket contempt for anyone who, like him, impotently observes his country's outbursts of violence?

Maali himself can end up getting a bit lost in the shuffle of all this furious worldbuilding and historical explanation. He's a man who prides himself on not taking a side, taking jobs with every faction in the conflict, then photographing the things they didn't want him to document, then hiding those photographs in a box rather than trying to get them published in his lifetime. That unstable balance between taking risks and refusing to stick his neck out is reflected in Maali's life as a closeted gay man, in which he simultaneously flaunts his sexuality and furiously denies it, pursing a relationship with DD while cheating on him relentlessly, promising to leave with him to Japan, Europe, or San Francisco and then mocking his plans to do so. The result is a character who never quite seems to be fully there, and if there's a criticism to be made of the book it is that Maali's hardboiled cynicism, and his eventual coming to peace with his life's choices and failings, can both end up feeling a little perfunctory.

Still, that centerlessness may be deliberate. Some reviewers have drawn comparisons between Karunatilaka and Vonnegut or Bulgakov, and like those writers, he seems to use humor as a defense mechanism against profound pain. Eventually it becomes clear that the readers' disorientation is the point. That even Maali, despite living in Sri Lanka his whole life and for all his pretense of disaffection, is deeply traumatized by the relentless onslaught of violence he's witnessed and documented. His detachment and wry nihilism are a mask concealing despair, a conviction that it is impossible to pull out of this spiral of violence.

Against that, however, there is the genuinely pulse-pounding ending that Karunatilaka constructs for his characters, in which Maali's scheming ends up endangering the people he loves most, which forces him not only to risk his chance of entering The Light, but to take a long look at the things he's valued and realize how many of them don't actually matter. Maali's photographs do not, as in reality they never could, topple governments or end the civil war. But they do reveal him and the things that, despite his pretense of detachment, he truly cared about. It is in that posthumous exposure that he finally finds peace and the ability to move on. The resulting novel is a detective story, an elaborate fantasy, a work of historical fiction, and a post-life coming of age tale. Taken together, they make for a thrilling read.

The Birth Lottery is an excellent dessert course to Seven Moons's rich meal, not only because it deals with some of the same topics—one of the stories here, "Assassin's Paradise", is a kind of deleted scene from the novel, and several others, including the title piece, return to the ideas of the afterlife and reincarnation that have been more elaborately worked out in the longer work—but because it gives readers a more rounded impression of Karunatilaka's range as a writer. Several stories here demonstrate impressive formal innovation. "Easy Tiger" is a series of text exchanges between a philandering husband and his over-it wife that delivers several massive plot twists with tremendous verve. "No. One. Cares." is a transcript of Facebook interactions in the wake of one person's announcement of his intention to commit suicide that asks what social media "friendship" actually means. Others are simply tremendous exercises in different literary voices. "The Colonials" lets three foreigners, British, Dutch, and Portuguese, tell their stories of arriving in Sri Lanks and bending it to their own will, while the reader increasingly puzzles at the story's time period. "My Name is Not Malini" is a pitch-perfect piece of social realism about the lives of foreign nannies and maids in Saudi Arabia, with a horrific final twist.

Here, too, one finds Karunatilaka delving confidently into well-established genre tropes. "The Ceylon Islands" imagines fed-up Sri Lankan industrialists decamping from the island to an ersatz version of it, recreating it whole cloth but without the religion and political strife—which may not be as much of a paradise as advertised. "Time Machine. I Have Built A." sees a lifelong functionary of the regime taking advantage of confiscated Tamil technology to rectify past events that have led him down the path of political disillusionment and personal disappointment, only to realize that these are self-fulfilling prophecies, in what feels like a riff on "All You Zombies" that is nevertheless deeply grounded in its setting. And some stories simply have a powerful slipstreamy quality, such as "The Prison Riot", in which the titular event is narrated by the prison's most overlooked, frequently-abused inmate, whose identity makes for a delightful twist. It's a fantastic collection that shows off an author in complete control of his material, and reaffirms my impression that genre readers, in particular, owe it to themselves to become familiar with Karunatilaka's writing.

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miss-bibbles · 2 years

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I posted 2,320 times in 2022

That's 2,317 more posts than 2021!

635 posts created (27%)

1,685 posts reblogged (73%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@i-cannot-do-this-any-longerer

@viva-la--resistance

@lovelettersmp4

@toomanyfandomnames

I tagged 971 of my posts in 2022

#miss bibbles speaks - 276 posts

#asks - 255 posts

#shitposting - 119 posts

#jegulus - 72 posts

#starchaser - 61 posts

#kai my platonic soulmate - 36 posts

#fic: perfect places - 29 posts

#writing - 29 posts

#yaz tag - 28 posts

#regulus black - 24 posts

Longest Tag: 89 characters

#my friends started calling me that and spamming the elmo gif except it was bibble instead

My Top Posts in 2022:

jegulus inspired from the kiss by gustav klimt

happy (early) birthday yaz! i am not good with surprises or waiting so here you go bitch @thebattlehamster

622 notes - Posted May 27, 2022

tumblr is sitting on its throne, watching as rich people fight on live tv and swirling a glass of wine between its fingers and saying, "we've been pleased. more. we want more."

939 notes - Posted March 28, 2022

if you speak for gay rights, you're automatically gay. just like everyone who speaks for animal rights is a duck and all those against deforestation are secretly trees hiding in a trenchcoat

986 notes - Posted April 11, 2022

guide to writing a desi james potter (and even for harry)!

(desi is used for south asians. meaning india + pakistan, afghanistan, bangladesh, bhutan, maldives, nepal, sri lanka. now i’m indian so i can only speak about that but a lot of the tips are the same. please research! and be respectful while writing them! i’ll try to include as much as i can here)

i've lived here my entire life so trust me.

and this is gonna be long. under the cut!

1. james potter can remain james potter

we don’t usually anglicize our names. don’t go finding obscure names starting with j that you can anglicize to james.

it kind of perpetuates the stereotype of indian names being very hard to pronounce. and britain fucked us over so no way in hell we'll be changing our own name to something easier for white people to pronounce.

instead you can make potters indian christians. i have a lecturer named veronica so i can assure you people in india have all kinds of names.

its a suggestion of course. but i have read fics where james has very traditional and religious names. no problem with that but its a little out of the loop and old fashioned. but if you want some help with finding names then don’t hesitate to ask.

2. where is he from

okay so now this gets interesting. there are a 28 states and 8 union territories. james potter can be from anywhere and not just gujrat and punjab and tamil nadu.

where’s my james potter from the gorgeous seaside state of goa? from the busy heart of metropolitan mumbai? from the amazing states of northeast? from bengal? from madhya pradesh? from kerela? from-

okay this is not a geography lesson but you get my point! there are so. many. places. he can be from any of them.

3. religion

india has a big population of hindus, muslims, christians, sikhs, zoraostrians, buddhists, jains etc. agnostic and atheist people exist too (hi).

your indian character can be any of those, not just hindu. it affects the indian sounding name you choose for him.

example: goan christian james can be james maharashtrian hindu james can be jai

but being religious or not, it doesn’t stop us from enjoying all the amazing festivals. you don’t know what i’d do to read a jegulus diwali fic ashdjfksdj

4. looks

now i know everyone’s like obsessed with atj (i can’t see him as james at ALL) or for desi james, dev patel (god, he’s the only desi character in all hollywood movies im so sick of his face. i have much better fancasts).

but just like names, our looks are also different. pale, wheatish, dusky complexion. again depending on which state. we usually have dark eyes and hair. and light eyes like blue, green or hazel are pretty rare.

5. food

curry doesn’t exist. repeat after me. curry doesn’t exist.

naan bread isn’t real, naan is A BREAD. and even though butter chicken is tasty asf, we don't eat this on a daily basis, my dudes. (#justiceforpavbhaji). but we do eat a LOT of biryani (its apparently the most ordered meal in india lol)

and i know you want to make the "im very white for spices" jokes but where are my desserts????? rasmalai? gulab jamun? rabdi? so cloyingly sweet ashdj

and we call tea, chai and it can be sweet and spicy.

it would make me so happy seeing names of my favorite food sprinkled through out your fic even if you don't elaborate on his indian heritage much <;3

i can’t list off every single one of them here but my dms are always open if you need any help with them

6. not all of us

it makes me sad reading about fics where james doesn’t like his indian heritage. not all poc characters need an "accepting my culture" arc.

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1,364 notes - Posted February 25, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

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26,022 notes - Posted June 27, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review

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talonabraxas · 4 months

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Buddhism

Siddhartha Gautama, the founder of Buddhism who later became known as “the Buddha,” lived during the 5th century B.C.

Gautama was born into a wealthy family as a prince in present-day Nepal. Although he had an easy life, Gautama was moved by suffering in the world.

When Gautama passed away around 483 B.C., his followers began to organize a religious movement. Buddha’s teachings became the foundation for what would develop into Buddhism.

In the 3rd century B.C., Ashoka the Great, the Mauryan Indian emperor, made Buddhism the state religion of India. Buddhist monasteries were built, and missionary work was encouraged.

Over the next few centuries, Buddhism began to spread beyond India. The thoughts and philosophies of Buddhists became diverse, with some followers interpreting ideas differently than others.

In the sixth century, the Huns invaded India and destroyed hundreds of Buddhist monasteries, but the intruders were eventually driven out of the country.

Buddhism Beliefs and Practices

Some key Buddhism beliefs include:

Followers of Buddhism don’t acknowledge a supreme god or deity. They instead focus on achieving enlightenment—a state of inner peace and wisdom. When followers reach this spiritual echelon, they’re said to have experienced nirvana.