Christmas in July

 

I missed this strange Christmas song last year. Apparently, it´s Swedish?! So here we go instead! 

Jagannath consciousness

 

This is a video c/o the Ritviks or ISKCON Bangalore, a breakaway faction from the "official" ISKCON. Supposedly, the committee overseeing the Jagannath temple in Puri has sent a letter to both ISKCON and the Ritviks, requesting them to only celebrate Rath Yatra (the main festival dedicated to the god Jagannath) during the dates indicated in advance by the temple priests. The Ritviks will honor the request, while the "official" ISKCON apparently doesn´t, preferring to celebrate on dates of their own chosing. 

Imagine what religious sects can argue over. Do they *really* think Jagannath ("The Lord of the Universe" i.e. God) gives a damn? But who knows, maybe he does, since in this scenario, God is a Vaishnava!

Please note that the priests in Puri exclude non-Indian Hare Krishnas from the temple, so maybe that´s the *real* reason why ISKCON-Official doesn´t feel bound by their decisions, but whatever, I have no particular dog in this fight...

The case against reality

 

Sabine Hossenfelder tries to take Donald Hoffman seriously, but it just doesn´t work. She gives Hoffman a ten out of ten on her "bullshit meter", claiming he´s "not even wrong". Apparently, Hoffman recently published a paper trying to prove mathematically that aliens seen during psychedelic trips are real. I think even people who do believe in aliens and/or psychedelics might find that approach a bit...trippy. 

Modern times

 

Not Subhadra 

So I was just watching some kind of live broadcast from the annual Hindu Rath Yatra festival in Puri. Kind of weird seeing the temple priests using modern mobile phones, taking selfies while standing in front of Subhadra´s idol at the chariot...

I want to see

 

I want to see this...

Something tells me this won´t be included in the next tranche of UFO files released by the Were-Trump administration! Nor in Nolan´s "Odyssey"...

Ärligt

 

För övrigt så skiter jag fullständigt i Iliaden och Odyséen. Så nu vet ni det. Den där filmen alla har snackat om i typ ett halvår nu har förresten premiär först imorgon fredag. Vilket jag inte hade en aning om. Och jag tänker göra mitt yttersta i att inte bry mig om den heller...

Granma Tara

 

So I asked Gemini to make a picture of Yellow Tara (the Mahayana-Vajrayana Buddhist "goddess") as if she was a normal human. This was the result. Some kind of Tibetan grandmama? 

Kulturarvet

 

Kulturvänstern stretar på...

När servrar stängs ner förlorar vi vårt kulturarv

Shaolin Heroes

 

En kritisk recension av en AI-översatt bok om shaolin. Men har inte hela shaolin-grejen redan avslöjats som värsta bluffen?

Shaolinmästarens visdom urvattnas till ett lågvattenmärke

Indra´s net

 

Credit: G41rn8

OK, so this week the AI is trying to convert me to "Huayan Buddhism". Rather than Soto Zen, that is. A step in the right direction if you ask me. Sometimes there really is progress...

Can you tell me about Huayan Buddhism?

Huayan Buddhism (Chinese: 華嚴, Huáyán; Japanese: Kegon; Korean: Hwaeom) is one of the most profound and philosophically sophisticated schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism. It is based primarily on the Avatamsaka Sutra (also known as the Flower Garland Sutra), a vast scripture describing the universe as an infinitely interconnected web of Buddhas, bodhisattvas, and worlds.

Many scholars consider Huayan to represent one of the high points of classical Chinese Buddhist philosophy.

Historical development

Huayan developed in China during the Tang dynasty (7th–9th centuries).

Its principal patriarchs include:

• Dushun
• Zhiyan
• Fazang
• Chengguan

Among them, Fazang is especially famous for developing Huayan's philosophical vision.

The school later spread to:

• Korea (Hwaeom),
• Japan (Kegon).

---

Central scripture

The entire system is based upon the Avataṃsaka Sūtra.

This enormous scripture describes:

• countless universes,
• countless Buddhas,
• innumerable bodhisattvas,
• infinite dimensions,
• worlds existing simultaneously.

Rather than presenting a linear story, it offers a grand vision of reality itself.

---

Vairocana

Unlike Pure Land Buddhism, where Amitābha is central, Huayan places:

Vairocana

at the center.

Vairocana is not merely another Buddha.

He represents:

• the Dharmakāya,
• the all-pervading Buddha,
• reality itself viewed as awakened.

Everything exists within Vairocana's enlightened body.

---

Interpenetration

Perhaps the most famous Huayan doctrine is:

The mutual interpenetration of all phenomena.

Nothing exists independently.

Everything reflects everything else.

The traditional image is:

Indra's Net

Imagine an infinite net stretching throughout the universe.

At every intersection hangs a jewel.

Each jewel reflects:

• every other jewel,
• and within each reflection are all the others again.

Thus:

Every part contains the whole.

The whole contains every part.

This became one of the most influential images in East Asian Buddhism.

---

One is all; all is one

Huayan often summarizes reality as:

"One is all, and all is one."

This does not mean everything loses its individuality.

Instead:

Every individual thing retains its uniqueness,

while simultaneously participating in the entire cosmos.

---

The Four Dharmadhātus

Huayan describes reality through four progressively deeper perspectives.

1. The realm of phenomena

Ordinary experience.

Trees.

People.

Animals.

Mountains.

---

2. The realm of principle

Everything shares one ultimate nature:

emptiness.

---

3. Non-obstruction of principle and phenomena

Ultimate reality and ordinary things are inseparable.

A flower is not separate from ultimate reality.

---

4. Non-obstruction among phenomena

This is uniquely Huayan.

Every phenomenon supports every other phenomenon.

Everything participates in everything else.

Nothing is isolated.

---

The Bodhisattva path

Huayan strongly emphasizes:

• compassion,
• wisdom,
• benefiting all beings.

The ideal bodhisattva works endlessly for others because:

there are no ultimately separate beings.

Helping another is helping the whole.

---

Sudhana's pilgrimage

The final chapter tells the story of:

Sudhana

who visits 53 spiritual teachers.

Remarkably,

his teachers include:

• monks,
• nuns,
• kings,
• merchants,
• children,
• artists,
• householders,
• heavenly beings.

This illustrates that wisdom can appear through many different kinds of people and situations.

---

Practice

Huayan is not merely philosophy.

Practices include:

• meditation,
• visualization,
• chanting the Avataṃsaka,
• devotion to Vairocana,
• bodhisattva practice.

Many Huayan practitioners also practiced:

• Pure Land,
• Chan (Zen).

The traditions often complemented one another.

---

Relation to Pure Land

This may interest you especially.

Huayan never rejected Amitābha.

Instead it saw:

• Amitābha,
• Avalokiteśvara,
• Mañjuśrī,
• Samantabhadra,
• Vairocana

as expressions within the same vast enlightened reality.

Many Chinese masters practiced both:

• Huayan philosophy,
• Pure Land devotion.

This combination remains common today.

---

Comparison with your own outlook

You've previously described a worldview that includes:

• many universes,
• invisible spiritual beings,
• eventual return toward the highest reality,
• the reality of the world (not mere illusion),
• an appreciation for both Amitābha and a supreme, all-encompassing divine principle.

There are clear resonances with Huayan's vision of an interconnected cosmos filled with innumerable Buddhas and bodhisattvas. At the same time, there is one important difference: Huayan does not posit a creator God or an emanating deity. Vairocana is not a creator in the theistic sense but the all-pervading Buddha whose enlightened reality is expressed through the entire cosmos.

That distinction is significant, but many people who appreciate a panentheistic or cosmic religious imagination still find Huayan deeply appealing because of its emphasis on the unity, beauty, and interdependence of all existence.

One of Huayan's best-known summaries captures its spirit beautifully:

"In one is all; in all is one. One particle of dust contains innumerable Buddha-fields, and innumerable Buddha-fields are present in one particle of dust."

This is not meant as a physical claim about atoms or cosmology, but as a contemplative way of expressing the profound interconnectedness of reality as seen through awakened wisdom.