Apostle Thomas- only disciple to travel outside of the Roman Empire, through Persia into India.

Gospel of Thomas

(33) Jesus says:
(1)"What you will hear with your ear {with the other ear} proclaim from your rooftops.
(2) For no one lights a lamp (and) puts it under a bushel, nor does he put it in a hidden place.
(3) Rather, he puts it on a lampstand, so that everyone who comes in and goes out will see its light."

(39) Jesus says:
(1) "The Pharisees and the scribes have received the keys of knowledge, (but) they have hidden them.
(2) Neither have they entered, nor have they allowed to enter those who wish to.
(3) You, however, be as shrewd as serpents and as innocent as doves!"


(50) Jesus says:
(1) If they say to you: ‘Where do you come from?’ (then) say to them: ‘We have come from the light, the place where the light has come into being by itself, has established [itself] and has appeared in their image.’
(2) If they say to you: ‘Is it you?’ (then) say: ‘We are his children, and we are the elect of the living Father.’
(3) If they ask you: ‘What is the sign of your Father among you?’ (then) say to them: ‘It is movement and repose.’"

(58) Jesus says: "Blessed is the person who has struggled. He has found life."

(82) Jesus says:
(1) "The person who is near me is near the fire.
(2) And the person who is far from me is far from the kingdom."

(83) Jesus says:
(1) "The images are visible to humanity, but the light within them is hidden in the image.
(2) {} The light of the Father will reveal itself, but his image is hidden by his light."

(105) Jesus says: "Whoever will come to know father and mother, he will be called son of a whore."

Institute for Works of Religion- the official bank of the Vatican.

+ accused of holding Nazi gold received from puppet regimes in Croatia and Italy during WWII

+ alleged ties with crime syndicate, Banco Ambrosiano ;the scandal implicated the bank with money laundering for the mob.

Where The Wild Things Are

Manuel Quintín Lame Chantre
-wiki-
(1880-1967) was an Colombian indigenous rebel from the early 20th century who tried to conform an independent indigenous republic. He was born in El Borbollón, Cauca, son of Mariano Lame and Dolores Chantre, both Paez people. In 1911 he started the Indigenous Movement. In 1914 he tried to make the Republic of Indigenas, formed by Cauca, Tolima, Huila and Valle. Because of this, he was arrested. His movement grew and became the "Guerra Racial". In 1921, after spending three years in jail, he joined the Tolima movement. In 1924 he wrote the book "El pensamiento del indio que se educó en las selvas colombianas". He died in 1967 in Ortega, Tolima.


Father Camilo Torres Restrepo (born in Bogotá, Colombia on 3 February 1929 – died in Santander on 15 February 1966) was a Colombian socialist, Roman Catholic priest, a predecessor of liberation theology and a member of the National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrilla organisation. During his life, he tried to reconcile revolutionary Marxism and Catholicism.

prajna- wisdom
paramita- path(s) to perfections

some memorable quotes from "Dharma Bums"...

"compassion is the heart of Buddhism"
"mud is better than words"
"bad karma automatically produces good karma"
"Dharma flower"

Dharmakaya, the ultimate nature or essence of the enlightened mind, which is uncreated, free from the limits of conceptual elaboration, empty of inherent existence, naturally radiant, beyond duality and spacious like the sky.

"...mind is the Maker, for no reason at all,

for all this creation, created to fall."

(Dharma Bums)

Pan-American Highway

Hadda is a Greco-Buddhist archaeological site located in Afghanistan. The excavation of the site began in the 1920's and proceeded until the 70's. The union of Hellenistic and Buddhist thought began with Alexander the Greats empire. Alexander occupied the lower Mesopotamia, into the Russian Caucus, and on to India. The proceeding empires following the death of Alexander continued to thrive, Hadda being a key to the unlock the past that was this ancient cross road. Regardless of the degree of cultural mutation that took place with the relations of the Greco-Indian peoples. Hadda is most remarkable for its wealth of artifacts on the nature of Greco-Buddhist culture. The theory that the Hellenistic influenced art of this culture, could have been the first representation of a Boddhivista is a contested notion.

Islam in Russia
courtesy of the "oldest private immigration-consulting company in the post-Soviet Russia, R&F Agency Inc."

Russia has over 20,000,000 people professing Islam as their religion, who officially consider themselves Moslems. At the same time, the number of genuine Russian Orthodox is no more than 6,000,000 (4.5%). The number of Moslems in Russia has risen by over 40% in the last 15 years. There are more Azerbaizhanians in Moscow than there are in Baku (and more Tatars than there are in Kazan). By the middle of this century one in four Russian citizens will be a Moslem. Moslem leaders are demanding that Russian Orthodox symbols be removed from the state coat of arms. If the numbers of Moslems continues to grow at today’s rate, the Moslem community will soon be raising the question of having a Moslem vice-president. It was maybe with this situation in mind that Vladimir Putin asked the Organisation of the Islamic Conference to accept Russia in its ranks.

quatrains from the poet Sarmad...

- 9/
Although a hundred friends have turned mine enemies,
Owing to the friendship of the one, my mind has become contented.
I have accepted Unity and been freed from multiplicity
At last I became of Him and He of me.

- 18/
Sometimes thou are a cypress, sometimes a hyacinth and sometimes a jasmine,
Now a mountain, a wilderness, and at another time a flower-garden.
Now thou are the light of a candle, now the scent of a rose,
Sometimes thou art in a garden, and sometimes in an assembly.

The ocean of his generosity has no shore.
The tongue is powerless to thank,
the heart too bewildered to understand.
Though my sins are many
his compassion is greater
still--I swim in the sea of disobediencebut I do not drown.

China's ethnic tinderbox
10:27 GMT, Thursday, 9 July 2009 11:27 UK
bbc.co.uk

Officially, China is made up of 56 nationalities: one majority nationality, the Han, and 55 minority groups. The 2000 census revealed a total official minority population of nearly 104m, or approximately 9% of the total population. The peoples identified as Han comprise 91% of the population from Beijing in the north to Canton in the south, and include the Hakka, Fujianese, Cantonese, and other groups. These Han are thought to be united by a common history, culture, and written language; differences in language, dress, diet, and customs are regarded as minor and superficial. An active state-sponsored programme assists these official minority cultures and promotes their economic development (with mixed results).

The recognition of minorities, however, also helped the Communists' long-term goal of forging a united Chinese nation by solidifying the recognition of the Han as a unified "majority". Emphasizing the difference between Han and minorities helped to de-emphasize the differences within the Han community. The Communists incorporated the idea of Han unity into a Marxist ideology of progress, with the Han in the forefront of development and civilization. The more "backward" or "primitive" the minorities were, the more "advanced" and "civilized" the so-called Han seemed, and the greater the need for a unified national identity.

Teh Han comprise 91% of the population from Beijing to Canton. Minorities who do not support development policies are thought to be "backward" and anti-modern, holding themselves and the country back. The supposedly homogenous Han speak eight mutually unintelligible languages. Even these sub-groups show marked linguistic and cultural diversity. China's policy toward minorities involves official recognition, limited autonomy, and unofficial efforts at control. Although totalling only 9% of the population, they are concentrated in resource-rich areas spanning nearly 60% of the country's landmass and exceed 90% of the population in counties and villages along many border areas of Xinjiang, Tibet, Inner Mongolia, and Yunnan.

Xinjiang occupies one-sixth of China's landmass, with Tibet the second-largest province. Indeed, one might even say it has become popular to be "ethnic" in today's China. Mongolian hot pot, Muslim noodle, and Korean barbecue restaurants proliferate in every city, while minority clothing, artistic motifs, and cultural styles adorn Chinese bodies and private homes. China's threats will most likely come from civil unrest, and perhaps internal ethnic unrest from within the so-called Han majority. This rise of "ethnic chic" is in dramatic contrast to the anti-ethnic homogenizing policies of the late 1950s anti-Rightist period, the Cultural Revolution, the late-1980s "spiritual pollution" campaigns, and now the ethnic riots in the west.

While ethnic separatism on its own will never be a serious threat to a strong China, a China weakened by internal strife, inflation, uneven economic growth, or the struggle for political succession could become further divided along cultural and linguistic lines. China's separatists, such as they are, could never mount such a co-ordinated attack as was seen on 11 September, 2001 in the United States, and China's more closed society lacks the openness that has allowed terrorists to move so freely in the West. China's threats will most likely come from civil unrest, and perhaps internal ethnic unrest from within the so-called Han majority. We should recall that it was a southerner, born and educated abroad, who led the revolution that ended China's last dynasty. Moreover, the Taiping Rebellion that nearly brought down the Qing dynasty also had its origins in the southern border region of Guangxi among so-called marginal Yao and Hakka peoples. These events are being remembered as the generally well-hidden and overlooked "Others" within Chinese society begin to reassert their own identities, in addition to the official nationalities.

Dru Gladney is a China expert and president of the Pacific Basin Institute at Pomona College in California.

conlict in Burma

Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA)- revolutionary organization run by the Kokang people of Burma.
United Wa State Army - revolutionary organization run by the Wa people
Kachin Independence Army - revolutionary organization of six ethnic Buramese tribes

Gnarls Barkley Mystery Man