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I believe I read somewhere a long time ago that when finding and studying black holes, scientists have a tricky time because they are not findable directly as nothing yet measurable can escape the event horizon. This causes them to be invisible against the backdrop of the blackness of space.

One of the techniques used to locate them is to view the surroundings for clues and distortions indicating a direction and triangulate to the emptiness they all point toward.

Since the black hole itself cannot be viewed straight on, the perspectives of the stuff around it are needed to guide the scientists.

Apparently this works because each thing they observe points from its own unique perspective to the same general location of emptiness. The more unique perspectives combined, the more accurate the map of the black hole's location.

Each unique perspective provides more of the missing data, more clues, a stronger picture which would be less without them.

It seems in living our own unique perspectives, we collectively become an extension of that which we indicate toward to any who look close enough to find.

I think we are all imperfect practitioners @david

@Jeroen said:

@person said:
I had almost the exact opposite reaction. To me it took something important and valuable to work towards in Buddhism and diminished it to something pretty mundane. It may be true (the article notes that the research isn't peer reviewed) that there is a common "enlightenment" experience that is much more accessible to people. But just because the article and Buddhism use the same word doesn't mean they're pointing to the same moon.

I can totally understand that, and agree. I don’t recall anyone in modern times having an enlightenment experience like that of the Buddha, for example. But on the other hand the Buddha would declare all kinds of people as enlightened, monks by the dozen and sometimes by the hundred.

I think to some people, enlightenment is the goal and to some it is a necessary step towards the goal in the form of Right Understanding. In the first view, not many actually experience enlightenment and in the second, enlightenment is perfectly ordinary and just a way of seeing the universal world with many of us experiencing it as part of the process. As if it is much easier to finally understand than it is to live accordingly with all fetters cast aside and old habits re or de-conditioned. That of course takes practice and skill.

I first started thinking along these lines when I heard the Zen parable about rivers and mountains https://terebess.hu/zen/qingyuan.html

It is at the point where many people are too ashamed to admit seeing the dharma unless they can perfectly embody it while many others self proclaim enlightenment and don't live up to our expectations.

The wheel turns but is not as swift as could be.

Hi Bunks,

Well, Old Java language was used 800-1300. The skull in https://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/toorale-man-murder-mystery/11015900
is dated to 1200s.
At that time, king Kertajaya of Kadiri Java escaped a murderous rebellion in 1222 and 'disappeared without trace' _ Coedes 1968. He was a Tantric Buddhist.
The Majapahit kingdom then developed and had a large navy and overseas trading interests. Javanese gold-miners were in the 'Philippines' in the 1300s so gold-exploring in Oz was possible.

Hi,
I'm a newbie, non-Buddhist, amateur historian seeking a non-sexual social intercourse. Australia has the Dreaming where time is nothing. Did it also have Damma? There are two Indigenous countries on the east coast with a history of a boat arriving and some of the region's vocabularies have these words.
budjarahm sacred, taboo, spirit, ghost, a Dreamtime story. In Indonesia, Old Java budha (Skt) means 'the planet Mercury'. Indigenous budhu 'stars'. Skt budha 'awaking'. Indigenous_ budhin_ 'sunbeam'. budjar 'morning'. budha 'sandalwood'.

Indonesian Buddhist teachings seem to have Australian application. One of four Vinaya pārājikas for monks forbids stealing (and sexuality, murder, lying about degree of spirituality). Maybe that is connected with the virtue of burning and preventing stealing. A king burned his own body.
Sad-dharma Puṇḍárīka Sūtra. The Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Law.
Chapter 23 - The Story of the Bodhisattva Medicine King :
https://e-thesis.mcu.ac.th/storage/rsyZ ... 9cRrXJ.pdf p62
The Buddha then addressed the Bodhisattva Star Constellation King Flower: ‘In your opinion what say you, was the Bodhisattva Loveliness some other person? It was indeed the present Medicine King Bodhisattva. His self-sacrifice and gifts were of such countless hundred thousand myriad kotis of nayutas in number as these. Star Constellation King Flower! If anyone with his mind set on and aiming at Perfect Enlightenment is able to burn the fingers of his hand or even a toe of his foot in homage to a buddha's stupa he will surpass him who pays homage with domains, cities, wives, children, and his three-thousand-great thousand-fold land with its mountains, forests, rivers, pools, and all its precious things.’

In Sydney, buduwai may be buddha vanaya, wanaya in Old Javanese language of 800-1300CE.
https://www.academia.edu/26882939/DHARA ... o=download p6
Ritual for preventing children from becoming thieves by scorching their fingers buduwai.

https://www.williamdawes.org/docs/troy_ ... cation.pdf

Language, Mythology and Ceremony.
'ceremony to prevent people becoming thieves—the parent of a child would scorch its fingers so that it will not steal. buduway _'scorch'. _putuwi.'

https://www.williamdawes.org/docs/steele_thesis.pdf
Putuwidyánga wiangáta putuwi 'My mother scorched my fingers (that I should not steal)' .
Then putuwi was the spelling by the early British settlers and is corrected by Indigenous language-speakers to buduway.The expression can be explained as:
ganadyanga 'burning. aches', gana 'burn'. dyánga 'aches', Old Java dhyāna 'concentrate'. Indigenous/ Skt ga 'come' . Indigenous wiangáta 'my mother'.
None of these are words for 'finger, fingernail, hand', so the concept seems to be putuwi / buduway and not just 'burning a finger'.
So a word for 'snatch' yaramadyawiniya seems to contain wanaya. The first part yaramadya appears to mean 'fighting / crab. damage' suggesting stealing and an offence against wanaya. Then hopefully the child will become budyari 'good; well; right; proper'. So then, the children in Sydney were Budyari. As wanya means 'tell lie', then two of the four Winaya are part of the culture.
Adultery and murder are universal offences and probably weren't affected by new teachings. Does the evidence so far seem credible for Damma being brought to Australia?