Yikes
Tsultrim
Hawaii Veteran
As you see from my byline i live in Hawaii, and in the part that's being threatened by the Kilauea volcano. I have ridden out 3 earthquake shocks in 4 days, caused by lava moving and the wall of a crater collapsing, but today's was the worst: 5.6 Richter.
Objects fell off of shelves and the tremor lasted a long time, a long time in an earthquake for me is 10 seconds or greater.
A crater called Puu Oo formed by Kilaeau draining into it, has suddenly emptied ( 1000 feet of it has emptied and the lava is flowing into housing areas.) Imagine a big crater that loses 1000 feet of lava. At first the ground cracked and then the lava burst up to the surface.
Tens of thousands are being evacuated. It's heartbreaking to see people leaving homes that will be gone when they get back.
The Hawaiian goddess of Kilauea is Pele, and she's pissed. The locals put a lot of credence in her. I know what Padmasambhava felt like when he encountered the local diesties in Tibet.
What's the Buddhist message. It's too obvious to mention.
Oh Jesus, just got hit by another shock, longer and more violent than the last one. I'm thinkinjg of getting out of this place.
Comments
Sorry your worried. My reaction is often to turn to humor to take some of the edge off, not to deny or make light of suffering.
Stay safe @Tsultrim ... It's better to be safe than sorry ....when Mother nature decides to flex her muscles...
Oh man. I can't imagine being in earthquake and lava. We only have risk of thunderstorms and tornadoes and I've never been hit by the latter. I will dedicate merit and I hope that you can take refuge in the Buddha, dharma, and sangha but also stay safe and take care.
Stay safe....
Stay safe, @Tsultrim. Nature can be awesome and often unforgiving.
Also, pardon my taste in music.
Person, Shoshin, Jeffrey, Vastmind, and Jason thank you for your kind messages. As for the music, i give you in reply Madam Pele the Goddesss of the Volcano Kileuea that's trying to kill us, and ask you if you think she would be amused.
Things have quieted down right now with the earthquakes. The last one was a 6.9, as much earthquake as i ever want to feel again. Fortunately there is no tsunami activity associated with it.
Here is Madam Pele
http://katalinkoda.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/pele.jpg
That’s quite something @Tsultrim, I hope you stay safe. Sometimes it’s best to be entirely practical and I would guess you are encountering one of those times. Please listen to the radio or local tv for evacuation notices.
Thanks for the note @Kerome
I love the understated thread title... "Yikes... had I been you, I probably would have gone for something slightly more animated, like, oooh, I dunno.... "jeezuskerrista-fekkin-livewhatdafuqisgoingon!?Holyschyt!I.gottgetdahellouttahere!!"
Or something.
I realise the tragedy of people losing everything they possess. Look at those poor unfortunate people in Tornado alley, as they call it, or even New Orleans... certainly in by no means as devastating circumstances, but I too, once lost every single thing I possessed... so I feel sincerely, for those facing such a devastating loss, in both an emotional and tangible sense... Be well, stay safe.
On the other hand, it does confront one in a very immediate way with impermanence and the sneaky connections our mind forms with possessions. There is often a silver lining.
Yes @Kerome, that is a lesson I took away with me. I still miss some of the things I lost, because they were precious gifts. Not in a monetary sense, but with regard of whom they were from, and what they meant to me. Still, I cannot retrieve them now, and probably never will see any of them again, so I get the lesson. But it is much easier to let go of something you voluntarily release, rather than have ripped from your grasp in a violent or hostile way....
Well, the night went well. No tremors at all, but the word is we should expect continuing seismic activity, maybe for weeks. The 6.9 earthquake i reported yesterday was the biggest since 1975, and that one was followed by a tsunami. At a local fish vender, the ocean dropped 4 feet outside their store and they evacuated. When the water goes out like that its a tsunami indicator, fortunately nothing happened.
The 6.9 quake actually occurred while i was writing this forum, talk about on the scene news reporting. As for the lava, it is miles away from me and not of much concern right now. It has burned several homes and is cutting through roads complicating travel. About 1000 people have been displaced( not 10,000).
It's quite strange to sit and appreciate that the environment is not moving. I know we are not off the hook yet, but the peace sure is nice. It's quite eerie what earthquakes do to one's mind.
Thank you @federica for your post, very nice, and once again all of you that wrote me.
I know this news has gone national, but i don't know if it's international. Anyway, Pele International News Service (PINS) will probably continue. Of course, there is always the impermanence of life.
You were on the news here in the Netherlands, so I think you can safely call it international.
Hope you stay well & safe.
Never.
The erupting volcano is international. On the BBC for instance.
Those eruptions seem scarier than Dr Who.
Stay safe. We need our Buddhists ...
Thank you lobster for the kind sentiment and inter news heads up, and you as well Kerome.
@Tsultrim It would seem the Hawaiian islands and Aotearoa (New Zealand) have much in common when it comes to volcanic eruptions and earthquakes...Aotearoa is known as the Shaky Isles
....Earthquakes are common but not so much where I live , ( on a tiny island north of the North island), we just have to be on the alert for tsunamis ....however the volcanic island of Rangitoto is just a short distance from the island... Stay safe and have a bag packed and at the ready...
Your post @shoshin really intrigues me for a number of reasons.
Are you a New Zealander by birth? How did you end up on an island like that? Have you seen Flight of the Conchords with Bret and Germaine. I watched the whole series and was impressed by its uniqueness, and also the attitudes toward Australians (Bunks i'm not taking sides.) They are good musicians and quite funny at times, very refreshing from the standard American fare of violence and prurient garbage.
Do they have unusual wildlife, sea life where you are, that is by American standards? I've never been to New Zealand but i've been told it's beautiful. Have you ever met Mark Todd, long time hero of mine, equestrian 3 day eventer? Do you get a lot of rain?
And then their are the Maori, great warriors who i would presume are being devastated by drugs and alcohol. Saw a beautiful movie about two Maori brothers. One goes against the whites , and his brother kills him. Man, what those warrior cultures must have been like. I'm sure you've seen Samoans and Tongans, imagine them coming out of a war canoe toward you.
Well, don't feel you have to answer the questions. This is a Buddhist forum, and not an international one, or is it, which generates another question. How many people on your island and are any Buddhists?
That's it i quit. Thank you so much for your post.
No I was born in the UK, moved to Australia became an Aussie citizen ( to help lift their IQ.....A Kiwi joke
)...However I moved to Aotearoa over 30 years ago and almost 20 of these years on this island ....
No I haven't met him, but all Kiwis know of him and his skills on horseback... As far as wildlife goes, it's pretty tame, no dangerous land animals (well apart from man) no snakes... There's a nice variety of native bird life, the Kiwi is a somewhat unusual small flightless bird, the female lays very large eggs......Sea life, the usual Dolphins, Orcas, Sharks & Rays...
Sadly as with most colonised indigenous people, alcohol & drugs can be a big problem due for the most part to racial prejudice and discrimination....However Maori people are a proud people with a rich culture and traditions...(The video clip is of the unveiling of the newly carved Maori sculptures at our local Marae )
Yes there are a few groups on the island, the group I attend meet every Monday evening...We have also had the good fortune to have four sand Mandalas created on the island at the local Marae by Tibetan monks, Tibetan Buddhism and Maori spirituality have close ties...A Dharma teacher use to come to the island every month to give a Dharma talk, sadly due to lack of an interpreter can no long come....but Dharma practice still goes on
You're welcome
Around eight and half thousand however that was around six years ago so maybe more now
Oh my, you live in a beautiful place. The link was great. Thank you for so generously answering my questions @Shoshin..
Just looked at the Maori videos and several things struck me. I noticed that the Maori touch heads in greeting. The Hawaiians do something similar and they exchange breath called Ha. The Ha has spiritual meaning. White people in Hawaii are called Haoles which means without breath in Hawaiian, because when the Hawaiians met the first whites they didn't exchange breath with them. I think it means something like without soul.
I also saw a Tibetan monk in the crowd and saw the sand mandalas as well. Interestingly Tibetans also touch heads when meeting, at least the Lamas do.
The figures adorning the Maori temples look very much like the totem poles of American N.W. Indians that also lived by the ocean, and some of the figures could pass as Tibetan protectors. Man it makes one wonder. Of course DNA helps a lot in sorting these things out. I'm reminded of Man and Myth by Joseph Campbell. I never read it but i feel it deals with myths that cross cultures and accounts for the similarities in different spiritual disciplines.
It's great the Maoris still have pride. The white man killed all the American Indians with pride, stole their livelihood and culture, and left them to destroy them selves with drugs and alcohol. I once knew American Indians, the Sioux particularly. I knew one Sioux who was always nice to me. We were friends, but there was something in his eyes that assured one that he would be deadly if crossed.
Thank you so much Shoshin for the wonderful videos. I couldn't have asked for more.
The monk used to come to the island with Geshe-la, when he was giving a Dharma talk, he is also one of the monks who sands (for want of a better term) the mandalas
The Maoris and the Hawaiians are cousins.... having ancestral ties...Hence why the similarities in culture and traditions ...
Maori people don't really have what you would call 'temples' they have sacred places called Maraes meeting houses ....
Maori people also greet with a 'hongi' (the exchanging of breath)...
Non-Maori people/New Zealanders are called "Pākehā" ...
@Tsultrim, its got to be most unsettling to go through what you're going through. Hawaii always was at the top of my vacation list.
This fellow had his day in the sun, but now he's lost his home that was paid for and everything: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/as-the-ground-opened-a-teary-hawaii-resident-bid-his-home-a-final-farewell/ar-AAwNwSM?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=spartandhp
Nice to meet you @silver.
People who live in certain areas here know they are at risk from volcanoes. Well we are all at risk really but some much more than others.The high risk people can't get home insurance for volcano related damages, but it's much cheaper to buy land in those zones, so they take a chance, and some pay.
Nevertheless, it's really sad to see a hard working man like that lose his home.
Do the locals make offerings to appease Her? Maybe that's what is needed? We still honour the landvaettir and Asa here when necessary.
Hi @Nerida. Hawaii is different than Denmark. There are a lot of different races here so the locals have many different religions. One of the local racial groups, however, consists of those with Hawaiian blood. It's almost always a percentage of Hawaiian blood since 100% Hawaiians are rare and becoming rarer.
Some with Hawaiian blood do make offerings to deities such as Pele. I don't, because it's an Hawaiian thing and also i don't believe in gods( although when everything starts shaking one wonders.)
I don't want to offend Pele, but i have deities who might do much worse to me than Pele, such as Vajrayogini and Chakrasamvara, Tibetan Buddhist deities. They are figures that represent the enlightened nature of mind and they are not separate from me, so you see it wouldn't be prudent to disturb them.
Are landvaettir and Asa from the Viking times, the Norse myths?
Yes but calling them myths to some people's faces might get you a stern lecture
The Asa are the Aesir and Vanir - the Norse Gods. The landvaettir are land wights, or spirits. They live in nature. The Disir are the ancestors. While Iceland and Scandinavia in general officially became Christian countries circa 1000AD, it was mainly for trading reasons and those inhabitants who have stayed Asatru have never been punished or disadvantaged for it. Our culture and history has always been a strong part of our national identity. Most of my family are in Norway, and Viking pride is strong there
So, what is your relationship with these Norse gods? I'm curious, i guess i miss being from a culture as integrated as yours, being an American, so it's sort of a nostalgic question.
I've had to really think about that as They are just there in my life. It's hard to explain but I will try. My mother is Danish and my father is Irish. As such I was raised Catholic, but for example, I took St Ursula for my confirmation. Yet St Ursula is the Christianized form of the Goddess Freya. Every aspect can be intertwined with the Gods if you so wish. We always honour the Disir/Ancestors by lighting a candle for them in a space we have for them in the corner of our family/living room. You could say we view the Gods similar to how Catholics interact with the saints. But it's more personal, if that makes sense.
That's really interesting. Thank you so much for sharing it with me @Nerida.
No problem ??
It looks like Kilauea is back with a vengeance...warning "Red Alert"
What are your plans @Tsultrim ?
Being Mind.