A personal contemplative journal

By Jhananda (Jeffrey S. Brooks)
October 16 to 31, 2009
(Copyright 2009, all rights reserved)

Bahiya Sutta (U 1.10) "Relinquishing Cognition"
"Then, Bahiya, you should train yourself thus: In reference to the seen, there
will be only the seen... When for you there will be only the ... (sensed in
reference to the sensed) ... then, Bahiya, there is no you in terms of that.
When there is no you in terms of that, there is no you there. When there is no
you there, you are neither here nor yonder nor between the two. This, just this,
is the end of suffering (dukkha)."
http://www.greatwesternvehicle.org/pali/Phala_Nikaya/bahiyasutta.htm

Friday 10-16-09
I spent most of the day scrubbing out the fuel tank with brushes and solvents.

Saturday 10-17-09
I spent most of the day plumbing and reinstalling the fuel tank.

Sunday 10-18-09
I spent most of the day replacing the dead purge pump and pumping fuel back into
the fuel tank through a filter. The van was ready to drive by 3PM, so I drove
down to the Sweat to connect with friends, then I drove to the Epic Café, where
I caught up on email and forum dialogs. I left the café around 6PM and drove
back to Richard's place. The van performed just fine.

Monday 10-19-09
With the van running I drove to the West University neighborhood and spent the
morning catching up on email, forum dialogs and friends. Today Karl, from New
Mexico, was in the café. We had a long conversation about fresco paintings, his
specialty. He is particularly interested in prehistoric Native American
frescos, such as found at Hueko Tanks. I told him that there were a few frescos
found in ancient kivas. One at Awatovi, an abandoned Hopi village
http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/explorers/sitec3.htm
and one at the Tiwa pueblo of Kuaua at Coronado State Park, Bernalillo, New
Mexico
http://www.cdarc.org/images/visit/coranado_st_pk_by_bill_doelle.jpg

Tuesday 10-20-09
This I saw Karl, from New Mexico, at the café. We talked for some time about
archaeology. I roiled out for him my theory that Kokopelli, the wandering flute
player of northern Pueblo Indian mythology was one and the same as Quetzalcoatl,
who was also I'itoi of the local Tohono O'odham Indian tribe. Kokopelli has been
a cultural icon since at least the time of the Ancient Pueblo Peoples. The first
known images of him appear on Hohokam pottery dated to sometime between AD 750
and AD 850. The Hopi were the tribe from whom the Spanish explorers first
learned of Kokopelli, this is why their name for this icon is the one most
commonly used. A similar humpbacked figure is found in artifacts of the
Mississippian culture of the U.S. southeast. Between approximately 1200 to 1400
AD, water vessels were crafted in the shape of a humpbacked woman.

Quetzalcoatl is a Mesoamerican icon whose name comes from the Nahuatl language
and has the meaning of "feathered-serpent." The iconography of a feathered
serpent first documented in Teotihuacan in the Late Preclassic through the Early
Classic period (400 BCE– 600CE) of Mesoamerican chronology. Among the Maya he
was known as Kukulcan or Ququmatz, names that also translate as "feathered
serpent" in different Mayan languages.

Among the Aztecs, whose beliefs are the best-documented in the historical
sources, Quetzalcoatl was related as the patron of the wind, Venus, the dawn,
merchants and the arts, crafts and knowledge. He was also the patron the Aztec
priesthood, of learning and knowledge.

The earliest iconographic depiction of the icon is believed to be found on Stela
19 at the Olmec site of La Venta, depicting a serpent rising up behind a person
probably engaged in a shamanic ritual. This depiction is believed to have been
made around 900 BC, although probably not exactly a depiction of the same
feathered serpent deity worshipped in classic and post-classic periods it
nonetheless shows the continuity of symbolism of feathered snakes in Mesoamerica
from the formative period and on.

The archaeological record shows that after the fall of Teotihuacan that marked
the beginning of the epi-classic period in Mesoamerican chronology around 600
AD, the cult of the feathered serpent spread to the new religious and political
centers in central Mexico, centers such as Xochicalco, Cacaxtla and Cholula.
Feathered serpent iconography is prominent at all of these sites. Cholula is
known to have remained the most important center of Quetzalcoatl iconography,
the Aztec/Nahua version of the feathered serpent deity, in the postclassic
period.

Iʼitoi or Iʼithi is, in the tradition of the O'odham peoples, the
mischievous creator god who resides in a cave just below the peak of Baboquivari
Mountain, part of the Tohono O'odham Nation. Visitors to the cave are asked to
bring a gift to ensure their safe return from the depths. I'itoi is said to have
brought the Hohokam people to this earth from the underworld, said to be
ancestors of both the Tohono O'odham and the Pima. He is also responsible for
the gift of the Himdag, a series of commandments guiding people to remain in
balance with the world and interact with it as intended The Pima also refer to
I'itoi as Se:he (Elder Brother). The term Iʼithi is a dialectal variant
used by the Hia C-ed O'Odham.

I'itoi is most often referred to as the Man in the Maze, a reference to a design
appearing on native basketry and petroglyphs which positions him at the entry to
a labyrinth. This labyrinth is believed by the Pima to be a floorplan to his
house, and by the Tohono O'odham to be a map giving directions to his house.

According to O'odham oral history, the labyrinth design depicts experiences and
choices we make in our journey through life. In the middle of the "maze", a
person finds their dreams and goals. When one reaches the center, we have one
final opportunity (the last turn in the design) to look back upon our choices
and path, before the Sun God greets us, blesses us and passes us into the next
world.

Most significant here is, if I'itoi is Kokopelli and Quetzalcoatl, then the
O'odham people are unique for preserving Quetzalcoatl's resting place. When I
concluded thus, Karl wanted to see the sacred cave, so we got into his car and
drove to Cells, at the center of the Tohono O'odham Indian Reservation and drove
south to their cultural resource center and requested a visit permit. We then
drove onto the campground where we hiked around for quite some time, almost
giving up, before we found the trail that led to his cave; however by the time
we had taking the switch-backing trail up to a ridge the sun was about to set,
so I called off the exploration for safety and we returned to the car and drove
back to Tucson. Visiting I'itoi cave will just have to wait for another day,
which is all about the maze that is each and everyone of our lives.

Wednesday 10-21-09
This morning realizing how much work and time it would take to replace the four
remaining injectors on the van with rebuilt ones I took the van onto the highway
to see how it performed. It has continued to start and run very reliably. I
took the van up to the local highway speed limit of 75 mph. It ran fine, so I
decided not to replace the four hard-to-reach injectors. I decided to instead
invest my time and money on getting the van registered.

Late afternoon I received a message from my next employer telling me that the
funding for the project in Ajo had been delayed another 4 to 6 weeks. I am
somewhat relieved because I could use more recuperation time from the last
project, and more time to work on the van.

Thursday 10-22-09

Friday 10-23-09
Today I organized the junk in and on my van, so things are feeling at bit
organized. I also shopped for two tires. It looks like $250 will fix the van up
with a pair of new shoes.

Tuesday 10-27-09
This evening I edited one of the videos I had recorded last year of me giving a
lecture on jhana. I posted it to YouTube at this URL:
What is jhana?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L385Ef-Bv_8

Wednesday 10-28-09
With having learned more about bio-fuel blending I have decided to redesign the
bio-fuel processor I plan to make it simpler, smaller and lighter. The basic
new design needs a 30-gallon pressure tank from a compressor. I looked around
the junk piles at the Sculpture Resource Center in search of such a tank. I
only found a 10-gallon pressure tank, so I decided to keep looking.

This afternoon I drove to two more tire stores to shop for two tires. At the
second one they were willing to sell me the tires for less than the lowest bid I
had received, so I bought the tires. This will mean the van is closer to making
the 500-mile round trip to Blythe where I plan to register it.

Thursday 10-29-09
With savings declining from all of the needed repairs to the van I decided today
to get most of my food from the free kitchens around town and save unemployment
for purchasing the few parts I need for building the redesigned bio-fuel
processor.

At Casa Maria's I found a loaf of garlic bread, which I saved for the soup of
the day, which was noodle and bean with various lunchmeats. I also received a
lunch bag, which had the following items in it:

1 bag Fuego Mini-Takis
A tub of yogurt
2 peanut butter cookies
1 ripe banana
2 ham sandwiches
1 hard boiled egg

This evening I edited another jhana video

Friday 10-30-09
This morning I missed the shower church's free meal, and did not go to Casa
Maria's. Instead I ate a cheap meal at the Time Market. There I had a long and
most interesting conversation with Les, one of my oldest friends among the
hippie community in Tucson. He has taken up the practice of meditation, has
found the first jhana, and had reported it had helped him a great deal to
resolve some of his anxieties.

At 5PM I drove to Von's street mission for the evening meal. I found there just
Von looking through his refrigerator and one homeless person, as surprised as I
was not to find 100 homeless being fed.

I asked Von, "Pastor Huff, what has happened to your free kitchen?"

He said, "The church across the street finally closed it down due to zoning
laws." He shrugged his shoulders and took a half-gallon of milk out of his
refrigerator and walked inside his kitchen.

I noticed that he still had the two picnic tables setup with produce and more
racks of recycled clothing, so I looked into the produce and found a basket full
of ripe strawberries and a ripe tomato, then I left.

This evening I edited another jhana video at the university library.
the 4 jhanas.m4v
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLdfAz5tvWI

Saturday 10-31-09
After the morning coffee klatch at the Epic café I drove to Casa Maria's soup
kitchen for breakfast and a bag lunch. While in line I met a man who had been
out of work for a year. He said in the past he never had to wait more than 6
weeks to find a job, but he had been out of work for a year. He said he had
lost his property, and was living in a shelter. We received cups of turkey soup
and sat on one of the rickety picnic tables to eat and talk. He told me that,
while the Forest Service and Fish and Game require fishing permits, there is no
fishing permit required to catch crayfish, because they are not native and eat
fish eggs. I was so excited to receive this information, because I had seen
many large crayfish in ponds and lakes, which I could have lived on for years,
if I knew I could fish them at no expense. I dipped the remnants of Thursday's
garlic bread into my soup as we talked.

The bag lunch I received at Casa Maria's contained:

1 peanut butter cookie
3 small sandwich cookies
1 baloney sandwich on whole wheat bread
1 peanut butter and apple butter sandwich on whole wheat bread
1 green banana
1 orange

I returned to the library and meditate for an hour, then I journalled. That
evening I edited another video to uploaded to YouTube.

Visiting Jhananda in the wilderness:
It would be excellent to have visitors anytime. Just email me and we can
negotiate a date and location to spend some time in the wilderness together in
meditation and communion with the sacred.


If it is not bliss (piiti), joy (sukha) and ecstasy (jhana) then it is not
Meditative Absorption (sama-samadhi).

Love and peace to all, Jhananda


Your comments and opinions are most welcome, and please do let us know if you
wish your comments to be publicized in this journal.

May you dwell in the joyful home of the way
(Di.t.thadhammasukhavihaaraa)

Jeffrey S, Brooks
the Great Western Vehicle • Mahapacchimayana

http://www.greatwesternvehicle.org/index.html

Find out what the Buddha really taught
http://www.seeforyourself.org

(((((((((((((((((((0))))))))))))))))))))
If you find the work of Jhananda (Jeffrey S. Brooks) and the Great Western
Vehicle of value to you, then please consider supporting them in their work by
making a contribution today.
http://www.greatwesternvehicle.org/support.html
(((((((((((((((((((0))))))))))))))))))))