Quote of the Day

 

“How beautifully leaves grow old. 

How full of light and color are their last days.” 

- John Burroughs

Image by Dominique Allmon©2025

Quote of the Day

The discovery of a new dish does more for the happiness of the human race than the discovery of a star. - Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin in "The Physiology of Taste: Or, Meditations on Transcendental Gastronomy"

 

Image:  Risotto al Limoncello by Dominique Allmon©2025

 

Ahamkara Mudra

Ahamkara mudra is one of the most powerful mudras for self-assertion and confidence. It helps the practitioner to combat fear, and dispel timidity and find his or her center of being. This mudra activates the Manipura chakra (solar plexus chakra) and is used when self-doubt arises and more courage is needed.

Ahamkara is a Sanskrit term to describe egoism, self-conceit or the self-consciousness. The word means literally "I-maker."

To form ahamkara mudra bend your index finger slightly. Place your thumb on the middle phalanx of the index finger and exert a slight pressure Keep the middle, ring and small fingers stretched out but relaxed.

In this mudra the thumb represents Brahman or the ultimate reality of the universe; the index finger represents ego, or ahamkara. The ego bends down and submits to Brahman. But this mudra also has a second meaning that includes the elements. The index finger is associated with the air element; the thumb is the fire finger. When the fire is placed on the bent air, the hand gesture represents clarity, harmony, and the alignment of the mind with devotion. 

Thus, the ahamkara mudra represents both humility as well as the self-awareness, self-confidence, and trust in one's own deep intuition.

Ahamkara mudra should be formed with both hands during meditation. You should be able to hold it for a few minutes and perform it on regular basis, especially if fear and doubt dominate your daily affairs. This mudra will help you strengthen your will to face difficulties without fear. It will empower you and give you courage on your personal journey.

By Dominique Allmon

Dominique Allmon©2025

The Joy of Gardening or How to Mend a Broken Heart

"Gardening is cheaper than therapy and you get tomatoes." – Unknown

Unless you lost a loved one you will never understand the avalanche of emotions that overwhelms the minds, the hearts and the souls of those bereaved.

I lost my husband in December 2023, short before Christmas. I lost the love of my life, my best friend, my companion. I lost my home, my garden, my dogs and my cats. My husband's daughter told me that "now, that my husband was dead, I could finally go back to my life". I wish I could "go back" to my life. I wish I could return to the time long before Jim's cancer diagnosis, when life was good and dreams were still possible.

One of the most important things in life is to never define yourself or your happiness by your possessions or the people in your life. You should be able to be happy even if you lost everything. I always understood that happiness was an inside job but I never imagined how I would cope with the loss if it actually happened in my life.

When you and your spouse are so completely connected that you become one mind, one soul, a sudden loss of your "other half" leaves an incredible emptiness. Nothing in your life prepares you for such a tragedy. Your world is completely shattered in an instant. You cannot "return to your life" and you don't simply move on. You survive and if you are lucky, you will slowly learn how to live again.

My husband's 2021 stage IV renal cell carcinoma diagnosis came as a shock to both of us. We hoped that he would be able to beat the disease, but we also knew that our days together were somewhat numbered. Still, his passing in December 2023 came unexpectedly. Five months later, one of our puppies died in the custody of my husband's daughter. An unimaginable void opened after these two deaths and unbearable pain became my companion ever since.

Interaction with my late husband's daughter in the weeks that followed his passing left me heartbroken and traumatized. Although my husband left me everything he had, I renounced my inheritance believing that his daughter and her big family would have a better use for it. Despite my generosity I was threatened with physical violence and had to face evil I was not prepared for. Because of a nasty trick I lost my husband twice. Lies, deception, fraud. Till today I cannot understand how my sweet husband could have even been related to a person without honor, conscience or decency. If he had witnessed what transpired after his death, he would have been angry and disappointed, and he would never allow this to happen, but that's material for a book that probably will never be written. Dealing with the loss of your loved one takes up all your energy, but to deal with pure, premeditated evil at the same time when you didn't even know it existed, is beyond anyone's imagination. 

We all have our big and small tragedies and I am aware that nobody cares about my story. However, if you are broke, broken and depressed like me or feel stuck in your current emotional state for any reason, you may want to try something different for a change if you do not want to see a therapist. 

Healing takes time and requires a lot of strength if one doesn't want to lose one's mind or drown in anger, resentment and self pity. Some things cannot ever be repaired. You will never be the same. You do not move on. You cannot really recover from your loss. The grief will never go away. All you can do is to learn to cope, accept the things the way they are and try to somehow mend the broken heart, if this is even possible.

Grief is not a linear process. Everyone experiences it differently. The extreme emotional pain you feel after the loss of a loved one can profoundly affect your emotional and physical health. Finding something that will give you sense of purpose and accomplishment could help during the time of grief.

Gardening seems like one such thing that could help a grieving person to deal with the avalanche of emotions. It is an active exercise in mindfulness. It requires willingness to learn, concentration and many hours of work every day. Getting your fingers dirty is actually healthy and quite relaxing. Spending a lot of time outside and watching the plants you planted grow and move through their cycles of life can help you take your mind off your pain and connect with nature in a most healing way. You not only observe the cycles of life but also learn to accept the impermanence of things.

Many stressed or distressed people believe that there is no better way to calm the nerves and stimulate one's creativity than digging in the dirt and planting seeds. In fact, serious scientific studies were conducted on the relationship between mental and physical health and gardening. 

 

Scientists found out that gardening 

• helps you stay physically and mentally active 
• improves physical agility and helps strengthen the muscles
• exposure to sunlight while gardening helps you boost your Vitamin D levels
• possibly boosts immunity since the soil contains microorganisms beneficial to the immune system 
• decreases risk of such chronic diseases as heart disease and old age diabetes
• improves cognitive health and keeps your mind sharp
• gives you sense of purpose and accomplishment
• brings joy and happiness to your life 
• reduces stress and anxiety 
• helps you relax and sleep better

 

And, of course, if you are growing vegetables in your garden, gardening improves the way you eat since there is nothing more delicious than freshly plucked tomato or cucumber that you planted and have seen growing. 

 

Gardening can be very rewarding. Naturally, no amount of gardening will ever take your pain away, but it may help you manage stress and depression, if only just a bit. It helps you cope with difficult emotions. Daily work in the garden prevents you form losing your mind or turning bitter and vengeful. Your own joy and happiness is the best vengeance towards those who hurt you.

 

I no longer have a large garden so I started a small, bio-dynamic one on my balcony. I no longer have cats or dogs so I make friends with bumble bees and wasps. I thank the bees for pollinating my plants. I thank the wasps for keeping my plants free from aphids and other vermin. Watching things grow in my garden gives me some joy and comfort while I am trying to sort through memories from a much happier time.

Growing, harvesting and cooking your own food is probably one of the most satisfying experiences any gardener can have.

Although I completely lost my appetite I know that being able to prepare a meal from the fruits of one's diligent labor is a vital element of self care and cannot be underestimated during the time of mourning. 

Most days are very difficult for me. I hardly sleep anymore and I could probably water my small garden with all the tears I am shedding. I know that my beloved husband would not want me to let myself go so I try to pull myself together. Watching things grow fills my heart with gratitude. I take my morning coffee and read books in my garden just like we both used to do on so many mornings. I harvest my vegetables and prepare my meals the way I did for both of us. I don't even need to close my eyes to see my husband's smile as he is waiting for the salad dressing I am making.

We promised each other to be together forever. He never left. He just moved to another plane of existence and is waiting there for me...

By Dominique Allmon

In loving memory of my husband James W. Allmon (1953-2023)

Post scriptum

Cancer seems to be a nightmare my husband's family has to deal with. On May 7, 2025 my husband's son James William Jr. passed away only two moths before his 50th birthday. May he too rest in peace. 

Dominique Allmon©2025

Health Benefits of Coconut Oil

What Is Coconut Oil?

Coconut oil is an edible oil that has been extracted from the flesh of mature fruits of the coconut palm or the Cocos nucifera.

Coconut oil has been used for thousands of years by cultures living in the tropics. People of these cultures traditionally demonstrated incredible levels of good health and fitness, particularly if they followed their traditional diet that was normally rich in tropical fruits and coconut oil. Their health often deteriorated when they started adding unhealthy Western foods to their diet.

Understanding Fats

There is a widely spread misconception about fat. The idea that fat, especially the saturated fat, was bad for you originated in the 1960s-70s. There was a faulty research that pointed out that fat was the main culprit in the heart disease. This idea gave birth to low-fat diet and a marketing craze of low-fat, no-fat "food" products. In 1977 low-fat diet was recommended to the American society by the Dietary Guidelines for Americans Committee. This recommendation caused more harm than good. There was not only no decrease in heart disease, Americans were getting sicker and fatter than ever before. Only recently, after evaluation of the empirical data "powers-to-be" came to realization that we need fat in our diet and that saturated fat is not necessarily evil.

We need fats in our diet! Fats helps us absorb the fat soluble vitamins A, D, E and K. Fats are necessary for the proper neurological function and other processes within the body. They provide insulation to our body and the internal organs and are stored as a valuable energy reserve. So, instead of vilifying fat, we should eat the right fats.

Fats are composed of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. (Some phospholipids may also contain nitrogen and phosphorus atoms.) The number of hydrogen molecules is what determines saturation of fats. When each carbon atom has its maximum number of hydrogen atoms attached to it, we call that fat a saturated fat. In other words, a saturated fat is a fat that is filled to its capacity with hydrogen atoms. Saturated fats are usually of animal origin - like lard, tallow and butter. They are solid and rather unstable at room temperature.

Plant-derived fats are unsaturated fats. They are either monounsaturated - like the oleic fatty acid in olive oil; or polyunsaturated - like linoleic fatty acid found in corn, soybean, peanut, cottonseed or safflower oil.

Although plant-derived, coconut oil belongs to the group of saturated fats, it is a source of medium- and short-chain fatty acids. It does not oxidize when exposed to oxygen, it liquefies in room temperature and it has a high burning point.

Natural coconut oil consists of more than 90% saturated fat, but it also contains some unsaturated fat that includes mono- and polyunsaturated fatty acids:

• Most saturated fatty acids in coconut oil are medium chain triglycerides: lauric acid, capric acid, myristic acid and palmitic acid.
• Linoleic acid (a polyunsaturated fatty acid)
• Oleic acid (a monounsaturated fatty acid)
• Plyphenols such as phenolic acid which is responsible for the aroma and taste of the coconut oil.

Coconut oil also contains vitamins E and K, choline and iron. 

The biochemistry of fats is rather complicated, but not very difficult to understand. If you are interested in biochemistry and want to learn more about fats, please click here.

Health Benefits of Coconut Oil

The most recent research confirms what was known for ages: Coconut oil is good for you! The many health benefits include:

• Mental health and cognition - Research shows that medium chain triglycerides (MCTs) found in coconut oil can significantly improve cognitive function in humans and animals. Studies demonstrated that both, people and aging dogs consuming MCTs performed better on cognitive tests that those who did not. Moreover, MCTs produce ketones which are used by the body as an insulin-independent energy source. The most recent research suggests that Alzheimer's patients may not be unable to properly utilize insulin in their brains. The brain needs insulin in order to use glucose, but when brain cells lack glucose, they die. This may lead to brain damage and neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's. Since ketones deliver energy necessary to support healthy function and structure of brain cells they may play important role in treatment and prevention of Alzheimer's disease. More research needs to be conducted, but there is hope for those who suffer from this incurable disease.
• Digestion - Coconut oil may help improve digestion and digestive disorders. The medium chain fatty acids (MCFAs) in coconut oil are easier to digest that the long chain fatty acids in other oils. This means that the digestion of coconut oil puts less strain on liver and pancreas since the digestion of MCFAs does not require bile or pancreatic enzymes. Coconut oil can help alleviate symptoms of Crohn's disease, pancreatitis, ulcerative colitis and stomach ulcers. It speeds digestion and can prevent constipation. Coconut oil also has the unique ability to kill or expel parasites of the digestive tract including worms such as tapeworms and protozoa such as girardia. Coconut oil also helps keep H. pylori bacteria in check.
• Weight loss - Coconut oil can help you lose weight. It works on many levels: it helps improve digestion and heal the digestive tract, prevent constipation, increase metabolic rate, prevent food cravings, and improve the thyroid function. 
• Heart health - For many researchers coconut oil is quite puzzling as far as heart health is concerned. Coconut oil contains both, heart-friendly myristic fatty acid and the lauric fatty acid that is generally considered to be detrimental to cardiovascular health. However, the combination of these fatty acids in coconut oil tends to improve the cholesterol profile since it increases the HDL (good cholesterol) thus improving the HDL/LDL (good versus bad cholesterol) ratio in blood. The HDL/LDL ratio is regarded as an accurate indicator of the heart disease.
• Immune system - Anti-microbial properties of coconut oil have been well known for centuries to people living in tropical cultures. Research confirms that coconut oil has the ability to improve immune function. Among others, coconut oil contains lauric acid which is converted by the body to monolaurin. Monolaurin is a natural component in breast milk. research shows that monolaurin has the capacity to kill yeast, viruses and gram positive bacteria such as Streptococcus, Staphylococcus or Listeria.
• Candida - Capric acid, caprilic acid, caproic acid, lauric acid and myristic acid - fatty acids present in coconut oil are very useful in healing and preventing candida. They are well known for their antimicrobial, antiviral and anti-fungal properties. Regular use of coconut oil helps not only heal systemic candidiasis, but also to prevent recurrent infection.
• Dental care - Coconut oil is often used to prevent tooth decay. Applied topically, coconut oil heals swollen and inflamed gums. Many people use coconut oil instead of toothpaste, others perform a simple daily ritual known as oil pulling wherein a spoonful of coconut oil is swished between the teeth for 15 minutes or so. Coconut oil with its anti-microbial properties acts as a unique mouth cleanser. It not only removes bacteria and plaque, it brightens the teeth, heals oral infections and prevents bad breath.
• Vision - A study conducted by Vallikannan Baskaran, from the Central Food Technological Research Institute in India, demonstrated that consumption of coconut oil promotes the bio-availability of lutein which is necessary for maintaining eye health in aging adults. 
• Skin health - Coconut oil helps to heal skin infections, allergic dermatitis, eczema, psoriasis, sunburn and wounds. Its antibacterial properties make it a perfect ointment for infected wounds. It stops infections of the wound and the putrefaction of adjacent skin tissues.
• Skincare - Coconut oil is a wonderful moisturizer and emollient. It may help to reduce wrinkles and rejuvenate the skin. Since the virgin coconut oil is free from any additives, it is a perfect solution for delicate or sensitive skin.
• Haircare - Coconut oil is a wonderful conditioner for hair and scalp. Traditionally it has been used to ensure a healthy hair growth and to prevent scalp infections and dandruff. 

Buying Coconut Oil

Buying coconut oil might not be as easy as it seems. The recent coconut oil "craze" brought tons of coconut oil on the market. There is not a single supermarket or a health food store that would not carry coconut oil today. But like with everything, not all products are created equal and there is a difference not only in price, but also in the quality. Remember to always buy certified organic, cold pressed, hexane-free product.

By Dominique Allmon


*This information is for educational purposes only. It is not meant to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.


Health Benefits of Coconut Oil by Dominique Allmon is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Quote of the Day

"We don't need other worlds. We need mirrors." - Stanisław Lem in "Solaris"

Stanisław Lem (September 12, 1921 - March 26, 2006) was a Polish science fiction writer, futurist, philosopher, and essayist. His works have been translated into forty one languages, "Solaris" being probably his best known.

Quote of the Day

If you look the right way, 

you can see that the whole world is a garden.

- Frances Hodgson Burnett in "The Secret Garden" 

 

Happy first day of Spring!

 

Image: Flower Garden - Gustav Klimt, oil on canvass. The Golden Phase, 1905 - 1907

Bluebonnet

 

Bluebonnet, bluebonnet, blooming anew
Proudly and loudly, your entrance you make,
Infant of nature asplash in the dew.

- from a poem "Dayspring Bluebonnet" by Alan S Jeeves

Image: Fragment of the painting "Early Spring - Bluebonnets and Mesquite" by Julian Onderdonk, 1919

Poem source here 

Quote of the Day

Nothing ever exists entirely alone. 

Everything is in relation to everything else. 

- Buddha

 

Image: Pecos Valley Diamonds by Dominique Allmon ©2025

Jan Baraś-Komski

Jan Baraś-Komski - Portrait with Sunflower (Portret ze słonecznikiem), oil on wood, 1937

Jan Baraś-Komski is probably best known for his Auschwitz paintings and drawings. Born on February 3, 1915 in a small Polish town of Bircza, he entered the prestigious Polish Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow - the Akademia Sztuk Pięknych Jana Matejki w Krakowie, in 1934, where he studied painting and art history until 1939.

Like many young Poles in the early months of the war, Jan Komski, a Polish Roman Catholic, joined the resistance movement. In 1940 he was arrested while trying to cross the southern border under the assumed name of Jan Baraś in order to join the newly formed Polish Army in France.

 

He was first taken to the prison in the town of Tarnów only to be deported to the concentration camp at Auschwitz, arriving there in the very first transport, together with 727 other Polish men, on June 14, 1940. He was issued the prisoner number 564. The early numbers were not yet tattooed on prisoners' arms. He wore a red triangle on his camp uniform which identified him as a political prisoner.

 Jan Baraś-Komski - Arrival

 

In the camp, Komski became part of the clandestine resistance movement created by Witold Pilecki. On December 29, 1942, he and three of his comrades, Mieczyslaw Januszewski, Boleslaw Kuczbara, and a German, the Auschwitz inmate N°2 and Kapo Otto Küsel, participated in one of the most famous escapes in the history of Auschwitz. A cart drawn by two horses passed the camp's gate in the afternoon. It carried Kuczbara, dressed in a stolen SS uniform holding forged papers. Three inmates that appeared to be escorted by the SS-man walked alongside. The escapees made it to the village of Broszkowice where they were hidden and given civilian clothes. 

 

Komski made it safely to the city of Kraków (Cracow), in what was then known as the General Government, (Gubernia Generalna), or the Generalgouvernement under the German governor Reichsminister Hans Frank. 

 

Jan Baraś-Komski - Eating and Starvation 

In January 1943 Komski was arrested in a routine roundup (łapanka) near the railway station in Cracow and held there in the Montelupi prison, after a failed escape and a brutal beating, till the end of September. On October 1, 1943 he was deported to Auschwitz for the second time. Not identified as a former escapee, with the help of the camp's underground movement, he was registered under the name of Józef Nosek and assigned prisoner number 152884. He was sent to the camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau where the guards did not know him, and transferred later that month to the concentration camp at Buchenwald in Germany proper.

We were like soldiers exposed every minute to a danger of dying, but we couldn't help ourselves, because we have nothing for our defense except the will to survive. But will not always was enough, because very often, in most cases, the prisoner died. - Jan Komski in an interview on January 30, 1992

Komski was moved a few times between different concentration camps and eventually ended up in Dachau where he was liberated by the units of General Patton's army on April 29, 1945. He survived because of his special talent as an artist.

 

After his liberation he lived in Displaced Persons camps in Bavaria where he met and married Zdzisława "Jean" who was also an Auschwitz survivor. They both emigrated to the United States with their son in 1949 where they became citizens. 

 

Jan Baraś-Komski at work in Virginia

 

In the United States Komski assumed a career as an illustrator for the Washington Post. He retired in 1984 but continued to draw and paint. 

 

After seeing Francisco de Goya's "Disasters of War" at the Prado Museum in Madrid, Spain in mid-1970s, Komski decided to paint the horrific scenes of life and death in the concentration camp as he remembered them.

 

To contrast the horrors of his past, at the same time he created a vast body of colorful work that depicted the beauty and serenity of Northern Virginia. 

 

Jan Baraś-Komski - Barge on Canal

 

He painted every day, even at the tender age of 86. Those who knew him reported that he loved life and was very alert, courteous and caring. 

Towards the end of his life, Komski visited the Holocaust Memorial Museum at Auschwitz and Auschwitz-Birkenau for the last time. He went there twice before. Most of his camp art is there on display in the museum.

 

On July 20, 2002 he lost his battle with cancer and passed away at the age 0f 87 in Arlington, Virginia. 

 

By Dominique Allmon

Jan Baraś-Komski - African Violet

 

 

Image sources: here, here and here

 

Also of interest

 

Muted Works of One Man's Silent Rage 

 

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Oral history interview with John Komski

 

In German: Otto Küsel - der Kleinkriminelle, der in Auschwitz Leben rettete

Happy Year of the Wood Snake

In Chinese mythology the snake is a symbol of yin or the dark female energy in the Universe. Although feared as portent of danger, snakes were revered by the ancient Chinese as the symbol of mysterious forces.

The snake is the sixth sign in the Chinese Zodiac, which consists of twelve animal signs. According to an old tale, the snake was the sixth animal that finished the Grand Race organized by the Jade Emperor. There is also a Buddhist story about the twelve animals that were invited to a banquet given by the Buddha. The snake made it sixth, right after the dragon. Cunning and clever, the snake took a ride on a horse's back and slithered to the banquet right before the horse.

In Taoism the snake was regarded as a symbol of immortality, spiritual advancement and transformation.

Snakes are the most enigmatic, intuitive, and introspective, but also the most stubborn of all the animals in the Chinese Zodiac. Snakes are considered to be a symbol of rebirth, transformation, wisdom, and intuition. They represent the power of subtle persuasion and influence. They are resourceful, cunning and creative.

This year is the year of the Wood Snake. It begins on January 29, 2025 and ends on February 16, 2026.

The Year of the Wood Snake is meant to be a year of steady progress, growth and renewal. It is a good year to focus on personal development and the strengthening of personal and business relationships. Now is the best time to discard anything that is no longer supporting you.

 

Focus and discipline will be necessary for you to achieve what you set out to create. But be careful because the Year of the Snake may bring you some difficult puzzles and mysteries that will not be easy to solve. You will have to be more creative than ever if you do not want to get entangled in difficulties. 

 

No matter what the predictions for the Year of the Snake may be, remember that you are the ultimate master of your fate. If the circumstances allow, now is the time to take care of your finances, renovate your house, take care of the environment, and do something good to nourish your body and restore your own health.

Wishing everyone a very happy and prosperous Year of the Wood Snake - Dominique 

 

  新 年 快 樂 !

 

Dominique Allmon©2025

 

AI image by freepik. Website: freepik.com

Medicine Buddha

Ancient teachings tell us that merely seeing the Medicine Buddha, or even seeing an image of the Medicine Buddha, or hearing the name of the Medicine Buddha, can confer inconceivable benefits. - Spiritual Bliss

Bhaisajyaguru, commonly known as the Medicine Buddha, is the Buddha of healing and medicine in Mahayana Buddhism. He is a fully enlightened being capable of healing both, the outer and the inner, suffering or dukkha by applying his teachings as medicine. He has unbiased compassion for all sentient beings. He offers protection from physical harm and mental afflictions, as well as other dangers and obstacles. He helps the faithful to eradicate the three unwholesome roots (poisons) or kleshas of attachment, hatred and ignorance that are considered to be the source of all suffering.

In a Sanskrit manuscript called Medicine Buddha Sutra (Bhaisajya-guru-vaiḍūrya-prabhā-rāja Sūtra) he was described as a bodhisattva who upon enlightenment made twelve great vows:

1. To illuminate countless realms with his radiance and enable anyone to become a Buddha.
2. To awaken the minds of sentient beings through the light of lapis lazuli.
3. To provide all sentient beings with all necessary material needs.
4. To correct heretical views and inspire all sentient beings toward the enlightened path of the Bodhisattva.
5. To help all sentient beings follow the Moral Precepts of Buddhism even if they have failed before.
6. To heal sentient beings born with deformities, illness or other physical sufferings.
7. To help relieve the destitute and the sick from their suffering.
8. To help women who wish to be reborn as men achieve their desired form of rebirth.
9. To heal sentient beings from their mental afflictions and delusions.
10. To help the oppressed be free from their suffering.
11. To relieve those who suffer from terrible hunger and thirst.
12. To help clothe those who are destitute and suffering from cold weather or mosquitoes.

The idea of Buddha as a metaphorical healer is as old as Buddhism itself and goes back to the historical Buddha who found the cure for suffering and presented his formula as the Four Noble Truths.

Medicine Buddha is one of the emanations of the Gautama Buddha as understood in Mahayana Buddhism. He is venerated in China, Japan and Tibet. He is often depicted as a seated Buddha with a stem of the Aruna fruit (Terminalia chebula) wearing the three robes of a Buddhist monk, sometimes blue-faced or having a blue body and holding a lapis lazuli medicine bottle.

Bhaisajyaguru (Medicine Buddha) Mantra

namo bhagavate bhaiṣajyaguru
vaidūryaprabharājāya tathāgatāya arhate
samyaksambuddhāya tadyathā:
oṃ bhaiṣajye bhaiṣajye
bhaiṣajya-samudgate svāhā

The practice of Medicine Buddha is considered to be a very powerful tool for liberation from suffering. The faithful recite either the dharani or the mantra that helps them overcome the inner "sickness" of attachment, hatred and ignorance. It also helps ease the outer, physical suffering and purify the negative karma.

By Dominique Allmon

Dominique Allmon©2025

Images: Medicine Buddha by Dominique Allmon

 

Labyrinth of Dark Passages

Man has gone out to explore other worlds and other civilizations without having explored his own labyrinth of dark passages and secret chambers, and without finding what lies behind doorways that he himself has sealed. - Stanisław Lem, Solaris (1961)

Stanisław Lem on AI and Consciousness

We may not solve the riddle of consciousness in the coming millennium, but we may be able to imitate intelligence so perfectly that, surrounded by legions and swarms of imitations, we will come more and more closely under their protective tutelage. 

Nowadays we are offered veritable orchards of electronic apples of paradise, which will inevitably have both good and bad sides, because such is the ambivalent nature of things. 

Our greatest achievements, secondary or not secondary to biology, have served us to destroy the biosphere and to engage in vile war games, and finally, a great deal of what we have already managed to create on the way to the yet-to-be-achieved artificial intelligence often serves to foolishness, amusement, and eccentricities that are incomprehensible to me. 

I have read many works and books that absolutize the possibility of creating a non-human intelligence, as well as a no smaller collection of well-motivated justifications that are supposed to prove to the reader that this concept cannot and will never be realized. It is indeed difficult to rise above the crowd of such contradictory and expertly justified opinions. 

Without a multitude of dreams, attempts, disasters, there would be no aviation. Without constant assaults, artificial intelligence cannot appear. 

I am convinced that both the quantity and quality of these programs, directed especially at successive generations of computers working in parallel and at contaminating clusters of pseudo-neural networks, will achieve an expanding range of efficiency and thus will increasingly imitate the presence of an intelligent consciousness, and will even be taken by many people for a person or a personality embodied in a machine. In a sense, this will be a fraud practiced on people as interlocutors or collaborators of the machine, because imitators of this kind will not yet possess authentic, personally localized, conscious intelligence, called psychic life. 

The title of Carrel's old book "Man, the Unknown Creature" is still relevant. Not only do we not know ourselves, but we also do not know how we will behave in unforeseen situations. I do not know whether the insights that will eventually make it possible to create artificial intelligence will be good for our health. Let's hope so. 

From "The Blink of an Eye" by Stanisław Lem, (2000) 

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