Gautama Buddha

Gautama Buddha, also known as Siddhārtha Gautama, Shakyamuni, or simply the Buddha, was a sage on whose teachings Buddhism was founded. He was born in Nepal and is believed to have lived and taught mostly in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent sometime between the sixth and fourth centuries BCE.

The word Buddha means "awakened one" or "the enlightened one". "Buddha" is also used as a title for the first awakened being in a Yuga era. In most Buddhist traditions, Siddhartha Gautama is regarded as the Supreme Buddha (Pali sammāsambuddha, Sanskrit samyaksaṃbuddha) of the present age. Gautama taught a Middle Way between sensual indulgence and the severe asceticism found in the śramaṇa movement common in his region. He later taught throughout regions of eastern India such as Magadha and Kosala.

Gautama is the primary figure in Buddhism and accounts of his life, discourses, and monastic rules are believed by Buddhists to have been summarized after his death and memorized by his followers. Various collections of teachings attributed to him were passed down by oral tradition and first committed to writing about 400 years later.

Phoenix

Phoenix most often refers to:

Phoenix or The Phoenix may also refer to:

Mythology

Places

Media and entertainment

Comics

Sharon Salzberg

Sharon Salzberg (born 1952) is a New York Times Best selling author and teacher of Buddhist meditation practices in the West. In 1974, she co-founded the Insight Meditation Society at Barre, Massachusetts with Jack Kornfield and Joseph Goldstein. Her emphasis is on vipassanā (insight) and mettā (loving-kindness) methods, and has been leading meditation retreats around the world for over three decades. All of these methods have their origins in the Theravada Buddhist tradition. Her books include Lovingkindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness (1995), A Heart as Wide as the World (1999), Real Happiness - The Power of Meditation: A 28-Day Program (2010), which was on The New York Times Best Seller list in 2011 the follow-up Real Happiness at Work (2013).

Early life

Born in New York City to a Jewish family, Salzberg had a troubled early life after her parents divorced when she was four, and her father abandoned the family. At nine, her mother died and she went to live with her father's parents. Though her father returned when she was eleven, he soon overdosed and was subsequently hospitalized. He was placed in the mental health system, where he remained until his death. By 16, Sharon had lived with five different families.

Reb Anderson

Tenshin Zenki Reb Anderson (born 1943) is a Zen teacher and lineage holder in the Sōtō Zen tradition of Shunryu Suzuki. He is a Senior Dharma teacher at the San Francisco Zen Center and at Green Gulch Farm Zen Center in Marin County, California, where he lives. According to author James Ishmael Ford, "Reb Anderson is one of the most prominent of contemporary Western Zen teachers."

Biography

Reb Anderson was born as Harold Anderson in Mississippi in 1943 and grew up in Minnesota. His father left the family when Anderson was eleven. In his youth, he was a Golden Gloves boxer. Anderson developed an interest in Buddhism while still in his teens. In 1967, he abandoned his graduate studies in psychology and mathematics to study Soto Zen under Shunryu Suzuki at the San Francisco Zen Center.

Anderson was then ordained as a priest in 1970 by Suzuki, who gave Anderson the Buddhist name Tenshin Zenki 天眞全機 (Naturally Real, the Whole Works). In 1983 Anderson received shiho from Zentatsu Richard Baker, becoming Baker's first Dharma heir. However, when Baker was forced to resign amid complaints about his affairs with female Zen Center members and his purchase of expensive luxury goods, Baker claimed Anderson never completed the entire transmission ceremony. The board of the San Francisco Zen Center disagreed, understanding Anderson to be Baker's Dharma heir (Baker has since agreed). After Baker's resignation, Anderson replaced him as abbot.

Near Death (comics)

Near Death is an ongoing comic book series created by Jay Faerber with artist Simone Guglielmini. Image Comics began publishing it in September 2011. The series went on hiatus following the eleventh issue in September 2012.

The story follows a former hitman who attempts to atone for his misdeeds after a near death experience shows him a vision of Hell.

Publication history

Faerber credits the work of Stephen J. Cannell as his inspiration for the series, along with a personal attraction to redemtion stories. Guglielmini drew inspiration from Criminal and Gotham Central.

After creating the plot himself, Faerber recruited Italian artist Guglielmini by email. During publication, the two never met in person or spoke on the phone.

The series was published monthly beginning in 2011. Most issues were self-contained instead of multi-part stories because Faerber wanted a creative challenge. Each issue contains some form of bonus material, such as an article on crime fiction or a second, shorter comic. The series was put on hiatus following its eleventh issue in 2012. Faerber has expressed an interest in continuing the story as a series of one-shots. There has also been an effort to adapt the comic to television.