about "BODHI DHARMA" -->

Bodhidharma:-


                                   (470 - 543)
His Holiness The 28th Patriarch of Indian Buddhism

A Dehua ware porcelain statuette of Bodhidharma, from the late Ming Dynasty, 17th century....

This Japanese scroll calligraphy of Bodhidharma reads “Zen points directly to the human heart, see into your nature and become Buddha”. It was created by Hakuin Ekaku (1685 to 1768)..

Bodhidharma seated in meditation before a wall; ink painting by Sesshū..

Bodhidharma is credited with bringing Zen Buddhism to China and he is the First Patriarch of Chinese Zen Lineage. He was born on Oct. 5th. (Chinese Lunar Calendar) in Southern India, and was the third son of an Indian King; the royal family belonged to the Bhramin caste. Bodhidharma's Buddhist Master, Prajnatara, was the 27th Patriarch of Indian Buddhism, taught Bodhidharma for many years, gave him Mind Transmission, made him the 28th Patriarch, and gave him the name Bodhidharma. Following the instruction of his Master to transmit Dharma to China, Bodhidharma traveled east to Southern China in 526 A.D. When he arrived in Kwang Chou, he was ceremoniously welcomed and greatly honored by the local military official named Shao Yang. The same year, he was invited to the Capitol, Nanjing, to meet Emperor Wu Di of the Liang dynasty. Because the communication between the Emperor and Bodhidharma was mutually unsatisfactory, Bodhidharma left the palace, crossed the Yangtzu River, and continued north until he arrived at the Shao Lin Temple in Ho Nan Province. It was here that Bodhidharma became famous for meditating 9 years facing a wall.
After he gave his disciple, Hui K'o, the Robe, Begging Bowl, Lankavatara Sutra, and Mind Transmission, Bodhidharma went to Chen Sung (One Thousand Saints) Temple to propagate the Dharma. He passed into Nirvana in 536 A.D., was buried in Shon Er Shan (Bear Ear Mountain) in Ho Nan, and a stupa was built for him in Pao Lin Temple. Later, the Tang dynasty Emperor, Dai Dzong, bestowed on Bodhidharma the name Yuen Che Grand Zen Master, and renamed his stupa as Kong Kwan (Empty Visualization).

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Leonardo Davinci's Monalisa Mystery; Real Secret Codes Discovered-->

Leonardo Da Vinci’smysteriousMona Lisa has just gotten even more intriguing.The Italian genius apparently painted tiny numbers and letters into the eyes of the enigmatic painting, but their meaning is unclear.

The 500-year-old Renaissance masterpiece has long puzzled art historians, from Mona Lisa’s wry smile to the identity of the woman in the painting. Some believe it is Da Vinci himself, painted as a woman.

As for Da Vinci, he was a fan of riddles and secret codes and his paintings formed the basis of the best selling fictional work “The Da Vinci Code.”
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The book by Dan Brown and the 2006 movie based on it starring Tom Hanks claimed the Mona Lisa contained secrets about the life of Jesus Christ.

The book postulated that Christ had a child with Mary Magadelene and established a blood line that exists to this day.

The real codes in Mona Lisa’s eyes may not be quite so consequential, but they are mystifying, nonetheless, not only for what they may mean, but also because of that fact that Da Vinci was able paint them so small.

The letters and numbers cannot be seen with the naked eye.

Italy’s National Committee for Cultural Heritage said the symbols were detected through high resolution images of the painting.

“To the naked eye the symbols are not visible, but with a magnifying glass they can clearly be seen,” said Committee President Silvano Vinceti.

“In the right eye appear to be the letters LV which could well stand for his name Leonardo Da Vinci, while in the left eye there are also symbols, but they are not as defined,” he said.

“It is very difficult to make them out clearly but they appear to be the letters CE or it could be the letter B. You have to remember the picture is almost 500 years old so it is not as sharp and clear as when first painted,” he added.

In the arch of the bridge in the background the number 72 can be seen or it could be an L and the number 2, he said.

The clue to the codes was found in a 50-year-old book about the painting that was discovered in an antique shop. It mentions the codes and symbols, Vinceti said.

“It’s remarkable that no-one has noticed these symbols before and from the preliminary investigations we have carried out we are confident they are not a mistake and were put there by the artist,” Vinceti said.

top 10 banned gadgets-->>

Israel bans iPad

Israel banned Apple's iPad as the government is concerned that the new product will hog wireless signals that may disrupt other gadgets and devices. Thus, the government prevented tourists to bring an iPad with them. The ban was lifted on April 2010.

UAE and Saudi Arabia ban Blackberry

United Arab Emirates and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia placed a ban on the use of Blackberry on grounds of national security. The governments placed the blame on service providers unable to keep the messages private.

Germany bans Galaxy Tab 10.1

Apple bested out its rival Samsung after triumphantly won a court ruling which bans the sale of Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 until the patent war is resolved.

US bans iPod/iPhone

US Track and Field competitions banned the use of iPads/iPhones and headphones to avoid competitive advantage to runners. The organizers said that runners must focus on the marathon and not on the music.

North Korea bans cellphone

After the explosion in the city of Ryongchon, The government of North Korea imposed a ban on cellphones punishable by public execution. However, Theban was lifted in 2008.

Cuba bans cellphone

Former Cuban tyrant Fidel Castro banned the use of cellphone as he said that Cuba must not submit to the ideas proliferated by its number one enemy - United States. When Fidel Castro's brother Raul Castro took office, he lifted the ban and allowed the use of cellphones in public.

India bans Chinese phones and gadgets

India imposed a ban on phones and other gadgets made from China-based companies as they could be equipped with spyware and malware that could threaten nation's security.

UK bans Plasma TV

Climate change battle in UK prompted the European Union to ban Plasma TV that consumes greater energy and has higher carbon emissions. Ministers of countries in Europe welcomed the ban to boost climate change policies.

California bans TV sets

California Energy Commission bans sales of TV sets unless they met the new efficiency standards when they are turned on.

Australia bans laser pointers

After an automatic helicopter was aimed with a laser pointer, Australia considered laser pointers as vicious weapons in Australia. Carrying a pointer in class is subjected to $5000 fine.

Do you know the 9 extraordinary human abilities-->>

This list of extraordinary human abilities was inspired The Top 10 Tips to Improve Your Memory when I began thinking about how some people are blessed (or cursed, depending on your point of view) with the ability to recall a scene as if they were looking at a photograph. And how other people can recreate music from memory, such as Mozart’s famed reproduction of Gregorio Allegri’s Miserere after one hearing. What other extraordinary abilities might humans have? I’ve listed nine of the most well understood (i.e. not paranormal or ‘fringe science’) and interesting abilities rated from most common to most interesting and rare. Bear in mind that most of these unusual abilities are genetic and cannot be controlled by the person affected but are an inherent quality of their physical self. 

1 Immortal cells

There is only one known case of a person having immortal cells (cells that can divide indefinitely outside of the human body, defying the Hayflick Limit) and that is of a woman named Henrietta Lacks. In 1951, 31 year old Henrietta Lacks was diagnosed with cervical cancer, which she died from within the year. Unknown to her and her family (i.e. without informed consent) a surgeon took a tissue sample from her tumor that was passed on to a Dr. George Gey. A scientist for the John Hopkins University Tissue Culture Laboratory, Gey propagated Lacks’ tissue sample into an immortal cell line – the HeLa cell line (pictured above). The cells from Lacks’ tumour have an active version of the telomerase enzyme (telomerase is the mechanism by which cells age or are aged) and proliferate abnormally fast. On the day of Henrietta Lacks’ death, Dr. Gey announced to the world that a new age in medical research had begun – one that might provide a cure for cancer.

HeLa cells were utilised in 1954 by Jonas Salk to develop the cure for polio. Since then they’ve been used in researching cancer, AIDS, the effects of radiation and toxic substances, and for mapping genes, among other things.

Today, the HeLa cells are so common in laboratories that they contaminate many other cell cultures and have rendered some biological studies invalid through their presence. There are also more HeLa cells alive today than when Henrietta Lacks was alive – they outweigh her physical mass by many times. Tragically, Lacks was never told of the immensely valuable contribution her cells made to science and her family was not informed until many years later that her cells were being used for research purposes (a 1990 court ruling later verified Lacks’ hospital as the owner of her discarded tissue and cells).

2 Eidetic memory:-

When a person has photographic memory or total recall this is called eidetic memory. It is the ability to recall sounds, images, or objects from one’s memory with extreme accuracy. Examples of eidetic memory include the effort of Akira Haraguchi who recited from memory the first 100,000 decimal places of pi and the drawings of Stephen Wiltshire (who is also an autistic savant) – his recreation of Rome is shown in the video above. Kim Peek, the inspiration for the autistic (Peek is not actually autistic though) character of Raymond Babbit in the movie Rainman, also possesses eidetic memory – among other things he can recall some 12,000 books from memory.

Whether true photographic memory exists in adults is still a controversial issue, but it is accepted that eidetic abilities are distributed evenly between men and women. One also cannot become an eidetiker through practice.

3Mental calculators:-

The most extraordinary group of people adept at performing complex mental calculations is those who are also autistic savants. While there are many trained people who can work out multiplications of large numbers (among other calculations) in their head extremely fast – mostly mathematicians, writers, and linguists – the untrained ability of autistic savants is the most interesting. The majority of these people are born with savant syndrome (only an estimated 50% of people with savantism are also autistic), which is still poorly understood, few develop it later in life, usually due to a head injury.

There are less than 100 recognised prodigious savants in the world and of the savants with autism who are capable of using mental calculation techniques there are even less. Recent research has suggested that a blood flow to the part of the brain responsible for mathematical calculations of six to seven times the normal rate is one of the factors that enables mental calculators to work out math much faster than the average person.

Examples of people with extraordinary calculation skills include Daniel McCartney, Salo Finkelstein, and Alexander Aitken. Daniel Tammet is one of few who are also autistic savants.

4

Synesthesia:-

Imagine consistently associating numbers or letters with certain colours, or hearing a specific word which triggers a particular sensation of taste on your tongue. These are two forms of a neurological condition called synesthesia. Synesthesia is when stimulation of a particular sensory or cognitive pathway leads to an involuntary (i.e. synesthesia is not learnt) response in other sensory or cognitive pathways.

Synesthesia is most often genetic and the grapheme (letters, numbers, or other symbols) to colour form of synesthesia is the commonest. Other synesthetes can experience special-sequence synesthesia (e.g. where dates have a precise location in space), ordinal linguistic personification (when numbers have personalities), or sound to colour synesthesia (where tones are perceived as colours).

Although synesthesia is a neurological condition it shouldn’t be thought of as a disorder, because generally it does not interfere with a person’s ability to function. Most people are not even aware that their experiences of life elicit more sensory responses than other peoples might and the ones that are rarely consider synesthesia to have a negative impact on their lives.

Predictions of the percentage of people with synesthesia vary widely, from 1 in 20 to 1 in 20,000. Studies from 2005 and 2006, using a random population sample, suggested 1 in about 23 people have synesthesia. Examples of people with synesthesia include the author Vladimir Nabokov, composer Olivier Messiaen, and scientist Richard Feynman. Daniel Tammet, who is mentioned in the next section of this list, is a synesthete (in addition to being a mental calculator) who sees numbers with shapes and texture.

5

Genetic Chimerism

In the Iliad Homer described a creature having body parts from different animals, a chimera, from this mythological monster comes the name of the genetic equivalent – chimerism. Genetic chimerism, or tetragametism, in humans and other animals happens when two fertilized eggs or embryos fuse together early in pregnancy. Each zygote carries a copy of its parents DNA and thus a distinct genetic profile. When these merge, each population of cells retains its genetic character and the resulting embryo becomes a mixture of both. Essentially, a human chimera is their own twin.

Chimerism in humans is very rare; Wikipedia states that there are only about 40 reported cases. DNA testing is often used to establish whether a person is biologically related to their parents or children and can uncover cases of chimerism when DNA results show that children are not biologically related to their mothers – because the child inherited a different DNA profile to the one shown by a blood test. This is what happened in the case of Lydia Fairchild: DNA tests of herself and her children led the state to think that she was not actually their mother.

People born with chimerism typically have immune systems that make them tolerant to both genetically distinct populations of cells in their body. This means that a chimera has a much wider array of people to choose from should they need an organ transplant.

6Echolocation:-

Echolocation is how bats fly around in dark forests – they emit a sound, wait for the echo to return, and use that sound of the echo in each ear plus the return time to work out where an object is and how far away. Surprisingly (well, maybe not on this list!), humans are also capable of using echolocation. Use of echolocation is probably restricted to blind people because it takes a long time to master and heightened sensitivity to reflected sound.

To navigate via echolocation a person actively creates a noise (e.g. tapping a cane or clicking the tongue) and determines from the echoes where objects are located around them. People skilled at this can often tell where an object is, what size it is, and its density. Because humans cannot make or hear the higher pitched frequencies that bats and dolphins use they can only picture objects that are comparatively larger than those ‘seen’ by echolocating animals.

People with the ability to echolocate include James Holman, Daniel Kish, and Ben Underwood. Perhaps the most remarkable and well-documented of cases is the story of Ben Underwood, who lost both his eyes to retinal cancer at the age of three. He is shown in the video above (warning: the scene where he puts in his prosthetic eyeballs may be a bit disturbing for some).

7

Tetrachromacy:-

Tetrachromacy is the ability to see light from four distinct sources. An example of this in the animal kingdom is the zebrafish (Danio rerio), which can see light from the red, green, blue, and ultraviolet sections of the light spectrum. True tetrachromacy in humans is much rarer however – according to Wikipedia only two possible tetrachromats have been identified.

Humans are normally trichromats, having three types of cone cells that receive light from either the red, green, or blue part of the light spectrum. Each cone can pick up about 100 graduations of color and the brain combines colors and graduations so that there are about 1 million distinguishable hues coloring your world. A true tetrachromat with an extra type of cone between red and green (in the orange range) would, theoretically, be able to perceive 100 million colors.

Like supertasting, tetrachromacy is thought to be much more common in women than men – estimates range from 2 – 3% to 50% of women. Interestingly, colour-blindness in men (much more common than in women) may be inherited from women with tetrachromacy.

8Absolute pitch:-

People with absolute pitch are capable of identifying and reproducing a tone without needing a known reference. It is not simply a better ability to hear but the ability to mentally class sounds into remembered categories. Examples of this include identifying the pitch of everyday noises (e.g. horns, sirens, and engines), being able to sing a named note without hearing a reference, naming the tones of a chord, or naming the key signature of a song. Doing any of these is a cognitive act – it requires one to remember the frequency of each tone, be able to label it (e.g. ‘A’, ‘C#’, or ‘F-flat’), and sufficient exposure to the range of sound within each label. Opinions vary as to whether absolute pitch is genetic or a learned ability that is strongly influenced to one’s exposure to music at crucial developmental stages – much like how a child’s ability to identify colors by their frequency depends on the type and level of their exposure to it.

Estimates of the portion of the population having absolute pitch range from 3% of the general population in the US and Europe to 8% of those (from the same areas) who are semi-professional or professional musicians. In music conservatories in Japan however, about 70% of musicians have absolute pitch. Part of the reason for this significantly larger percentage may be because absolute pitch is more common among people who grew up in a tonal (Mandarin, Cantonese, and Vietnamese) or pitch accent (Japanese) language environment. Absolute pitch is also more common in those who are blind from birth, have William’s Syndrome, or have an autism spectrum disorder.

9Supertasters:-

People who experience taste with greater intensity than the rest of the population are called supertasters. Having extra fungiform papillae (the mushroom shaped bumps on the tongue that are covered in taste buds) is thought to be the reason why these people have a stronger response to the sensation of taste. Of the five types of taste, sweet, salty, bitter, sour, and umami, a supertaster generally finds bitterness to be the most perceptible.

Scientists first noticed the differing abilities of people to taste a known compound when a DuPont chemist called Arthur Fox asked people to taste Phenylthiocarbamide (PTC). Some people could taste its bitterness; some couldn’t – whether people could depended on their genetic make-up (a variant of this test is now one of the most common genetic tests on humans). While about 70% of people can taste PTC, two thirds of them are rated as medium and only one third (approximately 25% of the wider population) are supertasters.

 

Supertasters will often dislike certain foods, particularly bitter ones, such as brussel sprouts, cabbage, coffee, and grapefruit juice. Women, Asians, and Africans are most likely to have the increased number of fungiform papillae that make them supertasters.

20 U.S. Historic Sites-->>

Hawaii's U.S.S. Arizona Memorial is part of a World War II national monument.

U.S.S. Arizona Memorial

Honolulu, Hawaii

The date, December 7, 1941, really does live on in infamy, and the Pearl Harbor Visitor Center makes sure the memory of Japan's attack on the United States will never fade. Visitor center exhibits provide fascinating context on the attack, and the center is the pickup point for free boat trip tickets to the U.S.S. ArizonaMemorial.

Martin Luther King, Jr., National Historic Site

Atlanta, Georgia

Martin Luther King's birth home, in Atlanta's legendary Sweet Auburn neighborhood, is just one part of a historic site that also includes Ebenezer Baptist Church—where Dr. King preached as his father and grandfather had done before him—and Freedom Hall at the King Center. Tours of Dr. King’s birth home are led by a park ranger on a first-come, first-served basis. In-person registration is required for a tour of Freedom Hall.

Gettysburg National Military Park

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

Drive and walk the hallowed Pennsylvania soil where so many paid the ultimate price in July 1863. A self-guided audio tour, available at the visitor center, takes tourists through the three-day battle and around the fields to storied sites like Little Round Top and Cemetery Ridge, where stone walls, cannons, and monuments stand in silent contrast to the carnage that once unfolded here.

United States Capitol

Washington, D.C.

Spend a day with Congress on a behind-the-scenes tour of the United States Capitol. Due to high demand and tight security, guided tours of this magnificent seat of government must be booked in advance. Get them online through the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center or through the office of your representative or senator.

Independence National Historical Park

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Within the walls of Independence Hall's Assembly Room, the Continental Congress met, George Washington was appointed to command the Continental Army, the Declaration of Independence was adopted, and the U.S. Constitution was drafted. Needless to say, it's worth a visit. Due to demand, timed tickets are required to enter Independence Hall, except in January and February—and don't forget to see the nearby Liberty Bell.

Missions Trail

San Diego to Sonoma, California

When the Spanish began building their string of 21 California missions in the 18th century, the region was a wilderness under the nominal control of their monarch. Today El Camino Real, the road that connected them, has been replaced by modern California highways that allow easy driving along the entireMissions Trail, from San Diego to Sonoma. Most of the adobes are active Catholic parishes, and visitors are welcome, though some charge fees for interior tours.

Alabama State Capitol

Montgomery, Alabama

This Greek Revival landmark, used by the state legislature in Montgomery until the 1980s, has a storied history. In 1861 Jefferson Davis was sworn in as the Confederate States of America's first and only president in front of this building. A century later the 1965 Selma-to-Montgomery march for voting rights ended near the same spot.

Cumberland Gap National Historical Park

Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia

Settlers once poured through this first great natural gateway to the American West, following the herds of buffalo and tribes of Native Americans who preceded them through what are now Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia. Vistas, waterfalls, and rock formations are among the site's natural wonders, while historic buildings evoke the lifestyles of pioneers and mountain communities.

The White House

Washington, D.C.

The White House isn't just the President's house: It belongs to every U.S. citizen. That means you're free to visit—but you can't just drop in unannounced. Public tours are available by contacting your representative in Congress and arranging a time to tour the mansion. Plan well in advance.

The Alamo

San Antonio, Texas

The San Antonio site of Davy Crockett’s and James Bowie's last stand was a key clash in the Texas Revolution. Fact and fiction sometimes mingle in tall tales of the battle, but there's no doubt that visitors to the old mission walk within the walls of an authentic American legend.

Santa Fe Plaza

Santa Fe, New Mexico

The heart of old Santa Fe was once a crossroads where trade routes from Missouri met those from Mexico City. Here, Gen. Stephen Watts Kearny raised the U.S. flag to claim the territory during the Mexican War of 1846. Today the plaza bustles with Indian and Spanish markets, concerts, and all manner of community events.

Tombstone, Arizona

Stroll the boardwalks along historic Allen Street, scene of so much Old West violence and revelry, and you can almost hear the saloon pianos and gunshots. Actually you can hear them, thanks to living history: On the second, fourth, and fifth Sundays of each month, the Tombstone Vigilantes perform free gunfight and hanging shows while their counterparts, the Vigilettes, showcase period Tombstone fashions. A visit to Boothill Graveyard is also free.

The Freedom Trail

Boston, Massachusetts

Boston's impressive roster of colonial sites includes the Old North Church, the Old State House, the site of the Boston Massacre, and Bunker Hill Monument. You can see them all for free by simply following your feet along the red path of the city's Freedom Trail. Costumed guides lead tours for additional fees, and some sites may charge entry fees.

Mesa Verde National Park

Colorado

It typically costs $10 to $15 per car (depending on the season) to see these spectacular cliff dwellings of the ancestral Pueblo people. As home to some of America's most important archaeological sites, dating to A.D. 600, Mesa Verdeis worth every cent. But several times a year you can see it for free, including National Public Lands Day in September and the weekend of Veterans Day in November. (Entry fee is waved, but fees still apply for optional, ranger-led tours.)

Oregon Trail Ruts and Register Cliff

Guernsey, Wyoming

The legend of the Oregon Trail: So many wagons rolled westward in search of the American dream that they wore trench-like ruts into the sandstone that can still be seen today south of Guernsey, just off Rt. 26. Many settlers also left behind their “John Hancocks,” signing their names in nearby Register Cliff to create a fascinating tableau of 19th-century graffiti.

Nez Perce National Historical Park Sites

Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington

The story of the Nez Perce can be told on 38 sites scattered across four states. Among the sites of historical interest, Buffalo Eddy features petrogylphs and pictographs, Canoe Camp memorializes a spot where Lewis and Clark built new canoes, and Big Hole National Battlefield marks the bloodiest encounter of the 1877 Nez Perce War.

Baranof Castle State Historical Site

Sitka, Alaska

Sitka was the capital of Russian Alaska, and a good swath of that domain can be seen in the outstanding views from the hilltop Baranof Castle State Historical Site, where first native Tlingit peoples and then Russians erected fortifications. Russia handed over Alaska to the United States on this hill in 1867. Interpretive panels tell the story.

Land of Lincoln

Illinois

Abraham Lincoln called Springfield, Illinois, home—and the only house he ever owned is now the Lincoln Home National Historic Site. Other nearby (and free) haunts of Honest Abe include the Lincoln-Herndon Law Offices State Historic Site, where he once practiced, and the Old State Capitol, where he gave his “House Divided” speech in 1858.

Homestead National Monument of America

Nebraska

Experience settler life on the wide-open prairie at this Nebraska site, which tells the story of westward expansion under the Homestead Act of 1862. The Palmer-Epard Cabin (1867) is actually luxurious by pioneer standards, and a hundred acres of restored tallgrass prairie is reminiscent of the storied habitat that once covered the Great Plains.

St. Paul's Chapel, Parish of Trinity Church

New York, New York

The oldest public building in continuous use in New York City—George Washington attended services here following his 1790 inauguration—narrowly escaped destruction in the September 1776 blaze that broke out when the British retook New York. On September 11, 2001, the World Trade Center collapsed across the street, and the debris-filled but unharmed chapel became an oasis for Ground Zero recovery efforts. Exhibits tell the incredible 9/11 story.