Proletariat Blogging in the Heart of (UK) Predatory Capitalism! Exploring the Interface between Matter and Perception, Chinese Buddhism, Daoism, Hakka Ethnography, and All Aspects of Radical Politics, History, Psychology and Philosophy – 全世界无产者联合起来!
A visitor is pictured during “An Exhibition on the Culture of Han Dynasty Bamboo Slips from the Haihun Marquisate” at the Nanchang Relic Museum of Haihun Marquisate of Han Dynasty in Nanchang, east China’s Jiangxi Province, April 13, 2026. The exhibition opened here early this week, during which over 100 newly restored bamboo slips are publicly displayed for the first time since their discovery.
The photograph, taken by Italian photojournalist Pietro Masturzo in the village of Idhna, west of Hebron, documents Israeli settlers and occupation soldiers obstructing Palestinian farmers at the start of the olive harvest. Masturzo described armed settlers, some in military-style clothing, arrived with Israeli forces and prevented residents from accessing their land, describing the scene as part of a wider pattern long recorded across the West Bank.
I may well have written about the old coaching-stones scattered around Sutton and Cheam – I now of two – but was unaware of the date they were established. Basically, these devices informed travellers on foot, horse, or carriage – how many miles it was from where they were to the centre of London. Coachmen could either read the inscription engraved on the stone – or was taught what the stone said and remembered where it was when driving on the road – either way – these coaching-stones served as the original GPS system for travel. I think the Roman established something similar thousands of years ago – so the concept was not new in 1745. What I did not realise is that these stones have now received official recognition of being historically important monuments worthy of preservation and protection. The iron-bars and plaque are the new editions which I only saw when taking a rare walk through Sutton.
Accompanying them were Kim Myong Su, vice-minister of Foreign Affairs of the DPRK, and Wang Yajun, Chinese ambassador to the DPRK.
The guards of honor of the Korean People’s Army lined up at the cemetery.
The national anthems of the People’s Republic of China and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea were played.
A flower basket in the name of the Chinese foreign minister and his party was placed at the monument to the cemetery.
Written on the ribbon of the flower basket were letters “The fallen soldiers of the Chinese People’s Volunteers will be immortal”.
The Jewish community in Qumran chose to sit in meditation cells to seek a communion with their god. Why did some Jews do this? This is not a Jewish tradition and is certainly not recognised as a Jewish practice – even in a peripheral sense. Meditating in a cave must have come into Judaism from an alien teaching and different culture. Two prime candidates are Buddhism and Hinduism – with the edge leaning toward Buddhism (due to the lack of polytheism). Not only this, but Buddhism was flourishing in India during the 3rd century BCE and the 1st century CE – the time era attributed to the Qumran texts (the Dead Sea Scrolls). Christian monasticism (as practiced by the Celtic Church) must have originated in Buddhist India – and was adopted by a small group of Jews in the Qumran area of the Judean Desert (situated on the North-western shore of the Dead Sea). This meditational practice was continued by the early Jewish followers of Jesus Christ and was spread to the Egyptian Desert – where the first (distinct) Christian monastic communities were first formed.
This creates begging and a sense of “lacking” (there is no money to purchase the necessities of life). Within the traditional modes of existing – money – a) does not exist and b) therefore does not dictate well-being or existence. On the other hand, tradition never changes or is permitted to alter – as such deviation from established norms present a “danger” to the well-being of those who live under its sway. Buddhist monastic life was developed within an ancient agrarian system – but not a modern or capitalistic version. It was a reaction to the Brahmanic caste system. The Buddha lived in a North Indian Republic which elected its secular officials. Followers of Brahma definitely existed – but at that time Brahmin priests had not yet usurped the kings and warriors (Kshatriya) who then administered society (the Buddha was of the Kshatriya caste – before he rejected Brahmanism) and his father the elected leader, etc. Later, the Brahmins would manoeuvre themselves above the warriors and kings – creating a revolutionary repositioning within the caste system (this is where matters stand in India). Sri Lanka, of course, is a Buddhist country with only a small Hindu population – although I did witness Buddhist monks carrying-out various (vegetarian) rituals for local Hindus living in areas around Colombo. This might be because Hindus today view the Buddha as an avatar of the god Vishnu.
SANGHA KOMMUNE (SSR) 