Buddhist Psychology on the Emptiness: Everyone can agree that we all suffer

New Poonjaji talk - religion is based on the agreement that everyone suffers

As Slavoj Zizek points out - if you want agreement do so through a Negation. That's why negative emotions are the most popular!

And YET as Poonjaji points out - there is something beyond suffering.

Hong Kong Voodoo Grandmas are very popular! vid

yes although Padre Pio was also flying - and yet we have to ask WHO was perceiving it? I mean he stopped airplane fighter pilots from repeatedly trying to bomb his monastery in the forest. But maybe it was all a collective dream of the Cosmic Mother?

 Below passage was translated by Frank Rega from the Italian from the book: I Miracoli di Padre Pio, by Renzo Allegri,1993 Arnoldo Mondadori Editore S.p.A., Milano (Italy), 1993, Pages 110-111.   ISBN 88-04-41322-0

Many Allied aviation pilots of various nationalities (English, American, Polish, Palestinian) and of varied religions (Catholic, Orthodox, Moslem, Protestant, Jewish) who during the Second World War, after September 8, 1943, were based in Bari to undertake missions on Italian territory, testified to an amazing occurrence. Each time, while fulfilling their Italian military mission, they approached the zone of the Gargano, in the environs of San Giovanni Rotondo, they saw in the sky a Friar, who in stretching out his wounded hands, prevented them from dropping their bombs.

 Foggia and almost all of the centers of Puglia were subjected to repeated bombardment; on San Giovanni Rotondo not one bomb fell. This event, which is to say the least unheard of, was directly witnessed by the general of Aeronautica Italiana Bernardo Rosini, who at that time was part of the "United Air Command" operating out of Bari with the Allied air forces. "Each time that the pilots returned from their missions," General Rosini told me, "they spoke of this Friar that appeared in the sky and diverted their airplanes, making them turn back. 

"Everyone laughed at these incredulous stories. But since the episodes kept recurring, the Commanding General decided to intervene personally.  He took command of a squadron of bombers to destroy a cache of German war materials that was said to be right in San Giovanni Rotondo. Up until that time, no one had ever succeeded in going in that direction because of the presence in the air of that mysterious phantasm which forced the airplanes back. "Since this had been happening for some time, at the base there was much apprehension. We were all curious to see the results of this operation. When the squadron returned, we went over to ask what had occurred.

 The American general was quite upset. He recounted that as soon as they arrived near the target, he and his pilots had seen rising up into the sky the figure of a monk with his hands held high. The bombs dropped all by themselves, falling in the woods, and the planes turned in retreat, without any intervention on the part of the pilots. "That evening, the episode was the main topic of conversation. Everyone was wondering who was this specter which the airplanes mysteriously obeyed. 

Someone said to the Commanding general that at San Giovanni there lived a Priest with the stigmata whom everyone considered a saint, and that perhaps he was the very one responsible for diverting the planes. The general found this hard to believe, but as soon as it was possible, he wished to go there to find out. "After the war, the general, accompanied by a few pilots, arrived at the Capuchin Convent. As soon as he crossed the threshold of the sacristy, he found himself facing a number of Friars, among whom he recognized immediately the one who had stopped his airplanes.

Padre Pio went up to meet him, and putting a hand on his shoulders, said to him: "So it is you, the one who wished to do away with all of us". "Astonished at seeing and hearing the Friar, the general kneeled before him. Padre Pio had spoken in his usual Benevento dialect, but the general was convinced that the Priest has spoken in English. The two became friends. The general, who was a Protestant, converted to Catholicism. Below passage was translated by Frank Rega from the Italian from the book: Storia Di Padre Pio, by Rino Cammilleri, Edizioni Piemme Spa. (Italy) 1993 Pages 81-82. http://www.sanpadrepio.com/Flymonk.htm