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Week 15 Story: Virupa's Transformation

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She stared at the mirror in shock. The face that looked back at her looked nothing like the one she had seen her whole life. She ran her fingers through her beautiful hair and felt a tear run down her flawless cheeks. Throughout all her life, she was ridiculed for her appearance. All the riches that had surrounded her weren’t enough to shield her from the sting of the words spat at her. On this night, she had hoped to end the pain once in for all. She looked down at the rope she had thought would bring her peace. In a way it did, but not how she thought it would. The man had left as quickly as he arrived. He said nothing but left her with a sense of awe as he sent forth divine magic into her body. The wounds along her neck were healed and the fire in her heart was reignited. Virupa looked around at the room she had been forced to stay in for so long. She thought on all the hateful words her husband said to her during their marriage. The look on his face when he saw her for the...
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Reading Notes: The Life Of Buddha Part Three

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Mahaprajapati us Admitted to the Community The Queen, Mahaprajapti wanted to relinquish her royal life and live with the Buddha and others in their righteous community. She tried several times to ask the Buddha for admittance into the city, but he refused her each time. After some time, Ananda was able to convince Buddha to allow her and other women into the community. However, the Buddha then declared that their true faith would only last half as long as it would have if they had not allowed women in. The Buddha Exposes the Imposters Hermits arrived at the city and were trying to sway people away from the Buddha's message. The Buddha was informed of this and commanded that a hall be built in seven days that he will compete against them at. While the hall was being built, one of the hermits deceived the King and made him cut his brother's hands and feet off. However, the Buddha was able to use his disciple to heal him. The Buddha then faced the hermits and defeated them. He...
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Reading Notes: The Life of Buddha Part Two

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Trapusha and Bhallika The Buddha went and meditated under a tree. After a week, he went and traveled for three additional weeks. During this time, the Buddha attained perfect knowledge. He was eventually met by Mara who tried to lead him down a bad path. Mara told him that he should snuff out his flame and enter Nirvana. The Buddha told Mara that he would not so that he could teach disciples and help the world. The Buddha is Prepared to Preach the Doctrine The Buddha was trying to figure out how to teach people his doctrine. He had doubts that the people of the world would be able to understand his message. As a result, he considered not teaching them and entering Nirvana. Brahma is distressed at these happenings and descends from the sky to face the Buddha. This convinces the Buddha to teach the world his doctrine. The Buddha Leaves for Benares The Buddha tries to think of someone to be the first to receive his message. And considers Rama's son, but learns that he died seve...
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Tech Tip: SpeedTest Chrome Extension

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https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/speedtest-by-ookla/pgjjikdiikihdfpoppgaidccahalehjh?hl=en This extension adds the SpeedTest icon to your Chrome browser so that you can see how fast your current internet connection is: SpeedTest: Souce - Personal Screenshot It will tell you your current ping, download, and upload speed. This can be very useful when you are trying to diagnose connection issues! The link to the extension is at the top.
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Reading Notes: The Life of Buddha Part One

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King Suddhodana And Queen Maya The story describes the land briefly and then introduces the King and Queen. The queen makes several requests of her King, which he grants. She now resides at the top of the tower. Maya's Dream Maya receives a dream sent to her by the gods. She goes to some area in the palace and requests the presence of the King. The King comes but feels incredibly uneasy when he gets to the gates. The Gods speak to him and tell him that he will have a son. The King asks for guidance from his brahmans and they tell him that he and the Queen will sire the Buddha. The Birth of Siddhartha The Queen felt that the time was close for her son to be born. She walked through gardens that were decorated heavily by the King. As she walked, she found a "rare" tree. She stood there motionless and her servants received her son (that's all the detail that was given). They named the son Siddhartha. Asita's Prediction An old sage, Asita, comes t...
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Tech Tip: Following at Twitter

I've had a Twitter account for a long time, but I don't really use it for anything. I went ahead and followed @DRoughnecksLive for this assignment. This Twitter account live tweets game updates for the Dallas Roughnecks, a Professional Ultimate Frisbee team in Dallas. I play Ultimate Frisbee and have several friends who play on that team, so I like getting updated on how their games are going.
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Reading Notes: Twenty Jakatas Tales Part B

The Two Pigs Two pig brothers were raised by an old woman. After some time, the men of the village got drunk and wanted to eat the pigs. The old woman offered up one of the pigs and that pig got terrified. His brother consoled him and told him that this is what they were born for. The people were moved by the pig's words and the king gave them a lavish lifestyle for the rest of their lives. The end of this story felt very much like Rama being exiled for some reason. The Patient Buffalo A monkey tried to annoy a buffalo. The buffalo was unconcerned with the monkey and let him do whatever he wanted. Eventually, a fairy appeared and asked the buffalo why he let the monkey do these things. The buffalo explained that nothing the monkey does is worth getting angry over and that nature did not give him a large brain, so it's not his fault. The fairy sent the monkey away and gave the buffalo a charm that would make it do where no one would mess with him again. The Sarabha There...
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