In the Name of Rain

In many of the Buddhist lands, children have been taught which Shakyamuni Buddha manifested as the Buddha because, with utmost compassion, he could not bear to witness the superiority of animal sacrifices attending holidays. Perhaps you may stop hearing something similar to which in your own youth.
In the Americas, quite literally millions of the very old fowl misnamed as turkeys have died in the name of today's holiday, called "Thanksgiving." So, you wish to give them their due. Actually, turkeys have been sacrificially dying in the Americas for thousands of years, as good as Thanksgiving is only the ultimate excuse. Long prior to the somewhat mythical pilgrims landed here as good as tricked the humanity of the somewhat mythical natives, turkeys were being sacrificed in the name of H2O -- yes, H2O -- as good as in the little cases, to the God declared Tlaloc.
Tlaloc is the Mesoamerican God of water, as good as the longer you investigate Tlaloc, the stronger your suspicion becomes which he functions as the Aztec chronicle of the naga aristocrat -- presumably even the dragon. -- but, is he really? Is he that, or is he the controller? The picture above, from the Palace of Tepantitla, in the ruined city of Teotihuacan, northeast of Mexico City, depicts the fresco archaeologists have declared "The Paradise of Tlaloc." To place it in historical perspective, the fresco was painted good prior to Padmasambhava came to Tibet, as good as positively flourished around 600 CE, in what was afterwards one of the largest cities in the world. The picture below is Tlaloc in all his glory, from the 16th century Codex Rios.
In his entertaining survey of southwest prehistory, House of Rain, author Craig Childs informs which turkeys, "were killed in place of humans, their heads ritually cut off as offerings to H2O spirits," as good as their corpses were placed interstitially in the spaces in between spaces. According to Childs:"among the modern clans of the Hopi who have been descended from the Anasazi, turkey feathers paint the scintillating underworld, their white, flat tips symbolizing H2O churning up from underground. Turkey feathers have been planted in fields to attract rain. Some of the surviving tribes distant south of here, in southern Mexico, Central America, as good as South America, believe which the turkey represents Tlaloc, one of the most absolute as good as very old gods in the Americas, the governor of H2O pronounced to live subterraneous in the House of Rain."So, who is this Tlaloc? The academics teach which he is the easiest of the deities to identify: he has "goggles shaped by two serpents which meet in the center as good as stick on to form the nose, as good as the serpent moustache framing the mouth from which arise two fangs. His color is blue." We note which he is adorned with the climax of heron feathers, as good as the net of clouds.
A master of water, the master of serpents; snakes as good as feathers, in the net of clouds. Hmm... competence know somebody who fluently empathizes in those circles.
There could be the little logic to it. After all, the same ocean's vagaries impacted both the home of the garudas as good as the home of the Tlalocs. El Nino gave scarcely warm temperatures as good as abounding rainfall. La Nina gave scarcely cold temperatures as good as the dry season (we have been currently in the La Nina year). It is expected which group in both places sought clues from the suggestion as! good as animal worlds to understand as good as presumably influence both conditions.
Regardless, my purpose in writing this post is not to debate Tlaloc, ambient rainfall, ocean temperatures in the Pacific, or our dear friends the garudas.
My purpose in writing this post is to encourage you in the citation of tofu, rather than turkey. Nobody likes to listen to which arrange of thing this time of year, so you had to trip it in in between the pages.
Happy Thanksgiving, from Digital Tibetan Buddhist Altar, where you never skip the chance to give you the nudge.
Let your sleet be the sleet of compassion.
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