War update number 5
- Micha Strauss
- 24 hours ago
- 8 min read
sad news to share with you all today... :-(
Today brings sad news and also very good news…
Starting first with the sad news.
Our beloved friend, owner of the Norsam Technologies John Bishop has passed away a few days ago in the US.
John was responsible for all the nano film made and for that we owe him a debt that is inconceivable and unplayable.
John has been there all the years, working endlessly day and night to make this spectacular technology we now take for granted of mantras printed in billions in nano tech available to all and for that we will forever be grateful!
We were fortunate enough to have met John in person last year when we traveled to the US. One of our stops was at John's company where we sat down and talked about the Mani mantra being printed already and the new Vajra Guru mantra that is still in the process of becoming. We heard from him last that it should be ready at the end of April but now that he has passed, we do not know when this will come to fruition.
We have been notified that John's son, David Bishop has taken over the Norsam company and production and will now follow in his dad's footsteps making nano mantra film available to all who desire to have it.
May you rest in peace now dear sweet John.
Thank you for all you have done to make this world a better place. We are forever in your debt.
some of what is going on here in Israel
Here in Israel things are still on the rough side. Still being bombarded by missiles from Iran and rockets from Lebanon… war is still raging… we do not see the end of it yet.
Me and Ayelet are OK, thank you all who took the time to write to us! We still go to the studio every day (if possible) and craft prayer wheels; we still run to the bomb shelter when the siren goes off…
here are photos of us at 2 AM in the bomb shelter.
I am not a very intelligent person; I am but a simple human being doing what he can to make this world a better place. I do not see where all this is going, I don't understand my government's actions or plans for the future, I do not understand the US president Trump and what is his end game to all of this, I feel very sad and sorry for all who have been injured or died in this war, on all sides.
I lived through many wars in my short lifetime and as always (so far) I have survived.
My time in the IDF was very eye opening and it made me understand real truths about this country and about its neighbors who wish us all dead and work very hard day and night to make it happen, to no success so far… but we do not know what tomorrow will bring.
hate around the world
Not an easy time to be and Israeli or a Jew right now on earth… I am glad we never moved from here because to be out there, among the Jew haters, the antisemitic without the protection we have here would have been scary to be completely honest. To see how many attacks are on Jews all over the world, the demonstrations in the streets, the calling of "death to America and death to Israel" is harsh but at least here we are among our own. Here we have an army. Here we are somewhat safe as we have our brothers and sisters beside us. It feels "safer" than out there where we are but hunted Jews… even when missiles explode in the sky above you and pieces of them rain down on all of us… even still. Here we feel safer.
How crazy is that?
We are living in some harsh times but as Buddhists we understand the impermanence of it all, how it is all a dream like phenomena that if you see clearly through it, there is peace within. If you do not follow the passing of thoughts and do not engage with them, no feelings arise and loving kindness in silence is present, always. It is not so easy when a war is all around you but this is our life. This is where we were born and this is where we met the holy Dharma too.
Good news too!
And now for some good news! Told ya we have some!
The good news is in two subjects and I will write them here one after the other. Both are concerning our fundraiser for interfaith wind powered world peace prayer wheels!
First good news I wish to share with you all is an email we have received from Dr. Lorne Ladner (who wrote many books, one of which is Wheel of Great Compassion) a few days ago that he asked me to share it with you all so here it is:
If you purchase a prayer wheel to turn by hand at home, then you may turn it every now and then or even for some time each day. But if you contribute to a wind prayerwheel, then it turns whenever the wind blows. In Israel, that’s often 90% to 100% of the time in a given day. So, then by having contributed to that wheel, you are creating the unique kinds of good karma described in the traditional commentaries all day and night, day after day.
There are many, many benefits described in the commentaries related to prayer wheels. One commentary, The Condensed Secrecy of the Compassionate-Eyed One, summarizes it as follows:
“Light beams from the great Dharma wheel take the delusions, sufferings, imprints and seeds of all sentient beings in the six realms and cause these to be collected and absorbed into the …wheel. All the disturbing thoughts, karmas, seeds, and imprints [of negative karma] are burnt, destroyed and purified. …This is the wheel cutting the root of samsara…. Through light beams emanating from the mantras of the precious wheels and striking migratory beings, they spontaneously develop the four immeasurable thoughts—loving-kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity. They complete the practice of the six perfections—generosity, ethics, patience, joyous effort, concentration, and wisdom.”
And all the commentaries say that you create the karma with each turn of the wheel of having recited the number of mantras or prayers that exist in that wheel. Since these wind wheels contain many billions of prayers on nanotechnology film, each time the wind spins one, it’s like those who’ve helped sponsor it have recited that number of prayers of compassion and love.
In terms of wind prayerwheels in particular, Lama Zopa Rinpoche said that “The wind that touches the prayer wheels is blessed by the power of the prayer wheels and then has the power to purify the negative karma and obscurations of any being it touches.”
Padmasambhava similarly said, “By mere contact with the four elements that have activated the wheel, one will be freed from the lower realms. In short, all unwanted faults can be purified without any effort. Just contacting the wheel once can cause one to achieve liberation and all excellences effortlessly.”
The great master of the Kagyu tradition, Karmapa Karma Pakshi, said, “This wheel called Om Mani Padme Hum, when blown or moved by the wind above, can release from suffering of lower rebirths those transmigrators who are either touched by the wind’s draft or who are dwelling in the wind’s direction….When a wind wheel is installed up above, all sentient beings who are touches by this wind or who live in the direction in which the wind blows will be liberated from the suffering of the evil-gone realms.”
Rinchen Nampar Gyalwa (a lama of the Nyingma tradition) “If the wheel is turned by the wind, wherever that wind blows, all sentient beings will attain Buddhahood.”
Since the wind in Israel touches not only all the beings in Israel but also those living throughout the Middle East and North Africa as well, contributing to the peace wheel project is a form of engaged compassion. You cannot personally go to talk with and guide those many beings—humans and also non-humans—on a path whose nature is love, compassion and wisdom. But, by contributing to these peace wheels, you are reaching them and helping them according to the traditional commentaries on the prayer wheel practice.
One last point is that it says that the lion faced Dakini (an angelic, female being with the face of a lion who travels through the sky) received the practice of the prayer wheel in ancient times and then traveled around various regions including the Middle East (Persia is mentioned in particular). She traveled with the prayer wheel through the sky in those regions. Eventually, she went to India and gave the practice to Nagarjuna from whom the prayer wheel lineage got passed down from teachers to students until this day.
So, now Micha and Ayelet’s efforts have been bringing the prayer wheel practice back to the Middle East. By contributing to the peace wheel project, we are also contributing to that compassionate effort.
Wow. Thank you Lorne!!! We are forever in your debt!
May peace come SWIFTLY to all!!!
more good news!!!
The second amazing news to share with you all regarding the fundraiser is that this morning we received an email from our friend who is in contact with Odiyan in California with a mantra that has been sent to us by Tarthang Tulku Rinpoche to add to our wind wheels and all other peace wheels we craft. Here is what they wrote:
Please find attached the mantra zung from Rinpoche for the World Peace wind prayer wheels that Micha and Ayelet are making. Kindly forward it to them and let them know that although the preset size of the PDF document is 3” × 22”, they can adjust the print settings to fit the dimensions they require.
Regarding the main mantra contained in this zung:
Name of the mantra in Tibetan: Ledrup Jün Chö
Name of the mantra in English: Cutting Karma Mantra
Power of the mantra: Restoring peace by stopping the flow of harmful actions.
Source: This is a compilation of mantras extracted from the Words of the Buddha (Tibetan Buddhist canon, Kangyur) by the renowned Nyingma scholar Lama Mipham.
May the merit generated through these prayer wheels swiftly bring peace and harmony to the region and to the world.
We were blown away.
We will add this mantra now to all wind peace prayerwheels and to all the hand held and tabletops.
How fortunate are we to be at this point in time where we can actually do something about all this hate and war?
And how fortunate are YOU all out there that you can join in just by donating! And by spreading the word out there to everyone!
Wow… so much good merit… it just blows my little human mind… really.
Here again is the link to the fundraiser: https://givebutter.com/wGnpah
At the bottom of that page you can click on our new website we have for these all-new interfaith world peace prayer wheels that has been made by our good friend Michael from Austria.
We love you all so much!
Thank you for all the kind words, emails, wishes and prayers you share with us via all the different medias! Be it emails, Facebook, WhatsApp, comments on my blog posts… We are so very fortunate to have you all out there spinning the prayerwheels we have crafted for the benefit of all beings!
we are so grateful…
May peace come swiftly to all
till next time
Much love
Micha (and Ayelet of course)
So sorry to hear about the death of your friend! Keep sharing! May peace surround you all and bless you! And may your wind wheel project be a success…