DNA TESTS

Casual conversation between friends. Anything goes (almost).
User avatar
Mantrik
Former staff member
Posts: 2248
Joined: Sun Apr 09, 2017 8:55 pm
Contact:

DNA TESTS

Post by Mantrik »

So, I had my DNA ancestry test done as a birthday present recently.

Armed with the results and my family tree I can now confirm that I am mostly Irish (from around Tipperary, rural poor) almost a third Austrian (Vienna, bastard royalty), about a fifth English (Yorkshire), and the rest mostly Scandinavian/NW Russia (no clue why, except the Vikings maybe).

I haven't had the medical analysis of predispositions to different diseases as I don't think it would hold any surprises as I already know about the past few generations of my family.

Now, I'm not much bothered about bloodlines (unless there's an inheritance of course) and have much more interest in karma, past lives etc.
I've already found cousins I never knew I had. I'm not about to go visiting them, but some people I know take it really seriously and go off travelling on some sort of 'DNA hippy trail/bucket list'.

I just wondered if others have had the test done and what it means to them.
http://www.khyung.com ཁྲོཾ

Om Thathpurushaya Vidhmahe
Suvarna Pakshaya Dheemahe
Thanno Garuda Prachodayath

Micchāmi Dukkaḍaṃ (मिच्छामि दुक्कडम्)
User avatar
DewachenVagabond
Posts: 464
Joined: Mon Jan 02, 2017 7:30 pm
Location: Dewachen

Re: DNA TESTS

Post by DewachenVagabond »

I haven't had it done, but both my parents have, so, barring any surprises, I think I can roughly guess what mine would look like. My dad's was mainly English/Scottish/British Isles and Germanic. I think my mom's was split mainly between Nordic and English.

I grew up Mormon, and Mormons are obsessed with genealogy, and my dad's side of the family had their genealogy professionally done a while back, so it wasn't really surprising. I don't know about the karmic implications or anything like that, but I think it is interesting to see where you came from.
:bow: :buddha1: :bow: :anjali: :meditate:
User avatar
Caoimhghín
Posts: 3419
Joined: Thu Jun 02, 2016 11:35 pm
Location: Whitby, Ontario

Re: DNA TESTS

Post by Caoimhghín »

Irish/French

Of course, a DNA test would show what we all already know: "French" and "Irish" are not genetic markers, rather they are cultural markers.

My dad is possible the child of a crypto-Jew of sorts. We found some documents of his mother's that identify her last name as "Zinkerstein" then it gets changed to "Zinston" then "Selleck".

This would "technically" make him Jewish, but he wasn't raised Jewish and has no knowledge of Judaism. Funny that.
Then, the monks uttered this gāthā:

These bodies are like foam.
Them being frail, who can rejoice in them?
The Buddha attained the vajra-body.
Still, it becomes inconstant and ruined.
The many Buddhas are vajra-entities.
All are also subject to inconstancy.
Quickly ended, like melting snow --
how could things be different?

The Buddha passed into parinirvāṇa afterward.
(T1.27b10 Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra DĀ 2)
User avatar
justsit
Posts: 1463
Joined: Wed Oct 21, 2009 9:24 pm
Location: Delaware

Re: DNA TESTS

Post by justsit »

A friend of mine had the test done, she had some small surprises. More Irish than she thought, less Jewish, nothing major.

In our discussion of the test, though, some questions arose about the consent she gave. Turns out the fine print allows companies to sell the acquired data for research and advertising purposes; some apparently also take legal ownership rights to your DNA profile. https://thinkprogress.org/ancestry-com- ... feed02b9e/

In the world of Big Brother, this makes me vaguely uneasy. It could be one of those seemingly innocuous things that could have unintended consequences down the line.

I suppose if you have no qualms it's harmless, and I would be curious to know my results, but not curious enough to actually do the test.
Malcolm
Posts: 42974
Joined: Thu Nov 11, 2010 2:19 am

Re: DNA TESTS

Post by Malcolm »

Coëmgenu wrote: Mon Apr 23, 2018 1:07 pm Irish/French

Of course, a DNA test would show what we all already know: "French" and "Irish" are not genetic markers, rather they are cultural markers.

My dad is possible the child of a crypto-Jew of sorts. We found some documents of his mother's that identify her last name as "Zinkerstein" then it gets changed to "Zinston" then "Selleck".

This would "technically" make him Jewish, but he wasn't raised Jewish and has no knowledge of Judaism. Funny that.
My DNA test was rather surprising, apart from confirming my Dutch, English, Scots, Norwegian heritage with a small sprinkling of Italian, apparently, due to some Scandinavian branch of my family branching off about 45,000 years ago in Central Asia, I am related to all Native American men on both continents.
MiphamFan
Posts: 1096
Joined: Thu Jun 18, 2015 5:46 am

Re: DNA TESTS

Post by MiphamFan »

How much Neanderthal DNA do you all have?
User avatar
Grigoris
Former staff member
Posts: 21938
Joined: Fri May 14, 2010 9:27 pm
Location: Greece

Re: DNA TESTS

Post by Grigoris »

Since in the endless round of birth, death and rebirth all sentient beings have been my mother at some point in time, I guess that means I am directly related to all the sentient beings, on all of the six planes of existence. :smile:
"My religion is not deceiving myself."
Jetsun Milarepa 1052-1135 CE

"Butchers, prostitutes, those guilty of the five most heinous crimes, outcasts, the underprivileged: all are utterly the substance of existence and nothing other than total bliss."
The Supreme Source - The Kunjed Gyalpo
The Fundamental Tantra of Dzogchen Semde
User avatar
Colom Demarest
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Mar 20, 2018 3:40 pm

Re: DNA TESTS

Post by Colom Demarest »

Malcolm
Posts: 42974
Joined: Thu Nov 11, 2010 2:19 am

Re: DNA TESTS

Post by Malcolm »

MiphamFan wrote: Mon Apr 23, 2018 2:44 pm How much Neanderthal DNA do you all have?
1.3 percent. People call me "blond," but I am really a redhead.
User avatar
Caoimhghín
Posts: 3419
Joined: Thu Jun 02, 2016 11:35 pm
Location: Whitby, Ontario

Re: DNA TESTS

Post by Caoimhghín »

Malcolm wrote: Mon Apr 23, 2018 2:55 pm
MiphamFan wrote: Mon Apr 23, 2018 2:44 pm How much Neanderthal DNA do you all have?
1.3 percent. People call me "blond," but I am really a redhead.
Was your red always lighter or was it particularly redder when you were younger?

My entire family is red-headed, with the technical exception of my dad and I, who are bald.

My mom had very very intensely red hair, much like mine used to be, but she found that in her mid 30s it whitened so much that she essentially looks blonde now.

I've noticed from observing older relatives that many redheads don't really "grey" normally. Sometimes our hair goes bright white instead of grey. Strange.
Then, the monks uttered this gāthā:

These bodies are like foam.
Them being frail, who can rejoice in them?
The Buddha attained the vajra-body.
Still, it becomes inconstant and ruined.
The many Buddhas are vajra-entities.
All are also subject to inconstancy.
Quickly ended, like melting snow --
how could things be different?

The Buddha passed into parinirvāṇa afterward.
(T1.27b10 Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra DĀ 2)
Malcolm
Posts: 42974
Joined: Thu Nov 11, 2010 2:19 am

Re: DNA TESTS

Post by Malcolm »

Coëmgenu wrote: Mon Apr 23, 2018 3:44 pm
Malcolm wrote: Mon Apr 23, 2018 2:55 pm
MiphamFan wrote: Mon Apr 23, 2018 2:44 pm How much Neanderthal DNA do you all have?
1.3 percent. People call me "blond," but I am really a redhead.
Was your red always lighter or was it particularly redder when you were younger?
I was a towhead when little. Then my hair shifted red. If my mother is any example, I won't go grey until my late 70's. My brother on the other hand, had much redder hair than mine, and his hair went shocking white in his 40's.
User avatar
conebeckham
Posts: 5705
Joined: Mon Jun 14, 2010 11:49 pm
Location: Bay Area, CA, USA

Re: DNA TESTS

Post by conebeckham »

I'm awaiting results from LivingDNA.com, myself. Given my last name, and fairly extensive research on my mother's side (maiden name Lewin), it's a sure bet most of me is British/English. Definitely some German in there, whether Angle, Saxon or whatnot. LivingDNA breaks down the British Isles into more regions than any other test, which is why I chose them. My family lore has it that "Lewin" may be originally Welsh, Llewellyn, or something....but it could also be Leofwine, Anglo Saxon.

I anticipate some Native American, as well, given the family lore....Wampanoag, and possibly Cherokee, not that the test will tell me any of that.

Several of my Tibetan friends have had theirs done, and of course Mongolian figures in their DNA...but interestingly there's Native American markers in a few....also Korean and Japanese!
དམ་པའི་དོན་ནི་ཤེས་རབ་ཆེ་བ་དང་།
རྟོག་གེའི་ཡུལ་མིན་བླ་མའི་བྱིན་རླབས་དང་།
སྐལ་ལྡན་ལས་འཕྲོ་ཅན་གྱིས་རྟོགས་པ་སྟེ།
དེ་ནི་ཤེས་རབ་ལ་ནི་ལོ་རྟོག་སེལ།།


"Absolute Truth is not an object of analytical discourse or great discriminating wisdom,
It is realized through the blessing grace of the Guru and fortunate Karmic potential.
Like this, mistaken ideas of discriminating wisdom are clarified."
- (Kyabje Bokar Rinpoche, from his summary of "The Ocean of Definitive Meaning")
User avatar
Yavana
Posts: 1158
Joined: Sat Apr 16, 2016 5:15 am
Location: Trumpaloka

Re: DNA TESTS

Post by Yavana »

Malcolm wrote: Mon Apr 23, 2018 2:33 pm I am related to all Native American men on both continents.
My late paternal grandmother, like many Anglo-Americans, claimed to be part Native American. Cherokee, IIRC. Claims of Native American ancestry are fairly common in the States by people of whatever stock. ...When it comes to bragging about it, however, this takes the proverbial cake.

:lol:
User avatar
Yavana
Posts: 1158
Joined: Sat Apr 16, 2016 5:15 am
Location: Trumpaloka

Re: DNA TESTS

Post by Yavana »

justsit wrote: Mon Apr 23, 2018 1:57 pm In our discussion of the test, though, some questions arose about the consent she gave. Turns out the fine print allows companies to sell the acquired data for research and advertising purposes; some apparently also take legal ownership rights to your DNA profile. https://thinkprogress.org/ancestry-com- ... feed02b9e/

In the world of Big Brother, this makes me vaguely uneasy. It could be one of those seemingly innocuous things that could have unintended consequences down the line.
Casts a whole new horrific and dystopian light on the phrase, "You just got owned!"
Norwegian
Posts: 2632
Joined: Thu Dec 01, 2011 7:36 pm

Re: DNA TESTS

Post by Norwegian »

I have not had a DNA test done, but I am very curious, especially since it can give you results much further back than any genealogy research can give you. With regards to the traditional genealogy research, there's my mother and there's my father. On my father's side I know very little (I also have no contact with my father) except that my father's father was Sami, which makes me quarter Sami (but I've never identified as such, perhaps only my father's father did that, but I am only guessing). So a DNA test showing anything there could be fascinating.

Then on my mothers side, there's my grandfather and grandmother. Those are the two that formed the basis for my research where I've had results going as far back as the middle ages. Primarily countries like Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. An entry from Germany in late 1500's, a male who had children who moved to Norway. A Norwegian woman who married an Englishman in the 1600's.

Or the Scottish businessman (an ancestor of the Earl of Orkney) who was situated in Bergen, who had a customer who couldn't pay back his loan, which resulted with Scottish businessman moving to north Norway, taking over his entire farm and from there becoming part of a large trade center, and then his offspring ... their offspring ... their offspring ... etc. my great great grandfather, great grandfather, grandfather... mother... me...

All of these lineages whether direct, indirect, or sprawling left and right, are very interesting to see on paper, because you get to read intimate history that you can place in a larger context of things, and the more results you get, the easier it is to see the migrational patterns form.

A DNA test then would be very fun to combine into the traditional genealogy research I've done.
User avatar
Virgo
Posts: 4844
Joined: Sat Feb 06, 2010 3:47 am
Location: Uni-verse

Re: DNA TESTS

Post by Virgo »

Mantrik wrote: Mon Apr 23, 2018 9:09 am So, I had my DNA ancestry test done as a birthday present recently.

Armed with the results and my family tree I can now confirm that I am mostly Irish (from around Tipperary, rural poor) almost a third Austrian (Vienna, bastard royalty), about a fifth English (Yorkshire), and the rest mostly Scandinavian/NW Russia (no clue why, except the Vikings maybe).

I haven't had the medical analysis of predispositions to different diseases as I don't think it would hold any surprises as I already know about the past few generations of my family.

Now, I'm not much bothered about bloodlines (unless there's an inheritance of course) and have much more interest in karma, past lives etc.
I've already found cousins I never knew I had. I'm not about to go visiting them, but some people I know take it really seriously and go off travelling on some sort of 'DNA hippy trail/bucket list'.

I just wondered if others have had the test done and what it means to them.
based on my parents DNA tests, I am 98% Irish and 2% Scandinavian.

What do I make of it? I am 98% Irish and 2% Scandinavian. :)

Kevin
User avatar
Mantrik
Former staff member
Posts: 2248
Joined: Sun Apr 09, 2017 8:55 pm
Contact:

Re: DNA TESTS

Post by Mantrik »

Virgo wrote: Mon Apr 23, 2018 6:17 pm
Mantrik wrote: Mon Apr 23, 2018 9:09 am So, I had my DNA ancestry test done as a birthday present recently.

Armed with the results and my family tree I can now confirm that I am mostly Irish (from around Tipperary, rural poor) almost a third Austrian (Vienna, bastard royalty), about a fifth English (Yorkshire), and the rest mostly Scandinavian/NW Russia (no clue why, except the Vikings maybe).

I haven't had the medical analysis of predispositions to different diseases as I don't think it would hold any surprises as I already know about the past few generations of my family.

Now, I'm not much bothered about bloodlines (unless there's an inheritance of course) and have much more interest in karma, past lives etc.
I've already found cousins I never knew I had. I'm not about to go visiting them, but some people I know take it really seriously and go off travelling on some sort of 'DNA hippy trail/bucket list'.

I just wondered if others have had the test done and what it means to them.
based on my parents DNA tests, I am 98% Irish and 2% Scandinavian.

What do I make of it? I am 98% Irish and 2% Scandinavian. :)

Kevin
Depending on the generation, if you have a grandparent born in Ireland you can claim citizenship - dual nationality may be very useful to those of us in the UK or US if things get more bothersome.

I had one rumour confirmed by the family tree and DNA combo. Even though the birth certificate for one relative had the father's surname torn off, other relatives are a close DNA match and points to that relative being a bastard son of an Austrian aristocrat.

Two others rumours can now be dismissed. Great granny did not get pregnant after getting jiggy with an Italian opera singer and she didn't marry an Irishman while pregnant with the Italian's child.

Like me, one bonus is that you can walk around annoying people by alternately sounding like Father Ted and the Chef from Sesame Street! lol :)
http://www.khyung.com ཁྲོཾ

Om Thathpurushaya Vidhmahe
Suvarna Pakshaya Dheemahe
Thanno Garuda Prachodayath

Micchāmi Dukkaḍaṃ (मिच्छामि दुक्कडम्)
User avatar
Mantrik
Former staff member
Posts: 2248
Joined: Sun Apr 09, 2017 8:55 pm
Contact:

Re: DNA TESTS

Post by Mantrik »

conebeckham wrote: Mon Apr 23, 2018 4:11 pm I'm awaiting results from LivingDNA.com, myself. Given my last name, and fairly extensive research on my mother's side (maiden name Lewin), it's a sure bet most of me is British/English. Definitely some German in there, whether Angle, Saxon or whatnot. LivingDNA breaks down the British Isles into more regions than any other test, which is why I chose them. My family lore has it that "Lewin" may be originally Welsh, Llewellyn, or something....but it could also be Leofwine, Anglo Saxon.

I anticipate some Native American, as well, given the family lore....Wampanoag, and possibly Cherokee, not that the test will tell me any of that.

Several of my Tibetan friends have had theirs done, and of course Mongolian figures in their DNA...but interestingly there's Native American markers in a few....also Korean and Japanese!
The acid test for English Beckham blood is undeniably the ability to play soccer and speak in a high pitched voice, but not necessarily at the same time. You can fake the latter after repeated scrotal impact, which may require a football or a Spice Girl.

You may be assured of Welsh ancestry if you can complete an entire sentence without vowels but not without 4 pints of warm beer and singing 'Bread of Heaven' at the end. If it proves to be so, you are required to change your name to Dai and add a suitable suffix, so people can call you 'Dai the Bass' .

I know these things as I have enough Yorkshire blood always to be right about everything. Aye, lad. :)
http://www.khyung.com ཁྲོཾ

Om Thathpurushaya Vidhmahe
Suvarna Pakshaya Dheemahe
Thanno Garuda Prachodayath

Micchāmi Dukkaḍaṃ (मिच्छामि दुक्कडम्)
User avatar
Queequeg
Former staff member
Posts: 14454
Joined: Tue Jul 03, 2012 3:24 pm

Re: DNA TESTS

Post by Queequeg »

I did the National Geographic test, mostly because they give you the raw data and it is entered in a research database - contribution to science and all that. With the raw data you can take that to other testing companies and run it through their databases. I didn't find anything interesting or surprising first go round so I didn't bother running it through other databases. In terms of percentages, it broke down pretty much as I expected. The most surprising thing was that my European blood lines reflected that my ancestors, even after coming to the New World, some of them 350 years ago, kept to their ethnic group (French Canadian - Je me souviens, indeed. Probably also a testament to the discrimination toward the French) I collate that info with faintly recollected studies that suggest people commonly used to inbreed among cousins, which makes sense since people tended to stay within 25 miles of the place they were born for generations... The National Geographic site offers an interactive explanation that shows where your ancestors migrated. On the European side, basically, they came out of Africa, bounced around the Caucasus for some centuries, then ended up in their respective parts of Western Europe for centuries. It just made me think how unadventurous those blood lines have been. Interestingly, it shows the migration patterns that has been postulated by historians - that the first waves out of the Caucasus were the Gaelic tribes, though I understand there were two waves - one that came direct from the Caucasus through Turkey and the other IIRC came up around the Black Sea... apparently I have both.

On the other are my Japanese lines that made their way up to the steppes and shot across Eurasia, down into East Asia and into Japan. I imagine them chasing big game across that expanse until they hit Siberia and turned South. In comparison to my European ancestors, I valorize their sense of adventure...

My wife is 99% Ashkenazi Jewish... I joke that she has ruined her blood line by having kids with me. Her DNA map basically comes out of Africa, ends up in Central Europe and doesn't move for millennia.

Cone commented that Tibetans share some genes with Japanese - I suspect that is from some of the common ancestors whose descendants broke off in Mongolia/Manchuria - some of whom went down into Korea and then over to Japan, and others who went south and ended up in Tibet and parts of China.
There is no suffering to be severed. Ignorance and klesas are indivisible from bodhi. There is no cause of suffering to be abandoned. Since extremes and the false are the Middle and genuine, there is no path to be practiced. Samsara is nirvana. No severance achieved. No suffering nor its cause. No path, no end. There is no transcendent realm; there is only the one true aspect. There is nothing separate from the true aspect.
-Guanding, Perfect and Sudden Contemplation,
User avatar
Mantrik
Former staff member
Posts: 2248
Joined: Sun Apr 09, 2017 8:55 pm
Contact:

Re: DNA TESTS

Post by Mantrik »

Malcolm wrote: Mon Apr 23, 2018 2:55 pm
MiphamFan wrote: Mon Apr 23, 2018 2:44 pm How much Neanderthal DNA do you all have?
1.3 percent. People call me "blond," but I am really a redhead.
Which test shows that Neanderthal element up?
http://www.khyung.com ཁྲོཾ

Om Thathpurushaya Vidhmahe
Suvarna Pakshaya Dheemahe
Thanno Garuda Prachodayath

Micchāmi Dukkaḍaṃ (मिच्छामि दुक्कडम्)
Post Reply

Return to “Lounge”