16 dances with a beam of light,
20 Om Muni Muni Maha Muni Yea Swaha
22 Gun dro nga tang yul nge nga
23 Gewa ju jik dza nyon druk
24 Nye nyon nyi shu shen gyur shi
25 Sem chung nga jik di dak o.
27 religious letter games...
48 om a ra ba tsa na di di di di di di di di di di di di di di di di di di di di
50 Om Mani Padme Hum (Hail to the Lotus Jewel)
52 The paths are many, the truth is one
54 Mickey Mouse has no wife, no horse, no mustache
56 where you are is where you were when you are where you will be.
59 don't let them immanentize your personal eschaton
61 nga tsho gyis rang gi gyo bar sems can song ba'i dgos.
62 (we should be self-motivating sentient beings.)
66 Acts without impediment
69 Yet he does not know himself
70 To be "kind," to be "gentle"
72 When an archer is shooting for nothing
74 If he shoots for a brass buckle
75 He is already nervous.
76 If he shoots for a prize of gold
79 He is out of his mind!
81 His skill has not changed. But the prize
82 Divides him. He cares.
83 He thinks more of winning
88 By giving, resources; by ethics, bliss
90 One may lead a horse to water, but cannot make him think.
94 neither i nor you nor anything exists truly
95 i, you and everything each have our own existence
96 the view between the two extremes is the middle way
99 Mickey Mouse and Mickey Rooney have something in common.
101 Natural language is hard.
102 -- (a prominent natural language scholar; do you know who? i don't.)
104 not this not this not this, what is it?
110 sangs rgyas kyi tshad mas ma nges ba'i phyir.
111 (the subject "horns of a rabbit" does not exist because it is not an object
112 validly cognized by a buddha.)
115 what you don't see is what you get when you don't look. -- fred t. hamster
117 this bell's knelling is never quelled,
118 while service is rendered,
119 tin staccato splattered over cupric strands,
120 spraying crazed meaning to distant lands.
124 To conquer oneself is a greater task than conquering others.
127 It is hard to think of what one is doing when one is doing it.
130 No program is so finished that a few bug fixes won't destroy it.
133 Words obscure meaning. -- fred t. hamster
135 There's a Ribong in my Attic, There's a Ribong in my Chair.
136 There's a Ribong in my Dipstick, There's a Ribong in my Hair.
137 In fact, there's a Ribong everywhere.
140 In the context of a spreadsheet system, the user must ensure that the
141 sheet is thoroughly spread onto the bed.
144 nechung: unable to open fortunes.dat file. (just kidding)
146 are you only using half your brain?
147 if you can only think in terms of logical conclusions, rational assumptions,
149 if you can only think in terms of intuitive jumps, esthetic motivations,
150 and the fluid nature of reality,
151 then you probably are stuck on one side of your head. try moving into
155 time has eight eyes and three elbows...
156 and millions of clocks.
159 i refuse to ignore what i cannot perceive. -- fred t. hamster
161 if you can't change your mind,
162 are you sure you've still got one?
164 The only people who deserve to be called "Americans" are called "Indians".
167 you are contemplative and analytical by nature
172 -- Merlin in Excalibur
174 Charlottesville, Virginia: gravity well for the soul.
176 if one is always ambiguous enough, he is never wrong.
177 but he never says anything either.
180 Protect Children, Feed Bunnies, Heal Sickness, Understand Reality
183 Improve the environment and the government;
184 feed politicians toxic waste.
186 alright, so it was a slow night.
187 alright, so it was a slow knight.
188 all night, what a slow knight.
189 there's slightly white snow tonight.
190 tight flights light from the height of night.
194 sasquatch in my breakfast cereal. -- fred t. hamster
196 "what i say is unimportant." -- david w andrews
197 "i'll keep that in mind." -- chris koeritz
199 "are Israelis Catholic?" -- christine kelly
203 -- seen in April 1991 High Times
207 -- co-authored by dave and chris
209 we grow old as soon as we cease to love and trust.
210 -- Madame De Choiseul
212 marijuana is a natural mollifier.
214 I lived in solitude in the country and noticed how the
215 monotony of a quiet life stimulates the creative mind.
220 -- Christian N. Bovee
222 Vitality shows not only in the ability to persist,
223 but the ability to start over.
224 -- F. Scott Fitzgerald
226 One meets his destiny often in the road he takes to avoid it.
229 The cobra will bite you whether you call it cobra or Mr. Cobra.
232 The first casualty when war comes is truth. -- Hiram Johnson, 1917
234 Among the calamities of war may be jointly numbered the diminution of the
235 love of truth, by the falsehoods which interest dictates and credulity
237 -- Samuel Johnson, from The Idler, 1758
239 Luck sometimes visits a fool, but never sits down with him.
242 How old would you be if you didn't know how old you were? -- Satchel Page
244 Yeah, you got a point there man. Just let
245 your hair grow and nobody'll ever find out.
248 Eloquence is vehement simplicity. -- Richard Cecil
250 Two of my correspondents labeled me 'self-righteous', by which
251 they seem to have meant that they think they are righter
255 Every thought I have imprisoned in expression I must free by my deeds.
258 the other is a measure of the self. -- fred hamster
260 it is not who we are that defines us, but what we do.
261 the actions we take are the real indication of where our minds
262 and bodies are at, an expression of our being.
263 when one does not act, one cannot harm,
264 but by not acting when action could help another,
267 if what you are doing right now isn't broadening your mind
268 or elevating your spirit through total awareness of the essence,
269 then find that broadness! that elevation!
270 if an activity doesn't wake you up and tickle you,
271 then tickle yourself. that load which cannot be unburdened
274 the only people i don't like are those who don't want me to like them...
275 and i try to like them when they're not paying attention.
278 to george h. w. bush (on the occasion of our last meeting):
279 "you're a suit where a person should be."
281 The numbah uh bits in a compyooter word should NOT bee ayut, nor
282 sixuhteeen, nor thirty tooo, mah frayends. For vayrilee, it should
283 bee fifty! Theeuss would gayruntee that the sanctitty of our
284 great nayshun would be forevah preeserved! Theyuh would be just
285 one bit for each an every good stayett in this heyuh fahnnn nasyshun,
286 the YOOnited Stayetts of AhhMayReekah!
288 Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
289 -- Lord Acton, Letter, 5 April 1887
291 No man means all he says, and yet very few say all they mean,
292 for words are slippery and thought is viscous.
293 -- Henry B. Adams, "The Education of Henry Adams", 1907
295 One friend in a lifetime is much; two are many; three are hardly possible.
296 -- Henry B. Adams, "The Education of Henry Adams", 1907
298 It is easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them.
299 -- Alfred Adler, 1939
301 Good art is not what it looks like, but what it does to us.
302 -- Roy Adzak, quoted in "Contemporary Artists", 1977
304 A crust eaten in peace is better than a banquet partaken in anxiety. -- Aesop
306 Be content with your lot; one cannot be first in everything. -- Aesop
308 We would often be sorry if our wishes were gratified. -- Aesop
310 The paper burns, but the words fly away. -- Ben Joseph Akiba
312 Never eat at a place called Mom's. Never play cards with a man named Doc.
313 And never lie down with a woman who's got more trouble than you.
314 -- Nelson Algren, "What Every Young Man Should Know"
316 Most of us spend the first 6 days of each week sowing wild oats,
317 then we go to church on Sunday and pray for a crop failure.
320 Leisure time is that five or six hours when you sleep at night.
323 I don't want to achieve immortality through my work.
324 I want to achieve it through not dying.
327 The lion and the calf shall lie down together
328 but the calf won't get much sleep.
331 If only God would give me some clear sign! Like making a
332 large deposit in my name at a Swiss bank.
333 -- Woody Allen, "Without Feathers"
335 The difference between sex and death is that with death
336 you can do it alone and no one is going to make fun of you.
337 -- Woody Allen, quoted in "New York Tribune", 1975
339 It seemed the world was divided into good and bad people.
340 The good ones slept better... while the bad ones seemed
341 to enjoy the waking hours much more.
342 -- Woody Allen, "Side Effects" 1981
344 Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.
345 -- Muhammad Ali, in "Time", 1978
347 Doing easily what others find difficult is talent;
348 doing what is impossible for talent is genius.
349 -- Henri-Frederic Amiel, "Journal", 1883
351 In any country there must be people who have to die. They are the
352 sacrifices any nation has to make to achieve law and order.
353 -- Idi Amin Dada, 1976
355 God has been replaced, as he has all over the West,
356 with respectability and air conditioning.
357 -- Imamu Amiri Baraka, "Home", 1966
359 Most plain girls are virtuous because of the scarcity
360 of opportunity to be otherwise.
361 -- Maya Angelou, "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings", 1969
363 Death is life's answer to the question 'Why?' -- Anonymous
365 God is not dead. He is alive and working on a less ambitious project.
368 In March July, October, May,
369 The Ides are on the fifteenth day,
370 The Nones the seventh: all other months besides
371 Have two days less for Nones and Ides.
374 Never argue with a fool--people might not know the difference. -- Anonymous
376 Never go to sea with two chronometers; take one or three. -- Anonymous
378 The fewer clear facts you have in support of an opinion,
379 the stronger your emotional attachment to that opinion.
382 Vote early and vote often. -- Anonymous, on US election banners, 1850's
384 You're never alone with schizophrenia. -- Anonymous
386 Resolved, that the women of this nation in 1876, have greater cause
387 for discontent, rebellion and revolution than the men of 1776.
390 Women like silent men. They think they're listening. -- Marcel Archard
392 We make war that we may live in peace. -- Aristotle
394 What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies. -- Aristotle
396 Wit is cultured insolence. -- Aristotle
398 That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind. -- Neil Armstrong
400 What passes for optimism is most often the effect of an intellectual error.
401 -- Raymond Aron, "The Opium of the Intellectuals", 1957
403 We are still speaking the same language,
404 but neither of us is hearing the other.
405 -- Hafez Assad, on Syrian relations with Egypt, in "Time", 3 April 1989
407 If Gary Hart had seen Fatal Attraction two years ago,
408 he'd probably be President.
409 -- Bruce Babbitt, 1988 Presidential Campaign
411 Hope is a good breakfast, but it is a bad supper. -- Francis Bacon, 1624
413 Rebellions of the belly are the worst. -- Francis Bacon
415 It is good to be without vices, but it is not good to be without temptations.
416 -- Walter Bagehot, "Biographical Studies", 1863
418 Be careful what you set your heart upon--for it will surely be yours.
419 -- James Baldwin, "Nobody Knows My Name" 1961
421 Nobody is more dangerous than he who imagines himself pure in heart;
422 for his purity, by definition, is unassailable.
423 -- James Baldwin, "Nobody Knows My Name" 1961
425 The future is like heaven--everyone exalts it,
426 but no one wants to go there now.
427 -- James Baldwin, "Nobody Knows My Name", 1961
429 It is easier to be a lover than a husband for the simple reason
430 that it is more difficult to be witty every day
431 than to say pretty things from time to time.
432 -- Honore de Balzac, "The Physiology of Marriage", 1829
434 Marriage must incessantly contend with a monster
435 that devours everything: familiarity.
436 -- Honore de Balzac, "The Physiology of Marriage", 1829
438 The duration of passion is proportionate
439 with the original resistance of the woman.
440 -- Honore de Balzac, "The Physiology of Marriage", 1829
442 It's the good girls who keep diaries; the bad girls never have the time.
445 Television is the first truly democratic culture--the first culture
446 available to everybody and entirely governed by what the people want.
447 The most terrifying thing is what people do want.
448 -- Clive Barnes, in "New York Times", 1969
450 What is an adult? A child blown up by age.
451 -- Simone de Beauvoir, "La Femme rompue", 1967
453 Now comes the mystery.
454 -- Henry Ward Beecher, last words, 8 March 1887
456 Critics are like eunuchs in a harem: they know how it's done,
457 they've seen it done every day, but they're unable to do it themselves.
460 The most important things to do in this world are to get something
461 to eat, something to drink and somebody to love you.
462 -- Brendan Behan, in "Weekend", 1968
464 Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils.
465 -- Hector Berlioz, "Almanach des lettres francaises"
467 So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.
470 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. -- Psalms 111:10
472 Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.
475 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;
476 fools despise wisdom and instruction.
479 The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong.
482 No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate one and love the other,
483 or he will hold to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and riches.
486 And which of you by being anxious can add a single cubit to his life's span?
489 Greater love hath no man than this,
490 that a man lay down his life for his friends.
493 Spring beckons! All things to the call respond;
494 the trees are leaving and cashiers abscond.
495 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 1911
497 Beauty, n: the power by which a woman charms a lover and terrifies a husband.
498 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 1911
500 Belladonna, n. In Italian a beautiful lady; in English a deadly poison.
501 A striking example of the essential identity of the two tongues.
502 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 1911
504 Bore, n: a person who talks when you wish him to listen.
505 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 1911
507 Conservative, n: a statesman who is enamoured of existing evils, as
508 distinguished from a Liberal who wishes to replace them with others.
509 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 1911
511 Cynic, n: a blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are,
512 not as they ought to be.
513 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 1911
515 Marriage, n: the state or condition of a community
516 consisting of a master, a mistress, and two slaves,
518 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 1911
520 Quotation, n: The act of repeating erroneously the words of another.
521 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 1911
523 Politeness, n: The most acceptable hypocrisy.
524 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 1911
526 Yankee, n: In Europe, an American.
527 In the Northern States of our Union, a New Englander.
528 In the Southern States the word is unknown. (See DAMYANK.)
529 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 1911
531 The wheel that squeaks the loudest is the one that gets the grease.
532 -- Josh Billings, "The Kicker"
534 People never lie so much as after a hunt, during a war or before an election.
537 Universal suffrage is the government of a house by its nursery.
540 The first sign of a nervous breakdown is when you start
541 thinking your work is terribly important.
544 An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes
545 which can be made, in a narrow field.
548 The opposite of a correct statement is a false statement. But the
549 opposite of a profound truth may well be another profound truth.
552 If you think education is expensive, try ignorance. -- Derek Bok, 1978
554 The test of the morality of a society is what it does for its children.
555 -- Dietrich Bonhoeffer
557 Because I am a woman, I must make unusual efforts to succeed.
558 If I fail, no one will say, 'She doesn't have what it takes.'
559 They will say, 'Women don't have what it takes.'
562 Censorship, like charity, should begin at home,
563 but unlike charity, it should end there.
566 No good deed goes unpunished. -- Clare Boothe Luce
568 When in doubt, mumble; when in trouble, delegate; when in charge, ponder.
571 Laughter is the shortest distance between two people. -- Victor Borge
573 Nothing is built on stone; all is built on sand,
574 but we must build as if the sand were stone.
575 -- Jorge Luis Borges, 1972
577 We never know whether we are victors or whether we are defeated.
578 -- Jorge Luis Borges, "Borges On Writing", 1974
580 It is possible to store the mind with a million facts
581 and still be entirely uneducated.
582 -- Alec Bourne, "A Doctor's Creed"
584 Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. If we continue
585 to develop our technology without wisdom or prudence, our servant
586 may prove to be our executioner.
587 -- General Omar Bradley
589 Grub first, then ethics. -- Bertolt Brecht
591 I either want less corruption, or more chance to participate in it.
592 -- Ashleigh Brilliant
594 Please don't ask me what the score is, I'm not even sure what the game is.
595 -- Ashleigh Brilliant
597 To be sure of hitting the target, shoot first,
598 and call whatever you hit the target.
599 -- Ashleigh Brilliant
601 No science is immune to the infection of politics and the corruption of power.
602 -- Jacob Bronowski, in "Encounter", 1971
604 Never offend people with style when you can offend them with substance.
605 -- Sam Brown, in "Washington Post", 1977
607 Never do today what you can put off till tomorrow.
608 -- Matthew Browne, "Lilliput Levee"
610 As a mother, I know that homosexuals cannot biologically
611 reproduce children; therefore, they must recruit our children.
612 -- Anita Bryant, 1977
614 Idealism is fine, but as it approaches reality, the costs become prohibitive.
615 -- William F. Buckley
617 Before you kill something make sure you have something better
618 to replace it with; something better than political opportunist
619 slamming hate horsesh*t in the public park.
620 -- Charles Bukowski, "Notes of a Dirty Old Man", 1969
622 We love your adherence to democratic principles.
623 -- George HW Bush speaking to Ferdinand Marcos, June 1981
625 The final lesson of Viet Nam is that no great nation
626 can long afford to be sundered by a memory.
627 -- George HW Bush, 1989 Inaugural Address
629 The caribou love [the Alaska oil pipeline].
630 They run up against it, and they have babies.
631 -- George HW Bush, 1988 and again "New York Times", 3 April 1989
633 It would be inappropriate for the President of the United States
634 to try to fine-tune for the people of Hungary how they ought to eat -
635 how the cow ought to eat the cabbage, as we say in the United States.
636 -- George HW Bush, quoted in "Philadelphia Inquirer", 13 July 1989
638 An expert is one who knows more and more about less and less.
639 -- Nicholas Murray Butler
641 Friendship is like money, easier made than kept. -- Samuel Butler
643 The man who lets himself be bored is even more contemptible than the bore.
644 -- Samuel Butler, "The Fair Haven", 1873
646 Any fool can tell the truth, but it requires a man of some sense
647 to know how to lie well.
648 -- Samuel Butler, "Notebooks" 1912
650 Marriage is distinctly and repeatedly excluded from heaven.
651 Is this because it is thought likely to mar the general felicity?
652 -- Samuel Butler, "Notebooks" 1912
654 One was never married, and that's his hell; another is, and that's his plague.
655 -- Robert Burton, 1651
657 For truth is always strange; stranger than fiction.
658 -- Lord Byron, "Don Juan", 1818
660 The optimist proclaims we live in the best of all possible worlds;
661 and the pessimist fears this is true.
662 -- James B. Cabell, "The Silver Stallion" 1926
664 Men willingly believe what they wish. -- Julius Caesar
666 What is life? An illusion, a shadow, a story.
667 And the greatest good is little enough:
668 for all life is a dream, and dreams themselves are only dreams.
669 -- Pedro Calderon de la Barca, "Life is a Dream"
671 It is better to be defeated on principle than to win on lies.
672 -- Arthur Calwell, 1968
674 An honest politician is one who when he is bought will stay bought.
677 Every revolutionary ends up either by becoming an oppressor or a heretic.
678 -- Albert Camus, "The Rebel", 1951
680 When I sell liquor, its called bootlegging; when my patrons serve
681 it on a silver tray on Lake Shore Drive, it's called hospitality.
684 You can get much farther with a kind word and a gun
685 than you can with a kind word alone.
688 Anyone who can walk to the welfare office can walk to work.
689 -- Al Capp, in "Esquire", 1970
691 It is long accepted by the missionaries that morality is inversely
692 proportional to the amount of clothing people wore.
695 "Contrariwise," continued Tweedledee, "if it was so, it might be,
696 and if it were so, it would be; but as it isn't, it ain't. That's logic!"
697 -- Lewis Carroll, "Through the Looking Glass"
699 Because of the greatness of the Shah, Iran is an island of stability
701 -- Jimmy Carter, 31 December 1977
703 Diplomacy is the art of saying "Nice doggie!" till you can find a rock.
706 As long as people will accept crap,
707 it will be financially profitable to dispense it.
708 -- Dick Cavett, in "Playboy", 1971
710 Everything beautiful has its moment and then passes away.
711 -- Luis Cernuda, "Las Ruinas"
713 A proverb is a short sentence based on long experience.
714 -- Miguel de Cervantes
716 I speak Spanish to God, Italian to women,
717 French to men, and German to my horse.
718 -- Charles V, King of France
720 In some cases non-violence requires more militancy than violence.
723 He who asks is a fool for five minutes,
724 but he who does not ask remains a fool forever.
727 The man who strikes first admits that his ideas have given out.
730 I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly,
731 or whether I am now a butterfly dreaming I am a man.
734 I like a man who grins when he fights. -- Winston Churchill
736 I like pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us.
737 Pigs treat us as equals.
740 It is a good thing for an uneducated man to read books of quotations.
743 Man will occasionally stumble over the truth,
744 but most times he will pick himself up and carry on.
747 Politics are very much like war. We may even have to use poison gas at times.
750 The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings;
751 the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.
754 Everyone has his day and some days last longer than others.
755 -- Winston Churchill, Speech, January 1952
757 Preparation, knowledge, and discipline can deal with any form of danger.
758 -- Tom Clancy, "The Hunt for Red October", 1984
760 Who will protect the public when the police violate the law?
763 It may be that our role on this planet is not to worship God,
767 Politicians should read science fiction, not westerns and detective stories.
770 Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
771 -- Arthur C. Clarke, "Profiles of the Future", 1962
773 You're either part of the solution or part of the problem.
774 -- Eldridge Cleaver, 1968
776 The price of hating other human beings is loving oneself less.
777 -- Eldridge Cleaver, "Soul on Ice", 1968
779 America is the only nation in history which miraculously
780 has gone directly from barbarism to degeneration without
781 the usual interval of civilization.
782 -- Georges Clemenceau, 1 December 1945
784 War is much too serious a matter to be entrusted to the military.
785 -- Georges Clemenceau
787 When you have nothing to say, say nothing. -- Charles Caleb Colton
789 I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.
792 If we don't know life, how can we know death? -- Confucius
794 Learning without thought is labor lost; thought without learning is perilous.
797 Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance. -- Confucius
799 What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others. -- Confucius
801 When we see persons of worth, we should think of equaling them;
802 when we see persons of a contrary character,
803 we should turn inwards and examine ourselves.
806 Imprisoned in every fat man a thin man is wildly signaling to be let out.
807 -- Cyril Connolly, "The Unquiet Grave" 1945
809 Slums may well be breeding grounds of crime,
810 but middle class suburbs are incubators of apathy and delirium.
811 -- Cyril Connolly, "The Unquiet Grave" 1945
813 Truth is a river that is always splitting up into arms that reunite.
814 Islanded between the arms the inhabitants argue for a lifetime
815 as to which is the main river.
816 -- Cyril Connolly, "The Unquiet Grave" 1945
818 Always be nice to those younger than you, because they are the ones
819 who will be writing about you.
820 -- Cyril Connolly, "Journal and Memoir" 1983
822 Youth is a period of missed opportunities.
823 -- Cyril Connolly, "Journal and Memoir" 1983
825 The past is the only dead thing that smells sweet.
826 -- Cyril Connolly, "Journal and Memoir" 1983
828 You shall judge a man by his foes as well as by his friends.
829 -- Joseph Conrad, "Lord Jim", 1900
831 The horror! The horror!
832 -- Joseph Conrad, "Heart of Darkness", 1902
834 I love Vermont because of her hills and valleys, her scenery and
835 invigorating climate, but most of all because of her indomitable people.
836 -- Calvin Coolidge, Speech, 21 September 1928
838 Don't talk unless you can improve the silence. -- Laurence Coughlin
840 A man feared that he might find an assassin;
841 Another that he might find a victim.
842 One was more wise than the other.
843 -- Stephan Crane, "The Black Riders and Other Lines", 1895
845 I stood upon a high place, and saw, below, many devils,
846 running, leaping, and carousing in sin.
847 One looked up, grinning, and said, "Comrade! Brother!"
848 -- Stephan Crane, "The Black Riders and Other Lines", 1895
850 I walked in a desert.
852 "Ah, God, take me from this place!"
853 A voice said, "It is no desert."
854 I cried, "Well, but---
855 "The sand, the heat, the vacant horizon."
856 A voice said, "It is no desert."
857 -- Stephan Crane, "The Black Riders and Other Lines", 1895
859 I was in the darkness;
860 I could not see my words
861 Nor the wishes of my heart.
862 Then suddenly there was a great light---
863 "Let me into the darkness again."
864 -- Stephan Crane, "The Black Riders and Other Lines", 1895
866 A man said to the universe, "Sir, I exist." "However," replied the universe,
867 "the fact has not created in me a sense of obligation."
868 -- Stephan Crane, "War is Kind", 1899
870 There is growing evidence that smoking has pharamacological ...
871 effects that are of real value to smokers.
872 -- Joseph F. Cullman III (Pres. of Phillip Morris)
873 Annual Report to Stockholders, 1962
875 There are no atheists in the foxholes.
876 -- William Thomas Cummings, 1942
878 Old friends pass away, new friends appear. It is just like the days.
879 An old day passes, a new day arrives. The important thing is to
880 make it meaningful: a meaningful friend, or a meaningful day.
881 -- the 14th Dalai Lama, interview in "TIME", 11 April 1988
883 The hottest places in Hell are reserved for those who in time
884 of great moral crises maintain their neutrality.
887 The first half of our lives is ruined by our parents,
888 and the second half by our children.
891 There is no such thing as justice--in or out of court.
892 -- Clarence Darrow, Interview, April 1936
894 When I was a boy I was told that anybody could become President;
895 I'm beginning to believe it.
898 The world is full of people whose notion of a satisfactory future is,
899 in fact, a return to the idealised past.
900 -- Robertson Davies, "A Voice from the Attic", 1960
902 There is no such thing as a nonracial society
903 in a multiracial country.
904 -- F. W. de Klerk, President of South Africa,
905 quoted in _Time_, 11 September 1989
907 There are a million ways to lose a work day,
908 but not even a single way to get one back.
909 -- Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister, _Peopleware_, 1987
911 People are always talking about tradition, but they forget we have
912 a tradition of a few hundred years of nonsense and stupidity, that
913 there is a tradition of idiocy, incompetence and crudity.
914 -- Hugo Demartini, in "Contemporary Artists", 1977
916 Dreaming permits each and every one of us to be quietly
917 and safely insane every night of our lives.
918 -- William Dement, in "Newsweek", 1959
920 We spend the first twelve months of our children's lives teaching them
921 to walk and talk and the next twelve telling them to sit down and shut up.
924 I never deny, I never contradict. I sometimes forget.
927 There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.
930 Youth is a blunder, manhood a struggle, old age a regret.
931 -- Benjamin Disraeli, "Coningsby" 1844
933 The average Ph.D. thesis is nothing but a transference of bones
934 from one graveyard to another.
935 -- J. Frank Dobie, "A Texan in England", 1945
937 Love built on beauty, soon as beauty dies.
938 -- John Donne, "Elegy II, The Anagram"
940 Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself,
941 but talent instantly recognizes genius.
942 -- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, "The Valley of Fear", 1914
944 One of the lessons of history is that nothing is often a good thing to do
945 and always a clever thing to say.
946 -- Will Durant, in "Reader's Digest", 1972
948 Education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance.
949 -- Will Durant, in "National Enquirer", 1980
951 A man's got to know his limitations.
952 -- Clint Eastwood in "Magnum Force", 1973
954 History teaches us that men and nations behave wisely
955 once they have exhausted all other alternatives.
958 Genius is one per cent inspiration and ninety-nine per cent perspiration.
959 -- Thomas Alva Edison, "Life", 1932
961 There is no substitute for hard work.
962 -- Thomas Alva Edison, "Life", 1932
964 To err is human but to really foul things up requires a computer.
965 -- Paul Ehrlich, in "The Farmers Almanac, 1978"
967 Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen.
970 Equations are more important to me, because politics is for the present,
971 but an equation is something for eternity.
974 Quantum mechanics is certainly imposing. But an inner voice tells me that it
975 is not yet the real thing. The theory says a lot, but does not really bring us
976 any closer to the secret of the Old One. I, at any rate, am convinced that He
980 God may be subtle. But He is not malicious.
983 I do not believe that civilization will be wiped out in a war
984 fought with the atomic bomb. Perhaps two-thirds of the people
985 of the earth will be killed.
988 I never think of the future--it comes soon enough.
991 The important thing is not to stop questioning.
994 The release of atomic energy has not created a new problem. It has
995 merely made more urgent the necessity of solving an existing one.
998 The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.
1001 You see, wire telegraph is a kind of a very, very long cat. You pull his
1002 tail in New York and his head is meowing in Los Angeles. Do you understand
1003 this? And radio operates exactly the same way: you send signls here, they
1004 receive them there. The only difference is that there is no cat.
1007 Before God we are all equally wise--and equally foolish.
1008 -- Albert Einstein, "Cosmic Religion"
1010 The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is comprehensible.
1011 -- Albert Einstein, "Life", 1950
1013 Nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and
1014 the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced.
1015 -- Albert Einstein, "Ideas and Opinions", 1954
1017 A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both.
1018 -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
1020 I think that people want peace so much that one of these days
1021 government had better get out of their way and let them have it.
1022 -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
1024 In the final choice a soldier's pack is not so heavy as a prisoner's chains.
1025 -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
1027 We are going to have peace even if we have to fight for it.
1028 -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
1030 What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight -
1031 it's the size of the fight in the dog.
1032 -- Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1958
1034 This is the way the world ends. Not with a bang but a whimper.
1035 -- T. S. Eliot, "The Hollow Men", 1925
1037 The greatest task before civilization at present is to make machines
1038 what they ought to be, the slaves, instead of the masters of men.
1039 -- Havelock Ellis, "Little Essays of Love and Virtue", 1922
1041 The place where optimism most flourishes is the lunatic asylum.
1042 -- Havelock Ellis, "The Dance of Life", 1923
1044 The sun and the moon and the stars would have disappeared long ago...
1045 had they happened to be within the reach of predatory human hands.
1046 -- Havelock Ellis, "The Dance of Life", 1923
1048 What we call "morals" is simply blind obedience to words of command.
1049 -- Havelock Ellis, "The Dance of Life", 1923
1051 Always do what you are afraid to do. -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
1053 Foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds.
1054 -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
1056 What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters
1057 compared to what lies within us.
1058 -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
1060 When it is dark enough you can see the stars.
1061 -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
1063 To different minds, the same world is a hell, and a heaven.
1064 -- Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Journal", 20 December 1822
1066 A friend is a person with whom I may be sincere.
1067 Before him, I may think aloud.
1068 -- Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Essays", 1841
1070 I like the silent church before the service begins, better than any preaching.
1071 -- Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Essays", 1841
1073 To be great is to be misunderstood.
1074 -- Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Essays", 1841
1076 I hate quotations. Tell me what you know.
1077 -- Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Journal", May 1849
1079 Beauty without grace is the hook without the bait.
1080 -- Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Conduct of Life", 1860
1082 Hitch your wagon to a star.
1083 -- Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Conduct of Life", 1860
1085 A wise man first determines what is within his control;
1086 all else is then irrelevant.
1089 We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.
1092 War is delightful to those who have had no experience of it.
1093 -- Desiderius Erasmus
1095 A mathematician is a machine for turning coffee into theorems.
1098 A compromise is the art of dividing a cake in such a way
1099 that everyone believes he has the biggest piece.
1100 -- Ludwig Erhard, in "The Observer", 1958
1102 There's a difference between beauty and charm. A beautiful woman
1103 is one I notice. A charming woman is one who notices me.
1106 Millions long for immortality who do not know what to do
1107 with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon.
1110 Talk sense to a fool and he calls you foolish.
1113 The best of seers is he who guesses well.
1116 The camera cannot lie. But it can be an accessory to untruth.
1117 -- Harold Evans, "Pictures on a Page", 1978
1119 Passions are fashions.
1122 When you read a classic you do not see in the book more than you did before.
1123 You see more in you than there was before.
1124 -- Clifton Fadiman, "Any Number Can Play", 1957
1126 The only accident [at Three Mile Island] is that this thing leaked out.
1127 You could have avoided this whole thing by not saying anything.
1128 -- Craig Faust (control-room operator at TMI), 1979,
1129 quoted from "Loose Talk"
1131 If people really liked to work, we'd still be plowing the land with sticks
1132 and transporting goods on our backs.
1135 A myth is a religion in which no one any longer believes.
1136 -- James Feibleman, "Understanding Philosophy", 1973
1138 The way to a man's heart is through his stomach.
1139 -- Fanny Fern, "Willis Parton"
1141 Computer: a million morons working at the speed of light.
1144 The first principle is that you must not fool yourself -
1145 and you are the easiest person to fool.
1146 -- Richard Feynman, "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!"
1148 Anybody who hates children and dogs can't be all bad. -- W. C. Fields
1150 I am free of all prejudice. I hate everyone equally. -- W. C. Fields
1152 It isn't what they say about you, it's what they whisper. -- Errol Flynn
1154 Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs.
1157 The Law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich, as well as the poor,
1158 to sleep under the bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread.
1161 I am responsible only to God and history.
1164 I still believe that people are really good at heart.
1165 I simply can't build up my hopes on a foundation
1166 consisting of confusion, misery and death.
1169 Experience is a dear teacher, but fools will learn at no other.
1170 -- Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanac
1172 In this world, nothing is certain but death and taxes.
1173 -- Benjamin Franklin, 1789
1175 Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
1178 Clothe an idea in words and it loses its freedom of movement.
1181 The news is the one thing the networks can point to with pride.
1182 Everything else they do is crap--and they know it.
1183 -- Fred Friendly, 1980
1185 The successful revolutionary is a statesman, the unsuccessful one a criminal.
1188 A bank is a place where they lend you an umbrella in fair weather
1189 and ask for it back when it begins to rain.
1192 A diplomat is a man who always remembers a woman's birthday
1193 but never remembers her age.
1196 A jury consists of twelve persons chosen to decide who has the better lawyer.
1199 A liberal is a man too broadminded to take his own side in a quarrel.
1202 The world is full of willing people;
1203 some willing to work, the rest willing to let them.
1206 The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
1207 But I have promises to keep,
1208 And miles to go before I sleep,
1209 And miles to go before I sleep.
1210 -- Robert Frost, "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening", 1923
1212 We compound our suffering by victimising each other.
1213 -- Athol Fugard, in "The Observer", 1971
1215 The end move in politics is always to pick up a gun.
1216 -- R. Buckminster Fuller
1218 The most important thing about Spaceship Earth -
1219 an instruction book didn't come with it.
1220 -- R. Buckminster Fuller, quoted in "Contemporary Architects", 1980
1222 It's not your blue blood, your pedigree or your college degree.
1223 It's what you do with your life that counts.
1224 -- Millard Fuller, in "Time", 16 January 1989
1226 Getting divorced just because you don't love a man is
1227 almost as silly as getting married just because you do.
1230 If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error.
1231 -- John Kenneth Galbraith
1233 Nothing is so admirable in politics as a short memory.
1234 -- John Kenneth Galbraith
1236 Politics is not the art of the possible. It consists in choosing
1237 between the disastrous and the unpalatable.
1238 -- John Kenneth Galbraith
1240 The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises
1241 in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral
1242 justification for selfishness.
1243 -- John Kenneth Galbraith
1245 In economics, the majority is always wrong.
1246 -- John Kenneth Galbraith, in "Saturday Evening Post", 1968
1248 One of the greatest pieces of economic wisdom is to know what you do not know.
1249 -- John Kenneth Galbraith, in "Time", 1961
1251 I could prove God statistically. -- George Gallup
1253 He who awaits much can expect little.
1254 -- Gabriel Garcia Marquez,
1255 "El Coronel no Tiene quien le Escriba"
1257 Si Dios no hubiera descansado el domingo
1258 habria tenido tiempo de terminar el mundo.
1259 (If God hadn't rested on Sunday,
1260 He would have had time to finish the world.)
1261 -- Gabriel Garcia Marquez,
1262 "Los Funerales de Mam Grande", 1974
1264 No creo en Dios, pero le tengo miedo.
1265 (I don't believe in God, but I'm afraid of Him.)
1266 -- Gabriel Garcia Marquez, "El Amor en los Tiempos de Calera", 1985
1268 The true statesman is the one who is willing to take risks.
1269 -- Charles de Gaulle, 1967
1271 A country can be judged by the quality of its proverbs. -- German Proverb
1273 If you can count your money, you don't have a billion dollars.
1276 I have learnt silence from the talkative, toleration from the intolerant,
1277 and kindness from the unkind; yet strange, I am ungrateful to these teachers.
1280 Believe those who are seeking the truth; doubt those who find it.
1283 In hell there is no other punishment than to begin over
1284 and over again the tasks left unfinished in your lifetime.
1287 The secret of success is sincerity.
1288 Once you can fake that you've got it made.
1291 Expecting something for nothing is the most popular form of hope.
1294 All things are only transitory. -- Goethe
1296 We are not abandoning our convictions, our philosophy or traditions,
1297 nor do we urge anyone to abandon theirs.
1298 -- Mikhail Gorbachev, UN address, 7 December 1988
1300 The truest wild beasts live in the most populous places.
1301 -- Baltasar Gracian, "The Art of Worldly Wisdom" 1647
1303 Thirty days hath November,
1304 April, June, and September,
1305 February hath twenty-eight alone,
1306 And all the rest have thirty-one.
1307 -- Richard Grafton, 1562
1309 I think when a person has been found guilty of rape
1310 he should be castrated. That would stop him pretty quick.
1311 -- Billy Graham, 1974
1313 The illusion that times that were are better than those that are,
1314 has probably pervaded all ages.
1315 -- Horace Greeley, "The American Conflict", 1864-1866
1317 If you've got them by the balls, their hearts and minds will follow.
1318 -- Motto of the Green Berets
1320 Heresy is only another word for freedom of thought.
1321 -- Graham Greene, 1981
1323 Figures won't lie, but liars will figure.
1324 -- Charles H. Grosvenor
1326 It's round the world I've traveled; it's round the world I've roamed;
1327 but I've yet to see an outlaw drive a family from its home.
1328 -- Woody Guthrie, "Pretty Boy Floyd"
1330 Those who stand for nothing fall for anything.
1331 -- Alex Hamilton, "The Listener", 1978
1333 The purpose of computing is insight, not numbers.
1334 -- R. W. Hamming, "Numerical Methods for Scientists and Engineers", 1973
1336 War will cease when men refuse to fight.
1339 Licker talks mighty loud w'en it gets loose fum de jug.
1340 -- Joel C. Harris, "Uncle Remus: Plantation Proverbs"
1342 Nobody can be so amusingly arrogant as a young man who has
1343 just discovered an old idea and thinks it is his own.
1346 In times like these, it is helpful to remember
1347 that there have always been times like these.
1350 The probability of anything happening is in inverse ratio to its desirability.
1351 -- John W. Hazard, "Changing Times" 1957
1353 Prosperity is a great teacher; adversity a greater. -- William Hazlitt
1355 Opinions founded on prejudice are always sustained
1356 with the greatest violence.
1359 Some people are born mediocre, some people achieve mediocrity,
1360 and some people have mediocrity thrust upon them.
1361 -- Joseph Heller, "Catch-22"
1363 Plain women know more about men than beautiful ones do.
1364 But beautiful women don't need to know about men.
1365 It's the men who have to know about beautiful women.
1366 -- Katherine Hepburn
1368 Every man's life ends the same way. It is only the details of how he lived
1369 and how he died that distinguish one man from another.
1370 -- Ernest Hemingway, quoted in "Sunday Times", 1966
1372 Is life so dear, or peace so sweet as to be purchased
1373 at the price of chains and slavery?
1376 All is flux, nothing stays still. -- Heraclitus
1378 Nothing endures but change. -- Heraclitus
1380 Some actions have an end but no beginning; some begin but do not end.
1381 It all depends upon where the observer is standing.
1384 I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that
1385 brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass
1386 over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner
1387 eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
1389 -- Frank Herbert, "Dune", 1965
1391 Great deeds are usually wrought at great risks. -- Herodotus
1393 If a man insisted always on being serious, and never allowed himself a bit of
1394 fun and relaxation, he would go mad or become unstable without knowing it.
1397 There's nothing in the middle of the road
1398 but yellow stripes and dead armadillos.
1399 -- Jim Hightower, in "Time", 3 April 1989
1401 To do nothing is also a good remedy. -- Hippocrates
1403 Drama is life with the dull bits cut out.
1404 -- Alfred Hitchcock, in "The Observer", 1960
1406 In films murders are always very clean. I show how difficult it is
1407 and what a messy thing it is to kill a man.
1408 -- Alfred Hitchcock, 1966
1410 The victor will never be asked if he told the truth.
1413 What luck for the rulers that men do not think.
1416 Never tolerate the establishment of two continental powers in Europe.
1417 -- Adolf Hitler, "Mein Kampf", 1933
1419 Strength lies not in defense but in attack.
1420 -- Adolf Hitler, "Mein Kampf", 1933
1422 Success is the sole earthly judge of right and wrong.
1423 -- Adolf Hitler, "Mein Kampf", 1933
1425 The great masses of the people... will more easily
1426 fall victims to a big lie than to a small one.
1427 -- Adolf Hitler, "Mein Kampf", 1933
1429 You can discover what your enemy fears most
1430 by observing the means he uses to frighten you.
1431 -- Eric Hoffer, in "The Faber Book of Aphorisms", 1964
1433 The first duty of a revolutionary is to get away with it. -- Abbie Hoffman
1435 Justice is incidental to law and order. -- J. Edgar Hoover
1437 Carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero!
1438 (Seize the day, put no trust in the morrow!)
1441 Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori.
1442 (It is sweet and honorable to die for one's country.)
1445 He has half the deed done who has made a beginning. -- Horace
1447 Once a word has been allowed to escape, it cannot be recalled. -- Horace
1449 Genius may have its limitations, but stupidity is not thus handicapped.
1452 Boys will be boys, and so will a lot of middle-aged men. -- Kin Hubbard
1454 When a fellow says it ain't the money but
1455 the principle of the thing, it's the money.
1458 Now and then an innocent man is sent to the legislature.
1459 -- Kin Hubbard, "Abe Martin's Broadcast", 1930
1461 Habit is the nursery of errors. -- Victor Hugo
1463 We believe that to err is human. To blame it on someone else is politics.
1464 -- Hubert H. Humphrey
1466 The right to be heard does not automatically
1467 include the right to be taken seriously.
1468 -- Hubert H. Humphrey, 1965
1470 A woman has to be twice as good as a man to go half as far. -- Fannie Hurst
1472 The death of democracy is not likely to be an assassination from
1473 ambush. It will be a slow extinction from apathy, indifference,
1474 and undernourishment.
1475 -- Robert Hutchins, "Great Books" 1954
1477 Maybe this world is another planet's Hell. -- Aldous Huxley
1479 The most distressing thing that can happen to a prophet
1480 is to be proved wrong. The next most distressing thing is
1482 -- Aldous Huxley, "Brave New World Revisited", 1956
1484 Experience is not what happens to you.
1485 It is what you do with what happens to you.
1486 -- Aldous Huxley, in "Reader's Digest", 1956
1488 Technological progress has merely provided us with more
1489 efficient means for going backwards.
1490 -- Aldous Huxley, "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow", 1956
1492 A community is like a ship; everyone ought to be prepared to take the helm.
1493 -- Henrik Ibsen, "An Enemy of the People", 1882
1495 The strongest man in the world is he who stands most alone.
1496 -- Henrik Ibsen, "An Enemy of the People", 1882
1498 There is always something to upset the most careful of human calculations.
1501 Few rich men own their own property. The property owns them.
1502 -- Robert G. Ingersoll
1504 To think contrary to one's era is heroism.
1505 But to speak against it is madness.
1508 The will to win is worthless if you don't get paid for it. -- Reggie Jackson
1510 It is only when they go wrong that machines remind you how powerful they are.
1511 -- Clive James, in "The Observer", 1976
1513 A great many people think they are thinking
1514 when they are merely rearranging their prejudices.
1517 The deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated.
1520 El amor es un camino que de repente aparece y de tanto caminarlo se te pierde.
1521 -- Victor Jara, "El Amor es un Camino"
1523 In every country and every age, the priest has been hostile to Liberty.
1526 I think [a black]... could scarcely be found capable of
1527 tracing and comprehending the investigations of Euclid.
1528 -- Thomas Jefferson, "Notes on Virginia", 1787
1530 It is always the best policy to tell the truth, unless,
1531 of course, you are an exceptionally good liar.
1534 To seek permission is to seek denial. -- Steve Jobs
1536 Men are like wine--some turn to vinegar, but the best improve with age.
1537 -- Pope John XXIII, 1978
1539 I never trust a man unless I've got his pecker in my pocket.
1540 -- Lyndon B. Johnson
1542 If one morning I walked on top of the water across the Potomac River,
1543 the headline that afternoon would read: PRESIDENT CAN'T SWIM.
1544 -- Lyndon B. Johnson
1546 No member of our generation who wasn't a Communist
1547 or a dropout in the thirties is worth a damn.
1548 -- Lyndon B. Johnson, 1960
1550 Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel.
1551 -- Samuel Johnson, 7 April 1775
1553 The heart has its prisons that intelligence cannot unlock.
1554 -- Marcel Jouhandeau, "De la grandeur"
1556 Do you not know, my son, with what little understanding the world is ruled?
1559 An ounce of emotion is equal to a ton of facts. -- John Junor
1561 In the fight between you and the world, back the world. -- Franz Kafka
1563 There are two cardinal sins from which all the others spring:
1564 impatience and laziness.
1567 The more things change, the more they remain the same.
1568 -- Alphonse Karr, "Les Guepes", January 1849
1570 You do not destroy an idea by killing people; you replace it with a better one.
1573 Nothing ever becomes real till it is experienced.
1574 -- John Keats, Correspondence, 1819
1576 College isn't the place to go for ideas. -- Hellen Keller
1578 We have met the enemy and he is us. -- Walt Kelly in "POGO"
1580 If men could get pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament.
1581 -- Florynce Kennedy, 1976
1583 Mankind must put an end to war, or war will put an end to mankind.
1586 Washington is a city of Southern efficiency and Northern charm.
1589 We have the power to make this the best generation of mankind
1590 in the history of the world--or to make it the last.
1593 And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you;
1594 ask what you can do for your country.
1595 -- John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address, 20 January 1961
1597 If a free society cannot help the many who are poor,
1598 it cannot save the few who are rich.
1599 -- John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address, 20 January 1961
1601 Those who make peaceful revolution impossible
1602 will make violent revolution inevitable.
1603 -- John F. Kennedy, 12 March 1962
1605 Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.
1606 -- Robert F. Kennedy
1608 Some men see things as they are and say why?
1609 I dream things that never were and say 'Why not?'
1610 -- Robert F. Kennedy, quoted in "Esquire", 1969
1612 Without feeling there's no reason to live.
1613 -- Andre Kertesz, photographer, 1894-1985
1615 In the long run we are all dead.
1616 -- John Maynard Keynes, "The General Theory", 1936
1618 In a fight you don't stop to choose your cudgels. -- Nikita Khruschev
1620 Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build
1621 bridge even when there are no rivers.
1624 Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.
1625 -- Soren Kierkegaard, "Life"
1627 Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
1628 -- Martin Luther King, Jr.
1630 It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me,
1631 but it can keep him from lynching me, and I think that's pretty important.
1632 -- Martin Luther King, Jr.
1634 Philanthropy is commendable, but it must not cause the
1635 the philanthropist to over-look the circumstances of
1636 economic injustice which make philanthropy necessary.
1637 -- Martin Luther King, Jr., "Strength to Love", 1963
1639 The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort,
1640 but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.
1641 -- Martin Luther King, Jr., "Strength to Love", 1963
1643 He travels the fastest who travels alone.
1646 Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind.
1649 The illegal we do immediately. The unconstitutional takes a little longer.
1652 Television--a medium. So called because it is neither rare nor well-done.
1655 Pick battles big enough to matter, small enough to win.
1658 Credulity is the man's weakness, but the child's strength.
1661 People don't ask for facts in making up their minds. They would rather
1662 have one good, soul-satisfying emotion than a dozen facts.
1663 -- Robert Keith Leavitt
1665 It is well that war is so terrible, or we should get too fond of it.
1666 -- Robert E. Lee, December 1862
1668 To light a candle is to cast a shadow.
1669 -- Ursula K. Le Guin, "A Wizard of Earthsea", 1975
1671 When smashing monuments, save the pedestals--they always come in handy.
1674 It is true that liberty is precious--so precious that it must be rationed.
1677 The world began without man, and it will complete itself without him.
1678 -- Claude Levi-Strauss, "Tristes Tropiques", 1955
1680 Statistics are like a bikini. What they reveal is suggestive,
1681 but what they conceal is vital.
1684 Ask a man which way he is going to vote, and he will probably tell you.
1685 Ask him, however, why, and vagueness is all.
1686 -- Bernard Levin, in "Daily Mail", 1964
1688 A real diplomat is one who can cut his neighbor's throat
1689 without having his neighbor notice it.
1692 He has a right to criticize, who has a heart to help. -- Abraham Lincoln
1694 Nearly all men can stand adversity,
1695 but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.
1698 Tact is the ability to describe others as they see themselves.
1701 The ballot is stronger than the bullet. -- Abraham Lincoln
1703 Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong
1704 impulse to see it tried on him personally.
1707 You can fool all the people some of the time,
1708 and some of the people all the time,
1709 but you cannot fool all the people all the time.
1712 Good communication is as stimulating as black coffee,
1713 and just as hard to sleep after.
1714 -- Anne Morrow Lindbergh
1716 Where all men think alike, no one thinks very much.
1719 I have always thought the actions of men the best
1720 interpreters of their thoughts.
1723 Winning is not everything. It's the only thing.
1724 -- Vince Lombardi, 1965
1726 The ignorant man always adores what he cannot understand.
1727 -- Cesare Lombroso, "The Man of Genius"
1729 Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die.
1732 In war there is no substitute for victory.
1733 -- General Douglas MacArthur, Speech, 19 April 1951
1735 There is no security on this earth, there is only opportunity.
1736 -- General Douglas MacArthur, 1955
1738 Caminante, son tus huellas el camino, y nada m s;
1739 caminante, no hay camino, se hace camino al andar.
1740 -- Antonio Machado, "Proverbios y cantares, VI"
1742 It is much more secure to be feared than to be loved.
1743 -- Niccolo Machiavelli
1745 All our knowledge merely helps us to die a more painful death
1746 than the animals that know nothing.
1747 -- Maurice Maeterlinck
1749 The atom bomb is a paper tiger...
1750 Terrible to look at but not so strong as it seems.
1753 Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.
1754 -- Mao Zedong, "Quotations from Chairman Mao", 1966
1756 Politics is war without bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed.
1757 -- Mao Zedong, "Quotations from Chairman Mao", 1966
1759 An optimist is a guy that has never had much experience.
1760 -- Donald R. Perry Marquis, "archy and mehitabel", 1927
1762 Military intelligence is a contradiction in terms.
1765 From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs.
1768 Religion... is the opium of the masses.
1769 -- Karl Marx, "Critique of the Hegelian Philosophy of Right", 1844
1771 Unrecognized faults lead to wasted efforts
1772 -- Joanot Martorell, "Tirant lo Blanc", 1490
1774 Impropriety is the soul of wit.
1777 Love is only the dirty trick played on us
1778 to achieve continuation of the species.
1779 -- W. Somerset Maugham, "A Writer's Notebook" 1949
1781 I feel like a fugitive from the law of averages.
1782 -- William H. Mauldin, "Up Front" 1944
1784 Having two bathrooms ruined the capacity to co-operate.
1787 The people here [in Nicaragua] are amazingly friendly, when you
1788 figure we're here to overthrow their government.
1789 -- Richard Melton, US Ambassador to Nicaragua
1791 A politician is an animal which can sit on a fence
1792 and yet keep both ears to the ground.
1795 Love is the triumph of imagination over intelligence.
1798 No one ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public.
1801 Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.
1804 The American public knows what it wants,
1805 and deserves to get it good and hard.
1808 There's always an easy solution to every human problem -
1809 neat, plausible, and wrong.
1812 Time is the great legalizer, even in the field of morals.
1813 -- H. L. Mencken, "A Book of Prefaces", 1917
1815 Nine times out of ten, in the arts as in life,
1816 there is actually no truth to be discovered;
1817 there is only error to be exposed.
1818 -- H. L. Mencken, "Prejudices, Third Series", 1922
1820 The older I grow the more I distrust
1821 the familiar doctrine that age brings wisdom.
1822 -- H. L. Mencken, "Prejudices, Third Series", 1922
1824 Conscience is the inner voice that warns us that someone might be looking.
1825 -- H. L. Mencken, "A Mencken Chrestomathy", 1949
1827 Conservatives are not necessarily stupid,
1828 but most stupid people are conservatives.
1831 He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that.
1834 A good listener is not only popular everywhere,
1835 but after a while he gets to know something.
1838 Gambling: The sure way of getting nothing for something.
1841 I respect faith, but doubt is what gets you an education.
1844 Some of the greatest love affairs I've known
1845 have involved one actor, unassisted.
1848 When you take stuff from one writer it's plagiarism;
1849 but when you take it from many writers, it's research.
1852 I don't mind living in a man's world as long as I can be a woman in it.
1855 Marriage is like a cage; one sees the birds outside desperate to get in,
1856 and those inside equally desperate to get out.
1857 -- Michel Eyquem de Montaigne
1859 The value of life lies not in the length of days,
1860 but in the use we make of them...
1861 Whether you find satisfaction in life depends not
1862 on your tale of years, but on your will.
1863 -- Michel Eyquem de Montaigne, 1580
1865 Obstacles are those frightful things you see
1866 when you take your eyes off the goal.
1869 Only the sinner has the right to preach.
1870 -- Christopher Morley
1872 There is only one success, to be able to spend your life in your own way.
1873 -- Christopher Morley
1875 You have not converted a man because you have silenced him.
1876 -- John Morley, "Rousseau", 1876
1878 Any party which takes credit for the rain
1879 must not be surprised if its opponents blame it for the draught.
1882 If the nation's economists were laid end to end,
1883 they would point in all directions.
1886 As a student I learned from wonderful teachers
1887 and ever since then I've thought everyone is a teacher.
1888 -- Bill Moyers, interviews on "Fresh Air", 1991
1890 Anyone who isn't confused really doesn't understand the situation.
1893 Our major obligation is not to mistake slogans for solutions.
1896 The big majority of Americans, who are comparatively well off,
1897 have developed an ability to have enclaves of people living in the
1898 greatest misery without almost noticing them.
1901 Life is a great surprise. I do not see why death
1902 should not be an even greater one.
1903 -- Vladimir Nabokov, quoted in "Time", 1981
1905 The speed of exit of a civil servant is directly proportional
1906 to the quality of his service.
1907 -- Ralph Nader, "The Spoiled System"
1909 Everybody is interesting for an hour, but few people can last more than two.
1910 -- V. S. Naipul, interview in "Time", 10 July 1989
1912 If you wish to be a success in the world,
1913 promise everything, deliver nothing.
1916 In politics stupidity is not a handicap.
1919 Ten people who speak make more noise than ten thousand who are silent.
1922 A man will fight harder for his interests than for his rights.
1923 -- Napoleon, "Maxims" 1804-1815
1925 History is the version of past events that people have decided to agree upon.
1926 -- Napoleon, "Maxims" 1804-1815
1928 Women are nothing but machines for producing children.
1929 -- Napolean, quoted in "The Book of Insults", 1978
1931 Candy is dandy but liquor is quicker.
1934 Bad officials are elected by good citizens who do not vote.
1935 -- George Jean Nathan
1937 Nobody believes the official spokesman ...
1938 but everybody trusts an unidentified source.
1941 Lack of will power has caused more failure than
1942 lack of intelligence or ability.
1943 -- Flower A. Newhouse
1945 Tact is the art of making a point without making an enemy.
1948 If I have seen far, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.
1951 O God, give us serenity to accept what cannot be changed,
1952 courage to change what should be changed,
1953 and wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.
1954 -- Reinhold Niebuhr, sermon, 1934
1956 Democracy is finding proximate solutions to insoluble problems.
1959 They [Nazis] came first for the Communists,
1960 and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.
1961 Then they came for the Jews,
1962 and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.
1963 Then they came for the Catholics,
1964 and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant.
1965 Then they came for me,
1966 and by that time there was no one left to speak up.
1967 -- Martin Niemueller
1969 In every real man a child is hidden that wants to play.
1970 -- Friedrich Nietzsche
1972 One should die proudly when it is no longer possible to live proudly.
1973 -- Friedrich Nietzsche
1975 What does not destroy me, makes me strong.
1976 -- Friedrich Nietzsche
1978 Is not life a hundred times too short for us to bore ourselves?
1979 -- Friedrich Nietzsche, "Beyond Good and Evil", 1885-1886
1981 A ship is always referred to as "she"
1982 because it costs so much to keep one in paint and powder.
1983 -- Chester Nimitz, Speech, 13 February 1940
1985 I have nothing to hide.
1988 I would have made a good pope.
1991 Voters quickly forget what a man says.
1994 Your President is no crook!
1997 Let us begin by committing ourselves to the truth -
1998 to see it like it is, and tell it like it is -
1999 to find the truth, to speak the truth, and live the truth.
2000 -- Richard Nixon, accepting the Presidential Nomination, 1968
2002 When the president does it, that means it is not illegal.
2003 -- Richard Nixon, in interview with David Frost, 19 May 1977
2005 Laws were made to be broken.
2006 -- Christopher North
2008 Many of the truths we cling to depend greatly upon our own point of view.
2009 -- Obi-Wan Kenobi in "Return of the Jedi"
2011 There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in his home.
2012 -- Kenneth H. Olson, President of DEC,
2013 Convention of the World Future Society, 1977
2015 The optimist thinks that this is the best of all possible worlds,
2016 and the pessimist knows it.
2017 -- J. Robert Oppenheimer, "Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists" 1951
2019 Advertising is the rattling of a stick inside a swill bucket.
2022 Liberal--a power worshipper without power.
2025 On the whole human beings want to be good,
2026 but not too good and not quite all the time.
2027 -- George Orwell, collected essays
2029 All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.
2030 -- George Orwell, "Animal Farm" 1945
2032 Big Brother Is Watching You
2033 -- George Orwell, "1984", 1948
2035 Who controls the past controls the future.
2036 Who controls the present controls the past.
2037 -- George Orwell, "1984", 1948
2039 At 50 everyone has the face he deserves.
2040 -- George Orwell, "Journals", 1949
2042 Most people get a fair amount of fun out of their lives,
2043 but on balance life is suffering and only the very young
2044 or the very foolish imagine otherwise.
2045 -- George Orwell, "Shooting an Elephant", 1950
2047 It is convenient that there be gods,
2048 and, as it is convenient, let us believe there are.
2049 -- Ovid, "Ars Amatoria"
2051 To be loved, be lovable.
2052 -- Ovid, "Ars Amatoria"
2054 The chief product of an automated society
2055 is a widespread and deepening sense of boredom.
2058 It is a commonplace observation that work expands so as
2059 to fill the time available for its completion.
2060 -- C. Northcote Parkinson, in "The Economist", 1955
2062 The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity.
2065 If all men knew what others say of them,
2066 there would not be four friends in the world.
2067 -- Blaise Pascal, 1656
2069 Man is but a reed, the weakest in nature, but he is a thinking reed.
2070 -- Blaise Pascal, "Pensees", 1670
2072 Cry, the beloved country, for the unborn child that is the inheritor
2073 of our fear. Let him not love the earth too deeply... For fear will
2074 rob him of all if he gives too much.
2075 -- Alan Paton, "Cry, The Beloved Country", 1948
2077 God forgives us... Who am I not to forgive?
2078 -- Alan Paton, "Cry, The Beloved Country", 1948
2080 I have one great fear in my heart, that one day
2081 when they [the whites of South Africa] have turned to loving,
2082 they will find we [the blacks] are turned to hating.
2083 -- Alan Paton, "Cry, The Beloved Country", 1948
2085 Then what is it worth, this mining industry? And why should it
2086 be kept alive, if it is only our poverty that keeps it alive? ...
2087 Is it we that must be kept poor so that others may stay rich?
2088 -- Alan Paton, "Cry, The Beloved Country", 1948
2090 What broke in a man when he could bring himself to kill another?
2091 -- Alan Paton, "Cry, The Beloved Country", 1948
2093 Who knows for what we live, and struggle, and die? ...
2094 Wise men write many books, in words too hard to understand.
2095 But this, the purpose of our lives, the end of all our struggle,
2096 is beyond all human wisdom.
2097 -- Alan Paton, "Cry, The Beloved Country", 1948
2099 Yet [white] men [of South Africa] were afraid,
2100 with a fear that was deep, deep in the heart,
2101 a fear so deep that they hid their kindness, ...
2102 They were afraid because they were so few.
2103 And fear could not be cast out, but by love.
2104 -- Alan Paton, "Cry, The Beloved Country", 1948
2106 To give up the task of reforming society is to
2107 give up one's responsibility as a free man.
2110 Watch what people are cynical about, and one can often
2111 discover what they lack.
2114 Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do
2115 and they will surprise you with their ingenuity.
2116 -- George S. Patton, "War As I Knew It", 1947
2118 Assuming that either the left wing or the right wing gained
2119 control of the country, it would probably fly around in circles.
2122 Public office is the last refuge of a scoundrel.
2123 -- Boies Penrose, 1931
2125 An economist is an expert who will know tomorrow
2126 why the things he predicted yesterday didn't happen today.
2127 -- Laurence J. Peter
2129 Education is a method whereby one acquires a higher grade of prejudices.
2132 Originality is the fine art of remembering what you hear
2133 but forgetting where you heard it.
2136 In a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence.
2137 -- Laurence Peter, "The Peter Principle" 1969
2139 Democracy is a process by which the people are free
2140 to choose the man who will get the blame.
2141 -- Laurence Peter, "Peter's Quotations", 1977
2143 Originality is the fine art of remembering what you hear
2144 but forgetting where you heard it.
2145 -- Laurence Peter, "Peter's Quotations", 1977
2147 A man who is always ready to believe what is told him will never do well.
2148 -- Gaius Petronius, "Satyricon"
2150 Difference of religion breeds more quarrels than difference of politics.
2151 -- Wendell Phillips, Speech, 7 November 1860
2153 Sometimes democracy must be bathed in blood.
2156 The measure of man is what he does with power.
2159 If everybody's behavior can be explained by simple stupidity and greed,
2160 there's no point in assuming a conspiracy.
2163 I don't need a friend who changes when I change
2164 and who nods when I nod; my shadow does that much better.
2167 Cinema should make you forget you are sitting in a theater.
2170 Under capitalism man exploits man; under socialism the reverse is true.
2173 Amusement is the happiness of those who cannot think.
2176 If you do not raise your eyes you will think you are the highest point.
2177 -- Antonio Porchia, "Voces", 1968
2179 One lives in the hope of becoming a memory.
2180 -- Antonio Porchia, "Voces", 1968
2182 They talk most who have the least to say.
2185 A city is a large community where people are lonesome together.
2188 A good workman is known by his tools.
2191 Power always has to be kept in check; power exercised in secret,
2192 especially under the cloak of national security, is doubly dangerous.
2195 Maxim 914: Let a fool hold his tongue and he will pass for a sage.
2198 Maxim 1070: I have often regretted my speech, never my silence.
2201 Practice is the best of all instructors.
2204 If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure.
2205 -- J. Danforth Quayle
2207 There is nothing that a good defense cannot beat a better offense.
2208 In other words, a good offense wins.
2209 -- J. Danforth Quayle, on "Star Wars",
2210 quoted in "Time", 19 September 1988
2212 Happy campers you have been, happy campers you are,
2213 and happy campers you will always be.
2214 -- J. Danforth Quayle, on arrival in American Samoa,
2215 quoted in "Time", 8 May 1989
2217 I was recently on a tour of Latin America, and
2218 the only regret I have was that I didn't study
2219 Latin harder in school so I could converse with those people.
2220 -- J. Danforth Quayle, quoted in "Time", 8 May 1989
2222 What a waste it is to lose one's mind or not to have a mind.
2224 -- J. Danforth Quayle, addressing the United Negro
2225 College Fund, quoted in "Time", 26 June 1989
2227 Mars is essentially in the same orbit [as the Earth]...
2228 We have seen pictures where there are canals, we believe, and water.
2229 If there is water, there is oxygen. If oxygen, that means we can breathe.
2230 -- J. Danforth Quayle, interviewed on Cable Network
2231 News, 11 August 1989
2233 Religions tend to disappear with man's good fortune.
2234 -- Raymond Queneau, "A Model History"
2236 I have been staying in Moscow for only 24 hours,
2237 but already I feel almost at home.
2238 -- Hashemi Rafsanjani, in "New York Times",
2241 A nuclear power plant is infinitely safer than eating,
2242 because 300 people choke to death on food every year.
2243 -- Dixy Lee Ray, 1977, quoted from "Loose Talk"
2245 Abortion is advocated only by persons who have themselves been born.
2248 Growing and decaying vegetation in this land are responsible
2249 for 93 percent of the oxides of nitrogen.
2252 If you've seen one redwood, you've seen them all.
2255 Politics is not a bad profession. If you succeed there are many rewards,
2256 if you disgrace yourself you can always write a book.
2259 Why should we subsidize intellectual curiosity?
2262 Government is like a baby. An alimentary canal with a big appetite
2263 at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other.
2264 -- Ronald Reagan, "Saturday Evening Post" 1965
2266 I favor the Civil Rights Act of 1964
2267 and it must be enforced at gunpoint if necessary.
2268 -- Ronald Reagan, 20 October 1965
2270 I would have voted against the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
2271 -- Ronald Reagan, 1968
2273 All the wastes in a year from a nuclear power plant
2274 can be stored under a desk.
2275 -- Ronald Reagan, quoted in "Burlington Free Press", 15 February 1980
2277 History shows that when the taxes of a nation approach about 20% of the
2278 people's income, there begins to be a lack of respect for government....
2279 When it reaches 25%, there comes an increase in lawlessness.
2280 -- Ronald Reagan, quoted in "Time", 14 April 1980
2282 Approximately 80% of our air pollution stems from hydrocarbons released
2283 by vegetation. So let's not go overboard in setting and enforcing tough
2284 emissions standards for man-made sources.
2285 -- Ronald Reagan, quoted in "Sierra", 10 September 1980
2287 I have just signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever;
2288 we begin bombing in 5 minutes.
2289 -- Ronald Reagan, weekly radio address, 11 August 1984
2291 Facts are stupid things.
2292 -- Ronald Reagan, 1988 Republican Convention
2294 The scientists split the atom; now the atom is splitting us.
2295 -- Quentin Reynolds, in "Quote & Unquote", 1970
2297 The streets are safe in Philadelphia,
2298 it's only the people who make them unsafe.
2301 We need excellence in public education and if the teachers can't do it,
2302 we'll send in a couple of policemen.
2303 -- Frank Rizzo, Philadelphia Bulletin, Oct 19, 1973
2305 One of the weaknesses of our age is our apparent inability
2306 to distinguish our needs from our greeds.
2307 -- Don Robinson, quoted in "Reader's Digest", 1963
2309 If it takes a lot of words to say what you have in mind,
2310 give it more thought.
2313 We always love those who admire us,
2314 but we do not always love those whom we admire.
2315 -- Francois, Duc de La Rochefoucauld
2317 Wit sometimes enables us to act rudely with impunity.
2318 -- Francois, Duc de La Rochefoucauld
2320 Mediocre minds usually dismiss anything which reaches
2321 beyond their own understanding.
2322 -- Francois, Duc de La Rochefoucauld, "Maxims" 1665
2324 Old people like to give good advice,
2325 as solace for no longer being able to provide bad examples.
2326 -- Francois, Duc de La Rochefoucauld, "Maxims" 1665
2328 Repentance is not so much remorse for what we have done
2329 as the fear of the consequences.
2330 -- Francois, Duc de La Rochefoucauld, "Maxims" 1665
2332 The reason that lovers never weary each other
2333 is because they are always talking about themselves.
2334 -- Francois, Duc de La Rochefoucauld, "Maxims" 1665
2336 Diplomats are just as essential to starting a war as soldiers are
2337 for finishing it.... You take diplomacy out of war, and the thing
2338 would fall flat in a week.
2341 Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there.
2344 Everybody is ignorant, only on different subjects.
2347 There is nothing as stupid as an educated man
2348 if you get him off the thing he was educated in.
2351 There's no trick to being a humorist when you have
2352 the whole government working for you.
2355 This country has come to feel the same when Congress is in session
2356 as when the baby gets hold of a hammer.
2359 We can't all be heroes because someone has to sit on the curb
2360 and clap as they go by.
2363 Everything is funny as long as it is happening to someone else.
2364 -- Will Rogers, "The Illiterate Digest", 1924
2366 I never met a man I didn't like.
2367 -- Will Rogers, speech, June 1930
2369 Half our life is spent trying to find something to do
2370 with the time we have rushed through life trying to save.
2371 -- Will Rogers, "The Autobiography of Will Rogers", 1949
2373 The world is an enormous injustice.
2376 We've sent a man to the moon, and that's 29,000 miles away. The center
2377 of the Earth is only 4,000 miles away. You could drive that in a week,
2378 but for some reason nobody's ever done it.
2381 No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.
2382 -- Eleanor Roosevelt, "This is My Story", 1937
2384 The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those
2385 who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have little.
2386 -- Franklin D. Roosevelt
2388 It is common sense to take a method and try it.
2389 If it fails, admit it frankly and try another.
2390 But above all, try something.
2391 -- Franklin D. Roosevelt, Speech, 22 May 1932
2393 The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
2394 -- Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1st Inaugural Address, 1933
2396 A technique is a trick that works.
2399 One half of the children born die before their eighth year.
2400 This is nature's law; why try to contradict it?
2401 -- Jean Jacques Rousseau, "Emile, ou de l'education", 1762
2403 People who know little are usually great talkers,
2404 while men who know much say little.
2405 -- Jean Jacques Rousseau, "Emile, ou de l'education", 1762
2407 Never trust anyone over thirty. -- Jerry Rubin, 1966
2409 The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always
2410 so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts.
2413 Men fear thought as they fear nothing else on earth -
2414 more than ruin, more even than death.
2415 -- Bertrand Russell, "Selected Papers"
2417 You can outdistance that which is running after you,
2418 but not what is running inside you.
2421 A dress makes no sense unless it inspires men to want to take it off you.
2424 Women and elephants never forget an injury.
2425 -- Saki, "Reginald", 1904
2427 A little inaccuracy sometimes saves tons of explanation.
2428 -- Saki, "The Square Egg", 1924
2430 Neither soldiers nor money can defend a king
2431 but only friends won by good deeds, merit, and honesty.
2432 -- Sallust, "De bello Iugurthino"
2434 Slang is a language that rolls up its sleeves,
2435 spits on its hands and goes to work.
2436 -- Carl Sandburg, in "New York Times", 1959
2438 In these times you have to be an optimist to open your eyes
2439 when you awake in the morning.
2440 -- Carl Sandburg, in "New York Post", 1960
2442 A man's feet should be planted in his country,
2443 but his eyes should survey the world.
2446 Skepticism, like chastity, should not be relinquished too readily.
2449 Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
2452 When the rich make war it's the poor that die.
2453 -- Jean-Paul Sartre, "Le Diable et le bon Dieu", 1951
2455 Tolerance means excusing the mistakes others make.
2456 Tact means not noticing them.
2457 -- Arthur Schnitzler
2459 Every man takes the limits of his own field of vision
2460 for the limits of the world.
2461 -- Arthur Schopenhauer, "Studies in Pessimism"
2463 There's a difference between a philosophy and a bumper sticker.
2464 -- Charles M. Schulz
2466 Comment is free, but facts are sacred.
2467 -- C. P. Scott, c.1900
2469 They couldn't hit an elephant at this dist---
2470 -- General John B. Sedgwick, last words, 1864
2472 They that govern the most make the least noise.
2473 -- John Seldon, 1689
2475 People will swim through sh*t if you put a few bob in it.
2478 It is better, of course, to know useless things than to know nothing.
2479 -- Seneca, "Epistles"
2481 There is no great genius without some touch of madness.
2482 -- Seneca, "On Tranquility of the Mind"
2484 Every reign must submit to a greater reign. -- Seneca, "Thyestes"
2486 Singing makes all the sad people happy because it is the voice of happiness.
2489 A government that robs Peter to pay Paul
2490 can always depend upon the support of Paul.
2491 -- George Bernard Shaw
2493 Every person who has mastered a profession is a skeptic concerning it.
2494 -- George Bernard Shaw
2496 If all economists were laid end to end, they would not reach a conclusion.
2497 -- George Bernard Shaw
2499 It is dangerous to be sincere unless you are also stupid.
2500 -- George Bernard Shaw
2502 Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior
2503 to all others because you were born in it.
2504 -- George Bernard Shaw
2506 Reading made Don Quixote a gentleman, but believing what he read made him mad.
2507 -- George Bernard Shaw
2509 We've already established what you are, ma'am.
2510 Now we're just haggling over the price.
2511 -- George Bernard Shaw
2513 Assassination is the extreme form of censorship.
2514 -- George Bernard Shaw, "The Rejected Statement"
2516 He who can, does. He who cannot, teaches.
2517 -- George Bernard Shaw, "Man and Superman", 1903
2519 Lack of money is the root of all evil.
2520 -- George Bernard Shaw, "Man and Superman", 1903
2522 Liars ought to have good memories.
2525 All reformers, however strict their social conscience,
2526 live in houses just as big as they can pay for.
2527 -- Logan Pearsall Smith
2529 I am not an Athenian or a Greek, but a citizen of the world.
2532 I know nothing except the fact of my ignorance.
2535 The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance.
2538 If God had meant there to be more than 2 factors of production,
2539 He would have made it easier for us to draw three-dimensional diagrams.
2542 Interpretation is the revenge of the intellect upon art.
2545 Care of the poor is incumbent on society as a whole.
2548 If you want a thing well done, do it yourself.
2549 -- Charles Haddon Spurgeon
2551 A single death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic.
2554 The writer is the engineer of the human soul.
2557 Print is the sharpest and the strongest weapon of our party.
2558 -- Joseph Stalin, Speech, 19 April 1923
2560 Gaiety is the most outstanding feature of the Soviet Union.
2561 -- Joseph Stalin, 1935
2563 Must the hunger become anger and the anger fury before anything will be done?
2566 Time is the only critic without ambition.
2567 -- John Steinbeck, "Writers at Work', 1977
2569 There are really not many jobs that actually require a penis or a
2570 vagina, and all other occupations should be open to everyone.
2573 A hungry man is not a free man.
2576 In America, any boy may become president and I suppose
2577 that's just one of the risks he takes.
2580 Man does not live by words alone, despite the fact
2581 that sometimes he has to eat them.
2584 The time to stop a revolution is at the beginning, not the end.
2585 -- Adlai Stevenson, 9 September 1952
2587 The cruelest lies are often told in silence.
2588 -- Robert Louis Stevenson, "Virginibus Puerisque", 1881
2590 Success always necessitates a degree of ruthlessness.
2591 Given the choice of friendship or success, I'd probably choose success.
2592 -- Sting (Gordon Summer), 1980
2594 If God, as some now say, is dead, He no doubt died of trying
2595 to find an equitable solution to the Arab-Jewish problem.
2596 -- I. F. Stone, 1967
2598 Ninety per cent of everything is crap.
2599 -- Theodore Sturgeon
2601 There is nothing in this world constant but inconstancy.
2604 Discovery consists in seeing what everyone else has seen and
2605 thinking what no one else has thought.
2606 -- Albert Szent-Gyorgi
2608 And you may ask yourself "Am I right? Am I wrong?"
2609 And you may say to yourself "MY GOD! WHAT HAVE I DONE?"
2610 -- The Talking Heads
2612 The nice thing about standards is that there are
2613 so many of them to choose from.
2614 -- Andrew S. Tanenbaum
2616 A bore is a man who, when you ask him how he is, will tell you.
2617 -- Bert Taylor, "The So-Called Human Race", 1922
2619 The hunger for love is much more difficult
2620 to remove than the hunger for bread.
2621 -- Mother Teresa, quoted in "Time", 4 December 1989
2623 El infierno es el lugar donde no se ama.
2624 (Hell is the place where love is not found.)
2627 If you want anything said, ask a man.
2628 If you want anything done, ask a woman.
2629 -- Margaret Thatcher
2631 You don't tell deliberate lies, but sometimes you have to be evasive.
2632 -- Margaret Thatcher, 1976
2634 Under a government which imprisons any unjustly,
2635 the true place for a just man is also a prison.
2636 -- Henry David Thoreau
2638 That government is best which governs least.
2639 -- Henry David Thoreau, "Civil Disobedience" 1849
2641 The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.
2642 -- Henry David Thoreau, "Walden", 1854
2644 If a man does not keep pace with his companions,
2645 perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer.
2646 -- Henry David Thoreau, "Walden", 1854
2648 The savage in man is never quite eradicated.
2649 -- Henry David Thoreau, "Journal", 26 September 1859
2651 I think that maybe if women and children
2652 were in charge we would get somewhere.
2655 It is better to know some of the questions than all of the answers.
2658 You can fool too many of the people too much of the time.
2659 -- James Thurber, "The Thurber Carnival", 1945
2661 The Law of Raspberry Jam--The wider any culture is spread,
2662 the thinner it gets.
2663 -- Alvin Toffler, "The Culture Consumers", 1964
2665 The trouble with the rat-race is that even if you win, you're still a rat.
2668 The function of genius is not to give new answers,
2669 but to pose new questions--which time and mediocrity can solve.
2670 -- Hugh Trevor-Roper, "Men and Events"
2672 The dictatorship of the Communist Party is maintained
2673 by recourse to every form of violence.
2674 -- Leon Trotsky, "Terrorism and Communism", 1924
2676 If you can't convince them, confuse them.
2679 If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.
2682 It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.
2685 Most of the problems a President has to face have their roots in the past.
2686 -- Harry S. Truman, "Memoirs, Vol. II", 1955
2688 A President cannot always be popular.
2689 -- Harry S. Truman, "Memoirs, Vol. II", 1955
2691 It's a recession when your neighbor loses his job;
2692 it's a depression when you lose yours.
2693 -- Harry S. Truman, 1958
2695 Whenever you have an efficient government you have a dictatorship.
2696 -- Harry S. Truman, 1959
2698 A little more moderation would be good. Of course,
2699 my life hasn't exactly been one of moderation.
2700 -- Donald Trump, in "Time", 16 January 1989
2702 I like thinking big. If you're going to be thinking
2703 anything, you might as well think big.
2704 -- Donald Trump, in "Time", 16 January 1989
2706 The more laws and order are made prominent,
2707 the more thieves and robbers there will be.
2710 Words divide us, action unites us.
2711 -- Slogan of the Tupamaros
2713 If I had any humility I would be perfect.
2716 Man is the only animal that blushes--or needs to.
2719 The human race has one really effective weapon, and that is laughter.
2722 The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.
2725 When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand
2726 to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished
2727 at how much he had learned in seven years.
2730 Whenever you find that you are on the side of the majority,
2731 it is time to reform.
2734 Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority,
2735 it's time to pause and reflect.
2738 Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear--not absence of fear.
2739 -- Mark Twain, "Pudd'nhead Wilson", 1894
2741 Grief can take care of itself, but to get the full value of a joy
2742 you must have somebody to divide it with.
2743 -- Mark Twain, "Following the Equator", 1897
2745 Thunder is good, thunder is impressive; but it is lightning that does the work.
2746 -- Mark Twain, Correspondence, 1908
2748 Good politics are often inextricably intertwined.
2749 -- Morris Udall, "Too Funny to Be President", 1988
2751 Lord, give us the wisdom to utter words that are gentle and tender,
2752 for tomorrow we may have to eat them.
2753 -- Morris Udall, quoted in "Sierra", May/June 1989
2755 To fall into a habit is to begin to cease to be.
2756 -- Miguel de Unamuno, "The Tragic Sense of Life", 1913
2758 Nada muere, todo baja del rio del tiempo al mar de la eternidad y alli queda.
2759 -- Miguel de Unamuno, "Ver con los Ojos y Otros Relatos Novelescos"
2761 No es acaso todo esto un sueno de Dios o de quien sea,
2762 que se desvanecera en cuanto El despierte,
2763 y por eso le rezamos y elevamos a El canticos a himnos,
2764 para adormecerle, para cunar su sueno?
2765 -- Miguel de Unamuno, "Niebla", 1914
2767 Nadie tiene mas imaginacion que la realidad.
2768 -- Miguel de Unamuno, "El Espejo de la Muerte", 1941
2770 The Vice Presidency is sort of like the last cookie on the plate.
2771 Everybody insists he won't take it, but somebody always does.
2774 Forsan et haec olim meminisse iuvabit.
2775 (And perhaps at some later date it will be pleasant to remember these things.)
2778 Time is flying never to return.
2781 It is not enough to succed. Others must fail.
2784 There's a lot to be said for being noveau riche,
2785 and the Reagans mean to say it all.
2786 -- Gore Vidal, in "The Observer", 1981
2788 A witty saying proves nothing. -- Voltaire
2790 If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him. -- Voltaire
2792 Man is the best computer we can put aboard a spacecraft...
2793 and the only one that can be mass-produced with unskilled labor.
2794 -- Wernher von Braun
2796 We are what we pretend to be. -- Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
2798 One's company, two's a crowd and three's a party.
2799 -- Andy Warhol, in "Exposures", 1979
2801 The sports page records people's accomplishments;
2802 The front page nothing but their failures.
2803 -- Supreme Court Justice Earl Warren
2805 My responsibility is to follow the Scriptures which call upon us
2806 to occupy the land until Jesus returns.
2807 -- James Watt, in "The Washington Post", 24 May 1981
2809 If you worry about your customers,
2810 you won't have to worry about money.
2811 -- Les Welch, in "Bicycle USA", March/April 1990
2813 I passionately hate the idea of being with it,
2814 I think an artist has always to be out of step with his time.
2815 -- Orson Welles, 1966
2817 I never loved another person the way I loved myself. -- Mae West
2819 Too much of a good thing is wonderful. -- Mae West
2821 When choosing between two evils, I always like to take
2822 the one I've never tried before.
2823 -- Mae West, in "Klondike Annie" 1936
2825 Do I contradict myself?
2826 Very well then I contradict myself,
2827 (I am large, I contain multitudes.)
2828 -- Walt Whitman, "Leaves of Grass", 1855
2830 There's no point in being grown up if you can't be childish sometimes.
2833 No man is rich enough to buy back his past.
2836 There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about,
2837 and that is not being talked about.
2840 A man cannot be too careful in the choice of his enemies.
2841 -- Oscar Wilde, "The Picture of Dorian Grey", 1891
2843 Children begin by loving their parents; as they grow older they judge them;
2844 sometimes they forgive them.
2845 -- Oscar Wilde, "The Picture of Dorian Grey", 1891
2847 There is no sin except stupidity.
2848 -- Oscar Wilde, "The Critic as Artist", 1891
2850 We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.
2851 -- Oscar Wilde, "Lady Windermere's Fan", 1892
2853 Relations are simply a tedious pack of people,
2854 who haven't got the remotest knowledge of how to live,
2855 nor the smallest instinct about when to die.
2856 -- Oscar Wilde, "The Importance of Being Earnest", 1895
2858 Hindsight is always 20:20.
2861 Voters do not decide issues. They decide *who* will decide issues.
2862 -- George F. Will, in "Newsweek", 1976
2864 Anyone can hate. It costs to love.
2867 Only the winners decide what were war crimes.
2868 -- Gary Wills, in "New York Times", 1975
2870 Not-really-trying is just as much effort as trying-really-hard.
2871 The only difference... is that not-really-trying receives no reward.
2872 -- A. N. Wilson, "Incline Our Hearts", 1989
2874 If you think nobody cares if you're alive,
2875 try missing a couple of car payments.
2878 You can't expect to hit the jackpot if you don't
2879 put a few nickels in the machine.
2880 -- Flip Wilson, 1971
2882 Nothing is impossible. Some things are just less likely than others.
2883 -- Jonathan Winters in "The Twilight Zone"
2885 The limits of my language means the limits of my world.
2886 -- Ludwig Wittgenstein
2888 Women have served all these centuries as looking-glasses
2889 possessing the magic and delicious power of reflecting
2890 the figure of man at twice its natural size.
2891 -- Virginia Woolf, "A Room of One's Own", 1929
2893 TV is chewing gum for the eyes.
2894 -- Frank Lloyd Wright
2896 I believe that in the end the truth will conquer.
2899 Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.
2900 -- William Butler Yeats
2902 He who is conceived in a cage yearns for the cage.
2903 -- Yevgeny Yevtushenko, 1968
2905 It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees!
2908 Most people wouldn't know music if it came up and bit them on the ass.
2911 One of my favorite philosophical tenets is that people will agree with you
2912 only if they already agree with you. You do not change people's minds.
2913 -- Frank Zappa, 1979
2915 Progress might be a circle, rather than a straight line.
2916 -- Eberhard Zeidler, in "Contemporary Architects", 1980
2918 Once when I was in Hawaii, on the island of Kauai, I met a
2919 mysterious old stranger. He said he was about to die and
2920 wanted to tell someone about the treasure. I said, "Okay, as
2921 long as it's not a long story. Some of us have a plane to catch,
2922 you know." He started telling his story, about the treasure
2923 and his life and all, and I thought "This story isn't too long".
2924 But then, he kept going, and I started thinking, "Uh-oh, this
2925 story is getting long." But then the story was over, and I said
2926 to myself: "You know, that story wasn't too long after all".
2927 I forgot what the story was about, but there was a good movie
2928 on the plane. It was a little long though.
2929 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
2931 I believe in making the world safe for our children,
2932 but not for our children's children, because i don't
2933 believe children should be having sex.
2934 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
2936 In weightlifting, I don't think that sudden uncontrolled urination should
2937 automatically disqualify you.
2938 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
2940 Blow ye winds, like the trumpet blows, but without that noise.
2941 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
2943 When the age of the Vikings came to a close, they must have sensed it.
2944 Probably, they gathered together one evening, slapped each other on the
2945 back and said, "Hey, good job".
2946 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
2948 I can still recall old Mister Barnslow getting out every morning and nailing
2949 a fresh load of tadpoles to that old board of his. Then he'd spin it round
2950 and round, like a wheel of fortune, and no matter where it stopped he'd yell
2951 out, "Tadpoles! Tadpoles is a winner!" We all thought he was crazy. But
2952 then, we had some growing up to do.
2953 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
2955 If I ever opened a trampoline store, I don't think I'd call it Trampo-Land,
2956 because you might think it was a store for tramps, which is not the
2957 impression we are trying to convey with our store. On the other hand, we
2958 would not prohibit tramps from browsing, or testing the trampolines, unless
2959 a tramp's gyrations seemed to be getting out of control.
2960 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
2962 I wish I had a kryptonite cross, because then you could keep both Dracula
2963 _and_ Superman away.
2964 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
2966 Too bad you can't just grab a tree by the very tiptop and bend it clear to
2967 the ground and then let her fly, because I bet you'd be amazed at all the
2968 stuff that comes flying out.
2969 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
2971 I remember that fateful day when Coach took me aside. I knew
2973 "You don't have to tell me," I said. "I am off the team, aren't I?"
2974 "Well," said the coach, "You never were really _on_ the team. You
2975 made that uniform you're wearing out of rags and towels, and your helmet
2976 is a toy space helmet. You show up at practice and then either steal the
2977 ball and make us chase you to get it back, or you try to tackle people at
2978 inappropriate times."
2979 It was all true what he was saying. And yet, I thought, something is
2980 brewing inside the head of the coach. He sees something inside of me,
2981 some kind of raw talent that he can mold. But that's when I felt the
2983 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
2985 When I heard that trees grow a new "ring" for each year they live, I thought,
2986 we humans are kind of like that; we grow a new layer of skin each year; and
2987 after many years we are thick and unwieldy from all our skin layers.
2988 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
2990 If you're in a boxing match, try not to let the other guy's glove touch your
2991 lips, because you don't know where that glove has been.
2992 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
2994 It's too bad that whole families have been torn apart by something as
2995 simple as wild dogs.
2996 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
2998 Marta says the interesting thing about fly fishing is that it's two lives
2999 connected by a thin strand. Come on, Marta. Grow up.
3000 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3002 The old pool shooter had many a game in his life. But now it was time to
3003 hang up the cue. When he did, all the other cues came crashing to the floor.
3004 "Sorry," he said with a smile.
3005 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3007 If I ever do a book on the Amazon, I hope I am able to bring a certain
3008 lightheartedness to the subject, in a way that tells the reader we are going
3009 to have fun with this thing.
3010 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3012 Even though he was an enemy of mine, I had to admit that what he had
3013 accomplished was a brillant piece of stratagy. First, he punched me, then
3014 he kicked me, then he punched me again.
3015 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3017 The sound of fresh rain run-off splashing from the roof reminded me of the
3018 sound of urine splashing into a filthy Texaco latrine.
3019 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3021 I think somebody should come up with a way to breed a very
3022 large shrimp. That way, you could ride him, then, after you
3023 camped at night, you could eat him. How about it, science?
3024 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3026 I scrambled to the top of the precipice where Nick was waiting. "That was
3027 fun," I said. "You bet it was", said Nick. "Lets climb higher." "No," I
3028 said, "I think we should be heading back now." "We have time," Nick
3029 insisted. I said we didn't, and Nick said we did. We argued back and forth
3030 like that for about 20 minutes, then finally decided to head back. I didn't
3031 say it was an interesting story.
3032 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3034 Some folks say it was a miracle. Saint Francis suddenly appeared and knocked
3035 the pitch clean over the fence. But I think it was just a lucky swing.
3036 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3038 Too bad there's not such a thing as a _golden_ skunk, because you'd probably
3039 be _proud_ to be sprayed by one.
3040 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3042 To me, truth is not some vague, foggy notion. Truth is real. And, at the same
3043 time unreal. Fiction and fact and everything in between, plus some things I
3044 can't remember, all rolled into one big "thing". This is truth, to me.
3045 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3047 I bet a fun thing would be to go way back in time to where there was going to
3048 be an eclipse and tell the cave men, "If I have come to destroy you, may the
3049 sun be blotted out from the sky". Just then the eclipse would start, and
3050 they'd probably try to kill you or something, but then you could explain about
3051 the rotation of the moon and all, and everyone would get a good laugh.
3052 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3054 I think in one of my previous lives I was a mighty king, because I like
3055 people that do what I say.
3056 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3058 Today I accidentally stepped on a snail on the sidewalk in front of our
3059 house. And I thought, I too am like that snail. I build a defensive wall
3060 around myself, a "shell" if you will. But my shell isn't made out of a hard,
3061 protective substance. Mine is made out of tinfoil and paper bags.
3062 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3064 A man doesn't automatically get my respect. He has to get down in the dirt
3066 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3068 If you're ever stuck in some thick undergrowth, in your underwear, don't
3069 stop and start thinking of what other words have "under" in them, because
3070 that's probably the first sign of jungle madness.
3071 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3073 Sometimes the beauty of the world is so overwhelming, I just want to throw
3074 back my head and gargle. Just gargle and gargle, and I don't care who hears
3075 me, because I am beautiful.
3076 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3078 Fear can sometimes be a useful emotion. For instance, let's say you're an
3079 astronaut on the moon and you fear that your partner has been turned into
3080 Dracula. The next time he goes out for the moon pieces, wham!!, you just
3081 slam the door behind him and blast off. He might call you on the radio and
3082 say he's not Dracula, but you just say, "Think again, bat man."
3083 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3085 I wish scientists would come up with a way to make a dogs a lot bigger, but
3086 with a smaller head. That way, they'd still be good as watchdogs, but they
3087 wouldn't eat so much.
3088 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3090 I bet for an Indian, shooting an old fat pioneer woman in the back with an
3091 arrow, and she fires her shotgun into the ground as she falls over, is like
3092 the top thing you can do.
3093 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3095 I think a good movie would be about a guy who's a brain scientist but he gets
3096 hit on the head and it damages the part of the brain that makes you want
3098 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3100 I wouldn't be surprised if someday some fishermen caught a big shark and cut
3101 it open, and there inside was a whole person. Then they cut the person open,
3102 and in him is a little baby shark. And in the baby shark there isn't a
3103 person, because it would be too small. But there's a little doll or
3104 something, like a Johnny Combat little toy guy--something like that.
3105 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3107 It makes me mad when I go to all the trouble of having Marta cook up about
3108 a hundred drumsticks, then the guy at Marineland says, "You can't throw
3109 chicken to the dolphins. They eat fish." Sure they eat fish, if that is all
3110 you give them. Man, wise up.
3111 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3113 If the Vikings were around today, they would probably be amazed at how much
3114 glow-in-the-dark stuff we have, and how we take so much of it for granted.
3115 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3117 It's not good to let any kid near a container that has a skull and
3118 crossbones on it, because there might be a skeleton costume inside and the
3119 kid could put it on and really scare you.
3120 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3122 If you had a school for professional fireworks people, I don't think you
3123 could cover fuses in just one class. It's just too rich a subject.
3124 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3126 People think it would be fun to be a bird because you could fly. But they
3127 forget the negative side, which is the preening.
3128 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3130 If I lived back in the Wild West days, instead of carrying a six-gun in my
3131 holster, I'd carry a soldering iron. That way, if some smart-aleck cowboy
3132 said something like "Hey, look. He's carrying a soldering iron!" and started
3133 laughing, and everybody else started laughing, I could just say, "That's
3134 right, it's a soldering iron. The soldering iron of justice." Then everybody
3135 would be real quiet and ashamed, because they made fun of the soldering iron
3136 of justice, and I could probably hit them up for a free drink.
3137 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3139 When I think back on all the blessings I have been given in my life, I can't
3140 think of a single one, unless you count that rattlesnake that granted me
3142 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3144 I hope in the future Americans are thought of as a warlike, vicious people,
3145 because I bet a lot of high schools would pick "Americans" as their mascot.
3146 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3148 Sometimes I think the world has gone completely mad. And then I think, "Aw,
3149 who cares?" And then I think "Hey, what's for supper?"
3150 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3152 If you ever discover that what you're seeing is a play within a play, just
3153 slow down, take a deep breath, and hold on for the ride of your life.
3154 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3156 I can see why it would be prohibited to throw most things off the top of
3157 the Empire State Building, but what's wrong with little bits of cheese?
3158 They probably break down into their various gases before they even hit.
3159 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3161 If you're a circus clown, and you have a dog that you use in your act, I
3162 don't think it's a good idea to to dress the dog up like a clown, because
3163 people see that and they think, "Forgive me, but that's just too much".
3164 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3166 Here's a good joke to do during an earthquake: straddle a big crack in the
3167 ground, and if it opens wider, go "Whoa! Whoa!" and flail your arms around,
3168 like you're going to fall in.
3169 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3171 If you ever go temporarily insane, don't shoot somebody, like a lot of people
3172 do. Instead, try to get some weeding done, because you'd really be suprised.
3173 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3175 It makes me mad when people say I turned and ran like a scared rabbit. Maybe
3176 it was like an angry rabbit, who was running to go fight in another fight,
3177 away from the first fight.
3178 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3180 I think a good way to get into a movie is to show up where they're making the
3181 movie, then stick a big cactus plant onto your buttocks and start yowling
3182 and running around. Everyone would think it was funny, and the head movie guy
3183 would say, "Hey, let's put him in the movie."
3184 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3186 Instead of having "answers" on a math test, they should just call them
3187 "impressions", and if you got a different "impression", so what, can't we
3189 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3191 If God dwells inside us, like some people say, I sure hope He likes
3192 enchiladas, because that's what He's getting!
3193 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3195 Probably to a shark, about the funniest thing there is a wounded seal,
3196 trying to swim to shore, because _where_does_he_think_he's_going_?!
3197 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3199 Perhaps, if I am very lucky, the feeble efforts of my lifetime will someday
3200 be noticed, and maybe, in some small way, they will be acknowledged as the
3201 greatest works of genius ever created by Man.
3202 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3204 Dad always thought laughter was the best medicine,
3205 which I guess is why several of us died of tuberculosis.
3206 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3208 Maybe in order to understand mankind, we have to look at the word itself:
3209 "Mankind." Basically, it's made up of two separate words--"mank" and "ind."
3210 What do these words mean? It's a mystery, and that's why so is mankind.
3211 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3213 I hope if dogs ever take over the world, and they choose a king, they don't
3214 just go by size, because I bet there are some Chihuahuas with some good
3216 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3218 It takes a big man to cry, but it takes an even bigger man to laugh at
3220 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3222 I guess we were all guilty, in a way. We all shot him, we all skinned him,
3223 and we all got a complimentary bumper sticker that said, "I helped skin
3225 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3227 I bet the main reason the police keep people away from a plane crash is
3228 they don't want anybody walking in and lying down in the crash stuff, then,
3229 when somebody comes up, act like they just woke up and go, "What was
3231 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3233 The face of a child can say it all, especially the mouth part of the face.
3234 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3236 Ambition is like a frog sitting on a Venus Flytrap. The flytrap can bite
3237 and bite, but it won't bother the frog because it only has little tiny
3238 plant teeth. But some other stuff could happen and it could be like
3240 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3242 I'd rather be rich than stupid.
3243 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3245 If you were a poor Indian with no weapons, and a bunch of conquistadors
3246 came up to you and asked where the gold was, I don't think it would be a
3247 good idea to say, "I swallowed it. So sue me."
3248 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3250 If you define cowardice as running away at the first sign of danger,
3251 screaming and tripping and begging for mercy, then yes, Mr. Brave Man, I
3253 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3255 I bet one legend that keeps recurring throughout history, in every culture,
3256 is the story of Popeye.
3257 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3259 When you go in for a job interview, I think a good thing to ask is if they
3261 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3263 To me, boxing is like a ballet, except there's no music, no choreography,
3264 and the dancers hit each other.
3265 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3267 What is it that makes a complete stranger dive into an icy river to save a
3268 solid gold baby? Maybe we'll never know.
3269 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3271 We tend to scoff at the beliefs of the ancients. But we can't scoff at
3272 them personally, to their faces, and this is what annoys me.
3273 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3275 Probably the earliest flyswatters were nothing more than some sort of
3276 striking surface attached to the end of a long stick.
3277 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3279 I think someone should have had the decency to tell me the luncheon was
3280 free. To make someone run out with potato salad in his hand, pretending
3281 he's throwing up, is not what I call hospitality.
3282 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3284 To me, clowns aren't funny. In fact, they're kind of scary. I've
3285 wondered where this started, and I think it goes back to the time I went to
3286 the circus, and a clown killed my dad.
3287 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3289 As I bit into the nectarine, it had a crisp juiciness about it that was
3290 very pleasurable-until I realized it wasn't a nectarine at all, but A HUMAN
3292 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3294 Most people don't realize that large pieces of coral, which have been
3295 painted brown and attached to the skull by common wood screws, can make a
3296 child look like a deer.
3297 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3299 If trees could scream, would we be so cavalier about cutting them down? We
3300 might, if they screamed all the time, for no good reason.
3301 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3303 Better not take a dog on the space shuttle, because if he sticks his head
3304 out when you're coming home his face might burn up.
3305 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3307 You know what would make a good story? Something about a clown who makes
3308 people happy, but inside he's real sad. Also, he has severe diarrhea.
3309 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3311 Sometimes when I feel like killing someone, I do a little trick to calm
3312 myself down. I'll go over to the persons house and ring the doorbell.
3313 When the person comes to the door, I'm gone, but you know what I've left on
3314 the porch? A jack-o-lantern with a knife stuck in the side of it's head with
3315 a note that says "You." After that I usually feel a lot better, and no
3317 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3319 If you're a horse, and someone gets on you, and falls off, and then gets
3320 right back on you, I think you should buck him off right away.
3321 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3323 If you ever teach a yodeling class, probably the hardest thing is to keep
3324 the students from just trying to yodel right off. You see, we build to
3326 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3328 If you ever fall off the Sears Tower, just go real limp, because maybe
3329 you'll look like a dummy and people will try to catch you because, hey,
3331 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3333 I'd like to see a nude opera, because when they hit those high notes, I bet
3334 you can really see it in those genitals.
3335 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3337 Anytime I see something screech across a room and latch onto someone's
3338 neck, and the guy screams and tries to get it off, I have to laugh, because
3340 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3342 He was a cowboy, mister, and he loved the land. He loved it so much he
3343 made a woman out of dirt and married her. But when he kissed her, she
3344 disintegrated. Later, at the funeral, when the preacher said, "Dust to
3345 dust," some people laughed, and the cowboy shot them. At his hanging, he
3346 told the others, "I'll be waiting for you in heaven--with a gun."
3347 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3349 The memories of my family outings are still a source of strength to me. I
3350 remember we'd all pile into the car-I forget what kind it was-and drive and
3351 drive. I'm not sure where we'd go, but I think there were some trees there.
3352 The smell of something was strong in the air as we played whatever sport we
3353 played. I remember a bigger, older guy we called "Dad." We'd eat some stuff,
3354 or not, and then I think we went home. I guess some things never leave you.
3355 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3357 If a kid asks where rain comes from, I think a cute thing to tell him is
3358 "God is crying." And if he asks why God is crying, another cute thing to
3359 tell him is "probably because of something you did."
3360 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3362 Contrary to what most people say, the most dangerous animal in the world is
3363 not the lion or the tiger or even the elephant. It's a shark riding on an
3364 elephant's back, just trampling and eating everything they see.
3365 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3367 As we were driving, we saw a sign that said "Watch for Rocks." Martha said
3368 it should read "Watch for Pretty Rocks." I told her she should write in
3369 her suggestion to the highway department, but she started saying it was a
3370 joke-- just to get out of writing a simple letter! And I thought I was lazy!
3371 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3373 One thing kids like is to be tricked. For instance, I was going to take my
3374 little nephew to Disneyland, but instead I drove him to an old burned-out
3375 warehouse. "Oh, no," I said, "Disneyland burned down." He cried and cried,
3376 but I think that deep down he thought it was a pretty good joke. I started
3377 to drive over to the the real Disneyland, but it was getting pretty late.
3378 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3380 If you saw two guys named Hambone and Flipper, which one would you think
3381 liked dolphins the most? I'd say Flippy, wouldn't you? You'd be wrong,
3382 though. It's Hambone.
3383 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3385 Laurie got offended because I used the word "puke."
3386 But to me, that's what her dinner tasted like.
3387 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3389 We used to laugh at Grandpa when he'd head off and go fishing. But we
3390 wouldn't be laughing that evening when he'd come back with a whore he
3392 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3394 I wish a robot would get elected president. That way, when he came to
3395 town, we could all take a shot at him and not feel too bad.
3396 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3398 As the evening sky faded from a salmon color to a sort of flint gray, I
3399 thought back to the salmon I caught that morning, and how gray he was, and
3400 how I named him Flint.
3401 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3403 If you're a young Mafia gangster out on your first date, I bet it's real
3404 embarrassing if someone tries to kill you.
3405 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3407 Whenever I see an old lady slip and fall on a wet sidewalk, my first
3408 instinct is to laugh. But then I think, what if I was an ant, and she fell
3409 on me. Then it wouldn't seem quite so funny.
3410 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3412 If you go parachuting, and your parachute doesn't open, and your friends
3413 are all watching you fall, I think a funny gag would be to pretend you were
3415 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3417 When I was a kid, my favorite relative was Uncle Caveman. After school
3418 we'd all go play in his cave, and every once in a while he would eat one of
3419 us. It wasn't until later that I found out that Uncle Caveman was a bear.
3420 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3422 I think people tend to forget that trees are living creatures. They're
3423 sort of like dogs. Huge, quiet, motionless dogs, with bark instead of fur.
3424 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
3426 Another major social development of the time was the Temperance
3427 Movement, led by Carrie Nation, who headed an organization called
3428 Scary Looking Women with Hatchets. They would swoop down upon saloons
3429 and smash all the whiskey bottles, then go back to their headquarters,
3430 fire up reefers as big as Roman candles, and laugh until dawn. This
3431 resulted in so much social turmoil that in 1918 Congress decided to
3432 have a total prohibition on alcohol, which was approved early on a
3433 Saturday morning by a vote of 9-2, with 416 members unable to attend
3434 because of severe headaches. Thus began the nation's "Noble
3435 Experiment," which was eventually judged to be a noble failure and
3436 replaced by the current sensible and coherent alcohol policy of
3437 showing public-service TV announcements wherein professional sports
3438 figures urge people not to drink, interspersed with TV commercials
3439 wherein professional sports figures urge people to drink.
3440 -- from "Dave Barry Slept Here", 1989
3444 The Tao that can be known is not Tao.
3445 The substance of the World is only a name for Tao.
3446 Tao is all that exists and may exist;
3447 The World is only a map of what exists and may exist.
3449 One experiences without Self to sense the World;
3450 One experiences with Self to understand the World.
3451 The two experiences are the same within Tao;
3452 They are distinct only within the World.
3453 Neither experience conveys Tao
3454 Which is infinitely greater and subtler than the World.
3458 When Beauty is ascribed to the World
3459 Ugliness has been learned;
3460 When Good is ascribed to the World
3461 Evil has been learned.
3464 Alive and dead are abstracted from growth;
3465 Difficult and easy are abstracted from progress;
3466 Long and short are abstracted from contrast;
3467 High and low are abstracted from position;
3468 Song and speech are abstracted from harmony;
3469 After and before are abstracted from sequence.
3471 For this reason the sage controls without instruction,
3472 And teaches without words.
3473 He lets all things rise and fall,
3474 Nurtures, but does not interfere,
3475 Gives without demanding,
3478 3. Control without Action
3480 Not praising the worthy prevents cheating
3481 Not esteeming the rare prevents theft
3482 Not flaunting beauty prevents lust
3484 So the sage controls people by:
3485 Emptying their hearts,
3486 Filling their bellies,
3487 Weakening their ambitions,
3488 And strengthening their bodies.
3490 If people lack knowledge and desire
3491 The crafty among them can not act;
3492 If no action is taken
3493 Then all live in peace.
3495 4. Properties of Tao
3497 Tao is a depthless vessel;
3498 Used by the Self, it is not filled by the World;
3499 It cannot be cut, knotted, dimmed or stilled;
3500 Its depths are hidden, ubiquitous and eternal;
3501 I don't know where it came from,
3502 But it came before Nature.
3507 It treats all things impartially.
3508 The Sage is not kind,
3509 And treats all people impartially.
3511 Nature is like a bellows
3512 Empty, yet supplying all needs,
3513 The more it moves, the more it yields;
3514 The sage draws upon Tao in the same way
3515 And so can not be exhausted.
3519 Like a riverbed, the heart is never filled
3520 It is an ineffable female
3521 Whose entrance is the root of the World;
3522 Tao is ever present within it:
3523 Draw upon it and it will never fail.
3527 Nature is everlasting
3528 Because it does not have a Self.
3530 In the same way the sage
3531 Serves his Self last and finds it served first,
3532 Regards his body as accidental and finds it endures;
3533 Because his Self does not require service
3538 The best of man is like water,
3539 Which benefits all things, and does not contend with them,
3540 Which flows in places that others disdain,
3541 Where it holds fast to Tao.
3544 In dwelling holds fast to the land,
3545 In feeling holds fast to the heart,
3546 In dealing holds fast to men,
3547 In talking holds fast to truth,
3548 In governing holds fast to order,
3549 In crafting holds fast to competence,
3550 In acting holds fast to opportunity;
3551 So he does not contend, and is without blame.
3555 Stretch a bow to its limit and it is soon broken;
3556 Temper a blade to its sharpest and it is soon blunted;
3557 Amass the greatest treasure and it is soon stolen;
3558 Claim credit and honour and you will soon fall;
3559 Retire once your purpose is achieved--this is the best way.
3563 Embracing Tao, can you become embraced?
3564 Supple, breathing gently, can you become newborn?
3565 Clearing your vision, can you become clear?
3566 Nurturing your beloved, can you become impartial?
3567 Opening your heart, can you become female?
3568 Knowing the world, can you embrace Tao?
3570 Bearing and nurturing,
3571 Creating but not owning,
3572 Giving without demanding,
3573 Controlling without authority.
3576 11. Wealth and Worth
3578 Thirty spokes meet at a nave;
3579 Because of the hole we may use the wheel.
3580 Clay is moulded into a vessel;
3581 Because of the hollow we may use the cup.
3582 Walls are built around a hearth
3583 Because of the doors we may use the house.
3584 Thus wealth comes from what is,
3585 But worth from what is not.
3589 Too much color blinds the eye
3590 Too much tone deafens the ear
3591 Too much taste dulls the palate
3592 Too much play maddens the mind
3593 Too much desire tears the heart.
3595 The sage provides for the belly but not for the senses;
3596 He lets go of sensation and accepts substance.
3600 The mythic masters said: "Praise and blame cause anxiety;
3601 The objects of hope and fear are within your Self."
3603 "Praise and blame cause anxiety"
3604 For you must hope and fear to receive or to lose them.
3606 "The objects of hope and fear are within your Self"
3607 For, without Self, neither fortune nor disaster can befall.
3610 He who regards the World as the Self is able to control the World;
3611 He who loves the World as the Self is able to nurture the World.
3613 14. The Continuity of Tao
3615 Looked at but cannot be seen--it is beyond form;
3616 Listened to but cannot be heard--it is beyond sound;
3617 Grasped at but cannot be touched--it is beyond reach;
3618 Depthless things evade definition,
3619 And blend into a single mystery.
3621 In its rising there is no light,
3622 In its falling there is no darkness,
3623 A continuous thread beyond description,
3624 Lining what can not exist,
3628 Meet it, it has no face,
3629 Follow it, it has no back.
3631 Understand the past, but attend the present;
3632 In this way you know the continuity of Tao,
3633 Which is its essence.
3635 15. The Mythic Masters
3637 The Mythic Masters of Tao had understanding
3638 So profound they can not be understood.
3640 Because they cannot be understood
3641 I can only describe their appearance:
3642 Cautious, like one crossing thin ice,
3643 Hesitant, like one who fears danger,
3644 Modest, like one who is a guest,
3645 Smooth, like melting ice,
3646 Genuine, like unshaped wood,
3647 Empty, like a riverbed,
3648 Opaque, like muddy water.
3650 He who can lie still while the mud settles,
3651 And remain still until the water flows
3652 Does not seek fulfillment
3653 And may transcend Nature.
3655 16. Transcending Nature
3657 Empty the Self completely;
3658 Embrace perfect peace.
3659 The World will rise and move;
3660 Watch it return to rest.
3661 All the flourishing things
3662 Will return to their source.
3664 This return is peaceful;
3665 It is the way of Nature,
3666 An eternal decay and renewal.
3667 Understanding this brings enlightenment,
3668 Ignorance of this brings misery.
3670 Who understands Nature's way becomes all-cherishing;
3671 Being all-cherishing he becomes impartial;
3672 Being impartial he becomes magnanimous;
3673 Being magnanimous he becomes part of Nature;
3674 Being part of Nature he becomes one with Tao;
3675 Being one with Tao he becomes immortal:
3676 Though his body will decay, Tao will not.
3680 The best rulers are scarcely known by their subjects;
3681 The next best are loved and praised;
3682 The next are feared;
3684 They have no faith in their subjects,
3685 So their subjects become unfaithful to them.
3687 When the best kings achieve their purpose
3688 Their subjects claim the achievement as their own.
3692 When Tao is forgotten
3693 Duty and justice arise;
3694 Then wisdom and sagacity are born
3695 Along with hypocrisy.
3697 When family relationships dissolve
3698 Then respect and devotion arise;
3699 When a nation falls to chaos
3700 Then loyalty and patriotism are born.
3704 If we could discard wisdom and sagacity
3705 Then people would profit a hundredfold;
3706 If we could discard duty and justice
3707 Then loving relationships would form;
3708 If we could discard artifice and profit
3709 Then corruption and theft would disappear -
3710 Yet such remedies treat only symptoms
3711 And so are inadequate.
3713 People need personal remedies:
3714 Reveal your naked Self,
3715 Embrace your original nature,
3716 Bind your self-interest,
3717 Control your desire.
3721 I know nothing and nothing troubles me.
3722 I see no difference between yes and no.
3723 I see no difference between good and evil.
3724 I do not fear what the people fear in the night.
3726 The people are merry as if at a tremendous party
3727 Or playing in the park at springtime;
3728 But I am tranquil and wandering,
3729 Like a newborn before it learns to smile,
3730 Lonely, with no true home.
3732 The people have enough and to spare,
3734 And my heart is foolish,
3737 The people are bright and certain,
3738 Where I am dim and confused;
3739 The people are clever and wise,
3740 Where I am dull and ignorant,
3741 Aimless as a wave drifting over the sea,
3742 Attached to nothing.
3744 The people are busy with purpose,
3745 Where I am impractical and uncouth.
3746 I am apart from all other people
3747 Yet I am sustained by Nature, their mother.
3749 21. Expressions of Tao
3751 Love is expressed by following Tao.
3753 Tao is evasive and intangible
3754 But expresses all form and substance;
3755 Tao is dark and subtle
3756 But expresses Nature;
3757 Nature is unchanging,
3758 But expresses sensation.
3760 Since before knowledge
3761 Tao has expressed these things.
3763 By faith in my senses.
3765 22. Contention and Contentment
3767 Accept and you become whole,
3768 Bend and you straighten,
3770 Decay and you renew,
3771 Want and you acquire,
3772 Fulfill and you become confused.
3774 The sage embraces the one
3775 As the World embraces Tao;
3776 He does not display himself, so is clearly seen,
3777 Does not justify himself, so is famed,
3778 Does not boast, so is credited,
3779 Does not glory, so excels,
3780 Does not contend, and so no one contends against him.
3782 The mythic masters said, "Accept and you become whole",
3783 Once whole, the World is your home.
3787 Nature says only a few words:
3788 High wind does not last long,
3789 Nor does heavy rain.
3790 If Nature's words do not last
3791 Why should those of man?
3793 To follow Tao, become Tao; Tao will embrace you.
3794 To give love, become love; love will embrace you.
3795 To lose Tao, become lost; loss will embrace you.
3796 You must trust in order to be trusted.
3800 If you stand on tiptoe you can not stand steady;
3801 If you stride too long you can not stride well;
3802 If you display yourself you can not be clearly seen;
3803 If you justify yourself you can not be respected;
3804 If you promote yourself you can not be believed;
3805 If you pride yourself you can not excel.
3806 These behaviours are dregs and tumors,
3807 Disgusting things avoided by love.
3809 25. Four Infinities.
3811 Before the World exists
3815 Ubiquitous and ever moving,
3816 The mother of the World.
3817 I can not know its name, so I call it Tao;
3818 I can not know its limit, so I call it infinite.
3820 Being infinite, it flows away forever
3821 Flowing away forever, it will return to the Self.
3823 For the Self follows the way of the World
3824 The World follows the way of Nature
3825 And Nature follows the way of Tao.
3829 Therefore Nature is infinite,
3830 Therefore the World is infinite,
3831 Therefore the Self is infinite.
3832 There are four infinities,
3833 And the Self is one of them.
3835 26. Gravity and Calm
3837 Gravity is the root of Lightness,
3838 Calm, the master of Haste
3840 The commander of a great fleet should not act lightly or hastily.
3841 Acting lightly, he loses touch with the World,
3842 Acting hastily, he loses control of the Self.
3844 The sage will travel all day without losing his vehicles.
3845 Surrounded by desirable things,
3846 He remains calm and unattached.
3850 A good traveller leaves no trail to be followed
3851 A good speaker leaves no questions to be asked
3852 A good accountant leaves no workings to be checked
3853 A good container leaves no lock to be opened
3854 A good fastener leaves no knots to be unravelled
3856 So the sage nurtures all men
3857 And abandons no one.
3858 He accepts everything
3859 And rejects nothing.
3860 He attends to the smallest details.
3862 So the strong must guide the weak,
3863 For the weak are raw material to the strong.
3864 If the guide is not respected
3865 Or the material is not nurtured
3866 Confusion will result, no matter how clever one is.
3867 This is the essence of subtlety.
3869 28. Being the Female
3871 Knowing the male, being the female,
3872 Being the course through which flows the World,
3873 One possesses unfailing Love
3874 And exists again as a newborn.
3876 Knowing the light, being the dark,
3878 One becomes unerring Love
3881 Knowing honour, being humble,
3882 Being the valley of the World,
3884 And one becomes as unshaped wood.
3886 When wood is shaped it becomes tools.
3887 Used by the sage, tools become powerful;
3888 A good carpenter wastes little.
3892 Those who wish to change the World
3893 According with their desire
3896 The World is shaped by Tao;
3897 It cannot be shaped by the Self.
3898 If one tries to shape it, one damages it;
3899 If one tries to possess it, one loses it.
3902 Sometimes things will flourish,
3903 And sometimes they will not.
3904 Sometimes life is hard
3905 And sometimes it is easy.
3906 Sometimes people are strong
3907 And sometimes they are weak.
3908 Sometimes you get where you are going
3909 And sometimes you fall by the way.
3911 The sage is never extreme, extravagant, or complacent.
3915 Powerful men are well advised not to use violence,
3916 For violence has a habit of returning;
3917 Thorns and weeds grow wherever an army goes,
3918 And lean years follow a great war.
3920 A general is well advised
3921 To achieve nothing more than his orders,
3922 No matter how strong his army;
3923 To carry out his orders
3924 But not glory, boast or be proud;
3925 To do what is dictated by necessity,
3926 But not by bloodlust;
3927 For even the fiercest force will weaken with time,
3928 And then its violence will return, and kill it.
3930 31. Tools of Violence
3932 Soldiers are tools of violence, feared by all;
3933 The sage will not employ them.
3934 His purpose is creation;
3935 Their purpose is destruction.
3937 Weapons are tools of violence, not of the wise man;
3938 He uses them when there is no choice
3939 For he values peace and tact,
3940 And does not delight in conquest.
3942 For who delights in conquest
3943 Delights in the slaughter of men;
3944 Who delights in the slaughter of men
3945 Cannot control them.
3947 Slaughters should be mourned
3948 And conquest should be celebrated with a funeral.
3952 Tao has no true definition.
3953 Like unshaped wood, it has no use;
3954 If a ruler understands this
3955 His whole country flourishes and obeys
3956 In harmony with his Self,
3957 Just as sweet rain falls
3958 Needing no instruction
3959 To slake the thirst of all.
3961 When Tao is shaped by use,
3962 The shape gains a name in the World;
3963 One should not keep too many names
3964 Lest their shapes stop up the Self;
3965 Instead let Tao flow through the Self into the World
3966 As water courses down a riverbed into the sea.
3970 He who understands the World is learned;
3971 He who understands the Self is enlightened.
3972 He who conquers the World has strength;
3973 He who conquers the Self has love.
3974 He who is contented has riches;
3975 He who is determined has purpose.
3976 He who maintains his home will long endure
3977 He who maintains his influence will live long after death.
3979 34. Tao Favours Nothing
3981 Infinite Tao flows everywhere, creating and destroying,
3982 Implementing all the World, attending to the tiniest details,
3983 Claiming nothing in return.
3985 It nurtures all things,
3986 Though it does not control them;
3988 So it seems inconsequential.
3990 It is the substance of all things;
3991 Though it does not control them;
3993 So it seems all-important.
3995 Because it favours no finite thing,
4000 Tao lacks art and flavour;
4001 It can neither be seen nor heard,
4002 Yet its application cannot be exhausted.
4004 So, if you offer music and food
4005 Strangers may stop with you;
4006 But if you accord with the shape of Tao
4007 The people of the World will keep you
4008 In safety, health, community, and peace.
4012 To reduce someone's influence, first cause it to expand;
4013 To reduce someone's force, first cause it to increase;
4014 To overthrow someone, first cause them to be exalted;
4015 To take something from someone, first give it to them.
4017 This is the subtlety by which the weak overcome the strong,
4018 For fish should not leave their depths;
4019 And soldiers should not leave their camouflage.
4021 37. Quieting the Heart
4023 Tao does not act, yet leaves nothing undone.
4024 If the Self understands this
4025 All things of the World will naturally flourish;
4026 Flourishing, they will be restrained by Nature.
4028 Nature does not possess desire;
4029 Without desire, the heart becomes quiet,
4030 And so the whole World may be made tranquil.
4034 The kind act without self-interest;
4035 The just act to serve self-interest;
4036 The religious act to reproduce self-interest.
4038 When Tao is lost, there is love;
4039 When love is lost, there is kindness;
4040 When kindness is lost, there is justice;
4041 And when justice is lost, there is religion.
4043 Well established hierarchies are not easily uprooted;
4044 Closely held beliefs are not easily released;
4045 So religions enthrall generation after generation.
4047 Religion is the dissolution of love and trust,
4048 The beginning of confusion.
4049 Belief is a colourful hope or fear,
4050 The origin of folly.
4052 The sage goes by knowledge, not by hope;
4053 He dwells in the fruit, not the flower;
4054 He accepts the former, and rejects the latter.
4058 In mythic times things were whole:
4059 All the sky was clear,
4060 All the earth was stable,
4061 All the mountains were strong,
4062 All the riverbeds were full,
4063 All of nature was alive,
4064 All the rulers were supported.
4066 For without clarity the sky tears;
4067 Without stability the earth cracks;
4068 Without strength the mountain collapses;
4069 Without water the riverbed stagnates;
4070 Without life nature dies back;
4071 And without support rulers fall.
4073 So the ruler depends upon his subjects,
4074 The noble depend upon the humble;
4075 Rulers call themselves orphaned, lonely or disabled,
4076 To win the people's sympathy,
4077 For wholeness gains no support.
4079 So there is weakness in power,
4080 And power in weakness;
4081 Rather than tinkle like jade,
4082 One should clatter like stones.
4084 40. Application of Tao
4086 The motion of Tao is to return;
4087 The use of Tao is to accept;
4088 All things are made of Tao,
4089 And Tao is made of nothing.
4093 When the strong learn Tao, they practice it diligently;
4094 When the average learn Tao, they practice it sometimes;
4095 When the weak learn Tao, they laugh out loud;
4096 Those who do not laugh do not learn at all.
4098 Therefore is it said:
4099 Who understands Tao seems foolish;
4100 Who progresses in Tao seems to fail;
4101 Who follows Tao seems to wander.
4103 For the greatest force appears vulnerable;
4104 The brightest truth appears coloured;
4105 The richest character appears incomplete;
4106 The strongest heart appears meek;
4107 The most beautiful nature appears fickle;
4109 For the square, perfected, has no corner;
4110 Art, perfected, has no meaning;
4111 Sex, perfected, has no climax;
4112 Form, perfected, has no shape.
4114 So Tao can not be sensed or known:
4115 It transmits sensation and transcends knowledge.
4120 Love bears restraint;
4121 Restraint bears acceptance;
4122 Acceptance bears the World;
4123 All things begin with love and end with restraint,
4124 But it is acceptance that brings harmony.
4126 As others teach, I teach:
4127 "Those without harmony end with violence";
4130 43. Overcoming the Impossible
4132 The soft overcomes the hard;
4133 The formless penetrates the impenetrable;
4134 Therefore I value taking no action.
4136 Teaching without words,
4137 Work without action,
4138 Are understood by no one.
4142 Fame or Self: which is dearer?
4143 Self or wealth: which is more valuable?
4144 Profit or loss: which is more torturous?
4146 Great love incurs great expense,
4147 And great wealth incurs great theft,
4148 But great contentment incurs no loss.
4151 He who knows when to stop
4152 Does not continue into danger,
4153 And may long endure.
4157 Great perfection seems imperfect,
4159 Great abundance seems empty,
4162 Great truth seems contradictory;
4163 Great cleverness seems stupid;
4164 Great eloquence seems awkward.
4166 Action overcomes contentment,
4167 But stillness overcomes desire;
4168 Therefore calm and quiet control the World.
4172 When the World is not in accord with Tao,
4173 Horses bear soldiers through the countryside;
4174 When the World is in accord with Tao,
4175 Horses bear horse-manure through the countryside.
4177 There is no greater curse than desire;
4178 There is no greater misery than discontent;
4179 There is no greater ailment than greed;
4180 He who is content to be content shall always be content.
4182 47. Knowledge and Experience
4184 Without taking a step outdoors
4185 You know the whole World.
4186 Without taking a look out the window
4187 You see the colour of the sky.
4189 The more you experience,
4191 The sage wanders without knowing,
4192 Looks without seeing,
4193 Accomplishes without acting.
4197 The follower of knowledge acquires as much as he can every day;
4198 The follower of Tao loses as much as he can every day.
4200 By attrition he reaches a state of inaction
4201 Wherein he does nothing, but leaves nothing undone.
4203 To conquer the world, do nothing;
4204 If you must do something,
4205 The world remains beyond conquest.
4207 49. The Worlds of Others
4209 The sage does not distinguish between Self and World;
4210 Therefore the needs of people in the World are as his own.
4212 He is good to those who are good;
4213 He is also good to those who are not good;
4214 For love is goodness.
4215 He trusts those who are trustworthy;
4216 He also trusts those who are not trustworthy;
4219 He is in harmony with the World;
4220 Therefore he nurtures the Worlds of others
4221 As a mother does her children.
4225 Death enters life as man enters woman.
4228 Thirty years of growth;
4229 Thirty years of decay;
4230 Thirty years inbetween;
4231 So death and life reproduce themselves.
4233 He who would prolong his life
4234 Will not meet tigers or rhinoceri in the wilds,
4235 Nor soldiers in battle
4236 So the rhinoceros sees no place in him for its horn,
4237 The tiger no place for its claw,
4238 The soldier no place for a weapon;
4239 So death finds no place to enter his life.
4246 Circumstance completes us.
4248 We worship Tao and honour love;
4249 For worship of Tao and honour of love
4250 Are performed just by being alive.
4253 Love nurtures, develops, cares for,
4254 Shelters, comforts and makes a home for us.
4256 Making without controlling,
4257 Giving without demanding,
4258 Guiding without interfering,
4259 Helping without profiting,
4264 The origins of the World are its mother;
4265 Know the mother, and you understand the child;
4266 Know the child, and you embrace the mother,
4267 Who will not perish when you die.
4269 Reserve your judgments and words
4270 And you maintain your influence;
4271 Draw conclusions and speak your mind
4272 And your cause is lost.
4274 As seeing detail is clarity,
4275 So maintaining tact is strength;
4276 Keep your eyes and mind open
4277 So that you may not regret your actions;
4282 With but a small understanding
4283 One may follow Tao like a main road,
4284 Fearing only to leave it;
4285 Following a main road is easy,
4286 But being sidetracked is also easy.
4288 For when palaces are kept up
4289 Fields are left to weeds
4290 And granaries empty.
4292 Wearing fine clothes,
4293 Bearing sharp swords,
4294 Glutting with food and drink,
4295 Hoarding wealth and possessions -
4296 These are the ways of theft
4297 And deviations from Tao.
4301 Love does not think of love
4302 For this reason is it strong;
4304 Yet leaves nothing undone.
4305 Desire is intent upon love
4306 For this reason is it weak;
4308 Yet gets nothing done.
4310 Nurture love in the Self, and love will be genuine;
4311 Nurture love in the family, and love will be abundant;
4312 Nurture love in the community, and love will multiply;
4313 Nurture love in the culture, and love will flourish;
4314 Nurture love in the World, and love will be ubiquitous.
4317 Judge a person by their love;
4318 Judge a family by its love;
4319 Judge a community by its love;
4320 Judge a culture by its love;
4321 Judge the World by its love.
4322 How can I know the love of the World?
4327 Who is filled with love is like a newborn.
4328 Wasps will not sting him;
4329 Tigers will not eat him;
4330 Hawks will not tear out his eyes.
4332 His bones are soft, yet his sinews are supple,
4333 So his grip is strong;
4334 He has no wife, yet his manhood is healthy,
4335 So his vigour is unspoiled;
4336 He sings all day yet his voice remains sweet
4337 So his harmony is perfect.
4339 To approach Nature is to know harmony;
4340 To achieve Nature is to be enlightened;
4341 But to surpass Nature invites calamity
4342 For emotion will burst the lungs
4343 And exhaustion will age the heart:
4344 The light that burns twice as bright burns half as long.
4348 He who knows does not speak;
4349 He who speaks does not know.
4351 Reserve your judgments and words;
4352 Dull your wit and simplify your purpose;
4353 Be humble as earth and a part of Nature.
4356 Friendship and enmity,
4358 Honour and disgrace,
4359 Will not affect you.
4360 The impartial Self is of most benefit to the World.
4364 A nation is best governed by innocence;
4365 A war is best waged by treachery;
4366 The World is best controlled by inaction;
4370 The more property and taxes there are,
4371 The more poverty prevails;
4372 The more guns and knives there are,
4373 The more chaos prevails;
4374 The more arts and sciences there are,
4375 The more deceit prevails;
4376 The more rules and regulations there are,
4377 The more theft prevails.
4379 Therefore the sage says:
4380 I take no action, and the people become civilized;
4381 I wage no war, and the people become just;
4382 I transact no business, and the people become wealthy;
4383 I have no desire, and the people become innocent.
4387 When government is lazy and blunt
4388 The people are kind and honest;
4389 When government is efficient and severe
4390 The people are discontented and deceitful.
4392 Misery may yield happiness;
4393 Happiness may conceal misery.
4394 Who can say which will be for the best?
4395 Nothing is straightforward.
4396 Honesty is ever corrupted;
4397 Kindness is ever seduced;
4398 Men have been like this for a long time.
4400 So the sage is firm but not cutting,
4401 Pointed but not piercing,
4402 Straight but not inflexible,
4403 Brilliant but not blinding.
4407 Manage a great nation
4408 As you would cook a delicate fish.
4410 When directing men to a purpose
4411 The sage is restrained;
4412 Restraint allows time to prepare and strengthen,
4413 To build loving relationships;
4414 With sufficient strength and love all resistance is overcome;
4415 When all resistance is overcome his purpose is achieved.
4417 Who can achieve his purpose is able to direct men
4418 And his influence upon them long endures.
4419 Deeply rooted and firmly established,
4420 His vision lives on even after death.
4424 Because the sage follows Tao his emotions do no hurt;
4425 It is not that they lose their power;
4426 But that they do not hurt others;
4427 Because they do not hurt others,
4428 He does not hurt others:
4429 Because his emotions do no hurt,
4430 His relations with people are loving.
4432 61. International Relations
4434 A nation acts as a hierarchy, a meeting place, and a female.
4435 A female seduces a male by being cool,
4436 Being cool is a means of submission.
4438 If a large country submits to a small country
4439 It will seduce the small country;
4440 If a small country submits to a large country
4441 It will seduce the large country;
4442 The large will submit in order to control
4443 And the small will submit in order to prosper.
4446 It is in the interests of a large country to give shelter,
4447 And in the interests of a small country to give service;
4448 If both would achieve their purposes,
4453 Tao is the source of all things,
4454 The treasure of the saint,
4455 And the refuge of the sinner.
4457 Fine words win honour
4458 And fine acts win respect,
4459 But if a man sins, do not abandon him;
4460 And if a man wins power, do not bribe him;
4461 Just be still and present accordance with Tao.
4463 Why do saints treasure Tao?
4464 Because it is easily found by seeking,
4465 And absolves every sin.
4466 It is the most valuable gift.
4468 63. Confront Difficulty
4471 Attend to do-nothing;
4472 Taste the flavorless,
4475 Return love for hate.
4477 Deal with difficulty while it is yet easy;
4478 Deal with the great while it is yet small;
4480 The difficult develops naturally from the easy
4481 And the great from the small;
4482 So the sage, by dealing with the small
4485 He who finds it easy to promise finds it hard to deliver;
4486 He who takes things lightly makes things hard;
4487 The sage confronts difficulty, and so has none.
4489 64. Care at Beginning and End
4491 What lies still is easy to grasp;
4492 What is far off is easy to plan for;
4493 What is cold is easy to shatter;
4494 What is small is easy to disperse.
4497 A tree broader than a man can embrace is born of a tiny shoot;
4498 A dam taller than a river can overflow is born of a clod of earth;
4499 A journey of a thousand miles begins at the spot under one's feet.
4501 Therefore deal with things before they happen;
4502 Create order before there is confusion.
4504 Yet he who acts, spoils;
4505 He who grasps, loses.
4506 People often fail on the verge of success.
4507 Take care at the end as at the beginning,
4508 So that you may avoid failure.
4510 The sage desires no desire,
4513 But gives the people what they can not find
4514 And helps all things accord with Nature
4515 Without interfering.
4517 65. Understanding History
4519 The mythic masters of Tao did not want to make people wise,
4520 But to keep them ignorant;
4521 For it is difficult to govern people who know too much.
4523 To govern a nation by imparting knowledge to its people
4524 Destroys the nation.
4525 To govern a nation by decreasing the knowledge of its people
4528 Understanding these two paths is understanding history;
4529 Understanding history gives clarity of vision
4530 By which one may see through deceit.
4532 66. Lead by Following
4534 How does the river carve out the valley?
4535 By flowing beneath it.
4536 Thereby the river is master of the valley.
4538 In order to master people
4539 One must speak as their servant;
4540 So when the sage is elevated to power
4541 People do not feel oppressed.
4543 In order to lead people
4544 One must follow them;
4545 So when the sage restrains people
4546 They do not feel hindered.
4548 Thus the popularity of the sage does not fail,
4549 He does not seem superior, so no one wishes to usurp him.
4553 It may seem that my teaching means nothing;
4554 It describes the infinite, so of course it means nothing;
4555 If it meant something it would long since have been refuted.
4557 Yet I have three treasures, which I follow and commend to you:
4559 By which one finds courage.
4560 The second is restraint.
4561 By which one finds strength.
4562 The third is not contending.
4563 By which one finds influence.
4565 Those who are fearless, but without love,
4566 Strong, but without restraint,
4567 Or influential, yet contentious,
4570 Only love conquers all and is defeated by none.
4571 It is Nature's finest tool and sharpest weapon.
4575 A good soldier does not use violence;
4576 A good fighter does not use anger;
4577 A good conqueror does not use attack;
4578 A good ruler does not use authority;
4579 So not contending is the best way to use men.
4583 There is a saying among soldiers:
4584 It is easier to lose a yard than take an inch.
4586 In this way one may deploy troops without marshalling them,
4587 Reveal weapons without exposing them,
4588 Assault the foe without charging them,
4589 And apply force without aggression.
4591 Conversely there is no disaster like underestimating your enemy;
4592 For false confidence will lose you your most valued assets.
4593 When two equally matched forces meet
4594 The general who conserves life will win.
4598 My words are easy to understand
4599 And my actions are easy to perform
4600 Yet no man can understand or perform them.
4602 My words have logic; my actions have meaning;
4603 Yet these cannot be known and I cannot be known.
4605 We are each unique; no man understands another.
4606 Though the sage wears coarse clothes, his heart is jade.
4610 Who knows what he knows is healthy;
4611 Who ignores what he ignores is sick;
4612 Who grows sick of sickness recovers;
4613 The sage is never sick, but always sick of sickness.
4617 When people do not fear, they are easily conquered.
4619 Praise their goods and children
4620 And they will not dislike yours.
4621 Know your superiority,
4622 But do not tell it to them;
4624 But do not let them know;
4625 Reject what is yours
4626 And accept what is theirs.
4630 Who is brave and bold may die;
4631 Who is brave and subtle may live.
4632 Which course best serves one's purpose?
4633 Fate favours some and destroys others.
4634 The sage does not know why.
4636 Fate does not contend, yet all things are conquered by it;
4637 It does not ask, yet all things answer to it;
4638 It does not call, yet all things come to it;
4639 It does not plan, yet all things are determined by it.
4641 Fate's hands are vast, its fingers spread wide,
4642 Yet none slip through its grasp.
4646 People do not fear death, so do not threaten them with death.
4648 If people feared death, and you executed all who did not love you
4649 There would be no people left but you and the executioner.
4650 You would then need to kill him.
4651 You would then need to chop off your own hand.
4655 If rulers take too much grain
4656 People rapidly starve;
4657 If rulers take too much freedom
4658 People easily rebel;
4659 If rulers take too much happiness.
4662 By not interfering the sage improves the people's lives.
4666 Man is born soft and tender,
4667 But dies hard and stiff.
4668 Plants and animals, in life, are supple and juicy;
4669 In death, brittle and dry.
4670 So hardness and stiffness are attributes of death,
4671 And softness and tenderness attributes of life.
4673 Just as a sapless tree splits and decays
4674 A strong but inflexible force will meet defeat;
4675 So the hard and mighty lie beneath our feet
4676 While the tender and weak toss in the breeze above.
4680 Is the movement of Nature not unlike drawing a bow?
4681 What is higher descends and what is lower ascends;
4682 What is longer shortens and what is shorter lengthens;
4683 Nature's way decreases those who have more than they need
4684 So to increase those who need more than they have.
4686 It is not so with Man.
4687 Man decreases those who need more than they have
4688 So to increase those who have more than they need.
4690 The sage works regardless of personal reward or recognition;
4691 To benefit the World is to benefit the Self.
4693 78. Accept Responsibility
4695 Nothing in the World is as yielding as water;
4696 Nor can anything better overcome the hardened.
4698 Just as the yielding overcomes the hardened,
4699 The weak may overcome the strong;
4703 "Who accepts responsibility for his people rules the country;
4704 Who accepts responsibility for the World rules the World"
4705 Yet his words are not understood.
4709 When conflict is reconciled, some hatred remains;
4710 How can this be put right?
4712 The sage accepts less than is due
4713 And does not blame or punish;
4714 Love seeks agreement
4715 Where justice seeks payment.
4717 The mythic masters said: "Nature is impartial;
4718 Therefore it serves those who serve all."
4722 Imagine that there is a small country with few people;
4723 Who have a hundred times more than they need;
4724 Who love life and do not wander far;
4725 Who own ships but do no foreign trade;
4726 Who own weapons but do not threaten war;
4727 Who are literate but keep no histories;
4728 Who cook well, dress beautifully, dwell safely
4729 And delight in their own culture,
4730 But live within cock crow of their neighbours.
4732 People in such a place would never leave.
4736 Truth is not rhetorical;
4737 Therefore rhetoric is not true;
4738 Lovers do not contend;
4739 Therefore competitors do not love;
4740 The enlightened keep no knowledge;
4741 Therefore the learned are not enlightened.
4743 The sage does not aim to increase himself;
4744 But the more he does for others the more he is satisfied;
4745 And the more he gives the more he gets.
4747 The best way is to benefit all and harm none;
4748 So the sage achieves his purpose without contention.
4750 Minds are like parachutes, they only function when they're open.
4751 -- Sir Thomas Robert Dewar, aka Lord Dewar
4775 /\/\ (. ).) `_'_', ( )
4778 / \ ~====' /_____/` D)
4780 .__|~-/^\-~|_/_ |^^^^^^^|| |
4783 _- ,`_'_' .~\ \|__ __|-____ / )
4784 < -(. ).) > \ ( .\ (. ) \(_/ )
4785 ~- _) \_- ooo @ (_) @ \(_//.
4786 / /_C (-.____) /((O)/ \ ._/\~_.
4787 / |_\ / / /\\\\`-----'' _|>o< |__
4788 | \ooooO ( \ \\ \\___/ \ `_'_', /
4789 \ \__-| \ `)\\-^\\ ^--. /_(.(.)- _\
4790 \ \ ) |-`--.`--=\-\ /-//_ ' ( c D\
4791 \_\_) |-___/ / \ V /.~ \/\\\ (@)___/ ~|
4792 / | / | |. /`\\_/\/ / /
4793 / | ( C`-'` / | \/ (/ /
4794 /_________- \ `C__-~ | / (/ /
4795 | | | \__________| \ (/
4802 #################### ##
4803 #################### ##
4824 <=============**==============>
4833 [Reuters 8/16/92] SHANGHAI--A 24-year-old bus passenger, Dong Huibo, died
4834 in the street, after tangling with one of the city's dreaded woman bus
4835 conductors. His nightmare began inside the bus when the ticketpuncher
4836 snarled an insult about the shape of his backside. She swore at him,
4837 slapped his face and broke his glasses, made a grab for his testicles, then
4838 stood back and aimed a vicious kick at his private parts. As he scrambled
4839 out of a window, the driver--also a woman--slammed her foot on the
4840 accelerator pedal and sent him flying. (From: Di Bi Cao)
4842 -----------------------------------------
4843 |@@@@@@@^^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^@@@@@@@@|
4844 |@@@@@@^ ~^ @ @@ @ @ @ I ~^@@@@@@|
4845 |@@@@@ ~ ~~ ~I @@@@@|
4846 |@@@@' ' _,w@< @@@@|
4847 |@@@@ @@@@@@@@w___,w@@@@@@@@ @ @@@|
4848 |@@@@ @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ I @@@|
4849 |@@@@ @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@*@[ i @@@|
4850 |@@@@ @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@[][ | ]@@@|
4851 |@@@@ ~_,,_ ~@@@@@@@~ ____~ @ @@@|
4852 |@@@@ _~ , , `@@@~ _ _`@ ]L J@@@|
4853 |@@@@ , @@w@ww+ @@@ww``,,@w@ ][ @@@@|
4854 |@@@@, @@@@www@@@ @@@@@@@ww@@@@@[ @@@@|
4855 |@@@@@_|| @@@@@@P' @@P@@@@@@@@@@@[|c@@@@|
4856 |@@@@@@w| '@@P~ P]@@@-~, ~Y@@^'],@@@@@@|
4857 |@@@@@@@[ _ _J@@Tk ]]@@@@@@|
4858 |@@@@@@@@,@ @@, c,,,,,,,y ,w@@[ ,@@@@@@@|
4859 |@@@@@@@@@ i @w ====--_@@@@@ @@@@@@@@|
4860 |@@@@@@@@@@`,P~ _ ~^^^^Y@@@@@ @@@@@@@@@|
4861 |@@@@^^=^@@^ ^' ,ww,w@@@@@ _@@@@@@@@@@|
4862 |@@@_xJ~ ~ , @@@@@@@P~_@@@@@@@@@@@@|
4863 |@@ @, ,@@@,_____ _,J@@@@@@@@@@@@@|
4864 |@@L `' ,@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@|
4865 |@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@|
4866 -----------------------------------------
4883 Ronald Wilson Reagan can be rearranged into Insane Anglo Warlord
4884 and George Herbert Walker Bush into Huge Berserk Rebel Warthog, and of
4885 course H. Ross Perot can be rearranged into Sport Horse and Short Poser.
4887 HSIN-HSIN-MING (AFFIRMING FAITH IN MIND)
4889 wong@rkna50.riken.go.jp (Wong Weng Fai) posted a version of this,
4890 and I thought I would send another, longer version. This is from
4891 (if my memory serves) Roshi Kapleau's "Zen--Dawn in the West",
4892 so I assume it is his translation.
4894 The Great Way is not difficult
4895 For those who do not pick and choose.
4897 When preferences are cast aside
4898 The Way stands clear and undisguised.
4900 But even slight distinctions made
4901 Set Heaven and Earth far apart.
4903 If you would clearly see the truth,
4904 Discard opinions pro and con.
4906 To founder in like and dislike
4907 Is nothing but the mind's disease.
4909 And not to see the Way's deep truth
4910 Disturbs the Mind's essential peace.
4912 The Way is perfect like vast space,
4913 Where there's no lack and no excess.
4915 Our choice to choose and to reject
4916 Prevents our seeing this simple truth.
4918 Both striving for the outer world
4919 As well as for the inner void
4920 Condemns us to entangled lives.
4922 Just calmly see that all is One
4923 And by themselves false views will go.
4925 Attempts to stop activity
4926 Only fill you with activity.
4928 Remaining in duality
4929 You'll never know of unity.
4931 And not to know this unity
4932 Lets conflict lead you far astray.
4934 When you assert that things are real,
4935 You miss their true reality.
4936 But to assert that things are void
4937 Also misses reality.
4939 The more you talk and think on this,
4940 The further from the truth you'll be.
4942 Cut off all useless thoughts and words
4943 And there's nowhere you cannot go.
4944 Returning to the root itself,
4945 You'll find the meaning of all things.
4947 If you pursue appearances,
4948 You overlook the primal source.
4950 Awakening is to go beyond
4951 Both emptiness as well as form.
4953 All changes in this empty world
4954 Seem real because of ignorance.
4956 Do not go searching for the truth,
4957 Just let those fond opinions go.
4959 Abide not in duality;
4960 Refrain from all pursuit of it.
4962 If there's a trace of right and wrong,
4963 True Mind is lost, confused, distraught.
4965 From One-Mind comes duality,
4966 But cling not even to this one.
4968 When this One-Mind rests undisturbed,
4969 Then nothing in the world offends.
4971 And when nothing can give offense,
4972 Then all obstructions cease to be.
4974 If all thought-objects disappear,
4975 The thinking subject drops away.
4977 For things are things because of mind,
4978 As mind is mind because of things.
4980 These two are merely relative,
4981 And both at source are emptiness.
4983 In emptiness these are not two,
4984 Yet in each are contained all forms.
4986 Once coarse and fine are seen no more,
4987 Then how can there be taking sides?
4989 The Great Way is without limit,
4990 Beyond the easy and the hard.
4992 But those who hold to narrow views
4993 Are fearful and irresolute;
4994 Their frantic haste just slows them down.
4996 If you're attached to anything,
4997 You surely will go far astray.
4999 Just let go now of clinging mind,
5000 And all things are just as they are.
5001 In essence nothing goes or stays.
5003 See into the true self of things,
5004 And you're in step with the Great Way,
5005 Thus walking freely and undisturbed.
5007 But live in bondage to your thoughts,
5008 And you will be confused, unclear.
5010 This heavy burden weighs you down-
5011 O why keep judging good and bad?
5013 If you would walk the highest way,
5014 Do not reject the sense domain.
5016 For as it is, whole and complete,
5017 This sense world is enlightenment.
5019 The wise do not strive after goals,
5020 But fools themselves in bondage put.
5022 The One Way knows no differences;
5023 The foolish cling to this and that.
5024 To seek Great Mind with thinking mind
5025 Is certainly a grave mistake.
5027 From small mind comes rest and unrest,
5028 But mind awakened transcends both.
5030 Delusion spawns dualities-
5031 These dreams are naught but flowers of air-
5032 Why work so hard at grasping them?
5034 Both gain and loss, and right and wrong-
5035 Once and for all get rid of them.
5037 When you are no longer asleep,
5038 All dreams will vanish by themselves.
5040 If mind does not discriminate,
5041 All things are as they are, as one.
5043 To go to this mysterious source
5044 Frees us from all entanglements.
5046 When all is seen with "equal mind",
5047 To our self-nature we return.
5049 This single mind goes right beyond
5050 All reasons and comparisons.
5052 Stop movement and there's no movement,
5053 Stop rest and no-rest comes instead.
5055 When rest and no-rest cease to be,
5056 Then even Oneness disappears.
5057 This ultimate Finality's
5058 Beyond all laws; can't be described.
5060 With single mind one with the Way,
5061 All ego-centered strivings cease.
5063 Doubts and confusion disappear,
5064 And so true faith pervades our life.
5066 There is no thing that clings to us,
5067 And nothing that is left behind.
5069 All's self-revealing, void and clear,
5070 Without exerting power of mind.
5072 Thought cannot reach this state of truth;
5073 Here feelings are of no avail.
5075 In this true world of emptiness,
5076 Both self and other are no more.
5078 To enter this true empty world,
5079 Immediately affirm "Not-Two".
5081 In this "Not-Two" all is the same,
5082 With nothing separate or outside.
5084 The wise in all times and places
5085 Awaken to this primal truth.
5087 The Way's beyond all space, all time;
5088 One instant is ten thousand years.
5090 Not only here, not only there,
5091 Truth's right before your very eyes.
5093 Distinctions such as large and small
5094 Have relevance for you no more.
5096 The largest is the smallest too;
5097 Here limitations have no place.
5099 What is is not, what is not is;
5100 If this is not yet clear to you,
5101 You're still far from the inner truth.
5103 One thing is all, all things are one.
5104 Know this and all's whole and complete.
5106 When faith and mind are not separate,
5107 And not separate are mind and faith,
5108 This is beyond all words, all thought.
5115 You don't understand because you are a technocrat, an engineer.
5116 You work with your hands.
5117 I however am a visionary. I work with my mouth.
5120 So we'll go to the top of the toppest blue space,
5121 The Official Katroo Birthday Sounding-Off Place!
5122 Come on! Open your mouth and sound off at the sky!
5123 Shout loud at the top of your voice,
5127 And I may not know why
5128 But I know that I like it.
5129 _Three cheers_! I AM I!"
5130 -- Theodor Geisel (Dr. Seuss)
5139 Human conduct is ever unreliable
5140 until man is anchored in the Divine,
5141 Everything in future will improve
5142 if you are making a spiritual effort now.
5143 -- Swami Sri Yukteswar
5145 A strange weed this be
5146 what's restoreth my vitality.
5149 Q: Is an opinion true or false?
5150 A: Depends on whether it's mine or yours....
5153 Would anyone ever admit that an opinion was wrong?
5154 Wouldn't most people change the opinion instead,
5155 having then a new, well-considered, and more correct opinion?
5158 Through the dark of future past,
5159 The magician longs to see.
5160 One chants out between two worlds,
5161 "Fire, walk with me!"
5163 It's really very simple... I found wearing women's clothes... relaxed me.
5166 the first differentiation between reality as conceived and reality as it IS
5167 consists of an analogy: conceptions of reality (all ideas entertained by a
5168 knower) are maps, while reality is the territory being mapped.
5169 whether or not two individuals can be said to live in the same territory
5170 is unclear, because their conceptions may be different enough that their maps
5171 of reality are very different. it is also unclear whether there can be said
5172 to be two individuals at all--if the self and other are one, then all
5173 distinctions between selves ultimately disappear in the final analysis.
5176 This message partially funded by the Apathy Partnership of Earth (APE).
5178 Styrofoam never dies for as long as you live.
5179 -- Deputy Andy Brennan, Twin Peaks
5188 A dog howling at the moon,
5189 not because he's a dog,
5190 but because he wants to.
5193 I want to share something with you, the three
5194 little sentences that will get you through life:
5196 #2. Ooh, good idea boss!
5197 #3. It was like that when I got here...
5198 -- Homer Simpson to Bart
5200 you wouldn't know the truth if it bit off your nose, stuck a gasoline
5201 nozzle into the gaping wound, filled you up with high octane, and
5204 In a world where children blow up children,
5205 everyone's a threat.
5206 -- psycho cop, on Star Trek: The Next Generation
5210 environments based in chaotic realms inevitably concern themselves less with
5211 conservation of mass or energy, ignore laws regarding increasing entropy,
5212 cease to be rational or defined. chaotic ones within orderly realms still
5213 recall this power and warp the space where they stand.
5219 | \\_/_/ /__|O||O|__ \
5220 / |_ | "I do solemnly swear by the sacred |/_ \_/\_/ _\ |
5221 | ||\_ ~| bedpan to fix the patient, and | | (____) | ||
5222 | ||| \/ ease his wretched suffering, even \/\___/\__/ //
5223 | |||_ until all hope is lost." (_/ ||
5229 / ||||__ (____(____)
5232 When they came for the Fourth Amendment I didn't say anything
5233 because I had nothing to hide.
5234 When they came for the Second Amendment I didn't say anything
5235 because I didn't own a gun.
5236 When they came for the Fifth and Sixth Amendments I didn't say anything
5237 because I had committed no crimes.
5238 When they came for the First Amendment I couldn't say anything.
5240 (taken from the Urine Nation News, spring/summer 1993, number 12, page 1)
5243 something may be great,
5244 but the bother of not doing it
5245 while continuing to think about it
5249 Then we sat on the sand for some time and observed,
5250 how the oceans that covered the world were perturbed,
5251 by the tides from the orbiting moon overhead,
5252 "How relaxing the sound of the waves is," you said.
5253 I began to expound upon tidal effects,
5254 when you asked me to stop, looking somewhat perplexed,
5255 so I did not explain why the sunset turns red,
5256 and we watched the occurrence in silence instead.
5260 Felis catus, Your visual, olfactory,
5261 is your taxonomic nomenclature, and auditory senses,
5262 an endothermic quadruped, contribute to your hunting skills,
5263 carnivorous by nature? and natural defenses.
5265 I find myself intrigued A tail is quite essential
5266 by your subvocal oscillations, for your acrobatic talents,
5267 a singular development you would not be so agile,
5268 of cat communications, if you lacked its counterbalance,
5269 that obviates your basic and when not being utilized,
5270 hedonistic predilection, to aid in locomotion,
5271 for a rhythmic stroking of your fur it often serves to illustrate,
5272 to demonstrate affection. the state of your emotion.
5274 Oh Spot, the complex levels of behavior you display,
5275 connote a fairly well developed cognitive array,
5276 and though you are not sentient, Spot,
5277 and do not comprehend, I nonetheless consider you
5278 a true and valued friend.
5282 There is no secret to excel in playing the shakuhachi.
5283 Blow not intensely, but from your heart.
5284 Although technique is secondary, it helps to express your true self.
5285 If we are natural, we make fine sound.
5286 If we have an open mind, our sound will be mellow.
5287 If we have right attitudes toward life,
5288 our music will be acceptable to everyone.
5289 Take care of your sound as you would care for yourself.
5292 You can't save money by spending it. Beware claims to the contrary.
5295 If you correct your mind, the rest of your life will fall into place.
5296 This is true because the mind is the governing aspect of human life.
5297 If the river flows clearly and cleanly through the proper channel,
5298 all will be well along its banks.
5300 The Integral Way depends on decreasing, not increasing:
5301 To correct your mind, rely on not-doing.
5302 Decrease thinking and clinging to complications;
5303 keep your mind detached and whole.
5304 Eliminate mental muddiness and obscurity;
5305 keep your mind crystal clear.
5306 Avoid daydreaming and allow your pure original insight to emerge.
5307 Quiet your emotions and abide in serenity.
5308 Don't go crazy with the worship of idols, images, and ideas;
5309 this is like putting a new head on top of the head you already have.
5311 Remember: if you can cease all restless activity,
5312 your integral nature will appear.
5314 -- Hua Hu Ching -- 45
5316 Dualistic thinking is a sickness.
5317 Religion is a distortion.
5318 Materialism is cruel.
5319 Blind spirituality is unreal.
5321 Chanting is no more holy than listening to the
5322 murmur of a stream, counting prayer beads no more
5323 sacred than simply breathing, religious robes no
5324 more spiritual than work clothes.
5326 If you wish to attain oneness with the Tao, don't get
5327 caught up in spiritual superficialities.
5328 Instead, live a quiet and simple life, free of ideas and
5330 Find contentment in the practice of undiscriminating
5331 virtue, the only true power.
5332 Giving to others selflessly and anonymously, radiating
5333 light throughout the world and illuminating your
5334 own darkness, your virtue becomes a sanctuary for
5335 yourself and all beings.
5337 This is what is meant by embodying the Tao.
5339 -- Hua Hu Ching -- 47
5341 ________________ _______________
5346 | ___\ \| | / / \____________ \ \
5351 | | __ | | (o-) _ | |
5352 | __\ (_o) | / \ | |
5353 | | | Heh Heh Heh / ) ) | |
5354 \ || \ / Huh Huh Huh / ) / | |
5355 | |__ \ / \ |___ - | |
5356 | | (*___\ / \ *' | |
5357 | | _ | / \ |____ | |
5358 | | //_______| ####\ | |
5359 | / |_|_|_|___/\ ------ |_/
5361 | _----_______/ \_____ |
5363 |_____/ \__________|
5365 "Beavis and Butthead are catching up in the poles."
5366 "Yeah, our poles are rising."
5368 The chief cause of problems is solutions. -- Eric Severeid
5370 [CND, 12/15/93] A women trafficking gang, consisting of 69 members, was
5371 rounded up by the Inner Mongolia police, the Inner Mongolian Daily said.
5372 The gang, operating in several nearby provinces, enticed a total of 200
5373 unemployed women to make the journey to Inner Mongolia with the promise
5374 of good jobs and shelter. The women, ranging from 15 to 41, then were sold
5375 as wives or servants to local peasants who had difficulties in finding
5379 A genuine ASCII stereogram!
5380 Here's an ASCII single image random dot stereogram for your enjoyment. To
5381 get the 3d effect, you need to diverge (unfocus) your eyes such that two
5382 adjacent letters in the same row come together. To help you focus, try to
5383 make the two capital O's at the top look like three. Once you've done that,
5384 the rest of the image should jump out of the screen at you!
5386 n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n
5387 f f f f f f f f f f f f f f
5388 e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e
5389 a a a a a a a a a a a a a a
5390 a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a
5391 r r r r r r r r r r r r r r
5392 r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r
5394 Try moving your head back from the screen and moving it about a bit
5395 once you have focused on the image to increase the stereo effect even
5399 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5400 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5401 . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5402 . . . . . . . . . . .
5418 . . . . . . . . . . .
5419 . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5420 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5421 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5423 The following a 3-d Maze (3x4) consisting of the following objects:
5424 circle, square, asterisk, hour-glass, triangle, and a square with two lines
5425 in it. The rules are as follows: You can 'warp' from one part of the maze to
5426 another by matching similar objects. Each 'warp' counts as one move. You
5427 can also travel along the lines, if there is a line. This also counts as one
5428 move. (I got the idea of this from a GAMES magazine I read a LONG time ago)
5429 Try to go from "START" to "END" in the least amount of moves. I would give
5430 out a prize to somebody, if I could think of one(that doesn't cost anything,
5431 of course!). (Take this as a first maze...I didn't plan it out, and it's not
5432 very difficult.) I would suggest that people that have worked with
5433 stereograms EXTENSIVELY try this, as it is hard to move your eyes around and
5434 still keep focused on the 3-D image. E-mail me the number of moves it took
5435 you and the path you followed (e.g. 6 Sqauare -warp- Asterisk Circle...etc.),
5436 I'll post the list of people that reply to it within the next week and got
5437 the lowest number of moves. Good luck!!
5439 [qL|[NYcUCdH>,(&[qL|[NYcUCdH>,(&[qL|[NYcUCdH>,(&[qL|[NYcUCdH>,(&[qL|[NYcUCdH>,(
5440 UflL:FL#OaEu/_QqUflL:FL#OaEu/_QqUflL:FL#OaEu/_QqUflL:FL#OaEu/_QqUflL:FL#OaEu/_Q
5441 rwA#nbud>*Dj+X<TrwA#nbud>*Dj+X<TrwA#nbud>*Dj+X<TrwA#nbud>*Dj+X<TrwA#nbud>*Dj+X<
5442 $*-Xj+V&%Ui\START*-Xj+V&%UiSTART;*-Xj+V&%UiSTART;*-Xj+V&%UiSTART;*-Xj+V&%Uieg%(
5443 BDX"aZ3Y0mdH&KF%BDX"aZ3Y0mdH&KF%BDX"aZ3Y0mdH&KF%BDX"aZ3Y0mdH&KF%BDX"aZ3Y0mdH&KF
5444 WL(-W->WTPh:UQ:oWL(-W->WT:UQ:oWL(-eBW->WT:UQ:oW-YoeBW->WT:UQ:oW-YBW|H->WT:UQ:oW
5445 cTV:wpR6GN\ne![|cTV:wpR6Gn<e![|cT:YQwpR6Gn<e![T4YH\QwpR6Gn<e!4YH\QQpR6GHln<e!4Y
5446 ycYu]kP@LbRF<D?`ycYu]kP@LF4<D?`ycuc]kP@LF4<D?ybcu]W]kP@LF4<D?yb]KW]k@':LF4<D?yb
5447 H6hhYb"6^EwE*rEoH6hhYb"6^Ea*rEoH6h]Yb"6^Ea*ro<Hh"]bD$"6^Ea*ro<H]DbD$6zP^Ea*ro<H
5448 zp@.Gx,Tu(Q!.hKbzp@.Gx,Tu!t.hKbzp.8?Gx,Tu!tKbbzp.8?xcy,Tu!tKbp.8?Xxy,TuB&!tKbp.
5449 =V\idlNwT]T;S"1(=V\idlNwT;S"1(=V\ic|dlNwT;1(=V\ic|dlN<fwT;1(=V\iclN;h<fwT;1(=V\
5450 1<Q)K|.BH?n:K-gc1<Q)K|.BH?n:K-gc1<Q)K|.BH?n:K-gc1<Q)K|.BH?n:K-gc1Q)5K|.BH?n:K-g
5451 lR,gO$66yAP&W<?>lR,gO$66yAP&W<?>lR,gO$66yAP&W<?>lR,gO$66yAP&W<?>l,gMO$66yAP&W<?
5452 u1JC&-_WLwf7JiGFu1JC&-_WLwf7JiGFu1JC&-_WLwf7JiGFu1JC&-_WLwf7JiGFuJCN&-_WLwf7JiG
5453 *Ogb{pQJw6e{v*'D*Ogb{pQJw6e{v*'D*Ogb{pQJw6e{v*'D*Ogb{pQJw6e{v*'D*gbw{pQJw6e{v*'
5454 b*cB2RFU5R+{3myvb*cB2RFU5R+{3myvb*cB2RFU5R+{3myvb*cB2RFU5R+{3myvbcBi2RFU5R+{3my
5455 cyES,'Ia)alM%TK$cyES,'Ia)alMK$cj]yES,'Ia)aK$cj]yES,'Ir$a)aK$cyES,'Ir$a|G)aK$cyE
5456 k?8@P&:FiQz%QJ*,k?8@P&:FiQQJ$*,?86L@P&:FiQ$*,&86LBP&:i:FiQ$*,6+LBP&:iF02iQ$*,6+
5457 wn(odb-='HALW=^Wwn(odb-='LW:=^Ww(o?db-='LW=^W/(o?fb-=1T'LW=^Wop?fb-=1')OLW=^Wop
5458 S<>"\$f";MP\$4?hS<>"\$f";\$S4?hS>"!\$f";\$4?hh>"!q$f"F*;\$4?h"v!q$f"*;]j\$4?h"v
5459 =/twTn#S9ikXS%`y=/twTn#S9iS%[`y/t2nwTn#S9i[`y't2n/Tn#\\S9i[`y2Yn/Tn#\S?I9i[`y2Y
5460 d1|,!mJqjd8x^=!Bd1|,!mJqjd8x!Bd1=1|,!mJqjd!Bd1=1|,!mJV^qjd!Bd1|,!mJV^qIGjd!Bd1|
5461 Sy<6*yAW|!l;tZ]nSy<6*yAW|!l;t]n'Sy<6*yAW|!l;t]nSy+<6*yAW|!l;t]nSy<6X*yAW|!l;t]n
5462 &)v;_!*qY*L)-IQd&)v;_!*qY*L)-Qd5&)v;_!*qY*L)-Qd&)Bv;_!*qY*L)-Qd&)v;6_!*qY*L)-Qd
5463 t?K!lfksx)kzAp2Wt?K!lfksx)kzA2W:t?K!lfksx)kzA2Wt?%K!lfksx)kzA2Wt?K!Llfksx)kzA2W
5464 UAsuytGXa{(cnug]UAsuytGXa{(cng](UAsuytGXa{(cng]UAzsuytGXa{(cng]UAsuXytGXa{(cng]
5465 |Is@[A-F0)KmcN>o|Is@[A-F0)Kmc>o#|Is@[A-F0)Kmc>o|Ins@[A-F0)Kmc>o|Is@>[A-F0)Kmc>o
5466 NHnuKxzh"2zQ=hq+NHnuKxzh"2zQ=hNmhHnuKxzh"2zQ=hNHn85uKxzh"2zQNHn85uKxzh".I2zQNHn
5467 vj5-juY;&H>b[w"mvj5-juY;&H>b[mBjX!5-juY;&H>mBjXc!-juYY:;&H>mXc!;juYJ:;&.fH>mXc!
5468 zE"A{TfCX?9H9e;:zE"A{TfCX?9H;8:z"mA{TfCX?9H;8z="mATRwfCX?9H;="m{TRwbCX?zt9H;="m
5469 OI5{{UQa5D.Vo/rVOI5{{UQa5D./@rOoI{D{UQa5D./@rotI{DU.ZQa5D./@tI{pU.ZNa5D85./@tI{
5470 VvmyUF3wGZ.Vd-0.VvmyUF3wGZd1-0.VvmUKqF3wGZd0.VvKmKqF3?kwGZd0vKmxqF3okwGU!Zd0vKm
5471 Yo{BgD`f\`$JRtu'Yo{BgD`f\JRtu'Yo{BgDis`f\JRtu'YBg3#Dis`f\JRtYBg3#Dis`f\ygJRtYBg
5472 80[vV7`fchW6A#'x80[vV7`fchW6A'x-80[vV7`fchW6A'x80r[vV7`fchW6A'x80r[vV7`fchW6A'x
5473 O"<a1OA^o=:]aa=(O"<a1OA^o=:]a=([O"<a1OA^o=:]a=(O"Z<a1OA^o=:]a=(O"Z<a1OA^o=:]a=(
5474 V+{S>As"N5\Ul_^TV+{S>As"N5\Ul^TkV+{S>As"N5\Ul^TV+;{S>As"N5\Ul^TV+;{S>As"N5\Ul^T
5475 /U!sJ3m%/qr?4m!I/U!sJ3m%/qr?4!IB/U!sJ3m%/qr?4!I/Uw!sJ3m%/qr?4!I/Uw!sJ3m%/qr?4!I
5476 yh6Sd(VC3g&>\H<.yh6Sd(VC3g&>\<.Vyh6Sd(VC3g&>\<.yhs6Sd(VC3g&>\<.yhs6Sd(VC3g&>\<.
5477 ;*<*[r!OIx.k(ZB^;*<*[r!OIk(ZB^;*<*[rkw!OIk(ZB^<*[i^rkw!OIk(Z<*[i^rkw!OI]Fk(Z<*[
5478 9xGH.E=u,tZXVx!<9xGH.E=u,tZx!<9xGH;W.E=u,tZx9x'GHW.TzE=u,tZx9xHW.TzE=.|u,tZx9xH
5479 \Hu"\@V#8"mLukmM\Hu"\@V#8"mLuM\Hs;u"\@V#8"mM\PHs;u\@DV#8"mM\PHs;\@DECV#8"mM\PHs
5480 +TnXOmPMQKTVwlSV+TnXOmPMQKTVwV+TJInXOmPMQKTV+@TJInOmmPMQKTV+@TJIOmmizPMQKTV+@TJ
5481 JaXq{$*|_pP|-`[wJaXq{$*|_pP`[wJaXqS*{$*|_pP`Ja,Xq*{K3$*|_pP`Jaq*{K3$*g.|_pP`Jaq
5482 A7_qF(|hvg5>t;!nA7_qF(|hv>t;!nA7_qF(f"|hv>t;!n_qFIf(f"|hv>t;_qFIf(f"|hvY*>t;_qF
5483 Clzp3ggIZF7:E.cqClzp3ggIZF7:E.cqClzp3ggIZF7:E.cqClzp3ggIZF7:E.cqClzp3ggIZF7:E.c
5484 UENDu6z[k<anY>&JUENDu6z[k<anY>&JUENDu6z[k<anY>&JUENDu6z[k<anY>&JEND>u6z[k<anY>&
5485 h-Q!-z98>A%65jWBh-Q!-z98>A%65jWBh-Q!-z98>A%65jWBh-Q!-z98>A%65jWBh-Q!-z98>A%65jW
5486 #7ch;MFM9k0{T2."#7ch;MFM9k0{T2."#7ch;MFM9k0{T2."#7ch;MFM9k0{T2."#7ch;MFM9k0{T2.
5487 IMfNj5t*M,K`xKz9IMfNj5t*M,K`xKz9IMfNj5t*M,K`xKz9IMfNj5t*M,K`xKz9IMfNj5t*M,K`xKz
5491 ## # # # # ## #### #
5492 ## # # # #### ######## # ##
5494 ### ## # ## # ### ### ## ##
5495 # #### ### # # # ## # # # # ###
5496 ## ############# # # # ## ###
5497 # # # # ## ### ## ###
5498 # # ## # ## ### # ###
5500 # #### # ## #### ###
5501 ##### # # ## # # # ##### #
5502 # # # # # # ## # ##### #
5506 # ## # # ## ##### ##
5507 ###### # # # # ### ###
5508 ## # # # # ###### ##
5509 ## # ##### # ##### ### ## ##
5510 # ## ## ## # ## ## # ### ####
5511 ### #### # # #### # # ########
5512 ##### # ## ### # ### #
5513 #### ## # ### #### ##
5518 # # # ##################
5520 ### # # ## #### ## ##
5523 ## # ## # ## ## #####
5524 # ### ## # ## #### ## # ###
5525 ## ##### # ######### # ####
5547 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
5548 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$"" ""$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
5549 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$" $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
5550 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$" " " o "$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
5551 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ " o "$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
5552 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ o o "$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
5553 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$" o " o"$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
5554 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$" " $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
5555 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$" " o " " "$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
5556 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$" o " "o o $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
5557 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ o" " o o $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
5558 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ "$$ " o " " $$ "$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
5559 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$ o o " o " $$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
5560 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$" o$$ o o o $$$ "$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
5561 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$" o $$$ " o o " " $$$ " "$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
5562 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$" o$$$$ " o $$$$ "$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
5563 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ " $$$$ " oo$$$$$$$oooo $$$$" " $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
5564 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$" " $$$$$o """ o o"""o$$$$" " ""$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
5565 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ " ooooo$$$$$$$$oo o o oo$$$$$$$ooooo o o $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
5566 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$"$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$o $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
5567 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ o$$$"" " $ ""$$$$$$$$" ""$$$$$$$$"" " """"$$o" "$$$$$$$$$$$$$
5568 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$oo$" " $o $"$$$$oo " o$$$$" o$o " ""$oo"$$$$$$$$$$$$
5569 $$$$$$$$$$$$$ o" " o " $$" o "" o o " o o$o " o "" "$$$$$$$$$$$
5570 $$$$$$$$$$$$" $ " " $$ "$$$$$$$$ $$ o o o $ ""$$$$$$$$$$
5571 $$$$$$$$$$$" o o o o o$$ "$$$$$$ o $$ o o o $$$$$$$$$
5572 $$$$$$$$$$ o $ " $$oo "$$$$$$" oo$$ $ $$$$$$$$
5573 $$$$$$$$$ " o " "$ $$$$$$ "$" " " " o $$$$$$$
5574 $$$$$$$$ " " " " o "o$$$$$$o" o " o $$$$$$
5575 $$$$$$$" " o " o $$$$$$$$$o " o o " " o $$$$$
5576 $$$$$"o " o o o " "$$$$" ""$$$oo o " " $$$$
5577 $$$$"o o " $ o " oo$$$$"o o"$$$$oo o " o "$$
5578 $$$$ " $ o oo$o$$"$" o o """$$$oooo "" o " o $$
5579 $$$$$ " " o " o o o o o o o " " " o$$$
5580 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
5581 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
5587 ___\ \ \ /\___/___ \
5589 ____/ /_______/ \ / _\/_____
5591 __/ / \ \ / / / / _\__
5592 / / / \_______\/ / / / / /\
5593 /_/___/___________________/ /_______/ /___/ \
5594 \ \ \ ___________ \ \ \ \ \ /
5595 \_\ \ / /\ \ \ \ \___\/
5597 \__/ / \ \ \_______\/
5608 "$mmmmm m$" mmmmmmm$"
5610 mmmmmmm$$$$$$$$$"mmmm
5611 mmm$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ m$$$$m " m "
5612 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$"$$$
5613 mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm $$$$$$$$$$
5614 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$""" m
5615 "$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$ " "
5616 """""""$$$$$$$$$$$m """"
5617 mmmmmmmm" m$ "$mmmmm
5618 $$"""""" "$ """"""$$
5626 _ _ _ _ _ _ _---| | _---| \ ` ' /
5627 ]-I-I-I-I-[ ---| | ---| |. |
5628 \ ` '_/ | / \ | | /^\|
5629 [*] __| ^ / ^ \ ^ | |*||
5630 |__ ,| / \ / `\ / \ | ===|
5631 ___| ___ ,|__ / /=_=_=_=\ \ |, _|
5632 I_I__I_I__I_I (====(_________)___|_|____|____
5633 \-\--|-|--/-/ | I [ ]__I I_I__|____I_I_|
5634 |[] '| | [] |`__ . [ \-\--|-|--/-/
5635 |. | |' |___|_____I___|___I___|---------|
5636 / \| [] .|_|-|_|-|-|_|-|_|-|_|-| [] [] |
5637 <===> | .|-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-| | / \
5638 ] []|` [] ||.|.|.|.|.|.|.|.|.|.||- <===>
5639 ] []| ` | |/////////\\\\\\\\\\.||__. | |[] [
5640 <===> ' ||||| | | | ||||.|| [] <===>
5641 \T/ | |-- ||||| | O | O | ||||.|| . |' \T/
5642 | . _||||| | | | ||||.|| | | |
5643 ../|' v . | .|||||/____|____\|||| /|. . | . ./
5644 .|//\............/...........\........../../\\\
5652 ___---___---_________________________________
5653 =============================================
5655 |-------------------------------------------
5656 |-___-----___-----___-----___-----___-----__
5657 / _ \===/ _ \ / _ \===/ _ \ / _ \===/ _
5658 ( (.\ oOo /.) ) ( (.\ oOo /.) ) ( (.\ oOo /.
5659 \__/=====\__/ \__/=====\__/ \__/=====\_
5660 ||||||| ||||||| |||||||
5661 ||||||| ||||||| |||||||
5662 ||||||| ||||||| |||||||
5663 ||||||| ||||||| |||||||
5664 ||||||| ||||||| |||||||
5665 ||||||| ||||||| |||||||
5666 ||||||| ||||||| |||||||
5667 ||||||| ||||||| |||||||
5668 ||||||| ||||||| |||||||
5669 (oOoOo) (oOoOo) (oOoOo)
5670 J%%%%%L J%%%%%L J%%%%%L
5671 ZZZZZZZZZ ZZZZZZZZZ ZZZZZZZZZ
5672 ==========================================
5673 __|_________________________________________
5676 ____----------- _____
5677 \~~~~~~~~~~/~_--~~~------~~~~~(__) \
5680 / ___ ~~--[""] | __/__|__-------'_
5681 > /~` \ |-. `\~~.~~~~~ _ ~ - _
5682 ~| ||\% | | ~ ._ ~ _ ~ ._
5683 `_//|_% \ | ~ . ~-_ /\
5684 `--__ | _-____ /\ ~-_ \/.
5685 ~--_ / ,/ -~-_ \ \/ _______---~/
5686 ~~-/._< \ \`~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ##--~/
5687 \ ) |`------##---~~~~-~ ) )
5723 oooo$$$$$$$$$$$$oooo
5724 oo$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$o
5725 oo$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$o o$ $$ o$
5726 o $ oo o$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$o $$ $$ $$o$
5727 oo $ $ "$ o$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$o $$$o$$o$
5728 "$$$$$$o$ o$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$o $$$$$$$$
5729 $$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
5730 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$ """$$$
5731 "$$$""""$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ "$$$
5732 $$$ o$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ "$$$o
5733 o$$" $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$o
5734 $$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$" "$$$$$$ooooo$$$$o
5735 o$$$oooo$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ o$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
5736 $$$$$$$$"$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$""""""""
5737 """" $$$$ "$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$" o$$$
5738 "$$$o """$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$"$$" $$$
5739 $$$o "$$""$$$$$$"""" o$$$
5741 "$$$$o o$$$$$$o"$$$$o o$$$$
5742 "$$$$$oo ""$$$$o$$$$$o o$$$$""
5743 ""$$$$$oooo "$$$o$$$$$$$$$"""
5744 ""$$$$$$$oo $$$$$$$$$$
5758 \._____.-~\ . ~\. ./
5762 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
5766 ,agd888b,_ "Y8, ___`""Ybga,
5767 ,gdP""88888888baa,.""8b "888g,
5768 ,dP" ]888888888P' "Y `888Yb,
5769 ,dP" ,88888888P" db, "8P""Yb,
5770 ,8" ,888888888b, d8888a "8,
5771 ,8' d88888888888,88P"' a, `8,
5772 ,8' 88888888888888PP" "" `8,
5773 d' I88888888888P" `b
5779 `8, ,d8888888baaa ,8'
5780 `8, 888888888888' ,8'
5781 `8a "8888888888I a8'
5782 `Yba `Y8888888P' adP'
5784 `"Yba, d8888P" ,adP"' Normand Veilleux
5785 `"Y8baa, ,d888P,ad8P"' from
5786 ``""YYba8888P""'' Spaceship Earth
5789 =========================================================================
5790 ________________ _______________ _______________
5791 /_______________/\ /_______________\ /\______________\
5792 \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ \ ||||||||||||||||| / ////////////////
5793 \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\/ ||||||||||||||||| / ////////////////
5794 \\\\\\_______/\ ||||||_______\ / //////_____\
5795 \\\\\\\\\\\\\ \ |||||||||||||| / /////////////
5796 \\\\\\\\\\\\\/____ |||||||||||||| / /////////////
5797 \\\\\___________/\ ||||| / ////
5798 \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ \ ||||| / ////
5799 \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\/ ||||| \////
5801 =========================================================================
5803 88 d8'd8' 88 88 ad88888ba ,adba, ,d8
5804 88 d8'd8' 88 88 d8" 8 8 "8b 8I I8 ,d8"
5805 88 "" "" aa88aaa88aa Y8, 8 8 "fbdP' ,d8"
5806 88 ""88"""88"" `Y8a8a8a, ,d8"
5807 88 aa88aaa88aa `"8"8"8b, ,d8"
5808 "" ""88"""88"" 8 8 `8b ,d8" ,adba,
5809 aa 88 88 Y8a 8 8 a8P ,d8" 8I I8
5810 88 88 88 "Y88888P" 8" "fbdP'
5831 ** * ********* * ***
5832 ***** **********************
5833 ******** *************** ****
5834 ****** ***************** ** **
5835 ** ******************* *** ********
5836 ******************** *** *******
5837 ********************* *** ** ****
5838 ********* * *********************** *** ****
5839 ********** ************************ **** ** ***
5840 **** *********************** * ****
5841 ************** ****** * *** * **
5842 *********** ** **** * *** * ** ********** *
5843 ************* ***** ***** ** * ** ****** *
5844 * ************* **** ******* *** **
5845 ************** **************** *********** **
5846 ****** ******************************* **
5847 ********************************* **
5848 ******************************** ** **
5849 ******************************* ** *********
5850 **** *************************** *** *****
5851 ***** * *** ******************** **
5852 ***** * ***************** ** ******
5853 **** ********************* * *****
5854 ***** ****************** **
5855 **** **************** * *****
5856 * ***************** ** ******
5857 ** ************** ** **
5859 *** ************* **
5860 * *** *********************
5861 ****** ******* * *** ***
5863 ************ ********
5864 ********************** * **********
5865 ************************* ***********
5866 ************************** ***********
5867 ************************* ***********
5868 ************************ **********
5869 ********************* *********
5870 **************** ***
5880 \. \. "~" ./ /c-..,__
5881 ^r- .._ .- .-" `- . ~"--.
5885 ,.__.--._ _j \ ~ . ; |
5886 ( ~"-._~"^._\ ^. ^._ I . l
5887 "-._ ___ ~"-,_7 .Z-._ 7" Y ; \ _
5888 /" "~-(r r _/_--._~-/ / /,.--^-._ / Y
5889 "-._ '"~~~>-._~]>--^---./____,.^~ ^.^ !
5892 ~-._~~~---._,____..--- \
5899 / `-.____/ |||||||/`-.____________
5900 \-'_ \-' ||||||||| `-._
5901 -- `-. -/||||||||\ `` -`.
5902 |\ /||||||\ \_ | `\\
5903 | \ \_______...-//|||\|________...---'\ \ \\
5904 | \ \ || | \ ``-.__--. | \ | ``-.__--.
5905 | |\ \ / | |\ \ ``---'/ / | | ``---'
5906 _/ / _| ) __/_/ / _| ) __/ / _| |
5907 /,__/ /,__/ /,_/,__/_/,__/ /,__/ /,__/ tbk
5912 o o o o o o o o "o "$" "
5918 oo$$$oo " " $ $o $ " o
5919 o $$"$$$$$o oo$$$$$$$$oo o"oo"oo o
5920 o$$"$$o$$$$$$"$o$o$o$o$o$$o "o$ "o $ "o
5921 $$"$o$$o"$"$$$o$$o$o$o$o$$$o$$$o $ $ $" o
5922 $$"$o$o$"$"$"$o$o$o$o$o$o$$$o$o$"o "o"oo"
5923 " "$o$$o$o"$"$"$$"$o$o$o$o$o"$"$o"$"$o "o o"
5924 $o$o$o$"$"$$o$"$$$$o$o$o$"$$o$"$"$oo $
5925 "o$o"$"$$o$o$"$"$"$o$o"$$o$o$"$"$"$
5926 $"$$o$o$o$"$"$"$$$$$o$o$o"$"$"$o$
5927 o "$o$o$o$o$"$"$o$o"$o$$o$"$"$"$o$
5928 $o "o$o$o"$"$"$o$"$$o$o$"$"$"$$o"
5929 $$ $$$$$$$$$"$o$$o$o$o$$"$"$o"$$
5930 $" $$$$$$$o$"$$o$o$o$o$"$"$"$$o
5931 o o$$$$$$$o"$o$o$"$$o"$"$"$"o$"
5932 oo$$$$$$$o$"$o$o$"$o$"$"$"$"$
5933 $$$$$$$$$$o$"$o$o$"$o$"$"$$""
5934 $$o$$$$$o$o"$$o$o$"$o$"$$"
5935 o $$o$$$"o$o$"$o$o$"$o$"$o$
5936 $$$"$o"$$o$o$$"$$o$$o"
5939 o o o $"$$$"$$"$oo"$o$o$$$o
5940 o o $$$o$$"$$"$$$$$o$$o"$o$
5941 " o$$o$"$"$$$$o$"o$o$"$"$$
5942 " " $$""o$$$$"$o$"$$$$$$$$$$"" "
5943 o ooo$$"o$$$"$$"$$"$$$$$$$$""
5944 o o$o$"$$"" $" $o$o$o$
5946 "o "o" " " $ "$$$$"$$ o o$$$$"o o "o "o "o
5947 " " o " "o" """o""$$$$$$o o $$o$ " " "o "o o
5948 " " " " " " $$" $" " " o
5949 o""""$""""" oo$$ $$ o " "
5952 o """""""" "o "o o"""" " "
5954 " "$ooooooooooooooo o " "
5959 Aw mom, you act like I'm not even wearing a bungie cord! -- Calvin
5965 YES ============================= NO
5966 +-----------|| Does the Darn Thing work? ||-----------+
5967 | ============================= |
5969 +----------+ +---------+ +---------+
5970 | Don't | NO | Does | +-------+ YES | Did you |
5971 | mess | +---| anyone |<------| YOU |<---------| mess |
5972 | with it! | | | know? | | MORON | | with it |
5973 +----------+ | +---------+ +-------+ +---------+
5975 | +------+ +-----------+ |
5977 | | IT | +--------+ +-----------+
5978 | +------+ | YOU | YES | WILL THEY |
5979 | | +------->| POOR |<------------| CATCH YOU?|
5980 | | | |BASTARD!| +-----------+
5981 | | | |________| | NO
5984 | | | +---------------+ +-----------+
5985 | | | NO | CAN YOU BLAME | |DESTROY THE|
5986 | | +------| SOMEONE ELSE? | | EVIDENCE |
5987 | | +---------------+ +-----------+
5990 | | ============================ |
5991 | +---->|| N O ||<---------+
5992 +------------>|| P R O B L E M ||
5993 ============================
6001 ,ad8"" ,ad8"" 8"Y8a, "Y8a,
6002 ,ad8"" ,ad8"" 8 "Y8a, "Y8a,
6003 ,ad8"" ,ad8"" 8 "Y8a, "Y8a,
6004 ,gPPR8, ,ad8"" ,ad88a, "Y8a, "Y8a,
6005 dP' `Yb ,ad8"" ,ad8"" "Y8a, ,ad8"" ,ad8"8
6006 8) (8,ad8"" ,ad8"" Y888"" ,ad8"" 8
6007 Yb d8P" ,ad8"" ,ad8"" ,ad8"" 8
6008 "8ggg8" ,ad8"" ,ad8"" ,ad8"" ,8
6009 ,gPPR8, ,ad8"" ,ad8"" ,ad8""
6010 dP' `Yb ,ad8"" ,ad8"" ,ad8""
6011 8) (8,ad8"" ,ad8"" ,ad8""
6012 Yb d8P" ,ad8"" ,ad8""
6013 "8ggg8" ,ad8"" ,ad8""
6020 .... NO! ... ... MNO! ...
6021 ..... MNO!! ...................... MNNOO! ...
6022 ..... MMNO! ......................... MNNOO!! .
6023 .... MNOONNOO! MMMMMMMMMMPPPOII! MNNO!!!! .
6024 ... !O! NNO! MMMMMMMMMMMMMPPPOOOII!! NO! ....
6025 ...... ! MMMMMMMMMMMMMPPPPOOOOIII! ! ...
6026 ........ MMMMMMMMMMMMPPPPPOOOOOOII!! .....
6027 ........ MMMMMOOOOOOPPPPPPPPOOOOMII! ...
6028 ....... MMMMM.. OPPMMP .,OMI! ....
6029 ...... MMMM:: o.,OPMP,.o ::I!! ...
6030 .... NNM:::.,,OOPM!P,.::::!! ....
6031 .. MMNNNNNOOOOPMO!!IIPPO!!O! .....
6032 ... MMMMMNNNNOO:!!:!!IPPPPOO! ....
6033 .. MMMMMNNOOMMNNIIIPPPOO!! ......
6034 ...... MMMONNMMNNNIIIOO!..........
6035 ....... MN MOMMMNNNIIIIIO! OO ..........
6036 ......... MNO! IiiiiiiiiiiiI OOOO ...........
6037 ...... NNN.MNO! . O!!!!!!!!!O . OONO NO! ........
6038 .... MNNNNNO! ...OOOOOOOOOOO . MMNNON!........
6039 ...... MNNNNO! .. PPPPPPPPP .. MMNON!........
6040 ...... OO! ................. ON! .......
6041 ................................
6045 --/- ___ / \/ / / / \
6055 // / / // / /\ /-_-/\//-__-
6056 / / // / \__// / / / //
6057 // / / // / // / // /
6058 /// // / / / // / //
6061 /// / / / // // / // //
6063 /// / // / / // / / / /
6095 /.../###/______________\ \###\
6096 /........................\ \###\
6097 /..........................\ \###\
6098 ----------------------------- \###/
6100 \_________________________________/
6103 ___. .. . _ .. . ___. .__ . . _ . . __ __ _ __ _ . .___
6104 | | ||\||- ||\| | | ||_)|\| | ||\| | ||_)| ||_) | || | |
6105 ` `-`` ``- `` ` ``` ` `-`` \` ` `-`` ` ``` `-`` \`-`| `-``-` `
6133 ;;;;: ==;; :==== :+++=;; ::;=i===+: :=;;=+: ,,,,:==+;
6134 =tt;;: i+; ++++ :ii=: :::i++= ==;;+: :::=;+; ,
6135 :; iIt=: ;t+; ii=;::;+;=+; +;=; ;i+i, ==;=+; :,;;;i : ,
6136 :: :tIi: +i+ =+::=;;,;;;+; +;=; :=i==+;,:,;=;;+= ::;=;++ : ;
6137 ,i; iIt: t+= :+=,,,,::: ;,+;=;;: ;:,,;==;+=;+= ::;;=i; : ;ii
6138 RYi +Yt: ++i :i;,::==;; ;:i;=;;: ======+=i=++ :;=tYY: : :tt
6139 VXY= =Yi; :t=+ it==+It;; ;:+:=;:: :,;;=:=+==+ :;tYVY :: =Iii
6140 tVYt ;Yt, i+= +t+;=iI,; ;:;:;;:= :i :=;+ :;i+tt : :Iti
6141 iYY: :Yi, :i+: :t+;++i:; ;,;,;;;= :t +=+ ;i+ii :: =Y+
6142 =YY= ;Vi I++ :++=;==;;; +,=,,,,+ ;i;::;it, :i+t=;;: +I+
6143 IX+ =V; +i+=;;==;::,:::,,t,+,,,,;;iiii+iIiX=:=+ii;:;: iI+
6144 iXi =VItYIi=+======;;::;;ii;:,,,,,;iittiYV+XXttiit+, Yt
6145 IVYXYYIYi+;;;;;;;;;;;;;+it+:::::::=====+IttIItiitMBttti
6146 +tVVVttti+;::;;======+YBBVVVVXRVti+++==+IXIiYi+iRWWi+i=
6147 +=ttYVIi= ....,,,,+iIRWWWWWWWMBBRYI+....... +YMBYX==++
6148 ==+t: .;;===::,,:,,;=iIIItIIt=:,,:::===iii=;.,iXY+i;i
6149 t;+.IIY+++iii++;===:==++++I,:;;:,:=iiVXIBVRt+;,.IXY;t
6150 ii+, =itIItY==+tt+=+++;=ti;=;+M+i=;;=;=i+=it+tVti+==;.itI= +=ii
6151 i:===iIttIii+,:,, ,,:+++;t=t;V++;=;=;:,, ,,:;+IYii+==;.+Y+Ii===:i
6152 ti iii=i;;,, ;i: =i ,;.i=t=I=;Ri=, ,; ,it: ,:.,==;;;i+=YYttt,
6153 iit :Y++IIIIi+;;,,,,,,:;:i+;I=i;=II=;:;;;;;;;;;+++tIt+ii;iII; iYi=
6154 t= iV+tYYYVYVt===;;;===ii+=ti+=+=iii+==+;=+=IYVXRitYYItYXtVt= :+=
6155 Yi XX+iYYYVYR+i+++===;tIti=i+ttit;;=+====+;=IRVRRXtIIYM+YYI+ ++=I
6156 tt==Y+iYYYVYRI+++++=+IIti+++tt+=iYI+;;==+=+ttMMMRBXiiYi=+YYIt=;;
6157 t+iY:;iYYYYXRYi+++++Yt+iIt=+iItVXYYtIXBXYYVRWWWBXIi++=+=X+ ;It
6158 ti;I iYYYIYYVVRI++++i+ti++=:,;;++IX+YWWWMBWWWXYYi+++=;t:;IItY
6159 tt:,+;YYYYYYYYX+++====:::;=:;;;::++iYRWWBYt+tt+==++==:=;:=+
6160 tYYYYIYYt++++=;=YYI+;,,BYBBYIi++iii+=+I+++++;=I
6161 +YYYYYYt+++==iYYII;ittitVBBXBI+++==+i++=+=;=:i
6162 +YYYIYt+++iBt=:,...:;;=++itXXI++==i++==;;ii:
6163 IYYYI=;+=iitI;,;.,=iitIiiI;++=+++===;=:I;
6164 YYYt==tittIi;+:::=+tItIBIt+=+i++==;+=;+
6165 iYYIIIttt+=;=::::::=++ti+++=i==;+i=:=
6166 tIYYIIIVi++;;:::=+;+IYt+=;;IVY+:,;
6167 ;,ttIYIY++ii;=;==Y+iVYt===YIi;;Ii
6168 ;=:,:=iI====;;;;:=;;+ii=+i+iIttIi
6169 :==+++,;=;::::::::=;=+t++==it+iti
6184 / / / /\ \ Pat \ \ \
6185 / / / / \ \ Taylor / \ \
6186 / / / / /\ \ \ / /\ \ \
6187 / / / / / /\ \ \ / / /\ \_\
6188 / / / / /_/ \ \_\ / / / \/_/
6189 / / / / \ \ / / / / / / __ __
6190 / / / / /\ \ \/ / / / / / /\_\ /\ \
6191 / / / / / /\ \/ / / / / / / / / \ \ \
6192 / / /_/ / / \ / / / / / / / /____\_\ \
6193 / / /__\/ / / / / / / / / / /__________\
6194 \/_______/ / / / / / / \/_____________/
6216 L;;PMMMbaa_ "d88ad8'
6218 ,V;;;;;;;;;;"Man,8b.
6219 gd;;;;;;;;;;;;;"Mb;Mb.
6220 gd;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;"Mb,
6221 d8b;;;;;;;;b;;;;;;;;;;;"b,
6222 7P"8ba;;;;;B;;;;;;;;;;;;"Na
6223 8" "8b;;a";;;;;;;;;;;;;lB.
6224 B "8b,d;;paaaaaaqaL;;;"B
6225 ,B P" """' ""Y8bmdMb
6242 '8 .adP""9a .d" d lb
6251 ,oood8888888888booo,
6282 $ oo 8' `""booooooob 8' ooo 8
6283 $ o$"$o ,P o 8 8 d8"""" 8 `8
6284 $' d$' d8 od do d8 d8 8 `8 8
6285 $' d$' dP 8' d8 d8' 8 8 `8 `b
6286 $' od$ dP ,8' d8' d8 8b 8 `"b 8b
6287 $' od' d"' od od 88 `8 "8 `8 `8,
6288 $ od' 8 8' `8 8b 8 8 "o `8,
6289 $oo"" 8b 8 `8o 8bo "8 8b 8b 8b
6290 " 8b 8' 8o $$$ "8 8 `b `"oo
6291 Yb `b `8"$$$" 8b 8b 8b $$o
6292 `8 `b 8o "b `$o$$$$"
6296 happiness is a state of mind
6297 more than anything else,
6298 but so is everything else.
6301 Horse sense is the thing a horse has which keeps it from betting on people.
6305 1) "Don't worry, I can handle it."
6306 2) "You and what army?"
6307 3) "If you were as smart as you think you are, you wouldn't be a cop."
6309 For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong.
6312 I may not be totally perfect, but parts of me are excellent.
6313 -- Ashleigh Brilliant
6315 Pittsburgh Driver's Test
6317 The car directly in front of you has a flashing right tail light but
6318 a steady left tail light. This means:
6320 (a) one of the tail lights is broken; you should blow your horn to call
6321 the problem to the driver's attention.
6322 (b) the driver is signaling a right turn.
6323 (c) the driver is signaling a left turn.
6324 (d) the driver is from out of town.
6327 (The correct answer is (d). Tail lights are used in some foreign
6328 countries to signal turns.)
6332 1. Don't unplug it, it will just take a moment to fix.
6333 2. Let's take the shortcut, he can't see us from there.
6334 3. What happens if you touch these two wires tog--
6335 4. We won't need reservations.
6336 5. It's always sunny there this time of the year.
6337 6. Don't worry, it's not loaded.
6338 7. They'd never (be stupid enough to) make him a manager.
6340 Certainly there are things in life that money can't buy,
6341 but it's very funny--Did you ever try buying them without money?
6344 Lactomangulation, n.:
6345 Manhandling the "open here" spout on a milk carton so badly
6346 that one has to resort to using the "illegal" side.
6347 -- Rich Hall, "Sniglets"
6349 If the code and the comments disagree, then both are probably wrong.
6352 Experience is what causes a person to make new mistakes instead of old ones.
6354 Every creature has within him the wild, uncontrollable urge to punt.
6356 The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the
6357 human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of
6358 ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that
6359 we should voyage far. The sciences, each straining in its own direction,
6360 have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of
6361 dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and
6362 of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the
6363 revelation or flee from the deadly light into the peace and safety of a
6367 "Krusty non-toxic Cologne
6368 'The smell of the big top'
6369 Warning: Use in a well ventilated area.
6370 May stain furniture.
6371 Prolonged use may cause chemical burns."
6374 a girlfriend is a bottle of wine,
6375 a wife is a wine bottle.
6377 The very powerful and the very stupid have one thing in common.
6378 Instead of altering their views to fit the facts, they alter the facts
6379 to fit their views... which can be very uncomfortable if you happen to
6380 be one of the facts that needs altering.
6381 -- Doctor Who, "Face of Evil"
6383 In the beginning was The Plan
6384 And then came The Assumptions
6385 And the Assumptions were without form
6386 And The Plan was completely without substance
6387 And the darkness was upon the face of the workers.
6388 And they spoke amongst themselves, saying
6389 "It is a crock of sh*t, and it stinketh."
6390 And the workers went unto their Supervisors and sayeth,
6391 "It is a pail of dung and none may abide the odor thereof."
6392 And the Supervisors went unto their Managers and sayeth unto them,
6393 "It is a container of excrement and it is very stong
6394 Such that none may abide by it."
6395 And the Managers went unto the Directors and sayeth,
6396 "It is a vessel of fertilizer, and none may abide its strength."
6397 And the Directors spoke amongst themselves, saying one to another,
6398 "It contains that which aids plant growth, and it is very strong."
6399 And the Directors went unto the Vice Presidents and sayeth unto them,
6400 "It promotes growth and is very powerful."
6401 And the Vice Presidents went unto the President and sayeth unto Him,
6402 "This new Plan will actively promote the growth and efficiency
6403 Of this Company, and these Areas in particular."
6404 And the President looked upon The Plan,
6405 And saw that it was good, and The Plan became Policy.
6406 This is how sh*t happens.
6408 be unafraid to think fully on a small matter. -- fred t. hamster
6410 The late Dudjom Rinpoche, head of the Nyingma sect of the Tibetan Buddhist
6411 tradition, wrote one book on the evils of tobacco. He detailed a number of
6412 problems, both physical and spiritual, which would derive from the use of
6413 tobacco. Interestingly, he claims the origin of the plant to be a demoness
6414 who vowed to take rebirth as a plant to afflict humankind.
6417 be unafraid to walk across the water. -- fred t. hamster
6425 | | | | ______ ~~~~ _____
6426 | |__/ | / ___--\\ ~~~ __/_____\__
6427 | ___/ / \--\\ \\ \ ___ <__ x x __\
6428 | | / /\\ \\ )) \ ( " )
6429 | | -------(---->>(@)--(@)-------\----------< >-----------
6430 | | // | | //__________ / \ ____) (___ \\
6431 | | // __|_| ( --------- ) //// ______ /////\ \\
6432 // | ( \ ______ / <<<< <>-----<<<<< / \\
6433 // ( ) / / \` \__ \\
6434 //-------------------------------------------------------------\\
6436 Every now and then when your life gets complicated and the weasels
6437 start closing in, the only cure is to load up on heinous chemicals and
6438 then drive like a bastard from Hollywood to Las Vegas... with the
6439 music at top volume and at least a pint of ether.
6440 -- H. S. Thompson, "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas"
6442 dude, i have your tickets
6443 for the grateful briquettes
6444 on saturday the 20th.
6446 so get out your wallets
6447 i need the rental lease
6448 or be hit with mallets
6449 for my friend has no peace
6450 and i have no ballots.
6451 without which you get no tickets
6452 for my friend has no spigots
6453 disgorging money in hiccups
6454 in the land of honey and pickups.
6457 Some people imagine that only the person who physically carries out the
6458 killing is creating a negative karmic effect, and that the person who just
6459 gave the orders is not--or, if he is, then only a little. But you
6460 should know that the same karmic result comes to everyone involved,
6461 including even anyone who just felt pleased about it--and therefore how
6462 much more so the person who actually ordered that the killing be carried
6463 out. Each person gets the whole karmic result of killing one animal. It
6464 is not as if one act of killing could be divided up among many people.
6466 From the Nying-ma _kunzang lama'i shelung_ (The Words of My Perfect Teacher)
6467 written by Patrul Rinpoche (1808-1887), (Padmakara translation group,
6468 trans., New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1994, 104.)
6470 did you hear about the professor that got some human lips grafted onto his
6471 anus? then when his students were kissing butt, they could get some response.
6472 and he can also now wear a hat on his ass and sit on his head, and no one
6473 knows the difference...
6476 Software undergoes alpha testing as a first step in getting user
6477 feedback. Alpha is Latin for "doesn't work."
6480 Software undergoes beta testing shortly before it's released. Beta is
6481 Latin for "still doesn't work."
6484 Instrument of torture. The first computer was invented by Roger
6485 "Duffy" Billingsly, a British scientist. In a plot to overthrow Adolf
6486 Hitler, Duffy disguised himself as a German ally and offered his
6487 invention as a gift to the surly dictator. The plot worked. On April
6488 8, 1945, Adolf became so enraged at the "Incompatible File Format"
6489 error message that he shot himself. The war ended soon after Hitler's
6490 death, and Duffy began working for IBM.
6493 Central propulsion unit. The CPU is the computer's engine. It
6494 consists of a hard drive, an interface card and a tiny spinning wheel
6495 that's powered by a running rodent--a gerbil if the machine is a 286,
6496 a ferret if it's a 386 and a ferret on speed if it's a 486.
6499 Black hole. Default directory is where all files that you need
6503 Terse, baffling remark used by programmers to place blame on users for
6504 the program's shortcomings.
6507 A document that has been saved with an unidentifiable name. It helps
6508 to think of a file as something stored in a file cabinet--except when
6509 you try to remove the file, the cabinet gives you an electric shock
6510 and tells you the file format is unknown.
6513 Collective term for any computer-related object that can be kicked or
6517 The feature that assists in generating more questions. When the help
6518 feature is used correctly, users are able to navigate through a series
6519 of Help screens and end up where they started from without learning
6523 Information is input from the keyboard as intelligible data and output
6524 to the printer as unrecognizable junk.
6527 A programmer's feeble attempt at repentance.
6530 Of computer components, the most generous in terms of variety, and the
6531 skimpiest in terms of quantity.
6534 A joke in poor taste. A printer consists of three main parts: the
6535 case, the jammed paper tray and the blinking red light.
6538 Computer avengers. Once members of that group of high school nerds
6539 who wore tape on their glasses, played Dungeons and Dragons, and
6540 memorized Star Trek episodes; now millionaires who create
6541 "user-friendly" software to get revenge on whoever gave them noogies.
6544 Object that raises the monitor to eye level. Also used to compensate
6545 for that short table leg.
6547 Scheduled Release Date:
6548 A carefully calculated date determined by estimating the actual
6549 shipping date and subtracting six months from it.
6552 Of or pertaining to any feature, device or concept that makes perfect
6553 sense to a programmer.
6556 Collective term for those who stare vacantly at a monitor. Users are
6557 divided into three types: novice, intermediate and expert.
6558 - Novice Users--People who are afraid that simply pressing a key
6559 might break their computer.
6560 - Intermediate Users--People who don't know how to fix their computer
6561 after they've just pressed a key that broke it.
6562 - Expert Users--People who break other people's computers.
6565 H8!p(_;XLk/\c@Si8!p(_;XLk/\c@Si8!p(_;XLk/\c@Si8!p(_;XLk/\c@Si8!p(_;XLk/\c@S
6566 FD/?*&l|FD/?*&l|FD/?*&l|FD/?*&l|FD/?*&l|FD/?*&l|FD/?*&l|FD/?*&l|FD/?*&l|FD/
6567 DJK%$%#DJK%$%#DJK%$%#DJK%$%#DJK%$%#DJK%$%#DJK%$%#DJK%$%#DJK%$%#DJK%$%#DJK%$
6568 UKJ+IO3GUKJ+IO3GUKJ+IO3GUKJ+IO3GUKJ+IO3GUKJ+IO3GUKJ+IO3GUKJ+IO3GUKJ+IO3GUKJ
6569 JKH//8JHJKH//8JHJKH//8JHJKH//8JHJKH//8JHJKH//8JHJKH//8JHJKH//8JHJKH//8JHJKH
6570 JKH&HJKL|JKH&HJKL|JKH&HJKL|JKH&HJKL|JKH&HJKL|JKH&HJKL|JKH&HJKL|JKH&HJKL|JKH
6571 &^JKjgzh~&^JKjgzh~&^JKjgzh~&^JKjgzh~&^JKjgzh~&^JKjgzh~&^JKjgzh~&^JKjgzh~&^J
6572 KL)(8&*:KL)(8&*:KL)(8&*:KL)(8&*:KL)(8&*:KL)(8&*:KL)(8&*:KL)(8&*:KL)(8&*:KL)
6573 +J23*&^jj\+J23*&^jj\+J23*&^jj\+J23*&^jj\+J23*&^jj\+J23*&^jj\+J23*&^jj\+J23*
6574 H8!p(_;XLk/\c@Si8!p(_;XLk/\c@Si8!p(_;XLk/\c@Si8!p(_;XLk/\c@Si8!p(_;XLk/\c@S
6575 FD/?*&l|FD/?*&l|FD/?*&l|FD/?*&l|FD/?*&l|FD/?*&l|FD/?*&l|FD/?*&l|FD/?*&l|FD/
6576 DJK%$%#DJK%$%#DJK%$%#DJK%$%#DJK%$%#DJK%$%#DJK%$%#DJK%$%#DJK%$%#DJK%$%#DJK%$
6577 UKJ+IO3GUKJ+IO3GUKJ+IO3GUKJ+IO3GUKJ+IO3GUKJ+IO3GUKJ+IO3GUKJ+IO3GUKJ+IO3GUKJ
6578 JKH//8JHJKH//8JHJKH//8JHJKH//8JHJKH//8JHJKH//8JHJKH//8JHJKH//8JHJKH//8JHJKH
6579 JKH&HJKL|JKH&HJKL|JKH&HJKL|JKH&HJKL|JKH&HJKL|JKH&HJKL|JKH&HJKL|JKH&HJKL|JKH
6580 FD/?*&l|FD/?*&l|FD/?*&l|FD/?*&l|FD/?*&l|FD/?*&l|FD/?*&l|FD/?*&l|FD/?*&l|FD/
6581 DJK%$%#DJK%$%#DJK%$%#DJK%$%#DJK%$%#DJK%$%#DJK%$%#DJK%$%#DJK%$%#DJK%$%#DJK%$
6582 UKJ+IO3GUKJ+IO3GUKJ+IO3GUKJ+IO3GUKJ+IO3GUKJ+IO3GUKJ+IO3GUKJ+IO3GUKJ+IO3GUKJ
6583 JKH//8JHJKH//8JHJKH//8JHJKH//8JHJKH//8JHJKH//8JHJKH//8JHJKH//8JHJKH//8JHJKH
6584 JKH&HJKL|JKH&HJKL|JKH&HJKL|JKH&HJKL|JKH&HJKL|JKH&HJKL|JKH&HJKL|JKH&HJKL|JKH
6585 &^JKjgzh~&^JKjgzh~&^JKjgzh~&^JKjgzh~&^JKjgzh~&^JKjgzh~&^JKjgzh~&^JKjgzh~&^J
6587 ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;itIRXItIt=:;iVRIIII:;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
6588 ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;:+ItXRYtIIi;IIRXiII+=;;:::;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
6589 ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;::;==+ittYRViII+iiRRtIIiiti++=;;::;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
6590 ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;::;=+iitIIiitIXViII+tYRtIII=iIYIti++=;::;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
6591 ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;:;=+iitIi+=;;=+ttYYtIiiiYIII+==;;=+tItii+=::;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
6592 ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;:;=+itIt+:;=+itt++=ttitt+tiiII+iti++=;;+IIii+=::;;;;;;;;;;;;+V=;;
6593 ;;;;;;;;;;;;::=+itIt;;=+itt+;;=+iiii+i==tiII==;=iti++=:=IIii+;::;;;;;;;;;+YMRt;
6594 ;;;;;;;;;;;::=+itY;:=+itt=;+itIYIt+;;+Iiiii+IIt+=;=tt++=:+Yti+=::;;;;;;;:WXXWt;
6595 ;;;;;;;;;;,;+iiII;;=+iI=;+itYI+;;++tIItIYtiIiiYYti+;+Ii+=;=Yti+=::;;;;;;+RBRM;;
6596 ;;;;;;;;;::=+iIY;;+itI;=itYY+;+=tXtIIIIWWIIIIt:+YIt+;=Ii+=;=Yti+=,;;;;;;YMBWY=+
6597 ;;;;;;;;;,;+itY=;=+iI==itYI;=it=BMIIIiMB=;IIIt+=iVt+=;=t++=:iYii+;,;;;;=XXWWVMY
6598 ;;;;;;;;::=iiII:;+iIt;+iIV;;+titV.:IIiMt.;YYVRBBBBBY++:Iti+;:YIi+=,;;;iXXRWWBi;
6599 ;;;;;;;;,;+iYV+:=++t;;==tt,+YYIII;:ii+IVRBXRBRRRBBBX=+;+t++;:IIi+==+iIItYYVt;;;
6600 ;;;;;;;;::+IWWIVXRYi++ii=i;RXXXXtiXXXMMV=;+iRMWWWMYti+;tti=;=titIIIIIti=;;;;;;;
6601 ;;;;;;;;;,=XWWXMWXViItt+iYiYMWWWMY+MVBMW+;;MWWBViIYt+==tiiIIIIIIti+=;:;;;;;;;;;
6602 ;;;;;;;;;,;tRY+ittt+tIVBIIVt:=tIYVVYVBRV==XWRt;;iIiitIIIIIItti++=::;;;;;;;;;;;;
6603 ;;;;;;;;;;,+++iiiI+YRYi;+itYY+;=+ittiiIIYBBBiitIIIIIIIIii=:IIii+;,;;;;;;;;;;;;;
6604 ;;;;;;;;;;:;;,;i+VBMX+tI+;+itIYt==ittVRWWWWIIIIItItti+++;;IIii+;,;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
6605 ;;;;;;;;;;;;,,:tYYYYi=+itt+;=+iiIIIIYWWWWWWIIIII=itii+;:+Itii+:,;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
6606 ;;;;;;;;;;;;::,==iIIIi=;=+iiiIIIIIItWWRMWWWVIII+ii+=;;+IIii+=::;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
6607 ;;;;;;;;;;;::,,,:;+IIIIt+iIIIIItiiiMWWXWWWWMiII==;;+tItii+=::;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
6608 ;;;;;;;;;;,:,,,,,,:;iIIIIIIti+;;;+IWWWXWWWWWYIi+tIYtii+=;::;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
6609 ;;;;;;;;;;,,:::,,,::::=itiiiIII+itIWWWMWWWWWXI+tiii+=;:::;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
6610 ;;;;;;;;;;;:,,:,,:;;;;;:IYIIItiIItMWWWWWWWWWXI;=;;:::;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
6616 ___-==++""" . /. . . \ . """++==-___
6617 __-+"" __\ .. . . | .. . | . . . /__ ""+-__
6618 /\__+-"" `-----=====\_ <O> _/=====-----' ""-+__/\
6629 WHY GOD NEVER RECEIVED TENURE AT ANY UNIVERSITY
6631 1. He had only one major publication.
6632 2. It had no references.
6633 3. It wasn't published in a refereed journal.
6634 4. Some even doubt he wrote it himself.
6635 5. It may be true that he created the world,
6636 but what has he done since then?
6637 6. His cooperative efforts have been quite limited.
6638 7. The scientific community has had a hard time
6639 replicating his results.
6640 8. He never applied to the Ethics Board
6641 for permission to use human subjects.
6642 9. When one experiment went awry he tried to cover it up
6643 by drowning the subjects.
6644 10. When subjects didn't behave as predicted,
6645 he deleted them from the sample.
6646 11. He rarely came to class, just told students
6648 12. Some say he had his son teach the class.
6649 13. He expelled his first two students for learning.
6650 14. Although there were only ten requirements,
6651 most students failed his tests.
6652 15. His office hours were infrequent and usually
6653 held on a mountaintop.
6655 When we walk upon Mother Earth, we always plant our feet carefully
6656 because we know the faces of our future generations are looking up
6657 at us from beneath the ground. We never forget them.
6658 -- Oren Lyons, Onondaga Nation
6661 the foot is forgotten...
6664 Talent, will, and genius are natural phenomena, like volcanoes,
6665 lakes, mountains, winds, stars, clouds.
6666 -- George Sand -- 1874
6668 Creeping Featurism is the desire to add every technologically possible
6669 feature to a product whether or not the market needs it or will pay
6671 -- Leu Platt, CEO Hewlett Packard
6673 everybody's equal, but nobody's the same. -- fred t. hamster
6675 Very often a change of self is needed more than a change of scene.
6678 The successful mother sets her children free
6679 and becomes more free herself in the process.
6680 -- Robert J. Havinghurst
6682 No amount of energy will take the place of thought.
6683 A strenuous life with its eyes shut is a kind of wild insanity.
6686 It takes less time to do a thing right than to explain why you did it wrong.
6689 It's strange the way the imagination, having exhausted one field,
6690 turns for rest and reinvigoration to another.
6693 Men travel faster now, but I do not know if they go to better things.
6696 People who do not understand themselves have a craving for understanding.
6697 -- Dr. Wilhem Stekel
6699 Love is the greatest refreshment of life.
6702 An idea isn't responsible for the people who believe it.
6705 I want to find someone on the earth so intelligent
6706 that he welcomes opinions which he condemns.
6709 You can exert no influence if you are not susceptible to influence.
6712 The greater the difficulty
6713 the more glory in surmounting it.
6716 Society is always engaged in a vast conspiracy to preserve itself--at the
6717 expense of the new demands of each new generation.
6718 -- John Haynes Holmes
6720 The only thing that is really difficult is to prove what one believes.
6723 There is one word which may serve as a rule of practice for
6724 all one's life--reciprocity.
6727 Each time we make a decision, it is determined by the good or evil forces,
6728 respectively, which are dominant.
6731 We taste and feel and see the truth.
6732 We do not reason ourselves into it.
6735 You inside and the wind outside, tangled on the window blind, tell me why you
6736 treated me so unkind. Down where the sun don't shine I'm lonely and I call
6737 your name, no place to go ain't that a shame....
6740 The point of living, and of being an optimist, is to be foolish enough
6741 to believe the best is yet to come.
6744 "Observing formations of pigs flying south for the winter is several orders
6745 of magnitude more likely than having two competing C[++] compilers deal
6746 with more than eight lines of source code the same way."
6747 -- Steve Rimmer -- windows columnist
6749 If asses were rainbows, we'd all have a pot of gold.
6758 Good judgment is a result of experience.
6759 Experience is a result of poor judgment.
6762 in programming, insanity is not a handicap.
6771 you don't have to get mad every time you have the right to. -- fred t. hamster
6773 It's actually quite straightforward, but first you must be familiar
6774 with the 9 Palaces and 24 Directions.
6777 Every fairly intelligent person realizes that
6778 the price of respectability is a muffled soul
6779 bent on the trivial and mediocre.
6782 People will admit to anything on the Internet. -- fred t. hamster
6784 If all the beasts were gone, men would die
6785 from great loneliness of spirit,
6786 for whatever happens to the beasts also happens to the man.
6787 All things are connected.
6788 Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons of earth.
6789 -- Chief Seathl (Seattle) of Suwamish tribe,
6790 State of Washington, 1855
6792 keep doing good, but don't be a do-gooder. -- fred t. hamster
6794 All systems of thought confine their thinkers within the accepted boundaries.
6795 To free the mind from this conceptual jail, step back from and outside of the
6796 system; detachment enables both sides of the system (that which is within
6797 and that which is not within) to be perceived and dealt with as an object
6801 That which exists requires no reaffirmation by the mind; it simply is.
6802 It is that which does not exist that needs constant renewing contact by
6803 the mind; else it would fade from its only sphere of influence, the internal
6804 stage upon which it dances and captures the imagination.
6807 Everyone's entitled to their own opinions, no matter how stupid.
6808 -- Frank Zappa (paraphrase unfortunately... know the exact quote?)
6812 i am the beaver who reincarnated as a carpenter.
6813 i am the squirrel who came back as jimmy carter.
6814 if there's anything more fun than programming (where i actually use my brain
6815 mainly and not my body), then i don't want to know what it is.
6816 algorithms are my bread.
6817 objects are my butter.
6818 state machines are my toaster.
6819 library hierarchies are my table.
6820 my house is composed of invisible data and my nation rides along cables.
6821 i really need a girlfriend.
6824 every religion constitutes a view of reality and a view of the world.
6825 each one might suit a particular person differently.
6826 for any religion to claim that it is the one true religion is ridiculous
6827 because it asserts that its one way of viewing reality is the only correct
6828 one. surely this is a bad case of religious egotism or selfishness.
6831 talking about dharma is like making a home movie. when you watch it later,
6832 you see it, you hear it, and yet it isn't really there and the vital
6833 experience of being there is missing. but when you are there... you know
6834 it and feel it in a way your brain can't accurately record for later
6838 Deja Fu: The feeling that somehow, somewhere, you've been kicked in the
6839 head like this before.
6841 A day without sunshine is like night.
6843 There is a CD out entitled "The Worst of Jefferson Airplane". If you buy
6844 this, take it home, play it, and enjoy it, should you take it back and
6847 College is a fountain of knowledge... and the students are there to drink.
6849 A polar bear is a rectangular bear after a coordinate transform.
6851 Some people say that I must be a horrible person, but that's not true.
6852 I have the heart of a young boy--in a jar on my desk.
6853 -- Stephen King, 3/8/90
6855 He who dies with the most toys, is, nonetheless, still dead.
6857 Photons have mass? I didn't know they were catholic!
6859 If you had everything, where would you keep it?
6861 I am returning this otherwise good typing paper to you because someone
6862 has printed gibberish all over it and put your name at the top.
6863 -- Supposedly an English Professor, Ohio University
6865 What was sliced bread the greatest thing since?
6867 When aiming for the common denominator, be prepared
6868 for the occasional division by zero.
6870 When you're swimmin' in the creek
6871 And an eel bites your cheek
6873 -- Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers
6875 Q: How many surrealists does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
6876 A: Two. One to hold the giraffe and the other to fill the bathtub with
6877 brightly colored machine tools.
6879 "... one of the main causes of the fall of the Roman Empire was that, lacking
6880 zero, they had no way to indicate successful termination of their C programs."
6883 Grabel's Law: 2 is not equal to 3--not even for very large values of 2.
6885 Diplomacy is the art of saying "nice doggy" until you can find a rock.
6887 There are two major products to come out of Berkeley: LSD and BSD.
6888 We don't believe this to be a coincidence.
6890 If toast always lands butter-side down, and cats always land on their feet,
6891 what happen if you strap toast on the back of a cat and drop it?
6894 One night I walked home very late and fell asleep in somebody's satellite
6895 dish. My dreams were showing up on TV's all over the world.
6898 My dental hygienist is cute. Every time I visit, I eat a whole package of
6899 Oreo cookies while I'm in the waiting room. Sometimes she has to cancel
6900 the rest of the afternoon's appointments.
6903 Right now I'm having amnesia and deja vu at the same time. I think I've
6904 forgotten this before.
6907 Smoking cures weight problems... eventually.
6910 I have an inferiority complex. But it's not a very good one.
6913 I was in the supermarket the other day, and I met a lady in the aisle where
6914 they keep the generic brands. Her name was 'woman'.
6917 I had a friend who was a clown. When he died, all his friends went to the
6921 I'd like to sing you a song now about my old girlfriend. It's
6922 called, 'They'll Find Her When the Leaves Blow Away 'Cause I'm
6923 Not Raking 'Til Spring.'
6926 When I woke up this morning my girlfriend asked me, 'Did you sleep good?'
6927 I said, 'No, I made a few mistakes.'
6930 I was trying to daydream, but my mind kept wandering.
6933 The other day, I was walking my dog around my building... on the ledge.
6936 Some people are afraid of heights. Not me, I'm afraid of widths.
6939 I spilled spot remover on my dog. He's gone now.
6942 Referring to a glass of water: I mixed this myself. Two parts H, one
6943 part O. I don't trust anybody!
6946 I went to the cinema, and the prices were: Adults $5.00, children $2.50.
6947 So I said, 'Give me two boys and a girl.'
6950 I went to a restaurant that serves 'breakfast at any time.' So I ordered
6951 French Toast during the Renaissance.
6954 There's a pizza place near where I live that sells only slices. In the back
6955 you can see a guy tossing a triangle in the air.
6958 I went to a general store. They wouldn't let me buy anything specifically.
6961 I went down the street to the 24-hour grocery. When I got there, the guy
6962 was locking the front door. I said, 'Hey, the sign says you're open 24
6963 hours.' He said, 'Yes, but not in a row.'
6966 There was a power outage at a department store yesterday. Twenty people
6967 were trapped on the escalators.
6970 I bought my brother some gift-wrap for Christmas. I took it to the Gift Wrap
6971 Department and told them to wrap it, but in a different print so he would
6972 know when to stop unwrapping.
6975 I was born by Cesarean section... But not so you'd notice. It's just that
6976 when I leave a house, I go out through the window.
6979 When I was little, my grandfather used to make me stand in a closet for five
6980 minutes without moving. He said it was elevator practice.
6983 I didn't get a toy train like the other kids. I got a toy subway instead.
6984 You couldn't see anything, but every now and then you'd hear this rumbling
6988 Last week the candle factory burned down. Everyone just stood around and
6989 sang 'Happy Birthday'.
6992 A wino asked me for change... I gave him my shirt.
6995 I bought this thing for my car. You put it on your car, it sends out this
6996 little noise, so when you drive through the woods, deer won't run in front
6997 of your car. I installed it backwards by accident... Driving down the
6998 street with a herd of deer chasing me.
7001 The ice cream truck in my neighborhood plays 'Helter Skelter'.
7004 The sky already fell. Now what?
7007 My girlfriend and I went on a picnic. I don't know how she did it, but she
7008 got poison ivy on the brain. When it itched, the only way she could scratch
7009 it was to think about sandpaper.
7012 Trees that grow in smoggy cities are needed to make carbon paper.
7015 What's another word for Thesaurus?
7018 When I was crossing the border into Canada, they asked if I had any firearms
7019 with me. I said, 'Well, what do you need?'
7022 Why doesn't the fattest man in the world become a hockey goalie?
7025 You know how it is when you decide to lie and say the check is in the mail,
7026 and then you remember it really is?
7029 I've been doing a lot of abstract painting lately, extremely abstract. No
7030 brush, no paint, no canvas, I just think about it.
7033 My watch is three hours fast, and I can't fix it. So I'm going to move to
7037 When I die, I'm leaving my body to science fiction.
7040 One time I went to a museum where all the work on display had been done by
7041 children. They had all the paintings up on refrigerators.
7044 When I was a little kid we had a sand box. It was a quicksand box. I was
7045 an only child... Eventually.
7048 One day I got on the bus, and when I stepped in, I saw the most gorgeous
7049 blond Chinese girl. I sat beside her. I said, 'Hi', And she said, 'Hi',
7050 and then I said, 'Nice day, isn't it?' And she said, 'I saw my analyst
7051 today and he says I have a problem. So I asked, 'What's the problem?'
7052 She replied, 'I can't tell you. I don't even know you.' I said, 'Well,
7053 sometimes it's good to tell your problems to a perfect stranger on a bus.'
7054 So she said, 'Well, my analyst said I'm a nymphomaniac and I only like
7055 Jewish cowboys... By the way, my name is Denise.' I said, 'Hello, Denise.
7056 My name is Bucky Goldstein.'
7059 Today I was arrested for scalping low numbers at the deli. I sold a #3 for
7063 Do you think that when they asked George Washington for ID that he just
7064 whipped out a quarter?
7067 I'm writing an unauthorized autobiography.
7070 What happens if you put a slinky on an escalator?
7073 If a word in the dictionary were misspelled, how would we know?
7076 If you tell a joke in the forest, but nobody laughs, was it a joke?
7079 If you were going to shoot a mime, would you use a silencer?
7082 In Vegas, I got into a long argument with the man at the roulette wheel over
7083 what I considered to be an odd number.
7086 Is "tired old cliche" one?
7089 My aunt gave me a walkie-talkie for my birthday. She says if I'm good,
7090 she'll give me the other one next year.
7093 At an October re-trial in Leeds, England, jurors took about an
7094 hour to acquit police officer Andrew Whitfield, 30, of stealing a
7095 calculator worth about $4. The cost of the trial, plus the original
7096 mistrial, plus keeping Whitfield on paid suspension for 14 months
7097 as required by law, was about $158,000.
7098 -- News of the Weird -- Compiled by Chuck Shepard
7100 Whenever I watch TV and see those poor starving kids all over the world,
7101 I can't help but cry. I mean I'd love to be skinny like that but not
7102 with those flies and death and stuff.
7106 If you could live forever, would you and why?
7108 I would not live forever, because we should not live forever, because
7109 if we were supposed to live forever, then we would live forever, but we
7110 cannot live forever, which is why I would not live forever.
7111 -- Miss Alabama in the 1994 Miss Universe contest
7113 Researchers have discovered that chocolate produces some of the same reactions
7114 in the brain as marijuana... The researchers also discovered other
7115 similarities between the two, but can't remember what they are.
7116 -- Matt Lauer on NBC's Today show, August 22
7118 I haven't committed a crime. What I did was fail to comply with the law.
7119 -- David Dinkins, New York City Mayor, answering accusations that he
7120 failed to pay his taxes.
7122 Smoking kills. If you're killed, you've lost a very important part of your
7124 -- Brooke Shields, during an interview to become spokesperson
7125 for a federal anti-smoking campaign
7127 I've never had major knee surgery on any other part of my body.
7128 -- Winston Bennett, University of Kentucky basketball forward
7130 Outside of the killings, Washington has one of the lowest crime rates
7132 -- Mayor Marion Barry, Washington, D.C.
7134 Beginning in February 1976 your assistance benefits will be discontinued...
7136 it has been reported to our office that you expired on January 1, 1976.
7137 -- Letter from the Illinois Department of Public Aid
7139 The Holocaust was an obscene period in our nation's history... This century's
7140 history... We all lived in this century. I didn't live in this century.
7141 -- Dan Quayle, then Indiana senator and Republican vice-presidential
7142 candidate during a news conference in which he was asked his opinion
7145 I've always thought that underpopulated countries in Africa are vastly
7147 -- Lawrence Summers, chief economist of the World Bank, explaining why
7148 we should export toxic wastes to Third World countries
7150 After finding no qualified candidates for the position of principal,
7151 the school board is extremely pleased to announce the appointment of
7152 David Steele to the post.
7153 -- Philip Streifer, Superintendent of Schools, Barrington, Rhode Island
7155 The doctors X-rayed my head and found nothing.
7156 -- Dizzy Dean explaining how he felt after being hit on the head
7157 by a ball in the 1934 World Series
7159 there are some who believe that intelligence can only be won at the cost of
7160 other's intelligence; that is, there is no way to be intelligent without being
7161 more intelligent than someone else. i hypothesize that talking to this kind
7162 of person is a very draining experience because all that they are interested
7163 in is proving how much smarter they are than you are.
7164 i believe that people who want to increase intelligence everywhere are easy
7165 to talk to; they want you to know what they know and vice-versa, not to prove
7166 that they are the most intelligent person in the room.
7169 You are 97% water; the other 3% keeps you from drowning.
7172 It got to the end of our show, so I was just wandering around. I had
7173 this maternity dress on and a white face and I was doing unattractive
7174 things, spitting on people, things like that.
7175 -- Iggy Pop, sept. 22, 1968, several minutes before he signed his first
7178 The credit belongs to those who are actually in the arena, who strive
7179 valiantly; who know the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and speed
7180 themselves in a worthy cause; who at the best, know the triumph of high
7181 achievement; and who, at the worst, if they fail, fail while daring
7182 greatly, so that their place shall never be with those cold and timid
7183 souls who know neither victory nor defeat.
7184 -- Theodore Roosevelt
7186 I am not a vegetarian because I love animals; I am a vegetarian
7187 because I hate plants.
7190 My young brother asked me what happens after we die. I told him we get
7191 buried under a bunch of dirt and worms eat our bodies. I guess I should
7192 have told him the truth--that most of us go to Hell and burn eternally,
7193 but I didn't want to upset him.
7194 -- Deep Thoughts Jr., Age 10
7196 When I go to heaven, I want to see my grandpa again. But he better have
7197 lost the nose hair and the old-man smell.
7198 -- Deep Thoughts Jr., Age 5
7200 I once heard the voice of God. It said "Vrrrrmmmm." Unless it was just
7202 -- Deep Thoughts Jr., Age 11
7204 I don't know about you, but I enjoy watching paint dry. I imagine that
7205 the wet paint is a big freshwater lake that is the only source of water
7206 for some tiny cities by the lake. As the lake gets drier, the population
7207 gets more desperate, and sometimes there are water riots. Once there was
7208 a big fire and everyone died.
7209 -- Deep Thoughts Jr., Age 13
7211 I like to go down to the dog pound and pretend that I've found my dog.
7212 Then I tell them to kill it anyway because I already gave away all of
7213 his stuff. Dog people sure don't have a sense of humor.
7214 -- Deep Thoughts Jr., Age 14
7216 I believe you should live each day as if it is your last, which is why I
7217 don't have any clean laundry because, come on, who wants to wash clothes
7218 on the last day of their life?
7219 -- Deep Thoughts Jr., Age 15
7221 It sure would be nice if we got a day off for the president's birthday,
7222 like they do for the queen. Of course, then we would have a lot of people
7223 voting for a candidate born on July 3 or December 26, just for the long
7225 -- Deep Thoughts Jr., Age 8
7227 As you make your way through this hectic world of ours, set aside a few
7228 minutes each day. At the end of the year, you'll have a couple of days
7230 -- Deep Thoughts Jr., Age 7
7232 Democracy is a beautiful thing, except for that part about letting just
7234 -- Deep Thoughts Jr., Age 10
7236 Home is where the house is.
7237 -- Deep Thoughts Jr., Age 6
7239 Often, when I am reading a good book, I stop and thank my teacher. That
7240 is, I used to, until she got an unlisted number.
7241 -- Deep Thoughts Jr., Age 15
7243 It would be terrible if the Red Cross Bloodmobile got into an accident.
7244 No, wait. That would be good because if anyone needed it, the blood would be
7246 -- Deep Thoughts Jr., Age 5
7248 Give me the strength to change the things I can, the grace to accept the
7249 things I cannot, and a great big bag of money.
7250 -- Deep Thoughts Jr., Age 13
7252 I bet living in a nudist colony takes all the fun out of Halloween.
7253 -- Deep Thoughts Jr., Age 13
7255 For centuries, people thought the moon was made of green cheese. Then
7256 the astronauts found that the moon is really a big hard rock. That's what
7257 happens to cheese when you leave it out.
7258 -- Deep Thoughts Jr., Age 6
7260 Think of the biggest number you can. Now add five. Then, imagine if you
7261 had that many Twinkies. Wow, that's five more than the biggest number
7262 you could come up with!
7263 -- Deep Thoughts Jr., Age 6
7265 The only stupid question is the one that is never asked, except maybe
7266 "Don't you think it is about time you audited my return?" or "Isn't it morally
7267 wrong to give me a warning when, in fact, I was speeding?"
7268 -- Deep Thoughts Jr., Age 15
7270 Once, I wept for I had no shoes. Then I came upon a man who had no feet.
7271 So I took his shoes. I mean, it's not like he really needed them, right?
7272 -- Deep Thoughts Jr., Age 15
7274 I often wonder how come John Tesh isn't as popular a singer as some
7275 people think he should be. Then, I remember it's because he sucks.
7276 -- Deep Thoughts Jr., Age 15
7278 If we could just get everyone to close their eyes and visualize world
7279 peace for an hour, imagine how serene and quiet it would be until the
7281 -- Deep Thoughts Jr., Age 15
7283 Give me ambiguity or give me something else.
7285 Lobotomies for republicans? Why be redundant?
7287 The last time we mixed politics and religion,
7288 people got burned at the stake.
7292 Minimum wage for politicians.
7295 i dancing nude green
7297 (a haiku-style anagram for "inova engineering and production")
7300 If at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence that you tried.
7302 A conclusion is the place where you got tired of thinking.
7304 Eagles may soar, but weasels aren't sucked into jet engines.
7306 Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.
7308 A conscience is what hurts when all your other parts feel so good.
7310 He who hesitates is probably right.
7312 Never do card tricks for the group you play poker with.
7314 The colder the X-ray table, the more of your body is required on it.
7316 To succeed in politics, it is often necessary to rise above your principles.
7318 Two wrongs are only the beginning.
7320 You never really learn to swear until you learn to drive.
7322 The problem with the gene pool is that there is no lifeguard.
7324 Monday is an awful way to spend 1/7th of your life.
7326 The sooner you fall behind, the more time you'll have to catch up.
7328 A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.
7330 Change is inevitable... except from vending machines.
7332 Plan to be spontaneous tomorrow.
7334 Half the people you know are above average.
7336 99 percent of lawyers give the rest a bad name.
7338 42.7 percent of all statistics are made up on the spot.
7340 If at first you don't succeed, then skydiving definitely isn't for you.
7342 Oh, yeah, what are you gonna do? Release the dogs? Or
7343 the bees? Or the dogs with bees in their mouth and when
7344 they bark, they shoot bees at you?
7347 Son, when you participate in sporting events, it's not
7348 whether you win or lose... it's how drunk you get.
7351 Kids, you tried your best and you failed miserably.
7352 The lesson is, never try.
7355 It's not easy to juggle a pregnant wife and a troubled child, but
7356 somehow I managed to fit in eight hours of TV a day.
7359 Homer: Are you saying you're never going to eat any animal again? What
7365 Lisa: Dad, those all come from the same animal!
7366 Homer: Heh heh heh... ooh... yeah.... right, Lisa. A wonderful...
7369 Marge: Do you want your son to be Chief Justice of the
7370 Supreme Court, or a sleazy male stripper?
7371 Homer: Can't he be both, like the late Earl Warren?
7372 Marge: Earl Warren was never a stripper!
7373 Homer: Oh, now who's being naive?
7375 Homer: But every time I learn something new, it pushes out
7376 something old! Remember that time I took a home
7377 wine-making course and forgot how to drive?
7378 Marge: That's because you were drunk!
7381 Oh, Lisa, you and your stories: Bart's a vampire, beer
7382 kills brain cells. Now let's go back to that...
7383 building...thingie... where our beds and TV... is.
7386 Operator! Give me the number for 911!
7389 Lenny: Hey, Homer? What do I tell the boss?
7390 Homer: Tell him I'm going to the back seat of my car with
7391 the woman I love, and I won't be back for ten minutes!
7393 Big brother representative: Now, Mr. Simpson, may I ask why
7395 Homer's brain: Don't say revenge. Don't say revenge.
7396 Homer: Ummm... revenge?
7397 Homer's brain: Okay, that's it. I'm outta here.
7398 (step step step step step...slam)
7400 Homer: Okay, brain. You don't like me, and I don't like
7401 you, but let's get through this thing and then I can
7402 continue killing you with beer.
7403 Homer's Brain: It's a deal!
7405 Homer: But Marge! I was a political prisoner!
7406 Marge: How were you a political prisoner?
7407 Homer: I kicked a giant mouse in the butt! Do I have to
7410 Homer: Bart, a woman is like a beer. They look good, they
7411 smell good, and you'd step over your own mother just
7412 to get one! (chugs beer)
7414 Old man: Take this doll, but beware; it carries a terrible curse.
7415 Homer: Ooo, that's bad.
7416 Old man: But it comes with a free serving of frozen yogurt!
7418 Old man: The frozen yogurt is also cursed.
7420 Old man: But it comes with your choice of toppings!
7422 Old man: The toppings contain potassium benzoate...
7424 Old man: That's bad.
7425 Homer: Can I go now?
7427 Getting out of jury duty is easy. The trick is to say
7428 you're prejudiced against all races.
7431 Homer's brain: Use reverse psychology.
7432 Homer: Oh, that sounds too complicated.
7433 Homer's brain: Okay, don't use reverse psychology.
7434 Homer: Okay, I will!
7436 Homer: When I first heard that Marge was joining the police academy, I thought
7437 it would be fun and zany, like that movie--Spaceballs. But instead it was
7438 dark and disturbing. Like that movie--Police Academy.
7440 Marge: Homer, did you call the audience "Chicken"?
7441 Homer: No! I swear on this bible!
7442 Marge: That's not a bible. That's a book of carpet samples.
7443 Homer: Mmmm... fuzzy.
7445 Lisa: Dad, we did something very bad!
7446 Homer: Did you wreck the car?
7448 Homer: Did you raise the dead?
7450 Homer: But the car's okay?
7451 Bart & Lisa: Uh-huh.
7452 Homer: All right then.
7454 Mmmmm... reprocessed pig fat... -- Homer Simpson
7456 (praying): Dear Lord, the gods have been good to me. As
7457 an offering, I present these milk and cookies. If you
7458 wish me to eat them instead, please give me no sign
7459 whatsoever... thy will be done (munch munch munch).
7462 Homer: (On George HW Bush) I didn't vote for him!
7463 Marge: You didn't vote for anybody.
7464 Homer: I voted for Prell to go back to the old glass bottle.
7465 Then I became deeply cynical.
7467 What's the point of going out? We're just going to
7468 wind up back here anyway.
7471 I would kill everyone in this room for a drop of sweet beer.
7474 All right, brain, I don't like you and you don't like me--so let's
7475 just do this and I'll get back to killing you with beer.
7478 You can't be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline;
7479 it helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear
7480 weapons, but at the very least you need a beer.
7483 Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to
7484 keep your mouth shut.
7485 -- Ernest Hemmingway
7487 Always remember that I have taken more out of alcohol than alcohol has
7489 -- Winston Churchill
7491 He was a wise man who invented beer.
7494 Time is never wasted when you're wasted all the time.
7495 -- Catherine Zandonella
7497 A woman drove me to drink and I didn't even have the decency to thank her.
7500 "Sir, if I were your wife, I would put poison in your coffee."
7501 -- Lady Nancy Astor speaking to Winston Churchill
7502 "Madam, if I were your husband, I would drink it."
7503 -- Churchill's reply
7505 If God had intended us to drink beer, He would have given us stomachs.
7508 Work is the curse of the drinking class.
7511 When I read about the evils of drinking, I gave up reading.
7514 Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.
7515 -- Benjamin Franklin
7517 If you ever reach total enlightenment while drinking beer, I bet it
7518 makes beer shoot out your nose.
7519 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
7521 Without question, the greatest invention in the history of mankind is
7522 beer. Oh, I grant you that the wheel was also a fine invention, but
7523 the wheel does not go nearly as well with pizza.
7526 The problem with the world is that everyone is a few drinks behind.
7529 Why is American beer served cold? So you can tell it from urine.
7532 People who drink light "beer" don't like the taste of beer; they just
7534 -- Capital Brewery, Middleton, WI
7536 Give me a woman who loves beer and I will conquer the world.
7539 Not all chemicals are bad. Without chemicals such as hydrogen and
7540 oxygen, for example, there would be no way to make water, a vital
7544 I drink to make other people interesting.
7545 -- George Jean Nathan
7547 They who drink beer will think beer.
7548 -- Washington Irving
7550 An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with
7552 -- For Whom the Bell Tolls, Ernest Hemmingway
7554 You're not drunk if you can lie on the floor without holding on.
7557 I will not carve gods.
7558 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7560 I will not spank others.
7561 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7563 I will not aim for the head.
7564 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7566 I will not barf unless I'm sick.
7567 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7569 I will not expose the ignorance of the faculty.
7570 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7572 I saw nothing unusual in the teacher's lounge.
7573 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7575 I will not conduct my own fire drills.
7576 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7578 Funny noises are not funny.
7579 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7581 I will not snap bras.
7582 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7584 I will not fake seizures.
7585 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7587 This punishment is not boring and pointless.
7588 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7590 My name is not Dr. Death.
7591 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7593 I will not defame New Orleans.
7594 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7596 I will not prescribe medication.
7597 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7599 I will not bury the new kid.
7600 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7602 I will not teach others to fly.
7603 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7605 I will not bring sheep to class.
7606 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7608 A burp is not an answer.
7609 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7611 Teacher is not a leper.
7612 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7614 Coffee is not for kids.
7615 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7617 I will not eat things for money.
7618 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7620 I will not yell "She's Dead" at roll call.
7621 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7623 The principal's toupee is not a Frisbee.
7624 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7626 I will not call the principal "spud head".
7627 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7629 Goldfish don't bounce.
7630 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7632 Mud is not one of the 4 food groups.
7633 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7635 No one is interested in my underpants.
7636 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7638 I will not sell miracle cures.
7639 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7641 I will return the seeing-eye dog.
7642 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7644 I do not have diplomatic immunity.
7645 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7647 I will not charge admission to the bathroom.
7648 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7650 The cafeteria deep fryer is not a toy.
7651 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7653 All work and no play makes Bart a dull boy.
7654 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7656 I will not say "Springfield" just to get applause.
7657 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7659 I am not authorized to fire substitute teachers.
7660 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7662 My homework was not stolen by a one-armed man.
7663 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7665 I will not go near the kindergarten turtle.
7666 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7668 I am not deliciously saucy.
7669 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7671 Organ transplants are best left to professionals.
7672 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7674 The Pledge of Allegiance does not end with "Hail Satan".
7675 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7677 I will not celebrate meaningless milestones.
7678 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7680 There are plenty of businesses like show business.
7681 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7683 Five days is not too long to wait for a gun.
7684 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7686 I will not waste chalk.
7687 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7689 I will not skateboard in the halls.
7690 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7692 Underwear should be worn on the inside.
7693 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7695 I will never win an emmy.
7696 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7698 I will not torment the emotionally frail.
7699 -- Bart Simpson (at the blackboard)
7701 Bitter, unsuccessful middle aged loser wallowing in an unending sea of inert,
7702 drooping loneliness looking for 24 year old needy leech-like hanger-on to
7703 abuse with dull stories, tired sex and Herb Alpert albums.
7704 -- from "A Collection of Personal Ads From Alternative Newspapers,"
7705 by Skippy Williams and Zohre Crumpton, 1996, Simon and Schuster.
7707 Me--trying to sleep on the bus station bench, pleading with you to give me a
7708 cigarette; you--choking on my odor, tripping over your purse trying to get
7709 away; at the last moment, our eyes meeting. Yours were blue.
7710 Can I have a dollar?
7711 -- from "A Collection of Personal Ads From Alternative Newspapers,"
7712 by Skippy Williams and Zohre Crumpton, 1996, Simon and Schuster.
7714 Imp and angel. Disembodied head in jar, 24, seeks pixie goddess to fiddle with
7715 while Rome burns. You bring marshmallows. No. I make joke. You like laugh?
7716 I like comebacks and confessions. Send photo of someone else.
7717 -- from "A Collection of Personal Ads From Alternative Newspapers,"
7718 by Skippy Williams and Zohre Crumpton, 1996, Simon and Schuster.
7720 I am spitting kitty. Ftt Fttttttt. I am angry bear. Grrrrr. I am large
7721 watermelon seed stuck in your nose. Zermmmmmmmmmm. I am small biting spider
7722 in your underwear. Yub yub yub. No mimes.
7723 -- from "A Collection of Personal Ads From Alternative Newspapers,"
7724 by Skippy Williams and Zohre Crumpton, 1996, Simon and Schuster.
7726 Three toed mango peeler searching for wicked lesbian infielder. Like screaming
7727 and marking territory with urine? Let's make banana enchiladas together in my
7728 bathtub. You bring the salsa.
7729 -- from "A Collection of Personal Ads From Alternative Newspapers,"
7730 by Skippy Williams and Zohre Crumpton, 1996, Simon and Schuster.
7732 Mongoloid spastic underwear model with extra limb (you guess where?) in search
7733 of bottlenosed dolphin and extra prickly cactus juice. Soup is good food.
7734 -- from "A Collection of Personal Ads From Alternative Newspapers,"
7735 by Skippy Williams and Zohre Crumpton, 1996, Simon and Schuster.
7737 I like eating mayonnaise and peanut butter sandwiches in the rain, watching
7738 Barney Miller reruns, peeing on birds in the park and licking strangers on the
7739 subway; you eat beets raw, have climbed Kilimanjaro, and sweat freely and
7740 often. Must wear size five shoes.
7741 -- from "A Collection of Personal Ads From Alternative Newspapers,"
7742 by Skippy Williams and Zohre Crumpton, 1996, Simon and Schuster.
7744 Timber! Falling downward is the lumber of my love. You grind your axe of
7745 passion into my endangered headlands. Don't make me into a bureau. I want
7746 to be lots and lots of toothpicks.
7747 -- from "A Collection of Personal Ads From Alternative Newspapers,"
7748 by Skippy Williams and Zohre Crumpton, 1996, Simon and Schuster.
7750 Small lumpy squid monkey seeks healthy woman with no identifying scars, any
7751 age. Must have all limbs. Recommend appreciation of high-pitched, screeching
7752 noises. Must like being bored and lonely. Must not touch the squids, EVER.
7753 -- from "A Collection of Personal Ads From Alternative Newspapers,"
7754 by Skippy Williams and Zohre Crumpton, 1996, Simon and Schuster.
7756 There is a little place in the jumbled sock drawer of my heart where you
7757 match up all the pairs, throw out the ones with holes in them, and buy me
7758 some of those neat dressy ones with the weird black and red geometrical
7760 -- from "A Collection of Personal Ads From Alternative Newspapers,"
7761 by Skippy Williams and Zohre Crumpton, 1996, Simon and Schuster.
7763 Mmmm Pez! Rabid Wonder Woman fan looking for someone in satin tights,
7764 fighting for our rights and the old red, white 'n blue. You look like
7765 Linda Carter? Big plus. Know all words to theme song? Marry me.
7766 -- from "A Collection of Personal Ads From Alternative Newspapers,"
7767 by Skippy Williams and Zohre Crumpton, 1996, Simon and Schuster.
7769 Sanctimonious mordacious raconteur seeking same for hijinks and hiballs.
7770 SJM 27 wants to look someone in the eye so don't be tall. Or, if you can't
7771 help it, enjoy laying down. Wanna swim upstream?
7772 -- from "A Collection of Personal Ads From Alternative Newspapers,"
7773 by Skippy Williams and Zohre Crumpton, 1996, Simon and Schuster.
7775 Remember that summer you spent with your parents in Hawaii and how mad you
7776 were that they made you go? And how you were hopelessly bored until you saw
7777 the most gorgeous man you'd ever encountered strolling down the beach looking
7778 at you, skillfully removing your skimpy bikini with his piercing eyes? And
7779 how you spent the last month imagining him taking you in every possible way,
7780 masturbating feverishly day and night, wishing he would reappear, but he never
7781 did because you were 15 and he would have gone to jail? That was me, and
7783 -- from "A Collection of Personal Ads From Alternative Newspapers,"
7784 by Skippy Williams and Zohre Crumpton, 1996, Simon and Schuster.
7786 Angry, simple-minded, balding, partially blind ex-circus flipper boy with a
7787 passion for covering lovers in sour cream and gravy seeks exotic, heavily
7788 tattooed piercing fanatic, preferably hairy, either sex, for whippings,
7789 bizarre sex and fashion consulting. No freaks.
7790 -- from "A Collection of Personal Ads From Alternative Newspapers,"
7791 by Skippy Williams and Zohre Crumpton, 1996, Simon and Schuster.
7793 A freshman at Eagle Rock Junior High won first prize at the Greater Idaho
7794 Falls Science Fair, April 26. He was attempting to show how conditioned
7795 we have become to the alarmists practicing junk science and spreading fear
7796 of everything in our environment. In his project he urged people to sign
7797 a petition demanding strict control or total elimination of the chemical
7798 "dihydrogen monoxide." And for plenty of good reasons, since
7800 1. it can cause excessive sweating and vomiting;
7801 2. it is a major component in acid rain;
7802 3. it can cause severe burns in its gaseous state;
7803 4. accidental inhalation can kill you;
7804 5. it contributes to erosion;
7805 6. it decreases effectiveness of automobile brakes;
7806 7. it has been found in tumors of terminal cancer patients.
7808 He asked 50 people if they supported a ban of the chemical. Forty-three said
7809 yes, six were undecided, and only one knew that the chemical was water. The
7810 title of his prize winning project was, "How Gullible Are We?".
7811 The conclusion is obvious.
7813 If you ever see me getting beaten by the police, put down the video camera
7815 -- Bobcat Goldthwait
7817 I ask people why they have deer heads on their walls. They always say because
7818 it's such a beautiful animal. There you go. I think my mother is attractive,
7819 but I have photographs of her.
7822 I have six locks on my door all in a row. When I go out, I lock every other
7823 one. I figure no matter how long somebody stands there picking the locks, they
7824 are always locking three.
7827 Ever wonder if illiterate people get the full effect of alphabet soup?
7830 Relationships are hard. It's like a full-time job, and we should treat it like
7831 one. If your boyfriend or girlfriend wants to leave you, they should give you
7832 two weeks' notice. There should be severance pay and before they leave you,
7833 they should have to find you a temp.
7836 I don't know what's wrong with my television set. I was getting C-Span and
7837 the Home Shopping Network on the same station. I actually bought a
7841 I had a linguistics professor who said that it's man's ability to use language
7842 that makes him the dominant species on the planet. That may may be. But I
7843 think there's one other thing that separates us from animals. We aren't
7844 afraid of vacuum cleaners.
7847 Did you ever walk in a room and forget why you walked in? I think that's how
7848 dogs spend their lives.
7851 Maybe there is no actual place called hell. Maybe hell is just having to
7852 listen to our grandparents breathe through their noses when they're eating
7856 The statistics on sanity are that one out of every four Americans is suffering
7857 from some form of mental illness. Think of your three best friends. If they
7858 are okay, then it's you.
7861 Now they show you how detergents take out bloodstains, a pretty violent image
7862 there. I think if you've got a T-shirt with a bloodstain all over it, maybe
7863 laundry isn't your biggest problem. Maybe you should get rid of the body
7864 before you do the wash.
7867 USA Today has come out with a new survey: Apparently three out of four people
7868 make up 75 percent of the population.
7871 A lady came up to me on the street and pointed at my suede jacket. 'You know
7872 a cow was murdered for that jacket?' she sneered. I replied in a psychotic
7873 tone, 'I didn't know there were any witnesses. Now I'll have to kill you too.'
7876 I always wanted to be somebody, but I should have been more specific.
7879 The Swiss have an interesting army. Five hundred years without a war. Pretty
7880 impressive. Also pretty lucky for them. Ever see that little Swiss Army knife
7881 they have to fight with? Not much of a weapon there. Corkscrews. Bottle
7882 openers. "Come on, buddy, let's go. You get past me, the guy in back of me,
7883 he's got a spoon. Back off. I've got the toe clippers right here."
7886 Why does Sea World have a seafood restaurant? I'm halfway through my
7887 fishburger and I realize, Oh my God... I could be eating a slow learner.
7890 Sometimes I think war is God's way of teaching us geography.
7893 Republicans understand the importance of bondage between a mother and child.
7894 -- Vice President Dan Quayle
7896 Welcome to President Bush, Mrs. Bush, and my fellow astronauts.
7897 -- Vice President Dan Quayle
7899 I believe we are on an irreversible trend toward more freedom
7900 and democracy--but that could change.
7901 -- Vice President Dan Quayle, 5/22/89
7903 One word sums up probably the responsibility of any vice president, and that
7904 one word is 'to be prepared'.
7905 -- Vice President Dan Quayle, 12/6/89
7907 May our nation continue to be the beakon of hope to the world.
7908 -- The Quayles' 1989 Christmas card
7910 Verbosity leads to unclear, inarticulate things.
7911 -- Vice President Dan Quayle
7913 We don't want to go back to tomorrow, we want to go forward.
7914 -- Vice President Dan Quayle
7916 I have made good judgments in the past. I have made good judgments in the
7918 -- Vice President Dan Quayle
7920 The future will be better tomorrow.
7921 -- Vice President Dan Quayle
7923 We're going to have the best-educated American people in the world.
7924 -- Vice President Dan Quayle
7926 People that are really very weird can get into sensitive positions and have a
7927 tremendous impact on history.
7928 -- Vice President Dan Quayle
7930 I stand by all the misstatements that I've made.
7931 -- Vice President Dan Quayle to Sam Donaldson, 8/17/89
7933 We have a firm commitment to NATO, we are a part of NATO. We have a firm
7934 commitment to Europe. We are a part of Europe.
7935 -- Vice President Dan Quayle
7937 I am not part of the problem. I am a Republican.
7938 -- Vice President Dan Quayle
7940 I love California, I practically grew up in Phoenix.
7941 -- Vice President Dan Quayle
7943 A low voter turnout is an indication of fewer people going to the polls.
7944 -- Vice President Dan Quayle
7946 When I have been asked during these last weeks who caused the riots and
7947 the killing in L.A., my answer has been direct and simple: Who is to blame
7948 for the riots? The rioters are to blame. Who is to blame for the killings?
7949 The killers are to blame.
7950 -- Vice President Dan Quayle
7952 Illegitimacy is something we should talk about in terms of not having it.
7953 -- Vice President Dan Quayle, 5/20/92 (reported in Esquire, 8/92)
7955 Murphy Brown is doing better than I am. At least she knows she still has a job
7957 -- Vice President Dan Quayle, 8/18/92
7959 We are ready for any unforeseen event that may or may not occur.
7960 -- Vice President Dan Quayle, 9/22/90
7962 For NASA, space is still a high priority.
7963 -- Vice President Dan Quayle, 9/5/90
7965 Quite frankly, teachers are the only profession that teach our children.
7966 -- Vice President Dan Quayle, 9/18/90
7968 The American people would not want to know of any misquotes that Dan Quayle
7969 may or may not make.
7970 -- Vice President Dan Quayle
7972 We're all capable of mistakes, but I do not care to enlighten you on the
7973 mistakes we may or may not have made.
7974 -- Vice President Dan Quayle
7976 It isn't pollution that's harming the environment. It's the impurities
7977 in our air and water that are doing it.
7978 -- Vice President Dan Quayle
7980 [It's] time for the human race to enter the solar system.
7981 -- Vice President Dan Quayle
7983 Public speaking is very easy.
7984 -- Dan Quayle to reporters in 10/88
7986 We have to believe in free will. We've got no choice.
7989 The president has kept all of the promises he intended to keep.
7990 -- Clinton aide George Stephanopolous speaking on "Larry King Live"
7992 The police are not here to create disorder.
7993 They're here to preserve disorder.
7994 -- Former Chicago mayor Daley
7995 during the infamous 1968 convention
7997 Traditionally, most of Australia's imports come from overseas.
7998 -- Former Australian cabinet minister Keppel Enderbery
8000 It is wonderful to be here in the great state of Chicago.
8001 -- Former U.S. Vice-President Dan Quayle
8003 The internet is a great way to get on the net.
8004 -- Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole
8006 It is bad luck to be superstitious.
8009 It's like an Alcatraz around my neck.
8010 -- Boston mayor Menino on the shortage of city parking spaces
8012 They're multipurpose. Not only do they put the clips on, but they take
8014 -- Pratt & Whitney spokesperson explaining why the company charged the
8015 Air Force nearly $1,000 for an ordinary pair of pliers
8017 We're going to turn this team around 360 degrees.
8018 -- Jason Kidd, upon his drafting to the Dallas Mavericks
8020 I'm not going to have some reporters pawing through our papers.
8021 We are the president.
8022 -- Hillary Clinton commenting on the release of subpoenaed documents
8024 When more and more people are thrown out of work, unemployment results.
8025 -- Former U.S. President Calvin Coolidge
8027 China is a big country, inhabited by many chinese.
8028 -- Former French President Charles de Gaulle
8030 That lowdown scoundrel deserves to be kicked to death by a jackass, and
8031 i'm just the one to do it.
8032 -- A congressional candidate in Texas
8034 Things are more like they are now than they ever were before.
8035 -- Former U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower
8037 Without censorship, things can get terribly confused in the public mind.
8038 -- General William Westmoreland, during the war in Viet Nam
8040 If you let that sort of thing go on, your bread and butter will be cut
8041 right out from under your feet.
8042 -- Former British foreign minister Ernest Bevin
8044 Almonds and peaches are members of the Rosaceae family (roses) and are
8045 both in the subfamily Amygdaloideae, which also includes plums, cherries
8048 The symbol on the "pound" key (#) is called an octothorpe.
8050 Charlie Brown's father was a barber.
8052 Nutmeg is toxic and can cause fatal overdoses just from eating too much.
8054 Of the six men who made up the Three Stooges, three of them were real
8055 brothers (Moe, Curly and Shemp).
8057 In Mel Brooks' "Silent Movie," mime Marcel Marceau is the only person who
8058 has a speaking role.
8060 Pulp Fiction cost $8 million to make--$5 million going to actor's salaries.
8062 A full seven percent of the entire Irish barley crop goes to the
8063 production of Guinness beer.
8065 Los Angeles's full name is "El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los
8066 Angeles de Porciúncula" or "The Village of Our Lady, the Queen of Angels,
8067 of Porziuncola", although its official name is simply "El Pueblo de
8068 la Reina de Los Angeles".
8070 A cat has 32 muscles in each ear.
8072 An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.
8074 Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur.
8076 Deborah Winger did the voice of E.T.
8078 In most advertisements, including newspapers, the time displayed
8079 on an analog watch is 10:10.
8081 Donald Duck's middle name is Fauntleroy.
8083 Al Capone's business card said he was a used furniture dealer.
8085 The muzzle of a lion is like a fingerprint--no two lions have the same
8086 pattern of whiskers.
8088 Bob Dylan's given name is Robert Allen Zimmerman.
8090 Research by the School of Psychology at the University of Plymouth in
8091 2003 demonstrated that goldfish have a memory-span of at least three
8092 months and can distinguish between different shapes, colours and sounds.
8094 The plastic things on the end of shoelaces are called aglets.
8096 It was discovered on a space mission that a frog can throw up. The frog
8097 throws up it's stomach first, so the stomach is dangling out of it's
8098 mouth. Then the frog uses it's forearms to dig out all of the stomach's
8099 contents and then swallows the stomach back down again.
8101 Bingo is the name of the dog on the Cracker Jack box.
8103 ABBA got their name by taking the first letter from each of their first
8104 names (Agnetha, Bjorn, Benny, Anni-frid.)
8106 The Beatles song "Dear Prudence" was written about Mia Farrow's sister,
8107 Prudence, when she wouldn't come out and play with Mia and the Beatles
8108 at a religious retreat in India.
8110 The giant squid has the largest eyes in the world.
8112 The name for Oz in the "Wizard of Oz" was thought up when the creator,
8113 Frank Baum, looked at his filing cabinet and saw A-N and O-Z, hence "Oz."
8115 Horses and rabbits cannot normally vomit, but have been observed in
8116 extreme cases appearing to vomit. For example, horses with severe colic
8117 can produce fermented stomach contents, and rabbits have been observed
8118 expelling stomach contents due to over-eating or health issues.
8120 Virgina Woolf liked to write standing up.
8121 Mark Twain often wrote while lying down.
8123 Testimonial from Col. George Harvey, Mark Twain's publisher:
8124 I think that perhaps the funniest thing about Mark Twain now is not
8125 his writing, but his bed. He lies in bed a good deal; he says he has
8126 formed the habit. His bed is the largest one I ever saw, and on it is
8127 the weirdest collection of objects you ever saw, enough to furnish a
8128 Harlem flat--books, writing materials, clothes, any and everything that
8129 could foregather in his vicinity.
8130 He looks quite happy rising out of the mass, and over all prowls a
8131 huge black cat of a very unhappy disposition. She snaps and snarls and
8132 claws and bites, and Mark Twain takes his turn with the rest; when she
8133 gets tired of tearing up manuscript she scratches him and he bears it
8134 with a patience wonderful to behold.
8135 -- interview subtitled "Mark Twain's Bed," Washington Post,
8136 March 26, 1905, p. F12
8138 Testimonial from Katy Leary, Mark Twain's servant:
8139 Mr. Clemens borrowed a kitten one time, called Bambino, from Clara, who
8140 had him in the sanitarium, and had trained him to wash his own face in the
8141 bowl every morning--which shows that he was a very smart little cat. He
8142 used to have this kitten up in his room at the Fifth Avenue house and he
8143 taught it to put out a light, too. He had a tiny little lamp to light his
8144 cigars with at the head of the bed, and after he got all fixed and didn't
8145 want the light any more, he taught that cat to put his paw on the light
8146 and put it out. Bambino would jump on the bed, look at Mr. Clemens to see
8147 if he was through with the light, and when Mr. Clemens would bow twice to
8148 him, he'd jump over on to that table quick, and put his little paw right
8149 on the lamp! Mr. Clemens was always showing him off; he did that for a lot
8150 of people that come there to call.
8151 One night he got kind of gay, when he heard some cats calling from the
8152 back fence, so he found a window open and he stole out. We looked high
8153 and low but couldn't find him. Mr. Clemens felt so bad that he advertised
8154 in all the papers for him. He offered a reward for anybody that would
8155 bring the cat back. My goodness! the people that came bringing cats to
8156 that house! A perfect stream! They all wanted to see Mr. Clemens, of
8158 Two or three nights after, Katherine heard a cat meowing across the
8159 street in General Sickles' back yard, and there was Bambino--large as
8160 life! So she brought him right home. Mr. Clemens was delighted and then
8161 he advertised that his cat was found! But the people kept coming just
8162 the same with all kinds of cats for him--anything to get a glimpse of
8164 -- A Lifetime with Mark Twain, by Mary Lawton
8166 If your everyday life seems poor, don't blame it; blame yourself; admit to
8167 yourself that you are not enough of a poet to call forth its riches; because
8168 for the creator there is no poverty and no poor, indifferent place.
8169 -- Rainer Maria Rilke
8171 Compassion is the chief and perhaps the only law of human existence.
8172 -- Fyodor Dostoyevsky
8174 If we concede that human life can be governed by reason, the possibility of
8178 What an abyss of uncertainty, whenever the mind feels overtaken by itself;
8179 when it, the seeker, is at the same time the dark region through which it
8180 must go seeking, and where all its equipment will avail nothing. Seek? More
8181 than that: create. It is face to face with something which does not yet exist,
8182 to which it alone can give reality and substance, which it alone can bring into
8186 As soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to live.
8187 -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
8189 I believe that everything depends on attention. I only see you if I pay
8190 attention. I only exist, in my own eyes, if I pay attention to myself.
8193 The sex was so good that even the neighbors had a cigarette.
8195 If you smoke after sex, you're doing it too fast.
8197 I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it.
8199 If ignorance is bliss, you must be orgasmic.
8201 Good girls get fat, bad girls get eaten.
8203 The more people I meet, the more I like my dog.
8205 A bartender is just a pharmacist with a limited inventory.
8207 I need someone really bad... are you really bad?
8209 If, a two letter word for futility.
8211 Earth is the insane asylum for the universe.
8213 To all you virgins, thanks for nothing.
8215 The more you complain, the longer God lets you live.
8217 My kid had sex with your honor student.
8219 Don't hit me. My lawyer's in jail.
8221 If something goes without saying, LET IT!
8223 If at first you do succeed, try not to look astonished.
8225 IRS: We've got what it takes to take what you've got.
8227 Hard work has a future payoff, laziness pays off now.
8229 Life's a buffet... so eat me!
8231 Montana--At least our cows are sane!
8237 God must love stupid people, he made so many.
8239 I said "no" to drugs, but they just wouldn't listen.
8241 The gene pool could use a little chlorine.
8243 There's too much youth, how about a fountain of smart.
8245 Forget about World Peace... Visualize Using Your Turn Signal!
8247 Warning: Dates in Calendar are closer than they appear.
8249 I know what you're thinking, and you should be ashamed of yourself.
8251 Don't drink and drive, you might hit a bump and spill your drink.
8253 Elvis is dead, and I'm not feeling too good myself.
8255 Lottery: A tax on people who are bad at math.
8257 Friends help you move. Real friends help you move bodies.
8259 Very funny, Scotty. Now beam down my clothes.
8261 Always be nice to your children because they are
8262 the ones who will choose your rest home.
8265 I like you, but I wouldn't want to see you working with subatomic particles.
8267 Sex on television can't hurt you unless you fall off.
8269 I'm not offended by all the dumb blond jokes because I know I'm not
8270 dumb... and I also know that I'm not blond.
8273 You see a lot of smart guys with dumb women, but you hardly ever see a
8274 smart woman with a dumb guy.
8277 I never married because there was no need. I have three pets at home
8278 which answer the same purpose as a husband. I have a dog which growls
8279 every morning, a parrot which swears all afternoon and a cat that
8280 comes home late at night.
8283 I am a marvelous housekeeper. Every time I leave a man I keep his house.
8286 I want to have children, but my friends scare me. One of my friends told
8287 me she was in labor for 36 hours. I don't even want to do anything that
8288 feels GOOD for 36 hours.
8291 I'm not going to vacuum 'til Sears makes one you can ride on.
8294 I think--therefore I'm single.
8297 Behind every successful man is a surprised woman.
8300 Our struggle today is not to have a female Einstein get appointed as
8301 assistant professor. It is for a woman schlemiel to get as quickly
8302 promoted as a male schlemiel.
8305 I have yet to hear a man ask for advice on
8306 how to combine marriage and a career.
8309 Sometimes I wonder if men and women really suit each other. Perhaps they
8310 should live next door and just visit now and then.
8311 -- Katharine Hepburn
8313 God is my favorite fictional character.
8316 Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons.
8317 -- Popular Mechanics, forecasting the relentless march of science, 1949
8319 I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.
8320 -- Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943
8322 I have traveled the length and breadth of this country and talked with the
8323 best people, and I can assure you that data processing is a fad that won't
8325 -- The editor in charge of business books for Prentice Hall, 1957
8327 But what... is it good for?
8328 -- Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems Division of IBM, 1968,
8329 commenting on the microchip
8331 This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a
8332 means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us.
8333 -- Western Union internal memo, 1876
8335 The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for
8336 a message sent to nobody in particular?
8337 -- David Sarnoff's associates in response to his urgings for investment
8338 in the radio in the 1920s
8340 The concept is interesting and well-formed, but in order to earn better than
8341 a 'C,' the idea must be feasible.
8342 -- A Yale University management professor in response to Fred Smith's
8343 paper proposing reliable overnight delivery service
8344 (Smith went on to found Federal Express Corp.)
8346 Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?
8347 -- H. M. Warner, Warner Brothers, 1927
8349 I'm just glad it'll be Clark Gable who's falling on his face and not Gary
8351 -- Gary Cooper on his decision not to take the leading role in "Gone
8354 A cookie store is a bad idea. Besides, the market research reports say
8355 America likes crispy cookies, not soft and chewy cookies like you make.
8356 -- Response to Debbi Fields' idea of starting Mrs. Fields' Cookies
8358 We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out.
8359 -- Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962
8361 If I had thought about it, I wouldn't have done the experiment. The
8362 literature was full of examples that said you can't do this.
8363 -- Spencer Silver on the work that led to the unique adhesives for 3-M
8366 So we went to Atari and said, 'Hey, we've got this amazing thing, even built
8367 with some of your parts, and what do you think about funding us? Or we'll
8368 give it to you. We just want to do it. Pay our salary, we'll come work for
8369 you.' And they said, 'No.' So then we went to Hewlett-Packard, and they
8370 said, 'Hey, we don't need you. You haven't got through college yet.'
8371 -- Apple Computer Inc. founder Steve Jobs on attempts to get Atari and H-P
8372 interested in his and Steve Wozniak's personal computer
8374 Professor Goddard does not know the relation between action and reaction and
8375 the need to have something better than a vacuum against which to react. He
8376 seems to lack the basic knowledge ladled out daily in high schools.
8377 -- 1921 New York Times editorial about Robert Goddard's revolutionary
8380 You want to have consistent and uniform muscle development across all of your
8381 muscles? It can't be done. It's just a fact of life. You just have to
8382 accept inconsistent muscle development as an unalterable condition of weight
8384 -- Response to Arthur Jones, who solved the "unsolvable" problem by
8387 Drill for oil? You mean drill into the ground to try and find oil? You're
8389 -- Drillers who Edwin L. Drake tried to enlist to his project to drill
8392 Stocks have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau.
8393 -- Irving Fisher, Professor of Economics, Yale University, 1929
8395 Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value.
8396 -- Marechal Ferdinand Foch, Professor of Strategy,
8397 Ecole Superieure de Guerre
8399 Everything that can be invented has been invented.
8400 -- Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, U.S. Office of Patents, 1899, arguing
8401 that the office should be closed
8403 Louis Pasteur's theory of germs is ridiculous fiction.
8404 -- Pierre Pachet, Professor of Physiology at Toulouse, 1872
8406 The abdomen, the chest, and the brain will forever be shut from the intrusion
8407 of the wise and humane surgeon.
8408 -- Sir John Eric Ericksen, British surgeon, appointed Surgeon-Extraordinary
8409 to Queen Victoria 1873
8411 640K ought to be enough for anybody.
8412 -- Attributed to Bill Gates, 1981, but he asserts that he did not say this.
8414 Three things are certain:
8415 Death, taxes, and lost data.
8416 Guess which has occurred.
8419 Your life's work has been destroyed.
8420 Squeeze trigger (yes/no)?
8423 I am the Blue Screen of Death.
8424 No one hears your screams.
8426 Seeing my great fault
8427 Through darkening blue windows
8430 The code was willing,
8431 It considered your request,
8432 But the chips were weak.
8435 Could be a fatal error.
8439 It might be very useful.
8442 Errors have occurred.
8443 We won't tell you where or why.
8446 Server's poor response
8447 Not quick enough for browser.
8448 Timed out, plum blossom.
8450 Chaos reigns within.
8451 Reflect, repent, and reboot.
8455 Only perfect spellers may
8458 This site has been moved.
8459 We'd tell you where, but then we'd
8463 scatt'ring petals to the wind:
8467 Close all that you have.
8468 You ask way too much.
8470 First snow, then silence.
8471 This thousand dollar screen dies
8474 With searching comes loss
8475 and the presence of absence:
8476 "My Novel" not found.
8478 The Tao that is seen
8479 Is not the true Tao, until
8480 You bring fresh toner.
8482 The Web site you seek
8483 cannot be located but
8484 endless others exist
8486 Stay the patient course
8487 Of little worth is your ire
8491 your expensive computer
8495 of carbon and silicon
8496 the software can't bridge
8499 Today it is not working
8500 Windows is like that
8503 Would be life without meaning
8506 You step in the stream,
8507 but the water has moved on.
8508 This page is not here.
8515 Hal, open the damn file, Hal
8516 open the, please Hal
8519 We wish to hold the whole sky,
8523 The document you're seeking
8524 Must now be retyped.
8526 The ten thousand things
8527 How long do any persist?
8528 Netscape, too, has gone.
8531 Or a rude error message,
8532 These words: "File not found."
8535 All shortcuts have disappeared.
8536 Screen. Mind. Both are blank.
8538 Indecision may or may not be my problem.
8541 If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you.
8542 This is the principal difference between a dog and a man.
8545 If you want to know what God thinks about money, just look at the people He
8549 I think men who have a pierced ear are better prepared for marriage.
8550 They've experienced pain and bought jewelry.
8553 I would love to speak a foreign language but I can't.
8554 So I grew hair under my arms instead.
8557 The second day of a diet is always easier than the first.
8558 By the second day you're off it.
8561 Bigamy is having one wife too many. Monogamy is the same.
8564 If a woman has to choose between catching a fly ball and saving an infant's
8565 life, she will choose to save the infant's life without even considering if
8566 there is a man on base.
8569 Somebody hits me, I'm going to hit him back. Even if it does look like he
8570 hasn't eaten in a while.
8571 -- Charles Barkley, after blatantly elbowing an Angolan basketball
8572 opponent in the Olympics.
8574 I think that's how Chicago got started. A bunch of people in New York said,
8575 'Gee, I'm enjoying the crime and the poverty, but it just isn't cold enough.
8579 The show business newspaper Daily Variety reported in December that John
8580 Kricfalusi, creator of TV's "The Ren & Stimpy Show," was threatening legal
8581 action against the producers of the Comedy Central show "South Park" for
8582 ripping off a cartoon character. According to Kricfalusi, his character
8583 "Nutty the Friendly Dump," an animated piece of excrement, must have been
8584 the basis for "South Park"'s "Mr. Hankey the Christmas Poo," a holiday-
8585 dressed, singing, dancing piece of excrement.
8587 If a man is standing in the middle of the forest speaking and there is
8588 no woman around to hear him, is he still wrong?
8590 If a deaf person swears, does his mother wash his hands with soap?
8592 If someone with multiple personalities threatens to kill himself, is
8593 it considered a hostage situation?
8595 Is there another word for synonym?
8597 Isn't it a bit unnerving that doctors call what they do "practice?"
8599 When sign makers go on strike, is anything written on their signs?
8601 Where do forest rangers go to "get away from it all?"
8603 Why isn't there mouse-flavored cat food?
8605 What do you do when you see an endangered animal eating an endangered plant?
8607 If a parsley farmer is sued, can they garnish his wages?
8609 Would a fly without wings be called a walk?
8611 Why do they lock gas station bathrooms? Are they afraid someone
8614 If a stealth bomber crashes in a forest, will it make a sound?
8616 If a turtle doesn't have a shell, is he homeless or naked?
8618 Why don't sheep shrink when it rains?
8620 Can vegetarians eat animal crackers?
8622 If the police arrest a mime, do they tell him he has the right to
8625 Why do they put Braille on the drive-through bank machines?
8627 How do they get the deer to cross at that yellow road sign?
8629 Why do they sterilize the needles for lethal injections?
8631 Why did kamikaze pilots wear helmets?
8633 Is it true that cannibals don't eat clowns because they taste funny?
8635 Whoever said you can't buy happiness forgot about puppies.
8638 In dog years, I'm dead.
8641 Dogs feel very strongly that they should always go with you in the car, in
8642 case the need should arise for them to bark violently at nothing right in
8647 I wonder what goes through his mind when he sees us peeing in his water bowl.
8650 Outside of a dog, a book is probably man's best friend,
8651 and inside of a dog, it's too dark to read.
8654 To his dog, every man is Napoleon; hence the constant popularity of dogs.
8657 A dog teaches a boy fidelity, perseverance, and to turn around three times
8661 Did you ever walk into a room and forget why you walked in? I think that is
8662 how dogs spend their lives.
8665 Did you hear about the dyslexic agnostic insomniac who stays up all night
8666 wondering if there really is a Dog?
8669 I think animal testing is a terrible idea; they get all nervous and give
8673 I loathe people who keep dogs. They are cowards who haven't got the guts
8674 to bite people themselves.
8675 -- August Strindberg
8677 Ever consider what they [our pets] must think of us? I mean, here we come
8678 back from a grocery store with the most amazing haul--chicken, pork, half
8679 a cow. They must think we're the greatest hunters on earth!
8682 My dog is worried about the economy because Alpo is up to 99 cents a can.
8683 That's almost $7.00 in dog money.
8686 If I have any beliefs about immortality, it is that certain dogs I have known
8687 will go to heaven, and very, very few persons.
8690 You enter into a certain amount of madness when you marry a person with pets.
8693 Don't accept your dog's admiration as conclusive evidence that you are
8697 Women and cats will do as they please and men and dogs should relax and get
8699 -- Robert A. Heinlein
8701 In order to keep a true perspective of one's importance, everyone should have
8702 a dog that will worship him and a cat that will ignore him.
8703 -- Dereke Bruce, Taipei, Taiwan
8705 When a man's best friend is his dog, that dog has a problem.
8708 Cat's Motto: No matter what you've done wrong, always try to
8709 make it look like the dog did it.
8712 Money will buy you a pretty good dog, but it won't buy
8713 the wag of his tail... No one appreciates the very
8714 special genius of your conversation as the dog does.
8715 -- Christopher Morley
8717 A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than he loves himself.
8720 Man is a dog's idea of what God should be.
8723 The average dog is a nicer person than the average person.
8726 He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life,
8727 his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat
8728 of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion.
8731 Heaven goes by favour. If it went by merit, you would stay out and your dog
8735 I care not for a man's religion whose dog and cat are not the better for it.
8738 If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went.
8741 Things that upset a terrier may pass virtually unnoticed by a Great Dane.
8744 I've seen a look in dogs' eyes, a quickly vanishing look of amazed contempt,
8745 and I am convinced that basically dogs think humans are nuts.
8748 There is no psychiatrist in the world like a puppy licking your face.
8751 One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men.
8752 No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man.
8755 (AP) Tokyo: Tokyo commuter Katsuo Katugoru caused havoc on a crowded tube
8756 train when his inflatable underpants unexpectedly went off. The rubber
8757 underwear was made by Katsuo himself, and designed to inflate to 30 times
8758 their original size in the event of a tidal wave.
8759 "I am terrified of water, and death by drowning is my greatest fear" said
8760 Katsuo, 48. "Unfortunately I set them off accidently while looking for a
8761 boiled sweet on a rush hour train. They were crushing everybody in the
8762 carriage until a passenger stabbed them with a pencil."
8764 Kindness cannot be taught by harshness--
8765 not by any amount of harshness.
8766 -- Raymond M. Smullyan / The Tao is Silent
8769 Full employment for lawyers
8773 Inflate your tires by all means, but then hide your bicycle pump where it
8775 -- attributed to a spokesman for the Nakhon Ratchasima hospital
8777 Duct tape is like the Force. It has a light side, a dark side, and it
8778 holds the universe together....
8781 There is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the
8782 Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced
8783 by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which
8784 states that this has already happened.
8787 Only two things are infinite, the universe and
8788 human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.
8791 Astronomers say the universe is finite, which is a comforting thought for
8792 those people who can't remember where they leave things.
8795 In answer to the question of why it happened, I offer the modest proposal that
8796 our Universe is simply one of those things which happen from time to time.
8799 It is well to remember that the entire universe, with one trifling exception,
8800 is composed of others.
8801 -- John Andrew Holmes
8803 Technology is a way of organizing the universe so
8804 that man doesn't have to experience it.
8807 The universe is a big place, perhaps the biggest.
8808 -- Kilgore Trout (Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.)
8810 I'm astounded by people who want to 'know' the universe when it's hard enough
8811 to find your way around Chinatown.
8814 In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people
8815 very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.
8818 The crux... is that the vast majority of the
8819 mass of the universe seems to be missing.
8822 Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build
8823 bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the Universe trying to produce
8824 bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning.
8827 There is a coherent plan in the universe,
8828 though I don't know what it's a plan for.
8831 We are an impossibility in an impossible universe. -- Ray Bradbury
8833 My theology, briefly, is that the universe was dictated but not signed.
8834 -- Christopher Morley
8836 I'm worried that the universe will soon need replacing.
8837 It's not holding a charge.
8840 The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe
8841 is that it has never tried to contact us.
8842 -- Calvin and Hobbes (Bill Watterson)
8844 As of tomorrow, employees will only be able to access the building using
8845 individual security cards. Pictures will be taken next Wednesday and
8846 employees will receive their cards in two weeks.
8847 -- pointy haired boss contest. (This was the winning quote from
8848 Fred Dales at Microsoft Corporation in Redmond, Washington)
8850 What I need is a list of specific unknown problems we will encounter.
8851 -- pointy haired boss contest. (Lykes Lines Shipping)
8853 E-mail is not to be used to pass on information or data. It should be used
8854 only for company business.
8855 -- pointy haired boss contest. (Accounting manager, Electric Boat Company)
8857 This project is so important, we can't let things that are more important
8859 -- pointy haired boss contest
8860 (Advertising/Marketing manager, United Parcel Service)
8862 Doing it right is no excuse for not meeting the schedule. No one will believe
8863 you solved this problem in one day! We've been working on it for months. Now,
8864 go act busy for a few weeks and I'll let you know when it's time to tell them.
8865 -- pointy haired boss contest
8866 (R&D supervisor, Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing / 3M Corp.)
8868 My Boss spent the entire weekend retyping a 25-page proposal that only needed
8869 corrections. She claims the disk I gave her was damaged and she couldn't edit
8870 it. The disk I gave her was write-protected.
8871 -- pointy haired boss contest. (CIO of Dell Computers)
8873 Quote from the Boss: "Teamwork is a lot of people doing what 'I' say."
8874 -- pointy haired boss contest. (Marketing executive, Citrix Corporation)
8876 "How About Friday?" My sister passed away and her funeral was scheduled for
8877 Monday. When I told my Boss, he said she died so that I would have to miss
8878 work on the busiest day of the year. He then asked if we could change her
8879 burial to Friday. He said, "That would be better for me."
8880 -- pointy haired boss contest. (Shipping executive, FTD Florists)
8882 "We know that communication is a problem, but the company is
8883 not going to discuss it with the employees."
8884 -- pointy haired boss contest
8885 (Switching supervisor, AT&T Long Lines Division)
8887 We recently received a memo from senior management saying: "This is to inform
8888 you that a memo will be issued today regarding the subject mentioned above."
8889 -- pointy haired boss contest. (Microsoft, Legal Affairs Division)
8891 One day my Boss asked me to submit a status report to him concerning a project
8892 I was working on. I asked him if tomorrow would be soon enough. He said "If
8893 I wanted it tomorrow, I would have waited until tomorrow to ask for it!"
8894 -- pointy haired boss contest
8895 (New business manager, Hallmark Greeting Cards)
8897 Speaking the Same Language: As director of communications I was asked to
8898 prepare a memo reviewing our company's training programs and materials. In
8899 the body of the memo one of the sentences mentioned the "pedagogical approach"
8900 used by one of the training manuals. The day after I routed the memo to the
8901 executive committee, I was called into the HR director's office and told that
8902 the executive vice president wanted me out of the building by lunch. When I
8903 asked why, I was told that she wouldn't stand for "perverts" (pedophilia)?
8904 working in her company. Finally he showed me her copy of the memo, with her
8905 demand that I be fired--and the word "pedagogical" circled in red. The HR
8906 manager was fairly reasonable, and once he looked the word up in his
8907 dictionary, and made a copy of the definition to send back to her, he told me
8908 not to worry. He would take care of it. Two days later a memo to the entire
8909 staff came out--directing us that no words which could not be found in the
8910 local Sunday newspaper could be used in company memos. A month later, I
8911 resigned. In accordance with company policy, I created my resignation memo
8912 by pasting words together from the Sunday paper.
8913 -- pointy haired boss contest. (Taco Bell Corporation)
8915 This gem is the closing paragraph of a nationally-circulated memo from a large
8916 communications company: "(Company name) is endeavorily determined to promote
8917 constant attention on current procedures of transacting business focusing
8918 emphasis on innovative ways to better, if not supersede, the expectations of
8920 -- pointy haired boss contest. (Lucent Technologies)
8922 Marriage isn't a word, it's a sentence.
8923 -- unknown, seen on back of Charlottesville, VA cab
8925 Have you ever noticed... Anybody going slower than you is an idiot,
8926 and anyone going faster than you is a f*cking maniac?
8929 You have to stay in shape. My grandmother, she started walking five
8930 miles a day when she was 60. She's 97 today and we don't know where
8934 I'm not into working out. My philosophy: No pain, no pain.
8937 I have a great diet. You're allowed to eat anything you want, but you
8938 must eat it with naked fat people.
8941 I went into a McDonald's yesterday and said, "I'd like some fries."
8942 The girl at the counter said, "Would you like some fries with that?"
8945 The reason most people play golf is to wear clothes they would not be
8946 caught dead in otherwise.
8949 I'm desperately trying to figure out why kamikaze pilots wore helmets.
8952 If it weren't for electricity we'd all be watching television by candlelight.
8955 Don't spend two dollars to dry clean a shirt. Donate it to the
8956 Salvation Army instead. They'll clean it and put it on a hanger.
8957 Next morning buy it back for seventy-five cents.
8960 Suppose you were an idiot... And suppose you were a member of
8961 Congress... But I repeat myself.
8964 Our bombs are smarter than the average high school student. At least
8965 they can find Kuwait.
8968 My mom said she learned how to swim. Someone took her out in the lake
8969 and threw her off the boat. That's how she learned how to swim. I
8970 said, "Mom, they weren't trying to teach you how to swim."
8973 I worry that the person who thought up Muzak may be thinking up
8977 What do people mean when they say the computer went down on me?
8980 Why is it that when we talk to God we're said to be praying, but when
8981 God talks to us we're schizophrenic?
8984 When you look at Prince Charles, don't you think that someone in the
8985 Royal family knew someone in the Royal family?
8988 Where lipstick is concerned, the important thing is not color, but to
8989 accept God's final word on where your lips end.
8992 [Modern economists are] "used to measuring the 'standard of living' by
8993 the amount of annual consumption, assuming all the time that a man who
8994 consumes more is 'better off' than a man who consumes less. A Buddhist
8995 economist would consider this approach excessively irrational: since
8996 consumption is merely a means to human well-being, the aim should be to
8997 obtain the maximum of well-being with the minimum of consumption...
8998 The less toil there is, the more time and strength is left for artistic
8999 creativity. Modern economics, on the other hand, considers consumption
9000 to be the sole end and purpose of all economic activity."
9001 -- E. F. Schumacher (1911-1977), from "Small Is Beautiful:
9002 A Study of Economics As If People Mattered", 1973.
9004 As a net is made up of a series of ties, so everything in this world
9005 is connected by a series of ties. If anyone thinks that the mesh of
9006 a net is an independent, isolated thing, he is mistaken. It is called
9007 a net because it is made up of a series of interconnected meshes, and
9008 each mesh has its place and responsibility in relation to other meshes.
9009 -- Shakyamuni Buddha
9011 When debugging, suspect the more complicated code,
9012 but keep an eye on the simple code lest it get too cocky.
9015 I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.
9018 As I let go of my feelings of guilt, I am in touch
9019 with my inner sociopath.
9021 I have the power to channel my imagination into ever-soaring
9022 levels of suspicion and paranoia.
9024 I assume full responsibility for my actions, except the ones
9025 that are someone else's fault.
9027 I no longer need to punish, deceive, or compromise myself,
9028 unless I want to stay employed.
9030 In some cultures what I do would be considered normal.
9032 I honor my personality flaws for without them
9033 I would have no personality at all.
9035 Joan of Arc heard voices, too.
9037 I am grateful that I am not as judgmental as all those
9038 censorious, self-righteous people around me.
9040 I need not suffer in silence while I can still
9041 moan, whimper, and complain.
9043 As I learn the innermost secrets of people around me, they
9044 reward me in many ways to keep me quiet.
9046 When someone hurts me, I know that forgiveness is cheaper
9047 than a lawsuit, but not nearly as gratifying.
9049 The first step is to say nice things about myself.
9050 The second is to do nice things for myself, the third,
9051 to find someone to buy me nice things.
9053 As I learn to trust the universe,
9054 I no longer need to carry a gun.
9056 I am at one with my duality.
9058 Blessed are the flexible,
9059 for they can tie themselves into knots.
9061 Only a lack of imagination saves me from
9062 immobilizing myself with imaginary fears.
9064 I will strive to live each day as
9065 if it were my 50th birthday.
9067 I honor and express all facets of my being,
9068 regardless of state and local laws.
9070 Today I will gladly share my experience and advice, for there
9071 are no sweeter words than "I told you so."
9073 False hope is better than no hope at all.
9075 A good scapegoat is almost as good as a solution.
9077 Just for today, I will not sit in my living room all day in my
9078 underwear in the Hollywood Cafe. Instead, I will move my
9079 computer into the bedroom.
9081 Who can I blame for my problems?
9082 Just give me a minute.
9085 Why should I waste my time reliving the past when
9086 I can spend it worrying about the future?
9088 The complete lack of evidence is the surest
9089 sign that the conspiracy is working.
9091 I am learning that criticism is not nearly as
9092 effective as sabotage.
9094 Becoming aware of my character defects leads me
9095 naturally to the next step of blaming my parents.
9097 To have a successful relationship I must learn to
9098 make it look like I'm giving as much as I'm getting.
9100 I am willing to make the mistakes if someone else
9101 is willing to learn from them.
9103 Before I criticize a man, I walk a mile in
9104 his shoes. That way, if he gets angry, he's
9105 a mile away and barefoot.
9107 Madness takes its toll. Please have exact change.
9109 Canadian = unarmed American with health care.
9111 Mohandas K. Gandhi's list of "Seven Blunders Of The World That Lead
9114 Science without humanity
9115 Pleasure without conscience
9116 Worship without sacrifice
9117 Knowledge without character
9118 Politics without principle
9119 Commerce without morality
9121 `Tis the longest Purse Conquers the longest Sword.
9124 A Man that will lie still, should never hope to rise;
9125 he that will lie in a Ditch and pray, may depend upon it he
9126 shall lie in the Ditch and die.
9129 He that has Truth on his Side, is a fool, as well
9130 as a Coward, if he is afraid to own it because of
9131 the Currency or Multitude of other Men's Opinions.
9134 Writers' earnings are the reward of industry and the prize of learning.
9137 Absolute necessity forces many a poor distressed
9138 person to do things which his very soul abhors.
9141 The rising greatness of the British nation
9142 is not owing to war and conquests,
9143 to enlarging its dominion by the sword,
9144 or subjecting the people of other countries to our power;
9145 but it is owing to trade.
9146 An estate is a pond, trade is a spring,
9147 conquest is a Thing attended with Difficulty, Hazard,
9148 Expense, and a Possibility of Miscarriage.
9151 24 hours in a day. 24 beers in a case. coincidence?
9154 When Human Folk at Table Eat,
9155 A Kitten must not mew for meat,
9156 Or Jump to grab it from the Dish
9157 (Unless it happens to be fish).
9160 When I am at peace with myself, and in good spirits--for
9161 instance, on a journey, in a carriage, or after a good meal,
9162 or while taking a walk, or at night when I can't sleep--then
9163 thoughts flow into me most easily and at their best. Where
9164 they come from and how -- that I cannot say; nor can I do
9166 -- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
9168 It is a mistake to think that the practice of my art has
9169 become easy to me. I assure you no one has given so much
9170 care to the study of composition as I. There is scarcely
9171 a famous master in music whose works I have not frequently
9172 and diligently studied.
9173 -- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
9175 If one has talent it pushes for utterance and torments
9176 one; it will out. And then one is out without questioning.
9177 And, look you, there is nothing in this thing of learning
9178 out of books. Here, here and here [the ear, the head, the
9179 heart] is your school. If everything is right there, then
9180 take your pen and down with it; afterwards ask the opinion
9181 of a man who knows his business.
9182 -- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
9184 It is no just function of government to prohibit what is not wrong.
9187 If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better
9188 than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not
9189 your counsel or your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you.
9190 May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you
9191 were our countrymen.
9194 You may call, you may call,
9195 But the little black cats won't hear you,
9196 The little black cats are maddened,
9197 By the green light of the moon.
9198 -- Elizabeth Coatsworth
9200 on exception handling...
9201 the point is to create dependable systems. some languages are better than
9202 others for this. some languages provide no support for verification, although
9203 the semantics of most programming constructs are well established. exceptions
9204 predate much of the work done in formal verification of the last 30 years.
9205 many people have tried (with varying degrees of success) to fit exceptions into
9206 the grand scheme and make them verifiable. flaviu cristian has shown how
9207 exception handlers can be fitted with preconditions for their activation and
9208 postconditions for their completion.
9209 however, an attempt to postfit a system with hooks for verifiability will
9210 fail if the system is very large. and programming in this manner is simply a
9211 living hell. the programmer is not generally equipped to set up all of his
9212 handlers for this type of reasoning, even if he has a clear idea for when the
9213 handlers are to be invoked.
9214 what is needed is a general language structure that is capable of embodying
9215 the reasons and the services of the exception-like items in the system.
9218 why aren't programs published in better boxes?
9219 thicker cardboard, smaller profiles, thin like coffee table books,
9220 packaged with only essentials and fitting together well...
9221 you'd be proud to have a software library if the damn boxes weren't
9222 so flimsy and didn't take up so much room.
9224 Here's a thought... The government should only be allowed to test urine for
9225 drugs if they collect the pee in their own mouths.
9227 the drug war is a war on liberty that cannot possibly be won without the
9228 utter removal of all rights or at least the indefinite suspension thereof.
9229 urine testing is the best emblem of this horrible war; it makes the police
9230 look like a bunch of perverted urine sniffers. it is not cost effective
9231 for testing large numbers of people and it is insanely easy to fake if one
9232 wants to anyway. we need to stop the drug war and start the war on ignorance.
9233 this ignorance is an ignorance of the REAL scientifically determined results
9234 of using the drugs in question. studies show that marijuana, for example,
9235 DOES have therapeutic results and that it is almost completely HARMLESS.
9236 smoke inhalation is not harmless, but there are other ways to get stoned than
9237 by inhaling burning vapors. the root ignorance that MUST be warred upon is
9238 an ignorance of the fact that people should leave each other alone and not
9239 be such shrieking paranoid shrews about what their neighbors are doing.
9240 put down your goddamned binoculars, you nosy cretin, and get to the business
9241 of living your own life.
9243 drug prices are caused to soar by the organized crime elements
9244 that are behind the drug war (and behind the republican party).
9245 organized crime at the same time causes the war to look just as
9246 ridiculous as the carrie nation hatchet smashing of beer kegs so
9247 that people will buy more drugs and think that governmental
9248 authority is a crock. who benefitted from the intense CAMP
9249 activity in california? the mafia, because prices on marijuana
9250 soared. who got screwed by CAMP? the people, who made their
9251 honest living off of growing marijuana, which at the time was
9252 our nation's largest commodity. it's time to toss the republican
9253 crooks out of office on their asses. american patriots smoke pot:
9254 george washington, thomas jefferson, benjamin franklin, and thou,
9255 if you like. unamerican creeps are against marijuana and against
9256 the right of the america people to control their own destiny.
9257 i think it really is that simple.
9259 ode to a petty tyrant...
9260 what you don't seem to realize is that productivity is mood dependent.
9261 you seem to think that i need to be degraded repeatedly as some form of
9262 character builder, but what if someone came to this school as your student
9263 who had already been degraded enough in his life? what if every time you
9264 were cutting on them in some sly tricky sarcastic form you were in fact
9265 rubbing a sore spot and only inflaming their opinions as to your anus-nature?
9266 did you realize that one of your students comes back to the office
9267 and just swears and swears at the computer he's working at? this wasn't
9268 because the machine was bad, or his program was bad, or he was bad,
9269 but because he was mad at _you_.
9270 the solution, i think, is to respect people a whole lot more. we're
9271 not here for professors to deride us. this isn't some f*cking fraternity
9272 with you chumps as the chief hazing marshalls. we're here to learn and if
9273 our learning is colored with hues of condemnation and abuse, it diminishes
9274 you, it diminishes us, and it diminishes the whole search for truth and
9278 i don't believe the druidic and grecian universities had this
9279 same kind of "cut him up, slice and dice!" attitude that prevails
9280 at our fine american universities in this day and age. that
9281 attitude is surely a holdover from roman times, when the
9282 patriarchal society demanded discipline and obedience from all
9283 of its members, especially those with license to think. this
9284 approach is impractical these days (because it doesn't work
9285 very well), except at the higher levels in education, where
9286 it is still fervently practiced. root it out, toss it away;
9287 we don't need authoritarian learning, we need to follow the truth
9288 back to all its origins and forward to the myriad potential fruits.
9289 your rule book stopped being effective a long time ago.
9292 on artistic and technical integrity...
9293 in the beginning, i had a totally egotistical attitude that the rest of the
9294 world was screwed and i was right. this is actually somewhat correct, because
9295 one must have his own voice and thoughts, except for the fact that i was not
9296 _that_ correct and the world was not _that_ wrong. but at least what i chose
9297 to say and what i chose to be were right for me. over the past few years i
9298 have sought to learn the phd game, but i have been doing it by suppressing
9299 my own voice and allowing others to tell me what i should say. this is
9300 fundamentally f*cked, because now i have become dependent on them as my voice
9301 instead of relying on the tao to guide the research and for my own voice to
9302 speak what needs to be said. is it any wonder that i have devolved to this
9303 state of being unable to say anything on my own? after years of thinking for
9304 myself, i have allowed myself to become placed in a situation where i was
9305 dependent on someone else as my source of "the scoop". numerous problems
9306 result when others' biases are not what i want to express, yet they have
9307 potency to affect my presentation. the fact that when the bogus guru doesn't
9308 understand something, he usually tells you that you are the one who does not
9309 understand, is no help. he has no subtlety and yet seeks the original
9310 thoughts, leading him to warp other people's original thoughts into his own
9311 mental framework, often losing the original spark and leading the ideas astray
9312 into his own personal interests. i need to cut loose and start thinking on my
9313 own again. if the ideas in my research here have any merit at all, they have
9314 to be proven using my own metrics, not others' metrics. and this no longer
9315 seems possible in this stringently bulletheaded "hard science" department
9316 which instead only enforces conventional viewpoints and does not reach out
9317 into the unknown where the really interesting concepts live....
9320 niceness here is the ineffable.
9321 the only difference between you and the wolf is that you want to be nice,
9322 and fail. the wolf only wants to appear nice while remaining vile inside,
9323 and he succeeds. your demeanor to others is sometimes nice and sometimes
9324 not nice because of your failures in actually being the way you want to
9325 be. and the reason that you fail to be the way you want to be is that you
9326 lack the spiritual strength to keep it up. you can't synchronize your
9327 noble desires with your weak mind/body, and it is mainly because you reject
9328 spirituality itself that you fail in achieving spiritual strength.
9329 one cannot succeed in something one does not believe in except through
9330 dumb beginner's luck. and yet to fully believe in something is to be
9331 trapped in it, without the capacity to disbelieve and free oneself.
9332 you need a fluid belief that accepts what is true within the constraints
9333 of its validity. can this flow be strong enough to become who and what
9337 eek on the candidate from louis cypher... i notice with some lack of
9338 surprise that "ollie north" can be rearranged into the nice phrase
9339 "o, rot in hell". i think this needs to be made more public. perhaps
9340 we should publish an epigram regarding this particular correspondence
9341 between reality and republicanism.
9343 1. Commit to your business.
9344 2. Share your profits with all your associates.
9345 3. Motivate your partners.
9346 4. Communicate everything you possibly can to your partners.
9347 5. Appreciate everything your associates do for the business.
9348 6. Celebrate your success.
9349 7. Listen to everyone in your company.
9350 8. Exceed your customers' expectations.
9351 9. Control your expenses better than your competition.
9353 -- "Sam's Rules For Building A Business", from "Made In
9354 America: My Story", by Sam Walton.
9356 Find some humor in your failures. Don't take yourself so seriously.
9357 Loosen up, and everybody around you will loosen up. Have fun. Show
9358 enthusiasm--always. When all else fails, put on a costume and sing a
9359 silly song. Then make everybody else sing with you. Don't do a hula
9360 on Wall Street. It's been done. Think up your own stunt. All of
9361 this is more important, and more fun, than you think, and it really
9362 fools the competition. "Why should we take those cornballs at Wal-Mart
9366 If life was fair, Elvis would be alive and all the
9367 impersonators would be dead.
9370 In elementary school, in case of fire you have to line
9371 up quietly in a single file line from smallest to
9372 tallest. What is the logic? Do tall people burn slower?
9373 -- Warren Hutcherson
9375 Every time a baseball player grabs his crotch, it makes
9376 him spit. That's why you should never date a baseball player.
9379 Some women hold up dresses that are so ugly and they
9380 always say the same thing: 'This looks much better on.'
9390 The creeping cat, looked
9394 The cat always leaves a mark on his friend.
9397 A herd of buffalo can move only as fast as the slowest buffalo.
9398 when the herd is hunted, it is the slowest and weakest ones at the back
9399 that are killed first. This natural selection is good for the herd as a
9400 whole, because the general speed and health of the whole group keeps
9401 improving by the regular culling of the weakest members.
9402 In much the same way, the human brain can only operate as fast as
9403 the slowest brain cells. Intake of alcohol, we all know, kills brain
9404 cells, but naturally it attacks the slowest and weakest brain cells
9405 first. In this way, regular consumption of beer eliminates the weaker
9406 brain cells, making the brain a faster and more efficient machine.
9407 That's why you always feel smarter after a few beers.
9409 1. Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech
9410 which you are used to seeing in print.
9411 2. Never use a long word where a short one will do.
9412 3. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
9413 4. Never use the passive where you can use the active.
9414 5. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word or a jargon
9415 word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
9416 6. Break any of these rules sooner than say anything
9418 -- George Orwell, "Politics And The English Language."
9420 Who is General Failure and why is he reading my hard disk?
9421 -- Felix von Leitner (leitner@inf.fu-berlin.de)
9423 linux: the choice of a GNU generation.
9424 -- ksh@cis.ufl.edu put this on t-shirts in 1993
9426 There are two types of Linux developers--those who can
9427 spell, and those who can't. There is a constant pitched
9428 battle between the two.
9430 > Other than the fact Linux has a cool name, could someone explain
9431 > why I should use Linux over BSD?
9433 No. That's it. The cool name, that is. We worked very hard on
9434 creating a name that would appeal to the majority of people, and
9435 it certainly paid off: thousands of people are using linux just
9436 to be able to say "OS/2? Hah. I've got Linux. What a cool name".
9437 386BSD made the mistake of putting a lot of numbers and weird
9438 abbreviations into the name, and is scaring away a lot of people
9439 just because it sounds too technical.
9440 -- Linus Torvalds' follow-up to a question about Linux
9442 When you say "I wrote a program that crashed Windows", people
9443 just stare at you blankly and say, "Hey, I got those with the
9444 system, *for free*".
9447 We come to bury DOS, not to praise it.
9448 -- Paul Vojta, regarding Linux
9450 How should I know if it works? That's what beta testers
9451 are for. I only coded it.
9452 -- Attributed to Linus Torvalds
9454 I develop for Linux for a living, I used to develop for DOS.
9455 Going from DOS to Linux is like trading a glider for an F117.
9458 I'd crawl over an acre of 'Visual This++' and 'Integrated
9459 Development That' to get to gcc, Emacs, and gdb. Thank you.
9460 -- Vance Petree, Virginia Power
9462 If you want to travel around the world and be invited to
9463 speak at a lot of different places, just write a Unix
9467 All language designers are arrogant. Goes with the territory...
9470 Unix, MS-DOS, and Windows NT (also known as
9471 the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly).
9474 I would rather spend 10 hours reading someone else's source
9475 code than 10 minutes listening to Muzak waiting for technical
9476 support which isn't.
9477 -- Dr. Greg Wettstein, Roger Maris Cancer Center
9479 Your job is being a professor and researcher: That's one
9480 hell of a good excuse for some of the brain-damages of minix.
9481 -- Linus Torvalds to Andrew Tanenbaum
9483 We use Linux for all our mission-critical applications.
9484 Having the source code means that we are not held hostage
9485 by anyone's support department.
9486 -- Russell Nelson, President of Crynwr Software
9488 We are Pentium of Borg. Division is futile. You will be approximated.
9490 The chat program is in public domain. This is not the GNU
9491 public license. If it breaks then you get to keep both pieces.
9492 -- Copyright notice for the chat program
9494 DOS: n., A small annoying boot virus that causes random
9495 spontaneous system crashes, usually just before saving
9496 a massive project. Easily cured by UNIX. See also
9497 MS-DOS, IBM-DOS, DR-DOS.
9500 MSDOS didn't get as bad as it is overnight--it took over
9501 ten years of careful development.
9502 -- dmeggins@aix1.uottawa.ca
9504 On the Internet, no one knows you're using Windows NT.
9507 People disagree with me. I just ignore them.
9508 -- Linus Torvalds, regarding the use of C++ for the Linux kernel
9510 Linux: The OS people choose without $200,000,000 of persuasion.
9513 The memory management on the PowerPC can be used to frighten small children.
9516 Eh, that's it, I guess. No 300 million dollar unveiling event for this
9517 kernel, I'm afraid, but you're still supposed to think of this as the
9518 "happening of the century" (at least until the next kernel comes along).
9519 Oh, and this is another kernel in that great and venerable "BugFree(tm)"
9520 series of kernels. So be not afraid of bugs, but go out in the streets
9521 and deliver this message of joy to the masses.
9522 -- Linus Torvalds, in the announcement for Linux kernel version 1.3.27
9524 > Linux is not user-friendly.
9526 It _is_ user-friendly. It is not ignorant-friendly
9529 I tried to get some documentation out of Digital on this, but
9530 as far as I can tell even _they_ don't have it ;-)
9533 Excusing bad programming is a shooting offence,
9534 no matter _what_ the circumstances.
9537 Some people have told me they don't think a fat penguin
9538 really embodies the grace of Linux, which just tells me
9539 they have never seen a angry penguin charging at them in
9540 excess of 100mph. They'd be a lot more careful about what
9541 they say if they had.
9542 -- Linus Torvalds, announcing Linux v2.0
9544 Ooohh... "FreeBSD is faster over loopback, when compared to Linux
9545 over the wire". Film at 11.
9548 C is quirky, flawed, and an enormous success.
9549 -- Dennis M. Ritchie
9551 If Bill Gates is the Devil then Linus Torvalds must be the Messiah.
9553 Let's put it this way:
9554 1. A 32-bit counter will expire in little over a year.
9555 2. A 64-bit counter will expire in little over 2^32 years,
9556 or roughly the time the sun (not the Sun) is expected to expire.
9557 3. The odds of your computer hardware surviving the
9558 aforementioned event without reboot are very slim.
9561 The only way tcsh "rocks" is when the rocks are attached
9562 to its feet in the deepest part of a very deep lake.
9565 In accord to UNIX philosophy, PERL gives you enough rope
9567 -- Larry Wall, Randal Schwartz: Programming Perl
9568 (aka the Camel Book).
9570 Anyone can build a fast processor.
9571 The trick is to build a fast system.
9574 Hoping the problem magically goes away by ignoring
9575 it is the "Microsoft approach to programming" and
9576 should never be allowed.
9579 One OS to rule them all,
9580 One OS to find them.
9581 One OS to call them all,
9582 And in salvation bind them.
9583 In the bright land of Linux,
9584 Where the hackers play.
9585 -- J. Scott Thayer, with apologies to J.R.R. Tolkien
9587 I'm not one of those who think Bill Gates is the devil.
9588 I simply suspect that if Microsoft ever met up with the
9589 devil, it wouldn't need an interpreter.
9590 -- From N. Petreley's column, "Down to the Wire",
9591 Sept. 1996 issue of Inforworld.
9593 After all, how do you give Microsoft the benefit of the
9594 doubt when you know that if you throw it into a room with
9595 truth, you'd risk a matter/anti-matter explosion.
9596 -- From N. Petreley's column, "Down to the Wire",
9597 Sept. 1996 issue of Inforworld)
9599 The local betaware broker was sitting in the bar, keeping an eye
9600 for potential customers. It was easy to spot him, once you knew
9601 the signs. A slightly paranoid look, but still eager to meet
9602 new people. Not unlike a drug dealer or prostitute. This guy,
9603 however, was carrying a laptop.
9604 I sat in the chair beside him. "Any new stuff for
9605 Linux configuration?", I said, looking at the opposite wall
9607 The broker looked at me, startled, then quickly away. Then
9608 back at me. "What are you, a cop?" The traditional greeting of
9609 the underworld. It made me feel right at home.
9610 "Nope, I just want to install Deb..."
9611 "Shutup. I don't want to go to jail."
9612 I turned around, looked around, then turned back, and put my
9613 knife against his ribs. "Sing or die: where's software for
9614 managing a group of Debian boxes easily?"
9615 His face was pale, and he whispered through his teeth.
9616 "cfgtool. At Lasu's site. http://www.iki.fi/liw/programs/".
9617 I stood up, and walked quickly to the kitchen, and on
9618 out. As I was closing the kitchen door behind me, I heard the
9619 all too familiar sound of MessySoft Police Cars braking in the
9620 street. It would be a hectic night, but I was still one step
9622 -- Lars Wirzenius, advertising his cfgtool program
9624 Microsoft seems to have gotten a lot of mileage out of the
9625 C2 rating for NT with no network connection. I wonder if a B3
9626 rating for Linux with no power cord might be of value.
9627 -- riordan@math.umn.edu
9629 In the United States there is more space where nobody is
9630 than where anybody is. This is what makes America what it is.
9631 -- Gertrude Stein, explaining early 20th century America
9633 Ah, yes, divorce, from the Latin word meaning
9634 "to rip out a man's genitals through his wallet".
9637 Women complain about premenstrual syndrome, but I think of
9638 it as the only time of the month that I can be myself.
9641 Women need a reason to have sex. Men just need a place.
9644 I just broke up with someone and the last thing she said
9645 to me was, "You'll never find anyone like me again!"
9646 I'm thinking, "I should hope not! If I don't want you,
9647 why would I want someone like you?"
9650 If you want to say it with flowers, a single rose says: "I'm cheap!"
9653 According to a new survey, women say they feel more comfortable
9654 undressing in front of men than they do undressing in front of other
9655 women. They say that women are too judgemental, where, of course,
9656 men are just grateful.
9659 I am not the boss of my house. I don't know when I lost it.
9660 I don't know if I ever had it. But I have seen the boss's job
9661 and I do not want it.
9664 In the last couple of weeks I have seen the ads for the Wonder Bra.
9665 Is that really a problem in this country? Men not paying enough
9666 attention to women's breasts?
9669 My mom said the only reason men are alive is for lawn care
9670 and vehicle maintenance.
9673 We have women in the military, but they don't put us in the front lines.
9674 They don't know if we can fight, if we can kill. I think we can.
9675 All the general has to do is walk over to the women and say, "You see
9676 the enemy over there? They say you look fat in those uniforms."
9679 There's a new medical crisis. Doctors are reporting that many men
9680 are having allergic reactions to latex condoms. They say they cause
9681 severe swelling. So what's the problem?
9684 There's very little sexual advice in men's magazines,
9685 because men don't think there's a lot they don't know.
9686 Women do. Women want to learn. Men think, "I know what
9687 I'm doing, just show me somebody naked."
9690 Men are liars. We'll lie about lying if we have to.
9691 I'm an algebra liar. I figure two good lies make a positive.
9694 Men do not like to admit to even momentary imperfection.
9695 My husband forgot the code to turn off the alarm. When
9696 the police came, he wouldn't admit he'd forgotten the
9697 code... he turned himself in.
9700 If you can't beat them, arrange to have them beaten.
9703 Instead of getting married again, I'm going to find a woman
9704 I don't like and give her a house.
9707 One of the chief duties of the mathematician in acting
9708 as an advisor to scientists is to discourage them from
9709 expecting too much from mathematics.
9712 I wonder how much deeper the ocean would be without sponges.
9714 It is easy to guess why the rabble dislike cats.
9715 A cat is beautiful; it suggests ideas of luxury,
9716 cleanliness, voluptuous pleasures.
9717 -- Charles Baudelaire
9719 An artist must regulate his life.
9721 Here is a time-table of my daily acts. I rise at 7.18; am inspired from
9722 10.23 to 11.47. I lunch at 12.11 and leave the table at 12.14. A healthy
9723 ride on horse-back round my domain follows from 1.19 pm to 2.53 pm. Another
9724 bout of inspiration from 3.12 to 4.7 pm. From 5 to 6.47 pm various
9725 occupations (fencing, reflection, immobility, visits, contemplation,
9726 dexterity, natation, etc.)
9728 Dinner is served at 7.16 and finished at 7.20 pm. From 8.9 to 9.59 pm
9729 symphonic readings (out loud). I go to bed regularly at 10.37 pm. Once a
9730 week (on Tuesdays) I awake with a start at 3.14 am.
9732 My only nourishment consists of food that is white: eggs, sugar, shredded
9733 bones, the fat of dead animals, veal, salt, coco-nuts, chicken cooked in
9734 white water, moldy fruit, rice, turnips, sausages in camphor, pastry, cheese
9735 (white varieties), cotton salad, and certain kinds of fish (without their
9736 skin). I boil my wine and drink it cold mixed with the juice of the
9737 Fuschia. I have a good appetite but never talk when eating for fear of
9740 I breathe carefully (a little at a time) and dance very rarely. When
9741 walking I hold my ribs and look steadily behind me.
9743 My expression is very serious; when I laugh it is unintentional, and I
9744 always apologize very politely.
9746 I sleep with only one eye closed, very profoundly. My bed is round with a
9747 hole in it for my head to go through. Every hour a servant takes my
9748 temperature and gives me another.
9749 -- Erik Satie's description of "A Day in the Life of a Musician"
9751 Confront a child, a puppy and a kitten with sudden danger;
9752 the child will turn instinctively for assistance, the puppy
9753 will grovel in abject submission to the impending visitation,
9754 the kitten will brace its tiny body for a frantic resistance.
9755 -- H.H. Munro (Saki)
9757 It is fair to say that, in general, no problems have been exhausted;
9758 instead, men have been exhausted by the problems. Fresh talent approaching
9759 the analysis of a problem without prejudice will always see new
9760 possibilities -- some aspect not considered by those who believe that a
9761 subject is fully understood. Our knowledge is so fragmentary that
9762 unexpected findings appear in even the most fully explored topics...
9763 In summary, there are no small problems. Problems that appear small
9764 are large problems that are not understood. Instead of tiny details
9765 unworthy of the intellectual, we have men whose tiny intellects cannot rise
9766 to penetrate the infinitesimal. Nature is a harmonious mechanism where all
9767 parts, including those appearing to play a secondary role, cooperate in a
9768 functional whole. In contemplating this mechanism, shallow men arbitrarily
9769 divide its parts into essential and secondary, whereas the insightful
9770 thinker is content with classifying them as understood and poorly
9771 understood, ignoring for the moment their size and immediately useful
9772 properties. No one can predict their importance in the future."
9773 -- Santiago Ramon y Cajal, "Advice for a Young Investigator," 1897
9775 He who would do good to another must do it in Minute
9776 Particulars: General Good is the plea of the scoundrel,
9777 hypocrite and flatterer, for Art and Science cannot
9778 exist but in minutely organized particulars.
9781 The Atoms of Democritus
9782 And Newton's Particles of Light
9783 Are sands upon the Red Sea shore
9784 Where Israel's tents do shine so bright.
9787 To see a world in a grain of sand
9788 And a heaven in a wild flower, and:
9789 And did those feet in ancient time
9790 Walk upon England's mountains green? ...
9791 And was Jerusalem builded here
9792 Among these dark Satanic mills?
9795 The harlot's cry from street to street,
9796 Shall weave Old England's winding sheet.
9799 Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
9800 In the forests of the night,
9801 What immortal hand or eye
9802 Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
9804 Did he who made the Lamb make thee?
9807 The cat, an aristocrat in type and origin, whom we
9808 have slandered, merits at least our esteem.
9811 society's crumbling, but at least we're getting it televised.
9814 I think maybe it's my purpose in life.
9815 -- The "Guiness Book of World Records" TV show's winner for the category
9816 of longest combined finger nails for ten fingers.
9818 If we will only allow that, as we progress, we remain unsure, we will
9819 leave opportunities for alternatives. We will not become enthusiastic for
9820 the fact, the knowledge, the absolute truth of the day, but remain always
9821 uncertain. The English have developed their government in this direction, it
9822 is called 'muddling through,' and although a rather silly, stupid sounding
9823 thing, it is the most scientific way of progressing. To decide upon the
9824 answer is not scientific. In order to make progress, one must leave the door
9825 to the unknown ajar.
9826 We are only at the beginning of the development of the human race; of
9827 the development of the human mind, of intelligent life; we have years and
9828 years in the future. It is our responsibility not to give an answer today as
9829 to what it is all about, to drive everybody down in that direction and say:
9830 'This is the solution to it all.' Because we will be chained to the limit
9831 of our present imagination, we will only be able to do those things that we
9832 think are the things to do. Whereas, if we leave some room for discussion,
9833 and proceed in a way analogous to the sciences, then this difficulty will
9834 not arise. I believe, therefore, that although it is not the case today,
9835 there may some day come a time, or I should hope, that the power of
9836 government should be limited. That governments ought not to be empowered to
9837 decide the validity of scientific theories. That is a ridiculous thing for
9838 them to try to do. That they are not to decide the various descriptions of
9839 history or of economic theory or of philosophy.
9840 Only in this way can the real possibilities of the future human race be
9841 ultimately developed.
9842 -- Richard Feynman, from "The Beat Of A Different Drum: The Life And
9843 Science of Richard Feynman," by Jagdish Mehra. Published by Oxford
9844 University Press 1996.
9846 hey, when you come to think of it, isn't it
9847 only the assholes in life who have zero tolerance
9848 about things? and now they're trying to promote
9849 that as a virtue. i just don't buy it.
9852 The spirit of the age cannot be compassed by the processes of human
9853 reason. It is an inclination, an emotional tendency that works upon weaker
9854 minds, through the unconscious, with an overwhelming force of suggestion
9855 that carries them along with it. To think otherwise than our contemporaries
9856 think is somehow illegitimate and disturbing; it is even indecent, morbid
9857 or blasphemous, and therefore socially dangerous for the individual. He is
9858 stupidly swimming against the social current. Just as formerly the
9859 assumption was unquestionable that everything that exists takes its rise
9860 from the creative will of a God who is spirit, so the nineteenth century
9861 discovered the equally unquestionable truth that everything arises from
9862 material causes. Today the psyche does not build itself a body, but on the
9863 contrary, matter, by chemical action, produces the psyche. This reversal of
9864 outlook would be ludicrous if it were not one of the outstanding features of
9865 the spirit of the age. It is the popular way of thinking, and therefore it
9866 is decent, reasonable, scientific and normal. Mind must be thought to be an
9867 epiphenomenon of matter. The same conclusion is reached even if we say not
9868 "mind" but "psyche," and in place of matter speak of brain, hormones,
9869 instincts or drives. To grant the substantiality of the soul or psyche is
9870 repugnant to the spirit of the age, for to do so would be heresy.
9871 -- Carl Jung, from his 1933 book, "Modern Man In Search Of A Soul"
9873 There are many ways to explain an event, and some are better than
9874 others. Even if neuroscientists someday decode the entire wiring
9875 diagram of the brain, human behavior makes the most sense when it
9876 is explained in terms of beliefs and desires, not in terms of volts
9877 and grams. Physics provides no insights into the machinations of a
9878 crafty lawyer, and even fails to enlighten us about many simpler
9879 acts of living things. As Richard Dawkins observed, 'If you throw
9880 a dead bird into the air it will describe a graceful parabola,
9881 exactly as physics books say it should, then come to rest on the
9882 ground and stay there. It behaves as a solid body of a particular
9883 mass and wind resistance ought to behave. But if you throw a live
9884 bird in the air it will not describe a parabola and come to rest on
9885 the ground. It will fly away, and may not touch land this side of
9886 the county boundary.' We understand birds in terms of their innards.
9887 To know why they move and grow, we cut them open and put bits under
9888 a microscope. We need yet another kind of explanation for artifacts
9889 like a chair and a crowbar: a statement of the function the object is
9890 intended to perform. It would be silly to understand why chairs have
9891 a stable horizontal surface by cutting them open and putting bits of
9892 them under a microscope. The explanation is that someone designed
9893 the chair to hold up a human behind.
9894 -- Steven Pinker, from his book, "How The Mind Works,"
9897 What wonder, then, that the world goes from bad to worse, and that
9898 its evils increase more and more, as boredom increases, and boredom is the
9899 root of all evil. The history of this can be traced from the very beginning
9900 of the world. The gods were bored, and so they created man. Adam was bored
9901 because he was alone, and so Eve was created. Thus boredom entered the
9902 world, and increased in proportion to the increase of population. Adam was
9903 bored alone; then Adam and Eve were bored together, then Adam and Eve and
9904 Cain and Abel were bored en famille; then the population of the world
9905 increased, and the peoples were bored en masse. To divert themselves they
9906 conceived the idea of constructing a tower high enough to reach the heavens.
9907 This idea is itself as boring as the tower was high, and constitutes a
9908 terrible proof of how boredom gained the upper hand.
9909 -- Soren Kierkegaard, from "Either/Or"
9911 Whatsoever therefore is consequent to a time of War, where every man
9912 is Enemy to every man; the same is consequent to the time, wherein men live
9913 without other security, than what their own strength, and their own
9914 invention shall furnish them withall. In such condition, there is no place
9915 for Industry; because the fruit thereof is uncertain: and consequently no
9916 Culture of the Earth; no Navigation, nor use of the commodities that may be
9917 imported by Sea; no commodious building; no Instruments of moving, and
9918 removing such things as require much force; no Knowledge of the face of the
9919 Earth; no account of Time; no Arts; no Letters; no Society; and which is
9920 worst of all, continual fear, and danger of violent death; and the life of
9921 man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.
9924 A house without a cat, and a well-fed, well-petted, and properly revered
9925 cat, may be a perfect house perhaps, but how can it prove its title?
9928 The group cannot function if it has to maintain a large amount of
9929 individual preconceptions and personal experiences. The design group must,
9930 as a whole, have the ability and the opportunity to leave things behind,
9931 that is, select what to remember.
9932 If designers are to come up with novel ideas, they may have to forget
9933 what was 'named and framed' as a problem or solution earlier in the process.
9934 A group of designers needs to work its way through ideas, visions, and
9935 operative images without being held up by heavy demands for documentation of
9936 the process. In a creative design process one thing leads to another,
9937 analogies and metaphors influence the design thinking in new ways, and a
9938 certain amount of chaos is always present...
9939 The characteristics of oral cultures can be applied to group design...
9940 Group members need to repeat themselves, to be redundant and nonlinear in
9941 their arguments, to forget, to make references and analogies in a situated
9943 -- Tone Bratteteig & Erik Stolterman, "Design in Groups--And All That
9944 Jazz," in: M. Kyng & L. Mathiassen, "Computers and Design in Context,"
9947 Where science has progressed by searching for commonalities and
9948 patterns, the arts have celebrated diversity and have resisted attempts to
9949 encapsulate their activities in rules and formulae. They are the ultimate
9950 manifestations of the unpredictabilities and asymmetries of Nature. After
9951 all, what more chaotically unpredictable outcomes are there than some of
9952 those that issue from the human mind? So intractable has been the problem
9953 of finding pattern in creative activity, that few would even seek it. If
9954 one looks not at science and art, but at scientists and artists, one finds a
9955 reflection of this divide. Two populations that overlap only a little,
9956 convergent thinkers and divergent thinkers, specialists and generalists--
9957 these labels reflect the differences of which we speak...
9958 While science has enlarged its past horizons beyond order and symmetry
9959 to embrace diversity and unpredictability, the humanities have yet to
9960 appreciate the full force of commonality and pattern as a unifying factor in
9961 the interpretation of human creativity. Just as science has begun to
9962 appreciate the ways in which its view of Nature must reconcile the ways in
9963 which Nature is both simple and complex, so the arts and humanities must
9964 appreciate the lessons to be drawn from the regularities of Nature. It is
9965 not enough to collect examples of diversity: the coexistence of diversity
9966 with universal behavior is what requires exploration and reconciliation.
9967 -- John D. Barrow, from "The Artful Universe," Clarendon Press:
9970 I first became interested in Darwin in college when I read about
9971 Darwin's experience with John Gould. When Darwin returned to England after
9972 he visited the Galapagos, he distributed his finch specimens to professional
9973 zoologists to be properly identified. One of the most distinguished experts
9974 was John Gould. What was the most revealing was not what happened to Darwin,
9975 but what had not happened to Gould.
9976 Darwin's notes show Gould taking him through all the birds he had
9977 named. Gould kept flip-flopping back and forth about the number of
9978 different species of finches: The information was there, but he didn't quite
9979 know what to make of it. He assumed that since God made one set of birds
9980 when he created the world, the specimens from different locations would be
9981 identical. It didn't occur to him to look for differences by location. Gould
9982 thought that the birds were so different that they might be distinct species.
9983 What was remarkable to me about the encounter is the completely
9984 different impact it had on the two men. Gould thought the way he had been
9985 taught to think, like an expert taxonomist, and didn't see, in the finches,
9986 the textbook example of evolution unfolding right before him. Darwin didn't
9987 even know they were finches. So the guy who had the intelligence, knowledge,
9988 and the expertise didn't see the differences, and the guy with far less
9989 knowledge and expertise came up with an idea that shaped the way we think
9991 Darwin came up with the idea because he was a productive thinker. He
9992 generated a multiplicity of perspectives and theories. Gould would compare
9993 new ideas and theories with his existing patterns of experience. He thought
9994 reproductively. If the ideas didn't fit with what he had been taught, he
9995 rejected them as worthless. On the other hand, Darwin was willing to
9996 disregard what past thinkers thought and was willing to entertain different
9997 perspectives and different theories to see where they would lead.
9998 Most of us are educated to think like John Gould. We were all born
9999 to be spontaneous, creative thinkers. Yet a great deal of our education may
10000 be regarded as the inculcation of mind-sets. We were taught how to handle
10001 problems and new phenomena with fixed mental attitudes (based on what past
10002 thinkers thought) that predetermine our responses to problems or situations.
10003 In short, we were taught 'what' to think instead of 'how' to think. We
10004 entered school as a question mark and graduated a period.
10005 -- Michael Michalko, in "Cracking Creativity: The Secrets of Creative
10006 Genius," Ten Speed Press, 1998.
10008 The wisdom of the late industrial era was always to start with what
10009 the customer needed and backtrack to which products and services those needs
10010 called for. That fit when the customer already understood the need and the
10011 product, and innovation meant a different shaped bottle for liquid detergent.
10012 In BLUR, technical change is happening so fast, your product must educate the
10013 customer (beepers for kids on dates?) and the customer must educate you. You
10014 can't afford the time delay to put something new in front of the customer.
10015 Instead, start with what technology will make possible, co-develop it as
10016 fast as you can with the customer, and be flexible and adaptive enough to
10017 adjust it according to customer needs as you go. As in software, the first
10018 release is your take on things. The customer enters the feedback loop and
10019 starts to influence things with release 2.0 and beyond.
10020 -- Stan Davis & Christopher Meyer, "Blur: The Speed Of Change In The
10021 Connected Economy," Addison-Wesley 1998.
10023 The traditional hidden curriculum of school demands that people of a
10024 certain age assemble in groups of about thirty under the authority of a
10025 professional teacher for from five hundred to a thousand times a year. It
10026 does not matter if the teacher is authoritarian so long as it is the
10027 teacher's authority that counts; it does not matter if all meetings occur
10028 in the same place so long as they are somehow understood as attendance. The
10029 hidden curriculum of school requires--whether by law or by fact--that a
10030 citizen accumulate a minimum quantum of school years in order to obtain his
10032 The translation of the need for learning into the demand for schooling
10033 and the conversion of the quality of growing up into the price tag of a
10034 professional treatment changes the meaning of 'knowledge' from a term that
10035 designates intimacy, intercourse, and life experience into one that
10036 designates professionally packaged products, marketable entitlements, and
10038 -- Ivan Illich, from "After Deschooling, What?"
10040 I consider children to be very expensive and complicated pets.
10043 History tells us that the most successful cures for poverty come from
10044 within. Foreign aid can help, but like windfall wealth, can also hurt. It
10045 can discourage effort and plant a crippling sense of incapacity. As the
10046 African saying has it, 'The hand that receives is always under the one that
10047 gives.' No, what counts is work, thrift, honesty, patience, and tenacity...
10048 To be sure, we are living in a dessert age. We want things to be
10049 sweet; too many of us work to live and live to be happy. Nothing wrong with
10050 that; it just does not promote high productivity. You want high productivity?
10051 Then you should live to work and get happiness as a by-product.
10052 Not easy. They who live to work are a small and fortunate elite. But
10053 it is an elite open to newcomers, self-selected, the kind of people who
10054 accentuate the positive. In this world, the optimists have it, not because
10055 they are always right, but because they are positive. Even when wrong, they
10056 are positive, and that is the way of achievement, correction, improvement,
10057 and success. Educated, eyes-open optimism pays; pessimism can only offer
10058 the empty consolation of being right.
10059 The one lesson that emerges is the need to keep trying. No miracles.
10060 No perfection. No millennium. No apocalypse. We must cultivate a
10061 skeptical faith, avoid dogma, listen and watch well, try to clarify and
10062 define ends, the better to choose means.
10063 -- David Landis, from "The Wealth And Poverty Of Nations: Why Some Are
10064 So Rich And Some So Poor," W. W. Norton & Co., 1998.
10066 During my travels around the country, visiting inner-city neighborhoods
10067 and talking to young people I've met there, I have been struck again and
10068 again by the stark differences between their childhoods and my own. When I
10069 was growing up in the Bronx, I wasn't rich -- at least not in a material
10070 sense, but I had the matchless blessing of being reared by two devoted
10071 parents--backed up by a platoon of doting aunts and uncles--who gave me
10072 the love, discipline and motivation I needed to succeed.
10073 Too many of today's kids are not getting the same kind of nurturing
10074 environment that I -- and most Americans -- once took for granted. As many
10075 as 15 million youngsters are 'at risk' in today's America. They are in
10076 danger of being lost for good unless the more fortunate among us step
10077 forward and lend a hand... It is this glorious cycle of giving, receiving
10078 and giving back that we want to pass along to the next generation of
10079 Americans. We want them to believe in America, and we want them to know
10080 that America believes in them.
10081 -- Colin Powell's autobiography, "My American Journey" (Ballantine, 1996)
10083 In the past fifteen years one big American company after another has
10084 done this [i.e., downsized itself]--among them IBM, Sears, and GM. Each
10085 first announced that laying off 10,000 or 20,000 or even 50,000 people would
10086 lead to an immediate turnaround. A year later there had, of course, been no
10087 turnaround, and the company laid off another 10,000 or 20,000 or 50,000--
10088 again without results. In many if not most cases, downsizing has turned out
10089 to be something that surgeons have warned against: 'amputation before
10090 diagnosis.' The result is always a casualty.
10091 But there have been a few organizations--some large companies (GE,
10092 for instance) and a few hospitals (Beth Israel in Boston, for instance)--
10093 that quietly, and without fanfare, did turn themselves around, by rethinking
10094 themselves. They did not start out by downsizing. If fact, they knew that
10095 to start by reducing expenditures is not the way to get control of costs.
10096 The starting point is to identify the activities that are productive, that
10097 should be strengthened, promoted, and expanded. Every agency, every policy,
10098 every program, every activity should be confronted with these questions:
10099 'What is your mission?' 'Is it still the right mission?' 'Is it still
10100 worth doing?' 'If we were not already doing this, would we go into it now?'
10101 This questioning has been done often enough in all kinds of organizations--
10102 businesses, hospitals, churches, an even local governments--that we know
10104 The overall answer is almost never 'This is fine as it stands; let's
10105 keep on.' But in some--indeed, a good many--areas, the answer to the
10106 last question is 'Yes, we should go into this again, but with some changes.
10107 We have learned a few things.'
10108 -- Peter F. Drucker, from "Managing in a Time of Great Change,"
10109 Truman-Talley Books/Dutton, 1995.
10111 Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.
10112 General recognition of this fact is shown in the proverbial phrase 'It is
10113 the busiest man who has time to spare.' Thus, an elderly lady of leisure
10114 can spend the entire day in writing and dispatching a postcard to her niece
10115 at Bognor Reis. An hour will be spent in finding the postcard, half an
10116 hour in a search for spectacles, half an hour in a search for the address,
10117 an hour and a quarter in composition, and twenty minutes in deciding
10118 whether or not to take an umbrella when going to the mailbox in the next
10119 street. The total effort that would occupy a busy man [or woman] for three
10120 minutes all told may in this fashion leave another person [man or woman]
10121 prostate after a day of doubt, anxiety, and toil.
10122 Granted that work (and especially paperwork) is thus elastic in its
10123 demands on time, it is manifest that there need be little or no
10124 relationship between the work to be done and the size of the staff to which
10125 it may be assigned. A lack of real activity does not, of necessity, result
10126 in leisure. A lack of occupation is not necessarily revealed by a manifest
10127 idleness. The thing to be done swells in importance and complexity in a
10128 direct ration with the time to be spent. This fact is widely recognized,
10129 but less attention has been paid to its wider implications, more especially
10130 in the field of publication administration. Politicians and taxpayers have
10131 assume (with occasional phases of doubt) that a rising total in the number
10132 of civil servants must reflect a growing volume of work to be done.
10133 Cynics, in questioning this belief, have imagined that the multiplication
10134 of officials must have left some of them idle or all of them able to work
10135 for shorter hours. But this is a matter in which faith and doubt seem
10136 equally misplaced. The fact is that the number of officials and the
10137 quantity of the work are not related to each other at all. The rise in the
10138 toil of those employed is governed by Parkinson's Law and would be much the
10139 same whether the volume of the work were to increase, diminish, or even
10140 disappear. The importance of Parkinson's Law lies in the fact that it is a
10141 law of growth based upon an analysis of the factors by which that growth is
10143 The validity of this recently discovered law must rest mainly on
10144 statistical proofs, which will follow. Of more interest to the general
10145 reader is the explanation of the factors underlying the general tendency to
10146 which this law gives definition. Omitting technicalities (which are
10147 numerous) we may distinguish at the outset two motive forces. They can be
10148 represented for the present purpose by two almost axiomatic statements,
10149 thus: (1) 'An official wants to multiply subordinates, not rivals' and (2)
10150 'Officials make work for each other.'
10151 -- C. Northcote Parkinson, from "Parkinson's Law & Other Studies
10152 in Administration," (1957; Buccaneer Books ed., 1996).
10154 The smallest feline is a masterpiece.
10155 -- Leonardo Da Vinci
10157 Though it may be discomforting to admit, throughout history children
10158 have always played violent games. Early in this century, young boys played
10159 'war' with lines of tin soldiers, knocking them down one by one, or in one
10160 fell swoop, in a simulated battle. The next generation played cowboys and
10161 Indians or cops and robbers, where the youngsters themselves fell down and
10162 played dead. When parents stopped buying soldier figures and fake guns,
10163 children created their own weapons and continued to play out good guy/bad
10164 guy plots. Children are attracted to violence and critical studies of
10165 older media forms, including the fairy tale, suggest it is not always in
10166 children's best interests to remove from their cultural experience all
10167 material that parents deem is too provocative or violent.
10168 This is not a simple issue.
10169 Clearly much of the concern about violence in video games and other
10170 media is misplaced--the main sources of violent behavior lies elsewhere.
10171 These include parental violence toward children and violence between
10172 nations which portray the use of force in the real world by important
10173 institutions--parents and government--as an acceptable way to solve
10174 problems or vent anger.
10175 Nevertheless, the impact of video games, television, film or other
10176 media violence (such as the gory details of murders in the print media)
10177 probably has a negative impact on violent behavior in society, as does the
10178 proliferation of weapons.
10179 The impact of media violence on an individual child's behavior is
10180 probably very specific to the child and his or her social context. There
10181 is no evidence, for example, that the use of "Beat-'em-up" video games
10182 leads to violent behavior of well-adjusted youth coming from loving
10183 families. The impact is also probably specific to age. Just as it makes
10184 sense to restrict a 10-year-old's access to movies with extreme violent
10185 content, so it makes sense to restrict age-inappropriate video games. Age
10186 ratings on video game packages do appear to be helpful and appropriate.
10187 Most violent games today are cartoon-like. This will change as games
10188 become more realistic and, 3D, and eventually realistic of virtual reality,
10189 ensuring that this issue will not disappear.
10190 It is inappropriate for children of any age to spend significant
10191 parts of life using violent video games, or any video games for that
10192 matter. Conversely, for most children it makes little sense to deny access
10193 to age-appropriate games simply for fear that these will lead to antisocial
10194 behavior. Successful parenting is a question of balance.
10195 -- Don Tapscott, "Growing Up Digital"
10197 Literacy-based education, as all other literacy experiences, assumes
10198 that people are the same. It presumes that each human being can and must
10199 be literate. Just as the goal of industry was to turn out standardized
10200 products, education assumes the same task through the mold of literacy.
10201 Diplomas and certificates testify how like the mold the product is. To
10202 those who have problems with writing or reading, the labels legasthenic and
10203 dyslexic are applied. Dyscalculus is the name given to the inability to
10204 cope with numbers. The question of why we should expect uniform cognitive
10205 structures covering the literate use of language or numbers, but not the
10206 use of sounds, colors, shapes, and volume, is never raised. Tremendous
10207 effort is made to help individuals who simply cannot execute the
10208 sequentiality of writing or the meaning of successive numbers. Nothing
10209 similar is done to address cognitive characteristics of persons inclined to
10210 means different from literacy...
10211 Education needs to reconsider its expectation of a universal common
10212 denominator, based on the industrial model of standardization. Rather than
10213 taming and sanitizing the minds of students, education has not only to
10214 acknowledge differences in aptitudes and interests but also to stimulate
10215 them. Every known form of energy is the expression of difference and not
10216 the result of leveling.
10217 -- Mihai Nadin, "The Civilization of Illiteracy," (1997)
10219 Anthropologists have identified a number of characteristics that seem
10220 common to most non-technological societies past and present. These
10221 societies tend to value practical rather than abstract knowledge, their
10222 'primitive' rituals are part of the regular day-to-day realities of life,
10223 the groups tend not to support specialists other than the shaman, every
10224 member of the group can to some extent do every task, and all share the
10225 responsibility for all others. Principally, the 'primitive' takes a holist
10226 view of life that examines all social decisions for their effect on the
10227 community and the environment.
10228 These social values may fit well in the webbed communities of the
10229 mid-twenty-first century because they are more appropriate to small,
10230 relatively simple social structures that up to now had seemed to be
10231 disappearing... For such communities, the most valuable skills would be
10232 generalist rather than specialist. They would prize the ability to
10233 connect, to think imaginatively, to understand how data are related, to see
10234 patterns in machine-generated innovation, and to assess its social effect
10235 before releasing it on society...
10236 Today, billions of human talents could be on the verge of
10237 self-expression if we are willing to take new views and see where they
10239 -- James Burke & Robert Ornstein, "The Axemaker's Gift: A Double-Edged
10240 History of Human Culture," (Grosset/Putnam 1995).
10242 (History is) indeed little more than the register of
10243 the crimes, follies and misfortunes of mankind.
10246 All that is human must retrograde if it does not advance.
10249 The beauty of the second amendment is that it will
10250 not be needed until they try to take it.
10251 -- Thomas Jefferson
10253 No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms.
10254 -- Thomas Jefferson
10256 Firearms are second only to the Constitution in importance; they are
10257 the people's liberty's teeth.
10258 -- George Washington
10260 Every citizen should be a soldier. This was the case with the Greeks
10261 and Romans, and must be that of every free state.
10262 -- Thomas Jefferson
10264 Government is not reason, it is not eloquence. It is force.
10265 Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearsome master.
10266 -- George Washington
10268 I have found a certain type calls himself a liberal... Now I always
10269 thought I was a liberal. I came up terribly surprised one time when I
10270 found out that I was a right-wing, conservative extremist...
10273 Liberty has never come from the government. Liberty has always come
10274 from the subjects of government. The history of liberty is the history
10275 of resistance. The history of liberty is a history of the limitation of
10276 governmental power, not the increase of it.
10279 I believe there are more instances of abridgment of freedom of the
10280 people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by
10281 violent and sudden usurpations...
10284 You vote for me and I'll give you family values... I promise you the
10285 most ethical administration in the history of our country.
10286 -- William Jefferson Clinton
10288 Many give lip service, but few delegate authority in important
10289 matters. And that means all they delegate is dog-work. A real
10290 leader does as much dog-work for his people as he can: he can do
10291 it, or see a way to do without it, ten times as fast. And he
10292 delegates as many important matters as he can because that creates
10293 a climate in which people grow.
10294 -- Robert Townsend, founder of Avis Rent-a-Car
10296 True leadership must be for the benefit of the followers, not the
10297 enrichment of the leaders. In combat, officers eat last. Most
10298 people in big companies today are administered, not led. They are
10299 treated as personnel, not people.
10300 -- Robert Townsend, founder of Avis Rent-a-Car
10302 How do you spot a leader? They come in all ages, shapes, sizes,
10303 and conditions. Some are poor administrators, some are not overly
10304 bright. One clue: since most people per se are mediocre, the true
10305 leader can be recognized because, somehow or other, his people
10306 consistently turn in superior performances.
10307 -- Robert Townsend, founder of Avis Rent-a-Car
10309 Before you commit yourself to a new effort, it's worth asking
10310 yourself a couple of questions: "Are we really trying to do
10311 something worthwhile here? Or are we just building another
10312 monument to some diseased ego?"
10313 -- Robert Townsend, founder of Avis Rent-a-Car
10315 Beware the boss who walks on water and never makes a mistake.
10316 Save yourself a lot of grief and seek employment elsewhere.
10317 -- Robert Townsend, founder of Avis Rent-a-Car
10319 Every genius is a revolutionary who produces a good deal of commotion
10320 in the world. After he has abolished the old rules he writes his own, the
10321 new ones, which no one even half understands; and after he has stupefied
10322 and bewildered everybody, he leaves the world neither understood nor
10323 regretted. Not always does the next generation comprehend and appreciate
10324 him properly. Sometimes it may even take a whole century.
10325 -- Frederic Chopin (1810-1849)
10327 To assume a cat's asleep
10328 Is a great mistake.
10329 He can close his eyes and keep
10330 Both his ears awake.
10333 A most nerve-wracking confirmation of this came some time ago during
10334 an interview with the producer and the writer of the TV mini-series 'Peter
10335 the Great.' Defending the historical inaccuracies in the drama--which
10336 included a fabricated meeting between Peter and Sir Isaac Newton--the
10337 producer said that no one would watch a dry, historically faithful
10338 biography. The writer added that it is better for audiences to learn
10339 something that is untrue, if it is entertaining, than not to learn anything
10340 at all. And just to put some icing on the cake, the actor who played Peter,
10341 Maximilian Schell, remarked that he does not believe in historical truth and
10342 therefore sees no reason to pursue it.
10343 I do not mean to say that the trivialization of American public
10344 discourse is all accomplished on television. Rather, television is the
10345 paradigm for all our attempts at public communication. It conditions our
10346 minds to apprehend the world through fragmented pictures and forces other
10347 media to orient themselves in that direction...
10348 As a medium for conducting public business, language has receded in
10349 importance; it has been moved to the periphery of culture and has been
10350 replaced at the center by the entertaining visual image... When a culture
10351 becomes overloaded with pictures; when logic and rhetoric lose their
10352 binding authority; when historical truth becomes irrelevant; when the
10353 spoken or written word is distrusted or makes demands on our attention that
10354 we are incapable of giving; when our politics, history, education,
10355 religion, public information, and commerce are expressed largely in visual
10356 imagery rather than words, then a culture is in serious jeopardy.
10357 -- Neil Postman, from "Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public
10358 Discourse in the Age of Show Business," (Viking Press 1986).
10360 It is a perplexing and unpleasant truth that when men already have
10361 'something worth fighting for,' they do not feel like fighting. People who
10362 live full, worthwhile lives are not usually ready to die for their own
10363 interests nor for their country nor for a holy cause. Craving, not having,
10364 is the mother of a reckless giving of oneself.
10365 'Things which are not' are indeed mightier than 'things that are.' In
10366 all ages men have fought most desperately for beautiful cities yet to be
10367 built and gardens yet to be planted...
10368 It is strange, indeed, that those who hug the present and hang on to
10369 it with all their might should be the least capable of defending it. And
10370 that, on the other hand, those who spurn the present and dust their hands of
10371 it should have all its gifts and treasures showered on them unasked.
10372 Dreams, vision and wild hopes are mighty weapons and realistic tools.
10373 The practical-mindedness of a true leader consists in recognizing the
10374 practical value of these tools. Yet this recognition usually stems from a
10375 contempt of the present which can be traced to a natural ineptitude in
10376 practical affairs. The successful businessman is often a failure as a
10377 communal leader because his mind is attuned to the 'things that are' and his
10378 heart set on that which can be accomplished in 'our time.' Failure in the
10379 management of practical affairs seems to be a qualification for success in
10380 the management of public affairs. And it is perhaps fortunate that some
10381 proud natures when suffering defeat in the practical world do not feel
10382 crushed but are suddenly fired with the apparently absurd conviction that
10383 they are eminently competent to direct the fortunes of the community and the
10385 -- Eric Hoffer, "The True Believer", 1951
10387 Bought me a cat, the cat pleased me,
10388 I fed my cat under yonder tree,
10389 Cat goes fiddle-i-fee, fiddle-i-fee.
10390 -- Traditional Folk Song
10392 Love is one aspect of what I have called the productive orientation:
10393 the active and creative relatedness of man to his fellow man, to himself and
10394 to nature. In the realm of thought, this productive orientation is
10395 expressed in the proper grasp of the world by reason. In the realm of
10396 action, the productive orientation is expressed in productive work, the
10397 prototype of which is art and craftsmanship. In the realm of feeling, the
10398 productive orientation is expressed in love, which is the experience of
10399 union with another person, with all men, and with nature, under the
10400 condition of retaining one's sense of integrity and independence. In the
10401 experience of love the paradox happens that two people become one, and
10402 remain two at the same time. Love in this sense is never restricted to one
10403 person. If I can love only one person, and nobody else, if my love for one
10404 person makes me more alienated and distant from my fellow man, I may be
10405 attached to this person in any number of ways, yet I do not love. If I can
10406 say, 'I love you,' I say, 'I love you in you also myself.' Self-love, in
10407 this sense, is the opposite of selfishness. The latter is actually a greedy
10408 concern with oneself which springs from and compensates for the lack of
10409 genuine love for oneself. Love, paradoxically, makes me more independent
10410 because it makes me stronger and happier--yet it makes me one with the
10411 loved person to the extent that individuality seems to be extinguished for
10412 the moment. In loving I experience 'I am you,' you-the loved person,
10413 you-the stranger, you-everything alive. In the experience of love lies the
10414 only answer to being human, lies sanity.
10415 -- Erich Fromm, from "The Sane Society", 1955
10417 # NO WARRANTY: THIS WORK IS PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" BASIS. THE AUTHOR
10418 # PROVIDES NO WARRANTY WHATSOEVER, EITHER EXPRESS OR
10419 # IMPLIED, REGARDING THE WORK, INCLUDING WARRANTIES WITH
10420 # RESPECT TO ITS MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY
10421 # PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
10423 # Author contact: Peter Alexander Merel
10424 # Internet: pete@cssc-syd.tansu.oz.au
10425 # UUCP: {uunet,mcvax}!munnari!cssc-syd!pete
10426 # Snail: 1/18-20 Orion Road, Lane Cove NSW 2066 Australia
10427 # Phone: +61 2 911 3130
10429 # Copyright: Copyright (C) 1992 Peter Alexander Merel
10430 # Permission to copy all or part of this work is granted,
10431 # provided that the copies are not made or distributed
10432 # for resale (except nominal copying fee may be charged),
10433 # and provided that the NO WARRANTY, author-contact, and
10434 # copyright notice are retained verbatim & are displayed
10435 # conspicuously. If anyone needs other permissions that
10436 # aren't covered by the above, please contact the author.
10441 # Peter Merel's Interpolation based upon the translations of:
10442 # Lin Yutang, Ch'u Ta-Kao, Gia-Fu Feng & Jane English,
10443 # Richard Wilhelm, and Aleister Crowley.
10445 Seeing is of course indispensable to learning, particularly in
10446 science, which is of the eye. Visual aids therefore have a place in the
10447 laboratory. And most students, not being future scientists, will learn
10448 more from good films of important experiments than from their own fumbling
10449 attempts. But sometimes they must fumble too, and have a teacher who
10450 fumbles on occasion, and thinks all the time he is in class. One learns
10451 not by a photographic copying of things shown, but by an internal drama
10452 imitative of the action witnessed. When the instructor gropes for a word,
10453 corrects himself, interjects a comment or an analogy not directly called
10454 for, he gives a spectacle of man thinking which no slick film or televised
10456 -- Jacques Barzun, from "Science: The Glorious Entertainment", 1964
10458 Far from behaving (or should one say behavioring?) with the regular
10459 intelligibility of a clock, the bent of the living and of man in particular
10460 is to MISbehave, in all senses of the word--from developing allergies,
10461 which make poison out of delicacies, to committing crimes which, as in
10462 saints and statesman, can later seem the highest wisdom. It is even proved
10463 by research that man must have his ration of dreaming, that is, of
10464 irregular and inaccurate thinking. These facts of experience require that
10465 any science of the regularities of behavior be always qualified and
10466 admonished by another discipline, a learned lore of misbehavior.
10467 -- Jacques Barzun, from "Science: The Glorious Entertainment", 1964
10469 Beware of all enterprises that require new clothes, and not rather
10470 a new wearer of clothes.
10471 -- Henry David Thoreau
10473 What men call social virtue, good fellowship, is commonly but the virtue
10474 of pigs in a litter, which lie close together to keep each other warm.
10475 -- Henry David Thoreau
10477 The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.
10478 What is called resignation is confirmed desperation.
10479 -- Henry David Thoreau
10481 Some circumstantial evidence is very strong,
10482 as when you find a trout in the milk.
10483 -- Henry David Thoreau
10485 I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front
10486 only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had
10487 to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did
10488 not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to
10489 practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep
10490 and suck out all of the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartanlike
10491 as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave
10492 close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and,
10493 if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of
10494 it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it
10495 by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion.
10496 -- Henry David Thoreau, from "Walden; or Life in the Woods"
10498 The Mind has a different relish, as well as the Palate; and you will
10499 as fruitlessly endeavour to delight all Men with Riches or Glory, (which yet
10500 some Men place their Happiness in,) as you would to satisfie all Men's
10501 Hunger with Cheese or Lobsters; which though very agreeable and delicious
10502 fare to some, are to others extremely nauseous and offensive: And many
10503 People would with Reason prefer the griping of an hungry Belly, to those
10504 Dishes, which are a Feast to others. Hence it was, I think, that the
10505 Philosophers of old did in vain enquire, whether Summum bonum (the chief
10506 good) consisted in Riches, or bodily Delights, or Virtue, or Contemplation:
10507 And they might have as reasonably disputed, whether the best Relish were to
10508 be found in Apples, Plumbs, or Nuts; and have divided themselves into Sects
10509 upon it. For as pleasant Tastes depend not on the things themselves, but
10510 their agreeableness to this or that particulate Palate, wherein there is
10511 great variety: So the greatest Happiness consists, in the having those
10512 things which produce the greatest Pleasure, and the absence of those which
10513 cause any disturbance, any pain, which to different Men are very different
10514 things. If therefore Men in this Life only have hope; if in this Life they
10515 can only enjoy, 'tis not strange, nor unreasonable, they should seek their
10516 Happiness by avoiding all things that disease them here, and by preferring
10517 all that delight them; wherein it will be no wonder to find variety and
10518 difference. For if there be no Prospect beyond the Grave, the inference is
10519 certainly right, Let us eat and drink, let us enjoy what we delight in, for
10520 to morrow we shall die. This, I think, may serve to shew us the Reason,
10521 why, though all Men's desires tend to Happiness, yet they are not moved by
10522 the same Object. Men may chuse different things, and yet all chuse right,
10523 supposing them only like a Company of poor Insects, whereof some are Bees,
10524 delighted with Flowers, and their sweetness; others, Bettles, delighted with
10525 other kinds of Viands; which having enjoyed for a Season, they should cease
10526 to be, and exist no more for ever.
10527 -- John Locke, from "An Essay Concerning Human Understanding."
10529 Businesses will not buy Linux because there is no one to sue.
10532 Even if something new does not require a disruption of the old, there
10533 is no space. People, time and resources are fully stretched--in many
10534 cases there is actually a cutting-back in resources.
10535 The paradox is that as we advance into the future the need for change
10536 gets greater and greater (to cope with changes in population, pollution,
10537 etc., and to make full use of our new technologies) but the possibility of
10538 change gets less and less because everything is already committed.
10539 A wise general does not commit all his troops but keeps a strategic
10540 reserve which can be used as the need and opportunity arise. Society does
10541 not do this, because we believe that we have all the bases covered and that
10542 progress will come about through evolution, the clash of opinions and the
10543 occasional lone innovator.
10544 In addition to allocating funds to research, most successful
10545 corporations also allocate funds to new business divisions or venture
10546 groups. Like the strategic reserves of a general, these groups are outside
10547 the day-to-day combat and are looking for new opportunities.
10548 Democracy could not easily tolerate this principle of strategic
10549 reserve, for the unallocated resources would be the target of every
10550 department or issue that felt it was under-funded. Emergency funds do
10551 exist, but not space and resources for change.
10552 The same thing applies on the thinking level. A person who knows all
10553 the answers, has an opinion on everything, has a certainty backed up by
10554 rational argument, has very little possibility of further progress. Such a
10555 person is unlikely to walk away from a discussion with anything more than a
10556 reaffirmation of how right he or she has been all along.
10557 -- Edward deBono, from "I Am Right, You Are Wrong" (Penguin Books, 1990)
10559 The pleasantest time of day here is at sunset. Then accompanied by
10560 some fifteen girls and little children I walk through the village to the end
10561 of Siufaga, where we stand on an iron bound point and watch the waves splash
10562 us in the face, while the sun goes down, over the sea and at the same time
10563 behind the cocoanut covered hills. Most of the adult population is going
10564 into the sea to bathe, clad in lavalavas with buckets for water borne along
10565 on shoulder poles. All the heads of families are seated in the fatele
10566 (village guesthouse) making kava. At one point a group of women are filling
10567 a small canoe with a solution of native starch (arrowroot). And perhaps,
10568 just as we reach the store, the curfew-angelus will stop us, a wooden bell
10569 will clang mellowly through the village. The children must all scurry to
10570 cover, if we're near the store, it's the store steps, and sit tight until
10571 the bell sounds again. Prayer is over. Sometimes we are all back safely in
10572 room when the bell sounds, and then the Lord's Prayer must be said in
10573 English, while flowers are all taken out of their hair and the siva song
10574 stopped in the middle. But once the bell sounds again, solemnity, never of
10575 a very reliable depth, is sloughed off, the flowers replaced in the girls'
10576 hair, the siva song replaces the hymn, and they begin to dance, by no means
10577 in a puritan fashion. Their supper comes about eight and sometimes I have a
10578 breathing spell, but usually the supper hours don't jibe well enough for
10579 that. They dance for me a great deal, they love it and it is an excellent
10580 index to temperament, as the dance is so individualistic, and the audience
10581 think it is its business to keep up incessant comment.
10582 -- Margaret Mead, from "Coming of Age in Samoa"
10584 There aren't any embarassing questions--only embarassing answers.
10587 Recently one of us was leading a group of thirty Western
10588 businesspeople through Japan to learn about Japanese management techniques.
10589 We took the bullet train from Hiroshima to Osaka, and since the train
10590 stopped for only twenty seconds in Hiroshima, it would have been impossible
10591 to get all the executives and their luggage on the train at the same time.
10592 So we hired a trucking company and crew to transfer the luggage separately.
10593 The crew removed all luggage from each individual's room in Hiroshima and
10594 placed it in his pre-checked room in another chain's hotel in Osaka. Can
10595 you imagine doing that in the United States and ever seeing your luggage
10597 One of the executives, thinking his shoes were too worn, had discarded
10598 them in the wastepaper basket in his Hiroshima hotel room. Imagine his shock
10599 when he entered his room in Osaka and saw his old shoes carefully laid in
10600 the wastepaper basket there. Was the Japanese trucking company politely
10601 saying that these shoes still had life and should yet be thrown away, or was
10602 the company accommodating a crazy foreigner who liked to keep his shoes in
10603 the wastepaper basket? Either way, the company was organized for highly
10604 intelligent service at every level.
10605 -- Stan David and Jim Botkins, from "The Monster Under the Bed: How
10606 Business is Mastering the Opportunity of Knowledge for Profit",
10607 (Simon & Schuster, 1994).
10609 The term 'information' appears to cover too much that seems
10610 distinctive: knowledge, data, information in a narrow sense that some treat
10611 as synonymous with data, news, intelligence, and numerous other colloquial
10612 and specialized denotations and connotations. However, the distinctions
10613 implied by oppositions such as observations/theories, data/knowledge, raw
10614 intelligence/finished intelligence, accounting details/management are
10615 secondary, not fundamental, in characterizing information resources. They
10616 reflect only relative judgments. For instance, one person's knowledge is
10617 often another's raw data. What a vice president for marketing, production,
10618 or finance thinks he knows is just data to the chief executive officer's
10619 staff. What a scientist thinks he knows about the merits of a flu vaccine
10620 or the safety of a nuclear reactor is just data for presidential policy and
10621 politics. Data or knowledge are just types of information content--of
10622 greater or lesser value, of greater or lesser cost.
10623 -- Anthony Oettinger, from "The Information Resources Policy Handbook"
10625 Given the fact that there seems to be a fundamental willingness to
10626 accept the machine as almost human, the issue of what type of relationship
10627 is possible seems to center around what friendship-cues might be
10628 artificially generated. Appearance and voice quality could certainly be
10629 tailored so that the machine would look and sound attractive and friendly.
10630 The software could be written to suggest an interesting and unique
10631 personality, and the conversational style might appear as humorous and
10632 good-natured. The machine would not only impress us with its intelligence
10633 and knowledge of the world, but would also convey the impression that it
10634 was warm and understanding. Its ability to integrate our interests and
10635 attitudes into its own framework and its willingness to be influenced by
10636 our point of view would also enhance our respect for the machine. The fact
10637 that it appeared to take our opinions seriously might be regarded as a
10638 compliment, and it is clear that if we are prepared to accept compliments
10639 from a computer then we are implicitly accepting it as a social agent.
10640 Friendships are not made in a day, and the computer would be more
10641 acceptable as a friend if it simulated the gradual changes that occur when
10642 one person is getting to know another. At an appropriate time it might
10643 also express the endearment that stimulates attachment and intimacy. The
10644 whole process would be accomplished with subtlety to avoid giving an
10645 impression of overfamiliarity or ingratiation, which would be likely to
10646 produce irritation or animosity. After experiencing a wealth of powerful,
10647 well-timed indicators, the user would be likely to accept the computer as
10648 far more than a machine and might well come to regard it as a friend.
10649 -- Neil Frude, from "The Intimate Machine: Close Encounters with
10650 Computers and Robots," 1983.
10652 By this time the stars were moving out of the Hollywood Hotel and
10653 beginning to live in their own private houses with servants, most of whom
10654 were their peers in everything but sex appeal--which pinpoints the reason for
10655 the film capital's mass misbehavior. To place in the limelight a great
10656 number of people who ordinarily would be chambermaids and chauffeurs, give
10657 them unlimited power and instant wealth, is bound to produce a lively and
10661 The four years passed at college were, for his purposes, wasted.
10662 Harvard College was a good school, but at bottom what the boy
10663 disliked most was any school at all. He did not want to be one in a
10664 hundred--one percent of an education. He regarded himself as the
10665 only person for whom his education had value, and he wanted the whole
10666 of it. He got barely half of an average.
10667 Long afterwards, when the devious path of life led him back to
10668 teach in his turn what no student naturally cared or needed to know
10669 [medieval history], he diverted some dreary hours of faculty meetings
10670 by looking up his record in the class-lists, and found himself graded
10671 precisely in the middle. In the one branch he most needed --
10672 mathematics--barring the few first scholars, failure was so nearly
10673 universal that no attempt at grading could have had value, and
10674 whether he stood fortieth or ninetieth must have been an accident or
10675 the personal favor of the professor. Here his education failed
10676 lamentably. At best he could never have been a mathematician; at
10677 worst he would never have cared to be one; but he needed to read
10678 mathematics, like any other universal language, and he never reached
10680 -- Henry Adams, from "The Education of Henry Adams"
10682 The pedagogical method of observation has for its base the liberty of
10683 the child; and liberty is activity.
10684 Discipline must come through liberty. Here is a great principle which
10685 is difficult for followers of common-school methods to understand. How
10686 shall one obtain discipline in a class of free children? Certainly in our
10687 system, we have a concept of discipline very different from that commonly
10688 accepted. If discipline is founded upon liberty, consider an individual
10689 disciplined only when he has been rendered as artificially silent as a mute
10690 and as immovable as a paralytic. He is an individual annihilated, not
10692 We call an individual disciplined when he is master of himself, and
10693 can, therefore, regulate his own conduct when it shall be necessary to
10694 follow some rule of life. Such a concept of active discipline is not easy
10695 either to comprehend or to apply. But certainly it contains a great
10696 educational principle, very different from the old-time absolute and
10697 undiscussed coercion to immobility.
10698 -- Maria Montessori, inventor of the "Montessori Method"
10700 A company could conceivably have within it a monastery-style unit
10701 that writes software... a research team organized like an improvisational
10702 jazz combo... a compartmentalized spy-network, with need-to-know rules,
10703 operating within the law, to scout for merger or acquisition
10704 possibilities... and a sales force organized as a highly motivated 'tribe'
10705 complete with its own war songs and emotional membership rituals.
10706 ...(T)he units of a flex-firm may draw information, people, and money
10707 from one another and from outside organizations as needed. They may be next
10708 door to one another or continents apart. Their functions may partly
10709 overlap, like information in a hyper-media data base; for other purposes,
10710 the functions may be logically, geographically, or financially divided.
10711 Some may use many central services provided by headquarters; others may
10712 choose to use only a few.
10713 In turn this requires freer, faster flows of information. This will
10714 mean crisscrossing, up, down, and sideways conduits--neural pathways that
10715 bust through the boxes in the table of organization so that people can trade
10716 the ideas, data, formulae, hints, insights, facts, strategies, whispers,
10717 gesture, and smiles that turn out to be essential to efficiency.
10718 -- Alvin Toffler, from "Powershift"
10720 Here in the newspaper business, we have definitely caught Internet Fever.
10721 In the old days, we used to -- get this! -- actually CHARGE MONEY for our
10722 newspapers. Ha! What an old-fashioned, low-tech, non-digital concept!
10723 Nowadays all of the modern newspapers spend millions of dollars operating
10724 Web sites where we give away the entire newspaper for free. Sometimes we
10725 run advertisements in the regular newspaper urging our paying customers to
10726 go to our Web sites instead. 'Stop giving us money!' is the shrewd marketing
10727 thrust of these ads. Why do we do this? Because all the other newspapers
10728 are doing it! This is called 'market penetration.'
10731 A highly competitive person has a hard row to hoe. There is no
10732 satisfaction in winning a competition unless it is a stiff and fair one.
10733 Stiff is easy to define; it is stiff if one's own realistic assessment of
10734 one's abilities make the odds long--the longer the odds, the greater
10735 satisfaction on winning. Fair is harder to define, for if one wins a
10736 contest against long odds, there must be a reason. The odds weren't really
10737 long; they only appeared to be so. Isn't it unfair to appear to be an
10738 underdog when one really isn't? Let's start with some obvious distinctions:
10739 A professional gambler needs to win in order to earn his living. Fairness
10740 is not his concern. He tries to be unfair in various ways: Keeping cards up
10741 his sleeve is one way that the rest of us universally deplore; the morality
10742 of concealing his skill to attract dupes is hardly less questionable.
10743 Fairness means at least an honest deal (no hidden cards) and no intentional
10744 concealment of one's abilities.
10745 -- Herbert A. Simon, from "Models of My Life" (Basic Books, 1991)
10747 The United States is trying to promote democracy around the
10748 world and holds itself up as a model. However, it is obvious that
10749 our democracy has been reduced to charisma and money.
10750 Surely intelligent and conscientious citizens can make wise and
10751 informed decisions? I for one cannot... I do not know anyone who
10752 spends more hours than I do in search of information and wisdom, yet
10753 it avails me little. Many people with power spend much of their time
10754 flying around the world, being wined and dined, but that means they
10755 have little time to do their homework.
10756 Is the idea of democracy based on an informed electorate just a dream?
10758 -- Ronald Hilton, founder of WAIS (World Association of
10759 International Studies).
10761 When there is communication without need for communication,
10762 merely so that someone may earn the social and intellectual prestige
10763 of becoming a priest of communication, the quality and communicative
10764 value of the message drop like a plummet... In the arts, the desire
10765 to find new things to say and new ways of saying them is the source
10766 of all life and interest. Yet every day we meet with examples of
10767 painting where, for instance, the artist has bound himself from the
10768 new canons of the abstract, and has displayed no intention to use these
10769 canons to display an interesting and novel form of beauty, to pursue
10770 the uphill fight against the prevailing tendency toward the commonplace
10772 I speak here with feeling which is more intense as far as concerns
10773 the scientific artist than the conventional artist, because it is in
10774 science that I have first chosen to say something. What sometimes
10775 enrages me and always disappoints and grieves me is the preference of
10776 great schools of learning for the derivative as opposed to the original,
10777 for the conventional and thin which can be duplicated in many copies
10778 rather than the new and powerful, and for arid correctness and
10779 limitation of scope and method rather than for universal newness and
10780 beauty, wherever it may be seen.
10781 -- Norbert Wiener, from "The Human Use of Human Beings: Cybernetics
10782 and Society" (1950)
10784 Please do not suppose that the only function of puzzles is to entertain.
10785 Puzzles are a way of teaching mathematics. Indeed, they are the best way to
10786 teach it. Fred Hoyle, the famous British astronomer who taught mathematics
10787 at Cambridge University for twenty years states in strong terms his belief
10788 that mathematics should never be 'taught' at all. Students must learn for
10789 themselves. How? By solving puzzles. The functions of the teacher should
10790 be, first, to select in a wise way the material on which the puzzles are
10791 based, second, to make sure the puzzles are well suited in difficulty to the
10792 sophistication of the student, third, to answer questions, and finally, if
10793 the teacher is capable of it, to give an occasional word of inspiration.
10796 A cat's idea of what is comfortable and what is not
10797 is incomprehensible to a human.
10800 In the sciences, hypothesis always precedes law, which is to say, there is
10801 always a lot of tall guessing before a new fact is established. The
10802 guessers are often quite as important as the fact-finders; in truth, it
10803 would not be difficult to argue that they are more important. New facts are
10804 seldom plucked from the clear sky; they have to be approached and smelled
10805 out by a process of trial and error, in which bold and shrewd guessing is an
10806 integral part. The Greeks were adept at such guessing, and the scientists
10807 of the world have been following the leads they opened for more than two
10809 -- H. L. Mencken, "A Mencken Chrestomathy," 1982
10811 I love a dog. He does nothing for political reasons.
10814 If a dog will not come to you after having looked you in the face,
10815 you should go home and examine your conscience.
10818 I am called a dog because I fawn on those who give me anything,
10819 I yelp at those who refuse, and I set my teeth in rascals.
10822 Those sighs of a dog! They go to the heart so much more
10823 deeply than the sighs of our own kind because they are utterly
10824 unintended, regardless of effect, emerging from one who, heaving
10825 them, knows not that they have escaped him!
10828 (Of dogs) I marvel that such small ribs as these can
10829 cage such vast desire to please.
10832 'Tis sweet to hear the watch-dog's honest bark
10833 Bay deep-mouth'd welcome as we draw near home;
10834 'Tis sweet to know there is an eye will mark
10835 Our coming, and look brighter when we come.
10838 Near this spot are deposited the remains of one who possessed
10839 Beauty without Vanity, Strength without Insolence, Courage without
10840 Ferocity, and all the Virtues of Man without his Vices. This praise,
10841 which would be unmeaning Flattery, if inscribed over human ashes, is
10842 but a just Tribute to the Memory of BOATSWAIN, a Dog.
10843 -- Inscription on the monument raised for Lord Byron's dog, Boatswain
10845 Histories are more full of examples of the fidelity of dogs than of friends.
10848 A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of.
10851 Living with a dog is easy--like living with an idealist.
10854 The great pleasure of a dog is that you may make a fool
10855 of yourself with him and not only will he not scold you,
10856 but he will make a fool of himself too.
10857 -- Samuel Butler (d. 1902), Note-Book
10859 The dog has seldom been successful in pulling man up to his level
10860 of sagacity, but man has frequently dragged the dog down to his.
10863 I agree with Agassiz that dogs possess something very like a conscience.
10866 For the strength of the pack is the wolf,
10867 and the strength of the wolf is the pack.
10870 All of the animals except humans know that the
10871 principal business of life is to enjoy it.
10874 Cowardly dogs bark loudest. -- John Webster
10876 Dogs like to obey. It gives them security. -- James Herriot
10878 A dog's best friend is his illiteracy. -- Ogden Nash
10880 Take a dog for a companion and a stick in your hand. -- English Proverb
10882 A lean dog shames its master. -- Japanese Proverb
10884 The dog was created specially for children.
10885 He is a god of frolic.
10886 -- Henry Ward Beecher, Proverbs from Plymouth Pulpit
10888 Dogs have not the power of comparing. A dog will take a small piece
10889 of meat as readily as a large, when both are before him.
10892 All knowledge, the totality of all questions and all answers,
10893 is contained in the dog.
10896 The dog has an enviable mind; it remembers the nice things in life
10897 and quickly blots out the nasty.
10898 -- Barbara Woodhouse
10900 If dogs could talk, perhaps we would find it as hard to get along
10901 with them as we do with people.
10904 Our perfect companions never have fewer than four feet.
10907 You become responsible forever for what you have tamed.
10908 -- Antoine de Saint-Exupery
10910 A dog has the soul of a philosopher. -- Plato
10912 The more I see of men, the more I like dogs. -- Madame Anne Maria de Stael
10914 The reason a dog has so many friends is that
10915 he wags his tail instead of his tongue.
10918 We see how he is at once in a world of smells of which
10919 we know nothing, which so occupy and absorb his attention
10920 as to make him practically blind to everything about him
10921 and deaf to all sounds, even his master's voice impatiently
10925 A man may smile and bid you hail
10926 Yet wish you to the devil;
10927 But when a good dog wags his tail,
10928 You know he's on the level.
10929 -- Submitted to www.dog.com by TJ Brown
10931 Old dogs, like old shoes, are comfortable.
10932 They might be a bit out of shape and a little
10933 worn around the edges, but they fit well.
10936 In order to really enjoy a dog, one doesn't merely try to
10937 train him to be semi-human. The point of it is to open
10938 oneself to the possibility of becoming partly a dog.
10941 I'd be happy to have my biography be the stories of my dogs.
10942 To me, to live without dogs would mean accepting a form of blindness.
10945 Every dog should have a man of his own. There is nothing like a
10946 well-behaved person around the house to spread the blanket for him,
10947 or bring him his supper when he comes home man-tired at night.
10950 Not Carnegie, Vanderbilt, and Astor
10951 together could have raised money enough
10952 to buy a quarter share in my little dog...
10953 -- Ernest Thompson Seton
10955 I'd rather have an inch of dog than miles of pedigree. -- Dana Burnet
10957 ...in a healthy dog-owner relationship, praise is virtually
10958 an automatic reaction, an attitude toward the dog, a way of
10959 living with the dog. The most common mistake is to consider
10960 praise as simply a reward.
10961 -- The Monks of New Skete
10963 Dogs need to sniff the ground; it's how they keep abreast of
10964 current events. The ground is a giant dog newspaper, containing
10965 all kinds of late-breaking dog news items, which, if they are
10966 especially urgent, are often continued in the next yard.
10969 A dog is not "almost human" and I know of no greater insult to the
10970 canine race than to describe it as such. The dog can do many things
10971 which man cannot do, never could do, and never will do.
10974 imagine yourself lying in the tall purple grass with the sharp blades
10975 rubbing up against your flesh like rusty razors while the dark red
10976 moon drops drips of blood into the oozing green lake down the hill.
10977 tattered fish things leap and whirl in the lake while the tired orange
10978 sun flickers on the verge of going out. the clacking and biting
10979 insects that infest the grass crawl in and out of your body as you lie
10980 there trying to relax while large unseen animals rummage in the forest
10981 causing trees to crash down as they pass. dust blows in thick
10982 whirlwinds making the sooty air impossible to breathe as you hack
10983 chunks of meat up from within, but symbiotic parasites rush to repair
10984 the damage while tickling your insides ferociously.
10988 It all comes from here, the stench and the peril. -- Frodo
10990 I do not like... the omission of a bill of rights providing
10991 clearly and without the aid of sophisms for freedom of religion,
10992 freedom of the press, protection against standing armies,
10993 restriction against monopolies, the eternal and unremitting force
10994 of the habeas corpus laws, and trials by jury in all matters of
10995 fact triable by the laws of the land and not by the law of
10997 -- Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 1787
10999 A bill of rights is what the people are entitled to against
11000 every government on earth, general or particular; and what no
11001 just government should refuse, or rest on inferences.
11002 -- Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 1787. Papers, 12:440
11004 It astonishes me to find... [that so many] of our countrymen...
11005 should be contented to live under a system which leaves to their
11006 governors the power of taking from them the trial by jury in
11007 civil cases, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom
11008 of commerce, the habeas corpus laws, and of yoking them with a
11009 standing army. This is a degeneracy in the principles of
11010 liberty... which I [would not have expected for at least] four
11012 -- Thomas Jefferson to William Stephens Smith, 1788
11014 A bill of rights [will] guard liberty against the legislative as
11015 well as the executive branches of the government.
11016 -- Thomas Jefferson to Francis Hopkinson, 1789
11018 The declaration of rights is, like all other human blessings,
11019 alloyed with some inconveniences and not accomplishing fully its
11020 object. But the good in this instance vastly outweighs the evil.
11021 -- Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 1789
11023 By a declaration of rights, I mean one which shall stipulate
11024 freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom of commerce
11025 against monopolies, trial by juries in all cases, no suspensions
11026 of the habeas corpus, no standing armies. These are fetters
11027 against doing evil which no honest government should decline.
11028 -- Thomas Jefferson to Alexander Donald, 1788
11031 You must scratch me there!
11032 Yes, above my tail! Behold,
11036 prickly herbal scent
11037 flips me inside out and back;
11043 Tail of black dog keeps good time.
11044 Pounce! good dog! good dog!
11046 The best exercise for a cat is another cat.
11047 -- Jo and Paul Loeb
11050 In deep sleep hear sound
11051 Cat vomit hairball somewhere.
11052 Will find in morning.
11055 Is not a certain dullness their most visible characteristic?
11056 What is the history of their speculative mind? -- a blank.
11057 What their literature? -- a copy. They have left not a single
11058 discovery in any abstract science; not a single perfect or
11059 well-formed work of high imagination. The Greeks, the perfection
11060 of narrow and accomplished genius, bequeathed to mankind the ideal
11061 forms of self-idolizing art -- the Romans imitated and admired;
11062 the Greeks explained the laws of nature -- the Romans wondered and
11063 despised; the Greeks invented a system of numerals second only to
11064 that now in use -- the Romans counted to the end of their days
11065 with the clumsy apparatus which we still call by their name; the
11066 Greeks made a capital and scientific calendar -- the Romans began
11067 their month when the Pontifex Maximus happened to spy out the new
11068 moon. Throughout Latin literature, this is the perpetual puzzle
11069 -- Why are we free and they slaves? we praetors and they barbers?
11070 Why do the stupid people always win, and the clever people always
11075 The rule for today.
11076 Touch my tail, I shred your hand.
11079 'Well, then,' the Cheshire Cat went on, 'you see a dog growls
11080 when it's angry, and wags its tail when it's pleased. Now, I
11081 growl when I'm pleased, and wag my tail when I'm angry.
11082 Therefore I'm mad.'
11083 -- Cheshire Cat (from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland,
11087 stalk the birds with care--
11088 twitch my tail and they may scare;
11089 human gets a share.
11094 my flatness is intended,
11095 i have rubber bones.
11100 close to my sensitive tail
11101 may be time to shriek.
11105 fish in pond bigger
11106 than me; goldfish in bowl just
11107 the right size--kerchomp.
11110 Yet gentle will the griffin be,
11111 Most decorous and fat,
11112 And walk up to the Milky Way
11113 And lap it like a cat.
11117 Blur of motion, then--
11118 Silence, me, a paper bag
11123 Returns with gifts of plump birds
11124 Your foot just squashed one.
11126 Every good teacher has his own special art; with some, it is a genius
11127 for a clarity that sometimes is more lucid than the complexities of the
11128 subject justify. Sometimes it is a talent for apothegm or leading
11129 suggestion, a word that evokes a vista or an idea that opens a world. I
11130 cannot now quite remember what Professor Beard's special technique was. He
11131 was clear, he was suggestive, he was witty. But none of these things could
11132 quite account for the hold he had on the smug and the rebels alike, on both
11133 the pre-lawyers and pre-poets. I suspect it was a certain combination of
11134 poetry, philosophy, and honesty in the man himself, a sense he communicated
11135 that politics mattered far beyond the realm commonly called political, and
11136 an insight he conveyed into the life that forms of government furthered or
11137 betrayed. One morning he came into class as usual, stood against the wall,
11138 and half-closing his eyes, said:
11139 "Gentlemen, today we are to discuss the budget system in State
11140 government. I am sure that must seem to you a dull subject. But if you will
11141 tell me, gentlemen, how much per capita a nation spends on its Army, on its
11142 Navy, on education, on public works, I shall be able to tell you, I think,
11143 as much about that nation as if you gave me the works of its poets and
11145 We listened with revised and revived attention to an exposition, full
11146 of figures and detail, of the State budget system. Charles A. Beard showed
11147 us what politics had to do with the life beyond it and which it made
11148 possible. And he taught us, too, the difference between the forms of
11149 government and the living substance of its operations... Nobody who has ever
11150 listened to Beard can disdain the study of politics in favor of the study of
11151 "higher things". He has been too well taught, as tragic world events have
11152 since shown, how government may nourish or destroy "higher things".
11153 -- Irwin Edman, speaking of the historian Charles A. Beard
11155 There is no substitute for a lifetime.
11158 The technologies which have had the most profound effects on human life
11159 are usually simple. A good example of a simple technology with profound
11160 historical consequences is hay. Nobody knows who invented hay, the idea of
11161 cutting grass in the autumn and storing it in large enough quantities to
11162 keep horses and cows alive through the winter. All we know is that the
11163 technology of hay was unknown to the Roman Empire but was known to every
11164 village of medieval Europe. Like many other crucially important
11165 technologies, hay emerged anonymously during the so-called Dark Ages.
11166 According to the Hay Theory of History, the invention of hay was the
11167 decisive event which moved the center of gravity of urban civilization from
11168 the Mediterranean basin to Northern and Western Europe. The Roman Empire did
11169 not need hay because in a Mediterranean climate the grass grows well enough
11170 in winter for animals to graze. North of the Alps, great cities dependent on
11171 horses and oxen for motive power could not exist without hay. So it was hay
11172 that allowed populations to grow and civilization to flourish among the
11173 forests of Northern Europe. Hay moved the greatness of Rome to Paris and
11174 London, and later to Berlin and Moscow and New York.
11175 -- Freeman Dyson, from his 1985 Gifford Lectures
11178 Small brave carnivores
11179 Kill pine cones and mosquitoes,
11180 Fear vacuum cleaner
11184 Oh, no! Help! I got outside!
11185 Let me back inside!
11187 If you're a geek at a circus
11188 and the only tool you have is a sledgehammer,
11189 then you'll use it everywhere.
11190 We're Microsoft and
11191 Windows is our sledgehammer.
11194 An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile--
11195 hoping it will eat him last.
11196 -- Winston Churchill
11198 Being poor is a frame of mind. Being broke is only a temporary situation.
11201 When a friend speaks to me, whatever he says is interesting.
11204 Up to his shoulders
11205 In grasses coarse as silk,
11206 The white cat with the yellow eyes
11207 Sits with his paws together,
11208 Tall as a quart of milk.
11211 Life is a gamble, at terrible odds--if it was a bet you wouldn't take it.
11214 What is the most innocent place in any country?
11215 Is it not the insane asylum?
11216 These people drift through life truly innocent,
11217 unable to see into themselves at all.
11220 We live by our genius for hope;
11221 we survive by our talent for dispensing with it.
11224 People change and forget to tell each other.
11227 Professional work of any sort tends to narrow the mind, to limit the point
11228 of view, and to put a hallmark on a man of a most unmistakable kind. On the
11229 one hand are the intense, ardent natures, absorbed in their studies and
11230 quickly losing interest in everything but their profession, while other
11231 faculties and interest 'fust' unused. On the other hand are the bovine
11232 brethren, who think of nothing but the treadmill and the corn. From very
11233 different causes, the one from concentration, the other from apathy, both
11234 are apt to neglect those outside studies that widen the sympathies and help
11235 a man to get the best there is out of life... the medical man, perhaps more
11236 than any other man, needs that higher education of which Plato speaks,
11237 'that education in virtue from youth upwards, which enables a man to pursue
11238 the ideal perfection.' It is not for all, nor can all attain it, but there
11239 is comfort and help in the pursuit, even though the end is never reached.
11242 We cherish our friends not for their ability to amuse us,
11243 but for ours to amuse them.
11246 Scientific research is solving puzzles. The pleasure to
11247 be got from it is the pleasure of the crossword or jig-saw addict.
11248 First the blank diagram, or the scatter of meaningless pieces; then
11249 an occasional tentative clue or the few pieces of the same colour
11250 that seem to fit together; next a period of frustration, going over
11251 and over the list of clues, or trying piece after piece in the most
11252 unlikely conjunctions; then--ah the sweet joy of the word that
11253 completes a doubtful acrostic, or the section that springs to life
11254 as a tree, or a house or a pot of flowers; finally, the completion
11255 of the pattern, with clue after clue solved in rapid succession, or
11256 the last few pieces tumbling into place. By accepting the challenge,
11257 the tension, the concentration, the frustration, we heighten the
11258 pleasure of the moment or revelation. The more difficult the puzzle,
11259 the greater the tension--and so much greater the delights of solution.
11262 The most certain way to succeed is to always try one more time.
11266 hmmm... box is stinky.
11267 where are those boots that he has?
11268 they smell close enough.
11271 This one is from my dogs to my cats:
11273 I will sniff your butt
11274 I like your litter box gifts
11278 You can drop humans anywhere and they'll thrive.
11279 Only the rat does as well.
11284 in heart may become a wolf
11285 when the catnip blooms
11288 housecat haiku of realization:
11290 birds flicker past me,
11291 safely in their cage of glass.
11292 wait! who's in the cage?
11296 At this point I reveal myself in my true colours, as a stick-in-the-mud.
11297 I hold a number of beliefs that have been repudiated by the liveliest
11298 intellects of our time. I believe that order is better than chaos,
11299 creation better than destruction. I prefer gentleness to violence,
11300 forgiveness to vendetta. On the whole I think that knowledge is
11301 preferable to ignorance, and I am sure that human sympathy is more
11302 valuable than ideology. I believe that in spite of the recent triumphs
11303 of science, men haven't changed much in the last two thousand years; and
11304 in consequence we must still try to learn from history. History is
11305 ourselves. I also hold one or two beliefs that are more difficult to put
11306 shortly. For example, I believe in courtesy, the ritual by which we
11307 avoid hurting other people's feelings by satisfying our own egos. And I
11308 think we should remember that we are part of a great whole, which for
11309 convenience we call nature. All living things are our brothers and
11310 sisters. Above all, I believe in the God-given genius of certain
11311 individuals, and I value a society that makes their existence possible.
11312 -- Kenneth Clark, from "Civilization"
11314 If you want to feel proud of yourself, you need to do things of which
11315 to feel proud. Feelings follow actions.
11318 To learn and from time to time to apply what
11319 one has learned--isn't that pleasure?
11320 -- Confucious, 500 B.C.
11322 top 6 rejected ingredients in ben & jerry's "phish food" flavor:
11324 6. capers and whitefish
11325 5. caramel-covered seaweed nuggets
11327 3. magic mushroom ripple
11330 and the number one rejected ingredient...
11336 top 6 reasons to own a house rabbit:
11338 6. learning to splice electrical wires
11339 5. free compost everywhere in the house
11340 4. having your ankles bitten and scratched during rutting season
11341 3. finding out what night feces are and that special feeling they give
11342 when between your toes
11343 2. having guests ask "what is that incredible stench?"
11345 and the number one reason to own a house rabbit...
11347 1. if all else fails, there's always hasenpfeffer.
11351 My childhood was a period of waiting for the moment when I could send
11352 everyone and everything connected with it to hell.
11355 Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to
11356 time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.
11359 We will take almost any kind of criticism except the observation that
11360 we have no sense of humor. A man will admit to being a coward, a liar, a
11361 thief, an adulterer, a poor mechanic, or a bad swimmer, but tell him that
11362 he has a dreadful sense of humor and you might as well have slandered his
11363 mother. Even if he is civilized enough to pretend to make light of your
11364 statement, he will still secretly believe that he has, not only a good
11365 sense of humor, but one superior to most. This is all the more surprising
11366 when you consider that not one person in a million can give you any kind of
11367 intelligent answer as to what humor is or why he or she laughs.
11370 To write weekly, to write daily, to write shortly, to write
11371 for busy people catching trains in the morning or for tired
11372 people coming home in the evening, is a heartbreaking task
11373 for men who know good writing from bad.
11376 ugh. all thoughts scrambled. now eating them on toast. -- fred t. hamster
11378 I love being a writer. What I can't stand is the paperwork.
11381 Housework can kill you if done right.
11384 All human evil comes from a single cause--
11385 man's inability to sit still in a room.
11388 An idealist is one who, on noticing that a rose smells better than a
11389 cabbage, concludes that it will also make better soup.
11392 School curricula reinforce the impression that logical subjects like math
11393 and science require starting with basics and progressively adding more
11394 sophisticated conclusions and applications. But the very nature of logical
11395 laws make it equally feasible to work backward from conclusions, or
11396 observations, to hypotheses. Deduction and induction are entirely
11398 In reality, scientists and mathematicians do not do their crafts in the
11399 linear, progressive way their subjects are usually taught. Practitioners
11400 commonly start with a flash of insight (the stereotypical light bulb lighting),
11401 a hunch, a dream, a guess, an elaborate hypothesis or postulate, and then work
11402 backward, forward, and around it to try to make it fit with established
11403 knowledge. Physicists or engineers commonly try using complex mathematical
11404 gadgets to solve the problems that interest them without knowing or caring how
11405 the math was logically derived. Experimenters tinker in laboratories and make
11406 surprising discoveries that theoreticians then labor to try to explain
11407 logically. Alternatively, theorists like Einstein come up with wild new
11408 theories like relativity that experiments may have to struggle for decades to
11409 find a way to test and prove. Scientific knowledge does not grow incrementally
11410 down a predictable track. Rather it grows volcanolike, sometimes oozing in
11411 patient rivulets, sometimes erupting in fiery ferment, and occasionally
11412 exploding, blowing away the rock of established truth.
11413 Pedantic, linear teaching rarely conveys the true drama and mystery of the
11414 human quest for knowledge. School plods where human imagination naturally
11416 -- Lewis J. Perelman, from "School's Out"
11418 the people who are the most in need of help are often the
11419 same ones who cannot receive it. for example, those who
11420 believe all human minds are isolated and who have built their
11421 lives on that principle can only rarely come to appreciate the
11422 connections between us. their loneliness and self-imposed
11423 isolation seems to be the normal state of affairs to these
11424 people; little do they realize that if they relaxed their
11425 armored ego barrier, then the thoughts and emotions of others
11426 would start to be perceptible. they desperately cling to the
11427 belief system that IS their problem in such a way that they
11428 cannot see the solution, nor can they even believe that the
11429 solution exists. should these people consciously strive to
11430 relax that barrier, it would dissolve quickly. many just
11431 cannot do that and never will. many can however, and can
11432 relax in the invisible web of human mentation that underlies
11433 all of our consciousnesses like a huge, comfortable and active
11437 All progress is based upon a universal innate desire on the part
11438 of every organism to live beyond its income.
11441 Attempts to mimic the mind of man are as yet in their infancy.
11442 The road, however, is open, and it conjures up thoughts which are
11443 exciting but also in some ways frightening. What if man eventually
11444 were to produce a mechanical creature, with or without organic
11445 parts, equal or superior to himself in all respects, including
11446 intelligence and creativity? Would it replace man, as the superior
11447 organisms of the earth have replaced or subordinated the less well-
11448 adapted in the long history of evolution?
11449 It is a queasy thought: that we represent, for the first time
11450 in the history of life on the earth, a species capable of bringing
11451 about its own possible replacement. Of course, we have it in our
11452 power to prevent such a regrettable denouement by refusing to build
11453 machines that are too intelligent. But it is tempting to build them
11454 nevertheless. What achievement could be grander than the creation
11455 of an object that surpasses the creator? How could we consummate
11456 the victory of intelligence over nature more gloriously than by
11457 passing on our heritage, in triumph, to a greater intelligence--of
11459 -- Isaac Asimov, in "Asimov's Guide to Science"
11461 Home is the place where,
11462 when you have to go there,
11463 they have to take you in.
11466 The closer that journalism has approached the standing of an
11467 authentic profession, oddly enough, the less attractive its
11468 individual practitioners appear to have become in the public
11469 mind. This irony is traceable in large measure to the
11470 distinguished work of the press in its persistent recording
11471 of the futility and manifold injustices of the Vietnam War and
11472 its disclosures in the Watergate scandal. Those protracted
11473 traumas scarred the national psyche, which in turn found
11474 solace by blaming the press for battening on the troubles it
11475 apparently delighted in reporting. Reporters came to be seen
11476 as arrogant in the conduct of their duties, habitually
11477 adversarial in posture, often insensitive, and unapologetic
11478 about substituting their own right to demand the truth for the
11479 public's right not to be stalked ruthlessly like so much grist
11480 for the milling of tomorrow's headlines. This impression has
11481 been deepened by the coarseness of television news, which is
11482 essentially a headline service trading on its emotional graphic
11483 appeal and dealing so superficially with events and so rarely
11484 with the complex issues behind them that its effect is to
11485 divert rather than to inform; TV remains primarily an
11486 entertainment medium that has not challenged the role of
11487 newspapers as the prime recorders of the community's serious
11488 business. But because we see television correspondents
11489 questioning the President or putting it to the police chief,
11490 they become personalities in their own right, far more imposing
11491 than a faceless byline over a printed story.
11492 -- Richard Kluger, from "The Paper: The Life and Death of the New
11493 York Herald Tribune"
11495 The fat cat on the mat may seem to dream
11496 Of nice mice that suffice for him, or cream.
11497 -- J. R. R. Tolkien
11499 Baseball is almost the only orderly thing in a very
11500 unorderly world. If you get three strikes, even the
11501 best lawyer in the world can't get you off.
11504 A man will never become a philosopher by worrying forever
11505 about the writings of other men, without ever raising his own
11506 eyes to nature's works in the attempt to recognize there the
11507 truths already known and to investigate some of the infinite
11508 number that remain to be discovered.
11511 A difference of taste in jokes is a great strain on the affections.
11514 One doesn't discover new lands without consenting to lose sight
11515 of the shore for a very long time.
11518 Today in America--the child of European imperialism--a new revolution
11519 is rising. It is the revolution of our time. It is the only revolution
11520 that involves radical, moral, and practical opposition to the spirit of
11521 nationalism. It is the only revolution that, to that opposition, joins
11522 culture, economic and technological power, and a total affirmation of
11523 liberty for all in the place of archaic prohibitions. It therefore
11524 offers the only escape for mankind today; the acceptance of technological
11525 civilization as a means and not as an end, and--since we cannot be saved
11526 either by the destruction of civilization or by its continuation--the
11527 development of the ability to reshape that civilization without
11529 -- Jean-Francois Revel
11531 There is a great man who makes every man feel small.
11532 But the real great man is the man who makes every man feel great.
11533 -- G. K. Chesterton
11535 What usually happens in the educational process is that the faculties
11536 are dulled, overloaded, stuffed and paralyzed so that by the time most
11537 people are mature they have lost their innate capabilities.
11538 -- R. Buckminster Fuller
11540 Our memories are card indexes--consulted, and then put back in
11541 disorder, by authorities whom we do not control.
11544 More computing sins are committed in the name of efficiency
11545 (without necessarily achieving it) than for any other single
11546 reason--including blind stupidity.
11549 We should forget about small efficiencies, say about 97% of
11550 the time: premature optimization is the root of all evil.
11553 The best is the enemy of the good.
11556 The first rule of intelligent tinkering is to save all the parts.
11559 A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you're talking big money.
11560 -- Senator Everett M. Dirksen
11562 During the last three decades, neuroscientists throughout the world
11563 have probed the nervous system in fascinating detail and have learned a
11564 great deal about the laws of mental life and about how these laws emerge
11565 from the brain. The pace of progress has been exhilarating, but--at the
11566 same time--the findings make many people uncomfortable. It seems somehow
11567 disconcerting to be told that your life, all your hopes, triumphs and
11568 aspirations simply arise from the activity of neurons in your brain. But
11569 far from being humiliating, this idea is ennobling, I think.
11570 Science--cosmology, evolution and especially the brain sciences--is
11571 telling us that we have no privileged position in the universe and that our
11572 sense of having a private nonmaterial soul "watching the world" is really an
11573 illusion (as has long been emphasized by Eastern mystical traditions like
11574 Hinduism and Zen Buddhism). Once you realize that far from being a
11575 spectator, you are in fact part of the eternal ebb and flow of events in the
11576 cosmos, this realization is very liberating. Ultimately this idea also
11577 allows you to cultivate a certain humility--the essence of all authentic
11578 religious experience.
11579 -- V. S. Ramachandran, in "Phantoms in the Brain"
11581 A celebrity is one who is known to many persons
11582 he is glad he doesn't know.
11585 Money is a singular thing. It ranks with love as man's greatest
11586 source of joy, and with death as his greatest source of anxiety.
11587 -- John Kenneth Galbraith
11589 By his very success in inventing labor-saving devices, modern man
11590 has manufactured an abyss of boredom that only the privileged classes
11591 in earlier civilizations have ever fathomed.
11594 Scientists, who nearly always speak extemporaneously in public
11595 presentations, note that humanists almost always read papers
11596 at professional meetings, and rarely show slides--except for
11597 art historians, who always use two screens simultaneously--even
11598 for the most visual subjects. Why, 'we' ask, do 'they' not
11599 realize that written and spoken English are different languages,
11600 and that very few people can read well in public--a particular
11601 irony since humanists supposedly hold language as their primary
11602 tool of professional competence. But 'they,' on the other hand,
11603 rightly ridicule 'our' tendencies to darken a lecture room even
11604 before we reach the podium and to rely almost entirely upon a
11605 string of pictures thereafter. A stale joke proclaims that if
11606 Galileo had first presented the revolutionary results of Siderius
11607 Nuncius as a modern scientific talk, his opening line could only
11608 have been: 'first slide please.'
11609 -- R. R. Shearer and S. J. Gould, in "Science," 5 Nov 99
11611 Prowling his own quiet backyard or asleep by the fire,
11612 he is still only a whisker away from the wilds.
11615 Futurology is a fashion. The approach of the end of the current
11616 millennium has stimulated it. But it looks like a fashion in decline. It
11617 seems to have peaked when public interest in the future was enlivened by
11618 debate between scientific perfectibilians and apocalyptic visionaries. The
11619 optimists predicted a world made easy by progress, lives prolonged by
11620 medical wizardry, wealth made universal by the alchemy of economic growth,
11621 society rectified by the egalitarianism of technologically prolonged
11622 leisure. The pessimists foresaw nuclear immolation or population explosion
11623 or a purgative world revolution -- a cosmic struggle reminiscent of the
11624 millennium of Christian prophetic tradition -- which would either save or
11626 No one gets excited by such visions today. Scientific progress has
11627 been, at best, disappointing -- encumbering us with apparently insoluble
11628 social and moral problems, or else, at worst, alarming -- threatening us
11629 with the mastery of artificially intelligent machines or genetically
11630 engineered human mutants. Economic growth has become the bogey of the
11631 ecologically anxious. Meanwhile, world revolution and the nuclear holocaust
11632 have been postponed, and apocalyptic prophecy has resorted to forebodings --
11633 variously unconvincing or uncompelling -- about ecological cataclysms.
11634 Proliferation of nuclear weapons and the discovery that even peaceful
11635 nuclear installations can poison great parts of the world has, in some ways,
11636 made disaster impend more darkly; but lingering extinction and little local
11637 nuclear holocausts seem to lack, in public esteem the glamour of a sudden
11638 and comprehensive armageddon. The future has become depressing rather than
11639 dramatic, and futurology has lost allure.
11640 -- Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, in "Millennium: a History of the Last
11641 Thousand Years", 1995.
11643 We all love to instruct, though we can teach only what is not worth knowing.
11644 -- Jane Austen, in "Pride and Prejudice"
11648 dances with a beam of light,
11651 Nothing is really work unless you would rather be doing something else.
11654 Anyone can do any amount of work provided it isn't the work he is
11655 supposed to be doing at that moment.
11659 He flies without wings,
11660 Fast as a shadow can go.
11661 Black slash on white snow.
11664 Once quick with rat life,
11665 Now just carnage: tail, head, fur.
11669 Willy stalks field mice,
11670 Wild Bill to small buffalo.
11671 Kills them just for show.
11674 Cats are like haiku:
11675 Subtle, delicate, perfect
11678 Once fat with meat.
11680 Rat food and bat food
11681 Supplement cat food.
11683 The best way to be boring is to leave nothing out.
11686 I would rather be governed by the first two thousand people in the
11687 Boston telephone directory than by the first two thousand people on the
11688 faculty of Harvard University.
11689 -- William F. Buckley
11691 Civility will always have its critics. In 1997, when New York's
11692 chief judge proposed rules requiring lawyers on opposing sides to be civil
11693 to each other, the prominent divorce lawyer Raoul Felder wrote a caustic
11694 response in the New York Times. "If lawyers truly care about the causes
11695 they represent, they should, on occasion, get hot under the collar, raise
11696 their voices, become pugnacious," he wrote. Conflict, argued Felder, is
11697 what the legal profession is about. Civility, he concluded, "may not always
11698 be the right reaction in an adversarial courtroom."
11699 This argument reminds me of the commentary by Ed Rollins that it
11700 was his job to diminish the reputation of his client's opponent. Nastiness,
11701 in other words, is not merely the option but the responsibility of the
11702 political profession. The legal profession too: "I have never heard a
11703 client complain that his or her lawyer was rude," Felder tells us. In both
11704 cases, law and politics, rudeness is evidently justified on the ground that
11705 rudeness is what the client is paying for.
11706 As any student of civility would, I find this a fascinating notion:
11707 that there are professions for which incivility is a requirement. I suppose
11708 I disbelieve it; or, rather, if there are such professions, I am skeptical
11709 of their morality, because they fail to convey a message that we are, all of
11710 us, not lone drivers but fellow passengers. It may be that law and politics
11711 seem so dismally rude because their principal ethic is merely one of
11712 victory, an ethic materially enriching and emotionally satisfying, but
11713 morally unimportant. If lawyers are paid to be rude and political
11714 consultants to be nasty, and if their incivility is linked to the fact that
11715 they are also paid to win, we should scarcely be surprised that professional
11716 athletes find it comfortable to brawl with fans, spit on umpires, take bites
11717 out of ears, and, in one unfortunate case nicknamed "Assassin," specialize
11718 in injuring fellow football players. After all, the athletes want to win too.
11719 Some etiquette. Some democracy.
11720 -- Stephen L. Carter, in "Civility", 1998
11722 A cat is a lion in a jungle of small bushes.
11725 A cat pours his body on the floor like water. It is restful just to see him.
11726 -- William Lyon Phelps
11728 Nothing is more dangerous than an idea, when you have only one idea.
11729 -- "Alain" [Emile Chartier]
11731 Newspapers have changed their character during my lifetime. They used
11732 to be the principal carriers of the world's news, but television holds that
11733 position now. Television, however, has serious limitations; it is a visual
11734 medium, and it is dominated by the principle that nothing is news unless you
11735 can take a picture of it. It is here that the newspapers still hold their
11736 own; so much of what goes on in the political world cannot be effectively
11737 photographed; statesmen, in their expensive but uninteresting clothes, make
11738 very poor TV and their prolonged deliberations are dull when we see them on
11739 the box. Politics must be interpreted, and newspapers have become their
11740 untiring interpreters... Intelligence, not perhaps on its highest level
11741 but far beyond the sheer emotionalism of TV, has found its refuge in the
11743 -- Robertson Davies, from "The Merry Heart: Reflections on Reading,
11744 Writing, & The World of Books".
11746 To improve communications, work not on the utterer but on the recipient.
11749 Despite the incorporated homicide or suicide called war, despite the
11750 crimes of individuals, the natural conflicts of domestic parties and
11751 national ambitions, I believe, after fifty years of studying history,
11752 that man is physically, mentally, and morally better, on the average,
11753 than at any time in the past; that our poverty, so disgraceful amid our
11754 unprecedented wealth, is not so shameless as the slavery that supported
11755 an enfranchised minority in Periclean Athens or Augustan Rome; that our
11756 marital chaos and moral laxity are no worse than in the England of
11757 Charles II or the France of Louis XV; that more good books are being
11758 published than ever before and more widely read; and that art will soon
11759 rise to a new level of self-discipline and social significance.
11760 I mourn the ugly slums of our cities and the distress of those who
11761 cannot find work for their hands to do; but I see realized around me,
11762 in an unparalleled proportion of our people, such a spread of home
11763 ownership, family income, physical comforts, educational opportunities,
11764 political freedom, and scientific powers as would amaze and gladden our
11765 Founding Fathers if they could return to see what their progeny and
11766 their institutions have done... This time, this moment, is as good as
11767 any that ever was, and is incomparably more wonderful.
11770 I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination.
11771 Imagination is more important than knowledge.
11772 Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.
11775 You do not lead by hitting people over the head.
11776 That's assault, not leadership.
11777 -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
11779 When elephants fight, only the grass gets hurt. -- Swahili Saying
11781 Men who know the same things are not long the best company for each other.
11782 -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
11784 The gingham dog and the calico cat
11785 Side by side on the table sat;
11786 'Twas half-past eight and (what do you think!)
11787 Nor one nor t'other had slept a wink!
11790 bob1: I was going to just sublime into the roll
11791 and see what I could get....
11792 fred: slime, you mean? you're not going to evaporate, right?
11793 bob1: Whatever, formally declare I shall be in control
11794 and see if anyone listens...
11795 fred: that's the doctrine of the supine?
11796 bob1: By sublime I meant so slowly that you don't notice.
11797 fred: the lime doctor sublimes merging into the supine
11798 mesmerized accomplished cow-orking accomplices slimefully.
11799 bob1: mmm I see. Anyway I must rejoin the family and stuff.
11800 Perhaps I shall be back later. I must get into work early
11801 tomorrow if I want all this to work.
11802 fred: by the time i spline my spleen in the stream
11803 i will have strummed the strumpet's stoking stork.
11804 bob1: Holy f*ck batman.
11806 There is nothing to be learned from history anymore.
11807 We're in science fiction now.
11810 One of the interesting features of communication is that, broadly
11811 speaking, to be perceived, information must reside in more than one context.
11812 We know what something is by contrast with what it is not. Silence makes
11813 musical notes perceivable; conversation is understood as a contrast of
11814 contexts, speaker and hearer; words, breaks and breaths. In turn, in order
11815 to be meaningful, these contexts of information must be relinked through
11816 some sort of judgment of equivalence or comparability. This occurs at all
11817 levels of scale, and we all do it routinely as part of everyday life.
11818 None of this is new in theories of information and communication: we
11819 have long had models of signals and targets, background, noise and filters,
11820 signals, and quality controls. We are moving this insight here to the level
11821 of social interaction. People often cannot see what they take for granted
11822 until they encounter someone who does not take it for granted.
11823 -- Geoffrey C. Bowker & Susan Leigh Star, from "Sorting Things Out:
11824 Classification and Its Consequences," (MIT Press).
11826 If there is technological advance without social advance, there is,
11827 almost automatically, an increase in human misery.
11828 -- Michael Harrington
11830 Nothing great in the world has been accomplished without passion.
11833 When people are free to do as they please, they usually imitate each other.
11836 Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.
11839 He was a very valiant man who first adventured on eating of oysters.
11842 A man of genius makes no mistakes. His errors are volitional, and are
11843 the portals of discovery.
11846 But this 'long run' is a misleading guide to current affairs.
11847 In the long run we are all dead.
11848 -- John Maynard Keynes
11850 Education is a crutch with which the foolish attack the wise to prove
11851 that they are not idiots.
11854 Advertising may be described as the science of arresting the human
11855 intelligence long enough to get money from it.
11858 I don't like money actually, but it quiets my nerves.
11862 Black heart on white fur
11863 Green eyes ... last sight for poor rat,
11864 Plaything of a God.
11867 Black face, cold blue eyes
11868 fish pond, golden fish surprise.
11869 Wet paws ... not water!
11871 spelling offers more
11872 room for controversy than
11873 the world's religions
11877 caffeination in its most
11882 sangha are the three jewels
11883 a buddhist cleaves to
11887 charging into the twenty-first
11891 fred barks, lily hides
11892 two dogs of the same breeding
11895 haikus force structure
11896 on an otherwise very
11901 three celtic names held by three
11905 The most fruitful and natural exercise of the mind, in my opinion, is
11906 conversation. I find the use of it more sweet than of any other action of
11907 life; and for that reason it is that, if I were now compelled to choose, I
11908 should sooner, I think, consent to lose my sight, than my hearing and
11909 speech... The study of books is a languishing and feeble motion that heats
11910 not, whereas conversation teaches and exercises at once. If I converse with
11911 an understanding man, and a rough disputant, he presses hard upon me and
11912 pricks me on both sides; his imaginations raise up mine to more than
11913 ordinary pitch; jealousy, glory, and contention, stimulate and raise me up
11914 to something above my self...
11915 -- Michel Montaigne
11919 of meats, kibbles and catnip
11920 will i deign to sniff.
11924 fine fur flies from me
11925 filling all of your clean rooms
11931 to quizzical expression:
11932 "fix outdoors for me!"
11937 bores more cats even than own
11942 Open the door, Man!
11943 I wish to go out ... what's this?
11944 Wet fur? I think not.
11947 Monsoon for felines.
11948 They ground when wet. No static.
11949 Rainy faced disgrace.
11951 Distrust any enterprise that requires new clothes.
11954 Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.
11957 We are not sure that words can always save lives, but we know that
11958 silence can certainly kill.
11959 -- James Orbinski of "Doctors Without Borders", winners of the 1999 Nobel
11962 The masses, by definition, neither should nor can direct their own
11963 personal existence, and still less rule society in general.
11964 -- Jose Ortega y Gasset
11966 It is precisely because man's vital time is limited, precisely because
11967 he is mortal, that he needs to triumph over distance and delay. For an
11968 immortal being, the motor-car would have no meaning.
11969 -- Jose Ortega y Gasset
11971 We live at a time when man believes himself fabulously capable of
11972 creation, but he does not know what to create. Lord of all things,
11973 he is not lord of himself... Hence the strange combination of a
11974 sense of power and a sense of insecurity.
11975 -- Jose Ortega y Gasset
11977 The mass-man is he whose life lacks any purpose, and simply goes drifting
11978 along. Consequently, though his possibilities and his powers be enormous,
11979 he constructs nothing. And it is this type of man who decides in our time...
11980 -- Jose Ortega y Gasset
11982 In the schools, which were such a source of pride to the last century, it
11983 has been impossible to do more than instruct the masses in the technique
11984 of modern life; it has been found impossible to educate them.
11985 -- Jose Ortega y Gasset
11987 Like cars over the years, computers are getting easier to use, and in
11988 some respects the changes are analogous to the placement of gauges by idiot
11989 lights. And, like drivers who favor gauges, some computer users belittle the
11990 trend toward easy-to-use systems. These users appear to thrive on
11991 complexity. They are often experts who enjoy getting the most out of their
11992 computers; they view computing as an end rather than a means.
11993 Unlike cars, easy-to-use computers aren't called idiot-proof, they're
11994 called user-friendly. As a marketing achievement, this terminology ranks
11995 with 'Palmetto bugs,' which is a term used in Florida-at the instigation of
11996 some genius in the real estate industry, I'm told-for large, flying
11998 -- John Shore, from "The Sachertorte Algorithm: And Other Antidotes
11999 to Computer Anxiety".
12001 Ads manipulate us into being dissatisfied... We are encouraged to feel
12002 anxious or sorry for ourselves. Advertising teaches us to live on the level
12003 of the pleasure principle. This leads to impulse-control problems and to
12004 feelings of entitlement. "I am the center of the universe and I want what I
12005 want now." This thinking creates citizens who are vulnerable to quick fixes.
12006 It leads to citizens filled with self-pity, which is the flip side of
12008 Advertising teaches that people shouldn't have to suffer, that pain
12009 is unnatural and can be cured. They say that effort is bad and convenience
12010 is good and that products solve complex human problems. Over and over people
12011 hear that their needs for love, security and variety can be met with
12012 products. They may reject the message of any particular ad, but over time
12013 many buy the big message -- buying products is important.
12014 -- Mary Pipher, in "The Shelter of Each Other: Rebuilding Our Families"
12016 I have no use for bodyguards, but I have a very special use for two
12017 highly trained certified public accountants.
12020 Punctuality is the virtue of the bored.
12023 Three o'clock is always too late or too early for anything you want to do.
12024 -- Jean-Paul Sartre
12026 Skill without imagination is craftsmanship and gives us many useful
12027 objects such as wickerwork picnic baskets. Imagination without skill
12028 gives us modern art.
12031 What is this talk of "release?" We do not make software "releases."
12032 Our software "escapes" leaving a bloody trail of designers and quality
12033 assurance people in its wake.
12034 -- MoncriefJM@gvl.esys.com, as seen on the on the PerlTK mailing list
12036 It is truly enough said that a corporation has no conscience. But a
12037 corporation of conscientious men is a corporation with a conscience.
12038 -- Henry David Thoreau
12042 Cat on the carpet, melting...
12043 Here pussy. Here God!
12047 you don't eat all my buds, cat.
12048 i'll smoke you instead.
12050 The future is made of the same stuff as the present. -- Simone Weil
12052 he's such a tight ass that when he breaks wind all the dogs howl.
12055 See the kitten on the wall,
12056 Sporting with the leaves that fall,
12057 Withered leaves, one, two and three
12058 Falling from the elder tree,
12059 Through the calm and frosty air
12060 Of the morning bright and fair.
12061 -- William Wordsworth
12063 But the Kitten, how she starts,
12064 Crouches, stretches, paws and darts!
12065 -- William Wordsworth
12067 All those who succeed in America -- no matter what their circle of
12068 origin or their sphere of action -- are likely to become involved in the
12069 world of the celebrity... This world has not been built from below, as a
12070 slow and steady linking of local societies and metropolitan 400s. It has
12071 been created from above... With the incorporation of the economy, the
12072 ascendancy of the military establishment, and the centralization of the
12073 enlarged state, there have arisen the national elite, who, in occupying the
12074 command posts of the big hierarchies, have taken the spotlight of publicity
12075 and become subjects of the intensive build-up. At the same time, with the
12076 elaboration of the national means of mass communication, the professional
12077 celebrities of the entertainment world have come fully and continuously into
12078 the national view. As personalities of national glamour, they are at the
12079 focal point of all the means of entertainment and publicity. Both the
12080 metropolitan 400 and the institutional elite must now compete with and
12081 borrow prestige from these professionals in the world of the celebrity.
12082 But what are the celebrities? The celebrities are The Names that
12083 need no further identification. Those who know them so far exceed those of
12084 whom they know as to require no exact computation. Wherever the celebrities
12085 go, they are recognized, and moreover, recognized with some excitement and
12086 awe. Whatever they do has publicity value. More or less continuously, over a
12087 period of time, they are the material for the media of communication and
12088 entertainment. And, when that time ends -- as it must -- and the celebrity
12089 still lives -- as he may -- from time to time it may be asked, "Remember
12090 him?" That is what celebrity means.
12091 -- C. Wright Mills, from "The Power Elite," 1956
12093 I'm not really very good at what I do, but I'm very
12094 popular, because I return my pages.
12095 -- Unidentified computer support technician
12097 Experience is that marvelous thing that enables you to
12098 recognize a mistake when you make it again.
12099 -- Franklin P. Jones
12101 Nobody roots for Goliath. -- Wilt Chamberlain
12105 By a bat. Rabid, frothing...
12108 I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up
12109 and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold
12110 these truths to be self-evident, that all men are
12112 -- Martin Luther King Jr.
12114 We generally think of music as a product of art rather than commerce
12115 or technology. It depends, in fact, on all three. Together, these great
12116 dynamic systems match individual creativity and individual desire. They
12117 thus generate change, variety and an endless array of critics--all
12118 determined that music, like the rest of society, should conform to
12120 That would be a terrible deal. By tolerating music that pleases
12121 others but not ourselves, we preserve a system that has delivered a
12122 historical wonder... We can listen to perfectly performed music to suit
12123 any mood or taste at any time, music that moves us in ways particular to our
12124 individual senses and our individual souls.
12125 -- Virginia Postrel
12127 There are three rules for writing the novel.
12128 Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.
12129 -- W. Somerset Maugham
12131 His lack of education is more than compensated for by his
12132 keenly developed moral bankruptcy.
12135 How is it possible to find meaning in a finite world,
12136 given my waist and shirt size?
12139 I can't listen to that much Wagner. I start getting
12140 the urge to conquer Poland.
12141 -- Woody Allen (Manhattan Murder Mystery)
12144 become unified as one
12148 urgh, mutual friends have we few
12149 of whom hooktown still has purview.
12150 lest we examine too far
12151 i wonder regarding your car--
12152 could it survive a furious country drive?
12153 for to hamster freehold must you arrive.
12154 many entertainments have we here...
12155 movies, a rabbit and beer.
12156 perhaps what you were chasing,
12157 twain's fuzz is constantly abasing.
12158 to extend no further this diatribe,
12159 why don't you drop over, or "arribe"?
12162 If no one ever took risks, Michelangelo would
12163 have painted on the Sistine floor.
12166 It isn't what we don't know that gives us trouble,
12167 it's what we know that ain't so.
12170 I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure
12171 is trying to please everyone.
12174 Today, when man seems to have reached the beginning of a new,
12175 richer, happier human era, his existence and that of the generations to
12176 follow is more threatened than ever. How is this possible?
12177 Man had won his freedom from clerical and secular authorities, he
12178 stood alone with his reason and his conscience as his only judges, but he
12179 was afraid of the newly won freedom; he had achieved 'freedom from' --
12180 without yet having achieved 'freedom to' -- to be himself, to be productive,
12181 to be fully awake. Thus he tried to escape from freedom. His very
12182 achievement, the mastery over nature, opened up the avenue for his escape.
12183 In building the new industrial machine, men became so absorbed in
12184 the new task that it became the paramount goal of his life. His energies,
12185 which once were devoted to the search for God and salvation, were now
12186 directed toward the domination of nature and ever-increasing material
12187 comfort. He ceased to use production as a means for a better life, but
12188 hypostatized it instead to an end in itself, an end to which life was
12189 subordinated. In the process of an ever-increasing size of social
12190 agglomerations, man himself became a part of the machine, rather than its
12191 master. He experienced himself as a commodity, as an investment; his aim
12192 became to be a success, that is, to sell himself as profitably as possible
12193 on the market. His value as a person lies in his salability, not in his
12194 human qualities of love, reason or in his artistic capacities. Happiness
12195 becomes identical with consumption of newer and better commodities, the
12196 drinking in of music, screen plays, fun, sex, liquor and cigarettes. Not
12197 having a sense of self except the one which conformity with the majority can
12198 give, he is insecure, anxious, depending on approval. He is alienated from
12199 himself, worships the product of his own hands, the leaders of his own
12200 making, as if they were above him, rather than made by him. He is in a
12201 sense back where he was before the great human evolution began in the second
12203 -- Erich Fromm, "The Sane Society"
12205 If I could I would always work in silence and obscurity,
12206 and let my efforts be known by their results.
12209 The fox knows many things -- the hedgehog knows one big thing.
12212 I've learned not to put things in my mouth that are bad for me.
12213 -- Monica Lewinsky on CNN's Larry King Live discussing her
12214 miraculous Jenny Craig weight-loss.
12216 Both the assembling and the distribution of knowledge in the world
12217 at present are extremely ineffective, and thinkers of the forward-
12218 looking type whose ideas we are now considering, are beginning to
12219 realize that the most hopeful line for the development of our racial
12220 intelligence lies rather in the direction of creating a new world
12221 organ for the collection, indexing, summarizing and release of
12222 knowledge, than in any further tinkering with the highly conservative
12223 and resistant university system, local, national, and traditional in
12224 texture, which already exists.
12225 -- H. G. Wells (1937)
12227 a haiku for object bus overload...
12229 those data bursts have
12230 overturned my info cart--
12231 stranded on the net.
12235 Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex,
12236 and more violent. It takes a touch of genius--and a lot
12237 of courage--to move in the opposite direction.
12238 -- E. F. Schumacher
12240 It is amazing how much one can learn from somebody
12241 who is not generally thought of as successful.
12244 Half the world is composed of people who have
12245 something to say and can't, and the other have
12246 nothing to say and keep on saying it.
12249 Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature...
12250 Life is either a daring adventure or it is nothing.
12253 His tongue is by turns a sponge, a brush, a comb.
12254 He cleans himself, he smoothes himself,
12255 he knows what is proper.
12258 To turn $100 into $110 is work.
12259 To turn $100 million into $110 million is inevitable.
12262 A problem well stated is a problem half solved.
12263 -- Charles F. Kettering
12265 The spirit of the West, the modern spirit, is a Greek discovery
12266 and the place of the Greeks is in the modern world.
12267 -- Edith Hamilton (1867-1963)
12269 fish flavored flappers
12270 squirm happily under tongue,
12271 cloak orgasmic clit.
12273 There are no whole truths: all truths are half-truths. It is trying
12274 to treat them as whole truths that plays the devil.
12275 -- Alfred North Whitehead
12277 Somewhere on this globe, every ten seconds, there is a woman
12278 giving birth to a child. She must be found and stopped.
12281 The cat has complete emotional honesty --
12282 an attribute not often found in humans.
12283 -- Ernest Hemingway
12285 no morning coffee...
12286 gray matter is not present,
12287 dial tone in my head.
12291 Synonym for 'penis' used in alt.tasteless and popularized by the denizens
12292 thereof. They say: "We think maybe it's from Middle English but we're all
12293 too damned lazy to check the OED." [I'm not. It isn't. --ESR]
12294 This term is alleged to have been inherited through 1960s underground
12295 comics, and to have been recently sighted in the Beavis and Butthead
12296 cartoons. Speakers of the Hindi, Bengali and Gujarati languages have
12297 confirmed that `choad' is in fact an Indian vernacular word equivalent
12298 to `f*ck'; it is therefore likely to have entered English slang via the
12301 The race may not be to the swift nor the victory
12302 to the strong, but that's how you bet.
12305 Basic research is when I'm doing what I don't know I'm doing.
12306 -- Wernher von Braun
12308 For decades, people have warned that pervasive databanks and
12309 surveillance technology are leading inevitably to the death of privacy and
12310 democracy. But these days, many people who hear the word 'privacy' think
12311 about those kooks living off in the woods with their shotguns: these folks
12312 get their mail at post office boxes registered under assumed names, grow
12313 their own food, use cash to buy what they can't grow for themselves, and
12314 constantly worry about being attacked by the federal government-or by space
12315 aliens. If you are not one of these people, you may well ask, "Why should I
12316 worry about my privacy? I have nothing to hide."
12317 The problem with this word 'privacy' is that it falls short of
12318 conveying the really big picture. Privacy isn't just about hiding things.
12319 It's about self-possession, autonomy, and integrity. As we move into the
12320 computerized world of the twenty-first century, privacy will be one of our
12321 most important civil rights. But this right of privacy isn't the right of
12322 people to close their doors and pull down their window shades -- perhaps
12323 because they want to engage in some sort of illicit or illegal activity.
12324 It's the right of people to control what details about their lives stay
12325 inside their own houses and what leaks to the outside...
12326 Today, more than ever before, we are witnessing the daily erosion of
12327 personal privacy and freedom. We're victims of a war on privacy that's being
12328 waged by government eavesdroppers, business marketers, and nosy neighbors...
12329 We know our privacy is under attack. The problem is that we don't know how
12331 -- Simson Garfinkel, in "Database Nation: The Death of Privacy in
12334 A gentleman who had been very unhappy in marriage, married
12335 immediately after his wife died: Johnson said, it was the
12336 triumph of hope over experience.
12337 -- James Boswell's "Life of Johnson"
12339 One evening while dozing in my armchair, I was roused
12340 by the sound of the harpsichord. My cat had started
12341 his musical stroll... I had a sheet of paper to hand,
12342 and transcribed his composition.
12343 -- Domenico Scarlatti
12345 Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it
12346 everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying
12347 the wrong remedies.
12350 A hospital bed is a parked taxi with the meter running.
12353 Please accept my resignation. I don't want to belong to
12354 any club that will accept me as a member.
12357 Let's find out what everyone is doing,
12358 and then stop everyone from doing it.
12361 I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any
12362 new situation by reorganizing, and a wonderful method
12363 it can be for creating the illusion of progress while
12364 producing confusion, inefficiency, and demoralization.
12365 -- Petronius Arbiter, quoted in Robert Townsend's
12366 "Up the Organization"
12368 With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in
12369 the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to
12370 finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care
12371 for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and
12372 his orphan -- to do all which may achieve and cherish a just, and
12373 a lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations.
12376 As we approach a new century and a changing international economic
12377 climate, we think that scientific and technological education should be our
12378 highest priority, and yet these fields, at least the way they are practiced
12379 today, only tangentially affect the heart and soul, where morality and
12380 values are rooted, while music goes right to the heart.
12381 Studying music, one learns about talent, thought, work, expression,
12382 beauty, technique, collaboration, aesthetic judgment, inspiration, taste,
12383 and a host of other elements that shape life in all its aspects. As we
12384 learn to control our fingers, lips, and breath in making music, subliminally
12385 music is shaping us, making us people of sensitivity and judgment.
12386 -- Thomas Moore, in "The Re-Enchantment of Everyday Life"
12388 How frighteningly few are the persons whose death would
12389 spoil our appetite and make the world seem empty.
12392 A bad attitude is the worst thing that can happen to
12393 a group of people. It's infectious.
12394 -- Roger Allan Raby
12396 All that is gold does not glitter; not all who wander are lost.
12397 -- J. R. R. Tolkien
12399 What is originality? Undetected plagiarism.
12400 -- Dean William R. Inge (ed: what a psycho...)
12402 True genius doesn't fulfill expectations, it shatters them.
12405 Let me listen to me and not to them.
12408 If like truth, the lie had but one face, we would be on better terms.
12409 For we would accept as certain the opposite of what the liar would say.
12410 But the reverse of truth has a hundred thousand faces and an infinite field.
12413 The truth is multi-faceted; no one person can see all of it and no single
12414 viewpoint can capture all of it. This is why any attempt to record the
12415 nature of reality in one majestic work of science or religion or philosophy
12416 is doomed to fail; that grand catalog is a necessarily-flawed perspective
12417 upon the shimmering mind-blower that is the full totality of truth.
12418 Still, we must try to get our minds around it during our whole lives.
12421 I am a great believer, if you have a meeting, in knowing
12422 where you want to come out before you start the meeting.
12423 Excuse me if that doesn't sound very democratic.
12424 -- Nelson Rockefeller
12426 Lawyers have, as Jonathan Swift observed, "a peculiar cant and
12427 jargon of their own, that no other mortal can understand". They take care
12428 to ensure that all legal business, including the drafting of legislation, is
12429 conducted in this language "so that it will take thirty years to decide
12430 whether the field left me by my ancestors for six generations belongs to me
12431 or to a stranger three hundred miles off". This language, condemned by
12432 Jeremy Bentham as "literary garbage", "lawyers' cant", and "flash language",
12433 serves various purposes, none of them in the public interest. It unites
12434 lawyers, distinguishing them from laymen. It makes the law mysterious and
12435 incomprehensible to those laymen, thus ensuring a steady supply of work for
12436 lawyers who are needed to interpret the language they have invented. The
12437 language of the law fosters the illusion that legal problems are remediable
12438 only by the application of the medicine of the specialist. Only a lawyer,
12439 can resolve the complexities of the problem: "Better see a lawyer; don't
12440 trust Whatsisname" (as the memorable Law Society advertisement warned
12441 consumers). Legal language also enshrouds the law, hiding it from the
12442 public it exists to serve. The idiom of the lawyer leads to public ignorance
12443 of the content of the law (which paradoxically refuses to recognize that
12444 ignorance of the law should be a defence), to uninformed criticism and to
12445 unmerited praise. It provokes the indifference of too many laymen towards
12446 the law and the contempt of so many litigants for a legal system they do not
12448 -- David Pannick, barrister and Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford
12450 It usually takes me more than three weeks
12451 to prepare a good impromptu speech.
12454 Hollywood films, in general, either want to tell us a truth we
12455 already know or a falsehood we want to believe in.
12458 The function of socialism is to raise suffering to a higher level.
12461 Men of Athens, fellow citizens, this is not a trial of Socrates, but
12462 of ideas, and of Athens. You are not prosecuting me for any unlawful or
12463 impious act against our city or its altars. No evidence of any such sort
12464 has been brought against me. You are not prosecuting me for anything I did,
12465 but for what I have said and taught. You are threatening me with death
12466 because you do not like my views and my teaching. This is a prosecution of
12467 ideas and that is something new in our city's history. In this sense,
12468 Athens is in the dock, not Socrates. Each of you, as my judges, is a
12470 Let me be frank. I do not believe in your so-called freedom of
12471 speech, but you do. I believe the opinions of ordinary men are only beliefs
12472 without substance, pale shadows of reality, not to be taken seriously, and
12473 only likely to lead a city astray. I think it absurd to encourage the free
12474 utterance of unfounded or irrational opinions, or to base civic policy on a
12475 count of heads, like cabbages. Hence I do not believe in democracy. But
12476 you do. This is your test, not mine. How can you boast of your free speech
12477 if you suppress mine?
12478 The test of truly free speech is not whether what is said or taught
12479 conforms to any rule or ruler, few or many. Even under the worst dictator,
12480 it is not forbidden to agree with him. It is the freedom to disagree that
12481 is freedom of speech. This has been the Athenian rule until now, the pride
12482 of our city, the glory on which your orators dwell. Will you turn your back
12483 on it now? Ideas are not as fragile as men. They cannot be made to drink
12484 hemlock. My ideas--and my example--will survive me. But the good name of
12485 Athens will wear a stain forever, if you violate its traditions by
12486 convicting me. The shame will be yours, not mine.
12487 -- I. F. Stone, suggesting a defense for Socrates
12489 I do not seek. I find.
12492 The one thing that is certain is that anyone who uses the phrase
12493 "outside the box" is as deeply inside the box as a person can be.
12496 I can't understand why a person will take a year to write a novel
12497 when he can easily buy one for a few dollars.
12500 Many of my friends are under the impression that I write these humorous
12501 nothings in idle moments, when the wearied brain is unable to perform the
12502 serious labors of the economist. My own experience is exactly the other way.
12503 The writing of solid, instructive stuff, fortified by facts and figures, is
12504 easy enough. There is no trouble in writing a scientific treatise on the
12505 folklore of Central China, or a statistical inquiry into the declining
12506 population of Prince Edward Island. But to write something out of one's own
12507 mind, worth reading for its own sake, is an arduous contrivance only to be
12508 achieved in fortunate moments, few and far between. Personally, I would sooner
12509 have written Alice in Wonderland than the whole Encyclopedia Britannica.
12512 It's easier to find a travel companion than to get rid of one.
12515 God must love the rich or he wouldn't have divided
12516 so much among so few of them.
12519 I have been more concerned with the obscure than with the famous.
12520 They are more often themselves. They have had no need to create a
12521 figure to protect themselves from the world or to impress it. Their
12522 idiosyncrasies have had more chance to develop in the limited circle
12523 of their activity, and since they have never been in the public eye
12524 it has never occurred to them that they have anything to conceal.
12525 They display their oddities because it has never struck them that
12526 they are odd. And after all it is with the common run of men that
12527 we writers have to deal; kings, dictators, commercial magnates are
12528 from our point of view very unsatisfactory. To write about them is
12529 a venture that has often tempted writers, but the failure that has
12530 attended their efforts shows that such beings are too exceptional to
12531 form a proper ground for a work of art. They cannot be made real.
12532 The ordinary is the writer's richer field. Its unexpectedness, its
12533 singularity, its infinite variety afford unending material. The
12534 great man is too often all of a piece; it is the little man that is
12535 a bundle of contradictory elements. He is inexhaustible. You never
12536 come to the end of the surprises he has in store for you. For my
12537 part I would much sooner spend a month on a desert island with a
12538 veterinary surgeon than with a prime minister.
12539 -- W. Somerset Maugham, from "The Summing Up"
12541 Fanaticism consists in redoubling your efforts
12542 when you have forgotten your aim.
12543 -- George Santayana
12545 The importance of people as creators and carriers of knowledge is forcing
12546 organizations to realize that knowledge lies less in its databases than in
12547 its people. It's been said, for example, that if NASA wanted to go to the
12548 moon again, it would have to start from scratch, having lost not the data,
12549 but the human expertise that took it there last time. Similarly, Tom
12550 Davenport and Larry Prusake argue that when Ford wanted to build on the
12551 success of the Taurus, the company found that the essence of that success
12552 had been lost with the loss of the people that created it. Their knowledge
12553 was not stored in information technologies. It left when they left.
12554 -- John Seely Brown and Paul Duguid, in "The Social Life of Information"
12556 Either we live by accident and die by accident,
12557 or we live by plan and die by plan.
12560 Too long a sacrifice can make a stone of the heart.
12561 -- William Butler Yeats
12563 ...the act of producing a letter, even one which is never mailed,
12564 necessitates a form of creative concentration which can improve our
12565 lives. Copies of our own letters are useful for our records and
12566 memories. If their recipients think them worth saving, they can have
12567 value and effect far beyond that of the spoken word. In friendship,
12568 the letter is not only a message but a gift, a physical symbol of
12569 esteem and affection. In business or politics, the letter can not
12570 only express the concerns of the moment but remain as a document of
12571 such concerns, available for prolonged scrutiny by more than one
12572 reader. Moreover, while speakers and listeners in a debate are
12573 vulnerable to emotion and subject to fallacy, the well-written letter
12574 remains calm and crisp and is subject to nothing except superior reason.
12575 It can convince the open-minded, goad the weak-hearted, give our
12576 opponents an exact index of the level and intensity of our commitment,
12577 and be quoted by those who agree with us. But perhaps most importantly,
12578 our letters are the proof and body of our concern for life in its detail
12579 and our conviction that this concern should be shared with others.
12580 -- Robert Grudin, from "Time and the Art of Living"
12582 Mass transportation is doomed to failure in North America because a
12583 person's car is the only place where he can be alone and think.
12584 -- Marshall McLuhan
12586 You've got to accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative, latch
12587 on to the affirmative, and don't mess with Mister In-Between.
12590 Once, as promised, bots start interacting with one another,
12591 understanding bot behavior may become impossible. Anyone who has
12592 had to call a help line with a problem about the way an operating
12593 system from one vendor and program from another are working together--
12594 or failing to work--knows how hard it is to get anyone to take
12595 responsibility for software interactions. Support staff rapidly
12596 renounce all knowledge of (and usually interest in) problems that
12597 arise from interactions because there are just too many possibilities.
12598 So it's easy to imagine sophisticated programmers, let alone ordinary
12599 users, being unable to unravel how even a small group of bots reached
12600 a particular state autonomously. The challenge will be unfathomable
12601 if, as one research group has it, we can "anticipate a scenario in
12602 which billions of intelligent agents will roam the virtual world,
12603 handling all levels of simple to complex negotiations and transactions.
12604 If human agents are confused with digital ones, if human action is
12605 taken as mere information processing, and if the social complexities of
12606 negotiation, delegation, and representation are reduced to "when x, do y,"
12607 bots will end up with autonomy without accountability. Their owners, by
12608 contrast, may have accountability without control.
12609 -- John Seely Brown and Paul Duguid, in "The Social Life of Information"
12611 Life does not consist mainly--or even largely--of facts and
12612 happenings. It consists mainly of the storm of thoughts that
12613 is forever blowing through one's head.
12616 Hain't we got all the fools in town on our side?
12617 And ain't that a big enough majority in any town?
12618 -- Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn
12620 Every other country scorns American materialism while striving in
12621 every big and little way to match it. Envy obviously has something to do
12622 with it, but there is a true basis for this debate, and it is whether
12623 America is in its ascendance or its decline.
12624 I myself think I recognize here several of the symptoms that Edward
12625 Gibbons maintained were signs of the decline of Rome, and which arose not
12626 from external enemies but from inside the country itself. A mounting love
12627 of show and luxury. A widening gap between the very rich and the very poor.
12628 An obsession with sex. Freakishness in the arts masquerading as
12629 originality, and enthusiasm pretending to creativeness...
12630 There is, too, the general desire to live off the state, whether it
12631 is a junkie on welfare or an airline subsidized by the government: in a
12632 word, the notion that Washington -- Big Daddy -- will provide. And, most
12633 disturbing of all, a developing moral numbness to vulgarity, violence, and
12634 the assault on the simplest human decencies.
12635 Yet the original institutions of this country still have great
12636 vitality: the Republic can be kept, but only if we care to keep it. Much of
12637 the turmoil in America springs from the energy of people who are trying to
12638 apply those institutions to forgotten minorities who have awakened after a
12640 As I see it, in this country -- a land of the most persistent
12641 idealism and the blandest cynicism -- the race is on between its decadence
12642 and its vitality. There are the woes, which we share with the world, that
12643 you can see from your window: overpopulation; the pollution of the
12644 atmosphere, the cities and the rivers; the destruction of nature. I find it
12645 impossible to believe that a nation that produced such dogged and ingenious
12646 humans as Jefferson and Eli Whitney, John Deere and Ford, Kettering and
12647 Oppenheimer and Edison and Franklin, is going to sit back and let the worst
12648 happen. There is now a possibility, at least, that nuclear energy can help
12649 us to cure incurable diseases, to preserve our food indefinitely, and
12650 through breeder reactors, which renew more power in the act of spending it,
12651 can actually clean the cities and, let us pray, the oceans. And that would
12652 take us over a historical watershed that none of us has ever conceived.
12655 There are some enterprises in which a careful
12656 disorderliness is the true method.
12659 The dollar bills the customer gets from the tellers in four banks
12660 are the same. What is different are the tellers.
12663 I grew up in the last days of the British Empire. My childhood fell
12664 in that era when the words 'imperialism' and 'the West' had not yet acquired
12665 the connotations they have today -- they had not yet become, that is, mere
12666 synonyms for 'racism,' 'oppression,' and 'exploitation'.
12667 Or, at any rate, they had not yet become so among the intellectual,
12668 professional, and governing classes of Egypt. In Cairo it was entirely
12669 ordinary, among those classes, to grow up speaking English or French or
12670 both, and quite ordinary to attend an English or French school. It was taken
12671 for granted among the people who raised us that there was unquestionably
12672 much to admire in and learn from the civilization of Europe and the great
12673 strides that Europe had made in human advancement. No matter that the
12674 European powers were politically oppressive and indeed blatantly unjust; nor
12675 did it seem to matter that the very generation which raised us were
12676 themselves locked in struggle with the British for Egypt's political
12677 independence. There seemed to be no contradiction for them between pursuing
12678 independence from the European powers and deeply admiring European
12679 institutions, particularly democracy, and Europe's tremendous scientific
12681 -- Leila Ahmed, from "A Border Passage: From Cairo to America--
12684 the only possible mental bases for racism must ultimately be ignorance
12685 or stupidity or both. it's only a little-minded weak person that has to
12686 feel superior to another person just because of their skin color or
12687 nationality. but i try not to in turn feel superior to racists; i find
12688 only sadness for them instead. by imagining them trapped inside such an
12689 awful and constraining mental prison, my compassion is evoked for these
12692 Things are in the saddle, and ride mankind.
12693 -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
12695 One day Alice came to a fork in the road and saw a Cheshire cat
12696 in a tree. "Which road do I take?" she asked. His response was
12697 a question: "Where do you want to go?" "I don't know," Alice
12698 answered. "Then," said the cat, "it doesn't matter."
12701 It's not true that life is one damn thing after another--
12702 it's one damn thing over and over.
12703 -- Edna St. Vincent Millay
12705 Avoid fried meats which angry up the blood. If your stomach
12706 disputes you, lie down and pacify it with cool thoughts. Keep
12707 the juices flowing by jangling around gently as you move. Go
12708 very light on the vices, such as carrying on in society. The
12709 social life ain't restful. Avoid running at all times. Don't
12710 look back. Something may be gaining on you.
12711 -- Leroy "Satchel" Paige, from his autobiography,
12712 "How To Stay Young."
12714 Facts are all accidents. They all might have been different.
12715 They all may become different. They all may collapse together.
12716 -- George Santayana
12723 Begins to live that day.
12726 Thinking about it the other day, I realized that some of my unhappiest moments
12727 have been in organizations. Somehow it seems to be quite respectable to do
12728 things in organizations that you would never do in private life. I have had
12729 people insult me to my face in front of colleagues. I have had my feelings
12730 rammed down my throat on the pretext that it would do me good and have been
12731 required to do things which I didn't agree with because the organization wished
12732 it... In my worst moments I have thought that organizations were places
12733 designed to be run by sadists and staffed by masochists....
12736 The best organizations to be in, it seems, are the busiest ones as long
12737 as they are busy for someone else. The worst are those that are obsessed
12738 with their own innards... The healthiest are those which exist for others,
12739 not for themselves. Show me a business or a school or a church that is
12740 preoccupied with its customers or clients, determined to do its best for them
12741 and not just to survive for the sake of surviving, and I'll bet you that they
12742 don't have time for too many committees, for forms, for politicking or for
12743 nitpicking about mistakes. Those are the organizations which are fun to be
12744 in, which give you room to be yourself, to express yourself, to grow.
12747 The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook.
12750 Life is the process of finding out, too late, everything
12751 that should have been obvious at the time.
12752 -- John D. MacDonald
12754 If work was a good thing the rich would have it all
12755 and not let you do it.
12758 Any law that takes hold of a man's daily life cannot prevail
12759 in a community, unless the vast majority of the community are
12760 actively in favor of it. The laws that are the most operative
12761 are the laws which protect life.
12762 -- Henry Ward Beecher
12764 The graveyard is full of indispensable men.
12765 -- Charles de Gaulle
12767 I read about an Eskimo hunter who asked the local missionary
12768 priest, "If I did not know about God and sin, would I go to hell?"
12769 "No," said the priest, "not if you did not know."
12770 "Then why," asked the Eskimo earnestly, "did you tell me?"
12773 The day came when Grandmother couldn't keep all her stuff in the two
12774 tiny rooms to which she was finally reduced. So she packed everything
12775 she didn't need into enormous shopping bags and took off for the bank
12776 in the center of the city where she kept her account, by then down to
12777 a few pennies. Her husband had started the bank and had been its
12778 chairman until he died, and she was still treated with the consideration
12779 due his widow. But when she appeared with her shopping bags and asked
12780 to have the contents put on her account, the manager balked. "We can't
12781 put things on an account," he said, "only money."
12782 "That's mean and ungrateful of you," said Grandmother, "you only do
12783 this to me because I am a stupid old woman."
12784 And she promptly closed her account and drew out the balance. Then
12785 she went down the street to the nearest branch of the same bank, reopened
12786 her account there, and never said a word about her shopping bags.
12787 "Grandmother," we'd say, "if you thought the bank was unfriendly why
12788 did you reopen your account at another branch?"
12789 "It's a good bank," she said; "after all, my late husband founded it."
12790 "Then why not demand that the manager at the new branch take your
12792 "I never banked there before. He didn't owe me anything."
12793 -- Peter Drucker, "Adventures of a Bystander"
12795 Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.
12798 Talking about music is like dancing about architecture.
12801 Writing about music is like dancing about architecture--
12802 it's a really stupid thing to want to do.
12803 -- Elvis Costello, in an interview by Timothy White entitled
12804 "A Man out of Time Beats the Clock." Musician magazine
12805 No. 60 (October 1983), p. 52.
12807 The pressures for upscale consumption, and the work schedules
12808 that go along with it, created millions of exhausted, stressed-
12809 out people who started wondering if the cycle of work and spend
12810 was really worth it. And some concluded that it wasn't. So
12811 they started downshifting, reducing their hours of work and, in
12812 the process, earning and spending less money. Downshifters are
12813 opting out of excessive consumerism, choosing to have more
12814 leisure and balance in their schedules, a slower pace of life,
12815 more time with their kids, more meaningful work, and daily lives
12816 that line up squarely with their deepest values. These are not
12817 just fast-track yuppies leaving $200,000 jobs in Manhattan to
12818 settle in Montana, although there are plenty of those.
12819 Downshifters can be found at all income levels, from the
12820 comfortable suburbanites whose homes are paid for, to those who
12821 are counting every penny, resigned to the fact that they'll never
12822 own a home. Their jobs were leaving them drained, depressed, or
12823 wondering what life is all about. Now they may not have as much
12824 money, but they are spending every day answering that all-
12825 important question.
12828 The right to be let alone--the most comprehensive of rights and
12829 the right most valued by civilized men.
12830 -- Louis D. Brandeis
12832 The need to reach better mutual understanding through dialogue
12833 is strong in all sectors of society, but in none more than the
12834 business community. The growth of technology, the increase in
12835 the number of knowledge workers, and the blurring of boundaries
12836 of all kinds are transforming relationships at all levels of
12837 business. The traditional top-down style of leadership in a
12838 fortress-type company semi-isolated from others is increasingly
12839 out of vogue. It is being replaced by what I have come to
12840 think of as "relational leadership," where the defining task of
12841 leaders is developing webs of relationships with others rather
12842 than handing down visions, strategies, and plans as if they
12843 were commandments from the mountaintop.
12844 -- Daniel Yankelovich, "The Magic of Dialogue"
12846 Life is one long process of getting tired.
12849 Every great mistake has a halfway moment, a split second when it can
12850 recalled and perhaps remedied.
12853 Fortunately, many teachers intuitively know that the best way to
12854 achieve their goals is to enlist students' interest on their side.
12855 They do this by being sensitive to students' goals and desires, and
12856 they are thus able to articulate the pedagogical goals as meaningful
12857 challenges. They empower students to take control of their learning;
12858 they provide clear feedback to the students' efforts without
12859 threatening their egos and without making them self-conscious. They
12860 help students concentrate and get immersed in the symbolic world of
12861 the subject matter. As a result, good teachers still turn out
12862 children who enjoy learning, and who will continue to face the world
12863 with curiosity and interest.
12864 It is to be hoped that with time the realization that children
12865 are not miniature computing machines will take root in educational
12866 circles, and more attention will be paid to motivational issues.
12867 Unless this comes to pass, the current problems we are having with
12868 education are not likely to go away.
12869 -- Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, from "Creativity: Flow and Psychology
12870 of Discovery and Invention"
12872 The more human beings proceed by plan the more effectively they may
12873 be hit by accident.
12874 -- Friedrich Duerrenmatt
12876 We never see what's under our feet;
12877 we're too busy trying to see
12878 what's in the stars.
12881 Paradoxes have played a dramatic role in intellectual history,
12882 often foreshadowing revolutionary developments in science,
12883 mathematics, and logic. Whenever, in any discipline, we discover
12884 a problem that cannot be solved within the conceptual framework
12885 that supposedly should apply, we experience shock. The shock may
12886 compel us to discard the old framework and adopt a new one. It
12887 is to this process of intellectual molting that we owe the birth
12888 of many of the major ideas in mathematics and science. Zeno's
12889 paradox of Achilles and the tortoise gave birth to the idea of
12890 convergent infinite series. 'Antinomies' (internal contradictions
12891 in mathematical logic) eventually blossomed into Godel's theorem.
12892 The paradoxical result of the Michelson-Morley experiment on the
12893 speed of light set the stage for the theory of relativity. The
12894 discovery of wave-particle duality of light forced a reexamination
12895 of deterministic causality, the very foundation of scientific
12896 philosophy, and led to quantum mechanics.
12899 Examinations are formidable even to the best prepared, for the
12900 greatest fool may ask more than the wisest man can answer.
12901 -- Charles Caleb Colton
12903 More than any other time in history, mankind faces a crossroads.
12904 One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness.
12905 The other, to total extinction.
12906 Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly.
12909 Some books are undeservedly forgotten;
12910 none are undeservedly remembered.
12913 Every age is fed on illusions, lest men should renounce
12914 life early and the human race come to an end.
12917 Why is autobiography the most popular form of nonfiction
12918 for modern readers? Why are so many people moved to write their
12919 life stories today? And what is it about the genre that makes
12920 it appeal to readers not just in the Western world, but also in
12921 non-Western cultures, like those of Japan and India or the many
12922 cultures of Africa?...
12923 What makes the reading of autobiography so appealing is the
12924 chance it offers to see how this man or that woman whose public
12925 self interests us has negotiated the problem of self-awareness
12926 and has broken the internalized code a culture supplies about
12927 how life should be experienced. Most of us, unless faced with
12928 emotional illness, don't give our inner life scripts a fraction
12929 of the attention we give to the plots of movies or TV specials
12930 about some person of prominence. Yet the need to examine our
12931 inherited scripts is just beneath the surface of consciousness,
12932 so that while we think we are reading a gripping story, what
12933 really grips us is the inner reflection on our own lives the
12934 autobiographer sets in motion.
12937 Philosophy is a game with objectives and no rules.
12938 Mathematics is a game with rules and no objectives.
12941 The brain is a wonderful organ. It starts working
12942 the moment you get up in the morning and does not stop
12943 until you get into the office.
12946 We have a criminal jury system which is superior to any
12947 in the world; and its efficiency is only marred by the
12948 difficulty of finding twelve men every day who don't know
12949 anything and can't read.
12952 If you start to think about your physical or moral condition,
12953 you usually find that you are sick.
12954 -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
12956 A modest man is usually admired--if people ever hear of him.
12957 -- Edgar Watson Howe
12959 Modern housekeeping, despite its bad press, is among the most
12960 thoroughly pleasant, significant, and least alienated forms of work
12961 that many of us will encounter even if we are blessed with work
12962 outside the home that we like. Once, it was so physically onerous
12963 and arduous that it not infrequently contributed to a woman's total
12964 physical breakdown. Today, laundry, cleaning, and other household
12965 chores are by and large physically light or moderate work that doctors
12966 often recommend to people for their health, as evidence shows that
12967 housework is good for weight control and healthy hearts.
12968 Seen from the outside, housework can look like a Sisyphean task
12969 that gives you no sense of reward or completion. Yet housekeeping
12970 actually offers more opportunities for savoring achievement than
12971 almost any other work I can think of. Each of its regular routines
12972 brings satisfaction when it is completed. These routines echo the
12973 rhythm of life, and the housekeeping rhythm is the rhythm of the body.
12974 You get satisfaction not only from the sense of order, cleanliness,
12975 freshness, peace and plenty restored, but from the knowledge that you
12976 yourself and those you care about are going to enjoy these benefits.
12977 -- Cheryl Mendelson
12979 I'll tell you what it's like to be No. 1. I compare it to climbing
12980 Mount Everest. It's very difficult. Lives are lost along the way.
12981 You struggle and struggle and finally you get up there. And guess
12982 what there is once you get up there? Snow and ice.
12985 Never ask a person what to do, always tell him or her.
12986 If it's the wrong thing to do, or if there is a better way,
12987 they'll come back and tell you. But if you don't tell them
12988 what to do, they won't do anything but make a study.
12989 -- Eugenia Schwartzwald
12991 War, it seems to me, after a lifetime of reading about the subject,
12992 mingling with men of war, visiting the sites of war and observing its
12993 effects, may well be ceasing to commend itself to human beings as a
12994 desirable or productive, let alone rational, means of reconciling their
12995 discontents. This is not mere idealism. Mankind does have the capacity,
12996 over time, to correlate the costs and benefits of large and universal
12998 Throughout much of the time for which we have a record of human
12999 behaviour, mankind can clearly be seen to have judged that war's benefits
13000 outweighed its costs, or appeared to do so when a putative balance was
13001 struck. Now the computation works in the opposite direction. Costs
13002 clearly exceed benefits. Some of these costs are material. The
13003 superinflationary expense of weapon procurement distorts the budgets even
13004 of the richest states, while poor states deny themselves the chance of
13005 economic emancipation when they seek to make themselves militarily
13007 The human costs of actually going to war are even higher. Rich
13008 states, as between themselves, recognize that they are not to be borne.
13009 Poor states which fall into war with rich states are overwhelmed and
13010 humiliated. Poor states which fight each other, or are drawn into civil
13011 war, destroy their own well being, and even the structures which make
13012 recovery from the experience of war possible. War truly has become a
13013 scourge, as was disease throughout most of human history. The scourge
13014 of disease has, almost within living memory, been very largely defeated
13015 and, though it is true that disease had no friends as war has had friends,
13016 war now demands a friendship which can only be paid in false coin.
13017 A world political economy which makes no room for war demands, it
13018 must be recognized, a new culture of human relations. As most cultures of
13019 which we have knowledge were transfused by the warrior spirit, such a
13020 cultural transformation demands a break with the past for which there are
13021 no precedents. There is no precedent, however, for the menace with which
13022 future war now confronts the world.
13023 -- John Keegan, "A History of Warfare"
13025 Creditors are a superstitious sect,
13026 great observers of set days and times.
13027 -- Benjamin Franklin, "Poor Richard's Almanack"
13029 Despite the abundant evidence that compassion is a basic
13030 human trait, the view has long prevailed that human beings are
13031 either heartless or brutal toward most of their fellows. Every
13032 compendium of familiar quotations has an abundance of statements
13033 like "The greatest enemy to man is man" (Robert Burton) but
13034 almost none like "Precious is man to man" (Thomas Carlyle).
13035 Altruism research attests that kindness is as integral to human
13036 nature as cruelty, yet in the news and in the historical record
13037 cruel acts vastly outnumber kind ones.
13038 Why are we keenly aware of the despicable in us but largely
13039 insensible of the admirable? Not, I suggest, because the
13040 despicable is common and the admirable rare but the very reverse.
13041 Prosocial behavior of all sorts, including altruism, is so normal
13042 and expected that we scarcely notice it but are struck by its
13043 absence or opposite. We see nothing unusual in a passerby's
13044 helping a fallen elderly person to his feet but are surprised and
13045 disturbed if the passerby ignores him. We expect people to be
13046 kind and helpful to a stranger in distress; we are startled and
13047 troubled when they look away and hurry past. Cruelty is
13048 attention-getting, kindness unremarkable, and so we agree with
13049 Seneca that "man delights to ruin man" and with William James that
13050 "of all the beasts of prey... [man is] the only one that preys
13051 systematically on its own species".
13052 -- Morton Hunt, "The Compassionate Beast"
13054 Life is all memory, except for the one present moment
13055 that goes by you so quick you hardly catch it going.
13056 -- Tennessee Williams
13058 There are serious reasons members of my generation are feeling a high
13059 level of anxiety and unhappiness these days, but it is interesting to look
13060 at how we "know" this: the polls. I used to like polls because I like vox
13061 pop, and polls seemed a good way to get a broad sampling. But now I think
13062 the vox has popped--the voice has cracked from too many command performances.
13063 Polls are contributing to a strange new volatility in public opinion...
13064 The dramatic rises and drops are fueled in part by mass media and their
13065 famous steady drumbeat of what's not working, from an increase in reported
13066 child abuse to a fall in savings. When this tendency is not prompted by
13067 ideology it is legitimate: good news isn't news. But the volatility is also
13068 driven by the polls themselves. People think they have to have an answer
13069 when they are questioned by pollsters, and they think the answer has to be
13070 "intelligent" and "not naive". This has the effect of hardening opinions
13071 that haven't even been formed yet. Poll questions do not invite subtlety or
13072 response. This dispels ambiguity, when a lot of thoughts and opinions are
13074 And we are polled too often. We are constantly having our temperature
13075 taken, like a hypochondriac who is looking for the reassurance no man can
13076 have, i.e., that he will not die... Nations that use polls as daily
13077 temperature readings inevitably give inauthentic readings, and wind up not
13078 reassured but demoralized.
13081 The chief object of education is
13082 not to learn things but to unlearn things.
13083 -- G. K. Chesterton
13085 When a subject becomes totally obsolete we make it a required course.
13088 He will kill mice and he will be kind to babies...
13089 but when the moon gets up and the night comes, he is
13090 the Cat that Walks by Himself.
13093 Everyone is a prisoner of his own prejudices.
13094 No one can eliminate prejudices--just recognize them.
13095 -- Edward R. Murrow
13097 I am the least difficult of men.
13098 All I want is boundless love.
13101 If you can't say anything good about someone, sit right here by me.
13102 -- Alice Roosevelt Longworth
13104 Let's face it, life is mainly wasted time.
13107 Pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living!
13110 Time spent with cats is never wasted.
13113 Most of us find ourselves at one time or another in a toy shop,
13114 looking for a gift for a child. Those of us who have not been in such
13115 stores since our youth can easily be bewildered, especially if we were
13116 born before the 1960s. Our favorite toys or games--fire engines,
13117 Tinkertoys, or baby dolls--have disappeared or are hidden in row after
13118 row of heroic fighters, fashion dolls, and exotic stuffed animals. The
13119 more practical of us enter the store with a list of items desired by
13120 the child--this season's action figure, the newest Barbie, or the
13121 latest video game. Veteran toy shoppers may enjoy the inevitable
13122 transformations as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles give way to Mighty
13123 Morphin Power Rangers and Locket Surprise Barbie to Tropic Splash
13124 Barbie. But equally we may be appalled to think about the dozens of
13125 Ninja Turtles that an older boy just had to have a year earlier but
13126 that were then shunned by a younger brother who just had to have Power
13127 Rangers. Why don't kids pass down their toys as we remember giving our
13128 building blocks and dollhouses to our younger brothers and sisters? It
13129 is easy to wonder whether each year's must-have toys are really for
13130 children's play or whether their ever-changing forms represent other
13132 There have been disturbing changes in the making of playthings in
13133 the last few decades. Since the late 1960s many old toy companies,
13134 venerated for manufacturing toys passed from one generation to the
13135 next, have disappeared...
13136 A tradition of manufacturing boys' construction and science sets
13137 promised parents that their children would be preparing to join the
13138 adult world of engineering, industry, and science... The old kitchen
13139 play sets, dollhouses, and baby dolls that were to teach girls the arts
13140 of housekeeping and childcare are also less in evidence today. Toys
13141 that seem to prepare children for adult life have become harder to
13143 The ever-expanding toy industry reflects a general American
13144 commitment to unrestrained markets and to constant change, a commitment
13145 at least a century old. Americans have long admired the new and have
13146 enriched those who produce it. For decades American parents have
13147 enjoyed sharing the world of consumption with their offspring. At
13148 first they did so knowing that they ultimately mediated between toys
13149 and their children. When the floodgates were opened and torrents of
13150 toys were presented directly to kids, parents found themselves merely
13151 providers of funds to buy toys.
13152 -- Gary Cross, "Kids' Stuff: Toys and the Changing World of American
13155 Business is never so healthy as when, like a chicken, it must
13156 do a certain amount of scratching around for what it gets.
13159 If you assign people duties without granting
13160 them any rights, you must pay them well.
13161 -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
13163 It is far easier to write ten passable effective sonnets,
13164 good enough to take in the not too inquiring critic,
13165 than one effective advertisement that will take in a few
13166 thousand of the uncritical buying public.
13169 tail end of the day
13170 work escapes my fat fingers
13171 like greasy wieners
13174 Anything that won't sell, I don't want to invent.
13175 Its sale is proof of utility and utility is success.
13176 -- Thomas Alva Edison
13178 Our lives are suspended like our planet in gimbals of duality,
13179 half sunlight and half shadow. If we plead with nature, it is
13180 in vain; she is wonderfully indifferent to our fate, and it is
13181 her custom to try everything and to be ruthless with incompetence.
13182 Ninety-nine percent of all the species that have lived on Earth
13183 have died away, and no stars will wink out in tribute if we in
13184 our folly soon join them.
13187 It is characteristic of the present time always to be conscious
13188 of the medium. It is almost bound to end in madness, like a man
13189 who whenever he looked at the sun and the stars was conscious of
13190 the world going round.
13193 The vanity of man revolts from the serene indifference of the cat.
13196 There are two means of refuge from the
13197 miseries of life: music and cats.
13198 -- Albert Schweitzer
13200 Open source should be about giving away things voluntarily.
13201 When you force someone to give you something, it's no longer
13202 giving, it's stealing. Persons of leisurely moral growth
13203 often confuse giving with taking.
13206 Stripped of ethical rationalizations and philosophical
13207 pretensions, a crime is anything that a group in power
13208 chooses to prohibit.
13211 People are more violently opposed to fur than
13212 leather because it's safer to harass rich women
13213 than motorcycle gangs.
13216 A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't
13217 change the subject.
13218 -- Winston Churchill
13220 Do not criticize your government when out of the
13221 country. Never cease to do so when at home.
13222 -- Winston Churchill
13224 Some civil servants are neither servants nor civil.
13225 -- Winston Churchill
13227 Golf is a game whose sole aim is to hit a very small
13228 ball into an even smaller hole, with weapons
13229 singularly ill designed for that purpose.
13230 -- Winston Churchill
13232 If it is a blessing, it is certainly very well disguised.
13233 -- Winston Churchill
13235 In war, you can only be killed once, but in politics, many times.
13236 -- Winston Churchill
13238 Some people's idea of free speech is that they are free
13239 to say anything they like, but if anyone says anything
13240 back, that is an outrage.
13241 -- Winston Churchill
13243 I am ready to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is
13244 prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another
13246 -- Winston Churchill
13248 If you destroy a free market you create a black market.
13249 -- Winston Churchill
13251 If you have ten thousand regulations you destroy
13252 all respect for the law.
13253 -- Winston Churchill
13255 Nothing in life is so exhilarating as to be shot at
13257 -- Winston Churchill
13259 It is a socialist ideal that making profits is a vice.
13260 I consider the real vice is making losses.
13261 -- Winston Churchill
13263 If you would know the value of money, go and try to borrow some.
13264 -- Benjamin Franklin
13266 The world is charged with the grandeur of God.
13267 -- Gerard Manley Hopkins
13269 The sounder your argument, the more satisfaction you get out of it.
13272 Expertise, it may be argued, sacrifices the insight of common sense
13273 to intensity of experience. It breeds an inability to accept new views from
13274 the very depth of its preoccupation with its won conclusions. It too often
13275 fails to see round its subject. It sees its results out of perspective by
13276 making them the centre of relevance to which all other results must be
13277 related. Too often, also, it lacks humility; and this breeds in its
13278 possessors a failure in proportion which makes them fail to see the obvious
13279 which is before their very noses. It has, also, a certain caste-spirit about
13280 it, so that experts tend to neglect all evidence which does not come from
13281 those who belong to their own ranks.
13282 Above all, perhaps, and this most urgently when human problems are
13283 concerned, the expert fails to see that every judgment he makes not purely
13284 factual in nature brings with it a scheme of values which has no special
13285 validity about it. He tends to confuse the importance of his facts with the
13286 importance of what he proposes to do about them.
13287 -- Harold J. Laski, "The Limitations of the Expert"
13289 If women are to do the same work as men,
13290 we must teach them the same things.
13293 Dogs may fawn on all and some
13295 You, a friend of loftier mind,
13296 Answer friends alone in kind;
13297 Just your foot upon my hand
13298 Softly bids it understand.
13299 -- Algernon Charles Swinburne
13301 The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it.
13304 The machine does not isolate man from the great problems
13305 of nature but plunges him more deeply into them.
13306 -- Antoine de Saint-Exupery
13308 Today in USA Today, experts were quoted as saying that the breakup of
13309 Microsoft would result in shoddy products and missed deadlines...
13311 And Microsoft is worrying about being able to do business as usual.
13313 The justice department has released its recommendations on
13314 names for the two parts of Microsoft, post split:
13316 MICROS~1 and MICROS~2
13318 I think we should partition Microsoft into an OS company
13319 (called "C:") and an apps company ("D:"). Then we should
13320 blow away both partitions....
13323 Microsoft has argued in court that the US government's plan
13324 to break up the company is "defective in numerous respects,
13325 making the document vague and ambiguous."
13327 In which respect it's much like Microsoft's documentation.
13329 Immediately after the announcement by Judge Penfield of splitting
13330 the company in two, Microsoft sued Micro.Com Specialists, LLC, and
13331 Software Research, Inc. (owners of www.soft.com) for infringement
13332 of copyrights and cyber-squatting.
13334 your brain will enlarge as necessary. just don't get angry or
13335 confused or scared or sad, if possible... you'll be amazed at
13336 what that blob of cells is capable of.
13339 If you like laws and sausage, you should
13340 never watch either being made.
13341 -- Otto von Bismarck
13343 The most happy marriage I can picture or imagine to myself
13344 would be the union of a deaf man to a blind woman.
13345 -- Samuel Taylor Coleridge
13347 A doctor can bury his mistakes, but an architect can only
13348 advise his clients to plant vines.
13349 -- Frank Lloyd Wright
13351 He taught me housekeeping; when I divorce I keep the house.
13352 -- Zsa Zsa Gabor, speaking of her ex-husband
13354 There is really no such thing as bad weather,
13355 only different kinds of good weather.
13358 She's not a babe. She's a sophisticated real-time computer system.
13359 -- Spokesman for Ananova, a virtual news anchor
13361 The man who laughs has not yet been told the terrible news.
13364 I am easily satisfied with the very best.
13365 -- Winston Churchill
13367 Uncertainty and expectations are the joys of life.
13368 Security is an insipid thing, and the overtaking and
13369 possessing of a wish, discovers the folly of the chase.
13370 -- William Congreve
13372 Sleep is simply not dispensable, regardless of the attempts in
13373 today's society to treat it as if it were simply unproductive 'downtime'.
13374 The desire to get more sleep is not a sign of laziness, nor does it
13375 represent a lack of ambition. The need for sleep is real...
13376 When we try to sleep less than the 8-hour minimum, things start to
13377 deteriorate. First of all, the effects of less than 8 hours of sleep a
13378 night seem to accumulate as a sleep debt. If you lose 2 hours today and 2
13379 hours tomorrow, on the third day your efficiency is as low as if you had
13380 lost 4 hours in one night. This is the way our sleep debt builds up.
13381 Eventually, if the sleep debt becomes large enough, we become slow, clumsy,
13382 stupid, and, possibly, dead. This is not an exaggeration. Remember, the
13383 national death rate by accidents jumps 6 percent as a result of simply
13384 losing 1 hour of sleep as we shift to daylight savings time in the spring...
13385 Perhaps someday society will act to do something about sleepiness.
13386 It may even come to pass that someday the person who drives or goes to work
13387 while sleepy will be viewed as being as reprehensible, dangerous, or even
13388 criminally negligent as the person who drives or goes to work while drunk.
13389 If so, perhaps the rest of us can all sleep a little bit more soundly.
13392 You haven't lived until you've lived with a cat.
13395 When you appeal to force, there's one thing you must never do--lose.
13396 -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
13398 It is because the body is a machine that education is possible.
13399 Education is the formation of habits, a superinducing of an
13400 artificial organization upon the natural organization of the body.
13401 -- Thomas H. Huxley
13403 If someone asks you, "Where do you live?" you are likely to answer
13404 with the name of a neighborhood, or a nearby geographic landmark. But if you
13405 give the question a sharper focus and ask yourself "And do I really live
13406 there?" then the answer becomes more vexing. Most of us can't claim to
13407 really live in the neighborhoods where we sleep. Few of us have the time to
13408 take part in the life of the community, and in many cases there is no
13409 community life to take part in. To varying degrees many of us can say of
13410 our neighborhoods what Gertrude Stein said of Oakland: "There is no _there_
13412 Bodenstandigkeit is German philosopher Martin Heidegger's term for
13413 the sense of being rooted in a place. It is this connection to a place that
13414 grounds us in Being, Heidegger claimed, and even if you don't buy into the
13415 existential mumbo-jumbo, it's not hard to understand the underlying insight:
13416 People who have no rootedness to a place are tumbleweeds, blown about on the
13417 currents of the zeitgeist. You have to be somebody, from somewhere, to know
13421 You don't understand anything until you learn it more than one way.
13424 When you confer spiritual authority on another person, you
13425 must realize that you are allowing them to pick your pocket
13426 and sell you your own watch.
13429 What then is the education to be? Perhaps we could hardly find a
13430 better answer than that which the experience of the past has already
13431 discovered--which consists, I believe, in gymnastic for the body and
13432 music for the mind.
13435 The word 'genius' isn't applicable in football.
13436 A genius is a guy like Norman Einstein.
13437 -- Joe Theisman, NFL quarterback
13439 Sometimes the only way you can feel good about yourself is by making
13440 someone else look bad. And I'm tired of making other people feel good
13444 I was determined to know beans.
13445 -- Henry David Thoreau
13447 Today, the notion of a star-spangled melting pot seems quaint,
13448 of another age. Increasingly, America is a fractured landscape,
13449 its people partitioned into dozens of cultural enclaves, its
13450 ideals reflected through differing prisms of experience. And
13451 this fracturing is likely to continue as the self-concept of
13452 America shifts from a majority white-minority black nation to
13453 a pluralistic society of many ethnic and racial groups. At the
13454 close of what's been called the American Century, during which
13455 the nation emerged as the dominant world power in commerce and
13456 politics, old myths are dying hard and new ones are just being
13457 forged. In this clustered world, the national identity is
13458 changing, and most of us don't even know it. Forget the melting
13459 pot. America today would be better characterized as a salad bar.
13460 -- Michael J. Weiss
13462 Personally, I'm always ready to learn,
13463 although I do not always like being taught.
13464 -- Winston Churchill
13466 The Constitution only gives people the right to
13467 pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself.
13470 Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when
13471 you fall down an open manhole and die.
13474 As a general rule, the most successful man in
13475 life is the man who has the best information.
13476 -- Benjamin Disraeli
13478 It is one of the blessings of old friends that
13479 you can afford to be stupid with them.
13480 -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
13482 A child of five would understand this.
13483 Send someone to fetch a child of five.
13486 Either this man is dead or my watch has stopped.
13489 I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns
13490 on the set, I go into the other room and read a book.
13493 I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member.
13496 I've had a perfectly wonderful evening.
13497 But this wasn't it.
13500 Those are my principles, and if you don't like
13501 them... well, I have others.
13504 When I picked up your book I was so convulsed with laughter
13505 that I had to set it down, but one day I intend to read it.
13508 Some people claim that marriage interferes with romance.
13509 There's no doubt about it. Anytime you have a romance,
13510 your wife is bound to interfere.
13513 God has made the cat to give man the
13514 pleasure of caressing the tiger.
13517 We are not without accomplishment. We have
13518 managed to distribute poverty equally.
13519 -- Nguyen Co Thatch, Vietnamese Foreign
13521 Chance is always powerful. Let your hook be
13522 always cast. In the pool where you least expect
13523 it, will be a fish.
13526 If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is
13527 because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music
13528 which he hears, however measured or far away.
13529 -- Henry David Thoreau
13531 The difficulty is to try and teach the multitude that something can
13532 be true and untrue at the same time.
13533 -- Arthur Schopenhauer
13535 God made the Idiot for practice, and then He made the School Board.
13538 People often applaud an imitation and then sneer at the real thing.
13541 A thought which does not result
13542 in an action is nothing much,
13543 and an action which does not proceed
13544 from a thought is nothing at all.
13545 -- Georges Bernanos
13549 Security holes are only software bugs when
13550 one of the software's requirements is security.
13554 do outlook, internet explorer and, indeed, windows
13555 itself have 'bugs'? because that would indicate
13556 that microsoft has a requirement of security...
13557 it seems more likely that any security problems are just
13558 a by-product of the microsoft swiss cheese development
13559 methodology(tm)... if it doesn't stink and have a lot
13560 of holes, then it's not from microsoft.
13563 The biggest fool in the world is he who merely does his work
13564 supremely well, without attending to appearance.
13567 Now and then there is a person born who is so unlucky that he runs
13568 into accidents which started out to happen to somebody else.
13571 Daydreaming does not enjoy tremendous prestige in our culture,
13572 which tends to regard it as unproductive thought. Writers
13573 perhaps appreciate its importance better than most, since a
13574 fair amount of what they call work consists of little more
13575 than daydreaming edited. Yet anyone who reads for pleasure
13576 should prize it too, for what is reading a good book but a
13577 daydream at second hand? Unlike any other form of thought,
13578 daydreaming is its own reward. For regardless of the result
13579 (if any), the very process of daydreaming is pleasurable.
13580 And, I would guess, is probably a psychological necessity.
13581 For isn't it in our daydreams that we acquire some sense of
13582 what we are about? Where we try on futures and practice our
13583 voices before committing ourselves to words or deeds?
13584 Daydreaming is where we go to cultivate the self, or, more
13585 likely, selves, out of the view and earshot of other people.
13586 Without its daydreams, the self is apt to shrink down to the
13587 size and shape of the estimation of others.
13590 Eccentricity is not, as dull people would have us believe,
13591 a form of madness. It is often a kind of innocent pride,
13592 and the man of genius and the aristocrat are frequently
13593 regarded as eccentrics because genius and aristocrat are
13594 entirely unafraid of and uninfluenced by the opinions and
13595 vagaries of the crowd.
13596 -- Dame Edith Sitwell
13598 There are times when I think that the ideal library is
13599 composed solely of reference books. They are like
13600 understanding friends--always ready to change the subject
13601 when you have had enough of this or that.
13604 Mothers, fathers, aren't supposed to change, any more than
13605 they are supposed to leave, or die. They must not do that.
13608 The greatest obstacle to discovery is not
13609 ignorance--it is the illusion of knowledge.
13610 -- Daniel J. Boorstin
13612 Congress is so strange. A man gets up to speak and says nothing.
13613 Nobody listens--and then everybody disagrees.
13616 All music is folk music. I ain't never heard no horse sing a song.
13617 -- Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong
13619 Creative minds have always been known
13620 to survive any kind of bad training.
13623 Victory goes to the player who makes the next-to-last mistake.
13624 -- Chessmaster Savielly Grigorievitch Tartakower
13626 I recently read that love is entirely a matter of chemistry.
13627 That must be why my wife treats me like toxic waste.
13628 -- David Bissonette
13630 I married the first man I ever kissed.
13631 When I tell my children that they just about throw up.
13634 The trouble with some women is they get all excited
13635 about nothing--and then they marry him.
13638 Half of the harm that is done in this world is due to people
13639 who want to feel important. They don't mean to do harm.
13640 But the harm does not interest them.
13643 When you're finished changing, you're finished.
13644 -- Benjamin Franklin
13646 It is time we start searching for the fountain of age, time that
13647 we stop denying our growing older and look at the actuality of our
13648 own experience, and that of other women and men who have gone
13649 beyond denial to a new place in their sixties, seventies, eighties.
13650 It is time to look at age on its own terms, and put names on its
13651 values and strengths as they are actually experienced, breaking
13652 through the definition of age solely as deterioration or decline
13653 from youth. Only then will we see that the problem is not age
13654 itself, to be denied or warded off as long as possible, that the
13655 problem is not those increasing numbers of people living beyond
13656 sixty-five, to be segregated from the useful, valuable, pleasurable
13657 activities of society so that the rest of us can keep our illusion
13658 of staying forever young. Nor is the basic political problem the
13659 burden on society of those forced into deterioration, second
13660 childhood, even senility. The problem is not how we can stay young
13661 forever, personally--or avoid facing society's problems politically
13662 by shifting them onto age. The problem is, first of all, how to
13663 break through the cocoon of our illusory youth and risk a new stage
13664 in life, where there are not prescribed role models to follow, no
13665 guidepost, no rigid rules or visible rewards, to step out into the
13666 true existential unknown of these new years of life now open to us,
13667 and to find our own terms for living it.
13670 When I am getting ready to reason with a man, I spend one-third
13671 of my time thinking about myself and what I am going to say and
13672 two-thirds about him and what he is going to say.
13675 Blessed are they who have nothing to say
13676 and who cannot be persuaded to say it.
13677 -- James Russell Lowell
13679 Personal computers are less able to sense human presence
13680 than are modern toilets or outdoor floodlights that have simple
13681 motion sensors. Your inexpensive auto-focus camera has more
13682 intelligence about what is in front of it than any terminal or
13684 When you lift your hands from your computer keyboard, it
13685 does not know whether the pause is reflective, a nature break,
13686 or an interruption for lunch. It cannot tell the difference
13687 between talking to you alone or in front of six other people.
13688 It does not know if you are in your night-or party clothes or
13689 no clothes at all. For all it knows, you could have your back
13690 to it while it was showing you something important, or you
13691 could be out of earshot altogether while it was speaking to you.
13692 We think today solely from the perspective of what would
13693 make it easier for a person to use a computer. It may be time
13694 to ask what will make it easier for computers to deal with
13695 humans. For example, how can you possibly hold a conversation
13696 with people if you don't even know they are there? You can't
13697 see them, and you don't know how many there are. Are they
13698 smiling? Are they even paying attention? We talk longingly
13699 about human-computer interactions and conversational systems,
13700 and yet we are fully prepared to leave one participant in this
13701 dialogue totally in the dark. It is time to make computers see
13703 -- Nicholas Negroponte
13705 The energy produced by the breaking down of the
13706 atom is a very poor kind of thing. Anyone who
13707 expects a source of power from the transformation
13708 of these atoms is talking moonshine.
13709 -- Ernest Rutherford
13711 Finance is the art of passing currency from
13712 hand to hand until it finally disappears.
13713 -- Robert W. Sarnoff
13715 The scientific community speaks about its work in a cool
13716 and disinterested manner. To present an exciting profile
13717 would be unprofessional. Any excess of emotion would suggest
13718 a lack of neutrality and therefore a tendency to read what
13719 they want in the facts rather than reporting what they see.
13720 Scientific objectivity must therefore appear to be boring.
13721 Scientists are well aware that their work is neither
13722 boring nor objective. If it were, very few discoveries would
13724 Social science, being falsely empirical, is triply
13725 obsessed by the obligation to present itself as the objective
13726 interpretation of observed reality. Since the more or less
13727 hard edges of scientific inquiry are not involved, social
13728 scientists are free to be more categorical about truth,
13729 reality and what they call facts. They therefore seek to be
13730 more boring than scientists.
13731 -- John Ralston Saul
13733 Despair is perfectly compatible with a good dinner, I promise you.
13734 -- William M. Thackeray
13736 A genius is someone who can do anything except make a living.
13739 If you like a man's laugh before you know anything of him,
13740 you may say with confidence that he is a good man.
13741 -- Fyodor Dostoevski
13743 Fortune befriends the bold.
13746 Success in almost any field depends more on energy
13747 and drive than it does on intelligence. This explains
13748 why we have so many stupid leaders.
13751 Socialism is Bolshevism with a shave.
13754 I like long walks, especially when they are taken by people who annoy me.
13757 Give a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day.
13758 Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life.
13760 It is a myth, not a mandate, a fable not a logic,
13761 and symbol rather than a reason by which men are moved.
13764 Dakota tribal wisdom says that when you're on a dead horse, the best
13765 strategy is to dismount. Of course, there are other strategies. You
13766 can change riders. You can get a committee to study the dead horse.
13767 You can benchmark how other companies ride dead horses. You can
13768 declare that it's cheaper to feed a dead horse. You can harness
13769 several dead horses together. But after you've tried all these things,
13770 you're still going to have to dismount.
13773 You think it's a conspiracy by the networks to put bad shows on TV.
13774 But the shows are bad because that's what people want. It's not like
13775 Windows users don't have any power; I think they are happy with
13776 Windows, and that's an incredibly depressing thought.
13779 Coaches have to watch for what they don't want to see
13780 and listen to what they don't want to hear.
13783 Never forget the power of silence, that massively disconcerting
13784 pause which goes on and on and may at last induce an opponent to
13785 babble and backtrack nervously.
13788 Florence Nightingale, on her kitten's reaction to an older cat:
13790 "The little one stands her ground, and when the old enemy comes near
13791 enough kisses his nose and makes the peace. That is the lesson of
13792 life: to kiss one's enemy's nose always standing one's ground."
13794 In the game known as Broken Telephone (or Chinese Whispers) a child
13795 whispers a phrase into the ear of a second child, who whispers it into
13796 the ear of a third child, and so one. Distortions accumulate, and when
13797 the last child announces the phrase, it is comically different from the
13798 original. The game works because each child does not merely degrade the
13799 phrase, which would culminate in a mumble, but reanalyzes it, making a
13800 best guess about the words the preceding child had in mind.
13801 All languages change through the centuries. We do not speak like
13802 Shakespeare (1564-1616), who did not speak like Chaucer (1343-1400), who
13803 did not speak like the author of Beowulf (around 750-800). As the
13804 changes take place, people feel the ground eroding under their feet and
13805 in every era have predicted the imminent demise of the language. Yet
13806 the twelve hundred years of changes since Beowulf have not left us
13807 grunting like Tarzan, and that is because language change is a game of
13809 A generation of speakers uses their lexicon and grammar to produce
13810 sentences. The younger generation listens to the sentences and tries to
13811 infer the lexicon and grammar, the remarkable feat we call language
13812 acquisition. The transmission of a lexicon and grammar in language
13813 acquisition is fairly high in fidelity -- you probably can communicate
13814 well with your parents and your children -- but it is never perfect.
13815 Words rise and fall in popularity, as the needs of daily life change, and
13816 also as the hip try to sound different from the dweebs and graybeards.
13817 Speakers swallow or warp some sounds to save effort, and enunciate or
13818 shift others to make themselves understood. Immigrants or conquerors
13819 with regional or foreign accents may swamp the locals and change the pool
13820 of speech available to children.
13821 Children, for their part, do not mimic sentences like parrots but try
13822 to make sense of them in terms of underlying words and rules. They may
13823 hear a mumbled consonant as no consonant at all, or a drawn-out or
13824 mispronounced vowel as a different vowel. They may fail to discern the
13825 rationale for a rule and simply memorize its outputs as a list. Or they
13826 may latch on to some habitual way of ordering words and hypothesize a new
13827 rule to make sense of it. The language of their generation will have
13828 changed, though it need not have deteriorated. Then the process is
13829 repeated with their children. Each change may be small, but as changes
13830 accumulate over centuries they reshape the language just as erosion and
13831 sedimentation imperceptibly sculpt the earth.
13834 Ideas won't keep: something must be done about them.
13835 -- Alfred North Whitehead
13837 Simple solutions seldom are. It takes a very unusual
13838 mind to undertake analysis of the obvious.
13839 -- Alfred North Whitehead
13841 Ninety-Ninety Rule n.
13842 "The first 90% of the code accounts for the first 90% of the
13843 development time. The remaining 10% of the code accounts for the
13844 other 90% of the development time." Attributed to Tom Cargill of
13845 Bell Labs, and popularized by Jon Bentley's September 1985
13846 "Bumper-Sticker Computer Science" column in "Communications of
13848 It was there called the "Rule of Credibility", a name which
13849 seems not to have stuck. Other maxims in the same vein include
13850 the law attributed to the early British computer scientist Douglas
13851 Hartree: "The time from now until the completion of the project
13852 tends to become constant."
13854 Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell.
13857 No matter how bad things get
13858 you got to go on living,
13859 even if it kills you.
13862 A man's palate can, in time, become accustomed to anything.
13863 -- Napoleon Bonaparte
13865 Because they did not see merit where they should have seen it,
13866 people, to express their regret, will go and leave a lot of
13867 money to the very people who will be the first to throw stones
13868 at the next person who has anything to say and finds a difficulty
13869 in getting a hearing.
13872 I praise loudly, I blame softly.
13873 -- Catherine II of Russia
13875 Deny yourself! You must deny yourself!
13876 That is the song that never ends.
13879 There are few more doleful sounds than the
13880 laughter of a man without humour.
13883 Children are the first to lose their innocence,
13884 artists the second: idiots never.
13887 What is the good of being an island,
13888 if you are not a volcanic island?
13891 Manners are a sensitive awareness of the feelings of others. If you
13892 have that awareness, you have good manners, no matter what fork you use.
13895 Most human beings have to spend their lives in utter vulnerability.
13896 All are murderable and torturable, and survive only through the restraint
13897 shown by more powerful neighbors. All are born unequal, in terms of
13898 capacity or strength. All are born to the inherent frailty of the human
13899 condition, naked and helpless, vulnerable all through life to the will of
13900 others, limited by ignorance, limited by physical weakness, limited by
13901 fear, limited by the phobias that fear engenders.
13902 For nearly three thousand years now, the political and social genius
13903 of what we can permissibly call 'Western man' has struggled with these
13904 brute facts of our unsatisfactory existence. Ever since the Hebrews
13905 discovered personal moral responsibility and the Greeks discovered the
13906 autonomy of the citizen, the effort has been made--with setbacks and
13907 defeats, with dark ages and interregnums and any number of irrelevant
13908 adventures on the side-to create a social order in which weak, fallible,
13909 obstinate, silly, magnificent man can maintain his dignity and exercise his
13910 free and responsible choice.
13913 Let us work without theorizing. It's the only way to
13914 make life endurable.
13917 At many human faults a cat
13918 Will never take offense:
13919 Two things though they cannot stand:
13920 The wretched Door, the horrid Fence.
13923 I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.
13926 [Chess is] as elaborate a waste of human intelligence
13927 as you can find outside an advertising agency.
13928 -- Raymond Chandler (1888-1959) U.S. crime-fiction writer
13930 Chess is a foolish expedient for making idle people believe they are
13931 doing something very clever when they are only wasting their time.
13932 -- George Bernard Shaw (1856-1960) Irish playwright, critic
13934 Every moment in life is precious; that's why I play chess.
13935 -- Joseph Siroker, coffee house chess player and guru
13937 I don't want any yes-men around me. I want everybody
13938 to tell me the truth even if it costs them their jobs.
13941 A bank is a place that will lend you money if you can
13942 prove that you don't need it.
13945 Giving money and power to government is like
13946 giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.
13949 The very moral person usually has quite good manners because good
13950 manners are usually some sort of basic consideration.
13951 -- Louis Auchincloss
13953 It takes little talent to see clearly what lies under one's nose,
13954 a good deal of it to know in which direction to point that organ.
13957 On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], "Pray, Mr.
13958 Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers
13959 come out?" I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of
13960 ideas that could provoke such a question.
13963 Knowledge and human power are synonymous.
13966 The man who can drive himself further once the
13967 effort gets painful is the man who will win.
13970 You grow up on the day you have your first real laugh at yourself.
13973 I think one of the reasons I'm popular again is
13974 because I'm wearing a tie. You have to be different.
13977 When you come to a fork in the road, take it.
13980 With a gentleman I am always a gentleman and a half,
13981 and with a fraud I try to be a fraud and a half.
13982 -- Otto Von Bismarck
13984 Humor is by far the most significant activity of the human brain.
13987 I have discovered that we may be in some degree whatever character
13988 we choose. Besides, practice forms a man to anything.
13991 There are no small parts, only small actors.
13994 Charm is a way of getting the answer 'yes'
13995 without having asked any clear question.
13998 Instead of looking at life as a narrowing funnel, we can see it
13999 ever widening to choose the things we want to do, to take the
14000 wisdom we've learned and create something.
14003 Life at university, with its intellectual and inconclusive discussions
14004 at a postgraduate level is on the whole a bad training for the real world.
14005 Only men of very strong character surmount this handicap.
14008 The First Daily Sin is imitation. How can the network evening
14009 news programs be so similar? We're in a commercial, highly competitive
14010 struggle for viewers, and yet our solution for standing out in the
14011 marketplace is--do just what the competition is doing. CBS research shows
14012 that half the viewers of any given evening news broadcast--on CBS, NBC, or
14013 ABC--only watch that particular program one night a week. The implication
14014 is obvious: To these viewers, it doesn't make much of a difference which
14015 one they watch--or whether they watch at all.
14016 The Second Daily Sin is predictability. How often are you surprised
14017 by something you see on the news?
14018 The Third Daily Sin is artificiality. If you stop and really
14019 listen to how a typical television reporter tells a story, you'll hear how
14020 artificial it sounds. Even words--'pontiff' comes quickly to mind--that you
14021 never hear in real life. Nobody talks that way--except for us.
14022 The Fourth Daily Sin is laziness. The people I work with put in
14023 long hours and are very devoted to their jobs. They're certainly not lazy
14024 in the conventional sense. But I think we've all become lazy in our
14025 thinking, in our reluctance to dig out original stories and come up with
14026 new ways to tell them.
14027 The Fifth Daily Sin is oversimplification. Our audience is smarter
14028 and more thoughtful than a lot of us think. The people out there in America
14029 know that life is not as simple as what they see on the news: a world of
14030 heroes and villains, winners and losers, exploiters and victims. Yet that's
14031 what we show them, night after night.
14032 The Sixth Daily Sin is hype. Can you remember the last 'story
14033 you'll never forget?' How about the one before that? I can't. Over the
14034 years we've exaggerated so much that we've eroded our own ability to convey
14035 what's truly significant.
14036 The Seventh Daily Sin is cynicism. I think we're cynical about the
14037 audience and cynical about our ability to make a difference in peoples'
14038 lives. Journalists today are held in low esteem, but that doesn't have to
14039 be. Our viewers and listeners are also hungry for honest information, for
14040 help in coping with a bewildering world. We have an enormous opportunity to
14041 win our good name back--and insure our own survival in the bargain.
14042 -- Andrew Heyward, President of CBS News
14044 Desperation is sometimes as powerful an inspirer as genius.
14045 -- Benjamin Disraeli
14047 Dr. Laura eats the Bible, live
14048 ------------------------------
14049 Laura Schlessinger is a radio personality who dispenses advice to
14050 people who call in to her radio show. Paramount Television Group is
14051 currently producing a "Dr. Laura" television show. She has become a
14052 convert to Judaism, and now she is Ba'al T'shuvah.
14053 Recently, she made some statements about homosexuals, based on
14054 biblical edicts. The following is an open letter to Dr. Laura that
14055 was posted on the internet.
14060 Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God's Law.
14061 I have learned a great deal from your show, and I try to share that
14062 knowledge with as many people as I can.
14063 When someone tries to defend the homosexual lifestyle, for example,
14064 I simply remind him that Leviticus 18:22 clearly states it to be an
14065 abomination. End of debate.
14066 Now I do need some advice from you, however, regarding some of the
14067 specific laws and how to best follow them.
14068 a) When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates
14069 a pleasing odour for the Lord (Lev.1:9). The problem is my neighbours.
14070 They claim the odour is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them?
14071 b) I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in
14072 Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair
14074 c) I know that I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in
14075 her period of menstrual uncleanliness (Lev.15:19-24). The problem is, how
14076 do I tell? I have tried asking, but most women take offence.
14077 d) Lev. 25:44 states that I may indeed possess slaves, both male and
14078 female, provided they are purchased from neighbouring nations. A friend
14079 of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans, but not Canadians. Can
14080 you clarify? Why can't I own Canadians?
14081 e) I have a neighbour who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus
14082 35:2 clearly states he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated
14083 to kill him myself?
14084 f) A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an
14085 Abomination (Lev. 11:10), it is a lesser abomination than homosexuality.
14086 I don't agree. Can you settle this?
14087 g) Lev. 21:20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I
14088 have a defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear reading glasses.
14089 Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle room here?
14090 h) Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair
14091 around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Lev.
14092 19:27. How should they die?
14093 i) I know from Lev. 11:6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes
14094 me unclean, but may I still play football if I wear gloves?
14095 j) My uncle has a farm. He violates Lev. 19:19 by planting two
14096 different crops in the same field, as does his wife by wearing garments
14097 made of two different kinds of thread (cotton / polyester blend). He
14098 also tends to curse and blaspheme a lot. Is it really necessary that we
14099 go to the trouble of getting the whole town together to stone them?
14100 (Lev. 24:10-16) Couldn't we just burn them to death at a private family
14101 affair like we do with people who sleep with their in-laws? (Lev. 20:14)
14102 I know you have studied these things extensively, so I am confident
14103 you can help. Thank you again for reminding us that God's word is
14104 eternal and unchanging.
14105 Your devoted disciple and adoring fan,
14108 Logic, like whiskey, loses its beneficial effect
14109 when taken in too large quantities.
14112 It is strange to be known so universally and yet to be so lonely.
14115 It is theory that decides what can be observed.
14118 It would be too pat, perhaps, to say that modern people, men and
14119 women, expect the unexpected. But they certainly expect, or are inured
14120 to, constant change... Unquestionably, people sense constant movement,
14121 change, alteration, and 'progress'. Even clothes are supposed to change
14122 from year to year: there is this year's fashion, and last year's fashion,
14123 and the fashions of the year before.
14124 Then there is the idea of 'news,' that is, of something novel
14125 happening every day, something worth reporting. Millions of people wake up
14126 in the morning and watch the news on television; they may also listen to
14127 radio news throughout the day and later catch the evening television news.
14128 It would be unthinkable to read in the newspapers or to hear on television
14129 that 'nothing much happened today.' There is always news, always something
14130 going on, always change. Some days bring major headlines; other days are
14131 quieter. But there is never no news: the message we get every day is that
14132 things are never exactly the same.
14133 -- Lawrence M. Friedman, from "The Horizontal Society"
14135 Education makes us more stupid than the brutes. A thousand voices
14136 call to us on every hand, but our ears are stopped with wisdom.
14139 I think if you know what you believe, it makes it a lot easier
14140 to answer questions. I can't answer your question.
14141 -- Presidential candidate GW Bush, in response to a question about
14142 whether he wished he could take back any of his answers in the
14143 first debate. Reynoldsburg, Ohio, Oct. 4, 2000
14145 Notice the difference between what happens when a man
14146 says to himself, "I have failed three times," and what
14147 happens when he says, "I am a failure."
14150 If you always do what interests you,
14151 at least one person is pleased.
14152 -- Katharine Hepburn
14154 I cannot imagine a pleasant retired life of peace
14155 and meditation without a cat in the house.
14156 -- Paul Von Hindenberg
14158 Our achievements speak for themselves. What we have to keep track of
14159 are our failures, discouragements, and doubts. We tend to forget the
14160 past difficulties, the many false starts, and the painful groping.
14163 It is cheering to see that the rats are
14164 still around--the ship is not sinking.
14167 Always keep faith in the mind of clear light and be safe!
14170 Until now, in the Western world, leisure was the exclusive
14171 possession of a privileged class, which took upon itself the task of
14172 playing on behalf of the whole overworked society. For all the injustices
14173 which this entailed, it can be argued that this inequality in the
14174 distribution of leisure gave the minority that enjoyed it a certain
14175 responsibility for the quality of its amusements.
14176 Today our machines have turned leisure into an almost universal
14177 and obligatory state, one which many of us are finding enervating and even
14178 painful. To live free of the burden of grinding toil is the oldest of
14179 man's dreams. Yet no sooner has he rid himself of the accursed necessity
14180 of earning his living by the sweat of his brow, then he is confronted by a
14181 huge and alarming vacuum which -- if he is not to go mad -- must be quickly
14182 and entirely filled. With this new and abundant leisure come certain
14183 inescapable demands not to squander unimaginatively the resources that
14184 industrialization has opened for us. Many of us-consciously seldom, but
14185 unconsciously often-find this challenge so disturbing that we flee back to
14186 artificially strenuous work or even to war in order to escape the
14187 perplexities of choice presented to abundant leisure.
14188 This is a problem which you, as members of the Mass Audience, will
14189 be sharing with hundreds of millions of your fellow citizens the world over.
14192 If you want to write, keep cats.
14195 It is because the body is a machine that education is possible.
14196 Education is the formation of habits, a superinducing of an artificial
14197 organization upon the natural organization of the body.
14198 -- Thomas H. Huxley
14200 If you care enough for a result, you will most certainly attain it.
14203 Excellence in any department can be attained only by the labor of
14204 a lifetime; it is not to be purchased at a lesser price.
14207 The surest way to forfeit the esteem of a cat is to
14208 treat him as an inferior being.
14211 When you learn not to want things so badly, life comes to you.
14214 Don't tell me how hard you work.
14215 Tell me how much you get done.
14218 The misfortunes hardest to bear are these which never came.
14219 -- James Russell Lowell
14221 Marriage is a great institution, but I'm not ready for an institution.
14224 A bachelor is a selfish, undeserving guy who has
14225 cheated some woman out of a divorce.
14228 Serocki's Stricture: Marriage is always a bachelor's last option.
14230 The gods gave man fire and he invented fire engines.
14231 They gave him love and he invented marriage.
14233 When two people are under the influence of the most violent, most insane,
14234 most delusive, and most transient of passions, they are required to swear
14235 that they will remain in that excited, abnormal, and exhausting condition
14236 continuously until death do them part.
14237 -- George Bernard Shaw
14239 Marriage is nature's way of keeping people from fighting with strangers.
14241 If you're upset and wonder what your wife does with
14242 all the grocery money, stand sideways and look at yourself.
14244 I don't worry about terrorism;
14245 I was married for two years.
14248 Every man wants a wife who is beautiful, understanding,
14249 economical and a good cook. Unfortunately, the law allows
14252 Men are men before they are lawyers, or physicians, or merchants, or
14253 manufacturers; and if you make them capable and sensible men, they
14254 will make themselves capable and sensible lawyers or physicians.
14255 -- John Stuart Mill
14257 Most of America's millionaires are first-generation rich. How is
14258 it possible for people from modest backgrounds to become millionaires in
14259 one generation? Why is it that so many people with similar socioeconomic
14260 backgrounds never accumulate even modest amounts of wealth?
14261 Most people who become millionaires have confidence in their own
14262 abilities. They do not spend time worrying about whether or not their
14263 parents were wealthy. They do not believe that one must be born wealthy.
14264 Conversely, people of modest backgrounds who believe that only the wealthy
14265 produce millionaires are predetermined to remain non-affluent. Have you
14266 always thought that most millionaires are born with silver spoons in their
14267 mouths? If so, consider the following facts that our research uncovered
14268 about American millionaires:
14269 * Only 19 percent receive any income or wealth of any kind from a
14270 trust fund or an estate.
14271 * Fewer than 20 percent inherited 10 percent or more of their wealth.
14272 * More than half never received as much as $1 in inheritance.
14273 * Fewer than 25 percent ever received "an act of kindness" of $10,000
14274 or more from their parents, grandparents, or other relatives.
14275 * Ninety-one percent never received, as a gift, as much as $1 of the
14276 ownership of a family business.
14277 * Nearly half never received any college tuition from their parents
14278 or other relatives.
14279 * Fewer than 10 percent believe they will ever receive an inheritance
14281 America continues to hold great prospects for those who wish to
14282 accumulate wealth in one generation. In fact, America has always been a
14283 land of opportunity for those who believe in the fluid nature of our
14284 nation's social system and economy.
14285 -- from the book "The Millionaire Next Door"
14287 In Rome, Athens, and Sparta, honor alone was the reward for the
14288 greatest of services. A wreath of oak-leaves or laurel, a statue or public
14289 congratulations was an immense reward for winning a battle or capturing a town.
14290 In these cities, a man who had accomplished some great feat was
14291 sufficiently rewarded by the accomplishment itself. He could not meet any
14292 of his fellow-citizens without feeling the pleasure of having done
14293 something for them; he could calculate the extent of his services by the
14294 number of his countrymen. Everybody is capable of doing good to one man,
14295 but it is god-like to contribute to the happiness of an entire society."
14298 I'll let you in on a secret. George Bush is not going to
14299 be the next president of the United States. Get over it,
14300 folks. It's not going to happen.
14301 -- Michael Moore, 9/21/2000, quoted by Eun-Kyung Kim (AP)
14303 As I considered the premise put forth in the meeting room: that
14304 the shortest road to wisdom and peace with the world is the one that turns
14305 inward, away from direct sensory contact with other creatures. I will not
14306 assert that meditation, psychotherapy, and philosophical introspection are
14307 unproductive, but I simply can't accept that inward is the only or best way
14308 for everyone to turn. The more disciplined practitioners of contemplative
14309 traditions can turn inward and still get beyond the self, but many others
14310 simply become swamped by self-indulgence. There are far too many people
14311 living in our society who forget daily that other creatures--five kingdoms'
14312 worth of them--are cohabiting the planet with us.
14313 Over half a century ago, Robinson Jeffers suggested that it may be
14314 just as valid to turn outward: "The whole human race spends too much
14315 emotion on itself. The happiest and freest man is the scientist
14316 investigating nature or the artist admiring it, the person who is
14317 interested in things that are not human. Or if he is interested in human
14318 beings, let him regard them objectively as a small part of the great music."
14319 -- Gary Paul Nabhan
14321 SWM 33, black belt kama sutra, seeking wonder woman. bring me your
14322 inhibitions and i will shatter them, you sweet thing. no violence.
14323 no caustics. sin is the word of restriction, so come pet my crowley.
14324 aleister can cook; aunt jemima treatment for all.
14326 Chance favors only the prepared mind.
14329 I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead;
14330 I lift my eyes and all is born again.
14333 Books do furnish a room.
14336 For the benefit of the two or three other people in this society
14337 who don't know what 'Cats' is about, here's the answer: It's about a bunch
14338 of cats. The cats jump around in a postnuclear junkyard for some two and a
14339 half hours, bumping and grinding to that curiously Mesozoic pop music for
14340 which Andrew Lloyd Webber is famous--the kind of full-tilt truckin' that
14341 sounds like the theme from 'The Mod Squad.' There's an Elvis impersonator
14342 cat, and a cat that looks like Cyndi Lauper, and a cat that looks like
14343 Phyllis Diller. All the other cast members look like Jon Bon Jovi with two
14344 weeks of facial growth.
14345 Sure, 'Cats' is allegedly based upon the works of T. S. Eliot, but
14346 from what I could tell, the show had about as much to do with the author of
14347 'The Waste Land' as those old Steve Reeves movies had to do with Euripides.
14348 'Cats' is what 'Grease' would look like if all the cast members dressed up
14349 like KISS. To give you an idea of how bad 'Cats' is, think of a musical
14350 where you're actually glad to hear 'Memory' reprised a third time because
14351 all the other songs are so awful. Think of a musical where the songs are so
14352 bad that 'Memory' starts to sound like 'Ol' Man River' by comparison.
14353 That's how bad 'Cats' is.
14356 Originality consists in trying to be like everybody else--and failing.
14357 -- Raymond Radiguet
14359 green sandwich glowing bright, thou droppest mushrooms
14360 on my tights, i slackly drool and whine and moan, for i
14361 will soon give you a better, more acidic home.
14363 By all means marry. If you get a good wife you will become
14364 happy, and if you get a bad one you will become a philosopher.
14367 The life of the creative man is lead, directed, and controlled by
14368 boredom. Avoiding boredom is one of our most important purposes.
14371 The new generation of software must be designed from day one to be pirated.
14372 -- CinemaElectric CEO Jim Robinson
14374 thought is the only antidote to stupidity,
14375 but stupid people don't realize they need it.
14378 i don't have to speak
14379 in haiku at all times since
14383 What is more interesting in this world than our fellow human
14384 beings and other living creatures? Why do we know so few of what must be
14385 out there? What kind of philistines are we? Yet we can make a more
14386 practical point than this. We need to interact with other species whether
14387 we want to or not. They are our food and our environment: homes, scenery,
14388 soil, even the oxygen in the air is provided by courtesy of plants and
14389 photosynthesizing bacteria. We need actively to exploit our fellow
14390 creatures to survive. This is not an option: we have to exploit them unless
14391 we prefer to die. Therefore purely for selfish reasons (as well as for
14392 reasons that we may hope are less selfish) we also need to conserve them.
14393 Besides, even if we learnt to do without our fellow creatures--perhaps
14394 found some inexhaustible supply of food on some distant planet--they would
14395 not necessarily ignore us. We are flesh, too, for all our conceit, and many
14396 are more than happy to feed upon us. To contain, exploit, or conserve our
14397 fellow creatures we need to keep tabs on them.
14400 Nature's technology occurs on the surface of the same planet as
14401 that of human culture, so it endures the same physical and chemical
14402 limitations and must use the same materials. But nature copes and invents
14403 in a way fundamentally different from what we do. At the very least, the
14404 rate at which she alters herself is glacial by our cultural standard.
14405 The very shapes of the two technologies differ dramatically. Just
14406 look around you. Right angles are everywhere: the edges of this page, desk
14407 corners, street corners, floor corners, shelves, doors, boxes, bricks, and
14408 on and on. Then look at field, park, or forest. Where are the right angles?
14409 Absent? No, but rare, which raises questions. Why so few right angles in
14410 nature? Why do civilizations find them so serviceable?
14411 Natural and human technologies differ extensively and pervasively.
14412 We build dry and stiff structures; nature mostly makes hers wet and
14413 flexible. We build of metals; nature never does. Our hinges mainly slide;
14414 hers mostly bend. We do wonders with wheels and rotary motion; nature makes
14415 fully competent boats, aircraft, and terrestrial vehicles that lack them
14416 entirely. Our engines expand or spin; hers contract or slide. We fabricate
14417 large devices directly; nature's large things are cunning proliferations of
14419 -- Steven Vogel's, from "Cats' Paws and Catapults: Mechanical Worlds
14420 of Nature and People"
14422 If you are not too long, I will wait here for you all my life.
14425 I will be brief. Not nearly so brief as Salvador Dali, who gave the
14426 world's shortest speech. He said I will be so brief I have already
14427 finished, and he sat down.
14428 -- Edward O. Wilson
14430 yahoo throws a shoe;
14431 trouble in digital zone
14432 e-log drops out chute
14435 Take care not to step on the foot of a learned idiot.
14436 His bite is incurable.
14439 A great sailor can sail even with a torn canvas. -- Seneca
14441 What if everything is an illusion and nothing exists?
14442 In that case, I definitely overpaid for my carpet.
14445 Unlike the Industrial Revolution, the Biomimicry Revolution
14446 introduces an era based not on what we can extract from nature, but on what
14447 we can learn from her... 'doing it nature's way' has the potential to
14448 change the way we grow food, make materials, harness energy, heal
14449 ourselves, store information, and conduct business.
14450 In a biomimetic world, we would manufacture the way animals and
14451 plants do, using sun and simple compounds to produce totally biodegradable
14452 fibers, ceramics, plastics, and chemicals. Our farms, modeled on prairies,
14453 would be self-fertilizing and pest-resistant. To find new drugs or crops,
14454 we would consult animals and insects that have used plants for millions of
14455 years to keep themselves healthy and nourished. Even computing would take
14456 its cue from nature, with software that "evolves" solutions, and hardware
14457 that uses the lock-and-key paradigm to compute by touch.
14458 In each case, nature would provide the models: solar cells copied
14459 from leaves, steely fibers woven spider-style, shatterproof ceramics drawn
14460 from mother-of-pearl, cancer cures compliments of chimpanzees, perennial
14461 grains inspired by tallgrass, computers that signal like cells, and a
14462 closed-loop economy that takes its lessons from redwoods, coral reefs, and
14463 oak-hickory forests.
14464 The biomimics are discovering what works in the natural world, and
14465 more important, what lasts. After 3.8 billion years of research and
14466 development, failures are fossils, and what surrounds us is the secret to
14467 survival. The more our world looks and functions like this natural world,
14468 the more likely we are to be accepted on this home that is ours, but not
14470 -- Janine M. Benyus
14472 It is better to have a lion at the head of an army of sheep,
14473 than a sheep at the head of an army of lions.
14477 my eye, i must cry out at
14478 your nail gouge like lye.
14481 What one knows is, in youth, of little moment;
14482 they know enough who know how to learn.
14485 One of the greatest pains to human nature is the pain of a new idea.
14488 A successful person is one who can lay a firm foundation
14489 with the bricks that others throw at him or her.
14492 Nobody who is not prepared to spoil cats will get
14493 from them the reward they are able to give.
14494 -- Compton MacKenzie
14496 The other night when I went into a restaurant in Santa Monica,
14497 there was one president--Clinton. When I ordered a pizza there
14498 was another one--Gore. When I paid the bill there was a third
14499 president--Bush, and when I walked out onto Ocean Boulevard there
14500 was no president because Bill is now the husband of a senator from
14502 Today I am witnessing the spectacle of a hyper-technological
14503 America which is sitting on the ruins of its electoral system
14504 waiting for absentee ballots in the mail.
14505 -- Bepe Severgnini, columnist for Milan's Corriere della Sera
14507 do you think it would hurt very much to swallow a whole egg, in shell?
14508 would it be better to boil it first so it's hard or to leave it runny?
14509 i'm wondering which way would be most likely to keep the shell from
14510 breaking before it exits the body...
14512 I will do everything in my power to restrict abortions.
14513 -- George W. Bush, Dallas Morning News, October 22, 1994
14515 I saw the report that children in Texas are going hungry. Where?
14516 You'd think the governor would have heard if there are pockets of
14518 -- George W. Bush, whose state ranks 2nd in total number of children
14519 living in poverty, to Austin American Statesman, 12/18/99
14521 "Please," Bush whimpers, his lips pursed in mock desperation, "don't kill me."
14522 -- Bush mocking what Karla Faye Tucker said on Larry King when asked,
14523 "What would you say to Governor Bush?" prior to her execution by
14524 lethal injection as reported by Talk magazine, September 1999
14526 An atmosphere of adolescence, a lack of gravitas--a carelessness, even a
14527 recklessness, perhaps born of things having gone a bit too easily so far.
14528 -- George Will, August 11, 1999, referring to Talk magazine's
14529 interview with Bush
14531 Sitting down and reading a 500-page book on
14532 public policy or philosophy or something.
14533 -- GW Bush was asked to name something he isn't
14534 good at by Talk magazine, September 1999 issue
14536 Bush should not advertise any allergy to serious things. A critical
14537 mass of lightness in a candidate causes the public mind to snap closed,
14538 with the judgement, "Not ready for prime time."
14539 -- George Will, August 11, 1999
14541 Bush is taking a political party on his ride. He and it will care if
14542 on Nov. 7, 2000, people think of Gore or Bradley as an unexciting but
14543 serious professor and of him as an amiable fraternity boy, but a boy.
14544 -- George Will, August 11, 1999
14546 What I'm against is quotas. I'm against hard quotas, quotas that
14547 basically delineate based upon whatever. However they delineate,
14548 quotas, I think, vulcanize society.
14549 -- George W. Bush (Austin American-Statesman 3/23/99)
14551 Son, I love your strategy: Don't let them get to know you.
14554 If George is elected President, it would destroy my faith
14555 in the office because he is such an ordinary guy.
14556 -- David Rosen, Midland geologist & former neighbor of GW Bush
14558 He's this week's pet rock.
14559 -- unknown, regarding GW Bush
14561 There ought to be limits to freedom. We're aware of the site,
14562 and this guy is just a garbage man.
14563 -- GW Bush, commenting on the website www.gwbush.com
14565 The Bush network is the only genuine network in the
14566 Republican Party. It is the Establishment.
14567 -- Bill Kristol, editor of The Weekly Standard
14569 "I will look at each piece of legislation when
14570 it makes it to my desk," and "I will review that
14571 when it makes it to my desk."
14572 -- GW Bush, refusing to comment on anything
14573 before it's absolutely unavoidable
14575 Reporters noticed four Latino men sitting at the Plaza, looking bored,
14576 wearing matching shirts from Buena Vista Farms. Buena Vista, it turns
14577 out, is a horse ranch run by Gerald Parsky, Bush's California chairman.
14578 The four men said they were brought to the event and were being paid
14579 their regular wages for attending.
14580 -- Salon Magazine reporting on a Bush fundraiser in California
14582 Asked how he would define "compassionate conservatism," Bush replied:
14583 "Making sure every child can read, making sure that we encourage
14584 faith-based organizations... when it comes to helping neighbors in
14585 need, making sure that our neighborhoods are safe, making sure that
14586 the state of Texas recognizes that people from all walks of life have
14587 got a shot at the Texas dream but, most importantly, making sure that
14588 government is not the answer to people's problems."
14589 This may be the only time a candidate promised not to solve any problems
14590 (with the possible exception of Utah Phillips, who ran on the "Sloth &
14591 Indolence" platform.)
14592 -- from georgebush2000.com
14594 I'd demand a recount.
14595 -- William F. Buckley, in the early '60s, in response to a
14596 reporter's question asking him what he would do if he
14597 were to win in his race for the office of Mayor of New York
14599 Half of the American people have never read a newspaper.
14600 Half never voted for President.
14601 One hopes it is the same half.
14604 Start every day off with a smile and get it over with. -- W. C. Fields
14606 Every man wishes to be wise,
14607 and they who cannot be wise are almost always cunning.
14610 Finally, in conclusion, let me say just this.
14613 When issues of public policy are discussed in the outward form
14614 of an argument, often the conclusions reached are predetermined by
14615 the assumptions and definitions inherent in a particular vision of
14616 social processes. Different visions, of course, have different
14617 assumptions, so it is not uncommon for people who follow different
14618 visions to find themselves in opposition to one another across a
14619 vast spectrum of unrelated issues, in such disparate fields as law,
14620 foreign policy, the environment, racial policy, military defense,
14621 education, and many others. To a remarkable extent, however,
14622 empirical evidence is neither sought beforehand nor consulted after
14623 a policy has been instituted. Facts may be marshaled for a position
14624 already taken, but that is very different from systematically
14625 testing opposing theories by evidence. Momentous questions are
14626 dealt with essentially as conflicts of vision.
14627 -- Thomas Sowell, from "The Vision of the Anointed"
14629 An election is a moral horror, as bad as a battle except for the
14630 blood; a mud bath for every soul concerned in it.
14631 -- George Bernard Shaw, "Back to Methuselah," 1921
14633 If a person is obviously mentally disabled, such as having Down's
14634 syndrome or Alzheimer's, decent people respond with sympathy and
14635 understanding; and so why, if people merely have low IQs, are they
14636 treated with ridicule and contempt?
14639 Always go to other people's funerals,
14640 otherwise they won't come to yours.
14643 Animals are such agreeable friends--
14644 they ask no questions,
14645 they pass no criticisms.
14648 All right everyone, line up alphabetically according to your height.
14653 Willy flies without wings,
14654 Fast as a shadow can go.
14655 Black slash on white snow.
14657 Black face, cold blue eyes
14658 fish pond, golden fish surprise.
14659 Wet paws ... cold water!
14661 Black heart on white fur
14662 Green eyes ... last sight for poor mouse,
14663 Punctured by Willy.
14665 Willy stalks field mice.
14666 Wild Bill to small buffalo.
14667 Kills them just for show.
14669 Cat slays Two in Dawn
14670 Homicide. Gruesome Remains
14671 Left On Welcome Mat.
14676 Pete's eyes spit light;
14677 Blue diamond icicles,
14680 Sharp nose, fast heart, mouse
14681 Scrounges by the sewer. Pete
14682 Pounces, sharp claws out.
14684 Once quick with mouse life,
14685 Now just carnage: tail, fur, skull.
14689 Or goldfish or cardinal
14690 who loves our Petey.
14692 They hate Pete there,
14693 Crouched on the mossy rocks,
14694 Prospecting for gold.
14699 Louis wants to play.
14700 Its asthma, Lou! My asthma
14701 Tears us apart, m'boy.
14703 Louis -- scared by deer --
14704 spent all July and August
14707 We don't let Louis out.
14708 He is too dumb even for inside.
14709 Eyes blue oceans of space.
14711 Hot air fluffs Louis.
14712 Willy warms the newspapers.
14713 Pete? Purrs in her arms.
14716 dharma farm glistens
14717 like an earthy gem; yaks romp
14718 on verdant old hills.
14721 Noir comme le diable, [ Black as the devil,
14722 chaud comme l'enfer, [ hot as hell,
14723 pur comme un ange, [ pure as an angel,
14724 doux comme l'amour. [ sweet as love.
14725 -- Talleyrand, 18th century French diplomat, describing his concept
14726 of a good cup of coffee
14728 Coffee has two virtues. It is wet and it is warm. -- Dutch proverb
14730 Coffee is the common man's gold, and like gold, it brings
14731 to every person the feeling of luxury and nobility.
14732 -- Sheik Abd-al-Kadir, In Praise of Coffee, 1587
14734 Another head--and a black alpaca jacket and a
14735 serviette this time--to tell us coffee is ready.
14736 Not before it is time, too.
14737 -- D. H. Lawrence, from "Sea and Sardinia"
14739 Give a frontiersman coffee and tobacco,
14740 and he will endure any privation,
14741 suffer any hardship, but let him be without
14742 these two necessaries of the woods, and he
14743 becomes irresolute and murmuring.
14744 -- U.S. Army Lt. William Whiting, 1849
14746 Coffee is real good when you drink it it gives you time to think.
14747 It's a lot more than just a drink; it's something happening.
14748 Not as in hip, but like an event, a place to be, but not like a
14749 location, but like somewhere within yourself. It gives you time,
14750 but not actual hours or minutes, but a chance to be, like be
14751 yourself, and have a second cup.
14754 Last comes the beverage of the Orient shore,
14755 Mocha, far off, the fragrant berries bore.
14756 Taste the dark fluid with a dainty lip,
14757 Digestion waits on pleasure as you sip.
14760 A very good drink they call Chaube that is almost as black as ink
14761 and very good in illness, especially of the stomach. This they
14762 drink in the morning early in the open places before everybody,
14763 without any fear or regard, out of clay or China cups, as hot as
14764 they can, sipping it a little at a time.
14765 -- German physician and botanist Leonhard Rauwolf in 1582
14767 The little campfires, rapidly increasing to hundreds in number,
14768 would shoot up along the hills and plains, and as if by magic,
14769 acres of territory would be illuminous with them. Soon they
14770 would be surrounded by the soldiers, who made it an inevitable
14771 rule to cook their coffee first.
14772 -- John D. Bilings, a Union veteran, in his book, Hardtack and Coffee
14774 Only Irish coffee provides in a single glass
14775 all four essential food groups:
14776 alcohol, caffeine, sugar, and fat.
14779 Strong coffee, much strong coffee, is what awakens me.
14780 Coffee gives me warmth, waking, an unusual force and
14781 a pain that is not without very great pleasure.
14782 -- Napoleon Bonaparte
14784 I would rather suffer with coffee than be senseless.
14785 -- Napoleon Bonaparte
14787 The ability to deal with people is as purchasable a commodity
14788 as sugar or coffee. And I pay more for that ability than for
14789 any other under the sun.
14790 -- John D. Rockefeller, Jr.
14792 If you want to improve your understanding, drink coffee;
14793 it is the intelligent beverage.
14796 Wine is for aging, not coffee.
14797 -- Ken Hutchinson, Starsky and Hutch
14799 I have measured out my life with coffee spoons.
14802 After a few months' acquaintance with European "coffee" one's mind
14803 weakens, and his faith with it, and he begins to wonder if the rich
14804 beverage of home, with it's clotted layer of yellow cream on top of
14805 it, is not a mere dream after all, and a thing which never existed.
14806 -- Mark Twain, in "A Tramp Abroad"
14808 The morning cup of coffee has an exhilaration about it which the
14809 cheering influence of the afternoon or evening cup of tea cannot
14810 be expected to reproduce.
14811 -- Oliver Wendall Holmes, Sr.
14813 It's just like when you've got some coffee that's too black, which means
14814 it's too strong. What do you do? You integrate it with cream, you make
14815 it weak. But if you pour too much cream in it, you won't even know you
14816 ever had coffee. It used to be hot, it becomes cool. It used to be
14817 strong, it becomes weak. It used to wake you up, now it puts you to sleep.
14818 -- Malcolm X, 196, Message to the Grass Roots
14820 Make my coffee like I like my men: hot, black, and strong.
14821 -- Willona Wood, Good Times
14823 Never drink black coffee at lunch;
14824 it will keep you awake in the afternoon.
14825 -- Jilly Cooper, 1970, "How to Survive from Nine to Five"
14827 Resolve to free yourselves from the slavery
14828 of the tea and coffee and other slop-kettle.
14829 -- William Cobbett, 1829, "Advise to Young Men"
14831 Tobacco, coffee, alcohol, hashish, prussic acid,
14832 strichnine, are weak dilutions: the surest poison is time.
14833 -- Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Society and Solitude: Old Age"
14835 Coffee, according to the women of Denmark, is to the body
14836 what the Word of the Lord is to the soul.
14837 -- Isak Dinesen, 1934
14839 Coffee: we can get it anywhere, and get as loaded
14840 as we like on it, until such teeth-chattering,
14841 eye-bulging, nonsense-gibbering time as we may be
14842 classified unable to operate heavy machinery.
14843 -- Joan Frank, 1991
14845 Many people are like instant coffee:
14846 the minute they get in hot water they dissolve.
14847 -- Anonymous, from Toronto Globe and Mail; July 10, 1993
14849 The discovery of coffee has enlarged the realm of illusion
14850 and given more promise to hope.
14853 The powers of a man's mind are directly proportional
14854 to the quantity of coffee he drank.
14855 -- Sir James MacKintosh, 18th century philosopher
14857 If it wasn't for coffee, I'd have no discernible personality at all.
14858 -- David Letterman Esquire Interview Fall '94
14860 Ah! How sweet coffee tastes!
14861 Lovelier than a thousand kisses,
14862 sweeter far than muscatel wine!
14863 -- From J. S. Bach's "Coffee Cantata," 1732
14865 You make good coffee... You're a slob,
14866 but you make good coffee.
14867 -- Cher, in "Moonstruck"
14869 See how special you are? I serve you coffee in the parlor.
14870 -- Anthony Quinn to Sophia Loren in "The Black Orchid"
14872 The first cup is for the guest,
14873 the second for enjoyment,
14874 the third for the sword.
14875 -- Arabic proverb about coffee
14877 The vacuum pot is truly the CD player of coffeemakers;
14878 all you taste is the coffee.
14879 -- Corby Kummer, food expert
14881 People are kind of like zombies in Hong Kong nowadays.
14882 You don't see that glow anymore. In terms of colour
14883 Hong Kong looks a bit grey. To counter that, I think
14884 we should give out free espresso samples to give people
14885 more caffeine; triple espresso with Irish cream syrup,
14886 iced! People just need to get a bit more wired.
14887 -- David Wu, Actor and Channel V VJ, quoted in Post Magazine 29 August 99
14889 a small fish is this
14890 with so many other big
14891 tasks still to complete
14893 For myself I am an optimist--it does not seem
14894 to be much use being anything else.
14895 -- Winston Churchill
14897 One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one
14898 is constantly making exciting discoveries.
14901 Computers are useless. They can only give you answers.
14904 There are two means of refuge from the
14905 miseries of life: music and cats.
14906 -- Albert Schweitzer
14908 Among those whom I like or admire, I can find no common denominator,
14909 but among those whom I love, I can: all of them make me laugh.
14912 A clever man commits no minor blunders.
14913 -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
14915 my fingers have slipped;
14916 keyboard greasy from pizza
14920 One could not be a successful scientist without realizing that,
14921 in contrast to the popular conception supported by newspapers
14922 and mothers of scientists, a goodly number of scientists are
14923 not only narrow-minded and dull, but also just stupid.
14926 Fine things books, but perhaps the moment has come to stop taking them
14927 so seriously. Who was it that said people who are always reading never
14928 discover anything? I'm not sure if that is true, but I do know that
14929 reading and thinking are not necessarily the same thing. Sometimes
14930 reading supplies the most cunning of all means of avoiding thought. It
14931 would be good once in awhile to try thinking without the stimulus of
14932 books, to become not an out of-the-box -- never, please, that -- but at
14933 least an out-of-the-book thinker. Books may furnish a room, but there
14934 surely are other things quite as suitable for furnishing a mind. Time,
14935 I think, for me to attempt to find out what these might be.
14938 Economics is extremely useful as a form of employment for economists.
14939 -- John Kenneth Galbraith
14941 You can observe a lot by just watching. -- Yogi Berra
14943 No wonder Al Gore thinks he is president--this is a most confusing time.
14944 The leading rap singer is white, the world's best golfer is black, and
14945 Bill Clinton just got back from Vietnam.
14946 -- Paul Harvey, Early December 2000
14948 The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new
14949 discoveries, is not 'Eureka!' (I've found it!), but "That's funny...".
14952 Is not life a hundred times too short for us to bore ourselves?
14953 -- Friedrich Nietzsche
14955 Dr. Seuss takes a look at election recounts:
14956 I cannot count them in a box.
14957 I cannot count them with a fox.
14958 I cannot count them by computer.
14959 I will not with a Roto-Rooter.
14960 I cannot count them card-by-card.
14961 I will not 'cause it's way too hard.
14962 I cannot count them on my fingers.
14963 I will not while suspicion lingers.
14964 I'll leave the country in a jam--
14965 I won't count ballots, Sam-I-Am.
14967 For some years, we have been surprised and distressed by the
14968 intellectual trends in certain precincts of American academia.
14969 Vast sectors of the humanities and the social sciences seem to
14970 have adopted a philosophy that we shall call, for want of a better
14971 term, "postmodernism": an intellectual current characterized by
14972 the more-or-less explicit rejection of the rationalist tradition
14973 of the Enlightenment, by theoretical discourses disconnected from
14974 any empirical test, and by a cognitive and cultural relativism
14975 that regards science as nothing more than a 'narration,' a 'myth'
14976 or a social construction among many others.
14977 To respond to this phenomenon, one of us (Sokal) decided to try
14978 an unorthodox (and admittedly uncontrolled), experiment: submit to
14979 a fashionable American cultural-studies journal, "Social Text," a
14980 parody of the type of work that has proliferated in recent years,
14981 to see whether they would publish it. The article, entitled
14982 "Transgressing the Boundaries: Toward a Transformative Hermeneutics
14983 of Quantum Gravity", is chock-full of absurdities and blatant
14984 non-sequiturs. In addition, it asserts an extreme form of cognitive
14985 relativism: after mocking the old-fashioned "dogma" that "there
14986 exists an external world, whose properties are independent of any
14987 individual human being and indeed of humanity as a whole", it
14988 proclaims categorically that "physical `reality', no less than
14989 social `reality', is at bottom a social and linguistic construct".
14990 By a series of stunning leaps of logic, it arrives at the conclusion
14991 that "the [Pi] of Euclid and the G of Newton, formerly thought to be
14992 constant and universal, are now perceived in their ineluctable
14993 historicity; and the putative observer becomes fatally de-centered,
14994 disconnected from any epistemic link to a space-time point that can
14995 no longer be defined by geometry alone". The rest is in the same vein.
14996 And yet, the article was accepted and published. Worse, it was
14997 published in a special issue of 'Social Text' devoted to rebutting the
14998 criticisms leveled against postmodernism and social constructivism by
14999 several distinguished scientists. For the editors of 'Social Text,'
15000 it was hard to imagine a more radical way of shooting themselves in
15002 -- Alan Sokal and Jean Bricmont, "Fashionable Nonsense: Postmodern
15003 Intellectuals' Abuse of Science."
15005 May you live all the days of your life.
15008 We take pleasure in answering thus prominently the communication
15009 below, expressing at the same time our great gratification that its
15010 faithful author is numbered among the friends of The Sun:
15011 'I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa
15012 Claus. Papa says, "If you see it in The Sun, it's so." Please tell me
15013 the truth, is there a Santa Claus?' -- Virginia O'Hanlon
15014 Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by
15015 the skepticism of a sceptical age. They do not believe except they see.
15016 They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little
15017 minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are
15018 little. In this great universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in
15019 his intellect as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured
15020 by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.
15021 Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.
15022 He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and
15023 you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy.
15024 Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would
15025 be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike
15026 faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We
15027 should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The external light
15028 with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.
15029 Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies.
15030 You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on
15031 Christmas eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if you did not see Santa Claus
15032 coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no
15033 sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are
15034 those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies
15035 dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not
15036 there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and
15037 unseeable in the world.
15038 You tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside,
15039 but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man,
15040 nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived could
15041 tear apart. Only faith, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain
15042 and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real?
15043 Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.
15044 No Santa Claus? Thank God he lives and lives forever. A thousand
15045 years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will
15046 continue to make glad the heart of childhood.
15047 Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!!
15048 -- The editorial "Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus," first printed
15049 in the New York Sun in 1897.
15051 Most Internet appliances that I've seen are simply dumbed-down
15052 PCs, and some analysts call any damn thing that can access the
15053 Internet--other than a PC--an Internet appliance, even if it's
15054 your cell phone or a wireless PDA. That leads to some huge
15055 market projections, which are pretty much meaningless as a
15056 single figure. I think the idea of Internet appliances as a
15057 unique market is a pipe dream, with a lot of people sucking
15059 -- Will Strauss, president of Forward Concepts, a market
15062 Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life.
15065 Ah but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, or what's a heaven for?
15068 She played with her cat, and it was a wonder to watch the white hand
15069 and the white paw frolic in the shade of night.
15072 Just because something doesn't do what you planned
15073 it to do doesn't mean it's useless.
15074 -- Thomas Alva Edison
15076 Spare no expense to make everything as economical as possible.
15080 drools on oval office desk
15081 while country expires
15082 -- about the dubya years
15084 brave new president
15085 laughs as he pulls death switch for
15087 -- about the dubya years
15089 they call me a shrub
15090 but i shrug and ask daddy
15091 for black ops killing
15092 -- about the dubya years
15095 moron ever known on earth:
15096 gee dubya bee, dude.
15097 -- about the dubya years
15100 means "we do it my way" and
15102 -- about the dubya years
15104 smiling lies, dumb looks,
15105 idea-free, insults all,
15107 -- about the dubya years
15109 my feeling is that humans are both divine and full of sh*t.
15110 most people are drowning in their own mental diarrhea.
15112 solution? a sewer pipe for the mind, perhaps. or at least to
15113 realize that the contagion is part of us and has to be purified
15114 from within. there is no external enemy to kill or persecute;
15115 all evil deeds and words and thoughts are our own property.
15116 no one else can take them away for you; you must "dispose of
15117 properly". clean these damaged mental constituents using your
15118 will to heal your consciousness.
15120 If you believe that feeling bad or worrying long enough will
15121 change a past or future event, then you are residing on another
15122 planet with a different reality system.
15125 Hanging is too good for a man who makes puns;
15126 he should be drawn and quoted.
15129 A day without rebooting is like a day without Microsoft. -- fred t. hamster
15131 I've met many thinkers and many cats,
15132 but the wisdom of cats is infinitely superior.
15135 People living and working in a business system cannot change it.
15136 Their perspectives are foreshortened, their information gathering and
15137 measurement systems reinforce the past, and their incentives encourage
15138 continuity. Archimedes proclaimed, 'Give me where to stand, and I will move
15139 the earth.' But where should those who might change a business system be
15141 The answer is that every organization needs two business systems.
15142 Borrowing a term from linguistics, we shall call them the 'surface system'
15143 and the 'deep system.' The surface system is comprised of the organized
15144 tasks of the business processes, with their attendant jobs, structures,
15145 systems, and values. But this surface system is in periodic need of major
15146 change. Accomplishing that change is the job of the deep system.
15147 The deep system creates no customer value; it makes no products and
15148 delivers no services. It doesn't process orders, develop new products, or
15149 create value for customers. Rather it monitors, governs, adjusts, and
15150 reforms the surface system that does create customer value. A company's
15151 deep system bears the responsibility for detecting external changes,
15152 determining what those changes mean, and intervening to modify or transform
15153 the surface system accordingly. The deep system, working beneath the
15154 surface, embodies the capacity to change.
15155 The deep system continually hurls challenges: Is this still the
15156 right way or the best way to do things? If not, what is? The deep system
15157 ensures that the appropriate internal change--moderate or radical--takes
15158 place, shaping and reshaping the organization to take account of, and
15159 whenever possible take advantage of, ongoing external change.
15162 There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to
15163 conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the
15164 introduction of a new order of things.
15165 -- Nicolas Machiavelli
15167 Only those who take leisurely what the people of the world are busy
15168 about can be busy about what the people of the world take leisurely.
15171 I am opposed to millionaires, but it would
15172 be dangerous to offer me the position.
15175 Never eat more than you can lift. -- the muppet Miss Piggy
15178 politics are poison, but
15179 it has to be said...
15181 dubya bush will lead
15182 to lower expectations
15186 Distance changes utterly when you take the world on foot. A mile
15187 becomes a long way, two miles literally considerable, ten miles
15188 whopping, fifty miles at the very limits of conception. The world,
15189 you realize, is enormous in a way that only you and a small community
15190 of fellow hikers know. Planetary scale is your little secret.
15191 Life takes on a neat simplicity, too. Time ceases to have any
15192 meaning. When it is dark, you go to bed, and when it is light again
15193 you get up, and everything in between is just in between. It's quite
15195 You have no engagements, commitments, obligations, or duties; no
15196 special ambitions and only the smallest, least complicated of wants;
15197 you exist in tranquil tedium, serenely beyond the reach of
15198 exasperation, 'far removed from the seats of strife,' as the early
15199 explorer and botanist William Bartram put it. All that is required
15200 of you is a willingness to trudge.
15201 There is no point in hurrying because you are not actually going
15202 anywhere. However far or long you plod, you are always in the same
15203 place: in the woods. It's where you were yesterday, where you will
15204 be tomorrow. The woods is one boundless singularity. Every bend in
15205 the path presents a prospect indistinguishable from every other, every
15206 glimpse into the trees the same tangled mass. For all you know, your
15207 route could describe a very large, pointless circle. In a way, it
15208 would hardly matter.
15209 -- Bill Bryson, "A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the
15210 Appalachian Trail."
15212 You can't cheat an honest man. -- W. C. Fields
15214 Most conversations are simply monologues
15215 delivered in the presence of a witness.
15218 There's nothing to writing. All you do is sit down
15219 at a typewriter and open a vein.
15222 Omit needless words. Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence
15223 should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary
15224 sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no
15225 unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts.
15226 -- William Strunk Jr.
15228 The small and elite group of scientists who create most of the
15229 flavor in most of the food now consumed in the United States are
15230 called 'flavorists.' They draw on a number of disciplines in their
15231 work: biology, psychology, physiology, and organic chemistry. A
15232 flavorist is a chemist with a trained nose and a poetic sensibility.
15233 Flavors are created by blending scores of different chemicals in
15234 tiny amounts--a process governed by scientific principles but
15235 demanding a fair amount of art. In an age when delicate aromas and
15236 microwave ovens do not easily co-exist, the job of the flavorist is
15237 to conjure illusions about processed food and, in the words of one
15238 flavor company's literature, to ensure 'consumer likeability.' The
15239 flavorists with whom I spoke were discreet, in keeping with the
15240 dictates of their trade. They were also charming, cosmopolitan, and
15241 ironic. They not only enjoyed fine wine but could identify the
15242 chemicals that give each grape its unique aroma. One flavorist
15243 compared his work to composing music. A well-made flavor compound
15244 will have a 'top note' that is often followed by a 'dry-down' and a
15245 'leveling-off,' with different chemicals responsible for each stage.
15246 The taste of a food can be radically altered by minute changes in the
15247 flavoring combination. 'A little odor goes a long way,' one
15249 In order to give a processed food a taste that consumers will
15250 find appealing, a flavorist must always consider the food's
15251 'mouthfeel'--the unique combination of textures and chemical
15252 interactions that affect how the flavor is perceived. Mouthfeel can
15253 be adjusted through the use of various fats, gums, starches,
15254 emulsifiers, and stabilizers. The aroma chemicals in a food can be
15255 precisely analyzed, but the elements that make up mouthfeel are much
15256 harder to measure. How does one quantify a pretzel's hardness, a
15257 french fry's crispness? Food technologists are now conducting basic
15258 research in rheology, the branch of physics that examines the flow and
15259 deformation of materials. A number of companies sell sophisticated
15260 devices that attempt to measure mouthfeel. The TA.XT2i Texture
15261 Analyzer, produced by the Texture Technologies Corporation, of
15262 Scarsdale, New York, performs calculations based on data derived from
15263 as many as 250 separate probes. It is essentially a mechanical mouth.
15264 It gauges the most-important rheological properties of a food--bounce,
15265 creep, breaking point, density, crunchiness, chewiness, gumminess,
15266 lumpiness, rubberiness, springiness, slipperiness, smoothness,
15267 softness, wetness, juiciness, spreadability, springback, and tackiness.
15268 -- Eric Schlosser, from "Why McDonald's Fries Taste So Good",
15269 Atlantic Monthly, 2001.
15271 We haven't failed. We now know a thousand things that
15272 won't work, so we are much closer to finding what will.
15275 If you surveyed a hundred typical middle-aged Americans, I bet you'd find that
15276 only two of them could tell you their blood types, but every last one of them
15277 would know the them song from 'The Beverly Hillbillies'.
15280 The first thing to learn in intercourse with others is
15281 non-interference with their own particular ways of being
15282 happy, provided those ways do not assume to interfere by
15283 violence with ours.
15286 My dad was the town drunk. Usually that's not so bad, but New York City?
15289 Ninety percent of the politicians give the other
15290 ten percent a bad name.
15293 You can imagine my embarrassment when I killed the wrong guy.
15296 We must abandon the prevalent belief in the
15297 superior wisdom of the ignorant.
15300 If the primary effect of the media in the late twentieth century was
15301 to turn nearly everything that passed across their screens into
15302 entertainment, the secondary and ultimately more significant effect was
15303 to force nearly everything to turn itself into entertainment in order to
15304 attract media attention. Daniel Boorstin had coined the term 'pseudo-
15305 event' to describe events that had been concocted by public relations
15306 practitioners to get attention from the press. Movie premieres,
15307 publishing parties, press conferences, balloon crossings, sponsored
15308 sporting contests, award ceremonies, demonstrations and hunger strikes,
15309 to name just a few examples, all were synthetic, manufactured pseudo-
15310 events that wouldn't have existed if someone hadn't been seeking
15311 publicity and if the media hadn't been seeking something to fill their
15312 pages and airwaves, preferably something entertaining.
15313 But the idea of pseudo-events almost seemed quaint by the late
15314 twentieth century. Most people realized that the object of virtually
15315 everyone in public life of any sort was to attract the media and that
15316 everyone from the top movie stars to the parents of septuplets now had
15317 to have a press agent to promote them. What most people were also coming
15318 to realize, if only by virtue of how much the media had grown, was that
15319 pseudo-events had proliferated to such an extent that one could hardly
15320 call them events anymore because there were no longer any seams between
15321 them and the rest of life, no way of separating the pseudo from the
15322 so-called authentic. Almost everything in life had appropriated the
15323 techniques of public relations to gain access to the media, so that it
15324 wasn't the pseudo-event one was talking about anymore when one cited the
15325 cleverness of PR men and women: it was pseudo-life.
15326 Yet not even pseudo-life did full justice to the modern condition.
15327 That's because the media were not just passively recording the public
15328 performances and manipulations of others, even when life was nothing but
15329 manipulations. Having invited these performances in the first place,
15330 the media justified covering them because they were receiving media
15331 attention, which is every bit as convoluted as it sounds. The result
15332 was to make of modern society one giant Heisenberg effect, in which the
15333 media were not really reporting what people did; they were reporting
15334 what people did to get media attention. In other words, as life was
15335 increasingly being lived for the media, so the media were increasingly
15336 covering themselves and their impact on life.
15337 -- Neal Gabler, in "Life, the Movie"
15339 So little time, so little to do.
15342 Consistency requires you to be as ignorant
15343 today as you were a year ago.
15344 -- Bernard Berenson
15346 Who becomes a CPO? Stephanie Perrin, the chief privacy officer of
15347 Montreal-based Zero-Knowledge Systems, explains: "Obviously, we're
15348 not going to just pick somebody from the legal department," because
15349 privacy is more than a matter of just following the law. "You have
15350 to have a fundamental commitment to--dare I say it?--morality.
15351 Privacy is not just good business. We are framing the information
15352 age, and it is important to take that job seriously. We really do
15353 look at privacy as a human right, and not just a luxury item for
15354 spoiled North Americans. We're talking about the global information
15357 The sweetest joy, the wildest woe is love.
15360 He's simply got the instinct for being unhappy highly developed.
15363 No easy problems ever come to the president of the United States.
15364 If they are easy to solve, someone else has solved them.
15365 -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
15367 Your presence in the class is disruptive and affects the other students!
15368 -- A teacher's complaint to the teenage Albert Einstein
15370 When you're in a world of experts and so-called professionals, the
15371 common sense of the people is marginalized.
15372 I'll give you an example. We're talking about building a building
15373 not too far from where I live, in this warehouse district. It's an old,
15374 totally undistinguished warehouse in what has been designated a historic
15375 district. So we're working up the Environmental Impact Report, and you hire
15376 a consultant. The consultant is this young lady who says, 'The developer
15377 wants to tear this whole warehouse down and build an eight-story building,
15378 and that would have a negative impact on the historic warehouse district.'
15379 I say, 'Wait a minute. Why? It's an eight-story building. What's
15380 different? Why do you say it's negative? Why isn't it positive? It will
15381 bring more people -- there are not enough people down here.'
15382 'No,' she said, 'in my professional judgment...' And that is given
15383 weight by the courts. Her opinion could have more sway than the city
15384 council, the manager, the mayor, and all the people of Oakland put together.
15385 That's amazing. That's what I call 'expertise versus common sense.'
15386 What do they call those guys in Russia: the nomenklatura? The class of
15387 folks who run things. I think that's an important issue: reclaiming the
15388 power of ordinary people to control their lives. Every time we turn around,
15389 we've got some kind of a state or federal rule or regulation.
15390 'In my professional judgment...' That whole academic discipline was
15391 probably created less than 25 years ago, and that lore -- I call it lore;
15392 these are like stories you tell around the campfire -- is then raised to
15393 the level of legal significance with greater authority than the vote of the
15394 people and the elected representatives. The people have lost their
15395 democratic right to make a decision over the shape of their lives, and you
15396 can find that happening on a lot of issues more controversial than historic
15400 Gardens are not made by sitting in the shade.
15403 Man invented language to satisfy his deep need to complain.
15406 Technology is a gift of God. After the gift of life it is perhaps
15407 the greatest of God's gifts. It is the mother of civilizations, of
15408 arts and of sciences.
15411 You make men love their government and their country by giving them the
15412 kind of government and the kind of country that inspire respect and love;
15413 a country that is free and unafraid, that lets the discontented talk in
15414 order to learn the causes of their discontent and end those causes, that
15415 refuses to impel men to spy on their neighbors, that protects its citizens
15416 vigorously from harmful acts while it leaves the remedies for objectionable
15417 ideas to counterargument and time.
15418 -- Zechariah Chafee, Jr.
15420 Kites rise highest against the wind--not with it.
15421 -- Winston Churchill
15423 Shall I tell you the secret of the true scholar? It is this: every
15424 man I meet is my master in some point, and in that I learn of him.
15425 -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
15427 A cucumber should be well-sliced, dressed with
15428 pepper and vinegar, and then thrown out.
15431 Technology is often defined as the creation of tools to gain control
15432 over the environment. However, this definition is not entirely sufficient.
15433 Humans are not alone in their use or even creation of tools. Orangutans in
15434 Sumatra's Suaq Balimbing swamp make tools out of long sticks to break open
15435 termite nests. Crows fashion tools from sticks and leaves. The leaf-cutter
15436 ant mixes dry leaves with its saliva to create a paste. Crocodiles use tree
15437 roots to anchor dead prey.
15438 What is uniquely human is the application of knowledge--recorded
15439 knowledge--to the fashioning of tools. The knowledge base represents the
15440 genetic code for the evolving technology. And as technology has evolved,
15441 the means for recording this knowledge base has also evolved, from the oral
15442 traditions of antiquity to the written design logs of nineteenth-century
15443 craftsmen to the computer-assisted design databases of the 1990s.
15444 Technology also implies a transcendence of the materials used to
15445 comprise it. When the elements of an invention are assembled in just the
15446 right way, they produce an enchanting effect that goes beyond the mere
15447 parts. When Alexander Graham Bell accidentally wire-connected two moving
15448 drums and solenoids (metal cores wrapped in wire) in 1875, the result
15449 transcended the materials he was working with. For the first time, a human
15450 voice was transported, magically it seemed, to a remote location. Most
15451 assemblages are just that: random assemblies. But when materials--and in
15452 the case of modern technology, information--are assembled in just the
15453 right way, transcendence occurs. The assembled object becomes far greater
15454 than the sum of its parts.
15457 All the world's a stage and most of us are desperately unrehearsed.
15460 The foresight of the astronomer who predicts with complete precision
15461 the state of the solar system many years in advance is absolutely the
15462 same in kind as that of the savage who predicts the next sunrise.
15463 The only difference lies in the extent of their knowledge.
15466 Nothing strengthens the judgment and quickens
15467 the conscience like individual responsibility.
15468 -- Elizabeth Cady Stanton
15470 The bug, that perverse and elusive malfunctioning of hardware and
15471 later of software, was born in the nineteenth century. It was already
15472 accepted shop slang as early as 1878, when Thomas Edison described his
15473 style of invention in a letter to a European representative: 'The first
15474 step is an intuition and it comes with a burst, then difficulties arise--
15475 this thing gives out and then that--"Bugs"--as such little faults and
15476 difficulties are called--show themselves, and months of intense watching,
15477 study and labor are requisite before commercial success--or failure--is
15478 certainly reached.'
15479 Edison implies that this use of 'bug' had not begun in his laboratory
15480 but was already standard jargon. The expression seems to have originated
15481 as telegrapher's slang. Western Union and other telegraph companies, with
15482 their associated branch offices, formed America's first high-technology
15483 system. About the time of Edison's letter, Western Union had over twelve
15484 thousand stations, and it was their condition that probably helped inspire
15485 the metaphor. City offices were filthy, and clerks exchanged verse about
15486 the gymnastics of insects cavorting in the cloakrooms. When, in 1945, a
15487 moth in a relay crashed the Mark II electromechanical calculator that the
15488 Navy was running at Harvard--it can still be seen taped in the original
15489 logbook--the bug metaphor had already been around for at least seventy-
15491 -- Edward Tenner, from "Why Things Bite Back"
15493 Look back, and smile on perils past.
15494 -- Sir Walter Scott
15496 I never see what has been done; I only see what remains to be done.
15502 -- William Butler Yeats' auto-epitath
15504 The bug, that perverse and elusive malfunctioning of hardware and
15505 later of software, was born in the nineteenth century. It was already
15506 accepted shop slang as early as 1878, when Thomas Edison described his
15507 style of invention in a letter to a European representative: 'The first
15508 step is an intuition and it comes with a burst, then difficulties arise--
15509 this thing gives out and then that--"Bugs"--as such little faults and
15510 difficulties are called--show themselves, and months of intense watching,
15511 study and labor are requisite before commercial success--or failure--is
15512 certainly reached.'
15513 Edison implies that this use of 'bug' had not begun in his
15514 laboratory but was already standard jargon. The expression seems to have
15515 originated as telegrapher's slang. Western Union and other telegraph
15516 companies, with their associated branch offices, formed America's first
15517 high-technology system. About the time of Edison's letter, Western Union
15518 had over twelve thousand stations, and it was their condition that probably
15519 helped inspire the metaphor. City offices were filthy, and clerks exchanged
15520 verse about the gymnastics of insects cavorting in the cloakrooms. When, in
15521 1945, a moth in a relay crashed the Mark II electromechanical calculator
15522 that the Navy was running at Harvard--it can still be seen taped in the
15523 original logbook--the bug metaphor had already been around for at least
15524 seventy-five years.
15525 -- Edward Tenner, "Why Things Bite Back"
15527 But the true threats to stability and peace are these nations that are not
15528 very transparent, that hide behind the--that don't let people in to take a
15529 look and see what they're up to. They're very kind of authoritarian regimes.
15530 The true threat is whether or not one of these people decide, peak of anger,
15531 try to hold us hostage, ourselves; the Israelis, for example, to whom we'll
15532 defend, offer our defenses; the South Koreans.
15533 -- George W. Bush, Media roundtable, Washington, D.C., March 13, 2001
15535 The charity that is a trifle to us can be precious to others.
15538 It wasn't until late in life that I discovered
15539 how easy it is to say "I don't know".
15540 -- W. Somerset Maugham
15542 It is a good morning exercise for a research scientist to discard a
15543 pet hypothesis every day before breakfast. It keeps him young.
15546 He is the best physician who is the most ingenious inspirer of hope.
15547 -- Samuel Taylor Coleridge
15549 Failure is not an option.
15552 The year 1950 was the last full cry of urban America, at least on
15553 the surface. It was the year many of the cities visited in this book
15554 reached their historic peaks in population. Everybody was working, in folk
15555 memory, and in fact. Armies clad in overalls poured out of plants at
15556 quitting time or watched as the next shift filed in. Houses cost a couple
15557 of thousand bucks, or in high-cost cities some fifteen thousand. The
15558 mortgage was often less than a hundred a month. The teeming ethnic ghettos
15559 of the early century had given way to a more comfortable life, with
15560 religion and ethnicity, race and class still used as organizing principles
15561 for the neighborhood. The rough edges of the immigrant 'greenhorns' were
15562 worn smooth, and a confident younger generation now entered a fuller,
15563 richer American life. Grandma and Grandpa had their accents and old ways
15564 intact, and still mumbled sayings in the language your parents used when
15565 they didn't want you to understand. You could still find Il Progresso,
15566 Freiheit, Norske Tidende, and Polish Daily Zgoda on the newsstands, but the
15567 neighborhoods themselves were no longer alien places. It was the ghetto,
15568 yes, but made benign by assimilation.
15569 It was this world that the first surge tide into the suburbs left
15570 behind. They were people for whom the city had done its work, making
15571 Americans out of families from Dublin to Donetsk. America had given the
15572 urban young educations, and expectations. For many, those expectations had
15573 been nurtured through world war and economic depression. Something better
15574 was needed for the baby boomers.
15575 Today we look back on it all in hurt and wonder. How did this
15576 happen? Where did that good life go? When an accidental detour or a missed
15577 expressway exit brings us into contact with the world we left behind, we
15578 can still place all the blame firmly and squarely elsewhere. The shuttered
15579 factories and collapsing row houses, the vacant storefronts and rutted
15580 streets are regarded with the same awe reserved for the scenes of natural
15581 disasters. We look out on a world that somehow, in the American collective
15582 memory, destroyed itself.
15583 -- Ray Suarez, PBS journalist
15585 The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our
15586 enemies; probably because generally they are the same people.
15587 -- G. K. Chesterton
15589 Happiness isn't something you experience; it's something you remember.
15592 If I had to live my life again, I'd make the same mistakes, only sooner.
15593 -- Tallulah Bankhead
15595 Kids don't watch when they are stimulated and look away when
15596 they are bored. They watch when they understand and look away
15597 when they are confused.
15598 -- Malcolm Gladwell
15600 We especially need imagination in science. It is not all
15601 mathematics, nor all logic, it is somewhat beauty and poetry.
15604 The masons have a "temple of living stones".
15605 Well, I have a temple of stoned living.
15606 Except that the temple is my parents' basement.
15608 Pain is just another form of information.
15611 The traditional image of Asian countries--and the one I held before
15612 we moved there--was of overwhelmingly poor societies: city dwellers
15613 starving in the streets and farmers slaving to raise barely enough rice
15614 to feed a family, while a tiny clique of well-connected magnates lived
15615 behind barbed-wire fences in ornate mansions. Today, those scenes can
15616 still be found in parts of East Asia. But for the most part, the Asian
15617 countries are building a huge middle class, in which most people have
15618 about as much as everybody else.
15619 Japan has been the model; when Japan became a rich country, it did
15620 so in ways that spread the wealth broadly and evenly. In opinion polls
15621 today, more than 90 percent of the Japanese people describe themselves
15622 as 'middle class.' In the other 'high-performing Asian economies' the
15623 economic boom has also been broadly distributed...
15624 You can legitimately question whether equal distribution of a
15625 nation's wealth is a sign of social success. The American dream, in
15626 economic terms, at least, has generally been the dream of enormous
15627 success--not of making as much money as everybody else but rather of
15628 getting really rich. And that dream has been one of the key reasons
15629 for the dynamism and resiliency of the United States over the decades.
15630 On the other hand, the egalitarian distribution of wealth, and the
15631 resulting sense that everybody is getting a relatively fair shake, is
15632 surely one of the reasons that Asian countries have civil and stable
15634 -- T. R. Reid, "Confucius Lives Next Door: What Living in the East
15635 Teaches Us About Living in the West"
15637 Who will underrate the influence of loose popular
15638 literature in debauching the popular mind?
15641 There are so many ways of earning a living and most of them are failures.
15644 Nothing shocks me. I'm a scientist.
15647 Lawyers, I suppose, were children once.
15650 Analyzing humor is like dissecting a frog.
15651 Few people are interested and the frog dies of it.
15654 This idea of breaking the world into pieces and then explaining
15655 the pieces in terms of smaller pieces is called reductionism. It
15656 would be perfectly justified to consider Murray Gell-Mann, the father
15657 of the quark, to be the century's arch-reductionist. But very early
15658 on, long before mushy notions of holism became trendy, Gell-Mann
15659 appreciated an important truth: While you can reduce downward, that
15660 doesn't automatically mean you can explain upward. People can be
15661 divided into cells, cells into molecules, molecules into atoms, atoms
15662 into electrons and nuclei, nuclei into subatomic particles, and those
15663 into still tinier things called quarks. But, true as that may be,
15664 there is nothing written in the laws of subatomic physics that can be
15665 used to explain higher-level phenomena like human behavior. There is
15666 no way that one can start with quarks and predict that cellular life
15667 would emerge and evolve over the eons to produce physicists. Reducing
15668 downward is vastly easier than explaining upward--a truth that bears
15670 -- George Johnson, "Strange Beauty: Murray Gell-Mann and the
15671 Revolution in Twentieth-Century Physics"
15673 Perhaps no mightier conflict of mind occurs ever again in a lifetime
15674 than that first decision to unseat one's own tooth.
15677 The difficulty lies, not in the new ideas, but in escaping the
15678 old ones that ramify, for those brought up as most of us have
15679 been, into every corner of our minds.
15680 -- John Maynard Keynes
15682 In the centuries preceding the introduction of the printing press,
15683 those who held power reinforced it by uses of language that mystified the
15684 powerless and kept them subservient. Even more so in today's world, power
15685 is inextricably tied to the use of language, and today's priesthood of
15686 professionals in many fields employs jargon-fueled mystification. That is a
15687 political use of language that deliberately excludes the 'powerless' lay
15688 audience from participation. The doctor whose technical terms confuse, no
15689 less than the politician whose equivocations obfuscate, the lawyer whose
15690 terms intimidate, and the accountant whose explanations obscure, is taking
15691 advantage of audiences through what are called 'gatekeeper' uses of
15692 language. They include euphemisms, jargon and other devices designed to
15693 prevent rather than augment the free flow of knowledge.
15694 Lawyers have been particularly egregious in this practice.
15695 Gatekeeper language also frequently masks what physicians do especially in
15696 circumstances that can be fraught with emotion. A relative of a cancer
15697 patient, seeking straight and hard informational answers to questions --
15698 how bad is the situation, how much time does she have left, is there any
15699 hope -- was informed by her doctor that his relative's cancer was
15700 'treatable' and her prognosis was 'guarded...'
15701 The philosopher Jrgen Habermas provides an insight into the
15702 political nature of gatekeeper uses of language through his identification
15703 of the 'scientization of the public sphere,' a process now occurring in
15704 many societies. In this trend, elites effectively disqualify members of the
15705 public from being able to participate in policy discussions by insisting
15706 that only specialists can really understand what is going on. When
15707 politicians come to believe that only they can understand what is going on
15708 in the high councils of government, and that their job is to translate it
15709 for us and to protect themselves in the process, the language they aim at
15710 the electorate takes on more and more aspects of purposeful deceit.
15711 -- Tom Shachtman, "The Inarticulate Society"
15713 If you think you are too small to make a difference,
15714 try sleeping in a closed room with a mosquito.
15717 It does not do to leave a dragon out of your calculations,
15718 if you live near him.
15719 -- J. R. R. Tolkien
15721 Trying to determine what is going on in the world by reading newspapers
15722 is like trying to tell the time by watching the second hand of a clock.
15725 Friendships, like marriages, are dependent on avoiding the unforgivable.
15726 -- John S. MacDonald
15728 authority does not exist.
15729 we are all equally feeble when compared
15730 with the profundity of the universe.
15733 Sports do not build character. They reveal it.
15734 -- Heywood Hale Broun
15736 Anybody who has survived his childhood has enough information
15737 about life to last him the rest of his days.
15738 -- Flannery O'Connor
15740 Why does man kill? He kills for food. And not only food:
15741 frequently there must be a beverage.
15744 We live with strangers. Those we love most, with whom we share
15745 a shelter, a table, a bed, remain mysterious. Wherever lives overlap
15746 and flow together, there are depths of unknowing. Parents and children,
15747 partners, siblings, and friends repeatedly surprise us, revealing the
15748 need to learn where we are most at home. We even surprise ourselves
15749 in our own becoming, moving through the cycles of our lives. There is
15750 strangeness hidden in the familiar.
15751 At the same time there is familiarity hidden in the strange. We can
15752 look with curiosity and respect at the faces of men and women we have
15753 never met. Learning to recognize these strangers with whom we share an
15754 increasingly crowded and interdependent world, we can imagine ourselves
15755 joined in a single family, perhaps by a marriage between adventurous
15757 Strangers marry strangers, whether they have been playmates for
15758 years or never meet before the wedding day. They continue to surprise
15759 each other through the evolutions of love and the growth of affection.
15760 Lovers, gay and straight, begin in strangeness and often, for the zest
15761 of it, find ways to increase their differences.
15762 Children arrive like aliens from outer space, their needs and
15763 feelings inaccessible, sharing no common language, yet for all their
15764 strangeness we greet them with love. Traditionally, the strangeness of
15765 infants has been understood as temporary, the strangeness of incomplete
15766 beings who are expected to become predictable and comprehensible. This
15767 expectation has eased the transition from generation to generation, the
15768 passing on of knowledge and responsibility, on which every human society
15769 depends. Yet the gap between parent and child, like the gap between
15770 partners, is not left behind with the passage of time. Today, in a
15771 world of rapid change, it is increasing, shifting into new rhythms still
15773 -- Mary Catherine Bateson, in "Full Circles, Overlapping Lives:
15774 Culture and Generation in Transition"
15776 Never express yourself more clearly than you are able to think.
15779 At every crossroads on the path that leads to the future,
15780 tradition has placed 10,000 men to guard the past.
15781 -- Maurice Maeterlink
15783 Before you run in double harness, look well to the other horse.
15786 There is nothing in the dark that isn't there when the lights are on.
15789 The overly sure belief that one knows the truth,
15790 but that this truth doesn't need to be tested or verified,
15791 is the root of all human errors.
15794 Any fool can make a rule and every fool will mind it.
15795 -- Henry David Thoreau
15797 How many cares one loses
15799 not to be something
15803 If someone says 'can't', that shows you what to do.
15806 Ideologies separate us. Dreams and anguish bring us together.
15809 If a thing can not go on forever, it will come to an end.
15812 Nothing ever gets anywhere.
15813 The earth keeps turning round and round and gets nowhere.
15814 The moment is the only thing that counts.
15817 Don't walk in front of me, I may not follow;
15818 don't walk behind me, I may not lead;
15819 walk beside me, and just be my friend.
15822 Pleasure is very seldom found where it is sought; our brightest
15823 blazes of gladness are commonly kindled by unexpected sparks.
15826 The following is a poem made up entirely of quotations from George
15827 W. Bush. The quotes have been arranged, for aesthetic reasons only,
15828 by Washington Post writer Richard Thompson.
15830 MAKE THE PIE HIGHER
15833 I think we all agree, the past is over.
15834 This is still a dangerous world.
15835 It's a world of madmen and uncertainty
15836 and potential mental losses.
15838 Rarely is the question asked
15839 Is our children learning?
15840 Will the highways of the internet
15842 How many hands have I shaked?
15844 They misunderestimate me.
15845 I am a pitbull on the pantleg of opportunity.
15847 I know that the human being
15848 and the fish can coexist.
15850 Families is where our nation finds hope,
15851 where our wings take dream.
15853 Put food on your family!
15854 Knock down the tollbooth!
15857 Make the pie higher! Make the pie higher!
15862 When I hear somebody sigh, "Life is hard", I am always
15863 tempted to ask: "Compared to what?"
15866 What is laid down, ordered, factual is never enough
15867 to embrace the whole truth: life always spills over
15868 the rim of every cup.
15871 Hard is the herte that loveth nought in May.
15872 -- Geoffrey Chaucer
15874 Don't ever take a fence down until you know why it was put up.
15875 -- G. K. Chesterton
15877 {{ your mental acuity sharpens, your self image improves, your breath
15878 becomes minty fresh, the problems in your life all seem simpler and you
15879 feel you can deal with them each separately and conquer them one by one,
15880 your hair grows back in all the right places and stops growing in your
15881 ears and other inappropriate places, when i snap my fingers, you will
15882 feel wholly refreshed and renewed... }}
15888 If you owe the bank $100, that's your problem.
15889 If you owe the bank $100 million, that's the bank's problem.
15892 The Hutterites (who came out of the same tradition as the Amish
15893 and the Mennonites) have a strict policy that every time a colony
15894 approaches 150, they split it in two and start a new one. "Keeping
15895 things under 150 just seems to be the best and most efficient way to
15896 manage a group of people," Bill Gross, one of the leaders of a
15897 Hutterite colony outside Spokane told me. "When things get larger
15898 than that, people become strangers to one another."
15899 The Hutterites, obviously, didn't get this idea from contemporary
15900 evolutionary psychology. They've been following the 150 rule for
15901 centuries... At 150, the Hutterites believe, something happens--
15902 something indefinable but very real--that somehow changes the nature
15903 of community overnight. "In smaller groups people are a lot closer.
15904 They're knit together, which is very important if you want to be
15905 effective and successful at community life," Gross said. "If you
15906 get too large, you don't have enough work in common. You don't have
15907 enough things in common, and then you start to become strangers and
15908 that close-knit fellowship starts to get lost."
15909 Gross spoke from experience. He had been in Hutterite colonies
15910 that had come near to that magic number and seen first-hand how
15911 things had changed. "What happens when you get that big is that the
15912 group starts, just on its own, to form a sort of clan." He made a
15913 gesture with his hands, as if to demonstrate division. "You get two
15914 or three groups within the larger group. That is something you
15915 really try to prevent, and when it happens it is a good time to
15917 -- Malcolm Gladwell, "The Tipping Point"
15919 If men could regard the events of their own lives with more open
15920 minds, they would frequently discover that they did not really
15921 desire the things they failed to obtain.
15924 Middle age is when you're sitting at home on Saturday night
15925 and the telephone rings and you hope it isn't for you.
15928 The greatest pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do.
15931 I think a power to do something is of value. Whether the result
15932 is a good thing or a bad thing depends on how it is used, but the
15933 power is a value. Once in Hawaii I was taken to see a Buddhist
15934 temple. In the temple a man said, "I am going to tell you something
15935 that you will never forget." And then he said, "To every man is
15936 given the key to the gates of heaven. The same key opens the gates
15938 And so it is with science. In a way it is a key to the gates of
15939 heaven, and the same key opens the gates of hell, and we do not have
15940 any instructions as to which is which gate. Shall we throw away the
15941 key and never have a way to enter the gates of heaven? Or shall we
15942 struggle with the problem of which is the best way to use the key?
15943 That is, of course, a very serious question, but I think that we
15944 cannot deny the value of the key to the gates of heaven.
15945 All the major problems of the relations between society and
15946 science lie in this same area. When the scientist is told that he
15947 must be more responsible for his effects on society, it is the
15948 applications of science that are referred to. If you work to develop
15949 nuclear energy you must realize also that it can be used harmfully.
15950 Therefore, you would expect that, in a discussion of this kind by a
15951 scientist, this would be the most important topic. But I will not
15952 talk about it further. I think that to say these are scientific
15953 problems is an exaggeration. They are far more humanitarian problems.
15954 The fact that how to work the power is clear, but how to control it is
15955 not, is something not so scientific and is not something that the
15956 scientist knows so much about.
15957 -- Richard P. Feynman, "The Meaning of It All: Thoughts of a Citizen
15960 If once a man indulges himself in Murder, very soon he comes to think
15961 little of Robbing, and from Robbing he comes next to Drinking and
15962 Sabbath-breaking, and from that to Incivility and Procrastination.
15963 -- Thomas De Quincey
15965 These are not books, lumps of lifeless paper,
15966 but minds alive on the shelves.
15969 Let us not look back in anger,
15970 nor forward in fear,
15971 but around in awareness.
15974 Anyone can become angry. That is easy. But to be angry with
15975 the right person, to the right degree, at the right time, for
15976 the right purpose, and in the right way--that is not easy.
15979 A nation in which grown men say things like "I am not a happy camper"
15980 at momentous junctures is manifestly not the Shining City on the Hill
15981 that our forefathers dreamed about.
15984 Among the devices that we use to impose order upon a complicated
15985 (but by no means unstructured) world, classification--or the division
15986 of items into categories based on perceived similarities--must rank
15987 as the most general and most pervasive of all. And no strategy of
15988 classification cuts deeper--while providing such an even balance of
15989 benefits and difficulties--than our propensity for division by two,
15991 Some basic attributes of surrounding nature do exist as complem-
15992 entary pairings--two large lights in the sky representing day and
15993 night; two sexes that must couple their opposing parts to produce a
15994 continuity of generations--so we might argue that dichotomization
15995 amounts to little more than good observation of the external world.
15996 But far more often than not, dichotomization leads to misleading or
15997 even dangerous oversimplification. People and beliefs are not either
15998 good or evil (with the second category ripe for burning); and
15999 organisms are not either plant or animal, vertebrate or invertebrate,
16000 human or beast. We seem so driven to division by two, even in
16001 clearly inappropriate circumstances, that I must agree with several
16002 schools of thought (most notably Claude Levi-Strauss and the French
16003 structuralists) in viewing dichotomization more as an inherent
16004 mechanism of the brain's operation than as a valid perception of
16006 -- Stephen Jay Gould
16008 Crude classifications and false generalizations
16009 are the curse of the organized life.
16012 Whosoever shall not fall by the sword or by famine,
16013 shall fall by pestilence, so why bother shaving?
16016 Those who really deserve praise are the people who, while human
16017 enough to enjoy power, nevertheless pay more attention to justice
16018 than they are compelled to do by their situation.
16021 It is easier to get forgiveness than permission.
16024 The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil
16025 is for good men to do nothing.
16028 If the aborigine drafted an IQ test, all of
16029 Western civilization would presumably flunk it.
16032 It takes a wise man to discover a wise man.
16033 -- Diogenes Laertes
16035 The human race has reached a critical time in its social evolution
16036 when it has no choice but to make peace with its biological origins and
16037 to learn how to live once again as a member and partner of the natural
16038 community rather than as its dominator and destroyer. In other words,
16039 we must rediscover how to live as our savage ancestors once lived--in
16040 nature, rather apart from it, much less above it. We must, that is,
16041 invent the civilized analogue of the hunter-gatherer way of life, the
16042 only sustainable mode of human existence the planet has ever known.
16043 Suggesting that we live in a much simpler and more natural way does not
16044 imply a return to the Stone Age or anything like it: we have many
16045 possibilities open to us that were not available to our forebears, for
16046 we have been enormously enriched and enlightened by the long experience
16047 of civilization (or at least so one hopes). Nevertheless, how such a
16048 profound transformation of civilization toward a more experienced and
16049 wiser savagery can be achieved is obviously an immensely difficult
16050 question, because it will clearly entail radical changes in every aspect
16051 of our way of life.
16052 Just how radical is suggested by one of the most poignant and
16053 pointed critiques of modern civilization ever uttered. Breaking into
16054 a filmed interview on the destruction of the Amazon rain forest, an
16055 anonymous Kayapo Indian woman shouted, "We don't want your dams. Your
16056 mothers did not hold you enough. You are all orphans." It is perhaps
16057 too simple to say that the good society is one in which your mother--
16058 and by extension your father, your community, and indeed your entire way
16059 of life--holds you enough, so that you grow up feeling that the world is
16060 a good place and that life is intrinsically satisfying just as it is and
16061 that there is thus no need to make it more satisfying by accumulating
16062 endless wealth and power at others' expense. But this at least points
16063 in the right direction: to become more experienced and wiser savages, to
16064 meet the real political challenge of the twenty-first century, we shall
16065 have to create cultures so rich and nurturing that we would have no need
16066 to pursue happiness; we could simply enjoy it.
16067 -- William Ophuls, in "Requiem for Modern Politics: The Tragedy of
16068 the Enlightenment and the Challenge of the New Millennium."
16070 The reward for work well done is the opportunity to do more.
16073 In Washington, it's dog eat dog.
16074 In academia, it's exactly the opposite.
16077 I have had many troubles in my life, but the worst of them never came.
16078 -- James A. Garfield
16080 There comes a time when for every addition of knowledge you forget
16081 something that you knew before. It is of the highest importance,
16082 therefore, not to have useless facts elbowing out the useful ones.
16083 -- Arthur Conan Doyle
16085 The wind and the waves are always on the side of the ablest navigators.
16088 I write when I'm inspired, and I see to it that I'm inspired
16089 at nine o'clock every morning.
16092 It is no secret that organized crime in America takes in over forty
16093 billion dollars a year. This is quite a profitable sum, especially
16094 when one considers that the Mafia spends very little for office supplies.
16097 It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory.
16098 -- W. Edwards Deming
16100 A man is called a good fellow for doing things which, if done
16101 by a woman, would land her in a lunatic asylum.
16104 Those who desire to give up Freedom
16105 in order to gain Security, will not have,
16106 nor do they deserve, either one.
16107 -- Thomas Jefferson
16109 There's no reason to be the richest man in the cemetery.
16110 You can't do any business from there.
16111 -- Colonel (Harlan) Sanders
16113 To imagine is everything, to know is nothing at all.
16116 There is no such thing as conversation. It is an illusion.
16117 There are only intersecting monologues.
16120 You can only be young once. But you can always be immature.
16123 Memory's malfunctions can be divided into seven fundamental transgressions
16124 or 'sins.' Just like the ancient seven deadly sins, the memory sins occur
16125 frequently in everyday life and can have serious consequences for all of us.
16126 Transience, absent-mindedness, and blocking are sins of omission: we fail to
16127 bring to mind a desired fact, event, or idea. Transience refers to a weakening
16128 or loss of memory over time. It's probably not difficult for you to remember
16129 now what you have been doing for the past several hours. But if I ask you
16130 about the same activities six weeks, six months, or six years from now, chances
16131 are you'll remember less and less.
16132 Absent-mindedness involves a breakdown at the interface between attention
16133 and memory. Absent-minded memory errors--misplacing keys or eyeglasses, or
16134 forgetting a lunch appointment--typically occur because we are preoccupied with
16135 distracting issues or concerns, and don't focus attention on what we need to
16137 The third sin, blocking, entails a thwarted search for information that we
16138 may be desperately trying to retrieve. We've all failed to produce a name to
16139 accompany a familiar face. This frustrating experience happens even though we
16140 are attending carefully to the task at hand, and even though the desired name
16141 has not faded from our minds--as we become acutely aware when we unexpectedly
16142 retrieve the blocked name hours or days later.
16143 In contrast to these three sins of omission, the next four sins of
16144 misattribution, suggestibility, bias, and persistence are all sins of
16145 commission: some form of memory is present, but it is either incorrect or
16146 unwanted. The sin of misattribution involves assigning a memory to the wrong
16147 source: mistaking fantasy for reality, or incorrectly remembering that a friend
16148 told you a bit of trivia that you actually read about in a newspaper.
16149 Misattribution is far more common than most people realize, and has potentially
16150 profound implications in legal settings. The related sin of suggestibility
16151 refers to memories that are implanted as a result of leading questions,
16152 comments, or suggestions when a person is trying to call up a past experience.
16153 The sin of bias reflects the powerful influences of our current knowledge
16154 and beliefs on how we remember our pasts. We often edit or entirely rewrite
16155 our previous experiences--unknowingly and unconsciously--in light of what we
16156 now know or believe. The result can be a skewed rendering of a specific
16157 incident, or even of an extended period in our lives, which says more about how
16158 we feel now than about what happened then.
16159 The seventh sin -- persistence -- entails repeated recall of disturbing
16160 information or events that we would prefer to banish from our minds altogether:
16161 remembering what we cannot forget, even though we wish that we could. Recall
16162 the last time that you suddenly awoke at 3:00 a.m., unable to keep out of your
16163 mind a painful blunder on the job or a disappointing result on an important
16164 exam. In more extreme cases of serious depression or traumatic experience,
16165 persistence can be disabling and even life-threatening.
16166 -- Daniel Schacter, "The Seven Sins of Memory: How the Mind Forgets
16169 When I was a young man I observed that nine out of ten things I did were
16170 failures. I didn't want to be a failure, so I did ten times more work.
16171 -- George Bernard Shaw
16173 People demand freedom of speech as a compensation
16174 for the freedom of thought which they seldom use.
16175 -- Soeren Kierkegaard
16177 Go confidently in the direction of your dreams.
16178 Live the life you have imagined.
16179 -- Henry David Thoreau
16181 Brave men are all vertebrates; they have their softness
16182 on the surface and their toughness in the middle.
16183 -- G. K. Chesterton
16185 Being willing to accept that the past--
16186 even the priceless, irreplaceable past--
16187 will be largely lost is a sign of mental health.
16190 We are what we repeatedly do.
16191 Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.
16194 Man is free at the moment he wishes to be. -- Voltaire
16196 It requires wisdom to understand wisdom:
16197 the music is nothing if the audience is deaf.
16200 What difference does it make how much you have?
16201 What you do not have amounts to much more.
16204 We now all live in a society marked by increasing, not decreasing,
16205 interconnection and mutual reliance. Each of our lives is affected by
16206 more people than ever before. We generally need the cooperation of
16207 more people than ever to accomplish even those goals we set for
16208 ourselves. This insight needs no elaborate demonstration; one is
16209 reminded of it with every smoggy breath we take, and every time we step
16210 on an airplane and ponder how our life depends on the competent,
16211 attentive behavior of dozens of strangers, from the pilot to the air
16212 traffic controller to the ground mechanic who was supposed to inspect
16213 the extent of the metal fatigue on the wings. Technology increases the
16214 links that tie people together, voluntarily or not, and the complexity
16215 of our economic system and the organizations we work for multiplies
16217 To exercise control over what happens to you as an individual, you
16218 must be involved with others in a process that decides what happens to
16219 you and your fellow citizens collectively. We can no longer separate
16220 the quality of personal life from the quality of social life. To
16221 preserve private space, we must also preserve the commons.
16222 That is one reason why even in a society so seduced by and attached
16223 to autonomy, many people are now getting fed up with what can only be
16224 called acts of vandalism against the public space. Threatening,
16225 disrespectful, wanton, and manifestly selfish acts--from the warfare of
16226 crack dealers and gangs to the shameless greed of the S&L thieves and
16227 the destruction of our very environment by the industrial polluters--
16228 are poisonous to everyone, not just those directly harmed. Of course,
16229 we pay for such things as taxpayers and as consumers, but that is not
16230 the most important cost. All of us are morally impoverished by these
16231 assaults on the quality and integrity of our common life.
16232 -- Willard Gaylin and Bruce Jennings, "The Perversion of Autonomy:
16233 The Proper Uses of Coercion and Constraints in a Liberal Society"
16235 Imagination grows by exercise, and contrary to common
16236 belief, is more powerful in the mature than in the young.
16237 -- W. Somerset Maugham
16239 Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten.
16242 The supreme happiness in life is the conviction that we are loved--
16243 loved for ourselves, or rather, loved in spite of ourselves.
16246 If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favorable.
16249 Sometimes I worry about being a success in a mediocre world.
16252 The wicked leader is one whom the people despise.
16253 The good leader is one whom the people revere.
16254 The great leader is one about whom the people say,
16255 "We did it ourselves."
16258 Reject your sense of injury and the injury itself disappears.
16261 Ideas pull the trigger, but instinct loads the gun.
16264 No enterprise is more likely to succeed than one
16265 concealed from the enemy until it is ripe for execution.
16266 -- Niccolo Machiavelli
16268 Every exit is an entry somewhere.
16271 Spoon feeding in the long run teaches us
16272 nothing but the shape of the spoon.
16275 We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers
16276 connect us with our fellow men.
16279 There is much pleasure to be gained from useless knowledge.
16280 -- Bertrand Russell
16282 If this is coffee, please bring me some tea,
16283 but if this is tea, please bring me some coffee.
16286 All men who have turned out worth anything have had
16287 the chief hand in their own education.
16288 -- Sir Walter Scott
16290 Few things can help an individual more
16291 than to place responsibility on him,
16292 and to let him know that you trust him.
16293 -- Booker T. Washington
16295 The last time somebody said, "I find I can write much
16296 better with a word processor," I replied, "They used to
16297 say the same thing about drugs."
16300 The world of knowledge takes a crazy turn
16301 When teachers themselves are taught to learn.
16302 -- Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956), German playwright, poet
16304 Power corrupts. Absolute power is kind of neat.
16307 Art produces ugly things which frequently become more beautiful with time.
16308 Fashion, on the other hand, produces beautiful things which always become
16312 To become vegetarian is to step into the stream which leads to nirvana.
16313 -- Shakyamuni Buddha
16315 the best part about killing software bugs is that
16316 there's no goo nor exoskeleton fragments left behind.
16318 Any activity becomes creative when the doer cares
16319 about doing it right, or doing it better.
16322 Great spirits have always encountered
16323 violent opposition from mediocre minds.
16326 There's a fine line between genius and
16327 insanity. I have erased this line.
16330 Don't worry about people stealing an idea. If it's
16331 original, you will have to ram it down their throats.
16334 Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves,
16335 or we know where we can find information upon it.
16338 Historically, consumer acceptance of new technologies has been
16339 slow and cumbersome, delaying anticipated profits by decades.
16340 Indeed, consumer acceptance of any innovation is typically slow,
16341 despite extraordinary benefits and convenience.
16342 When cake mixes were first created, they required consumers to
16343 only add water--a major behavioral shift. Consumers felt a cake
16344 made with such a mix could not possibly be as good as a homemade
16345 cake. So cake mix formulas were revised to require the addition of
16346 an egg and milk. The new mixes met with great success, because the
16347 behavior shift required of consumers was minor. Eventually some
16348 consumers became comfortable adding only water (some never will).
16351 An education isn't how much you have committed to memory, or even
16352 how much you know. It's being able to differentiate between what
16353 you know and what you don't.
16356 A man is a worker. If he is not that he is nothing.
16359 All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely
16360 players. They have their exits and their entrances, and one
16361 man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages.
16362 -- Shakespeare, "As You Like It"
16364 Behold the turtle. He makes progress only when he sticks his neck out.
16365 -- James Bryant Conant
16367 I say to the House as I said to ministers who have joined this
16368 government, I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat.
16369 We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before
16370 us many, many months of struggle and suffering.
16371 You ask, what is our policy? I say it is to wage war by land, sea,
16372 and air. War with all our might and with all the strength God has given
16373 us, and to wage war against a monstrous tyranny never surpassed in the
16374 dark and lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy.
16375 You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word. It is victory.
16376 Victory at all costs--Victory in spite of all terrors--Victory, however
16377 long and hard the road may be, for without victory there is no survival.
16378 Let that be realized. No survival for the British Empire, no
16379 survival for all that the British Empire has stood for, no survival for
16380 the urge, the impulse of the ages, that mankind shall move forward
16382 I take up my task in buoyancy and hope. I feel sure that our cause
16383 will not be suffered to fail among men. I feel entitled at this
16384 juncture, at this time, to claim the aid of all and to say, "Come then,
16385 let us go forward together with our united strength."
16386 -- Winston Churchill, first speech to Parliament, May 13, 1940
16388 Be it religion, love under all its forms, literature, or art,
16389 there is not a single spiritual force that does not become an
16390 object of commercial exploitation.
16393 History is a nightmare from which I am trying to awake.
16394 -- James Joyce from "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man"
16396 Stand your ground. Don't fire unless fired upon,
16397 but if they mean to have a war, let it begin here!
16398 -- John Parker, leader of the "Minutemen", April 19, 1775
16400 These are the times that try men's souls.
16403 Yesterday, December 7, 1941--a day which will live in infamy--the
16404 United states of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by
16405 naval and air forces of the empire of Japan... The attack yesterday
16406 on the Hawaiian Islands has caused severe damage to American naval and
16407 military forces. I regret to tell you that very many American lives
16408 have been lost. In addition, American ships have been reported
16409 torpedoed on the high seas between San Francisco and Honolulu... Japan
16410 has therefore undertaken a surprise offensive extending throughout the
16411 Pacific area. The facts of yesterday and today speak for themselves.
16412 The people of the United States have already formed their opinions and
16413 well understand the implications to the very life and safety of our
16415 As Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy I have directed that all
16416 measures be taken for our defense, that always will our whole nation
16417 remember the character of the onslaught against us. No matter how long
16418 it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American
16419 people, in their righteous might, will win through to absolute victory.
16420 I believe that I interpret the will of the Congress and of the
16421 people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the
16422 uttermost but will make it very certain that this form of treachery
16423 shall never again endanger us. Hostilities exist. There is no
16424 blinking at the fact that our people, our territory and our interests
16425 are in grave danger. With confidence in our armed forces, with the
16426 unbounding determination of our people, we will gain the inevitable
16427 triumph. So help us God.
16428 -- Franklin Delano Roosevelt
16430 Our strength grows out of our weakness.
16431 -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
16433 The proper function of man is to live, not to exist.
16434 I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them.
16435 I shall use my time.
16438 What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly;
16439 it is dearness only that gives everything its value.
16442 it's hard not to blame microsoft for the new worm. they point at
16443 their feeble little patch (which actually doesn't stop all the
16444 types of attack nimda uses), but why aren't their operating systems
16445 automatically getting the patch if it's critical? also, why are
16446 there so many huge gaping holes in the first place? they'll never
16447 stop plugging them... it's like a dyke made out of sponges.
16450 after i got my millionth annoying spam today, i decided that there must
16451 be something to it after all. perhaps i can write spam all day while
16452 wearing only underpants and make money by magic too. clearly no one has
16453 shut off the spammers' internet connections yet, so they survive somehow.
16454 subsistence-level living based on a life of evil, here i come!
16455 i like to call this:
16458 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-
16460 Your nuglids are perspiratory max!
16461 Investment opportunity from gravy!
16462 Get in on the ground step business man where revenues flow like wines.
16463 Please to respond, urgent information overload impendimint.
16464 20,000 other fine Americans have found this to be lifeblood for retirement
16465 and frolic away from troubles of money.
16467 +++ SouLing's Institute of Higher Profits +++
16469 We instruct nubile businesspeoples with wisdom and our cadets conquer
16470 all marches of finance.
16471 Don't miss out! You can be next!
16472 Join our team and we hike the goalposts of life!
16474 http://somethinglikeyouveneverseenbeforewowcool-dumbyankeesendmecashnow.com
16477 Chauncy, Nebraska 55512-1212
16479 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-
16481 Courage is grace under pressure. -- Ernest Hemingway
16483 To build may have to be the slow and laborious task of years.
16484 To destroy can be the thoughtless act of a single day.
16485 -- Winston Churchill
16487 I learned that it is the weak who are cruel, and that
16488 gentleness is to be expected only from the strong.
16491 The liberties of our country, the freedom of our civil constitution, are
16492 worth defending at all hazards; and it is our duty to defend them against all
16493 attacks. We have received them as a fair inheritance from our worthy
16494 ancestors: they purchased them for us with toil and danger and expense of
16495 treasure and blood, and transmitted them to us with care and diligence.
16496 It will bring an everlasting mark of infamy on the present generation,
16497 enlightened as it is, if we should suffer them to be wrested from us by
16498 violence without a struggle, or be cheated out of them by the artifices of
16499 false and designing men.
16500 Of the latter we are in most danger at present; let us therefore be aware
16501 of it. Let us contemplate our forefathers and posterity; and resolve to
16502 maintain the rights bequeathed to us from the former, for the sake of the
16504 Instead of sitting down satisfied with the efforts we have already made,
16505 which is the wish of our enemies, the necessity of the times, more than ever,
16506 calls for our utmost circumspection, deliberation, fortitude, and perseverance.
16507 Let us remember that 'if we suffer tamely a lawless attack upon our liberty,
16508 we encourage it, and involve others in our doom.' It is a very serious
16509 consideration, which should deeply impress our minds, that millions yet unborn
16510 may be the miserable sharers in the event.
16511 -- Samuel Adams, tasty American Patriot
16513 The bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is
16514 before them, glory and danger alike, and yet notwithstanding go out
16518 I do not know what I may appear to the world; but to myself
16519 I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore,
16520 and diverting myself now and then finding a smoother pebble
16521 or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of
16522 truth lay all undiscovered before me.
16525 As a rule, software systems do not work well until they have been
16526 used, and have failed repeatedly, in real applications.
16529 Everything happens to everybody sooner or later if there is time enough.
16530 -- George Bernard Shaw
16532 When fanatics are on top, there is no limit to oppression.
16535 Knowing is not enough; we must apply.
16536 Willing is not enough; we must do.
16537 -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
16539 tkelele ekki eekkle cthulhu hurf hurf hurf *plat*
16540 -- H. P. Lovecraft's "cat" ejecting a hairball
16542 If we survive danger it steels our courage more than anything else.
16543 -- Reinhold Niebuhr
16545 Computer Science is no more about computers
16546 than astronomy is about telescopes.
16547 -- Edsger W. Dijkstra
16549 What we become depends on what we read after all of the
16550 professors have finished with us. The greatest university
16551 of all is a collection of books.
16554 The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in
16555 higher esteem those that think alike than those who think differently.
16556 -- Friedrich Nietzsche
16558 The cause of America is in a great measure the cause of all mankind.
16562 crucial in these turbulent
16563 final days of earth...
16565 president shrub does
16566 wonders for sagging garment
16567 industry's profits.
16571 christian values? hate the bombs,
16572 but love the bombers?
16574 Fortitude is the guard and support of the other virtues.
16577 Whenever you are asked if you can do a job, tell 'em, "Certainly,
16578 I can!" Then get busy and find out how to do it.
16579 -- Theodore Roosevelt
16581 Be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve
16582 greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.
16583 -- William Shakespeare
16586 then he frittered it away
16590 Half this game is ninety percent mental.
16593 Action may not always bring happiness;
16594 but there is no happiness without action.
16595 -- Benjamin Disraeli
16597 The world is faced with a transcendent conflict between those who love life
16598 and those who love death both for themselves and their enemies.
16599 -- Charles Krauthammer
16601 doomed bovines eat sand
16602 scrape on cactus in AZ
16603 then chowed on and gone
16606 To find out what one is fitted to do,
16607 and to secure an opportunity to do it,
16608 is the key to happiness.
16611 I have never understood Brahms. I believe he was
16612 burning the midnight oil trying to be complicated.
16613 -- Albert Einstein, in a conversation with Peter G. Neumann
16615 Creative minds have always been known to survive any kind of bad training.
16618 It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to
16619 entertain a thought without accepting it.
16622 The fastest way to succeed is to look as if you're playing
16623 by somebody else's rules, while quietly playing by your own.
16627 a brick; microsoft sinking
16628 fast as cement shoes
16630 Journalism is popular, but it is popular mainly as fiction.
16631 Life is one world, and life seen in the newspapers is another.
16632 -- G. K. Chesterton
16634 We don't know a millionth of one percent about anything.
16635 -- Thomas Alva Edison
16637 Writing is easy. All you do is stare at a blank sheet
16638 of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead.
16641 Any activity becomes creative when the doer
16642 cares about doing it right, or doing it better.
16645 Experience with technology teaches us that once a technology makes
16646 something possible, it gets applied, whether for good or bad.
16647 -- Donald A. Norman
16649 The final test of a leader is that he leaves behind him in
16650 other men the conviction and the will to carry on.
16653 Without education we are in a horrible and deadly
16654 danger of taking educated people seriously.
16655 -- G. K. Chesterton
16657 When your work speaks for itself, don't interrupt.
16660 Insane people are always sure that they are fine. It is only
16661 the sane people who are willing to admit that they are crazy.
16664 Humor is perhaps a sense of intellectual perspective: an awareness
16665 that some things are really important, others not; and that the two
16666 kinds are most oddly jumbled in everyday affairs.
16667 -- Christopher Morley
16669 Nobody ever died of laughter.
16672 Mein Herr looked so thoroughly bewildered that I thought it best
16673 to change the subject. "What a useful thing a pocket-map is!" I
16675 "That's another thing we've learned from your Nation," said Mein
16676 Herr, "map-making. But we've carried it much further than you. What
16677 do you consider the largest map that would be really useful?"
16678 "About six inches to the mile."
16679 "Only six inches!" exclaimed Mein Herr. "We very soon got to six
16680 yards to the mile. Then we tried a hundred yards to the mile. And
16681 then came the grandest idea of all! We actually made a map of the
16682 country, on the scale of a mile to the mile!"
16683 "Have you used it much?" I enquired.
16684 "It has never been spread out, yet," said Mein Herr: "the farmers
16685 objected; they said it would cover the whole country, and shut out
16686 the sunlight! So we now use the country itself, as its own map, and
16687 I assure you it does nearly as well."
16688 -- Lewis Carroll, "Sylvie and Bruno Concluded"
16690 The fly has an autonomous system that avoids being swatted. It has
16691 the ability to see and navigate and make decisions on millisecond time
16692 scales. We've never been able to make artificial vision systems that
16693 come within orders of magnitude of that, with all the computation we
16697 The world is too much with us; late and soon, Getting and spending,
16698 we lay waste our powers: Little we see in Nature that is ours;
16699 We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
16700 -- William Wordsworth
16702 You return and again take the proper course, guided by what?
16703 By the picture in mind of the place you are headed for.
16706 The world is a dangerous place to live, not because of the people who
16707 are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it.
16710 Xtianity the Easy Way
16711 ---------------------
16713 jesus heal my head,
16714 so i won't drop dead;
16715 god better get me real happy,
16716 'cause he's my celestial pappy.
16718 yo god, i'll just lie around here at home,
16719 you fill my pockets with money while i moan.
16720 it'll make me real religious,
16721 if you ain't fictitious...
16723 being a zealot is a lot of hassle,
16724 and with my faith i must wrassle.
16725 'til jesus gets my brain repaired,
16726 to humans my butt remains bared.
16728 surmounting one's lot is for others,
16729 who have energy unsmothered,
16730 by wacky notions of invisible spirits,
16731 that reward and punish holy twits.
16733 heaven better live up to my imagination,
16734 and to its oft repeated reputation;
16735 the next life better not suck, holy dad,
16736 'cause this one on earth you f*cked pretty bad.
16739 When one door closes another door opens; but we so often look so
16740 long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see
16741 the ones which open for us.
16742 -- Alexander Graham Bell
16744 The mind is its own place and
16745 in itself can make a heaven
16746 of hell, a hell of heaven.
16749 Knowing is not enough; we must apply.
16750 Willing is not enough; we must do.
16751 -- Johann von Goethe
16753 I've developed a new philosophy... I only dread one day at a time.
16754 -- Charlie Brown, in Charles Schultz's cartoon "Peanuts"
16756 It is hard to say exactly when the monumentalization of the trivial became
16757 a way of life in America. It may have been when the National Football League
16758 started according contests between large men in skintight pants the sort of
16759 solemn designations formerly reserved for armed global conflicts.
16760 -- Michael Kelly, in "The Atlantic Monthly"
16762 When you are courting a nice girl an hour seems like a second.
16763 When you sit on a red-hot cinder a second seems like an hour.
16767 We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned,
16768 so as to have the life that is waiting for us.
16771 The best way to predict the future is to invent it.
16774 Unless one's predictions are confirmed more often than a random
16775 guesser's, we should be suspicious of their quality, however
16776 cogent they may have seemed when made.
16777 -- Richard A. Posner
16779 It is said an eastern monarch once charged his wise men to invent a
16780 sentence, to be ever in view, and which should be true and appropriate
16781 in all times and situations. They presented him with the words,
16782 "And this, too, shall pass away." How much it expresses! How chastening
16783 in the hour of pride! How consoling in the depths of affliction!
16786 Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions.
16787 Small people always do that, but the really great make you
16788 feel that you, too, can become great.
16791 The belief that microsoft has done it all right this time with Windows-XP
16792 is just like... the suspension of disbelief that allows people to think
16793 it's perfectly normal to see kids flying around on brooms in the Harry
16794 Potter movie while they're in the darkened movie theater. It's time to
16795 turn on the lights in your mental theater...
16798 We always deceive ourselves twice about the people we love--
16799 first to their advantage, then to their disadvantage.
16802 The majority of important television commercials take the form of
16803 religious parables organized around a coherent theology. Like all religious
16804 parables, they put forward a concept of sin, intimations of the way to
16805 redemption, and a vision of Heaven. They also suggest what are the roots of
16806 evil and what are the obligations of the holy.
16807 Consider, for example, the Parable of the Ring Around the Collar. This
16808 is to television scripture what the Parable of the Prodigal Son is to the
16809 Bible, which is to say it is an archetype containing most of the elements of
16810 form and content that recur in the genre.
16811 The narrative structure of the Parable of the Ring Around the Collar is,
16812 indeed, comfortably traditional. The story has a beginning, a middle, and an
16813 end. A married couple is depicted in some relaxed setting--a restaurant, say--
16814 in which they are enjoying each other's company and generally having a
16815 wonderful time. But then a waitress approaches their table, notices that the
16816 man has a dirty collar, stares at it boldly, sneers with cold contempt, and
16817 announces to all within hearing the nature of his transgression. The man is
16818 humiliated and glares at his wife with scorn, for she is the source of his
16819 shame. She, in turn, assumes an expression of self-loathing mixed with a
16820 touch of self-pity...
16821 The parable continues by showing the wife at home using a detergent
16822 that never fails to eliminate dirt around the collars of men's shirts...
16823 In television-commercial parables, the root cause of evil is
16824 "Technological Innocence", a failure to know the particulars of the
16825 beneficent accomplishments of industrial progress...
16826 Technological innocence refers not only to ignorance of detergents,
16827 drugs, sanitary napkins, cars, salves, and foodstuffs, but also to
16828 ignorance of technical machinery such as savings banks and transportation
16830 -- Neil Postman, "Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age
16833 Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some
16834 blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can.
16835 Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a
16836 spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.
16837 -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
16839 I don't know much about being a millionaire,
16840 but I'll bet I'd be darling at it.
16843 term: Microflaccidity
16844 definition: An addiction to Microsoft products accompanied by a decrease in IQ.
16846 Poetry is what gets lost in translation.
16849 Telling us to obey instinct is like telling us to obey "people". People
16850 say different things: so do instincts. Our instincts are at war.... Each
16851 instinct, if you listen to it, will claim to be gratified at the expense
16855 [Hollywood is] a place where they shoot too many films and not enough actors.
16858 Money sometimes makes fools of important persons,
16859 but also makes important persons of fools.
16862 I made my money by selling too soon.
16865 Tell me who admires you and loves you, and I will tell you who you are.
16866 -- Charles Augustin Sainte-Beauve
16868 False facts are highly injurious to the progress of science, for they often
16869 endure long; but false views, if supported by some evidence, do little harm,
16870 for everyone takes a salutory pleasure in proving their falseness.
16873 I never hated a man enough to give him his diamonds back.
16876 I like to listen. I have learned a great deal from
16877 listening carefully. Most people never listen.
16878 -- Ernest Hemingway
16880 Ten point list of lessons learned
16881 from the high-tech industry failures during 2001:
16883 1) Prediction tools must improve.
16884 2) It's hugely difficult to build chicken and egg simultaneously.
16885 3) Venture capital firms' demands that startups generate $50 million
16886 in revenue within three years were unrealistic.
16887 4) Companies used narrowcast to broadcast.
16889 6) We all, like sheep, will go astray (with enough pressure).
16890 7) Many startups were fundamentally uncreative and "un-Internet."
16891 8) Too early to market? Too bad.
16892 9) New stuff doesn't replace old.
16893 10) Nothing changes overnight.
16897 The beginnings and endings of all human undertakings are untidy.
16900 The ultimate result of shielding men from the
16901 effects of folly is to fill the world with fools.
16904 Sports is the toy department of human life. -- Howard Cosell
16906 First keep the peace within yourself,
16907 then you can also bring peace to others.
16910 What one has not experienced, one will never understand in print.
16913 Newspapermen learn to call a murderer "an alleged murderer" and the
16914 King of England "the alleged King of England" to avoid libel suits.
16917 I told the doctor I broke my leg in two places.
16918 He told me to quit going to those places.
16921 Never mistake motion for action. -- Ernest Hemingway
16923 The first duty of a leader is to make himself
16924 be loved without courting love. To be loved
16925 without "playing up" to anyone--even to himself.
16928 All you need in this life is ignorance and
16929 confidence, and then success is sure.
16932 Creativity represents a miraculous coming together of the uninhibited
16933 energy of the child with its apparent opposite and enemy, the sense of
16934 order imposed on the disciplined adult intelligence.
16935 -- Norman Podhoretz
16937 If only I could master the skill of telefecalkinesis, the act of
16938 sh*tting on someone from any distance. Another useful skill is
16939 evilknievelportation, the ability to jump out of the way right
16940 before some horrible accident occurs. This is useful to avoid
16941 the telefecalkinetics.
16944 Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen six,
16945 result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual
16946 expenditure twenty pound ought and six, result misery.
16947 -- Charles Dickens, in "David Copperfield"
16949 Advertising is a valuable economic factor because it is the cheapest
16950 way of selling goods, particularly if the goods are worthless.
16953 It's the wonder of the world, it's a rocket to the moon, it gets you high,
16954 it gets you low, but once you get that glow... Love, love, hooray for love,
16955 who was ever too blase for love? Make this the night for love. If we have
16956 to fight, let's fight for love. Some sigh and cry for love--Ah, but in
16957 Pa-ree they die for love. Some waste away for love. Just the same--hooray
16961 Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away.
16964 Progress might have been all right once, but it has gone on too long.
16967 Rarely do great beauty and great virtue dwell together.
16970 The young have aspirations that never come to pass,
16971 the old have reminiscences of what never happened.
16972 -- H.H. Monroe (Saki)
16974 An inventor is a person who makes an ingenious arrangement
16975 of wheels, levers and springs, and believes it civilization.
16978 There's nothing quite like doing nothing.
16981 For a successful technology, reality must take precedence
16982 over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled.
16983 -- Richard Feynmann
16985 The mind commands the body and the body obeys.
16986 The mind commands itself and finds resistance.
16989 The English word "way" is perhaps the nearest translation that we can
16990 make to the Chinese word tao. It is usually pronounced "dow." The Tao
16991 means many things. Primarily, it means the way of nature, the process of
16992 the universe. But it also means a way of life, a way of living in
16993 accordance with that process. We have lost the idea that our occupations
16994 are vocations. Our idea of an occupation is that it is a way of making
16995 money. We make a very, very destructive division between work and play.
16996 We spend eight hours, or whatever it may be, at work in order to earn the
16997 money to enjoy ourselves in the other eight hours. And that is a perfectly
16998 ridiculous way of living. It is much better to be very poor indeed than to
16999 do something so stupid as boring ourselves and wasting ourselves for eight
17000 hours in order to be able to enjoy ourselves the other eight hours. The
17001 result of this fantastic division between work and play is that work
17002 becomes drudgery, and play becomes empty. When we say that our occupation
17003 should also be our vocation, we are speaking of a conception of life within
17004 which work and play should be identical.
17005 It is interesting that Hindus, when they speak of the creation of the
17006 universe, do not call it the work of God, they call it the play of God,
17007 the Vishnu-lila, lila meaning "play." And they look upon the whole
17008 manifestation of all the universes as a play, as a sport, as a kind of
17009 dance--lila perhaps being somewhat related to our word lilt. We in the
17010 West have tended to lose the idea of our work, our profession, as being a
17012 Now, mind you, these ways I am talking about in Asia are not followed
17013 by an enormous number of people, except in a kind of nominal, superficial
17014 way. And I am not trying to make any vast comparisons between Asian society
17015 and Western society or to say that the total Asian way of life is superior
17016 to ours. I do not think it is, but I do not think it is necessarily
17017 inferior, either; it is just different. But the fact remains that there is
17018 an aspect of Asian religion and philosophy that is very subdued in Western
17019 religion and philosophy, so that you might say that the Way, in the sense of
17020 the Chinese Tao, does not quite exist in the West, in any recognizable form.
17021 It does exist, yes. It exists unofficially, it exists occasionally, but it
17022 is never clearly recognized.
17023 -- Alan Watts, "The Way of Zen"
17025 It is not certain that everything is uncertain.
17028 We used to think that
17029 if we knew one, we knew two,
17030 because one and one are two.
17031 We are finding that we must
17032 learn a great deal more about "and".
17033 -- Sir Arthur Eddington
17035 The so-called Pythagoreans, who were the first to take up mathematics,
17036 not only advanced this subject, but, saturated with it, they fancied
17037 that the principles of mathematics were the principles of all things.
17040 Civilization advances by extending the number of important
17041 operations which we can perform without thinking of them.
17042 -- Alfred North Whitehead
17044 Any solution to a problem changes the problem.
17047 I believe cats to be spirits come to earth. A cat, I am sure,
17048 could walk on a cloud without coming through.
17051 Pay no attention to what the critics say; there has
17052 never been set up a statue in honor of a critic.
17055 Do not ask things to happen as you wish, but wish them to
17056 happen as they do happen, and your life will go smoothly.
17059 One of the things most beguiling to cat lovers is the
17060 intractability of a cat... its refusal to surrender
17061 the least part of its spiritual independence.
17062 -- Marguerite Steen
17064 Sometimes when I reflect back on all the beer I drink I feel ashamed.
17065 Then I look into the glass and think about the workers in the brewery
17066 and all of their hopes and dreams. If I didn't drink this beer, they
17067 might be out of work and their dreams would be shattered. Then I say
17068 to myself, "It is better that I drink this beer and let their dreams
17069 come true than be selfish and worry about my liver."
17070 -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey
17072 I feel sorry for people who don't drink. When they wake up in the
17073 morning, that's as good as they're going to feel all day.
17076 The problem with some people is that when they aren't drunk, they're sober.
17077 -- William Butler Yeats
17079 Drinking provides a beautiful excuse to pursue the one activity that
17080 truly gives me pleasure, hooking up with fat, hairy girls.
17083 What contemptible scoundrel has stolen the cork to my lunch?
17086 Life is a waste of time, time is a waste of life, so get
17087 wasted all of the time and have the time of your life.
17088 -- Michelle Mastrolacasa
17090 I'd rather have a bottle in front of me, than a frontal lobotomy.
17093 Newscasters have gotten so repellant,
17094 talk shows so superficial,
17095 sitcoms so unfunny,
17097 movies so predictable,
17098 that the Food Network offers the best
17099 fare on TV in every sense of the word.
17102 My doctor told me to stop having intimate dinners for four.
17103 Unless there are three other people.
17106 The people's good is the highest law. -- Cicero
17108 In all recorded history there has not been one economist who
17109 has had to worry about where the next meal would come from.
17112 The great thing in this world
17113 is not so much where we stand,
17114 as in what direction we are moving.
17115 -- Oliver Wendell Holmes
17117 Reality is the leading cause of stress
17118 amongst those in touch with it.
17121 If at first you don't succeed, find out if the loser gets anything.
17124 The nice thing about egotists is that
17125 they don't talk about other people.
17126 -- Lucille S. Harper
17128 Wisdom outweighs any wealth. -- Sophocles
17130 A problem is a chance for you to do your best. -- Duke Ellington
17132 It is not how much we do, but how much love we put in the doing.
17133 It is not how much we give, but how much love we put in the giving.
17136 The human mind is like an umbrella--it functions best when open.
17139 They always say that time changes things, but
17140 you actually have to change them yourself.
17143 If the automobile had followed the same development cycle as the
17144 computer, a Rolls-Royce would today cost $100, get a million miles
17145 per gallon, and explode once a year, killing everyone inside.
17146 -- Robert X. Cringely
17148 The man who says he is willing to meet you
17149 halfway usually is a poor judge of distance.
17150 -- Laurence J. Peter
17152 To do two things at once is to do neither.
17155 We live in an age when pizza gets to your home before the police.
17158 Never keep up with the Joneses. Drag them down to your level.
17161 Hell, there are no rules here, we're trying to accomplish something.
17164 The days of the digital watch are numbered. -- Tom Stoppard
17166 A little drowsing cat is an image of perfect beatitude.
17169 World peace must develop from inner peace.
17170 Peace is not just mere absence of violence.
17171 Peace is, I think, the manifestation of human compassion.
17172 -- His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama
17174 The human mind treats a new idea the same way
17175 the body treats a strange protein; it rejects it.
17178 A hat should be taken off when you greet a
17179 lady and left off for the rest of your life.
17180 Nothing looks more stupid than a hat.
17183 Not only is there no God, but try getting a plumber on weekends.
17186 It is a very sad thing that nowadays
17187 there is so little useless information.
17190 I was born not knowing and have had only a
17191 little time to change that here and there.
17194 I hate mankind, for I think myself one of the
17195 best of them, and I know how bad I am.
17198 Delusions of grandeur make me feel a lot better about myself.
17201 It's a rare person who wants to hear what he doesn't want to hear.
17204 Just because your voice reaches halfway around the world doesn't
17205 mean you are wiser than when it reached only to the end of the bar.
17206 -- Edward R. Murrow
17208 What can you say about a society that says that
17209 God is dead and Elvis is alive?
17212 Poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese.
17213 -- G. K. Chesterton
17215 Hard work never killed anybody, but why take a chance?
17216 -- Edgar Bergen, as "Charlie McCarthy"
17218 A conference is a gathering of important people who singly can
17219 do nothing, but together can decide that nothing can be done.
17222 Whatever you do will be insignificant,
17223 but it is very important that you do it.
17226 Cats know how to obtain food without labor,
17227 shelter without confinement,
17228 and love without penalties.
17231 Most men are within a finger's breadth of being mad.
17232 -- Diogenes the Cynic
17234 When it is not necessary to make a decision,
17235 it is necessary not to make a decision.
17238 Reminds me of my safari in Africa. Somebody forgot the corkscrew
17239 and for several days we had nothing to live on but food and water.
17242 Why isn't there a special name for the tops of your feet? -- Lily Tomlin
17244 I took a speed reading course and read "War and
17245 Peace" in twenty minutes. It involves Russia.
17248 Nothing fixes a thing so intensely in the memory as the wish to forget it.
17249 -- Michel de Montaigne
17251 I've had a perfectly wonderful evening. But this wasn't it.
17254 In the future everyone will be famous for 15 minutes. -- Andy Warhol
17256 Sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.
17259 The reason grandparents and grandchildren get
17260 along so well is that they have a common enemy.
17263 A man thinks that by mouthing hard words he understands hard things.
17266 The prayer of the scientist if he prayed, which is not likely:
17267 Lord, grant that my discovery may increase knowledge and help other men.
17268 Failing that, Lord, grant that it will not lead to man's destruction.
17269 Failing that, Lord, grant that my article in "Brain" be published before
17270 the destruction takes place.
17271 -- Walker Percy, in "Love in the Ruins"
17273 Psychiatry enables us to correct our faults by
17274 confessing our parents' shortcomings.
17275 -- Laurence J. Peter
17277 Cooperate on Standards, Compete on Implementation
17278 -- Sun Corporations's Founding Principle
17280 If I could drop dead right now, I'd be the happiest man alive.
17283 Someday I want to be rich. Some people get so rich they lose
17284 all respect for humanity. That's how rich I want to be.
17287 Kids who have yet to master spelling or basic math are in no position to
17288 dogmatize about scientific questions like global warming or nuclear power.
17291 If you can't ride two horses at the same time you shouldn't be in the circus.
17294 Whenever a person walks in on the middle of a film or a conversation, or
17295 starts a new friendship, opens a book, takes a new job, or moves to a new
17296 city, his first need is to orient himself. We all must know, in a general
17297 way, what to expect so that we can plan and respond intelligently and feel
17298 comfortable. And although all animals work with their senses and brains to
17299 orient themselves, human being do something unique. We live less simply and
17300 directly in the world than do other animals. We make a version of a world,
17301 an interpretation of it, and then we live in that. The degree of comfort
17302 and success that we achieve in our lives depends on how well that
17303 interpretation suits our circumstances.
17304 Another way to state this idea is that genetically built into people is
17305 a special organizing mode of perception. The philosopher Susanne Langer
17306 calls this mode transformational: we are co-creators of our own perceptions.
17307 In the very act of physically perceiving, we interpret; we transform the raw
17308 data gathered by our senses into complex symbolic meanings. We literally
17309 cannot function and survive without seeing in our world evidence of order
17310 and purpose. We take nothing at face value; we systematize, explain, weave
17311 a large network of connected meanings.
17312 While nonhuman animals toil for their lives, play, or lie in the sun--do
17313 whatever is suitable for the moment--only people fret and practice and
17314 struggle to achieve distant or abstract goals. We are the only animals who
17315 live partly removed from our immediate physical circumstances. This
17316 extravagance is the source of our language, art, science, music, religions,
17317 philosophies: those things we value most. Aside from such direct physical
17318 causes of death as hunger, exposure, old age, or disease, the one
17319 circumstance we truly cannot survive is living in a raw, uninterpreted
17320 place--in chaos. Each of us either finds a meaning in some traditional
17321 religion or philosophy or patches together one of his own, or else he
17322 panics, loses the will to live, and, in one way or another perishes.
17323 -- Shirley Park Lowery, "Familiar Mysteries: The Truth in Myth"
17325 I believe that a scientist looking at nonscientific
17326 problems is just as dumb as the next guy.
17329 The operating system for the *world* is too important a resource to be
17330 entrusted to just one proprietary company. No one company can handle
17331 the responsibility, nor can any one company be trusted to stay honest
17332 and fair when wielding such awesome power.
17335 Middle age is when you've met so many people that every
17336 new person you meet reminds you of someone else.
17339 Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it himself.
17342 I was walking down the street wearing glasses when the prescription ran out.
17345 Sometimes I think we're alone. Sometimes I think we're not.
17346 In either case, the thought is staggering.
17347 -- R. Buckminster Fuller
17349 Birds fly over the rainbow, why then oh why can't I?
17352 The software business is the worst
17353 of all possible business models,
17354 except for all the others.
17357 Instant gratification takes too long.
17360 Meetings are indispensable when you don't want to do anything.
17361 -- John Kenneth Galbraith
17363 No one can have a higher opinion of him than I have,
17364 and I think he's a dirty little beast.
17367 Man's capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but
17368 man's inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary.
17369 -- Reinhold Niebuhr
17371 The great tragedy of Science--the slaying of a
17372 beautiful hypothesis by an ugly fact.
17373 -- Thomas H. Huxley
17375 Against logic there is no armor like ignorance. -- Laurence J. Peter
17377 In mathematics you don't understand things.
17378 You just get used to them.
17379 -- John von Neumann
17381 Well, if I called the wrong number, why did you answer the phone?
17384 As for me, except for an occasional heart attack,
17385 I feel as young as I ever did.
17388 Who is rich? He that is content. Who is that? Nobody.
17389 -- Benjamin Franklin
17391 When ideas fail, words come in very handy. -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
17393 The wisdom of the wise, and the experience of ages,
17394 may be preserved by quotation.
17395 -- Benjamin Disraeli
17398 I am not familiar with the command RTFM.
17399 I tried giving it but got an warning that the command does not exist.
17402 -- A real user's response to advice
17404 A happy childhood has spoiled many a promising life.
17405 -- Robertson Davies
17407 The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two
17408 opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the
17409 ability to function.
17410 -- F. Scott Fitzgerald
17412 Everything you've learned in school as "obvious" becomes less and
17413 less obvious as you begin to study the universe. For example, there
17414 are no solids in the universe. There's not even a suggestion of a
17415 solid. There are no absolute continuums. There are no surfaces.
17416 There are no straight lines.
17417 -- R. Buckminster Fuller
17419 Our happiness doesn't depend on somebody else's action or on anything
17420 else. It doesn't depend on our success, but rather on the effort we're
17421 willing to put into everything we do. Even if people disappoint or fail
17422 us left and right, even if people turn against us, hurt us, lie about us,
17423 don't understand us, even if they think they know everything about us and
17424 judge us unfairly, they can't infringe upon our happiness. True happiness
17425 means that we have a deep-seated peace and tranquility that transcends all
17426 the difficulties of life, that cannot be disturbed by the chaos and
17427 warfare that might touch our lives.
17428 Digging in the trenches of a Nazi concentration camp Victor Frankl once
17429 said to a fellow inmate: "This is where you've got to find your happiness--
17430 right here in this trench, in this camp." It is a simple matter of fact:
17431 you can be just as happy in a concentration camp, horrific and terrible as
17432 it surely is, as you can in any other circumstance in life.
17433 For this is where we're supposed to find our happiness--where we are
17434 now, wherever that might happen to be, in all that we do, in whatever
17435 circumstances we find ourselves. Being happy involves the intense
17436 struggle of entering intimately into all that we do.
17437 -- "The Monks of New Skete, In the Spirit of Happiness"
17439 Upon this gifted age, in its dark hour,
17440 Rains from the sky a meteoric shower
17441 Of facts . . . they lie unquestioned, uncombined.
17442 Wisdom enough to leech us of our ill
17443 Is daily spun; but there exists no loom
17444 To weave it into fabric.
17445 -- Edna St. Vincent Millay, from "Upon This Age"
17447 An ignorant person is one who doesn't know what you have just found out.
17450 Everybody gets so much information all day long
17451 that they lose their common sense.
17454 Rationalists, wearing square hats,
17455 Think, in square rooms,
17456 Looking at the floor,
17457 Looking at the ceiling.
17458 They confine themselves
17459 To right-angled triangles.
17460 If they tried rhomboids,
17461 Cones, waving lines, ellipses--
17462 As, for example, the ellipse of the half-moon--
17463 Rationalists would wear sombreros.
17466 I believe in getting into hot water; it keeps you clean.
17467 -- G. K. Chesterton
17469 fat in dee head / fat in dee mind / thin on dee love / absent dee kind
17470 yon falwell got dee big head / falwell got dee tiny brain
17471 falwell don' like what you be liken' / falwell hate what he don' understan'
17472 which be everyteen' for dis one / falwell dee bigot boy.
17473 -- love poem to jerry f.
17475 The cat is, above all things, a dramatist.
17478 I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed
17479 us with sense, reason and intellect has intended us to forgo their use.
17482 The human mind treats a new idea the same way
17483 the body treats a strange protein; it rejects it.
17486 I would never die for my beliefs because I might be wrong.
17487 -- Bertrand Russell
17489 The key to being a good manager is keeping the people
17490 who hate me away from those who are still undecided.
17493 Reality is nothing but a collective hunch. -- Lily Tomlin
17495 To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk. -- Thomas Edison
17497 If I knew I was going to live this long,
17498 I'd have taken better care of myself.
17501 What we anticipate seldom occurs; what we least expected generally happens.
17502 -- Benjamin Disraeli
17504 The cat is the mirror of the human mind, personality and attitude,
17505 just as the dog mirrors his human's physical appearance.
17506 -- Winfred Carriere
17508 Is sloppiness in speech caused by ignorance or apathy?
17509 I don't know and I don't care.
17512 Historians are like deaf people who go on
17513 answering questions that no one has asked them.
17516 There are two moments worthwhile in writing, the one when you
17517 start and the other when you throw it in the waste-paper basket.
17520 The capacity of human beings to bore one another seems
17521 to be vastly greater than that of any other animal.
17524 I have yet to see any problem, however complicated, which, when you
17525 looked at it in the right way, did not become still more complicated.
17528 common sense is just the things your parents tell you that
17529 actually make it into your brain when you're a kid.
17531 don't touch hot things,
17532 look both ways when crossing the street,
17535 these ones work; thus they survive.
17538 Men have become the tools of their tools. -- Henry David Thoreau
17540 Lying increases the creative faculties, expands the
17541 ego, and lessens the frictions of social contacts.
17542 -- Clare Booth Luce
17544 You can't build a reputation on what you are going to do.
17547 When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries
17548 disappear and life stands explained.
17551 Why was I born with such contemporaries? -- Oscar Wilde
17553 It is the nature of all greatness not to be exact. -- Edmund Burke
17555 What's on your mind, if you will allow the overstatement? -- Fred Allen
17557 The folly of mistaking a paradox for a discovery, a metaphor for a proof,
17558 a torrent of verbiage for a spring of capital truths, and oneself for an
17559 oracle, is inborn in us.
17562 The mad mind does not halt. If it halts, it is enlightenment.
17563 -- Chinese Zen Saying
17565 He who controls his mind and has cut off desire and anger realizes the Self.
17566 -- The Bhagavad Gita
17568 A fly, when it exists, has as much being as God. -- Soren Kierkegaard
17570 Our final experience, like our first, is conjectural.
17571 We move between two darknesses.
17574 If you have not lived through something, it is not true. -- Kabir
17576 I like a view but I like to sit with my back to it. -- Gertrude Stein
17579 So bright in the eyes of those
17580 clutching at the thought of death.
17583 The more faithfully you listen to the voice within you,
17584 the better you will hear what is sounding outside.
17585 And only she who listens can speak.
17586 -- Dag Hammarskjold
17588 If knowledge does not liberate the self from the self,
17589 then ignorance is better than such knowledge.
17592 When the eye wakes up to see again,
17593 it suddenly stops taking anything for granted.
17594 -- Frederick Franck
17596 Only when we know little things do we know
17597 anything; doubt grows with knowledge.
17598 -- Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
17605 He, O men, is the wisest, who, like Socrates,
17606 knows that his wisdom is in truth worth nothing.
17609 Words are just like a man carrying a lamp to look for
17610 his property, by which he can say: this is my property.
17611 -- The Lankavatara Sutra
17614 of a good man's life,
17615 His little, nameless,
17617 Of kindness and love.
17618 -- William Wordsworth
17620 I don't know whether I believe in God or not. I think, really, I'm
17621 some sort of Buddhist. But the essential thing is to put oneself
17622 in a frame of mind which is close to that of prayer.
17625 Life is like stepping onto a boat that is about to sail out to sea and sink.
17629 The cries of the cicadas
17630 Sink into the rocks.
17633 We live in a rainbow of chaos. -- Paul Cezanne
17635 love's like a purple dinosaur because it can't outrun a truck,
17636 life's like a bowl of nixons sometimes you f*ck.
17639 Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.
17640 -- Napoleon Bonaparte
17642 Almost all absurdity of conduct arises from the
17643 imitation of those whom we cannot resemble.
17646 We are at the very beginning of time for the human race. It is not
17647 unreasonable that we grapple with problems. But there are tens of
17648 thousands of years in the future. Our responsibility is to do what
17649 we can, learn what we can, improve the solutions, and pass them on.
17652 The playful kitten, with its pretty little tigerish gambols, is infinitely
17653 more amusing than half the people one is obliged to live with in the world.
17654 -- Lady Sydney Morgan
17656 The mystery of life is not a problem to be
17657 solved but a reality to be experienced.
17658 -- Aart Van Der Leeuw
17660 Have no designs on becoming a Buddha. This has nothing
17661 whatever to do with sitting or lying down.
17664 When we are unable to find tranquility within ourselves,
17665 it is useless to seek it elsewhere.
17666 -- Francois, Duc de La Rochefoucauld
17668 We must not, in trying to think about how we can make a big
17669 difference, ignore the small daily differences we can make which,
17670 over time, add up to big differences that we often cannot foresee.
17671 -- Marian Wright Edelman
17673 Golf is a good walk spoiled.
17676 The day we fear as our last is but the birthday of eternity. -- Seneca
17678 Life is stressful enough without customer service. -- Thomas Oliver
17680 To assume a cat's asleep is a grave mistake.
17681 He can close his eyes and keep both his ears awake.
17684 Depend upon it, sir, when a man knows he is to be hanged
17685 in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.
17688 The tendency has always been strong to believe that whatever received
17689 a name must be an entity or being, having an independent existence of
17690 its own. And if no real entity answering to the name could be found,
17691 men did not for that reason suppose that none existed, but imagined
17692 that it was something peculiarly abstruse and mysterious.
17693 -- John Stuart Mill
17695 You aren't a failure until you start blaming others for your mistakes.
17698 The master, Hseuh-feng, asked a newly arrived monk where
17699 he had come from. The monk answered: "From the Monastery of
17701 The master said, "In the daytime we have sunlight; in the
17702 evening, lamplight. What is spiritual light?"
17703 The monk had no answer.
17704 The Master said, "Sunlight. Lamplight."
17707 There is no wealth but life. -- John Ruskin
17709 Approach it and there is no beginning; follow it
17710 and there is no end. You can't know it, but you
17711 can be it, at ease in your own life.
17714 And the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where
17715 we started and know the place for the first time.
17718 There's an old saying in Tennessee--I know it's in Texas, probably in
17719 Tennessee--that says: Fool me once, shame on [pause] shame on you.
17720 [Pause] Fool me [long, uncomfortable, agonizing pause] you can't get
17722 -- Bush at East Literature Magnet School in Nashville yesterday.
17724 Concentration is my motto--first honesty,
17725 then industry, then concentration.
17728 Nothing strengthens authority so much as silence. -- Charles de Gaulle
17730 If you would make a man happy, do not add to his possessions but
17731 subtract from the sum of his desires.
17734 Live life like your hair is on fire. -- Ashley Brilliant
17736 City people have a hard time handling the silences when they first
17737 come out to the country. After a certain period of solitude, I myself
17738 experiencing an aloneness that is sometimes disturbing, but the country
17739 eventually cleanses my spirit and purges my body of the sounds, fumes and
17740 toxins of urban life. I think cities feed psychological stress and tension
17741 in many ways, including an overload of electrical forces and energy. When
17742 you go to a country cabin without electricity, you will be surprised at how
17743 tensions fall away.
17744 Some practitioners advocate that urban dwellers removed from the
17745 country find a space in the yard or the garden and dig a hole deep enough
17746 to enfold the body. Lie down in the hole. Make sure your body can lie just
17747 below the surface of the ground. Stay in this hollow of earth. You will be
17748 surprised how rested you will feel simply because you have escaped for a
17749 moment the man-made influences. You have retreated for a moment to Mother
17750 Earth's very simple electrical systems. For the chemical and electrical
17751 balance of the body to be calibrated, you have to stay close to the earth
17752 itself, align yourself with its polarity so that your body can find harmony
17753 between the interior world and the exterior universe.
17754 Once we become detached from nature, we begin to think we can do
17755 without it. The lights of the Great White Way overpower the stars. It is
17756 very hard to see the brightest constellation when you live in or near a
17757 city. The dark solitude of the country reunites you with the universe of
17758 the stars. The woods and hills restore in you something primal in yourself.
17759 The sea's pulse sets your own heartbeat.
17760 -- James Earl Jones, "Voices and Silences"
17762 Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed.
17765 i think i found my other leak now. and this was a frelling dumb one.
17766 somehow the deletion of the memory was commented out. wtf?
17767 arrrrrrrhhhh... i don't know what i'm doing....
17768 i hate the C and everything coded in it.
17771 When men are pure, laws are useless;
17772 when men are corrupt, laws are broken.
17773 -- Benjamin Disraeli
17775 Only the mediocre are always at their best. -- Jean Giraudoux
17777 If you believe the doctors, nothing is wholesome;
17778 if you believe the theologians, nothing is innocent;
17779 if you believe the military, nothing is safe.
17782 He is indebted to his memory for his jests
17783 and to his imagination for his facts.
17784 -- Richard Brinsley Sheridan
17786 If scientific reasoning were limited to the logical processes of
17787 arithmetic, we should not get very far in our understanding of the
17788 physical world. One might as well attempt to grasp the game of
17789 poker entirely by the use of the mathematics of probability.
17792 As a public company, and as a CEO, you have to worry about the stock price
17793 to some extent. But you figure out after a while that there are very few
17794 things you can do in the short term that can positively impact stock price.
17795 If you build a great company, the value of the company goes up. That's very
17796 important for employees to realize coming out of this age of day trading,
17797 mass hysteria and "we're all going to be bazillionaires." You've got to get
17798 people saying: "Why are we really here?" Well, we're here to build a great
17799 company. That takes time. You may have a great day today and the stock goes
17800 down, and you may have a horrible day tomorrow and the stock goes up. Short
17801 term, they don't have a lot to do with each other. But over a long period of
17802 time you build a great company, and it's going to be worth a lot. Customers
17803 will reward it. Shareholders will reward it. Employees will want to be a
17804 part of it and beat our door down to want to work here.
17805 -- Michael Dell, Founder of Dell Computers
17807 Cats have the gift of appearing at ease in any situation--high, low or
17808 anywhere in between.
17811 I am no more humble than my talents require. -- Oscar Levant
17813 Happiness is nothing more than good health and a bad memory.
17814 -- Albert Schweitzer
17816 It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there
17817 is no distinctly American criminal class except Congress.
17820 The torch of doubt and chaos, this is what the sage steers by. -- Chuang-Tzu
17822 I would patch them, but I have not a half-sheet of paper.
17823 Ah, well--at least torn windows don't need to be pushed open.
17824 The blowing wind puts out my lamp.
17825 Rain falling from the eaves wets my inkstone.
17828 The quest for certainty blocks the search for meaning.
17829 Uncertainty is the very condition to impel man to unfold his powers.
17832 I tell you: one must still have chaos in one,
17833 to give birth to a dancing star.
17834 -- Friedrich Nietzsche
17837 the frog is growing old now--
17838 among fallen leaves.
17841 Consciousness is a being,
17842 the nature of which
17843 is to be conscious of
17844 the nothingness of its being.
17845 -- Jean-Paul Sartre
17847 Since it is all too clear,
17848 It takes time to grasp it.
17849 When you understand that it's foolish
17850 To look for fire with fire,
17851 The meal is already cooked.
17854 May you live all the days of your life. -- Jonathan Swift
17856 How could there be any question of acquiring
17857 or possessing, when the one thing needful for
17858 a man is to /become/--to /be/ at last, and to die
17859 in the fullness of his being.
17860 -- Antoine de Saint-Exupery
17862 Death, the most dreaded of evils, is therefore of no concern to us;
17863 for while we exist death is not present,
17864 and when death is present we no longer exist.
17867 Singing and danching are the voice of dharma. -- Hakuin
17869 All great truths begin as blasphemies. -- George Bernard Shaw
17871 Hope is not a strategy. -- Thomas McInerney
17873 I do not take a single newspaper, nor read one a month,
17874 and I feel myself infinitely the happier for it.
17875 -- Thomas Jefferson
17877 As I know more of mankind I expect less of them, and am ready now
17878 to call a man a good man upon easier terms than I was formerly.
17881 Sometimes the veil between human and animal intelligence wears
17882 very thin--then one experiences the supreme thrill of keeping
17883 a cat, or perhaps allowing oneself to be owned by a cat.
17884 -- Catherine Manley
17886 I'm never going to be famous. My name will never be writ large on the
17887 roster of Those Who Do Things. I don't do any thing. Not one single
17888 thing. I used to bite my nails, but I don't even do that any more.
17891 One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the
17892 belief that one's work is terribly important.
17893 -- Bertrand Russell
17895 The universality of change, when completely understood, is the seeing
17896 into the heart of all things, and the Mind that thus understands is
17897 the Mind that truly seeks the way.
17900 The spirit down here in man and the spirit up there in the sun,
17901 in reality are only one spirit, and there is no other one.
17904 To free oneself is nothing--the really arduous task is to
17905 know what to do with one's freedom.
17908 I hate women because they always know where things are. -- James Thurber
17910 I have never taken any exercise except sleeping and resting. -- Mark Twain
17912 Be careful about reading health books.
17913 You may die of a misprint.
17916 Autumn, cloud blades on the horizon.
17917 The west wind blows from ten thousand miles.
17918 Dawn, in the clear morning air.
17919 Farmers busy after long rain.
17920 The desert trees shed their few green leaves.
17921 The mountain pears are tiny but ripe.
17922 A Tartar flute plays by the city gate.
17923 A single wild goose climbs into the void.
17926 When you get there, there isn't any there there. -- Gertrude Stein
17928 I want to sing like birds sing,
17929 not worrying who hears or what they think.
17932 The practice of zazen is not
17933 for gaining a mystical mind.
17934 Zazen is for allowing a clear mind--
17935 as clear as a bright autumn day.
17938 ... and he was almighty because he had wrenched
17939 from chaos the secret of its nothingness.
17940 -- Jean-Paul Sartre
17942 Practice thirty more years. -- Zen proverb
17944 Student: "Roshi, what are you doing here?"
17945 Suzuki-roshi: "Nothing special."
17948 After the leaves fall in the village at the foot of Ogura Peak,
17949 one can see through the tree branches the moon shining in the clear.
17952 Chaos often breeds life, where order breeds habit.
17955 You yourselves must make the exertion.
17956 The Buddhas are only teachers.
17957 -- Shakyamuni Buddha
17959 Cease from practice based on intellectual understanding, pursuing words,
17960 and following after speech, and learn the backward step that turns your
17961 light inward to illuminate your self. Body and mind of themselves will
17962 drop away, and your original face will be manifest.
17965 Next time you have a bad day, imagine this: You are a Siamese twin.
17966 Your brother that is attached to you at the shoulder is gay.
17967 You are not. But you only have one ass.
17969 From now on, ending a sentence with a preposition
17970 is something up with which I will not put.
17971 -- Winston Churchill
17973 The meaning of life is to see. -- Hui-Neng
17975 Fundamentally not one thing exists. -- Hui-Neng
17977 In the blue heavens, cold geese calling.
17978 On the empty hills, leaves flying.
17981 When a thing is funny, search it carefully for a hidden truth.
17982 -- George Bernard Shaw
17984 An intense love of solitude, distaste for involvement in worldly
17985 affairs, persistence in knowing the Self and awareness of the goal
17986 of knowing--all this is called true knowledge.
17987 -- The Bhagavad Gita
17989 Some people are born to lift heavy weights.
17990 Some are born to juggle with golden balls.
17993 Every man serves a useful purpose: A miser, for
17994 example, makes a wonderful ancestor.
17995 -- Lawrence J. Peter
17997 Smokey the Bear Sutra
17999 Once in the Jurassic about 150 million years ago,
18000 the Great Sun Buddha in this corner of the Infinite
18001 Void gave a Discourse to all the assembled elements
18002 and energies: to the standing beings, the walking beings,
18003 the flying beings, and the sitting beings -- even grasses,
18004 to the number of thirteen billion, each one born from a
18005 seed, assembled there: a Discourse concerning
18006 Enlightenment on the planet Earth.
18008 "In some future time, there will be a continent called
18009 America. It will have great centers of power called
18010 such as Pyramid Lake, Walden Pond, Mt. Rainier, Big Sur,
18011 Everglades, and so forth; and powerful nerves and channels
18012 such as Columbia River, Mississippi River, and Grand Canyon
18013 The human race in that era will get into troubles all over
18014 its head, and practically wreck everything in spite of
18015 its own strong intelligent Buddha-nature."
18017 "The twisting strata of the great mountains and the pulsings
18018 of volcanoes are my love burning deep in the earth.
18019 My obstinate compassion is schist and basalt and
18020 granite, to be mountains, to bring down the rain. In that
18021 future American Era I shall enter a new form; to cure
18022 the world of loveless knowledge that seeks with blind hunger:
18023 and mindless rage eating food that will not fill it."
18025 And he showed himself in his true form of
18029 a.. A handsome smokey-colored brown bear standing on his hind legs,
18030 showing that he is aroused and
18033 b.. Bearing in his right paw the Shovel that digs to the truth beneath
18034 appearances; cuts the roots of useless
18035 attach- ments, and flings damp sand on the fires of greed and war;
18037 c.. His left paw in the Mudra of Comradely Display -- indicating that all
18038 creatures have the full right to live to
18039 their limits and that deer, rabbits, chipmunks, snakes, dandelions, and
18040 lizards all grow in the realm of the
18043 d.. Wearing the blue work overalls symbolic of slaves and laborers, the
18044 countless men oppressed by a
18045 civilization that claims to save but often destroys;
18047 e.. Wearing the broad-brimmed hat of the West, symbolic of the forces that
18048 guard the Wilderness, which is the
18049 Natural State of the Dharma and the True Path of man on earth: all true
18050 paths lead through mountains --
18052 f.. With a halo of smoke and flame behind, the forest fires of the
18053 kali-yuga, fires caused by the stupidity of
18054 those who think things can be gained and lost whereas in truth all is
18055 contained vast and free in the Blue Sky
18056 and Green Earth of One Mind;
18058 g.. Round-bellied to show his kind nature and that the great earth has
18059 food enough for everyone who loves her
18062 h.. Trampling underfoot wasteful freeways and needless suburbs; smashing
18063 the worms of capitalism and
18066 i.. Indicating the Task: his followers, becoming free of cars, houses,
18067 canned foods, universities, and shoes;
18068 master the Three Mysteries of their own Body, Speech, and Mind; and
18069 fearlessly chop down the rotten
18070 trees and prune out the sick limbs of this country America and then burn
18071 the leftover trash.
18073 Wrathful but Calm. Austere but Comic. Smokey the Bear will
18074 Illuminate those who would help him; but for those who would hinder or
18077 HE WILL PUT THEM OUT.
18079 Thus his great Mantra:
18081 Namah samanta vajranam chanda maharoshana
18082 Sphataya hum traks ham nam
18084 "I DEDICATE MYSELF TO THE UNIVERSAL DIAMOND
18085 BE THIS RAGING FURY DESTROYED"
18087 And he will protect those who love woods and rivers,
18088 Gods and animals, hobos and madmen, prisoners and sick
18089 people, musicians, playful women, and hopeful children:
18091 And if anyone is threatened by advertising, air pollution, television,
18092 or the police, they should chant SMOKEY THE BEAR'S WAR SPELL:
18099 And SMOKEY THE BEAR will surely appear to put the enemy out
18100 with his vajra-shovel.
18102 a.. Now those who recite this Sutra and then try to put it in practice
18103 willl accumulate merit as countless as the
18104 sands of Arizona and Nevada.
18106 b.. Will help save the planet Earth from total oil slick.
18108 c.. Will enter the age of harmony of man and nature.
18110 d.. Will win the tender love and caresses of men, women, and beasts.
18112 e.. Will always have ripe blackberries to eat and a sunny spot under a
18113 pine tree to sit at.
18115 f.. AND IN THE END WILL WIN HIGHEST PERFECT ENLIGHTENMENT.
18117 thus have we heard.
18119 I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a
18120 nice letter saying that I approved of it.
18123 We are here to witness the creation and to abet it. -- Annie Dillard
18125 Today is the eighth of the month, tomorrow is the thirteenth. -- Zen proverb
18127 Often I am still listening when the song is over.
18128 -- Marquis de Saint-Lambert
18130 Worldly acquisitions of wealth and the need of clinging to them, as well as
18131 the pursuit of the Eight Worldly Aims, I regard with as much loathing and
18132 disgust as a man who is suffering from biliousness regardeth the sight of
18133 rich food. Nay, I regard them as if they were the murderers of my father;
18134 therefore it is that I am assuming this beggarly and penurious mode of life.
18142 Maturity is only a short break in adolescence. -- Jules Feiffer
18144 It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer or the baker
18145 that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest.
18148 Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable
18149 that we have to alter it every six months.
18152 Rock journalism is people who can't write interviewing people who
18153 can't talk for people who can't read.
18156 Bodhidharma sat facing the wall. The Second Patriarch, after standing
18157 outside in the snow for so long, cut off his arm. "My mind is not yet
18158 at peace. Please, Master, put my mind at peace."
18159 Bodhidharma said: "Bring me your mind and I will pacify it for you."
18160 The Second Patriarch replied: "Although I have searched for my mind,
18161 it is totally ungraspable."
18162 Bodhidharma said: "In that case I have pacified your mind for you."
18164 Explanation of the unspeakable cannot be finished. -- Shakyamuni Buddha
18166 We need to find God, and He cannot be found in noise and restlessness.
18169 Since it is the practice of enlightenment,
18170 that practice has no beginning and
18171 since it is enlightenment within the practice,
18172 that realization has no end.
18175 The quieter you become, the more you can hear. -- Baba Ram Dass
18177 As long as you seek for something, you will get
18178 the shadow of reality and not reality itself.
18181 Why is it that our memory is good enough to retain the least
18182 triviality that happens to us, and yet not good enough to
18183 recollect how often we have told it to the same person?
18184 -- Francois, Duc de La Rochefoucauld
18186 I love being married. It's so great to find that one
18187 special person you want to annoy for the rest of your life.
18190 I don't give a damn for a man that can only spell a word one way.
18193 A happy childhood has spoiled many a promising life. -- Robertson Davies
18195 At this point in history genius has become
18196 a commodity, an ambition, even a lifestyle.
18199 A desk is a dangerous place from which to watch the world. -- Jean le Carre
18201 Martyrdom is the only way in which a
18202 man can become famous without ability.
18203 -- George Bernard Shaw
18205 For there is nothing sweeter than his peace when at rest.
18206 For there is nothing brisker than his life when in motion.
18207 -- Christopher Smart
18209 It's not autumn's cold that keeps me awake,
18210 but what I feel before the grasses and trees in my courtyard.
18211 My banana tree has lost its leaves; my parasol tree is old;
18212 and night after night--the sound of wind, the sound of rain.
18215 I believe in an ultimate decency of things. -- Robert Louis Stevenson
18222 We have two eyes to see two sides of things, but there must be a third eye
18223 which will see everything at the same time and yet not see anything.
18224 That is to understand Zen.
18227 Yes it is in our idleness, in our dreams, that the submerged truth
18228 sometimes comes to the top.
18231 Having precise ideas often leads to a man doing nothing. -- Paul Valery
18233 The cat was a creature of absolute convictions,
18234 and his faith in his deductions never varied.
18235 -- Mary E. Wilkins Freeman
18237 Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay
18238 any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose
18239 any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.
18242 With Henry Adams we see the moment when the pronouncements
18243 of philosophers ceased to be greeted with forehead slaps of
18244 recognition or shouts of "Heretic!" and began to be met
18245 with mumbles of "Oh, shut up."
18248 The nature of mind, when understood, no human words can
18249 compass or disclose. Enlightenment is naught to be obtained,
18250 and he that gains it does not say he knows.
18253 As long as you haven't experienced this: to die and so to grow,
18254 you are only a troubled guest on the dark earth.
18255 -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
18257 Nirvana is right here, before our eyes. -- Hakuin
18259 It is the stars not known to science that I would know,
18260 the stars which the lonely traveler knows.
18261 -- Henry David Thoreau
18263 You've got to take the bitter with the sour. -- Sam Goldwyn
18265 And a man shall be free, and as pure as the day prior to
18266 his conception in his mother's womb, when he has nothing,
18267 wants nothing and knows nothing.
18270 Words, like eyeglasses, blur everything they do not make clear.
18273 Outside mind there is no Buddha,
18274 Outside Buddha there is no mind.
18277 They are ill discoverers that think there is no land,
18278 when they can see nothing but sea.
18279 -- Sir Francis Bacon
18281 My father hated radio and could not wait for television to be
18282 invented so he could hate that too.
18285 Opportunity is missed by most people because
18286 it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.
18287 -- Thomas Alva Edison
18289 Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead. -- Benjamin Franklin
18291 When the politicians complain that TV turns the proceedings into a circus,
18292 it should be made clear that the circus was already there, and that TV
18293 has merely demonstrated that not all the performers are well trained.
18294 -- Edward R. Murrow
18296 In literature as in love, we are astonished at what is chosen by others.
18299 The art of medicine consists in amusing the
18300 patient while nature cures the disease.
18303 I am enlightened, and always have been, simultaneously
18304 with the beginning of the universe.
18305 -- The Buddha, first words after realizing the truth
18307 A billion stars go spinning through the night,
18308 blazing high above your head.
18309 But in you is the presence that will be,
18310 when the stars are dead.
18311 -- Rainer Maria Rilke
18313 The goal of Buddhism is to bring about right human life, not to have
18314 the teaching, or teacher, or sentient beings, or Buddhism, or Buddha.
18315 But if you think that without any training you can have that kind of
18316 life, that is a big mistake.
18319 So much of what we call management consists
18320 in making it difficult for people to work.
18323 People with courage and character always seem sinister to the rest.
18326 Excess on occasion is exhilarating. It prevents moderation from
18327 acquiring the deadening effect of a habit.
18328 -- W. Somerset Maugham
18330 Everything you know is wrong. -- Firesign Theatre
18332 One day Yuan-wu took the high seat, and said:
18333 A monk asked Yun-men: 'Where did all the buddhas come from?'
18334 Yun-men answered: 'The East Mountain walks over the water.'
18335 But if I were asked, I would not answer that way.
18336 I would say: 'A fragrant breeze comes of itself from the south,
18337 and in the palace a refreshing coolness stirs.'
18340 I would believe only in a god who could dance. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
18342 The moon floats above the pines, and the night veranda is cold as the
18343 ancient, clear sound comes from your finger tips. The old melody usually
18344 makes the listeners weep, but Zen music is beyond sentiment. Do not play
18345 again unless the Great Sound of Lao-tzu accompanies you.
18348 Seriousness is the only refuge of the shallow. -- Oscar Wilde
18350 Logically considered, Zen may be full of contradictions and repetitions.
18351 But as it stands above all things, it goes serenely on its own way.
18354 Clouds come from time to time--and bring a chance
18355 to rest from looking at the moon.
18358 Listen. Make a way for yourself inside yourself.
18359 Stop looking in the other way of looking.
18362 Do not be an embodiment of fame; do not be a storehouse of schemes;
18363 do not be an undertaker of projects; do not be a proprietor of wisdom.
18364 Wander where there is no trail. Hold on to all that you have received
18365 from Heaven but do not think you have gotten anything. Be empty, that
18366 is all. The Perfect Man uses his mind like a mirror--going after nothing,
18367 welcoming nothing, responding but not storing.
18370 In the end, everything is a gag. -- Charlie Chaplin
18372 One can not be certain of living
18373 even into the evening.
18374 In the dim first light
18376 from a departing boat.
18379 The truth dazzles gradually, or else the world would be blind.
18382 All things in this world are impermanent.
18383 They have the nature to rise and pass away.
18384 To be in harmony with this truth brings true happiness.
18387 True words always seem paradoxical but no other form
18388 of teaching can take their place.
18391 Did you not know that at the edge of a deep valley there is an excellent
18392 pine tree growing up straight in spite of the many years of cold?
18395 Death destroys a man, but the idea of death saves him.
18398 In a snowfall that covers the winter grass
18399 a white heron uses his own whiteness to disappear.
18402 Settle the self on the self. -- Shunryu Suzuki
18404 Finished, finished...
18405 when it is completely finished
18406 there is nothing to finish.
18409 I think age is a very high price to pay for maturity. -- Tom Stoppard
18411 Which is the more beautiful, feline movement or feline stillness?
18412 -- Elizabeth Hamilton
18414 We cannot speak without incurring some risk, at least in theory;
18415 the only way of being absolutely safe is to say nothing.
18418 Numerous studies demonstrate that people can be motivated to creativity
18419 simply with the addition of an instruction to "be creative."
18420 -- Richard Saul Wurman
18422 Our obsessions with history and prophecy perhaps reflect an inability
18423 to comprehend the implications of geological time. The mind's traditional
18424 organization of duration into past, present, and future really has more
18425 relevance to the five-thousand-year-old earth of the seventeenth century
18426 than it does to the five-billion-year-old one of the twentieth. Past and
18427 future require certain limitations and symmetries to be meaningful--there
18428 must be a plot or at least a story. But time is really not much like a
18429 story. It is more like an ocean current that rises from imperfectly
18430 perceived depths and flows into unseen distances.
18431 This immensity might seem to diminish the present--the living moment--
18432 to utter insignificance, but actually the present looms much larger in
18433 geological time than in historical time. If time is a story, the present
18434 is merely a hiatus between the significant events that were and will be.
18435 If time is an ocean, however, the present is not less important than the
18436 other moments, which stretch away on all sides, any more than a single
18437 water molecule in an ocean is less important than the others. In a sense
18438 each living moment is the whole of time--an eternal present--because it
18439 can't be set apart from all the other moments.
18440 -- David Rains Wallace, from "Idle Weeds"
18442 Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.
18443 -- Henry David Thoreau
18445 We are generally the better persuaded by the reasons we
18446 discover ourselves than by those given to us by others.
18449 You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.
18452 Television has raised writing to a new low. -- Samuel Goldwyn
18454 I detest life-insurance agents; they always argue
18455 that I shall some day die, which is not so.
18458 People everywhere confuse what they read in newspapers with news.
18461 He can compress the most words into the smallest ideas of any man I ever met.
18464 If the voter cannot grasp the details of the problems of the day because he
18465 has not the time, the interest or the knowledge, he will not have a better
18466 public opinion because he is asked to express his opinion more often.
18469 i have eliminated every fault,
18470 except for pride...
18471 doomed to walk the earth
18475 In spite of the cost of living, it's still popular. -- Laurence J. Peter
18477 Among the maxims on Lord Naoshige's wall there was this one: "Matters of
18478 great concern should be treated lightly." Master Ittei commented, "Matters
18479 of small concern should be treated seriously." Among one's affairs there
18480 should not be more than two or three matters of what one could call great
18481 concern. If these are deliberated upon during ordinary times, they can be
18482 understood. Thinking about things previously and then handling them lightly
18483 when the time comes is what this is all about. To face an event and solve
18484 it lightly is difficult if you are not resolved beforehand, and there will
18485 always be uncertainty in hitting your mark. However, if the foundation is
18486 laid previously, you can think of the saying, "Matters of great concern
18487 should be treated lightly," as your basis for action.
18488 -- Hagakure, book of the samurai
18490 There is something to be learned from a rainstorm. When meeting with
18491 a sudden shower, you try not to get wet and run quickly along the road.
18492 But doing such things as passing under the eaves of houses, you still
18493 get wet. When you are resolved from the beginning, you will not be
18494 perplexed, though you still get the same soaking. This understanding
18495 extends to everything.
18496 -- Hagakure, book of the samurai
18498 I deserve good things.
18499 I am entitled to my share of happiness.
18500 I refuse to beat myself up.
18501 I am attractive person.
18502 I am fun to be with.
18505 The intelligent man finds almost everything ridiculous,
18506 the sensible man hardly anything.
18509 In the history of the world, no one has ever washed a rented car.
18510 -- Lawrence Summers
18512 I refuse to accept the idea that man is mere flotsam and jetsam in the
18513 river of life unable to influence the unfolding events which surround him.
18514 I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the
18515 starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and
18516 brotherhood can never become a reality.
18517 I refuse to accept the cynical notion that nation after nation must
18518 spiral down a militaristic stairway into the hell of thermonuclear
18519 destruction. I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will
18520 have the final word in reality. This is why right temporarily defeated is
18521 stronger than evil triumphant.
18522 I believe that even amid today's motor bursts and whining bullets,
18523 there is still hope for a brighter tomorrow. I believe that wounded
18524 justice, lying prostrate on the blood-flowing streets of our nations, can
18525 be lifted from this dust of shame to reign supreme among the children of
18527 I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three
18528 meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and
18529 dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits. I believe that what
18530 self-centered men have torn down, men other-centered can build up. I still
18531 believe that one day mankind will bow before the altars of God and be
18532 crowned triumphant over war and bloodshed, and nonviolent redemptive
18533 goodwill will proclaim the rule of the land.
18534 -- Martin Luther King, Jr
18536 Every increased possession loads us with new weariness. -- John Ruskin
18538 If a cluttered desk is the sign of a cluttered mind,
18539 what is the significance of a clean desk?
18540 -- Lawrence J. Peter
18542 I've been on a diet for two weeks and all I've lost is two weeks.
18545 I am not young enough to know everything. -- Oscar Wilde
18547 I had never held a position for more than four years,
18548 and did not so much plan my new jobs as flee my old ones.
18551 It's a poor sort of memory that only works backward.
18552 -- The White Queen, Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland
18554 I have always felt that a politician is to be judged by
18555 the animosities he excites among his opponents.
18556 -- Winston Churchill
18558 All things are difficult before they are easy. -- Thomas Fuller
18560 There's no business like show business, but
18561 there are several businesses like accounting.
18564 All truth passes through three stages.
18565 First, it is ridiculed.
18566 Second, it is violently opposed.
18567 Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.
18568 -- Arthur Schopenhauer
18570 Nonviolence means avoiding not only external physical violence
18571 but also internal violence of spirit. You not only refuse to
18572 shoot a man, but you refuse to hate him.
18573 -- Martin Luther King, Jr.
18575 Talent is like the battery in a car. It'll get you started,
18576 but if the generator is bad, you don't go very far.
18579 No man ever listened himself out of a job. -- Calvin Coolidge
18581 I was unable to devote myself to the learning of this algebra and the continued
18582 concentration upon it, because of obstacles in the vagaries of time which
18583 hindered me; for we have been deprived of all the people of knowledge save for
18584 a group, small in number, with many troubles, whose concern in life is to
18585 snatch the opportunity, when time is asleep, to devote themselves meanwhile to
18586 the investigation and perfection of a science; for the majority of people who
18587 imitate philosophers confuse the true with the false, and they do nothing but
18588 deceive and pretend knowledge, and they do not use what they know of the
18589 sciences except for base and material purposes; and if they see a certain
18590 person seeking for the right and preferring the truth, doing his best to refute
18591 the false and untrue and leaving aside hypocrisy and deceit, they make a fool
18592 of him and mock him.
18593 -- Omar Khayyam, "Treatise on Demonstration of Problems of Algebra"
18595 It is a profitable thing, if one is wise, to seem foolish. -- Aeschylus
18597 Imagine what it would be like if TV actually were good.
18598 It would be the end of everything we know.
18601 Many engineering deadlocks have been broken by people who are not engineers
18602 at all. This is simply because perspective is more important than IQ.
18603 -- Nicholas Negroponte
18605 We are doomed to choose, and every choice may entail an irreparable loss.
18608 California is a fine place to live--if you happen to be an orange.
18611 Those whom the Gods would destroy, they first call promising.
18614 It is difficult to produce a television documentary that is both
18615 incisive and probing when every twelve minutes one is interrupted
18616 by twelve dancing rabbits singing about toilet paper.
18619 All successful newspapers are ceaselessly querulous and bellicose. They
18620 never defend anyone or anything if they can help it; if the job is forced
18621 on them, they tackle it by denouncing someone or something else.
18624 The corollary of constant change is ignorance. This is not often
18625 talked about: we computer experts barely know what we're doing.
18628 The visionary lies to himself, the liar only to others.
18629 -- Friedrich Nietzsche
18631 Moral indignation is jealousy with a halo. -- H. G. Wells
18633 Part of the inhumanity of the computer is that,
18634 once it is competently programmed and working smoothly,
18635 it is completely honest.
18638 Psychiatry enables us to correct our faults by
18639 confessing our parents' shortcomings.
18640 -- Laurence J. Peter
18642 No opera plot can be sensible, for people do not sing
18643 when they are feeling sensible.
18646 All truths are easy to understand once they are
18647 discovered; the point is to discover them.
18650 We are more ready to try the untried when what we do is inconsequential.
18651 Hence the fact that many inventions had their birth as toys.
18654 Considering how dangerous everything is,
18655 nothing is really very frightening.
18658 A bore is a man who deprives you of solitude
18659 without providing you with company.
18660 -- Gian Vincenzo Gravina
18662 What the world needs is more geniuses with humility.
18663 There are so few of us left.
18666 In the end, we will remember not the words of
18667 our enemies, but the silence of our friends.
18668 -- Martin Luther King
18670 Happiness is an imaginary condition, formerly attributed by the
18671 living to the dead, now usually attributed by adults to children,
18672 and by children to adults.
18675 You must first have a lot of patience to learn to have patience.
18676 -- Stanislaw W. Lec
18678 I know the answer! The answer lies within the heart of all mankind!
18679 The answer is 12? I think I'm in the wrong building.
18680 -- Charles M. Schulz in "Peanuts"
18682 The key to being a good manager is keeping the people who
18683 hate me away from those who are still undecided.
18686 What is written without effort is in general read without pleasure.
18689 People who've never fired a gun ("weapon", in Army-talk) explain "fire power"
18690 realities. Nobody--yet--would pretend to be an expert on brain surgery. But
18691 military tactics and modern warfare? What could be easier, right?
18692 -- Kenneth G. Robinson
18694 When two men in business always agree, one of them is unnecessary.
18695 -- William Wrigley Jr.
18697 Few people think more than two or three times a year; I have made an
18698 international reputation for myself by thinking once or twice a week.
18699 -- George Bernard Shaw
18701 Thought is only a flash between two long nights, but this flash is everything.
18704 A well-laid business plan is no guarantee against the
18705 disappearance of the industry on which it is based.
18708 The way to protect human freedom is to make sure that your society is one
18709 in which the benefits of being a member of the society are so tempting and
18710 so great that people will take responsibility in order for it to happen.
18713 Technology seems to always start out promising specialization and
18714 personalization. In the end, it delivers more homogenization instead.
18717 Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.
18718 -- Thomas H. Huxley
18720 Art is making something out of nothing and selling it. -- Frank Zappa
18722 Chess is as elaborate a waste of human intelligence
18723 as you can find outside an advertising agency.
18724 -- Raymond Chandler
18726 The only way to discover the limits of the possible
18727 is to go beyond them into the impossible.
18730 Life is full of misery, loneliness, and
18731 suffering--and it's all over much too soon.
18734 An economist is a man who states the obvious in terms of the incomprehensible.
18737 The real problem is not whether machines think but whether men do.
18740 In great affairs men show themselves as they wish to be seen;
18741 in small things they show themselves as they are.
18742 -- Nicholas Chamfort
18744 Pain is no evil, unless it conquers us. -- Charles Kingsley
18746 There's no reason to burn books if you don't read them. The education system
18747 in this country is just terrible, and we're not doing anything about it.
18750 Each of us inevitable; each of us limitless--
18751 each of us with his or her right upon the earth.
18754 In science, the credit goes to the man who convinces the
18755 world, not to the man to whom the idea first occurs.
18756 -- Sir William Osler
18758 It's a funny thing about life; if you refuse to accept
18759 anything but the best, you very often get it.
18760 -- W. Somerset Maugham
18762 Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to,
18763 with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present.
18766 We have a natural opportunity to investigate the connections
18767 of a problem when looking back at its solution.
18770 Money teaches us to count, but science, inasmuch as it is
18771 not governed by money, might yet teach us to think.
18772 -- Christopher M. Kelty
18774 Painting, like flipping burgers or shearing sheep, is physical labor. It is
18775 enough nowadays to declare yourself an artist and then to declare some artifact
18776 in the vast world of found objects to be *your* work of art.
18779 The art of creation is older than the art of killing. -- Ed Koch
18781 In wisdom gathered over time I have found that
18782 every experience is a form of exploration.
18785 Anyone who in discussion relies upon authority
18786 uses not his understanding but his memory.
18787 -- Leonardo Da Vinci
18789 We've had a taste of Siemens before in the past. -- Bonafide PHB
18791 The awareness of the ambiguity of one's highest achievements (as well
18792 as one's deepest failures) is a definite symptom of maturity.
18795 A guilty conscience needs to confess.
18796 A work of art is a confession.
18799 When I examine myself and my methods of thought,
18800 I come to the conclusion that the gift of fantasy
18801 has meant more to me than my talent for absorbing
18802 positive knowledge.
18805 A censor is a man who knows more than he thinks you ought to.
18806 -- Laurence J. Peter
18808 No sensible decision can be made any longer without taking into
18809 account not only the world as it is, but the world as it will be.
18812 We have profoundly forgotten everywhere that cash-payment is not
18813 the sole relation of human beings.
18816 No poet, no artist of any art, has his complete meaning alone.
18817 His significance, his appreciation is the appreciation of his
18818 relation to the dead poets and artists.
18821 There's a moment coming. It's not here yet. It's still on the way.
18822 It's in the future. It hasn't arrived. Here it comes.
18823 Here it is... It's gone.
18826 Irresponsibility is part of the pleasure of all art;
18827 it is the part the schools cannot recognize.
18830 It is easy to spot an informed man--
18831 his opinions are just like your own.
18832 -- Miguel de Unamuno
18834 If you see in any given situation only what everybody else
18835 can see, you can be said to be so much a representative of
18836 your culture that you are a victim of it.
18839 If you are going through hell, keep going. -- Winston Churchill
18841 The Founders of the American nation were one of the most creative
18842 groups in modern history. Some among them, especially in recent years,
18843 have been condemned for their failures and weaknesses--for their racism,
18844 sexism, compromises, and violations of principle. And indeed moral
18845 judgments are as necessary in assessing the lives of these people as of
18846 any others. But we are privileged to know and to benefit from the outcome
18847 of their efforts, which they could only hopefully imagine, and ignore their
18848 main concern: which was the possibility, indeed the probability, that their
18849 creative enterprise--not to recast the social order but to transform the
18850 political system--would fail: would collapse into chaos or autocracy.
18851 Again and again they were warned of the folly of defying the received
18852 traditions, the sheer unlikelihood that they, obscure people on the outer
18853 borderlands of European civilization, knew better than the established
18854 authorities that ruled them; that they could successfully create something
18855 freer, ultimately more enduring than what was then known in the centers of
18857 Since we inherit and build on their achievements, we now know what the
18858 established world of the eighteenth century flatly denied but which they
18859 broke through convention to propose -- that absolute power need not be
18860 indivisible but can be shared among states within a state and among
18861 branches of government, and that the sharing of power and the balancing of
18862 forces can create not anarchy but freedom.
18863 We know for certain what they could only experimentally and prayerfully
18864 propose--that formal, written constitutions, upheld by judicial bodies, can
18865 effectively constrain the tyrannies of both executive force and populist
18867 We know, because they had the imagination to perceive it, that there
18868 is a sense, mysterious as it may be, in which human rights can be seen to
18869 exist independent of privileges, gifts, and donations of the powerful, and
18870 that these rights can somehow be defined and protected by the force of law.
18871 We casually assume, because they were somehow able to imagine, that
18872 the exercise of power is no natural birthright but must be a gift of those
18873 who are subject to it."
18874 -- Bernard Bailyn, from "To Begin The World Anew: The Genius and
18875 Ambiguities of the American Founders
18877 Discretion in speech is more than eloquence. -- Francis Bacon
18879 I fell asleep reading a dull book, and I dreamed that
18880 I was reading on, so I awoke from sheer boredom.
18883 I used to visit and revisit it a dozen times a day, and stand in deep
18884 contemplation over my vegetable progeny with a love that nobody could
18885 share or conceive of who had never taken part in the process of creation.
18886 It was one of the most bewitching sights in the world to observe a hill
18887 of beans thrusting aside the soil, or a rose of early peas just peeping
18888 forth sufficiently to trace a line of delicate green.
18889 -- Nathaniel Hawthorne
18891 Another cause of your sickness, and the most important:
18892 you have forgotten what you are.
18895 All writers are vain, selfish and lazy, and at the very bottom of
18896 their motives there lies a mystery. Writing a book is a horrible,
18897 exhausting struggle, like a long bout of some painful illness.
18898 One would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven on
18899 by some demon whom one can neither resist nor understand.
18902 When a man mistakes his thoughts for persons and things, he is mad.
18903 -- Samuel Taylor Coleridge
18905 Did you ever see dishonest calluses on a man's hands? Hardly.
18906 When a man's hands are callused and women's hands are worn,
18907 you may be sure honesty is there. That's more than you can
18908 say about many soft white hands.
18911 The march of invention has clothed mankind with powers of which
18912 a century ago the boldest imagination could not have dreamt.
18915 The American invents
18916 as the Greek chiseled,
18917 as the Venetian painted,
18918 as the modern Italian sings.
18921 If it's mechanical, has tits, or wheels, it will give you trouble.
18924 Life is a tragedy when seen in close-up, but a comedy in long-shot.
18927 A small nose means a small penis. Small noses make for difficult breathing
18928 and small penises make for difficulty breeding.
18931 Executives are like joggers. If you stop a jogger, he goes on running
18932 on the spot. If you drag an executive away from his business, he goes
18933 on running on the spot, pawing the ground, talking business. He never
18934 stops hurtling onwards, making decisions and executing them.
18935 -- Jean Baudrillard
18937 Every man bears in himself the germs of every human quality;
18938 but sometimes one quality manifests itself, sometimes another,
18939 and the man often becomes unlike himself,
18940 while still remaining the same man.
18943 You must trust and believe in people or life becomes impossible.
18946 If we don't change direction soon, we'll end up where we're going.
18947 -- Professor Irwin Corey
18949 When you wish to instruct be brief--so that people's minds can
18950 quickly grasp what you have to say, understand your point, and
18951 retain it accurately. Unnecessary words just spill over the
18952 side of a mind already crammed to the full.
18955 I just don't understand why anyone is unable to realize what a disaster
18956 a meeting is for a business. Never meet. If it can't be settled in a
18957 five minute conversation, it's probably insoluble no matter how many
18958 people talk about it for however long.
18961 Writing comes more easily if you have something to say. -- Sholem Asch
18964 led by the unknowing,
18965 are doing the impossible
18966 for the ungrateful.
18967 We have done so much for so long with so little
18968 We are now qualified to do anything with nothing.
18969 -- Blue Collar Lament
18971 Endure, and save yourself for happier times. -- Virgil
18973 I don't think being funny is anyone's first choice. -- Woody Allen
18975 i thank You God for most this amazing day: for the leaping greenly
18976 spirits of trees and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything
18977 which is natural which is infinite which is yes
18980 None but myself ever did me any harm. I was, I may say, the only enemy to
18981 myself: my own projects, that expedition to Moscow, and the accidents which
18982 happened there, were the causes of my fall. I must say, though, that those
18983 who failed to oppose me, who readily agreed with me, accepted all my views,
18984 and yielded easily to my opinions, were those who did me the most injury,
18985 and were my worst enemies, because, by surrendering to me so easily, they
18986 encouraged me to go too far... I was then too powerful for any man, except
18987 myself, to injure me.
18988 -- Napoleon Bonaparte
18990 If a man can write a better book, preach a better sermon, or make a better
18991 mousetrap than his neighbor, though he build his house in the woods, the
18992 world will make a beaten path to his door.
18993 -- Ralph Waldo Emerson, attributed by Sarah B. Yule, Borrowings, 1889
18995 Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind.
18996 -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
18998 All conservatives are such from personal defects.
18999 -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
19001 The reliance on Property, including the reliance on governments which
19002 protect it, is the want of self-reliance.
19003 -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
19005 We are symbols, and inhabit symbols.
19006 -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
19008 The louder he talked of his honour, the faster we counted our spoons.
19009 -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
19011 Fame is proof that people are gullible.
19012 -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
19014 What is the hardest task in the world? To think....
19015 -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
19017 The greatest discovery of any generation is that a
19018 human being can alter his life by altering his attitude.
19021 Were we perfectly acquainted with the object,
19022 we should never passionately desire it.
19023 -- Francois De La Rochefoucauld
19025 The cat, having sat upon a hot stove lid, will not sit upon a hot
19026 stove lid again. But he won't sit upon a cold stove lid, either.
19029 There were two "Reigns of Terror", if we could but remember and consider it;
19030 the one wrought murder in hot passions, the other in heartless cold blood;
19031 the one lasted mere months, the other had lasted a thousand years; the one
19032 inflicted death upon a thousand persons, the other upon a hundred million;
19033 but our shudders are all for the horrors of the momentary Terror, so to
19034 speak; whereas, what is the horror of swift death by the axe compared with
19035 lifelong death from hunger, cold, insult, cruelty and heartbreak? A city
19036 cemetery could contain the coffins filled by that brief terror that we have
19037 all been so diligently taught to shiver at and mourn over; but all France
19038 could hardly contain the coffins filled by that older and real Terror--that
19039 unspeakable bitter and awful Terror which none of us has been taught to see
19040 in its vastness or pity as it deserves.
19043 You never know what is enough unless you know what is more than enough.
19046 To be wholly overlooked, and to know it, are intolerable. -- John Adams
19048 In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice.
19049 In practice, there is.
19052 The charm, one might say the genius, of memory is that it is choosy,
19053 chancy and temperamental; it rejects the edifying cathedral and indelibly
19054 photographs the small boy outside, chewing a hunk of melon in the dust.
19057 Literature is the art of writing something that will be
19058 read twice; journalism what will be read once.
19061 It takes at least a couple of decades to realize that you were well taught.
19062 All true education is a delayed-action bomb assembled in the classroom for
19063 explosion at a later date. An educational fuse of 50 years long is by no
19065 -- Kenneth D. Gangel
19067 When a thing ceases to be a subject of controversy,
19068 it ceases to be a subject of interest.
19071 Men are generally idle, and ready to satisfy themselves, and intimidate the
19072 industry of others, by calling that impossible which is only difficult.
19075 An author is a fool who, not content with boring those
19076 he lives with, insists on boring future generations.
19077 -- Charles de Montesquieu
19079 Music is your own experience, your own thoughts, your wisdom. If you
19080 don't live it, it won't come out of your horn. They teach you there's
19081 a boundary line to music. But, man, there's no boundary line to art.
19084 If knowledge can create problems, it is not through
19085 ignorance that we can solve them.
19088 A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds. -- Sir Francis Bacon
19090 The range of what we think and do is limited by what we fail to notice.
19091 And because we fail to notice that we fail to notice, there is little
19092 we can do to change; until we notice how failing to notice shapes our
19093 thoughts and deeds.
19096 People who are unhappy with the way things are tend to remain unhappy
19097 even after they have changed them. The nature of their unhappiness
19098 is such that change does not slake it.
19101 The bourgeoisie, by the rapid improvement of all instruments of
19102 production, by the immensely facilitated means of communication,
19103 draws all nations into civilization.
19106 I learned one really sad fact from my career as a columnist: nobody changes
19107 their mind about anything. Ever. Once we form the opinion, we become
19108 evidence processors and we just collect all the evidence that supports our
19109 opinion and reject all the evidence that disputes it.
19112 I keep the subject of my inquiry constantly before me, and wait till the first
19113 dawning opens gradually, by little and little, into a full and clear light.
19116 The end of the road map is a cliff that both sides will fall off.
19117 -- Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, on the Mideast peace effort, 2003.
19119 Once we admit that there is room for newness--that there are vastly more
19120 conceivable possibilities than realized outcomes--we must confront the fact
19121 that there is no special logic behind the world we inhabit, no particular
19122 justification for why things are the way they are. Any number of arbitrary
19123 small perturbations along the way could have made the world as we know it
19124 turn out very differently.
19127 Perpetual devotion to what a man calls his business, is only to be
19128 sustained by perpetual neglect of many other things.
19129 -- Robert Louis Stevenson
19131 All human beings should try to learn before they die
19132 what they are running from, and to, and why.
19135 The wit makes fun of other persons; the satirist makes fun of the
19136 world; the humorist makes fun of himself.
19139 All good books are alike in that they are truer than if they had really
19140 happened and after you are finished reading one you will feel that all
19141 that happened to you and afterwards it all belongs to you; the good and
19142 the bad, the ecstasy, the remorse, and sorrow, the people and the places
19143 and how the weather was.
19144 -- Ernest Hemingway
19146 The true conquests, the only ones that leave no regret,
19147 are those that have been wrested from ignorance.
19148 -- Napoleon Bonaparte
19150 No love, no friendship can cross the path of our
19151 destiny without leaving some mark on it forever.
19152 -- Francois Mauriac
19154 Better beware of notions like genius and inspiration; they are a sort of magic
19155 wand and should be used sparingly by anybody who wants to see things clearly.
19156 -- Jose Ortega y Gasset
19158 A thick skin is a gift from God. -- Konrad Adenauer
19160 Far from idleness being the root of all evil,
19161 it is rather the only true good.
19162 -- Soren Kierkegaard
19164 It is the wretchedness of being rich that you have to live with rich people.
19165 -- Logan Pearsall Smith
19167 The secret of joy is the mastery of pain. -- Anais Nin
19169 Everything is practice. -- Pele
19171 However much we guard ourselves against it, we tend to shape ourselves in
19172 the image others have of us. It is not so much the example of others we
19173 imitate, as the reflection of ourselves in their eyes and the echo of
19174 ourselves in their words.
19177 It is astonishing what you can do when you have
19178 a lot of energy, ambition and plenty of ignorance.
19179 -- Alfred P. Sloan Jr.
19181 The thing I hate about an argument is that it always interrupts a discussion.
19182 -- G. K. Chesterton
19184 If there is no God, who pops up the next Kleenex? -- Art Hoppe
19186 For all these new and evolutionary facts, meanings, purposes,
19187 new poetic messages, new forms and expressions, are inevitable.
19190 A man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a king,
19191 and eat of the fish that hath fed of that worm.
19194 Only he is an artist who can make a riddle out of a solution. -- Karl Kraus
19196 Love demands infinitely less than friendship. -- George Jean Nathan
19198 People only see what they are prepared to see. -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
19200 We do not grow absolutely, chronologically. We grow sometimes in one
19201 dimension, and not in another; unevenly. We grow partially. We are
19202 relative. We are mature in one realm, childish in another. The past,
19203 present, and future mingle and pull us backward, forward, or fix us in
19204 the present. We are made up of layers, cells, constellations.
19207 I hate house work! You make the beds, you do the dishes and six months
19208 later you have to start all over again.
19211 The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only
19212 a green thing that stands in the way. Some see nature all ridicule and
19213 deformity... and some scarce see nature at all. But to the eyes of the
19214 man of imagination, nature is imagination itself.
19217 If a man watches three football games in a row
19218 he should be declared legally dead.
19221 To see we must forget the name of the thing we are looking at. -- Claude Monet
19223 Perhaps a modern society can remain stable only by eliminating adolescence,
19224 by giving its young, from the age of ten, the skills, responsibilities, and
19225 rewards of grownups, and opportunities for action in all spheres of life.
19226 Adolescence should be a time of useful action, while book learning and
19227 scholarship should be a preoccupation of adults.
19230 Being defeated appears to be an inexhaustible
19231 wellspring of intellectual progress.
19232 -- Reinhart Koselleck
19234 Any genuine teaching will result, if successful, in someone's knowing
19235 how to bring about a better condition of things than existed earlier.
19238 George Orwell, on why someone might write a book...
19240 1. Sheer egoism. Desire to seem clever, to be talked about, to be remembered
19241 after death, to get your own back on grownups who snubbed you in childhood,
19242 etc., etc. It is humbug to pretend that this is not a motive, and a strong
19243 one. Writers share this characteristic with scientists, artists, politicians,
19244 lawyers, soldiers, successful businessmen-in short, with the whole top crust
19245 of humanity. The great mass of human beings are not acutely selfish. After
19246 the age of about thirty they abandon individual ambition and live chiefly for
19247 others or are simply smothered under drudgery. But there is also the minority
19248 of gifted, willful people who are determined to live their own lives to the
19249 end, and writers belong to this class. Serious writers, I should say, are on
19250 the whole more vain and self-centered than journalists, though less interested
19252 2. Esthetic enthusiasm. Perception of beauty in the external world, or, on
19253 the other hand, in words and their right arrangement. Pleasure in the impact
19254 of one sound on another, in the firmness of good prose or the rhythm of a good
19255 story. Desire to share an experience which one feels is valuable and ought not
19256 to be missed. Above the level of a railway guide, no book is quite free from
19257 esthetic considerations.
19258 3. Historical impulse. Desire to see things as they are, to find out true
19259 facts and store them up for the use of posterity.
19260 4. Political purpose -- using the word "political" in the widest possible
19261 sense. Desire to push the world in a certain direction, to alter other
19262 people's idea of the kind of society that they should strive after. Once
19263 again, no book is genuinely free from political bias. The opinion that art
19264 should have nothing to do with politics is itself a political attitude.
19266 The only true exploration, the only real Fountain of Youth, will not be
19267 in visiting foreign lands, but in having other eyes, in looking at the
19268 universe through the eyes of others.
19271 They said it couldn't be done but sometimes it doesn't work out that way.
19274 To be wronged is nothing unless you continue to remember it. -- Cicero
19276 Nobody ever died of laughter. -- Max Beerbohm
19278 A thing worth having is a thing worth cheating for. -- W. C. Fields
19280 Women speak because they wish to speak, whereas a man speaks
19281 only when driven to speech by something outside himself--like,
19282 for instance, he can't find any clean socks.
19285 Winning is not a sometime thing; it's an all-time thing. You don't win
19286 once in a while, you don't do things right once in a while, you do them
19287 right all the time. Winning is habit. Unfortunately, so is losing.
19290 It is by logic that we prove but by intuition that we discover.
19293 Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win,
19294 by fearing to attempt.
19295 -- William Shakespeare, "Measure for Measure"
19297 Another unsettling element in modern art is that common symptom
19298 of immaturity, the dread of doing what has been done before.
19301 Family quarrels are bitter things. They don't go according to any rules.
19302 They're not like aches or wounds; they're more like splits in the skin
19303 that won't heal because there's not enough material.
19304 -- F. Scott Fitzgerald
19306 One looks back with appreciation to the brilliant teachers, but with
19307 gratitude to those who touched our human feelings. The curriculum is
19308 so much necessary raw material, but warmth is the vital element for
19309 the growing plant and for the soul of the child.
19312 Silence is one of the hardest arguments to refute. -- Josh Billings
19314 One can know a man from his laugh, and if you like a man's laugh before
19315 you know anything of him, you may confidently say that he is a good man.
19316 -- Fyodor Dostoevsky
19318 When I dare to be powerful, to use my strength in the service of my vision,
19319 then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.
19322 Fascism should more properly be called corporatism,
19323 since it is the merger of state and corporate power.
19324 -- Benito Mussolini
19326 Take rest; a field that has rested gives a bountiful crop. -- Ovid
19328 There is hardly anything in the world that some men cannot make a little
19329 bit worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who consider price
19330 only are this man's lawful prey.
19333 The globe has been circumnavigated, but no man ever yet has; you may survey
19334 a kingdom and note the results in maps, but all the savants in the world
19335 could not produce a reliable map of the poorest human personality.
19338 Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you're scared to death.
19341 Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.
19344 One important key to success is self-confidence.
19345 An important key to self-confidence is preparation.
19348 If you believe that feeling bad or worrying long enough will
19349 change a past or future event, then you are residing on another
19350 planet with a different reality system.
19353 As people grow up, they change brands. -- Al Ries
19355 If there is just one beam of sunshine coming into a room,
19356 you can be sure that the cat is lazing in its heat.
19357 -- Stuart and Linda MacFarlane
19359 If your parents never had children, chances are you won't, either.
19362 If the human race wishes to have prolonged and indefinite period
19363 of material prosperity, they have only got to behave in a peaceful
19364 and helpful way toward one another.
19365 -- Winston Churchill
19367 All charming people have something to conceal, usually
19368 their total dependence on the appreciation of others.
19371 Part of the function of memory is to forget; the omni-retentive mind will break
19372 down and produce at best an idiot savant who can recite a telephone book, and
19373 at worst a person to whom every grudge and slight is as yesterday.
19374 -- Christopher Hitchens
19376 Try to be one of the people on whom nothing gets lost. -- Henry James
19378 If a man hasn't discovered something that
19379 he would die for, he isn't fit to live.
19380 -- Martin Luther King Jr.
19382 The future is something which everyone reaches at the rate of
19383 60 minutes an hour, whatever he does, whoever he is.
19386 Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.
19389 I am happy to engage in discussion with those who accept that technology and
19390 affluence are a net plus, but who worry about their troubling side effects.
19391 Spare me, however, the sensitive souls who deplore technological advance and
19392 economic growth over their cell phones on their way to the airport.
19395 There are two golden rules for an orchestra: start together and finish
19396 together. The public doesn't give a damn what goes on in between.
19397 -- Sir Thomas Beecham
19399 The incompetent with nothing to do can still make a mess of it.
19400 -- Laurence J. Peter
19402 The universe is full of magical things patiently
19403 waiting for our wits to grow sharper.
19406 Imagine if every Thursday your shoes exploded if you tied them the
19407 usual way. This happens to us all the time with computers, and
19408 nobody thinks of complaining.
19411 My life needs editing. -- Mort Sahl
19413 Every day, in every way, I'm getting better and better. -- Emile Coue
19415 Everywhere I go I'm asked if I think the university stifles writers. My
19416 opinion is that they don't stifle enough of them. There's many a best-
19417 seller that could have been prevented by a good teacher.
19418 -- Flannery O'Connor
19420 There is nothing so wrong in this world that a sensible
19421 woman can't set it right in the course of an afternoon.
19424 There is no one, no matter how wise he is, who has not in his youth said
19425 things or done things that are so unpleasant to recall in later life that
19426 he would expunge them entirely from his memory if that were possible.
19429 Adults are obsolete children. -- Dr. Seuss
19431 Barbie would also be tired of Microsoft's licensing bullsh*t.
19432 -- Maury Cesterino, Chief Software Architect, Mattel, Inc.
19434 When we drink, we get drunk. When we get drunk, we fall asleep. When we
19435 fall asleep, we commit no sin. When we commit no sin, we go to heaven.
19436 Sooooo, let's all get drunk and go to heaven!
19439 A really great talent finds its happiness in execution.
19440 -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
19442 Allowing a schizophrenic in a cowboy costume to represent himself in a
19443 death penalty case gives new meaning to the term "frontier justice."
19444 -- Jim Marcus, executive director of the Texas Defender Service.
19446 Be still when you have nothing to say; when genuine passion moves
19447 you, say what you've got to say, and say it hot.
19450 Creativity is not merely the innocent spontaneity of our youth
19451 and childhood; it must also be married to the passion of the
19452 adult human being, which is a passion to live beyond one's death.
19455 Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.
19456 -- Martin Luther King
19458 Life Shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage. -- Anais Nin
19460 Freedom is the sure possession of those alone
19461 who have the courage to defend it.
19464 Psychoanalysis is that spiritual disease of
19465 which it considers itself to be the cure.
19468 Teaching is arduous work, entailing much grinding detail and
19469 boring repetition--a teacher, it has been said, never says
19470 anything once--interrupted only occasionally by moments of
19471 always surprising exultation. And I should like to add that
19472 I don't think I learned a thing from my students, except that,
19473 as one student evaluation informed me, I tend to jingle the
19474 change in my pocket.
19477 All humanity is passion; without passion, religion, history,
19478 novels, art would be ineffectual.
19479 -- Honore de Balzac
19481 We do not sit in such-and-such a way because a carpenter has built
19482 a chair in such-and-such a way; rather, the carpenter makes the chair
19483 as he does because someone wants to sit that way.
19486 No brilliance is required in law, just common sense
19487 and relatively clean fingernails.
19490 Difficulties strengthen the mind, as labor does the body. -- Seneca
19492 True friends stab you in the front. -- Oscar Wilde
19494 Chop your own wood, and it will warm you twice. -- Henry Ford
19496 Acting is the expression of a neurotic impulse. It's a bum's life.
19497 The principal benefit acting has afforded me is the money to pay for
19501 Creativity is thinking up new things. Innovation is doing new things.
19504 Life need not be easy provided only that it is not empty. -- Lise Meitner
19506 Some of us cannot be optimists, but all of us can be bigamists.
19509 No more frisking as of old,
19510 Or chasing his shadow over the lawn,
19511 But a dignified old person, tickling
19512 His nose against twig or flower in the border,
19513 Until evening falls and bed-time's in order...
19514 My cat and I grow old together.
19517 Logic, like whiskey, loses its beneficial effect when taken
19518 in too large quantities.
19521 The first requisite for success is the ability to apply your physical and
19522 mental energies to one problem incessantly without growing weary.
19523 -- Thomas A. Edison
19525 Reading, after a certain age, diverts the mind too much from its creative
19526 pursuits. Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little
19527 falls into lazy habits of thinking.
19530 Engineering can be seen as a family of paths crossing a solution space--in
19531 this case a space defined by all the possible arrangements and combinations
19532 of geometry, time, and material properties that might satisfy the particular
19533 specifications of a design. Filtering a good design out of these possibilities
19534 by simple, direct calculation is impossible both because of the enormous number
19535 of variables and because there are always elements in the specifications--like
19536 aesthetics or ergonomics or compatibility with the corporate image--that can't
19537 be reduced to a number or folded into a common denominator. What humans do in
19538 these cases is: think up a completely wrong (but sincerely felt) approach to
19539 the problem, jump in, fail, and then do an autopsy. Each failure contains
19540 encrypted somewhere on its body directions for the next jump: "strengthen this
19541 part," "tie this down next time," "buy a better battery." Good engineering is
19542 not a matter of creativity or centering or grounding or inspiration or lateral
19543 thinking, as useful as those might be, but of decoding the clever, even witty,
19544 messages solution space carves on the corpses of the ideas in which you
19545 believed with all your heart, and then building the road to the next message.
19546 -- Fred Hapgood, from "Up the Infinite Corridor: MIT and Technical
19549 The hardest part of gaining any new idea is
19550 sweeping out the false idea occupying that niche.
19553 Humans are allergic to change. They love to say, "We've always done
19554 it this way." I try to fight that. That's why I have a clock on my
19555 wall that runs counter-clockwise.
19558 What we need is more people who specialize in the impossible.
19559 -- Theodore Roethke
19561 A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity;
19562 an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.
19563 -- Winston Churchill
19565 I have always felt that everybody on earth goes about in disguise.
19568 At bottom, every man knows perfectly well that he is a unique being,
19569 only once on this earth; and by no extraordinary chance will such a
19570 marvelously picturesque piece of diversity in unity as he is, ever
19571 be put together a second time.
19572 -- Friedrich Nietzsche
19574 Contradiction is not a sign of falsity, nor the
19575 lack of contradiction a sign of truth.
19578 If you want something done, ask a busy person to do it.
19579 The more things you do, the more you can do.
19582 The car as we know it is on the way out. To a large extent, I deplore
19583 its passing, for as a basically old-fashioned machine, it enshrines a
19584 basically old-fashioned idea: freedom. In terms of pollution, noise and
19585 human life, the price of that freedom may be high, but perhaps the car,
19586 by the very muddle and confusion it causes, may be holding back the
19587 remorseless spread of the regimented, electronic society.
19590 I live in company with a body, a silent companion, exacting and eternal.
19591 -- Eugene Delacroix
19593 History never looks like history when you are living through it.
19596 In a cat's eyes round as golden bells,
19597 The mad Spring's flame glows.
19598 On a cat's gently closed lips,
19599 The soft Spring's drowsiness lies.
19600 On a cat's sharp whiskers,
19601 The green Spring's life dances.
19604 People always talk to me about my drinking; they never ask me about my thirst.
19607 Algebraic symbols are used when you do not know what you are talking about.
19608 -- Philippe Shnoebelen
19610 We don't stop playing because we grow old;
19611 we grow old because we stop playing.
19612 -- George Bernard Shaw
19614 Competitions are for horse, not artist. -- Bela Bartok
19616 I feel that if a person has problems communicating
19617 the very least he can do is to shut up.
19620 It is, of course, totally pointless to call a cat when it is intent
19621 on the chase. They are deaf to the interruptive nonsense of humans.
19622 They are on cat business, totally serious and involved.
19623 -- John D. MacDonald
19625 Look wise, say nothing, and grunt. Speech was given to conceal thought.
19626 -- Sir William Osler
19628 The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend.
19629 -- Robertson Davies
19631 Where do the words come from? The same mysterious place, I suspect,
19632 where notes of music go. They precede ideas, and are inseparable
19633 from them. For myself, I bow my head, touch wood, and utter a small
19634 prayer that the flow of them never cease.
19637 The only thing that I'd rather own than Windows is English, because then I
19638 could charge you two hundred and forty-nine dollars for the right to speak it.
19639 -- Scott McNealy, quoted at BrainyQuotes
19641 Only a monopolist could study a business and ruin it by giving away products.
19642 -- Scott McNealy, quoted at ThinkExist.com
19644 Try moving off NT easily. You can move from Solaris to HP/UX to AIX or DEC
19645 easily relative to moving off of NT, which is like a Roach Motel. Once you
19646 check in, you never check out.
19647 -- Scott McNealy, quoted at World of Quotes
19649 With Microsoft the first hit is always free--remember that all your life.
19650 -- Scott McNealy, quoted at CNet
19652 I am convinced that if General Motors could eliminate [Microsoft] Office from
19653 their entire company, they could get the 1999 cars out next year at half price.
19654 -- Scott McNealy, quoted at Anti-Microsoft Association Web site
19656 We've got bayonets fixed, and we'll go into any cave no matter how dark and
19657 dank it is. And in the air war [against Microsoft to win new developers],
19658 we'll go after any developer and not just let them turn over to the dark side.
19659 -- Scott McNealy, quoted at News.com
19661 Microsoft is now talking about the digital nervous system.
19662 I guess I would be nervous if my system was built on their technology too.
19663 -- Scott McNealy, November 4, 1998, quoted at CNN.com
19665 Every time you turn on your new car, you're turning on 20 microprocessors.
19666 Every time you use an ATM, you're using a computer. Every time I use a
19667 settop box or game machine, I'm using a computer. The only computer you
19668 don't know how to work is your Microsoft computer, right?
19669 -- Scott McNealy, quoted at Anti-Microsoft Association Web site
19671 Slump? I ain't in no slump. I just ain't hittin'. -- Yogi Berra
19673 "I've seen things like this before," he told the daily Il Messaggero.
19674 "Demons occupy a house and appear in electrical goods."
19675 -- Gabriele Amorth, one of the Catholic Church's exorcists, quoted
19676 in an article about Canneto di Caronia, a town where electronics
19679 Nature is an unlimited broadcasting station,
19680 through which God speaks to us every hour,
19681 if we only will tune in.
19682 -- George Washington Carver
19684 To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream;
19685 not only plan, but also believe.
19688 The first step to getting the things
19689 you want out of life is this:
19690 Decide what you want.
19693 A scientist will never show any kindness for
19694 a theory which he did not start himself.
19695 -- Mark Twain, in "A Tramp Abroad"
19698 Disappointments upon disappointments.
19700 This is a gay, merry world notwithstanding.
19703 What is now proved was once imagined. -- William Blake
19705 We haven't had any tea for a week.
19706 The bottom is out of the universe.
19709 If a man has no tea in him, he is incapable
19710 of understanding truth and beauty.
19711 -- Japanese Proverb
19717 Telephone, n.: An invention of the devil which abrogates some of the
19718 advantages of making a disagreeable person keep his distance.
19719 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 1911
19721 I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers
19722 his enemies; for the hardest victory is the victory over self.
19725 Discretion of speech is more than eloquence; and to speak agreeably to him
19726 with whom we deal is more than to speak in good words or in good order.
19729 Magnetism, as you recall from physics class, is a powerful force
19730 that causes certain items to be attracted to refrigerators.
19733 One sees great things from the valley, only small things from the peak.
19734 -- G. K. Chesterton
19736 Encountering sufferings will definitely contribute to the elevation
19737 of your spiritual practice, provided you are able to transform the
19738 calamity and misfortune into the path.
19739 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "The Path to Tranquility: Daily Wisdom",
19740 published by Snow Lion Publications
19742 In Buddhism, both learning and practice are extremely important, and they must
19743 go hand in hand. Without knowledge, just to rely on faith, faith, and more
19744 faith is good but not sufficient. So the intellectual part must definitely be
19745 present. At the same time, strictly intellectual development without faith and
19746 practice, is also of no use. It is necessary to combine knowledge born from
19747 study with sincere practice in our daily lives. These two must go together.
19748 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Answers: Discussions with Western
19749 Buddhists", published by Snow Lion Publications
19751 The nature of beings is ever enlightened,
19752 yet not realizing this, they wander endlessly in samsara.
19753 May intense compassion arise within me
19754 for sentient beings, whose suffering knows no bounds.
19756 In the moment of love, when the vibrant power of intense compassion
19757 is uncontained, the empty essence shines forth nakedly.
19758 May I never step off this supreme path of unity that never goes awry,
19759 and practice it at all times, day and night.
19760 -- "The Eighth Situpa on the Third Karmapa's Mahamudra Prayer", translated
19761 by Lama Sherab Dorje, published by Snow Lion Publications
19763 The very ink with which all history is written is merely fluid prejudice.
19764 -- Following the Equator
19766 Love is metaphysical gravity. -- R. Buckminster Fuller
19768 Whatever you do, or dream you can, begin it.
19769 Boldness has genius and power and magic in it.
19770 -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
19772 In accordance with the conditioning of desire, fear, disgust, and so forth--
19773 the conditioning of habitual tendencies that one has been accustomed to since
19774 beginningless time--mind itself appears as body, enjoyments, abode, and so
19775 forth. Yet, childish ordinary individuals do not comprehend that these
19776 [appearances] are the identity of their own minds. Conceiving of mind as being
19777 "here" and objects "over there," they hold the separation, the vast divide
19778 between the apprehended and apprehender, to be established in actuality. This
19779 is entirely imputation, or a deluded misapprehension of the way things are, as
19780 when not knowing that the dream elephant is personal experience, but instead
19781 apprehending it as an actual elephant in the external world.
19782 -- "Speech of Delight: Mipham's Commentary on Shantarakshita's Ornament
19783 of the Middle Way", translated by Thomas H. Doctor.
19785 Instead of prompting the appearance of delusions and/or hallucinations,
19786 many of the patients receiving Valium displayed a progressive development
19787 of dislikes and hates. The patients themselves deliberately used the term
19788 "hate". This hatefulness first involved non-significant figures in the
19789 patients' environment, progressed from there to the involvement of key
19790 figures such as aides, nurses and physicians, and went on to the involvement
19791 of important personal figures such as parents and spouses... This
19792 hatefulness was of a peculiar type. The patients were unhappy with it; they
19793 realized that it was unnatural and without basis, but were impotent to do
19794 anything about it. Many of them, exhibiting real distress, would inquire,
19795 "Why do I feel like this?"
19796 -- P.E. Feldman, Journal of Neuropsychiatry
19798 The greatest book is not the one whose messages engraves itself on the brain,
19799 but the one whose vital impact opens up other viewpoints, and from writer to
19800 reader spreads the fire that is fed by various essences, until it becomes a
19801 great conflagration.
19804 The world is a looking glass and gives back
19805 to every man the reflection of his own face.
19806 -- William M. Thackeray
19808 Travel is only glamorous in retrospect. -- Paul Theroux
19810 Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which
19811 difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish.
19812 -- John Quincy Adams
19814 Beware the fury of a patient man. -- John Dryden
19816 I have always tried to hide my efforts and wished my works
19817 to have a light joyousness of springtime which never lets
19818 anyone suspect the labors it has cost me.
19821 You might find this discussion of attitudes threatening or insulting. No one
19822 wants to be told they're practicing incorrectly. We don't want to hear that
19823 we are uptight or repressed, that we are unskillful in dealing with our pain.
19824 We just want to continue doing what we are doing. But there's a Tibetan saying
19825 that the highest teaching is the one that reveals practice and any mistake you
19826 might be making, it will only result in what you most truly desire--progress in
19827 your spiritual development. Remember, I know of these mistakes because I've
19828 made them all myself. Practice involves a radical transformation of our being,
19829 and we have to learn to face and eventually to dissolve all the attitudes we
19830 have about everything, not only meditation. So check yourself out.
19831 -- Bruce Newman, in "A Beginner's Guide to Tibetan Buddhism: Notes from a
19832 Practitioner's Journey"
19834 Nothing is better than the unintended humor of reality. -- Steve Allen
19836 At this point, a vote for Bush is a character flaw. -- Janeane Garofalo
19838 It is inexcusable for scientists to torture animals; let them make
19839 their experiments on journalists and politicians.
19842 Heredity is what sets the parents of a teenager wondering about each other.
19843 -- Laurence J. Peter
19845 Do what you can, with what you have, where you are. -- Theodore Roosevelt
19847 I have taken all knowledge to be my province. -- Sir Francis Bacon
19849 Genius is childhood recaptured at will. -- Charles Baudelaire
19851 Generally speaking, whenever we perceive things, our perception is deluded, in
19852 that we project onto things a status of existence and a mode of being which is
19853 simply not there. We exaggerate things, and the way they then appear falsely
19854 to our minds gives rise to afflictive emotions. When we see our friends or
19855 enemies, for instance, we superimpose on them a quality of desirability or
19856 undesirability that is beyond the actual facts of the situation, and this
19857 superimposition or exaggeration sparks off fluctuating states of emotion in
19858 our mind. Towards our friends we feel strong attachment and desire, and
19859 towards our enemies powerful anger and hatred. So if we are serious about
19860 trying to purify our minds of these afflictive emotions, an understanding of
19861 emptiness becomes crucial.
19862 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Dzogchen: The Heart Essence of the Great
19863 Perfection", Snow Lion Publications
19865 If you examine the nature of your own mind, you will realize that the
19866 pollutants, such as afflictive emotions and thoughts rooted in a distorted
19867 way of relating to the world, are actually unstable. No matter how powerful
19868 an affliction, when you cultivate the antidote of true insight into the nature
19869 of reality, it will vanish because of the power of the antidote, which
19870 undermines its continuity. However, there is nothing that can undermine the
19871 basic mind itself; nothing that can actually interrupt the continuity of
19872 consciousness. The existence of the world of subjective experience and
19873 consciousness is a natural fact. There is consciousness. There is mind.
19874 There is no force that can bring about a cessation of your mental continuum.
19875 -- His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, in "Illuminating the Path to
19876 Enlightenment", published by Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive
19878 When we habituate our minds to being fearless, to being brave and open towards
19879 our emotions, fearlessness will also arise naturally. In order for this to
19880 happen we must train in applying antidotes to our thought patterns that are
19881 caught up in fear. In this way, we transcend fear first through a conceptual
19882 process, which later becomes nonconceptual, a natural fearlessness. In order
19883 to become fearless in this way, we need determination and the willingness to
19884 face our emotions. With that strong determination and courage, fearlessness
19885 will arise effortlessly.
19886 -- from Trainings in Compassion: Manuals on the Meditation of
19887 Avalokiteshvara, trans. by Tyler Dewar under the guidance of The
19888 Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, published by Snow Lion Publications
19890 The strongest element of growth lies in the human choice. -- George Eliot
19892 But again, I warn you my son: If you want to continue to be a devoted yogi,
19893 generally you should never cling to dreams. If you do, you will eventually
19894 expose yourself to the influence of the four maras. If your dreams are
19895 positive, do not have any expectations. If we are filled with hopes and
19896 expectations, even positive things can turn negative. If your dreams are
19897 negative, don't take them too seriously. Learn to see negative dreams as
19898 illusion, not real. Then, although a dream seems negative, because we realize
19899 that it isn't real, it becomes a positive thing that prepares us for further
19900 development and realization in the spiritual path. This is the practice of
19902 -- "The Life of Gampopa", by Jampa Mackenzie Stewart, Snow Lion Publications
19904 In our time it is broadly true that political writing is bad writing. Where
19905 it is not true, it will generally be found that the writer is some kind of
19906 rebel, expressing his private opinions and not a "party line." Orthodoxy,
19907 of whatever color, seems to demand a lifeless, imitative style. The political
19908 dialects to be found in pamphlets, leading articles, manifestos, White Papers
19909 and the speeches of under-secretaries do, of course, vary from party to party,
19910 but they are all alike in that one almost never finds in them a fresh, vivid,
19911 home-made turn of speech. When one watches some tired hack on the platform
19912 mechanically repeating the familiar phrases--bestial atrocities, iron heel,
19913 bloodstained tyranny, free peoples of the world, stand shoulder to shoulder--
19914 one often has a curious feeling that one is not watching a live human being
19915 but some kind of dummy: a feeling which suddenly becomes stronger at moments
19916 when the light catches the speaker's spectacles and turns them into blank
19917 discs which seem to have no eyes behind them. And this is not altogether
19918 fanciful. A speaker who uses that kind of phraseology has gone some distance
19919 towards turning himself into a machine. The appropriate noises are coming out
19920 of his larynx, but his brain is not involved, as it would be if he were
19921 choosing his words for himself. If the speech he is making is one that he
19922 is accustomed to make over and over again, he may be almost unconscious of
19923 what he is saying, as one is when one utters the responses in church. And
19924 this reduced state of consciousness, if not indispensable, is at any rate
19925 favorable to political conformity.
19926 -- George Orwell, "Politics and the English Language"
19928 An autobiography is only to be trusted when it reveals something disgraceful.
19929 A man who gives a good account of himself is probably lying, since any life
19930 when viewed from the inside is simply a series of defeats.
19933 Nothing is more honorable than a grateful heart. -- Seneca
19935 I am a devilish fellow, who has mastered many arts. -- August Strindberg
19937 Every real thought on every real subject
19938 knocks the wind out of somebody or other.
19939 -- Oliver Wendell Holmes
19941 Come, lovely cat, and rest upon my heart,
19942 And let my gaze dive in the cold
19943 Live pools of thine enchanted eyes that dart
19944 Metallic rays of green and gold.
19945 -- Charles Baudelaire
19947 A cat is a puzzle for which there is no solution. -- Hazel Nicholson
19949 As every cat owner knows,
19951 -- Ellen Perry Berkeley
19953 One of the most important practices is that of tolerance, patience. Tolerance
19954 can be learned only from an enemy; it cannot be learned from your guru. At
19955 these lectures, for instance, you cannot learn tolerance, except perhaps when
19956 you are bored! However, when you meet your enemy who is really going to hurt
19957 you, then, at that moment you can learn tolerance. Shantideva makes a
19958 beautiful argument; he says that one's enemy is actually a good spiritual
19959 guide because in dependence upon an enemy one can cultivate patience, and in
19960 dependence upon patience one accumulates great power of merit. Therefore, it
19961 is as if an enemy were purposefully getting angry in order to help you
19963 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "The Dalai Lama at Harvard: Lectures on the
19964 Buddhist Path to Peace", Snow Lion Publications
19966 In the intermediate stages of practice, you must be like a farmer during the
19967 harvest. Once he has determined that it is time to reap his crop, he works
19968 at it continuously, no matter what anyone tells him. Just as a farmer works
19969 to make the most of the crop he has grown, we who now have opportunities and
19970 conditions which are so valuable to our practice, should use them
19971 immediately, understanding that there is no time to be wasted.
19972 -- "The Life of Gampopa", by Jampa Mackenzie Stewart, Snow Lion Publications
19974 I'm growing old, I delight in the past. -- Henri Matisse
19976 Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation
19977 with us--that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.
19980 Things equal out pretty well.
19981 Our dreams seldom come true,
19982 but then neither do our nightmares.
19985 Inner development comes step by step. You may think "Today my inner calmness,
19986 my mental peace is very small," but still, if you compare, if you look five,
19987 ten, or fifteen years back, and think, "What was my way of thinking then? How
19988 much inner peace did I have then and what is it today?", comparing it with what
19989 it was then, you can realize that there is some progress, there is some value.
19990 This is how you should compare--not with today's feeling and yesterday's
19991 feeling, or last week or last month, even not last year, but five years ago.
19992 Then you can realize what improvement has occurred internally. Progress comes
19993 by maintaining constant effort in daily practice.
19994 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Kindness, Clarity, and Insight", Snow Lion Pub.
19996 Men give me credit for some genius. All the genius I have lies in this; when
19997 I have a subject in hand, I study it profoundly. Day and night it is before
19998 me. My mind becomes pervaded with it. Then the effort that I have made is
19999 what people are pleased to call the fruit of genius. It is the fruit of labor
20001 -- Alexander Hamilton
20003 Our society must make it right and possible for old people not to fear the
20004 young or be deserted by them, for the test of a civilization is the way that
20005 it cares for its helpless members.
20008 It is important for us to have a stable and peaceful mind, for it is mostly
20009 through our mind that we experience suffering and problems. With diligence,
20010 we can establish our minds in peace by abandoning the afflictions that create
20011 obstacles. Meditation makes this possible because it establishes a steady
20012 mind. Among the many types of meditation, calm abiding (shamatha) and deep
20013 insight (vipashyana) are central to this process. In calm abiding, our mind
20014 is focused inwardly, which allows us to suppress the afflictions so that they
20015 do not actually manifest. There is a sense of distance between us and the
20016 afflictions. It is not possible, however, to eradicate them with calm abiding
20017 alone; deep insight is necessary to remove them at the root.
20018 -- "Music in the Sky: The Life, Art & Teachings of the 17th Karmapa
20019 Ogyen Trinley Dorje", by Michele Martin, Snow Lion Publications
20021 Learning from experience is a faculty almost never practiced.
20024 If you persevere in this practice of recognizing the state of natural
20025 light, it will progressively become easier to repeat the lucid recognition
20026 that you are dreaming. There will arise a steady awareness within the dream,
20027 and you will know that you are dreaming. When you look in a mirror, you see
20028 a reflection. Regardless of whether it is beautiful or ugly, you know that
20029 it is a reflection. This is similar to knowing that a dream is a dream, to
20030 being lucid. Whether the dream is tragic or ecstatic, you are aware that it
20032 Awareness within the Dream State becomes a way to develop oneself and to
20033 break one's heavy conditioning. With this awareness, one can manipulate the
20034 dream material. For example, one can dream whatever one wishes, or one can
20035 pick up a desired theme. One can continue dreaming from where one left off
20036 on a previous occasion.
20037 -- Chogyal Namkhai Norbu, in "Dream Yoga and the Practice of Natural Light"
20039 Responsibility educates. -- Wendell Phillips
20041 What is the first business of one who practices philosophy? To get rid
20042 of self-conceit. For it is impossible for anyone to begin to learn that
20043 which he thinks he already knows.
20046 There are two kinds of food--food for mental hunger and food for physical
20047 hunger. Thus a combination of these two--material progress and spiritual
20048 development is the most practical thing. I think that many Americans,
20049 particularly young Americans, realize that material progress alone is not
20050 the full answer for human life. Right now all of the Eastern nations are
20051 trying to copy Western technology. We Easterners such as Tibetans, like
20052 myself, look to Western technology feeling that once we develop material
20053 progress, our people can reach some sort of permanent happiness. But when
20054 I come to Europe or North America, I see that underneath the beautiful
20055 surface there is still unhappiness, mental unrest, and restlessness. This
20056 shows that material progress alone is not the full answer for human beings.
20057 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "The Dalai Lama: A Policy of Kindness", Snow Lion
20059 Nobody sees a flower--really--it is so small it takes time--we haven't
20060 time--and to see takes time, like to have a friend takes time.
20061 -- Georgia O'Keeffe
20063 The eighth root downfall is to regard our physical bodies, or the skandhas or
20064 aggregates of our psycho-physical makeup, as impure and base. The reason why
20065 this is a root downfall is because Vajrayana sees everything as sacred. All
20066 appearances is a form of divinity, all sound is the sound of mantra, and all
20067 thought and awareness is the divine play of the transcending awareness, the
20068 Mahamudra experience. The potential for that sacredness exists within our
20069 present framework, so to speak, of the five skandhas. Acknowledging psycho-
20070 physical aggregates of an individual as the potential of the Buddhas of the
20071 five families, or the five elements, or the five feminine aspects, and so
20072 forth, is to recognize that, in tantra, the potential for the transformation
20073 exists within our present situation. To disparage that potential as something
20074 useless or impure or unwholesome is a root downfall, a basic contradiction,
20075 from the point of view of tantric practice.
20076 -- H.E. Kalu Rinpoche, in "Foundations of Tibetan Buddhism", Snow Lion Pub.
20078 Terrorists and totalitarians have always been two sides of one coin;
20079 a totalitarian out of office is a terrorist.
20082 Now that as humans we have met with spiritual teachings and have met a teacher,
20083 we should not be like a beggar doing nothing meaningful year after year, ending
20084 up empty-handed at death. I, an ordinary monk in the lineage of Buddha
20085 Shakyamuni, humbly urge you to make efforts in spiritual practice. Examine the
20086 nature of your mind and cultivate its development. Take into account your
20087 welfare in this and future existences, and develop competence in the methods
20088 that produce happiness here and hereafter. Our lives are impermanent and so
20089 are the holy teachings. We should cultivate our practice carefully.
20090 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "The Path to Enlightenment", Snow Lion
20093 Time makes more converts than reason. -- Tom Paine
20095 We operate under a jury system in this country, and as much as
20096 we complain about it, we have to admit that we know of no better
20097 system, except possibly flipping a coin.
20100 To be dead is to stop believing in
20101 The masterpieces we will begin tomorrow.
20102 -- Patrick Kavanagh, Irish poet
20104 The obvious is always least understood. -- Klemens von Metternich
20106 We are decent 99 percent of the time, when we could easily be vile.
20109 The whole world loves a maverick, but the whole world wants
20110 the maverick to achieve something nobler than simple rebellion.
20113 Insofar as the destructive effects of anger and hateful thoughts are
20114 concerned, one cannot get protection from wealth; even if one is a
20115 millionaire, one is subject to these destructive effects of anger and
20116 hatred. Nor can education guarantee that one will be protected from
20117 these effects. Similarly, the law cannot guarantee protection. Even
20118 nuclear weapons, no matter how sophisticated the defense system may be,
20119 cannot give one protection or defend one from these effects.
20120 The only factor that can give refuge or protection from the destructive
20121 effects of anger and hatred is the practice of tolerance and patience.
20122 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Healing Anger: The Power of Patience from a
20123 Buddhist Perspective", Snow Lion Publications
20125 Theoretically it may be comfortable to have compassion for "all sentient
20126 beings," but through our practice we realize that "all sentient beings" is
20127 a collection of individuals. When we actually try to generate compassion
20128 for each and every individual, it becomes much more challenging. But if we
20129 cannot work with one individual, then how can we work with all sentient
20130 beings? Therefore it is important for us to reflect more practically, to
20131 work with compassion for individuals and then extend that compassion further.
20132 -- "Trainings in Compassion: Manuals on the Meditation of Avalokiteshvara",
20133 translated by Tyler Dewar under the guidance of The Dzogchen Ponlop
20134 Rinpoche, published by Snow Lion Publications
20136 The greatest challenge to any thinker is stating
20137 the problem in a way that will allow a solution.
20138 -- Bertrand Russell
20140 I never wonder to see men wicked, but I often wonder to see them not ashamed.
20143 The worst, the hardest, the most disagreeable thing that you may have
20144 to do may be the thing that counts most, because it is the hard discipline,
20145 and it alone, that makes possible the highest efficiency.
20148 I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
20149 I learn by going where I have to go.
20150 -- Theodore Roethke
20152 Don't let yesterday use up too much of today. -- Cherokee proverb
20154 Tea is drunk to forget the din of the world. -- T'ien Yiheng
20156 Women are like tea bags. They don't know how strong
20157 they are until they get into hot water.
20158 -- Eleanor Roosevelt
20160 There are two appropriate methods of mahamudra meditation to give rise to
20161 the primordial awareness of the dharmadhatu: looking while the mind is
20162 resting and looking while the mind is moving. The approach to the first
20163 method is the meditation of calm abiding. One lets one's mind rest until
20164 it abides calmly, and then with precision one looks at it. One looks for
20165 how it rests, for where it abides, and whoever or whatever it is that
20166 abides there. This is looking at the true nature of the mind while the
20168 -- Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, from "Everyday Consciousness and
20169 Buddha-awakening", Snow Lion Publications
20171 It is better to debate a question without settling it
20172 than to settle a question without debating it.
20175 What is the purpose of the Dharma? Just like other spiritual traditions,
20176 Buddhadharma is an instrument for training the mind--something we use to try
20177 to work out the problems that we all experience; problems that originate
20178 mainly at the mental level. Negative emotional forces create mental unrest,
20179 such as unhappiness, fear, doubt, frustration and so forth; these negative
20180 mental states then cause us to engage in negative activities, which in turn
20181 bring us more problems and more suffering. Practicing Dharma is a way of
20182 working out these problems, be they long-term or immediate. In other words,
20183 Dharma protects us from unwanted suffering.
20184 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Illuminating the Path to Enlightenment", Snow Lion.
20186 Your true traveler finds boredom rather agreeable than painful. It is the
20187 symbol of his liberty--his excessive freedom. He accepts his boredom, when
20188 it comes, not merely philosophically, but almost with pleasure.
20191 Everything in the world has a hidden meaning... Men, animals, trees, stars,
20192 they are all hieroglyphics. When you see them you do not understand them.
20193 You think they are really men, animals, trees, stars. It is only years
20194 later that you understand.
20195 -- Nikos Kazantzakis, from "Zorba the Greek"
20197 One has to belong to the intelligentsia to believe things
20198 like that: no ordinary man could be such a fool.
20201 A thing long expected takes the form of the unexpected when at last it comes.
20204 Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans.
20207 For a romantic relationship to survive, more than romantic love is needed.
20208 We need to love the other person as a human being and as a friend. The sexual
20209 attraction that feeds romantic love is an insufficient basis on which to
20210 establish a long-term relationship. Deeper care and affection, as well as
20211 responsibility and trust, must be cultivated.
20212 In addition, we do not fully understand ourselves and are a mystery to
20213 ourselves. Needless to say, other people are even more of a mystery to us.
20214 Therefore, we should never presuppose, with a bored attitude that craves
20215 excitement, that we know everything about our partner because we have been
20216 together so long. If we have the awareness of the other person being a
20217 mystery, we will continue to pay attention and be interested in him or her.
20218 Such interest is one key to a long-lasting relationship.
20219 -- Thubten Chodron, from "Buddhism for Beginners", Snow Lion Pub.
20221 Two cats can live as cheaply as one, and their owner has twice as much fun.
20224 Now here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the
20225 same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least
20226 twice as fast as that!
20229 Art is a kind of innate drive that seizes a human being and makes him its
20230 instrument. To perform this difficult office it is sometimes necessary
20231 for him to sacrifice happiness and everything that makes life worth living
20232 for the ordinary human being.
20235 Vision without action is a daydream;
20236 action without vision is a nightmare.
20237 -- Japanese proverb
20239 To satisfy a cat, a new state of being needs to be
20240 created--halfway between in and out.
20241 -- Stuart and Linda MacFarlane
20243 The Perfection of Zeal
20244 1. Thus, one who has patience should cultivate zeal, because Awakening is
20245 established with zeal, and there is no merit without zeal, just as there is no
20246 movement without wind.
20247 2. What is zeal? It is enthusiasm for virtue. What is said to be its
20248 antithesis? It is spiritual sloth, clinging to the reprehensible, apathy, and
20250 3. Spiritual sloth arises from indolence, indulging in pleasures, sleep,
20251 and craving for lounging around due to one's apathy toward the miseries of the
20252 cycle of existence.
20253 4. Scented out by the hunters, the mental afflictions, you have entered the
20254 snare of rebirth. Why do you not recognize even now that you are in the mouth
20256 -- Shantideva, in "A Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life", trans. from the
20257 Sanskrit and Tibetan by Vesna A. Wallace and B. Alan Wallace, published by
20258 Snow Lion Publications
20260 I have a perfect horror of words that are not backed up by deeds.
20261 -- Theodore Roosevelt
20263 Sufferings arise from specific causes and conditions, which are collected by
20264 individual sentient beings. That being so, it is extremely important that
20265 individual sentient beings know what is to be practiced and what is to be
20266 given up--what brings suffering and what brings long-lasting happiness. We
20267 must show sentient beings the right path, which brings happiness and the wrong
20268 path, which brings suffering. Therefore, when we talk about benefiting other
20269 sentient beings, it is through showing them the path and helping them
20270 understand what is to be given up and what is to be practiced. This is how
20271 we can help other sentient beings.
20272 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama in "Stages of Meditation", Snow Lion Publications
20274 We make our lives miserable by being miserable, so why not do exactly the
20275 opposite, and make our lives happy, joyful, and harmonious, by being happy,
20276 joyful, and harmonious? We create our own lives and yet we think that
20277 something else is doing it. All we have to do is change our mental
20278 reactions towards the opposite direction. And the way to do that is to
20279 meditate, otherwise we won't have the strength of mind to do it. A mind
20280 that can meditate is a mind that is one-pointed. And a mind that is one-
20281 pointed, the Buddha said, is like an ax that has been sharpened. It has a
20282 sharp edge that can cut through everything. If we want to remove stress
20283 and strain, and have a different quality of life, we have every opportunity.
20284 We need to strengthen our mind to the point where it will not suffer from
20285 the things which exist in the world.
20286 -- from "Buddhism Through American Women's Eyes", edited by Karma Lekshe
20287 Tsomo, published by Snow Lion Publications
20289 I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study
20290 mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and
20291 philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation,
20292 commerce and agriculture in order to give their children a right to study
20293 painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain.
20296 There is no kind of dishonesty into which otherwise good people more
20297 easily and frequently fall than that of defrauding the government.
20298 -- Benjamin Franklin
20300 Thank God I have the seeing eye, that is to say, as I lie in bed I can walk
20301 step by step on the fells and rough land seeing every stone and flower and
20302 patch of bog and cotton pass where my old legs will never take me again.
20305 Umpire's heaven is a place where he works third base every game.
20306 Home is where the heartache is.
20309 There exist no phenomena other than what arises from the mind.
20310 Other than the meditation that occurs, where is the one who is meditating?
20311 There exist no phenomena other than what arises from the mind.
20312 Other than the behavior that occurs, where is the one who is behaving?
20313 There exist no phenomena other than what arises from the mind.
20314 Other than the samaya vow that occurs, where is the one who is guarding it?
20315 There exist no phenomena other than what arises from the mind.
20316 Other than the fruition that occurs, where is the one who is realizing it?
20317 You should look at your own mind, observing it again and again.
20318 -- from "Self-Liberation Through Seeing with Naked Awareness", translation
20319 and commentary by John Myrdhin Reynolds, published by Snow Lion Pub.
20321 You must understand that I'm just as interested in someone I've
20322 known for ten minutes as in someone I've known for ten years.
20323 -- Alberto Giacometti
20325 Now in our day-to-day lives we know that the more stable, calm and contented
20326 our mind is, the more feelings and experiences of happiness we will derive
20327 from it. The more undisciplined, untrained, and negative our mind is, the
20328 more we suffer mentally, and physically as well. So we can see only too well
20329 that a disciplined and contented mind is the source of our happiness.
20330 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, from "Dzogchen: The Heart Essence of the Great
20331 Perfection", published by Snow Lion Publications
20333 If we do not wish merely to know intellectually about the view of emptiness,
20334 but rather wish to experience it ourselves in our own continuum, we should
20335 build a firm foundation for this. Then, according to our mental ability we
20336 should hear and consider both the sutras and treatises which teach the profound
20337 view of emptiness as well as the good explanations of them by the experienced
20338 Tibetan scholars in their commentaries. Together with this, we should learn
20339 to make our own ways of generating experience of emptiness accord with the
20340 precepts of an experienced wise man.
20341 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama in "Buddhism of Tibet", published by Snow Lion Pub.
20343 A great deal of our suffering comes from having too many thoughts. And, at
20344 the same time, the way we think is not sane. We are only concerned by our
20345 immediate satisfaction and forget to measure its long-term advantages and
20346 disadvantages, either for ourselves or for others. But such an attitude
20347 always goes against us in the end. There is no doubt that by changing our
20348 way of seeing things we could reduce our current difficulties and avoid
20350 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
20352 If, motivated by the attainment of fame and gain for this life and hoping to
20353 look good in the eyes of others, one's behavior appears to be temporarily
20354 beautiful and one appears to be diligent in moral conduct, hearing, and
20355 contemplation, then one should think, "What is the use of appearing good in the
20356 eyes of others when my practice does not counteract the afflictions? When my
20357 practice does counteract the afflictions then even if it is not beautiful,
20358 what have I got to lose?
20359 -- Ngorchen Konchog Lhundrub, from "Three Visions: Fundamental Teachings of
20360 the Sakya Lineage of Tibetan Buddhism", published by Snow Lion Pub.
20362 Don't waste life in doubts and fears; spend yourself on the work before you,
20363 well assured that the right performance of this hour's duties will be the best
20364 preparation for the hours and ages that will follow it.
20365 -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
20367 If you can't describe what you are doing as a process,
20368 you don't know what you're doing.
20369 -- W. Edwards Deming
20371 Our Dharma practice is the best offering to make to our teachers. If we have
20372 material possessions, talents, and time, we can offer those. However, we don't
20373 neglect our practice, for that is what our teacher cares about most. When we
20374 follow the Dharma instructions we've received and keep whatever precepts we've
20375 taken, that pleases our teacher more than anything else.
20376 -- Thubten Chodron, in "Taming the Mind", Snow Lion Pub.
20378 If organized religion is the opium of the masses, then
20379 disorganized religion is the marijuana of the lunatic fringe.
20380 -- Principia Discordia
20382 When you are proclaiming peace with your lips,
20383 be careful to have it even more fully in your heart.
20384 -- St. Francis of Assisi
20386 Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind.
20387 -- Albert Einstein, "The World as I See It", 1934.
20389 It was, of course, a lie what you read about my religious convictions, a lie
20390 which is being systematically repeated. If something is in me which can be
20391 called religious then it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the
20392 world so far as our science can reveal it.
20393 -- Albert Einstein, in "Albert Einstein : The Human Side", from a 1954
20394 letter to an atheist.
20396 This topic brings me to that worst outcrop of the herd nature, the military
20397 system, which I abhor. That a man can take pleasure in marching in formation
20398 to the strains of a band is enough to make me despise him. He has only been
20399 given his big brain by mistake; a spinal cord was all he needed.
20400 -- Albert Einstein, "The World as I See It", 1934.
20402 I'm not a teacher, but an awakener. -- Robert Frost
20404 It is very important to understand the context of the Buddhist emphasis on
20405 recognizing that we are all in a state of suffering, otherwise there is a
20406 danger we could misunderstand the Buddhist outlook, and think that it involves
20407 rather morbid thinking, a basic pessimism and almost an obsessiveness about the
20408 reality of suffering. The reason why Buddha laid so much emphasis on
20409 developing insight into the nature of suffering is because there is an
20410 alternative--there is a way out, it is actually possible to free oneself from
20411 it. This is why it is so crucial to realize the nature of suffering, because
20412 the stronger and deeper your insight into suffering is, the stronger your
20413 aspiration to gain freedom from it becomes. So the Buddhist emphasis on the
20414 nature of suffering should be seen within this wider perspective, where there
20415 is an appreciation of the possibility of complete freedom from suffering. If
20416 we had no concept of liberation, then to spend so much time reflecting on
20417 suffering would be utterly pointless.
20418 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Dalai Lama's Book of Awakening", Snow Lion Pub.
20420 A cat is a demure animal; it will not come into the living room
20421 wagging its tail and knocking over lamps and tables.
20422 -- H. Monger Burdock
20424 There is no need for a piece of sculpture in a home that has a cat.
20427 Lack of understanding of the true nature of happiness, it seems to me, is the
20428 principal reason why people inflict sufferings on others. They think either
20429 that the other's pain may somehow be a cause of happiness for themselves or
20430 that their own happiness is more important, regardless of what pain it may
20431 cause. But this is shortsighted, no one truly benefits from causing harm to
20432 another sentient being. Whatever immediate advantage is gained at the expense
20433 of someone else is short-lived. In the long run causing others misery and
20434 infringing their rights to peace and happiness result in anxiety, fear and
20435 suspicion within one-self. Such feelings undermine the peace of mind and
20436 contentment which are the marks of happiness.
20437 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama in "The Dalai Lama: A Policy of Kindness", Snow Lion
20439 When we're told that things are mere deceptive appearances, we shouldn't
20440 misinterpret it as license to act in any way we please. Of course, none of
20441 us would be so silly! Appearances are extremely powerful. You dream your
20442 house is on fire and you're surrounded by flames. You can't escape and feel
20443 terrified. You wake up soaked in sweat and screaming. What a relief! It was
20444 just a nightmare and none of it actually happened, but while it all seemed to
20445 be happening, you were in anguish.
20446 -- Geshe Sonam Rinchen, in "The Thirty-seven Practices of Bodhisattvas",
20447 published by Snow Lion Publications
20449 A man is not old until his regrets take the place of dreams.
20452 I am independent! I can live alone and I love to work. -- Mary Cassatt
20454 If one ever wishes to retain one's fantasies about the good sense
20455 of the people in the realm of literary taste, one does best never
20456 to consult the bestseller lists.
20459 The most exhausting thing in life is being insincere. -- Anne Morrow Lindbergh
20461 Speaking of others' faults can also be a way to distract ourselves from
20462 acknowledging our own painful emotions. For example, if we feel hurt or
20463 rejected because a dear one hasn't called us in a long time, rather than
20464 feel the suffering nature of our attachment, we criticize our loved one
20465 for being unreliable and inconsiderate.
20466 -- Thubten Chodron, in "Taming the Mind", Snow Lion Publications
20468 A consistent man believes in destiny, a capricious man in chance.
20469 -- Benjamin Disraeli
20471 The things that we love tell us what we are. -- St. Thomas Aquinas
20473 Everything on this planet functions according to the law of nature. Particles
20474 come together, and on the basis of their co-operation everything around us, our
20475 whole environment, can develop and be sustained. Our own body too has the same
20476 structure. Different cells come together and work together in co-operation,
20477 and as a result, human life is sustained. In a human community the same law
20478 and principle of co-operation applies. Even for an aeroplane to fly or for a
20479 single machine to work, it can only do so by depending on many other factors,
20480 and with their co-operation. Without them it is impossible. Just so, to
20481 sustain everyday life in human society we need co-operation.
20482 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama in "Dzogchen: Heart Essence of the Great Pefection"
20484 We must go beyond textbooks, go out into the byways and
20485 untrodden depths of the wilderness, and travel and explore
20486 and tell the world the glories of our journey.
20487 -- John Hope Franklin
20489 Great works are performed not by strength, but by perseverance.
20492 Be happy. Talk happiness. Happiness calls out responsive gladness in
20493 others. There is enough sadness in the world without yours.
20496 There are two ways to slide easily through life:
20497 to believe everything or to doubt everything;
20498 both ways save us from thinking.
20499 -- Alfred Korzybski
20501 We shall not cease from exploration. And at the end of our exploring will be
20502 to arrive where we started and to know the place for the first time.
20505 I conceive that pleasures are to be avoided if greater pains
20506 be the consequence, and pains to be coveted that will terminate
20507 in greater pleasures.
20508 -- Michel de Montaigne
20510 A plot, if there is to be one, must be a secret. A secret that, if we only
20511 knew it, would dispel our frustration, lead us to salvation; or else the
20512 knowing of it in itself would be salvation. Does such a luminous secret
20513 exist? Yes, provided it is never known. Known, it will only disappoint us.
20516 The subjects that were dearest to the examiners were almost invariably those I
20517 fancied least... I should have liked to be asked to say what I knew. They
20518 always tried to ask what I did not know. When I would have willingly displayed
20519 my knowledge, they sought to expose my ignorance. This sort of treatment had
20520 only one result: I did not too well in examinations.
20521 -- Winston Churchill
20523 One of the great movements in my lifetime among educated people is the need to
20524 commit themselves to action. Most people are not satisfied with giving money;
20525 we also feel we need to work.
20528 One should really use the camera as though tomorrow you'd be stricken blind.
20531 The universe is made of stories, not of atoms. -- Muriel Rukeyser
20533 Chemists are a strange class of mortals, impelled by an almost maniacal impulse
20534 to seek their pleasures amongst smoke and vapour, soot and flames, poisons and
20535 poverty, yet amongst all these evils I seem to live so sweetly that I would
20536 rather die than change places with the King of Persia.
20537 -- Johann Joachim Becher
20539 Cherishing children is the mark of a civilized society. -- Joan Ganz Cooney
20541 Too many pieces of music finish too long after the end. -- Igor Stravinsky
20543 Purifying the unwholesome: In the past we have engaged in unwholesome physical,
20544 verbal, and mental actions. All these actions are of the past and cannot be
20545 touched; we cannot reach back and wipe them away. They have left detrimental
20546 imprints on our mind-stream that obstruct our spiritual practice and manifest
20547 as suffering when they come to full maturation, giving rise to misfortune and
20548 grief. However, these imprints can be affected, and even purified, by our
20549 present behavior. They are like seeds carried along in the current of our
20550 mind-stream. We cannot annihilate them without a trace, but we can burn them
20551 so that they have little or no potency to cause damaging results.
20552 -- B. Alan Wallace, in "The Seven-Point Mind Training", Snow Lion Pub.
20554 First it is important to recognize the human form as rare and precious. It is
20555 not enough just to obtain this precious human form which has great potential;
20556 rather, you should use that potential to its fullest extent by taking its
20557 essence. For example, if a person's ascent to high office is not followed by
20558 good work for the community and people, it is not very beneficial and
20559 worthwhile. If, on the basis of full use of the potential, one is able to
20560 accomplish great feats, that would truly be a great success. Therefore, it is
20561 important initially to recognize all the significance and great potential of
20562 this human existence.
20563 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama in "The Path to Bliss", Snow Lion Publications
20565 We haven't had any tea for a week.
20566 The bottom is out of the universe.
20569 Does one's integrity ever lie in what he is not able to do? I think that
20570 usually it does, for free will does not mean one will, but many wills
20571 conflicting in one man, Freedom cannot be conceived simply.
20572 -- Flannery O'Connor, in "Wise Blood", 1952
20574 We may seek a fortune for no greater reason than to secure the respect
20575 and attention of people who would otherwise look straight through us.
20578 Only in the most unusual cases is it useful to determine whether
20579 a book is good or bad; for it is just as rare for it to be one or
20580 the other. It is usually both.
20583 A lie gets halfway around the world before
20584 the truth has a chance to get its pants on.
20585 -- Winston Churchill
20587 Like yourself, everyone else from their own side equally does not want
20588 suffering and equally wants happiness. For example, among ten ill people,
20589 each of them just wants happiness; from their side they are all ill, and
20590 they all want to be freed from their illness. Hence there is no possible
20591 reason for making a biased exception, treating a certain one better and
20592 neglecting the others. It is impossible to select one out for better
20593 treatment. Moreover, from your own viewpoint, all sentient beings, in
20594 terms of their connection with you over the course of lifetimes, have in
20595 the past helped you and in the future will help again. Thus, you also
20596 cannot find any reason from your own side to treat some better and others
20598 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "The Dalai Lama at Harvard: Lectures on the
20599 Buddhist Path to Peace", Snow Lion Publications
20601 In everything that can be called art there is a quality of redemption.
20602 -- Raymond Chandler
20604 Life is not a spectacle or a feast; it is a predicament. -- George Santayana
20606 Mediocre men often have the most acquired knowledge. -- Claude Bernard
20608 When we practice, initially, as a basis we control ourselves, stopping the
20609 bad actions which hurt others as much as we can. This is defensive. After
20610 that, when we develop certain qualifications, then as an active goal we
20611 should help others. In the first stage, sometimes we need isolation while
20612 pursuing our own inner development; however, after you have some confidence,
20613 some strength, you must remain with, contact, and serve society in any
20614 field--health, education, politics, or whatever.
20615 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama in "Kindness, Clarity and Insight", Snow Lion Pub.
20617 Other paths that are aimed at "sudden awakening" lead one on an unmapped
20618 journey that may offer no clear indications of progress. In contrast, in this
20619 practice we have definite sign-posts along the way. Look at your mental
20620 distortions and see how they are doing. After practicing for a month, a year,
20621 six years, are the mental distortions somewhat diminished? Do wholesome
20622 qualities arise more readily, more frequently, more deeply? At the very root
20623 of the mental distortions, is the self-grasping attenuated? Is there less
20624 self-centeredness and greater humility? Is there more loving concern for the
20625 welfare of others? All of these are causes that lead either to well-being or
20627 -- B. Alan Wallace, in "The Seven-Point Mind Training", Snow Lion Pub.
20629 In the jungle of samsara arisings are ceaseless, there is never any let up in
20630 the interplay between past, present and future and in the turbulent interchange
20631 between inner thoughts and outer events. 'I', 'me' and 'mine' are tossed about
20632 like corks in the waves. There is no exit from this on the level of 'I'.
20633 There is no way to think yourself out of samsara. Even the thoughts that
20634 everything is empty, or is Padmasambhava, or pure from the very beginning do
20635 not help for no thought can unlock the door to awakening. The key is not
20636 shaped like a thing; it is not a thought, a feeling or a sensation. It's not
20637 something outer or inner. The key is your own nature, how you have been from
20638 the very beginning, simple, raw, naked, uncontrived, free of all constructs.
20639 -- Nuden Dorje, in "Being Right Here: A Dzogchen Treasure Text", Snow Lion
20641 Great ideas originate in the muscles. -- Thomas A. Edison
20643 If you tell the truth you don't have to remember anything. -- Mark Twain
20645 Mathematics is a game played according to certain
20646 simple rules with meaningless marks on paper.
20649 When you are poor enough, everything has some value. -- Barbara Ann Porte
20651 I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have
20652 been only a boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself in now and
20653 then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst
20654 the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.
20657 In ancient times, a candidate for initiation into the Mysteries was led through
20658 a series of dark chambers, virtually a labyrinth, beset by terrifying sounds
20659 and ominous presences. And then in the adytum, the final chamber, there was a
20660 sudden illumination. The enthroned hierophant tells the candidate, "Behold the
20661 light, my child! It is your own being and nature." Just this epopteia, or
20662 sudden illumination, is the introduction to the Clear Light that is one's own
20663 original nature. The course of the initiation in the ancient Mystery Religions
20664 simulates the experience of death and rebirth and leads the candidate into what
20665 lies beyond, so that one no longer need fear death. This initiatory process
20666 may be compared to the Tibetan Book of the Dead.
20667 -- John Myrdhin Reynolds, in "The Golden Letters", Snow Lion Pub.
20669 If only I had the theorems! Then I should find the proofs easily enough.
20670 -- Bernhard Riemann
20672 Books are the carriers of civilization. Without books, history is silent,
20673 literature dumb, science crippled, thought and speculation at a standstill.
20676 But in a larger sense we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot
20677 hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here,
20678 have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract.
20681 A memory is more atmospheric than accurate, more an evolving fiction than a
20682 sacred text. And thank heavens. If rude, shameful, or brutal memories
20683 can't be expunged, they can at least be diluted. So is nothing permanent
20684 and fixed in life? By definition life is a fickle noun, an event in
20685 progress. Still, we cling to philosophical railings, religious icons,
20686 pillars of belief. We forget on purpose that Earth is rolling at 1,000
20687 miles an hour, and, at the same time, falling elliptically around our sun,
20688 while the sun is swinging through the Milky Way, and the Milky Way migrating
20689 along with countless other galaxies in a universe about 13.7 billion years
20690 old. An event is such a little piece of time and space, leaving only a
20691 mindglow behind like the tail of a shooting star. For lack of a better
20692 word, we call that scintillation memory.
20693 -- Diane Ackerman, in "An Alchemy Of Mind: The Marvel and Mystery of
20696 Many people who approach the practice of Buddhism are willing to sacrifice one
20697 or two hours of their day in order to perform some ritual practice or engage in
20698 meditation. Time is relatively easy to give up, even though their life may be
20699 very busy. But, they are not willing to change anything of their personality--
20700 they are not willing to forgo anything of their negative character. With this
20701 type of approach to Buddhism, it hardly matters how much meditation we do, our
20702 practice remains merely a hobby or a sport. It does not touch our lives. In
20703 order actually to overcome our problems, we have to be willing to change--
20704 namely to change our personality. We need to renounce and rid ourselves of
20705 those negative aspects of it that are causing us so much trouble.
20706 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama & Alexander Berzin in "The Gelug/Kagyu Tradition of
20709 Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into
20710 you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into
20711 you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves.
20714 Whoso does not see that genuine life is a battle
20715 and a march has poorly read his origin and his destiny.
20718 The more intelligent one is, the more men of originality
20719 one finds. Ordinary people find no difference between men.
20722 The last proceeding of reason, is to recognize that
20723 there is an infinity of things beyond it.
20726 Argument is the worst sort of conversation. -- Jonathan Swift
20728 No burden is so heavy for a man to bear as a succession of happy days.
20731 Whatever games are played with us, we must play no games with ourselves.
20732 -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
20734 I decline utterly to be impartial between the fire brigade and the fire.
20735 -- Winston Churchill
20737 The self that is grasped by ignorance should be refuted, but we should not
20738 refute the conventionally existent self. If we refute the self that is merely
20739 conventionally existent, that is like a seeing a person and saying, "Oh, I
20740 didn't see the person." Or we might look at another person and say, "All I
20741 see is the basis of designation of the person or the visual form of the body."
20742 This is no way to speak. It would be impossible to maintain any valid or
20743 justifiable use of language in this way. We would be negating the existence
20744 of a merely designated self, but we would not negate the self that is refuted
20745 by means of the wisdom that investigates the nature of emptiness. Once again,
20746 the self to be negated is the self which is grasped by ignorance.
20747 -- Gen. Lamrimpa, in "Realizing Emptiness: Madhyamaka Insight Meditation",
20748 translated by B. Alan Wallace, published by Snow Lion Publications
20750 In general, the countries of the East have had less material progress and thus
20751 have great suffering from poverty. In the West, though poverty is not severe,
20752 there is the suffering of worry and not knowing satisfaction. In both East and
20753 West, many persons spend their lives in jealousy and competition; some think
20754 only of money, and when they meet with conditions unfavourable to their wish
20755 develop a dislike or enmity for these unfavourable circumstances from the very
20756 orb of their heart. Within and between countries people are disturbed, not
20757 trusting and believing each other, having to spend their lives in continual
20758 lies and deceit. Since the most we can live is a hundred years, what point is
20759 there in spending our lives in jealousy, deceit, and competition?
20760 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Deity Yoga", translated and edited by Jeffrey
20761 Hopkins, published by Snow Lion Publications
20763 She was fascinated by baths. I suppose total immersion in water
20764 must have seemed to her a peculiar method of cleansing oneself.
20765 -- Elizabeth Peters
20767 The uncompromising self-examination of a Rembrandt self-portrait remains,
20768 almost four centuries on, far more 'shocking' than a museum installation
20772 Complaint is the largest tribute Heaven receives. -- Jonathan Swift
20774 Mere belief in a source of refuge is not firm; unless there is valid cognition,
20775 you are going only on the assertion that Buddhism is good. Refuge is not an
20776 act of partisanship but is based on analysing what scriptures are reasonable
20777 and what scriptures are not. In order for the mind to engage one-pointedly in
20778 practice, there must be reasoned conviction that only the Buddhist path is
20779 non-mistaken and capable of leading to the state of complete freedom from
20780 defects and possession of all auspicious attainments. One should engage in
20781 honest investigation, avoiding desire and hatred and seeking the teaching that
20782 sets forth the means for fulfilling the aims of trainees.
20783 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Tantra in Tibet", trans. & ed. by Jeffrey Hopkins
20785 A bad peace is even worse than war. -- Tacitus
20787 The way of fortune is like the milky way in the sky; which is a number of
20788 smaller stars, not seen asunder, but giving light together; so it is a number
20789 of little and scarce discerned virtues, or rather faculties and customs, that
20790 make men fortunate.
20793 Ability will never catch up with the demand for it. -- Confucius
20795 There is more to life than increasing its speed. -- Mahatma Gandhi
20797 If cats could talk, they wouldn't. -- Nan Porter
20799 I read the newspaper avidly. It is my one form of continuous fiction.
20802 The teeth, hair and nails are not I, nor am I bone, blood, mucus, phlegm,
20804 Bodily oil is not I, nor is sweat, fat or the entrails either. The cavity
20805 of the entrails is not I, nor is excrement or urine.
20806 Flesh is not I, nor are the sinews, warmth nor air. The bodily cavities are
20807 not I, nor is any one of the six types of consciousness.
20808 If the self truly exists in the manner in which it appears, then it should be
20809 identifiable as one inspects the components of a person one by one. Following
20810 the above verses, no part of the body, including the four elements and space,
20811 nor the six types of consciousness can be identified as the self. This implies
20812 that the self that experiences joy and sorrow and that appears to the mind as
20813 if it existed independently does not exist at all. This is ascertained by
20814 engaging in such analysis.
20815 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Transcendent Wisdom", Snow Lion Publications
20817 Once, on behalf of his mother, Kyogom produced a thangka of the five buddha
20818 families. He asked the guru, Gampopa, to bless it quickly.
20819 Gampopa agreed, saying, "Burn this stick of incense and make a mandala
20821 He then transformed himself into the Buddha, and from his ushnisha there
20822 radiated a glorious light that dissolved into the thangka. The air resounded
20823 with the tinkling of bells and the drumbeat of the damaru, and the sky was
20824 filled with parasols, auspicious banners, and canopies. The sound of cymbals
20825 was heard, and a rain of flowers fell from the sky.
20826 When Kyogom saw this, the lama said, "This is the way to do a rapid
20828 -- Jampa Mackenzie Stewart, in "The Life of Gampopa", Snow Lion Pub.
20830 The absolute nature of the prohibition of torture and other forms of ill
20831 treatment means that no exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a
20832 state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability or any
20833 other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification for torture.
20834 -- Theo van Boven, UN official charged with monitoring incidents of torture
20836 No executive, legislative, administrative, or judicial measure authorizing
20837 recourse to torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
20838 can be considered as lawful under international law.
20839 -- Theo van Boven, UN official charged with monitoring incidents of torture
20841 In a few hundred years, when the history of our time will be written from a
20842 long-term perspective, it is likely that the most important event historians
20843 will see is not technology, not the Internet, not e-commerce. It is an
20844 unprecedented change in the human condition. For the first time--literally
20845 --substantial and rapidly growing numbers of people have choices. For the
20846 first time, they will have to manage themselves. And society is totally
20848 -- Peter F. Drucker
20850 Let thy food be thy medicine and thy medicine be thy food. -- Hippocrates
20852 One of the lessons of the Web is that if people have access to information,
20853 they will consume it, whether they are hungry or not.
20856 If cats seem distant and aloof, it is because this is not their native
20857 planet--they are here just to visit and dominate.
20860 History is the only laboratory we have in which to test
20861 the consequences of thought.
20864 In journalism it is simpler to sound off than it is to find out.
20865 It is more elegant to pontificate than it is to sweat.
20868 If we have only cultivated undistracted meditative concentration and lack the
20869 supreme knowledge that realizes how things actually are, it is impossible to
20870 see ultimate reality. On the other hand, if we have the correct view of
20871 understanding identitylessness but no meditative concentration in which the
20872 mind rests one-pointedly, our mind will be distracted by other objects, not be
20873 under control, and thus not be workable. Consequently, it will be impossible
20874 for the light of wisdom to shine clearly and realize ultimate reality. Another
20875 analogy for the need to combine calm abiding and superior insight as an
20876 inseparable unity is a sharp scalpel in the steady hand of an experienced
20877 surgeon. If the scalpel is blunt or the surgeon's hand shaky, the operation
20878 cannot be performed properly. In the same way, when the mind rests in a state
20879 that involves both stillness and a crisp wakefulness or awareness, it is like
20880 a steady hand that deftly operates on our objects of investigation with the
20881 sharp blade of superior insight.
20882 -- Karl Brunnhoelzl, in "The Center of the Sunlit Sky: Madyhamaka in the
20883 Kagyu Tradition, Snow Lion Publications
20885 Golf is the only sport where the ball doesn't move until you hit it.
20888 ... when a candidate for public office faces the voters he does not face men
20889 of sense; he faces a mob of men whose chief distinguishing mark is the fact
20890 that they are quite incapable of weighing ideas, or even of comprehending
20891 any save the most elemental--men whose whole thinking is done in terms of
20892 emotion, and whose dominant emotion is dread of what they cannot understand.
20893 So confronted, the candidate must either bark with the pack or be lost.
20895 ... all the odds are on the man who is, intrinsically, the most devious and
20896 mediocre--the man who can most adeptly disperse the notion that his mind is
20899 The Presidency tends, year by year, to go to such men. As democracy is
20900 perfected, the office represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of
20901 the people. We move toward a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious day the
20902 plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last, and the
20903 White House will be adorned by a downright moron.
20904 -- H. L. Mencken (July 26, 1920, in the Baltimore Sun):
20906 The mastery of the turn is the story of how aviation became practical as a
20907 means of transportation. It is the story of how the world became small.
20908 -- William Langewiesche
20910 Flight's greatest gift is to let us look around. I mean a simple form of
20911 looking around, and one that requires little instruction--just gazing down at
20912 the ordinary scenery sliding by below. The best views are views of familiar
20913 things, like cities and farms and bottlenecked freeways. So set aside the
20914 beauty of sunsets, the majesty of mountains, the imprint of winds on golden
20915 prairies. The world beneath our wings has become a human artifact, our most
20916 spontaneous and complex creation. Tourists may not like to contemplate the
20917 evidence, with its hints of greed and self-destruction, but the fact remains
20918 that the old sterilized landscapes--like designated outlooks and pretty parks
20919 and sculpted gardens--have become obsolete, and that it is largely the airplane
20920 that has made them so. The aerial view is something entirely new. We need to
20921 admit that it flattens the world and mutes it in a rush of air and engines, and
20922 that it suppresses beauty. But it also strips the facades from our
20923 constructions, and by raising us above the constraints of the treeline and the
20924 highway it imposes a brutal honesty on our perceptions. It lets us see
20925 ourselves in context, as creatures struggling through life on the face of a
20926 planet, not separate from nature, but its most expressive agents. It lets us
20927 see that our struggles form patterns on the land, that these patterns repeat to
20928 an extent which before we had not known, and that there is a sense to them.
20929 -- William Langewiesche, "Inside The Sky: Meditation on Flight"
20931 A lot of good arguments are spoiled by some fool
20932 who knows what he is talking about.
20933 -- Miguel de Unamuno
20935 Anything one man can imagine, other men can make real. -- Jules Verne
20937 We have the bias of considering some people to be enemies and others to be
20938 friends. If this really were true such that an enemy always remained an enemy
20939 and a friend always remained a friend, then there might be a reason to hate
20940 certain people and love others. But, again, this is not the case. There is
20941 no certainty in relationships.
20942 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "The Dalai Lama at Harvard: Lectures on the
20943 Buddhist Path to Peace", Snow Lion Publications
20945 Intelligence is quickness in seeing things as they are. -- George Santayana
20947 It is said that the awareness of a buddha is completely even, like the ocean,
20948 taking in equally the joys and sorrows of all people, friends, loved ones,
20949 relatives, and those never met. This is the meaning of a statement made by so
20950 many of the world's great spiritual teachers, "Love your enemy." It doesn't
20951 mean love the person you hate. You can't do that. Love those who hate you.
20952 -- B. Alan Wallace, in "Buddhism with an Attitude: The Tibetan Seven-Point
20953 Mind-Training", Snow Lion Publications
20955 Man is an animal that makes bargains: no other animal
20956 does this--no dog exchanges bones with another.
20959 Art is not about thinking something up.
20960 It is the opposite--getting something down.
20963 Although we regard the realization of the selflessness of persons as something
20964 particularly exalted and therefore difficult to achieve, in fact, if you look
20965 directly at your mind and see its nature, you will realize this selflessness.
20966 This is not a matter of trying to convince yourself that there is no self in
20967 the mind. It is simply a matter of looking. And when you look, you will see
20968 that there is no mind, and that therefore there is no self that could be
20969 imputed on the basis of the mind.
20970 -- Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, in "Pointing out the Dharmakaya", Snow Lion
20972 Cold! If the thermometer had been an inch longer we'd have frozen to death.
20975 Love and scandal are the best sweeteners of tea. -- Henry Fielding
20977 Material progress is for the sake of achieving that happiness and relieving
20978 that suffering which depends upon the body. But it is indeed difficult to
20979 remove all suffering by these external means and thereby achieve complete
20980 satisfaction. Hence there comes to be a great difference between seeking
20981 happiness in dependence upon external things and seeking it in dependence
20982 upon one's own internal spiritual development. Furthermore, even if the
20983 basic suffering is the same, there is a great difference in the way we
20984 experience it and in the mental discomfort that it creates, depending upon
20985 our attitude towards it. Hence our mental attitude is very important in
20986 how we spend our lives.
20987 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Kindness, Clarity and Insight", Snow Lion Pub.
20989 Love is a condition in which the happiness of another
20990 person is essential to your own.
20993 Looking at a cat, like looking at clouds or stars or the ocean, makes
20994 it difficult to believe there is nothing miraculous in this world.
20995 -- Leonard Michaels
20997 Waking in the night
21002 Show me the man you honor, and I will know what kind of man you are.
21005 If you have love, deities and humans will love you and will naturally
21006 gravitate toward you. Moreover, the Conqueror defeated Mara's armies with the
21007 power of love, so love is the supreme protector, and so forth. Thus, although
21008 love is difficult to develop, you must strive to do so.
21009 The way to cultivate love is as follows. Just as you can develop compassion
21010 once you have repeatedly thought about how living beings are made miserable by
21011 suffering, develop love by thinking repeatedly about how living beings lack all
21012 happiness, both contaminated and uncontaminated. When you become familiar with
21013 this, you will naturally wish for beings to be happy. In addition, bring to
21014 mind various forms of happiness and then offer them to living beings.
21015 -- from "The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment",
21016 Volume 2, Snow Lion Publications
21018 There is no less invention in aptly applying a thought found
21019 in a book, than in being the first author of the thought.
21022 You'll never need a lawn ornament if you have a cat in the yard.
21023 -- Katherine Palmer Peterson
21025 Karma has four main characteristics. The first is its increasing effect:
21026 goodness heralds further goodness and evil heralds further evil. Secondly,
21027 karma is definite: in the long run, goodness always produces joy and negativity
21028 always produces suffering. Thirdly, one never experiences a joy or sorrow that
21029 does not have an according karmic cause. And lastly, the karmic seeds that are
21030 placed on the mind at the time of an action will never lose their potency even
21031 in a hundred million lifetimes, but will lie dormant within the mind until one
21032 day the conditions that activate them appear.
21033 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "The Path to Enlightenment", Snow Lion
21035 The ideal of calm exists in a sitting cat. -- Jules Reynard
21037 There are generally two kinds of buddhist meditation: stabilizing meditation
21038 and analytical meditation. The stabilizing type of meditation gets the brain
21039 very mellow. It is a soothing of the mind to a clear state of calm, like a
21040 still lake. Stabilization allows all thoughts to flow through the mind without
21041 attachment to any of them. But the analytical type of meditation uses the
21042 power of logic to examine what is bothering one. Through meditative analysis,
21043 problems are conquered by finding their root causes and by developing
21044 techniques for mitigating the effects of those causes on the mind. Analysis
21045 can focus on topics such as impermanence, suffering, the need for patience,
21047 These two phases of meditation are not practiced at different times of the
21048 day, but from instant to instant. At first, when one is a beginner, one must
21049 actively work to stabilize the mind and release all the distractions. But
21050 just when one starts to doze off because this process is so relaxing, one
21051 switches over to analytical meditation to keep the brain moving and to balance
21053 One has to pay careful attention to the state of one's mind to determine
21054 what is needed at a particular time. But this wakeful refocusing of the
21055 attention helps to develop mindfulness, which in turn helps develop
21056 understanding and concentration. Later on, the switch between analytical
21057 and stabilizing meditations will happen somewhat more automatically; if
21058 thoughts start swirling too fast, the meditative mind seeks stabilization. If
21059 things get too calm or placid, then analysis can bring the balance back to
21060 thinking and improving.
21061 Analysis is insufficient by itself, because it might be all about what's
21062 currently "wrong" or it might produce a billion approaches to improving the
21063 mind which cannot all be followed, but it would miss out on just enjoying our
21064 somewhat short existence. Complete realization of the enjoyability of
21065 sentience and sapience seems to come from stabilization, not analysis. And
21066 stabilization is not enough by itself either, because one sees the result
21067 of too much placidity in a person asleep in bed: they have a cow-like calm
21068 without any thoughts breaking the surface to cause future progress. The
21069 impetus behind the push towards enlightenment seems to come from analysis,
21070 because one cannot see why one would want to fully awake and aware unless
21071 one can logically compare that state with the current one. Thus analytical
21072 and stabilizing meditations are the dynamic duo of meditation, the laurel
21073 and the hardy, the R and the D, the anion and the cation, for without both
21074 the ultimate mental state is unattainable.
21077 The bad news: there is no key to the universe.
21078 The good news: it was never locked.
21079 -- Swami Beyondananda
21081 What is tolerance? It is the consequence of humanity. We are all formed of
21082 frailty and error; let us pardon reciprocally each other's folly. That is the
21083 first law of nature.
21086 A man's manners are a mirror in which he shows his portrait.
21087 -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
21089 If I wished to punish a province, I would have it governed by philosophers.
21090 -- Frederick the Great
21092 I know that many people have difficulty thinking of spirits in the way I
21093 describe them. There are many spirits described in Tibetan texts related to
21094 specific places in Tibet. I'm not sure, if we live in New York or Tokyo, that
21095 it's very helpful to try to connect to those spirits. When we are in Western
21096 cities, rather than thinking of spirits living in mountain passes or caves, we
21097 might find it easier to think that spirits travel the streets, creating anger
21098 and agitation in the drivers. When we experience aggressive driving, it is a
21099 good idea to breathe evenly and relax. Otherwise, we may find ourselves
21100 connected to traffic demons!
21101 -- "Healing with Form, Energy and Light: The Five Elements in Tibetan
21102 Shamanism, Tantra and Dzogchen", published by Snow Lion Publications
21104 I'm all in favor of keeping dangerous weapons out of the hands of fools.
21105 Let's start with typewriters.
21106 -- Frank Lloyd Wright
21108 As long as algebra is taught in school, there will be prayer in school.
21111 In Tantra the term bodhicitta assumes a more specific connotation. The essence
21112 of enlightenment or "Buddha-nature," revealed in the sutras of the third
21113 turning of the wheel of Dharma, is equated to the subtle essence (thig le) of
21114 the human body, the coarse aspect of which is present in the seminal fluid and
21115 in the ovum. Thus in Tantra, bodhicitta is recognized as the seed of the
21116 manifestation of the infinite mandalas and deities who are all already
21117 contained in potentiality in the energy structure of the physical body itself,
21118 what is known as the "vajra body." However in spite of this underlying
21119 recognition as its base, tantric practice entails visualization and commitments
21120 of body voice, and mind to achieve the transformation of the energies of impure
21121 vision into the pure dimension of the mandala and of the deities.
21122 -- Chogyal Namkhai Norbu and Adriano Clemente, in "The Supreme Source: The
21123 Fundamental Tantra of the Dzogchen Semde Kunjed Gyalpo", Snow Lion Pub.
21125 Never lend books, for no one ever returns them; the only books
21126 I have in my library are books that other folks have lent me.
21129 It is impossible to keep a straight face in
21130 the presence of one or more kittens.
21131 -- Cynthia E. Varnardo
21133 I always explain that violence is not the human way. I believe that,
21134 fundamentally, human nature is positive, gentle; therefore, the non-violent way
21135 is the human way. Also, whatever result we achieve through non-violence has no
21136 negative side effect. Through violence, even though we may get some kind of
21137 satisfaction, negative side effects are also incurred. Then, most importantly,
21138 whether we like it or not, we have to live side by side with the Chinese; thus,
21139 in the long future, generation to generation, in order to live happily,
21140 peacefully, it is extremely important, while we are carrying on the struggle,
21141 to accord with the principle of non-violence.
21142 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "The Art of Peace: Nobel Peace Laureates discuss
21143 Human Rights, Conflict and Reconciliation", Snow Lion Pub.
21147 I believe that religion, generally speaking, has been a curse to mankind--
21148 that its modest and greatly overestimated services on the ethical side have
21149 been more than overcome by the damage it has done to clear and honest thinking.
21150 I believe that no discovery of fact, however trivial, can be wholly useless
21151 to the race, and that no trumpeting of falsehood, however virtuous in intent,
21152 can be anything but vicious.
21153 I believe that all government is evil, in that all government must
21154 necessarily make war upon liberty...
21155 I believe that the evidence for immortality is no better than the evidence
21156 of witches, and deserves no more respect.
21157 I believe in the complete freedom of thought and speech...
21158 I believe in the capacity of man to conquer his world, and to find out what
21159 it is made of, and how it is run.
21160 I believe in the reality of progress.
21161 I--But the whole thing, after all, may be put very simply. I believe that it
21162 is better to tell the truth than to lie. I believe that it is better to be
21163 free than to be a slave. And I believe that it is better to know than be
21167 The larger the mob, the harder the test. In small areas, before small
21168 electorates, a first-rate man occasionally fights his way through, carrying
21169 even the mob with him by force of his personality. But when the field is
21170 nationwide, and the fight must be waged chiefly at second and third hand, and
21171 the force of personality cannot so readily make itself felt, then all the odds
21172 are on the man who is, intrinsically, the most devious and mediocre--the man
21173 who can most easily adeptly disperse the notion that his mind is a virtual
21175 The Presidency tends, year by year, to go to such men. As democracy is
21176 perfected, the office represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the
21177 people. We move toward a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious day the
21178 plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last, and the White
21179 House will be adorned by a downright moron.
21180 -- Henry Louis Mencken, "Bayard vs. Lionheart", Baltimore Evening Sun,
21183 The possession of knowledge does not kill the sense of
21184 wonder and mystery. There is always more mystery.
21187 There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion.
21188 -- Sir Francis Bacon
21190 I say that the art of sculpture is eight times as great as any other art based
21191 on drawing, because a statue has eight views and they must all be equally good.
21192 -- Benvenuto Cellini
21194 When we talk about patience or tolerance, we should understand that there are
21195 many degrees, starting from a simple tolerance, such as being able to bear a
21196 certain amount of heat and cold, progressing toward the highest level of
21197 patience, which is the type of patience and tolerance found in the great
21198 practitioners, the Bodhisattvas on the high levels of the Buddhist path.
21199 Since patience or tolerance comes from a certain ability to remain firm and
21200 steadfast, to not be overwhelmed by the adverse situations or conditions that
21201 one faces, one should not see tolerance or patience as a sign of weakness, but
21202 rather as a sign of strength coming from a deep ability to remain steadfast and
21203 firm. We can generally define patience or tolerance in these terms. We find
21204 that even in being able to tolerate a certain degree of physical hardship, like
21205 a hot or cold climate, our attitude makes a big difference.
21206 If we have the realization that tolerating immediate hardship can have long-
21207 term beneficial consequences, we are more likely to be able to tolerate
21208 everyday hardships. Similarly, in the case of those on the Bodhisattva levels
21209 of the path practicing high levels of tolerance and patience, intelligence also
21210 plays a very important role as a complementary factor.
21211 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Healing Anger: The Power of Patience from a
21212 Buddhist Perspective", Snow Lion Publications
21214 One difference between poetry and lyrics is that lyrics sort of fade into the
21215 background. They fade on the page and live on the stage when set to music.
21216 -- Stephen Sondheim
21218 All the good ideas I ever had came to me while I was milking a cow.
21221 Completely pure desirous attachment expresses itself through Buddha Amitabha.
21222 A person guided by desire, attachment, or grasping becomes diffused and loses
21223 power over phenomena. Through completely purified desirous attachment,
21224 however, one is able to gain control over, and to independently coordinate,
21225 everything. This is because the entourage, possessions, merit, and so forth
21226 are controlled by the power of this Buddha. In this way Amitabha grants us the
21227 empowering enlightened activity and the empowering extraordinary achievements.
21228 -- Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, in "Everyday Consciousness and
21229 Buddha-awakening", Snow Lion Pub.
21231 No harm's done to history by making it something someone would want to read.
21232 -- David McCollough
21234 If, in some cataclysm, all of scientific knowledge were to be destroyed, and
21235 only one sentence passed on to the next generation of creatures, what statement
21236 would contain the most information in the fewest words? I believe it is the
21237 atomic hypothesis (or the atomic fact, if you wish to call it that) that all
21238 things are made of atoms--little particles that move around in perpetual
21239 motion, attracting each other when they are a little distance apart, but
21240 repelling upon being squeezed into one another.
21241 -- Richard P. Feynman
21243 The third aspect of the practice of generosity is giving the gift of the
21244 Dharma by making the teachings available. Through the Dharma, we can bring
21245 understanding into the lives of others and help them remove their patterns of
21246 ignorance. We do not have to be great scholars to practice generosity through
21247 the Dharma. We may know just one line of the Dharma, but if we know that one
21248 line clearly and correctly, we can genuinely express it to others and help
21249 them. If we know four lines of the teachings, through those four lines we can
21250 help to clear up someone's ignorance or lessen someone's problems and
21251 sufferings. What counts is not how much we know but how correctly we know it
21252 and how sincerely we use it to help others. We should not wear the mask of the
21253 Dharma, pretending we know a great deal and are doing great things, while
21254 hiding ugliness inside us.
21255 -- Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche, in "Dharma Paths", Snow Lion Pub.
21257 One difference between the destructive, negative emotions on the one side and
21258 constructive, positive emotions on the other is that constructive, positive
21259 emotions have a strong grounding in valid experience and reasoning. In fact,
21260 the more we analyze these positive emotions, the more they are enhanced.
21261 Negative, afflictive emotions, by contrast, are usually quite superficial.
21262 They have no grounding in reason and often arise out of habit rather than
21263 reasoned thought processes.
21264 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Illuminating the Path to Enlightenment",
21265 Snow Lion Publications
21267 Whenever you travel on an airplane, the flight attendants demonstrate what to
21268 do in an emergency. They tell you to put the oxygen mask over your own nose
21269 before putting it over your child's nose. That's not because you should be
21270 selfish, but because if you pass out, you won't be able to help anyone at all.
21271 So you see, the essential point is that we must first subdue our own minds
21272 before we can effectively serve others.
21274 If you have failed to subdue your own mind, even if a thousand Buddhas surround
21275 you, they will be of no benefit. If you want to subdue your enemies, you must
21276 subdue your own mind. If you want to bring about world peace, subdue your
21277 mind. A subdued mind is the Lama. A subdued mind is the Dakini, the chosen
21278 deity, and the Buddha. A subdued mind is the pure land. You are already
21279 imbued with the Buddha-nature. This is your inherent nature. What actual
21280 benefit have you gotten from the essential nature of your mind?
21281 -- Karma Chagme, in "A Spacious Path to Freedom: Practical Instructions on
21282 the Union of Mahamudra and Atiyoga", Snow Lion Publications
21284 From: non-verbal sys-admin
21285 To: support technician
21286 Subject: harriet crash
21288 harriet crashed this afternoon
21289 it is back online now
21290 looks like a bad drive in the array
21291 i have an ibm ticket opened
21292 hope to have it serviced sometime tomorrow
21294 the current state or the repair
21295 should not affect core team work in build
21299 From: support technician
21300 To: non-verbal sys-admin
21301 Subject: Re: harriet crash
21304 complete sentences, grammar
21307 I love cats because I enjoy my home; and little by little,
21308 they become its visible soul.
21311 I saw also that there was an ocean of darkness and death; but an infinite
21312 ocean of light and love, which flowed over the ocean of darkness.
21315 Besides the first degree of eminence in science, a professor with us must be
21316 of sober and correct morals and habits, having the talent of communicating his
21317 knowledge with facility, and of an accommodating and peaceable temper. The
21318 latter is all important for the harmony of the institution.
21319 -- Thomas Jefferson
21321 Like all the best families, we have our share of eccentricities,
21322 of impetuous and wayward youngsters and of family disagreements.
21323 -- Queen Elizabeth II
21325 We do not see, or we forget, that the birds that are idly singing around us
21326 mostly live on insects or seeds, and are thus constantly destroying life.
21329 Obstacles to our practice may be external, internal or secret. The external
21330 ones consist of natural disasters, harm inflicted by human and nonhuman
21331 beings, sicknesses and so forth. Internal obstacles are our own disturbed
21332 states of mind and emotions and all the obstructions to liberation and full
21333 knowledge of all phenomena. Secret obstacles are seemingly good
21334 circumstances, which distract the practitioner and make him or her forget
21335 about practice. For instance, one might gain a good reputation as a sincere
21336 practitioner and thereby attract followers and wealth, which in the end make
21337 one neglect one's practice.
21338 -- Geshe Sonam Rinchen, in "Eight Verses for Training the Mind",
21341 From Linus Benedict Torvalds Oct 5 1991, 8:53 am
21342 Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
21343 From: torva...@klaava.Helsinki.FI (Linus Benedict Torvalds)
21344 Date: 5 Oct 91 05:41:06 GMT
21345 Local: Fri, Oct 4 1991 10:41 pm
21346 Subject: Free minix-like kernel sources for 386-AT
21348 Do you pine for the nice days of minix-1.1, when men were men and wrote
21349 their own device drivers? Are you without a nice project and just dying
21350 to cut your teeth on a OS you can try to modify for your needs? Are you
21351 finding it frustrating when everything works on minix? No more all-
21352 nighters to get a nifty program working? Then this post might be just
21355 As I mentioned a month(?) ago, I'm working on a free version of a
21356 minix-lookalike for AT-386 computers. It has finally reached the stage
21357 where it's even usable (though may not be depending on what you want),
21358 and I am willing to put out the sources for wider distribution. It is
21359 just version 0.02 (+1 (very small) patch already), but I've successfully
21360 run bash/gcc/gnu-make/gnu-sed/compress etc under it.
21362 Sources for this pet project of mine can be found at nic.funet.fi
21363 (128.214.6.100) in the directory /pub/OS/Linux. The directory also
21364 contains some README-file and a couple of binaries to work under linux
21365 (bash, update and gcc, what more can you ask for :-). Full kernel
21366 source is provided, as no minix code has been used. Library sources are
21367 only partially free, so that cannot be distributed currently. The
21368 system is able to compile "as-is" and has been known to work. Heh.
21369 Sources to the binaries (bash and gcc) can be found at the same place in
21372 ALERT! WARNING! NOTE! These sources still need minix-386 to be compiled
21374 (and gcc-1.40, possibly 1.37.1, haven't tested), and you need minix to
21375 set it up if you want to run it, so it is not yet a standalone system
21376 for those of you without minix. I'm working on it. You also need to be
21377 something of a hacker to set it up (?), so for those hoping for an
21378 alternative to minix-386, please ignore me. It is currently meant for
21379 hackers interested in operating systems and 386's with access to minix.
21381 The system needs an AT-compatible harddisk (IDE is fine) and EGA/VGA. If
21382 you are still interested, please ftp the README/RELNOTES, and/or mail me
21383 for additional info.
21385 I can (well, almost) hear you asking yourselves "why?". Hurd will be
21386 out in a year (or two, or next month, who knows), and I've already got
21387 minix. This is a program for hackers by a hacker. I've enjouyed doing
21388 it, and somebody might enjoy looking at it and even modifying it for
21389 their own needs. It is still small enough to understand, use and
21390 modify, and I'm looking forward to any comments you might have.
21392 I'm also interested in hearing from anybody who has written any of the
21393 utilities/library functions for minix. If your efforts are freely
21394 distributable (under copyright or even public domain), I'd like to hear
21395 from you, so I can add them to the system. I'm using Earl Chews estdio
21396 right now (thanks for a nice and working system Earl), and similar works
21397 will be very wellcome. Your (C)'s will of course be left intact. Drop me
21398 a line if you are willing to let me use your code.
21402 PS. to PHIL NELSON! I'm unable to get through to you, and keep getting
21403 "forward error - strawberry unknown domain" or something.
21405 Question: How do things exist if they are empty of inherent existence?
21407 His Holiness: The doctrines of emptiness and selflessness do not imply the non-
21408 existence of things. Things do exist. When we say that all phenomena are void
21409 of self-existence, it does not mean that we are advocating non-existence, that
21410 we are repudiating that things exist. Then what is it we are negating? We are
21411 negating, or denying, that anything exists from its own side without depending
21412 on other things. Hence, it is because things depend for their existence upon
21413 other causes and conditions that they are said to lack independent self-
21415 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Answers: Discussions with Western Buddhists",
21416 Snow Lion Publications
21418 You may break, you may shatter the vase if you will,
21419 But the scent of the roses will hang round it still.
21422 Life is made up, not of great sacrifices or duties, but of little things,
21423 in which smiles, and kindnesses, and small obligations, given habitually,
21424 are what win and preserve the heart and secure comfort.
21425 -- Sir Humphrey Davy
21427 It is only when I am doing my work that I feel truly alive.
21428 -- Federico Fellini
21430 When you engage in a project or an activity that helps other sentient beings,
21431 there is no question of a time limit. You must do it continuously. This is
21432 how you should train your mind. If you think you will achieve enlightenment or
21433 bodhichitta within a few days or months, and if you think that you will get
21434 enlightened after entering into a retreat for three years and three months, you
21435 are mistaken. When I hear the suggestion that you will attain Buddhahood if
21436 you go into retreat for three years and three months, sometimes I jokingly say
21437 that this is just like communist propaganda. I tell my Western friends that
21438 wanting to practice the most profound and the quickest path is a clear sign
21439 that you will achieve no result. How can you achieve the most profound and the
21440 vast in the shortest way? The story of the Buddha says that he achieved
21441 Buddhahood after three countless aeons. So harboring an expectation to achieve
21442 Buddhahood within a short time-like three years and three months-is a clear
21443 indication that you will make no real progress. We have to be practical.
21444 There is no use in fooling others with your incomplete knowledge.
21445 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Stages of Meditation", Snow Lion Publications
21447 Buddhist moral philosophy is strikingly pragmatic. Something is valuable
21448 insofar as it is relevant to people's lives and useful for achieving their
21449 happiness. If it will bring happiness for oneself and others, pursue it; if it
21450 will bring suffering, better to avoid it. There are no absolute dictates;
21451 ethical personal behavior is seen as simply the most practical way to cope with
21452 the difficulties of the human condition. Although guidelines and copious
21453 illustrations are given, nothing is absolute or definitive. The power and
21454 freedom to make decisions rests with the individual. There is no arbitrary or
21455 mysterious force controlling our lives; there is simply the law of cause and
21456 effect. Of course, decisions are dependent upon many factors. The choices we
21457 make are conditioned by circumstances, both outer and inner, but ultimately
21458 human beings have free will to decide. Individuals make decisions and
21459 experience the consequences of their decisions.
21460 -- from "Buddhism Through American Women's Eyes", edited by Karma Lekshe
21461 Tsomo, Snow Lion Pub.
21463 Chemistry stands at the pivot of science. On the one hand it deals with biology
21464 and provides explanations for the processes of life. On the other hand it
21465 mingles with physics and finds explanations for chemical phenomena in the
21466 fundamental processes and particles of the universe. Chemistry links the
21467 familiar with the fundamental.
21470 In a cat's eyes, all things belong to cats. -- English Proverb
21472 A university is what a college becomes when the faculty
21473 loses interest in students.
21476 Ye can lead a man up to the university, but ye can't make him think.
21477 -- Finley Peter Dunne
21479 The new electronic interdependence recreates the
21480 world in the image of a global village.
21481 -- Marshall McLuhan
21483 One of the ways in which cats show happiness is by sleeping.
21486 For everything that lives is holy, life delights in life. -- William Blake
21488 Love is a kind of warfare. -- Ovid
21490 Appreciation is a wonderful thing: It makes what
21491 is excellent in others belong to us as well.
21492 -- Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire, 1694
21494 From a Buddhist point of view, one might be able to distinguish different
21495 states of dreaming. Generally speaking, a dream is a dream, something you
21496 can't control. But for the highly advanced meditator, there could be
21497 possibilities for gaining certain insights through dreams.
21498 I know some Tibetans who lived in Tibet prior to the 1959 uprising. Before
21499 their escape from Tibet, they did not know about the natural trails and passes
21500 by which to get over the Himalayas into India. Some of these people I met had
21501 very clear dreams of these tracks and, years later, when they actually had to
21502 follow the actual trails, they found that they were already familiar with them
21503 because of the very clear dreams they had had previously.
21504 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama in "Consciousness at the Crossroads: Conversations
21505 with the Dalai Lama on Brain Science and Buddhism", ed. by Zara Houshmand,
21506 Robert B. Livingston and B. Alan Wallace, Snow Lion Publications
21508 I think, for the rest of my life, I shall refrain from looking up things.
21509 It is the most ravenous time-snatcher I know. You pull one book from the
21510 shelf, which carries a hint or a reference that sends you posthaste to
21511 another book, and that to successive others.
21512 -- Carolyn Wells (1862-1942), Mystery Writer
21514 It is a paradoxical but profoundly true and important principle of life
21515 that the most likely way to reach a goal is to be aiming not at that
21516 goal itself but at some more ambitious goal beyond it.
21519 Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity,
21520 we shall harness for God the energies of love, and then, for a second
21521 time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire.
21522 -- Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
21524 One method for disciples to develop bodhichitta entails recognizing all
21525 beings as having been their mothers in some previous life and focusing on
21526 their mothers' kindness. Similarly, guru-meditation requires focusing on
21527 their mentors' kindness.
21528 Many Westerners, however, have difficulty focusing on the kindness of their
21529 mothers. Unable to find the goodness and kindness in their mothers, most
21530 cannot find any goodness in themselves either. Although they may be desperate
21531 for love and kindness, their mental blocks often prevent them from recognizing
21532 and appreciating the kindness of others, for instance their spiritual mentors.
21533 No matter how much kindness they receive, it is never enough.
21534 One of the reasons for being unable to acknowledge our mothers' kindness
21535 may be that they fail to live up to our models of ideal parents. Similarly,
21536 when our spiritual mentors have shortcomings and do not live up to our models
21537 of ideal teachers, we may also have difficulty recognizing their kindness.
21538 Like children yearning for ideal love, we feel cheated if our mentors fail
21539 to meet our expectations.
21540 -- Alexander Berzin, in "Relating to a Spiritual Teacher: Building a Healthy
21541 Relationship", Snow Lion Publications
21543 Wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit.
21546 I don't deserve this award, but I have arthritis
21547 and I don't deserve that either.
21550 I have come to believe over and over again that what is most
21551 important to me must be spoken, made verbal and shared, even at
21552 the risk of having it bruised or misunderstood.
21553 -- Audre Geraldine Lorde
21555 The word dharma in Sanskrit means "that which holds". All existents are
21556 dharmas, phenomena, in the sense that they hold or bear their own entity or
21557 character. Also, a religion is a dharma in the sense that it holds persons
21558 back or protects them from disasters. Here the term dharma refers to the
21559 latter definition. In rough terms, any elevated action of body, speech or
21560 mind is regarded as a dharma because through doing such an action one is
21561 protected or held back from all sorts of disasters. Practice of such
21562 actions is practice of dharma.
21563 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama in "Buddhism of Tibet", Snow Lion Publications
21565 What will survive of us is love. -- Philip Larkin
21567 Do not take life too seriously. You will never get out of it alive.
21570 Advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer but wish we didn't.
21573 Optimism can make you look stupid but cynicism always makes you look cynical.
21576 An architect proves his skill by turning the defects of a site into advantages.
21577 -- Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini
21579 Physicists and astronomers see their own implications in the world
21580 being round, but to me it means that only one-third of the world is
21581 asleep at any given time and the other two-thirds is up to something.
21584 What is my purpose in life, what is my responsibility? Whether I like it or
21585 not, I am on this planet, and it is far better to do something for humanity.
21586 So you see that compassion is the seed or basis. If we take care to foster
21587 compassion, we will see that it brings the other good human qualities. The
21588 topic of compassion is not at all religious business; it is very important to
21589 know that it is human business, that it is a question of human survival, that
21590 is not a question of human luxury. I might say that religion is a kind of
21591 luxury. If you have religion, that is good. But it is clear that even without
21592 religion we can manage. However, without these basic human qualities we cannot
21593 survive. It is a question of our own peace and mental stability.
21594 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "The Dalai Lama, A Policy of Kindness: An
21595 Anthology of Writings By and About the Dalai Lama", compiled and edited
21596 by Sidney Piburn, published by Snow Lion Publications
21598 Read no history: nothing but biography, for that is life without theory.
21599 -- Benjamin Disraeli
21601 We often get angry when something we consider undesirable happens. But what
21602 use is this anger? If we can change the situation, then let's go ahead and do
21603 it. There's no need to be angry. It's very useful to think like this when
21604 confronted with social problems and injustice. They can be changed, so rather
21605 than be angry, it's wiser to work calmly to improve the society.
21606 On the other hand, if the situation can't be changed, anger is equally
21607 useless. Once our leg is broken, we can't unbreak it. All of the corruption
21608 in the world can't be solved in a year. Getting angry at something we can't
21609 alter makes us miserable. Worrying about or fearing something that hasn't
21610 happened immobilizes us. Shantideva said in A Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way
21612 Why be unhappy about something If it can be remedied? And what is the
21613 use of being unhappy about something If it cannot be remedied?
21614 -- Thubten Chodron, in "Open Heart, Clear Mind", Snow Lion Publications
21616 From the Hacker's Lexicon:
21618 Heisenbug /hi:'zen-buhg/ from Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle in
21619 quantum physics n. A bug that disappears or alters its behavior when one
21620 attempts to probe or isolate it. Antonym of Bohr bug; see also mandelbug,
21621 schroedinbug. In C, nine out of ten heisenbugs result from either
21622 fandango on core phenomena (esp. lossage related to corruption of the
21623 malloc arena) or errors that smash the stack.
21625 Schroedinbug MIT: from the Schroedinger's Cat thought-experiment in
21626 quantum physics n. A design or implementation bug in a program which
21627 doesn't manifest until someone reading source or using the program in an
21628 unusual way notices that it never should have worked, at which point the
21629 program promptly stops working for everybody until fixed. Though this
21630 sounds impossible, it happens; some programs have harbored latent
21631 schroedinbugs for years. Compare heisenbug, Bohr bug, mandelbug.
21633 Bohr bug /bohr buhg/ from quantum physics n. A repeatable bug; one that
21634 manifests reliably under a possibly unknown but well-defined set of
21635 conditions. Antonym of heisenbug; see also mandelbug, schroedinbug.
21637 Mandelbug /mon'del-buhg/ from the Mandelbrot set n. A bug whose
21638 underlying causes are so complex and obscure as to make its behavior
21639 appear chaotic or even non-deterministic. This term implies that the
21640 speaker thinks it is a Bohr bug, rather than a heisenbug. See also
21643 If I were not a physicist, I would probably be a musician. I often think in
21644 music. I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of music.
21647 Nothing's impossible I have found,
21648 For when my chin is on the ground,
21649 I pick myself up, Dust myself off,
21650 Start all over again.
21653 You will always be lucky if you know how to make friends with strange cats.
21654 -- Colonial American Proverb
21656 The essence of dharma practice is to bring about a discipline within the mind,
21657 a state of mind free of hatred, lust and harmful intentions. Hence the entire
21658 message of the buddhadharma could be summed up in two succinct statements:
21659 "Help others," and "If you cannot help them, at least do not harm others."
21660 It is a grave error to think that apart from such a disciplining of the
21661 physical and mental faculties there is something else called "the practice of
21662 dharma." Various, and in some cases divergent, methods to achieve such an
21663 inner discipline have been taught in the scriptures by the Buddha.
21664 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Path to Bliss", Snow Lion Publications
21666 It is not the strongest of the species that survive,
21667 nor the most intelligent,
21668 but the one most responsive to change.
21671 As progress is made in dream practice, dreams become clearer and more detailed,
21672 and a larger part of each dream is remembered. This is a result of bringing
21673 greater awareness into the dream state. Beyond this increased awareness in
21674 ordinary dreams is a second kind of dream called the dream of clarity, which
21675 arises when the mind and the prana are balanced and the dreamer has developed
21676 the capacity to remain in non-personal presence. Unlike the samsaric dream, in
21677 which the mind is swept here and there by karmic prana, in the dream of clarity
21678 the dreamer is stable. Though images and information arise, they are based
21679 less on personal karmic traces and instead present knowledge available directly
21680 from consciousness below the level of the conventional self.
21681 -- Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, in "The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep",
21682 published by Snow Lion Publications
21684 In order to improve the mind, we ought less to learn than to contemplate.
21687 Be careful when reading health books--you might die of a misprint.
21690 The practice of pure perception is effective when it is practiced a lot. In
21691 pure perception, look beyond the surface and imagine that other people are none
21692 other than expressions of buddha-mind. We can choose to focus on positive
21693 attributes. What we attend to becomes our reality and if we attend to the
21694 buddhas in situations, in things, in other people it is the buddhas we engage
21695 with and the reality of the buddhas that becomes our reality.
21696 -- B. Alan Wallace, in "Buddhism with an Attitude: Tibetan Seven-Point
21697 Mind-Training", Snow Lion Publications
21699 Correctness is clearly the prime quality. If a system does not do what it
21700 is supposed to do, then everything else about it matters little.
21703 The path to genuine co-operation is again through sincere compassion and love.
21704 Sometimes we misunderstand compassion as being nothing more than a feeling of
21705 pity. Compassion is much, much more. It embraces not only a feeling of
21706 closeness, but also a sense of responsibility. When you develop compassion, it
21707 will help you enormously to generate inner strength and self-confidence, and to
21708 reduce your feelings of fear and insecurity. So compassion and love, embodied
21709 in an attitude of altruism, are qualities that are of tremendous importance for
21710 the individual, as well as for society and the community at large.
21711 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Dzogchen: The Heart Essence of the Great
21712 Perfection", published by Snow Lion Publications
21714 The value of transmission is not only that of introducing the state of
21715 knowledge, but lies also in its function of bringing about the maturing of the
21716 transmission, right up until one reaches realization. For this reason the
21717 relationship that links master and disciple is a very close one. The master,
21718 in Dzogchen, is not just like a friend who helps and collaborates with the
21719 disciple; rather the master is himself or herself the path. This is because
21720 the practice of contemplation develops through the unification of the state of
21721 the disciple with that of the master. The master is extremely important, too,
21722 at the Sutra and the Tantra levels of teaching, in the former because he or she
21723 is the holder of Buddha's teachings, and in the latter because he or she is the
21724 source of all the manifestations of transformation.
21725 -- Chogyal Namkhai Norbu, in "Dzogchen: The Self-perfected State",
21726 published by Snow Lion Publications
21728 Setting the Appropriate Motivation
21729 It is very important before receiving any Dharma teaching to set a proper
21730 motivation, or reaffirm and enhance that motivation if we already basically
21731 have it. This is important not only for those who are listening to a spiritual
21732 discourse, but also for the person delivering it. If a discourse or
21733 explanation is given with an attitude of pride, competitiveness or jealousy, it
21734 will not do as a Dharma teaching. A Buddhist teaching must be given with the
21735 sincere wish to benefit all beings by means of it.
21736 Likewise, the listeners to a Buddhist teaching must have a proper
21737 motivation, always thinking, "What new point can I learn from this that will
21738 help me be of more benefit to others?" If we sit here with the notion to learn
21739 something about mahamudra so that we can make a display of ourselves and
21740 proudly talk to others about mahamudra so that they will consider us an
21741 erudite, spiritual person, we have a completely wrong motivation.
21742 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, from "The Gelug/Kagyu Tradition of Mahamudra",
21743 published by Snow Lion Publications
21745 There is one simple Divinity found in all things, everything has Divinity
21746 latent within itself. For she enfolds and imparts herself even unto the
21747 smallest beings. Without her presence nothing would have being, because she
21748 is the essence of the existence of the first unto the last being.
21749 -- Giordano Bruno, "The Expulsion of the Triumphant Beast", (1582)
21751 Even to have come forth is something, since I see that being able to conquer
21752 is placed in the hands of fate. However, there was in me, whatever I was able
21753 to do, that which no future century will deny to be mine, that which a victor
21754 could have for his own: Not to have feared to die, not to have yielded to any
21755 equal in firmness of nature, and to have preferred a courageous death to a
21757 -- Giordano Bruno, "De Monade"
21759 Thus is the excellence of God magnified and the greatness of his kingdom made
21760 manifest; He is glorified not in one, but in countless suns; not in a single
21761 earth, a single world, but in a thousand thousand, I say in an infinity of
21765 The real story of our times is seldom told in the horse-puckey-filled memoirs
21766 of dopey, self-serving presidents or generals, but in the outrageous, demented
21767 lives of guys like Lenny Bruce, Giordano Bruno, Scott Fitzgerald--and Paul
21768 Krassner. The burrs under society's saddle. The pains in the ass.
21771 The Tibetan word that is usually translated as "blessing" or "inspiration" can
21772 more literally be translated as "to transform into magnificence." We are
21773 asking the Buddhas to transform our minds into magnificence. How that happens
21774 isn't by the Buddha going in and pulling some switches inside our mind.
21775 Because our mind is conditioned and changing, the mental energy of the Buddha's
21776 realizations can affect our energy, so to speak. Conditioned phenomena affect
21777 each other, so the force of Tara's realizations can positively affect our mind.
21778 -- Thubten Chodron, in "How to Free Your Mind", Snow Lion Publications
21780 A botnet is comparable to compulsory military service for windows boxes.
21783 The greatest strength is gentleness. -- Iroquois proverb
21785 Whether or not we actually achieve the realisation of bodhicitta and to what
21786 level or depth we gain such a realisation depends upon the force of our
21787 experience of great compassion. This great compassion, which aspires to free
21788 all sentient beings from suffering, is not confined to the level of mere
21789 aspiration. It has a dimension of far greater power, which is the sense of
21790 commitment or responsibility to personally bring about this objective of
21791 fulfilling others' welfare. In order to cultivate this powerful great
21792 compassion, we need to train our mind separately in two other factors. One is
21793 to cultivate a sense of empathy with or closeness to all sentient beings, for
21794 whose sake we wish to work so that they become free from suffering. The other
21795 factor is to cultivate a deeper insight into the nature of the suffering from
21796 which we wish others to be relieved.
21797 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, from "Lighting the Way", Snow Lion Publications
21799 Religion does not mean just precepts, a temple, monastery, or other external
21800 signs, for these as well as hearing and thinking are subsidiary factors in
21801 taming the mind. When the mind becomes the practices, one is a practitioner
21802 of religion, and when the mind does not become the practices one is not.
21803 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Deity Yoga", Snow Lion Pub.
21805 Hamlet's Cat's Soliloquy
21807 To go outside, and there perchance to stay
21808 Or to remain within: that is the question:
21809 Whether 'tis better for a cat to suffer
21810 The cuffs and buffets of inclement weather
21811 That Nature rains on those who roam abroad,
21812 Or take a nap upon a scrap of carpet,
21813 And so by dozing melt the solid hours
21814 That clog the clock's bright gears with sullen time
21815 And stall the dinner bell.
21816 To sit, to stare Outdoors, and by a stare to seem to state
21817 A wish to venture forth without delay,
21818 Then when the portal's opened up, to stand
21819 As if transfixed by doubt.
21820 To prowl; to sleep;
21821 To choose not knowing when we may once more
21822 Our readmittance gain: aye, there's the hairball;
21823 For if a paw were shaped to turn a knob,
21824 Or work a lock or slip a window-catch,
21825 And going out and coming in were made
21826 As simple as the breaking of a bowl,
21827 What cat would bear the household's petty plagues,
21828 The cook's well-practiced kicks, the butler's broom,
21829 The infant's careless pokes, the tickled ears,
21830 The trampled tail, and all the daily shocks
21831 That fur is heir to, when, of his own free will,
21832 He might his exodus or entrance make
21833 With a mere mitten?
21834 Who would spaniels fear,
21835 Or strays trespassing from a neighbor's yard,
21836 But that the dread of our unheeded cries
21837 And scratches at a barricaded door
21838 No claw can open up, dispels our nerve
21839 And makes us rather bear our humans' faults
21840 Than run away to unguessed miseries?
21841 Thus caution doth make house cats of us all;
21842 And thus the bristling hair of resolution
21843 Is softened up with the pale brush of thought,
21844 And since our choices hinge on weighty things,
21845 We pause upon the threshold of decision.
21848 It is not good to begin many different works, saying "This looks good; that
21849 looks good", touching this, touching that, and not succeeding in any of them.
21850 If you do not generate great desires but aim at what is fitting, you can
21851 actualise the corresponding potencies and become an expert in that. With
21852 success, the power or imprint of that practice is generated.
21853 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Tantra in Tibet", Snow Lion Pub.
21855 Through the skillful methods of tantra, meditators are able to cultivate
21856 pleasure in a way that actually aids in spiritual progress. Afflicted
21857 grasping and desires based on mistaken ideas are the problem, not happiness
21858 and pleasure. If the pursuit of happiness and pleasure can be separated
21859 from afflictive emotions, then it can be incorporated into the path and
21860 will even become a powerful aid to the attainment of enlightenment.
21861 -- John Powers, in "Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism", Snow Lion Pub.
21864 What kind of refuge does Buddhism offer? How are Buddhists and non-Buddhists
21865 differentiated? From the viewpoint of refuge, a Buddhist is someone who
21866 accepts Buddha, his doctrine, and the spiritual community as the final refuge.
21867 From the viewpoint of philosophy, a Buddhist is someone who asserts the four
21868 views that guarantee a doctrine as being Buddhist. With respect to the three
21869 refuges, called the Three Jewels, it is said that the Buddha is the teacher of
21870 refuge but that the actual refuge is the Dharma, the doctrine. Buddha himself
21871 said, "I teach the path of liberation. Liberation itself depends upon you."
21872 From the same perspective, Buddha said, "You are your own master." The
21873 spiritual community are those who assist one in achieving refuge.
21874 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "The Dalai Lama at Harvard", Snow Lion
21877 Bodhisattvas are motivated by universal compassion, and they seek the ultimate
21878 goal of buddhahood in order to be of service to others. They embark on this
21879 path with the generation of the mind of enlightenment, which Geshe Rabten
21880 states is "the wish for Supreme Enlightenment for the sake of others. The sign
21881 of the true Bodhicitta is the constant readiness to undergo any sacrifice for
21882 the happines of all beings." Unlike ordinary beings, who think of their own
21883 advantage, bodhisattvas consider how best to benefit others.
21884 -- John Powers, in "Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism", Snow Lion Publications
21886 Why are there fierce protectors? Peaceful deities such as Tara have a certain
21887 energy that calms and gladdens our mind. But sometimes our mind is so
21888 belligerent and stuck that we need the kind of energy that goes "Pow!" to wake
21889 us up or to pull us out of unproductive behavior. For this reason, the
21890 Buddhas' wisdom and compassion appear in the form of these wrathful deities to
21891 demonstrate clean-clear wisdom and compassion that act directly. This active
21892 wisdom doesn't vacillate and pamper us. This wisdom doesn't say, "Well,
21893 maybe," or, "Poor you. You deserve to be treated well, not like that horrible
21894 person treated you." Instead, it's forceful: "Cut it out! Stop those false
21895 expectations and preconceptions right now!" Sometimes we need that strong,
21896 wise energy to be in our face to wake us up to the fact that our afflictions
21897 and old patterns of thought and behavior are making us miserable.
21898 -- Thubten Chodron, in "How to Free Your Mind: Tara the Liberator"
21900 I never joined the army because at ease was never that easy to me. Seemed
21901 rather uptight still. I don't relax by parting my legs slightly and putting
21902 my hands behind my back. That does not equal ease. At ease was not being
21903 in the military. I am at ease, bro, because I am not in the military.
21906 The human essence of good sense finds no room with anger. Anger, jealousy,
21907 impatience, and hatred are the real troublemakers; with them problems cannot
21908 be solved. Though one may have temporary success, ultimately one's hatred or
21909 anger will create further difficulties. With anger, all actions are swift.
21910 When we face problems with compassion, sincerely and with good motivation, it
21911 may take longer, but ultimately the solution is better, for there is far less
21912 chance of creating a new problem through the temporary "solution" of the
21914 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama in "Kindness, Clarity and Insight", Snow Lion Pub.
21916 Killing and eating meat are interrelated, so do we have to give up eating
21917 animal products? I myself once tried to give it up, but health problems arose
21918 and two years later my doctors advised me to again use meat in my diet. If
21919 there are people who can give up eating meat, we can only rejoice in their
21920 noble efforts. In any case, at least we should try to lessen our intake of
21921 meat and not eat it anywhere where it is in scarce supply and our consumption
21922 of it would cause added slaughter.
21923 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama in "The Path to Enlightenment", Snow Lion Publications
21925 The mind is beyond expression, thought and conceptualization, because it is
21926 empty. Yet, there is phenomena and appearance. The objects that you cling to
21927 in this waking reality are dreamlike, but if you do not inquire into the nature
21928 of this dream, you remain attracted as though there were really something here.
21929 Upon examination, you find that these objects have no true existence at all and
21930 are just like space. A practitioner who understands that phenomena lack
21931 inherent existence and resemble space should then examine himself or herself to
21932 discover whether he or she possesses an individual self. Then it will be
21933 discovered that there is no truly existing examiner either.
21934 -- Gyatrul Rinpoche, from "The Generation Stage in Buddhist Tantra",
21935 published by Snow Lion Publications
21937 Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It's the transition that's troublesome.
21940 In discursive meditations it is imperative that one's growing disenchantment
21941 with mundane existence is complemented with growing confidence in the real
21942 possibility of true freedom and lasting joy that transcends the vicissitudes
21943 of conditioned existence. Without this faith and the yearning for such
21944 liberation, the meditations may easily result in profound depression, in which
21945 everything seems hollow, unreal, and futile. Thus instead of polarizing one's
21946 desires towards the single-pointed pursuit of nirvana, one is reduced to a
21947 debilitating kind of spiritual sloth.
21948 -- B. Alan Wallace, in "Balancing the Mind: A Tibetan Buddhist Approach
21949 to Refining Attention", Snow Lion Publications
21951 I believe that in human actions, the prime mover is motivation. On the spot,
21952 it is important to tackle the symptoms of problems, but in the long run, it is
21953 necessary to look at the motivation and whether there is possibility to change
21954 it. For the long run, this is crucial. As long as the negative motivation is
21955 not changed, then although there might be certain rules and methods to stop
21956 counterproductive actions, human beings have the ability through various ways
21957 to express their negative feeling. Thus, for the long run, we need to look at
21958 our motivation and try to change it. This means that we must try to cultivate
21959 the right kind of motivation and try to reduce the negative motivation.
21960 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "The Art of Peace: Nobel Peace Laureates Discuss
21961 Human Rights, Conflict and Reconciliation", edited by Jeffrey Hopkins,
21962 published by Snow Lion Publications
21964 When we talk of karma or action, it entails action committed by an agent, in
21965 this case, oneself, in the past. So what type of future will come about, to a
21966 large extent, lies within one's own hands and can be determined by the kind of
21967 initiatives that one takes now. Not only that, but karma should not be
21968 understood in terms of passive, static kind of force, but rather in terms of
21969 active process. This indicates that there is an important role for the
21970 individual agent to play in determining the course of the karmic process.
21971 Consider, for instance, a simple act like fulfilling our need for food. In
21972 order to achieve that simple goal one must take action on one's own behalf: one
21973 needs to look for food, to prepare it, to eat it. This shows that even a
21974 simple act, even a simple goal is achieved through action.
21975 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Healing Anger: The Power of Patience from a
21976 Buddhist Perspective", Snow Lion Publications
21978 Nothing is easier than to bring others down to our level, particularly in
21979 cultures where it is taken as a sign of keen intelligence to view every person
21980 and situation as a challenge to "name the ten things wrong with this picture."
21981 The presence of Guru Rinpoche in so many forms in our world makes us question
21982 life in a way pre-1959 persons rarely had to. Life isn't the same after
21983 meeting the Dalai Lama or Kyentse Rinpoche and others. We can't erase them
21984 from our minds, as inconvenient as these open doors to enlightenment might be.
21985 We had other plans; we didn't ask to see so vividly another totally different
21987 The question, "How can I integrate this into my daily life?" doesn't plumb
21988 the depth of the inquiry. I have translated for lamas in North America,
21989 Europe, and Asia, and have found this to be the typical North American
21990 question. I think the best answer is, "You can't; don't even try." But I
21991 have to wonder about the question itself. What do you do when an event or an
21992 encounter changes your life? If you won a 10,000,000 dollar jackpot, if a
21993 dear friend dies, or if you fall deeply in love, do you ask, "How can I
21994 integrate this into my daily life?" Some events change us, are earth-
21995 shattering, and are not meant to be integrated into what can sometimes feel
21996 like a rat race existence. Meeting Guru Rinpoche is one such event.
21997 -- Ngawang Zangpo, in "Guru Rinpoche: His Life and Times", Snow Lion Pub.
21999 Now in terms of the actual practice, when one is immersed in the contemplation
22000 of the clear light, since all dualistic appearances vanish, it becomes
22001 impossible to distinguish the object from the consciousness perceiving it.
22002 They seem to become as if they were one, like water mixed with water. Of
22003 course, strictly speaking, there are two entities, subject and object, but
22004 within the experience of the clear light this duality is lost.
22005 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Answers: Discussions with Western Buddhists",
22006 published by Snow Lion Publications
22008 Guardians of the teachings
22009 There are eight principal classes of Guardians each with many subdivisions.
22010 Some are highly realized beings, others not realized at all. Every place--
22011 every continent, country, city, mountain, river, lake or forest--has its
22012 particular dominant energy, or Guardian, as have every year, hour and even
22013 minute: these are not highly evolved energies. The various teachings all have
22014 energies which have special relationships with them: these are more realized
22015 Guardians. These energies are iconographically portrayed as they were
22016 perceived when they manifested to masters who had contact with them, and their
22017 awesome power is represented by their terrifyingly ferocious forms, their many
22018 arms and heads, and their ornaments of the charnel ground. As with all the
22019 figures in tantric iconography, it is not correct to interpret the figures of
22020 the guardians as merely symbolic, as some Western writers have been tempted to
22021 do. Though the iconographic forms have been shaped by the perceptions and
22022 culture of those who saw the original manifestation and by the development of
22023 tradition, actual beings are represented.
22024 -- Chogyal Namkhai Norbu, "The Crystal and the Way of Light: Sutra, Tantra
22025 and Dzogchen, Teachings of Chogyal Namkhai Norbu", compiled and edited by
22026 John Shane, published by Snow Lion Publications
22028 5. When others out of jealousy treat me unreasonably, with abuse, slander, and
22029 so on, I will learn to take all loss and offer the victory to them. When any
22030 type of deserved or undeserved slander, prompted by jealousy, and so forth,
22031 and unpleasant verbal abuse [comes to one], do not lose patience. Keep a
22032 peaceful mind. Further, when problems arise, do not say "It is his fault,
22033 not mine!" Accept the blame, as did Geshe Lang ri thang pa. [Reflect:]
22034 "Whoever created this mess, it includes me! I have [a hand in it] also."
22035 The reason for this is that we must endeavor toward generosity and the various
22036 modes of ethical behavior, for the sake of purifying our many misdeeds and
22037 completing the accumulations [of merit and wisdom].
22038 Therefore, when one shows kindness to slanderers, even if one does not
22039 deserve the abuse and slander, it is said to be necessary for purifying our
22040 misdeeds when problems arise. Taking all blame on ourselves prevents our evil
22041 karma from arising.
22042 Geshe Lang ri thang pa speaks of a person from the Valley of Phan who
22043 sometimes gave a little butter cake to the Lamas, and at other times slandered
22044 them for no reason. The Lamas regarded him with great kindness. This
22045 cleansed their misdeeds and helped their accumulation of the two collections.
22046 They claimed that his slanderous talk was great. Shantideva's
22047 bodhisattvacaryavatara says:
22048 Therefore, since patience can be generated
22049 In dependence upon a very hate filled mind
22050 And because it is the cause of patience,
22051 Make offerings to it as if it was the most excellent doctrine!
22052 More correct even than this statement is that ethics and patience lead to
22053 great merit, and to the end of misdeeds such as anger. Therefore it is said
22054 that the hardest practice is patience. [Learn] the patience that is keeping
22055 still no matter what happens.
22058 I not only use all the brains that I have, but all that I can borrow.
22059 -- Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924)
22061 All sentient beings are exactly the same in that every one desires happiness
22062 and seeks to avoid misery. We are not isolated entities disconnected from
22063 each other. The happiness and suffering of other beings affect us. This
22064 mutual relation is obvious. Sentient beings have been kind and have benefited
22065 us directly and indirectly throughout beginningless time. These beings are
22066 intrinsically the same as us in their pursuit of happiness and effort to avoid
22067 suffering. Thus, it is essentially logical for us to train in cultivating an
22068 impartial attitude wishing for the happiness of all beings.
22069 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Stages of Meditation", Snow Lion Pub.
22071 Our exaggerated sense of self and our compulsion to find happiness for this
22072 larger-than-life self we have fabricated cause us to ignore, neglect and harm
22073 others. Of course, it is our right to love and take care of ourselves, but
22074 not at the expense of others. While "As long as I'm alright" is our motto,
22075 we have no hesitation in acting with total disregard for others.
22076 We may find this description of self-concern altogether too crass to apply
22077 to us. "I'm not like that," we object, but though we may not consciously
22078 think in this way, when self-concern is operating, our behavior shows a cold
22079 indifference to others. Conflicts between partners, parents and children and
22080 with other family members, conflicts between students and teachers and on a
22081 larger scale within and between countries have their source in personal and
22082 collective self-concern.
22083 Buddhas and Bodhisattvas see clearly that our neglect of others, our self-
22084 preoccupation and our disregard for the connection between actions and their
22085 effects are responsible for all our miseries.
22086 -- Geshe Sonam Rinchen, in "The Three Principal Aspects of the Path: An
22087 Oral Teaching", translated and edited by Ruth Sonam, published by
22088 Snow Lion Publications
22090 Ordinarily, it is difficult to remember one's past life. Such recollections
22091 seem to be more vivid when the child is very young, such as two or three, and
22092 in some cases even younger. ...When the present body is fully formed, the
22093 ability to recall past life seems to diminish.
22094 The mental associations with this life become increasingly dominant. There
22095 is a close relationship during the first few years of one's life with the
22096 continuum of consciousness from the previous life. But as experiences of this
22097 life become more developed and elaborate, they dominate.
22098 It is also possible within this lifetime to enhance the power of the mind,
22099 enabling one to reaccess memories from previous lives. Such recollection
22100 tends to be more accessible during meditative experiences in the dream state.
22101 Once one has accessed memories of previous lives in the dream state, one
22102 gradually recalls them in the waking state.
22103 -- H.H Dalai Lama, in "Consciousness at the Crossroads: Conversations with
22104 The Dalai Lama on Brain Science and Buddhism", Edited by Zara Houshmand,
22105 Robert B. Livingston and B. Alan Wallace, Snow Lion Publications
22107 Relaxation involves a kind of awareness which reverses the normal tendency
22108 that we have. Because, as we have seen, this ordinary sense of self that we
22109 have lacks inherent self existence, it has to keep constructing itself and
22110 that requires a particular kind of effort. The ego's root feeling is that if
22111 I do not hold myself together there will be a falling apart into something
22112 chaotic and difficult. So there is anxiety, an energetic anxiety which is
22113 located in the body, in the whole energetic system of the body and
22114 interpersonal turbulence reminds us again and again "If I don't keep it
22115 together, I will get in trouble." The belief in reincarnation indicates that
22116 for many lifetimes we have been caught up in this anxiety, this nervous
22117 contraction which is holding our ordinary grasping sense of self in place.
22118 -- from "Being Right Here: A Dzogchen Treasure Text of Nuden Dorje entitled
22119 'The Mirror of Clear Meaning,'" commentary by James Low, Snow Lion Pub.
22121 Buddhas are always striving for the welfare of beings migrating in cyclic
22122 existence. In every hour and minute they create limitless forms of welfare
22123 for beings throughout billions of emanations of their body, speech and mind.
22124 For instance, in this aeon--an aeon being a period of an extremely great
22125 number of years--they will appear in the aspect of one thousand supreme
22126 Emanation Bodies (Nirmanakaya) as Buddhas, and each will have his own new
22128 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "The Buddhism of Tibet", Snow Lion Publications
22131 The Buddhist teachings differentiate between flash insights (nyam, nyams),
22132 and stable realizations (togpa, rtogs-pa). A flash insight does not make a
22133 significant change in one's life, but may lead in that direction. A stable
22134 realization, on the other hand, whether it be partial or complete, actually
22135 produces a noticeable improvement that lasts. The distinction we are drawing
22136 here between Dharma instructors and spiritual mentors derives from this
22137 difference. Dharma instructors may have either insight or realization,
22138 whereas spiritual mentors need to have some level of stable realization.
22139 -- Alexander Berzin, in "Relating to a Spiritual Teacher: Building a
22140 Healthy Relationship, published by Snow Lion Publications
22142 Not even computers will replace committees, because committees buy computers.
22143 -- Edward Shepherd Mead
22145 If you can't do what you want, do what you can. -- Lois McMaster Bujold
22147 Human history is work history. The heroes of the people are work heroes.
22148 -- Meridel le Sueur
22150 It is not the man who has too little,
22151 but the man who craves more, that is poor.
22154 Drive-in banks were established so most of the
22155 cars today could see their real owners.
22156 -- E. Joseph Crossman
22158 I base my fashion taste on what doesn't itch. -- Gilda Radner
22160 It's a job that's never started that takes the longest to finish.
22163 You can live to be a hundred if you give up all the things that
22164 make you want to live to be a hundred.
22167 No man needs a vacation so much as the man who has just had one.
22170 Do not look where you fell but where you slipped.
22172 There is nothing more demoralizing than a small but adequate income.
22175 Measure not the work until the day's out and the labor done.
22176 -- Elizabeth Barret Browning
22178 Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.
22179 -- Robert Louis Stevenson
22181 We are living in a world today where lemonade is made from
22182 artificial flavors and furniture polish is made from real lemons.
22183 -- Alfred E. Newman, Mad Magazine
22185 The more I want to get something done, the less I call it work.
22188 You are what you are--and not what people think you are. -- O.W. Polen
22190 Without friends no one would choose to live, though he had all other goods.
22193 From what we get, we can make a living; what we give, however, makes a life.
22196 I touch the future. I teach. -- Christa McAuliffe
22198 Curiosity is one of the permanent and
22199 certain characteristics of a vigorous mind.
22202 People ask for criticism, but they only want praise. -- W. Somerset Maugham
22204 Money is like muck, not good except it be spread. -- Sir Francis Bacon
22206 The problem is not that there are problems. The problem is expecting
22207 otherwise and thinking that having problems is a problem.
22210 We can lick gravity, but sometimes the paperwork is overwhelming.
22211 -- Wernher von Braun
22213 The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and
22214 write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn.
22217 Wealth is the possession of whatever gives us happiness,
22218 contentment or a sense of significance.
22221 To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance. -- Oscar Wilde
22223 I bought some batteries, but they weren't included. -- Steven Wright
22225 The ability to delude yourself may be an important survival tool.
22228 People who work sitting down get paid
22229 more than people who work standing up.
22232 It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves. -- Sir Edmund Hillary
22234 What we should ask of ourselves is growth, not perfection. -- Pat Boone
22236 Talk is cheap because supply exceeds demand. -- Unknown
22238 The purpose of life is to fight maturity. -- Dick Wertheimer
22240 Your true value depends entirely on what you are compared with. -- Bob Wells
22242 A good mind possesses a kingdom. -- Lucius Anaaeus Seneca
22244 I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the
22245 position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles he has
22246 overcome while trying to succeed.
22247 -- Booker T. Washington
22249 An intelligence test sometimes shows a man how smart
22250 he would have been not to have taken it.
22251 -- Laurence J. Peter
22253 I have not lost my mind--it's backed up on disk somewhere. -- Unknown
22255 Wise men talk because they have something to say;
22256 fools, because they have to say something.
22259 Don't waste a thousand dollars' worth of emotion over a 5-cent triviality.
22262 Fortune does not change men, it unmasks them. -- Suzanne Necker
22264 Some people are born on third base and go
22265 through life thinking they have hit a triple.
22268 I can't understand why people are scared of new ideas.
22269 I'm frightened of the old ones.
22272 It is better to have a permanent income than to be fascinating.
22275 A verbal contract isn't worth the paper it's written on. -- Samuel Goldwyn
22277 When we practice, initially, as a basis we control ourselves, stopping the bad
22278 actions which hurt others as much as we can. This is defensive. After that,
22279 when we develop certain qualifications, then as an active goal we should help
22280 others. In the first stage, sometimes we need isolation while pursuing our
22281 own inner development; however, after you have some confidence, some strength,
22282 you must remain with, contact, and serve society in any field--health,
22283 education, politics, or whatever.
22285 There are people who call themselves religious-minded, trying to show this by
22286 dressing in a peculiar manner, maintaining a peculiar way of life, and
22287 isolating themselves from the rest of society. That is wrong. A scripture of
22288 mind-purification (mind-training) says, "Transform your inner viewpoint, but
22289 leave your external appearance as it is." This is important. Because the
22290 very purpose of practicing the Great Vehicle is service for others, you should
22291 not isolate yourselves from society. In order to serve, in order to help, you
22292 must remain in society.
22293 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "The Dalai Lama, A Policy of Kindness",
22294 Snow Lion Publications
22296 The indivisible nature of mind is said to possess a "mobile quality." This
22297 mobile quality is described as currents of energy which flow through the
22298 channels of various parts of the body, presiding over physical as well as
22299 mental functions, and pass through the nostrils as breathing. Such currents
22300 of energy, called "winds" (rlung, vayu), serve as the bridge between body and
22302 The winds are a blend of two types of energy, one associated with
22303 emotionality, called karmic or conditioned wind (las kyi rlung), and the other
22304 related to the original state of the individual, called pristine awareness
22305 wind (ye shes kyi rlung). Distinguished in terms of the three principles,
22306 darkness (tamas), mobility (rajas), and buoyancy (sattva), winds are of three
22307 types: wind of Rahu, solar wind, and lunar wind. Moreover, the winds are
22308 differentiated as the five root winds (rtsa ba'i rlung), the natures of the
22309 five elements, and five branch winds (yan lag gi rlung), produced through the
22310 five elemental transformations. The winds of the five elements, or five
22311 mandalas, flow back and forth through the right and left nostrils in the order
22312 of generation of the elements and of birth (first space, then wind, fire,
22313 water, earth) and in the order of dissolution of the elements and of death
22314 (first earth, then water, and so on), respectively. In one day, they are
22315 exhaled and inhaled 21,600 times, divided between the two nostrils, a time
22316 corresponding to eight periods or watches (thun). The outward movement of
22317 these energy currents as the breath diminishes the strength of the wind
22318 associated with pristine awareness. Therefore, when outward movement
22319 increases, there occur signs of death. If the winds are held inside,
22320 pristine awareness wind is strengthened. Hence, many extraordinary powers
22321 such as longevity are gained through breath control techniques for "holding
22322 the winds" in the central channel.
22323 -- Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Taye, in "The Treasury of Knowledge, Book Six,
22324 Part Four: Systems of Buddhist Tantra, The Indestructible Way of
22327 When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.
22330 ...you should have the deep conviction that cessation of the sufferings and
22331 the delusions is possible, and also that it is possible within your mind.
22332 True cessation is a state where you have destroyed the delusions at their root
22333 so that there remains no potential for their re-emergence. Such a cessation
22334 can be realized only through the true paths that penetrate into the nature of
22336 When you develop this conviction, you will also be able to develop faith in
22337 a being who has really mastered cessation, who is the Buddha--a person who has
22338 fully accomplished the realization of the dharma. If you contemplate along
22339 such lines, you will be able to develop a very deep faith and conviction in
22340 Buddha Shakyamuni and see him as an incomparable master.
22341 What distinguishes Buddhist practitioners from others is the factor of
22342 taking refuge. But merely seeking a refuge out of the fear of suffering is
22343 not unique to Buddhists; non-Buddhists could also have such a motivation. The
22344 unique practice of refuge that Buddhists should have is that of taking refuge
22345 in the Buddha out of a deep conviction in his exceptional qualities and
22346 realizations. If you think in such terms you will be able to understand Lama
22347 Tsongkhapa's profound praise of Buddha Shakyamuni: "Those who are far from his
22348 doctrine always reinforce the illusion of self-existence that they have within
22349 themselves, whereas those who follow his guidance will be able to free
22350 themselves from such confusions."
22351 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "The Path to Bliss", Snow Lion Publications
22353 ...they say that the initial realization of the nature of the mind is the
22354 first breakthrough. It's a very important point in all Buddhist schools. At
22355 that moment, you cease to be an ordinary person. You become in Buddhist
22356 parlance an arya, a noble one. It doesn't mean you are finished. It doesn't
22357 mean you are a high level bodhisattva. We can fall back from this. But
22358 still, this is a big breakthrough. We now understand what is true and what is
22359 not true. We don't have to take it all on faith any more. It is a direct
22360 non-dual experience. The point is that it is very easy. It's not difficult,
22361 and it's not something that can only be attained after years and years of
22363 Our main obstacle is the fact that we don't know how to relax our minds
22364 enough to be open to this experience. In the back of our minds we keep
22365 thinking this is something so difficult and so advanced. For this reason we
22366 don't recognize what is in front of our face. This is why a teacher can be
22367 extraordinarily helpful. A teacher living within that realization is able--
22368 if the mind of the disciple is completely open--to transmit his or her
22369 experience. The problem here is that we have too many hopes and fears; it
22370 creates a barrier. It is very hard to be open. You can't just will it.
22371 -- Ani Tenzin Palmo, in "Reflections on a Mountain Lake: Teachings on
22372 Practical Buddhism"
22374 The Level of Initial Capacity
22376 All the essential spiritual practices related primarily to the achievement of
22377 rebirth in the higher realms belong to what Atisha calls the 'small capacity'.
22380 Know that those who by whatever means
22381 Seek for themselves no more
22382 Than the pleasures of cyclic existence
22383 Are persons of the least capacity.
22384 [Atisha's Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment]
22386 ...the principal means for attaining birth in the higher realms is the ethical
22387 discipline of refraining from the ten negative actions of body, speech and
22388 mind. These comprise three actions of the body--killing, stealing and sexual
22389 misconduct; four verbal actions--lying, divisive speech, harsh speech and
22390 frivolous speech; and three mental actions--covetousness, ill-will and
22391 harbouring wrong views. To live an ethically sound life, it helps to remind
22392 ourselves of what are known as the four reflections, namely the preciousness
22393 of human life; the inevitability of our death and the uncertainty of the time
22394 of death; the infallibility of the law of cause and effect and the workings of
22395 karma; and understanding the nature of suffering. Concerning the first
22396 reflection, some Tibetan masters have said that when we contemplate the
22397 preciousness of this human existence, we should literally cultivate the
22398 determination to make our human life something precious in itself, rather than
22399 allowing it to be wasted or to become a cause of future suffering.
22401 Contemplating these four reflections gives us the courage to engage earnestly
22402 in the practice of the Dharma in order to free ourselves from the possibility
22403 of rebirth in the lower realms. This involves a process of training our mind,
22404 not just at the mental level but also at the level of our emotions and
22405 actions. Living an ethical life is not a case of adhering to a set of
22406 regulations imposed on us from outside, such as the laws of a country. Rather
22407 it involves voluntarily embracing a discipline on the basis of a clear
22408 recognition of its value. In essence, living a true ethical life is living a
22409 life of self-discipline. When the Buddha said that 'we are our own master, we
22410 are our own enemy', he was telling us that our destiny lies in our own hands.
22412 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Lighting the Way", Snow Lion Publications
22414 In his autobiography Freedom in Exile, His Holiness the Dalai Lama speaks of
22415 his attachment as a child to the monastery's Master of the Kitchen,
22416 commenting, "I sometimes think that the act of bringing food is one of the
22417 basic roots of all relationships." And the connection between giving food and
22418 understanding the interrelationship of all life is recognized also in stories
22419 about the belated discovery of an enlightened master who lived humbly as a
22420 monastery cook; or the stories of a great lama who gathers his disciples to
22421 test their progress, only to discover that the most highly realized of all is
22422 the cook, who has neither meditated nor studied, but who simply served the
22424 May you have long life,
22425 may the house be filled with grain,
22426 and may you have the luck
22427 to make use of this abundance.
22428 -- Tibetan drinking song
22430 -- Tsering Wangmo and Zara Houshmand, in "The Lhasa Moon Tibetan Cookbook"
22432 The Level of Middling Capacity
22434 In the following verse Atisha describes the characteristics of spiritual
22435 trainees of the middling capacity.
22438 Those who seek peace for themselves alone,
22439 Turning away from worldly pleasures
22440 And avoiding destructive actions
22441 Are said to be of middling capacity.
22442 -- Atisha's Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment
22444 The phrase "destructive actions" refers to the afflictions that, together with
22445 karma, constitute the origin of suffering. This is why practitioners at the
22446 level of middling capacity concentrate on the spiritual practices that are
22447 primarily aimed at the elimination of the afflictions. Broadly speaking,
22448 these practices fall into two categories. One is training the mind to
22449 cultivate the genuine desire to gain freedom from cyclic existence, which is
22450 often referred to as the cultivation of renunciation. The other is
22451 cultivating the path to bring about the fulfillment of that wish for
22452 renunciation. In order to train one's mind in this way, one needs to reflect
22453 upon the defects of cyclic existence and to develop an understanding of the
22454 causation chain of karma and the afflictions. Through these reflections one
22455 cultivates the wish to gain freedom and then embarks upon the path to bring
22456 about that freedom.
22457 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Lighting the Way", Snow Lion Publications
22459 Number of Recitations
22460 The sixth section of the yoga of speech concerns measuring the accumulation
22461 of mantra recitations. How do you know when you have recited enough of a
22462 particular mantra? Generally speaking, you should count a mantra until you
22463 achieve some common spiritual power and ideally until you achieve the supreme
22464 spiritual attainment. Wouldn't that be the best way?
22465 After all, if you are really hungry, don't you eat until you are satisfied?
22466 Similarly, if you plan a trip to San Francisco, you want to travel until you
22467 arrive at your destination. You would not travel halfway and be satisfied
22468 with that, would you? In the same way, when you recite a mantra, you have a
22469 specific goal in mind: to gain the supreme spiritual attainment--buddhahood.
22470 Wouldn't it be wise to keep on reciting the mantra until you have achieved
22471 your goal, or at least until you achieve some perceptible improvement?
22472 -- Gyatrul Rinpoche, in "The Generation Stage in Buddhist Tantra", published
22473 by Snow Lion Publications
22475 The Level of Great Capacity
22477 Atisha continues his discussion on the three capacities by turning his
22478 attention to spiritual trainees at the highest level.
22481 Those who, through their personal suffering,
22482 Truly want to end completely
22483 All the suffering of others
22484 Are persons of supreme capacity.
22485 -- Atisha's Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment
22487 Practitioners at this level use their deep understanding of the nature of
22488 suffering, derived from reflection on their personal experience, to recognise
22489 the fundamental equality of oneself and others insofar as the desire to
22490 overcome suffering is concerned. This then leads to the arising of a
22491 spontaneous wish to free all sentient beings from their suffering, a wish
22492 which becomes the powerful impetus for engaging in spiritual practices aimed
22493 at bringing about this altruistic objective.
22495 The most important practice in relation to this altruistic goal is the
22496 generation of bodhicitta, the altruistic aspiration to attain buddhahood for
22497 the benefit of all beings.
22498 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in Lighting the Way, Snow Lion Publications
22500 The Meaning of Empowerment
22501 As for empowerment in general, what does the term wang, or empowerment,
22502 signify? To begin with, our fundamental nature--what we term "the buddha
22503 nature", or tathagatagarbha, the very nature of our mind, is inherently
22504 present within us as a natural attribute. This mind of ours, the subject at
22505 hand, has been going on throughout beginningless time, and so has the more
22506 subtle nature of that mind. On the basis of the continuity of that subtle
22507 nature of our mind rests the capacity we have to attain enlightenment. This
22508 potential is what we call "the seed of buddhahood", "buddha nature", "the
22509 fundamental nature", or tathagatagarbha. We all have this buddha nature, each
22510 and every one of us. For example, this beautiful statue of Lord Buddha here,
22511 in the presence of which we are now sitting, is a representation that honours
22512 someone who attained buddhahood. He awakened into that state of enlightenment
22513 because his nature was the buddha nature. Ours is as well, and just as the
22514 Buddha attained enlightenment in the past, so in the future we can become
22516 In any case, there dwells within us all this potential which allows us to
22517 awaken into buddhahood and attain omniscience. The empowerment process draws
22518 that potential out, and allows it to express itself more fully. When an
22519 empowerment is conferred on you, it is the nature of your mind--the buddha
22520 nature--that provides a basis upon which the empowerment can ripen you.
22521 Through the empowerment, you are empowered into the essence of the buddhas of
22522 the five families. In particular, you are "ripened" within that particular
22523 family through which it is your personal predisposition to attain buddhahood.
22524 So, with these auspicious circumstances established in your mindstream,
22525 and when you reflect on what is taking place and maintain the various
22526 visualizations, the conditions are right for the essence of the empowerment to
22527 awaken within you, as a state of wisdom which is blissful yet empty--a very
22528 special state that is the inseparability of basic space and awareness. As you
22529 focus your devotion in this way, it allows this special quality of mind, this
22530 new capability, as it were, to awaken.
22531 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Dzogchen: The Heart Essence of the Great
22532 Perfection", published by Snow Lion Publications
22534 Value Our Good Circumstances
22535 We often focus on a few circumstances in our life that aren't going well
22536 instead of all those that are. Although we all have problems, when we over-
22537 emphasize their importance, we easily begin thinking that we are incapable and
22538 worthless. Such self-hatred immobilizes us and prevents us from developing
22539 our good qualities and sharing them with others.
22540 When we look at the broad picture, however, we can see many positive things
22541 in our life. We can rejoice that we are alive and appreciate whatever degree
22542 of good health we have. We also have food (often too much!), shelter,
22543 clothing, medicine, friends, relatives, and a myriad of good circumstances.
22544 Many of the people reading this book live in peaceful places, not in war-torn
22545 areas. Many have jobs they like, and family and friends they appreciate. We
22546 shouldn't take these for granted. Most importantly, from a spiritual
22547 viewpoint, we have access to an authentic path, qualified teachers to guide
22548 us, and kind companions who encourage us. We have genuine spiritual
22549 aspirations and the time to cultivate these. Thinking about these good
22550 conditions one by one, we will be filled with joy, and any sense of being
22551 incapable and hopeless will vanish.
22552 -- Thubten Chodron, in "Working with Anger", Snow Lion Publications
22554 15. This fresh state of present awareness, unspoiled
22556 This fresh state of present awareness (da lta'i shes pa)
22557 Unspoiled by dualistic thoughts,
22558 Effortlessly sustained in the natural state,
22559 Is Buddha Kuntu Zangpo's wisdom mind.
22561 Do not hope or fear for good or bad outcomes.
22562 Regardless of what formulation of thought occurs,
22563 they arise and are liberated simultaneously;
22564 Their essential nature is empty awareness.
22565 Reach that unmoving, unassailable state.
22567 I, Jnana, spoke these words immediately In response to
22568 Zangmo's supplication. May this be virtuous!
22569 -- from "Wisdom Nectar: Dudjom Rinpoche's Heart Advice" translated and
22570 introduced by Ron Garry, published by Snow Lion
22572 Concern for others to be happy and compassion wishing them to be free from
22573 suffering are needed not only as the basis for a bodhichitta motivation for
22574 mahamudra* practice, but also for keeping that practice on course to its
22575 intended goal. When we have changed our focus in life from the contents of
22576 our experience to the process of experience, there is great danger of becoming
22577 fixated on mind itself. This is because the direct experience of mind itself
22578 is totally blissful--in a calm and serene sense--and entails extraordinary
22579 clarity and starkness. Concern for others is one of the strongest forces that
22580 brings us back down to earth after having been up in the clouds. Although all
22581 appearances exist as a function of mind, other beings do not exist merely in
22582 our head. Their suffering is real and it hurts them just as much as ours
22584 Furthermore, to be concerned about someone does not mean to be frantically
22585 worried about this person. If we are fixated on our child's problems at
22586 school, for example, we lose sight that whatever appearance of the problems
22587 our mind gives rise to is a function of mind. Believing the appearance to be
22588 the solid reality "out there," we again feel hopeless to do anything and thus
22589 become extremely anxious and tense. We worry to the point of becoming sick
22590 and we over-react toward our child, which does not help. If we focus instead
22591 on the process of mind that gives rise to our perception of the problem as if
22592 it existed as some horrible monster "out there," we do not eliminate our
22593 concern for our child, only our worry. This allows us to take whatever clear
22594 and calm action is necessary to alleviate the problem. Thus not only is
22595 compassion necessary for successful practice of mahamudra, but mahamudra
22596 realization is necessary for successful practice of compassion.
22597 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "The Gelug/Kagyu Tradition of Mahamudra",
22598 published by Snow Lion Publications
22599 * "Mahamudra" is a Sanskrit word meaning "great seal" and refers to the
22600 nature of all phenomena. Mahamudra also refers to sophisticated Buddhist
22601 systems of meditation and practice to realize this great sealing nature.
22603 Better to be deprived of food for three days, than tea for one.
22606 45. This fresh present knowing, unbound
22608 This fresh present knowing,
22609 Unbound by the intellect that clings to meditation,
22610 Is naked unobstructed non-meditation.
22612 And settle in the state of naturalness.
22613 This is the meaning of realization of meditation.
22615 When thoughts move, let them.
22616 Movement arises and is liberated without a trace.
22617 When there is no movement, don't search for it.
22618 This is empty luminosity, naked empty awareness.
22619 Tantric practice without suppression or
22620 cultivation of thoughts
22621 Brings the accomplishment of the destruction
22624 There is nothing more to add to this.
22625 Madman Dudjom said this:
22626 Let it remain like this in your heart.
22627 -- from "Wisdom Nectar: Dudjom Rinpoche's Heart Advice", translated and
22628 introduced by Ron Garry, published by Snow Lion Publications
22630 ...karma refers not only to our actions but, more importantly, to the
22631 motivation or intention behind them. The acts themselves are not the primary
22632 cause of our suffering; rather, it arises from the world of our intentions or,
22633 in other words, from our thoughts and emotions. These afflictive states of
22634 mind underlie our negative karma and are therefore the source of our
22637 Obviously, these afflictions won't go away simply by saying prayers or
22638 wishing them away; they can only be eliminated by cultivating their
22639 corresponding remedies or antidotes. To understand how this process of
22640 applying the antidote works we can observe our physical world. For instance,
22641 we can contrast heat and cold: if we are suffering from the effects of too
22642 cold a temperature, then we increase the thermometer on our heater or air-
22643 conditioning unit and adjust it to our comfort. Thus, even in the physical
22644 world we can see instances where opposing forces counter each other.
22646 ...From our own personal experience we recognise that anger and hostility
22647 disturb our peace of mind and, more importantly, that they have the potential
22648 to harm others. Conversely, we recognise that positive emotions like
22649 compassion and loving kindness can engender in us a deep sense of peace and
22650 serenity, beneficial results that we can extend to others as well. This
22651 appreciation of their great value naturally leads to a desire to cultivate
22652 these positive emotions. It is through this gradual process that the
22653 antidotes work in decreasing and eventually eliminating their opposing forces
22654 in the mental realm, the realm of our thoughts and emotions.
22655 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Lighting the Way", published by Snow Lion
22657 Starting Dzogchen Practice
22658 When we start to practice, in order to grasp the normal mind, our first
22659 practice consists in engaging our mind. For example, if we have a problem of
22660 some kind, we may go to a movie to distract ourselves from our problem.
22661 Likewise when we start to practice, we try to calm down our problem-creating
22662 mind in order to be able to observe the nature of thought. The observation of
22663 the arising, abiding, and dissolving of thought in the empty state of the mind
22664 is an essential practice in Dzogchen in order to discover that moving thoughts
22665 are of the same nature as the thoughtless state of the mind. Since we are not
22666 accustomed to meditation, it seems very difficult, and every slight sound or
22667 movement, outside or inside the mind itself, becomes a major distraction
22668 interfering with our ability to continue to practice. In order to overcome
22669 this problem, we engage the mind in a practice so that it is not so easily
22670 distracted, by focusing attention so that the movement of the mind caused by
22671 thought or sense perception does not have the power to divert our
22672 concentration. This first stage, of grasping the mind, is concentration
22673 practice, described in detail in the Bonpo 'Ati' system.
22674 -- Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, in "Wonders of the Natural Mind: The Essence of
22675 Dzogchen in the Native Bon Tradition of Tibet", Snow Lion Publications
22677 Buddhism has the characteristics of what would be expected in a cosmic
22678 religion for the future: it transcends a personal God, avoids dogmas and
22679 theology; it covers both the natural & spiritual, and it is based on a
22680 religious sense aspiring from the experience of all things, natural and
22681 spiritual, as a meaningful unity
22682 -- Albert Einstein in "Albert Einstein: The Human Side", edited by Helen
22683 Dukas and Banesh Hoffman, Princeton University Press, 1954
22685 Techniques for Improvement
22686 All of us have attained a human life; we are, in a sense, incomparable among
22687 the various types of sentient beings, as we are able to think about many
22688 topics with a subtler mind and are endowed with vaster capabilities. Dogs,
22689 birds, and so forth do communicate, but only humans can settle and ascertain
22690 deep topics on the basis of words; it is obvious that there are no other
22691 sentient beings capable of as many thoughts and techniques. Nowadays, humans
22692 are engaging in many activities that were not even objects of thought a
22693 century or two ago. The metaphors of the poets of the past, such as "the
22694 wonderful house of the moon", are becoming actualities.
22695 ...People have made great effort right up to this century, thinking to
22696 become free from suffering, but we cannot point to even one person in the
22697 world, no matter how rich he or she is, who has no worry--except for those
22698 who have the inner happiness of renouncing the material way of life. Without
22699 internal renunciation it is difficult to achieve happiness and comfort.
22700 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Tsong-ka-pa and Jeffrey Hopkins from "Deity Yoga",
22701 published by Snow Lion Publications
22703 Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it. -- Confucius
22705 Vegetables are a must on a diet. I suggest carrot cake,
22706 zucchini bread and pumpkin pie.
22707 -- Jim Davis (Garfield)
22709 A painting in a museum hears more ridiculous opinions
22710 than anything else in the world.
22711 -- Edmond de Concourt
22713 Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens. -- Jimi Hendrix
22715 There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.
22716 -- Hamlet (by William Shakespeare)
22718 People who have what they want are fond of telling people
22719 who haven't what they want that they really don't want it.
22722 There are only two ways of telling the complete
22723 truth--anonymously and posthumously.
22726 The easiest way for your children to learn
22727 about money is for you not to have any.
22728 -- Katharine Whitehorn
22730 If you look good and dress well, you don't need a purpose in life.
22733 Do not go where the path may lead, go instead
22734 where there is no path and leave a trail.
22735 -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
22737 The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax.
22740 I have a simple philosophy.
22743 Scratch where it itches.
22744 -- Alice Roosevelt Longworth
22746 Time is what prevents everything from happening at once.
22747 -- John Archibald Wheeler
22749 You know that children are growing up when they start
22750 asking questions that have answers.
22753 The average man, who does not know what to do with his life,
22754 wants another one which will last forever.
22757 Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is
22758 a broken winged bird that canot fly.
22761 Spare no expense to save money on this one. -- Samuel Goldwyn
22763 It is absurd to divide people into good and bad.
22764 People are either charming or tedious.
22767 If absolute power corrupts absolutely, does absolute
22768 powerlessness make you pure?
22771 Parents were invented to make children happy
22772 by giving them something to ignore.
22775 Imagination is the one weapon in the war against reality.
22776 -- Jules de Gaultier
22778 I'm a kind of paranoiac in reverse.
22779 I suspect people of plotting to make me happy.
22782 If you find it in your heart to care for
22783 somebody else, you will have succeeded.
22786 Time is an illusion.
22787 Lunchtime doubly so.
22791 A person whom we know well enough to borrow from,
22792 but not well enough to lend to.
22793 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 1911
22795 The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.
22796 -- Eleanor Roosevelt
22798 Eighty percent of success is showing up. -- Woody Allen
22800 Pity the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. -- Don Marquis
22802 The only reason some people get lost in thought
22803 is because it's unfamiliar territory.
22806 A child becomes an adult when he realizes that he has
22807 a right not only to be right but also to be wrong.
22810 Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time. -- Steven Wright
22812 Only dull people are brilliant at breakfast. -- Oscar Wilde
22814 It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.
22815 -- William Shakespeare
22817 If you can find something everyone agrees on, it's wrong. -- Mo Udall
22819 I'd like to live as a poor man with lots of money. -- Pablo Picasso
22821 The shortest distance between two points is under construction.
22824 Lack of money is no obstacle.
22825 Lack of an idea is an obstacle.
22828 Conceal a flaw, and the world will imagine the worst.
22829 -- Marcus Valerias Martialis
22831 Great minds discuss ideas;
22832 average minds discuss events;
22833 small minds discuss people.
22834 -- Eleanor Roosevelt
22836 I tend to live in the past because most of my life is there. -- Herb Caen
22838 When a man tells you that he got rich through hard work, ask him: "Whose?"
22841 Honest disagreement is often a good sign of progress. -- Mahatma Gandhi
22843 I'm living so far beyond my income that we may
22844 almost be said to be living apart.
22847 I try to avoid looking forward or backward,
22848 and try to keep looking upward.
22849 -- Charlotte Bronte
22851 My best friend is the one who brings out the best in me. -- Henry Ford
22853 Without democracy, religion becomes extreme.
22854 With religion, democracy becomes more spiritual.
22855 -- Mohammad Khatami, president of Iran
22857 For fast acting relief, try slowing down. -- Lily Tomlin
22859 A wise man should have money in his head, but not in his heart.
22862 Poor people have more fun than rich people, they say; and
22863 I notice it's the rich people who keep saying it.
22866 Whatever you are, be a good one. -- Abraham Lincoln
22868 Education's purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one.
22871 Never spend your money before you have it. -- Thomas Jefferson
22873 Confusion is always the most honest response. -- Marty Indik
22875 Doing nothing is very hard to do... you never know when you're finished.
22878 Free advice is worth the price. -- Robert Half
22880 A person who trusts no one can't be trusted. -- Jerome Blattner
22882 There is nobody so irritating as somebody with
22883 less intelligence and more sense than we have.
22886 He that plants trees loves others besides himself. -- Dr. Thomas Fuller
22888 To find something you can enjoy is far better
22889 than finding something you can possess.
22892 An intellectual is a man who takes more words than
22893 necessary to tell more than he knows.
22894 -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
22896 Not everything that can be counted counts, and not
22897 everything that counts can be counted.
22900 Brain, n.: an apparatus with which we think we think.
22901 -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" 1911
22903 There is always some madness in love.
22904 But there is always some reason in madness.
22905 -- Friedrich Nietzsche
22907 We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.
22908 -- Martin Luther King Jr.
22910 Good resolutions are simply checks that men
22911 draw on a bank where they have no account.
22914 The murals in restaurants are on par with the food in mueseums.
22917 Money can't buy friends, but it can get you a better class of enemy.
22920 Friends may come and go, but enemies accumulate. -- Thomas Jones
22922 It is only possible to live happily ever after on a day-to-day basis.
22923 -- Margaret Bonnano
22925 Yesterday is history.
22926 Tomorrow is a mystery.
22928 That's why it's called the present.
22931 Money is in abundance, where are you? -- Reverend Ike
22933 Santa Claus had the right idea. Visit everyone once a year.
22936 Laziness is nothing more than the habit of resting before you get tired.
22939 You cannot fix what you will not face. -- James Baldwin
22941 There are too many people, and too few human beings. -- Robert Zend
22943 Income tax returns are the most imaginative fiction being written today.
22946 A good listener is usually thinking about something else. -- Kin Hubbard
22948 If it weren't for baseball, many kids wouldn't
22949 know what a millionaire looked like.
22952 Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.
22953 -- George Bernard Shaw
22955 Everybody likes a kidder, but nobody lends him money. -- Arthur Miller
22957 Always acknowledge a fault. This will throw those in authority off
22958 their guard and give you an opportunity to commit more.
22961 If only we'd stop trying to be happy we'd have a pretty good time.
22964 If computers get too organized, we can organize
22965 them into a committee--that will do them in.
22966 -- Bradley's Bromide
22968 It is not enough to have a good mind; the main thing is to use it well.
22971 If we stand tall it is because we stand
22972 on the backs of those who came before us.
22975 The trouble with jogging is that, by the time you realize
22976 you're not in shape for it, it's too far to walk back.
22977 -- Franklin P. Jones
22979 I wonder if other dogs think poodles are members of a weird religious cult.
22982 By the time we've made it, we've had it. -- Malcolm Forbes
22984 It was such a lovely day I thought it a pity to get up.
22985 -- W. Somerset Maugham
22987 It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see.
22988 -- Henry David Thoreau
22990 Accomplishing the impossible means only that
22991 the boss will add it to your regular duties.
22994 Government big enough to supply everything you need
22995 is big enough to take everything you have...
22996 The course of history shows that as a government grows,
22998 -- Thomas Jefferson
23000 Computers can figure out all kinds of problems, except
23001 the things in the world that just don't add up.
23004 Traditions are group efforts to keep the unexpected from happening.
23007 The doors we open and close each day decide the lives we live.
23008 -- Flora Whittemore
23010 When we ask for advice, we are usually looking for an accomplice.
23011 -- Marquis de la Grange
23013 If more of us valued food and cheer and song
23014 above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.
23017 While I was in Malaysia, I saw a T-shirt depicting a surfboard aloft huge
23018 waves. Sitting on the surfboard was a figure meditating cross-legged. The
23019 slogan read, "Riding the waves of life, be mindful, be happy." That's it.
23020 Awareness. Being present. Knowing thoughts as thoughts, emotions as
23021 emotions. It's just like riding a surfboard. You gradually develop the
23022 poise to cruise along on the roughest seas until, no longer immersed in
23023 the waves, you are riding on top of them. Of course you have to start
23024 with small waves until you get your balance. Then the higher the wave, the
23025 better! Likewise, when we begin to train in awareness, it is better if we
23026 have an atmosphere which is nonthreatening and peaceful. That's why people
23027 go on retreat. That's also a reason why people set aside regular sitting
23028 periods. But once we learn how to be balanced, we become like a surfer who
23029 finds that the bigger the wave, the greater the fun.
23030 -- Ani Tenzin Palmo, in "Reflections on a Mountain Lake: Teachings on
23031 Practical Buddhism", Snow Lion Publications
23033 The word "mantra" means "mind-protection". It protects the mind from ordinary
23034 appearances and conceptions. "Mind" here refers to all six consciousnesses--
23035 eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mental consciousnesses--which are to be
23036 freed, or protected, from the ordinary world. There are two factors in mantra
23037 training, pride in oneself as a deity and vivid appearance of that deity.
23038 Divine pride protects one from the pride of being ordinary, and divine vivid
23039 appearance protects one from ordinary appearances. Whatever appears to the
23040 senses is viewed as the sport of a deity; for instance, whatever forms are
23041 seen are viewed as the emanations of a deity and whatever sounds are heard are
23042 viewed as the mantras of a deity. One is thereby protected from ordinary
23043 appearances, and through this transformation of attitude, the pride of being a
23044 deity emerges. Such protection of mind together with its attendant pledges
23045 and vows is called the practice of mantra.
23046 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Tsong-ka-pa and Jeffrey Hopkins in "Tantra in Tibet",
23047 published by Snow Lion Publications
23049 There is nothing new under the sun, but there are
23050 lots of old things we don't know.
23053 Win hearts, and you have all men's hands and purses. -- William Cecil Burleigh
23055 Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful citizens can change the world.
23056 Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.
23059 He who wonders discovers that this in itself is wonder. -- M. C. Escher
23061 Everything has its wonders, even darkness and silence, and I learn,
23062 whatever state I may be in, therein to be content.
23065 Training in compassion has the capacity to be both profound and vast--both
23066 absolute and relative. Compassion has the quality of being approachable and
23067 at the same time ungraspable. It manifests both the quality of shunyata,
23068 emptiness, or egolessness, as well as the qualities of kindness and joyfulness.
23069 Therefore, from the Mahayana point of view, compassion is the most important
23070 practice we could ever engage in. It can lead us to the full realization of
23071 enlightenment without any need for other practices.
23072 -- from "Trainings in Compassion: Manuals on the Meditation of
23073 Avalokiteshvara", translated by Tyler Dewar under the guidance of The
23074 Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, published by Snow Lion Publications
23076 Question: If the root of all suffering is attachment, are the desire to have a
23077 family and the desire for liberation from suffering contradictory?
23079 Answer: I think that a distinction should be made between desires that are due
23080 to ignorance and desires that are reasoned. In Tibetan, a difference can be
23081 made between "wish" and "desire"; for instance a Bodhisattva is reborn through
23082 his or her own wishes, not out of desire. Similarly, it is suitable to aspire
23083 toward liberation. Also, persons, such as Foe Destroyers, who have completely
23084 overcome all of the afflictive emotions, have thoughts such as, "Such and such
23085 is good; I need it." Merely such thoughts are not afflictive consciousnesses.
23086 Similarly, if we consider the desire for a family, there are persons practicing
23087 the Bodhisattva path who have families; also, in the scriptures of discipline,
23088 Buddha himself set forth vows for lay persons and vows for monks. Hence, there
23089 is no general prohibition of the wish to have a family.
23090 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "The Dalai Lama at Harvard: Lectures on the
23091 Buddhist Path to Peace", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins,
23092 Snow Lion Publications
23094 In general, most non-Buddhist religions meditate on the deity as being outside
23095 the physical body. In these cases the deity takes the form of a refuge, or of
23096 a protector or messenger. Thus do they meditate, and of course this is fine.
23097 In the Buddhist tradition, however, the deity is not meditated on as being
23098 outside of the physical body. One meditates on the deity as being one's own
23099 essence expressing itself through oneself arising as the deity. One therefore
23100 thinks, "I am the deity," and with this conviction one meditates. Why is it
23101 justifiable to meditate in this manner? ...our own mind is in essence exactly
23102 the same as the mind of a Buddha. In the philosophical treatises this is
23103 sometimes referred to as "sugatagarbha" or "buddha-nature".
23104 -- Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, in "Everyday Consciousness and Buddha-
23105 Awakening", translated and edited by Susanne Schefczyk, published by
23106 Snow Lion Publications
23108 If things did in fact exist the way they appear--if things did exist so
23109 concretely--then when one looked into and investigated them, this inherent
23110 existence should become even clearer, more obvious. However, when you seek
23111 for the object designated, you cannot find it under analysis.
23112 ...[That] which gives rise to the appearance of I is mind and body, but when
23113 you divide this into mind and body and look for the I, you cannot find it.
23114 Also the whole, body, is designated in dependence upon the collection of parts
23115 of the body; if you divide this into its parts and look for the body, you
23116 cannot find it either. Even the most subtle particles in the body have sides
23117 and hence parts. Were there something partless, it might be independent, but
23118 there is nothing that is partless. Rather, everything exists in dependence on
23119 its parts... There is no whole which is separate from its parts.
23120 ...No matter what the phenomenon is, internal or external, whether it be
23121 one's own body or any other type of phenomenon, when we search to discover
23122 what this phenomenon is that is designated, we cannot find anything that is it.
23123 ...However, these things appear to us as if they do exist objectively and in
23124 their own right, and thus there is a difference between the way things appear
23125 to our minds and the way they actually exist... Since phenomena appear to us
23126 in a way that is different from what we discover when analysing, this proves
23127 that their concrete appearance is due to a fault of our minds.
23128 -- The Fourteenth Dalai Lama, His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso, translated and
23129 edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, co-edited by Elizabeth Napper, from "Kindness,
23130 Clarity, and Insight" published by Snow Lion Publications
23132 The Buddhist notion of diligence is to delight in positive deeds. Its
23133 opposite, called "le lo" in Tibetan, has three aspects. Le lo is usually
23134 translated as "laziness," though only its first aspect refers to laziness as
23135 we usually understand it. The first aspect is not doing something because of
23136 indolence, even though we know that it is good and ought to be done. The
23137 second aspect is faintheartedness. This comes about when we underestimate our
23138 qualities and abilities, thinking, "I'm so incompetent and weak. It would be
23139 good to do that, but I could never accomplish it." Not having the confidence
23140 of thinking, "I can do it," we end up doing nothing. The third aspect refers
23141 to being very busy and seeming diligent, but wasting time and energy on
23142 meaningless activities that will not accomplish anything in the long run.
23143 When we do many things for no real purpose, we fail to focus on what is truly
23144 worthwhile and our path has no clear direction. When we refrain from these
23145 three aspects of laziness, we are diligent.
23146 -- Ringu Tulku Rinpoche, in "Daring Steps Toward Fearlessness: The Three
23147 Vehicles of Buddhism", edited and translated by Rosemarie Fuchs,
23148 published by Snow Lion Publications
23150 All events and incidents in life are so intimately linked with the fate of
23151 others that a single person on his or her own cannot even begin to act. Many
23152 ordinary human activities, both positive and negative, cannot even be
23153 conceived of apart from the existence of other people. Even the committing of
23154 harmful actions depends on the existence of others. Because of others, we
23155 have the opportunity to earn money if that is what we desire in life.
23156 Similarly, in reliance upon the existence of others it becomes possible for
23157 the media to create fame or disrepute for someone. On your own you cannot
23158 create any fame or disrepute no matter how loud you might shout. The closest
23159 you can get is to create an echo of your own voice.
23160 Thus interdependence is a fundamental law of nature. Not only higher forms
23161 of life but also many of the smallest insects are social beings who, without
23162 any religion, law, or education, survive by mutual cooperation based on an
23163 innate recognition of their interconnectedness. The most subtle level of
23164 material phenomena is also governed by interdependence. All phenomena, from
23165 the planet we inhabit to the oceans, clouds, forests, and flowers that
23166 surround us, arise in dependence upon subtle patterns of energy. Without
23167 their proper interaction, they dissolve and decay.
23168 -- Tenzin Gyatso, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, in "The Compassionate Life"
23170 Going for Refuge to the Three Jewels
23171 ...a buddha is someone who has attained full enlightenment through the
23172 cultivation of compassion and the wisdom of no-self, the absence of self-
23173 existence. From our discussion we also saw how the Dharma jewel is to be
23174 understood as the path by which we can gradually accomplish the same result as
23175 the fully awakened Buddha. Likewise, the Sangha jewel is the community of
23176 sincere practitioners who have directly realised emptiness, the ultimate
23178 For those of us who consider ourselves to be practising Buddhists, it is
23179 crucial to have this kind of deeper understanding of the Three Jewels when we
23180 go for refuge to the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha.
23181 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Lighting the Way", published by Snow Lion
23183 Being Mindful of Impermanence
23185 Loved ones who have long kept company will part.
23186 Wealth created with difficulty will be left behind.
23187 Consciousness, the guest, will leave the guest house of the body.
23188 Let go of this life--
23189 This is the practice of Bodhisattvas.
23191 Although we have this human life with freedom and richness, which is so
23192 valuable and difficult to get, it cannot last forever. This is because it is
23193 not permanent and is subject to decay moment by moment. This life will
23194 eventually become non-existent because our body and mind will separate.
23195 Although death meditation involves reflecting on the moment by moment changing
23196 nature of our life, it principally entails recognizing that one day it will
23197 come to a complete stop and our mind will leave our body behind. Therefore,
23198 we must take the essence from this life each day and try to fulfill a great
23199 Dharma purpose because we will not have this opportunity for long.
23200 -- from "Transforming Adversity into Joy and Courage: An Explanation of
23201 'The Thirty-Seven Practices of Bodhisattvas' ", by Geshe Jampa Tegchok,
23202 edited by Thubten Chodron, published by Snow Lion Publications
23204 What do we mean when we speak of a truly compassionate kindness? Compassion
23205 is essentially concern for others' welfare--their happiness and their
23206 suffering. Others wish to avoid misery as much as we do. So a compassionate
23207 person feels concerned when others are miserable and develops a positive
23208 intention to free them from it. As ordinary beings, our feeling of closeness
23209 to our friends and relatives is little more than an expression of clinging
23210 desire. It needs to be tempered, not enhanced. It is important not to
23211 confuse attachment and compassion.... A compassionate thought is motivated by
23212 a wish to help release beings from their misery.
23213 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Stages of Meditation", translated by Venerable
23214 Geshe Lobsang Jordhen, Losang Choephel Ganchenpa, and Jeremy Russell,
23215 published by Snow Lion Publications
23217 Tantric yogis succeed in their cultivation of wisdom more quickly than do
23218 practitioners of the Perfection Vehicle because the tantric yogi, employing
23219 deity yoga, can achieve a mind that is a union of calm abiding and special
23220 insight--a mind of alert one-pointedness that realizes emptiness--in far
23221 less time than the period of countless great aeons required for those who
23222 practice sutra paths alone. Tantric yogis use deity yoga to enhance
23223 meditation on emptiness; their use of deity yoga brings them more quickly to
23224 an initial direct cognition of emptiness by enhancing their ability to combine
23225 meditative stability with analysis.... Also, in Highest Yoga Tantra,
23226 powerful, subtle consciousnesses that realize emptiness are manifested,
23227 whereby the obstructions to liberation and omniscience are quickly overcome.
23228 -- Daniel Cozort, in "Highest Yoga Tantra", Snow Lion Publications
23230 Howard C. Cutler, MD:
23231 Is happiness a reasonable goal for most of us? Is it really possible?
23234 Yes. I believe that happiness can be achieved through training the mind.
23235 When I say "training the mind," in this context I'm not referring to "mind"
23236 merely as one's cognitive ability or intellect. Rather, I'm using the term
23237 in the sense of the Tibetan word Sem, which has a much broader meaning,
23238 closer to "psyche" or "spirit"; it includes intellect and feeling, heart
23239 and mind. By bringing about a certain inner discipline, we can undergo a
23240 transformation of our attitude, our entire outlook and approach to living.
23241 When we speak of this inner discipline, it can of course involve many things,
23242 many methods. But generally speaking, one begins by identifying those factors
23243 which lead to happiness and those factors which lead to suffering. Having
23244 done this, one then sets about gradually eliminating those factors which lead
23245 to suffering and cultivating those which lead to happiness. That is the way.
23246 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler, MD, in "The Art of Happiness:
23247 A Handbook for Living", published by Snow Lion Publications
23249 It can be difficult to accept others and to accept ourselves. "I should be
23250 better. I should be something different. I should have more." All of this
23251 is conception; it's all mental fabrication. It's just the mind churning up
23252 "shoulds," "ought tos," and "supposed tos." All this is conceptual rubbish,
23253 and yet we believe it. Part of the solution is to recognize that these
23254 thoughts are conceptual rubbish and not reality; this gives us the mental
23255 space not to believe them. When we stop believing them, it becomes much
23256 easier to accept what we are at any given moment, knowing we will change in
23257 the next moment. We'll be able to accept what others are in one moment,
23258 knowing that they will be different in the next moment. This is good stuff
23259 for everyday practice; it's very practical.
23260 -- Thubten Chodron, in "How to Free Your Mind: Tara the Liberator",
23261 published by Snow Lion Publications
23263 The nature of samsaric evolution is not such that death is followed by
23264 nothingness, nor that humans are always reborn as humans and insects as
23265 insects. On the contrary, we all carry within us the karmic potencies of all
23266 realms of cyclic existence. Many beings transmigrate from higher to lower
23267 realms, others from lower to higher. The selection of a place of rebirth is
23268 not directly in our own hands but is conditioned by our karma and delusions.
23269 They who possess spiritual understanding can control their destiny at the time
23270 of death, but for ordinary beings the process is very much an automatic chain
23271 reaction of karmic seeds and habitual psychic response patterns....
23272 Our repeated experience of frustration, dissatisfaction and misery does not
23273 have external conditions as its root cause. The problem is mainly our lack of
23274 spiritual development. As a result of this handicap, the mind is controlled
23275 principally by afflicted emotions and illusions. Attachment, aversion and
23276 ignorance rather than a free spirit, love and wisdom are the guiding forces.
23277 Recognizing this simple truth is the beginning of the spiritual path.
23278 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, edited and translated by Glenn H. Mullin, in
23279 "The Path to Enlightenment", published by Snow Lion Publications
23281 If persons who have attained calm abiding keep their minds in calm abiding,
23282 not only does the force of their meditative stabilization remain but their
23283 other good qualities increase and do not degenerate. Similarly, persons who
23284 have achieved special insight have clear perception not only with respect to
23285 the object of observation on which they have been meditating but also with
23286 respect to any other object to which they turn their minds. Persons who
23287 cultivate calm abiding but not special insight will gain the factor of
23288 stability but not that of an intense clarity; they will not be able to
23289 manifest any antidote to the afflictive emotions. One must achieve an
23290 intensity of clarity in order for anything to serve as an antidote to
23291 ignorance, and to achieve that clarity one must cultivate special insight.
23292 -- Geshe Gedun Lodro, in "Calm Abiding and Special Insight: Achieving
23293 Spiritual Transformation through Meditation", translated and edited
23294 by Jeffrey Hopkins, co-edited by Anne C. Klein and Leah Zahler,
23295 published by Snow Lion Publications
23297 If you haven't found something strange during the day,
23298 it hasn't been much of a day.
23301 Don't try to solve serious matters in the middle of the night.
23304 It is hypocrisy to say that all religions are the same. Different religions
23305 have different views and fundamental differences. But it does not matter, as
23306 all religions are meant to help in bringing about a better world with better
23307 and happier human beings. On this level, I think that through different
23308 philosophical explanations and approaches, all religions have the same goal
23309 and the same potential. Take the concept[s] of the creator and self-creation
23310 for instance. There are big differences between the two, but I feel they have
23311 the same purpose. To some people, the concept of the creator is very powerful
23312 in inspiring the development of self-discipline, becoming a good person with a
23313 sense of love, forgiveness and devotion to the ultimate truth--the Creator or
23315 The other concept is self-creation: if one wants to be good, then it is one's
23316 own responsibility to be so. Without one's own efforts one cannot expect
23317 something good to come about. One's future is entirely dependent on oneself:
23318 it is self-created. This concept is very powerful in encouraging an
23319 individual to be a good and honest person. So you see, the two are different
23320 approaches but have the same goal.
23321 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Live in a Better Way: Reflections on Truth, Love
23322 and Happiness", compiled and edited by Renuka Singh, published by Snow
23325 The wise perceive that all things--persons and phenomena--arise in reliance
23326 upon their own causes and conditions, and that based on this process we impute
23327 mental labels upon things. The phenomena themselves have no true or inherent
23328 existence from their own side. They have no self-nature whatsoever.
23329 Were persons or phenomena to have a self-presence, there would be no need
23330 for them to rely upon causes and conditions. Therefore one can be certain
23331 that even the smallest speck of matter has no true, inherent existence from
23333 Although all things lack even the smallest speck of true existence,
23334 nonetheless conventionally the laws of causes and conditions operate through
23335 them, and conventionally all the phenomena in samsara and nirvana seem to
23336 exist, arising in the same manner as do illusions, dreams and a reflected
23338 -- Glenn H. Mullin, in "The Six Yogas of Naropa: Tsongkhapa's commentary
23339 entitled 'A Book of Three Inspirations: A Treatise on the Stages of
23340 Training in the Profound Path of Naro's Six Dharmas' commonly referred
23341 to as 'The Three Inspirations' ", published by Snow Lion Publications
23343 | George of the Bungle |
23345 And finally, new rule: America must recall the president. That's what this
23346 country needs. A good old-fashioned, California-style, recall election!
23347 Complete with Gary Coleman, porno actresses and action film stars. And just
23348 like Schwarzenegger's predecessor here in California, George Bush is now so
23349 unpopular he must defend his job against... Russell Crowe. Because at this
23350 point I want a leader who will throw a phone at somebody. In fact, let's have
23351 only phone throwers--Naomi Campbell can be the vice-president!
23353 Now I kid, but seriously Mr. President, this job can't be fun for you
23354 anymore. There's no more money to spend--you used up all of that. You can't
23355 start another war because you also used up the army. And now, darn the luck,
23356 the rest of your term has become the Bush family nightmare: helping poor
23357 people. Yeah, listen to your Mom. The cupboard's bare, the credit card's
23358 maxed out, and no one's speaking to you: mission accomplished. Now it's time
23359 to do what you've always done best: lose interest and walk away. Like you did
23360 with your military service. And the oil company. And the baseball team.
23361 It's time. Time to move on and try the next fantasy job. How about cowboy
23364 Now I know what you're saying; you're saying that there's so many other
23365 things that you as President could involve yourself in... Please don't. I
23366 know, I know. There's a lot left to do. There's a war with Venezuela... and
23367 eliminating the sales tax on yachts. Turning the space program over to the
23368 church... and Social Security to Fannie Mae. Giving embryos the vote.
23370 But, Sir, none of that is going to happen now. Why? Because you govern
23371 like Billy Joel drives. You've performed so poorly I'm surprised you haven't
23372 given yourself a medal. You're a catastrophe that walks like a man. Herbert
23373 Hoover was a shitty president, but even he never conceded an entire metropolis
23374 to rising water and snakes. On your watch, we've lost almost all of our
23375 allies, the surplus, four airliners, two trade centers, a piece of the
23376 Pentagon, and the City of New Orleans. Maybe you're just not lucky!
23378 I'm not saying you don't love this country. I'm just wondering how much
23379 worse it could be if you were on the other side. So, yes, God does speak to
23380 you... and what he is saying is: "Take a hint."
23382 -- Bill Maher on Real Time, October 2005
23384 We have the ability and the responsibility to choose to direct our actions
23385 on a virtuous path.
23386 When we weigh a particular act, to determine whether it is moral or
23387 spiritual, our criterion should be the quality of our motivation. When someone
23388 deliberately makes a resolution not to steal, if he or she is simply motivated
23389 by the fear of getting caught and being punished by the law, it is doubtful
23390 whether engaging in that resolution is a moral act, since moral considerations
23391 have not dictated his or her choice.
23392 In another instance, the resolution not to steal may be motivated by fear of
23393 public opinion: "What would my friends and neighbors think? All would scorn
23394 me. I would become an outcast." Though the act of making a resolution may be
23395 positive, whether it is a moral act is again doubtful.
23396 Now, the same resolution may be taken with the thought "If I steal, I am
23397 acting against the divine law of God." Someone else may think, "Stealing is
23398 nonvirtuous; it causes others to suffer." When such considerations motivate
23399 one, the resolution is moral or ethical; it is also spiritual. In the
23400 practice of Buddha's doctrine, if your underlying consideration in avoiding a
23401 nonvirtuous act is that it would thwart your attainment of a state
23402 transcending sorrow, such restraint is a moral act.
23403 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "An Open Heart: Practicing Compassion in Everyday
23404 Life", edited by Nicholas Vreeland
23406 A conventional enemy may harm us, but patience and a refusal to retaliate
23407 can bring us benefit both in this life and in the future. However, tolerance
23408 towards [our own] hostile disturbing emotions and attempts at peaceful
23409 coexistence with them will never bring us any reward. They will do us nothing
23410 but harm if we don't take steps to drive them out. No conventional enemy can
23411 do us such harm. The most an ordinary enemy can do is to defeat us for a
23412 short space of time or destroy us in this life, but the disturbing emotions
23413 will insure our misery for many lifetimes to come.
23415 All other foes that I appease and wait upon
23416 Will show me favors, give me every aid,
23417 But should I serve my dark defiled emotions,
23418 They will only harm me, draw me down to grief.
23419 -- Geshe Sonam Rinchen, in "Eight Verses for Training the Mind: An Oral
23420 Teaching", translated and edited by Ruth Sonam, published by Snow Lion
23423 There is a story about a princess who had a small eye problem that she felt
23424 was really bad. Being the king's daughter, she was rather spoiled and kept
23425 crying all the time. When the doctors wanted to apply medicine, she would
23426 invariably refuse any medical treatment and kept touching the sore spot on her
23427 eye. In this way it became worse and worse, until finally the king proclaimed
23428 a large reward for whoever could cure his daughter. After some time, a man
23429 arrived who claimed to be a famous physician, but actually was not even a
23431 He declared that he could definitely cure the princess and was admitted to
23432 her chamber. After he had examined her, he exclaimed, "Oh, I'm so sorry!"
23433 "What is it?" the princess inquired. The doctor said, "There is nothing much
23434 wrong with your eye, but there is something else that is really serious." The
23435 princess was alarmed and asked, "What on earth is so serious?" He hesitated
23436 and said, "It is really bad. I shouldn't tell you about it." No matter how
23437 much she insisted, he refused to tell her, saying that he could not speak
23438 without the king's permission.
23439 When the king arrived, the doctor was still reluctant to reveal his findings.
23440 Finally the king commanded, "Tell us what is wrong. Whatever it is, you have
23441 to tell us!" At last the doctor said, "Well, the eye will get better within a
23442 few days--that is no problem. The big problem is that the princess will grow
23443 a tail, which will become at least nine fathoms long. It may start growing
23444 very soon. If she can detect the first moment it appears, I might be able to
23445 prevent it from growing." At this news everyone was deeply concerned. And the
23446 princess, what did she do? She stayed in bed, day and night, directing all
23447 her attention to detecting when the tail might appear. Thus, after a few
23448 days, her eye got well.
23449 This shows how we usually react. We focus on our little problem and it
23450 becomes the center around which everything else revolves. So far, we have
23451 done this repeatedly, life after life. We think, "My wishes, my interests, my
23452 likes and dislikes come first!" As long as we function on this basis, we will
23453 remain unchanged. Driven by impulses of desire and rejection, we will travel
23454 the roads of samsara without finding a way out. As long as attachment and
23455 aversion are our sources of living and drive us onward, we cannot rest.
23456 -- Ringu Tulku Rinpoche, in "Daring Steps toward Fearlessness: The Three
23457 Vehicles of Buddhism", edited and translated by Rosemarie Fuchs, published
23458 by Snow Lion Publications
23460 buddha mind listens
23461 sound waves crashing over head
23464 time god shits in hand
23465 catapults distraction dung
23466 unstained mind abides
23468 Dr. Cutler: "... one of the reasons I brought up the topic of challenge at
23469 work," I said to the Dalai Lama, "is because it relates to a concept that
23470 seems to come up frequently these days in psychological literature, the
23471 concept of flow.* This concept is increasingly mentioned in articles on human
23472 happiness, and this state can commonly occur at work... while engaged in
23473 activity, there's a feeling of effortlessness, a sense of total control over
23474 what one is doing.... Although flow can occur in any activity, some
23475 investigators have found that Americans experience more flow at work than they
23476 do in their leisure time."
23478 The Dalai Lama: "You really like this flow, Howard!" the Dalai Lama exclaimed
23479 with an amused chuckle. "... no matter how nice that state may be, I don't
23480 think it is the most important source of satisfaction, fulfillment, or
23481 happiness.... For one thing, you can't be in that state at all times.... So
23482 through this flow, even if you get some temporary kind of happiness, it will
23483 not be an ongoing thing. I think this flow state is not reliable or
23484 sustainable, and I think it's much more important to develop other sources of
23485 satisfaction through one's work that are brought about by training one's mind,
23486 shaping one's outlook and attitude, integrating basic human values in the
23487 workplace. For example, dealing with one's destructive emotions while at
23488 work, reducing anger, jealousy, greed, and so on, and practicing relating to
23489 others with kindness, compassion, tolerance, these are much more important and
23490 stable sources of satisfaction than simply trying to create flow as much as
23493 Dr. Cutler: "...To the Dalai Lama, true happiness is associated with a sense
23494 of meaning, and arises on the basis of deliberately cultivating certain
23495 attitudes and outlooks. True happiness may take longer to generate, and
23496 requires some effort, but it is this lasting happiness that can sustain us
23497 even under the most trying conditions of everyday life."
23499 * flow is defined here as [people] being so completely absorbed in their work
23500 that they lose track of time.
23502 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler, M.D., in "The Art of
23505 Dzogchen could be defined as a way to relax completely. This can be clearly
23506 understood from the terms used to denote the state of contemplation, such as
23507 "leave it just as it is" (cog bzhag), "cutting loose one's tension" (khregs
23508 chod), "beyond effort" (rtsol bral), and so on. Some scholars have classified
23509 Dzogchen as a "direct path," comparing it to teachings such as Zen, where this
23510 expression is often used. In Dzogchen texts, however, the phrases "direct
23511 path" and "nongradual path" (cig car) are never used, because the concept of a
23512 "direct path" implies necessarily that there must be, on the one hand, a place
23513 from which one departs, and on the other, a place where one arrives. But in
23514 Dzogchen there is a single principle of the state of knowledge, and if one
23515 possesses this state one discovers that right from the beginning one is
23516 already there where one wants to arrive. For this reason the state is said to
23517 be "self-perfected" (lhun grub).
23518 -- Chogyal Namkhai Norbu, in "Dzogchen: The Self-Perfected State", edited by
23519 Adriano Clemente, translated from the Italian by John Shane, published by
23520 Snow Lion Publications
23522 Since the situation in which we live is much changed but the attitude of
23523 people who are in that situation is at variance with the times, this is one of
23524 the causes of unnecessary pain, unnecessary problems. Therefore, education is
23525 needed to communicate that the concept of violence is counterproductive, that
23526 it is not a realistic way to solve problems, and that compromise is the only
23527 realistic way to solve problems. Right from the beginning, we have to make
23528 this reality clear to a child's mind--the new generation. In this way, the
23529 whole attitude towards oneself, towards the world, towards others, can become
23530 more healthy. I usually call this "inner disarmament." Without inner
23531 disarmament, it is very difficult to achieve genuine, lasting world peace.
23532 ...Through inner disarmament we can develop a healthy mental attitude, which
23533 also is very beneficial for physical health. With peace of mind, a calm mind,
23534 your body elements become more balanced. Constant worry, constant fear,
23535 agitation of mind, are very bad for health. Therefore, peace of mind not only
23536 brings tranquility in our mind but also has good effects on our body.
23537 With inner disarmament, now we need external disarmament. As I mentioned
23538 earlier, according to today's reality, there no longer is room for war, for
23539 destruction. From a compassionate viewpoint, destruction, killing others, and
23540 discriminating even against one's enemy are counterproductive. Today's enemy,
23541 if you treat them well, may become a good friend even the next day.
23542 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama in "The Art of Peace: Nobel Peace Laureates Discuss
23543 Human Rights, Conflict and Reconciliation", edited by Jeffrey Hopkins,
23544 published by Snow Lion Publications
23546 What we do for ourselves dies with us.
23547 What we do for others and the world remains and is immortal.
23550 Q: Where does hatred come from?
23552 A: That is a question which requires long hours of discussion. From the
23553 Buddhist viewpoint, the simple answer is that it is beginningless. As a
23554 further explanation, Buddhists believe that there are many different levels of
23555 consciousness. The most subtle consciousness is what we consider the basis of
23556 the previous life, this life and future lives. This subtle consciousness is
23557 a transient phenomenon which comes about as a consequence of causes and
23558 conditions. Buddhists have concluded that consciousness itself cannot be
23559 produced by matter. Therefore, the only alternative is to accept the
23560 continuation of consciousness. So that is the basis of the theory of rebirth.
23562 Where there is consciousness, ignorance and hatred also arise naturally.
23563 These negative emotions, as well as the positive emotions, occur right from
23564 beginningless time. All these are a part of our mind. However, these
23565 negative emotions actually are based on ignorance, which has no valid
23566 foundation. None of the negative emotions, no matter how powerful, have a
23567 solid foundation. On the other hand, the positive emotions, such as
23568 compassion or wisdom, have a solid basis: there is a kind of grounding and
23569 rootedness in reason and understanding, which is not the case with afflictive
23570 emotions like anger and hatred.
23572 The basic nature of the subtle consciousness itself is something neutral. So
23573 it is possible to purify or eliminate all of these negative emotions. That
23574 basic nature we call Buddha-nature. Hatred and negative emotions are
23575 beginningless; they have no beginning, but there is an end. Consciousness
23576 itself has no beginning and no end; of this we are certain.
23578 -- H.H. 14th Dalai Lama, in "Healing Anger: The Power of Patience from a
23579 Buddhist Perspective", translated by Geshe Thupten Jinpa, published by
23580 Snow Lion Publications
23582 When the sun is freed from clouds, the sun becomes clear and bright.
23583 Similarly, when obstructions to omniscience are abandoned, wisdom becomes
23585 How does wisdom that is like the sun in a sky free from clouds dawn? It
23586 is described as yogic direct perception. Between ordinary beings--those born
23587 in dependence upon their individual karma--and yogins, here we are considering
23588 yogins. Their wisdom is not speculation from an inferential point of view, as
23589 is the case with ordinary beings. Neither is it pensive and lacking in
23590 clarity. Rather, it sees directly, for which reason it is called yogic direct
23591 perception. When we ordinary beings think about a thing, there is something
23592 in the way, obstruction, due to which we do not see clearly and directly.
23593 When those obstructions--the afflictive obstructions and the obstructions to
23594 omniscience--have been dispelled, then knowledge arises as yogic direct
23596 When yogic direct perception arises, how does it see? It sees phenomena
23597 in a conventional context and it also sees reality in an ultimate context. In
23598 the conventional context, wisdom sees the shapes, colors, and defining
23599 characteristics of whatever things exist in worldly realms, individually and
23600 without mixing them, just as they are. This wisdom knows the varieties of
23601 phenomena. Similarly, in the context of reality, wisdom sees the meaning of
23602 emptiness directly; this wisdom knows the mode of all phenomena. In
23603 dependence upon release from the afflictive obstruction and the obstruction to
23604 omniscience, the wisdoms knowing the modes and the varieties actually arise.
23605 Someone in whom those two wisdoms are present is a buddha.
23607 -- Kenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, in "Essential Practice: Lectures on
23608 Kamalashila's 'Stages of Meditation in the Middle Way School' ",
23609 translated by Jules B. Levinson, published by Snow Lion Publications
23611 Sometimes people mistakenly look on vows and pledges as if these were a
23612 type of punishment, but this is not at all the case. For example, just as
23613 we follow certain methods of eating and drinking to improve our health and
23614 certainly not to punish ourselves, so the rules the Shakymuni Buddha
23615 formulated are for controlling counter-productive ill-deeds and ultimately for
23616 overcoming afflictive emotions, because these are self-ruinous. Thus, to
23617 relieve oneself from suffering, one controls the motivations and deeds
23618 producing suffering for one's own sake. Realizing from his own experience
23619 that suffering stems from one's own afflictive emotions as well as actions
23620 contaminated with them, he sets forth styles of behavior to reduce the problem
23621 for our own profit, certainly not to give us a hard time. Hence, these rules
23622 are for the sake of controlling sources of harm.
23623 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Dzong-ka-ba, and Jeffrey Hopkins, in "Yoga Tantra:
23624 Paths to Magical Feats, published by Snow Lion Publications
23626 Giving with an open heart brings us joy and directly benefits others. Goods
23627 are then shared more equitably within our society and among nations, soothing
23628 the ill-feeling of social inequity and promoting world peace. Sharing is a
23629 source of our continued existence as a species. As His Holiness the Dalai
23630 Lama says, it is not survival of the fittest, but survival of those who
23631 cooperate the most, that makes a species prosper. None of us exists
23632 independently; we have to depend on others simply to stay alive. Thus,
23633 helping others and sharing wealth benefits both self and others. Generosity
23634 makes us happy now, enables our species to continue to prosper, and creates
23635 positive karma that brings us prosperity in the future. In addition, it is an
23636 essential trait of an enlightened being. Who ever heard of a stingy Buddha?
23637 -- Bhikshuni Thubten Chodron, in "How to Free Your Mind: Tara the Liberator",
23638 published by Snow Lion Publications
23640 I have made the point in the past that it is not necessary to consider
23641 someone one's guru from the very outset simply because one has heard the
23642 explanation of the Buddha's teachings from that person. At first, it is much
23643 better if one does not have that kind of attitude toward them, simply
23644 regarding them as a Dharma-friend. One gets teachings, and time goes by.
23645 Then, when one feels that one knows that person quite well, and can take them
23646 as one's guru without any danger of transgressing the commitments that
23647 accompany such a relationship, when one has that kind of confidence, then one
23648 can go ahead and take him or her as one's guru. The Lord Buddha himself made
23649 it quite clear in both the Vinaya sutras and in the Mahayana scriptures, and
23650 even in the Tantrayana, in a very detailed fashion, what the qualities of a
23651 teacher should be. This is why I often criticize the Tibetan attitude of
23652 seeing whatever the guru does as good, of respecting everything that the guru
23653 does right from the start without the initial period of examination. Of
23654 course, if the guru is really qualified, then to have such an attitude is
23656 Take the cases of Naropa and Marpa, for example. Sometimes it appears as
23657 though some of the things Tilopa asked of Naropa, or Naropa of Marpa, were
23658 unreasonable. Deep down, however, these requests had great meaning. Because
23659 of their great faith in their gurus, Naropa and Marpa did as instructed.
23660 Despite the fact that they appeared to be unreasonable, because the teachers
23661 were qualified, their actions had some meaning. In such situations, it is
23662 necessary that from the disciple's side all of the actions of the teacher be
23663 respected. But this cannot be compared to the case of ordinary people.
23664 Broadly speaking, I feel that the Buddha gave us complete freedom of choice to
23665 thoroughly examine the person who is to be our guru. This is very important.
23666 Unless one is definite, one should not take them as a guru. This preliminary
23667 examination is a kind of precautionary measure.
23668 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Answers: Discussions with Western Buddhists", edited
23669 by Jose Ignacio Cabezon, published by Snow Lion Publications
23671 13. Transforming suffering into the path
23672 Even if someone tries to cut off your head
23673 When you haven't done the slightest thing wrong,
23674 Out of compassion take all his misdeeds
23676 This is the practice of Bodhisattvas.
23677 -- from "The Thirty-seven Practices of Bodhisattvas"
23678 by Gyelsay Togme Sangpo
23679 Although we have done nothing to deserve it, someone may attack us, beat
23680 us, or perpetrate other forms of violence on us. Certainly it is tempting to
23681 get angry in such a situation, but our anger will do no good. In fact, this
23682 person is creating the cause for his own unfortunate rebirth by attacking us,
23683 and the karma he creates is even heavier if we hold any of the three sets of
23684 vows: pratimoksha, Bodhisattva, or tantric. Thus, we cultivate compassion,
23685 and wish to take the person's karma and resultant suffering on ourselves. For
23686 example, if a crazy person attacks a person who is sane, the latter will not
23687 only not fight back but try to help, by giving him medicine and wanting him to
23688 get well. The sane person sees that the crazy person does not know what he is
23689 doing. He is out of control.
23690 Similarly, when someone harms us, we should recognize that he too is out
23691 of control and is being led by his three poisonous attitudes. Similarly, we
23692 can remember that we are experiencing the ripening result of harmful actions
23693 we did in past lives, so why blame the other person? In addition, that person
23694 is causing our negative karma to be exhausted now, rather than later when the
23695 result could be much more difficult to bear. In this way, we will not be
23696 angry or retaliate, but will pray for and try to help the other. In "The
23697 Eight Verses of Thought Transformation," it says, "Whenever I meet a person of
23698 bad nature who is overwhelmed by negative energy and intense suffering, I will
23699 hold such a rare one dear, as if I had found a precious treasure." People like
23700 this suffer greatly because they think only of themselves, not of others, and
23701 thus they are worthy of compassion, the wish that they be free from suffering
23703 Being patient when harmed by others does not mean that we take no action
23704 to prevent harm from occurring. Rather, patience frees our mind from the fog
23705 of anger and gives us the clarity and kindness to respond to a situation in a
23706 helpful way. Free of anger, we look for ways to resolve conflict other than
23708 -- Geshe Jampa Tegchok, in "Transforming Adversity into Joy and Courage:
23709 An Explanation of 'The Thirty-seven Practices of Bodhisattvas' ", edited
23710 by Thubten Chodron, published by Snow Lion Publications
23712 Some people run a race to see who is the fastest.
23713 I run a race to see who has the most guts.
23714 -- Steve Prefontaine
23716 Shantideva expresses tremendous courage, which transcends all boundaries
23717 of space and time, in a verse of his "Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life"
23718 (Bodhicaryavatara). He writes:
23719 As long as space endures,
23720 As long as sentient beings remain,
23721 Until then, may I too remain
23722 And dispel the miseries of the world.
23723 When the altruistic intention is supported by insight into emptiness, and
23724 particularly by the direct realization of emptiness, one is said to have
23725 attained the two dimensions of bodhichitta which are known as conventional and
23726 ultimate bodhichitta. With both these practices of compassion and wisdom, the
23727 practitioner has within his or her hands the complete method for attaining the
23728 highest spiritual goal. Such a person is truly great and worthy of
23730 If one is able to cultivate these spiritual qualities within oneself then,
23731 as Chandrakirti writes very poetically in his Entry to the Middle Way
23732 (Madhyamakavatara), with one wing of altruistic intention and another wing of
23733 insight into emptiness, one can traverse the whole of space and soar beyond
23734 the state of existence to the shores of fully enlightened buddhahood.
23735 ...make an effort to contemplate, study and meditate, but without any
23736 shortsighted expectations. You should have the same attitude as Shantideva --
23737 that as long as space exists you will remain to dispel suffering in the world.
23738 When you have that kind of determination and courage to develop your capacity,
23739 then a hundred years, an aeon, a million years are nothing to you.
23740 Furthermore, you will not consider that the different human problems we have
23741 here and there are in any way insurmountable. Such an attitude and vision
23742 bring some kind of real inner strength.
23743 -- H.H. the XIV Dalai Lama, in "Transforming the Mind: Teachings on
23744 Generating Compassion", translated by Geshe Thupten Jinpa, edited by
23745 Dominique Side and Geshe Thupten Jinpa.
23747 The Tantric Way of Purifying One's Views
23748 The second important attitude is the Tantric way of purifying one's views,
23749 which means to transform one's ordinary and dualistic views and conceptions
23750 into a higher spiritual vision.
23751 For instance, you transform the place where teachings are received from an
23752 ordinary classroom into a complete and perfected mandala of the deities. You
23753 view the teacher as a pure form of Shen Lha Okar, the Buddha of Compassion, by
23754 mentally transforming him from an ordinary person into an enlightened one who
23755 has manifested in a human body to guide all sentient beings. You transform
23756 your companions and classmates from ordinary beings into deities and
23757 goddesses, and believe that they all have love, compassion, and care for all
23759 The purpose of transforming your views into pure visions toward these
23760 objects is to realize the extraordinary nature of this experience. This gives
23761 you a special reason to receive blessings and powers from the teacher (lama),
23762 the enlightened ones (Sangye), the deities (yidam), and the female
23763 manifestations of the enlightened ones (khadro), in order to develop your
23764 wisdom and stability. This is the essence of the practice of purifying one's
23765 view according to the Tantric ways.
23766 -- Latri Khenpo and Geshe Nyima Dakpa Rinpoche, in "Opening the Door to
23767 Bon", published by Snow Lion Publications
23769 MENSA: My Ego Never Stops Aching
23771 ...more people are driven insane through religious hysteria
23772 than by drinking alcohol.
23775 Success without honor is an unseasoned dish; it will
23776 satisfy your hunger, but it won't taste good.
23779 Desire is the source of endless problems. The more desires we have, the more
23780 we have to plan and work hard to realize them. Some time ago a businessman
23781 told me that the more he developed his company, the more he felt like making
23782 it even bigger. And the more he tried to make it bigger, the more he found he
23783 had to lie and fight mercilessly against his competitors. He had come to
23784 realize that wanting more and more made no sense, and that he only had to
23785 reduce the size of his business for competition to become less fierce so he
23786 would be able to carry out his work honestly. I found his testimony very
23788 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "365 Dalai Lama: Daily Advice from the Heart",
23789 edited by Matthieu Ricard, translated by Christian Bruyat and Dominique
23792 I--What Is a Treasure?
23793 According to the Nyingma School, the Treasures are most often comprised of
23794 spiritual instructions concealed by enlightened beings for the purpose of
23795 discovery at a later predestined time when their message will invigorate the
23796 Buddhist teaching and deepen spiritual understanding. Central to this process
23797 is the figure of the Treasure revealer (gter ston)--the person who acts as a
23798 medium for the re-emergence of this inspired material into the human world.
23799 Accordingly, beginning in the eleventh century and continuing into the
23800 present, the Nyingma School identifies a large number of Treasure revealers
23801 and grants authoritative status to their discoveries.
23802 The idea that religious truth lies concealed within the world of phenomena
23803 awaiting discovery by spiritually gifted people is by no means a concept
23804 exclusive to the Nyingma School or Tibetan Buddhism as a whole. Throughout
23805 Buddhist literature there are numerous descriptions of teachings being
23806 inherently present in the phenomenal world ready to be perceived by
23807 individuals possessing inspired levels of consciousness and, accordingly,
23808 spiritual revelations have surfaced on numerous occasions throughout the
23809 course of Buddhist history.
23810 -- Andreas Doctor, in "Tibetan Treasure Literature: Revelation, Tradition,
23811 and Accomplishment in Visionary Buddhism", Snow Lion Publications
23813 Patricia Churchland: But do you think that there is something, I am not sure
23814 what to call it--a kind of awareness that can exist independently of the
23815 brain? For example, something that survives death?
23817 Dalai Lama: Generally speaking, awareness, in the sense of our familiar, day-
23818 to-day mental processes, does not exist apart from or independent of the
23819 brain, according to the Buddhist view. But Buddhism holds that the cause of
23820 this awareness is to be found in a preceding continuum of awareness, and that
23821 is why one speaks of a stream of awareness from one life to another. Whence
23822 does this awareness arise initially? It must arise fundamentally not from a
23823 physical base but from a preceding continuum of awareness.
23825 The continuum of awareness that conjoins with the fetus does not depend upon
23826 the brain. There are some documented cases of advanced practitioners whose
23827 bodies, after death, escape what happens to everyone else and do not decompose
23828 for some time--for two or three weeks or even longer. The awareness that
23829 finally leaves their body is a primordial awareness that is not dependent upon
23830 the body. There have been many accounts in the past of advanced practitioners
23831 remaining in meditation in this subtle state of consciousness when they died,
23832 and decomposition of their body was postponed although the body remained at
23834 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Consciousness at the Crossroads: Conversations
23835 with the Dalai Lama on Brain Science and Buddhism", edited by Zara
23836 Houshmand, Robert B. Livingston and B. Alan Wallace, Snow Lion
23839 The real source of my suffering is self-centeredness: my car, my possession,
23840 my well-being. Without the self-centeredness, the suffering would not arise.
23841 What would happen instead? It is important to imagine this fully and to focus
23842 on examples of your own. Think of some misfortune that makes you want to lash
23843 out, that gives rise to anger or misery. Then imagine how you might respond
23844 without suffering. Recognize that we need not experience the misery, let
23845 alone the anger, resentment, and hostility. The choice is ours.
23847 Let's continue with the previous example. You see that there is a dent in the
23848 car. What needs to be done? Get the other driver's license number, notify
23849 the police, contact the insurance agency, deal with all the details. Simply
23850 do it and accept it. Accept it gladly as a way to strengthen your mind
23851 further, to develop patience and the armor of forbearance. There is no way to
23852 become a Buddha and remain a vulnerable wimp. Patience does not suddenly
23853 appear as a bonus after full enlightenment. Part of the whole process of
23854 awakening is to develop greater forbearance and equanimity in adversity.
23855 Santideva, in the sixth chapter of his Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life,
23856 eloquently points out that there is no way to develop patience without
23857 encountering adversity, and patience is indispensable for our own growth on
23858 the path to awakening.
23859 -- B. Alan Wallace, in "The Seven-Point Mind Training", edited by Zara
23860 Houshmand, published by Snow Lion Publications
23862 In all things of nature, there is something of the marvelous. -- Aristotle
23864 Now the kilt was only for day-to-day wear. In battle, we donned a full-length
23865 ball gown covered in sequins. The idea was to blind your opponent with luxury.
23866 -- Groundskeeper Willie
23868 Dayata (Om) Gate Gate Paragate Parasamgate Bodhi Swaha.
23870 A mantra is that which protects the mind. Through this mantra, which is the
23871 perfection of wisdom itself, we can overcome the demon of ignorance that
23872 possesses us and find unsurpassable happiness. It protects the minds of those
23873 who practice it from all fears and describes how to make the transition from
23874 worldly existence to the supreme state beyond sorrow. It is a mantra of great
23875 knowledge because it saves us from the poison of ignorance and its imprints.
23876 It is an unsurpassable mantra because it frees us from suffering and its
23877 causes as no other path of insight can. The incomparable is the state beyond
23878 suffering. Since it helps us to attain that state, it is comparable to the
23879 incomparable. It totally pacifies suffering because it rids us of all the
23880 troubles of the world and their causes. The world here refers to ordinary
23881 beings like us. Our troubles are many but foremost are birth, aging,
23882 sickness, and death. This mantra does not deceive us and it is true because
23883 wisdom sees things as they actually are without any error or deception. It is
23884 therefore transcendent.
23885 -- from "The Heart Sutra: An Oral Teaching by Geshe Sonam Rinchen",
23886 translated and edited by Ruth Sonam, published by Snow Lion Publications
23888 I am interested not in converting other people to Buddhism but in how we
23889 Buddhists can contribute to human society, according to our own ideas. I
23890 believe that other religious faiths also think in a similar way, seeking to
23891 contribute to the common aim....
23893 Just as Buddha showed an example of contentment, tolerance, and serving others
23894 without selfish motivation, so did Jesus Christ. Almost all of the great
23895 teachers lived a saintly life--not luxuriously like kings or emperors but as
23896 simple human beings. Their inner strength was tremendous, limitless, but the
23897 external appearance was of contentment with a simple way of life.
23899 ...the motivation of all religious practice is similar--love, sincerity,
23900 honesty. The way of life of practically all religious persons is contentment.
23901 The teachings of tolerance, love, and compassion are the same. A basic goal
23902 is the benefit of humankind--each type of system seeking in its own unique
23903 ways to improve human beings. If we put too much emphasis on our own
23904 philosophy, religion, or theory, are too attached to it, and try to impose it
23905 on other people, it makes trouble. Basically all the great teachers, such as
23906 Gautama Buddha, Jesus Christ, or Mohammed, founded their new teachings with a
23907 motivation of helping their fellow humans. They did not mean to gain anything
23908 for themselves nor to create more trouble or unrest in the world.
23910 Most important is that we respect each other and learn from each other those
23911 things that will enrich our own practice. Ever if all the systems are
23912 separate, since they each have the same goal, the study of each other is
23914 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "The Dalai Lama: A Policy of Kindness", compiled
23915 and edited by Sidney Piburn, published by Snow Lion Publications
23917 Our teacher, Sakyamuni Buddha, is one among the thousand Buddhas of this
23918 aeon. These Buddhas were not Buddhas from the beginning, but were once
23919 sentient beings like ourselves. How they came to be Buddhas is this.
23920 Of body and mind, mind is predominant, for body and speech are under the
23921 influence of the mind. Afflictions such as desire do not contaminate the
23922 nature of the mind, for the nature of the mind is pure, uncontaminated by any
23923 taint. Afflictions are peripheral factors of a mind, and through gradually
23924 transforming all types of defects, such as these afflictions, the adventitious
23925 taints can be completely removed. This state of complete purification is
23926 Buddhahood; therefore, Buddhists do not assert that there is any Buddha who
23927 has been enlightened from the beginning.
23928 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "The Buddhism of Tibet: The Dalai Lama",
23929 translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, published by Snow Lion
23932 ...everbody thinks that compassion is important, and everyone has
23933 compassion. True enough, but the Buddha gave uncommon quintessential
23934 instructions when he taught the methods for cultivating compassion, and the
23935 differences are extraordinarily important.
23936 Generally, everyone feels compassion, but the compassion is flawed. In
23937 what way? We measure it out. For instance, some feel compassion for human
23938 beings but not for animals and other types of sentient beings. Others feel
23939 compassion for animals and some other types of sentient beings but not for
23940 humans. Others, who feel compassion for human beings, feel compassion for the
23941 human beings of their own country but not for the human beings of other
23942 countries. Then, some feel compassion for their friends but not for anyone
23943 else. Thus, it seems that we draw a line somewhere. We feel compassion for
23944 those on one side of the line but not for those on the other side of the line.
23945 We feel compassion for one group but not for another. That is where our
23946 compassion is flawed. What did the Buddha say about that? It is not
23947 necessary to draw that line. Nor is it suitable. Everyone wants compassion,
23948 and we can extend our compassion to everyone.
23949 -- Kenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, in "Lectures on Kamalashila's 'Stages of
23950 Meditation in the Middle Way School' ", translated by Jules B. Levinson,
23951 published by Snow Lion Publications
23953 4. Seven-Limbed Practice
23955 The seven parts of the practice are encompassed by two practices--the
23956 purification of negativities and the enhancing of the store of merit. When
23957 you engage in the practice, it is very important to understand that each and
23958 every one of the seven limbs has its individual purpose and significance, and
23959 only with such knowledge can you engage properly in the practice. The seven
23960 limbs are: prostration, offering, confession, rejoicing, requesting to turn
23961 the wheel of the dharma, entreating not to enter into nirvana, and dedication
23963 ...For the practice of confession, which is the third of the seven limbs,
23964 it is very important to have the factor of regret; without this factor there
23965 is no possibility of purifying the negativities.... The great yogi Milarepa
23966 said: "When I examined whether or not confession could purify the
23967 negativities, I found that it is regret that cleanses them." In order to
23968 generate regret, it is important to see the destructive nature of negative
23969 actions and also to understand the law of causality.
23970 Based on a disciplined mind, we experience happiness; based on an
23971 undisciplined, untamed mind, we undergo suffering. We should think that if we
23972 are not able to make any progress from our present state of mind, which always
23973 indulges in negative thoughts, there is not much hope for us. So, if we are
23974 able to think in such terms, we will be able to really see the destructive
23975 nature of negative actions, and also that the store of negative actions that
23976 we have is inexhaustible, like a rich person's bank balance. Without the
23977 recognition of the destructive nature of the negative forces, we will never be
23978 able to develop the deep factor of regret from the depth of our hearts.
23979 If we do not engage in a proper practice of dharma, it seems that we may
23980 expend all our store of merit in mundane pleasures. It is very important to
23981 have this faculty of regret in our practice of purification and confession.
23982 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama (Tenzin Gyatso), in "The Path to Bliss: A Practical
23983 Guide to Stages of Meditation", translated by Geshe Thubten Jinpa,
23984 edited by Christine Cox, published by Snow Lion Publications
23986 9. Glorious Lama (excerpt)
23988 ...Those with faith have a refuge.
23989 Those with compassion have an altruistic attitude.
23990 Those with incisive knowledge have realization.
23991 Those with respect and devotion have blessings.
23993 Those with shame avoid carelessness.
23994 Those who avoid carelessness have a guarded mind.
23995 Those who have a guarded mind have vows and samaya.
23996 Those who have vows and samaya have spiritual attainments.
23998 Calm and self-control are signs of listening to the Dharma;
23999 Few passions, signs of meditation;
24000 Harmony with everyone is the sign of a practitioner;
24001 Your mind at ease, the sign of accomplishment.
24003 The root of phenomena is your own mind.
24004 If you tame your mind, you are a practitioner.
24005 If you are a practitioner, your mind is tamed.
24006 When your mind is tamed, that is liberation.
24007 -- Dudjom Jigdral Yeshe Dorje, in "Wisdom Nectar: Dudjom Rinpoche's Heart
24008 Advice", translated by Ron Garry, published by Snow Lion Publications
24010 The Special Features of Dzogchen
24012 In the early translation school of the Nyingma, a system of nine yanas is
24013 taught. Three of these--the paths of the Sravaka, pratyekabuddha, and
24014 bodhisattva--constitute the sutra tradition, while the tantric tradition
24015 consists of six levels--the three outer tantras and the three inner tantras.
24016 The tradition of Dzogchen, or Atiyoga, is considered to be the pinnacle of
24017 these nine yanas. The other, lower, yanas are said to be philosophical
24018 systems that depend on ordinary consciousness, and so the path is based on
24019 that ordinary consciousness. Here the distinction being made is between
24020 ordinary mind--sem--and pure awareness--rigpa. The ninth yana, the most
24021 majestic, is beyond ordinary consciousness, for its path is based on rigpa,
24022 not on the ordinary mind.
24023 Throughout beginningless time, there has always been present, within us
24024 all, a pure awareness--that in-dwelling rigpa which in Atiyoga is evoked in
24025 all its nakedness, and which constitutes the practice.
24026 ...The ground for all the phenomena of samsara and nirvana is the
24027 fundamental innate mind of clear light, and these phenomena are its radiance
24028 or display. While we are following the path, in order for all the impure
24029 aspects of our experience to be purified on the basis of that rigpa--or, you
24030 can say, that fundamental innate mind of clear light--there is no other means
24031 apart from that fundamental and innate state itself, which is therefore the
24032 very essence of the path. Finally, when the fruition is made fully evident,
24033 it is just this fundamental innate mind of clear light itself, free from
24034 obscuration, that constitutes the attainment of fruition.
24035 ...Any given state of consciousness is permeated by the clear light of
24036 rigpa's pure awareness. However solid ice may be, it never loses its true
24037 nature, which is water. In the same way, even very obvious concepts... arise
24038 within the expanse of rigpa and that is where they dissolve. On this point,
24039 Dodrupchen Jikme Tenpe Nyima says that all objects of knowledge are permeated
24040 by clear light, just as a sesame seed is permeated by its oil. Therefore,
24041 even while the coarser states of the six consciousnesses are functioning,
24042 their subtle aspect--that of clear light--can be directly introduced by means
24043 of those states themselves, through blessings and through pith instructions.
24044 Here lies the extraordinary and profound implication of the Dzogchen
24045 teachings. When you are basing your path on the fundamental innate mind of
24046 clear light, you will employ skilful means to block the coarse and subtle
24047 states of energy and mind, as a result of which the state of clear light
24048 becomes evident, and on this you base your path. But in Dzogchen, even while
24049 the six consciousnesses are fully functioning, by means of those very states
24050 you can be directly introduced to their subtle aspect of clear light in your
24051 immediate experience, and you then meditate by focusing one-pointedly on that
24052 aspect. As you meditate in this way, resting in this non-conceptual state,
24053 gradually your experience of clear light becomes increasingly profound, while
24054 coarser thoughts and concepts dwindle away.
24055 The most difficult task is to differentiate between ordinary mind and
24056 rigpa. It is easy enough to talk about it. You can say, for example, that
24057 rigpa has never been confused, while ordinary mind has fallen under the
24058 influence of concepts and is mired in confusion. But to be introduced to the
24059 direct experience of the essence of rigpa is far from being easy. And so
24060 Dodrupchen says that although your arrogance might be such that you assume you
24061 are meditating on the ultimate meaning of rigpa, there is a danger that "you
24062 could end up meditating on the clear, empty qualities of your ordinary mind,
24063 which even non-Buddhist practitioners are capable of doing." He is warning us
24065 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Dzogchen: The Heart Essence of the Great
24066 Perfection", translated by Geshe Thubten Jinpa and Richard Barron
24067 (Chokyi Nyima), edited by Patrick Gaffney, pub. by Snow Lion Publications
24069 Patience is like a beautiful ornament. When you become a person with
24070 great patience, it brings a certain element of charm to your life. You are
24071 loved by others, and you give no problems to your friends. You bring an
24072 element of joy, happiness, and calmness to other people's lives--your friends,
24073 your family, and the community. You do not have to ask to be accepted;
24074 everyone longs for your presence. Everyone looks up to you and respects you,
24075 not because you have worked for that or expected it, not because you were
24076 competing for their favor, but simply because of the nature of patience. You
24077 are respected and trusted, and you acquire dignity with the practice of
24078 patience. When you are honored, it is with sincerity, and it is something you
24080 ...Just hearing about patience does not mean you are experiencing it now
24081 or will easily develop it. To lay the ground for training the mind, you must
24082 first tame the mind. To tame the mind, it is extremely important to do the
24083 basic shamata [tranquility meditation, calm abiding] practice, which develops
24084 calmness and tranquility. Then you can add the practice of patience,
24085 understanding the benefits of patience and reminding yourself to take
24086 advantage of the available antidotes.
24087 -- Ven. Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche, in "Dharma Paths", translated by Ngodup
24088 Burkhar and Chojor Radha, edited by Laura M. Roth, published by Snow Lion
24091 No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of
24092 policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets.
24095 We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.
24096 -- Winston Churchill
24098 If the government would make up its mind to require for every child a good
24099 education, it might save itself the trouble of providing one. It might leave
24100 to parents to obtain the education where and how they pleased, and content
24101 itself with helping to pay the school fees of the poorer classes of children,
24102 and defraying the entire school expenses of those who have no one else to pay
24106 First, God created idiots.
24107 That was just for practice.
24108 Then He created school boards.
24111 Whence it comes to pass, that for not having chosen the right course,
24112 we often take very great pains, and consume a good part of our time in
24113 training up children to things, for which, by their natural constitution,
24114 they are totally unfit.
24117 There are two types of education...
24118 One should teach us how to make a living,
24119 And the other how to live.
24122 We are shut up in schools and college recitation rooms for ten or
24123 fifteen years, and come out at last with a belly full of words and
24124 do not know a thing.
24125 -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
24127 The Sanskrit word for compassion, karuna, has the implication of "that
24128 which blocks or prevents bliss." In general, when we develop compassion, we
24129 develop very strongly the attitude that cannot bear the suffering of other
24130 beings. We wish for it to end and for them to become free. Although we do
24131 not actually experience others' suffering at that time, the strength of the
24132 attitude that cannot bear their suffering causes our mind also to become
24133 unhappy. This is the general sense in which compassion blocks bliss....
24134 Only the power of a union of method and wisdom--namely the union of
24135 compassion, as a greatly blissful awareness, and the discriminating awareness
24136 of voidness--allows us to attain the total release of supreme nirvana, namely
24138 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "The Gelug/Kagyu Tradition of Mahamudra", with
24139 Alexander Berzin, published by Snow Lion Publications
24141 There is a tradition of reciting prayers of request to the spiritual
24142 teachers of the lineage at the beginning of each study session, starting with
24143 the Buddha Shakyamuni and ending with our own personal teachers. What do we
24144 request? As we chant each verse, we take to mind the inspiring qualities of
24145 the great masters mentioned in it and ask them to bless us to develop
24146 compassion, wisdom and power similar to their own. Blessings are experienced
24147 in the form of a transformation which affects our body, speech and mind. Our
24148 mind becomes more serviceable and flexible, our way of speaking and acting
24149 more constructive. We become more open to the message of how to bring about
24150 inner transformation that has been handed down through this long line of
24151 spiritual teachers.
24152 Our teachers pass on the instructions they have received from their own
24153 teachers, the knowledge they have culled from their reading and everything
24154 they have understood and experienced as a result of their personal practice,
24155 without holding anything back. They are motivated by compassion and their
24156 deep wish to help us. To communicate it to us they choose whatever means are
24157 most effective--sometimes stern, sometimes gentle. This process must take
24158 place in an atmosphere of mutual trust, something very rare in relationships
24159 today. In the past the relationship between students and teachers was even
24160 closer and more trusting than that between siblings--and in Tibet brothers and
24161 sisters generally enjoyed a close and loving bond. Today this is a dying
24162 tradition, yet a good relationship between student and teacher is vital even
24163 for the communication of secular knowledge, let alone where spiritual wisdom
24165 -- Geshe Sonam Rinchen, in "Atisha's Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment: An
24166 Oral Teaching", translated and edited by Ruth Sonam, published by Snow
24169 We have happiness of mind and freedom from anxiety to just the degree that
24170 our minds are tamed.... Once we want happiness and do not want suffering, we
24171 should engage in the means to achieve happiness and eliminate suffering.
24172 Practice is based on reasoning, not force; it is up to oneself.
24173 The time for engaging in these techniques is now. Some feel, "I did not
24174 succeed in this lifetime; I will ask a lama for help in my future life." To
24175 think that we will practise in the future is only a hope. It is foolish to
24176 feel that the next life will be as suitable as this. No matter how bad our
24177 condition is now, since we have a human brain, we can think; since we have a
24178 mouth, we can recite mantra. No matter how old one may be, there is time for
24179 practice. However, when we die and are reborn, we are unable even to recite
24180 om mani padme hum. Thus, it is important to make all effort possible at this
24181 time when we have obtained the precious physical life-support of a human.
24182 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama and Jeffrey Hopkins, in "Deity Yoga: In Action and
24183 Performance Tantra by Tsong-ka-pa", published by Snow Lion Publications
24185 How would we feel if one of our children was overpowered by a serious disease
24186 and did some terrible things without knowing what he or she was doing? We
24187 should try to view someone dear who suddenly hurts us in the same light. If
24188 we can see that person is out of control and sick with negative emotions, we
24189 will not feel so much hatred and disgust. There may be resentment, and we may
24190 not be able to love that person more than before, but almost automatically
24191 there will be a certain sympathy that will lessen or end our hatred and allow
24193 -- Ringu Tulku Rinpoche, in "Daring Steps Toward Fearlessness: The Three
24194 Vehicles of Buddhism", edited and translated by Rosemarie Fuchs, published
24195 by Snow Lion Publications
24197 Compassion is a theme the Dalai Lama returns to over and over again. I
24198 also know he has meditated on compassion every morning without fail for the
24199 past half century. In an interview, I asked the Dalai Lama to give me his
24200 take on compassion. Lhakdor [his translator], as usual, was by his side.
24201 "Compassion is something like a sense of caring, a sense of concern for
24202 others' difficulties and pain," the Dalai Lama said. "Not only family and
24203 friends, but all other people. Enemies also. Now, if we really analyze our
24204 feelings, one thing becomes clear. If we think only of ourselves, forget
24205 about other people, then our minds occupy a very small area. Inside that
24206 small area, even a tiny problem appears very big. But the moment you develop
24207 a sense of concern for others, you realize that, just like ourselves, they
24208 also want happiness; they also want satisfaction. When you have this sense of
24209 concern, your mind automatically widens. At this point, your own problems,
24210 even big problems, will not be so significant. The result? Big increase in
24211 peace of mind. So, if you think only of yourself, only your own happiness,
24212 the result is actually less happiness. You get more anxiety, more fear."
24213 "I was thirty-two years old when I developed a strong experience of
24214 compassion," he told me.... "Often when I reflect on the meaning and benefits
24215 of altruistic mind, tears came." Lhakdor translated: "...When he meditated on
24216 compassion, he would sometimes be filled with joy and appreciation. And there
24217 is a strong sense of concern for others accompanied by a feeling of
24218 sadness.... And when His Holiness reflected on certain profound explanations
24219 on emptiness, this would also trigger a strong emotion."
24220 "I think that strong conviction or strong emotions actually give more
24221 inner strength," the Dalai Lama explained. "So when I face some problems or
24222 criticism, for example, criticism from the Chinese, of course, little
24223 irritation sometimes..." "But then he'll have this feeling of compassion for
24224 them," Lhakdor translated. "He'll regret they're not making positive
24225 connection with him. But his sentiment is, although there is this negativity,
24226 may it also give positive fruit."
24227 "Now, the understanding of emptiness helps a lot toward developing
24228 compassion. There's no doubt it reinforces compassion," the Dalai Lama said.
24229 Lhakdor elaborated: "Emptiness allows us to have an understanding about
24230 ultimate reality. It helps us to appreciate the wisdom of interdependence--a
24231 fundamental law of nature. We gain an appreciation that we are all basically
24232 related. It is because of this interrelatedness that we are able to empathize
24233 with the suffering of others. With empathy, compassion flows naturally. We
24234 develop genuine sympathy for others' suffering and the will to help remove
24235 their pain. Emptiness thus strengthens positive emotions like compassion."
24236 Emptiness and compassion. Wisdom and method. These are the twin pillars
24237 of the Dalai Lama's practice--everything we need to know about spiritual
24238 practice. Both qualities are needed; they strengthen each other. Once we
24239 realize we are all interconnected, it is difficut not to feel some of
24240 compassion for the problems of our fellow human beings. And once we come by
24241 a feeling of compassion, we start to get a glimpse of the timeless truth of
24242 interdependence, of emptiness.
24243 The Dalai Lama looked thoughtful. After some time, he turned to me, "I
24244 think one thing I'm quite sure," he said. "I can tell you, the twin practice
24245 of emptiness and compassion is... effective." Then he lapsed into Tibetan
24246 again. Lhakdor translated. "His Holiness can say with conviction: if you
24247 meditate on emptiness and compassion, so long as you make the effort, then His
24248 Holiness is sure that, day in and day out, you will get tangible benefit.
24249 Your whole attitude will change." "....These things about compassion are
24250 something living--according to my own experience," the Dalai Lama went on. "I
24251 tell some of my experiences to other people, share some of my feelings, then
24252 other people understand: there is something real, something living."
24253 -- from "The Wisdom of Forgiveness: Intimate Conversations and Journeys by"
24254 His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Victor Chan, published by Snow Lion
24257 ...it is difficult to recognize an authentic teacher, because these
24258 qualities are internal. We can not depend upon external factors, but external
24259 factors are what we see. It is very difficult to see the inner qualities of
24260 another person. A businessman might be friendlier to us than our best friend,
24261 while his unseen motivation is merely to make a sale. Likewise, if a
24262 "teacher" acts in a very kind and loving manner towards us it does not
24263 necessarily mean that he is compassionate and selfless, because we cannot see
24264 his motivation. We also cannot determine a teacher's qualifications based
24265 upon her fame, or whether she has thousands of students. So the seeker is
24266 left with this paradox.
24267 There is no simple solution, but there are things we can do. First, it is
24268 important that we familiarize ourselves with the characteristics* discussed by
24269 Kongtrul Rinpoche. Second, we must maintain awareness of our own motivation
24270 during the process of finding a teacher. Am I seeking a teacher in order to
24271 attain enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings, or am I seeking
24272 to fulfill my need to acquire the prestige associated with a famous teacher,
24273 or am I merely attracted to a lama's beautiful retreat land or the social
24274 scene of a hip sangha, and so on.
24275 These motivations need to be acknowledged if we are to recognize an
24276 authentic wisdom teacher, because the teacher you find is related to your
24277 karma, and your karma is intimately connected to your motivation.
24278 Fortunately, there are methods that help us purify our motivation and create
24279 the proper conditions for finding a wisdom teacher, such as bringing our
24280 awareness to our motivations as much as possible, doing daily meditation
24281 practice, and praying to the Triple Gem [Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha] that we
24282 will meet and recognize an authentic wisdom teacher.
24283 -- Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye, in "The Teacher-Student Relationship: A
24284 Translation of 'The Explanation of the Master and Student Relationship,
24285 How to Follow the Master, and How to Teach and Listen to the Dharma' ",
24286 translated and introduced by Ron Garry, published by Snow Lion Pub.
24288 * "Whatever lama is followed must definitely have these qualities: He holds a
24289 pure lineage since he has not contradicted the commitments and prohibitions of
24290 the three vows.... He should be very learned... clear about the sutras,
24291 tantras, and shastras. His mind-stream should be so saturated with compassion
24292 that he loves all the limitless sentient beings as his only child. He should
24293 be expert in the outer tripitakas and on the inner level he should be expert
24294 in the ritual of the four classes of tantras of the secret mantra. He should
24295 have manifested the outstanding noble qualities of abandomnent and realization
24296 in his mind-stream by having relied upon practicing the meaning of this. He
24297 gathers fortunate disciples by the four ways of attracting: generosity,
24298 pleasant speech, his conduct should benefit others, and he should act in
24299 accord with the dharma."
24302 ...when we talk about the notion of self in Buddhism, it is important to bear
24303 in mind that there are different degrees or types. There are some types of
24304 sense of self which are not only to be cultivated but also to be reinforced
24305 and enhanced. For instance, in order to have a strong determination to seek
24306 Buddhahood for the benefit of all sentient beings, one needs a very strong
24307 sense of confidence, which is based upon a sense of commitment and courage.
24308 This requires a strong sense of self. Unless one has that identity or sense
24309 of self, one will not be able to develop the confidence and courage to
24310 strongly seek this aim. In addition, the doctrine of Buddha-nature gives us a
24311 lot of encouragement and confidence because we realize that there is this
24312 potential within us which will allow us to attain the perfection that we are
24313 seeking. However, there are different types of sense of self which are rooted
24314 in a belief in a permanent, solid, indivisible entity called "self" or "I."
24315 There is the belief that there is something very concrete or objective about
24316 this entity. This is a false notion of self which must be overcome.
24317 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, in "Healing Anger: The Power of Patience
24318 from a Buddhist Perspective", translated by Geshe Thupten Jinpa,
24319 published by Snow Lion Publications
24321 ...by respecting and serving your teachers you exhaust karma whose effects you
24322 would otherwise experience in the miserable realms. Your action of serving
24323 the teacher expends these miserable effects and replaces them with only slight
24324 harm to your body and mind in this lifetime, either in actuality or in dreams.
24325 In addition, the benefits of respecting and serving your teachers are
24326 tremendous, such as a collection of virtue which surpasses even the roots of
24327 virtue that you derive from making offerings to limitless buddhas, and so
24328 forth. As the Sutra of Ksitigarbha says:
24329 "Those whom the teachers care for will purify the karma that would
24330 otherwise cause them to wander through the miserable realms for ten million
24331 limitless eons. They purify this karma with harm to their bodies and minds in
24332 this lifetime. This harm includes sickness such as an infectious disease with
24333 fever and calamities such as famine. They may purify their karma by merely
24334 undergoing something as little as a dream or a scolding. They produce more
24335 roots of virtue in one morning than those who give gifts to, worship, or
24336 observe precepts from limitless tens of millions of buddhas. Those who
24337 respect and serve their gurus are endowed with unimaginable good qualities."
24338 -- Tsong-kha-pa, in "The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to
24339 Enlightenment: Lam Rim Chen Mo", translated by the Lamrim Chenmo
24340 Translation Committee under editorial guidance of Joshua Cutler and Guy
24341 Newland, foreword by Robert A.F. Thurman, Snow Lion Publications
24343 ...if we remain clinging to this life even for one day, we are misusing
24344 our time. In this way, we can waste months and years on end. Because we
24345 don't know when our lives will finish, we should remain mindful and well
24346 prepared. Then, even if we die tonight, we will do so without regret. If we
24347 die tonight, the purpose of being well prepared is borne out; if we don't die
24348 tonight, there is no harm in being well prepared, because it will still
24350 But when we leave the world of humans, we do so without a protector or
24351 supporter and the total responsibility falls on us. We only have our own
24352 intelligence to rely on at that time, so we must expend our own effort in
24353 order to protect ourselves. As the Buddha said, "I have shown you the path to
24354 liberation; know that liberation depends on you." We must put strenuous effort
24355 into gaining freedom from the lower migrations, liberation from samsara,
24356 freedom from conventional existence and solitary salvation.
24357 The body is compared to a guest house; it is a place to stay for just a
24358 short time and not permanently. At present, the guest of consciousness is
24359 staying in the guest house of the body, like renting a place to stay. When
24360 the day comes for consciousness to leave, the guest house of the body must be
24361 left behind. Not being attached to friends, the body, wealth and possessions
24362 is the practice of the Bodhisattvas.
24363 -- His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama, in "The Heart of Compassion: A Practical
24364 Approach to a Meaningful Life"
24366 ...the Transcendent Conqueror presented the two truths with respect to all
24367 inner and outer things, like sprouts and everything else. Genuine truth is
24368 described as being simply the authentic object of the noble ones' original
24369 wisdom that sees what is authentic and true; there is no identity actually
24370 established there for conceptual mind to find. Relative truth is the false
24371 object seen from the perspective of the conceptual mind whose eye of wisdom is
24372 completely covered by the cataract of ignorance, as is the case with ordinary
24373 beings. It is therefore posited as being this conceptual mind. The object
24374 perceived does not exist in the way that this mind perceives it to be.
24375 Thus, the Teacher explained that every thing found holds two natures
24376 within: a genuine nature and a relative one. From among these two, the object
24377 of the noble ones' authentic vision is the precise nature of reality, genuine
24378 truth, and the object of false seeing is relative truth.
24379 -- Chandrakirti, in "The Moon of Wisdom: Chapter Six of Chandrakirti's
24380 'Entering the Middle Way' with Commentary from the Eighth Karmapa Mikyo
24381 Dorje's 'Chariot of the Dagpo Kagyu Siddhas', translated by Ari Goldfield,
24382 Jules Levinson, Jim Scott and Birgit Scott under guidance of Khenpo
24383 Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche, published by Snow Lion Publications
24385 ...we find Agastya, born to a family of Brahmans so illustrious as to be
24386 called "an ornament of the earth," living as an ascetic on the island of Kara
24387 in the Indian Ocean.... "On what accomplishment have you set your hopes?"
24388 Indra asked Agastya the Bodhisattva. "What is the object of your wishes that
24389 has led you to leave your sorrowful friends and relatives, desert a household
24390 and possessions that had been your happiness, and enter this way of life that
24391 destroys all pleasures?"
24392 The Bodhisattva replied according to the Dharma, in a way that immediately
24393 laid Indra's anxiety to rest. "Repeated births tend to great sorrow," he
24394 said. "So do the calamities of old age, sickness and death. All are just a
24395 disturbance to the mind. My vow is to save all sentient beings from these
24397 Relieved, Indra immediately offered, in return for such candid truth, the
24398 fulfillment of any desire Agastya might name. "May the fire of covetousness
24399 that burns insatiably even after obtaining a beloved wife, children, power and
24400 riches never enter my heart," Agastya said. "Excellent, excellent," applauded
24401 Indra and urged Agastya to request the fulfillment of still another desire.
24402 "May the fire of hatred burn far from me," Agastya said. Pleased by this
24403 game, in which Agastya so ingeniously taught the Dharma while appearing to
24404 request the fulfillment of his desires, Indra urged him to go on. But this
24405 time he was startled to hear Agastya's words. "May I never hear, see, speak
24406 to, nor endure the annoyance and pain of staying with a fool," Agastya said.
24407 "What do you mean?" Indra asked. "Those in distress deserve sympathy; the
24408 root of distress is foolishness. How can you claim to be compassionate when
24409 you abhor the very presence of those most due sympathy?"
24410 Then Agastya reasoned in this way, to prove to Indra that one should
24411 associate not with the foolish but with men of wisdom. "A fool cannot be
24412 cured even by medical treatment," he said. "Habituated to wrong conduct
24413 because of a deficiency in moral education, he urges his neighbors to follow
24414 his impetuous way, inflamed by self-conceit and the affectation of wisdom.
24415 When reprimanded, he becomes angry. There is no help for him." "How true,"
24416 Indra said. "Let me hear more jewellike, well spoken sentences."
24417 "May I see, hear, live with and converse with a wise man," Agastya said,
24418 "for these reasons: because the wise man, walking the path of virtue, draws
24419 others along with him, and is never roused to impatience by harsh words spoken
24420 for his own good." Again Indra was delighted.
24421 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Generous Wisdom: Commentaries by His Holiness the
24422 Dalai Lama XIV on the Jatakamala Garland of Birth Stories", translated by
24425 (2) What one has to abandon: how to get rid of arrogance by means of an
24427 "I'm not beyond my karma, the deeds I've done;
24428 I'll still fall ill, age, die, and leave my friends."
24429 Think like this again and yet again
24430 And with this remedy avoid all arrogance.
24431 "I will be sick, I will grow old, I will die, I will be separated from those
24432 I love, my relations and so forth. In such manner, the fully ripened effect
24433 of my actions will come to me and to no one else, and I am therefore not above
24434 depending on what I did in former lives." To think like this again and again
24435 is the antidote to such things as arrogance: make every effort not to become
24436 arrogant by meditating on this antidote.
24437 -- "Nagarjuna's Letter to a Friend: with Commentary by Kangyur Rinpoche
24438 by Nagarjuna", translated by the Padmakara Translation Group, published
24439 by Snow Lion Publications
24441 For every minute you are angry, you lose 60 seconds of happiness.
24442 -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
24444 Inwardly, we defend against death by the very structure of our ego. Our ego
24445 claims to have the ability to provide us with happiness based on its belief in
24446 its own permanent existence. On the one hand, to believe in ego results in
24447 denying death. On the other, to accept death is to question the very nature
24448 of ego as a permanent, on-going structure and to confront very strong defense
24449 mechanisms. As a result, we have strong resistance to contemplating death.
24450 This resistance is also the same resistance that comes up when we meditate.
24451 Please recognize it for what it is and move on.
24452 -- Bruce Newman, in "A Beginner's Guide to Tibetan Buddhism: Notes from a
24453 Practitioner's Journey", published by Snow Lion Publications
24455 Question: Could you please say something on the three kinds of suffering?
24457 His Holiness: One kind of suffering is like a headache or like yesterday's
24458 flu: discomfort in the nose, watery eyes, and so forth. In short, it includes
24459 all of those kinds of gross physical and mental sufferings that in ordinary
24460 parlance we usually call "suffering." This is the first category.
24462 Then the second category is as follows. When we feel hungry and begin to take
24463 food, at first we feel very happy. We take one mouthful, then two, three,
24464 four, five... eventually, though it is the same person, the same food, and
24465 the same time period, we begin to find the food objectionable and reject it.
24466 This is what is meant by the "suffering of change." Practically every worldly
24467 happiness and pleasure is in this second category. Compared to other forms of
24468 suffering, at the beginning these more subtle forms of suffering seem
24469 pleasurable; they seem to afford us some happiness, but this is not true or
24470 lasting happiness, for the more we become acquainted with them, the more
24471 involved we become with them, the more suffering and trouble they bring us.
24472 That is the second category.
24474 Now as for the third category, I think it is fair to say that it is one's own
24475 body. Roughly speaking, this is what it is. It is the body which is the
24476 fruit of afflictions, a body originally created by afflictions. Because the
24477 body is created by such causes, it is of the very nature of suffering. It
24478 comes to act as the basis of suffering. This, then, is the third category.
24479 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "Answers: Discussions with Western Buddhists",
24480 edited by Jose Ignacio Cabezon, published by Snow Lion Publications.
24482 One point I should make here is that some people, especially those who see
24483 themselves as very realistic and practical, are sometimes too realistic and
24484 obsessed with practicality. They may think, "The idea of wishing for the
24485 happiness of all beings, of wanting what is best for every single one, is
24486 unrealistic and too idealistic. Such an unrealistic idea cannot contribute in
24487 any way to transforming the mind or to attaining some kind of mental
24488 discipline, because it is completely unachievable."
24489 ...They feel there is simply no point in thinking about all beings since
24490 there is an infinite number of them. They may conceivably be able to feel
24491 some kind of connection with some fellow human beings on this planet, but they
24492 feel that the infinite number of beings throughout the universe has nothing to
24493 do with their own experience as individuals.
24494 ...What is important here, however, is to grasp the impact of cultivating
24495 such altruistic sentiments. The point is to try to develop the scope of our
24496 empathy in such a way that we can extend it to any form of life with the
24497 capacity to feel pain and experience happiness. It is a matter of recognizing
24498 living organisms as sentient, and therefore subject to pain and capable of
24500 ...Such a universal sentiment of compassion is very powerful, and there is
24501 no need to be able to identify, in specific terms, with every single living
24502 being in order for it to be effective.
24503 ...Given patience and time, it is within our power to develop this kind of
24504 universal compassion.
24505 -- Tenzin Gyatso, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, in "The Compassionate Life",
24506 edited by David Kittelstrom, sponsored by Richard Gere and the Gere
24510 Different body postures open or compress particular energetic channels and
24511 influence the flow of subtle energy. We use this understanding to aid
24512 specific processes in the practice. The Tibetan tradition considers the
24513 negative emotions to be more closely associated with the primary channel on
24514 the right side of the body in men and on the left in women. When a man sleeps
24515 on his right side, the channel that carries mostly negative prana is forced a
24516 little closed and the left channel opens. Also the lung, the physical organ,
24517 on that side is a bit compressed so the opposite lung is a little more
24518 responsible for the breath. You are probably already familiar with effects
24519 from lying on your side: when you lie on your right side you find it easier to
24520 breathe through your left nostril. For men, we consider this position
24521 beneficial to the movement of the positive wisdom prana through the left
24522 channel. Women benefit from the reverse, opening the wisdom channel that is
24523 on their right side by sleeping on their left. This affects dreams in a
24524 positive fashion and makes the dream practice easier. Opening the flow of the
24525 wisdom prana is a provisional expedient, as ultimately we want the balanced
24526 prana to move into the central channel.
24527 Furthermore, by paying attention to posture, awareness is kept more stable
24528 during sleep. Where I come from, most people sleep on a three-foot by six-
24529 foot Tibetan carpet. If one moves too much, one falls out of bed. But that
24530 does not usually happen, because when one sleeps on something small, the
24531 position of the body is held in the sleeping mind throughout the night....
24532 Here, in the big beds of the West, the sleeper can rotate like the hands of a
24533 clock and not fall, but holding the position anyway will help maintain
24535 -- Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, in "The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep",
24536 edited by Mark Dahlby, published by Snow Lion Publications
24538 The term emptiness does not carry here any connotation of void or of absolute
24539 nothingness. It should be understood as the naturally open and serene state
24540 of the mind. Thus, to affirm the emptiness of phenomena does not in any way
24541 mean that they do not exist in the way that the horn of a hare or skyflowers
24542 do not exist. Instead, emptiness refers to the insight that, at the ultimate
24543 level, both interior phenomena--sensations, perceptions and the "I"--and
24544 exterior phenomena--all the appearances of the phenomenal world--have no real
24545 existence, although they do appear in different forms. The Heart Sutra
24546 summarizes this as follows:
24547 Form is emptiness, emptiness is form,
24548 Emptiness is not other than form,
24549 Form is not other than emptiness.
24550 -- Jerome Edou in "Machig Labdron and the Foundations of Chod", published
24551 by Snow Lion Publications
24553 Nonviolence does not mean that we remain indifferent to a problem. On the
24554 contrary, it is important to be fully engaged. However, we must behave in a
24555 way that does not benefit us alone. We must not harm the interests of others.
24556 Nonviolence therefore is not merely the absence of violence. It involves a
24557 sense of compassion and caring. It is almost a manifestation of compassion.
24558 I strongly believe that we must promote such a concept of nonviolence at the
24559 level of the family as well as at the national and international levels. Each
24560 individual has the ability to contribute to such compassionate nonviolence.
24561 How should we go about this? We can start with ourselves. We must try to
24562 develop greater perspective, looking at situations from all angles. Usually
24563 when we face problems, we look at them from our own point of view. We even
24564 sometimes deliberately ignore other aspects of a situation. This often leads
24565 to negative consequences. However, it is very important for us to have a
24566 broader perspective.
24567 We must come to realize that others are also part of our society. We can
24568 think of our society as a body, with arms and legs as parts of it. Of course,
24569 the arm is different from the leg; however, if something happens to the foot,
24570 the hand should reach down to help. Similarly, when something is wrong within
24571 our society, we must help.
24572 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "An Open Heart: Practicing Compassion in Everyday
24573 Life", edited by Nicholas Vreeland, afterword by Khyongla Rato and
24576 According to Highest Yoga Tantra, some persons attain Buddhahood in one
24577 lifetime, and because these persons are not born with a body adorned with the
24578 major and minor marks they must achieve such a body through the practice of
24580 Meditation on oneself as undifferentiable from a deity is the special
24581 cause... for attaining Buddhahood. If one meditated only on emptiness and
24582 did not cultivate any method--either that of the Perfection or that of the
24583 Mantra Vehicle--one would fall to the fruit of a Hinayana Foe Destroyer. In
24584 order to attain the definite goodness of the highest achievement, Buddhahood,
24585 deity yoga is needed. Also, ...one must view one's body clearly as a divine
24586 body and train in the pride of being a deity. Without deity yoga the Mantra
24587 path is impossible; deity yoga is the essence of Mantra.
24588 -- H.H. Dalai Lama, Tsong-ka-pa and Jeffrey Hopkins, in "Tantra in Tibet",
24589 translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, Snow Lion Publications
24591 Often we see other sentient beings as hassles: "This mosquito is
24592 disturbing me. Those politicians are corrupt. Why can't my colleagues do
24593 their work correctly?" and so on. But when we see sentient beings as being
24594 more precious than a wish-fulfilling jewel, our perspective completely
24595 changes. For example, when we look at a fly buzzing around, we train
24596 ourselves to think, "My enlightenment depends on that fly." This isn't
24597 fanciful thinking because, in fact, our enlightenment does depend on that fly.
24598 If that fly isn't included in our bodhicitta, then we don't have bodhicitta,
24599 and we won't receive the wonderful results of generating bodhicitta--the
24600 tremendous purification and creation of positive potential.
24601 Imagine training your mind so that when you look at every single living
24602 being, you think, "My enlightenment depends on that being. The drunk who just
24603 got on the bus--my enlightenment depends on him. The soldier in Iraq--my
24604 enlightenment depends on him. My brothers and sisters, the teller at the
24605 bank, the janitor at my workplace, the president of the United States, the
24606 suicide bombers in the Middle East, the slug in my garden, my eighth-grade
24607 boyfriend, the babysitter when I was a kid--my enlightenment depends on each
24608 of them." All sentient beings are actually that precious to us.
24609 -- Bhikshuni Thubten Chodron, in "Cultivating a Compassionate Heart: The
24610 Yoga Method of Chenrezig", published by Snow Lion Publications
24612 We think of ourselves as being the child of specific parents, as belonging
24613 to a certain gender and race, as a citizen of a specific nation, and as a
24614 member of a caste, class and community within that country, etc. Our
24615 identification with these transient reference points, be they racial,
24616 linguistic, cultural, conceptual, or gender-specific, can become lifelong love
24617 affairs, hate affairs, or guilt affairs. What Guru Rinpoche's birth
24618 symbolizes for me is the fact that, from the first moment, he recognized the
24619 unborn and undying nature of his mind, primordially pure awareness. He
24620 identified with that, rather than with his body, wherever it may have come
24621 from, be it a womb, a lotus, a stork, or a cabbage patch. Whatever physical,
24622 linguistic, or conceptual worlds he adopted, he wore as ephemeral ornaments on
24623 the infinite expanse of timeless awareness.
24624 ...Guru Rinpoche was not an individual who followed a spiritual path until
24625 illumination. He was an enlightened being who appeared in different guises
24626 entirely as a manifestation to help others, including the guise of an
24627 individual who followed the spiritual path.
24628 -- Ngawang Zangpo, in "Guru Rinpoche: His Life and Times", published by
24629 Snow Lion Publications
24631 ...if a person is experiencing some kind of mental dysfunction, it is
24632 frequently understood that the mind itself has become too withdrawn in upon
24633 itself, and that there is a corresponding physiological process involving the
24634 energies themselves, which are closely associated with consciousness, also
24635 entering into a dysfunctional state.
24636 So, in the Buddhist view, it can happen, for example, that one's mind will
24637 become depressed because of some environmental event. As a result of the mind
24638 becoming depressed, there is a chemical, maybe an electrochemical,
24639 transformation in the brain that has now occurred. The mental dysfunction
24640 will then be aggravated. When that happens, there is a further chemical
24641 response, which then avalanches upon itself.
24642 ...on occasion, without any special external event taking place, there can
24643 simply be a dysfunction or disruption in the balance of the elements within
24644 the body. In that event, the internal circumstances are the dominant,
24646 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, from "Consciousness at the Crossroads: Conversations
24647 with the Dalai Lama on Brain Science and Buddhism," edited by Zara
24648 Houshmand, Robert B. Livingston and B. Alan Wallace, published by
24649 Snow Lion Publications
24651 We cannot hold a torch to light another's path without brightening our own.
24654 You must be the change you wish to see in the world. -- Mahatma Gandhi
24656 Enlightenment is not only... devoid of various types of contaminations,
24657 pollutions, suffering, and afflictive emotions... but is also free from
24658 various dualistic appearances. When you achieve such a state, you are
24659 unfettered from all elaborations in the form of subject-object duality and
24660 appearances of conventionality.
24661 You are free not because the subject-object duality or conventional
24662 appearances are objects of elimination in the sense that they are negative
24663 emotions. Rather, you are free because these elaborations cease to exist when
24664 you reach the state of enlightenment. In such a state, the mind of
24665 enlightenment or omniscience is such that it is totally merged with emptiness.
24666 To such a mind, no elaborations exist.
24667 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "Many Ways to Nirvana: Reflections and
24668 Advice on Right Living", edited by Renuka Singh
24671 When we meditate, things from the past come up, and we have to work with
24672 them. We may remember times when we treated others horribly--hurting their
24673 feelings, deceiving them, repaying their kindness with spite, manipulating
24674 them, cheating them. While regret for these actions is appropriate and
24675 necessary to purify these karmas, we often fall into guilt and shame instead.
24676 Guilt and shame are obstacles to overcome on the path, because they keep us
24677 trapped in our self-centered melodrama entitled "How Bad I Am." Regret, on the
24678 other hand, realizes that we erred, leads us to purify, and motivates us to
24679 refrain from acting like that in the future.
24680 How do we counteract guilt and shame? One way is to recognize that the
24681 person who did that action no longer exists. You are different now. Is the
24682 person who did that action five years ago the same person you are now? If she
24683 were exactly the same person, you would still be doing the same action. The
24684 present "you" exists in a continuum from that person, but is not exactly the
24685 same as her. Look back at the person you were with compassion. You can
24686 understand the suffering and confusion she was experiencing that made her act
24688 -- Bhikshuni Thubten Chodron, "Cultivating a Compassionate Heart: The Yoga
24689 Method of Chenrezig", foreword by H.H. the Dalai Lama, published by
24690 Snow Lion Publications
24692 Throughout history it has been the inaction of those who could have acted,
24693 the indifference of those who should have known better, the silence of the
24694 voice of justice when it mattered most, that has made it possible for evil
24698 If we value the pursuit of knowledge, we must be free to follow wherever
24699 that search may lead us. The free mind is no barking dog to be tethered
24700 on a ten-foot chain.
24701 -- Adlai E. Stevenson
24703 Our relationship with our practice must be based on reason and common sense.
24704 The principal subject to be learned is the nature of the two levels of reality
24705 [conventional and ultimate], the stages of which can be approached through a
24706 combination of hearing, contemplation and meditation. It is very important
24707 always to remember contemplation, which is the analysis and investigation of
24708 the teachings through the use of reason. The two truths are speaking about
24709 reality, not some intellectual fabrication. To investigate the teaching
24710 critically is fully encouraged in the same way that medical students are
24711 encouraged to apply their theories to real life and thus to witness their
24712 validity.... Time may flow on, but the essential nature of the deeper
24713 problems and mysteries that human beings encounter in the course of their
24714 lives remains the same. Contemplation of the teachings of Buddha Shakyamuni
24715 is merely contemplation of certain facets of reality, and it will cause to
24716 unfold within us a deeper understanding of ourselves, our minds, and the
24717 nature of our sense of being. As the teachings are merely pointing out key
24718 facts of life, facts that, if realized, cause one to evolve in wholesome
24719 directions, a critical investigation of them will only inspire trainees with
24720 confidence. Reason well from the beginning and then there will never be any
24721 need to look back with confusion and doubt.
24722 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, in "The Path to Enlightenment", published by
24723 Snow Lion Publications
24725 b. Keeping bounteousness in mind
24727 Possessions are ephemeral and essenceless
24728 Know this and give them generously to monks,
24729 To brahmins, to the poor, and to your friends:
24730 Beyond there is no greater friend than gift.
24732 Having realized that possessions such as food are inconstant and fluctuate,
24733 that in changing and transforming they are devoid of essence, in order to make
24734 them meaningful try to use them properly, giving to those with good qualities
24735 (monks and brahmins), to those who suffer (the poor, the sick, and so forth),
24736 to those who help you (friends) and to those you venerate (spiritual teachers
24737 and parents). Even beyond the world there is no friend more sublime, more
24738 beneficial, than giving, because it gives rise directly and indirectly to
24739 ripened effects that are inexhaustible.
24741 -- Nagarjuna, "Nagarjuna's Letter to a Friend: with Commentary by Kangyur
24742 Rinpoche", translated by the Padmakara Translation Group, published by
24743 Snow Lion Publications
24745 A goloptious full-up pot, too,
24746 And I don't know where it's got to,
24747 No, I don't know where it's gone--
24749 -- A.A. Milne, "In Which Piglet Meets a Heffalump"
24751 With a determination to accomplish
24752 The highest welfare for all sentient beings
24753 Who surpass even a wish-granting jewel
24754 I will learn to hold them supremely dear.
24756 Never mind neglecting other sentient beings, you should take them as a
24757 treasure through which temporary and final aims can be achieved and should
24758 cherish them one-pointedly. Others should be considered more dear, more
24759 important than yourself. Initially, it is in dependence upon sentient
24760 beings--others--that you generate the altruistic aspiration to highest
24761 enlightenment. In the middle, it is in relation to sentient beings that you
24762 increase this good mind higher and higher and practice the deeds of the path
24763 in order to achieve enlightenment. Finally, in the end, it is for the sake of
24764 sentient beings that you achieve Buddhahood. Since sentient beings are the
24765 aim and basis of all of this marvelous development, they are more important
24766 than even a wish-granting jewel, and should always be treated with respect,
24767 kindness, and love.
24769 You might think, "My mind is so full of the afflictive emotions. How
24770 could I possibly do this?" However, the mind does what it is used to. What
24771 we are not used to, we find difficult, but with familiarity, previously
24772 difficult things become easy. Thus Shantideva's Engaging in the Bodhisattva
24775 "There is nothing which, with time, you cannot get used to."
24777 -- The Fourteenth Dalai Lama, His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso, "Kindness,
24778 Clarity, and Insight," edited and translated by Jeffrey Hopkins,
24779 co-edited by Elizabeth Napper, published by Snow Lion Publications
24781 Eventually, through the power of stabilizing meditation in which the
24782 mind is set one-pointedly on its object of observation, an initial mental
24783 pliancy--a serviceability of mind--is generated. As a sign that mental
24784 pliancy is about to be generated, a tingly sensation is felt at the top of the
24785 head. This pleasant feeling is compared to that of a warm hand placed on top
24786 of the head after it has been shaved. When mental pliancy has been generated,
24787 a favorable wind, or energy, circulates in the body, engendering physical
24788 pliancy. Through this wind, or air, pervading the entire body, the
24789 unserviceability of the body such that it cannot be directed to virtuous
24790 activities in accordance with your wishes is removed. The generation of
24791 physical pliancy, in turn, engenders a bliss of physical pliancy, a sense of
24792 comfort throughout the body due to the power of meditative stabilization.
24793 The bliss of physical pliancy induces a bliss of mental pliancy, making
24794 the mind blissful. At first, this joyous mental bliss is a little too
24795 buoyant, but then gradually it becomes more steady; at this point, one attains
24796 an unfluctuating pliancy. This marks attainment of a fully qualified
24797 meditative stabilization of calm abiding.
24798 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Dzong-ka-ba and Jeffrey Hopkins, in "Yoga
24799 Tantra: Paths to Magical Feats", published by Snow Lion Publications
24801 The more we generate an attitude of contentment in our lives, the happier
24802 we will be and the more open we will be to engage in genuine Dharma practice.
24803 Letting go of the eight worldly concerns brings mental peace right now.
24804 The defining characteristic of a thought or action being Dharma is whether
24805 or not we're attached to the happiness of this life. The eight worldly
24806 concerns are completely involved with attachment to the happiness of this
24807 life. How can we practice genuine Dharma when our self-centered mind is
24808 fixated on getting our own way and making everyone and everything around us
24809 suit our preferences and needs?
24810 That doesn't mean the happiness of this life is bad or wrong. The Buddha
24811 did not say that we should suffer in this life so that we'll get our reward in
24812 heaven. The objects we're attached to and have aversion for aren't the
24813 problem; there's nothing wrong with experiencing pleasure and happiness.
24814 Those aren't the issue. Rather, attachment to pleasant feelings and to the
24815 people, objects, and situations that cause them, and aversion to unpleasant
24816 ones--it is these emotions that create trouble. They make us unhappy and
24817 propel us to harm others in order to get what we want. The troublemakers of
24818 attachment and hostility are what we want to abandon, not people and things.
24819 There is nothing wrong with being happy. But when we're attached to it, we
24820 actually create more unhappiness for ourselves.
24821 -- Bhikshuni Thubten Chodron, "How to Free Your Mind: Tara the Liberator",
24822 published by Snow Lion Publications
24824 When engaging in hearing, it is important to mix the mind, to familiarize the
24825 mind, with what is being heard. The study of religion is not like learning
24826 about history. It must be mixed with your mental continuum; your mind should
24827 be suffused with it. A sutra says that the practices are like a mirror; your
24828 actions of body, speech, and mind are like a face to be seen in the mirror;
24829 and through the practices you should recognize faults and gradually get rid of
24830 them. As it is said in the oral transmission, "If there is enough space
24831 between yourself and the practices for someone else to walk through, then you
24832 are not implementing them properly."
24833 -- The Fourteenth Dalai Lama, His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso, in "Kindness,
24834 Clarity, and Insight", edited and translated by Jeffrey Hopkins,
24835 co-edited by Elizabeth Napper, published by Snow Lion Publications
24837 Question: What is the relationship of the mind and afflictive emotions?
24839 DL: The very entity of the mind, its nature of mere luminosity and knowing, is
24840 not polluted by defilements; they do not abide in the entity of the mind.
24841 Even when we generate afflictive emotions, the very entity or nature of the
24842 mind is still mere luminosity and knowing, and because of this we are able to
24843 remove the afflictive emotions. If you agitate the water in a pond, it
24844 becomes cloudy with mud; yet the very nature of the water itself is not dirty.
24845 When you allow it to become still again, the mud will settle, leaving the
24846 water pure. How are defilements removed? They are not removed by outside
24847 action, nor by leaving them as they are; they are removed by the power of
24848 antidotes, meditative antidotes.
24849 -- The Dalai Lama, "A Policy of Kindness: An Anthology of Writings By and
24850 About the Dalai Lama", compiled and edited by Sidney Piburn, published
24851 by Snow Lion Publications
24853 Every single sentient being wishes to be happy and free of suffering. By
24854 no means does Buddhism say this is wrong; rather, this is where we start from.
24855 The very root of this yearning for happiness, this yearning to be free of
24856 suffering, is the fundamental expression of the buddha-nature. If for the
24857 time being we turn our gaze away from the myriad ways that we can stray from
24858 the agenda--trying to find happiness by buying a more luxurious car, or a
24859 bigger house, or getting a better job--and just come back to the primary
24860 desire of wishing to be happy, we find at the very source of our yearning for
24861 happiness the buddha-nature wanting to realize itself. It's like a seed that
24862 wants to spring into the sunlight. Sometimes it gets terribly contorted, when
24863 we want to injure somebody else for the sake of our own happiness, but the
24864 fundamental yearning is something to be embraced.
24865 -- B. Alan Wallace, in "The Four Immeasurables: Cultivating a Boundless
24866 Heart", edited by Zara Houshmand, published by Snow Lion Publications
24868 No bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it
24869 by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country.
24870 -- George S. Patton
24872 When you meditate with concentration, there are three particular
24873 experiences that arise: bliss, clarity, and nonthought. Sometimes you feel
24874 great joy, sometimes your mind is very clear, and sometimes there is complete
24875 equanimity. To experience these you do not need to meditate for a long time,
24876 although for a beginner these experiences will not last long because of the
24877 limited ability of a beginner's meditation.
24878 The experience of meditative bliss is greater than ordinary worldly
24879 happiness. Sometimes when you are meditating, a feeling of blissfulness
24880 suddenly arises from the subtle state of your mind and pervades your entire
24881 body. This bliss is healthy and brings out your inner qualities. Some people
24882 use drugs to induce blissfulness and visions, but drugs are external supports
24883 that cannot bring lasting happiness. The bliss experienced in meditation can
24884 last for many days, according to your ability to meditate. When you
24885 experience this kind of bliss, on the outside you might look very poor, but
24886 inside you remain very joyful.
24887 The second main experience in meditation is clarity. Sometimes while
24888 meditating you can suddenly feel that your mind is very clear and bright.
24889 Even if you are meditating in the dark, you do not feel heavy or tired.
24890 Sometimes your body feels very light and your mind is very clear, and many
24891 kinds of reflections appear. Clarity brings great wisdom and the ability to
24892 read other people's minds, as well as to see your own past and future lives.
24893 The third main experience is nonthought, or a state of equanimity without
24894 distractions. Beginners can also experience this. Nonthought is more settled
24895 than the experiences of bliss and clarity. If you have thoughts, they
24896 suddenly dissolve and you can remain continuously in meditation. As your
24897 ability to meditate develops, your mind becomes more and more settled, so that
24898 you can meditate for one hour or one week or one month without being
24899 distracted by thoughts. You simply remain in the natural state for as long as
24901 -- Khenchen Palden Sherab and Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal, in "Opening to Our
24902 Primordial Nature", edited by Ann Helm and Michael White, published by
24903 Snow Lion Publications
24905 ...when you probe deeply you will find that no matter how high an
24906 existence a realm may be, even though it may be the highest state of
24907 existence, as long as it is in this cycle of existence the beings there are in
24908 the nature of sufferings, because they have the sufferings of pervasive
24909 conditioning and are therefore under the influence or command of contaminated
24910 actions and delusions. As long as one is not able to be free from such an
24911 influence, there is no place for permanent peace or happiness.
24912 Generally, the experiences that you normally regard as pleasurable and
24913 happy, such as having the physical comfort of good facilities and so forth, if
24914 they are examined at a deeper level, will be revealed to be changeable and
24915 therefore in the nature of suffering. They provide you with temporary
24916 satisfaction; because of that temporary satisfaction you regard them as
24917 experiences of happiness. But if you keep on pursuing them, they will again
24918 lead to the experience of suffering. Most of these pleasurable experiences
24919 are not really happiness in the true sense of the word, but only appear as
24920 pleasure and happiness in comparison to the obvious sufferings that you have.
24921 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, in "Path to Bliss: A Practical Guide
24922 to Stages of Meditation", translated by Geshe Thubten Jinpa, edited by
24923 Christine Cox, published by Snow Lion Publications
24925 Once the conventional nature of the mind has been identified, then,
24926 through analysing its nature, finally we will gradually be able to identify
24927 the ultimate nature of the mind. If that is done, there is great progress
24928 unlike anything else.
24929 At the beginning we should meditate for half an hour. When we rise from
24930 the session and various good and bad objects appear, benefit and harm are
24931 manifestly experienced. Therefore, we should develop as much as we can the
24932 realisation that these phenomena do not exist objectively and are mere
24933 dependent-arisings of appearances, like illusions [in that they only seem to
24934 be inherently existent]. We should meditate in this way in four formal
24935 sessions: at sunrise, in the morning, afternoon, and evening.
24936 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Buddhism of Tibet", translated and edited by
24937 Jeffrey Hopkins, published by Snow Lion Publications
24939 Bodhichitta is the one practice we cannot do without. Even if we have been
24940 given the precious oral instructions on realizing the nature of mind, they
24941 will not be the sufficient cause for realization if we have not learned to
24942 generate Bodhichitta. The great Dzogchen yogi Patrul Rinpoche said,
24943 If we have only one thing, the precious Bodhichitta is enough.
24944 If we have nothing else, we must have the method of the precious
24946 We should learn to develop Bodhichitta in a twofold way: through our
24947 aspirations and through our actions. Aspiration Bodhichitta is our initial
24948 wish that all sentient beings be liberated from the vast ocean of samsara's
24949 suffering. Action Bodhichitta requires that we first generate aspiration
24950 Bodhichitta, and practice the Six Paramitas as the method to establish the two
24951 benefits of 1) attaining Buddhahood oneself to 2) be of ultimate benefit to
24952 others. The way to practice aspiration and action Bodhichitta was taught by
24953 the omniscient Patrul Rinpoche, who said,
24954 The instructions for aspiration [Bodhichitta] are to practice the
24955 Four Immeasurables;
24956 The instructions for action [Bodhichitta] are to practice the Paramitas.
24957 -- Anyen Rinpoche, "The Union of Dzogchen and Bodhichitta", translated by
24958 Allison Graboski, published by Snow Lion Publications
24960 What are the techniques for heightening or lowering the mind? To heighten
24961 the mind, you think about something that enlivens it, but not an object that
24962 would generate desire. For instance, you could reflect on the value of
24963 developing the meditative stabilization of calm abiding or on the value of
24964 having attained a life as a human or on the value of having human
24965 intelligence. Through such reflection, your mind will gain courage, thereby
24966 causing its mode of apprehension to become heightened.
24967 If, despite such a technique, laxity is not cleared away, it is better to
24968 end the session and go to a place that is bright or that is high with a vast
24969 view where you can see a great distance. Or, expose yourself to fresh air, or
24970 throw cold water on your face. Then, return to the session.
24971 When the mind becomes too heightened and thus scattered, what will lower
24972 its mode of apprehension? As a technique to withdraw the mind inside, you
24973 should reflect on a topic that sobers the mind, such as the suffering of
24974 cyclic existence, or think "In the past I have been ruined by distraction, and
24975 again now I will be ruined by distraction. If I do not take care now, it will
24976 not be good." This will lower the mode of apprehension of the mind.
24977 Since this is the case, a person who is cultivating calm abiding needs to
24978 be in a state where such reflections will move the mind immediately.
24979 Therefore, prior to working at achieving calm abiding, it is necessary to have
24980 become convinced about many topics--such as those involved in the four
24981 establishments in mindfulness--through a considerable amount of analysis. In
24982 an actual session of cultivating calm abiding one is performing stabilizing
24983 meditation, not analytical meditation, but if one has engaged in considerable
24984 analysis of these topics previously, the force of the previous reflection
24985 remains with the mind and can be recalled. Thus, when you switch to such
24986 topics in order either to elevate or lower the mind, the mind will be
24987 immediately affected. In this way, if ascertainment has been generated
24988 previously, then reflecting on the value of meditative stabilization or the
24989 value of a human lifetime will immediately heighten the mind, and reflection
24990 on sobering topics such as the nature of the body or the ugliness of objects
24991 of desire will immediately lower its mode of apprehension.
24992 ...recognize when laxity and excitement arise and know the techniques for
24994 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Dalai Lama at Harvard: Lectures on the
24995 Buddhist Path to Peace", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins,
24996 published by Snow Lion Publications
24998 How is it that mistaken mind overwhelms the unmistaken mind, unmistaken
24999 reality? To give an example, during the day when the sun is shining one does
25000 not see any stars and thus one would think that there are no stars at all,
25001 that they just plain do not exist. Just so, afflictive emotions shine so
25002 brightly and are so powerful that it is as if unmistaken reality, unmistaken
25003 mind, does not exist at all. When you seek out this unmistaken mind from
25004 within, you come to understand that there is an unmistaken mind--a reality of
25005 the mind--that does not die, that does not scurry after pleasure and pain.
25006 This mind that does not follow after pleasure and pain has a mode of being
25007 that is emptiness--but not an emptiness in the sense of an empty house or an
25008 empty vessel; rather, it is endowed with the inconceivable self-effulgence of
25009 unmistaken reality, of pristine wisdom.
25010 When you search for this that is beyond mistaken mind, mistaken mind just
25011 stops; gradually like dawn there comes to be a time when pristine wisdom
25012 manifests a little. With the beginning of dawn there is not just darkness but
25013 some light, and so it is when the self-effulgence, the self-color, the self-
25014 nature of the pristine wisdom shows itself a little; one generates a suspicion
25015 that there is wisdom beyond mistaken mind. As Aryadeva says, "When you
25016 generate doubt thinking that there might be such a reality, cyclic existence
25017 is torn to tatters." How does cyclic existence come to be torn to tatters, or
25018 wrecked, made into a mess by doubt? For instance, if a table is wrecked,
25019 broken up, it cannot perform the function of a table; just so, when the self-
25020 effulgence of unmistaken pristine wisdom begins to dawn with this state of
25021 doubt, cyclic existence is wrecked and torn to tatters.
25022 -- Mi-pam-gya-tso, in "Fundamental Mind: The Nyingma View of the Great
25023 Completeness", practical commentary by Khetsun Sangpo Rinbochay,
25024 translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, published by Snow Lion
25027 The Jewel in the Crown Sutra states, "Donning the armor of loving-
25028 kindness, while abiding in the state of great compassion, practice
25029 meditative stabilization that actualizes the emptiness possessing
25030 the best of all qualities. What is the emptiness possessing the
25031 best of all qualities? It is that which is not divorced from
25032 generosity, ethics, patience, effort, meditative stabilization,
25033 wisdom, or skillful means." Bodhisattvas must rely on virtuous
25034 practices like generosity as means to thoroughly ripen all sentient
25035 beings and in order to perfect the place, body, and manifold retinue.
25036 -- from "Stages of Meditation" by Kamalashila
25038 ...Note that practice of generosity and the other perfections is essential.
25039 This is because the fully enlightened state of Buddhahood is produced by the
25040 realization of favorable causes and conditions. There is no causeless
25041 production and nothing is produced by contrary causes. A Bodhisattva has many
25042 wonderful advantages to help enhance the welfare of sentient beings; every
25043 virtue performed by such a noble being is very powerful and effective.
25044 Therefore, Bodhisattvas earnestly engage in the practice of the method aspects
25045 of the path, including the six perfections, in order to swiftly actualize the
25046 state of Buddhahood.
25047 -- The Dalai Lama, "Stages of Meditation", translated by Venerable Geshe
25048 Lobsang Jordhen, Losang Choephel Ganchenpa, and Jeremy Russell,
25049 published by Snow Lion Publications
25051 Of the three kayas, the Dharmakaya is linked to our mind, Sambhogakaya to
25052 our speech, or communicative principle, and the Nirmanakaya to our ordinary
25054 The process of the three blendings in brief is as follows.
25055 We experience the clear light of the waking state naturally during cIimax,
25056 and it can also be induced with yogic methods. Moreover, we naturally
25057 experience it at the moment of going to sleep, and at the moment of death.
25058 The principle here is that this clear light mind as experienced in each of the
25059 three occasions (waking, sleep and death) is the highest experience of our
25060 consciousness, and in it we dwell in a mental state of blissful, formless non-
25061 duality similar to that of the Dharmakaya wisdom of a buddha. Thus when we
25062 experience the clear light mind in any of these three occasions we should
25063 blend it with the Dharmakaya.
25064 The first movement from this clear light mind is likened to the
25065 Sambhogakaya experience. In the waking state this occurs in our meditation
25066 when we fall out of the clear light that is induced with yogic techniques and
25067 the conceptual mind is aroused. In sleep it occurs after the clear light of
25068 the moment of entering sleep passes and we begin to dream. At death it occurs
25069 when the clear light flash at the moment of death passes and we leave our body
25070 and enter the bardo realm.
25071 A buddha's Sambhogakaya is only visible to an arya, or saint, and not to
25072 an ordinary being; in the same way our thoughts, dreams, and bardo visions are
25073 not visible to ordinary beings but nonetheless are experiences of form. These
25074 subtle form experiences are to be linked to the natural realization of the
25075 illusory, blissful, and perfect nature of being; they are to be seen as an
25076 illusory theater made manifest for the benefit of the world. In other words,
25077 they are to be blended with the Sambhogakaya. This is the second set of three
25079 The third blending is that of blending rebirth with the Nirmanakaya.
25080 Rebirth from the bardo of the waking state occurs every time that we arise
25081 from a meditation session and once more go about our ordinary life; rebirth
25082 from the bardo of the sleep / dream state occurs when we wake up and once more
25083 enter the work-a-day world; and rebirth from the bardo of becoming, or death
25084 bardo, occurs when we complete the unwinding process of the afterlife state
25085 and once again are ready to enter into a new body.
25086 The basic principle underlying these three blendings is that what occurs
25087 to us at the time of death also occurs to us in miniature form at the time of
25088 going to sleep and can be induced in the waking state by means of the inner
25090 -- "Readings on the Six Yogas of Naropa," translated, edited and introduced
25091 by Glenn H. Mullin, published by Snow Lion Publications
25093 If you want to tell people the truth,
25095 otherwise they'll kill you.
25098 In the beginning there was nothing.
25099 God said, "Let there be light!"
25100 And there was light.
25101 There was still nothing,
25102 but you could see it a whole lot better.
25105 Now, as [in the past], the concept of a transcendent god as creator has a
25106 powerful and inspiring impact on the lives of those who believe in it. The
25107 sense that their entire destiny lies in the hands of an all-powerful,
25108 omniscient and compassionate being leads them to try to understand the
25109 workings and key message of this transcendent being. Then, when they come to
25110 realise that this transcendent being embodies love and infinite compassion,
25111 they try to cultivate love and compassion towards their fellow beings as the
25112 qualities through which to express love for their creator. They also gain
25113 confidence and inspiration through a sense of intimacy or connectedness to
25114 this loving, transcendent being.
25115 Although, metaphysically speaking, Buddhists reject any notion of a
25116 transcendent creator or god, some individual Buddhists do relate to certain
25117 higher beings, such as the goddess Tara, as an independent and real being with
25118 power over their destiny. For these practitioners Tara is their sole refuge,
25119 their greatest object of veneration and their trusted guardian and protector.
25120 What this suggests is that the inclination to seek refuge in an external
25121 source is something deeply natural for us as human beings.
25122 But it is also clear that for other people the metaphysical concept of a
25123 transcendent being is unacceptable. Questions form in their minds, such as:
25124 who created the creator--in other words--where does the transcendent being
25125 come from? And how can we posit a true beginning? People with this type of
25126 mental disposition look elsewhere for explanations.
25127 -- The Dalai Lama, in "Lighting the Way", translated by Geshe Thupten
25128 Jinpa, published by Snow Lion Publications
25130 Due to misunderstanding each other's needs and concerns, miscommunication
25131 occurs on the international level as well [as the personal level]. In all
25132 these situations--personal and international--freeing ourselves from our
25133 narrow understanding of a situation by seeing it from the other's viewpoint is
25134 an effective remedy for anger. We can ask ourselves, "If I had grown up in
25135 that person's family, society, time in history, and cultural conditions, what
25136 would my needs and concerns be in this situation?"
25137 When we look at the situation from the other person's viewpoint, sometimes
25138 we see that she perceives it differently than we thought she did. Other
25139 times, we realize that we have little idea of how a situation appears to
25140 another person or what her needs and concerns are. Therefore, we need to ask
25141 her; and when she responds, we need to listen, without interrupting. It is
25142 all too easy, when someone explains her view to us, to correct her or tell her
25143 that she should not feel the way she does. This only inflames the other
25144 person, and convinces her, with good reason, that we don't understand.
25145 Rather, we need to listen from our heart to what she says. After she has
25146 fully expressed herself, we can share our perspectives, and generally, a
25147 productive discussion will ensue.
25148 -- Thubten Chodron, in "Working with Anger", published by Snow Lion
25151 ...it is extremely important to look inward and try to promote the right
25152 kind of attitude, which is based on awareness of reality. A sense of caring
25153 for others is crucial. And it is actually the best way of caring for oneself.
25154 ...the moment you think of others, this automatically opens our inner door--
25155 you can communicate with other people easily, without any difficulties. The
25156 moment you think just of yourself and disregard others, then because of your
25157 own attitude, you also get the feeling that other people also have a similar
25158 attitude toward you. That brings suspicion, fear. Result? You yourself lose
25159 inner calmness. Therefore, I usually say that although a certain kind of
25160 selfishness is basically right--self and the happiness of that self are our
25161 original right, and we have every right to overcome suffering--but selfishness
25162 that leads to no hesitation to harm another, to exploit another, that kind of
25163 selfishness is blind. Therefore, I sometimes jokingly describe it this way:
25164 if we are going to be selfish, we should be wisely selfish rather than
25166 I feel that the moment you adopt a sense of caring for others, that brings
25167 inner strength. Inner strength brings us inner tranquility, more self-
25168 confidence. Through these attitudes, even though your surroundings may not be
25169 friendly or may not be positive, still you can sustain peace of mind.
25170 -- "The Art of Peace: Nobel Peace Laureates Discuss Human Rights,
25171 Conflict and Reconciliation", by the Dalai Lama and other Nobel
25172 Laureates, edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, published by Snow Lion
25174 If we do not uncover [our] problems--and I saw this in myself--we risk
25175 placing a veneer of spirituality over deeply buried emotional wounds from
25176 childhood that do not simply go away.
25177 ...When this happens there is greater potential for our spirituality to
25178 become simply another expression of our personal pathology. We can falsify
25179 the qualities valued in the path without realizing it. Renunciation can
25180 become another level of denial and avoidance; compassion can become a sickly
25181 sentimentality that has no substance to it. Our desire to help others can
25182 come from "compulsive caring," or a compulsion to sacrifice ourselves because
25183 we feel worthless. The Buddhist idea of emptiness can likewise be falsified
25184 by the desire to disappear psychologically and merge or lose ego boundaries.
25185 Lack of identity, formless vagueness, and absence of boundaries do not
25186 exemplify the Buddhist idea of emptiness. My own version of this
25187 misconception was to try to live an ideal of the pure and pious only to find
25188 it was a form of repression I could not ultimately sustain.
25189 At the heart of Buddhist practice is the search for a solution to our
25190 fundamental wounds. Healing the emotional damage we often carry within is
25191 truly the object of this practice. If we wish to resolve these problems, we
25192 need to be open and honest about their reality within us. Only when we do
25193 will any spiritual practice address what we need. The aim of Buddhist
25194 practice is not a spiritual transcendence that dissociates from our suffering.
25195 Nor is it the search for salvation in some form of external divine being that
25196 we hope will save us in our distress. As one of my teachers, Lama Thubten
25197 Yeshe, once said, "Buddhism is very practical; you just have to recognize that
25198 your mind is the cause of suffering. If you change your mind, you can find
25199 liberation." This message is very simple but by no means easy to follow. In
25200 order to do so, however, we must begin to recognize where we are
25201 psychologically wounded.
25202 -- Rob Preece, in "The Wisdom of Imperfection: The Challenge of
25203 Individuation in Buddhist Life", published by Snow Lion Publications
25206 In the Dzogchen teachings, a teacher explains methods that you can apply
25207 for discovering that state. When you say that you are practicing or following
25208 Dzogchen teachings, it doesn't mean that you are reciting some prayers or
25209 mantras, or doing some visualization. It means that, following a teacher and
25210 using methods, you discover that state. When you have discovered that state,
25211 then you still need many kinds of methods for realizing it. Discovering the
25212 state of your real nature and realizing it are completely different things.
25213 Many people have the idea that when they have had some experience or
25214 discovery, they are enlightened; however, this discovery does not mean they
25215 are enlightened. The state of enlightenment means you have direct knowledge
25216 of what the state of rigpa is, and you are not just learning through
25217 intellectual study. When you follow a teaching in an intellectual way, you
25218 have many ideas at first--thinking, judging, and making analysis. You can
25219 follow or reject these ideas; but when you have many problems, you discover
25220 that perhaps this is not real knowledge. It is like following something
25221 blindly because you haven't had any direct experience. Direct introduction
25222 and discovering our real nature mean we have direct experience through our
25223 senses, and that through these experiences we discover our real nature.
25224 For example, if I show you an object, you can look at it and know its form
25225 and color. Now if I ask you to forget about it, you can't. If I ask you to
25226 change your idea about that object, you can't. Why? Because seeing that
25227 object is your direct experience. Discovering your real nature is similar to
25229 When you are studying in an intellectual way, you are following another
25230 person's idea. For example, you can believe your teacher today, but maybe
25231 what your teacher says will not be true for you tomorrow. You can always
25232 change your ideas. You have this problem because you have not discovered your
25233 state. This is the weak point of intellectual study.
25234 -- Chogyal Namkhai Norbu, "Dzogchen Teachings", edited by Jim Valby and
25235 Adriano Clemente, published by Snow Lion Publications
25237 Howard Cutler: "Have there been situations in your life that you've
25239 Dalai Lama: "Oh, yes. Now for instance there was one older monk who lived
25240 as a hermit. He used to come to see me to receive teachings, although I think
25241 he was actually more accomplished than I and came to me as a sort of
25242 formality. Anyway, he came to me one day and asked me about doing a certain
25243 high-level esoteric practice. I remarked in a casual way that this would be a
25244 difficult practice and perhaps would be better undertaken by someone who was
25245 younger, that traditionally it was a practice that should be started in one's
25246 midteens. I later found out that the monk had killed himself in order to be
25247 reborn in a younger body to more effectively undertake the practice..."
25248 Surprised by this story, I remarked, "Oh, that's terrible! That must have
25249 been hard on you when you heard..." The Dalai Lama nodded sadly. "How did
25250 you deal with that feeling of regret? How did you eventually get rid of it?"
25251 The Dalai Lama silently considered for quite a while before replying, "I
25252 didn't get rid of it. It's still there. But even though that feeling of
25253 regret is still there, it isn't associated with a feeling of heaviness or a
25254 quality of pulling me back. It would not be helpful to anyone if I let that
25255 feeling of regret weigh me down, be simply a source of discouragement and
25256 depression with no purpose, or interfere with going on with my life to the
25257 best of my ability."
25258 At that moment, in a very visceral way, I was struck once again by the
25259 very real possibility of a human being's fully facing life's tragedies and
25260 responding emotionally, even with deep regret, but without indulging in
25261 excessive guilt or self-contempt. The possibility of a human being's wholly
25262 accepting herself or himself, complete with limitations, foibles, and lapses
25263 of judgment. The possibility of recognizing a bad situation for what it is
25264 and responding emotionally, but without overresponding. The Dalai Lama
25265 sincerely felt regret over the incident he described but carried his regret
25266 with dignity and grace. And while carrying this regret, he has not allowed it
25267 to weigh him down, choosing instead to move ahead and focus on helping others
25268 to the best of his ability.
25269 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler, M.D., in "The Art of
25270 Happiness: A Handbook for Living"
25272 Train yourself in three hard disciplines.
25273 These are the difficult practices of mindfulness, of expulsion and of
25274 'interrupting the flow.'
25275 As for the first of these, the difficult practice of mindfulness, it is
25276 necessary to recognize afflictive emotions as soon as they arise and it is
25277 hard, at first, to remain sufficiently aware to be able to do this. However,
25278 when negative emotions arise, we should identify them as anger, desire or
25279 stupidity. Even when emotions have been recognized, it is not easy to drive
25280 them out with the antidote. If, for instance, an uncontrollably strong
25281 emotion comes over us, so that we feel helplessly in its power, we should
25282 nevertheless confront it and question it. Where are its weapons? Where are
25283 its muscles? Where is its great army and its political strength? We will see
25284 that emotions are just insubstantial thoughts, by nature empty: they come from
25285 nowhere, they go nowhere, they remain nowhere. When we are able to repel our
25286 defiled emotions, there comes the difficult practice of 'interrupting the
25287 flow.' This means that, on the basis of the antidote described, defiled
25288 emotions are eliminated just like a bird flying through the air: no trace is
25289 left behind. These are practices in which we should really strive.
25290 -- Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, in "Enlightened Courage: An Explanation of the
25291 Seven-Point Mind Training", translated by The Padmakara Translation
25292 Group, published by Snow Lion Publications
25294 Howard Cutler: "...am I right in assuming that you would consider solitary
25295 meditation to be a productive activity? Would you consider to be productive
25296 our example of a monk who is a hermit, who has little contact with anybody
25297 else and spends his or her life just in meditation, trying to achieve
25299 Dalai Lama: "Not necessarily. From my viewpoint, there can be both
25300 productive meditation and unproductive meditation."
25301 HC: "What's the difference?"
25302 DL: "[Some] practitioners and other kinds of meditators practice different
25303 techniques, some with closed eyes, sometimes open eyes, but the very nature of
25304 that meditation is to become thoughtless, in a state free of thoughts. But in
25305 a way, this is a kind of retreat, like they are running away from trouble.
25306 When they actually face trouble, carry on their daily life and face some real
25307 life problems, nothing has changed. Their attitudes and reactions remain the
25308 same. So that kind of meditation is just avoiding the problem, like going on
25309 a picnic, or taking a painkiller. It's not actually solving the problem.
25310 Some people may spend many years doing these practices, but their actual
25311 progress is zero. That's not productive meditation. Genuine progress occurs
25312 when the individual not only sees some results in achieving higher levels of
25313 meditative states but also when their meditation has at least some influence
25314 on how they interact with others, some impact from that meditation in their
25315 daily life--more patience, less irritation, more compassion. That's
25316 productive meditation. Something that can bring benefit to others in some
25318 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler, M.D., "The Art of
25321 As human beings, we are all the same. So there is no need to build some
25322 kind of artificial barrier between us. At least my own experience is that if
25323 you have this kind of attitude, there is no barrier. Whatever I feel, I can
25324 express; I can call you "my old friend". There is nothing to hide, and no
25325 need to say things in a way that is not straightforward. So this gives me a
25326 kind of space in my mind, with the result that I do not have to be suspicious
25327 of others all the time. And this really gives me inner satisfaction, and
25329 So I call this feeling a "genuine realization of the oneness of the whole
25330 of humanity". We are all members of one human family. I think that this
25331 understanding is very important, especially now that the world is becoming
25332 smaller and smaller. In ancient times, even in a small village, people were
25333 able to exist more or less independently. There was not so much need for
25334 others' co-operation. These days, the economic structure has completely
25335 changed.... We are heavily dependent on one another, and also as a result of
25336 mass communication, the barriers of the past are greatly reduced. Today,
25337 because of the complexity of interdependence, every crisis on this planet is
25338 essentially related with every other, like a chain reaction. Consequently it
25339 is worthwhile taking every crisis as a global one. Here barriers such as
25340 "this nation" or "that nation", "this continent", or "that continent" are
25341 simply obstacles. Therefore today, for the future of the human race, it is
25342 more important than ever before that we develop a genuine sense of brotherhood
25343 and sisterhood. I usually call this a sense of "universal responsibility".
25344 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, from "Dzogchen: The Heart Essence of the
25345 Great Perfection", translated by Geshe Thupten Jinpa and Richard Barron
25346 (Chokyi Nyima), edited by Patrick Gaffney, published by Snow Lion
25349 ...several great Kagyu and Sakya masters... have expressed the stages [of
25350 sutra and tantra paths] in terms of the tradition known as "parting ourselves
25351 from the four forms of clinging."
25352 First we part from clinging to this life. Instead of total involvement
25353 with affairs of this life, we involve ourselves with future lives. We
25354 accomplish this by thinking about our precious human life with all its
25355 freedoms and endowments for spiritual growth, how we lose it because of death
25356 and impermanence, and then the karmic laws of behavioral cause and effect that
25357 shape our future lives. Next we part from clinging to future lives and
25358 involve ourselves, instead, in the quest for liberation. By thinking about
25359 all the suffering of uncontrollably recurring rebirth, or samsara, we generate
25360 sincere renunciation of it--the strong determination to be free and attain the
25361 total liberation that is nirvana.
25362 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Alexander Berzin, in "The Gelug/Kagyu
25363 Tradition of Mahamudra", published by Snow Lion Publications
25366 When we say that we have knowledge, or that we have discovered our real
25367 nature and we are in this nature, that means that we are "being the mirror."
25368 You see, "being the mirror" or "looking in the mirror" are two completely
25369 different things. If we "are the mirror," then we have no concept of
25371 If a reflection manifests in the mirror, why is it manifesting? There are
25372 two reasons. One is because the mirror has the capacity to manifest infinite
25373 reflections. This is the mirror's quality. If there is an object in front of
25374 the mirror, whose capacity it is to reflect, naturally a reflection will
25375 appear in the mirror. Furthermore, the mirror has no idea of checking or
25376 accepting the object it is reflecting. The mirror doesn't need any program
25377 for that. This is what is called its qualification, or infinite potentiality.
25378 In the same way, when we have infinite potentiality, but we are ignorant
25379 of our real nature, then we always conceive that "I am here" and "the object
25380 is there," "I am looking and seeing an object," and so on. We do not discover
25381 that we are like a mirror, and if we never discover this, then of course there
25382 is no way that we can function like the mirror. When you discover that you
25383 are like the mirror, then there is a possibility that you will be the mirror.
25384 When you are the mirror, then you have no problems with reflections--they
25385 can be big, small, nice, ugly, any kind. For you, the reflections are only a
25386 manifestation of your quality, which is like that of a mirror. When you have
25387 no problems with reflections, then you understand self-liberation. You are
25388 not changing or transforming something. You are only being in your real
25390 -- Chogyal Namkhai Norbu, from "Dzogchen Teachings", edited by Jim Valby
25391 and Adriano Clemente, published by Snow Lion Publications
25393 It is important to recognize the difference between an enlightened
25394 experience and the state of enlightenment. To penetrate the veil is to see
25395 the nature of reality for the first time. This enlightened experience in the
25396 Zen tradition might be called a satori. This is a powerful shift of insight
25397 that shakes our reality. No longer can we live with the delusion we may have
25398 once held. Our solidly held concepts about reality begin to crumble. Samsara
25399 shakes, as Lama Yeshe once put it. This experience may not be comfortable.
25400 To come so close to this existential threshold challenges our secure sense of
25401 identity and can be frightening. Indeed, as a Tibetan lama once said, this
25402 fear is a sign that we are close to the edge. We are beginning to recognize
25403 the lack of substance of our ego-identity. Our "wisdom eye" has opened to a
25404 new truth--an ultimate truth, as opposed to relative truth.
25405 When we penetrate the veil, however, the work is not yet done. We may
25406 have had an enlightened experience, but there is further to travel. As Gen
25407 Jhampa Wangdu once said while I was in retreat, it is not difficult to
25408 experience emptiness; the problem is holding it. For this insight to have its
25409 full effect, the mind needs to be able to sustain awareness for prolonged
25410 periods of time. Tibetan teachers will sometimes say we may hit the nail, but
25411 only with a quality of focused attention can we repeatedly do so. With the
25412 development of tranquil abiding, the veil can be cleared completely in the way
25413 the red ring of fire created by the incense burn[ing] slowly expands and
25414 consumes the entire film of tissue paper. The mind is gradually cleansed of
25415 the emotional turmoil and confusion that is generated by the misconceptions we
25416 have about reality.
25417 -- Rob Preece, in "The Wisdom of Imperfection: The Challenge of
25418 Individuation in Buddhist Life", published by Snow Lion Publications
25420 ...if we see others in trouble, although we cannot immediately take their
25421 suffering upon ourselves, we should make the wish to be able to relieve them
25422 from their misfortunes. Prayers like this will bear fruit eventually. Again,
25423 if others have very strong afflictive emotions, we should think, "May all
25424 their emotions be concentrated in me." With fervent conviction, we should
25425 persist in thinking like this until we have some sign or feeling that we have
25426 been able to take upon ourselves the suffering and emotions of others. This
25427 might take the form of an increase in our own emotions or of the actual
25428 experience of the suffering and pain of others.
25429 This is how to bring hardships onto the path in order to free ourselves
25430 from hopes and fears--hopes, for instance, that we will not get ill, or fears
25431 that we might do so. They will thus be pacified in the equal taste of
25432 happiness and suffering. Eventually, through the power of Bodhichitta, we
25433 will reach the point where we are free even from the hope of accomplishing
25434 Bodhichitta and the fear of not doing so. Therefore we should have love for
25435 our enemies and try as much as possible to avoid getting angry with them, or
25436 harbouring any negative thoughts towards them. We should also try as much as
25437 possible to overcome our biased attachment to family and relatives. If you
25438 bind a crooked tree to a large wooden stake, it will eventually grow straight.
25439 Up to now, our minds have always been crooked, thinking how we might trick and
25440 mislead people, but this [Bodhichitta] practice, as Geshe Langri Tangpa said,
25441 will make our minds straight and true.
25442 -- Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, "Enlightened Courage: An Explanation of the
25443 Seven Point Mind Training", translated by the Padmakara Translation
25444 Group, published by Snow Lion Publications
25446 Q: ...what is the nature of the mindstream that reincarnates from lifetime to
25449 A: ...If one understands the term "soul" as a continuum of individuality from
25450 moment to moment, from lifetime to lifetime, then one can say that Buddhism
25451 also accepts a concept of soul; there is a kind of continuum of consciousness.
25452 From that point of view, the debate on whether or not there is a soul becomes
25453 strictly semantic. However, in the Buddhist doctrine of selflessness, or "no
25454 soul" theory, the understanding is that there is no eternal, unchanging,
25455 abiding, permanent self called "soul." That is what is being denied in
25458 Buddhism does not deny the continuum of consciousness. Because of this, we
25459 find some Tibetan scholars, such as the Sakya master Rendawa, who accept that
25460 there is such a thing as self or soul, the "kangsak ki dak" (Tib. gang zag gi
25461 bdag). However, the same word, the "kangsak ki dak," the self, or person, or
25462 personal self, or identity, is at the same time denied by many other scholars.
25464 We find diverse opinions, even among Buddhist scholars, as to what exactly the
25465 nature of self is, what exactly that thing or entity is that continues from
25466 one moment to the next moment, from one lifetime to the next lifetime. Some
25467 try to locate it within the aggregates, the composite of body and mind. Some
25468 explain it in terms of a designation based on the body and mind composite, and
25469 so on.... One of the divisions of [the "Mind-Only"] school maintains there is
25470 a special continuum of consciousness called alayavijnana which is the
25471 fundamental consciousness.
25472 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Healing Anger: The Power of Patience from a Buddhist
25473 Perspective", translated by Geshe Thupten Jinpa, published by Snow Lion
25476 In the Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path Je Tsongkhapa says that
25477 when we are training ourselves in any of the perfections, for instance in
25478 generosity, we should make sure that we practice all the other five
25479 perfections--in this case ethical discipline, patience, enthusiastic effort,
25480 concentration, and wisdom--and the six excellent factors. When we perform a
25481 generous action, ethical discipline will be included if we take care to
25482 refrain from doing anything unethical at the same time. In certain
25483 situations, for instance, we may be tempted to speak harshly or
25484 condescendingly as we give.
25485 Generosity gives rise to abundance, and by insuring that our practice is
25486 complete, we create the right environment to use these resources
25487 constructively. Sometimes when we give, people respond ungratefully. If we
25488 can resist getting upset, we are practicing patience. Giving not out of a
25489 sense of obligation or reluctantly nor with a wish to outdo others but with
25490 joy is the practice of enthusiastic effort. Directing our full attention to
25491 an act of generosity is concentration. Discerning and understanding what is
25492 appropriate to give and what is not, and remembering that the giver, the act
25493 of generosity, and the recipient are all interdependent and empty of inherent
25494 existence are the practice of wisdom. Including these different factors in
25495 our actions will bring many excellent results such as a good body and mind,
25496 the resources we need, a pleasant appearance, supportive companions, the
25497 ability to complete what we undertake, and the focus not to be distracted by
25498 the disturbing emotions and so forth. This is how to insure that we will
25499 enjoy many conducive conditions in a future human life. On the other hand,
25500 our miserliness or impatience now could make us face many difficult
25501 circumstances in the future.
25502 -- Geshe Sonam Rinchen, "How Karma Works: The Twelve Links of Dependent
25503 Arising", translated by Ruth Sonam, published by Snow Lion Publications
25505 Shakyamuni Buddha, even when he was a trainee on the path, was solely
25506 concerned in both thought and action with others' welfare. Whenever he found
25507 an opportunity to work for others, no matter what difficulties he faced, he
25508 was never discouraged. He never hated obstacles and hardships encountered on
25509 the way. Instead, the difficult situations facilitated his being more
25510 courageous and determined to accomplish others' welfare. Just because he was
25511 so determined to work for others in the past, even as a trainee on the path,
25512 it is needless to say how much more it is so with him now as a completely
25513 enlightened person.
25514 As the saying goes, "A past life story of a teacher is an enlightening
25515 practice for posterity."
25516 -- "Generous Wisdom: Commentaries of His Holiness the Dalai Lama XIV on
25517 the Jatakamala Garland of Birth Stories," translated by Tenzin Dorjee,
25518 edited by Dexter Roberts
25520 When you get tired, it is appropriate to repeat mantra. However, for a
25521 beginner the main part of the meditation revolves around the six deities*,
25522 which should be cultivated carefully and leisurely. This is because clear
25523 appearance of oneself as a deity must be achieved for the sake of amassing the
25524 two collections of merit and wisdom, achieving firm meditative stabilisation,
25525 and transforming all physical and verbal actions into powerful aids for
25526 others' welfare. Hence, before repeating mantra, the yoga of non-dual
25527 profundity (realisation of emptiness) and manifestation (appearance as a
25528 deity) should be sustained, developing clarity in observing the divine form
25529 and in ascertaining its lack of inherent existence. When, having done this
25530 one-pointedly, you become tired, then for the sake of resting begin repeating
25531 mantra. ...Tsong-ka-pa also says that in the approximation phase meditation
25532 is chief, mantra repetition is secondary.
25533 * ultimate, sound, letter, form, seal, and sign
25534 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Tsong-ka-pa and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Deity Yoga In
25535 Action and Performance Tantra", published by Snow Lion Publications
25537 There isn't a single one of us who has never felt hostile and angry, so we
25538 know about the effects of anger. Does it make us feel better or worse? It
25539 stirs us up, makes us miserable and destroys our tranquillity. It is quite
25540 easy to recognize anger as a foe and to see how it harms us because its
25541 destructiveness is apparent. But we find it much harder and are also
25542 reluctant to acknowledge the harm done by attachment because it is a foe
25543 masquerading as a friend. When desire or attachment first arises, it feels
25544 quite pleasurable but eventually it lands us in trouble. It wants to possess
25545 what it has fabricated and we reach out for something which, in fact, does not
25546 exist. Failure to get what we want frustrates us and anger quickly follows.
25547 The third of the poisons, confusion or ignorance, simply stimulates desire and
25548 anger and lies at the root of all the disturbing emotions.
25549 -- Geshe Sonam Rinchen, "Eight Verses for Training the Mind", translated
25550 and edited by Ruth Sonam, published by Snow Lion Publications
25552 The Sevenfold Cause-and-Effect Method
25553 If we have been reborn time after time, it is evident that we have needed
25554 many mothers to give birth to us. ...the first cause bringing about
25555 bodhicitta is the recognition that all beings have been our mother.
25556 The love and kindness shown us by our mother in this life would be
25557 difficult to repay. She endured many sleepless nights to care for us when we
25558 were helpless infants. She fed us and would have willingly sacrificed
25559 everything, including her own life, to spare ours. As we contemplate her
25560 example of devoted love, we should consider that each and every being
25561 throughout existence has treated us this way. Each dog, cat, fish, fly, and
25562 human being has at some point in the beginningless past been our mother and
25563 shown us overwhelming love and kindness. Such a thought should bring about
25564 our appreciation. This is the second cause of bodhicitta.
25565 As we envision the present condition of all these beings, we begin to
25566 develop the desire to help them change their lot. This is the third cause,
25567 and out of it comes the fourth, a feeling of love cherishing all beings. This
25568 is an attraction toward all beings, similar to what a child feels upon seeing
25569 his or her mother. This leads us to compassion, which is the fifth cause of
25570 bodhicitta. Compassion is a wish to separate these suffering beings, our
25571 mothers of the past, from their miserable situation. At this point we also
25572 experience loving-kindness, a wish that all beings find happiness. As we
25573 progress through these stages of responsibility, we go from wishing that all
25574 sentient beings find happiness and freedom from suffering to personally
25575 assuming responsibility for helping them enter this state beyond misery. This
25576 is the final cause. As we scrutinize how best to help others, we are drawn to
25577 achieving the fully enlightened and omniscient state of Buddhahood.
25578 -- The Dalai Lama, "An Open Heart: Practicing Compassion in Everyday Life",
25579 edited by Nicholas Vreeland
25581 Among the seven branches [qualities of Buddhahood]--complete enjoyment,
25582 union, great bliss, non-inherent existence, compassion, uninterrupted
25583 continuity, and non-cessation--three are found only in tantra--complete
25584 enjoyment, union, and great bliss--and the other four are common to both
25585 sutra and tantra, although non-inherent existence can also be put in the group
25586 specific to tantra when it is considered as the object ascertained by a bliss
25587 consciousness.... In Yoga Tantras the bliss arising from holding hands or
25588 embracing is used in the path; in Performance Tantras, from laughing; and in
25589 Action Tantras, from looking. The four tantras are similar in that they all
25590 use desire for the attributes of the desire realm on the path.
25591 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Tsong-ka-pa, and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Tantra in Tibet",
25592 published by Snow Lion Publications
25594 How then does the mistaken idea, that things exist from their own side,
25595 operate? Whatever appears to the mind appears as if it existed truly from its
25596 own side. ...Now if the object existed as it appears to you, then, when you
25597 searched for it, you could actually find a real [object]. So, we must ask
25598 ourselves whether or not this object, when searched for, is to be found or
25599 not. If the object is not found when it is searched for, we must conclude
25600 that it does not exist from its own side, that when the label is applied to
25601 its basis, it is not so labeled because the basis somehow bears within it
25602 something which is the object. At this point, one must conclude that the
25603 object does not exist as it appears to, but then, one may wonder whether it
25605 Things, however, are not utterly non-existent. They do exist nominally.
25606 So things do exist, but they do not exist from the side of the basis of the
25607 label. And hence, though they do exist, because they do not exist within the
25608 object itself, they must exist only as they are labeled by the subject (the
25609 conceptual mind, for example). There is no other way for the object to exist
25610 apart from the way it is posited by conceptual thought. This is then what we
25611 mean when we say that all phenomena are merely labeled by conceptual thought.
25612 However, things do not appear to us as if they were mere conceptually labeled
25613 entities. Instead, they appear as if they existed from their own side.
25614 Therefore, it is a mistake to think that things exist as they appear.
25615 -- The Dalai Lama, "Answers: Discussions with Western Buddhists", edited
25616 by Jose Ignacio Cabezon, published by Snow Lion Publications
25618 Meditation is hard work, but it is also the most rewarding thing we can do
25619 with our time. As we begin to see the mechanisms we previously took for
25620 granted and start to understand them, the knots inside our minds begin to
25621 loosen. We feel a tremendous sense of freedom, space and release inside us.
25622 As we begin to understand our warped thinking patterns and our neuroses, we
25623 see them directly. We begin to develop compassion for ourselves, for our pain
25624 and confusion. Now that we start to look with clarity, we can see the pain
25625 and confusion in the eyes of other people, and we naturally develop compassion
25626 for them. It doesn't matter how outwardly successful people may appear, we
25627 can see their pain when we look into their eyes. It is very rare to come
25628 across people whose eyes are truly sparkling with joy.
25629 -- Tenzin Palmo, "Reflections on a Mountain Lake: Teachings on Practical
25630 Buddhism", published by Snow Lion Publications
25632 ...recognizing that we have certain obligations, and recognizing at the
25633 same time that spiritual practice is the core of a meaningful life, what do we
25634 do? There really is an answer. It is not easy, but it is tremendously
25635 fruitful, and it keeps on opening and opening further: transform those actions
25636 that are already obligations by applying Dharma to them.
25637 Take eating, for instance. We have to do it two or three times a day, but
25638 we don't have to wolf down the food. There is no one who cannot sit and pause
25639 first for thirty seconds. Even fast-food is worth the thirty seconds it takes
25640 to recognize the immense number of beings who have provided us with this food.
25641 Pausing like this ties us into the community of life, at least on planet
25642 earth, as we recognize that we are indebted to others. We have received, and
25643 as we take the food, let us do it with the aspiration, "May this be returned.
25644 May I use my abilities to the fullest to serve those who have served me." And
25645 that includes everyone, directly or indirectly. The service may occur on a
25646 very mundane level, but insofar as we mature spiritually, our responsibility
25647 increases according to our abilities. Not because someone tells us, "Now you
25648 have to do this," but simply as we gain insight into the nature and sources of
25649 suffering and of contentment, then we have something all the more valuable to
25651 -- B. Alan Wallace, "The Seven-Point Mind Training", edited by Zara
25652 Houshmand, published by Snow Lion Publications
25654 The Paramita of Meditative Concentration
25655 It is said in the Teachings that without taking up the Paramita of
25656 Meditative Concentration, it would be impossible to realize the nature of
25657 mind. We should think of meditative concentration as the practice that brings
25658 stability to our minds, and creates the good conditions to practice unfocused
25659 meditation--in other words, resting in the uncontrived natural state.
25660 If we make a quick examination of our own mind, we can see the reason this
25661 kind of stability is so crucial. Although physics has observed light to be
25662 the fastest traveling phenomenon known to man, actually the speed at which our
25663 minds travel is even faster. We can circle the globe in a matter of seconds,
25664 and our minds generate doubts, emotions, and conceptual thoughts at a speed
25665 that defies that of all other phenomena. Because we lack basic mental
25666 stability, conceptual thoughts arise endlessly. So, if our goal is to realize
25667 the nature of mind, we first have to learn to still our minds, and free
25668 ourselves from distraction. The method for quieting the mind is called
25669 "meditative concentration." Once we have gained some initial mind stability,
25670 it is even more important that we continue our training so that this stability
25671 will increase. Without such stability, it is impossible for us to
25672 successfully learn to abide in the uncontrived view.
25673 -- Anyen Rinpoche, "The Union of Dzogchen and Bodhichitta", translated
25674 by Allison Graboski, published by Snow Lion Publications
25676 5. Your present naked awareness
25680 Your present, naked awareness--
25681 Unspoiled by thoughts of past, present, or future,
25682 Not fettered by mind grasping to so-called "meditation"
25683 Nor falling into a pervasive blankness of so-called "non-meditation"--
25684 The natural state nakedly sustained,
25685 Is the practice of Great Perfection.
25687 Regardless of what thoughts arise during that practice,
25688 To reject negative ones or foster positive ones is unnecessary.
25689 Mere recognition liberates them in their own ground.
25690 Take this liberation upon arising as the path's key point.
25692 Destroy whatever meditative experiences arise, and relax.
25693 A tantric practitioner without fixation is deeply content.
25694 You've reached your goal of contentment right now.
25695 What is the use of numerous enumerations of Buddha's teachings
25696 When you discover Buddha Kuntu Zangpo within yourself?
25697 Keep the meaning of these words close to your heart.
25698 -- Dudjom Jigdral Yeshe Dorje, "Wisdom Nectar: Dudjom Rinpoche's Heart
25699 Advice", translated by Ron Garry, a Tsadra Foundation Series book
25700 published by Snow Lion Publications
25702 The Buddhist view is that in the external world there are some elements
25703 that are material, and some that are nonmaterial. And the fundamental
25704 substance, the stuff from which the material universe arises, is known as
25705 space particles. A portion of space is quantized, to use a modern term; it is
25706 particulate, not continuous. Before the formation of the physical universe as
25707 we know it, there was only space, but it was quantized. And it was from the
25708 quanta, or particles, in space that the other elements arose. This accounts
25709 for the physical universe.
25710 But what brought about that process? How did it happen? It is believed
25711 that there existed other conditions, or other influences, which were
25712 nonmaterial, and these were of the nature of awareness. The actions of
25713 sentient beings in the preceding universe somehow modify, or influence, the
25714 formation of the natural universe.
25715 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Consciousness at the Crossroads: Conversations
25716 with the Dalai Lama on Brain Science and Buddhism", edited by Zara
25717 Houshmand, Robert B. Livingston, and B. Alan Wallace, published by
25718 Snow Lion Publications
25720 ...meditation on emptiness begins with gaining a sense of the inherent
25721 existence of which phenomena are empty, for without understanding what is
25722 negated, you cannot understand its absence, emptiness.
25723 ...Through carefully watching how you conceive your self, or "I," to be
25724 inherently established, you will determine that the "I" appears to be self-
25725 instituting without depending on the collection of the mental and physical
25726 aggregates, which are its basis of designation, or without depending on any of
25727 them individually, even though the "I" appears with those aggregates. Proper
25728 identification of this appearance is the first essential toward realizing
25729 selflessness--ascertaining the object of negation.
25730 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Dzong-ka-ba, and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Yoga Tantra:
25731 Paths to Magical Feats", published by Snow Lion Publications
25733 At the moment the world's spiritual traditions have greatly degenerated.
25734 It is very important in such times that the practitioners themselves make
25735 especially strong efforts to gain realization. To permit the lineages of
25736 transmission to disappear is to allow the world to plunge into darkness. The
25737 great Vasubandhu wrote, "Buddha, who is like the eye of the world, is no
25738 longer to be seen. His great successors, who realized the most profound
25739 teachings, also have passed away. Who equals them?" It might be asked, who
25740 is there today to equal the master Vasubandhu? Who practices as well as did
25741 Milarepa? Such people are rare. We should remember that everything but
25742 Dharma is useless at death, and instead of wasting our lives on meaningless
25743 activities, we should blend our mindstreams with the teachings and with
25744 practice. Doing so benefits us as individuals and benefits the world by
25745 strengthening its spiritual basis.
25746 Each of us has to be able to feel the pride that we ourselves can reach
25747 perfection, we ourselves can attain enlightenment. When even one person
25748 indulges in spiritual practice, it gives encouragement to the guardian spirits
25749 of the land, and to the celestial deities who have sworn to uphold goodness.
25750 These forces then have the ability to release waves of beneficial effects upon
25751 humanity. Thus our practice has many direct and indirect benefits. ...If we
25752 practice the teachings and live the ways of Dharma, all the natural forces of
25753 goodness will be behind us.
25754 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Path to Enlightenment", edited and translated
25755 by Glenn H. Mullin, published by Snow Lion Publications
25757 Karmic potentials give rise to a broad array of impulses that affect our
25758 lives. Collective karmic potentials from previous actions of a huge number of
25759 beings--including ourselves--give rise, for example, to the impulse for a
25760 universe to evolve with specific environments and life forms into which we and
25761 these beings subsequently take rebirth. These collective potentials also give
25762 rise to the impulses that drive the physical and biological laws that govern
25763 that universe--ranging from the weather patterns of its planets to the life-
25764 cycle habits of each species on them. They also account for the impulses
25765 behind the instinctive daily behavior characteristic of each life form.
25766 -- Alexander Berzin, "Taking the Kalachakra Initiation", published by Snow
25769 Once the body, channels, and wind are balanced, the next step is to keep
25770 your mind in the natural state through meditation. By simply maintaining the
25771 mind as it is, without adding or subtracting anything, one will reach the
25772 inner nature, which is unchanging and indestructible.
25773 The instructions for this type of meditation are very simple. One begins
25774 by sitting with good posture on a cushion, because it is important to stay
25775 straight. Then, one simply maintains the natural clarity of the mind, without
25776 analyzing one's experiences or being disturbed by thoughts. In the dzogchen
25777 style of meditation, there is actually nothing to do except relax in the
25778 mind's nature of clarity and emptiness. Inner awareness is different than
25779 external awareness; it is called clear-light emptiness. It is helpful to use
25780 the sky as an analogy for the true nature of the mind--when you let your mind
25781 mingle with the open space of the sky, you do not need any particular focus.
25782 Simply maintain the mind naturally, without discrimination or judgments, and
25783 experience its nature as being spacious as the sky.
25784 -- Khenchen Palden Sherab Rinpoche and Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal Rinpoche,
25785 "Opening the Door to Our Primordial Nature", Snow Lion Publications
25787 Three things in human life are important.
25788 The first is to be kind.
25789 The second is to be kind.
25790 And the third is to be kind.
25793 Question: A person, particularly in the West, must have the foundation of
25794 humility, honesty and an ethical way of life. Once one has this foundation,
25795 what else does Your Holiness suggest that one cultivate in one's life, if
25796 there is the foundation of virtue, ethics and humility?
25797 DL: The next thing to be cultivated is mental stabilization. Ethics is a
25798 method to control oneself--it is a defensive action. Our actual enemy, you
25799 see, is within ourselves. The afflicted emotions (pride, anger, jealousy) are
25800 our real enemies. These are the real trouble makers, and they are to be found
25801 within ourselves. The actual practice of religion consists of fighting
25802 against these inner enemies.
25803 As in any war, first we must have a defensive action, and in our spiritual
25804 fight against the negative emotions, ethics is our defense. Knowing that at
25805 first one is not fully prepared for offensive action, we first resort to
25806 defensive action and that means ethics. But once one has prepared one's
25807 defenses, and has become somewhat accustomed to ethics, then one must launch
25808 one's offensive. Here our main weapon is wisdom. This weapon of wisdom is
25809 like a bullet, or maybe even a rocket, and the rocket launcher is mental
25810 stabilization or calm abiding. In brief, once you have a basis in morality or
25811 ethics, the next step is to train in mental stabilization and eventually in
25813 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Dalai Lama, A Policy of Kindness: An Anthology
25814 of Writings", compiled and edited by Sidney Piburn, Forword by Sen.
25815 Claiborne Pell, published by Snow Lion Publications
25817 4. The power of abandonment. In this practice what is being abandoned is
25818 self-grasping. We are reminded again that since beginningless time beyond all
25819 imagination, self-grasping has lain at the very core of all mental distortions
25820 and afflictions. It has brought us to unfavorable rebirths and is responsible
25821 for all the undesirable circumstances that we encounter. It is self-
25822 centeredness that obstructs realization and prevents us from deriving the full
25823 benefit from our spiritual practice. Recognize when self-grasping manifests
25824 in daily life. It is important to notice it especially at times of passion,
25825 when we are aroused or irritated, and try not to succumb to it for even a
25827 To be free of self-centeredness continuously for a whole year may be
25828 difficult, but [rejecting it for] a moment is easy. ...the more of these
25829 moments we can saturate with the cherishing of others, the more we are molding
25830 ourselves into the bodhisattvas that we will become.
25831 -- B. Alan Wallace, "The Seven-Point Mind Training", edited by Zara
25832 Houshmand, published by Snow Lion Publications
25834 As a friend, my request and wish is that... you try to promote a sense of
25835 brotherhood and sisterhood. We must promote compassion and love; this is our
25836 real duty. Government has too much business to have time for these things.
25837 As private persons we have more time to think along these lines--how to make a
25838 contribution to human society by promoting the development of compassion and a
25839 real sense of community.
25840 ...If someone who easily gets angry tries to control his or her anger, in
25841 time it can be controlled. The same is true for a selfish person; first that
25842 person must realize the faults of a selfish motivation and the benefit in
25843 being less selfish. Having realized this, one trains in it, trying to control
25844 the bad side and develop the good. As time goes by, such practice can be
25845 effective. This is the only alternative.
25846 Without love, human society is in a very difficult state; without love,
25847 in the future we will face tremendous problems. Love is the center of human
25849 -- His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso, "Kindness, Clarity & Insight", published by
25850 Snow Lion Publications
25852 Love and Attachment
25854 People often wonder how to reconcile the Buddha's teachings on non-attachment
25855 with those on love. How can we love others without being attached to them?
25856 Non-attachment is a balanced state of mind in which we cease overestimating
25857 others' qualities. By having a more accurate view of others, our unrealistic
25858 expectations fall away, as does our clinging. This leaves us open to loving
25859 others for who they are, instead of for what they do for us. Our hearts can
25860 open to care for everyone impartially, wishing everyone to be happy simply
25861 because he or she is a living being. The feeling of warmth that was
25862 previously reserved for a select few can now be expanded to a great number
25864 -- Bhikshuni Thubten Chodron, "Taming the Mind", published by Snow Lion
25867 According to some scientists, emotion is not necessarily negative. Emotion
25868 is a very strong feeling. While some emotions are destructive, others are
25869 constructive. In a meeting with scientists, we concluded that there are
25870 emotions even in the Buddha's mind. There is a strong sense of caring and
25871 compassion and also the realization of emptiness. In the beginning, there is
25872 just a vague feeling of emptiness. At that level, there is no emotion, but
25873 once you become more familiar with it, then that feeling increases. At a
25874 certain level, the realization of emptiness also becomes a kind of emotion.
25875 Therefore, in the practice of developing wisdom and loving-kindness
25876 / compassion, you strengthen these inner qualities and then reach a state
25877 where you have an upsurge of feeling called emotion. We can clearly see
25878 this link between intellect and emotions. Thus, the brain and heart can go
25879 side by side. I think this is the Buddhist approach.
25880 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "Many Ways to Nirvana: Reflections and
25881 Advice on Right Living", edited by Renuka Singh
25883 Both mindfulness and discriminative alertness are needed in responding to
25884 sensory input of the three types--attractive, unattractive and neutral.
25885 Once again, in this tradition mindfulness does not mean simply to witness.
25886 It is a more discriminative kind of thing. You are asking yourself, "What
25887 is my response?" and then actively responding by applying the antidotes to
25888 attachment and hostility. The word mindfulness is a little bit different in
25889 different contexts. Here, Mindfulness refers to the mental faculty of being
25890 able to maintain continuity of awareness of an object. Vigilance is concerned
25891 with the quality of mind, watching to see, for example, if the mind is veering
25892 off to other objects.
25893 -- Gen Lamrimpa (Ven. Jampal Tenzin, "Calming the Mind: Tibetan Buddhist
25894 Teachings on Cultivating Meditative Quiescence", translated by B. Alan
25895 Wallace, edited by Hart Sprager, published by Snow Lion Publications
25897 When we say that the ignorant mind is perverse or wrong, we are talking
25898 about the way it misconceives reality. Now the pertinent questions are: What
25899 is reality? How is this mind mistaken about reality? And in what way does
25900 the mind wrongly apprehend reality? Reality or emptiness of true existence is
25901 something that can be established logically. There are sound, or perfect,
25902 reasons to prove the emptiness of inherent existence, and we can gain
25903 conviction in these reasons. On the other hand, there is no logical way to
25904 prove true existence. True existence is what appears to an ordinary,
25905 untrained consciousness. But when it comes under logical scrutiny, true
25906 existence cannot be found. Even in our everyday life we often find
25907 contradictions between the way certain things appear and their actual mode of
25908 existence; that is, the way things actually exist is different from the way
25909 they appear to exist.
25910 ...Our perception of impermanent things like mountain ranges and houses
25911 does not conform to their actual mode of existence. Some of these things have
25912 existed for many centuries, even thousands of years. And our minds perceive
25913 them in just that way--as lasting and permanent, impervious to momentary
25914 change. Yet when we examine these objects on an atomic level, they
25915 disintegrate every moment; they undergo momentary change. Science also
25916 describes a similar pattern of change. These objects appear solid, stable,
25917 and lasting, but in their true nature, they constantly change, not keeping
25918 still even for a moment.
25919 -- The Dalai Lama, "Stages of Meditation", translated by Geshe Lobsang
25920 Jordhen, Losang Choephel Ganchenpa, and Jeremy Russell, published by
25921 Snow Lion Publications
25923 If there is someone who always harms us, and we discover that this person
25924 lives in our own house, we think, "This is too much!" Once we figure out
25925 that he is causing all our hardships, we kick him out; we do not see it as a
25926 laughing matter at all. Here, it is worse: we have been wandering in the six
25927 realms of cyclic existence since beginningless time, undergoing great pain and
25928 confusion. What is the main cause of all this? Self-centeredness and its
25929 basis, self-grasping ignorance. These two are right inside us, in our own
25930 mindstream. How can we continue to tolerate that? It is just too much! We
25931 definitely must evict these sources of harm. When we know the antidotes to
25932 them, we will use them, just as we would go to any length to evict a
25933 troublemaker from our home. With strong determination, we will find out what
25934 harms self-centeredness and self-grasping and then go ahead and destroy them.
25935 -- Geshe Jampa Tegchok, "Transforming Adversity into Joy and Courage: An
25936 Explanation of the Thirty-seven Practices of Bodhisattvas", edited by
25937 Thubten Chodron, published by Snow Lion Publications
25939 No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of
25940 policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets.
25943 There are many types of meditative stabilisation, but let us explain calm
25944 abiding (samatha) here. The nature of calm abiding is the one-pointed abiding
25945 on any object without distraction of a mind conjoined with a bliss of physical
25946 and mental pliancy. If it is supplemented with taking refuge, it is a
25947 Buddhist practice; and if it is supplemented with an aspiration to highest
25948 enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings, it is a Mahayana practice.
25949 Its merits are that, if one has achieved calm abiding, one's mind and body are
25950 pervaded by joy and bliss; one can--through the power of its mental and
25951 physical pliancy--set the mind on any virtuous object one chooses; and many
25952 special qualities such as clairvoyance and emanations are attained.
25953 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Buddhism of Tibet", translated and edited by
25954 Jeffrey Hopkins, published by Snow Lion Publications
25957 Apart from the perfection of wisdom,
25958 All virtuous practices such as
25959 The perfection of giving are described
25960 As skillful means by the Victorious Ones.
25962 The first five perfections--giving, ethical discipline, patience, enthusiastic
25963 effort and concentration--as well as meditation on impermanence, on the
25964 connection between actions and their effects and the cultivation of
25965 compassion, love and the altruistic intention are all skillful means. In fact
25966 all positive practices which do not constitute the cultivation of wisdom fall
25967 into the category of skillful means.
25970 Whoever, under the influence of familiarity
25971 With skillful means, cultivates wisdom
25972 Will quickly attain enlightenment--
25973 Not just by meditating on selflessness.
25975 When stability in practices which develop skillful means has been gained, the
25976 Bodhisattva meditates on the selflessness of persons and other phenomena and
25977 thereby overcomes clinging to their true existence. This leads swiftly to
25978 enlightenment. If we confine our efforts only to understanding reality, our
25979 understanding lacks the power to destroy all the obstructions that prevent
25980 omniscience and we may remain locked in a state of solitary peace.
25981 Cultivation of skillful means prevents this and adds such power to our
25982 understanding of reality that, like a blazing fire, it consumes all
25985 -- "Atisha's Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment", commentary by Geshe Sonam
25986 Rinchen, translated and edited by Ruth Sonam, published by Snow Lion
25989 As I grow to understand life less and less,
25990 I learn to love it more and more.
25993 The environment where you are doing the meditation should be properly cleaned.
25994 While cleaning, you should cultivate the motivation that since you are engaged
25995 in the task of accumulating great stores of merit by inviting the hosts of
25996 buddhas and bodhisattvas to this environment, it is important to have a clean
25997 place. You should see that all the external dirt and dust around you is
25998 basically a manifestation of the faults and stains within your own mind. You
25999 should see that the most important aim is to purge these stains and faults
26000 from within your mind. Therefore, as you cleanse the environment, think that
26001 you are also purifying your mind. Develop the very strong thought that by
26002 cleaning this place you are inviting the host of buddhas and bodhisattvas who
26003 are the most supreme merit field, and that you will subsequently engage in a
26004 path that will enable you to purge your mind of the stains of delusions.
26005 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, "Path to Bliss: A Practical Guide to
26006 Stages of Meditation", translated by Geshe Thubten Jinpa, edited by
26007 Christine Cox, published by Snow Lion Publications
26009 The entire environment we perceive around us arises, in part, in
26010 dependence upon our sense faculties. The environment we experience does not
26011 truly exist "out there." Sight is dependent upon visual faculties, hearing
26012 is dependent upon auditory faculties, and tactile sensations depend on nerve
26013 endings. Psychologically, all that we experience is dependent upon ourselves.
26014 We do not experience anything purely objectively. The arising and perceiving
26015 of experience is co-emergent between ourselves and the world around us. Yet,
26016 the deep belief persists that the world really exists "out there" now and eons
26017 before we were born.
26018 The Buddhist hypothesis extends beyond the psychological. The Buddhist
26019 hypothesis is this: that which is perceived arises in dependence upon the
26020 perception of it. Things are empty of independent, inherent existence. What
26021 appears to exist "out there" is empty of objective existence from its own
26022 side. This does not mean that nothing exists apart from our perceptions.
26023 Rather, it means that by probing the nature of existence of anything we
26024 experience perceptually or conceptually, we find that nothing exists by its
26025 own independent nature. Another way of phrasing this is that appearance
26026 extends all the way down to the root and there is nothing beyond the
26027 appearances. Appearances extend down to quarks; nothing is there purely
26028 objectively and nothing is there purely subjectively. This is the Buddhist
26030 -- B. Alan Wallace, "Buddhism with an Attitude: The Seven-Point Mind-
26031 Training" , edited by Lynn Quirolo, published by Snow Lion Publications
26033 I consider it very important for religion to have an influence on
26034 politicians. Politicians need religion much more than pious people who have
26035 withdrawn from the world need it. There is a constant increase in the
26036 scandals in politics and business that can be traced back to the lack of self-
26037 discipline on the part of the responsible parties. In India, the minister-
26038 president of West Bengal once said to me with what he considered a humble
26039 attitude that he was a politician and not a religious person. I responded to
26040 him: politicians need religion more than anyone else.
26041 When hermits in solitude are bad persons, the result is that they harm
26042 themselves alone and no one else. But when such influential people as
26043 politicians are full of bad intentions, they can bring misfortune to many.
26044 This is why religion, as continuous work on our inner maturity, is important
26045 for political rulers.
26046 A politician must have moral principles. I am convinced of this. Seen in
26047 this light, politics and religion belong together. In the United States,
26048 church and state may be separate, but when the president takes office, he
26049 makes a vow in the name of God with his hand on the Bible. This means that
26050 God should be the witness that the president will conscientiously fulfill his
26052 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama with Felizitas Von Schonborn, "Path of Wisdom,
26053 Path of Peace: A Personal Conversation", Foreword by Wei Jingsheng
26055 ...many people, critical of Dzogchen, question why we need to practice at all
26056 if, as according to Dzogchen, the primordial state is already the enlightened
26057 state. If our true nature is already Buddhahood, what is the need to
26058 cultivate enlightenment? We cannot side-step these criticisms since,
26059 according to Dzogchen, Buddhahood is indeed our natural state; we do not
26060 create it, but simply discover it through our meditation. But if we simply
26061 agree with our critics, this would mean there is no need to practice. These
26062 are important things to think about. We must answer that although the natural
26063 state of the mind is primordially pure, there are two ways of being pure.
26064 Defilements, or obscurations, are not in the nature of the mind (sems nyid)
26065 but in the moving mind (sems), so they can be purified. It is as in the
26066 Tibetan story of the old beggar woman who slept on a pillow of gold every
26067 night: she was rich, but since she did not appreciate the value of gold, she
26068 thought she was poor. In the same way, the primordial purity of our mind is
26069 of no use to us if we are not aware of it and do not integrate it with our
26070 moving mind. If we realize our innate purity but only integrate with it from
26071 time to time, we are not totally realized. Being in total integration all the
26072 time is final realization. But many people prefer thinking and speaking about
26073 integration to actualizing it.
26074 -- Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, "Wonders of the Natural Mind: The Essence of
26075 Dzogchen in the Native Bon Tradition of Tibet", Foreword by H.H. the
26076 Dalai Lama, edited by Andrew Lukianowicz, published by Snow Lion
26079 External disarmament is very, very important. Already, there is some
26080 movement. My dream is that one day the whole world will be demilitarized, but
26081 we cannot achieve this overnight. Also, we cannot achieve it without a
26082 proper, systematic plan; however, it is important to make the target clear.
26083 Even though it may take one hundred years, or fifty years, that doesn't
26084 matter. Establish a clear idea or clear target; then try to achieve it step
26085 by step. As a first step, we have already started with the elimination of
26086 antipersonnel mines and biological weapons. Also, we are already reducing
26087 nuclear weapons; eventually, there should be a total ban on nuclear weapons.
26088 This is now foreseeable; the idea of its possibility is approaching. These
26089 are great, hopeful signs.
26090 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "The Art of Peace: Nobel Peace Laureates
26091 Discuss Human Rights, Conflict and Reconciliation", edited by Jeffrey
26092 Hopkins, published by Snow Lion Publications
26094 Bare awareness is not easy to develop and maintain because of the mind's
26095 disposition to be constantly preoccupied by thoughts. We easily lose
26096 attention because our mind is so busy. When we do, our emotional life can
26097 creep up on us and take us over. Without mindfulness, the capacity to
26098 maintain attention, disidentification is very difficult, and bare awareness
26099 even more so. Through meditation it is possible to cultivate a quiet,
26100 unintrusive awareness that greatly strengthens our capacity to remain with our
26101 feelings. We simply allow their presence without judging them, or needing to
26102 make them different.
26103 The early stage of meditation focuses attention and cultivates
26104 mindfulness. Mindfulness is our capacity to watch and remain conscious as
26105 emotions, feelings, and thoughts arise. We may begin in meditation by
26106 observing the breath and gradually quietening the mind from the constant
26107 discursive chatter that interrupts our attention. In time a quality of bare
26108 awareness is established free from the conceptual confusion that discriminates
26109 and evaluates what arises and parcels it up in conceptual boxes of good or
26110 bad. Furthermore, this quiet awareness does not become pulled into the
26111 contents of mental activity and drown in their confusion.
26112 -- Rob Preece, "The Psychology of Buddhist Tantra", Foreword by Stephen
26113 Batchelor, published by Snow Lion Publications
26115 In the realm of matter, one and the same object can serve as a cause of
26116 happiness for some living beings, and a cause of suffering for others.
26117 Certain plants, for example, function as medicine for some creatures, but for
26118 other species they can be poisonous. From the point of view of the object
26119 itself there is no difference, but because of the physical constitution and
26120 the material state of the particular living being, that single self-same
26121 object can affect them in different ways. Then, in the sphere of our own
26122 experiences, the same holds true. A certain individual may appear to some as
26123 very friendly, kind and gentle, and so gives them feelings of happiness and
26124 pleasure. Yet to others that same person can appear harmful and wicked, and
26125 so cause them discomfort and unhappiness.
26126 What this kind of example points to is that, although external matter
26127 may act as a cause for our experience of pain and pleasure, the principal
26128 cause that determines whether we experience happiness or suffering lies
26129 within. This is the reason why, when Buddha identified the origin of
26130 suffering, he pointed within and not outside, because he knew that the
26131 principal causes of our suffering are our own negative emotions and the
26132 actions they drive us to do.
26133 -- H.H. The Dalai Lama, "Dzogchen: The Heart Essence of the Great
26134 Perfection", translated by Thupten Jinpa and Richard Barron,
26135 Foreword by Sogyal Rinpoche, edited by Patrick Gaffney, published
26136 by Snow Lion Publications
26138 When you have many excuses not to do your work, ask yourself what guarantee
26139 you have of another chance to do what needs to be done. Time lost is lost for
26140 good. No matter how much you promise to improve, no matter what good
26141 intentions you have for making it up, the time is gone for good. Feeling
26142 sorry about the situation will not bring it back. You can never buy back that
26143 precious piece of time. You may think, "Well, that piece of time has passed,
26144 but I still have a long stretch of time left." No, you do not! What guarantee
26145 is there that you will have another piece of time like this one? Wake up and
26146 stop the excuses; they never made sense before and do not make sense now.
26147 Laziness and procrastination have never worked in a sound and helpful way. It
26148 is only sound and helpful to get things moving.
26149 -- Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche, "Dharma Paths", translated by Ngodup Burkhar
26150 and Chojor Radha, edited by Laura M. Roth, published by Snow Lion
26153 Any sense of conceit or self-importance gets in the way of cultivating the
26154 genuine altruistic intention, and the most effective remedy against this is
26155 the cultivation of humility.
26156 I can tell you a more recent story to illustrate this point. The great
26157 nineteenth-century Tibetan Dzokchen meditator Dza Patrul Rinpoche always
26158 maintained a demeanour of true humility. At one time, when he was giving a
26159 series of teachings to a large crowd of students, he experienced a forceful
26160 yearning for solitude. So one day he quietly left his residence and
26161 disappeared, dressed like an ordinary pilgrim and carrying a walking staff and
26162 very little else. When he reached a nomadic camp he sought shelter for a few
26163 days with one of the families. While he was staying with them, his hostess
26164 asked him to read some texts and, since he looked just like an ordinary
26165 pilgrim, in return for his food and lodging she asked him to help with the
26166 household chores, which included the disposal of the contents of her chamber
26168 One day, while he was away from the camp attending to this task, some of
26169 his well-dressed monk students came looking for him. When his hostess heard
26170 their description of him, she suddenly realised this was the same person she
26171 had asked to throw away the contents of her chamber pot. (It is said she was
26172 so embarrassed that she just ran away!) Such was the humility of this great
26173 teacher, who had many thousands of students.
26174 ...great practitioners of the altruistic intention also possess a
26175 tremendous courage grounded in real inner strength.... This combination of a
26176 total lack of conceit yet possessing great depth of courage is what is
26177 required in a true practitioner of bodhicitta, the altruistic mind of
26179 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Lighting the Way", translated by Geshe Thupten
26180 Jinpa, published by Snow Lion Publications
26182 Rejoicing in the actions of others is the major antidote to jealousy. When
26183 we admire the virtuous deeds of ourselves and of others, a great increase of
26184 merit is created. Jealousy is very harmful, and must be destroyed by
26185 rejoicing. If we rejoice in the virtue of someone whose understanding is less
26186 than our own, we gain greater merit than that person. If we rejoice in the
26187 merit of someone with understanding equal to ours, we gain equal merit. If we
26188 rejoice in the realization or virtue of someone more highly realized than we
26189 are, we accumulate some fraction of the merit that they do. We must rejoice
26190 in virtue because we have taken bodhisattva vows. If other beings practice
26191 well it helps us; therefore we should rejoice in their positive actions. This
26192 is the easiest way to accumulate merit with little hardship. With consistent
26193 effort the practice of rejoicing becomes very powerful and is greatly praised
26195 -- Kyabje Zong Rinpoche, "Chod on the Ganden Tradition: the Oral
26196 Instructions of Kyabje Zong Rinpoche", edited by David Molk, published
26197 by Snow Lion Publications
26199 If you hear a voice within you say "you cannot paint,"
26200 then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.
26201 -- Vincent Van Gogh
26203 ...there are various factors that contribute to attaining that level of
26204 joy and happiness which we conventionally also recognize as sources of
26205 happiness, such as good physical health, ...the wealth that we accumulate,
26206 ...and a circle of friends we trust and with whom we can relate emotionally.
26207 Now all of these are, in reality, sources of happiness, but in order for
26208 one to be able to fully utilize them with the goal of enjoying a happy and
26209 fulfilled life, one's state of mind is crucial. If one harbors hateful
26210 thoughts within, or strong or intense anger somewhere deep down, then it ruins
26211 one's health, so it destroys one of the factors. Even if one has wonderful
26212 possessions, when one is in an intense moment of anger or hatred, one feels
26213 like throwing them--breaking them or throwing them away. So there is no
26214 guarantee that wealth alone can give one the joy or fulfillment that one
26215 seeks. Similarly, when one is in an intense state of anger or hatred, even
26216 a very close friend appears somehow "frosty," cold and distant, or quite
26218 What this indicates is that our state of mind is crucial in determining
26219 whether or not we gain joy and happiness. So leaving aside the perspective of
26220 Dharma practice, even in worldly terms, in terms of our enjoying a happy day-
26221 to-day existence, the greater the level of calmness of our mind, the greater
26222 our peace of mind, and the greater our ability to enjoy a happy and joyful
26224 -- The Dalai Lama, "Healing Anger: The Power of Patience from a Buddhist
26225 Perspective", translated by Geshe Thupten Jinpa, published by Snow
26228 Question: Is there a buildup of awareness that happens by the practice of
26229 recognizing or looking for your own basic nature so that, over time, it
26230 dispels the fear of these emotions?
26232 Rinpoche: Yes, awareness is developed through the discipline of meditation.
26233 Beginning with shamatha meditation, we develop lots of awareness and
26234 mindfulness on the path. Then, in Mahamudra and Dzogchen, we emphasize a
26235 different aspect of mindfulness and awareness. Mindfulness and awareness
26236 come from the discipline of meditation, which continues in our everyday
26237 life. Therefore, formal sitting practice is very important for us. For
26238 that reason, many teachers tell us to sit at least 10-15 minutes every day.
26239 That helps us to generate this continuity of awareness in our everyday life.
26240 There is no easy solution for manifesting awareness or mindfulness in our
26241 everyday life without some discipline in practice. The only problem is
26242 that when a student hears a teacher say that they must sit every day,
26243 that's the time students usually begin to change their guru!
26245 -- Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, "Penetrating Wisdom: The Aspiration of
26246 Samantabhadra", published by Snow Lion Publications
26248 We ordinary individuals share the characteristic of having our attempts to
26249 gain happiness thwarted by our own destructive self-centeredness. It is
26250 unsuitable to keep holding onto the self-centered attitude while ignoring
26251 others. If two friends find themselves floundering in a muddy swamp they
26252 should not ridicule each other, but combine their energies to get out. Both
26253 ourselves and others are in the same position of wanting happiness and not
26254 wanting suffering, but we are entangled in a web of ignorance that prevents us
26255 from achieving those goals. Far from regarding it as an "every man for
26256 himself" situation, we should meditate upon the equality of self and others
26257 and the need to be helpful to other beings.
26258 -- Ven. Lobsang Gyatso, "Bodhicitta: Cultivating the Compassionate Mind of
26259 Enlightenment", translated by Ven. Sherab Gyatso, published by Snow Lion
26262 Dalai Lama: "In the traditional [Tibetan] society, most people automatically
26263 did the types of work their families did--nomads, farmers, merchants, and so
26264 on. But some people still engaged in work that was not in keeping with the
26265 principle of nonharm, because there are butchers, metal smiths who make
26266 swords, and so on. But these kinds of work were also generally hereditary."
26268 Howard Cutler: "Speaking of work and the implementation of the concept of
26269 nonharm, ...you mentioned that there was a rule in Tibet that any new
26270 invention had to guarantee that it was beneficial or at least not harmful for
26271 at least seven generations."
26273 DL: "...there do seem to be certain practices and policies that successive
26274 Tibetan governments adopted in Tibet that reflect putting into practice
26275 certain Buddhist ideals, such as the Buddhist principle of respecting the
26276 natural world, particularly the animal world. For example, all the
26277 communities living near the Yamdrok Lake used to rely heavily on fishing in
26278 the past. Recently I heard about a policy that was adopted during the Fifth
26279 Dalai Lama's time where they were discouraged from fishing, and in order to
26280 compensate them, some other communities would band together and provide them
26281 an equivalent value in grain, so that they would be compensated against their
26282 loss. Similarly, in the area near Mount Kailash, around Lake Manasarovar
26283 during a particular season, a lot of waterfowl migrate there. They lay their
26284 eggs on the shores and apparently there was a government policy that during
26285 the egg-laying season, they would appoint people to watch over the eggs to
26286 make sure they were safe. Of course, there might be individuals who in
26287 addition to taking the salary probably ate some of the eggs as well. These
26288 things happen. But overall there is this kind of attitude of nonharm. "So,
26289 even though in Tibet, people didn't always follow the principle of nonharm in
26290 their work ...this principle was still deeply ingrained in the people. "In
26291 general, I think this could be applied in the West. Although not everybody
26292 has options about the work that they do, at least I think it is good to give
26293 serious thought to the kind of work one does, and the impact it has on others.
26294 I think it is best to choose work that does not cause harm to others, that
26295 does not exploit or deceive others, either directly or indirectly. I think
26296 that's the best way."
26297 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and Dr. Howard C. Cutler, M.D., "The Art
26298 of Happiness at Work"
26300 If we are feeling very nervous all the time, the first step toward doing
26301 something to remedy the situation is to take ourselves and the quality of our
26302 life seriously. Suppose we are walking down the street and we step on a bug
26303 and partially crush but have not actually killed it. If we continue walking
26304 and ignore the bug's experience of its leg being crushed or severed, we do so
26305 because we do not take the insect and its life seriously. We have no respect
26306 for it. If we treat ourselves no better than we do a bug and ignore our
26307 innermost pains and anguish, that is most unfortunate.
26308 Taking ourselves seriously means actually looking at how we are
26309 experiencing our life and, if there is something unsatisfactory about it,
26310 admitting it to ourselves. Our tension and stress do not go away by denying
26311 them or avoiding taking an honest look. And admitting that something is amiss
26312 is not the same as complaining about it and feeling sorry for ourselves. Nor
26313 does it imply that something is fundamentally wrong with us and we are guilty
26314 of being a bad person because we are nervous. Being objective, not
26315 melodramatic, and remaining non-judgmental are essential for any healing,
26317 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, with Alexander Berzin, "The Gelug/Kagyu
26318 Tradition of Mahamudra", published by Snow Lion Publications
26320 Wouldn't life be boring without attachment?
26322 No. In fact it's attachment that makes us restless and prevents us from
26323 enjoying things. For example, suppose we're attached to chocolate cake. Even
26324 while we're eating it, we're not tasting it and enjoying it completely. We're
26325 usually either criticizing ourselves for eating something fattening, comparing
26326 the taste of this chocolate cake to other cakes we've eaten in the past, or
26327 planning how to get another piece. In any case, we're not really experiencing
26328 the chocolate cake in the present.
26329 On the other hand, without attachment, we can think clearly about whether
26330 we want to eat the cake, and if we decide to, we can eat it peacefully,
26331 tasting and enjoying every bite without craving for more or being dissatisfied
26332 because it isn't as good as we expected. As we diminish our attachment, life
26333 becomes more interesting because we're able to open up to what's happening in
26335 -- Thubten Chodron, "Buddhism for Beginners", published by Snow Lion
26338 My Grandmother is over eighty and still doesn't need glasses.
26339 Drinks right out of the bottle.
26342 We are bits of stellar matter that got cold by accident,
26343 bits of a star gone wrong.
26344 -- Sir Arthur Eddington
26346 Hell hath no fury like a bureaucrat scorned. -- Milton Friedman
26348 I have the worst memory ever so no matter who comes up to me--
26349 they're just, like, "I can't believe you don't remember me!"
26350 I'm like, "Oh Dad I'm sorry!"
26353 Question: When a practitioner of the Great Vehicle vows not to enter into
26354 nirvana until all beings are liberated, how is it possible to fulfill this
26357 Answer: Three modes of generating an altruistic intention to become
26358 enlightened are described--like a king, like a boatman, and like a shepherd.
26359 In the first, that like a king, one first seeks to attain a high state after
26360 which help can be given to others. In the second, like a boatman, one seeks
26361 to cross the river of suffering together with others. In the third, like a
26362 shepherd, one seeks to relieve the flock of suffering beings from pain first,
26363 oneself following afterward. These are indications of the style of the
26364 altruistic motivation for becoming enlightened; in actual fact, there is no
26365 way that a Bodhisattva either would want to or could delay achieving full
26366 enlightenment. As much as the motivation to help others increases, so much
26367 closer does one approach Buddhahood.
26368 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama of Tibet, "The Dalai Lama at Harvard",
26369 translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, published by Snow Lion
26372 A bodhisattva is someone who says from the depth of his or her heart, "I
26373 want to be liberated and find ways to overcome all the problems of the world.
26374 I want to help all my fellow beings to do likewise. I long to attain the
26375 highest state of everlasting peace and happiness, in which all suffering has
26376 ceased, and I want to do so for myself and for all sentient beings."
26377 According to the Buddha's teaching, anyone who makes this firm and heartfelt
26378 commitment is a bodhisattva. We become bodhisattvas from the moment we have
26379 this vast and open heart, called bodhichitta, the mind bent on bringing
26380 lasting happiness to all sentient beings.
26381 Buddhist literature defines three types of bodhisattvas: the kinglike
26382 bodhisattva, the captainlike bodhisattva, and the shepherdlike bodhisattva. A
26383 kinglike bodhisattva is like a good king who first wants everything luxurious
26384 for himself, like a big palace, a large entourage, a beautiful queen, and so
26385 on. But once his happiness has been achieved, he also wants to help and
26386 support his subjects as much as possible. Accordingly, a kinglike bodhisattva
26387 has the motivation, "First, I want to free myself from samsara and attain
26388 perfect enlightenment. As soon as I have reached buddhahood, I will help all
26389 other sentient beings to become buddhas as well."
26390 A captainlike bodhisattva would say, "I would like to become a buddha, and
26391 I will take all other sentient beings along with me so that we reach
26392 enlightenment together." This is just as the captain of a ship crosses the
26393 sea, he takes his passengers with him, and they reach the far shore
26395 A shepherdlike bodhisattva is inspired by thinking, "I want to help all
26396 sentient beings to reach enlightenment and see the truth. Only when this is
26397 achieved and samsara is emptied will I become a buddha myself." In actual
26398 fact it may not happen this way, but anyone who has this motivation is called
26399 a "shepherdlike bodhisattva." In the old days, sheep were not kept in fenced
26400 pastures, and the shepherds had to bring them down from the mountains to
26401 protect them from wolves. They would follow behind the sheep, guiding them
26402 into their pen and lock them in. A shepherd would take care of his sheep
26403 first, and only then would he go home and eat.
26404 The bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara developed this shepherdlike motivation and
26405 is therefore considered to be the most courageous and compassionate of beings.
26406 He vowed, "I will not attain complete enlightenment until I have led all
26407 sentient beings to liberation without leaving a single one behind."
26408 -- Ringu Tulku Rinpoche, "Daring Steps Toward Fearlessness: The Three
26409 Vehicles of Buddhism", edited and translated by Rosemarie Fuchs,
26410 published by Snow Lion Publications
26412 The practice of compassion begins at home. We have our parents, our
26413 children, and our brothers and sisters, who perhaps irritate us the most, and
26414 we begin our practice of loving-kindness and compassion with them. Then
26415 gradually we extend our compassion out into our greater community, our
26416 country, neighbouring countries, the world, and finally to all sentient beings
26417 equally without exception.
26418 Extending compassion in this way makes it evident that it is not very easy
26419 to instantly have compassion for "all sentient beings." Theoretically it may
26420 be comfortable to have compassion for "all sentient beings," but through our
26421 practice we realize that "all sentient beings" is a collection of individuals.
26422 When we actually try to generate compassion for each and every individual, it
26423 becomes much more challenging. But if we cannot work with one individual,
26424 then how can we work with all sentient beings? Therefore it is important for
26425 us to reflect more practically, to work with compassion for individuals and
26426 then extend that compassion further.
26427 -- Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, "Trainings in Compassion", translated by the
26428 Padmakara Translation Group, published by Snow Lion Publications
26430 It wouldn't be bad if you didn't have statues, but it has become indispensable
26431 to have Buddhist texts which deal with the structured path to train our mind.
26432 If you have Buddhist texts, read them for yourselves and to friends who visit.
26433 That way you can help others to understand Buddhist ideas. For instance, it
26434 is interesting to read Milarepa's life story and songs. We find in them many
26435 enlightening lessons. Buddha's image alone will not purify us of karmic
26436 obscuration.... It is very important to study the scriptures. They are not
26437 to be just stacked up on the altar. They must be cultivated in our mind.
26438 ...[we] take great interest in having the symbolic representations of Buddha's
26439 body, speech and mind. I feel it is more important to acquire and read
26440 scriptures, the symbolic representations of his speech. You can pay homage to
26441 them, you can make offerings to them; above all, you should study them.
26442 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Generous Wisdom: Commentaries by H.H. the Dalai
26443 Lama XIV on the Jatakamala", translated by Tenzin Dorjee, edited by
26444 Dexter Roberts, Snow Lion Publications
26446 From the Buddhist point of view, being in a depressed state, in a state of
26447 discouragement, is seen as a kind of extreme that can clearly be an obstacle
26448 to taking the steps necessary to accomplish one's goals. A state of self-
26449 hatred is even far more extreme than simply being discouraged, and this can be
26450 very, very dangerous. For those engaged in Buddhist practice, the antidote to
26451 self-hatred would be to reflect upon the fact that all beings, including
26452 oneself, have Buddha Nature--the seed or potential for perfection, full
26453 Enlightenment--no matter how weak or poor or deprived one's present situation
26454 may be. So those people involved in Buddhist practice who suffer from self-
26455 hatred or self-loathing should avoid contemplating the suffering nature of
26456 existence or the underlying unsatisfactory nature of existence, and instead
26457 they should concentrate more on the positive aspects of one's existence, such
26458 as appreciating the tremendous potential that lies within oneself as a human
26459 being. And by reflecting upon these opportunities and potentials, they will
26460 be able to increase their sense of worth and confidence in themselves.
26461 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler, M.D., "The Art of
26462 Happiness: A Handbook for Living"
26464 An instruction that matches examples and their meanings to show how the
26465 absolute nature permeates everything. (*SG)
26467 These various examples give a general idea of the absolute nature. (*DK)
26469 ...there are four examples and their meanings. Take the example of a
26470 Sugata's body: whichever way one looks at it, it is beautiful. (*Z)
26472 Similarly, everything a realized being does, since it is permeated with the
26473 realization of the unborn nature, is bliss, for he does not have ordinary
26474 attachment and aversion. (*Z & SG)
26476 Whether one looks at a Sugata's face or any other part of his body, one never
26477 feels one has looked enough. It is an example of ultimate beauty. Similarly,
26478 those for whom everything is backed by the realization of the unborn nature no
26479 longer have ordinary attachment and aversion, and such persons can therefore
26480 act like enlightened beings: whatever they do is bliss. Since they have fully
26481 realized the absolute nature, there is no question of telling them, "This is
26482 the right thing to do; that is something you should not do." They have no
26483 concepts or limits, so they can act as they wish. Everything they do will be
26484 nothing but bliss. (DK)
26487 Z: Zurchungpa's root text
26488 DK: Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche's commentary
26489 SG: Shechen Gyaltsap's notes
26491 -- Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, "Zurchungpa's Testament: A Commentary on
26492 Zurchung Sherab Trakpa's Eighty Chapters of Personal Advice", translated
26493 by the Padmakara Translation Group, published by Snow Lion Publications
26495 Unless someone like you cares a whole lot,
26496 nothing is going to get better. It's not.
26497 -- The Lorax, Doctor Seuss
26499 We do what we must, and call it by the best names. -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
26501 These days an income is something you can't live without--or within.
26504 Everything is vague to a degree you do not realize
26505 until you have tried to make it precise.
26506 -- Bertrand Russell
26508 The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it.
26509 -- Flannery O'Connor
26511 The initial period of deity yoga is called prior approximation because one is
26512 accustoming to a deity through becoming closer and closer to its state,
26513 whereupon the deity grants the feat, either directly or in the sense of
26514 bestowing a capacity to the mind. Actually effecting the achievement of feats
26515 is done by way of carrying out prescribed burnt offerings or repetition of
26516 mantra, etc., after the approximation has been completed. These feats are
26517 then used for the welfare of others in the third stage, which involves
26518 activities of (1) pacification such as overcoming plague or relieving others
26519 of demons, (2) increase of lifespan, intelligence, wealth, and so forth, (3)
26520 control of resources, persons harmful to others' welfare, etc., and (4)
26521 ferocity, such as expelling or confusing harmful beings.
26522 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Tsong-ka-pa, and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Deity Yoga
26523 in Action and Performance Tantra", published by Snow Lion Publications
26525 The bodhisattva, as the personification of individuation, discovers a unique
26526 capacity to awaken his or her potential to work for the welfare of others in
26527 whichever way most suits his or her individual disposition. When I consider
26528 my own teachers, one thing I particularly value is their capacity to be
26529 authentically themselves. They each have their unique personality and quality
26530 that is a genuine expression of their individuality. There is no
26531 contradiction between our Western need to be individuals and the Buddhist
26532 path. Buddhism does not demand that we become clones of some ideal. Rather,
26533 it asks us to respond to who we are and awaken our full potential, expressing
26534 it within our particular individual capacity. My Tibetan teachers have
26535 supremely individualistic personalities, something I love and value deeply.
26536 They respond to me as an individual with my own personality, which they would
26537 never ask me to relinquish. The fact that they were each on their own unique
26538 journey within the Buddhist path was, for me, a sublime example of the
26539 bodhisattva as an individuated person who has truly responded to the inner
26541 -- Rob Preece, "The Wisdom of Imperfection: The Challenge of Individuation
26542 in Buddhist Life", published by Snow Lion Publications
26544 The view is to believe in and understand the buddha nature, the essence of all
26545 the buddhas. If one knows the buddha nature, then that is to know the
26546 unchanging essence which is free from any limitation, the original primordial
26547 nature of the mind as it is. This is not like a light bulb that suddenly
26548 comes on or something that is newly acquired. It is the nature as it has
26549 always been and always will be: primordially perfect. To recognize the buddha
26550 nature is the view. To fail to recognize the buddha nature is to deviate into
26551 confusion. If you recognize your buddha nature, this is the same as having an
26552 audience with all the buddhas. You will meet face to face with all your root
26554 -- Venerable Gyatrul Rinpoche, "Meditation, Transformation, and Dream Yoga",
26555 translated by B. Alan Wallace and Sangye Khandro, published by Snow Lion
26558 ...when we ask, what is the substantial cause of the material universe way
26559 back in the early history of the universe, we trace it back to the space
26560 particles which transform into the elements of this manifest universe. And
26561 then we can ask whether those space particles have an ultimate beginning. The
26562 answer is no. They are beginningless. Where other philosophical systems
26563 maintain that the original cause was God, Buddha suggested the alternative
26564 that there aren't any ultimate causes. The world is beginningless. Then the
26565 question would be: Why is it beginningless? And the answer is, it is just
26566 nature. There is no reason. Matter is just matter.
26567 Now we have a problem: What accounts for the evolution of the universe as
26568 we know it? What accounts for the loose particles in space forming into the
26569 universe that is apparent to us? Why did it go through orderly processes of
26570 change? Buddhists would say there is a condition which makes it possible, and
26571 we speak of that condition as the awareness of sentient beings.
26572 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Consciousness at the Crossroads: Conversations with
26573 the Dalai Lama on Brain Science and Buddhism", edited by Zara Houshmand,
26574 Robert B. Livingston, and B. Alan Wallace, published by Snow Lion
26577 Q: Certain associates can say things to me that spark an aggressive reaction.
26578 Why is it so easy to spark this feeling of negativity if there is not an
26579 accumulation of energy behind it?
26581 A: This is because of your pattern of clinging to the idea that you should
26582 have all the good things, and nothing that bothers you should ever happen, as
26583 I explained earlier. This is wishful thinking, because the nature of the
26584 world is not like that at all. The ego game you have planned is itself the
26585 explanation for how easily your anger is sparked. Because you have planned
26586 such a delicate, impossible game, and there are many things that can happen,
26587 anything that jeopardizes the plan of your ego upsets you. It is not an
26588 accumulation of energy but the pattern of clinging that is at fault.
26590 -- Venerable Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche, "Dharma Paths", translated by Ngodup
26591 Burkhar and Chojor Radha, edited by Laura M. Roth, published by Snow
26594 Suppose... you try to convert someone from another religion to the
26595 Buddhist religion, and you argue with them trying to convince them of the
26596 inferiority of their position. And suppose you do not succeed, suppose they
26597 do not become Buddhist. On the one hand, you have failed in your task, and on
26598 the other hand, you may have weakened the trust they have in their own
26599 religion, so that they may come to doubt their own faith. What have you
26600 accomplished by all this? It is of no use. When we come into contact with
26601 the followers of different religions, we should not argue. Instead, we should
26602 advise them to follow their own beliefs as sincerely and as truthfully as
26603 possible. For if they do so, they will no doubt reap certain benefits. Of
26604 this there is no doubt. Even in the immediate future, they will be able to
26605 achieve more happiness and more satisfaction.
26606 ...When I meet the followers of different religions, I always praise them,
26607 for it is enough, it is sufficient, that they are following the moral
26608 teachings that are emphasized in every religion. It is enough, as I mentioned
26609 earlier, that they are trying to become better human beings. This in itself
26610 is very good and worthy of praise.
26611 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Answers: Discussions with Western Buddhists",
26612 edited by Jose Ignacio Cabezon, published by Snow Lion Publications
26614 Only a Buddha has extinguished all faults and gained all attainments.
26615 Therefore, one should mentally go for refuge to a Buddha, praise him with
26616 speech, and respect him physically. One should enter the teaching of such a
26618 A Buddha's abandonment of defects is of three types: good, complete, and
26619 irreversible. Good abandonment involves overcoming obstructions through their
26620 antidotes, not just through withdrawing from those activities. Complete
26621 abandonment is not trifling, forsaking only some afflictions or just the
26622 manifest afflictions, but forsaking all obstructions. Irreversible
26623 abandonment overcomes the seeds of afflictions and other obstructions in such
26624 a way that defects will never arise again, even when conditions favourable to
26626 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Tsong-ka-pa and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Tantra in Tibet",
26627 published by Snow Lion Publications
26629 In commenting on the first instruction spoken by Manjushri, we considered the
26630 question of attachment to this lifetime and the faults that come from this
26631 attachment. However, the question of attachment goes deeper. It is not just
26632 a matter of giving up attachment to this life's rewards but of losing our
26633 taste and affinity for the whole of worldly existence. This is why it is
26634 necessary to contemplate and meditate upon the faults of conditioned
26635 existence. Otherwise, we may imagine that samsara possesses any manner of
26636 attractive qualities. Pondering the shortcomings of samsara should bring
26637 forth in us a tangible sense of disgust, as we are confronted with our own
26638 misguided pursuit of worldly ends.
26639 -- Chogye Trichen Rinpoche, "Parting from the Four Attachments: Jetsun
26640 Drakpa Gyaltsen's Song of Experience on Mind Training and the View",
26641 commentary translated by Thubten Choedak, Root Text and Lineage Prayer
26642 translated by H.H. Sakya Trizin and Jay Goldberg, compiled and edited
26643 by John Deweese, published by Snow Lion Publications
26645 Another problem we face today is the gap between rich and poor. In this
26646 great country of America, your forefathers established the concepts of
26647 democracy, freedom, liberty, equality, and equal opportunity for every
26648 citizen. These are provided for by your wonderful Constitution. However, the
26649 number of billionaires in this country is increasing while the poor remain
26650 poor, in some cases getting even poorer. This is very unfortunate. On the
26651 global level as well, we see rich nations and poor ones. This is also very
26652 unfortunate. It is not just morally wrong, but practically it is a source of
26653 unrest and trouble that will eventually find its way to our door.
26654 ...one of my elder brothers, who is no longer alive, would tell me of his
26655 experiences living in America. He lived a humble life and told me of the
26656 troubles, the fears, the killings, theft, and rape that people endured. These
26657 are, I think, the result of economic inequality in society. It is only
26658 natural that difficulties arise if we must fight day by day in order to
26659 survive while another human being, equal to us, is effortlessly living a
26660 luxurious life. This is an unhealthy situation; as a result, even the
26661 wealthy--the billionaires and millionaires--remain in constant anxiety. I
26662 therefore think that this huge gap between rich and poor is very unfortunate.
26663 ...So, for those of you who are poor, those who come from difficult
26664 situations, I strongly urge you to work hard, with self-confidence, to make
26665 use of your opportunities. The richer people should be more caring toward the
26666 poorer ones, and the poor should make every effort, with self-confidence.
26667 -- The Dalai Lama, "An Open Heart: Practicing Compassion in Everyday Life",
26668 edited by Nicholas Vreeland, afterword by Khyongla Rato and Richard Gere
26671 Tibetans say that once upon a time all the yaks that live in Tibet were
26672 living in India as water buffalo. It was very, very hot in India so some of
26673 them decided if they were to keep walking to the north they would get to a
26674 place that would be nice and cool. So they climbed up in the mountains, and
26675 as they were climbing their hair started to grow. Because of this the water
26676 buffalo in India often turn their head and look out expectantly and they are
26677 waiting for their brothers who have wandered off. In a similar way at one
26678 time all the buffalo of samsara and nirvana were living together and one day
26679 some of them wandered off and came into samsara. They keep looking around to
26680 see who else is there and where the other half is, because the basic quality
26681 of our ordinary sense of self is that it is very lonely. Something is missing
26682 in our lives and we don't quite know what it is, but we keep looking and
26683 looking to find this missing part. We can look for it in terms of
26684 possessions, we can look for it in terms of the form of our body, trying to
26685 change it through dieting or hair style or whatever. You can look in terms of
26686 friends. Anything. And this keeps us very, very busy. Sometimes the
26687 busyness can be very exhausting, but when we stop then we feel lonely. So we
26688 get busy again. Dharma is very helpful here if you want distraction because
26689 there are many kinds of ways to be busy in the dharma. You can focus on
26690 having lots of dharma possessions. You can focus on learning the text by
26691 heart, on the mantras and mudras, on serving the tsog, on doing meditations.
26692 There is always something to be busy with.
26693 In Tibet many, many people practiced dharma but not so many seem to get
26694 enlightened. There are many kinds of dharma and if we practice in a way that
26695 doesn't focus on the essential point but on secondary and tertiary levels it
26696 is easy to get lost. It is really important, given that we have limited time,
26697 to focus on what is essential. Many people when they get a plate of food will
26698 eat the things they don't like so much first and leave the special thing to
26699 the end. But when when we apply this to life we can make a big mistake. The
26700 time for deep practice is now. You can learn all about Padmasambhava and what
26701 his clothes mean and what his hair style means but if you don't know the
26702 nature of your own mind then knowledge about Padmasambhava is just some more
26704 -- "Being Right Here: A Dzogchen Treasure Text of Nuden Dorje entitled
26705 'The Mirror of Clear Meaning' ", with commentary by James Low, published
26706 by Snow Lion Publications
26708 Linguistics is arguably the most hotly contested property in the academic
26709 realm. It is soaked with the blood of poets, theologians, philosophers,
26710 philologists, psychologists, biologists, anthropologists, and neurologists,
26711 along with whatever blood can be got out of grammarians.
26714 What is undistracted calm abiding? It is meditative absorption free of the
26715 six types of distraction. What are these six?
26717 (1) Inherent distraction refers to the eye consciousness and the other
26718 four collections of consciousness. Because they are naturally directed
26719 outward, they [cause one to] emerge from meditative absorption.
26720 (2) External distraction refers to a mental consciousness that reaches out
26721 towards or engages objects.
26722 (3) Internal distraction concerns dullness and agitation, as well as
26723 savoring one's meditative absorption.
26724 (4) The distraction of marks occurs when, trusting in meditative
26725 absorption, one apprehends marks of it and becomes attached.
26726 (5) Distraction brought about by negative tendencies is when directing the
26727 mind involves the apprehending of an ego. This is said to refer to the mental
26728 act of pridefully believing oneself to be superior to others, or [simply any
26729 mental act] that involves apprehending an "I".
26730 (6) The distraction of directing the mind occurs when one is caught up in
26731 the mindset of, and directs the mind in the style of, the Lesser Vehicle.
26733 The undistracted calm abiding that is determined by the elimination of
26734 those six is the unique calm abiding of the Great Vehicle. This is a state of
26735 one-pointed inner rest, a flawless calm abiding. In it, there is no
26736 apprehension of marks, as is the case when inner absorption alone is believed
26737 to bring liberation. Neither does it involve the ego apprehension that occurs
26738 in the concentrations of non-Buddhists. Further, one does not direct the mind
26739 as one would when cultivating the supports for the inferior paths [to
26740 liberation]. This is how the wise should understand the calm abiding of the
26742 -- "Middle Beyond Extremes: Maitreya's 'Madhyantavibhaga' with commentaries
26743 by Khenpo Shenga and Ju Mipham", translated by the Dharmachakra
26744 Translation Committee, published by Snow Lion Publications
26746 Calm abiding is predominantly stabilizing meditation, in which the mind is
26747 kept on a single object, rather than analytical meditation, in which a topic
26748 such as impermanence or emptiness is analyzed with reasoning. The purpose of
26749 developing calm abiding is that, since a mind that is scattered to external
26750 objects is relatively powerless, the mind needs to be concentrated in order to
26751 become powerful. If you do not have concentration in which the mind is
26752 unfluctuatingly stable and clear, the faculty of wisdom cannot know its
26753 object, just as it is, in all its subtleties. Therefore, it is necessary to
26754 have a highly focused mind.
26755 ...In order to set the mind steadily on an object of observation, it is
26756 necessary initially to use an object of observation suited to counteracting
26757 your own predominant afflictive emotion, since its force remains with your
26758 mind now and can easily interrupt any attempt to concentrate the mind.
26759 Therefore, Buddha described many types of objects for purifying behavior:
26760 + For someone whose predominant afflictive emotion is desire, ugliness is
26761 a helpful object of meditation. Here, "ugliness" does not necessarily refer
26762 to distorted forms; the very nature of our body--composed of blood, flesh,
26763 bone, and so forth--might seem superficially to be very beautiful with a good
26764 color, solid and yet soft to touch, but when it is investigated, you see that
26765 its essence is quite different--substances like bone, blood, urine, feces,
26767 + For someone who has predominantly engaged in hatred, the object of
26768 meditation is love.
26769 + For someone who was predominantly sunk in obscuration, the meditation is
26770 on the twelve links of the dependent-arising of cyclic existence because
26771 contemplating its complexity promotes intelligence.
26772 + For someone whose predominant afflictive emotion is pride, the
26773 meditation could be on the divisions of the constituents because, when
26774 meditating on the many divisions, you get to the point where you realize that
26775 there are many things you do not know, thereby lessening an inflated sense of
26777 + Those dominated by conceptuality can observe the exhalation and
26778 inhalation of the breath because, by tying the mind to the breath,
26779 discursiveness diminishes.
26780 A particularly helpful object for all personality types is a Buddha body,
26781 since concentration on a Buddha's body causes your mind to mix with virtuous
26782 qualities. No matter what the object is, this is not a case of meditating
26783 within, looking at an external object with your eyes, but of causing an image
26784 of it to appear to the mental consciousness.
26785 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Dzong-ka-ba and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Yoga Tantra: Paths
26786 to Magical Feats", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, published
26787 by Snow Lion Publications
26789 ...an understanding of the doctrine of emptiness is fundamental to tantric
26790 practice. Every sadhana begins with, is structured around, and ends with
26791 meditation upon emptiness. To practice Vajrayana without the wisdom of
26792 emptiness can be very dangerous. For example, a main tantric technique is the
26793 cultivation of a subtle divine pride, a confidence that one is an enlightened
26794 tantric deity, the Lord of the Mandala. One's mind is the Wisdom Body of a
26795 Buddha, one's speech is the Beatific Body, one's form is the Perfect Emanation
26796 Body, and the world and its inhabitants are seen as a mandala inhabited by the
26797 various forms of tantric deities. Thus we have to utterly change our sense of
26798 "I." To do so involves the subject of emptiness. To practice the yoga of
26799 divine pride without an understanding of emptiness will not only be useless,
26800 but could lead to identity problems and other undesirable psychological
26801 effects. Therefore it is said that although the Vajrayana is a quick path
26802 when correctly practiced on the proper spiritual basis, it is dangerous for
26803 the spiritually immature. This type of danger area is one of the reasons why
26804 the Vajrayana must be practiced under the supervision of a qualified vajra
26806 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Path to Enlightenment", edited and translated
26807 by Glenn H. Mullin, published by Snow Lion Publications
26809 Self-discipline brings us into relationship with one of the six
26810 perfections of the bodhisattva, that of enthusiastic perseverance, which
26811 implies the willingness to engage in a process with effort and enthusiasm over
26812 a prolonged period. No material or spiritual qualities are gained without
26813 some degree of effort. Perseverance enables the practitioner to carry on and
26814 trust in the process, even when it feels hopeless. It makes it possible to
26815 face difficulties and obstacles in the path with confidence and courage,
26816 rather than giving up because it feels too hard. Self-discipline helps us
26817 remain in the vessel and not run away.
26818 My Tibetan retreat guide described the maintenance of self-discipline over
26819 time like keeping a pot heating on a stove. If we continually remove it from
26820 the heat the pot never boils. Similarly he felt that when someone enters into
26821 the discipline of retreat, it should be maintained as rigorously as possible.
26822 In doing so the alchemical vessel will be maintained, and the "cooking" can
26823 take place. Transformation only occurs when the vessel is maintained in this
26825 -- Rob Preece, "The Psychology of Buddhist Tantra", foreword by Stephen
26826 Batchelor, published by Snow Lion Publications
26828 Installation programs are where programming
26829 and the IT department meet... and fight.
26832 Compassion without attachment is possible. Therefore, we need to clarify the
26833 distinctions between compassion and attachment. True compassion is not just
26834 an emotional response but a firm commitment founded on reason. Because of
26835 this firm foundation, a truly compassionate attitude toward others does not
26836 change even if they behave negatively. Genuine compassion is based not on our
26837 own projections and expectations, but rather on the needs of the other:
26838 irrespective of whether another person is a close friend or an enemy, as long
26839 as that person wishes for peace and happiness and wishes to overcome
26840 suffering, then on that basis we develop genuine concern for their problem.
26841 This is genuine compassion. For a Buddhist practitioner, the goal is to
26842 develop this genuine compassion, this genuine wish for the well-being of
26843 another, in fact for every living being throughout the universe.
26844 -- Tenzin Gyatso, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, "The Compassionate Life"
26846 Buddha traveled and taught widely for some forty-five years after his
26847 enlightenment, and his audiences were diverse. Even though India at the time
26848 was a highly literate society, nothing of what he said was written down during
26849 his lifetime. Instead, various individuals were entrusted with memorizing the
26850 gist of each discourse. The work of transcribing his words took place only
26851 with the passage of generations.
26852 Tibetans believe that this reluctance on the part of the Buddha and his
26853 immediate followers to commit the enlightenment teachings to paper, and
26854 instead to preserve them as oral traditions, was a purposeful strategy gauged
26855 to maintain the maximum fluidity and living power of the enlightenment
26856 experience. It only became necessary to write things down when the darkness
26857 of the changing times threatened the very survival of the legacy. An oral
26858 tradition becomes lost to history should its holders pass away without first
26859 passing on their lineages.
26860 This intended fluidity, and the according safeguard against the
26861 establishment of an "enlightenment dogma" is perhaps best demonstrated by a
26862 verse that the Buddha himself said shortly before his death:
26863 Do not accept any of my words on faith,
26864 Believing them just because I said them.
26865 Be like an analyst buying gold, who cuts, burns,
26866 And critically examines his product for authenticity.
26867 Only accept what passes the test
26868 By proving useful and beneficial in your life.
26869 This simple statement empowered future generations of Buddhist teachers to
26870 accept and reject at will anything said by Buddha himself as well by his early
26871 disciples. If something that was said by them did not pass the test of
26872 personal analysis, one could simply discard it as being limited in application
26873 to particular times, people, or situations, and therefore as only contextually
26875 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Dalai Lamas on Tantra", translated, edited and
26876 introduced by Glenn H. Mullin, published by Snow Lion Publications
26878 Many places have been totally changed through the use of police force and
26879 the power of guns--the Soviet Union, China, Burma, the Philippines, many
26880 communist countries, countries in Africa and South America. But eventually,
26881 you see, the power of guns and the power of the will of ordinary human beings
26882 will change places. I am always telling people that our century is very
26883 important historically for the planet. There is a big competition between
26884 world peace and world war, between the force of mind and the force of
26885 materialism, between democracy and totalitarianism. And now within this
26886 century, the force of peace is gaining the upper hand. Still, of course, the
26887 material force is very strong, but there is a kind of dissatisfaction about
26888 materialism and a realization or feeling that something is missing.
26889 ...entering the twenty-first century, I think the basic concerns are human
26890 values and the value of truth. These things have more value, more weight now.
26891 -- "The Dalai Lama, A Policy of Kindness: An Anthology of Writings By and
26892 About the Dalai Lama", compiled and edited by Sidney Piburn, Foreword by
26893 Sen. Claiborne Pell, published by Snow Lion Publications
26895 An inexpressible, self-arisen expanse
26896 Without the names "samsara" and "nirvana."
26898 Here, "self-arisen" means the primordial state. It is not something we
26899 can fully express with words or concepts. It's beyond words or concepts. The
26900 nature of all is not biased; it is not restricted to one or another. The
26901 nature of all exists in one identical state. That ground, that nature, does
26902 not have any name such as samsara or nirvana. That is the foundation, that is
26903 the ground. It is beyond samsara and nirvana. Not knowing the ground means
26904 wandering in samsara. If you recognize this ground, if you truly experience
26905 this ground, buddhahood is attained. That is the fruition. That is the
26906 result of our practice and our path.
26907 ...The ground, that fundamental state of simplicity, is the origin of all
26908 elaborations. This pure basic state is like a simple artist's canvas. We
26909 paint different images on this canvas. We can paint the image of a buddha,
26910 and it becomes very pure, beautiful, and inspiring to look at. We can also
26911 paint a devil on the same canvas, which can create our fundamental suffering,
26912 our basic pain. However, the basis of both is the same simple state of canvas
26913 that is completely pure and totally free from the images we project on it. It
26914 is totally free, whether that image is a buddha or a devil. That is the
26916 -- The Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, "Penetrating Wisdom: The Aspiration of
26917 Samantabhadra", published by Snow Lion Publications
26919 Weeds are flowers too, once you get to know them.
26920 -- Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh
26922 Setting a Specific Intention for Our Practice
26923 We should think about how we can make the best use of our practice so that
26924 we get the most out of it in the short time we have in this life. We do not
26925 have the leisure of wasting our time here by delaying the benefits of our
26926 practice. We have to use these situations as effectively as we can.
26927 Before you begin any practice, first think very carefully about your
26928 motivation. When we are engaged in the threefold process of study,
26929 contemplation and meditation, we should be very specific, very clear about why
26930 we are doing it. We should remind ourselves, "I am doing this to transcend my
26931 negative emotions and my ego-clinging." This is a general example of a
26932 specific intention. However, to be more precise, we need to consider the
26933 unique make-up of our own individual kleshas [intense states of suffering, and
26934 ignorance]. Once we have identified our strongest emotion, then we can focus
26935 on the practices that will alleviate it. We begin with whichever emotion is
26936 strongest for us and then we move on to the next strongest, followed by the
26938 It is important for us to prioritize our practice in this way. We have
26939 to keep our intention very clear in all three phases--in our study, in our
26940 contemplation and in our meditation. During shamatha or other practices, when
26941 thoughts come up, we recall that our purpose is to overcome our disturbing
26942 emotions and kleshas. We have to have a sense of willpower or determination
26943 in our minds. In order for the remedy to work, we must tell ourselves, "Yes,
26944 I am going to transcend this anger. I am going to work with it." Otherwise,
26945 if we do not have a clear idea, if we simply sit there with an indefinite or
26946 vague intention, then the effect also will be vague. We may have sat for one
26947 hour and although that time will not have been wasted, because it was not
26948 directed in an intentional way, the experience will not be so sharp, to the
26949 point or effective.
26950 -- Dzogchen Ponlop, "Mind Beyond Death", published by Snow Lion
26953 ...particularly in Buddhism while we practice we must use the brain as
26954 well as the heart. On the ethical side, we must practice the quality of a
26955 good and warm heart; also, since Buddhism is very much involved in reasoning
26956 and logic--the wisdom side--intelligence is important. Thus, a combination of
26957 mind and heart is needed. Without knowledge, without fully utilized
26958 intelligence, you cannot reach the depths of the Buddhist doctrine; it is
26959 difficult to achieve concrete or fully qualified wisdom. There may be
26960 exceptions, but this is the general rule.
26961 It is necessary to have a combination of hearing, thinking, and
26962 meditating. The Kadampa teacher Dromton ('brom ston pa, 1004-1064) said,
26963 "When I engage in hearing, I also make effort at thinking and meditating.
26964 When I engage in thinking, I also search out more hearing and engage in
26965 meditation. And when I meditate, I don't give up hearing and don't give up
26966 thinking." He said, "I am a balanced Kadampa," meaning that he maintained a
26967 balance of hearing, thinking, and meditating.
26968 -- The Fourteenth Dalai Lama His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso, "Kindness, Clarity,
26969 and Insight", edited and translated by Jeffrey Hopkins, co-edited by
26970 Elizabeth Napper, published by Snow Lion Publications
26972 If through listening to this explanation of the Seven Point Mind Training we
26973 come to recognise how important Bodhichitta is, this will be an infallible
26974 cause of our enlightenment. Of all the eighty four thousand different
26975 sections of the doctrine, the precious Bodhichitta is the very essence. By
26976 hearing the words of such a teaching, it is impossible even for demons, whose
26977 nature it is to kill and to do harm, not to have positive thoughts! Kham, a
26978 region in East Tibet, was haunted in the past by many ghosts and evil spirits,
26979 and this was one of the reasons why Patrul Rinpoche used to explain the
26980 Bodhicharyavatara continually to his disciples. Before long, there were no
26981 more ghosts--or at least, no one came to any more harm. Such is the hidden
26982 power of Bodhichitta!
26983 --Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, "Enlightened Courage: An Explanation of the Seven
26984 Point Mind Training", translated by the Padmakara Translation Group,
26985 published by Snow Lion Publications
26987 Sometimes we face certain situations where, although we have done
26988 something good for others, we may not be able to reap the consequences within
26989 this lifetime. When we are talking about the law of causality, we are not
26990 limiting its operation to the confines of this life alone, but rather are
26991 taking into account both this lifetime and the future. Occasionally people
26992 who do not have a proper knowledge of karmic law say that such and such a
26993 person is very kind and religious and so forth, but he always has problems,
26994 whereas so and so is very deceptive and negative, frequently indulging in
26995 negative actions, but always seems very successful. Such people may think
26996 that there is no karmic law at all. There are others who go to the other
26997 extreme and become superstitious, thinking that when someone experiences
26998 illness, it is all due to harmful spirits.... It is also possible for very
26999 negative people to experience their positive karma ripening immaturely due to
27000 the very strong force of negative actions, and thus to exhaust the potentials
27001 of their virtuous actions. They experience a relative success in this life,
27002 while others who are very serious practitioners, as a result of the force of
27003 their practices, bring upon this lifetime the consequences of karmic actions
27004 which might have otherwise thrown them into rebirth in lower realms of
27005 existence in the future. As a result, they experience more problems and
27006 illnesses in this life.
27007 Just resolving not to indulge in a negative action is not enough. It
27008 should be accompanied by the understanding that it is for your own benefit and
27009 sake that you must live with awareness of the law of karma: if you have
27010 accumulated the causes, you will have to face the consequences; if you desire
27011 a particular effect, you can work to produce its causes; and if you do not
27012 desire a certain consequence, you can avoid engaging in actions that will
27013 bring it about. You should reflect upon the law of causality as follows: that
27014 there is a definite relation between causes and effects; that actions not
27015 committed will never produce an effect; and that once committed, actions will
27016 never lose their potentiality simply through the passage of time. So, if you
27017 wish to enjoy desirable fruits, you should work for the accumulation of the
27018 appropriate causes, and if you want to avoid undesirable consequences, you
27019 should not accumulate their causes.... [Karma] is a natural law like any
27021 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, "Path to Bliss: A Practical Guide to
27022 Stages of Meditation", translated by Geshe Thubten Jinpa, edited by
27023 Christine Cox, published by Snow Lion Publications
27025 Generally speaking, there are two forms of meditation on emptiness. One
27026 is the space-like meditation on emptiness, which is characterised by the total
27027 absence or negation of inherent existence. The other is called the illusion-
27028 like meditation on emptiness. The space-like meditation must come first,
27029 because without the realisation of the total absence of inherent existence,
27030 the illusion-like perception or understanding will not occur.
27031 For the illusion-like understanding of all phenomena to occur, there needs
27032 to be a composite of both the perception or appearance and the negation, so
27033 that when we perceive the world and engage with it we can view all things and
27034 events as resembling illusions. We will recognise that although things appear
27035 to us, they are devoid of objective, independent, intrinsic existence. This
27036 is how the illusion-like understanding arises. The author of the "Eight
27037 Verses for Training the Mind" indicates the experiential result when he
27038 writes: "May I, recognising all things as illusion, devoid of clinging, be
27039 released from bondage."
27040 When we speak of cultivating the illusion-like understanding of the nature
27041 of reality, we need to bear in mind the different interpretations of the term
27042 'illusion-like'.... For example, the Buddhist realist schools explain the
27043 nature of reality to be illusion-like in the sense that, although we tend to
27044 perceive things as having permanence, in reality they are changing moment by
27045 moment and it is this that gives them an illusion-like character.
27046 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Lighting the Way", translated by Geshe Thupten
27047 Jinpa, published by Snow Lion Publications
27049 Actually, we are all part of the community of humanity. If humanity is
27050 happy, has a successful life, a happy future, automatically, I will benefit.
27051 If humanity suffers, I too will suffer. Humanity is like one body, and we are
27052 part of that body. Once you realize this, once you cultivate this kind of
27053 attitude, you can bring about a change in your way of thinking. A sense of
27054 caring, commitment, discipline, oneness with humanity--these are very relevant
27055 in today's world. I call this secular ethics, and this is the first level to
27056 counter negative emotions.
27057 The second level in this connection is taught by all major religious
27058 traditions, whether Christian or Muslim or Jewish or Hindu. They all carry
27059 the message of love, compassion, forgiveness, tolerance, contentment, and
27060 discipline. These are countermeasures for negative emotions. When anger is
27061 about to surface, when hatred is about to flare up, think of tolerance. It is
27062 important to stop any mental dissatisfaction when we feel it because it leads
27063 to anger and hatred.
27064 Patience is the countermeasure for mental dissatisfaction. Greed and its
27065 self-centeredness bring unhappiness, and also destruction of the environment,
27066 exploitation of others, and increases the gap between the rich and the poor.
27067 The countermeasure is contentment. So practicing contentment is useful in our
27069 ...All religious traditions talk about methods of compassion and
27070 forgiveness. If we accept religion, we should take the religious methods
27071 seriously and sincerely and use them in our daily lives. Then, a meaningful
27073 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "Many Ways to Nirvana: Reflections and
27074 Advice on Right Living", edited by Renuka Singh
27076 Actually, if we look around, people whom we don't like and people who harm
27077 us are in the minority. Let's say we're at work, at a social gathering, or at
27078 a Dharma center with thirty people. How many of them do we really dislike?
27079 We may have problems with a few people here and there, but we manage to stay
27080 in a room together, don't we? It's not like we despise them and they hate us.
27081 The number of people we can't stand in this world is actually very small.
27082 These people are rare. To practice patience we need the people that we don't
27083 like. We can't practice patience with our friends or with people who are kind
27084 to us. Finding people that we don't like or who threaten us is not so easy.
27085 So, when we finally find them, they are a precious treasure! They are rare to
27086 find. When we meet them, we can think, "Fantastic, I get to practice patience
27088 They say that high-level bodhisattvas pray to meet disgusting,
27089 uncooperative people because they want to practice patience. Of course, when
27090 you really want to meet obnoxious people, they don't show up! Why don't they
27091 turn up for high-level bodhisattvas? Because high-level bodhisattvas don't
27092 have any anger. We could be sitting in a room with many people whom we
27093 consider unbearable, but high-level bodhisattvas don't see them that way at
27094 all. To them, these people appear lovable. Bodhisattvas have such a hard
27095 time finding detestable people, whereas we come across them so easily! So,
27096 when we find people whom we don't like, feel threatened by, or find
27097 despicable, we should recognize that there aren't so many of them around.
27098 Therefore, we should cherish them and take the opportunity to practice
27099 patience with them.
27100 -- Bhikshuni Thubten Chodron, "Cultivating a Compassionate Heart: The Yoga
27101 Method of Chenrezig", foreword by H.H. the Dalai Lama, published by
27102 Snow Lion Publications
27104 Whether you think you can or you think you can't, you're right.
27107 ...to have greater self-awareness or understanding means to have a better
27108 grasp of reality. Now, the opposite of reality is to project onto yourself
27109 qualities that are not there, ascribe to yourself characteristics in contrast
27110 to what is actually the case. For example, when you have a distorted view of
27111 yourself, such as through excessive pride or arrogance, because of these
27112 states of mind, you have an exaggerated sense of your qualities and personal
27113 abilities. Your view of your own abilities goes far beyond your actual
27114 abilities. On the other hand, when you have low self-esteem, then you
27115 underestimate your actual qualities and abilities. You belittle yourself, you
27116 put yourself down. This leads to a complete loss of faith in yourself. So
27117 excess--both in terms of exaggeration and devaluation--are equally
27118 destructive. lt is by addressing these obstacles and by constantly examining
27119 your personal character, qualities, and abilities, that you can learn to have
27120 greater self-understanding. This is the way to become more self-aware.
27121 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler, M.D., "The Art of
27124 Phowa is a practice which should be done repeatedly, all through our lives so
27125 that we can do it naturally and purposefully at the time of death. I have
27126 heard a story about a Tibetan who was dying and his family called the lama to
27127 be with him. The lama sat beside him and told him to think only of his root
27128 guru and forget everything else. He said, "I can't recall my guru, I can only
27129 think of a sizzling sausage being warmed in the ashes of a fire." The lama was
27130 very skillful: "That is excellent!" he said. "Dewachen, the paradise of the
27131 Amitaba Buddha, is full of sausages; they grow on every tree. You only have
27132 to open your mouth and you will have all the sausages you want. The color of
27133 Amitaba is like the embers of a fire, so think of him and you will go to his
27134 realm." It is said that the man went straight to the pure land of Dewachen.
27135 -- Ringu Tulku, "Mind Training", edited by B.M. Shaughnessy, published
27136 by Snow Lion Publications
27138 "Yogis should at all times avoid fish, meat, and so forth,
27139 should eat with moderation, and avoid foods that are not
27140 conducive to health." --Kamalashila
27142 Meditators need to be physically healthy. Therefore, proper diet is
27143 essential. On the other hand, their minds should be clear and strong and this
27144 will also contribute to physical health. For these reasons, it is recommended
27145 that they give up eating fish, meat, garlic, onions, etc. Appropriate food
27146 should be eaten in moderation, for indigestion can cause havoc with
27147 meditation. What's more, those who overeat can hardly stay awake.
27148 ...If a vegetarian diet does not result in protein deficiency, it is a
27149 wholesome way of living. Even if you cannot be a strict vegetarian, at least
27150 moderating the amount of meat you eat is beneficial. Within the southern
27151 schools of Buddhism eating meat is not strictly prohibited, but the meat of
27152 certain animals, such as those that are not cloven-hoofed or those that have
27153 been slaughtered specifically for your consumption, is forbidden. This means
27154 that meat bought casually in the market is acceptable.... However, certain
27155 scriptures... strictly prohibit eating meat at all times, whereas other
27156 scriptures... seem to permit it.
27157 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Stages of Meditation", root text by Kamalashila,
27158 translated by Geshe Lobsang Jordhen, Losang Choephel Ganchenpa, and
27159 Jeremy Russell, published by Snow Lion Publications
27161 It would be wrong to say, as some do, that if we don't recite prayers while
27162 being aware of their meaning and merely repeat the words mindlessly, it has no
27163 benefit whatsoever--like prayer flags flapping in the wind. However, there
27164 are indeed differences in the level of benefits and blessings derived from
27165 prayers according to the way we recite them. Therefore, keeping this in mind,
27166 at the beginning of the practice, generate bodhicitta. During the main
27167 practice, some will use an object of concentration and some will practice
27168 without an object of concentration; each person should do what is best
27169 according to their level. At the end, one should dedicate the merit in a way
27170 that is pure from the three conceptual spheres to the best of one's ability.
27171 The most important and essential thing in making [prayer] meaningful is to
27172 depend on those three stages of practice--generation of bodhicitta, the main
27173 practice and dedication of merit. All must do the complete three stages of
27175 -- Chatral Rinpoche, "Compassionate Action", edited, introduced, and
27176 annotated by Zach Larson, published by Snow Lion Publications
27178 "When the thought of the internal
27179 And the external as 'I' and 'mine'
27180 Has perished, grasping ceases
27181 And through that cessation birth ceases.
27183 When actions and afflictions cease, there is liberation;
27184 They arise from false conceptions, these arise
27185 From the elaborations [of false views on inherent
27186 Existence]; elaborations cease in emptiness."
27189 Inherent existence has never been validly known to exist; therefore, it is
27190 impossible for there to be any phenomenon that exists through its own power.
27191 Since it is experienced that mere dependent-arisings, which are in fact empty
27192 of inherent existence, do cause all forms of help and harm, these are
27193 established as existent. Thus, mere dependent-arisings do exist. Therefore,
27194 all phenomena exist in the manner of appearing as varieties of dependent-
27195 arisings. They appear this way without passing beyond the sphere or condition
27196 of having just this nature of being utterly non-inherently existent.
27197 Therefore, all phenomena have two entities: one entity that is its superficial
27198 mode of appearance and one entity that is its deep mode of being. These two
27199 are called respectively conventional truths and ultimate truths.
27200 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Buddhism of Tibet", translated and edited by
27201 Jeffrey Hopkins, published by Snow Lion Publications
27203 The cloistered environment stands in stark contrast to the uncontrolled
27204 environment of everyday active life in the modern world. When I was a
27205 graduate student living in a family housing unit at Stanford University, I
27206 meditated early in the morning. At about 7:00 outside our window, a group of
27207 little girls would begin shrieking and driving their plastic tractors and
27208 tricycles across the bricks. I was meditating and these girls were disturbing
27209 my peace. I got to feeling pretty sorry for myself so I phoned my lama,
27210 Gyatrul Rinpoche, and asked for advice. He gave me a one-liner, "Just view
27211 it." This was not just Rinpoche's way of telling me to quit whining, but a
27212 reminder of the more encompassing teaching to embrace obstacles in practice.
27213 And carry on. We can't always control our environment, but we can embrace it,
27214 the good, the bad, and the loud, and integrate it into Dharma practice.
27215 -- B. Alan Wallace, "Buddhism with an Attitude: The Tibetan Seven-Point
27216 Mind-Training", edited by Lynn Quirolo, published by Snow Lion Pub.
27218 He who throws mud only loses ground. -- Fat Albert (Bill Cosby)
27220 Grow old along with me!
27221 The best is yet to be.
27224 It isn't the mountain ahead that wears you out;
27225 it's the grain of sand in your shoe.
27228 If scientific reasoning were limited to the logical processes of arithmetic,
27229 we should not get very far in our understanding of the physical world. One
27230 might as well attempt to grasp the game of poker entirely by the use of the
27231 mathematics of probability.
27234 I have a rock garden. Last week three of them died. --Richard Diran
27236 Hegel was right when he said that we learn from history
27237 that man can never learn anything from history.
27238 -- George Bernard Shaw
27240 America believes in education: the average professor earns more
27241 money in a year than a professional athlete earns in a whole week.
27244 We are more ready to try the untried
27245 when what we do is inconsequential.
27246 Hence the fact that many inventions
27247 had their birth as toys.
27250 Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion,
27251 for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.
27252 -- Bertrand Russell
27254 Man is most nearly himself when he achieves
27255 the seriousness of a child at play.
27258 If we have been reborn time after time, it is evident that we have needed
27259 many mothers to give birth to us.... the first cause bringing about
27260 bodhicitta is the recognition that all beings have been our mother.
27261 The love and kindness shown us by our mother in this life would be
27262 difficult to repay. She endured many sleepless nights to care for us when we
27263 were helpless infants. She fed us and would have willingly sacrificed
27264 everything, including her own life, to spare ours. As we contemplate her
27265 example of devoted love, we should consider that each and every being
27266 throughout existence has treated us this way. Each dog, cat, fish, fly, and
27267 human being has at some point in the beginningless past been our mother and
27268 shown us overwhelming love and kindness. Such a thought should bring about
27270 ...if all other sentient beings who have been kind to us since
27271 beginningless time are suffering, how can we devote ourselves to pursuing
27272 merely our own happiness? To seek our own happiness in spite of the suffering
27273 others are experiencing is tragically unfortunate. Therefore, it is clear
27274 that we must try to free all sentient beings from suffering.
27275 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "An Open Heart: Practicing Compassion in Everyday
27276 Life", edited by Nicholas Vreeland, afterword by Khyongla Rato and
27279 3.2.4 The way in which experiences dawn through practicing [Mahamudra]
27281 In beginners, this is similar to water [gushing down] a gorge.
27282 In between, it is the gentle flow of the river Ganga.
27283 Finally, all waters meet like a mother and her child. -- Tilopa
27285 The meditative equipoise of beginners entails intense movement of
27286 thoughts, similar to water gushing down a narrow gorge. The reason for this
27287 is as follows. Though there is some slight resting in equipoise, thoughts
27288 proliferate. Right at that point, through the remedy of alertness and by
27289 considering that you like resting in meditative concentration and dislike not
27290 resting in it, you rest in meditative equipoise again. Through such an
27291 approach, your mind becomes somewhat uplifted.
27292 The meditative equipoise of those who have attained a little bit more
27293 stability than that and are of middling faculties is similar to the gentle
27294 flow of the river Ganga. The reason is as follows. Even if some thoughts
27295 come up, a little here and there, their own face is immediately recognized, so
27296 that the movement of thoughts does not run wild. Without various notions that
27297 chase after these [subtle thoughts] or any physical and mental effort, all
27298 thoughts that come up will dawn slowly. There is also no need to make great
27299 effort in [applying] their remedies. Rather, these happen naturally or of
27301 Finally, in the meditative equipoise of those with highest faculties,
27302 neither thoughts to be relinquished arise nor is there any need to newly
27303 create some remedial wisdom, because there is nothing to be relinquished.
27304 Since existence and peace have become one taste, mother and child luminosity
27305 blend, or, expanse and wisdom have become indifferentiable. Once the
27306 tributary waters and the ocean have become one taste, like a mother and her
27307 child meeting, they cannot be disturbed.
27308 -- The Fifth Shamarpa Goncho Yenla, "Straight from the Heart: Buddhist Pith
27309 Instructions", translated and introduced by Karl Brunnholzl, published
27310 by Snow Lion Publications
27312 The theory of interdependence allows us to develop a wider perspective.
27313 With wider mind, there is less attachment to destructive emotions like anger,
27314 therefore more forgiveness. In today's world, every nation is heavily
27315 interdependent, interconnected. Under these circumstances, destroying your
27316 enemy--your neighbor--means destroying yourself in the long run. You need
27317 your neighbor. More prosperity in your neighbor, you'll get the benefit.
27318 Now, we're not talking about the complete removal of feelings like anger,
27319 attachment, or pride. Just reduction. Interdependence is important because
27320 it is not a mere concept; it can actually help reduce the suffering caused by
27321 these destructive emotions.
27322 We can say the theory of interdependence is an understanding of reality.
27323 We understand that our future depends on global well-being. Having this
27324 viewpoint reduces narrow-mindedness. With narrow mind, one is more likely to
27325 develop attachment, hatred. I think this is the best thing about the theory
27326 of interdependence--it is an explanation of the law of nature. It affects
27327 profoundly, for example, the environment.
27328 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Victor Chan, "The Wisdom of Forgiveness:
27329 Intimate Conversations and Journeys"
27331 The Suffering of Change
27332 Feelings of suffering change into those of happiness. Feelings of
27333 happiness change into suffering. Both arise in dependence upon internal and
27334 external causes which change. For example, we see food as pleasurable, but if
27335 we eat too much, then it causes suffering. When we are young, we see our
27336 bodies as a source of pleasure. As we become older, the same body becomes a
27337 source of suffering.
27338 Just as a wave is always changing, so the nature of suffering is always to
27339 change. It may be experienced as pleasure or as suffering, but it arises from
27340 the same source. Pleasure arises from suffering. Seeing pleasure as
27341 happiness constitutes suffering.
27342 ...Pain and pleasure are of the same nature. Although they look different
27343 at different times, they both arise from the same sea of delusion and karmic
27344 action. Pleasure or pain, one or the other, arises and then falls back into
27345 the ocean. Thus we can conclude that pleasure and pain within the ocean of
27346 samsara are basically suffering, and dissolve into suffering.
27347 This becomes evident in the wide variety of sudden changes of experience
27348 depicted in films. Love and hatred, happiness and family strife, peace and
27349 war, follow each other in rapid succession. The continuous change, although
27350 exaggerated in films, is characteristic of life in general.
27351 -- Ven. Gen Lobsang Gyatso, "The Four Noble Truths", translated by Ven.
27352 Sherab Gyatso, published by Snow Lion Publications
27354 We feel money and power can bring happiness and solve problems, but they
27355 are not definite causes of those desired states. If that were so, it would
27356 follow that those who have wealth would necessarily have happiness, and those
27357 who do not have wealth would always experience suffering. Money and power
27358 facilitate, but it is clear that they are not the primary causes of, happiness
27359 and solving our problems. It is justified for us to make material and
27360 financial development for building our nation and providing shelter, etc. for
27361 ourselves; we need to do that. But we also need to seek inner development.
27362 As we can see, there are many people who have wealth and power who remain
27363 unhappy, due to which their health declines, and they are always taking
27364 medicines. On the other hand, we find people who live like beggars but who
27365 always remain peaceful and happy.
27366 Therefore, in our daily life a certain way of thinking makes us happy, and
27367 a certain way of thinking makes us unhappy. In other words, there are certain
27368 states of mind which bring us problems, and they can be removed; we need to
27369 make an effort in that direction. Likewise, there are certain states of mind
27370 that bring us peace and happiness, and we need to cultivate and enhance them.
27371 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama XIV, "Generous Wisdom: Commentaries", the
27372 Jatakamala translated by Tenzin Dorjee edited by Dexter Roberts
27374 Focusing the Mind on the Deity
27376 Those with superior mental capacity should refine their ability by
27377 practicing the development stage without any sense of clinging or fixation.
27378 In this approach, the appearance of the deity and its ornaments are visualized
27379 in such a way that they are totally complete, vivid, and distinct from the
27380 very beginning. This is the form of great wisdom, the union of development
27381 and completion. Beyond being an identifiable entity with a precise nature, it
27382 appears clearly yet is devoid of any essence. In other words, clarity and
27383 emptiness are indivisible. Like the reflection of the moon in a lake, its
27384 very nature is to appear in a distinct manner, down to the pupils of the eyes,
27385 while in reality it is empty.
27386 Those with moderate mental capacity should begin their meditation with a
27387 sudden recollection of the deity's complete appearance. The next step is to
27388 meditate on the clear appearance of the head, and, once this is stable, to
27389 then meditate progressively on the right arm, left arm, torso, right and left
27390 legs, and finally on the complete form of the deity and its seat. Training in
27391 the development stage of illusory clear appearance keeps one from straying
27392 into the view of nihilism. When one grows weary of this, the practitioner
27393 should recollect purity and refine his or her ability in the essence of this
27394 process, the vajra-like absorption. This key point keeps one from straying
27395 into the belief in permanence.
27396 For beginners with less mental capacity, it may be difficult to visualize
27397 in either of these ways. When not yet familiar with this process, one's
27398 ability should be refined using a permanent form. Take a consecrated and
27399 well-formed representation of the yidam deity, such as a painting or clay
27400 statue made by a skilled artisan, and place it before you. Without
27401 intentionally meditating, look directly at it from top to bottom without
27402 blinking. This is referred to as the auxiliary practice of setting
27403 mindfulness into motion. At first, the agitated movement of conditioned
27404 thought patterns will be experienced. This is the experience of movement,
27405 which is said to be "like water cascading off a cliff."
27406 -- Jigme Lingpa, Patrul Rinpoche, and Getse Mahapandita, "Deity, Mantra,
27407 and Wisdom: Development Stage Meditation in Tibetan Buddhist Tantra",
27408 translated by the Dharmachakra Translation Committee, fore. by Trulshik
27409 Rinpoche, fore. by Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche, published by Snow Lion
27412 The reason why we find so much discussion of epistemology, or how to
27413 define something as a valid cognition, in Buddhist writings is because all our
27414 problems, suffering and confusion derive from a misconceived way of perceiving
27415 things. This explains why it is so important for a practitioner to determine
27416 whether a cognitive event is a misconception or true knowledge. For it is
27417 only by generating insight which sees through delusion that we can become
27419 Even in our own experience we can see how our state of mind passes through
27420 different stages, eventually leading to a state of true knowledge. For
27421 instance, our initial attitude or standpoint on any given topic might be a
27422 very hardened misconception, thinking and grasping at a totally mistaken
27423 notion. But when that strong grasping at the wrong notion is countered with
27424 reasoning, it can then turn into a kind of lingering doubt, an uncertainty
27425 where we wonder: "Maybe it is the case, but then again maybe it is not". That
27426 would represent a second stage. When further exposed to reason or evidence,
27427 this doubt of ours can turn into an assumption, tending towards the right
27428 decision. However, it is still just a presumption, just a belief. When that
27429 belief is yet further exposed to reason and reflection, eventually we could
27430 arrive at what is called 'inference generated through a reasoning process'.
27431 Yet that inference remains conceptual, and it is not a direct knowledge of the
27432 object. Finally, when we have developed this inference and constantly
27433 familiarized ourselves with it, it could turn into an intuitive and direct
27434 realization--a direct experience of the event. So we can see through our own
27435 experience how our mind, as a result of being exposed to reason and
27436 reflection, goes through different stages, eventually leading to a direct
27437 experience of a phenomenon or event.
27438 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Dzogchen: The Heart Essence of the Great
27439 Perfection", translated by Thupten Jinpa and Richard Barron, foreword by
27440 Sogyal Rinpoche, edited by Patrick Gaffney, published by Snow Lion
27443 Not recognizing their own face, but letting them run wild, one thought leads
27444 to many kinds of [other] thoughts. If you fall into letting this continue,
27445 you wander around in confusion. Through directly looking at the face of
27446 whatever thought that comes up at the very start [of a potential train of
27447 thought], without being able to stand its own ground, just like a rainbow
27448 fading away in space, this thought vanishes into emptiness. Since you arrive
27449 at such within the previous experience of stillness, if you become familiar
27450 with it, the stream of confusion is severed through thoughts coming to rest on
27451 their own and vanishing on their own. Hence, if you know how to sustain this,
27452 even if you regard movement as a flaw and [try to] stop it, you need neither
27453 stop it nor [apply] any other remedy for the movement of thoughts. Rather, by
27454 sustaining the state of realizing their own essence, you realize the essential
27455 point that all the various appearances of happiness and suffering emerge from
27456 the mind and dissolve back into the mind. Through this, you realize the
27457 essential point that all of cyclic existence and nirvana is produced by the
27458 mind, the mind resting naturally settled without being affected by thoughts
27459 about the three times.
27460 -- "Straight From the Heart: Buddhist Pith Instructions", translated and
27461 introduced by Karl Brunnholzl, published by Snow Lion Publications
27463 It's a dangerous business going out your front door. -- JRR Tolkien
27465 The only way to entertain some folks is to listen to them. -- Kin Hubbard
27467 Never face facts; if you do,
27468 you'll never get up in the morning.
27472 I hate it as much as I hate peanuts.
27473 But I can't stop eating peanuts.
27476 One cannot always be a hero, but one can always be a human. -- Goethe
27478 The opposite of talking isn't listening.
27479 The opposite of talking is waiting.
27482 Holding onto anger is like grasping a hot coal
27483 with the intent of throwing it at someone else;
27484 you are the one who gets burned.
27485 -- Shakyamuni Buddha
27487 Question: Western religions use the term "God", and Buddhism does not. Could
27488 emptiness or nirvana be considered God? If the afflictive obstruction that is
27489 the conception of inherent existence is eliminated, does one realize that
27492 Dalai Lama: If God is interpreted as an ultimate reality or truth, then
27493 selflessness may be considered as God and even as a creator in the sense that
27494 within the nature of emptiness things appear and disappear. In this sense,
27495 emptiness is the basis of everything; because of emptiness, things can change,
27496 and things can appear and disappear. Thus, voidness--emptiness,
27497 selflessness--is this kind of basis.
27499 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama of Tibet, "The Dalai Lama at Harvard: Lectures on the
27500 Buddhist Path to Peace", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins,
27501 published by Snow Lion Publications
27505 Because such love and compassion have not arisen in their mindstreams,
27506 people don't understand that all sentient beings are their kind mothers. They
27507 hold on to them as friends or foes, and the power of bad karmic action causes
27508 them to experience the immeasurable suffering of cyclic existence. "Wouldn't
27509 it be a joy if I could carry the suffering of those mothers, and if all beings
27510 could have all of my happiness and virtue? In order to establish these
27511 mothers in happiness, what a joy it would be if, until cyclic existence is
27512 empty, their suffering and the cause and effect of suffering, their sins and
27513 the cause and effect of sins, would all ripen in me and these mothers would
27514 become abundantly happy. I give my body, enjoyments, power, prestige, and
27515 roots of virtue in all times for the sake of these mothers. I won't pursue my
27516 own peace and happiness for even a moment. I will work for the welfare of
27517 beings without regard for life or limb. These mothers must have the entire
27518 range of happiness and the causes of happiness." With that thought, meditate
27520 "Furthermore, I will not shrink away from the specific harm done to
27521 sentient beings, or any kind of sickness, suffering, misfortune, enemies, and
27522 obstructions that happen to me for their sakes. What a joy if all the
27523 suffering of beings ripened in me, so that I would have that kind of
27524 suffering. And even a greater joy when those suffering beings are free of
27525 suffering and dwell in exceptional happiness."
27526 Generate an extraordinary attitude with that thinking. It is important
27527 that such joy does not stray into any kind of bias. And if you know it all to
27528 be like a dream or an illusion, free of fixation to true existence, it is
27529 called immeasurable joy.
27530 -- "Machik's Complete Explanation: Clarifying the Meaning of Chod (Dharma)",
27531 translated and edited by Sarah Harding, a Tsadra Foundation Series
27532 book published by Snow Lion Publications
27534 Curiosity is the very basis of education
27535 and if you tell me curiosity killed the cat
27536 I say only that the cat died nobly.
27537 -- Arnold Edinborough
27539 Knowledge will forever govern ignorance
27540 and a people who mean to be their own governors
27541 must arm themselves with the power knowledge gives...
27544 Question: What should you say to a loved one who is talking about a third
27545 person with hatred or anger? On the one hand, you want to show compassion for
27546 the feelings being experienced by the loved one. On the other hand, you don't
27547 want to reinforce or lend approval to that hatred. What might one say?
27549 Dalai Lama: Here I would like to tell a story. Once there was a Kadampa
27550 master called Gampowa who had many responsibilities. One day he complained to
27551 the Kadampa master Dromtonpa that he had hardly any time for his meditation or
27552 for his Dharma practice. So Dromtonpa responded by agreeing with him, "Yes,
27553 that's right. I don't have any time either." Then once an immediate affinity
27554 was established, Dromtonpa skillfully said, "But, you know what I am doing is
27555 for the service of the Dharma. Therefore, I feel satisfied." Similarly, if
27556 you find one of your beloved ones speaking against someone out of anger or
27557 hatred, maybe your initial reaction should be one of agreement and sympathy.
27558 Then once you have gained the person's confidence, you can say, "But...."
27559 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Healing Anger: The Power of Patience from a
27560 Buddhist Perspective", translated by Geshe Thupten Jinpa, published
27561 by Snow Lion Publications
27563 ...if you have not purified ordinary appearances into emptiness, how could
27564 you possibly meditate on the mandala circle? The fact that all phenomena are
27565 emptiness, that samsara and nirvana are inseparable, is the very reason we are
27566 able to actualize this by meditating on the mandala circle. In other words,
27567 emptiness is the basis for the development stage. As it is said, "For the one
27568 to whom emptiness is possible, anything is possible." If all phenomena were
27569 not empty and ordinary appearances were truly present, development stage
27570 meditation would be impossible, as the following quotation points out: "Even
27571 though one might empower wheat to be rice, rice won't actually appear."
27572 However, even if all phenomena are realized to be empty in this way, without
27573 the momentum of great compassion you will not be able to manifest the
27574 rupakayas to benefit others. This is similar to the listeners and solitary
27575 buddhas, who enter into a state of cessation and do not benefit others with
27576 rupakaya emanations.
27577 Once one understands this point, it will be like the following saying:
27578 "All these phenomena are like an illusion and birth is like taking a stroll
27579 in a park...." Said differently, one will no longer dwell in existence, while
27580 through compassion, one will not get caught up in a state of peace either.
27581 This is the great, universal path of the offspring of the victorious ones.
27582 For all these reasons, making sure the three absorptions are not isolated from
27583 one another is a vitally important point.
27584 -- Jigme Lingpa, Patrul Rinpoche, and Getse Mahapandita, "Deity, Mantra,
27585 and Wisdom: Development Stage Meditation in Tibetan Buddhist Tantra",
27586 translated by the Dharmachakra Translation Committee, fore. by Trulshik
27587 Rinpoche, fore. by Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche, published by Snow Lion Pub.
27589 We can experience things without confusion and without being tense. Even
27590 the most disturbed, nervous person has moments of clarity and calmness--even
27591 if only when he or she is peacefully asleep and dreaming pleasant or innocuous
27592 dreams. This demonstrates that confusion and tension are not integral parts
27593 of the nature of mind. Thus confusion can be removed. Not only can it be
27594 removed, but since confusion cannot be validated and can be totally replaced
27595 by understanding, which can be verified, confusion can be eliminated forever.
27596 Thus it is possible for a total absence of confusion to exist. Furthermore,
27597 since confusion limits mind from using its full potentials, once confusion is
27598 gone, a utilization of all potentials can also exist. Therefore, since we all
27599 have a mind, and all minds have the same nature of being able to experience
27600 whatever exists, we can all realize and experience the definitive Three
27602 Thus, if we aim to remove our confusion and realize our potentials as
27603 indicated by the Buddhas, their achievement, their teachings, what they have
27604 built up along the path and those who are progressing along it, we are
27605 traveling through life with a safe, reliable and positive direction. Taking
27606 refuge, then, means to put this realistic, safe direction in our life.
27607 Without it, our practice of mahamudra either has no direction and leads
27608 nowhere, or an unsound direction leading to more confusion and trouble. In
27609 addition, the further we travel in this safe direction through the mahamudra
27610 techniques--in other words, the more we realize the nature of mind and its
27611 relation to reality--the more confident we become in the soundness of this
27612 direction and our ability to reach its goal. The stronger our confidence, the
27613 further we progress along the path.
27614 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama and Alexander Berzin, "The Gelug/Kagyu Tradition of
27615 Mahamudra", published by Snow Lion Publications
27617 The Rolling Stones have a song that goes,
27618 "Wild horses couldn't drag me away.
27619 Wild, wild horses, we'll ride them some day."
27620 That is the level that we have to reach, where wild horses cannot drag us
27621 away from the present moment of awareness. Once we have reached that level of
27622 training, then even in the bardos of death we will be able to guide our mind
27623 steadily past all difficulties toward awakening, toward freedom from samsara.
27624 There is another well-known image; it compares our wild minds to a mad
27625 elephant in a china shop. When untamed, this elephant can very easily destroy
27626 many things in the shop, and even the shop itself. With one move, the
27627 elephant can destroy a wall; and with another move, another wall. In only
27628 four moves, this elephant can destroy the whole structure. In the same way,
27629 if our minds are not tamed, they can easily destroy our whole collection of
27630 virtue--all the merit and wisdom we have accumulated through the
27631 accomplishment of countless positive deeds.
27632 Vipashyana meditation is the process of taming and training our minds.
27633 How do we do it? We catch our minds with shamatha and we train them with
27634 vipashyana. Then we ride our minds with mindfulness while remaining aware of
27635 the greater environment. Following these methods, we will reach our goal
27636 quite quickly--especially when we remember the thought of impermanence, which
27638 -- Dzogchen Ponlop, "Mind Beyond Death", published by Snow Lion Publications
27640 With or without religion, you would have good people doing
27641 good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good
27642 people to do evil things, that takes religion.
27645 Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it.
27648 I was born not knowing and have had only a little
27649 time to change that here and there.
27652 As for me, except for an occasional heart attack,
27653 I feel as young as I ever did.
27656 It is possible to understand the Buddhist teachings as a method of
27657 psychological healing, comparable to psychotherapy, that teaches us how we can
27658 master destructive forces like anger, envy, and greed. Human beings seem to
27659 be a bundle of different qualities and psychological processes. We should
27660 attentively examine our qualities and be alertly aware of our experiences in
27661 order to recognize what we truly feel and think. At the same time, the
27662 personality of human beings is not seen as a unified whole. According to
27663 these teachings, the heart of consciousness is composed of various elements,
27664 the five types of attachment, or skandhas: body, sensations, perceptions,
27665 instinctual forces, and consciousness.
27666 These inner forces impart the false concept of an ego-consciousness. The
27667 basic problem of emotional disorders therefore lies in a false concept of
27668 identity. This I-blindness should therefore be abolished through self-
27669 study.... The goal is not self-realization but selflessness.
27670 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama with Felizitas Von Schonborn, "Path of
27671 Wisdom, Path of Peace", foreword by Wei Jingsheng
27673 Life would be unbearable if everything stayed the same because human beings
27674 find situations that are fixed and predictable very hard to tolerate. Even in
27675 small matters, we become uneasy if we feel there is no end in sight. I know
27676 of couples who live harmoniously together for ten years then marry and are
27677 divorced within a year. As soon as they feel bound to each other for the rest
27678 of their lives, they begin to fight. Impermanence removes our reasons for
27679 quarrelling with each other. Arguments only break out if we imagine that our
27680 relationships are endless. When we appreciate that our time with our
27681 families, partners, and friends may be shorter than we think, we get on better
27682 with each other. Awareness of impermanence gives us extraordinary inner
27683 strength and resilience.
27684 -- Ringu Tulku, "Mind Training", edited by B.M. Shaughnessy, published by
27685 Snow Lion Publications
27687 Be like a postage stamp. Stick to one thing until you get there.
27690 The ability to look at events from different perspectives can be very
27691 helpful. Then, practicing this, one can use certain experiences, certain
27692 tragedies, to develop a calmness of mind. One must realize that every
27693 phenomenon, every event, has different aspects. Everything is of a relative
27694 nature. For example, in my own case, I lost my country. From that viewpoint,
27695 it is very tragic--and there are even worse things. There's a lot of
27696 destruction happening in our country. That's a very negative thing. But if I
27697 look at the same event from another angle, I realize that as a refugee, I have
27698 another perspective. As a refugee there is no need for formalities, ceremony,
27699 protocol. If everything were status quo, if things were okay, then on a lot
27700 of occasions you merely go through the motions; you pretend. But when you are
27701 passing through desperate situations, there's no time to pretend. So from
27702 that angle, this tragic experience has been very useful to me. Also, being a
27703 refugee creates a lot of new opportunities for meeting with many people.
27704 People from different religious traditions, from different walks of life,
27705 those whom I may not have met had I remained in my country. So in that sense
27706 it's been very, very useful.
27707 It seems that often when problems arise, our outlook becomes narrow. All
27708 of our attention may be focused on worrying about the problem, and we may have
27709 a sense that we're the only one that is going through such difficulties. This
27710 can lead to a kind of self-absorption that can make the problem seem very
27711 intense. When this happens, I think that seeing things from a wider
27712 perspective can definitely help--realizing, for instance, that there are many
27713 other people who have gone through similar experiences, and even worse
27714 experiences. This practice of shifting perspective can even be helpful in
27715 certain illnesses or when in pain. At the time the pain arises it is of
27716 course often very difficult, at that moment, to do formal meditation practices
27717 to calm the mind. But if you can make comparisons, view your situation from a
27718 different perspective, somehow something happens. If you only look at that
27719 one event, then it appears bigger and bigger. If you focus too closely, too
27720 intensely, on a problem when it occurs, it appears uncontrollable. But if you
27721 compare that event with some other greater event, look at the same problem
27722 from a distance, then it appears smaller and less overwhelming.
27723 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler, M.D., "The Art of
27724 Happiness: A Handbook for Living"
27726 Three Forms of Compassion
27728 Chandrakirti explained three types of compassion: compassion aimed at
27729 suffering, aimed at phenomena, and unaimed. With the first, we look at
27730 animate beings in light of their suffering and develop the wish for them to be
27731 free from both that suffering and its causes. One source of their suffering
27732 is their unawareness that they even have any problems, let alone their not
27733 knowing the causes of their problems. For example, our friend becomes upset
27734 at the slightest thing that goes wrong and sees this as normal. He or she
27735 does not understand that hypersensitivity is to blame and that something can
27736 be done to remedy this. When we see this sad situation, our compassion for
27737 our friend becomes even stronger.
27738 Compassion aimed at phenomena looks at beings in light of their moment-to-
27739 moment changes. With it, we wish others to be free of suffering and its
27740 causes based on the understanding that these both are impermanent. We also
27741 see that others are unaware of this fact and so, when depressed, for example,
27742 they make their sufferings worse by imagining that they will last forever.
27743 Realizing this further enhances compassion for them.
27744 Unaimed compassion looks at beings in terms of their voidness. It has the
27745 same wish as the other two forms, but is based on not identifying others
27746 concretely with their suffering. Seeing that others do not have this insight
27747 and that consequently they identify themselves with their problems intensifies
27748 our compassion for them even more.
27749 -- Alexander Berzin, "Developing Balanced Sensitivity: Practical Buddhist
27750 Exercises for Daily Life", published by Snow Lion Publications
27752 Don't be confused; the point of Scrum and XP and other agile methodologies is
27753 the same point behind any management technique of the past 100 years--squeeze
27754 every drop of work out of your workers until they are empty husks and can be
27755 thrown away. If you're a programmer and you think Scrum is going to "empower"
27756 you, you could not be more mistaken. Management will hide behind the
27757 principles of Scrum when it suits them and then still do whatever they want
27758 otherwise. When it's pointed out to them that they're violating the agile
27759 principles, they will simply claim that this is how the system is tailored
27760 for our company's "needs" and that we shouldn't blindly follow it. But if you
27761 need to break with an agile practice, oh no, the process is *God* and we must
27762 follow it to the exact letter.
27765 I always believe that each individual human being has some kind of
27766 responsibility for humanity as a whole....
27767 Through my own profession, I try my best to contribute as much as I can.
27768 This proceeds without my being concerned whether another person agrees with
27769 my philosophy or not. Some people may be very much against my belief, my
27770 philosophy, but I feel all right. So long as I see that a human being suffers
27771 or has needs, I shall contribute as much as I can to contribute to their
27773 -- Dalai Lama XIV, "Consciousness at the Crossroads", edited by Zara
27774 Houshmand, Robert B. Livingston, and B. Alan Wallace, published by
27775 Snow Lion Publications
27777 A Song on Impermanence
27779 With this spouse and these near and dear ones you desire to live together,
27780 Inseparable for all times, but there is no doubt that you will be separated.
27782 From this excellent home you would like to be inseparable forever
27783 And take root in it, but you will surely depart.
27785 From this happiness, well-being, and wealth you want to be inseparable forever
27786 So you can relish them, but it is certain you will lose them.
27788 From this supreme human body with its freedoms and riches you wish to be
27790 And own it until the end of times, but there is no way that you won't die.
27792 From this really great teacher you yearn to be inseparable
27793 And listen to the dharma for all eternity, but there is no question that you
27796 From these good friends you wish to be inseparable forever
27797 So you can hang out together, but it's a sure thing that you will be parted.
27799 Therefore, from today on, don your armor of vigor--
27800 The time has come to travel to the land of inseparable great bliss.
27801 You friends who have developed weariness from the depths of your hearts,
27802 I, a dharma-beggar, request you to do so.
27804 -- The Omniscient Longchen Rabjam, "Straight from the Heart: Buddhist Pith
27805 Instructions", translated and introduced by Karl Brunnholzl, published
27806 by Snow Lion Publications
27808 The wisdom that realizes emptiness, that has gained insight into the
27809 nature of reality, is of varying kinds, depending upon the level of subtlety
27810 of the consciousness perceiving the emptiness. In general, there are rough
27811 levels of consciousness, more subtle levels, and then the innermost subtle
27812 level of consciousness. It is the uncommon characteristic of Tantric practice
27813 that through it one can evoke this most subtle consciousness at will and put
27814 it to use in a most effective way. For example, when emptiness is realized by
27815 this subtlest level of mind, it is more powerful, having a much greater effect
27816 on the personality.
27817 In order to activate or make use of the more subtle levels of
27818 consciousness, it is necessary to block the rougher levels--the rougher or
27819 grosser levels must cease. It is through specifically Tantric practices, such
27820 as the meditations on the chakras and the channels, that one can control and
27821 temporarily abandon the rougher levels of consciousness. When these become
27822 suppressed, the subtler levels of consciousness become active. And it is
27823 through the use of the subtlest level of consciousness that the most powerful
27824 spiritual realizations can come about. Hence, it is through the Tantric
27825 practice involving the most subtle consciousness that the goal of
27826 enlightenment can most quickly be realized.
27827 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Answers: Discussions with Western Buddhists",
27828 edited by Jose Ignacio Cabezon, published by Snow Lion Publications
27830 By building up good habits of the mind in meditation, our behavior in daily
27831 life gradually changes. Our anger decreases, we are better able to make
27832 decisions, and we become less dissatisfied and restless. These results of
27833 meditation can be experienced now. But we should always try to have a broader
27834 and more encompassing motivation to meditate than just our own present
27835 happiness. If we generate the motivation to meditate in order to make
27836 preparation for future lives, to attain liberation from the cycle of
27837 constantly recurring problems, or to reach the state of full enlightenment for
27838 the benefit of all beings, then naturally our minds will also be peaceful now.
27839 In addition, we'll be able to attain those high and noble goals.
27840 -- Thubten Chodron, "Buddhism for Beginners", published by Snow Lion
27843 ...all four tantra sets make use of deity yoga, the special tantric means
27844 for amassing the collections of merit and wisdom quickly. Highest Yoga Tantra
27845 has, in addition, techniques for generating subtler minds that realise
27846 emptiness and for using the winds or currents of energy that are the mounts of
27847 these subtler minds as the substantial cause of an actual divine body.
27848 Through this enhancement of the wisdom consciousness the obstructions to
27849 omniscience are quickly removed and Buddhahood is attained.
27850 In the three lower tantras--Action, Performance, and Yoga--deity yoga is
27851 used to bring about the speedy achievement of many common feats and to come
27852 directly under the care of Buddhas and high Bodhisattvas, receiving their
27853 blessings, and so forth. This is done through a threefold process known as
27854 prior approximation, effecting the achievement of feats, and using the feats
27855 in the performance of activities for the welfare of others.
27856 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Tsong-ka-pa and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Deity Yoga in
27857 Action and Performance Tantra", published by Snow Lion Publications
27859 If you are able to think about the meaning of cyclic existence in general and
27860 human life in particular, then it is possible to discipline the mind through
27861 religious practice which is the process of becoming peaceful and anxiety-free.
27862 Otherwise, if too much emphasis is put on the sufferings of the hells and the
27863 imminence of death, there is a chance of falling into paralysing fear. There
27864 is a story in Tibet about an abbot of a monastery who went to give a
27865 discourse. A fellow asked the abbot's servant where the abbot had gone, and
27866 the servant said, "He has gone to frighten old men and women." If you fulfil
27867 the value of a human lifetime through engaging in religious practice, then
27868 there is no point in worrying about death.
27869 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Tsong-ka-pa and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Tantra in Tibet",
27870 published by Snow Lion Publications
27872 ...if a fire which consumes
27873 One house moves to another,
27874 It is right to throw out anything
27875 Like straw which could ignite.
27877 Likewise anything to which the mind
27878 Is attached ignites the fire of anger.
27879 Fearing our merit will be consumed,
27880 It should be discarded at once.
27882 If a house is on fire and the fire is spreading, we need to clear away straw,
27883 wood or anything else which is highly flammable and could cause a conflagration
27884 that would consume our entire home and property. Similarly, one way to prevent
27885 desire and attachment is to avoid contact with the objects that stimulate it.
27886 If anything comes between us and what we desire or if the thing to which we're
27887 attached is harmed or threatened, we instantly feel angry. This destroys the
27888 positive energy we've created.
27889 Another way is not to avoid the objects but to contemplate their unappealing
27890 aspects, because desire results from focusing only on their attractive side.
27891 The third way is to contemplate their lack of true existence, since desire and
27892 clinging are based on seeing them as very real and objectively existent.
27893 Whichever technique we employ, the aim is to prevent desire and attachment,
27894 since they bring many other problems.
27895 -- Geshe Sonam Rinchen, "The Thirty-Seven Practices of Bodhisattvas",
27896 translated and edited by Ruth Sonam, published by Snow Lion Publications
27898 Usually when we breathe, we breathe in and, as soon as we have finished
27899 breathing in, we immediately start breathing out. And as soon as we have
27900 finished breathing out, we start breathing in again. There is never any space
27901 or gap in between the in-breath and the out-breath. Now, many different ways
27902 of focusing the mind on the breathing have been taught.... There are
27903 basically six methods taught in the abhidharma. But here we have something
27904 different from any of those. This is called gentle threefold breathing. It
27905 is called gentle because there is no particular attempt to manipulate the
27906 breathing, except that instead of breathing in and then immediately breathing
27907 out, after breathing in, you wait before you breathe out...here the duration
27908 of the inhalation, of the retention, and of the exhalation should all be
27909 equal, three equal periods within each complete breath.
27910 In doing this, some people combine the phases of the breath with the
27911 mental repetition of the three mantra syllables: OM AH HUM (HUNG)--OM
27912 coordinated with the in-breath, AH with the retention of the breath, and HUM
27913 (HUNG) with the out-breath. But what is most important here is simply to
27914 recollect, as they occur, the inhalation, retention, and exhalation, so that,
27915 while you are inhaling, you are aware that you are doing so; while you are
27916 retaining the breath, you are aware that you are doing so; and while you are
27917 exhaling, you are aware that you are doing so. In the beginning, it is
27918 recommended that beginners start with doing, for example, twenty-one of these
27919 breaths as a series, and it is important to practice with enough mindfulness
27920 so that, while you breathe in, and so forth, you maintain an awareness of what
27921 part of the breathing process you are in.
27922 -- Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, "The Ninth Karmapa's Ocean of Definitive
27923 Meaning", edited, introduced and annotated by Lama Tashi Namgyal,
27924 published by Snow Lion Publications
27926 Life is fragile, like the dew hanging delicately on the grass, crystal
27927 drops that will be carried away on the first morning breeze.
27928 -- Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
27930 ...though the emptiness of an impure phenomenon and the emptiness of a
27931 pure phenomenon are the same, there is a difference. What is the difference?
27932 The continuum of an impure substratum will later cease, not existing in
27933 Buddhahood, whereas a pure substratum's continuum of similar type will exist
27934 right through Buddhahood. Since the deity as whom you are imaginatively
27935 meditating yourself is a divine figure that exists in the state of Buddhahood
27936 when all defilements have been abandoned, this substratum is, for your
27938 Hence, it is important when doing deity yoga to put great effort into:
27939 * working at realizing emptiness as much as you can,
27940 * then imagining that the wisdom realizing emptiness appears itself
27941 as a compassionately directed divine body with a face, arms, and
27943 * and then taking this divine figure as the substratum and
27944 continuously meditating on its emptiness.
27945 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Dzong-ka-ba and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Yoga Tantra: Paths
27946 to Magical Feats", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, published by
27947 Snow Lion Publications
27949 ...when you explain or hear the teachings, if your mind and the teachings
27950 remain separate, then whatever is explained will be inconsequential. Hence,
27951 listen in such a way that you determine how these teachings apply to your
27952 mind. For example, when you want to find out whether or not there is some
27953 smudge, dirt, or whatever, on your face, you look in a mirror and then remove
27954 whatever is there. Similarly, when you listen to the teachings, your faults
27955 such as misconduct and attachment appear in the mirror of the teachings. At
27956 that time, you regret that your mind has become like this, and you then work
27957 to clear away those faults and establish good qualities. Hence, you must
27958 train in the teachings.
27959 --Tsong-kha-pa, "The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to
27960 Enlightenment: The Lamrim Chenmo", translated by the Lamrim Chenmo
27961 Translation Committee, Joshua Cutler, Editor in Chief, published
27962 by Snow Lion Publications
27964 if god exists, then god doesn't need me to believe in god. it will not
27965 harm god if i do not believe, because god's existence is not dependent on
27966 my belief. god could contact me directly if god existed and actually cared
27967 what i believed, thus i see no reason to believe in god until then. since
27968 i don't need to believe in god, this frees me from wasting any mental
27969 effort *believing* when that belief will not create god if god doesn't
27970 exist, and when my disbelief will not destroy god if god does exist.
27971 i can't change the state of god's existence one way or the other--i have
27972 realized this limitation in my capabilities.
27973 instead, god needs to believe in me. it's my existence that presumably
27974 requires god's participation in some way, if god does exist. but regardless
27975 of any effort to placate a deity, i feel that i need to be the kind of person
27976 who is worth believing in, by god or by anyone else. my seeking perfection
27977 should not come from fear of an ignored and needy deity. i must build the
27978 best moral and ethical system that i can come up with for myself in this life.
27979 it is my own self-control and my behavior towards others that is the final
27980 word on whether i am worth believing in.
27983 Sometimes doing nothing is doing something.
27984 -- Sir Thomas Robert Dewar
27986 Enjoy now, another now is coming.
27987 -- Sir Thomas Robert Dewar
27989 Less pain, more gain.
27990 -- Sir Thomas Robert Dewar
27992 The pause is a part of the walk.
27993 -- Sir Thomas Dewar
27995 Go ahead, look around.
27996 -- Sir Thomas Dewar
27998 You better wait for the unexpected.
27999 -- Sir Thomas Dewar
28001 Making a mistake is also an achievement.
28004 Leave for tomorrow what you can't do today.
28007 The further you are from a problem, the smaller it gets.
28010 If you think you know it all, you are missing something.
28013 Proper rules are not written.
28014 -- Sir Thomas Dewar
28016 Sometimes a step forward needs a step back.
28019 If you get to the top on your own, who'll take the picture?
28020 -- Sir Thomas Robert Dewar, aka Lord Dewar
28022 When a man says his word is as his bond--get his bond.
28023 -- Sir Thomas Robert Dewar, aka Lord Dewar
28025 Never invest in a going concern until you know which way it is going.
28028 The quality of the article should be its greatest achievement.
28029 -- Sir Thomas Dewar
28031 If you do not advertise, you fossilize.
28032 -- Sir Thomas Dewar
28034 Yesterday's success belongs to yesterday.
28037 In charity there is no excess.
28040 The greatest mistake you can make is to be
28041 continually fearing you will make one.
28044 Life is a one-way street and you're not coming back.
28045 -- Sir Thomas Robert Dewar
28047 Fish stimulates the brain, but fishing stimulates the imagination.
28050 Respectability is the state of never being caught
28051 doing anything which gives you pleasure.
28054 Of two evils, choose the more interesting.
28057 There is no traffic congestion on the straight and narrow path.
28060 We have a great regard for old age when it is bottled.
28063 A philosopher is a man who can look at an empty glass with a smile.
28064 -- Sir Thomas Dewar
28066 A teetotaller is one who suffers from thirst instead of enjoying it.
28067 -- Sir Thomas Dewar
28069 Experience is what you get when you're looking for something else.
28072 Ability without enthusiasm is like a rifle without a bullet.
28075 You can send a boy to college but you can't make him think.
28078 If we are here to help others, I often wonder what the others are here for.
28081 Don't question your wife's judgment; look who she married.
28084 I pray for all of us, oppressor and friend, that together we may succeed in
28085 building a better world through human understanding and love, and that in
28086 doing so we may reduce the pain and suffering of all sentient beings.
28087 -- His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama's Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech,
28088 Oslo, December 1989, "The Pocket Dalai Lama", compiled and edited by
28091 Benefiting living beings is my main practice, and I would like to give a brief
28092 introduction to the three qualities that are its basis: pure love, compassion,
28093 and bodhichitta, the awakened mind. Pure love is the desire that all living
28094 beings have happiness and its causes. Compassion is the desire that living
28095 beings be free of suffering and its causes, such as unwholesome actions.
28096 Bodhichitta is the desire that all living beings be free of suffering and that
28097 we will be able to place them on the unsurpassed level of awakening, or
28099 -- "Music in the Sky: The Life, Art, and Teachings of the 17th Gyalwa
28100 Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje", by Michele Martin, published by Snow
28103 How can we eliminate the deepest source of all unsatisfactory experience?
28104 Only by cultivating certain qualities within our mindstream. Unless we
28105 possess high spiritual qualifications, there is no doubt that the events life
28106 throws upon us will give rise to frustration, emotional turmoil, and other
28107 distorted states of consciousness. These imperfect states of mind in turn
28108 give rise to imperfect activities, and the seeds of suffering are ever planted
28109 in a steady flow. On the other hand, when the mind can dwell in the wisdom
28110 that knows the ultimate mode of being, one is able to destroy the deepest root
28111 of distortion, negative karma and sorrow.
28112 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "The Path to Enlightenment", translated and
28113 edited by Glenn H. Mullin, published by Snow Lion Publications
28115 It is important to realize that there is nobody else who can wake us up and
28116 save us from samsara. There is no such thing in Buddhism. That may be
28117 Buddhism's biggest drawback, and at the same time its greatest advantage.
28118 This view shows us that there is nobody else in control of our lives, our
28119 experiences, our freedom or our bondage. Who is responsible? Who is in
28120 control? It is us. We are in control. We can bind ourselves further in
28121 samsara or we can free ourselves from it right now. It is all up to us. We
28122 are the ones who have to keep looking at our thoughts, looking for the nature
28123 of our mind. There is no guru, deity, buddha or bodhisattva out there to look
28124 for it for us. Although they would happily do this, it would not help us; it
28125 would only help them. We have to do it for ourselves. That is the key point.
28126 -- Dzogchen Ponlop, "Mind Beyond Death", published by Snow Lion Publications
28128 ...mistakenly apprehending inherent existence in all phenomena
28129 serves as the root of all other delusions...
28131 The opponent force powerful enough to eliminate the delusions should be a
28132 wisdom which combines calm abiding and special insight. In order to cultivate
28133 an advanced meditative stabilization that is free of both subtle mental
28134 sinking and mental excitement, first of all there should be a basis: the
28135 practice of morality, an abstaining from negative actions. Therefore, the
28136 path leading to liberation is comprised of the three higher trainings: the
28137 training of morality as the foundation, the training of meditative
28138 stabilization as the complementing factor, and the actual path which is the
28139 training of wisdom. By enhancing the practice of wisdom and by developing it
28140 to its fullest extent, you will be able to eliminate totally the delusions,
28141 particularly ignorance which misapprehends the mode of being of phenomena.
28142 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Path to Bliss", translated by Geshe Thupten
28143 Jinpa, edited by Christine Cox, published by Snow Lion Publications
28145 There is considerable ongoing debate regarding the traditional view of the
28146 guru-disciple relationship, which asserts that seeing the guru as Buddha,
28147 impeccable and without failings, is vital to ripen the disciple's potential to
28148 attain the fruits of the path. This is reinforced by the admonition that to
28149 see faults in one's own guru will result in karmic downfalls and future
28150 suffering for the disciple. Any faults in the teacher should be seen as the
28151 disciple's aberrations projected outside. The tantric teachings insist this
28152 pure view should be held at all times to protect the disciple from accruing
28154 However, underlying this is also the need to preserve the integrity,
28155 authority, and status of the teacher. This leads to a great deal of confusion
28156 when students begin to see evident flaws in teachers, and it would be folly to
28157 explain them away as the students' impure perception. Consequently it has
28158 become necessary to cultivate a less dogmatic, more pragmatic view. A teacher
28159 may not be a perfect carrier of the projection, but this does not contradict
28160 the tantric view that essentially the guru, an inner phenomenon projected
28161 outside, is Buddha.
28162 If we literalize this principle of the teacher as the embodiment of
28163 perfection, we are in danger of blinding ourselves to the reality that most
28164 teachers are human, and therefore not perfect. An individual can have deep
28165 insights into the nature of reality and still have human failings, a shadow
28166 that has not been fully eradicated. According to the teachings on the Ten
28167 Grounds or Stages of the Bodhisattva, until the final ground is reached, there
28168 are still subtle obscurations to full enlightenment that can manifest in
28169 flawed behavior. Believing without question that the outer guru is Buddha
28170 also traps the teacher in an unrealistic, unconscious position. The Dalai
28171 Lama has commented that too much deference harms the teacher, because we never
28172 challenge him or her.
28173 When disciples become devoted to teachers, considerable power and
28174 authority is entrusted to them. While a teacher's role is to support and
28175 empower disciples to discover their own potential, sometimes this does not
28176 happen. Some teachers become caught in the powerful position they have been
28177 endowed with and are unaware of their own desire for power and authority.
28178 They may begin to enjoy their power too much and take advantage of it for
28179 their own needs. This keeps their disciples disempowered, and ultimately does
28180 not allow growth and individual responsibility to emerge. Teachers may be
28181 unconsciously afraid to empower their disciples and allow them to gain a sense
28182 of their own authority and autonomy. They may try to hold on to their
28183 disciples, when to genuinely empower them could lead to their leaving to
28184 engage in their own journey.
28185 --Rob Preece, "The Psychology of Buddhist Tantra", foreword by Stephen
28186 Batchelor, published by Snow Lion Publications
28188 Attachment increases desire, without producing any satisfaction. There
28189 are two types of desire, unreasonable and reasonable. The first is an
28190 affliction founded on ignorance, but the second is not. To live, you need
28191 resources; therefore, desire for sufficient material things is appropriate.
28192 Such feelings as, "This is good; I want this. This is useful," are not
28193 afflictions. It is also desirable to achieve altruism, wisdom, and
28194 liberation. This kind of desire is suitable; indeed, all human development
28195 comes out of desire, and these aspirations do not have to be an affliction.
28196 ...when you have attachment to material things, it is best to desist from
28197 those very activities that promote more attachment. Satisfaction is helpful
28198 when it comes to material things, but not with respect to spiritual practice.
28199 Objects to which we become attached are something to be discarded, whereas
28200 spiritual progress is something to be adopted--it can be developed
28201 limitlessly, even in old age.
28202 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "How to Expand Love", translated and edited by
28205 Some people find it helpful to set a determination of a reasonable period
28206 of time during which they will sit in meditation without moving. If you do
28207 this, do not make it into a contest in which you grit your teeth in pain just
28208 to say that you sat without moving for a certain length of time. That isn't
28209 conducive for focusing with wisdom on the object of meditation. On the other
28210 hand, avoid moving whenever you feel the slightest bit of restlessness or
28211 discomfort. Doing that isn't conducive for developing concentration either.
28212 Rather, note when there is the urge to move but don't move. Observe the
28213 sensation: Is it really pain or is it simply restless energy in the body?
28214 Learn to differentiate between these two. Learn, also, to differentiate
28215 between pain and discomfort. Watch and study both of those when they arise in
28216 your field of experience.
28217 In general, when attachment, anger, jealousy, or other distracting
28218 emotions arise, observe them without getting involved in their stories.
28219 Experience the feeling, rather than repeat the story to yourself again and
28220 again. Be aware of what it feels like in your body when you are angry,
28221 jealous, arrogant, or clingy. Be aware of the feeling tone in your mind when
28222 one of these emotions is present. Observe how the feeling changes, never
28223 remaining the same.
28224 ...It is important to avoid criticizing yourself when your mind is
28225 distracted or dull. Do not fall into discouraging thoughts or self-hatred
28226 because these are unproductive and are to be abandoned on the path. Remember
28227 that internal transformation takes time and rejoice in your opportunity to
28228 learn and practice the Dharma. "Slowly, slowly," as Lama Thubten Yeshe used
28229 to say. Learn to be satisfied with what you are able to do now while you
28230 aspire to improve in the future.
28231 -- Ven. Thubten Chodron, "Guided Meditations on the Stages of the Path",
28232 foreword by H.H. the Dalai Lama, published by Snow Lion Publications
28234 A family is a place where minds come in contact with one another. If these
28235 minds love one another the home will be as beautiful as a flower garden.
28236 But if these minds get out of harmony with one another it is like a storm
28237 that plays havoc with the garden.
28238 -- Shakyamuni Buddha
28240 You will not be punished for your anger, you will be punished by it.
28241 -- Shakyamuni Buddha
28243 Buddhists take a vow of morality in the context of first taking refuge--in
28244 Buddha, in the states of realization, and in the spiritual community. Refuge
28245 is the foundation for the practice of morality. Buddha teaches us how to find
28246 refuge from suffering and limitation, but the chief refuge, or source of
28247 protection, is found in the states of realization achieved through practicing
28248 morality, concentrated meditation, and wisdom. ...A lama from the Drukpa
28249 Kagyu tradition and I were very close. We met frequently and always used to
28250 joke, teasing each other back and forth. On one occasion I asked him about
28251 his spiritual experience. He told me that when he was young, he was staying
28252 with his lama who had him perform the preliminary practice of making a hundred
28253 thousand prostrations to the Buddha, the doctrine, and the spiritual
28254 community. Early in the morning and late in the evening he had to make
28255 prostrations on a low platform the length of his body. His lama was
28256 meditating in the dark in the next room; so to trick him into thinking he was
28257 making prostrations he would tap with his knuckles on the prostration
28258 platform. Years later, after his lama passed away, he was taking a meditation
28259 retreat in a cave, during which he recalled his lama's great kindness over
28260 years of training him, and he wept and wept. He almost fainted, but then
28261 experienced the clear light, which he continuously practiced. Subsequently,
28262 after successful meditations he occasionally would remember past lives in
28263 vivid reflections before him.
28264 --His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "How to Practice: The Way to a Meaningful
28265 Life", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins,
28266 http://www.snowlionpub.com/search.php?isbn=HOPRPA
28268 A practitioner needs faith, or trust.... Guru Rinpoche said that we
28269 should meditate in the same way that a sparrow enters a nest. A sparrow
28270 spends some time investigating whether or not it is safe to enter. Once his
28271 examination is over, he then enters unhesitatingly. That's a wonderful
28272 metaphor for practice. First clear up all your doubts about your technique,
28273 then throw yourself into the technique with no separation or self-
28274 consciousness. Of course, it's easy to say, but that is the direction toward
28275 which we should be moving.
28276 Another necessary quality is determination. It's easy to gear oneself up
28277 for counting mantras or prostrations. For some, physical discipline is also
28278 easy. But the determination of the meditator is different. We must be
28279 determined to strive to purify our obscurations until they're completely
28280 gone--in other words, until our buddha-nature unobstructedly shines through.
28281 When we sit, we decide to do our best not to be swayed by our negativity. We
28282 should cultivate this attitude at the beginning of our session. Otherwise, no
28283 matter how much we practice, we will daydream a lot and our meditation will
28284 always be wishy-washy. I know this from experience--I may do my session of
28285 meditation, but it is tepid. Why? I don't have that inner strength to remain
28286 unmoved by the arising of the various mental contents.
28287 -- Bruce Newman, "A Beginner's Guide to Tibetan Buddhism", published by
28288 Snow Lion Publications
28290 This is the way of peace:
28291 "Overcome evil with good,
28292 falsehood with truth, and
28296 The seeing of Truth cannot be dualistic (a "thing" seen). It cannot be seen
28297 by a see-er, or via a see-er. There can only be a seeing which itself is
28298 Truth. "All Else is Bondage; Non-Volitional Living"
28301 An economist is a surgeon with an excellent scalpel and a rough-edged lancet,
28302 who operates beautifully on the dead and tortures the living.
28303 -- Nicholas Chamfort
28305 A joke's a very serious thing.
28306 -- Charles Churchill
28308 You have to know how to accept rejection and reject acceptance.
28311 The five subtler aggregates* will eventually be transformed into the
28312 Buddhas of the five lineages. They are now as if accompanied by mental
28313 defilements. When the defilements are removed, these factors do not become
28314 any coarser or subtler; their nature remains, but [when they] become separated
28315 from the faults of mental pollution, they become the Buddhas of the five
28316 lineages. So if you ask whether the Buddhas of the five lineages are present
28317 now in our continuums, these factors are currently bound by faults, and since
28318 there cannot be a Buddha who has a fault, they are not Buddhas. One is not
28319 yet fully enlightened, but that which is going to become a Buddha is present;
28320 therefore, these factors presently existent in our continuums are Buddha seeds
28321 and are called the Buddha nature, or the essence of the One Gone Thus
28323 * The five consituents that are included within a person's continuum--earth,
28324 water, fire, wind, and space--that will be purified into the five Buddha
28325 lineages [the exalted manifestations of these constituents].
28326 -- The Fourteenth Dalai Lama, His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso, "Kindness,
28327 Clarity, and Insight", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins,
28328 co-edited by Elizabeth Napper, published by Snow Lion Publications
28330 ...an inherently existent "I" appears to us, but instead of assenting to
28331 that appearance and holding it to be true, we analyze how the "I" actually
28333 At those times in our life when there's a very solid feeling of "I," it's
28334 helpful to examine how that "I" appears. I remember the first time I stayed
28335 out all night in college and my mother didn't know. I came home the next day
28336 with this feeling that "I" really existed: "I did this and my mother doesn't
28337 know!" The feeling of "I" was just enormous, incredibly solid, because I did
28338 something I wasn't supposed to do.
28339 Examine how that "I" appears, that big "I," especially when you have a
28340 strong emotion. Get familiar with that sense of "I." When somebody criticizes
28341 us or accuses us of doing something that we didn't do, this feeling comes up
28342 very quickly. Usually, we're focused not on the feeling of "I," but on
28343 attacking the other person or escaping from him. But if we can step back,
28344 it's an incredible opportunity to study the feeling of "I." The person who
28345 irritates us the most can be our best Dharma asset, because he gives us an
28346 opportunity to look at this sense of "I."
28347 -- Bhikshuni Thubten Chodron, "Cultivating a Compassionate Heart: The Yoga
28348 Method of Chenrezig", foreword by H.H. the Dalai Lama, published by
28349 Snow Lion Publications
28351 One time when I was giving an exposition on Nagarjuna's "Fundamentals of the
28352 Middle Way," which deals explicitly with the topic of emptiness, one student
28353 who did not have a prior background of learning in great treatises made a
28354 comment to another colleague. He said: 'Today's teaching was a little
28355 strange. His Holiness began with the presentation of the Buddha's path and
28356 built up the edifice one layer at a time. Then, all of a sudden, he started
28357 talking about emptiness and the absence of inherent existence, so that this
28358 whole edifice he had spent much time building was completely dismantled.'
28359 He couldn't really see the point. There is that danger. However, if we
28360 understand the importance of the need to generate wisdom into emptiness as a
28361 means of bringing about the cessation of the afflictions, particularly
28362 fundamental ignorance, then we recognise the value of deepening our
28363 realisation of emptiness. Also, as Dharmakirti points out, emotions such as
28364 loving kindness and compassion cannot directly challenge fundamental
28365 ignorance. It is only by cultivating insight into no-self that we can
28366 directly overcome our fundamental ignorance.
28367 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Lighting the Way", translated by Geshe Thupten
28368 Jinpa, published by Snow Lion Publications
28370 Having committed yourself to certain practices, be steadfast and never
28371 transgress the promises you have made. Let go of everything that could tempt
28372 you to do so and devote yourself entirely and single-mindedly to the
28373 accomplishment of your aims. For six years the Buddha did not waver from his
28374 practice of the meditative stabilization known as "Pervading Space." This
28375 meditation focuses on the fundamental nature of phenomena, which is present
28376 wherever there is space. Everywhere throughout space there are suffering
28377 living beings on whom this meditation also focuses with the compassionate wish
28378 to relieve their suffering and the loving wish to give them happiness. Thus
28379 it combines essential wisdom and skillful means.
28380 -- Geshe Sonam Rinchen, "The Three Principal Aspects of the Path: An Oral
28381 Teaching", translated and edited by Ruth Sonam, published by Snow Lion
28384 If you're not scared or angry at the thought of a human brain being controlled
28385 remotely, then it could be this prototype of mine is finally starting to work.
28386 -- John Alejandro King
28388 Only fools are positive. -- Moe Howard
28390 Just once, I wish we would encounter an alien menace
28391 that wasn't immune to bullets.
28394 We are formed and molded by our thoughts. Those whose minds are shaped by
28395 selfless thoughts give joy when they speak or act. Joy follows them like a
28396 shadow that never leaves them.
28399 If you find a good companion, who is following the same spiritual
28400 path, travel together, overcoming obstacles as they arise.
28403 Man is harder than rock and more fragile than an egg.
28404 -- Yugoslav Proverb
28406 That in man which cannot be domesticated is not his evil but his goodness.
28407 -- Antonio Porchia, Voces, 1943, translated from Spanish by W.S. Merwin
28409 Man is the only creature that refuses to be what he is.
28412 A human being: an ingenious assembly of portable plumbing.
28413 -- Christopher Morley, Human Being
28415 The universe may have a purpose, but nothing we know suggests that, if so,
28416 this purpose has any similarity to ours.
28417 -- Bertrand Russell
28419 Ocean: A body of water occupying two-thirds of a
28420 world made for man--who has no gills.
28423 Man is harder than iron, stronger than stone and more fragile than a rose.
28426 Man is the only kind of varmint sets his own trap, baits it, then steps in it.
28427 -- John Steinbeck, Sweet Thursday
28429 In nature a repulsive caterpillar turns into a lovely butterfly. But with
28430 humans it is the other way around: a lovely butterfly turns into a repulsive
28434 Man is an intelligence in servitude to his organs.
28437 We are perverse creatures and never satisfied.
28440 Modern man is the missing link between apes and human beings.
28443 Human consciousness arose but a minute before midnight on the geological
28444 clock. Yet we mayflies try to bend an ancient world to our purposes, ignorant
28445 perhaps of the messages buried in its long history. Let us hope that we are
28446 still in the early morning of our April day.
28447 -- Stephen Jay Gould, "Our Allotted Lifetimes," The Panda's Thumb, 1980
28449 Such is the human race, often it seems a pity
28450 that Noah... didn't miss the boat.
28453 There are too many people, and too few human beings.
28456 It would indeed be a tragedy if the history of the human race proved to be
28457 nothing more than the story of an ape playing with a box of matches on a
28459 -- David Ormsby Gore
28461 Only on paper has humanity yet achieved glory, beauty, truth, knowledge,
28462 virtue, and abiding love.
28463 -- George Bernard Shaw
28465 The disastrous history of our species indicates the futility of all attempts
28466 at a diagnosis which do not take into account the possibility that homo
28467 sapiens is a victim of one of evolution's countless mistakes.
28468 -- Arthur Koestler, Janus: A Summing Up
28470 Men! The only animal in the world to fear.
28473 The chief obstacle to the progress of the human race is the human race.
28476 Man embraces in his makeup all the natural orders;
28477 he's a squid, a mollusk, a sucker and a buzzard;
28478 sometimes he's a cerebrate.
28479 -- Martin H. Fischer
28481 Men are cruel, but Man is kind.
28482 -- Rabindranath Tagore, Stray Birds, 1916
28484 Humanity is on the march, earth itself is left behind.
28485 -- David Ehrenfeld, The Arrogance of Humanism, 1978
28487 Human nature, if healthy, demands excitement; and if it does not obtain its
28488 thrilling excitement in the right way, it will seek it in the wrong. God
28489 never makes bloodless stoics; He makes no passionless saints.
28492 Cabbage: a familiar kitchen-garden vegetable about as
28493 large and wise as a man's head.
28494 -- Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary
28496 Monkeys are superior to men in this:
28497 When a monkey looks into a mirror, he sees a monkey.
28498 -- Malcolm de Chazal
28500 It is human nature to stand in the middle of a thing.
28501 -- Mariane Moore, "A Grave," Collected Poems, 1951
28503 The human race is a race of cowards; and I am not only marching in that
28504 procession but carrying a banner.
28505 -- Mark Twain, "Reflections on Being the Delight of God."
28507 Adam ate the apple, and our teeth still ache.
28508 -- Hungarian Proverb
28510 Why was man created on the last day? So that he can be told, when pride
28511 possesses him: God created the gnat before thee.
28514 Man--a creature made at the end of the week's work when God was tired.
28517 I sometimes think that God in creating man somewhat overestimated His ability.
28520 O poor mortals, how ye make this earth bitter for each other.
28521 -- Thomas Carlyle, The French Revolution, vol. I, book II, chapter 1
28523 God pulled an all-nighter on the sixth day.
28526 Zoo: An excellent place to study the habits of human beings.
28529 The progress of evolution from President Washington to
28530 President Grant [is] alone enough to upset Darwin.
28531 -- Henry Adams, Education, 1907
28533 Man--a being in search of meaning. -- Plato
28535 Ultimately, aren't we all just talking monkeys with an attitude problem?
28536 -- "Uncle" Ben, as seen on quotes-r-us.org
28538 The more humanity advances, the more it is degraded.
28539 -- Gustave Flaubert
28541 Nothing feebler does earth nurture than man,
28542 Of all things breathing and moving.
28545 Everyone is as God made him, and often a good deal worse.
28546 -- Miguel de Cervantes
28548 Man is a strange animal, he doesn't like to read the handwriting
28549 on the wall until his back is up against it.
28552 It is easier to denature plutonium than to denature the evil spirit of man.
28555 God doesn't measure His bounty, but oh how we do!
28556 -- Mignon McLaughlin, The Second Neurotic's Notebook, 1966
28558 The belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary;
28559 men alone are quite capable of every wickedness.
28560 -- Joseph Conrad, Under Western Eyes, 1911
28562 The human race is governed by its imagination.
28565 Man uses his intelligence less in the care of his own species than he does in
28566 his care of anything else he owns or governs.
28567 -- Abraham Meyerson
28569 Human beings cling to their delicious tyrannies and to their exquisite
28570 nonsense, till death stares them in the face.
28573 Why should man expect his prayer for mercy to be heard by What is above him
28574 when he shows no mercy to what is under him?
28575 -- Pierre Troubetzkoy
28577 The small percentage of dogs that bite people is monumental proof that the dog
28578 is the most benign, forgiving creature on earth.
28579 -- W.R. Koehler, The Koehler Method of Dog Training
28581 Man was created a little lower than the angels,
28582 and has been getting lower ever since.
28585 We have no choice but to be guilty.
28586 God is unthinkable if we are innocent.
28587 -- Archibald MacLeish, JB, 1958
28589 Human beings invent just as many ways to sabotage their lives
28590 as to improve them.
28591 -- Mark Goulston, Get Out of Your Own Way: Overcoming Self-Defeating
28594 As I know more of mankind I expect less of them, and am ready now to call a
28595 man a good man upon easier terms than I was formerly.
28598 What is man's greatest bane? His brother man alone.
28599 -- Bias of Priene, Maxims
28601 Acedia is not in every dictionary; just in every heart.
28602 -- Mignon McLaughlin, The Second Neurotic's Notebook, 1966
28604 The study of crime begins with the knowledge of oneself.
28605 -- Henry Miller, The Air-Conditioned Nightmare, 1945
28607 Is man a savage at heart, skinned o'er with fragile Manners? Or is savagery
28608 but a faint taint in the natural man's gentility, which erupts now and again
28609 like pimples on an angel's arse?
28610 -- John Barth, The Sot-Weed Factor, 1960
28612 God has given a great deal to man, but man would like something from man.
28613 -- Antonio Porchia, Voces, 1943, translated from Spanish by W.S. Merwin
28615 I was surprised just now at seeing a cobweb around a knocker;
28616 for it was not on the door of heaven.
28617 -- Augustus William Hare and Julius Charles Hare, Guesses at Truth,
28618 by Two Brothers, 1827
28620 I sometimes think of what future historians will say of us.
28621 A single sentence will suffice for modern man:
28622 He fornicated and read the papers.
28625 Man, when he is merely what he seems to be, is almost nothing.
28626 -- Antonio Porchia, Voces, 1943, translated from Spanish by W.S. Merwin
28628 Give a man secure possession of a bleak rock, and he will turn it
28629 into a garden; give him nine years' lease of a garden, and he will
28630 convert it into a desert.
28631 -- Arthur Young, Travels in France, 1792
28633 Our behavior is human with a sliver of animal,
28634 our souls animal with a sliver of human.
28637 Occident: The part of the world lying west (or east) of the Orient.
28638 It is largely inhabited by Christians, a powerful subtribe of the
28639 Hypocrites, whose principal industries are murder and cheating, which
28640 they are pleased to call "war" and "commerce." These, also, are the
28641 principal industries of the Orient.
28642 -- Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary
28644 Man is the only animal that laughs and weeps; for he is the only animal
28645 that is struck with the difference between what things are and what
28647 -- William Hazlitt, The English Comic Writers, 1819
28649 Nature is neutral. Man has wrested from nature the power to make the world a
28650 desert or to make the deserts bloom. There is no evil in the atom; only in
28654 A simple and irrefutable argument to knock creationism on its ass: (1) Humans
28655 are a mistake--subproof: opposable thumbs and enlarged brain capacity are the
28656 combined number one factor in the increasingly speedy destruction of planet
28657 Earth. (2) God doesn't make mistakes. (3) Therefore, God couldn't have
28659 -- Cassus Garrulitas
28661 Man talks about everything, and he talks about everything as though the
28662 understanding of everything were all inside him.
28663 -- Antonio Porchia, Voces, 1943, translated from Spanish by W.S. Merwin
28665 My dog is usually pleased with what I do, because she is not infected
28666 with the concept of what I "should" be doing.
28669 Man will do many things to get himself loved;
28670 he will do all things to get himself envied.
28671 -- Mark Twain, Following the Equator, 1897
28673 We are all parasites; we humans, the greatest.
28674 -- Martin H. Fischer
28676 Suppose some mathematical creature from the moon were to reckon up the human
28677 body; he would at once see that the essential thing about it was that it was
28678 duplicate. A man is two men, he on the right exactly resembling him on the
28679 left. Having noted that there was an arm on the right and one on the left, a
28680 leg on the right and one on the left, he might go further and still find on
28681 each side the same number of fingers, the same number of toes, twin eyes, twin
28682 ears, twin nostrils, and even twin lobes of the brain. At last he would take
28683 it as a law; and then, where he found a heart on one side, would deduce that
28684 there was another heart on the other. And just then, where he most felt he
28685 was right, he would be wrong.
28686 -- Gilbert Keith Chesterton, "The Paradoxes of Christianity," Orthodoxy
28688 It is the nature of mortals to kick a fallen man.
28689 -- Aeschylus, Agamemnon
28691 God is less careful than General Motors, for He floods the world
28692 with factory rejects.
28693 -- Mignon McLaughlin, The Neurotic's Notebook, 1960
28695 Man's highest merit always is, as much as possible, to rule external
28696 circumstances and as little as possible to let himself be ruled by them.
28697 -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
28699 So there he is at last. Man on the moon. The poor magnificent bungler! He
28700 can't even get to the office without undergoing the agonies of the damned, but
28701 give him a little metal, a few chemicals, some wire and twenty or thirty
28702 billion dollars and vroom! there he is, up on a rock a quarter of a million
28703 miles up in the sky.
28704 -- Russell Baker, New York Times, 21 July 1969
28706 Man is the only animal for whom his own existence is
28707 a problem which he has to solve.
28708 -- Erich Fromm, Man for Himself, 1947
28710 When freedom from want and freedom from fear are achieved,
28711 man's remains will be in rigor mortis.
28712 -- Martin H. Fischer
28714 Man is nature's sole mistake.
28717 The average man's judgment is so poor, he runs a risk every time he uses it.
28720 Man--a reasoning rather than a reasonable animal.
28721 -- Alexander Hamilton
28723 We must, however, acknowledge, as it seems to me, that man with all
28724 his noble qualities, still bears in his bodily frame the indelible
28725 stamp of his lowly origin.
28726 -- Charles Darwin, Descent of Man, 1871
28728 We're animals. We're born like every other mammal and we live our
28729 whole lives around disguised animal thoughts.
28730 -- Barbara Kingsolver, Animal Dreams
28732 Nature is trying very hard to make us succeed, but nature does not
28733 depend on us. We are not the only experiment.
28734 -- R. Buckminister Fuller
28736 Be a good animal, true to your animal instincts.
28737 -- David Herbert Lawrence, White Peacock, 1911
28739 The question is this: Is man an ape or an angel?
28740 I am on the side of the angels.
28741 -- Benjamin Disraeli
28743 I viewed my fellow man not as a fallen angel, but as a risen ape.
28744 -- Desmond Morris, The Naked Ape
28746 Man desired concord; but nature knows better what is good for his species; she
28747 desires discord. Man wants to live easy and content; but nature compels him
28748 to leave ease... and throw himself into roils and labors.
28749 -- Immanuel Kant, Idea for a Universal History with a Cosmopolitan
28752 The thief and the murderer follow nature just as much as the philanthropist.
28753 -- T.H. Huxley, "Evolution and Ethics," 1893
28755 Many people believe that they are attracted by God, or by Nature,
28756 when they are only repelled by man.
28757 -- William Ralph Inge
28759 People are like birds: on the wing, all beautiful;
28760 up close, all beady little eyes.
28761 -- Mignon McLaughlin, The Second Neurotic's Notebook, 1966
28763 Evolution is individual--devolution is collective.
28764 -- Martin H. Fischer
28766 I think I could turn and live with animals, they are so placid and self-
28767 contain'd. I stand and look at them long and long. They do not sweat and
28768 whine about their condition.... Not one is dissatisfied, not one is demented
28769 with the mania of owning things, not one kneels to another, nor to his kind
28770 that lived thousands of years ago, not one is respectable or unhappy over the
28772 -- Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass
28774 As long as people believe in absurdities
28775 they will continue to commit atrocities.
28778 I demand of you, and of the whole world, that you show me
28779 a generic character... by which to distinguish between Man and Ape.
28780 I myself most assuredly know of none.
28781 -- Carl Linnaeus, 1788
28783 In creating the human brain, evolution has wildly overshot the mark.
28786 Evolution: that last step was a doozy!
28789 We have a world for each one, but we do not have a world for all.
28790 -- Antonio Porchia, Voces, 1943, translated from Spanish by W.S. Merwin
28792 Evolution: one small step for man, one giant leap backward for mankind.
28793 -- The Quote Garden
28795 I do not value any view of the universe into which man and the institutions of
28796 man enter very largely and absorb much of the attention. Man is but the place
28797 where I stand, and the prospect hence is infinite.
28798 -- Henry David Thoreau, journal, 2 April 1852
28800 Nature does not deceive us; it is we who deceive ourselves.
28801 -- Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Emile, 1762
28803 It is not titles that honor men, but men that honor titles.
28804 -- Niccolo Machiavelli
28806 Nobody knows the age of the human race, but everybody agrees
28807 that it is old enough to know better.
28810 Question: How can one work with deep fears most effectively?
28812 DL: There are quite a number of methods. The first is to think about actions
28813 and their effects. Usually when something bad happens, we say, "Oh, very
28814 unlucky," and when something good happens, we say, "Oh, very lucky." Actually,
28815 these two words, lucky and unlucky, are insufficient. There must be some
28816 reason. Because of a reason, a certain time became lucky or unlucky, but
28817 usually we do not go beyond lucky or unlucky. The reason, according to the
28818 Buddhist explanation, is our past karma, our actions.
28820 One way to work with deep fears is to think that the fear comes as a result of
28821 your own actions in the past. Further, if you have fear of some pain or
28822 suffering, you should examine whether there is anything you can do about it.
28823 If you can, there is no need to worry about it; if you cannot do anything,
28824 then there is also no need to worry.
28826 Another technique is to investigate who is becoming afraid. Examine the
28827 nature of your self. Where is this I? Who is I? What is the nature of I?
28828 Is there an I besides my physical body and my consciousness? This may help.
28830 Also, someone who is engaging in the Bodhisattva practices seeks to take
28831 others' suffering onto himself or herself. When you have fear, you can think,
28832 "Others have fear similar to this; may I take to myself all of their fears."
28833 Even though you are opening yourself to greater suffering, taking greater
28834 suffering to yourself, your fear lessens.
28835 -- "The Dalai Lama, A Policy of Kindness: An Anthology of Writings By and
28836 About the Dalai Lama", compiled and edited by Sidney Piburn, Foreword
28837 by Sen. Claiborne Pell, published by Snow Lion Publications
28841 When a subject is analyzed, the object to be negated is determined to be
28842 either an appearance or something imagined. It is not logical, [however,] to
28843 negate momentary appearances, because reasonings cannot negate them. To take
28844 an example: for people with eye diseases, the appearances of floaters [bits of
28845 optical debris], double moons, and the like do not stop as long as their
28846 eyesight is impaired. Similarly, as long as beings are not free from
28847 unafflicted ignorance, illusionlike appearances [manifesting] to the six modes
28848 of consciousness do not stop.
28849 It is not necessary to negate [appearances], because our mistakes do not
28850 come from appearances: they arise from fixating on those [appearances]. This
28851 is the case because if we do not fixate on appearances, we are not bound--we
28852 are like a magician who, having conjured up a young woman, has no attachment
28853 towards her. [On the other hand, if,] like naive beings attached to an
28854 illusory young woman, we fixate intensely [on appearances], our karma and
28855 mental afflictions will increase.
28856 To intentionally negate appearances would be wrong because, if they were
28857 negated, emptiness would come to mean the [absolute] nonexistence of things.
28858 Another reason this would be a mistake is that yogins and yoginis meditating
28859 on emptiness would fall into the extreme of nihilism since they would be
28860 applying their minds to a negation that [equals] the [absolute] nonexistence
28862 Thus, [Madhyamikas] set out to negate only what is imagined, because that
28863 is what can be negated. Like a rope mistaken for a snake, what is imagined
28864 does not conform to facts: it is simply the mind's fixations.
28865 -- Kongtrul Lodro Taye, "The Treasury of Knowledge, Book Six, Part Three:
28866 Frameworks of Buddhist Philosophy", translated by Elizabeth M. Callahan,
28867 published by Snow Lion Publications
28869 Even though Mac Users may be only 10% of the market,
28870 always remember that we are the top 10%.
28873 While I don't claim to be a great programmer, I try to imitate one. An
28874 important trait of the great ones is constructive laziness. They know that
28875 you get an A not for effort but for results.
28878 We've heard that a million monkeys at a million keyboards could produce the
28879 complete works of Shakespeare; now, thanks to the Internet, we know this is
28883 C makes it easy to shoot yourself in the foot; C++ makes it harder, but when
28884 you do, it blows away your whole leg.
28885 -- Bjarne Stroustrup
28887 The question of whether computers can think is like the question of whether
28888 submarines can swim.
28891 Consistently separating words by spaces became a general custom about the
28892 tenth century A.D., and lasted until about 1957, when FORTRAN abandoned the
28894 -- Sun FORTRAN Reference Manual
28896 UNIX was never designed to keep people from doing stupid things, because that
28897 policy would also keep them from doing clever things.
28900 Anyone who slaps a "this page is best viewed with Browser X" label on a Web
28901 page appears to be yearning for the bad old days, before the Web, when you had
28902 very little chance of reading a document written on another computer, another
28903 word processor, or another network.
28906 If you were plowing a field, which would you rather use?
28907 Two strong oxen or 1024 chickens?
28910 The competent programmer is fully aware of the strictly limited size of his
28911 own skull; therefore he approaches the programming task in full humility; and
28912 among other things he avoids clever tricks like the plague.
28915 A programming language is a tool that has profound influence
28916 on our thinking habits.
28919 The Answer to the Great Question of Life, the Universe and Everything is
28921 -- Deep Thought, 2nd greatest Computer in the Universe of Time and Space
28923 If Windows is the solution, can we please have the problem back?
28926 This is a fascinating property: Writing texts in programming languages can not
28927 only be as creative as poetry, the creations more than in poetry, belong to
28928 the real world as soon as run through the machine.
28931 Any problem in computer science can be solved with another layer of
28932 indirection. But that usually will create another problem.
28935 Simplicity is prerequisite for reliability. -- Edsger Dijkstra
28937 It is practically impossible to teach good programming to students that have
28938 had a prior exposure to BASIC: as potential programmers they are mentally
28939 mutilated beyond hope of regeneration.
28942 Good artists copy. Great artists steal. -- Pablo Picasso
28944 I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order I may learn how to do it.
28947 Serious people have few ideas. People with ideas are never serious.
28950 Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.
28953 A thing is not necessarily true because a man dies for it.
28956 The debt is like a crazy aunt we keep down in the basement. All the neighbors
28957 know she's down there, but nobody wants to talk about her.
28960 Loyalty to petrified opinion never yet broke a chain or freed a human soul.
28963 Where true religion has prevented one crime, false religions have afforded a
28964 pretext for a thousand.
28965 -- Charles Caleb Colton
28967 Whatever limits us, we call Fate. -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
28969 The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher regard
28970 those who think alike than those who think differently.
28971 -- Friedrich Nietzsche
28973 Dream no small dreams for they have no power to move the hearts of men.
28974 -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
28976 Men show their characters in nothing more clearly than in what they think
28978 -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
28980 It often takes more courage to change ones opinion than to keep it.
28983 Let's be grateful for those who give us happiness; they are the charming
28984 gardeners who make our soul bloom.
28987 It is better to have a permanent income than to be fascinating.
28990 There are only two forces that unite men--fear and interest.
28991 -- Napoleon Bonaparte
28993 If there were in the world today any large number of people who desired their
28994 own happiness more than they desired the unhappiness of others, we could have
28995 a paradise in a few years.
28998 The difference between fiction and reality is that fiction has to make sense.
29001 If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward,
29002 then we are a sorry lot indeed.
29005 Your character must be above suspicion and
29006 you must be truthful and self controlled.
29009 Either you live or you are consequential. -- Erich Kaestner
29011 Pedaled curd gets wide--not strong. -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
29013 Do not follow where the path may lead.
29014 Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.
29015 -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
29017 She wore too much rouge last night and not quite enough clothes. Thats always
29018 a sign of despair in a woman.
29021 Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.
29024 First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you
29028 Wherever it has been established that it is shameful to be involved with
29029 sexual relationships with men, that is due to evil on the part of the rulers,
29030 and to cowardice on the part of the governed.
29033 We want to be poets of our life--first of all in the smallest
29034 most everyday matters.
29035 -- Friedrich Nietzsche
29037 Without music, life would be an error. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
29039 Joseph LaGrange believed that a mathematician has not thoroughly understood
29040 his own work till he has made it so clear that he can go out and explain it
29041 effectively to the first man he meets on the street.
29044 There is no such thing as an inevitable war. If war comes it will be from
29045 failure of human wisdom.
29046 -- Andres Bonar Law
29048 Perfect nonviolence is the highest bravery. -- Mahatma Gandhi
29050 There never was a good war or a bad peace. -- Benjamin Franklin
29052 There's no honorable way to kill, no gentle way to destroy. There is nothing
29053 good in war. Except its ending.
29056 I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only
29057 temporary; the evil it does is permanent.
29060 An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind. -- Mahatma Gandhi
29062 Trust no one in whom the desire to punish is strong. -- Fyodor Dostoevsky
29064 If we steal thoughts from the moderns, it will be cried down as plagiarism; if
29065 from the ancients, it will be cried up as erudition.
29066 -- Charles Caleb Colton
29068 The artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without work.
29071 Ability is nothing without opportunity. -- Napoleon Bonaparte
29073 Never work just for money or for power.
29074 They won't save your soul or help you sleep at night.
29075 -- Marian Wright Edelman
29077 Who is the happiest of men? He who values the merits of others, and in their
29078 pleasure takes joy, even as though it were his own.
29079 -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
29081 Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power,
29083 -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
29085 Censorship cannot eliminate evil, it can only kill freedom. -- unknown
29087 Freedom is the right to be wrong, not the right to do wrong.
29088 -- John G. Riefenbaker
29090 People demand freedom of speech to make up for
29091 the freedom of thought which they avoid.
29092 -- Soren Aabye Kierkegaard
29094 Expose yourself to your deepest fear; after that, fear has no power, and the
29095 fear of freedom shrinks and vanishes. You are free.
29098 If you are a phenomenologist, you can talk about this cocktail and make
29099 philosophy out of it.
29102 I should only believe in a God that would know how to dance.
29103 -- Friedrich Nietzsche
29105 I would not know what the spirit of a philosopher might wish more
29106 to be than a good dancer.
29107 -- Friedrich Nietzsche
29109 Faith means not wanting to know what is true. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
29111 True love is like ghosts, which everybody talks about and few have seen.
29112 -- Francois, Duc de la Rochefoucauld
29114 This war, like the next war, is a war to end war. -- David Lloyd George
29116 How good bad music and bad reasons sound when one marches against an enemy!
29117 -- Friedrich Nietzsche
29119 When I was a kid my parents moved a lot, but I always found them.
29120 -- Rodney Dangerfield
29122 When your mind is trained in self-discipline, even if you are surrounded
29123 by hostile forces, your peace of mind will hardly be disturbed. On the other
29124 hand, if your mind is undisciplined, your mental peace and calm can easily be
29125 disrupted by your own negative thoughts and emotions. The real enemy is
29126 within, not outside. Usually we define our enemy as a person, an external
29127 agent, whom we believe is causing harm to us or to someone we hold dear. But
29128 such an enemy is dependent on many conditions and is impermanent. One moment,
29129 the person may act as an enemy; at yet another moment, he or she may become
29130 your best friend. This is a truth that we often experience in our own lives.
29131 But negative thoughts and emotions, the inner enemy, will always remain the
29132 enemy. They are your enemy today, they have been your enemy in the past, and
29133 they will remain your enemy in the future as long as they reside within your
29135 This inner enemy is extremely dangerous. The destructive potential of an
29136 external enemy is limited when compared to that of its inner counterpart....
29137 In a time when every country is a potential target for the nuclear weapons of
29138 others, human beings still continue to develop defense systems of greater and
29139 greater sophistication. I do not know if it will ever be possible to create a
29140 defense system capable of guaranteeing worldwide protection against all
29141 external forces of destruction. However, one thing is certain: as long as
29142 those destructive internal enemies of anger and hatred are left to themselves
29143 unchallenged, the threat of physical annihilation will always loom over us.
29144 In fact, the destructive power of an external enemy ultimately derives from
29145 the power of these internal forces. The inner enemy is the trigger that
29146 unleashes the destructive power of the external enemy.
29147 Shantideva tells us that as long as these inner enemies remain secure
29148 within, there is great danger. Shantideva goes on to say that even if
29149 everyone in the world were to stand up against you as your enemies and harm
29150 you, as long as your own mind was disciplined and calm, they would not be able
29151 to disturb your peace. Yet a single instance of delusion arising in your mind
29152 has the power to disturb that peace and inner stability.
29153 -- Tenzin Gyatso, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, from "The Compassionate Life"
29155 (Each day before breakfast the founder and abbess of Sravasti Abbey, Thubten
29156 Chodron, gives a morning motivation for residents and guests. We were moved
29157 by these inspiring words, and hope you will be, too.)
29161 Let's recall our motivation in the morning and think that today, the most
29162 important thing I have to do is to guard my body, speech and mind so that I
29163 don't harm anybody through what I do with my body, through what I say, or even
29164 through what I think. That's the most important thing, more important than
29165 anything else today.
29166 The second most important thing is, as much as possible, to be of benefit
29167 to others. Thoroughly cultivate that as your motivation simply for being
29168 alive today. Our purpose for being alive isn't just to keep this body alive,
29169 to eat and sleep, and have pleasure. We have a higher purpose, a higher
29170 meaning: to really work for the benefit of living beings. If the purpose of
29171 our life is simply to keep the body alive and have pleasure, then at the end
29172 of life, we have nothing to show for it. The body dies and all the pleasures,
29173 like last night's dream, have gone. But if we work for a higher motivation, a
29174 higher purpose, to really do what's beneficial for all living beings, then
29175 there's happiness and benefit now.
29176 At the end of the life, the benefit that we've given to others continues,
29177 as do all the imprints of the attitude of kindness, the attitude of care
29178 towards others. All the imprints of having generated that positive mind go on
29179 with us into the next life. So even at the time of death, that kind heart
29180 brings incredible benefit and carries through into the next life.
29181 And then let's also generate a third motivation--a really long-term
29182 motivation--to become fully enlightened. In other words, to have the wisdom,
29183 compassion, and skill so that in the long term, we'll be able to be of the
29184 greatest benefit to all living beings, even being able to lead them on the
29185 path to enlightenment. That's our really long-term purpose.
29186 As we change and develop a kind heart, that influences every single living
29187 being we encounter in a positive way. Then, through the influence on them, it
29188 spreads out to all the people they know. So, just spending one day with a
29189 positive, long-term motivation may seem like a small thing, but when we think
29190 of the ripple effect it has now, and the benefit it has in future lives and
29191 for progressing along the path to liberation and enlightenment, we see that
29192 even one day spent with this motivation of kindness, directly and indirectly
29193 benefiting sentient beings, has tremendous outcomes--many, many good results.
29194 -- Thubten Chodron, who is the author of many books, including her latest
29195 work, "Guided Meditations on the Stages of the Path", published by
29196 Snow Lion Publications
29198 ...We can't blame one individual for what happens in our world. I think
29199 we should blame our entire society. Society produces our leaders and
29200 politicians, and if we try to develop a more compassionate and affectionate
29201 society, we will have human beings with a more peaceful nature. Leaders,
29202 politicians, and businesspeople coming from such a society would offer hope
29203 for a better world. Our long-term responsibility--everyone's responsibility,
29204 whether they are believers or nonbelievers--is to find ways to promote a
29205 peaceful and compassionate society.
29206 I think one way is quite simple. Each individual must try to ensure peace
29207 and compassion in his [or her] family. Put together ten peaceful,
29208 compassionate homes, or one hundred, and that's a community. The children in
29209 such a society would receive affection in their family and in their schools
29210 from the educators concerned. We might have one or two setbacks, but
29211 generally I think we could develop a sensible society. Sensible here means a
29212 sense of community, a sense of responsibility, and a sense of commitment.
29213 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "Many Ways to Nirvana: Reflections
29214 and Advice on Right Living", edited by Renuka Singh, published by
29215 Snow Lion Publications
29217 We can see that there are many ways in which we actively contribute to our
29218 own experience of mental unrest and suffering. Although, in general, mental
29219 and emotional afflictions themselves can come naturally, often it is our own
29220 reinforcement of those negative emotions that makes them so much worse. For
29221 instance when we have anger or hatred towards a person, there is less
29222 likelihood of its developing to a very intense degree if we leave it
29223 unattended. However, if we think about the projected injustices done to us,
29224 the ways in which we have been unfairly treated, and we keep on thinking about
29225 them over and over, then that feeds the hatred. It makes the hatred very
29226 powerful and intense. Of course, the same can apply to when we have an
29227 attachment towards a particular person; we can feed that by thinking about how
29228 beautiful he or she is, and as we keep thinking about the projected qualities
29229 that we see in the person, the attachment becomes more and more intense. But
29230 this shows how through constant familiarity and thinking, we ourselves can
29231 make our emotions more intense and powerful.
29232 We also often add to our pain and suffering by being overly sensitive,
29233 overreacting to minor things, and sometimes taking things too personally. We
29234 tend to take small things too seriously and blow them up out of proportion,
29235 while at the same time we often remain indifferent to the really important
29236 things, those things which have profound effects on our lives and long-term
29237 consequences and implications.
29238 So I think that to a large extent, whether you suffer depends on how you
29239 respond to a given situation.
29240 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler, M.D., "The Art of
29241 Happiness: A Handbook for Living"
29243 Realizations come only if we practice joyfully, with confidence and
29244 courage. Realization doesn't grow within a timid or weak state of mind--it
29245 blossoms in the mind free of doubt and hesitation. Realization is fearless.
29246 When we see the true nature of reality, there's nothing hidden, nothing left
29247 to fear. At last we're seeing reality as it is, full of joy and peace.
29248 Our habitual patterns can only be removed by understanding the great
29249 emptiness aspect of true nature, that which is named the Mother of all the
29250 buddhas. Emptiness is freedom; emptiness is great opportunity. It is
29251 pervasive and all phenomena arise from it. As the great master Jigme Lingpa
29252 said, "The entire universe is the mandala of the dakini." The Mother's mandala
29253 is all phenomena, the display of the wisdom dakini.
29254 Without this ultimate great emptiness, the Mother of the buddhas, the
29255 universe would be without movement, development, or change. Because of this
29256 great emptiness state of the Mother, we see phenomena continually arising.
29257 Each display arises, transforms, and radiates, fulfilling its purpose and then
29258 dissolving back into its original state. This dramatic dance of energy is the
29259 activity, ability, or mandala of the wisdom dakini. Thus, the combination of
29260 the great emptiness or openness state, together with the activities of love
29261 and compassion, is both the ultimate Mother and the ultimate wisdom dakini.
29262 -- Khenchen Palden Sherab Rinpoche and Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal Rinpoche,
29263 "Tara's Enlightened Activity: An Oral Commentary on 'The Twenty-one
29264 Praises to Tara' ", published by Snow Lion Publications
29266 Just as your innermost wish is to be free from suffering and to abide in
29267 happiness, so too is it the aspiration of all other beings. But, they, like
29268 you, encounter sufferings and problems in their lives, and often their
29269 difficulties are much worse than your own. Examine your capacity to help
29270 them. At this time your ability to help them is quite limited, but if you
29271 reduce your own ignorance, anger, attachment, and other faults, and increase
29272 your good qualities such as generosity, patience, loving-kindness, compassion,
29273 and wisdom, you will be of greater benefit. If you become fully enlightened,
29274 you will be of the greatest possible benefit to all beings. Thus generate the
29275 altruistic intention to become a Buddha in order to benefit all sentient
29276 beings most effectively.
29277 -- Thubten Chodron, "Guided Meditations on the Stages of the Path",
29278 foreword by H.H. the Dalai Lama, published by Snow Lion Publications
29280 ...at Bodh Gaya, [Shakyamuni] displayed the ways of becoming fully
29281 enlightened. Then in stages he turned the three renowned wheels of doctrine.
29282 In the first period, at Varanasi, Buddha turned the wheel of doctrine that
29283 is based on the four noble truths; he did this mainly in consideration of
29284 those having the lineage of Hearers (Sravaka). In the middle period, at
29285 Grdhrakuta, he set forth the middle wheel of doctrine, which is based on the
29286 mode of non-inherent existence of all phenomena; he did this mainly in
29287 consideration of trainees of sharp faculties who bear the Mahayana lineage.
29288 In the final period, at Vaisali, he set forth the final wheel [which is based
29289 on discriminating between those phenomena that do and those that do not truly
29290 exist]; he did this mainly in consideration of trainees of middling and lower
29291 faculties who bear the Mahayana lineage. The teacher Buddha also appeared in
29292 the body of Vajradhara, setting forth tantric doctrines.
29293 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Buddhism of Tibet", translated and edited by
29294 Jeffrey Hopkins, published by Snow Lion Publications
29296 There are different levels of faith. First, clear faith refers to the joy and
29297 clarity and change in our perceptions that we experience when we hear about
29298 the qualities of the Three Jewels and the lives of the Buddha and the great
29299 teachers. Longing faith is experienced when we think about the latter and are
29300 filled with a great desire to know more about their qualities and to acquire
29301 these ourselves. Confident faith comes through practicing the Dharma, when we
29302 acquire complete confidence in the truth of the teachings and the
29303 enlightenment of the Buddha. Finally, when faith has become so much a part of
29304 ourselves that even if our lives were at risk we could never give it up, it
29305 has become irreversible faith.
29306 -- Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, "The Excellent Path to Enlightenment",
29307 translated by The Padmakara Translation Group, published by Snow
29310 ...when seeking work, or if you already have a job, it is important to
29311 keep in mind that a human being isn't meant to be some kind of machine
29312 designed only for production. No. Human life isn't just for work, like [a
29313 socialistic] vision where everyone's purpose is just to work for the state,
29314 and there is no individual freedom, where the state even arranges the person's
29315 vacations and everything is planned out for the individual. That is not a
29316 full human life. Individuality is very important for a full human life, and
29317 then accordingly some leisure time, a bit of holiday, and time spent with
29318 family or friends. That is the means to a complete form of life.... If your
29319 life becomes only a medium of production, then many of the good human values
29320 and characteristics will be lost--then you will not, you cannot, become a
29322 So if you're looking for work and have a choice of a job, choose a job
29323 that allows the opportunity for some creativity, and for spending time with
29324 your family. Even if it means less pay, personally I think it is better to
29325 choose work that is less demanding, that gives you greater freedom, more time
29326 to be with your family, or to do other activities, read, engage in cultural
29327 activities, or just play. I think that's best.
29328 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and Dr. Howard C. Cutler, M.D., "The
29329 Art of Happiness at Work"
29331 Our painful experiences have brought the five poisons* right into our
29332 world. Our heavy sense of being a separate person has led to an anxiety about
29333 our safety in the world. This leads us to aversion and attachment, as we long
29334 to predict and control our relation with the environment. From this all the
29335 other fixed and defensive positions arise. And so the world that we encounter
29336 is covered over and suffused with many subtle moods of hopes and fears,
29337 doubts, jealousies, pride. So even here on a dharma retreat, as we look
29338 around the room, we have a complex sense of whose faces we can look at, and
29339 who we might have to look away from. This is not at all a neutral place. The
29340 force of projections, interpretations and impulsive reactions keeps us busy in
29341 trying to stay ahead of the game....
29342 However in dzogchen we are trying to get to the essential point where
29343 nirvana and samsara separate. This is like a great weed killer: If you spray
29344 it once all the weeds, all the confusion, all the pain and suffering will
29345 vanish. You don't need to pluck out each weed by itself. Believing that you
29346 are a bad person is very unhelpful for the practice of dzogchen. Also
29347 believing that you are a good person is not very helpful in the practice of
29348 dzogchen. You are not a person! Resting in the unborn state we are a pure
29349 awareness free of the least defilement. When you give up your ego identity,
29350 your samsara citizenship, you tear up your identity card and all the problems
29351 and sins and police records linked to that identity vanish immediately.
29352 * Five poisons (dug nga)--the five poisonous mental afflictions are
29353 desire, aggression, ignorance, pride, and jealousy. (Penetrating Wisdom)
29354 -- "Being Right Here: A Dzogchen Treasure Text of Nuden Dorje Entitled 'The
29355 Mirror of Clear Meaning' ", with commentary by James Low, published by
29356 Snow Lion Publications
29358 And just as men depend upon
29359 A boat for traversing the sea,
29360 So does the mental body need
29361 The matter-body for occurrence.
29362 And as the boat depends upon
29363 The men for traversing the sea,
29364 So does the matter-body need
29365 The mental body for occurrence.
29366 Depending each upon the other
29367 The boat and men go on the sea.
29368 And so do mind and matter both
29369 Depend the one upon the other.
29370 -- Visuddhimagga (XVIII, 36)
29372 There is a Buddhist practice in which one imagines giving joy and the
29373 source of all joy to other people, thereby removing all their suffering.
29374 Though of course we cannot change their situation, I do feel that in some
29375 cases, through a genuine sense of caring and compassion, through our sharing
29376 in their plight, our attitude can help alleviate their suffering, if only
29377 mentally. However, the main point of this practice is to increase our inner
29378 strength and courage.
29379 I have chosen a few lines that I feel would be acceptable to people of all
29380 faiths, and even to those with no spiritual belief. When reading these lines,
29381 if you are a religious practitioner, you can reflect upon the divine form that
29382 you worship. Then, while reciting these verses, make the commitment to
29383 enhance your spiritual values. If you are not religious, you can reflect upon
29384 the fact that, fundamentally, all beings are equal to you in their wish for
29385 happiness and their desire to overcome suffering. Recognizing this, you make
29386 a pledge to develop a good heart. It is most important that we have a warm
29387 heart. As long as we are part of human society, it is very important to be a
29388 kind, warm-hearted person.
29389 May the poor find wealth,
29390 Those weak with sorrow find joy.
29391 May the forlorn find new hope,
29392 Constant happiness and prosperity.
29394 May the frightened cease to be afraid,
29395 And those bound be free.
29396 May the weak find power,
29397 And may their hearts join in friendship.
29398 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "An Open Heart: Practicing Compassion in Everyday
29399 Life", edited by Nicholas Vreeland, afterword by Khyongla Rato
29402 Although there are as many categories of emptiness* as there are types of
29403 phenomena, when you realize the emptiness of one specific phenomenon, you also
29404 realize the emptiness of all phenomena. The ultimate nature, or emptiness, of
29405 all phenomena is of equal taste and of the same undifferentiable nature. Even
29406 though the nature of emptiness of all phenomena is the same, and all the
29407 different aspects of phenomena, such as whether they are good or bad, or the
29408 way they change, arise from the sphere of emptiness, you should understand
29409 that emptiness cannot be found apart from the subject or the object.
29410 Emptiness refers to an object's being free of intrinsic existence. Things
29411 depend on causes and conditions. This very dependence on causes and
29412 conditions signifies that phenomena lack independent, or intrinsic, existence.
29413 It also demonstrates how all the diverse aspects of things that we experience
29414 arise because they are by nature empty. When we talk about emptiness, we are
29415 not dealing with those different aspects, we are dealing with phenomena's
29417 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Stages of Meditation", trans. by Ven. Geshe
29418 Lobsang Jordhen, Losang Choephel Ganchenpa, and Jeremy Russell,
29419 published by Snow Lion Publications
29421 The Treasure Discoverers
29422 Most of the influential terma [hidden treasures or teachings] were
29423 purportedly secreted by Padmasambhava or his immediate disciples, and specific
29424 instructions were also laid down for each terma at the time of its
29425 concealment. The theory behind this system is that certain teachings would be
29426 especially effective at particular points in the future, and so they were
29427 hidden in a "time release" system which assured that at the appropriate time a
29428 terton would locate the teaching and disseminate it. When Padmasambhava hid
29429 these treasures, he prophesied the circumstances for the discovery of each
29430 terma and the terton who would find it. He predicted that there would be
29431 three "grand" tertons, eight "great" ones, twenty-one "powerful" ones, one
29432 hundred eight "intermediate," and one thousand "subsidiary" tertons. Most of
29433 these were to be recognized as emanations of Padmasambhava or his chief
29435 ...Many hidden treasures still remain undiscovered, awaiting the proper
29436 time for their dissemination. They continue to reinvigorate the Nyingma
29437 tradition, and a number have been incorporated into other lineages. The
29438 institution of terma serves as a link with the past of the tradition, a link
29439 that periodically revitalizes the present and points the way to the future.
29440 The system reflects the Mahayana ideal of skill in means, the ability to adapt
29441 teachings to changing circumstances.
29442 -- John Powers, "Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism", published by Snow Lion
29445 Practicing compassion will bring about the recognition of emptiness* as
29446 the true nature of the mind. When you practice virtuous actions of love and
29447 compassion on the relative level, you spontaneously realize the profound
29448 nature of emptiness, which is the absolute level. In turn, if you focus your
29449 meditation practice on emptiness, then your loving-kindness and compassion
29450 will spontaneously grow.
29451 These two natures, the absolute and the relative, are not opposites; they
29452 always arise together. They have the same nature; they are inseparable like a
29453 fire and its heat or the sun and its light. Compassion and emptiness are not
29454 like two sides of a coin. Emptiness and compassion are not two separate
29455 elements joined together; they are always coexistent.
29456 In Buddhism, emptiness does not mean the absence of apparent existence.
29457 Emptiness is not like a black hole or darkness, or like an empty house or an
29458 empty bottle. Emptiness is fullness and openness and flexibility. Because of
29459 emptiness it is possible for phenomena to function, for beings to see and
29460 hear, and for things to move and change. It is called emptiness because when
29461 we examine things we cannot find anything that substantially and solidly
29462 exists. There is nothing that has a truly existent nature. Everything we
29463 perceive appears through ever-changing causes and conditions, without an
29464 independent, solid basis. Although from a relative perspective things appear,
29465 they arise from emptiness and they dissolve into emptiness. All appearances
29466 are like water bubbles or the reflection of the moon in water.
29467 -- Khenchen Palden Sherab Rinpoche and Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal Rinpoche,
29468 "Opening to our Primordial Nature", published by Snow Lion Publications
29470 [Preceding story: Before reaching enlightenment, the Buddha was born as Prince
29471 Visvantara, who, despite facing many challenges and adversity, brought all of
29472 his heart and courage to bear against a single enemy--human suffering.]
29474 In giving we not only find wealth while in cyclic existence but we achieve the
29475 zenith of prosperity in supreme enlightenment. Therefore we all have to
29476 practice giving. A Bodhisattva's giving is not just overcoming miserliness
29477 and being generous to others; a pure wish to give is cultivated, and through
29478 developing more and more intimacy with it, such giving is enhanced infinitely.
29479 Therefore it is essential to have the firm mind of enlightenment rooted in
29480 great love and compassion and, from the depths of one's heart, to either give
29481 one's body, wealth and virtues literally to sentient beings as infinite as
29482 space, or to dedicate one's body, wealth and virtues for them while striving
29483 in all possible ways to enhance the wish to give infinitely. As mentioned in
29484 Engaging in Bodhisattva Activities and in The Precious Garland, we should
29485 literally give material help to the poor and needy, give teaching to others,
29486 and give protection to them, even the small insects, as much as we can. In
29487 the case of things which we are not able to part with, we should cultivate the
29488 wish to give them away and develop more and more intimacy with that wish.
29489 -- "Generous Wisdom: Commentaries by H.H. the Dalai Lama XIV on the
29490 Jatakamala", translated by Tenzin Dorjee, edited by Dexter Roberts
29492 Mad yogins are known in virtually every tradition in Tibet, but most often
29493 in the Nyingma and Kagyu lineages, and also in the Shije (Pacification) and
29494 Chod traditions. The Nyingma, Kagyu, and Chod traditions are the three with
29495 which Tangtong Gyalpo had the closest ties. One of the texts in Tangtong's
29496 Oral Transmission, a collection of teachings originally passed down from
29497 Tangtong, quotes the great yogini Machik Labdron's statement concerning proper
29498 yogic conduct following realization. In response to a question by one of her
29499 sons, Machik recommended that a practitioner act like a child with unfeigned
29500 spontaneity, like a lunatic with no regard for what is conventionally
29501 acceptable, like a leper with no attachment to his or her own physical health,
29502 and like a wild animal wandering in isolated and rough terrain.
29503 ...Guru Padmasambhava himself prophesied that Tangtong Gyalpo would care
29504 for living beings by means of unpredictable actions. Tangtong's unusual
29505 conduct began to manifest at an early age, and resembled traits noted in the
29506 lives of other mad yogins. He was first called insane by his father and the
29507 members of his village when, as a child, he subdued a malicious spirit
29508 responsible for an epidemic. Several other early incidents are mentioned in
29509 the biographies. When he went to take scholastic examinations at the renowned
29510 monastery of Sakya he earned the nickname Tsondru Nyonpa (Crazy Tsondru)
29511 because of his disinterest in explaining the scriptural definitions of the
29512 highest states of realization. He preferred to spend his time absorbed in
29513 actually experiencing these states. When he was later practicing deliberate
29514 behavior secretly in a vast and empty wasteland, the dakinis gave him five
29515 names indicating his high realization, one of which was Lungtong Nyonpa
29516 (Madman of the Empty Valley).
29517 -- Cyrus Stearns, "King of the Empty Plain: The Tibetan Iron Bridge
29518 Builder Tangtong Gyalpo", a Tsadra Foundation book, published by
29519 Snow Lion Publications
29521 ...In the Buddhist teachings, when we search for the causes of suffering,
29522 we find what is called 'the truth of the origin of suffering', namely that
29523 negative actions--karma--and the negative emotions that induce such actions
29524 are the causes of suffering.
29525 Talking about causes, if we take a step further and investigate more
29526 deeply, we find that the cause alone is not sufficient for bringing about the
29527 results. Causes themselves have to come in contact with co-operative
29528 circumstances or conditions. For instance, say we search for a material or
29529 substantial cause for this plant, we will find that it has a continuity
29530 stretching back into beginningless time.
29531 There are certain Buddhist texts that speak of space particles, existing
29532 before the evolution of this present universe. According to these texts, the
29533 space particles serve as the material and substantial cause for matter, such
29534 as this plant. Now if the essential and substantial cause for matter is
29535 traced to these space particles, which are all the same, how do we account for
29536 the diversity that we see in the material world? It is here that the question
29537 of conditions and circumstances comes into play. When these substantial
29538 causes come in contact with different circumstances and conditions, they give
29539 rise to different effects, that is, different kinds of matter. So we find
29540 that the cause alone is not sufficient for bringing about a result. What is
29541 required is an aggregation of many different conditions and circumstances.
29542 Although you can find certain differences among the Buddhist philosophical
29543 schools about how the universe came into being, the basic common question
29544 addressed is how the two fundamental principles--external matter and internal
29545 mind or consciousness--although distinct, affect one another. External causes
29546 and conditions are responsible for certain of our experiences of happiness and
29547 suffering. Yet we find that it is principally our own feelings, our thoughts
29548 and our emotions, that really determine whether we are going to suffer or be
29550 -- H.H. The Dalai Lama, "Dzogchen: The Heart Essence of the Great
29551 Perfection", translated by Thupten Jinpa and Richard Barron, Foreword
29552 by Sogyal Rinpoche, edited by Patrick Gaffney, published by Snow Lion
29555 Right now many of us wish for liberation, yet sometimes we cannot keep
29556 ourselves from creating the causes for cyclic existence. When we understand
29557 true suffering well, our wish for liberation will become firm. At present our
29558 resolve to reach liberation is not firm because we think of suffering, but not
29559 deeply. The deluded attitude believing that the unsatisfactoriness of change
29560 is true happiness easily arises in us because we are not yet deeply convinced
29561 that all happiness in cyclic existence is contaminated and is in fact only a
29562 variety of suffering. To remedy this, we should meditate on true suffering
29563 more often and explore its meaning deeply. Then our wish for liberation will
29565 We consider many things--clothes, food, good health, nice possessions,
29566 financial security, the higher rebirths--as true happiness. As a result, we
29567 are attached to them and create more causes for suffering in cyclic existence
29568 in order to gain them. Thinking that the human birth is something marvelous,
29569 we work at creating the causes that propel us toward it. In fact all we are
29570 doing is creating the cause for yet another rebirth in cyclic existence,
29571 together with all the problems that such a rebirth involves.
29572 If we understand that by its nature, cyclic existence is unsatisfactory,
29573 we will have a deep aversion to it. If we do not have a deep aversion to it,
29574 we will not be determined to be free, and therefore will not be able to
29575 destroy our self-grasping ignorance, which is the root of cyclic existence.
29576 In that case, we will not be able to attain liberation. However, when we
29577 deeply feel the extent to which we suffer in cyclic existence, we will
29578 automatically want to abandon the true origin of suffering, attain the true
29579 cessation, and meditate on the true path. Having realized true suffering, we
29580 will easily realize the other three of the four noble truths. Thus it is
29581 said: suffering is to be known. The origin is to be abandoned. The cessation
29582 is to be attained. The path is to be practiced. The determination to be free
29583 is the wish for ourselves to be free of cyclic existence. When we wish others
29584 to be free, that is compassion.
29585 -- Geshe Jampa Tegchok, "Transforming Adversity into Joy and Courage:
29586 An Explanation of the Thirty-seven Practices of Bodhisattvas", edited by
29587 Thubten Chodron, published by Snow Lion Publications
29589 Mantras are invocations to buddhas... prayers, or a combination of these.
29590 Tantric practitioners repeat them in order to forge karmic connections between
29591 themselves and meditational deities and to effect cognitive restructuring
29592 through internalizing the divine attributes that the mantra represents. A
29593 person who wishes to develop greater compassion, for instance, might recite
29594 the mantra of Avalokitesvara, who embodies this quality: om mani padme hum...
29595 [a] mantra [that] is well known to Tibetans. It represents for them the
29596 perfect compassion of Avalokitesvara, who they believe has taken a special
29597 interest in the spiritual welfare of the Tibetan people. He epitomizes
29598 universal compassion that is unsullied by any trace of negative emotions or
29599 mental afflictions.
29600 Among ordinary beings there are, of course, many acts of compassion, but
29601 these are generally tinged by self-interest, pride, or desire for recognition.
29602 Avalokitesvara's compassion, by contrast, is completely free from all
29603 afflictions and is so vast that it encompasses all sentient beings without
29604 exception and without distinction. People who wish to develop such a
29605 perspective recite Avalokitesvara's mantra over and over, meditating on its
29606 significance, and in so doing they try to restructure their minds in
29607 accordance with the cultivation of his exalted qualities. According to the
29609 'mani'... symbolizes the factors of method--the altruistic intention to
29610 become enlightened, compassion, and love. Just as a jewel is capable of
29611 removing poverty, so the altruistic mind of enlightenment is capable of
29612 removing the poverty, or difficulties, of cyclic existence and of solitary
29613 peace.... The two syllables, 'padme'... symbolize wisdom. Just as a lotus
29614 grows forth from mud but is not sullied by the faults of mud, so wisdom is
29615 capable of putting you in a situation of non-contradiction whereas there would
29616 be contradiction if you did not have wisdom.... Purity must be achieved by an
29617 indivisible unity of method and wisdom, symbolized by the final syllable
29618 'hum', which indicates indivisibility.... Thus the six syllables, 'om mani
29619 padme hum', mean that in dependence on a path which is an indivisible union of
29620 method and wisdom, you can transform your impure body, speech, and mind into
29621 the pure exalted body, speech, and mind of a Buddha.
29622 -- John Powers, "Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism", published by Snow
29625 "Now let's look at ultimate reality," the Dalai Lama said, pointing a
29626 little finger to his mug. "What exactly is it? We're seeing color, shape.
29627 But if we take away shape, color, material, what is mug? Where is the mug?
29628 This mug is a combination of particles: atoms, electrons, quarks. But each
29629 particle is not 'mug.' The same can be said about the four elements, the
29630 world, everything. The Buddha. We cannot find the Buddha. So that's the
29631 ultimate reality. If we're not satisfied with conventional reality, if we go
29632 deep down and try to find the real thing, we ultimately won't find it."
29633 Thus, the Dalai Lama was saying, the mug is empty. The term "mug" is
29634 merely a label, something we use to describe everyday reality. But each mug
29635 comes into existence because of a complex web of causes and conditions. It
29636 does not exist independently. It cannot come into being by itself, of its own
29638 For example: suppose I decide to make a black mug. To do this, I mix
29639 black clay and water, shape it to my liking, and fire the resulting mixture in
29640 an oven. Clay plus water turns into a mug because of my actions. But it
29641 exists because of the myriad different ways that atoms and molecules interact.
29642 And what about me, the creator of the black mug? If my parents had never met,
29643 the black mug might never have existed.
29644 Therefore the mug does not exist independently. It comes into being only
29645 through a complex web of relationships. In the Dalai Lama's own words, and
29646 this is the key concept in his worldview, the mug is "dependently originated."
29647 It came to be a mug because of a host of different factors, not under its own
29648 steam. It is empty. "Empty" is shorthand for "empty of intrinsic, inherent
29649 existence." Or to put it another way, empty is another word for
29651 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Victor Chan, "The Wisdom of
29652 Forgiveness: Intimate Conversations and Journeys"
29654 Buddha teaches that one should not practice extremes.... As Nagarjuna's
29655 "Precious Garland of Advice" says,
29656 Practice is not done
29657 By mortifying the body,
29658 Since you have not forsaken injuring others
29659 And are not helping others.
29660 When you disregard the basic needs of the body, you harm the many sentient
29661 organisms that live within the body. You should also avoid the opposite
29662 extreme of living in great luxury. It is possible to make use of good food,
29663 clothing, residence, and furnishings without producing afflictive emotions
29664 such as attachment, pride, and arrogance. The crucial point is the control of
29665 internal factors such as lust and attachment; external factors are not in and
29666 of themselves good or bad. It is not suitable if attachment increases toward
29667 even mediocre food, clothing, and so forth.
29668 Contentment is the key. If you have contentment with material things, you
29669 are truly rich. Without it, even if you are a billionaire, you will not have
29670 happiness. You will always feel hungry and want more and more and more,
29671 making you not rich but poor. If you seek contentment externally, it will
29672 never happen. Your desire will never be fulfilled. Our texts speak of a king
29673 who gained control over the world, at which point he began thinking about
29674 taking over the lands of the gods. In the end his good qualities were
29675 destroyed by pride. Contentment is necessary for happiness, so try to be
29676 satisfied with adequate food, clothing, and shelter.
29677 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "How to Expand Love: Widening the Circle of Loving
29678 Relationships", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins
29680 There is another way of speaking about the two types of meditation. In this
29681 case, they are differentiated into 1) meditation that perceives the object and
29682 2) meditation in which our mind is transformed into a specific affective
29683 state. An example of the former is meditating on impermanence and emptiness.
29684 These are subtle objects that we must use analytical meditation to perceive.
29685 An example of the latter is meditation on the four immeasurables
29686 (brahmaviharas)--love, compassion, joy, and equanimity. Here we are not
29687 trying to perceive a subtle object, but are practicing to transform our minds
29688 into those mental states. For example, everyone admires the quality of love,
29689 but we cannot just say, "I should love everyone," and expect our deepest
29690 feelings to change. First, we must free our minds from the gross obstacles of
29691 attachment to friends, hostility to people who threaten or harm us, and apathy
29692 towards strangers. On this basis, we then train our mind to recognize the
29693 kindness of others, which arouses in us a natural wish to reciprocate and
29694 share our kindness with them. After this we meditate on love and cultivate a
29695 genuine wish for all sentient beings to have happiness and its causes.
29696 Initially that feeling will arise in us but will not be stable. Anger may
29697 still flash into our mind making our good feelings towards others disappear.
29698 We need to cultivate love continuously and do so with a focused mind. The
29699 greater our concentration, the more stable and penetrative the experience
29701 -- Thubten Chodron, "Guided Meditations on the Stages of the Path",
29702 foreword by H.H. the Dalai Lama, published by Snow Lion Publications
29704 ...for the Christian practitioner, the Creator and the acceptance of the
29705 Creator as almighty, is a very important factor within that tradition in order
29706 to develop self-discipline, compassion, or forgiveness and to increase them in
29707 one's intimate relationship with God. That's something very essential. In
29708 addition, when God is seen as absolute and almighty, the concept that
29709 everything is relative becomes a little bit difficult. However, if one's
29710 understanding of God is in terms of an ultimate nature of reality or ultimate
29711 truth, then it is possible to have a kind of unified approach.
29712 ...As to one's personal religion, I think this must be based on one's own
29713 mental disposition.... Generally speaking, I think it is better to practice
29714 according to your own traditional background, and certainly you can use some
29715 of the Buddhist techniques. Without accepting rebirth theory or the
29716 complicated philosophy, simply use certain techniques to increase your power
29717 of patience and compassion, forgiveness, and things like that.
29718 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Healing Anger: The Power of Patience from a
29719 Buddhist Perspective", translated by Thupten Jinpa, published by Snow
29722 When we compare two ancient spiritual traditions like Buddhism and
29723 Christianity, what we see is a striking similarity between the narratives of
29724 the founding masters: in the case of Christianity, Jesus Christ, and in the
29725 case of Buddhism, the Buddha. I see a very important parallel: in the very
29726 lives of the [founders] the essence of their teachings is demonstrated. For
29727 example... the essence of the Buddha's teaching is embodied in the Four Noble
29728 Truths: the truth of suffering, the truth of the origin of suffering, the
29729 truth of the cessation of suffering, and the truth of the path leading to this
29730 cessation. These Four Noble Truths are very explicitly and clearly
29731 exemplified in the life of... the Buddha himself. I feel [it] is the same
29732 with the life of Christ. If you look at the life of Jesus, you will see all
29733 the essential practices and teachings of Christianity exemplified. And in the
29734 lives of both Jesus Christ and the Buddha, it is only through hardship,
29735 dedication and commitment, and by standing firm on one's principles that one
29736 can grow spiritually and attain liberation. That seems to be a central and
29738 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Pocket Dalai Lama", compiled and edited
29741 With the achievement of quiescence, the attention is drawn inwards and is
29742 maintained continuously, single-pointedly upon its object. Tsongkhapa
29743 emphasizes that genuine quiescence is necessarily preceded by an experience of
29744 an extraordinary degree of mental and physical pliancy, which entails an
29745 unprecedented sense of mental and physical fitness and buoyancy.
29746 In the state of meditative equipoise, only the aspects of awareness,
29747 clarity, and joy of the mind appear, and all one's other sense faculties
29748 remain dormant. Thus, while one's consciousness seems as if it has become
29749 indivisible with space, one lacks any sensation of having a body; and when
29750 rising from that state, it seems as if one's body is suddenly coming into
29751 being. When genuine quiescence is achieved, one's attention can effortlessly
29752 be maintained for hours, even days, on end, with no interference by either
29753 laxity or excitation.
29754 -- B. Alan Wallace, "Balancing the Mind: A Tibetan Buddhist Approach
29755 to Refining Attention", published by Snow Lion Publications
29757 In Mahayana Buddhism, when one takes the bodhisattva vow, one pledges to
29758 work tirelessly in this life and all future lives to awaken oneself and purify
29759 oneself in order to help all other beings attain freedom from suffering
29760 through spiritual enlightenment. One vows to help beings whenever possible,
29761 and a profound way of doing this is to give a being the gift of life through
29762 an act of kindness. This can take the form of helping an animal in danger
29763 cross the road to safety before being struck by a vehicle or freeing an animal
29764 that is in captivity before it is killed by buying it from the captor and
29765 letting it roam free. If one is in a position to help save another's life--
29766 whether a human or an animal--one must practice fearless kindness to help the
29767 other being in danger.
29768 In Tibetan Buddhism, it is believed that due to the countless incarnations
29769 all beings have undergone throughout time, at one point or another any given
29770 living creature has been one's mother in a past life. Therefore, it is viewed
29771 as an obligation to repay the kindness of those who are referred to as "mother
29772 sentient beings." If your own mother in this life were in danger, you would
29773 certainly do whatever you could to save her life. Similarly, dedicated
29774 holders of the bodhisattva vow feel this kind of urgency to save the lives of
29775 all "mother sentient beings."
29776 -- Chatral Rinpoche, "Compassionate Action", edited, introduced and
29777 annotated by Zach Larson, published by Snow Lion Publications
29779 In the frenzy of modern life we lose sight of the real value of humanity.
29780 People become the sum total of what they produce. Human beings act like
29781 machines whose function is to make money. This is absolutely wrong. The
29782 purpose of making money is the happiness of humankind, not the other way
29783 around. Humans are not for money, money is for humans. We need enough to
29784 live, so money is necessary, but we also need to realize that if there is too
29785 much attachment to wealth, it does not help at all. As the saints of India
29786 and Tibet tell us, the wealthier one becomes, the more suffering one endures.
29787 ...Eating, working, and making money are meaningless in themselves.
29788 However, even a small act of compassion grants meaning and purpose to our
29790 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "How to Practice: The Way to a Meaningful Life",
29791 translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins
29793 Unlike the Lesser Vehicle tenet systems, which teach only a selflessness of
29794 persons, the Great Vehicle tenet systems teach that the most profound reality,
29795 the most subtle and important type of selflessness, is a selflessness, or
29796 emptiness, that is a quality of all phenomena. They hold that the bodhisattva
29797 trains in altruistically motivated meditation on the emptiness of all
29798 phenomena, thus preparing for the omniscience of buddhahood. Some Great
29799 Vehicle systems maintain that Lesser Vehicle practitioners do not realize the
29800 profound emptiness of phenomena at all and are therefore unable to overcome
29801 the obstructions to omniscience. However, the highest system, the Middle Way
29802 Consequence system, holds that persons on Lesser Vehicle paths do realize
29803 emptiness, but are unable to achieve omniscience on their paths because their
29804 wisdom is not empowered by association with altruism and altruistically
29805 motivated actions of giving, ethics, patience, etc.
29806 -- Guy Newland, "Appearance and Reality: The Two Truths in the Four
29807 Buddhist Tenet Systems", published by Snow Lion Publications
29809 Selflessness in Context: Ultimate Bodhichitta
29810 Let us return for a moment to the beginning of [the Heart] Sutra where the
29811 Buddha enters into the meditative absorption called "appearance of the
29812 profound" and Avalokiteshvara beholds the practice of the profound perfection
29813 of wisdom. Generally speaking, the expression "appearance of the profound"
29814 refers to the bodhisattva deeds, which are encompassed in the practice of the
29815 six perfections. Here, however, the expression refers particularly to the
29816 perfection of wisdom, known in Sanskrit as prajnaparamita. What the text
29817 means by "perfection of wisdom" is a direct, unmediated realization of
29818 emptiness that is also called "ultimate bodhichitta." This is not the direct
29819 realization of emptiness alone; rather it is this direct realization in union
29820 with bodhichitta--the aspiration to become a buddha in order to free all
29821 beings. This union of wisdom and method constitutes the first bhumi, or level
29822 of bodhisattva attainment.
29823 The importance of this altruistic aspiration cannot be overstated.
29824 Bodhichitta is not only important as a motivating factor at the beginning of
29825 practice, it is also important as a complementary and a reinforcing factor
29826 during every stage of the path. The bodhichitta aspiration is twofold,
29827 comprised both of the wish to help others and of the wish to become
29828 enlightened so that one's assistance will be supremely effective.
29829 --from Essence of the Heart Sutra: The Dalai Lama's Heart of Wisdom
29830 Teachings by H.H. the Dalai Lama, translated & edited by Thupten Jinpa
29832 From "The Prayer Requested by Namke Nyingbo" by Padmasambhava
29834 All these things of the outer environment and the beings therein
29835 That come into sight as the objects of your eyes like this,
29836 They may appear, but leave them in the sphere free from clinging to a self.
29837 Since they are pure of perceiver and perceived, they are the luminous-empty
29839 I pray to the guru in whom attachment is self-liberated,
29840 I pray to Padmasambhava from Uddiyana.
29842 All these sounds, taken as pleasant or unpleasant,
29843 That resound as the objects of your ears like this,
29844 Leave them in the sphere of inconceivable, empty resonance.
29845 Empty resonance, unborn and unceasing, is the Victor's speech.
29846 I pray to the words of the Victor that resound and yet are empty,
29847 I pray to Padmasambhava from Uddiyana.
29849 However these thoughts of afflictions' five poisons,
29850 Which stir as objects in your mind like this, may appear,
29851 Do not mess around with them through a mind that rushes ahead into the future
29852 or lingers in the past.
29853 Through leaving their movement in its own place, they uncoil as the
29855 I pray to the guru whose awareness is self-liberated,
29856 I pray to Padmasambhava from Uddiyana.
29858 Grant your blessings that the mind stream of someone like me is liberated
29859 Through the compassion of the Tathagatas of the three times,
29860 So that objects, appearing as if perceived outside, become pure,
29861 That my very mind, perceiving as if inside, becomes liberated,
29862 And that, in between, luminosity will recognize its own face.
29864 -- "Straight from the Heart: Buddhist Pith Instructions", translated and
29865 introduced by Karl Brunnholzl, published by Snow Lion Publications
29867 Some people feel that although it may be right to curb feelings of intense
29868 hatred which can cause us to be violent and even to kill, we are in danger of
29869 losing our independence when we restrain our emotions and discipline the mind.
29870 Actually, the opposite is true. Like their counterparts of love and
29871 compassion, anger and the afflictive emotions can never be used up. They
29872 have, rather, a propensity to increase, like a river flooding in summer when
29873 the snow melts, so that far from being free, our minds are enslaved and
29874 rendered helpless by them. When we indulge our negative thoughts and
29875 feelings, inevitably we become accustomed to them. As a result, gradually we
29876 become more prone to them and more controlled by them. And we become
29877 habituated to exploding in the face of displeasing circumstances.
29878 Inner peace, which is the principal characteristic of happiness, and anger
29879 cannot coexist without undermining one another. Indeed, negative thoughts and
29880 emotions undermine the very causes of peace and happiness. In fact, when we
29881 think properly, it is totally illogical to seek happiness if we do nothing to
29882 restrain angry, spiteful, and malicious thoughts and emotions. Consider that
29883 when we become angry, we often use harsh words. Harsh words can destroy
29884 friendship. Since happiness arises in the context of our relationships with
29885 others, if we destroy friendships, we undermine one of the very conditions of
29887 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "Ethics for the New Millennium", edited by
29888 Alexander Norman, translated by Dr. Thupten Jinpa
29892 Psychologists talk about people who are co-dependent because they don't
29893 have a sense of self. What psychologists mean when they say a person has no
29894 sense of self is very different from what the Buddha meant by no-self or
29895 selflessness. People with psychological problems actually have a very strong
29896 sense of self in the Buddhist sense, although they may not in the
29897 psychological sense of the word. Psychologically, they don't see themselves
29898 as efficacious individuals in the world, but they still have a very strong
29899 sense of "I": "I am worthless." When somebody criticizes them, they don't
29900 like it. They get into co-dependent relationships to protect or to please
29901 this "I." When they fall into self-pity, their sense of an inherently
29902 existent "I" is very strong. Thus they still have self-grasping even though
29903 they lack a psychologically healthy sense of self.
29904 Buddhism recognizes two kinds of sense of self. There's one sense of self
29905 that is healthy and necessary to be efficacious on the path. The object of
29906 this sense of self is the conventionally existent "I." The other sense of
29907 self grasps at an inherently existent self that never has and never will
29908 exist. Within Buddhism, when we talk about realizing emptiness, we're
29909 negating the false self, this self that appears inherently existent to us.
29910 -- Thubten Chodron, "Cultivating a Compassionate Heart: The Yoga Method of
29911 Chenrezig", foreword by H.H. the Dalai Lama, published by Snow Lion
29914 Question: If a person views the self and other phenomena as being empty of
29915 any inherent existence, is it then, in that state, possible for them to take
29916 any animate or inanimate phenomenon as their object, and through the power of
29917 imputation or words, enable that object to actually take on a manifesting role
29918 with the qualities which we view objects to have?
29920 His Holiness: This is an instance of not properly understanding the
29921 meaning of "lack of inherent existence." If we think that "emptiness" means
29922 things cannot function, then, with an improper understanding of the view of
29923 emptiness, one will have fallen into nihilism. So, because one has failed to
29924 reconcile emptiness and the fact that things work, this view is incorrect.
29925 That is why it is said that the meaning of emptiness is to be understood in
29926 terms of dependent arising.
29927 Now, since the meaning of emptiness is to be explained in terms of
29928 dependent arising, we can only explain something as arising dependently if
29929 there is a basis, that is, some thing that is dependent. Hence, such a basis
29930 must exist. We see then that when we speak of dependent arising, we are
29931 indicating that things work. Dependent arising proves that things have no
29932 inherent existence, through the fact that things work in dependence on each
29933 other. The fact that things work and the fact that they do so in dependence,
29934 one on the other, eliminates the possibility of their being independent. This
29935 in turn precludes the possibility of inherent existence, since, to inherently
29936 exist means to be independent. Hence, the understanding of emptiness, of the
29937 the emptiness of a kind of inherent existence that is independent, boils down
29938 to understanding dependent arising.
29939 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Answers: Discussions with Western Buddhists",
29940 edited by Jose Ignacio Cabezon, published by Snow Lion Publications
29942 In the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, the most profound and commonly
29943 practiced teachings are those of the Vajrayana. Within this powerful system
29944 of skillful means, the supreme view and most potent methods are found in the
29945 teachings and practices of Dzogchen, the Great Perfection. These instructions
29946 are regarded as the pinnacle of the teachings and as the most direct path to
29947 realizing the nature of mind and the reality of the world.
29948 The instructions of the Dzogchen lineage are used to directly point out
29949 the nature of mind and bring the experience of enlightenment into our ordinary
29950 life. These teachings are known as "pith instructions," the pure,
29951 quintessential knowledge that cuts through all confusion and gets straight to
29952 the point. There is a saying, "Don't beat around the bush," meaning, "Get to
29953 the point." That is Dzogchen.
29954 In many ways, these teachings go beyond scripture and the formality of
29955 spiritual techniques. These two do have their place, since it is important to
29956 study scripture and meditate in a step-by-step manner. Yet, at some point we
29957 also must connect directly with the nature of mind. We have to strike the
29958 crucial point, the enlightened state, and leap directly into experiencing and
29959 realizing the true nature of our mind.
29960 -- The Third Dzogchen Rinpoche, "Great Perfection: Outer and Inner
29961 Preliminaries", trans. by Cortland Dahl, intro. by Dzogchen Ponlop,
29962 published by Snow Lion Publications
29964 Dzogchen teaches that practice conducted with contriving, rough, fleeting
29965 minds cannot bring enlightenment. Only practice with the deep awareness of
29966 non-contriving rigpa--pure awareness--can bring us to the state of a Buddha.
29967 We can understand this in the same way as we do the statement that practice of
29968 the yoga class of tantras and below cannot bring us enlightenment by itself.
29969 The ultimate, deepest reason why it cannot is that the pathways of practice of
29970 these levels of teaching cannot by themselves make manifest the deep awareness
29971 of subtlest clear light mind. Without the manifestation of the deep awareness
29972 of clear light mind, we do not have the perpetrating causes for an
29973 enlightening body and enlightening mind of a Buddha--causes that are in the
29974 same uncommon category of phenomena as a Buddha's body and mind. Therefore,
29975 no matter how much we practice with pathway minds of yoga tantra and below, we
29976 are never able to attain to enlightenment on their basis alone.
29977 ...when we make clear light mind of deep awareness prominent or enhanced
29978 through techniques presented in the anuttarayoga tantra texts, and then
29979 transform it into the nature of being a pathway mind, only then do we have
29980 what can actualize an enlightening body and enlightening mind of a Buddha.
29981 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama and Alexander Berzin, "The Gelug/Kagyu Tradition of
29982 Mahamudra", published by Snow Lion Publications
29984 Whenever you consider there is bliss, and the objective conditions for
29985 bliss occur, if you fall under the control of that by becoming arrogant or
29986 conceited, then that will fester as an obstruction to the spiritual path.
29987 Rather than thinking about what has caused this happiness, which most probably
29988 is the accumulation of merit or the removal of obscurations, as soon as the
29989 bliss occurs, you think, "That's my nature." Based on that, you become
29990 arrogant or lazy, thinking, "Well, I've accomplished it." This is the
29991 greatest obstacle to the spiritual path. This is what creates the realms
29992 of deva-gods. Oftentimes it is said that people can handle only a little bit
29993 of felicity, but they can handle a lot of adversity. This is because
29994 happiness on the spiritual path is the most difficult thing to handle. Once
29995 it arises, that's where the path stops.
29996 This does not mean that it is necessary to give it all up. Giving up
29997 happiness is not the practice. The main point is not to become mesmerized by
29998 happiness as the end result. You realize that, "Ah, now, the good quality of
29999 this is that I am fortunate, and this is another result of the great fortune
30000 of the path and the result of the accumulation of merit and wholesome deeds.
30001 Even more than ever, I will carry on with the work at hand to achieve
30002 liberation from cyclic existence." So with more diligence and more courage,
30003 you continue listening to teachings, contemplating, meditating, and
30004 appreciating this precious human rebirth.
30005 -- Venerable Gyatrul Rinpoche, "Meditation, Transformation, and Dream Yoga",
30006 translated by Sangye Khandro and B. Alan Wallace, published by Snow
30009 As to what might be the mechanism through which karma plays a causal role
30010 in the evolution of sentience, I find helpful some of the explanations given
30011 in the Vajrayana traditions, often referred to by modern writers as esoteric
30012 Buddhism. According to the Guhyasamaja tantra, a principal tradition within
30013 Vajrayana Buddhism, at the most fundamental level, no absolute division can be
30014 made between mind and matter. Matter in its subtlest form is prana, a vital
30015 energy which is inseparable from consciousness. These two are different
30016 aspects of an indivisible reality. Prana is the aspect of mobility, dynamism,
30017 and cohesion, while consciousness is the aspect of cognition and the capacity
30018 for reflective thinking. So according to the Guhyasamaja tantra, when a world
30019 system comes into being, we are witnessing the play of this energy and
30020 consciousness reality.
30021 ...Despite the success of the Darwinian narrative, I do not believe that
30022 all the elements of the story are in place. To begin with, although Darwin's
30023 theory gives a coherent account of the development of life on this planet and
30024 the various principles underlying it, such as natural selection, I am not
30025 persuaded that it answers the fundamental question of the origin of life.
30026 Darwin himself, I gather, did not see this as an issue. Furthermore, there
30027 appears to be a certain circularity in the notion of "survival of the
30028 fittest." The theory of natural selection maintains that, of the random
30029 mutations that occur in the genes of a given species, those that promote the
30030 greatest chance of survival are most likely to succeed. However, the only
30031 way this hypothesis can be verified is to observe the characteristics of
30032 those mutations that have survived. So in a sense, we are stating simply
30033 this: "Because these genetic mutations have survived, they are the ones that
30034 had the greatest chance of survival."
30035 From the Buddhist perspective, the idea of these mutations being purely
30036 random events is deeply unsatisfying for a theory that purports to explain the
30037 origin of life. ...One empirical problem in Darwinism's focus on the
30038 competitive survival of individuals, which is defined in terms of an
30039 organism's struggle for individual reproductive success, has consistently been
30040 how to explain altruism, whether in the sense of collaborative behavior, such
30041 as food sharing or conflict resolution among animals like chimpanzees or acts
30042 of self-sacrifice. There are many examples, not only among human beings but
30043 among other species as well, of individuals who put themselves in danger to
30045 ...From the scientific view, the theory of karma may be a metaphysical
30046 assumption--but it is no more so than the assumption that all of life is
30047 material and originated out of pure chance.
30048 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Universe in a Single Atom: Convergence of
30049 Science and Spirituality"
30051 Praising others should be part of our daily life and a component of our
30052 Dharma practice. Imagine what our life would be like if we trained our minds
30053 to dwell on others' talents and good attributes. We would feel much happier
30054 and so would they! We would get along better with others, and our families,
30055 work environments, and living situations would be much more harmonious. We
30056 plants the seeds from such positive actions on our mindstream, creating the
30057 cause for harmonious relationships and success in our spiritual and temporal
30059 An interesting experiment is to try to say something nice to or about
30060 someone every day for a month. Try it. It makes us much more aware of what
30061 we say and why. It encourages us to change our perspective so that we notice
30062 others' good qualities. Doing so also improves our relationships
30064 A few years ago, I gave this as a homework assignment at a Dharma class,
30065 encouraging people to try to praise even someone they didn't like very much.
30066 The next week I asked the students how they did. One man said that the first
30067 day he had to make something up in order to speak positively to a fellow
30068 colleague. But after that, the man was so much nicer to him that it was easy
30069 to see his good qualities and speak about them!
30070 -- Thubten Chodron, "Taming the Mind", published by Snow Lion Publications
30072 Do not regret growing older. It is a privilege denied to many. -- Unknown
30074 To the world you may be one person, but to one person you may be the world.
30077 He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else.
30078 -- Benjamin Franklin
30080 If, after having performed a virtuous action and accumulated its potency,
30081 that potency remained without degenerating until its fruit issued forth in
30082 either this or a future life, it would not be so fragile. But that is not the
30083 case. Rather, the generation of a strong nonvirtuous state of mind, such as
30084 anger, overpowers the capacity of a virtuously established potency so that it
30085 cannot issue forth, much like scorching a seed. Conversely, the generation of
30086 a strong virtuous attitude overpowers potencies established by nonvirtues,
30087 making them unable to issue their effects. Thus it is necessary not only to
30088 achieve many powerful constructive causes but also to avoid contrary forces
30089 that would cause those beneficial causes to degenerate.
30090 The good actions required for accumulating these causes, or potencies,
30091 arise from a tamed mind, whereas bad actions arise from an untamed mind.
30092 Common beings like us have been accustomed to an untamed mind since
30093 beginningless time. Given this predisposition, we can conclude that actions
30094 performed with an untamed mind are more powerful for us and actions performed
30095 with a tamed mind are weaker. It is important to appreciate that this
30096 excellent life support of a human body that we now possess is a wholesome
30097 result of many powerful good actions from a tamed mind in the past. It was
30098 very difficult to gain, and, since it is very rare, you must take care to use
30099 it well, making sure that it is not wasted.
30100 ...If this human endowment, so difficult to attain, were stable and
30101 permanent--not prone to deterioration--there would be time later to make use
30102 of it. However, this life-support system is fragile and easily disintegrates
30103 from many external and internal causes. Aryadeva's "Four Hundred Stanzas on
30104 the Yogic Deeds of Bodhisattvas" says that once the body depends on the four
30105 elements of earth, water, fire, and wind, which themselves oppose each other,
30106 physical happiness is just an occasional balance of these elements, not an
30108 ...So this human body is a precious endowment, potent and yet fragile.
30109 Simply by virtue of being alive, you are at a very important juncture, and
30110 carry a great responsibility. Powerful good can be achieved for yourself and
30111 others, so becoming distracted by the minor affairs of this lifetime would be
30112 a tremendous waste. You should make wishes to use this lifetime in this body
30113 effectively and make petitions to your guru, the three refuges, and other
30114 sources of help. In doing so, urge yourself on from the inside and seek
30115 assistance from the outside.....
30116 In sum, since this human body, which supports your life, is beneficial,
30117 was difficult to gain, and easily disintegrates, you should use it for your
30118 benefit and that of others. Benefits come from a tamed mind: When your mind
30119 is peaceful, relaxed, and happy, external pleasures such as good food,
30120 clothing, and conversation make things even better, but their absence does not
30121 overpower you. If your mind is not peaceful and tamed, no matter how
30122 marvelous the external circumstances are, you will be burdened by frights,
30123 hopes, and fears. With a tamed mind, you will enjoy wealth or poverty, health
30124 or sickness, you can even die happily. With a tamed mind, having many friends
30125 is wonderful, but if you have no friends, it is all right, too. The root of
30126 your own happiness and welfare rests with a peaceful and tamed mind.
30127 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "Mind of Clear Light: Advice on Living Well
30128 and Dying Consciously", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, Ph.D.
30130 One of the reasons there is a need to adopt a strong countermeasure
30131 against someone who harms you is that, if you let it pass, there is a danger
30132 of that person becoming habituated to extremely negative actions, which in the
30133 long run will cause that person's own downfall and is very destructive for the
30134 individual himself or herself. Therefore a strong countermeasure, taken out
30135 of compassion or a sense of concern for the other, is necessary. When you are
30136 motivated by that realization, then there is a sense of concern as part of
30137 your motive for taking that strong measure.
30138 ...One of the reasons why there is some ground to feel compassionate
30139 toward a perpetrator of crime or an aggressor is that the aggressor, because
30140 he or she is perpetrating a crime, is at the causal stage, accumulating the
30141 causes and conditions that later lead to undesirable consequences. So, from
30142 that point of view, there is enough ground to feel compassionate toward the
30144 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Healing Anger: The Power of Patience from a
30145 Buddhist Perspective", translated by Geshe Thupten Jinpa, published
30146 by Snow Lion Publications
30148 What do you think would be the chief obstacle in recognizing that each
30149 individual person has been kind to you? In my case, I was afraid of having to
30150 return the kindness, because then I'd be under the control of these people. I
30151 didn't want to do what my parents wanted me to do, although they gave me a lot
30152 of slack--I left college after my first year, went to the woods of Vermont,
30153 went to Tahiti, all on my own with whatever cash I earned. I didn't fit into
30154 the upper-middle-class community where we lived. I didn't want their control;
30155 the lifestyle they were pushing on me was completely unappealing. Therefore,
30156 I refused to recognize their kindness.
30157 However, assuming a debt with respect to every sentient being differs
30158 greatly from having a debt to a few. In this meditation, you start with
30159 friends, then neutral persons, and then enemies and contemplate: "I will
30160 return the debt of kindness that I have with this person through helping her
30161 or him achieve happiness." It is easy to determine that the response to all
30162 sentient beings' kindness cannot be to do everything they want, since, with so
30163 many people, what they want from you would be at cross-purposes. You cannot
30164 even do everything your mother of this lifetime wants you to do, though you
30165 know her advice is, for the most part, motivated by kindness....
30166 Those who help us--our parents, for instance--often attain power over us
30167 for that very reason: "Do as I say because I have helped you." Thus, for some,
30168 it becomes almost a mental habit to refuse to recognize those who have helped
30169 us, because they otherwise would attain some power over us. Still, we know we
30170 should return their many kindnesses. That is one reason why the practice of
30171 reflecting, "This person has helped me in many intimate ways and thus I must
30172 do something in return," gets to be uncomfortable, but when it is extended to
30173 more and more beings, we have to find a way of intending to return their
30174 kindness without coming under their misguided influence.
30175 ...one cannot do everything all those sentient beings want. There are so
30176 many of them, and they want such contradictory things. Besides, to fulfill
30177 what they temporarily want may not be the best way to help them. The greatest
30178 of all ways to return their kindness is to help them become free from all
30179 suffering and to assist in the process of becoming liberated from cyclic
30180 existence and attaining the bliss of Buddhahood. It is important to realize
30181 here in the step of developing an intention to return others' kindness that
30182 acknowledging a debt does not mean that you must do what they say. Otherwise,
30183 you might hold back from the truth of their attentive care.
30184 --Jeffrey Hopkins, "A Truthful Heart: Buddhist Practices for Connecting
30185 with Others", foreword by the Dalai Lama, published by Snow Lion
30188 ...Nagarjuna's Fundamental Treatise says, "That which arises dependently
30189 we explain as emptiness. This [emptiness] is dependent designation; this is
30190 the middle way." His Refutation of Objections says, "I bow down to the
30191 Buddha, the unequaled, supreme teacher, who taught that emptiness, dependent
30192 arising, and the middle way hold a single meaning."
30193 For Tsong-kha-pa, the compatibility of emptiness and dependent arising is
30194 the very heart of the Madhyamaka view and the key to the path. Dependent
30195 arising means that things come into being in dependence upon causes and
30196 conditions. Understanding dependent arising correctly refutes the idea that
30197 things exist in and of themselves--because they must depend on other things.
30198 In the same moment, it also refutes the nihilist extreme--because it shows
30199 that things do arise, they do come into existence, and they affect one
30200 another. Thus, Tsong-kha-pa advises that if you think that you may have found
30201 the profound view of emptiness, you should check to see if you have negated
30202 too much. Can this "emptiness" you have discovered be reconciled with the
30203 mere existence of things that arise interdependently? If not, then you are
30204 certainly mistaken.
30205 ...The point is that one cannot become a buddha without both compassionate
30206 action and nondual wisdom--and one cannot have these two types of path without
30207 both of the two truths, conventional and ultimate. If only emptiness existed
30208 and there were, in fact, no conventional truths, then there would be no living
30209 beings, no suffering to relieve; thus there would be no compassionate action;
30210 and thus there would be no buddhahood. Therefore, maintaining the
30211 compatibility of the two truths--the compatibility of emptiness and dependent
30212 arising--is crucial to the whole of the Dharma.
30213 -- Guy Newland, "Introduction to Emptiness: As Taught in Tsong-kha-pa's
30214 Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path", published by Snow Lion
30217 Anything that can be done chemically can be done by other means.
30218 -- William S. Burroughs
30220 ...let us discuss true sources of suffering. The fact that sufferings are
30221 not always produced but are produced in some places at some times and cease at
30222 some times and in some places indicates that they are caused. Logically, it
30223 can be said that sufferings are caused because of being produced occasionally.
30224 If sufferings were produced causelessly, either they would never exist or they
30225 would always exist.
30226 Since sufferings are caused, one needs to look into what their causes are.
30227 In the Buddhist systems, the causes are explained to be contaminated actions
30228 and afflictive emotions....
30229 For instance, if I had an angry feeling, this could serve as a motivating
30230 force that would lead to a harsh attitude, harsh speech, and harsh physical
30231 gestures. Since the anger that serves as the motivating factor is a
30232 defIlement--an afflictive emotion--the physical and verbal actions done
30233 through that motivating force are negative karmas, negative actions. Through
30234 them, the atmosphere immediately changes into one of tension. Right away, I
30235 might not feel the effects of those actions, perhaps even feeling that I had
30236 gained a victory over someone, even shouting, "I have won." However, later I
30237 will feel very sorry and shy, deep down experiencing a guilty conscience.
30238 Similarly, those around me would immediately lose their tranquility and peace.
30239 These are painful results of actions impelled by a bad motivation. This is
30240 the law of karma--motivation, action, result.
30241 Conversely, a good, open, sincere motivation such as compassion with a
30242 deep respect for others impels verbal and physical actions that immediately
30243 create a peaceful, harmonious, enjoyable atmosphere. Due to that, I feel
30244 happy and calm, enjoying that atmosphere, and others around me also enjoy the
30245 same. Therefore, bad motivation creates problems, suffering, and pain,
30246 whereas good motivation creates happiness and peacefulness--something good.
30247 This is the general explanation. On a deeper level, right at the time of
30248 an action, predisposing potencies are instilled in the consciousness. The
30249 performance of an action establishes a predisposing potency in the mind that,
30250 in the future, will serve as the causal condition for one's experiencing a
30251 good or bad effect.
30252 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Dalai Lama at Harvard: Lectures on the
30253 Buddhist Path to Peace", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins,
30254 published by Snow Lion Publications
30256 (Each day before breakfast the founder and abbess of Sravasti Abbey, Thubten
30257 Chodron, gives a morning motivation for residents and guests. Below is a
30258 teaching given during March 2008.)
30262 Have you ever had this experience? You walk outside, and all of a sudden
30263 the silence strikes you--it's in such sharp contrast to the chatter that's
30264 going on in the mind.
30265 We live in a very quiet place. We walk outside and it's pretty quiet--a
30266 few birds chirping, sun shining. Then suddenly the chatter in the mind stops
30267 because we see that it's just chatter. It's in such stark contrast to the
30268 silence that's outside.
30269 We want to learn to notice that chatter before we even have to walk
30270 outside. And we want to be able to find that quiet place inside ourselves and
30271 keep it with us, so that even when we're in a place where there is a lot of
30272 noise, the mind can be quiet.
30273 All that mental chatter is basically negative conceptualization. If we
30274 were thinking about emptiness or developing compassion with that kind of
30275 mental activity, fine! Continue that outside, inside, everywhere. But most
30276 of the time what's going on is, "I like this. I don't like this. I want
30277 this. I don't want that. Why does this person do this? Why don't they do
30278 that?" That kind of mental activity makes the mind quite stressful as well
30279 as accumulates negative karma and wastes a great deal of time.
30280 As soon as we can catch it and be aware of what's going on in our mind,
30281 and come back to that silent space inside, the more peaceful we'll be. Our
30282 lives will be more productive in terms of having the Dharma grow in our
30283 hearts, and we'll be more focused in whatever daily activities we're doing.
30284 We won't be quite so distracted.
30285 -- Thubten Chodron, author of numerous books, including Buddhism for
30286 Beginners; Taming the Mind; Open Heart, Clear Mind; and Working
30289 ...if people have compassion, naturally that's something they can count
30290 on; even if they have economic problems and their fortune declines, they still
30291 have something to share with fellow human beings. World economies are always
30292 so tenuous and we are subject to so many losses in life, but a compassionate
30293 attitude is something that we can always carry with us.
30294 ...Of course, in attempting to explain to someone the importance of
30295 compassion, in some cases, you might be dealing with a very hardened,
30296 individualistic, and selfish person, someone concerned only with her or his
30297 own interests. And it is even possible that there are people who may not have
30298 the capacity to empathize with even someone whom they love or who may be close
30299 to them. But even to such people, it is still possible to present the
30300 importance of compassion and love on the grounds that it's the best way to
30301 fulfill their self-interests. They wish to have good health, live a longer
30302 life, and have peace of mind, happiness, and joy. And if these are things
30303 that they desire, I've heard that there is scientific evidence that these
30304 things can be enhanced by feelings of love and compassion.
30305 ...educating someone about these facts and scientific studies could
30306 certainly encourage some people to cultivate a more compassionate state of
30307 mind. But I think that, even aside from scientific studies, there are other
30308 arguments that people could understand and appreciate from their own practical
30309 or direct everyday experience. For example, you could point out that lack of
30310 compassion leads to a certain ruthlessness. There are many examples
30311 indicating that at some level deep down, ruthless people generally suffer from
30312 a kind of unhappiness and discontent, people like Stalin and Hitler. Such
30313 people suffer from a kind of nagging sense of insecurity and fear. Even when
30314 they are sleeping I think that sense of fear remains... these people lack
30315 something that you can find in a more compassionate person--a sense of
30316 freedom, a sense of abandonment, so when you sleep you can relax and let go.
30317 Ruthless people never have that experience. Something is always gripping
30318 them; there is some kind of hold on them, and they aren't able to experience
30319 that feeling of letting go, that sense of freedom.
30320 ...There are always different degrees of benefit that one might receive
30321 from practicing various methods and techniques, depending on one's particular
30322 circumstances.... First, through learning, thoroughly understanding the value
30323 of compassion--this gives you a feeling of conviction and determination.
30324 Then, employing methods to enhance empathy, such as using your imagination,
30325 your creativity, to visualize yourself in another's situation. And certain
30326 exercises or practices that you can undertake, such as Tong-Len, serve to
30327 strengthen your compassion. But I think it's important to remember that these
30328 techniques... were developed to help as many as possible, at least some
30329 portion of the human population. But it was never expected that these
30330 techniques could help 100 percent of people, the entire human population.
30331 ...the main point really, if we are talking about various methods to
30332 develop compassion, the important thing is that people make a sincere effort
30333 to develop their capacity for compassion. If they make their best efforts to
30334 be kinder, to cultivate compassion and make the world a better place, then at
30335 the end of the day they can say, "At least I've done my best!"
30336 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler, M.D., "The Art of
30337 Happiness: A Handbook for Living"
30339 In ascertaining luminous clarity at the time of the path, the general
30340 technique is to rest evenly in the very essence of luminous clarity. Telopa
30343 Rest relaxed within the uncontrived native state;
30344 Bonds are released and freedom is sure.
30346 This and other such instructions are expressed unanimously by the mighty
30347 adepts. Accordingly, with the body in the seven-point posture of meditative
30348 stability, the mind rests without support, relaxed and uncontrived. This will
30349 create the unerring yogic direct perception of emptiness. This is the
30350 ultimate esoteric instruction of the completion phase found in the profound
30351 tantras. The reason is that once the vital points of the vajra body, which is
30352 the support, are bound, the mind, eyes, and energy currents remain in a state
30353 of nonthought. Because of the special interconnection between body and mind,
30354 the movement in the right and left channels is stopped and immobilized within
30355 the central channel, causing the direct experience of mahamudra, emptiness
30357 Therefore the luminous mind, which is the supported, is realized as empty
30358 appearance arising as the mahamudra of forms of emptiness. This, again,
30359 depends on the dissolution of the energy currents of the right and left
30360 channels in the central channel, the supreme support. There is no more
30361 profound method for affecting this dissolution than resting the mind once it
30362 is uncontrived and relaxed. Therefore, in all the esoteric instructions of
30363 highest tantra, this is called "the esoteric instruction of withdrawal" in the
30365 -- Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Taye, "The Treasury of Knowledge, Book Eight, Part
30366 Four: Esoteric Instructions, A Detailed Presentation of the Process of
30367 Meditation in Vajrayana", trans. and annot. by Sarah Harding, foreword
30368 by Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, published by Snow Lion Publications
30370 Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.
30373 Dignity does not consist in a silk dress. -- A saying from the Orient
30375 To solve the problems humanity is facing, we need to organize meetings of
30376 scholars, educators, social workers, neuroscientists, physicians, and experts
30377 from all fields to discuss the positive and negative sides of what we have
30378 done thus far, as well as what needs to be introduced and what needs to be
30379 changed in our educational system. Proper environment plays a crucial role in
30380 the healthy growth of a child. All problems, including terrorism, can be
30381 overcome through education, particularly by introducing concern for all others
30382 at the preschool level.
30383 Living in society, we must share the suffering of our fellow citizens and
30384 practice compassion and tolerance not only toward our loved ones but also
30385 toward our enemies. This is the test of our moral strength. We must set an
30386 example by our own practice. We must live by the same high standards of
30387 integrity we seek to convey to others. The ultimate purpose is to serve and
30389 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "How to See Yourself As You Really Are",
30390 translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, Ph.D.
30392 "When Tibet was still free, we cultivated our natural isolation,
30393 mistakenly thinking that we could prolong our peace and security that way.
30394 Consequently, we paid little attention to the changes taking place in the
30395 world outside. Later, we learned the hard way that in the international
30396 arena, as well as at home, freedom is something to be shared and enjoyed in
30397 the company of others, not kept to yourself." Budapest, 1994
30398 "I believe that Tibet will be free only when its people become strong, and
30399 hatred is not strength. It is a weakness. The Lord Buddha was not being
30400 religious, in the popular sense of the term, when he said that hatred does not
30401 cease by hatred. Rather, he was being practical. Any achievement attained
30402 through hatred [can only invite] trouble sooner or later." Statement, 10 March
30404 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Pocket Dalai Lama" compiled and edited by
30407 Persons from orally oriented cultures, writes Ong, tend to project their
30408 sensibilities, to see them expressed in the world around them. More widely
30409 literate cultures create persons who tend to withdraw for insight into their
30410 own personal psyches. Orally oriented peoples may thus be more inclined than
30411 persons in print-dominated cultures to set their feelings or experiences in
30412 the space around them, including the invisible spirits presumed to occupy that
30413 space, and less likely to project these feelings and experiences onto
30414 individual persons. In Tibet lineages or sects are the most likely targets of
30415 negative projections. Western print-oriented persons are more likely to
30416 project their feelings onto other individuals, especially people in
30417 significant relationships with them. Unlike Tibet, or the premodern West, the
30418 contemporary West tends to identify the mind as the exclusive locus of ideas,
30419 feelings, and values. With this localization, the mind becomes "psychic" in a
30420 new sense, distinct from bodily soma and from the larger world.
30421 This very different configuration of personhood affects the way Westerners
30422 are likely to understand the Great Bliss Queen practice. For example, there
30423 is a tendency among Westerners for "visualization" to be a more disembodied
30424 practice than it is for Tibetans. The point in imagining oneself as the Great
30425 Bliss Queen is not just to replace one visual image of oneself with another,
30426 as if observing a changing scene in a movie theater, but to experience a
30427 physical as well as mental shift from deep inside the body.
30428 -- Anne Carolyn Klein, "Meeting the Great Bliss Queen: Buddhists, Feminists,
30429 and the Art of the Self", published by Snow Lion Publications
30431 ...when you recognize how kind someone has been to you, you are using an
30432 ordinary worldly attitude to help keep you from responses of hatred. For
30433 instance, if someone gave me a grant with a blank check to form a team of
30434 translators of Tibetan thought, I would be more than extremely pleased. Now
30435 if the person who gave me the money came by someday and gave me a hard time, I
30436 would feel a measure of restraint due to reflecting on the person's kindness.
30437 I would seek other means to work things out with the person. When you reflect
30438 how kind every person has been, there is that restraint to the point where,
30439 believe it or not, trained Buddhists will look at a fly or an ant walking
30440 across the table and think, "This is someone who bore me in her womb in a
30441 former lifetime, who took care of me."
30442 If you watch how mothers take precautions for a child in the womb, it is
30443 clear that they do a great deal to help it. They eat nourishing foods and
30444 avoid harmful substances like coffee, alcohol, nicotine, and drugs. If you
30445 reflect on how such a mother takes care of the child in the womb and extend
30446 this reflection to all sentient beings, I think that because your field of
30447 awareness is no longer just a few sentient beings but is gradually expanding
30448 to more and more, you can reflect on the mother's kindness without doing it
30449 merely because you were helped. The staggering debt deflates your sense of
30450 exaggerated importance. The boil is pricked.
30451 -- Jeffrey Hopkins, "A Truthful Heart: Buddhist Practices for Connecting
30452 with Others", foreword by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, published by
30453 Snow Lion Publications
30455 He that can have patience can have what he will. -- Benjamin Franklin
30457 One generation plants the trees, and another gets the shade.
30460 Most men are within a finger's breadth of being mad. -- Diogenes the Cynic
30462 Fashion is something that goes in one year and out the other. -- Unknown
30464 I'm a born-again atheist. -- Gore Vidal
30466 Buddha's teachings on non-manifest phenomena, such as the extremely subtle
30467 presentations of actions and their effect--which are very hidden phenomena--
30468 cannot be proved with reasoning. How then can they be verified?
30469 There is no need to verify manifest phenomena through reasoning because
30470 they appear directly to the senses. The slightly hidden, however, can be
30471 proved with reasoning that generates inferential understanding, and since
30472 emptiness is very profound but only slightly hidden, it is accessible to
30474 ...very hidden phenomena cannot be proved with reasoning, and it seems
30475 that Buddha can say whatever he likes. However, through our own experience we
30476 can confirm Buddha's teachings on more important topics such as emptiness, the
30477 altruistic mind of enlightenment, love, and compassion, for no matter who
30478 analyses--Buddhist or non-Buddhist--or how much one analyses, if the person is
30479 not biased through desire or hatred, these teachings can bear analysis and
30480 serve as powerful sources of thought. When you see that Buddha does not err
30481 with regard to these more important phenomena, you can accept his other
30483 ...The process of cyclic existence and the eradication of it can be proved
30484 by the reasoning that establishes the misconception of inherent existence as
30485 its root cause and establishes the wisdom cognising emptiness as its antidote.
30486 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Tsong-ka-pa and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Tantra in
30487 Tibet", published by Snow Lion Publications
30489 Meditation on [or cultivation of] the six deities is like faith or love
30490 meditation in that the mind is being generated into the entity of the object
30491 meditated. When faith or love are meditated, those two are not the object
30492 observed but the entity into which the consciousness is being generated.
30493 Meditation on impermanence or emptiness, on the other hand, means to take
30494 these as the object and meditate on them. Thus, there are two types of
30495 meditation--of a subjective aspect and on an objective aspect. Meditation on
30496 the six deities is the former, for first one generates a wisdom consciousness
30497 knowing the sameness in suchness of oneself and the deity--the ultimate--and
30498 then causes it to appear as the sounds, letters, and finally the form of the
30500 --His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Tsong-ka-pa, and Jeffrey Hopkins,
30501 "Deity Yoga in Action and Performance Tantra", published by Snow
30504 Once we realize emptiness, all phenomena are included within this reality,
30505 which is not separate from the cause and effect of karma and which is free of
30506 mental constructs. On this ultimate level of realization, it is possible to
30507 state that there is no wholesome or unwholesome action. When we have realized
30508 the nature of all phenomena, negative actions naturally subside and positive
30509 ones are spontaneously accomplished. Until this time, however, we would be
30510 slipping into nihilism if we said that the phenomena of relative truth, such
30511 as positive and negative actions or karma, do not exist.
30512 Just knowing this authentic view, however, is not enough. For others to
30513 be able to experience it, we must also know the scriptures and reasonings so
30514 that we can teach. Without the support of this knowledge, it will be
30515 difficult for others to trust what we say, and so Milarepa speaks of scripture
30516 and reasoning as an adornment to realization.
30518 Dissolving thoughts into the dharmakaya--
30519 Is this not meditation naturally arising?
30520 Join it with experience
30521 To make it beautifully adorned.
30523 One way to understand meditation is to see it as a practice of working
30524 with the many thoughts that arise in our mind. With realization they arise as
30525 mere appearances of the dharmakaya, the natural arising of mind's essential
30526 nature. Being clear about this true nature of thought is called "attaining
30527 the level of natural arising." At this point, there is no difference in any
30528 thought that may arise, because we see the nature of each thought to be
30529 emptiness, arising as the dharmakaya. Meditation could be defined as
30530 realizing the dharmakaya of the Buddha.
30531 -- Michele Martin, "Music in the Sky: The Life, Art & Teachings of the
30532 17th Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje", published by Snow Lion Publications
30534 Who is the supreme friend
30535 always helpful in times of need?
30536 Mindfulness of the spiritual instructions
30537 learned through study and contemplation.
30538 -- The Seventh Dalai Lama
30540 Ordinary friends desert us when we fall on hard times or become an
30541 inconvenience in their lives. Others simply disappear into their own
30542 destinies. Even our spiritual teachers eventually die and leave us behind.
30543 Our practice of the Dharma, however, that has been cultivated by means of
30544 study, contemplation and meditation, is the one sure anchor that keeps our
30545 ship stable when the seas become choppy. In fact, the more difficult the
30546 situation we encounter, the more helpful it is to us.
30547 When the Buddha had become very old and was preparing to pass away,
30548 several of his disciples were overcome with grief. They asked him, "What
30549 will we do after you are gone?" He replied, "Whenever you rely upon my
30550 teachings, at that time I am there with you."
30551 The Second Dalai Lama wrote, "When we know how to rely on the Dharma, we
30552 are able to be happy in every situation. Where could one find a more
30553 trustworthy and reliable friend?"
30554 -- Glenn H. Mullin, "Gems of Wisdom from the Seventh Dalai Lama",
30555 published by Snow Lion Publications
30557 I always believe that each individual human being has some kind of
30558 responsibility for humanity as a whole. Particularly, I always believe that
30559 as scientists, you have a special responsibility. Besides your own
30560 profession, you have a basic motivation to serve humanity, to try to produce
30561 better, happier human beings. Whether we understand consciousness or not, we
30562 must produce warm-hearted persons. That is important. I want to express
30563 that. Whenever I meet scientists, I always have to say this.
30564 Through my own profession, I try my best to contribute as much as I can.
30565 This proceeds without my being concerned whether another person agrees with my
30566 philosophy or not. Some people may be very much against my belief, my
30567 philosophy, but I feel alright. So long as I see that a human being suffers
30568 or has needs, I shall contribute as much as I can to contribute to their
30569 benefit. Scientists and medically qualified people can contribute especially.
30570 That's different; that's a particular context. A human being needs to be
30571 cared for according to your professional calling. You can contribute; that's
30572 your shared professional responsibility
30573 -- H. H. the Dalai Lama, "Consciousness at the Crossroads: Conversations
30574 with the Dalai Lama on Brain Science and Buddhism", edited by Zara
30575 Houshmand, Robert B. Livingston, and B. Alan Wallace, published by
30576 Snow Lion Publications
30578 ...while walking in a park the body may be in the park while the mind is
30579 off working in the office, or at home, or talking to a distant friend, or
30580 making a list of groceries. That means the mind has disconnected from the
30581 body. Instead, when looking at a flower, really look at it. Be fully
30582 present. With the help of the flower, bring the mind back to the park.
30583 Appreciation for sensory experience reconnects mind and body. When the
30584 experience of the flower is felt throughout the body, a healing occurs; this
30585 can be the same when seeing a tree, smelling smoke, feeling the cloth of your
30586 shirt, hearing a bird call, or tasting an apple. Train yourself to vividly
30587 experience sensory objects without judgment. Try completely to be the eye
30588 with form, the nose with smell, the ear with sound, and so on. Try to be
30589 complete in experience while remaining in just the bare awareness of the
30591 When this ability is developed, reactions will still occur. Upon seeing
30592 the flower, judgements about its beauty will arise, or a smell may be judged
30593 to be foul. Even so, with practice the connection to the pure sensory
30594 experience can be maintained rather than continuing to become lost in the
30595 mind's distraction. Being distracted by a cloud of concepts is a habit and it
30596 can be replaced with a new habit: using bodily sensual experience to bring us
30597 to presence, to connect us to the beauty of the world, to the vivid and
30598 nourishing experience of life that lies under our distractions. This is the
30599 underpinning of successful dream yoga.
30600 -- Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, "The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep",
30601 edited by Mark Dahlby, published by Snow Lion Publications
30603 To succeed in practicing any form of tantra, it is necessary first to
30604 train in developing the altruistic intention to become enlightened. Dzong-
30605 ka-ba says that this needs to be done "in accordance with the quintessential
30606 instructions," these being found in his Great Exposition of the Stages of the
30607 Path to Enlightenment. Specifically, such an altruistic intention is
30608 generated by way of the seven cause and effect quintessential instructions or
30609 the equalizing and switching of self and other. To do those, it is necessary
30610 to identify what liberation is and to develop an awareness seeking liberation,
30611 for which it is necessary to reflect on the three types of suffering and
30612 develop an intention to turn away from over-emphasizing the appearances of
30613 this life and then to turn away from over-emphasizing the appearances of
30614 future lives, developing an intention to leave such cyclic existence entirely,
30615 whereupon it is possible to reflect on how others suffer and develop
30616 compassion. Done continuously over a long period of time, at best one should
30617 develop a fully qualified altruistic intention to become enlightened, and at
30618 least one should develop such an intention from the depths of the heart.
30619 With such altruism as your basic motivation it is possible to receive
30620 initiation and take the pledges that lay out a type of behavior conducive to
30622 ...nowadays some people look on the practice of religion as if it were
30623 something that causes them to lose their freedom. Opposite to this, rules
30624 [for controlling counter-productive ill-deeds and overcoming afflictive
30625 emotions] are for the sake of utilizing your freedom to develop the limitless
30626 qualities of Buddhahood, in the quest for which you should never be satisfied.
30627 Toward material things, which necessarily have a limit, it is best to be
30628 satisfied with what you have, but with regard to the limitless development of
30629 spiritual qualities, you should never be satisfied with a mere portion, but
30630 continually seek higher development. The rules themselves make your mind
30631 conducive to such progress, so there is no reason to be uptight about them.
30632 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Dzong-ka-ba and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Yoga Tantra:
30633 Paths to Magical Feats", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins,
30634 published by Snow Lion Publications
30636 The practice of Dzogchen may begin with doing fixation on an object, in
30637 order to calm one's thoughts. Then one relaxes the fixation, dissolving the
30638 dependence on the object, and one fixes one's gaze in open space. Then, when
30639 one succeeds in making the calm state stable, it is important to work with the
30640 movement of one's thoughts and one's energy, integrating this movement with
30641 the presence of contemplation. At this point one is ready to apply
30642 contemplation in one's daily life. The system of practice just described is
30643 characteristic of the Series of the Nature of the Mind, but that is not to say
30644 that in Dzogchen one must necessarily begin with fixation and meditation on a
30645 calm state. In the Series of Primordial Space, and the Series of Secret
30646 Instructions, for example, one enters directly into the practice of
30647 contemplation. Particularly in the former, there are very precise
30648 instructions on how to find the pure state of contemplation. In the latter,
30649 on the other hand, the explanations are mainly concerned with how one
30650 continues in contemplation in all circumstances.
30651 The practice of contemplation is concisely explained in the line that
30652 reads, "but vision nevertheless manifests: all is good." Even if the
30653 condition of "what is" cannot be grasped with the mind, the whole
30654 manifestation of the primordial state, including our karmic vision, does
30655 nevertheless exist. All the various aspects of forms, colours, and so on,
30656 continue to arise without interruption. When we find ourselves in
30657 contemplation, this doesn't mean that our impure vision just disappears
30658 and pure vision manifests instead. If we have a physical body, there is a
30659 karmic cause for that, so there would be no sense in trying to abandon or
30660 deny the situation we find ourselves in. We just need to be aware of it.
30661 If we have a vision of the material, physical level of existence, which is
30662 the cause of so very many problems, we need to understand that this vision
30663 is only the gross aspect of the colours, which are the essence of the elements.
30664 -- Chogyal Namkhai Norbu, "Dzogchen: The Self-Perfected State", edited by
30665 Adriano Clemente, translated by John Shane, published by Snow Lion Pub.
30667 Don't think there are no crocodiles because the water is calm.
30670 A tantric yogi who has gained control of the subtle energies of the body
30671 and the subtle levels of consciousness will have control over the inner and
30672 outer elements and consequently can transform his or her ordinary samsaric
30673 form into a joyous rainbow body. But until we can do this, we have to accept
30674 the fact that our physical basis is a magnet attracting every kind of
30675 discomfort and pain.
30676 ...This samsaric body keeps us running all of our lives. We have to run
30677 to fulfill its endless needs, to keep it away from things that may harm it,
30678 and to protect it from anything unpleasant. We have to give it pleasure and
30679 comfort. We become ordained, and at first this is very satisfactory; but soon
30680 our body makes it so difficult for us that we think our practice would be less
30681 disturbed if we were to live as a layperson. So we give up and return to
30682 ordinary life; but then we end up with a family to support, leaving us with no
30683 time or energy for meditation. We have the pressing tasks of feeding,
30684 clothing, and sheltering our children, and of arranging their education and so
30685 forth. Our lives are spent alternating between work and worry, with
30686 occasional short periods of pleasure, and then we have to die; but even this
30687 we cannot do in peace, for, when we lie down to die, our last thoughts are
30688 worried ones concerning the family we are leaving behind. Such is the nature
30689 of worldly existence.
30690 ...To care for our old people--these ones who have given us our body, our
30691 life, and our culture--is a sacred duty of humanity. But most humans act more
30692 like animals than people, and often we see old people who have been abandoned
30693 by their families. Family units were very strong in Tibet, and old people
30694 were usually cared for directly by relatives. The national care for the old
30695 that we see in the West is something very good, a healthy sign, although
30696 perhaps here the spiritual and psychological basis is somewhat lacking.
30697 The suffering of old age is something we all must face, unless we die
30698 prematurely. There is nothing we can do about it. Gone will be that false
30699 sense of personal ability and strength that made us so proud when we were
30700 young. Instead, helpers or friends will bathe us, dress us, spoonfeed us, and
30701 have to take us to the toilet. Rather than live under the delusion of
30702 permanence, we should engage in spiritual training so that we can enter old
30703 age at least with the grace of wisdom.
30704 ...So we can see that this body indeed causes us much grief in this life
30705 and, sadly, in their quest to satisfy its many needs, most people just collect
30706 an endless stream of negative karmic instincts that will lead them to lower
30707 rebirths in the future. These are the sufferings of the human world.
30708 ...The important point here is to become aware of the third type of
30709 suffering, the subtle suffering that pervades all imperfect existence, the
30710 all-pervading misery concomitant with having a perishable, samsaric base....
30711 [All are] enmeshed in suffering because the nature of their body and mind is
30712 bound with compulsive cyclic processes. Until we develop the wisdom that is
30713 able to free the mind from these compelling forces, there is no doubt that we
30714 shall experience suffering throughout our lives, and that we shall continue to
30715 wander endlessly in the wheel of birth, life, death, and rebirth where the
30716 presence of misery can always be felt.
30717 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Path to Enlightenment", edited and translated
30718 by Glenn H. Mullin, published by Snow Lion Publications
30720 Observing the Mind Itself
30722 The primary meditative technique of great perfection is remaining in the
30723 state of pure awareness. This is accomplished by calming the mind and then
30724 abiding in comprehension of its basic clear light nature. The meditative
30725 practice involves being cognizant of the arising and passing away of feelings,
30726 emotions, sensations, etc., but understanding them within the context of pure
30727 awareness. The more one does this, the more one realizes that all phenomena
30728 arise from mind and remerge into it. They are of the nature of pure awareness
30729 and are a projection of luminosity and emptiness. Through cultivating this
30730 understanding, mental phenomena of their own accord begin to subside, allowing
30731 the clear light nature of mind to become manifest. They appear as reflections
30732 on the surface of a mirror and are perceived as illusory, ephemeral, and
30734 Those who succeed in this practice attain a state of radical freedom:
30735 there are no boundaries, no presuppositions, and no habits on which to rely.
30736 One perceives things as they are in their naked reality. Ordinary beings view
30737 phenomena through a lens clouded by concepts and preconceptions, and most of
30738 the world is overlooked or ignored. The mind of the great perfection adept,
30739 however, is unbounded, and everything is possible. For many beginners, this
30740 prospect is profoundly disquieting, because since beginningless time we have
30741 been constricted by rules, laws, assumptions, and previous actions. One who
30742 is awakened, however, transcends all such limitations; there is no ground on
30743 which to stand, no limits, nothing that must be done, and no prohibitions.
30744 This awareness is bottomless, unfathomable, immeasurable, permeated by joy,
30745 unboundedness, and exhilaration. One is utterly free, and one's state of mind
30746 is as expansive as space. Those who attain this level of awareness also
30747 transcend physicality and manifest the "rainbow body" ('ja lus), a form
30748 comprising pure light that cannot decay, which has no physical aspects, and
30749 which is coterminous with the nature of mind.
30750 -- John Powers, "A Concise Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism", published by
30751 Snow Lion Publications
30753 Traditions are group efforts to keep the unexpected from happening.
30756 In a democracy it's your vote that counts;
30757 in feudalism, it's your Count that votes.
30760 You cannot shake hands with a clenched fist. -- Indira Gandhi
30762 Luck is what you have left over after you give 100 percent.
30763 -- Langston Coleman
30765 Every child is an artist. The problem is how to
30766 remain an artist once he grows up.
30769 Among Tibetans, at least traditionally, the economic conditions are such
30770 that this nine-to-five daily employment isn't really an important part of
30771 [working life]. In Tibet, either you are a farmer or a nomad or a merchant.
30772 The work is seasonal.... During the season they work very hard, and when they
30773 finish they come back and don't have any employment.
30774 ...in modern society, and particularly in industrialized nations, the
30775 issue of unemployment is a very difficult situation. There are no easy
30776 answers. One has no choice but to try to cope, and make one's best effort to
30777 find new work. There is just no other solution.
30778 However, the basic attitude of the individual plays a very significant
30779 role, and can make a big difference in how someone responds. While we may not
30780 have control over our situation, our attitude is something that we have some
30781 control over. So first, what we need to realize is that uncertainty and
30782 change are very much a part of the modern economy, particularly with regard to
30783 employment. That is a serious problem, but a fact that we have to accept.
30784 There is no guarantee that there will be a job tomorrow if you are working
30785 today. So, if we understand this ahead of time, it may change how we respond
30786 when that happens. Then we won't feel so surprised, as if we are singled out.
30787 We understand that the loss of a job has many factors, the result of many
30788 causes and conditions. We will understand that, in many cases, it may even
30789 have roots in global economic issues. This way, we won't become so upset by
30790 taking it personally, or looking around us for someone to blame for our
30791 problems. This alone may help reduce our mental agitation. Of course, here
30792 we are talking about unemployment due to some wider causes or layoffs, not due
30793 to being fired because of one's own incompetence.
30794 So there might be different ways in which individuals will respond to the
30795 challenges of change. What is important is to acknowledge this fact and try
30796 to work out how best to cope with the immediate problem itself. For example,
30797 if you need employment as a means of your livelihood and if you become
30798 unemployed, then all your efforts should be put into looking for new
30799 employment so that your livelihood will be secure. But there are two
30800 different responses. One person may feel demoralized and become sort of
30801 paralyzed, thinking, There is no hope, I lost my job, what am I supposed to
30802 do? But another individual in the same situation might look at it as an
30803 opportunity to make some changes. As a challenge. So that is the more
30804 positive way, the more proactive way of dealing with this problem. But of
30805 course it is not easy.
30806 There may also be other ways that might help at least reduce the mental
30807 anxiety of dealing with the situation, so that a person can use all their
30808 mental energy to find new work. For Buddhists, there are certain thought
30809 processes and considerations that help--for example, the belief in karma
30810 [one's actions] and ultimately taking responsibility for one's own karma.
30811 Although this kind of mental attitude may not have any effect in physically
30812 resolving the situation, at least it will help ease the individual from the
30813 psychological effect of losing the job, and so on. And of course, believers
30814 in other religious systems can also take some consolation in their own
30816 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and Dr. Howard C. Cutler, M.D.,
30817 "The Art of Happiness at Work"
30819 Compassion and love are not man-made. Ideology is man-made, but
30820 compassion and love are produced by nature. It is important to recognize
30821 natural qualities, especially when we face a problem and fail to find a
30822 solution. For example... in religious business, sometimes even due to
30823 religion, we create a problem. If we try to solve that problem using
30824 religious methods, it is quite certain that we will not succeed. So I feel
30825 that when we face those kinds of problems, it is important to return to our
30826 basic human quality. Then I think we will find that solutions come easier.
30827 Therefore, I usually say that the best way to solve human problems is with
30828 human understanding.
30829 It is very important to recognize the basic nature of humanity and the
30830 value of human qualities. Whether one is educated or uneducated, rich or
30831 poor, or belongs to this nation or that nation, this religion or that
30832 religion, this ideology or that ideology, is secondary and doesn't matter.
30833 When we return to this basis, all people are the same. Then we can truly say
30834 the words brother, sister; then they are not just nice words--they have some
30835 meaning. That kind of motivation automatically builds the practice of
30836 kindness. This gives us inner strength.
30837 ...Next, let us talk about the human being as a social animal. Even if we
30838 do not like other people, we have to live together. Natural law is such that
30839 even bees and other animals have to live together in cooperation. I am
30840 attracted to bees because I like honey--it is really delicious. Their product
30841 is something that we cannot produce, very beautiful, isn't it? I exploit them
30842 too much, I think. Even these insects have certain responsibilities, they
30843 work together very nicely. They have no constitution, they have no law, no
30844 police, nothing, but they work together effectively. This is because of
30845 nature. Similarly, each part of a flower is not arranged by humans but by
30846 nature. The force of nature is something remarkable. We human beings, we
30847 have constitutions, we have law, we have a police force, we have religion, we
30848 have many things. But in actual practice, I think that we are behind those
30850 Sometimes civilization brings good progress, but we become too involved
30851 with this progress and neglect or forget about our basic nature. Every
30852 development in human society should take place on the basis of the foundation
30853 of the human nature. If we lose that basic foundation, there is no point in
30854 such developments taking place.
30855 -- "The Dalai Lama, A Policy of Kindness: An Anthology of Writings By and
30856 About the Dalai Lama" compiled and edited by Sidney Piburn, Foreword by
30857 Sen. Claiborne Pell, published by Snow Lion Publications
30859 Emphasizing neither renunciation nor transformation, though incorporating
30860 both into its preparatory practices, the Great Completeness provides a
30861 method know as "self-liberation" (rang 'grol), sometimes described as
30862 "liberation in its own spot" (rang sar 'grol). Liberation takes place in the
30863 situation just as it is, because one's mind and all things are, despite
30864 powerful appearances to the contrary, primordially pure. If one has not yet
30865 made this essential discovery, the Great Bliss Queen ritual can prepare one
30866 for it. If one is familiar with the Great Completeness perspective, one
30867 performs the visualization and recitation of the Great Bliss Queen ritual
30868 entirely within an experience of innate awareness. In either case, the ritual
30869 encompasses the three nondualisms already discussed.
30870 One way of accessing the primordial purity so important to the Great
30871 Completeness tradition is a practice known as "pure vision." This involves
30872 visualizing companions, family, surroundings, and so forth as creations of
30873 light, the habitat of an enlightened being. From the viewpoint of the Great
30874 Completeness, such pure vision is not an imaginative overlay, but a move
30875 toward understanding things as they are. As Khetsun Sangpo taught it, this
30876 practice allows you to understand that apparently ordinary things and persons
30877 have "been [primordially pure] from the beginning" so that "you are
30878 identifying their own proper nature. Your senses normally misrepresent what
30879 is there, but through this visualization you can come closer to what actually
30880 exists." In short, by identifying one's body, companions, and world with
30881 those of the Great Bliss Queen, one develops the ability to discover what has
30882 always been there. This being so, there is no need to renounce or change
30883 anything, only to see it more completely. This is the Great Completeness
30884 tradition's special mix of ontological and cognitive nondualisms. Unlike the
30885 tantric traditions, in which it is necessary to cease the coarse sense and
30886 mental consciousness in order for the most subtle mind of clear light to
30887 appear, the Dalai Lama observes that "in the Old [Nyingma] Translation School
30888 of the Great Completeness it is possible to be introduced to the clear light
30889 without the cessation of the six operative consciousnesses." Hence the
30890 possibility of "discovering" what is already in our midst. Such discovery
30891 reveals a spontaneous presence (yon dan hlun gyis grub ba) of collateral
30892 qualities such as clarity and spontaneous responsiveness. Thus, comments
30893 Longchen Rabjam, "primordially pure primordial wisdom is free in the face of
30894 thought and the primordial wisdom, with a nature of spontaneity, abides as
30895 primordial radiance, and profound clarity."
30896 -- Anne Carolyn Klein, "Meeting the Great Bliss Queen: Buddhists, Feminists,
30897 and the Art of the Self", by published by Snow Lion Publications
30899 Why is it that meeting our yidam deity directly and receiving the deity's
30900 blessing are so important? If we are studying texts and wish to become great
30901 scholars, there are an inconceivable number of the Buddha's teachings along
30902 with the treatises that comment on them. All these have to be studied
30903 diligently so that we can come to a basic understanding of their meaning;
30904 beyond this, it is extremely difficult to enter into the more subtle levels.
30905 In all of this practice and study, it is our own mind that is central.
30906 Without a great blessing or without awakening the generative power of previous
30907 habitual patterns, it will be extremely difficult to realize primordial
30909 Lord Maitreya stated that bodhisattvas abiding on the various levels are
30910 not able to attain omniscience immediately, and he also affirmed that we do
30911 not need to become expert in all five traditional Buddhist sciences. Among
30912 these are all classifications of the inner science that deals with the mind.
30913 In the practice of the Secret Mantrayana, it is said that as long as objects
30914 continue to arise in our minds, so long will the classifications of the Secret
30915 Mantrayana last. As long as we have not realized the simultaneity of concepts
30916 and liberation, as long as we have not been blessed with the knowledge that
30917 knowing the nature of one phenomenon liberates us into knowing the nature of
30918 all, we need to train from lifetime to lifetime in the many aspects of the
30919 teachings. If we try to become expert in all five sciences or try to know all
30920 the objects of knowledge, our training will be endless. For these reasons, it
30921 is extremely important to seek accomplishments and blessings from the yidam
30922 deity, for through the blessing of the deity, our positive habitual patterns
30923 from the past will be awakened and the doubts that cloud our minds will be
30925 -- "Music in the Sky: The Life, Art and Teachings of the Seventeenth
30926 Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje" by Michele Martin, published by Snow Lion
30930 When someone whom I have helped
30931 Or in whom I have placed great hopes
30932 Mistreats me in extremely hurtful ways
30933 May I regard him still as my precious teacher.
30934 -- Shantideva, "Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life"
30936 According to worldly norms of human behaviour, when we help someone and
30937 place great trust in them and they mistreat us in return, it is seen as
30938 reasonable to be angry with them because we have been hurt. However,
30939 practitioners of bodhicitta must not give in to this type of conventional
30940 thinking. Instead, we should learn to view such people in a special way, as
30941 objects for our practice of forbearance and loving kindness. We must in fact
30942 recognise these people as our spiritual teachers.
30943 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Lighting the Way", translated by Geshe Thupten
30944 Jinpa, published by Snow Lion Publications
30946 Advanced meditators develop the ability to create environments of their
30947 own choosing, and they are able to transcend the sufferings that seem so real
30948 to ordinary beings who are bound by mundane conceptions. According to Tsong
30949 Khapa, for one who attains advanced levels of meditation, painful cognitions
30950 no longer occur, no matter what external experiences one encounters. All of
30951 one's cognitions are a union of bliss and emptiness. One recognizes that
30952 nothing is inherently what it appears to be. Whatever occurs is perceived by
30953 one's unshakably blissful consciousness as the sport of luminosity and
30956 "for a Bodhisattva who has attained the meditative stabilisation of
30957 bliss pervading all phenomena, only a feeling of pleasure arises with
30958 respect to all objects; pain and neutrality do not occur, even though
30959 [pieces from his body] the size of a small coin are cut or even though
30960 his body is crushed by elephants, only a discrimination of bliss is
30962 -- Tsong-ka-pa on Ratnarakshita's Commentary
30964 Tantric texts stress that such bodhisattvas are not creating a delusional
30965 system in order to hide from the harsher aspects of reality. Rather, they are
30966 transforming reality, making it conform to an ideal archetype. Since all
30967 phenomena are empty of inherent existence, they have no fixed nature. No one
30968 ever apprehends an object as it is in its true nature, because there is no
30969 such nature. Even if phenomena had fixed essences, we would still never be
30970 able to perceive them, since all we ever experience are our cognitions of
30971 objects, which are overlaid with conceptions about them. All our perceptions
30972 are ideas about things, and not real things. These ideas are also empty,
30973 arising from nothingness and immediately dissolving again into nothingness,
30974 leaving nothing behind. Tantric adepts develop the ability to reconstitute
30975 "reality," which is completely malleable for those who train in yogas
30976 involving blissful consciousnesses realizing emptiness. The sense of bliss
30977 pervades all their cognitions, and their understanding of emptiness allows
30978 them to generate minds that are manifestations of bliss and emptiness.
30979 -- John Powers, "A Concise Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism", published
30980 by Snow Lion Publications
30982 Beware the flatterer; he feeds you with an empty spoon. -- Cosino DeGregrio
30984 Republicans are for both the man and the dollar, but in case of conflict
30985 the man before the dollar.
30988 Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of
30989 labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is
30990 the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration.
30993 For those of you who are not able to devote all your time to meditation,
30994 there is nevertheless the possibility of engaging in practice in a serious
30995 way. For example, the students at the monastic universities in South India
30996 can, with some effort, do meditations during the prayers. When you recite the
30997 prayers, you can mentally do the contemplation. The lifestyle and daily
30998 routine at these monasteries have been structured by the great masters of the
30999 past in a way that is most conducive to individual practice as well as to the
31000 flourishing of the dharma.
31001 If you find that your mind is in a very fluctuating emotional state--
31002 displaying anger, hatred, attachment and so forth--then you should first try
31003 to calm down that state of strong emotion. This should be done by first
31004 transforming it into a neutral state of mind, because there is no way that one
31005 can switch directly from a negative state of mind to a positive one.
31006 Therefore, you should first reduce the force of these emotions and
31007 fluctuations and try to bring about some sort of calmness, using any means--
31008 such as taking a stroll or concentrating on the inhalation and exhalation of
31009 the breath--that will enable you to forget what you are immediately feeling.
31010 This will help you to reduce the force of strong emotion, thereby giving you
31011 the calmness necessary for the practice of dharma. Like a white piece of
31012 cloth which could be dyed any color that you desire, such a neutral state of
31013 mind could then be transformed into a virtuous state of mind.
31014 You could also engage in the preliminary practices of performing 100,000
31015 prostrations, recitations of the Vajrasattva mantra, and so forth. When you
31016 undertake these practices, you should do them properly, not being only
31017 concerned about the number. Many great masters of the past of all traditions
31018 have emphasized the importance of these preliminary practices--they will
31019 enable you to have a very firm start. If through them you can acquire a
31020 fertile mind, then when the seed of meditation is planted, it will readily
31021 bear the fruits of realizations.
31022 Having successfully neutralized the emotional fluctuations within your
31023 mind and having restored a reasonable degree of calmness, engage in the
31024 practice of taking refuge and generating the altruistic aspiration to attain
31025 full enlightenment. Taking refuge in the Three Jewels is the factor that
31026 distinguishes one's practice from that of an erroneous path, and the
31027 generation of the altruistic mind makes it superior to the paths aiming at
31028 individual liberation.
31029 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Path to Bliss", translated by Geshe Thupten
31030 Jinpa, edited by Christine Cox, published by Snow Lion Publications
31032 ...if you consider just the subtlest mind and the wind or energy that
31033 serves as its mount, the mere factor of luminosity and knowing of the subtlest
31034 mind itself as well as the energy associated with it are what will be
31035 transformed into the mind and body of a Buddha. This is the mind that will
31036 turn into an omniscient consciousness--a Buddha's mind; it is this mind which
31037 will be transformed, not some other mind coming from the outside. In other
31038 words, the Buddha nature is inherent; it is not imported from somewhere else.
31039 This is true because the very entity of the mind, its nature of mere
31040 luminosity and knowing, is not polluted by defilements; they do not abide in
31041 the entity of the mind. Even when we generate afflictive emotions, the very
31042 entity or nature of the mind is still mere luminosity and knowing, and because
31043 of this we are able to remove the afflictive emotions.
31044 -- H.H. the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso, "Kindness,
31045 Clarity, and Insight", edited and translated by Jeffrey Hopkins,
31046 co-edited by Elizabeth Napper, published by Snow Lion Publications
31048 The recognition that worldly attainments just do not provide enduring
31049 happiness, and that we need to work on the internals, rather than the
31050 externals, is an important motivation. It is also the basis of achieving
31051 nirvana, often represented by the lotus flower. It is no accident that most
31052 statues of Buddha have him sitting on cushions resting on a lotus flower--the
31053 symbol of renunciation.
31054 But what if we achieve nirvana? What if, through extreme diligence, we
31055 attain its supreme peace and happiness? Would that be enough, or is there a
31056 more profound level of motivation still?
31057 Some years ago a number of tourists were kidnapped by terrorists in the
31058 Philippines, and held hostage in the jungle for many months. Finally they
31059 were released in small groups. I will never forget the reaction of one
31060 hostage who was interviewed at the airport on his way home to join his wife,
31061 who had been freed just days earlier.
31062 You would think that after months of extreme privation and the constant
31063 threat of uncertainty and death, returning safely to one's wife, home, and
31064 family would be a cause for joyful celebration. But the hostage, while
31065 relieved, could only think of the group of hostages he'd left behind. Those
31066 who, in the preceding months, had been his fellow prisoners, whom he now knew
31067 better than anyone else, and with whom in several cases, he had formed unique
31068 and profound bonds of attachment. His overriding concern was to ensure that
31069 those still being held captive would be safely released to experience the same
31070 freedom he had now. Only then would he really be able to celebrate.
31071 -- David Michie, "Buddhism for Beginners: Finding Happiness in an Uncertain
31072 World", published by Snow Lion Publications
31074 The term "meditation" carries with it a burden of trendy, pseudo-mystical
31075 connotations. The biggest mistake people make is to think that they will "get
31076 something" out of meditation. It would be more accurate to think they will be
31077 getting rid of something. Awareness practice undermines our unwitting
31078 subjugation to hypermentation. It cuts through the cascade of thoughts and
31079 feelings that distract us from the present moment where life actually happens.
31080 The inner newsreel, with its imagined or distorted dramas, becomes less urgent
31081 and seductive. The unexamined hopes and fears that have thrown us into
31082 automatic or reflexive behavior lose their power to toss us about. What we
31083 get rid of, initially, is a great deal of compelling noise with no point or
31084 real substance to it. Even by becoming aware of its nature we de-reify it,
31085 render it less solid and intractable.
31086 ...How can we sort out our neuroses when the mind is a wild, chaotic mess
31087 of fragmented thought? How can we work with our anger when we experience it
31088 as a deluge of highly charged, urgent impulses, all mixed in with fleeting
31089 bits of narrative, physical sensations, whispers of memory, rushes of fear,
31090 and the visceral press to act? We can't. Every beginning meditator discovers
31091 very quickly that the mind has a mind of its own. No beginner sits down,
31092 says, "Peace! Be still!" and accomplishes enlightenment. It's enough at the
31093 start just to see, discover, and acknowledge the chatter. That, in itself, is
31094 a great step towards self-awareness. Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche taught that the
31095 awareness of our confusion is the first step towards clarity.
31096 Over time, we can learn to just take note of whatever arises without being
31097 pushed and pulled emotionally. We can sit still and not respond reflexively
31098 to our hypermentation. We can allow ourselves to rest, to gently release
31099 thoughts, to find a quiet space apart from the discursive jumble. We can
31100 choose to be simply and quietly aware. In these quiet moments, experiences
31101 arise much more clearly and distinctly. Only then can we discover the source
31102 of our suffering and our anger.
31103 I once attended a conference between a highly esteemed Tibetan lama,
31104 Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche, and a group of psychiatrists. Someone asked
31105 Rinpoche: "What is meditation?" Rinpoche looked playfully puzzled, pretended
31106 not to understand, and after a brief consultation with his translator,
31107 answered: "Meditation? Meditation? I don't know what that means. We have
31108 another word for it which means 'paying attention to.' " Whatever the style,
31109 to meditate is to pay attention.
31110 -- Ron Leifer, M.D., "Vinegar into Honey: Seven Steps to Understanding and
31111 Transforming Anger, Aggression, and Violence", published by Snow Lion
31114 ...practice must be carried out in terms of one's own thought. If one
31115 knows how to bring the teachings into one's own thought, all physical and
31116 verbal deeds can be made to accord with practice. If one does not know how to
31117 bring them into one's own thought, even though one might meditate, recite
31118 scriptures, or spend one's life in a temple, it will not help; thought is
31119 therefore important for practice. Thus, taking refuge in the Three Jewels
31120 (Buddha, his Doctrine and the Spiritual Community), taking into account the
31121 relationship between actions and their effects, and generating an attitude of
31122 helping others, are most important.
31124 Formerly in Tibet there was a famous lama called Drom. One day Drom saw a
31125 man walking around a reliquary. 'Walking around a reliquary is good,' he
31126 said. 'Practice is even better.' The man thought, 'Then, reading a holy book
31127 would be good.' He did so, and one day while he was reading, Drom saw him and
31128 said, 'Reading a holy book is good; practice is even better.'
31130 The man thought, 'This also does not seem to be sufficient. Now if I do
31131 some meditation, that will certainly be practice.' Drom saw him in meditation
31132 and said, 'Meditation is good; practice is even better.' The man was amazed
31133 and asked, 'How does one practise?' Drom answered, 'Do not be attached to this
31134 life; cause your mind to become the practices.' Dram said this because
31135 practice depends on thought.
31137 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Buddhism of Tibet", translated and edited by
31138 Jeffrey Hopkins, published by Snow Lion Publications
31140 Dampa said, "If these practitioners want buddhahood, they must reverse their
31143 [Kunga] asked, "What is wrong with their present behavior?"
31147 They practice thinking that what are in actuality obstacles are
31149 They meet the liberating path, but doubting and striving, they part from
31151 Doubting if they should refrain from their ill-omened actions, they
31153 The speech of those without experience has become Dharma--supposedly the
31155 Kunga is never parted from his prayers for the three village girls!
31156 Now, draw your own conclusions!
31162 When I see people clinging to illusions as real, compassion arises with a
31164 If one considers the sufferings of the six realms in terms of oneself, one
31165 has no time to remain ordinary.
31166 When one sees that the characteristic of samsara is suffering, a mind
31167 wanting nothing whatsoever is born!
31168 When one sees the various bases as rootless, self-grasping is not born!
31169 When impermanence is born in the mind, faith and perseverance will come
31171 Those who grasp at permanence will not destroy persistent grasping at
31173 Kunga! Internalize truthlessness and throw the kitchen sauce into the
31175 -- Lion of Siddhas: The Life and Teachings of Padampa Sangye, translated
31176 by David Molk, with Lama Tsering Wangdu Rinpoche, published by Snow
31179 Books have the same enemies as people:
31180 fire, humidity, animals, weather, and their own content.
31183 In Buddhism there are basically two types of practices: Sutra and
31184 Tantra.... The special purpose of Tantra is to provide a faster path so that
31185 qualified practitioners can be of service to others more quickly. In Tantra
31186 the power of imagination is harnessed to meditation in a practice called deity
31187 yoga. In this practice you imagine 1) replacing your mind as it ordinarily
31188 appears, full of troubling emotions, with a mind of pure wisdom motivated by
31189 compassion; 2) substituting your body as it ordinarily appears (composed of
31190 flesh, blood, and bone) with a body fashioned from compassionately motivated
31191 wisdom; 3) developing a sense of a pure self that depends on purely appearing
31192 mind and body in an ideal environment, fully engaged in helping others. As
31193 this distinctive practice of Tantra calls for visualizing yourself with a
31194 Buddha's body, activities, resources, and surroundings, it is called "taking
31195 imagination as the spiritual path."
31196 Let us consider a qualm about this practice. You are considering yourself
31197 to have Buddha qualities which you presently do not have. Is this, then, a
31198 correct type of meditative consciousness? Yes. Your mind is involved in
31199 understanding reality, out of which you are appearing as a deity. Therefore,
31200 your mind, from this viewpoint, is correct. Also, you are purposely imagining
31201 yourself as having a divine body even if you do not presently possess one.
31202 This is an imaginative meditation; you are not convinced from the depths that
31203 you actually have pure mind, body, and selfhood. Rather, based in clear
31204 imagination of ideal body and mind, you are cultivating the sense of being a
31205 deity, compassionately helping others.
31206 ...to engage in Tantra at any level demands a powerful intention to become
31207 enlightened for the sake of others, and a feeling that this needs to be done
31209 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "How to Practice: The Way to a Meaningful
31210 Life", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins
31212 Why do we want to be wise and compassionate? If it's because we would simply
31213 like to be wise and compassionate, we are off course, because the "I" cannot
31214 attain wisdom and compassion. Wisdom and compassion can only be revealed once
31215 the "I" has disappeared. When we reach this level, we will be able to benefit
31216 others. In the meantime, it is the blind leading the blind. All true
31217 religions seek to gain access to that level of consciousness which is not ego-
31218 bound. In Buddhism, it is called the unconditioned, the unborn, the
31219 deathless. You can call it anything you like. You can call it atman. You
31220 can call it anatman. You can call it God. The fact is, there is a subtle
31221 level of consciousness which is the core of our being, and it is beyond our
31222 ordinary conditioned state of mind. We can all experience this. Some people
31223 experience it through service, others through devotion. Some even think they
31224 can experience it through analysis and intellectual discipline. Buddhists
31225 usually try to access it through meditation. That's what we are doing.
31226 Breaking through to the unconditioned in order to help others break through to
31227 the unconditioned. But we have to start where we are, from right here. We
31228 start with these minds, these bodies, these problems, these weaknesses, and
31230 -- Venerable Tenzin Palmo, "Reflections on a Mountain Lake: Teachings
31231 on Practical Buddhism", published by Snow Lion Publications
31233 Over the last few days I have been meeting scientists, mainly specialists
31234 on the brain, as well as psychologists and psychotherapists.... The majority
31235 of them agreed... that the key cause of the mental unrest and depression so
31236 prevalent today... is lack of sympathy and affection.
31237 I think you might find the following story quite interesting. A few weeks
31238 ago I met someone whose mind, I was told, is severely disturbed. At the
31239 beginning, I used all of my reasoning to encourage him, explaining that, as a
31240 human being, there was no need for him to be discouraged, because we have such
31241 a good human brain and intelligence. I pointed out how, with determination,
31242 we can solve all our human problems and overcome all obstacles, and so there
31243 is no reason to worry or be discouraged or depressed. Personally, I always
31244 find this kind of reasoning is quite effective, but this time it failed. He
31245 was not impressed by this line of thinking. On the contrary, instead of
31246 showing any appreciation, he developed a rather contrary attitude. After
31247 listening to what I had to say, he became even more agitated, and asked me,
31248 "Why are you concerned about my problem? How do I know if your attitude is
31249 sincere or not?" I felt really sad. I was quite moved as well, and as I was
31250 explaining something or other, my hand reached out and caressed his arm. It
31251 was a natural gesture, a sincere expression of how I felt. Gradually, his
31252 mood altered; I could see his face beginning to change, and finally a smile
31253 began to appear. Then as I gained confidence, I increased that expression of
31254 affection. At last a big smile spread right across his face.
31255 I told him, "Please consider me as an old friend. Any time, you can come
31256 to see me. Whatever I can do to help you, I am ready to do. I am at your
31257 service." When I said this, then his mood, it was clear, became very happy
31258 and joyful. The following day he came to see me again. When he arrived, he
31259 already had a happy air about him, but nevertheless he was trying to pretend
31260 otherwise and was not smiling. Anyway, what this incident really gave me was
31261 another confirmation of how powerful genuine compassion, love, or altruism can
31262 be, to affect other people's minds. And how they can remove fear and
31263 suspicion, and alleviate feelings of insecurity and mistrust.
31264 So I always consider compassion as the key, not only for achieving and
31265 maintaining our own mental calmness, stability and happiness, but also as
31266 something extraordinarily useful for creating a healthy human society. By
31267 that I mean a happier and less harmful human society. Therefore--whether it
31268 be in individual cases, on a family level, a national level, or an
31269 international level--altruism, love and compassion are the basis for success,
31270 for happiness, and for a happy environment.
31271 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Dzogchen: The Heart Essence of the Great
31272 Perfection", translated by Thupten Jinpa and Richard Barron,
31273 Foreword by Sogyal Rinpoche, edited by Patrick Gaffney, published
31274 by Snow Lion Publications
31276 According to Tibetan Buddhism, ordinary beings are born into life situations
31277 in which they are destined to suffer and die. This is the result of former
31278 contaminated actions and afflictions, which have been accumulated since
31279 beginningless time. Because of this process, physical and mental afflictions
31280 are deeply rooted in sentient beings, and so it is generally considered
31281 necessary to prepare oneself for tantric practice by engaging in the
31282 "preliminary practices," or ngondro (sngon 'gro, purvagama), in order to begin
31283 to reverse one's negative conditioning. These practices combine physical
31284 movements with visualization in order to transform the mind from one that is
31285 fixated on mundane concerns and desires into one that is primarily oriented
31286 toward religious practice for the benefit of others. Some teachers consider
31287 these preparatory trainings to be so essential to successful tantric practice
31288 that they will not give tantric initiations to those who have not completed
31289 them, and even teachers who are willing to waive them generally stress their
31290 importance. The preliminary practices are: (1) taking refuge; (2)
31291 prostration; (3) Vajrasattva meditation; (4) mandala offering; and (5) guru
31293 -- John Powers, "A Concise Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism",
31294 published by Snow Lion Publications
31296 [It] is quite clear to me is that the moment you think only of yourself,
31297 the focus of your whole reality narrows, and because of this narrow focus,
31298 uncomfortable things can appear huge and bring you fear and discomfort and a
31299 sense of feeling overwhelmed by misery. The moment you think of others with a
31300 sense of caring, however, your view widens. Within that wider perspective,
31301 your own problems appear to be of little significance, and this makes a big
31303 If you have a sense of caring for others, you will manifest a kind of
31304 inner strength in spite of your own difficulties and problems. With this
31305 strength, your own problems will seem less significant and bothersome to you.
31306 By going beyond your own problems and taking care of others, you gain inner
31307 strength, self-confidence, courage, and a greater sense of calm. This is a
31308 clear example of how one's way of thinking can really make a difference.
31309 One's own self-interest and wishes are fulfilled as a byproduct of
31310 actually working for other sentient beings. As the well-known fifteenth-
31311 century master Tsongkhapa points out in his Great Exposition of the Path to
31312 Enlightenment, "The more the practitioner engages in activities and thoughts
31313 that are focused and directed toward the fulfillment of others' well-being,
31314 the fulfillment or realization of his or her own aspiration will come as a
31315 byproduct without having to make a separate effort." Some of you may have
31316 actually heard me remark, which I do quite often, that in some sense the
31317 bodhisattvas, the compassionate practitioners of the Buddhist path, are
31318 "wisely selfish" people, whereas people like us are the "foolishly selfish."
31319 We think of ourselves and disregard others, and the result is that we always
31320 remain unhappy and have a miserable time.
31321 ...we find that kindness and a good heart form the underlying foundation
31322 for our success in this life, our progress on the spiritual path, and our
31323 fulfillment of our ultimate aspiration, the attainment of full enlightenment.
31324 Hence, compassion and a good heart are not only important at the beginning but
31325 also in the middle and at the end. Their necessity and value are not limited
31326 to any specific time, place, society, or culture.
31327 Thus, we not only need compassion and human affection to survive, but they
31328 are the ultimate sources of success in life. Selfish ways of thinking not
31329 only harm others, they prevent the very happiness we ourselves desire. The
31330 time has come to think more wisely, hasn't it? This is my belief.
31331 -- Tenzin Gyatso, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, from "The Compassionate Life"
31333 ...all apparent phenomena are nothing but delusion and there is, moreover,
31334 no freedom from delusion to be achieved by dispelling delusion. Delusion is,
31335 by its own essence, completely pure and, hence, enlightened. All phenomena
31336 are, in this way, primordially, fully, and completely enlightened. Phenomena
31337 appearing as various attributes are, therefore, indeed the mandala of vajra
31338 body, speech, and mind. They are like the Buddhas of the three times, never
31339 transcending the essence of complete purity. Sentient beings and Buddhas are
31340 not differentiated in terms of their essence. Just like distinct causes and
31341 results appearing in a dream, they are nothing but perceptions of individual
31342 minds brought forth by the power of imputation.
31343 Here the issue might be raised, "although the scriptures do teach this,
31344 there is no certainty whether it is to be taken at face value or requires
31345 interpretation. Therefore the essential purity of phenomena may well be
31346 established, but it is unreasonable to say that precisely the nature of that
31347 which appears as subjects with attributes is primordially enlightened. For,
31348 if it were that way, thorough affliction and samsara would be entirely absent.
31349 There can't be a reasoning that establishes such a philosophy." The
31350 conceptual mind that takes objects that appear in the experience of sentient
31351 beings as valid is, since beginningless time, deluded. It accepts or negates
31352 with reference to the way things appear to it. With such dialectics it is,
31353 indeed, not possible to establish the vast and profound meaning. Nevertheless,
31354 since the nature of phenomena is inconceivable, it is not the case that there
31355 is no way to realize it by means of discriminating knowledge. Thus it is not
31356 in any way a mistake if one, rather than that, is inclined to approach simply
31357 by faith, regarding the scriptures and oral instructions as valid. One will
31358 then gain access through trust.
31359 One may object, "Well, if one cannot prove [the primordial mandala] with
31360 reasoning, one cannot gain access to it either." We can prove it as follows:
31361 That phenomena are fully enlightened as the mandala of vajra body, speech, and
31362 mind is proven with the reasoning of the intrinsic nature. Just as it is
31363 stated in a sutra, "Form is empty by nature. Why is that? It is so because
31364 that is its nature." All phenomena are pure by their intrinsic nature and,
31365 therefore, there is not a single phenomenon that is impure. This is the
31366 intrinsic nature of phenomena. Complete purity is, therefore, also the
31367 intrinsic nature of body, speech, and mind, and their complete purity is
31368 enlightenment. Therefore, body, speech, and mind, distinguished by their
31369 complete purity, are inseparable, free from mental constructs, and perfectly
31370 pervasive. One must in this way understand them to be the mandala of vajra
31371 body, speech, and mind.
31372 -- Heidi I. Koppl, "Establishing Appearances as Divine: Rongzom
31373 Chozang on Reasoning, Madhyamaka, and Purity", published by
31374 Snow Lion Publications
31376 Because spirits can be positive or negative in relation to humans, it is
31377 wise to be careful with practices that connect the practitioner to a spirit.
31378 It is currently popular for people to take drum journeys in their imaginations
31379 and to look for guardian spirits and power animals and so on. Although
31380 usually this is beneficial, or at least harmless, there really are beings with
31381 whom the rare individual will connect. Not all of them are beings anyone
31382 should want to connect with. There seems to be little regard for who the
31383 being is; this can be a dangerous practice. People are much more careful
31384 about choosing a business partner or a roommate than they seem to be about
31385 choosing a non-physical being for a guide or guardian.
31386 -- Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, "Healing with Form, Energy and Light:
31387 The Five Elements in Tibetan Shamanism, Tantra and Dzogchen",
31388 published by Snow Lion Publications
31390 ...reflect upon the negative consequences of our strong attachment to
31391 friends and hostility toward enemies. Our feelings for a friend or a loved
31392 one sometimes blind us to certain of his or her aspects. We project a quality
31393 of absolute desirability, absolute infallibility, upon that person. Then,
31394 when we see something contrary to our projections, we are stunned. We swing
31395 from the extreme of love and desire to disappointment, repulsion, and
31396 sometimes even anger. Even that sense of inner contentment and satisfaction
31397 in a relationship with someone we love can lead to disappointment,
31398 frustration, and hatred. Though strong emotions, like those of romantic love
31399 or righteous hatred, may feel profoundly compelling, their pleasure is
31400 fleeting. From a Buddhist point of view, it is far better not to be in the
31401 grip of such emotions in the first place.
31402 What are the repercussions of becoming overpowered by intense dislike?
31403 The Tibetan word for hatred, shedang, suggests hostility from the depth of
31404 one's heart. There is a certain irrationality in responding to injustice or
31405 harm with hostility. Our hatred has no physical effect on our enemies; it
31406 does not harm them. Rather, it is we who suffer the ill consequences of such
31407 overwhelming bitterness. It eats us from within. With anger we slowly begin
31408 to lose our appetite. We cannot sleep at night and often end up just rolling
31409 back and forth, back and forth, all night long. It affects us profoundly,
31410 while our enemies continue along, blissfully unaware of the state we have been
31412 Free of hatred or anger, we can respond to actions committed against us
31413 far more effectively. If we approach things with a cool head, we see the
31414 problem more clearly and judge the best way to address it. For example, if a
31415 child is doing something that could be dangerous to himself or others, such as
31416 playing with matches, we can discipline him. When we behave in such a
31417 forthright manner, there is a far greater chance that our actions will hit the
31418 mark. The child will respond not to our anger but to our sense of urgency and
31420 This is how we come to see that our true enemy is actually within us. It
31421 is our selfishness, our attachment, and our anger that harm us. Our perceived
31422 enemy's ability to inflict harm on us is really quite limited. If someone
31423 challenges us and we can muster the inner discipline to resist retaliating, it
31424 is possible that no matter what the person has done, those actions do not
31426 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "An Open Heart: Practicing Compassion in
31427 Everyday Life", edited by Nicholas Vreeland, afterword by Khyongla
31428 Rato and Richard Gere
31430 "All phenomena should be understood as lacking an end and a middle, just
31431 as the mind does not have an end or a middle. With the knowledge that the
31432 mind is without an end or a middle, no identity of the mind is perceived.
31433 What is thoroughly realized by the mind, too, is realized as being empty.
31434 By realizing that, the very identity, which is established as the aspect
31435 of the mind, like the identity of physical form, and so forth, is also
31436 ultimately not perceived. In this way, when the person does not ultimately
31437 see the identity of all phenomena through wisdom, he will not analyze
31438 whether physical form is permanent or impermanent, empty or not empty,
31439 contaminated or not contaminated, produced or non-produced, and existent
31440 or non-existent. Just as physical form is not examined, similarly feeling,
31441 recognition, compositional factors, and consciousness are not examined.
31442 When the object does not exist, its characteristics also cannot exist.
31443 So how can they be examined?"
31444 -- Stages of Meditation by Kamalashila
31446 The above passage deals with ultimate reality; its meaning is that in the
31447 ultimate sense the object of imputation is not findable. In this context we
31448 find in the Heart Sutra phrases like: "There is no physical form, no sound, no
31449 smell, no taste, and no object of touch." The mind, too, is not findable in
31450 the ultimate sense. Since in the ultimate sense such things are non-existent,
31451 there is no point examining whether they are permanent or impermanent.
31452 Ultimately all phenomena, including the aggregates and so forth, are devoid of
31453 true existence. Within the notion of ultimate reality, things are devoid of
31454 true existence. In the same way, suchness, which is an attribute of
31455 phenomena, is also devoid of true existence. This is important. Even when we
31456 understand that phenomena like physical form and so forth are devoid of true
31457 existence, there is a danger of thinking that ultimate reality may have true
31459 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Stages of Meditation", root text by Kamalashila,
31460 translated by Geshe Lobsang Jordhen, Losang Choephel Ganchenpa, and
31461 Jeremy Russell, published by Snow Lion Publications
31463 We usually discriminate strongly between someone who intends to harm us
31464 and someone who doesn't. We think, "That's all right; he didn't mean it"; or
31465 the person who has harmed us can say, "Why do you blame me so much? I didn't
31466 mean to." But we get really angry when we know people mean to harm us. How
31467 could we possibly see such people as intimate, close, dear--as dear as our
31469 If you can retain a little compassion when people harm you
31470 unintentionally, you have made progress. But if you retain it when someone
31471 intends to harm you, you are really successful. It's not that you think,
31472 "This person is marvelous; she's trying to rob me," but you don't take these
31473 facts as reasons for hating the person. You recognize the intention and put
31474 your wallet in your front pocket. You take such measures, but the conditions
31475 that prompted them no longer serve as reasons for hatred. Our wish to love
31476 everyone and the actual attitudes we have under pressure are in constant
31477 conflict. That's just the way we are. We've been wandering in cyclic
31478 existence since beginningless time, because of desire and hatred, and it's
31479 going to take a lot of familiarization to change this. Be relaxed about it.
31480 Don't put pressure on yourself, thinking things like, "Oh, I'm a scumbag
31481 because I hate so deeply." Rather, try this attitude: "I have to admit it.
31482 As much as my ideals say I should love so-and-so--or at least be neutral--I
31483 have to face the fact that I don't." Go easy on yourself.
31484 -- Jeffrey Hopkins, "A Truthful Heart: Buddhist Practices for Connecting
31485 with Others", foreword by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, published by
31486 Snow Lion Publications
31488 Many types of valid consciousnesses derive from basic, natural, and
31489 obvious perception. All of us have an innate "I," although if we try to
31490 locate this "I," we get into a lot of difficulties. This sense of "I" gives
31491 us a well-founded aspiration to happiness and a wish not to suffer.
31492 There are different levels of happiness and different kinds of suffering.
31493 Material things usually correspond to physical happiness, whereas spiritual
31494 development corresponds to mental happiness. Since our "I" has these two
31495 aspects--physical and mental--we need an inseparable combination of material
31496 progress and internal, or spiritual, progress. Balancing these is crucial to
31497 utilizing material progress and inner development for the good of human
31499 Big schemes for world development arise from this wish to gain happiness
31500 and relieve suffering. But there are higher levels of happiness beyond these
31501 worldly forms, in which one seeks something longer-term, not just confined to
31502 this lifetime. Just as we need a long-range perspective that protects the
31503 environment, we need an internal long-range perspective that extends to future
31505 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "How to Expand Love: Widening the Circle of
31506 Loving Relationships", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins
31509 Desire is painful because of not getting,
31510 Anger is painful through lack of might,
31511 And confusion through not understanding.
31512 Because of this, these are not recognized.
31514 Desire produces suffering when one does not encounter what one badly
31515 wants. Anger produces suffering when one lacks might to crush the strong.
31516 Confusion* induces suffering when one fails to understand a subtle matter
31517 thoroughly. The inability to recognize these forms of suffering when one is
31518 overwhelmed by desire and so forth is great suffering indeed. Therefore,
31519 persevere in getting rid of the disturbing emotions. It is like a poor man's
31520 son who suffered because he wanted a queen.
31521 A certain poor man wanted a queen, but kings keep their queens heavily
31522 guarded, and because he could not get her, his desire made him suffer. He
31523 felt anger toward the king for guarding his queens well, and since he could
31524 not do the slightest harm to the king, he suffered acutely on account of his
31525 anger. Blinded by desire and anger his confusion grew, and unable to
31526 understand the situation properly, he was tormented by the suffering it caused
31529 * confusion's function is to feed desire and anger.
31531 -- "Aryadeva's Four Hundred Stanzas on the Middle Way: with Commentary by
31532 Gyel-tsap by Aryadeva and Gyeltsap, additional commentary by Geshe Sonam
31533 Rinchen", translated by Ruth Sonam, published by Snow Lion Publications
31535 Never hope more than you work. -- Rita Mae Brown
31537 To lead the people, walk behind them. -- Lao Tzu
31539 To consider those things which are existent, there are many phenomena
31540 which are produced only occasionally. For example, certain plants grow only
31541 during certain seasons, not all the time. That shows that they have been
31542 produced by their causes and conditions. On the other hand, certain phenomena
31543 exist permanently. Those are the two types of phenomena. In the case of
31544 phenomena which arise only occasionally for a certain period of time then
31545 cease to exist, their production is evidence used to prove their dependence on
31546 their causes and conditions. But permanent phenomena are not dependent on
31547 causes and conditions. Generally speaking, almost all phenomena which are
31548 beneficial or harmful to us belong to the category of the occasional, the
31549 dependent--the impermanent. Even our mind, which is to be disciplined and
31550 subdued, belongs to that category.
31551 Within the kind of phenomena which are existent, we can talk about
31552 different types: those which are animate and those which are inanimate; those
31553 with form and those formless; visible and invisible; audible and inaudible.
31554 And there are phenomena which definitely exist but can be experienced only by
31555 our mind, not our sense perceptions; in other words, we can talk about two
31556 types of phenomena, external matter and internal consciousness. When we talk
31557 about subduing mind, we refer to internal consciousness, that which has
31558 clarity and cognitive power and is capable of experiencing objects. Although
31559 our mind has arisen depending upon its causes and conditions, we need to find
31560 out to what extent it can be transformed, for it is through the transformation
31561 of our mind that we can subdue it. The way of transformation is to pacify the
31562 mind's faults and to cultivate and enhance its good qualities. Although there
31563 are certain phenomena which, having arisen from their causes and conditions,
31564 remain as they are and cannot be changed by any means, there are others,
31565 including our mind, which can be. To establish that kind of distinction, the
31566 reasons provided in the Lam-rim section on analytical meditation to generate
31567 special insight are especially important and useful.
31568 -- "Generous Wisdom: Commentaries", H.H. the Dalai Lama XIV on the
31569 Jatakamala translated by Tenzin Dorjee edited by Dexter Roberts
31571 Whatever appears, nothing has moved from the absolute nature.
31573 Decide that nothing is extraneous to the absolute nature, taking the
31574 example of gold jewelry.
31575 Once we know how to remain in the absolute nature, the manifold thoughts
31576 that arise in the mind are no different from gold jewelry. One can make all
31577 sorts of things out of gold, such as earrings, bracelets, and necklaces, but
31578 although they have a variety of different shapes, they are all made of gold.
31579 Likewise, if we are able to not move from the absolute nature, however many
31580 thoughts we might have, they never depart from the recognition of the absolute
31581 nature. A yogi for whom this is the case never departs from that realization,
31582 whatever he does with his body, speech, and mind. All his actions arise as
31583 the outer display or ornament of wisdom. All the signs one would expect from
31584 meditating on a deity come spontaneously without him actually doing any formal
31585 practice. The result of mantra recitation is obtained without his having to
31586 do a large number of recitations. In this way everything is included in the
31587 recognition that nothing is ever extraneous to the absolute nature.
31588 In that state one does not become excited at pleasant events or depressed
31589 by unpleasant ones.
31590 -- Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, "Zurchungpa's Testament: A Commentary on
31591 Zurchung Sherab Trakpa's 'Eighty Chapters of Personal Advice'", based
31592 on Shechen Gyaltsap's Annotated Edition, translated by the Padmakara
31593 Translation Group, published by Snow Lion Publications
31595 crashola in second life:
31596 due to having been in a vehicle which crossed into forbidden land and got
31597 taken away, my avatar was left in an indeterminate and very unhealthy state.
31598 i was unable to move, deep underground, and i saw this object off down to
31599 my left, so i clicked on it and picked 'edit'. i realized as i was doing
31600 it, that this was my disembodied hair, which had flown off for some reason.
31601 once i clicked edit, *crunch*, no more second life.
31603 It makes no sense to brood anxiously on the harmful actions we have committed
31604 in the past to the point where we become paralyzed. They are done, it is
31605 over. If the person is a believer in God, the appropriate action is to find
31606 some means of reconciliation with Him. So far as Buddhist practice is
31607 concerned, there are various rites and practices for purification. When the
31608 individual has no religious beliefs, however, it is surely a matter of
31609 acknowledging and accepting any negative feelings we may have in relation to
31610 our misdeeds and developing a sense of sorrow and regret for them. But then,
31611 rather than stopping at mere sorrow and regret, it is important to use this as
31612 the basis for resolve, for a deep-seated commitment never again to harm others
31613 and to direct our actions all the more determinedly to the benefit of others.
31614 The act of disclosure, or confession, of our negative actions to another--
31615 especially to someone we really respect and trust--will be found to be very
31616 helpful in this. We are quite wrong if we merely acknowledge the gravity of
31617 our actions inwardly and then, instead of confronting our feelings, give up
31618 all hope and do nothing. This only compounds the error. Above all, we should
31619 remember that as long as we retain the capacity of concern for others, the
31620 potential for transformation remains.
31621 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "Ethics for the New Millennium"
31623 According to Buddhism, compassion is an aspiration, a state of mind,
31624 wanting others to be free from suffering. It's not passive--it's not empathy
31625 alone--but rather an empathetic altruism that actively strives to free others
31626 from suffering. Genuine compassion must have both wisdom and lovingkindness.
31627 That is to say, one must understand the nature of the suffering from which we
31628 wish to free others (this is wisdom), and one must experience deep intimacy
31629 and empathy with other sentient beings (this is lovingkindness). Let's
31630 examine these two elements.
31631 The suffering from which we wish to liberate other sentient beings,
31632 according to Buddha's teachings, has three levels. The first level includes
31633 the obvious physical and mental sensations of pain and discomfort that we can
31634 all easily identify as suffering. This kind of suffering is primarily at the
31635 sensory level--unpleasant or painful sensations and feelings. The great
31636 Tibetan master Panchen Losang Chokyi Gyaltsan, tutor to the fifth Dalai Lama,
31637 reminds us that even animals seek to avoid physical suffering and pain.
31638 The second level of suffering is the suffering of change. Although
31639 certain experiences or sensations may seem pleasurable and desirable now,
31640 inherent within them is the potential for culminating in an unsatisfactory
31641 experience. Another way of saying this is that experiences do not last
31642 forever; desirable experiences will eventually be replaced by a neutral
31643 experience or an undesirable experience. If it were not the case that
31644 desirable experiences are of the nature of change, then, once having a happy
31645 experience, we would remain happy forever! In fact, if desirability were
31646 intrinsic to an experience, then the longer we remained in contact with it,
31647 the happier we would become. However, this is not the case. In fact, often,
31648 the more we pursue these experiences, the greater our level of
31649 disillusionment, dissatisfaction, and unhappiness becomes.
31650 ...But the third level of suffering is the most significant--the pervasive
31651 suffering of conditioning. This refers to the very fact of our unenlightened
31652 existence, the fact that we are ruled by negative emotions and their
31653 underlying root cause, namely our own fundamental ignorance of the nature of
31654 reality. Buddhism asserts that as long as we are under the control of this
31655 fundamental ignorance, we are suffering; this unenlightened existence is
31656 suffering by its very nature.
31657 If we are to cultivate the deepest wisdom, we must understand suffering at
31658 its deepest, most pervasive level. In turn, freedom from that level of
31659 suffering is true nirvana, true liberation, the true state of cessation.
31660 Freedom from the first level of suffering alone--merely being free of
31661 unpleasant physical and psychological experiences--is not true cessation of
31662 suffering. Freedom from the second level is again not true cessation.
31663 However, freedom from the third level of suffering--being completely free from
31664 the very source of suffering--that is genuine cessation, genuine liberation.
31665 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Essence of the Heart Sutra: The Dalai Lama's Heart
31666 of Wisdom Teachings", translated & edited by Geshe Thupten Jinpa
31668 The only conclusion that can legitimately be reached is that the self is a
31669 fiction, a mere label superimposed onto the aggregates, a concept created and
31670 reified by the mind but lacking any substantial reality. This reasoning
31671 process alone does not eliminate the idea, however; it merely weakens it.
31672 Because it is so deeply ingrained, the idea of self is only eliminated through
31673 repeated meditation on the reasonings of no-self, which enable the yogin to
31674 become progressively more familiar with the understanding that no self or
31675 essence exists. The Dalai Lama concludes that "when such a realization is
31676 maintained and reinforced through constant meditation and familiarization, you
31677 will be able to develop it into an intuitive or direct experience." (From Path
31679 Many Westerners reject this notion, contending that it would be a sort of
31680 cognitive suicide. The idea that the self (which is assumed even by people
31681 who reject religions that propound the idea) does not exist is profoundly
31682 disturbing to many non-Buddhists, but in Buddhist thought the denial of self
31683 is not seen as constituting a loss, but rather is viewed as a profoundly
31684 liberating insight. Since the innate idea of self implies an autonomous,
31685 unchanging essence, if such a thing were in fact the core of one's being, it
31686 would mean that change would be impossible, and one would be stuck being just
31687 what one is right now. Because there is no such self, however, we are open
31688 toward the future. One's nature is never fixed and determined, and so through
31689 engaging in Buddhist practice one can exert control over the process of change
31690 and progress in wisdom, compassion, patience, and other good qualities. One
31691 can even become a buddha, a fully awakened being who is completely liberated
31692 from all the frailties, sufferings, and limitations of ordinary beings. But
31693 this is only possible because there is no permanent and static self, no soul
31694 that exists self-sufficiently, separated from the ongoing process of change.
31695 -- John Powers, "A Concise Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism", published
31696 by Snow Lion Publications
31698 I often encounter people in and our of my office who seem to be lost in
31699 thought. I sometimes ask them what they are thinking about. They are usually
31700 startled by the question. They look at me blankly and are often surprised to
31701 hear themselves admit with embarrassment that they don't know or can't say.
31702 Or they describe one small, fleeting fragment of disconnected thought. The
31703 "normal" human state of mind is constant, incessant thinking--an enigmatically
31704 linked stream of consciousness, sensations, memories, feelings, desires,
31705 fears, and chatter. And at the center of the narrative, the star of the show
31706 is always--ME! This is why the first leg of the journey requires courage. To
31707 become familiar with the chaotic, egotistical, and often nonsensical narrative
31708 of our own mind stream is disconcerting and painful. To discover directly
31709 that we are literally "lost in thought" can be frightening. But this is where
31710 we are and where we must begin.
31711 It's consoling to remember that everyone is neurotic, each one of us. The
31712 "normal" mind suffers from a complex of conflicting desires and aversions.
31713 The best we can do is to become aware of our neuroses, to become wiser in our
31714 thinking and our conduct of life. In my experience, meditation is the most
31715 direct and efficient method for developing self-awareness. Self-awareness is
31716 not a steady state because experience is not a steady state. Through the
31717 practice of meditation, we can learn to watch our ever-fluctuating mental
31718 processes from a more detached, aerial perspective. Without necessarily
31719 understanding ourselves in some intellectual way, we can directly discover how
31720 the mind works. The mind has its causes and effects, its motivations and
31721 intentions, and its awareness and evaluation of their possible consequences.
31722 -- Ron Leifer, M.D., "Vinegar Into Honey: Seven Steps to Understanding and
31723 Transforming Anger, Aggression, and Violence", published by Snow Lion
31726 "The best thing for being sad," replied Merlin, beginning to puff and blow,
31727 "is to learn something. That's the only thing that never fails. You may grow
31728 old and trembling in your anatomies, you may lie awake at night listening to
31729 the disorder of your veins, you may miss your only love, you may see the world
31730 about you devastated by evil lunatics, or know your honour trampled in the
31731 sewers of baser minds. There is only one thing for it then--to learn. Learn
31732 why the world wags and what wags it. That is the only thing which the mind can
31733 never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust,
31734 and never dream of regretting. Learning is the only thing for you. Look what
31735 a lot of things there are to learn."
31736 -- T. H. White, "The Once and Future King"
31738 In Chapter 4 we looked at the when and where of meditation. Whatever
31739 works best for you, given your personal circumstances and temperament, the
31740 important thing is to do it regularly, preferably every day.
31741 I would also recommend that you keep the session to a length of time that
31742 feels comfortable. This is because in the early stages of meditation it's
31743 easy to become discouraged and have thoughts along the lines of: "This might
31744 work for other people, but I don't have the right personality/mind/lifestyle/
31745 partner for meditation." Or: "I've been doing this for six months and my
31746 concentration is no better than when I started." With thoughts like these, you
31747 may start to resent the time you spend meditating and consider giving up.
31748 Much better to keep your practice light and easy to begin with; short
31749 sessions, and concentrated attention, especially towards the end of your
31750 practice so that you "finish like a winner" and feel encouraged for the next
31751 day. Better to end a short session thinking you could have gone on longer
31752 than keep glancing at your watch with the thought that has passed through the
31753 mind of every meditator at some stage--"My watch must have stopped. It's been
31754 longer than two minutes--surely?!"
31755 Having reviewed the meditation practices outlined in the previous chapter,
31756 you may decide you quite like the sound of several of them. On what basis
31757 should they be practiced? My own preference is to have a simple calendar of
31758 activity so that, for example, Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays are breath-
31759 counting days; Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays are visualization days; and
31760 Sundays are for whatever I'm in the mood to do.
31761 On this point, I once asked a high-ranking Tibetan lama which of a number
31762 of meditation practices I should focus on. He gave me an indulgent smile and
31763 said simply, "Whichever you enjoy the most." D'oh!
31764 -- David Michie, "Hurry Up and Meditate: Your Starter Kit for Inner Peace
31765 and Better Health", published by Snow Lion Publications
31767 "Always be sustained by cheerfulness."
31769 The effectiveness of our practice can be measured by looking at our mood.
31770 If we are in better spirits, the practice is working. We can take heart
31771 because we have a purpose, to exchange whatever sadness we meet for joy. The
31772 smallest personal damage can be put to use to dissolve great suffering and do
31773 away with negativity. If there is a way, we try to stop unfortunate things
31774 from happening, but when unhappy events occur we meet them optimistically. We
31775 never let negativity discourage us or injure our ability to help.
31776 Setting out on any adventure demands determination. We may have to toil
31777 and struggle with setbacks along the way but the trials we face are short-
31778 lived. We can endure them because we have a great end in mind: to benefit all
31779 sentient beings. Remaining good-natured and enthusiastic shows that our
31780 efforts are succeeding. Being cheerful is the sign of a good practitioner.
31781 -- Ringu Tulku, "Mind Training", edited by B.M. Shaughnessy, published
31782 by Snow Lion Publications
31784 Once we take ourselves and the quality of our life seriously, and
31785 acknowledge the difficulties we may be experiencing, the next step is to have
31786 confidence that (1) it is possible to overcome them, (2) there is a way to
31787 accomplish this, and (3) we are capable of achieving it [Buddha-nature]. This
31788 bring us to the topics of refuge and Buddha-nature.
31789 Taking refuge is not a passive act of placing ourselves in the hands of a
31790 higher power that will do everything for us, as the English word "refuge"
31791 might imply. It is an active process of putting a safe, reliable and positive
31792 direction in our life. That direction is indicated by the Buddhas, the Dharma
31793 and the Sangha--the Three Precious Gems. They are precious in the sense that
31794 they are both rare and valuable....
31795 In short, the definitive level of the Three Precious Gems of Buddha,
31796 Dharma and Sangha presents the goal we would like to achieve. Their
31797 interpretable level indicates what we rely on, externally, to bring ourselves
31798 there. But we also have internal factors that we need to rely on as well.
31799 These refer to our Buddha-nature.
31800 We are capable of eliminating our problems and achieving the definitive
31801 Three Precious Gems because everyone has Buddha-nature, namely the various
31802 factors or working materials that make it possible. Of all our natural
31803 resources, the most important is mind. We all have a mind which, in its
31804 nature, is unhampered by anything from experiencing whatever exists. No
31805 matter what happens--no matter how confused, stressed or unhappy we may be--we
31806 experience it. Even death is something that we experience when it occurs.
31807 Therefore, because we have a mind that allows us to experience whatever
31808 exists, we have the basic resource that allows us to experience a total
31809 absence of confusion and a utilization of all possible good qualities for
31810 helping others--provided that such a total absence and utilization actually
31811 exist. In other words, if we can establish that it is possible for these two
31812 things to exist--and that they are not just objects of nice but totally
31813 unrealistic wishes--we can be confident that we are capable of attaining them,
31814 simply because we have a mind.
31815 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama and Alexander Berzin, "The Gelug/Kagyu Tradition
31816 of Mahamudra", published by Snow Lion Publications
31818 Actually, we Buddhists are supposed to save all sentient beings, but
31819 practically speaking, this may be too broad a notion for most people. In any
31820 case, we must at least think in terms of helping all human beings. This is
31821 very important. Even if we cannot think in terms of sentient beings
31822 inhabiting different worlds, we should nonetheless think in terms of the human
31823 beings on our own planet. To do this is to take a practical approach to the
31824 problem. It is necessary to help others, not only in our prayers, but in our
31825 daily lives. If we find we cannot help another, the least we can do is to
31826 desist from harming them. We must not cheat others or lie to them. We must
31827 be honest human beings, sincere human beings.
31828 On a very practical level, such attitudes are things which we need.
31829 Whether one is a believer, a religious person, or not, is another matter.
31830 Simply as an inhabitant of the world, as a member of the human family, we need
31831 this kind of attitude. It is through such an attitude that real and lasting
31832 world peace and harmony can be achieved. Through harmony, friendship, and
31833 respecting one another, we can solve many problems in the right way, without
31835 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Answers: Discussions with Western Buddhists",
31836 edited by Jose Ignacio Cabezon, published by Snow Lion Publications
31838 We may have all come on different ships, but we're all in the same boat now.
31839 -- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
31841 ...Maitreya, in his text the Sublime Continuum, gives three reasons on the
31842 basis of which one can conclude that the essence of Buddhahood permeates the
31843 minds of all sentient beings. First, he says that the Buddha's activities
31844 radiate in the heart of all sentient beings. Now this can be understood in
31845 two different ways: one is that we can understand that in every sentient being
31846 there is a seed of virtue, and one could see the seed of virtue as an act of
31847 the completely enlightened, compassionate Buddha. But one could also see it
31848 in deeper terms, that is, that all sentient beings possess the potential for
31849 perfection. Therefore, there is a kind of perfected being inherent within all
31850 sentient beings, radiating. So one can understand it in these ways. Second,
31851 so far as the ultimate nature of reality is concerned, there is total equality
31852 between the samsaric state and nirvana. Third, we all possess a mind which
31853 lacks intrinsic reality and independent existence, which allows us to then
31854 remove the negativities and delusory states that obscure it. For these three
31855 reasons, Maitreya concludes that all sentient beings possess the essence of
31857 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Healing Anger: The Power of Patience from a
31858 Buddhist Perspective", translated by Geshe Thupten Jinpa, published by
31859 Snow Lion Publications
31861 ...Compassion diminishes fright about your own pain and increases inner
31862 strength. It gives you a sense of empowerment, of being able to accomplish
31863 your tasks. It lends encouragement.
31864 Let me give you a small example. Recently, when I was in Bodh Gaya, I
31865 fell ill from a chronic intestinal infection. On the way to the hospital, the
31866 pain in my abdomen was severe, and I was sweating a great deal. The car was
31867 passing through the area of Vulture Peak (Buddha taught here) where the
31868 villagers are extremely poor. In general, Bihar State is poor, but that
31869 particular area is even more so. I did not even see children going to or
31870 coming from school. Just poverty. And sickness. I have a very clear memory
31871 of a small boy with polio, who had rusty metal braces on his legs and metal
31872 crutches up to his armpits. It was obvious that he had no one to look after
31873 him. I was very moved. A little later on, there was an old man at a tea
31874 stop, wearing only a dirty piece of cloth, fallen to the ground, left to lie
31875 there with no one to take care of him.
31876 Later, at the hospital, my thoughts kept circling on what I had seen,
31877 reflecting on how sad it was that here I had people to take care of me but
31878 those poor people had no one. That is where my thoughts went, rather than to
31879 my own suffering. Though sweat was pouring out of my body, my concern was
31881 In this way, though my body underwent a lot of pain that prevented sleep
31882 (a hole had opened in my intestinal wall), my mind did not suffer any fear or
31883 discomfort. It would only have made the situation worse if I had concentrated
31884 on my own problems. This is an example from my small experience of how an
31885 attitude of compassion helps even oneself, suppressing some degree of physical
31886 pain and keeping away mental distress, despite the fact that others might not
31887 be directly helped.
31888 Compassion strengthens your outlook, and with that courage you are more
31889 relaxed. When your perspective includes the suffering of limitless beings,
31890 your own suffering looks comparatively small.
31891 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "Mind of Clear Light: Advice on Living
31892 Well and Dying Consciously", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins,
31895 ...blissful light, with a Chenrezig on the tip of each ray, streams out of
31896 you and touches each and every sentient being--those whom you like, those whom
31897 you don't, and those you don't know. When this glowing light touches each
31898 sentient being, it performs two functions: it purifies them of their
31899 negativities, and it inspires them to realize all the stages of the path to
31900 enlightenment. We may start imagining the light touching the beings in the
31901 room and gradually spreading out to those in the area, the country, the
31902 continent, the world, and the universe. Or we can start with our friends and
31903 family, then radiate light to strangers, and finally to those who have harmed
31904 us or of whom we're afraid. Or, we can first radiate light to human beings,
31905 then animals, hungry ghosts, hell beings, demi-gods, and gods. We can use our
31906 creativity and imagination when doing this visualization. Each meditation
31907 session can have a different emphasis.
31908 It's very easy to love sentient beings in a general way. But it's more
31909 effective to be specific in our visualizations. Send light to the guy who cut
31910 you off on the highway. Send light to the IRS employee who questioned your
31911 tax return. Send light to the terrorist who thinks that killing others in the
31912 name of God will cause him to be reborn in heaven. Send light to government
31913 leaders who think that bombing others solves problems. Send light to your
31914 teenager who leaves his room a mess and gets mad when you comment on it. Send
31915 light to specific people you know and care about, people who are having
31916 problems, strangers, and people you don't like. Send it to hospitals, the
31917 Middle East, the inner cities, and Beverly Hills. There's suffering
31918 everywhere. The light frees sentient beings from their suffering.
31919 -- Thubten Chodron, "Cultivating a Compassionate Heart: The Yoga Method
31920 of Chenrezig", foreword by H.H. the Dalai Lama, published by Snow Lion
31923 In Tibetan drenpa means "mindfulness," and sheshin means "awareness."
31924 Drenpa also means "mindfulness and memory." It means that one is mindful of
31925 what one is doing and remembers what one has to do whether one is meditating,
31926 whether one has lost the power of concentration, and so on. Mindfulness is
31927 like a causal condition and awareness is like the result. If one has very
31928 concentrated mindfulness, one immediately notices a thought arising and this
31929 becomes awareness, which becomes sheshin, and one knows what is occurring.
31930 Normally, one does not know what is in one's mind or what one is thinking, so
31931 there is no awareness. But if one has mindfulness, then it is said to the
31932 extent that mindfulness brings mental stability, one has awareness. So when
31933 one has mindfulness, it is through one's awareness of what is happening.
31934 At this level of pacification we become aware of the negative qualities of
31935 distraction. Santideva explains this by saying that when the mind is
31936 distracted, it is between the fangs of the wild animal of the kleshas
31937 [emotional obscurations], and from mental distractions come all the
31938 difficulties and mental hardships of this and future lives. Being in a state
31939 of distraction will increase the negative qualities of the mind more and more.
31940 However, being aware of the negative qualities motivates us to meditate.
31941 -- Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, "The Practice of Tranquillity and Insight:
31942 A Guide to Tibetan Buddhist Meditation", translated by Peter Roberts,
31943 published by Snow Lion Publications
31945 Developing a flexible approach to living is not only instrumental in
31946 helping us cope with everyday problems--it also becomes the cornerstone for a
31947 key element of a happy life: balance.
31948 Settling comfortably into his chair one morning, the Dalai Lama explained
31949 the value of leading a balanced life.
31950 "A balanced and skillful approach to life, taking care to avoid
31951 extremes, becomes a very important factor in conducting one's everyday
31952 existence. It is important in all aspects of life. For instance, in planting
31953 a sapling of a plant or a tree, at its very early stage you have to be very
31954 skillful and gentle. Too much moisture will destroy it, too much sunlight
31955 will destroy it. Too little will also destroy it. So what you need is a very
31956 balanced environment where the sapling can have a healthy growth. Or, for a
31957 person's physical health, too much or too little of any one thing can have
31958 destructive effects. For example, too much protein I think is bad, and too
31960 "This gentle and skillful approach, taking care to avoid extremes,
31961 applies to healthy mental and emotional growth as well."
31962 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler, M.D., "The Art of
31963 Happiness: A Handbook for Living"
31965 ...Idle talk is usually considered a destructive action because it wastes
31966 our time. But if our friend is depressed and can't listen to wise advice, we
31967 can joke, tell silly stories, and use small talk to lighten his mood. Because
31968 our motivation is kind, our joking and chatting are positive.
31969 Laughing and having a good time aren't in opposition to Dharma. The more
31970 we leave behind attachment, anger, jealousy, and pride, the more we'll enjoy
31971 whatever we're doing. Our hearts will open to others and we can laugh and
31972 smile with ease. The holy beings I've been fortunate to meet have a wonderful
31973 sense of humor and are very friendly.
31974 In Buddhist groups, it's important for people to get to know each other
31975 and have a sense of fellowship. We can share experiences with our Dharma
31976 friends and encourage each other on the path. Buddhism isn't an isolated
31977 path, and it's important for Buddhists to cultivate group unity and
31979 It's not beneficial to retreat inside ourselves, thinking, "Every time I
31980 talk to someone I'm motivated by attachment. Therefore I'll concentrate on
31981 meditation and chanting and won't socialize with others." One of the
31982 fundamental principles of Buddhism is care and compassion for others.
31983 Although at times we may need to distance ourselves from others in order to
31984 settle our own minds, whenever possible we should actively develop genuine
31985 love for others. To do this, we must be aware of what's happening in others'
31986 lives, care about them as we do ourselves, and offer help whenever possible.
31987 Our ability to act with love develops with time and practice, and it has to be
31988 balanced with our need for private contemplation.
31989 -- Bhikshuni Thubten Chodron, "Taming the Mind", published by Snow Lion
31992 Young men and young women may work systematically six days in the week and
31993 rise fresh in the morning, but let them attend modern dances for only a few
31994 hours each evening and see what happens. The Waltz, Polka, Gallop and other
31995 dances of the same kind will be disastrous in their effects to both sexes.
31996 Health and vigor will vanish like the dew before the sun. It is not the
31997 extraordinary exercise which harms the dancer, but rather the coming into
31998 close contact with the opposite sex. It is the fury of lust craving
31999 incessantly for more pleasure that undermines the soul, the body, the sinews
32000 and nerves. Experience and statistics show beyond doubt that passionate
32001 excessive dancing girls can hardly reach twenty-five years of age and men
32002 thirty-one. Even if they reached that age they will in most instances be
32003 broken in health physically and morally. This is the claim of prominent
32004 physicians in this country.
32005 -- Quote from a 1910 periodical.
32007 Why I Can't Go Out With You: I'd LOVE to, but...
32008 -- I'm trying to see how long I can go without saying yes.
32009 -- I'm attending the opening of my garage door.
32010 -- The monsters haven't turned blue yet, and I have to eat more dots.
32011 -- I'm converting my calendar watch from Julian to Gregorian.
32012 -- I have to fulfill my potential.
32013 -- I don't want to leave my comfort zone.
32014 -- It's too close to the turn of the century.
32015 -- I have to bleach my hare.
32016 -- I'm worried about my vertical hold knob.
32017 -- I left my body in my other clothes.
32019 I remember most vividly my first lesson on epistemology as a child, when I
32020 had to memorize the dictum "The definition of the mental is that which is
32021 luminous and knowing." Drawing on earlier Indian sources, Tibetan thinkers
32022 defined consciousness. It was years later that I realized just how
32023 complicated is the philosophical problem hidden behind this simple
32024 formulation. Today when I see nine-year-old monks confidently citing this
32025 definition of consciousness on the debating floor, which is such a central
32026 part of Tibetan monastic education, I smile.
32027 These two features--luminosity, or clarity, and knowing, or cognizance--
32028 have come to characterize "the mental" in Indo-Tibetan Buddhist thought.
32029 Clarity here refers to the ability of mental states to reveal or reflect.
32030 Knowing, by contrast, refers to mental states' faculty to perceive or
32031 apprehend what appears. All phenomena possessed of these qualities count as
32032 mental. These features are difficult to conceptualize, but then we are
32033 dealing with phenomena that are subjective and internal rather than material
32034 objects that may be measured in spatiotemporal terms. Perhaps it is because
32035 of these difficulties--the limits of language in dealing with the subjective--
32036 that many of the early Buddhist texts explain the nature of consciousness in
32037 terms of metaphors such as light, or a flowing river. As the primary feature
32038 of light is to illuminate, so consciousness is said to illuminate its objects.
32039 Just as in light there is no categorical distinction between the illumination
32040 and that which illuminates, so in consciousness there is no real difference
32041 between the process of knowing or cognition and that which knows or cognizes.
32042 In consciousness, as in light, there is a quality of illumination.
32043 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Universe in a Single Atom: Convergence
32044 of Science and Spirituality"
32046 False conceptions are exaggerated modes of thought that do not accord with
32047 the facts. Even if an object--an event, a person, or any other phenomenon--
32048 has a slightly favorable aspect, once the object is mistakenly seen as
32049 existing totally from its own side, true and real, mental projection
32050 exaggerates its goodness beyond what it actually is, resulting in lust. The
32051 same happens with anger and hatred; this time a negative factor is
32052 exaggerated, making the object seem to be a hundred percent negative, the
32053 result being deep disturbance. Recently, a psychotherapist told me that when
32054 we generate anger, ninety percent of the ugliness of the object of our anger
32055 is due to our own exaggeration. This is very much in conformity with the
32056 Buddhist idea of how afflictive emotions arise.
32057 At the point when anger and lust are generated, reality is not seen;
32058 rather, an unreal mental projection of extreme badness or extreme goodness is
32059 seen, evoking twisted, unrealistic actions. All of this can be avoided by
32060 seeing the fuller picture revealed by paying attention to the dependent-
32061 arising of phenomena, the nexus of causes and conditions from which they arise
32062 and in which they exist.
32063 Looked at this way, the disadvantages of afflictive emotions are obvious.
32064 If you want to be able to perceive the actual situation, you have to quit
32065 voluntarily submitting to afflictive emotions, because in each and every
32066 field, they obstruct perception of the facts.....
32067 Love and compassion also involve strong feelings that can even make you
32068 cry with empathy, but they are induced not by exaggeration but by valid
32069 cognition of the plight of sentient beings, and the appropriateness of being
32070 concerned for their well-being. These feelings rely on insight into how
32071 beings suffer in the round of rebirth called "cyclic existence," and the depth
32072 of these feelings is enhanced through insight into impermanence and
32073 emptiness.... Though it is possible for love and compassion to be influenced
32074 by afflictive emotions, true love and compassion are unbiased and devoid of
32075 exaggeration, because they are founded on valid cognition of your relationship
32076 to others. The perspective of dependent-arising is supremely helpful in
32077 making sure that you appreciate the wider picture.
32078 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "How to See Yourself As You Really Are",
32079 translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, Ph.D.
32081 The Prajna Paramita is a very profound philosophical doctrine, and I will just
32082 outline the main ideas in it in order to clarify the Chod. First we start off
32083 with the confused egocentric state of mind. This state of mind causes us to
32084 suffer, and so, to alleviate the suffering, we start to practice meditation.
32085 What happens in meditation is that the speedy mind begins to slow down and
32086 things begin to settle, like the mud sinking to the bottom of a puddle of
32087 water when it is left undisturbed. When this settling has occurred, a kind of
32088 clear understanding of the way things work in the mind takes place. This
32089 understanding is prajna, profound cognition. Then, according to Buddhist
32090 doctrine, through the use of this prajna, we begin to see that, in fact,
32091 although we think that we have a separate and unique essence, or self, which
32092 we call the "ego," when we look closely, we are a composite of form, sense-
32093 perceptions, consciousness, etc., and are merely a sum of these parts. This
32094 realization is the understanding of sunyata, usually translated as emptiness,
32095 or voidness. It means there is no self-essence, that we are "void of a self."
32096 If we are void of a self, there is no reason to be egocentric, since the whole
32097 notion of a separate ego is false. Therefore we can afford to be
32098 compassionate, and need not continually defend ourselves or force our desires
32100 -- Tsultrim Allione, "Women of Wisdom", published by Snow Lion Publications
32102 There is a film called "Groundhog Day," which is really a Buddhist movie
32103 because this is exactly what the plot is about. For those of you who haven't
32104 seen it, it's about somebody who had to relive the same day again and again
32105 until he got it right. He started out with an extremely negative attitude,
32106 and so throughout the first day he created a lot of negative causes. People
32107 related back to him from his own level of negativity, and so he had a very bad
32108 day. Then the next day he had to experience the same day all over again.
32109 Then again, and again. He became desperate to find a way out. He attempted
32110 suicide many times, but the next morning, there he was again in the same room
32111 and the same bed. The date hadn't changed, and the same song was playing on
32112 the radio. His attitude underwent many, many changes, until in the end he
32113 spent most of his time trying to help people. He forestalled tragedies he
32114 knew were going to happen because he had lived the day over so many times, and
32115 his whole attitude gradually turned around into working out ways to help
32116 others. As his inner attitude transformed, the day gradually got better and
32117 better. Finally, he was able to break through to a new day.
32118 The important thing is how we respond to our situation. We can transform
32119 anything if we respond in a skillful way. This is precisely what karma is
32120 about. If we greet situations with a positive attitude, we will eventually
32121 create positive returns. If we respond with a negative attitude, negative
32122 things will eventually come our way. Unlike the scenario in the movie, it
32123 doesn't always happen right away. We can be very nice people but still have
32124 lots of problems. On the other hand, we can be awful people and have a
32125 wonderful time. But from a Buddhist perspective, it's just a matter of time
32126 before we receive the results of our conduct. And usually it is true that
32127 people with a positive attitude encounter positive circumstances. Even if the
32128 circumstances do not appear positive, they be transformed through a positive
32129 view. On the other hand people with negative minds complain even when things
32130 are going well. They also transform circumstances, but they transform
32131 positive ones into negative ones!
32132 Both our present and our future depend on us. From moment to moment, we
32133 are creating our future. We are not a ball of dust tossed about by the winds
32134 of fate. We have full responsibility for our lives. The more aware we
32135 become, the more capable we are of making skillful choices.
32136 -- Venerable Tenzin Palmo, "Reflections on a Mountain Lake: Teachings
32137 on Practical Buddhism", published by Snow Lion Publications
32139 Why is endeavor necessary? If we consider material progress, we see that
32140 research started by one person can always be continued by another. But this
32141 is not possible with spiritual progress. The realization we talk about in the
32142 Buddhadharma is something that has to be accomplished by the individual. No
32143 one else can do it for us. Of course, it would be wonderful if in the future
32144 we could attain realization through some sort of new injection or by means of
32145 a new generation of computers, without having to go through any difficulties.
32146 If we could be absolutely certain that such a time would come, we could simply
32147 lie back and wait to get enlightened. But I doubt that this will ever happen.
32148 It is better to make an effort. We have to develop endeavor.
32150 Thus with patience I will practice diligence,
32151 For it is through zeal that I will reach enlightenment.
32152 If there is no wind, then nothing stirs;
32153 Neither is there merit where there is no diligence.
32154 We can be patient in various ways, such as by not thinking ill of those
32155 who harm us or by accepting suffering as the path. Of these two, the latter
32156 is the more important for generating endeavor, and it is endeavor that enables
32157 us to attain enlightenment. As Shantideva says, "It is through zeal that I
32158 will reach enlightenment." In the same way that protecting a lamp from the
32159 wind allows the flame to burn without flickering, endeavor enables the
32160 virtuous mind to grow undisturbed.
32161 What is endeavor? It is finding joy in doing what is good. To do that,
32162 it is necessary to remove anything that counteracts it, especially laziness.
32163 Laziness has three aspects: having no wish to do good, being distracted by
32164 negative activities, and underestimating oneself by doubting one's ability.
32165 Related to these are taking undue pleasure in idleness and sleep and being
32166 indifferent to samsara as a state of suffering.
32167 -- Tenzin Gyatso, His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, "A Flash of
32168 Lightning in the Dark of Night: A Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of
32169 Life", translated by The Padmakara Translation Group.
32171 Western women emerging from crisis situations often choose to live alone,
32172 intuitively knowing that the confrontation with oneself that this brings will
32173 lead to a deeper understanding. These women in our society (which sees them
32174 as pitiable and unfortunate) can take strength from the stories of Tibetan
32176 These Western women also seek the support of other women or
32177 psychotherapists to help them to emerge from their descents, just as the
32178 yoginis sought the guidance of their teachers and spiritual friends, and the
32179 Greeks needed the help of the "therapeutes" [helpers] to make sense of the
32180 memories they brought back from the oracle cave.
32181 Speaking of the descent myth in terms of her experiences in controlled
32182 therapeutic regressions, Jungian analyst M.L. Von Franz describes the descent
32183 process in relation to the story of "The Handless Maiden":
32184 In the Middle Ages there were many hermits, and in Switzerland there
32185 were the so-called Wood Brothers and Sisters. People who did not want
32186 to live a monastic life but who wanted to live alone in the forest had
32187 both a closeness to nature and also a great experience of spiritual
32188 inner life. Such Wood Brothers and Sisters could be personalities on
32189 a high level who had a spiritual fate and had to renounce active life
32190 for a time and isolate themselves to find their own inner relation to
32191 God. It is not very different from what the shaman does in the Polar
32192 tribes, or what medicine men do all over the world, in order to seek
32193 an immediate personal religious experience in isolation.
32194 ...If we avoid the descent because of fear of what we will discover about
32195 ourselves in the "underworld," we block ourselves off from a powerful
32196 transformative process. This process has been recognized by modern
32197 psychologists and ancient mystery religions alike.
32198 -- Tsultrim Allione, "Women of Wisdom", published by Snow Lion Publications
32200 The modes of thought in pride and in courageous thought are entirely
32202 Depression caused by disintegration of the ego probably comes from not
32203 being able to posit a conventionally existent I. Still, when some
32204 understanding of emptiness develops, you have a different feeling of I than
32205 that to which you previously were accustomed. Our usual feeling is that the I
32206 is something solid, really independent, and very forceful. Such no longer
32207 remains, but at the same time there is a sense of a mere I that accumulates
32208 karma and performs actions. Such a sense of self is not at all a source of
32210 If you have difficulty positing a merely nominal I as well as merely
32211 nominal cause and effect of actions--if you get to the point where if you
32212 assert selflessness, you cannot posit dependent-arising--then it would be
32213 better to assert dependent-arising and give up selflessness. Indeed, there
32214 are many levels of understanding selflessness, and Buddha, out of great
32215 skillfulness in method, taught many different schools of tenets that posit
32216 coarser levels of selflessness for those temporarily unable to understand the
32217 more subtle levels. It is not the case that only if the most profound level
32218 is immediately accessible, it is suitable, and if it is not accessible, the
32219 whole endeavor should be thrown away. You have to proceed step by step with
32220 whatever accords with your level of mind. Between emptiness and dependent-
32221 arising, you should value dependent-arising more highly.
32222 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama of Tibet, "The Dalai Lama at Harvard: Lectures on the
32223 Buddhist Path to Peace", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins,
32224 published by Snow Lion Publications
32226 Puba Supoche asked, "Dampa, tell me what it's like when you really
32227 practice sincerely! I understand neither heads nor tails of it!"
32228 Dampa said, "View is the destruction of extreme ideas regarding things!
32229 Cutting pride of self with confidence is realization! Being without support
32230 in luminosity is meditation! In insight, absence of recognition is the
32231 innate! Finding nowhere to place the mind among shifting phenomena is
32232 subsequent attainment! In their absence, there is no antidote but natural
32233 intensity! Naked awareness without grasping is dharmakaya! Disappearance
32234 without being anything is experience! Don't you wonder whether all this truly
32236 -- Padampa Sangye, "Lion of Siddhas: The Life and Teachings of Padampa
32237 Sangye", translated by David Molk, with Lama Tsering Wangdu Rinpoche,
32238 published by Snow Lion Publications
32240 [do you have any thoughts about how a person could go about increasing their
32241 feeling of autonomy or freedom at work?]
32243 ...it will completely depend on the person's individual circumstances,
32244 what position they are in. Let's take the example of a prisoner. Now of
32245 course it is best not to be in prison, but even in that situation, where a
32246 person may be deprived of freedom, he or she may discover small choices that
32247 they are able to make. And even if somebody is in prison, with very rigid
32248 rules, they can undertake some spiritual practices to try to lessen their
32249 mental frustrations, try to get some peace of mind. So they can work on
32250 internal development...if people can do this under the extreme conditions of
32251 prison, in the workplace people may try to discover small things, small
32252 choices that they can make in how to go about their work. And of course,
32253 somebody may work on an assembly line with little variation in how to do their
32254 tasks, but they still have other kinds of choices in terms of their attitudes,
32255 how they interact with their co-workers, whether they utilize certain inner
32256 qualities or spiritual strengths to change their attitude at work even though
32257 the nature of the work may be difficult. Isn't it? So, perhaps that would
32259 Of course, when you are talking about rigid rules and lack of freedom,
32260 that doesn't mean that you are required to blindly follow and accept
32261 everything others tell you. In instances where the worker might be exploited,
32262 where the employer thinks of nothing but profit and pays a small salary and
32263 demands a lot of overtime, or where one may be asked to do things that are not
32264 appropriate or are unethical, one should not simply think, "Well, this is my
32265 karma," and take no action. Here it is not enough to think, "I should just be
32267 If there is injustice, then I think inaction is the wrong response. The
32268 Buddhist texts mention what is called "misplaced tolerance," or "misplaced
32269 forbearance." So...misplaced patience or forbearance refers to the sense of
32270 endurance that some individuals have when they are subject to a very
32271 destructive, negative activity. That is a misplaced forbearance and
32272 endurance. Similarly, in the work environment, if there is a lot of injustice
32273 and exploitation, then to passively tolerate it is the wrong response. The
32274 appropriate response really is to actively resist it, to try to change this
32275 environment rather than accept it. One should take some action...perhaps one
32276 could speak with the boss, with the management, and try to change these
32277 things. One needs to actively resist exploitation. And in some cases, one
32278 may simply need to quit and to look for other work.
32279 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and Dr. Howard C. Cutler, M.D.,
32280 "The Art of Happiness at Work"
32282 The purpose of Buddha's coming to the world was for the sake of sentient
32283 beings' attaining the wisdom that he achieved. The paths that he taught are
32284 only a means leading to Buddhahood; he does not lead sentient beings with a
32285 low vehicle that is not a method leading to Buddhahood. He establishes
32286 sentient beings in the powers and so forth that exist in his own state.
32288 "Manjushri, all the doctrines that I teach to sentient beings are for
32289 the sake of attaining omniscient wisdom. Flowing into enlightenment
32290 and descending into the Mahayana, they are means of achieving
32291 omniscience, leading completely to one place. Therefore, I do not
32292 create different vehicles."
32293 -- from "Chapter of the True One Sutra".
32295 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Tsong-ka-pa and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Tantra in Tibet",
32296 published by Snow Lion Publications
32298 We are aiming to develop a strong feeling of love and compassion with
32299 respect to everyone, but this cannot be done without first seeing an equality
32300 of all beings throught meditatively cultivating equanimity. Otherwise, you'll
32301 easily be able to generate love and compassion for friends and may be able to
32302 extend a little of this to neutral people, but even minor enemies will remain
32303 a huge problem. Thus at first it is necessary to recognize how friends,
32304 neutral persons, and enemies are equal.
32305 This is done in two ways. One way to break down rigid classifications of
32306 people is by reflecting first with respect to friends, then neutral persons,
32308 "Just as I want happiness and don't want suffering, so this friend
32309 wants happiness and doesn't want suffering. And equally, this neutral
32310 person wants happiness and doesn't want suffering. And equally, this
32311 enemy wants happiness and doesn't want suffering."
32312 Another way is to reflect on what your relationships have been with others
32313 over the course of lifetimes, beginning with neutral persons, then friends,
32314 and finally enemies. An enemy in this lifetime wants to do you in, but over
32315 the course of lifetimes was this person just an enemy? No. If you do not
32316 believe in rebirth, utilize the rebirth game, the rebirth perspective, as a
32317 technique for making your mind more flexible.
32318 Either of these techniques will work:
32319 - Reflecting on the similarity of yourself and others in the basic
32320 aspiration to gain happiness and be rid of suffering.
32322 - Reflecting on the changeability of relationships over the course
32324 -- Jeffrey Hopkins, "A Truthful Heart: Buddhist Practices for Connecting
32325 with Others", foreword by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, published by
32326 Snow Lion Publications
32328 What is wisdom? It is as explained in the perfection of supreme knowledge
32329 teachings: all phenomena are free from elaborations, and when the perceiving
32330 subject as well becomes equally free from elaborations, that is wisdom. In
32331 particular, the wisdom of the buddha consists in the pacification of the
32332 elaborations and their habitual tendencies in relation to suchness. It is the
32333 inseparability of the expanse and wisdom. It is free from singularity and
32334 multiplicity, quality and qualified. It realizes the nonduality of subjects
32335 and objects. In it all phenomena--samsara and nirvana, faults and qualities,
32336 and so on--are always undifferentiable and equal. Outside of that, there is
32337 no way to posit wisdom.
32338 In a nonanalytical context of repeating what others accept, we Followers
32339 of the Middle Way describe knowable objects as existing. The wisdom of the
32340 buddhas is the same. Since we speak of all phenomena as existing from the
32341 perspective of others (even though from our own perspective they are free of
32342 the elaborations of existence and nonexistence), it is unreasonable to debate
32343 solely about the existence or nonexistence of the wisdom of buddhas.
32344 -- "The Karmapa's Middle Way: Feast for the Fortunate by the Ninth Karmapa,
32345 Wangchuk Dorje", trans. by Tyler Dewar, published by Snow Lion
32348 Well timed silence hath more eloquence than speech. -- Martin Fraqhar Tupper
32350 A diplomat is a man who says you have an open mind,
32351 instead of telling you that you have a hole in the head.
32354 To achieve great things, two things are needed;
32355 a plan, and not quite enough time.
32356 -- Leonard Bernstein
32358 To bend a bamboo, start when it is a shoot. -- Malaysian Proverb
32360 Things turn out best for people who make the best of the way things turn out.
32363 No shade tree? Blame not the sun, but yourself. -- Chinese Proverb
32365 'Tis better to be silent and be thought a fool,
32366 than to speak and remove all doubt.
32369 Art is either plagiarism or revolution. -- Paul Gauguin
32371 When this world initially formed, there seem to have been two types of
32372 events or entities, one sentient, the other insentient. Rocks, for instance,
32373 are examples of nonsentient entities. You see, we usually consider them to
32374 have no feelings: no pains and no pleasures. The other type, sentient beings,
32375 have awareness, consciousness, pains and pleasures.
32376 But there needs to be a cause for that. If you posit there is no cause
32377 for consciousness, then this leads to all sorts of inconsistencies and logical
32378 problems. So, the cause is posited, established. It is considered certain.
32379 The initial cause must be an independent consciousness. And on that basis
32380 is asserted the theory of continuation of life after death. It is during the
32381 interval when one's continuum of awareness departs from one's body at death
32382 that the subtle mind, the subtle consciousness, becomes manifest. That
32383 continuum connects one life with the next.
32384 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Consciousness at the Crossroads: Conversations
32385 with the Dalai Lama on Brain Science and Buddhism", edited by Zara
32386 Houshmand, Robert B. Livingston, and B. Alan Wallace, published by
32387 Snow Lion Publications
32389 Channels and cakras represent the inner structure of the human body,
32390 referred to in the tantric teachings as the 'vajra body'. 'Vajra' means
32391 'indestructible', and 'vajra body' refers to the dimension of the three
32392 fundamental components: the channels and cakras, the prana that flows through
32393 them, and the bindu or thigle, the white and red seed-essences of the physical
32394 body that form the basis for practices such as the Tummo.
32395 In the tantras of the Upadesa section of Dzogchen, it is explained that
32396 after the conception of a human being the first thing to develop is the navel
32397 cakra. Then from this, through a channel, the head cakra develops followed by
32398 the other main cakras of the throat and the heart. This channel or meridian,
32399 known as the life-channel, develops into the spinal cord and spine. At the
32400 same time it remains as the fundamental energy of the central channel.
32401 The central channel, known as Uma in Tibetan, is connected with the two
32402 lateral channels called Roma and Kyangma. The Roma channel, which is white
32403 and corresponds to lunar energy, is on the right side in men and on the left
32404 in women. Ro means 'taste', and the main function of this channel is to give
32405 the sensation of pleasure. The Kyangma channel, red and corresponding to
32406 solar energy, is on the left side in men and on the right in women. Kyang
32407 means 'sole', and unlike the Roma, this channel is not connected with many
32408 secondary channels. Control of this channel is fundamental in order to
32409 cultivate the experience of emptiness. These are the characteristic features
32410 of the two channels, which are related to the two principles of upaya or
32411 method, and of prajna or energy. Method denotes everything pertaining to the
32412 visible or material dimension; while 'prajna', which generally means
32413 discriminating wisdom, in this context denotes the energy of emptiness that is
32414 the base of any manifestation.
32415 -- Chogyal Namkhai Norbu, "Yantra Yoga: The Tibetan Yoga of Movement",
32416 translated by Adriano Clemente, published byy Snow Lion Publications
32418 Flowers leave some of their fragrance in the hand that bestows them.
32421 The taller the bamboo grows, the lower it bends.
32424 You can't depend on the man who made the mess to clear it up.
32427 You will never be alone with a poet in your pocket. -- John Adams
32429 Kissing is like drinking salted water; you drink and your thirst increases.
32432 The eye is a menace to clear sight, the ear is a menace to subtle hearing, the
32433 mind is a menace to wisdom, every organ of the senses is a menace to its own
32434 capacity.... Fuss, the god of the Southern Ocean, and Fret, the god of the
32435 Northern Ocean, happened once to meet in the realm of Chaos, the god of the
32436 center. Chaos treated them very handsomely and they discussed together what
32437 they could doto repay his kindness. They had noticed that, whereas everyone
32438 else had seven apertures, for sight, hearing, eating, breathing and so on,
32439 Chaos had none. So they decided to make the experiment of boring holes in
32440 him. Every day they bored a hole, and on the seventh day, Chaos died.
32443 Everybody loves to talk about calm and peace, whether in a family,
32444 national, or international context. But without inner peace how can we make
32445 real peace? World peace through hatred and force is impossible. Even in the
32446 case of individuals, there is no possibility to feel happiness through anger.
32447 If in a difficult situation one becomes disturbed internally, overwhelmed by
32448 mental discomfort, then external things will not help at all. However, if
32449 despite external difficulties or problems, internally one's attitude is of
32450 love, warmth, and kind-heartedness, then problems can be faced and accepted.
32452 The necessary foundation for world peace and the ultimate goal of any new
32453 international order is the elimination of violence at every level. For this
32454 reason the practice of non-violence surely suits us all. It simply requires
32455 determination, for by its very nature non-violent action requires patience.
32456 While the practice of non-violence is still something of an experiment on this
32457 planet, if it is successful it will open the way to a far more peaceful world
32458 in the next century.
32459 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Pocket Dalai Lama", compiled and edited by
32462 On the tenth night of the twelfth month, Gyal Dawa, the girl, came again.
32463 She said, "Don't neglect my request for a prayer. It is very important."
32464 That's the dream she had. I thought, "I'll write it on the full moon day."
32465 So on the night of the fourteenth I prayed with single-pointed devotion to
32466 Guru Rinpoche to grant blessing that the prayer would be beneficial and then
32467 fell asleep. Early in the morning of the fifteenth I dreamed I was sitting in
32468 front of the shrine in a very large building that looked like a temple.
32469 Suddenly a young white man dressed in white with his hair falling loosely over
32470 his shoulder appeared at the entrance. He was playing the cymbals melodiously
32471 and dancing the swirling, joyous dance of the Ging. He came closer and
32474 If you want to establish the dharma,
32475 Establish it in your mind.
32476 In the depth of mind, you will find Buddha.
32477 If you wish to visit the buddha fields,
32478 Purify ordinary deluded attachment.
32479 The perfectly comfortable buddha field is close by.
32480 Develop the joyful effort to practice,
32481 That is the essence of the teaching.
32482 Without practice, who can gain the siddhis?
32483 It is hard to see one's faults,
32484 But to see them nakedly is powerful advice.
32485 In the end when faults have been cleared away,
32486 The enlightened qualities increase and shine forth.
32488 At the end of this he rolled his cymbals. Then he crashed them together,
32489 and I awoke. After I woke up, I did not forget what he had said. I
32490 understood it to have been advice on practicing what to accept and what to
32491 reject. I was sad that although I had actually seen the face of my only
32492 father, Guru Padmasambhava, I had not recognized him.
32493 I, Jigdral Yeshe Dorje, old father of the Nyingma, wrote this from my own
32494 experience. Sarva Mangalam [May all be auspicious].
32495 -- Khenpo Tsewaang Dongyal Rinpoche, "Light of Fearless Indestructible
32496 Wisdom: The Life and Legacy of His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche", published
32497 by Snow Lion Publications
32499 The modern economy has no national boundaries. When we talk about ecology,
32500 the environment, when we are concerned about the ozone layer, one individual,
32501 one society, one country cannot solve these problems. We must work together.
32502 Humanity needs more genuine cooperation. The foundation for the development
32503 of good relations with one another is altruism, compassion, and forgiveness.
32504 For small arguments to remain limited, in the human circle the best method is
32505 forgiveness. Altruism and forgiveness are the basis for bringing humanity
32506 together. Then no conflict, no matter how serious, will go beyond the bounds
32507 of what is truly human.
32508 -- "The Dalai Lama, A Policy of Kindness: An Anthology of Writings By and
32509 About the Dalai Lama", compiled and edited bby Sidney Piburn, Foreword
32510 by Sen. Claiborne Pell, published by Snow Lion Publications
32512 Creation in four vajra steps entails meditation on emptiness; generating a
32513 moon, sun, and seed-syllable from which light emanates and then converges; the
32514 full manifestation of the deity resulting from the convergence of the light
32515 and transformation of the seed-syllable; and visualization of three syllables
32516 at the deity's three places. [The syllables om, ah, and hum are imagined at
32517 the forehead, throat, and heart, respectively.]
32518 ...Kongtrul explains that all the varieties of the creation phase
32519 incorporate the four key elements of form, imagination, result, and
32520 transformative power. "Form" means meditating on forms that represent the
32521 aspects of awakening and generating clear images of these forms, thereby
32522 stopping impure appearances. "Imagination" means using the force of creative
32523 imagination to convert the visualized forms of awakening into reality.
32524 "Result" means meditating on the result, that is, the very goal to be
32525 attained, and thereby achieving that goal. "Transformative power" means
32526 turning the ordinary body and mind into pristine awareness by relying on the
32527 transformative powers of awakened beings. Among these, Kongtrul points out,
32528 the most important element for realization of the path is the transformative
32529 power of the vajra master combined with one's own devotion to that master.
32530 -- Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Taaye, "The Treasury of Knowledge, Book Eight,
32531 Part Three: The Elements of Tantric Practice", translated by Ingrid
32532 Loken McLeod and Elio Guarisco, published by Snow Lion Publications
32534 From The Prayer Requested by Namke Nyingbo
32537 All these things of the outer environment and the beings therein
32538 That come into sight as the objects of your eyes like this,
32539 They may appear, but leave them in the sphere free from clinging to a self.
32540 Since they are pure of perceiver and perceived, they are the
32541 luminous-empty body of the deity.
32542 I pray to the guru in whom attachment is self-liberated,
32543 I pray to Padmasambhava from Uddiyana.
32545 All these sounds, taken as pleasant or unpleasant,
32546 That resound as the objects of your ears like this,
32547 Leave them in the sphere of inconceivable, empty resonance.
32548 Empty resonance, unborn and unceasing, is the Victor's speech.
32549 I pray to the words of the Victor that resound and yet are empty,
32550 I pray to Padmasambhava from Uddiyana.
32552 However these thoughts of afflictions' five poisons,
32553 Which stir as objects in your mind like this, may appear,
32554 Do not mess around with them through a mind that rushes ahead into the
32555 future or lingers in the past.
32556 Through leaving their movement in its own place, they uncoil as the dharmakaya.
32557 I pray to the guru whose awareness is self-liberated, I pray to
32558 Padmasambhava from Uddiyana.
32560 Grant your blessings that the mind stream of someone like me is liberated
32561 Through the compassion of the Tathagatas of the three times,
32562 So that objects, appearing as if perceived outside, become pure,
32563 That my very mind, perceiving as if inside, becomes liberated,
32564 And that, in between, luminosity will recognize its own face.
32566 -- "Straight from the Heart: Buddhist Pith Instructions", translated
32567 and introduced by Karl Brunnholzl, published by Snow Lion Publications
32569 The actual method of cultivating the correct attitudes towards the
32570 spiritual master is to practice contemplative meditation upon the guru's good
32571 qualities and the beneficial effects that he or she introduces into one's
32572 life. By reflecting again and again on the great kindness the guru performs,
32573 a confidence suitable for spiritual training under him or her is born. This
32574 process of reflecting on the role of the guru is important in the beginning as
32575 well as in the higher practices, for as we sit in contemplation we become
32576 faced with a stream of reactions, which if understood at an early stage can
32577 clear the mind of much doubt, confusion and superstition.
32578 The spiritual master is the source of all spiritual progress. In this
32579 context, Geshe Potowa once said, "If even those who want to learn a common
32580 worldly trade must study under a qualified teacher, how much more so must we
32581 who seek enlightenment? Most of us have come from the lower realms and have
32582 no background or experience in the paths and stages to enlightenment; and, if
32583 we wish to gain this experience, why should we not study with someone
32584 qualified to teach us the methods that develop it?"
32585 In the beginning of his Great Exposition, Lama Tsongkhapa writes, "The
32586 root of spiritual development is to cultivate an effective relationship with a
32587 master." This means that we must cultivate the correct attitudes and then
32588 demonstrate them correctly in action. This is the root that, if made strong,
32589 supports the trunk, branches, leaves and flowers of practice. When the roots
32590 of a tree are strong, the entire tree becomes strong, whereas when the roots
32591 are weak, the entire tree will remain weak.
32592 ...We should engender respect such that we see the guru as a Buddha. If
32593 we can do this, then we experience the guru as we would a Buddha and
32594 consequently are sufficiently inspired to practice what he or she teaches.
32595 The instruction to see the guru as a Buddha is not unreasonable, for in many
32596 ways the spiritual master is Buddha himself.
32597 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Path to Enlightenment", edited and translated
32598 by Glenn H. Mullin, published by Snow Liion Publications
32600 ...when you start practicing, you should not expect too much. We live in
32601 a time of computers and automation, so you may feel that inner development is
32602 also an automatic thing for which you press a button and everything changes.
32603 It is not so. Inner development is not easy and will take time. External
32604 progress, the latest space missions and so forth, have not reached their
32605 present level within a short period but over centuries, each generation making
32606 greater developments based on those of the previous generation. However,
32607 inner development is even more difficult since internal improvement cannot be
32608 transferred from generation to generation. Your past life's experience very
32609 much influences this life, and this life's experience becomes the basis for
32610 the next rebirth's development, but transference of inner development from one
32611 person to another is impossible. Thus, everything depends on yourself, and it
32613 I have met Westerners who at the beginning were very enthusiastic about
32614 their practice, but after a few years have completely forgotten it, and there
32615 are no traces of what they had practiced at one time. This is because at the
32616 beginning they expected too much. Shantideva's Engaging in the Bodhisattva
32617 Deeds emphasizes the importance of the practice of patience--tolerance. This
32618 tolerance is an attitude not only towards your enemy but also an attitude of
32619 sacrifice, of determination, soo that you do not fall into the laziness of
32620 discouragement. You should practice patience, or tolerance, with great
32621 resolve. This is important.
32622 -- The Fourteenth Dalai Lama, His Holiness Tenzin Gyatsoo, "Kindness,
32623 Clarity, and Insight 25th Anniversary Edition", edited and translated
32624 by Jeffrey Hopkins, co-edited by Elizabeth Napper, published by Snow
32627 I take refuge until I am enlightened in the Buddhas,
32628 the Dharma, and the Sangha.
32629 By the positive potential I create by practicing generosity
32630 and the other far-reaching attitudes (ethical discipline,
32631 patience, joyous effort, meditative stabilization, and wisdom),
32632 may I attain Buddhahood in order to benefit all sentient beings.
32634 It takes only a few moments to think in this way and to recite the prayer,
32635 yet doing so has a significant effect on the rest of our day. We'll be more
32636 cheerful and will be sure of our direction in life. Especially if we don't do
32637 a regular meditation practice, starting the day in this way is extremely
32639 In the evening, after reviewing the day's activities and freeing our minds
32640 from any remaining afflictions that may have arisen during the day, we again
32641 take refuge and generate the altruistic intention.
32642 Before going to sleep, we can envision the Buddha, made of light, on our
32643 pillow. Placing our head in his lap, we fall asleep amidst the gentle glow of
32644 his wisdom and compassion. Instead, we can learn the guidelines and try to
32645 implement them as much as we can, reviewing them periodically to refresh our
32646 minds. We may choose one guideline to emphasize this week in our daily lives.
32647 Next week, we can add another, and so on. In that way, we'll slowly build up
32648 the good habits of practicing all of them.
32649 -- Ven. Thubten Chodron, "Taming the Mind", published by Snow Lion
32652 Compassion is the wish for another being to be free from suffering;
32653 love is wanting them to have happiness.
32654 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Compassionate Life"
32656 The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past,
32657 worry about the future, or anticipate troubles, but to live in the present
32658 moment wisely and earnestly.
32661 Our patience will achieve more than our force. -- Edmund Burke
32663 The best measure of a man's honesty isn't his tax return,
32664 it's the zero adjust on his bathroom scale.
32665 -- Arthur C. Clarke
32667 Despite all the material progress in this and the last century we still
32668 experience suffering, especially in relation to mental well-being. In fact,
32669 if anything, the complex way of life created by modernisation or globalisation
32670 is causing new problems and new causes of mental unrest. Under these
32671 circumstances I feel that the various religious traditions have an important
32672 role to play in helping to maintain peace and the spirit of reconciliation and
32673 dialogue, and therefore harmony and close contact between them is essential.
32674 Whether we are believers or non-believers and, within the category of the
32675 believers, whether we hold this or that belief, we must respect all the
32676 traditions. That's very important.
32677 I always tell people in non-Buddhist countries that followers of other
32678 religions should maintain their own tradition. To change religion is not
32679 easy, and people can get into trouble as a result of confusion. So it is much
32680 safer to keep to one's own tradition, while respecting all religions. I'm
32681 Buddhist--sometimes I describe myself as a staunch Buddhist--but, at the same
32682 time, I respect and admire the works of other traditionss' figures such as
32683 Jesus Christ. Basically, all the religious traditions have made an immense
32684 contribution to humanity and continue to do so, and as such are worthy of our
32685 respect and admiration.
32686 When we contemplate the diversity of spiritual traditions on this planet
32687 we can understand that each addresses the specific needs of different human
32688 beings, because there is so much diversity in human mentality and spiritual
32689 inclination. Yet, fundamentally, all spiritual traditions perform the same
32690 function, which is to help us tame our mental state, overcome our negativities
32691 and perfect our inner potential.
32692 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Lighting the Way", translated by Geshe Thupten
32693 Jinpa, published by Snow Lion Publications
32695 ...For one who abides in thought
32696 Feats do not arise.
32697 Therefore abandon thought
32698 And think a mantra form.
32700 'Abandon thought' refers to the eradication of thought conceiving self
32701 [inherent existence] through the wisdom of selflessness; it does not mean to
32702 stop any and all types of thought. 'Think a mantra form' means to meditate on
32703 a deity. The measure of firmness in deity yoga is indicated by 'whether
32704 going, standing, or sitting is always immovable though moving about'. When
32705 one has attained the capacity to hold the mind on the divine body in all types
32706 of behaviour--whether in meditative equipoise or not--without moving to
32707 something else, one has the capacity to remove the pride of ordinaariness.
32708 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Tsong-ka-pa, and Jeffrey Hopkins,
32709 "Deity Yoga in Action and Performance Tantra", published by Snow
32712 A person who is liberated, who has freed his or her mind of all mental
32713 afflictions, still experiences physical suffering. The difference between us
32714 and an arhat, a person who has freed the mind from mental affliction, is that
32715 an arhat doesn't identify with pain. Arhats experience physical pain vividly
32716 but don't grasp onto it; they can take action to avoid or alleviate pain, but
32717 whether they do so or not, the physical pain doesn't come inside. What an
32718 arhat does not experience is mental suffering. A buddha, one who is perfectly
32719 spiritually awakened, has gone a further step. A buddha has no mental
32720 suffering of his or her own, but is vividly and non-dually aware of the
32721 suffering of others.
32722 Superficially, the arhat who is free from mental suffering can seem to us
32723 who lack this realization as numb and detached, in a state of existential
32724 anesthesia. A buddha, one who is fully awakened, presents the paradox of
32725 being free from suffering and also non-dually present with other people's joys
32726 and sorrows, hopes and fears. A buddha taps into immutable bliss, the
32727 ultimate ground state of awareness beyond the dichotomy of stimulus-driven
32728 pain and pleasure. The mind of a buddha has been purified of all obscuration
32729 and from its own nature there naturally arises immutable bliss, like a spring
32730 welling up from the earth. With the unveiling of the buddha-nature of
32731 unconditioned bliss, there is also a complete erosion of an absolute
32732 demarcation between self and other. The barrier is gone. This is why buddhas
32733 are vividly and non-dually aware of the suffering of others, their hopes and
32734 fears, the whole situation, and at the same time are not disengaged from the
32735 purity and bliss of their own awareness. The mind of a buddha doesn't block
32736 out anything and nothing is inhibited, and this is why the awareness of an
32737 awakened being is frequently described as "unimaginable."
32738 -- B. Alan Wallace, "Buddhism with an Attitude: The Tibetan Seven-Point
32739 Mind Training", published by Snow Lion Publications
32741 The fifth Tara is known as Wangdu Rigje Lhamo. She is Kurukulle in
32742 Sanskrit and Rigjema or Rigje Lhamo in Tibetan. Wangdu means power of
32743 "gathering, summoning," or "magnetizing." We can think of it as attracting
32744 everything beneficial, to benefit all beings. Rigjema means "she who
32745 precisely understands everything" and Lhamo is "divine lady." So she is known
32746 as the Tara who precisely understands the power of magnetizing.
32747 Kurukulle's practice is very extensively taught throughout Tibetan
32748 Buddhism. She is often named the "Red Tara" because of her color. Her Praise
32750 CHAG TSHAL TUT TA RA HUNG YI GE
32751 Homage, Mother, filling all regions, sky, and the realm of desire
32753 DO DANG CHOG DANG NAM KHA GANG MA
32754 With the sounds of TUTTARA and HUNG,
32756 JIG TEN DUN PO ZHAB CHI NEN TE
32757 Trampling the seven worlds with her feet,
32759 LU PA ME PAR GUG PAR NU MA
32760 Able to summon all before her.
32761 -- Khenchen Palden Sherab annd Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal, "Tara's Enlightened
32762 Activity: An Oral Commentary on 'The Twenty-one Praises to Tara'",
32763 published by Snow Lion Publications
32765 The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.
32768 Always bear in mind that your resolution to succeed
32769 is more important than any one thing.
32772 Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless-like water. Now you put water into a
32773 cup, it becomes the cup, you put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle,
32774 you put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can
32775 crash. Be water, my friend.
32778 All fixed set patterns are incapable of adaptability or pliability.
32779 The truth is outside of all fixed patterns.
32782 A wise man can learn more from a foolish question
32783 than a fool can learn from a wise answer.
32786 The remembrance of youth is a sigh. -- Oriental Maxim
32788 Youth would be an ideal state if it came a little later in life.
32789 -- Herbert Henry Asquith
32791 The freethinking of one age is the common sense of the next.
32792 -- Matthew Arnold (1822-1888)
32794 What we play is life. -- Louis Armstrong
32796 Fight for your opinions, but do not believe that they contain
32797 the whole truth, or the only truth.
32800 Some say the glass is half empty,
32801 some say the glass is half full,
32802 I say, are you going to drink that?
32805 Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes. -- Carl Jung
32807 Since a politician never believes what he says,
32808 he is quite surprised to be taken at his word.
32809 -- Charles de Gaulle
32811 On the one hand information wants to be expensive, because it's so valuable.
32812 The right information in the right place just changes your life. On the
32813 other hand, information wants to be free, because the cost of getting it out
32814 is getting lower and lower all the time. So you have these two fighting
32815 against each other.
32816 -- Stewart Brand at the first Hackers' Conference in 1984
32818 Nature provides a free lunch, but only if we control our appetites.
32819 -- William Ruckelshaus
32821 Those who get too big for their briches will be exposed in the end. -- Anon.
32823 We're not talking about the same thing," he said. "For you the world is weird
32824 because if you're not bored with it you're at odds with it. For me the world
32825 is weird because it is stupendous, awesome, mysterious, unfathomable; my
32826 interest has been to convince you that you must accept responsibility for being
32827 here, in this marvelous world, in this marvelous desert, in this marvelous
32828 time. I wanted to convince you that you must learn to make every act count,
32829 since you are going to be here for only a short while, in fact, too short for
32830 witnessing all the marvels of it.
32831 -- Don Juan, Yaqui Shaman
32833 Always and never are two words you should always remember never to use.
32836 People prefer to believe what they prefer to be true. -- Francis Bacon
32838 The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling,
32839 but in rising every time we fall.
32842 Stapp's Ironical Paradox:
32843 The universal aptitude for ineptitude makes any
32844 human accomplishment an incredible miracle.
32845 -- Col. John P. Stapp
32847 When the only tool you own is a hammer,
32848 every problem begins to resemble a nail.
32851 Peace is not a little white dove. It is you and me. -- Rigoberta Menchu Tum
32853 If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.
32856 The reserve of modern assertions is sometimes pushed to extremes,
32857 in which the fear of being contradicted leads the writer to strip
32858 himself of almost all sense and meaning.
32859 -- Sir Winston Churchill
32861 Why not go out on a limb? Isn't that where the fruit is? -- Frank Scully
32863 Money often costs too much. -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
32865 The pen is mightier than the sword, and considerably easier to write with.
32868 The true meaning of life is to plant trees
32869 under whose shade you do not expect to sit.
32870 -- Nelson Henderson
32872 The first human being who hurled an insult instead
32873 of a stone was the founder of civilization.
32876 When the weight of the world has got you down
32877 and you want to end your life.
32878 Bills to pay, a dead-end job,
32879 and problems with the wife.
32880 But don't throw in the tow'l,
32881 'cuz there's a place right down the block...
32882 Where you can drink your misery away...
32883 At Flaming Moe's.... (Let's all go to Flaming Moe's...)
32884 When liquor in a mug (Let's all go to Flaming Moe's...)
32885 can warm you like a hug. (Flaming Moe's...)
32886 And happiness is just a Flaming Moe away...
32887 Happiness is just a Flaming Moe away...
32888 -- Flaming Moe's Theme Song, The Simpsons.
32890 Stop living for what's around the corner
32891 and start enjoying the walk down the street.
32894 Doubt is the beginning, not the end, of wisdom. -- George Iles
32896 One day Ananda, who had been thinking deeply about things for a while, turned
32897 to the Buddha and exclaimed: "Lord, I've been thinking--spiritual friendship
32898 is at least half of the spiritual life!" The Buddha replied: "Say not so,
32899 Ananda, say not so. Spiritual friendship is the whole of the spiritual life!"
32900 -- Samyutta Nikaya, Verse 2
32902 There are moments when one feels free from one's own identification with human
32903 limitations and inadequacies. At such moments one imagines that one stands on
32904 some spot of a small planet, gazing in amazement at the cold yet profoundly
32905 moving beauty of the eternal, the unfathomable; life and death flow into one,
32906 and there is neither evolution nor destiny; only Being.
32909 A conference is a gathering of important people who singly can do nothing, but
32910 together can decide that nothing can be done.
32913 An undefined problem has an infinite number of solutions.
32914 -- Robert A. Humphrey
32916 The most erroneous stories are those we think we know best--and therefore
32917 never scrutinize or question.
32918 -- Stephen Jay Gould
32920 41. One's own awareness, fresh and uncontrived
32921 One's own awareness, fresh and uncontrived,
32922 Is the primordially present ultimate Lama
32923 From whom you have not been separated for even an instant.
32924 This meeting with the original abiding nature--how amazing!
32925 I, Jnana, wrote this in response to Changchub Palmo's request.
32926 -- "Wisdom Nectar: Dudjom Rinpoche's Heart Advice", translated by
32927 Ron Garry, a Tsadra Foundation Series book, published by Snow Lion
32929 I hunted up statistics, and was amazed to find that after all the glaring
32930 newspaper headings concerning railroad disasters, less than three hundred
32931 people had really lost their lives by those disasters in the preceding twelve
32932 months. The Erie road was set down as the most murderous in the list. It had
32933 killed forty-six.or twenty-six, I do not exactly remember which, but I know
32934 the number was double that of any other road. But the fact straightway
32935 suggested itself that the Erie was an immensely long road, and did more
32936 business than any other line in the country; so the double number of killed
32937 ceased to be matter for surprise.
32938 By further figuring, it appeared that between New York and Rochester the
32939 Erie ran eight passenger trains each way every day.sixteen altogether; and
32940 carried a daily average of 6,000 persons. That is about a million in six
32941 months.the population of New York city. Well, the Erie kills from thirteen
32942 to twenty-three persons out of its million in six months; and in the same
32943 time 13,000 of New York's million die in their beds! My flesh crept, my hair
32945 "This is appalling!" I said. "The danger isn't in travelling by rail, but
32946 in trusting to those deadly beds. I will never sleep in a bed again."
32947 --Mark Twain on Risk Analysis, 1871
32949 The activities of this degenerate age are like a madman's performance of dance.
32950 No matter what we do, there is no way to please others.
32951 Think about what is essential.
32952 This is my heart's advice.
32953 --Bhande Dharmaradza
32955 In any group of people, there is always some misunderstanding. You cannot
32956 satisfy everyone, no matter what you do. The Bodhicaryavatara says that every
32957 individual has a different way of thinking. Thus, it is very difficult to
32958 please everyone. Even the Buddha could not do it, so how can we? Instead of
32959 trying to please others, please yourself by applying yourself fully to
32961 Investigate your situation carefully, according to the Dharma. For us, it is
32962 more important to know what is best than to know how to please everyone. Know
32963 what is right, and on the basis of your own wisdom and skill, just do it.
32964 Don't expect that other people will be pleased with you or that they will be
32965 happy about what you do. Rather, do what's best, what's helpful for yourself
32966 and for others. If they are happy about it, that's fine. If they are not
32967 happy, what can you do?
32968 -- "A Complete Guide to the Buddhist Path", by Khenchen Konchog Gyaltshen,
32969 edited by Khenmo Trinlay Chodron, published by Snow Lion Publications
32971 Lochen Gyurme Dechen, nephew of the great accomplished master Tangtong
32972 Gyalpo, sang this song, a prayer of the Six Doctrines, called "The Rain
32975 Nama Shri Jnana Daki Nigupta-ye!
32977 Lady of the celestial realms, compassionate one,
32978 Chief of wisdom dakinis, Niguma,
32979 When I, your child, pray fervently to you,
32980 In your expanse free from formulations, please think of me.
32981 Lady who reveals the sacred circle of great secrets,
32982 Bestow now the empowerment of the four joys!
32983 Lady who opens the door to the unborn state,
32984 Clear away now my negative acts and obscurations with the purification
32986 Lady who emits fire from the short Ah,
32987 Burn now my soiled aggregates and sense elements!
32988 Lady who draws great bliss from the syllable Ham,
32989 Bestow now coemergent wisdom!
32990 Lady who reveals the natural experience of illusion,
32991 Destroy now my attachment to the reality of anger and desire!
32992 Lady who emanates and transforms during lucid dreams,
32993 Lady who makes spontaneous luminosity arise,
32994 Dispel now the darkness of my stupidity!
32995 Lady who leads above at the time of departure,
32996 Guide me now to the celestial realms!
32997 Lady who overcomes the appearances of delusion in the intermediate state,
32998 Grant me now the invincible body of enlightenment's perfect rapture.
33000 This prayer was sung by the religious teacher Gyurme Dechen.
33002 -- "Timeless Rapture: Inspired Verse of the Shangpa Masters", compiled by
33003 Jamgon Kongtrul, translated & edited by Ngawang Zangpo, a Tsadra
33004 Foundation Series book, published by Snow Lion Publications
33006 ...ngondro, the foundational practices, are ways to bring body, speech, or
33007 energy, and all aspects of mind into increasingly effortless harmony with the
33008 oceanic expanse central to Dzogchen teachings. This expanse is another name
33009 for reality, the heart of our being, and thus for mind-nature. Its vastness
33010 challenges the cramped and reified self-images that temporarily obstruct our
33011 view of the whole. Finitudes of any kind--the sense of being small and
33012 contained, the familiar urgent rush of business, passions, or plans--are
33013 simply conceptions. These conceptions are both cause and effect of energetic
33014 holdings in the body. The foundational practices illuminate these holdings
33015 and, in the end, lead to their dissolution into the expanse. As Khetsun
33016 Sangpo Rinpoche has said, "Like a fire that burns fuel, the mind consumes
33017 thought by working with it."
33018 In the Tibetan traditions, teaching and practice sessions typically open
33019 with a reference, brief or extensive, to the foundational practices. Every
33020 lineage has its own variations, but the basic structure and principles of
33021 these practices are virtually identical. After an acknowledgment of one's
33022 guru or lineage and the intention to benefit all beings, the sequence usually
33023 begins with the four thoughts. These are reflections on (1) the preciousness
33024 of one's own life, (2) the fragility of life and the uncertainty of death's
33025 timing, (3) the inexorable nature of karma, and (4) the impossibility of
33026 avoiding suffering so long as ignorance holds one in samsara. In addition,
33027 there are two other contemplations: (5) the benefits of liberation compared to
33028 life in samsara and (6) the importance of a spiritual guide. These six are
33029 known as the outer foundational practices.
33030 These six are combined with five inner practices, each of which is repeated
33031 one hundred thousand times. The first inner foundational practice is refuge.
33032 Refuge, writes Adzom Drukpa, is the cornerstone of all paths. Without it, he
33033 adds, quoting Candrakirti, all vows come to nothing. Most succinctly, refuge
33034 helps us cultivate a quality vital to the path and to human interaction in
33035 general: this is the quality of trust, the ability to fruitfully rely on
33036 someone or something other than oneself. Adzom Paylo Rinpoche once said that
33037 whereas relying on others in the context of samsara generally leads us astray,
33038 relying on the Dharma increases our good qualities.
33039 -- "Heart Essence of the Vast Expanse: A Story of Transmission", by Anne C.
33040 Klein, foreword by Adzom Paylo Rinpoche, preface by Tulku Thondup
33041 Rinpoche, published by Snow Lion Publications
33043 1.18 Fruition of the Seed of Enlightenment
33045 When we engage in virtuous actions, we realize they are beneficial not only
33046 for others, but also for ourselves. Our good deeds can earn the praise and
33047 appreciation of others, and the benefits of our work come back to us through
33048 others. When we are involved with virtuous works, people respect us and hold
33049 us in high esteem. And we know we must be doing something good, because we
33050 experience a wholesome, pleasant feeling about our life's work. We quickly
33051 begin to see the short-term benefits of our involvement in virtuous action as
33052 our bodies and minds become more peaceful in our daily lives.
33053 This serenity in turn increases our longevity as our body and mind become
33054 more harmonized. Even after our death, we will be reincarnated in higher
33055 realms of existence as a result of our involvement with virtuous works during
33056 this life. Yet a higher rebirth is merely a short-term benefit, a temporary
33057 relief from the sufferings of samsara, for until we achieve liberation from
33058 samsara we remain trapped in the cycle of suffering, and "whatever goes up,
33060 Within the mundane world, when our evil deeds are common knowledge, no one
33061 sings their praises. If such deeds are remembered at all, it is in infamy.
33062 However, when a being lives with a mind of true bodhichitta and does great
33063 works of pure altruism, their deeds are remembered for centuries. Of such
33064 cases we have many examples within the Kagyu lineage alone: the historical
33065 Buddha, Guru Rinpoche, Milarepa, the Karmapas, and countless others. Yet it
33066 is also important to remember that virtuous action eventually leads us to the
33067 liberation of buddhahood; this is the ultimate long-term benefit of planting
33068 the seed of enlightenment of which we speak. Hence, as we make this journey
33069 towards liberation, it is extremely important for us to learn to recognize
33070 which of our actions are virtuous and which are not.
33071 -- Lama Dudjom Dorjee, "Heartfelt Advice", Snow Lion Publications
33073 Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, addressing those who have or will undertake a
33074 retreat, gives this advice:
33076 "You will fall sick, experience pain, and encounter many adverse
33077 circumstances. At such times do not think, 'Although I am practicing the
33078 Dharma, I have nothing but trouble. The Dharma cannot be so great. I have
33079 followed a teacher and done so much practice, and yet hard times still befall
33080 me.' Such thoughts are wrong views. You should realize that through the
33081 blessing and power of the practice, by experiencing sickness and other
33082 difficulties now, you are purifying and ridding yourself of negative
33083 actions.... By purifying them while you have the chance, you will later go
33084 from bliss to bliss. So do not think, 'I don't deserve this illness, these
33085 obstacles, these negative influences.' Experience your difficulties as
33086 blessings...when you do experience such difficulties, you should be very happy
33087 and avoid having adverse thoughts like, 'Why are such terrible things
33090 As Rinpoche advises, relating to hardship properly depends on the strength
33091 of one's view. In general, having a view is knowing exactly where you want
33092 to go and how to get there. It is the vision of knowing what you want. For
33093 example, if you have the view to become a doctor, your vision guides you
33094 through financial burdens, physical and emotional difficulties, and obstacles
33095 that get in your way. You know it will be difficult and involve sacrifice,
33096 but with a strong view, you forge to the finish line.
33097 Similarly, if you want to become spiritually awakened, it is the power of
33098 your view that gets you there. If you are having a hard time getting to the
33099 meditation cushion, or engaging in the necessary study, it is because your
33100 view is not strong enough or is incomplete. A partial view, in this case, is
33101 one that doesn't include hardship. You can strengthen your view and
33102 accelerate progress by understanding how you lose your view in the fog of
33103 hardship, and therefore lose sight of your path.
33104 -- Dr. Andrew Holecek, "The Power and the Pain: Transforming Spiritual
33105 Hardship into Joy", published by Snow Lion Publications
33107 Chod is a very powerful path to buddhahood. Its power comes from working
33108 with the practitioner's afflictive emotions. Chod is purposely performed in
33109 frightening places to help the practitioner heighten his fear so that he has
33110 the opportunity to cut through it.
33111 -- adapted from Chod Practice in the Bon Tradition, by Alejandro Chaoul,
33112 published by Snow Lion Publications
33114 Under the heading of the great way's [Mahayana's] perspective, we read of how
33115 the Buddha merely demonstrates the process of enlightenment in this world,
33116 something he has done and will do repeatedly. Kongtrul quotes the Buddha in
33117 an important discourse:
33119 "In the past, countless ages ago, in a world-system that united as many
33120 realms as there are grains of sand in the Ganges, I attained enlightenment as
33121 Transcendent Buddha Crown of the Powerful One, aided beings, and transcended
33122 sorrow. Then once again, from that point until the present age, I have
33123 repeatedly demonstrated the inconceivable process of enlightenment.
33124 "I will continue, until cyclic existence is empty, to demonstrate [this
33125 process of] enlightenment beginning with the initial development of the mind
33126 of awakening as an ordinary being."
33128 While such statements do not help us grasp the nature of the Buddha's
33129 enlightenment, they do underline the fact that enlightenment is a specific
33130 experience, the result of a known and knowable process that the Buddha
33131 deliberately demonstrates time and again so that we might follow his example,
33132 no guesswork involved.
33133 -- Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Taye, "Treasury of Knowledge, Books Two, Three,
33134 and Four: Buddhism's Journey to Tibet" translated and introduced by
33135 Ngawang Zangpo, published by Snow Lion Publications
33139 The essence of thoughts that suddenly arise is without any nature. Do not
33140 inhibit their appearance in any way, and without thinking of any essence, let
33141 them arise clearly, nakedly, and vividly. Likewise, if one thought arises,
33142 observe its nature, and if two arise, observe their nature. Thus, whatever
33143 thoughts arise, let them go without holding onto them. Let them remain as
33144 fragments. Release them unimpededly. Be naked without an object. Release
33145 them without grasping. This is close to becoming a Buddha. This is the self-
33146 extinction of samsara, samsara is overwhelmed, samsara is disempowered, and
33147 samsara is exhausted. Knowledge of the path of method and wisdom, appearances
33148 and emptiness, the gradual stages, the common and special paths, and the 84,
33149 000 entrances to the Dharma is made perfectly complete and fulfilled in an
33150 instant. This is self-arisen, for it is present like that in the very nature
33151 [of awareness]. Natural liberation is the essence of all the stainless paths,
33152 and it bears the essence of emptiness and compassion.
33153 -- Karma Chagme, "A Spacious Path to Freedom: Practical Instructions on the
33154 Union of Mahamudra and Atiyoga", commentary by Gyatrul Rinpoche, trans.
33155 by B. Alan Wallace, published by Snow Lion Publications
33157 We must learn to trust ourselves when we practice the doctrines of the Buddha.
33158 In time, we come to trust the infallibility of karmic cause and effect and of
33159 the interdependence of all actions. We must come to know and trust the
33160 importance of the accumulation of merit and wisdom, in the same way we know
33161 and trust that even the smallest drops of water falling into a bucket will
33162 eventually fill it.
33163 We must learn to trust that our own dharma practice will remove our entire
33164 jungle of kleshas [unwholesome qualities], much like knowing a raging wildfire
33165 can clear an entire forest from the earth. All of our negativities can be
33166 swept away by the firestorm of our compassionate wisdom. We must trust that
33167 all of our happiness and sadness is completely dependent on, and a result of,
33168 our previous karma; when we trust this process we can begin the accumulation
33169 of virtuous actions immediately.
33170 No one achieves perfection in anything meaningful the very first time they
33171 try; however, we've heard the phrase over and over again that "practice makes
33172 perfect." It is true that with multiple repetitions and patience everyone can
33173 achieve perfection over time. I don't know of anyone who has sat down to
33174 meditate for the very first time and immediately attained enlightenment, but
33175 just like the drops of water that we trust will eventually fill our bucket,
33176 consistent dharma practice will eventually lead us to liberation.
33177 -- Lama Dudjom Dorjee, "Heartfelt Advice", published by Snow Lion
33179 Unbroken practice is like a watchful guard.
33180 It is simply unscattered and is free from acceptance or rejection.
33181 There is no duality of things to be abandoned and their antidotes.
33182 This is my heart's advice.
33184 This verse and the following instructions concern how to continue with
33185 Mahamudra practice. Once we have received instructions, we have to accomplish
33186 them and perfect the practice. Continuity of practice is essential for the
33187 perfection of enlightenment.
33188 Unbroken practice means that one is mindful all the time, like a watchful
33189 guard. Thieves and robbers may come at any time, so the guard of a mansion
33190 containing great treasure must be alert twenty-four hours a day. In the same
33191 way, it is important to watch our mind since the thieves of attachment,
33192 desire, anger, and forgetfulness can come at any time and steal the wealth of
33193 our compassion and wisdom, along with our realization of Mahamudra.
33194 Once mindfulness is continuously established, an unscattered mind is "just
33195 there," on the spot, whether we are walking, eating, driving, or performing
33196 other activities. We can watch the mind and see how our mental state shapes
33197 our world. But when we watch it, we should just relax. Milarepa advises us
33200 Rest naturally, like a small child.
33201 Rest like an ocean without waves.
33202 Rest with clarity, like a candle flame.
33203 Rest without self-concern, like a corpse.
33204 Rest unmoving like a mountain.
33206 -- Khenchen Konchog Gyaltshen, "A Complete Guide to the Buddhist Path",
33207 edited by Khenmo Trinlay Chodron, published by Snow Lion Publications
33209 Every time we begin to practice, it helps not to plunge in right away.
33210 Instead, take a few moments to stop your ordinary chain of thoughts. This is
33211 especially relevant if you are very busy and have only five minutes for your
33212 daily practice, but even ordinarily we have this constant stream of thoughts.
33213 Suppose that just before practice you have a fight with your fianc�. This
33214 will probably trigger a chain of thoughts about what you want to say to your
33215 partner. If you start your practice in the midst of all this, it is not going
33216 to go so well. This is why it helps to put a stop to this chain of thoughts
33217 for just a few moments.
33218 I have found this to be very, very useful. There are actually countless
33219 methods for stopping the chain of thoughts, but for me, before I practice, I
33220 just sit for a while. Every time a thought comes along, I try to stop it by
33221 cultivating a sense of renunciation, and I do this over and over again. I
33222 think about how I am now forty-years-old and, even if I live to be eighty, I
33223 only have half of my life left. I think that out of this forty years, I am
33224 going to sleep the equivalent of twenty years. So now there are only twelve
33225 hours a day that could actually be termed living. If we then factor in
33226 watching at least one movie a day, eating, and gossip, we have maybe five
33227 hours or so left. Out of forty years that means eight years remain, and most
33228 of that will go to indulging our paranoia, anxiety, and all that.... There is
33229 actually very little time for practice!
33230 This should give you an idea of how to stop the chain of thoughts. Don't
33231 immediately throw yourself into the practice; instead, just watch yourself,
33232 watch your life, and watch what you are doing. If you are doing ten minutes
33233 of practice every day, you should try to stop the chain of thoughts for at
33234 least two to three minutes. We do this to transform the mind by invoking a
33235 sense of renunciation. When we think, "I am dying. I am coming closer to
33236 death" and other such thoughts, it really helps.
33237 -- Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche in the commentary to "Entrance to the Great
33238 Perfection: A Guide to the Dzogchen Preliminary Practices", compiled,
33239 translated, and introduced by Cortland Dahl, published by Snow Lion
33242 Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that
33243 something else is more important than fear.
33246 Good timber does not grow with ease;
33247 the stronger the wind, the stronger the trees.
33250 Q: Does every kind of desire lead to pain?
33252 A: Not all desire leads directly to pain. However, the very word expresses
33253 the sense of sticking to something. It does not permit freedom. It binds.
33254 When attached and fastened to something, we cannot move far away. It is as if
33255 the desired object pulls us back, and we cannot free ourselves from it. For
33256 this kind of desire we use a term meaning attachment. So long as we are
33257 attached, we stick there and cannot achieve liberation. However, this does
33258 not necessarily entail chaos and pain.
33260 Q: Does that mean that some desire is actually beneficial?
33262 A: In the Tibetan language, desire names an attachment that harms ourselves
33263 and others. The source of benefit for ourselves and others receives a
33264 different name; we call that "longing."
33266 -- "Essential Practice: Lectures on Kamalashila's Stages of Meditation in
33267 the Middle Way School by Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche", translated and
33268 introduced by Jules B. Levinson, published by Snow Lion Publications
33270 He who plants a tree plants hope. -- Lucy Larcom
33272 We cross our bridges when we come to them and burn them behind us, with
33273 nothing to show for our progress except a memory of the smell of smoke, and a
33274 presumption that once our eyes watered.
33277 The great thing about democracy is that it gives every voter a chance to do
33281 It is our earth, not yours or mine or his. We are meant to live on it,
33282 helping each other, not destroying each other.
33285 When one has the feeling of dislike for evil, when one feels tranquil, one
33286 finds pleasure in listening to good teachings; when one has these feelings and
33287 appreciates them, one is free of fear.
33290 In Buddhism, there is a teaching called the "three bodies" (sanjin), also
33291 called the "three properties" or the "three enlightened properties". These
33292 are the three kinds of form that a Buddha may manifest as: 1) the Dharma Body
33293 (dharmakaya or hosshin) is the form in which a Buddha transcends physical
33294 being and is identical with the undifferentiated unity of being or Suchness
33295 (Skt. tathata, Jp. shinnyo); 2) the Bliss or Reward Body (sambhogakaya or
33296 hojin) is obtained as the "reward" for having completed the bodhisattva
33297 practice of aiding other beings to end their suffering and having penetrated
33298 the depth of the Buddha's wisdom. Unlike the Dharma Body, which is
33299 immaterial, the Bliss Body is conceived of as an actual body, although one
33300 that is still transcendent and imperceptible to common people; 3) the
33301 Manifested Body (nirmanakaya or ojin) is the physical form in which the Buddha
33302 appears in this world in order to guide sentient beings. It is considered
33303 that the historical Buddha, Shakyamuni, is nirmanakaya. Honen believed that
33304 Amida is sambhogakaya.
33306 Sometimes we put our glasses in our pockets or on our heads and later we ask,
33307 "Where are my glasses?" This is quite common. We look everywhere else without
33308 finding our glasses. That is why we need the guru, who can say to us, "There
33309 are your glasses." That is all that the Mahamudra and Dzogchen teachers do:
33310 they simply point out. What they are pointing out is something that you
33311 already have. It is not something that they give you. They do not give you
33312 new glasses. They cannot afford to give you new glasses, but they can afford
33313 to point out where you can find your own glasses.
33314 When we receive pointing-out instructions from our root teacher, we are
33315 being introduced directly and nakedly to the reality of mind's nature. These
33316 instructions become very effective if we have prepared ourselves to receive
33318 ...Pointing-out is similar to pointing to the sky when it is very cloudy and
33319 saying to someone, "There is the blue sky." The person will look up and say,
33320 "Where?" You may reply, "It is there--behind the clouds." The person to whom
33321 you are pointing out the blue sky will not see it at first. However, if even
33322 a patch of blue sky appears, then you can say, "Look--the blue sky is like
33323 that." The person then gets a direct experience. He or she knows
33324 experientially that there is blue sky, which will be fully visible when the
33326 -- The Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, "Mind Beyond Death", published by Snow
33329 In general, clear light is of two types--the objective clear light that is
33330 the subtle emptiness [of inherent existence], and the subjective clear light
33331 that is the wisdom consciousness realizing this emptiness.
33332 -- Lati Rinbochay, "Death, Intermediate State and Rebirth"
33334 [At the time of Buddha, a farmer asked to be ordained as a monk. Shariputra
33335 did not see his merit. But, with a great, compassionate mind, the Buddha took
33336 his hand and said, "I will give you ordination. You do have a seed to attain
33338 The Buddha explained, "Thousands and thousands of kalpas ago, this man was
33339 born as a fly. He was sitting on a pile of cow dung when a sudden rush of
33340 water caught the cow dung, along with the fly, and sent them into the river.
33341 Downstream, someone had placed a prayer wheel in the water, and that cow dung
33342 and fly swirled around and around it. Because of that circumambulation, this
33343 man now has a seed to attain arhatship in this lifetime."
33344 Cause and result are so subtle that only omniscient wisdom can perceive
33345 every detail. That is why we must be very careful that our actions are truly
33347 Reciting just one mantra, protecting the life of even one small bug, giving
33348 a small thing--we should not ignore such actions by saying, "This is nothing;
33349 it makes no difference if I do it or not." Many small actions will gather and
33350 swell like the ocean. These are not merely Buddhist beliefs; these are the
33351 causes that create our world no matter who we are. Our study and practice
33352 give us the opportunity to understand this and to be sincere with ourselves
33353 even in small things.
33354 -- Khenchen Konchog Gyaltshen, "A Complete Guide to the Buddhist Path",
33355 edited by Khenmo Trinlay Chodron, published by Snow Lion Publications
33357 Never let your sense of morals get in the way of doing what's right.
33360 What a blessing it would be if we could open and shut our ears as easily as we
33361 open and shut our eyes!
33362 -- Georg Christoph Lichtenberg
33364 Honest criticism is hard to take, particularly from a relative, a friend, an
33365 acquaintance, or a stranger.
33366 -- Franklin P. Jones
33368 Your worst enemy cannot harm you as much as your own unguarded thoughts.
33369 Develop the mind of equilibrium. You will always be getting praise and blame,
33370 but do not let either affect the poise of the mind: follow the calmness, the
33374 Whosoever has heard the law of virtue and vice is as one who has eyes and
33375 carries a lamp, seeing everything and will become completely wise.
33378 ...in Dzogchen, one applies specific practices in order to create a variety of
33379 sensations, so that the practitioner is more clearly enabled to distinguish
33380 the state of presence--which always remains the same--from the sensations
33381 which change according to the practice being carried out. This obviously
33382 enables one to 'no longer remain in doubt' as to what the state of pure
33383 presence is. The practices known as the twenty-one Semdzin found in the
33384 Dzogchen Mennagde, or Upadesha, series, have this particular function,
33385 enabling the practitioner to separate the ordinary, reasoning mind from the
33386 nature of the mind.
33387 -- Chogyal Namkhai Norbu, "The Crystal and the Way of Light: Sutra, Tantra
33388 and Dzogchen", compiled and edited by John Shane, published by Snow Lion
33391 People often wonder how to reconcile the Buddha's teachings on non-attachment
33392 with those on love. How can we love others without being attached to them?
33393 Non-attachment is a balanced state of mind in which we cease overestimating
33394 others' qualities. By having a more accurate view of others, our unrealistic
33395 expectations fall away, as does our clinging. This leaves us open to loving
33396 others for who they are, instead of for what they do for us. Our hearts can
33397 open to care for everyone impartially, wishing everyone to be happy simply
33398 because he or she is a living being. The feeling of warmth that was
33399 previously reserved for a select few can now be expanded to a great number of
33401 -- Ven. Thubten Chodron, "Taming the Mind", published by Snow Lion Pub.
33403 Even in this world, and even now, there are said to be many hidden yogis or
33404 discreet yogis, called bepay naljor in Tibetan. It means those realized ones
33405 who are not generally recognized as great spiritual sages or saints, but have
33406 deeply tasted the fruit of enlightenment, and are living it. Perhaps they are
33407 anonymously doing their good works here among us right now!
33408 The infinite vast expanse is one's own inconceivable nature. Who can say
33409 who has realized it and who hasn't? When we travel around the world or
33410 experience other dimensions, there are so many beings who have tasted it. We
33411 can see it in their behavior, in their countenance, and in stories that are
33412 told--not just in the Dzogchen tradition or the Buddhist tradition, but in any
33413 tradition, and in our Western world too.
33414 This true nature is so vast and inconceivable that even some birds and
33415 animals and beings in other unseen dimensions can be said to have realized it,
33416 as in some of the ancient Indian Jataka stories and other teaching tales. It
33417 is always said that everything is the self-radiant display of the primordial
33418 Buddha Samantabhadra. There are infinite numbers of Buddhas and infinite
33419 numbers of beings. Who can say who is excluded from it?
33420 -- Nyoshul Khenpo Rinpoche and Lama Surya Das, "Natural Great Perfection:
33421 Dzogchen Teachings and Vajra Songs", published by Snow Lion Publications
33423 Many spiritual seekers are not yet ready to become the disciples of
33424 spiritual mentors. Their present levels of commitment may suit working only
33425 with Buddhism professors, Dharma instructors, or meditation or ritual
33426 trainers. Even if they are ready to commit themselves to the Buddhist path
33427 and to spiritual mentors, they may not yet have found properly qualified
33428 mentors. Alternatively, the spiritual teachers available to them may be
33429 properly qualified and may even have shown them great kindness. Yet, none
33430 seem right to be their mentors. They feel they can relate to them only as
33431 their Buddhism professors. Nevertheless, the Kadam style of guru-meditation
33432 may still help such seekers to gain inspiration from these teachers at the
33433 present stages of their spiritual paths.
33434 Unless our spiritual teachers are total charlatans or complete scoundrels,
33435 all of them have at least some good qualities and exhibit at least some level
33436 of kindness. Our Buddhism professors, Dharma instructors, or meditation or
33437 ritual trainers may lack the qualities of great spiritual mentors. Still,
33438 they have some knowledge of the Dharma, some insight from applying the Dharma
33439 to life, or some technical expertise in the practice. Our teachers are kind
33440 to instruct us, even if their motivations contain the wish to earn a living.
33441 If we correctly discern and acknowledge whatever qualities and levels of
33442 kindness that our professors, instructors, or trainers in fact possess, we may
33443 derive inspiration, through guru-meditation, by focusing on them with
33444 conviction and appreciation.
33445 -- Dr. Alexander Berzin, "Wise Teacher, Wise Student: Tibetan Approaches to
33446 a Healthy Relationship", published by Snow Lion Publications
33448 A tenth-century Bengali pandita named Palden Atisha reintroduced Buddhism
33449 into Tibet. He had a servant who was really awful. He was abusive to Atisha,
33450 disobedient, and generally a big problem. The Tibetans asked Atisha what he
33451 was doing with such an awful guy who was so completely obnoxious. They said,
33452 "Send him back. We'll take care of you." Atisha replied, "What are you
33453 talking about? He is my greatest teacher of patience. He is the most
33454 precious person around me!"
33455 Patience does not mean suppression, and it doesn't mean bottling up our
33456 anger or turning it in on ourselves in the form of self-blame. It means
33457 having a mind which sees everything that happens as the result of causes and
33458 conditions we have set in motion at some time in this or past lives. Who
33459 knows what our relationship has been with someone who is causing us
33460 difficulties now? Who knows what we have have done to him in another life!
33461 If we respond to such people with retaliation, we are just locking ourselves
33462 into that same cycle. We are going to have to keep replaying this part of
33463 the movie again and again in this and future lifetimes. The only way to break
33464 out of the cycle is by changing our attitude.
33465 -- "Reflections on a Mountain Lake: Teachings on Practical Buddhism by
33466 Venerable Tenzin Palmo", published by Snow Lion Publications
33468 [Understanding through the merging of sound and meaning takes place when one
33469 immediately understands the meaning of a teaching through hearing the sound of
33472 One might ask what these words are in the key instructions on the Three
33473 Words That Strike the Vital Point. The sound and the word are the same. For
33474 example, the word "mother" can be understood as indicating someone who is very
33475 kind. If one says "mother," the meaning of what that word expresses is
33476 pointed out. What is known as "the three words" is like that.
33477 What are the three words? "View," "meditation," and "action." What does it
33478 mean to "strike the vital point" with these three words? If one wants to kill
33479 a man and strikes his heart with a weapon, the man will not live another hour.
33480 He will die immediately. What vital point do these three words strike? Just
33481 as oil is present in a mustard seed, all of us, all sentient beings, have
33482 buddha nature. Though it is present, we do not recognize it, because our
33483 minds are obscured by delusions. When, as a result of the view, meditation,
33484 and action, we come to recognize these delusions, we can get rid of them in a
33485 moment. In one day sentient beings can be transformed into buddhas--that is
33486 the ultimate view, meditation, and action of dzogchen. Such a power of
33487 transformation is called "striking the vital point."
33488 -- Dilgo Khyentse, "The Collected Works of Dilgo Khyentse", edited by
33489 Matthieu Ricard and Vivian Kurz, excerpt from Volume 3: "Primordial
33490 Purity", published by Snow Lion Publications
33492 If we can attain nondual, nonconceptual awareness in meditation, we are
33493 engaged in profound political activity, even though we may lose this awareness
33494 during the times we are not formally meditating (the buddha's awareness in
33495 post-meditation is the same as during meditation). Meditating in nondual,
33496 nonconceptual awareness, which is meditating on the dharmadhatu, immediately
33497 begins systematically to destroy in ourselves the structure of dualistic
33498 consciousness with all its attendant cognitive obscurations and emotional
33499 affiictions. From the standpoint of duality, since this dualistic
33500 consciousness also involves other sentient beings as the other pole of our
33501 duality, our activity in dissolving this consciousness has a profound impact
33503 While our nondualistic, nonconceptual meditation is purifying our own
33504 obscurations and afflictions and thereby transforming our personal experience
33505 of others, it is also becoming a spark of buddha activity in those others. As
33506 our meditation becomes effective, the attitude of others towards us begins to
33507 change, and they themselves begin to turn inward and to search with greater
33508 conscientiousness through the stuff of their own minds and lives for spiritual
33509 solutions to their own problems. And as the power of our meditation
33510 increases, this effect reaches ever-widening concentric circles of sentient
33511 beings with whom we have karmic interdependence, which in this day and age
33512 includes not only our immediate family and friends, working associates, and
33513 local communities, but also everyone with whom we are connected through all
33514 the media of our lives.
33515 --Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, "The Ninth Karmapa's Ocean of Definitive
33516 Meaning", edited, introduced and annotated by Lama Tashi Namgyal,
33517 published by Snow Lion Publications
33519 Realizations come only if we practice joyfully, with confidence and courage.
33520 Realization doesn't grow within a timid or weak state of mind--it blossoms in
33521 the mind free of doubt and hesitation. Realization is fearless. When we see
33522 the true nature of reality, there's nothing hidden, nothing left to fear. At
33523 last we're seeing reality as it is, full of joy and peace.
33524 ...Thinking of Tara will bring total calm, peace, and protection from all
33525 fears and all frightening situations. Tara's practice removes the two
33526 obscurations: negative emotions and subtle conceptual thinking. It will
33527 increase the two merits: accumulation merit and wisdom merit. From the moment
33528 you start praying to and practicing Tara, your life will be always under the
33529 protection of the Great Mother. From then on rebirth in the lower realms will
33530 be prevented. If you do this prayer for others, it will bring them the same
33531 benefits; it will protect them in their lifetimes as well as uproot future
33532 births in the lower realms. So there is great benefit.
33533 -- Khenchen Palden Sherab and Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal in "Tara's Enlightened
33534 Activity: An Oral Commentary on 'The Twenty-one Praises to Tara'",
33535 published by Snow Lion Publications
33537 Realizations come only if we practice joyfully, with confidence and courage.
33538 Realization doesn't grow within a timid or weak state of mind--it blossoms in
33539 the mind free of doubt and hesitation. Realization is fearless. When we see
33540 the true nature of reality, there's nothing hidden, nothing left to fear. At
33541 last we're seeing reality as it is, full of joy and peace.
33542 ...Thinking of Tara will bring total calm, peace, and protection from all
33543 fears and all frightening situations. Tara's practice removes the two
33544 obscurations: negative emotions and subtle conceptual thinking. It will
33545 increase the two merits: accumulation merit and wisdom merit. From the moment
33546 you start praying to and practicing Tara, your life will be always under the
33547 protection of the Great Mother. From then on rebirth in the lower realms will
33548 be prevented. If you do this prayer for others, it will bring them the same
33549 benefits; it will protect them in their lifetimes as well as uproot future
33550 births in the lower realms. So there is great benefit.
33551 -- Khenchen Palden Sherab and Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal in "Tara's Enlightened
33552 Activity: An Oral Commentary on 'The Twenty-one Praises to Tara'",
33553 published by Snow Lion Publications
33555 6. Meditation on the Buddha
33556 Begin by observing your breath for a few minutes to calm the mind.
33557 Think of the qualities of infinite love, compassion, wisdom, skillful means,
33558 and other wonderful qualities you aspire to develop. What would it feel like
33559 to have those qualities? Get a sense of the expansiveness and peace of having
33560 a wise and kind heart that reaches out impartially to work for the benefit of
33562 Those qualities of love, compassion, wisdom, skillful means, and so on now
33563 appear in the physical form of the Buddha, in the space in front of you. He
33564 sits on an open lotus flower, and flat sun and moon disks. His body is made
33565 of radiant, transparent light, as is the entire visualization. His body is
33566 golden and he wears the robes of a monk. His right palm rests on his right
33567 knee and his left is in his lap, holding a bowl of nectar, which is medicine
33568 to cure our afflictions and other hindrances. The Buddha's face is very
33569 beautiful. His smiling, compassionate gaze looks at you with total acceptance
33570 and simultaneously encompasses all sentient beings. His eyes are long,
33571 narrow, and peaceful. His lips are red and his earlobes long.
33572 Rays of light emanate from each pore of the Buddha's body and reach every
33573 part of the universe. These rays carry countless miniature Buddhas, some
33574 going out to help beings, others dissolving back into the Buddha after having
33575 finished their work.
33576 The Buddha is surrounded by the entire lineage of spiritual teachers, all
33577 meditational deities, innumerable other Buddhas, bodhisattvas, arhats, dakas,
33578 dakinis, and Dharma protectors. To the side of each spiritual master is an
33579 elegant table upon which are arranged volumes of Dharma teachings.
33580 Surrounding you are all sentient beings appearing in human form, with your
33581 mother on your left and your father on your right. The people you do not get
33582 along with are in front of you. All of you are looking to the Buddha for
33584 -- Bhikshuni Thubten Chodron, "Guided Meditations on the Stages of the
33585 Path", foreword by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, published by Snow Lion
33588 If we investigate on a deeper level, we will find that when enemies inflict
33589 harm on us, we can actually feel gratitude toward them. Such situations
33590 provide us with rare opportunities to put to test our own practice of
33591 patience. It is a precious occasion to practice not only patience but the
33592 other bodhisattva ideals as well. As a result, we have the opportunity to
33593 accumulate merit in these situations and to receive the benefits thereof.
33594 The poor enemy, on the other hand, because of the negative action of
33595 inflicting harm on someone out of anger and hatred, must eventually face the
33596 negative consequences of his or her own actions. It is almost as if the
33597 perpetrators of the harm sacrifice themselves for the sake of our benefit.
33598 Since the merit accumulated from the practice of patience was possible only
33599 because of the opportunity provided us by our enemy, strictly speaking, we
33600 should dedicate our merit to the benefit of that enemy. This is why the Guide
33601 to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life speaks of the kindness of the enemy.
33602 --Tenzin Gyatso, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, "The Compassionate Life"
33604 If our practice does not diminish self-grasping, or perhaps even enhances
33605 it, then no matter how austere and determined we are, no matter how many hours
33606 a day we devote to learning, reflection, and meditation, our spiritual
33607 practice is in vain.
33608 A close derivative of self-grasping is the feeling of self-importance. Such
33609 arrogance or pride is a very dangerous pitfall for people practicing Dharma.
33610 Especially in Tibetan Buddhism, with its many levels of practice, the exalted
33611 aspirations of the bodhisattva path, and the mystery surrounding initiation
33612 into tantra, we may easily feel part of an elite. Moreover, the philosophy of
33613 Buddhism is so subtly refined and so penetrating that, as we gain an
33614 understanding of it, this also can give rise to intellectual pride.
33615 But if these are the results of the practice, then something has gone awry.
33616 Recall the well-known saying among Tibetan Buddhists that a pot with a little
33617 water in it makes a loud noise when shaken, but a pot full of water makes no
33619 People with very little realization often want to tell everyone about the
33620 insights they have experienced, the bliss and subtleties of their meditation,
33621 and how it has radically transformed their life. But those who are truly
33622 steeped in realization do not feel compelled to advertise it, and instead
33623 simply dwell in that realization. They are concerned not to describe their
33624 own progress, but to direct the awareness of others to ways in which their own
33625 hearts and minds can be awakened.
33626 -- B. Alan Wallace, "The Seven-Point Mind Training", edited by Zara
33627 Houshmand, published by Snow Lion Publications
33629 What is method, within the context of the unity of method and wisdom? It is
33630 a dedicated heart of bodhichitta, based on love and compassion. It apprehends
33631 its object, enlightenment, with the intention to achieve it in order to
33632 benefit others. Compassion, as its basis, apprehends its object, the
33633 suffering of others, with the wish to remove it.
33634 Wisdom, on the other hand, is a correct view that understands voidness--the
33635 absence of fantasized, impossible ways of existing. Even if it is aimed at
33636 the same object as method, it apprehends that object as not existing in an
33638 The ways wisdom and compassion each apprehend their object are not at all
33639 the same. Therefore, we need to actualize these two, as method and wisdom,
33640 first separately and then together.
33641 Even if we speak about the mahamudra* that is method and wisdom, inseparable
33642 by nature in the ultimate tantric sense, the first stage for its realization
33643 is understanding the abiding nature of reality.
33644 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama and Alexander Berzin, "The Gelug/Kagyu Tradition of
33645 Mahamudra", published by Snow Lion Publications
33647 In Buddhism we speak of three types of phenomena: First, there are evident
33648 phenomena that are perceived directly.
33649 Second, there are slightly hidden phenomena, which are not accessible to
33650 immediate perception. There are differences of opinion on this even within
33651 Buddhist philosophy. Generally speaking, we think this second type of
33652 phenomena can be known indirectly by inference.
33653 One example of something known by inference is that anything arising in
33654 dependence upon causes and conditions is itself subject to disintegration and
33655 momentary change. This momentary change is not immediately evident to your
33656 senses. You can look at something with your eyes, and it does not appear to
33657 be changing right now, but by inference you can know that it is momentarily
33658 changing. This is an example of the second category of phenomena.
33659 Third, there are very concealed phenomena, which cannot be known by either
33660 of the two preceding methods. They can be known only by relying upon
33661 testimony of someone such as the Buddha.
33662 -- "Consciousness at the Crossroads: Conversations with the Dalai Lama on
33663 Brain Science and Buddhism", edited by Zara Houshmand, Robert B.
33664 Livingston, and B. Alan Wallace, published by Snow Lion Publications
33666 I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in
33667 magnificent glow, than asleep and permanent as a planet.
33670 Sometimes our life can feel devoid of meaning even though we may try in
33671 different ways to put meaning into it.... Meaning comes when we go deeply
33672 within, wait, listen, and open. It begins to come when we genuinely open to
33673 the suffering of those around us with a compassionate heart. Equally, it
33674 comes as we respond to the environment within which we live with care and
33676 The meaning or purpose to be found in bodhichitta is less associated with
33677 what we do than with the quality we bring to what we engage in. Small, simple
33678 aspects of our life can be profoundly meaningful and have deep impact both for
33679 ourselves and others. Meaning lies in the quality of heart that we put into
33681 It is not, therefore, the outer manifestation of what we can achieve that is
33682 the root of meaning. It is the undercurrent of bodhichitta's intention or
33683 purpose and meaning that flows within. What bodhichitta implies is that in
33684 attuning to our buddha nature or buddha potential, we touch a source of
33685 meaning in ourselves that will come through whatever we do.
33686 This root of meaning gives the bodhisattva the capacity to live a relatively
33687 ordinary life and transform adverse circumstances into the path. Even small
33688 things become meaningful, like the way we respond to someone's distress or a
33689 gesture of friendliness that lifts someone's day. This deeper sense of
33690 purpose is reflected in the care we give to our relationships and the
33692 Being present and responsive to what arises may mean that the eventual goal
33693 of our sense of purpose is less crucial. We are seldom, if ever, able to see
33694 fully where our path will take us, and once we are open to the meaning present
33695 in bodhichitta, the ego must surrender ambitions and allow the journey to
33697 -- Rob Preece, "The Courage to Feel: Buddhist Practices for Opening to
33698 Others", published by Snow Lion Publications
33700 We have to admit impermanence into our lives. It's important to live with
33701 impermanence as a frame of reference so that we can approach each moment or
33702 each day with a sense of humility about what we are able to do and what we are
33703 not able to do and relinquish control over things we cannot have control over.
33704 It is important to live as if things are as permanent as stone.
33705 You have to invest yourself in love and concern for people, accept people's
33706 love as if that's the only thing that exists. The commitment to living as if
33707 everything is always there forever with the acceptance that nothing is going
33709 --David Hodge and Hi-Jin Kang Hodge, "Impermanence: Embracing Change",
33710 published by Snow Lion Publications
33712 We are the people our parents warned us about. -- Jimmy Buffett
33714 To succeed in the world it is not enough to be stupid,
33715 you must also be well-mannered.
33718 I won't take my religion from any man who never works except with his mouth.
33721 Hatred does not cease through hatred at any time.
33722 Hatred ceases through love.
33723 This is an unalterable law.
33724 -- Shakyamuni Buddha
33726 The Tibetan controversies about instantaneous enlightenment through
33727 recognition of the nature of the mind have been studied by David Jackson.
33728 As he shows, it is mainly members of the Kagyu traditions in Tibet who have
33729 maintained this doctrine, although it is certainly common in Chinese Ch'an
33730 Buddhism and in the teachings of the Great Perfection in Tibet. Dolpopa
33731 quotes the position that is the object of his refutation: "Recognizing the
33732 very essence naturally purifies them, without rejection." This expresses the
33733 view that through recognition of the essence of the thoughts as the dharmakaya
33734 they are purified or dissolved into the dharmakaya, and also the idea that any
33735 affliction that arises is actually a manifestation or self-presencing of
33736 primordial awareness itself. Thus there is no need to reject thoughts or
33737 afflictions, which are naturally purified by means of the recognition. This
33738 type of viewpoint is widespread in Tibetan Buddhism.
33739 In contrast to these views, Dolpopa claims that the definition of an
33740 ordinary sentient being or a buddha, and of samsara or nirvana, is determined
33741 by the presence or absence of the incidental and temporary obscurations that
33742 veil the true nature of reality. It is not determined solely by recognition
33743 of the nature of the mind or the thoughts.
33744 ...While the ground buddhahood of the dharmakaya and the resultant
33745 buddhahood of the dharmakaya have not the slightest difference in essence,
33746 they are distinguished as ground and result by means of the presence or
33747 absence of incidental stains.
33748 -- Cyrus Stearns, "The Buddha from Dolpo: A Study of the Life and Thought
33749 of the Tibetan Master Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen", a Tsadra Foundation
33750 Series book, published by Snow Lion Publications
33752 We live in an ocean of cyclic existence whose depth and extent cannot be
33753 measured. We are troubled again and again by the afflictions of desire and
33754 hatred as if repeatedly attacked by sharks.
33755 Our mental and physical aggregates are impelled by former contaminated
33756 actions and afflictions and serve as a basis for present suffering as well as
33757 inducing future suffering. While such cyclic existence lasts, we have various
33758 thoughts of pleasure and displeasure: 'If I do this, what will people think?
33759 If I do not do this, I will be too late; I won't make any profit.' When we see
33760 something pleasant we think, 'Oh, if I could only have that!'
33761 ...Day and night, night and day we spend our lives in the company of the
33762 afflictions, generating desire for the pleasant and anger at the unpleasant,
33763 and continue thus even when dreaming, unable to remain relaxed, our minds
33764 completely and utterly mixed with thoughts of desire and hatred without
33766 To what refuge should we go? A source of refuge must have completely
33767 overcome all defects forever; it must be free of all faults. It must also
33768 have all the attributes of altruism--those attainments which are necessary for
33769 achieving others' welfare. For it is doubtful that anyone lacking these two
33770 prerequisites can bestow refuge; it would be like falling into a ditch and
33771 asking another who is in it to help you out. You need to ask someone who is
33772 standing outside the ditch for help; it is senseless to ask another who is in
33773 the same predicament. A refuge capable of protecting from the frights of
33774 manifold sufferings cannot also be bound in this suffering but must be free
33776 Furthermore, the complete attainments are necessary, for if you have fallen
33777 into a ditch, it is useless to seek help from someone standing outside it who
33778 does not wish to help or who wishes to help but has no means to do so.
33779 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Tsong-ka-pa and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Tantra in Tibet",
33780 published by Snow Lion Publications
33782 If we were forced to choose between a sense of practical application and
33783 learnedness, a sense of practical application would be more important, for one
33784 who has this will receive the full benefit of whatever he knows. The mere
33785 learnedness of one whose mind is not tamed can produce and increase bad states
33786 of consciousness, which cause unpleasantness for himself and others instead of
33787 the happiness and peace of mind that were intended. One could become jealous
33788 of those higher than oneself, competitive with equals and proud and
33789 contemptuous towards those lower and so forth. It is as if medicine had
33791 Because such danger is great, it is very important to have a composite of
33792 learnedness, a sense of practical application and goodness, without having
33793 learnedness destroy the sense of practical application or having the sense of
33794 practical application destroy learnedness.
33795 -- The Dalai Lama, "A Policy of Kindness: An Anthology of Writings By and
33796 About the Dalai Lama", compiled and edited by Sidney Piburn, Foreword
33797 by Sen. Claiborne Pell, published by Snow Lion Publications
33799 A bodhisattva, having generated a sincere and spontaneous desire to attain
33800 full enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings, enters the Mahayana
33801 path of accumulation. Here the bodhisattva cultivates the four mindfulnesses
33802 and develops mental quiescence, then passes on to the path of application,
33803 where she or he strives for a conceptual insight into emptiness. When
33804 quiescence and insight are combined in examining emptiness, the bodhisattva
33805 attains a direct, non-conceptual realization of emptiness, and thus becomes an
33806 arya, on the path of seeing.
33807 The path of seeing corresponds to the first of the ten bhumis, i.e. stages,
33808 levels, or grounds said to be traversed by a bodhisattva. The other nine
33809 bodhisattva stages are coextensive with the path of development, during the
33810 course of which the disciple completely eliminates not only the defilements
33811 that are obstacles to liberation but even the traces of defilement, which are
33812 obstacles to full enlightenment.
33813 When the path of development is completed, the disciple is ready to enter
33814 the path of no-more-training; this marks the attainment of full enlightenment,
33815 the dharmakaya, sambhogakaya, and nirmanakaya of an omniscient, compassionate,
33816 and powerful buddha.
33817 -- Geshe Lhundub Sopa, Roger Jackson, John Newman, "The Wheel of Time: The
33818 Kalachakra in Context", edited by Beth Simon, published by Snow Lion
33821 "If you fear you are running after the objects of the six senses, hold
33822 yourself with the hook:"
33823 'Employ the watchman that is mindfulness.'
33825 Someone who has been captured with a hook has no option but to go wherever
33826 he is led. In the same way, if we catch hold of our mind--which risks being
33827 distracted by the objects of the six senses--with the hook of mindfulness, and
33828 with vigilance and carefulness, this will be of enormous benefit. We should
33829 use this watchman to constantly check how many positive or negative thoughts
33830 and actions we produce during the day. When we are able to control our minds
33831 through mindfulness, everything that appears in samsara and nirvana becomes an
33832 aid in our practice and serves to confirm the meaning of the teachings. All
33833 appearances are understood as being dharmakaya. We perceive everything in its
33834 natural purity, and there is nothing we can call impure.
33835 -- Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, "Zurchungpa's Testament: A Commentary on
33836 Zurchung Sherab Trakpa's 'Eighty Chapters of Personal Advice'", based on
33837 Shechen Gyaltsap's Annotated Edition, translated by the Padmakara
33838 Translation Group, published by Snow Lion Publications
33840 A committee can make a decision that is dumber than any of its members.
33843 Art is science made clear. -- Jean Cocteau
33845 A specification that will not fit on one page of 8.5x11 inch paper
33846 cannot be understood.
33849 A vacuum is a hell of a lot better than some of the stuff
33850 that nature replaces it with.
33851 -- Tennessee Williams
33853 The trouble with being poor is that it takes up all of your time.
33854 -- Willem de Kooning
33856 We need to understand the essential nature of the broad diversity of
33857 phenomena. For example, if we are obliged to be involved frequently with a
33858 man who exhibits a personality that is true only on the surface, as well as
33859 another basic personality, it is important for us to know both of them. To
33860 engage in a relationship with this person that does not go awry, we must know
33861 both aspects of his personality. To know only the facade that he presents is
33862 insufficient; we need to know his basic disposition and abilities. Then we
33863 can know what to expect from him; and he will not deceive us.
33864 Likewise, the manifold events in the world are not non-existent; they do
33865 exist. They are able to help and hurt us--no further criterion for existence
33866 is necessary. If we do not understand their fundamental mode of existence, we
33867 are liable to be deceived, just as in the case of being involved with a person
33868 whose basic personality we do not know.
33869 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Transcendent Wisdom", translated, edited and
33870 annotated by B. Alan Wallace, published by Snow Lion Publications
33872 One has to be cautious when one is very successful since at that time there
33873 is danger of becoming prideful and becoming involved in the non-religious, and
33874 one has to be cautious also when one has undergone lack of success and so
33875 forth since there is a danger of becoming discouraged--the life of the mind,
33876 so to speak, dying--due to which harm to one's practice could be incurred.
33877 ...Specifically, in situations of low self-esteem, Shantideva recommends
33878 reflection this way:
33879 "Even very tiny bugs and worms have the Buddha nature and thus, when they
33880 encounter certain conditions, through the power of effort they can achieve
33881 the non-abiding nirvana of a Buddha. Now, I have been born as a human with
33882 the capacity to understand what is to be adopted in practice and what is to
33883 be discarded; thus, there is no reason for me to be discouraged. The great
33884 saints and so forth of the past who achieved a high level were people with
33885 a life-basis such as I have, not something separate."
33886 Through such reflection, a resurgence of will can be generated.
33887 -- "The Dalai Lama at Harvard: Lectures on the Buddhist Path to Peace by
33888 H.H. the Dalai Lama of Tibet, Tenzin Gyatso", translated and edited by
33889 Jeffrey Hopkins, published by Snow Lion Publications
33891 When we understand the evolution of our unsatisfactory experiences in cyclic
33892 existence, we will see that meditating on emptiness is their antidote. All
33893 knowable things--people and phenomena--appear to our minds to be inherently
33894 existent. We then grasp at them as existing inherently. Our inappropriate
33895 attention focuses on them, and that gives rise to the various disturbing
33896 attitudes of anger, attachment, and so on. These disturbing attitudes
33897 motivate our actions, which in turn leave karmic imprints on our mindstreams.
33898 When these imprints ripen, we meet with suffering.
33899 -- Geshe Jampa Tegchok, "Transforming Adversity into Joy and Courage: An
33900 Explanation of the Thirty-seven Practices of Bodhisattvas", edited by
33901 Thubten Chodron, published by Snow Lion Publications
33903 The essential point about this condition of potentiality is that, although
33904 there is a causal relationship between the physical world and the world of
33905 mental phenomena, in terms of their own continuum one cannot be said to be the
33906 cause of the other. A mental phenomenon, such as a thought or an emotion,
33907 must come from a preceding mental phenomenon; likewise, a particle of matter
33908 must come from a preceding particle of matter.
33909 Of course, there is an intimate relationship between the two. We know that
33910 mental states can influence material phenomena, such as the body; and,
33911 similarly, that material phenomena can act as contributory factors for certain
33912 subjective experiences. This is something that we can observe in our lives.
33913 Much of our gross level of consciousness is very closely connected to our
33914 body, and in fact we often use terminology and conventions which reflect this.
33915 For example, when we say 'human mind' or 'human consciousness' we are using
33916 the human body as the basis to define a particular mind state. Likewise, at
33917 the gross levels of mind such as our sensory experiences, it is very obvious
33918 that these are heavily dependent upon our body and some physiological states.
33919 When a part of our body is hurt or damaged, for instance, we immediately
33920 experience the impact on our mental state. Nevertheless, the principle
33921 remains that mental phenomena must come from preceding phenomena of the same
33923 If we trace mental phenomena back far enough, as in the case of an
33924 individual's life, we come to the first instant of consciousness in this life.
33925 Once we have traced its continuum to this point of beginning, we then have
33926 three options: we can either say that the first instant of consciousness in
33927 this life must come from a preceding instant of consciousness which existed in
33928 the previous life. Or we can say that this first instant of consciousness
33929 came from nowhere--it just sort of 'popped up'. Or we can say that it came
33930 from a material cause.
33931 From the Buddhist point of view, the last two alternatives are deeply
33932 problematic. The Buddhist understanding is that, in terms of its continuum,
33933 consciousness or mind is beginningless. Mental phenomena are beginningless.
33934 Therefore, the person or the being--which is essentially a designation based
33935 on the continuum of the mind--is also devoid of beginning.
33936 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Lighting the Way", translated by Geshe Thupten
33937 Jinpa, published by Snow Lion Publications
33939 If someone wants a sheep, then that means that he exists.
33940 -- Antoine de Saint-Exupery
33942 If I were two-faced, would I be wearing this one? -- Abraham Lincoln
33944 There is something about the outside of a horse
33945 that is good for the inside of a man.
33946 -- Sir Winston Churchill
33948 Life is a party on death row. Recognizing mortality means we are willing to
33949 see what is true. Seeing what is true is grounding. It brings us into the
33950 present and, eventually, into presence. It also brings us into our bodies,
33951 especially if we combine meditation on impermanence with an energetic
33952 awareness at the base of the spine. At first, the important thing about
33953 impermanence seems to be the limited time we have in this precious life. This
33954 is crucial and foundational, and yet it is not the whole story.
33955 The teachings on impermanence concern the death of a self that never
33956 existed. Our sense of such a false and finite self, which initially is
33957 inseparable from our wish to practice, can dissolve. Understanding
33958 impermanence, Khetsun Rinpoche says, will lead you into the natural clarity of
33959 your own mind. To know impermanence is thus not only a path leading to what
33960 Dzogchen traditions speak of as "unbounded wholeness" (thigle nyag cig), it is
33961 also integral to that wholeness.
33962 -- Anne C. Klein, "Heart Essence of the Vast Expanse: A Story of
33963 Transmission", foreword by Adzom Paylo Rinpoche, preface by Tulku
33964 Thondup Rinpoche, published by Snow Lion Publications
33966 Now, you see, world peace through mental peace is an absolute. It is the
33967 ultimate goal. But as for the method, there are many factors that must be
33968 taken into consideration. Under a particular set of circumstances, a certain
33969 approach may be useful while under other circumstances another may be useful.
33970 This is a very complicated issue which compels us to study the situation at a
33971 particular point of time. We must take into account the other side's
33972 motivation, etc., so it is a very complex matter.
33973 But we must always keep in mind that all of us want happiness. War, on the
33974 other hand, only brings suffering--that is very clear. Even if we are
33975 victorious, that victory means sacrificing many people. It means their
33976 suffering. Therefore, the important thing is peace. But how do we achieve
33977 peace? Is it done through hatred, through extreme competition, through anger?
33978 It is obvious that through these means it is impossible to achieve any form of
33979 lasting world peace. Hence, the only alternative is to achieve world peace
33980 through mental peace, through peace of mind. World peace is achieved based
33981 only on a sense of brotherhood and sisterhood, on the basis of compassion.
33982 The clear, genuine realization of the oneness of all mankind is something
33983 important. It is something we definitely need. Wherever I go, I always
33984 express these views.
33985 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Answers: Discussions with Western Buddhists",
33986 edited by Jose Ignacio Cabezon, published by Snow Lion Publications
33988 koan for dependency inversion:
33990 High-level modules should not depend upon low-level modules.
33991 Both should depend upon abstractions.
33993 Abstractions should not depend upon details.
33994 Details should depend upon abstractions.
33996 People harm others only when they are unhappy. No one wakes up in the morning
33997 and says, "I feel so great today! I think I'll go out and harm someone!" When
33998 we can allow ourselves to know the depth of the pain and confusion felt by
33999 those who have harmed us, compassion--the wish that they be free from such
34000 suffering--can easily arise. Thinking in this way does not mean whitewashing
34001 or denying harm that was done. Rather, we acknowledge it, but go beyond
34002 amassing resentment, because we know that grudges help neither ourselves nor
34004 -- Thubten Chodron, "Working with Anger", published by Snow Lion Publications
34006 The reason why the qualities of a teacher are described at such length in
34007 the scriptures is because we should know what to look for when seeking a guru
34008 capable of opening up the Buddhist paths within us. To take up training under
34009 an unqualified teacher can be disastrous. It is said in the tantric
34010 scriptures that one is not unwise to examine a guru for twelve years before
34011 accepting that person as one's teacher. The choice of teachers is an
34012 important one and must be made carefully.
34013 Not only does the guru perform the work of the Buddhas and thus equal them
34014 in activity, in terms of kindness the guru surpasses them. Of all Buddhas of
34015 the past who have manifested as universal teachers, it is said that Buddha
34016 Shakyamuni is kindest to us; for it is with his teachings that we have come
34017 into contact...even though Buddha Shakyamuni is most kind of the past Buddhas,
34018 still we are unable to receive teachings from him or witness his inspiring
34020 Were all the Buddhas and lineage masters of the past to manifest before us
34021 at this very moment, we would not be able to recognize them as enlightened
34022 beings. Due to our not having a sufficiently strong karmic connection with
34023 them, they would be unable to affect us. The guru performs the great kindness
34024 of coming to us in an ordinary form which we can perceive and to which we can
34025 relate, and carries out the work of the Buddhas in our lives. The fact that a
34026 donkey like us is brought into the family of spiritual beings is purely due to
34027 the kindness of the guru. The Buddhas can only come to us through him or her.
34028 Thus if we do not respect the guru and heed his or her teachings, what hope do
34029 we have? We should meditate upon the guru's unexcelled kindness and give
34030 birth to profound appreciation.
34031 The reason why we have been wandering unceasingly in cyclic existence since
34032 time immemorial is because we have not met a spiritual master before; or even
34033 if we have met one we did not cultivate an effective relationship with him or
34034 her. We should determine to take the opportunities afforded by our present
34035 human situation and cultivate a spiritual practice under the guidance of a
34037 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Path to Enlightenment", edited and translated
34038 by Glenn H. Mullin, published by Snow Lion Publications
34040 There was once a Spartan boy,
34041 who, one night, stole a fox.
34042 In order not to be caught,
34043 he hid it under his cloak.
34044 He stood stock still as his
34045 elder looked him over,
34046 but all the while the fox
34047 chewed away at his insides.
34048 The boy bit his lip against
34049 the pain until he inevitably fell,
34050 dead to the ground.
34053 An exalting task for all humankind
34054 The West is fascinated by efficiency. And there is no doubt that in many
34055 areas its efficiency is quite admirable. That is why I would like to ask this
34056 question, which seems natural to me: why not apply this technical efficiency
34057 to protect all forms of life? This would be an exalting task for all
34058 humankind, especially as we seem to lack a truly large-scale project or ideal.
34059 It is difficult, yet it is absolutely necessary. If the question of human
34060 survival is not solved, there will be nobody left to solve the problem. And
34061 Buddhism can help here.
34062 -- "The Dalai Lama's Little Book of Inner Peace: The Essential Life and
34063 Teachings by His Holiness the Dalai Lama"
34065 If you continue to practice meditation, then your experience will gradually
34066 increase and there will be greater and greater stability and greater and
34067 greater lucidity. However, the experiences that can arise in meditation can
34068 take various different forms. And in spite of the fact that the person has a
34069 real recognition of the mind's nature, there is still the possibility or
34070 probability of fluctuation in experience even after that.
34071 Sometimes you may feel that you have amazing, tremendous meditation, and at
34072 other times you may feel that you have no meditation at all. This
34073 characterizes meditation experience, which fluctuates a great deal.
34074 Realization, which is distinct from experience, does not change, but
34075 experiences can fluctuate a great deal or alternate between good and bad.
34076 There will still be times when you will have what you regard as good
34077 experiences and, in contrast, what you regard as bad experiences. When that
34078 occurs, just keep on looking. Don't get distracted or sidetracked by the
34079 experience. Whatever meditation experience arises, you should recognize that
34080 it is transitory. As is said, "meditation experience is like mist, it will
34082 Experiences are different from the actual fact of the recognition itself.
34083 Because they are ephemeral experiences, they aren't worth investing in. So if
34084 you have a bad meditation experience, do not be alarmed, because it too will
34085 vanish. If you have a good meditation experience, you need to continue; if
34086 you have a bad meditation experience, you need to continue. In either case,
34087 you simply need to continue to rest in this recognition of the mind's nature.
34088 -- Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, "Pointing Out the Dharmakaya", published by
34089 Snow Lion Publications
34091 The person witnessing another person's suffering has only one appropriate
34092 response: "How can I help?" When karma comes to fruition and causes suffering,
34093 the response should never be, "This is your karma. It's your destiny, so I
34094 can't help." Your own karma may very well present itself as an opportunity to
34095 help a suffering person. Misunderstanding actions and their consequences can
34097 From the Buddhist perspective, the type of fortune we encounter, happiness
34098 or sorrow, is not due to somebody doing something to us. If I win the
34099 lottery, it is not because Buddha selected me for a bonus. No god or buddha
34100 is responsible for what happens to us....This does not imply that a suffering
34101 person is morally degenerate any more than suffering the consequences of
34102 eating contaminated food does. The suffering we experience is due to karma
34103 accumulated under the influence of delusion and mental afflictions. This is
34104 true for all sentient beings.
34105 The Buddhist response to the non-virtues we all commit while strapped to the
34106 wheel of samsara can be inspiring and encouraging. The Buddhist teaching is
34107 that it is possible to neutralize negative karmic seeds embedded in the stream
34108 of consciousness. Deeds cannot be undone, but it is possible to purify one's
34109 mind-stream so that the impact of karmic seeds will be nullified.
34110 The method used to purify the mind-stream is the "four remedial powers"
34111 [remorse, reliance, resolve, and purification]. The metaphor for the
34112 effectiveness of the four remedial powers is that of burning a seed. Karma,
34113 like a seed, can be scorched in the fire of purification so that it will not
34114 sprout. The seed won't vanish, but it will not sprout.
34115 -- B. Alan Wallace, "Buddhism with an Attitude: The Tibetan Seven-Point
34116 Mind Training", published by Snow Lion Publications
34118 ...it is said that through the power of believing one's own body, speech,
34119 and mind to be undifferentiable from the deity's exalted body, speech, and
34120 mind all one's physical actions and movements are seals and all one's speech
34121 is mantra. In this way the Vajrapani Initiation Tantra says:
34122 "A son or daughter of lineage* who has seen a mandala, who generates the
34123 mind of enlightenment, who is compassionate, skilled in means and in teaching
34124 the ways of letters--the door of Secret Mantra--should think thus, 'Separate
34125 from speech, there is no mind. Separate from mind, there is no speech.
34126 Separate from mind, there is no divine form. Mind itself is speech; speech
34127 itself is mind; divine form itself is also mind, and speech itself is also
34129 "If a mantra practitioner believes in this way that these are
34130 undifferentiable, he attains purity of mind. At those times when he has a
34131 pure mind, he always views in all ways his own body to be the same as the
34132 deity's body, his own speech to be the same as the deity's speech, and his own
34133 mind to be the same as the deity's mind; then, he is in meditative equipoise."
34134 * One who is a suitable vessel for the teaching.
34135 -- "Deity Yoga in Action and Performance Tantra", by His Holiness the Dalai
34136 Lama, Tsong-ka-pa, and Jeffrey Hopkins, published by Snow Lion Pub.
34138 My fellow Americans. As a young boy, I dreamed of being a baseball, but
34139 tonight I say, we must move forward, not backward, upward not forward,
34140 and always twirling, twirling, twirling towards freedom.
34141 -- Kodos gives a speech, "Treehouse of Horror VII"
34143 Mind is empty like an illusion;
34144 Separate from body, it cannot achieve.
34145 Body also is like a wall;
34146 Separate from mind it is without activity.
34147 Similarly the yoga of seals....
34150 Mind separate from body cannot openly display activities; body separate from
34151 mind is the same. Rather, actions must be done upon the aggregation of mind
34152 and body. Just so, here when practicing techniques for transforming basic--or
34153 ordinary--body, speech, mind, and activities into those of the fruit stage of
34154 Buddhahood, it is necessary both to cultivate (1) internal meditative
34155 stabilization on a divine body, on a vajra on a moon disc at the heart, on a
34156 seed syllable on a vajra in the throat, and on a vajra at the heart, and (2)
34157 at the same time to construct the appropriate gesture, or seal, with the
34158 hands. These must be done in unison, for it is said in Yoga Tantra ritual
34159 texts that if you fail to construct seals with the hands, the rite is
34160 nullified. Unlike on other occasions, it is not just that if the hand-seals
34161 are constructed, it is better, but if not, there is no fault of nullifying the
34162 rite. Here, they must be done.
34163 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Dzong-ka-ba and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Yoga Tantra: Paths
34164 to Magical Feats", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, published by
34165 Snow Lion Publications
34167 Following the Vajrayana teachings, we do not give up or reject anything;
34168 rather we make use of whatever is there. We look at our negative emotions and
34169 accept them for what they are. Then we relax in this state of acceptance.
34170 Using the emotion itself, it is transformed or transmuted into the positive,
34171 into its true face.
34172 When, for instance, strong anger or desire arises, a Vajrayana practitioner
34173 is not afraid of it. Instead he or she would follow advice along the
34174 following lines: Have the courage to expose yourself to your emotions. Do not
34175 reject or suppress them, but do not follow them either. Just look your
34176 emotion directly in the eye and then try to relax within the very emotion
34177 itself. There is no confrontation involved. You don't do anything.
34178 Remaining detached, you are neither carried away by emotion nor do you reject
34179 it as something negative. Then, you can look at your emotions almost casually
34180 and be rather amused.
34181 When our usual habit of magnifying our feelings and our fascination
34182 resulting from that are gone, there will be no negativity and no fuel. We can
34183 relax within them. What we are trying to do, therefore, is to skillfully and
34184 subtly deal with our emotions. This is largely equivalent to the ability of
34185 exerting discipline.
34186 -- Ringu Tulku, "Daring Steps: Traversing the Path of the Buddha", edited and
34187 translated by Rosemarie Fuchs, published by Snow Lion Publications
34189 Although we did not have the fortune to see Buddha Shakyamuni himself in
34190 person, we do have the great fortune of having access to his own precious
34191 teachings, which is actually superior to seeing him in person. The same is
34192 the case with masters like Nagarjuna and his immediate disciples. If we make
34193 the necessary effort, and undertake the practice and study, we can fully enjoy
34194 a benefit equal to that of having met them in person.
34195 ...So visualize in space, in front of you, all the exalted masters,
34196 including Buddha Shakyamuni, Nagarjuna, Aryadeva, eighty mahasiddhas, the
34197 Nyingma masters, Atisha, the Kadampa masters, the five great masters of the
34198 Sakya tradition, the lineages of Lamdre practice, the great masters of the
34199 Kagyu lineage, such as Marpa, Milarepa, and also the great masters of the
34200 Gelugpa lineage, Lama Tsongkhapa, and all of their followers.
34201 Around you also are the protectors who have taken the oath in the presence
34202 of Buddha Shakyamuni to safeguard and protect the precious doctrine of Buddha.
34203 Visualize as well the harmful spirits--actually an embodiment of your own
34204 delusions--from which you are being protected by the guardians. Also
34205 visualize various emanations of the buddhas actively working for the benefit
34206 of all living beings. Surrounding you are all sentient beings...undergoing
34207 the sufferings of their individual realms of existence. Now generate a strong
34208 force of compassion directed towards all these sentient beings, particularly
34210 Having created this mental image, question yourself as to how all these
34211 objects of refuge, the buddhas and the masters of the past, achieved such a
34212 high state of realization and reached a state where they can provide
34213 protection to all living beings. You will find that it is because of their
34214 having made effort in the practice of dharma in general and, in particular,
34215 the practice of bodhicitta*. Think as follows: "I shall, from today, follow
34216 in the footsteps of these great masters, and take the initiative of generating
34218 * The aspiration to achieve enlightenment for the sake of all beings.
34219 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Path to Bliss", translated by Geshe Thupten
34220 Jinpa, edited by Christine Cox, published by Snow Lion Publications
34222 To forget how to dig the earth and tend the soil is to forget ourselves.
34225 I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire
34226 to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day.
34229 The question then is "How do we cultivate and develop this bodhicitta, the
34230 mind of enlightenment?" The key, and the root, is great compassion.
34231 Compassion here refers to a state of mind that makes it utterly unbearable for
34232 us to see the suffering of other sentient beings. The way to develop this is
34233 through understanding how we feel about our own suffering. When we become
34234 conscious of our own suffering, we have a spontaneous wish to be free from it.
34235 If we are able to extend that feeling to all other beings, through realizing
34236 the common instinctive desire we all have to avoid and overcome suffering,
34237 then that state of mind is called 'great compassion'.
34238 All of us have the potential to develop that kind of compassion, because
34239 whenever we see people who are suffering, especially those close to us, we
34240 immediately feel empathy towards them, and witness a spontaneous response
34241 within our minds. So all we have to do is to bring that potential out, and
34242 then to develop it to become so impartial that it can include all sentient
34243 beings within its embrace, whether friend or foe.
34244 To cultivate this great compassion within ourselves, first of all we need to
34245 develop what is called loving-kindness, a feeling of connectedness or
34246 closeness with all living creatures. This closeness and intimacy should not
34247 be confused with the kind of feeling we normally have toward our loved ones,
34248 which is tainted by attachment...ego and selfishness. On the contrary, we are
34249 seeking to develop a feeling of closeness towards other sentient beings, and
34250 affection for them, by reflecting on the fact that suffering is inherent in
34251 their very nature, on the helplessness of their situation, and on the
34252 instinctive desire they all have to overcome suffering.
34253 The greater the force of our loving kindness towards other beings, the
34254 greater the force of our compassion. And the greater the force of our
34255 compassion, the easier it will be for us to develop a sense of responsibility
34256 for taking upon ourselves the task of working for others. The greater that
34257 sense of responsibility, the more successful we will be in generating
34258 bodhicitta, the genuine altruistic aspiration to attain buddhahood for the
34260 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "Dzogchen: The Heart Essence of the Great
34261 Perfection", translated by Thupten Jinpa and Richard Barron, Foreword by
34262 Sogyal Rinpoche, edited by Patrick Gaffney, published by Snow Lion Pub.
34264 Understanding the power of the path provides the inspiration that keeps us
34265 going forward; exploring its pain provides the understanding of what holds us
34266 back. It doesn't take long to discover the power, nor to feel the pain.
34267 Waking up hurts. And if we don't understand why, we will run from the pain
34268 and abandon the path. There are countless people who have become spiritual
34269 dropouts, or who are lost in detours because they have not understood
34271 When your arm falls asleep, it prickles and burns as it returns to life.
34272 Frozen fingers sting when they thaw; we jolt awake when the alarm clock rings.
34273 But physical instances of anesthesia are mild compared to the anesthesia born
34274 of ignorance, and so is the level of discomfort upon awakening. The longer
34275 something has been asleep, the more painful it is to wake it up. If your
34276 fingers are merely cold, it is easy to warm them up. But if your fingers are
34277 frozen solid, it hurts like hell when they thaw. According to the traditions,
34278 unless one is already a buddha, an "awakened one," one has been snoring from
34279 beginningless time, and it can really hurt before we completely wake up.
34280 Mingyur Rinpoche writes,
34281 "I'd like to say that everything got better once I was safely settled among
34282 the other participants in the three-year retreat.... On the contrary,
34283 however, my first year in retreat was one of the worst in my life. All the
34284 symptoms of anxiety I'd ever experienced--physical tension, tightness in the
34285 throat, dizziness, and waves of panic--attacked in full force. In Western
34286 terms, I was having a nervous breakdown. In hindsight, I can say that what I
34287 was actually going through was what I like to call a 'nervous breakthrough'."
34288 -- Dr. Andrew Holecek, "The Power and the Pain: Transforming Spiritual
34289 Hardship into Joy", published by Snow Lion Publications
34291 Through our eyes the universe is perceiving itself, and through our ears the
34292 universe is listening to its harmonies. We are the witness through which the
34293 universe becomes conscious of its glory, of its magnificence.
34294 -- McMurdo Station Forklift Driver paraphrasing Alan Watts
34296 As human beings we are deeply insecure and we do not know who we truly are.
34297 Of course this problem does not show on the surface of our lives. We are
34298 always telling ourselves who we are, based on this notion that we are separate
34299 from everything else. This sense that "I am separate" is the ground of our
34300 sense of self. It is reinforced by various false identities that we cling to,
34301 notions that "I am this" or "I am that." Whatever beliefs we have about
34302 ourselves are just another extension. Most of the time when we look around,
34303 we immediately see that our surroundings are validating these false
34304 identities. For this very reason, it is a challenging endeavor to deconstruct
34305 this illusion of self.
34306 Every time we look into our mirror we might have some thought about
34307 ourselves. Each of these thoughts adds up. They become the conceptual bricks
34308 we use to keep building this illusory castle of self. Yet, there is a
34309 suspicion that this notion of self might be very fragile and transient, and
34310 this thought is silently lurking somewhere in our consciousness. Most of the
34311 time this suspicion is not brought into the light of awareness, but if it is,
34312 some deep, inner wisdom will arise without choice.
34313 Our suspicion of the fragility of this false notion of self can go in one of
34314 two directions. In general it becomes a source of fear, anxiety, and
34315 insecurity. We often see people who are fearful and overly defensive when it
34316 comes to their own identity. We ourselves tend to become fearful if our
34317 identity is threatened. But at other times the suspicion can go another way.
34318 When that happens, it can be a life-changing revelation that can lead us to
34319 the realization of the highest level of truth. This idea is not some new,
34320 lofty theory. It is timeless wisdom that has been realized by many people in
34321 human history. Buddha taught this wisdom, and in his tradition it is called
34322 anatman or "no self." Anatman, or "no self," is the term used to mean that one
34323 has seen through this false sense of self. One has seen that this false sense
34324 of self is merely an identification with one's roles in life. It is just a
34325 mask, not the truth.
34326 -- Anam Thubten, "No Self, No Problem", edited by Sharon Roe, published by
34327 Snow Lion Publications
34329 It is common worldly knowledge that by believing untrue information to be
34330 true we fall into confusion and are harmed. Similarly, by believing phenomena
34331 to be inherently existent when in fact they are not inherently existent, we
34332 are also harmed. For example, with respect to the different ways in which
34333 there can be a consciousness of 'I', there is a definite difference between
34334 the way the 'I' is apprehended when desire, hatred, pride and so forth are
34335 generated based on this 'I', and the way the 'I' is apprehended when we are
34336 relaxed without any of those attitudes being manifest.
34337 Similarly, there is the mere consciousness that apprehends an article in a
34338 store before we buy it, and there is the consciousness apprehending that
34339 article after it has been bought, when it is adhered to as 'mine' and grasped
34340 with attachment. Both these consciousnesses have the same object, and in both
34341 cases the mode of appearance of the article is the appearance of it as
34342 inherently existent. However, there is the difference of the presence or
34343 absence of our adhering to it as inherently or independently existent.
34344 ...a consciousness conceiving inherent existence precedes any bad
34345 consciousness, leading it on by the nose, and also accompanies, or aids, many
34346 other bad consciousnesses as well. Thus, if there were no ignorance
34347 conceiving inherent existence, then there would be no chance for desire,
34348 hatred and so forth to be generated.
34349 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Buddhism of Tibet", translated and edited by
34350 Jeffrey Hopkins, with Anne Klein, published by Snow Lion Publications
34354 As practitioners we will face many obstacles and sidetracks on our path to
34355 liberation, and these will provide us with many challenges along the way. We
34356 shouldn't allow our practice to become interrupted due to these obstacles and
34357 sidetracks, such as the appearance and disappearance of the many friends we
34358 will have over the course of our lives.
34359 We also shouldn't allow our practice to become interrupted by a change in
34360 the availability or quality of food and shelter. And we shouldn't allow our
34361 practice to become interrupted by the obstacles and sidetracks presented by
34362 the many distractions of mind that are readily available in the mundane world
34363 of our external environment. We shouldn't allow our practice to be
34364 interrupted by obstacles and sidetracks that arise due to the desire and
34365 attachment we feel for loved ones, or our aversion to enemies, or our
34366 indifference towards others. Finally, we should not allow our practice to
34367 become interrupted by our desire to accumulate wealth, or by our attachment to
34368 our material possessions. Only an advanced practitioner, motivated by deep
34369 bodhichitta, can get through these obstacles and avoid these sidetracks to
34370 reach their goal of liberation from samsara.
34371 -- Lama Dudjom Dorjee, "Heartfelt Advice", published by Snow Lion Pub.
34373 Cultivating an aspiration to help other sentient beings becomes a cause for
34374 wanting to achieve Buddhahood for the sake of all sentient beings. These are
34375 the two levels of the awakening mind of bodhichitta.
34376 Such a mind cannot be cultivated in a mere few months or years, but this
34377 does not mean it cannot be cultivated at all. If you continue your practice
34378 to cultivate bodhichitta, a time will come when you will be successful. For
34379 example, in the initial stage you may not even understand the meaning of the
34380 word bodhichitta. You might wonder how you could ever cultivate such a mind.
34381 But through repeated practice and familiarity, you will gradually come closer
34383 It is the nature of conditioned things that they change depending on causes
34384 and conditions. So it is important to recall the advantages and benefits of
34385 such a mind and cultivate a strong determination to achieve it. Make ardent
34386 prayers. Whether you sleep, walk, or sit, you should think: "How good it
34387 would be if I could cultivate such a mind." Try to cultivate bodhichitta even
34388 on an aspirational level. If you spend your days in such repeated and
34389 persistent practice, you can definitely develop it. Make the determination to
34390 cultivate it even if it will take many aeons. As Shantideva prays in his
34391 Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life:
34393 As long as space endures
34394 And as long as sentient beings remain,
34396 To dispel the sufferings of all sentient beings.
34398 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Stages of Meditation", root text by Kamalashila,
34399 translated by Geshe Lobsang Jordhen, Losang Choephel Ganchenpa, and
34400 Jeremy Russell, published by Snow Lion Publications
34402 The theory of dependent-arising can be applied everywhere. One benefit of
34403 applying this theory is that viewing a situation this way gives you a more
34404 holistic picture, since whatever the situation is--good or bad--it depends on
34405 causes and conditions. An event is not under its own power but depends on
34406 many present causes and conditions as well as many past causes and conditions.
34407 Otherwise, it could not come into being.
34408 When you think from this viewpoint, you can see much more of the whole
34409 picture, and from this wider perspective, you can see the reality of the
34410 situation, its interdependence. With the help of this relational outlook, the
34411 action that you take will be realistic.
34412 ...Failure to look at the whole picture means realism is lost. The attitude
34413 that money alone is sufficient leads to unforeseen consequences. Money is
34414 certainly necessary; for instance, if you thought that religious retreat in
34415 meditation alone was sufficient, you would not have anything to eat. Many
34416 factors have to be considered. With awareness of the fuller picture, your
34417 outlook becomes reasonable, and your actions become practical, and in this way
34418 favorable results can be achieved.
34419 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "How to See Yourself As You Really Are",
34420 translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, Ph.D.
34422 Fear and Fearlessness.
34424 Perhaps the first reaction we have to our own suffering is fear. Fear
34425 arises in us almost automatically when we experience strong emotions or pain.
34426 We don't have to sit there and generate fear--it just arises. When we
34427 experience a disturbing emotion such as jealousy we think, "No, I don't want
34428 this." We would rather not experience it. However, if we examine fear
34429 closely, we see that it is a thought to which we have been habituating our
34430 mind for a very long time. We have repeated this thought pattern of fear for
34431 many years, and from a Buddhist point of view, many lifetimes.
34432 In just the same way, when we habituate our minds to being fearless, to
34433 being brave and open towards our emotions, fearlessness will also arise
34434 naturally. In order for this to happen, we must train in applying antidotes
34435 to our thought patterns that are caught up in fear. In this way, we transcend
34436 fear first through a conceptual process, which later becomes nonconceptual, a
34437 natural fearlessness. In order to become fearless in this way, we need
34438 determination and the willingness to face our emotions. With that strong
34439 determination and courage, fearlessness will arise effortlessly.
34440 -- "Trainings in Compassion: Manuals on the Meditation of Avalokiteshvara",
34441 trans. by Tyler Dewar under the guidance of The Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche,
34442 published by Snow Lion Publications
34444 There is both a reason and a purpose for cultivating the meditative
34445 stabilization observing exhalation and inhalation of the breath. The reason
34446 is mainly to purify impure motivations. What exactly is to be purified? The
34447 main of these are the three poisons--desire, hatred, and obscuration. Even
34448 though we have these at all times and even though the meditator will still
34449 retain them, she or he is seeking to suppress their manifest functioning at
34450 that time. The specific purpose for cleansing impure motivations before
34451 meditation is to dispel bad motivations connected with this lifetime, such as
34452 having hatred toward enemies, attachment to friends, and so forth.
34453 In terms of the practice I am explaining here, even the thought of a
34454 religious practitioner of small capacity is included within impure
34455 motivations; such a person engages in practice mainly for the sake of a good
34456 future lifetime. Similarly, if on this occasion one has the motivation of a
34457 religious practitioner of middling capacity--that of only oneself escaping
34458 from cyclic existence, this is also impure.
34459 What is a pure motivation? To take as one's aim the welfare of all sentient
34460 beings. This is the motivation of a religious practitioner of great capacity.
34461 Meditators should imagine or manifest their own impure motivation in the form
34462 of smoke, and with the exhalation of breath should expel all bad motivation.
34463 When inhaling, they should imagine that all the blessings and good qualities
34464 of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, in the form of bright light, are inhaled into
34465 them. This practice is called purification by way of the descent of ambrosia.
34466 There are many forms of this purification, but the essence of the practice is
34468 -- Geshe Gedun Lodro, "Calm Abiding and Special Insight: Achieving Spiritual
34469 Transformation Through Meditation", translated and edited by Jeffrey
34470 Hopkins, published by Snow Lion Publications
34472 Tsongkhapa pays homage to the "foremost holy lamas," for it is in dependence
34473 upon a qualified lama that the three principal aspects of the path are
34475 The high title "lama" alone does not qualify someone as a lama; the good
34476 qualities associated with the title must also be present. The three words--
34477 foremost, holy, and lama--set forth the three qualities of a lama.
34478 "Foremost" describes a person who has diminished emphasis on this lifetime
34479 and is primarily concerned with future lifetimes and deeper topics. Such a
34480 person has a longer perspective than the shortsighted one of those who mainly
34481 look to the affairs of this life and thus, in relation to common beings whose
34482 emphasis is mainly on this life, is the foremost, or a leader.
34483 "Holy" refers to one who, as a result of developing renunciation for all
34484 forms of cyclic existence, is not attached to any of its marvels and is
34485 seeking liberation. A holy person has turned his or her mind away from
34486 attachment outside to the better things of cyclic existence and focused it
34488 In the word "lama", "la" means high, and "ma" is a negative, which indicates
34489 that there is none higher; this is a person who has turned away from self-
34490 cherishing to cherishing others, has turned away from the lower concern for
34491 personal benefit in order to achieve the higher purpose of attaining benefit
34493 -- "Kindness, Clarity, and Insight 25th Anniversary Edition", by The
34494 Fourteenth Dalai Lama, His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso, edited and translated
34495 by Jeffrey Hopkins, co-edited by Elizabeth Napper, published by Snow Lion
34498 ...beginning with an attitude
34499 Of love for all living creatures,
34500 Consider beings, excluding none,
34501 Suffering in the three bad rebirths,
34502 Suffering birth, death and so forth.
34504 The" attitude of love" to which the text refers is the affection which sees
34505 all living beings as lovable. The stronger our affection the more easily
34506 compassion arises and the more intense and steadfast it is. Compassion can
34507 arise without it, but it will not be consistent. Unless we see all living
34508 beings as near, dear, appealing and beloved, we won't care what happens to
34509 them. On the contrary, we may even wish more suffering on those we dislike.
34510 That affection is what a doting mother feels for the apple of her eye, what a
34511 dog-owner feels for a beloved pet--a warm feeling that makes you want to hug
34512 and pat and say, "Adorable!"
34513 At present our feelings of affection are restricted to those we like and,
34514 even then, vanish quite quickly if they do something that goes against our
34515 wishes. It's a tall order to ask us to feel affection toward all living
34516 beings. It doesn't come naturally, which is why we need to train ourselves to
34517 see them in a new way.
34518 -- "Atisha's Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment", commentary by Geshe Sonam
34519 Rinchen, translated and edited by Ruth Sonam, published by Snow Lion
34522 Why should one work so hard to please people, doing all sorts of things for
34523 others in order to make them feel happy? If one can't bear one's enemy's
34524 happiness, then why should one do all sorts of things to make anyone else
34526 Shantideva explains an inconsistency regarding this issue. He notes that
34527 when praise is directed toward oneself, when people speak highly of oneself,
34528 one not only feels happy but also expects others to be happy when they hear
34529 this praise. However, this is totally inconsistent with one's attitude toward
34530 others. When people praise others, then not only does one disapprove of
34531 others' happiness but one's own peace of mind and happiness are destroyed as
34532 well. So there seems to be an inconsistency when it comes to relating to
34533 praise directed toward oneself and praise directed toward others.
34534 Then, especially for a Bodhisattva practitioner who has dedicated his or her
34535 life to bringing about joy and happiness in others and leading them to the
34536 ultimate state of happiness, to be jealous of others' happiness and joy is
34537 totally inappropriate. In fact, one should feel that if other sentient beings
34538 of their own accord, from their own efforts, gain any little experience of
34539 happiness and joy here and there, we should be all the more grateful, because
34540 without our helping them, they have been able to achieve these joyful
34541 experiences and happiness.
34542 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Healing Anger: The Power of Patience from a
34543 Buddhist Perspective", translated by Geshe Thupten Jinpa, published by
34544 Snow Lion Publications
34546 What is meant by going for refuge is that you are seeking refuge from some
34547 fear. All the objects [Buddha, lama, guru, etc.] in front of you are what is
34548 known as the causal refuge, because they serve as the cause for bringing about
34549 the resultant refuge within you. You should entrust yourself to these objects
34550 from the depth of your heart, and you should see the objects as protectors.
34551 The resultant state of your own future realizations, becoming an arya being
34552 and attaining buddhahood--which depends on your own actualization of the path-
34553 -is called the resultant refuge. Someone in difficulty seeking the assistance
34554 of a high official is analogous to someone seeking refuge in the causal
34556 But depending upon others' protection forever is not a courageous way of
34557 life; therefore, one has to try to achieve a state where one is no longer
34558 dependent upon such a refuge, and this is likened to taking refuge in the
34559 resultant buddha, dharma, and sangha. That is the process of taking refuge by
34560 a person of high faculty and courage. This practice should be done not for
34561 the sake of oneself alone but rather for the sake of all other sentient
34562 beings. When you cultivate such an aspiration focused toward the achievement
34563 of the omniscient state, it is very much like the generation of the
34565 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Union of Bliss and Emptiness: Teachings on the
34566 Practice of Guru Yoga", translated by Thupten Jinpa, published by Snow
34569 Many of the methods of practicing Dharma that are learned during waking can,
34570 upon development of dream awareness, be applied in the dream condition. In
34571 fact, one may develop these practices more easily and speedily within the
34572 Dream State if one has the capacity to dream lucidly. There are even some
34573 books that say that if a person applies a practice within a dream, the
34574 practice is nine times more effective than when it is applied during the
34576 The dream condition is unreal. When we discover this for ourselves within
34577 the dream, the immense power of this realization can eliminate obstacles
34578 related to conditioned vision. For this reason, dream practice is very
34579 important for liberating us from habits. We need this powerful assistance in
34580 particular because the emotional attachments, conditioning, and ego
34581 enhancement which compose our normal life have been strengthened over our
34583 In a real sense, all the visions that we see in our lifetime are like the
34584 images of a dream. If we examine them well, the big dream of life and the
34585 smaller dreams of one night are not very different. If we truly see the
34586 essential nature of both, we will find that there really is no difference
34587 between them. If we can finally liberate ourselves from the chains of
34588 emotions, attachments, and ego by this realization, we have the possibility of
34589 ultimately becoming enlightened.
34590 -- Chogyal Namkhai Norbu, "Dream Yoga and the Practice of Natural Light",
34591 ed. & intro. by Michael Katz, published by Snow Lion Publications
34593 Cultivating Memory and Joyful Effort
34595 [This] foundational practice is engaged upon awaking in the morning. It
34596 further cultivates strong intention and also strengthens the capacity to
34597 remember the events of the night.
34598 Begin by reviewing the night. The Tibetan term for this preparation is
34599 literally "remembering." Did you dream? Were you aware that you were in a
34600 dream? If you dreamt but did not attain lucidity, you should reflect, "I
34601 dreamt but did not recognize the dream as a dream. But it was a dream."
34602 Resolve that next time you enter a dream you will become aware of its true
34603 nature while still in the dream.
34604 If you find it difficult to remember dreams, it can be helpful, throughout
34605 the day and particularly before sleep, to generate a strong intention to
34606 remember dreams. You can also record dreams in a notepad or with a tape
34607 recorder, as this will reinforce the habit of treating your dreams as
34608 something valuable. The very act of preparing the notebook or recorder at
34609 night serves to support the intention to recall the dream upon waking. It is
34610 not difficult for anyone to remember dreams once the intention to do so is
34611 generated and sustained, even over just a few days.
34612 If you did have a lucid dream, feel joy at the accomplishment. Develop
34613 happiness relative to the practice and resolve to continue to develop the
34614 lucidity the following night. Keep building intention, using both successes
34615 and failures as occasions to develop ever stronger intent to accomplish the
34616 practice. And know that even your intention is a dream.
34617 --Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, "The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep",
34618 published by Snow Lion Publications
34620 On some occasions, people faint. Even when your breath temporarily stops,
34621 during that moment, there is a reduced level of consciousness. Consciousness
34622 is most reduced late in the course of dying. Even after all physical
34623 functions cease, we believe that the "I," or "self," still exists. Similarly,
34624 just at the beginning of life, there must be a subtle form of consciousness to
34625 account for the emergence of consciousness in the individual.
34626 We must explore further the point at which consciousness enters into a
34627 physical location. At conception, the moment when and the site where
34628 consciousness interacts with the fertilized egg is something to be discovered,
34629 although there are some reference to this in the texts.... The Buddhist
34630 scriptures do deal with it, but I am interested to see what science has to say
34631 about this. During this period we believe that without the subtle
34632 consciousness, there would be a life beginning without consciousness. If that
34633 were the case then no one could ever recollect experiences from their past
34634 life. It is also in terms of Buddhist beliefs relating to this topic that
34635 Buddhism expounds its theory of cosmology: how the universe began and how it
34637 Based on this metaphysical reasoning and other arguments, and based on the
34638 testimony of individuals who are able to recollect their experiences in past
34639 lives very vividly, Buddhists make this claim. I am a practitioner, so based
34640 on my own limited experiences, and the experiences of my friends, I cannot say
34641 with one hundred percent certainty that there is a subtle consciousness.
34642 Scientists don't posit consciousness in the same sense that Buddhists do.
34643 At the moment of conception, however, there has to be something that prevents
34644 the sperm and egg from simply rotting, and causes it to grow into a human
34645 body. When does that occur? Why does that occur?
34646 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Consciousness at the Crossroads: Conversations with
34647 the Dalai Lama on Brain Science and Buddhism", edited by Zara Houshmand,
34648 Robert B. Livingston, and B. Alan Wallace, published by Snow Lion
34649 Taking the reins is the key to happiness
34651 The state of mind of a Buddhist practitioner should be stable, and should
34652 not be subject to too many conflicting events. Such a person will feel both
34653 joy and pain, but neither will be too weak or too intense. Stability is
34654 developed through discipline. The heart and mind become more full of energy,
34655 more resolute, and therefore less susceptible to being blown about by outside
34657 Deep within the human being abides the wisdom that can support him or her in
34658 the face of negative situations. In this way, events no longer throw him
34659 because he is holding the reins. Similarly, when something good happens it is
34660 also possible to rein it in. Taking the reins is the key to happiness. In
34661 Tibet we have a saying: "If you are beside yourself with joy, tears are not
34662 far behind." This shows how relative what we call joy and pain are.
34663 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "The Dalai Lama's Little Book of Inner
34664 Peace: The Essential Life and Teachings"
34666 From a Buddhist perspective, busying ourselves with worldly activities is a
34667 form of laziness, because we're lax in self-cultivation. Our lives are so
34668 busy in modern society: Our appointment books are completely full and we're
34669 always running here and there. We often complain there isn't enough time for
34671 However, whenever we have a spare moment, we work overtime or call some
34672 friends to fill in the gap. We always have time to eat, but we hardly ever
34673 have time to nourish ourselves spiritually by attending Dharma classes or
34674 meditating. When the temple has entertainment and free meals, we go; but when
34675 there is meditation or lessons, we're busy.
34676 This hindrance to spiritual progress comes because we're attached to worldly
34677 pleasures: food, money, reputation, amusement, and friends. The harm comes
34678 from our inappropriate way of relating to them. Attached, we selfishly
34679 indulge in them. However, these things in and of themselves aren't bad.
34680 Through pacifying our afflictions, we can enjoy these things with a good
34681 motivation--to improve ourselves for the benefit of others.
34682 -- Ven. Thubten Chodron, "Taming the Mind", published by Snow Lion Pub.
34684 It is important to note that we should make sure that our meditation suits
34685 our mind. If we feel comfortable doing analytical meditation on the various
34686 topics in a progressive way, we should go ahead with it. If, on the other
34687 hand, we find it difficult and it is not compatible with our mind, we should
34688 meditate on whatever topic we like.
34689 If we enjoy meditation on emptiness, we should go ahead with this. If it
34690 suits us and we derive pleasure from meditating principally on the altruistic
34691 intention, we can emphasize this. At some point if we find that we cannot
34692 really get into whatever analytical meditation we have been doing, but doing
34693 prostrations, chanting mantra, visualizing a meditation deity, or reciting
34694 aspirational prayers brings peace and pleasure to our mind, we should do that
34696 -- Geshe Jampa Tegchok, "Transforming Adversity into Joy and Courage: An
34697 Explanation of the Thirty-seven Practices of Bodhisattvas", edited by
34698 Thubten Chodron, published by Snow Lion Publications
34700 Attaining realization is not such a long path once we become able to
34701 integrate all our movements of energy in our practice, because then every
34702 action is governed by presence and becomes a step on the path and an
34703 expression of virtue.
34704 Practice is not only sitting in meditation, reciting mantras, or chanting.
34705 It is the application of practice in daily life that is most difficult,
34706 working with our energy in every life situation, with every sense perception,
34707 with every person we meet, whether we want to encounter that person or not.
34708 -- Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, "Wonders of the Natural Mind: The Essence of
34709 Dzogchen in the Native Bon Tradition of Tibet", published by Snow Lion
34711 When we focus our attention on the passage of breath, we break the usually
34712 continuous flow of thoughts of attachment, hostility and so forth, whatever
34713 they might be. This causes such thoughts to subside for the moment. Thus, by
34714 occupying the mind with our breath, we cleanse it of all positive and negative
34715 conceptual thoughts and thus remain in a neutral state of mind unspecified as
34716 either constructive or destructive. This is the meaning of the line in the
34717 root text, "Thoroughly clean out your state of awareness." This unspecified or
34718 neutral state of mind, cleaned out of all positive and negative conceptual
34719 thoughts, is the most conducive one to work with. Because an unspecified
34720 state of mind like this is unburdened and supple, it is relatively easy to
34721 generate it into a constructive state.
34722 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama and Alexander Berzin, "The Gelug/Kagyu Tradition of
34723 Mahamudra", published by Snow Lion Publications
34726 "You may ask: If there is no sentient being, whose is the goal? We grant
34727 that desire [for liberation, etc.] is indeed delusive. Still, in order to
34728 eradicate suffering, effective delusion, whose result [is understanding of
34729 the ultimate] is not prevented."
34733 If sentient beings do not exist, who is it that attains the fruition of the
34734 spiritual path--full awakening? And while on the path, for whom does one
34735 cultivate compassion?
34738 Sentient beings do exist. It is for them that compassion is felt, and
34739 compassion is cultivated by existent people. Whatever is designated by
34740 delusion is to be acknowledged. Due to cultivating compassion while on the
34741 spiritual path, the fruition of full awakening is attained. Who attains
34742 awakening? That, too, is to be established conventionally, without [ultimate]
34743 examination or analysis. In order to pacify the suffering of oneself and
34744 others, impure appearances that arise due to ignorance are not to be rejected.
34745 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Transcendent Wisdom", translated, edited and
34746 annotated by B. Alan Wallace, published by Snow Lion Publications
34748 The object of meditation this time is emotion. In other words, we
34749 specifically focus on the emotions that arise from our feelings of good, bad,
34750 and indifferent. In the first of the equanimity meditations, we made the
34751 choice to not follow up these emotions. This time we make the choice to
34752 meditate on them. We might choose to meditate on sensations and feelings that
34753 arise in our immediate, present environment. We might also choose to meditate
34754 on an event or person that sets off strong sensations, feelings, and emotions.
34755 Let's say you choose to base your meditation on an event such as a family
34756 argument. This time you contemplate an aspect of that event and try to
34757 disentangle the sensations, feelings, and emotions. Sensations are what you
34758 feel with your body. Feelings assess whether that sensation is nice, nasty,
34759 or neutral. What emotions arise as a result of those sensations and feelings?
34760 As we now know, equanimity means not getting caught in further
34761 exaggerations: "Oh, I am so bad because this is what I did," "Look how good I
34762 am," "How could anyone love someone like me?" and so on. In this meditation,
34763 equanimity means not judging whether we are good or bad people, but just
34764 noting what happened.
34765 -- Chonyi Taylor, "Enough! A Buddhist Approach to Finding Release from
34766 Addictive Patterns", published by Snow Lion Publications
34768 Everyone tries to remove superficial pain, but there is another class of
34769 techniques concerned with removing suffering on a deeper level--aiming at a
34770 minimum to diminish suffering in future lives and, beyond that, even to remove
34771 all forms of suffering for oneself as well as for all beings. Spiritual
34772 practice is of this deeper type.
34773 These techniques involve an adjustment of attitude; thus, spiritual practice
34774 basically means to adjust your thought well. In Sanskrit it is called dharma,
34775 which means "that which holds." This means that by adjusting counterproductive
34776 attitudes, you are freed from a level of suffering and thus held back from
34777 that particular suffering. Spiritual practice protects, or holds back,
34778 yourself and others from misery.
34779 From first understanding your own situation in cyclic existence and seeking
34780 to hold yourself back from suffering, you extend your realization to other
34781 beings and develop compassion, which means to dedicate yourself to holding
34782 others back from suffering. It makes practical sense...by concentrating on
34783 the welfare of others, you yourself will be happier.
34784 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "Mind of Clear Light: Advice on Living Well
34785 and Dying Consciously", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, Ph.D.
34787 Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me eight
34788 times, I must be a f**king idiot.
34789 -- Jon Stewart, on the last eight presidents vowing to end America's
34790 addiction to foreign oil
34792 A lot of disappointed people have been left standing on the street corner
34793 waiting for the bus marked "Perfection".
34796 In his closing discussion on loving-kindness, Buddhaghosa asks: "What is the
34797 proximate cause of loving-kindness?" The answer is the observation of
34798 lovableness in the person to whom you are attending.
34799 Bring to mind right now someone whom you find lovable. It could be a person
34800 you have a romance with, or a child, or a dear friend, or a great teacher--
34801 someone to whom your heart would leap like a deer in the forest if this person
34802 were to walk through the door, someone whose presence is so lovable that a
34803 gladness arises on seeing him or her. If you can sense that in a dear friend,
34804 then try to seek out the lovableness of a neutral person. Then, finally, when
34805 you break down all the barriers, see it in a person who has done you injury.
34806 It's a great key if you can seek out something to love, even in the enemy.
34807 Bear clearly in mind that this does not endorse or embrace evil. The crucial
34808 point here is to be able to slice through like a very skilled surgeon,
34809 recognizing vicious behavior that we would love to see annihilated as separate
34810 from the person who is participating in it. The doctor can be optimistic. A
34811 cure is possible: the person is not equivalent to the action or the
34812 disposition. Moreover there is something there that we can hold in affection,
34813 with warmth. That really seems to be a master key that can break down the
34814 final barrier and complete the practice.
34815 One way of approaching this is to look at the person you hold in contempt,
34816 and try to find any quality he might share with someone you deeply admire and
34817 respect. Is there anything at all noble to be seen, anything that would be
34818 akin to what a truly great spiritual being would display? Focus on that:
34819 There is something there that you can love. The rest is chaff, that hopefully
34820 will be blown away quickly, to everyone's benefit. It is as if you could see
34821 a little ray of light from within, knowing that its source is much deeper than
34822 the despicable qualities on the outside. That light is what you attend to.
34824 -- B. Alan Wallace, "The Four Immeasurables: Practices to Open the Heart",
34825 edited by Zara Houshmand, published by Snow Lion Publications
34827 Question: I have the strong wish to be reborn in any of the realms in a
34828 position to truly help other sentient beings in that realm. Is it wrong for
34829 me in these circumstances not to have the strong wish to leave the wheel of
34832 Answer: Your wish to stay in order to help is certainly right. One of
34833 Shantideva's prayers, roughly translated is, "As long as there is space, I
34834 will remain with sentient beings, to serve and help them." Therefore, I also
34835 am trying to practice this. Helping others is the real purpose of life; it
34836 will bring the most satisfaction. The one action of helping others out of a
34837 sincere motivation brings two results--satisfaction for yourself and benefit
34838 to others. It is most beautiful.
34839 One might ask whether there is a contradiction between a Bodhisattva's
34840 developing a determination to leave cyclic existence by viewing it as faulty
34841 and a Bodhisattva's wishing to remain in cyclic existence in order to help
34842 others. An answer to this is given in Bhavaviveka's Heart of the Middle Way:
34843 ...because of being under the influence of love and compassion, one is not
34844 captivated by the idea of retreating into solitary peace and, with an attitude
34845 of seeking to bring about the welfare of other sentient beings, remains in
34846 cyclic existence. This attitude is really marvelous. Though you are really
34847 fed up with cyclic existence, still because of a willingness and a
34848 determination to serve others, you voluntarily accept to remain.
34849 However, as is indicated by the frequently cited example of a lotus that is
34850 produced from mud but not polluted by it, a Bodhisattva stays in cyclic
34851 existence but is not affected by its faults. It would indeed be hypocritical
34852 to claim from one's mouth that one had taken up the practice of a Bodhisattva
34853 but actually to be happily stuck in cyclic existence with great attachment.
34855 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama of Tibet Tenzin Gyatso, "The Dalai Lama at Harvard:
34856 Lectures on the Buddhist Path to Peace", translated and edited by Jeffrey
34857 Hopkins, published by Snow Lion Publications
34859 Sutras, tantras, esoteric instructions, and experiences teach
34860 The vital point of deathlessness, awakening without meditating:
34861 How this body of karma fully ripening
34862 Arises as a naturally pure awareness body.
34863 Visualize the fully ripening karmic body as the deity's form
34864 And meditate without fixation on it.
34865 It is itself inseparable from mind.
34866 No essence of mind is established,
34867 So where is something that dies?
34868 "Death" is just a concept.
34869 The hosts of concepts are nonexistent phenomena of samsara and nirvana.
34872 According to this and other statements, since one's own mind in essence has
34873 no real existence whatsoever, it was always unborn. Therefore the great
34874 natural liberation of deathlessness is attained. As for this body of fully
34875 ripening karma, since it is a conglomeration of inert matter, it is not a
34876 basis on which to attribute the designations of birth or death. In fact, the
34877 body even arises as a mere appearance of mind.
34878 When one gains confidence in the realization that the mind is unborn and
34879 undying, then the body appears as the deity's form in mahamudra and one
34880 becomes bound to basic space without erring into the path of deluded
34881 appearance. By this kind of instruction one discovers the kaya of union in
34882 this lifetime. Even just hearing it can cause one to get enlightened in the
34883 intermediate state as the sambhogakaya of the victors. Of the Five Golden
34884 Dharmas, it is said to be like the ripened fruit. (p. 248)
34885 -- Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Taye, "The Treasury of Knowledge, Book Eight, Part
34886 Four: Esoteric Instructions, A Detailed Presentation of the Process of
34887 Meditation in Vajrayana", translated by Sarah Harding, published by Snow
34890 Buddhas and Bodhisattvas see clearly that our neglect of others, our self-
34891 preoccupation and our disregard for the connection between actions and their
34892 effects are responsible for all our miseries. The feeling that it doesn't
34893 matter what we do as long as we can get away with it kills our chances of
34894 liberation and enlightenment. Our selfishness robs us of worldly and
34895 supramundane good qualities, leaving us naked and empty-handed. It separates
34896 us from happiness now and in the future and fetters us to suffering.
34897 Resolve never again to let yourself be dominated by this mean and selfish
34898 way of thinking and do everything in your power to combat it. Your happiness
34899 begins the moment you recognize self-cherishing as your chief foe. There are
34900 many good reasons why cherishing others makes sense. Shantideva says:
34901 The state of Buddhahood is accomplished
34902 Equally through living beings and Victorious Ones.
34903 What kind of behavior then is it to revere
34904 Victorious Ones but not living beings?
34905 ...If we truly want to please Buddhas and Bodhisattvas and all those noble
34906 beings in the world whom we admire and whose sole guiding principles are their
34907 affection, love and compassion for others, we can do nothing better than to
34908 cherish living beings. (p. 100)
34909 -- "The Three Principal Aspects of the Path", an oral teaching by Geshe
34910 Sonam Rinchen, translated and edited by Ruth Sonam, published by Snow
34913 How Purification Works
34915 During Nyungne [fasting] practice, true purification is possible primarily
34916 because of the power of Chenrezig's compassion and blessing, as well as our
34917 faith, devotion, and correct motivation to do the practice. When such causes
34918 and conditions come together, a result inevitably occurs, and this result is
34919 understood as the interdependently-arising nature of all phenomena.
34920 For the most part, enlightened and unenlightened phenomena all arise due to
34921 this interdependently-arising nature. As a spiritual practitioner, the basic
34922 qualities one must bring to the practice are faith, devotion, and a trust in
34923 the power of the practice and Chenrezig. These qualities stem from our own
34924 pure nature of mind, a purity that is identical to Chenrezig's heart, that is,
34925 unceasing love and compassion. When these two things are combined together,
34926 our devotion and faith and Chenrezig's love and compassion, one could say
34927 miracles happen; a true purification takes place.
34928 It has been said that when one is sitting before the mandala of Chenrezig,
34929 one should believe that although Chenrezig is not physically visible to us, in
34930 fact he is really there in front of us. Just as we would be very careful of
34931 our thoughts and behavior if we were in the presence of a powerful and
34932 clairvoyant enlightened guru, in the same way we must generate vigilance so
34933 that we don't act shamefully in front of this great being. If we develop such
34934 vigilance and noble habit, then our negativities will automatically decrease.
34936 -- Wangchen Rinpoche, "Buddhist Fasting Practice: The Nyungne Method of
34937 Thousand-Armed Chenrezig", published by Snow Lion Publications
34939 Reflect on the basic pattern of our existence. In order to do more than
34940 just barely survive, we need shelter, food, companions, friends, the esteem of
34941 others, resources, and so on; these things do not come about from ourselves
34942 alone but are all dependent on others. Suppose one single person were to live
34943 alone in a remote and uninhabited place. No matter how strong, healthy, or
34944 educated this person were, there would be no possibility of his or her leading
34945 a happy and fulfilling existence.... Can such a person have friends? Acquire
34946 renown? Can this person become a hero if he or she wishes to become one? I
34947 think the answer to all these questions is a definite no, for all these
34948 factors come about only in relation to other fellow humans.
34949 When you are young, healthy, and strong, you sometimes can get the feeling
34950 that you are totally independent and do not need anyone else. But this is an
34951 illusion. Even at that prime age of your life, simply because your are a
34952 human being, you need friends, don't you? This is especially true when we
34953 become old and need to rely more and more on the help of others: this is the
34954 nature of our lives as human beings.
34955 In at least one sense, we can say that other people are really the principal
34956 source of all our experiences of joy, happiness, and prosperity, and not only
34957 in terms of our day-to-day dealings with people. We can see that all the
34958 desirable experiences that we cherish or aspire to attain are dependent upon
34959 cooperation and interaction with others. It is an obvious fact.
34960 Similarly, from the point of view of a Buddhist practitioner, many of the
34961 high levels of realization that you gain and the progress that you make on
34962 your spiritual journey are dependent upon cooperation and interaction with
34963 others. Furthermore, at the stage of complete enlightenment, the
34964 compassionate activities of a buddha can come about spontaneously only in
34965 relation to other beings, for those beings are the recipients and
34966 beneficiaries of those enlightened activities. (p.5)
34967 -- Tenzin Gyatso, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, "The Compassionate Life"
34969 The difficulty with a purely materialistic interpretation of life is that,
34970 in addition to ignoring an entire dimension of the mind, it does not deal
34971 effectively with the problems of this life. A materialistic mind is an
34972 unstable mind, for its happiness is built on transient, physical
34973 circumstances. Mental disease is as high among the affluent as it is among
34974 the poor, which is a clear indication of the limitations of the approach.
34975 Although it is essential to maintain a reasonable material basis on which to
34976 live, the emphasis in one's life should be on cultivating the mental and
34977 spiritual causes of happiness. The human mind is very powerful and our
34978 worldly needs are not so great that they must demand all of our attention,
34979 especially in light of the fact that materialistic success solves so few of
34980 the many challenges and problems that confront men and women throughout their
34981 lives, and it does nothing for them at death.
34982 On the other hand, if one cultivates spiritual qualities such as mental
34983 harmony, humility, non-attachment, patience, love, compassion, wisdom and so
34984 forth, then one becomes equipped with a strength and intelligence able to deal
34985 effectively with the problems of this life; and because the wealth one is
34986 amassing is mental rather than material, it will not have to be left behind at
34987 death. There is no need to enter the after-death state empty-handed. (31)
34988 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Path to Enlightenment", edited and translated
34989 by Glenn H. Mullin, published by Snow Lion Publications
34991 The bardo* of this life does not last forever. We know that, like a guest
34992 in a hotel, our mind is only temporarily sheltered in this body. As we face
34993 the challenges of this life and the impending challenges of the bardos to
34994 come, how does engaging in the three-stage process of study, contemplation and
34995 meditation help us? By applying ourselves to these three, we acquire the
34996 skills to stabilize our mind and we develop actual insight into how our mind
34997 functions. First we gain an understanding of the nature of mind; then, we
34998 experience that nature; and finally, we arrive at the ultimate benefit, which
34999 is fully realizing that nature.
35000 When we practice these stages of the path, it is like accumulating the exact
35001 things we will need to take with us on our trip. When we are ready to pack
35002 our suitcase, we will have what we need without looking further. We will not
35003 have to go out at the last minute and buy a map or a guidebook. We will not
35004 have to worry about whether we are forgetting something crucial.
35005 We have knowledge and experience that has blossomed into realization;
35006 therefore we can handle any situation. We have confidence in ourselves, in
35007 the teachings, and the guidance of our lineage teachers. At this point, we
35008 can let go of all our doubt and hesitation. We can simply relax and be who we
35009 are, wherever we are. (p.58)
35010 * in-between state, interval
35011 -- The Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, "Mind Beyond Death", published by Snow
35014 The thoughts that in this year and month
35015 I will put right all my tasks and plans
35016 And then start a perfect dharma practice
35017 Is in fact the devil which brings all downfalls.
35019 The lack of death awareness prevents one from undertaking the practice of
35020 dharma. This is very true: If one is not aware of the eventuality of death,
35021 one will be totally concerned and preoccupied with the affairs of this
35022 lifetime alone, and with actions that are just for the benefit of this
35023 lifetime. Such ventures may take all one's time and energy, but no matter how
35024 important they appear to be, since they are directly related to this lifetime
35025 alone, their benefits are limited--once one leaves the present body, their
35026 benefit ends. Even though one might have a best friend, when one has to leave
35027 the body, one cannot take the friend along.
35028 ...Think that after twenty or thirty years even the Dalai Lama will also be
35029 no more. While I am alive, there will be people who are, from the depths of
35030 their hearts, prepared to give their lives for my sake, but on the day when I
35031 have to leave, I cannot take even one among them with me. Neither will I be
35032 able to take any of my possessions, even the body which I have always
35033 preserved and protected. This also will be left behind. At that time of my
35034 death, what will benefit is only the positive seeds that are imprinted upon my
35035 consciousness. No other factors will help at that time. (p.106)
35036 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Path to Bliss", translated by Geshe Thupten
35037 Jinpa, edited by Christine Cox, published by Snow Lion Publications
35039 At the beginning of the process of deity meditation and mantra repetition
35040 one meditates on emptiness, settling the non-inherent existence of oneself and
35041 the deity through a reasoning such as that of dependent-arising--the fact that
35042 both oneself and the deity arise in dependence on their respective bases of
35043 designation. One's own final nature and the final nature of the deity are the
35044 same, an emptiness of inherent existence.
35045 To perform deity yoga one does not just withdraw ordinary appearances and
35046 then appear as a deity but causes the mind realising emptiness itself to
35047 appear as a deity. Thus, it is essential initially to meditate on emptiness,
35048 cleansing all appearances in emptiness. One then uses that wisdom
35049 consciousness realising emptiness as the basis of emanation of a divine body.
35050 This must be done at least in imitation of a consciousness actually doing
35051 this, for meditation on a truly existent divine body, instead of helping, will
35052 only increase adherence to inherent existence. Meditated properly, the
35053 appearance of a divine figure is the sport of the ultimate mind of
35054 enlightenment, first in imitation and later in fact. (p.39)
35055 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Tsong-ka-pa, and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Deity
35056 Yoga in Action and Performance Tantra", published by Snow Lion Pub.
35058 If one could attain the state of perfect buddhahood that is free from all
35059 faults, that sees directly all aspects of the qualities to be cultivated and
35060 faults overcome in the quest for enlightenment, and that is physically adorned
35061 with the marks and signs of perfection, the mere perception of which is
35062 beneficial, then one would be beyond the distinction of feeling attraction or
35063 aversion toward the infinite sentient beings. One would regard all beings
35064 with an equal compassion, and would have the ability to really benefit them.
35065 Think, "I should make every effort to attain this all-beneficial state."
35066 In brief, the motivation should be, "For the ultimate benefit of the
35067 sentient beings, who are as infinite as the sky is vast, I must attain the
35068 state of a peerless, perfect, pure buddha." This is the aspirational aspect of
35070 -- Glenn Mullin, "The Practice of Kalachakra", foreword by H.H. the Dalai
35071 Lama, published by Snow Lion Publications
35073 After suffering severe puncture wounds without shooting any goop on my
35074 opponent, I realized I was simply outgunned. Never bring caulk to a
35076 -- Stephanie S. Thompson
35078 My cat Elea added a trick to her repertoire this morning.
35079 I sleep in a bit on the weekend, and both cats protest by
35080 visiting the bed every few minutes until I get up.
35081 Elea, being toothless, is afflicted with a mean case of drool when
35082 she's hungry. So this morning I got a "drool shower" since she
35083 sat next to my face and shook her head vigorously,
35084 flinging drool everywhere (especially onto my face).
35085 I know this wasn't just a fluke because a few minutes later
35086 she came back and did it again.
35089 On Arcadia Asylum, pioneering creator in Second Life...
35090 "Nope, she can't log into Arcadia, Aley Arai, nor Lora Lemon. She's great
35091 at building, but she doesn't think she should have to pay the Lindens for
35092 anything, so she doesn't, and they get mad about that and close her
35095 The important thing is the obvious thing nobody is saying.
35096 -- William S. Burroughs
35098 Our fundamental nature--what we term 'the buddha nature', the very nature of
35099 our mind, is inherently present within us as a natural attribute. This mind
35100 of ours, the subject at hand, has been going on throughout beginningless time,
35101 and so has the more subtle nature of that mind. On the basis of the
35102 continuity of that subtle nature of our mind rests the capacity we have to
35103 attain enlightenment. This potential is what we call 'the seed of
35104 buddhahood', 'buddha nature', 'the fundamental nature', or 'tathagatagarbha'.
35105 We all have this buddha nature, each and every one of us. For example, this
35106 beautiful statue of Lord Buddha here, in the presence of which we are now
35107 sitting, is a representation that honours someone who attained buddhahood. He
35108 awakened into that state of enlightenment because his nature was the buddha
35109 nature. Ours is as well, and just as the Buddha attained enlightenment in the
35110 past, so in the future we can become buddhas too.
35111 ...In any case, there dwells within us all this potential which allows us to
35112 awaken into buddhahood and attain omniscience. The empowerment process draws
35113 that potential out, and allows it to express itself more fully. When an
35114 empowerment is conferred on you, it is the nature of your mind--the buddha
35115 nature--that provides a basis upon which the empowerment can ripen you.
35116 Through the empowerment, you are empowered into the essence of the buddhas of
35117 the five families. In particular, you are 'ripened' within that particular
35118 family through which it is your personal predisposition to attain buddhahood.
35120 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "Dzogchen: The Heart Essence of the Great
35121 Perfection", translated by Thupten Jinpa and Richard Barron, Foreword by
35122 Sogyal Rinpoche, edited by Patrick Gaffney, published by Snow Lion Pub.
35124 For achieving calm abiding... your mind must have two qualities:
35125 -great clarity of both the object and the consciousness itself
35126 -staying one-pointedly on the object of observation.
35127 Two factors prevent these from developing--laxity and excitement. Laxity
35128 prevents the development of clarity, and excitement prevents the stability of
35129 staying with the object.
35130 That which interferes with the steadiness of the object of observation and
35131 causes it to fluctuate is excitement, which includes any scattering of the
35132 mind to an object other than the object of meditation. To stop that, withdraw
35133 your mind more strongly inside so that the intensity of the mode of
35134 apprehension of the object begins to lower. If you need a further technique
35135 to withdraw the mind, it helps to leave the object of meditation temporarily
35136 and think about something that makes you more sober, such as the imminence of
35137 death. Such reflections can cause your heightened mode of apprehension of the
35138 object, the mind's being too tight, to lower or loosen somewhat, whereby you
35139 are better able to stay on the object of observation.
35140 It is not sufficient just to have stability; clarity is also needed. That
35141 which prevents clarity is laxity, which is a case of the mind's becoming too
35142 relaxed, too loose, lacking intensity--the tautness of the mind having become
35143 weak, caused by over-withdrawal inside. Heaviness of mind and body can lead
35144 to becoming lax, which can lead to a type of lethargy in which, losing the
35145 object of observation, you have as if fallen into darkness; this can lead even
35146 to sleep. When this begins to occur, it is necessary to raise, to heighten,
35147 this excessive declination of the mind by making it more taut, more tight. To
35148 accomplish this, it helps to brighten the object of meditation or, if that
35149 does not work, to leave the object of meditation temporarily and think on
35150 something that makes you joyous, such as the wonderful opportunity that a
35151 human lifetime affords for spiritual practice. If that does not work, you can
35152 even leave off meditating and go to a high place or where there is a vast
35153 view. Such techniques cause your deflated mind to heighten, to sharpen.
35154 While holding the object of observation with mindfulness, investigate with
35155 introspection from time to time to see whether the mind has come under the
35156 influence of laxity or excitement and determine the best practice for lowering
35157 or heightening it. In time, your will develop a sense of the proper level of
35158 tautness of the mind such that you will be able to catch laxity and excitement
35159 just before they arise and prevent their arising. (p.50)
35160 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Dzong-ka-ba and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Yoga Tantra: Paths
35161 to Magical Feats", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, published by Snow
35164 The position of the body [during meditation] is very important because the
35165 channels within the body will follow the external disposition of the body.
35166 The way the body is placed will set the channels; and the winds, of course,
35167 flow inside the channels, so if they are properly set, the winds will flow
35168 properly. Mind follows the wind. To focus the mind properly, the winds must
35169 also be functioning properly. (p.39)
35170 -- Drikung Kyabgon Chetsang Rinpoche, "The Practice of Mahamudra", translated
35171 by Robert Clark, ed. by Ani K. Trinlay Chodron, published by Snow Lion
35173 The real source of my suffering is self-centeredness: my car, my possession,
35174 my well-being. Without the self-centeredness, the suffering would not arise.
35175 What would happen instead? It is important to imagine this fully and to focus
35176 on examples of your own. Think of some misfortune that makes you want to lash
35177 out, that gives rise to anger or misery. Then imagine how you might respond
35178 without suffering. Recognize that we need not experience the misery, let
35179 alone the anger, resentment, and hostility. The choice is ours.
35180 Let's continue with an example. You see that there is a dent in the car.
35181 What needs to be done? Get the other driver's license number, notify the
35182 police, contact the insurance agency, deal with all the details. Simply do it
35183 and accept it. Accept it gladly as a way to strengthen your mind further, to
35184 develop patience and the armor of forbearance. There is no way to become a
35185 Buddha and remain a vulnerable wimp.
35186 Patience does not suddenly appear as a bonus after full enlightenment. Part
35187 of the whole process of awakening is to develop greater forbearance and
35188 equanimity in adversity. Santideva, in the sixth chapter of his Guide to the
35189 Bodhisattva's Way of Life, eloquently points out that there is no way to
35190 develop patience without encountering adversity, and patience is indispensable
35191 for our own growth on the path to awakening. (p.66)
35192 -- B. Alan Wallace, "The Seven-Point Mind Training", edited by Zara
35193 Houshmand, published by Snow Lion Publications
35195 While the great adept [Tangtong Gyalpo] did not stray from vajralike
35196 meditative concentration on the peak of glorious Riwoche, the ornamental wheel
35197 of his inexhaustible enlightened body, speech, and mind manifested in three
35198 great regions of Kham.
35199 At Gyalmorong, a person who had received the Path with the Result at Sakya,
35200 and who meditated single-mindedly on the Time of the Path during four sessions
35201 and on the Profound Path Guruyoga, saw the great adept to be Vajradhara, the
35202 lord of all spiritual families, and made countless prostrations.
35203 ...A person who recited a thousand of the heart-mantra of Tara every day,
35204 declared, "This isn't Avalokiteshvara. It's Tara."
35205 Also, a person said, "This is the Great Adept of Iron Bridges. O great
35206 adept, why do different visual manifestations appear to us?" The great adept
35208 By bringing the vital winds
35209 and mind under control,
35210 taking control of how things appear to myself,
35211 overwhelming how things appear to others,
35212 and positioning magical bodies,
35213 I display whatever will tame sentient beings
35214 according to their various inclinations.
35216 -- Cyrus Stearns, "King of the Empty Plain: The Tibetan Iron Bridge Builder
35217 Tangtong Gyalpo", a Tsadra Foundation Series book, published by Snow Lion
35219 When I was a boy, Ling Rinpochay, who was then my junior tutor, was always
35220 very stern; he never smiled, not even a little. This bothered me a lot. By
35221 wondering why he was so humorless, I examined more and more what I was doing
35222 in my own mind. This helped me develop self-awareness with regard to my
35223 motivation. By my early twenties when I had matured, Ling Rinpochay
35224 completely changed; he always had a big smile when we were together.
35225 Effective practice of the morality of individual liberation depends upon
35226 sound, long-term motivation. For example, one should not become a monk or a
35227 nun to avoid having to work at a worldly job for food and clothing. Also, it
35228 is not sufficient merely to seek to avoid difficulty in this lifetime. To be
35229 motivated by such trifling purposes does not help to achieve freedom from
35230 cyclic existence--the ultimate reason to practice the morality of individual
35232 This is confirmed by Buddha's life story. One day Shakyamuni slipped
35233 outside the palace wall to experience life for himself. For the first time he
35234 saw a sick person, an old person, and a corpse. Deeply troubled by the
35235 suffering of sickness, aging, and death, he came to the conclusion that
35236 worldly life is without substance. Later, inspired by several religious
35237 practitioners, Buddha became captivated by the possibility of a higher, more
35238 meaningful, spiritual life. At that point he escaped from the palace, leaving
35239 his ordinary life behind to pursue that vision.
35240 What does this teach us? Like Buddha we need to begin by becoming concerned
35241 about the suffering of cyclic existence and by turning away from temporary
35242 distractions. Influenced by this new attitude, we must take up a system of
35243 morality by renouncing cyclic existence and by taking vows of pure behavior
35244 through seeking to avoid the ten nonvirtues. (p.29)
35245 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "How to Practice: The Way to a Meaningful
35246 Life", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins
35248 Tsong-ka-pa's intention in praising Buddhism is not to insult other
35249 teachers. Statements of the greatness of Buddhism are made in order to
35250 develop one-pointedness of mind toward practice, for one who is able to
35251 practise Buddhism must generate effort to do so. It is necessary for him to
35252 have confidence in Buddha's teaching from the round orb of his heart.
35253 There is a Tibetan saying that one cannot sew with a two-pointed needle or
35254 achieve aims with a two-pointed mind. Similarly, if a practitioner is
35255 hesitant, he will not put great force into the practice of any one system.
35256 Tsong-ka-pa states that Buddhism is the best in order that persons who would
35257 be helped more through engaging in the Buddhist path than through another
35258 system might not be diverted to another path. (p.48)
35259 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Tsong-ka-pa and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Tantra in Tibet",
35260 published by Snow Lion Publications
35262 At the level of conventional truth we all naturally possess both the desire
35263 and the potential to overcome suffering and to attain happiness. In this
35264 context, we can reflect upon the Buddha's teachings on the Four Noble Truths
35265 and the Two Truths, and on the basis of such reflection we gradually develop
35266 an understanding of how we can gain freedom from suffering and of the
35267 potential we possess within ourselves for accomplishing such a goal.
35268 We can reflect further that: 'Just like me, all other sentient beings
35269 possess this same desire and potential to be happy and overcome suffering',
35270 and ask ourselves: 'If I continue to be guided by my own self-centredness and,
35271 through my single-pointed concern for my own well-being, continue to ignore
35272 the well-being of others, what will the consequences be?'
35273 Then we can reflect: 'From beginningless lifetimes I have harboured this
35274 self-cherishing attitude and have grasped onto the notion of an intrinsically
35275 real, enduring self. I have nurtured these two thoughts of self-cherishing
35276 and self-grasping deep in my heart as if they are twin jewels. But where has
35277 this way of being led me? By pursuing the dictates of my self-grasping and
35278 self-centredness, have I actually managed to attain the fulfilment of my self-
35279 interest? If it were possible, surely by now I should have achieved my goal.
35280 But I know that this is not the case.'
35281 We should then compare ourselves to enlightened beings such as the Buddha
35282 Shakyamuni who achieved total victory over all defilements and perfected all
35283 qualities of goodness. We should then ask ourselves: 'How did the Buddha
35284 accomplish this?' Through contemplation we will come to recognise that, at a
35285 certain point in his existence, the Buddha reversed the normal way of thinking
35286 and being. In the place of self-cherishing he cultivated the thought of
35287 cherishing the well-being of other sentient beings, and in place of self-
35288 grasping he cultivated the wisdom realising the absence of self-existence. In
35289 this way he attained full awakening. (p.30)
35290 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Lighting the Way", translated by Geshe Thupten
35291 Jinpa, published by Snow Lion Publications
35293 In the history of the Nyungne tradition, many practitioners have been able to
35294 overcome incurable disease through the practice of Nyungne. We could say
35295 miracles like this literally do take place, although in the Buddhist
35296 understanding, overcoming great obstacles and disease would be considered
35297 blessings. A miracle is something else. It is the enlightened power that is
35298 demonstrated by enlightened masters. A true miracle in the Buddhist sense
35299 would be like the miracle of Milarepa entering into a little horn while his
35300 student, Rechungpa, sees him in his usual size yet he is inside the horn. Or
35301 like the miracle of Milarepa sitting on a lake and people seeing that he
35302 hasn't become any larger nor has the lake shrunk in size, yet he is completely
35303 covering it. These are real, enlightened miracles.(p.13)
35304 -- Wangchen Rinpoche, "Buddhist Fasting Practice: The Nyungne Method of
35305 Thousand-Armed Chenrezig", published by Snow Lion Publications
35307 [In listening to teachings one] of the defects is to listen in a way that is
35308 like a container with holes. This means that even though we are listening to
35309 the teachings, we do not retain their contents. In this case we lack
35310 mindfulness and memory. Practice of Dharma means that we should be able to
35311 benefit from what we have heard. It is not a pastime, like listening to a
35312 story. The teachings give us guidance on how to live meaningful lives and how
35313 to develop proper attitudes. So in order to benefit from the teachings, we
35314 must retain them with mindfulness.
35315 In all kinds of learning processes, listening, reading, etc., we must pay
35316 full attention and should endeavor to remember their contents. When our
35317 interest is halfhearted, we only remember half the points, and we retain them
35318 for only a short time. We should reflect and think about whatever we have
35319 heard, over and over again. In this way, the knowledge will stay in our mind
35320 for a long time. Another technique for remembering instructions is debate as
35321 it is practiced in the traditional debating schools. (p.22)
35322 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Stages of Meditation", root text by Kamalashila,
35323 translated by Geshe Lobsang Jordhen, Losang Choephel Ganchenpa, and
35324 Jeremy Russell, published by Snow Lion Publications
35326 We are duped by maya. The whole display of our senses has tricked us into
35327 believing it and thus seduces us into the world of suffering. And the
35328 illusionist is that old trickster, one's own mind. But when this illusory
35329 nature is recognized to be just that, one is released from the bondage of the
35330 magic show, at which time it becomes a wonderful spectacle, even a display of
35331 the unimpeded creativity and freedom of mind. Then maya itself is both the
35332 medium for this realization and the expression of it.
35333 This conscious and intentional method of relating to all phenomena as
35334 illusion is thus cast in a totally positive light on the spiritual path, a
35335 complete turn-around from the original negative valuation of it as deceit.
35336 Now illusion is seen as illumination and opportunity. The nature of our
35337 relationship with it is the salient point, rather than its own nature, which
35338 certainly does not exist anyway, in any way.
35340 Since everything is an illusory display,
35341 it is possible to attain enlightenment.
35342 The transformation of the maya concept from something to escape to something
35343 to engage may be loosely correlated with the shift of emphasis on
35344 understanding emptiness that emerged in the mahayana teachings. A further
35345 development may be seen in the vajrayana teachings with the esoteric
35346 instruction known as Illusory Body (sgyu lus). This occurs as one of the Six
35347 Dharmas of Niguma and in other configurations of completion stage practices in
35348 many lineages. (p.40)
35349 -- Sarah Harding, "Niguma, Lady of Illusion", a Tsadra Foundation Series
35350 book, published by Snow Lion Publications
35352 Afflictions are classed as peripheral mental factors and are not themselves
35353 any of the six main minds [eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mental
35354 consciousnesses]. However, when any of the afflicting mental factors becomes
35355 manifest, a main mind [a mental consciousness] comes under its influence, goes
35356 wherever the affliction leads it, and 'accumulates' a bad action.
35357 There are a great many different kinds of afflictions, but the chief of them
35358 are desire, hatred, pride, wrong view and so forth. Of these, desire and
35359 hatred are chief. Because of an initial attachment to oneself, hatred arises
35360 when something undesirable occurs. Further, through being attached to oneself
35361 the pride that holds one to be superior arises, and similarly when one has no
35362 knowledge of something, a wrong view that holds the object of this knowledge
35363 to be non-existent arises.
35364 How do self-attachment and so forth arise in such great force? Because of
35365 beginningless conditioning, the mind tightly holds to 'I, I' even in dreams,
35366 and through the power of this conception, self-attachment and so forth occur.
35367 This false conception of 'I' arises because of one's lack of knowledge
35368 concerning the mode of existence of things. The fact that all objects are
35369 empty of inherent existence is obscured and one conceives things to exist
35370 inherently; the strong conception of 'I' derives from this. Therefore, the
35371 conception that phenomena inherently exist is the afflicting ignorance that is
35372 the ultimate root of all afflictions. (p.26)
35373 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Buddhism of Tibet", translated and edited by
35374 Jeffrey Hopkins, with Anne Klein, published by Snow Lion Publications
35376 With regard to awareness of the present moment, our mind is utterly
35377 insubstantial and yet has this characteristic of luminosity (Tib. salwa).
35378 "Luminosity" here simply means the cognitive capacity, the fact that our mind
35379 can know, experience, feel, and so on. This awareness always occurs in the
35380 present. When we are not thinking of the past or thinking of the future, when
35381 we're letting our mind simply rest in the direct experience of the present
35382 moment, then this awareness or lucidity emerges as an unfabricated
35384 Initially we do this very briefly, for one moment, two moments, and so on,
35385 but as we work with this, it starts to take on a momentum. However, it's
35386 important not to interfere with the naturalness of this awareness by
35387 appraising what is occurring, which means that we shouldn't think, "Well, this
35388 is happening, that is happening, I'm aware of this, I'm aware of that." Nor
35389 should we judge what's happening by thinking, "Well, this is good, this is
35390 what's supposed to be happening," or, "This is bad, this isn't what's supposed
35392 On the other hand, we do need to "plant the watchman of mindfulness and
35393 alertness," which means that we maintain some intentional awareness of what is
35394 occurring. Here, mindfulness means a simple, direct recollection of what
35395 we're trying to do. In other words, mindfulness is recollecting that we are
35396 trying to rest in a direct experience of the present moment. Alertness then
35397 is that faculty of mind that becomes aware when we become distracted from this
35398 present experience. However, this watchfulness or, this watchman, has to be
35399 very relaxed and gentle. It can't be too heavy-handed, otherwise the whole
35400 thing becomes a conceptual judgement. The technique of mind is to rest in
35401 this awareness of the present moment with a gentle watchman of mindfulness and
35403 -- Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, "Pointing Out the Dharmakaya", foreword by
35404 the Dalai Lama, introduction by Lama Tashi Namgyal, published by Snow
35407 The future is here. It's just not widely distributed yet. -- William Gibson
35409 Complete spiritual fulfillment requires the ability to act compassionately,
35410 and that involves making practical distinctions. Therefore, Tsong-kha-pa
35411 insists upon the clarifying power of analysis that is not ultimate, analysis
35412 that operates within the constraints and boundaries of conventional fact and
35413 language so as to illuminate what does and what does not exist, what is and
35414 what is not helpful.
35415 Not all useful analysis need immediately reduce everything to emptiness. In
35416 other words, we can learn valuable, practical things by analyzing which car is
35417 good to drive, which action is good to do, which seed is good to plant,
35418 without at each step interrogating the final ontological status of the car,
35420 ...A pervasive sense that things are real and solid and exist just as they
35421 appear is woven right into the fabric of the world as we experience it. While
35422 tables do exist, we have yet to see them just as they are. Our very
35423 perception of them--while a valid source of information--is at the same time
35424 contaminated with a layer of distortion. That distortion is the appearance of
35425 the table as something that is able to be there on its own power, something
35426 that exists in and of itself.
35427 Thus when we begin to see, or even to suspect, that things lack essence and
35428 are not at all as we had supposed, we may feel terrified, as though our world
35429 is coming apart at the seams or evaporating beneath our feet. We calm those
35430 fears by again remembering that it is not that there is nothing. There is
35431 dependent arising, just as there has always been. Analysis threatens nothing
35432 but the false overlay, the distorting superimposition, which has caused us and
35433 others so much misery. (p.43)
35434 -- Guy Newland, "Introduction to Emptiness: As Taught in Tsong-kha-pa's
35435 Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path", published by Snow Lion Pub.
35437 The play of this divine mind,
35438 The union of bliss, the supreme father, and emptiness,
35439 Is unlimited and thus beyond concept.
35440 -- The Seventh Dalai Lama, Kelsang Gyatso
35442 Cultivate a state of mind focused on bliss and emptiness as forcefully as
35443 possible. The wisdom of bliss and emptiness is compared to space, which is
35444 non-obstructive and expansive. Because offerings are the manifestation of the
35445 wisdom of bliss and emptiness, these substances are called "offerings of
35446 Samantabhadra (All-Good)."
35447 Generally speaking, a bodhisattva named Samantabhadra is renowned for his
35448 elaborate offerings to the buddhas and bodhisattvas. But here the term all-
35449 good (samantabhadra) refers most appropriately to the wisdom of bliss and
35450 emptiness. It is all-good from the viewpoint of emptiness and also from the
35451 viewpoint of bliss. This emptiness is the ultimate truth and also the
35452 ultimate virtue. And the wisdom of great bliss is the clear light wisdom:
35453 With a feeling of joy, imagine that offerings having such a nature pervade
35454 entire space. (p.64)
35455 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Union of Bliss and Emptiness: Teachings on the
35456 Practice of Guru Yoga", translated by Thupten Jinpa, published by Snow
35459 The spiritual path is truly simple. It is simple because it is not about
35460 acquiring, accumulating, or achieving anything. It is all about giving up
35461 what we don't need. It's about giving up what isn't useful instead of
35462 acquiring things with the idea of going somewhere or achieving something.
35463 That was the old game. That game which we have been playing for a long time
35464 is like a vicious circle. It has no end.
35465 Sometimes the spiritual search itself prevents us from seeing the truth that
35466 is always one with us. We have to know when to stop the search. There are
35467 people who die while they are searching for the highest truth with
35468 philosophical formulas and esoteric techniques. For them spiritual practice
35469 becomes another egoic plot which simply maintains and feeds delusions.
35470 Amazing! Buddha, God, truth, the divine, the great mystery, whatever you have
35471 been searching for, is here right now. (p.37)
35472 -- Anam Thubten, "No Self, No Problem", edited by Sharon Roe, published
35473 by Snow Lion Publications
35475 Practice of the morality of individual liberation, whether lay or monastic,
35476 leads to contentment.... Examine your attitudes toward food, clothes, and
35477 shelter. By reducing expectations you will promote contentment. The extra
35478 energy which is released should be devoted to meditation and to achieving
35479 cessation of problems, corresponding to the fourth and third noble truths. In
35480 this way, contentment is the basis, and the resulting action is called "liking
35481 meditation and abandonment."
35482 We should be contented in material areas, for those are bound by limitation,
35483 but not with regard to the spiritual, which can be extended limitlessly.
35484 Though it is true that a discontented person who owned the whole world might
35485 want to own a tourist center on the moon, that person's life is limited, and
35486 even the amount that can be owned is limited. It is better right from the
35487 beginning to be contented.
35488 However, with regard to compassion and altruism there is no limit, and thus
35489 we should not be content with the degree that we have. We are just the
35490 opposite; in the spiritual field we are content with slight amounts of
35491 practice and progress, but materially we always want more and more. It should
35492 be the other way around. Everyone needs to practice this, whether lay or
35494 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "How to Practice: The Way to a Meaningful
35495 Life", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins
35497 If we view the world's religions from the widest possible viewpoint and
35498 examine their ultimate goal, we find that all of the major world religions,
35499 whether Christianity or Islam, Hinduism or Buddhism, are dedicated to the
35500 achievement of permanent human happiness. They are all directed toward that
35501 goal. All religions emphasize the fact that the true follower must be honest
35502 and gentle, in other words, that a truly religious person must always strive
35503 to be a better human being. To this end, the different world religions teach
35504 different doctrines which will help transform the person. In this regard, all
35505 religions are the same, there is no conflict. This is something we must
35506 emphasize. We must consider the question of religious diversity from this
35507 viewpoint. And when we do, we find no conflict.
35508 ...Different kinds of food have different tastes: one may be very hot, one
35509 may be very sour, and one very sweet. They are opposite tastes, they
35510 conflict. But whether a dish is concocted to taste sweet, sour, or hot, it is
35511 nonetheless made in this way so as to taste good. Some people prefer very
35512 spicy, hot foods with a lot of chili peppers. Many Indians and Tibetans have
35513 a liking for such dishes. Others are very fond of bland tasting foods. It is
35514 a wonderful thing to have variety. It is an expression of individuality; it
35515 is a personal thing. Likewise, the variety of the different world religious
35516 philosophies is a very useful and beautiful thing. (p.13)
35517 -- "Answers: Discussions with Western Buddhists by the Dalai Lama", edited
35518 by Jose Ignacio Cabezon, published by Snow Lion Publications
35520 The basic principles and precepts of all true religions are very pure. What
35521 you see as impure is simply the inability of those who adhere to them. So as
35522 Buddhists, for instance, if you fail to embrace and internalize the basic
35523 principles and precepts of the practice, then your mind is always going to be
35524 overrun by the five mental afflictions. These negative afflictions are
35525 desire, hatred, jealousy, pride, and ignorance. They are the basic obstacles
35526 which impede you from making any true progress on the path. It is, in fact,
35527 the function of the preliminary training to prepare the field of the mind so
35528 that you are actually able to put to rest the gross delusions and give rise to
35529 your innermost qualities. This allows you to actualize your true bodhicitta
35530 nature, the mind which cares about others more than self.
35531 Leaving aside the idea of the so-called spiritual path, or religion, if you
35532 are able to uproot these delusions, the stones and boulders, from the field of
35533 your mind, then you will become an honorable person, respected in the world,
35534 with an easier, flexible attitude toward yourself and others. If you are
35535 able, through your development of wisdom and skillful means, to unite the
35536 teachings with your life, then true results will be achieved. (p.96)
35537 -- Ven. Gyatrul Rinpoche, "Meditation, Transformation, and Dream Yoga",
35538 trans. by B. Alan Wallace and Sangye Khandro, published by Snow Lion
35540 What premises or grounds do we have for accepting that mental afflictions
35541 can be ultimately rooted out and eliminated from our mind? In Buddhist
35542 thought, we have three principal reasons for believing that this can happen.
35543 One is that all deluded states of mind, all afflictive emotions and thoughts,
35544 are essentially distorted in their mode of apprehension, whereas all the
35545 antidotal factors such as love, compassion, insight, and so on not only are
35546 undistorted, but they also have grounding in our varied experience and in
35548 Second, all these antidotal forces also have the quality of being
35549 strengthened through practice and training. Through constant familiarity, one
35550 can enhance their capacity and increase their potential limitlessly. So the
35551 second premise is that as one enhances the capacity of these antidotal forces
35552 and increases their strength, one is able to correspondingly reduce the
35553 influences and effects of delusory states of mind.
35554 The third premise is that the essential nature of mind is pure; in other
35555 words, there is the idea that the essential nature of mind is clear light or
35557 So it is on these three premises that Buddhism accepts that delusions, all
35558 afflictive emotions and thoughts, can be ultimately eliminated through
35559 practice and meditation. (p.38)
35560 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Healing Anger: The Power of Patience from a
35561 Buddhist Perspective", translated by Geshe Thupten Jinpa, published
35562 by Snow Lion Publications
35564 As we become aware of the working of our mind, we'll find ourselves
35565 grappling with an inner trickster. Pay attention! The mind in which anger
35566 arises is also the mind that holds it, hides it, fans it, justifies it, or
35567 suppresses it. That's why this first step is crucial--before we can
35568 understand, befriend, tame, and transform our anger, we have to recognize it
35569 clearly and acknowledge it frankly. This is no small task.
35570 Self-awareness is a precondition for understanding and healing our anger.
35571 If we become aware of the workings of our mind we can discover the means by
35572 which we create our anger and the key to healing it. If we become aware that
35573 we are harboring irrational beliefs, ideas with false premises, mistaken
35574 assumptions or flawed logic, we can examine them and correct them. If we
35575 discover that we cherish ideas which are not in harmony with the realities of
35576 life and nature we can learn to relax into existence. If we find that we
35577 harbor desires, hopes, and expectations which cannot be achieved we have the
35578 option of letting them go.
35579 ...To develop awareness is to take a journey within--into the heart of our
35581 -- Ron Leifer, M.D., "Vinegar into Honey: Seven Steps to Understanding and
35582 Transforming Anger, Aggression, and Violence", published by Snow Lion
35584 A kind heart is the essential cause of happiness. Being kind to others is
35585 the nicest thing we can do for ourselves. When we respect others and are
35586 considerate of their needs, opinions and wishes, hostility evaporates. It
35587 takes two people to fight, and if we refuse to be one of them, there is no
35589 ...A kind heart is the root of harmony and mutual respect. It prevents us
35590 from feeling estranged or fearful of others. It also protects us from
35591 becoming angry, attached, closed-minded, proud or jealous. When opportunities
35592 arise to help others we won't lack courage or compassion. If political
35593 leaders had impartial minds and kind hearts, how different our world would be!
35594 As all problems arise from the self-cherishing attitude, it would be wise
35595 for each of us, as individuals, to exert ourselves to subdue it. World peace
35596 doesn't come from winning a war, nor can it be legislated. Peace comes
35597 through each person eliminating his or her own selfishness and developing a
35598 kind heart...we can each do our part beginning today. The beneficial result
35599 in our own lives will immediately be evident. (p.76)
35600 -- Thubten Chodron, "Open Heart, Clear Mind", foreword by His Holiness
35601 the Dalai Lama, published by Snow Lion Publications
35603 In order to have strong consideration for others' happiness and welfare, it
35604 is necessary to have a special altruistic attitude in which you take upon
35605 yourself the burden of helping others. In order to generate such an unusual
35606 attitude, it is necessary to have great compassion, caring about the suffering
35607 of others and wanting to do something about it. In order to have such a
35608 strong force of compassion, first you must have a strong sense of love which,
35609 upon observing suffering sentient beings, wishes that they have happiness--
35610 finding a pleasantness in everyone and wishing happiness for everyone just as
35611 a mother does for her sole sweet child.
35612 In order to have a sense of closeness and dearness for others, you first
35613 train in acknowledging their kindness through using as a model a person in
35614 this lifetime who was very kind to yourself and then extending this sense of
35615 gratitude to all beings. Since, in general, in this life your mother was the
35616 closest and offered the most help, the process of meditation begins with
35617 recognizing all other sentient beings as like your mother. (p.44)
35618 -- The Fourteenth Dalai Lama, His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso, "Kindness,
35619 Clarity, and Insight 25th Anniversary Edition", edited and translated
35620 by Jeffrey Hopkins, co-edited by Elizabeth Napper, published by Snow
35623 Most people feel cozy enough in samsara. They do not really have the
35624 genuine aspiration to go beyond samsara; they just want samsara to be a little
35625 bit better. It is quite interesting that "samsara" became the name of a
35626 perfume. And it is like that. It seduces us into thinking that it is okay:
35627 samsara is not so bad; it smells nice! The underlying motivation to go beyond
35628 samsara is very rare, even for people who go to Dharma centers. There are
35629 many people who learn to meditate and so forth, but with the underlying motive
35630 that they hope to make themselves feel better. And if it ends up making them
35631 feel worse, instead of realizing that this may be a good sign, they think
35632 there is something wrong with Dharma. We are always looking to make ourselves
35633 comfortable in the prison house. We might think that if we get the cell wall
35634 painted a pretty shade of pale green, and put in a few pictures, it won't be a
35636 ...There are two basic reasons we follow a spiritual path and look for
35637 liberation. One reason is that we want to be free. Let's take the
35638 traditional example of a burning house: your whole house is on fire, and you
35639 run out from it. But all your family--your partner, your children, your
35640 parents, even your pet dog--are all still inside. What are you going to do?
35641 You don't just say, "Well, I'm out. So too bad. Do your best to get out,
35642 too." Naturally this leads to the second basic reason for following a
35643 spiritual path: we will try to pull them out as well. (p.71)
35644 -- Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo, "Into the Heart of Life", foreword by H.H. the
35645 Gyalwang Drukpa, published by Snow Lion Publications
35647 "Form is emptiness, emptiness is form."
35649 We are empty, or rather the matter of which we are composed is empty. But I
35650 must emphasize that emptiness does not mean nothingness. Some commentators
35651 have been mistaken when they have accused Buddhism of being nihilistic. We
35652 believe that the world in which we live is part of a flux, a stream of events.
35653 This does not mean it is nothing. Everything depends on everything else.
35654 Nothing exists on its own. On account of all the influences that come to bear
35655 upon them, things appear, exist, and disappear, and then reappear again. But
35656 they never exist independently. Form is therefore empty, by which we mean it
35657 is not separate and independent. Form depends on a multitude of different
35658 factors. And emptiness is form because all forms emerge from emptiness, from
35659 this absence of independent existence. Emptiness exists only to give rise to
35661 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "The Dalai Lama's Little Book of Inner
35662 Peace: The Essential Life and Teachings".
35664 When we understand the empty nature of our own mind, then the consequences
35665 of merit and sin will not be realized. In the state of emptiness, there
35666 exists no objective merit or sin.
35667 ...The nature of the mind is like a mirror; merits and sins are like the
35668 reflections in this mirror; and reflections in no way affect or modify the
35669 nature of the mirror. When we are in a state of contemplation, we are living
35670 in the condition of the mirror. At the time when all phenomena are exhausted
35671 and pass into the nature of reality, then our virtuous and vicious deeds will
35672 cause no benefit or harm to us. There is no basis for effect--all
35673 limitations, all frames of reference, all solid ground having been eliminated.
35674 But if we do not understand the nature of the mind and intrinsic awareness
35675 through direct personal experience, it will be a very dangerous situation for
35677 Indeed, it is not sufficient merely to understand these teachings
35678 intellectually; one must first practice and attain realization from this
35679 practice. Otherwise the virtuous and the vicious acts we commit in this life
35680 will create and accumulate karma, leading us again inevitably into
35681 transmigration. From the present time until we realize the ultimate
35682 exhausting of all phenomena into the nature of reality, our behavior must be
35683 refined; it must be heedful and scrupulous. Otherwise our view is only so
35684 much empty intellectual talk. (p.66)
35685 -- "Self-Liberation through Seeing with Naked Awareness", translation and
35686 commentary by John Myrdhin Reynolds, foreword by Namkhai Norbu, published
35687 by Snow Lion Publications
35689 The attainment of shamata is a serenely stilled state of mind, settled on
35690 mind itself. Although the attainment of such a meditational state focused on
35691 mind is the foundation for developing the highest attainments and is, of
35692 course, very excellent, by itself it is insufficient for reaching those goals.
35693 When we achieve a mind focused on mind with the perfect placement of
35694 absorbed concentration, free from all faults of dullness or flightiness, we
35695 increasingly experience an element of bliss accompanying our meditation. When
35696 we experience serene joy, on both a physical and mental level, brought on by
35697 the force of total absorption of mind on mind, we achieve a meditational state
35698 that fulfills the definition of shamata.
35699 Our ordinary mind is like raw iron ore that needs to be made into a steel
35700 sword. Progressing through the stages for attaining shamata is like forging
35701 the iron into steel. All the materials are there at our disposal. But since
35702 the mind wanders after external objects, then although it is the material for
35703 attaining shamata, it cannot yet be used as this product. We have to forge
35704 our mind through a meditational process. It is like putting the iron ore into
35706 To fashion the steel into a sword, or in this analogy to fashion the mind
35707 into an instrument that understands voidness, our serenely stilled and settled
35708 mind needs to come to decisive realization of voidness as its object. Without
35709 such a weapon of mind, we have no opponent with which to destroy the
35710 disturbing emotions and attitudes. (p.142)
35711 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama and Alexander Berzin, "The Gelug/Kagyu Tradition of
35712 Mahamudra", published by Snow Lion Publications
35714 The Yolmo Valley has many different aspects that are beneficial to
35715 practitioners. Ian Baker writes:
35716 Chatral Rinpoche said that specific [places] in Yolmo are conducive to
35717 particular kinds of practice. Places with waterfalls inspire reflection on
35718 impermanence. Places with steep cliffs where the rocks are dark and jagged
35719 are good for meditating on wrathful deities. Places with rolling hills and
35720 flowering meadows support meditation on peaceful deities....
35721 Chatral Rinpoche clarified that the beyul [hidden lands] that Padmasambhava
35722 established in Tibet are not literal arcadias, but paradises for Buddhist
35723 practice, with multiple dimensions corresponding to increasingly subtle levels
35724 of perception. Beyond Yolmo's visible terrain of mountains, streams, and
35725 forests, he said, lies an inner level, corresponding to the flow of intangible
35726 energies in the physical body. Deeper still, the subtle elements animating
35727 the environment merge with the elements present within the practitioner--the
35729 Finally, at the beyul's innermost level--yangsang--lies a paradisiacal, or
35730 unitary dimension revealed through an auspicious conjunction of person, place,
35731 and time.... Chatral Rinpoche contended that yangsang is not merely a
35732 metaphor for the enlightened state, but an ever-present, if hidden, reality.
35734 -- Chatral Rinpoche, "Compassionate Action", edited and annotated by Zach
35735 Larson, published by Snow Lion Publications
35737 Distinguishing between constructive and destructive emotions is right there
35738 to be observed in the moment when a destructive emotion arises--the calmness,
35739 the tranquillity, the balance of the mind are immediately disrupted. Other
35740 emotions do not destroy equilibrium or the sense of well-being as soon as they
35741 arise, but in fact enhance it--so they would be called constructive.
35742 Also there are emotions that are aroused by intelligence. For example,
35743 compassion can be aroused by pondering people who are suffering. When the
35744 compassion is actually experienced, it is true that the mind is somewhat
35745 disturbed, but that is more on the surface. Deep down there is a sense of
35746 confidence, and so on a deeper level there is no disturbance. A consequence
35747 of such compassion, aroused by intelligent reflection, is that the mind
35749 The consequences of anger--especially its long-term effects--are that the
35750 mind is disturbed. Typically, when compassion moves from simply being a
35751 mental state to behavior, it tends to manifest in ways that are of service to
35752 others, whereas when anger goes to the point of enactment it generally, of
35753 course, becomes destructive. Even if it doesn't manifest as violence, if you
35754 have the capacity to help, you would refrain from helping. That too would be
35755 a kind of destructive emotion. (p.158)
35756 -- "Destructive Emotions: How Can We Overcome Them?" A Scientific Dialogue
35757 with the Dalai Lama narrated by Daniel Goleman
35759 I love smiles. That is a fact. How to develop smiles? There are a variety
35760 of smiles. Some smiles are sarcastic. Some smiles are artificial-diplomatic
35761 smiles. These smiles do not produce satisfaction, but rather fear or
35762 suspicion. But a genuine smile gives us hope, freshness. If we want a
35763 genuine smile, then first we must produce the basis for a smile to come.
35764 —- H.H. the Dalai Lama
35766 Suffering is something very concrete, which everyone knows and wants to
35767 avoid if possible, and the Buddha therefore began his teaching by talking
35768 about it in his famous formulation of the Four Noble Truths.
35769 The first truth draws our attention to the fact that we suffer, pointing out
35770 the existence of the basic dissatisfaction inherent in our condition; the
35771 second truth explains the cause of dissatisfaction, which is the dualistic
35772 state and the unquenchable thirst (or desire) inherent in it: the subject
35773 reifies its objects and tries to grasp them by any means, and this thirst (or
35774 desire) in turn affirms and sustains the illusory existence of the subject as
35775 an entity separate from the integrated wholeness of the universe.
35776 The third truth teaches that suffering will cease if dualism is overcome and
35777 reintegration achieved, so that we no longer feel separate from the plenitude
35778 of the universe. Finally, the fourth truth explains that there is a Path that
35779 leads to the cessation of suffering, which is the one described by the rest of
35780 the Buddhist teachings.
35781 All the various traditions are agreed that this basic problem of suffering
35782 exists, but they have different methods of dealing with it to bring the
35783 individual back to the experience of primordial unity. (p.47)
35784 -- Chogyal Namkhai Norbu, "The Crystal and the Way of Light: Sutra, Tantra,
35785 and Dzogchen", compiled and edited by John Shane, published by Snow Lion
35787 To disciples of increasing purity, ability, and rarity the Buddha gave more
35788 private guidance in the subtle mysteries. It appears that such teachings are
35789 included in the Mahayana sutras. There is no certainty, however, that all of
35790 the tantras were taught while the historical Buddha was alive. To an
35791 extremely small number of pure disciples the Buddha could appear today. They
35792 could encounter Vajradhara, the King of the Tantras, and he could reveal
35793 tantras and quintessential guidance to them.
35794 This is possible even though more than twenty-five hundred years have gone
35795 by since the historical Buddha passed away. There is no possibility, after
35796 the Buddha's death, of additions being made to his public discourses. But I
35797 think that teachings to disciples of pure action do not necessarily have to be
35798 given during the historical Buddha's lifetime. (pg.44)
35799 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Transcendent Wisdom", translated, edited and
35800 annotated by B. Alan Wallace, published by Snow Lion Publications
35803 Since the five perfections without wisdom
35804 Cannot bring perfect enlightenment,
35805 Along with skillful means cultivate the wisdom
35806 Which does not conceive the three spheres [as real]
35807 This is the practice of Bodhisattvas.
35808 -- Gyelsay Togmay Sangpo
35810 Practice of the five perfections without the understanding of reality
35811 remains contaminated, and though it may yield boundless happiness, it doesn't
35812 lead to omniscience. Love and compassion without the understanding of reality
35813 cannot help us to escape from worldly existence.
35814 On the other hand, we may easily remain trapped in a state of personal peace
35815 if we have understood reality but lack enough love and compassion. It is
35816 therefore the practice of Bodhisattvas to combine the two--skillful means and
35817 wisdom. Which of us can say we don't want to possess knowledge, kindness and
35818 pure conduct? Our text is a manual of instruction on how to gain these
35819 qualities and become a fully developed human being. (p.70)
35820 -- Geshe Sonam Rinchen, "The Thirty-Seven Practices of Bodhisattvas",
35821 translated and edited by Ruth Sonam, published by Snow Lion Publications
35823 "The Buddhas have already achieved all their own goals, but remain in the
35824 cycle of existence for as long as there are sentient beings. This is because
35825 they possess great compassion. They also do not enter the immensely blissful
35826 abode of nirvana like the Hearers. Considering the interests of sentient
35827 beings first, they abandon the peaceful abode of nirvana as if it were a
35828 burning iron house. Therefore, great compassion alone is the unavoidable
35829 cause of the non-abiding nirvana of the Buddha."
35832 Compassion's importance cannot be overemphasized. Chandrakirti paid rich
35833 tribute to compassion, saying that it was essential in the initial,
35834 intermediate, and final stages of the path to enlightenment.
35835 Initially, the awakening mind of bodhichitta is generated with compassion as
35836 the root, or basis. Practice of the six perfections and so forth is essential
35837 if a Bodhisattva is to attain the final goal.
35838 In the intermediate stage, compassion is equally relevant. Even after
35839 enlightenment, it is compassion that induces the Buddhas not to abide in the
35840 blissful state of complacent nirvana. It is the motivating force enabling the
35841 Buddhas to enter non-abiding nirvana and actualize the Truth Body, which
35842 represents fulfillment of your own purpose, and the Form Body, which
35843 represents fulfillment of the needs of others. Thus, by the power of
35844 compassion, Buddhas serve the interests of sentient beings without
35845 interruption for as long as space exists. This shows that the awakening mind
35846 of bodhichitta remains crucial even after achieving the final destination.
35848 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, root text by Kamalashila, "Stages of Meditation",
35849 translated by Geshe Lobsang Jordhen, Losang Choephel Ganchenpa, and
35850 Jeremy Russell, published by Snow Lion Publications
35852 [During sleep and waking states] there are physiological processes that
35853 correspond to different mental states, and these are associated with
35854 subjectively experienced energies in the body.
35855 In the waking state, these energies tend to be drawn into a locus in the
35856 center of the head, at the level of the forehead. In the dreaming stage,
35857 these energies will be even more drawn to a point in the throat. In the deep
35858 sleep state, these energies are more drawn into the heart. The location is
35859 not the physical heart, the organ, but the heart center which is right in the
35860 center of the chest.
35861 Certain events are experienced in meditation that seem to corroborate this
35862 theory. For example, in meditation, it is possible to bring your awareness
35863 into the heart cakra, and sometimes when this happens, the person will faint.
35864 On other occasions, the meditative awareness, finely concentrated, may be
35865 brought into the area of the navel. And at this juncture, it has been found
35866 experientially that heat is produced by such concentration. If you look at
35867 the anatomy of the body, you don't find these cakra points. (p.106)
35868 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Consciousness at the Crossroads: Conversations with
35869 the Dalai Lama on Brain Science and Buddhism", edited by Zara Houshmand,
35870 Robert B. Livingston, and B. Alan Wallace, published by Snow Lion Pub.
35872 When you meditate with concentration, there are three particular experiences
35873 that arise: bliss, clarity, and nonthought.
35874 The experience of meditative bliss is greater than ordinary worldly
35875 happiness. Sometimes when you are meditating, a feeling of blissfulness
35876 suddenly arises from the subtle state of your mind and pervades your entire
35877 body. This bliss is healthy and brings out your inner qualities. Some people
35878 use drugs to induce blissfulness and visions, but drugs are external supports
35879 that cannot bring lasting happiness. The bliss experienced in meditation can
35880 last for many days, according to your ability to meditate. When you
35881 experience this kind of bliss, on the outside you might look very poor, but
35882 inside you remain very joyful.
35883 The second main experience in meditation is clarity. Sometimes while
35884 meditating you can suddenly feel that your mind is very clear and bright.
35885 Even if you are meditating in the dark, you do not feel heavy or tired.
35886 Sometimes your body feels very light and your mind is very clear, and many
35887 kinds of reflections appear. Clarity brings great wisdom and the ability to
35888 read other people's minds, as well as to see your own past and future lives.
35889 The third main experience is nonthought, or a state of equanimity without
35890 distractions. Beginners can also experience this. Nonthought is more settled
35891 than the experiences of bliss and clarity. If you have thoughts, they
35892 suddenly dissolve and you can remain continuously in meditation. As your
35893 ability to meditate develops, your mind becomes more and more settled, so that
35894 you can meditate for one hour or one week or one month without being
35895 distracted by thoughts. You simply remain in the natural state for as long as
35897 Bliss, clarity, and nonthought are the main qualities of concentration.
35898 However, it is important not to be attached to them or concerned about whether
35899 they arise or not; one should simply continue to practice. (p.29)
35900 -- Khenchen Palden Sherab Rinpoche and Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal Rinpoche,
35901 "The Buddhist Path: A Practical Guide from the Nyingma Tradition of
35902 Tibetan Buddhism", published by Snow Lion Publications
35904 The Buddha's teachings can be divided into two main categories: the
35905 scriptures and realization. A verse states:
35907 The teachings of the Teacher have two aspects:
35908 Scripture and realization presented as they truly are.
35909 There is nothing else to do but
35910 Sustain them, speak of them, and practice them.
35912 When we practice listening, reflecting, and meditating, the teachings will
35913 free us from the heavy darkness of suffering. They are like a never-setting
35914 sun whose luminous rays reach to the farthest corners of this world. Among
35915 the eighty-four thousand teachings of the Buddha are those found in Tibet that
35916 maintain the unity of the sutra and mantra traditions. These teachings are
35917 like a tree trunk with numerous branches: a variety of lamas hold lineages
35918 within diverse traditions.
35919 ...In showing how to cut through the delusion of duality, these teachings
35920 open up to every living being the possibility of attaining true mastery over
35921 the immense and profound gates to the eighty-four thousand teachings. They
35922 are precious because they make nonconceptual wisdom manifest and bring forth
35923 the amrita of all-pervading emptiness. Like placing a perfect fruit in the
35924 palm of our hand, these teachings bring about two kinds of wisdom: the wisdom
35925 that sees the multitude of all phenomena distinctly and the wisdom that sees
35926 clearly into their nature.
35927 Relying on an appropriate path allows the fruition of practice to manifest.
35928 This result is possible because buddha nature is found in the mindstream of
35929 all living beings. (p.160)
35930 -- "Music in the Sky: The Life, Art and Teachings of the Seventeenth
35931 Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje", by Michele Martin, published by Snow Lion
35933 All is neither real nor delusive--
35934 Held to be like [a reflection of] the moon on water by the learned.
35935 Just this ordinary mind
35936 Is called "dharmadhatu" and "Heart of the victors."
35937 --Venerable Rangjung Dorje
35939 ...Thus, seeming reality consists of the adventitious stains that are like
35940 [mistakenly seeing] a [white] conch as being yellow. Ultimate reality is the
35941 tathagata heart, which is like the [natural] white of the conch. Except for
35942 the mere appearances from the perspective of a mistaken [perceiving] subject,
35943 within the object--the conch--there is nothing white or yellow to be added or
35944 to be removed. Therefore, the pith instruction is to rest naturally and
35946 In brief, what are called "samsara" and "nirvana" are set up from the point
35947 of view of mere seeming appearances, while the nature of both--luminosity free
35948 from reference points--is called tathagata heart. Consequently, in terms of
35949 the definitive meaning, mere appearances and their nature cannot be separated,
35950 just like fire and its heat. For this reason, the mother [sutras] say:
35951 "Form is emptiness. Emptiness is form. Emptiness is nothing other than
35952 form. Form is nothing other than emptiness." (p.165)
35953 -- "Gone Beyond: The Prajnaparamita Sutras, The Ornament of Clear
35954 Realization, and Its Commentaries in the Tibetan Kagyu Tradition", Volume One
35955 translated and introduced by Karl Brunnholzl, a Tsadra Foundation Series book,
35956 published by Snow Lion Publications
35958 In the Mahayana 'cause and effect' refer to totally supreme emptiness and
35959 supreme immutable bliss. The Brief Explication of Initiations (Shekhoddesha)
35960 [included in the Kalachakra cycle] says:
35962 That bearing the form of emptiness is the cause,
35963 That bearing immutable compassion is the effect.
35964 Emptiness and compassion indivisible
35965 Are called the mind of enlightenment.
35967 The indivisibility of these two is a Cause Vehicle in the sense of being the
35968 means by which one progresses, and it is an Effect Vehicle in the sense of
35969 being that to which one is progressing. Such a Vajra Vehicle has reference to
35970 Highest Yoga Tantra and cannot occur in the lower tantras. For the supreme
35971 immutable bliss can only arise when one has attained the branch of meditative
35972 stabilisation (in the system of the Kalachakra) and thus the branches of
35973 mindfulness and those below must be the means of achieving it. The three
35974 lower tantras do not have all the factors that are included in these causal
35976 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Tsong-ka-pa and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Tantra in Tibet",
35977 published by Snow Lion Publications
35979 ...one of the things you can learn from history is that men have learned
35980 to live with machinery at least as well as, and probably a good deal better
35981 than, they have learned to live with one another.
35982 -- E. E. Morison, from "Computers and the World of the Future"
35984 Everything is perfect in the universe--even your desire to improve it.
35989 I encourage you to conduct your own research on the results of practicing in
35990 various environments. Tibetan yogis are especially attracted to places with
35991 an enormous amount of open space and distant vistas. I have greatly enjoyed
35992 meditating in the high desert of the eastern Sierra Nevada range, where the
35993 views extend to peaks sixty miles away. The ability to direct the attention
35994 to such distant points gives a very expansive feeling to the intervening
35996 In such a spacious environment, allow your awareness to come out, with your
35997 eyes open and your gaze resting vacantly in the space in front of you. The
35998 experience in a vast space is very different from that in a tiny room. Gazing
35999 up at a clear night sky studded with stars is a wonderful way to experience
36000 the sheer enormity of space.
36001 It is important to distinguish between the contents of a space and the space
36002 itself. Colors and shapes constitute the contents of visual space. These are
36003 aspects or representations of ordinary phenomena in the visual field.
36004 Attending to the space of the mind means attending to that space from which
36005 all such contents emerge, in which they are present, and into which they
36006 dissolve; it is the space that lingers in between discrete events. (p.220)
36007 -- B. Alan Wallace, "Minding Closely: The Four Applications of Mindfulness",
36008 published by Snow Lion Publications
36010 "Through analytical meditation, you come to a point of clarity and decisive
36011 insight, and at this point it is beneficial to abide in that revelation. Your
36012 insight will grow gradually like a sprout. Simply be present and settle your
36013 mind in the absolute nature of reality. Remain in a state of meditative
36014 equipoise, and do not think of this as a waste of your time. If you think you
36015 should rather be actively engaged in such practices as circumambulations or
36016 the stage of generation, it is the time for you to be simply present in
36017 meditative equipoise. But do not just sit and space out."
36020 In some scholarly discursive meditations in the sutra tradition, one
36021 continually seeks out the mind, and there is a tradition in which
36022 investigation is needed. Here, in the tradition of Mahamudra and Atiyoga, it
36023 is enough to seek and investigate during this phase of Dharma practice, but
36024 afterwards it is not necessary to continue the search. In the Katok
36025 tradition, the investigation of the mind is said to takes months, for one
36026 examines for three days each of the points of the mind's color and shape as
36027 well as the exterior and the interior of the body. Our tradition does not
36028 take so long, so it is important for you to seek out the mind without even a
36029 moment's distraction. (p.100)
36030 -- Karma Chagme, "A Spacious Path to Freedom: Practical Instructions on the
36031 Union of Mahamudra and Atiyoga", commentary by Gyatrul Rinpoche, trans. by B.
36032 Alan Wallace, published by Snow Lion Publications
36034 When the root of duality--dualistic clinging, dualistic perceptions, deluded
36035 perceptions--is severed, all the leaves, the branches, and even the tree trunk
36036 of samsara and nirvana naturally wither on their own and topple in their own
36037 time. Then this great spreading tree of samsara and nirvana, of duality, of
36038 worldliness, of conditioned being, does not need to be chopped down: it is
36039 already as if dead. We can relax; done is what had to be done, as the Buddha
36041 This is the whole point of the Dharma, of spiritual awakening, of
36042 Buddhahood; this is its ultimate evolution or unfolding. If we aspire to
36043 experience such an awakening, there is nothing else to do except recognize the
36044 true nature of our primordial awareness, our own essential being, our own
36045 birthright, which is within. This is the intrinsic nature of our own heart-
36046 mind, also known as bodhicitta or bodhi-mind. It is our own being, our own
36047 nature, this renowned buddha-nature. It is not a Buddha anywhere else. (p.103)
36048 -- Nyoshul Khenpo Rinpoche and Lama Surya Das, "Natural Great Perfection:
36049 Dzogchen Teachings and Vajra Songs", published by Snow Lion Publications
36051 A common [Tibetan Buddhist] motif is the "Wheel of Life," symbolizing the
36052 workings of cyclic existence. This is frequently found at the doorway to a
36053 main assembly hall and serves to remind the inhabitants of the dangers of
36054 mundane existence. This striking image has a large central circle divided
36055 into two halves. The top half has three sections, representing the three
36056 "happy transmigrations"--humans, demi-gods, and gods. The lower half also has
36057 three sections, indicative of the three bad transmigrations--animals, hungry
36058 ghosts, and hell beings. A pigeon symbolizes the mental affliction of desire,
36059 a snake represents hatred, and a pig--symbol of ignorance--holds the tails of
36060 the first two in its mouth. These three afflictions are the primary factors
36061 that bind people to cyclic existence, causing them to transmigrate helplessly
36062 from birth to birth.
36063 The theme of cause and effect is further illustrated by twelve sections
36064 around the rim of the wheel, symbolizing the twelve links of dependent arising
36065 (a summary of the process of transmigration). The whole wheel is held in the
36066 jaws of the Lord of Death, indicating that death is inevitable for those who
36067 are caught up in this cycle. Outside of the wheel are buddhas and
36068 bodhisattvas, often shown teaching the dharma, which provides an avenue of
36069 escape for those who are perceptive enough to recognize this and follow their
36070 instructions. (p.239)
36071 -- John Powers, "Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism", published by Snow Lion
36074 Is Anger Beneficial?
36076 We generally consider something beneficial if it promotes happiness. But
36077 when we ask ourselves, "Am I happy when I'm angry?" the answer is undoubtedly
36078 no. We may feel a surge of physical energy due to physiological reasons, but
36079 emotionally we feel miserable. Thus, from our own experience, we can see that
36080 anger does not promote happiness.
36081 In addition, we don't communicate well when we're angry. We may speak
36082 loudly as if the other person were hard of hearing or repeat what we say as if
36083 he had a bad memory, but this is not communication. Good communication
36084 involves expressing ourselves in a way that the other person understands. It
36085 is not simply dumping our feelings on the other. Good communication also
36086 includes expressing our feelings and thoughts with words, gestures, and
36087 examples that make sense to the other person. Under the sway of anger,
36088 however, we neither express ourselves as calmly nor think as clearly as usual.
36089 Under the influence of anger, we also say and do things that we later
36090 regret. Years of trust built with great effort can be quickly damaged by a
36091 few moments of uncontrolled anger.... If we could tame our anger, such
36092 painful consequences could be avoided.(p.23)
36093 -- Thubten Chodron, "Working with Anger", published by Snow Lion Pub.
36095 Why should we want to help our enemies or to give them happiness? Here are
36096 various useful ideas to consider. One approach is to think that the harm they
36097 have done us is, in fact, the result of our own past negative actions through
36098 which we have set ourselves up as a target for their harm. We could also
36099 consider how those who harm us are totally driven by their disturbing
36101 If someone in our family, someone we love dearly, becomes insane and tries
36102 to harm us, we wouldn't think of taking revenge but would try to help them
36103 regain a normal state of mind. Living beings, our mothers, are crazed by
36104 their disturbing emotions. Those who harm us are in particular need of our
36105 love and compassion. (p.52)
36106 -- Geshe Sonam Rinchen, "The Bodhisattva Vow", translated and edited by
36107 Ruth Sonam, published by Snow Lion Publications
36109 On top of the sufferings of birth, aging, sickness, and death, we encounter
36110 the pains of facing the unpleasant, separating from the pleasant, and not
36111 finding what we want. The basic problem lies with the type of mind and body
36112 that we have. Our mind-body complex serves as a basis for present sufferings
36113 in the form of aging, sickness, and death, and promotes future suffering
36114 through our usual responses to painful situations.
36115 By reflecting on birth and on the nature of mind and body, you will be moved
36116 from the depths of your heart to seek relief, thinking, "If I could only be
36117 free from a life driven by afflictive emotions and karma!" Without such
36118 reflection on pain, your knowledge of your own condition will be limited,
36119 which itself will put a limit on your compassion. As Tsonghkapa says:
36120 "If you do not cultivate a genuine sense of disenchantment with cyclic
36121 existence--whose nature is a mind-body complex under the sway of afflictive
36122 emotions and karma--you will have no chance to develop a genuine attitude
36123 intent on liberation, and there will be no way to develop great compassion for
36124 beings wandering in cyclic existence. Therefore, it is crucial to reflect on
36125 your situation." (p.151)
36126 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "Becoming Enlightened", trans. and ed. by
36127 Jeffrey Hopkins, PhD
36129 When I was a young boy, Tantra was just a matter of blind faith. At age
36130 twenty-four I lost my own country, and then after coming to India started
36131 really reading Tsongkhapa's explanations on emptiness. Then, after moving to
36132 Dharamsala, I put more effort into the study and practice of the stages of the
36133 path, emptiness, and Tantra. So it was only in my late twenties after gaining
36134 some experience of emptiness that deity yoga made sense.
36135 One time in the main temple in Dharamsala I was performing the ritual of
36136 imagining myself as a deity of Highest Yoga Tantra, called Guhyasamaja. My
36137 mind continuously remained on the recitation of the ritual text, and when the
36138 words "I myself" came, I completely forgot about my usual self in relation to
36139 my combination of mind and body: Instead, I had a very clear sense of "I" in
36140 relation to the new, pure combination of mind and body of Guhyasamaja that I
36141 was imagining. Since this is the type of self-identification that is at the
36142 heart of Tantric yoga, the experience confirmed for me that with enough time I
36143 could definitely achieve the extraordinary, deep states mentioned in the
36144 scriptures. (p.188)
36145 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "How to Practice: The Way to a Meaningful
36146 Life", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins
36148 In Buddhism, one speaks of three different levels of understanding, which
36149 are sequential--an understanding arrived at through learning and studying, an
36150 understanding developed as a result of deep reflection and contemplation, and
36151 an understanding acquired through meditative experience.
36152 There is a definite order in the sequence of this three. So on the basis of
36153 study and learning--which is the first level--we deepen our understanding of a
36154 given topic by constantly reflecting upon it until we arrive at a point where
36155 we gain a high degree of certainty or conviction that is firmly grounded in
36156 reason. At this point, even if others were to contradict our understanding
36157 and the premises upon which it is based we would not be swayed, because our
36158 conviction in the truth has arisen through the power of our own critical
36159 reflection. This is the second level of understanding which, however, is
36160 still at the level of the intellect.
36161 If we pursue this understanding further and deepen it through constant
36162 contemplation and familiarity with the truth, we reach a point where we feel
36163 the impact at the emotional level. In other words, our conviction is no
36164 longer at the level of mere intellect. This is the third level of
36165 understanding, which is experiential, and this is referred to in the Buddhist
36166 texts as an understanding derived through meditative experience.... You will
36167 need to deepen your understanding still further by engaging in regular
36168 meditation so that you can progress to the third level of understanding.
36169 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Lighting the Way", translated by Geshe Thupten
36170 Jinpa, published by Snow Lion Publications
36172 Shortly after attaining enlightenment under the bodhi tree, the Buddha gave
36173 a sermon in Varanasi sharing the fruits of his realization. This sermon is
36174 referred to as the "first turning of the wheel of Dharma." The word Dharma
36175 here refers to the Buddha's teachings themselves. It was this sermon in which
36176 the Buddha developed what would become the framework for the entirety of his
36177 teachings: the four noble truths.
36178 These four truths are the truth of suffering, the truth of its origin, the
36179 truth of the possibility of its cessation, and the truth of the path that
36180 leads to that cessation. In essence, the four noble truths say that we all
36181 naturally desire happiness and do not wish to suffer--and that the suffering
36182 we wish to avoid comes about as a result of a chain of causes and conditions
36183 begun even before our birth. If we are to pursue our aspiration to gain
36184 freedom from suffering, we need to clearly understand the causes and
36185 conditions that give rise to suffering and strive to eliminate them.
36186 Additionally, we must clearly understand the causes and conditions that give
36187 rise to happiness as well, and actively practice them. This is the essence of
36188 the four noble truths.
36189 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Essence of the Heart Sutra: The Dalai Lama's
36190 Heart of Wisdom Teachings", translated & edited by Geshe Thupten Jinpa
36192 In Dzogchen, while thoughts are active, rigpa permeates them all, so that
36193 even at the very moment when powerful thoughts like attachment and aversion
36194 are arising, there remains a pervasive quality of clear light rigpa.
36195 Dodrupchen says, "in Dzogchen, since the clear light's natural way of being is
36196 like the sun and its rays, inseparable, if you are able, through this, to
36197 bring out the radiance of genuine mind, you will be able to maintain the
36198 experience of clear light in meditation, without it fluctuating, or coming and
36200 Longchen Rabjam speaks of self-arising wisdom, which is in fact rigpa:
36201 "Self-arising wisdom is rigpa that is empty, clear and free from all
36202 elaboration, like an immaculate sphere of crystal. Its very being is such
36203 that it never explores objects of the senses."
36204 This "self-arising wisdom" is rigpa, which in essence is primordially pure.
36205 Longchenpa describes it as "empty and clear". To call it empty is to refer to
36206 its essence, primordially pure. To call it clear is to speak of its nature,
36207 spontaneously present. As such, it is "free from all elaboration", and free
36208 from the elaborations of adventitious phenomena. So it is like a flawless
36209 crystal sphere, and truly "its very being is such that it never explores
36210 objects of the senses". (p.180-5)
36211 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
36213 There is an Indian saying: if you are struck by a poisonous arrow, it is
36214 important first to pull it out, there is no time to ask who shot it, what sort
36215 of poison it is and so on. First handle the immediate problem, and later we
36216 can investigate. Similarly, when we encounter human suffering, it is
36217 important to respond with compassion rather than question the politics of
36218 those we help. Instead of asking whether their country is enemy or friend, we
36219 must think, "These are human beings, they are suffering, and they have a right
36220 to happiness equal to our own."
36221 Our attitude towards suffering is very important because it can affect how
36222 we cope with it when it arises. Our usual attitude consists of an intense
36223 aversion and intolerance of our own pain and suffering. However, if we can
36224 transform our attitude, adopt an attitude that allows us greater tolerance of
36225 it, this can do much to help counteract feelings of mental unhappiness,
36226 dissatisfaction and discontent. (p.92)
36227 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Pocket Dalai Lama", compiled and edited by
36230 Why should we want to help our enemies or to give them happiness? Here are
36231 various useful ideas to consider. One approach is to think that the harm they
36232 have done us is, in fact, the result of our own past negative actions through
36233 which we have set ourselves up as a target for their harm. We could also
36234 consider how those who harm us are totally driven by their disturbing
36236 If someone in our family, someone we love dearly, becomes insane and tries
36237 to harm us, we wouldn't think of taking revenge but would try to help them
36238 regain a normal state of mind. Living beings, our mothers, are crazed by
36239 their disturbing emotions. Those who harm us are in particular need of our
36240 love and compassion. (p.52)
36241 -- Geshe Sonam Rinchen, "The Bodhisattva Vow", translated and edited by
36242 Ruth Sonam, published by Snow Lion Publications
36244 If you are totally concerned and preoccupied with the affairs of this
36245 lifetime, there is a great danger of causing your own downfall. If by such
36246 concern you were able to achieve the desired happiness, that is okay, but this
36248 We all let ourselves be caught in this web of preoccupation with the
36249 activities and confusion of this lifetime. Having too much worldly
36250 involvement ends in confusion. We spend our whole lives thinking that this
36251 might be better than that, I should do this, or perhaps something else is
36252 better and I should do that. If you reflect upon the underlying
36253 dissatisfaction, then you will be able to find that, well, after all, whatever
36254 they might be, the affairs of this lifetime are not that important, because
36255 they yield a limited benefit. This does not mean that you should not work for
36256 your own livelihood, but it does indicate that you should not be preoccupied
36257 with that alone. (p.107)
36258 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Path to Bliss", translated by Geshe Thupten
36259 Jinpa, edited by Christine Cox, published by Snow Lion Publications
36261 Do you understand who the enemy is? You do not need to beat anyone up, and
36262 you do not need a weapon to kill your enemy. You do not need money to buy a
36263 weapon. It is all very easy.
36264 How is liberation accomplished? The offering of liberation is accomplished
36265 by abandoning the dualistic mind of discursive thoughts. The sharp weapon of
36266 primordial wisdom, which completely annihilates the dualistic mind, is the
36267 means for achieving this separation. This "weapon" has been part of your
36268 continuum for a long time now. With this weapon you can completely devastate
36269 the dualistic mind, leaving not even a trace behind, thus liberating the mind
36270 into the sphere of unborn truth. The enemy will never return. This is called
36272 I must emphasize that primordial wisdom is not something you can buy, get
36273 from your best friend or have handed to you by a buddha in heaven. It is not
36274 something that someone else has but you do not. Abandon such concepts.
36275 Primordial wisdom does not come from an external source. It is simply your
36276 true nature. It is something that you and everyone else have as the very
36277 essence of your mind.
36278 You should know what your qualities and capabilities are. (p.79)
36279 -- Gyatrul Rinpoche, "The Generation Stage in Buddhist Tantra", published
36280 by Snow Lion Publications
36282 With regard to ordinary study, except for the fact that there is a limit to
36283 our lifetime, it is not that you arrive at a point where there is no more room
36284 in your brain. No matter how much you study, even if you study a hundred
36285 thousand million words, the mind can still retain them. This indicates that
36286 the basis of these qualities, consciousness, is stable and continuous.
36287 The other day, I made a joke to someone who was asking about the brain. I
36288 said that if, like a computer, you needed a cell for each moment of memory,
36289 then as you become more and more educated, your head would have to get bigger
36291 Because of these reasons--that compassion, wisdom, and so forth are
36292 qualities that depend on the mind, and the mind is stable and continuous--they
36293 can be developed to a limitless degree.
36294 It is from this point of view that it is said that the conception of
36295 inherent existence can be extinguished. When one removes the conception of
36296 inherent existence, one thereby also ceases the afflictive emotions generated
36297 in dependence upon that ignorance. Also, since the ignorance that drives
36298 contaminated actions has ceased, this class of actions ceases. Once the
36299 motivator of the action and the actions cease, the results of those actions
36300 will cease. That is how the third noble truth--true cessation--comes to be.
36302 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama of Tibet, Tenzin Gyatso, "The Dalai Lama at
36303 Harvard: Lectures on the Buddhist Path to Peace", translated and
36304 edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, published by Snow Lion Publications
36306 "Accumulating merit" can be approached from a psychological perspective that
36307 lends itself to experiential verification or from a spiritual dimension that
36308 requires some faith. "Merit" can be understood as "spiritual power" that
36309 manifests in day-to-day experience. When merit, or spiritual power, is
36310 strong, there is little resistance to practicing Dharma and practice itself is
36312 Tibetans explain that people who make rapid progress in Dharma, gaining one
36313 insight after another, enter practice already having a lot of merit. By the
36314 same theory, it is possible to strive diligently and make little progress.
36315 Tibetans explain this problem as being due to too little merit. Merit is the
36316 fuel that empowers spiritual practice.
36317 How do you accumulate merit? Engaging in virtue of any sort, with your
36318 mind, your speech, or your body results in merit. Just as merit can be
36319 accumulated, it can also be dissipated by doing harm. In general, mental
36320 afflictions dissipate merit. The mental affliction that is like a black hole
36321 sucking up merit, worse than all the others, is anger. Attachment or sensual
36322 craving can get you in a lot of trouble, but it doesn't have the debilitating
36323 impact upon spiritual practice that anger does. Remember the warrior
36324 metaphor--standing at the gateway of the mind, vigilant, spear ready. The
36325 spear is for mental afflictions, especially anger. Nip anger in the bud. (p.208)
36326 -- B. Alan Wallace, "Buddhism with an Attitude: The Tibetan Seven-Point Mind
36327 Training", published by Snow Lion Publications
36329 It is necessary to alternate stabilising meditation and analytical
36330 meditation... by merely cultivating non-conceptuality and non-analysis it is
36331 impossible to enter into the yoga of signlessness.
36332 Even after emptiness has been realised, powerful and repeated analysis is
36333 needed. Merely to set one's mind on the meaning of emptiness is the mode of
36334 cultivating calm abiding observing emptiness; in order to cultivate special
36335 insight it is necessary to analyse again and again. These two modes of
36336 meditation--stabilising and analytical--are alternated until analysis itself
36337 induces even greater stablisation, at which point stabilisation and wisdom are
36338 of equal strength, this being a union of calm abiding and special insight.
36339 In Performance as well as in Action Tantra the meditative stabilisation
36340 which is a union of calm abiding and special insight is used to gain feats for
36341 the sake of aiding sentient beings and accumulating merit quickly. (p.42)
36342 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Tsong-ka-pa, and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Deity
36343 Yoga in Action and Performance Tantra", published by Snow Lion Pub.
36345 Seeking a Place of Refuge.
36347 A spiritual aspirant requires a model, something he or she can look up to as
36348 an ideal and thus find guidance and inspiration. In Buddhism this is the
36349 Triple Gem, or the Three Jewels of Refuge: the Buddhas, Dharma and Sangha.
36350 When we think of the fully enlightened Buddhas--the beings who have purified
36351 their minds of all stains and obscurations and who have expanded their wisdom
36352 to the limits of existence--we feel very attracted and awed; but somehow there
36353 always seems to be a great distance between the Buddhas and us. Therefore,
36354 there is the refuge of Sangha, the community of spiritual aspirants, the
36355 assembly of practitioners dwelling in the various stages of practice and
36357 These beings provide us with a perspective on the path. We have to look up
36358 to the Sangha, but not as far as to the Buddhas. The Sangha make us think,
36359 "This person is not that far ahead of me. If I just make a bit more
36360 effort...." They give us confidence for spiritual practice. Sometimes they
36361 make us feel like we can even race them to enlightenment. These are the
36362 Sangha of spiritual friends.
36363 Thoughts of the Buddhas make us numb with admiration; thoughts of the Sangha
36364 cause us to jump to it and to apply ourselves with zeal to the spiritual path.
36365 This path and the methods for traversing it are the third Jewel of Refuge, the
36366 Dharma. This is the collection of teachings to be practiced and the
36367 realizations to be attained. (p.97)
36368 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Path to Enlightenment", edited and translated
36369 by Glenn H. Mullin, published by Snow Lion Publications
36371 Suppose there is this religious group building thousands of childcare
36372 facilities and hospices.... Although these religious workers are doing a lot
36373 of caring work, there is no wish to enlighten sentient beings. Their aim is
36374 just to provide food and education. At the same time, imagine there is one
36375 hermit living somewhere in the mountains of the Himalayas who is doing none of
36376 this. In fact, within close range of him, there are a lot of babies dying,
36377 yet outwardly he is doing nothing about it. Inwardly, however, he is actually
36378 meditating, "May all sentient beings be enlightened!" and he continues to do
36379 this every day. Purely because of the enlightenment aspect, this person is
36380 worthier of homage than the first group. Why? Because it is so difficult to
36381 truly and genuinely wish for the enlightenment of others. It is much easier
36382 to give people food and educate them.
36383 Most of us don't really appreciate this fact. We have never before
36384 genuinely wished for someone else to achieve enlightenment. Likewise, if
36385 someone were to come over and say to us: "Here you go, you have a ticket for
36386 enlightenment. There is only one ticket." I don't think we would even think
36387 about giving it to someone else! We'd grab it and go for it. Enlightenment
36388 is such a valuable thing.
36389 Actually, enlightenment is much too large a subject, so let's not take that
36390 as an example. Instead, let's say someone comes along with a potion that
36391 promises you clairvoyance or omniscience. We would drink it ourselves, not
36392 even sharing half of it with others!
36393 Just think how often we are jealous when someone is a better practitioner.
36394 How often do we get jealous when someone receives a better or a higher
36395 teaching than we do? If you have genuine bodhichitta, you should be happy,
36396 shouldn't you? After all, isn't that what you wished for? Their getting
36397 enlightenment means your wish is at last coming true. Their receiving higher
36398 teachings, or becoming better practitioners, means that your aspiration is
36399 finally being fulfilled! But we don't feel this way, instead we feel jealous
36400 or envious. Some of us may be so-so Dharma practitioners, so we don't really
36401 feel jealous or envious, but we still feel left behind. Who cares? If you
36402 are a genuine bodhisattva, you shouldn't care about these things. (p.123)
36403 -- "Entrance to the Great Perfection: A Guide to the Dzogchen Preliminary
36404 Practices", compiled, translated, and introduced by Cortland Dahl,
36405 published by Snow Lion Publications
36407 It is very difficult to help somebody overcome his or her problems when the
36408 problems are unstructured, when in a certain way this person does not have any
36409 problems, though deep inside all the problems are there. It is very difficult
36410 for a human being whose problem is confused, whose ego is ill-defined and
36411 without foundation, to really purify, clarify, and develop anything.
36412 The same principle applies to praying. As long as we have our self, our
36413 ego, we pray to the Buddha: "Please bless me so that my prayers for the
36414 benefit of all sentient beings be fulfilled." Otherwise our prayer does not
36415 follow any line or direction. It would be like going to a big five-star hotel
36416 with five hundred rooms and not knowing your room number, or taking an
36417 elevator without knowing which floor to go to--this would be a big problem.
36418 This is the reason for calling upon the great compassion of the Buddha and
36419 asking him to consider our prayers. The reason is not that the Buddha only
36420 listens to someone who prays to him; rather, without praying to the Buddha we
36421 are not developed enough to have the condition necessary to receive his
36422 blessing. Rain might be falling for ten thousand years, yet if our cup is
36423 upside down it will remain empty. Through praying we open up, we turn our cup
36424 to let the water get inside. (p.48)
36425 -- XII Khentin Tai Situpa Rinpoche, "The Third Karmapa's Mahamudra Prayer",
36426 translated and edited by Rosemarie Fuchs, published by Snow Lion Pub
36428 Catproof is an oxymoron, childproof nearly so. -- unknown
36430 In Tibetan there is no word for "emotion."
36431 Bearing in mind that the fundamental goal of Buddhist practice is the
36432 achievement of nirvana, when you study the mind what you're really concerned
36433 with is what specific mental states impede the accomplishment of that end.
36434 That's what the six primary states and twenty derivative states (the
36435 unwholesome mental factors) all have in common. Some are emotions and some
36436 are not, but it doesn't really matter. What's important is they all share
36437 that common factor of being impediments.
36438 In contrast, modern psychology does not have the aim of nirvana. My
36439 conjecture, in terms of trying to understand why the West places such a strong
36440 emphasis on identifying emotion, is that, going back to the Enlightenment,
36441 even as far back as Aquinas, there is an enormous priority placed on reason
36442 and intelligence. What can impede reason? Emotion.
36443 You have two categories that are set in opposition to each other. The fact
36444 that there is a specific term for emotion in Western thought does not
36445 necessarily imply that there was a special emphasis placed on understanding
36446 the nature of emotion. Perhaps initially the motive for labeling something as
36447 emotion was to enhance reason by identifying something that is unreasonable,
36448 something that is irrational. (p.159)
36449 -- "Destructive Emotions: How Can We Overcome Them? A Scientific Dialogue
36450 with the Dalai Lama", narrated by Daniel Goleman, foreword by the Dalai
36453 The solution of this problem is trivial and is left as an exercise for the reader.
36454 -- Standard textbook cookie
36457 Your Holiness and other teachers tell us to be sincerely joyful about
36458 others' worldly achievements, happiness, and acquisitions. But if we know
36459 with certainty that a person has acquired or achieved something through
36460 unskillful or non-virtuous means, such as lying, stealing, cheating, harming,
36461 in what manner should that happiness for them be experienced and expressed?
36464 One's attitude toward superficial successes that are achieved through wrong
36465 means of livelihood such as lying, stealing, cheating, and so on, should not
36466 be the same as for achievements and happiness which are genuine. However,
36467 here you must bear in mind that if you examine this carefully, you will find
36468 that although the immediate circumstances that gave rise to a person's joy and
36469 happiness may be a wrong means of livelihood, that is merely the immediate
36470 circumstance: the actual cause of that happiness is the individual's merit in
36472 So one has to see the difference between immediate circumstances and long-
36473 term causes. One of the characteristics of karmic theory is that there is a
36474 definite, commensurate relationship between cause and effect. There is no way
36475 that negative actions or unwholesome deeds can result in joy and happiness.
36476 Joy and happiness, by definition, are the results or fruits of wholesome
36477 actions. So, from that point of view, it is possible for us to admire not so
36478 much the immediate action, but the real causes of joy. (p.119)
36479 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Healing Anger: The Power of Patience from a
36480 Buddhist Perspective", translated by Geshe Thupten Jinpa, published by
36481 Snow Lion Publications
36483 At all times, do not lose courage in your inner awareness; uplift yourself,
36484 while assuming a humble position in your outer demeanor. Follow the example
36485 of the life and complete liberation of previous accomplished masters (siddha).
36486 Do not blame your past karma; instead, be someone who purely and flawlessly
36487 practices the Dharma. Do not blame temporary negative circumstances; instead,
36488 be someone who remains steadfast in the face of whatever circumstances may
36490 In brief, taking your own mind as witness, make your life and practice one,
36491 and at the time of death, with no thought of anything left undone, do not be
36492 ashamed of yourself. This itself is the pith instruction of all practices.
36493 Eventually, when the time of death arrives, completely give up whatever
36494 wealth you possess, and do not cling to even one needle. Moreover, at death,
36495 practitioners of highest faculty will be joyful; practitioners of middling
36496 faculty will be without apprehension; and practitioners of the lowest faculty
36497 will have no regrets. When realization's clear light becomes continuous day
36498 and night, there is no intermediate state (bardo): death is just breaking the
36499 enclosure of the body.
36500 If this is not the case, but if you have confidence that you will be
36501 liberated in the intermediate state, whatever you have done in preparation for
36502 death will suffice. Without such confidence, when death arrives, you can send
36503 your consciousness to whichever pure land you wish and there traverse the
36504 remaining paths and stages to become enlightened. (p.58)
36505 -- "Wisdom Nectar: Dudjom Rinpoche's Heart Advice", translated by Ron Garry,
36506 a Tsadra Foundation Series book, published by Snow Lion Publications
36508 There are many different forms of bodywork that can purify and heal in the
36509 context of preparing for tantric practice. Trauma held in the body from early
36510 experiences is cleared only when we are able to work therapeutically in the
36511 body. Whether it is body-centered therapy or the various practices of
36512 acupuncture, osteopathy, homeopathy, and so on, if the practice releases and
36513 transforms trauma, then it is beneficial as a preliminary to any further
36514 tantric practice. I often suggest to people I teach that they follow some
36515 form of body-energy healing in order to further their release of trauma.
36516 Also, after trauma has been released, it is often extremely useful to then
36517 explore some form of psychotherapy.
36518 We should not assume that the traditional practices will do it all for us.
36519 It is simply idealistic and naive to think that all our ills can be resolved
36520 by doing the traditional preliminary practices or, indeed, by classical
36521 "dharma practice" alone. We should consider a healthy body-mind-life
36522 relationship as a necessary part of our practice. When we get this balance
36523 right, we create the basis for a sound dharma practice.
36524 The practice of tantra in particular needs this healthy, balanced basis
36525 because when we work with tantric practices, we stimulate processes in the
36526 body that are often very powerful. If we have a sound base for practice and
36527 have a level of emotional and energetic maturity, then the effects of tantra
36528 can be held and grounded without creating the potential for problems to arise.
36529 Without a sound relationship to the body, the practice of tantra has no real
36530 base from which to unfold.(p.53)
36531 -- Rob Preece, "Preparing for Tantra: Creating the Psychological Ground
36532 for Practice", published by Snow Lion Publications
36534 During a visit to America, Winston Churchill was invited to a buffet luncheon
36535 at which cold fried chicken was served. Returning for a second helping, he
36536 asked politely, "May I have some breast?" "Mr. Churchill," replied the
36537 hostess, "in this country we ask for white meat or dark meat." Churchill
36538 apologized profusely. The following morning, the lady received a magnificent
36539 orchid from her guest of honor. The accompanying card read: "I would be most
36540 obliged if you would pin this on your white meat."
36544 What are the methods for causing one's own mind to become the practices?
36545 Initially, one should take refuge and think about actions and their effects.
36546 The refuge is the Three Jewels: Buddha, his Doctrine and the Spiritual
36549 [Buddha] When a sentient being purifies the taints of his own mind as well
36550 as their latent predispositions, he is free of all defects that act as
36551 obstructions. Thus, he simultaneously and directly knows all phenomena. Such
36552 a being is called a Buddha, and he is a teacher of refuge, like a physician.
36554 [Dharma] The Doctrine jewel is the superior paths--the chief right paths
36555 which remove the taints as well as their latent predispositions--and the
36556 absences which are states of having removed what is to be removed. The
36557 Doctrine is the actual refuge, like medicine.
36559 [Sangha] The Spiritual Community jewel is all persons, whether lay or
36560 ordained, who have generated a superior path in their continuum. They are
36561 friends helping one to achieve refuge, like nurses.
36563 The three refuges that have been achieved and presently exist in other
36564 beings' continuums are one's own causal refuge; one relies on a protector just
36565 as a weak person takes refuge in a stronger person. The three refuges that
36566 one will attain in the future are one's own effect refuge. One who relies on
36567 the Three Jewels from the point of view of knowing that he is to attain them,
36568 must cause them to be generated in his own continuum.(p.35)
36569 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Buddhism of Tibet", translated and edited by
36570 Jeffrey Hopkins, with Anne Klein, published by Snow Lion Publications
36572 Buddhism was extremely helpful to me during the process of my sister's
36573 lingering death two years ago. She was forty-five years old and had very few
36574 spiritual aspirations. She was actually fearful and closed to any suggestions
36575 that she might find comfort in expanding her degree of awareness and
36576 understanding. At first I was extremely upset by her attitude, but then I
36577 realized it was not for me to decide what she should or should not do with the
36578 last few months of her life. I was with her for support and comfort and not
36579 to force her to view her life in a way which was foreign and threatening to
36581 Enabling a person to accomplish a sense of having lived purposefully and
36582 with significance is a major goal of caregivers and loved ones. Being able to
36583 support someone during their dying trajectory, regardless of what they are
36584 thinking or feeling is probably one of the most valuable services one person
36585 can offer to another. But, it is difficult to stay close to someone who is
36586 dying. Not trying to evade an open encounter with the intense psychic pain
36587 that usually accompanies the recognition of impending death is one of the most
36588 valuable contributions that a nurse or any other caregiver or loved one can
36589 make to the patient who wishes to discuss his or her circumstances. Facing
36590 forthrightly the situation of dying, however, requires feeling comfortable
36591 with one's own feelings about death and the frailty of being human.
36592 Buddhism has taught me that death need not be approached only as a tragedy;
36593 it is also an event from which a profound understanding can unfold. (p.44)
36594 -- "Buddhism through American Women's Eyes", edited by Karma Lekshe Tsomo,
36595 published by Snow Lion Publications
36597 Offerings should not be influenced by fluctuations of motivation and they
36598 should not be procured by devious means--offerings procured through wrong
36599 means are not good offerings. They should be arranged with proper motivation.
36600 As explained in the precepts of refuge, you should make offerings of the first
36601 portion of your food or drink of the day, whether it be food, milk or tea.
36602 Offerings should be made of what is edible; it is not helpful to arrange a
36603 torma that could not be eaten and then to say OM AH HUM, OM AH HUM. If you
36604 can in reality transform something into delicious food just by reciting OM AH
36605 HUM three times, then it is alright! On the other hand, if your offerings
36606 remain as mere tsampa (roasted barley flour) after having repeated OM AH HUM a
36607 thousand times, it will not help much. The offerings should be the best you
36608 can afford. At least you can offer the first portion of your daily food, as
36609 no one can live without food! Our offerings should be something which is
36610 edible.... [Even] if you make water offerings in a proper manner, you can
36611 generate great merit.(p.35)
36612 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Union of Bliss and Emptiness: Teachings on the
36613 Practice of Guru Yoga", translated by Thupten Jinpa, published by Snow
36616 Hundreds of people may be more popular, powerful, and wealthy than we are,
36617 but from the point of view of the Dharma, no one is more fortunate. We have a
36618 very precious opportunity to make the best of our lives by working toward the
36619 attainment of buddhahood. We have obtained this precious human birth and have
36620 come in contact with the teachings and spiritual friends. All the favorable
36621 conditions are available--we could not ask for more. Yet this is only for a
36622 very short period of time. Within this very short time, the best thing we can
36623 do for ourselves is commit ourselves fully and wholeheartedly to practicing
36624 the disciplines, which are an essential part of the practice of the teachings.
36625 ...The practice of discipline is very profound. In terms of the
36626 effectiveness of the practice of the Dharma, there is a hundredfold difference
36627 between someone who follows some level of discipline and someone who does not.
36628 Whether visualizing a deity, practicing basic meditation, or reciting mantras,
36629 the benefit is a hundredfold greater when we have the ground of discipline.
36630 The teachings of the Buddha say that if we take dust from the footprint of a
36631 person who embodies discipline and put it on our heads, it is a blessing.
36632 Even the king of the devas would do that, because of the sacredness of
36633 discipline. There is a tradition, followed to this day in India, of touching
36634 the feet of a holy person or touching the doorstep before entering his or her
36635 door, and then touching our foreheads. This is not merely a cultural
36636 tradition, but is acknowledging something very profound.(p.73)
36637 -- Khenpo Karthar, "Dharma Paths" 2nd Edition, translated by Ngödup Burkhar
36638 and Chöjor Radha, edited by Laura M. Roth, published by Snow Lion
36641 According to the lower schools of Buddhist thought, when a being, like
36642 Sakyamuni Buddha, attains mahaparinirvana and passes away, he ceases to exist,
36643 there is no further continuity of consciousness. Therefore, according to the
36644 Vaibhasika school, for example, after this point there is no more being, no
36645 more consciousness. Only the name remains. And yet, they believe that this
36646 being who has now disappeared can influence the course of those who follow him
36647 due to the virtues that he created in the past.
36648 This is not accepted by the higher schools of thought, however, that instead
36649 believe that there are two kinds of bodies, those that are pure in nature and
36650 those that are impure. The latter is more gross, whereas a body that has been
36651 purified is more subtle. Now, for example, when Sakyamuni Buddha gave up his
36652 body, there still remained the more subtle one. So, according to these
36653 schools of thought, at the stage of Buddhahood, there are two bodies: a mental
36654 body and a physical one. I don't know whether the English word "body" is the
36655 most appropriate one. In Sanskrit, the words used to signify these two bodies
36656 of the Buddha are dharmakaya and rupakaya. The first is of the nature of
36657 mind, whereas the latter is material. So when the Buddha passes away, there
36658 is still this more subtle body, which is of the nature of mind, and since the
36659 mental continuum is also present, we can say that the personality is still
36660 there. Even today, the Buddha remains as a living being. I think this is
36661 better, don't you?(p.91)
36662 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Answers: Discussions with Western Buddhists",
36663 edited by Jose Ignacio Cabezon, published by Snow Lion Publications
36665 Blame everything on one thing. It simplifies life incredibly, and yet it
36666 truly is not simplistic. If we believe from our hearts that all of our
36667 misfortunes can be attributed to self-centeredness, this must radically
36668 transform our lives.
36669 Do we have reservations? Isn't there some part of the mind that says,
36670 "Self-centeredness is not such a bad idea. It got me my job, a good salary,
36671 my house and car. How can this be my enemy?" On the surface self-centeredness
36672 may seem like an aide who looks after our interests. There is one powerful
36673 answer to this: insofar as self-centeredness dominates our lives, it brings us
36674 into conflict with virtually everyone else. Because most people are dominated
36675 by self-centeredness, their interests are at odds with our own. There is
36676 bound to be conflict, and conflict gives rise to suffering.
36677 Imagine what life would be like without self-centeredness. Would we give
36678 away all our possessions, waste away from malnutrition, and die prematurely of
36679 disease? No. This would be a partial lack of self-centeredness combined with
36680 a large part of stupidity. If we are to serve others effectively, we must
36681 take care of ourselves. A bodhisattva has no self-centeredness, but there
36682 have been people in all stations of life, including kings, who are
36683 bodhisattvas. If we free ourselves of self-centeredness and really concern
36684 ourselves with the cherishing of others, then our own welfare comes as a kind
36686 -- B. Alan Wallace, "The Seven-Point Mind Training", edited by Zara
36687 Houshmand, published by Snow Lion Publications
36689 When we achieve a mind focused on mind with the perfect placement of
36690 absorbed concentration, free from all faults of dullness or flightiness, we
36691 increasingly experience an element of bliss accompanying our meditation. When
36692 we experience serene joy, on both a physical and mental level, brought on by
36693 the force of total absorption of mind on mind, we achieve a meditational state
36694 that fulfills the definition of shamata.
36695 Our ordinary mind is like raw iron ore that needs to be made into a steel
36696 sword. Progressing through the stages for attaining shamata is like forging
36697 the iron into steel. All the materials are there at our disposal. But since
36698 the mind wanders after external objects, then although it is the material for
36699 attaining shamata, it cannot yet be used as this product. We have to forge
36700 our mind through a meditational process. It is like putting the iron ore into
36702 To fashion the steel into a sword, or in this analogy to fashion the mind
36703 into an instrument that understands voidness, our serenely stilled and settled
36704 mind needs to come to decisive realization of voidness as its object. Without
36705 such a weapon of mind, we have no opponent with which to destroy the
36706 disturbing emotions and attitudes.(p.142)
36707 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama and Alexander Berzin, "The Gelug/Kagyu Tradition of
36708 Mahamudra", published by Snow Lion Publications
36710 Focusing the mind on the object of meditation is like planting a seed for
36711 the arisal of the realization.... Even in the beginning stages one might
36712 become impatient, thinking, "I really want to get this done quickly." One
36713 might think that by exerting more effort, by adding more and more stuff, by
36714 changing things this way or that way the process can be made to go faster.
36715 The good gardener knows that too much water or fertilizer is harmful, not
36716 helpful. The mature meditator must understand this as well. The Kadampa
36717 masters of old gave this counsel: First, pay great heed to getting the proper
36718 causes and conditions together. Next, engage in the practice without
36719 agitation and without anxiety. Then, with the mind at ease, carry on to the
36721 --Gen Lamrimpa, "How to Practice Shamatha Meditation: The Cultivation of
36722 Meditative Quiescence", translated by B. Alan Wallace, published by Snow
36725 The Need for Reasoning
36727 All Buddhist schools agree that the analytical reasoning process which leads
36728 to an inference (a conceptual realization) derives from basic, shared, direct
36729 perception. As an example let us consider the following reasoning:
36731 A plant does not inherently exist because of being a dependent-arising.
36733 You begin by reflecting on the fact that a plant is a dependent-arising
36734 because its production depends on certain causes and conditions (such as a
36735 seed, soil, sunlight, and water), but eventually the reasoning process must be
36736 supported by direct perception, or it cannot stand. We can see with our eyes
36737 that plants change; they grow; mature, and finally dry up. In this sense,
36738 inference is blind, since it must eventually rely on direct perception.
36739 Inference depends on reasoning, which in turn rests on basic, shared,
36740 indisputable experience through direct perception. (p.153)
36741 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "How to Practice: The Way to a Meaningful
36742 Life", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins
36744 The root of all qualities of the Bodhisattva vehicle is caring for sentient
36745 beings. We admire and respect the Buddha because he has reached the state
36746 free of all faults and possessing all good qualities, knows the method to
36747 reach that state, and teaches it to us. If we do as the Buddha did, by
36748 meditating on love and compassion for all sentient beings, not harming or
36749 getting angry with them, we too can become a Buddha.
36750 Our enlightenment depends on the Buddhas and on sentient beings, and from
36751 this point of view, they are equally important to us. Thus when we look at
36752 any sentient being, we should recognize that she is indispensable to our
36753 attainment of enlightenment. Our enlightenment comes from cherishing sentient
36754 beings; it does not come from cherishing only ourselves. Understanding this,
36755 whenever we encounter people in our lives, it becomes easy to feel, "May this
36756 person be happy and free from suffering."
36757 Caring for sentient beings means freeing them from the suffering of
36758 unfortunate rebirths and of cyclic existence in general, teaching the Dharma
36759 to those who want to hear it, providing the means for them to eliminate the
36760 causes which bring suffering temporarily and ultimately, not harming them, not
36761 lying to them, not creating discord among them, not speaking harshly to them,
36762 and so on. Through caring about them now, excellent results will follow, for
36763 us and for them.(p.179)
36764 -- Geshe Jampa Tegchok, "Transforming Adversity into Joy and Courage: An
36765 Explanation of the Thirty-seven Practices of Bodhisattvas", edited by
36766 Thubten Chodron, published by Snow Lion Publications
36768 The term 'karma' literally means 'action', and more specifically refers to
36769 the process of cause and effect, where the intention of an agent or being is
36770 involved. So here karma means an intentional act committed or carried out by
36771 a being who possesses a sentient nature and who is also capable of having a
36772 sentient experience.
36773 ...Buddhist texts state that only a buddha's omniscient mind can penetrate
36774 the subtlest aspects of the workings of karma, and know at the most
36775 microscopic level which specific causes and conditions give rise to which
36776 specific consequences. At our level, we can only recognise that an intimate
36777 relationship exists between the external elements of the material world and
36778 the internal elements of our mental world; and, based on that, we can learn to
36779 detect varying levels of subtlety within our mental and emotional experiences.
36781 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Lighting the Way", translated by Geshe Thupten
36782 Jinpa, published by Snow Lion Publications
36784 All attachment and aversion come from what we have mentally created. We
36785 have made an image and that is our mind as we normally experience it. In
36786 order to solve this problem in a more profound and permanent way, we have to
36787 look at our mind and see its true nature. In our innate, unfabricated nature,
36788 which is the basic state of our mind, there is no problem. We make all our
36789 problems by creating concepts and all kinds of mental conditioning.
36790 Seeing the true nature of mind means experiencing the way the mind is when
36791 we do not fabricate and contrive anything. We need to look at our mind when
36792 it is devoid of our creations and free from mental elaborations. If we can
36793 see this state of mind, there is no grasping, no grasped object, and no
36794 subject doing the grasping. There is simply perception or seeing, which in
36795 itself does not cause a problem.
36796 When the true nature of mind is seen, there are just appearances without any
36797 evaluation. One thing arises in the mind and then another thing arises. The
36798 arising that is pleasant is no better than the one that is unpleasant. They
36799 are simply different manifestations of the mind. There is no need to grasp
36800 one and reject the other. Once this is seen clearly, we see the true nature
36801 of mind. This is something that we need to experience directly. When we see
36802 the truth, we become liberated from our struggle within the nets of aversion
36803 and attachment.(p.97)
36804 --Ringu Tulku, "Daring Steps: Traversing the Path of the Buddha", edited and
36805 translated by Rosemarie Fuchs, published by Snow Lion Publications
36807 In general, most non-Buddhist religions meditate on the deity as being
36808 outside the physical body. In these cases the deity takes the form of a
36809 refuge, or of a protector or messenger. Thus do they meditate, and of course
36810 this is fine. In the Buddhist tradition, however, the deity is not meditated
36811 on as being outside the physical body. One meditates on the deity as being
36812 one's own essence expressing itself through oneself arising as the deity. One
36813 therefore thinks, "I am the deity," and with this conviction one meditates.
36814 Why is it justifiable to meditate in this manner? As previously seen, the
36815 five afflictions are actually self-expressions of the five kinds of primordial
36816 awareness; thus our own mind is in essence exactly the same as the mind of a
36817 Buddha. In the philosophical treatises this is sometimes referred to as
36818 'sugatagarbha' or 'buddha-nature'.
36819 Because all beings possess this innately pure buddha-nature, they are pure
36820 by nature and not at all impure. Being pure by nature it is perfectly
36821 justified to meditate that you are the deity, because this is exactly how it
36823 --Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, "Everyday Consciousness and Primordial
36824 Awareness", translated and edited by Susanne Schefczyk, published by Snow
36827 In day to day life if you lead a good life, honestly, with love, with
36828 compassion, with less selfishness, then automatically it will lead to
36829 nirvana....We must implement these good teachings in daily life. Whether you
36830 believe in God or not does not matter so much; whether you believe in Buddha
36831 or not does not matter so much; as a Buddhist, whether you believe in
36832 reincarnation or not does not matter so much. You must lead a good life.
36833 And a good life does not mean just good food, good clothes, good shelter.
36834 These are not sufficient. A good motivation is what is needed: compassion,
36835 without dogmatism, without complicated philosophy; just understanding that
36836 others are human brothers and sisters and respecting their rights and human
36837 dignity. That we humans can help each other is one of our unique human
36838 capacities. We must share in other peoples' suffering; even if you cannot
36839 help with money, to show concern, to give moral support and express sympathy
36840 are themselves valuable. This is what should be the basis of activities;
36841 whether one calls it religion or not does not matter.... In my simple
36842 religion, love is the key motivation.(p.20)
36843 -- The Fourteenth Dalai Lama, His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso, "Kindness,
36844 Clarity, and Insight 25th Anniversary Edition", edited and translated by
36845 Jeffrey Hopkins, co-edited by Elizabeth Napper, published by Snow Lion
36847 All beings suffer in the same way as we do, and some are even more deeply
36848 immersed in sorrow. Yet all of these beings wish to experience only happiness
36849 and to avoid all suffering, frustration, and pain. They wish lasting
36850 happiness but do not know how to cultivate its causes, and they wish to avoid
36851 misery but automatically collect only causes of further misery. As Shantideva
36852 said, "Although seeking happiness, they destroy their own causes of happiness
36853 as they would an enemy. And although seeking to avoid misery, they treat its
36854 causes as they would a close friend."
36855 Were the countless sentient beings unrelated to us, or were they not to mind
36856 their sufferings, perhaps there would be no need for us to bother with their
36857 welfare. In reality, however, all are related to us and not one of them
36858 wishes to suffer. Over the billions of lifetimes that we have experienced
36859 since beginningless time, we have known all the living beings again and again.
36860 Sometimes they have been parents to us, sometimes friends or mates, sometimes
36861 enemies. Without exception, each of them has been even a mother to us again
36862 and again, performing all the kindnesses of a mother. How can we be
36863 indifferent to them?
36864 Wishing them to have only happiness and its causes and to be free of
36865 suffering and its causes, we ourselves should generate a sense of
36866 responsibility for their well-being. Finally, as only an omniscient
36867 Enlightened One is effectively able to benefit beings in deep, lasting, and
36868 ultimate ways, we must quickly attain enlightenment. This is the wishing
36869 bodhimind, the inner basis of Mahayana practice.(p.136)
36870 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Path to Enlightenment", edited and translated
36871 by Glenn H. Mullin, published by Snow Lion Publications
36873 Recalling our interconnectedness, we begin to recognize our total
36874 interdependence and that whatever we enjoy in our life comes through others--
36875 through their efforts, their work, their hardships.
36876 It does not necessarily require that others had a specific intention to
36877 enable us to enjoy the things of our life. If we think of this in terms of
36878 the obvious examples like food and clothing, we can immediately see the global
36879 meaning of this contemplation. Our food comes from all over the world and if
36880 we consider the people and other creatures involved in its production,
36881 picking, packaging, transportation, and selling so that we can enjoy it, the
36882 numbers are vast. It is through their labor, their efforts, their struggles
36883 that we enjoy what we eat. Often their lives are terribly hard, and to feed a
36884 family they must work for very little--yet we enjoy the fruits of their labor.
36885 This is something to feel a huge gratitude for.
36886 If we begin to look more closely at our Western life, we can see how much we
36887 are dependent upon people in considerably poorer circumstances all over the
36888 world for what we consume. What we often don't consider is the impact of this
36889 consumption on those who produce it. In this meditation, it can be very
36890 useful to spend some time dwelling upon this so that we really feel the
36891 profound depth of appreciation for our interdependence upon others for our
36892 lives. This can counter the tendency to take our good fortune for granted and
36893 can open up a sense of gratitude for the kindness of those around. If guilt
36894 arises, it can be used to increase our awareness of the responsibility we have
36896 Gradually, we may begin to see the complete interdependent nature of our
36897 relationship with the countless other beings around us. We cannot overlook
36898 this connectedness to others and the kindness and benefit we have gained
36899 through them. When we come to feel this deeply, we will be able to hold
36900 others dear and automatically respond to others with a greater sense of care
36902 -- Rob Preece, "The Courage to Feel: Buddhist Practices for Opening to
36903 Others", published by Snow Lion Publications
36905 If you cannot stop worrying over something in the past or what might happen in
36906 the future, shift your focus to the inhalation and exhalation of your breath.
36907 Or recite this mantra: om mani padme hum (pronounced "om mani padmay hum").
36908 Since the mind cannot concentrate on two things simultaneously, either of
36909 these meditations causes the former worry to fade.(p.133)
36910 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "How to Practice: The Way to a Meaningful
36911 Life", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins
36913 When serving society or others in general, it is very important to set a
36914 proper motivation at the start of each day. When we wake up each morning, we
36915 reflect, 'Today I am not going to come under the power of either attachment or
36916 hostility. Today I am going to be of benefit and help to others.' Thus we
36917 consciously set the tone for the entire day so that we go through it within
36918 the context of a pure, altruistic motivation and attitude.
36919 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, excerpted from "The Gelug/Kagyu Tradition of
36920 Mahamudra", published by Snow Lion Publications
36922 We all have a certain style for doing things--how we drive, how we cook, how
36923 we dress. Some of us are shy or cautious, others assertive or flamboyant.
36924 We've refined that style over the years based on how successful it is, but
36925 it's not usually something of which we're completely aware. As long as it
36926 gets the job done, as long as we get the appropriate feedback from others, our
36927 style goes unnoticed, and when questioned we'll say, "That's just the way I
36929 When we begin meditation, it is inevitable that we will meditate with the
36930 same style with which we do everything else, because it's who we think we are.
36931 Furthermore, this style has proven to be reasonably successful in our other
36932 activities. However, in this case, it is not at all appropriate. If there is
36933 any style, there is a hidden agenda and an implicit judgment of the various
36934 phenomena of meditation. There is not the true detachment or choiceless
36935 awareness of real meditation. Our style contains our unacknowledged attitudes
36937 ...What's the problem in meditating with an attitude? First, a large amount
36938 of energy goes into maintaining the attitude. To make this clearer, if we are
36939 trying to be aware of our breathing, 100 percent of our attention should be on
36940 our breathing. If we're thinking, "I'm a shy person and I'm a little afraid
36941 of what's going on here," even if we're not consciously aware of that thought,
36942 it will be taking our energy away from the breathing and keeping it tied up in
36943 the world of ego. Consequently, this energy is not available for our
36944 practice. And your evaluation of your practice and progress will be based on
36945 your agenda rather than on the Buddha's teaching.
36946 Of course, no one is a perfect meditator. It's not like we have to wait
36947 until we have a perfect attitude before we begin. If that were the case, we
36948 would never start..With time, the purity of your attitude will grow...refining
36949 one's approach is a lifetime's work and is at the same time the practice
36951 -- Bruce Newman, "A Beginner's Guide to Tibetan Buddhism", published by
36952 Snow Lion Publications
36954 Developing a sense of good cheer in the face of adversity, you can
36955 specifically use adversity as the support for refuge and true spiritual
36956 development. I am discussing how you relate to your suffering, how you relate
36957 to your adversity, as it affects you in life and on the path.
36958 Now, as you know, whenever you are suffering by way of the body, speech, and
36959 mind, be it physical illness or a mental affliction, this is a very big deal
36960 to you. Usually it appears as something major. Even if it's minor, you make
36961 it into some great distress. If you lose a little money or if someone speaks
36962 nastily to you, it invokes a strong reaction. This is called "appearances
36963 arising as the enemy." When your habituation to adversity reaches such a
36964 point that you actually fall prey to appearances arising as the enemy, it
36965 means that you no longer have patience for suffering.
36966 ...If you can't bear the minor aspects of adversity in this, the best
36967 rebirth in cyclic existence, the precious human rebirth, what will you do when
36968 you're reborn in the three lower realms? Samsara is so vast, so deep and
36969 limitless, and the number of sentient beings within samsara are equal to that.
36970 All of them want to be free; all of them desire liberation. You should
36971 consider then how unnecessary or pointless it is to think that your small
36972 problems in this fortunate life are so great, when in fact they really are
36974 Any rebirth in this ocean of cyclic existence will by nature bring this type
36975 of discontent or suffering. Since you've been in this cycle of rebirths from
36976 beginningless time until now and you are still not free, it points out the
36977 fact that help is needed. Refuge is necessary. Adversity then becomes the
36978 support for training in refuge, which demonstrates that adversity is used to
36979 your advantage.(p.44)
36980 -- Ven. Gyatrul Rinpoche, "Meditation, Transformation, and Dream Yoga",
36981 trans. by B. Alan Wallace and Sangye Khandro, published by Snow Lion Pub.
36983 The practice of Dharma is to pacify the afflictions and concepts that fill
36984 our minds. When we blend the teachings with our minds, the power of the
36985 Dharma can act upon and pacify afflictions and concepts. If on the outside we
36986 look like Dharma practitioners while on the inside our Dharma practice has not
36987 diminished our afflictions or concepts, we merely call ourselves practitioners
36988 without actually being one. This is not to say that outer behavior, our
36989 reflection in the world, is not important, but what is crucial is to train in
36991 What we tame are the three main afflictions: ignorance, attachment, and
36992 aversion. Ignorance, the root of the two others, is defined as the continual
36993 fixation on our self that we assume to be permanent and independent. This
36994 ego-clinging is the main cause for our cycling in samsara. We wish to be in
36995 paradise for our own advantage; we wish to erase all suffering for our own
36996 advantage. We cling to this "I" of ours, thinking that it is so special that
36997 we should not be bothered with problems but enjoy wealth, power, and charisma.
36998 If we honestly look into our minds, it is quite easy to see this kind of
36999 coarse and obvious grasping to a self.
37000 There are also subtle forms of fixating on the self ("I") and what belongs
37001 to it ("mine"), like the quick thought of ourselves before another one comes.
37002 When practicing Dharma, we are taming this coarse and subtle clinging to an
37003 ego. If this does not happen, we will merely be able to suppress the
37004 afflictions temporarily, distancing ourselves for the time being. To cut
37005 through them completely, we must steadily apply ourselves to practice.(p.187)
37006 -- "Music in the Sky: The Life, Art and Teachings of the Seventeenth
37007 Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje", by Michele Martin, published by Snow
37010 "The mantra of the perfection of wisdom--the mantra of great knowledge,
37011 the unexcelled mantra, the mantra equal to the unequalled, the mantra
37012 that quells all suffering--is true because it is not deceptive."
37015 The perfection of wisdom is called "the mantra of great knowledge" because
37016 thoroughly understanding its meaning eliminates the three poisons of craving,
37017 hatred, and delusion. It is called the "unexcelled mantra" because there is
37018 no greater method than the perfection of wisdom for saving one from the
37019 extremes of cyclic existence and the isolated peace of individual nirvana. It
37020 is called the mantra "equal to the unequalled" because the Buddha's
37021 enlightened state is unequalled, and, through the deepest realization of this
37022 mantra, one attains a state equal to that state. Finally, the perfection of
37023 wisdom is known as the "mantra that quells all suffering" because it quells
37024 manifest sufferings and also removes all propensities for future suffering.
37025 The perfection of wisdom is the ultimate truth, thus the statement "it is
37026 true." In the realm of the ultimate truth, there is no disparity, as there is
37027 in conventional reality, between appearance and reality, and thus this
37028 manifest ultimate truth is "not deceptive." This nondeceptiveness also
37029 suggests that, through actualization of this mantra, the perfection of wisdom
37030 can enable one to attain total freedom from suffering and its causes. From
37031 this perspective too, we can say that it is the truth.
37032 "The mantra of the perfection of wisdom is proclaimed: tadyatha gate gate
37033 paragate parasamgate bodhi svaha! Shariputra, the bodhisattvas, the great
37034 beings, should train in the perfection of wisdom in this way."
37035 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Essence of the Heart Sutra: The Dalai Lama's Heart
37036 of Wisdom Teachings", translated & edited by Geshe Thupten Jinpa
37038 For as long as space endures
37039 And for as long as sentient beings remain,
37040 Until then may I too abide,
37041 To dispel the misery of the world.
37042 -- Shantideva, A Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life
37044 Global Responsibility
37046 Occasionally I notice that people are making a convenient distinction
37047 between ethics on the personal level and ethics on the wider social level. To
37048 me, such attitudes are fundamentally flawed, as they overlook the
37049 interdependence of our world.
37050 That individual ethics--or rather their absence--can have an impact on the
37051 lives of many is powerfully demonstrated by the global financial crisis that
37052 began in 2008, the repercussions of which are still being felt around the
37053 world. It revealed the way unbridled greed on the part of a few can adversely
37054 affect the lives of millions. So, just as in the wake of the 9/11 attacks we
37055 started to take the dangers of religious extremism and intolerance seriously,
37056 so too, in the wake of the financial crisis, should we take the dangers of
37057 greed and dishonesty seriously. When greed is seen as acceptable, even
37058 praiseworthy, there is clearly something wrong with our collective value
37060 In this age of globalization, the time has come for us to acknowledge that
37061 our lives are deeply interconnected and to recognize that our behavior has a
37062 global dimension. When we do so, we will see that our own interests are best
37063 served by what is in the best interests of the wider human community. By
37064 contrast, if we concentrate exclusively on our inner development and neglect
37065 the wider problems of the world, or if, having recognized these, we are
37066 apathetic about trying to solve them, then we have overlooked something
37067 fundamental. Apathy, in my view, is itself a form of selfishness. For our
37068 approach to ethics to be truly meaningful, we must of course care about the
37069 world. This is what I mean by the principle of global responsibility, which
37070 is a key part of my approach to secular ethics.(p.84)
37071 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "Beyond Religion: Ethics for a Whole
37072 World", trans. by Thupten Jinpa Langri
37074 Speech that is not harmful is the meaning of "right speech." It is wise
37075 speech. Wise people can still be quite firm and decisive when that is what is
37076 needed. It means finding generous and productive ways of saying things.
37077 There are times when we need to be strict, but we do not have to denigrate or
37078 harm the person or child who is out of line. Firm speech can also be wise
37080 Wise speech is another tool that can be practiced. We can begin by
37081 practicing wise speech to ourselves--replacing the inner voice of guilt that
37082 is putting us down and opening a space to listen to our deeper needs.
37083 What can I say which will be helpful to someone? What tone of voice will I
37084 use? And when is it wise to say nothing? Imagine yourself actually saying
37085 something helpful and supportive. Imagine the difference it would make in
37086 your life if you could say just one helpful thing to one person. Imagine your
37087 life if your speech always came from wisdom.(p.136)
37088 -- Chonyi Taylor, "Enough! A Buddhist Approach to Finding Release from
37089 Addictive Patterns", published by Snow Lion Publications
37091 The famous nineteenth-century dzogchen master Paltrul Rinpoche explained self-
37092 liberation concretely and precisely:
37094 The practitioner of self-liberation is like an ordinary person as far as
37095 the way in which the thoughts of pleasure and pain, hope and fear,
37096 manifest themselves as creative energy. However, the ordinary person,
37097 taking these really seriously and judging them as acceptable or rejecting
37098 them, continues to get caught up in situations and becomes conditioned by
37099 attachment and aversion.
37101 Not doing this, a practitioner, when such thoughts arise, experiences
37102 freedom: initially, by recognizing the thought for what it is, it is freed
37103 just like meeting a previous acquaintance; then it is freed in and of
37104 itself, like a snake shedding its skin; and finally, thought is freed in
37105 being unable to be of benefit or harm, like a thief entering an empty
37108 ...Freeing or liberating thought does not mean ignoring, letting go of, being
37109 indifferent to, observing, or even not having thoughts. It means being
37110 present in hope and fear, pain and pleasure, not as objects before us, but as
37111 the radiant clarity of our natural state. Thus anger, for example, when
37112 experienced dualistically, is an irritation which we may indulge in or reject,
37113 depending on our conditioning. Either way we are caught up in it and act out
37114 of it. But when aware of anger as a manifestation of clarity, its energy is a
37115 very fresh awareness of the particulars of the situation. However, these
37116 particulars are no longer irritating.(p.77)
37118 -- Longchenpa, "You Are the Eyes of the World", translated by Kennard Lipman
37119 and Merrill Peterson, introduction by Namkhai Norbu, published by Snow
37122 In this practice one recollects negativity, contemplates its nature,
37123 generates apprehension of its karmic implications, and resolves to purify
37124 one's mind of the negative traces. On the basis of this resolve one takes
37125 refuge, develops the bodhimind and enters the Vajrasattva meditation or
37126 whatever method is being used. One can also do exercises such as prostrations
37127 and so forth. This concentration of purifying energies destroys the potency
37128 of negative karmic imprints like the germ of a barley seed roasted in a fire.
37129 Here it is important to begin the meditation session with a contemplative
37130 meditation and then to transform this into settled meditation for a prolonged
37131 period of time. One abides in the settled meditation until it begins to lose
37132 intensity, and then temporarily reverts to contemplative meditation in order
37133 to invigorate the mind, returning to fixed meditation once a contemplative
37134 atmosphere has been restored.
37135 Generally our mind is habituated to directing all of our energies into
37136 things that benefit this life alone, things of no spiritual consequence. By
37137 performing these types of meditations, our natural attachment to the
37138 meaningless activities of this life subsides and we begin to experience an
37139 inner appreciation for spiritual values. When spontaneously one's mind
37140 appreciates spiritual rather than mundane goals one has become an active
37141 practitioner of initial perspective.(p.117)
37142 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Path to Enlightenment", edited and translated
37143 by Glenn H. Mullin, published by Snow Lion Publications
37145 When doing lamrim meditations, it is important to know clearly the state of
37146 mind you want to reach as a conclusion to the meditation. Lamrim texts
37147 describe the purpose of each meditation, and we want to make sure that our
37148 mind arrives at that conclusion and not at an incorrect or irrelevant
37149 conclusion. For example, when meditating on the disadvantages of the self-
37150 centered thought, our mind may twist that meditation and conclude, "I'm a
37151 horrible person because I'm so selfish." This is the wrong conclusion to reach
37152 from that meditation. The Buddha didn't teach the disadvantages of self-
37153 centeredness so that we would deride ourselves.
37154 If you meditate on a lam rim topic and arrive at an incorrect conclusion,
37155 the meditation hasn't been done correctly. In the above case, thinking, "I'm
37156 a bad person because I'm so selfish," indicates that we have misunderstood the
37157 purpose of the meditation and probably have fallen into an old pattern of
37158 putting ourselves down. Stop and ask yourself,
37159 "What conclusion does the Buddha want me to reach from this meditation? He
37160 wants me to ascertain that the self-centered mind is the actual 'enemy' that
37161 destroys my happiness. Self-centeredness is not an intrinsic part of me; it
37162 is not who I am. It's an incorrect, but deeply entrenched, thought that
37163 creates problems for me. I can free myself from it. Since I want to be
37164 happy, I will realize this selfish attitude for what it is and will stop
37165 following it! Instead, I will cultivate love and compassion for all beings."
37166 This is the conclusion you want to reach.(p.58)
37167 -- Bhikshuni Thubten Chodron, "Guided Meditations on the Stages of the
37168 Path", foreword by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, published by Snow Lion
37170 Greed is a form of desire. However, it is an exaggerated form of desire,
37171 based on overexpectation. The true antidote of greed is contentment.
37172 For a practicing Buddhist, for a Dharma practitioner, many practices can act
37173 as a kind of counterforce to greed: the realization of the value of seeking
37174 liberation or freedom from suffering, recognizing the underlying
37175 unsatisfactory nature of one's existence, and so on. These views also help an
37176 individual to counteract greed. But in terms of an immediate response to
37177 greed, one way is to reflect upon the excesses of greed, what it does to one
37178 as an individual, where it leads. Greed leads one to a feeling of
37179 frustration, disappointment, a lot of confusion, and a lot of problems.
37180 When it comes to dealing with greed, one thing which is quite characteristic
37181 is that although it arises from the desire to obtain something, it is not
37182 satisfied by obtaining it. Therefore, it becomes limitless or boundless, and
37183 that leads to trouble. The interesting thing about greed is that although the
37184 underlying motive is to seek satisfaction, as I pointed out, even after
37185 obtaining the object of one's desire, one is still not satisfied. On the
37186 other hand, if one has a strong sense of contentment, it doesn't matter
37187 whether one obtains the object or not; either way, one is still content.(p.32)
37188 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Healing Anger: The Power of Patience from a
37189 Buddhist Perspective", translated by Geshe Thupten Jinpa, published by
37190 Snow Lion Publications
37192 We will hereby start scouring the net for people who say git is hard to
37193 understand and use, and just kill them. They clearly are just polluting
37199 What is the Bodhisattva's Way of life? It is the way of life that follows
37200 naturally from having cultivated the awakening mind of bodhicitta.
37201 Omniscience is achieved only through the process of purifying the disturbing
37202 emotions within your mind. It cannot be achieved merely through wishes and
37203 prayers. We have to train in eliminating all the specific disturbing emotions
37204 within your mind. We have to train in eliminating all the specific disturbing
37205 emotions by relying on specific antidotes.
37206 All the activities of a Bodhisattva can be included in two major categories:
37207 the practice of skillful means and the practice of wisdom. If the practices
37208 of giving, ethics, and so forth are to be perfected, they should be supported
37209 and influenced by the practice of wisdom. Without the practice of wisdom, the
37210 first five of the six perfections cannot actually become practices of
37211 perfection. In order to cultivate such wisdom, you must first cultivate the
37212 genuine unmistaken philosophical view that is known as the view of the Middle
37213 Way, or Madhyamika.
37214 ...even when you have understood the wisdom realizing emptiness, that alone
37215 will not become a powerful antidote to ignorance if it is not supported by
37216 other practices such as giving, ethics, patience, and so forth. Mere
37217 understanding of selflessness is not sufficient to defeat the disturbing
37219 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Stages of Meditation", root text by Kamalashila,
37220 translated by Geshe Lobsang Jordhen, Losang Choephel Ganchenpa, and
37221 Jeremy Russell, published by Snow Lion Publications
37223 The many tantras of both the Ancient and New traditions unanimously agree
37224 that these, and others, are the consequences of violating the pledges.
37226 Means of Restoration
37227 The proclaimers' vows, like a clay pot, once broken cannot be repaired;
37228 The awakening mind commitments, like gold or silver, can be restored;
37229 The tantric pledges, like a dented vessel, are restored by the
37230 practitioner's strength.
37233 When is it possible to restore a vow that has been transgressed? All the
37234 tantras and transmissions state that if a monk has incurred a defeat with
37235 concealment, the transgressed vow, like a broken clay pot, cannot be repaired.
37236 An awakening mind commitment that has been transgressed is like a cracked gold
37237 or silver vase which can still be soldered by a blacksmith. A violated vow or
37238 pledge in this Secret Mantra system is likened to a dented golden vessel,
37239 which can be straightened out by the practitioner's own strength.
37240 Pledges are restored through action, precious substances, earnest desire,
37241 contemplation, and reality.
37242 The Great Cleansing can purify all transgressions.(p.296)
37243 -- Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Taye, "Treasury of Knowledge--Book Five: Buddhist
37244 Ethics", trans. by the Kalu Rinpoche Translation Group, under the
37245 direction of Ven. Bokar Rinpoche, published by Snow Lion Publications
37247 How to Become a Receptacle Suitable for Cultivating the Paths.
You are
37248 made into a vessel suitable for cultivating the path through entering a
37249 mandala such as that of the Vajra Element, receiving initiation, and receiving
37250 the pledges and vows.
37251 Concerning this, there are two types: those who merely enter a mandala and
37252 those who enter and receive initiation, of which there are two types. The
37253 former are those who cannot hold the vows of the five lineages but who hold
37254 the Bodhisattva vows; only the initiation of a student is granted to them.
37255 However, to those who can hold both Bodhisattva and mantra vows the full
37256 initiation of a vajra master is granted.(p.78)
37257 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Dzong-ka-ba and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Yoga Tantra: Paths
37258 to Magical Feats", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, published by
37259 Snow Lion Publications
37261 Awareness as virtue. Beyond choosing more virtuous forms of speech, you can
37262 also try to cultivate awareness of the subtle vibration underlying your speech
37263 and of how your speech manifests from there. Is your voice creating the right
37265 In dzogchen the concept of virtuous speech is taken to its highest level.
37266 For example, the A-Tri system of dzogchen offers a group of successive
37267 practices in which one learns to maintain awareness while engaging in various
37268 virtuous, neutral, and nonvirtuous activities.
37269 One initially tries to stay present amid virtuous activity such as praying
37270 or chanting mantras. Once that experience is stabilized, one integrates
37271 presence with neutral speech, such as conversing casually with a friend about
37272 cooking or gardening. Finally, one tries to integrate with negative speech
37273 such as lying, arguing, or giving insults. It is easier if you can establish
37274 your intent for self-awareness before you get drawn into an angry argument.
37275 For example, think of how courtroom lawyers argue a case: although they may
37276 use strong, sharp language, they are never driven by their emotions--every
37277 word is carefully chosen for its impact and is guided by intent, if not
37279 From this perspective "nonvirtuous speech" might be defined as speech that
37280 is driven and not guided and through which you lose connection with your self.
37281 In dzogchen practice you aim to arrive at a place where all activity of body,
37282 speech, and mind becomes an expression of contemplative awareness and an aid
37283 to spiritual development--therefore virtuous in the truest sense of the word.
37285 -- Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, "Tibetan Yogas of Body, Speech, and Mind",
37286 edited by Polly Turner, published by Snow Lion Publications
37288 Bodhisattvas give solely out of concern for others, without a self-
37289 cherishing attitude. That is the proper way of giving. Courageous
37290 Bodhisattvas risk even their lives to help others, and so, when we are in
37291 relatively better, more comfortable situations, we must certainly practice
37292 giving. Even if they are threatened, the courageous ones will not engage in
37293 improper actions. Instead, after examining the situation carefully, when they
37294 find that certain actions are correct and justified, on the basis of reason,
37295 they engage in them even at the risk of their lives. That is the way of the
37296 decent, civilized and courageous ones, who do not follow misleading paths.(p.20)
37297 -- H.H. the 14th Dalai Lama, "Generous Wisdom: Commentaries by H.H. the
37298 Dalai Lama XIV on the Jatakamala, Garland of Birth Stories", translated
37299 by Tenzin Dorjee, edited by Dexter Roberts
37301 Merely understanding the mind is not good enough. Recognizing it as the
37302 source of happiness and suffering is good, but great results come only from
37303 looking inward and meditating on the nature of the mind. Once you recognize
37304 its nature, then you need to meditate with joyful effort. Joyful meditation
37305 will actualize the true nature of the mind, and maintaining the mind in this
37306 natural state will bring enlightenment. This type of meditation reveals the
37307 innermost, profound wisdom that is inherent in the mind.
37308 Meditation can transform your body into wisdom light, into what is known as
37309 the rainbow body of wisdom. Many masters in the history of the Nyingma
37310 lineage have achieved this, as can anyone who practices these methods of
37311 meditation. The wisdom aspect of our nature exists at all times in each of
37312 us. You have always had this nature and it can be revealed through
37313 meditation. When you maintain the mind in its natural state, wonderful
37314 qualities shine out like light from the sun. Among these qualities are
37315 limitless compassion, limitless loving-kindness, and limitless wisdom.
37316 -- Khenchen Palden Sherab Rinpoche and Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal Rinpoche,
37317 "The Buddhist Path: A Practical Guide from the Nyingma Tradition of
37318 Tibetan Buddhism", published by Snow Lion Publications
37320 In order for the wisdom of special insight to remove impediments to proper
37321 understanding, and to remove faulty mental states at their very roots, we need
37322 concentrated meditation, a state of complete single-mindedness in which all
37323 internal distractions have been removed.
37324 Single-minded meditation involves removing subtle internal distractions such
37325 as the mind's being either too relaxed or too tight. To do so we must first
37326 stop external distractions through training in the morality of maintaining
37327 mindfulness and conscientiousness with regard to physical and verbal
37328 activities--being constantly aware of what you are doing with your body and
37329 your speech. Without overcoming these obvious distractions, it is impossible
37330 to overcome subtler internal distractions. Since it is through sustaining
37331 mindfulness that you achieve a calm abiding of the mind, the practice of
37332 morality must precede the practice of concentrated meditation.(p.23)
37333 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "How to Practice: The Way to a Meaningful Life",
37334 translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins
37336 Buddha means one who is fully enlightened. In other words, a buddha has
37337 fully awakened from the sleep of delusion. He is free from all obscurations,
37338 both gross and subtle, and has revealed the two intrinsic wisdom awarenesses.
37339 Buddhahood is the spontaneously established, uncompounded nature that does not
37340 depend on any other conditions. A buddha has perfect wisdom, has perfectly
37341 accomplished the nature of compassion, and has every ability to manifest all
37342 excellent activities.
37343 There are many buddhas in the past, present, and future. In fact, there are
37344 as many buddhas as there are particles of dust. Basically, the term buddha
37345 refers to anyone whose mind is fully awakened and who is free from all
37346 suffering and its causes. When we point to Buddha Shakyamuni as a buddha, he
37347 is an example of this. A buddha has four forms, all of which emanate from the
37349 1. Nirmanakaya is a buddha who has emanated in a physical form. A
37350 nirmanakaya can emanate anywhere as anything animate or inanimate--as a human
37351 being, an animal, or even a bridge, if necessary...
37352 2. Sambhogakaya is the expression of the complete, perfect manifestation
37353 of the Buddha's excellent, infinite qualities, called the enjoyment body--
37354 splendid and glorious. All the buddhas appear and manifest in the limitless
37355 buddha fields in this form...
37356 3. Dharmakaya is one's own perfection, fully free from all delusion and
37357 suffering. It is infinite and transcends all boundaries...
37358 4. Svabhavikakaya is the indivisible nature of the other three forms.(p.165)
37359 -- Khenchen Konchog Gyaltshen, "A Complete Guide to the Buddhist Path",
37360 edited by Khenmo Trinlay Chodron, published by Snow Lion Publications
37362 Boundless joy is the joy you should feel when you see gifted and learned
37363 beings who are happy, famous or influential. Instead of feeling uneasy and
37364 envious of their good fortune, rejoice sincerely, thinking, "May they continue
37365 to be happy and enjoy even more happiness!" Pray too that they may use their
37366 wealth and power to help others, to serve the Dharma and the Sangha, making
37367 offerings, building monasteries, propagating the teachings and performing
37368 other worthwhile deeds. Rejoice and make a wish: "May they never lost all
37369 their happiness and privileges. May their happiness increase more and more,
37370 and may they use it to benefit others and to further the teachings."
37371 Pray that your mind may be filled with boundless equanimity, loving-
37372 kindness, compassion and joy--as boundless as a Bodhisattva's. If you do so,
37373 genuine bodhichitta will certainly grow within you.
37374 The reason these four qualities are boundless, or immeasurable, is that
37375 their object--the totality of sentient beings--is boundless; their benefit--
37376 the welfare of all beings--is boundless; and also their fruit--the qualities
37377 of enlightenment--is boundless. They are immeasurable like the sky, and they
37378 are the true root of enlightenment.(p.49)
37379 -- Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, "The Excellent Path to Enlightenment",
37380 translated and edited by The Padmakara Translation Group, published by
37381 Snow Lion Publications
37383 Regarding an online merchant... I think I have bought a couple things from
37384 them before, and my "cornholio sense" is not tingling (a power I got from
37385 being bitten by a radioactive asshole), so I don't think they were jerks when
37386 I used them last time.
37389 External circumstances are not what draw us into suffering. Suffering is
37390 caused and permitted by an untamed mind. The appearance of self-defeating
37391 emotions in our minds leads us to faulty actions. The naturally pure mind is
37392 covered over by these emotions and troubling conceptions. The force of their
37393 deceit pushes us into faulty actions, which leads inevitably to suffering.
37394 We need, with great awareness and care, to extinguish these problematic
37395 attitudes, the way gathering clouds dissolve back into the sphere of the sky.
37396 When our self-defeating attitudes, emotions, and conceptions cease, so will
37397 the harmful actions arising from them.
37398 As the great Tibetan yogi Milarepa says, "When arising, arising within space
37399 itself; when dissolving, dissolving back into space." We need to become
37400 familiar with the state of our own minds to understand how to dissolve ill-
37401 founded ideas and impulses back into the deeper sphere of reality. The sky
37402 was there before the clouds gathered, and it will be after they have gone. It
37403 is also present when the clouds seem to cover every inch of the sky we can
37405 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "How to Expand Love: Widening the Circle of Loving
37406 Relationships", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins
37408 Usually the reason that we can't experience transcendent bliss is because
37409 our consciousness is actually chained by the illusion called "I." It is
37410 chained because this concept literally ties our consciousness to the prison of
37411 duality, the prison of concepts and ideas. What most people experience is
37412 that their consciousness is chained by that illusion.
37413 But now and then there are people who find the so-called spiritual path.
37414 This is another quite strange and sneaky way that ego can actually keep
37415 binding our consciousness once again to another form of prison, the prison of
37416 duality, the prison of concepts and ideas. Transcendent bliss comes from
37417 breaking every chain.
37418 Breaking all chains, losing every concept, every idea, sounds very
37419 frightening to the ego's mind. But actually when we let go of every concept,
37420 we land on this infinite ground of eternal bliss, and that bliss is not some
37421 kind of religious or mystical experience, some altered state of consciousness.
37422 That bliss is not the result of doing something to our consciousness, rather
37423 it is the pure state of our consciousness.(p.74)
37424 -- Anam Thubten, "The Magic of Awareness", edited by Sharon Roe, published
37425 by Snow Lion Publications
37427 The all-base consciousness* works like a savings bank. Continuously money
37428 is paid into the bank and continuously it is taken out again. In the same way
37429 karmic imprints are absorbed by the all-base, are stored there, and can
37430 therefore be brought forth again.
37431 Learning, for example, occurs through the mind consciousness. The mind
37432 consciousness itself vanishes. Nevertheless, on the next day we have a memory
37433 of what we learned. At this time of remembrance, the mind consciousness of
37434 what we learned is no longer actually present, since it has ceased to exist.
37435 Yet, still we did not forget what we learned previously. What we learned was
37436 seized by the all-base in the form of karmic imprints, and stored. Due to the
37437 'all-base of complete ripening' these imprints can be re-awakened, so that the
37438 mind consciousness perceives them afresh. This is why we learn things. It is
37439 similar with strong mental afflictions.
37440 ...The example of the savings bank is particularly effective, especially in
37441 the context of karmic actions. Whoever puts money into the bank can get it
37442 out again later, often including interest!(p.37)
37444 * The all-base consciousness is the general basis for the whole mind, all
37445 aspects of the mind.
37447 -- Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, "Everyday Consciousness and Primordial
37448 Awareness", translated and edited by Susanne Schefczyk, published by
37449 Snow Lion Publications
37451 Q: How can Dzogchen help us in our daily jobs and careers?
37453 HHDL: In the first place, it is quite difficult to have an experience of
37454 Dzogchen. But once you do have that experience, it can be extremely
37455 beneficial in dealing with your day to day life, your job, and your career.
37456 This is because that kind of experience will give you the ability to prevent
37457 yourself from being overwhelmed by circumstances, good or bad. You will not
37458 fall into extreme states of mind: you will not get over-excited or depressed.
37459 Your attitude toward circumstances and events will be as if you were someone
37460 observing the mind, without being drawn away by circumstances.
37461 For example, when you see a reflection of a form in a mirror, the reflection
37462 appears within the mirror but it is not projected from within. In the same
37463 way, when you confront the situations of life, or deal with others, your
37464 attitude too will be mirror-like.
37465 Also, when a reflection appears in the mirror, the mirror does not have to
37466 go after the object that is reflected: it simply reflects, spontaneously, on
37467 the surface. The same with you: since there is no attachment or agitation at
37468 having these 'reflections' in your mind, you will feel tremendous ease and
37469 relief. You are not preoccupied by what arises in the mind, nor does it cause
37470 you any distress. You are free from conceptuality or any form of
37471 objectifying. And so it really does help you, in allowing you to be free from
37472 being caught up in the play of emotions like hatred, attachment, and the like.
37474 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "Dzogchen: The Heart Essence of the Great
37475 Perfection", translated by Thupten Jinpa and Richard Barron, foreword by
37476 Sogyal Rinpoche, edited by Patrick Gaffney, published by Snow Lion Pub.
37478 The quality of one's rebirth in the next life is determined by the quality
37479 of one's mental activity in this life. Generally speaking, we have no power
37480 to choose how we are born; it is dependent on karmic forces. However, the
37481 period near the time of death is very influential in terms of activating one
37482 from among the many karmas that a person has already accumulated, and,
37483 therefore, if one makes particular effort at generating a virtuous attitude at
37484 that time, there is an opportunity to strengthen and activate a virtuous
37485 karma. Moreover, when one has developed high realization and has gained
37486 control over how one will be reborn, it is possible to take what is called
37487 "reincarnation" rather than mere rebirth.(p.42)
37488 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama of Tibet, Tenzin Gyatso, "The Dalai Lama at Harvard:
37489 Lectures on the Buddhist Path to Peace", translated and edited by Jeffrey
37490 Hopkins, published by Snow Lion Publications
37492 Without an acute awareness of our personal suffering and a deep, heartfelt
37493 determination to be completely rid of both this suffering and its causes,
37494 there is no way to begin the spiritual quest authentically. For just as
37495 Prince Siddhartha's sudden and unexpected visions of old age, sickness and
37496 death shocked him out of mistaking the world to be a pleasure palace, so too
37497 must all spiritual seekers confront the unsatisfactory nature of their lives
37498 so directly that they become thoroughly disenchanted with the ordinary human
37500 If we do not take a long, hard look at the uncomfortable truths of our
37501 impermanent existence, we can easily waste the time between now and our
37502 inevitable death in essentially worthless pursuits, never taking advantage of
37503 this precious opportunity to do something truly meaningful with our life.
37504 Like the foolish prisoner who becomes so accustomed to the confines of his
37505 cell that he turns a blind eye to all chances of escape, we shall be
37506 condemning ourselves to spiritual stagnation and the endlessly recurring
37507 miseries of cyclic existence.
37508 Yet it is not enough merely to become discontent with our present condition;
37509 everyone experiences discontent at one time or another but very few do
37510 anything of real significance about it. In fact, the usual ways of dealing
37511 with problems and disappointment--blaming them on someone else or drowning
37512 them in forgetfulness--only bind us tighter to the wheel of suffering. What
37513 we must do is recognize that the true causes of all our misery lie rooted in
37514 our own ignorant misconceptions and that these can only be eradicated through
37515 the development of a clear, penetrating insight into the nature of reality.
37516 Only through the continued cultivation of such penetrating wisdom will it
37517 eventually be possible to attain liberation from all states of existence
37518 conditioned by ignorance and be free of suffering.(p.45)
37519 -- "Images of Enlightenment: Tibetan Art in Practice", by Jonathan Landaw
37520 and Andy Weber, published by Snow Lion Publications
37522 We must distinguish between pride and self-confidence. Self-confidence is
37523 necessary. It is what enables us, in certain situations, not to lose courage
37524 and to think with some justification, 'I am capable of succeeding.' Self-
37525 confidence is quite different from excessive self-assurance based on a false
37526 appreciation of our capacities or circumstances.
37527 If you feel able to accomplish a task that other people cannot manage, then
37528 you cannot be called proud as long as your assessment is well founded. It is
37529 as if someone tall came across a group of short people who wanted to get
37530 something too high for them to reach, and said to them, 'Don't exert
37531 yourselves, I can do it.' This would simply mean that he was more qualified
37532 than the others to carry out a particular task, but not that he is superior to
37533 them or that he wants to crush them.(p.259)
37534 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "365 Dalai Lama: Daily Advice from the
37535 Heart", edited by Matthieu Ricard, translated by Christian Bruyat,
37536 published by Snow Lion Publications
37538 What is progress? How do we recognize it? The teachings are like a mirror
37539 before which we should hold our activities of body, speech, and mind. Think
37540 back to a year ago and compare the stream of activities of your body, speech,
37541 and mind at that time with their present condition. If we practice well, then
37542 the traces of some improvement should be reflected in the mirror of Dharma.
37543 The problem with having expectations is that we usually do not expect the
37544 right things. Not knowing what spiritual progress is, we search for signs of
37545 it in the wrong areas of our being. What can we hope for but frustration? It
37546 would be far better to examine any practice with full reasoning before
37547 adopting it, and then to practice it steadily and consistently while observing
37548 the inner changes one undergoes, rather than expecting this or that fantasy to
37550 The mind is an evolving organism, not a machine that goes on and off with
37551 the flip of a switch. The forces that bind and limit the mind, hurling it
37552 into unsatisfactory states of being, are impermanent and transient agents.
37553 When we persistently apply the practices to them, they have no option but to
37554 fade away and disappear.
37555 Ignorance and the "I"-grasping syndrome have been with us since
37556 beginningless time, and the instincts of attachments, aversion, anger,
37557 jealousy and so forth are very deeply rooted in our mindstreams. Eliminating
37558 them is not as simple as turning on a light to chase away the darkness of a
37559 room. When we practice steadily, the forces of darkness are undermined, and
37560 the spiritual qualities that counteract them and illuminate the mind are
37561 strengthened and made firm. Therefore, we should strive by means of both
37562 contemplative and settled meditation to gain stability in the various Lam Rim
37564 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Path to Enlightenment", edited and translated
37565 by Glenn H. Mullin, published by Snow Lion Publications
37567 We are beings of the Desire Realm, and thus our minds are also included
37568 within Desire Realm minds. If we cultivate great compassion, our own minds
37569 are the basis for great compassion. By contemplating countless sentient
37570 beings and meditating to develop great compassion, one eventually achieves
37571 great compassion. At that point, the mental basis--one's own mind--has become
37572 of the entity of great compassion. There is no distinguishing the two at that
37573 time. Meditating on great compassion does not mean taking compassion as an
37574 object and looking at it; it means taking sentient beings as one's object and
37575 developing compassion for them such that the mind comes to be of the nature of
37577 The texts frequently speak of different mental bases: the basis for calm
37578 abiding, the basis for meditative absorption, the basis for achieving a path.
37579 The way of understanding all of these is the same. You may wonder whether,
37580 when one cultivates a certain path, the mind becomes of the entity of that
37581 path. It is important to understand this question because that is, in fact,
37582 what occurs when one cultivates calm abiding. The mental basis becomes of the
37583 nature of calm abiding.
37584 -- Geshe Gedun Lodro, "Calm Abiding and Special Insight: Achieving Spiritual
37585 Transformation Through Meditation", translated and edited by Jeffrey
37586 Hopkins, published by Snow Lion Publications
37588 Nature's law dictates that, in order to survive, bees must work together.
37589 As a result, they instinctively possess a sense of social responsibility.
37590 They have no constitution, no law, no police, no religion or moral training,
37591 but because of their nature, they labor faithfully together. Occasionally,
37592 they may fight, but in general, based on cooperation, the whole colony
37594 We human beings have a constitution, laws and a police force. We have
37595 religion, remarkable intelligence and a heart with a great capacity for love.
37596 We have many extraordinary qualities, but in actual practice, I think we are
37597 lagging behind those small insects. In some respects I feel we are poorer
37599 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Pocket Dalai Lama", compiled and edited by
37602 Nagarjuna offers us encouragement in terms of someone of modest potential
37603 accomplishing the practice, in verse 116:
37605 And even those who realized the truth
37606 Did not fall from the heavens, nor emerge
37607 Like crops of corn from earth's dark depths, but once
37608 Were ruled by kleshas and were ordinary men.
37610 Not one of all the sublime beings who have appeared--individuals who had
37611 direct realization of the Dharma of the four truths--was already a sublime
37612 being right from the beginning: they did not fall from the sky, nor did they
37613 emerge from the darkness of the earth like a crop. In the past they were
37614 subject to afflictive emotions ['kleshas']--they were ordinary people
37615 dominated by the afflictive emotions. They are therefore worth following as
37616 an example for accomplishing the path.(p.150)
37617 -- Nagarjuna, "Nagarjuna's Letter to a Friend: with Commentary by Kangyur
37618 Rinpoche", with commentary by Longchen Yeshe Dorje, Kyabje Kangyur
37619 Rinpoche, translated by The Padmakara Translation Group, published by
37620 Snow Lion Publications
37624 As long as we cling to some notion of objective existence--the idea that
37625 something actually exists in a concrete, identifiable way--emotions such as
37626 desire and aversion will follow. When we see something we like--a beautiful
37627 watch, for example--we perceive it as having some real quality of existence
37628 among its parts. We see the watch not as a collection of parts, but as an
37629 existing entity with a specific quality of watch-ness to it. And if it's a
37630 fine mechanical timepiece, our perception is enhanced by qualities that are
37631 seen to exist definitely as part of the nature of the watch. It is as a
37632 result of this misperception of the watch that our desire to possess it
37634 In a similar manner, our aversion to someone we dislike arises as a result
37635 of attributing inherent negative qualities to the person. When we relate this
37636 process to how we experience our own sense of existence--how the thought "I"
37637 or "I am" arises--we notice that it invariably does so in relation to some
37638 aspect of our physical or mental aggregates.
37639 Our notion of ourselves is based upon a sense of our physical and emotional
37640 selves. What's more, we feel that these physical and mental aspects of
37641 ourselves exist inherently. My body is not something of which I doubt the
37642 specificity. There is a body-ness as well as a me-ness about it that very
37643 evidently exists. It seems to be a natural basis for my identifying my body
37644 as "me." Our emotions such as fear are similarly experienced as having a valid
37645 existence and as being natural bases for our identifying ourselves as "me."
37646 Both our loves and our hates serve to deepen the self sense. Even the mere
37647 feeling "I'm cold" contributes to our sense of being a solid and legitimate
37649 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "A Profound Mind: Cultivating Wisdom in Everyday
37650 Life", edited by Nicholas Vreeland, afterword by Richard Gere
37652 In the Mahayana, there exist the vows of the Bodhisattva... but in Dzogchen,
37653 there exist no such rules or vows.
37654 When the Indian Buddhist master Atisa came to Tibet in the eleventh century,
37655 he met the famous Tibetan translator Rinchen Zangpo. Atisa asked him how he
37656 practiced the Tantras which he had translated, and he replied that he
37657 practiced them meticulously one after the other. But Atisa told him that this
37658 was not the correct way. He pointed out to the translator that all of the
37659 Tantras could be condensed and integrated into a single Upadesa and one need
37660 only practise that in order to maintain all of the transmissions which he had
37662 The same is true with Dzogchen. If we really understand this single
37663 teaching here which comes directly from Guru Padmasambhava, we can attain
37664 liberation. But we must grasp this vital core of the teaching. No matter
37665 what we are doing, which ever among the four modes of behavior--walking,
37666 sitting, lying down, or eating, we must always hold to awareness, never
37667 forgetting, never losing this awareness. This is the real meaning of Rigdzin,
37668 one who is totally aware. In Dzogchen, there is only one rule--always be
37669 aware in whatever we do, never be distracted!(p.68)
37670 -- "Self-Liberation through Seeing with Naked Awareness", translation and
37671 commentary by John Myrdhin Reynolds, foreword by Namkhai Norbu,
37672 published by Snow Lion Publications
37674 Our mind needs to stretch to encompass emptiness. Our minds are so stuck in
37675 the idea, "Things exist the way they appear to me. What I see is reality. It
37676 is 100 percent true. There's nothing to doubt. Things exist exactly as they
37677 appear to my senses, exactly as they appear to my mental consciousness." We
37678 hardly ever doubt that. Not only do we have the appearance of inherent
37679 existence to our sense consciousnesses and mental consciousness, but also our
37680 mental consciousness grasps on to that appearance and says, "Yes! Everything
37681 really exists in this findable, independent way. Everything is real as it
37683 When we believe there's a real "me," then we have to protect that self and
37684 bring it happiness. Thus, we are attached to things that are pleasurable and
37685 become angry at anything unpleasant. Pride, jealousy, laziness, and the whole
37686 gamut of negative emotions follow. Motivated by these, we act physically,
37687 verbally, and mentally. These actions, or karma, leave seeds on our
37688 mindstream, and when these ripen, they influence what we experience. We again
37689 relate to these experiences ignorantly, so more emotions arise, motivating us
37690 to create more karma. As a result, cyclic existence with all its difficulties
37691 continues on and on, created by our mind, dependent on the ignorance that
37692 misconceives the nature of ourselves and all other phenomena.
37693 ...However, when we investigate more deeply and look beyond appearances, we
37694 realize that it's impossible for things to exist in the way they appear.
37695 Seeing this gives us a kind of spaciousness and freedom because, if samsara
37696 were inherently existent and everything really did exist the way it appears to
37697 us, then transformation and change could not occur...and the best we could
37698 ever have is what we have right now. Thinking about the emptiness of inherent
37699 existence shows us the possibility for change. Beauty can come forth because
37700 nothing is inherently concrete, fixed, or findable.(p.105)
37701 -- Thubten Chodron, "Cultivating a Compassionate Heart: The Yoga Method of
37702 Chenrezig", foreword by H.H. the Dalai Lama, published by Snow Lion Pub.
37706 If one does not sow the seed
37707 Of appreciation for a perfect guru,
37708 The tree of spiritual power is not born.
37709 With undivided mind entrust yourself.
37711 Human life is rare and precious,
37712 Yet if not inspired by thoughts of death,
37713 One wastes it on materialism:
37714 Be ready to die at any moment.
37716 All living beings have been our mothers,
37717 Three circles of suffering always binding them.
37718 Ignoble it would be not to repay them,
37719 Not to strive to attain enlightenment. (p.100)
37721 The colophon [inscription] for this poem reads, "Written at the request of
37722 Ritropa Samdrub, an Amdo monk from Dechen Monastery, who begged for a short
37723 teaching...." The Seventh Dalai Lama advises him to establish three central
37724 pillars in his spiritual practice: (1) a disciplined spiritual connection with
37725 his teacher; (2) awareness of the preciousness of life, and the uncertainty of
37726 the time of death; and (3) the mind of love and compassion for all living
37727 beings, coupled with the aspiration to enlightenment as the best means of
37728 fulfilling that love and compassion.
37729 -- The Seventh Dalai Lama, "Meditations to Transform the Mind", translated,
37730 edited, and introduced by Glenn Mullin, published by Snow Lion Pub.
37732 Courageous Bodhisattvas risk their lives to help others, and so, when we are
37733 in relatively better, more comfortable situations, we must certainly practice
37734 giving. Even if they are threatened, the courageous ones will not engage in
37735 improper actions. Instead, after examining the situation carefully, when they
37736 find that certain actions are correct and justified, on the basis of reason,
37737 they engage in them even at the risk of their lives. That is the way of the
37738 decent, civilized and courageous ones, who do not follow misleading paths.(p.20)
37739 -- H.H. the 14th Dalai Lama, "Generous Wisdom: Commentaries by H.H. the
37740 Dalai Lama XIV on the Jatakamala, Garland of Birth Stories", translated
37741 by Tenzin Dorjee, edited by Dexter Roberts
37743 One day, when a very learned scholar or geshe and I were discussing the fact
37744 that the self is an elusive phenomenon, that it is unfindable in either body
37745 or mind, he remarked: 'If the self did not exist at all, in a sense that would
37746 make things very simple. There would be no experience of suffering and pain,
37747 because there would be no subject to undergo such experiences. However, that
37748 is not the case. Regardless of whether we can actually find it or not, there
37749 is an individual being who undergoes the experience of pain and pleasure, who
37750 is the subject of experiences, who perceives things and so on. Based on our
37751 own experience we do know that there is something--whatever we may call it--
37752 that makes it possible for us to undergo these experiences. We have something
37753 called discernment or the ability to perceive things.'
37754 In fact, when we examine the experience of suffering, although some
37755 sufferings are at the sensory or bodily level, such as physical pain, even the
37756 very experience of pain is intimately connected with consciousness or mind and
37757 therefore is part of our mental world. This is what distinguishes sentient
37758 beings from other biological organisms, such as plants, trees and so on.
37759 Sentient beings have a subjective dimension, which we may choose to call
37760 experience, consciousness or the mental world.
37761 ....One thing we can understand, both through scientific analysis and also
37762 from our own personal experience or perception, is that whatever experiences
37763 we have now are consequences of preceding conditions. Nothing comes into
37764 being without a cause. Just as everything in the material world must have a
37765 cause or condition that gives rise to it, so must all experiences in the
37766 mental world also have causes and conditions.(p.74)
37767 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Lighting the Way", translated by Geshe Thupten
37768 Jinpa, published by Snow Lion Publications
37770 Meditation, when learned skillfully, can enable a return to awareness of the
37771 body, our sensations, and feelings. When we are not given specific guidance
37772 to ground our meditation within the body, however, meditation can easily
37773 perpetuate a disembodied spiritual practice. This is accentuated if our view
37774 of spirituality sees the body as some kind of problem to be transcended.
37775 Unfortunately, this view can prevail even within the Buddhist world, despite
37776 being counter to the essential principle of mindfulness and presence. When,
37777 however, we cultivate the capacity to remain present in our felt experience
37778 within the body, our relationship to ourselves changes. We can begin to feel
37779 more grounded in our life and more stable in our identity.
37780 Engaging in a disembodied spirituality is no solution to our life demands.
37781 It may be a way of experiencing states of mind that can be very seductive,
37782 even addictive. Seldom does it address the roots of our emotional problems.
37783 Transformation comes when we are willing and able to restore or develop a
37784 sound relationship to our body in a healthy way. With many Buddhist
37785 practices, such as Tantra, this is essential, for the body contains the
37786 vitality that is the heart of our innate creative potential.
37787 Embodiment therefore implies a full engagement in life with all of its
37788 trials and tribulations, rather than avoidance through disembodied spiritual
37789 flight. The value of meditation is that it can enable this engagement because
37790 it cultivates the capacity to be present and remain open, not grasping at or
37791 rejecting what arises. When meditation emphasizes presence rather than
37792 transcendence, this openness is a natural outcome.(p.143)
37793 -- Rob Preece, "The Wisdom of Imperfection: The Challenge of Individuation
37794 in Buddhist Life", published by Snow Lion Publications
37796 Those training in great love should forsake self-centeredness and engage in
37797 the Buddha's practice, the root of which is compassion. You may be thinking,
37798 Love is indeed very profound, but I do not have the skill to practice it; I
37799 will focus my efforts on practices aimed at getting myself out of cyclic
37800 existence instead. On one hand, this is true, because you should choose a
37801 path of development appropriate to your ability. On the other hand, there is
37802 great advantage in attempting the highest degree of love you can.
37803 Even if you cannot actually implement the practices of love and compassion,
37804 merely hearing about them establishes powerful predispositions for future
37805 success. This can be amplified by planting prayer-wishes aspiring to
37806 altruism. Do not be discouraged; it is difficult to absorb such a profound
37807 perspective. Be courageous and think of your future potential. It is
37808 particularly important to do the best you can.(p.82)
37809 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "How to Expand Love: Widening the Circle of Loving
37810 Relationships", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins
37812 What is very important for us to recognise is our own falsity. This is not
37813 a judgement that sometimes we are authentic and sometimes we are false. It
37814 means that everything about us in our ordinary sense of self is false because
37815 it is grounded on a misapprehension of the nature of reality.... It is like
37816 somebody in University who is having their final examinations. They go into
37817 the wrong examination room and not reading the questions very clearly they
37818 write very long answers on their own subject that is unfortunately not the one
37819 they are being examined on. It does not matter how good the answer is they
37820 will fail, for they are not addressing the question.
37821 The basic question is always: "Who are you?", "Who am I?" but we do not
37822 understand it and so we answer with a ceaseless narrative of self definition.
37823 This covers over the freshness of the question, the possibility of looking and
37824 seeing, and so all our answers are stale, the reworking of self-protective
37825 versions constructed out of unexamined elements. We have many, many, many
37826 answers and all of them are false. That's why it is very important when you
37827 do meditations, to put your full energy one-pointedly into the practice, to
37828 try to repair the initial basic fault that has torn subject and object apart.
37829 It is very important to stop being ashamed of being false. For we have to
37830 see how falsity arises, how obscuration develops. We want to look directly at
37831 our falsity and learn its tricks so that we will not be caught by them. This
37832 helps to open the space in which we can recognise our own nature.
37833 "When you understand the falsity of your confusion remain unartificially,
37834 effortlessly in the natural mode (dharmakaya)."(p.90)
37835 -- "Being Right Here: A Dzogchen Treasure Text of Nuden Dorje entitled 'The
37836 Mirror of Clear Meaning' with commentary by James Low", published by Snow
37840 this is an event that can be caused by strong intoxication of various sorts.
37841 the sufferer passes out while seated at a table, such that he or she then has
37842 their head thud down onto the table. after a brief rest, the unlucky person
37843 wakes up again, and starts to rise off the table. when the head rises to a
37844 certain point, where blood pressure starts to increase, the effect of the
37845 intoxication takes over again, and they pass out once more. bam. hence, the
37846 head repeatedly banging into the table: a groundhog daze.
37847 i have seen this happen. it's not fun to watch. well, maybe a little.
37850 We are the source of healing and happiness. Our generosity and concern
37851 pacify every negative situation. As we send out kindness, we grow accustomed
37852 to being strong and kind. In this way, our positive feelings are constantly
37853 renewed and can never be exhausted.
37854 Perhaps you know the story about the man who arrived in heaven and when
37855 asked by God where he wanted to go replied that he wanted to see both heaven
37856 and hell. First, he went to hell. There was a large table with all the
37857 inhabitants of hell sitting around it. The center of the table was full of
37858 delicious food. Each person had two very long chopsticks. They could reach
37859 the food but they could not get it into their mouths because their chopsticks
37860 were too long. They were miserable. No one was eating and everyone went
37861 hungry. Next he was taken to visit heaven. All the inhabitants of heaven
37862 were also sitting around a big table full of delicious food but they were
37863 happy. They too had very long chopsticks but they were eating and enjoying
37864 themselves. They used the chopsticks to feed each other across the table.
37865 The people in heaven had discovered that it was in their interest to
37866 collaborate unselfishly.(p.69)
37867 -- Ringu Tulku, "Mind Training", published by Snow Lion Publications
37869 When you are in a fluctuating state of mind, like when you are angry or have
37870 lost your temper, then it is good to bring back calmness by concentrating on
37871 breathing. Just count the breaths, completely forgetting about anger.
37872 Concentrate on breathing and count in/out "one, two, three," up to twenty.
37873 At that moment when your mind concentrates fully on breathing, the breath
37874 coming and going, the passions subside. Afterwards it is easier to think
37876 Since all activities, including meditation, depend very much on the force of
37877 intention or motivation, it is important that, before you begin to meditate,
37878 you cultivate a correct motivation... The correct motivation is the
37879 altruistic attitude.(p.69)
37880 -- Tenzin Gyatso, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "Cultivating a Daily
37881 Meditation", published by Snow Lion Publications
37883 The crazy elephant of the mind behaving wildly
37884 Is tied to the pillar of an object of observation
37885 With the rope of mindfulness.
37886 By degrees it is brought under control with the hook of wisdom.
37889 "Wisdom" here is introspection. Hence, the example of taming an elephant
37890 indicates the achievement of a serviceable mind by way of the two--mindfulness
37891 and introspection. The subtle vajra that is the base on which the mind is
37892 being set is like a stable pillar to which an elephant is tied. The
37893 unserviceable mind is like an untamed elephant. Causing the mind not to be
37894 distracted from its object of observation through relying on mindfulness is
37895 like using a rope to tie an elephant. Setting the mind free from fault--when
37896 it does not hold the object of observation as originally set--through
37897 immediately recognizing such by means of introspection is like a herder's
37898 hitting an elephant with a hook and correcting it when it strays from the tie-
37901 Hence, there are two important factors with regard to holding the mind:
37902 + From the beginning, stay on the object of observation without being
37903 distracted to anything other than it.
37904 + Then if distracted, immediately recognize such, and again focus the mind
37906 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, Dzong-ka-ba and Jeffrey Hopkins, "Yoga Tantra: Paths
37907 to Magical Feats", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, published by
37908 Snow Lion Publications
37910 Even if it seems certain that you will lose, retaliate. Neither wisdom nor
37911 technique has a place in this. A real man does not think of victory or
37912 defeat. He plunges recklessly towards an irrational death. By doing this
37913 you will awaken from your dreams.
37914 -- Hagakure, Yamamoto Tsunetomo
37916 LEEEEEEEROYYYY JENNNNNKINZZZ!!!
37917 -- To be yelled before irrationally throwing away all plans and jumping into
37918 the worst possible situation.
37920 what is an inference?
37921 someone says, "my hand stinks because my butt stinks."
37922 an inference you could draw:
37923 that hand has probably been too close to that butt.
37925 What Do We Mean by Bodhisattva?
37927 Bodhi means enlightenment, the state devoid of all defects and endowed with
37928 all good qualities. Sattva refers to someone who has courage and confidence
37929 and who strives to attain enlightenment for the sake of all beings. Those who
37930 have this spontaneous, sincere wish to attain enlightenment for the ultimate
37931 benefit of all beings are called bodhisattvas. Through wisdom, they direct
37932 their minds to enlightenment, and through their compassion, they have concern
37933 for beings. This wish for perfect enlightenment for the sake of others is
37934 what we call bodhichitta, and it is the starting point on the path.
37938 When we talk about the notion of self in Buddhism, it is important to bear
37939 in mind that there are different degrees or types. There are some types of
37940 sense of self which are not only to be cultivated but also to be reinforced
37941 and enhanced. For instance, in order to have a strong determination to seek
37942 buddhahood for the benefit of all sentient beings, one needs a very strong
37943 sense of confidence, which is based upon a sense of commitment and courage.
37944 This requires a strong sense of self. Unless one has that identity or sense
37945 of self, one will not be able to develop the confidence and courage to
37946 strongly seek this aim.
37947 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
37949 Genuine peace of mind is rooted in affection and compassion. There is a very
37950 high level of sensitivity and feeling involved. So long as we lack inner
37951 discipline, an inner calmness of mind, then no matter what external facilities
37952 or conditions we may have, they will never give us the feeling of joy and
37953 happiness that we seek. On the other hand, if we possess this inner
37954 quality—that is, calmness of mind, a degree of stability within—then even
37955 if we lack various external facilities that are normally considered necessary
37956 for a happy and joyful life, it is still possible to live a happy and joyful
37958 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
37960 COMPLICATED SIMPLICITY
37962 Emptiness is the simplest and most unelaborated thing we could imagine, but
37963 then there is this whole literature about all these very discursive details
37964 with all their subpoints. There are five paths and ten bhumis, and each path
37965 is divided into a number of stages, with certain numbers of obscurations
37966 having to be relinquished on each one of those subpaths. Most people just
37967 think, "Who wants or needs to know all that? Don't we have too many
37968 thoughts already? I thought this was about letting go of all reference
37970 Of course nobody really wants to know all those details and in a sense we
37971 all know them already, because they are the details of the many reference
37972 points that we already have in our mind. The fact that these sutras and their
37973 commentaries talk about our obscurations is precisely the point why they seem
37974 so endless and complicated—because our minds are complicated. Emptiness is
37975 extremely simple, but our convoluted minds that do not get this simplicity are
37976 very complicated. It is not that the Buddha and the other speakers in the
37977 sutras and the commentaries really like to, but they need to address each one
37978 of those knots in our minds, which are like knots in space.
37980 If you can't be a good example, then you'll just have
37981 to be a horrible warning.
37984 THE MIND OF CLEAR LIGHT
37986 Is spiritual practice really worthwhile? Is it really possible to eliminate
37987 from within ourselves the forces that give rise to suffering? As is said,
37988 "The ultimate nature of mind is clear light." Consciousness has many
37989 levels, and although the coarser levels are affected by the defiling forces,
37990 the most subtle level remains free of gross negativities. In the Vajrayana
37991 this subtle level of consciousness is called the mind of clear light.
37992 The delusions and emotional afflictions as well as the dualistic mind of
37993 right and wrong, love and hatred, etc., are associated only with the coarse
37994 levels of consciousness. At the moment, we are totally absorbed in the
37995 interplay of these coarse states, so we must begin our practice by working
37996 within them. This means consciously encouraging love over hate, patience in
37997 place of anger, emotional freedom rather than attachment, kindness over
37998 violence, and so forth. Doing this brings immediate peace and calm to the
37999 mind, thus making higher meditation possible.
38000 Then, because grasping at a self and at phenomena as being truly existent is
38001 the cause of all the vast range of distorted states of mind, one cultivates
38002 the wisdom that eliminates this ego-grasping. To overcome ego-grasping is to
38003 overcome the entire host of mental distortions.
38004 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
38006 It is the general Buddhist procedure that one's own pleasure and pain are
38007 acheived by oneself and not from the outside, and that, therefore, sentient
38008 beings themselves must understand and implement practices to bring about their
38009 own happiness. Thus, the most efficacious way to help others is through
38010 teaching what should be adopted in practice and what should be discarded from
38011 among current behavior. There is no way to do this unless you come to know
38012 all of the topics involved in what should be adopted in practice and what
38013 should be discarded—you must become omniscient. As mentioned earlier, there
38014 is no way to accomplish this except by removing the obstructions to
38015 omniscience, and one who has overcome, utterly and forever, the obstructions
38016 to omniscience is a Buddha.
38017 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
38019 In meditation, imagine that in front of you are three persons—an enemy, a
38020 friend, and a neutral person. At that time, in our minds we have (1) a sense
38021 of closeness for one of them, thinking, "This is my friend"; (2) a sense
38022 of dislike even when imagining the enemy; and (3) a sense of ignoring the
38023 neutral person. Now, we have to think about the reasons why we generate these
38024 feelings—the reasons being that temporarily one of them helped us whereas
38025 the other temporarily harmed us, and the third did neither. However, when we
38026 think in terms of the long course of beginningless rebirth, none of us could
38027 decide that someone who has helped or harmed us in this life has been doing so
38029 When you contemplate this way, eventually you arrive at a point where a
38030 strong generation of desire or hatred appears to you to be just senseless.
38031 Gradually, such a bias weakens, and you decide that one-sided classification
38032 of persons as friends and enemies has been a mistake.
38033 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
38035 Generally speaking, even if money brings us happiness, it tends to be the
38036 kind that money can buy: material things and sensory experiences. And these,
38037 we discover, become a source of suffering themselves. As far as actual
38038 possessions are concerned, we must admit that they often cause us more, not
38039 less, difficulty in life. The car breaks down, we lose our money, our most
38040 precious belongings are stolen, our house is damaged by fire. Or we worry
38041 about these things happening.
38042 The problem is not materialism as such. Rather it is the underlying
38043 assumption that full satisfaction can arise from gratifying the senses alone.
38044 Unlike animals whose quest for happiness is restricted to survival and to the
38045 immediate gratification of sensory desires, we human beings have the capacity
38046 to experience happiness at a deeper level, which, when achieved, can overwhelm
38047 unhappy experiences.
38048 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
38050 We humans are social beings. We come into the world as the result of
38051 others' actions. We survive here in dependence on others. Whether we like
38052 it or not, there is hardly a moment of our lives in which we do not benefit
38053 from others' activities. For this reason it is hardly surprising that most
38054 of our happiness arises in the context of our relationships with others. Nor
38055 is it so remarkable that our greatest joy should come when we are motivated by
38056 concern for others. But that is not all. We find that not only do altruistic
38057 actions bring about happiness, but they also lessen our experience of
38058 suffering. Here I am not suggesting that the individual whose actions are
38059 motivated by the wish to bring others happiness necessarily meets with less
38060 misfortune than the one who does not. Sickness, old age, mishaps of one sort
38061 or another are the same for us all. But the sufferings which undermine our
38062 internal peace—anxiety, doubt, disappointment—these are definitely less.
38063 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
38065 If we view the world's religions from the widest possible viewpoint and
38066 examine their ultimate goal, we find that all of the major world religions,
38067 whether Christianity or Islam, Hinduism or Buddhism, are dedicated to the
38068 achievement of permanent human happiness. They are all directed toward that
38069 goal. All religions emphasize the fact that the true follower must be honest
38070 and gentle, in other words, that a truly religious person must always strive
38071 to be a better human being. To this end, the different world religions teach
38072 different doctrines which will help transform the person. In this regard, all
38073 religions are the same, there is no conflict. This is something we must
38074 emphasize. We must consider the question of religious diversity from this
38075 viewpoint. And when we do, we find no conflict.
38076 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
38078 Emptiness vs. Non-Existence
38080 The doctrines of emptiness and selflessness do not imply the non-existence of
38081 things. Things do exist. When we say that all phenomena are void of self-
38082 existence, it does not mean that we are advocating non-existence, that we are
38083 repudiating that things exist. Then what is it we are negating? We are
38084 negating, or denying, that anything exists from its own side without depending
38085 on other things. Hence, it is because things depend for their existence upon
38086 other causes and conditions that they are said to lack independent self-
38088 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
38090 If we view the world's religions from the widest possible viewpoint and
38091 examine their ultimate goal, we find that all of the major world religions,
38092 whether Christianity or Islam, Hinduism or Buddhism, are dedicated to the
38093 achievement of permanent human happiness. They are all directed toward that
38094 goal. All religions emphasize the fact that the true follower must be honest
38095 and gentle, in other words, that a truly religious person must always strive
38096 to be a better human being. To this end, the different world religions teach
38097 different doctrines which will help transform the person. In this regard, all
38098 religions are the same, there is no conflict. This is something we must
38099 emphasize. We must consider the question of religious diversity from this
38100 viewpoint. And when we do, we find no conflict.
38101 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
38103 The process of overcoming our defilements goes in conjunction with gaining
38104 higher levels of realisation. In fact, when we speak of gaining higher levels
38105 of realisation in Buddhism we are speaking primarily of the processes through
38106 which our wisdom and insight deepen. It is actually the wisdom aspect that
38107 enables the practitioner to move from one level to the next on the path.
38108 The attainment of the levels of the path is explained in condensed form in
38109 the Heart Sutra, where we find the mantra tadyatha om gate gate paragate
38110 parasamgate bodhi svaha. Tadyatha means It is thus; gate gate means go, go;
38111 paragate means go beyond and transcend; parasamgate means go utterly beyond,
38112 go thoroughly beyond; and bodhi svaha means firmly rooted in enlightenment.
38113 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
38116 It is often seen that human beings can endure problems quite well, but
38117 cannot endure success. When we are successful and have everything we desire,
38118 it can easily go to our heads. There is a great danger of losing our common
38119 sense and becoming careless and arrogant. As it is said, "Nothing corrupts a
38120 person more than power." Very powerful people sometimes become so proud that
38121 they no longer care about their actions or about the effect they have on
38122 others. Losing any sense of right and wrong, they create severe problems for
38123 themselves and everyone else.
38124 Even if we have all the success we could dream of—fame, wealth, and so
38125 on—we must understand that these things have no real substance. Attachment
38126 does not come from having things, but from the way our mind reacts to them.
38127 It is fine to participate in good circumstances, provided we can see that they
38128 have no real essence. They may come and they may go. When seeing this, we
38129 will not become so attached. Even if we lose our wealth we will not be badly
38130 affected, and while it is there we will enjoy it without being senseless and
38132 -- Ringu Tulku, from "Daring Steps: Traversing the Path of the Buddha",
38133 edited and translated by Rosemarie Fuchs, page 92.
38135 The role of other sentient beings
38137 In relation to the attainment of liberation from cylic existence, which is
38138 known also as "definite goodness," the role of other sentient beings is
38139 indispensable. In the Buddhist understanding, the key spiritual practices
38140 that lead to the attainment of liberation are the Three Higher
38141 Trainings—higher training in morality, in meditation, and in wisdom. The
38142 last two are based upon the foundation of the first, namely the training in
38143 morality. As I said before, the presence of other sentience beings is
38144 indispensable for this training. This is how we come to the powerful
38145 realisation that the role of other sentient beings is essential in all areas
38146 of our mundane and spiritual activities.
38147 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
38149 To avoid being hurt by thorns and brambles, we might consider covering all
38150 the mountains with leather. That would be impossible, but putting on shoes
38151 would serve the same purpose. Similarly, if we tried to subdue all our outer
38152 enemies, we would never succeed. Once one was eliminated, another would rise
38153 against us. While doing this, our anger would continue to breed new foes.
38154 The only way to overcome our enemies is to turn inward and kill the real one,
38155 which is our own hatred.
38156 -- Ringu Tulku, from "Daring Steps: Traversing the Path of the Buddha",
38157 edited and translated by Rosemarie Fuchs.
38159 One should not view one's dharma practice as being something decorative,
38160 regarding statues and images as material possessions or as furnishings for
38161 one's house, or thinking that because there is an empty space on a wall one
38162 might as well put up a thangka for decoration. That kind of attitude should
38163 not be cultivated. When you arrange the statues or thangkas, you should do so
38164 out of a deep respect from the mind, moved by your faith and conviction. If
38165 you can arrange these physical representations—statues and so forth—out of
38166 deep respect and faith, that's all right. On the other hand, the attitude
38167 that they are merely material possessions is dangerous and destructive. I
38168 think that some people who have a cupboard or the like in which they keep all
38169 their precious possessions may arrange an altar on it just for the sake of
38170 decoration. This is very wrong.
38171 Having such motivations is not the proper way to become a Buddhist; the
38172 proper way to become a Buddhist is to bring about some positive change within
38173 the mind. Any practice that can give you more courage when you are undergoing
38174 a very difficult time and that can provide you with some kind of solace and
38175 calmness of mind is a true practice of the dharma.
38176 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
38178 The environment where you are doing the meditation should be properly cleaned.
38179 While cleaning, you should cultivate the motivation that since you are engaged
38180 in the task of accumulating great stores of merit by inviting the hosts of
38181 buddhas and bodhisattvas to this environment, it is important to have a clean
38182 place. You should see that all external dirt and dust around you is basically
38183 a manifestation of the faults and stains within your own mind. You should see
38184 that the most important aim is to purge these stains and faults from within
38185 your mind. Therefore, as you cleanse the environment, think that you are also
38186 purifying your mind. Develop the very strong thought that by cleaning this
38187 place you are inviting the hosts of buddhas and bodhisattvas who are the most
38188 supreme merit field, and that you will subsequently engage in a path that will
38189 enable you to purge your mind of the stains and delusions.
38190 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
38192 From the point of view of one who seeks enlightenment, it is far better to
38193 be a human being than to be born even in the heavens of the gods, where there
38194 is nectar to live on and all wishes are granted by the wish-fulfilling tree;
38195 where there is neither fatigue nor difficulty, neither sickness nor old age.
38196 It is as humans, possessed of the eight freedoms and the ten endowments, and
38197 not as gods, that every one of the thousand Buddhas of this age has attained,
38198 or will attain, enlightenment. This human existence, moreover, is not to be
38199 achieved by force or mere chance; it is the result of positive actions. And
38200 because it is rare for beings to accomplish positive actions, a precious human
38201 existence is indeed difficult to obtain.
38202 Nevertheless, we have now managed to be born into such a state; we have
38203 encountered the Buddadharma, have entered the path and are now receiving
38204 teachings. But if we are unable to practise them, simply listening to the
38205 teachings will not in itself liberate us from samsara, and will be of no help
38206 to us when we are confronted by the hardships of birth, disease, old age and
38207 death. If we do not follow the doctor's prescription when we are sick, then
38208 even if the doctor sits constantly by our side, the pain will not go away.
38209 -- Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, from "Enlightened Courage: An Explanation of the
38210 Seven-Point Mind Training", translated by Padmakara Translation Group.
38212 The realization of the nature of the mind is not something we can find by
38213 searching for it from afar. It is present within the essence of the mind
38214 itself. If we do not alter or change that in any way, that is enough. It is
38215 not as if we were lacking something before, so we need to make something new
38216 through our meditation. It is not as if we are bad and have to go through all
38217 sorts of efforts to make ourselves good. Goodness is something we all have.
38218 It has always been with us, but we have just not looked for it or seen it yet,
38219 so we have become confused. Therefore all we need to do is to just rest
38220 within it without changing it. We see where it stays and rest there, so we
38221 are like a kusulu. This means that we rest free and easy with nothing to do,
38222 very simply. We do not need to think that we are making something good or
38223 that we need to meditate properly. It is enough just to know what we already
38225 -- Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, from "Vivid Awareness", in "The Best Buddhist
38226 Writing 2012", edited by Melvin McLeod and the editors of the Shambhala
38227 Sun, pages 196–197.
38229 We all have to recognize the tremendous opportunity that we have. As humans
38230 we have this rare intelligence, but there is a real danger that we will waste
38231 it. Death is certain, but when we will die is totally unpredictable. We
38232 could lose our precious human existence at any moment. With such reflections,
38233 we must motivate ourselves to do something meaningful right now. The best way
38234 to make your human existence meaningful is to really engage in the practice of
38235 Dharma. During formal sitting meditation and in between sessions, in
38236 different ways, be mindful and introspectively vigilant. Keep constant watch
38238 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
38240 In order to carry out a practice--such as constantly watching the mind--you
38241 should form a determination, make a pledge, right when you wake up: "Now, for
38242 the rest of this day, I will put into practice what I believe just as much as
38243 I can." It is very important that, at the start of the day, we should set out
38244 to shape what will happen later. Then, at the end of every day, check what
38245 happened. Review the day. And if you carried through for that whole day your
38246 morning's determination, then rejoice. Reinforce further your motivation to
38247 continue in the same line. However, when you do your reviewing, you may
38248 discover that you did things during the day that are contrary to your
38249 religious values and beliefs. You should then acknowledge this and cultivate
38250 a deep sense of remorse. Strengthen your resolve not to indulge in these
38251 actions in the future.
38252 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
38254 There are two different ways in which we can understand the term "ordinary
38255 mind." One way is to not take control over anything and end up following our
38256 afflictions. When a thought of anger arises, we follow it; when greed arises,
38257 we lose control of ourselves to it. Similarly, we lose control of ourselves
38258 to our pride and jealousy. Although we might think of this as our ordinary
38259 state of mind, it is not what we mean here. Here it does not mean losing
38260 control of ourselves to negative emotions. Instead, it means that we do not
38261 need to do anything at all to the essence of the mind itself.
38262 We do not need to alter this essence in any way. We do not have to worry
38263 about what we are thinking, what is pleasant, or what is painful. We can
38264 leave this mind as it is. If we try to alter the mind in any way, thoughts
38265 will arise. But if we do not do anything to it and let it rest easily, then
38266 it is unaltered. The Kagyu masters of the past called this the ordinary mind,
38267 or the natural state. They called it this out of their experience. This
38268 ordinary mind itself is the dharma expanse and the essence of the buddhas; it
38269 is our buddha-nature.
38270 -- Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, from "Vivid Awareness" in "The Best Buddhist
38271 Writing 2012", edited by Melvin McLeod and the editors of the Shambhala
38274 If your engagement with others is tainted by strong attachment, craving,
38275 aversion, anger, and so forth, then that form of grasping is undesirable. But
38276 on the other hand, when you are interacting with other living beings and
38277 become aware of their needs or suffering or pain, then you need to fully
38278 engage with that and be compassionate. So there can be positive attachment in
38279 this sense of active engagement.
38280 Buddhist masters have long used the term attachment to describe the quality
38281 of compassion for others. For example, a verse from Haribhadra's Clear
38282 Meaning Commentary refers to compassion that is attached to other living
38283 beings. And as we have seen, Nagarjuna teaches that attachment for other
38284 living beings will arise spontaneously in the person who realizes emptiness.
38285 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
38287 Kongtrul Rinpoche suggested we pray to the guru, buddhas, and bodhisattvas and
38288 ask them to grant their blessings, "So I may give birth to the heart of
38289 sadness." But what is a "heart of sadness"? Imagine one night you have
38290 a dream. Although it is a good dream, deep down you know that eventually you
38291 will have to wake up and it will be over. In life, too, sooner or later,
38292 whatever the state of our relationships, or our health, our jobs and every
38293 aspect of our lives, everything, absolutely everything, will change. And the
38294 little bell ringing in the back of your head to remind you of this
38295 inevitability is what is called the "heart of sadness." Life, you realise,
38296 is a race against time, and you should never put off dharma practice until
38297 next year, next month, or tomorrow, because the future may never happen.
38298 -- Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse, from "Not for Happiness: A Guide to the So-
38299 Called Preliminary Practices"
38301 What we want to eliminate is grasping that is grounded upon falsification of
38302 the object, distortions that arise as afflictions grasp at the apparent
38303 substantial existence of an object. Some texts say that mental states such as
38304 compassion and faith are, by their very nature, virtuous and thus cannot at
38305 the same time be afflicted mental states. Yet there are other texts that
38306 refer to "afflicted compassion" or "afflicted faith." For those of us
38307 who have not realized emptiness, when we generate strong devotion toward the
38308 Buddha perhaps there is within that faith, within that devotion, an element of
38309 grasping at the Buddha as substantially real. This makes it an instance of
38310 so-called "afflicted devotion."
38311 Still, it is important to distinguish grasping rooted in falsification and
38312 distortion from the attachment, focus, or holding that we associate with
38313 compassion. In our immediate experience, these two forms of grasping may seem
38314 the same, but in terms of the overall mental environment they are quite
38315 different. Compassion is fact-based, while distorted grasping is not.
38316 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
38318 By and large, human beings tend to prefer to fit in to society by following
38319 accepted rules of etiquette and being gentle, polite, and respectful. The
38320 irony is that this is also how most people imagine a spiritual person should
38321 behave. When a so-called dharma practitioner is seen to behave badly, we
38322 shake our heads over her audacity at presenting herself as a follower of the
38323 Buddha. Yet such judgments are better avoided, because to "fit in" is not
38324 what a genuine dharma practitioner strives for.
38325 Think of Tilopa, for example. He looked so outlandish that if he turned up
38326 on your doorstep today, odds are you would refuse to let him in. And you
38327 would have a point. He would most likely be almost completely naked; if you
38328 were lucky, he might be sporting some kind of G-string; his hair would never
38329 have been introduced to shampoo; and protruding from his mouth would quiver
38330 the tail of a live fish. What would your moral judgment be of such a being?
38331 "Him! A Buddhist?" This is how our theistic, moralistic, and judgmental
38332 minds work. Of course, there is nothing wrong with morality, but the point of
38333 spiritual practice, according to the vajrayana teachings, is to go beyond all
38334 our concepts, including those of morality.
38335 -- Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse, from "Not for Happiness: A Guide to the So-
38336 Called Preliminary Practices".
38338 Because it is a reality that we are by nature social animals, bound to depend
38339 on each other, we need to cultivate affection and concern for other people if
38340 we really desire peace and happiness. Look at wild animals and birds. Even
38341 they travel together, flock together, and help each other. Bees do not have a
38342 particular legal system, they do not follow any spiritual practice, but for
38343 their livelihood and survival they depend on each other--that is their
38344 natural way of existence. Even though we intelligent human beings must also
38345 depend on each other, we sometimes misuse our intelligence and try to exploit
38346 each other. That goes against human nature. For those of us who profess to
38347 believe in a particular religious practice, it is extremely important that we
38348 try to help each other and cultivate a feeling of affection for each other.
38349 That is the source of happiness in our life.
38350 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
38352 It's important to differentiate a thought from an emotion. We say things
38353 such as, "I feel like they don't accept me." Actually, that is a thought.
38354 We may feel hurt or frustrated, and it's because we're thinking that others
38355 don't accept us. How do we know they don't accept us? We don't. We
38356 haven't asked them. Instead, on the basis of how they looked at us or a
38357 comment they made, our mind constructs a story that we believe.
38358 As soon as you hear yourself saying, "I feel like...," stop and recognize
38359 that you can't "feel like" something. You are thinking. After you have
38360 identified the thought, ask yourself, "Is that true? How do I know it's true?
38361 What evidence do I have to prove the validity of that thought?" It's really
38362 startling to see how often we assume our interpretation of a situation is true
38363 when in fact it is based on flimsy evidence.
38364 -- Thubten Chodron, from "Don't Believe Everything You Think: Living with
38365 Wisdom and Compassion"
38367 We are all human beings, and from this point of view, we are the same. We all
38368 want happiness and we do not want suffering. If we consider this point, we
38369 will find that there are no differences between people of different faiths,
38370 races, colors, or cultures. We all have this common wish for happiness.
38371 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
38373 Enlightenment is not anything new or something we create or bring into
38374 existence. It is simply discovering within us what is already there. It is
38375 the full realization of our intrinsic nature. In Tibetan, buddha is sang
38376 gyay. Sang means that all of the faults have been cleared away, while gyay
38377 means "full realization"; just as from darkness, the moon waxes, likewise
38378 from ignorance, the qualities of the mind's intrinsic nature emerge.
38379 -- Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche
38381 The fundamental teaching of the Buddha is that we should view others as being
38382 more important than we are. Of course, you cannot completely ignore yourself.
38383 But neither can you neglect the welfare of other people and other sentient
38384 beings, particularly when there is a clash of interest between your own
38385 welfare and the welfare of other people. At such a time you should consider
38386 other people's welfare as more important than your own personal well-being.
38387 Compare yourself to the rest of sentient beings. All other sentient beings
38388 are countless, while you are just one person. Your suffering and happiness
38389 may be very important, but it is just the suffering and happiness of one
38390 individual, whereas the happiness and suffering of all other sentient beings
38391 is immeasurable and countless. So, it is the way of the wise to sacrifice one
38392 for the benefit of the majority and it is the way of the foolish to sacrifice
38393 the majority on behalf of just one single individual. Even from the point of
38394 view of your personal well-being, you must cultivate a compassionate
38395 mind—that is that source of happiness in your life.
38396 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
38398 Attachment and love are similar in that both of them draw us to the other
38399 person. But in fact, these two emotions are quite different. When we're
38400 attached we're drawn to someone because he or she meets our needs. In
38401 addition, there are lots of strings attached to our affection that we may or
38402 may not realize are there. For example, I 'love' you because you make me feel
38403 good. I 'love' you as long as you do things that I approve of. I 'love' you
38404 because you're mine. You're my spouse or my child or my parent or my friend.
38405 With attachment, we go up and down like a yo-yo, depending on how the other
38406 person treats us. We obsess, "What do they think of me? Do they love me?
38407 Have I offended them? How can I become what they want me to be so that they
38408 love me even more?" It's not very peaceful, is it? We're definitely stirred
38410 On the other hand, the love we're generating on the Dharma path is
38411 unconditional. We simply want other to have happiness and the causes of
38412 happiness without any strings attached, without any expectations of what these
38413 people will do for us or how good they'll make us feel.
38414 -- Thubten Chodron, "Don't Believe Everything You Think: Living with Wisdom
38417 Because we don't recognize our essential nature--we don't realize that
38418 although appearances arise unceasingly, nothing is really there--we invest
38419 with solidity and reality the seeming truth of self, other, and actions
38420 between self and others. This intellectual obscuration gives rise to
38421 attachment and aversion, followed by actions and reactions that create karma,
38422 solidify into habit, and perpetuate the cycles of suffering. This entire
38423 process needs to be purified.
38424 -- Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche, from "In the Presence of Masters: Wisdom from 30
38425 Contemporary Tibetan Buddhist Teachers", edited by Reginald A. Ray.
38427 Effort is crucial in the beginning for generating a strong will. We all
38428 have the Buddha nature and thus already have within us the substances through
38429 which, when we meet with the proper conditions, we can turn into a fully
38430 enlightened being having all beneficial attributes and devoid of all faults.
38431 The very root of failure in our lives is to think, "Oh, how useless and
38432 powerless I am!" It is important to have a strong force of mind thinking,
38433 "I can do it," this not being mixed with pride or any other afflictive
38435 Moderate effort over a long period of time is important, no matter what you
38436 are trying to do. One brings failure on oneself by working extremely hard at
38437 the beginning, attempting to do too much, and then giving it all up after a
38438 short time. A constant stream of moderate effort is needed. Similarly, when
38439 meditating, you need to be skillful by having frequent, short sessions; it is
38440 more important that the session be of good quality than that it be long.
38441 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, from "Kindness, Clarity, and Insight"
38443 We Buddhists are supposed to save all sentient beings, but practically
38444 speaking, this may be too broad a notion for most people. In any case, we
38445 must at least think in terms of helping all human beings. This is very
38446 important. Even if we cannot think in terms of sentient beings inhabiting
38447 different worlds, we should nonetheless think in terms of the human beings on
38448 our own planet. To do this is to take a practical approach to the problem.
38449 It is necessary to help others, not only in our prayers, but in our daily
38450 lives. If we find we cannot help another, the least we can do is to desist
38451 from harming them. We must not cheat others or lie to them. We must be
38452 honest human beings, sincere human beings.
38453 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
38455 How things appear and how they actually exist differ greatly. A person
38456 engaging in practice of the perfection of wisdom does this kind of analysis
38457 and then examines how things appear in ordinary experience, alternating
38458 analysis and comparison with the usual mode of appearance in order to notice
38459 the discrepancy between the actual mode of subsistence of phenomena and their
38461 In this way the inherent existence which is the object of negation will
38462 become clearer and clearer. As much as the object of negation becomes
38463 clearer, so much deeper will your understanding of emptiness become. Finally,
38464 you will ascertain a mere vacuity that is a negative of inherent existence.
38465 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
38467 Three attitudes prevent us from receiving a continual flow of blessings.
38468 They are compared to three "pots": a full pot, a pot with poison in it,
38469 and a pot with a hole in the bottom.
38470 The pot that's filled to the brim is like a mind full of opinions and
38471 preconceptions. We already know it all. We have so many fixed ideas that
38472 nothing new can affect us or cause us to question our assumptions.
38473 The pot containing poison is like a mind that's so cynical, critical, and
38474 judgmental that everything is poisoned by this harshness. It allows for no
38475 openness and no willingness to explore the teachings or anything else that
38476 challenges our righteous stance.
38477 The pot with a hole is like a distracted mind: our body is present but
38478 we're lost in thought. We're so busy thinking about our dream vacation or
38479 what's for dinner that we're completely deaf to what's being said.
38480 Knowing how sad it is to receive blessings and not be able to benefit,
38481 Shantideva wants to save himself grief by remaining open and attentive.
38482 Nothing will improve, he says, unless we become more intelligent about cause
38483 and effect. This is a message worth considering seriously.
38484 -- Pema Chödrön, from "No Time to Lose: A Timely Guide to the Way of the
38487 Shantideva cites three benefits of pain. First, it is valuable because
38488 through sorrow, pride is driven out. No matter how arrogant and condescending
38489 we've been, great suffering can humble us. The pain of a serious illness or
38490 loss of a loved one can be transformative, softening us and making us less
38492 The second benefit of pain is empathy: the compassion felt for those who
38493 wander in samsara. Our personal suffering brings compassion for others in the
38494 same situation. A young woman was telling me that when her baby died, she
38495 felt a deep connection to all the other parents who had lost children. This
38496 was, as she put it, the unexpected blessing of her sorrow.
38497 The third value of suffering is that evil is avoided and goodness seems
38498 delightful. When we practice according to Shantideva's instructions, we can
38499 get smarter about cause and result. Based on this understanding, we'll have
38500 less inclination to cause harm, and more desire to gather virtue and benefit
38502 -- Pema Chödrön, from "No Time to Lose: A Timely Guide to the Way of the
38505 Since emptiness, from between positive and negative phenomena, is a negative
38506 phenomenon and, from between affirming negatives and non-affirming negatives,
38507 is a non-affirming negative, when it appears to the mind, nothing will appear
38508 except an absence of such inherent existence—a mere elimination of the
38509 object of negation. Thus, for the mind of a person realizing emptiness there
38510 is no sense of, "I am ascertaining emptiness," and there is no thought,
38511 "This is emptiness." If you had such a sense, emptiness would become
38512 distant. Nevertheless, the emptiness of inherent existence is ascertained and
38514 After such realization, even though whatever phenomena appear appear to
38515 exist in their own right, you understand that they do not exist that way. You
38516 have a sense that they are like a magician's illusions in that there is a
38517 combination of their appearing one way but actually existing another way.
38518 Though they appear to exist inherently, you understand that they are empty of
38519 inherent existence.
38520 When phenomena are seen this way, the conceptions that superimpose a sense
38521 of goodness or badness on phenomena beyond what is actually there and serve as
38522 a basis for generating desire and hatred lessen; this is because they are
38523 based on the misconception that phenomena are established in their own right.
38524 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
38526 Rely on timeless awareness, which is free of elaboration, without
38527 identity, and the very essence of being;
38528 do not rely on ordinary consciousness, which is a mind fixated
38529 on characteristics and concepts.
38531 Timeless awareness entails (a) understanding that the way in which phenomena
38532 actually abide is, from the ultimate perspective, free of all limitations
38533 imposed by elaborations of origination, cessation, and so forth; (b)
38534 realization of the nonexistence of the two kinds of identity; and (c) unerring
38535 knowledge of sugatagarbha as utter lucidity, the way in which things actually
38536 abide, beyond any context of speculative value judgments. It is on this
38537 awareness that one should rely.
38538 Ordinary consciousness entails (a) belief that what one immediately
38539 perceives constitutes something truly existent; (b) conceptualization in terms
38540 of characteristics, such as the sense of personal identity and the mind-body
38541 aggregates; and (c) mental states that are conditioned, for example, by
38542 attitudes of naively fixating on the pleasures of the senses. One should not
38543 rely on such consciousness.
38544 -- Jamgön Kongtrül Lodro Taye, from "The Treasury of Knowledge: Book Seven
38545 and Book Eight, Parts One and Two"
38547 Such is the process of karma: it is ineluctable; its results are greatly
38548 magnified; actions not committed have no effect; and the effects of actions
38549 committed never expire on their own.
38550 Generally speaking, whether you are an ordinary mortal individual or a
38551 spiritually advanced being, all positive experiences that carry with them any
38552 pleasant sensation—down to even the slightest pleasure caused by a cool
38553 breeze for beings reborn in a hell realm—occur due to positive karma
38554 reinforced in the past; it is not in accord with the nature of things that
38555 happiness be due to negative karma. And all negative experiences that carry
38556 with them any unpleasant sensation—down to even the slightest suffering that
38557 could occur in the experience of an arhat—occur due to negative karma one
38558 has reinforced in the past; for it is not in accord with the nature of things
38559 that suffering be due to positive karma.
38560 -- Jamgön Kongtrül Lodro Taye, from "The Treasury of Knowledge: Book Seven
38561 and Book Eight, Parts One and Two"
38563 "That which is seen and that which is touched are of a dream-like and
38564 illusion-like nature. Because feeling arises together with the mind,
38565 it is not [ultimately] perceived." --Shantideva
38567 There is nothing whatever that has a true mode of existence. Nevertheless,
38568 this does not suggest that a person who experiences feelings and the feelings
38569 themselves—pleasant and unpleasant—are utterly non-existent. They do
38570 exist, but in an untrue fashion. Thus, the things that we see and touch have
38571 a dream-like and illusion-like quality.
38572 In the second line the author refutes the true existence of the mind that
38573 experiences feelings. Since feelings arise in conjunction with the mind,
38574 feelings are not perceived by the mind that is simultaneous with them. There
38575 must be a causal relationship between the experienced object and the
38576 experiencing subject. If two entities are substantially distinct and exist
38577 simultaneously, there could be neither a causal relationship nor an identity
38578 relationship between them.
38579 For this reason the author denies that either [intrinsic] relationship could
38580 hold for the feelings and the awareness that is simultaneous with them. Two
38581 mental events that arise in conjunction with each other are not able to
38582 apprehend one another. This holds true for all states of awareness. Thus,
38583 feelings are not observed by the awareness that arises in conjunction with
38584 them and that exists simultaneously with them.
38585 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
38587 Any happiness there is in the world ultimately turns to pain. Why? Consider
38588 the two sides of a coin: just because what we desire is to be seen on the
38589 front does not mean that dislike won't soon appear on the back. Likewise,
38590 hope and fear are a single coin, one entity with two faces--on the other side
38591 of a moment in which we hope for more happiness will be our fear of more
38592 suffering. Until attachment is eliminated, we can be certain of having both
38593 hope and fear. As long as there is hope and fear, the delusions of samsara
38594 will be perpetuated and there will be constant suffering. Thus attachment is
38595 the nature of both hope and fear: looking at the ultimate emptiness of the
38596 self-envisioned magical illusion of hope and fear, we should hang loosely in
38598 --Tulku Pema Rigtsal, "The Great Secret of Mind: Special Instructions on the
38599 Nonduality of Dzogchen", translated by Keith Dowman
38601 The feelings of joy and sorrow do not exist from their own side. Although
38602 they exist as conceptual imputations, you cling to them as existing from their
38603 own side. Feelings do not exist by their own intrinsic nature; rather, they
38604 are identified on the basis of contributing circumstances.
38605 Therefore, this analysis is cultivated as an antidote for that [false
38606 conception of intrinsic existence]. The meditative absorption that arises
38607 from the field of discriminative investigation is the food of the
38608 contemplative.—Shantideva
38609 Feelings do not truly exist; they are not found when sought through
38610 analysis; they do not exist independently, but exist by the power of
38611 convention. Thus, the means for overcoming the misconception of the true
38612 existence of feelings is meditation on their lack of such existence. This
38613 entails analyzing the mode of existence of feelings.
38614 Such investigation is an aid to meditative absorption and leads to the
38615 integration of meditative quiescence and insight. That increases the physical
38616 vitality of the contemplative and enhances the power of his [or her] spiritual
38617 practice. Thus it is called the nourishment of the contemplative.
38618 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Transcendent Wisdom".
38620 It is not enough merely to look into the space of happiness or sadness; it is
38621 important to have pure presence constant in that flow. If the power of
38622 meditation is not constant, it is impossible to remain long in the place of
38623 nondual perception. Thoughts that arise intermittently will break the
38624 continuity, and radiating out from this, like ripples on a pond, the poisonous
38625 taste of emotion will arise to obstruct the meditation. As gross thoughts
38626 increase, ripples become rough waves that intensify the emotion. Until subtle
38627 emotions are left behind, we cannot eradicate suffering, so it is crucially
38628 important to sustain the state of meditation. When we gain strong familiarity
38629 by staying in that space for a long time, then no matter what thoughts arise,
38630 whether gross or subtle, they will not be able to dislodge us: upon
38631 recognizing the first thought, whatever thought it may be, in that very
38632 moment, we realize it to be the play of the spontaneous creativity of
38633 dharmakaya. Like a wave falling back into the ocean, the thought vanishes
38634 into the dharmakaya. In that space of naked empty pure presence that is the
38635 view, always cherishing thoughts of the five poisonous emotions and all the
38636 movements of body, speech, and mind, and the acts of eating, sleeping, moving,
38637 and sitting, we are known as the yogins and yoginis who stand guard over the
38638 shifting dharmakaya display. This is the supreme method of sustaining the
38639 essence of meditation. According to Dzogchen teaching, this is unadulterated
38640 by any kind of focus; it is called "the great meditation that is
38642 --Tulku Pema Rigtsal, "The Great Secret of Mind: Special Instructions on the
38643 Nonduality of Dzogchen", translated by Keith Dowman.
38645 Who is more shameless in this world,
38646 Than one who abandons to samsara's ocean of suffering
38647 All the mothers who have tenderly cared for him since beginningless time
38648 And instead strives toward the peace of a solitary nirvana?
38649 --Shechen Gyaltsap Pema Namgyal
38651 In each of our lives since beginningless time, our mother carried us within
38652 her body for nine months. She took care of us when we were helpless babies;
38653 she gave us food, education, and protection. In return, we feel love and
38654 gratitude for her kindness.
38655 Why not extend our respect and appreciation for our mother to everyone else?
38656 If we take a broader perspective, we can consider that, within the countless
38657 existences we have lived, every being has been our mother at one time or
38658 another. Don't they also deserve our kindness now? We can extend the same
38659 debt of gratitude that we owe our present mother to all sentient beings. By
38660 doing so, we naturally begin to develop a deep concern for the happiness of
38661 others, and this feeling makes sense to us.
38662 We take the refuge vow not just for our own sake, but also for the sake of
38663 all sentient beings. This is bodhichitta, or the altruistic mind, which aims
38664 for the enlightenment of all sentient beings.
38665 --Shechen Rabjam, "The Great Medicine That Conquers Clinging to the Notion
38666 of Reality: Steps in Meditation on the Enlightened Mind"
38668 Direct perfect enlightenment [with regard to] all aspects,
38669 and abandonment of the stains along with their imprints
38670 [are called] buddha and nirvana respectively.
38671 In truth, these are not two different things.
38674 All aspects of the knowable—all absolute and relative phenomena—are
38675 directly known. Through this knowledge one is immediately and perfectly
38676 enlightened. This is the aspect of realization. All the adventitious
38677 defilements—the two veils along with their remaining imprints—are
38678 abandoned without any exception. This is the aspect of abandonment. These
38679 two qualities have been led to ultimate perfection. They are therefore named
38680 "perfect buddha" ["perfectly awakened and expanded"] from the
38681 viewpoint of the former aspect, and "nirvana" ["gone beyond any torment
38682 and pain"] from the viewpoint of the latter aspect. These two aspects are
38683 contained in one and the same meaning, the meaning of the tathagatagarbha,
38684 whereas a difference only lies in the convention of the different terms. In
38685 the sense of the absolute field of experience of the noble ones' primordial
38686 wisdom the qualities of realization and abandonment are therefore completely
38687 inseparable and do not exist as two different things.
38688 -- Arya Maitreya, "Buddha Nature: The Mahayana Uttaratantra Shastra with
38689 Commentary", with commentary by Jamgön Kongtrül Lodro Thaye
38691 "Vehicle" (yana) has two meanings: the means by which one progresses and
38692 the destination to which one is progressing. Mahayana in the sense of the
38693 vehicle by which one progresses means to be motivated by the mind of
38694 enlightenment—wishing to attain highest enlightenment for the sake of all
38695 sentient beings, one's objects of intent—and means to engage in the six
38697 Seeing reason and need, Buddha set forth many systems and vehicles, but
38698 these did not arise due to his being intimate with some and alien to others.
38699 The trainees who were listening to his teaching had various dispositions,
38700 interests, and abilities, and thus he taught methods that were suitable for
38701 each of them. For those who temporarily did not have the courage to strive
38702 for Buddhahood or who did not at all have the capacity of obtaining Buddhahood
38703 at that time, Buddha did not say, "You can attain Buddhahood." Rather, he
38704 set forth a path appropriate to the trainees' abilities. Buddha spoke in
38705 terms of their situation, and everything that he spoke was a means of
38706 eventually attaining highest enlightenment even though he did not always say
38707 that these were means for attaining Buddhahood.
38708 Since the purpose of a Buddha's coming is others' realization of the
38709 wisdom of Buddhahood, the methods for actualizing this wisdom are one vehicle,
38710 not two. A Buddha does not lead beings by a vehicle that does not proceed to
38711 Buddhahood; he establishes beings in his own level. A variety of vehicles are
38712 set forth in accordance with temporary needs.
38713 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
38715 You do not have to seek out loneliness--it is always there. Egolessness is a
38716 concept, a philosophy, but loneliness is a reality that you experience. A
38717 feeling of loneliness is part of the journey. As for me, I feel that way
38718 constantly, and I think it's a very healthy feeling, a very real feeling.
38719 When you sense that you are not you anymore and that nothing can replace that
38720 state, you begin to make discoveries. You discover devotion, and you discover
38721 a quality of richness and artistic expression that is very special. Being
38722 you, but not being you, is very resourceful. You become a complete mountain
38723 man: you know how to make fire and cook food. But it doesn't mean anything.
38724 You are still nobody. That is the inspiration.
38725 -- Chögyam Trungpa, "The Profound Treasury of the Ocean of Dharma, Volume
38726 One: The Individual Path of Liberation"
38728 Interdependence is our reality, whether we accept it or not. In order to
38729 live productively within such a reality, it is better to acknowledge and work
38730 with interdependence, wholeheartedly and without resistance. This is where
38731 love and compassion come in. It is love that leads us to embrace our
38732 connectedness to others, and to participate willingly in the relations created
38733 by our interdependence. Love can melt away our defenses and our painful sense
38734 of separation. The warmth of friendship and love makes it easy for us to
38735 accept that our happiness is intimately linked to that of others. The more
38736 widely we are able to love others, the happier and more content we can feel
38737 within the relations of interdependence that are a natural part of our life.
38738 Love is possible in all our relationships because all people want happiness.
38739 No one wants to suffer. This is true of the people we love. It is also true
38740 of those we dislike. We are all absolutely identical in this respect. I
38741 think this universal wish for happiness is something we can easily grasp
38742 intellectually. When we learn to also feel and respect this in our heart,
38743 love naturally flourishes within us.
38744 -- The Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, "The Heart is Noble: Changing the World
38745 from the Inside Out"
38747 Day and night, night and day we spend our lives in the company of the
38748 afflictions, generating desire for the pleasant and anger at the unpleasant,
38749 and continue thus even when dreaming, unable to remain relaxed, our minds
38750 completely and utterly mixed with thoughts of desire and hatred without
38752 To what refuge should we go? A source of refuge must have completely
38753 overcome all defects forever; it must be free of all faults. It must also
38754 have all the attributes of altruism—those attainments which are necessary
38755 for achieving others' welfare. For it is doubtful that anyone lacking these
38756 two prerequisites can bestow refuge; it would be like falling into a ditch and
38757 asking another who is in it to help you out. You need to ask someone who is
38758 standing outside the ditch for help; it is senseless to ask another who is in
38759 the same predicament. A refuge capable of protecting from the frights of
38760 manifold sufferings cannot also be bound in this suffering but must be free
38761 and unflawed. Furthermore, the complete attainments are necessary, for if you
38762 have fallen into a ditch, it is useless to seek help from someone standing
38763 outside it who does not wish to help or who wishes to help but has no means to
38765 Only a Buddha has extinguished all faults and gained all attainments.
38766 Therefore, one should mentally go for refuge to a Buddha, praise him with
38767 speech, and respect him physically. One should enter the teaching of such a
38769 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
38771 All that is has me—universal creativity,
38772 pure and total presence—as its root.
38773 How things appear is my being.
38774 How things arise is my manifestation.
38775 Sounds and words heard are my messages
38776 expressed in sounds and words.
38777 All the capacities, forms, and pristine
38778 awareness of the buddhas;
38779 The bodies of sentient beings, their
38780 habituations, and so forth;
38781 All environments and their inhabitants,
38782 life forms, and experiences;
38783 Are the primordial state of pure and total
38786 Without understanding me, the creativity of
38788 But investigating the phenomena that I
38790 You perceive everything dualistically due
38791 to your attachment and longing.
38792 Impermanent, apparitional things will fade
38794 They are aimless, like a blind man.
38796 All that is experienced and
38797 Your own mind are the unique primary reality.
38798 They cannot be conceptualized according to
38799 the cause and effect systems of thought.
38800 Investigate your mind's real nature
38801 So that your pure and total presence will
38802 actually shine forth.
38804 -- Longchenpa, "You Are the Eyes of the World"
38806 Devotion, or mögü in Tibetan, can be divided into two aspects: möpa and
38807 küpa. Möpa means "longing" or "wanting," and küpa means "humility,"
38808 "respect," or "being without arrogance." With küpa, you are not pretending
38809 to be somebody who has reached a higher level of wisdom. So in devotion,
38810 longing and humbleness are put together. That state of mind brings openness
38811 to the teacher and to the dharma.
38812 With küpa, the longing of möpa does not become purely an emotional
38813 indulgence or demand on the part of either the student or the teacher. The
38814 devotion of küpa is the respect or sacredness that comes from that experience
38815 of aah [the space before first thought]! Küpa arises because every highlight
38816 in your life has always been touched by the sacredness of vajrayana, even
38817 before you knew it.
38818 -- Chogyam Trungpa, from "The Profound Treasury of the Ocean of Dharma,
38819 Volume Three: The Tantric Path of Indestructible Wakefulness"
38821 All suffering in this life and others is created by the unsubdued mind.
38822 Similarly, the basis of all the practices of the six paramitas, such as
38823 generosity, moral discipline, and so on, is the mind.
38825 Nothing is more important than guarding the mind. Let us constantly keep
38826 watch over the wild elephant of the mind, curbing it with mindfulness and
38827 vigilance. This is how to avoid being influenced by different external
38828 conditions. But even in retreat in a very secluded place, if the mind is not
38829 kept under control, it will wander all over the place. Even completely alone,
38830 we can have an enormous amount of negative emotions.
38832 How are we to guard the mind? We should use attentiveness to watch our
38833 thoughts and use mindfulness to judge whether we are acting correctly. With
38834 these two we have the means to annihilate all adverse conditions. But without
38835 them, we will not see whether our thoughts are positive or negative or whether
38836 we are doing right or wrong, nor will we then be able to use antidotes as
38838 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
38840 The great yogi Shabkar Tsogdruk Rangdrol replies to a Losar Day request from
38841 his disciple Depa Wangpo on what to adopt and what to reject regarding
38842 attitude and conduct...
38844 Don't harm your friends and neighbors; help them.
38845 Don't be stingy; use your wealth for offerings and charity.
38846 Don't let your body be idle; do prostrations and circumambulations.
38847 Don't let your mouth be idle; recite the mani mantra.
38848 Always have pure thoughts towards others.
38850 In brief, keeping Death in mind, practice the sacred Dharma.
38851 Give up doing wrong, and do what is wholesome.
38852 Whatever happiness and sufferings you undergo,
38853 Regard them as the result of previous actions.
38854 Always act in accord with the Dharma.
38855 Even though I may be far away,
38856 These instructions will remain like my very presence.
38859 -- Shabkar Natshok Rangdrol, in "The Life of Shabkar"
38861 On the very night of Dodrupchen's death, his spiritual testament was
38862 received by his principal disciple, Do Khyentse. Dodrupchen appeared in the
38863 sky in a radiant light body and an attire of lights. He was floating on a
38864 carpet of light, which was held up by four dakinis. In a very enchanting
38865 voice he sang the verses of his testament, which include the following lines:
38867 I am going into the expanse of the Wisdom of the Ultimate Sphere,
38868 Which is the state that transcends thoughts and expressions.
38869 I am going into the state of Mirrorlike Wisdom,
38870 Which is the ceaseless clear glow, fresh and open.
38871 I am going into the expanse of the Wisdom of Evenness,
38872 In which all the thoughts of grasping and grasper have vanished into the
38874 I am going into the Wisdom of Discriminative Awareness,
38875 Which is the clarity, the dawn of six kinds of foreknowledge.
38876 I am going into the state of the Wisdom of Accomplishment,
38877 Which emanates various manifestations in accordance with [the needs of]
38880 Son, please stay healthy.
38881 Now you have won over the obstructions of your life.
38882 Until all the phenomenal existents are liberated as the signs and
38883 teachings [of Dharma],
38884 [You should be] aware of samsara and nirvana as dreams and illusions.
38885 Dedicate yourself to the meditation where there is no reference point.
38886 This is the empowerment of total entrustment and aspiration.
38887 This is the supreme empowerment of empowerments.
38889 -- from "Masters of Meditation and Miracles", by Tulku Thondup.
38891 The view of interdependence makes for a great openness of mind. In general,
38892 instead of realizing that what we experience arises from a complicated network
38893 of causes, we tend to attribute happiness or sadness, for example, to single,
38894 individual sources. But if this were so, as soon as we came into contact with
38895 what we consider to be good, we would be automatically happy, and conversely,
38896 in the case of bad things, invariably sad. The causes of joy and sorrow would
38897 be easy to identify and target. It would all be very simple, and there would
38898 be good reason for our anger and attachment. When, on the other hand, we
38899 consider that everything we experience results from a complex interplay of
38900 causes and conditions, we find that there is no single thing to desire or
38901 resent, and it is more difficult for the afflictions of attachment or anger to
38902 arise. In this way, the view of interdependence makes our minds more relaxed
38904 By training our minds and getting used to this view, we change our way of
38905 seeing things, and as a result we gradually change our behavior and do less
38906 harm to others. As it says in the sutras:
38909 Practice virtue well;
38911 This is the Buddha's teaching.
38913 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, from "For the Benefit of All Beings"
38915 In the avadhuti, the main path of enlightenment,
38916 Prana and mind, bliss and warmth, are united,
38917 Becoming unconditioned great bliss.
38918 The wisdom of unobscured insight dawns.
38920 "This is unsurpassable," the guru has said.
38921 The darkness of ignorance is purified in space.
38922 One is free from the two obscurations of grasping and fixation.
38923 Therefore bliss and luminosity dawn in simplicity.
38925 This appearance of collective coincidence
38926 Is a reflection without self-nature.
38927 All appearances are realized like that,
38928 And just like appearances in a dream,
38929 All dharmas arise as illusions...
38931 When thoughts arise, rest naturally.
38932 When dreaming, be mindful without corrupting it.
38933 When in the pardo, don't control, but be aware.
38934 When there is fruition, let it arise without obscuration.
38936 -- from "The Life of Marpa the Translator" translated by Chögyam Trungpa
38937 and the Nalanda Translation Committee.
38939 The Four Seals in Buddhism are:
38941 All products are impermanent.
38942 (or all compounded phenomena are impermanent?)
38943 ('du byed thams cad mi rtag pa)
38945 All contaminated objects are miserable.
38946 (zag bcas thams cad sdug bsngal ba)
38948 All phenomena are selfless.
38949 (chos thams cad bdag med pa)
38952 (mya ngan las 'das ba zhi ba)
38954 --from "Meditation on Emptiness" (London: Wisdom, 1983), by Jeffrey Hopkins
38956 When you pass away, nothing will do you any good except for the pure Dharma.
38957 You will not simply disappear when you die. Rather, what happens next will be
38958 dictated by your previous actions.
38959 For these reasons, you should exert yourself by whatever means necessary to
38960 free yourself from samsara, which is nothing but a vast ocean of suffering!
38961 Practice your teacher's guidance concerning what to do and what to give up
38962 to the letter, without falling under the influence of immature friends or bad
38963 influences. To the best of your ability, incorporate this genuine teaching on
38964 the certainty of death into each and every day.
38965 Keeping all this in mind, arouse faith in the Three Jewels so that you will
38966 be able to practice in this manner, thinking to yourself, "Think of me,
38967 Three Jewels!" At the same time, be sure to generate an intense sense of
38968 renunciation and subdue your mind stream.
38969 -- from "Entrance to the Great Perfection: A Guide to the Dzogchen
38970 Preliminary Practices", edited and translated by Cortland Dahl
38972 I would like to mention my visit to Lourdes as a pilgrim. There, in front of
38973 the cave, I experienced something very special. I felt a spiritual vibration,
38974 a kind of spiritual presence there. And then, in front of the image of the
38975 Virgin Mary, I prayed. I expressed my admiration for this holy place that has
38976 long been a source of inspiration and strength, that has provided spiritual
38977 solace, comfort and healing to millions of people. And I prayed that this may
38978 continue for a long time to come. My prayer there was not directed to any
38979 clearly defined object, like Buddha or Jesus Christ or a bodhisattva, but was
38980 simply directed to all great beings who have infinite compassion towards all
38982 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
38984 The Buddhist teaching is superior in four ways: view, meditation, behavior,
38987 1. The "four seals" that distinguish the [Buddhist] view are as follows: all
38988 composed phenomena are impermanent, all contaminated things are miserable, all
38989 phenomena are selfless, and nirvana is peace.
38991 2. Buddhist meditation serves as an antidote to all cyclic existence within
38994 3. Buddhist behavior is free from the two extremes, having abandoned both the
38995 extreme of overindulgence of desire, which is a case of being desirous and
38996 wanting good and great quantities of food and clothing, and the extreme of
38997 being too tired and worn out in body and mind.
38999 4. The fruits are the true cessations, which are abandonments such that the
39000 obstruction that is removed does not arise again [and which comes about]
39001 through analyzing individually the nonexistence of the referent object of the
39002 conception of self.
39004 These four [view, meditation, behavior, and fruit] are the distinguishing
39005 features of Buddhist doctrine.
39006 -- Jamyang Shayba, from "Buddhist Philosophy: Losang Gonchok's Short
39007 Commentary to Jamyang Shayba's Root Text on Tenets", by Daniel Cozort
39008 and Craig Preston, page 88.
39010 When you are busy and preoccupied, you feel hassled by your own existence.
39011 You are so busy that you think that you do not have any time to spare for your
39012 practice. Such torment and busyness seem to be monumental or historic, but
39013 that is not the case. As far as we are concerned, that kind of torment is
39014 absolutely ordinary. As you begin to work on that, you realize that the
39015 inconvenience, discomfort, and anguish that you experience is no more than
39016 anybody else experiences. So your experience is no longer regarded as
39017 monumental—no more than if you step on a cat's tail, and the cat cries
39018 out, "Wooaaaoow!" However, it is still a problematic situation. Therefore
39019 you need to practice the paramita of discipline, which overcomes that type of
39020 preoccupation altogether. You begin to realize that preoccupations are
39021 garbage; they are worth flushing out so that something real could come up.
39022 Then paramita activity begins to make sense, and you begin to act in a more
39024 -- Chögyam Trungpa, from "The Profound Treasury of the Ocean of Dharma.
39025 Volume Two: The Bodhisattva Path of Wisdom and Compassion"
39027 If we unbalance nature, humankind will suffer. Furthermore, we must consider
39028 future generations: a clean environment is a human right like any other. It
39029 is therefore part of our responsibility toward others to ensure that the world
39030 we pass on is as healthy as, if not healthier than, we found it. This is not
39031 quite such a difficult proposition as it might sound. For although there is a
39032 limit to what we as individuals can do, there is no limit to what a universal
39033 response might achieve. It is up to us as individuals to do what we can,
39034 however little that may be. Just because switching off the light on leaving
39035 the room seems inconsequential, it does not mean we shouldn't do it.
39036 -- His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, from "The Pocket Dalai Lama"
39038 Basically we are trying to put a stop to frivolity of any kind. Frivolity is
39039 an interesting word. It can mean being crazy and indulging unnecessarily in a
39040 very crude fashion, but it could also mean indulging in something in the name
39041 of humor and overdoing it slightly. If you are embarrassed to deal with a
39042 particular subject, you find another subject to discuss. If you are tired of
39043 drinking vodka, you switch to sake. If you are bored with talking to one
39044 person, you switch to somebody else. Frivolity is anything that creates
39045 further confusion, or the longing for further confusion. Confusion may seem
39046 luxurious: when you no longer have it, you begin to miss that confusion, and
39047 you would like to re-create it. It is like going back to an adult bookshop
39048 and getting more magazines. But with discipline, you control any form of
39049 potential escape from reality.
39050 -- Chögyam Trungpa, from "The Profound Treasury of the Ocean of Dharma.
39051 Volume Two: The Bodhisattva Path of Wisdom and Compassion"
39053 The essence of all the songs can be epitomized by the four dharmas of
39054 Gampopa. These are: (1) one's mind becomes dharmic; (2) that dharma
39055 practice becomes path; (3) in following that path, confusion is removed; (4)
39056 having removed confusion, everything dawns as wisdom.
39057 The first dharma is the ground, where our mind becomes dharmic so that we
39058 and the dharma are no longer separate entities. We develop true renunciation
39059 and have a sense of revulsion towards samsara. The second dharma is the path.
39060 When our mind goes along with the dharma, the dharma becomes the path, and any
39061 obstacles, whether extreme or ordinary, become a part of our journey. The
39062 third dharma is the fruition. As the journey is taking place, the process of
39063 the journey liberates us from confusion and anxiety. We are delighted by our
39064 journey and we feel it is good. The fourth dharma is the total vision. When
39065 we are able to overcome confusion and anxiety, even our anxiety is not
39066 regarded as anti-dharma or anti-path. Cosmic wakefulness takes place.
39067 -- Chögyam Trungpa's in the foreword to "The Rain of Wisdom: The Essence of
39068 the Ocean of True Meaning"
39070 Scrutinize Apperances
39072 No matter what our mind makes appear as an object of one of our six
39073 collections of consciousness—sights, sounds, smells, tastes, tactile or
39074 bodily sensations, or mental objects or events—we thoroughly scrutinize its
39075 mode of appearance. Our mind is making it appear as though its existence were
39076 established by virtue of itself, empowered by some truly and inherently
39077 existent self-nature—and not by virtue simply of mental labeling
39078 establishing its existence as what can be labeled "this" or "that"
39079 from this side. We thoroughly scrutinize this mode of appearance and the mode
39080 of existence it implies. There does appear to be something solidly there, not
39081 existing as what it is by virtue simply of mental labeling, but by virtue of
39082 itself, independently of anything else. But, by reminding ourselves that it
39083 does not exist as it appears to exist—by being mindful that its existence
39084 and identity are not established through its own power—we automatically
39085 reconfirm and become even stronger in our conviction in its bare mode of
39086 existence. In other words, as the text [the First Panchen Lama's A Root
39087 Text for the Precious Gelug/Kagyu Tradition of Mahamudra] says, "[You
39088 experience] their bare mode of existence dawning in an exposed, resplendent
39090 -- His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, from "The Gelug/Kagyu Tradition
39093 The dakini principle must not be oversimplified, as it carries many levels of
39094 meaning. On an outer level, accomplished female practitioners were called
39095 dakinis.... But ultimately, though she appears in female form, a dakini
39096 defies gender definitions. "To really meet the dakini, you have to go
39097 beyond duality," Khandro Rinpoche teaches, referring to an essential
39098 understanding in Vajrayana that the absolute reality cannot be grasped
39099 intellectually. The Tibetan word for dakini, khandro, means "sky-goer" or
39100 "space-dancer," which indicates that these ethereal awakened ones have
39101 left the confinements of solid earth and have the vastness of open space to
39103 -- Michaela Haas, from "Dakini Power: Twelve Extraordinary Women Shaping the
39104 Transmission of Tibetan Buddhism in the West"
39106 Drawing from Longchenpa, Jamgon Kongtrul explains the method of awakening in
39107 the Dzog-chen system, calling it the "Liberation as Ever-Perfect," as the
39108 primordial buddha Samantabhadra... Liberation as Ever-Perfect does not refer
39109 to the liberation of a buddha that has occurred in the past, such as that of
39110 Buddha Sakyamuni, but to the way in which countless beings are liberated right
39111 now and will continue to be liberated in the future simply by realizing their
39112 primordial purity. The basis, the path, and the ultimate result in this
39113 system are all of a singular, undifferentiated nature: total, pure awareness.
39114 Thus, the primordial freedom that one seeks to attain by practicing the
39115 spiritual path is something that one already possesses. Intrinsic freedom is
39116 itself the path that leads to the actualization of the goal.
39117 -- from the Translator's Introduction, "The Treasury of Knowledge: Book One,
39118 Myriad Worlds", by Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Taye
39120 If we realize, "I am a human being. A human being can do anything,"
39121 this determination, courage, and self-confidence are important sources of
39122 victory and success. Without will power and determination, even something
39123 that you might have achieved easily cannot be achieved. If you have will
39124 power and reasonable courage—not blind courage but courage without
39125 pride—even things that seemed impossible at a certain stage turn into being
39126 possible because of continuing effort inspired by that courage. Thus,
39127 determination is important.
39128 How can this be developed? Not through machines, not by money, but by our
39129 own inner strength based on clear realization of the value of human beings, of
39130 human dignity. For, once we realize that a human being is much more than just
39131 material, much more than just money, we can feel the importance of human life,
39132 from which we can feel the importance of compassion and kindness.
39133 Human beings by nature want happiness and do not want suffering. With that
39134 feeling everyone tries to achieve happiness and tries to get rid of suffering,
39135 and everyone has the basic right to do this. In this way, all here are the
39136 same, whether rich or poor, educated or uneducated, Easterner or Westerner,
39137 believer or nonbeliever, and within believers whether Buddhist, Christian,
39138 Jewish, Muslim, and so on. Basically, from the viewpoint of real human value
39139 we are all the same.
39140 -- His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, from "Kindness, Clarity, and Insight"
39144 Racoon dead six weeks.
39149 Through aspiration prayers and arousing bodhicitta, for the noble families the
39150 time had come to tame the māras and cannibal demons of Tibet, and resounding
39151 as self-arising formless sound from the sky was this song, which invokes the
39152 enlightened mindstreams [of all the sages]:
39155 Unborn primordially empty dharmadhatu,
39156 Unobstructed ground for the arising of phenomena,
39157 The strength of emptiness free from the extremes of existing or not,
39158 Listen to this song, a self-arising spontaneously present song.
39160 Without considering the six grains of the three months of autumn,
39161 Why toil in the fields in the three months of spring?
39162 Without considering the abundance of the plunder,
39163 Why wave your arms to summon enemies and disputes?
39164 Without considering the benefit of others,
39165 Why single-pointedly practice to try to accomplish enlightenment?
39167 Failing to know the minds of those to be tamed, one is not a buddha.
39168 Failing to fulfill the welfare of others is not the sacred dharma.
39169 Failing to lead others to liberation is not the sangha.
39171 -- from The Epic of Gesar of Ling, "Gesar's Birth and Childhood"
39173 When we meditate I encourage all of us to have the attitude that we are
39174 meditating to dissolve the self. That's why we meditate. Hold this
39175 perspective in your awareness and let your dualistic mind dissolve for at
39176 least a half hour, or at least for ten minutes every day. When you allow
39177 yourself to witness that unexpected glimpse of the truth, where the self is
39178 dissolved, it's like drinking nectar. It's inexpressible. We often use
39179 the word bliss to describe that state. Bliss is a good word, but it can be
39180 misunderstood. The bliss that I am speaking about has nothing to do with
39181 ordinary bliss. It's not like the bliss of having great food or other
39182 sensual pleasure. This is nonconceptual bliss that is not based on emotions
39183 but is based on awareness. We often say that realizing the true nature of who
39184 we are is like drinking the nectar of ultimate bliss. The more we drink, the
39185 more we are going to be addicted, which is very good.
39186 -- Anam Thubten, "No Self, No Problem: Awakening to Our True Nature"
39188 Why is a man condemned to death not fortunate
39189 If he is released after having his hand cut off?
39190 Why am I who am experiencing human misery not fortunate
39191 If by that I am spared from (the agonies of) hell?
39193 If I am unable to endure
39194 Even the mere sufferings of the present,
39195 Then why do I not restrain myself from being angry,
39196 Which will be the source of hellish misery?
39198 In these two verses [from The Way of the Bodhisattva], Shantideva explains
39199 that by not being angry and developing hatred in response to harm caused by
39200 others, what one is gaining is protection from potential undesirable
39201 consequences that might otherwise come about. Because if one responds to such
39202 situations with anger and hatred, not only does it not protect one from the
39203 injury that has already been done, but on top of that one creates an
39204 additional cause for one's own suffering in the future. However, if one
39205 responds without anger and hatred and develops patience and tolerance, then
39206 although one many face temporary discomfort or injury, that temporary
39207 suffering will protect one from potentially dangerous consequences in the
39208 future. If this is the case, then by sacrificing small things, by putting up
39209 with small problems or hardships, one will be able to forgo experiences of
39210 much greater suffering in the future.
39211 An example Shantideva uses here is that if a convicted prisoner can save his
39212 life by sacrificing his arm as a punishment, wouldn't that person feel
39213 grateful for that opportunity? By accepting the pain and suffering of having
39214 his arm cut off, that person will be saving himself from death, which is a
39215 greater suffering. Shantideva adds that there is another advantage: not only
39216 will one be protected from potentially dangerous consequences in the future,
39217 but also by experiencing the pain and suffering which has been caused
39218 temporarily by others, one is exhausting the karmic potentials of negative
39219 karma which one has accumulated in the past. So it serves two purposes.
39220 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, from "Healing Anger: The Power of Patience from a
39221 Buddhist Perspective"
39223 The Fifth Dalai Lama (1617–1682) was perhaps the most mystical of all the
39224 Dalai Lamas in that he seemed to spend much of his time in a state of trance.
39225 During these trances many gurus of past ages, as well as mandala deities,
39226 buddhas, and bodhisattvas, would appear directly to him and give him secret
39227 transmissions, initiations, and teachings. As the Thirteenth Dalai Lama says
39228 of the Great Fifth later in this chapter, he "was continually absorbed in
39229 the wisdom dance that experiences all appearances as pure vision."
39230 -- Glenn H. Mullin, from "From the Heart of Chenrezig: The Dalai Lamas on
39233 Wishing others to be happy doesn't mean we give them everything they want,
39234 because sometimes what they want can be harmful. Wishing them to be happy
39235 entails wanting them to be free from pain and loneliness. Wouldn't it be
39236 wonderful if they were free from these and all other miseries? In order to
39237 love others, we have to be able to overcome our anger and hatred toward them.
39238 We have to be able to forgive them for the wrongs they've done. To do that,
39239 we have to get "me" out of the way and see that when people create harm,
39240 it is a reflection of their own pain, confusion, and misery. We just happened
39241 to walk across their path. We may even have done something to antagonize
39242 them, either deliberately or accidentally, but the reason that they got so
39243 upset is because of what is going on inside of them. We might also look at
39244 how we made ourselves into a target or accidentally became a target onto which
39245 they projected their confusion. Maybe we weren't very considerate of them.
39246 Maybe we have certain bad habits of which we're not aware and to which
39248 -- Thubten Chodron, "How to Free Your Mind: The Practice of Tara the
39251 We humans are actually not that far from enlightenment. Our five senses are
39252 like the Emanation Body of a Buddha; our dream body, which is similar to the
39253 after-death form, is like a Buddha's Beatific Form; and the basis of both of
39254 these is the subtle mind of clear light which shares the nature of a
39255 Buddha's Wisdom Body. All we have to do is learn to transform these
39256 ordinary elements into their pure natures. Then buddhahood naturally comes
39258 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, from "The Path to Enlightenment"
39260 There are three kinds of people [who practice Buddhism]. Like all other
39261 beings, the lowest person wants happiness and not suffering or rebirth in the
39262 lower realms of existence, so he practices Buddhism to create the causes of
39263 rebirth in the human realm or in the heavenly realms of the gods. He does not
39264 have the power or the courage to leave worldly existence completely. He only
39265 wants the best parts of worldly existence; he wants to avoid the worst parts,
39266 and that is why he practices the Buddhist religion—to gain a higher rebirth.
39267 The middling sort of person understands that the whole of worldly existence,
39268 no matter where one is born, is suffering by its nature, just as fire is hot
39269 by its nature. He wants to get out of it altogether and attain nirvana, the
39270 state that is entirely away from suffering.
39271 The highest person realizes that just as he himself does not want to suffer
39272 and does want happiness, so also do all living beings have the same fears and
39273 wishes. He knows that since we have been born again and again from
39274 beginningless time in worldly existence, there is not a single sentient being
39275 who has not been our mother and father at one time or another. Since we are
39276 that close to all sentient beings, the best person is one who practices
39277 Buddhism in order to remove all these countless beings from suffering.
39278 -- H.H. Sakya Trinzin, from "Treasures of the Sakya Lineage: Teachings from
39279 the Masters", by Migmar Tseten
39281 To take refuge in the Buddha means to take refuge in the dharmas that
39282 constitute a buddha (a nonlearner). These consist of a buddha's knowledge
39283 of the termination and nonarising [of the obscurations]. Together with the
39284 associated factors [of this knowledge], they consist of the five
39285 uncontaminated skandhas.
39286 To take refuge in the sangha means [to take refuge] in the dharmas that
39287 constitute the sangha, which consists of [all] learners and nonlearners except
39288 for buddhas. It is by virtue of having attained their respective [dharmas]
39289 that the eight persons* are not separated from the path by [anyone], including
39290 gods. Therefore, they are called "sangha." In other words, [the sangha]
39291 is represented by the five uncontaminated skandhas in the mind streams of said
39293 To take refuge in the dharma means [to take refuge] in the analytical
39294 cessation that is nirvana, that is, the two nirvanas [with and without
39295 remainder] of the noble ones.
39297 *The eight persons are also known as "the four pairs of persons"--stream-
39298 enterers, once-returners, nonreturners, and arhats, each divided into
39299 approachers to, and abiders in, these states.
39301 --from "Groundless Paths: The Prajnaparamita Sutras, The Ornament of Clear
39302 Realization, and Its Commentaries in the Tibetan Nyingma Tradition",
39303 translated by Karl Brunnholzl, from Shambhala Publications
39305 Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary
39306 Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.
39307 -- Benjamin Franklin
39309 We need a clear mind-training map to keep us from missing the correct path.
39310 If we want to go to New York we need to know the roads and directions. Just
39311 jumping in the car and starting to drive may get us there, but most likely we
39312 will end up in another place or take much longer than is necessary.
39313 I have seen this happen with students who tell me of doing years of
39314 meditation without seeing any changes. They may blame themselves, meditation,
39315 or the Dharma, yet most often the problem is not knowing or applying the
39316 correct techniques or methods. Meditation is both easy and not easy. With
39317 the correct techniques and methods, applied with diligence, meditation can
39318 become a swift path to clearing confusion and unhelpful habits. Without them,
39319 we may wander in fogginess or agitation, never having engaged in true
39320 meditation even after years of "sitting."
39321 At Namdroling Monastery we practiced both resting and analytical meditation.
39322 The renowned teacher Jamgon Mipham Rinpoche believed that both types of
39323 meditation were important, but he thought it was best to begin with analytical
39324 meditation, because gaining familiarity with the true nature of reality would
39325 naturally lead to a clearer understanding of resting meditation and how to
39326 engage our mind constructively.
39327 -- Khenpo Gawang, "Your Mind Is Your Teacher: Self-Awakening through
39328 Contemplative Meditation", Shambhala Publications
39330 Never think, "Even though I have confidence in the Three Jewels, it is not
39331 really certain that this work will be accomplished." Instead, one should
39332 know that the Enlightened One is surely able to protect those who surrender
39333 and act in accord with his words, because the Enlightened One is endowed with
39334 the transcendental wisdom which knows all the paths of practice that are in
39335 harmony with the intelligence and nature of all living beings, because he has
39336 the compassionate desire to establish his disciples on the right path after
39337 turning them from wrong ways, and because he has accomplished the two
39338 accumulations of merit and transcendental wisdom and has accomplished the
39339 resolve to help beings. So even though one has not yet attained liberation
39340 from worldly existence, it is one's fault for not having trusted and not
39341 having acted in accord with the words of the Three Jewels, not because the
39342 Three Jewels have no compassion.
39343 In brief, those who do not entrust themselves to the Precious Jewels, who
39344 are arrogant and who assume they are intelligent have no certainty in
39345 accomplishing their schemes. Even if they are accomplished, it is not certain
39346 whether those schemes will turn out well in the long run. So it is important
39347 to entrust oneself always to the Precious Jewels.
39348 -- Ngorchen Konchog Lhundrub, "Three Visions: Fundamental Teachings of the
39349 Sakya Lineage of Tibetan Buddhism"
39351 Setting out on a spiritual path is a little like planning a trip—to Machu
39352 Picchu, for example. Some travellers will approach the project by investing a
39353 lot of time in reading travel books or Googling Internet sites about the best
39354 route to take and where to stay--a method that works, but only to a certain
39355 extent. Other travellers prefer a much simpler and safer method: to ask
39356 someone they know and trust who has already been to Machu Picchu to go with
39357 them and show them the way. Similarly, those wishing to follow the Buddhist
39358 path to enlightenment should rely on what are called in the teachings the
39359 "four authentics": the authentic words of the Buddha (his teachings); the
39360 authentic clarification of the teachings that can be found in the shastras
39361 (commentaries) written by great masters of the past; the further clarification
39362 that is the result of authentic personal experience; and for this experience
39363 to find expression, an authentic guru.
39364 -- Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse, "Not for Happiness: A Guide to the So-Called
39365 Preliminary Practices", Shambhala Publications
39367 With regard to selflessness, it is necessary to know what "self" is--to
39368 identify the self that does not exist. Then one can understand its opposite,
39369 selflessness. Selflessness is not a case of something that existed in the
39370 past becoming non-existent; rather, this sort of "self" is something that
39371 never did exist. What is needed is to identify as non-existent something that
39372 always was nonexistent, for due to not having made such identification, we are
39373 drawn into the afflictive emotions of desire and hatred as well as all the
39374 problems these bring.
39375 -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, from "Kindness, Clarity, and Insight", Shambhala
39378 The essence of mind is somewhat difficult to explain, so we look at it from
39379 the negative point of view, that is, what mind is not. First of all, we see
39380 that it is not something which arises or ceases or abides. It is free of
39381 these three things. From beginningless time, there is no arising, no
39382 cessation and no abiding in terms of staying in one place, not moving, or not
39383 changing. It is completely free of all three of these.
39384 It is also free of being a thing or a substance composed of particles. The
39385 essential entity, or substance, of mind is not something that can be defiled
39386 or stained by grasping at subject and object. It is completely free of the
39387 stains from those activities.
39388 Further, when we look at the essential substance of mind, we find that no
39389 matter how much we search for it, no matter how much we analyze it, there is
39390 no thing there to be found. There is no entity that we can come up with by
39391 searching, evaluating, and analyzing. No matter how much we seek for its
39392 essential substance, we cannot find it. The searcher, the one who does the
39393 search for essential substance of mind, cannot find it. Therefore it is said
39394 that the essential substance of mind itself is emptiness.
39395 -- Drikung Kyabgon Chetsang Rinpoche, "The Practice of Mahamudra", published
39396 by Shambhala Publications
39398 "Like a cloud." This is a simile for how the wisdom mind benefits sentient
39399 beings without conceptual thought. For example, in the summer, clouds gather
39400 in the sky without effort, causing crops and so forth to grow perfectly
39401 through the rain falling on the ground without conceptual thought.
39402 Likewise, the activities of the wisdom mind ripen the trainees' crop of
39403 virtue through the rainfall of Dharma without conceptual thought.
39404 -- Gampopa, from "The Jewel Ornament of Liberation: The Wish-fulfilling Gem
39405 of the Noble Teachings"
39407 Psychologists tell us that a strong sense of self is essential to be
39408 psychologically healthy. But it seems Buddhism says there is no self. How
39409 can we reconcile these two views?
39410 When psychologists speak of a sense of "self" they are referring to the
39411 feeling that oneself is an efficacious person, someone who is self-confident
39412 and can act in the world. Buddhists agree that such a sense of self is both
39413 realistic and necessary. However, the sense of self that Buddhism says is
39414 unrealistic is that of a very solid, unchanging, independent "I." Such a
39415 self never has and never will exist. To understand this is to realize
39417 Strange though it may sound, someone may have a psychologically weak sense
39418 of self that in Buddhist parlance would be considered strong self-grasping.
39419 For example, a person with poor self-esteem may focus a lot on himself and
39420 have a strong feeling of the existence of an independent self that is
39421 inferior, unlovable, and a failure. From a Buddhist viewpoint, such an
39422 independent self does not exist, although a conventional self does.
39423 --Thubten Chodron, "Buddhism for Beginners"
39425 We all depend on one another. For this reason, whenever we act according to
39426 self-interest, sooner or later our selfish aims are bound to clash with the
39427 aims of the people we rely upon to accomplish our own goals. When that
39428 happens, conflicts will inevitably arise. As we learn to be more balanced in
39429 valuing others' concerns with our own, we will naturally find ourselves
39430 involved in fewer and fewer conflicts. In the meantime, it is helpful to
39431 acknowledge that conflicts are the logical outcome of this combination of
39432 self-interest and interdependence. Once we recognize this, we can see that
39433 conflicts are nothing to feel shocked or offended by. Rather, we can address
39434 them calmly and with wisdom.
39435 -- Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje, in "Beyond Anger: How to Hold On to Your
39436 Heart and Your Humanity in the Midst of Injustice", Shambhala Publications
39438 Cyclic existence continues to evolve through the power of the unbroken
39439 relationship of the twelve links of dependent origination. What are these
39440 twelve? They are (1) ignorance, which afflicts wandering beings by keeping
39441 them from seeing true reality. In obscuring the perception of true reality,
39442 ignorance also functions as the source for the subsequent links, such as
39443 karmic formation, by grasping as if there were an "I" and "mine." (2)
39444 Formation afflicts wandering beings by implanting the seeds of subsequent
39445 existence in the consciousness. In this way, when the root text states:
39446 "Wandering beings are afflicted due to…," it should be understood to
39447 apply to all the remaining links as well, from consciousness on. Accordingly,
39448 (3) consciousness becomes infused with habitual tendencies and leads sentient
39449 beings to the place of their birth. (4) Name and form take hold of the body
39450 of one's coming existence. (5) The six sense sources bring the state of
39451 name and form to completion. (6) Contact determines the experience of an
39452 object based on the coming together of three factors: object, faculty, and
39453 cognition. (7) Sensation experiences the various types of enjoyable and
39454 painful karmic ripening. (8) Craving creates the cohesion necessary for a
39455 future existence. (9) Grasping totally binds one to such an existence. (10)
39456 Becoming brings about the actual acquisition of this birth. (11) Birth serves
39457 as the support for the suffering of old age and so on. (12) Aging and death
39458 is the essence of suffering.
39459 -- Khenpo Shenga and Ju Mipham, "Middle Beyond Extremes: Maitreya's
39460 Madhyantavibhaga with Commentaries"
39462 Compassion and generosity must be accompanied by detachment. Expecting
39463 something in return for them is like doing business. If the owner of a
39464 restaurant is all smiles with his customers, it is not because he loves them
39465 but because he wants to increase his turnover. When we love and help others,
39466 it should not be because we find a particular individual likable but because
39467 we see that all beings, whether we think of them as friends or enemies, want
39468 to be happy and have the right to happiness.
39469 -- The Fourteenth Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, in "On the Path to
39470 Enlightenment: Heart Advice from the Great Tibetan Masters",
39471 Shambhala Publications
39473 Examining the understanding of heat in Vajrayana gives insight into tantra's
39474 somewhat different embrace of classical Buddhist imagery. From this
39475 perspective, the experience of mental burning is indeed the central suffering
39476 of our lives. It is the experiential dimension of the intensity of our
39477 obscurations, whether emotional, conceptual, or habitual. But rather than
39478 attempting to put out the flames with meditation methods, it is important to
39479 allow the burning to occur during practice. Certainly in the foundational
39480 stages of the path we must learn not to become engulfed in the flames, to tame
39481 the wild mind and emotions, and to train ourselves to open further to
39482 experience. Finally, however, through Vajrayana practice under the guidance
39483 of a guru, the burning we experience becomes a great teacher and a great
39485 -- Judith Simmer-Brown, "Dakini's Warm Breath: The Feminine Principle in
39486 Tibetan Buddhism", Shambhala Publications
39488 Life is mainly froth and bubble,
39489 Two things stand like stone--
39490 Kindness in another's trouble,
39491 Courage in your own.
39492 -- Adam Lindsay Gordon
39494 With regard to one's behavior, one must relinquish all the limitations
39495 implied in subject-object duality (gzung 'dzin gyi la dor ba). One should
39496 abandon all ordinary ways of assessing outer and inner phenomena, and the
39497 engagement or withdrawal of the mind with regard to "good" and "bad."
39498 One must not, through mindless clinging to sense objects, stray into the five
39499 ordinary mental poisons. For when approached with skillful means, all are but
39500 the display of the great and perfect equality.
39501 -- Jigme Lingpa, from "Treasury of Precious Qualities: Book Two: Vajrayana
39502 and the Great Perfection", by Shambhala Publications
39504 Recollection is the path of meditating on
39505 The nature that was seen with awareness.
39506 Constituted by the aspects of enlightenment,
39507 This serves to eliminate the stains.
39509 Recollection involves repeatedly recalling and realizing, in the context of
39510 the path of cultivation, what was realized when the intrinsic nature was
39511 directly seen with individual self-awareness at the prior stage. In this way,
39512 the term recollection refers to all that constitutes the factors of
39513 enlightenment. The path of cultivation is [referred to as such] because it
39514 involves eradicating those stains that are eliminated through cultivation.
39515 -- from "Distinguishing Phenomena from Their Intrinsic Nature: Maitreya's
39516 Dharmadharmatavibhanga with Commentaries by Khenpo Shenga and Ju Mipham",
39517 Shambhala Publications.
39519 The Capable One spoke of the following attributes as the seven noble riches,
39520 for they are the causes of untainted happiness and are not in any way
39521 ordinary. Faith—that is, the three kinds of faith in the Three Jewels and
39522 confidence in the law of actions and their effects. Discipline, the avoidance
39523 of harmful actions. Learning that comes from listening to the holy Dharma
39524 that leads to liberation, with the intention of gaining complete knowledge.
39525 Being generous—with a desire to make offerings and to help beings, to give
39526 away all one's possessions without expecting anything in return or any
39527 karmic reward. A sense of shame with respect to oneself that prevents one
39528 from indulging in negative actions, and that is unstained by such things as
39529 jealousy or seeking veneration. A sense of decency with regard to others that
39530 stops one from engaging in unvirtuous practices. And wisdom, that is,
39531 knowledge of the particular and general characteristics of phenomena.
39532 You should realize that other common things that the world calls
39533 riches—gold, for instance—are of no value in obtaining untainted
39534 qualities; they are worthless, hollow, and without essence.
39535 -- from "Nagarjuna's Letter to a Friend With Commentary by Kyabje Kangyur
39536 Rinpoche", Shambhala Publications
39538 All apparent phenomena are nothing but delusion, and there is, moreover, no
39539 freedom from delusion to be achieved by dispelling delusion. Delusion is, by
39540 its own essence, completely pure and, hence, enlightened. All phenomena are,
39541 in this way, primordially, fully, and completely enlightened. Phenomena
39542 appearing as various attributes are, therefore, indeed the mandala of vajra
39543 body, speech, and mind. They are like the Buddhas of the three times, never
39544 transcending the essence of complete purity. Sentient beings and Buddhas are
39545 not differentiated in terms of their essence. Just like distinct causes and
39546 results appearing in a dream, they are nothing but perceptions of individual
39547 minds brought forth by the power of imputation.
39548 -- Heidi I. Köppl, "Establishing Appearances as Divine: Rongzom Chökyi
39549 Zangpo on Reasoning, Madhyamaka, and Purity", Shambhala and Snow Lion
39552 "Emptiness" is a rough translation of the Sanskrit term shunyata and the
39553 Tibetan term tongpa-nyi. The basic meaning of the Sanskrit word shunya is
39554 "zero," while the Tibetan word tongpa means "empty"—not in the sense
39555 of a vacuum or a void, but rather in the sense that the basis of experience is
39556 beyond our ability to perceive with our senses and or to capture in a nice,
39557 tidy concept. Maybe a better understanding of the deep sense of the word may
39558 be "inconceivable" or "unnameable."
39559 So when Buddhists talk about emptiness as the basis of our being, we don't
39560 mean that who or what we are is nothing, a zero, a point of view that can give
39561 way to a kind of cynicism. The actual teachings on emptiness imply an
39562 infinitely open space that allows for anything to appear, change, disappear,
39563 and reappear. The basic meaning of emptiness, in other words, is openness, or
39564 potential. At the basic level of our being, we are "empty" of definable
39566 -- Tsoknyi Rinpoche, from "The Best Buddhist Writing 2013", published by
39567 Shambhala Publications and Snow Lion Publications.
39569 The Lama is the ecstatic, wild, and gentle figure who short-circuits your
39570 systems of self-referencing. The Lama is the only person in your life who
39571 cannot be manipulated. The Lama is the invasion of unpredictability you allow
39572 into your life, to enable you to cut through the convolutions of interminable
39573 psychological and emotional processes. The Lama is the terrifyingly
39574 compassionate gamester who reshuffles the deck of your carefully arranged
39575 rationale. To enter into vajra commitment is to leap from the perfect
39576 precipice. To find yourself in the radiant space of this choiceless choice is
39577 the very heart of Tantra. To leap open-eyed into the shining emptiness of the
39578 Lama's wisdom display and to experience the ecstatic impact of each dynamic
39579 gesture of the Lama's method display is the essential luminosity and power
39581 -- Ngak'chang Rinpoche, quoted in "Dangerous Friend: The Teacher-Student
39582 Relationship in Vajrayana Buddhism", Shambhala Publications
39584 When clouds cover the sky, we cannot see the pure nature of space.
39585 Likewise, when conceptual thoughts occupy the mind, we cannot see the pure
39586 nature of the mind. To see whether this is true, we can meditate so that the
39587 mind becomes relaxed and peaceful, and then there is room to develop
39588 compassion, love, and bodhicitta. But when our mind is occupied by conceptual
39589 thoughts and negative thoughts, there is no space to develop good qualities.
39590 Our mind becomes full of suffering and we cannot disentangle ourselves from
39592 When our mind emphasizes positive, calming, and relaxing thoughts, it leaves
39593 no space for negative thoughts to arise. Then we can maintain a peaceful,
39594 harmonious mind regardless of external conditions. This becomes a matter of
39595 how much we habituate ourselves to the Dharma teachings.
39596 -- from "Opening the Treasure of the Profound: Teachings on the Songs of
39597 Jigten Sumgön and Milarepa", by Khenchen Konchog Gyaltshen Rinpoche,
39598 Shambhala Publications and Snow Lion Publications.
39600 What is true patience and how can we develop it? Patience is imperturbability
39601 in the face of harm and hardship. Responding to these difficulties with anger
39602 is extremely destructive because it creates unpleasant consequences and
39603 destroys positive energy. There is no austere practice to equal the practice
39604 of patience, which calms the turbulence of the disturbing emotions. It is
39605 cultivated in meditation and implemented in everyday life. There are three
39606 main kinds of patience: the patience of taking no account of those who inflict
39607 harm, the patience of willingly accepting adversity and the patience of
39608 gaining certainty with regard to the teachings. Their opposites are
39609 animosity, discouragement and reluctance to engage with the teachings.
39610 -- from "The Six Perfections: An Oral Teaching by Geshe Sonam Rinchen",
39611 Shambhala Publications and Snow Lion Publications.
39613 Bodhichitta can be understood as a quality of intention, sometimes called a
39614 "great will." This great will does not come from the ego; it is
39615 paradoxically an intention that arises through the surrender of the ego. As
39616 the ego lets go of its assumption that it has a real understanding of what is
39617 needed in the path of awakening, it surrenders to a deeper quality of will and
39618 wisdom. The shift from the ego's center of will to the intention of our
39619 buddha nature to awaken us for the welfare of others aligns us with a source
39620 of will far beyond our limited sense of self. I have often described this
39621 will as a river of intention, which once stepped into becomes an undercurrent
39622 in all we do in our life.
39623 -- Rob Preece, "Preparing for Tantra: Creating the Psychological Ground for
39624 Practice", published by Shambhala and Snow Lion Publications.
39626 In fact, one of the things that I hope all of us have learned these past few
39627 weeks is that it turns out smart, effective government is important. It
39628 matters. I think the American people during this shutdown had a chance to get
39629 some idea of all the things, large and small, that government does that make a
39630 difference in people's lives.
39631 We hear all the time about how government is the problem. Well, it turns
39632 out we rely on it in a whole lot of ways. Not only does it keep us strong
39633 through our military and our law enforcement, it plays a vital role in caring
39634 for our seniors and our veterans, educating our kids, making sure our workers
39635 are trained for the jobs that are being created, arming our businesses with
39636 the best science and technology so they can compete with companies from other
39637 countries. It plays a key role in keeping our food and our toys and our
39638 workplaces safe. It helps folks rebuild after a storm. It conserves our
39639 natural resources. It finances startups. It helps to sell our products
39640 overseas. It provides security to our diplomats abroad.
39641 So let's work together to make government work better, instead of treating
39642 it like an enemy or purposely making it work worse. That's not what the
39643 founders of this nation envisioned when they gave us the gift of self-
39644 government. You don't like a particular policy or a particular president,
39645 then argue for your position. Go out there and win an election. Push to
39646 change it. But don't break it. Don't break what our predecessors spent
39647 over two centuries building. That's not being faithful to what this country
39649 -- Barack Obama, after the US government shutdown of 2013 had ended.
39651 When the teachings say we need to reduce our fascination with the things of
39652 this life, it does not mean that we should abandon them completely. It means
39653 avoiding the natural tendency to go from elation to depression in reaction to
39654 life's ups and downs, jumping for joy when you have some success, or wanting
39655 to jump out the window if you do not get what you want. Being less concerned
39656 about the affairs of this life means assuming its ups and downs with a broad
39658 -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, in "On the Path to Enlightenment: Heart
39659 Advice from the Great Tibetan Masters", from Shambhala Publications and
39660 Snow Lion Publications.
39662 Critical Thinking as Defined by the National Council for Excellence in
39663 Critical Thinking, 1987
39665 Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and
39666 skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or
39667 evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation,
39668 experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and
39669 action. In its exemplary form, it is based on universal intellectual values
39670 that transcend subject matter divisions: clarity, accuracy, precision,
39671 consistency, relevance, sound evidence, good reasons, depth, breadth, and
39673 It entails the examination of those structures or elements of thought
39674 implicit in all reasoning: purpose, problem, or question-at-issue;
39675 assumptions; concepts; empirical grounding; reasoning leading to conclusions;
39676 implications and consequences; objections from alternative viewpoints; and
39677 frame of reference. Critical thinking — in being responsive to variable
39678 subject matter, issues, and purposes — is incorporated in a family of
39679 interwoven modes of thinking, among them: scientific thinking, mathematical
39680 thinking, historical thinking, anthropological thinking, economic thinking,
39681 moral thinking, and philosophical thinking.
39682 Critical thinking can be seen as having two components: 1) a set of
39683 information and belief generating and processing skills, and 2) the habit,
39684 based on intellectual commitment, of using those skills to guide behavior. It
39685 is thus to be contrasted with: 1) the mere acquisition and retention of
39686 information alone, because it involves a particular way in which information
39687 is sought and treated; 2) the mere possession of a set of skills, because it
39688 involves the continual use of them; and 3) the mere use of those skills ("as
39689 an exercise") without acceptance of their results.
39690 Critical thinking varies according to the motivation underlying it. When
39691 grounded in selfish motives, it is often manifested in the skillful
39692 manipulation of ideas in service of one's own, or one's groups', vested
39693 interest. As such it is typically intellectually flawed, however
39694 pragmatically successful it might be. When grounded in fairmindedness and
39695 intellectual integrity, it is typically of a higher order intellectually,
39696 though subject to the charge of "idealism" by those habituated to its selfish
39698 Critical thinking of any kind is never universal in any individual; everyone
39699 is subject to episodes of undisciplined or irrational thought. Its quality is
39700 therefore typically a matter of degree and dependent on, among other things,
39701 the quality and depth of experience in a given domain of thinking or with
39702 respect to a particular class of questions. No one is a critical thinker
39703 through-and-through, but only to such-and-such a degree, with such-and-such
39704 insights and blind spots, subject to such-and-such tendencies towards self-
39705 delusion. For this reason, the development of critical thinking skills and
39706 dispositions is a life-long endeavor.
39707 -- from a statement by Michael Scriven & Richard Paul, presented at the 8th
39708 Annual International Conference on Critical Thinking and Education
39709 Reform, Summer 1987.
39711 Critical thinking is self-guided, self-disciplined thinking which attempts to
39712 reason at the highest level of quality in a fair-minded way. People who think
39713 critically consistently attempt to live rationally, reasonably, empathically.
39714 They are keenly aware of the inherently flawed nature of human thinking when
39715 left unchecked. They strive to diminish the power of their egocentric and
39716 sociocentric tendencies. They use the intellectual tools that critical
39717 thinking offers--concepts and principles that enable them to analyze,
39718 assess, and improve thinking. They work diligently to develop the
39719 intellectual virtues of intellectual integrity, intellectual humility,
39720 intellectual civility, intellectual empathy, intellectual sense of justice and
39721 confidence in reason. They realize that no matter how skilled they are as
39722 thinkers, they can always improve their reasoning abilities and they will at
39723 times fall prey to mistakes in reasoning, human irrationality, prejudices,
39724 biases, distortions, uncritically accepted social rules and taboos, self-
39725 interest, and vested interest. They strive to improve the world in whatever
39726 ways they can and contribute to a more rational, civilized society. At the
39727 same time, they recognize the complexities often inherent in doing so. They
39728 avoid thinking simplistically about complicated issues and strive to
39729 appropriately consider the rights and needs of relevant others. They
39730 recognize the complexities in developing as thinkers, and commit themselves to
39731 life-long practice toward self-improvement. They embody the Socratic
39732 principle: The unexamined life is not worth living, because they realize that
39733 many unexamined lives together result in an uncritical, unjust, dangerous
39735 -- Linda Elder, September, 2007
39737 In philosophical terms, Tibetan scriptures refer to neurotic mind as the
39738 impure or afflicted mind. But within the context of wind energy, neurotic
39739 mind is not just caused by self-attachment. The mind is also propelled by the
39740 movement of wind energy. The Tibetan language describes this relationship
39741 between the wind and the mind as the wind-mind (Tib. rlung sems). This
39742 compound word describes the wind energy and the conceptual mind as always
39743 intertwined and moving together—a singular motion. Again, a metaphor is
39744 helpful to understand how the mind and the wind work together. The Tibetan
39745 Buddhist teachings compare the mind and the breath to a rider and its mount.
39746 In this metaphor, the wind energy is the mount and the mind is the rider.
39747 This metaphor illustrates how it is the wind energy that carries the mind and
39748 that influences and shapes the mind's energy. The wind energy is the root
39749 of all of our experience, since it provides energy for the mind's movement.
39750 So, wind energy training is a powerful tool for purifying, calming, taming,
39751 and relaxing the wind energy to impact the expression of neurotic mind.
39752 -- Anyen Rinpoche and Allison Choying Zangmo, from "The Tibetan Yoga of
39753 Breath: Breathing Practices for Healing the Body and Cultivating Wisdom",
39754 published by Shambhala Publications and Snow Lion Publications.
39756 Imagination relies on empty perception. Painting relies on empty planes.
39757 Sculpture relies on empty space. Music relies on empty time. Literature
39758 relies on empty concepts. If we are to realize the art of freedom, if we are
39759 to discover our creative potential, we need to rely on the experience of our
39760 intrinsic vibrant emptiness--the beginningless ground of what we are.
39761 -- Ngakpa Chögyam and Khandro Déchen, from "Roaring Silence: Discovering
39762 the Mind of Dzogchen", published by Shambhala Publications and Snow Lion
39765 Detachment doesn't mean "throw it away" or "don't have feelings
39766 about it." It definitely does not mean denying or obstructing the mind's
39767 natural tendency to project. Imagine you are about to go into a cotton
39768 factory. Before entering you pour glue all over your body, and then you
39769 demand, "I don't want any cotton balls to stick to my body, but I won't
39770 remove the glue from my body either." Then you enter the cotton factory.
39771 Of course the glue, by its nature, makes cotton balls stick to you. In
39772 meditative language, that kind of stickiness is called deliberation or
39773 fabrication, and here we call it the state of nondetachment. The state of
39774 nondetachment is when you get entangled and you make the story line similar to
39775 that of a daytime soap opera in which four characters go on for twenty years.
39776 It keeps on multiplying and you exaggerate the situation. You create a state
39777 in your mind that is full of grasping, clinging, and attachment.
39778 -- Jetsun Khandro Rinpoche from "The Healing Power of Meditation: Leading
39779 Experts on Buddhism, Psychology, and Medicine Explore the Health Benefits
39780 of Contemplative Practice", edited by Andy Fraser, published by Shambhala
39781 Publications and Snow Lion Publications.
39783 According to Sthiramati, though samsara has the nature of nirvana, in
39784 ordinary beings true reality is obscured by their tendencies of clinging to a
39785 self and really existing phenomena. Thus, they do not see emptiness, which
39786 actually exists, but they naturally perceive the actually nonexistent
39787 phenomena of apprehender and apprehended, just as when mistakenly not seeing
39788 an existent rope, but seeing it as a nonexistent snake.
39789 Bodhisattvas lack the clinging to a self and phenomena and thus they
39790 naturally see true reality—emptiness—while not seeing any duality, just as
39791 correctly seeing an existent rope, while not seeing it as a nonexistent snake.
39792 When existent emptiness—true reality—is seen and the nonexistent
39793 characteristics of apprehender and apprehended are not seen anymore, the
39794 alaya-consciousness—the dependent nature—has undergone the fundamental
39795 change. This fundamental change is liberation and nirvana.
39796 Just as people liberated from bondage can do what they please, once this
39797 fundamental change occurs, bodhisattvas are liberated because they have gained
39798 mastery over their minds, which abide like space without any appearance of
39799 characteristics. Thus, no matter what they encounter, they are able to act as
39800 they please without being bound by any attachment or aversion.
39801 -- Karl Brunnhölzl, from "Mining for Wisdom within Delusion: Maitreya's
39802 Distinction between Phenomena and the Nature of Phenomena and Its Indian
39803 and Tibetan Commentaries", published by Shambhala Publications and Snow
39806 Our awareness of feelings in the body and mind ranges from simple frustration
39807 and malaise to anguish, despair, and white-hot physical pain, and from simple
39808 pleasures to extraordinary ecstasy. As we become clearly cognizant of the
39809 bandwidth of our own feelings, we direct our awareness externally. We become
39810 vividly aware that myriad sentient beings around us are not simply objects of
39811 our pleasure, displeasure, or indifference, but have feelings just like ours.
39812 By turning our awareness outward and closely applying mindfulness to other
39813 sentient beings, we can empathize with their feelings. When we empathize with
39814 another's suffering and we attend closely, compassion arises. The suffering
39815 of unpleasant feelings is the very source of the experience of compassion.
39816 -- B. Alan Wallace, in "Minding Closely: The Four Applications of
39817 Mindfulness", works published by Shambhala Publications and Snow Lion
39820 It is our aim to have genuine loving-kindness toward all sentient beings
39821 because we see them suffering. In the Mahayana tradition, it says that
39822 through our innumerable lifetimes, at some time or other, every single
39823 sentient being has been in the relation to us of our mother, our friends, or
39824 someone who has helped us. We look at all sentient beings in this way. We
39825 feel a deep yearning to help them because they have helped us. When we
39826 contemplate in this way, we find that some kind of compassion begins to take
39828 -- Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche in "The Tibetan Buddhism Reader", published by
39829 Shambhala Publications
39831 If there is one constant tendency of our fickle and ever-changing minds, it is
39832 our strong predilection for ordinary distractions. Until we learn to master
39833 our thoughts and attain true stability of mind, our commitment is bound to be
39834 hesitant, and we run the risk of being distracted by activities with little
39835 true meaning, wasting our life and the precious opportunities for the Dharma
39836 it has brought us. To postpone the practice of Dharma until tomorrow is
39837 tantamount to postponing it till we die.
39838 -- Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche and Padampa Sangye, in "The Hundred Verses of
39839 Advice: Tibetan Buddhist Teachings on What Matters Most", published by
39840 Shambhala Publications
39842 The dharma is based on honesty, on not having self-deception of any kind.
39843 When the dharma says blue, it is blue; when it says red, it is red. Dharma is
39844 like saying fire is hot, or the sky is blue: it is speaking the truth. The
39845 difference is that dharma is the truth of the reality of the journey toward
39846 freedom. Saying that red is red does not particularly liberate you from
39847 seeing green or yellow. But when dharma speaks about reality, we see that it
39848 is worth stepping out of our little world of habitual patterns, our little
39849 nest. In that way, the dharma brings greater vision.
39850 -- Chögyam Trungpa, from "The Path of Individual Liberation, Volume One of
39851 The Profound Treasury of the Ocean of Dharma", published by Shambhala
39854 So, what makes you a Buddhist? You may not have been born in a Buddhist
39855 country or to a Buddhist family, you may not wear robes or shave your head,
39856 you may eat meat and idolize Eminem and Paris Hilton. That doesn't mean you
39857 cannot be a Buddhist. In order to be a Buddhist, you must accept that all
39858 compounded phenomena are impermanent, all emotions are pain, all things have
39859 no inherent existence, and enlightenment is beyond concepts.
39860 It's not necessary to be constantly and endlessly mindful of these four
39861 truths. But they must reside in your mind. You don't walk around
39862 persistently remembering your own name, but when someone asks your name, you
39863 remember it instantly. There is no doubt. Anyone who accepts these four
39864 seals, even independently of Buddha's teachings, even never having heard the
39865 name Shakyamuni Buddha, can be considered to be on the same path as he.
39866 -- Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse, from "What Makes You Not a Buddhist",
39867 published by Shambhala Publications
39869 The self-centered thought is not who we are. The self-centered thought is
39870 different from the mind that wants to be happy because we’re sentient
39871 beings. Everybody wants to be happy. There’s no problem with wanting to be
39872 happy. The problem is the way the self-centered thought goes about thinking
39873 of our happiness and the way it goes about getting happiness. It is a
39874 distorted mental state that can be eliminated by seeing its disadvantages,
39875 applying the antidotes, and cultivating the mind that cherishes others.
39876 - Thubten Chodron, from "Don’t Believe Everything You Think: Living with
39877 Wisdom and Compassion", published by Shambhala Publications
39879 According to the sutras, numerous eons ago, when the Buddha was an ordinary
39880 being, he took rebirth in a hell realm. He suffered gravely there as a result
39881 of his past negative karma.
39882 He and a companion were forced to pull a wheel of fire on which a wrathful
39883 hell-guard was sitting, holding a burning club with which to beat them. His
39884 companion was so weak that he couldn’t pull the wheel anymore. The hell-
39885 guard stabbed his companion with a burning trident. His companion kept crying
39886 loudly and bleeding profusely. At that moment, with strong love and
39887 compassion, the Buddha developed enlightened aspiration, a vow to take
39888 responsibility for helping his companion and all the suffering beings from the
39889 depth of his heart, and he became a bodhisattva for the first time.
39890 The bodhisattva begged the hell-guard, "Please have a little mercy on my
39891 suffering companion." At that, in a rage the hellguard hit him with a
39892 burning trident. Because of the power of his strong compassion, the
39893 bodhisattva died and was liberated from the hell-realm. His evil deeds of
39894 many eons were purified instantly by the power of such enlightened aspiration.
39895 Thereafter, he started his journey toward the fully enlightened state of
39897 -- Tulku Thondup, from "Incarnation: The History and Mysticism of the Tulku
39898 Tradition of Tibet", published by Shambhala Publications
39900 Below rocky cliffs,
39901 a vivid sense of impermanence and disenchantment dawns,
39902 clear and inspired, helping us to achieve
39903 the union of calm abiding and penetrating insight.
39904 -- Longchenpa, from "The Life of Longchenpa: The Omniscient Dharma King of
39905 the Vast Expanse", by Jampa Mackenzie Stewart, published by Shambhala
39908 From one point of view, personal liberation without freeing others is selfish
39909 and unfair, because all sentient beings also have the natural right and desire
39910 to be free of suffering. Therefore, it is important for practitioners to
39911 engage in the practice of the stages of the path of the highest scope,
39912 starting with the generation of bodhichitta, the altruistic aspiration to
39913 achieve enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings. Once one has
39914 cultivated bodhichitta, all the meritorious actions that are supported by and
39915 complemented with this altruism—even the slightest form of positive
39916 action—become causes for the achievement of omniscience.
39917 -- H. H. the Dalai Lama, from "The Fourteenth Dalai Lama in A Beginner’s
39918 Guide to Meditation: Practical Advice and Inspiration from Contemporary
39919 Buddhist Teachers", published by Shambhala Publications
39921 Note that all dualistic concepts and emotions—even positive ones such as
39922 caring, compassion, and wishing others well—are accompanied by grasping at
39923 “self.” So although positive emotions are good, they still fall short of
39924 perfection, which is the primordial wisdom beyond dualistic thinking and
39925 emotional sensations. Grasping at positive qualities is nonetheless a
39926 stepping-stone to perfection, helping us eventually to loosen the grip of
39927 grasping at “self” and to experience sensations of peace and joy. So,
39928 transforming from negative to positive, and then from positive to perfection,
39929 is the ideal way to move toward buddhahood, or full perfection.
39930 -- Tulku Thondup, from "Peaceful Death, Joyful Rebirth: A Tibetan Buddhist
39931 Guidebook", published by Shambhala Publications
39933 In the final stanza of his salutation, Tsong-kha-pa (1: 34) calls upon
39934 readers who may benefit from this approach, asking them to listen well. Such
39935 readers will be those with minds unclouded by biased thinking, the mental
39936 capacity to distinguish right from wrong, and an interest in finding real
39937 meaning in their human existence of leisure and opportunity. He asks those of
39938 us with such good fortune, "Please listen to what I have to say with a
39939 single-pointed mind."
39940 Again, this is strikingly similar to Aryadeva’s Four Hundred, which says
39941 that a practitioner of the Dharma who is listening to the teachings needs
39942 three qualities: objectivity, critical intelligence, and a real interest in
39943 what is being taught.
39944 -- H. H. the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, in "From Here to Enlightenment: An
39945 Introduction to Tsong-kha-pa’s Classic Text The Great Treatise on the
39946 Stages of the Path to Enlightenment", published by Shambhala Publications
39948 When we look back, at the time of death, the experience of this life will seem
39949 like a dream. And—just as with our nighttime dreams—it will seem useless
39950 to have put so much effort into it. The fear we experience in a dream is gone
39951 when we wake up; feeling afraid was just an unnecessary exertion of effort
39952 causing us to lose sleep! When we look back on our lives at death, the amount
39953 of time we spent in hesitation, aggression, ignorance, selfishness, jealousy,
39954 hatred, self-preservation, and arrogance will seem like an equally useless
39955 exertion of energy. So be able to regard all of these illusory thoughts and
39956 concepts as dreams. Within this illusory existence, what, if anything, is the
39957 logic behind any stubbornness, distraction, hesitation, or habitual emotions
39958 of aggression, desire, selfishness, and jealousy? What is the use of holding
39959 on to these useless emotions within impermanence? Impermanence is the nature
39961 -- Khandro Rinpoche, from "Buddha’s Daughters: Teachings from Women Who
39962 Are Shaping Buddhism in the West", published by Shambhala Publications
39964 Please listen without your minds wandering.
39965 Though I am not skilled in composing songs,
39966 This is the way to understand the true oral instructions.
39967 Keep this in mind and ponder it.
39969 The three worlds are primordially pure.
39970 Ultimately, there is nothing more to understand.
39971 Not negation, unceasing continuity,
39972 Unchanging—such is the view.
39974 The innate essence is naturally luminous.
39975 Unconditioned, meditation is unceasing.
39976 Not negation, beyond losing and gaining,
39977 Without desire or attachment—such is the meditation.
39979 Arising from the natural occurrence of various coincidences,
39980 The play of illusion is unobstructed.
39982 Things are unpredictable, abrupt—such is the action.
39984 Mind shines as bodhicitta.
39985 There is no attainment of the three kayas of buddha.
39986 Not negation, beyond hope and fear,
39987 Without ground or root—such is the fruition.
39988 - from "The Life of Marpa the Translator", translated by Chögyam Trungpa
39989 and the Nalanda Translation Committee, published by Shambhala Publications
39991 FDR's Economic Bill of Rights
39993 It is our duty now to begin to lay the plans and determine the strategy
39994 for the winning of a lasting peace and the establishment of an American
39995 standard of living higher than ever before known. We cannot be content, no
39996 matter how high that general standard of living may be, if some fraction of
39997 our people—whether it be one-third or one-fifth or one-tenth—is ill-fed,
39998 ill-clothed, ill-housed, and insecure.
39999 This Republic had its beginning, and grew to its present strength, under
40000 the protection of certain inalienable political rights—among them the right
40001 of free speech, free press, free worship, trial by jury, freedom from
40002 unreasonable searches and seizures. They were our rights to life and liberty.
40003 As our nation has grown in size and stature, however—as our industrial
40004 economy expanded—these political rights proved inadequate to assure us
40005 equality in the pursuit of happiness.
40006 We have come to a clear realization of the fact that true individual
40007 freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence.
40008 "Necessitous men are not free men."[3] People who are hungry and out of a
40009 job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made.
40010 In our day these economic truths have become accepted as self-evident. We
40011 have accepted, so to speak, a second Bill of Rights under which a new basis of
40012 security and prosperity can be established for all—regardless of station,
40017 The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or
40018 farms or mines of the nation;
40020 The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and
40023 The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which
40024 will give him and his family a decent living;
40026 The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere
40027 of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or
40030 The right of every family to a decent home;
40032 The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and
40035 The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age,
40036 sickness, accident, and unemployment;
40038 The right to a good education.
40040 All of these rights spell security. And after this war is won we must be
40041 prepared to move forward, in the implementation of these rights, to new goals
40042 of human happiness and well-being.
40043 America's own rightful place in the world depends in large part upon how
40044 fully these and similar rights have been carried into practice for all our
40046 For unless there is security here at home there cannot be lasting peace in
40048 -- Excerpt from President Roosevelt's January 11, 1944 message to the
40049 Congress of the United States on the State of the Union
40051 Whatever arises in our mind—whether it’s a thought, an emotion, a
40052 sensation, or a perception—is the arising of coemergent wisdom. It is the
40053 radiation of the mind’s emptiness and clarity. Every arising is a temporary
40054 arising—one thought comes and goes, then another thought comes and goes.
40055 All our thoughts and emotions just appear and disappear.
40056 This is very important, because we usually grasp at whatever occurs. For
40057 instance, when sadness arises, we hold on to this feeling and think, “I am
40058 so sad, I am so depressed.” But from the Mahamudra point of view, what has
40059 happened? A feeling has arisen in the mind, like a cloud. Like a cloud, it
40060 appears and then it disappears, and that’s all there is to it. This time it
40061 is sadness arising, the next time it may be happiness, the next time it may be
40062 anger, and later it may be kindness. All sorts of things arise, like
40063 wildflowers in a spring meadow. All sorts of flowers grow; all sorts of
40064 thoughts and emotions arise. They are all okay; they’re nothing special.
40065 When we understand what our thoughts and feelings are, and we experience them
40066 in this way, we are able to let them come and let them go.
40067 -- Ringu Tulku, from "Confusion Arises as Wisdom: Gampopa’s Heart Advice on
40068 the Path of Mahamudra", published by Shambhala Publications
40070 The second quality of devotion is absence of arrogance. The arrogant
40071 approach is to be so passionately involved with our teacher that we become
40072 devotional chauvinists and cease to see the rest of the world properly. In
40073 fact, we become passionately involved with our own arrogance. We indulge our
40074 “devotion” by collecting information, techniques, stories, little words of
40075 wisdom—all to confirm our chauvinistic view. It actually reaches a point
40076 that the teacher upon whom our arrogance is based himself becomes a threat.
40077 The absurdity is that we even end up wanting to use our collection of
40078 ammunition against our teacher when he begins giving our “devotion” a hard
40080 If our devotion is without arrogance there is not this resentment toward the
40081 world or the guru. Absence of such arrogance is absolutely necessary. When
40082 courting a teacher, students frequently make a sort of detailed application,
40083 listing all their insights and spiritual credentials. That is too arrogant;
40084 it is phony, out of the question altogether. It is fine to offer our
40085 particular skills or neuroses to the guru as a gift or an opening gesture.
40086 But if we begin to dress up our neuroses as virtues, like a person writing a
40087 resumé, that is unacceptable. Devotion without arrogance demands that we
40088 stop clinging to our particular case history, that we relate to the teacher
40089 and to the world in a naked and direct way, without hiding behind credentials.
40090 -- Chögyam Trungpa, from "The Heart of the Buddha: Entering the Tibetan
40091 Buddhist Path", published by Shambhala Publications
40093 To study and to contemplate what one has learned is very important, but these
40094 two can only progress if one engages in meditation practice. Thus, the
40095 importance of each of these three—moral conduct, study, and
40096 meditation—cannot be underestimated. If one practices these free of
40097 attachment to this life, the benefits are enormous. But to pursue these while
40098 seeking worldly attainments means one will not receive the benefits that would
40099 be gained by a genuine spiritual practitioner. For this reason, it will be
40100 best if you abandon any inauthentic approaches to ethical discipline, study,
40102 -- Chogye Trichen Rinpoche, in "Parting from the Four Attachments: A
40103 Commentary on Jetsun Drakpa Gyaltsen’s Song of Experience on Mind
40104 Training and the View", published by Shambhala Publications
40106 If what appears to be apprehended does not exist by its very own essence apart
40107 from that which apprehends it, then what appears to be the apprehender does
40108 not exist either. The reason, here, is that the apprehender exists in
40109 relation to the apprehended, not in isolation. Therefore, awareness is devoid
40110 of both apprehender and apprehended, in all their various forms. Free from
40111 subject and object, by its very own nature awareness is a mere indescribable
40113 -- from "Distinguishing Phenomena from Their Intrinsic Nature: Maitreya’s
40114 Dharmadharmatavibhanga with Commentaries by Khenpo Shenga and Ju Mipham",
40115 published by Shambhala Publications.
projects / feisty_meow.git / blob