+~
+ The view of interdependence makes for a great openness of mind. In general,
+instead of realizing that what we experience arises from a complicated network
+of causes, we tend to attribute happiness or sadness, for example, to single,
+individual sources. But if this were so, as soon as we came into contact with
+what we consider to be good, we would be automatically happy, and conversely,
+in the case of bad things, invariably sad. The causes of joy and sorrow would
+be easy to identify and target. It would all be very simple, and there would
+be good reason for our anger and attachment. When, on the other hand, we
+consider that everything we experience results from a complex interplay of
+causes and conditions, we find that there is no single thing to desire or
+resent, and it is more difficult for the afflictions of attachment or anger to
+arise. In this way, the view of interdependence makes our minds more relaxed
+and open.
+ By training our minds and getting used to this view, we change our way of
+seeing things, and as a result we gradually change our behavior and do less
+harm to others. As it says in the sutras:
+
+ Abandon evildoing;
+ Practice virtue well;
+ Subdue your mind:
+ This is the Buddha's teaching.
+
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, from "For the Benefit of All Beings"
+~
+In the avadhuti, the main path of enlightenment,
+Prana and mind, bliss and warmth, are united,
+Becoming unconditioned great bliss.
+The wisdom of unobscured insight dawns.
+
+"This is unsurpassable," the guru has said.
+The darkness of ignorance is purified in space.
+One is free from the two obscurations of grasping and fixation.
+Therefore bliss and luminosity dawn in simplicity.
+
+This appearance of collective coincidence
+Is a reflection without self-nature.
+All appearances are realized like that,
+And just like appearances in a dream,
+All dharmas arise as illusions...
+
+When thoughts arise, rest naturally.
+When dreaming, be mindful without corrupting it.
+When in the pardo, don't control, but be aware.
+When there is fruition, let it arise without obscuration.
+
+ -- from "The Life of Marpa the Translator" translated by Chögyam Trungpa
+ and the Nalanda Translation Committee.
+~
+The Four Seals in Buddhism are:
+
+ All products are impermanent.
+ (or all compounded phenomena are impermanent?)
+ ('du byed thams cad mi rtag pa)
+
+ All contaminated objects are miserable.
+ (zag bcas thams cad sdug bsngal ba)
+
+ All phenomena are selfless.
+ (chos thams cad bdag med pa)
+
+ Nirvana is peace.
+ (mya ngan las 'das ba zhi ba)
+
+ --from "Meditation on Emptiness" (London: Wisdom, 1983), by Jeffrey Hopkins
+~
+ When you pass away, nothing will do you any good except for the pure Dharma.
+You will not simply disappear when you die. Rather, what happens next will be
+dictated by your previous actions.
+ For these reasons, you should exert yourself by whatever means necessary to
+free yourself from samsara, which is nothing but a vast ocean of suffering!
+Practice your teacher's guidance concerning what to do and what to give up
+to the letter, without falling under the influence of immature friends or bad
+influences. To the best of your ability, incorporate this genuine teaching on
+the certainty of death into each and every day.
+ Keeping all this in mind, arouse faith in the Three Jewels so that you will
+be able to practice in this manner, thinking to yourself, "Think of me,
+Three Jewels!" At the same time, be sure to generate an intense sense of
+renunciation and subdue your mind stream.
+ -- from "Entrance to the Great Perfection: A Guide to the Dzogchen
+ Preliminary Practices", edited and translated by Cortland Dahl
+~
+I would like to mention my visit to Lourdes as a pilgrim. There, in front of
+the cave, I experienced something very special. I felt a spiritual vibration,
+a kind of spiritual presence there. And then, in front of the image of the
+Virgin Mary, I prayed. I expressed my admiration for this holy place that has
+long been a source of inspiration and strength, that has provided spiritual
+solace, comfort and healing to millions of people. And I prayed that this may
+continue for a long time to come. My prayer there was not directed to any
+clearly defined object, like Buddha or Jesus Christ or a bodhisattva, but was
+simply directed to all great beings who have infinite compassion towards all
+sentient beings.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
+~
+The Buddhist teaching is superior in four ways: view, meditation, behavior,
+and fruit.
+
+1. The "four seals" that distinguish the [Buddhist] view are as follows: all
+composed phenomena are impermanent, all contaminated things are miserable, all
+phenomena are selfless, and nirvana is peace.
+
+2. Buddhist meditation serves as an antidote to all cyclic existence within
+the three realms.
+
+3. Buddhist behavior is free from the two extremes, having abandoned both the
+extreme of overindulgence of desire, which is a case of being desirous and
+wanting good and great quantities of food and clothing, and the extreme of
+being too tired and worn out in body and mind.
+
+4. The fruits are the true cessations, which are abandonments such that the
+obstruction that is removed does not arise again [and which comes about]
+through analyzing individually the nonexistence of the referent object of the
+conception of self.
+
+These four [view, meditation, behavior, and fruit] are the distinguishing
+features of Buddhist doctrine.
+ -- Jamyang Shayba, from "Buddhist Philosophy: Losang Gonchok's Short
+ Commentary to Jamyang Shayba's Root Text on Tenets", by Daniel Cozort
+ and Craig Preston, page 88.
+~
+When you are busy and preoccupied, you feel hassled by your own existence.
+You are so busy that you think that you do not have any time to spare for your
+practice. Such torment and busyness seem to be monumental or historic, but
+that is not the case. As far as we are concerned, that kind of torment is
+absolutely ordinary. As you begin to work on that, you realize that the
+inconvenience, discomfort, and anguish that you experience is no more than
+anybody else experiences. So your experience is no longer regarded as
+monumental—no more than if you step on a cat's tail, and the cat cries
+out, "Wooaaaoow!" However, it is still a problematic situation. Therefore
+you need to practice the paramita of discipline, which overcomes that type of
+preoccupation altogether. You begin to realize that preoccupations are
+garbage; they are worth flushing out so that something real could come up.
+Then paramita activity begins to make sense, and you begin to act in a more
+genuine way.
+ -- Chögyam Trungpa, from "The Profound Treasury of the Ocean of Dharma.
+ Volume Two: The Bodhisattva Path of Wisdom and Compassion"
+
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