+~
+ Boundless joy is the joy you should feel when you see gifted and learned
+beings who are happy, famous or influential. Instead of feeling uneasy and
+envious of their good fortune, rejoice sincerely, thinking, "May they continue
+to be happy and enjoy even more happiness!" Pray too that they may use their
+wealth and power to help others, to serve the Dharma and the Sangha, making
+offerings, building monasteries, propagating the teachings and performing
+other worthwhile deeds. Rejoice and make a wish: "May they never lost all
+their happiness and privileges. May their happiness increase more and more,
+and may they use it to benefit others and to further the teachings."
+ Pray that your mind may be filled with boundless equanimity, loving-
+kindness, compassion and joy--as boundless as a Bodhisattva's. If you do so,
+genuine bodhichitta will certainly grow within you.
+ The reason these four qualities are boundless, or immeasurable, is that
+their object--the totality of sentient beings--is boundless; their benefit--
+the welfare of all beings--is boundless; and also their fruit--the qualities
+of enlightenment--is boundless. They are immeasurable like the sky, and they
+are the true root of enlightenment.(p.49)
+ -- Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, "The Excellent Path to Enlightenment",
+ translated and edited by The Padmakara Translation Group, published by
+ Snow Lion Publications
+~
+Regarding an online merchant... I think I have bought a couple things from
+them before, and my "cornholio sense" is not tingling (a power I got from
+being bitten by a radioactive asshole), so I don't think they were jerks when
+I used them last time.
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+ External circumstances are not what draw us into suffering. Suffering is
+caused and permitted by an untamed mind. The appearance of self-defeating
+emotions in our minds leads us to faulty actions. The naturally pure mind is
+covered over by these emotions and troubling conceptions. The force of their
+deceit pushes us into faulty actions, which leads inevitably to suffering.
+ We need, with great awareness and care, to extinguish these problematic
+attitudes, the way gathering clouds dissolve back into the sphere of the sky.
+When our self-defeating attitudes, emotions, and conceptions cease, so will
+the harmful actions arising from them.
+ As the great Tibetan yogi Milarepa says, "When arising, arising within space
+itself; when dissolving, dissolving back into space." We need to become
+familiar with the state of our own minds to understand how to dissolve ill-
+founded ideas and impulses back into the deeper sphere of reality. The sky
+was there before the clouds gathered, and it will be after they have gone. It
+is also present when the clouds seem to cover every inch of the sky we can
+see.(p.22)
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "How to Expand Love: Widening the Circle of Loving
+ Relationships", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins
+~
+ Usually the reason that we can't experience transcendent bliss is because
+our consciousness is actually chained by the illusion called "I." It is
+chained because this concept literally ties our consciousness to the prison of
+duality, the prison of concepts and ideas. What most people experience is
+that their consciousness is chained by that illusion.
+ But now and then there are people who find the so-called spiritual path.
+This is another quite strange and sneaky way that ego can actually keep
+binding our consciousness once again to another form of prison, the prison of
+duality, the prison of concepts and ideas. Transcendent bliss comes from
+breaking every chain.
+ Breaking all chains, losing every concept, every idea, sounds very
+frightening to the ego's mind. But actually when we let go of every concept,
+we land on this infinite ground of eternal bliss, and that bliss is not some
+kind of religious or mystical experience, some altered state of consciousness.
+That bliss is not the result of doing something to our consciousness, rather
+it is the pure state of our consciousness.(p.74)
+ -- Anam Thubten, "The Magic of Awareness", edited by Sharon Roe, published
+ by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ The all-base consciousness* works like a savings bank. Continuously money
+is paid into the bank and continuously it is taken out again. In the same way
+karmic imprints are absorbed by the all-base, are stored there, and can
+therefore be brought forth again.
+ Learning, for example, occurs through the mind consciousness. The mind
+consciousness itself vanishes. Nevertheless, on the next day we have a memory
+of what we learned. At this time of remembrance, the mind consciousness of
+what we learned is no longer actually present, since it has ceased to exist.
+Yet, still we did not forget what we learned previously. What we learned was
+seized by the all-base in the form of karmic imprints, and stored. Due to the
+'all-base of complete ripening' these imprints can be re-awakened, so that the
+mind consciousness perceives them afresh. This is why we learn things. It is
+similar with strong mental afflictions.
+ ...The example of the savings bank is particularly effective, especially in
+the context of karmic actions. Whoever puts money into the bank can get it
+out again later, often including interest!(p.37)
+
+* The all-base consciousness is the general basis for the whole mind, all
+aspects of the mind.
+
+ -- Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, "Everyday Consciousness and Primordial
+ Awareness", translated and edited by Susanne Schefczyk, published by
+ Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Q: How can Dzogchen help us in our daily jobs and careers?
+
+ HHDL: In the first place, it is quite difficult to have an experience of
+Dzogchen. But once you do have that experience, it can be extremely
+beneficial in dealing with your day to day life, your job, and your career.
+This is because that kind of experience will give you the ability to prevent
+yourself from being overwhelmed by circumstances, good or bad. You will not
+fall into extreme states of mind: you will not get over-excited or depressed.
+Your attitude toward circumstances and events will be as if you were someone
+observing the mind, without being drawn away by circumstances.
+ For example, when you see a reflection of a form in a mirror, the reflection
+appears within the mirror but it is not projected from within. In the same
+way, when you confront the situations of life, or deal with others, your
+attitude too will be mirror-like.
+ Also, when a reflection appears in the mirror, the mirror does not have to
+go after the object that is reflected: it simply reflects, spontaneously, on
+the surface. The same with you: since there is no attachment or agitation at
+having these 'reflections' in your mind, you will feel tremendous ease and
+relief. You are not preoccupied by what arises in the mind, nor does it cause
+you any distress. You are free from conceptuality or any form of
+objectifying. And so it really does help you, in allowing you to be free from
+being caught up in the play of emotions like hatred, attachment, and the like.
+(p.162)
+ -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "Dzogchen: The Heart Essence of the Great
+ Perfection", translated by Thupten Jinpa and Richard Barron, foreword by
+ Sogyal Rinpoche, edited by Patrick Gaffney, published by Snow Lion Pub.
+~
+ The quality of one's rebirth in the next life is determined by the quality
+of one's mental activity in this life. Generally speaking, we have no power
+to choose how we are born; it is dependent on karmic forces. However, the
+period near the time of death is very influential in terms of activating one
+from among the many karmas that a person has already accumulated, and,
+therefore, if one makes particular effort at generating a virtuous attitude at
+that time, there is an opportunity to strengthen and activate a virtuous
+karma. Moreover, when one has developed high realization and has gained
+control over how one will be reborn, it is possible to take what is called
+"reincarnation" rather than mere rebirth.(p.42)
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama of Tibet, Tenzin Gyatso, "The Dalai Lama at Harvard:
+ Lectures on the Buddhist Path to Peace", translated and edited by Jeffrey
+ Hopkins, published by Snow Lion Publications
projects / feisty_meow.git / blobdiff