+~
+ Amazing!
+ These precious freedoms and endowments are rare as a daytime star;
+ Even when found, like a candle flame in the wind,
+ They could vanish in an instant!
+ Pondering this, most people seem like mad sea captains.
+
+ The root of practice is renunciation.
+ So if you don’t use the key points of mind training
+ To till the soil of your mind, hardened toward liberation,
+ When death comes and you beat your chest with regret,
+ it will be too late!
+
+ -- Jigme Lingpa, from "Steps to the Great Perfection: The Mind-Training
+ Tradition of the Dzogchen Masters", published by Shambhala Publications
+~
+We don’t have to try to surrender. That sounds too effortful. Then we will
+have a surrender competition. There is going to be a spiritual marathon, a
+spiritual Olympics, how about that? Indeed, there is a spiritual Olympics.
+It is not officially announced. Many people are working really hard trying to
+be the best meditator, the best ascetic, the most enlightened. So don’t try
+to surrender with your personal will or deliberate effort. It sounds like too
+much work, trying to surrender to everything. Instead, go inside. That is
+all you need to do sometimes. Go inside and let yourself be in touch with
+your heart. You know how to be in touch with your heart. Your heart is
+waiting to be recognized. This is why the Tibetan masters often said there
+are many forms or levels of meditation. The highest level is what they call
+effortless meditation. When they teach how to meditate, especially the
+masters from the Nyingma tradition, they always say, "Don’t do anything."
+Rest in the present moment. Relax in the natural state of your mind, because
+if you can relax, rest in the natural state of your own mind, then you will be
+in touch with your own heart, with your original heart, with your innocent
+heart, and then surrender is very easy because all of your heart wants it.
+ -- Anam Thubten, from "Embracing Each Moment: A Guide to the Awakened Life",
+ published by Shambhala Publications
+~
+ One day the Dalai Lama went to Ganden accompanied by his security agent
+Kumbula. They went in ordinary clothes on ordinary horses and left Lhasa
+traveling east. When they got to the ferries they met with an elderly man
+heading back home from Lhasa where he had taken a load of wood on a donkey.
+The Dalai Lama entered into a conversation with him. "Where are you off to?"
+he asked. "I am going back home," the man replied. "I have taken a load of
+wood to the Norbulinka to the kitchens there." This was when a new building
+called the Chensel Palace was being constructed. New taxes had been
+introduced to pay for it and part of the tax was the requisitioning of pack
+animals to transport rocks. "He already has some very beautiful palaces but
+still he is building a new one. People have to spend a lot of their time
+there and use their animals for building this new palace. It is that fellow
+Kumbula who decided yet another palace is needed in Norbulinka even though
+there are a lot there already. He is not a bad fellow, this Kumbula," the old
+man continued, "but he really does load up the ordinary people with his taxes
+and requisitions. This fellow Kumbula, he always has to be starting some new
+project or other, he is that sort of fellow." Now Kumbula was right there
+with the Dalai Lama, and a bit later the old fellow started up again. "This
+Kumbula is definitely too quick to start up new projects, if you ask me; but
+you know, he is no fool either, and he is loyal to the Dalai Lama. He is
+useful to the Dalai Lama, no doubt about that." The gist of his remarks was
+that the ordinary man like himself found the taxation burdensome. The Dalai
+Lama was very pleased with the conversation.
+ "Rinpoche," the old man said, thinking the Dalai Lama was just a
+distinguished looking older monk, "have some tea with me." They had some tea
+and tsampa together and then the old fellow pulled out a bottle of barley beer
+and offered it to the Dalai Lama. "I am a monk, I do not drink beer," the
+Dalai Lama protested. "Do not be silly," he said, "a lot of the monks are
+drinking beer nowadays, go ahead and have a swig." "Is that so?" said the
+Dalai Lama. "A lot of the monks nowadays are drinking beer are they?" "Piles
+of them," the old fellow replied, "though I am pleased to see that you do not
+accept my offer." After the old man had downed his beer with some bread he
+was carrying, they set off in the direction of Ganden together, talking as
+they went. As they began to approach Ganden, at the place called Dechen, they
+caught sight of a large smoke offering and the monks of Ganden lined up to
+welcome a special guest. The old fellow said, "They are making a big welcome
+up there for someone today, I wonder who is coming." The Dalai Lama said, "I
+am not positive, but I suspect it is for me." Then the old fellow began to
+suspect that he was there with the Dalai Lama and he thought he had better
+make a run for it. As he tried to flee the Dalai Lama caught hold of him and
+would not let him go. He took the old man right in through the gates of
+Ganden Monastery and told the people there not to let him leave, but to give
+him a good meal and something excellent to drink. After he had been well-fed
+and looked after, the Dalai Lama sent word to bring him.
+ The old man was beside himself with fear, thinking he was going to be
+given a terrible punishment, but the Dalai Lama treated him as a friend and
+told him to sit down, right opposite to where Kumbula was sitting. "Hey, old
+fellow," he said, "I must introduce you to Kumbula. This is Kumbula." He was
+overcome with embarrassment, but the Dalai Lama said that he should not be.
+"You spoke your heart, you spoke what you felt was true and there is no shame
+in that. You described faults as faults and good qualities as good qualities.
+Some people only complain but you did not do that. Some, again, cover up
+faults and say nothing but good and that is not right either. You spoke
+honestly and openly, and I am very happy." He gave him fifty white silver
+sangs as a parting gift, a large sum of money, and said that the problems
+would be looked into. It was from then that the levies on the people for
+Norbulinka building projects stopped.
+ -- Ven. Lobsang Gyatso, translated by Ven. Dr. Gareth Sparham, "Memoirs
+ of a Tibetan Lama", published by Shambhala Publications
+~
+The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, nor
+to worry about the future, but to live the present moment wisely and
+earnestly.
+ -- Shakyamuni Buddha
+~
+Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on
+the present moment.
+ -- Shakyamuni Buddha
+~
+You only lose what you cling to. -- Shakyamuni Buddha
+~
+Pain is certain, suffering is optional. -- Shakyamuni Buddha
+~
+Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it
+at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.
+ -- Shakyamuni Buddha
+~
+Holding onto anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to
+die.
+ -- Shakyamuni Buddha
+~
+Most problems, if you give them enough time and space, will eventually wear
+themselves out
+ -- Shakyamuni Buddha
+~
+If the problem can be solved why worry? If the problem cannot be solved
+worrying will do you no good.
+ -- Shakyamuni Buddha
+~
+There is nothing more dreadful than the habit of doubt. Doubt separates
+people. It is a poison that disintegrates friendships and breaks up pleasant
+relations. It is a thorn that irritates and hurts; it is a sword that kills.
+ -- Shakyamuni Buddha
+~
+Set your heart on doing good. Do it over and over again, and you will be
+filled with joy.
+ -- Shakyamuni Buddha
+~
+Happiness does not depend on what you have or who you are, it solely relies on
+what you think.
+ -- Shakyamuni Buddha
+~
+Happiness comes when your work and words are of benefit to others.
+ -- Shakyamuni Buddha
+~
+Wear your ego like a loose fitting garment. -- Shakyamuni Buddha
+~
+People with opinions just go around bothering one another.
+ -- Shakyamuni Buddha
+~
+Greater in battle
+than the man who would conquer
+a thousand-thousand men,
+is he who would conquer
+just one--
+himself.
+ -- Shakyamuni Buddha
+~
+Do not look for a sanctuary in anyone except your self. -- Shakyamuni Buddha
+~
+With our thoughts we make the world. -- Shakyamuni Buddha
+~
+However many holy words you read, however many you speak, what good will they
+do you if you do not act on upon them?
+ -- Shakyamuni Buddha
+~
+Every morning we are born again. What we do today is what matters most.
+ -- Shakyamuni Buddha
+~
+Just as a snake sheds its skin, we must shed our past over and over again.
+ -- Shakyamuni Buddha
+~
+A dog is not considered a good dog because he is a good barker. A man is not
+considered a good man because he is a good talker.
+ -- Shakyamuni Buddha
+~
+Silence is an empty space, space is the home of the awakened mind.
+ -- Shakyamuni Buddha
+~
+Your purpose in life is to find your purpose and give your whole heart and
+soul to it
+ -- Shakyamuni Buddha
+~
+All that we are is the result of what we have thought: it is founded on our
+thoughts and made up of our thoughts. If a man speaks or acts with an evil
+thought, suffering follows him as the wheel follows the hoof of the beast that
+draws the wagon... If a man speaks or acts with a good thought, happiness
+follows him like a shadow that never leaves him.
+ -- Shakyamuni Buddha
+~
+The mind is everything. What you think you become. -- Shakyamuni Buddha
+~
+The fool who knows he is a fool is that much wiser. -- Shakyamuni Buddha
+~
+Every human being is the author of his own health or disease.
+ -- Shakyamuni Buddha
+~
+In the sky, there is no distinction of east and west; people create
+distinctions out of their own minds and then believe them to be true.
+ -- Shakyamuni Buddha
+~
+Three things can not hide for long: the Moon, the Sun, and the Truth.
+ -- Shakyamuni Buddha
+~
+Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe
+in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe
+in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do
+not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders.
+Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many
+generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything
+agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all,
+then accept it and live up to it.
+ -- Shakyamuni Buddha
+~
+If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly our whole life would
+change.
+ -- Shakyamuni Buddha
+~
+brain fully charged
+(at lockn 2016...)
+
+It really seemed like every band built on the one just prior to it, so that as
+each day moved on, the acts just generated more and more energy and awesome
+music, storing it up in a celestial battery. the peak of it all for me was
+the phish show on the last night, which was so high energy and saturated with
+fun and healthy vibes that I felt like "i never need to feel fear again".
+that feeling lasted for days after the festival was over. hopefully memory of
+that thought never fades.
+~
+ Don’t become easily discouraged. If you never try to go beyond that
+stage of initial discouragement because there are thoughts arising in your
+meditation, you are never going to have the true experiences of meditation.
+You need to go beyond that initial stage. You need to keep trying. If you
+keep making that effort to go beyond that initial discouragement, you will
+arrive at the experience of not getting caught up in your thoughts and mental
+events.
+ Sometimes you may even observe an increase in the frequency of thoughts.
+When that happens, don’t get discouraged. My enlightened master Jigme
+Phuntsok Rinpoche says:
+ "One sign that your meditation is beginning to be effective is that both
+subtle thoughts and obvious thoughts become more noticeable than before. This
+is not a bad sign; it’s a good sign. When water rushes in a strong river
+current, you don’t see the fish or rocks beneath the rapids. But when the
+current slows and the water becomes clear, then you can see the fish, the
+rocks, and everything below the surface distinctly. Similarly, if you never
+pay attention to your mind, and your thoughts and emotions are uncontrolled,
+you don’t even know how many thoughts go by. But when your mind becomes
+more stable and calm, you begin to see your thoughts more clearly. Don’t be
+discouraged. Take heart at this sign. Don’t hold yourself too loosely or
+too tightly. Maintain your meditation in the right way without concern and
+gradually your meditation experience will increase and stabilize."
+ Remember: Do not follow the past. Do not anticipate the future. Remain
+in the present moment. Leave your mind alone. Those four simple,
+straightforward instructions give us a chance to go beyond our mental events
+and, eventually, to experience the natural state of mind.
+ -- Orgyen Chowang Rinpoche, in "Our Pristine Mind", published by Shambhala
+ Publications
+~
+ Knowing full well that his aim is to achieve enlightenment, Sujata adopts
+a parallel program to help sustain him. Symbolically feeding Gautama with
+each offering to the priests, she utters the dedication prayer,
+ May the Bodhisattva take my food and thereby truly attain perfect and
+completely unexcelled awakening!
+ After six years of this, the gods notify her that Gautama has ceased his
+austerities and urge her to take further action. Due to her abundant good
+karma in past lives, she is preordained to serve him. Sujata sets to work
+preparing the rice milk offering in the fashion of the one thousand cows
+milked to feed the five hundred and so forth. In observing miracles around
+the cooking pot, she prays that they foretell the Bodhisattva’s imminent
+supreme awakening. She brings the rice porridge in a golden bowl to Gautama
+where he is sitting along the river and offers it to him after reverentially
+making prostrations. According to this story, the Bodhisattva regains his
+former strength and splendor upon consuming Sujata’s excellent food. In
+this version, it is his first meal after the six years of austerities and has
+instantly restored him to wholeness. After bathing and meditating at the
+river, Gautama proceeds to the tree of enlightenment. All these events have
+taken place within the span of one day.
+ -- Wendy Garling, in "Stars at Dawn", published by Shambhala Publications