+~
+ Ordinary beings--even those who are kind and compassionate--are
+primarily motivated by self-interest and work mainly for their own benefit.
+All of their activities and thoughts are tinged by self-serving motivations
+and attitudes. Even when they perform acts of kindness, they generally do so
+expecting praise or personal satisfaction and not because of pure altruism.
+ Bodhisattvas, however, are motivated by universal compassion, and they
+seek the ultimate goal of buddhahood in order to be of service to others.
+They embark on this path with the generation of the mind of awakening. Unlike
+ordinary beings, who think of their own advantage, bodhisattvas consider how
+best to benefit others.
+ -- John Powers, A Concise Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism, published by
+ Shambhala Publications
+~
+ "I'm fine. My life's together. I know what I'm doing. I've
+got to look like a good Dharma practitioner. People shouldn't see me cry.
+They shouldn't know how distracted I am during meditation. I can't let on
+how incredibly confused I am." We think we're the only one who is confused
+and not wanting to lose face, we hide our turmoil and pretend to be calmly in
+charge of the show. But we're in cyclic existence, so how much control do
+we really have? How peaceful can we be when we have a samsaric body and mind?
+ When our "garbage mind"--as Lama Yeshe used to call it--spills out,
+we may be alarmed and think that we're not doing the practice correctly. In
+fact, we are. Only by exposing the garbage mind can we identify it and free
+ourselves from it.
+ -- Thubten Chodron, "Cultivating a Compassionate Heart", published by
+ Shambhala Publications
+~
+ Completely understanding his dire circumstances, the man had a strong
+feeling that the only way to be saved from deportation was to extend loving-
+kindness to Calcutta’s police inspector general. He placed a photograph of
+the police inspector general on his desk. He then completely focused his
+attention on it, extending his feeling of loving-kindness toward the man. In
+fact, he sat up the entire night looking at the photograph and practicing his
+loving-kindness meditation.
+ When the police inspector general arrived in the morning, he approached
+the man and looked directly into his eyes. He then said, "I will not send
+you to Sri Lanka, Sir, but I will instead look after you here as if you were
+my own father."
+ -- Bhante Walpola Piyananda, "The Bodhi Tree Grows in L.A.", published by
+ Shambhala Publications
+~
+The scriptures say that thinking is not thinking, so do not even think about
+not having thoughts. There is no thinking about nonconceptualization, or
+about anything else. The scriptures also say that one should not think
+"stop thinking!" Do not think in order to clarify the meaning of
+nonconceptuality. This becomes more and more subtle, more and more peaceful,
+more and more clear, more and more equal. Once the basis has been
+transformed, rest in equanimity in the space of reality.
+ -- Sam van Schaik, "Tibetan Zen: Discovering a Lost Tradition", published by
+ Shambhala Publications
+~
+ According the First Noble Truth, the first step in discovering truth and
+relieving our own and anyone else’s suffering is to acknowledge the pain and
+suffering that are present in our lives. Sometimes people assume that
+Buddhism is a pessimistic sort of tradition because of this teaching. In
+fact, however, recognizing that pain is simply part of being alive can be a
+relief. It is not a sign that we have done something wrong, stupid, or
+shameful. Yet I often catch myself and hear others making just that
+assumption--that pain and suffering are signs of some personal defect.
+ If I tell one friend that I have a cold, for instance, she is likely to
+say, "Well, how did that happen? Were you out without your hat in the cold?"
+Even more distressing is the view we all have heard at one time or another,
+which blames sufferers of serious diseases for having them: "Oh, yes, cancer
+is a sign of unexpressed grief." Of course, as modern medical research is
+increasingly showing us, the mind and the body are deeply interconnected, and
+our attitudes, emotions, and behaviors do affect our health. Yet, even if we
+were able to do "everything right," if we live long enough, we will not escape
+old age, sickness, and death.
+ -- Karen Kissel Wegela, "The Courage to be Present", published by Shambhala
+ Publications
+~
+In brief, whatever is dawning, be right there with an uncontrived mind. Do
+not involve yourself with stopping, or starting, or with any modification
+whatsoever. Whatever arises, stay uncontrivedly right with that arising.
+Don’t reel your mind in, don’t cast around for an object of meditation out
+there. Be right there with the meditator, your very own mind. Unfound when
+sought, your own mind is primordially empty mindnature. Seeking also is
+unnecessary; the seeker--yourself--is that [which one is seeking].
+Unwaveringly remain right with that very seeker.
+ -- Khetsun Sangpo Rinpoche, "Strand of Jewels", published by Shambhala
+ Publications
+~
+Thus, all compounded and uncompounded phenomena--the ten directions, the
+three times, the three worlds, and so forth--are none other than one’s own
+mind, as is stated in the Great Sovereign of Practices, the Victory over the
+Three Worlds: "If one realizes, in accordance with one’s own unmistaken
+mind or the power of the mind, that discerning consciousness is the very
+nature of the buddhas, bodhisattvas, and the like, one is enlightened. If one
+fails to understand this, everything appears as the vessel and contents that
+constitute samsara. The three worlds are simply this; the great elements
+are simply this."
+ -- Padmasambhava, "A Garland of Views: A Guide to View, Meditation, and
+ Result in the Nine Vehicles", from Padmasambhava’s classic text with a
+ commentary by Jamgön Mipham, published by Shambhala Publications
+~
+The Hinayana counsels a life of discipline--not the onerous, punishing kind,
+but the kind that can actually create a life of joy. Little slips are to be
+avoided because they really seem to pile up. Rather than being seen as moral
+wrongdoings, however, they are seen as obstacles and obscurations to true
+wakefulness and as such are to be eschewed. To do so, tremendous precision is
+required. I mean, take just one of the most basic precepts, common to every
+religion under the sun: "don’t lie." If you can read to the end of this
+paragraph without telling a lie, please alert the media.
+ -- Susan Piver, "Start Here Now", published by Shambhala Publications
+~
+The reason and the meaning of love in our life is very profound. It is unlike
+any other reason. In my own personal view, I do not think that love has to be
+for no reason at all. Rather, I think that the reason to love is so vast that
+it cannot be limited to any particular reasons.
+ -- The Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, in "The Heart Is Noble", published by
+ Shambhala Publications
+~
+ Human beings suffer birth, sickness, aging and death. We enumerate these
+different forms of suffering but prefer not to think about what they entail.
+We only need to watch a birth to know how traumatic and painful the passage
+through the birth canal must be for the baby. Aging is distasteful to
+everyone but small children, who long to be grown up. Everyone else likes to
+be told they don’t look a day older.
+ Even reading about diseases or hearing of others’ sicknesses fills us
+with a dread that we might contract them. When we actually fall ill
+ourselves, we feel afraid and helpless. As for death, everyone avoids talking
+about it. Humans also experience the constant frustration of not getting what
+they want and getting what they don’t want. When we first meet people, they
+may seem successful and happy, but as soon as we get to know them better, we
+discover they all have a tale of woe to tell.
+ -- "Atisha’s Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment", commentary by Geshe
+ Sonam Rinchen, translated and edited by Ruth Sonam, published by
+ Shambhala Publications
+