+~
+ 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
+~
+The idea is that passion should be transmuted into compassion for yourself and
+others. This is possible because passion without reference point, goal
+orientation, or aggression is compassion. When passion is transmuted into
+compassion, you do not abandon your existence, but you are able to be gentle
+and nice. Since you are not substituting such behavior for your actual self,
+you do not feel particularly lost or deprived of your capabilities. Beyond
+that, you can expand to others as well. So you are full, but at the same
+time, you are empty.
+ -- Chögyam Trungpa, "The Bodhisattva Path of Wisdom & Compassion",
+ published by Shambhala Publications.
+~
+Traditionally, many subtle distinctions are made about the various
+characteristics and levels of the development of bodhichitta. Chagme Rinpoche
+mentions these and says, “If you are studying to become a scholar, you need
+to know all of these distinctions. But if you are a practitioner, these
+distinctions are extremely unimportant.” For example, I arrived here at
+these teachings by traveling in airplanes and automobiles. Now, I might
+wonder, “Who built the airplane I traveled in? How does it work?” But, in
+fact, I don’t know the answers to any of these things because it is not
+important for me to know these things. What is important is that I got on an
+airplane and flew thousands of miles and was able to get here. In the same
+way, I regularly travel by automobile, and I might wonder, “How do you make
+an automobile? Who made this automobile? How does it work exactly?” From
+one point of view, of course, it is good to know these things, but from the
+point of view of actually getting somewhere, it is not important. What is
+important is that I got in a car and I came here. So, from one point of view,
+it might be important to know all about the various aspects and
+characteristics of bodhichitta, but according to Karma Chagme, it is perfectly
+okay if you don’t.
+ -- Khenchen Thrangu, "Luminous Clarity: A Commentary on Karma Chagme’s
+ Union of Mahamudra and Dzogchen", published by Shambhala Publications
+~
+- You are a deeply selfish person. -
+~
++ You are a deeply compassionate person. +
+~
+* You are a deeply deep person. *
+~
+- You are a deeply selfish person. -
++ You are a deeply compassionate person. +
+* You are a deeply deep person. *
+~
+ Buddhism asserts that the mind can be changed. I doubt whether anyone
+would dispute that point although we often feel as if we are stuck with an
+obstinate mind that refuses to do what we want it to. In addictions this
+feeling of being stuck can be very powerful. But Buddha said that all this
+can change, no matter how bad it is.
+ Buddha was a top psychologist. He taught methods for dealing with
+immediate and urgent situations as well as methods that look into long-term
+change. For the long term, meditation is an important method. When he was
+teaching about how to meditate, he suggested a number of tools from which we
+can benefit. We are going to use three of these tools to help us:
+mindfulness, introspection, and equanimity. Mindfulness keeps our mind on
+whatever we have decided to do. Introspection checks whether we are being
+mindful or not. Equanimity stops the dramatizing and catastrophizing that we
+get into when we do not get what we want (the craving and grasping that arise
+from attachment) or we get what we do not want (aversion which gives rise to
+hatred, jealousy, and depression).
+ -- Chönyi Taylor, from "Enough! A Buddhist Approach to Finding Release
+from Addictive Patterns", published by Shambhala Publications
+~
+It is said in the Supreme Continuum of the Great Vehicle:
+ Earth is based upon water,
+ Water on wind, and wind on space,
+ But space is not based on anything.
+ Similarly, the aggregates and sensory sense fields
+ Are based on deeds and afflictive mental states.
+ Deeds and afflictive mental states are always based on mistaken attention.
+ Mistaken attention is based on the purity of mind.
+ But the nature of mind is not itself based on any of these things.
+ -- Choying Tobden Dorje, from "The Complete Nyingma Tradition from Sutra to
+Tantra, Books 15 to 17, Volume 1", published by Shambhala Publications
+~
+ First, I’ll begin with self, which sometimes goes by the name ego, or
+more familiarly, I and me. What is this self, really? We can investigate by
+trying to analyze this self, to locate it or pin it down, to see if it even
+exists in the first place. This can be a highly illuminating contemplation,
+but for the purposes of this book, I would like to focus more on our everyday
+experience. Let’s identify how having a self feels. In our mind stream,
+there is always some kind of feeling of having a self, which is at the center
+of all our thoughts and emotions. One Tibetan phrase targets this phenomenon
+precisely: dak che dzin. Dak means “self”; che means “important” or
+“dear”; dzin means “holding” or “regarding.” This term has various
+translations, which all capture different nuances: self-centeredness, self-
+clinging, ego-clinging, self-absorption. I like to use all of these terms in
+different contexts, but my favorite translation is “self-importance.”
+ This word may make us think dak che dzin has mostly to do with being proud
+and arrogant, but such pride is nowhere near the whole story. Self-importance
+includes both self-cherishing and self-protection. It is the source of the
+five main types of painful emotions, known as the “five poisons”:
+attachment, aggression, jealousy, arrogance, and stupidity. It can manifest
+as feeling like we’re better than others, but just as easily it can manifest
+as low self-esteem, or even self-hatred. The bottom line is that we regard
+this self—whatever or wherever it is—as the most important thing in the
+entire universe.
+ -- Dzigar Kongtrul, from "The Intelligent Heart: A Guide to the
+Compassionate Life", published by Shambhala Publications.
+~
+Poverty is an anomaly to rich people; it is very difficult to make out why
+people who want dinner do not ring the bell.
+ -- Walter Bagehot
+~
+ In reality, nothing can save us from a state of chaos or confusion unless
+we have acknowledged it and actually experienced it. Otherwise, even though
+we may be in the midst of chaos, we don’t even notice it, although we are
+subject to it. On the path of meditation, the first real glimpse of our
+confusion and the general chaos is when we begin to feel uncomfortable. We
+feel that something is a nuisance. Something is bugging us constantly.
+ What is that? Eventually we discover that we are the nuisance. We begin
+to see ourselves being a nuisance to ourselves when we uncover all kinds of
+thought problems, emotional hang-ups, and physical problems in meditation.
+Before we work with anyone else, we have to deal with being a nuisance to
+ourselves. We have to pull ourselves together. We might get angry with
+ourselves, saying, "I could do better than this. What’s wrong with me? I
+seem to be getting worse. I’m going backward." We might get angry with
+the whole world, including ourselves. Everything, the entire universe,
+becomes the expression of total insult. We have to relate to that experience
+rather than rejecting it. If you hope to be helpful to others, first you have
+to work with yourself.
+ -- Chögyam Trungpa, from "Mindfulness in Action", published by Shambhala
+ Publications
+~
+If I could conceive that the general government might ever be so administered
+as to render the liberty of conscience insecure, I beg you will be persuaded,
+that no one would be more zealous than myself to establish effectual barriers
+against the horrors of spiritual tyranny, and every species of religious
+persecution.
+ -- George Washington, letter to the United Baptist Chamber of Virginia (1789)
+~
+Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one,
+he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blindfolded fear.
+ -- Thomas Jefferson, letter to Peter Carr (1787)
+~
+In regard to religion, mutual toleration in the different professions thereof
+is what all good and candid minds in all ages have ever practiced, and both by
+precept and example inculcated on mankind.
+ -- Samuel Adams, The Rights of the Colonists (1771)
+~
+Persecution is not an original feature in any religion; but it is always the
+strongly marked feature of all religions established by law. Take away the
+law-establishment, and every religion re-assumes its original benignity.
+ -- Thomas Paine, The Rights of Man (1791)
+~
+Congress has no power to make any religious establishments.
+ -- Roger Sherman, Congress (1789)
+~
+The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason.
+ -- Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanack (1758)
+~
+I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people
+build a wall of separation between Church & State.
+ -- Thomas Jefferson, letter to the Danbury Baptists (1802)
+~
+To argue with a man who has renounced the use of reason is like administering
+medicine to the dead.
+ -- Thomas Paine, The American Crisis No. V (1776)
+~
+Our civil rights have no dependence on our religious opinions, any more than
+our opinions in physics or geometry.
+ -- Thomas Jefferson, A Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom (1779)
+~
+Christian establishments tend to great ignorance and corruption, all of which
+facilitate the execution of mischievous projects.
+ -- James Madison, letter to William Bradford, Jr. (1774)
+~
+There is nothing which can better deserve our patronage than the promotion of
+science and literature. Knowledge is in every country the surest basis of
+public happiness.
+ -- George Washington, address to Congress (1790)
+~
+During almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity
+been on trial. What has been its fruits? More or less, in all places, pride
+and indolence in the clergy; ignorance and servility in the laity; in both,
+superstition, bigotry and persecution.
+ -- James Madison, General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia (1785)
+~
+If the present and the future
+Depend upon the past,
+Then both the present and the future
+Are existent in the past.
+
+If the present and the future
+Are not present then,
+How could the present and the future
+Be dependent on it?
+
+If they are not dependent on the past,
+Then both are unestablished.
+Thus the present and the future time
+Do not exist.
+
+To the two remaining times, it should be understood,
+This same procedure is applied.
+And likewise it applies to high and low and medium,
+And to the singular and so forth.
+
+Time that does not stay we cannot grasp;
+And time that could be grasped
+Does not remain. So how can time,
+Ungraspable, be said to be?
+
+If time depends on things,
+Then how can there be time if things do not exist?
+And since there are no things at all,
+How can time exist?
+ -- Nagarjuna, from "The Root Stanzas of the Middle Way: The
+ Mulamadhyamakakarika", published by Shambhala Publications
+~
+White Rabbit, by Jefferson Airplane
+
+One pill makes you larger
+And one pill makes you small
+And the ones that mother gives you
+Don't do anything at all
+Go ask Alice
+When she's ten feet tall
+
+And if you go chasing rabbits
+And you know you're going to fall
+Tell 'em a hookah-smoking caterpillar
+Has given you the call
+Call Alice
+When she was just small
+
+When the men on the chessboard
+Get up and tell you where to go
+And you've just had some kind of mushroom
+And your mind is moving low
+Go ask Alice
+I think she'll know
+
+When logic and proportion
+Have fallen sloppy dead
+And the White Knight is talking backwards
+And the Red Queen's off with her head
+Remember what the dormouse said
+Feed your head
+Feed your head
+~
+How can we integrate these teachings into our lives? I think that only
+happens when we are faced with challenges and respond to them in a new way,
+not according to habitual self-importance. In other words, we respond by
+applying the exchange of self and other. When tonglen becomes our familiar
+way of being, the entire path unfolds easily in front of us. This difficult
+modern age turns out to be the perfect setting for our spiritual practice,
+proving far more hospitable to our growth than past eras of idealized calm and
+simplicity. When we figure out for ourselves how to apply the wisdom of books
+to whatever difficult circumstances arise in life, then that wisdom becomes
+part of our mind. We become transformed. My hope for every reader—as well
+as for myself—is that we will apply these lojong teachings again and again
+until they become part of who we are.
+ -- Dzigar Kongtrul and Joseph Waxman, in "The Intelligent Heart: A Guide
+ to the Compassionate Life", published by Shambhala Publications
+~
+Siddhis? Cities.
+
+Honolulu: a relaxed city, like an uncrowded bar where everyone is clean and
+rested.
+
+Los Angeles: a scattered city, like a teenager's sexual curiosity.
+
+San Francisco: a clean city, like an elegant, genteel Christian graveyard.
+
+Santa Fe: a picturesque city, like a painter’ s bright, simple palette,
+imitating Tibet.
+
+Boston: a sophisticated city, like London without queens and dukes and falling
+bridges.
+
+New York: a no-more-nothingness city,
+where gentle, quiet audiences sit in theaters listening to classical concerts;
+where rough, noisy audiences sit in stadiums in pandemonium watching boxing;
+where there are clean people with dirty minds;
+where there are dirty people with clean minds;
+where hundreds of nihilist people reject spiritual teachings;
+where hundreds of spiritual teachers reject samsara's teachings;
+where poor people sleep underground on low subway platforms;
+where rich people sleep aboveground in high skyscraper penthouses;
+where many non-practitioners stay for their nightclub retreat to find pleasure;
+practitioners leave for their countryside retreat to find pleasure.
+ - Thinley Norbu Rinpoche, from "A Brief Fantasy History of a Himalayan",
+ published by Shambhala Publications
+~
+As a blind man feels when he finds a pearl in a dustbin, so am I amazed by the
+miracle of awakening rising in my consciousness. It is the nectar of
+immortality that delivers us from death, the treasure that lifts us above
+poverty into the wealth of giving to life, the tree that gives shade to us
+when we roam about scorched by life, the bridge that takes us across the
+stormy river of life, the cool moon of compassion that calms our mind when it
+is agitated, the sun that dispels darkness, the butter made from the milk of
+kindness by churning it with the dharma. It is a feast of joy to which all
+are invited.
+ -- from "Teachings of the Buddha", written by Shantideva, edited by Jack
+ Kornfield, published by Shambhala Publications
+~
+Even though we may actually recognize the nature of awareness, we should not
+hold on to that mindfulness tightly, thinking, “I have indeed recognized it."
+If we do hold on to it tightly, it will be like when a thread is twisted too
+taut: one cannot sew with it, because it knots up. In the same way, if one
+is too tense, one's mindfulness will be obscured. If mindfulness is not
+grasped too tightly but left in the natural flow, sometimes it will be clear
+and sometimes not. But we should not get caught up in whether it is clear or
+not. If genuine mindfulness is left without being altered, gradually we will
+come to know, through our own experience, “This is awareness, and this is
+ignorance; this is mind, and this is wisdom.”
+ -- Dilgo Khyentse, from "Primordial Purity", published by Shambhala
+ Publications
+~
+He says Tibetans are unique because we value the practice of Buddhism. He
+gives the example of Tibetan mothers who in the course of a day point
+repeatedly toward suffering. They tell their children: don’t kill the ant,
+it will suffer; don’t pour hot water on the soil, the earthworm will feel
+the sting and the heat will cause it great pain; don’t pull the dog’s tail
+so hard. We are told to think for the animals and insects who cannot voice
+their pain but for whom suffering is as acute as it is for humans. From a
+young age, he says, we are reminded that nobody is free from suffering. I
+agree that my Tibetan friends are instinctively more likely to brush away
+flies or mosquitoes instead of crushing or swatting them. But why is
+compassion so important? What about our land, our independence? Will
+compassion free our land?
+ -- Tsering Wangmo Dhompa, in "Coming Home to Tibet: A Memoir of Love, Loss,
+and Belonging", published by Shambhala Publications
+~
+ At the end of every meditation session, recognize what kind of healing
+experience you are feeling. You could be feeling peace, warmth, bliss,
+spaciousness, boundlessness, richness, sacredness, or strength. If you have
+multiple experiences, it can help to recognize the most prominent one.
+ The goal is to calmly enjoy the particular experience, resting in
+awareness of what you are feeling, without grasping at it or analyzing it or
+needing to think about it in words. Just remain one with the experience, in
+open awareness, in silence, like water that has merged in water.
+ Purpose: This meditation is for sowing the seed of experience of the
+meditation, not on the rough surface of concepts or afflicting emotions but at
+the deeper and calmer level of the open mind. Merging your awareness with the
+experience ensures the fruition of the meditation with greatest certainty.
+Open awareness helps unite your mind with the result of healing.
+ This meditation could also lead to, or be, the awareness state of the
+enlightened nature itself.
+ -- by Tulku Thondup, in "Boundless Healing", published by Shambhala Publications
+