+~
+Advice to Myself
+
+ Stop living a false and empty life.
+ Drop those deceptions of your own mind
+ And endless projects that you don't need!
+
+ Don't make your head spin with the burden
+ Of strings of ideas that never come true
+ And endless distracting activities--
+ They're just waves on water.
+ Just keep quiet.
+
+ -- Patrul Rinpoche, from "Enlightened Vagabond: The Life and Teachings of
+ Patrul Rinpoche", By Matthieu Ricard, Edited by Constance Wilkinson,
+ published by Shambhala Publications
+~
+Like the vast expanse of the ocean, birthplaces of other beings are vast and
+multitudinous. Just as the yoke has only a single opening, human birth is
+small in extent and few in number. Just as the tortoise rises up only once
+every hundred years, so it is rare to accumulate the karma that results in
+human birth. Just as the tortoise is blind, so one's accumulated karma is
+feeble. Just as the yoke is tossed about in every direction by the wind, so
+there are many adverse forces obstructing the coincidence of conditions needed
+for human birth.
+ -- Ngorchen Konchog Lhundrub, from "Three Visions: Fundamental Teachings of
+ the Sakya Lineage of Tibetan Buddhism", translated by Lobsang Dagpa and
+ Jay Goldberg, published by Shambhala Publications
+~
+ The actual nature of things is inconceivable and inexpressible. Yet, for
+those fortunate individuals who seek to penetrate the profound meaning of
+dharmata, I shall offer here a few words by way of illustration.
+ What we call the essence of mind is the actual face of unconditioned pure
+awareness, recognized through receiving the guru's blessings and
+instructions. If you wonder what this is like, it is empty in its essence,
+beyond conceptual reference; it is cognizant by nature, spontaneously present;
+and it is all-pervasive and unobstructed in its compassionate energy. This is
+the pure awareness (rigpa) in which the three kayas are inseparable.
+ -- from "Beyond the Ordinary Mind: Dzogchen, Rime, and the Path of
+ Perfect Wisdom", translated by Adam Pearcey, published by Shambhala Publications
+~
+Being attached to your ordinary dualistic considerations is a pitfall in your
+way of living. No matter what appears, by applying yourself without being at
+all distracted from the perspective and meditation, this unobstructed,
+powerful way of life will come about with the six senses naturally relaxed.
+Apply yourself without contradicting this.
+ -- Longchenpa, from "You Are the Eyes of the World", translated by Kennard
+ Lipman and Merrill Peterson, published by Shambhala Publications
+~
+Kyema!
+Hear me, young and faithful girl!
+I, the Lotus-Born, will preach the Dharma in the land of ogres.
+My flawless adamantine form, surpassing change,
+Is not to be compared with that of beings racked by ills.
+The country of Tibet I filled with Dharma, within the earth and on it.
+If you are strong in practice and instruction,
+No shortage of the Dharma will there be.
+ -- Yeshe Tsogyal, from "Lady of the Lotus-Born: The Life and Enlightenment
+ of Yeshe Tsogyal", by Gyalwa Changchub and Namkhai Nyingpo, translated by
+ Padmakara Translation Group, published by Shambhala Publications
+~
+Ultimately, spiritual and worldly values are totally contradictory; this is
+something we simply have to accept. In the materialistic world, being "rich"
+means that you own plenty of property, run various businesses, and have a
+great deal of money; whereas the spiritual world defines being "rich" as
+perfect contentment. From a spiritual point of view, we are rich when we no
+longer torture our minds with thoughts about everything we lack.
+ -- Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse, from "Best Foot Forward: A Pilgrim's Guide
+ to the Sacred Sites of the Buddha", published by Shambhala Publications
+~
+The cultivation of Pure Awareness does not evolve in a straight line. It is
+not that we have a certain realization and then it is ours and we can hang on
+to it and in the next practice session begin from there and move on to the
+next higher realization. Every time we sit down to practice, it's a brand new
+situation, a new journey. "Back to square one," as Trungpa Rinpoche used to
+say. Back to Suzuki Roshi's "beginner's mind."
+ -- Reginald A. Ray, from "The Practice of Pure Awareness: Somatic Meditation
+ for Awakening the Sacred", published by Shambhala Publications
+~
+When the seven consciousnesses melt
+Into the consciousness of the universal ground,
+And the universal ground is purified in the ultimate expanse,
+There occurs primordial coemergent wisdom,
+Empty, luminous, and self-arisen.
+This is what yogis must recognize.
+ -- Longchenpa, from "Finding Rest in the Nature of the Mind: The Trilogy
+ of Rest, Volume 1", translated by Padmakara Translation Group, published
+ by Shambhala Publications
+~
+The purpose of a knife is much like the purpose of the brain, and that is to
+stop being used. Just as the brain should do some computation and then desist
+from functioning for a while to rest and relax, so too should one stop using a
+knife as soon as the purpose for which the knife was picked up is achieved.
+If it seems like it's fun to play with a knife or if one feels that the knife
+is an extension of one's penis, then that is not a very good reason to pick up
+a knife; one should probably put the knife right back down in those degenerate
+(in the mathematical sense) cases. #WhatILearnedFromTheBoyScouts
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+Full of trust you left home,
+and soon learned to walk the Path--
+making yourself a friend to everyone
+and making everyone a friend.
+
+When the whole world is your friend,
+fear will find no place to call home.
+
+And when you make the mind your friend,
+you'll know what trust
+really means.
+
+Listen.
+
+I have followed this Path of friendship to its end.
+And I can say with absolute certainty--
+it will lead you home.
+
+ -- from "The First Free Women: Poems of the Early Buddhist Nuns",
+ by Matty Weingast
+~
+If we are honest with ourselves, we know from our own experience that the more
+we try to find solutions to our problems through thinking about them, the more
+we start going around in circles, sometimes interminably. Buddhism counsels
+us to resist being abused by our conflicting emotions and to let go of
+excessive thinking. Emotions can be expressed in an unhealthy, self-
+destructive manner or in a healthy and constructive fashion. Similarly, we
+can think in a self-destructive, confused way, which reinforces our negative
+habits, or we can think in a constructive way. Buddhism emphasizes that
+overindulgence in conflicting emotions and distorted forms of thinking only
+reinforces our old habits, which solidifies our karmic tendencies even
+further.
+ -- Traleg Kyabgon, from "Mind at Ease: Self-Liberation through Mahamudra
+ Meditation", published by Shambhala Publications
+~
+ACHTUNG!
+ALLES TURISTEN UND NONTEKNISCHEN LOOKENSPEEPERS!
+DAS KOMPUTERMASCHINE IST NICHT FÜR DER GEFINGERPOKEN UND MITTENGRABEN!
+ODERWISE IST EASY TO SCHNAPPEN DER SPRINGENWERK, BLOWENFUSEN UND POPPENCORKEN
+MIT SPITZENSPARKEN.
+IST NICHT FÜR GEWERKEN BEI DUMMKOPFEN. DER RUBBERNECKEN SIGHTSEEREN KEEPEN
+DAS COTTONPICKEN HÄNDER IN DAS POCKETS MUSS.
+ZO RELAXEN UND WATSCHEN DER BLINKENLICHTEN.
+~
+ATTENTION
+This room is fullfilled mit special electronische equippment.
+Fingergrabbing and pressing the cnoeppkes from the computers is allowed for
+die experts only!
+So all the "lefthanders" stay away and do not disturben the brainstorming von
+here working intelligencies.
+Otherwise you will be out thrown and kicked anderswhere!
+Also: please keep still and only watchen astaunished the blinkenlights.
+~
+Naval Lint! Belly up to the finest barnacle scrub on the market, and have
+your teams boat bright as a button!
+Only $9.99 a bottle, sold at all Ben Franklin Department Stores.
+ -- fictional product developed due to misspelling of navel lint
+~
+(a missing phone haiku)
+
+tech disconnection
+no friends, no spam, brain at peace
+must log back in now!
+
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+Many people, especially ignorant people, want to punish you for speaking the
+truth, for being correct, for being you. Never apologize for being correct,
+or for being years ahead of your time. If you're right and you know it,
+speak your mind. Speak your mind. Even if you are a minority of one, the
+truth is still the truth.
+ -- Mahatma Gandhi
+~
+ The sky is pure, open space, free from all obstructions. The nature of
+our mind is similar: the afflictions, self-centered attitude, and other
+obscurations are not in its essential nature. Just as clouds may temporarily
+obscure the open sky, anger, attachment, and confusion can temporarily obscure
+our mind. When they do, the pure, open nature of the mind still remains; we
+just can't see it at the time.
+ By generating the wisdom realizing the emptiness of inherent existence, we
+will be able to eradicate obscurations from our mind forever and enjoy the
+sky-like spaciousness of a purified mind.
+ -- Thubten Chodron, from "Awaken Every Day: 365 Buddhist Reflections to
+ Invite Mindfulness and Joy", Shambhala Publications
+~
+i buy all my hats
+at interdimensional
+pancake restaurant
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+Love is about finding something pleasant in everyone. It can't be external
+appearance, or what the person is engaged in at the moment; it has to be just
+the fact that this is a sentient being who wants happiness and does not want
+suffering and who has been the best of friends at some time in the limitless
+past. A Tibetan definition of love is that the person pleasantly comes to
+mind (yid du 'ong ba). Rather than pushing people away, you experience a core
+similarity and closeness in them that makes you receptive to their basic
+being, regardless of the problem--regardless of how distorted their current
+attitudes and behavior are. That's how strong spiritual love is.
+ -- Jeffrey Hopkins, from "A Truthful Heart: Buddhist Practices for
+ Connecting with Others", Shambhala Publications
+~
+this is not confirmed yet, but UVa is changing the name of its funding tokens.
+UVa is moving away from the PTAO payment codes (Project, Task, Award, and
+Organization) to a new acronym using "Cost center, Activity, Program, Spend
+category" or... CAPS!!!
+finally all my hard work in fallout new vegas will be paying off.
+~
+Rob's Meeting Mantra:
+
+Is what I am thinking necessary to say?
+Is it necessary for this to be said by ME?
+Is it necessary for me to say this RIGHT NOW?
+
+ -- Rob Diethorn
+~
+fred's chow mantra:
+ just eat when you're hungry,
+ and be sure you're hungry and not just sating an appetite,
+ because scheduled food times are irrelevant to your body,
+ and can lead to overfeeding unless you're malnourished;
+ so let the body decide when to eat,
+ and use your brain to decide what you feed it.
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking.
+ -- Voltaire
+~
+Clear thinking requires courage rather than intelligence.
+ -- Thomas Szasz
+~
+Did you ever stop to think, and forget to start again?
+ -- Winnie the Pooh
+~
+It is well for people who think,
+to change their minds occasionally
+in order to keep them clean.
+ -- Luther Burbank
+~
+Language shapes the way we think, and determines what we can think about.
+ -- Benjamin Lee Whorf
+~
+Misery is almost always the result of thinking.
+ -- Joseph Joubert
+~
+Most of the mistakes in thinking
+are inadequacies of perception
+rather than mistakes of logic.
+ -- Edward de Bono
+~
+Thought is the blossom; language the bud; action the fruit behind it.
+ -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
+~
+What we think, we become. -- Shakyamuni Buddha
+~
+pseudo-code for our daily lives:
+
+repeat:
+ if (not one_thing) then {
+ other_thing
+ }
+:forever
+~
+U R brilliant,
+U need 2 keep working on that shine,
+U can't lord it over others,
+U R your own completeness as they are theirs.
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+and goddess said to me, she said like, "i am omni-sexual and pan-gender...
+bitches." i apologize for her language, but that's what she said.
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+
+vape temperature mantra for cannabis
+(also a haiku if you don't pronounce the numbers...)
+
+ things are tastiest,
+ celsius degrees ranging 164 -> 228,
+ dank vaporizer.
+
+ get lightly toasted 164+,
+ proceed on to half baked at 180+,
+ way fully baked at 200+.
+
+ dude, know when it's cooked,
+ never go over 230 ever,
+ we vape you long time.
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+ I found I was able to get a lot of tension off my shoulders by almost
+"outing" myself in the press in that way, in very early circumstances. So
+I wasn't going to get people crawling out the woodwork saying [seedy, muck-
+raking voice]: "I'll tell you something about David Bowie that you don't
+know..." I wasn't going to have any of that. I knew that at some point I
+was going to have to say something about my life. And, again, Ziggy enabled
+me to make things more comfortable for myself. There was an excitement that
+the age of exploration was really finally here. Which is what I was going
+through. It perfectly mirrored my lifestyle at the time. It was exactly what
+was happening to me. There was nothing that I wasn't willing to try, to
+explore and see if it was really part of my psyche or my nature. I was
+terribly exploratory in every way, not just culturally but sexually and...
+God, there was nothing I would leave alone. Like a--it's a terrible pun,
+but--like a dog with a bone, I suppose! So I buried it!
+ The quote has taken on far more in retrospect than actually it was at the
+time. I'm quite proud that I did it. On the other hand I didn't want to
+carry a banner for any group of people, and I was as worried about that as
+the aftermath. Being approached by organisations. I didn't want that. I
+didn't feel like part of a group. I didn't like that aspect of it: this is
+going to start overshadowing my writing and everything else that I do.
+But there you go.
+ -- David Bowie, in Mojo, July 2002
+~
+I am King Gesar of Ling,
+not so long ago named king
+and principal ruler of the six provinces of Ling,
+mandated by the gods to be the destined leader
+and the one to quell the demons of the dark side.
+Since I am the one entrusted with this aspiration,
+my deeds and actions must follow.
+ -- from "The Taming of the Demons: From the Epic of Gesar of Ling",
+ translated by Jane Hawes, David Shapiro, and Lama Chönam, published
+ by Shambhala Publications
+~
+ One of the stories that drew me to Zen was about how one of our Zen
+ancestors responded to both insult and praise. In this story, Hakuin Zenji
+was falsely accused of impregnating a young girl who lived in the village near
+his hermitage. When her parents and the villagers came to accuse him, he said
+merely, "Is that so?"
+ When the baby was born, Hakuin received the infant and cared for the child
+with the help of a wet nurse. Sometime later, the girl confessed to her
+parents that a village boy was the father of her child. Those who had accused
+him earlier came then to reclaim the child and to praise Hakuin.
+ In response to their praise, he simply said, again, "Is that so?"
+ -- Reb Anderson, from "Entering the Mind of Buddha: Zen and the Six Heroic
+ Practices of Bodhisattvas", published by Shambhala Publications
+~
+One day in a lecture Suzuki Roshi said, "When you see one leaf falling, you
+may say, Oh, autumn is here! One leaf is not just one leaf; it means the
+whole autumn. Here you already understand the all-pervading power of your
+practice. Your practice covers everything."
+ -- Shunryu Suzuki, from "Zen Is Right Here: Teaching Stories and Anecdotes
+ of Shunryu Suzuki, author of Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind", published by
+ Shambhala Publications
+~
+Compared with the force of the all-powerful weapons that exist today, we are
+nothing, even less than ants. And yet those weapons were not made by demons
+or aliens from another planet. They were made by humans just like me and
+you... If we ever press the red button, others will do the same. If we bomb
+them, bombs will rain on us. That's cause and effect, and it will just go
+on and on. So what can we do? Only one thing can help us: loving-kindness.
+Loving-kindness is the very foundation of a civilized world.
+ -- Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche, from "Sadness, Love, Openness: The Buddhist Path
+ of Joy", published by Shambhala Publications
+~
+may lies taste like the spawn of ash in my mouth,
+may untruths burn themselves away in the mist,
+all fabrications will shatter and ooze away,
+that the manifest truths may shine free.
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+