the full realization of our intrinsic nature. In Tibetan, buddha is sang
gyay. Sang means that all of the faults have been cleared away, while gyay
means "full realization"; just as from darkness, the moon waxes, likewise
-from ignorance, the qualities of the mind’s intrinsic nature emerge.
+from ignorance, the qualities of the mind's intrinsic nature emerge.
-- Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche
~
The fundamental teaching of the Buddha is that we should view others as being
from harming them. We must not cheat others or lie to them. We must be
honest human beings, sincere human beings.
-- H.H. the Dalai Lama
+~
+ How things appear and how they actually exist differ greatly. A person
+engaging in practice of the perfection of wisdom does this kind of analysis
+and then examines how things appear in ordinary experience, alternating
+analysis and comparison with the usual mode of appearance in order to notice
+the discrepancy between the actual mode of subsistence of phenomena and their
+appearance.
+ In this way the inherent existence which is the object of negation will
+become clearer and clearer. As much as the object of negation becomes
+clearer, so much deeper will your understanding of emptiness become. Finally,
+you will ascertain a mere vacuity that is a negative of inherent existence.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
+~
+ Three attitudes prevent us from receiving a continual flow of blessings.
+They are compared to three "pots": a full pot, a pot with poison in it,
+and a pot with a hole in the bottom.
+ The pot that's filled to the brim is like a mind full of opinions and
+preconceptions. We already know it all. We have so many fixed ideas that
+nothing new can affect us or cause us to question our assumptions.
+ The pot containing poison is like a mind that's so cynical, critical, and
+judgmental that everything is poisoned by this harshness. It allows for no
+openness and no willingness to explore the teachings or anything else that
+challenges our righteous stance.
+ The pot with a hole is like a distracted mind: our body is present but
+we're lost in thought. We're so busy thinking about our dream vacation or
+what's for dinner that we're completely deaf to what's being said.
+ Knowing how sad it is to receive blessings and not be able to benefit,
+Shantideva wants to save himself grief by remaining open and attentive.
+Nothing will improve, he says, unless we become more intelligent about cause
+and effect. This is a message worth considering seriously.
+ -- Pema Chödrön, from "No Time to Lose: A Timely Guide to the Way of the
+ Bodhisattva".
+~
+ Shantideva cites three benefits of pain. First, it is valuable because
+through sorrow, pride is driven out. No matter how arrogant and condescending
+we've been, great suffering can humble us. The pain of a serious illness or
+loss of a loved one can be transformative, softening us and making us less
+self-centered.
+ The second benefit of pain is empathy: the compassion felt for those who
+wander in samsara. Our personal suffering brings compassion for others in the
+same situation. A young woman was telling me that when her baby died, she
+felt a deep connection to all the other parents who had lost children. This
+was, as she put it, the unexpected blessing of her sorrow.
+ The third value of suffering is that evil is avoided and goodness seems
+delightful. When we practice according to Shantideva's instructions, we can
+get smarter about cause and result. Based on this understanding, we'll have
+less inclination to cause harm, and more desire to gather virtue and benefit
+others.
+ -- Pema Chödrön, from "No Time to Lose: A Timely Guide to the Way of the
+ Bodhisattva"
+~
+ Since emptiness, from between positive and negative phenomena, is a negative
+phenomenon and, from between affirming negatives and non-affirming negatives,
+is a non-affirming negative, when it appears to the mind, nothing will appear
+except an absence of such inherent existence—a mere elimination of the
+object of negation. Thus, for the mind of a person realizing emptiness there
+is no sense of, "I am ascertaining emptiness," and there is no thought,
+"This is emptiness." If you had such a sense, emptiness would become
+distant. Nevertheless, the emptiness of inherent existence is ascertained and
+realized.
+ After such realization, even though whatever phenomena appear appear to
+exist in their own right, you understand that they do not exist that way. You
+have a sense that they are like a magician's illusions in that there is a
+combination of their appearing one way but actually existing another way.
+Though they appear to exist inherently, you understand that they are empty of
+inherent existence.
+ When phenomena are seen this way, the conceptions that superimpose a sense
+of goodness or badness on phenomena beyond what is actually there and serve as
+a basis for generating desire and hatred lessen; this is because they are
+based on the misconception that phenomena are established in their own right.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
+~
+ Rely on timeless awareness, which is free of elaboration, without
+ identity, and the very essence of being;
+ do not rely on ordinary consciousness, which is a mind fixated
+ on characteristics and concepts.
+
+ Timeless awareness entails (a) understanding that the way in which phenomena
+actually abide is, from the ultimate perspective, free of all limitations
+imposed by elaborations of origination, cessation, and so forth; (b)
+realization of the nonexistence of the two kinds of identity; and (c) unerring
+knowledge of sugatagarbha as utter lucidity, the way in which things actually
+abide, beyond any context of speculative value judgments. It is on this
+awareness that one should rely.
+ Ordinary consciousness entails (a) belief that what one immediately
+perceives constitutes something truly existent; (b) conceptualization in terms
+of characteristics, such as the sense of personal identity and the mind-body
+aggregates; and (c) mental states that are conditioned, for example, by
+attitudes of naively fixating on the pleasures of the senses. One should not
+rely on such consciousness.
+ -- Jamgön Kongtrül Lodro Taye, from "The Treasury of Knowledge: Book Seven
+ and Book Eight, Parts One and Two"
+~
+ Such is the process of karma: it is ineluctable; its results are greatly
+magnified; actions not committed have no effect; and the effects of actions
+committed never expire on their own.
+ Generally speaking, whether you are an ordinary mortal individual or a
+spiritually advanced being, all positive experiences that carry with them any
+pleasant sensation—down to even the slightest pleasure caused by a cool
+breeze for beings reborn in a hell realm—occur due to positive karma
+reinforced in the past; it is not in accord with the nature of things that
+happiness be due to negative karma. And all negative experiences that carry
+with them any unpleasant sensation—down to even the slightest suffering that
+could occur in the experience of an arhat—occur due to negative karma one
+has reinforced in the past; for it is not in accord with the nature of things
+that suffering be due to positive karma.
+ -- Jamgön Kongtrül Lodro Taye, from "The Treasury of Knowledge: Book Seven
+ and Book Eight, Parts One and Two"
+~
+ "That which is seen and that which is touched are of a dream-like and
+ illusion-like nature. Because feeling arises together with the mind,
+ it is not [ultimately] perceived." --Shantideva
+
+ There is nothing whatever that has a true mode of existence. Nevertheless,
+this does not suggest that a person who experiences feelings and the feelings
+themselves—pleasant and unpleasant—are utterly non-existent. They do
+exist, but in an untrue fashion. Thus, the things that we see and touch have
+a dream-like and illusion-like quality.
+ In the second line the author refutes the true existence of the mind that
+experiences feelings. Since feelings arise in conjunction with the mind,
+feelings are not perceived by the mind that is simultaneous with them. There
+must be a causal relationship between the experienced object and the
+experiencing subject. If two entities are substantially distinct and exist
+simultaneously, there could be neither a causal relationship nor an identity
+relationship between them.
+ For this reason the author denies that either [intrinsic] relationship could
+hold for the feelings and the awareness that is simultaneous with them. Two
+mental events that arise in conjunction with each other are not able to
+apprehend one another. This holds true for all states of awareness. Thus,
+feelings are not observed by the awareness that arises in conjunction with
+them and that exists simultaneously with them.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
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