the drug war is a war on liberty that cannot possibly be won without the
utter removal of all rights or at least the indefinite suspension thereof.
urine testing is the best emblem of this horrible war; it makes the police
-look like a bunch of perverted piss sniffers. it is not cost effective
+look like a bunch of perverted urine sniffers. it is not cost effective
for testing large numbers of people and it is insanely easy to fake if one
wants to anyway. we need to stop the drug war and start the war on ignorance.
this ignorance is an ignorance of the REAL scientifically determined results
-- Billy Crystal
~
I just broke up with someone and the last thing she said
-to me was, 'You'll never find anyone like me again!'
+to me was, "You'll never find anyone like me again!"
I'm thinking, "I should hope not! If I don't want you,
why would I want someone like you?"
-- Larry Miller
but to be someone.
-- Coco Chanel
~
-In other words, can you forgive the people who have pissed
-you off in the past? If not, it seems like you're trapped
-in their piss. Or yours. Or something.
-~
If someone says 'can't', that shows you what to do.
-- John Cage
~
You do not have to seek out loneliness--it is always there. Egolessness is a
concept, a philosophy, but loneliness is a reality that you experience. A
feeling of loneliness is part of the journey. As for me, I feel that way
-constantly, and I think it’s a very healthy feeling, a very real feeling.
+constantly, and I think it's a very healthy feeling, a very real feeling.
When you sense that you are not you anymore and that nothing can replace that
state, you begin to make discoveries. You discover devotion, and you discover
a quality of richness and artistic expression that is very special. Being
you, but not being you, is very resourceful. You become a complete mountain
-man: you know how to make fire and cook food. But it doesn’t mean anything.
+man: you know how to make fire and cook food. But it doesn't mean anything.
You are still nobody. That is the inspiration.
-- Chögyam Trungpa, "The Profound Treasury of the Ocean of Dharma, Volume
One: The Individual Path of Liberation"
Your own mind are the unique primary reality.
They cannot be conceptualized according to
the cause and effect systems of thought.
- Investigate your mind’s real nature
+ Investigate your mind's real nature
So that your pure and total presence will
actually shine forth.
his disciple Depa Wangpo on what to adopt and what to reject regarding
attitude and conduct...
- Don’t harm your friends and neighbors; help them.
- Don’t be stingy; use your wealth for offerings and charity.
- Don’t let your body be idle; do prostrations and circumambulations.
- Don’t let your mouth be idle; recite the mani mantra.
+ Don't harm your friends and neighbors; help them.
+ Don't be stingy; use your wealth for offerings and charity.
+ Don't let your body be idle; do prostrations and circumambulations.
+ Don't let your mouth be idle; recite the mani mantra.
Always have pure thoughts towards others.
In brief, keeping Death in mind, practice the sacred Dharma.
-- Shabkar Natshok Rangdrol, in "The Life of Shabkar"
~
-On the very night of Dodrupchen’s death, his spiritual testament was
+On the very night of Dodrupchen's death, his spiritual testament was
received by his principal disciple, Do Khyentse. Dodrupchen appeared in the
sky in a radiant light body and an attire of lights. He was floating on a
carpet of light, which was held up by four dakinis. In a very enchanting
When thoughts arise, rest naturally.
When dreaming, be mindful without corrupting it.
-When in the pardo, don’t control, but be aware.
+When in the pardo, don't control, but be aware.
When there is fruition, let it arise without obscuration.
-- from "The Life of Marpa the Translator" translated by Chögyam Trungpa
dictated by your previous actions.
For these reasons, you should exert yourself by whatever means necessary to
free yourself from samsara, which is nothing but a vast ocean of suffering!
-Practice your teacher’s guidance concerning what to do and what to give up
+Practice your teacher's guidance concerning what to do and what to give up
to the letter, without falling under the influence of immature friends or bad
influences. To the best of your ability, incorporate this genuine teaching on
the certainty of death into each and every day.
Keeping all this in mind, arouse faith in the Three Jewels so that you will
-be able to practice in this manner, thinking to yourself, “Think of me,
-Three Jewels!” At the same time, be sure to generate an intense sense of
+be able to practice in this manner, thinking to yourself, "Think of me,
+Three Jewels!" At the same time, be sure to generate an intense sense of
renunciation and subdue your mind stream.
-- from "Entrance to the Great Perfection: A Guide to the Dzogchen
Preliminary Practices", edited and translated by Cortland Dahl
+~
+I would like to mention my visit to Lourdes as a pilgrim. There, in front of
+the cave, I experienced something very special. I felt a spiritual vibration,
+a kind of spiritual presence there. And then, in front of the image of the
+Virgin Mary, I prayed. I expressed my admiration for this holy place that has
+long been a source of inspiration and strength, that has provided spiritual
+solace, comfort and healing to millions of people. And I prayed that this may
+continue for a long time to come. My prayer there was not directed to any
+clearly defined object, like Buddha or Jesus Christ or a bodhisattva, but was
+simply directed to all great beings who have infinite compassion towards all
+sentient beings.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
+~
+The Buddhist teaching is superior in four ways: view, meditation, behavior,
+and fruit.
+
+1. The "four seals" that distinguish the [Buddhist] view are as follows: all
+composed phenomena are impermanent, all contaminated things are miserable, all
+phenomena are selfless, and nirvana is peace.
+
+2. Buddhist meditation serves as an antidote to all cyclic existence within
+the three realms.
+
+3. Buddhist behavior is free from the two extremes, having abandoned both the
+extreme of overindulgence of desire, which is a case of being desirous and
+wanting good and great quantities of food and clothing, and the extreme of
+being too tired and worn out in body and mind.
+
+4. The fruits are the true cessations, which are abandonments such that the
+obstruction that is removed does not arise again [and which comes about]
+through analyzing individually the nonexistence of the referent object of the
+conception of self.
+
+These four [view, meditation, behavior, and fruit] are the distinguishing
+features of Buddhist doctrine.
+ -- Jamyang Shayba, from "Buddhist Philosophy: Losang Gonchok's Short
+ Commentary to Jamyang Shayba's Root Text on Tenets", by Daniel Cozort
+ and Craig Preston, page 88.
+~
+When you are busy and preoccupied, you feel hassled by your own existence.
+You are so busy that you think that you do not have any time to spare for your
+practice. Such torment and busyness seem to be monumental or historic, but
+that is not the case. As far as we are concerned, that kind of torment is
+absolutely ordinary. As you begin to work on that, you realize that the
+inconvenience, discomfort, and anguish that you experience is no more than
+anybody else experiences. So your experience is no longer regarded as
+monumental—no more than if you step on a cat's tail, and the cat cries
+out, "Wooaaaoow!" However, it is still a problematic situation. Therefore
+you need to practice the paramita of discipline, which overcomes that type of
+preoccupation altogether. You begin to realize that preoccupations are
+garbage; they are worth flushing out so that something real could come up.
+Then paramita activity begins to make sense, and you begin to act in a more
+genuine way.
+ -- Chögyam Trungpa, from "The Profound Treasury of the Ocean of Dharma.
+ Volume Two: The Bodhisattva Path of Wisdom and Compassion"
+~
+If we unbalance nature, humankind will suffer. Furthermore, we must consider
+future generations: a clean environment is a human right like any other. It
+is therefore part of our responsibility toward others to ensure that the world
+we pass on is as healthy as, if not healthier than, we found it. This is not
+quite such a difficult proposition as it might sound. For although there is a
+limit to what we as individuals can do, there is no limit to what a universal
+response might achieve. It is up to us as individuals to do what we can,
+however little that may be. Just because switching off the light on leaving
+the room seems inconsequential, it does not mean we shouldn't do it.
+ -- His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, from "The Pocket Dalai Lama"
+~
+Basically we are trying to put a stop to frivolity of any kind. Frivolity is
+an interesting word. It can mean being crazy and indulging unnecessarily in a
+very crude fashion, but it could also mean indulging in something in the name
+of humor and overdoing it slightly. If you are embarrassed to deal with a
+particular subject, you find another subject to discuss. If you are tired of
+drinking vodka, you switch to sake. If you are bored with talking to one
+person, you switch to somebody else. Frivolity is anything that creates
+further confusion, or the longing for further confusion. Confusion may seem
+luxurious: when you no longer have it, you begin to miss that confusion, and
+you would like to re-create it. It is like going back to an adult bookshop
+and getting more magazines. But with discipline, you control any form of
+potential escape from reality.
+ -- Chögyam Trungpa, from "The Profound Treasury of the Ocean of Dharma.
+ Volume Two: The Bodhisattva Path of Wisdom and Compassion"
+~
+ The essence of all the songs can be epitomized by the four dharmas of
+Gampopa. These are: (1) one’s mind becomes dharmic; (2) that dharma
+practice becomes path; (3) in following that path, confusion is removed; (4)
+having removed confusion, everything dawns as wisdom.
+ The first dharma is the ground, where our mind becomes dharmic so that we
+and the dharma are no longer separate entities. We develop true renunciation
+and have a sense of revulsion towards samsara. The second dharma is the path.
+When our mind goes along with the dharma, the dharma becomes the path, and any
+obstacles, whether extreme or ordinary, become a part of our journey. The
+third dharma is the fruition. As the journey is taking place, the process of
+the journey liberates us from confusion and anxiety. We are delighted by our
+journey and we feel it is good. The fourth dharma is the total vision. When
+we are able to overcome confusion and anxiety, even our anxiety is not
+regarded as anti-dharma or anti-path. Cosmic wakefulness takes place.
+ -- Chögyam Trungpa's in the foreword to "The Rain of Wisdom: The Essence of
+ the Ocean of True Meaning"
+~
+Scrutinize Apperances
+
+No matter what our mind makes appear as an object of one of our six
+collections of consciousness—sights, sounds, smells, tastes, tactile or
+bodily sensations, or mental objects or events—we thoroughly scrutinize its
+mode of appearance. Our mind is making it appear as though its existence were
+established by virtue of itself, empowered by some truly and inherently
+existent self-nature—and not by virtue simply of mental labeling
+establishing its existence as what can be labeled "this" or "that"
+from this side. We thoroughly scrutinize this mode of appearance and the mode
+of existence it implies. There does appear to be something solidly there, not
+existing as what it is by virtue simply of mental labeling, but by virtue of
+itself, independently of anything else. But, by reminding ourselves that it
+does not exist as it appears to exist—by being mindful that its existence
+and identity are not established through its own power—we automatically
+reconfirm and become even stronger in our conviction in its bare mode of
+existence. In other words, as the text [the First Panchen Lama’s A Root
+Text for the Precious Gelug/Kagyu Tradition of Mahamudra] says, "[You
+experience] their bare mode of existence dawning in an exposed, resplendent
+manner."
+ -- His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, from "The Gelug/Kagyu Tradition
+ of Mahamudra"
+~
+The dakini principle must not be oversimplified, as it carries many levels of
+meaning. On an outer level, accomplished female practitioners were called
+dakinis.... But ultimately, though she appears in female form, a dakini
+defies gender definitions. “To really meet the dakini, you have to go
+beyond duality,” Khandro Rinpoche teaches, referring to an essential
+understanding in Vajrayana that the absolute reality cannot be grasped
+intellectually. The Tibetan word for dakini, khandro, means “sky-goer” or
+“space-dancer,” which indicates that these ethereal awakened ones have
+left the confinements of solid earth and have the vastness of open space to
+play in.
+ -- Michaela Haas, from "Dakini Power: Twelve Extraordinary Women Shaping the
+ Transmission of Tibetan Buddhism in the West"
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