Distinctions such as large and small
Have relevance for you no more.
~
-The largest is the smallest too-
+The largest is the smallest too;
Here limitations have no place.
~
-What is is not, what is not is-
+What is is not, what is not is;
If this is not yet clear to you,
You're still far from the inner truth.
~
just do this and I'll get back to killing you with beer.
-- Homer Simpson
~
-You can't be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline --
+You can't be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline;
it helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear
weapons, but at the very least you need a beer.
-- Frank Zappa
boiled sweet on a rush hour train. They were crushing everybody in the
carriage until a passenger stabbed them with a pencil."
~
-Kindness cannot be taught by harshness --
+Kindness cannot be taught by harshness--
not by any amount of harshness.
-- Raymond M. Smullyan / The Tao is Silent
~
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
of finding pattern in creative activity, that few would even seek it. If
one looks not at science and art, but at scientists and artists, one finds a
reflection of this divide. Two populations that overlap only a little,
-convergent thinkers and divergent thinkers, specialists and generalists --
+convergent thinkers and divergent thinkers, specialists and generalists--
these labels reflect the differences of which we speak...
While science has enlarged its past horizons beyond order and symmetry
to embrace diversity and unpredictability, the humanities have yet to
-- Colin Powell's autobiography, "My American Journey" (Ballantine, 1996)
~
In the past fifteen years one big American company after another has
-done this [i.e., downsized itself] -- among them IBM, Sears, and GM. Each
+done this [i.e., downsized itself]--among them IBM, Sears, and GM. Each
first announced that laying off 10,000 or 20,000 or even 50,000 people would
lead to an immediate turnaround. A year later there had, of course, been no
-turnaround, and the company laid off another 10,000 or 20,000 or 50,000 --
+turnaround, and the company laid off another 10,000 or 20,000 or 50,000--
again without results. In many if not most cases, downsizing has turned out
to be something that surgeons have warned against: 'amputation before
diagnosis.' The result is always a casualty.
- But there have been a few organizations -- some large companies (GE,
-for instance) and a few hospitals (Beth Israel in Boston, for instance) --
+ But there have been a few organizations--some large companies (GE,
+for instance) and a few hospitals (Beth Israel in Boston, for instance)--
that quietly, and without fanfare, did turn themselves around, by rethinking
themselves. They did not start out by downsizing. If fact, they knew that
to start by reducing expenditures is not the way to get control of costs.
every program, every activity should be confronted with these questions:
'What is your mission?' 'Is it still the right mission?' 'Is it still
worth doing?' 'If we were not already doing this, would we go into it now?'
-This questioning has been done often enough in all kinds of organizations --
-businesses, hospitals, churches, an even local governments -- that we know
+This questioning has been done often enough in all kinds of organizations--
+businesses, hospitals, churches, an even local governments--that we know
it works.
The overall answer is almost never 'This is fine as it stands; let's
-keep on.' But in some -- indeed, a good many -- areas, the answer to the
+keep on.' But in some--indeed, a good many--areas, the answer to the
last question is 'Yes, we should go into this again, but with some changes.
We have learned a few things.'
-- Peter F. Drucker, from "Managing in a Time of Great Change,"
~
A most nerve-wracking confirmation of this came some time ago during
an interview with the producer and the writer of the TV mini-series 'Peter
-the Great.' Defending the historical inaccuracies in the drama -- which
-included a fabricated meeting between Peter and Sir Isaac Newton -- the
+the Great.' Defending the historical inaccuracies in the drama--which
+included a fabricated meeting between Peter and Sir Isaac Newton--the
producer said that no one would watch a dry, historically faithful
biography. The writer added that it is better for audiences to learn
something that is untrue, if it is entertaining, than not to learn anything
-- LinuxToday
~
Even if something new does not require a disruption of the old, there
-is no space. People, time and resources are fully stretched -- in many
+is no space. People, time and resources are fully stretched--in many
cases there is actually a cutting-back in resources.
The paradox is that as we advance into the future the need for change
gets greater and greater (to cope with changes in population, pollution,
The four years passed at college were, for his purposes, wasted.
Harvard College was a good school, but at bottom what the boy
disliked most was any school at all. He did not want to be one in a
-hundred -- one percent of an education. He regarded himself as the
+hundred--one percent of an education. He regarded himself as the
only person for whom his education had value, and he wanted the whole
of it. He got barely half of an average.
Long afterwards, when the devious path of life led him back to
[medieval history], he diverted some dreary hours of faculty meetings
by looking up his record in the class-lists, and found himself graded
precisely in the middle. In the one branch he most needed --
-mathematics -- barring the few first scholars, failure was so nearly
+mathematics--barring the few first scholars, failure was so nearly
universal that no attempt at grading could have had value, and
whether he stood fortieth or ninetieth must have been an accident or
the personal favor of the professor. Here his education failed
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
~
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"
+~
+Drawing from Longchenpa, Jamgon Kongtrul explains the method of awakening in
+the Dzog-chen system, calling it the “Liberation as Ever-Perfect,” as the
+primordial buddha Samantabhadra... Liberation as Ever-Perfect does not refer
+to the liberation of a buddha that has occurred in the past, such as that of
+Buddha Sakyamuni, but to the way in which countless beings are liberated right
+now and will continue to be liberated in the future simply by realizing their
+primordial purity. The basis, the path, and the ultimate result in this
+system are all of a singular, undifferentiated nature: total, pure awareness.
+Thus, the primordial freedom that one seeks to attain by practicing the
+spiritual path is something that one already possesses. Intrinsic freedom is
+itself the path that leads to the actualization of the goal.
+ -- from the Translator's Introduction, "The Treasury of Knowledge: Book One,
+ Myriad Worlds", by Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Taye
+~
+ If we realize, “I am a human being. A human being can do anything,”
+this determination, courage, and self-confidence are important sources of
+victory and success. Without will power and determination, even something
+that you might have achieved easily cannot be achieved. If you have will
+power and reasonable courage—not blind courage but courage without
+pride—even things that seemed impossible at a certain stage turn into being
+possible because of continuing effort inspired by that courage. Thus,
+determination is important.
+ How can this be developed? Not through machines, not by money, but by our
+own inner strength based on clear realization of the value of human beings, of
+human dignity. For, once we realize that a human being is much more than just
+material, much more than just money, we can feel the importance of human life,
+from which we can feel the importance of compassion and kindness.
+ Human beings by nature want happiness and do not want suffering. With that
+feeling everyone tries to achieve happiness and tries to get rid of suffering,
+and everyone has the basic right to do this. In this way, all here are the
+same, whether rich or poor, educated or uneducated, Easterner or Westerner,
+believer or nonbeliever, and within believers whether Buddhist, Christian,
+Jewish, Muslim, and so on. Basically, from the viewpoint of real human value
+we are all the same.
+ -- His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, from "Kindness, Clarity, and Insight"
+~
+Pete's Song:
+My fur reeks like
+Racoon dead six weeks.
+Feed me!
+~
+The Epic of Gesar
+
+Through aspiration prayers and arousing bodhicitta, for the noble families the
+time had come to tame the māras and cannibal demons of Tibet, and resounding
+as self-arising formless sound from the sky was this song, which invokes the
+enlightened mindstreams [of all the sages]:
+
+ E MA HO
+ Unborn primordially empty dharmadhatu,
+ Unobstructed ground for the arising of phenomena,
+ The strength of emptiness free from the extremes of existing or not,
+ Listen to this song, a self-arising spontaneously present song.
+
+ Without considering the six grains of the three months of autumn,
+ Why toil in the fields in the three months of spring?
+ Without considering the abundance of the plunder,
+ Why wave your arms to summon enemies and disputes?
+ Without considering the benefit of others,
+ Why single-pointedly practice to try to accomplish enlightenment?
+
+ Failing to know the minds of those to be tamed, one is not a buddha.
+ Failing to fulfill the welfare of others is not the sacred dharma.
+ Failing to lead others to liberation is not the sangha.
+
+ -- from The Epic of Gesar of Ling, "Gesar’s Birth and Childhood"
+~
+When we meditate I encourage all of us to have the attitude that we are
+meditating to dissolve the self. That’s why we meditate. Hold this
+perspective in your awareness and let your dualistic mind dissolve for at
+least a half hour, or at least for ten minutes every day. When you allow
+yourself to witness that unexpected glimpse of the truth, where the self is
+dissolved, it’s like drinking nectar. It’s inexpressible. We often use
+the word bliss to describe that state. Bliss is a good word, but it can be
+misunderstood. The bliss that I am speaking about has nothing to do with
+ordinary bliss. It’s not like the bliss of having great food or other
+sensual pleasure. This is nonconceptual bliss that is not based on emotions
+but is based on awareness. We often say that realizing the true nature of who
+we are is like drinking the nectar of ultimate bliss. The more we drink, the
+more we are going to be addicted, which is very good.
+ -- Anam Thubten, "No Self, No Problem: Awakening to Our True Nature"
+~
+ Why is a man condemned to death not fortunate
+ If he is released after having his hand cut off?
+ Why am I who am experiencing human misery not fortunate
+ If by that I am spared from (the agonies of) hell?
+
+ If I am unable to endure
+ Even the mere sufferings of the present,
+ Then why do I not restrain myself from being angry,
+ Which will be the source of hellish misery?
+
+ In these two verses [from The Way of the Bodhisattva], Shantideva explains
+that by not being angry and developing hatred in response to harm caused by
+others, what one is gaining is protection from potential undesirable
+consequences that might otherwise come about. Because if one responds to such
+situations with anger and hatred, not only does it not protect one from the
+injury that has already been done, but on top of that one creates an
+additional cause for one’s own suffering in the future. However, if one
+responds without anger and hatred and develops patience and tolerance, then
+although one many face temporary discomfort or injury, that temporary
+suffering will protect one from potentially dangerous consequences in the
+future. If this is the case, then by sacrificing small things, by putting up
+with small problems or hardships, one will be able to forgo experiences of
+much greater suffering in the future.
+ An example Shantideva uses here is that if a convicted prisoner can save his
+life by sacrificing his arm as a punishment, wouldn’t that person feel
+grateful for that opportunity? By accepting the pain and suffering of having
+his arm cut off, that person will be saving himself from death, which is a
+greater suffering. Shantideva adds that there is another advantage: not only
+will one be protected from potentially dangerous consequences in the future,
+but also by experiencing the pain and suffering which has been caused
+temporarily by others, one is exhausting the karmic potentials of negative
+karma which one has accumulated in the past. So it serves two purposes.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, from "Healing Anger: The Power of Patience from a
+ Buddhist Perspective"
+~
+The Fifth Dalai Lama (1617–1682) was perhaps the most mystical of all the
+Dalai Lamas in that he seemed to spend much of his time in a state of trance.
+During these trances many gurus of past ages, as well as mandala deities,
+buddhas, and bodhisattvas, would appear directly to him and give him secret
+transmissions, initiations, and teachings. As the Thirteenth Dalai Lama says
+of the Great Fifth later in this chapter, he “was continually absorbed in
+the wisdom dance that experiences all appearances as pure vision.”
+ -- Glenn H. Mullin, from "From the Heart of Chenrezig: The Dalai Lamas on
+ Tantra"
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