-- Khenchen Palden Sherab Rinpoche and Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal Rinpoche,
"The Buddhist Path: A Practical Guide from the Nyingma Tradition of
Tibetan Buddhism", published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ In order for the wisdom of special insight to remove impediments to proper
+understanding, and to remove faulty mental states at their very roots, we need
+concentrated meditation, a state of complete single-mindedness in which all
+internal distractions have been removed.
+ Single-minded meditation involves removing subtle internal distractions such
+as the mind's being either too relaxed or too tight. To do so we must first
+stop external distractions through training in the morality of maintaining
+mindfulness and conscientiousness with regard to physical and verbal
+activities--being constantly aware of what you are doing with your body and
+your speech. Without overcoming these obvious distractions, it is impossible
+to overcome subtler internal distractions. Since it is through sustaining
+mindfulness that you achieve a calm abiding of the mind, the practice of
+morality must precede the practice of concentrated meditation.(p.23)
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "How to Practice: The Way to a Meaningful Life",
+ translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins
+~
+ Buddha means one who is fully enlightened. In other words, a buddha has
+fully awakened from the sleep of delusion. He is free from all obscurations,
+both gross and subtle, and has revealed the two intrinsic wisdom awarenesses.
+Buddhahood is the spontaneously established, uncompounded nature that does not
+depend on any other conditions. A buddha has perfect wisdom, has perfectly
+accomplished the nature of compassion, and has every ability to manifest all
+excellent activities.
+ There are many buddhas in the past, present, and future. In fact, there are
+as many buddhas as there are particles of dust. Basically, the term buddha
+refers to anyone whose mind is fully awakened and who is free from all
+suffering and its causes. When we point to Buddha Shakyamuni as a buddha, he
+is an example of this. A buddha has four forms, all of which emanate from the
+dharmakaya:
+ 1. Nirmanakaya is a buddha who has emanated in a physical form. A
+nirmanakaya can emanate anywhere as anything animate or inanimate--as a human
+being, an animal, or even a bridge, if necessary...
+ 2. Sambhogakaya is the expression of the complete, perfect manifestation
+of the Buddha's excellent, infinite qualities, called the enjoyment body--
+splendid and glorious. All the buddhas appear and manifest in the limitless
+buddha fields in this form...
+ 3. Dharmakaya is one's own perfection, fully free from all delusion and
+suffering. It is infinite and transcends all boundaries...
+ 4. Svabhavikakaya is the indivisible nature of the other three forms.(p.165)
+ -- Khenchen Konchog Gyaltshen, "A Complete Guide to the Buddhist Path",
+ edited by Khenmo Trinlay Chodron, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Boundless joy is the joy you should feel when you see gifted and learned
+beings who are happy, famous or influential. Instead of feeling uneasy and
+envious of their good fortune, rejoice sincerely, thinking, "May they continue
+to be happy and enjoy even more happiness!" Pray too that they may use their
+wealth and power to help others, to serve the Dharma and the Sangha, making
+offerings, building monasteries, propagating the teachings and performing
+other worthwhile deeds. Rejoice and make a wish: "May they never lost all
+their happiness and privileges. May their happiness increase more and more,
+and may they use it to benefit others and to further the teachings."
+ Pray that your mind may be filled with boundless equanimity, loving-
+kindness, compassion and joy--as boundless as a Bodhisattva's. If you do so,
+genuine bodhichitta will certainly grow within you.
+ The reason these four qualities are boundless, or immeasurable, is that
+their object--the totality of sentient beings--is boundless; their benefit--
+the welfare of all beings--is boundless; and also their fruit--the qualities
+of enlightenment--is boundless. They are immeasurable like the sky, and they
+are the true root of enlightenment.(p.49)
+ -- Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, "The Excellent Path to Enlightenment",
+ translated and edited by The Padmakara Translation Group, published by
+ Snow Lion Publications
+~
+Regarding an online merchant... I think I have bought a couple things from
+them before, and my "cornholio sense" is not tingling (a power I got from
+being bitten by a radioactive asshole), so I don't think they were jerks when
+I used them last time.
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+ External circumstances are not what draw us into suffering. Suffering is
+caused and permitted by an untamed mind. The appearance of self-defeating
+emotions in our minds leads us to faulty actions. The naturally pure mind is
+covered over by these emotions and troubling conceptions. The force of their
+deceit pushes us into faulty actions, which leads inevitably to suffering.
+ We need, with great awareness and care, to extinguish these problematic
+attitudes, the way gathering clouds dissolve back into the sphere of the sky.
+When our self-defeating attitudes, emotions, and conceptions cease, so will
+the harmful actions arising from them.
+ As the great Tibetan yogi Milarepa says, "When arising, arising within space
+itself; when dissolving, dissolving back into space." We need to become
+familiar with the state of our own minds to understand how to dissolve ill-
+founded ideas and impulses back into the deeper sphere of reality. The sky
+was there before the clouds gathered, and it will be after they have gone. It
+is also present when the clouds seem to cover every inch of the sky we can
+see.(p.22)
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "How to Expand Love: Widening the Circle of Loving
+ Relationships", translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins
+~
+ Usually the reason that we can't experience transcendent bliss is because
+our consciousness is actually chained by the illusion called "I." It is
+chained because this concept literally ties our consciousness to the prison of
+duality, the prison of concepts and ideas. What most people experience is
+that their consciousness is chained by that illusion.
+ But now and then there are people who find the so-called spiritual path.
+This is another quite strange and sneaky way that ego can actually keep
+binding our consciousness once again to another form of prison, the prison of
+duality, the prison of concepts and ideas. Transcendent bliss comes from
+breaking every chain.
+ Breaking all chains, losing every concept, every idea, sounds very
+frightening to the ego's mind. But actually when we let go of every concept,
+we land on this infinite ground of eternal bliss, and that bliss is not some
+kind of religious or mystical experience, some altered state of consciousness.
+That bliss is not the result of doing something to our consciousness, rather
+it is the pure state of our consciousness.(p.74)
+ -- Anam Thubten, "The Magic of Awareness", edited by Sharon Roe, published
+ by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ The all-base consciousness* works like a savings bank. Continuously money
+is paid into the bank and continuously it is taken out again. In the same way
+karmic imprints are absorbed by the all-base, are stored there, and can
+therefore be brought forth again.
+ Learning, for example, occurs through the mind consciousness. The mind
+consciousness itself vanishes. Nevertheless, on the next day we have a memory
+of what we learned. At this time of remembrance, the mind consciousness of
+what we learned is no longer actually present, since it has ceased to exist.
+Yet, still we did not forget what we learned previously. What we learned was
+seized by the all-base in the form of karmic imprints, and stored. Due to the
+'all-base of complete ripening' these imprints can be re-awakened, so that the
+mind consciousness perceives them afresh. This is why we learn things. It is
+similar with strong mental afflictions.
+ ...The example of the savings bank is particularly effective, especially in
+the context of karmic actions. Whoever puts money into the bank can get it
+out again later, often including interest!(p.37)
+
+* The all-base consciousness is the general basis for the whole mind, all
+aspects of the mind.
+
+ -- Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, "Everyday Consciousness and Primordial
+ Awareness", translated and edited by Susanne Schefczyk, published by
+ Snow Lion Publications
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