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-~
- Why E-Mail Is Like a Penis?
- * In the long-distant past, its only purpose was to transmit information
- considered vital to the survival of the species. Some people still
- think that's the only thing it should be used for, but most folks today
- use it for fun most of the time.
- * It has no conscience and no memory. Left to its own devices, it will
- just do the same damn dumb things it did before.
- * It provides a way to interact with other people. Some people take this
- interaction very seriously, others treat it as a lark. Sometimes it's
- hard to tell what kind of person you're dealing with until it's too
- late.
- * If you don't apply the appropriate protective measures, it can spread
- viruses.
- * It has no brain of its own. Instead, it uses yours. If you use it too
- much, you'll find it becomes more and more difficult to think
- coherently.
- * We attach an importance to it that is far greater than its actual size
- and influence warrant.
- * If you're not careful what you do with it, it can get you in big
- trouble.
- * It has its own agenda. Somehow, no matter how good your intentions, it
- will warp your behavior. Later you may ask yourself "why on earth did
- I do that?"
- * Some folks have it, some don't.
- Those who have it would be devastated if it were ever cut off. They
- think that those who don't have it are somehow inferior. They think it
- gives them power. They are wrong.
- Those who don't have it may agree that it's a nifty toy, but think it's
- not worth the fuss that those who do have it make about it. Still, many
- of those who don't have it would like to try it.
- * Once you've started playing with it, it's hard to stop. Some people
- would just play with it all day if they didn't have work to do.
- Thank you, please come again.
~
_
_|_|_
up close, all beady little eyes.
-- Mignon McLaughlin, The Second Neurotic's Notebook, 1966
~
-Evolution is individual -devolution is collective.
+Evolution is individual--devolution is collective.
-- Martin H. Fischer
~
I think I could turn and live with animals, they are so placid and self-
-- Geshe Gedun Lodro, "Calm Abiding and Special Insight: Achieving Spiritual
Transformation Through Meditation", translated and edited by Jeffrey
Hopkins, published by Snow Lion Publications
+~
+ Nature's law dictates that, in order to survive, bees must work together.
+As a result, they instinctively possess a sense of social responsibility.
+They have no constitution, no law, no police, no religion or moral training,
+but because of their nature, they labor faithfully together. Occasionally,
+they may fight, but in general, based on cooperation, the whole colony
+survives.
+ We human beings have a constitution, laws and a police force. We have
+religion, remarkable intelligence and a heart with a great capacity for love.
+We have many extraordinary qualities, but in actual practice, I think we are
+lagging behind those small insects. In some respects I feel we are poorer
+than the bees.
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "The Pocket Dalai Lama", compiled and edited by
+ Mary Craig
+~
+ Nagarjuna offers us encouragement in terms of someone of modest potential
+accomplishing the practice, in verse 116:
+
+ And even those who realized the truth
+ Did not fall from the heavens, nor emerge
+ Like crops of corn from earth's dark depths, but once
+ Were ruled by kleshas and were ordinary men.
+
+ Not one of all the sublime beings who have appeared--individuals who had
+direct realization of the Dharma of the four truths--was already a sublime
+being right from the beginning: they did not fall from the sky, nor did they
+emerge from the darkness of the earth like a crop. In the past they were
+subject to afflictive emotions ['kleshas']--they were ordinary people
+dominated by the afflictive emotions. They are therefore worth following as
+an example for accomplishing the path.(p.150)
+ -- Nagarjuna, "Nagarjuna's Letter to a Friend: with Commentary by Kangyur
+ Rinpoche", with commentary by Longchen Yeshe Dorje, Kyabje Kangyur
+ Rinpoche, translated by The Padmakara Translation Group, published by
+ Snow Lion Publications
+~
+Our sense of self
+
+ As long as we cling to some notion of objective existence--the idea that
+something actually exists in a concrete, identifiable way--emotions such as
+desire and aversion will follow. When we see something we like--a beautiful
+watch, for example--we perceive it as having some real quality of existence
+among its parts. We see the watch not as a collection of parts, but as an
+existing entity with a specific quality of watch-ness to it. And if it's a
+fine mechanical timepiece, our perception is enhanced by qualities that are
+seen to exist definitely as part of the nature of the watch. It is as a
+result of this misperception of the watch that our desire to possess it
+arises.
+ In a similar manner, our aversion to someone we dislike arises as a result
+of attributing inherent negative qualities to the person. When we relate this
+process to how we experience our own sense of existence--how the thought "I"
+or "I am" arises--we notice that it invariably does so in relation to some
+aspect of our physical or mental aggregates.
+ Our notion of ourselves is based upon a sense of our physical and emotional
+selves. What's more, we feel that these physical and mental aspects of
+ourselves exist inherently. My body is not something of which I doubt the
+specificity. There is a body-ness as well as a me-ness about it that very
+evidently exists. It seems to be a natural basis for my identifying my body
+as "me." Our emotions such as fear are similarly experienced as having a valid
+existence and as being natural bases for our identifying ourselves as "me."
+Both our loves and our hates serve to deepen the self sense. Even the mere
+feeling "I'm cold" contributes to our sense of being a solid and legitimate
+"I."(p.61)
+ -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "A Profound Mind: Cultivating Wisdom in Everyday
+ Life", edited by Nicholas Vreeland, afterword by Richard Gere
+~
+ In the Mahayana, there exist the vows of the Bodhisattva... but in Dzogchen,
+there exist no such rules or vows.
+ When the Indian Buddhist master Atisa came to Tibet in the eleventh century,
+he met the famous Tibetan translator Rinchen Zangpo. Atisa asked him how he
+practiced the Tantras which he had translated, and he replied that he
+practiced them meticulously one after the other. But Atisa told him that this
+was not the correct way. He pointed out to the translator that all of the
+Tantras could be condensed and integrated into a single Upadesa and one need
+only practise that in order to maintain all of the transmissions which he had
+received.
+ The same is true with Dzogchen. If we really understand this single
+teaching here which comes directly from Guru Padmasambhava, we can attain
+liberation. But we must grasp this vital core of the teaching. No matter
+what we are doing, which ever among the four modes of behavior--walking,
+sitting, lying down, or eating, we must always hold to awareness, never
+forgetting, never losing this awareness. This is the real meaning of Rigdzin,
+one who is totally aware. In Dzogchen, there is only one rule--always be
+aware in whatever we do, never be distracted!(p.68)
+ -- "Self-Liberation through Seeing with Naked Awareness", translation and
+ commentary by John Myrdhin Reynolds, foreword by Namkhai Norbu,
+ published by Snow Lion Publications
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