~
religious letter games...
- DEVIL
- EVIL
- GOOD
- GOD
+ devil
+ evil
+ good
+ god
~
Nam Myoho Renge Kyo
~
~
are you only using half your brain?
if you can only think in terms of logical conclusions, rational assumptions,
-and common sense OR
+and common sense -or-
if you can only think in terms of intuitive jumps, esthetic motivations,
and the fluid nature of reality,
then you probably are stuck on one side of your head. try moving into
subtract from the sum of his desires.
-- Seneca
~
-Live life like your hair is on fire. -- Ashley Brilliant
+Live life like your hair is on fire. -- Ashleigh Brilliant
~
City people have a hard time handling the silences when they first
come out to the country. After a certain period of solitude, I myself
~
Those who get too big for their briches will be exposed in the end. -- Anon.
~
-We're not talking about the same thing," he said. "For you the world is weird
+"We're not talking about the same thing," he said. "For you the world is weird
because if you're not bored with it you're at odds with it. For me the world
is weird because it is stupendous, awesome, mysterious, unfathomable; my
interest has been to convince you that you must accept responsibility for being
here, in this marvelous world, in this marvelous desert, in this marvelous
time. I wanted to convince you that you must learn to make every act count,
since you are going to be here for only a short while, in fact, too short for
-witnessing all the marvels of it.
+witnessing all the marvels of it."
-- Don Juan, Yaqui Shaman
~
Always and never are two words you should always remember never to use.
life.
-- H.H. the Dalai Lama
~
-COMPLICATED SIMPLICITY
+Complicated Simplicity
Emptiness is the simplest and most unelaborated thing we could imagine, but
then there is this whole literature about all these very discursive details
to be a horrible warning.
-- Catherine Aird
~
-THE MIND OF CLEAR LIGHT
+The mind of clear light
Is spiritual practice really worthwhile? Is it really possible to eliminate
from within ourselves the forces that give rise to suffering? As is said,
go thoroughly beyond; and bodhi svaha means firmly rooted in enlightenment.
-- H.H. the Dalai Lama
~
-ENDURING SUCCESS
+Enduring Success
+
It is often seen that human beings can endure problems quite well, but
cannot endure success. When we are successful and have everything we desire,
it can easily go to our heads. There is a great danger of losing our common
When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say
to me, "Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping."
-- Fred Rogers
+~
+Some people are born on third base and go through life thinking they hit a
+triple.
+ -- Barry Switzer
+~
+ First, let’s take a look at how physical and emotional health supports
+our spiritual health. What is spiritual health? One way that the Buddhist
+teachings define spiritual health is having a sense of interconnection with
+other living beings on the planet, as well as respect for the natural
+environment. Recognition of this interconnection with others is developed as
+we call to mind the things that all beings have in common: the wish to attain
+happiness and avoid suffering. We can reflect on this by thinking that all of
+the wonderful things we want for ourselves, others want them too. Just so,
+all of the painful things we would like to avoid, others wish to avoid those
+things too.
+ However, spiritual health is far more than a mere sense of connection.
+True spiritual health arises from discovering love and compassion for all
+sentient beings. In doing so, we cut through our own painful feelings of
+anger, resentment, and strong desire, which cause us so much personal
+unhappiness and sorrow. By bringing ourselves back into harmonious
+relationship with friends, family, and the larger community, even those we may
+dislike, we ourselves become spiritually rich.
+ -- Anyen Rinpoche & Allison Choying Zangmo, "The Tibetan Yoga of Breath:
+ Breathing Practices for Healing the Body and Cultivating Wisdom",
+ published by Shambhala Publications
+~
+Our worries may zoom around the state of the world. “What happens if the
+economy plummets? If the ozone layer keeps decreasing? If we have more
+anthrax attacks? If terrorists take over the country? If we lose our civil
+liberties fighting terrorism?” Here, our creative writing ability leads to
+fantastic scenarios that may or may not happen, but regardless, we manage to
+work ourselves into a state of unprecedented despair. This, in turn, often
+leads to raging anger at the powers that be or alternatively, to apathy,
+simply thinking that since everything is rotten, there’s no use doing
+anything. In either case, we’re so gloomy that we neglect to act
+constructively in ways that remedy difficulties and create goodness.
+ -- Thubten Chodron, in "Taming the Mind", published by Shambhala Publications
+~
+It really seemed like every band built on the one just prior to it, so that as
+each day moved on, the acts just generated more and more energy and awesome
+music, storing it up in a celestial battery. the peak of it all for me was
+the phish show on the last night, which was so high energy and saturated with
+fun and healthy vibes that I felt like "i never need to feel fear again".
+that feeling lasted for days after the concert was over. hopefully memory of
+that thought never fades.
+ -- fred t. hamster, after lockn 2016
+~
+The dawn of the Great Eastern Sun is based on actual experience. It is not a
+concept. You realize that you can uplift yourself, that you can appreciate
+your existence as a human being. Whether you are a gas station attendant or
+the president of your country doesn’t really matter. When you experience
+the goodness of being alive, you can respect who and what you are. You need
+not be intimidated by lots of bills to pay, diapers to change, food to cook,
+or papers to be filed. Fundamentally, in spite of all those responsibilities,
+you begin to feel that it is a worthwhile situation to be a human being, to be
+alive, not afraid of death.
+ -- Chögyam Trungpa, "Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior", published
+ by Shambhala Publications
+~
+ These deities share a freedom from passion and experience more and more
+subtle states of mind in each higher level. In the first level, the freedom
+from passion is experienced; in the second, freedom from discursive thought;
+in the third, the elimination of gross joy in meditation, leaving only sublime
+delight; in the fourth, freedom even from delight. Above these are the four
+levels of the realm of formlessness, whose inhabitants have transcended form
+altogether and have no bodies or forms at all. Here deities experience
+successively even more subtle states of mind: the infinity of space, the
+infinity of consciousness, “nothing at all,” and neither perception nor
+nonperception.
+ These states can certainly appear enormously attractive from our human
+point of view. In fact, they correspond to what many think religious practice
+is all about—attaining some kind of heaven or some sort of tranquillity or
+bliss. But from the Buddhist viewpoint, the sublimity even of these states is
+not a worthy ultimate goal. One may ask, “What can possibly be wrong with
+such attainments?”
+ It is important to remember that the divine states of the desire realm,
+the form realm, and the formless realm, like all the other states known in the
+other five realms, are still part of samsara and subject to karma,
+impermanence, and suffering. In spite of the relative exaltation of their way
+of being, there comes a day for every god when he or she begins to feel the
+signs of impending death. The intoxication of the godly state gives way to
+sadness, pain, fear, and finally terror, and this is followed by death and
+rebirth in a lower realm.
+ In addition, the gods have one enormous liability: precisely because of
+their power, longevity, and intoxication, they are unable to hear the dharma
+with its teachings about duhkha, the first noble truth. They, like the
+inhabitants of all the other nonhuman realms, are victims of their karma and
+are unable to practice a spiritual path to gain liberation.
+ -- Reginald A. Ray, in "Indestructible Truth", published by Shambhala Publications
+~
+The Zen monk Thich Nhat Hanh writes, "I like to walk alone on country paths,
+rice plants and wild grasses on both sides, putting each foot down on the
+earth in mindfulness, knowing that I walk on the wondrous earth. In such
+moments, existence is a miraculous and mysterious reality. People usually
+consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real
+miracle is to walk on earth... a miracle we don’t even recognize."
+ -- from Jan Chozen Bays, MD, "How to Train a Wild Elephant & Other Adventures
+ in Mindfulness", published by Shambhala Publications
+~
+Begin the sequence of sending and taking with yourself
+
+Whatever pain you feel, take it in, wishing for all beings to be free of it.
+Whatever pleasure you feel, send it out to others. In this way, our personal
+problems and delights become a stepping-stone for understanding the suffering
+and happiness of all beings.
+ -- Pema Chodron's "Compassion Cards", published by Shambhala Publications
+~
+Tuvaṭaka Sutta: The Discourse on Being Quick
+
+(The Buddha said,)
+"Let them completely destroy the root
+Of conceptual differentiation,
+That is, [the idea] ‘I am the thinker.’
+Ever mindful, they train to subdue their cravings.
+
+"They shouldn’t get entrenched in any teachings they know
+Whether their own or that of others.
+Good people say that
+Being entrenched is not release.
+
+"They would not, because of this, think themselves
+Better, worse, or equal [to others].
+Experiencing many things,
+They don’t take a stand in thoughts of themselves."
+
+ The Buddha’s first teachings in this poem are particularly important.
+Here he emphasizes the destruction of the root source for conceptual
+proliferation which he describes as being either the idea "I am the
+thinker" or the thought "I am." While the grammar of the Pali phrase
+allows for both translations into English, the two options both identify some
+form of conceit as the basis from which a problematic differentiation of
+concepts with which the world is categorized arises. When this conceit is
+uprooted, the conceptual proliferation stops. A sage does not categorize or
+conceptualize the world with any fixed reference point of existing as "I."
+ While training to become such a sage, a monastic should avoid swelling up
+with conceit, which is described as thinking they are better, worse, or equal
+to others. The alternative to such comparative thinking is to have a mind
+that is still and unmoving like a calm sea. Many of the training instructions
+the Buddha mentions can be understood as support for having a still, peaceful
+mind.
+ -- Gil Fronsdal, "The Buddha before Buddhism: Wisdom from the Early
+ Teachings", published by Shambhala Publications
+~
+I. Path of Accumulation
+
+ One who has the Mahayana family cultivates bodhicitta, receives teachings
+from masters, and makes effort in the virtues until the heat of wisdom is
+attained. During this time, progress is classified in four stages:
+realization, aspiration, greater aspiration, and achievement. Why is this
+called the path of accumulation? Because on it, one gathers the accumulations
+of virtue in order to become a vessel for the realization of heat and so forth.
+Therefore, it is called the path of accumulation.
+
+ These are also called the root virtues which are similar to liberation.
+At this stage, twelve of the branches of enlightenment are practiced:
+
+ A. the four types of mindfulness,
+ B. the four types of perfect abandonment, and
+ C. the four feet of miracle powers.
+
+The Four Types of Mindfulness are:
+
+ 1. sustaining mindfulness of the body,
+ 2. sustaining mindfulness of feelings,
+ 3. sustaining mindfulness of the mind, and
+ 4. sustaining mindfulness of phenomena.
+These four occur during the lesser stage of the path of accumulation.
+
+The Four Types of Perfect Abandonment are:
+
+ 1. abandoning nonvirtues which have been created,
+ 2. not allowing new nonvirtues to be produced,
+ 3. producing the antidotes, virtues which have not arisen, and
+ 4. allowing those virtues which have arisen to increase.
+
+These four occur during the middle stage of the path of accumulation.
+
+The Four Feet of Miracle Powers are:
+
+ 1. the absorption of strong aspiration,
+ 2. the absorption of perseverance,
+ 3. the absorption of the mind, and
+ 4. the absorption of investigation.
+
+These four occur during the greater stage of the path of accumulation.
+ -- Gampopa, from "The Jewel Ornament of Liberation", published by Shambhala
+ Publications
+~
+II. Path of Application
+
+ The path of application begins after perfection of the path of
+accumulation. It has four stages corresponding to the realization of the Four
+Noble Truths: heat, maximum heat, patience, and realization of the highest
+worldly dharma. Why is it called the path of application? Because there, one
+makes an effort to directly realize truth.
+
+A. Five Powers. Furthermore, during the stages of heat and maximum heat,
+five powers are practiced:
+ the power of faith,
+ the power of perseverance,
+ the power of mindfulness,
+ the power of absorption, and
+ the power of wisdom awareness.
+
+B. Five Strengths. During the stages of patience and highest worldly dharma,
+five strengths are practiced:
+ the strength of faith,
+ the strength of perseverance,
+ the strength of mindfulness,
+ the strength of absorption, and
+ the strength of wisdom awareness.
+ -- Gampopa, in "The Jewel Ornament of Liberation", published by Shambhala
+ Publications
+~
+III. Path of Insight
+
+ The path of insight begins after the highest worldly dharma and consists
+of calm abiding as a basis for special insight focused on the Four Noble
+Truths. Four insights correspond to each of the Four Noble Truths, making a
+total of sixteen—eight patient acceptances and eight cognitions: the patient
+acceptance of the cognition of the dharma with respect to suffering, the
+cognition of the dharma with respect to suffering, the patient acceptance of
+the cognition that is the subsequent realization with respect to suffering,
+the cognition that is the subsequent realization with respect to suffering,
+and so forth.
+ Why is it called the path of insight? Because there, one realizes the
+Four Noble Truths which were not seen before. At this stage there are seven
+of the branches of enlightenment:
+ the perfect mindfulness branch,
+ the perfect discrimination branch,
+ the perfect perseverance branch,
+ the perfect joy branch,
+ the perfect relaxation branch,
+ the perfect absorption branch, and
+ the perfect equanimity branch.
+ -- The Jewel Ornament of Liberation, by Gampopa, published by Shambhala
+ Publications
+~
+IV. Path of Meditation
+
+The path of meditation practice begins after the realization of special
+insight. It has two paths:
+ A. the path of worldly meditation practice and
+ B. the path of meditation practice beyond the world.
+A.
+ Worldly Meditation Practice consists of the first, second, third, and
+fourth meditative stages, and the formless stages of increasing the infinite
+nature of space, increasing the infinity of consciousness, increasing the
+nothing-whatsoever-ness, and increasing neither perception nor non-perception.
+There are three purposes to practicing this meditation:
+
++ suppressing the afflicting emotions which are the subject of
+abandonment in the path of meditation;
++ establishing the special qualities of the Four Immeasurables and so
+forth; and
++ creating the foundation for the path beyond the world.
+
+B.
+ Meditation Practice Beyond the World consists of the furthering of calm
+abiding and special insight, focused on the two types of wisdom. During the
+path of insight there were two “patient acceptances” and two
+“awarenesses” corresponding to each of the Four Noble Truths, making a
+total of sixteen. The eight patient acceptances were completed in the path of
+insight. One becomes familiarized with the eight awarenesses in the path of
+meditation through the calm abiding and special insight related to the four
+meditative concentrations and three of the formless absorptions. Furthermore,
+part of the awareness of phenomena is to familiarize oneself with all the
+realization of dharma-as-such. Part of the continuity awareness is to
+familiarize oneself with all the realization of primordial wisdom. The state
+of neither perception nor non-perception is merely worldly meditation because
+the movement of sensation is so unclear.
+ Why is this called the path of meditation? Because there, one becomes
+familiar with the realizations that one achieved in the path of insight. At
+this stage, there are eight of the thirty-seven branches of enlightenment:
+
++ perfect view,
++ perfect conception, perfect speech, perfect action,
++ perfect livelihood,
++ perfect effort,
++ perfect mindfulness, and
++ perfect absorption.
+ -- Gampopa, from "The Jewel Ornament of Liberation", published by Shambhala
+Publications
+~
+ Your eggnog to rum ratio should be 23% to 77%. I would then spice the
+eggnog with nutmeg and use more than you're comfortable with because sailors
+used to use it as [a] hallucinogen...
+ Also, enter on a reindeer. And if you enter on a reindeer, stay on the
+reindeer. And if you can’t reach something because you’re too high up
+sitting on the reindeer, just ask for help. That goes for life, too. Don’t
+be afraid to ask for help and stay on that reindeer.
+ -- T.J. Miller’s recipe for the perfect holiday party
+~
+if you can't beat them, join them, and subvert them from the inside.
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+regarding christmas cards...
+"i would create my own as a desktop publishing activity, with all new current
+stuff. but it's way too much effort. basically, i can either give you a
+present or make you a card. which do you prefer?"
+ -- thus spake slackathustra.
+~
+Hope is not a strategy.
+Luck is not a factor.
+Fear is not an option.
+ -- James Cameron
+~
+A man is the sum of his actions, of what he has done, of what he can do,
+nothing else.
+ -- John Galsworthy
+~
+The Order of the Four Noble Truths
+
+We do analytical meditation to understand the various unsatisfactory
+conditions or sufferings of cyclic existence. When we gain an experience of
+them, we then place our mind firmly on that experience using stabilizing
+meditation. The more we meditate on suffering, the more we are motivated to
+rid ourselves of it. We will want to find out its causes and cease creating
+them. Thus, after contemplating true suffering, we contemplate true origin.
+Investigating this, we will see that suffering arises from karma, which is
+produced in dependence on the disturbing attitudes. These in turn are rooted
+in self-grasping ignorance. We will want to eliminate this ignorance, and
+will see that because it is a faulty attitude or misconception, it can be
+eliminated. Thus we will be certain that we can attain the true cessation of
+suffering and its origin. Through further contemplating the four noble
+truths, we will recognize that the way to abandon self-grasping ignorance is
+to meditate on the true path, since this path is principally the wisdom
+realizing the non-existence of the self that is adhered to by ignorance. This
+is the order in which the four noble truths unfold in meditation and thus is
+the order in which to practice them. So, although the actual order in which
+the four occur is first the causes and then the effects, when the Buddha
+taught for the purpose of practice, he explained the results first.
+ -- Geshe Jampa Tegchok, "Transforming Adversity Into Joy and Courage: An
+ Explanation of the Thirty-Seven Practices of Bodhisattvas", published by
+ Shambhala Publications
+~
+Take Refuge in the Buddha
+
+ We live in an ocean of cyclic existence whose depth and extent cannot be
+measured. We are troubled again and again by the afflictions of desire and
+hatred as if repeatedly attacked by sharks.
+ Our mental and physical aggregates are impelled by former contaminated
+actions and afflictions and serve as a basis for present suffering as well as
+inducing future suffering. While such cyclic existence lasts, we have various
+thoughts of pleasure and displeasure: “If I do this, what will people think?
+If I do not do this, I will be too late; I won’t make any profit.” When we
+see something pleasant we think, “Oh, if I could only have that!” We see
+that others are prosperous, and we generate jealousy, unable to bear their
+prosperity. We see an attractive man or woman, and we want a relationship.
+We are not satisfied with a passing relationship but want it to last forever.
+And then, once staying together with that person, we desire someone else.
+When we see someone we do not like, we become angry and quarrel after a single
+word; we feel we cannot remain even for an hour near this hated person but
+must leave immediately. Day and night, night and day we spend our lives in
+the company of the afflictions, generating desire for the pleasant and anger
+at the unpleasant, and continue thus even when dreaming, unable to remain
+relaxed, our minds completely and utterly mixed with thoughts of desire and
+hatred without interruption.
+ Only a Buddha has extinguished all defects and gained all attainments.
+Therefore, one should mentally go for refuge to a Buddha, praise him or her
+with speech, and respect him or her physically. One should enter the teaching
+of such a being.
+ -- from "The Essence of Tantra," by the Dalai Lama, in The Great Exposition
+ of the Secret Mantra, Volume I: Tantra in Tibet by Tsongkhapa, published
+ by Shambhala Publications
+~
+V. Path of Perfection
+
+ After the vajra-like absorption, one actualizes the nature of awareness,
+the awareness of exhaustion, and awareness of the unborn. The vajra-like
+absorption is the state at the edge of the path of meditation and is included
+in the preparation and unobstructed stages. This absorption is called
+“vajra-like” because it is unobstructed, hard, stable, of one taste, and
+all-pervasive.
+ “Unobstructed” means that it cannot be affected by the action of the
+world. “Hard” means it cannot be destroyed by obscurations. “Stable”
+means it cannot be shaken by discursive thoughts. “One taste” means
+everything is of one taste. “All pervasive” means that it observes the
+suchness of all knowledge.
+ The “awareness of the exhaustion of causes” that arises after this
+absorption is the primordial wisdom awareness that observes the Four Noble
+Truths by the power of the exhaustion of all causes. The “awareness of the
+unborn” is the primordial wisdom that observes the Four Noble Truths by the
+power of abandoning the result, suffering. In other words, this primordial
+wisdom clearly observes the exhaustion of the cause and non-production of the
+result and is called the “awareness of the exhaustion and non-production.”
+ Why is this called the path of perfection? Because the training is
+perfected and one enters the city of nirvana—this is why it is called the
+path of perfection. At this stage, there are ten attainments of no-more-
+training: starting with perfect view of no-more-training through the perfect
+absorption of no-more-training and then the full liberation of no-more-
+training and the perfect primordial wisdom of no-more-training—these ten
+attainments of no-more-training are included in the five unafflicted skandas:
+
+ perfect speech of no-more-training, perfect action, and perfect
+livelihood are in the heap of moral ethics;
+ perfect mindfulness of no-more-training and perfect absorption are in
+the heap of absorption;
+ perfect view of no-more-training, perfect conception, and perfect
+effort are in the heap of wisdom awareness;
+ perfect, full liberation is in the heap of full liberation;
+ perfect awareness is in the heap of seeing the primordial wisdom of
+full liberation.
+ -- Gampopa, from "The Jewel Ornament of Liberation", published by Shambhala
+ Publications
+~
+i try to think of 10,008 impossible things before breakfast,
+and i'm near ecstatic if any of those is worth writing down.
+ -- fred t. hamster
+~
+businesses or products mashed up with despots:
+- fidelity castro
+- mao zeding-dong
+- pol potstickers
+- donald trump
+~
+Relaxing in the midst of chaos,
+learning not to panic--this is the spiritual path.
+ -- Pema Chödrön, "When Things Fall Apart"
+~
+Driving all blames into oneself applies whenever we complain about anything,
+even that our coffee is cold or the bathroom is dirty. We may think that we
+are the voice of the world, that we are speaking on behalf of others, but we
+are simply speaking on behalf of ourselves. According to this slogan,
+everything is due to our own ego fixation, which makes us very vulnerable.
+Consequently, we provide an ideal target. We get hit, but nobody meant to hit
+us--we are actually inviting the bullets.
+ -- Chögyam Trungpa, "The Profound Treasury of the Ocean of Dharma: The
+ Bodhisattva Path of Wisdom and Compassion", published by Shambhala
+ Publications
+~
+I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.
+ -- Wayne Gretzky
projects / feisty_meow.git / blobdiff