X-Git-Url: https://feistymeow.org/gitweb/?a=blobdiff_plain;ds=sidebyside;f=database%2Ffortunes.dat;h=8a17bfc21cfa8fd9bff439d76f65af44913d763e;hb=53ad0bde08c8df9b68ca5f7f68cd1749987c5073;hp=a57d784a82d39bb7436046260a983fdeadc2e249;hpb=214e4d129532c296544e1f22582cf90b6ce98dd4;p=feisty_meow.git

diff --git a/database/fortunes.dat b/database/fortunes.dat
index a57d784a..8a17bfc2 100644
--- a/database/fortunes.dat
+++ b/database/fortunes.dat
@@ -13360,7 +13360,7 @@ only different kinds of good weather.
   -- John Ruskin
 ~
 She's not a babe.  She's a sophisticated real-time computer system.
-  -- Spokesman for Anova, a virtual news anchor
+  -- Spokesman for Ananova, a virtual news anchor
 ~
 The man who laughs has not yet been told the terrible news.
   -- Berthold Brecht
@@ -38139,3 +38139,108 @@ affected, and while it is there we will enjoy it without being senseless and
 arrogant.
   -- Ringu Tulku, from "Daring Steps: Traversing the Path of the Buddha",
      edited and translated by Rosemarie Fuchs, page 92.
+~
+The role of other sentient beings
+
+  In relation to the attainment of liberation from cylic existence, which is
+known also as "definite goodness," the role of other sentient beings is
+indispensable.  In the Buddhist understanding, the key spiritual practices
+that lead to the attainment of liberation are the Three Higher
+Trainings—higher training in morality, in meditation, and in wisdom.  The
+last two are based upon the foundation of the first, namely the training in
+morality.  As I said before, the presence of other sentience beings is
+indispensable for this training.  This is how we come to the powerful
+realisation that the role of other sentient beings is essential in all areas
+of our mundane and spiritual activities.
+  -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
+~
+  To avoid being hurt by thorns and brambles, we might consider covering all
+the mountains with leather.  That would be impossible, but putting on shoes
+would serve the same purpose.  Similarly, if we tried to subdue all our outer
+enemies, we would never succeed.  Once one was eliminated, another would rise
+against us.  While doing this, our anger would continue to breed new foes.
+The only way to overcome our enemies is to turn inward and kill the real one,
+which is our own hatred.
+  -- Ringu Tulku, from "Daring Steps: Traversing the Path of the Buddha",
+     edited and translated by Rosemarie Fuchs.
+~
+  One should not view one’s dharma practice as being something decorative,
+regarding statues and images as material possessions or as furnishings for
+one’s house, or thinking that because there is an empty space on a wall one
+might as well put up a thangka for decoration.  That kind of attitude should
+not be cultivated.  When you arrange the statues or thangkas, you should do so
+out of a deep respect from the mind, moved by your faith and conviction.  If
+you can arrange these physical representations—statues and so forth—out of
+deep respect and faith, that’s all right.  On the other hand, the attitude
+that they are merely material possessions is dangerous and destructive.  I
+think that some people who have a cupboard or the like in which they keep all
+their precious possessions may arrange an altar on it just for the sake of
+decoration.  This is very wrong.
+  Having such motivations is not the proper way to become a Buddhist; the
+proper way to become a Buddhist is to bring about some positive change within
+the mind.  Any practice that can give you more courage when you are undergoing
+a very difficult time and that can provide you with some kind of solace and
+calmness of mind is a true practice of the dharma.
+  -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
+~
+The environment where you are doing the meditation should be properly cleaned.
+While cleaning, you should cultivate the motivation that since you are engaged
+in the task of accumulating great stores of merit by inviting the hosts of
+buddhas and bodhisattvas to this environment, it is important to have a clean
+place.  You should see that all external dirt and dust around you is basically
+a manifestation of the faults and stains within your own mind.  You should see
+that the most important aim is to purge these stains and faults from within
+your mind.  Therefore, as you cleanse the environment, think that you are also
+purifying your mind.  Develop the very strong thought that by cleaning this
+place you are inviting the hosts of buddhas and bodhisattvas who are the most
+supreme merit field, and that you will subsequently engage in a path that will
+enable you to purge your mind of the stains and delusions.
+  -- H.H. the Dalai Lama
+~
+  From the point of view of one who seeks enlightenment, it is far better to
+be a human being than to be born even in the heavens of the gods, where there
+is nectar to live on and all wishes are granted by the wish-fulfilling tree;
+where there is neither fatigue nor difficulty, neither sickness nor old age.
+It is as humans, possessed of the eight freedoms and the ten endowments, and
+not as gods, that every one of the thousand Buddhas of this age has attained,
+or will attain, enlightenment.  This human existence, moreover, is not to be
+achieved by force or mere chance; it is the result of positive actions.  And
+because it is rare for beings to accomplish positive actions, a precious human
+existence is indeed difficult to obtain.
+  Nevertheless, we have now managed to be born into such a state; we have
+encountered the Buddadharma, have entered the path and are now receiving
+teachings.  But if we are unable to practise them, simply listening to the
+teachings will not in itself liberate us from samsara, and will be of no help
+to us when we are confronted by the hardships of birth, disease, old age and
+death.  If we do not follow the doctor’s prescription when we are sick, then
+even if the doctor sits constantly by our side, the pain will not go away.
+  -- Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, from "Enlightened Courage: An Explanation of the
+     Seven-Point Mind Training", translated by Padmakara Translation Group.
+~
+The realization of the nature of the mind is not something we can find by
+searching for it from afar.  It is present within the essence of the mind
+itself.  If we do not alter or change that in any way, that is enough.  It is
+not as if we were lacking something before, so we need to make something new
+through our meditation.  It is not as if we are bad and have to go through all
+sorts of efforts to make ourselves good.  Goodness is something we all have.
+It has always been with us, but we have just not looked for it or seen it yet,
+so we have become confused.  Therefore all we need to do is to just rest
+within it without changing it.  We see where it stays and rest there, so we
+are like a kusulu.  This means that we rest free and easy with nothing to do,
+very simply.  We do not need to think that we are making something good or
+that we need to meditate properly.  It is enough just to know what we already
+have.
+  -- Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, from "Vivid Awareness", in "The Best Buddhist
+     Writing 2012", edited by Melvin McLeod and the editors of the Shambhala
+     Sun, pages 196–197.
+~
+We all have to recognize the tremendous opportunity that we have.  As humans
+we have this rare intelligence, but there is a real danger that we will waste
+it.  Death is certain, but when we will die is totally unpredictable.  We
+could lose our precious human existence at any moment.  With such reflections,
+we must motivate ourselves to do something meaningful right now.  The best way
+to make your human existence meaningful is to really engage in the practice of
+Dharma.  During formal sitting meditation and in between sessions, in
+different ways, be mindful and introspectively vigilant.  Keep constant watch
+on your mind.
+  -- H.H. the Dalai Lama