X-Git-Url: https://feistymeow.org/gitweb/?a=blobdiff_plain;ds=sidebyside;f=infobase%2Ffortunes.dat;h=9c2c8a1db587200200b28866b912e4fc2de2f485;hb=767b3e0592b53607b948a538a4490af9c102fb7d;hp=14ea0722be7d027fd2103e28dfe28c4646cbf11a;hpb=0497cef10ceea311f1e7dfa9c2bbf86656760265;p=feisty_meow.git

diff --git a/infobase/fortunes.dat b/infobase/fortunes.dat
index 14ea0722..9c2c8a1d 100644
--- a/infobase/fortunes.dat
+++ b/infobase/fortunes.dat
@@ -39611,7 +39611,7 @@ animosity, discouragement and reluctance to engage with the teachings.
      Shambhala Publications and Snow Lion Publications.
 ~
 Bodhichitta can be understood as a quality of intention, sometimes called a
-“great will.” This great will does not come from the ego; it is
+"great will." This great will does not come from the ego; it is
 paradoxically an intention that arises through the surrender of the ego.  As
 the ego lets go of its assumption that it has a real understanding of what is
 needed in the path of awakening, it surrenders to a deeper quality of will and
@@ -39865,3 +39865,185 @@ seals, even independently of Buddha's teachings, even never having heard the
 name Shakyamuni Buddha, can be considered to be on the same path as he.
   -- Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse, from "What Makes You Not a Buddhist",
      published by Shambhala Publications
+~
+The self-centered thought is not who we are.  The self-centered thought is
+different from the mind that wants to be happy because we’re sentient
+beings.  Everybody wants to be happy.  There’s no problem with wanting to be
+happy.  The problem is the way the self-centered thought goes about thinking
+of our happiness and the way it goes about getting happiness.  It is a
+distorted mental state that can be eliminated by seeing its disadvantages,
+applying the antidotes, and cultivating the mind that cherishes others.
+  - Thubten Chodron, from "Don’t Believe Everything You Think: Living with
+    Wisdom and Compassion", published by Shambhala Publications
+~
+  According to the sutras, numerous eons ago, when the Buddha was an ordinary
+being, he took rebirth in a hell realm.  He suffered gravely there as a result
+of his past negative karma.
+  He and a companion were forced to pull a wheel of fire on which a wrathful
+hell-guard was sitting, holding a burning club with which to beat them.  His
+companion was so weak that he couldn’t pull the wheel anymore.  The hell-
+guard stabbed his companion with a burning trident.  His companion kept crying
+loudly and bleeding profusely.  At that moment, with strong love and
+compassion, the Buddha developed enlightened aspiration, a vow to take
+responsibility for helping his companion and all the suffering beings from the
+depth of his heart, and he became a bodhisattva for the first time.
+  The bodhisattva begged the hell-guard, "Please have a little mercy on my
+suffering companion."  At that, in a rage the hellguard hit him with a
+burning trident.  Because of the power of his strong compassion, the
+bodhisattva died and was liberated from the hell-realm.  His evil deeds of
+many eons were purified instantly by the power of such enlightened aspiration.
+Thereafter, he started his journey toward the fully enlightened state of
+buddhahood.
+  -- Tulku Thondup, from "Incarnation: The History and Mysticism of the Tulku
+     Tradition of Tibet", published by Shambhala Publications
+~
+Below rocky cliffs,
+a vivid sense of impermanence and disenchantment dawns,
+clear and inspired, helping us to achieve
+the union of calm abiding and penetrating insight.
+  -- Longchenpa, from "The Life of Longchenpa: The Omniscient Dharma King of
+     the Vast Expanse", by Jampa Mackenzie Stewart, published by Shambhala
+     Publications
+~
+From one point of view, personal liberation without freeing others is selfish
+and unfair, because all sentient beings also have the natural right and desire
+to be free of suffering.  Therefore, it is important for practitioners to
+engage in the practice of the stages of the path of the highest scope,
+starting with the generation of bodhichitta, the altruistic aspiration to
+achieve enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings.  Once one has
+cultivated bodhichitta, all the meritorious actions that are supported by and
+complemented with this altruism—even the slightest form of positive
+action—become causes for the achievement of omniscience.
+  -- H. H. the Dalai Lama, from "The Fourteenth Dalai Lama in A Beginner’s
+     Guide to Meditation: Practical Advice and Inspiration from Contemporary
+     Buddhist Teachers", published by Shambhala Publications
+~
+Note that all dualistic concepts and emotions—even positive ones such as
+caring, compassion, and wishing others well—are accompanied by grasping at
+“self.” So although positive emotions are good, they still fall short of
+perfection, which is the primordial wisdom beyond dualistic thinking and
+emotional sensations.  Grasping at positive qualities is nonetheless a
+stepping-stone to perfection, helping us eventually to loosen the grip of
+grasping at “self” and to experience sensations of peace and joy.  So,
+transforming from negative to positive, and then from positive to perfection,
+is the ideal way to move toward buddhahood, or full perfection.
+  -- Tulku Thondup, from "Peaceful Death, Joyful Rebirth: A Tibetan Buddhist
+     Guidebook", published by Shambhala Publications
+~
+  In the final stanza of his salutation, Tsong-kha-pa (1: 34) calls upon
+readers who may benefit from this approach, asking them to listen well.  Such
+readers will be those with minds unclouded by biased thinking, the mental
+capacity to distinguish right from wrong, and an interest in finding real
+meaning in their human existence of leisure and opportunity.  He asks those of
+us with such good fortune, "Please listen to what I have to say with a
+single-pointed mind."
+  Again, this is strikingly similar to Aryadeva’s Four Hundred, which says
+that a practitioner of the Dharma who is listening to the teachings needs
+three qualities: objectivity, critical intelligence, and a real interest in
+what is being taught.
+  -- H. H. the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, in "From Here to Enlightenment: An
+     Introduction to Tsong-kha-pa’s Classic Text The Great Treatise on the
+     Stages of the Path to Enlightenment", published by Shambhala Publications
+~
+When we look back, at the time of death, the experience of this life will seem
+like a dream.  And—just as with our nighttime dreams—it will seem useless
+to have put so much effort into it.  The fear we experience in a dream is gone
+when we wake up; feeling afraid was just an unnecessary exertion of effort
+causing us to lose sleep!  When we look back on our lives at death, the amount
+of time we spent in hesitation, aggression, ignorance, selfishness, jealousy,
+hatred, self-preservation, and arrogance will seem like an equally useless
+exertion of energy.  So be able to regard all of these illusory thoughts and
+concepts as dreams.  Within this illusory existence, what, if anything, is the
+logic behind any stubbornness, distraction, hesitation, or habitual emotions
+of aggression, desire, selfishness, and jealousy?  What is the use of holding
+on to these useless emotions within impermanence?  Impermanence is the nature
+of everything.
+  -- Khandro Rinpoche, from "Buddha’s Daughters: Teachings from Women Who
+     Are Shaping Buddhism in the West", published by Shambhala Publications
+~
+Please listen without your minds wandering.
+Though I am not skilled in composing songs,
+This is the way to understand the true oral instructions.
+Keep this in mind and ponder it.
+
+The three worlds are primordially pure.
+Ultimately, there is nothing more to understand.
+Not negation, unceasing continuity,
+Unchanging—such is the view.
+
+The innate essence is naturally luminous.
+Unconditioned, meditation is unceasing.
+Not negation, beyond losing and gaining,
+Without desire or attachment—such is the meditation.
+
+Arising from the natural occurrence of various coincidences,
+The play of illusion is unobstructed.
+Not negation,
+Things are unpredictable, abrupt—such is the action.
+
+Mind shines as bodhicitta.
+There is no attainment of the three kayas of buddha.
+Not negation, beyond hope and fear,
+Without ground or root—such is the fruition.
+  - from "The Life of Marpa the Translator", translated by Chögyam Trungpa
+    and the Nalanda Translation Committee, published by Shambhala Publications
+~
+FDR's Economic Bill of Rights
+
+    It is our duty now to begin to lay the plans and determine the strategy
+for the winning of a lasting peace and the establishment of an American
+standard of living higher than ever before known.  We cannot be content, no
+matter how high that general standard of living may be, if some fraction of
+our people—whether it be one-third or one-fifth or one-tenth—is ill-fed,
+ill-clothed, ill-housed, and insecure.
+    This Republic had its beginning, and grew to its present strength, under
+the protection of certain inalienable political rights—among them the right
+of free speech, free press, free worship, trial by jury, freedom from
+unreasonable searches and seizures.  They were our rights to life and liberty.
+    As our nation has grown in size and stature, however—as our industrial
+economy expanded—these political rights proved inadequate to assure us
+equality in the pursuit of happiness.
+    We have come to a clear realization of the fact that true individual
+freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence.
+"Necessitous men are not free men."[3]  People who are hungry and out of a
+job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made.
+    In our day these economic truths have become accepted as self-evident.  We
+have accepted, so to speak, a second Bill of Rights under which a new basis of
+security and prosperity can be established for all—regardless of station,
+race, or creed.
+
+    Among these are:
+
+    The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or
+farms or mines of the nation;
+
+    The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and
+recreation;
+
+    The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which
+will give him and his family a decent living;
+
+    The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere
+of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or
+abroad;
+
+    The right of every family to a decent home;
+
+    The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and
+enjoy good health;
+
+    The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age,
+sickness, accident, and unemployment;
+
+    The right to a good education.
+
+    All of these rights spell security.  And after this war is won we must be
+prepared to move forward, in the implementation of these rights, to new goals
+of human happiness and well-being.
+    America's own rightful place in the world depends in large part upon how
+fully these and similar rights have been carried into practice for all our
+citizens.
+    For unless there is security here at home there cannot be lasting peace in
+the world.
+  -- Excerpt from President Roosevelt's January 11, 1944 message to the
+     Congress of the United States on the State of the Union