X-Git-Url: https://feistymeow.org/gitweb/?a=blobdiff_plain;f=database%2Ffortunes.dat;h=1354d3270bb3b4e5ff8c8ce9c3347463439ffd14;hb=4d96bf54bf513c79b7e12b9ae6925a87d9ad05af;hp=473472479916ade18f85277dce8c2e9d26544b37;hpb=94a850991b040a4b8000a3fa1a2906e7c7f4f612;p=feisty_meow.git diff --git a/database/fortunes.dat b/database/fortunes.dat index 47347247..1354d327 100644 --- a/database/fortunes.dat +++ b/database/fortunes.dat @@ -38567,3 +38567,85 @@ has reinforced in the past; for it is not in accord with the nature of things that suffering be due to positive karma. -- Jamgön Kongtrül Lodro Taye, from "The Treasury of Knowledge: Book Seven and Book Eight, Parts One and Two" +~ + "That which is seen and that which is touched are of a dream-like and + illusion-like nature. Because feeling arises together with the mind, + it is not [ultimately] perceived." --Shantideva + + There is nothing whatever that has a true mode of existence. Nevertheless, +this does not suggest that a person who experiences feelings and the feelings +themselves—pleasant and unpleasant—are utterly non-existent. They do +exist, but in an untrue fashion. Thus, the things that we see and touch have +a dream-like and illusion-like quality. + In the second line the author refutes the true existence of the mind that +experiences feelings. Since feelings arise in conjunction with the mind, +feelings are not perceived by the mind that is simultaneous with them. There +must be a causal relationship between the experienced object and the +experiencing subject. If two entities are substantially distinct and exist +simultaneously, there could be neither a causal relationship nor an identity +relationship between them. + For this reason the author denies that either [intrinsic] relationship could +hold for the feelings and the awareness that is simultaneous with them. Two +mental events that arise in conjunction with each other are not able to +apprehend one another. This holds true for all states of awareness. Thus, +feelings are not observed by the awareness that arises in conjunction with +them and that exists simultaneously with them. + -- H.H. the Dalai Lama +~ +Any happiness there is in the world ultimately turns to pain. Why? Consider +the two sides of a coin: just because what we desire is to be seen on the +front does not mean that dislike won’t soon appear on the back. Likewise, +hope and fear are a single coin, one entity with two faces--on the other side +of a moment in which we hope for more happiness will be our fear of more +suffering. Until attachment is eliminated, we can be certain of having both +hope and fear. As long as there is hope and fear, the delusions of samsara +will be perpetuated and there will be constant suffering. Thus attachment is +the nature of both hope and fear: looking at the ultimate emptiness of the +self-envisioned magical illusion of hope and fear, we should hang loosely in +the flow. + --Tulku Pema Rigtsal, "The Great Secret of Mind: Special Instructions on the + Nonduality of Dzogchen", translated by Keith Dowman +~ + The feelings of joy and sorrow do not exist from their own side. Although +they exist as conceptual imputations, you cling to them as existing from their +own side. Feelings do not exist by their own intrinsic nature; rather, they +are identified on the basis of contributing circumstances. + Therefore, this analysis is cultivated as an antidote for that [false +conception of intrinsic existence]. The meditative absorption that arises +from the field of discriminative investigation is the food of the +contemplative.—Shantideva + Feelings do not truly exist; they are not found when sought through +analysis; they do not exist independently, but exist by the power of +convention. Thus, the means for overcoming the misconception of the true +existence of feelings is meditation on their lack of such existence. This +entails analyzing the mode of existence of feelings. + Such investigation is an aid to meditative absorption and leads to the +integration of meditative quiescence and insight. That increases the physical +vitality of the contemplative and enhances the power of his [or her] spiritual +practice. Thus it is called the nourishment of the contemplative. + -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, "Transcendent Wisdom". +~ +It is not enough merely to look into the space of happiness or sadness; it is +important to have pure presence constant in that flow. If the power of +meditation is not constant, it is impossible to remain long in the place of +nondual perception. Thoughts that arise intermittently will break the +continuity, and radiating out from this, like ripples on a pond, the poisonous +taste of emotion will arise to obstruct the meditation. As gross thoughts +increase, ripples become rough waves that intensify the emotion. Until subtle +emotions are left behind, we cannot eradicate suffering, so it is crucially +important to sustain the state of meditation. When we gain strong familiarity +by staying in that space for a long time, then no matter what thoughts arise, +whether gross or subtle, they will not be able to dislodge us: upon +recognizing the first thought, whatever thought it may be, in that very +moment, we realize it to be the play of the spontaneous creativity of +dharmakaya. Like a wave falling back into the ocean, the thought vanishes +into the dharmakaya. In that space of naked empty pure presence that is the +view, always cherishing thoughts of the five poisonous emotions and all the +movements of body, speech, and mind, and the acts of eating, sleeping, moving, +and sitting, we are known as the yogins and yoginis who stand guard over the +shifting dharmakaya display. This is the supreme method of sustaining the +essence of meditation. According to Dzogchen teaching, this is unadulterated +by any kind of focus; it is called “the great meditation that is +nonmeditation.” + --Tulku Pema Rigtsal, "The Great Secret of Mind: Special Instructions on the + Nonduality of Dzogchen", translated by Keith Dowman.