X-Git-Url: https://feistymeow.org/gitweb/?a=blobdiff_plain;f=database%2Ffortunes.dat;h=b5213309776d9f801131f13bf63cd4fe86190144;hb=a6f19413110deef2b61b8129f47a62dbfd7e6bcd;hp=fb156fa6eb6b6043027c1be30a4099390ec784cc;hpb=51811434f90d0a757eaefe9c748e33feb1213191;p=feisty_meow.git diff --git a/database/fortunes.dat b/database/fortunes.dat index fb156fa6..b5213309 100644 --- a/database/fortunes.dat +++ b/database/fortunes.dat @@ -39147,3 +39147,116 @@ Pete's Song: My fur reeks like Racoon dead six weeks. Feed me! +~ +The Epic of Gesar + +Through aspiration prayers and arousing bodhicitta, for the noble families the +time had come to tame the māras and cannibal demons of Tibet, and resounding +as self-arising formless sound from the sky was this song, which invokes the +enlightened mindstreams [of all the sages]: + + E MA HO + Unborn primordially empty dharmadhatu, + Unobstructed ground for the arising of phenomena, + The strength of emptiness free from the extremes of existing or not, + Listen to this song, a self-arising spontaneously present song. + + Without considering the six grains of the three months of autumn, + Why toil in the fields in the three months of spring? + Without considering the abundance of the plunder, + Why wave your arms to summon enemies and disputes? + Without considering the benefit of others, + Why single-pointedly practice to try to accomplish enlightenment? + + Failing to know the minds of those to be tamed, one is not a buddha. + Failing to fulfill the welfare of others is not the sacred dharma. + Failing to lead others to liberation is not the sangha. + + -- from The Epic of Gesar of Ling, "Gesar’s Birth and Childhood" +~ +When we meditate I encourage all of us to have the attitude that we are +meditating to dissolve the self. That’s why we meditate. Hold this +perspective in your awareness and let your dualistic mind dissolve for at +least a half hour, or at least for ten minutes every day. When you allow +yourself to witness that unexpected glimpse of the truth, where the self is +dissolved, it’s like drinking nectar. It’s inexpressible. We often use +the word bliss to describe that state. Bliss is a good word, but it can be +misunderstood. The bliss that I am speaking about has nothing to do with +ordinary bliss. It’s not like the bliss of having great food or other +sensual pleasure. This is nonconceptual bliss that is not based on emotions +but is based on awareness. We often say that realizing the true nature of who +we are is like drinking the nectar of ultimate bliss. The more we drink, the +more we are going to be addicted, which is very good. + -- Anam Thubten, "No Self, No Problem: Awakening to Our True Nature" +~ + Why is a man condemned to death not fortunate + If he is released after having his hand cut off? + Why am I who am experiencing human misery not fortunate + If by that I am spared from (the agonies of) hell? + + If I am unable to endure + Even the mere sufferings of the present, + Then why do I not restrain myself from being angry, + Which will be the source of hellish misery? + + In these two verses [from The Way of the Bodhisattva], Shantideva explains +that by not being angry and developing hatred in response to harm caused by +others, what one is gaining is protection from potential undesirable +consequences that might otherwise come about. Because if one responds to such +situations with anger and hatred, not only does it not protect one from the +injury that has already been done, but on top of that one creates an +additional cause for one’s own suffering in the future. However, if one +responds without anger and hatred and develops patience and tolerance, then +although one many face temporary discomfort or injury, that temporary +suffering will protect one from potentially dangerous consequences in the +future. If this is the case, then by sacrificing small things, by putting up +with small problems or hardships, one will be able to forgo experiences of +much greater suffering in the future. + An example Shantideva uses here is that if a convicted prisoner can save his +life by sacrificing his arm as a punishment, wouldn’t that person feel +grateful for that opportunity? By accepting the pain and suffering of having +his arm cut off, that person will be saving himself from death, which is a +greater suffering. Shantideva adds that there is another advantage: not only +will one be protected from potentially dangerous consequences in the future, +but also by experiencing the pain and suffering which has been caused +temporarily by others, one is exhausting the karmic potentials of negative +karma which one has accumulated in the past. So it serves two purposes. + -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, from "Healing Anger: The Power of Patience from a + Buddhist Perspective" +~ +The Fifth Dalai Lama (1617–1682) was perhaps the most mystical of all the +Dalai Lamas in that he seemed to spend much of his time in a state of trance. +During these trances many gurus of past ages, as well as mandala deities, +buddhas, and bodhisattvas, would appear directly to him and give him secret +transmissions, initiations, and teachings. As the Thirteenth Dalai Lama says +of the Great Fifth later in this chapter, he “was continually absorbed in +the wisdom dance that experiences all appearances as pure vision.” + -- Glenn H. Mullin, from "From the Heart of Chenrezig: The Dalai Lamas on + Tantra" +~ +Wishing others to be happy doesn’t mean we give them everything they want, +because sometimes what they want can be harmful. Wishing them to be happy +entails wanting them to be free from pain and loneliness. Wouldn’t it be +wonderful if they were free from these and all other miseries? In order to +love others, we have to be able to overcome our anger and hatred toward them. +We have to be able to forgive them for the wrongs they’ve done. To do that, +we have to get “me” out of the way and see that when people create harm, +it is a reflection of their own pain, confusion, and misery. We just happened +to walk across their path. We may even have done something to antagonize +them, either deliberately or accidentally, but the reason that they got so +upset is because of what is going on inside of them. We might also look at +how we made ourselves into a target or accidentally became a target onto which +they projected their confusion. Maybe we weren’t very considerate of them. +Maybe we have certain bad habits of which we’re not aware and to which +they’re reacting. + -- Thubten Chodron, "How to Free Your Mind: The Practice of Tara the + Liberator" +~ +We humans are actually not that far from enlightenment. Our five senses are +like the Emanation Body of a Buddha; our dream body, which is similar to the +after-death form, is like a Buddha’s Beatific Form; and the basis of both of +these is the subtle mind of clear light which shares the nature of a +Buddha’s Wisdom Body. All we have to do is learn to transform these +ordinary elements into their pure natures. Then buddhahood naturally comes +into our hands. + -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, from "The Path to Enlightenment"