X-Git-Url: https://feistymeow.org/gitweb/?a=blobdiff_plain;f=infobase%2Ffortunes.dat;h=0fbe4682e9eaa89dc8a58e2148be68524d97cad5;hb=a3759e3900ad41d74ad877973bbe371150ec6339;hp=33b11cf995ca92c89957a1460e0e9418a60c7e2c;hpb=669a4226cc7e7a99160afdd17cc9555d35d7b303;p=feisty_meow.git diff --git a/infobase/fortunes.dat b/infobase/fortunes.dat index 33b11cf9..0fbe4682 100644 --- a/infobase/fortunes.dat +++ b/infobase/fortunes.dat @@ -42764,4 +42764,173 @@ still has the flame. There are no distinctions. There is a continuum. A computer lets you make more mistakes faster than any other invention with the possible exceptions of handguns and Tequila. -- Mitch Ratcliffe +~ +Even with realization, if you do not directly cut through, it is like tossing +out a tempered sharp weapon: the view will not protect you, and you are bound +by fear. The yoga that brings together view and conduct is like the weapons +carried by warriors that vanquish all the enemy hosts. + -- Machik Lapdrön, "Chöd: The Sacred Teachings on Severence", by Jamgön + Kongtrul Lodrö Taye, translated by Sarah Harding, published by Shambhala + Publications +~ +The system of two truths is propounded solely for didactic purposes, as an +entry to the path. On the ultimate level, the division into two truths has no +place. There is only the inconceivable dharmadhātu, pure suchness, the +ultimate mode of being. As it is written in the sutra, + + There is but one truth: absence of all origin, + Yet some will crow about there being four. + But in the essence of enlightenment, + Not one is found—why speak of four? + +But whereas on the ultimate level, the two truths are not posited, on the +relative level, they are. For there is certainly a difference between the way +things are and the way they appear. As was said earlier, "These the two +truths are declared to be." + -- The Wisdom Chapter: Jamgön Mipham’s Commentary on the Ninth Chapter of + The Way of the Bodhisattva, translated by the Padmakara Translation + Group, published by Shambhala Publications +~ + People who embark upon the path of the Mahayana, the supreme path of +beings of great scope leading to omniscience, should try to acquire four +circumstances. They should (1) live in solitude, in a place that has all the +necessary conditions and is in harmony with the Dharma. They should (2) +frequent a teacher who is learned in the Tripitaka and steeped in the practice +of the three trainings. By doing this, they will avoid the inferior attitudes +of ordinary folk as well as the wrong behavior that leads to suffering, and +they will acquire all the good qualities deriving from the Dharma of +transmission and realization. They should in addition (3) nourish an intense +wish to practice in accordance with the teaching expounded by their master and +should (4) zealously adopt the supreme protection afforded by the merit +accumulated in their past and present existences. The venerable Nagarjuna +refers to these four conditions as the ‘‘four wheels,’’ the idea being +that, just as someone riding in a (horse-drawn) chariot can cover in a short +time a distance that would take many days for a cow or ox, a Bodhisattva +taking advantage of these four conditions will progress speedily toward +omniscience. Nagarjuna refers to them in his Suhrllekha when he says: + + Your dwelling place befits the task, + You keep the company of holy beings. + With highest aspirations and a store of merit, + You have indeed the ‘‘four wheels’’ all complete. + + -- from "Treasury of Precious Qualities, Book One: Sutra Teachings", by + Jigme Lingpa, translated by the Padmakara Translation Group, published + by Shambhala Publications +~ + + We are far removed from eighth-century Tibet, where we meet her, but +Yeshé Tsogyal continues to be present and available. She lives outside +linear time, but visits it: her limitless emanations form a bridge from her +lifetime to the present. She promised to remain accessible to any spiritual +seeker wishing to follow her lead. In her own words, + + And so, from now until the scouring of samsara, + My stream of emanations, primary and secondary, + Will flow unceasing. + Especially to those who in the future meditate + Upon the subtle veins and energies, + I’ll show myself--at best directly, + Else in visions, or at least in dreams, + Appearing as a common person, or as the secret consort. + I shall clear the obstacles of those who keep samaya, + Bringing progress to their practice, + Helping to attain with speed the blissful warmth and thence + accomplishment. + + As promised, she continuously appears to lead and inspire the faithful in +dreams, visions, and real life. As well, her human reincarnations ceaselessly +return to the world, guiding others in whatever capacity is needed. + -- from "The Life and Visions of Yeshé Tsogyal", by Drimé Kunga and Yeshé + Tsogyal Translated by Chönyi Drolma, published by Shambhala Publications +~ + It is impossible to conceive how many beings, from beginningless time in +samsara, have been related to us--as parents, as enemies, or as people +indifferent to us. In fact, all beings have been linked to us in these three +ways innumerable times. When they were our enemies, they injured us; when +they were our parents or our friends, they cherished and aided us; when they +were neither, they ignored us. It would be impossible to calculate the number +of relationships that we have experienced. Once when the noble Katyayana went +begging for alms, he came across a group of people and, perceiving the karmic +links that bound them together, commented: + + He strikes his mother, eats his father’s flesh; + His hated foe he dandles on his lap. + Here is a wife that sucks her husband’s bones-- + At this samsara how can I not laugh? + + -- from "Treasury of Precious Qualities, Book One: Sutra Teachings", by + Jigme Lingpa, translated by the Padmakara Translation Group, published + by Shambhala Publications +~ + When the actual process of dying begins, you pass through eight phases-- +the first four involve the collapse of the four elements, and the last four +involve the collapse of consciousness into the innermost level of mind, called +the mind of clear light. + In the final phase of dying, when all coarse consciousnesses dissolve into +the all-empty, which is the fundamental innate mind of clear light, the myriad +objects of the world, as well as concepts such as sameness and difference, are +pacified in this subtlest mind. At that time, all appearances of environments +and beings withdraw of their own accord. Even for a nonpractitioner, coarse +appearances also withdraw; this withdrawal of conventional appearances, +however, is not due to a perception of reality attained through meditation. +When, in the last phase, the temporary winds that carry consciousness have all +dissolved, the mind (whether of a practitioner or a nonpractitioner) becomes +as if undifferentiated, and an immaculate openness dawns. + -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, from "The Heart of Meditation", translated and + edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, published by Shambhala Publications +~ + There’s a common misunderstanding among all the human beings who have +ever been born on the earth that the best way to live is to try to avoid pain +and just try to get comfortable. You can see this even in insects and animals +and birds. + A much more interesting, kind, adventurous, and joyful approach to life is +to begin to develop our curiosity, not caring whether the object of our +inquisitiveness is bitter or sweet. + When people start to meditate or to work with any kind of spiritual +discipline, they often think that somehow they’re going to improve, which is +a sort of subtle aggression against who they really are. It’s a bit +like saying, “If I jog, I’ll be a much better person.” Or the scenario +may be that they find fault with others; they might say, “If it weren’t +for my husband, I’d have a perfect marriage.” And “If it weren’t for +my mind, my meditation would be excellent.” + But loving-kindness--maitri--toward ourselves doesn’t mean getting rid +of anything. Maitri means that we can still be crazy after all these years. +We can still be angry after all these years. We can still be timid or jealous +or full of feelings of unworthiness. Meditation practice isn’t about trying +to throw ourselves away and become something better. It’s about befriending +who we are already. + Perhaps we will experience what is traditionally described as the fruition +of maitri--playfulness... + -- Pema Chödrön, from "Awakening Loving-Kindness", published by Shambhala + Publications +~ + In texts we inherited from India, the basic principle is sometimes called +the “fundamental innate mind of clear light” and the “fundamental innate +wisdom of clear light”— these two terms having the same meaning. In other +texts, it is called the “space-diamond pervading space,” whereas in even +others it is called the “jewel mind,” as, for example, when it is said, +“Separate from the jewel mind, there is no buddha and no sentient being.” + Then, in Tibet, in some texts, it is called “ordinary consciousness” +and “innermost awareness.” These terms are used in the context of speaking +about freedom from thought, which is psychologically and experientially +described as “self-release,” “naked release,” and “unimpeded +penetration”; we will be discussing these in detail later. The innermost +awareness is said to be the basis of the appearance of all of the round of +suffering (called “cyclic existence”) and also the basis of liberation +(called “nirvana”). Everything, without exception, is complete in the +continuum of innermost awareness. It is even said to be “naturally arisen,” +since it has always been and always will be. + -- H.H. the Dalai Lama, from "The Heart of Meditation", translated and + edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, published by Shambhala Publications + +When phenomena are indeed seen to be devoid of true existence, great +compassion will well up effortlessly, a compassion that will never abandon +living beings who circle in samsara through their clinging to true existence. +For as it has been taught, it is in the nature of things that such an attitude +is born. + +##--# from "The Wisdom Chapter: Jamgön Mipham’s Commentary on the Ninth +Chapter of The Way of the Bodhisattva", published by Shambhala Publications +