X-Git-Url: https://feistymeow.org/gitweb/?a=blobdiff_plain;f=infobase%2Ffortunes.dat;h=529b92c3cb61283fa2029d116581ffa6be1d9253;hb=7e7383cf9baf945f6e86af15f59165003eafc803;hp=050cb7c89a0eea0a091ce24aa4be881c5dc1d54a;hpb=68821c3475f388759fa9680e8dcf0572cf272ada;p=feisty_meow.git diff --git a/infobase/fortunes.dat b/infobase/fortunes.dat index 050cb7c8..529b92c3 100644 --- a/infobase/fortunes.dat +++ b/infobase/fortunes.dat @@ -37178,7 +37178,7 @@ that these, and others, are the consequences of violating the pledges. The tantric pledges, like a dented vessel, are restored by the practitioner's strength. --Jamgon Kongtrul - +~ When is it possible to restore a vow that has been transgressed? All the tantras and transmissions state that if a monk has incurred a defeat with concealment, the transgressed vow, like a broken clay pot, cannot be repaired. @@ -40897,3 +40897,135 @@ in. This is the journey of developing a kindhearted and courageous tolerance for our pain. -- Pema Chödrön, "Living Beautifully with Uncertainty and Change", published by Shambhala Publications +~ +During lifetimes spent wandering in the round of rebirth without beginning or +end, your present enemies were once extremely beneficial friends and your +present friends were once harmful enemies. Moreover, if you do not consider +present enemies as such, but treat them helpfully as friends, it is possible +that they will prove even more helpful than friends. Therefore, rest in +equanimity toward others: give up attachment to friends and reject hatred +toward enemies. + -- Choying Tobden Dorje, from "The Complete Nyingma Tradition from Sutra to + Tantra, Books 1 to 10", published by Shambhala Publications +~ +Compassion is not logical. It’s basically spacious and generous. A +compassionate person might not be sure whether he is being compassionate to +you or whether you are being compassionate to him, because compassion creates +a total environment of generosity. Generosity is implied; it just happens, +rather than you making it happen. It’s just there, without direction, +without me, without “for them.” It’s full of joy, a spontaneously +existing grin of joy, constant joy. + -- Chögyam Trungpa, from "Mindfulness in Action: Making Friends with + Yourself through Meditation and Everyday Awareness", published by + Shambhala Publications +~ +We have a Buddhist prayer in which we ourselves aspire to become like [the +earth]. We say: + + May I be like the earth, + Providing the air, the ground, water, + And everything she provides + That is our sacred source of life. + +Inspired by the example of the earth, this prayer encourages us to aspire to +be an unconditional source of all well-being and life for others. This is a +supreme aspiration. We do not just have a great deal to learn about the +environment—we also have a lot to learn from it. + -- H.H. the Seventeenth Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, "The Heart Is Noble", + published by Shambhala Publications +~ +Many people wish to be healthy, to be free from disease, and to remain forever +young, but these are not very meaningful goals. If you can tame your mind, +the value of this will far surpass anything in the world. Patrul Rinpoche +said, "Tame the mind, tame the mind, use bodhichitta to tame the mind. Even +if we do not cultivate any good deeds in body and speech, taming our mind in +fact benefits ourselves and all beings." + -- Jigme Phuntsok, from "Always Present", published by Shambhala Publications +~ +Transcendent knowledge is beyond thought, word, or description. It neither +arises nor ceases, like the identity of space. It is the domain of +individual, self-knowing wakefulness. I salute this mother of the buddhas of +the three times. + -- Shantarakshita, in praise of Prajnaparamita, from "Jewels of + Enlightenment", by Erik Pema Kunsang, published by Shambhala Publications +~ +To rejoice in others’ happiness without any preferences of our own shows +that we understand that the longing for happiness is the same for all beings. +We can rejoice in their temporal happiness, which has come from their +accumulation of merit. When we recognize the quality of happiness in +others—when we see someone genuinely smile or laugh or see a glimmer of +brightness in their eyes—we can rejoice. When they obtain something they +want or need, whatever it may be, we have an opportunity to practice +rejoicing. Beings long for all kinds of things, some of which we might not +want ourselves—but that doesn’t matter. The important thing is that, if +only for a single moment, it has brought them some happiness. + -- Dzigar Kongtrul, from "Light Comes Through", published by Shambhala + Publications +~ +Even if we think we have found the origin of phenomena, we are only being +deluded by the karmic seeds of new discoveries which are constantly ripening, +becoming exhausted, and being replaced through the ripening of other karmic +seeds. Yet we continue to be fascinated by trying to define substance, +constantly trying to catch it, thinking that we have caught it but then losing +it. We are endlessly lured by the material creations of our conceptions. +Sublime beings, knowing the characteristics of each phenomenon and the nature +of all phenomena, are never lured by anything. They abide in the infinite +display of enlightenment’s empty appearance without trying to catch anything +or being able to be caught. + -- Thinley Norbu, from "White Sail", published by Shambhala Publications +~ +When there is never any fear or despair no matter what adversity or suffering +is encountered, when difficulty is taken as an aid to mind training and you +always have the help of a joyful mind, then you have acquired proficiency in +mind training. When adverse conditions come, meditate joyfully and, in +addition, learn to take joyfully all the adversity others experience. + -- Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Taye, from "The Great Path of Awakening", published + by Shambhala Publications +~ +The origin of all science is in the desire to know causes; and the origin of +all false science and imposture is in the desire to accept false causes rather +than none; or, which is the same thing, in the unwillingness to acknowledge +our own ignorance. + -- William Hazlitt (1778–1830) +~ +Not only are there two different categories of phenomena, the person and the +external phenomena, there are also two different types of misconceptions with +respect to the nature of phenomena: misconceptions with respect to the nature +of the person and with respect to the external phenomena. This means to +overcome these two types of misconception is to realize selflessness, which is +the ultimate nature of these two types of phenomena. Therefore there are two +selflessnesses, selflessness of person and selflessness of phenomena. +Generally speaking, comparing the two, the realization of the selflessness of +the person is said to be easier than realization of the selflessness of +phenomena because of long familiarity with the actual self, the person. + -- H.H. the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, "Gentle Bridges: Conversations with the + Dalai Lama on the Sciences of Mind", edited by Jeremy Hayward and + Francisco J. Varela, published by Shambhala Publications +~ +The Tibetan term for renunciation is ngepar jungwa; nges par ’byung ba, +which literally means "certainty of release." Ngepar is short for ngepar +shepa, meaning to have certain, decisive knowledge from within; in this case, +it refers to having certainty that the nature of worldly existence is +suffering. In addition to this certainty, there is the heartfelt wish to be +released, jungwa, from this suffering. One must gain confidence in the fact +that the nature of cyclic existence in samsara is suffering, together with +having the powerful wish and intention to be free of this suffering. This is +what is known as the thought of renunciation. + -- Nyoshul Khenpo, "The Fearless Lion’s Roar: Profound Instructions on + Dzogchen, the Great Perfection", published by Shambhala Publications +~ +“Karma” basically means action. When we talk about karma, we talk about +action, which in Buddhism entails thinking in terms of cause and effect. +Actions are performed because there are certain preexisting causes and +conditions giving rise to the impulse to engage in particular actions, and +from this the karmic effect issues. In the performance of actions, there is +usually a propelling factor. We feel compelled by something to do certain +things, and when we engage in those actions, based on those impulses, the +actions then produce relevant effects. As we have seen though, this does not +mean that every action performed has a particular cause and a particular +effect. Nevertheless, the Buddhist theory of karma is irrevocably tied to +this mechanism, for want of a better word, and hence to the responsibility of +the individual, as opposed to a divine governance of sorts. + -- Traleg Kyabgon, "Karma: What It Is, What It Isn't, Why It Matters", + published by Shambhala Publications +