X-Git-Url: https://feistymeow.org/gitweb/?a=blobdiff_plain;f=infobase%2Ffortunes.dat;h=b9cf41b2bb848ddeb0a295b661120f5b8c11af4d;hb=8eeaf0b70a228b9b12d2e3db0b0d7941b7569830;hp=216851b6aaba38567161c37bad3648d315be274f;hpb=dd04b4008381923416ca1e27d957be25058ab234;p=feisty_meow.git diff --git a/infobase/fortunes.dat b/infobase/fortunes.dat index 216851b6..b9cf41b2 100644 --- a/infobase/fortunes.dat +++ b/infobase/fortunes.dat @@ -41466,4 +41466,368 @@ required. I mean, take just one of the most basic precepts, common to every religion under the sun: "don’t lie." If you can read to the end of this paragraph without telling a lie, please alert the media. -- Susan Piver, "Start Here Now", published by Shambhala Publications +~ +The reason and the meaning of love in our life is very profound. It is unlike +any other reason. In my own personal view, I do not think that love has to be +for no reason at all. Rather, I think that the reason to love is so vast that +it cannot be limited to any particular reasons. + -- The Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, in "The Heart Is Noble", published by + Shambhala Publications +~ + Human beings suffer birth, sickness, aging and death. We enumerate these +different forms of suffering but prefer not to think about what they entail. +We only need to watch a birth to know how traumatic and painful the passage +through the birth canal must be for the baby. Aging is distasteful to +everyone but small children, who long to be grown up. Everyone else likes to +be told they don’t look a day older. + Even reading about diseases or hearing of others’ sicknesses fills us +with a dread that we might contract them. When we actually fall ill +ourselves, we feel afraid and helpless. As for death, everyone avoids talking +about it. Humans also experience the constant frustration of not getting what +they want and getting what they don’t want. When we first meet people, they +may seem successful and happy, but as soon as we get to know them better, we +discover they all have a tale of woe to tell. + -- "Atisha’s Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment", commentary by Geshe + Sonam Rinchen, translated and edited by Ruth Sonam, published by + Shambhala Publications +~ +The idea is that passion should be transmuted into compassion for yourself and +others. This is possible because passion without reference point, goal +orientation, or aggression is compassion. When passion is transmuted into +compassion, you do not abandon your existence, but you are able to be gentle +and nice. Since you are not substituting such behavior for your actual self, +you do not feel particularly lost or deprived of your capabilities. Beyond +that, you can expand to others as well. So you are full, but at the same +time, you are empty. + -- Chögyam Trungpa, "The Bodhisattva Path of Wisdom & Compassion", + published by Shambhala Publications. +~ +Traditionally, many subtle distinctions are made about the various +characteristics and levels of the development of bodhichitta. Chagme Rinpoche +mentions these and says, “If you are studying to become a scholar, you need +to know all of these distinctions. But if you are a practitioner, these +distinctions are extremely unimportant.” For example, I arrived here at +these teachings by traveling in airplanes and automobiles. Now, I might +wonder, “Who built the airplane I traveled in? How does it work?” But, in +fact, I don’t know the answers to any of these things because it is not +important for me to know these things. What is important is that I got on an +airplane and flew thousands of miles and was able to get here. In the same +way, I regularly travel by automobile, and I might wonder, “How do you make +an automobile? Who made this automobile? How does it work exactly?” From +one point of view, of course, it is good to know these things, but from the +point of view of actually getting somewhere, it is not important. What is +important is that I got in a car and I came here. So, from one point of view, +it might be important to know all about the various aspects and +characteristics of bodhichitta, but according to Karma Chagme, it is perfectly +okay if you don’t. + -- Khenchen Thrangu, "Luminous Clarity: A Commentary on Karma Chagme’s + Union of Mahamudra and Dzogchen", published by Shambhala Publications +~ +- You are a deeply selfish person. - +~ ++ You are a deeply compassionate person. + +~ +* You are a deeply deep person. * +~ +- You are a deeply selfish person. - ++ You are a deeply compassionate person. + +* You are a deeply deep person. * +~ + Buddhism asserts that the mind can be changed. I doubt whether anyone +would dispute that point although we often feel as if we are stuck with an +obstinate mind that refuses to do what we want it to. In addictions this +feeling of being stuck can be very powerful. But Buddha said that all this +can change, no matter how bad it is. + Buddha was a top psychologist. He taught methods for dealing with +immediate and urgent situations as well as methods that look into long-term +change. For the long term, meditation is an important method. When he was +teaching about how to meditate, he suggested a number of tools from which we +can benefit. We are going to use three of these tools to help us: +mindfulness, introspection, and equanimity. Mindfulness keeps our mind on +whatever we have decided to do. Introspection checks whether we are being +mindful or not. Equanimity stops the dramatizing and catastrophizing that we +get into when we do not get what we want (the craving and grasping that arise +from attachment) or we get what we do not want (aversion which gives rise to +hatred, jealousy, and depression). + -- Chönyi Taylor, from "Enough! A Buddhist Approach to Finding Release +from Addictive Patterns", published by Shambhala Publications +~ +It is said in the Supreme Continuum of the Great Vehicle: + Earth is based upon water, + Water on wind, and wind on space, + But space is not based on anything. + Similarly, the aggregates and sensory sense fields + Are based on deeds and afflictive mental states. + Deeds and afflictive mental states are always based on mistaken attention. + Mistaken attention is based on the purity of mind. + But the nature of mind is not itself based on any of these things. + -- Choying Tobden Dorje, from "The Complete Nyingma Tradition from Sutra to +Tantra, Books 15 to 17, Volume 1", published by Shambhala Publications +~ + First, I’ll begin with self, which sometimes goes by the name ego, or +more familiarly, I and me. What is this self, really? We can investigate by +trying to analyze this self, to locate it or pin it down, to see if it even +exists in the first place. This can be a highly illuminating contemplation, +but for the purposes of this book, I would like to focus more on our everyday +experience. Let’s identify how having a self feels. In our mind stream, +there is always some kind of feeling of having a self, which is at the center +of all our thoughts and emotions. One Tibetan phrase targets this phenomenon +precisely: dak che dzin. Dak means “self”; che means “important” or +“dear”; dzin means “holding” or “regarding.” This term has various +translations, which all capture different nuances: self-centeredness, self- +clinging, ego-clinging, self-absorption. I like to use all of these terms in +different contexts, but my favorite translation is “self-importance.” + This word may make us think dak che dzin has mostly to do with being proud +and arrogant, but such pride is nowhere near the whole story. Self-importance +includes both self-cherishing and self-protection. It is the source of the +five main types of painful emotions, known as the “five poisons”: +attachment, aggression, jealousy, arrogance, and stupidity. It can manifest +as feeling like we’re better than others, but just as easily it can manifest +as low self-esteem, or even self-hatred. The bottom line is that we regard +this self—whatever or wherever it is—as the most important thing in the +entire universe. + -- Dzigar Kongtrul, from "The Intelligent Heart: A Guide to the +Compassionate Life", published by Shambhala Publications. +~ +Poverty is an anomaly to rich people; it is very difficult to make out why +people who want dinner do not ring the bell. + -- Walter Bagehot +~ + In reality, nothing can save us from a state of chaos or confusion unless +we have acknowledged it and actually experienced it. Otherwise, even though +we may be in the midst of chaos, we don’t even notice it, although we are +subject to it. On the path of meditation, the first real glimpse of our +confusion and the general chaos is when we begin to feel uncomfortable. We +feel that something is a nuisance. Something is bugging us constantly. + What is that? Eventually we discover that we are the nuisance. We begin +to see ourselves being a nuisance to ourselves when we uncover all kinds of +thought problems, emotional hang-ups, and physical problems in meditation. +Before we work with anyone else, we have to deal with being a nuisance to +ourselves. We have to pull ourselves together. We might get angry with +ourselves, saying, "I could do better than this. What’s wrong with me? I +seem to be getting worse. I’m going backward." We might get angry with +the whole world, including ourselves. Everything, the entire universe, +becomes the expression of total insult. We have to relate to that experience +rather than rejecting it. If you hope to be helpful to others, first you have +to work with yourself. + -- Chögyam Trungpa, from "Mindfulness in Action", published by Shambhala + Publications +~ +If I could conceive that the general government might ever be so administered +as to render the liberty of conscience insecure, I beg you will be persuaded, +that no one would be more zealous than myself to establish effectual barriers +against the horrors of spiritual tyranny, and every species of religious +persecution. + -- George Washington, letter to the United Baptist Chamber of Virginia (1789) +~ +Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, +he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blindfolded fear. + -- Thomas Jefferson, letter to Peter Carr (1787) +~ +In regard to religion, mutual toleration in the different professions thereof +is what all good and candid minds in all ages have ever practiced, and both by +precept and example inculcated on mankind. + -- Samuel Adams, The Rights of the Colonists (1771) +~ +Persecution is not an original feature in any religion; but it is always the +strongly marked feature of all religions established by law. Take away the +law-establishment, and every religion re-assumes its original benignity. + -- Thomas Paine, The Rights of Man (1791) +~ +Congress has no power to make any religious establishments. + -- Roger Sherman, Congress (1789) +~ +The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason. + -- Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanack (1758) +~ +I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people +build a wall of separation between Church & State. + -- Thomas Jefferson, letter to the Danbury Baptists (1802) +~ +To argue with a man who has renounced the use of reason is like administering +medicine to the dead. + -- Thomas Paine, The American Crisis No. V (1776) +~ +Our civil rights have no dependence on our religious opinions, any more than +our opinions in physics or geometry. + -- Thomas Jefferson, A Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom (1779) +~ +Christian establishments tend to great ignorance and corruption, all of which +facilitate the execution of mischievous projects. + -- James Madison, letter to William Bradford, Jr. (1774) +~ +There is nothing which can better deserve our patronage than the promotion of +science and literature. Knowledge is in every country the surest basis of +public happiness. + -- George Washington, address to Congress (1790) +~ +During almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity +been on trial. What has been its fruits? More or less, in all places, pride +and indolence in the clergy; ignorance and servility in the laity; in both, +superstition, bigotry and persecution. + -- James Madison, General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia (1785) +~ +If the present and the future +Depend upon the past, +Then both the present and the future +Are existent in the past. + +If the present and the future +Are not present then, +How could the present and the future +Be dependent on it? + +If they are not dependent on the past, +Then both are unestablished. +Thus the present and the future time +Do not exist. + +To the two remaining times, it should be understood, +This same procedure is applied. +And likewise it applies to high and low and medium, +And to the singular and so forth. + +Time that does not stay we cannot grasp; +And time that could be grasped +Does not remain. So how can time, +Ungraspable, be said to be? + +If time depends on things, +Then how can there be time if things do not exist? +And since there are no things at all, +How can time exist? + -- Nagarjuna, from "The Root Stanzas of the Middle Way: The + Mulamadhyamakakarika", published by Shambhala Publications +~ +White Rabbit, by Jefferson Airplane + +One pill makes you larger +And one pill makes you small +And the ones that mother gives you +Don't do anything at all +Go ask Alice +When she's ten feet tall + +And if you go chasing rabbits +And you know you're going to fall +Tell 'em a hookah-smoking caterpillar +Has given you the call +Call Alice +When she was just small + +When the men on the chessboard +Get up and tell you where to go +And you've just had some kind of mushroom +And your mind is moving low +Go ask Alice +I think she'll know + +When logic and proportion +Have fallen sloppy dead +And the White Knight is talking backwards +And the Red Queen's off with her head +Remember what the dormouse said +Feed your head +Feed your head +~ +How can we integrate these teachings into our lives? I think that only +happens when we are faced with challenges and respond to them in a new way, +not according to habitual self-importance. In other words, we respond by +applying the exchange of self and other. When tonglen becomes our familiar +way of being, the entire path unfolds easily in front of us. This difficult +modern age turns out to be the perfect setting for our spiritual practice, +proving far more hospitable to our growth than past eras of idealized calm and +simplicity. When we figure out for ourselves how to apply the wisdom of books +to whatever difficult circumstances arise in life, then that wisdom becomes +part of our mind. We become transformed. My hope for every reader—as well +as for myself—is that we will apply these lojong teachings again and again +until they become part of who we are. + -- Dzigar Kongtrul and Joseph Waxman, in "The Intelligent Heart: A Guide + to the Compassionate Life", published by Shambhala Publications +~ +Siddhis? Cities. + +Honolulu: a relaxed city, like an uncrowded bar where everyone is clean and +rested. + +Los Angeles: a scattered city, like a teenager's sexual curiosity. + +San Francisco: a clean city, like an elegant, genteel Christian graveyard. + +Santa Fe: a picturesque city, like a painter’ s bright, simple palette, +imitating Tibet. + +Boston: a sophisticated city, like London without queens and dukes and falling +bridges. + +New York: a no-more-nothingness city, +where gentle, quiet audiences sit in theaters listening to classical concerts; +where rough, noisy audiences sit in stadiums in pandemonium watching boxing; +where there are clean people with dirty minds; +where there are dirty people with clean minds; +where hundreds of nihilist people reject spiritual teachings; +where hundreds of spiritual teachers reject samsara's teachings; +where poor people sleep underground on low subway platforms; +where rich people sleep aboveground in high skyscraper penthouses; +where many non-practitioners stay for their nightclub retreat to find pleasure; +practitioners leave for their countryside retreat to find pleasure. + - Thinley Norbu Rinpoche, from "A Brief Fantasy History of a Himalayan", + published by Shambhala Publications +~ +As a blind man feels when he finds a pearl in a dustbin, so am I amazed by the +miracle of awakening rising in my consciousness. It is the nectar of +immortality that delivers us from death, the treasure that lifts us above +poverty into the wealth of giving to life, the tree that gives shade to us +when we roam about scorched by life, the bridge that takes us across the +stormy river of life, the cool moon of compassion that calms our mind when it +is agitated, the sun that dispels darkness, the butter made from the milk of +kindness by churning it with the dharma. It is a feast of joy to which all +are invited. + -- from "Teachings of the Buddha", written by Shantideva, edited by Jack + Kornfield, published by Shambhala Publications +~ +Even though we may actually recognize the nature of awareness, we should not +hold on to that mindfulness tightly, thinking, “I have indeed recognized it." +If we do hold on to it tightly, it will be like when a thread is twisted too +taut: one cannot sew with it, because it knots up. In the same way, if one +is too tense, one's mindfulness will be obscured. If mindfulness is not +grasped too tightly but left in the natural flow, sometimes it will be clear +and sometimes not. But we should not get caught up in whether it is clear or +not. If genuine mindfulness is left without being altered, gradually we will +come to know, through our own experience, “This is awareness, and this is +ignorance; this is mind, and this is wisdom.” + -- Dilgo Khyentse, from "Primordial Purity", published by Shambhala + Publications +~ +He says Tibetans are unique because we value the practice of Buddhism. He +gives the example of Tibetan mothers who in the course of a day point +repeatedly toward suffering. They tell their children: don’t kill the ant, +it will suffer; don’t pour hot water on the soil, the earthworm will feel +the sting and the heat will cause it great pain; don’t pull the dog’s tail +so hard. We are told to think for the animals and insects who cannot voice +their pain but for whom suffering is as acute as it is for humans. From a +young age, he says, we are reminded that nobody is free from suffering. I +agree that my Tibetan friends are instinctively more likely to brush away +flies or mosquitoes instead of crushing or swatting them. But why is +compassion so important? What about our land, our independence? Will +compassion free our land? + -- Tsering Wangmo Dhompa, in "Coming Home to Tibet: A Memoir of Love, Loss, +and Belonging", published by Shambhala Publications +~ + At the end of every meditation session, recognize what kind of healing +experience you are feeling. You could be feeling peace, warmth, bliss, +spaciousness, boundlessness, richness, sacredness, or strength. If you have +multiple experiences, it can help to recognize the most prominent one. + The goal is to calmly enjoy the particular experience, resting in +awareness of what you are feeling, without grasping at it or analyzing it or +needing to think about it in words. Just remain one with the experience, in +open awareness, in silence, like water that has merged in water. + Purpose: This meditation is for sowing the seed of experience of the +meditation, not on the rough surface of concepts or afflicting emotions but at +the deeper and calmer level of the open mind. Merging your awareness with the +experience ensures the fruition of the meditation with greatest certainty. +Open awareness helps unite your mind with the result of healing. + This meditation could also lead to, or be, the awareness state of the +enlightened nature itself. + -- by Tulku Thondup, in "Boundless Healing", published by Shambhala Publications