X-Git-Url: https://feistymeow.org/gitweb/?a=blobdiff_plain;f=infobase%2Ffortunes.dat;h=c4f4ac8e8c1a61ef8e55e2e8c83d9418b8ed5780;hb=9ea2bac1f2d7a0a4372121e2628104a51d66e80d;hp=f2427a91b5adfe1205437bf4432995cee7eb3957;hpb=c059179623107b5ac337272356ddbdabdc0929b2;p=feisty_meow.git diff --git a/infobase/fortunes.dat b/infobase/fortunes.dat index f2427a91..c4f4ac8e 100644 --- a/infobase/fortunes.dat +++ b/infobase/fortunes.dat @@ -40551,4 +40551,401 @@ time, you regret that your mind has become like this, and you then work to clear away those faults and establish good qualities. -- Tsong-kha-pa, from "The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment, Volume 1", published by Shambhala Publications +~ +We work hard to bring happiness and peace into our lives, but there is no way +to achieve real peace through material goods alone. Perhaps we can accomplish +a little artificial joy and happiness, but these don’t last long. Truly +substantial and lasting happiness and peace can be established only by +exercising our inner mind with the precious Dharma teachings. This is the +purpose of our meditation practice, and this is what Jigten Sumgön taught. +Mental afflictions and neuroses can be pacified only through the Dharma. +Dharma is the ultimate remedy for confusion. + -- Khenchen Konchog Gyaltshen, "Opening the Treasure of the Profound", + published by Shambhala Publications +~ + The purpose of practice is to habituate ourselves to openness. This means +we need to understand reactive mind. How do we experience the difference +between reacting and staying open? + At what point do we decide to go with the habitual tendencies of +exaggeration and denial or try something new? Where is the fork in the road? +We need to explore these two experiences: reacting... staying open... +reacting... staying open... reacting... staying open again. We begin to see +the difference. It’s a process of refinement. Our investigation cultivates +a discerning intelligence that guides us in a positive direction. + We need to ask ourselves: "If our confusion finds its genesis in our +habit of turning away from the open state, what would happen if we habituated +ourselves to staying open?" + -- Elizabeth Mattis-Namgyel, "The Power of an Open Question: The Buddha’s + Path to Freedom", published by Shambhala Publications +~ + Recognizing the instability of causes and conditions leads us to understand +our own power to transform obstacles and make the impossible possible. This +is true in every area of life. If you don’t have a Ferrari, you very well +may create the conditions to have one. As long as there is a Ferrari, there +is the opportunity for you to own one. Likewise if you want to live longer, +you can choose to stop smoking and exercise more. There is reasonable hope. +Hopelessness--just like its opposite, blind hope--is the result of a belief +in permanence. + You can transform not only your physical world but your emotional world, +for example, turning agitation into peace of mind by letting go of ambition or +turning low self-respect into confidence by acting out of kindness and +philanthropy. If we all condition ourselves to put our feet in other +people’s shoes, we will cultivate peace in our homes, with our neighbors, +and with other countries. + -- Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse, "What Makes You Not a Buddhist", published by + Shambhala Publications +~ +On the path of seeing there is (1) mindfulness whereby one does not forget the +object, the truth; (2) the wisdom of perfect discernment with regard to the +object; (3) diligence, delight in virtue, being assiduous in undertaking what +is right and avoiding what is wrong in accordance with the path; (4) joy or +mental happiness regarding the latter; (5) flexibility, in which mind and body +function appropriately; (6) concentration; and (7) evenness, in which the mind +enters the natural state, free from the conditions of lack of clarity and +wildness. These seven are elements of the path of seeing, the essence of +enlightenment. They will make one accumulate or accomplish the positive +actions that help one attain nirvana. + -- Nagarjuna, "Nagarjuna's Letter to a Friend" +~ + What is the relationship between bodhichitta and love? When you are in +love, your heart and mind are naturally open and awake to life. When you +cultivate bodhichitta by opening and awakening your heart and mind, love can +flow and grow. + Bodhichitta is like opening the curtains, and love is like the sun shining +through, bringing light and warmth into the room. Or we could say that +bodhichitta is like opening the window, and love is the cool breeze that +refreshes the stuffiness and stagnation of living inside a personal fortress. +Bodhichitta is like discovering an inexhaustible treasure, and love is its +enjoyment. Bodhichitta is our direct connection with basic goodness. + -- Moh Hardin, from "A Little Book of Love", published by Shambhala Pub. +~ + Use mindfulness to become aware of these negative thoughts as they arise. +For example, when the first thought of anger arises, notice it and don’t let +it multiply. Instead, remember what happened in the past when you were +overwhelmed by anger. Based on your direct experience, see the suffering and +problems anger caused you and recognize its defects. You can crush anger +using antidotes once you clearly see it as something destructive. + You can find a particular antidote to destroy each afflictive emotion. To +conquer desire, you can meditate on the unappealing aspects of the object; for +hatred, meditate on loving-kindness; for jealousy, joy; and so on. This is +how you discard negative mental factors. + -- Shechen Rabjam, from "The Great Medicine That Conquers Clinging to the + Notion of Reality", published by Shambhala Publications +~ +During my first trip to France, we didn’t speak the same language, so we +often communicated with gestures. Sometimes I think it is better not to know +a language. Rather than talking, it is better to reserve energy through +silence. But most Westerners try to look intelligent through talking and +think silence is uncomfortable, so it is better to be talkative if you want to +spend time in the West. Of course, since human beings have dualistic tongue, +everything that is said is an impetuous expression of incurable, contagious +blurting. We who have ordinary limited qualities incessantly chatter, while +those with limitless wisdom qualities remain silent. It is like the +difference between the movement of shallow water and the stillness of the +deepest sea. Western people have many fine qualities, like the rapid waters +of mountain rivers, but they cannot put out the blazing fire of their mouth. + -- Thinley Norbu Rinpoche, "A Brief Fantasy History of a Himalayan", + published by Shambhala Publications +~ + Every moment of our lives, things are both perishing and arising. Some of +our cells are dying while others are revitalized or reborn. We get old, and +at the same time we get young. We get polluted physically, emotionally, and +mentally, and simultaneously we get purified. Things decrease and increase. +We forget, learn, and remember many things. + The Heart Sutra claims that in the midst of phenomena where all things are +changing, the reality of boundless interactions continues, and that this fact +itself will not change. After all, the ultimate reality both encompasses and +is free of change in all manifestations. + -- Kazuaki Tanahashi, "The Heart Sutra: A Comprehensive Guide to the Classic + of Mahayana Buddhism", published by Shambhala Publications +~ +In the state of mindfulness, your mind should look at both its going and +staying. Other than that there is nothing else to cultivate. It suffices if +awareness recognizes the nature of everything that arises. Apart from this +you do not need to search somewhere else for more quality or clarity... +Don’t put aside what you have and look elsewhere for what you don’t have. +Just watch the identity of awareness, no matter what it thinks or where it +goes. Don’t give importance to whether the awareness is clear or not. +Avoid stopping thought movement and pursuing stillness. Whatever stillness +there is and no matter what arises, just sustain their natural flow at their +own pace, without tainting it with alterations. Without allowing yourself to +forget undistracted mindfulness even for a moment, persevere in maintaining +its prevalence. + -- Khamtrul Rinpoche III, from "The Royal Seal of Mahamudra, Volume One: A + Guidebook for the Realization of Coemergence", published by Shambhala + Publications +~ +As your true view, look into the changeless, empty cognizance. +As your true meditation, let your mind nature be as it is. +As your true conduct, let the delusion of dualistic fixation collapse. +As your true fruition, don’t seek the result that is spontaneously present. + -- from "The Life of Longchenpa: The Omniscient Dharma King of the Vast + Expanse", by Jampa Mackenzie Stewart, 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, then 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) +~ +Being civil often has an element of acting. However, in the hinayana, you are +behaving rather than acting. Acting is trying to manifest yourself for the +sake of display, whereas behaving is how you feel. Acting is the way you +dance, and behaving is the way you sneeze or hiccup. You know if you are +being genuine. You are the first person who knows. When you are acting, you +are concerned with other people’s possible reactions; but when you are +behaving, you are just behaving. It’s like sitting on the toilet seat and +doing your duty: nobody is watching. It’s your private concern, so there is +a quality of genuineness. In the hinayana, you behave decently because the +dharma is actually a part of you. That is the meaning of taming yourself... +Becoming a dharmic person means that in your everyday life from morning to +morning, around the clock, you are not trying to kid anybody. + -- Chögyam Trungpa, from "The Path of Individual Liberation: Volume One of + The Profound Treasury of the Ocean of Dharma", published by Shambhala + Publications +~ +Today’s world requires us to accept the oneness of humanity. In the past, +isolated communities could afford to think of one another as fundamentally +separate. Some could even exist in total isolation. But nowadays, whatever +happens in one region eventually affects many other areas. Within the context +of our inter-dependence, self-interest clearly lies in considering the +interest of others. + -- H.H. the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, "The Pocket Dalai Lama", published by + Shambhala Publications +~ + Compassion is an internal attitude that may manifest in our behavior. +However, compassion is not the behavior itself, for one behavior can be done +with different motivations. For example, we may take care of a sick relative +because we have genuine affection for him. Conversely, we may care for him +because we want to inherit his estate. The action is the same, but the +motivations differ. The first motivation is prompted by genuine compassion, +the second by self-concern. + Acting with compassion entails being creative and knowing that one +behavior is not suitable for all occasions. In some circumstances, we may be +compassionate by sharing our possessions; while in others, we may show it by +saying, “no.” In this way, compassion must be combined with good judgment to +be effective. + -- Russell Kolts and Thubten Chodron, "An Open-Hearted Life", published by + Shambhala Publications +~ +Since the very beginning, the mind streams of all sentient beings possess the +way of being of the inseparability of being lucid and being empty in an +intrinsic manner. No matter how it may be obscured by adventitious stains, in +terms of its nature, it is never tainted by stains, while the stains exist in +the manner of being separable from it. This mind that is the inseparability +of being lucid and being empty has the nature of being permanent and being +free from change, decrease, and increase. It is ever undeceiving, changeless, +and genuinely stable. Throughout all three phases of ground, path, and +fruition, it is this nature of the mind that is certain to be solely the +object of the genuine meditative equipoise within the qualities that are the +nature of phenomena. This is what needs to be manifested through the practice +of superior insight. + -- from "When the Clouds Part: The Uttaratantra and Its Meditative Tradition + as a Bridge between Sutra and Tantra", translated by Karl Brunnholzl, + published by Shambhala Publications +~ + Whatever obstacles we experience, if we can take them the right way, they +won’t obstruct our spiritual path. Rather, they will become a tool to +stimulate our advancement toward our destination: unconditional love and +enlightenment. + So try to feel joy when facing difficulties, for they provide the chance +to purify unvirtuous past deeds, the cause of ills, and infuse us with the +inspiration to generate yet greater virtuous deeds, the cause of healing and +enlightenment. + -- Tulku Thondup, from "The Heart of Unconditional Love: A Powerful New + Approach to Loving-Kindness Meditation", published by Shambhala + Publications +~ +Although deliberately framed as if it were a law of nature or of mathematics, +its purpose has always been rhetorical and pedagogical: I wanted folks who +glibly compared someone else to Hitler or to Nazis to think a bit harder about +the Holocaust. + -- Mike Godwin, on "Godwin's Law", originated in 1990, which (paraphrasing) + states that any online discussion will eventually devolve into a + comparison with Hitler or Nazism. At that point, the person who brought + either topic up has lost the argument and their basic credibility. +~ +Your mind, the primordial buddha, +Searches elsewhere due to the power of desire. +Doesn’t it notice that it is wandering in samsara? + +Now that you have obtained the precious human body, +You continuously get carried away by mundane actions. +Don’t you notice that your life is running out? + -- Padmasambhava +~ + The key to understanding the truth of suffering is what the Buddha called +the “three marks” of everything that exists. All conditioned phenomena, +he said, are pervaded by these three marks: impermanence (anitya), +dissatisfaction or suffering (duhkha), and insubstantiality (anatman, +“without self”). + According to the Buddha, if we do not understand how conditioned phenomena +are marked by these three aspects, then we will not be able to understand the +first Noble Truth. We may do all we can in order to avoid facing the fact +that everything is contingent and transient—we may try to hide ourselves +from it, and we may even spin out all kinds of metaphysical theories of an +unchanging, permanent, substantial reality to avoid this all-pervasive nature +of ephemerality. Also, if we do not understand that conditioned phenomena are +unsatisfactory, we will not think about restraining ourselves from +overindulgence in sensory gratifications, which makes us lose our center and +become immersed in worldly concerns, so that our life is governed by greed, +craving, and attachment. All of these things disturb the mind. + If we do not understand that everything is insubstantial—anatman—then +we may believe that there is some kind of enduring essence or substance in +things, or in the personality, and because of this belief we generate delusion +and confusion in the mind. + -- Traleg Kyabgon, from "The Essence of Buddhism", published by Shambhala + Publications +~ + When we grasp a self, how can we possibly practice self-reflection? +Everything becomes personal: our pain, our anger, our shortcomings. When we +take thoughts and emotions personally, they torture us. Looking at our +thoughts and emotions in this way is like rubbing our nose in something +unpleasant—what purpose does it serve other than to create more pain? This +is not the kind of looking we are speaking of here. + With the view of selflessness, we can enjoy whatever arises in our +awareness. We can accept that everything that arises is a result of our past +actions, or karma, but it is not who we are. + -- Dzigar Kongtrul, from "It’s Up to You", published by Shambhala + Publications +~ +As with attaining any goal, you can’t go about putting an end to suffering +and arriving at enlightenment just any old way. If we throw a stone up into +the air, we should not be surprised if it falls on our head. In the same way, +when we commit any act, whatever it may be, we can only expect that sooner or +later it will produce an effect. Thus it is logical that if we want to free +ourselves from suffering, we have to perform certain actions and refrain from +certain others. The law of the causality of actions is the very foundation of +the teaching of the Buddha, who proclaimed: + + Avoid the least harmful act, + Perfectly accomplish the good, + And master your mind. + That is the teaching of the Buddha. + + -- Tenzin Wangmo, from "The Prince and the Zombie: Tibetan Tales of Karma", + with foreword by Matthieu Ricard, published by Shambhala Publications +~ +I am very pleased to be a human being, yet I know that I can make what I have +been given even better. I know I am not perfect, yet I also know I have the +ability to transform my imperfections. Remembering this when I begin to +practice or study makes any effort needed during the session much more freely +available. Resting meditation is not just sitting on a cushion and zoning +out. Contemplative Meditation is not just thinking about whatever arises in +the mind. Practicing either form of meditation takes joyful exertion and +self-discipline. + -- Khenpo Gawang, "Your Mind is Your Teacher", published by Shambhala + Publications +~ +Not acting on our habitual patterns is only the first step toward not harming +others or ourselves. The transformative process begins at a deeper level when +we contact the rawness we’re left with whenever we refrain. As a way of +working with our aggressive tendencies, Dzigar Kongtrül teaches the +nonviolent practice of simmering. He says that rather than “boil in our +aggression like a piece of meat cooking in a soup,” we simmer in it. We +allow ourselves to wait, to sit patiently with the urge to act or speak in our +usual ways and feel the full force of that urge without turning away or giving +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