X-Git-Url: https://feistymeow.org/gitweb/?a=blobdiff_plain;f=infobase%2Ffortunes.dat;h=f276731df5acde7a07b03d130a4d5802b42d094a;hb=da6c8371908fbd61143e2e930996b9f5310ed889;hp=6b2d0c475bf82899312e7638bf4ab1fe4dc8deb8;hpb=8145ec010e0e68f589d951d3e0c52872db92e80a;p=feisty_meow.git diff --git a/infobase/fortunes.dat b/infobase/fortunes.dat index 6b2d0c47..f276731d 100644 --- a/infobase/fortunes.dat +++ b/infobase/fortunes.dat @@ -40631,3 +40631,176 @@ 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 +